2 men arrested after flying ‘hazardous drone operation’ near Boston’s Logan Airport

 Two men were arrested Saturday night for flying their drone dangerously close to Boston’s Logan International Airport’s airspace.

Boston police apprehended the pair on one of the Boston Harbor Islands around 10:20 p.m., according to the Boston Police Department. The two captured men were identified as 42-year-old Robert Duffy and 32-year-old Jeremy Folcik, who are both Massachusetts residents.

A third suspect is believed to have fled the island “in a small vessel,” according to Boston police.

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A drone flying over Logan International Airport in Boston, Mass.

Boston cops first detected the drone near Logan around 4:30 p.m. the same day. They were able to use advanced technology to track the drone’s location, altitude, and flight history.

The tech even determined the operators’ position, which pinged on Long Island, one of the Boston Harbor Islands.

In the wake of recent drone anomalies that have cropped up across the Northeast, the investigation into the Boston drone was an all-hands-on-deck situation.

Homeland Security, Massachusetts State Police, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Federal Communications Commission, and Logan Airport Air Traffic Control were all rallied to deal with the drone.

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Logan International Airport exit.AP

“Even small drones pose significant risks, including the potential for catastrophic damage to airplanes and helicopters. Near-collisions can cause pilots to veer off course, putting lives and property at risk,” Boston police said in a statement.

While the slew of other authorities were coordinating, members of the Boston Police Harbor Patrol Unit headed over to the decommissioned Long Island Health Campus, an old medical school that shuttered its doors in 2014.

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Police tape marking off a crime scene.Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

They caught Duffy and Folcik, who face charges for trespassing, but additional fines and charges could come later in the investigation. A drone was also recovered from Duffy’s backpack during the investigation, according to police.

Drone sightings have been reported in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia with no answers as to their purpose or point of origin.

Nearly 1,000 drone sightings were reported in New Jersey in just one month. The Garden State has been a hotspot for drones, and the entire debacle over the last week started when the aircraft were spotted hovering over Monmouth County.

Authorities are attempting to fight back, but their efforts have largely been in vain without any indication of the source. It was originally suspected that they were originating from a “mothership” off the East Coast, which the White House has denied.

https://nypost.com/2024/12/15/us-news/2-men-arrested-after-manning-a-hazardous-drone-operation-near-logan-airport-airspace/

Novo Holdings Gets FTC’s Go-Ahead for Contentious $16.5B Catalent Acquisition

 

Now that they’ve received the go-signal from both U.S. and EU anti-trust regulators, Novo Holdings and Catalent expect to wrap up their deal in the coming days.

Despite stiff contention from industry, lawmakers and public-interest groups, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Saturday gave the greenlight to Novo Holdings’ proposed $16.5 billion acquisition of Catalent.

Details regarding the FTC’s clearance are sparse, but according to a press announcement from the CDMO, the companies have satisfied all the “regulatory closing conditions” of the deal, as per the antitrust watchdog. Novo Holdings and Catalent expect to formally close the transaction “in the coming days.”

The FTC’s go-ahead comes just days after the European Commission also granted its unconditional approval of the deal, writing in a press announcement that the acquisition “would not lead to customers lacking sources of supply alternative to Catalent,” and that “there is sufficient share capacity in the market.”

“We see this as a bullish signal for Novo,” analysts at BMO Capital Markets wrote in a weekend note to investors, pointing to “the need for additional manufacturing capacity.” Still, the analysts do not see the Novo-Catalent deal as a “tailwind for 4Q24 or even 2025” because the additional production capabilities from the deal are “expected to come online by 2026.” The companies will mainly focus on technology transfer next year.

“We await clarity as to the nuances of completing and honoring contracts in these facilities,” the BMO analysts added.

As part of the acquisition deal with Catalent, Novo Holdings will sell three fill-finish sites to its pharma sister Novo Nordisk for $11 billion upfront. While the drugmaker has yet to provide specific information regarding the anticipated manufacturing bump, “we note that these are large fill/finish facilities that could meaningfully add to supply,” BMO analysts wrote.

After Novo Holdings first moved to acquire Catalent in February, the transaction quickly garnered strong opposition from all corners. In Eli Lilly’s second-quarter earnings report in August, CEO David Ricks aired competitive concerns with the acquisition, noting the “oddity of your main competitor being also your main contract manufacturer.” Novo and Lilly are the two undisputed frontrunners in the GLP-1 space, particularly in obesity.

