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Monday, August 18, 2025

Rubio accuses CBS reporter of pushing ‘stupid media narrative’ in fiery clash over Zelensky

Secretary of State Marco Rubio clashed with “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan, accusing her of pushing a “stupid media narrative” during a fierce exchange on Sunday.

“You know there is concern from the Europeans that President Zelensky is going to be bullied into signing something away. That’s why you have these European leaders coming as backup tomorrow,” Brennan said before being cut off.

“That is not true,” Rubio interjected, as the two spoke over each other.

“But that’s not true, they’re not coming here tomorrow to keep Zelensky from being bullied.”

President Donald Trump recently hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska for a highly anticipated summit focused on ending the war in Ukraine.

The conflict, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, has resulted in an estimated two million casualties, including both military and civilian losses on both sides. Putin previously seized Crimea and backed Russian separatists in 2014.

Trump has been working to secure a ceasefire in the war, often claiming it would never have broken out had he been president, and vowing he’d end the conflict on “day one” during his campaign.

The presidents failed to secure a ceasefire during the summit. However, both sides said they made good progress and planned to meet again.

Trump scheduled a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, with other European heads of state, to discuss what was agreed to at the summit and determine next steps.

Trump has signaled his intention to schedule a trilateral meeting involving himself, Putin, and Zelensky, or at least get the two warring leaders in the same room to negotiate an ultimate deal.

Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, said the concessions made at the summit were substantial, particularly regarding Ukrainian security guarantees.

“We agreed on much more robust security guarantees, the Russians agreed on enshrining legislatively language that they would attest to not attempting to take any more land from Ukraine after a peace deal, where they would attest to not violating any European borders,” Witkoff said.

Brennan pressed Rubio over the contentious Oval Office meeting between Trump, Zelensky and Vice President J.D. Vance, where the Ukrainian leader was “dressed down” after he openly mocked the idea of negotiation with Putin.

“What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are [sic] speaking about?” Zelensky asked, triggering a total meltdown between the three leaders.

“We gave you, through this stupid president, $350 billion. We gave you military equipment… If you didn’t have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks… you don’t have the cards,” Trump fired back.

The conversation ended with Zelensky leaving Washington, D.C. early and an expected minerals deal not being signed — though it was later ratified.

Rubio, continuing to talk over Brennan, rejected the idea that Zelensky needed protection from being bullied and insisted that the White House and their Ukrainian counterparts have had dozens of meetings since the infamous meeting.

“We had one meeting with Putin and like a dozen meetings with Zelensky… They’re not coming here tomorrow to keep Zelensky from being bullied. They are coming here because we’ve been working with the Europeans. We talked to them last week… The President talked to these leaders as early as Thursday… This is such a stupid media narrative,” Rubio said.

https://nypost.com/2025/08/18/media/marco-rubio-accuses-cbs-reporter-of-pushing-stupid-media-narrative-in-fiery-clash-over-zelensky/

WuXi Ireland Facility EMA OK for Commercial Manufacturing of Innovative Biologic

Further demonstrates WuXi Biologics' Global Dual Sourcing strategy in commercial manufacturing

- Underscores the excellence of WuXi Biologics' world-class quality system across its global network

WuXi Biologics (Stock code: 2269.HK), a leading global Contract Research, Development and Manufacturing Organization (CRDMO), today announced that its Dundalk, Ireland facility has been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) as a commercial manufacturing site for a global client's innovative biologic. This approval adds to WuXi Biologics' multiple facilities, which have received EMA and FDA approvals for commercial manufacturing of the same product since 2023.

Dr. Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics, commented, "This EMA approval marks another significant milestone in WuXi Biologics' journey and our ability to meet client needs, fully demonstrating the value of our Global Dual Sourcing Strategy in offering robust and flexible manufacturing solutions across multiple geographies, while maintaining a consistent track record of regulatory approvals. We remain committed to delivering high-quality, life-saving treatments for global clients, bringing meaningful benefits to patients around the world."

Global Dual Sourcing Strategy in Action

WuXi Biologics' Global Dual Sourcing Strategy deploys multiple qualified manufacturing sites worldwide for the same product family and enhances regional access for patients. With this EMA approval, WuXi Biologics now operates multiple approved sites across different regions for this innovative biologic, reinforcing the company's capability to deliver regulatory-compliant manufacturing services from any site within its global network.

