Mamdani Pays Hospital Visit To Man Who Tried To Kill A Cop

 by Tim O'Brien via PJMedia.com,

While snow and ice continue to wreak havoc in New York, while the homeless continue to live in deadly cold conditions on the street without the city’s safety net of warm shelter when the weather gets below freezing, and as the mayor himself warns residents of a dire fiscal crisis ahead, Zohran Mamdani found time this week to visit a man in the hospital who tried to kill a police officer with a knife. 

Police were forced to shoot Jabez Chakraborty on Jan. 26 after the man’s family called 911, wanting an ambulance to take the 22-year-old for treatment over some form of mental health crisis.

Reportedly, the caller made no mention of the possibility that Chakraborty might have a weapon. 

When police arrived on the scene, and a family member let them into the house, Chakraborty charged the officer with a large knife in his hand.

Body camera footage shows that as he retreated out of the front door, the officer had to shoot the man to neutralize the threat. 

At last report, Chakraborty was on a ventilator in the hospital, where on Monday he received a personal visit from the mayor. 

A day later, the mayor was hosting an unrelated press conference, but he made the point that Chakraborty’s attempt to kill a police officer “underscores just how urgently we need a different and more effective mental health response system,” which involves the creation of a new Department of Community Safety. 

Mamdani promised this, among many other things, when he ran for mayor, saying that such a department would complement and bolster New York’s other mental health response services. Part of this involves – you guessed it – dispatching social workers in response to some calls instead of police. 

Watch that video again and imagine if the city official who entered that door was an unarmed social worker. What do you think would have happened? Do you worry that Chakraborty might have scratched himself with the knife as he stabbed the unsuspecting city employee, and perhaps his family members? 

The city’s mayor would seem to have more concern over an armed, disturbed individual than his city’s own employees and the individual’s family members. Reports are that New York is interviewing and hiring staff for the new community safety department. The mayor has not indicated how many people will be hired or exactly how the department will be structured. 

On Tuesday, reporters asked Mamdani how the city would respond to a situation like Chakraborty’s once his new social worker-centric policies are implemented. 

He had no response other than to say, “A lot of this is exactly the focus of the conversations that we’re having internally in developing out this Department of Community Safety.” How can he propose such a radical alternative to current procedures without having a more concrete idea of how these types of situations will be addressed? 

The reason becomes obvious when you look back at his campaign and the promises he made, and when you compare all of that to every real-world situation he now has to face as mayor. Before he took office, it was all theoretical, all academic. Everything seemed so simple, and his solutions so right. 

During the campaign, when these policing issues came up, Mamdani referred to his 17-page white paper on the topic. 

The paper made a case to improve coordination among city offices that seek to prevent “gun violence,” homelessness, and mental health crises. Apparently, Mamdani felt that instead of getting to the root of actual problems, adding a layer of bureaucracy was the key. Some of these other offices include: the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, and the Office of Community Mental Health. At last word, these offices will soon fall under the umbrella of the new Department of Community Safety. 

To be sure, New York already had a non-police response program. It’s called B-HEARD. That’s an acronym for “Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division.” 

While running for office, Mamdani often mentioned B-HEARD as something he wanted to build around. The division uses EMTs/paramedics and mental health professionals in calls where 911 operators have not detected violence or an imminent threat. Mamdani’s vision has all the bells and whistles, including alternatives to prison. 

If you’re wondering how much all of this legacy and new bureaucracy might cost, estimates are that the department’s budget may exceed $1 billion. All of that, and Mamdani still doesn’t have a good answer for what happens when a social worker gets called to a location where a mentally unstable person could pick up a knife or a gun and attack. 

A lot can happen between the time a caller reaches out to 911 and the mental health professional gets on scene. At the same time, given the chaos and stress that define these types of situations, it’s very plausible that the caller may not even think to mention the existence of a weapon when there is one. 

Police will tell you that you shouldn’t need to be told a suspect has a weapon to be on your guard for whatever may unfold. Quite often, mentally deranged people who could become violent start out by screaming at family or people in public or by behaving very erratically. 

