CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – A 40-year-old Mexican national who illegally resided in Houston has admitted to an alien smuggling conspiracy and illegal reentry into the country, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
The investigation revealed Edgar Ruiz-Briones arranged transportation and coordinating trips for illegal aliens coming over the southern border with Mexico. Ruiz-Briones was the leader of the smuggling organization, recruiting drivers from as far away as Kansas to come to the Rio Grande Valley.
Drivers would communicate directly with Ruiz-Briones to set up the trips, give updates on progress and set meeting spots for drop-offs in Houston after successful smuggling operations. They would pick up illegal aliens from different stash houses and transport them to Houston, where they met with Ruiz-Briones before going further into the United States.
Ruiz-Briones handled payments from the aliens to come into the United States and payments to the drivers he recruited.
Over the course of the 18-month conspiracy, Ruiz-Briones arranged for over 100 aliens to enter, remain and be transported further into the United States.
An illegal alien himself, having been removed from the United States on multiple occasions, he also pleaded guilty to illegally reentering the United States from Mexico and remaining here in violation of the law.
U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos will impose sentencing Oct. 30. At that time. Ruiz-Briones faces up to 10 years in federal prison for the alien smuggling conspiracy and 20 years for illegally re-entering the United States.
Ruiz-Briones has been and will remain in custody pending sentencing.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation with the assistance of Border Patrol.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Griffith is prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton; Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), Christopher G. Raia; and Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), Jessica S. Tisch, announced today charges against MICHAEL GANN alleging that he manufactured at least seven improvised explosive devices (“IEDs”) using precursor chemicals—chemicals that can be combined to create an explosive mixture—that he had ordered on the internet, stored at least five IEDs and shotgun shells on adjoining rooftops of residential apartment buildings in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, threw at least one IED onto the subway tracks of the Williamsburg Bridge, and subsequently lied to law enforcement about having disposed of his explosives and supplies in a dumpster. This case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Dale E. Ho.
“The safety of New Yorkers is paramount,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “As alleged, Michael Gann built explosive devices, stored them on a rooftop in SoHo, and threw one onto the subway tracks—putting countless lives at risk. Thanks to swift work by our law enforcement partners, no one was harmed. That vigilance assuredly prevented a tragedy in New York.”
“Michael Gann allegedly produced multiple improvised explosive devices intended for use in Manhattan,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher G. Raia. “Due to the successful partnership of law enforcement agencies in New York, Gann was swiftly brought to justice before he could harm innocent civilians shortly after his dangerous actions became known. The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is enduring in its commitment and determination to protect the homeland.”
“This defendant allegedly stockpiled homemade explosives and traveled to New York City with these deadly devices,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch. “He threw one of these devices onto an active subway track and stored others on the rooftop of a residential building, but because of the skilled investigative work and swift response from the NYPD and our partners, we were able to intervene before he caused any harm. I am grateful to the members of the NYPD, FBI, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for all the work they do every day to keep New Yorkers safe.”
As alleged in the Complaint, Indictment, and public court filings:[1]
In or about May 2025, GANN ordered approximately two pounds of potassium perchlorate and approximately one pound of aluminum powder—precursor chemicals—online, along with over 200 cardboard tubes and over 50-feet worth of fuses. In or about early June 2025, GANN received his packages containing the precursor chemicals and other supplies, mixed the precursor chemicals together, applied a flame to the mixture, and caused an explosion. GANN subsequently assembled at least seven IEDs using the precursor chemicals, cardboard tubes, and fuses.
GANN stored the precursor chemicals and at least five IEDs, pictured below, on the rooftops of residential apartment buildings in SoHo. The pictured black device contained approximately 30 grams of explosive powder—approximately 600 times the legal limit for consumer fireworks.
GANN also stored at least four shotgun shells on the same rooftops, which he intended to combine with one or more of the IEDs.
GANN threw a sixth IED onto the subway tracks on the Williamsburg Bridge, as pictured below.
On or about June 5, 2025, law enforcement agents arrested GANN in SoHo, incident to which they recovered a seventh IED from GANN’s person. Following GANN’s arrest, GANN falsely told law enforcement, in substance and in part, that he had disposed of the precursor chemicals and the shotgun shells in a dumpster in Manhattan.
In or about May and June 2025, GANN conducted internet searches related to explosives and firearms, including: “will i pass a background check,” “gun background check test,” “can i buy a gun in any state without ffl [federal firearms license],” “3D gun printing,” “gun stores,” “clorine bomb,” “how to make flash powder from household items,” “what to mix with potassium perchlorate to make flash powder,” “alluminum powder,” “black powder nearby,” “quarter stick m1000 firecracker,” “1/2 stick dynamite,” and “rechargeable nail gun to shoot into steal.”
On or about June 5, 2025, just hours before GANN was arrested with an IED on his person, GANN posted to Instagram, “Who wants me to go out to play like no tomorrow?”
* * *
GANN, 55, of Inwood, New York, is charged with one count of attempted destruction of property by means of explosives, which carries a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; one count of transportation of explosive materials, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; and one count of unlawful possession of destructive devices, which also carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The minimum and maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge.
Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding efforts of the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force of the FBI, which consists of investigators and analysts from the FBI, NYPD, and over 50 other federal, state, and local agencies; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Nassau County Police Department; and the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
This case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan L. Bodansky, Michael D. Lockard, and Chelsea L. Scism, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Isaacson, are in charge of the prosecution.
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the charging instruments and other public filings to date constitute only allegations, and every fact described herein should be treated as an allegation.
UTICA, NEW YORK –Erik Burch, age 30, Khalid Richardson, age 30, and Lamar Stanford, age 33, each of Syracuse, have each pled guilty for their respective roles in a firearms trafficking operation. Burch pled guilty last week to the unlawful sale of a firearm to a prohibited person; Richardson pled guilty to possession of a firearm by a prohibited person on June 4, 2025; and Stanford pled guilty to possession of a firearm by a prohibited person on April 30, 2025. Acting United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III and Bryan Miller, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Division of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), made the announcement.
Richardson admitted that he sold firearms to an individual whom he knew to be a felon on four separate occasions in 2022. He further admitted that he obtained firearms on two of those occasions from his co-defendants, Stanford and Burch. Stanford and Burch each admitted to possessing firearms on the dates of the firearm sales that they engaged in with Richardson. Stanford and Burch were each prohibited from possessing firearms based on prior felony convictions.
Acting United States Attorney John Sarcone stated, “If you sell firearms to felons, be ready to spend a long time in federal prison. We will not tolerate felons buying, selling, or possessing firearms in the Northern District of New York. We will use all of the tools at our disposal to make sure these people are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
ATF Special Agent in Charge Bryan Miller stated: “This case underscores the serious threat that illegal firearms trafficking pose to our communities. These defendants — including two convicted felons — were involved in trafficking firearms, a crime that puts lives at risk and undermines the safety of our communities. Thanks to the diligent work of ATF NY Syracuse, in coordination with the Syracuse Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, we were able to disrupt this operation and hold these individuals accountable. We remain committed to working alongside our law enforcement partners to stem schemes that fuel violent crime.”
The charges filed against Burch, Richardson, and Stanford carry a maximum term of 15 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and a term of supervised release of up to 3 years. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statutes the defendant is convicted of violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors. Burch is scheduled to be sentenced on November 12, 2025; Richardson is scheduled to be sentenced on October 15, 2025; and Stanford is scheduled to be sentenced on August 27, 2025. The defendants will appear for sentencing before Senior United States District Judge David N. Hurd.
ATF investigated the case with assistance from the Syracuse Police Department’s Intelligence Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica N. Carbone is prosecuting the case as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods.
Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psn.
St. Thomas, VI – Acting United States Attorney Adam F. Sleeper announced today that on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, Kai James, 37, of St. Croix, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and six years of supervised release by District Judge Mark A. Kearney. He pleaded guilty on January 23, 2025, to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana for his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy led by James and his brother, Ivan James. Other members in the James gang, Ivan James, Joh Williams, Malachi Benjamin, Ariel Petersen, Jahkiebo Joseph, Tillisa Ceaser, and Luis Ortiz, Jr., all of St. Croix, were previously sentenced by Judge Kearney for their roles in the drug trafficking conspiracy. According to court documents and evidence introduced at the trial of Ivan James and Joh Williams and other hearings, the investigation into the James drug trafficking organization began in January 2013 after Bureau of Corrections officers at the Golden Grove Correctional Facility seized an iPhone from then-inmate Joh Williams. A search of the cell phone seized from Williams revealed text messages related to smuggling and distribution of controlled substances in the prison. Thereafter, Drug Enforcement Administration obtained authorization to intercept calls from a second cell phone used by Williams while incarcerated. The wire investigation revealed evidence of distribution of controlled substances within the facility by Williams, supplied by Ivan James. The investigation further revealed that Vivian Ford, a former corrections officer, was a member of James’ organization who smuggled narcotics into Golden Grove in food containers for distribution by Williams. Members of the gang who worked at the Henry Rohlsen Airport in St. Croix used their secured access to smuggle multiple kilograms of cocaine per week onboard commercial aircrafts destined for the continental United States. Testimony revealed that Ivan and Kai James recruited couriers to deliver bricks of cocaine as passengers on board commercial flights. As a manager/supervisor in the drug trafficking gang, Kai James used as many as 10 couriers to travel to New York, North Carolina, and Florida with 2 to 3 kilograms of cocaine per trip in this broad and brazen drug trafficking operation. In addition, a search warrant was executed on the family home of Ivan and Kai James. Law enforcement recovered marijuana, cocaine, and marijuana cultivation equipment. In a field adjacent to the property, agents seized over 1,000 marijuana plants. A federal jury found Ivan James guilty on drug conspiracy, possession of 1,000 marijuana plants, possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug conspiracy and possession of firearms resulting in the death of Levar Pogson. On his conviction, Judge Kearney sentenced James to 420 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release. Joh Williams was also found guilty on the drug conspiracy charge and was sentenced to 90 months of imprisonment, followed by seven years of supervised release. Ariel Petersen and Jahkiebo Joseph pleaded guilty to possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug conspiracy and importation of firearms. Petersen was sentenced to 93 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, and Joseph was sentenced to 68 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release. Malachi Benjamin pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug conspiracy and was sentenced to 72 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release. Tillisa Ceaser and Luis Ortiz, Jr. both pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy. Ceaser was sentenced to 62 months of imprisonment, and Ortiz was sentenced to 60 months of imprisonment. “Due to the tremendous work of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, Customs and Border Patrol, the Virgin Islands Police Department and the Bureau of Corrections, the members of this drug trafficking organization have received just and lengthy sentences for their involvement in these crimes,” said Acting United States Attorney Adam Sleeper. “This sentence sends a clear message, and it is credited to the extensive collaboration between federal and local law enforcement partners. Our joint efforts are essential in the U.S. Virgin Islands towards combatting drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and the myriads of other illicit activities of transnational criminal organizations in our area of responsibility,” said Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Gonzalez-Ramos. “The guilty plea of Kai James represents a decisive blow against the violent narcotics conspiracy that plagued the people of St. Croix for far too long,” stated DEA Caribbean Division Special Agent in Charge Michael A. Miranda. “This case underscores the unwavering commitment of the DEA and our law enforcement partners to dismantle criminal organizations that threaten the safety and well-being of our communities. We are proud to have worked alongside the USAO, HSI, FBI, CBP, and ATF to bring justice to those impacted by these crimes. Let this serve as a clear message: we will not relent in our fight to protect the Caribbean from the scourge of drug trafficking and violence.” This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks. This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, Customs and Border Patrol, Virgin Islands Police Department and the Bureau of Corrections. It was prosecuted by former United States Attorney Delia Smith, Acting Assistant United States Attorney Adam Sleeper, and lead OCDETF attorney Kyle Payne.
