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☆ Russia to hold Victory Day parade amid tight security after drone attacks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Gareth Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/5] Russian service members march in columns before a rehearsal for a military parade, which marks the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Moscow, Russia May 7, 2023. Russia is also reeling from drone attacks, including one on the Kremlin on May 3 which it said was an attempt to assassinate President Vladimir Putin. Putin has repeatedly likened the Ukraine war - which he casts as a battle against "Nazi"-inspired nationalists - to the challenge the Soviet Union faced when Hitler invaded in 1941. Kyiv says this is absurd and accuses Russia of behaving like Nazi Germany by waging an unprovoked war of aggression and seizing Ukrainian territory. However, reflecting increased security concerns caused partly by the drone attacks, authorities have cancelled the traditional flyover.

☆ Health Plan Coverage of Abortion and Related Services
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Practical Law Employee Benefits | Executive Compensation | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +36 min

The Dobbs ruling, which returned the regulation of abortion to the individual states, has led to legislation that restricts abortion, including medication abortion, in many states. In response to the rapidly changing post-Dobbs legal landscape, this article addresses health plan coverage of abortion, medication abortion coverage and litigation, abortion-related travel benefits, and related Practical Law resources concerning these topics. The insurer in a fully insured health plan, health maintenance organization (HMO), or similar arrangement:Assumes the risk of providing health coverage for insured events by paying medical costs for eligible claims incurred under the plan. Self-Funded Health PlansBy contrast, employers with self-funded arrangements may have more discretion in providing coverage for abortion and related services. Changes to plan coverage of medication abortion will likely require plan administrators to:(For more on coverage of medication abortion, see Newly Launched, ReproductiveRights.gov Website Addresses Access to Medication Abortion (Mifepristone) Using Telehealth on Practical Law.)

☆ Colombia's Gustavo Petro finds his opening in Washington
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Stefano Pozzebon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

So what was the most solid common ground President Biden, as host, could find for his guest? Leaders from the region tend to see the climate issue as their platform in international summits. Like many countries in Latin America, Colombia has received considerable investments from Chinese companies in recent years, mostly in the transport and mining sectors. “Petro has the aspiration of leading the new phase of Latin America’s geopolitics. And Biden can also tout a considerable concession from his meeting with Petro, who had always refused to condemn Russia’s actions in Ukraine – until now.

Circuit Court of Appeals, called the April 7 order by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk "abrupt and profoundly disruptive." The 5th Circuit is preparing to hear May 17 arguments on the matter after the U.S. Supreme Court last week put on hold Kacsmaryk's order. Danco Laboratories, which manufactures the brand-name version of the drug, was due to make a separate filing with the 5th Circuit. A panel of three 5th Circuit judges is scheduled to hear arguments on whether to uphold Kacsmaryk's order. The 5th Circuit has a conservative reputation, with 12 of its 16 active judges appointed by Republican presidents.

☆ VC firms create $60 billion-plus climate tech alliance with backing from the UN
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A group of venture capital firms including Tiger Global and Union Square Ventures on Tuesday set up an alliance aimed at making private tech investing more climate-friendly. Called the Venture Climate Alliance (VCA), the coalition of more than 20 climate tech and generalist funds seeks to get the VC industry to increase its commitments to climate tech, a branch of technology devoted to finding solutions to the climate crisis. Generalist VC firms will need to make routine assessments of their carbon footprint, align their early-stage startup bets with net-zero goals. It is not the first initiative to bring climate's role in startup investing to the forefront. The alliance will fall under the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), a group formed during the COP26 climate conference.

☆ The Supreme Court’s Abortion Pill Reprieve
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Photo: Alex Brandon/Associated PressAmerica’s supposed descent into “The Handmaid’s Tale” was put on pause Friday after the Supreme Court stayed a lower-court order restricting access to the abortion pill mifepristone. Note the irony of progressives praising the same High Court they call a threat to democracy and women’s rights. FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine arrived on the Court’s emergency docket after a district court judge issued a nationwide injunction against the Food and Drug Administration’s 2000 mifepristone approval and later relaxation of safety protocols. A Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel let the drug stay on the market but blocked the dispensing rule changes.

☆ Front-line NATO allies worry they could be next after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and are getting ready for a fight
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Sinéad Baker | Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

These countries along the military alliance's front line are now scrambling to make sure they're protected should the Russian military ever come knocking. "There is an imminent need of a stronger NATO presence in our region," Estonia's Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said. For nearly 14 months, the Russian military has been bogged down by its grinding war in Ukraine. More boots on the groundSome leaders in the Baltic countries have said that they ultimately want to host more NATO troops, including permanent brigades, in the years to come. So as the threat landscape continues to shift, the Baltic defense has adapted along with it, Townsend said.

HOW DID THE CASE GET TO THE SUPREME COURT? The Biden administration and Danco immediately asked the Supreme Court to overrule the 5th Circuit and impose an emergency stay. WHAT DID THE SUPREME COURT DO? The injunction was not at issue before the Supreme Court, and remains in effect. Once it does come, the losing side will again have the chance to appeal to the 5th Circuit and, eventually, the Supreme Court.

