Czech National Bank Governor Aleš Michl received the prestigious international Central Banking Award 2025 for world’s best governor at a ceremony in London on Wednesday. He was recognised for his extraordinary determination to reduce inflation and safeguard the value of money in the Czech Republic, as well as for his forward-looking and innovative approach to the issues currently shaping the global financial landscape. This is already the second major international accolade the Governor has received this year – in January, The Banker magazine, published by the Financial Times, named him Central Banker of the Year for Europe.
Governor Aleš Michl received the award at the international Central Banking Summer Meetings, held in London on 11–12 June, with the participation of central bankers from around the world. The conference is organised annually by the renowned Central Banking magazine.
“I don’t see this award as mine alone.It is recognition for the entire CNB team. From the very beginning, our main goal was to bring inflation back to 2% and restore people’s confidence in the koruna. That would not have been possible without the courage to make unpopular, yet correct, decisions. That’s what central banking is about – independence, discipline and responsibility to the people who save and work,” said CNB Governor Aleš Michl.
The jury particularly highlighted the extraordinary efforts of CNB Governor Aleš Michl in the fight against inflation. Thanks to the strategy adopted by the Bank Board under his leadership, the Czech Republic was among the first countries to bring exceptionally high inflation back to target. Inflation fell from 17.5% in July 2022 to exactly 2% in February, March and June 2024. The full-year average was 2.4% – the lowest since 2018. According to estimates, inflation is expected to remain at a similar level this year as well. Low, stable and predictable inflation is one of the prerequisites for long-term sustainable economic growth.
However, the jury evaluated more than just price stability. It also praised the efforts of the central bank under Aleš Michl’s leadership in managing the international reserves and implementing measures to improve the efficiency of the institution’s operations. The jury also commended the CNB’s active role in the successful resolution of the insolvency of Sberbank CZ, as well as its support for the instant payment system operated by the central bank. The growing availability of fast, secure and low-cost interbank transfers supports the digital development of the economy and makes everyday life and business easier. It also reinforces the CNB’s position as a leader in the modernisation of the country’s financial infrastructure.
New research finds firefighters have UK’s toughest job, with paramedics, farmers and builders also included among most gruelling roles in the country
90% of Brits say tech that can withstand tough jobs is vital in demanding roles, with extreme environments (63%) and hazardous conditions (64%) cited as key challenges
Our Yorkshire Farm Shepherdess, Amanda Owen partners with Samsung to demonstrate real-world resilience testing of the new Rugged device range, from mucking out to herding sheep
The new Samsung XCover7 Pro and Tab Active5 Pro Enterprise Edition deliver military-grade durability[1], water-resistance[2], long battery life[3], and push-to-talk functionality[4] – purpose built for frontline and field-based professionals
James Speakman/PA Media Assignments
New research has revealed the UK’s toughest jobs – with firefighters topping the list.
The poll of 2,000 Brits found paramedics, farmers and armed forces personnel were also cited as those who deserve recognition for doing of the most physically and mentally draining work.
The study was commissioned by Samsung to launch their latest Rugged device range which is designed to thrive in harsh work environments and was judged according to criteria including physical demands, danger and risk, and work environment.
The findings, which also identified police officers (34%), fishermen (16%) and construction workers (15%) among the UK’s toughest workers, underscored a growing demand among workers and employers for tech that can withstand harsh, high-risk environments.
The research also revealed that nine in 10 Brits value devices capable of withstanding harsh conditions, citing reducing physical strain through equipment (54%), alerting workers to risks more quickly (53%) and automating repetitive tasks (45%) as ways to ease pressure.
To emphasise the importance of durable technology in tough jobs, Samsung enlisted farmer and shepherdess Amanda Owen to give an insight into the realities of working life on a farm.
From mucking out and herding animals, to operating machinery and navigating unpredictable weather, Amanda showcases how physically demanding farm life can be, highlighting the need for technology that can keep up with resilient workers themselves.
Amanda Owen says: “Farming isn’t for the faint hearted – we’re up before dawn, battling the elements, and it takes real resilience out here. In this environment, our tech needs to be just as tough—anything that can’t handle water or a drop is a liability. We need something rugged on the outside and smart on the inside, that can keep up with the job.”
According to respondents, 63% of people believe for a job to be ‘tough’ it must take place in an extreme environment. 58% of jobs which can be considered challenging also involve working with dangerous equipment, with a further 55% fearing dangerous people.
Two thirds (62%) of Brits agree that tough jobs need more recognition in the UK saying that they play a vital role in keeping the country running (64%), often work long hours with little rest (46%) and face hazardous conditions daily (62%) as to why they deserve more recognition.
The Samsung Rugged range, which includes the Galaxy XCover7 Pro and Tab Active5 Pro, is designed to take on tough, rugged environments, offering water and dust resistance[5], drop protection[6], long battery life as well as replaceable batteries, and enhanced touch sensitivity for use in the rain[7] or with gloves[8]
Annika Bizon, Mobile Experience VP of Product & Marketing, Samsung UK&I says:“Tough roles demand robust support. Whether it’s maintaining connectivity in the field or ensuring mission-critical tasks aren’t interrupted, having the right tech in place is essential. The Rugged range has been engineered specifically for these environments — combining military-grade durability with the business tools workforces require.”
Almost half (46%) of Brits admitted they don’t feel like they have the resilience to take on a physically demanding role, a figure that dropped to 40% among men.
In contrast, 52% of women believe they have what it takes to handle roles that might require higher levels of emotional and mental capacity.
When it comes to younger generations, 61% of those aged 18–24 have considered taking up physically tough roles when exploring career options. This compares with just 11% of Boomers, who prefer to steer clear of jobs they’d deem tough.
Two in five (38%) agree there’s a misconception that physically demanding jobs don’t require robust technology.
From construction sites and emergency callouts to remote locations and extreme weather – where phone failure simply isn’t an option – Samsung’s Rugged range is built to go the distance with those who keep the country running.
Engineered for endurance, the devices offer military-grade protection, taking up to a 1.8 metre drop with the cover on[9], ready for whatever the job throws at them.
The programmable hot key allows you to set up shortcuts for frequently used apps, you can transform your device into a walkie-talkie, torch, scanner, payment terminal or whatever you need it to be.
But it’s not just the hardware that’s built for resilience. With the ability to set up Knox Suite[10] swiftly with QuickStart Go, teams can be up and running with business-ready devices in no time, while Samsung Knox security keeps data protected against malware or threats.
And with 3-year warranty, up to 8- years of security maintenance releases and eight generations of operating system updates[11], plus next-business-day doorstep exchange[12], Rugged users get the reassurance and support they need, long after deployment.
The Samsung Rugged devices are available to purchase now. For more information, visit https://www.samsung.com/uk/business/mobile/rugged/.
[1]Drop test results meet MIL STD 810H standard and vary depending on particular Rugged device. Test scope: Altitude, Humidity, Immersion, Salt Fog, Dust, Vibration, Drop, and more. Tab Active5 Pro can take 1.8M with case on and other devices in the range can take 1.5M drop. Internally tested with Liquid Ethanol, Ethanol Cotton, Clorox (Chlorine bleach), Medilox HCIO.
[2]The device can be used in wet environments, but not fully submerged under water. Underwater touch is not available
[3]Additional battery sold separately. In the case of extra replaceable batteries, only Samsung-certified products are compatible for use. Need to turn on “No Battery Mode” and use a dedicated USB Type C power source accessory (9V/2.3A ↑, PD2.0↑). Cradle and power source accessory sold separately. No Battery Mode limits device’s CPU/GPU performance and reduces maximum volume, and display brightness, when enabled. No Battery Mode available on Tab Active devices only
[4]Additional licenses may be required. Requires Samsung D2D Service
[5]Resistant to dust and up to 1.5 metres of fresh water for up to 30 minutes (IP68). Rinse residue/dry after wet. Not advised for beach or pool use.
[6]Tab Active5 can take 2.8M and other devices in the range can take 1.5M drop
[7]The device can be used in wet environments, but not fully submerged under water. Underwater touch is not available.
[8]Touch sensitivity increases responsiveness for leather gloves thinner than 2mm or less in thickness, based on internal laboratory test results. Touch-responsiveness may vary depending on the material and thickness of gloves as well as other environmental conditions.
[9]Drop test results meet MIL STD 810H standard and vary depending on particular Rugged device. Test scope: Altitude, Humidity, Immersion, Salt Fog, Dust, Vibration, Drop, and more. Tab Active5 Pro can take 1.8M with case on and other devices in the range can take 1.5M drop.
[10]One-year free Knox Suite Enterprise Plan included with Enterprise Edition devices with purchase of subsequent years.
[11] 8 years from first global launch for Tab Active5 Series and 7 Years from first global launch for XCover7 Series.
[12]Doorstep Exchange with Samsung gold stock. Terms apply.
The global electronics giant has decided to take a closer look at the work done by its mentors – a group of Samsung employees who have volunteered their time to support participating students in the 2025 Solve for Tomorrow competition.
The Top 20 schools that were selected to attend this year’s Samsung Solve for Tomorrow – Design Thinking workshops were paired with a group of mentors who were more than ready to turn and empower participating school learners into the next generation of problem-solvers. During these workshops which took place between April 10 and May 30, the 2025 mentors were able to assist both the participating learners and their educators by ensuring that they were equipped with essential skills and tools to approach problem-solving creatively and systematically.
These advisors also played a crucial role in ensuring that the workshops fostered critical thinking, design thinking practices, teamwork and the ability for the learners to develop human-centred solutions. During these workshops, the mentors were able to offer support through Question & Answer (Q&A) sessions, video calls and other forms of communication. And when the work of these mentors was analysed – looking at how they contributed in empowering learners from different schools to transform ideas into tangible solutions that address real-world challenges – ultimately leading to positive change in their communities – this is how the whole process penned out:
Zanele Sobuswa who was assigned to mentor learners form Mthiyaqhwa High School, in Kwa-Zulu Natal expressed just how excited she was to be part of the group of mentors this year as well. Last year, Zanele mentored Mbilwi Secondary School learners that hailed from Limpopo into a second place win. She is convinced that she can also help this year’s KZN-based school to not only move into the Top 10, but also to be part of the Top 3 winners for 2025.