In Mamdani’s utopian vision, New York will bank on prevention of violence in the form of outreach to vulnerable populations in the city, the creation of volunteer safety patrols, and the use of conflict mediation and “de-escalation” approaches. 

If Mamdani’s vision were a college thesis, I’m sure some Columbia professor would give him an A. But it’s not. He’s in the real world now, and he’s already proven that some of his solutions can involve the risk of death. That’s of no matter. The people of New York were forewarned by Mamdani himself. There are no surprises here. 

The only thing we don’t know is whether Mamdani brought flowers with him when he went to the hospital to visit a man who tried to kill a cop.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/new-york-mayor-mamdani-pays-hospital-visit-man-who-tried-kill-cop

Newsom Won't Cut Ties To Homeless Fraudster Firm

 by Susan Crabtree via RealClearPolitics.com,

Borrowing from novelist James Hilton, who coined the word “Shangri-La” to describe a Tibetan utopia in a 1933 novel, Franklin Roosevelt gave that name to the peaceful retreat we know as Camp David.

For California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Democrats, Shangri-La hasn’t become synonymous with a place that connotes peace on earth. It stands for a hellish homeless housing nightmare, eye-popping fraud, and the ease and scale with which con-artists rip off taxpayers.

In October, federal agents arrested Cody Holmes, the 31-year-old former CFO of Shangri-La Industries, a downtown Los Angeles-based developer who was supposed to be providing housing for homeless people in Southern California. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California, a Trump appointee, charged him with mail fraud.

Holmes, who pleaded not guilty, is accused of embezzling more than $2 million in taxpayer funds slated for homeless housing construction to host extravagant parties; a $46,000-per-month Beverly Hills mansion; private jet travel; leases of exotic cars; high-end handbags totaling $128,000; a $35,000 diamond watch; and 20 VIP passes for the 2023 Coachella Music and Arts Festival.

Meanwhile, Shangri-La Industries executives showered Newsom and Los Angeles County Democrats with political donations as they were applying for some $100 million in state contracts that the CFO later allegedly looted to fund his and his ex-girlfriend’s lavish lifestyle.

Even after federal prosecutors exposed the massive fraud, Newsom and L.A. Democrats haven’t severed ties with the embattled developer and have kept political donations from the firm’s executives. Newsom has also allowed the construction firm to continue to tout his endorsement on its social media.

Powerful Friends

Holmes allegedly defrauded the California Department of Housing and Community Development by submitting fabricated bank accounts in its applications for state contracts to build homeless housing. Acting on behalf of Shangri-La, Holmes allegedly falsified $160 million in assets controlled by Shangri-La and its affiliates to demonstrate that the firm had liquid funds to contribute to the construction projects.

According to the government, most of those funds never existed. The FBI traced only an estimated $24,000 that the developer had on hand at the time of the applications for Newsom’s signature Homekey contracts, a program launched amid the COVID pandemic lockdowns that converted empty motels into homeless housing. Holmes is accused of providing false bank statements for Shangri-La Industries to acquire the more than $100 million in state grant money for seven Homekey projects, according to an affidavit filed with the complaint and other court documents.

Shangri-La Industries has historic roots to billionaire Steve Bing and Bill Clinton, whom the Bing-led company paid more than $2.5 million to serve as a strategic adviser. Bing died by suicide in 2020, more than a decade after founding the investment, entertainment, and philanthropic empire.

California housing authorities are also suing Shangri-La Industries for breaching contracts under Newsom’s signature Project Homekey homeless housing project in a likely futile attempt to recover the missing millions. Yet, no criminal action was taken against anyone involved until Essayli issued his indictment against Holmes last fall.

Shangri-La Industries CEO Andy Meyer, who also goes by Andy Abdul-Wahab, according to court documents, has blamed Holmes for the bank and mail fraud and filed a lawsuit against him. The suit accuses Holmes, his former intern, of embezzling company funds by moving the money to accounts and shell companies that he controlled while allegedly also transferring money to Madeline Witt, his then-girlfriend. Witt is named as a co-defendant in the suit.

