(WASHINGTON) — Americans can now choose which gender is displayed on their passports, no longer needing medical certification if their preference contradicts supporting documents such as birth certificates, the State Department announced Wednesday.
“Today, I am pleased to announce that the Department will be taking further steps toward ensuring the fair treatment of LGBTQI+ U.S. citizens, regardless of their gender or sex, by beginning the process of updating our procedures for the issuance of U.S. Passports and Consular Reports of Birth Abroad (CRBA),” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
While the most immediate change will be allowing applicants to self-identify as either “M” or “F,” the two current options on forms, the department is working to add a third gender marker for “non-binary, intersex, and gender non-conforming persons,” applying for passports or CRBAs. That step will take more time.
Today we are taking important steps toward ensuring the fair treatment of LGBTQI+ U.S. citizens. https://t.co/tfNnTUQmsp
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) June 30, 2021
“The process of adding a gender marker for non-binary, intersex, and gender non-conforming persons to these documents is technologically complex and will take time for extensive systems updates,” Blinken said.
The State Department “cannot provide an exact timeline” for when the new gender marker might be available, according to its website.
President Joe Biden promised these changes during his 2020 campaign. “Transgender and non-binary people without identification documents that accurately reflect their gender identity are often exposed to harassment and violence and denied employment, housing, critical public benefits, and even the right to vote,” his website said.
Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, deputy executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, praised the move.
“Having accurate passports and consistent ID is critical to daily life,” Heng-Lehtinen said in a statement. “It’s necessary for travel, banking, starting a new job and school. Inaccurate IDs open transgender people up to harassment and discrimination. Reforming US passports is a common-sense way to improve the lives of transgender people.”
The new State Department policy takes cues from other countries, according to Blinken.
“In line with the Administration’s commitment to re-engage with allies and partners, the Department is taking these steps after considerable consultation with like-minded governments who have undertaken similar changes,” Blinken said.
The secretary, who last week had the “Progress” flag raised outside his department’s building in Washington, D.C., said he would let engagement with the LGBTQI+ community “inform our approach and positions moving forward.”
“With this action, I express our enduring commitment to the LGBTQI+ community today and moving forward,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — Walmart announced it is launching its own private brand of insulin, which the big box chain says will save customers with diabetes up to 75% on the lifesaving drug.
Walmart’s ReliOn brand will sell private label NovoLog short-acting insulin that is manufactured by the pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk.
The analog insulin vials and pens will save customers between 58% to 75% off the cash price of branded insulin products, or up to $101 per vial or $251 per package of “FlexPens,” the retailer said.
The medication will be available in Walmart pharmacies starting this week, and Sam’s Club pharmacies beginning in mid-July.
“We know many people with diabetes struggle to manage the financial burden of this condition, and we are focused on helping by providing affordable solutions,” Dr. Cheryl Pegus, the executive vice president of Walmart Health and Wellness, said in a statement Tuesday. “We also know this is a condition that disproportionately impacts underserved populations.”
Pegus said Walmart’s new insulin offerings are part of their commitment to improve access and lower the cost of care.
The medical costs for patients with diabetes can be an estimated $9,601 per year, according to the American Diabetes Association. On average, the advocacy group says people diagnosed with diabetes have medical expenditures approximately 2.3 times higher than what expenditures would be in the absence of diabetes.
“We welcome all affordable solutions that make diabetes management more accessible to millions of Americans living with diabetes,” Tracey D. Brown, the chief executive officer of the American Diabetes Association, said in a statement accompanying Walmart’s announcement. “We encourage everyone to ask their health care provider questions to better understand what the right and affordable treatment is for their unique medical needs.”
The price of insulin in the U.S. has spiked significantly over the past decade, and remains dramatically higher than in most other developed countries. The average gross manufacturer price for a standard unit of insulin in 2018 in the U.S. was more than 10 times the price compared to the same sample from 32 foreign countries that are part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, according to a 2020 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report. The average U.S. price was $98.70, compared to $8.81 in the 32 non-U.S. OECD countries.
