Could a staggering $750 billion investment unlock the door to remedies for life-altering conditions like diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and various types of cancer? Lou Weisbach, a proactive Chicago entrepreneur, is wholeheartedly convinced of this potential. He leads the charge as a co-founder of The American Center for Cures, an ambitious project with monumental goals.

Their bold agenda seeks to assemble the funds and allocate them across 16 specialized teams tasked with focusing on these debilitating diseases. With a significant career history including a stint in the Bill Clinton administration, Weisbach is no stranger to initiatives of grand scale and importance.

“My journey with this began more than two decades ago with Dr. Rick Boxer, currently serving on the National Cancer Advisory Board,” Weisbach recalled. “We posed a straightforward, albeit ambitious question: If we genuinely aimed to conquer Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and breast cancer, what steps would be indispensable? Armed with just a blank page, we sketched out every conceivable action, only to realize that the existing framework back then—and even today—lacks the capacity to achieve these paramount goals.”

Back when the idea first emerged, attempts to pass supportive legislation hit a brick wall.

“The dynamics shifted recently, somewhat unexpectedly, due to changes under Donald Trump’s administration,” Weisbach explained. “Cuts to research funding served as a wake-up call, galvanizing American researchers to reconsider our proposal. It’s about having the U.S. Treasury sell $750 billion in bonds, with plans to issue $125 billion annually. The initial year’s interest cost would be $6 billion, increasing to $12 billion the following year. Imagine instilling hope in every American battling such diseases by assuring them that a dedicated team is working tirelessly, with minimal fiscal impact. Amidst our current national divisiveness, here’s a cause that unites us all, as everyone has felt the pain of watching loved ones suffer. Now there’s a strategy poised to make a difference,” Weisbach expressed with conviction. With resources and expertise synced, he believes progress could be swift, adding, “It’s time to seize every opportunity, and I’m confident the American Center for Cures is a step in the right direction.”

Part 1:

Part 2:

In a mass exodus, more than 160,000 undocumented immigrants have departed from South Africa amid rising public demonstrations. Thousands of South African citizens have taken to the streets, demanding that foreigners leave the country, with frustration growing over the government’s management of border controls. This discontent echoes sentiments seen across Western nations.

A local South African organization has reported the staggering figure of up to 30 million undocumented immigrants residing in the nation. This number stands in stark contrast to South Africa’s documented populace of approximately 63 million. These undocumented immigrants are frequently blamed for escalating crime rates, seizing employment opportunities, and overwhelming public hospitals and educational institutions.

In areas such as Soweto, near Johannesburg, some groups have gone so far as to visit homes, issuing deadlines for immigrants to leave. Earlier this month, Reuters reported the arrest of 900 individuals during a day marked by nationwide protests. Although protests were largely conducted peacefully, some regions experienced violent outbreaks that necessitated police intervention. Tragically, one fatality was reported in the Johannesburg vicinity.

In response, some undocumented immigrants have opted to leave by bus or have been repatriated on flights organized by their home countries across Africa. On a June flight bound for Ghana, South African border authorities discovered that 321 out of 332 Ghanaians attempting to leave Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport were undocumented residents.

Up to five immigrants have been killed by protesters so far this year, but the most prominent anti-immigrant civic group in South Africa, the March and March movement, claims that it is against violence. It is their followers who march the country’s streets, often with large traditional sticks called knobkerries, “encouraging” foreigners to leave.

Their founder and leader, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, told News Media, “We’ve had enough,” claiming the number of illegal immigrants living in South Africa is “between 15 and 30 million, and that’s an arguable number because everyone is always debating what the actual number is.”

The number 30 million is contentious. The only official published figures are from a census taken in 2022 by Statistics SA, queried by some critics because the organization is controlled by the ANC government, under attack for reportedly causing the illegal immigration crisis and therefore seen to be benefiting from low statistics. The body claims there are up to 3 million immigrants in the country, but Ngobese-Zuma points out this figure includes people who have documents “they’re just using the numbers from those who were admitted to being in the country legally.”

Immigrants have frequently been seen running away when requested by officials, including Stats SA officials, to show their documents. The head of Statistics SA, Risenga Maluleke, even admitted to the local Eyewitness News that his officials don’t check information on the occasions that they can find immigrants, saying “when people say I was born outside South Africa, we take what they say because we have not had a way of proving it other than relying on what they say.”

Ngobese-Zuma added, “The country is being invaded, and we decided to do something about it. There’s too much crime going on at the hands of foreign nationals. The actual truth is that a lot of them go unfound because nobody knows who they are. They’re not on record. Their fingerprints are not on the system. So there [are] a lot of cases actually that are outstanding when it comes to the issue of illegal immigrants.”

