Source: United States Department of Defense (video statements)
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles and British Defense Secretary John Healey hold a joint press conference following an AUKUS defense ministerial meeting in London, Sept. 26, 2024.
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The Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has called on the BRICS Plus bloc of countries to work together to assist and support member countries to tackle energy challenges.
The Minister was delivering his opening remarks at the 9th Annual BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] Energy Ministers’ Meeting in Moscow, Russia.
“We believe that this BRICS group of like-minded country members has a huge potential, and working together will strengthen this resolve through cooperation on energy security.
“[It will] also provide an opportunity to join efforts to annihilate the challenges diagnosed during the BRICS 2023 Summit held in South Africa, such as addressing the lack or absence of integrated energy policy framework, diversification and beneficiation at source of critical minerals, infrastructure development, manufacturing, technology transfer and intellectual property, scaling up energy efficiency, mobilisation of finance and investment, as well as skills and capacity building, amongst others,” Ramokgopa said.
He called on the member countries to “tap and dig deeper into various capabilities and strengths” to ensure mutual support in harnessing the individual potential each country has at its disposal.
“To mention a few opportunities, it is mining and beneficiation of critical minerals, and rare-earth elements required to power the green economy, [expand] hydro power potential, promising hydrogen solutions and its derivatives, gas, nuclear – including small modular reactors, renewables, storage, biofuels, as well as clean coal, and carbon capture utilisation and storage,” the Minister said.
Ramokgopa highlighted that the meeting of BRICS Energy Ministers comes at a critical time, as countries ponder ways to transition towards low carbon economies.
“This meeting comes at a critical phase where our countries are grappling with the challenge of balancing developmental goals with energy transition pathways.
“We must ensure that these transitions safeguard energy sovereignty and security, promote sustainable economic development, facilitate universal access and respond effectively to environmental imperatives, all the while ensuring no one is left behind,” he said.
He told the meeting that the expansion of the BRICS bloc of countries is a “clear affirmation of the group’s growing significance and influence in the global energy agenda”.
“This is a pivotal moment, positioning BRICS to reshape, refocus, and reset the global energy architecture to ensure energy access, security, affordability, and eradicate energy poverty and promote a just energy transition.
“For us as South Africa, we see this as an opportune moment to clearly articulate our collective position as the developing nations that will enable us to continue to use our energy resources through innovative technologies that allow us to move from high emitting to low emitting energy systems, and thus achieve carbon-neutrality or net-zero at a pace and scale that is in line with our different national circumstances and capabilities.
“In this regard, we want to reiterate that our approach to an inclusive and people centred energy transition is informed by the need to maintain energy security in support of socio-economic objectives,” Ramokgopa said. – SAnews.gov.za
Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:
JEDDAH, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, September 26, 2024/APO Group/ —
The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) (www.ITFC-idb.org), a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, and the Union of Comoros have signed a new EUR 330 Million Framework Agreement, reinforcing their strong partnership. The agreement was signed by ITFC’s CEO, Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, Comoros’ Minister of Finance, Budget, and Banking Sector, and IsDB Governor, H.E. Mr. Mohamed Ibrahim Abdourazak, during his visit to ITFC’s headquarters in Jeddah.
The new 3-year Framework Agreement builds on the success of the previous EUR 330 million agreement, which achieved 83% of its target. It will focus on key sectors such as energy, agriculture, and SME support, aiming to mobilize trade financing and enhance economic development in Comoros. Since 2008, ITFC has approved over US$ 712 million in financing for Comoros, demonstrating a long-standing commitment to the country’s growth.
Commenting on the signing, Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, CEO of ITFC said, “We are proud to strengthen our partnership with the Union of Comoros through this new framework agreement, which reflects our shared commitment to fostering sustainable economic development.By focusing on key sectors such as energy, agriculture, and SME development, we aim to support the country in achieving its long-term goals under the Emerging Comoros Plan. Our efforts, including the newly signed Food Security Facility, demonstrate our dedication to addressing critical needs such as food security while empowering key industries to drive growth.”
The Minister of Finance, Budget and Banking of the Union of Comoros, Mr. Ibrahim Mohamed Abdourazak, also commented: “I am proud and optimistic to sign today this framework agreement between the Union of Comoros and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC). This agreement marks a key milestone for the development of vital sectors such as energy, agriculture, and SMEs, the driving forces of our economy. In addition, ITFC signed a EUR 20 Million Food Security Facility in favor of the Union of Comoros and with two local banks, BDC and AFG Bank, as Executing Agencies, to support the continuous supply of essential foodstuffs at affordable prices to address food security challenges in the country. The Government of Comoros remains firmly committed to the priority programs and projects of the “Plan Comores Émergents”. Finally, on behalf of the Comorian Government and on my behalf, I would like to warmly thank ITFC for its ongoing support and look forward to strengthening our collaboration.”
ITFC’s broader support for Comoros includes capacity-building initiatives, such as the Reverse Linkage Project with Morocco for the sustainable tourism sector, and the equipment of the Central Vanilla Buying and Marketing Center under the Aid for Trade Initiative for the Arab States (AfTIAS 2.0) program. These efforts underline ITFC’s commitment to fostering sustainable development through integrated trade solutions.
MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Jamf (NASDAQ: JAMF), the standard in managing and securing Apple at work, today announced it has enhanced its leadership team with two key new hires: Andrew Smeaton as Chief Information Security Officer and Marc Botham as Global Vice President of Channel and Alliances.
“I am thrilled to announce the addition of two seasoned industry leaders to the Jamf leadership team,” said John Strosahl, CEO of Jamf. “Bringing their individual experiences into Jamf will undoubtedly continue to propel Jamf forward as the only company to offer a complete management and security solution in the Apple-first environment.”
Smeaton brings over 25 years of global information security experience, navigating complex, multi-stakeholder environments across Europe, North America, and the Middle East. As the CISO at Jamf, Smeaton will focus on Jamf’s information security vision and approach, and champion Jamf’s security platform in the market. Responsible for leading a global team of information security professionals, Smeaton excels in aligning security with business goals, developing proactive risk management cultures, and implementing security strategies from inception to execution.
Smeaton comes to Jamf after serving as CISO of Afiniti, and previously held CISO roles at DataRobot, MIB Group, The Saudi Investment Bank, and more. His extensive skill set includes security risk management, program development, regulatory compliance, and cloud security, complemented by a strong IT background and numerous certifications, including CISSP, CISA, and CISM.
“I’m honored to be joining the Jamf team and working with such a talented, customer-oriented group of people who have packaged management and security together impeccably for an industry that is increasingly relying on mobile devices to drive business success,” said Smeaton. “The dependence on Apple devices in the enterprise is only increasing, and you can bet adversaries won’t pass up the opportunity to strike while the iron’s hot. I’m looking forward to amplifying security buyers’ awareness of Jamf and working with our extremely talented Threat Labs team to uncover, defend, and protect customers against the threats of tomorrow.”
Joining Jamf as the Global Vice President of Channel and Alliances, Botham brings over 25 years of experience in the channel, most recently as the Head of the EMEA Channel of Docusign. Recognized as CRN’s 2022 Channel Chief of the Year, Botham will be responsible for developing and implementing partner strategies on a global scale, designing channel programs that enable Jamf to establish substantive growth markets aligned with Jamf’s strategic partner ecosystem, and positioning Jamf as the Apple Enterprise Management solution provider.
“I am thrilled to be joining the Jamf team and I am excited to build on the exciting momentum the Jamf channel program has already had this year,” said Botham. “Jamf is on the cusp of some incredible growth in the channel, and I’m honored to be joining at such an exciting time in Jamf’s channel journey. I look forward to continuing to serve Jamf’s existing partnerships as well as help Jamf continue to expand globally within the channel.”
The hires of Smeaton and Botham come on the heels of Jamf’s inclusion in PEOPLE Magazine as the #45 ranked organization in the Companies that Care list, and Jamf’s announcement of its new Global Partner Program.
For more information on Jamf and its latest news, visit http://www.jamf.com.
About Jamf
Jamf’s purpose is to simplify work by helping organizations manage and secure an Apple experience that end users love and organizations trust. Jamf is the only company in the world that provides a complete management and security solution for an Apple-first environment that is enterprise secure, consumer simple and protects personal privacy. To learn more, visit http://www.jamf.com.
The situation between Lebanon and Israel since October 8, 2023 is intolerable and poses an unacceptable risk of broader regional escalation. This situation is in no one’s interest, neither the Israeli people nor the Lebanese people.
It is time to reach a diplomatic agreement that allows civilians on both sides of the border to return home safely.
Diplomacy, however, cannot succeed in a context of escalating conflict.
We therefore call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire on the Israeli-Lebanese border to allow room for diplomacy and the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement in line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, and the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2735 on a ceasefire in Gaza.
We call on all parties, including the Israeli and Lebanese governments, to immediately endorse the temporary ceasefire in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1701 during this period, and to give a genuine chance to a diplomatic settlement.
We will thus be ready to fully support all diplomatic initiatives aimed at reaching an agreement between Lebanon and Israel during this period, based on the efforts made in recent months, in order to put an end to this crisis.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.
MIL OSI Translation. Government of the Republic of France statements from French to English –
Source: Switzerland – Canton Government of Geneva in French
As part of its role as coordinator of the mobility construction site platform (PCM), the Department of Health and Mobility (DSM) is relaying the upcoming start of construction sites impacting travel.
Geneva: Montbrillant Street / Valais Street
From Monday, September 30 to Thursday, October 3, 2024, the intersection between these two roads will be managed by traffic officers, which may result in slowdowns in the area, and some traffic movements will be canceled. Bus line No. 5 will be diverted in both directions. These disruptions are due to the installation of a new sound-absorbing coating.
From September 30, 2024 for approximately 2 months, traffic lanes may be temporarily reduced, which could lead to slowdowns in the sector. These disruptions are due to connection work to the CAD (district heating).
On Sunday, October 6, 2024, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (originally scheduled for Sunday, September 22), traffic lanes will be reduced between No. 373 and No. 385 of the road, which may cause slowdowns in the area. These disruptions are due to maintenance work.
From Saturday, October 5, 2024 (from 9:00 p.m.) until Monday, October 7, 2024 (at 5:00 a.m.), this road will be one-way between the route de Saint-Julien and the chemin du Champ-des-Filles, and you should follow the indicated diversions. These disruptions are due to road surface resurfacing work.
On Sunday, September 29, 2024, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (initially scheduled for Sunday, September 22), alternating traffic will be put in place at road number 100, which may cause slowdowns in the area. These disruptions are due to road surface resurfacing work.
During the nights of September 30 to October 5, 2024 (5 nights), traffic lanes may be temporarily reduced, which may result in slowdowns in the area. These disruptions are due to road surface resurfacing work.
During the night of 3 to 4 October 2024, between 8:30 p.m. and 5:00 a.m., the tunnel will be closed to traffic. Diversions will be put in place. These disruptions are due to maintenance work on the structure.
Client: Cantonal Civil Engineering Office
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.
MIL OSI Translation. Government of the Republic of France statements from French to English –
Source: Switzerland – Canton Government of Geneva in French
Chanterelles versus Omphalotus illudens Following global warming, the Omphalotus Illudens mushroom thrives in our regions and is found in large quantities in our forests. When young, it can be confused with the chanterelle. The latter grows in the ground and can be found in small groups. However, it does not grow in clumps, unlike its lookalike which grows in clumps and on wood (stumps).
Below you will find how to differentiate these two mushrooms so as not to confuse them.
How to avoid confusion?
