Karthik

I run.. therefore I am !! Barefoot Runner, Scientist/ Medicinal Chemist, News Junkie, Sports fan, Utah Jazz fanatic.

[Matthew Herper @matthewherper]

Well who doesn't like an M&A rumor on a Sunday night!

Some thoughts on the reported AstraZeneca-Bristol Myers tie up. I don't doubt Oliver but have not confirmed it independently.

1. This only makes sense if $AZN uses $BMY to buy U.S. sales and manufacturing footprint that it would need to build and cuts fairly brutally in order to get earnings growth.

2. The combined company would grow sales more slowly than AZ alone. Right now AZ trades at a 25x P/E; BMS is at 14.

3. The big antitrust issue is probably in cancer immunotherapy; Bristol sells Opdivo, which generates $10 billion annually but faces a patent expiry as soon as 2028. AZ sells Imfinzi, which generates $6 billion in annual sales but could lose its major US patent in 2031; both could have major continuing sales in through use patents and new formulations.

4. AZ investors may not love this deal. Pharma investors tend to prefer growth to cost-cutting, and Bristol itself is seen as a case in point of mega-mergers not working. AZ has had one of the better growth machines in oncology and respiratory. The question will be what scale buys.

5. It's very possible that the fact that Lilly is now worth 4 times AZ and 9 times BMS has something to do with this, too. Market value is buying power.

Pascal Soriot, AZ's CEO, may simply think that BMS is cheap. But the challenge will be explaining why the two companies are worth more together than apart.

[Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD DSc(hon) @PeterHotez]

That’s false: the scientific community has investigated every single fake assertion from Kennedy and the antivaccine activists: 1) starting in 1998 with their false assertion about MMR, 2) then Kennedy wrote that ridiculous article in Rolling Stone in 2005 also retracted, 3) then Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carey paraded around in green t shirts saying we have to “green” our vaccine ecosystem and separate vaccines, all BS, 4) then it was aluminum also debunked. Meanwhile DHHS refuses to acknowledge the role of several hundred autism genes and also refuses to investigate actual known environmental toxins that interact with autism genes like valproate. This is all to benefit the corrupt wellness influencer industry, it’s all about their filthy lucre

[Mike Young @micyoung75]

Maggie Haberman spent an hour with him in the Oval Office in March and came away with a number. Seventy percent of his mind share, by her estimate, goes to the renovations. The ballroom. The arch. He interrupted an unrelated meeting to call Emmanuel Macron and ask what it is like to stand under the actual Arc de Triomphe, whether it has a visitor's desk, whether people jump off it. Someone had asked him what should go on top of his own version. He was deciding between that and a giant gold cast of his own fist from Butler.

Meanwhile nobody around him seems fully certain he understands how depleted American munitions are after this war he started with Iran, a live open question from a reporter who has covered him for a decade.

There is no policy agenda left, by Haberman's own account. No immigration bill in the works, no legislative program, nothing beyond retribution and construction. He is not governing a country right now so much as decorating a legacy he has already decided he deserves.

[Parimal @Fintech03]

In Vidisha (near Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh), there stands a single stone pillar locally known as Khamba Baba. For centuries, locals worshiped it w/o knowing what was written on it.

The pillar was 1st documented by archaeologist Alexander Cunningham in 1877, though the inscriptions remained hidden under layers of vermilion paste. After the coating was cleaned & the Brahmi text in Prakrit form came to light in the early 20th century, the Indian epigraphist D.R. Bhandarkar produced a seminal transliteration, translation & analysis of the inscription that proved monumental in establishing its historical significance.

The inscription reads verbatim: "This Garuda-standard of Vasudeva, the God of Gods, was constructed here by Heliodoros, a Bhagavata, son of Dion, a native of Taxila, an ambassador of the Greek King Antialcidas to King Bhagabhadra..."

Heliodorus was not an Indian. He was a Yavana sent by the Greek King Antialcidas of Taxila.

By 113 BCE, over a century before Christianity & centuries before Islam, a Greek diplomat sent on an official political mission publicly declared himself a Bhagavata (a devotee of Vasudeva/Krishna) & erected a Garuda pillar at his own expense.

On the back of the same pillar, Heliodorus had 3 specific verse principles carved as the essence of his adopted faith:

- Dama (Self-restraint)
- Tyaga (Renunciation/Generosity)
- Apramada (Vigilance/Mindfulness)

This is physical stone evidence sitting in Madhya Pradesh proving that 2100 yrs ago, Greek intellectuals traveling to India were so profoundly moved by Vaishnava philosophy that they embraced it & carved their faith into granite.

[Gargi #Decolonization 🇮🇳 @gargiuvacha]

Both looted Bharat to become rich.

[The Lowy Institute @LowyInstitute]

Twenty years of praising India is not a China strategy | Stephanie Campbell https://t.co/fNbbTmnbsz

[Abhijit Majumder @abhijitmajumder]

This is what Trump’s friend Asim Munir is doing to Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK).
A young girl is murdered, her body taken around on an army vehicle as a trophy.
Pakistan 🇵🇰 has killed over 90 protesters so far in its genocidal crackdown.
Protests over high electric bills, inflation, and political rights rock the occupied Valley.
The world is mum because this is Muslims killing Muslims. This isn’t Gaza and there’s no Israel to bash.

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

At least 20 people have been killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir after security forces fired guns and tear gas at people protesting over regional elections.

Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder reports.

