Prospect Medical Holdings Inc., once an active buyer of cash-strapped hospitals, filed for bankruptcy after struggling with debt piles and soaring costs.
The company listed $1 billion to $10 billion in assets and liabilities each, along with more than 100,000 creditors, in a bankruptcy petition filed in Texas on Saturday.
On January 1, 2025, Bulgaria and Romania became full members of the Schengen area of free movement, after a thirteen-year-long wait.
While controls have been lifted at airports and seaports since March 2024, these have now been removed at land borders too. The accession was finally made after Austria dropped its veto last December, which until then had opposed the entry of the two countries to the passport free area. Temporary controls will continue to operate at their land borders for the next six months, while the border between Bulgaria and Turkey is set to be reinforced.
Even as the Schengen Area has expanded, temporary controls have been reintroduced along several internal borders.
For example, Germany currently has such controls along the border with each of its nine neighboring countries.
As Statista's Anna Fleck reports, according to the European Commission, members of the Schengen agreement are allowed to temporarily introduce border controls at internal borders in the event of a serious threat to public policy or internal security and must be applied as a last resort measure or in exceptional situations, for a limited time period only. There are a number of issues cited for the need for the temporary border crossings currently in place, including security, migration control, public safety and, in the case of Denmark, Russian attempts of espionage.
The introduction of border checks has sparked backlash from groups such as the student organization AEGEE, which says that reintroducing controls could foster suspicion between states and lead to discrimination, as certain groups could face heightened scrutiny based on nationality or ethnicity.
The Schengen area was created in 1995, after five states (France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) signed the Schengen Agreement in 1985, followed by the Schengen Convention in 1990.
The Schengen area is an area of free movement of people, which also guarantees its member states enhanced protection at external borders.
The majority of EU Member States have gradually joined the Schengen area, which now includes 25 of the 27 EU Member States (Ireland and Cyprus are not currently members), as well as four non-EU Member States: Iceland (joined in 1999), Norway (1999), Switzerland (2008) and Liechtenstein (2011).
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/bulgaria-and-romania-join-schengen-area
The vast energy potential and clean nature of generating power through nuclear reactions have caused a surge in global demand, with nearly every region increasing nuclear energy investment by at least 50% over the last five years.
For this graphic, Visual Capitalist has partnered with Global X ETFs to analyze the increasing investments in nuclear energy and identify the regions with the highest levels of investment.
Over the last five years, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has estimated that over $300 billion has been invested in nuclear energy globally. Here’s how this breaks down by region:
While all regions have invested significantly in nuclear energy, investment is growing further in advanced economies like the U.S., which has pledged an additional $2.7 billion to the nuclear fuel supply chain on top of the $7.5 billion it already invests in nuclear power yearly.
Growing global investment in nuclear energy emphasizes its essential role in the shift towards clean energy. South America and Eurasia, in particular, have seen the potential in nuclear power and have chosen to invest heavily, more than doubling their annual investment rates.
Nuclear energy’s high energy potential and near emission-less nature make it a key player in the transition toward clean energy.
Consequently, many nations are investing heavily in energy sources, and forecasts show that the demand for nuclear-generated electricity will only grow.
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/europe-dominates-global-nuclear-energy-investment
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced an executive order centered around rebuilding in the wake of the recent Los Angeles-area wildfires on Sunday.
“I’m worried about issues of rebuilding as it relates to scarcity, as it relates to property taxes, meaning scarcity of resources, materials, personnel. I’m worried about time to getting these projects done,” Newsom said in an interview with NBC News’s Jacob Soboroff on “Meet the Press.”
Included in the executive order are actions halting environmental regulation in relation “to projects to repair, restore, demolish, or replace property or facilities substantially damaged or destroyed as a result of this emergency” and targeting price gouging.
“California leads the nation in environmental stewardship. I’m not gonna give that up. But one thing I won’t give into is delay. Delay is denial for people: lifes, traditions, places torn [apart,] torn asunder. Families, schools, community centers, churches, you’ve seen it,” Newsom said in his “Meet the Press” interview.
“The number of schools that have been lost in this community, and … we’ve gotta people know we have their back,” he added.
The Los Angeles area has been recently devastated by large wildfires that have destroyed property on a massive scale and left 16 people dead.
Newsom has also recently been in a feud with President-elect Trump over the fires, with at one point Trump saying that he “should resign” over the disaster.
“One of the best and most beautiful parts of the United States of America is burning down to the ground,” Trump said on Truth Social on Wednesday. “It’s ashes, and Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!”
On the same day, Newsom went after Trump in an interview on CNN over comments the president-elect had made amid the fires.