Look closely at the gills/folds under the mushroom cap. Chanterelles do not have true gills, unlike Omphalotus. Look for the characteristic fruity apricot smell of chanterelles, it is a good clue to differentiate them. Avoid picking mushrooms on rotting wood if you are looking for chanterelles.
Differences between chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius) and omphalotus Illudens
Shape and texture Chanterelle: funnel-shaped with an irregular cap, often wavy at the edges; firm flesh; fruity apricot odor Omphalotus illudens: also funnel-shaped, but more symmetrical with a more regular, smooth cap; less firm flesh and does not give off the fruity apricot odor characteristic of chanterelles Color Chanterelle: bright yellow or golden Omphalotus illudens: often bright orange to golden, but sometimes darker, which can increase the confusion Blades or folds Chanterelle: the folds under the cap are not true blades, but rather thick veins that run down the stem Omphalotus illudens: it has true thin, tight blades that extend onto the stem Place of growth Chanterelle: it generally grows on the ground, often in association with deciduous or coniferous trees, in the mosses of our forests Omphalotus illudens: it often grows on rotting wood, such as stumps or roots, especially in wooded areas. Toxicity Chanterelle: edible and prized in cooking Omphalotus illudens: toxic, causing serious gastrointestinal disorders a few hours after ingestion, such as vomiting and diarrhea
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, Sept. 26 — China will step up efforts to preserve its cultural relics, improve the management, and create more engaging ways for the public to appreciate the rich cultural heritage, according to the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA).
With a history spanning more than 5,000 years, China is home to over 760,000 immovable cultural relics and 108 million state-owned movable relics, said Guan Qiang, deputy director of the NCHA.
After the 700-year-old Beijing Central Axis was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in July this year, the number of World Heritage Sites in China reached 59, reinforcing the country’s position as one of the world’s largest cultural treasure troves.
China’s ongoing fourth national survey on immovable cultural relics has entered an optimal phase in terms of field survey, Guan said at a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday.
As of Sept. 23, survey teams had reviewed over 253,000 immovable cultural relics, or 33 percent of those covered by the third national survey running from 2007 to 2011, and discovered more than 18,000 new relics, according to Guan.
The fourth national survey, launched in November 2023, involves more than 5,000 census teams composed of over 45,000 personnel — 50 percent more than the number involved in the previous national survey.
Guan also highlighted progress in terms of legislation, noting that a draft revision of the country’s cultural relics protection law has been submitted to lawmakers for deliberation. Moreover, scientific and technological advances in cultural relics preservation have been integrated into the state innovation system, with notable progress made in scores of key R&D projects, Guan added.
The NCHA plans to enhance its cooperation with relevant authorities to establish coordination bodies dedicated to cultural preservation and inheritance. An inspection system will also be introduced to facilitate systematic protection and unified supervision of cultural heritage, Guan said.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
KUNMING, Sept. 26 — The China-Laos Railway, which launched its international passenger service on April 13, 2023, has transported passengers from over 100 countries and regions, according to the Mohan border checkpoint in southwest China’s Yunnan Province.
As of Wednesday, over 1,260 international passenger trains have facilitated the smooth clearance of more than 282,000 inbound and outbound travelers from 101 countries and regions.
Boosted by the 144-hour visa-free transit policy, the China-Laos Railway international passenger trains have become the preferred choice for travelers from both countries due to their economical, convenient and comfortable travel options for tourism, study, business and cultural exchange.
As a landmark project of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, the 1,035-km China-Laos Railway connects Kunming, the capital of southwest China’s Yunnan Province, with the Laotian capital Vientiane.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
HAIKOU, Sept. 26 — China’s first independently-developed ultra-deepwater gas field Shenhai Yihao, or Deep Sea No. 1, has completed construction of its phase II project, which is expected to be operational in the near future, according to the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), its operator.
The completion of the project marks a major breakthrough in China’s independent construction capabilities of deepwater oil and gas projects under complex conditions, the CNOOC said Thursday.
The phase II project, with a proven reserve of over 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas, includes 12 deepwater gas wells, a comprehensive processing platform weighing over 14,000 tonnes and five submarine pipelines with a total length of about 250 km, among other facilities.
Upon full operation of the project, the peak annual output of natural gas of the Deep Sea No. 1 is expected to increase from 3 billion cubic meters to 4.5 billion cubic meters, according to the CNOOC.
Deep Sea No. 1, located 150 km from the city of Sanya in south China’s island province of Hainan, is able to operate at a maximum depth of over 1,500 meters in the sea. It began operation in June 2021.
The situation between Lebanon and Israel since October 8th, 2023 is intolerable and presents an unacceptable risk of a broader regional escalation. This is in nobody’s interest, neither of the people of Israel nor of the people of Lebanon.
It is time to conclude a diplomatic settlement that enables civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes in safety.
Diplomacy however cannot succeed amid an escalation of this conflict.
Thus we call for an immediate 21 day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy and the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement consistent with UNSCR 1701, and the implementation of UNSCR 2735 regarding a ceasefire in Gaza.
We call on all parties, including the Governments of Israel and Lebanon, to endorse the temporary ceasefire immediately consistent with UNSCR 1701 during this period, and to give a real chance to a diplomatic settlement.
We are then prepared to fully support all diplomatic efforts to conclude an agreement between Lebanon and Israel within this period, building on the efforts over the last months, that ends this crisis altogether.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3
The defence ministers of the AUKUS partnership met in London to review progress in and reaffirm their commitment to the AUKUS partnership.
Today the Right Honourable John Healey MP, Secretary of State for Defence, United Kingdom hosted the Honourable Richard Marles MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Australia and the Honorable Lloyd J. Austin III, Secretary of Defense, United States (U.S.) at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, London, the United Kingdom (UK) to review progress in and reaffirm their commitment to the AUKUS partnership.
The AUKUS partnership reflects the continued commitment by Australia, the United Kingdom, and United States to support a free and open Indo-Pacific that is peaceful, secure and stable. The discussions between the Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister today reaffirmed the importance of this innovative, enduring, and trusted partnership in the face of a rapidly evolving and increasingly unstable international security environment. The three nations will continue to work to uphold the global rules-based order where international law is followed, and states can make sovereign choices free from coercion. In this context, they reiterated their shared commitments to the AUKUS partnership for the decades to come and welcomed the progress made since AUKUS Defence Ministers last met in California, the United States, in December 2023.
Pillar I – Conventionally Armed, Nuclear-Powered Submarines (SSNs)
In March of 2023, our Heads of Government met to announce a comprehensive plan to support Australia’s acquisition of a conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine capability as quickly as possible. Since that announcement, our three governments have worked shoulder-to-shoulder to refine the milestones and principles that will form the building blocks for this decades-long partnership.
The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister reiterated their shared and enduring commitment to setting the highest nuclear non-proliferation standard, and the importance of this work to the success of the programme. They undertook to continue AUKUS partners’ open, and transparent engagement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and noted the ongoing bilateral negotiations between the IAEA and Australia to develop a robust safeguards and verification approach for Australia’s naval nuclear propulsion programme under Article 14 of Australia’s Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA.
Over the last year, our Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Royal Navy (RN), and U.S. Navy personnel have worked tirelessly across governments, defence industry, and academic institutions to optimise the training of personnel to maintain, sustain, operate, and crew nuclear-powered submarines. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister reiterated that the delivery of the “Optimal Pathway” depends upon the skilled workforces of all three countries and reaffirmed their shared commitment to develop a robust base of skills across their military, civilian and industrial sectors.
More than 60 RAN personnel are currently in various stages of the U.S. nuclear-powered submarine SSN training pipeline to equip a cadre of Australian officers and sailors with experience aboard the U.S. Virginia class SSNs that the RAN will own and operate from the early 2030s. These numbers will increase further in 2025, with more than 100 personnel commencing training. Six officers have completed all training and have been assigned to U.S. Virginia class submarines. RAN enlisted sailors will join U.S. submarine crews before the end of this year.
In the United Kingdom, three RAN officers completed the UK Nuclear Reactor course in July 2024 and are now assigned to UK Astute class submarines. The next group of RAN officers will commence training in the UK in November 2024.
The RN, with the support of the Australian Submarine Agency, has also delivered professional and general naval nuclear propulsion training for more than 250 Australian personnel in Canberra.
Australians have embedded into programme delivery teams in the UK Ministry of Defence and with Rolls-Royce Submarines. Australians are also currently embedded in U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program teams.
In July and September 2024, Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard welcomed the first 40 ASC Pty Ltd personnel into its training pipeline with the expectation of more than 100 additional ASC Pty Ltd employees by mid-2025.
The Australian Government has committed to nearly AUD 250 million to start delivering the skills and workforce needed for its SSN program, including providing 4,001 Commonwealth Supported Places at Australian universities, in addition to 3,000 undergraduate scholarships over six years, to build the necessary Australian Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics workforce.
Additional programs have seen more than 70 Australians supported to undertake postgraduate nuclear studies at universities in the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia.
Australia has also recently announced the “Jobs for Subs” initiative, a government-funded program to evolve ASC Pty Ltd to recruit, train and retain approximately 200 additional graduates, apprentices and trainees to support Submarine Rotational Force-West (SRF-West) in Western Australia.
Recognising that our partners in defence industry are and will remain vital to this endeavour, the Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister discussed opportunities to maximize our efforts to foster collaboration and build resilience across our industrial bases and supply chains. They welcome the collaboration between BAE Systems (BAES) and ASC Pty Ltd to bring together their combined decades of submarine building to deliver the SSN-AUKUS programme.
The U.S. Government decided to invest USD 17.5 billion into its submarine industrial base to support initiatives related to supplier development, shipbuilder and supplier infrastructure, workforce development, technology advancements, and strategic sourcing.
Australia has also committed to invest over AUD 30 billion in the Australian defence industrial base to develop Australia’s supply chains and facilitate industry participation in U.S. and UK supply chains.
His Majesty’s Government announced an initial allocation of £4 billion from the United Kingdom to continue the detailed design work of SSN-AUKUS and order long-lead items, as well as the United Kingdom’s investment of £3 billion across its Defence Nuclear Enterprise, including the construction of submarine industrial infrastructure that will help to deliver the SSN-AUKUS programme.
The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister welcomed the AUKUS partners’ commitment to accelerate opportunities for Australian industry in the Virginia class submarine supply chain, including through the Defence Industry Vendor Qualification Program and other industry collaboration initiatives. They welcomed ongoing efforts to encourage further industrial base partnerships to build resiliency across the trilateral Submarine Industrial Base.
This August, as a direct result of our close collaboration over this year, our three nations commenced the execution of the first-ever planned maintenance activity of a U.S. SSN in Australia. More than 30 RAN personnel worked alongside U.S. Navy and contractor personnel and UK observers to conduct routine maintenance and observe safety and stewardship evolutions. This was an important step in building Australia’s capacity to support a rotational presence of UK and U.S. SSNs at SRF-West beginning as early as 2027, as well as Australia’s future sovereign SSN capability.
The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister emphasised the importance of ensuring that our trilateral systems have the tools they need to transfer information and data in a timely fashion to facilitate cooperation. They were pleased to welcome the August 2024 signing of an enabling agreement for trilateral cooperation related to naval nuclear propulsion. Once in force, this historic agreement will enable AUKUS partners to go beyond sharing naval nuclear propulsion information, allowing the United States and the United Kingdom to transfer nuclear-propulsion material and equipment to Australia required for the safe and secure construction, operation, and sustainment of conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines.