Newsom, L.A. Dems Mum on Returning Shangri-La Donations

Newsom’s office did not respond to an inquiry into whether he planned to return any of the funds Shangri-La employees have donated to his campaigns over the last decade. A RealClearPolitics review of campaign donations found at least $18,000 from Abdul-Wahab to Newsom’s campaigns for governor and lieutenant governor.

Newsom’s office also did not say whether he stands by a quote endorsing Shangri-La Industries and its partner, Step Up On Second Street, which Shangri-La has used on its now-defunct website under the heading, “What Our Customers Are Saying,” and on its active Instagram account.

“In a matter of months, not years, Shangri-La and Step Up gave some of the most vulnerable Californians the dignity of a key, a lock, a door, a place to call home,” the Newsom quote states in reference to a homeless housing project in San Bernardino. California’s campaign finance database also shows a mysterious $30,000 donation from Shangrila Investment LLC in support of Newsom’s signature Proposition 1 homeless ballot initiative. The initiative, which barely passed with 50.2% of the vote in March 2024, approved a $6.4 billion bond for more state homelessness spending and attempts to address related mental health and addiction for the first time.

In the final days of the mail-in voting election, as the outcome hung in the balance, both sides, Newsom and those opposing the ballot measure, urged voters whose ballots may have been rejected to fix their signatures.

Yet, so far, Newsom’s “CARE court” project, attempting to address mental health and addiction, has reportedly fallen far short of expectations. Other controversial donations to the homeless ballot initiative include $100,000 from Edison International and affiliated entities, the parent company of SoCal Edison, whose equipment caused the Eaton fire that killed 19 people last year; and $250,000 from PG&E and affiliated entities, the Northern California utility that caused the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest fire in state history, responsible for 84 deaths.

It’s unclear whether this $30,000 donation from Shangrila Investment LLC is related to Shangri-La Industries or other affiliated entities that court documents connect to the embattled developer. Neither Newsom’s office nor Capitol Compliance, the D.C.-based entity that helps run Newsom’s ballot committee, returned repeated requests for comment.

Asked if the donation made by Shangrila Investment LLC is affiliated with the Shangri-La developer at the heart of the fraud scandal, Holmes’ high-powered attorney Michael Freedman, who has represented Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby, replied only: “No comment.”

State campaign-finance records show that Abdul-Wahab also showered donations on state and local officials, including $30,000 to the Los Angeles County Democratic Party in 2022, when the developer was trying to win the homeless contracts. The Los Angeles County Democratic Party did not respond to an inquiry about whether it planned to return the funds.

Other donations from Meyer Abdul-Wahab went to former Assemblywoman Wendy Carillo, who represented Glendale and parts of East Los Angeles and is the first former illegal immigrant to be elected to the state Assembly. Additional donations went to Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar Curry, who represents a west Sacramento district that includes areas of parts of Napa and is serving as majority leader of the Assembly; Sen. Sabrina Cervantes of Riverside and parts of San Bernardino County; Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin who represents the city of Thousand Oaks; Sen. John Laird of Santa Clara and Monterey; Assemblyman Alex Lee of Fremont, Milpitas and West San Jose; and Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks of the East Bay.

In December 2021, U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, a Democrat and the former mayor of Long Beach, where Meyer Abdul-Wahab resides, returned two Shangri-La donations during Garcia’s run for lieutenant governor, according to Cal-Access, the state campaign donations database.

Lobbyists for Shangri-La Industries include Panorea Avdis, partner at Sacramento Advocates, a public affairs and lobbying firm, along with several other firm associates, according to a state lobbying database. Before becoming a lobbyist, Avdis was chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, and previously served a stint as a director of external affairs at California’s housing department during the administration of GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as the state’s Business and Economic Development office under Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown. Sacramento Advocates did not return requests for comment about its relationship with Shangri-La Industries.

At least two of the Homekey motel conversion projects in Southern California have been renovated and are now fully occupied: a 98-unit former Good Nite Inn in Redlands (now called Step Up in Redlands) and a 76-unit former All-Star Lodge in San Bernardino (now Step Up in San Bernardino).

