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UPI
4 days ago
- Politics
- UPI
On This Day, July 27: Rep. Lewis lies in state in U.S. Capitol
1 of 5 | On July 27, 2020, Rep. John Lewis became the first Black lawmaker to lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda 10 days after his death from cancer. File Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI | License Photo July 27 (UPI) -- On this date in history: In 1794, Maximilien Robespierre, architect of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, was overthrown and arrested by the National Convention. Robespierre, who encouraged the execution, mostly by guillotine, of more than 17,000 enemies of the revolution, was himself guillotined the following day. In 1909, Orville Wright set a record by staying aloft in a plane for 1 hour, 12 minutes, 40 seconds. In 1921, at the University of Toronto, Canadian scientists Frederick Banting and Charles Best successfully isolated insulin -- a hormone they believed could prevent diabetes -- for the first time. In 1953, a truce officially ended the Korean War, which had begun June 25, 1950. File Photo courtesy of the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum In 1974, the House judiciary committee voted to recommend impeachment of President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal. The 37th president resigned less than two weeks later. In 1986, Greg LeMond, 25, of Sacramento, became the first American to win cycling's most famous contest, the Tour de France. In 1989, a Korean Air DC-10 crashed in heavy fog while attempting to land at Tripoli airport in Libya, killing 82 people, four of them on the ground. In 1996, a bomb exploded at Olympic Park in Atlanta during the Summer Games, killing two people and injuring more than 100 other people. In 2012, the Summer Olympics opened in London, with 10,820 athletes representing 204 countries. In 2020, Rep. John Lewis became the first Black lawmaker to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda 10 days after his death from cancer. In 2021, Carissa Moore of the United States and Italo Ferreira of Brazil took home the inaugural gold medals in surfing at the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games. In 2024, Team USA won its first gold medal of the Paris Summer Olympics with a first-place finish in the 4x100-meter relay. Swimmers Jack Alexy, Hunter Armstrong, Caeleb Dressel and Chris Guiliano pushed the relay team to victory. File Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI
Toronto Sun
12-06-2025
- Health
- Toronto Sun
RFK Jr. picks new members of influential vaccine committee after purge
Published Jun 12, 2025 • 6 minute read U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on Capitol Hill on May 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Photo by Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. named eight people to the influential federal panel that recommends vaccines to Americans on Wednesday, elevating several vaccine critics days after he purged the group's entire membership. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account His picks for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices include a well-known pediatric infectious-diseases expert and at least three people who have criticized the use of mRNA coronavirus vaccines. Some of the more notable selections include Martin Kulldorff, the co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for herd immunity through mass covid infection in 2020, and Vicky Pebsworth, who is listed on the board of the nation's oldest anti-vaccine group. 'All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense,' Kennedy said in an X post on Wednesday announcing the picks. 'They have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The other new members are: Joseph R. Hibbeln, a psychiatrist; Retsef Levi, a professor of operations management; Robert W. Malone, a biochemist; Cody Meissner, a pediatrician; James Pagano, an emergency medicine physician; and Michael A. Ross, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology. Kulldorff and Hibbeln declined to comment. Malone told The Washington Post he was honored to be selected but declined to answer additional questions. Kennedy's other picks did not immediately return requests for comment. Malone, a controversial scientist, is an ally of Kennedy's who was at the unveiling of the Make America Healthy Again report at the White House last month. Malone previously sued The Post, alleging defamation over the newspaper's reporting on his advocacy against the coronavirus vaccine. The case was dismissed in 2023. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The selections come after Kennedy on Monday ousted 17 independent vaccine experts who advise the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He said the vaccine committee, which he has criticized for years, has been 'plagued with persistent conflicts of interest' and has become a 'rubber stamp' for vaccines. The new composition of the panel signals Kennedy's plan for U.S. vaccination policy, experts said. The committee's decisions shape which vaccines are administered and to whom – and whether they'll be free and covered by insurance. Public health advocates raised concerns about the future of vaccination under the new committee. 'He is appointing a group of covid contrarians,' said Richard Pan, a pediatrician and former California state lawmaker who often sparred with anti-vaccine activists. 'They have and will undermine trust in vaccination.