Despite years of advocacy for policy changes to keep the cost of the drug low, Americans living with diabetes have seen little reprieve from federal lawmakers to address the skyrocketing prices.
(NEW YORK) — With berries being a staple fruit of the summer, check your fridge to make sure your container of Dole fresh blueberries is safe to eat.
Dole Diversified North America, Inc. has voluntarilly recalled a limited number of cases of its blueberries due to potential Cyclospora contamination.
The impacted products were packaged in a variety of plastic clamshell container sizes and distributed in four U.S. states — Illinois, Maine, New York and Wisconsin — and two Canadian provinces: Alberta and British Columbia.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has advised consumers to check any Dole fresh blueberry products in their homes and discard those matching the production description, UPC codes or product lot codes it has listed.
Check here for a full list of UPC codes, where to find the printed product lot code on the label and more.
“Cyclosporiasis is an intestinal infection caused by the Cyclospora parasite. A person may become infected after ingesting contaminated food or water,” the FDA said. “Common symptoms include severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, body aches and fatigue. The infection is treated with antibiotics and most people respond quickly to treatment.”
At the time of publishing, there have been no illnesses reported in association with the recall. No other Dole products have reportedly been affected.
(MOSCOW) — Russia’s President Vladimir Putin used his annual marathon call-in show to try to persuade Russians to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, as the country faces a devastating third wave of the epidemic.
The show is a fixture of Putin’s two-decade rule and sees him take dozens of questions from ordinary citizens over around three hours while sitting on stage in front of phone banks where volunteers field calls.
Besides big questions of the day — around the economy or relations with Western countries — Putin also takes appeals from Russians asking him to help with local problems, down to fixing the pot-holed road in their town.
The heavily promoted and carefully choreographed show allows Putin to present himself as a leader in touch with even the smallest, everyday concerns of his people and able to solve any problem. After a question is put to Putin, local officials will usually scramble to fix the issue, making getting an appeal onto the show akin to winning the lottery.
Russian state television said around 2 million questions were sent in for Putin, who was on air for nearly four hours Wednesday.
Here are some of the key moments.
‘The only way to overcome the epidemic is with the help of vaccination’
A devastating third wave of the coronavirus pandemic is swamping Russia, left almost unchecked with few lockdown restrictions and a very slow pace of vaccination caused by widespread reluctance among Russians.
Only around 11% of Russians are currently fully vaccinated, and two-thirds are estimated to not want to get it. In the past two weeks, that has prompted Moscow and several other regions to introduce mandatory vaccinations for most public-facing workers — such as teachers and restaurant staff — making Russia the only country in the world to introduce large-scale obligatory vaccination.
Putin spent a significant part of the call urging Russians to get vaccinated, saying it was the way to avoid lockdowns. But while he said the mandatory vaccination in some regions was correct, he stopped short of giving his full-throated backing to the controversial decision, instead putting it on local authorities.
“I have said, as you know, that I don’t support mandatory vaccination. I continue to hold to that point of view,” Putin said. But he added it was necessary in some regions for it to be obligatory for “certain categories” of citizens to be vaccinated.
“It’s very well-known,” Putin said, “the only way to overcome the further spreading of the epidemic is with the help of vaccination.”
Throughout the pandemic, Putin has left announcing unpopular decisions, such as partial lockdowns, to regional authorities, which analysts say is to avoid taking backlash for them.
‘If I said I got the jab, that’s how it is’
Putin himself has faced criticism for refusing to say which of Russia’s three vaccines he has taken and, unusually, not releasing video of him getting vaccinated, even after he said he had received both shots early this year.
In the call-in, Putin for the first time said he received Russia’s primary vaccine, Sputnik V. He said he had hesitated between it and another Russian vaccine, EpiVacCorona made by the Siberian Vektor Institute, but opted for Sputnik V because it gave longer lasting immunity.
“I started from the basis that I need to be protected as long as possible, and so I took the decision for myself to get Sputnik V,” Putin said.
