An official statistics in development publication for Scotland
New average carbon footprint estimates for beef, sheep, milk and cereal production in Scotland have been released. These are average emission intensity estimates for enterprises (activities) on farms in the Farm Business Survey.
In 2023-24 the average beef emission intensity for livestock farm types in the Farm Business Survey ranged from 30.9 to 32.8 kgCO2e/kg dwt. Average sheep emission intensity was higher on Less Favoured Area sheep farms (35.5 kgCO2e/kg dwt) than on lowland cattle and sheep farms (25.2 kgCO2e/kg dwt). On dairy farms, the average emission intensity for milk production was 1.3 kgCO2e/kg FPC milk in 2023-24. This is an increase of 2% from the previous year, as average milk yields fell. Lower productivity is associated with higher emission intensities.
Emission intensity for cereals production in 2023-24 increased on cereal (by 14% to 258 kgCO2e/tonne crop) and general cropping farms (by 7% to 241 kgCO2e/tonne crop), compared with the previous year. The rise was mostly driven by increased emissions from fertiliser and manure. Fertiliser usage rates rose in 2023-24 as prices fell from their peak in 2022-23.
The report includes estimates of total emissions for agricultural sub-sectors. While total agriculture emissions continued at their lowest levels in 2023 at around 7.5 MtCO2e, arable farming saw the largest increase in emissions (by 5% to 1.5 MtCO2e). Emissions for suckler beef, dairy, sheep and dairy beef sub-sectors fell by 1% each, compared with the previous year.
Estimates of nitrogen use at farm level show an increase in nitrogen balance (input minus output) and a decrease in nitrogen use efficiency on the average farm compared to the previous year. Similar results are seen for most farm types and generally driven by increased fertiliser and high energy feed inputs. Falling cereal outputs, where lower yields can lead to nitrogen accumulation in the soil, also drove increases in nitrogen balance.
Background
The full statistical publication with supporting data tables is available at:
Results for the agriculture sector, along with national greenhouse gas emissions, were released in the publication. The report includes new subsector analysis based on methodology developed by SRUC . Subsector analysis allocates total Scottish Greenhouse Gas Statistics emissions from agriculture to subsectors that align more closely with agricultural enterprises.
Farm level results are calculated from the 2023-24 Farm Business Survey, which covered the 2023 cropping year and the 2023-24 financial year. The Farm Business Survey is an annual survey of approximately 400 commercial farms with economic activity of at least approximately £20,000. Farms which do not receive support payments, such as pigs, poultry and horticulture, are not included in the survey. On-farm emissions are estimated using a life cycle assessment (LCA) based carbon calculator (Agrecalc). Enterprise estimates are not weighted to the 2023 June Agricultural Census and represent sample averages of farms in Farm Business Survey. Nitrogen estimates are based on standard estimates of nitrogen content in all farm inputs and outputs where possible.
The data are designated as official statistics in development. They are being released to involve users in our assessment of the suitability and quality of the data.
We would like to hear about your use of this data, please get in touch with us at agric.stats@gov.scot.
For the latest statistics news follow us on Twitter @SGRESAS.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Special offers announced in celebration of HKSAR’s 28th anniversary For public transport, members of the public can enjoy free rides on all passenger tram routes from July 1 to 3. The MTR will give away 71 000 e-single journey tickets through a lucky draw on July 1 and provide Airport Express offers to holders of Child Octopus and JoyYou Cards. Moreover, free rides on several ferry routes will be offered to the public on July 1, with vouchers for certain ferry routes to be distributed in advance.
In culture, arts and leisure, the public will be offered free admission to a number of fee-charging leisure and cultural facilities of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and to the Hong Kong Wetland Park under the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department on July 1. They can also enjoy free admission to all General Admission exhibitions at M+ and all thematic exhibitions at the Hong Kong Palace Museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District on that day. Furthermore, additional free guided tours, dining, consumption and accommodation offers will be provided from mid-June to early July by the 12 projects under the Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme.
As for dining and consumption, several public markets under the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will roll out different offers. Members of the public can also enjoy a 29 per cent discount when purchasing selected products of the Fish Marketing Organization and the Vegetable Marketing Organization via the “Local Fresh” online store or mobile app from July 1 to 7. The Environmental Protection Department will offer double GREEN$ Points to the public who recycle at its community recycling network GREEN@COMMUNITY on July 1.
Meanwhile, more than 1 000 restaurants and merchants are expected to provide dining offers on July 1. The Peak Tram, Ngong Ping 360 and Ocean Park Hong Kong will offer ticket discounts, while Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong Science Park, various shopping malls and department stores will roll out shopping, dining, consumption or parking offers. In addition, the Hong Kong Tourism Board will team up with local businesses to offer various dining, shopping, attractions, tours and entertainment deals.
The Government thanks various sectors for actively responding to its call by launching special offers and activities to celebrate with the public the HKSAR’s 28th anniversary. Information about the offers and activities is available on the dedicated website (www.hksar28.gov.hkIssued at HKT 13:18
The Big Green Fund has been created to help tackle fly-tipping, help promote sustainable and environmentally friendly neighbourhoods, and unite residents and communities.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council has today (June 10) proudly announced ‘The Big Green Fund’ is back for 2025.
The Big Green Fund has been created to help tackle fly-tipping, help promote sustainable and environmentally friendly neighbourhoods, and unite residents and communities.
Up to £45,000 is available for residents and community groups to apply for to help clear and rejuvenate local brownfield/abandoned plots of land, unadopted alleyways, an area in a local park or small grass areas.
The fund will cover three successful entries in the north of the city, the south of the city, and in the central area of the city, with a maximum fund allocation of £15,000 per site.
The ‘Big Green Fund’ first launched in 2023, and saw six successful entries be awarded up to £15,000 in funding. Sites included:
Middleport Garden
Sneyd Green Community Garden
City Farm
Portland Street Community Garden
Blurton Community Garden
PPE4
The positive impact can already be felt across the community. A spokesperson from Middleport Garden described the new sensory garden as a thriving community space, offering residents a peaceful retreat with in walking distance. The 2023 funding also helped to ensure the outdoor area of the Sneyd Green Community Hub was accessible to allow more members to enjoy being outdoors. The funding also enabled a safe and accessible walk-way to a community garden for residents in Meir.
Cllr Amjid Wazir, cabinet member for environment and enforcement said, “We want residents to feel proud of where they live and have something to nurture and grow with. This is a unique opportunity and we are providing the tools to give residents the chance to take ownership of where they live.
“We have spent the last two years working to reduce the level of illegal dumping in the city, clearing 1267 skips worth of waste from January to April this year. We know some areas are still a magnet for illegal dumping and it can be rife in high-density areas, and part of the problem is the unadopted spaces we have dotted across the city. Supporting residents to come together, help clean up the areas they live in, and promote sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions to the problem is one of the many initiatives we will be launching over the coming weeks and months. “
“If you are part of a resident association or community group, or you and your neighbours want to work together and have unadopted land in your area, we welcome entries/applications from you.”
“By supporting residents to help them improve their local area, it will also reduce clean-up costs, fly-tipping and waste, and provide clean, green spaces for health and wellbeing.”
To find out more about the eligibility criteria and application process visit – www.stoke.gov.uk/thebiggreen
The entry form will also detail what options are available when thinking about what to do with unadopted spaces, from a community garden in an unadopted alleyway to a flower meadow.
The closing date for entries is Sunday 20 July at midnight.
To celebrate the 28th anniversary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s establishment on July 1, the Government and different sectors of the community will launch a rich array of special offers and activities to share with the public the joy of Hong Kong’s return to the motherland.
The MTR will give away 71,000 e-single journey tickets through a lucky draw on July 1 and provide Airport Express offers to holders of Child Octopus and JoyYou Cards.
Free rides on several ferry routes will be offered on July 1, with vouchers for certain ferry routes to be distributed in advance. Citizens can also enjoy free rides on all passenger tram routes from July 1 to 3.
On July 1, the use of fee-charging leisure and cultural facilities of the Leisure & Cultural Services Department and admission to the Hong Kong Wetland Park under the Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department will be complimentary.
The public can also enjoy free admission to all General Admission exhibitions at M+ and all thematic exhibitions at the Hong Kong Palace Museum.
Additional free guided tours, dining, consumption and accommodation offers will be available from mid-June to early July by the 12 projects under the Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme.
As for dining and consumption, over 1,000 restaurants and merchants are expected to provide dining offers on July 1.
Several public markets under the Food & Environmental Hygiene Department will roll out offers. Additionally, people can enjoy a 29% discount when purchasing selected products via the “Local Fresh” online store or mobile app from July 1 to 7.
The Environmental Protection Department will award double GREEN$ Points to users who recycle at GREEN@COMMUNITY on July 1.
Separately, the Peak Tram, Ngong Ping 360 and Ocean Park will offer ticket discounts, while Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong Science Park, various shopping malls and department stores will roll out shopping, dining, consumption or parking offers.
The Hong Kong Tourism Board will team up with local businesses to provide various dining, shopping, attractions, tours and entertainment deals.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday inaugurated an exhibition at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office in Lucknow to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s completion of 11 years in office. Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak were also present at the event.
Highlighting the Modi government’s achievements over the past 11 years, Yogi described this period as a golden era of good governance and welfare for the poor—an era that laid the foundation for a developed and self-reliant India. He emphasized that under PM Modi’s leadership, India has not only accelerated its growth but also emerged as a symbol of global trust, gaining a strong international identity.
Criticizing the Congress for decades of misgovernance, the Uttar Pradesh CM said, “Due to Congress-led governments and other unstable administrations in the 65 years following independence, the common citizen’s trust was broken, and India’s global image was tarnished. But over the past 11 years, under PM Modi’s leadership, a corruption-free, appeasement-free, unified India has been realised.”
Yogi stressed that during this period, India has forged a new identity in social welfare, governance, the economy, and security. “Government transparency and accountability towards the public have become distinguishing hallmarks. A new harmony between development and heritage has been created,” the UP CM said.
Emphasising PM Modi’s idea of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Yogi said the mantra has become the face of the government. “Now, benefits are delivered not based on who someone is, but impartially — and Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas (together with all, development for all) has become the new face of governance,” he said.
Yogi pointed out the steps taken by the NDA government against terrorism, highlighting recent actions during Operation Sindoor.
“Now, we have changed our approach to terrorism compared to before 2014 — India favours peace. PM Modi, by setting a new normal, has changed the entire concept — we will live in peace with friends, but if someone imposes war on us, induces terrorism in our country, and threatens our security, the response will be surgical strikes, air strikes, and Operation Sindoor. We have demonstrated this with ‘Made in India’ capability, and the world has recently realised India’s strength,” he said.
Yogi also mentioned the abrogation of Article 370: “Article 370, which had been in place since 1952, was repealed by our government. India’s integrity was reinforced — from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.”
Highlighting achievements in the agriculture sector, he said the double-engine government has benefited farmers and the agri-industry.
“Before 2017, sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh were shutting down. Between 1996 and 2017, there were payments due for 22 years, but in just the last seven years, an additional ₹71,000 crore has been paid. This is the guarantee of a double-engine government,” Yogi said.
The UP Chief Minister also underlined government schemes aimed at empowering women, such as the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign, 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures, the abolition of triple talaq, granting freedom to women, and the Lakhpati Didi scheme for women entrepreneurs.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
The live-action adaptation of “How to Train Your Dragon” is set to hit Chinese cinemas on June 13, following its premiere at Universal Beijing Resort on June 5.
A still from “How to Train Your Dragon.” [Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures]
The film, directed by Dean DeBlois — who also directed the original animated trilogy — retells the story of Hiccup (Mason Thames), a young Viking who befriends a dragon and defies his community’s traditions. Gerard Butler stars as Chief Stoick the Vast, Hiccup’s father, reprising the role he voiced in the original animated films. Hiccup is joined by allies Astrid (Nico Parker) and Gobber (Nick Frost) as they work to unite Vikings and dragons against an ancient threat, demonstrating that their bond can change both worlds.
Inspired by Cressida Cowell’s New York Times bestselling book series, DreamWorks Animation’s “How to Train Your Dragon” franchise has grossed more than $1.6 billion worldwide, including over 859 million yuan ($119 million) in China.
Now, DeBlois brings his animated saga to life as a live-action spectacle, using cutting-edge visual effects to create a realistic and epic adventure as Hiccup and Toothless discover the true meaning of friendship, courage and destiny. Notably, “How to Train Your Dragon” is part of the Filmed for IMAX program, which provides filmmakers with IMAX technology to deliver the most immersive movie experience to audiences worldwide.
“I decided to revisit ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ because it presented a remarkable opportunity — not only to direct a live-action film, but to return to a world I’ve genuinely missed,” DeBlois said. “These characters and this universe have stayed with me, and now we can bring them back with such authenticity and conviction that, when audiences enter this world, they’ll never want to leave.”
Dean DeBlois on the set of “How to Train Your Dragon.” [Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures]
DeBlois said his approach combines visual spectacle with emotional depth. “I’ve always been drawn to stories that weave meaning into moments of wonder,” he said. “‘How to Train Your Dragon’ is about finding the courage to see beyond fear and convention. Hiccup’s journey shows us the power of questioning what we’re taught and embracing the possibility of something greater. He’s mocked, ridiculed and misunderstood, but he stays true to his convictions — and that’s what makes his story so universal.”
The filmmakers sought to expand Berk’s world by incorporating diverse Viking and dragon lore. Producer Adam Siegel said research into global dragon myths enabled the team to draw on multiple cultural influences, resulting in a more interconnected setting.
For DeBlois, this global perspective enhanced the narrative. “We imagined the Vikings of Berk traveling far and wide, encountering warriors and mythologies from other lands,” DeBlois said. “By bringing these traditions together, we created a world where the threat of dragons unites people from vastly different backgrounds. It’s a story of finding common ground in the face of fear.”
Moviegoers line up for the China premiere of “How to Train Your Dragon” at a cinema in Universal Beijing Resort, Beijing, June 5, 2025. [Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures]
Making dragons feel real drove every aspect of the production. “The key is grounding the dragons in familiar animal behaviors,” the director said. “By drawing inspiration from cats, dogs, horses and other animals, we’ve created creatures that feel authentic even though they’re fantasy creatures. Each dragon has a unique personality, and they live within a real, grounded world. Our goal was to make audiences believe in dragons as completely as they believed in the dinosaurs of ‘Jurassic Park.’”
DeBlois found reimagining his beloved creation in live-action to be a delicate balancing act between reverence and reinvention. “My hope is that audiences who loved these characters in animation will rediscover them, both with familiar warmth and unexpected new depth,” he said. “We approached this adaptation with profound respect for what came before, while daring to imagine what could become. It’s a story that captures the magic of flying, the courage to question what we’re taught and the wonder of discovering something extraordinary within yourself. That’s what ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ has always been about — and what this film delivers in a way audiences have never seen before.”
This year marks a milestone for DeBlois, with both “Lilo & Stitch” and “How to Train Your Dragon” — his animated collaborations with Chris Sanders — adapted into live-action films. DeBlois wrote the screenplay for Disney’s live-action “Lilo & Stitch,” which has grossed more than $772 million worldwide as of June 8. The live-action “How to Train Your Dragon” is set for global release later this month.
Guests pose with performers portraying Hiccup and Astrid, along with a Toothless statue, at Universal Studios Beijing, June 5, 2025. [Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures]
“How to Train Your Dragon” premiered at the IMAX theater in Universal Beijing Resort last Thursday, drawing strong audience reactions. The resort launched a themed month for the film, featuring themed food, merchandise and photo opportunities with performers playing Hiccup and Astrid. A Toothless statue was placed near the Universal Majestic Theatre, home to the Thea Award-winning “How to Train Your Dragon” spin-off show “Untrainable,” in the Hollywood section of the park.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hazel Moir, Honarary Associate Professor; economics of patents, geographical indications and other “IP”; trade treaties, Australian National University
Trade Minister Don Farrell has confirmed Australia and the European Union will restart negotiations for a free trade agreement immediately. Two years ago, Australia walked away over a disappointing market access offer for our beef, sheep, dairy and sugar exporters.
But with US President Donald Trump’s unilateral tariff increases, the world has changed. The chances of successfully completing the negotiations with the EU on increasing access for some agricultural products and cutting red tape now seem good.
Another major stumbling block was the EU’s demand that Australia give up naming rights for hundreds of food and drink products.
The EU wants Australia to adopt its system of regulating names for regional food and spirit specialties. If accepted, this could negatively impact on consumers, Australian dairies and boutique spirit makers.
What is the EU asking for?
The EU wants Australia to adopt its so-called “geographical indications” approach to protect the names of European products. It has listed 170 food names and 236 spirit names for Australia to give up.
The EU argues Australia should allow only Greek feta to be sold here; currently Australian, Greek, Danish and Bulgarian feta are all sold in our shops. It also wants the names prosecco and parmesan reserved for European producers.
Australia approaches food product labels differently, mainly through consumer protection laws. Further, there is little culture of fraud here, while the European system was originally introduced for wines because of widespread fraud, before it spread to food products.
Problems arise with the specific food and spirit names the EU wants reserved for their producers. Australia argues these are common names for the food items and we shouldn’t lose access to them.
Intellectual property privileges limit what other producers can do. So there is always a process to allow other parties to object. Our trade agreements also provide for objections processes.
In 2019, the Australian government called for producers to raise any objections, but provided no follow-up and no process for the resolution of objections. Producers have received no feedback. This denies those affected by the European naming demands access to due process of law.
