(LONDON) — The UK approved a new HIV treatment that requires an injection every other month, rather than the current routine of taking pills every day.
The UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence estimated that around 13,000 people will now be eligible for cabotegravir with rilpivirine, the injectable medication.
There were around 103,000 people living with HIV in the UK in 2018, according to the British government’s statistics.
“It is an exciting and progressive step in the fight against HIV,” Dr. Todd Ellerin, director of infectious diseases at South Shore Health and ABC News contributor said. Ellerin is also on the speakers bureau of ViiV Healthcare which helped develop the injectable HIV treatment.
Besides the new revolutionary injection method, the current treatment for HIV is lifelong antiretroviral tablets that are taken each day. The medication suppresses the virus in the blood to undetectable levels, thereby preventing AIDS from occurring and eliminating transmission.
The injections block the same enzymes as the pills do, as Ellerin explained, but allow the medication to stay in the body much longer permitting monthly or bimonthly re-dosing, so patients don’t need to take pills every day.
The shot called Cabenuva (a combination of cabotegravir and rilpivirine) was already approved by the FDA in January, though with a more frequent dosage of once a month.
“[The] thing I like about injectables is less is more,” Ellerin said. “The medication approved in the UK will be once every two months, which makes it easier for the patients to come to the office rather than coming every month,” he added.
“For many, taking daily pills is not easy. Sometimes they forget, some may have other issues with taking pills, but the injection is suitable for those who prefer a more intermittent method,” he added.
However, there are challenges to this method. One, is the logistics of the injection, as the jabs must be administered at the health care provider’s office for now, Ellerin said.
“The biggest challenge is the logistic hurdle for giving these [shots] in the office, especially in the pandemic,” said Ellerin.
Also, if patients don’t show up for their injection, that increases the risk of viral replication rebound, Ellerin said. With pills, you can remember to take them the next day and have a stock of them at home.
Both in Britain and the United States, cabotegravir and rilpivirine can be prescribed and used after an initial oral (tablet) lead-in period.
“This is why people who are newly diagnosed with HIV can’t start their treatment with injection,” Ellerin said.
There are hopes that by the first quarter of 2022, the FDA also approves the bimonthly injection, and with that more patients might choose this method over pills, especially if the COVID-19 situation eases, according to Ellerin.
“As of now, this is not a preventive method. It is just for maintenance treatment. There are also injections for prevention down the way. But that is another story,” Ellerin said.
Ellerin also said that the reason the injections are available at clinics only is that this is the way it was studied in clinical trials and that these are buttocks injections that are difficult to self-administer at home.
(PORTLAND, Ore.) — Demonstrations sprang up nationwide in protest of the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict Friday night, after a Wisconsin jury found the 18-year-old not guilty for the killing of two men and the wounding of another during political unrest in Kenosha last summer.
The verdict sparked outrage among those who feared an acquittal would embolden vigilantism, and anger in the families of the men shot who were seeking accountability and justice. Others, including pro-gun conservatives, have hailed Rittenhouse as a hero who was protecting private property from rioters.
In Kenosha, protesters gathered outside the courthouse, reacting in anger and frustration to the verdict. Outside a local church, pastors led residents in a prayer vigil Friday night, with some toting signs that said “Heal Kenosha.”
“Profoundly disappointed, sad, angry, crying, grieving and also looking to the future. Like OK, we’ve got work to do,” Rev. Monica Cummings, of Bradford Community Church, told Reuters of the mood that night. “And at the top of the list is healing. Our community can now begin the long process of healing and looking at how we want to be as a community together.”
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers had activated some 500 National Guard members to be on standby to support public safety efforts if needed, though there were no major clashes reported in the wake of the verdict.
In Portland, Oregon, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office declared a riot “after a violent, destructive group began to breach the gate into the Multnomah County Detention Center,” the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement.
About two dozen people had gathered in front of the gate around 9 p.m. local time, with some allegedly heard saying, “Burn it down,” according to the sheriff’s office.