DAVENPORT, Iowa – Two Keokuk men were sentenced to federal prison for Conspiracy to Distribute 50 Grams or More of Methamphetamine.
According to public court documents and evidence presented at trial, between at least April and July 2024, Ronald Dickey Mason, 75, and Ronald Kieth Mason, 43, father and son, conspired to sell large amounts of methamphetamine in Keokuk, Burlington, Riverside, Des Moines, and Cedar Rapids. In July 2024, law enforcement located 28 pounds of methamphetamine in the trunk and a pistol in the center console of Ronald Dickey Mason’s car.
In February of 2025 Ronald Kieth Mason plead guilty as charged and Ronald Dickey Mason plead guilty to conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. In March 2025, a jury convicted Ronald Dickey Mason of carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime. On July 22, 2025, the Court sentenced him to 22 years in federal prison, followed by a five-year term of supervised release.
Ronald Keith Mason was sentenced on June 25, 2025, to 20 years in federal prison, followed by a five-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.
United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by Lee County Narcotics Task Force, the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Lee County Sheriff’s Office, and the Keokuk Police Department.
ST. THOMAS – Acting U.S. Attorney Adan F. Sleeper announced today that Brian Santiago Gonzalez, 25, of Puerto Rico, was sentenced on July 1, 2025, by Chief District Judge Robert A. Molloy to 137 months’ imprisonment and 4 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine on December 9, 2024.
According to court documents, on March 29, 2022, Brian Santiago Gonzalez and co-defendant Wesly Albert Amaro were stopped in the waters near Savanah Island, just west of St. Thomas, USVI. At approximately 4:00 a.m., the United States Coast Guard (USCG) detected a vessel operating without navigation lights traveling at a high rate of speed from Culebra, PR towards Hendrick Bay, St. Thomas. Customs and Boarder Protection Air and Marine (AMO) vessels responded as the USCG provided updates on the vessel’s location. AMO agents located the lightsout vessel using radar and attempted a stop. The vessel fled while the two men onboard jettisoned bags overboard. The vessel would not heave to, so AMO agents disabled the vessel’s engine. During the chase, AMO agents marked the locations where duffle bags were discarded from the vessel. Upon returning to the marked areas, AMO agents recovered three duffel bags containing 79 kilograms of cocaine.
Wesly Albert Amaro was sentenced to 108 months’ imprisonment and 3 years of supervised release on August 18, 202, following his guilty plea. CBP-AMO, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Kyle Payne prosecuted the case.
This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. 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 at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
In a binary star system, two stars orbit around each other. ESO/L. Calçada, CC BY
Stars are the fundamental building blocks of our universe. Most stars host planets, like our Sun hosts our solar system, and if you look more broadly, groups of stars make up huge structures such as clusters and galaxies. So before astrophysicists can attempt to understand these large-scale structures, we first need to understand basic properties of stars, such as their mass, radius and temperature.
But measuring these basic properties has proved exceedingly difficult. This is because stars are quite literally at astronomical distances. If our Sun were a basketball on the East Coast of the U.S., then the closest star, Proxima, would be an orange in Hawaii. Even the world’s largest telescopes cannot resolve an orange in Hawaii. Measuring radii and masses of stars appears to be out of scientists’ reach.
Enter binary stars. Binaries are systems of two stars revolving around a mutual center of mass. Their motion is governed by Kepler’s harmonic law, which connects three important quantities: the sizes of each orbit, the time it takes for them to orbit, called the orbital period, and the total mass of the system.
I’m an astronomer, and my research team has been working on advancing our theoretical understanding and modeling approaches to binary stars and multiple stellar systems. For the past two decades we’ve also been pioneering the use of artificial intelligence in interpreting observations of these cornerstone celestial objects.
Measuring stellar masses
Astronomers can measure orbital size and period of a binary system easily enough from observations, so with those two pieces they can calculate the total mass of the system. Kepler’s harmonic law acts as a scale to weigh celestial bodies.
Binary stars orbit around each other, and in eclipsing binary stars, one passes in front of the other, relative to the telescope lens. Merikanto/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
Think of a playground seesaw. If the two kids weigh about the same, they’ll have to sit at about the same distance from the midpoint. If, however, one child is bigger, he or she will have to sit closer, and the smaller kid farther from the midpoint.
It’s the same with stars: The more massive the star in a binary pair, the closer to the center it is and the slower it revolves about the center. When astronomers measure the speeds at which the stars move, they can also tell how large the stars’ orbits are, and as a result, what they must weigh.
Measuring stellar radii
Kepler’s harmonic law, unfortunately, tells astronomers nothing about the radii of stars. For those, astronomers rely on another serendipitous feature of Mother Nature.
Binary star orbits are oriented randomly. Sometimes, it happens that a telescope’s line of sight aligns with the plane a binary star system orbits on. This fortuitous alignment means the stars eclipse one another as they revolve about the center. The shapes of these eclipses allow astronomers to find out the stars’ radii using straightforward geometry. These systems are called eclipsing binary stars.
By taking measurements from an eclipsing binary star system, astronomers can measure the radii of the stars.
More than half of all Sun-like stars are found in binaries, and eclipsing binaries account for about 1% to 2% of all stars. That may sound low, but the universe is vast, so there are lots and lots of eclipsing systems out there – hundreds of millions in our galaxy alone.
By observing eclipsing binaries, astronomers can measure not only the masses and radii of stars but also how hot and how bright they are.
Complex problems require complex computing
Even with eclipsing binaries, measuring the properties of stars is no easy task. Stars are deformed as they rotate and pull on each other in a binary system. They interact, they irradiate one another, they can have spots and magnetic fields, and they can be tilted this way or that.
To study them, astronomers use complex models that have many knobs and switches. As an input, the models take parameters – for example, a star’s shape and size, its orbital properties, or how much light it emits – to predict how an observer would see such an eclipsing binary system.
Computer models take time. Computing model predictions typically takes a few minutes. To be sure that we can trust them, we need to try lots of parameter combinations – typically tens of millions.
This many combinations requires hundreds of millions of minutes of compute time, just to determine basic properties of stars. That amounts to over 200 years of computer time.
Computers linked in a cluster can compute faster, but even using a computer cluster, it takes three or more weeks to “solve,” or determine all the parameters for, a single binary. This challenge explains why there are only about 300 stars for which astronomers have accurate measurements of their fundamental parameters.
The models used to solve these systems have already been heavily optimized and can’t go much faster than they already do. So, researchers need an entirely new approach to reducing computing time.
First, we computed a huge database of predictions about a hypothetical binary star – using the features that astronomers can readily observe – where we varied the hypothetical binary star’s properties. We are talking hundreds of millions of parameter combinations. Then, we compared these results to the actual observations to see which ones best match up. AI and neural networks are ideally suited for this task.
In a nutshell, neural networks are mappings. They map a certain known input to a given output. In our case, they map the properties of eclipsing binaries to the expected predictions. Neural networks emulate the model of a binary but without having to account for all the complexity of the physical model.
Neural networks detect patterns and use their training to predict an output, based on an input.
We train the neural network by showing it each prediction from our database, along with the set of properties used to generate it. Once fully trained, the neural network will be able to accurately predict what astronomers should observe from the given properties of a binary system.
Compared to a few minutes of runtime for the physical model, a neural network uses artificial intelligence to get the same result within a tiny fraction of a second.
Reaping the benefits
A tiny fraction of a second works out to about a millionfold runtime reduction. This brings the time down from weeks on a supercomputer to mere minutes on a single laptop. It also means that we can analyze hundreds of thousands of binary systems in a couple of weeks on a computer cluster.
This reduction means we can obtain fundamental properties – stellar masses, radii, temperatures and luminosities – for every eclipsing binary star ever observed within a month or two. The big challenge remaining is to show that AI results really give the same results as the physical model.
