Hopkins begins nation’s first HIV-positive organ transplants
Hopkins begins nation’s first HIV-positive organ transplants
WASHINGTON (AP) — Surgeons in Baltimore for the first time have transplanted organs between an HIV-positive donor and HIV-positive recipients, a long-awaited new option for patients with the AIDS virus whose kidneys or livers also are failing.
Johns Hopkins University announced Wednesday that both recipients are recovering well after one received a kidney and the other a liver from a deceased donor — organs that ordinarily would have been thrown away because of the HIV infection.
Doctors in South Africa have reported successfully transplanting HIV-positive kidneys but Hopkins said the HIV-positive liver transplant is the first worldwide. Hopkins didn’t identify its patients, but said the kidney recipient is recuperating at home and the liver recipient is expected to be discharged soon.
“This could mean a new chance at life,” said Dr. Dorry Segev, a Hopkins transplant specialist who pushed for legislation lifting a 25-year U.S. ban on the approach and estimates that hundreds of HIV-positive patients may benefit.
For patients who don’t already have the AIDS virus, nothing changes — they wouldn’t be offered HIV-positive organs.
Trump says abortion ban should yield ‘punishment’ for women
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said Wednesday that women who get an abortion should receive “some form of punishment” if it is ever outlawed, drawing swift condemnation from activists on both sides of the divisive social issue.
Within hours, Trump’s campaign sought to take back his comments in two separate statements, ultimately saying the billionaire businessman believes abortion providers — and not their patients — should be the ones punished.
“My position has not changed,” Trump argued in both statements released by his campaign. “Like Ronald Reagan, I am pro-life with exceptions.”
Trump’s original remarks about abortion came in a heated exchange with MSNBC host Chris Matthews at the Wednesday afternoon taping of a town hall in Green Bay, Wisconsin, scheduled to air that night. Matthews asked Trump whether he believes abortion should be outlawed.
After an extended back-and-forth, Trump said, “you have to ban” abortion and “there has to be some form of punishment” for women who violate such a restriction.
Belgium premier’s residence, office found on bomber’s laptop
BRUSSELS (AP) — A laptop used by one of the Brussels bombers contained images of the Belgian prime minister’s home and office, an official said Wednesday, heightening fears after last week’s attacks on the airport and subway system.
A government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said that “it is alarming that they were apparently scouting the terrain” around the lush Royal Park where both his office, “Le 16,” and his Lambermont residence are located.
Security around Prime Minister Charles Michel has increased since the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris and in Brussels last week. Michel also has had several unspecified death threats over the past years, the official said.
A laptop found near the hideout of the suspects of the March 22 airport bombing first gained notoriety because it contained a sort of will of suicide bomber Ibrahim El Bakraoui, in which he spoke of being “in a haste” and “no longer know what to do.”
The computer was also “full of stuff” on many locations around Brussels in information garnered from the Internet, said an official linked to the investigation.
After Brussels, leaders tackling threat of nuclear terrorism
WASHINGTON (AP) — Still reeling from attacks in Brussels and Paris, world leaders are wrestling this week with the chilling prospect of the Islamic State group or other extremists unleashing a nuclear attack on a major Western city.
Preventing terrorists from obtaining nuclear materials is the central focus as President Barack Obama hosts leaders from roughly 50 countries for a nuclear security summit starting Thursday. Despite three previous summits and six years of Obama’s prodding, security officials warn that the ingredients for a nuclear device or a “dirty bomb” are alarmingly insecure.
“We know that terrorist organizations have the desire to get access to these raw materials and to have a nuclear device,” said Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser. Still, the White House said there was no indication of an imminent plot.
Decades after the Cold War, the threat of a nuclear war between superpowers has given way to growing concerns about non-state actors, including Islamic State and al-Qaida offshoots operating in North Africa and in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Although the U.S. and its allies still worry about North Korea, Obama believes the threat posed by Iran has subsided due to the nuclear deal, leaving extremist groups among the likeliest perpetrators.
The havoc such an attack could wreak in an urban area like New York or London is concerning enough that leaders scheduled a special session on the threat during the two-day summit. U.S. officials said the leaders would discuss a hypothetical scenario about a chain of events that could lead to nuclear terrorism.
Paris prosecutor: Suspect charged with terrorism offenses
PARIS (AP) — A 34-year-old Frenchman arrested last week has been charged with a string of terrorism offenses for allegedly plotting an imminent attack and operating an explosives arsenal of what prosecutors called “unprecedented scale.”
Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said Wednesday that the suspect, Reda Kriket, is accused of participating in a terrorist group with plans for at least one attack, possessing and transporting arms and explosives, and holding fake documents, among other charges.
Kriket is believed to have traveled to Syria in 2014 and 2015 and made several trips between France and Belgium, Molins said.
At least three other people are in custody in the case in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Molins did not say whether Kriket’s purported plot was linked to the Islamic State network behind last week’s attacks in Brussels and last November’s attacks in Paris. Before the Paris attacks, Kriket and the suspected Paris plot ringleader were convicted in absentia last summer on terrorism charges.
A long wait: Fliers brace for big security lines at airports
NEW YORK (AP) — An expedited screening program called PreCheck was supposed to be the answer to maddeningly long security lines at the airport. But four years after its launch, the Transportation Security Administration is far short of enrolling enough travelers to make a difference, spelling trouble for summer travel season.
Fliers can expect massive security lines across the country, with airlines already warning passengers to arrive at least two hours early or risk missing their flight.
The TSA cut its airport screener staff by 10 percent in the past three years, anticipating PreCheck would speed up the process. When not enough fliers enrolled, the agency tried to make up for that shortfall by randomly placing passengers into the express lanes. But it recently scaled back that effort for fear dangerous passengers were being let through. That’s when the lines started growing, up to 90 minutes in some cases.
The TSA is shifting some resources to tackle lines at the nation’s biggest airports, but says there is no easy solution to the problem with a record number of fliers expected this summer.
“We had unacceptable line waits at the majority of our hubs,” says Robert Isom, chief operating officer of American Airlines. “Based on what the TSA is telling us, there is no relief in sight.”
No charges for 2 Minneapolis officers in fatal shooting
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Two white police officers involved in the fatal shooting of a black man last fall will not face criminal charges, a prosecutor announced Wednesday in a decision that drew outrage from community members who said the move showed that the legal system is rigged against African-Americans.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said his decision not to charge the officers in the death of 24-year-old Jamar Clark was based on forensic evidence that showed Clark was not handcuffed and had attempted to grab an officer’s weapon, which made deadly force necessary.
Clark ignored warnings to take his hands off Mark Ringgenberg’s gun before he was shot and told Ringgenberg and officer Dustin Schwarze: “I’m ready to die,” the prosecutor said.
Freeman painstakingly described his decision, starting with police reports and witnesses. Community members who attended the presentation said the prosecutor relied too heavily on police accounts and disregarded what others said they saw.
“This is a fairy tale. None of this happened,” said Mel Reeves, an organizer for a group called Twin Cities Coalition 4 Justice 4 Jamar Clark. “It’s not justice. It sends us a clear message that the police are above the law.”