The rear window of a Portland Police vehicle was shattered, as well as the windows on a local business, during the incident, according to police.
Police issued five citations and 17 warnings, and one person was arrested for a warrant, authorities said.
Meanwhile, in New York City, hundreds of demonstrators marched across the Brooklyn Bridge and gathered outside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, holding signs with photos of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, the two men Rittenhouse killed.
Nearly 100 people took to the streets of Oakland, California, shouting “Revolution nothing else” while marching in response to the verdict, ABC San Francisco station KGO reported.
Demonstrators also gathered in Chicago to denounce the acquittal.
Rittenhouse pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, first-degree reckless homicide and first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide.
During his testimony, Rittenhouse said he shot Rosenbaum, Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz, who survived, in self-defense.
“I didn’t intend to kill them. I intended to stop the people who were attacking me,” Rittenhouse repeatedly said, at one point breaking down and sobbing on the witness stand.
Rittenhouse feels “a huge sense of relief,” his attorney, Mark Richards, told reporters Friday, adding, “He wishes none of this ever happened.”
The ruling in the closely watched trial prompted a response from President Joe Biden, who said in a statement, “While the verdict in Kenosha will leave many Americans feeling angry and concerned, myself included, we must acknowledge that the jury has spoken.”
(WASHINGTON) — It was a question that plagued Joe Biden’s presidential campaign: Could a 77-year-old man — who at age 78 would be the oldest person ever to assume the presidency — handle the rigors of the job?
Candidate Biden acknowledged it was legitimate for Americans to question his fitness for office.
“The only thing I can say is watch. Watch! Check my energy level, determine whether I know what I’m talking about,” he told voters during the 2020 campaign.
Now, on Friday, nearly a year into his term, Biden has gotten his first physical as president at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
It came the day before he turns 79.
After about five hours inside, Biden walked out giving two thumbs up.
“I’m doing great!” Biden told ABC News Correspondent Karen Travers, when asked how he was feeling. “I’ve had a great physical and a great House of Representatives vote. Good day,” Biden said, referring to House Democrats passing his “Build Back Better” plan earlier in the day.
Shortly before he arrived, the White House revealed that for some of the exam he would be under anesthesia and would briefly transfer power to Vice President Kamala Harris.
“This morning, the President will travel to Walter Reed Medical Center for a routine physical. While he is there, the President will undergo a routine colonoscopy,” press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.
“As was the case when President George W. Bush had the same procedure in 2002 and 2007, and following the process set out in the Constitution, President Biden will transfer power to the Vice President for the brief period of time when he is under anesthesia. The Vice President will work from her office in the West Wing during this time,” she said.
Around noon, the White House said it sent letters at 10:10 a.m. to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Patrick Leahy, president pro tempore of the Senate, to inform them Biden was going under sedation. The House speaker is second in line to the presidency after the vice president and the president pro tempore of the Senate is third in line under the 25th Amendment dictating the order of presidential succession.
Psaki tweeted that Biden had spoken with Harris and chief of staff Ron Klain at approximately 11:35 a.m., saying “@POTUS was in good spirits and at that time resumed his duties.”
Letter to the Speaker of the House on the Temporary Transfer of the Powers and Duties of President of the U… by ABC News Politics on Scribd
Late Friday afternoon, the White House put out a promised detailed medical summary.
Biden is a ‘healthy, vigorous 78-year-old man,” who is “fit for duty” and “fully executes all of his responsibilities without exemptions or accommodations,” the president’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor wrote.
While Biden got a mostly clean bill of health, O’Connor — who has been Biden’s doctor since 2009 — noted two specific observations: his frequent throat clearing, and a stiffened gate, compared to last year.
“The president has exhibited increasing frequency and severity of “throat clearing” and coughing during speaking engagements,” O’Connor wrote. “He has exhibited such symptoms for as long as I have known him, but they certainly seem more frequent and more pronounced over the last few months.”
O’Connor noted that Biden being president and the increased attention could be playing into the perception of the symptoms, but required further investigation. Ultimately though, O’Connor said that his initial assessment that “gastroesophageal reflux” was to blame for the cough still stands.