This task is the crux of my team’s new paper. In it we’ve shown that, indeed, the AI-driven model yields the same results as the physical model across over 99% of parameter combinations. This result means the AI’s performance is robust. Our next step? Deploy the AI on all observed eclipsing binaries.
Best of all? While we applied this methodology to binaries, the basic principle applies to any complex physical model out there. Similar AI models are already speeding up many real-world applications, from weather forecasting to stock market analysis.
Andrej Prša receives funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11)
WASHINGTON, DC — As first reported in The Blaze, Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11) and Congresswoman Terri Sewell (AL-07) reintroduced critical bipartisan, bicameral legislation to protect American companies operating abroad. The Defending American Property Abroad Act would impose retaliatory prohibitions to deter and punish any nation in the Western Hemisphere that unlawfully seizes American assets.
The need for this legislation has been exemplified by the Mexican government’s ongoing efforts to seize a deep-water port owned by U.S.-based Vulcan Materials Company, which is in direct violation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) governing trade between our two nations. This violation poses a direct threat to American economic interests.
Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced companion legislation in the Senate.
“American companies operating abroad should not have to fear arbitrary government actions that undermine their property rights,”said Rep. Pfluger. “The Defending American Property Abroad Act will ensure that such actions do not go unchecked and that American businesses are protected from unjust expropriation. The protection of American property rights abroad is essential for fostering economic growth and maintaining our national security. I urge my colleagues in Congress to support this critical legislation and send a clear message that the United States will not tolerate unjust actions against American companies.”
“U.S.-based companies with operations overseas should be able to conduct business without the fear of any government asserting any wrongful actions against employees or property,”said Congresswoman Sewell.“The Defending Americans Abroad Act will ensure that the United States has the ability to thwart any threats to both national security and economic endeavors.”
“I strongly condemn the Mexican government’s threats against Vulcan Materials Company, and I am pleased to see this bipartisan and bicameral rebuke from the United States Senate,”said Senator Hagerty.“Under the leadership of Mexico’s previous president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and now the current president, Claudia Sheinbaum, the Mexican government is committing a blatant theft against a major American company and, by extension, the United States itself. No nation should be allowed to bully an American firm without consequences. Our legislation will counter any attempt by the Mexican government to profit from illegal moves to expropriate, nationalize, or otherwise seize U.S. assets.”
“The Mexican government’s unfair targeting of Vulcan Materials Company, a U.S.-based company that employs over 1,000 people in Virginia, is harmful to the relationship between our two countries and severely undermines investor confidence,”said Senator Kaine.“That’s why I’m joining my colleagues in introducing this bipartisan legislation to deter the illegal seizure of U.S. assets.”
Key provisions of the bill include:
· Prohibiting trade partners in the Western Hemisphere from engaging in certain activities, such as docking vessels and importing goods, if they have expropriated or otherwise seized property owned by American entities.
· Expanding Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to treat property expropriation as an unreasonable trade practice
· Empowering the President to implement and enforce prohibitions against offending countries
· Mandating publication of prohibited property designations in the Federal Register
The bill is co-sponsored in the House by Representatives David Rouzer (NC-07), Aaron Bean (FL-04), Dale Strong (AL-05), Julia Brownley (CA-26), Mike Collins (GA-10), Vicente Gonzalez (TX-34), John Carter (TX-31), Addison McDowell (NC-06), Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Buddy Carter (GA-01), Barry Moore (AL-01), Gary Palmer (AL-06), Robert Aderholt (AL-04), Chuck Edwards (NC-11), Craig Goldman (TX-12), Jimmy Panetta (CA-19), John McGuire (VA-05), Tim Moore (NC-14), Tim Burchett (TN-02), Morgan Luttrell (TX-08), Maria Salazar (FL-27), Thomas Kean (NJ-07), John Rutherford (FL-05), Ben Cline (VA-06), Beth Van Duyne (TX-24), Shomari Figures (AL-02), and Greg Steube (FL-17).
The bill is co-sponsored in the Senate by Senators Katie Britt (R-AL), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Ted Budd (R-NC), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD).
Read the full text of the legislation here.
Background:
In May 2022, then-Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) abruptly shut down Vulcan Materials Company’s operations with false claims that the firm was violating its contract, and his government subsequently waged an unceasing pressure campaign against Vulcan, including multiple lawsuits and sending military and law enforcement to its facilities.
In December 2023, Rep. Pfluger led a bipartisan letterto the Mexican Ambassador demanding answers about Mexico’s actions against the American company.
Earlier this year, Rep. Pfluger also led a letter commending President Trump’s commitment to this issue by protecting American industries and jobs, which was first reported in The Blaze.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11)
Pfluger Participates in Energy Subcommittee Hearing on Pipeline Safety
Washington, July 22, 2025
WASHINGTON, DC — Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11), a member of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, participated in an Energy Subcommittee Hearing titled “Strengthening American Energy: A Review of Pipeline Safety Policy.”
During the hearing, Rep. Pfluger emphasized the critical need for natural gas pipelines and their purpose for powering homes across the country. Rep. Pfluger pointed out that as energy demand rises, natural gas will continue to be the backbone of a reliable energy grid.
Rep. Pfluger then questioned witnesses on how Congress can address burdensome federal oversight of natural gas pipelines while not compromising safety.
Watch his full line of questioningHEREor by clicking the image below.
Read highlights from the interaction below:
Rep. Pfluger:“Mrs. Miller, I’ll stick with you. And I’ll start with the gas gathering rule. As you’re aware, this significantly expanded PHMSA’s jurisdiction, bringing more than 400,000 additional miles of gathering lines under federal oversight, and they’re located in districts like mine in the Permian Basin, where there’s a heavy presence of production that is very important. And the scope and implementation of this rule could have major implications for how the gathering systems are built and operated going forward. So, we want to get this right. We want to be reasonable, and safety is important. It is a major concern, and there are other concerns as well. But from your perspective, what implementation challenges are operators currently facing on the ground, and how can PHMSA better distinguish between high-risk and then lower-risk areas?”
Mrs. Miller:“I appreciate that question very much. Yes, we do very much value the opportunity to have a risk-based assessment of safety concerns there. For example, a pipeline may have two different pipelines may have similar diameters or similar pressure, and there are other circumstances to consider in order to make sure that we’re assessing what the risk is. Appropriately, including, for example, proximity to populations, length of pipeline. One of the things I also wanted to make sure that this subcommittee is familiar with is the differences that exist between gathering pipelines and transmission pipelines, not only physically, but commercially. So, it’s important to remember that the interstate pipelines are subject to regulated rates with uniform tariffs. Versus gathering pipelines are subject to market-based negotiated compensation and negotiated commercial terms. So very different application.”
Rep. Pfluger:“In your view, is there any realistic path to a reliable grid without natural gas playing a role as the backbone?”
Mr. Moriarty:“Yes, I would agree with that natural gas pipelines are the safest way to move the energy that this nation needs, and there’s ever more demand for energy across our service territories, which is in United States, and to meet those demands, we need to construct and safely operate pipelines as well as LNG storage facilities.”
India’s mobile manufacturing sector has witnessed an extraordinary transformation over the past decade, driven by the government’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme and other policy reforms. Mobile phone exports from India surged from ₹1,500 crore in 2014-15 to ₹2 lakh crore in 2024-25, marking a 127-fold increase. Similarly, mobile phone production grew from ₹18,000 crore to ₹5.45 lakh crore in the same period- an unprecedented 28-fold rise.
These figures were presented in the Lok Sabha by Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Jitin Prasada. He highlighted the cumulative impact of targeted policy interventions such as the National Policy on Electronics (NPE) 2019 and various PLI schemes which have established a robust electronics manufacturing ecosystem in the country.
India is now the second-largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world, a shift made possible by the PLI Scheme for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing (LSEM), which has successfully transformed India from a net importer to a net exporter of mobile phones. The production of electronics goods in India increased from ₹1.9 lakh crore in 2014-15 to ₹11.3 lakh crore in 2024-25. Electronics exports also rose eightfold, from ₹38,000 crore to ₹3.27 lakh crore.
The number of mobile manufacturing units in the country expanded from just 2 in 2014-15 to over 300 by 2024-25. Imports of mobile phones, which previously made up 75% of domestic demand, now constitute just 0.02%.
The PLI Scheme for LSEM has attracted a cumulative investment of ₹12,390 crore, leading to total production worth ₹8,44,752 crore and exports valued at ₹4,65,809 crore as of June 2025. This has generated over 1.3 lakh direct jobs in the sector.
Similarly, the PLI Scheme 2.0 for IT Hardware has brought in ₹717.13 crore in investments, resulting in production worth ₹12,195.84 crore and the creation of over 5,000 direct jobs.
In addition to PLI, other initiatives such as the Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS), Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC and EMC 2.0), and Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order 2017 have further supported the sector’s growth. Tax reforms, including tariff rationalization and exemptions on basic customs duty for capital goods, along with allowing 100% FDI in electronics manufacturing, have also played a key role.
According to industry estimates, value addition in electronics manufacturing in India now ranges between 18% and 20% across various products. In the last five years alone, the electronics manufacturing sector has received USD 4,071 million in foreign direct investment, with USD 2,802 million coming from MeitY PLI beneficiaries.
The same article reports that 73 per cent of those surveyed insisted that “Swift’s music is a driving force of their support of her.” But the abundant discourse surrounding Taylor Swift in the popular press, academia and online seems to be about everything but her songs.
At this moment, Swift resides at the very apex of modern celebrity culture. Ironically, this makes it especially tricky to engage with Swift as a musician, which is the very basis of her fame.
As a musicologist, music critic and musician who studies and teaches popular music, there are ways to examine the musical meaning of pop songs. These approaches provide useful insights; after all, wasn’t it the music that drew audiences to Swift in the first place?
In his book There’s Nothing Like This, Kevin Evers, senior editor of the Harvard Business Review, regards Swift as a “strategic genius.” He examines how she identifies and exploits untapped markets, making creative and marketing pivots at key moments while protecting her image as a self-made, authentic singer-songwriter.