Shangri-La Stiffed Subcontractors

Subcontractors and suppliers to the San Bernardino and Redlands projects filed $2 million in liens for unpaid work and materials, and at least some contractors say they have yet to be paid and are growing increasingly doubtful that they ever will be. Shangri-La Industries allegedly illegally obtained more than $50 million in new loans for several Homekey properties across the state without notifying the state housing department.

Adolfo Gomringer Sr., who owns AG Flooring, told RCP that he has yet to receive $93,000 that Shangri-La owes him for metal framing, drywall, demolition, and flooring work his company performed for the San Bernardino motel conversion in 2023. Gomringer said he has written to Newsom, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, and L.A. and San Bernardino County officials, asking for their help, but has not received a response.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t hear back from anybody, so I just gave up hope,” Gomringer told RCP this week. “Honestly, it’s just shocking that there was nothing in place to protect us—the contractors actually doing the work on these jobs.”

Gomringer said he doubts that Holmes is the only Shangri-La employee in on the fraud, adding that the extent of the deception may not be fully realized. He referred to a call with a bond company claiming to have received a wire confirmation from Shangri-La that his company had been paid in full, which Gomringer said is completely inaccurate.

“I said, ‘Please send me a picture of that wire, because I am the owner of the company, and I can tell you frankly, that’s not true,’” he said.

According to the FBI agent’s affidavit used in the criminal complaint against Holmes, the young CFO completely fabricated a Bank of America account statement showing $59 million that did not exist.

Richard Staropoli investigated bank fraud cases for years as a Secret Service agent, then went on to serve as chief information officer and head of risk for the international hedge fund Fortress Investment Group. Staropoli told RCP that the California housing department should have performed basic due diligence practices to verify the bank accounts Shangri-La claimed to have, and the exact amounts in them.

“Are you kidding me?” Staropoli said in reaction to the FBI’s investigative findings in the Holmes case. “Are you telling me that at this level of the amounts of money that’s involved here, nobody’s checking this? This just speaks to the incredibly poor practices of California’s housing authorities.”

In early January, Essayli warned that more arrests are coming after finding “massive” fraud in California’s homeless services.

In mid-January, police arrested Alexander Soofer, who allegedly used millions of taxpayer dollars slated to house and feed hundreds of homeless to purchase a $7 million mansion in Westwood, pay for private jet travel, lavish spending at luxury resorts across the United States, a vacation property in Greece, his children’s private school tuition, and a $125,000 Range Rover.

Soofer is also accused of feeding 600 homeless people—which his organization, Abundant Blessings, housed—Ramen noodles, canned beans, and breakfast bars instead of the three healthy meals a day the contract required.

“California is the poster child of rampant fraud, waste, and abuse of tax dollars,” Essayli said, referring to the more than $24 billion the state has spent on fraud without demonstrating any impact from the investment. “The state has facilitated the spending of billions of dollars to combat homelessness, with little to show for it and almost no oversight.”

“Thankfully, the federal government has begun auditing California’s spending, and today’s is just one example of how fraudsters have swindled millions of dollars from taxpayers,” he added. “This money should have gone to those in need, instead it lines the pockets of individuals subsidizing their lavish lifestyle.”

In a testy email exchange last week, Essayli labeled Newsom the “king of fraud” for failing to provide basic oversight measures to protect taxpayer funds and blasted him for claiming the homeless fraud isn’t his fault.

Newsom’s press office, responding to a conservative influencer blasting the governor over homeless fraud after Essayli’s indictments against Soofer, denied any culpability.

“TOTALLY FALSE to imply the Governor was responsible for this fraud! Fraud is unacceptable—and unlike Donald Trump, who pardons fraudsters, Newsom demands anyone who steals taxpayer dollars be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

“WRONG,” Essayli responded in an X post. “You and the California legislature facilitated this fraud by handing out billions in tax dollars to these nonprofits with zero vetting and zero state oversight.”

Billionaire Bing’s Ties to Shangri-La Industries

Shangri-La Industries—the firm ensnared in the homeless fraud scandal—originally was created by billionaire entertainment mogul Steve Bing, a Democratic Party mega-donor, film and music producer, and the grandson of Manhattan real estate developer Leo Bing.