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. A spokesman for Kennedy did not immediately return a request for comment on the criticisms of the new ACIP members. In an unrelated news conference Tuesday, Kennedy said the group would not be 'anti-vaxxers.' Some of the selections have track records of opposing public health guidance on vaccines. Pebsworth, who has also served on the Food and Drug Administration's Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, had repeatedly expressed concerns about potential harms from coronavirus vaccination. According to her biography on the anti-vaccine group National Vaccine Information Center's website, she has worked with the group 'since 2006 on vaccine safety analytical and education projects.' The organization says it promotes informed consent instead of making 'vaccine use recommendations.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Kulldorff has said he was fired from his position as a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School over his refusal to get the coronavirus vaccine, which he has advocated against. In a 2021 op-ed co-written with the now head of the National Institutes of Health Jay Bhattacharya, Kulldorff wrote: 'The widespread use of vaccines against polio, measles, mumps, rubella, rabies and other pathogens has saved millions of lives. … Those pushing for coercive Covid vaccination threaten all this progress by undermining public trust in vaccines.' Levi, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, has been highly critical of mRNA vaccines and tweeted in January 2023 that 'the evidence is mounting and indisputable that MRNA vaccines cause serious harm including death, especially among young people. We have to stop giving them immediately!' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Some public health advocates who criticized Kennedy's other picks for ACIP offered a more positive assessment of Meissner, a pediatric infectious-disease specialist at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. He has served on FDA and CDC vaccine advisory committees. In an interview with The Post in February, Meissner praised measles vaccination and criticized the Biden administration's universal recommendation for coronavirus vaccines, including for healthy younger people. Kennedy has sought to change the membership of the vaccine panel since shortly after taking office, said Jeffrey Klausner, a professor of medicine and public health at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine and former CDC medical officer who gave Kennedy recommendations in mid-February. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'He wanted highly credentialed, non-conflicted scientists and doctors who can look at data and make recommendations objectively,' Klausner said. He recalled Kennedy rejecting two names on the list, calling one 'too much of an industry shill' and the other 'clearly anti-vax.' Klausner declined to identify the two individuals. A spokesman for Kennedy did not return a request for comment on Klausner's account. Klausner said the only ACIP nominee who raised concerns for him was Malone, who has disparaged coronavirus vaccination, raising concerns about its effectiveness and side effects. Malone 'worked to undermine confidence in covid vaccination – which has saved hundreds of thousands of U.S. lives – and has actively contributed to vaccine hesitancy,' Klausner said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Malone has previously called those critiques 'attacks.' A document that HHS sent Tuesday to health officials and dozens of organizations before the new members were announced stated that Kennedy's decision to remove the previous panel members does not affect insurance coverage of vaccines, the childhood vaccine schedule, programs that rely on the committee's recommendations or the panel's procedures. Kennedy has said the panel's June 25-27 meeting will go forward as scheduled. Recommendation votes are scheduled for coronavirus, influenza, meningococcal, HPV and RSV vaccines for adults, pregnant women and infants. A quorum of at least eight ACIP members is required to hold a vote. Kennedy has blasted the committee for never voting against vaccines. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. But the panel has voted to reverse vaccine recommendations based on safety data showing elevated risks of serious complications, including the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine and a rotavirus vaccine. The panel also has changed an initial recommendation to use a nasal spray as the preferred way to protect children against the flu, after data showed that method was no longer more effective than shots, said Jamie Loehr, a family physician in New York ousted from the committee. 'The whole goal is to have evidence that the vaccines work and are protecting people,' said Loehr, who had served as a voting member of the panel since 2021. Medical and professional organizations condemned Kennedy for purging the committee, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians, the American Association of Immunologists, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Nurses Association. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The American College of Physicians issued a statement Wednesday evening calling for Kennedy to halt the appointments and restore the previous committee members. 