Evers focuses on non-musical elements when discussing Swift’s songs. He claims that Swift’s fans interpret her lyrics in a manner akin to the literary analysis of complex poems. Swift’s songs intrigue fans, Evers insists, primarily because they offer insight into her personal life, romantic travails and struggles with fame.
Of course, words are an important element of pop songs, and for many fans, the words of a song constitute its “about-ness.” But a pop song is a sonic object, not simply a delivery system for words.
Lyrical discourse analysis
Song lyrics are not poems, although they may be “like poetry,” as musicologist Dai Griffiths has argued. He points out that when we insist on thinking of lyrics as poetry, we lose a systematic understanding of how words function in songs. The placement and sound of words, and how they relate to the music, are key elements of a song’s musical structure and sense.
It is this discussion of the musical sense and meaning of Swift’s songs that is largely neglected.
The academic study of classical music offers a wealth of analytic methodologies; there are ways to examine the musical meaning of pop songs that do not over-analyze the song. These include looking at elements like form, orchestration, melody, harmony and rhythm.
A song creates space: its formal layout and the rhythm of musical phrases provide the space for words — what Griffiths calls the “verbal space” — which have their own rhythms and structures and work within but also push against the boundaries of this space.
Form and space
Consider Swift’s chart-topping 2014 single, “Shake it Off,” re-released as “Shake it Off (Taylor’s Version)” in 2023. This song, while popular, was criticized for its repetitiveness and lack of emotional depth.
“Shake it Off” doesn’t seem to have much lyrical content: the verses are short, rounded off with simple slant rhymes, and much of the created space seems to be filled with repetition: “I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake/Shake it off, shake it off.”
Likewise, the song is built musically on some very basic and limited material, namely three chords, a short, unvaried drum loop and a spare bass line provided by a baritone saxophone.
The lyric video to “Shake it Off (Taylor’s version).”
The lyrics touch lightly on Swift’s response to fame and her critics, but it is their syllabic density that contributes to the song’s development and momentum. This gradually and sytematically increases over the first two verses and pre-chorus, until arriving at the chorus, where the space is filled almost completely.
The density of the music also increases in the choruses, with a thicker bass part, added vocals and a brass fanfare.
While “Shake it Off” is repetitive with little harmonic and melodic variety, it is also quite subtly counterbalanced with a variety of sounds, textures and densities. These move the song forward and importantly, help mark off the song’s formal sections.
These compositional and production details contribute to the song’s overall meaning. But how the words participate in the unfolding of the song-as-music, or the creation and shaping of the musical space, is also meaningful. The thrust of the lyrics emphasize Swift’s detachment from gossip and criticism: “I never miss a beat/I’m lightnin’ on my feet” and “But I keep cruisin’/Can’t stop, won’t stop groovin’”.
These lyrics are reinforced by the propulsive musical momentum of the song created by the gradual thickening of the text and music. Even with this thickening, the song still remains quite light, emphasizing the lyrical claims of detachment and distance from negativity.
The chorus, by contrast, with its deeply resonant bass, layers of background vocals and added brass, is musically the heaviest part of the song, underwriting Swift’s assertive claim that she will “shake off” the lies and gossip that plague her as a celebrity pop star.
Understanding Swift’s success
Collecting some musical information about Swift’s songs is not an abstract or intellectual activity; rather, it is essential information if we want to better understand Swift and her success in terms of her song writing.
I’m not making an argument here for or against Swift’s music; I’m neither a “Swiftie” nor a detractor. Nor have I offered anything like a comprehensive or definitive analysis of a song in this short article.
But I do think we should be curious and better understand Swift’s success, especially the popularity of her music across generations and demographics. How her songs are actually put together — how they work as music, in tandem with words, to tell stories — is an essential part of that understanding.
Alexander Carpenter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Sean Spence, Security Risk Management Pracitioner & Researcher, Royal Military College of Canada
In April 2025, a man drove an SUV through a crowd of people attending a Filipino cultural festival in Vancouver, killing 11 people and injuring dozens more. In response, the British Columbia government immediately commissioned an inquiry to examine the systemic causes of the incident and whether any lessons could be learned from the tragedy.
The commission came up with six recommendations based on gaps in the current municipal application and approval system for public events across the province.
One key recommendation was that all public events should be required to complete a risk assessment. This isn’t currently happening across the province. The absence of such analysis poses a risk for public safety.
Another recommendation was the creation of local knowledge capacity to support event organizers, particularly for small and rural events, where the expertise to conduct a basic security risk assessment is lacking.
These factors, combined with emerging security risks, meant that the tragedy at the Lapu Lapu festival could be considered a foreseeable event given the risk realities associated with modern mass gatherings.
The inquiry report highlighted how B.C. is lagging behind other international jurisdictions in terms of legislative pro-activeness in securing public events. This policy deficiency is actually a Canada-wide problem; the country is woefully behind other western nations when it comes to securing public events.
Relatively speaking, research suggests Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms hinders its security services from being able to detect and investigate terrorism-related offences given the greater importance placed on individual rights compared to Australia, where there is no such Charter equivalent.
Given these facts, it would seem plausible that Canada would be at greater risk for security threats at public events — including terrorist attacks, active shooters, etc. — than Australia.
When I compared the data between both countries in my research, it suggested Australia has more public event regulation than Canada.
It was quantitatively shown that Australian officials require risk assessments and other proactive measures from event organizers, including for risk mitigation, while Canadian officials are mostly concerned with reactive security response plans — in other words, determining how organizers would respond to attacks after they occurred.
An analysis of event application documents in both countries reveal that Australian municipalities disproportionately emphasize “risk management” in approving events compared to Canadian municipalities.
Three ways the B.C. report falls short
The B.C. report missed out on examining several important elements.
Firstly, it did not take a holistic, deep dive into just how vulnerable public events are to myriad security threats — like active shooters, crowd crushing and terrorist attacks — but instead focused solely on the hostile vehicle threat.
It also failed to consider the urgency of governments to adopt policy changes in the face of emerging threats on public spaces, like drone attacks.
Secondly, the report made no mention of the need for law enforcement to develop stronger ties to share intelligence with event organizers as a proactive measure to protect mass gathering events from violence. The Hamas attacks at a music festival in Israel in October 2023 highlight the worst outcome of such failures.
Lastly, there was no call for action or recommendation for the federal government to play a greater role in providing guidance to the industry and lower levels of government.
National security is a federal issue as well as the regulation of airspace for drones. In countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States, the national government provides guidance on protecting public spaces. There is no such policy leadership in Canada.
The first two initiatives which will help to protect and grow Jersey’s financial services sector have been announced.
The Jersey Private Fund, JPF, regime has been modernised to be better aligned with the needs of international professional investors.
Proposals to simplify the Sound Business Practice Policy, SBPP, have been published which, once approved, will streamline its application whilst a more comprehensive review of this framework is undertaken.
Both initiatives are part of the Competitiveness Programme and were unveiled at its launch event.
Jersey Private Fund
The Minister with responsibility for Financial Services, Deputy Ian Gorst, has signed a Ministerial Order to update the JPF.
Effective from 6 August 2025, the revised JPF Guide and a new statutory instrument, the Collective Investment Funds (Jersey Private Funds) Order, will come into force.
These changes will:
remove the 50-offer / investor cap;
expand the definition of professional investor;
permit the listing of interests in JPFs with the Jersey Financial Services Commission’s consent; and
introduce a 24-hour authorisation process for JPF applications submitted by registered Designated Service Providers.
Jill Britton, Director General of the JFSC, said: “The updated JPF regime is a significant step, keeping Jersey’s fund offering evolving with the needs of industry. JPFs continue to be a regulated product that investors can have confidence in – these changes streamline the regime and, together with our commitment to faster authorisation, we are underscoring our commitment to excellent service.”
Joe Moynihan, CEO, Jersey Finance, said: “Since its launch in 2017, the JPF has become Jersey’s fastest-growing fund category, particularly well-suited to private equity, venture capital and real asset strategies. As private capital continues to evolve globally, these updates will further increase Jersey’s appeal to managers and professional investors seeking flexible and well-regulated fund solutions.”
Deputy Gorst said: “These revisions follow industry engagement and reflect a broader global movement toward bespoke, efficient private fund vehicles for professional investors. They provide certainty for fund promoters and reinforce Jersey’s appeal as a jurisdiction of choice for private capital.”
Sound Business Practice Policy
The SBPP, jointly developed by Government of Jersey and the JFSC, identifies ‘sensitive activities’ which require additional information or scrutiny before the JFSC consents to them. The Codes of Practice for investment business, funds service business, certified funds and trust and company businesses all require registered persons to have due regard to the SBPP.
The SBPP has served Jersey well in understanding and managing risk, but updates are required to ensure it remains fit for modern-day business.
The proposed amendments simplify its scope of application, reducing potential business frictions and delays. The “Repeal of the Control of Borrowing Framework”, recently published by the Government of Jersey, includes a review of the SBBP framework with a view to establish a more flexible risk-based approach in the medium-term.
Jill Britton said: “This is about modernising regulation while taking a progressive stance against financial crime. Refining the SBPP removes unnecessary complexity and enables firms to focus on what matters, identifying and managing real risk. It’s a shift toward more intelligent regulation, where the emphasis is on outcomes and accountability, not just process”.
Joe Moynihan added: “We welcome the simplification of the SBPP, which should have a material impact on Jersey’s competitiveness as an IFC that is very much open for high quality business. These changes, which are in response to industry feedback, are another good example of our agility as an IFC and the positive collaborative relationship there is between industry, the Government of Jersey and the JFSC.”
Deputy Gorst said: “This change will enable businesses to do what they already do well: determine the risk of their activity and to act accordingly. Jersey has a mature and sophisticated financial services sector, and this change acknowledges that. The simplification of the SBPP does not reduce Jersey’s commitment to combatting financial crime but rather acknowledges that the industry understand risk and allows them to take greater responsibility for managing it.”