At 18, Bing inherited a $600 million fortune from his father, then dropped out of Stanford University in his junior year to move to Hollywood and produce and invest in movies. Along the way, he also fathered British actress and model Elizabeth Hurley’s son Damian in 2002.

Bing gave at least $50 million to candidates and California ballot measures over two decades, including Newsom, former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who is running for governor, Sen. Alex Padilla, as well as Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Al Gore, and Nancy Pelosi. He formed Shangri-La Entertainment, Shangri-La Music, and Shangri-La Construction, which later became Shangri-La Industries. Besides the $2.5 million Shangri-La Industries paid to Bill Clinton in 2009 and 2010, according to Forbes magazine, Bing also gave between $10 million and $25 million to the William J. Clinton Foundation in 2008.

Bing’s death is still shrouded in mystery. When the 55-year-old jumped to his death from the 27th floor of a luxury apartment building in Century City, he was nearly broke with only $300,000 in assets. Friends suggested he was depressed because of a lack of contact with people during the COVID lockdowns, but the true reason remains unknown.

Bing’s daughter, Kira Kerkorian, in a lawsuit filed against Abdul-Wahab, alleged that Bing sold Shangri-La Construction to him in 2017, but accused Bing of never paying the agreed-upon amount. The lawsuit, however, was dismissed without prejudice, meaning that a judge terminated it, but Kira Kerkorian could decide to amend it and refile.

So far, Kerkorian hasn’t refiled. She was essentially disowned and disinherited by two fathers. Her mother, former tennis pro Lisa Bonder, was married to casino and media mogul Kirk Kerkorian, who was 48 years her senior, for only 28 days in 1999. When Bonder became pregnant, she insisted Kerkorian was the father and secured a $100,000-per- month child support agreement and established a $7 million trust for Kira.

But private detective Anthony Pellicano swiped a piece of dental floss used by Bing, a former boyfriend of Bonder, proving through DNA testing that Bing was Kira’s father. Kira was left with $8.5 million when Kerkorian died in 2015 at age 98.

One day after Bing died, Shangri-La Construction’s Instagram account eulogized Bing in a post titled, “With Heavy Hearts We Remember: Steve Bing.”

“Endlessly generous and passionate about the people and causes he loved, he was truly a rolling stone—he belonged to nobody, but he gave a piece of himself to everyone and everything he crossed.” The post also promised that Shangri-La Industries would “never forget his passion for helping people,” and promised to “continue to advance this mission every day.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/newsom-wont-cut-ties-homeless-fraudster-firm

Cruel comment from his mom that haunted Gavin Newsom

 Gavin Newsom has revealed his mother “cruelly” told him it was “ok to be average” one night as he struggled with severe dyslexia.

Newsom writes in his upcoming memoir his mom Tessa Menzies made the comment in frustration because a young Newsom couldn’t complete his homework.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom writes in his upcoming memoir about his mom Tessa Menzies, who he helped die by suicide before assissted dying was legal in the state of California.X / @GavinNewsom

The 58-year-old wannabe president writes in “Young Man in a Hurry” her comments were supposed to be a “consolation” but they have haunted him ever since.

“I don’t recall crueler words ever said about me,” he writes, according to Politico.

The California governor writes he could barely read or write as a child, cheated on schoolwork using CliffsNotes, and was expelled from elementary school.

Newsom admitted he still struggles with prepared speeches and says his polished image is his ”coping mechanism” rather than just confidence.

Meanwhile, Newsom said he helped administer a fatal dose of morphine to his mother when assisted suicide was illegal — another memory that haunts him to this day.  

Newsom also reveals that following his mother’s yearslong battle with breast cancer, he helped Tessa illegally die by suicide in 2002. She was in her 50s when she decided to end her life.

Assisted suicide only became legal in California in 2016 when then-Governor Jerry Brown signed the End of Life Option Act. 

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Newsom’s memoir “Young Man in a Hurry” is out February 24, 2026.instagram/gavinnewsom

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Then-gubernatorial candidate Newsom and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom on election night, Nov. 6, 2018 in LA.Getty Images

Newsom writes the look on her face ”will never leave my mind.” 

“There was no peace that blanketed her,” Newsom wrote, according to Politico.

