The Rhode Island Department of Transportation today announced that it will close a small portion of the I-195 westbound highspeed lane and shoulder tomorrow night, July 23 from 8:30 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 24. The work is being done at the request of the City of Providence so that it can have access to work on pipes related to the hurricane barrier.
The shoulder and the highspeed lane will be closed from the Providence River Bridge exit to the South Water Street exit. This span is not on the Washington Bridge.
RIDOT will have traffic control measures in place to ensure the safe and efficient flow of traffic during this work.
All inquiries should be directed to the City of Providence.
Contact: Craig J. Hochman, (401) 680-7515 or Roger Biron (401) 680-7531.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Cock Van Oosterhout, Professor of Evolutionary Genetics, University of East Anglia
Earth’s biodiversity is in crisis. An imminent “sixth mass extinction” threatens beloved and important wildlife. It also threatens to reduce the amount of genetic diversity – or variation – within species.
This variation in genes within a species is crucial for their ability to adapt to changes in the environment or resist diseases. Genetic variation is therefore crucial for species’ long term survival.
Traditional conservation efforts – such as protected areas, measures to prevent poaching, and captive breeding – remain essential to prevent extinction. But even when these measures succeed in boosting population numbers, they cannot recover genetic diversity that has already been lost. The loss of a unique gene variant can take thousands of years of evolution before it is recovered by a lucky mutation.
In a new paper in Nature Reviews Biodiversity, an international team of geneticists and wildlife biologists argues that the survival of some species will depend on gene editing, along with more traditional conservation actions. Using these advanced genetic tools, like those already revolutionising agriculture and medicine, can give endangered species a boost by adding genetic diversity that isn’t there.
Genetic engineering is not new. Plant breeders have used it for decades to develop crops with traits to boost disease resistance and drought tolerance. Around 13.5% of the world’s arable land grows genetically modified crops. Gene-editing tools such as Crispr are also being used in “de-extinction” projects that aim to recreate extinct animals.
The Dallas-based company Colossal Laboratory & Biosciences has attracted headlines for its efforts to bring back the woolly mammoth, dodo and dire wolf. In de-extinction, the DNA of a living relative species is edited (changed) to approximate the extinct species’ most charismatic traits.
For example, to “resurrect” a woolly mammoth, Colossal’s researchers plan to splice mammoth genes (recovered from ancient remains) into the genome of the Asian elephant to produce a cold-hardy, hairy elephant-mammoth hybrid. Colossal recently engineered grey wolf pups with 20 gene edits from the extinct dire wolf’s DNA.
Colossal edited grey wolves to have traits from extinct dire wolves. Colossal
The “Jurassic Park”-style revival of long-gone creatures has attracted considerable attention and funding, which has accelerated the development of genome engineering techniques. These same genome editing tools can be used for conservation of existing and endangered species. If we can edit a mouse to have mammoth hair, or edit a wolf to resemble a dire wolf, why not edit an endangered bird’s genome to make it more resilient to disease and climate change?
Museum specimens
Using DNA from historical specimens, scientists can identify important genetic variants that a species has lost. Many museums hold century-old skins, bones, or seeds – a genomic time capsule of past diversity. With genome editing, it is possible to reintroduce these lost variants into the wild gene pool.
By restoring genetic variation, species can be fortified against emerging diseases and environmental change. A sharp decline in population numbers is called a “bottleneck”. During a bottleneck, inbreeding and genetic drift lead to the random loss of genetic diversity. Harmful mutations can also increase in frequency. Such “genomic erosion” compromises the health of individuals and can make populations more prone to extinction.
If we can pinpoint a particularly damaging mutation that has become widespread in the population or a variant that has been lost, we could replace it in a few individuals using gene editing. Aided by natural selection, the healthy variant would gradually spread in the population.
If a threatened species lacks genes that it desperately needs to survive new conditions, why not borrow them from a close relative that already has those traits? Known as facilitated adaptation, this could help wildlife cope with threats such as climate change.
In agriculture, such cross-species gene transfers are routine. Tomatoes have been engineered with a mustard plant gene to tolerate cold, and chestnut trees got a wheat gene for disease resistance. There is no reason why such techniques cannot be expanded to animals.
These genetic interventions can complement, but never replace traditional conservation measures. Habitat protection, control of invasive predators, captive breeding programmes, and other on-the-ground action remain absolutely necessary. Importantly, gene editing only makes sense if the target population has recovered in numbers enough (often through conservation), to allow natural selection to do its job.
Measuring the risk of extinction
Gene-edited animals or plants wouldn’t have a chance if released into a barren habitat or a poaching hotspot. Genomic tools can give an extra edge to species that are already being saved from immediate threats, equipping them for adaptive evolution in the future.
Climate zones are shifting, new diseases are spreading, and once-isolated populations are cut off in small fragments of habitat. Without intervention, even intensive habitat management might not prevent a wave of extinctions.
However, a strategy of gene editing also comes with significant risks and unknowns. One technical concern is off-target effects – Crispr and other gene-editing techniques might make unintended DNA changes in addition to the intended edit. In other words, you attempt to insert a disease-resistance gene, but accidentally disrupt another gene in the process. Similarly, a gene may have more than one function, which is known as pleiotropy.
Especially in less-well studied species, we may not be aware of all those functions or pleiotropic effects. Regulatory inertia and public scepticism may also present big obstacles – these issues have historically limited the rollout of genetically modified (GM) organisms, particularly in agriculture.
There are also evolutionary and ecological uncertainties. A deliberate gene edit might have knock-on effects on how the species evolves over time. For instance, if one individual is given a highly beneficial gene that spreads rapidly, it could replace all the other gene variants at that location in the genome (the full complement of DNA in the organism’s cell). This is known as a “selective sweep”, and it inadvertently reduces the genetic diversity in that region of the genome.
Some critics argue that the narrative of a genetic quick fix could distract from the root causes of biodiversity loss. If people believe we can simply “edit” a species to save it, will that undermine the urgency to protect habitats or cut carbon emissions? Portraying extinction as reversible might seed false hope and reduce the motivation for tough environmental action.
Conservation efforts, strong environmental policies and legal protections remain indispensable. So do habitat restoration, climate action and reducing the impact made on the environment by humans.
Nevertheless, genome engineering is a new tool in the conservation toolbox. It’s one that –given the right assistance and environmental encouragement – can help save species from extinction.
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Cock Van Oosterhout receives funding from the Royal Society for conservation genomics work on threatened bird species in Mauritius, and a donation by the Colossal Foundation for conservation genomic research on the pink pigeon. He is member of the Conservation Genetics Specialist Group of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).
Despite the steady growth of online shopping, a majority of the UK public still prefers to buy groceries at the supermarket.
Shopping trolleys can help us lug our purchases back to the car, but some shoppers are evidently taking them further afield. In 2017, 520,000 trolleys were reported as abandoned in the UK. Sunderland in north-east England alone reported 30,000 abandoned trolleys between 2020 and 2022. Likewise, 550 trolleys were collected in a single day in western Sydney, Australia.
Supermarkets employ a range of methods to stop trolleys leaving their premises, including coin slots, vertical bars (to stop trolleys leaving the shop floor), wheel-locking mechanisms and car park wardens. Despite these efforts, abandoned trolleys still blight the landscape and need to be collected.
Many supermarkets use commercial collection services, such as Wanzl TrolleyWise or TMS Collex. These companies typically use diesel vans to survey suburban areas, collect trolleys and return them to supermarkets. They also offer to refurbish weathered or damaged trolleys, sometimes by applying a zinc-based coating to protect against corrosion – a process known as regalvanisation.
We are researchers at the University of Warwick who wanted to understand the environmental impact of trolley abandonment. So, we set out to investigate it.
Collecting versus manufacturing
How does the environmental impact of using vans to rescue abandoned trolleys compare with losing these trolleys to excessive damage or corrosion and having to make new ones?
Our study used a standardised methodology known as life-cycle assessment to analyse the potential environmental impact of collecting and handling abandoned shopping trolleys within an area of Coventry, a city in the English West Midlands, which includes our university campus.
We spoke to trolley suppliers, who told us trolleys used at the supermarket in Coventry were most likely made in Spain. This was incorporated into our model.
A trolley discovered by the author, abandoned in a bush near a car park. Neill Raath
Through conversations with our university’s estates department and commercial collection services, we established that approximately 30 trolleys were collected a week on average in the area surrounding the Tesco supermarket in the Cannon Park shopping centre.
Our model assumed that a bulk transport of 50 trolleys is sent twice each year to be refurbished, in a round trip of 220km between Coventry and a refurbishment facility based in the UK that was noted on stickers placed on refurbished trolleys.
Vans collecting 520,000 abandoned trolleys in a year could emit the equivalent of 343 tonnes of CO₂ (the annual equivalent of driving 80 petrol cars). If we imagine that 10% of these 520,000 trolleys have been left outside too long and need to be regalvanised then the total global warming impact increases by 90% to the equivalent of 652 tonnes CO₂ (roughly the same as 152 petrol cars being driven for one year).
This is quite a surprising increase for such a small number of trolleys. It suggests that the real problem lies with the environmental impact of manufacturing.
Most of the emissions can be avoided
We found that one trolley would have to be collected 93 times by a diesel van to have the same environmental impact as manufacturing a new one.
Our results showed that the emissions incurred during the diesel van collection phase were only 1% of the manufacturing impact, and the regalvanisation stage was only 8%. We might wonder whether switching to electrically powered collection vans might help. While the emissions would be reduced, the impact of using diesel vans is still minuscule compared to that of making new trolleys.
We found that the highest environmental impact stemmed from manufacturing, which was mainly attributed to making and replacing the steel frame of the trolley.
These results reinforce the benefits of following the circular-economy principle of keeping trolleys in use for as long as possible, and avoiding manufacturing to replace abandoned ones.
Would anything change if we switched to plastic trolleys? Other researchers have investigated the effect of changing trolley materials and have found that trolleys made of polymers have many benefits compared with steel: they use less material, are less dense (a benefit for collection vans that emit less by driving around lighter products) and do not require protective coatings, which themselves have an environmental impact.