This year, Zanele acted as a support structure – guiding learners of Mthiyaqhwa High School through the competition process and provided them with guidance in areas of problem-solving, research and prototyping. As a committed advisor who contributed to the development of learners last year as well – Zanele has once again helped to develop these incredible learner’s skills in STEM and encouraged their creative thinking capacity.
Another dynamic Samsung employee who returned as a volunteer this year is Rose Legodi. Rose is a very passionate marketing professional at Samsung – she possesses a curious nature, which allows her to approach life with imagination, creativity and an open mind. She was yet again more than willing to share her expertise, experience and guidance with the learners from two Bloemfontein-based schools: Lenakeng Technical and Lereng Secondary Schools.
In addition, Rose played a critical role in guiding learners from the two schools through the competition process and this included brainstorming and research – in preparation for the prototype development stage. She was also able to assist this year’s learners and their educators to not only identify a challenge, but to also come up with a solution that will help address a genuine and pressing issue within their community related to infrastructure and safety, using technology. Like all the other advisors, she also ensured that the ideas for their solutions were based on the 2025 theme: “Infrastructure and Safety”.
Sizwe Mahlobo, another dedicated volunteer was assigned to a Limpopo based school – Thengwe Secondary. Sizwe has played a pivotal role in keeping his students focused and on track throughout the competition. He has successfully provided guidance and support to the learners, helping them to understand the competition’s requirements and develop their solutions. Importantly, during the workshops – Sizwe was able to help both the learners and teachers of Thengwe Secondary School with planning, learning and developing their solution – using the design thinking process.
As a mentor and advisor, he has also managed to offer STEM expertise and experience, checking the learners’ ideas and helping them refine their solutions. Sizwe has successfully provided guidance and support to the learners as they are in the process of developing their projects and prototypes – helping them to refine their ideas even further, while improving their problem-solving skills.
With the help of the Samsung mentors – one of the most significant and consistent takeaways from this year’s workshops is how the learners were able to effortlessly exercise their critical thinking skills. They have now been able to add to their STEM proficiency and are prepared for the rigors of higher education. Another critical observation is the growth in the learners confidence – allowing them to take on leadership roles, collaborate with their peers and successfully prepare to build their fully realised projects from idea to execution.
Samsung’s education-focused, corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes strive to promote innovation and empower youth through technology; with the ultimate aim of addressing societal issues.
These programmes offer support to underprivileged youth and aim to cultivate creative thinking while also providing critical skills training needed by the local economy. By doing so, Samsung is creating opportunities for young people to make a positive impact on their communities and society. Samsung spoke to some of the beneficiaries from its education-focused initiatives that are driven through technology and this is what they had to say:
Siyabonga ‘Siya” Mojalefa Tshabalala originally from Qwaqwa in the Free State was part of the 2022 Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC) programme in partnership with Central University of Technology (CUT). SIC is a global initiative that upskills youth aged 18-25 in future technologies to enhance their employability while focusing on AI, IoT, Big Data and Coding. Siya explained: “ Through this SIC programme – I gained hands-on experience through paper coding, peer programming and projects and these skills have helped me to solve real-world problems. The programme also taught me some important soft skills that are required in work environments, these included communication, critical thinking, problem solving skills and ability to collaborate with others.”
Another beneficiary, 26 year old Mulalo Ndou, did her undergrad in Mathematical Science and majored in Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). She also completed her honours in Risk Analysis (Cum-laude) at the University of the Free State (UFS).
According to Mulalo, Samsung’s bursary fund was her light at the end of the tunnel. Mulalo received funding from Samsung when she needed it to complete her last year of studies. “I lost the funding I had for my studies in my final year and had to go back home, but Samsung came through for me, she said. “This bursary fund paid for my annual fees and accommodation in my final year and postgraduate studies. It also provided me with a monthly meal and living stipend as well as an allowance for a laptop.”
After Mulalo finished her postgrad, Samsung provided her with an internship opportunity. “When the internship period was over, Samsung gave me a full-time position as a Process Improvement Data Analyst/Reporting Specialist am very grateful to the individuals at Samsung who helped me to be successful in my role,” she added. In an effort to pay it forward, Mulalo also works as a volunteer at Rising Females in STEM, as she is also a Rising Female in Technology and Mathematics.
Mulalo said that she has always wanted to be one of the mentors in the Samsung Solve For Tomorrow (SFT) programme. “This SFT opportunity came at the right time and has been an amazing experience. I am learning something new each day from the participating learners and most importantly, how to become a great mentor.”
Nzumbululo Todani, an 18 year old learner from Mbilwi Secondary in Thohoyandou, Limpopo. Nzumbululo is one of the beneficiaries from the SFT contest that challenges students to use STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) skills to solve real-world problems in their respective, local communities. His participation in the SFT competition has proved to be invaluable – he attributes his academic achievements in 2024 to his experience in the programme. Nzumbululo was awarded the top learner in the province for the 2024 NSC examinations with an average aggregate of 97%. Also, he was awarded for obtaining 300/300 in two gateway subjects: Physical Science and Geography.
“When I participated in the contest, I assumed the role of team co-ordinator, managing and planning the daily landscape of the project and doing quality control on the prototype as well as all papers written and the final presentation. The competition left me with invaluable communication, leadership, planning, evaluation and time management skills.”
Thoriso Rangata is a 32 year male entrepreneur and the owner of KTO Digital – a Business Process Automation, Software Development Services and Background Screening Software as a Service (SaaS) solution provider. He currently stays in Johannesburg but is originally from Limpopo and is one of the beneficiaries of the Samsung EEIP Entrepreneurship Development Programme. Thoriso became part of the programme when he responded to a public call for applications. At the time, his business needed support so that they could meet the company’s growth objectives.”
Since being part of the EEIP programme, Thoriso won the Nedbank Business of the Year Award in 2022. His company also launched their own product and received accreditation for the business as a credit bureau in 2022.
“The other direct benefits that we received from being part of the programme included: Grant Funding, Asset Financing and Continuous Business Mentorship that our business needed in order for us to move forward, Thoriso added. “We strongly believe that the skills we acquired from this EEIP programme, which included Business regulatory governance structures and strategic business growth approaches/methods – have contributed to the success of our business to date.”
Through these education-focused CSR programmes that are driven by technology, Samsung is actively promoting the transfer of critical skills as well as both employment and entrepreneurship opportunities that are needed by the country’s youth and the local economy.
The testimonials from the youth that participated in Samsung’s programmes mentioned above, are a clear indication of the impact the company is making in South Africa. By continuing to fund such programmes, Samsung is working towards winning the fight against youth unemployment, inequality and poverty in the country; through job creation and the development of a skilled workforce.
Samsung has officially wrapped up the 2025 “Solve for Tomorrow” Design Thinking Workshops in South Africa, which took place between 10 April and 30 May, with some of the country’s brightest and talented young minds.
These Design Thinking Workshops were part of Phase 2 of the competition – where the top 20 schools were invited to collaborate and develop paper prototypes of their solutions. This phase has offered learners from various schools in the country, an opportunity to experience hands-on collaborative guidance from Samsung’s mentors who helped them to tackle the next phase of their prototype developments.
Themed: “Infrastructure and Safety” – the Design Thinking workshops in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest are designed to equip learners with the skills to transform their ideas into workable solutions, particularly those addressing community challenges. The recent workshops focused on critical thinking, human-centred problem-solving and collaborative design.
According to Lefa Makgato, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager for Samsung Electronics in Southern Africa: “It was amazing to see how well the school learners and their educators that participated in this year’s Design Thinking Workshops responded to their assigned mentors and the experience as a whole. Both the learners and their educators found this experience engaging and beneficial for their learning and design processes.”
“As Samsung, we believe that the activities that these learners engaged in during the workshops are meeting the overall objectives of the Solve for Tomorrow competition. This contest has, from the onset, been seeking to foster collaboration among the learners, educators and their mentors as well as to develop their skills and promote a growth mindset. Importantly, this experience has now encouraged independent learning, challenged the learners’ perspectives and allowed their mentors the opportunity to provide them with valuable feedback.”
Some of the aspects of the Design Thinking workshops included the following:
Skills Development: Learners have gained valuable skills in translating their ideas into practical solutions that can solve their respective communities’ problems.
Human-Centred Design: The workshops emphasised understanding user needs and created solutions that can address real-world challenges.
Cognitive & Structured Processes: Participants have now learnt structured processes for creative problem-solving.
Collaboration & Communication: The workshops have fostered teamwork and improved the learner’s communication skills, which are essential for successful project development.
Prototype Development: These workshops have now successfully prepared learners for the next phase of the competition, where they will develop and present their prototypes.
Inspiration & Motivation: The workshops are designed to foster a mindset of innovation and problem-solving, encouraging learners to “think, speak and act like designers.
Support for Teachers: The workshops have also gone an extra mile as they have benefitted the teachers as well. This platform and the mentors have provided the tools and guidance for the educators to support their learners in the next, prototype development phase.
And furthermore, with the help of Samsung mentors – the workshops have cultivated a mindset of innovation and great problem-solving skills. The Samsung team is convinced that the solutions developed by the brilliant learners in conjunction with their educators during this year’s workshops – have the potential to make a real difference in their respective communities.
Makgato added: “We are pleased with the impact and outcomes of this year’s Design Thinking Workshops. And, we are certain that these workshops have achieved the objective of enhancing the learners’ ability to identify, analyse and solve problems creatively and effectively.
“As Samsung, we remain committed to using programmes such as the Solve for Tomorrow to bridge the country’s resource gap in STEM education. We believe that by fostering innovation and social impact through technology, we also inspire learners to use their skills to improve their respective communities,” she concluded.
Tasmanian politics has been thrown into chaos after a Labor motion of no confidence forced Premier Jeremy Rockliff to either resign or call for a new election. The premier opted for the latter, with Tasmanians to vote on July 19, only something over a year into the four-year term.
In Tasmania, Australia’s smallest state in terms of both size and population, local issues dominate. Labor homed in on economic mismanagement.
But there is controversy over the Macquarie Point Hobart AFL stadium (which the major parties support) as well as the state’s important salmon industry, which saw a lot of attention federally in the lead-up to the last election.
To talk all things Tasmanian, we’re joined by Independent Tasmanian Senator Tammy Tyrrell. She was elected in 2022 under the banner of the Jacqui Lambie Network a former member of the party but left last year. We talk about the state election, as well as federal issues and the new Senate.
