Wednesday, August 12, 2026
Houthis kill three Pakistanis in attack on commercial vessel, Pakistan FM says
Three Pakistani nationals were killed and another was injured in a Houthi attack on a commercial vessel in the Red Sea, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Wednesday.
Dar condemned the attack, saying it endangered civilian lives and threatened maritime security and freedom of navigation.
He said Pakistan was coordinating with Saudi authorities and Yemen’s internationally recognized government to establish further details and repatriate the bodies. Pakistan’s embassy in Riyadh was also working to assist the injured national.
I have learnt with deep concern about the unfortunate incident involving an attack on a commercial vessel in the Red Sea. According to the information available so far, three Pakistani nationals have lost their lives and one has sustained injuries in the incident. We extend our…
— Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) August 12, 2026
'No Iran-US talks on ceasefire extension - Reuters'
Iran and the US did not discuss extending their ceasefire because Tehran does not consider the agreement to have a start date, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday.
From Iran's perspective, there was therefore "nothing to extend," the official said.
The source said the US had violated an interim pact 48 hours after it was reached and withdrew from it a few days later.
One issue under discussion was what the source called “the US return” to a memorandum of understanding and setting a timeframe for Washington to carry out its commitments.
Why is Neurocrine Biosciences stock down
Neurocrine Biosciences stock fell 3.1% in pre-open trading to reach $156.85, extending a corrective trend that took hold after three organizations flagged safety concerns tied to the company’s Prader-Willi syndrome treatment, Vykat XR.
The groups issued a joint statement pointing to post-marketing safety data showing seven patient deaths and more than 100 reports of serious adverse events since the drug’s approval in March 2025. They stopped short of asserting the drug caused the outcomes, noting the reports do not establish a causal relationship.
An FDA database lists four deaths associated with the medication.
Vykat XR treats hyperphagia, the chronic, insatiable hunger that characterizes Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare genetic disorder linked to missing or altered genetic material on chromosome 15 that disrupts normal gene regulation.
Neurocrine picked up the drug through its $2.9 billion acquisition of Soleno Therapeutics earlier this year.
A cluster of analyst upgrades in early August — including price-target increases from Wedbush, Canaccord, Citi, and a Buy reaffirmation from J.P. Morgan as recently as August 7 — helped the stock partially recover from the post-earnings lows, but no new analyst actions or corporate announcements have emerged today to provide fresh upside momentum.
Additionally, management’s acknowledgment that Medicare’s Inflation Reduction Act could create pricing pressure on INGREZZA between 2027 and 2029, without quantifying the potential impact, has left a key risk argument unresolved in investors’ minds.
Adagene reports six-month 2026 results with $127.9M cash runway into late 2028
- Lead CTLA-4 SAFEbody muzastotug progressing in randomized Phase 2 MSS colorectal cancer study, with additional global combination trials.
In Minn., Disaster Averted
by John Hinderaker
There have been lots of bizarre primary results around the country–mostly on the Democrat side, to be fair–but it looks like here in Minnesota, reason has prevailed.
Lisa Demuth, the Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, has been called as the winner of the Republican primary for governor. Results here. This is notable because Mike Lindell, the My Pillow guy, was also in the race, and he was endorsed by Donald Trump. Trump’s endorsement was, frankly, idiotic. Lindell hadn’t the faintest qualifications to be governor, and if he had gotten the nomination, he would have been crushed by Amy Klobuchar, something like 80% to 20%. Lindell led in some polls, but I never believed that he had a serious chance, in part because I know hundreds of people who voted in the Republican primary, and I don’t know anyone who voted for Lindell.
Lisa Demuth, on the other hand, has a realistic chance to win, and at a minimum, won’t drag down the rest of the ticket. It is worth noting that Minnesota does not have partisan registration, so Democrats could have crossed over to vote for Lindell. They didn’t do so in significant numbers, because there was an important race on the DFL side, about which more in a moment.
The other major primary was for an open U.S. Senate seat. On the Republican side, my friend Michele Tafoya won a resounding victory. She is an outstanding candidate, smart, articulate, disciplined, hardworking and solidly conservative. With Lisa Demuth and Michele Tafoya, Minnesota Republicans will have stronger candidates at the top of the ticket than at any time since the days of Tim Pawlenty and Norm Coleman.
On the Democrat side, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan and Congresswoman Angie Craig contended for the Senate nomination. Flanagan is hard left, while Craig is hard left pretending, until now, to be a moderate because she represents a swing district–mine. Craig attacked Flanagan from the left throughout the campaign, but it didn’t work. Al Franken, Tina Smith, Bernie Sanders, Ilhan Omar and other far-left luminaries backed Flanagan, and we all know where Democratic primary voters are this year. They went for Flanagan, something like 59% to 40%.
This is good for Republicans because Flanagan is a poor candidate. She is almost a parody of a far-left politician and unlikeable to boot, and as Tim Walz’s Lieutenant Governor she can’t escape the fraud scandals that have engulfed our state. I think there is a strong likelihood that Michele Tafoya, a vastly more talented candidate, will beat her.