This agreement reaffirms, and remains consistent with, the AUKUS partners’ respective, existing international non-proliferation obligations. As a non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Australia has re-affirmed unequivocally that it does not have, and will not seek to acquire, nuclear weapons.
Pillar II – Advanced Capabilities
The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister hailed progress being made under Pillar II to deliver capability to our defence forces while bolstering industry and innovation sector collaboration. AUKUS nations continue to pool the talents of our defence sectors to catalyse, at an unprecedented pace, the delivery of advanced capabilities.
Through AUKUS Pillar II, our trilateral science and technology, acquisition and sustainment, and operational communities are working across the full spectrum of capability development—generating requirements, co-developing new systems, deepening industrial base collaboration, and bolstering our innovation ecosystems. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister welcomed progress made in building a more capable, combined joint force of the future because of this work.
This year, under the Maritime Big Play initiative, we are undertaking a series of integrated trilateral experiments and exercises to enhance interoperability and accelerate the combined fielding of autonomous uncrewed systems in the maritime domain. Later this year, the three nations will bring together approximately 30 systems across four domains for the first large-scale AUKUS integrated demonstration. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister welcomed the inclusion of technologies from companies in each of the three nations and plans to expand to include additional industry partners in the future.
In 2024, AUKUS partners furthered their undersea warfare capabilities by beginning to scale up the ability to launch and recover uncrewed underwater systems from torpedo tubes on current classes of British and U.S. submarines, which will increase the range and capability of our undersea forces. AUKUS partners are exploring opportunities to collaborate on sensors and payloads to maximize this capability and deliver effects such as strike, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
In parallel, the United Kingdom and the United States are strengthening superiority in the maritime domain by integrating the Sting Ray lightweight torpedo into the P-8A Maritime Patrol Aircraft alongside the Mk 54 torpedo, with trials planned for 2025. This will increase the opportunity for interchangeability and potential work on future torpedo programmes. These efforts will ultimately enhance the survivability of our surface combatant and submarine fleets.
In the area of long-range precision strike, we are increasing our collective ability to develop and deliver offensive and defensive hypersonic technologies through a robust series of trilateral tests and experiments that will accelerate the development of hypersonic concepts and critical enabling technologies. These capabilities will hold time critical and heavily defended targets at risk from increased ranges, enhancing the survivability of our forces and defending our homelands and forces against potential threats.
Advancing our maritime domain autonomy and decision advantage efforts, AUKUS partners demonstrated and deployed common advanced artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms on P8-A Maritime Patrol aircraft to process data from each nations’ sonobuoys. These advances allow for faster data processing and improved target identification in congested acoustic environments, enhancing our combined anti-submarine warfare capabilities. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister welcomed plans to scale these technologies in 2025.
Our joint forces demonstrated several innovative uses of AI technologies to enhance decision making and bolster combined military effects. In March, AUKUS partners demonstrated the ability to rapidly co-develop and deploy trilateral AI algorithms to find and fix targets for strike. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister welcomed trilateral plans to explore the introduction of these capabilities into operational units in the coming years.
The International Joint Requirements Oversight Council (I-JROC) remains a critical collaborative forum to identify and validate joint and combined requirements to ensure capability development considers interoperability and interchangeability from the very start. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister welcomed the establishment of trilaterally determined key operational problems, leveraging existing activities to achieve capability development priorities endorsed by I-JROC. AUKUS partners seek:
An enhanced multi-domain long-range strike capability that incorporates asymmetric capabilities and integrated targeting;
Strengthened multi-domain integrated air and missile defence capability;
Resilient command and control systems that maintain a diverse range of information; and
Enhanced logistical networks that are able to deliver persistent support and sustainment for operations in contested environments.
To this end, the Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister welcomed work underway across our trilateral Armies, Navies, and Air Forces to explore additional opportunities for collaboration in the land, maritime, air, and other domains under AUKUS Pillar II.
A cornerstone of our AUKUS Pillar II program remains the opportunity to leverage the best of our defence industrial bases and innovation ecosystems. Over the past year we have further integrated our innovation ecosystems and fostered increased collaboration with these stakeholder communities to explore opportunities in all aspects of Pillar II.
AUKUS partners executed the first trilaterally sponsored innovation prize challenge, which focused on electronic warfare. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister are pleased to announce Advanced Design Technology Pty Ltd, Inovor Technologies Pty Ltd and Penten Pty Ltd (AUS), Amiosec Ltd, University of Liverpool, Roke Manor Research Ltd, Autonomous Devices Ltd (UK), and Distributed Spectrum (U.S.) as the winners for this challenge. The selection of these companies demonstrates the important contributions that our trilateral commercial sectors and innovation bases can make in addressing critical operational requirements.
Building on the success of this first challenge, the Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister were pleased to endorse plans for a robust two-year agenda that will increase collaboration between and among our innovation centres of excellence. Through this collaboration, AUKUS partners will leverage innovative tools to reach our entrepreneurs and actively solicit new and powerful capabilities from our trilateral innovation ecosystem and industrial base.
In coordination with industry associations representing the trilateral defence industrial base, the Advanced Capabilities Industry Forum, continues to provide an opportunity for representatives across government and industry to exchange ideas and deepen industrial collaboration in Pillar II. By the end of this year, AUKUS partners will have convened meetings in each country and facilitated discussions with technology and policy subject matter experts to increase understanding and information sharing.
In response to industry feedback and as current projects mature beyond traditional research and development projects, the National Armaments Directors from each nation are identifying opportunities to harmonise acquisition processes and reducing barriers to facilitate the accelerated delivery of Pillar II advanced capabilities.
In April 2024, the Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister announced principles for engaging additional partners on opportunities to collaborate on AUKUS Pillar II projects. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister welcomed progress on consultations with Japan on improving interoperability with Japan’s maritime autonomous systems as an initial area of cooperation. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister noted ongoing consultations with Canada, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea to identify possibilities for collaboration on advanced capabilities under AUKUS Pillar II on a project by project basis.
Defence trade and industrial base collaboration
To promote innovation and realise the goals of AUKUS, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States implemented momentous amendments to our respective export control regimes. These historic efforts will maximise secure, licence-free defence trade and stimulate innovation across the full breadth of our defence collaboration, mutually strengthening our three defence industrial bases, while maintaining rigour and security in all three systems. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister reaffirmed support to reduce bureaucratic barriers to collaboration to enable deeper defence industrial base cooperation.
The early release scheme was implemented this month, and some offenders have been released from prison having served 40% of their sentence rather than 50%.
This move intends to ease overcrowding in prisons. Early release is based on the offences offenders were in prison for, and not for any other crimes they may have committed.
Domestic abuse crimes that are not eligible for early release include:
Stalking offences
Controlling or coercive behaviours in an intimate or family relationship
Non-fatal strangulation and suffocation
Breach of restraining order, non-molestation order, and domestic abuse protection order.
For survivors of domestic abuse, this means perpetrators who were in prison for a different crime may have been released from prison early, under this scheme.
Birmingham City Council understands this may be causing fear and anxiety for survivors. Partners across the city have been working together to manage any safety risks. The Domestic Abuse Prevention team commissions specialist support for all survivors, including men and the LGBT+ community.
Councillor Nicky Brennan: Cabinet Member for Social Justice, Community Safety and Equalities, said: “Whilst the reports in the news highlight that prisons are nearly full, perpetrators of domestic abuse can still be sent to prison if convicted or remanded in custody by the courts.
“Perpetrators released under this scheme will still have licence conditions and will be recalled if they break any of these conditions.
“Birmingham City Council’s Domestic Abuse Prevention team along with our partner organisations provide specialist support services for anyone who is scared or worried about a loved one who may need help. I urge you to reach out to us so we can help.”
If someone commits a crime, you can still call the police to report it: Birmingham is committed to holding perpetrators of domestic abuse to account. In an emergency, please call 999.
Just like people confronted with a sea of options at the grocery store, bees foraging in meadows encounter many different flowers at once. They must decide which ones to visit for food, but it isn’t always a straightforward choice.
Flowers offer two types of food: nectar and pollen, which can vary in important ways. Nectar, for instance, can fluctuate in concentration, volume, refill rate and accessibility. It also contains secondary metabolites, such as caffeine and nicotine, which can be either disagreeable or appealing, depending on how much is present. Similarly, pollen contains proteins and lipids, which affect nutritional quality.
When confronted with these choices, you’d think bees would always pick the flowers with the most accessible, highest-quality nectar and pollen. But they don’t. Instead, just like human grocery shoppers, their decisions about which flowers to visit depend on their recent experience with similar flowers and what other flowers are available.
I find these behaviors fascinating. My research looks at how animals make daily choices – especially when looking for food. It turns out that bees and other pollinators make the same kinds of irrational “shopping” decisions humans make.
Predictably irrational
Humans are sometimes illogical. For instance, someone who wins $5 on a scratch ticket immediately after winning $1 on one will be thrilled – whereas that same person winning $5 on a ticket might be disappointed if they’re coming off a $10 win. Even though the outcome is the same, perception changes depending on what came before.
Perceptions are also at play when people assess product labels. For instance, a person may expect an expensive bottle of wine with a fancy French label to be better than a cheap, generic-looking one. But if there’s a mismatch between how good something is and how good someone expects it to be, they may feel disproportionately disappointed or delighted.
Research shows bumblebees and humans share many of these behaviors. A 2005 study found bees evaluate the quality of nectar relative to their most recent feeding experience: Bees trained to visit a feeder with medium-quality nectar accepted it readily, whereas bees trained to visit a feeder with high-quality nectar often rejected medium-quality nectar.
My team and I wanted to explore whether floral traits such as scents, colors and patterns might serve as product labels for bees. In the lab, we trained groups of bees to associate certain artificial flower colors with high-quality “nectar” – actually a sugar solution we could manipulate.
The bumblebee colony, right, is attached by tunnel to the foraging arena, left, where colored discs serve as artifical flowers. Claire Hemingway, CC BY-SA
For example, we trained one group to associate blue flowers with high-quality nectar. We then offered that group medium-quality nectar in either blue or yellow flowers.
We found the bees were more willing to accept the medium-quality nectar from yellow flowers than they were from blue. Their expectations mattered.
In another recent experiment, we gave bumblebees a choice between two equally attractive flowers – one high in sugar concentration but slower to refill and one quick to refill but containing less sugar. We measured their preference between the two, which was similar.
At the center of each artifical flower is a tube the bee enters to access the sugar solution. Claire Hemingway, CC BY-SA
We then expanded the choice by including a third flower that was even lower in sugar concentration or even slower to refill. We found that the presence of the new low-reward flower made the intermediate one appear relatively better.
These results are intriguing and suggest, for both bees and other animals, available choices may guide foraging decisions.
Potential uses
Understanding these behaviors in bumblebees and other pollinators may have important consequences for people. Honeybees and bumblebees are used commercially to support billions of dollars of crop production annually.
If bees visit certain flowers more in the presence of other flowers, farmers could use this tendency strategically. Just as stores stock shelves to present unattractive options alongside attractive ones, farmers could plant certain flower species in or near crop plants to increase visitation to the target crops.
Claire Therese Hemingway is affiliated with The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institue.
Four years ago, in an attempt to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election, then-President Donald Trump and his surrogates furiously challenged its results. Lodging 63 lawsuits, Trump and his surrogates tried to discredit or override vote counting, election processes and certification standards in nine states.
None of these attempts was successful. Many were dismissed as baseless – often by Trump-appointed judges – before they even saw trial. Simply put, there is no evidence of widespread fraud. Even a voter data expert hired by Trump concluded that the 2020 election was not stolen.