Tyrrell laments Tasmanians’ being made to vote again so soon,
I was out and about on the northwest coast of Tasmania all day yesterday and everybody was like, what the heck is going on? They don’t want to go to an election, the people of Tasmania, they want the parliament to actually be grown ups and sort it out amongst themselves.
The budget in Tasmania is in a shambles and we’re so far in the red that we can’t see any way out of it. But really? There’s no way that the Labor [party] is going to form government unless they form a minority government and no Tasmanian will support a Labor-Greens government again in a hurry. But I really think that the Liberal government should have elevated somebody else from within to be the leader, to be the premier.
On her former boss Jacqui Lambie whose party has now collapsed, Tyrrell says it’s because of the kind of person she is,
[In] the federal election, Jacqui focused outside of Tasmania. She focused on expanding the network. And it didn’t work for her because she didn’t campaign enough here in Tasmania.
It’s a shame that she’s not supporting the candidate that is still sitting with her under the network. […] I think she should have stuck by Andrew Jenner and supported him through this [Tasmanian] election because he has shown loyalty to her and he has stuck it through thick and thin. So I believe he should be able to run back under the banner.
Jacqui is a strong person and the network had every chance to be a strong network, but Jacqui [is] not really a team player. She’s more of a single athlete because she’s so determined and strong of her opinion and it’s hard to take a group forward when you’ve got such a strong force that does not communicate sideways very well. She is a strong human being and I still believe in Jacqui but it makes it hard for her to have a team.
On the salmon farming industry, while Tyrrell voices her support, she agrees that environmental concerns do matter,
I support any industry that puts jobs and money into small rural and regional communities in Tasmania. I agree that they need to be as eco and as green friendly as possible and I know that the salmon industry is doing things to be clean and as green as possible. But I also believe that we need to look after the people who live and work in Tasmania.
We can’t sacrifice an industry completely just to satisfy the people that don’t like the salmon industry. I will always support the people of Tasmania and encourage industry and business to be as eco-friendly as possible, which is why we’re encouraging as many biofuels and eco-green fuel companies as possible to come to Tasmania, and thrive here.
On reports that the Nationals approached her to join their party. Tyrell says while she didn’t seriously consider it, she took it as a “compliment”,
It was a big compliment though. The Nats represent rural and regional Australia beautifully, by speaking their voice and for them to see that I am representing the people of Tasmania in a good light. It was a huge compliment to be approached to join them. But I’d already been in a relationship and I’m quite happy being a single divorcee.
It’s amazing being an independent, it means that I can say and do what my community wants me to in their voice without having to agree to broad-sweeping politics or legislative ideas that I don’t agree with fundamentally.
Michelle Grattan 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.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Correspondence
London Borough of Croydon: Ministerial response to the Improvement and Assurance Panel
Response from the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution, Jim McMahon OBE MP, to Tony McArdle OBE, Chair of the London Borough of Croydon Improvement and Assurance Panel.
Copy of the response from the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution, Jim McMahon OBE MP, to the Chair of the Improvement and Assurance Panel, Tony McArdle OBE, regarding the London Borough of Croydon Improvement and Assurance Panel’s ninth report.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Correspondence
London Borough of Croydon: Letter to the Chief Executive (12 June 2025)
Letter from James Blythe, Deputy Director, Local Government Stewardship and Interventions to Katherine Kerswell, Chief Executive of the London Borough of Croydon.
Copy of the letter from James Blythe, Deputy Director, Local Government Stewardship and Interventions at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to London Borough of Croydon Council Chief Executive, Katherine Kerswell, confirming the Secretary of State’s ‘minded to’ decision to intervene and appoint commissioners to the council under section 15(5) and (6) of the Local Government Act 1999 and inviting representations from the council on the proposed intervention package.
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
TIANJIN, June 12 (Xinhua) — The added value of China’s seaport cities in the port economy will reach 6.7 trillion yuan (about 933 billion U.S. dollars) in 2024, up 360.6 billion yuan from 2023, according to a report released at the 3rd Tianjin International Shipping Expo that opened here on Thursday.
The report, compiled by the Planning and Research Institute under the Ministry of Transport of China, provides a comprehensive assessment of the development level of port economies in 59 Chinese seaport cities.
According to the report, the port economy refers to the set of economic activities that operate in port cities and are based on ports. The port economy accounts for 13.6 percent of the total economy of 59 Chinese port cities.
The seaport cities located in the Yangtze River Delta account for 44.9 percent of the added value in the national port economy, demonstrating the region’s leading role in the national port economy.
According to the authors of the report, ports have played a key role in the development of the secondary sector of the economy of coastal cities. Rapid growth rates have been observed in emerging industries of strategic importance, such as the production of computers, communications equipment and electronic equipment. Ports are increasingly supporting the industrial modernization of the country’s interior.
“We strongly believe that the port economy still has great development potential. China’s port economy will become a powerful engine for the implementation of a new development paradigm,” said Liu Zhanshan, deputy director of the institute. -0-
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, June 12 (Xinhua) — China calls on the United States to strictly abide by the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and work together with China to promote stable and sustainable development of the two countries’ economic and trade relations based on the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, He Yadong, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce, said on Thursday.
He made this statement at a regular departmental press conference in response to a journalist’s question on the matter, emphasizing that China’s position against a unilateral increase in customs duties remains unchanged.
According to him, from June 9 to 10, the negotiating teams on trade and economic issues between China and the United States held the first meeting in London within the framework of the mechanism of trade and economic consultations between the two countries.
At the meeting, the two sides reached fundamental agreement on implementing the important consensus reached by the two heads of state during their telephone conversation on June 5 and on the framework of measures to consolidate the results of the trade and economic talks in Geneva, He Yadong said, adding that new progress was also made in resolving mutual concerns in the trade and economic field between the two sides.
In the future, both sides are willing to make better use of the role of the China-US trade and economic consultation mechanism, continue to maintain consultations and dialogue, constantly strengthen consensus and reduce misunderstandings, and increase interaction to jointly promote the stable and long-term development of trade and economic relations between the two countries. -0-
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, June 12 (Xinhua) — The body of Zhedi, former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) of China, was cremated in Beijing on Thursday.
Xi Jinping and other Party and state leaders including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi bid farewell to Zhedi at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery on Thursday.
With mournful music playing, they slowly approached Zhedy’s body, stood in silent respect, and bowed three times to the body of the deceased. They also shook hands with Zhedy’s family members and expressed their condolences.
Zhedi died of illness at the age of 87 in Beijing on June 6.
Zhedi was recognized as an outstanding member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), a loyal fighter for the ideals of communism, an outstanding leader in the work on nationality affairs and in the development of the socialist legal system, and a worthy son of the Tibetan people.
Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi, Han Zheng and Hu Jintao either visited Zhedi during his hospital stay or expressed their deep sorrow and condolences to his relatives in various ways after his death. -0-
A Cambodian woman who grew up amid landmines now clears them as a UN peacekeeper in Lebanon. A Sudanese civil society leader rallies displaced women to reclaim their voices in peacebuilding. Young activists from the divided communities of Cyprus foster dialogue and understanding in a deeply complex and long-standing conflict. These are just a few of the extraordinary stories captured in Through Her Lens: Women Rising for Peace, a striking photo exhibition that premiered on 7 June 2025 at Brooklyn Bridge Park as part of the Photoville Festival.
“Too often, women in conflict are portrayed only as victims,” said Natasha Lamoreux of UN Women. “But these photographs tell a different story. They show women as peacekeepers, negotiators, human rights defenders — leaders actively shaping peace.”
From Sudan to Cyprus, Haiti to Lebanon, the UN collaborated with local women photographers who not only document the lives of women but also share in their struggles, striving to build peace in their communities, which creates an intimate and powerful perspective.
“This exhibit is the culmination of months of partnership between the four organizing entities as well as between headquarters and field-based colleagues,” said Shatha Hussein from the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs. “We worked on very difficult contexts and turbulent situations that are changing by the day. So working with women on the ground to amplify their efforts through this initiative was not easy in any of the contexts featured, but their commitment, despite the odds, made this possible.”
Preparing this exhibit has been a profound challenge — one that mirrors the obstacles women face daily in conflict zones. Intense fighting spiked early this year in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan as the photoshoots were being planned.
“These images are more than art — they are a collective story of resilience, acts of resistance, and transformation,” said Sophie Boudre of the UN Department of Peace Operations. “They declare that women’s rights must be protected, their leadership recognized, and their voices heard wherever peace is made.”
Rooted in the Women, Peace and Security agenda launched by UN Security Council Resolution 1325, the exhibit underscores both the critical roles women play in peacebuilding and the persistent challenges they face — including a rising global backlash against gender equality.
The Through Her Lens exhibit is on view through 22 June 2025 at Pier 1 of the Brooklyn Bridge Park. It will also be shown at UN Headquarters in time for a Security Council open debate on Women, Peace and Security at the end of October. Importantly, the exhibit will travel to the regions featured in the photographs — bringing these powerful stories full circle.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi completes 11 years in office, the Ministry of Ayush has launched preparations for the 11th International Day of Yoga (IDY) 2025, heralding it as a global wellness movement. At a curtain-raiser event held at the National Media Centre in New Delhi, the Ministry announced that PM Modi will lead a historic yoga session with over five lakh participants in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, on June 21, under the theme “Yoga for One Earth, One Health.”
Union Minister of State for Ayush, Prataprao Jadhav, joined by Secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, addressed the media, reflecting on IDY’s transformative journey since its inception. “Following the visionary call of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the United Nations adopted June 21 as International Day of Yoga in 2014, sparking a global movement rooted in India’s ancient wisdom,” Jadhav said. He highlighted past celebrations in New Delhi, Mysuru, New York, and Srinagar, which have united diverse cultures in the pursuit of health, harmony, and peace.
This year’s IDY, marking its 11th edition, aims to deepen yoga’s reach across society. The Visakhapatnam event will feature the Common Yoga Protocol (CYP), while “Yoga Sangam” sessions at over one lakh locations nationwide will create one of the largest synchronized yoga demonstrations in history. The theme “Yoga for One Earth, One Health” echoes India’s G20 Presidency vision and the ethos of “Sarve Santu Niramaya” (May all be free from disease), promoting holistic well-being.