Following Ricks is Roche CEO Thomas Schinecker, who in October also spoke out against the transaction. In a media call at the time, Schinecker said that reducing competition in GLP-1 “is not a good idea,” particularly for smaller players.

The same month, Sen. Elizabet Warren (D-Mass.) wrote to FTC Chair Lina Khan, warning her of potential competitive problems with the deal, which could give Novo “unprecedented visibility into and control over its competitor’s production capacity, costs, and business practices.”

Warren also noted that Novo “has a history of trying to restrict competition and maximize profits” on its blockbuster drugs Wegovy and Ozempic.

Days later, a broad coalition of unions and consumer groups also sent a letter to Khan, urging her to challenge the deal and ensure that “competition is protected” in the GLP-1 space in order to maintain patients’ full access to obesity and diabetes therapies.

https://www.biospace.com/policy/novo-holdings-gets-ftcs-go-ahead-for-contentious-16-5b-catalent-merger

Atea Retains Financial Advisor to Explore Strategic Partnerships

 Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVIR) (Atea or Company), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of oral antiviral therapeutics for serious viral diseases, today announced that it has engaged Evercore, a global independent investment bank, to identify potential opportunities to enhance shareholder value, including the exploration of strategic partnerships related to its Phase 3-ready program for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV).

The Company has not set a timetable for the conclusion of its review and has not made any decisions at this time. The Company does not intend to comment further with respect to this review unless or until its Board of Directors has approved a definitive course of action, the review process has concluded, or it is determined that other disclosure is appropriate.

There is no assurance that this process will result in the completion of any specific transaction or outcome.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/12/16/2997278/0/en/Atea-Pharmaceuticals-Retains-Financial-Advisor-to-Explore-Strategic-Partnerships.html

Trump transition team plans sweeping rollback of Biden EV, emissions policies

  Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump's transition team is recommending sweeping changes to cut off support for electric vehicles and charging stations and to strengthen measures blocking cars, components and battery materials from China, according to a document seen by Reuters.

The recommendations, which have not been previously reported, come as the U.S. electric-vehicle transition stalls and China's heavily subsidized EV industry continues to surge, in part because of its superior battery supply chain. On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to ease regulations on fossil-fuel cars and roll back what he called President Joe Biden's EV mandate.

The transition team also recommends imposing tariffs on all battery materials globally, a bid to boost U.S. production, and then negotiating individual exemptions with allies, the document shows.

Taken together, the recommendations are a stark departure from Biden administration policy, which sought to balance encouraging a domestic battery supply chain, separate from China, with a rapid EV transition. The transition-team plan would redirect money now flowing to building charging stations and making EVs affordable into national-defense priorities, including securing China-free supplies of batteries and the critical minerals to build them.

The proposals came from a Trump transition team charged with crafting a strategy for swift implementation of new automotive policies. The team also calls for eliminating the Biden administration's $7,500 tax credit for consumer EV purchases, a plan that Reuters first reported last month. The policies could strike a blow to U.S. EV sales and production at a time when many legacy automakers, including General Motors and Hyundai, have recently introduced a wider array of electric offerings to the U.S. market.

Cutting government EV support could also hurt sales of Elon Musk's Tesla, the dominant U.S. EV seller. But Musk, who spent more than a quarter-billion dollars helping to elect Trump, has said that losing subsidies would hurt rivals more than Tesla.

The transition team calls for clawing back whatever funds remain from Biden's $7.5 billion plan to build charging stations and shifting the money to battery-minerals processing and the "national defense supply chain and critical infrastructure."

While batteries, minerals and other EV components are "critical to defense production," electric vehicles "and charging stations are not," the document says.

The Defense Department in recent years has highlighted U.S. strategic vulnerabilities because of China's dominance of the mining and refining of critical minerals, including graphite and lithium needed for batteries, and rare-earth metals used in both EV motors and military aircraft.

A 2021 government report said the U.S. military faces "escalating power requirements" for weapons and communication equipment, among other technologies. "Assured sources of critical minerals and materials" are "critical to U.S. national security," the report found.

Trump transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said voters gave Trump a mandate to deliver on campaign promises, including stopping government attacks on gas-powered cars.