“People are literally fleeing,” he said. “People have lost their lives. Kids lost their schools, families completely torn asunder, churches burned down.”
“This guy wanted to politicize it,” he added, pointing to Trump. “I have a lot of thoughts, and I know what I want to say. I won’t.”
A new tax season is nearly here, and with it an opportunity for identity thieves to take advantage of taxpayers.
On Wednesday, Erin M. Collins, the IRS national taxpayer advocate, issued a report calling the agency’s delays in responding to identity-theft cases “unconscionable.”
The report found that nearly half a million taxpayers were impacted by the delays in 2023, a situation made worse by the IRS reassigning identity-theft case workers during the filing season, Collins said.
The current average time to resolve such cases is two years, a time frame Collins urges the IRS to reduce to 90 days or less.
So what can taxpayers do to protect themselves in 2025?
Massive online security breaches are a common occurrence, so assuming that one’s personal information is potentially in the hands of bad actors can help keep your identity safe.
Thieves will get to work once tax season starts, so tax attorney Adam Brewer recommends getting returns in as early as possible to block anyone who might try to file a fraudulent return in your name.
“Don’t wait until April 15. Don’t wait till October 15. Get your return in, and then no one else can file after it,” Brewer said. “The other way to do it is file electronically, because you could file the first week of February, but if you file by paper it might sit there for a couple weeks, couple months even.”
The IRS provides an identity protection pin to help taxpayers safeguard their identities.
The six-digit number is known only by the taxpayer and the IRS and keeps thieves from filing a return using that person’s Social Security number or individual taxpayer identification number.
Previous victims of identity theft will be mailed a new pin number each year, but taxpayers can proactively request one from the IRS.
Even if you aren’t required to file taxes, you may still want to just to block someone from doing so in your name.
“Let’s say a Social Security recipient, they’re under the filing threshold, or someone else that just has low, low income, they may not file a return and that leaves the door open,” Brewer said. “So even if they don’t have a filing requirement, they’re leaving the door open for a fraudster to come in and file a return.”
While there’s unfortunately no easy way to speed up the recovery process, Brewer says, there are some things you can do after someone files under your name, or your dependant’s name.
“A lot of times, if there’s a fraudulent refund that was issued out, IRS may ask for something like a police report,” Brewer told Nexstar. “They never really go anywhere, but a lot of times it’s just a step that you can take to kind of bolster your claim to the IRS and say ‘Look, someone did actually steal my ID.'”
Brewer added that once someone fraudulently files electronically, you won’t be able to file using the same method.
“Go ahead and get that paper return submitted by USPS and send it certified as quickly as you can,” Brewer said.
To file an identity-theft affidavit with the IRS, open a support ticket or get a personal pin number, see the agency’s website.
MaaT Pharma on Wednesday unveiled topline data from its Phase III ARES trial, demonstrating that its investigational graft-versus-host disease therapy MaaT013 can elicit high gastrointestinal response and a survival benefit in the third-line setting.
At 28 days, MaaT reported a gastrointestinal objective response rate (ORR) of 62%—easily exceeding the expected rate of 38%. Most responders achieved a complete response and a very good partial response, with respective rates of 38% and 20%. ORR across all evaluable organs was also high at 64%, an effect that was likewise driven heavily by complete and very good partial responses.
These strong treatment response outcomes translated into longer survival, according to MaaT, which touted a 54% probability of survival at 12 months. Survival estimates were significantly higher in patients who showed signs of response at 28 days than in those who did not respond—survival probabilities were 67% and 28% for these subgroups, respectively, with a p-value less than 0.0001 for their difference. Median survival had not yet been reached in ARES at the time of the readout.
“ARES represents the first-ever positive pivotal clinical study for an immunosuppressant-sparing, microbiome-based approach” to GVHD, MaaT chief medical officer Gianfranco Pittari said in a statement. “These positive topline results strongly position MaaT013 as a first-in-class therapeutic” for acute GVHD with gastrointestinal involvement (GI-aGvHD), he added.
With Wednesday’s promising late-stage findings, MaaT plans to plans to file a regulatory submission for MaaT013 in Europe by mid-2025, positioning the drug candidate as a third-line treatment for GI-aGvHD. The company did not disclose FDA plans in its news release.
MaaT013 is an off-the-shelf, full-ecosystem enema therapy that works by restoring harmony and balance between a patient’s immune system and gut microbiome. The investigational treatment was developed by mixing samples from several donors, giving it its high microbial diversity and richness, and contains Butycore, a proprietary group of bacteria with anti-inflammatory activity.