Competitiveness Programme
The Competitiveness Progamme has brought together government, the regulator and industry with the goal of protecting Jersey’s current economic strength, while unlocking new pathways for growth over the next ten years.
The programme is organised around four strategic workstreams, with each designed to address a key dimension of Jersey’s competitiveness:
International Tax Strategy – focusing on creating a tax framework that keeps Jersey competitive and compliant in a fast-changing global landscape.
Business and Regulatory Environment – delivering practical, quick-impact improvements to ease of doing business and regulatory efficiency, while also shaping longer-term reforms.
External Growth Strategy – comparing Jersey’s strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats, against global trends and competing jurisdictions, this stream will offer data-driven insights and targeted investment opportunities to fuel long-term, realisable international growth.
Future Competitiveness and Regulation – bringing together a high-level panel of global experts to synthesise and prioritise the findings from across the workstreams, producing an independent report for Ministers.
At the end of this process of research and reflection, the Government will publish a final report and action plan in 2026 that will shape Jersey’s strategy into the next decade.
These efforts align closely with other major initiatives such as Jersey Finance’s Vision2050 and the JFSC’s registry and strategic reviews, which ensures that workstreams are not happening in silos, but as part of a broader, coordinated vision.
A brand-new fence has been installed around the wheeled sports park at Silksworth Sports Complex and Ski Slope, providing a significant boost to safety and enjoyment for local families and young people.
The improvements come as part of a project costing £15,690 funded by Sunderland City Council’s West Area Committee. The fencing works were completed over a four-week period, and a new gate has also been installed to fully complete the improvements.
The wheeled sports park has long been a popular hub of activity and enjoyment for the Silksworth community, attracting hundreds of users each week. However, the removal of the original fence around five years ago, due to damage and safety concerns, left the area exposed. In the years since, rising levels of motorcycle disorder and general antisocial behaviour had made the park feel unsafe, particularly for younger users and their families.
The installation of the new fence marks a major step forward in reclaiming the space for safer community use. These improvements should provide peace of mind for parents and encouraging more children and young people to enjoy the wheeled sports park as a safe, inclusive place to play, exercise, and socialise.
Councillor Joanne Laverick, chair of the West Area Committee at Sunderland City Council said: “We listened to the concerns of residents, and this fence is a direct response to those calls for action. By improving safety and deterring antisocial behaviour, we’re making sure the park remains a safe and welcoming space for everyone.
“Hopefully the installation of the new fence will not only attract former users of the wheeled sports park to come back and enjoy it again but attract new users too.”
The West Area Committee is one of the five area committees across Sunderland. Made up of local councillors, these provide residents with a greater say by working closely with their communities and drawing on local knowledge to identify priorities for their area. They also create Area Plans to support the City Plan, focusing on local needs. These plans help fund and deliver projects in partnership with local voluntary and community sector organisations.
The new gate will further support the long-term management of the site, helping to ensure the park continues to serve as a vibrant and valued community facility.
Councillor Beth Jones, Cabinet Member of Communities, Culture and Tourism at Sunderland City Council said: “The wheeled sports park is a valuable community asset that brings together young people and encourages healthy, active lifestyles.
“By making this a safer place for everyone to enjoy once again, I’d like to welcome residents to get the most out of this wheeled sports park.”
The installation of the new fence has been welcomed by riders who regularly use the sports park. Jonathan Dobson, a Sunderland resident and BMX rider for 16 years said: “The new fence has made a huge difference to the sports park. Before it was installed, you’d often find rubbish and smashed glass around the park making it unusable. But now its cleaner and I know my bag will be safe while I’m riding as there’s only one entrance.”
Silksworth Sports Complex and Ski Slope is one of Sunderland’s most distinctive recreational destinations, offering a unique blend of natural beauty and leisure facilities managed by Everyone Active. Home to one of the UK’s few dry ski slopes, the park also features a large lake, walking trails, sports pitches, a children’s play area, and wide green spaces.
Silksworth Sports Complex and Ski Slope is popular with families and fitness enthusiasts alike and is a key community asset in the west of the city. The park plays an important role in promoting outdoor activity, wellbeing, and social connection throughout the year.
FREE games, crafts, workshops and performances are on offer at all of Leicester’s libraries over the summer holidays.
It’s all part of Story Garden, the summer reading challenge which rewards children for regular reading. Across the city, every Leicester library will host a free family fun session, which will include a range of accessible games and crafts, predominantly aimed at primary age children, but where all are welcome.
As well as the fun days, children can book a place on a free workshop at some libraries, with themes including Lego coding, space (in conjunction with the National Space Centre) and the environment.
And there are free and low-cost shows at local libraries too, including:
Check out the What’s On listings for a full rundown of what’s on where, or ask at your local library.
Cllr Vi Dempster, assistant city mayor for libraries and community centres, said: “We’re really pleased to be able to offer lots of free or very low cost activities across the city and throughout the summer, suitable for children and young people of all ages.
“Our summer reading challenge is always very popular, with thousands of local children getting involved – more than 6,000 children took part in the challenge last year.
“Ebooks and audio books are included in the challenge too, so however you like to borrow books, you can take part.”
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, July 23 (Xinhua) — China is exploring the use of advanced technologies such as smart bionic hands and guide robots to improve the well-being of people with disabilities so that scientific and technological progress can benefit the group, a Chinese official said Tuesday.
Zhou Changkui, chairman of the executive council of the All-China Federation of Disabled Persons, said at a press conference that the developments were presented at a recent forum.
He added that China will pay more attention to the development of new technologies and industries, including brain-machine interfaces, to better support people with disabilities.
According to Zhou Changkui, the federation has jointly issued a guideline document with other government bodies to promote the use of technology to help people with disabilities. It has also collaborated with universities, research institutes and high-tech companies to promote the development of relevant technologies and industries.
The official noted that during the upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), China will continue to promote the application of artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies to serve people with disabilities, ensuring that advanced technologies better meet their needs. -0-
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.
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
MINSK, July 23 (Xinhua) — The project “Protection of Belarus Forests: A Comprehensive Initiative for Local-Level Fire Preparedness, Prevention and Response” was launched in Minsk on Wednesday. This is the first project under the Global Development Initiative, supported by the Chinese government’s Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, in Belarus. The financial assistance will amount to 2 million U.S. dollars.
The project is financed by the Global Development Fund and South-South Cooperation and is being implemented jointly with the United Nations Development Programme /UNDP/ and the Ministry of Forestry of Belarus. It envisages equipping Belarusian forestry enterprises and fire departments with the latest fire-fighting equipment and machinery, increasing the effectiveness of early warning and rapid response to forest fires, and reducing the threat of natural disasters to natural resources, life and property of citizens.
During the ceremony, the Minister of Forestry of Belarus Alexander Kulik expressed sincere gratitude to the Government of China and UNDP for their support and cooperation. He noted that global climate change creates serious challenges in the field of forest fire protection, and for Belarus, where forests cover more than 40 percent of the country’s territory, this issue is of particular importance. He noted that the project of the Global Development Fund and South-South Cooperation will strengthen the material and technical base of the forestry of Belarus in the field of fire prevention.
During the event, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to Belarus Zhang Wenchuan noted that since its establishment in 2015, the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund has managed to significantly improve the well-being of people, strengthen the potential of recipient countries and make a significant contribution to the implementation of the UN Agenda for Sustainable Development until 2030. “I am confident that this project will become a new model of cooperation between China and Belarus in the joint implementation of the Global Development Initiative, giving new impetus to the friendship between the two countries and practical cooperation in various fields,” Zhang Wenchuan said.
In turn, UNDP Resident Representative in Belarus Liu Renfei noted that the program welcomes the Global Development Initiative put forward by China as a contribution to accelerating the achievement of sustainable development goals by developing countries. The initiative reflects a commitment to multilateral cooperation under the auspices of the UN and South-South cooperation, and the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund turns these commitments into concrete results, helping developing countries implement projects in practice. This provides unique opportunities to strengthen global partnership and improve people’s lives. “UNDP cooperates with all member countries, including China, following the principles of international development, strengthening the multilateral framework and accelerating the achievement of the SDGs,” Liu Renfei summarized. -0-
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.
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, July 23 (Xinhua) — The construction of a hydropower project on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River in southwest China will contribute to disaster prevention and mitigation in the entire river basin and will not have a negative impact on downstream areas, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in Beijing on Wednesday.
As the Chinese diplomat reported at a regular departmental press conference, the project is within the sovereign jurisdiction of China and is aimed at accelerating the development of environmentally friendly energy, significantly improving the well-being of the local population and actively responding to climate change.
China has always taken a very responsible approach to developing transboundary rivers and has rich experience in developing hydropower projects, Guo Jiakun said, adding that the planning, design and construction of this project on the Yarlung Tsangpo River strictly adhere to China’s highest industry standards.
The project is being implemented taking into account all aspects of construction, environmental safety and environmental protection, bypassing many important ecologically sensitive areas and maximally preserving the pristine ecosystem, he added.
The diplomat noted that China has established cooperation with downstream countries in areas such as hydrological information exchange, flood control and disaster mitigation, and has made necessary contacts on the project in question.
China will continue to enhance cooperation with downstream countries to benefit the people living in the Yarlung Tsangpo River basin, Guo Jiakun said. -0-
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.
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, July 23 (Xinhua) — Three crew members of China’s Shenzhou-19 manned spacecraft were awarded medals and honorary titles on Wednesday for their outstanding achievements in the field of domestic cosmonautics.
In particular, Cai Xuzhe was awarded the Medal for Merit in Cosmonautics, Second Class, while Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze received the Medal for Merit in Cosmonautics, Third Class, and the honorary title of “Hero Cosmonaut”.