[Tathvam-asi @tathvamasi6]

Security forces in mirpur POK killed dozens of civilians. Bodies are seen lying everywhere.

Still they are not visible to global media.

@amnestyusa @amnesty @UNHumanRights @UN @UN_HRC where are you all hiding your heads? Shame 🤮

@BBCBreaking @BBCWorld @nytimes @washingtonpost @Telegraph @guardian - blindfolded to Pakistan’s atrocities on its citizens? shameless Presstitutes

[barkha dutt @BDUTT]

Images coming out of POK are horrific as protesters are shot at and bodies lay strewn on the streets

[Eric Feigl-Ding @DrEricDing]

HEALTHCARE IS TOO DAMN EXPENSIVE—Hiker walks 10 miles down Montana’s tallest mountain after impaling himself on a pole, hoping to avoid a costly helicopter evacuation. On July 20, 2026, David Cifaldi was ascending the 12,803-foot Granite Peak, Montana's highest mountain, with two friends. Around 11,800 feet into the climb, Cifaldi slipped on loose rocks. During the fall, he landed on one of his trekking poles, which pierced his torso—entering below his left armpit and exiting through his lower back. Roughly 8 of the rod remained visible, protruding from his body. Nobody wants to forfeit their entire annual income for a rescue helicopter. Cost of healthcare is too damn high.

[Sreemoy Talukdar @sreemoytalukdar]

Observe the art of @nytimes's gaslighting.
The strap says, "dozens have died in recent weeks ahead of a weekslong election".
As if people generally drop dead on their own like mosquitoes or flies. No trigger required.
Then it offers an obfuscation, suggesting that cops may have killed the protestors, but not before clarifying that the allegation of police violence came from a "banned civil rights group". So, less credible.
Also, "died in conflict with police". Social media is flooded with video clips of cops opening fire on unarmed people.

Take a bow, New York Times. 🫡

[Sidharth @Cloudwatch199]

The optics after these protests are massively positive for India.

The world saw citizens openly challenge the government.

It saw students mobilize, institutions respond, a minister take accountability and the system correct course ,without a coup, collapse or constitutional crisis.

That matters.

Because for years, sections of the Western media have casually thrown the word “fascist” at India whenever its politics did not fit their preferred narrative.

But fascist states do not tolerate mass dissent.

They do not allow protesters to force accountability.

They do not permit governments to retreat under public pressure.

India just showed the opposite.

A billion plus people argued, protested, demanded answers and democracy responded.

India is noisy.
India is imperfect.
India is fiercely argumentative.
But India is democratic.
And these protests did not weaken that image.

They proved it. 🇮🇳

[Dr. Priyam Bordoloi @DocPriyamMD]

We know smoking causes lung cancer. But which everyday habit is a major hidden cause of lung cancer in strict NON-smokers?

A) Burning scented candles daily
B) High-heat cooking without an exhaust
C) Burning mosquito coils
D) Using aerosol room sprays

[Dr. Eric Berg DC @dr_ericberg]

Why do so many people in India have bloated, protruding stomachs…
Even if they’re not overweight?

It’s not just genetics.

Here’s what’s really going on: 🧵

[Muthukrishnan Dhandapani @dmuthuk]

Did you know Tamil Nadu and Korea share a fascinating heritage?

Over 6 million Koreans today trace their lineage to a Tamil queen.

Princess Sembavalam (also known as Heo Hwang-ok), a royal from the ancient Pandyan Kingdom of Ayuta in Tamil Nadu, sailed across the seas in 48 CE. She married King Kim Suro, founder of Geumgwan Gaya.

Her name means “red coral” in Tamil, symbolizing beauty and resilience,which beautifully echoes the jade like elegance of her Korean title.

She is celebrated for introducing Tamil culture, including the iconic twin-fish emblem of the Pandyas, and other early influences to Korea.

Together with King Suro, she had 12 children. Their descendants are said to include the Heo, Lee, and Kim clans.

Though based on the 13th century Korean chronicle Samguk Yusa, the names Sembavalam and Suriratna are modern additions. They have inspired statues, stamps, and strong cultural ties between India and Korea today.

[GBC @GBC_Press]

🚨 BREAKING:

​US President Donald Trump's son, Barron Trump, making massive profits from stock investments before the Iran war while 19-year-old US soldier Isabella Gonzales was killed has fueled backlash against the Trump administration's Iran policies.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Massie: Still, there’s a base—there’s Fox News that’s on TV every day trying to glorify this war. Eventually, I think people’s pocketbooks are going to impose reality on them, and they’re going to quit watching Fox and pay more attention to gas prices. We’re already seeing that with farmers, and that’s why you got this $12 billion bailout. This is essentially trying to buy the farmers off in time for the election, saying, “We’re sorry. We know we wrecked your farm with high fertilizer and high diesel prices, so please don’t punish us.”

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

KEILAR: You nominated the president for the Nobel Peace Prize last year. Do you think he still deserves it?

REP. BUDDY CARTER: Absolutely. He negotiated a deal between Pakistan and Iraq, two nuclear nations.

KEILAR: He said 'we'll never have wars.' How has not broken that promise?

CARTER: This war with Iran has been going on for 47 years. He's trying to end it.

KEILAR: This is not a war he inherited

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

Congress is not serious.

We are voting on a stock trading ban for members of Congress…

BUT Republicans added voter-ID in the legislation.

Not to get Dems to vote for voter-ID,

but to get them to vote against the stock trading ban, so they can use it in the Nov. election.