Nation and world news in brief for September 21

Six weeks from Election Day, some in-person voting begins

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Americans began casting their first in-person votes on Friday in a presidential election six weeks away that both Republican and Democratic leaders call the most important in generations.

The stakes are high: Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and other party leaders have described Republican nominee Donald Trump as a threat to democracy, while Trump has said he must win to save the country from Democratic rule.

In-person voting marks a six-week stretch to the Nov. 5 Election Day. It means the end is now in sight to the bitterly divided campaign which in just the past two months has seen Harris take over from President Joe Biden as the Democrats’ nominee and Trump narrowly escaping one assassination attempt in Pennsylvania and a second apparent one on Sunday at his Florida golf club.

Most states offer some form of in-person early voting. The first in-person voting was in Virginia, Minnesota and South Dakota with several more states to follow by the middle of October.

J&J unit files for bankruptcy to advance $10B talc settlement

(Reuters) — A Johnson &Johnson subsidiary filed for bankruptcy for a third time on Friday as the healthcare giant seeks to advance an approximately $10 billion proposed settlement that would end tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging that the company’s baby powder and other talc products caused cancer.

J&J faces lawsuits from more than 62,000 claimants who alleged that its baby powder and other talc products were contaminated with asbestos and caused ovarian and other cancers. To stop those lawsuits, J&J subsidiary Red River Talc filed for bankruptcy protection in a federal bankruptcy court in Houston.

The company has denied the allegations and has called its products safe.

Erik Haas, J&J’s worldwide vice president of litigation, said on Friday that the settlement is “fair and equitable to all parties” and that 83% of current talc claimants voted for it.

Trump Media tumbles to new low after lock-up expires

(Reuters) — Shares of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s media company tumbled almost 8% to a new low on Friday, extending recent losses after a lock-up on insider sales expired.

Five straight days of declines in Trump Media &Technology Group, which is 57% owned by the Republican presidential candidate, have left its market capitalization at $2.7 billion.

Shares of the cash-burning company, which operates the Truth Social app, ended at $13.55, the lowest close since its stock-market debut in March.

Restrictions on insider selling expired on Thursday after markets closed.

US Postal Service will not hike stamp prices for first time since 2022

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The U.S. Postal Service said on Friday it will not hike stamp prices in January for the first time since January 2022 after a series of price hikes in recent years.

USPS in July hiked the price of a first-class mail stamp to 73 cents from 68 cents and raised overall mailing services product prices by 7.8%.

Stamp prices are up 36% since early 2019 when they were 50 cents.

Biden readies $375M arms aid package for Ukraine

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The United States is preparing a $375 million military aid package for Ukraine, breaking a months-long trend towards smaller packages for Kyiv for its military operations against Russia, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday.

The latest package comes at a crucial time in the war, as Russia pummels Ukraine’s energy grid ahead of the critical winter months.

The aid package, expected to be announced next week, includes patrol boats, additional ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), 155 and 105 millimeter artillery ammunition, spare parts and other weapons, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The contents and size of the package could change in the coming days ahead of the president’s expected signature.

Nasal flu vaccine is approved for at-home use

(NYT) — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized at-home use of FluMist, opening the door for needle-shy people to have easy access to a nasal spray vaccine. The approval will allow, for the first time, an alternative to the annual flu shot that parents and caregivers can give to children and that adults can use on their own outside a health care setting.

It would still require a prescription and is expected to be available from an online pharmacy next fall. The current out-of-pocket cost for a dose of the treatment, made by AstraZeneca, is about $35 to $45, but may be less depending on insurance coverage.

Communication failures plagued deadly Trump rally, Secret Service finds

WASHINGTON (NYT) — A Secret Service internal review of the failures that led to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, found that agents did not have the necessary discussions about how a complex of warehouses surrounding the site should be protected.

The most glaring of the agency’s security lapses on that day centers on how an armed 20-year-old was able to climb onto a roof of one of the warehouses, giving him a clear line of sight to Trump. Other failures noted in the agency’s summary include the inability of the Secret Service to talk with its local partners over radios and technical challenges that prevented agents from launching drone detection on the day of the rally.

The Secret Service’s findings were released in a brief summary of its monthslong inquiry Friday. The complete report is not yet finished.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs on suicide watch while he awaits sex trafficking trial

NEW YORK (TNS) — Sean “Diddy” Combs has been placed on suicide watch at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he’s awaiting trial on three felony charges stemming from years of alleged abuse.

The music mogul’s attorney, Marc Agnifilo, told TMZ the directive issued by jail staff was a routine measure for all “new, high-profile inmates.” He added that Diddy is “not at all suicidal” and described him as “strong, healthy, confident and focused on his defense.”

Diddy has been in federal custody in New York City since his arrest Monday night. He was taken into custody at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan and initially placed in MDC’s special housing unit, or SHU, before he was moved to the jail’s East Side.

His arrest came after a months-long investigation carried out by Homeland Security and the federal government, which saw agents raid Diddy’s homes in Miami and Los Angeles in connection with drug and sex trafficking allegations.

Biden will take cancer ‘moonshot’ global at summit in Delaware

(NYT) — President Joe Biden, who is winding down his term and his life on the world stage, is taking one of his most prized personal initiatives — the cancer “moonshot” program — global. When Biden and the leaders of Australia, India and Japan meet in Wilmington, Delaware, on Saturday for the president’s final so-called Quad Summit, they will unveil a new collaboration aimed at reducing cervical cancer in the Indo-Pacific, White House officials said. Some countries in the region have especially high rates of the disease. The Quad Cancer Moonshot Initiative will focus on expanding cervical cancer screening; increasing vaccinations against the human papillomavirus, or HPV; and treating patients.