Independent US presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr has revealed that a worm ate part of his brain.
It has emerged the 70-year-old made the claim during a 2012 interview, known as a deposition, in his divorce proceedings from his second wife Mary Richardson Kennedy.
At the time, he said his earning power had been diminished by cognitive issues.
He said he had been having memory loss and mental fogginess and so contacted neurologists who spotted a dark spot on his brain scans.
Image: Robert F Kennedy Jr with his second wife Mary Richardson Kennedy in February 2009. Pic: AP
They said he had a tumour but another doctor reached a different conclusion, believing he had a dead parasite in his head, The New York Times reported.
In his 2012 interview, Mr Kennedy said the medic thought that the abnormality “was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died”.
Mr Kennedy, who is a son of former US attorney general and ex-senator Robert F Kennedy, and nephew of former US president John F Kennedy and ex-senator Ted Kennedy, also said during the deposition that he was diagnosed with mercury poisoning.
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He said: “I have cognitive problems, clearly. I have short-term memory loss, and I have longer-term memory loss that affects me.”
He told The New York Times he was certain the mercury poisoning was caused by his diet that included lots of tuna. Tuna contains higher levels of mercury than other fish, according to the NHS.
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Environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist Mr Kennedy, who is also known by his initials RFK Jr, told the publication: “I loved tuna fish sandwiches. I ate them all the time.”
He said that tests showed his mercury levels were 10 times higher than what the Environmental Protection Agency sees as safe.
A chemist told the same publication that the mercury levels which Mr Kennedy described were high but not surprising for someone consuming that quantity and type of seafood.
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Mr Kennedy said he made changes after the health scares, including getting more sleep and cutting down on his fish intake.
He told the paper that he had now recovered from the memory loss and fogginess and had no after-effects from the parasite, which he claimed had not needed any treatment.
Doctors who have treated parasitic infections and mercury poisoning have said both conditions can sometimes permanently damage brain function, but patients also can have temporary symptoms and mount a full recovery, the publication reported.
Mr Kennedy said he did not know what type of parasite it was or where he may have contracted it.
But several infectious disease experts and neurosurgeons told The New York Times that based on what Mr Kennedy described, they believed it was likely a pork tapeworm larva.
Image: Mr Kennedy is far behind Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the national polls. Pic: Reuters
When asked if his health issues would impact his fitness to serve as president, a spokesperson for the Kennedy campaign told the publication: “That is a hilarious suggestion, given the competition.”
Mr Kennedy, along with two other third party candidates, philosopher Cornel West, 70, and physician Jill Stein, 73, face Democrat incumbent Joe Biden, 81, and Republican candidate Donald Trump, 77, in November’s presidential race.
In the national polls, Mr Kennedy is currently on about 10%, compared with 41% for Mr Trump and 40% for Mr Biden.
Belgian police have launched a manhunt after a shooting near an underground station in the capital.
It happened outside Clemenceau metro station in Brussels at around 6.15am local time on Wednesday, according to local media reports.
Image: Pic: Reuters
Image: Pic: Reuters
Clemenceau, Trone and Gare de l’Ouest underground stations are closed to the public as police search for the perpetrators in the tunnels of the city’s metro system, The Brussels Times reported.
CCTV footage showed two people walking into the station and opening fire, according to the Reuters news agency. It said it could not immediately verify the images.
Image: Pic: Reuters
Image: Pic: Reuters
“The suspects fled in the direction of the metro station and may still be in the tunnel between the Clemenceau and Midi stations,” a police spokesperson told Belga News Agency.
“The Brussels Midi police and the federal railway police are searching the area. No one was injured in the shooting.”
The US will take over Gaza and “own it”, Donald Trump has said.
Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, he said the two million Palestinian people living in the territory, which he described as a “demolition site”, would go to “various domains”.
Asked about deploying US troops to fill a potential security vacuum, the president replied: “We’ll do what is necessary.”
Expanding on plans for the territory, he said the US would “develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs” and turn it into “something the entire Middle East can be very proud of”.