The problem with parmesan
The worst problems are with the common names that, in Australia, are recognised as generic product names.
Prosecco grapes growing in the Veneto region of Italy. The EU wants to restrict use of the name prosecco. StevanZZ/Shutterstock
The EU does recognise many food names as common names, such as gouda, brie, edam and camembert cheese. But they want Australia to declare that feta, parmesan and prosecco are not common names in Australia. Australian producers, retailers and consumers would disagree.
The Europeans argue parmesan is a translation of its geographical indication, Parmigiano Reggiano. It refuses to accept that in Australia consumers recognise parmesan as the common name for a hard cheese while Parmigiano Reggiano is an Italian cheese.
In 2024, the Singapore Court of Appeal ruled parmesan is not a translation of Parmigiano Reggiano in Singapore and is available for use in Singapore as a common name. It is also clearly recognised as a common name in the EU-Korea trade agreement.
Carve-outs for feta producers
Feta is not a place name (it means slice). Canada solved the feta problem in its trade deal with Europe by accepting feta as a geographical indication, but grandfathered the right of all existing Canadian producers to continue to produce and sell feta. Vietnam achieved similar safeguards.
Australia could ask for the same deal as provided to Canada, and this would ensure no negative impacts on producers or Australian consumers. To protect Australian consumers, who are currently also able to buy Danish and Bulgarian feta, Australia should ensure this exception includes companies exporting into Australia.
Who can make prosecco?
Prosecco is specified as a grape variety in the 1994 Australia-Europe bilateral wine treaty, and in Italy until 2009.
However, all treaties with geographical indications provisions recognise that animal breed and plant variety names should remain free for common use. Our prosecco producers make wine with the prosecco grape, and should be allowed to label it as such. Just like pinot noir is labelled as pinot noir, the grape variety, and not Burgundy, the region.
If the EU does not provide better access to its agricultural markets, and demands naming provisions which hurt Australian dairies and consumers, and our boutique spirits industry, we would be better to walk away from the proposed treaty.
Hazel Moir is affiliated with the Centre for European Studies in the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University. From 2017-2019 she was lead researcher in a co-funded ANU and EU’s Erasmus+ Programme study which involved a meta-analysis of the available empirical evidence on the impact of GIs on farmers and regional development. The project funding was purely for research costs and involved no personal remuneration.
John Power worked for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry from 2003 to 2019. He contributed to negotiations of the 2010 Australia-EU Trade in Wine Agreement and Australia’s FTAs. John led the amendments of the Wine Australia Act 2013 that introduced an objections process for wine GIs. In 2020 he joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as a GI specialist negotiator.
On June 9, the Madleen, a UK-flagged civilian ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, was stopped by Israeli forces in international waters, about 200 kilometres off the coast.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition had organised the voyage, setting sail from Sicily on June 1. The vessel’s 12 passengers included climate activist Greta Thunberg, European Parliament member Rima Hassan, two French journalists and several other activists from around the world.
The Israeli military boarded the ship and diverted it to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The aid it carried — baby formula, food, medical supplies, water desalination kits — was confiscated. All passengers were detained and now face deportation.
This interception has sparked international condemnation. Importantly, it also raises questions about whether Israel’s actions comply with international law.
it must be formally declared and publicly notified
it must be effectively enforced in practice
it must be applied impartially to all ships
it must not block access to neutral ports or coastlines
it must not stop the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians.
If even one of these conditions is not met, the blockade may be considered illegal under customary international humanitarian law.
The fifth condition is especially important here. According to a comprehensive study of international humanitarian law conducted by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the parties to a conflict must allow the rapid and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian relief to civilians in need.
A blockade that prevents this could be in breach of international law.
Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade of varying degrees on Gaza since 2007 when Hamas came to power. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz claims the purpose of the blockade is to “prevent the transfer of weapons to Hamas”. Critics say it amounts to collective punishment.
The Madleen was operating in compliance with three binding International Court of Justice orders (from January 2024, March 2024 and May 2024) requiring unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza.
Freedom of navigation
International law also strongly protects the freedom of navigation, particularly in international waters beyond any state’s territorial limits.
There are only a few exceptions when a country can lawfully stop a foreign ship in international waters – if it is involved in piracy, slave trading, unauthorised broadcasting, or the vessel itself is stateless. A country can also stop a ship if it is enforcing a lawful blockade or acting in self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter.
So, if Israel’s actions do not fully meet the international legal requirements for enforcing a blockade during wartime, it would not have the right to intercept the Madleen in international waters.
Protections for humanitarian workers
More broadly speaking, international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, protects civilians during conflict. This protection extends to people delivering humanitarian aid, so long as they do not directly take part in hostilities.
To be considered directly participating in hostilities, a person must:
intend to cause military harm
have a direct causal link to that harm, and
be acting in connection with one side of the conflict.
Bringing aid to civilians, even if politically controversial, does not meet this legal threshold. As a result, the Madleen’s passengers remain protected civilians and should not be treated as combatants or detained arbitrarily.
International law also sets out how civilians detained in conflict situations must be treated. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, detainees must be given access to medical care, lawyers and consular representatives. They must also not be punished without fair legal processes.
In response to the ship’s interception, the Hind Rajab Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group, has filed a complaint with the UK Metropolitan Police War Crimes Unit. The complaint alleges a number of breaches of international humanitarian law, including forcible detention, obstruction of humanitarian relief, and degrading treatment.
Previous flotilla intercepted
This is not the first time Israel has stopped an aid ship and faced accusations of violating the law of the sea and humanitarian law.
In 2010, the Israeli military raided a flotilla of six ships organised by international activists aiming to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and challenge the blockade.
Violence broke out on the largest vessel, the Mavi Marmara, resulting in the deaths of nine Turkish nationals and injuries to dozens of others. The incident drew international condemnation. Israel agreed to ease its blockade after the incident.
A fact-finding mission established by the UN Human Rights Council found that Israel violated a number of international laws and that its blockade was “inflicting disproportionate damage upon the civilian population”.
This is not just a political or moral issue – it’s a legal one. International law lays out clear rules for when and how a country can enforce blockades, intercept vessels and treat civilians.
Based on these rules, serious legal questions remain about Israel’s handling of the Madleen and its passengers.
Shannon Bosch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Federated Farmers’ ‘Save our Sheep’ campaign has taken a major step forward this morning with the Government introducing legislation to stop carbon forestry on productive farmland.
“This legislation is a really positive step forward – but from a farmer’s perspective, it’s long overdue,” says Federated Farmers meat & wool chair Toby Williams.
“The Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture stood up on a stage in Gore at a Federated Farmers event on December 4 last year and announced these changes would be coming.
“Since that announcement was made, farmers have been incredibly frustrated as we’ve watched tens of thousands of hectares of productive land continue to be planted in pines.
“The Government have been very clear on their intention but a lack of action has caused huge uncertainty and heartache for farmers and rural communities.”
The ‘Save our Sheep’ platform has been getting plenty of traction in recent weeks with a viral social media campaign and a strategically placed billboard directly opposite the Beehive.
“The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) has been screwing the scrum in favour of forestry over farming by subsidising pine trees to offset fossil fuel emissions,” Williams says.
“These new restrictions will put the squeeze on wholesale pine planting driven by carbon returns but won’t hinder genuine production forestry or smaller farm woodlots.
“Federated Farmers aren’t anti-forestry. Exotic trees have a place and a role to play when it comes to sensible land use and income diversification – but carbon forestry is out of control.”
Williams says farmers will be raising serious questions about 15,000 hectares of LUC 6 farmland being allocated by a ballot process each year.
“That is a huge amount of land still going into pine trees and that’s what farmers will currently be using as breeding country – we can’t afford to lose 150,000 hectares in the next decade.
“You can’t plant that land in pine trees while maintaining a sustainable sheep industry. We would lose more than 750,000 breeding ewes if that were to happen.”
Federated Farmers were more positive about the clause ensuring 25 per cent of LUC 1-6 land will be registered against the property’s title to restrict further planting as a result of subdivision.”
Williams says Federated Farmers still has serious concerns about exploitation of loopholes and the impact of badly broken ETS rules on rural communities.
“The statement from the Government today says the time-limited transitional exemptions under ‘intention to plant’ rules are for ‘rare cases’ only.
“I’m not convinced these criteria are anywhere near tight enough, particularly when it comes to things like the purchase of seedlings when the forester didn’t already own the land to plant.
“If you didn’t own the land with a clear intention to plant it for carbon forestry before the announcement on December 4 last year, you should told ‘sorry, but you’re out of luck’.”
As the legislation is currently written, simply having purchased seedlings is enough to show intent even if they didn’t own land to plant them on.
Federated Farmers says that is simply nonsense and needs to be changed.
Alongside restriction on whole farm conversions to pine trees for carbon farming, Federated Farmers are also calling for sweeping reforms of the forestry sector.
“Pine forests are breeding grounds for pests like pigs and deer that are causing huge issues for farmers and costing us a fortune,” Williams says.
“To put it bluntly, foresters simply aren’t doing enough pest management to get the issue under control – and it’s time for the Government to step in.”
Federated Farmers says urgent changes need to be made to the Overseas Investment Act.
“Applications to purchase farmland to convert to forestry should be assessed under the farmland test rather than the general benefit to New Zealand test,” Williams says.
“This would mean that applications from oversees investors to purchase land for forestry would be on an even playing field with other land purchases.
“Some of the applications we’re seeing approved at the moment are absolutely appalling and will have little or no benefit for New Zealand or our rural communities.”
Williams also wants to see changes to the ETS to end the ability of carbon dioxide emitters to offset 100 percent of their emissions with emissions units from carbon farming.
New Zealand is the only country in the world that allows 100% carbon offsetting through forestry, with other countries recognising the risk and putting restrictions in place.
Federated Farmers is now calling on the Government to urgently review the ETS and fix the rules to either limit or stop the offsetting of fossil fuel emissions with forestry.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative David Kustoff (TN-08)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressman David Kustoff (R-TN) published an op-ed in the Washington Examiner titled, “The ‘one big, beautiful bill’ will restore the American dream.” In the op-ed, Congressman Kustoff highlights the historic tax cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and lays out how they will jumpstart the economy. He urges the Senate to pass this bill as soon as possible.
The ‘one big, beautiful bill’ will restore the American dream By: Congressman David Kustoff
When President Donald Trump was elected in November, he made a series of promises to the people. One of those promises was to reinvigorate our economy and create more opportunities for families, farms, and small businesses across the nation.
Republicans in Congress have worked in lockstep with Trump to deliver on that promise. The key to jumpstarting our economy is for Congress to extend the successful provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 through a wonky legislative process known as reconciliation. Reconciliation allows lawmakers to expedite legislation and enact policy quickly. Trump has dubbed this the “one big, beautiful bill.”
Passed in 2017, TCJA was one of the hallmarks of the first Trump administration and was the first major reform to the federal tax code in over 30 years. It lowered individual income rates, reduced the corporate tax rate, changed rules for estate and retirement planning, and minimized taxes for small businesses. Essentially, it cut taxes across the board.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ignited a red-hot economy that lit an economic fire across our nation. After its passage, businesses were expanding, and families had more money in their pockets.
Unfortunately, if Congress does not act, many of the provisions in TCJA will expire at the end of the year. If that happens, the average family in my district of West Tennessee will face a nearly 26% tax hike. A child inheriting the family farm could pay such steep estate taxes that he is forced to sell it. And a small business owner competing with larger corporations could see her taxes nearly double.
These are not just numbers on a chart in Washington. These provisions affect each and every one of us. If they expire, the American dream could be unachievable for many of our citizens.
While Democrats were spending tax dollars over the past few years like our economy was a game of Monopoly, the House Ways and Means Committee was preparing for this moment.
As the chief tax writing committee in Congress, we held hearings across the nation to hear directly from individuals, business owners, manufacturers, and farmers. The number one thing they told us was that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act worked, and we cannot let its important provisions expire.
If we want to revitalize our economy, we must ensure that workers and businesses have the support they need from our tax code. My colleagues and I took what the public told us and crafted a tax bill that benefits both businesses and workers, incentivizes innovation, and creates more opportunities from coast to coast.
This tax bill prioritizes pocketbooks by solidifying and increasing the doubled standard deduction, boosting the doubled child tax credit, expanding the small business deduction, and making the doubled death tax exemption permanent for family-owned farms. It even goes a step further and incorporates Trump’s priorities of no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and tax relief for seniors.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will be the cornerstone of Trump’s “America First” agenda. I am proud that the House of Representatives did its part and passed this historic legislation to ensure families and businesses are not forced to give more of their hard-earned money to Uncle Sam.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is once-in-a-generation, nation-building legislation that will drive economic growth, create jobs, and prioritize American families and businesses. Time is of the essence. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to pass this bill that will safeguard the American dream for all.
Headline: The future of data: Microsoft Fabric Community Conference coming to Atlanta March 16-20
The Microsoft Fabric Community Conference is back for its third year—and we’re bringing everything and everybody you’ve loved at past events with us to Atlanta, Georgia. After unforgettable experiences at FabCon in Las Vegas and Stockholm, the Fabric community proved just how powerful it can be when we come together. With more than 13,000 attendees across our last three conferences, it’s clear: theMicrosoft Fabric community is here to drive the future of data!
And yes, we’re pleased to announce; it’s happening again! Mark your calendars for #FabCon Atlanta from March 16-20, 2026, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Join us for the ultimate Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, SQL, Real-Time Intelligence, AI, and Databases community-led event. The third annual FabCon Americas will feature two full days of workshops ahead of sessions from your favorite Microsoft and community speakers, keynotes in the State Farm Arena, more opportunities to Ask the Experts for 1:1 support, an engaging community lounge with opportunities to network and connect with your peers, a dedicated partner pre-day, a packed expo hall, Power Hour, the second annual Data Viz World Championship, and a can’t-miss attendee party at the Georgia Aquarium.
FabCon features expert-led content by Microsoft MVPs, the Microsoft product team, partners, and the community itself. Whether you’re here to dive into the latest in Fabric, sharpen your skills, or build connections with data pros from around the world, FabCon 2026 has something for everyone.
Don’t miss out—Register here and use code MSCATL for a $200 discount on top of current Super Early Bird pricing!
We can’t wait to take Atlanta by storm to celebrate all things Microsoft Fabric—where learning, innovation, and community collide!
What are some of the best things about FabCon coming to Atlanta?
The GWCC will easily hold the 7,500 anticipated attendees.
Flights into Atlanta are frequent, affordable, accessible, and often nonstop from almost anywhere in the world.
Easy access to the GWCC and downtown from the airport via Ride Share or mass transit.
Hotel availability to meet our needs within a five-block radius.
Restaurants are plentiful and meals are more affordable than in many other cities.
For the keynote, the conference center is adjacent to the State Farm Arena, the home of the Atlanta Hawks.
The Georgia Aquarium will be an amazing location for the attendee party. They’ve got whale sharks!
Save your spot!
P.S. Want to experience the FabCon magic before next spring? Join us in September at FabCon Vienna.
ADB and CGIAR, with support from the Gates Foundation, have launched a new initiative to boost investments in sustainable and low-carbon rice production with the aim of improving the lives of millions of vulnerable smallholder farmers across Asia and the Pacific.
Headline: Everything announced at Xbox Games Showcase 2025
And there were a lot of games on show, with players getting a look at just some of the games they can look forward to this year. From our first-party studios, we saw a world premiere for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, an unexpected Obsidian double-bill in the form of The Outer Worlds 2 and Grounded 2, a world premiere of Double Fine’s otherworldly Keeper,a first look at Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s Order of the Giants DLC, and got new gameplay from Ninja Gaiden 4, and Gears of War: Reloaded. Looking further ahead, we also saw extended gameplay for Clockwork Revolution, showing us more from inXile’s most ambitious game yet.
And from our partners, there’s even more to look forward to. New studio Quarter Up brought us a wonderful surprise in the form of Invincible VS, Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy XVI arrives for Xbox today – with Final Fantasy Remake Intergradeto come later this year – and Atlus introduced us to Persona 4 Revival.
We also saw follow-ups to indie hits like Super Meat Boy 3D, High on Life 2, and Planet of Lana II as well as world premieres and new looks at some incredibly exciting new ideas, including The Blood of Dawnwalker, Game Freak’s Beast of Reincarnation, and At Fate’s End, the new game from the creators of the beloved Spiritfarer – among many others.
And after a huge 2025 filled with games from today’s double feature, there’s so much more to come. Phil Spencer closed the show by speaking about the upcoming 25th anniversary of Xbox, with the exciting proclamation that, in 2026, Xbox players will celebrate a quarter-century of Xbox with a new Fable, the next Forza, Gears of War E-Day, and, “The return of a classic that’s been with us since the beginning…”
And the fun only continued in The Outer Worlds 2& Grounded 2 Direct, which followed immediately after Xbox Games Showcase concluded. Presented by the developers at Obsidian Entertainment, the show offered brand new information and gameplay for the sequel to the award-winning RPG, and also offered up some details on a whole other game arriving this year after the surprise announcement of Grounded 2. Make sure to check back for full rundowns on what was announced in the second part of our enormous double feature.
Want to catch up on everything from the show? Read on for every single announcement and reveal from the Xbox Games Showcase 2025:
Introducing the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X Handhelds
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The ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X are two new handhelds that combine the power of Xbox with the freedom you expect from Windows. Both launch holiday 2025 in select markets, with availability to follow for other markets where ROG Ally series are sold today.