The U.S. legal system agreed, demonstrating that courts remain an important bulwark protecting American democracy. Yet the legal system cannot prevent political violence wrought by election denialism, as the country soon learned.
The mob was spurred, at least in part, by Trump’s rousing speech at a rally in Washington, D.C., earlier that day. There, he reiterated his claims that the 2020 election had been “stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats” and warned the crowd of approximately 53,000 that “if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
Many legal scholars considered this to be incitement.
“He clearly knew there were people in that crowd who were ready to and intended to be violent,” legal scholar Garrett Epps told the BBC. “He not only did nothing to discourage it, he strongly hinted it should happen.”
Trump: A sore loser … and winner
Trump has a long history of denying the results of any contest whose outcome he does not like.
Before entering the political arena, Trump called the 2012 Emmys “dishonest” because his show, “The Apprentice,” did not win. In 2012, he dismissed then-President Barack Obama’s reelection as a “total sham” and questioned the accuracy of vote tallies and voting machines. Unleashing a barrage of tweets, Trump urged citizens to “fight like hell” against a “disgusting injustice.”
As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the Republican primaries fraudulent after his competitor Sen. Ted Cruz won in Iowa, tweeting that the Texan “stole it.”
Trump has doubled down on his election denial this election cycle. By May 2024, The New York Times had documented 550 such statements, up from roughly 100 in the entire 2020 campaign.
This narrative of pervasive victimization has been bolstered by a flurry of lawsuits and criminal investigations brought against the former president. Since 2020, state and federal prosecutors have charged Trump with 94 crimes, including business fraud, mishandling classified documents and interfering with the federal election.
Trump has cast these legal challenges as a deliberate attempt by President Joe Biden to interfere with the 2024 election over 350 times.
“My legal issues, every one of them, civil and the criminal ones, are all set up by Joe Biden,” Trump told a New York City crowd in January 2024. “They’re doing it for election interference.”
His surrogates amplify this message. For instance, Mike Howell, director of the right-leaning Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, proclaimed on June 6, 2024, at a public Washington event that there is a “0% chance of a free and fair election.”
From denialism to violence: Warning signs
Lying about election results is no mere tantrum. It is a cornerstone of Trump’s strategy to paint himself as the victim of an elitist deep state – an image that appeals to his base, particularly among white working-class voters, some of whom feel that they are victims themselves of globalization and shadowy elites.
I fear little can be done to prevent such violence.
In 2022, Congress, acting in rare bipartisan fashion, approved the Electoral Count Reform and Transition Improvement Act of 2022, which closed many doors that President Trump attempted to use to thwart the 2020 election. Yet, as history shows, rule of law is not a certain brace against violence.
Given the perceived stakes of the election for most Americans, along with Trump’s ever-sharpening incendiary rhetoric, it is hard to imagine that Jan. 6, 2021, was an isolated chapter in American history.
Indeed, it may have been just a prelude.
Alexander Cohen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Just when the summer uproar over Donald Trump calling his potential rival “Laffin’ Kamala” and “Cackling Copilot Kamala Harris” was beginning to subside, an apparent new round of attacks by Trump and other Republicans has emerged after their initial U.S. presidential debate.
The target – again – was Kamala Harris’ laugh.
Three days after the debate, for instance, Bruce Zuchowski, an Ohio sheriff, posted on his Facebook account that Harris was a “laughing hyena.” Zuchowski was subsequently barred from providing election security during in-person voting.
This is not surprising, given that Harris’ laughter was on full display during much of the nationally televised debate – and, worse, Trump was clearly the object of her unrelenting derision.
Much has been written already about the sexism and racism behind Trump’s contempt for Harris’ laugh.
Ellison’s essay, published in a 1986 collection “Going to the Territory,” still offers useful historical racial context for explaining Trump’s animus toward Harris. Among the stories Ellison tells: Black people once had to put their heads in a barrel to laugh because their laughter unnerved white Southerners.
The dangers of Black laughter
Best known for his 1952 novel “Invisible Man,” Ellison was one of America’s foremost social critics who confronted racism and white supremacy by telling the stories of alienation among everyday Black people searching for identity in a nation that deemed them inferior.
In “An Extravagance of Laughter,” Ellison began with an anecdote about attending a theater adaptation of Erskine Caldwell’s novel “Tobacco Road” in New York City in 1936. The popular play detailed the lives of destitute white sharecroppers during the Great Depression. The sharecroppers feared, among other things, losing their social status by dropping below the lower rung reserved for Black people in America.
While laughing uncontrollably at a comical scene in the play involving the antics of poor white Georgia farmers, Ellison became aware of the stir he was causing among the predominantly white audience.
For many white Americans, Black laughter was “a peculiar form of insanity suffered exclusively by Negroes, who in light of their social status and past condition of servitude were regarded as having absolutely nothing in their daily experience which could possibly inspire rational laughter,” Ellison explained.
As Ellison saw it, his laugh during the play was being construed as an affirmation of the Black buffoon stereotype.
As he described it, the white spectators were “catching fire and beginning to howl and cheer the disgraceful loss of control being exhibited” by a Black man.
Later in the essay, Ellison lampoons the use of “laughing barrels” in Southern towns, which he described as “huge whitewashed barrels labeled FOR COLORED, and into which any Negro who felt a laugh coming on was forced … to thrust his boisterous head.”
The intent of suppressing Black laughter, Ellison explained, was pro bono publico, or for the public good.
While the idea of the barrels may seem utterly ridiculous, Ellison understood them as an absurd strategy of containment for a not-so-absurd fear in post-Reconstruction and Jim Crow white America, when racial segregation was legal.
Black folks who laugh “turned the world upside down and inside out,” he explained.
And in so doing, Ellison wrote, Black laughter “in-verted (and thus sub-verted) tradition and thus the preordained and cherished scheme of Southern racial relationships was blasted asunder.”
In a 1983 letter celebrating Caldwell’s birthday, Ellison thanked the writer – “by giving artistic sanction to a source of comedy which in the interest of self-protection I had been forced to deny myself you had released me from three turbulent years of self-restraint.”
Flipping the script on who gets to laugh
The first time Trump found himself the object of Black laughter was during the 2011 White House correspondents’ dinner, where he was publicly and mercilessly roasted by a gleeful Barack Obama. The experience appeared to humiliate and infuriate Trump and is widely seen by political pundits as the catalyst for Trump’s entrance into the 2016 presidential race.
It is not surprising, then, to see his campaign resurrect the rhetoric that many deem to be racist to erode public confidence in Harris’ fitness for the office.
In this Harper’s Weekly cartoon published in 1874, two Black legislators are arguing in front of their white colleagues. Fotosearch/Getty Images
These hearken to the long and shameful history of racist characterizations of Black Americans as menaces to society. They include depictions of unruly, newly emancipated Black men holding public office in D.W. Griffith’s 1915 “The Birth of a Nation” to Trump’s public call for the death penalty for the Black and Hispanic teens known as the Central Park Five in a full-page New York Times ad in 1989.
In that case, the teen boys were falsely accused of the brutal assault of a white New York jogger. They served years in prison before being exonerated by DNA and the confession of a convicted rapist and murderer.
Harris is widely regarded by political commentators as the winner of the debate, and the lasting impression is that of a glowering Trump repeatedly failing to put a stop to Harris’ mirthful expressions of incredulity.
Almost a century has passed since Ellison’s disruptive laugh occurred in a New York theater in 1936. In that time, both Obama and Harris have reordered traditional gender and racial norms by using Black laughter in the very public theater of U.S. presidential politics.
Betsy Huang does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz thanks supporters after serving ice cream at the Minnesota State Fair on Sept. 1, 2024. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
Since Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris selected Tim Walz as her running mate in August 2024, political commentators have offered various takes on Walz – is he pragmatic or progressive, centrist or radical, a grassroots lefty or a mainstream Democrat?
Walz will have a chance to speak directly to voters and possibly explain who he is and what he stands for when he debates Republican contender JD Vance on Oct. 1, 2024.
I am a scholar of populist politics in North America, and I understand why it is difficult to define how Walz fits within the Democratic Party.
On the one hand, Walz is a shock to the Democratic Party, which often endorses elite-educated, moderate politicians from the country’s two coasts. Walz is a former public school teacher who graduated from a state college in Nebraska – and he is not afraid to embrace the moniker of a “progressive,” which some Democrats reject in order to avoid false comparisons to socialists.
As Walz said in an August 2024 donor call for Harris: “Don’t ever shy away from our progressive values. One person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness.”
Yet, Walz is unlike many other progressives in the Democratic Party. He is a gun owner and a hunter – and was one of the “best shots in Congress” when he represented Minnesota in Washington, as he will remind people. He uses sports metaphors to convey his messages, rallying Democrats behind a “fourth quarter” comeback in the election, for example.
Yet these apparent contradictions make sense when considering that Walz follows a rich lineage of Midwestern progressive politics that starts with the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, a state affiliate of the Democratic Party that maintains the traditions and values of populist farmer politics in the American Midwest.
The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party is one of the first major recognized political parties in the state. It began more than 100 years ago as a form of populist protest to the harm industrialization and urbanization brought to rural farmers at the turn of the 20th century.
In the late 1800s, political movements like the Grangers and the Farmers’ Alliances organized to bring attention to falling crop prices, increases in railroad fees for transporting crops and the monopolization of agribusiness.
In Minnesota, these farmer protest groups joined forces with American labor unions to build a third-party alternative to the Democrats and Republicans. This new group, known as the Farmer-Labor Party, formed in 1918 as a way to represent rural people’s interests. The Farmer-Labor Party challenged state officials to legalize union protections and offer farmer subsidies, and unsuccessfully tried to place private utilities and natural resource industries under state control.
The Farmer-Labor Party was ideologically diverse – sometimes to a fault – and brought together a range of activists, even socialists, under the common goal of protecting working people. In 1936, the Farmer-Labor Party’s momentum captured President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s attention, and it became a key member of his New Deal coalition.
For most of the 1920s and 1930s, Farmer-Labor challenged the Democratic Party with its more progressive ideas. However, under the guidance of former vice president Hubert Humphrey, the party merged in 1944 with the more moderate Minnesota Democratic Party to form the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
Over the next several decades, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party pushed for pragmatic and progressive politics within the state’s Democratic Party. The movement’s grassroots message has centered around protecting the country’s rural backbone.
Influential Minnesotan politicians – including U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, who championed environmentalism and walked the picket lines with Midwestern laborers before he died in 2002 – have been members of the party.
The ideas behind Farmer-Laborism
Today, the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party shares many of its platforms and policy positions with the national Democratic Party.
But Farmer-Labor politics are distinct in how the party has embraced a Midwestern working-class identity and rallied against monopolies, business elites and corrupt government.
Among other Midwestern state political parties, like the Libertarian Party of Minnesota, Farmer-Labor is one of the most progressive and successful. The party has helped pass recent progressive legislation, like a public option health plan and a universal free school lunch policy.
Walz’s predecessors in the Farmer-Labor movement have also successfully spoken out against economic and political injustices from a position within working-class and agrarian communities. Like Walz, this movement took a populist stance against political and economic elites.
This Farmer-Labor tradition, in many ways, is a foil to the conservative-populism that is popular today. Unlike Trump’s appeal to middle America, this Minnesota brand of populism was not an attempt to save white Christian manhood. Instead, it was a genuine recognition that working people – especially those in middle America – needed to actively push back against economic inequality and forces that threatened the middle class.
For some people, Walz and the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party are still hard to situate within the national Democratic Party.