First Commercial Launch from WuXi Biologics' Ireland Site

The EMA authorization also represents the first commercial launch of a biologic from WuXi Biologics' Ireland site, following the facility's full GMP authorization from the Irish Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) in 2024. The site, recognized with the ISPE Facility of the Year Award (FOYA) in 2023, features advanced 6,000L perfusion and 48,000L fed-batch capacity, and now serves as a key manufacturing hub in WuXi Biologics' global network. It delivered a 100% success rate across multiple large-scale Process Performance Qualification (PPQ) runs, including a 16,000-liter scale by combining four 4,000-liter single-use bioreactors — one of the largest cell culture processes using single-use technology worldwide.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wuxi-biologics-ireland-facility-receives-ema-approval-for-commercial-manufacturing-of-innovative-biologic-302532039.html

Billions lost on penny stocks as ‘pump-and-dump’ scams multiply

Investors lost billions of dollars in July betting on a handful of small US-listed Chinese stocks that plunged in value shortly after being heavily promoted on social media.

Seven Nasdaq-listed micro-cap stocks – Concorde International, Ostin Technology, Top KingWin, Skyline Builders, Everbright Digital, Park Ha Biological Technology and Pheton Holdings – all dropped more than 80 per cent over a few trading sessions in recent weeks.

All seven micro-cap stocks surged before their sudden sell-offs, having been plugged to investors on WhatsApp groups and social media sites. Bloomberg

The declines wiped a cumulative $US3.7 billion ($5.7 billion) off their market value, according to price data analysed by predictive analytics firm InvestorLink.

All seven stocks had surged before their sudden sell-offs, having been plugged to investors on WhatsApp groups and social media sites.

Analysts and investors said the moves bore many of the hallmarks of pump-and-dump scams. There is no suggestion that any of the companies named were involved in the unusual share price moves. None of the seven responded to requests for comment.

Stock pump and dumps – where people with a vested interest artificially inflate a company’s share price before abruptly selling their own holdings – have plagued US markets for decades, but were last a major problem during the bull run of 2020 and 2021, when dozens of unprofitable Chinese groups rocketed, then tumbled shortly after listing.

The FBI said last month it had seen a 300 per cent year-on-year increase in victim complaints “referencing ramp and dump stock fraud”. It added that investors were being targeted on social media by people impersonating “legitimate brokerage firms or well-known stock analysts”.

Many scams are linked to the record number of Chinese companies that went public on US stock exchanges in 2024, a trend that has continued this year with China and Hong Kong-based companies dominating the otherwise sleepy US micro-cap IPO market.
Lost savings from first-time traders

Victims of the alleged pump-and-dump scams include first-time traders and a former diplomat, according to correspondence seen by the Financial Times. Tia Castagno runs her own executive coaching business from London, and was added to a WhatsApp group after she clicked on an advert on Facebook.

She eventually lost all her savings after being encouraged to invest in Ostin Technology by what she said looked like a legitimate US investment firm.

“There’s a feeling of emptiness in my stomach, and shame. I keep questioning my judgment and remembering how I felt when the rug was pulled from under my feet,” she told the FT.

Ryan Sweetnam, a UK-based lawyer at Cel Solicitors, said he had “more than 100 clients involved in pump and dumps on Chinese penny stocks instruct me over the last couple of months”.

Analysts argue that US regulators have been repeatedly warned that certain stocks are being used as vehicles for fraud.

Almost every week for the past seven months, InvestorLink chief executive Matthew Michel has emailed contacts, including the Financial Times, to flag unusual social media activity around certain US-listed micro-cap stocks.

One large Wall Street trading firm – which also utilises InvestorLink’s platform, and asked not to be named – has repeatedly warned the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Nasdaq, of the potential manipulation of shares in certain companies.

Nasdaq declined to comment. The SEC also declined to comment. InvestorLink alerted the market, and the FT, to unusual online activity around Pheton in early July, almost three weeks before the company’s shares fell 95 per cent in a single trading session.

One European retail investor, who said they lost a “six-figure” amount on Pheton, and asked not to be named, was added to a WhatsApp investment group after clicking on a Facebook advert boasting an endorsement from a well-known US television pundit.

The WhatsApp group of about 40 participants, most with phone numbers from the UK and the US, appeared to be run by a legitimate American broker which began recommending investments in the healthcare sector and companies working on cancer treatments, the person said.

“They asked if I was [an] AI-bot early on … a good ruse. It looked like a kosher operation,” the person added. “I almost fell off my chair [when the stock was dumped], it was a chastening experience.”
Share manipulation via WhatsApp groups

The potential manipulation of Ostin’s shares was flagged by InvestorLink on June 9, two weeks before its shares dropped 94 per cent in one day.

Noushin Mirshokraei, who runs a food and drinks company in Italy, says she lost $US70,000 after being convinced to buy into Ostin on a WhatsApp group ahead of a partnership the company was supposedly entering into with a large US-listed firm.

“All the information that was given to us on WhatsApp groups was from fake participants,” she said. “The only real people in there were the ones being manipulated.”

A Meta spokesperson said: “We don’t want this type of content on our platforms, which is why we’re continuing to invest in technology to aggressively enforce against scams; provide people with on-platform warnings and tools to protect themselves; and partner with banks, governments, and law enforcement to stop these criminals.”