“She left me a message, because I was too busy: ‘Hope you’re well. Next Wednesday will be the last day for me. Hope you can make it.’ I saved the cassette with the message on it, that’s how sick I am,” adding that the night before he gave her the drugs his mother pushed him to get out of politics.

Newsom at the time was serving on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. A year after his mother’s death, he went on to become the city’s youngest elected mayor in a century.

The memoir, titled “Young Man in a Hurry,” is scheduled to be released on February 24.

It was more than five years in the making, according to Politico, and is filled with an introspective take on the likely presidential candidate’s personal life.

https://nypost.com/2026/02/01/us-news/gavin-newsom-haunted-by-cruel-comment-from-his-mom/

Study Adds Fuel to the Debate Over Cataract Surgery and Wet AMD

 

• There's been extensive debate over the risk of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) after cataract surgery.
• In a large retrospective cohort study, the risk of neovascular AMD was similar for patients who did and did not undergo cataract surgery.
• For patients with non-neovascular AMD, a decreased conversion risk was observed at 3 months.

Cataract surgery was not associated with neovascular ("wet") age-related macular degeneration (nAMD), even among patients with pre-existing cases of non-neovascular ("dry") AMD, according to a large retrospective cohort study.

Among two matched groups of more than 122,000 patients, the risk of nAMD was 0.90% at 24 months for patients who underwent cataract surgery compared with 0.79% in control patients (risk ratio [RR] 1.14, 95% CI 1.04-1.24), reported Sumit Sharma, MD, of the Cole Eye Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues in a research letter in JAMA Ophthalmology.

"The 95% confidence interval remained within the predefined nonsignificance range, suggesting that the risk ratio was likely a statistical variability rather than a true outcome," they wrote.

For patients with non-neovascular AMD, a decreased conversion risk was observed at 3 months (RR 0.71, 95% CI 0.56-0.89), "but this decline did not persist at subsequent time points," the authors noted.

Co-author Victor Bellanda, MD, also of the Cole Eye Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, told MedPage Today that the findings "reinforce that earlier concerns about surgery accelerating AMD progression are likely overstated, particularly when weighed against the visual and quality-of-life benefits cataract surgery can provide."

As he explained, there's been extensive debate over the likelihood of nAMD after cataract surgery, with some studies suggesting a higher risk.

"One theory was that removing the natural crystalline lens increases retinal exposure to blue and ultraviolet light, accelerating phototoxic damage to the retinal pigment epithelium," he explained. "Another hypothesis focused on postoperative inflammation. Cataract surgery induces a transient inflammatory response, and this could create a proangiogenic microenvironment, facilitating VEGF signaling and choroidal neovascularization in susceptible eyes."

More recent research has suggested there's no excess risk. Still, "some degree of uncertainty has persisted, especially when counseling older patients with AMD whose potential visual gains from cataract surgery may be limited," Bellanda said.

The findings of the current study aren't surprising, he added, but they are notable since they're based on "a large, contemporary, real-world dataset."

"Clinicians should still individualize decisions based on the clinical context and goals of each patient," he noted. "But concerns about triggering neovascular AMD should not, by themselves, be a major deterrent to recommending cataract surgery. For many patients with AMD, removing a visually significant cataract may still improve contrast sensitivity, brightness, and overall quality of life, even if perfect visual acuity isn't achievable."

Bellanda pointed out that the study didn't examine progression to geographic atrophy (GA), "in part because coding practices for GA have not been consistent over time."

Also, he said, "an area that still needs clarity is whether surgical timing matters for specific subgroups of patients with AMD. For example, it is unclear whether cataract surgery performed at certain stages of AMD or soon after starting anti-VEGF therapy for neovascular AMD alters visual outcomes."

Matt R. Starr, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who was not involved in the study, told MedPage Today that the findings make sense since "most robust prior evidence has also shown no association" between cataract surgery and excess nAMD risk.

"If there is any remaining uncertainty on removing cataracts in patients with AMD, this article should help reduce those concerns," he said. "I agree with the authors that patients with advanced cataracts and underlying AMD can still see vision improvement."