This is in part because the Democratic Party has sidelined rural and working-class voters over the past few decades. In 2016, the Democratic Party made the strategic mistake of not focusing enough on the Midwest – and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton lost the Electoral College in important Midwestern states, including Wisconsin and Michigan.
In the 2024 election, the Democratic Party is presenting voters with Walz, who can speak to the American dream from a familiar perspective. Walz embraces unions beyond lip service, chastises corporate greed and does not shy away from rural voters even if they have cultural differences.
American voters said in September that they view Walz slightly more favorably than Republican contender JD Vance, though they say that they don’t know either candidate well. The debate should offer voters a chance to learn more about the popular Minnesota governor.
Conservatives, meanwhile, have tried to paint Walz as someone whose progessive politics challenge the culture of rural American life. I’d argue that the truth is far from that. Instead, like the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and some of the rural activists it produced, Walz is trying to uncouple small-town politics from the politics of fear and cultural isolation.
Gabriel Paxton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
As the climate warms, the southwestern U.S. is increasingly experiencing weather whiplash as the region swings from drought to flooding and back again. As a result, the public is hearing more about little-known infectious diseases, such as valley fever.
In May 2024, about 20,000 people attended a music festival in Buena Vista Lake, California. In the months that followed, at least 19 developed valley fever, and eight were hospitalized from their infection. This outbreak follows a dramatic increase of more than 800% in valley fever infections in California between 2000 and 2018.
In 2023, California reported the second-highest number of valley fever cases on record, with more than 9,000 cases reported statewide. And between April 2023 and March 2024, California provisionally reported 10,593 cases – 40% more than during the same period the prior year.
The Conversation U.S. asked Jennifer Head, Simon Camponuri and Alexandra Heaney – researchers specializing in the epidemiology of valley fever – to explain what valley fever is, and what might explain its rise in recent years.
What is valley fever, and how do you get infected?
When the fungus has access to moisture and nutrients, it grows long, branching fungal chains throughout the soil. When the soil dries out, these chains fragment to form fungal spores, which can be stirred up into the air when the soil is disturbed, such as by wind or digging. Airborne spores can then be inhaled and cause a respiratory infection.
Cases of valley fever are typically highest in California’s southern San Joaquin Valley and southern Arizona, but they have been increasing outside of these regions. Between 2000 and 2018, the incidence of valley fever cases increased fifteenfold in the northern San Joaquin Valley and eightfold along the Southern California coast. And between 2014 and 2018, incidence increased by more than eightfold along the central coast.
Because of these trends and the virulence of the pathogen that causes valley fever, it is listed as a priority pathogen by the World Health Organization. Historically, fungal infections have received very little attention and resources. By creating this list, the WHO is hoping to galvanize action surrounding listed pathogens, including getting more resources for research as well as the development of new treatments.
What are the symptoms, and what should people be looking for?
After inhaling fungal spores from the environment, Coccidioides initially infects the lungs, causing symptoms like mild to severe cough, fever, difficulty breathing, chest pain and tiredness. Valley fever symptoms can resemble other common respiratory infections, so it’s important for people to get checked by a doctor if they’ve experienced prolonged symptoms, particularly if they have been given antibiotics that they are not responding to.
In California and Arizona, an estimated one-third of community-acquired pneumonia cases – or pneumonia acquired outside of the hospital – are caused by valley fever. However, only a fraction of community-acquired pneumonia cases get tested for it, so it’s likely the number of valley fever cases is significantly higher. Among diagnosed cases, half experienced symptoms for two months or more before being diagnosed.
In 5% to 10% of cases, the fungus can spread from the lungs to other parts of the body, such as the central nervous system, liver and bones, causing meningitis or arthritis-like symptoms. These cases can be severe and possibly fatal.
Jose Epifanio Sanchez Trujeque of Lebec, Calif., spent four months in the hospital after contracting valley fever in 2023. The Washington Post/Getty Images
What time of year should you be most concerned?
Valley fever cases can occur year-round, but in California, cases reported via surveillance systems tend to increase starting in August and September, peak in November and return to background levels in January and February.
Researchers believe that patients are likely exposed to the fungus in the summer and early fall months, typically one to three months prior to their diagnosis. This delay accounts for time between when patients are exposed, develop symptoms and are diagnosed with the disease. While cases peak in the fall on average, seasonal strength and timing varies regionally.
This transition was followed by a near-record spike in cases in 2023. The state experienced another wet winter during the 2023-2024 wet season, furthering concern about continued high risk for valley fever in 2024.
Our research team recently developed a model to forecast valley fever cases that will occur between April 2024 and March 2025 in California. We forecast that the state is likely to see another spike in cases during the fall and winter of 2024, on par with the spike in 2023.
During high-risk periods, clinicians should consider valley fever as a potential diagnosis. This is especially true when evaluating a patient presenting with valley fever symptoms or a respiratory illness who lives in, works in or traveled to an endemic or emerging region.
We are currently working to characterize seasonal disease patterns in Arizona as well, which are different from California’s. This is likely because Arizona has two rainy seasons.
Are some people at greater risk than others?
Those who spend time or work outdoors in areas where valley fever is common, especially where they may be exposed to dirt and dust, are more likely to get it.
While healthy people are still at risk of infection, certain factors can increase the likelihood of developing severe disease from valley fever. These include being an adult 60 years or older, having diabetes, HIV or another condition that weakens the immune system, or being pregnant. People who are Black or Filipino also have been noted to have a higher risk of severe disease, which may relate to more exposure to the fungal spores, underlying health conditions, inequities in accessing care or other possible predispositions.
How can you protect yourself from getting valley fever?
People who live and work in the regions where the fungus is found should avoid exposure to dust as much as possible. When it is windy outside and the air is dusty, stay indoors and keep windows and doors closed.
When driving through a dusty area, limit vehicle speed, keep car windows closed and recirculate the air, if possible. When working outdoors, use dust suppression techniques, including wetting soil before digging to prevent stirring up dust, and installing fencing, windbreaks and vegetation where possible.
For those who must directly stir up soil or be in dusty conditions, such as while doing construction or gardening work, consider using an N95 mask to limit dust inhalation.
Jennifer Head receives funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health.
Alexandra K. Heaney receives funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health.
Simon Camponuri receives funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health and from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Rabies is a deadly disease. Without vaccination, a rabies infection is nearly 100% fatal once someone develops symptoms. Texas has experienced two rabies epidemics in animals since 1988: one involving coyotes and dogs in south Texas, and the other involving gray foxes in west central Texas. Affecting 74 counties, these outbreaks led to thousands of people who could have been exposed, two human deaths and countless animal lives lost.
In 1994, Gov. Ann Richards declared rabies a state health emergency. The Texas Department of State Health Services responded by launching the Oral Rabies Vaccination Program to control the spread of these wildlife rabies outbreaks.
Since 1995, the program has distributed over 53 million doses of rabies vaccine over 758,100 square miles (nearly 2 million square kilometers) in Texas by hand or aircraft. Rabies cases in dogs and coyotes went from 141 to 0 by 2005, and rabies cases in foxes went from 101 to 0 by 2014. By 2004, one canine rabies variant was effectively eliminated from Texas, and another variant was substantially controlled.
We are researchers who began studying wildlife rabies and oral vaccination in the 1980s. From providing a proof of concept in using oral vaccines in raccoons to being among the first to use new rabies vaccines in the 1990s, we were on the ground floor of efforts to contain this deadly virus.
Decades of vaccine research led to one of the most successful public health projects in Texas. And we’re hopeful it could provide a road map for the use of mass wildlife vaccination to prevent future outbreaks.
Developing the oral rabies vaccine
The Texas Oral Rabies Vaccination Program benefited greatly from the work of multiple researchers over prior decades.
The mid-20th century saw several major developments in rabies control. With the failure of efforts to poison or trap infected animals, virologist and veterinarian George Baer at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognized the need for a different strategy to prevent and control wildlife rabies. His and his colleagues’ work in the 1960s led to the concept of oral rabies vaccination. While orally vaccinating wildlife would help combat infection at its source, it was previously thought to be logistically unfeasible given the large range of target animals.
By the late 1970s, European researchers began the first field trials to orally vaccinate foxes against rabies. Small plastic containers were filled with vaccines and placed into baits, such as chicken heads. Over 50,000 of these vaccine-laden baits were distributed over four years in fox habitats in forests and fields.
Researchers in Canada also began similar field trials in Ontario. During the 1980s, an average of 235 rabid foxes per year were reported in the area. Baits containing oral rabies vaccine were dropped annually from 1989 to 1995 and successfully eliminated the fox variant of rabies from the whole area.
Recombinant oral rabies vaccine
The first generation of these vaccines used live viruses modified in an attempt to not cause severe disease. Although effective and generally safe, the original rabies vaccines had to be kept in cool temperatures and had the rare risk of causing rabies in animals.
In the early 1980s, scientists developed recombinant rabies vaccines, which use a separate virus to express the genes of the rabies virus. A collaboration between a nonprofit institute, the U.S. government, and the pharmaceutical industry led to the development of a recombinant viral vaccine that produced a rapid immune response against rabies without the possibility of causing rabies.
In 1984, preliminary work in laboratory animals showed the promise of using an oral form of the recombinant vaccine to vaccinate animals. However, the concept of using genetically modified organisms was in its infancy among both scientists and the general public. While the vaccine was safe and effective in captive raccoons and foxes, major questions loomed over how it might affect other species once released into the environment.
After years of work improving the vaccine’s design and testing its safety in several nonhuman species, the first European trial was held on a military base in Belgium. With data supporting it could safely and effectively control wildlife in Luxembourg and France, the vaccine was licensed to control fox rabies in 1995.
In the U.S., similar studies of the oral recombinant rabies vaccine were conducted. The first trial began in 1990 at Parramore Island off the Virginia coast, and a year of intensive monitoring found no significant adverse effects on the environment or any wildlife species. A second yearlong study on the mainland near Williamsport, Pennsylvania, had similarly positive results.
After the vaccine was successfully used to control raccoon rabies in tests in severalother EastCoast states, it was approved for use on raccoons in 1997.
In 1998, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received funding to expand existing oral wildlife vaccination projects to states of strategic importance, to prevent the spread of specific rabies viruses, and to coordinate interstate projects.
Results in Texas
In Texas, the oral recombinant vaccine is now primarily distributed by hand and by approximately 75 separate helicopter flights annually.
The Texas Department of State Health Services rabies laboratory worked alongside the CDC to create the Regional Rabies Virus Reference Typing Laboratory. One of us was recruited to both distribute the vaccine in the field and to develop molecular typing tools to discriminate between different types of rabies virus variants in the lab. These techniques allowed us to identify where different rabies virus variants were emerging at any given moment.
The Texas Oral Rabies Vaccination Program continues to monitor and control rabies cases in the state.
Our lab was also the first in the nation outside of the CDC to assist other U.S. states and countries in testing their specimens for rabies virus variants. These techniques helped researchers monitor where the rabies epizootic was ongoing or retreating due to wildlife vaccination and new forms of spread.
With the constant threat of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases like COVID-19 and influenza, the prospect of mass vaccination of wild animals may be one way to address future pandemics. Though there is much work ahead of us, we have hope that we may one day have the option of using mass wildlife vaccination to reduce or eliminate infectious diseases like rabies.
Rodney E. Rohde has received funding from the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science, U.S. Department of Labor (OSHA), and other public and private entities/foundations. Rohde is affiliated with ASCP, ASCLS, ASM, and serves on several scientific advisory boards.