"When he takes office, President Trump will support the auto industry, allowing space for both gas-powered cars and electric vehicles," Leavitt said in a statement.

ALLOWING MORE TAILPIPE POLLUTION

Automakers globally have been shifting toward electric vehicles in part to comply with stricter government limits on climate-damaging tailpipe pollution.

But the transition team recommendations would allow automakers to produce more gas-powered vehicles by rolling back emissions and fuel-economy standards championed by the Biden administration. The transition team proposes shifting those regulations back to 2019 levels, which would allow an average of about 25% more emissions per vehicle mile than the current 2025 limits and average fuel economy to be about 15% lower.

The proposal also recommends blocking California from setting its own, stricter vehicle-emissions standards, which more than a dozen other states have adopted. Trump barred California from setting tougher requirements during his first term, a policy that Biden reversed.

California has asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for another waiver to incorporate a stronger set of requirements beginning in 2026, which would eventually require all vehicles to be electric, plug-in hybrid or hydrogen-powered by 2035. The Biden administration's EPA has not approved California's request.

Many of the transition-team proposals appear aimed at encouraging domestic battery production, primarily for defense-related interests. Others appear aimed at protecting automakers, even those producing EVs, in the United States.

The proposals include:

- Instituting tariffs on "EV supply chain" imports including batteries, critical minerals and charging components. The proposal viewed by Reuters said the administration should use Section 232 tariffs, which target national security threats, to limit imports of such products.

The Biden administration recently increased tariffs on Chinese imports of several mentioned in the Trump-transition document, including lithium-ion batteries, graphite and "permanent magnets" used in EV motors and military applications. Those tariffs were issued on economic rather than security grounds.

- Waiving environmental reviews to speed up "federally funded EV infrastructure projects," including battery recycling and production, charging stations and critical mineral manufacturing.

- Expanding export restrictions on EV battery technology to adversarial nations.

- Providing support for exports of U.S.-made EV batteries through the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

- Using tariffs as a "negotiating tool" to open foreign markets to U.S. auto exports, including EVs.

- Eliminating requirements that federal agencies purchase EVs. A Biden policy requires all federal acquisitions of cars and smaller trucks to be zero-emission vehicles by the end of 2027.

- Ending DOD programs aimed at purchasing or developing electric military vehicles.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/TESLA-INC-6344549/news/Exclusive-Trump-transition-team-plans-sweeping-rollback-of-Biden-EV-emissions-policies-48598150/

Biogen Inc.: Stifel downgrades to hold from buy

  reduces the target price from USD 275 to USD 175.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/BIOGEN-INC-4853/

NJ Receives Report Radioactive Medical Device "Lost In Transit"

 While everyone, including local, state, and federal authorities, is desperately searching for answers, there has been a notable lack of disclosure regarding what is actually happening in the skies above New Jersey—some of the most restricted airspace in the world.

One theory points to drones equipped with payload sensors designed to detect radioactive material, given ongoing and heightened Al-Qaeda threats on the East Coast. Others believe this could be part of a large psyop aimed at pushing through new drone legislation in Washington, DC. Additional theories suggest that Iranian or Chinese operators may be deploying drones to spark mass hysteria.

Even Washington Post's Josh Rogin called out the feds for "the lack of disclosure is damaging public trust." He added it's time for the feds "to come clean." 

If these really are Defense Department drones doing radiation sniffing for possible dirty bombs, one could understand why they wouldn’t want to admit that & panic people. But at this point, the lack of disclosure is damaging public trust. Time to come clean.

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) December 15, 2024

What may seem like a mere coincidence is worth noting: reports of drone sightings began in mid-November, and on December 2, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission disclosed that a medical device containing radioactive material was "lost in transit" in New Jersey.

Nazha Cancer Center reported to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) on December 3 that an "Eckert & Ziegler model HEGL-0132, with the current approximate activity of 0.267 mCi sent for disposal has been lost in transit on December 2." 

"The shipping container arrived at its destination damaged and empty. The licensee has filed a claim with the shipper. If the source is not located within the 30 days, the licensee will follow up with a full written report to include root cause(s) and corrective actions," the email from the cancer center located in Newfield continued. 

Here's a website image of the missing Eckert & Ziegler model HEGL-0132 medical device: 

NJDEP noted, "THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A 'Less than Cat 3' LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL." 