Of his stiffened gate, O’Connor said Biden acknowledges that he is stiff in the morning, though it improves over time. O’Connor said that after a battery of tests, general “wear and tear” of the spine was partly to blame– though no specific treatment was needed.
A new finding for Biden was a “mild peripheral neuropathy in both feet.”
“He did not demonstrative any motor weakness, but a subtle difference in heat/cold perception and great toe proprioception could be elicited,” O’Connor wrote, noting this, along with the wear and tear could contribute to the stiffened gate, and “Physical Therapy and exercise prescription will continue to focus on general flexibility and proprioceptive maintenance maneuvers.”
Biden’s regular screening colonoscopy found a 3mm benign-looking polyp was identified in the in ascending colon, and was removed without difficulty, the report said.
To date, the most recent physical and medical report was one his campaign released in December 2019: a three-page summary that declared Biden “a healthy, vigorous, 77-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.”
At the time, Biden was said to be under treatment for four different conditions: non-valvular atrial fibrillation — a type of irregular heart rhythm, hyperlipidemia — higher concentrations of fats or lipids in the blood, gastroesophageal reflux and seasonal allergies.
The most notable health incidents in Biden’s past were the two cranial aneurysms he suffered in 1988.
Since winning the presidency, Biden suffered a fractured foot after falling while chasing his dog Major at his Wilmington, Delaware, home last Thanksgiving. He had to wear a walking boot for the injury, and was said to be “healing as expected,” according to scans from a follow-up appointment in December.
Biden named O’Connor as his White House physician shortly after taking office.
O’Connor has served as Biden’s primary care physician and was appointed physician to the then-vice president in 2009. Biden chose him for the new role due to their long history and personal relationship, according to a White House official.
Questions about fitness for office are far from exclusive to Biden — President Donald Trump, who was the oldest president elected before Biden, also faced questions about his mental and physical fitness.
Trump faced particular scrutiny for the first physical of his administration in January 2018, which his then-White House physician, Dr. Ronny Jackson, said went “exceptionally well.”
He came under fire for his effusively rosy outlook on Trump’s health while briefing reporters afterward.
In other recent administrations, physicals have generally been conducted within a president’s first year in office.
President George W. Bush got a physical in August 2001, and was found to be “fit for duty” with “every reasonable expectation that he will remain fit for duty for the duration of his Presidency.”
President Barack Obama received his first physical in office just over a year into his presidency, in February 2010. He also was found to be in “excellent health,” although doctors told hi to stop smoking.
At her news briefing Friday, Psaki declined to detail any actions Harris took during her 85 minutes as “acting president,” but observed the moment’s historic nature.
“I will leave that to her team to characterize. I know that other people have been talking about this and a woman myself, I will note that the president, when he selected her to be his running mate, obviously knew he was making history that was long overdue in our view,” she said.
“Part of that was selecting someone who would serve by your side as your partner, but also … step in if there was a reason to,” Psaki said.
ABC News’ John Parkinson contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A group of seven women are suing Yale University, claiming they underwent invasive and painful procedures for in-vitro fertilization and received saline instead of fentanyl, an opioid painkiller.
According to the complaint, the women received saline after a nurse at the Yale University Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Clinic stole fentanyl for her personal use last year and replaced it with saline.
As a result, the women underwent a fertility procedure — oocyte retrieval — without pain management, according to the complaint, which described the process as “excruciating.”
“Oocyte egg retrieval is an extremely invasive procedure,” the law firm representing the women said in a statement. “Doctors and nurses explained to these patients that this surgery would require a dose of fentanyl to alleviate pain. However, each was then unknowingly treated with saline instead.”
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in state court in Waterbury, Connecticut, by the women and their spouses, accuses Yale University of failing to follow protocols and thereby allowing the fentanyl to be tampered with.
The complaint also alleges there were “hundreds” of incidents in which saline was substituted for fentanyl.