Charles E. Rupprecht consults for global academic, governmental, industrial and NGO organizations. He receives funding from academic, governmental, industrial, and NGO sources.
Delving into the presidential candidates’ successes on a number of drug-pricing policies, you’ll see a continuation of progress across the administrations. Neither the Trump administration nor the Biden-Harris administration, however, has done anything to truly lower drug prices for the majority of Americans.
$35 insulin
Insulin is a necessity for patients with diabetes. But from January 2014 to April 2019, the average price per unit went from US$0.22 to $0.34 before dropping back slightly by July 2023 to $0.29 per unit. Since dosing is weight-based, insulin costs for someone weighing 154 pounds would have risen from $231 to $357 a month from 2014 to 2019 and dropped to $305 a month by 2023. Price increases have led some patients to space out their medications by taking less than the dose they need for good blood sugar control. One study estimated that over 25% of patients in an urban diabetes center were underusing their insulin.
In July 2020, the Trump administration enacted a $35 cap on insulin copayments via executive order. In effect, it made participating Medicare Part D programs limit the price of just one of each type of insulin product to $35. For instance, if there were six short-acting insulin products on an insurance plan’s approved drug list, the insurer had to offer one vial form and one pen form at $35.
In August 2022, the Biden-Harris administration signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. This maintained the $35 insulin cap with the same stipulations but made the program mandatory for all Medicare Part D and Medicare Part B members. This expanded the number of people who could benefit from cheaper insulin to 3.3 million.
This still doesn’t help a majority of diabetics. If you don’t have Medicare, the $35 reduction does not apply to you. Furthermore, pharmaceutical companies are not responsible for lowering insulin costs under these policies, but health plans are on the hook for lowering copayments. Costs could be passed along to beneficiaries in future Medicare premiums.
Importing Canadian drugs
Americans pay nearly 2.6 times more for prescription drugs than people in other high-income countries. One way regulators have tried to reduce prices is to simply import drugs at the prices pharmaceutical companies charge those countries rather than those charged to U.S. consumers.
In July 2019, the Trump administration proposed importing drugs from Canada as a way to share Canadians’ lower drug costs with American consumers. He signed an executive order allowing the Food and Drug Administration to create the rules under which states could import the drugs. When President Joe Biden came into office, he left the executive order in place and the rulemaking process continued.
No state under the Trump or Biden-Harris administrations has yet been able to successfully import a Canadian drug product. In January 2024, however, the Food and Drug Administration approved Florida’s plan to import Canadian drugs, the first state to receive the green light. Colorado, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Texas have applications pending as of September 2024.
Unfortunately, it is unlkely that Canada would allow their prescription drugs to be shipped in large quantities to American consumers, not without imposing high tariffs as a disincentive. That is because drug manufacturers could limit supplies to Canada and cause shortages if drugs are moved to the U.S. Manufacturers could also be less willing to negotiate lower prices for Canadians if that will hurt U.S. profits.
Negotiating with the pharmaceutical industry
Be it prescription drugs or cars, both buyer and seller must agree on a price for a successful sale to occur. If the potential buyer is unwilling to walk away from negotiations, you will not get the seller’s best price. One reason U.S. drug prices are higher than other countries’ is because the government is not a shrewd negotiator.
Negotiations that result in major reductions in drug prices frequently result from the drug manufacturer losing access to patients on a certain health plan or ending up in a higher drug tier that substantially raises a patient’s copay. However, if the buyer refuses the seller’s final offer, their members or citizens lose access to those drugs. While major private health plans and pharmacy benefit managers are able to directly negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers, often with substantial savings, Medicare was prevented from doing so by federal law until recently.
In May 2018, the Trump administration released a so-called blueprint for reducing prescription drug prices that included negotiating Medicare prescription drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry. This plan wasn’t enacted during his term.
In August 2022, under the Biden-Harris administration, the Inflation Reduction Act enabled price negotiation and specified the number of drugs that negotiations could include in a year.
The Inflation Reduction Act allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices for the first time.
The first negotiation between Medicare and the pharmaceutical industry took place over the summer of 2024, lowering costs for 10 Medicare Part D drugs, which include the blood thinner Xarelto and the drugs Farxiga and Jardiance, which treat Type 2 diabetes, heart failure and kidney disease. The resulting $1.5 billion in savings will be extended in 2026 to the approximately 8.8 million Medicare Part D patients who are taking these drugs. The prices for these drugs are still twice what they are in four other developed countries.
Prices will be negotiated for another 15 Medicare Part D drugs in 2027. Thereafter, drug negotiations could include Medicare Part D drugs, which you pick up from your pharmacy, and Medicare Part B drugs, which are administered or received from your doctor’s office.
Another aspect of the Inflation Reduction Act is capping out-of-pocket expenses at $2,000. This won’t go into effect until 2025, however, and simply shifts costs above the cap onto taxpayers.
Continuation of progress
It is often challenging to attribute policy successes to one administration versus another when assessing complex issues such as drug pricing. There were ideas initiated during the Trump administration that did not come to fruition until the Biden-Harris administration implemented and expanded on them.
For example, Medicare price negotiation, proposed in a Trump administration “blueprint,” was codified in law by President Biden, but the fruits of this policy will not be seen until the next administration. And regardless of who you attribute this success to, only a portion of people on Medicare will see any relief from high drug prices as a result.
Truly lowering the costs of prescription drugs would require identifying the maximum price the nation is willing to pay for benefits, such as cost per quality adjusted life year at the federal, state and private payer levels, and being willing to walk away from negotiations if the price exceeds that level. This would not be a panacea, though, especially for patients with rare and ultrarare diseases, and would need to be eased in over time to avoid bankrupting the industry.
C. Michael White does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Manuel Pastor, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The edge of the Salton Sea, a heavily polluted lake with large geothermal and lithium resources beneath it. Manuel Pastor
The county also happens to be sitting on enough lithium to produce nearly 400 million batteries, sufficient to completely revamp the American auto fleet to electric propulsion. Even better, that lithium could be extracted in a way consistent with broader goals to reduce pollution.
The traditional ways to extract lithium involve either hard rock mining, which generates lots of waste, or large evaporation ponds, which waste a lot of water. In Imperial Valley, companies are pioneering a third method. They are extracting the mineral from the underground briny water brought up during geothermal energy production and then injecting that briny water back into the ground in a closed loop. It promises to yield the cleanest, greenest lithium on the planet.
The hope of a clean energy future has excited investors and public officials so much that the area is being rechristened as “Lithium Valley.”
In a region desperate for jobs and income, the prospect of a “white gold rush” is appealing. Public officials have been working to roll out the red carpet for big investors, including trying to create a clear plan for infrastructure and a quicker permitting process. To get community groups’ support, they are playing up the potential for jobs, including company commitments to hire local workers.
But Imperial Valley residents who have been on the butt end of get-rich schemes around water and real estate in the past are worried that their political leaders may be giving away the store. As we explore in our new book, “Charging Forward: Lithium Valley, Electric Vehicles and a Just Future,” the U.S. has an opportunity to ensure that these residents directly benefit from the lithium extraction boom, which is an important part of the global shift to clean energy.
Possibilities and perils in ‘Lithium Valley’
Imperial Valley is emblematic of the potential and the risks that have long faced impoverished communities in resource-rich regions.
To understand the possibilities and perils in Imperial Valley, it’s useful to remember that the world is not just moving away from fossil fuel extraction but toward more mineral extraction. Today’s battery technology – necessary for electric vehicles and energy storage – relies on minerals including cobalt, magnesium, nickel and graphite. And mineral extraction is often accompanied by obscured environmental risks.
A prototype for CTR’s lithium-producing geothermal facility, in the Hell’s Kitchen area of Imperial Valley. Manuel Pastor
In Imperial Valley, environmental and community organizations are worried about lithium extraction’s water use, waste and air pollution as production steps up and truck traffic increases. When your region’s childhood asthma rate is already more than twice the national average, and dust from the drying lake is toxic, kicking up a “little extra dust” is a big deal.
Comite Civico del Valle, a long-established environmental justice organization in Imperial Valley, has sued to slow down a streamlined permitting process for Controlled Thermal Resources, a company planning lithium extraction there. The group’s concern is that inadequate environmental reviews could result in harm to residents’ health. Both the company and public officials are warning that the lawsuit could stop the lithium boom before it begins.
Behind these policies and financial incentives have been public will and taxpayer money.
Young advocates with the Imperial Valley Equity & Justice Coalition have been spreading their concerns through the community. Chris Benner
We believe that local residents, not just companies, deserve a return. Rather than promising to just pay for community “benefits,” such as environmental mitigation, contributions to municipal coffers or jobs, the companies could pay “dividends” directly to local residents and communities.
There are models of this dividend approach. For example, the Alaska Permanent Fund gives an annual amount to all residents of that state from revenues obtained from the oil beneath the ground.
In Imperial Valley, the actual ownership of the lithium is complex, involving a mix of privately owned subsurface rights, public lease rights obtained by companies and public rights held by the regional water district to whom companies will pay royalties.
Given the ownership complexities and the desire to benefit as development takes place, local authorities and community organizations persuaded the state in 2022 to pass a per-metric-ton lithium tax to address local needs.
Controlled Thermal Resources CEO Rod Colwell, right, walks near the Salton Sea with a colleague. AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
That “flat tax” was bitterly resisted by some in the emerging industry on the grounds that it could make Imperial Valley’s less-polluting extraction method too costly to compete with environmentally damaging imports; after the vote, CTR’s CEO called the legislators “clowns.” Meanwhile, CTR has also agreed to hire union workers in the construction phase. Everyone – companies, communities and government officials – is struggling to balance economic viability with accountability.
Lessons for a just transition
The hesitance of low-income Imperial Valley residents to immediately buy into the lithium vision is deeply rooted in history.
Decades of racial exclusion, patronizing practices and broken promises have led to deep distrust of outsiders who assert that things will be better this time.
You can still find old billboards promising a resort life on the Salton Sea, which today is one of the state’s most polluted lakes. Wind kicks up toxic dust when the water is low. Manuel Pastor
Building the supply chain here, too
In recent years, some people have pinned their hopes on lithium. The main site so far in Imperial Valley has been CTR’s Hell’s Kitchen. It’s a fitting moniker on summer days when temperatures regularly exceed 110 degrees.
Ensuring that the surrounding communities benefit from this new lithium boom will require thinking about how to attract not just companies extracting the lithium but also those that will use it. So far, Imperial County has had limited success in attracting related industries. In 2023, a company named Statevolt said it would build a “gigafactory” there to assemble batteries. However, the company’s previous efforts – Britishvolt in the United Kingdom and Italvot in Italy – have stalled without any volts being produced. Imperial County will need serious suitors to make a go of it.
A potentially promising future for modern transportation and energy storage may be brewing in Imperial Valley. But getting to a brighter future for everyone will require remembering a lesson from the past: that community investments tend to be hard-won. We believe that ensuring everyone benefits long term is essential for achieving a more inclusive and sustainable future.
Research for the book from which this article draws was supported by the James Irvine Foundation, New Energy Nexus, the California Wellness Foundation, and Open Society Foundations. Manuel Pastor was also supported by a Residency at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center.
Research for the book from which this article draws was supported by the James Irvine Foundation, New Energy Nexus, the California Wellness Foundation, and Open Society Foundations. Chris Benner was also supported by a Residency at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center.
Uniformed members of Trail Life USA present the colors at the Family Research Council’s 2018 Values Voter Summit.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The Family Research Council is a conservative advocacy group with a “biblical worldview.” While it has a church ministries department that works with churches from several evangelical Christian denominations that share its perspectives, it does not represent a single denomination. Although its activities are primarily focused on policy, advocacy, government lobbying and public communication, the Internal Revenue Service granted the council’s application to be treated as “an association of churches” in 2020.