However the 5th Circuit rules, the case will likely continue for months or years. HOW DID THE CASE GET TO THE 5TH CIRCUIT? WHAT COULD THE 5TH CIRCUIT DO? No matter what the court does, the losing party will have a chance to appeal to the full 5th Circuit and then to the U.S. Supreme Court. Once it does come, the losing side will again have the chance to appeal to the 5th Circuit and, eventually, the Supreme Court.

It is the second time in a year that the Supreme Court has considered a major effort to sharply curtail access to abortion. Less than an hour later, a federal judge in Washington State, Thomas O. The competing rulings meant that the matter was almost certainly headed to the Supreme Court. But the panel imposed several barriers to access, siding in part with Judge Kacsmaryk, while the lawsuit moved through the courts. Seeking emergency relief, the Biden administration asked the Supreme Court to intervene while a fast-tracked appeal moved forward.

☆ Read the Supreme Court’s Order on Abortion Pill Access
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

2 DANCO LABORATORIES, LLC v. ALLIANCE FOR HIPPOCRATIC MEDICINE ALITO, J., dissenting Whole (2021) op., at 2). In another, we were criticized for ruling on a stay application while "barely bother[ing] to explain [our] conclusion," a disposition that was labeled as “emblematic of too much of this Court's shadow-docket decisionmaking— which every day becomes more unreasoned." Woman's Health v. Jackson, 594 U. S. (KAGAN, J., dissenting from denial of application for injunctive relief) (slip op., at 1-2). Barr v. East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, 588 U. S. (2019) (SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting) (slip op., at 5). It would simply restore the circumstances that existed (and that the Government defended) from 2000 to 2016 under three Presidential administrations.

☆ Supreme Court says abortion pill mifepristone will remain broadly available during legal battle
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Demonstrators rally in support of abortion rights at the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, April 15, 2023. The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the abortion pill mifepristone to remain broadly available as litigation plays out in a lower court. The appeals court has scheduled oral arguments for Wednesday, May 17 at 1 pm CT. Mifepristone has become the central flashpoint in the legal battle over abortion since the Supreme Court last summer overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that guaranteed abortion as a constitutional right nationwide. The appeals court judges also suspended the 2019 approval of the generic version of mifepristone.

The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, is expected to act before the deadline to either grant or reject the requests or further pause the litigation. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. agency that signs off on the safety of food products, drugs and medical devices, approved mifepristone in 2000. Circuit Court of Appeals on April 12 declined to block the curbs ordered by Kacsmaryk. Anti-abortion groups led by the recently formed Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and four anti-abortion doctors sued the FDA in November. The plaintiffs contend that the agency used an unlawful process to approve the drug, which they consider to be dangerous.

☆ Opinion | The Abortion Pill Case Could Throw Our Health Care System Into Chaos
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Jack Resneck Jr. | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Against this backdrop, the Supreme Court faces a decision that lays bare the threat to facts, evidence and the health of America’s patients. — in which anti-abortion organizations and doctors who have never prescribed the pill mifepristone argue, absurdly, that 23 years ago the F.D.A. If the lower courts’ rulings on mifepristone are not reversed entirely, it could also upend the Food and Drug Administration’s drug regulatory process. This would throw our health care system into chaos in ways that extend far beyond the specific fight over mifepristone, a highly effective drug that has been used safely by millions of patients for medication abortions and for miscarriage care for more than two decades. In seeking to restrict access to abortion across the United States, the plaintiffs in this case have, intentionally or not, seriously jeopardized our nation’s 85-year-old drug regulatory system.

☆ Yellen wants more World Bank reforms in coming months, eyes subnational lending
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Yellen told Reuters World Bank shareholders had "extremely productive" discussions last week after approving an initial round of reforms to ensure the bank can better tackle issues such as climate change, pandemics and conflict, alongside its work to reduce poverty. Now they expected the bank to take further actions on a "rolling basis," in the run up to the October annual meetings in Morocco, she said. Yellen said private sector executives told her they were upbeat that new incentives and reforms at the World Bank could free up more private capital for development goals. Malpass told Reuters the bank would draft a work plan for reforms to continue over the summer. "We'll explore additional avenues to provide resources directly from the MDBs and enable private sector capital."

HOW DID IT REACH THE SUPREME COURT? Whether or not the Supreme Court decides to stay Kacsmaryk's order, it will not decide the merits of the case. The Biden administration said in its petition to the Supreme Court that the FDA cannot comply with both orders. WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE SUPREME COURT RULES? Once it does come, the losing side will again have the chance to appeal to the 5th Circuit and, eventually, the Supreme Court.

☆ Anti-abortion groups urge US Supreme Court to restrict abortion pill
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Andrew Chung | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON, April 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court should restrict the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone, anti-abortion groups challenging the medication's federal regulatory approval told the justices in a filing on Tuesday, urging them to implement curbs ordered by a conservative federal judge in Texas. Mifepristone is taken with another drug called misoprostol to perform medication abortion, which now accounts for more than half of all U.S. abortions. The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority. Anti-abortion groups led by the recently formed Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and four anti-abortion doctors sued the FDA in November seeking to reverse approval of mifepristone. Since last year's Supreme Court decision, 12 U.S. states have put in place outright bans while many others prohibit abortion after a certain length of pregnancy.