The awards were presented by decision of the CPC Central Committee, the State Council of the People’s Republic of China and the Central Military Commission. -0-
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.
Chief Executive John Lee today presented award certificates to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Search & Rescue Team to quake-stricken areas in Myanmar in March and the Inter-departmental Preparation Team for Kai Tak Sports Park (KTSP) Commissioning.
Addressing the Chief Executive’s Award for Exemplary Performance Presentation Ceremony, Mr Lee praised the excellent performances of the two award-winning teams.
He noted that the two awarded outstanding teams have demonstrated their respective strengths, which not only set an example for the entire civil service, but also demonstrated the Hong Kong SAR Government’s spirit of pursuing excellence and fearlessly taking on challenges.
Mr Lee said: “They created good stories of civil servants that we are proud of through their actions.”
The Chief Executive highlighted that Hong Kong’s ranking of second globally and first in Asia in the Government efficiency section of the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2025 underlines the outstanding competence and effective performance of Hong Kong’s civil servants.
Mr Lee said he will continue to strengthen the system to enable officials to better utilise their proactive leadership capability so that the civil service can bring out their efficiency and potential to the fullest and realise the Government’s result-oriented policy initiatives through action.
In March this year, a major earthquake struck Myanmar, resulting in serious casualties. The Hong Kong SAR Search & Rescue Team rushed to Mantalay, one of the most devastated areas in Myanmar, to conduct search and rescue operations.
The team completed 61 search and rescue operations covering 57 locations amid constant aftershocks and scorching heat in the disaster-stricken areas, and conducted joint operations with the China Search & Rescue Team, successfully rescuing one survivor who had been trapped for more than 125 hours.
The Hong Kong SAR Search & Rescue Team consists of civil servants from the Security Bureau, the Fire Services Department and the Immigration Department, as well as medical representatives from the Hospital Authority.
The team’s commander Cheu Yu-kok thanked the Government for recognising the team’s efforts.
He said that the team will continue to uphold its professionalism, strengthen exchanges with relevant Mainland authorities and continue to explore further uses of AI and advanced technology to persistently enhance its emergency rescue capabilities and standards, and to make greater contributions to international humanitarian rescue work.
Another awardee is an interdepartmental preparation team formed by the Culture, Sports & Tourism Bureau, the Security Bureau, the Civil Service Bureau, the Transport & Logistics Bureau, the Police Force and the Transport Department.
The team completed around 20 test events, including five large-scale drills, in just five months, mobilising about 140,000 civil servants to participate in the stress tests to evaluate the capability of the KTSP and its surrounding facilities comprehensively, to become fully prepared for the grand opening ceremony on March 1 and the subsequent large-scale events.
Representative of the Inter-departmental Preparation Team for KTSP Commissioning, Commissioner for Sports George Tsoi thanked the Chief Executive for his recognition of the team.
He said that the team had done its utmost to overcome various challenges during the KTSP’s preparatory process with efficiency and professionalism. The team will continue to work closely with the established foundation of good communication and collaboration to fully capitalise on the opportunities brought about by the KTSP.
The nomination exercise for the new round of the Chief Executive’s Award for Exemplary Performance commenced in May this year. The Civil Service Bureau invited bureaus to nominate outstanding teams or colleagues for the honour.
We expect U.S. coal-fired power plants will remain relatively well-stocked through the end of next year in our latest Short-Term Energy Outlook. We estimate power plants in the United States had 124 million short tons of coal on-site at the end of June for them to consume that coal at a rate of about 1.3 million short tons per day, meaning they had about 93 days’ worth of fuel on-site. This metric, also called days of burn, is calculated by dividing coal inventories held at power plants by a seasonal consumption rate. We forecast days of burn will range between about 90 and 120 days between now through the end of 2026, or about a month’s worth of coal more than power plants had on-site between 2019 and 2022.
Although coal inventories held at U.S. power plants have fallen since early 2024, coal consumption in the U.S. electric power sector has also fallen since then, so the supply measure of days of burn remains relatively high. Reflecting this supply condition, coal shipments to power plants—many of which occur by rail—have declined in line with coal consumption in the U.S. electric power sector.
We forecast the long-term decrease in U.S. coal consumption will temporarily reverse in 2025 primarily because of rising electricity demand and coal’s increased competitiveness in the electric power sector, which accounted for more than 90% of U.S. coal consumption in 2024. U.S. natural gas prices last year were at historic lows, and as natural gas prices increased in the first quarter of 2025, coal became more competitive: U.S. coal consumption in the first quarter of 2025 was 18% more than in the first quarter of 2024.
In our short-term forecast, we expect coal’s share of U.S. electricity generation to increase from 16% in 2024 to 17% in 2025 and then decrease to 15% in 2026. Overall electricity generation is increasing to meet growing electricity demand, especially from the commercial and industrial sectors.
Similarly, we forecast a 6% increase in U.S. coal consumption for 2025, followed by a 6% decrease in 2026 with planned coal power plant retirements and increasing renewable capacity coming online.
The imPACT team of 13 international experts reviewed cancer prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment and palliative care, as well as nuclear and radiation medicine safety. For the first time, the imPACT review also included radiopharmaceutical production.
The assessment underlined Chile’s achievements in cancer control, including universal health coverage, the adoption of latest technologies and a highly trained health workforce sustained by strong academic institutions.
At the same time, the team identified opportunities for improvement, such as strengthening governance and coordination mechanisms for cancer control, reducing waiting times, increasing access in underserved regions, and enhancing national cancer surveillance and information systems.
Chile has a well-established national governance structure for cancer control, which includes the Child and Adolescent Cancer Plan 2023-2028 and the Adult Action Plan for the National Cancer Plan 2022-2027.
“Chile’s cancer control strategy is rooted in inclusive and participatory processes. The involvement of stakeholders from across ministries, academia and civil society is essential to address the most pressing challenges,” said Bernardo Martorell Guerra, Vice Minister of Healthcare Networks at MINSAL.
The country is seeking to expand cancer control activities, including enhanced infectious disease control, addressing risk behaviours such as tobacco use and expanding access to radiation medicine.
Source: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) –
The imPACT team of 13 international experts reviewed cancer prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment and palliative care, as well as nuclear and radiation medicine safety. For the first time, the imPACT review also included radiopharmaceutical production.
The assessment underlined Chile’s achievements in cancer control, including universal health coverage, the adoption of latest technologies and a highly trained health workforce sustained by strong academic institutions.
At the same time, the team identified opportunities for improvement, such as strengthening governance and coordination mechanisms for cancer control, reducing waiting times, increasing access in underserved regions, and enhancing national cancer surveillance and information systems.
Chile has a well-established national governance structure for cancer control, which includes the Child and Adolescent Cancer Plan 2023-2028 and the Adult Action Plan for the National Cancer Plan 2022-2027.
“Chile’s cancer control strategy is rooted in inclusive and participatory processes. The involvement of stakeholders from across ministries, academia and civil society is essential to address the most pressing challenges,” said Bernardo Martorell Guerra, Vice Minister of Healthcare Networks at MINSAL.
The country is seeking to expand cancer control activities, including enhanced infectious disease control, addressing risk behaviours such as tobacco use and expanding access to radiation medicine.
A 2023 CDC report tracked more than 200 pool-associated outbreaks over a four-year period. But a few basic precautions can ward off these dangers.Maria Korneeva/Moment via Getty Images
On hot summer days, few things are more refreshing than a dip in the pool. But have you ever wondered if the pool is as clean as that crystal blue water appears?
As an immunologist and infectious disease specialist, I study how germs spread in public spaces and how to prevent the spread. I even teach a course called “The Infections of Leisure” where we explore the risks tied to recreational activities and discuss precautions, while also taking care not to turn students into germophobes.
Swimming, especially in public pools and water parks, comes with its own unique set of risks — from minor skin irritations to gastrointestinal infections. But swimming also has a plethora of physical, social and mental health benefits. With some knowledge and a little vigilance, you can enjoy the water without worrying about what might be lurking beneath the surface.
The reality of pool germs
Summer news headlines and social media posts often spotlight the “ick-factor” of communal swimming spaces. These concerns do have some merit.
The good news is that chlorine, which is widely used in pools, is effective at killing many pathogens. The not-so-good news is that chlorine does not work instantly – and it doesn’t kill everything.
Every summer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issues alerts about swimming-related outbreaks of illness caused by exposure to germs in public pools and water parks. A 2023 CDC report tracked over 200 pool-associated outbreaks from 2015 to 2019 across the U.S., affecting more than 3,600 people. These outbreaks included skin infections, respiratory issues, ear infections and gastrointestinal distress. Many of the outcomes from such infections are mild, but some can be serious.
Germs and disinfectants
Even in a pool that’s properly treated with chlorine, some pathogens can linger for minutes to days. One of the most common culprits is Cryptosporidium, a microscopic germ that causes watery diarrhea. This single-celled parasite has a tough outer shell that allows it to survive in chlorine-treated water for up to 10 days. It spreads when fecal matter — often from someone with diarrhea — enters the water and is swallowed by another swimmer. Even a tiny amount, invisible to the eye, can infect dozens of people.
Swimmers introduce a range of bodily residues to the water, including sweat, urine, oils and skin cells. These substances, especially sweat and urine, interact with chlorine to form chemical byproducts called chloramines that may pose health risks.
These byproducts are responsible for that strong chlorine smell. A clean pool should actually lack a strong chlorine odor, as well as any other smells, of course. It is a common myth that a strong chlorine smell is a good sign of a clean pool. In fact, it may actually be a red flag that means the opposite – that the water is contaminated and should perhaps be avoided.
How to play it safe at a public pool
Most pool-related risks can be reduced with simple precautions by both the pool staff and swimmers. And while most pool-related illnesses won’t kill you, no one wants to spend their vacation or a week of beautiful summer days in the bathroom.
These 10 tips can help you avoid germs at the pool:
Shower before swimming. Rinsing off for at least one minute removes most dirt and oils on the body that reduce chlorine’s effectiveness.