Concerned that the IRS had erred in allowing the council and similar groups to be designated churches or associations of churches, Democratic members of the House of Representatives sent the Treasury secretary and the IRS commissionerletters in 2022 and 2024 expressing alarm. The House Democrats pointed to what appeared to be “abuse” of the tax code and asked the IRS to “determine whether existing guidance is sufficient to prevent abuse and what resources or Congressional actions are needed.”
As a professor of nonprofit law, I believe some groups that aren’t churches or associations of churches want to be designated that way to avoid the scrutiny being a charitable organization otherwise requires. At the same time, some other groups that should qualify as churches may have difficulty doing so because of the IRS’ outdated test for that status.
All charitable nonprofits, including churches, get the same basic benefits under federal tax law. This means they don’t have to pay taxes on their revenue and that donors can deduct the value of their gifts from their taxable income – as long as they itemize deductions on their tax return.
Unlike other tax-exempt charities, churches don’t have to file 990 forms. That means the public does not have access to churches’ staff pay, board membership and funding details, which are in this publicly available tax form that all other charities must complete every year. The availability of 990 forms enhances the transparency and accountability of the nonprofit sector.
And churches and associations of churches are unlikely to get audited by the IRS. Federal law requires that a senior IRS official “reasonably believes” the church or association has violated federal tax rules before beginning an investigation. This means that an official must have reason to believe the organization has violated federal tax law before obtaining any information from the organization.
This standard is higher than what’s needed before an audit can begin for all other tax-exempt organizations and indeed all taxpayers. For everyone else, the IRS is free to begin an examination based only on a suspicion of a violation or even based on random selection.
Also, unlike other tax-exempt charities, churches and church associations are automatically eligible for their tax-exempt status. They don’t have to apply for it.
Why churches get special treatment
Congress has passed laws granting churches and what it calls “integrated auxiliaries” and “conventions or associations of churches” special protections because the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects religious freedom.
Churches include houses of worship ranging in size from a handful of parishioners to megachurches with 10,000 or more people attending weekly services. Houses of worship of all faiths, including synagogues, mosques and temples, count as churches, according to the IRS.
Integrated auxiliaries are church schools and other organizations affiliated with churches or conventions and primarily supported by internal church sources, as opposed to by the public or government.
Conventions or associations of churches are organizations that have houses of worship from either a single denomination or from multiple denominations as their members. Most denominational bodies, such as the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, are likely conventions or associations of churches, although the IRS does not publish a list of such entities.
Not every religious nonprofit belongs in one of these categories.
For example, the University of Notre Dame, where I teach law students and conduct legal research, and World Vision, a global humanitarian group, are both religious organizations that do not fall into any of these categories. This makes sense, because Notre Dame and World Vision are primarily engaged in activities other than fostering a religious congregation or coordinating the activities of churches within a single denomination.
The IRS has long relied on a 14-factor test to distinguish churches from the other religious nonprofits. Examples of those factors include having ordained ministers, a formal doctrine, a distinct membership and a regular congregation attending religious services.
It’s not necessary for all the factors to apply to pass this test.
Yet for almost as long, courts have been uncomfortable with this test because it draws heavily on the traditional characteristics of Protestant Christian churches, as the U.S. Court of Federal Claims explained in a 2009 ruling. This system therefore may be a poor fit for houses of worship of other faiths, especially given the increasing diversity of faith communities.
These courts have instead adopted an “associational test.” It focuses on whether the organization’s congregants hold religious services on a regular basis and gather in person on other occasions.
Aprill and I recommend that the IRS change its definition for churches to the associational one adopted by some courts in rulings as early as 1980. As the U.S. Court of Federal Claims explained in that 2009 ruling, this test focuses on whether a body of believers assembles regularly to worship. Given technological advances, the IRS should also make it clear that this test can be satisfied through remote participation in religious services using interactive, teleconferencing apps such as Zoom.
This definition would be also better suited for congregations of all faiths because some faiths do not prioritize many of the factors included in the IRS test, such as having a formal code of doctrine or requiring members to not be associated with other houses of worship or faiths. And it would better reflect how some Americans participate in religious services today.
We recommend that the IRS revisit its test for being a church and that Congress pass a law that would change the definition of church associations. The new law could limit associations of churches to organizations that represent a single denomination, as Congress likely initially intended.
This latter change would make it harder for religious organizations that are primarily involved in bringing churches from multiple faiths together to engage in advocacy or other activities to obtain this status and the lack of transparency and accountability that come with it. We believe Congress, not the IRS, should make this change because of the potential political tensions that narrowing the definition could create.
We don’t think the changes would impinge upon the special role that churches have in our society. Indeed, the revised test for qualifying as a church would better fit with both the increasing variety of faiths in our country and technological advancements.
Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer is affiliated with the University of Notre Dame, a tax-exempt religious nonprofit corporation. Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer is also affiliated with South Bend City Church, a tax-exempt religious nonprofit corporation that is classified as a church for federal tax purposes.
Retailers donate products that are typically packaged, palatable and safe for consumption, yet unsuitable for sale due to quality concerns, such as minor blemishes. Since these items can go a long way to feeding hungry people, donations represent one of the best uses of leftover or surplus food.
Donations are also technically acts of charity, and the companies responsible for them get tax breaks. This means that donations boost profits by lowering costs. There’s a second effect of donations on a store’s bottom line: They improve the quality of food on the store’s shelves and increase revenue from food sales.
As a supply chain scholar who studies food banks, I worked with a team of economists to estimate the effects of retail food donations. We used sales data for five perishable food categories sold by two competing retail chains, with stores located in a large, Midwestern metropolitan area. We found that stores that remove items on the brink of expiration, donate them to food banks and fill up the emptied shelf space with fresher inventory get more revenue from sales and earn higher profits.
Retailers donate 30% of what food banks give their clients
They get about 30% of that food for free from supermarkets and big-box retailers that sell groceries. Prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, retailers supplied more than twice as much food to food banks than the federal government did. The volume of food supplied by federal programs administered by the United States Department of Agriculture, such as the Emergency Food Assistance Program, have steadily increased since 2020, to now almost match the volume of food donated by retailers.
The remaining 2.88 billion pounds of food were either purchased directly, provided by farmers, donated by food processing companies or donated by people and organizations in local communities.
Retail donation routines are established but inconsistent
When food on a store’s shelves is on the verge of expiration, store managers have three options. They can donate or discard it, or sell it at a discount.
Stores that regularly donate food have established routines for when they set aside about-to-expire food to give away. However, these routines are often inconsistent.
Many stores donate only on a seasonal basis or just give away certain kinds of food. For example, they might donate only meat, baked goods or fruits and vegetables. In many cases, donations take a backseat to more immediate priorities, such as customer service.
Those realities can increase the likelihood that food will land at the dump instead of on somebody’s table.
Although millions of Americans struggle to find their next meal, close to 40% of food gets thrown out along the supply chain, as food moves between agricultural producers, factories, retailers and consumers. This is largely due to logistical challenges: It’s hard to transport and distribute highly perishable food.
Discounted meat is displayed at a San Rafael, Calif., grocery store in September 2024. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Discounts on food can undercut sales
Stores often prefer to sell food on the brink of expiration at a discount rather than donate it or throw it out due to the money they recoup that way. This option, however, also keeps the discounted food on the shelf, where it takes up valuable space that could otherwise hold fresher inventory.
Shelf space dedicated to the sale and promotion of full-priced products competes with that for price-discounted food. Stocking perishable foods that are starting to look iffy – such as bananas with brown spots sold alongside unblemished yellow bananas – could harm a retailer’s image if shoppers start to question the store’s quality.
My research team calls this practice “preemptive removal.” Increasing the average quality level of food on display does more than improve a store’s appearance. We used panel data with over 20,000 observations, and we included 21 retail stores that compete in a similar market geography. The five fresh food categories were bakery, dairy, deli, meat and produce.
Stores that donated food, instead of discounting it, may have made better use of the limited room to display fresher inventory. My research team found that food donations can increase average food prices by up to 1%, which corresponds to a 33% increase in profit margins. Profit margins for supermarkets and other food retailers are quite low and typically hover below 3%.
That means even a small increment in food prices, even a 1% bump up, can translate into significantly higher profits for retailers. At the same time, increasing the volume of retail food donations would get more food to people who need it, limit hunger and reduce food insecurity.
Prof Lowrey has consulted with several Feeding America member Food Banks on procurement and food-distribution-related supply chain projects. He has also served on an advisory board to the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, focused on supply chain responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the emergency feeding network. His research has been funded by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (National Institute for Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture).
During the brief visit to Guam, the flagship of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 9, the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), was able to onload more than 700 pallets of parts, food and mail.
“Guam is a critical logistics hub, and the amount of supplies that the team here was able to process and deliver to us was proof of that,” said Rear Adm. Christopher Alexander, commander, CSG 9. “On behalf of the strike group, thank you to Naval Base Guam and the people of Guam who made this visit such a success. Your work allows us to get back to sea to help maintain deterrence and stability in the region.”
While in port, Sailors also had the opportunity to go ashore and take advantage of base amenities.
Carrier Strike Group 9 departed San Diego for a regularly scheduled deployment to the Western Pacific, Jan. 11, 2024 in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific.
CSG 9 is a multiplatform team of ships and aircraft, capable of carrying out a wide variety of missions around the globe from combat missions to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief response. The strike group is comprised of CSG 9 staff, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 23 staff, Theodore Roosevelt (CVN) 71, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 11, and DESRON 23 ships; the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Russell (DDG 59) and USS Daniel Inouye (DDG 118).
The Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has called on the BRICS Plus bloc of countries to work together to assist and support member countries to tackle energy challenges.
The Minister was delivering his opening remarks at the 9th Annual BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] Energy Ministers’ Meeting in Moscow, Russia.
“We believe that this BRICS group of like-minded country members has a huge potential, and working together will strengthen this resolve through cooperation on energy security.
“[It will] also provide an opportunity to join efforts to annihilate the challenges diagnosed during the BRICS 2023 Summit held in South Africa, such as addressing the lack or absence of integrated energy policy framework, diversification and beneficiation at source of critical minerals, infrastructure development, manufacturing, technology transfer and intellectual property, scaling up energy efficiency, mobilisation of finance and investment, as well as skills and capacity building, amongst others,” Ramokgopa said.
He called on the member countries to “tap and dig deeper into various capabilities and strengths” to ensure mutual support in harnessing the individual potential each country has at its disposal.
“To mention a few opportunities, it is mining and beneficiation of critical minerals, and rare-earth elements required to power the green economy, [expand] hydro power potential, promising hydrogen solutions and its derivatives, gas, nuclear – including small modular reactors, renewables, storage, biofuels, as well as clean coal, and carbon capture utilisation and storage,” the Minister said.
Ramokgopa highlighted that the meeting of BRICS Energy Ministers comes at a critical time, as countries ponder ways to transition towards low carbon economies.
“This meeting comes at a critical phase where our countries are grappling with the challenge of balancing developmental goals with energy transition pathways.
“We must ensure that these transitions safeguard energy sovereignty and security, promote sustainable economic development, facilitate universal access and respond effectively to environmental imperatives, all the while ensuring no one is left behind,” he said.
He told the meeting that the expansion of the BRICS bloc of countries is a “clear affirmation of the group’s growing significance and influence in the global energy agenda”.