And if that seat flips, there is no way Democrats can take control of the Senate. Which means that Tafoya will attract serious national money. Republicans are always outspent in Minnesota, usually somewhere between three to one and seven to one, because lots of money flows into DFL coffers from rich liberals who live in other states. If Tafoya achieves something approaching financial parity, say being outspent only two to one, she will win and Republicans will hold the Senate.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/08/disaster-averted.php
Swedish PM Calls Spanish Illegal Immigrant Amnesty 'Very Bad Idea'
by Guy Birchall via The Epoch Times,
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has called the Spanish government's amnesty for illegal immigrants a "very bad idea," warning that it could spark another migrant crisis akin to the one that beset the continent in 2015.
The center-right politician, who is running for reelection next month, told the Financial Times in an interview published on Aug. 11 that the Spanish amnesty for more than a million illegal immigrants had caused a "pretty big outcry" at the last summit of EU leaders.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's government granted a royal decree on April 14, launching the regularization of people living illegally in the country.
The proposal was first presented on Jan. 27 to allow about 500,000 illegal immigrants already living and working in Spain to obtain legal status through an accelerated process. According to figures from the Spanish government, almost 1.2 million applications for regularization were received.
The move was controversial, but the migrant surge in Ceuta, a Spanish exclave on the North African side of the Mediterranean at the end of July, compounded concerns.
Kristersson said a knock-on effect from Madrid's move could pose a serious threat to the European Union's free movement zone, known as the Schengen Area.
"It symbolizes that we still have to be very, very careful not to act in a way that could even come close to what happened in 2015," Kristersson said. "I think Spain got the message ... but it shows the vulnerability."
He said he had told Sánchez that he disapproved of the move.
"Having [the amnesty] also creates a possibility for you to use European territory. That is specifically damaging for us because we know from experience that many people coming to Europe prefer to go north. Exactly that happened in 2015," Kristersson said.
"It is not the time to get relaxed on this ... there is a huge majority in Sweden saying they cannot go back to an uncontrolled situation. ... Doing things that could jeopardize a stable situation would be a very bad idea."
In 2015, 1.3 million people, mostly fleeing war in Syria and Iraq, sought refuge in Europe, causing the EU's asylum system to collapse; reception centers were overwhelmed in Greece and Italy, with countries further north erecting barriers to stop illegal immigrants from entering.
The unprecedented influx into Ceuta began on July 30, when an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 people entered the exclave from Morocco by land and sea. Many swam around a border breakwater after social media posts claimed that Spain had opened its border.
More than 80 people died on both sides of the border, according to figures released by Spanish and Moroccan authorities. Some drowned while attempting to swim to Ceuta, while others were crushed or trampled during chaotic efforts to climb a breakwater and border fence.
In the wake of that incident, multiple leaders around Europe issued sharp criticism of Sánchez's government, with Italy temporarily suspending its Schengen Area agreement with Spain.
The one-month suspension of border-free travel between Italy and Spain was announced on July 31 by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Deputy Prime Ministers Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini, who described the move as necessary for security.
France, which shares a land border with the Spanish mainland, also announced an intensification of controls along the border.
Italy's move was supported by a number of EU member states, including Finland, Denmark, and the Czech Republic, with the governments of all three saying that Brussels should consider closing the Schengen Area to Spain.
On Aug. 4, EU interior ministers called for stronger borders, faster returns, and expanded efforts to dismantle migrant-smuggling networks as a result of the Ceuta surge.
Kristersson faces an election on Sept. 13, having led the Scandinavian nation since 2022 as head of a coalition comprising his Moderate Party, the Christian Democrats, and the Liberals with additional support from the Sweden Democrats.
Swedish polling company Novus's poll of 5,726 eligible voters, conducted 6-9 July, gave the Social Democrats 32 percent, the Sweden Democrats 20 percent, and Moderates 17 percent.
Sweden tightened its previously liberal immigration and citizenship policies earlier this year because of the vast numbers of immigrants it has taken in over the past two decades.
In November, Stockholm launched an inquiry to investigate "parallel social structures" that had emerged in the country.
Swedish Minister for Education and Integration Simona Mohamsson said in a statement at the time that these structures, consisting of "clans and family-based networks," undermine "the rule of law, threaten democracy, and hamper integration."
"It is unacceptable that people in Sweden live under social control, are subjected to honour-based violence and oppression or are prevented from fully participating in society," she said. "With this inquiry, we are taking an important step towards addressing these problems."
The inquiry's report is due to be presented on Aug. 20.
In June, the Swedish parliament passed a law allowing authorities to revoke residence permits from immigrants for "not behaving properly," the latest in a series of moves breaking away from the country's once-liberal immigration system.
Residency permits can now be revoked for conduct including unpaid debts, undeclared work, organizing begging, and more, even where the behavior falls short of a criminal conviction.