Together with ASUS, we’ve combined our strengths and technical expertise to provide a premium gaming experience that travels with players wherever they go. With the Xbox Ally, it’s never been easier to access your favorite games – from Xbox, Battle.net, and other leading third-party PC storefronts – all from a single device.
Find out more about both handhelds – including specs, features, the new Xbox full screen experience, and more – in our dedicated Xbox Wire article. Pricing, pre-orders and more will follow in the coming months.
Welcome to 2035 — Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Brings the Most Mind-Bending Action to Date
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one on Game Pass – also available on Battle.net, Steam, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4
For the first time in Call of Duty history, developers Treyarch and Raven Software are bringing players Black Ops titles back-to-back with the confirmation of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
The year is 2035 and the world is on the brink of chaos, ravaged by conflict and psychological warfare following the narrative events of Black Ops 2 and Black Ops 6. With cutting-edge technology in hand, the Black Ops team led by David Mason must fight back against a manipulative enemy who weaponizes fear above all else.
Squad up with friends or play solo in the innovative Co-op Campaign, harness near-future weaponry in the signature Multiplayer mode packed with brand-new maps, and descend into the next twisted chapter of Round-Based Zombies in the heart of the Dark Aether.
This tease is just the beginning. Don’t miss the official reveal of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 this summer.
Extended Look at Steampunk RPG, Clockwork Revolution in New Trailer
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day on with Game Pass – also available on Steam
Clockwork Revolution—the time-bending RPG from inXile entertainment – debuted a new trailer, revealing the grittier side of the steampunk city of Avalon. This is where the downtrodden steal to survive, gangs prey on the weak, and where our hero Morgan calls home. After discovering that history has been carefully crafted by the city’s ruler, Lady Ironwood, you’ll use a time travel device to go into the past and set things straight – in whatever way you see fit.
We have an exclusive interview from inXile on what makes the game tick, from reactive storytelling to weapon crafting, and why this is their most ambitious project yet.
Gears of War: Reloaded – New Trailer Revealed, Multiplayer Beta Announced
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – also available on Steam, PlayStation 5
Gears of War is coming to more players than ever before with the upcoming release of Gears of War: Reloaded on August 26, 2025 for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud, Steam and PlayStation 5.
An all-new trailer showcases the iconic gameplay and cinematics that changed gaming forever, now lovingly remastered. This is the definitive release, optimized for each platform, featuring 4K textures, 60 FPS in Campaign, 120 FPS in Multiplayer, cross-play, cross-progression and more.
Additionally, a two-weekend Multiplayer Beta begins June 13, taking place across all platforms, for Game Pass Ultimate/Game Pass PC members, owners of the digital version of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, and those with Gears of War: Reloaded preorders.
Be sure to check out our Xbox Wire feature, which includes an Official Xbox Podcast interview with The Coalition, as well as details of how to participate in the Beta.
Grounded 2 Heads to Game Preview and Steam Early Access July 29
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Xbox Game Preview with Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – also available on Steam Early Access
Grounded 2 steps out of the backyard and into the suburban wilderness—new bugs, new biomes, same tiny chaos. Set in the all-new Brookhollow Park and featuring the return of our teen heroes, this continuation brings major quality-of-life upgrades like the all-in-one Omni-Tool and delivers on one of the community’s most requested features: rideable Buggies. It’s not just a sequel—it’s the follow-up fans were hoping for, packed with sharper tools, weirder bugs, and enough callbacks to make you wonder if we’ve been lurking in your forum threads (spoiler: we have).
Built in partnership with Eidos-Montréal and launching into Game Preview on July 29, Grounded 2 brings more story, systems, and surprises from the very beginning—shaped by over 25 million players and counting. Whether you’re returning or just jumping in, wishlist today on Xbox and Steam, and get ready to ride together, survive together, and help shape this world with us.
For a full breakdown of new features, Buggies, story details, and what to expect in Game Preview, check out the complete Xbox Wire post here.
Keeper: A Beautiful, Otherworldly Adventure from Lee Petty and Double Fine Productions, Arrives October 17
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – also available on Steam
Keeper – the beautiful, otherworldly third-person adventure from Double Fine Productions – was announced during the show with a somewhat psychedelic and mysterious first trailer. And we don’t have long to wait – it arrives on October 17.
We encountered a Lighthouse that, after eons of standing dormant, falls to the ground, breaking into heaps of rubble, but then reassembles and stands up again on newly formed legs. It has awakened.
Yes folks that’s right, in Keeper you play a walking Lighthouse, able to shine a beam of bright light that affects the world around it, with a spirited seabird companion coming along for the ride. The trailer takes us on an epic adventure into a strange unknowable island, joining the Lighthouse on a journey toward the center of the island.
Find out more about the story in the game, and the story behind the game, in our Xbox Wire article.
The Path to Master Ninja Begins: Ninja Gaiden 4 Emerges from the Shadows October 21
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – also available on Steam, PlayStation 5
The legendary ninja action franchise returns in Ninja Gaiden 4, a high-octane fusion of Team Ninja’s signature combat and PlatinumGames’ dynamic flair. The trailer that debuted during the show provides a deeper look at Yakumo, a young ninja prodigy, and an array of new weapons at his disposal as he battles through hordes of enemies.
From seamless weapon switching and obliteration techniques to the explosive return of Bloodbind Ninjutsu and Ninpo arts, the trailer teases a brutal, stylish evolution of the series. With a sneak peek at new characters like Seori, massive boss battles, the mysterious connection to the legendary Ryu Hayabusa, and a near-future Tokyo struggling in the grips of an overwhelming evil, Ninja Gaiden 4 is set to deliver a legacy reborn when it launches October 21. We went hands-on with the game for the first time and interviewed its director – find out much more in our article.
The Outer Worlds 2 Gets a New Trailer and a Huge Deep-Dive
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – also available on Battle.net, Steam, PlayStation 5
The Outer Worlds 2 pulls you into Arcadia – a colony isolated from the rest of the system, fought over by power-hungry factions, and on the brink of near to mid-term collapse by rifts forming in the space around it. With the future up for grabs, survival might depend on your choices, your alliances… and maybe a few well-placed deals along the way. Featured in the Xbox Games Showcase and expanded in today’s The Outer Worlds 2 Direct, this bigger, bolder sequel builds on everything fans loved about the original: deeper RPG systems, sharper satire, and wildly reactive storytelling. With new companions, enhanced movement and combat, science weapons and armor, and full character customization, The Outer Worlds 2 puts you at the center of a chaotic struggle for Arcadia’s future. Launching October 29, 2025, it hands you the chaos and asks: what are you going to do with it? The world needs a hero. You’ll have to do.
For a full breakdown of factions, features, editions, and pre-order details, check out the complete Xbox Wire post here.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4: Foundry Demo Out Today!
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one on Game Pass – also available on Battle.net, Steam, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4. Foundry demo not available on Nintendo Switch platforms
The Birdman returns along with a host of legendary and new parks, skaters, tricks, and more with the upcoming release of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 on July 11. The remake brings a robust Career mode across two tours, Single Sessions and Speedruns, and Free Skate to help nail those tricky combos without the heat of a timer.
Play the Foundry Demo now with a pre-order (see available platforms here), PC Game Pass or Game Pass Ultimate and shred across the Foundry and College parks as Tony Hawk and Rayssa Leal. Digital Deluxe Edition purchasers will exclusively have access to skate as The Doom Slayer! For the latest news, visit tonyhawkthegame.com.
Aniimo Is a Beautiful New Creature Collecting Action-RPG
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere – see developer website for other platforms
Revealed for the first time today, Aniimo is a ground-breaking open-world ARPG where players are invited to join in the exploration of a living and dynamic world, and meet the magical Aniimo that inhabit it. Instead of waiting for someone else to create their dream game, the Aniimo team did it themselves. Travel across a beautiful new world, meeting, learning about, and capturing the Aniimo that inhabit it. Battle Aniimo in real-time, or use the Twining system to become an Aniimo, and experience the game in a whole new way. Aniimo will arrive in 2026, but a closed beta begins for PC players later this year – find out how to join in here.
Aphelion Is a Sci-Fi Adventure Grounded in Real-World Science
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – see developer website for other platforms
Aphelion is a third-person sci-fi adventure from Don’t Nod (Life Is Strange, Jusant). After crash-landing on a frozen planet, astronaut Ariane must navigate brutal terrain and shifting realities to rescue her injured partner, Thomas. Blending exploration, traversal, and tense stealth gameplay, Aphelion delivers a cinematic, emotionally charged journey through an uncharted world. Play as both characters to understand the mystery of the planet Persephone in a story grounded in real-world science, and made in partnership with the European Space Agency. Aphelion arrives in 2026.
At Fate’s End Is the Captivating New Game from the Spiritfarer Team
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – see developer website for other platforms
Thunder Lotus proudly revealed At Fate’s End, an action-adventure game where you fight the ones you love. Wield the legendary God Sword Aesus as Shan, the deft young heiress of the Hemlock clan. Solve intricate narrative puzzles, uncover painful truths, and hone both your blade skills and knowledge to face your estranged siblings in intense, emotional duels – and ultimately decide your family’s fate. From the award-winning team behind Spiritfarer, At Fate’s End weaves tight, visceral action with rich narrative depth, exploring the complicated bonds between brothers and sisters in a world where swords clash and family wounds run deep.
Game Freak & Fictions Reveal Beast of Reincarnation
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – see developer website for other platforms
The show revealed the first trailer for Beast of Reincarnation, a new action-RPG from revered developer Game Freak. Set in a post-apocalyptic Japan, the world has become consumed by corruption and overtaken by formidable beasts. Play as Emma, a cursed outcast, and her loyal dog Koo as they journey through a dangerous, ever-shifting world that demands precision and mastery of technical combat. Uncover what it means to be human at the edge of extinction in Beast of Reincarnation.
The Blood of Dawnwalker Reveals its First Gameplay Trailer
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere – see developer website for other platforms
From Rebel Wolves and Bandai Namco Entertainment, comes a brand new dark fantasy role playing saga: The Blood of Dawnwalker. You play as Coen, a young man turned into a Dawnwalker: half-man, half-vampire, forever treading the line between the world of day and the realm of night. Fight for your humanity or embrace the cursed powers to save your family. Whatever your choice, the question stands: is your soul worth the lives of those you love? Coming in 2026, wishlist now on Xbox Series X/S and Xbox on PC.
Cronos: The New Dawn – New Survival Horror from Bloober Team Arrives This Fall
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere – see developer website for other platforms
Get ready to embark on a haunting journey this fall as Cronos: The New Dawn arrives. In this gripping third-person survival horror, step into the shoes of the Traveler, an agent of the mysterious Collective, whose mission is to salvage what remains of humanity. In the time-warped nightmare of the future, monsters known as Orphans stalk the land. Emerging from the downfall of mankind, these grotesque creatures can fuse together to create even deadlier foes.
In the gameplay trailer, we witnessed the Traveler descending into an Orphan nest, confronting the twisted creatures that inhabit its depths. The corpses of fallen Travelers tell a grim tale, yet their final recordings offer crucial warnings. Can you succeed where others have failed?
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Is Coming to Xbox
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Play Anywhere – see developer website for other platforms
The beloved, expanded remake of the genre-defining Final Fantasy VII is on its way to Xbox this Winter. Relive the first act of the iconic 1997 game as Cloud Strife, the legendary hero, meets unforgettable allies and explores the dystopian city of Midgar. Culminating in a dramatic escape, this pivotal chapter sets the stage for one of gaming’s most legendary stories.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade includes both the base game and Intermission—a story episode starring Yuffie Kisaragi, the spirited ninja from Wutai. Her episode offers a different perspective on the events of the main game, expanding the world and deepening the lore. Relive one of gaming’s greatest stories on Xbox.
Final Fantasy XVI Comes to Xbox Today
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Play Anywhere – see developer website for other platforms
Surprise! Final Fantasy XVI, the iconic (or should that be Eikonic?) action-RPG comes to Xbox platforms today. With an enormous medieval fantasy world, a dramatic, mature storyline, and lightning-fast action combat, this is a true gaming epic. Its release means that every mainline single player Final Fantasy game is now playable with Xbox.
Fans can purchase either the Standard or Complete Edition, with the latter boasting all expansions and DLC. Plus, as an Xbox Play Anywhere title, one purchase lets you play across all Xbox platforms, with full cross-save. Find out more in our Xbox Wire article.
High On Life 2 Comes to Game Pass This Winter!
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – see developer website for other platforms
High On Life returns, as you and your beloved rag-tag team of alien misfits shoot, stab, and skate your way through weird alien worlds across the galaxy to blow up an evil pharmaceutical conglomerate hell-bent on putting a price tag on human life!
Wreak havoc at the galaxy’s biggest convention, an alien zoo for humans, and a luxury futuristic cruise liner on your cosmic quest to take down big pharma. And stay tuned for an exclusive trailer breakdown with Squanch Games on the Xbox YouTube channel.
Invincible VS: Quarter Up Reveals 3v3 Tag Fighting Game – Coming in 2026
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud,Xbox Play Anywhere – see developer website for other platforms
Quarter Up, Skybound’s first in-house gaming development studio, revealed Invincible VS. The trailer reveals a brutal, tournament-quality superhero 3v3 tag fighting game set in the award-winning Invincible Universe. It also showcases: fan-favorite superheroes Mark (Invincible), Thula, Bulletproof and Atom Eve; iconic arenas; the high-stakes of bloody superhero battles; and an authentic depiction of battle damage and bloody combat fans know and love. Invincible VS will launch in 2026.
Mudang: Two Hearts Is a Cinematic Tactical Action-Adventure Arriving in 2026
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere – see developer website for other platforms
Mudang: Two Hearts is a third-person tactical action adventure set on the Korean Peninsula after reunification. Revealed for the first time today, it blends stealth, close-quarters combat, and emotionally driven storytelling into a seamless cinematic experience.
Players experience the story through two distinct perspectives: Ji Jeongtae, a North Korean special forces operative dispatched to the South, and GAVI, a K-pop idol whose past holds a dangerous secret. As a new wave of terrorist attacks fractures the fragile illusion of peace, the two become entangled with an enigmatic militant group known as Byeolmuban.
Built in Unreal Engine 5 and using our proprietary performance capture pipeline, Mudang delivers a deeply immersive combat system rooted in authentic special forces tactics and is set to launch in 2026.
The Midnight Channel Returns: Persona 4 Revival Officially Announced
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – see developer website for other platforms
A remake of the modern classic JRPG, Persona 4 Revival received a debut trailer, showing off the game’s gorgeous updated visuals within the rural town of Inaba. Arriving as a transfer student, you’ll experience an unforgettable year with new friends you meet along the way. However, rumors of bizarre murders and a mysterious TV channel quickly disrupt your peaceful everyday life. A door to another world opens, awakening your Persona abilities: it is time to fight alongside your trusted allies to uncover the truth.
Planet of Lana II Revealed – Double the Size, and Deeper than Ever
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – see developer website for other platforms
Revealed today, Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf is an ambitious cinematic puzzle adventure that doubles the size and scope of the original. Launching in 2026 and day one with Game Pass, this highly anticipated sequel revisits Lana and Mui’s profound bond as they navigate a changed world after the robot invasion of the first game.
With new and improved mechanics for Lana and Mui, as well as brand new abilities to control the creatures and robots around you, prepare to unravel a deeper, longer sci-fi story where Lana confronts her own demons and unveils the planet’s darkest secrets, as a new threat puts their unbreakable bond to the ultimate test.
Wishlist Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf today on the Xbox Store and follow @PlanetOfLana on social media to stay up to date!
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy Expands the Universe in New Ways
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – see developer website for other platforms
This new game from Asobo Studio and Focus Entertainment expands the universe of A Plague Tale with an original story set 15 years before the events of the last game, A Plague Tale: Requiem. With a new action-adventure approach, players are invited to dive into Sophia’s past and journey with her to the Minotaur’s Island, outsmart deadly foes, unravel ancient secrets, and confront the creature at the heart of a devastating curse. Her sword in one hand and light in the other, Sophia will plunge into the myth of the macula, until she understands why it resonates so intimately with her.
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy will be released in 2026 – you can wishlist the game today on the Xbox Store.
Solo Leveling: Arise Overdrive Transforms the Hit Webtoon into an Action-RPG
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere – see developer website for other platforms
The global phenomenon Solo Leveling makes its debut on Xbox! Based on the hit webtoon, ARISE OVERDRIVE is an action-RPG that lets you experience overwhelming power and thrilling combat. Master a dynamic action system, block deadly attacks, and counter with perfect parries. Unleash the Monarch’s Awakening to transcend limits and dominate the battlefield. Feel the intensity as you wipe out enemies in style. Team up with friends in multiplayer mode to conquer powerful stages and enjoy the thrill of true growth and cooperation. It’s time to rise, fight, and prove your strength. The Xbox PC version arrives fall 2025, with Xbox Series X|S and Xbox Cloud versions to follow in 2026.
Super Meat Boy 3D Revealed with a New Trailer
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Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Xbox Game Pass – see developer website for other platforms
Gaming’s most iconic chunk of meat is back! Today’s Showcase revealed Super Meat Boy 3D from Sluggerfly and Headup Games, who are taking Team Meat’s indie darling into the third dimension. The game arrives in early 2026.
Super Meat Boy 3D is exactly what you love about the series: a challenging platformer where you guide a cube of meat on a mission to rescue his bandage-made girlfriend from a villainous fetus in a jar—now in 3D! You’ll wall-jump through buzzsaws, collapsing caves, and fiery forests, dying countless times along the way. With old-school difficulty, fast-paced gameplay, tough bosses, and plenty of secrets, it’s a new dimension for Meat Boy. Wishlist Super Meat Boy 3D today on the Xbox Store and get ready to die again and again and again when you play it day one on Game Pass.