He said he briefly had a temperature of 37.2 Celsius overnight after getting the jab, but by morning it had passed.
Asked why he hadn’t shown himself getting the vaccine, Putin said he thought it wasn’t important.
“I hope that the majority of the citizens of country understand that if I said I got the jab, that’s how it is,” Putin said.
On confrontation with British warship near Crimea
Putin downplayed an incident last week where Russian fighter jets and ships confronted a British navy warship as it pointedly sailed through waters close to Crimea to demonstrate Western countries don’t recognize Russia’s occupation of the peninsula.
Putin called the incident a “provocation” from Britain and the United States, but dismissed a question asking if it had brought Russia close to World War III.
“Even if we had sunk that ship its difficult to imagine that the world would be on the edge of a third World War. Because those who are doing that know they won’t come out the winners in that war,” Putin said.
On social media platforms
Recently, Russia’s state censor threatened to block Twitter and other foreign social media platforms as the Kremlin has sought to bring Russia’s internet under tighter control amid a broader crackdown on dissent in the country.
Authorities have demanded the platforms remove “extremist” content — in reality often including calls to peacefully protest against Putin.
There has been growing speculation Russia might follow through in blocking platforms like Twitter, but in the call-in Putin said it did not plan to.
“We don’t intend to block anyone, but there are problems which consist in that they tell us to push off, when they don’t fulfil our demands and Russian laws,” Putin said.
He said foreign social media platforms must obey Russian laws to store data locally, saying to do otherwise was insulting to Russia.
‘Like the surface of Venus’
Putin made unusually strong warnings about the need to prepare for the impact of climate change on Russia. He frequently takes an ambiguous position on global warming, normally acknowledging it but also often questioning the role of humans in it, as might be expected from the ruler of a country reliant on exporting fossil fuels.
Asked by a viewer why “nature is going crazy,” Putin said the growing frequency of extreme weather was the result not just of humans but of “global processes.” He said humans must minimize their impact or “there might be irreversibly consequences.”
“Which might lead our planet to the state of Venus, where temperatures on the surface reach 500 degrees,” Putin said.
He noted that 70% of Russia’s territory was located in northern regions, large swathes of which are permafrost.
“If all that will melt, it will lead to very serious social and economic consequences. And we must, of course, be ready for that,” Putin said.
He said Russia will fulfil all its obligations to the Paris Climate Accord and that its government had prepared a strategy for handling the impact of climate change on key sectors of Russia’s economy.
‘Petitioning the tsar’
The call-in show plays heavily on an old trope in Russia of petitioning the tsar, where ordinary people plead with Putin to solve their local problems, from settling employment disputes to poor gas supplies.
Putin usually promises to look into the issues and local officials jump into action, with the implicit threat that those who fail to will face punishment. It creates the impression of Putin as a benevolent but severe ruler, dispensing justice and righting the wrongs of lower-level officials if only he can be reached.
Elena Kalinina from the Siberian region of Kemerovo appealed to Putin for help getting the crumbling roof of her grandson’s school repaired. She said after she sent her appeal, local education officials threatened her to withdraw it.
Putin promised the woman the school would be included in a renovation program and said, menacingly, “those who are threatening you would be better looking at their own problems.”
Kemerovo’s governor within hours ordered local officials to look into the state of the school’s roof and to find out who had threatened Kalinina.
The show is an attempt to portray Putin as “tsar of the Russias, defender of the nation, masterful chief exec with all the facts at his fingertips and stern and loving father of his people,” Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russian politics and an associate fellow at the Royal United Service Institute, wrote on Twitter before the show.
On his potential successor
Putin last year changed Russia’s constitution to allow him to potentially remain in office until at least 2036, having already been president for four terms. Although the move was partly aimed at heading off possible succession fights, speculation over how Putin might handle his eventual exit from power hasn’t gone away.
One caller asked Putin if there was anyone he trusted to handover power to.