However, if these polymer trolleys were to be sent to landfill (or left to deteriorate in the environment), they could release carcinogenic chemicals, as well as microplastics, as they break down. This leads us back to the importance of keeping products in use.
Abandoning trolleys is bad for the environment, with a potential global warming impact equivalent to 0.69 kg CO₂ for collecting one trolley and returning it to a supermarket. If we multiply this by the potential 520,000 abandoned trolleys a year, this figure becomes quite big.
Preventing trolley abandonment should be a priority not just for supermarkets, but for the general public as well. However, once a trolley is abandoned, it is far better to collect and refurbish it than to let it fall out of use and manufacture a new one, as 92–99% of the environmental impact can be avoided.
While it is unlikely that we can ever stop trolleys being abandoned, we hope that next time people see a trolley in an alley or park bush, the potential environmental impact of losing this trolley to service would be apparent.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Daniel Lawrence, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychology, Cardiff Metropolitan University
Restrictive practices in mental health settings – such as physical restraint and seclusion – are meant to be a last resort, used only when patients pose a risk to themselves or others.
In 2021 and 2022 alone, NHS England reported that 6,600 mental health patients were subjected to physical restraint, and 4,500 to seclusion. Figures such as these have led numerous experts and policymakers to conclude that restrictive practices are overused in mental health inpatient settings.
The consequences can be devastating. Restrictive practices are associated with trauma, worsening mental health, and even death. For decades, clinicians, researchers and policymakers have called for their reduction. Progress, however, remains painfully slow.
For the past five years, I have been researching the use of restrictive practices in mental health services and exploring how to reduce them. My new research demonstrates the importance of using compassion to support staff to promote the dignity and wellbeing of patients as a priority.
Restrictive practices have a long history that predates the development of asylums and psychiatry as a medical discipline. The use of legislation to detain people on the basis of their mental health in England, for example, dates back to at least the 14th century. Early examples of restrictive practices included patients being bound and beaten with rods in order to “restore sanity”.
During the first three decades of the 19th century, mechanical restraints such as straitjackets, chains and restraint chairs and confining patients in locked rooms were widely accepted methods of controlling violent people in British asylums. But in the 1830s, some clinicians recognised the moral and ethical problems with using such practices, and a campaign began to abolish them.
The UN has long recognised restrictive practices in mental healthcare as a human rights issue. In 2008, the UN’s special rapporteur on torture stated that methods such as solitary confinement violate articles 14 and 15 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which protect against arbitrary detention and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
This stance was reaffirmed in 2021 when the UN declared that restrictive practices breach the fundamental rights of patients. This underscores the urgent need for reform in mental healthcare systems worldwide.
Harmful effect
Research shows that restrictive practices may not only harm patients but contradict the goals of mental healthcare. Many mental health problems stem from traumatic experiences that leave people feeling powerless, unsafe and distressed. Using methods that reinforce these feelings can worsen the very issues services aim to address.
In extreme incidents, people have died as a result of restrictive practices use.
In my research, I have developed a theoretical model identifying core factors that perpetuate the use of restrictive practices in mental health services. These include the emotional challenges faced by staff working in high-stress environments, and how these challenges influence their decision-making.
Mental health wards can be highly stressful environments, with frequent incidents of aggression. In such settings, staff can often feel anxious and hyper-vigilant, which can make it harder for them to respond to patients with compassion.
Research shows that threat-based emotions like fear and anger are linked to a greater likelihood of using restrictive measures. So, this cycle perpetuates the use of these harmful practices.
Compassion may hold the key
Using restrictive practices to control or remove people who are perceived as a threat can provide staff with a sense of immediate safety, which may inadvertently reinforce their use. To address this, I wanted to explore whether supporting staff to manage their emotions more effectively could reduce their reliance on restrictive practices, and foster a more compassionate approach to care.
As part of my research, I introduced compassion-focused support groups for staff in several forensic mental health wards, advocating for a more empathetic and patient-centred approach. These groups tried to equip participants with skills to better manage challenging emotional experiences while fostering greater compassion for both themselves and the people in their care.
The aim was to help staff cultivate an inner sense of safety, reducing their reliance on restrictive practices as a means of managing their own feelings of threat. This intervention was encouraging, leading to reductions in the use of restrictive practices in some conditions – demonstrating the potential of using compassionate care for these purposes.
My study was the first of its kind – bur these initial results highlight the need for further research into how the emotional management of staff influences care decisions. The journey toward change is slow, but it is possible. Compassion may hold the key to addressing a deeply entrenched issue that has shaped the treatment of mental health patients for centuries.
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Daniel Lawrence is affiliated with the Labour Party.
Grandparents play a pivotal role in family life. They are often a vital part of the childcare puzzle, stepping in to look after their grandchildren while parents are at work or busy. And there’s a lot of grandparent care taking place.
In England, around half of all grandparents provide care for their grandchildren when the parents are not around. And the percentage of grandparents providing care is even higher when they have grandchildren aged 16 and under, who are more likely to require supervision, care, and support from an adult when the parents are busy at work or unavailable. In this case, 66% of grandparents help out.
I used data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, to analyse the caring roles of over 5,000 grandparents. I used data collected in 2016-17 to assess how often grandparents looked after their grandchildren, the activities they did with them, and why they helped out. I also discovered that there are clear gender and socioeconomic patterns. Further analysis of data from 2018-19 showed that providing care as a grandparent can affect wellbeing.
I found that in England, among grandparents who looked after grandchildren, 45% of grandparents spent at least one day a week looking after their young grandchildren. They did so consistently throughout the year, with 8% doing so almost daily. Approximately one in three grandparents provided care to their grandchildren during school holidays.
Around 25% of grandparents who looked after their grandchildren were still working. Most grandparents reported having overall good physical health.
And most grandparents who cared for their grandchildren also lived relatively close to them – less than half an hour away from their closest grandchild – and had at least one grandchild aged under six years old.
Most of the grandparents in the study who cared for grandchildren – 80% – mentioned that they played or took part in leisure activities with their grandchildren. Around half said that they frequently cooked for them and helped with picking them up and dropping them off from schools and nurseries. And although it was less common, grandparents also helped with homework and taking care of their grandchildren when they were not feeling well.
About three grandparents in four (76%) said that their motivation for helping out was to give their grandchildren’s parents some time out from childcare responsibilities. A similar percentage – 70% – said they wanted to provide some economic support, either by offering financial assistance or by allowing parents to go to work.
Just over half of grandparents (52%) said that being able to provide emotional support was what drove their motivation to provide grandchild care: they wanted to feel engaged with young people and help their grandchildren develop. But 17% say that they felt obliged to help out, and found it difficult to refuse.
The grandmother’s role
But while we tend to talk about “grandparents” as a group, grandmothers and grandfathers often experience and approach caregiving in distinctly different ways.
In particular, when examining the specific activities undertaken with their grandchildren, there are clear gender distinctions. I found that grandmothers were more likely than grandfathers to engage in hands-on tasks: preparing meals, helping with homework, caring for grandchildren when they are sick, and doing school pick-ups.
Grandfathers were less likely to do hands-on caring activities, such as school pickups. Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock
Grandfathers, while also involved, tended to participate less in these activities. This is the case even among grandparent couples who lived together and jointly cared for their grandchildren.
The role of wealth
The extent and nature of grandparental care is also closely linked to grandparents’ socioeconomic status. For example, grandparents with fewer financial resources tended to offer childcare more regularly than their wealthier counterparts.
Socioeconomic disparities also shape the nature of caregiving tasks. Less affluent grandparents were more likely to engage in hands-on activities, such as cooking meals and taking their grandchildren to and from school. In contrast, grandparents with more education were more likely than those with less education to help with homework frequently.
The reasons for providing care also varied according to grandparents’ socioeconomic status. Grandparents with greater financial resources and higher levels of education were more likely to report providing childcare to help parents manage work and other responsibilities, as well as to offer emotional support to their grandchildren. Conversely, those with fewer financial resources were more likely to feel obliged to help or to struggle to refuse caregiving duties.
Grandparent wellbeing
What grandparents do with their grandchildren and why they have an active role in caring for them can also affect their wellbeing in complex ways. Grandparents who often took part in fun or enriching activities with their grandchildren, such as leisure activities or helping with homework, tended to report higher wellbeing compared to their peers who did not look after grandchildren.
However, grandparents who cared for their grandchildren when they were sick or who had them stay overnight without parents tended to report, over time, lower wellbeing.
Motivations also matter for grandparents’ wellbeing. Grandparents had a higher quality of life if they cared for their grandchildren because they wanted to help them develop as people, or to feel engaged with young people. However, grandparents who felt obliged to help, perhaps due to family pressure or lack of alternatives, experienced lower wellbeing.
In short, these findings remind us that behind the broad label of “grandparenting” lies a diverse world of individuals whose involvement in caring for grandchildren – how often they care, what they do, and why – is closely linked to and varies with gender norms and socioeconomic status.
Also, the meaning behind grandparenting and the type of interactions shared with grandchildren seems to matter for grandparents’ wellbeing. Overall, these insights suggest that these caring responsibilities may contribute to the reinforcement or even deepening of existing gender, socioeconomic and health inequalities among older adults.
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Giorgio Di Gessa 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.
Tonya Ugoretz, a top FBI intelligence analyst, was placed on administrative leave in June. The FBI has not said why. But the decision came around the time she refused to endorse what was reportedly a thinly sourced report accusing China of interfering in the 2020 US presidential election in favour of Joe Biden.
At the Bureau, loyalty tests and polygraph checks have also allegedly become routine as part of a crackdown on news leaks. When approached by the New York Times about the matter, the FBI declined to comment and cited “personnel matters and internal deliberations”.
The situation does not seem to be much different at the CIA. In May, agency director John Ratcliffe ordered a review of the intelligence community’s earlier conclusion that Russia had interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign on behalf of Donald Trump. The conclusion, Ratcliffe contends, was unwarranted and imposed by political pressure – a claim that has been rejected by one of the report’s leading authors.