There Are No Ghosts at The Grand: Become Decorator by Day and Ghost Hunter by Night in a Cozy, Spooky Musical Mystery
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – see developer website for other platforms
Inherit a crumbling English hotel and restore it by day while battling ghosts by night in There Are No Ghosts at The Grand. With a sardonic cat, a talking power tool, and a twisting supernatural plot, this is a spooky, cozy, musical mystery unlike any other. You have exactly 30 days and 30 nights to restore the crumbling hotel and explore the surrounding seaside village for eerie supernatural secrets. Coming to Xbox Series X|S and PC in 2026, and available on Game Pass… just don’t believe them when they tell you that There are No Ghosts at the Grand.
Age of Mythology: Retold – Heavenly Spear Brings the Japanese Pantheon, Coming Fall 2025
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, Game Pass – also available on Battle.net, Steam, PlayStation 5
Age of Mythology: Retold will make room for more gods, more heroes and more legends this Fall with the Heavenly Spear expansion. An all-new Japanese pantheon introduces 12 new gods with unique powers, divine technologies and myth units drawn from centuries of legend. Players can embark on a 12-mission campaign following Yasuko, a humble farmer’s daughter who discovers a magical spear and is swept into a mythic war. Wishlist now! Already own the Age of Mythology: Retold Premium Edition? Heavenly Spear is yours at no additional cost – jump in and play on day one!
The Elder Scrolls Online Shows Us the Return of the Worm Cult
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox Cloud – also available on Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Mac
ZeniMax Online Studios premiered a gameplay trailer for The Elder Scrolls Online,revealing the adventures to be found in Western Solstice during Seasons of the Worm Cult Part 1, a continuation of ESO’s main quest storyline from over 10 years ago. Releasing in tandem, the Update 46 base-game patch adds character Subclassing, the Hero’s Return system for returning players, and many more quality-of-life updates. The Elder Scrolls Online: Seasons of the Worm Cult Part 1 and Update 46 are available now on PC and Mac, andwill arrive for Xbox and PlayStation consoles on June 18.
Fallout 76 Shows Off its Fin-tastic Fishing Update
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Game Pass – also available on Steam, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4
Bethesda Game Studios unveiled the launch trailer for Fallout 76’s latest update, Gone Fission. This fin-tastic update introduces fishing to the Wasteland, revealing a cozier side of Appalachia away from the guns and ghouls. Players can experiment with bait, weather conditions, rods, and locations to catch a variety of fish, – including prized Axolotls that change each month – and Local Legends. Gone Fission is available across all platforms for free, letting every Fallout 76 player enjoy the relaxing summer pastime. Find out more about fishing in the Wasteland on Xbox Wire.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants DLC Launches September 4
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere – also available on Steam, PlayStation 5
The latest Indiana Jones adventure is getting a DLC chapter in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of the Giants! Indy’s new journey will take him deep into unexplored territory as he dives beneath the bustling streets of Rome to investigate a dark and twisted new mystery.
This DLC is set during the main game and expands on the story of the Nephilim Order. Face off against old threats and new foes, navigate Rome beyond the walls of Vatican City, and uncover the legend of a colossal beast. Maybe some ancient secrets are better left undisturbed…
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants will be available on September 4, 2025. For those who purchased the Premium Edition, Premium Upgrade or Collector’s Edition, the DLC is included. Find out more in our Xbox Wire article about The Order of Giants.
Sea of Thieves: Season 17 Sets Sail on a Smugglers’ Tide
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox PC, Xbox Play Anywhere, Game Pass – also available on Steam, Battle.net, PlayStation 5
A new gang of nefarious troublemakers have infiltrated the Sea of Thieves! Known as The Smuggler’s League, they’re recruiting pirates willing to deal with dangers others are afraid to handle, including weapons and some of the most powerful explosives ever seen on the seas. Crews that think they’re up to the challenge can embark on new Smuggler’s Voyages to salvage — or steal — these hot properties and see them safely into the wrong hands, but one false move could spell disaster. Sparks are sure to fly when Season 17: Smugglers’ Tide launches in August, free for all players.
Headline: The future of data: Microsoft Fabric Community Conference coming to Atlanta March 16-20
The Microsoft Fabric Community Conference is back for its third year—and we’re bringing everything and everybody you’ve loved at past events with us to Atlanta, Georgia. After unforgettable experiences at FabCon in Las Vegas and Stockholm, the Fabric community proved just how powerful it can be when we come together. With more than 13,000 attendees across our last three conferences, it’s clear: theMicrosoft Fabric community is here to drive the future of data!
And yes, we’re pleased to announce; it’s happening again! Mark your calendars for #FabCon Atlanta from March 16-20, 2026, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Join us for the ultimate Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, SQL, Real-Time Intelligence, AI, and Databases community-led event. The third annual FabCon Americas will feature two full days of workshops ahead of sessions from your favorite Microsoft and community speakers, keynotes in the State Farm Arena, more opportunities to Ask the Experts for 1:1 support, an engaging community lounge with opportunities to network and connect with your peers, a dedicated partner pre-day, a packed expo hall, Power Hour, the second annual Data Viz World Championship, and a can’t-miss attendee party at the Georgia Aquarium.
FabCon features expert-led content by Microsoft MVPs, the Microsoft product team, partners, and the community itself. Whether you’re here to dive into the latest in Fabric, sharpen your skills, or build connections with data pros from around the world, FabCon 2026 has something for everyone.
Don’t miss out—Register here and use code MSCATL for a $200 discount on top of current Super Early Bird pricing!
We can’t wait to take Atlanta by storm to celebrate all things Microsoft Fabric—where learning, innovation, and community collide!
What are some of the best things about FabCon coming to Atlanta?
The GWCC will easily hold the 7,500 anticipated attendees.
Flights into Atlanta are frequent, affordable, accessible, and often nonstop from almost anywhere in the world.
Easy access to the GWCC and downtown from the airport via Ride Share or mass transit.
Hotel availability to meet our needs within a five-block radius.
Restaurants are plentiful and meals are more affordable than in many other cities.
For the keynote, the conference center is adjacent to the State Farm Arena, the home of the Atlanta Hawks.
The Georgia Aquarium will be an amazing location for the attendee party. They’ve got whale sharks!
Save your spot!
P.S. Want to experience the FabCon magic before next spring? Join us in September at FabCon Vienna.
Headline: Everything announced at Xbox Games Showcase 2025
And there were a lot of games on show, with players getting a look at just some of the games they can look forward to this year. From our first-party studios, we saw a world premiere for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, an unexpected Obsidian double-bill in the form of The Outer Worlds 2 and Grounded 2, a world premiere of Double Fine’s otherworldly Keeper,a first look at Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s Order of the Giants DLC, and got new gameplay from Ninja Gaiden 4, and Gears of War: Reloaded. Looking further ahead, we also saw extended gameplay for Clockwork Revolution, showing us more from inXile’s most ambitious game yet.
And from our partners, there’s even more to look forward to. New studio Quarter Up brought us a wonderful surprise in the form of Invincible VS, Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy XVI arrives for Xbox today – with Final Fantasy Remake Intergradeto come later this year – and Atlus introduced us to Persona 4 Revival.
We also saw follow-ups to indie hits like Super Meat Boy 3D, High on Life 2, and Planet of Lana II as well as world premieres and new looks at some incredibly exciting new ideas, including The Blood of Dawnwalker, Game Freak’s Beast of Reincarnation, and At Fate’s End, the new game from the creators of the beloved Spiritfarer – among many others.
And after a huge 2025 filled with games from today’s double feature, there’s so much more to come. Phil Spencer closed the show by speaking about the upcoming 25th anniversary of Xbox, with the exciting proclamation that, in 2026, Xbox players will celebrate a quarter-century of Xbox with a new Fable, the next Forza, Gears of War E-Day, and, “The return of a classic that’s been with us since the beginning…”
And the fun only continued in The Outer Worlds 2& Grounded 2 Direct, which followed immediately after Xbox Games Showcase concluded. Presented by the developers at Obsidian Entertainment, the show offered brand new information and gameplay for the sequel to the award-winning RPG, and also offered up some details on a whole other game arriving this year after the surprise announcement of Grounded 2. Make sure to check back for full rundowns on what was announced in the second part of our enormous double feature.
Want to catch up on everything from the show? Read on for every single announcement and reveal from the Xbox Games Showcase 2025:
Introducing the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X Handhelds
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The ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X are two new handhelds that combine the power of Xbox with the freedom you expect from Windows. Both launch holiday 2025 in select markets, with availability to follow for other markets where ROG Ally series are sold today.
Together with ASUS, we’ve combined our strengths and technical expertise to provide a premium gaming experience that travels with players wherever they go. With the Xbox Ally, it’s never been easier to access your favorite games – from Xbox, Battle.net, and other leading third-party PC storefronts – all from a single device.
Find out more about both handhelds – including specs, features, the new Xbox full screen experience, and more – in our dedicated Xbox Wire article. Pricing, pre-orders and more will follow in the coming months.
Welcome to 2035 — Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Brings the Most Mind-Bending Action to Date
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one on Game Pass – also available on Battle.net, Steam, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4
For the first time in Call of Duty history, developers Treyarch and Raven Software are bringing players Black Ops titles back-to-back with the confirmation of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
The year is 2035 and the world is on the brink of chaos, ravaged by conflict and psychological warfare following the narrative events of Black Ops 2 and Black Ops 6. With cutting-edge technology in hand, the Black Ops team led by David Mason must fight back against a manipulative enemy who weaponizes fear above all else.
Squad up with friends or play solo in the innovative Co-op Campaign, harness near-future weaponry in the signature Multiplayer mode packed with brand-new maps, and descend into the next twisted chapter of Round-Based Zombies in the heart of the Dark Aether.
This tease is just the beginning. Don’t miss the official reveal of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 this summer.
Extended Look at Steampunk RPG, Clockwork Revolution in New Trailer
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day on with Game Pass – also available on Steam
Clockwork Revolution—the time-bending RPG from inXile entertainment – debuted a new trailer, revealing the grittier side of the steampunk city of Avalon. This is where the downtrodden steal to survive, gangs prey on the weak, and where our hero Morgan calls home. After discovering that history has been carefully crafted by the city’s ruler, Lady Ironwood, you’ll use a time travel device to go into the past and set things straight – in whatever way you see fit.
We have an exclusive interview from inXile on what makes the game tick, from reactive storytelling to weapon crafting, and why this is their most ambitious project yet.
Gears of War: Reloaded – New Trailer Revealed, Multiplayer Beta Announced
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – also available on Steam, PlayStation 5
Gears of War is coming to more players than ever before with the upcoming release of Gears of War: Reloaded on August 26, 2025 for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud, Steam and PlayStation 5.
An all-new trailer showcases the iconic gameplay and cinematics that changed gaming forever, now lovingly remastered. This is the definitive release, optimized for each platform, featuring 4K textures, 60 FPS in Campaign, 120 FPS in Multiplayer, cross-play, cross-progression and more.
Additionally, a two-weekend Multiplayer Beta begins June 13, taking place across all platforms, for Game Pass Ultimate/Game Pass PC members, owners of the digital version of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, and those with Gears of War: Reloaded preorders.
Be sure to check out our Xbox Wire feature, which includes an Official Xbox Podcast interview with The Coalition, as well as details of how to participate in the Beta.
Grounded 2 Heads to Game Preview and Steam Early Access July 29
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Xbox Game Preview with Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – also available on Steam Early Access
Grounded 2 steps out of the backyard and into the suburban wilderness—new bugs, new biomes, same tiny chaos. Set in the all-new Brookhollow Park and featuring the return of our teen heroes, this continuation brings major quality-of-life upgrades like the all-in-one Omni-Tool and delivers on one of the community’s most requested features: rideable Buggies. It’s not just a sequel—it’s the follow-up fans were hoping for, packed with sharper tools, weirder bugs, and enough callbacks to make you wonder if we’ve been lurking in your forum threads (spoiler: we have).
Built in partnership with Eidos-Montréal and launching into Game Preview on July 29, Grounded 2 brings more story, systems, and surprises from the very beginning—shaped by over 25 million players and counting. Whether you’re returning or just jumping in, wishlist today on Xbox and Steam, and get ready to ride together, survive together, and help shape this world with us.
For a full breakdown of new features, Buggies, story details, and what to expect in Game Preview, check out the complete Xbox Wire post here.
Keeper: A Beautiful, Otherworldly Adventure from Lee Petty and Double Fine Productions, Arrives October 17
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – also available on Steam
Keeper – the beautiful, otherworldly third-person adventure from Double Fine Productions – was announced during the show with a somewhat psychedelic and mysterious first trailer. And we don’t have long to wait – it arrives on October 17.
We encountered a Lighthouse that, after eons of standing dormant, falls to the ground, breaking into heaps of rubble, but then reassembles and stands up again on newly formed legs. It has awakened.
Yes folks that’s right, in Keeper you play a walking Lighthouse, able to shine a beam of bright light that affects the world around it, with a spirited seabird companion coming along for the ride. The trailer takes us on an epic adventure into a strange unknowable island, joining the Lighthouse on a journey toward the center of the island.
Find out more about the story in the game, and the story behind the game, in our Xbox Wire article.
The Path to Master Ninja Begins: Ninja Gaiden 4 Emerges from the Shadows October 21
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – also available on Steam, PlayStation 5
The legendary ninja action franchise returns in Ninja Gaiden 4, a high-octane fusion of Team Ninja’s signature combat and PlatinumGames’ dynamic flair. The trailer that debuted during the show provides a deeper look at Yakumo, a young ninja prodigy, and an array of new weapons at his disposal as he battles through hordes of enemies.
From seamless weapon switching and obliteration techniques to the explosive return of Bloodbind Ninjutsu and Ninpo arts, the trailer teases a brutal, stylish evolution of the series. With a sneak peek at new characters like Seori, massive boss battles, the mysterious connection to the legendary Ryu Hayabusa, and a near-future Tokyo struggling in the grips of an overwhelming evil, Ninja Gaiden 4 is set to deliver a legacy reborn when it launches October 21. We went hands-on with the game for the first time and interviewed its director – find out much more in our article.
The Outer Worlds 2 Gets a New Trailer and a Huge Deep-Dive
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – also available on Battle.net, Steam, PlayStation 5
The Outer Worlds 2 pulls you into Arcadia – a colony isolated from the rest of the system, fought over by power-hungry factions, and on the brink of near to mid-term collapse by rifts forming in the space around it. With the future up for grabs, survival might depend on your choices, your alliances… and maybe a few well-placed deals along the way. Featured in the Xbox Games Showcase and expanded in today’s The Outer Worlds 2 Direct, this bigger, bolder sequel builds on everything fans loved about the original: deeper RPG systems, sharper satire, and wildly reactive storytelling. With new companions, enhanced movement and combat, science weapons and armor, and full character customization, The Outer Worlds 2 puts you at the center of a chaotic struggle for Arcadia’s future. Launching October 29, 2025, it hands you the chaos and asks: what are you going to do with it? The world needs a hero. You’ll have to do.
For a full breakdown of factions, features, editions, and pre-order details, check out the complete Xbox Wire post here.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4: Foundry Demo Out Today!
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one on Game Pass – also available on Battle.net, Steam, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4. Foundry demo not available on Nintendo Switch platforms
The Birdman returns along with a host of legendary and new parks, skaters, tricks, and more with the upcoming release of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 on July 11. The remake brings a robust Career mode across two tours, Single Sessions and Speedruns, and Free Skate to help nail those tricky combos without the heat of a timer.
Play the Foundry Demo now with a pre-order (see available platforms here), PC Game Pass or Game Pass Ultimate and shred across the Foundry and College parks as Tony Hawk and Rayssa Leal. Digital Deluxe Edition purchasers will exclusively have access to skate as The Doom Slayer! For the latest news, visit tonyhawkthegame.com.
Aniimo Is a Beautiful New Creature Collecting Action-RPG
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere – see developer website for other platforms
Revealed for the first time today, Aniimo is a ground-breaking open-world ARPG where players are invited to join in the exploration of a living and dynamic world, and meet the magical Aniimo that inhabit it. Instead of waiting for someone else to create their dream game, the Aniimo team did it themselves. Travel across a beautiful new world, meeting, learning about, and capturing the Aniimo that inhabit it. Battle Aniimo in real-time, or use the Twining system to become an Aniimo, and experience the game in a whole new way. Aniimo will arrive in 2026, but a closed beta begins for PC players later this year – find out how to join in here.
Aphelion Is a Sci-Fi Adventure Grounded in Real-World Science
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – see developer website for other platforms
Aphelion is a third-person sci-fi adventure from Don’t Nod (Life Is Strange, Jusant). After crash-landing on a frozen planet, astronaut Ariane must navigate brutal terrain and shifting realities to rescue her injured partner, Thomas. Blending exploration, traversal, and tense stealth gameplay, Aphelion delivers a cinematic, emotionally charged journey through an uncharted world. Play as both characters to understand the mystery of the planet Persephone in a story grounded in real-world science, and made in partnership with the European Space Agency. Aphelion arrives in 2026.