“On the one hand, there are no sacred places and there are no irreplaceable people,” Putin answered. “On the other hand, of course, my responsibility consists in giving recommendations to those people who will pretend to the position of the president. Of course, when the time comes, I will be able to say who, in my opinion, is worthy to head Russia.”
(WASHINGTON) — In the midst of a historic heatwave creating prime conditions for a historic wildfire season, President Joe Biden announced Wednesday he plans to raise the federal firefighter pay to at least $15 an hour and offer new retention incentives amid turnover, as the White House seeks to boost its wildfire preparedness.
“Because of climate change, wildland firefighting is no longer a seasonal endeavor,” said a fact sheet from the White House.
Biden discussed the plans on Wednesday while meeting virtually with governors from Western states, Cabinet officials and partners from the private sector to discuss wildfire preparedness.
He began by invoking the devastating images from last year.
“We’re remembering the horrific scenes from last year. Orange skies that looked like End of Days, smoke and ash that made the air dangerous to breathe, more than 10 million acres burned, billions of dollars in economic damage, families that lost their homes and everything they own. And too many, too many lost lives,” Biden said.
And with that stark remembrance, Biden noted that this year is already threatening to be worse and argued that climate change shouldn’t be a partisan issue.
“And this year, we — they could be even tougher based on the weather patterns. You know, California and some other places, the drought conditions are twice … what they were last year.”
He noted that there are more than 9,000 firefighters already deployed across the Western U.S., and it’s only June.
The president also addressed head-on those who are dealing with historic highs this week, calling for people to take care of one another.
“I want to note that the extreme heat we’re seeing in the west is not only a risk amplifier for wildfires, it’s a threat in and of itself. People are hurting. It’s more dangerous for kids to play outside. Roads are buckling under the heat. Again, I need not tell all of you: We need people to check on their neighbors especially seniors who may need a helping hand,” he said.
The meeting and policy move came after Biden expressed his dismay at the federal wage while visiting the Federal Emergency Management Agency last week.
“I just realized — I didn’t realize this, I have to admit – that federal firefighters get paid $13 an hour. That’s going to end in my administration. That’s a ridiculously low salary to pay federal firefighters,” he said at the time.
The sentiment was echoed by an administration official previewing Biden’s plan on a call Tuesday night.
The official said that, for this year, federal firefighters’ pay raise will come in the form of “provisional bonuses” and that permanent firefighters working on the front lines will receive up to a 10% retention incentive. Temporary workers can also qualify to receive some incentive pay.
The administration also plans to extend seasonal hiring of firefighters, hire more firefighters and add surge capacity by training more federal employees and military service members to be prepared to support wildfire fighting efforts.
“The goal here this year, because we have had a very short runway in getting prepared, has been to find ways to address what we learned, which is that there is this challenge with respect to both recruitment and retention of firefighters that we need across the nation,” the official said.
The Biden White House is also announcing a series of actions to help fight fires and improve how the government responds in the short and long term.
“We’re going to work on additional measures with Congress to move beyond these short-term solutions to address, longer-term needs with respect to compensation and benefits, and work life balance reforms for federal wildlife, land, firefighters,” the official added.
As of last Wednesday, there were at least 50 large wildfires burning more than half a million acres across 11 states — mostly in the West.
Since 2015, the U.S. has had roughly 100 more large wildfires every year than the year before, according to the White House, and the 2021 wildfire season is already outpacing the last.
The White House is also making new preparations for major impacts to power grids, increasing aviation capacity to respond to fires and developing new technologies, including satellites, to improve early detection of fires along with apps, maps and resources so Americans can access information from their phones.
(NEW YORK) — Celebrity fashion designer Zac Posen is hitting the fashion scene with a brand new wedding collection.
The former Project Runway judge, along with global jewelry brand Blue Nile, released a curated line of genderless wedding bands and engagement rings.
The ZAC Zac Posen collection is made up of 12 designs that include everything from uniquely designed princess cuts to single-round styles.
The collection also features a variety of ring sizes ranging from 4 to 13 and prices range from just under $1,000 to $6,750.
