Novo Nordisk, the producer of Ozempic and other medications, announced on Monday a 6.4 billion reais ($1.09 billion) investment in Brazil to boost production.
The investment aims to increase the manufacturing capacity at Novo Nordisk’s facility in Minas Gerais state of injectable drugs for the treatment of obesity, diabetes, and other serious chronic diseases, the company said in a statement.
https://kfgo.com/2025/04/07/novo-nordisk-to-invest-1-09-billion-to-increase-production-in-brazil/
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will seek to limit the sting of tariffs imposed on his country when he meets U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, a visit likely to be closely watched by world leaders as global markets spiral downward.
Netanyahu will be the first foreign leader to meet face-to-face with Trump since he announced a sweeping tariff policy last Wednesday.
Under the new policy, Israeli goods face a 17% U.S. tariff. The United States is Israel's closest ally and largest single trading partner.
During midday talks in the Oval Office, the two leaders are also expected to discuss the 18-month-old war in Gaza and the fate of hostages taken from Israel and still held in the Palestinian enclave.
They are to hold a joint press conference at 2:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT). It will be Trump's first press conference since the tariff announcement.
The outcome of the talks could signal to other foreign leaders whether Trump is willing to bend on the levies and how best to approach him.
"We're going to talk about trade," Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night as he flew to Washington from Florida.
Trump's sweeping tariff plans hammered global financial markets and U.S. stocks braced for more turmoil on Monday, after he warned foreign governments they would have to pay "a lot of money" to lift the levies he called "medicine."
Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett told Fox & Friends that Trump spent much of the weekend talking to foreign leaders on the phone about the tariffs. He did not provide names.
Trump extended the surprise invitation in a phone call on Thursday with Netanyahu when the Israeli leader raised the tariff issue, according to Israeli officials.
An Israeli finance ministry official said on Thursday that Trump's latest tariff announcement could affect Israel's exports of machinery and medical equipment.
Israel had already moved to cancel its remaining tariffs on U.S. imports last Tuesday. The two countries signed a free trade agreement 40 years ago and about 98% of goods from the United States are now tax-free.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas said it fired a barrage of rockets at cities in Israel's south on Sunday in response to Israeli "massacres" of civilians in Gaza.
Israel's military said about 10 projectiles were fired, but most were successfully intercepted. Israel's Channel 12 reported a direct hit in the southern city of Ashkelon.
The first phase of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into force on January 19 after 15 months of war and involved a halt to fighting, the release of some of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas and the freeing of some Palestinian prisoners.
However, Israel said on March 19 that its forces resumed ground operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip. Both parties blamed each other for a stalemate in the ceasefire talks.
The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, by Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel has reduced much of Gaza to ruins and killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, say the enclave's health authorities.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss Iran amid mounting tensions that prompted the United States to reinforce its military capability in the Middle East with more warplanes
https://www.aol.com/netanyahu-seek-tariff-relief-talks-142634407.html
President Donald Trump on Monday directed a powerful U.S. national security panel to take a fresh look at Nippon Steel's bid for U.S. Steel to help determine if "further action" is appropriate, raising hopes for an elusive greenlight for the deal.
"I direct the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States...to conduct a review of the acquisition of U.S. Steel by (Nippon Steel) to assist me in determining whether further action in this matter may be appropriate," the memo reads.
US Steel and Nippon Steel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The White House directive sent the share price of U.S. Steel up over 13%, as investors took it to mean the Trump administration was considering greenlighting the merger after former President Joe Biden blocked the tie-up in January on national security grounds.
Following the block, the two companies sued CFIUS, which scrutinizes foreign investments for national security risks, alleging that Biden prejudiced the committee's decision and violated the companies' right to a fair review.
They claimed that the then-President did so to win the favor of the United Steelworkers (USW) union in the swing state of Pennsylvania, where U.S. Steel is headquartered, to improve his chances of re-election.
Last month, the Trump administration filed a motion to extend two deadlines in U.S. Steel, and Nippon Steel's lawsuit against a U.S. national security panel to give the government more time to wrap up merger talks with the firms.
President Trump on Monday threatened to impose a 50 percent tariff on imports from China, a massive escalation of a potential trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Trump’s threat is the latest tit for tat between the U.S. and China in the last week. The White House last Wednesday announced it would impose a 34 percent tariff on Chinese imports as part of “reciprocal” tariffs against dozens of countries.