The intelligence community has reportedly also been under pressure to substantiate Trump’s claims that the recent military strikes on Iran had obliterated its nuclear sites. This is despite mixed evidence regarding the extent of their success. These examples suggest a growing politicisation of intelligence and national security in the US.
Researchers and observers have highlighted the detrimental effect of this process. When intelligence is conducted by ideologues that are screened for loyalty, it often becomes more about pleasing the leader than collecting accurate information and preventing failure.
Less attention has been paid to the permissive attitude of Congress. Many Republicans in Congress have taken an unquestioning attitude toward the claims made by the president and other officials, allowing intelligence agencies to pursue Trump’s agenda unimpeded.
While Trump and Patel’s focus on personal loyalty when it comes to intelligence is new, partisan influence in congressional oversight is not. In fact, Congress has a long history of supporting the intelligence priorities of the governing administration.
For much of the cold war, Congress was not involved – and did not want to be involved – in matters of intelligence. This view was expressed by former CIA legal counsel, Walter Pforzheimer, during an interview in 1988. Reflecting on the early days of oversight, he stated: “It wasn’t that we were attempting to hide anything. Our main problem was we couldn’t get them [Congress] to sit still and listen.”
This quote isn’t entirely true. In research from 2023, I showed that Congress was more involved than was generally believed. The US-backed 1954 coup in Guatemala, which deposed the democratically elected president, Jacobo Árbenz, is a case in point. Leading members of Congress were “in the know” and others pushed Dwight Eisenhower’s administration to be even more aggressive.
But Congress took on a more active role in intelligence matters in the 1970s. Following a series of public revelations about the CIA’s behaviour, a select committee was established in 1975 and exposed abuses by intelligence agencies including the surveillance of US citizens, experiments with drugs and involvement in assassinations.
In the wake of this, Congress established intelligence committees with oversight duties. The idea was that the CIA would present a document signed by the president to notify congressional committees of its intentions.
However, the system ran into trouble in the 1980s, and partisanship and politicisation were part of the story. The Ronald Reagan administration’s support for the “contra” rebels in Nicaragua made intelligence a matter of severe partisan conflict.
Removing Nicaragua’s government
When Reagan took office in 1981, one of the primary foreign policy priorities for his administration was removing the Sandinista National Liberation Front from power in Nicaragua. The administration saw the Sandinistas as a threat to the region and – in Reagan’s black-and-white thinking – as puppets of Communist Moscow and Havana.
The administration sought to convince Congress that its aims were limited. The aim, or so CIA director William Casey told the intelligence committees, was to obstruct the transfer of weapons from Nicaragua to neighbouring El Salvador. Another left-wing guerrilla movement, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, was threatening the US-supported government there.
Initially, the policy received bipartisan support in Congress. The linchpin of this policy was the creation of an insurgent group in Nicaragua called the contras (contrarevolucionarios). It was made up of members of the previous regime’s brutal national guard, as well as other groups that had become disgruntled with the Sandinistas.
News stories soon made clear that the size of the contra army had radically expanded, from the 500 members discussed by Casey in his initial briefing to thousands. The contras’ stated goal of overthrowing the Sandinistas, which they ultimately failed to do, also contradicted the earlier Reagan administration’s statements to Congress.
Democrats in Congress pushed the leadership of intelligence committees to curtail the administration’s activities. Edward Boland, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, penned and helped to pass two amendments. The first prohibited any US government support for the purpose of overthrowing the Nicaraguan government.
When the administration found loopholes to circumvent this, Boland’s second amendment prohibited any US funds from being spent in support of the contras. This amendment is generally understood as a first step towards the so-called Iran-Contra scandal.
The Reagan administration illegally funded the contras behind Congress’s back by using the proceeds from secret arms sales to Iran – a state the US had been at loggerheads with since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The Boland amendments also helped make an intelligence and covert operations issue a matter of public debate and – more importantly – congressional votes. Republicans in Congress abandoned their oversight duties and followed the administration’s guidelines.
Votes on contra aid became an opportunity for partisan controversy, vitriolic attacks, accusations of betrayal and large-scale influence campaigns. Instead of oversight, a deep partisan divide materialised.
Counting on Congress? Think again
The role of Congress is to conduct oversight. It is the role of the governing administration to keep Congress informed of intelligence matters, particularly covert operations. History shows this has often been hard to achieve.
Congress has been complacent, complicit and often too willing to follow the government’s lead. In some cases, Congress has acted but primarily in the aftermath of major scandals or media revelations. This is called “firefighting” behaviour.
But “firefighters” seem to now be in short supply. As much as domestic constraints on Trump’s power are decreasing, the same is happening in the context of intelligence and foreign policy.
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Luca Trenta received funding from British Academy Grant SRG21211237.
The UK government has launched a consultation on driverless cars, ahead of on-the-road trials of the vehicles next year. It has now been more than a decade since the prospect of driverless cars on public roads emerged, and prototypes and robotaxi fleets such as Waymo and Cruise replaced human drivers with artificial intelligence (AI).
But ten years on, and with self-driving cars increasingly common in the US and China, significant obstacles still stand in their way in the UK.
Despite rapid advances in the tech, other aspects of the driverless journey are still to catch up. Here are five key reasons why autonomous cars are unlikely to take over your local roads any time soon.
1. Uncertainties around safety
One of the main benefits of rolling out driverless cars is to increase traffic safety by eliminating driver errors. In the US, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported in 2018 that more than 90% of serious crashes were due to human error. But there is not yet converging evidence to support the idea that AI taking over from human drivers can make roads safer.
On the other hand, there is evidence that adverse weather conditions, road design, traffic control systems and mixed traffic (that is, human-driven and driverless cars) can degrade the performance of those vehicles. Anomalies in driving patterns and frequent rear-end crashes involving self-driving technologies could indicate the AI algorithms are still far from perfect.
2. Regulations and legislation falling behind
Substantial investment in research and development of self-driving technologies has led to a fast-growing and innovative industry. On the other hand, legislation and regulation processes often tend to be slower. These involve multiple stages including drafting, consultation, debate, committee reviews, voting and sometimes judicial review.
The UK’s Automated Vehicles Act provides a framework for the deployment of driverless vehicles. But the legal codes and mechanisms are still evolving. This is also true of data privacy and cybersecurity.
For now, there is insufficient legislation governing who can own telematics and vehicle data or how they can be used. Such a widening lag has implications for the mass rollout of driverless cars, and has a direct impact on insuring them.
3. The insurance industry isn’t ready
Scarce data, combined with ambiguities in legislation and regulations, means insurance companies face a new set of challenges. These include making sense of where liability lies, developing new insurance models and adapting their premiums as the types of claim evolve.
In some countries, including the UK, the liability for levels four and five of autonomous driving (very highly automated and fully automated) is shifting from human drivers in conventional vehicles to the manufacturer. Although the insurer pays first, they can recover costs from the tech provider later.
New risk factors such as cybersecurity further complicate the insurance landscape. Driverless cars are designed to communicate with infrastructure and even other vehicles to decide their routes and avoid collisions. This can open the door to unlawful modifications, hacking or privacy breaches.
4. Ethical dilemmas
Heavy traffic and the presence of other road users could lead to scenarios where a crash is inevitable. This would require programmers to design crash severity algorithms that include moral decision-making into autonomous systems. In simple terms, programmers are effectively being asked to write codes that assign value to human lives – an ethical minefield that has yet to be resolved in either academia or industry.
This echoes the “trolley problem” (a thought experiment about killing one person to save others) but with real-world legal and moral significance. It poses further legal and regulatory questions that could further slow the progress of legislation. Complicating things further is the opaque, black-box nature of AI algorithms.
5. Changing business models
Technology developers such as Waymo and Zoox offer only driverless rides and don’t sell vehicles. The recent move by Tesla to launch a robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, also indicates a shift from selling cars to “mobility as a service”, even by car manufacturers.
In some societies like the US, there is resistance among consumers to relinquishing car ownership due to higher car dependency. This mismatch between the business models of the makers of driverless cars and consumer preferences presents another significant barrier to widespread adoption.
Even if the technical obstacles are removed, these deeply held sentiments about the nature of mobility may prevent consumers abandoning private vehicles.
Until the technical, legal, ethical and commercial challenges are addressed, the widespread rollout of driverless vehicles will remain more of a long-term vision than an immediate reality.
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Seyed Toliyat 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.
Under bright lights, the audience looks at a bare stage on two planes. Below, a small stage is white and empty, occupied only by a table and two chairs. Above, a huge, slanted mirror reflects a bird’s-eye view of the stage to the audience. Three middle-aged figures enter the stage without looking at each other. One lies down, staring into the mirror. One stands and one sits. For the next 70 minutes, they will never hold one another’s gaze.
This is the revival of Sarah Kane’s play 4.48 Psychosis. The production takes place 25 years after the original work, bringing the original cast and creative team back to the Royal Court where the play was first staged – now transferred to The Other Place, a small theatre run by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
It replicates the staging of the original with precision. The same faces are on the same set, making the same gestures. Even the projections of the street outside show cars from the 1990s. And yet, because this is theatre, there are inevitable differences.
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The play is a revival and a commemoration. Kane wrote 4.48 Psychosis in the year leading up to her death by suicide in 1999 and completed it during her final stay in a psychiatric hospital. It stages the experience of a suicidal and psychotic mind breaking down.
About a week after sending the play to her agent, Kane ended her own life. A year later, the original production was staged at the Royal Court, directed by her long-term collaborator James Macdonald and starring three young actors: Daniel Evans, Madeleine Potter and Jo McInnes. All three have returned for this revival.
4.48 Psychosis is a highly experimental play. It contains dialogue between doctor and patient, poetry, seemingly psychotic speech, lists and quotations from literature and medical documents. In her aims for the play, Kane was both very open and very specific. She described the play in an interview at Royal Holloway University as an attempt to stage the experience of a mind breaking down:
I’m writing a play called 4:48 Psychosis … It’s about a psychotic breakdown and what happens in a person’s mind when the barriers which distinguish between reality and different forms of imagination completely disappear … you no longer know where you stop and the world starts.
What’s more, through an experimental style, Kane hoped to make her audience experience some of the distress experienced by the mental collapse being staged. She described this as “making form and content one”.