The agency explained more:

Sources that are "Less than IAEA Category 3 sources," are either sources that are very unlikely to cause permanent injury to individuals or contain a very small amount of radioactive material that would not cause any permanent injury. Some of these sources, such as moisture density gauges or thickness gauges that are Category 4, the amount of unshielded radioactive material, if not safely managed or securely protected, could possibly - although it is unlikely - temporarily injure someone who handled it or were otherwise in contact with it, or who were close to it for a period of many weeks.

It had not occurred to us that cancer centers could cause radiation threats... 

It remains unclear whether the purported drone sightings in NJ/NY airspace were even equipped with sniffing tech to even search for the missing radioactive medical device (or other devices). The government's undeniable lack of disclosure at all levels has fueled panic. Perhaps even the feds have no idea what's truly happening.​

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/radioactive-medical-device-lost-transit-new-jersey-nuclear-regulatory-commission-reports

Israel plans to double population on occupied Golan, citing threats from Syria

 The Israeli government approved on Sunday a plan to increase the population of the annexed Golan Heights, while insisting it had no intention of confronting Syria after seizing a UN-monitored buffer zone.

As Islamist-led rebel forces swept Syrian president Bashar al-Assad out of power last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered troops to seize the demilitarised zone between the two countries' forces on the Golan Heights.

On Sunday, his office said the government approved a plan to double the population on the Israeli-held Golan Heights.

The government "unanimously approved" the 40 million shekel ($11 million) "plan for the demographic development of the Golan... in light of the war and the new front in Syria and the desire to double the population", Netanyahu's office said.

Israel has occupied most of the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau, since 1967 and annexed that area in 1981, a move recognised only by the United States.

Netanyahu said that "the strengthening of the Golan is that of the State of Israel, and it is particularly important at this time. We will continue to establish ourselves there, develop it and settle there".

The occupied Golan is home to around 30,000 Israelis and about 23,000 Druze Arabs, whose presence predates the occupation and most of whom retain Syrian citizenship.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar swiftly denounced the Israeli move.

Riyadh's foreign ministry expressed "condemnation and denunciation" of the plan in a statement, calling it part of the "continued sabotage of opportunities to restore security and stability in Syria".

Doha said the Israeli declaration was a "new episode in a series of Israeli aggressions on Syrian territories and a blatant violation of international law".

- 'For eternity' -

Last week, Netanyahu declared that the annexed Golan would be Israeli "for eternity".

That followed an order he gave for troops to cross into the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces since 1974. Troops have also operated in some areas outside the buffer zone "to maintain stability", according to the military.

Israel portrayed the move, which drew international condemnation, as a temporary and defensive measure after what Netanyahu's office called a "vacuum on Israel's border and in the buffer zone", following Assad's fall.

A UN official in New York confirmed to AFP that peacekeeping force UNDOF "has noted a number of daily instances of the IDF (Israeli army) operating to the east of the buffer zone".

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has ordered troops to "prepare to remain" in the buffer zone throughout the winter months.

In the aftermath of Assad's overthrow, Israel launched hundreds of strikes on Syria targeting strategic military sites and weapons, including chemical weapons.

On Sunday, the Israeli premier said his country had "no interest in confronting Syria. Israel's policy toward Syria will be determined by the evolving reality on the ground".

In a video statement following a phone call with US president-elect Donald Trump, Netanyahu said Syria had attacked Israel in the past and allowed others including Lebanese Hezbollah to do so from its territory.

"To ensure that what happened in the past does not happen again, we have taken a series of intensive actions in recent days," he said.

"Within a few days, we destroyed capabilities that the Assad regime had built over decades."

The Islamist rebel leader whose group spearheaded the offensive that toppled Assad on Saturday accused Israel of "a new unjustified escalation in the region" by entering the buffer zone.

However, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who now goes by his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, said that "the general exhaustion in Syria after years of war and conflict does not allow us to enter new conflicts".

Washington in 2019 became the first and only country to recognise Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, during Trump's first term.

Israel has previously announced plans to increase the number of settlers in the Golan, with the government of then-premier Naftali Bennett approving a $317 million, five-year programme to double the settler population in December 2021.

At the time, the Israeli population in the occupied Golan Heights was around 25,000.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/israel-aims-double-population-annexed-225042072.html