In March 2021, MaaT unveiled data from the Phase II HERACLES study, touting a 33% combined complete and very good partial response rate in acute GVHD patients who were immunocompromised and heavily pre-treated.
The following year, however, MaaT013’s development hit a roadblock when the FDA placed the experimental therapy under clinical hold, citing uncertainties surrounding its development. In particular, the regulator raised safety and efficacy concerns regarding the pooling of samples to produce MaaT013. The FDA lifted the clinical hold in April 2023 and gave the biotech the go-ahead to conduct a Phase III study of MaaT013 in the U.S.
Firefighters were slowly making progress in their battle to contain the inferno that has razed swathes of Los Angeles' Pacific Palisades neighborhood to the ground, but still-spreading flames threatened communities in the populous San Fernando Valley on Sunday.
Aircraft dropped water and fire retardant on steep hills to stem the eastward spread of the Palisades Fire and KTLA television reported that ground crews had managed to save a number of houses, although others were lost.
"LA County had another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak," Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said.
Six simultaneous blazes that have ripped across the United States' second-largest city since Tuesday had killed at least 16 people as of late Saturday, the Washington Post and other media reported, citing the Los Angeles County medical examiner's office. Reuters could not reach the coroner.
At least 13 people are estimated to be missing.
The blazes have damaged or destroyed 12,000 structures, fire officials said. The flames have reduced whole neighborhoods to smouldering ruins, destroying the homes of the rich and famous and ordinary folk alike and leaving an apocalyptic landscape.
Over the past 24 hours, the Palisades Fire spread over an additional 1,000 acres (400 hectares), consuming more homes, officials reported.
Cal Fire official Todd Hopkins said that while 11% of the Palisades Fire was now contained, it has burned more than 22,000 acres.
Hopkins told a press conference that fire had spread into the Mandeville Canyon and threatened to jump into Brentwood, an upscale neighborhood that is home to many celebrities, and the San Fernando Valley. It also inched towards the north-south 405 freeway.
SANTA WINDS
Although the Santa Ana winds that have fanned the flames were calmer on Saturday, the National Weather Service warned that stronger gusts of up to 70 mph (110 kph) could return early next week.
Red Flag warnings remain in effect for L.A. and Ventura counties through to Wednesday, the NWS said.
"These winds, combined with dry air and dry vegetation, will keep the fire weather threat in the area," it said. Conditions were expected to moderate by Thursday.
On Saturday, some residents were allowed to return to the sites of their ruined homes to see what they could salvage from the wreckage. Teams with the L.A. County Sheriff's Department were working to sift through the rubble with sniffer dogs to search for human remains.
Evacuation orders throughout the Los Angeles area now cover 153,000 residents. Another 166,000 residents have been warned that they may have to evacuate, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.
FEDERAL HELP
President Joe Biden spoke by phone with officials to get an update on their efforts and was briefed by aides on federal resources that were being dispatched.
His declaration of a major disaster unlocked federal assistance for those affected by the wildfires, clearing the way for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide support.
Support can range from funding for home repairs to money to replace lost food or medication, FEMA spokesperson Michael Hart said, adding that assistance can be provided within days.
However, President-elect Donald Trump criticized local and state officials he believed had handled the situation badly.
"The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols have no idea how to put them out. Thousands of magnificent houses are gone, and many more will soon be lost. There is death all over the place... they just can't put out the fires. What's wrong with them?" he said on his Truth Social media feed.
Los Angeles Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger told reporters she had invited Trump - who takes office on Jan. 20 - to visit the county to get a first-hand look at the destruction.
WEEKS OF WORK
In Altadena, official Don Fregulia said managing the Eaton Fire and its impact will be a "huge, herculean task" that he said will take "many weeks of work".
The two big fires combined have consumed more than 36,000 acres (14,500 hectares), or 56 square miles (145 square km) - 2-1/2 times the land area of Manhattan - in one of the worst disasters in Los Angeles' history.
Officials have declared a public health emergency due to the thick, toxic smoke and poorer air quality, as the fires lofted traces of metals, plastics and other synthetic materials.
But progress was reported in bringing electrical power back to Los Angeles neighborhoods. Southern California Edison CEO Steven Powell said there were now about 50,000 customers without power, down from more than half a million days earlier.
Private forecaster AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic loss at $135 billion to $150 billion, portending soaring homeowners' insurance costs.
In the Vatican, Pope Francis said in his weekly address to the faithful in St. Peter's Square: "I am close to the people of Los Angeles ... where devastating fires have broken out in recent days. I pray for all of you."