Beijing responded by announcing a 34 percent tariff on American imports, leading to Trump’s warning on Monday.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that China made the move, “despite my warning that any country that Retaliates against the U.S. by issuing additional Tariffs, above and beyond their already existing long term Tariff abuse of our Nation, will be immediately met with new and substantially higher Tariffs, over and above those initially set.”
“Therefore, if China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th,” Trump added. “Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!”
Trump said negotiations with other countries would begin taking place “immediately.”
The White House had already imposed a 20 percent tariff on Chinese imports over fentanyl concerns, meaning China could face an effective tariff rate as high as 70 percent.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5235955-trump-threatens-50-percent-tariff-china/
Axogen (NASDAQ:AXGN) and ADMA Biologics (NASDAQ:ADMA) said on Monday that they expect minimal to no impact from the tariffs announced by President Donald Trump last week that led to global market declines banking on domestic operations.
Axogen said that it anticipates minimal impact from these tariffs, as well as from any retaliatory actions taken by other countries, on its current financials and underlying business model.
"The vast majority of the company's sales are domestic, as is the manufacturing of its products. The costs associated with imported materials needed for its operations is minimal," AXGN added.
“The tariffs that have been implemented on foreign goods, services and manufacturing should have no impact on ADMA and its supply chain or production operations. The company’s vertically integrated supply chain is fully domiciled in the U.S., providing end-to-end domestic control over sourcing, manufacturing, and distribution," ADMA Biologics said in a statement.
While President Trump detailed new tariffs on U.S. imports, pharma and biotech companies were excluded from them, according to a White House fact sheet.
Republicans are in the process of drafting a tax bill behind closed doors that includes an increase of the state and local tax deduction to as high as $25,000 for an individual, according to people familiar with the plan.
A sizable increase to the current $10,000 limit on SALT write-offs would represent a major political victory for a crucial group of swing-district House Republicans representing the New York City area and southern California, who have made their votes for a broader tax cut bill contingent upon securing a bigger deduction.
The unhinged left, fueled by Trump Derangement Syndrome and seething hatred for Elon Musk, is trending more violent, according to a new study that finds political violence targeting President Donald Trump and his billionaire adviser is “becoming increasingly normalized.”
The report, produced by the Network of Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) in partnership with Rutgers University’s Social Perception Lab, finds a broader “assassination culture” appears to be “emerging within segments of the U.S. public on the extreme left, with expanding targets now including figures such as Donald Trump.”
Less than a year after assassination attempts on then-presidential candidate Trump and the literally explosive violence against Musk’s Tesla electric vehicles, it’s no secret that leftists are ratcheting up violent rhetoric and actions. The more troubling trend is that an “assassination culture” isn’t just coming from the “fringe” left.
“These attitudes are not fringe — they reflect an emergent assassination culture, grounded in far-left authoritarianism and increasingly normalized in digital discourse,” states the report, titled, “Assassination Culture: How Burning Teslas and Killing Billionaires Became a Meme Aesthetic for Political Violence.”
NCRI, an independent institution working to “identify and forecast emerging threats in the era of information disorder,” finds the pattern is building on a broader trend discussed in two reports in December that analyzed “how viral social media narratives were legitimizing political violence, particularly in the aftermath of the United Healthcare CEO’s assassination.”
“The reports found widespread justification for lethal violence — including assassination — among younger, highly online, and ideologically left-aligned users,” the authors of the latest study write.
They note the spillover effect beyond the online world, illustrated by a proposed California ballot measure macabrely named “the Luigi Mangione Access to Health Care Act,” celebrating the alleged leftist terrorist and murderer of United Healthcare head Brian Thompson. The ballot measure targets health insurance denials, one of Mangione’s reported flashpoints.
On Friday, a California man reportedly “angry with pharmacies” was arrested on charges of murdering a Walgreens employee just days after the Luigi Mangione Act was filed with the state. ABC 30 reported that Erick Velazquez, the victim, was not a pharmacist, and was a respected husband and father of two.
Source: NCRI data
NCRI accessed the violence zeitgeist with original survey data and open source intelligence analysis to determine “how normalized and justified violence against the administration has become in public discourse.”
“The findings signal a threat to political stability and public safety,” the reports warns.
Here are some of the troubling numbers, according to the report:
Interestingly, the report finds liberal social media platform BlueSky “plays a significant and predictive role in amplifying radical ideation.” BlueSky has seen its new user numbers surge since November’s election, according to the leftist publication The Guardian. Curiously, the “great X-odus” has been driven by liberals “seeking to escape Elon Musk’s X amid warnings from anti-hate speech campaign groups and the EU about misinformation and extremism on the platform,” The Guardian asserts.