Posen said that he’s always welcomed the challenge of designing occasion jewelry since he is creating pieces that people look forward to wearing for the rest of their lives.
“Engagement rings and wedding bands are one of the purest and oldest symbols of love and marriage that have crossed over traditions and withstood time,” he said in a statement. “For this collection, it was important for me to create unique and ageless designs that also celebrate love, unity and marriage for all.”
Beloved by celebs, the designer also worked with Blue Nile in 2014 to create other wedding rings and band styles. He says it’s been exciting to watch how Blue Nile continues to support designers who are reimagining the wedding category and the traditional symbols of love and marriage.
“With so many of us celebrating unity and love this month, it felt like the right time to release an inclusive line of engagement rings and wedding bands — a collection that was purposefully designed to represent love, regardless of gender,” Posen said in a statement. “The traditional idea of marriage is evolving, and the wedding category is finally starting to reflect that.”
(KABUL, Afghanistan) — This moment in history is not lost on 22-year-old U.S. Army Spc. Jaida Thompson as she helps the U.S. military withdraw from Afghanistan, a place where American troops have been since she was a toddler.
“I feel like it’s a big mission, and I’m very grateful to be a part of it,” she told ABC News at Bagram Air Base, the U.S. military’s main hub for the removal of 2,500 troops and most of their equipment from Afghanistan.
“It’s like crazy that I get to be here to close it down and be a part of something that was here before I was even brought up,” she told ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz during an exclusive visit to the air base to see the withdrawal operations taking place nearly 20 years after the Sept. 11 attacks.
“I’m glad that I get to help finish something that I didn’t get to be a part of at the start,” Thompson said.
The base is abuzz with activity as logistical troops load gear onto as many as 15 C-17 cargo flights a day, part of the 896 C-17 flights that U.S. Central Command says have removed military equipment and personnel from Afghanistan in the last two months.
A U.S. official has told ABC News that the U.S. troop withdrawal will be completed in July, months ahead of the Sept. 11 deadline set by President Joe Biden earlier this year.
While the pace of activity at the base is constant, for some service members who have spent time at Bagram over the years it is a strange experience to see it transformed. Living areas that once housed as many as 20,000 troops are now empty and the American fighter jets that took off from the base have already left the country.
“It’s a little surreal to see things very bare and empty,” said Col. Erin Miller, the commander of the Resolute Support sustainment brigade who is helping to oversee the withdrawal.
Miller, who is on her third deployment to Afghanistan, described the withdrawal operation as “bittersweet” because “you’ve had a connection to this country for 19, 20 years and now we’re taking everything out and leaving our partners here and then leaving Afghanistan, most likely for good.”
Getting all of the equipment out of Afghanistan has required a lot of effort from service members that has not gone unnoticed.
Gen. Austin Scott Miller, the top commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan to Bagram, recently awarded the Bronze Star to 23-year-old Army Reserve Spc. Abigail Lopez who is on her first deployment.
“I put a lot of work in dedication and encouragement and I’m a very hard worker,” she told Raddatz as to why Miller presented her with the award.
Like Thompson, Lopez was also a toddler when 9/11 happened and she appreciates the history she and her fellow troops are making with the withdrawal, as well as what hundreds of thousands of American service members have accomplished before her service.
“A lot of Americans came out and did what they had to do and I feel like we accomplished that mission until now,” she told Raddatz.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jose Leal, who joined the Army a month before 9/11, described being in Afghanistan as the U.S. troop presence comes to an end as a “humbling experience.”
“This is part of history. And I’m pretty sure that what we’re doing here is going to go in the books,” said Leal.
He noted that pulling out of Afghanistan “was not an easy task. However, it needed to be done. And I’m very grateful and thankful for being part of it.”
Col. Mike Scarpulla, from the Army’s 10th Mountain Division who commands the base, agreed with Miller that the withdrawal operation is bittersweet but expressed confidence that Afghan security forces will be able to hold their own after U.S. troops leave.
“We’ve spent so much time here with our partners, working with them. They’re ready,” he said. “They can handle this. They’re quite capable of this.”
