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After months of escalating violence along Israel's northern border with Lebanon, the UN chief warned on Friday that "the risk of conflict in the Middle East widening is real – and must be avoided."Speaking to reporters in New York, the leader, Secretary-General António Guterres, said that “a reckless move” by Israel or Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese group that targets Israel in alliance with fighters Hamas in Gaza could trigger a "catastrophe that will spread." well beyond the pale and, frankly, beyond imagination.”World leaders have been trying for months to calm tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, trying to prevent a real war. But instead of quelling the conflict, cross-border attacks and counterattacks have become more intense – and rhetoric from leaders on both sides has ...

It can take years before generic drug makers are ready to produce a drug, and they need to have an idea of ​​the potential market to commit to investing in production. So in the meantime, Gilead will aim to ship “sufficient volumes” of lenacapavir to low-income countries as soon as it wins regulatory approval, he said.Lenacapavir and the two pills studied are all known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, drugs. Another effective injectable PrEP drug is available in some African countries, but its introduction has been plagued by access problems. Long-acting cabotegravir, which is given by injection every two months, has also shown excellent results in clinical trials in Africa. It is produced by ViiV Healthcare, majority-owned by pharmaceutical giant GSK; the company charges $180 pe...

His ominous warnings, at the end of a two-day trip to North Korea and Vietnam, placed Russia and the West in a new phase of escalation over Ukraine. They come against a backdrop of distraction and political uncertainty among Kiev's core supporters, with potentially game-changing elections on the horizon in the United States and France.In addition to using nuclear weapons or causing further destruction on the battlefield in Ukraine, the Russian leader is trying to demonstrate that he can pressure and antagonize the West in other ways and in other places.“I fear that we are in a bad spiral, that politicians have the illusion of control,” said Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. “The truly dangerous part of what is happening is that Russia is ready to act a...

Thousands of auto dealerships across the United States and Canada are experiencing disruptions to their businesses due to cyber attacks against a provider of critical software and data services used in auto retailing.The provider, CDK Global, said it was targeted in two attacks on Wednesday, prompting the company to shut down its systems to prevent the loss of customer data and to allow testing and other measures to restore its services.“We are evaluating the impact and providing regular updates to our customers,” CDK Global said in a statement. “We remain vigilant in our efforts to restore our services and return our retailers to normal operations as quickly as possible.”CDK provides services to more than 15,000 stores. Its dealer management systems store customer records and automate m...

The Israeli military said on Friday it had struck a missile launch site belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group that had been embedded in a shelter for displaced people in a "humanitarian zone" in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. The claim could not be independently verified, but armed groups have used Gazans as human shields by storing weapons and firing rockets from civilian areas. Residents in the area could not immediately be reached. The army said on Friday that before the attack "various measures were taken to mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians".Israel says it is careful to avoid killing civilians, even as it deals with Hamas's tactic of operating in civilian centers. Gaza authorities dispute that claim, and the death toll in the enclave has soared. Health auth...

When PBMs are overburdened, they can increase costs for patients, not just employers and government programs like Medicare.The country's most popular Medicare drug plan, SilverScript Choice, covered nearly 3 million Medicare beneficiaries last year. Caremark is its PBM and it overcharges.Caremark uses Medicare money to pay pharmacies, including its own, about $2,000 a month for a generic blood cancer drug, imatinib, according to a pricing tool on the SilverScript plan website. Because the payment is so high, the out-of-pocket cost for Medicare patients is also high: $664 in most months.That's more than 10 times the selling price of imatinib – often less than $50 – at online pharmacies when patients forgo insurance and pay with their own money.For patients, the situation amounts t...

Edi Rama's best friend during the summer of the 1982 World Cup was the only person he knew who owned a color television. So, every evening, Rama found himself crammed into his kitchen with countless others, desperately hoping that the fuzzy, flickering signal would hold.Then Albania was an island, under the repressive and conspiratorial government of Enver Hoxha. Foreign travel was banned for all but a few industry insiders. Communication with the outside world, particularly the West, was also limited. Rama and his friends were only able to follow that World Cup through what he later called a "dark web" run by RAI, the Italian state broadcaster.In a recent interview with Tuttosport, he said he still remembers that month fondly. Italy was Albania's avatar for the tournament; t...

Listen and follow 'Hard Fork'Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YoutubeThe Surgeon General calls for warning labels on social media platforms: should Congress like his proposal? Then, former Stanford researcher Renée DiResta joins us to talk about her new book on modern propaganda and whether we're losing the war against disinformation. And finally, Times reporter David Yaffe-Bellany stops by to tell us how cryptocurrencies could reshape the 2024 election.Credits“Hard Fork” is hosted by Kevin Roose AND Casey Newton and produced by Davis Land AND Rachel Cohn. The show is edited by Poyant only. Engineering by Alyssa Moxley and original music by Dan Powell, Elisheba Ittoop, Marion Lozano, Sofia Lanmann AND Rowan Niemisto Fact checking by Caitlin Love.Special thanks to Paula Szuchma...

He is an Egyptian tycoon little known outside the region.Tycoon Ibrahim al-Organi, president of Organi Group, oversees a vast network of companies involved in the construction, real estate and security sectors. He maintains close ties with senior Egyptian officials, according to three people who followed the report and who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect their work in the region.But it is Hala – a company that Organi Group has listed as one of its own – that is getting the most attention. Hala has emerged as a lifeline for Palestinians trying to flee war-torn Gaza, but it has also been accused of squeezing desperate people with exorbitant fees. In an interview this month, Mr. Organi spoke at length and in detail about Hala's activities, although he said that his role in t...

When U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy announced Monday that he intended to push for a mental health warning label on social media platforms, he was met with applause from many parents and teachers, who described a long and lonely fight to break children from a habit that hurt them.It drew, however, a colder reaction from some scientists who study the relationship between social media and mental health. In interviews, several researchers said that the general warning offered by Dr. Murthy – “social media is associated with significant harm to adolescent mental health” – extends and oversimplifies the scientific evidence.For many years, researchers have been trying to determine whether the amount of time a child spent on social media contributes to poorer mental health, and "the result...