Michel’s analysis of Ostin’s share price moves also revealed “clusters of co-ordinated activity” on Reddit, with 12 users posting similar promotional content about the stock within a two-hour window.

Geolocation metadata suggests that three of these users were based in Russia and Iran, according to Michel – a trend he said InvestorLink has identified in other pump and dumps, some of which are more extreme than others.

By June 17, shares of Chinese herbal medicine group Regencell Bioscience – which reported a net loss of $US4.4 million in 2024 – were up almost 60,000 per cent for the year, giving the company a market value of around $US38 billion, more than Jefferies and Walgreens combined.

The stock has since fallen 83 per cent. There is no suggestion that Regencell was involved in its share price movements. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

https://www.afr.com/world/asia/billions-lost-on-us-penny-stocks-as-pump-and-dump-scams-multiply-20250818-p5mnup

Sunday, August 17, 2025

https://www.marketscreener.com/news/new-novartis-esc-data-highlights-strength-of-cardiovascular-portfolio-ce7c51dfdc81f620

FBI urged to probe NYC’s seedy ‘Market of Sweethearts’ for ‘foreign national’ crime syndicates

Queens activists are demanding the FBI investigate the “foreign national” crime syndicates turning seedy Roosevelt Avenue into a “gangland” — claiming the criminals pose a national security threat.

“We request that you initiate an investigation into what we understand are gangs engaging in criminal enterprises including human trafficking, illegal narcotics sales and the mass distribution of fraudulent documents which poses a national security threat,” wrote Rosa Sanchez, head of the Restore Roosevelt Avenue Coalition, and Democratic district leader Hiram Monserrate in an Aug. 14 letter to FBI Director Kash Patel.

Federal intervention is required because state and local laws are limited and inadequate to address the problem, the activists said.

In their missive, Sanchez and Monserrate thanked the FBI and other agencies in the Trump administration for prosecuting members of migrant gangs — including the Venezuelan-based Tren de Aragua and the 18th Street gang, which regularly extort brothels, beat rivals and sell drugs and phony IDs to finance an illicit network based in El Salvador.

“However, both gangs continue to operate in our community and we impress upon you that more needs to be done to keep our community safe,” they told the FBI director.

They noted that the NYPD has made more than 500 prostitution-related arrests thus far this year along what is called “The Market of Sweethearts,” but brothels continue to operate.

Many of them are controlled by Chinese gangs, Sanchez and Monserrate said.

“According to our sources several locations are being operated and controlled by Chinese organized crime. … The information we have continued gathering is unsettling,” the Corona-Elmhurst neighborhood leaders said.

Monserrate said the Triads are one of the Chinese groups involved in sex-trafficking.

The 18th Street Gang members are still selling fraudulent green cards, Social Security and driver’s licenses on Roosevelt Avenue between 80th and 84th Streets, too, the letter writers said.

“Organized crime by both Latino and Chinese foreign nationals continues to wreak havoc in our community,” Sanchez and Monserrate said. “We urge your agency to respond and rid our community of modern slavery and a dangerous criminal element that operates flagrantly.”

They forwarded suspected addresses of brothels to the FBI.

In the past year, The Post has exposed the seediness, crime, drug-peddling and illegal vending along the Roosevelt Avenue corridor. Gov. Kathy Hochul last year even dispatched state troopers to assist the NYPD to crack down the lawlessness.

https://nypost.com/2025/08/17/us-news/fbi-urged-to-probe-nycs-seedy-market-of-sweethearts/

10th SC teen expected to surrender to cops in murder of 16-yo lured to death, filmed dying: reports

A 10th South Carolina teen is expected to surrender to police in the twisted murder plot of a 16-year-old boy who was lured to his death, as officials say the teens filmed him being gunned down, according to reports.

Trey Dean Wright was shot dead in June after his own girlfriend allegedly set him up, bringing him to a remote area off a rural Florence County road, where a group of teens were waiting for a showdown.

There, Wright encountered Devan Scott Raper — a 19-year-old accused of previously flashing a gun and threatening to shoot him — and the two got into an argument over a girl, according to the Florence County Sheriff’s Office.

Photo of Trey Wright with a snake around his neck at a gas station. — Trey Dean Wright, 16, was found dead on a rural road on June 24. Nine teens have since been arrested in the death.gofundme

At least one teen in the crowd started filming as the pair argued — and was recording when Raper allegedly pulled the trigger several times, striking and killing Wright, cops said.

Raper was arrested the day after Wright’s body was found on June 24, and in the following weeks, eight other teens were hit with various charges for allegedly helping set up the murder.

A tenth suspect is also expected to turn themselves in soon, News 13 reported.

Raper is charged with homicide and possession of a weapon, while Wright’s 17-year-old girlfriend, Gianna Kistenmacher, is charged with accessory before the fact.