At Fate’s End Is the Captivating New Game from the Spiritfarer Team
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – see developer website for other platforms
Thunder Lotus proudly revealed At Fate’s End, an action-adventure game where you fight the ones you love. Wield the legendary God Sword Aesus as Shan, the deft young heiress of the Hemlock clan. Solve intricate narrative puzzles, uncover painful truths, and hone both your blade skills and knowledge to face your estranged siblings in intense, emotional duels – and ultimately decide your family’s fate. From the award-winning team behind Spiritfarer, At Fate’s End weaves tight, visceral action with rich narrative depth, exploring the complicated bonds between brothers and sisters in a world where swords clash and family wounds run deep.
Game Freak & Fictions Reveal Beast of Reincarnation
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – see developer website for other platforms
The show revealed the first trailer for Beast of Reincarnation, a new action-RPG from revered developer Game Freak. Set in a post-apocalyptic Japan, the world has become consumed by corruption and overtaken by formidable beasts. Play as Emma, a cursed outcast, and her loyal dog Koo as they journey through a dangerous, ever-shifting world that demands precision and mastery of technical combat. Uncover what it means to be human at the edge of extinction in Beast of Reincarnation.
The Blood of Dawnwalker Reveals its First Gameplay Trailer
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere – see developer website for other platforms
From Rebel Wolves and Bandai Namco Entertainment, comes a brand new dark fantasy role playing saga: The Blood of Dawnwalker. You play as Coen, a young man turned into a Dawnwalker: half-man, half-vampire, forever treading the line between the world of day and the realm of night. Fight for your humanity or embrace the cursed powers to save your family. Whatever your choice, the question stands: is your soul worth the lives of those you love? Coming in 2026, wishlist now on Xbox Series X/S and Xbox on PC.
Cronos: The New Dawn – New Survival Horror from Bloober Team Arrives This Fall
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere – see developer website for other platforms
Get ready to embark on a haunting journey this fall as Cronos: The New Dawn arrives. In this gripping third-person survival horror, step into the shoes of the Traveler, an agent of the mysterious Collective, whose mission is to salvage what remains of humanity. In the time-warped nightmare of the future, monsters known as Orphans stalk the land. Emerging from the downfall of mankind, these grotesque creatures can fuse together to create even deadlier foes.
In the gameplay trailer, we witnessed the Traveler descending into an Orphan nest, confronting the twisted creatures that inhabit its depths. The corpses of fallen Travelers tell a grim tale, yet their final recordings offer crucial warnings. Can you succeed where others have failed?
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Is Coming to Xbox
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Play Anywhere – see developer website for other platforms
The beloved, expanded remake of the genre-defining Final Fantasy VII is on its way to Xbox this Winter. Relive the first act of the iconic 1997 game as Cloud Strife, the legendary hero, meets unforgettable allies and explores the dystopian city of Midgar. Culminating in a dramatic escape, this pivotal chapter sets the stage for one of gaming’s most legendary stories.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade includes both the base game and Intermission—a story episode starring Yuffie Kisaragi, the spirited ninja from Wutai. Her episode offers a different perspective on the events of the main game, expanding the world and deepening the lore. Relive one of gaming’s greatest stories on Xbox.
Final Fantasy XVI Comes to Xbox Today
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Play Anywhere – see developer website for other platforms
Surprise! Final Fantasy XVI, the iconic (or should that be Eikonic?) action-RPG comes to Xbox platforms today. With an enormous medieval fantasy world, a dramatic, mature storyline, and lightning-fast action combat, this is a true gaming epic. Its release means that every mainline single player Final Fantasy game is now playable with Xbox.
Fans can purchase either the Standard or Complete Edition, with the latter boasting all expansions and DLC. Plus, as an Xbox Play Anywhere title, one purchase lets you play across all Xbox platforms, with full cross-save. Find out more in our Xbox Wire article.
High On Life 2 Comes to Game Pass This Winter!
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – see developer website for other platforms
High On Life returns, as you and your beloved rag-tag team of alien misfits shoot, stab, and skate your way through weird alien worlds across the galaxy to blow up an evil pharmaceutical conglomerate hell-bent on putting a price tag on human life!
Wreak havoc at the galaxy’s biggest convention, an alien zoo for humans, and a luxury futuristic cruise liner on your cosmic quest to take down big pharma. And stay tuned for an exclusive trailer breakdown with Squanch Games on the Xbox YouTube channel.
Invincible VS: Quarter Up Reveals 3v3 Tag Fighting Game – Coming in 2026
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud,Xbox Play Anywhere – see developer website for other platforms
Quarter Up, Skybound’s first in-house gaming development studio, revealed Invincible VS. The trailer reveals a brutal, tournament-quality superhero 3v3 tag fighting game set in the award-winning Invincible Universe. It also showcases: fan-favorite superheroes Mark (Invincible), Thula, Bulletproof and Atom Eve; iconic arenas; the high-stakes of bloody superhero battles; and an authentic depiction of battle damage and bloody combat fans know and love. Invincible VS will launch in 2026.
Mudang: Two Hearts Is a Cinematic Tactical Action-Adventure Arriving in 2026
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere – see developer website for other platforms
Mudang: Two Hearts is a third-person tactical action adventure set on the Korean Peninsula after reunification. Revealed for the first time today, it blends stealth, close-quarters combat, and emotionally driven storytelling into a seamless cinematic experience.
Players experience the story through two distinct perspectives: Ji Jeongtae, a North Korean special forces operative dispatched to the South, and GAVI, a K-pop idol whose past holds a dangerous secret. As a new wave of terrorist attacks fractures the fragile illusion of peace, the two become entangled with an enigmatic militant group known as Byeolmuban.
Built in Unreal Engine 5 and using our proprietary performance capture pipeline, Mudang delivers a deeply immersive combat system rooted in authentic special forces tactics and is set to launch in 2026.
The Midnight Channel Returns: Persona 4 Revival Officially Announced
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – see developer website for other platforms
A remake of the modern classic JRPG, Persona 4 Revival received a debut trailer, showing off the game’s gorgeous updated visuals within the rural town of Inaba. Arriving as a transfer student, you’ll experience an unforgettable year with new friends you meet along the way. However, rumors of bizarre murders and a mysterious TV channel quickly disrupt your peaceful everyday life. A door to another world opens, awakening your Persona abilities: it is time to fight alongside your trusted allies to uncover the truth.
Planet of Lana II Revealed – Double the Size, and Deeper than Ever
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – see developer website for other platforms
Revealed today, Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf is an ambitious cinematic puzzle adventure that doubles the size and scope of the original. Launching in 2026 and day one with Game Pass, this highly anticipated sequel revisits Lana and Mui’s profound bond as they navigate a changed world after the robot invasion of the first game.
With new and improved mechanics for Lana and Mui, as well as brand new abilities to control the creatures and robots around you, prepare to unravel a deeper, longer sci-fi story where Lana confronts her own demons and unveils the planet’s darkest secrets, as a new threat puts their unbreakable bond to the ultimate test.
Wishlist Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf today on the Xbox Store and follow @PlanetOfLana on social media to stay up to date!
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy Expands the Universe in New Ways
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – see developer website for other platforms
This new game from Asobo Studio and Focus Entertainment expands the universe of A Plague Tale with an original story set 15 years before the events of the last game, A Plague Tale: Requiem. With a new action-adventure approach, players are invited to dive into Sophia’s past and journey with her to the Minotaur’s Island, outsmart deadly foes, unravel ancient secrets, and confront the creature at the heart of a devastating curse. Her sword in one hand and light in the other, Sophia will plunge into the myth of the macula, until she understands why it resonates so intimately with her.
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy will be released in 2026 – you can wishlist the game today on the Xbox Store.
Solo Leveling: Arise Overdrive Transforms the Hit Webtoon into an Action-RPG
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere – see developer website for other platforms
The global phenomenon Solo Leveling makes its debut on Xbox! Based on the hit webtoon, ARISE OVERDRIVE is an action-RPG that lets you experience overwhelming power and thrilling combat. Master a dynamic action system, block deadly attacks, and counter with perfect parries. Unleash the Monarch’s Awakening to transcend limits and dominate the battlefield. Feel the intensity as you wipe out enemies in style. Team up with friends in multiplayer mode to conquer powerful stages and enjoy the thrill of true growth and cooperation. It’s time to rise, fight, and prove your strength. The Xbox PC version arrives fall 2025, with Xbox Series X|S and Xbox Cloud versions to follow in 2026.
Super Meat Boy 3D Revealed with a New Trailer
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Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Xbox Game Pass – see developer website for other platforms
Gaming’s most iconic chunk of meat is back! Today’s Showcase revealed Super Meat Boy 3D from Sluggerfly and Headup Games, who are taking Team Meat’s indie darling into the third dimension. The game arrives in early 2026.
Super Meat Boy 3D is exactly what you love about the series: a challenging platformer where you guide a cube of meat on a mission to rescue his bandage-made girlfriend from a villainous fetus in a jar—now in 3D! You’ll wall-jump through buzzsaws, collapsing caves, and fiery forests, dying countless times along the way. With old-school difficulty, fast-paced gameplay, tough bosses, and plenty of secrets, it’s a new dimension for Meat Boy. Wishlist Super Meat Boy 3D today on the Xbox Store and get ready to die again and again and again when you play it day one on Game Pass.
There Are No Ghosts at The Grand: Become Decorator by Day and Ghost Hunter by Night in a Cozy, Spooky Musical Mystery
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Play Anywhere, or play it day one with Game Pass – see developer website for other platforms
Inherit a crumbling English hotel and restore it by day while battling ghosts by night in There Are No Ghosts at The Grand. With a sardonic cat, a talking power tool, and a twisting supernatural plot, this is a spooky, cozy, musical mystery unlike any other. You have exactly 30 days and 30 nights to restore the crumbling hotel and explore the surrounding seaside village for eerie supernatural secrets. Coming to Xbox Series X|S and PC in 2026, and available on Game Pass… just don’t believe them when they tell you that There are No Ghosts at the Grand.
Age of Mythology: Retold – Heavenly Spear Brings the Japanese Pantheon, Coming Fall 2025
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere, Game Pass – also available on Battle.net, Steam, PlayStation 5
Age of Mythology: Retold will make room for more gods, more heroes and more legends this Fall with the Heavenly Spear expansion. An all-new Japanese pantheon introduces 12 new gods with unique powers, divine technologies and myth units drawn from centuries of legend. Players can embark on a 12-mission campaign following Yasuko, a humble farmer’s daughter who discovers a magical spear and is swept into a mythic war. Wishlist now! Already own the Age of Mythology: Retold Premium Edition? Heavenly Spear is yours at no additional cost – jump in and play on day one!
The Elder Scrolls Online Shows Us the Return of the Worm Cult
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox Cloud – also available on Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Mac
ZeniMax Online Studios premiered a gameplay trailer for The Elder Scrolls Online,revealing the adventures to be found in Western Solstice during Seasons of the Worm Cult Part 1, a continuation of ESO’s main quest storyline from over 10 years ago. Releasing in tandem, the Update 46 base-game patch adds character Subclassing, the Hero’s Return system for returning players, and many more quality-of-life updates. The Elder Scrolls Online: Seasons of the Worm Cult Part 1 and Update 46 are available now on PC and Mac, andwill arrive for Xbox and PlayStation consoles on June 18.
Fallout 76 Shows Off its Fin-tastic Fishing Update
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Game Pass – also available on Steam, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4
Bethesda Game Studios unveiled the launch trailer for Fallout 76’s latest update, Gone Fission. This fin-tastic update introduces fishing to the Wasteland, revealing a cozier side of Appalachia away from the guns and ghouls. Players can experiment with bait, weather conditions, rods, and locations to catch a variety of fish, – including prized Axolotls that change each month – and Local Legends. Gone Fission is available across all platforms for free, letting every Fallout 76 player enjoy the relaxing summer pastime. Find out more about fishing in the Wasteland on Xbox Wire.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants DLC Launches September 4
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere – also available on Steam, PlayStation 5
The latest Indiana Jones adventure is getting a DLC chapter in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of the Giants! Indy’s new journey will take him deep into unexplored territory as he dives beneath the bustling streets of Rome to investigate a dark and twisted new mystery.
This DLC is set during the main game and expands on the story of the Nephilim Order. Face off against old threats and new foes, navigate Rome beyond the walls of Vatican City, and uncover the legend of a colossal beast. Maybe some ancient secrets are better left undisturbed…
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants will be available on September 4, 2025. For those who purchased the Premium Edition, Premium Upgrade or Collector’s Edition, the DLC is included. Find out more in our Xbox Wire article about The Order of Giants.
Sea of Thieves: Season 17 Sets Sail on a Smugglers’ Tide
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Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox PC, Xbox Play Anywhere, Game Pass – also available on Steam, Battle.net, PlayStation 5
A new gang of nefarious troublemakers have infiltrated the Sea of Thieves! Known as The Smuggler’s League, they’re recruiting pirates willing to deal with dangers others are afraid to handle, including weapons and some of the most powerful explosives ever seen on the seas. Crews that think they’re up to the challenge can embark on new Smuggler’s Voyages to salvage — or steal — these hot properties and see them safely into the wrong hands, but one false move could spell disaster. Sparks are sure to fly when Season 17: Smugglers’ Tide launches in August, free for all players.
Source: United States Senator Tommy Tuberville (Alabama)
WASHINGTON – Today,U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) introduced legislation to prohibit men from participating in women’s athletic programs or activities at U.S. military service academies. This is the next step in Senator Tuberville’s years-long fight to protect women’s sports and preserve Title IX, which came under attack during the Biden administration. Earlier this year, Senator Tuberville’s Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act came to the Senate floor for a vote and every single Democrat voted against it.
As Alabama’s representative on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and the Chairman of the SASC Personnel Subcommittee, Senator Tuberville has been a fierce advocate for getting woke politics out of the military.
“Our service academies should be focused on preparing the next generation of leaders, not woke indoctrination,” said Senator Tuberville. “Unfortunately, under Joe Biden and radical Democrats, the woke mind virus made its way into our great military. Thankfully, President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have refocused the Pentagon on lethality. Allowing men to compete against women in sports at any level is wrong—and it’s especially wrong to use taxpayer dollars to pay for it at our service academies. As a proud grandfather to Rosie Grace, this is personal for me. I won’t stop fighting until the rights of females in this country to enjoy safe, fair competition are protected.”
Read the bill text here.
BACKGROUND: As a former educator, mentor, and coach for more than 40 years, Senator Tuberville is concerned about the future of girls’ and women’s sports. Senator Tuberville has been leading the fight to protect Title IX in the Senate since he was first sworn in, over four years ago. Earlier this year, President Trump signed an Executive Order protecting women’s sports. But unfortunately, Executive Orders can be reversed in future administrations.
In January 2025, Senator Tuberville re-introduced the Protection of Women and Girls in SportsAct, to preserve Title IX protections for female athletes. It was brought to the Senate floor for a vote, but every single Democrat voted against it.
In February 2025, Senator Tuberville re-introduced the Protection of Women in Olympic and Amateur Sports Act to prohibit any governing body recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee from allowing men to participate in any athletic event intended for females. This bill comes ahead of the U.S. hosting the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
MORE:
ICYMI: Tuberville in OutKick: Defending and Protecting Women and Girls’ Sports
Tuberville Thanks President Trump for Signing Executive Order Protecting Women’s Sports, Urges Senate to Bring Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act to the Floor for a Vote
Tuberville Discusses Importance of Protecting Women’s Sports, Boosting School Choice
Tuberville, Risch Send Letter Urging Governors to Comply with President Trump’s Executive Order Protecting Women’s Sports
Tuberville Sends Letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom Urging Him to Protect Women’s Sports in California Ahead of 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles
Tuberville: “Every Republican Voted to Protect Women, Every Democrat Voted Against It”
Tuberville Continues Fight to Protect Women’s Sports and Female Athletics, Applauds House Passage of his Hallmark Title IX Legislation
Tuberville Introduces Hallmark Legislation to Preserve Title IX, Protect Women’s Sports
Tuberville Sponsors Resolution to Overturn Biden’s Attack on Title IX, Save Women’s Sports
Tuberville Demands Answers on Biden Administration’s Radical Rewrite of Title IX
Tuberville Demands Answers From NCAA, Dept of Ed on Title IX
Tuberville Leads Roundtable on Protecting Title IX and Saving Women’s Sports
ICYMI: Tuberville Recognizes 51st Anniversary of Title IX with Op-Ed in 1819 News
Tuberville Op-ed in 1819 News: Title IX must be Protected to Keep Female Athletes on the Winning Side
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Press release
£13.6 million to help families and charities reap benefits of surplus farm produce
Grants to ensure more than 19,000 tonnes of surplus food will be redistributed to homeless shelters, food banks and charities across the country
A handful of potatoes
Thousands of tonnes of nutritious food that would otherwise go to waste will help families facing food insecurity, thanks to new grants offered today (Tuesday 10 June 2025).
Grants totalling £13.6 million have been offered to 12 food charities across England – including City Harvest, Food in Community and FareShare – to redistribute an estimated 19,000 tonnes of food directly from farms to help families and fight food poverty in communities.
Under the Government’s Plan for Change, the Tackling Food Surplus at the Farm Gate scheme was set up to help charities in England boost their relationships with farmers. This will see more farm gates opened to organisations who will ensure edible food that might have been left in fields instead ends up on the nation’s plates.
Community kitchens, food banks, shelters and cookery projects across the country are all set to receive food through these organisations thanks to the grant scheme.
Successful redistribution organisations who applied for funding through the grants include:
City Harvest, a food charity which rescues surplus food and delivers it to more than 130,000 people a week, which will benefit from more than £303,000.
A consortium bid led by FareShare UK and its network partners, including Felix Project, which will receive more than £9.2 million.