Jadhav commended the Andhra Pradesh government and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for their “YogaAndhra” campaign, which seeks to build a community of 10 lakh regular yoga practitioners. He outlined ten Signature Events planned over 100 days, including Yoga Samavesh for inclusivity and Yoga Bandhan for international partnerships, to promote yoga as a way of life. Countdown events at 100-day, 75-day, 50-day, and 25-day milestones in Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Nashik, and Puducherry have already generated significant enthusiasm.
“Yoga is more than postures and breathing—it’s a lifestyle,” Jadhav told the media, urging their support to make IDY 2025 a landmark event inspiring millions to embrace yoga for a healthier, happier society.
Secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha noted that over 60 countries are organizing activities for IDY 2025, aligning with the theme and Signature Events. Shri P.N. Ranjit Kumar, Officer on Special Duty for IDY Coordination, presented the event’s scale and strategy, emphasizing collaborations with state governments, civil society, and global partners. The Ministry is leveraging digital tools and grassroots mobilization to position IDY 2025 as a global celebration of wellness.
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) has approved a financing package of up to $184.1 million to support the development of the Obelisk 1-gigawatt solar photovoltaic project and 200MWh battery energy storage system in Egypt, which will be Africa’s largest solar power plant.
Located in Qena Governorate in southern Egypt, the project entails the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of a photovoltaic power plant with an integrated battery energy storage system. The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company will be the sole off-taker under a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement.
The project’s total cost is estimated at more than $590 million. The Bank Group’s financing package includes $125.5 million of ordinary resources, as well as concessional funding from Bank Group-managed Special Funds the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) worth $20 million, and the Canada-African Development Bank Climate Fund ($18.6 million), a partnership of the Bank Group and the Government of Canada. A further $20 million will come from the Climate Investment Funds’ Clean Technology Fund, with additional financing to be mobilized from a consortium of development finance institutions.
Under Egypt’s Nexus of Water, Food, and Energy (NWFE) platform, Obelisk has been granted a Golden License by the government, which recognizes it as a strategic initiative that will contribute to addressing Egypt’s energy constraints and advancing its energy transition.
Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Egypt’s Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation, said “the Obelisk solar project is another important milestone for Egypt under the energy pillar of the NWFE program which has since its launch in November 2022 at COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh delivered 4.2 GW of privately financed renewable energy investments, worth about $4 billion, with the support of partners such as the Africa Development Bank. The goal of NWFE’s energy pillar is to add 10 GW of renewable energy capacity with investments of approximately $10 billion, and phase out 5 GW of fossil fuel power generation by 2030.”
The project, expected to be fully operational by the third quarter of 2026, will generate an estimated 2,772 gigawatt-hours of clean, reliable, and affordable energy annually to the national grid. The battery energy storage system will help meet peak evening demand with renewable power while also mitigating the variability of solar power generation. The project is expected to reduce annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by approximately one million tons and create about 4,000 jobs during construction and 50 permanent jobs during operation, with a special focus on women and youth employment.
“Obelisk is another landmark development under NWFE that leverages on Egypt’s and the African Development Bank’s leadership as well as commitment to harnessing the country’s renewable energy to enhance the resilience of the country’s energy supply to meet its fast-growing energy demand sustainably,” said Kevin Kariuki, African Development Bank Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate, and Green Growth. “This project also contributes to Egypt’s ambition of producing 42 percent of its power generation capacity from renewable energy sources by 2030 while spurring economic growth and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,”
Ambassador of Canada to the Arab Republic of Egypt Ulric Shannon said: “Canada is proud to support solar energy development in Egypt. This initiative is a meaningful step toward enhancing energy security and stability, with direct benefits for the Egyptian people. We are pleased to collaborate with the African Development Bank and other partners in supporting Egypt’s transition to a sustainable, low-carbon economy.”
The Obelisk Solar Project aligns with the African Development Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy, its New Deal on Energy for Africa, and its Country Strategy Paper for Egypt as well as SEFA’s strategic framework which aims to accelerate African countries energy transition by increasing the share of renewables and catalyzing commercial capital mobilization in the power sector. The project also advances Egypt’s commitment to achieve 42 percent generation capacity from renewable energy sources by 2030.
“This project exploits the abundant renewable energy potential in Africa and demonstrates how strong partnerships and innovative solutions contribute to balancing three core objectives in the energy sector, namely energy security, affordability, and sustainable economic development,” said Wale Shonibare, Director of Energy Financial Solutions, Policy, and Regulation at the African Development Bank. “It has high potential for replicability across the continent.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
Media Contact: Olufemi Terry Communication and External Relations Department o.terry@afdb.org
Technical Contact: James Otto Senior Investment Officer Energy Financial Solution and Policy Regulations Department j.otto@afdb.org
About the African Development Bank Group: The African Development Bank Group is Africa’s premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 41 African countries with an external office in Japan, the Bank contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information: www.AfDB.org
The genocide is almost complete. When it is concluded it will have exposed the moral bankruptcy of Western civilisation, writes Chris Hedges.
ANALYSIS: By Chris Hedges
This is the end. The final blood-soaked chapter of the genocide.
It will be over soon. Weeks. At most.
Two million people are camped out amongst the rubble or in the open air. Dozens are killed and wounded daily from Israeli shells, missiles, drones, bombs and bullets.
They lack clean water, medicine and food. They have reached a point of collapse. Sick. Injured. Terrified. Humiliated. Abandoned. Destitute. Starving. Hopeless.
In the last pages of this horror story, Israel is sadistically baiting starving Palestinians with promises of food, luring them to the narrow and congested nine-mile ribbon of land that borders Egypt. Israel and its cynically named Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), allegedly funded by Israel’s Ministry of Defense and the Mossad, is weaponising starvation.
It is enticing Palestinians to southern Gaza the way the Nazis enticed starving Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto to board trains to the death camps. The goal is not to feed the Palestinians. No one seriously argues there is enough food or aid hubs. The goal is to cram Palestinians into heavily guarded compounds and deport them.
What comes next? I long ago stopped trying to predict the future. Fate has a way of surprising us. But there will be a final humanitarian explosion in Gaza’s human slaughterhouse. We see it with the surging crowds of Palestinians fighting to get a food parcel, which has resulted in Israeli and US private contractors shooting dead at least 130 and wounding over seven hundred others in the first eight days of aid distribution.
We see it with Benjamin Netanyahu’s armingISIS-linked gangs in Gaza that loot food supplies. Israel, which has eliminated hundreds of employees with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), doctors, journalists, civil servants and police in targeted assassinations, has orchestrated the implosion of civil society.
I suspect Israel will facilitate a breach in the fence along the Egyptian border. Desperate Palestinians will stampede into the Egyptian Sinai. Maybe it will end some other way. But it will end soon. There is not much more Palestinians can take.
We — full participants in this genocide — will have achieved our demented goal of emptying Gaza and expanding Greater Israel. We will bring down the curtain on the live-streamed genocide. We will have mocked the ubiquitous university programmes of Holocaust studies, designed, it turns out, not to equip us to end genocides, but deify Israel as an eternal victim licensed to carry out mass slaughter.
The mantra of never again is a joke. The understanding that when we have the capacity to halt genocide and we do not, we are culpable, does not apply to us. Genocide is public policy. Endorsed and sustained by our two ruling parties.
There is nothing left to say. Maybe that is the point. To render us speechless. Who does not feel paralyzed? And maybe, that too, is the point. To paralyse us. Who is not traumatised? And maybe that too was planned. Nothing we do, it seems, can halt the killing. We feel defenceless. We feel helpless. Genocide as spectacle.
I have stopped looking at the images. The rows of little shrouded bodies. The decapitated men and women. Families burned alive in their tents. The children who have lost limbs or are paralyzed. The chalky death masks of those pulled from under the rubble. The wails of grief. The emaciated faces. I can’t.
This genocide will haunt us. It will echo down history with the force of a tsunami. It will divide us forever. There is no going back.
Palestinians under the rubble in 2023 after Israeli airstrike of homes in the Gaza Strip. Image: Ashraf Amra /United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East/ Wikimedia Commons /CC BY-SA 4.0
And how will we remember? By not remembering.
Once it is over, all those who supported it, all those who ignored it, all those who did nothing, will rewrite history, including their personal history. It was hard to find anyone who admitted to being a Nazi in post-war Germany, or a member of the Klu Klux Klan once segregation in the southern United States ended.
A nation of innocents. Victims even. It will be the same. We like to think we would have saved Anne Frank. The truth is different. The truth is, crippled by fear, nearly all of us will only save ourselves, even at the expense of others. But that is a truth that is hard to face. That is the real lesson of the Holocaust. Better it be erased.
“Should a drone vaporize some nameless soul on the other side of the planet, who among us wants to make a fuss? What if it turns out they were a terrorist?
“What if the default accusation proves true, and we by implication be labeled terrorist sympathisers, ostracised, yelled at? It is generally the case that people are most zealously motivated by the worst plausible thing that could happen to them.
“For some, the worst plausible thing might be the ending of their bloodline in a missile strike. Their entire lives turned to rubble and all of it preemptively justified in the name of fighting terrorists who are terrorists by default on account of having been killed. For others, the worst plausible thing is being yelled at.”
You cannot decimate a people, carry out saturation bombing over 20 months to obliterate their homes, villages and cities, massacre tens of thousands of innocent people, set up a siege to ensure mass starvation, drive them from land where they have lived for centuries and not expect blowback.
The genocide will end. The response to the reign of state terror will begin. If you think it won’t you know nothing about human nature or history. The killing of two Israeli diplomats in Washington and the attack against supporters of Israel at a protest in Boulder, Colorado, are only the start.
Chaim Engel, who took part in the uprising at the Nazis’ Sobibor death camp in Poland, described how, armed with a knife, he attacked a guard in the camp.
“It’s not a decision,” Engel explained years later. “You just react, instinctively you react to that, and I figured, ‘Let us to do, and go and do it.’ And I went.
“I went with the man in the office and we killed this German. With every jab, I said, ‘That is for my father, for my mother, for all these people, all the Jews you killed.’”
The Sobibor extermination camp gate in the spring of 1943. The pine branches, braided into the fence to make it difficult to see in from the outside. Image: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
Does anyone expect Palestinians to act differently? How are they to react when Europe and the United States, who hold themselves up as the vanguards of civilisation, backed a genocide that butchered their parents, their children, their communities, occupied their land and blasted their cities and homes into rubble? How can they not hate those who did this to them?
What message has this genocide imparted not only to Palestinians, but to all in the Global South?
It is unequivocal. You do not matter. Humanitarian law does not apply to you. We do not care about your suffering, the murder of your children. You are vermin. You are worthless. You deserve to be killed, starved and dispossessed. You should be erased from the face of the earth.
“To preserve the values of the civilised world, it is necessary to set fire to a library,” El Akkad writes:
“To blow up a mosque. To incinerate olive trees. To dress up in the lingerie of women who fled and then take pictures.
“To level universities. To loot jewelry, art, food. Banks. To arrest children for picking vegetables. To shoot children for throwing stones.
“To parade the captured in their underwear. To break a man’s teeth and shove a toilet brush in his mouth. To let combat dogs loose on a man with Down syndrome and then leave him to die. “Otherwise, the uncivilised world might win.”
There are people I have known for years who I will never speak to again. They know what is happening. Who does not know? They will not risk alienating their colleagues, being smeared as an antisemite, jeopardising their status, being reprimanded or losing their jobs.
They do not risk death, the way Palestinians do. They risk tarnishing the pathetic monuments of status and wealth they spent their lives constructing. Idols.
They bow down before these idols. They worship these idols. They are enslaved by them.
At the feet of these idols lie tens of thousands of murdered Palestinians.
Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent for 15 years for The New York Times, where he served as the Middle East bureau chief and Balkan bureau chief for the paper. He previously worked overseas for The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor and NPR. He is the host of show The Chris Hedges Report.This article was first published in Scheerpost.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Scientists comment on a drought status confirmed in Yorkshire, as announced by the Environment Agency.
Dr Jess Neumann, Associate Professor in Hydrology, University of Reading, said:
“The drought announcement in Yorkshire comes only a few weeks after parts of north-west England declared a drought.
“An unseasonably dry spring, the driest in nearly 90 years, means many reservoir levels are only 60-65% full, well below the 80-85% average for this time of year. The lack of rainfall is placing significant strain on public water supplies, affecting agricultural crop production, and harming wildlife and the environment.
“Water companies are implementing their drought action plans as another warm and dry week is forecast ahead. Small actions and changes to behaviour can have an important role to play. People should be mindful of their water use, and I would urge everyone to develop water-saving habits. Small actions such as capturing water from the tap in a jug while waiting for it to run hot, turning taps off when brushing your teeth, and using a watering can rather than a hose in the garden may prevent harsher restrictions, such as so-called “hosepipe bans” being needed, in the coming weeks and months.
“Two large areas of England are now in drought status. This raises important questions about the security of our water in the long term. Water is no longer abundant and plentiful. We urgently need to adjust to a future of climate change and water stress and invest in infrastructure and regulations to save water.
“At the same time, the forecast for the UK is suggesting that there is potential for some torrential downpours and thunderstorms, which may bring rapid flash flooding, especially to the west of England and Wales, but with eastern England, southern Scotland and Northern Ireland also at risk.
“The recent dry weather conditions, which can lead to dry soils or baked, hard ground, may actually increase run-off rates, potentially increasing the risk of hazardous flash flooding.
“Currently the UK is sandwiched between high pressure to the east and low pressure in the west, driving hot, humid air across the country, creating conditions for active thunderstorms.
“The current climatic picture in the UK shows water stress and uncertainty in some regions while other areas are facing risks of flooding. This pattern of extreme weather and regional variability is in keeping with the impacts of the hotter atmosphere and warmer, higher seas that we are already experiencing as a result of our increasingly changing climate.”
Declared interests
Jess Neumann: “I am a trustee of the Charity River Mole River Watch. We work with water companies including SES Water and the Environment Agency.”
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
HOHHOT, June 12 — The 110,000th China-Europe freight train exited China via northern Inner Mongolia’s Erenhot Port, the largest land port on the China-Mongolia border, on Thursday.
The train, loaded with 55 containers of home appliances, worth nearly 20 million yuan (about 2.79 million U.S. dollars), departed Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province on Tuesday. The train’s departure marks a major milestone in the high-quality development of the China-Europe freight train service.
The train is expected to reach its destination in Moscow, Russia, in about two weeks, according to the port.
As the only port of entry and exit on the middle corridor of the China-Europe freight train service, Erenhot Port now operates 73 China-Europe freight train routes. It connects China with over 70 hub stations in more than 10 countries and regions, including Germany, Poland and Russia.
The port has operated over 19,000 China-Europe freight trains since 2013. In the first five months of this year, the port handled 1,489 inbound and outbound China-Europe freight trains, transporting nearly 1.9 million tonnes, or 168,800 TEUs of goods, representing year-on-year growth of 5.3 percent, 8.2 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively.
“With the regular operation of the China-Europe freight train service, the transportation time for our products to reach Europe has been shortened from 45 days to 15 days, and the logistics cost per tonne has been cut by approximately 600 yuan, laying a solid foundation for the development of the local agricultural product industry,” said Cui Xuesong, deputy manager of an international logistics park management committee located over 300 km from the port.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, June 12 — China has fully established a voluntary blood donation system and introduced a range of measures to ensure a safe blood supply, according to the National Health Commission (NHC).
China has expanded its blood screening programs and improved testing technologies, effectively blocking the transmission of major infectious diseases through transfusion, Gao Guangming, an official with the NHC, said at a press conference on Thursday.
China’s overall blood safety level now ranks among the highest in the world, Gao said.
The country has strengthened its nationwide emergency response system for blood supply, enabling targeted cross-regional allocation to ensure adequate blood supply in key areas and during critical periods, he said.
To boost public awareness of voluntary blood donation, the NHC partnered with China Railway Group to display promotional videos and posters on 260,000 screens across more than 3,000 railway stations and over 4,200 high-speed trains nationwide, Gao said.
He added that Party and government organs, universities and colleges, enterprises and public institutions are encouraged to lead by example in blood donations, and help foster a culture of giving in society.
The country has a blood donation rate of 11.4 per 1,000 people, the NHC revealed at the press conference.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, June 12 — Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Thursday met with the European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde in Beijing, where he called for enhanced opening up and cooperation between the two sides.
Noting that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the European Union (EU), Li said China is willing to work with the EU to consolidate political mutual trust, expand practical cooperation, and jointly promote development and prosperity.
The economies of China and the EU are highly complementary, and China has the advantage of a super-large market and market potential that continues to be released, Li said, adding that there is great potential for cooperation between the two sides in many fields.
As two major economies and two major forces, China and the EU should enhance multilateral coordination, promote opening up and cooperation, and make greater contributions to promoting the recovery of the global economy and improving global governance, Li said.
He said China is willing to strengthen cooperation with the ECB on the reform of the international monetary system, and China will firmly expand its opening up and share development opportunities with other countries.
Lagarde said tariff wars and trade wars will only lead to a lose-lose situation, and upholding multilateralism and strengthening the opening up and cooperation are the right options.
The ECB is pleased to establish a meeting mechanism of the central bank governors with China and hold its first meeting, and is committed to strengthening communication and coordination with Chinese financial institutions, expanding and deepening cooperation areas, and jointly addressing global challenges, Lagarde said.
Three teenagers have pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Fredi Rivero.
Three girls, aged 15, 16, and 17, from north-east London have pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 75-year-old Fredi Rivero.
The girls, who cannot be named because of their age, are due to be sentenced on a date to be set in September at the Old Bailey.
On Thursday, 27 February officers were called to reports of an assault at a bus stop on Seven Sisters Road. Fredi was found with serious head injuries. Sadly he died in hospital a day later as a result of his injuries.
The three girls were arrested shortly after the assault and officers found one of them had filmed the unprovoked attack on her phone.
“Mr Rivero was a much-loved family man who died in a truly tragic incident. I know how much his death has impacted those close to him and the wider community.
“I would like to offer my heart-felt sympathy to Mr Rivero’s family for their loss and express my admiration for the dignity they have shown throughout the investigation. I also wish to thank the members of public who went to Mr Rivero’s aid as he lay injured.
“The young defendants have now accepted they were responsible for the killing of Mr Rivero, in what was a senseless and completely out of the blue attack on a lone elderly man. The age of the defendants adds to the devastating nature of this incident and they will now have to deal with the enormity of their actions.”
The girls were charged with manslaughter on Saturday, 1 March.
Conducted by Queen Mary University in partnership with White & Case, the 2025 International Arbitration Survey results state:
“The ICC Arbitration Rules are highly regarded, with many interviewees highlighting their established reputation and ease of use for arbitrators and counsel, as well as the support of the Secretariat.”
The survey revealed a strong preference among arbitration communities on every continent for the ICC Arbitration Rules, from a choice of more than 60 sets of rules. The ICC Rules took top position in Africa (53%), the Caribbean and Latin America (74%), Europe (60%), the Middle East (59%) and North America (55%), underlining the global character and adaptability of the regulations.
In 2024, 831 new cases were filed under the ICC Arbitration Rules, with a total of 2,392 parties from 136 jurisdictions.
Claudia Salomon, President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, said:
“We’re delighted that the ICC Court again tops the list of the Queen Mary Study as the most-preferred arbitral institution globally. Our services are built on over 100 years of experience, combined with our continued focus on meeting the evolving needs of the parties. We take this opportunity to thank those who entrust the resolution of their disputes to ICC. Our ranking would not be possible without the exemplary leadership and dedication of the ICC Court members and the Secretariat”.
The 2025 International Arbitration Survey investigates current trends in user preferences and perceptions, as well as opportunities to shape the future of international arbitration practice. The 2025 edition is the result of 2,402 questionnaire responses and 117 interviews with a diverse pool of participants.
Full survey findings are available on the Queen Mary University London website
Large cuts to government-funded research and development can endanger American innovation – and the vital productivity gains it supports.
The Trump administration has already canceled at least US$1.8 billion in research grants previously awarded by the National Institutes of Health, which supports biomedical and health research. Its preliminary budget request for the 2026 fiscal year proposed slashing federal funding for scientific and health research, cutting the NIH budget by another $18 billion – nearly a 40% reduction. The National Science Foundation, which funds much of the basic scientific research conducted at universities, would see its budget slashed by $5 billion – cutting it by more than half.
Research and development spending might strike you as an unnecessary expense for the government. Perhaps you see it as something universities or private companies should instead be paying for themselves. But as research I’ve conducted shows, if the government were to abandon its long-standing practice of investing in R&D, it would significantly slow the pace of U.S. innovation and economic growth.
I’m an economist at Texas A&M University. For the past five years, I’ve been studying the long-term economic benefits of government-funded R&D with Karel Mertens, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. We have found that government R&D spending on everything from the Apollo space program to the Human Genome Project has fueled innovation. We also found that federal R&D spending has played a significant role in boosting U.S. productivity and spurring economic growth over the past 75 years.
Measuring productivity
Productivity rises when economic growth is caused by technological progress and know-how, rather than workers putting in more hours or employers using more equipment and machinery. Economists believe that higher productivity fuels economic growth and raises living standards over the long run.
U.S. productivity growth fell by half, from an average of roughly 2% a year in the 1950s and 1960s to about 1%, starting in the early 1970s. This deceleration eerily coincides with a big decline in government R&D spending, which peaked at over 1.8% of gross domestic product in the mid-1960s. Government R&D spending has declined since then and has fallen by half – to below 0.9% of GDP – today.
Government R&D spending encompasses all innovative work the government directly pays for, regardless of who does it. Private companies and universities conduct a lot of this work, as do national labs and federal agencies, like the NIH.
Correlation is not causation. But in a Dallas Fed working paper released in November 2024, my co-author and I identified a strong causal link between government R&D spending and U.S. productivity growth. We estimated that government R&D spending consistently accounted for more than 20% of all U.S. productivity growth since World War II. And a decline in that spending after the 1960s can account for nearly one-fourth of the deceleration in productivity since then.
These significant productivity gains came from R&D investments by federal agencies that are not focused on national defense. Examples include the NIH’s support for biomedical research, the Department of Energy’s funding for physics and energy research, and NASA’s spending on aeronautics and space exploration technologies.
Not all productivity growth is driven by government R&D. Economists think public investment in physical infrastructure, such as construction of the interstate highway system starting in the Eisenhower administration, also spurred productivity growth. And U.S. productivity growth briefly accelerated during the information technology boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s, which we do not attribute to government R&D investment.
More R than D
We have found that government R&D investment is more effective than private R&D spending at driving productivity, likely because the private sector tends to spend much more on the development side of R&D, while the public sector tends to emphasize research.
Like the private sector, the Department of Defense spends much more on development – of weapons and military technology – than on fundamental research. We found only inconclusive evidence on the returns on military R&D.
R&D work funded by the Defense Department also tends to initially be classified and kept secret from geopolitical rivals, such as the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb. As a result, gains for the whole economy from that source of innovation could take longer to materialize than the 15-year time frame we have studied.
The high returns on nondefense R&D that we estimated suggest that Congress has historically underinvested in these areas. For instance, the productivity gains from nondefense R&D are at least 10 times higher than those from government investments in highways, bridges and other kinds of physical infrastructure. The government has also invested far more in physical infrastructure than R&D over the past 75 years. Increasing R&D investment would take advantage of these higher returns and gradually reduce them because of diminishing marginal returns to additional investment.
So why is the government not spending substantially more on R&D?
One argument sometimes heard against federal R&D spending is that it displaces, or “crowds out,” R&D spending the private sector would otherwise undertake. For instance, the administration’s budget request proposed reducing or eliminating NASA space technology programs it deemed “better suited to private sector research and development.”
But my colleague and I have found that government spending on R&D complements private investment. An additional dollar of government nondefense R&D spending causes the private sector to increase its R&D spending by an additional 20 cents. So we expect budget cuts to the NIH, NSF and NASA to actually reduce R&D spending by companies, which is also bad for economic growth.
Federal R&D spending is also often on the chopping block whenever Congress focuses on deficit reduction. In part, that likely reflects the gradual nature of the economic benefits from government-funded R&D, which are at odds with the country’s four-year electoral cycles.
Similarly, the benefits from NIH spending on biomedical research are usually less visible than government spending on Medicare or Medicaid, which are health insurance programs for those 65 years and older and those with low incomes or disabilities. But Medicare or Medicaid help Americans buy prescription drugs and medical devices that were invented with the help of NIH-funded research.
Even if the benefits of government R&D are slow to materialize or are harder to see than those from other government programs, our research suggests that the U.S. economy will be less innovative and productive – and Americans will be worse off for it – if Congress agrees to deep cuts to science and research funding.
The views expressed in the Dallas Fed working paper are the views of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas or the Federal Reserve System.
Andrew Fieldhouse does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
It is true that college students’ mental health has deteriorated in many regards during the past two decades.
The Healthy Minds Study, which gathers national survey data on tens of thousands of students annually, has found that the percentage who considered suicide in the prior year rose from 6% in 2007 to 13% in 2024. The percentage of students who made a specific suicide plan tripled during that period.
While some news reports portray the current state of student mental health as an unprecedented crisis, the full picture is more nuanced. As a psychologist who has been researching college student mental health for more than 20 years, as summarized in my recent book, “College Student Mental Health and Wellness: Coping on Campus,” I believe recent data suggests a turning of the tide.
The 2024 Health Minds Study found a slight decrease over the previous two years in the percentage of students contemplating suicide.
Data also reveals a similar decline in the percentage of students dealing with severe anxiety from 2022 to 2024.
The study marks the first time since data collection began on suicide or severe anxiety that there has been a two-year decrease in either area.
Reason for concern
The demand for psychological services at college and university counseling centers has outpaced growth in undergraduate enrollment. Peter Dazeley/Getty Images
To be clear, there is reason for concern about the psychological well-being of college students.
Healthy Minds Study researchers found that in 2007, 9% of college students were taking psychotropic medication such as antidepressants. In 2024, that number had grown to 26%.
A 2024 national survey conducted by the American College Health Association found that more than a third of students received mental health care in the previous year.
The demand for psychological services at college and university counseling centers has outpaced growth in undergraduate enrollment more than fourfold.
Findings from another national dataset gathered by the Center for Collegiate Mental Health, an international network of more than 800 college and university counseling centers, indicate that from 2010 to 2024, depression symptoms increased 18% among students receiving psychological services, general anxiety symptoms rose more than 25%, and social anxiety symptoms climbed more than 30%.
In addition, students’ family-related distress steadily increased during the past decade.
The sky is not falling
Despite disturbing trends in student mental health, recent data suggests that fewer students are contemplating suicide and dealing with anxiety. Ariel Skelley/Getty Images
Despite these challenges, there is good news regarding decreases in the share of students considering self-injury and reporting depression symptoms.
Data from the Healthy Minds Study reveals that the percentage of students considering self-injury has not increased the past two years, after more than doubling from 14% in 2007 to 29% in 2022.
A similar pattern can be found in Center for Collegiate Mental Health data about depression. Depression symptoms have decreased each of the past two academic years.
The network has been collecting depression data since 2010, and never before have scores dropped in consecutive years.
The Center for Collegiate Mental Health data also indicates that students’ academic distress peaked following the onset of COVID-19 and declined each of the past three years, returning to pre-pandemic levels. Students’ frustration has also shown a gradual, 7% decline from 2010 to 2024.
Furthermore, for the first time since 2012, there has been a two-year uptick in college students who are flourishing, according to data from the Healthy Minds Study. Other researchers have found a similar recent trend, accompanied by a decrease in student loneliness.
More good news, based on data, about what students put in their bodies: Symptoms related to eating disorders have not increased in any of the past four years, according to the Center for Collegiate Mental Health. Data from the network indicates that current alcohol use is at its lowest level since 2010, declining 29% over that period.
Binge drinking has also decreased 18% since 2012, according to the Healthy Minds Study.
We need data, not dread
Mental health professionals need accurate data to support the psychological well-being of college students. SeventyFour/Getty Images
Valid data can help in discerning the truth about college student mental health.
Data that captures national trends in college student psychological well-being is needed to support mental health professionals. For example, as data reveals emerging trends, such as an increase in college students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, training can be provided to clinicians in treating students with these concerns.
Campus mental health professionals and administrators can also use data to advocate for resources they need to support students. For instance, our research has found that students of color are more likely to seek psychological help when there are therapists on staff from the same ethnic or racial background. This data can inform hiring practices at college and university counseling centers.
Finally, continuous data collection can help determine how college student mental health is impacted by specific events, such as pandemics, campus shootings and laws that eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, social anxiety decreased, while general anxiety spiked.
These events may not affect students equally.
International students, a group that already experiences heightened suicidal thoughts, may be particularly impacted by recent news of visa cancellations and deportations.
Jeffrey A. Hayes has received a research grant from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to study college student suicide.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Magali A. Delmas, Professor of Management, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles
Since the early 1990s, the small blue Energy Star label has appeared on millions of household appliances, electronics and even buildings across the United States. But as the Trump administration considers terminating some or all of the program, it is worth a look at what exactly this government-backed label means, and why it has become one of the most recognizable environmental certifications in the country.
Energy Star was launched by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1992 and later expanded in partnership with the Department of Energy with a simple goal: making it easier for consumers and businesses to choose energy-efficient products, helping them reduce energy use and save money, without sacrificing quality or performance.
As a scholar of energy conservation, I have studied the Energy Star program’s development and public impact, including how it has shaped consumer behavior and environmental outcomes.
Products that earn the Energy Star certification typically use significantly less energy than standard models, often between 10% and 50% less. The energy – and financial – savings can add up quickly, especially when homes or buildings have multiple Energy Star appliances and systems.
Energy Star itself does not manufacture or sell products. Instead, it acts as a trusted third-party certifier, providing consumers and businesses with reliable information and clear labeling. It also offers information to help people estimate energy savings and compare long-term costs, making it easier to identify high-performing, cost-effective options. Manufacturers participating in Energy Star seek to improve their environmental reputation and increase their market share, giving them a strong incentive to meet the program’s efficiency criteria.
Today, the label appears on refrigerators, dishwashers, laptops, commercial buildings and even newly built homes. The government says people in more than 90% of American households recognize the label.
Energy Star-certified appliances include upright freezers, clothes washers and many other types of home equipment, which use between 10% and 50% less energy than uncertified items. AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel
People don’t always choose efficient products
Energy Star seeks to tackle a wide range of problems that can result in people deciding not to buy energy-efficient products.