"If patients do develop wet AMD, current treatments are vastly improved from prior eras, and patients have far superior vision benefits," he added. "If patients have concomitant nAMD and cataracts, they also do well from a vision standpoint barring any underlying outer retinal atrophy."

For this study, Sharma and team used 2006-2025 data from the TriNetX electronic health record database for matched groups of 122,384 patients (mean age 70.9, 58.4% women). The subgroup of patients with pre-existing dry AMD included 14,049 matched patients per group.

The authors noted limitations to their study, such as their dependence on ICD code accuracy.

Disclosures

The study was supported by the Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative of Northern Ohio.

Sharma reported receiving personal fees from Alimera, AbbVie, Apellis, Bausch + Lomb, Clearside, EyePoint, Genentech/Roche, Iveric Bio, Kodiak, Regeneron, RegenXBio, Ripple, Volk, and Zeiss, and research funding from Acelyrin, Gilead, Genentech/Roche, Santen, Ionis, and Kodiak.

Bellanda had no disclosures.

A co-author reported relationships with Regeneron, EyePoint, Bausch + Lomb, Eyevensys, Adverum, and Zeiss.

Starr disclosed relationships with Genentech, AbbVie, Allergan, EyePoint, Gyroscope, Regeneron, and Long Bridge Medical.

Primary Source

JAMA Ophthalmology

Source Reference: Bellanda V, et al "Relative risk of neovascular age-related macular degeneration following cataract surgery" JAMA Ophthalmol 2026; DOI: 10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2025.6048.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/ophthalmology/generalophthalmology/119751

Align Technology posts Q4 2025 results that beat expectations

, with record revenue of $1.05B and non-GAAP EPS of $3.29, full-year 2025 revenue of $4.0B, and guides Q1 2026 revenue to $1.01-$1.03B.

https://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=ALGN&p=d

'European corporate outlook improves, but earnings overall expected to fall'

 The outlook for European corporate health has improved, the latest forecasts, based ​on LSEG I/B/E/S data, showed on Thursday, even as ‌investors assessed a mixed bag of earnings in Europe and as world stocks ‌extended a losing streak.

European companies are expected to report a 3.1% drop in 2025 fourth-quarter earnings, on average, according to LSEG I/B/E/S data, slightly better than ‌the 3.9% decrease analysts expected a ⁠week ago.

That would still ‌be the worst earnings performance in the ‍past seven quarters, based on the LSEG data.

Even with ‍the gloomy outlook, out of the 52 companies in the STOXX 600 index that have reported to date, 73.1% reported results exceeding analyst ​estimates, the data showed, whereas in a typical quarter ‌54% beat analyst estimates.

The results were dominated this week by a tech stocks rout and Novo Nordisk's plunge on Wednesday, which wiped $50 billion off the weight-loss drugmaker's market capitalisation after it warned its sales and profits would fall in 2026.

Results next ⁠week from Ray-Ban-maker EssilorLuxottica, luxury group Hermes ​and beauty conglomerate L'Oreal could shed ​some light on how consumer- oriented European exporters are dealing with the current trade situation.

The outlook for ‍revenues at STOXX ⁠600 companies has also improved and they are now expected to fall by 3.2% compared with the same quarter ⁠last year, a slightly smaller drop than last week's expectation of a ‌3.5% slump, the LSEG report showed.

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/european-corporate-outlook-improves-earnings-181204802.html

Trump: We need new nuclear pact to replace New START

 United States President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday to say that Washington should not extend the "badly negotiated" New START Treaty with Russia, but rather work on a new nuclear treaty.

"Rather than extend 'NEW START' (A badly negotiated deal by the United States that, aside from everything else, is being grossly violated), we should have our Nuclear Experts work on a new, improved, and modernized Treaty that can last long into the future," Trump wrote.

The New START, a treaty on the reduction and limitation of strategic nuclear weapons signed between the US and Russia in 2010, expired today after the two sides failed to reach an agreement to extend it. Moscow has said that it plans to continue to comply with some of its requirements of the pact for another year. Meanwhile, media reports suggested that the US and Russia have been negotiating in Abu Dhabi to extend the truce.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Trump:-We-need-new-nuclear-pact-to-replace-New-START/65617753