“Yale University takes no responsibility for the hundreds of fentanyl substitution events that took place at the REI Clinic; it blames the single nurse who was able to steal the fentanyl, unabated, for more than twenty weeks,” the complaint said.
“But for years, Yale University recognized the lurking danger of opioid diversion and the catastrophic injuries posed by healthcare worker opioid substitution,” according to the lawsuit.
The nurse, Donna Monticone, pleaded guilty in March to one count of tampering with a consumer product and surrendered her nursing license. She was sentenced in May to four weekends in prison, three months of home confinement and three years of supervised release.
A Yale University spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit.
In March, following Monticone’s guilty plea, a Yale spokesperson issued a statement stating patients had been informed and that “changes are underway.”
“Yale has informed patients that there is no reason to believe that the nurse’s action harmed their health or the outcome of their treatment. The Fertility Center routinely uses a combination of pain medications during procedures and modifies the medications if there are signs of discomfort,” the spokesperson said in March, according to the New Haven Register. “Changes are underway in procedures, recordkeeping, and physical storage that will prevent this type of activity from happening again.”
The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, also alleges that the women’s concerns and reports of “torturous pain” were dismissed.
“Yale University providers were alerted to the problem with its supply of fentanyl, the sole analgesic administered to women during oocyte retrievals, through patients’ intraoperative screams and postoperative reports of torturous pain, but, upon information and belief, Yale University never investigated these reports,” the complaint said. “Instead, pain was minimized as ‘normal’ for the invasive procedure, or attributed to the unavailability of an anesthesiologist on Saturdays and Sundays.”
The allegation of pain being dismissed is one that may ring true for many women, according to Dr. Jessica Shepherd, a board-certified gynecologist and chief medical officer of Verywell Health, an online medical resource.
Shepherd is not affiliated with Yale University and has no involvement with or direct knowledge of the case.
“Usually the key complaint is feeling dismissed, that patients haven’t been heard,” she said of her own personal experience with female patients who have sought her care. “It’s one thing to be able to express what you’re feeling, but even after that, what are the actions that are taken in order to reach some joint resolution of decreasing discomfort, addressing the situation, finding alternatives.”
Research through the years has also shown that women’s pain is often interpreted differently than men’s by medical providers.
A study published in April in the Journal of Pain, for instance, found that when the same level of pain was expressed by female and male patients, female patients’ pain was viewed as less intense than men’s. The study also found that female patients were prescribed more psychotherapy for for their pain, while male patients were prescribed more pain medication.
In another study, women were found to have had to wait nearly 15 minutes longer to receive pain medication in an emergency room setting than men.
“It’s a subjective symptom so it’s hard to put objectivity to it, like you would say, blood pressure, or pulse,” Shepherd said of pain. “And I think there are stereotypes about pain sensitivity and endurance of pain, so from a female perspective, it may be looked at not being able to endure as much pain, but that’s not really how pain should be monitored or evaluated.”
(WASHINGTON) — After nearly a year of planning and a more than 4,500-mile trek across the country, the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree arrived in Washington Friday, just in time for the holiday season.
Architect of the Capitol Brett Blanton accepted the tree from Forest Supervisor Ted McArthur of the Six Rivers National Forest in Northern California, overseen by the U.S. Forest Service.
“We are glad to have such a beautiful Christmas tree that all Californians and, frankly, all Americans can be proud of,” Blanton said.
This year’s tree is an 84-foot white fir nicknamed “Sugar Bear.”
After being harvested on Oct. 23, it made stops at various communities along the continental U.S. on its way to the nation’s capital.
The Six Rivers National Forest said the motto for this year’s donation was “Many Peoples One Tree.”
Over the next few days, the tree is expected to be decorated with LED lights and ornaments made in different California communities.
The U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree tradition started back in 1964 when then-Speaker of the House John W. McCormack, D-Mass., placed a live tree on the Capitol lawn.
The tree lived for a few years before succumbing to wind and root damage.
In order to keep the tradition alive, in 1970 the Architect of the Capitol asked the U.S. Forest Service to provide a Christmas tree and since then, a different national forest is chosen each year to provide “The People’s Tree.”