'The speed with which these members were selected, and the lack of transparency in the process, does not help to restore public confidence and trust,' said Jason Goldman, the group's president. On Tuesday, the AMA, at its annual meeting, called for Kennedy to immediately reverse his decision and called for a Senate investigation into his actions. Nomination to serve on the vaccine committee has traditionally followed months of vetting, members have said. Under the ACIP charter, members should have expertise in immunization practices or public health, clinical experience using vaccines or a background researching them. The committee is also supposed to include a member who brings a consumer perspective to vaccine policy. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Kennedy has accused ACIP members of having conflicts of interest, pointing to previous government reports about them having financial stakes in their decisions. Members declare conflicts of interest stemming from their past work with vaccine makers at the start of meetings and recuse themselves from votes that could benefit the companies to which they had financial ties. In March, the CDC unveiled a tool to make it easier to see and search the relationships with vaccine manufacturers for potential conflicts disclosed by ACIP members and votes they recused themselves from as a result. Since taking over as the nation's top health official in February, Kennedy has pushed back against establishment vaccine policy in the United States. He pushed out the Food and Drug Administration's top vaccine scientist and hired a vaccine skeptic to evaluate vaccine safety data. He has raised questions about how the U.S. tests vaccines and unilaterally announced that federal health officials would no longer recommend coronavirus vaccines for healthy children and healthy pregnant women. Celebrity Sunshine Girls Sunshine Girls Toronto Maple Leafs Columnists
UPI
04-06-2025
- Business
- UPI
ADP: Private payrolls grew by 37,000 in May; lowest rate since 2023
ADP reported that private payrolls in March grew by 37,000, the slowest pace since 2023. File Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI | License Photo June 4 (UPI) -- Private payroll processor ADP reported Wednesday that May private sector job growth was at its lowest level in two years. U.S. private employers added 37,000 jobs in May, the lowest pace of hiring since March 2023, ADP's monthly report said. "After a strong start to the year, hiring is losing momentum," ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson said in a statement. "Pay growth, however, was little changed in May, holding at robust levels for both job-stayers and job-changers." The Dow Jones consensus expectation was 110,000. ADP May data showed 38,000 jobs created in leisure and hospitality, 20,000 created in financial services and 8,000 in information. But professional and business services lost 17,000, education and health services lost 13,000, and natural resources and mining saw a 5,000 decline in jobs. Goods-producing industries lost a net 2,000 jobs with manufacturing down by 3,000. President Donald Trump referenced the ADP report as he again called on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates. "ADP NUMBER OUT!!! 'Too Late' Powell must now LOWER THE RATE. He is unbelievable!!! Europe has lowered NINE TIMES!" Trump wrote on Truth Social. While the labor market weakened in May, pay gains held steady. ADP found that year-over-year pay increased in May by 4.5% for workers who stayed in their jobs. Pay rose 7% for job-changers. Financial services jobs had the greatest impact on pay gain of 5.2% for job-stayers. By region, the West gained 37,000 jobs and the Midwest gained 20,000. The Northeast lost 19,000 jobs and the South lost 5,000. Medium-sized employers with 50 to 499 employees added a net 49,000 jobs. But small and large employers lost 13,000 and 3,000 jobs respectively.
UPI
01-06-2025
- Politics
- UPI
On This Day, June 1: Lafayette Square protesters cleared for Trump church photo-op
1 of 6 | On June 1, 2020, law enforcement officers cleared protesters from Lafayette Square near the White House using tear gas and other tactics to allow President Donald Trump to walk to St. John's Episcopal Church to pose for a photo while holding a Bible. File Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI | License Photo On this date in history: In 1880, the first public pay telephone began operation in New Haven, Conn. In 1958, Charles de Gaulle became prime minister of France with emergency powers amid the collapse of the Fourth Republic. He was elected president of France at the end of the year amid the rise of the Fifth Republic. In 1962, Israel hanged Adolf Eichmann for his part in the killing of 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany in World War II. In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court banned prayers and Bible teaching in public schools on the constitutional grounds of separation of church and state. File Photo by Erin Schaff/UPI In 1968, Helen Keller, a world-renowned author and lecturer despite being blind and deaf from infancy, died in Westport, Conn., at the age of 87. In 1973, Prime Minister George Papadopoulos abolished the Greek monarchy and proclaimed Greece a republic with himself as president. Constantine II, the last king of Greece, died in January 2023. In 1980, the Cable News Network -- CNN -- TV's first all-news service, went on the air. In 1993, President Jorge Serrano Elias of Guatemala was ousted by the military. In 1997, Betty Shabazz, Malcolm X's widow, sustained injuries