Statistics South Africa recently reported that the official unemployment rate for the country is 32.7%. Yet almost all illegal immigrants have found work here, with the country’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, admitting to the nation in a televised address last month, “Some employers hire undocumented immigrants because they pay them wages that are well below the minimum wage and make them work longer hours without due compensation.”

DHS ISSUES $84B IN FINES TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS UNDER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

This led March and March’s Ngobese-Zuma to say, “The issue of jobs is also very important. In our community, where there’s the highest unemployment in the world, it only makes sense that South Africans are out there demanding that they be prioritized when it comes to employment.”

Several reports claim that in a local Johannesburg government hospital, built to offer practically free care to South Africa’s citizens, patients, even in the ER, have to wait up to 36 hours to be seen, because so many foreigners come to the hospital and use the facilities. At least one patient has died waiting to be seen at the Helen Joseph hospital, near to the center of the city.

Ngobese-Zuma pointed out, “We have a welfare (health and education) system in the country, and currently people are flocking in from all over the African continent and the world to come and take advantage of these free things that they think are free when it’s actually taxpayers that are paying for it.”

Border controls are so lax that it’s said hundreds of thousands have simply waded across low rivers in some cases to enter South Africa, with crocodiles a bigger problem than police or immigration officials. Bribery and corruption at border posts is endemic. But following the public outcry, and perhaps significantly with local elections coming up, President Ramaphosa has now vowed to “crack down” on immigration issues. As of July 11, the government claims a total of 53,449 foreign nationals have been processed for deportation and repatriation. 

This represents less than 0.2% of the illegal immigrants said to be in the country by March and March. Public pressure groups, and politicians such as Herman Mashaba, are calling on the government to do much, much more. Mashaba is president of Action SA, a small but campaigning party in South Africa’s parliament that has been battling illegal immigration for 10 years.

Mashaba told News Media, “Action SA is deeply frustrated by the government’s weak and reactionary response to South Africa’s immigration crisis, which is ultimately the consequence of three decades of ANC (the ruling party) failure to secure our borders,”

“Rather than presenting a meaningful shift in approach, which we believe must center on mass deportations and the urgent strengthening of immigration enforcement capacity, the government appears determined to simply repackage the same failed and outdated policies that have done nothing to address the consequences of weak border controls and chronic underinvestment in enforcing our immigration laws.”

“As in Europe, South Africans have turned against their government on immigration policy,” analyst Frans Cronje told News Media. Cronje, president of the Washington-based Yorktown Foundation for Freedom, added, “Polls conducted earlier this year ranked immigration as the second most pressing concern from South Africans behind unemployment. Overall, 23% of South Africans cited unemployment as the most pressing issue for the government to address, followed by 11.7% who cited immigration, 10.1% who cited corruption and 9.8% who cited crime.”

Cronje continued, “Black South Africans (82% of the population) were three times as likely as their White counterparts to see immigration as a problem for the government to address. Hostility toward immigrants runs very high with regular protest marches and threats and intimidation directed at immigrant communities who are accused of taking jobs and businesses from South Africans, and driving high levels of crime”.

Responding when asked why activists such as March and March are taking action, Ngobese-Zuma said, “It’s the government that should be the one that’s making sure that when people say that they don’t want certain people in their communities, they remove them before the communities remove them themselves. I think the government is complacent about not only the issue of immigration, our government is just complacent about a lot of things, especially that have to do with crime.”

Protests against immigrants have turned nasty in previous years. Sixty-two were killed in riots in 2008, and at least five in 2015.

Ngobese-Zuma agrees March and March members are gatvol – Afrikaans slang, politely put to mean completely fed up – telling News Media, “We don’t care which country comes forward and tells us that we are xenophobic. We’ve had enough, and nobody can tell us that we must now accept people staying in our country illegally.”

News Media reached out to the South African government, but did not receive a response.

In an unexpected twist on “MasterChef Australia,” viewers were treated to a surprise appearance by Prince Harry. The Duke of Sussex briefly joined the show via FaceTime to reach out to his wife, Meghan Markle, who was serving as a guest judge on the popular cooking competition.

During Sunday’s episode, as the Duchess of Sussex collaborated with fellow judges to critique the dishes served by the eager contestants, Harry made his surprise call into the studio, much to the delight of everyone present.

A member of the production crew approached Markle with the unexpected phone call and informed her, “We had a phone call to the studio.” Curiosity quickly turned to joy as the identity of the caller was revealed.