How this strange work was to be staged was to be left up to future creatives. She didn’t specify how many actors should perform the work, or provide references to their age or gender. Kane believed that as a playwright, her job was to write the work, and then let directors figure it out.
The result was that the first performance split the experience of breakdown across three actors. At times, they take on more specific roles such as a patient, a doctor, and a lover or bystander. At others, they all seem to occupy a shared mental reverie.
Since the original production, 4.48 Psychosis has been staged in multiple ways around the world. French actor Isabelle Huppert performed the first French production largely as a monologue in 2005, with occasional lines delivered by Gérard Watkins as a psychiatrist. Recently in the UK it has been transformed into a successful opera in which a six-person ensemble and full orchestra performed the play’s “hive mind”, and has been performed in a plastic box in British Sign Language.
When it was first performed in 2000, a year after Kane’s death, the play left a profound impression on its audiences. It was arguably one of the most brutal, head-on representations of mental illness that had ever been seen in British theatre. Reviews from that first production discuss anxieties about whether the play should be viewed as a “suicide note” – a disturbingly “real” reference to Kane’s death.
Today, such anxieties may seem less relevant. After all, over two decades have passed since Kane’s death, and we are in a very different world when it comes to how we view disclosure of personal struggle. In a culture of mental health awareness campaigns and social media oversharing, the closeness of Kane’s suffering to her work seems less scandalous, and perhaps less unsettling.
At times, this revival feels a bit more like a repetition, or archival reconstruction than a fresh performance. There are moments that feel dated – for example, the use of pixelated projections.
The most compelling moments were where something original was introduced due to the more advanced ages of the actors. In my experience, the play is typically performed by a younger cast, as a rageful, energetic cry of despair. It hits differently with a cast in their fifties.
Madeleine Potter’s resigned, ironic complaints about being mistreated by “Dr This and Dr That” gave the impression of a woman with a lifetime’s experience of inadequate mental health services. And Jo McInnes’s desperate monologue about lost love could be referencing an estranged or dead child, as much as a lover.
These moments inserted something new into Kane’s iconic last work and underlined that mental suffering is far from being the privilege of the young. More of a slow burn than an explosive cry of anger, this return to 4.48 Psychosis explores mental torment that can persist over a lifetime, revealing it to be as relevant as ever.
4.48 Psychosis is at The Other Place until July 27.
Leah Sidi 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.
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
The Institute of Ecology has had a student popular science travel club for 5 years, opened by NSO GreenLab. With the support of teachers, students organize independent expeditions – scientific research trips with the implementation of a set scientific task, as well as popular science and educational trips.
“GreenLab does not go on hikes just like that. Each of our outdoor events has a scientific or educational purpose. We see a request from students to participate in such scientific expeditions. Most are not interested in just walking or driving a route to see something beautiful and take a photo for the sake of it – they need something to take with them, in addition to vivid impressions. New knowledge, skills necessary for a future career, understanding of the structure of various ecosystems and natural processes. We select those who are in solidarity with our values and are ready not only to travel, but also to study. So not only students from other RUDN departments go with us, but also from other universities,” – Daniil Mironov, GreenLab outdoor manager, student of the Institute of Ecology (Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, 1st year).
During the existence of the NSO, students have been on expeditions not only within Russia, but also abroad. The young researchers have worked in Kamchatka Krai, Murmansk Oblast, the Republic of Dagestan, Kalmykia, Karelia, Primorsky Krai, as well as in the regions of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Italy and the Czech Republic.
One of the latest expeditions took place in the Astrakhan region. A group of students went to the vicinity of Lake Baskunchak. This is not only a famous salt lake, but also karst caves and chalk quarries with various minerals and ancient fossils.
“The goal of the expedition is to study steppe ecosystems, as well as the geological features of Lake Baskunchak and Mount Bogdo. Bogdo is only 150 meters high, but it is the highest point of the Caspian lowland. Few people know, but this mountain is a real salt dome covered with sedimentary rocks. The salt layers below gradually squeeze it out, causing it to grow by several millimeters per year, promising to erupt in millions of years as real salt lava,” Daniil Mironov, GreenLab outdoor manager, student at the Institute of Ecology (“Applied Mathematics and Computer Science”, 1st year).
“We got acquainted with the local flora and fauna – we saw menacing solpugs, anxious snakes and numerous dung beetles. We experienced the changeability of the weather in the steppes – we conducted radial walks under the scorching sun, and in the evenings we cooked dinner and listened to lectures in the rain. We managed to walk along the surface of Baskunchak and in its brine (salt solution of lake water), the bottom of which is covered with the mineral halite – the same table salt that we use and which is mined here on an industrial scale,” – Lada Yaseneva, a student of the Institute of Ecology (Ecology and Nature Management, 2nd year).
Lake Baskunchak itself is fed by 19 springs, of which only 2 are fresh. Underground water passes through layers of salt, becoming saturated and then flowing into Baskunchak itself. The concentration of salt in the lake is about 250 ml/l, which makes it one of the saltiest in Russia and in the world. Salt is not the only mineral that can be found in the vicinity of Baskunchak. There are chalk quarries around – active and exhausted, in which you can find minerals and ancient fossils, such as vertebrae of fish that lived more than 200 million years ago. Participants were able to take away samples of gypsum and feldspars.
“In a few days, we managed to visit the most interesting places: we climbed Mount Bogdo with its incredible views, visited a gypsum quarry where the land resembled alien landscapes, and, of course, we reached Lake Baskunchak. We had to walk 10 km to the lake, but it was worth it! Walking on salt was painful – my legs cut like broken glass – but the feeling of standing in the middle of an endless white desert was unforgettable. And as souvenirs, we brought home salt crystals and gypsum,” – Daria Dobrova, a student at the Institute of Ecology (“Energy and Resource-Saving Processes in Chemical Engineering, Petrochemistry and Biotechnology”, 1st year).
Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Nina Krieger, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, has released the following statement in response to Statistics Canada’s release of 2024 police-reported crime statistics:
“The newly released 2024 police-reported crime stats are encouraging. B.C.’s Crime Severity Index fell 11% last year to its lowest level in six years, marking the largest drop in the country.
“This progress reflects the continued efforts by the B.C. government, First Nations and local governments, police services, community organizations and businesses to work together to build safer communities.
“This reduction is also the result of focused investments in policing, mental-health and addictions supports, housing and crime-prevention initiatives. We are seeing the positive impacts of new provincial programs to strengthen public safety, such as expanded integrated response teams and targeted enforcement against repeat violent offenders and organized crime. For example, in British Columbia, violent firearm offences dropped by 20%, homicides dropped 24%, robbery dropped by 8% and mischief dropped by 4%.
“While these results are promising, we know we have more work to do and there are specific areas where we need to renew our focus. If you are the victim of a theft or an attack, these statistics do not make you feel any safer.
“I am committed to supporting front-line officers and community partners, addressing the root causes of crime and ensuring that there are specific areas where we need to strengthen our efforts. There is much more to do and we’re going to keep working hard to make sure people in British Columbia can build a good life in safe, healthy communities.”
The Department of Energy today announced the Loan Programs Office has terminated its conditional commitment for the Grain Belt Express Phase 1 project.
Energy.gov
July 23, 2025
minminute read time
WASHINGTON— The Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the Loan Programs Office (LPO) has terminated its conditional commitment for the Grain Belt Express Phase 1 project, a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line intended to connect wind and solar capacity across Kansas and Missouri. The conditional commitment, which would have provided a taxpayer-funded loan guarantee of up to $4.9 billion dollars, was issued by the Biden administration in November 2024 – one of many conditional commitments that were rushed out the door in the final days of the Biden administration.
After a thorough review of the project’s financials, DOE found that the conditions necessary to issue the guarantee are unlikely to be met and it is not critical for the federal government to have a role in supporting this project. To ensure more responsible stewardship of taxpayer resources, DOE has terminated its conditional commitment.
DOE is conducting a review of every applicant and borrower – including the nearly $100 billion in closed loans and conditional commitments LPO made between Election Day 2024 to Inauguration Day 2025 – to ensure every single taxpayer dollar is being used to advance the best interest of the American people. This ongoing review positions LPO to move forward with a lower risk tolerance in lending practices and an uncompromising focus on expanding access to affordable, reliable and secure energy for the American people.
DOE remains focused on advancing projects that expand American energy dominance and deliver on President Trump’s commitment to lower energy prices for the American people.
Asa Reynolds Named Winner of the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2025 CyberForce® Conquer the Hill® Reign Competition
Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Antwaun Winbush, 45, of Charleston was sentenced on Monday, July 21, 2025, to 12 years and seven months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of a mixture containing methamphetamine.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on March 25, 2024, a law enforcement officer attempted a traffic stop of a vehicle driven by Winbush on U.S. Route 35 in Putnam County. Winbush attempted to flee from the officer, reaching speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour. While fleeing, Winbush dumped large quantities of methamphetamine and marijuana out of his vehicle’s window. Some of the thrown methamphetamine struck the officer’s patrol vehicle and the officer inhaled methamphetamine through the air vents. Winbush almost struck multiple vehicles while fleeing before he lost control of his vehicle and came to a stop.
Officers arrested Winbush following the pursuit and recovered some but not all the methamphetamine from the roadway. As part of his guilty plea, Winbush admitted that he possessed approximately 141.8 grams of a mixture containing methamphetamine.
Winbush also committed other criminal conduct on October 4, 2021, and December 24, 2023. On October 4, 2021, an officer conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle driven by Winbush in Jackson County. A search of the vehicle by law enforcement resulted in the seizure of approximately 227 grams of a mixture containing methamphetamine, 8 grams of cocaine, 14.7 grams of fentanyl, and a Glock model 33 .357-caliber pistol found hidden behind the stereo area of the dashboard. Winbush admitted to possessing the seized controlled substances and to intending to distribute them.
On December 24, 2023, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Winbush’s residence and seized more than 500 grams of methamphetamine, a firearm, and ammunition found hidden behind a loose wall. Officers also found drug trafficking paraphernalia, including scales, cutting agents and plastic baggies, during the search.