“This is a pivotal moment, positioning BRICS to reshape, refocus, and reset the global energy architecture to ensure energy access, security, affordability, and eradicate energy poverty and promote a just energy transition.
“For us as South Africa, we see this as an opportune moment to clearly articulate our collective position as the developing nations that will enable us to continue to use our energy resources through innovative technologies that allow us to move from high emitting to low emitting energy systems, and thus achieve carbon-neutrality or net-zero at a pace and scale that is in line with our different national circumstances and capabilities.
“In this regard, we want to reiterate that our approach to an inclusive and people centred energy transition is informed by the need to maintain energy security in support of socio-economic objectives,” Ramokgopa said. – SAnews.gov.za
Iwao Hakamada retracted ‘confession’ alleging it was made under duress and police violence
In 2023, 107 of the 115 people on death row had their death sentences finalised putting them at risk of execution
Authorities must review all existing death sentences and abolish the death penalty
‘We strongly urge Japan to abolish the death penalty to prevent this from happening again’– Boram Jang
Responding to the acquittal of Japanese man Iwao Hakamada, who spent more than 45 years on death row, Boram Jang, Amnesty International’s East Asia Researcher, said:
“We are overjoyed by the court’s decision to exonerate Iwao Hakamada. After enduring almost half a century of wrongful imprisonment and a further 10 years waiting for his retrial, this verdict is an important recognition of the profound injustice he endured for most of his life. It ends an inspiring fight to clear his name by his sister Hideko and all those who supported him.
“As we celebrate this long overdue day of justice for Hakamada, we are reminded of the irreversible harm caused by the death penalty. We strongly urge Japan to abolish the death penalty to prevent this from happening again.
“Japanese authorities must also review all existing death sentences, particularly when there are concerns of mental and intellectual disabilities. Only complete abolition of capital punishment will ensure that such grave errors are never repeated, and people not irreversibly and arbitrarily deprived of their lives.
“Amnesty International will continue to push for the abolition of the death penalty and for reforms that ensure fairness and justice for all.”
Japan’s death row
During his first trial Hakamada was convicted of murdering his employer and his employer’s family, largely based on a forced “confession” made after 20-days of interrogation which Hakamada retracted during the trial, alleging police had threatened and beaten him. He was sentenced to death by Shizuoka District Court in 1968 and spent more than 45 years on death row.
Japan has continued to carry out executions, including of people who had judicial appeals pending, in violation of international safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty. As of 31 December 2023, 107 out of the 115 people on death row had their death sentences finalised and were at risk of execution.
Those on death row continue to be held in solitary confinement and in the absence of effective safeguards or transparent regular psychiatric evaluations – people with mental health and intellectual disabilities continue to be subjected to the death penalty in violation of international law and standards. The last execution in Japan was carried out on 26 July 2022.
Amnesty opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature or circumstances of the crime, guilt, innocence or other characteristics of the individual, or of the method used by the state to carry out the execution.
Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Narend Singh has unveiled a plan that advocates for a thriving environment for people and nature by 2040.
“We are today declaring a path towards a time in the future when nature and people both thrive because of how they would have reshaped the terms of their co-dependence,” Singh said on Thursday in Johannesburg.
Addressing the occasion of the reveal of Vision 2040, the Deputy Minister said the plan was about shifting the needle in terms of shared economic growth and job creation in a manner that promotes a much stronger embrace for nature.
Vision 2040 was launched under the theme “For A Life in Harmony with Nature,” which talks to a deliberate effort to ensure benefit sharing through sustainable development practices which can be articulated around the elements of people, planet and prosperity.
“Ours is a great, exciting and ambitious mission which speaks to how by 2040 we hope to have reshaped the character of conversations, plans and ambitions happening in our streets, homes, boardrooms, in public discourse and even possibly education to embrace our cultural and natural heritage,” the Deputy Minister said.
The main aim of Vision 2040 is to promote social justice and inclusivity by guaranteeing that all communities, particularly the disadvantaged and marginalised ones, have fair access to opportunities and resources and that conservation is a catalyst for growth and prosperity and the betterment of people’s livelihoods.
“Vision 2040 is part of our deliberate contribution of an element of the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) that we need to grow our conservation estate to be constituted so that 30% of the land and 30% of the sea be placed under protection by 2030 (commonly known as 30X30).
“It also indicates that communities living in and adjacent to conservation must tangibly benefit from the economic opportunities created. The creation of Mega Living Landscapes (MLLs), which as we have heard are vast, integrated areas that balance human development with natural ecosystems, and will be a major priority,” the Deputy Minister said.
This work is also linked to the National Biodiversity Economy Strategy.
Vision 2040 promotes sustainable economic development by leveraging biodiversity as a catalyst for social and economic transformation.
This includes promoting eco-tourism, sustainable agriculture, and green businesses that generate income while using and conserving natural resources.
“By aligning conservation efforts with economic activities, we aim to create job opportunities, support local economies and small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and provide sustainable livelihoods,” Singh said. – SAnews.gov.za
Out of the nine provinces in South Africa, the Western Cape had the lowest HIV prevalence (7.4%) in 2022 and second lowest in 2017 (8.6%).
According to the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), this translates to 540 000 people living with HIV (PLHIV) in the Western Cape, which was a decline from 560 000 PLHIV in 2017.
The information is based on the findings of the Sixth South African HIV Prevalence, Incidence and Behaviour Survey (SABSSM VI) for the Western Cape, which was released by the HSRC on Thursday.
According to the overall principal investigator of the study, the HSRC’s Professor Khangelani Zuma, the survey showed that in 2022, HIV prevalence in the province was higher among those aged 25 to 49 (10.8%) for both females (14.6%) and males (5.8%).
Meanwhile, HIV prevalence was higher among females (9%) compared to males (5.6%).
“HIV prevalence peaked at 12.9% amongst those aged 35 to 39 in 2022 from 23.4% in 2017 within the same age group.
“There was a decrease in HIV prevalence in 2022 among all age groups younger than 30 to 34 years compared to 2017, apart from the age groups zero to 14; 15 to 19, and those 50 years and older.
“The worsening prevalence among those younger than 24 years is deeply concerning, as it shows continued new infections from both horizontal and vertical transmissions,” Zuma said.
SAnews reported last week that Mpumalanga now has the highest HIV prevalence at 17.4% in 2022, which translates to an estimated 890 000 (PLHIV) in the province, followed by KwaZulu-Natal.
Antiretroviral treatment (ART) coverage in the Western Cape increased to 76.8% in 2022, from 54.4% in 2017.
This translates to an estimated 360 000 PLHIV in the province receiving ART in 2022.
In 2022, ART use among all PLHIV in the province was lower among those aged 15 to 49 (76.5%) compared to other age groups.
ART use was also lower among males (75.3%) compared to females (77.1%).
In addition, ART use was 76.2% amongst respondents who reside in urban areas and 81.4% in the City of Cape Town.
The SABSSM VI survey, conducted between 2022 and 2023, aimed to maintain surveillance of HIV infection and behaviours in South Africa, evaluate the progress of the South African national HIV and Aids, STI and TB Strategic Plan, and monitor HIV indicators for national and international reporting.
Viral load suppression (VLS)
The survey further revealed that in 2022, among all provinces, the Western Cape had the seventh highest proportion of PLHIV with VLS (78.4%), having increased from 2017 (54.6%).
Overall, VLS was also lower among males (76%) compared to females (79.7%).
VLS was also lower among those aged 50 and older (69.4%) compared to other age groups.
Knowledge of HIV status
The professor expressed concern that PLHIV between 25 and 49 years accounted for the majority of PLHIV in the Western Cape, who were unaware of their HIV status (59.1%); aware but not on ART (64.7%), and on ART but not VLS (66.7%).
Adolescents and youth aged between 15 and 24 contributed disproportionally to gaps in treatment, accounting for just 9.5% of all PLHIV.
Regarding the key drivers of the HIV epidemic, Zuma noted that in the Western Cape, there was an increase in the proportion of adolescents and youth aged 15 to 24, who reported sex before the age of 15 in 2017 (14%), compared to 2022 (16.3%).
Sexual debut before the age of 15 among adolescents and youth aged 15 to 24 in 2022 was higher among males (21.5%) than females (11.3%).
Multiple sexual partners
The survey revealed that in the Western Cape, 6.7% of people aged 15 and older reported having two or more sexual partners in 2022 compared to 7.6% in 2017.
The proportion of people aged 15 and older who reported having multiple sexual partners was two-fold higher among males (8.9%), compared to females (4.4%), and higher among those aged 15 to 24 (19.1%) compared to other age groups.
Condom use
The survey revealed that 22.1% reported using a condom with their most recent sexual partner in 2022 compared to 26.6% in 2017, representing a 4.5% decline.
Condom use with their most recent sexual partner among people who are 15 years and older was higher among those 15 to 24 years (39.9%) and in the urban areas (22.5%), while it was similar by sex.
A higher proportion also reported that they had never or sometimes (81.4%) used a condom with their most recent sexual partner. Only 13.4% reported that they had used condoms almost every time.
Consistency of condom use with their most recent sexual partner among people aged 15 in the province was higher among youth aged 15 to 24 (24%). – SAnews.gov.za
Bitget Wallet, a leading Web3 non-custodial wallet, has surged to become the most downloaded globally, achieving nearly 2 million monthly app downloads in August, according to App Store and Google Play data. The platform now boasts over 30 million users globally, fueled by its mission to simplify Web3 access for the next billion users. During the TOKEN2049 conference, Bitget Wallet unveiled its roadmap for expanding mass adoption of blockchain technology, focusing on integration with Web2 social platforms and a streamlined payment solution.
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Bitget Wallet’s growth has been bolstered by its all-rounded involvement in the TON ecosystem, where popular Tap to Earn (T2E) Telegram mini games on TON network have driven significant user engagement. Tomarket, for instance, attracted 20 million users in just two months. Bitget Wallet’s mobile-first approach has proven particularly effective, with 68% of TON game users now using the wallet app. As a result, Bitget Wallet has contributed over 17% of all active addresses on the TON network.
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About Bitget Wallet
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MINNEAPOLIS , Sept. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Dominium, a leading affordable housing owner, developer, and manager, proudly reveals the recipients of the 2024 Opportunity’s Front Door Scholarship Program. This initiative reaffirms Dominium’s unwavering commitment to empowering individuals through education and bridging the gap between potential and opportunity.
The Opportunity’s Front Door Scholarship Program is dedicated to providing vital financial assistance to Dominium residents, employees, and their dependents, with the goal to facilitate access to higher education.
In 2024, Dominium granted a total of 335 scholarships, amounting to over $1.6 million. These scholarships are awarded to individuals enrolled in two-year or four-year colleges, vocational schools, or certificate programs. Designed to support a diverse array of scholars including first-generation students, nontraditional students, and single parents, the Opportunity’s Front Door Program exemplifies Dominium’s commitment to forging pathways for individuals to unlock their potential through education.
This extensive program stands as a resounding testament to Dominium’s enduring dedication to fostering growth, empowering communities, and creating opportunities for success. Through these scholarships, Dominium is making a substantial investment in personal and professional growth, reinforcing its commitment to educational development.
About Dominium Founded in 1972, Dominium is a leading national owner, developer, and manager of affordable apartment communities with offices in Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, and Minneapolis. Owning and managing over 38,000 homes at over 230 sites in about half of all U.S. states, Dominium is known for creative solutions to unique and challenging development projects, and property management expertise. Dominium was named a Best Managed Company by Deloitte in 2020. For more information, visit http://www.dominiumapartments.com.