Food in Community, based in Devon, which has secured more than £1.5 million to partner with local farmers and food producers to redistribute surplus food.
Waste Minister Mary Creagh said:
This Government’s Plan for Change is acting on food poverty and tackling Britain’s throwaway culture, ensuring more good food ends up on plates and not in bins.
I am delighted to see this support go to 12 outstanding redistribution charities to form closer relationships with our hard-working farmers, and ensure their good food goes to those in need.
Sarah Calcutt, CEO of City Harvest, said:
We grow a frankly amazing range of fruits and veg in this country, from berries to spuds and brassicas to salads; but the truth is, as any farmer will testify, that a significant percentage of the food we grow will go to waste; and the reasons for this waste are often around shape and size not meeting retailer specifications rather than anything to do with health or nutrition.
This new funding will allow us to increase the amount of food we pick-up directly from farms, reduce farm costs and increase further the amount of fresh food we can offer our customers.
Catherine David, CEO of WRAP, said:
Food waste happens wherever food is grown, made, sold and consumed – from farm to fork.
Redistributing surplus food from retail and manufacture is a real success story, stopping thousands of tonnes of good food from going to waste every year. In 2023, 191,000 tonnes was redistributed worth £764 million – enough to make 456 million meals. Redistributing from farms isn’t so advanced.
These Government grants will go a long way to supercharge more charitable networks to capture some of the estimated 330,000 tonnes of food that could be redistributed from UK farms every year – and use it for good – in communities around the country.
To tackle the nation’s throwaway approach further, an independent Circular Economy Taskforce has been established to bring together the brightest minds from industry, academia and civil society to tackle this challenge.
The Taskforce will focus on five priority sectors to begin with – including agri-food – to create a series of specific roadmaps to improve and reform the approach to using materials, underpinned by a Circular Economy Strategy which will be published in Autumn.
This is alongside continued support for the UK Food and Drink Pact, managed by environmental NGO WRAP, which looks to deliver a more sustainable supply chain and reduce food waste in the home – tackling food waste and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water usage.
Kia ora tatou. My warmest greetings to you all. It’s a pleasure to be here with you at this year’s WasteMINZ Conference — the flagship event for New Zealand’s waste, resource recovery, and contaminated land sectors. For over 30 years, this conference has been a space for industry leaders and innovators to come together — to be inspired, to share ideas, and to shape the future of this essential work. Thank you for the opportunity to join you today. As I begin, I’d like to acknowledge Parul Sood, Chair of the WasteMINZ Board, along with the board members, CEO Nic Quilty and her team, and all of today’s delegates. I also want to recognise the ongoing work of WasteMINZ members — your contribution to the sector is important and appreciated. Today, I’d like to update you on several key areas I’m working on as Minister for the Environment. Over the past year and a half, I’ve been focused on delivering the Government’s priorities for waste, contaminated sites, and broader environmental challenges. We know the waste sector has long-standing issues. But these challenges come with opportunities to improve outcomes for both the natural world and our communities. Before I expand on the Government’s work on waste, I’d like to start with some announcements. Last year, as part of Budget 2024, I announced the Government has changed the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 to allow the waste disposal levy to be spent on a wider range of activities. As part of this, levy funds were allowed to support local authorities with the costs of managing waste from emergencies. We know the frequency and magnitude of emergency events are increasing, partly due to the rise in severe weather events. Emergency events often generate large volumes of waste, which needs to be dealt with quickly. Today, I am pleased to confirm that we have now established emergency waste funding. The funding will support councils with the cost of managing waste following an emergency, including repairing or replacing damaged waste infrastructure. The Canterbury and Kaikōura earthquakes, recent cyclones, the Auckland Anniversary floods, and many other large-scale events have underscored the importance of resilient waste management and minimisation facilities and services. So far, the costs of managing waste caused by these events have been dealt with on an ad-hoc basis, with no standing funds available to support councils. The emergency waste funding will give councils timely access to funding to deal with waste in the aftermath of emergency events. This will reduce the financial burden of these events on central and local government. The simple application process means councils will be able to quickly and easily access funding. Waste management in emergency events is a critical service to get up and running quickly, to reduce public health risks and support communities to get back on their feet. This new funding will help councils and communities when they need it most. Now, I would like to draw your attention to a new report on construction and demolition waste, which I know is a topic you will be keenly interested in. Construction projects are essential to growing our economy. However, they also leave behind a staggering amount of waste, which places a burden on New Zealand’s landfills and the environment. Yesterday, the Ministry for the Environment published the first national baseline report for construction and demolition waste. This baseline measure is the first of its kind in New Zealand. It will help us evaluate the state of construction and demolition waste, giving us a starting point for comparing changes over time. The national baseline report provides an overview of how much construction and demolition waste New Zealand is sending to landfill, and what materials make up this waste stream. The results show that construction and demolition waste is New Zealand’s largest waste stream and highlight the significant role that surplus soil and rubble play. To cover off a few key statistics from the report: An estimated 5.25 million tonnes of construction and demolition waste was disposed at levied facilities (class 1-4) in 2023. This represents almost 70 per cent of all waste disposed at levied facilities. Of all levied construction and demolition waste disposed, nearly 80 per cent of that waste is soil or rubble. Of the remaining construction and demolition waste, timber, plastics, plasterboard and textiles (i.e. carpet) make up notable proportions of the overall waste stream. Further to these findings, as many of you will know, last month I met with the WasteMINZ sector group on surplus soils. This was to discuss the group’s proposal to develop a national soils management framework through a Waste Minimisation Fund grant. I would like to thank Nic Quilty, Parul Sood, Rod Lidgard and James Corbett for taking the time to meet with me to discuss this important issue. I understand managing surplus soils is a long-standing challenge, with no national rules or clear guidance on how to reuse them. The national baseline report highlights the scale of the problem. Valuable soil resources are being lost to landfill, with clean or slightly contaminated soils often unnecessarily landfilled. This contributes to landfill overuse, emissions, and high project costs. For these reasons, I am pleased to confirm today that I support the WasteMINZ proposal to fund a national soils management framework. Ministry for the Environment officials will be working with WasteMINZ to develop a phased approach for addressing these issues. Details are still to be finalised, and the sector will be kept updated. Following these announcements, I’d like to now move on to our waste strategy and work programme. You may be aware that I recently launched the Government’s strategy to reduce waste and improve how it’s managed in New Zealand. The strategy sets out the Government’s approach to reducing the environmental and economic harm caused by waste. Alongside that, I confirmed a comprehensive waste work programme to implement the strategy’s goals. You’ll be aware of some changes made late last year to existing waste policies. We’re reducing costs to ratepayers by leaving decisions about kerbside collections, including food scraps, up to local councils. The Waste Minimisation Fund will continue to support councils that choose to adopt these services. We’ve also removed the 2025 deadline to phase out all PVC and polystyrene food and drink packaging. We have had a positive response from industry on this decision as it gives them more time to adopt alternatives, while ensuring that new regulations are practical and workable. These adjustments support our waste strategy while minimising cost-of-living pressures. Our waste work programme is well underway, and I’d like to start by highlighting the proposed amendments to our waste legislation. These changes would replace the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 and the Litter Act 1979, with the aim of reducing inefficiencies and providing greater clarity around the roles of central government, local government, and the wider waste sector. We recently consulted on these proposals, which aim to make the legislative framework clearer and more effective. Consultation closed on 1 June, and I want to sincerely thank everyone who took the time to make a submission. Officials are now carefully considering that feedback to help inform the policy development. The aim is to introduce the new legislation before the next general election. We also recently asked New Zealanders to share their views on proposed regulations to improve the way waste from commonly used farm plastic products is managed. We’re proposing new regulations to support a national product stewardship scheme covering agrichemical containers and other farm plastics, such as bale wrap. As someone who has lived on a farm almost all my life, I know how important this is. It would bring together the services of existing schemes Agrecovery and Plasback, simplifying recycling and disposal for farmers and growers, and expanding access into a nationwide service. This scheme would be funded through an advance disposal fee and offer free, nationwide take-back services. And it won’t just benefit farmers—sectors like forestry, tourism, hospitality, and manufacturing could also participate. We have had strong engagement and feedback throughout the consultation process. Thank you to everyone who shared their valuable insights. In addition to the consultation on farm plastics, I’d like to provide a brief update on the progress of other product stewardship schemes. Product stewardship schemes are designed to ensure everyone in a product’s life cycle shares responsibility to reduce its environmental impact at the end of its life. The Tyrewise scheme is a strong example of this principle in action. Tyrewise addresses the estimated 6.5 million tyres that reach end of life in New Zealand each year. Since going live last September, the scheme has collected and repurposed more than 2.8 million tyres into fuel and other useful products. It is also on track to exceed its first-year targets – an incredible achievement. I commend everyone involved in the development and daily operation of the scheme for their dedication and impact. I also want to acknowledge the efforts of everyone involved in the accredited synthetic refrigerants scheme, known as Cool-Safe. This scheme has been operating since 1993 and has now successfully collected over 600,000 kilograms of synthetic refrigerants, significantly reducing their environmental impact. We are actively working with this scheme and the wider industry to support the responsible end-of-life management of these gases. Earlier this year I received the Plastic Packaging Product Stewardship scheme co-design recommendations report. I want to sincerely thank everyone who contributed to this report – it represents the culmination of over two years of dedicated work. We will carefully consider the recommendations and continue to work with stakeholders to plan the next steps in developing this important scheme. Work is also progressing on electrical and electronic products (e-waste). I’m aware safe battery disposal is a growing concern for the sector, as improperly disposed of batteries pose significant fire risks. There is currently a high level of activity in the battery space, with multiple stakeholders across industry and government actively engaged. This momentum is encouraging, and I look forward to seeing continued progress toward a safe, more sustainable approach to managing e-waste in New Zealand. Another area of focus focuses is remediating contaminated sites, including historic landfills vulnerable to weather events. Historic landfills can be compromised by erosion, storm surges, rainfall events, high river levels and flooding. There are hundreds of historic landfills and contaminated sites around New Zealand vulnerable to severe weather. Remediating these sites is vital for protecting our environment from harm. No-one wants a repeat of the Fox River landfill event in 2019. Communities should not be left dealing with the aftermath of old landfill breaches. Acting early to remediate these sites also saves money in the long run. Councils have been asking for more support – and now they have it. Last year, I opened the new Contaminated Sites and Vulnerable Landfills Fund, a $20 million fund to support councils and landowners. This fund replaces the previous Contaminated Sites Remediation Fund and significantly increases support. Regional, unitary and territorial authorities can now apply. The Ministry is actively supporting councils with applications. There has been great progress already, like the remediation project at Tāhunanui Beach in Nelson where $2.9 million of Government support has helped remove more than 10,000 cubic metres of contaminated material from underneath the beach carpark. This project is a great example of what this new fund can support. More information is on the Ministry for the Environment website. I would like to now move onto our work in improving recycling. Standardising the materials accepted in kerbside recycling was a vital first step — sending a clear signal to businesses and households about what can be recovered through kerbside systems across New Zealand. Thank you to everyone who helped develop this policy. There is still work to do, but the new Recycling Leadership Forum is a great next step. The forum is exploring challenging kerbside issues, including the tricky items that don’t currently fit the system. I’m watching their work with interest and expect to receive their first report on potential solutions soon. Plastic is part of daily life, and while it has benefits, it creates far-reaching waste problems. On the international stage, New Zealand is playing a part in negotiating a treaty to tackle plastic pollution globally. Our delegation is heading to the next round of negotiations in Geneva in August. Domestically, we continue to reduce waste and support recycling innovation. The latest Our Environment 2025 report shows that our landfills received 11 per cent less waste per capita in 2023 than the peak in 2018. The Waste Minimisation Fund is providing grant funding to upgrade resource recovery centres, transfer stations, and materials recovery facilities to increase the volume and quality of recovered plastic materials. The fund is also supporting the construction of processing infrastructure to facilitate the reuse of this recovered material, stimulating the local economy and reducing our reliance on overseas markets. We’re managing hard-to-recycle plastics and working with industry to move away from problematic packaging like PVC and polystyrene. Thank you for your efforts. I understand that tomorrow, Ministry for the Environment officials will be speaking to the waste work programme in more detail. I encourage you to attend and ask any questions you may have. In closing, I want to thank you for your time, for your contributions, and for your commitment to innovation. Your leadership matters. Together, we are building a more resilient and sustainable New Zealand—for our people, our economy, and our environment. I wish you all the very best for the rest of the conference. Thank you.
Today Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay introduced long awaited legislation that will put a stop to large-scale farm-to-forestry conversions – delivering on a key election promise to protect the future of New Zealand food production. “For too long, productive sheep and beef farms have been replaced by pine trees in the race for carbon credits. That ends under this Government,” Mr McClay says. “The Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Scheme – Forestry Conversions) Amendment Bill will restrict wholesale conversions of farmland to exotic forestry by stopping LUC 1-5 land from entering the ETS and capping new ETS registrations on LUC 6 land. “It will also protect farmers’ ability to diversify – allowing up to 25 per cent of a farm to go into trees, while stopping the kind of blanket ETS planting that’s been gutting rural communities in places like the East Coast, Wairarapa, the King Country, and Southland.” As previously announced the new restrictions will take effect from 4 December 2024. The law will:
Restrict farm conversions to exotic ETS forests on high-to-medium versatility farmland (LUC classes 1-6) A limit of 15,000 hectares per year for exotic conversions on medium versality farmland (LUC class 6) The annual limit of 15,000 hectares for LUC 6 farmland will be allocated by a ballot process, including a reserved quota for small block holders, with the first ballot proposed to be held in mid-2026. Allow for up to 25 per cent of a farm’s LUC 1-6 land to still be planted in exotic forestry for the ETS, ensuring farmers retain flexibility and choice. Protect specific categories of Māori-owned land, in line with Treaty obligations The Bill proposes time-limited transitional exemptions in rare cases for people who were in the process of afforestation prior to these changes originally being announced on 4 December 2024. To be eligible for a transitional exemption, applicants need to show sufficient evidence that they made a qualifying forestry investment between 1 January 2021 and 4 December 2024. Transactions that commenced after this date will not be eligible to register in the ETS. The applicant will need to demonstrate that the investment relates to the specific Land Use Capability (LUC) class 1–6 land they are applying to register in the ETS. Registry of 25 per cent of LUC 1-5 land will be registered against the properties title to restrict further planting as a result of subdivision.
“Labour’s careless ETS settings turbocharged the sell-off of our farming base. They let speculators put short-term profits ahead of long-term food production. That was careless – and it ends now,” Mr McClay says. “This Government is backing farmers, restoring balance, and making sure the ETS doesn’t come at the cost of New Zealand’s rural economy. “This policy is pro-farming, pro-food production, pro-commercial forestry and pro-rural New Zealand.” The legislation is now before Parliament and is to come into force October 2025. For more information: Forestry ETS Changes
HAMPSTEAD, Md., June 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — On June 9, 2025, the Board of Directors of Farmers and Merchants Bancshares, Inc., the parent of Farmers and Merchants Bank, declared a cash dividend on the common stock of $0.34 per share, which will be paid on July 25, 2025 to stockholders of record on July 11, 2025.
Please visit the investor relations section of our website, www.fmb1919.bank. It includes press releases, financial information, stock information, peer analysis, and information about Farmers and Merchants Bancshares, Inc.’s officers and directors.
About Farmers and Merchants Bancshares, Inc.
The Company is a financial holding company and the parent company of the Bank. The Bank was chartered in Maryland in 1919 and has over 100 years of service to the community. The Bank serves the deposit and financing needs of both consumers and businesses in Carroll and Baltimore Counties along the Route 30, Route 795, Route 140, Route 26, and Route 45 corridors. The main office is located in Upperco, Maryland, with seven additional branches in Owings Mills, Hampstead, Greenmount, Reisterstown, Westminster, Eldersburg, and Towson. Certain broker-dealers make a market in the common stock of Farmers and Merchants Bancshares, Inc., and trades are reported through the OTC Markets Group’s Pink Market under the symbol “FMFG”.
BOSTON, June 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Duck Creek Technologies, the global intelligent solutions provider defining the future of property and casualty (P&C) and general insurance, today announced HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Limited (HDFC ERGO), India’s leading private sector general insurer, as a 2025 Standard of Excellence Customer Award winner at Formation ’25, its flagship customer conference held in Orlando, Florida. A digital-first company, transforming into an AI-first company, HDFC ERGO is a leading general insurer of India, which is known for introducing pioneering and futuristic tech solutions in the Indian insurance landscape to offer its customers the best-in-class service experience.
The Duck Creek Standard of Excellence Customer Awards recognize customers who have achieved the highest level of excellence through their implementation of Duck Creek solutions and who have a vision to advance their business, while reimagining the future of insurance. HDFC ERGO earned recognition for accelerating product launches, streamlining system integration, and increasing market agility using Duck Creek’s solutions, including Policy, Billing, Rating, and Insights.
The Indian insurance market is undergoing a major transformation with a growing customer demand and the need for hyper-personalized services. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has also been encouraging the insurers to develop agile and customer-centric products so as to fuel insurance inclusion among diverse demographics and across the diverse geographies in the country. HDFC ERGO’s adoption of Duck Creek’s low-code, highly configurable platform to design a pioneering AI-enabled, real-time policy issuance system marks a significant milestone, where now the insurer has transformed the end-to-end process for its Health and Fire lines of business.