“Winbush’s criminal history dates back 30 years and includes 20 adult convictions. Winbush has shown time and again that he is only deterred from continuing his criminal conduct and putting citizens at risk when he is incarcerated,” said Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston. “I commend the brave law enforcement officers who safely apprehended the defendant after he endangered their lives and the public with his reckless attempt to flee the Putnam County traffic stop. I also commend investigative work of the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, the Charleston Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).”
Senior United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr. imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorney Gabriel Price prosecuted the case.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:24-cr-154.
A group of five men, who killed two people they mistook for rival gang members in Archway have been convicted of murder.
Lorik Lupqi, 21 (22.09.2003) of St John’s Way, N19, Abel Chunda, 29 (03.01.1996) of Caldy Walk, N1, Jason Furtado, 28 (18.12.1996) of Halton Road, N1, Eden Clark, 29 (28.01.94), of Huddleston Road N7 and Xavier Poponne, 21 (06.11.2002) of Halton Road, Islington, N1 appeared at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, 23 July.
Following a 15-week trial, all men were all convicted of murdering 15-year-old Leonardo Reid and 23-year-old Klevi Shekaj and attempting to murder another man.
Detective Inspector Jim Barry of Specialist Crime North said “These violent men went into this estate with the intention of killing anyone they could, under the false impression that those there were rival gang members. This was a senseless, violent act which has shattered the lives of so many, especially Leonardo and Klevi’s loved ones.”
On Thursday, 29 June 2023, there had been a large gathering on the Elthorne estate to film a music video.
Lorik Lupqi, a gang member from Islington saw this gathering at around 8:30pm and took it as an opportunity to hurt who he thought were gang opponents. He messaged his girlfriend stating that “opps were outside.” She advised him to remain inside, but Lupqi decided to contact his close friend and gang associate Jason Furtado.
They formed a plan and recruited three gang members to travel to the Elthorne estate. By the time they arrived two hours later, the filming had concluded, and most people had left, but some local children and teenagers remained in the area.
The group then fatally stabbed 15-year-old Leonardo Reid, who sadly died at the scene and 23-year-old Klevi Shekaj who died in hospital. They also stabbed another man, who was taken to hospital.
A double murder and attempted murder investigation was launched with extensive enquiries taking place.
The enquiries carried out by Met Police’s Specialist Crime Command included reviewing CCTV, forensic examinations and analysis of phone data. This data showed that there were 50 short phone calls between this group in the two hours before the murders. After the attack, the four went to Abel Chunda’s house and called organiser Furtado.
They were identified as key suspects and work began to bring them into custody.
Chuna and Furtado were arrested on 3 July with Clarke travelling to the Suffolk coast and changing his appearance in an attempt to evade arrest. Met Officers quickly located him and arrested him on 12 July.
One suspect, Lupqi illegally travelled to Kosovo days after the murders. He had sent messages to his girlfriend, telling her not to wait for him. Met officers worked closely with the Kosovan authorities, the National Crime Agency and the Crown Prosecution Service to extradite him back to the UK and arrest him at Luton Airport on 12 November 2024.
Following Poponne’s arrest in November 2023, damning lyrics were found in a drill song written the day after the murders. These lyrics glorified the murders and made references to elements of the attack which could only be known to those involved. In these lyrics, he also referenced how Leonardo and Klevi were not involved in gang criminality. Shortly after the murders, he also changed his social media name to ‘X3’ referencing the number of people he had stabbed.
During the trial, the group refused to admit responsibility with some stating that they were in the area to deal drugs but not involved in the murders.
They all appeared at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, 23 July where they were all convicted of two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. They will appear at the same court on Thursday, 25 September and Friday, 26 September for sentencing.
Detective Inspector Jim Barry added: “Our team have remained focused on getting justice for those affected by this violent and unnecessary attack.
“This dangerous group of men will now spend a long time behind bars but the effect of what they did will be felt by the victim’s shattered families for longer.
“I thank the members of the public who tried to help and save the lives of those injured and have assisted our team with enquiries.
“We will continue to tackle violent offenders and ensure that justice is bought for the safety of our communities.”
When summer turns up the heat, cities can start to feel like an oven, as buildings and pavement trap the sun’s warmth and vehicles and air conditioners release more heat into the air.
There are some proven steps that cities can take to help cool the air – planting trees that provide shade and moisture, for example, or creating cool roofs that reflect solar energy away from the neighborhood rather than absorbing it.
Urban trees offer a natural defense against rising temperatures. They cast shade and release water vapor through their leaves, a process akin to human sweating. That cools the surrounding air and reduces afternoon heat.
Adding trees to city streets, parks and residential yards can make a meaningful difference in how hot a neighborhood feels, with blocks that have tree canopies nearly 3 F (1.7 C) cooler than blocks without trees.
Comparing maps of New York’s vegetation and temperature shows the cooling effect of parks and neighborhoods with more trees. In the map on the left, lighter colors are areas with fewer trees. Light areas in the map on the right are hotter. NASA/USGS Landsat
But planting trees isn’t always simple.
In hot, dry cities, trees often require irrigation to survive, which can strain already limited water resources. Trees must survive for decades to grow large enough to provide shade and release enough water vapor to reduce air temperatures.
Most challenging of all, dense urban neighborhoods where heat is most intense are often too packed with buildings and roads to grow more trees.
How cool roofs can help on hot days
Another option is “cool roofs.” Coating rooftops with reflective paint or using light-colored materials allows buildings to reflect more sunlight back into the atmosphere rather than absorbing it as heat.
These roofs can lower the temperature inside an apartment building without air conditioning by about 2 to 6 F (1 to 3.3 C), and can cut peak cooling demand by as much as 27% in air-conditioned buildings, one study found. They can also provide immediate relief by reducing outdoor temperatures in densely populated areas. The maintenance costs are also lower than expanding urban forests.
Two workers apply a white coating to the roof of a row home in Philadelphia. AP Photo/Matt Rourke
However, like trees, cool roofs come with limits. Cool roofs work better on flat roofs than sloped roofs with shingles, as flat roofs are often covered by heat-trapping rubber and are exposed to more direct sunlight over the course of an afternoon.
Cities also have a finite number of rooftops that can be retrofitted. And in cities that already have many light-colored roofs, a few more might help lower cooling costs in those buildings, but they won’t do much more for the neighborhood.
By weighing the trade-offs of both strategies, cities can design location-specific plans to beat the heat.
Choosing the right mix of cooling solutions
Many cities around the world have taken steps to adapt to extreme heat, with tree planting and cool roof programs that implement reflectivity requirements or incentivize cool roof adoption.
In a recent study, we analyzed Boston’s potential to lower heat in vulnerable neighborhoods across the city. The results demonstrate how a balanced, budget-conscious strategy could deliver significant cooling benefits.
For example, we found that planting trees can cool the air 35% more than installing cool roofs in places where trees can actually be planted.
However, many of the best places for new trees in Boston aren’t in the neighborhoods that need help. In these neighborhoods, we found that reflective roofs were the better choice.
By investing less than 1% of the city’s annual operating budget, about US$34 million, in 2,500 new trees and 3,000 cool roofs targeting the most at-risk areas, we found that Boston could reduce heat exposure for nearly 80,000 residents. The results would reduce summertime afternoon air temperatures by over 1 F (0.6 C) in those neighborhoods.
Not every city will benefit from the same mix. Boston’s urban landscape includes many flat, black rooftops that reflect only about 12% of sunlight, making cool roofs that reflect over 65% of sunlight an especially effective intervention. Boston also has a relatively moist growing season that supports a thriving urban tree canopy, making both solutions viable.
In places with fewer flat, dark rooftops suitable for cool roof conversion, tree planting may offer more value. Conversely, in cities with little room left for new trees or where extreme heat and drought limit tree survival, cool roofs may be the better bet.
Phoenix, for example, already has many light-colored roofs. Trees might be an option there, but they will require irrigation.
Getting the solutions where people need them
Adding shade along sidewalks can do double-duty by giving pedestrians a place to get out of the sun and cooling buildings. In New York City, for example, street trees account for an estimated 25% of the entire urban forest.
Cool roofs can be more difficult for a government to implement because they require working with building owners. That often means cities need to provide incentives. Louisville, Kentucky, for example, offers rebates of up to $2,000 for homeowners who install reflective roofing materials, and up to $5,000 for commercial businesses with flat roofs that use reflective coatings.
In Boston, planting trees, left, and increasing roof reflectivity, right, were both found to be effective ways to cool urban areas. Ian Smith et al. 2025
Efforts like these can help spread cool roof benefits across densely populated neighborhoods that need cooling help most.
As climate change drives more frequent and intense urban heat, cities have powerful tools for lowering the temperature. With some attention to what already exists and what’s feasible, they can find the right budget-conscious strategy that will deliver cooling benefits for everyone.
Lucy Hutyra has received funding from the U.S. federal government and foundations including the World Resources Institute and Burroughs Wellcome Fund for her scholarship on urban climate and mitigation strategies. She was a recipient of a 2023 MacArthur Fellowship for her work in this area.
Ian Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
URUMQI, July 23 — Urumqi, capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, recorded 50.57 million tourist visits in the first half of 2025, making it China’s third most popular summer travel destination, said a press conference on Wednesday.
A series of cultural and tourism events, such as traditional folk performances and performing arts festivals, have drawn tourists from around the world, according to the regional people’s government.
The city’s tourism boom has been supported by an increasingly convenient transport network. Urumqi Tianshan International Airport, a national gateway hub, boasts annual passenger trips of 48 million and a cargo throughput of 550,000 tonnes. It operates 258 flight routes connecting over 100 cities at home and abroad.
Last year, Xinjiang received over 300 million tourist visits, generating more than 359 billion yuan (about 50.27 billion U.S. dollars) in tourism revenue, a year-on-year increase of 21 percent.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will be in Sweden from July 27 to 30 for economic and trade talks with the United States upon mutual agreement, the commerce ministry announced Wednesday.
Following the important consensus reached during the phone talks between the two heads of state on June 5, the two sides will leverage the role of the China-U.S. economic and trade consultation mechanism, and continue to engage in consultations on economic and trade issues of mutual concern based on the principle of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, said a spokesperson with the ministry.