Avoid the pool if you’re sick, especially if you have diarrhea or an open wound. Germs can spread quickly in water.
The retrenchment has also led to a loss of something else: reporters and columnists at local news organizations who decades ago regularly focused on their local media as a beat.
There are very few of them left.
I’m an instructor at Colorado College, where I manage the Journalism Institute. I also compulsively keep track of our state’s shifting media landscape.
The Center for Community News at the University of Vermont solicited and published the report. The goal was to find out who is doing similar work and where.
The Center for Community News is interested in fostering partnerships between academic programs and local newsrooms. The center is also seeking to find other ways higher-ed institutions are supporting their state’s media ecosystem — so they were especially interested in media newsletters being produced at a college or university.
Few state-based newsletters
The problem is, there weren’t many to track. I found just six, including my own, while researching for the report.
Very few states, it turns out, “have a dedicated publication, site, or newsletter that regularly and independently reports on and analyzes ongoing developments in the local media scene,” the report found.
‘Inside the News in Colorado’ is the author’s newsletter, in which he obsessively tracks the media landscape in Colorado. Corey Hutchins via Substack
My own weekly Substack newsletter is called “Inside the News in Colorado.” Each week, I report on, comment on and analyze the goings on in Colorado’s media scene. I connect local developments to what’s happening nationally, and I explore what makes the state’s local news ecosystem unique.
My newsletter also pokes and prods, critiques and uplifts, and seeks to spark debate and a better understanding about the practice of local journalism. And it maintains a weekly running tab on the health of the state’s media landscape.
Other newsletters across the country include NC Local, authored by Catherine Komp. The Newsroom Digest, out of the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University in New Jersey, is another. Gateway Journalism Review from Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s School of Journalism, in the College of Arts and Media made the list. And Media Nation by Northeastern University professor Dan Kennedy in Massachusetts is another.
Kennedy has been producing Media Nation for more than 20 years and writes more about national media issues. But he mixes it with plenty of local and regional happenings.
If someone were to, say, leak an internal email from The Boston Globe, it is likely they would do so with Media Nation.
The NC Local newsletter’s format is a mix of digestible roundups and some original reporting.
A recurring item titled “Well Done” offers “noteworthy work from the NC news & information ecosystem.” The most-clicked links each week tend to come from a bulletin board section where Komp rounds up job postings and opportunities.
The chunky Newsroom Digest newsletter highlights notable local journalism in New Jersey. It comes with a “Media Moves” section that introduces its audience to new local journalists and tracks newsroom personnel changes.
While they differ in style and delivery, each is filling a gap in coverage in their state or region by reporting on an important industry: their own.
“When I was at the (Boston) Phoenix, I think all of us at the alternative press thought big local media were a powerful local institution that ought to be held to account just like big business and everything else,” Media Nation’s Kennedy said for the report.
Where to house the news about the news?
I believe colleges and universities make good places to produce these kinds of state-based media newsletters.
Journalism departments in particular are likely equipped to run them, especially if they have practitioners on the faculty. They are outside of a state’s established media organizations but also adjacent to them.
Richard Watts, the director of the Center for Community News, commissioned the “Local News as a Public Good” study. He says there are important reasons for more newsletters consistently reporting on local media in individual states.
“They draw attention to the key role local news plays by writing about the stories and the impact of those stories,” he said. “They help amplify and they showcase the importance of the media ecosystem for a vibrant democracy.”
Furthermore, such newsletters can serve as the “canary in the coal mine to draw attention to media platforms in trouble, or actions by unscrupulous owners,” Watts added. “And they can share ideas and best practices across the system to help strengthen individual media platforms. And, lastly, they help create a community of stakeholders committed to the importance of a free press.”
To that end, the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont is looking to help anyone in a higher-ed program who might be interested in launching a state-based media newsletter.
“I think a really good person to do something like this is, first, someone who is doing more than just reporting on the industry or ecosystem,” said Komp of NC Local in the Center for Community News study.
“It does need to be somebody who is engaging with journalists, with publishers, with journalism educators, with students, with funders, in ways that are not just reporting on what’s happening but in ways that are looking to always find solutions and address challenges.”
Corey Hutchins consults for the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont where he is working on a project to help colleges and universities create state-based media newsletters.
What would it take for these titans of corporate America to speak out against Trump’s policies? We are a professor and a graduate student who study business, and back in 2018, one of us – Dr. Carmel – conducted an analysis asking this very question. More recently, we gathered new data looking at how business leaders are responding to Trump’s second term.
The 2018 analysis, involving data from about 200 leading U.S. CEOs, found that most business leaders remained publicly neutral on Trump, and only a handful expressed strong opposition. Silence was often a strategic choice, with many leaders staying mum due to fear of retaliation. The evidence also suggested that Trump could one day cross a line that would prompt a broader CEO backlash.
Seven years later, that line hasn’t yet appeared, even as Trump’s footprint on corporate America is now far more direct and substantial.
Most notable are Trump’s tariffs, first announced in April 2025, which have roiled global markets and unnerved CEOs. And there are many other ripples: Some companies, such as CBS’ parent company, Paramount – which is seeking the Trump administration’s approval for a merger – have decided to self-censor. Others, including Disney and Meta, gave in to Trump’s lawsuits and paid multimillion-dollar settlements, against the counsel of many outside experts. CEOs also have to deal with the threat of backlash from both the right and left.
Against this backdrop, we collected new public data to see how corporate leaders are responding to the second Trump administration. Just as in 2018, we examined the 232 companies that make up the Business Roundtable – a club of the most powerful American businesses.
We assessed the actions that these companies took regarding DEI and whether they experienced any backlash. We focused on these criteria as a way to assess whether CEOs are seeking either to support or placate Trump, or to stand on other principles. We also collected other data, including public statements from CEOs and campaign donations.
DEI as a bellwether
Corporate DEI actions were an early, useful way to gauge a business’s stances, since, from the outset, the Trump administration identified DEI as a “scourge”to be eliminated. Although the White House’s anti-DEI directives have applied to the executive branch and federal contractors, some private businesses rushed to make changes as well.
By May, just a bit over 100 days into Trump’s second term, a significant number of companies had decided to go along with Trump’s preferences. Sixty-nine of the 232 companies in the Business Roundtable rolled back their DEI initiatives in some way, while just 20 companies announced that they kept their DEI programs in place. There’s no information either way on the remaining 61% – likely because they decided it’s better to stay out of the news.
DEI-related actions have tapered off since May, but there’s still an impact. For example, the Federal Communications Commission pressured T-Mobile to eliminate DEI. Only then was its merger approved.
Companies that scaled back their DEI initiatives sometimes pointed to the political environment as a factor. Meta, for example, said in an internal memo that it was ending its DEI efforts due to a “shifting legal and policy landscape.” Other companies, including Verizon and Comcast, reportedly rolled back DEI programs because they feared legal action by the federal government.
Overall, 22% of Business Roundtable companies saw some sort of backlash to their actions. Most came from the political right: 36 companies were called out by conservatives, another eight by progressives, and eight more faced bipartisan backlash.
With more than three years left in Trump’s second term, it’s worth asking what lies ahead. We think the most likely scenario is that companies will continue to try to stay off the president’s radar and placate him when they must. After all, following the split with Elon Musk, Trump quite explicitly threatened to use presidential powers to hurt Musk’s businesses. Any CEO gets the implications.
While our analysis primarily focused on social issues, policies at the business core may push U.S. companies to confront Trump. Tariff policy is a prime example. Back in April, major retailers like Walmart quietly warned Trump that tariffs could lead to empty shelves and higher prices. More recently, the CEO of Goldman Sachs publicly warned that tariffs “have raised the level of uncertainty to a degree I do not think is healthy for investment and growth.”
These are voices of criticism – but worded quite softly.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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.
As an environmental lawyer, I see that most of these suits use one of five legal strategies that have been developed over the past couple of decades. These approaches vary in terms of who is filing the lawsuit, against whom, and whether the underlying legal perspective is based on protecting human rights or the rights of the environment itself. But they all share an innovative approach to protect all life on this planet.
These rights are held by humans, so people can sue for alleged violations. Typically they sue one or more government agencies, whose responsibility it is to protect human rights.
One recent case using this approach was Held v. Montana, in which a group of young people in 2024 won a lawsuit against the state of Montana for violating the state constitution’s right to a “clean and healthful environment.” The state Supreme Court agreed with the plaintiffs and struck down a law barring the consideration of climate effects when evaluating proposals for fossil fuel extraction. Similar cases have been heard in the U.S. and other countries around the world.
Rikki Held, the lead plaintiff in the Montana case, center seated, confers with the Our Children’s Trust legal team before the start of the trial on June 12, 2023. William Campbell/Getty Images
Focused on humans’ rights, these laws allow people and groups to bring claims, usually against governments, for allowing activities that are altering the environment in ways that will harm future generations. One well-known case that relied on this legal principle is Future Generations v. Ministry of the Environment and Others, in which a Colombian court in 2018 agreed with young people who had sued, finding that the Colombian government’s allowance of “rampant deforestation in the Amazon” violated the pact of intergenerational equity.
While the concept of “public trust” has long existed in the law, recently it has been used to bring suit against governments for their failure to address climate change and other environmental degradation. In Urgenda Foundation v. the State of the Netherlands, a Dutch court held in 2019 that the government has a responsibility to mitigate the effects of climate change due to the “severity of the consequences of climate change and the great risk of climate change occurring.” Since the decision, the Dutch government has sought to reduce emissions by phasing out the use of coal, increasing reliance on renewable energy and aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Government responsibility for the public trust was also a basis of the Juliana v. U.S. case, where a group of young people sued the U.S. government for breaching the public trust by not doing enough to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately declined to hear an appeal of a lower court’s ruling, but the lack of a specific ruling by the nation’s highest court has given continued hope to new cases, which continue to be filed based on the same principle.
