Phase 2a data on Skye Bioscience's (NASDAQ:SKYE) cannabinoid-1 receptor blocker (CB1) for obesity, nimacimab, should be released in late Q3
Thursday, June 19, 2025
Grassley Probing Withheld FBI Records On Alleged Chinese Election Interference
by Eva Fu via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
WASHINGTON—Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is asking the FBI for additional records regarding alleged Chinese election interference files after finding that the agency had sought to destroy relevant information under its previous leadership.
FBI Director Kash Patel declassified and shared a file with Grassley a day earlier, an action Grassley said arose from the senator’s request for an intelligence information report from its Albany Field Office dated Sept. 25, 2020, according to a June 17 letter Grassley shared with The Epoch Times.
In the letter, directed to Patel, Grassley said that the intelligence report states it was “recalled in order to re-interview the source.”
It also states, “Recipients should destroy all copies of the original report and remove the original report from all computer holdings.”
“The document alleges serious national security concerns that need to be fully investigated by the FBI,” Grassley told The Epoch Times.
He asked Patel to provide all records relating to the re-interview and recall “all communications between and among agents and intelligence analysts,” in order to “better understand the decision-making process” of Patel’s predecessor’s FBI, he wrote in the letter. He specifically sought communication records among intelligence analyst Jordan Siri, supervisory special agent Charles Keller, and intelligence analyst in charge of the Washington Field Office Nikki Floris.
Floris, who previously worked on counterterrorism and counterintelligence at the FBI, has been the intelligence analyst in charge for the agency’s Washington field office since 2022. Grassley, in a May letter shared with The Epoch Times, said his office has been corresponding with Floris for years but had yet to receive any records from her regarding his requests.
Grassley also requested the FBI to “describe all investigative steps the FBI has taken, or will take, to determine the veracity of the allegations” in the intelligence report, the individuals who took the action, and the basis for it.
The FBI, in the reply, should also explain why under Patel’s predecessor it had required the original report’s destruction, whether this step is consistent with the agency’s past and current practice, and how it conforms to federal record preservation requirements, Grassley said.
“The FBI has an obligation to perform a complete investigation and provide full transparency to the American public about this matter,” he wrote in the letter, adding that the FBI needs to name any intelligence community agency that owns information relating to his request, and “the records they’ve asserted control over to prevent production.”
Grassley demanded a response by July 1.
The FBI told The Epoch Times it has posted on social media about the documents and has no further comments.
U.S. officials have long been concerned about potential Chinese meddling in U.S. elections.
In January 2021, then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, who now directs the CIA, said that he believed China had “sought to influence the 2020 U.S. federal elections” based on “all available sources of intelligence.”
'US Officials Plan for Possible Strike on Iran in Coming Days'
Senior US officials are preparing for the possibility of a strike on Iran in coming days, according to people familiar with the matter, as Israel and the Islamic Republic continue to exchange fire.
Some of them pointed to potential plans for a weekend strike. Top leaders at a handful of federal agencies have begun getting ready for an attack, one person said.
A missile from Iran on Thursday struck an Israeli hospital for the first time since the war started almost a week ago, a reminder of the risks to civilians in both countries. Israel’s Health Ministry said there were a number of light injuries in the incident at Soroka Medical Center in the south of the country.
Israel will exact “the full price” from Iranian administration for the strike, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
US President Donald Trump has for days publicly mused about joining Israel’s strikes on Iran, a move that would escalate the conflict in the oil-rich Middle East. The situation is evolving and could change, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss private talks.
Israel said it would escalate attacks on Iranian strategic and government targets, “in order to remove threats to the State of Israel and undermine the Iranian regime,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
“Khamenei will be held accountable,” he added, directly naming the Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The comments indicate a widening of Israel’s war objective beyond the destruction of Iran’s nuclear program, and the country’s campaign showed no signs of letting up. Jets struck dozens of military targets in Iran overnight, including an inactive nuclear reactor in the area of Arak.
Arak has long been the focus of international scrutiny due to its potential role in plutonium production, which could potentially be used in future nuclear-weapon production if reprocessing capabilities were developed. The Arak-Khondab region area, situated in central Iran, is itself strategically significant as it is home to some of the country’s most critical atomic infrastructure.
Efforts to contain the escalation of the conflict continue, while the US weighs its options. Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the United Arab Emirates’ president, said on X the war between Iran and Israel marks “a pivotal moment with far-reaching consequences for both nations and the region.” He called for an end to hostilities and return to dialog.
Trump told reporters at the White House Wednesday he has “ideas as to what to do” and that he prefers to make the “final decision one second before it’s due” because the situation in the Middle East is fluid.
A few hours earlier Trump had said, “I may do it. I may not do it,” when asked if he was moving closer to attacking Iran.
A White House official said that all options remain on the table.
The president’s openness to war is a reversal from his public remarks a week ago when Trump was urging diplomatic talks to reach a nuclear disarmament deal with Iran.
Waiting a few days to strike gives Iranian leaders additional runway to demonstrate to Trump they are willing to give up some uranium enrichment capabilities to deter a US attack.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a social media post earlier Wednesday that his country remained “committed to diplomacy” and has never sought and would never seek nuclear weapons.
Foreign ministers from the UK, France, and Germany are planning to hold nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart on Friday in Geneva, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Trump’s rhetoric has shifted significantly in recent days as allies have impressed upon him that Iran is close to obtaining a nuclear weapon. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has been a central voice urging the president to consider military action, according to people familiar with the discussions. Trump has had multiple calls with Graham, the people said.