The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has reported notable progress under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), with over 20 lakh candidates trained in the financial year 2024-25 alone. The flagship scheme, launched in 2015, aims to equip India’s youth with skill development through Short-Term Training (STT) and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) initiatives.
Over the last five financial years, a cumulative effort across States and Union Territories has contributed to a significant rise in skilled manpower. Uttar Pradesh led the training numbers in FY 2024-25, with more than 4.63 lakh individuals trained, followed by Rajasthan with 2.79 lakh and Madhya Pradesh with over 2.58 lakh trainees.
Placement tracking under PMKVY was actively carried out during its first three phases-PMKVY 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0-covering the period from 2015-16 to 2021-22. As per official data, the placement rate of candidates certified under the STT component during these phases stood at 43%. Under the current phase, PMKVY 4.0, the emphasis has shifted towards empowering candidates to make informed choices in their career paths with necessary orientation support.
Third-party evaluations have reaffirmed the scheme’s impact. A study by Sambodhi Research and Communications found that individuals trained and certified under PMKVY 2.0 earned 15 percent more, on average, than their counterparts who had not participated in the scheme. RPL-certified individuals reported a 19 percent higher monthly income when compared to those without certification.
Further, a study conducted by NITI Aayog in October 2020 revealed that 94 percent of employers surveyed expressed willingness to hire more PMKVY-trained candidates. Additionally, the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), in its impact evaluation, found that about 70.5 percent of surveyed trainees secured jobs in their desired skill sectors. Over half of the candidates trained under RPL also reported receiving or expecting better salaries than their untrained peers.
To enhance employment opportunities under PMKVY 4.0, the Skill India Digital Hub (SIDH) has been launched. This integrated platform provides a unified digital space connecting the skilling, education, employment, and entrepreneurship ecosystems. Job seekers can access career opportunities and apprenticeships, while employers can tap into a database of trained candidates. Rozgar Melas are also being organized across the country to facilitate direct engagement between employers and job aspirants.
This information was shared in a written reply by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Jayant Chaudhary, in the Rajya Sabha.
PM call with President Erdoğan of Türkiye: 22 July 2025
The Prime Minister spoke to the President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan yesterday evening.
The Prime Minister spoke to the President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan yesterday evening.
The two leaders looked ahead to today’s International Defence Industry Fair in Istanbul, where their Defence Ministers have taken the next step towards signing a multi-billion-pound export deal of UK-built Typhoon jets to Türkiye.
The Prime Minister added that once fully finalised, this enhanced military co-operation will strengthen NATO’s collective defences and keep us safer during uncertain times, as well as sustaining 20,000 UK jobs and driving growth.
Turning to the Middle East, they discussed the intolerable situation in Gaza and underlined the urgent need for more aid and an urgent ceasefire, in order to pave the way for a two-state solution and a secure future for Palestinians and Israelis.
They reiterated their concern about the recent violence in Syria, and agreed that the ceasefire must hold.
The Prime Minister thanked the President for Türkiye’s convening role in the upcoming talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul today, as well as the discussions due to take place on Iran’s nuclear programme later this week.
Byers Gill Solar development consent decision announced
The Byers Gill Solar application has today been granted development consent by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
Byers Gill Solar
The application will consist of a proposed solar farm with over 50MW capacity, Solar PV modules and associated mounting structures, inverters, transformers, switch gear and control equipment, a substation, energy storage equipment and underground on and off-site cabling.
The application was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for consideration by RWE Renewables UK Solar and Storage Limited on 9 February 2024 and accepted for examination on 8 March 2024.
Following an examination during which the public, statutory consultees and interested parties were given the opportunity to give evidence to the Examining Authority, recommendations were made to the Secretary of State on 23 April 2025.
This is the 96th energy application out of 160 applications examined to date and was again completed by the Planning Inspectorate within the statutory timescale laid down in the Planning Act 2008.
Local communities continue to be given the opportunity of being involved in the examination of projects that may affect them. Local people, the local authority and other interested parties were able to participate in this six-month examination.
The Examining Authority listened and gave full consideration to all local views and the evidence gathered during the examination before making its recommendation to the Secretary of State.
The decision, the recommendation made by the Examining Authority to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and the evidence considered by the Examining Authority in reaching its recommendation are publicly available on the project pages of the National Infrastructure Planning website.
This decision was made by Minister Miatta Fahnbulleh on behalf of the Energy Secretary’s legal authority.
Journalists wanting further information should contact the Planning Inspectorate Press Office, on 0303 444 5004 or 0303 444 5005 or email:
Source: Rosneft – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
World Whale and Dolphin Day is celebrated annually on July 23. The date was established to draw humanity’s attention to the need to preserve and protect cetaceans and other marine mammals.
Rosneft pays special attention to environmental issues and the preservation of biodiversity. The Company’s activities are based on the principle of preserving a favorable environment and biological diversity in all regions of presence. Studying and protecting the population of whales and dolphins is one of the areas of Rosneft’s environmental program.
One of the main species that receives close attention is the gray whale of the Okhotsk Sea population. The monitoring program for these whales has been carried out on the north-eastern shelf of Sakhalin Island for almost 30 years. As part of the research, specialists annually conduct a population census, observe the behavior of animals and study their food supply, carry out photo-identification studies, and acoustic monitoring.
Until the 1990s, the Okhotsk Sea gray whale population was considered to be completely exterminated and was classified as a species on the verge of extinction. In 2018, the western gray whale population was classified as endangered, indicating a slow but steady recovery of the Okhotsk subpopulation of gray whales.
In 2019, the Okhotsk Sea populations of gray and Greenland whales were included by the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources in the list of rare and endangered species of wildlife requiring priority measures for restoration and reintroduction. In 2020, the Okhotsk Sea population of gray whales was listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation.
In addition, the Company conducts environmental monitoring of the Okhotsk-Korean population of gray whales on the north-eastern shelf of Sakhalin Island. Specialists annually perform photo identification, population census, and studies of the food supply and behavior of mammals. The main life period of gray whales in the Sea of Okhotsk is fattening and reproduction, so studying the state of their food supply is one of the most important stages of observations.
As part of the study of the Okhotsk-Korean gray whale population, unique acoustic monitoring is also being conducted, which includes recording and analyzing the level of natural and anthropogenic underwater noise. The research allows us to study the nature of sounds and model their propagation. Acoustic measurements are carried out using autonomous underwater recorders developed specifically for the project.
Rosneft is an active participant in the Interdepartmental Working Group under the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation to ensure the conservation of the Okhotsk-Korean population of gray whales. The working group develops proposals for the development of legislation for population management, coordinates the interaction of interested federal and regional executive authorities, the business community, scientific and public organizations.
In 2020, Rosneft, together with the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, implemented a large-scale project to study and monitor Black Sea dolphins. Based on the results of 3 years of observations, modern up-to-date data were obtained on the number and preferred habitats of these Black Sea cetaceans, and the characteristics of their seasonal distribution. Recommendations for the study and conservation of dolphins were prepared.
Reference:
The gray whale is the only whale species that has mastered bottom feeding. Whales usually scoop up benthos from the bottom along with water, silt and pebbles at a depth of 15-60 m and filter the suspension through their baleen. The gray whale’s diet includes up to 70 species of invertebrates, including annelids, bivalves, small crustaceans and young fish.
Gray whales swim slowly – on average 5-8 km/h, which allows marine parasites to cling to the whale’s skin and establish their colonies. The total weight of these fellow travelers can reach 180 kg per whale.
Department of Information and AdvertisingPJSC NK RosneftJuly 23, 2025
Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
In 2025, admission to universities for bachelor’s, specialist’s, master’s and postgraduate programs will be carried out through the “Online University Admission” service, developed by the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of Russia, Rosobrnadzor and available on the “Gosuslugi” portal.
It allows applicants to submit documents to educational and scientific organizations without a personal visit.
What programs can I apply for?
An applicant can apply for budgetary (including targeted) and fee-based education, full-time, part-time and correspondence, for bachelor’s and specialist’s degree programs, including programs of six universities participating in the pilot project to update the higher education system.
Step by step instructions
We will tell you in more detail about the procedure for submitting an application on the State Services portal.
Step 1. Registration on the State Services portal and creation of a digital profile
A verified account is required to submit an application.
In your personal account, you can request your data on educational documents, individual achievements (IA), as well as information on disability, and then you will not have to enter them manually and confirm them with originals when submitting an application to a university.
Step 2. Filling out the application for admission
Provide information about education, benefits and special rights. Specify the desired areas of study. When applying for a bachelor’s degree, specialist degree or basic higher education, you can choose up to 5 universities and up to 5 areas in each of them, including paid education. The new service “University Selection” will help you quickly find the right university, select a specialty based on subjects and USE scores, and find out the passing scores of previous years. Specify admission priorities Attach documents confirming your individual achievements and entitlement to benefits.
Details in the video instructions:
Additionally, at this stage you can choose targeted training by answering “Yes” to the corresponding question on the questionnaire.
You can find a customer for admission to targeted training on the portal “Work in Russia”.
How to apply for targeted training, see the video instructions:
Step 3. Submitting an application and tracking the status
Please check your completed application again carefully and only then submit it.
Please note that additional or internal entrance examinations must be registered separately.
In addition, universities have the right to request additional documents or ask to replace copies that are difficult to read.
Step 4: Submit consent
This can be done immediately after submitting an application on Gosuslugi, in person at the admissions office, or by sending a letter by mail.
You can submit consent on State Services starting with the application status “Submitted to the university”.
If consent has been submitted, but according to the competition lists you see that you are not eligible for the required program, or your priorities have changed, you can revoke consent and submit it to another university.
Step 5: Receive Notification of Enrollment
Once the admission orders are published, you will receive a notification of the results.
The video explains how to conclude an agreement if you are enrolling in a paid course.
Any questions left?
Find out more on the service website or ask the members of the admissions committee of the State University of Management by phone 8 (495) 371-00-55, online or in person.
Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
The TIE was reposted to correct a data label and provide the figure data.
Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration analysis based on Vortexa tanker tracking Note: 1Q25=first quarter of 2025. figure data
The Strait of Hormuz, located between Oman and Iran, connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. The strait is deep enough and wide enough to handle the world’s largest crude oil tankers, and it is one of the world’s most important oil chokepoints. Large volumes of oil flow through the strait, and very few alternative options exist to move oil out of the strait if it is closed. In 2024, oil flow through the strait averaged 20 million barrels per day (b/d), or the equivalent of about 20% of global petroleum liquids consumption. In the first quarter of 2025, total oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz remained relatively flat compared with 2024.
Although we have not seen maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz blocked following recent tensions in the region, the price of Brent crude oil (a global benchmark) increased from $69 per barrel (b) on June 12 to $74/b on June 13. This piece highlights the importance of the strait to global oil supplies.
Chokepoints are narrow channels along widely used global sea routes that are critical to global energy security. The inability of oil to transit a major chokepoint, even temporarily, can create substantial supply delays and raise shipping costs, potentially increasing world energy prices. Although most chokepoints can be circumvented by using other routes—often adding significantly to transit time—some chokepoints have no practical alternatives. Most volumes that transit the strait have no alternative means of exiting the region, although there are some pipeline alternatives that can avoid the Strait of Hormuz.
Between 2022 and 2024, volumes of crude oil and condensate transiting the Strait of Hormuz declined by 1.6 million b/d, which were only partially offset by a 0.5-million b/d increase in petroleum product cargoes. The decline in oil transit through the strait partially reflects the OPEC+ decision to voluntarily cut crude oil production several times starting in November 2022, which lowered exports from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In addition, disruptions in 2024 to oil flows around the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Arabian Sea to the Red Sea, led Saudi Arabia’s national oil company Aramco to shift seaborne crude oil flows from the Strait of Hormuz, instead sending it over land through its East-West pipeline to ports on the Red Sea. Also, more refining capacity in the Persian Gulf states increased regional demand for crude oil and shifted some flows to local markets within the Persian Gulf.
Flows through the Strait of Hormuz in 2024 and the first quarter of 2025 made up more than one-quarter of total global seaborne oil trade and about one-fifth of global oil and petroleum product consumption. In addition, around one-fifth of global liquefied natural gas trade also transited the Strait of Hormuz in 2024, primarily from Qatar.
Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook, June 2025, and U.S. Energy Information Administration analysis based on Vortexa tanker tracking Note: World maritime oil trade excludes intra-country volumes except those volumes that transit the Strait of Hormuz. LNG=liquefied natural gas. 1Q25=first quarter of 2025
Based on tanker tracking data published by Vortexa, Saudi Arabia moves more crude oil and condensate through the Strait of Hormuz than any other country. In 2024, exports of crude and condensate from Saudi Arabia accounted for 38% of total Hormuz crude flows (5.5 million b/d).
Alternative routes Saudi Arabia and the UAE have some infrastructure in place that can bypass the Strait of Hormuz, which may somewhat mitigate any transit disruptions through the strait. The pipelines do not typically operate at full capacity, and we estimate that about 2.6 million b/d of capacity from the Saudi and UAE pipelines could be available to bypass the Strait of Hormuz in the event of a supply disruption.
Saudi Aramco operates the 5 million-b/d East-West crude oil pipeline, which runs from the Abqaiq oil processing center near the Persian Gulf to the Yanbu port on the Red Sea. Aramco temporarily expanded the pipeline’s capacity to 7.0 million b/d in 2019 when it converted some natural gas liquids pipelines to accept crude oil. In 2024, Saudi Arabia pumped more crude oil through the East-West pipeline to avoid the shipping disruptions around the Bab al-Mandeb.
The UAE also operates a pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz. This 1.8 million-b/d pipeline links onshore oil fields to the Fujairah export terminal in the Gulf of Oman. In 2024, crude oil and condensate volumes originating in the UAE and traversing Hormuz were 0.4 million b/d less than in 2022 because refinery upgrades allowed more heavy crude oil to be refined locally. These upgrades also allowed the UAE to increase exports of its lighter crude oil grades, and use of the pipeline to the Fujairah export terminal increased. Increased use of the pipeline for day-to-day operations has limited the excess capacity available to reroute additional volumes around the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran inaugurated the Goreh-Jask pipeline and the Jask export terminal on the Gulf of Oman (avoiding the Strait of Hormuz) with a single export cargo in July 2021. The pipeline’s effective capacity remains around 300,000 b/d. However, during the summer of 2024 Iran exported less than 70,000 b/d from ports (Bandar-e-Jask and Kooh Mobarak) using the Goreh-Jask pipeline and stopped loading cargoes after September 2024.
Destination markets We estimate that 84% of the crude oil and condensate and 83% of the liquefied natural gas that moved through the Strait of Hormuz went to Asian markets in 2024. China, India, Japan, and South Korea were the top destinations for crude oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz to Asia, accounting for a combined 69% of all Hormuz crude oil and condensate flows in 2024. These markets would likely be most affected by supply disruptions at Hormuz.
Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration analysis based on Vortexa tanker tracking Note: 1Q25=first quarter of 2025. figure data
In 2024, the United States imported about 0.5 million b/d of crude oil and condensate from Persian Gulf countries through the Strait of Hormuz, accounting for about 7% of total U.S. crude oil and condensate imports and 2% of U.S. petroleum liquids consumption. In 2024, U.S. crude oil imports from countries in the Persian Gulf were at the lowest level in nearly 40 years as domestic production and imports from Canada have increased.
Principal contributors: Candace Dunn, Justine Barden
Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Güneş Murat Tezcür, Professor and Director of the School of Politics and Global Studies, Arizona State University
Bedouin fighters at Mazraa village on the outskirts of Sweida city, during clashes in southern Syria on July 18, 2025. AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed
In July 2025, clashes between the Druze religious minority and Sunni Arabs backed by government-affiliated forces led to hundreds of deaths in Sweida province in southern Syria. Israel later launched dozens of airstrikes in support of the Druze.
This eruption of violence was an eerie reminder of what had unfolded in March 2025 when supporters of the fallen regime led by Bashar Assad, an Alawite, targeted security units. In retaliation, militias affiliated with the newly formed government in Damascus carried out indiscriminate killings of Alawites.
While exact figures remain difficult to verify, more than 1,300 individuals, most of them Alawites, lost their lives. In some cases, entire families were summarily executed.
The violence in Sweida also bore a sectarian dimension, pitting members of a religious minority against armed groups aligned with the country’s Sunni majority.
The persistent violence targeting the Alawites and, to a more limited extent, the Druze, starkly contrasts with these trends. As a scholar of religious minorities and the Middle East, I argue that the current political situation reflects their historical persecution and marginalization.
History of the Alawites
The Alawites emerged as a distinct religious community in the 10th century in the region of the Latakia coastal mountains, which today make up northwestern Syria.
Although their beliefs have some commonalities with Shiite Islam, the Alawites maintain their own unique religious leadership and rituals. Under the Ottoman regime in the late 19th century, they benefited from reforms such as the expansion of educational opportunities and economic modernization, while gaining geographical and social mobility.
After Hafez Assad, the father of Bashar, came to power in a coup in 1970, he drew upon his Alawite base to reinforce his regime. Consequently, Alawites became disproportionately represented in the officer corps and intelligence services.
Prior to the civil war, which began in 2011, their population was estimated at around 2 million, constituting roughly 10% of Syria’s population. During the civil war, Alawite young men fighting for the regime suffered heavy casualties. However, most Alawites remained in Syria, while Sunni Arabs and Kurds were disproportionately displaced or became refugees.
Members of the Alawite minority gather outside the Russian air base in Hmeimim, near Latakia in Syria’s coastal region, on March 11, 2025, as they seek refuge there after violence and retaliatory killings in the area. AP Photo/Omar Albam
Among Syria’s minorities, two key factors make the Alawites most vulnerable to mass violence in post-Assad Syria. The first factor is that, like the Druze, Alawites have their own distinct beliefs that deviate from Sunni Islam. Their religious practices and teachings are often described as “esoteric” and remain mostly inaccessible to outsiders.
These groups are often treated as heretics who split from Islam and whose beliefs and rituals are deemed beyond the pale of acceptance. For instance, according to Alawite beliefs, Ali, the son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad, is a divine manifestation of God, which challenges the idea of strict monotheism central to Sunni Islam.
From the perspective of Sunni orthodoxy, these groups’ beliefs have been a source of suspicion and disdain. A series of fatwas by prominent Sunni clerics from the 14th to the 19th century declared Alawites heretics.
Resentment against the Alawites
The second factor contributing to the Alawites’ vulnerability is the widespread perception that they were the main beneficiaries of the Assad regime, which engaged in mass murder against its own citizens. Although power remained narrowly concentrated under Assad, many Alawites occupied key positions in the security apparatus as well as the government.
In today’s political landscape where the central government remains weak and its control over various armed groups is limited, religious stigmatization and political resentment create fertile ground for mass violence targeting the Alawites.
While many Sunni Muslims in Syria also perceive the Druze as heretics, they maintained a greater degree of distance from the Assad regime and were less integrated into its security apparatus.
Nonetheless, in recent months the situation deteriorated rapidly in the Druze heartland. The Druze militias and local Bedouin tribes engaged in heavy fighting in July 2025. Unlike the Alawites, the Druze received direct military assistance from Israel, which has its small but influential Druze population. This further complicates peaceful coexistence among religious groups in post-Assad Syria.
A sober future
Sunni Arab identity is central to the newly formed government in Damascus, which can come at the expense of religious and ethnic pluralism. However, it has incentives to rein in arbitrary violence against the Alawites and Druze. Projecting itself as a source of order and national unity helps the government internationally, both diplomatically and economically.
Internally, however, the new government remains fractured and lacks effective control over vast swaths of territory. While it pays lip service to transitional justice, it is also cautious about being perceived as overly lenient toward individuals associated with the Assad regime and its crimes. Meanwhile, Alawite and Druze demands for regional autonomy continue to stoke popular Sunni resentments and risk triggering further cycles of instability and violence.