Image: Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu during a news conference in the East Room of the White House. Pic: AP
The president reiterated his suggestion from 25 January that Palestinians could be relocated to Egypt and Jordan – something both countries, other Arab nations including Saudi Arabia, and Palestinian leaders, have rejected.
Palestinians in Gaza could go to countries beyond Jordan and Egypt too, he said.
Asked whether he thought Egypt and Jordan would accept Palestinians, he said he believed they would.
But, he added: “I hope we could do something where they wouldn’t want to go back. Who would want to go back?
“They’ve experienced nothing but death and destruction.”
Saudi Arabia immediately responded, stressing its rejection of attempts to displace Palestinians from Gaza, and insisted it would not establish relations with Israel without a Palestinian state.
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Asked on what authority the US could take control of Gaza, Mr Trump told reporters he sees a “long term ownership position” which would, he claimed, bring stability to that part of the Middle East.
“This was not a decision made lightly,” he said.
“Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs.”
It would be the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
He continued: “I’ve studied it. I’ve studied this very closely over a lot of months, and I’ve seen it from every different angle.”
He does not believe Palestinians should return to Gaza because it is a “guarantee that they’re going to end up dying”.
He talked about finding a “beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death like what’s happening in Gaza”.
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The war, triggered by Hamas carrying out a massacre of 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage during the 7 October 2023 attacks in Israel, has temporarily stopped since the long-sought ceasefire deal came into effect on 19 January.
More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Hamas’s attack, according to local authorities.
Mr Netanyahu, the first world leader to meet Mr Trump since the pro-Israel president’s return to the White House, sat beside the Republican as he answered questions from the press.
Trump relocation call will horrify Palestinians
President Trump has a habit of saying the quiet stuff out loud. And the proud global disrupter did just that today with his breathtaking announcement. Critics will say he is either ignoring history, is indifferent to it or is ignorant of it.
But if President Trump is to be taken at face value then he is set to repeat history – the history of American occupation of the Middle East and the history of Palestinian displacement.
It would end the prospect of a two-state solution – Israelis and Palestinians living side by side on the same land. It could also wreck any prospects of diplomatic normalisation between Israel and Gulf Arab states.
Nations like Saudi Arabia wouldn’t stand for such a permanent resettlement and probably wouldn’t trust any resettlement presented as ‘temporary’ – which this is conspicuously not.
The two countries being told to take the people of Gaza – Egypt and Jordan – have firmly refused to do so. The American president seems convinced they will roll over.
Maybe though this is part of Trump’s art of the deal: to suggest something, then not follow through – and present that as a concession down the line.
There’s something else too.
Even if Israeli PM Netanyahu believes it’s a plan that can’t work and could further the cries of ethnic cleansing (it’s notable that he didn’t add his overt support to it alongside Trump) the president’s plan will certainly help him domestically where his future is fragile.
Netanyahu can dangle ‘permanent relocation’ in front of the real hardliners in his government who keep him in power.
Whatever is at play here, the announcement today will horrify Palestinians and it will delight and embolden the hardline elements of Israeli society who have dreamt of a Jewish state free of Palestinians.
‘Plans change with time’
The US president hinted he would seek an independent Palestinian state as part of a broader two-state solution to the decades-long Israel-Palestine conflict.
“Well, a lot of plans change with time,” he told reporters when he was asked if he was still committed to a plan similar to the one he spelled out in 2020 that described a possible Palestinian state.
That plan proposed a series of Palestinian enclaves surrounded by an enlarged Israel, did not have the Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, but suggested a Palestinian capital on the outskirts of the city.
“A lot of death has occurred since I left and now came back. Now we are faced with a situation that’s different – in some ways better and in some ways worse. But we are faced with a very complex and difficult situation that we’ll solve,” he said.
On the likelihood of getting a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, Mr Trump said: “We are dealing with a lot of people, and we have steps to go yet, as you know, and maybe those steps go forward, and maybe they don’t.
“We’re dealing with a very complex group of people, situation and people, but we have the right man. We have the right leader of Israel. He’s done a great job.”
Mr Trump was also asked whether he should get the Nobel Peace Prize.