A lighting ceremony is expected to happen in early December with the Architect of the Capitol and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
(NEW YORK) — New details were revealed Friday about an outside independent probe launched to investigate the treatment of the Turpin siblings since their dramatic 2018 escape from captivity, casting new light on how a Southern California county is grappling with allegations that the 13 siblings have been mistreated under its care.
Nearly four years ago, the Turpin children escaped from their Perris, California, home where they were subjected to brutal violence and deprived of food, sleep, hygiene, education and health care. At the time, advocates and county leaders assured the siblings — and a concerned public — that help was on the way. But some officials and some of the Turpin children are speaking out to say they still don’t have access to many of the resources and services guaranteed to them.
An ABC News investigation found that some of the Turpin children continue to face challenges and hardships since they were rescued and placed in the care of the county. Some of them have even faced assault and alleged child abuse again.
Watch the Diane Sawyer special event, “Escape From A House Of Horror,” on Friday, Nov. 19 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and stream on Hulu.
In a statement to ABC News earlier this week regarding the Turpin siblings’ treatment, Riverside County Executive Officer Jeff Van Wagenen acknowledged that “there have been instances in which those we seek to protect have been harmed,” and said his office has hired a law firm to “conduct an independent and comprehensive investigation” into what happened in the cases of the 13 Turpin children.
Officials told ABC News on Friday that Van Wagenen initiated the investigation on Oct. 28, one day after ABC News requested an interview with him to discuss the Turpin case.
As part of the probe, the California law firm Larson LLP “will be seeking” to interview the Turpin children, the county said. Current county employees will be “directed to participate in this investigation,” but not required to do so. Former county employees and those who do not work for Riverside County will be asked to cooperate with the probe as well, officials said.
The results of the inquiry will be released publicly when the investigation concludes, which officials said would be in March.
The county has not imposed a budget on the law firm, which “has been instructed to take all reasonable steps consistent with best practices in conducting its investigation,” the county said.
Mike Hestrin, the district attorney who prosecuted the Turpins’ parents, said the mistreatment of the 13 siblings has exposed serious systemic fissures that exist across the American social services system — where the most vulnerable should be able to seek help in their time of need.
“If we can’t care for the Turpin victims, then how do we have a chance to care for anyone?” Hestrin told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer in an interview for the 20/20 special event, “Escape From A House Of Horror.”
The investigation into the Turpins’ treatment will be led by former U.S. District Judge Stephen G. Larson, who served nearly 10 years on the bench in California, including three years in district court after being appointed by George W. Bush in 2006, according to his bio.
ABC News’ Lucien Bruggeman, Josh Margolin and Allison Hope Weiner contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden issued the first pardons of his presidency Friday to some lucky turkeys named Peanut Butter and Jelly.
In a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, Biden spared the poultry pair from becoming Thanksgiving dinner this year.
Biden said the turkey pardoning tradition is meant to remind Americans at Thanksgiving to be grateful — but also provides the chance to have “a little bit of fun.”
“Turkey is infrastructure. Peanut Butter and Jelly are going to help build back the butterball,” Biden said, in the wake of a big week for his infrastructure agenda.
“As a University of Delaware man, I’m partial to a Blue Hen,” Biden joked about that college’s mascot, later adding the two turkeys would be getting their booster shots soon.
“It’s important to continue traditions like this to remind us how from the darkness, there’s light and hope and progress — and that’s what this year’s Thanksgiving, in my view, represents,” he said.
With the National Turkey Federation pledging that there are plenty of turkeys to gobble up during this year’s celebration — when more Americans will gather than in 2020 — Biden stuck to tradition, sparing two turkeys from the dinner table this year.
The White House selected the names Peanut Butter and Jelly from a list of options submitted by students in Indiana.
Peanut Butter, and his alternate, Jelly, traveled to the White House from Jasper, Indiana, early Wednesday, driven in a minivan outfitted as a “mini-barn” to the nation’s capital.
The responsibility of deciding which farm will supply the birds each year falls to the chairman of the National Turkey Federation — a process that Phil Seager, this year’s chair, began in July, when he asked turkey grower Andrea Welp if she would accept the challenge.
“That turkey needs to kind of learn to sit, stay, and in a perfect world, kind of strut a little bit and look good for the cameras,” Segar said.
Welp worked with a small flock to try to prep them for this process in the last six weeks, with Peanut Butter and Jelly last week being deemed the turkeys with the best temperament to handle the big moment, according to Segar.
Welp, a third-generation farmer from Indiana, said raising the presidential flock has been a lot of fun for her and her family and a highlight of her career.
“With another year of uncertainties with the pandemic, this project has really been something to look forward to, and has been a joy to be able to participate in. I know the kids have really had a lot of fun raising the birds, especially dancing to loud music to get them ready for all the media attention on the big day,” Welp said at a news conference Thursday, where the turkeys were first trotted out before the public.
After arriving in D.C., the two turkeys spent the day ahead of the pardoning having their feathers fluffed at the nearby five-star Willard Hotel.
“We do some extra prep to the room to make sure it’s comfortable for them, putting down shavings and making sure their food and water is accessible,” Beth Breeding, the spokesperson for the National Turkey Federation, told ABC News.
“We do our best to make sure that we leave the room cleaner than we even found it. We clean up afterwards and then we also work with the hotel to make sure the room is cleaned,” she added.
History of Poultry Pardons
The origin of the presidential turkey pardons is a bit fuzzy. Unofficially, reports point all the way back to President Abraham Lincoln, who spared a bird from its demise at the urging of his son, Tad. However, White House Historical Association Historian Lina Mann warns the story may be more folklore than fact.
Following Lincoln’s time in office, the White House was often gifted a bird for the holidays from Horace Vose, the “turkey king” of Rhode Island, sending his top turkey to 11 presidents over four decades — though these turkeys were already slaughtered and dressed for the president’s table, Mann says.
The true start of what has evolved into the current tradition has its roots in politics and dates back to the Truman presidency in 1947.
“There had been this government-led initiative called “poultry-less Thursdays” to try and conserve various foods in the aftermath of World War II,” Mann said.
“But the poultry industry balked because Thursday was the day of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, and those were the big turkey holidays. So, they were outraged,” she added.
After the White House was inundated with live birds sent as part of a “Hens for Harry” counterinitiative, the National Turkey Federation and the Poultry and Egg National Board presented Truman with a turkey to smooth the ruffled feathers and highlight the turkey industry — although the turkey was not saved from the holiday fest.
Instead, President John F. Kennedy began the trend of publicly sparing a turkey given to the White House in November 1963, just days before his assassination. In the years following, Mann says the event became a bit more sporadic, with even some first ladies like Pat Nixon and Rosalynn Carter stepping in to accept the guests of honor on their husband’s behalf.
The tradition of the public sparing returned in earnest under the Reagan administration, but the official tradition of the poultry pardoning at the White House started in 1989, when President George H.W. Bush offered the first official presidential pardon.
“Let me assure you and this fine Tom Turkey that he will not end up on anyone’s dinner table — not this guy,” Bush said on Nov. 17, 1989.
“He’s granted a presidential pardon as of right now and … allow him to live out his days on a children’s farm not far from here,” he added.
In the 32 years since, at least one lucky bird has gotten some extra gobbles each year.
After they receive the first pardons of Biden’s presidency, Peanut Butter and Jelly will head back to Indiana to live out the rest of their lives at the Animal Sciences Research and Education Farm at Purdue University.
“Those folks who are going to be the next generation of leaders in our industry, so we’re really excited to partner with Purdue on that and to make sure that the turkeys have a home where they’re going to receive the highest quality of care,” Breeding said.
(NEW YORK) — This week marks twenty years since Microsoft unveiled the very first XBox.
On November 15, 2001, at an event that included a guest appearance from Duane “The Rock” Johnson, then-Microsoft CEO Bill Gates pulled the wraps off the black and green gaming console. Since then the device has been through four generations, each of which have added a myriad of features and garnered huge followings. But the console’s success wasn’t always a sure thing.
“They were a boring tech company,” says IGN Executive Editor Ryan McCaffrey. “Games were not something you associated Microsoft with.”
“The company took a huge risk,” says Danny Peña, Games Editorial Lead at G4TV and host of the podcast Gamertag Radio. “They were not a hundred percent sure if the concept was going to be successful or not.”
Early XBox consoles came with Ethernet ports, which supported Microsoft’s online gaming service XBox Live. Launched a year after the original XBox, the service allowed gamers to play with their friends over high-speed internet at a time when many systems still used slower, dial-up connections.
According to McCaffrey, “with broadband gaming you could just have a better quality game experience, and it really changed everything.” He adds Microsoft was ahead of its competitors when it came to offering faster connection speeds.
“They were well out in front of Sony on this. They were well out in front of Nintendo. And now it’s sort of taken as – taken for granted I’d say.”
As for the games XBox players were interested in, McCaffrey says it’s difficult to separate the success of the XBox from the popularity of its flagship Halo franchise – a series of sci-fi action titles which launched alongside the console in 2001.
“I’ve never experienced a first person shooter like this ever in my life,” says Peña, who was one of the first to play the original Halo: Combat Evolved game at a Microsoft launch event in 2001. “That was the game that put XBox on the map.”
“The original [Halo] was what we call in the games business a ‘killer app,’” says McCaffrey. “You had to have the game, and therefore you had to have the system to play the game on.”
“There’s an argument to be made – a very good argument – that we would not even be having this conversation if not for Halo. Because the original XBox might not have survived if Halo had not been this incredibly big deal,” he adds.
But the road to the XBox’s 20th anniversary has had its fair share of potholes as well. The controller for the original XBox was widely panned for being too big and uncomfortable to hold. One Twitter user joked it was so large it “had its own weather systems” and “affected tides.”
Early examples of the second generation XBox “360” were prone to hardware issues. According to a 2009 study, nearly a quarter of the consoles experienced some form of system failure – four times the rate of its contemporary competitor, Sony’s Playstation 3. Reliability problems were so pervasive that Microsoft issued a recall to address the most common failure, nicknamed the “Red Ring of Death” because it caused the ring around the console’s power button to glow red.
Over the last two decades, the company has added hardware and software features including things like XBox Live, a motion-tracking “Kinect” system, voice controls, and even a streaming service for games called “xCloud.”
According to Peña, a theme that distinguishes the XBox brand from competitors like Sony and Nintendo is a focus on making video games accessible to people with disabilities.
“Microsoft has been very supportive when it comes to accessibility,” says Peña, citing the recently released Forza Horizon 5 racing game, an XBox exclusive title, as an example.
The game can be customized with high-contrast colors or color-blind options intended for players with sight impairments, or set to run at a reduced speed, which gives players more time to react to the high-speed action.
Microsoft says it will also soon allow people with hearing impairments to play the game with on-screen interpreters for American or British Sign Language.
“They’re the one the company has been doing the most out of every other company out there right now,” says Peña. “I have family members that – they’re deaf, you know, and now they could also play the game and have that same experience that I have… I think that’s very, very important.”
At an anniversary event on Monday – which also featured a cameo from The Rock – Microsoft announced it would start allowing gamers to try out a beta version of the upcoming Halo: Infinite a few weeks early, ahead of the game’s release early next month. But not all of those gamers will be standing in line outside retailers awaiting its release, as many Halo fans in the past have done. Recent XBox consoles, like the current “Series S” and a version of the high-end “Series X,” don’t feature disk drives. Instead, Microsoft has been pushing digital game downloads and even streaming games via xCloud. Peña says that could give us a hint as to the future of the console.
“Without buying the physical version, they can just play it through their phone, through their smart TVs – I could definitely see that.”