However, he acknowledged some hesitation that he likened to “the first time you see your child on a bike without training wheels.”
(CHICAGO) — The sister of the last American hostage being held by the Taliban made a desperate plea this week to President Joe Biden as the U.S. military completes its withdrawal from Afghanistan, telling ABC News in an exclusive interview, “I don’t think anybody can come home with their head held high until every stone has been turned.”
U.S. Navy veteran Mark Frerichs, 58, was abducted in Kabul in January 2020 after being lured to what he thought was a new business meeting — but which turned out to be a horrific ruse, family members and officials have said.
Frerichs’ sister, Charlene Cakora, said in an emotional interview that “it is almost too late now” to hope for either a negotiation or hostage rescue mission to secure her brother’s freedom from his Taliban captors, given the military’s hasty move to exit Afghanistan by July Fourth.
But she urged the commander-in-chief to pull out all the stops.
“President Biden,” she addressed the president during the ABC News interview at her home outside Chicago, “oh, please do everything you can to bring my brother home.”
“You have the power to bring my brother home, please get my brother home safely. We are relying on you,” Cakora pleaded, her voice cracking with emotion as she dabbed at tears on her cheeks. “He’s a good man. He deserves better. He does not deserve to be left behind. He’s an American citizen. And I know that you would not leave an American citizen behind, so please, I beg you, do everything you can to get my brother home.”
Cakora has not been given the opportunity to speak directly with either the former or current president.
Asked on Friday about Frerichs’ family’s concerns that their loved one will be left behind, the White House — without specifically naming Mark Frerichs — said they are working to free Americans in captivity.
“The president’s message is that he will continue to fight every day of his presidency to bring Americans home who are detained overseas, whether it’s in Afghanistan or any other country around the world,” said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. “Again, we will have a diplomatic presence on the ground. We will continue to work closely with the government, with security support, humanitarian support, and there needs to be continued, a continued political process, ongoing negotiations.”
As the U.S. military completes its withdrawal from Afghanistan after two decades of warfare following the 9/11 attacks, Cakora said she and her husband Chris feel like “our leverage is pretty much gone right now.”
Each week has brought the closing of another American base — Jalalabad and Kandahar, and this week Bagram Airfield — as the Taliban have waged an offensive against government forces, capturing dozens of districts countrywide.
“We can’t lose hope and we have to be strong for Mark, but it’s hard,” said Cakora, who said she’s been passing the time in her garden.
“I do a lot of weed pulling and I take all the frustration out with that,” she said. “And I try not to watch the news too much, as far as that. But it’s been really tough the past month due to the fact that our troops are coming home.”
U.S. officials and sources close to Frerichs’ family confirm that he is being held by a faction of the Taliban, the Haqqani network, known for abducting and holding Westerners captive inside Pakistan’s tribal areas. American diplomats have focused in recent weeks on engaging the government of Pakistan, whose intelligence services have a decades-long relationship with the Haqqani network.
In a statement to ABC News last week, the Pakistani government said there is “no evidence” that Frerichs is being held captive in their country, but pledged to assist in efforts to return him to his family.
Frerichs’ family, frustrated by the lack of progress, say they’re aggravated that it took almost a year and a half for U.S. officials to turn to Pakistan for help.
“They’re not using right methods,” Cakora said. “There’s capabilities, there are stones unturned I firmly believe, and I don’t think anybody can come home with their head held high until every stone has been turned.”
U.S. Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad cut an initial armistice deal with Taliban leadership in Doha, Qatar, last year — a month after Frerichs was kidnapped — but Khalilzad did not mention Frerichs publicly for several more months.
Cakora told ABC News that last fall, Taliban leaders in Doha said they were holding Frerichs hostage and had provided him with medical treatment — a startling admission she said Khalilzad shared with her.
“He [Khalilzad] said that he is healthy and well,” Cakora said of her brother. “And that’s pretty much it — he’s healthy and well and he has had some high blood pressure issues, and so he’s seeing the doctor for that, he’s taken medication for that.”
