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US surgeons have successfully implanted a heart from a genetically modified pig in a 57-year-old man, a medical first that could one day help solve the chronic shortage of organ donations.

The patient consented to the pig heart after being rejected for a human heart transplant

An American hospital patient in the state of Maryland is reportedly in stable condition just days after he received an experimental pig heart transplant as a last resort.

David Bennett, 57, consented to the experimental transplant after realizing it was his final shot at surviving terminal heart disease due to his ineligibility to receive a human heart.

“It was either die or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice,” he said before the surgery took place.

While the experiment appears to have been successful, with Bennett breathing on his own just three days after the operation, he remains connected to a heart-lung machine and his condition will continue to be monitored for several weeks.

“This organ transplant demonstrated for the first time that a genetically-modified animal heart can function like a human heart without immediate rejection by the body,” said the University of Maryland School of Medicine, whose scientists performed the procedure.

Bartley P. Griffith, who transplanted the pig heart into Bennett, claimed the “breakthrough surgery” brings mankind “one step closer to solving the organ shortage crisis.”

“There are simply not enough donor human hearts available to meet the long list of potential recipients,” Griffith explained, adding that though the scientists were “proceeding cautiously” with their research, they are “optimistic that this first-in-the-world surgery will provide an important new option for patients in the future.”

The launch, the second in less than a week, was also detected by South Korea’s military.

The controversy over Novak Djokovic’s visa to enter Australia has been “damaging on all fronts”, says the ATP.

A positive lateral flow result can now be taken as a first and final confirmation that you have Covid.

The UN has called for urgent aid as a million Afghan children are are at risk from severe malnourishment.

Dramatic video shows the rescue, moments before collision, after a plane landed on train tracks.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has vowed to remove three Democratic lawmakers from key committee assignments if Republicans win back the chamber in the upcoming midterm elections.

New survey suggests economic woes are continuing to overtake fears of the coronavirus pandemic in the US

A shrinking number of Americans name Covid-19 among their top concerns, according to recent polling, which indicates greater worry over a lagging economy and four decade-high price inflation than the ongoing health crisis.

Published on Monday, a new poll conducted by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed that just 37% of those surveyed list the virus as one of their top five priorities for government policy this year, down from 53% in 2021. 

Though concerns about the economy didn’t change much from last year, a sizable 68% still named the issue as one of their top five for 2022, while those who specifically cited inflation rose much more sharply over the same period, from about 1% to 14%.

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#BareShelvesBiden trends in US over supply issues

As of last November, consumer prices were up 6.8% compared to the year prior, a 39-year high, according to the AP. The steep price hikes corresponded with a jump in the number of Americans who list their cost of living and household finances as a major priority for government, or 24% in Monday’s poll compared to just 12% last year. 

Immigration also saw an uptick over the last 12 months, with 32% listing it as a top concern in a 14-point jump from 2021, while “gun issues” similarly rose by 19 points over the same time period. “Other health care” matters beyond Covid-19, as well as “racism” and “racial inequality,” fell by 11 and nine points, respectively.

The survey included 1,089 respondents and was conducted between December 2 and 7 – after the rise of the Omicron strain, suggesting that concerns over the virus are falling even as the latest ‘variant of concern’ designated by the World Health Organization quickly makes the rounds in the US and elsewhere. 

In follow-up interviews, moreover, many of those surveyed said more recent news about Omicron did not change their opinions regarding the pandemic, the AP reported, noting that the group includes “self-identified Democrats.”

A 71-year-old New Yorker is accused of threatening to kidnap and kill Donald Trump over the 2020 election

A New York City resident has been arrested for saying he plotted to abduct and murder US President Donald Trump if he refused to hand over power after losing the 2020 election.

Thomas Welnicki was arrested on Monday after he allegedly told the Secret Service on multiple occasions of his plot to kill Trump and another 12 unidentified pro-Trump members of Congress, who he believed backed the Republican president’s claims of election fraud.

While Trump is not mentioned by name in the complaint, which was filed with the US District Court in Brooklyn, a footnote identifies “Individual-1” as the “person who served as president from January 2017 to January 2021.”

Welnicki revealed his plan in calls and voice messages to the Secret Service, spanning several months. The messages that started well before the November 2020 presidential election included a “voluntary interview” in July to the US Capitol Police, in which Welnicki reportedly said that “if [Individual-1] loses the 2020 election and refused to step down,’ he would ‘acquire weapons’ and ‘take him down.’”

“I really hope that God takes [Individual-1] out,” Welnicki said.

He also supposedly “bragged about how easy it was for him to acquire a firearm” in New York City, stating that while he didn’t “want to hurt anyone,” he would “stand up to fascism,” according to court documents.

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White House reveals whether Biden wants DOJ to charge Trump with ‘insurrection’

In a subsequent phone call to the Secret Service’s Long Island office in January, Welnicki doubled down on his threat, saying that he would do “anything” he could to “take out [Trump] and his 12 monkeys.” He even indicated that he might strike during a particular Trump rally, saying: “If I had the opportunity to do it in Manhattan that would be awesome … Tomorrow [Trump] will be in Georgia, maybe I will.”

Numerous Trump critics had warned in 2020 that he would attempt to hold on to power post-election. Trump ultimately bowed out and moved to Florida to live at his Mar-a-Lago resort, after courts refused to hear his attempts to contest the vote totals in several states. Congress certified Democrat Joe Biden as the winner following the January 6 Capitol riot.

Welnicki was ultimately released on a $50,000 bond, with his attorney insisting that he posed no threat to Trump at any point. “The bulk of his calls seem to be him calling [the] Secret Service to discuss with them his concerns,” the attorney claimed.

Welnicki’s name, age, and arrest record overlaps with a “Thomas Welnicki” who lived in Florida during the 1990s, racking up a string of drug arrests and eventually serving an eight-year prison term on heroin charges, according to public arrest records cited by the media. That same man was also questioned regarding the disappearance of a 7-year-old girl in the area in 1982, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

At the time, Welnicki claimed he was a physic while describing in detail the two men who had supposedly kidnapped and murdered the girl. He was not charged in the girl’s disappearance, and the case was never solved.