“At HDFC ERGO, our endeavour has been to offer best-in-class solutions and experience to our customers. The behaviour and requirements of today’s customers have evolved to a great extent, where they expect dynamic, hyper-personalized, and innovative solutions, and the insurance industry is not an exception in this changed ecosystem. Hence as a customer-focused organization, we were looking for a technology partner, who would enable us to offer innovative products, efficient services, and better analytical insights in an integrated manner to provide a seamless experience to our customers. The tech enablement from Duck Creek matched perfectly to this requirement,” said Sriram Naganathan, President & CTO at HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Limited. “We are happy and honored to receive the Duck Creek Standard of Excellence Award. We believe with these new tech enhancements we will set a new benchmark in the insurance industry and propel the cause of insurance inclusion in India — thus also supporting the vision of ‘Insurance for All by 2047’ of IRDAI— the Indian insurance regulator.”
The scale of the project was massive, involving over 45 business users, 150+ IT developers working in parallel across seven systems integrator partners, designing 300+ product covers, 300+ business rules, and executing 10,000+ test scenarios. The solutions were delivered in only nine months, with their commercial fire product first to go live, followed by their health product soon thereafter. Key results include:
Product launch time reduced from 4-5 months to just four weeks, allowing rapid response to market demands and regulatory changes.
Dramatic productivity gains for agents with quotes generated almost instantly and agents able to offer 4-5 alternative product options rather than just a single choice.
Operational efficiency and risk reduction by drastically reducing manual data entry, minimizing compliance risks, and improving accuracy. Straight-through processing completed tasks in just 3-4 minutes, instead of hours or days.
Elevated customer experience driven by policies now being processed in near real time, instead of in hours and days. Customers are now also offered data-driven product recommendations and better-suited options, leading to improved engagements.
“We are proud to honor HDFC ERGO General Insurance with the 2025 Standard of Excellence Customer Award,” said Christian Erickson, Vice President and General Manager, APAC at Duck Creek Technologies. “HDFC ERGO’s digital transformation stands as a benchmark for innovation and execution in the insurance industry. As our first customer in the in India market, we are thrilled to be HDFC ERGO’s strategic partner, with our suite of products helping drive meaningful business outcomes and value for the business, their customers, and shareholders. HDFC ERGO exemplifies the forward-thinking, customer-focused approach that defines the future of insurance. We congratulate them on this well-deserved recognition.”
About Duck Creek Technologies Duck Creek Technologies is the global intelligent solutions provider defining the future of the property and casualty (P&C) and general insurance industry. We are the platform upon which modern insurance systems are built, enabling the industry to capitalize on the power of the cloud to run agile, intelligent, and evergreen operations. Authenticity, purpose, and transparency are core to Duck Creek, and we believe insurance should be there for individuals and businesses when, where, and how they need it most. Our market-leading solutions are available on a standalone basis or as a full suite, and all are available via Duck Creek OnDemand. Visit www.duckcreek.com to learn more. Follow Duck Creek on our social channels for the latest information – LinkedIn and X.
About HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Limited:
HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Limited, one of the leading private sector general insurance companies of India, whose promoters are HDFC Bank Limited, one of India’s leading private sector banks, and ERGO International AG, the primary insurance entity of Munich Re Group.
A digital-first company, transforming into an AI-first company, HDFC ERGO is a leader in implementing technology to offer customers the best-in-class service experience.
HDFC ERGO offers a complete range of General Insurance products including Health, Motor, Home, Agriculture, Travel, Credit, Cyber and Personal Accident in the retail space along with Property, Marine, Engineering, Marine Cargo, Group Health and Liability Insurance in the corporate space.
The Company has created a stream of innovative & new products as well as services using technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Natural Processing Language (NLP), and Robotics. HDFC ERGO offers a range of general insurance products and has a completely digital sales process with 299 branches and 600+ digital offices across India. HDFC ERGO’s technology platform has empowered the customers to avail services digitally on a 24×7 basis, with 70%+ claims for retail products intimated digitally and over 80% of service interactions are catered digitally of which 10% are AI led. The Company issued ~3.4 crore policies in FY25 and has one of the best claims payout ratios in the General Insurance industry.
Be it unique insurance products, integrated customer service models, top-in-class claim processes or a host of technologically innovative solutions, HDFC ERGO has been able to delight its customers at every touch-point and milestone to ensure consumers are serviced in real-time.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (IL-14)
During today’s House Appropriations subcommittee markup of the 2026 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies funding bill, Rep. Lauren Underwood (IL-14) delivered the following remarks:
““Mr. Chairman, I strongly oppose the Fiscal Year 2026 Agriculture, Rural Development, and FDA Appropriations bill we are considering today.
While the Trump Administration and my Republican colleagues on this Committee like to talk about reducing chronic disease and protecting children’s health, their actions speak louder.
With the dangerous funding cuts in this bill, they are turning their backs on working families, rural communities, and public health.
At a time when tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in America and poses a grave threat to American youth – with over 2 million middle and high school students reporting tobacco use in 2024 – we should be prioritizing the data-driven public health investments that are proven to work, not undermining FDA’s power to regulate Big Tobacco.
This bill is yet another example of the Trump Administration’s focus destroying the tools that help FDA hold Big Tobacco accountable to the American people.
This bill is so extreme that it even blocks FDA from finalizing a commonsense rule to ensure that tobacco products are not contaminated with foreign substances like glass, fingernails, rocks, direct, and mold.
If my Republican colleagues cannot even take a stand against cigarettes with fingernails in them, then their position is clear — they are not willing to regulate the President’s friends and donors in the tobacco industry and they are not serious about protecting public health.
So instead of devoting FDA resources to regulating tobacco, this bill proposes to waste agency resources—and taxpayer funds—on an unnecessary review of mifepristone.
We already have decades of evidence showing that mifepristone is a safe and effective medication that safeguards women’s health and lives.
Medical experts describe mifepristone as among the safest medications being used today.
Yet FDA Commissioner Makary has recently “committed to conducting a review of mifepristone,” and this bill includes report language supporting this wasteful review that is based on fraudulent junk science.
So, let’s be honest about what this bill does. It’s not going to make women safer. It’s a waste of taxpayer resources and another attack from this Administration on our bodily autonomy.
Throughout this appropriations process, we have heard so much about using federal dollars wisely, controlling costs, and supporting everyday Americans.
Yet another way that this bill fails to deliver on those goals is by flat-funding the WIC program despite rising costs for the mothers and children who rely on it.
WIC is one of the most cost-effective public health programs we have. If my Republican colleagues actually cared about government efficiency, they would invest in programs like WIC that we know improve health outcomes for families.
Instead, this bill reverses the progress we have made on child nutrition and puts eligible moms and kids on waiting lists. That’s not efficient—it’s just irresponsible.
This bill slashes the cash-value benefits for fruits and vegetables, cutting access to healthy food for children during their most critical growth years while hurting American farmers.
Under this bill, a toddler’s fruit and veggie benefit is lower than it was last year. That’s not fiscal discipline—it’s nutritional sabotage. You don’t balance a budget on the backs of babies.
Let’s be clear: this isn’t saving money long-term. When we deny healthy food to pregnant moms and young kids, we increase the risk of preterm birth, developmental delays, and chronic illness. That’s more hospital visits, higher Medicaid costs, and worse outcomes for families.
WIC needs to be fully funded—not frozen—and benefits need to reflect the science. That’s what the families we represent deserve.
So I urge my colleagues to reject this misguided bill, and to work together on a smarter funding plan that genuinely supports American families and protects public health”
Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, June 9, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Codere Online Luxembourg, S.A. (Nasdaq: CDRO / CDROW) (the “Company” or “Codere Online”), a leading online gaming operator in Spain and Latin America, today announced that its 2025 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (“AGM”) will be held on June 30, 2025 at 3:00 PM CET at the registered office of the Company.
The convening notice of the AGM, including the agenda, proposed resolutions, and voting instructions, is available on the Shareholders Meetings section of the Company’s website at codereonline.com and is being furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Form 6-K.
Shareholders of record as of the close of business on June 4, 2025 are entitled to attend and vote at the meeting.
About Codere Online
Codere Online refers, collectively, to Codere Online Luxembourg, S.A. and its subsidiaries. Codere Online launched in 2014 as part of the renowned casino operator Codere Group. Codere Online offers online sports betting and online casino through its state-of-the art website and mobile applications. Codere currently operates in its core markets of Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Panama and Argentina. Codere Online’s online business is complemented by Codere Group’s physical presence throughout Latin America, forming the foundation of the leading omnichannel gaming and casino presence.
For more information, please contact:
Investors and Media Guillermo Lancha Director, Investor Relations and Communications Guillermo.Lancha@codereonline.com (+34) 628.928.152
As a teenager in the 1970s, I worked on a typical dairy farm in England. Fifty cows grazed on lush pastures for most of their long lives, each producing about 12 litres of milk daily. They were loved and cared for by two herdsmen.
About 50 years later, I visited a dairy farm in China. There, 30,000 cows lived indoors. Most of these selectively bred animals wore out after two or three years of producing 30–40 litres of milk every day, after which they were unceremoniously killed. The workers rarely had contact with the cows. Instead, they sat in offices, programming machines which managed them.
This speaks to a huge and very recent shift in how we treat animals. Over the last half century, the human population has soared – and so too our demand for meat, milk and many other animal products. As a result livestock populations have ballooned while living conditions for animals permanently kept inside have drastically worsened.
Even as farmed animals have multiplied, populations of wild animals have crashed. The two trends are deeply connected. Humans convert wildlife habitat into pastures and farms, expanding living space for farm animals at the expense of many other animals.
This cannot continue. Humans must reckon with how we treat the myriad other species on the planet, whether we rely on them or not. As I argue in my new open access book, the growing scarcity of animal species should make us grasp our responsibility towards the welfare of all animal species on the planet, not just those in farms.
Efforts to enshrine rights for animals is not enough. The focus has to be on our responsibilities to them, ensuring they lead good lives if in our care – or are left well alone if they are not.
Should we care?
In the last 50 years, two-thirds of all wild animal populations have been lost.
The main cause is habitat loss, as native forest is felled to grow grass for cattle or corn and soya for livestock.
By weight, the world’s farm animals and humans now dwarf the remaining wild animals. Farm animals weigh 630 million tonnes and humans 390 million tonnes, while wild land mammals now weigh just 20 million tonnes and marine mammals 40 million tonnes.
Wildlife numbers have fallen off a cliff across many kingdoms of life. Three quarters of flying insects are gone from monitored areas of Western Europe. One in eight bird species is threatened with extinction worldwide.
On animal welfare, philosophers have long argued one of two positions. The first is known as “utilitarianism”. This approach argues for minimising the bad things in the world and maximising the good things, regardless of who benefits from them, humans or other animals. This theory-heavy approach does little to restore our relationship with wild animals because of the difficulties in deciding what is good and bad for animals.
The second has more to recommend it. This is the view that animals have the right to be looked after well. This approach has also been used to give rights to rivers, nature and even the atmosphere.
But this doesn’t recognise the fact that only humans can attribute such rights to animals, who themselves do not have any concept of “rights”. It also doesn’t tackle the issue that most humans would not accord the same rights to a blue whale and an insect.
A better approach might be to recognise our responsibilities to animals, rather than attribute rights to them.
This would acknowledge the increasing rarity of animal species on Earth and the fact that – as far as we know – they’re unique in the universe. So far, no reliable signs have been found indicating life evolved on any other planets.
Earth formed just over 4.5 billion years ago. Some evidence suggests simple animal life began just 400 million years later.
The evolution of complex multicellular life on earth probably only happened once when a single celled organism – one of the ancient archaea, perhaps – engulfed a bacterium without digesting it. Instead, it found something better: putting it to work as an internal energy factory as the first mitochondrion. After that came life’s great flowering.
But now we’re currently losing between 0.01–0.1% of all species each year. If we use an average species loss rate of 0.05% and assuming human pressures remain similar, life on Earth could have only 2,000 years left.
Do we have responsibility to care for something just because it’s rare? Not always. But life is beautiful. We marvel when we are able to connect with wildlife. Other social animals also appear to derive pleasure from such relationships.
If we destroy wild animal life, we could undermine the natural systems humans depend on. Pollinators are essential for orchards, forests protect topsoil and produce clean drinking water and predators prevent herbivore populations from soaring out of control and destroying crops. As wilder areas shrink, the chance of another animal virus spillover into humans increases.
The habitat available for many wild animals has shrunk rapidly in recent decades. MohdFadhli_83/Shutterstock
From small scale to industrial
For almost all of human history, livestock herds were small enough that people could build relationships with the animals they depended on.
But in only a couple of human generations, we’ve turned farm animal production into a factory process with billions of animals.
For centuries, farm animals were walked to market. That, too, has changed. In 2005, I was undertaking research on a livestock ship alongside 80,000 sheep being transported from Australia to the Middle East. Hundreds of sheep die from the stress of these journeys, while many survivors arrive exhausted and terrified.
These changes have made it possible for humans all around the globe to eat meat or dairy products at every meal. But it has come at a real cost to livestock and wild animals.
Correcting this will not be easy. We have to learn to eat fewer animals or preferably none at all, restore habitat for wildlife and curb our consumption of the world’s natural resources.
It’s not too late to restore animal habitat. Rewilding efforts are drawing back long-missing wild animals. There are hopeful signs for farm animal welfare too. The live export of Australian sheep will end in 2028. Battery cage production of eggs is dying out.
These are big issues. But to paraphrase a quote reputedly by Confucius:
The man who asks big questions is a fool for a minute. The man who does not ask, is a fool for life.
Clive Phillips has received funding from several not-for-profit groups, including Voiceless and AnimalKind, to help make this book open access. He has previously had funding from several government and livestock industry organisations, as well as the World Organisation for Animal Health and Open Philanthropy. He was, until recently, a director of Humane Society International and chair of the Queensland and Western Australia government animal welfare boards. He is editor of the animal welfare book series of Springer Nature and another book series, Letters in Animal Welfare and Ethics for CABI, as well as editor-in-chief of the journals Animals, and Animal Behaviour and Welfare Cases.
Source: United States Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont)
COLCHESTER, VT – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) today joined Vermont Public’s Vermont Edition to discuss how harmful cuts in Republicans’ ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ to vital programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will hurt the economy and hardworking Americans across the country.
“This legislation, the so-called ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ that is going to inflict bipartisan suffering. It doesn’t matter whether you’re in a red state or a blue state—you lose your health care, you lose your community hospital, you start paying higher tariffs, you see your colleges that are dependent on some of these grants and it’s integrated and that’s getting taken away—that’s going to hurt all of us,” said Senator Welch.
In the interview, Senator Welch highlighted how President Trump’s trade war and disastrous budget will make it harder for Vermont farmers, businesses, and families to make ends meet.
Mikaela Lefrak: “We’ve heard many Democratic critiques of this bill, particularly around its historic reductions in Medicaid spending…do you expect the Senate version of this bill to differ significantly from the House’s in terms of Medicaid cuts?”
Senator Welch: “Well, my hope is that we kill the bill. I mean, there will be some adjustments that some of my Republican colleagues try to make to mitigate the damage, but this bill is very damaging to individuals in Vermont…First of all, Vermonters don’t believe they’re going to get a tax cut out of this deal. You know, the tariffs are increasing costs for them and making it very, very tough for business. So, inflation is going to be going up…It’s a huge addition to the debt, where interest rates are going up so your credit card costs will go up, if you’re trying to get a mortgage—and they’re already high rates—they’ll be higher.
“From an actual impact on Vermonters, we’ve got thousands of people who get their health care through Medicaid, and that includes disabled kids. And the parents are taking care of those kids and Medicaid’s a lifeline—they can lose that health care. Two out of three seniors who are in nursing homes, that is paid for by Medicaid, and they can be kicked out of those homes with these cuts. So, it’s very damaging there. Also, Vermont has strongly supported nutrition programs—farm to school, Meals on Wheels, school lunch. Also the SNAP program, it’s about six bucks a day for families that are eligible and it really makes a difference. There’s going to be billions of dollars cut from both Medicaid and the SNAP program, Meals on Wheels.
“And why in the world are we going to do that when the benefit is essentially going to be higher debt and some significant tax cuts to some very, very wealthy people who don’t need them and aren’t asking for them, and corporations that are already paying record-low tax rates?”
■■■
Mikaela Lefrak: “As a Democrat in the Senate, you and every single other Democrat can vote against this bill, and it can still pass. So, the goal here it seems is to try to convince a handful of Republicans—I think you need at least three or four—to vote no. How do you do that?”
Senator Welch: “The most comprehensive way I’ve approached trying to deal with this budget disaster and this bill is by getting the information out—and the same thing with tariffs, which I think are having a detrimental impact on Vermont businesses, Vermont farmers and Vermont consumers. So, a lot of what I’ll do is have roundtables where we will have people who are going to be affected by the tariffs, or be affected by these Medicaid cuts, to be able to talk about that and get that information out.
“And what I do with my Republican colleagues is I don’t give them a lecture, but I’ll find out about the community hospital situation in their district or their state, and I’ll ask them: ‘What’s going to happen if this bill passes to your community hospitals?’ And then the reality is that those hospitals in their district are going to be really hurt. So, what I’m trying to do is encourage them to have more deference to the needs of the people they represent than they do to the will of President Trump.”
Listen to the episode here:
Last week, Senator Welch took to the Senate floor to slam Republicans’ tax bill, which will rip away health care coverage for more than 16 million Americans, including 29,000 Vermonters. The Republican bill will hike health care costs, close rural hospitals, and force millions of middle-class families to lose their coverage altogether, all to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.
