Drug Cost Cuts, DACA, & Spider Pets

News without the noise

Adam Rogers
October 01, 2025

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Trump announced a deal with Pfizer to cut US drug prices by 50–100%, ensuring medications will be sold at the lowest rates available in other developed nations. The company agreed to provide these discounted rates to Medicaid and Medicare patients and guaranteed the same pricing for new drugs.
In exchange, Pfizer receives a three-year exemption from pharmaceutical tariffs while investing $70 billion in US manufacturing. The deal covers primary care treatments and specialty drugs. Specific medicines were not disclosed.
Trump threatened 100% tariffs on imported branded drugs starting Wednesday unless other drugmakers reach similar agreements. Sixteen pharmaceutical companies received letters, but Pfizer is the only one to make a deal so far.

The Taliban cut internet and mobile phone services nationwide, reducing connectivity to less than 1% of normal levels. Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered the blackout to 'prevent immorality' despite warnings about economic damage to banking, customs, and businesses.
Officials shut down 8,000 to 9,000 telecommunications points with no restoration timeline. Markets froze as businesses lost the ability to process deliveries and transactions. Rights groups say the Taliban is disconnecting Afghans from the world to suppress the population rather than enforce morality.
This is the first countrywide communications shutdown since the Taliban retook power in 2021. The regime began implementing gradual restrictions in mid-September, before expanding them to a nationwide blackout on Monday.

The Trump administration will reopen DACA to new applicants for the first time since 2021 to comply with a court order. DACA currently protects over 525,000 Dreamers, immigrants brought to the US as children, from deportation and allows them to work legally.
New applicants approved outside Texas will receive deportation protection and work permits. New Texas applicants will only avoid deportation, but cannot legally work, though the nearly 88,000 existing Texas DACA recipients keep their current benefits. Texas successfully argued that providing work permits to unauthorized immigrants harms the state.
A federal appeals court ruled DACA is unlawful but limited the ruling's effect to Texas only. Meanwhile, Republican-led states are asking the court to shut down the entire program, arguing Congress should decide DACA's fate.

The US government shut down at midnight last night after Senate Democrats blocked funding legislation. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers are expected to face furloughs or layoffs. (More)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told hundreds of top military commanders they're "fat" and must pass fitness tests twice yearly or face consequences under Trump's new standards. (More)

Thirty thousand people were baptized at Baptize America as churches report Gen Z men are attending services more than Gen Z women for the first time in history. (More)

Germany is seeking to extradite a Ukrainian man arrested in Poland for allegedly diving to plant explosives that destroyed the Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022. (More)

A 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck the central Philippines, collapsing buildings and cutting power as rescuers searched for people possibly trapped in rubble in Cebu province. (More)

South African ambassador Nathi Mthethwa was found dead outside his Paris hotel on Tuesday after police say a window was forced open in his 22nd-floor room. (More)

US stock markets closed higher on Tuesday (S&P +0.41%, Nasdaq +0.31%, Dow +0.18%). Major stock indexes locked in September gains, with the S&P 500 up 3% and the Nasdaq rising 5%, defying the month's historical pattern of losses. (More)

Electric vehicle sales surged 21% this quarter as buyers rushed to claim up to $7,500 in federal tax credits before they ended September 30. (More)

CoreWeave stock jumped 13% after agreeing to provide Meta with $14.2 billion in AI computing infrastructure through 2032. (More)

A'ja Wilson scored 35 points and Jackie Young added 32 as Las Vegas beat Indiana 107-98 in overtime, sending the Aces to the WNBA Finals against Phoenix. (More)

Detroit's Tarik Skubal tied the Tigers' playoff record with 14 strikeouts over nearly eight innings, powering Detroit to a 2-1 Game 1 victory over Cleveland. (More)

The Minnesota Wild signed Kirill Kaprizov to an NHL-record eight-year, $136 million contract, paying him $17 million annually. (More)

Shorter fall days reduce sunlight and vitamin D levels, triggering seasonal depression, but light therapy and vitamin D supplements can help alleviate symptoms. (More)

New research suggests iron smelting was accidentally discovered by copper workers who added iron oxide to improve copper production, not through the deliberate invention of ironworking. (More)

Scientists found 63 new groups of asteroids created by collisions in the last 10 million years, doubling known young asteroid families to 106 total. (More)

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