Listen to ABC’s Mike Dobuski take a look back at 20 years of XBox:
(BRUNSWICK, Ga.) — Defense attorney Kevin Gough called the homicide trial of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed Black jogger, a “public lynching” of his client — who is one of three white men accused of chasing and killing Arbery.
He claimed that the trial has been “infected by mob violence by the woke-left mob,” and asked the judge for a mistrial once again. His request was denied by the judge.
“Third parties are influencing this case,” Gough said, referring to the “spectator activity” and “media frenzy” concerning public figures attending the trial and gathering outside of the courtroom. “This is what a public lynching looks like in the 21st century.”
Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski had argued that “there’s absolutely no evidence here that the jurors have been influenced in any way by the first and only larger crowd that came yesterday. No evidence that they even knew it was out there.”
Travis McMichael — who fatally shot Arbery on Feb. 23, 2020, while Arbery was jogging — claims he shot him in self-defense.
That day, McMichael was accompanied by his father Gregory and their neighbor Bryan. They followed Arbery, because they say they had believed that the 25-year-old was a criminal following recent reports of crime in the neighborhood.
Detective Parker Marcy testified that Gregory claimed he armed himself because he suspected Arbery may have stolen a handgun from his son’s truck several weeks earlier, but he acknowledged he had no proof of this.
The McMichaels claimed, through their lawyers. that they were attempting to make a citizens’ arrest. On the witness stand Thursday, McMichael said that Arbery never verbally threatened him or brandished a weapon during the five minutes the three of them chased Arbery before he was fatally shot.
The men have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, aggravated assault and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.
(SAN JOSE, Calif.) — Federal prosecutors have rested their nearly 11-week case against Elizabeth Holmes, the former Theranos CEO accused of misleading investors to bankroll her one-time multibillion-dollar Silicon Valley start-up despite no evidence its blood-testing technology could perform as promised.
“The United States rests,” Prosecutor Jeff Schenk told the court Friday morning.
Holmes’ defense team is expected to call witnesses before the case goes to the jury. She was charged with 10 counts of wire fraud — one of which was dropped — and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
The 37-year-old faces decades in prison if convicted. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges related to Theranos, which received hundreds of millions of dollars from investors by claiming its breakthrough technology could quickly diagnose a variety of diseases from a few drops of human blood.
The government called 29 witnesses to the stand, starting in early September, including former U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis, a former Theranos board member who said he was in the dark about the technology’s shortcomings.
Prosecutors also questioned investors, including white-shoe lawyer Dan Mosley, whose long-time client Henry Kissinger was on the Theranos board and introduced him to Holmes. Mosley personally invested $6 million and put Holmes in touch with many of his wealthy clients, such as the Waltons, the family behind Walmart; the Coxes, the billionaires behind Cox Enterprises; and the DeVoses, the Amway heirs and family of former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
Jurors also heard from former Theranos employees who gave insight into the company’s labs and other dealings, and patients who described receiving purportedly inaccurate Theranos test results after getting blood drawn at various Walgreens locations.
Prosecutors concluded their case with testimony from journalist Roger Parloff, who wrote a 2014 cover story on the ascending Silicon Valley CEO for Fortune Magazine.
ABC News spoke to Parloff for “The Dropout” podcast in 2019.
“I got caught up in this woman’s story,” Parloff told ABC News at the time. “I began to drink the Kool-Aid. … I think I asked the right questions. I just got the wrong answers.”
The reporter recorded around 10 hours of interviews with Holmes, excerpts of which the government played in court on Thursday.
Santa Clara Law Professor Ellen Kreitzberg, who has sat through much of the trial, said the government likely ended with Parloff because his article was seen by many of the investors, and the jury got to hear the statements Holmes made to him in her own voice.
“That can be very powerful,” Kreitzberg said.
It’s unclear whether Holmes will testify. Kreitzberg said the defense likely will think “long and hard” before offering her up as a witness.
“From a lawyer’s perspective, I just can’t imagine that they want to put her on the stand,” she told ABC News. “There are too many questions and documents that are not easily explained.”
ABC News’ Victoria Thompson and Taylor Dunn contributed to this report.