“He gave them a chance for diplomacy. I think they made a miscalculation,” Graham said of Iran on Wednesday. “The sooner we end this threat to mankind, the better.”
Foreign Wars
Trump for years has called for the US to stay out of foreign conflicts and campaigned on a message that he would prevent another World War and focus on domestic issues.
Trump said he encouraged Netanyahu to “keep going” with his offensive operations, adding that he gave the Israeli premier no indication that US forces would participate in the attacks.
Since Israel’s strikes started, Iran has fired 400 ballistic missiles and hundreds of drones at Israel, killing 24 people and injuring more than 800, according to the Israeli government. At least 224 Iranians have been killed by Israel’s attacks.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-officials-prepare-possible-strike-032359828.html
Kavanaugh Dissent Invites More Cases With Uninjured Class Members
Holland & Knight’s Paul Bond and Madeline Schonberger write that the Supreme Court has left open a critical question about whether courts can certify classes with members that don’t have injuries.
Insulet to Share Additional Evidence of Impact of Omnipod® on Improved Health Outcomes
Presentations and panel discussions to provide deeper dives into the clinical outcomes from Insulet’s groundbreaking SECURE-T2D and RADIANT trials
Real-world evidence around glycemic outcomes from more than 23,000 people with type 2 diabetes using Omnipod 5 in the United States will also be shared
Booth activities include podcasts, hands-on demonstrations led by clinical experts, and immersive experiences, including a comic book featuring a new hero with type 1 diabetes
Honda-backed Helm.ai unveils vision system for self-driving cars
Honda Motor-backed Helm.ai on Thursday unveiled its camera-based system to interpret urban environments, dubbed Helm.ai Vision, and said it was in talks with other automakers to deploy its self-driving technology in mass-market vehicles.
Helm.ai is working with the Japanese automaker to integrate its technology in the upcoming 2026 Honda Zero series of electric vehicles, which will allow users to drive hands-free and take their eyes off the road.
"We're definitely in talks with many OEMs and we're on track for deploying our technology in production," Helm.ai CEO and founder Vladislav Voroninski told Reuters.
"Our business model is essentially licensing this kind of software and also foundation model software to the automakers."The California-based startup's vision-first approach aligns with Elon Musk's Tesla, which also relies on camera-based systems as alternate sensors such as lidar and radar can increase costs.
However, Voroninski said while Helm.ai has foundation models that work with other sensors, its primary offering remains vision-focused.
Industry experts say other sensors are critical to safety as they can act as backup for cameras, which are known to underperform in low-visibility conditions.
Robotaxi companies such as Alphabet's Waymo and May Mobility use a combination of radar, lidar and cameras to perceive their surroundings.
Helm.ai has raised $102 million to date and counts Goodyear Ventures, Korean auto parts maker Sungwoo HiTech and Amplo among its investors.
Helm.ai Vision combines images from multiple cameras to create a bird's-eye view map, which helps improve the vehicle's planning and control systems, the company said.
The system is optimized for several hardware platforms made by the likes of Nvidia and Qualcomm.
This enables automakers to incorporate Helm.ai Vision into their existing vehicle systems, which include their own technologies for predicting and planning vehicle movements.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/honda-backed-helm-ai-unveils-100605030.html
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
JD Vance gets suspended from Bluesky – just 12 minutes after first post
Vice President JD Vance was suspended from the left-leaning social media platform Bluesky on Wednesday, just minutes after joining and sharing his first post.
“Hello Bluesky, I’ve been told this app has become the place to go for common sense political discussion and analysis,” Vance wrote in his first post on the X competitor. “So I’m thrilled to be here to engage with all of you.”
The vice president went on to weigh in on the Supreme Court’s ruling that upheld Tennessee’s restrictions on transgender medical treatments for minors.
“To that end, I found Justice [Clarence] Thomas’s concurrence on medical care for transgender youth quite illuminating,” Vance wrote, including a screenshot of the conservative justice’s statement agreeing with the 6-3 ruling.
“He argues that many of our so-called ‘experts’ have used bad arguments and substandard science to push experimental therapies on our youth,” the vice president continued. “I might add that many of those scientists are receiving substantial resources from big pharma to push these medicines on kids.”
“What do you think?”
Within 12 minutes of the post, and Vance announcing on X that he had joined the platform, his Bluesky account was suspended, according to Axios journalist Marc Caputo.
“Not found. Account has been suspended,” read a message on Vance’s Bluesky page.
The ban was brief, as the vice president’s account was reinstated just minutes later.
It does not appear that the vice president’s post ran afoul of any of Bluesky’s community guidelines.
Bluesky launched as a decentralized social media alternative after Elon Musk bought and took over what was then Twitter.
It saw massive growth in the aftermath of President Trump’s 2024 election win — with its user base tripling from 10 million to 30 million between November 2024 and May 2025, according to the Pew Research Center.
Liberal-leaning X users flocked to the platform, apparently in search of a more ideologically aligned environment, and several users commenting on Vance’s Bluesky post appeared angered that he had joined the platform.
“Don’t just block. Report the account and the posts,” one person fumed.
Another noted that they had “reported” the vice president’s post “for misinformation.”
Bluesky, however, claimed Vance’s account was suspended over concerns it was run by an impersonator of the vice president, not because of his post.
“Vice President Vance’s account was briefly flagged by our automated systems that try to detect impersonation attempts which have targeted public figures like him in the past. The account was quickly restored and verified so people can easily confirm its authenticity,” a spokesperson for the company said. “We welcome the Vice President to join the conversation on Bluesky.”
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