☆ Anti-abortion group asks Supreme Court to keep mifepristone restrictions
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Anti-abortion demonstrators celebrate outside the United States Supreme Court as the court rules in the Dobbs v Women's Health Organization abortion case, overturning the landmark Roe v Wade abortion decision in Washington, U.S., June 24, 2022. An anti-abortion group on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to keep restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone in place while the battle over the medication's legal status plays out. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Friday temporarily blocked those restrictions until 11:59 p.m. The anti-abortion organization also said the court should consider whether the FDA properly approved mifepristone in 2000 if it takes the case. If the lower court rulings against mifepristone ultimately stand, access to abortion could face restrictions even in some states where the procedure remains legal.

☆ Explainer: U.S. Supreme Court presses pause on abortion pill case for 5 days, What happens next?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Brendan Pierson | Thomson Reuters | Brendan Pierson Reports On Product Liability Litigation | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

HOW DID IT REACH THE SUPREME COURT? Circuit Court of Appeals for an emergency stay putting his injunction on hold. Whether or not the Supreme Court decides to stay Kacsmaryk's order, it will not decide the merits of the case. WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE SUPREME COURT RULES? Once it does come, the losing side will again have the chance to appeal to the 5th Circuit and, eventually, the Supreme Court.

☆ Biden administration asks US Supreme Court to stop abortion pill limits
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Andrew Chung | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Danco Laboratories, the manufacturer of mifepristone, also asked the U.S. Supreme Court for similar relief on Friday. The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority. The administration said the lower court orders would have "sweeping consequences" for women who need access to mifepristone and the FDA's scientific judgment authority over drug safety. "The resulting disruption would deny women lawful access to a drug FDA deemed a safe and effective alternative to invasive surgical abortion," the Justice Department told the justices. Since last year's Supreme Court decision, 12 U.S. states have put in place outright bans while many others prohibit abortion after a certain length of pregnancy.

☆ Supreme Court lifts abortion pill restrictions for now
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Friday temporarily blocked lower court rulings that imposed tighter restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone. U.S. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. Northern District of Texas suspended the Food and Drug Administration's approval of mifepristone last week. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked that part of Kacsmaryk's order and kept the FDA approval in place. But the appeals court temporarily re-imposed tighter restrictions on how mifepristone is used and distributed, which would make it more difficult for women to access the drug. She said the lower court rulings are the first time judges have repealed the conditions of an FDA drug approval based on a disagreement over the agency's judgement about safety.

[1/2] Boxes of mifepristone, the first pill given in a medical abortion, are prepared for patients at Women's Reproductive Clinic of New Mexico in Santa Teresa, U.S., January 13, 2023. However, the appeals court declined to block portions of Kacsmaryk's order, effectively reinstating restrictions on the pill's distribution that had been lifted since 2016. The FDA and lawyers for the groups suing to block the drug could not immediately be reached for comment. The lawsuit before Kacsmaryk was filed against the FDA in November by four anti-abortion groups led by the recently formed Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and four anti-abortion doctors. Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Bill Berkrot and William MallardOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

An appeals court put part of that decision on hold late Wednesday, preserving access to the pill for now, with significant restrictions the Justice Department will ask the Supreme Court to lift. Neither Kacsmaryk's order, known as a preliminary injunction, nor the 5th Circuit's emergency stay is a final ruling on the merits of the case. REUTERS/Evelyn HocksteinThe Biden administration said on Thursday it will appeal to the Supreme Court for an emergency stay of Kacsmaryk's order in full. If the FDA wins a stay from the Supreme Court blocking the injunction, mifepristone will remain available with no new restrictions. Once it does come, the losing side will again have the chance to appeal to the 5th Circuit and, eventually, the Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - The Biden administration's proposal on Wednesday to sharply cut tailpipe emissions and vehicle pollutants is on a fast track as the future of U.S. auto production could become a presidential campaign issue next year. Under Trump, the EPA reversed that decision and rolled back the Obama standards, a move that would have increased U.S. oil consumption by about 500,000 barrels per day by the 2030s. Biden, a self-proclaimed "car guy," will accelerate the adoption of zero-emission vehicles, the White House said on Wednesday. The EPA rules are also crucial to meeting the administration climate goals. Biden has said he intends to be the Democratic candidate for president in 2024 but has not made a formal announcement.

April 12 (Reuters) - Abortion opponents on Tuesday urged a U.S. appeals court to allow the suspension of Food and Drug Administration's approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, in a case with potentially far-reaching impact on how the government regulates medicine. The abortion opponents' requests came one day after the U.S. Department of Justice urged the appeals court to put U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk's April 7 order voiding the FDA's approval on hold through the appeals process. It is not clear when the 5th Circuit will rule on extending the stay. Twelve of the 16 5th Circuit judges who hear cases are Republican appointees. Circuit Court of Appeals, No.

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