I believe that in a post-Assad Syria defined by fractured governance and episodic retribution, the Alawites as well as Druze are likely to face deepening marginalization.
Güneş Murat Tezcür 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.
On July 22, Ambassador Gao Wenqi, along with Ms. Lieke van de Wiel, UNICEF country Representative to Rwanda, visited the cross-border Early Childhood Development center in Burera District, Northern Province. They were warmly received by District Mayor MUKAMANA Soline and briefed by the ADEPE team and young parents on how the project has helped and empowered local children and families. The field trip also featured lively interactions with the kids.
Ambassador GAO noted that as a signature tripartite cooperation project between China, UNICEF and Rwanda, the ECD project in Rwanda has made positive contributions to improving children nutrition and health, empowering education for young generations, and promoting Rwanda’s national strategic transformation. China will continue to work with UN agencies and the Rwandan government to support the country’s socio-economic development with more and more early harvest.
The cooperation with the Chinese government has effectively enhanced local children’s well-being and promoted Rwanda’s sustainable development, the UNICEF Representative to Rwanda said. She expressed willingness to strengthen cooperation with the Embassy in the near future.
The Early Childhood Development project is funded by the Chinese government through the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund and implemented by UNICEF Rwanda. It has been carried out across six districts in three provinces of the country since March 2025.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Rwanda.
HE Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al Khulaifi met on Wednesday with HE State Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Federal Republic of Somalia Ali Mohamed Omar, who is currently visiting the country.
During the meeting, they reviewed cooperation relations between the two countries and ways to support and enhance them. They also discussed the latest developments in Somalia, in addition to several issues of mutual interest.
HE the Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign reaffirmed the State of Qatar support for efforts aimed at promoting security and stability in Somalia, and achieving development and prosperity for its people.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The State of Qatar.
On July 22, H.E. Amb. Guo Haiyan visited Tatu City Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Kiambu County and held discussions with Tatu City Executives and the representatives of Chinese companies invested in the SEZ. Minister Counselor Zhou Zhencheng was present.
Amb. Guo said that the partnership initiative for industrial chain cooperation is an important part of the ten partnership initiatives of the 2024 FOCAC Beijing Summit. She hoped that Chinese companies deepen the cooperation with Kenyan companies in industrial and supply chain, enhance China-Africa as well as China-Kenya interconnected industrial development, strengthen technology transfer and local employee training, and support Kenya’s industrialization.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Kenya.
Affluenz Magazine (www.Affluenz.com), International’s leading global luxury, leadership, and impact publication, has officially released its much-anticipated July/August 2025 issue — a special edition commemorating the 20th anniversary of the passing of His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Founding Father of the United Arab Emirates.
This commemorative edition features a powerful trio of cover stories — spotlighting the enduring legacy of Sheikh Zayed, the cultural diplomacy of UAE’s Minister of State, Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, and the entrepreneurial excellence of Elvis Sepenya, CEO of Skywise Group, one of Africa’s most innovative investment firms.
This historic issue celebrates Sheikh Zayed’s vision of unity, progress, and inclusion — a legacy that continues to define the modern UAE. Affluenz Magazine delves into his leadership, values, and role in positioning the Emirates as a hub of diplomacy, innovation, and tolerance.
Also on the cover is Noura Al Kaabi, a global advocate for cultural dialogue and creative economies. In her exclusive interview, she discusses the UAE’s mission to foster global cultural exchange and its investment in youth empowerment across the Arab world and Africa.
Rounding out the trio is Elvis Sepenya, the young African magnate who has risen to prominence through Skywise Group’s diversified holdings in aviation, real estate, and tech. His story of resilience, reinvention, and corporate leadership offers inspiration for a new generation of African entrepreneurs.
Beyond the covers, the issue features in-depth profiles on several influential leaders and institutions across Africa and the Middle East — from oil and gas executives and royalty to social innovators and philanthropists — all of whom are making measurable impact in their sectors and communities.
Beyond its striking covers, the July/August 2025 edition of Affluenz Magazine delivers an enriching array of exclusive features and compelling interviews that spotlight transformative figures shaping Africa and the global stage.
Among the celebrated personalities is Ameera Abraham, the trailblazing founder of The Nail Bar, who shares her journey in redefining luxury wellness and empowering a new wave of African beautypreneurs. Equally inspiring is Tonya Lawani, the formidable force behind SEAL Group, whose strategic leadership continues to drive innovation and empowerment across industries.
Linda Turner, founder of Linda Hope Initiatives and CEO of Jat Holdings, exemplifies the powerful blend of business acumen and humanitarian spirit. With ventures spanning real estate, fashion, interior design, and hospitality, she personifies resilience and compassion, balancing her roles as a mother, wife, entrepreneur, and advocate—all grounded in her unwavering commitment to uplifting lives.
Adunni Rinwa emerges as a beacon of integrity and innovation in Nigeria’s real estate sector. As founder and CEO of Rinwa Realty, she has revolutionized property investment and homeownership, raising the bar for transparency and delivery in the industry.
The issue also features Hassan Imam, Managing Director of Keystone Bank, recognized for his strategic role in redefining digital banking and financial inclusion in Nigeria. From the UAE, Hussain Abdulrahman Khansaheb is profiled for his contributions to sustainable urban development and visionary leadership in construction and infrastructure.
Adding to the intellectual gravitas of the edition is Peace Hyde, celebrated media entrepreneur, educator, and founder of Aim Higher Africa. Her voice continues to inspire a generation to dream big and build boldly.
Together, these stories reflect the essence of Affluenz Magazine: a publication committed to elevating Africa’s voices, capturing legacies in the making, and connecting excellence across continents.
Founded in 2011 as Pleasures Magazine and rebranded as Affluenz Magazine in 2024, the publication has evolved into a world-class platform that highlights African and Middle Eastern excellence, entrepreneurship, and culture. With editorial offices in Abuja, Dubai,Riyadh Accra, Washington DC and London, the magazine reaches readers in over 103 countries and maintains syndication through platforms like Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, and Washington Times.
Speaking about the new edition, Executive Publisher Adedotun Olaoluwa remarked:
“This special issue is not just a tribute to Sheikh Zayed, but a celebration of global visionaries — individuals building bridges across continents. Affluenz continues to be a vessel for celebrating our shared humanity and transformative leadership from Africa to the Middle East.”
The July/August 2025 issue is now available in digital and print formats across select global outlets, including Barnes & Noble (US), WHSmith (UK), and Virgin Megastore (UAE), as well as through Affluenz’s official website: www.Affluenz.com and Selar (https://apo-opa.co/4f7wBiA).
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Affluenz (formerly Pleasures Magazine).
McALLEN, Texas – A 26-year-old resident of Camargo, Mexico, has been sentenced to federal prison for importing more than 100 kilograms of methamphetamine, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
Cesar Alejandro Saavedra-Garcia pleaded guilty Feb. 28.
Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane has now ordered Saavedra to serve 135 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. At the hearing, the court heard additional evidence that Saavedra-Garcia played an integral role in smuggling illegal narcotics into the United States. In handing down the sentence, the court noted the large amount of meth found in Saavedra-Garcia’s vehicle and the fact that he had admitted to transporting narcotics previously.
On Dec. 17, 2024, Saavedra-Garcia arrived at the Sarita Border Patrol Checkpoint and claimed he had no illegal drugs in his vehicle.
However, at secondary inspection, a K-9 alerted to the odor of narcotics. A subsequent search revealed 112 bricks of methamphetamine hidden in compartments near the vehicle’s cargo bed.
The drugs weighed approximately 109 kilograms and had an estimated street value of nearly $7.7 million.
At the time of his plea, Saavedra-Garcia admitted he knew he was smuggling narcotics into the United States.
Saavedra-Garcia will remain in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Theodore Parran and Avery Benitez prosecuted the case.
HOUSTON – A San Fernando, California, man has been ordered to federal prison for operating an illegal money transmitting business, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
Victor Rubio Jr. 28, pleaded guilty Feb. 6.
U.S. District Judge George Hanks has now ordered Rubio to serve the maximum 60 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. At the hearing, the court considered additional evidence about other frauds Rubio committed while on bond in imposing the sentencing, assessing extra points for obstruction of justice. In handing down the sentence, Judge Hanks noted Rubio had committed obstruction after writing his letter to the judge asking for leniency and apologizing for his first crime.
Rubio admitted that from 2021 to 2022, he operated an unlicensed money transmitting business that received and transmitted funds from a business email compromise (BEC) scheme. Rubio ran the unlicensed money transmitting business by using shell companies that existed only on paper.
As part of the plea, Rubio acknowledged opening and maintaining bank accounts to collect money from at least two victims in a BEC scheme, including a healthcare liability insurance company headquartered in Georgia and a township in New Jersey. Then, for a fee, he transmitted the fraud proceeds to co-conspirators.
In response to fraudulent wire instructions from spoofed email accounts, victims sent interstate wire transfers for payment to Rubio instead of to the true creditors to whom the victims owed money.
More than 45 people in multiple states, including Rubio and seven others in the Southern District of Texas, have been charged in separate business email compromise schemes that affected numerous victims.
Previously released on bond, Rubio was taken into custody where he will remain pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
The FBI – Bryan Resident Agency and IRS Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Belinda Beek is prosecuting the case.
LAREDO, Texas – A 31-year-old resident of Laredo has been sentenced for illegally importing over 836 kilograms of methamphetamine into the country, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
Cornelio Aguilar pleaded guilty July 9, 2024.
U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison ordered him to serve the 30-year sentence to be immediately followed by five years of supervised release. At the hearing, the court heard about Aguilar’s violent criminal history, including prior convictions for murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. In imposing the sentence, Judge Ellison noted that this was a serious offense.
The investigation revealed Aguilar imported two loads of methamphetamine into the United States using tractor trailers between January and June 2022. Hidden inside the bags of charcoal he was hauling were bundles of methamphetamine.
Aguilar has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility in the near future.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations conducted the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation with the assistance of Customs and Border Protection.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Chamberlin prosecuted the case.
OCDETF identifies, disrupts and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found on the Department of Justice’s OCDETF webpage.