A documentary examining the movement to protect the rights of nature.
4. Rights of nature
The rights of nature is one of the fastest-growing environmental legal strategies of the past decade. Since Ecuador recognized the rights of Pachamama, the Quechua name for Mother Earth, in its Constitution in 2008, more than 500 laws on the rights of nature have been enacted around the world.
The laws then provide a mechanism for the natural entity – whether through a specific group assigned legal guardianship or other community efforts – to protect itself by filing lawsuits in court. In the 2018 Colombian case, the court found that the Amazon ecosystem has rights, which must be respected and protected.
Similarly, in Bangladesh in 2019 the courts recognized the rights of all the country’s rivers, requiring, among other things, a halt on damaging development along the rivers that block their natural flow. The court also created a commission to serve as legal guardians of the country’s rivers.
In 2024, the governments of Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa formally proposed that the international community recognize a new crime under international law. Called “ecocide,” the principle takes a nature-focused approach and includes any unlawful act committed with “the knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment.”
Put another way, what genocide is to humans, ecocide is to nature. It is being proposed as an addition to the 2002 Rome Statute, which created the International Criminal Court to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
While the idea is relatively new, in addition to the international efforts, several countries have incorporated ecocide into their laws – including Vietnam, France, Chile and Ukraine. A Ukrainian prosecutor is currently investigating the June 2023 destruction of a dam in a Russian-occupied area of the country as a potential crime of ecocide, because of the widespread flooding and habitat destruction that resulted.
The European Union has also incorporated ecocide into its Environmental Crime Directive, which applies to all EU member countries, providing them with a mechanism to hear ecocide claims in their national courts.
Using these ideas
Each of these legal concepts has the potential to increase protection for the environment – and the people who live in it. But determining which strategy has the greatest chance of success depends on the details of the existing law and legal system in each community.
All of these legal strategies have a role in the fight to protect and preserve the environment as an integral, interdependent living thing that is vitally important to us as humans but also in its own right.
Dana Zartner is a volunteer with the Earth Law Center assisting with the editing of toolkits and guides, but has not worked on any of its lawsuits.
The main reading room is seen at the Library of Congress on June 13, 2025, in Washington. Kevin Carter/Getty Images
Carla Hayden, the 14th librarian of Congress, who has held the position since 2016, received an unexpected email on May 8, 2025.
“Carla, on behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” wrote Trent Morse, deputy director of presidential personnel at the White House.
Democratic politicians sharply criticized Hayden’s termination, saying the firing was unjust. It was actually about Trump punishing civil servants “who don’t bend to his every will,” New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said.
An information science scholar, I have written extensively about the history of libraries and archives, including the Library of Congress. To fully understand the role Hayden played for the past nine years, I think it is important to understand what the Library of Congress does, and the overlooked and underappreciated role it has played in American life.
Carla Hayden, the recently fired librarian of Congress, attends an event in March 2025 in Washington. Shannon Finney/Getty Images
The Library of Congress’ work
The Library of Congress is an agency that was first established, by an act of Congress, in 1800. The act provided for “the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress at the said city of Washington, and for fitting up a suitable apartment for containing them.” Its chief librarian is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
The library has six buildings in Washington that hold a print and online collection of nearly 26 million books, as well as more than 136 million other items, including manuscripts, maps, sheet music and prints and photographs.
The library is the property of the American people. Anyone over the age of 16 with a government-issued photo identification can enter its buildings and read or view its materials on-site. The Library of Congress was partially designed as a research institution to suit the needs of members of Congress, and only Congress members can borrow items from the library and take them home.
The Library of Congress has an annual budget of about US$900 million, with a staff of 3,263. In 2024, the library’s staff helped acquire 1,437,832 million new items, issue nearly 69,000 library cards and answer more than 764,000 reference requests, among other tasks.
The library’s deep roots
The library has evolved alongside the U.S. itself. Five years before the Constitutional Convention of 1787, future president James Madison called for a library to provide materials to help inform Congress and its members. In 1800, President John Adams signed a bill that established the institution, which began with a $5,000 government appropriation, equivalent to more than $127,000 today.
The library’s first collection included 152 works in 740 volumes imported from England. It occupied a space in a Washington Senate office that measured just 22 feet by 34 feet.
Tragedy struck again in 1851, with a fire that incinerated two-thirds of the library’s 55,000 volumes, including most of Jefferson’s personal collection.
Spofford also successfully lobbied Congress to pass the Copyright Act of 1870, which stipulated that any party registering a work for copyright needed to deposit two copies of that work with the library.
A growing place in American life
As its collections burgeoned in both scale and scope in the latter part of the 19th century, the library assumed an increasingly visible role and became known by some as “the nation’s library.” By 1900, it had nearly 1 million printed books and other materials.
The opening of a new library building in 1897, offering services to blind people with a designated reading room containing 500 raised character – or braille – books and music items, epitomized the library’s new status.
President Theodore Roosevelt said in 1901 that the library was “the one national library of the United States” and that was “a unique opportunity to render to the libraries of this country – to American scholarship – service of the highest importance.”
The library’s work, and global approach, continued to grow during the 20th century.
It continued to add remarkable items to its collection, including a Gutenberg Bible, the first book printed in Europe from movable metal type, a kind of printing technology, in 1455.
Documenting the evolution of democracy, the library also assumed stewardship of 23 presidents’ official papers, from George Washington to Calvin Coolidge, during this time frame.
A public service
While primarily designated a research institution for Congress, the library has also catered to a diverse range of patrons, including by mail and telephone.
As one Science Digest writer noted in 1960, reference staff members fielded questions ranging from “What was the color of a mastodon’s eye?” to “How many words are there in the English language?” and “Could you suggest a name for twins?”
The library’s register of copyrights received similarly diverse and even humorous inquiries. One older woman seeking to publish her poetry wrote in 1954 to request “a poetic license” to ensure her work conformed to the law.
In the late 20th century, the library focused on a new democratic national and international mission, as it embraced a new role. Daniel Boorstin, the librarian from 1975 to 1987, termed that role a “multimedia encyclopedia.”
As the library marks its 225th year, it continues to represent, as David Mearns, chief of the library’s manuscript division, said in 1947, “the American story.”
The Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress is seen on June 11, 2025, in Washington. Kevin Carter/Getty Images
A library for all
Following Hayden’s dismissal, Trump appointed Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, his former personal lawyer, as acting librarian of Congress.
Hayden has contended that her dismissal, which occurred alongside other firings of top civil servants, including the national archivist, represents a broad threat to people’s right to easily access free information.
“Democracies are not to be taken for granted,” Hayden said in June. She explained in an interview with CBS that she never had a problem with a presidential administration and is not sure why she was dismissed.
“And the institutions that support democracy should not be taken for granted,” Hayden added.
In her final annual report as librarian, Hayden characterized the institution as “truly, a library for all.” So far, even without her leadership, it remains just that.
Alex H. Poole 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.
Ozzy Osbourne’s death is not just the passing of another rock star. It marks the end of an era – the fading of a figure who helped shape an entire music genre and subculture.
Both as a member of Black Sabbath and as a solo artist, Osbourne’s legacy lies not only in music history but how we understand performance, rebellion, and the expressive power of sound itself.
Osbourne’s life was a testament to reinvention, grit, and the power of artistic authenticity – going from a working-class kid in Aston to the biggest name in heavy metal, writing the soundtrack to so many people’s lives. His distinctive voice, theatrical presence, and sheer will and determination shaped heavy metal music – inspiring generations of musicians and fans.
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When Black Sabbath emerged in the early 1970s, they played a role in making rock music more menacing, grittier and heavier. The Birmingham band didn’t just turn up the amplifiers and played louder guitars – they introduced a new aesthetic. They were known for their doomy riffs and lyrics about war, madness and the occult. Osbourne, with his uncanny voice and stage presence, was at the front and centre.
This sound was destined to become the blueprint for heavy metal. But Osbourne’s contribution went beyond his voice. He gave the genre its face, theatricality – and above all, its spirit of defiance.
Heavy metal music has existed in tension with mainstream culture ever since its emergence in the UK in the late 1960s. It has been regarded as too aggressive, too loud, too weird. But Osbourne’s presence forced metal into the public discourse – whether through moral panics in the 1970s and ’80s, or through his television appearances in the 2000s. The Osbournes, a reality show following the family which aired on MTV, was a huge hit in the US and around the world, making Ozzy famous to a whole new audience.
Throughout his long career, Osbourne helped shift heavy metal from the margins into the mainstream, without ever diluting its transgressive edge.
A symbol of inspiration
Osbourne’s stage persona carved out space for other artists to follow. His willingness to be ridiculous, to speak openly about his addictions, health struggles and family dysfunction made him oddly relatable. It is that relatability that allowed Osbourne to be metal’s court jester and elder statesman in one.
Over time, bands like Slipknot, Ghost, Sleep Token, as well as more introspective bands like Deftones or Gojira, owe much to the groundwork Osbourne and Black Sabbath laid: a template for authenticity, theatricality, and emotional openness wrapped in spectacle and distortion. They helped define the core rhythms, riffs, themes and aesthetics that generations of metal bands followed.
But Osbourne’s cultural influence cannot be measured only in record sales (although those were plenty), Grammy wins, or his induction into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His influence lies in how his image, sound and attitude reshaped music scenes across continents.
In countries where metal is censored or underground, Osbourne was a symbol of resistance. In places where metal was accepted, he was the genre’s most unpredictable ambassador.
The Prince of Darkness, as he was known, may have left the stage but his legacy will live on. His music is still looped on Tiktok videos, and memes still make rounds on social media.
Young metal-heads will continue to emulate his style and irreverence. As long as people pick up guitars and look for a way to scream back at the world, Ozzy will be there – in spirit, in sound, and in spectacle.
Douglas Schulz 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.