Initially appearing puzzled, Markle’s expression shifted to one of delight when she realized it was her husband, Harry. Her face lit up as she warmly greeted him with a heartfelt, “Hi, my love!”

The spontaneous cameo brought smiles and laughter to the judges’ table, including fellow culinary experts Poh Ling Yeow and Sofia Levin. In true Aussie spirit, Harry responded with a cheerful “G’day,” endearing himself further to the audience.

“My husband’s here,” the “Suits” alum told audience members, while showing them the phone.

The spectators shrieked and cheered in excitement as Harry, 41, waved, then joked, “What’s going on? Have I interrupted something important?”

“Well, we’re actually in the middle of tasting all the dishes,” Markle responded, while showing off the plates and gushing over her favorite bites.

The actress also introduced the “Spare” writer to the show’s contestants, including Aaron Kher, Casper Kenworthy and Petro Papathomas.

“It’s amazing,” she said, appearing giddy. “They’re so talented.”

“We wish you were here,” Markle continued, telling the judges that he was in Canberra, Australia, with veterans.

“Well, go and enjoy it. I’m very sorry to disturb you. All is well here. I’ll see you later,” the Invictus Games founder said before hanging up the call.

Several viewers online appeared to have enjoyed the “sweet” interaction, with one writing via X, “Wow, these two are so in love.”

“Prince Harry and Meghan will always do whatever it takes to show up and support one another and it’s one of the reasons their marriage is so successful,” another wrote, as a third chimed in, “Great moment! That’s a sweet marriage. Everyone present is going to recall this forever”

While several agreed it was a “cute moment,” other critics shared a different opinion, with one writing, “Absolute cringe.”

A second hater stated that they didn’t believe Harry “just happened to call a random phone number to talk” to Markle, with another agreeing it was “so fake.”

“So staged,” a fourth netizen added.

Markle stepped in as a guest judge for the competition series earlier this year while she and Harry were visiting Australia.

The couple, who wed in 2018, are the parents to Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5. It’s unclear if the little ones joined them on the trip.

An insider told Page Six that Markle “had a great time” working on set alongside Poh and other judges.

Emma Roberts and Cody John have tied the knot.

After a two-year-long engagement, the couple said ‘I do’ in a romantic ceremony in Idaho, according to photos obtained by DeuxMoi. 

Roberts, 35, and John, 36, exchanged vows outdoors at the actor’s family estate in Sun Valley, per TMZ and Page Six.

Emma, who previously canceled her engagement to Evan Peters, was radiant in a bespoke white dress featuring asymmetrical sleeves, crafted by designer Monique Lhuillier, according to Vogue.

After the ceremony, she changed into a vintage after-party dress by the same designer.

Meanwhile, Cody donned a stylish brown suit for the occasion.

Daily Mail has contacted Roberts’s team for an official statement.

A source told Page Six that the 45-minute nuptials took place outdoors in 95-degree weather. 

The outlet reported that Roberts’s five-year-old son Rhodes, whom she shares with  ex-boyfriend Garrett Hedlund, walked her down the aisle. 

The entertainer told Vogue about collaborating with Lhuillier on her gown, ‘I didn’t really know what I wanted.

‘I just knew that I wanted it to feel very vintage-inspired. I’m obsessed with antique books and treasure hunting, and I love collecting old ephemera, so I really wanted that to shine through in the dress.’

Roberts’s father is Eric Roberts, and her aunt is Academy Award-winning actress Julia Roberts.

Julia and her husband Danny Moder were in attendance for the wedding, and seen in photos shared by DeuxMoi on Sunday.

The American Horror Story star announced her engagement in 2024 with an Instagram post.

She flashed her diamond ring in a smiling snapshot with John, quipping in the caption: ‘Putting this here before my mom tells everyone.’

The couple began dating in 2022, and John’s sparse Instagram profile is mostly made up of tributes to Roberts.

This past February he shared pictures of his then-fiancée and wrote, ‘You make everything magic. Happy birthday, Emma,’ to which she replied in the comments, ‘I love you.’

The now-newlyweds previously confirmed their relationship in August 2022 after they were seen kissing in New York City.

Days later, the duo made things Instagram official with a photo John posted of them sharing a kiss on a yacht.

The caption read: ‘sweet sweet.’

At the time, a source close to the pair told ET that New York native Roberts was ‘very content with Cody, and they’re enjoying their relationship and time together.

‘Their friends and family are happy for the both of them and think they make a great couple,’ the insider dished.

Since then, the low-key couple has managed to keep their relationship private.