Senator Welch also recently joined his colleagues for a spotlight hearing examining Republicans’ efforts to gut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known as 3Squares in Vermont, which is a critical anti-hunger program that helps more than 41.6 million Americans—including over 65,000 Vermonters—put food on the table.
Source: United States Senator for Alabama Tommy Tuberville
Alabama has fourth-highest amount of foreign owned farmland with 2.2 million acres
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) joined U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) to reintroduce the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure (AFIDA) Improvements Act to bolster reporting requirements for foreign owners of American farmland. The legislation would codify recommendations to the original AFIDA of 1978 that were published in January 2024 by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) after it found that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is not prepared to fully combat foreign ownership of American farmland by foreign adversaries.
“Over the past several decades, China has been buying up American farmland in an attempt to infiltrate our agriculture supply chains,” said Senator Tuberville. “Food security is national security, and we cannot give the CCP a foothold. Thankfully, President Trump and Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins are working to make American Farmland American Again. I’m proud to join this legislation with Senator Ricketts to update our reporting requirements for foreign purchases of our farmland for the first time in nearly 50 years. As Alabama’s voice on the Senate Ag Committee, I will always support our great farmers and work to protect them from bad actors like China.”
“Agriculture is the heart and soul of Nebraska and of America,” said Senator Ricketts. ”American farmland should remain in the hands of American farmers and ranchers, not foreign adversaries. Food security is national security.”
U.S. Representative Don Bacon (R-NE-02) introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.
BACKGROUND:
According to USDA data from December 2023, foreign investors own more than 45 million acres of U.S. agricultural land. And in Alabama, we have the FOURTH-HIGHEST amount of foreign-owned land in the U.S. with 2.2 million acres.
Senator Tuberville has been a staunch leader in protecting America’s farmland and agricultural supply chains from foreign influence. Earlier this year, he reintroduced two pieces of legislation—the Protecting America’s Agricultural Land from Foreign Harm Act and the Foreign Adversary Risk Management (FARM) Act—to further safeguard our domestic agriculture resources.
The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure (AFIDA) Improvements Act would:
Increase information sharing between the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and USDA
Require updates to the AFIDA handbook
Establish a deadline by which USDA must set up an online AFIDA system
Require AFIDA reporting for foreign persons holding more than 1% interest in American agricultural land
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.
Source: United States Senator for Alabama Tommy Tuberville
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and U.S. Senator Jim Banks (R-IN) took action to ensure Americans’ financial data is protected from exposure to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) through popular financial trading platforms.
In a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins, Senators Tuberville and Banks asked that the SEC ensure two Chinese-linked companies are complying with American laws and regulations. The companies, Webull Financial, LLC (Webull) and Moomoo, Inc. (Moomoo), are widely-used stock trading platforms operating within the United States.
“The biggest threat facing our country today is communist China,” said Senator Tuberville. “Thankfully, we now have a Commander-in-Chief in President Trump who is taking the threat of China incredibly seriously. China doesn’t need a spy balloon to steal our information — they’ve got spies in the smartphones of millions of Americans, harvesting valuable information every second. The United States must protect the personal data of our citizens from falling into the hands of our greatest adversary.”
“Webull has a track record of collecting highly sensitive personal data from American consumers, including Social Security numbers,” said Senator Banks. “We cannot allow any platform like this tied to the Chinese Communist Party to sidestep our rules and jeopardize Americans’ personal data. That is why I am demanding the SEC ensures that any foreign platform is complying with American regulations, so long as they have access to our financial markets.”
The full text of the letter can be found here and pasted below.
“Chairman Paul Atkins
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street NE
Washington, D.C. 20549
Chairman Atkins:
Congratulations on your confirmation as the 34th Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Over the last four years, your predecessor, Gary Gensler, mismanaged the SEC and pushed a radical anti-business, anti-investor, and anti-innovation agenda that stifled our financial markets, harmed retail investors, and made America less competitive. Fortunately, President Trump is acting quickly and decisively to reverse the Biden administration’s many failures and restore the American economy to greatness. Your pro-growth, pro-investor leadership is needed now more than ever to reestablish the SEC’s credibility, unleash the full power of America’s financial markets, and provide more opportunity for millions of Main Street Americans who want to invest for the future.
While former Chairman Gensler prioritized multiple regulatory solutions in search of problems, such as his illegal “climate change” disclosure rule and his enforcement program designed to systematically destroy the cryptocurrency industry in the U.S., he ignored the very real threats against retail investors that we and our colleagues repeatedly brought to his attention related to the infiltration of our capital markets by Chinese-owned broker-dealers with possible ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including Webull, MooMoo, and Prometheum.[i] For example, in May 2023, then-Congressman, now Senator, Banks and I wrote to Chairman Gensler and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) CEO Robert Cook:
As you are aware, Webull and Moomoo collect highly sensitive personal information from millions of their U.S. customers, including personally identifiable information (PII) such as Social Security numbers, mailing addresses, and financial account data. . . . In light of Beijing’s increasingly strict privacy laws barring many Chinese companies from sharing data with Western regulators, the presence of Webull registered representatives in the PRC raises serious concerns regarding (1) Webull’s ability to meet its supervisory obligations under SEC and FINRA rules; (2) the SEC’s and FINRA’s ability to oversee and examine Webull and its registered representatives and associated persons located in the PRC; (3) the adequacy of Webull’s compliance with all SEC and FINRA recordkeeping requirements; (4) the ability of the SEC and FINRA to adequately enforce federal securities laws, including the ability to obtain documents and information from Webull employees located in the PRC; and (5) the potential for U.S. customer PII to be shared or exfiltrated to Webull employees or affiliated entities located in the PRC.[ii]
Since then, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (Select Committee) and several State Attorneys General, led by Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, have opened separate inquiries into Webull’s ties to the CCP and have exposed troubling facts which call into question the safety of these platforms for U.S. retail investors.[iii] For example, the Select Committee discovered that an affiliate or subsidiary of Webull (Hunan Weibu Information Technology Co., Ltd., ) “received multiple grants from the Changsha Municipal Government’s special fund to optimize foreign investment through cost offsets supporting offshore service outsourcing,” pursuant to which “recipients of this special fund are required to ‘support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.’”[iv] Similarly, the State Attorneys General inquiry found that “Webull appears to have an affiliated research and development facility (R&D Facility) with hundreds of employees in Changsha, China. SEC filings indicate that the R&D Facility may provide services or support to Webull’s US brokerage operations.”[v] In fact, Webull’s May 9, 2025, Prospectus states:
“[O]ur mainland China subsidiary, Hunan Weibu Information Technology Co., Ltd., employs 731 employees, representing 61% of our employees as of December 31, 2024, and is subject to the jurisdiction of the People’s Republic of China. We cannot be certain that future laws, rules, or regulations will not be drafted in a way that brings us within their scope and that such laws will not materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.”
We were disappointed to see that earlier this year, the SEC approved Webull to proceed with its Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) transaction, which now allows Webull to fully exploit U.S. markets – and, by extension, American investors who put their hard-earned money to work in these markets – as a public company listed on Nasdaq. Webull’s March 2025 Investor Presentation filed with the SEC on March 31, 2025, and its May 2025 Prospectus, appear to contain many of the same troubling connections between Webull and the CCP that legislators and law enforcement authorities have repeatedly raised to your predecessor, including continued ownership and control by individuals and entities that appear to be domiciled in China.[vi]The SEC should not allow Chinese companies to list on U.S. exchanges and enjoy the benefits of our capital markets, while failing to adhere to U.S. law. As Senator Rick Scott noted in a letter to you earlier this month, “These companies consistently fail to meet the requirements of our markets – misleading American investors and putting their investments and U.S. national security and economic security at risk[.]” The risks posed by Chinese companies listed in the U.S. were the recent subject of an April 9, 2025 joint House-Senate hearing titled, “Financial Aggression: How the Chinese Communist Party Exploits American Retirees and Undermines National Security.”[vii]
Relatedly, the notion of registering broker-dealers with ties to the CCP – especially firms with affiliates, operations, and owners based in China – is entirely inconsistent with the federal securities laws, FINRA rules, and the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act of 2020.[viii] As you know, neither the SEC nor FINRA have the authority to conduct examinations or enforcement investigations of Webull’s substantial operations and employees in mainland China which, as noted above, may support the U.S. brokerage.
We urge you to take immediate action to delist all Chinese companies from the U.S. markets and rescind Chinese-owned broker-dealers’ licenses to operate in the U.S.
Sincerely,”
BACKGROUND:
Webull and Moomoo are two widely-used stock trading platforms operating in the United States that are registered with the SEC and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The parent companies of Webull and Moomoo are owned by Chinese entities with close ties to Chinese telecom giants Xiaomi and Tencent, which have reportedly aided the Chinese Communist Party in its efforts to surveil and suppress its citizens.
Despite their ties to China, the SEC and FINRA allow Webull and Moomoo to operate as registered broker-dealers in the United States and to freely collect and store personally identifiable information — including Social Security numbers, mailing addresses, and sensitive financial account data — for millions of U.S. citizens.
Senator Tuberville first called for an investigation into Webull and Moomoo in July 2022. In a letter to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, Senator Tuberville and his colleagues Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Mike Braun (R-IN), Rick Scott (R-FL), and Roger Marshall (R-KS) expressed concerns over these firms’ data sharing practices and ties to the CCP – both of which could put U.S. investors at risk.
Senator Tuberville and Senator Banks sent a similar letter to the SEC and FINRA in 2023.
Senator Tuberville believes the Communist Chinese Party seeks to overtake the United States as the top global superpower and that America must face China’s growing military and non-military threats with clear-eyed resolve.
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.
Source: United States Senator for Alabama Tommy Tuberville
WASHINGTON – Today,U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) released a video honoring U.S. Marine Corps Seargent Curt Griffith as the June “Veteran of the Month.”
Excerpts from Sen. Tuberville’s remarks can be found below, and complete remarks can be found here.
“Our veterans have a unique way of turning hardship into opportunities. No one displays that better than Sergeant Curt Griffith of Florence, Alabama.
Curt experienced tragedy at a young age, losing his dad when he was only six years old. Despite growing up in a single-parent household, he found a sense of community and purpose in the Marine Corps. And now, he helps bring that same feeling of community to children in the Shoals.
[…]
Curt also put his military skills to use—particularly getting involved with the local Marine Corps League and Toys for Tots charity. Thanks to Curt’s leadership, the program has expanded to five counties in Northeast Alabama: Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin, Winston, and Marion. The program helps meet needs of children in the local community, especially at Easter and Christmas. Through Curt’s leadership, the children Toys for Tots serves has grown its reach from 200 to almost 2,000 children in just a few short years. He works around the clock each year, to help remind children they are not alone.
Curt is a great example of what strong leadership and a will to serve those in need can do. It’s my honor to recognize Curt Griffith as the ‘June Veteran of the Month.’”
Senator Tuberville recognizes a different Alabama veteran each month for their service and contribution to their community. Constituents can nominate an Alabama veteran and submit their information to Senator Tuberville’s office for consideration by emailing press_office@tuberville.senate.gov.
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.
Source: United States Senator for Rhode Island Jack Reed
***WATCH THE SPEAKING PROGRAM HERE***
PROVIDENCE, RI – U.S. Senator Jack Reed today joined with faith leaders and hunger prevention advocates at the Rhode Island Community Food Bank to demand action against a House Republican-passed tax bill that will make the largest cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in American history.
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a 1,000+ page bill to take nutrition assistance from the needy in order to give billionaires a bigger tax windfall. Their so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” includes nearly $300 billion in cuts targeting SNAP, which helps millions of working families and low-income seniors afford groceries.
With over $85 million in annual nutrition assistance for Rhode Island at stake and approximately 17,000 Rhode Islanders at risk of losing access to nutrition assistance, the Republicans’ House-passed tax bill would devastate essential SNAP benefits at the same time that President Trump’s tariff taxes are adding over $200 to grocery bills for average American families.
According to an analysis by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, the Trump-Republican tax bill would result in 7 million people nationwide losing food assistance. The House-passed SNAP cuts would be a disaster for hungry families and for states – permanently saddling states with extra costs and reducing nutrition assistance that millions of low-income Americans rely upon.
“SNAP is a proven, cost-effective lifeline for more than 144,000 Rhode Islanders, especially low-income children and seniors. When Republicans threaten to cut SNAP benefits, they’re really threatening public health, working families, and our economy. Access to food is essential for everyone. The Republican plan would mean less food for the poor, fewer jobs, and less economic activity in the community. It would increase hunger and hardship,” saidReed. “Every dollar in federal SNAP investment generates over $1.50 in economic activity. If you start taking hundreds of millions of dollars out of the local economy, it means stores close, farms go under, and food prices keep going up. Ultimately, the Republican plan would make it harder for Rhode Island families to afford their grocery bills. I will do everything I can to block these devastating cuts from becoming law.”
“The impact that this cut will have on families, children, seniors, and veterans will be catastrophic,” said Lisa Roth Blackman, Chief Philanthropy Officer of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. “Kids will be less ready to learn in school. Working adults won’t have the energy to work. Seniors will be forced to make terrible choices about whether to pay for prescriptions and healthcare or food. And veterans and people with disabilities will struggle to get the food they need to survive and thrive.”
“Every month, an average of fifteen new households come through our doors for the first time because they cannot afford to put enough food on the table to meet their family’s needs,” said Kate Brewster, CEO of the Jonnycake Center for Hope in South Kingstown. “The ripple effects of the proposed SNAP cuts will be devastating at an already uncertain time. I’m grateful to Senator Reed for standing up against these cuts to the most basic human need – nourishment.”
“We have 1,000 children who receive food at our pantry – just at one pantry,” shared Reverend Maryalice Sullivan of Pete & Andy’s Food Pantry at St. Peter & St. Andrew’s Church in Providence. “The need is already so high. We simply can’t afford a catastrophic cut like the one the administration is talking about.”
Not only would the House-passed Republican plan cut SNAP by roughly 30 percent, it would reduce monthly nutrition assistance for children from low-income families, seniors, disabled Americans, and veterans below what is necessary to maintain a healthy diet while placing a greater burden on states while adding red tape and harsher work requirements for caregivers.
Over 144,000 Rhode Island residents receive SNAP benefits, and the state receives roughly $343.5 million annually in SNAP benefits. A recent analysis by Trace One placed Rhode Island 15th in the nation based on its share of individuals receiving SNAP benefits.
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, SNAP participants in Rhode Island received an average of $198.52 per month in SNAP benefits. This averages $6.52 per person per day.
In addition to increasing hunger for people with lower incomes who are already struggling, Senator Reed warns that the Republican plan to shift the program’s cost to states will hurt taxpayers, farmers, grocers, delivery drivers, and other small businesses. Senator Reed noted SNAP’s role in supporting public health is critical and the House-passed Republican cuts would be devastating to families and communities across Rhode Island.
The House-passed Republican bill would require all states to pay a 5 percent cost-share, shifting the burden from the federal government to the states. States with higher payment error rates would have to pay even more.
SNAP helps ensure strong, consistent sales for American farmers by boosting low-income families’ purchasing power and demand for agricultural products. In addition to traditional retailers, SNAP directly supports local farmers through demand for produce, meat, and dairy products at farmers’ markets and through initiatives such as Bonus Bucks, which provides a dollar-for-dollar match for purchases of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Reed emphasized that the entire state would be impacted by these SNAP cuts through lost productivity and increased expenditures in other public areas, such as health care.
“The irresponsible Republican plan to gut SNAP would increase poverty and make people less healthy more food insecure. That impacts recipients, neighbors, communities – all of us. As food insecurity goes up, productivity goes down and health care costs go up,” said Reed. “We live in the greatest country on Earth and can afford to ensure people don’t go hungry. Funding this program is a moral, economic, and public health imperative.”
Rhode Island food pantries have reported a spike in demand recently. Several food pantry operators across the state have put out the call for increased food donations as demand increases beyond usual expectations for this time of year, and cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, and other programs could exacerbate the demand for food aid.
The Rhode Island Community Food Bank distributes food through its 147 member agencies, reaching approximately 89,000 food-insecure Rhode Islanders each month. The non-profit provides nutritious staples and fresh produce to food pantries, meal sites, shelters, youth programs and senior centers. In FY2024, the Rhode Island Community Food Bank distributed 18.3 million pounds of food.
Detectives can confirm the body found in Hampshire on Saturday, 7 June is sadly that of Yajaira Castro Mendez from Ilford.
Yajaira was last seen in Camden on Thursday, 29 May. Following extensive enquiries by officers a murder investigation was launched.
Detectives carried out urgent enquiries and during searches in the Bolderwood area of Hampshire, they found a body.
Formal identification has now taken place. Her family continue to be supported by specialist officers.
Acting Detective Chief Inspector Sean Beasley, who is leading the investigation, said: “This is a very sad development in the investigation and our thoughts are very much with Yajaira’s family and friends at this incredibly difficult time.
“Officers have been working around the clock and continue to investigate the circumstances.
“There are still crime scenes in place and we’re working closely with Hampshire Police. We thank the community for their patience as we carry out our investigation and we continue to appeal to anyone with information that could assist the investigation to please come forward.”
On Friday, 6 June, Juan Francisco Toledo, 51 (17.10.1973), of Lambeth appeared at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court charged with murder.
He was remanded in custody to next appear on Tuesday, 10 June at the Old Bailey.
He had been arrested on Wednesday, 4 June in Lambeth.
Anyone with information relating to this investigation is asked to contact police via 101 or @MetCC quoting CAD 3020/06JUN2
To remain 100 per cent anonymous call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit Crimestoppers-uk.org.