NCRI also found that users are increasingly tying the “memification” of Mangione with calls for political violence against Trump, Musk and others, “reflecting the growing cyber-social presence of assassination culture.” Mangione supporters have been using a meme of the Luigi character from the Super Mario Brothers video game/movie franchise as a symbol of political violence. Some of the threats echo the “Deny, Defend, Depose” mantra inscribed by Mangione on the shell casing that killed Brian Thompson, according to the report.
Source: NCRI data
In February, law enforcement officials charged 28-year-old David Allen June Cherry of southern Indiana with felony intimidation after police say he posted online multiple violent threats against Elon Musk, including that Cherry would “gut” the close adviser to President Donald Trump.
“You’ve broken the law. You’re on the hit list,” Cherry allegedly declared on the Musk-owned social media platform X, to a Musk post, according to an affidavit. “You’re robbing American people. We will gut you and parade your corpse in the streets,” the leftist allegedly menaced Musk a short time later.
Indiana State Police tracked Cherry at his job at Batteries Plus and arrested him, according to news accounts. Detectives reportedly seized an AR-15-style rifle, a handgun, ammunition and a ballistic vest at his Palmyra home, according to Fox7.
Cherry, who reportedly runs an online business selling anti-Musk merchandise — including an “anti-oligarch” patch with what appears to be an image of a raised-arm Musk in cross-hairs — told officials he merely wanted to make his posts “edgy” to spur social media reactions, and that he meant Musk no harm. He was released on $2,500 bond and faces the potential of six years in prison on the felony counts while he continues his hate campaign against the billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX. His trial is set for August, according to court records.
Cherry appears to be celebrating his alleged intimidation game on his Red Pawn Dynamics page.
“Let it be known that Red Pawn scared the richest man on the planet. What a giant p*ussy,” the webpage boasts.
His GoFundMe page has raised $4,500 of a $15,000 goal, supposedly for legal fees and to get his car out of impound. His supporters claim the First Amendment protects Cherry’s speech and that he is being persecuted because “his opinion was about a billionaire.”
Musk reportedly has been the target of a growing number of threats over his leadership role in Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency and his pledge to trim $2 trillion a year from the bloated, wasteful and fraud-plagued federal budget.
A Tennessee man reportedly upset with Trump and Musk was arrested on charges of assembling explosives to “burn down” Musk’s artificial intelligence data facility in Memphis. Ethan Paul Early, 25, told police that his friends talked him out of going through with the plan. He said had gotten too wrapped up in politics and had gone “too far down the deep end,” according to the affidavit, KBTX reported.
A recent Fox News analysis found that there have been more than 50 reported targeted attacks on Tesla EVs, dealerships and charging stations in the U.S., and at least 17 internationally.
“The incidents range from minor vandalism, such as keying or graffiti, to more extreme cases like arson and drive-by shootings allegedly targeting Tesla vehicles,” the news outlet reports.
Trump, who was shot and narrowly escaped being assassinated at a Pennsylvania campaign rally in July, is a constant target of threats from members of the unhinged left. On Friday, Jupiter, Florida, police arrested Glen DeCicco on charges of making written threats on his Facebook page a to kill Trump. “The Jupiter Police Department worked in coordination with the United States Secret Service throughout the investigation,” the press release states.
The NCRI report on the growing assassination culture notes support for such political violence on the right, but the prevalence is not nearly as large.
“This report points to disturbingly high levels of support for political violence, particularly targeting President Donald Trump and Elon Musk,” the authors write. “Across survey responses, nearly one-third of respondents—and a significantly higher share of left-leaning respondents—expressed some degree of justification for acts of lethal violence.”
While threats and acts of violence rise on the left, the silence from Democrats in power is deafening. But we’ve seen this movie before. Spoiler Alert: It doesn’t end well for a lot of innocent people. Attorney General Pam Bondi has rightly called the spate of attacks against Tesla “nothing short of domestic terrorism,” because that’s what it is. Just like the myriad acts of domestic terrorism by the left during the Black Lives Matter riots at the end of Trump’s first term.
“For the last five years, the violent left has run rampant with few consequences for the chaos it has sown,” Karol Markowicz recently wrote in the New York Post.
The NCRI report includes a stark warning.
“Unless political and cultural leadership explicitly confronts and condemns this trend, NCRI assesses a growing probability of real-world escalation,” the report concludes. “Given the current economic volatility and institutional distrust, the online normalization of political violence may increasingly translate into offline action.”