He said: “They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize. It’s too bad. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.”
Swedish police have said around 10 people have been killed at an adult education centre, in what the country’s prime minister said is the worst mass shooting in Sweden’s history.
The attack happened at around 12.30pm local time (11.30am UK time) at Campus Risbergska in the town of Orebro, around 200km (125 miles) west of the capital Stockholm.
A spokesperson told a news conference on Tuesday evening that police believe the “primary perpetrator” is dead and acted alone. They do not expect more attacks, the spokesperson added.
Image: Police at the scene of the shooting. Pic: AP/Kicki Nilsson/TT News Agency
Police said they carried out investigations at various addresses in Orebro, with technical personnel working at the scene.
“At present, the police believe that the perpetrator acted alone, but we cannot rule out more perpetrators connected to the incident,” the update on the Swedish police’s website said.
Police also said they do not know the motive but do not believe it is terrorism, adding they “had no warning sign” about the attack.
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Officers are working to identify the perpetrator and the victims.
The damage at the crime scene was so extensive that investigators were unable to be more definitive on the number killed, said Roberto Eid Forest, head of the local police.
Image: Head of the local police Roberto Eid Forest. Pic: Reuters
“When it comes to saying anything more about the perpetrator, it is still very early. The operation is ongoing and that will undoubtedly become clearer. But we are working very intensively right now,” Mr Forest said.
He described the attack as a “horrible” incident, calling it “exceptional” and a “nightmare”.
The suspected gunman had not previously been known to police, Mr Forest said..
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Speaking at a press conference this evening, Sweden’s prime minister Ulf Kristersson said the tragedy is the worst mass shooting in the country’s history.
“Today, we have witnessed brutal, deadly violence against completely innocent people,” Mr Kristersson told reporters.
Image: Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. File pic: AP
“This is the worst mass shooting in Swedish history. Many questions remain unanswered, and I cannot provide those answers either.
“But the time will come when we will know what happened, how it could occur, and what motives may have been behind it. Let us not speculate,” he said.
Meanwhile, the country’s king Carl XVI Gustaf said the shooting was a “terrible atrocity”.
Image: King Carl Gustaf. File pic: AP
“We send our condolences tonight to the families and friends of the deceased. Our thoughts at this time also go to the injured and their relatives, as well as to others affected.
“My family and I would like to express our great appreciation for the police, rescue and medical personnel who worked intensively to save and protect human lives on this dark day.”
Police earlier urged the public to stay away from the centre as they were searching and evacuating the premises.
At least five people were taken to hospital. Four underwent surgery – one is critically injured, two are stable and one is lightly injured, police said at an earlier news conference.
Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter said police officers had been shot at, but police said no officers had been shot.
Image: A police officer at the school. Pic: Reuters
Image: Pic: Reuters
The centre is for students over the age of 20, according to its website. It offers primary and upper secondary school courses, as well as Swedish classes for immigrants, vocational training and programmes for people with intellectual disabilities.
Google Maps shows a number of schools for children in the vicinity.
The shooting happened after many students had gone home following a national exam.
Image: A police helicopter above the scene. Pic: AP
Students were taking shelter in nearby buildings and other parts of the campus were evacuated.
Teacher Lena Warenmark told SVT News that there were unusually few students on the campus on Tuesday afternoon after the exam. She also told the broadcaster that she heard probably 10 gunshots.
Andreas Sundling, 28, was among those forced to barricade themselves inside the school.
“We heard three bangs and loud screams,” he told the Expressen newspaper while sheltering in a classroom.
“Now we’re sitting here waiting to be evacuated from the school. The information we have received is that we should sit and wait.”
Image: Police cars pass near the Campus Risbergska school. Pic: Reuters
Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported one person trapped in the centre as saying: “We have heard several shots outside.”
The newspaper also quoted a person who had received a text from a teacher at the centre saying “there was a shooting with automatic weapons”.
It said local emergency and intensive care departments are being made ready for casualties.
Fatal attacks at educational establishments in Sweden are rare, with 10 killed in seven incidents between 2010 and 2022, according to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention.