Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05)
Today, U.S. Representative and Vice-Chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Mike Quigley(IL-05) reintroduced the Trafficking Reduction and Criminal Enforcement (TRACE) Actto help the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) reduce the trafficking of illegal firearms and prevent criminals from obtaining these weapons.
By repealing restrictions on gun trace data, the TRACE Actwill enable the ATF to track the movement of illegal firearms across state lines and to share that data with state and local law enforcement. The bill will also hold gun dealers accountable by requiring them to monitor their inventory and report lost or stolen inventory to the ATF. The TRACE Actwill help law enforcement crack down on the gun ‘black market,’ which often funnels firearms to states and cities with stricter gun laws in place, including Chicago.
Quigley first introduced the TRACE Act in 2011 and has continued to revive the bill in each Congress since.
“The Chicago Police Department alone recovers roughly 7,000 illegal guns every year, but current law requires gun buyer background check records to be destroyed after 24 hours. My bill will stop the madness and require these background checks to be maintained for at least 180 days,” said Quigley.“I’m proud to reintroduce the TRACE Act this Gun Violence Awareness Month. Together, we can stop guns from ending up in the wrong hands.”
In September 2022, Quigley led and passed the NICS Denial Notification Act as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022. The law now requires background check denials to be reported to state authorities to help enforce gun laws. Quigley also cosponsored the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Passed in June of 2022 with Quigley’s support, the law provided $250M for community violence intervention, $750M for crisis intervention, expanded background checks, closed the “boyfriend” loophole, and more.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a key advocate for gun violence prevention, has endorsed the legislation.
“Huge quantities of firearms are recovered in the illegal market and at crime scenes every year, providing law enforcement the opportunity to trace these weapons and better understand where they are coming from. Yet, Congress has shielded the gun industry from public scrutiny and has deprived law enforcement of key data needed to truly understand and address the flow of crime guns. The TRACE Act will remove these barriers, allowing law enforcement to stymie the flow of firearms into our communities and hold lawbreaking gun industry actors accountable,” said Mark Collins, Director of Federal Policy at Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.“Brady applauds Rep. Quigley for reintroducing the TRACE Actand is proud to support this legislation.”
The TRACE Actwould:
Require background check records to be maintained for a minimum of 180 days.The Tiahrt Amendments currently require 24-hour record destruction, making it nearly impossible to catch law-breaking gun dealers who falsify their records or to track straw purchasers who buy guns on behalf of criminals.
Require gun dealers to perform inventory checks to report lost and stolen guns, a measure currently prohibited under the Tiahrt Amendments.If law-abiding dealers reported inventories, the ATF would be much more effective at identifying lost and stolen weapons and proactively combating corrupt gun dealers.
Repeal restrictions on gun trace data disclosures.Currently, members of the public, including researchers and litigants, cannot get trace data from the ATF under Tiahrt restrictions. Trace data is also inadmissible as evidence in civil proceedings under the existing policy. The TRACE Act would repeal these restrictions.
Require that new firearms have a second, hidden serial number located inside the frame or receiver that is only visible under infrared light when the firearm is fully disassembled.This would make it harder for criminals to remove serial numbers from firearms in an attempt to evade law enforcement.
HomeSecretary Rubio’s Call with Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif
Secretary Rubio’s Call with Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif
Readout
May 8, 2025
The below is attributable to Spokesperson Tammy Bruce:
Secretary Marco Rubio spoke today with Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif. The Secretary emphasized the need for immediate de-escalation. He expressed U.S. support for direct dialogue between India and Pakistan and encouraged continued efforts to improve communications.
The Secretary expressed sorrow for the reported loss of civilian lives in the current conflict. He reiterated his calls for Pakistan to take concrete steps to end any support for terrorist groups.
HomeAnnouncing a U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire between India and Pakistan
Announcing a U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire between India and Pakistan
Press Statement
May 10, 2025
Over the past 48 hours, Vice President Vance and I have engaged with senior Indian and Pakistani officials, including Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir, and National Security Advisors Ajit Doval and Asim Malik.
I am pleased to announce the Governments of India and Pakistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire and to start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site.
We commend Prime Ministers Modi and Sharif on their wisdom, prudence, and statesmanship in choosing the path of peace.
HomeDeputy Secretary Landau’s Meeting with Indian Foreign Secretary Misri
Deputy Secretary Landau’s Meeting with Indian Foreign Secretary Misri
Readout
May 28, 2025
The below is attributable to Spokesperson Tammy Bruce:
Deputy Secretary Christopher Landau met with Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri today in Washington. The Deputy Secretary reaffirmed the close partnership between the U.S. and India, a key component of U.S. foreign policy for the 21st century. He underscored the importance of fair and reciprocal market access to fostering economic growth and prosperity in both countries. The Deputy Secretary emphasized the importance of enhanced cooperation on migration and counternarcotics. The Deputy Secretary and the Foreign Secretary also reaffirmed their shared desire to maintain regional stability and peace.
HomeDeputy Secretary Landau’s Meeting with an Indian Parliamentary Delegation
Deputy Secretary Landau’s Meeting with an Indian Parliamentary Delegation
Readout
June 6, 2025
The below is attributable to Spokesperson Tammy Bruce:
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau met today with an Indian parliamentary delegation in Washington. The Deputy Secretary reaffirmed the United States’ strong support of India in the fight against terrorism and the strategic partnership between the two countries. The Deputy and delegation discussed the importance of advancing key areas of the bilateral relationship, including expanding trade and commercial ties to foster economic growth and prosperity in both countries.
The below is attributable to Spokesperson Tammy Bruce:
Secretary Marco Rubio spoke today with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. The Secretary emphasized the need for immediate de-escalation. He expressed U.S. support for direct dialogue between India and Pakistan and encouraged continued efforts to improve communications.
The Secretary reiterated his condolences for the horrific terrorist attack in Pahalgam and reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to work with India in the fight against terrorism.
But workers now face a more detailed and intrusive type of monitoring that is less understood, and at times even entirely unknown, by employees: employee monitoring applications (EMAs).
It’s no longer just about being captured in the frame of a CCTV camera or having phone calls recorded. Workers now must be concerned about the collection of any and all activities that occur on their devices, and the use of this information to make decisions about their productivity, performance and risk to company security.
Behaviour-monitoring software
EMAs are a type of monitoring software that can be installed on worker devices to monitor their behaviours and activities. Common features include tracking time, keyboard strokes, email communications, websites visited, applications used and webcam video footage. Many of these apps also operate in an “invisible mode” that runs in the background, unknown to the employee.
Amid the move to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, employers faced the challenge of managing their employees while they worked from home. EMAs provided employers with a quick and easy solution.
My research focuses on surveillance and privacy. Working alongside surveillance scholar Adam Molnar of the University of Waterloo, we conducted a survey between January and February 2022 of 402 managers, supervisors and employers working in companies in Ontario (60 per cent), British Columbia (30 per cent) and Québec (10 per cent) to better understand the use of these apps during the pandemic.
Both remote working and EMA use were found to have increased after the start of the pandemic. Many, but not all, companies turned to EMAs to monitor their remote workers.
A comparison of remote work and use of EMA rates before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. (D.E. Thompson), CC BY
Privacy concerns
We asked participants about the specific EMA software their company uses. A variety of EMAs exist on the market and are advertised for uses from security to workforce analytics. The most frequently used apps in our sample were Kickidler (49.8 per cent), Spyera (49.5 per cent), Flexispy (49.3 per cent), and Teramind (48.4 per cent).
We then took a deeper dive into their advertised features and found that all four apps collected data using at least two highly invasive features, such as video surveillance or keystroke logging.
Table comparing features and uses for the top four employee monitoring applications. (D.E. Thompson), CC BY
Collecting data in these ways can raise serious concerns for employee privacy, especially when they work at home — a space that is typically viewed as private and often contains personal information that employers should not be privy to.
If we’re concerned about employee privacy, then we need to understand exactly what companies are using the data for.
We know that employee monitoring apps were adopted by many Canadian companies to manage remote workers, but what does that mean exactly? What is the data actually telling employers and how are they using it?
We asked employers, managers and supervisors how their company currently uses EMAs, and found the most common uses to be productivity (28.9 per cent), efficiency (20.1 per cent), remote workforce management (19.9 per cent) and company analytics (18.2 per cent).
Privacy versus productivity
Owners and managers appear to be aware of the harmful consequences of these applications: 87.1 per cent were at least somewhat concerned about the negative impacts of these apps on employee trust. More than two-thirds — 70.7 per cent — also reported that they would be more likely adopt an app if it did not use invasive features like keystroke logging and video surveillance.
Are the gains in productivity and efficiency worth the losses to employee privacy and trust? For some companies, the answer appears to be yes. While most owners and managers reported concerns about the invasiveness of EMAs, 51.7 per cent were still using the applications.
For other companies, the gains in productivity are not worth the risks to employee privacy. For example, 29.3 per cent of owners and managers stated that significant changes to app features would be necessary before they would consider using it in their company.
Protecting employees
As hybrid working arrangements remain a normal part of our working lives, employee monitoring apps appear to be here to stay.
A public opinion poll by the Center for Democracy and Technology in the United States found that American workers wanted to know why and how they were being monitored by their employers.
Workers also felt they should be able to review any and all data collected about them, and that employers should be prohibited from sharing worker data without their permission, monitoring workers while off the clock, tracking their locations and monitoring productivity in ways that are harmful to the mental or physical health of workers.
Worker protections vary by province and territory. Ontario’s Bill 88, passed in April 2022, established the first notification law for electronic monitoring in Canada. While a step in the right direction, notification alone is insufficient for the protection of worker privacy and well-being.
Restrictions must be placed on the types of data collected, how it is collected and what it can be used for.
Companies that continue to use EMAs must respect the privacy of workers by limiting the use of invasive features and providing workers with transparency and agency in their monitoring.
Business owners considering the use of EMAs should ask themselves if the software is necessary to reach their goals. Do they need to track the location and activity of workers or access their webcams to determine productivity? Or are there other less harmful ways to measure performance, such as the quality of outputs and whether tasks are completed on time?
Danielle E. Thompson 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.
Rather than intervening, supporting targets or reporting the misconduct, bystanders may downplay it, withdraw support or even blame the target, which ultimately reinforces the mistreatment.(Shutterstock)
“You always mess things up. Why are you even on this project? Just quit already.” Demeaning, hostile or undermining behaviour like this is more common in the workplace and damaging than many people realize. One in three employees experience such behaviours, and almost half witness them.
Rather than intervening, supporting targets or reporting the misconduct, research shows bystanders may downplay it, withdraw support or even blame the target, which ultimately reinforces the mistreatment.
As our recent study shows, this is largely because when mistreatment seems inevitable or commonplace, bystanders are psychologically motivated to justify it rather than challenge it.
Why do bystanders rationalize mistreatment?
Humans are hardwired to see mistreatment as wrong. Most of us value fairness and want to punish wrongdoing. But if this is the case, why do bystanders so often fail to act when they witness mistreatment?
Our recent research explores this question drawing on system justification theory — the idea that people are motivated to see the systems they live and work in as fair, legitimate and stable.
When mistreatment seems inevitable — when people think “that’s just how things work around here” — bystanders face a psychological dilemma. They can either challenge the behaviour and risk conflict, exclusion or backlash, or they can rationalize it as normal or deserved.
Most people, often without realizing it, choose the latter. This mental shortcut allows them to preserve the comforting belief that the system is fair and people get what they deserve.
One in three employees experience demeaning, hostile or undermining behaviour in the workplace, and almost half witness them. (Shutterstock)
Witnessing workplace mistreatment
We interviewed 554 employees who had witnessed workplace mistreatment within the past two weeks at the time the survey was conducted. They shared their thoughts on how inevitable they believed the mistreatment incident was, and how tolerant they felt their organization was toward such behaviour.
In a follow-up survey, we asked these employees whether they felt the incident they witnessed was justifiable and the target as deserving. A week later, in a third survey, we asked these bystanders to report how they behaved toward the target, and whether they tried to address or minimize the incident.
We found that when bystanders perceived mistreatment as inevitable, they were more likely to see the incident as justified and targets as deserving of that treatment. These bystanders were more likely to socially distance themselves from the target, engage in negative gossip about them and were less willing to offer help.
Bystander inaction wasn’t due to cowardice or callousness, but was often a defence mechanism. Rationalizing mistreatment allowed bystanders to preserve the belief that their workplace was just. But this coping strategy can deepen harm for those who experience mistreatment, who may be further marginalized, isolated or discredited.
How mistreatment is normalized
Workplace climates play a key role in the normalization of mistreatment. Our findings indicate when employees believed their workplace tolerated mistreatment, they were more likely to rationalize it and less likely to support the person being mistreated.
In these contexts, mistreatment isn’t just ignored, but is quietly accepted. Tacit acceptance sends a powerful message: this is normal, this is deserved, this is not worth challenging.
What does a toxic, permissive workplace look like? Warning signs include staff who feel anxious about coming to work and leaders who publicly criticize employees or tell them to “toughen up” or “not take it personally.”
If negative gossip is tolerated, or reports of mistreatment are ignored or delayed, these are also strong indicators that mistreatment has been normalized.
Organizations may fail to acknowledge these patterns for a variety of reasons, including resistance, denial or a lack of readiness. But surfacing these issues is a strength, not a weakness. It allows organizations to address root causes, retain valuable employees, and foster a more respectful environment.
When mistreatment is ignored in the workplace, it sends a message to employees that it is normal, deserved and not worth challenging. (Unsplash/Borja Verbena)
4 ways to create positive change
Even in workplaces where mistreatment has become normalized, positive change is possible. Research shows that effectively managing everyday incidents can create bottom-up effects that support broader positive change within the workplace, ultimately improving workplace climate.
Managers have a particularly pivotal role to play. When they respond quickly, support targets openly and hold perpetrators accountable, they challenge the perception that mistreatment is inevitable. They also send a broader message about what behaviours are and aren’t acceptable in the workplace.
Here are four evidence-based strategies that can help disrupt the bystander dynamic and improve workplace culture:
1. Challenge the narrative of inevitability
Organizations should clearly signal that mistreatment will not be tolerated in their workplace. This includes explicitly communicating behavioural expectations, investigating reports quickly and transparently, and ensuring senior leaders model respectful behaviour. These small but visible actions disrupt the sense that mistreatment is “just how things work.”
2. Reduce ambiguity
When organizations don’t define behavioural norms clearly, bystanders are more likely to rationalize mistreatment. Organizations should define what mistreatment includes, such as exclusion and sarcastic comments, and distinguish it from tough feedback or constructive conflict. Training can help employees recognize subtle forms of harm and reflect on how their reactions would appear to someone they respect.
3. Enforce consequences consistently
When policies exist but aren’t enforced, bystanders learn that mistreatment carries no cost. Organizations need to follow through on mistreatment policies, protect those who report it and make it clear that retaliation is unacceptable. Visibility matters: people need to see that action is taken.
When targets are supported by respected leaders, bystanders are more likely to follow suit. (Shutterstock)
Why this matters
Much of the existing research on workplace mistreatment has focused on the importance of bystander and leader intervention. Our research adds a deeper layer by illustrating that bystanders may not intervene because they are subconsciously defending their belief in a fair and legitimate system.
This defence mechanism is especially dangerous when mistreatment is common, creating a cycle in which the most vulnerable employees are harmed twice: first by the perpetrator, and then by those who fail to stand by them.
Breaking this cycle requires more than training videos or one-off statements. It requires reshaping the climate that makes mistreatment seem normal, inevitable or trivial.
The encouraging news is that even small, consistent actions can begin to shift these dynamics. Research has shown that incivility training that teaches people how to engage in civil ways, for example, has lasting effects on employee well-being and relationships. When these harmful dynamics are shifted, it improves the workplace for everyone.
Zhanna Lyubykh receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Laurie J. Barclay receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the University of Guelph’s Research Leader Award.
Nick Turner receives research funding from Cenovus Energy Inc., Haskayne School of Business’s Future Fund, Mitacs, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
Sandy Hershcovis receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
We live in an age of increasing wildfire disasters because more of us are living in places where wildfires and human development collide. Right now, fast-moving wildfires are forcing mass evacuations and destroying homes across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, where entire communities are under threat.
Despite the growing impacts of extreme weather events, including prolonged droughts and increasing temperatures, we continue building and even rebuilding homes in likely paths of destructive wildfires.
As cities grow, the demand for new home developments in previously forested areas means that we’re rapidly losing buffers between developed and natural land. Consequently, we’re also losing much of our protection from wildfire.
I’m a structural engineer, and I was living in British Columbia during the 2023 Kelowna fires. I remember the smoke and anxiety about what was coming next. Seeing news coverage of January’s fires in Los Angeles brought back those memories. Hearing people ask how this could have happened led me to ask in response: How could it not have happened?
My research speciality is in protecting structures from fires, earthquakes and explosions. From my work, I know that improved materials and engineering can protect homes much better than we do today.
As we enter another wildfire season in Canada, I worry there will soon be new reminders of what we still haven’t done and urgently need to do.
CP24 News covers wildfires burning from British Columbia to Ontario.
Recent research shows that about 14.3 per cent of all Canadian buildings sit directly in the wildland-urban-interface — the area where development neighbours or intersects with wildland vegetation. However, if we expand this interface buffer by a kilometre to account for windborne travelling embers, over 79 per cent of all Canadian structures fall under some level of wildfire ignition risk.
While researchers are working on developing more sophisticated technologies for early fire detection and monitoring, we also need to make homes safer in at-risk areas. Programs like FireSmart Canada educate communities about managing fire risk, but broader public engagement and co-ordinated action are still lacking.
This mismatch in design priorities introduces vulnerability. Just as we wouldn’t build in seismically active regions like Vancouver, Victoria or San Francisco without accounting for earthquake risk, or in flood-prone areas like Winnipeg or New Orleans without proper mitigation, we must begin to treat fire risk as an equally fundamental design consideration.
It’s certainly daunting to consider the expense of building or retrofitting homes and adapting properties to resist wildfires, but the consequences of not planning or preparing better — both in terms of lives lost and homes ruined and in terms of the financial costs of rebuilding — will only worsen if societies don’t do much more.
Alternative materials
It’s obvious that buildings at elevated risk from fire should not be made from combustible materials, like exposed timber. Now, there are impressive alternatives such as new forms of concrete and metal roofing that can prevent fire from taking hold in a home, garage or other building.
Improved land-use planning and community-scale design can also meaningfully decrease the exposure and vulnerability of buildings to wildfire. What we need is a cohesive, risk-averse and data-driven framework that allows for architectural and structural design choices based on quantified fire risk.
Research — only if we make it a funding priority — can give us such a framework.
Enhancing safety
In Jasper, Alta., which is in a national park, new federal guidelines for rebuilding after last year’s devastating fire call for enhanced safety. These include new separations between buildings and flammable landscaping, including nonflammable buffers to separate homes from wooden fences and decks.
If we continue to build (and rebuild) within forest boundaries, we have to expand standards, mandates and engineering efforts to protect people and their homes.
How can we make them safer?
We can start by much-needed building code updates. And we can educate residents and home-buyers about reducing their risk.
FireSmart Canada, for example, offers practical advice on what kinds of trees, shrubs and lawns are safest to use in landscaping, and how far they should be from one’s house, depending on the degree of local fire risk. However, a more community-driven safety mindset is required for successful implementation of these guidelines; individual efforts alone are not enough to reduce the wildfire risk in interconnected neighbourhoods.
For developers, designers and builders, improving safety may mean tighter new zoning rules and stricter building codes to govern where and how we build to protect against fire. Suppliers will need access to safer materials, some of which have yet to be developed.
Research priorities
To develop a framework, recommendations and guidelines to enhance fire safety and reduce loss, we need evidence, and that requires research.
In Canada, we have excellent researchers working on forest fires. But as a fire crosses from a natural setting to an urban one, everything changes — the fuel, wind patterns and movement of the fire — so we need to study and model it differently too.
These forms of knowledge are all within reach, but until we prioritize them, we are deciding to put lives and neighbourhoods at risk. The price of doing nothing will be much greater than the cost of taking action.
Ramla Karim Qureshi receives funding from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Christopher Campbell-Duruflé, Assistant Professor, Lincoln Alexander School of Law, Toronto Metropolitan University
It isn’t just wildfires threatening people’s homes and livelihoods. In May, 1,600 residents from the Kashechewan Cree First Nation in Northern Ontario evacuated again due to flooding of the Albany River, which happens almost every year.
The 2018 United Nations Climate Conference called on all states to adopt “laws, policies and strategies” meant “to avert, minimize and address displacement related to the adverse impacts of climate change.”
The figures are disquieting. By 2050, more than 140 million people could become internal climate migrants in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America alone, especially if action towards reaching net-zero carbon emissions continues to be insufficient.
Canada is not spared: 192,000 people were evacuated in 2023 due to disasters made more severe by climate change, including floods and wildfires. As climate change leads to more extreme weather, temporary climate displacement could become permanent migration.
Climate migration
The World Bank defines internal climate migration as having to relocate for at least a decade to a location 14 kilometres or more away from your community because of climate impacts.
The Canadian government understated the reality of internal climate migration in its submissions under the 2015 Paris Agreement, which obscure the gravity of this phenomenon.
One of those submissions is the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), the cornerstone report each state party must present every five years. Canada’s NDC from 2021 recognizes that climate change harms certain populations more than others, but does not address temporary displacement, let alone internal climate migration.
The Fort McMurray wildfires displaced more than 80,000 people in 2016, with its population declining 11 per cent between 2015 and 2018. Similarly, the 2019 Québec spring floods displaced more than 10,000 people and, in Sainte-Marie, hundreds of low-income families abandoned the city because they could not afford the reconstructed homes.
A clear definition of internal climate migrants in Canada, robust data and better co-ordination among Indigenous, municipal, provincial and federal governments is needed.
This is something a National Adaptation Act could deliver, as a part of a comprehensive framework to bolster adaptation action across the country.
Transparency lacking
Canada submitted an adaptation communication in 2024. The communication discusses climate impacts but mentions internal displacement only once. It contains no data or discussion of when displacement becomes permanent, nor does it focus on the disproportionate impact on equity-deserving groups.
The government submitted an updated NDC earlier this year. It noted “the devastating impact of wildfires, floods, drought and melting permafrost on communities across the country” but only briefly discusses adaptation, referring instead to the 2023 National Adaptation Strategy. The only mentions of displacement come in appended submissions by Indigenous Peoples, including Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin First Nation and Makivvik.
Indigenous Peoples suffer from flawed adaptation policies and institutional barriers that prevent them from effectively responding to emergencies. As a result, First Nations evacuate 328 times more frequently than settler communities during climate disasters.
In 2011, for example, officials in Manitoba diverted flood waters to Lake St. Martin to protect urban, cottage and agricultural properties. In the process, they flooded 17 First Nations and displaced 4,525 people. Return of the 1,400 residents of the Lake St. Martin First Nation to a new location only started in 2017, and as recently as 2020 displaced families were protesting on highways for their right to housing.
A national adaptation act
Canada should adopt a clear definition of internal climate migrants that captures displacement from climate disasters and slow-onset phenomena like sea-level rise, permafrost thaw and biodiversity loss.
UN experts released a Technical Guide on Human Mobility in 2024, calling for “a sound evidence base on the patterns and trends, as well as on the drivers and outcomes” of climate-induced mobility. It also highlighted the need for adaptation efforts “that are informed by stakeholder consultations” and “existing (Indigenous) adaptation practices.”
Defining internal climate migrants would allow Canada to gather robust data at last, and to act decisively on it.
One first step is the federal government’s pledge of a National Recovery Strategy by 2028, which would set out “shorter time frames for displaced individuals to be able to return to their homes or resettle after climate change disaster events.” But a comprehensive approach is needed to go beyond the fragmented landscape of federal and provincial strategies.
The Canadian government should work with all stakeholders toward the adoption of a National Adaptation Act, like Brazil, Germany and Japan.
Such a law could remove barriers to Indigenous adaptation action, co-ordinate efforts across orders of governments to prevent displacements, define internal climate migration, ensure data collection and protect the rights of people temporarily displaced or internally migrating because of climate change.
It should also aim for greater transparency and accountability than what Canada has so far achieved with its Paris Agreement submissions.
Christopher Campbell-Duruflé receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for his research. He serves on the Legal Committee of the Centre québécois du droit de l’environnement.
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BRASILIA, June 8 (Xinhua) — At the invitation of the Brazilian Workers’ Party (BWP), a delegation of the Communist Party of China led by Wu Hansheng, director of the Social Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, visited Brazil from Friday to Saturday.
During the visit, Wu Hansheng attended the 8th Theoretical Seminar of the CPC and the PTB and met with Executive Secretary of the General Secretariat of the President of Brazil Kelly Mafort. Wu Hansheng expounded Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and exchanged views with Mafort on bilateral relations, inter-party cooperation, social governance and the international situation.
The Brazilian side highly appreciated the ties between the two countries and the two parties, expressing its willingness to cooperate with China to implement the important consensus reached by the heads of state of the two countries, deepen practical cooperation in various fields, and promote the building of a Brazil-China community with a shared future. –0–
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Dwight Evans (2nd District of Pennsylvania)
Bill would help victims & survivors hold companies accountable in court, discourage illegal sales, defective guns and irresponsible marketing
WASHINGTON (June 6, 2025) – U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans (D-PA-03) is co-leading reintroduction of the Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act, legislation to ensure that victims of gun violence would have their day in court and that negligent gun companies and gun sellers are not shielded from liability when they disregard public safety.
The bill would repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), passed by Congress in 2005, which gives the gun industry a unique and unjustifiable legal liability shield that protects gun manufacturers from lawsuits.
“As someone who’s advocated for this concept in Pennsylvania’s legislature and now in Congress, I’m proud to be a co-lead on this bill to restore this basic right of victims and survivors – a right that a heavy-handed federal government took away 20 years ago. So many American gun deaths could be avoided if we held companies accountable for things like illegal sales, defective guns and irresponsible marketing. State attorneys general were able to hold Big Tobacco accountable in the 1990s, and they should be able to hold gun manufacturing companies accountable in the 21st century since thousands of lives depend on it. This legislation would be an important tool in the toolbox to protect our citizens from gun violence,” Evans said.
Evans’ lead partners on the legislation are U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and were joined this week, the start of Gun Violence Awareness Month, by U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and U.S. Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), Jason Crow (D-Colo.), and Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) in leading a group of 81 members of Congress in introducing the bill in both the House and Senate.
Murphy, Blumenthal, Swalwell, Schiff, Evans, and Thompson announced the legislation during a virtual press conference joined by leading gun violence prevention advocates: Kris Brown, president of Brady; Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action; and Adam Skaggs, chief counsel and vice president of GIFFORDS Law Center. Video of the press conference is available here.
Pennsylvania co-sponsors of the legislation include Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), and U.S. Reps Madeleine Dean (D-PA-04), Chris Deluzio (D-PA-17), and Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA-05).
When Congress passed PLCAA, its supporters argued that it was necessary to protect the gun industry from frivolous lawsuits, and that victims of gun violence would not be shut out of the courts. In reality, numerous cases around the nation have been dismissed on the basis of PLCAA, even when the gun dealers and manufacturers acted in a fashion that would qualify as negligent if it involved any other product. Victims in these cases were denied the right to even discover or introduce evidence. This legislation would allow civil cases to go forward against irresponsible bad actors.
“There’s absolutely no reason why the gun industry should get special treatment when it comes to negligence. Their immunity from lawsuits effectively gives them a license to kill. It’s past time for Congress to repeal PLCAA and allow gun violence victims their day in court,” said Murphy.
“PLCAA is the ultimate sweetheart deal – legal immunity afforded to basically no other industry for a product that kills tens of thousands of Americans every year,” said Blumenthal. “Despite the strength and perseverance of the Sandy Hook, Uvalde, and Highland Park families – and the tenacity of their legal teams – this is a problem that cannot be solved only through the courts. PLCAA must be repealed by Congress.”
“No industry in American has a liability shield like gun manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and importers,” said Swalwell.“The NRA and their GOP stooges made sure that the gun industry has a unique immunity from accountability. This bill ends that ridiculous carve out. The Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act will finally repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) once and for all, allowing victims of gun violence to bring civil suits against gun producers and sellers. The time has long since come for Congress to be clear – if you put the most dangerous weapons in the hands of the most dangerous people, you will be held accountable.”
“More than a 100 Americans are killed by a gun every single day in America. And yet, Congress does nothing to hold the gun industry accountable when the negligence of gun makers and dealers is responsible for the tragic consequences their products have on our kids, our families, and our communities. As long as gun violence continues to take the lives of so many in California and across the nation, I will fight to repeal the liability shield that wrongly protects negligent gun industry actors from liability,” said Schiff.
“Victims and survivors should be able to hold the gun industry accountable in court for negligent behavior. But right now, the gun industry is shielded from any liability when they disregard public safety. That’s wrong,” said Crow. “I’m introducing this bill so we can finally hold the gun industry responsible.”
“In the 20 years since PLCAA was passed, it’s become clear that negligent gun manufacturers and dealers have taken advantage of the law. Responsible manufacturers and dealers don’t need this legal protection – and irresponsible ones are hiding behind it. As a hunter, combat veteran and responsible gun owner, I’m proud to work with Senator Blumenthal and Representative Swalwell to introduce this sensible legislation,” said Thompson, Chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force.
In 2005, the National Rifle Association (NRA) identified PLCAA as their “number one” legislative priority, and the NRA celebrated the passage calling it the “most significant piece of pro-gun legislation in twenty years.” Changing the law to let courts hear these cases would provide justice to victims and their families, while creating incentives for responsible business practices that would reduce injuries and deaths. Effectively, the gun industry would once again be subject to the same laws as every other industry, just as it was prior to 2005.
The legislation is endorsed by Brady, GIFFORDS Law Center, Everytown for Gun Safety, March for Our Lives, Guns Down America, Newtown Action Alliance, and Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jim Costa Representing 16th District of California
WASHINGTON – Congressman Jim Costa (CA-21) stood alongside members of the Bipartisan Working Group to End Domestic Violence during a press conference on the House Triangle as part of a national Day of Action. The event highlighted the urgent need to protect and expand federal funding for victim service organizations that are the backbone of survivor support across the country. Rep. Costa underscored the critical role these programs play in helping survivors recover—mentally, physically, emotionally, and financially—especially in underserved communities like those in California’s Central Valley.
The Day of Action brought together lawmakers, advocates, and service providers calling on Congress to prioritize long-term, sustainable funding for the infrastructure that supports victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and abuse. Rep. Costa has long championed efforts to protect survivors and expand access to legal aid, mental health care, housing assistance, and crisis response services. ### Congressman Jim Costa is the Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Crime Survivors and Justice Caucus.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jim Costa Representing 16th District of California
Over the last few weeks, Americans have been hearing endless mentions of the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” Although the Republicans’ reconciliation proposal is certainly big — so big it would add over $4 trillion to our national debt — it is by no means beautiful. There is no way to hide the ugly reality of this bill. It allows for $2.8 trillion in new borrowing over the 10-year budget window, adds $3.3 trillion to the already more than $36 trillion national debt, and cuts over $700 billion from federal health care spending, primarily Medicaid. By 2034, our debt-to-GDP ratio would be at 125 percent. Interest payments could exceed $2 trillion a year, making it impossible to pay off the debt. Considering we already spend more on servicing our debt than on stewarding American defense capabilities and health care, we are accelerating down an unsustainable and dangerous path. Unrestrained fiscal policy has plagued the U.S. for decades, and it has not been limited to one side of the aisle. While members of Congress sit insulated on Capitol Hill and alternate between irresponsible tax cuts and excessive spending, life gets worse for everyday Americans. Moody’s recently lowered the U.S. long-term credit ratings to AA1 from AAA. At the same time, the world is moving further and further away from the American dollar. This means Americans are left with a smaller economy, less economic mobility, and a lower standard of living. As we know all too well, excessive borrowing leads to inflation and drives up interest rates, making it harder for Americans to finance a home, start a business, and put food on the table. This is unsustainable and has to change very quickly. Don’t just take it from us: In a recent Wall Street Journal editorial, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) wrote called it “essential that Congress deviate from its current path. Under every scenario now being considered, federal debt continues to skyrocket from its current level of almost $37 trillion.” So far in the 119th Congress, the majority hasn’t shown much of an appetite to deviate from this trajectory. In order to hand out tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy, the Republican reconciliation package would make devastating cuts to food assistance programs, health coverage, and other federal resources that hard-working Americans rely on to make ends meet. Is it so important to our colleagues across the aisle to give a handout to their mega-wealthy buddies that they would strap everyday Americans with even more crushing debt? The national debt and our federal government’s spending deficit may seem like far-off, intangible concepts when D.C. bureaucrats and television talking heads drone on about them for weeks on end. But the American people know perfectly well how debt adds up. Our constituents have to balance their budgets every month — why can’t the federal government do the same? The truth is, we can. For decades, Congress has chosen not to do so, perhaps because it isn’t politically expedient or it just takes too much hard work. Regardless, Congress and our federal government broadly are derelict in our duty to responsibly manage the government’s finances. Since our coalition was founded in the 1990s, the cornerstone of the Blue Dogs’ work has been our relentless focus on fiscal responsibility. For years, Blue Dogs supported legislation to curb reckless spending, hold both Democrats and Republicans accountable to our constituents, and require that Congress balance the budget. We had a willing partner in President Bill Clinton, who remains the most recent example of real fiscal discipline in the federal government. Now, as then, Blue Dogs know that the American people have one demand for their legislators as prices continue to rise and reckless fiscal policy threatens their livelihoods: “It’s the economy, stupid!” As this cry goes unanswered by a majority in Congress that proposes to drive our national debt to truly harrowing heights, Americans who work hard to pay their bills and take care of their families are losing confidence in their government. Each day this irresponsible spending continues, young Americans’ dreams that they can achieve the economic prosperity their parents did slip further and further away. The Blue Dogs’ vision to solve this problem is proving that our government can work. We believe that change is not only possible but essential. It doesn’t have to be this way. There’s another way forward: a bipartisan, commonsense way that pays down our debt while extending tax cuts to working Americans who need them most. Evidently, our offers to Republican leadership to work together on this fell on deaf ears this time. But with costs rising, confidence in government is sinking. Americans are eager for change, and we remain committed to using a steady hand to deliver pragmatic policies that most Americans agree on. In that spirit, our offer still stands. We are eager to work with our Republican colleagues to solve the issues facing our country and deliver results to the American people. We ask our colleagues: Will you work with us to deliver results?
Canadian three-times Olympic champion Summer McIntosh set a world record in the women’s 400 metres freestyle at the Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria, British Columbia, on Saturday.
The 18-year-old clocked 3:54.18 to better Australian Ariarne Titmus’ mark of 3:55.38 set at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
“Going into tonight, I knew that my training has been really good these past few months, and I knew that I could do something special,” McIntosh told public broadcaster CBC.
“So being able to input my training in doing that – I didn’t think my training would be 54.1 but I’m really happy with that.”
At the Paris Olympics, McIntosh became the first athlete from Canada to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games.
In Paris, the four-times World Aquatics champion won gold in the 400 metres individual medley, 200 butterfly and 200 individual medley, as well as taking silver in the 400 freestyle.
But things felt different at the Canada trials.
“I just felt so strong throughout, and that’s never been the case in the 400 freestyle for me. That last 100, I’m always really, really hurting.
“But I flipped at the 200 and I was just cruising, so I knew that I was having a strong swim. I could tell by the crowd and knew the way they were cheering that I was probably close to the world record.
“So I really tried to push that last part for them.”
Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe, a potential presidential contender, was shot in Bogota on Saturday, according to the government and his party, as his wife said he was fighting for his life in hospital.
The 39-year-old senator, who was shot during a campaign event as part of his run for the presidency in 2026, is a member of the opposition conservative Democratic Center party founded by former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. The two men are not related.
According to a party statement condemning the attack, the senator was hosting a campaign event in a public park in the Fontibon neighborhood in the capital on Saturday when “armed subjects shot him from behind.
The party described the attack as serious, but did not disclose further details on Uribe’s condition. Videos on social media showed a man, identified as Uribe, being tended to after the shooting. He appeared to be bleeding from his head.
Uribe’s wife Maria Claudia Tarazona wrote on her husband’s account on X that he was “fighting for his life.”
Colombia’s Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said a suspect had been arrested in the shooting and that authorities were investigating whether others were involved. Sanchez said he had visited the hospital where Uribe was being treated.
The government is offering some $730,000 as a reward for information in the case.
Colombia’s presidency issued a statement saying the government “categorically and forcefully” rejected the violent attack, and called for a thorough investigation into the events that took place.
Leftist President Gustavo Petro sympathized with the senator’s family in a message on X saying, “I don’t know how to ease your pain. It is the pain of a mother lost, and of a homeland.”
Petro later said in a speech on Saturday night that the person arrested was a minor and that the investigation would focus on finding who had ordered the attack.
“For now there is nothing more than hypothesis,” Petro said, adding that failures in security protocols would also be looked into.
The United States’ Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that the U.S. “condemns in the strongest possible terms the attempted assassination” of Uribe, blaming Petro’s “inflammatory rhetoric” for the violence.
Uribe, who is not yet an official presidential candidate for his party, is from a prominent family in Colombia. His father was a businessman and union leader. His mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was kidnapped in 1990 by an armed group under the command of the late cartel leader Pablo Escobar. She was killed during a rescue operation in 1991.
Colombia has for decades been embroiled in a conflict between leftist rebels, criminal groups descended from right-wing paramilitaries, and the government.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
A pioneering international initiative for hadal zone exploration, led by Chinese scientists, has received official approval from the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).
The Global Hadal Exploration Programme (GHEP), spearheaded by Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering (IDSSE) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), aims to transform fragmented hadal research into a coordinated global mission to explore, understand and protect the planet’s most inaccessible marine ecosystems.
The hadal zone comprises primarily of ocean trenches, particularly from a depth of 6,000 meters to the bottom of the ocean up to about 11,000 meters. The hadal environment is characterized by extreme depths and pressures, darkness, low temperatures, frequent earthquakes, and peculiar living forms.
For a long time, the hadal trenches have been among the most under-explored and mysterious areas on Earth due to technological limitations.
China has been a key driver of deep-sea exploration over the past decade through sustained sci-tech advancements. In 2014, the CAS launched the Hadal Science and Technology Program, followed by a historic dive to the Mariana Trench’s 10,000-meter depths in 2016. By 2022, the CAS initiated the Global Trench Dive and Exploration Programme, leveraging its cutting-edge manned submersible Fendouzhe (Striver) and the Tansuo research vessels.
“Venturing deeper is about understanding our ocean so we can coexist with it,” said Du Mengran, a lead researcher at IDSSE.
“Global cooperation in these ‘untouched zones’ will redefine the boundaries of marine science and provide critical knowledge for deep-sea conservation and sustainable use,” she said.
To date, Chinese scientists have collaborated with 145 researchers from 10 countries, exploring nine hadal trenches worldwide, including the Mariana, the Kermadec and Puysegur trenches.
Starting from this year, GHEP will unify international research on extreme environments, life evolution, and geological processes in the hadal zone. The program will establish international research hubs, organize joint deep-diving expeditions, and host regular symposia while offering training and open access to samples, data, and facilities — particularly for young scientists, Du added.
GHEP brings together research institutions from New Zealand, Denmark, Germany, Chile, France, Indonesia, Brazil, Russia, India, Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Portugal and other countries.
Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
For best viewing experience, please enable browser JavaScript support.
Jun 8, 2025 0600 UTC Day 2 Convective Outlook
Updated: Sun Jun 8 05:47:20 UTC 2025 (Print Version | | )
Probabilistic to Categorical Outlook Conversion Table
Forecast Discussion
SPC AC 080547
Day 2 Convective Outlook NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK 1247 AM CDT Sun Jun 08 2025
Valid 091200Z – 101200Z
…THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN THE SOUTHEAST TO THE UPPER OH VALLEY…
…SUMMARY… Scattered damaging winds, a couple tornadoes, and isolated severe hail are possible across the Southeast into the Upper Ohio Valley on Monday into Monday evening.
…Southeast… Below-average confidence exists for this forecast with large spread across D2 guidance in the handling of an early-morning MCS and attendant MCV in the MS vicinity, amid modest background wind fields outside of the MCV influence. Most guidance indicates convection should intensify towards midday, along and downstream of the large-scale outflow as the boundary layer destabilizes across the Deep South. Some guidance indicates convection may redevelop behind it and become the primary corridor for damaging winds during the afternoon. For now, have maintained a broad level 2-SLGT risk for scattered damaging winds to the South Atlantic Coast.
…Upper OH Valley… A belt of strong mid-level southwesterlies ahead of an upper Great Lakes vertically stacked cyclone should generally remain along to the cool side of a weak cold front shifting east. Most guidance has trended up with the degree of boundary-layer heating ahead of the front, which will be required to boost buoyancy amid marginal mid-level lapse rates. A corridor of primarily scattered damaging winds, along with a tornado and isolated severe hail, may develop amid modest MLCAPE of 500-1500 J/kg. With a confined buoyancy plume, convection should weaken as it spreads towards the northern Appalachians on Monday evening.
…NM/TX… An intense and large MCS on Sunday should drive a composite outflow/cold front into central/south TX, with a meridional arc over central to western NM. Scattered to numerous afternoon storms will probably remain tied to the higher terrain of northern/central NM with an isolated severe hail/wind threat amid marginal deep-layer shear. Isolated storms are also possible near the front from the southern Trans-Pecos through southeast TX with a severe hail/wind threat. Isolated elevated convection may form with weak low-level warm theta-e advection north of the front on Monday evening/night. Sufficient effective bulk shear and elevated buoyancy may exist for a few storms capable of severe hail.
..Grams.. 06/08/2025
CLICK TO GET WUUS02 PTSDY2 PRODUCT
NOTE: THE NEXT DAY 2 OUTLOOK IS SCHEDULED BY 1730Z
Top/Latest Day 1 Outlook/Today’s Outlooks/Forecast Products/Home
Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
SPC AC 080600
Day 1 Convective Outlook NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK 0100 AM CDT Sun Jun 08 2025
Valid 081200Z – 091200Z
…THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA INTO NORTHERN TEXAS…
…THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS SEPARATELY ALONG THE EAST COAST…
…SUMMARY… A severe weather outbreak is possible across the southern Plains today. A few tornadoes, destructive wind gusts of 80-100 mph, and giant hail up to 5 inches in diameter are likely. Strong gusts, and perhaps a couple of tornadoes, are also possible along portions of the East Coast.
…Synopsis…
***A severe weather outbreak is possible across the southern Plains today***
A broad mid-level trough will deepen across the Great Lakes into the OH Valley, with multiple embedded mid-level impulses poised to pivot around the upper trough across the southern Plains to the Southeast and Atlantic Seaboard today. A broad northwesterly upper-flow regime will become established across the Plains States into the MS Valley, with modest mid-level flow contributing to strong deep-layer shear. Beneath this stronger flow/shear and cold temperatures aloft will be rich low-level moisture, which will support extreme instability, especially in the southern Plains. Here, a volatile setup for severe weather will exist. All severe hazards are expected, with destructive wind gusts and giant hail likely. The severe threat should persist to some degree into the Lower MS Valley after dark. A severe risk will also accompany storms along parts of the East Coast, as passing mid-level impulses provide enough lift and shear atop a moist, unstable airmass.
…Southern Plains into the Lower MS Valley… A diffuse baroclinic zone will be positioned across the TX Panhandle, southeast into central or southern OK at the start of the period. It is unclear how prolific convection will be during the morning to early afternoon. Latest high-resolution model guidance consensus suggests that these storms should not be overly intense, nor should their impact on the free warm sector be overly detrimental. Assuming this is the case, strong daytime heating, amid some high level cirrus clouds, should support surface temperatures reaching 90 F amid mid 70s F dewpoints. Given robust boundary layer heating of this moisture beneath 8-9 C/km mid-level lapse rates, widespread extreme buoyancy should develop by afternoon. Forecast soundings show deep, wide CAPE profiles, with over 5000 J/kg MLCAPE possible (perhaps locally higher in spots). At the same time, modest veering with height in the lowest few hundred mb, and northwesterly flow in the 500-200 mb increasing to 50-70 kts, will promote 50+ kts of effective bulk shear (elongated hodographs with small low-level curvature).
A quasi-stationary cold front will be draped somewhere along the KS/OK border into MO, with a dryline positioned in far western TX during the afternoon. With maximum daytime heating and minimal MLCINH, robust convective initiation is expected along these boundaries around mid-afternoon. Given the extreme buoyancy/shear parameter space, the more isolated, discrete storms should quickly become intense supercells capable of a few tornadoes, severe gusts (perhaps exceeding 75 mph), and large hail. 2+ inch diameter hail should become commonplace if multiple supercells can sustain themselves, with giant hail (perhaps over 5 inches in diameter) possible. Though much more conditional, an intense tornado could develop somewhere in the eastern TX Panhandle if a longer-lived, inflow-dominant supercell manages to materialize and optimally ingest the extreme buoyancy while also traversing the diffuse baroclinic boundary. However, confidence in this scenario is too low for the introduction of higher tornado probabilities at this time.
At some point during the afternoon early evening, supercell cold pool mergers should support the development of either one intense MCS (perhaps in the form of a bow echo), or multiple small but intense bowing segments. Should a bow echo form, widespread severe winds are likely. In either scenario, gust magnitudes may potentially reaching 80-100 mph, hence the maintenance of a Category 4/Moderate Risk. An MCS should progress toward the lower MS Valley during the evening into the overnight, with a lingering severe wind threat that should gradually subside with time.
…Portions of the Mid Atlantic… By early afternoon, thunderstorms should increase in both coverage and intensity ahead of a weak surface low and associated weak mid-level impulse. These storms will move into an airmass characterized by mid to upper 70s F temperatures and 70 F dewpoints, overspread by modest mid-level lapse rates (resulting in over 1500 J/kg MLCAPE). Considerable veering with height will support elongated hodographs with appreciable low-level curvature, with multicells and supercells the expected storm mode. Damaging gusts and large hail may accompany the stronger storms. A few tornadoes may occur with any supercells that interact with a baroclinic boundary across eastern VA.
…Portions of the Southeast Atlantic Coastline… From mid morning to early afternoon, diurnal heating of a moist, weakly capped boundary layer will result in surface temperatures reaching 90 F amid 70 F surface dewpoints, with MLCAPE exceeding 2000 J/kg in spots. Overall deep-layer flow/shear should be modest at best, with forecast soundings showing predominantly short hodographs. Given the moderate to strong instability in place, multicells are the expected mode of convection. While some hail cannot be ruled out with the stronger storms (given modest mid-level lapse rates), the main threat with these storms should be strong wind gusts.
..Squitieri/Kerr.. 06/08/2025
CLICK TO GET WUUS01 PTSDY1 PRODUCT
NOTE: THE NEXT DAY 1 OUTLOOK IS SCHEDULED BY 1300Z
Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Current Mesoscale DiscussionsUpdated: Sun Jun 8 07:20:03 UTC 2025 No Mesoscale Discussions are currently in effect.
Notice: The responsibility for Heavy Rain Mesoscale Discussions has been transferred to the Weather Prediction Center (WPC) on April 9, 2013. Click here for the Service Change Notice. Archived Convective ProductsTo view convective products for a previous day, type in the date you wish to retrieve (e.g. 20040529 for May 29, 2004). Data available since January 1, 2004.
Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Current Convective Watches (View What is a Watch? clip)Updated: Sun Jun 8 07:19:06 UTC 2025 No watches are currently valid
Archived Convective ProductsTo view convective products for a previous day, type in the date you wish to retrieve (e.g. 20040529 for May 29, 2004). Data available since January 1, 2004.
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
PARIS, June 8 (Xinhua) — French President Emmanuel Macron will make an official visit to Greenland on June 15, French newspaper Le Monde reported on Saturday, citing a source in the French presidential administration.
At the invitation of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Macron will become the first foreign head of state to visit Greenland since US President Donald Trump’s threats of annexation, Le Monde reports.
The three leaders will hold talks on security in the North Atlantic and the Arctic, as well as climate change, the energy transition and the supply of critical minerals, the Elysee Palace said.
This visit is aimed at “strengthening cooperation with Greenland in these areas and contributing to the strengthening of European sovereignty,” Le Monde notes, citing a source in the Elysee Palace.
D. Trump has repeatedly expressed a desire to acquire Greenland, which has a strategic location and is rich in resources. –0–
Source: United States of America – Federal Government Departments (video statements)
From D-Day to the Battle of the Bulge — he lived it all.
Lonnie M. Frank didn’t just witness history, he lived what most of us have only read about in history books. From storming the beaches of Normandy on D-Day to enduring the brutal winter of the Battle of the Bulge, he marched through some of WWII’s darkest hours with unwavering courage and sacrifice. As the voices of the Greatest Generation fade, his legacy stands as a powerful reminder of honor, resilience, and what it means to serve. We remember — and we will never forget.
Source: United States of America – Department of State (video statements)
Under President Trump and Secretary Rubio, the U.S. Department of State is committed to answering your questions transparently and unfiltered. We want to make sure we’re getting information directly to you about how an America First foreign policy is making America great again.
U.S. Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott answers this week’s questions about student visas, Israel and Iran, the economic impact of our foreign agreements, investments in Africa, Syria, how we’re combatting human trafficking, and negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
We’ll be answering more of your questions soon!
———-
Under the leadership of the President and Secretary of State, the U.S. Department of State leads America’s foreign policy through diplomacy, advocacy, and assistance by advancing the interests of the American people, their safety and economic prosperity. On behalf of the American people we promote and demonstrate democratic values and advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world.
The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser. The Secretary carries out the President’s foreign policies through the State Department, which includes the Foreign Service, Civil Service and U.S. Agency for International Development.
Get updates from the U.S. Department of State at www.state.gov and on social media!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/statedept
X: https://x.com/StateDept
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/statedept
Flickr: https://flickr.com/photos/statephotos/
Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/StateDept
Substack: https://statedept.substack.com
Watch on-demand State Department videos: https://video.state.gov/
Subscribe to The Week at State e-newsletter: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USSTATEBPA/signup/32562
State Department website: https://www.state.gov/
Careers website: https://careers.state.gov/
White House website: https://www.whitehouse.gov/
Terms of Use: https://state.gov/tou
Source: United States of America – Department of State (video statements)
Thanks to everyone who submitted questions to us this week! Your voices matter, and we’re here to make sure you get the answers you’re looking for. Tune in as Principal Deputy Spokesperson Pigott addresses a few of your top questions — from our America First foreign policies to where he found his lapel pin.
Keep sending us your questions in the comments and DMs — we’ll be answering more soon!
———-
Under the leadership of the President and Secretary of State, the U.S. Department of State leads America’s foreign policy through diplomacy, advocacy, and assistance by advancing the interests of the American people, their safety and economic prosperity. On behalf of the American people we promote and demonstrate democratic values and advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world.
The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser. The Secretary carries out the President’s foreign policies through the State Department, which includes the Foreign Service, Civil Service and U.S. Agency for International Development.
Get updates from the U.S. Department of State at www.state.gov and on social media!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/statedept
X: https://x.com/StateDept
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/statedept
Flickr: https://flickr.com/photos/statephotos/
Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/StateDept
Substack: https://statedept.substack.com
Watch on-demand State Department videos: https://video.state.gov/
Subscribe to The Week at State e-newsletter: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USSTATEBPA/signup/32562
State Department website: https://www.state.gov/
Careers website: https://careers.state.gov/
White House website: https://www.whitehouse.gov/
Terms of Use: https://state.gov/tou
About the U.S. Army: The Army Mission – our purpose – remains constant: To deploy, fight and win our nation’s wars by providing ready, prompt & sustained land dominance by Army forces across the full spectrum of conflict as part of the joint force. Interested in joining the U.S. Army? Visit:
spr.ly/6001igl5L
Connect with the U.S. Army online: Web:
https://www.army.mil
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/USarmy/
X: Tweets by USArmy
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/usarmy/
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/us-army
#USArmy #Soldiers #Military #Shorts #Army
Written by Conor Hayes, Graduate Student at York University Earth planning date: Wednesday, June 4, 2025 We are continuing to look for a suitable location to collect a drilled sample in this area. As you may recall from Monday’s plan, we performed a short “bump” of just under 4 meters (about 13 feet) hoping to find a drill target today after Monday’s analysis determined that there were no good targets in our previous workspace. Happily, today’s workspace was much more cooperative, and we were able to select the target “Altadena” as our next potential drill location. Altadena is a name that we’ve been saving for a special target, as its namesake here on Earth is a neighborhood next to JPL that was devastated by the Eaton Fire earlier this year. We’re about to enter our next mapping quadrangle, which will come with a new set of target names, so the team decided that using Altadena as the name for this drill site was an obvious choice. The big activity in this plan is the next step in the drilling process. This activity is the “preload test,” which determines if the forces on the drill will be good while drilling, and the drill target won’t unexpectedly move or fracture. If we pass the preload test and find that the rock has the chemistry we’re looking for, we’ll be able to proceed with Altadena as our next drill site. If we don’t, we’ll have to decide whether to bump again or resume driving deeper into this potentially boxwork-bearing region. Of course, the preload test isn’t the only thing we’re doing today. Coming in, it was looking like our time for other activities would be pretty tight due to power constraints imposed by preparations for drilling and keeping the rover warm during the cold Martian winter. However, we’ve recently implemented some new power-optimizing capabilities, which led to us having much more power today than we expected. This meant that we were able to add a whole additional hour of science time in addition to the hour that we already had scheduled. Unsurprisingly, Altadena gets a lot of love in this plan to characterize it before we drill. This includes a ChemCam LIBS activity and a Mastcam observation, as well as some overnight observations by APXS and some MAHLI images. In addition, Mastcam will be observing some exposed stratigraphy at “Dana Point,” a light-toned vein at “Mission Trails” that will also be a ChemCam LIBS target, a few more nearby troughs, and a couple of sandy patches at “Camp Williams” to observe wind-driven sediment transport. Along with the two LIBS, ChemCam will be using its RMI camera to add to the pile of images we have of the Mishe Mokwa butte and the yardang unit off in the distance. As the lead for the Atmosphere and Environment (ENV) group today, it looked like I was going to have a pretty light workload due to the power constraints preventing any ENV activities other than our usual REMS, RAD, and DAN observations. With the extra hour of science time, I was able to add a handful of new activities, including three Navcam cloud movies, a Navcam line-of-sight observation of dust within Gale Crater, and a Navcam survey to look for any dust devils that may be swirling around the rover. A pretty decent ENV science haul for a plan that started with nothing! When we come into planning on Friday, we’ll hopefully have passed the preload test and will be able to turn Altadena into our 43rd drill hole in the coming sols, before we continue driving up the slopes of Mount Sharp.
Written by Henry Manelski, Ph.D. student at Purdue University
This week Perseverance continued its gradual descent into the relatively flat terrain outside of Jezero Crater. In this area, the science team expects to find rocks that could be among the oldest ever observed by the Perseverance rover — and perhaps any rover to have explored the surface of Mars — presenting a unique opportunity to understand Mars’ ancient past. Perseverance is now parked at “Fallbreen,” a light-toned bedrock exposure that the science team hopes to compare to the nearby olivine-bearing outcrop at “Copper Cove.” This could be a glimpse of the geologic unit rich in olivine and carbonate that stretches hundreds of kilometers to the west of Jezero Crater. Gaining insight into how these rocks formed could have profound implications for our constantly evolving knowledge of this region’s history. Perseverance’s recent traverses marked another notable transition. After rolling past Copper Cove, Perseverance entered the “Forlandet” quadrangle, a 1.2-square-kilometer (about 0.46 square mile, or 297-acre) area along the edge of the crater that the science team named after Forlandet National Park on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. Discovered in the late 16th century by Dutch explorers, this icy set of islands captured the imagination of a generation of sailors searching for the Northwest Passage. While Perseverance is in the Forlandet quad, landforms and rock targets will be named informally after sites in and around this national park on Earth. As the rover navigates through its own narrow passes in the spirit of discovery, driving around sand dunes and breezing past buttes, we hope it channels the perseverance of the explorers who once gave these rocks their names.
Headline: Disaster Recovery Center Opening June 7 in Franklin County
Disaster Recovery Center Opening June 7 in Franklin County
Cape Girardeau – A Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) is opening, June 7, in Gray Summit, in Franklin County to assist Missourians who sustained damage to their primary residence, personal property, or have emergency needs due to the severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and wildfires that occurred March 14-15, 2025
Those with disaster-related damage in Bollinger, Butler, Camden, Carter, Franklin, Howell, Iron, Jefferson, Oregon, Ozark, Perry, Phelps, Reynolds, Ripley, St
Louis, Wayne, Webster, and Wright counties may be eligible for assistance by registering with FEMA
At the center, affected individuals can get help applying for disaster assistance, speak to state or federal representatives, receive updates on their FEMA registration, and more
To find the center nearest you, visit FEMA
gov/DRC
Survivors may visit any center for assistance
The center is opening Saturday, June 7, 2025, at 8 a
m
CDT
See location and hours below:Franklin County – First Baptist Church of Gray Summit2705 Highway 100Gray Summit, MO 63039Hours of operation – Mon – Sat: 8 a
m
to 7 p
m
(Closed Sundays)FEMA financial assistance may include money for basic home repairs, personal property losses or other underinsured/uninsured disaster-related needs such as childcare, transportation, medical needs, funeral, or dental expenses
The FEMA registration deadline is July 22, 2025
It is not necessary to go to a DRC to apply for FEMA assistance
The fastest way to apply is online at DisasterAssistance
gov or via the FEMA app
You may also call 1-800-621-3362
If you use a relay service, such as video relay, captioned telephone, or other service, give FEMA your number for that service
Affected individuals who register for FEMA assistance will receive a decision letter by mail or on their DisasterAssistance
gov account
If the letter says you are “not approved” for some categories of assistance, it does not mean you have been denied assistance
It is important to read the letter carefully as it will explain your registration status and advise what you need to do to continue the process
Missourians who need disaster information, shelter information or referrals, or would like to volunteer are urged to call 211
Multilingual services are available, and the 211 service is available throughout Missouri
For out-of-state access: 1-800-427-4626
The Missouri State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and FEMA advise individuals and businesses impacted by the disaster to report damage to their local emergency management officials
Local officials can connect survivors to resources being provided by state departments and non-governmental organizations assisting with unmet needs
If you have questions about your FEMA letter, visit a Disaster Recovery Center or call the FEMA Helpline at 1-800-621-3362
Headline: Disaster Recovery Center Opening June 6 in Butler County
Disaster Recovery Center Opening June 6 in Butler County
Cape Girardeau – A Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) is opening, June 6, in Poplar Bluff, in Butler County to assist Missourians who sustained damage to their primary residence, personal property, or have emergency needs due to the severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and wildfires that occurred March 14-15, 2025
Those with disaster-related damage in Bollinger, Butler, Camden, Carter, Franklin, Howell, Iron, Jefferson, Oregon, Ozark, Perry, Phelps, Reynolds, Ripley, St
Louis, Wayne, Webster, and Wright counties may be eligible for assistance by registering with FEMA
At the center, affected individuals can get help applying for disaster assistance, speak to state or federal representatives, receive updates on their FEMA registration, and more
To find the center nearest you, visit FEMA
gov/DRC
Survivors may visit any center for assistance
The center is opening Friday, June 6, 2025, at 8 a
m
CDT
See location and hours below:Butler County – MPC World Impact Center Conference Center727 Ridge AvenuePoplar Bluff, MO 63901Hours of operation – Mon – Sat: 8 a
m
to 7 p
m
(Closed Sundays)FEMA financial assistance may include money for basic home repairs, personal property losses or other underinsured/uninsured disaster-related needs such as childcare, transportation, medical needs, funeral, or dental expenses
The FEMA registration deadline is July 22, 2025
It is not necessary to go to a DRC to apply for FEMA assistance
The fastest way to apply is online at DisasterAssistance
gov or via the FEMA app
You may also call 1-800-621-3362
If you use a relay service, such as video relay, captioned telephone, or other service, give FEMA your number for that service
Affected individuals who register for FEMA assistance will receive a decision letter by mail or on their DisasterAssistance
gov account
If the letter says you are “not approved” for some categories of assistance, it does not mean you have been denied assistance
It is important to read the letter carefully as it will explain your registration status and advise what you need to do to continue the process
Missourians who need disaster information, shelter information or referrals, or would like to volunteer are urged to call 211
Multilingual services are available, and the 211 service is available throughout Missouri
For out-of-state access: 1-800-427-4626
The Missouri State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and FEMA advise individuals and businesses impacted by the disaster to report damage to their local emergency management officials
Local officials can connect survivors to resources being provided by state departments and non-governmental organizations assisting with unmet needs
If you have questions about your FEMA letter, visit a Disaster Recovery Center or call the FEMA Helpline at 1-800-621-3362