One problem is that efficient models often come with higher up-front costs. While efficient models save money over time, that higher purchase price can discourage buyers. Energy Star helps counter this problem by clearly showing how much money can be saved on energy costs over the lifetime of the product – as compared with noncertified products – and by offering rebates that reduce the initial expense.
Another problem involves what economists call “split incentives.” A landlord might not want to pay a higher price up front for energy-efficient appliances if the tenants are the ones who will save money on the utility bills. And renters may not want to spend a lot of money on appliances or equipment in a place they do not own. Energy Star tries to bridge this divide by promoting whole-building certifications, which encourage landlords to invest in their buildings’ energy efficiency with the goal of making their properties more attractive to tenants.
The countless varieties of refrigerators, dishwashers, air conditioners and other items on the market can also create confusion. Consumers who just look at manufacturers’ promotional material may find it very hard to determine which appliances truly deliver better energy efficiency. The Energy Star label makes this comparison easier: If the label is there, it is among the most efficient choices available.
And consumers are often skeptical of manufacturers’ claims – especially when it comes to new technologies or environmental promises. Energy Star’s status as a program backed by the government, rather than a private company, gives it a level of independence and credibility that many other labels lack. People know the certification is based on science, not sales tactics.
Lastly, Energy Star helps overcome the problem that many people are not aware of how much energy their appliances consume, or how those choices contribute to climate change. By connecting everyday products to larger environmental outcomes, Energy Star helps consumers understand the effects of their decisions, without needing to become energy experts.
The program delivers real results
Since its inception, more than 800,000 appliance models have earned Energy Star certification based on the criteria for their type of product.
The same principles that make the label valuable for consumer appliances – independent certification, clear metrics and a focus on results – have proved equally effective in real estate. Nearly 45,000 commercial buildings and industrial plants have earned certification. And there have been more than 2.5 million Energy Star-certified homes and apartments built in the U.S.
Energy Star-certified homes are designed to be at least 10% more energy efficient than those built to standard building codes, with more insulation and windows and lights that are energy-efficient, as well as appliances. These enhancements can translate to better quality, comfort and long-term cost savings for homeowners.
Commercial buildings, which account for about 18% of total U.S. energy use, have also benefited substantially. Research I was involved in found that certified commercial buildings use an average of 19% less energy than their noncertified counterparts.
Energy Star’s status as a government-led label contributes to its credibility as a more neutral and science-based source of information than commercial labels.
Energy Star’s government connections also bring scale: By requiring federal purchases to have Energy Star certifications, the federal government can influence manufacturers. For example, a federal executive order in 1993 required government agencies to purchase only computers that had been Energy Star-certified, which required them to have energy-saving sleep functions.
In response, manufacturers began including the feature so they could sell their products to the government. Consumers soon came to expect the sleep feature on all computers.
A quiet success story in energy and climate
Energy Star does not grab headlines. It does not rely on regulation or mandates. Yet it has quietly become one of the most effective tools the U.S. has for improving energy efficiency across homes, offices and public buildings.
That said, the program is not without its limitations. Some critics have pointed out that not all certified products consistently perform at the highest efficiency levels. Other critics note that the benefits of Energy Star are more accessible to wealthier consumers who can afford up-front investments, even with available rebates. And the EPA itself has, at times, struggled to manage the certification process and update standards in line with the latest technological advances.
At a time when energy costs and climate concerns are rising, Energy Star stands out as a rare example of a practical, nonpartisan program that delivers real benefits. It helps individuals, businesses and communities save money, lower emissions and take part in a more sustainable future – one smart decision at a time.
Magali Delmas received funding from the US EPA in 2002 for research on Environmental Management Strategies and Corporate Performance.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Michael Naparstek, Associate Teaching Professor Religious Studies, University of Tennessee
A man plays the Chinese action role-playing game ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ during its launch day in Hangzhou, in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, on Aug. 20, 2024.STR/AFP via Getty Images
Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.
Title of the course
Religion and Gameworlds
What prompted the idea for the course?
Most of my research is in Chinese religions, and I find it fascinating that popular video games – like many popular films before them – draw from the mythologies, cosmologies, unseen powers and heroic narratives found across the world’s religious traditions.
Recent examples such as “Black Myth: Wukong” and “Raji: an Ancient Epic” draw explicitly from mythologies and religious narratives of China and India, respectively, putting the player in direct contest against pantheons of gods. Meanwhile, games such as “Sid Meier’s CIV VI,” where players develop an historical civilization from the Stone Age to Space Age in a quest for global domination, explicitly utilize religion as ways to develop and conquer the world.
At the same time, the interactive experience of a video game makes it an especially interesting place to study religion. When your character uses magic, interacts with powerful deities, or even achieves godlike status themselves, the player also shares such experiences on some level as well. Sometimes, viewers’ experiences blur the lines between “real life” and on-screen.
Some churches have even used the game “Second Life” to offer worshippers the option of getting baptized using their digital avatar in the game. This kind of practice raises poignant questions about how we understand religion in our modern world.
What makes this course different from many others that utilize video games is that the student experience of playing the games influences how we frame our investigation of religion. Students wrestle with questions about how religion helps build the worlds they are experiencing.
We meet in the game lab as a class once a week to observe and analyze each other’s experiences playing different kinds of games.
We start the week with relevant theoretical and historical framing in the traditional classroom. For example, in our investigation of “Black Myth: Wukong,” a game inspired by the 16th-century novel “Journey to the West,” students first read selections from the work as they learn about its protagonist, the trickster monkey god Sun Wukong.
In the novel, Wukong picks fights with all the gods in an attempt to overthrow the cosmic order, only to eventually be violently put in his place by the highest gods of the Chinese pantheon. Our class discussions thus serve as a general introduction to Chinese religions, while we also get to discuss the theoretical basis for culturally defined ideas such as what makes a hero.
Playing as a descendant of Sun Wukong, students explore enchanted landscapes, interact with local spirits and engage in magical combat against the very gods that we learned about in class.
Each week, students note their observations, carefully detailing their experience playing the game, as well as the experience of watching others do the same. Students are also asked to analyze the ways in which religious themes, narratives and practices played a role in the game world they experienced.
We conclude the class with weekly reflections on the overall experience.
What will the course prepare students to do?
In 2024, the video game industry boasted over US$184 billion generated in market value. The global reach of games allows new audiences to experience and learn about religious narratives and practices in new ways.
Popular media has long been a powerful mode of cultural exchange. Video games are just a recent example, but the scale to which gamers around the world connect with each other through playing demands more attention.
The wild popularity following the 2024 release of the game “Black Myth: Wukong,” the first premier produced game out of China for an international audience, suggests that this kind of experience is truly a global phenomenon that will only continue to grow. It only makes sense that video games can serve as powerful pedagogical tools as well.
The goal of the course is to prepare students to better understand the broader contexts in which their shared experience of enjoying video games derives. Learning about the role of religion in shaping that experience allows students to better understand how religion shapes our modern world.
Michael Naparstek does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
When combined with factors such as easy access to tobacco products or living with someone who uses them, the risk of adolescent use more than doubles, which sets the stage for harmful physical and mental health effects.
Parental awareness and adolescents’ motivations to use tobacco
As a mother of a teenager, one of us, Adriana, has experienced this firsthand. For months, my 14-year-old son was vaping in his room, and I had no idea. When he finally told me that he turned to vaping whenever he felt upset, it was like coming face-to-face with the very issues we study.
Since 2022, our team has been examining the factors associated with tobacco use among more than 8,000 adolescents ages 12 to 17 from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health, or PATH, study – the largest multiyear, nationally representative study of tobacco use in the U.S. We looked at the use of cigarettes, electronic products, traditional or filtered cigars, cigarillos, pipes, hookahs, smokeless or dissolvable tobacco and more.
We found that emotional distress, along with the belief that tobacco products help manage negative emotions, are significant factors driving adolescent tobacco use.
This highlights the complexity of the issue – that even when teens recognize the health risks of tobacco use, vaping and other forms of tobacco use may function as a coping strategy, albeit an unhealthy one, for the wide range of emotional challenges that come with adolescence.
Teachers and school administrators are struggling to control vaping among students because many devices are small, odorless and easy to conceal. Peter Dazeley/Photodisc via Getty Images
The availability of flavored options further increases the appeal of these products and can contribute to the progression from occasional to regular use and ultimately the development of nicotine dependence.
What makes vaping especially difficult to manage is its stealth. Unlike combustible products, many vaping devices are small, odorless and very easy to conceal. As a result, parents, teachers and school administrators are struggling to detect and curb vaping among teens.
Strategies for addressing why teens use tobacco
In our view, policy efforts that focus primarily on raising awareness about health risks, restricting access to tobacco products or reducing the appeal of e-cigarettes or vapes will reach only a subset of youth who use them, and not those who may use for emotional reasons.
And while such bans may limit access to tobacco products in formal settings, the availability of these products from friends and social networks, online platforms or unregulated markets will not likely be reduced solely through that type of health messaging.
As our findings show, these efforts may miss a stronger, even more enduring driver of youth tobacco use: the pervasive belief that tobacco use helps manage stress, anger and other difficult emotions. Our research highlights that emotional distress and the perception that tobacco use can help them cope with stress are central to why many adolescents begin and continue using these products, even when they are aware of the health risks.
In this context, simply limiting access to tobacco products or repeating well-known health warnings will do little to address the underlying emotional motivations to use.
We believe that to make meaningful progress, policy and prevention interventions will need to address the underlying motives for use, and not just focus on the harmful health effects of nicotine or means of access.
This includes integrating emotional and behavioral health support into tobacco prevention strategies and expanding school-based and community mental health services. And while public health education campaigns such as The Real Cost have been successful in reducing the number of adolescents who begin using e-cigarettes, our findings suggest more emphasis on the emotional drivers of tobacco use is warranted.
Adriana Espinosa receives funding from the National Institutes of Health (NCI and NIMHD).
Lesia M. Ruglass receives funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIGMS, NIDA, NCI, and NIMHD).
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Ian McDonough, Associate Professor of Psychology, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Older adults generally have a good sense of their own financial abilities – unless they have dementia. shapecharge/E+ via Getty Images
Older adults diagnosed with dementia lose their ability to assess how well they manage their finances, according to a recent study I co-authored in The Gerontologist. In comparison, people of the same age who don’t have dementia are aware of their financial abilities – and this awareness improves over time.