As ABC News has previously reported, Khalilzad has insisted in recent months that he has raised Frerichs’ captivity directly with his counterpart in Doha, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. He has not disclosed what response he has received, but sources say the Taliban chief has not denied that the group’s Haqqani faction has held the American.
“In my meetings with the Taliban, I have demanded his release,” Khalilzad told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on May 18.
It remains unclear why the Taliban kidnapped and continue to hold Frerichs. In the past, hostages such as American Caitlan Coleman and U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl were used as political bargaining chips for the Taliban to demand prisoner releases.
No Taliban were released in exchange for Coleman, who was freed with her three children in 2017 after pressure was put on Pakistan by the Trump administration. Bergdahl, however, was traded for five Taliban who were being held at the Guantanamo prison, in a controversial decision by President Barack Obama.
Taliban negotiators in Doha have been seeking the release from a U.S. federal penitentiary of convicted heroin trafficker Hajji Bashir Noorzai, who was an early bankroller of the extremist group — but the Taliban has never specifically promised Frerichs’ freedom in exchange for Noorzai.
U.S. Department of Justice officials under the Obama, Trump and Biden presidencies have resisted freeing Noorzai from his two life sentences, officials have told ABC News.
Cakora is imploring all involved to free a man who has had no involvement in the “forever war.”
“I just want to tell anybody, the people who are holding Mark, I just want to let you know that Mark’s my brother and I want him home safe,” she said. “And wouldn’t you want your brother home if you were in the same situation?”
Barring the mercy of the Taliban, Cakora said that Biden should do whatever it takes to get the former Navy diver back to his hometown of Lombard, Illinois.
“I think I feel that if they leave a man behind that served this country for six years, I would think that, how could they sleep at night, you know? I mean, how are they sleeping at night knowing that they left a U.S. citizen behind — a U.S. veteran?” Cakora said. “They’re pretty cold if they’re not doing their job, because that’s their job.”
(NEW YORK) — A dozen drug manufacturers and distributors accused of fueling the nation’s opioid epidemic face a jury for the first time Tuesday during opening statements at what could be the most consequential opioids trial so far.
New York and two of its largest counties, Nassau and Suffolk on Long Island, are seeking to hold Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Endo International, McKesson, Cardinal Health and other corporations responsible for the deadly epidemic, accusing them of contributing to a public nuisance.
Johnson & Johnson avoided this trial by settling Saturday for $230 million. CVS settled with Nassau and Suffolk counties.
There have been similar cases to go on trial in California and in West Virginia. Oklahoma won a $465 million judgment in the nation’s first trial. Unlike those, however, the one taking place in Central Islip is being heard by six jurors who will weigh assertions that both marketing and distribution of narcotic painkillers fostered widespread addiction and abuse.
The trial is unfolding in a 450-seat amphitheater at the Touro College Law Center, rather than a state courthouse, to accommodate a legion of lawyers and spectators.
“The eyes of the world are on New York as we prepare to lay bare the callous and deadly pattern of misconduct these companies perpetrated as they dealt dangerous and addictive opioids across our state,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in statement provided to ABC News.
If drug companies are found liable for harms in Nassau and Suffolk, they may effectively be liable for harms in dozens of other New York counties. The trial could also be a bellwether for other opioid cases across the country.
Prince George and his parents, Prince William and Duchess Kate, were photographed at London’s Wembley Stadium on Tuesday, where they watched England take on Germany as part of the European Football Championship.
For the occasion, the 7-year-old wore a suit with a striped tie, which seem to have been perfectly coordinated with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s outfits.
Prince George seemed to bring some luck to his country’s soccer team, too: they won 2-0.
As president of England’s Football Association, Prince William, 39, often attends games. Prince George had been photographed wearing an England soccer jersey in 2019. He has also been spotted playing the sport with his siblings, Princess Charlotte, 6, and Prince Louis, 3.
Unsurprisingly, the royals appeared to have a great time at the game, tweeting afterward: “Incredible performance @England!”