when her 12-year-old grandson, Malcolm Shabazz, set fire to her apartment. She died nearly a month later. File Photo by Roger Celestin/UPI In 1997, teacher Jonathan Levin, the son of Time Warner's then-chairman, Gerald Levin, was tortured and killed by a former student who knew him to be wealthy and was seeking money. The student, Corey Arthur, was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. His alleged accomplice, Montoun Hart, was acquitted despite a signed, 11-page confession. In 2001, Nepalese Crown Prince Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev massacred nine members of his family, including his parents, King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya; his siblings, Prince Nirajan and Princess Shruti; and aunts and uncles Prince Dhirendra, Princess Shanti, Princess Sharada, Kumar Khadga and Princess Jayanti. Dipendra also shot himself in the head, but initially survived, and served as king for four days before dying. In 2008, a fire at Universal Studios Hollywood burned two city blocks and destroyed iconic movie sets, including those from When Harry Met Sally, The Sting and Back to the Future. In 2009, Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 people on board. In 2015, the Eastern Star, a passenger ship traveling along the Yangtze River from the eastern city of Nanjing, flipped during a violent storm, killing approximately 400 people. In 2020, law enforcement officers cleared protesters from Lafayette Square near the White House using tear gas and other tactics to allow President Donald Trump to walk to St. John's Episcopal Church to pose for a photo while holding a Bible. The photo op came amid protests against the police killing of George Floyd which caused damage to the church. In 2021, Adm. Linda Fagan took over for retiring Adm. Karl L. Schultz, becoming the first female commandant in the U.S. Coast Guard. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI
UPI
28-05-2025
- Politics
- UPI
Latin America serves as platform for Russian espionage
Latin America has become a strategic hub for Russian operatives seeking to operate beyond the direct surveillance of U.S. and European agencies, according to the U.S. Intelligence Community. File Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI | License Photo May 28 (UPI) -- U.S. and NATO intelligence reports have documented an increase in Russian espionage activity in Latin America, particularly since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022. The region has become a strategic hub for Russian operatives seeking to operate beyond the direct surveillance of U.S. and European agencies, according to the U.S. Intelligence Community. Recent investigations reveal that Russia has used countries like Brazil as launchpads to create false identities and conduct international espionage. Over the past two decades, Russia has expanded its footprint in Latin America through trade agreements, military cooperation, cultural diplomacy and intelligence operations, said Luis Pacheco of the Security College in Washington. This expansion reflects a geopolitical effort to counter U.S. influence in the region. "Although not always visible, Russian intelligence has cultivated networks of influence, disinformation and surveillance, acting as a silent tool of power," said Pacheco. Intelligence services in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay have reported activity by Russia's SVR and GRU intelligence agencies. In addition to on-the-ground espionage, these entities are accused of spreading disinformation, launching cyberattacks and carrying out psychological operations aimed at swaying public opinion, destabilizing pro-Western governments and promoting Kremlin-aligned narratives. "Russian intelligence serves as a tool of geopolitical deterrence, sending a message that Moscow can also exert strategic influence in Latin America, a region traditionally within Washington's sphere of influence," Pacheco said. Uruguay has a notable history involving Russian espionage. In September 2022, Alejandro Astesiano, the head of security for President Luis Alberto Lacalle, was arrested for leading a criminal network that forged documents to help Russian citizens obtain Uruguayan passports. Authorities estimate that the network facilitated as many as 10,000 passports, charging roughly $20,000 each. More recently, Brazilian counterintelligence expelled nine Russian agents who had obtained Brazilian documents. According to officials, Uruguay's intelligence service tracked SVR agents into Brazil and alerted local authorities. The investigation included cooperation from the CIA and other Western intelligence agencies concerned that SVR presence aimed to influence opinion in favor of Russia's stance on the war in Ukraine. A New York Times investigation detailed growing Russian espionage activity in Brazil, describing the country as a key platform for covert Kremlin operations. One notable case is that of Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, a GRU agent who posed as a Brazilian national under the name "Victor Muller Ferreira." In his book El Topo (The Mole), Argentine journalist Hugo Alconada recounts the 2023 arrest in Slovenia of a Russian spy couple carrying Argentine passports. Artjom Viktorovič Dulcev and Anna Valerevna Dulceva allegedly lived under false identities in Buenos Aires between 2012 and 2019. Their mission reportedly focused on gathering intelligence about Argentina's massive Vaca Muerta oil reserve in the south of the country.