For our study, we used data from over 2,000 adults in the U.S. age 65 and older, collected during a long-term study on aging.
We focused on how participants’ financial skills changed over time. The study began in 1998 and is still running, but we probed data collected between 1998 and 2009.
Participants were assessed at one year, two years, five years and 10 years for their ability to carry out everyday tasks, including ones that required handling money. For example, they had to calculate the cost of a gym membership and a store discount rate, fill out part of a tax return and assess the cost of medical services. They also rated how well they thought they could do everyday financial tasks. Initially, none of the participants were diagnosed with dementia, but over the course of the decade, 87 participants, or 3.1%, received a dementia diagnosis.
We found that even though participants’ performance on financial tasks declined as they aged, older adults who did not have dementia and older adults who had mild cognitive impairment were appropriately aware of their financial abilities. What’s more, that awareness increased over time. However, participants who were diagnosed with dementia during the study and experienced severe cognitive decline often misjudged how well they performed financial tasks.
Financial scams targeting older adults are on the rise.
The lack of insight into one’s cognitive abilities is called anosognosia. This study reveals a new type called financial anosognosia.
Few tools are available that can support families in helping cognitively impaired adults manage their finances. Our research suggests that there is a critical window of time after people begin to experience cognitive decline during which they are still aware of their financial abilities. We believe that this is when people can take action to secure their finances and develop systems to protect themselves from fraud.
What still isn’t known
Close friends or family members are often tempted to take away the financial autonomy of an older adult who is mismanaging their finances. However, that may not be the best solution, particularly for people who feel that handling their finances is a core part of their identity. More research is needed to identify how best to balance personal autonomy and the need to protect a person’s finances.
What’s next
This study used paper-and-pencil tasks to assess financial performance. But increasingly, many older adults are using online banking.
E-banking simplifies many calculations, which may be helpful for older adults with declining cognition. However, e-banking can also make finances more of a black box, which may decrease a person’s awareness of their financial abilities. Furthermore, e-banking is constantly advancing, putting older adults at a disadvantage because they are more likely to be less cognitively flexible and to learn more slowly.
We hope to explore whether older adults with and without cognitive decline have similar awareness of their ability to appropriately manage their finances online and identify potential financial scams.
The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.
Ian McDonough receives funding from The National Institutes of Health.
The 49 bus connects the Strawberry Mansion, Grays Ferry and University City neighborhoods. Courtesy of SEPTA
When the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority launched the 49 bus route in Philadelphia in early 2019, those who most benefited were older adults and people who already ride the bus – and not commuters who were persuaded to ditch their cars for public transportation, according to our new research.
Some of the largest benefits of Route 49 came in saved time and fewer transfers for existing users of other transit routes.
Route 49 launched in early 2019 and was the first local bus service that SEPTA added to its system in nearly a decade. It connects two residential Philadelphia neighborhoods – Strawberry Mansion in North Philadelphia and Grays Ferry in South Philadelphia – with the job-rich University City area in West Philadelphia.
Public transit agencies often try to court “choice” riders – people who have a reasonable chance of choosing to either drive or use public transportation for a given trip, and who tend to be higher income.
SEPTA, however, didn’t necessarily focus on choice riders with the design of Route 49. But planners at the agency did tell us during our data collection that many commuters to University City don’t take public transit.
We found that early riders of Route 49 tended to be previous transit riders who seldom drove before the line’s launch. They took other SEPTA buses, or did not make that trip.
Riders ages 65 and older, who are less likely to be commuters, were even more likely to have simply switched bus routes to make the same trip they regularly made before the new service line began.
For new bus and rail lines to be financially sustainable, they must attract enough riders. The fares those riders pay allow agencies to run services more regularly and have the line be cost effective.
While it’s always difficult to attract new riders, the past few years have been especially challenging for U.S. transit agencies. National transit ridership remains only about 80% of what it was when the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020.
Getting people back onto buses and trains will require agencies to understand what attracts people to new transit lines. If public transit agencies want to recapture ridership and echo the success of bus services like Route 49, it may be best for them to talk to current users rather than potential public transit converts.
How we do our work
To understand how new riders used Route 49, we boarded Route 49 buses throughout the route and conducted in-person surveys with over 350 riders in early 2019. We wanted to capture feedback and data from users of the service shortly after it was launched.
In addition to asking riders what they used Route 49 for and how they took the same trip before its launch, we recorded characteristics such as age, income and gender.
What’s next
Drawing on our 2019 survey data, we plan to explore how new Route 49 riders learned about the transit line and decided to begin riding the new service. Did they hear about it from agency flyers or websites? From seeing new bus lines on the road, or from friends discussing it? Analyzing these answers can help transit agencies enhance access for all travelers.
The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
President Donald Trump’s second term as president will surely go down in history, though of course, just six months into his four-year term, much of this story has yet to be written.
But it is already clear that most Americans will not be able to read exactly what Trump has said, as they have with previous presidents, during his current term in the White House.
The White House has removed the official transcripts of Trump’s public remarks from its government website, NBC News reported in May 2025, replacing the written transcripts with select videos and audio of Trump’s public appearances.
White House officials told NBC News that this switch should help people get a fuller, more consistent and accurate sense of Trump by watching and listening to him, rather than reading what he says verbatim at official events.
Government stenographers are also still recording and transcribing all of Trump’s remarks, though these are no longer being published on the White House’s website or elsewhere. It is not clear where or how those transcriptions are being saved.
For years, translators, reporters, students, historians and presidential scholars like me have used official presidential transcripts to understand a president’s exact words and track government decisions. Without these written transcripts, it becomes harder to get the full story of exactly what the president has done or said.
President Donald Trump, joined by members of his cabinet, delivers a statement on natural disaster preparedness in the Oval Office at the White House on June 10, 2025. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
A partial history
A nation’s history is etched in its records. The preservation of official proceedings provides the bedrock for understanding a country’s past and navigating its future.
A growing chorus of historians, public officials and transparency advocates is raising alarms about how the Trump administration is curating and potentially manipulating the government’s records and actions.
The White House’s recent decision to not share official, written transcripts of what the president has said is not the first time this issue has emerged under Trump.
As I wrote in 2021, the first Trump administration did not consistently submit the transcripts of the president’s political rally speeches to the National Archives, as was the custom with previous presidents. The National Archives is an independent government agency within the executive branch that preserves the nation’s historical records.
This official recordkeeping is important, and it’s more than a tradition – it’s a legal obligation. A law called the Presidential Records Act of 1978 says that everything a president does in office – from making speeches to writing emails – belongs to the public.
This includes not just formal speeches, but also public remarks and oral exchanges, which are traditionally included in a compilation of presidential documents.
My examination of this compilation for 2025 appears to show a gap in such records from mid-April 2025 onward. While the transcript of Trump’s full remarks when speaking with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was published on this government site on April 18, for example, publicly available documents from May only include a checklist of White House press releases, a digest of White House announcements and a list of acts that the president signed into law.
In the absence of complete official records from government sources, external, independent organizations that also monitor the presidency, like The American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara, have become crucial repositories.
The American Presidency Project diligently logs and, when transcripts are unavailable, provides video of public presidential messaging, striving to create as complete a record as possible for all curious viewers and readers.
The fight over keeping an honest record of presidents is a problem that comes up again and again in American history.
Perhaps the most powerful example of losing historical records comes from the country’s very first president, George Washington. He knew he was setting an example for all future presidents and kept very careful records. He wanted to leave a complete story of his life and his work for the future.
But there is very little of it left.
After Washington died, his wife, Martha, burned most of the letters they wrote to each other to keep their lives private.
Washington left his official papers to his nephew, Supreme Court Justice Bushrod Washington. But Bushrod gave many of them to Chief Justice John Marshall, who was writing a book about the president. The papers were not treated carefully, and many were damaged. To make matters worse, Bushrod would often tear off scraps of Washington’s writings and give them to people as souvenirs.
The result is that Americans have an incomplete picture of their first president. What now exists is a weaker version of the real story, created more by what other people did than by what Washington himself had planned.
Memories fade, and people are not around forever.
The main way that the U.S. can preserve its story is through accurate records. The current arguments over saving transcripts and official papers are about more than just rules. They are about the future. The records that Trump and other presidents leave behind will decide if people in the future see them as they really were, or just how they wanted others to view them.
Shannon Bow O’Brien does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Reducing diagnoses to address antibiotics resistance.
Thousands of cases of the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhoea could be prevented through a new vaccine programme.
The Scottish Government is funding the programme, which will begin in August, to address increasing health inequalities and growing resistance to antibiotics treatment.
Those eligible include gay and bisexual men at highest risk of infection, those involved in selling or exchanging sex regardless of gender and those who sexual health clinic professionals assess as being at a similar risk level.
Gonorrhoea can cause significant pain and discomfort and in rare cases, life-threatening sepsis. The number of cases has been rising steadily in recent years and it is the second most common bacterial STI in Scotland. Latest figures show there were 5,999 diagnoses in 2023, a 59% increase on pre-pandemic.
Speaking at the Public Health Scotland Scottish Vaccination and Immunisation Conference in Edinburgh, Public Health Minister Jenni Minto said:
“This action is urgent and timely since the number of diagnoses has been high and the disease is becoming increasingly difficult to treat with antibiotics.
“The science tells us that this vaccine will potentially protect thousands of people and prevent the spread of infection.
“Anything which stops people from contracting gonorrhoea in the first place can have huge benefits, including ensuring our health system remains resilient by reducing the amount of treatment needed.”
Dr Sam Ghebrehewet, Head of the Vaccination and Immunisation Division at PHS, said:
“With gonorrhoea diagnoses having increased in recent years, the offer of the 4CmenB vaccine to those at highest risk of exposure is a welcome new intervention. This vaccination programme is expected to help control and prevent the spread of gonorrhoea.
“Public Health Scotland is working with the Scottish Government and colleagues across NHS Boards to finalise plans for the roll out of this targeted vaccination offering to those at increased risk of gonorrhoea from August 2025.”
Background
Ministers accepted the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s advice on the programme, which will be delivered by the Scottish Vaccination and Immunisation Programme led by Public Health Scotland.
The £280,000 funding is intended to cover first and second doses of 4CMenB vaccine.
The vaccine is 30-40% effective and will be offered in the clinics alongside those for HPV, hepatitis and the routine mpox vaccination programme.
