U.S.-India Trade Framework Signals Major Shift in Tariffs, Energy, and Supply Chains 
Trump Allegedly Sought Airport, Penn Station Renaming in Exchange for Hudson River Tunnel Funding 
Trump Rejects Putin’s New START Extension Offer, Raising Fears of a New Nuclear Arms Race 
Trump Signs “America First Arms Transfer Strategy” to Prioritize U.S. Weapons Sales 
New York Legalizes Medical Aid in Dying for Terminally Ill Patients 
Trump Endorses Japan’s Sanae Takaichi Ahead of Crucial Election Amid Market and China Tensions 
U.S. Announces Additional $6 Million in Humanitarian Aid to Cuba Amid Oil Sanctions and Fuel Shortages 
Ohio Man Indicted for Alleged Threat Against Vice President JD Vance, Faces Additional Federal Charges 
Trump Lifts 25% Tariff on Indian Goods in Strategic U.S.–India Trade and Energy Deal 
Newly Released DOJ Epstein Files Expose High-Profile Connections Across Politics and Business 
Norway Opens Corruption Probe Into Former PM and Nobel Committee Chair Thorbjoern Jagland Over Epstein Links 
Iran–U.S. Nuclear Talks in Oman Face Major Hurdles Amid Rising Regional Tensions 
UAE Plans Temporary Housing Complex for Displaced Palestinians in Southern Gaza 
Ukraine-Russia Talks Yield Major POW Swap as U.S. Pushes for Path to Peace 
Marco Rubio Steps Down as Acting U.S. Archivist Amid Federal Law Limits 
NATO to Discuss Strengthening Greenland Security Amid Arctic Tensions 
Former President Donald Trump’s administration was highly criticized for their response to the COVID-19 pandemic with reports surfacing of conflicts between experts and administration officials behind the scenes.
A new report reveals the Trump administration had given $1.3 billion to a company producing syringes for the vaccines, but no syringes were produced.
Despite having millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses already administered recently, a report has surfaced that the Trump administration gave a $1.3 billion contract to ApiJect Systems Corp. to make the syringes needed to administer the vaccines. However, no syringes have been made, and the company’s supposed plans to establish a factory with 650 jobs open remains to be seen. The syringes also have yet to gain approval from the federal government before it could be produced as well.
Nevertheless, the need for ApiJect’s syringes has now declined especially as millions of Americans have already been vaccinated. This now leaves the contracts and federal loans in the air.
In a statement to NBC News, ApiJect said it “is working with several vaccine pharmaceutical companies to conduct the testing and regulatory reviews of the COVID-19 vaccines in the ApiJect syringe.”
A spokesperson for Pfizer, however, said that even if the ApiJect syringes received all the approvals from the federal government, it would not affect their output or their process. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson did not comment.
In other news, Trump has touted the wall closing off the southern border and keeping migrants from crossing as one of his campaign pledges, an effort that Joe Biden shut down as soon as he took office. However, as the Biden administration tackles the influx of migrants seeking to make it to the US, US Border Patrol officials have often discovered ladders left alongside the wall. The officials have also had to call for assistance in Hidalgo, Texas, to clear out the discarded ladders that migrants used to scale the wall.
According to local artist and activist Scott Lowry, the use of ladders to climb the wall and cross the border proves the uselessness of the wall that Trump had planned. “Unlike the wall, these ladders are functional,” said Lowry.