The sheriff’s office argued Kistenmacher knew Raper was armed and deliberately instigated a confrontation between him and Wright.

Mugshots of five teens arrested in connection with a murder. — From left: Corrine Belviso, Devan Raper, Gianna Helene Kistenmacher, Hunter Kendall and Sydney Kearns.Florence County Sheriff's Office

Kistenmacher was released on bond to home confinement soon after her arrest.

Other suspects arrested and charged were 18-year-olds Hunter Kendall and Corrine Belviso, and 17-year-old Sydney Kearns, though what part they allegedly played in the murder remains unclear.

Four others were charged, but are minors and their names have not been released.

Florence County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Michael Nunn said the decision to charge so many teens in the killing was not taken lightly.

“The decision was made, again with investigators, in consultation with the solicitor’s office to charge each of them,” Nunn told News 13.

“The hand of one being the hand of all is part of South Carolina law as well, so that’s the basis of the charge for each of those individuals,” he added.

https://nypost.com/2025/08/17/us-news/10th-south-carolina-teen-expected-to-surrender-to-cops-in-murder-of-16-year-old-lured-to-his-end-and-filmed-dying-reports/

High Time States Banned PBM-Owned Pharmacies

Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) signed House Bill 1150 into law

opens in a new tab or window in April, prohibiting pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) from owning or operating pharmacies in Arkansas. This legislation, effective in 2026, is the first of its kind in the U.S.

Though there has been significant momentum to reduce drug prices in America, previous legislation surrounding PBMs has stopped short of an outright ban on pharmacy ownership. Sanders defended this bill, stating that PBMs have "taken advantage of lax regulations to abuse customers" and "inflate drug prices." This legislation is a great first step in reforming the current -- and problematic -- drug pricing system in the U.S.

PBMs are third-party administratorsopens in a new tab or window that manage prescription drug benefits on behalf of insurers and employers. They play a major role in determining which drugs are covered, how much patients pay, and which pharmacies are in-network. More importantly, PBMs create formularies and tiers, which influence drug costs.

Although PBMs were originally created to streamline logistics and reduce costs (by managing the administrative side of processing claims and negotiating discounts with drug manufacturers), their role has since morphed into something far more powerful and controversial, and something which lacks necessary transparencyopens in a new tab or window.

As much as 20% of PBM revenue comes from negotiating rebatesopens in a new tab or window from drug manufacturers in exchange for better drug formulary placement. A better tier placement allows for the manufacturer's drug to be more easily purchased for a greater number of patients. PBMs are generally incentivized to give preference to higher-priced drugs so they can get larger rebates.

This was confirmed by a 2024 reportopens in a new tab or window from the House Oversight Committee. The committee concluded that PBMs frequently place more expensive medications in preferred formulary tiers because they yield higher rebates -- even when lower-cost options exist.

Today, just three PBMs -- CVS Caremark, Cigna Express Scripts, and UnitedHealth Group's OptumRx -- control over 80%opens in a new tab or window of America's drug benefit market. These PBMs own their own pharmacies, and can use tactics to drive consumers to them and inflate prices. This level of control partly explains why drug prices are higher in Americaopens in a new tab or window than other countries.

HB 1150 directly addresses one of the most problematic aspects of the PBM business model: ownership of pharmacies. By banning PBMs from dispensing the very medications they manage, Arkansas is dismantling a structural conflict of interest that has distorted the prescription drug market for years.

Though HB 1150 is the first bill of its kind to outright ban PBM ownership of their own pharmacies, it has the potential to generate momentum for similar pharmaceutical policies. Currently, California is considering SB 41opens in a new tab or window, which would ban PBMs from favoring their own pharmacies. Last year, Pennsylvania passed HB 1993opens in a new tab or window, which increases transparency and regulatory oversight.

Arkansas's law is not a magical solution. But it is a good first step and a signal that states are no longer waiting for Congress to untangle the complexities of prescription drug pricing.

At the federal level, bipartisan proposals such as the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Actopens in a new tab or window (S. 526) and the PBM Reform Actopens in a new tab or window (H.R. 4137) are aimed at banning spread pricingopens in a new tab or window, increasing PBM reporting, and passing negotiated savings directly to patients.

While these efforts move through Congress, state action can close loopholes and address conflicts of interest more quickly and precisely. Lawmakers across the country should take note. If PBMs are allowed to both set the rules and reap the rewards, the result is predictable: higher costs, fewer choices, and declining trust in the system. Lawmakers should follow the momentum from HB 1150 and pass similar legislation.

Zain Khawaja, MDopens in a new tab or window, is a resident physician at Northwestern University in Chicago, with interests in health policy and advocacy. Ammar Kaziopens in a new tab or window is a venture capital associate.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/second-opinions/117028

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