The Indian Embassy in Iran said on Wednesday it had raised with Iranian authorities the case of three Indian nationals from the same family who went missing after arriving in the country on May 2.
The embassy said that India has urged Iranian authorities to trace the missing individuals and ensure their safety. It also said that the families are being regularly updated on the efforts being made.
In a post on X, the Indian Embassy in Iran said: “Family members of three Indian citizens have informed the Embassy of India that their relatives are missing after traveling to Iran. The Embassy has strongly taken up this matter with the Iranian authorities and requested that the missing Indians be urgently traced and their safety ensured.”
“We are also keeping the family members regularly updated on the efforts being made by the Embassy.”
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met Icelandic Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir in Brussels on Wednesday (28 May 2025) to discuss Iceland’s contributions to the Alliance, support to Ukraine, and preparations for the NATO Summit in The Hague.
“Iceland is one of NATO’s twelve founding members,” said the Secretary General. “For 76 years now, you have helped protect our peace, our security, and our core values: democracy, freedom, and the rule of law.”
While Iceland does not have armed forces, the Secretary General highlighted the country’s important and growing role in NATO. Iceland operates key air defence and surveillance systems as part of NATO’s integrated Air and Missile Defence, provides host nation support and infrastructure for Allied air policing, and regularly hosts major exercises such as NATO´s premier anti-submarine warfare exercise, Dynamic Mongoose.
“Iceland plays a unique and essential role in the High North,” said Mr Rutte, noting the importance of Iceland’s geostrategic location to better understand the evolving security environment in that area. He welcomed the Icelandic government’s decision to develop a new national security and defence policy, calling it a timely step to “further reinforce our resilience and readiness.”
On the upcoming NATO Summit in The Hague, the Secretary General indicated it “will be an important moment to drive forward NATO’s efforts to become stronger, fairer, and more lethal”.
Mr Rutte thanked Prime Minister Frostadóttir for Iceland’s continued support to Ukraine, from training military personnel and supporting demining efforts, to humanitarian support and weapons procurement. Iceland recently pledged an additional 14.4 million euros in defence support to Ukraine, alongside contributions to the “Grain from Ukraine” initiative and the donation of a mobile field hospital. Iceland also contributes personnel to NATO’s Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine command in Wiesbaden (NSATU).
“I know that Iceland has a proud tradition as a peaceful nation – and that makes your contributions all the more meaningful,” Mr Rutte said. “Because to preserve peace, we need to shift to a wartime mindset.”
Investigators have collected hours of video from the areas surrounding Lansdowne Station.
“Based on the details we’ve gathered so far, we’ve confirmed that Lilly and Jack were observed in public with family members on the afternoon of May 1,” says Cpl. Sandy Matharu, Northeast Nova RCMP Major Crime Unit. “We’re now asking anyone who has dashcam footage or video along Gairloch Rd. between 12 p.m. on April 28 and 12 p.m. on May 2 to contact us.”
Investigators remain committed to exploring all possibilities surrounding the children’s disappearance. To date, more than 355 tips have been received and are being followed up on. RCMP officers have also formally interviewed over 50 people, with more interviews planned in the coming days.
Investigative work is ongoing following a large-scale ground and air search that began immediately after the children were reported missing on May 2. Hundreds of searchers, multiple dogs, a variety of drones, an underwater recovery team and several aircraft scoured a heavily wooded 5.5 square kilometre area before search efforts were scaled back on May 7. Additional searches took place on May 8, May 9, May 17 and May 18. Any future searches will be determined based on the course of the investigation.
“RCMP officers from various teams are fully engaged in finding out what happened to Lilly and Jack, and we’re using all tools and resources to determine the circumstances of their disappearance,” says Cpl. Matharu. “We understand people’s desire for answers and updates. However, as this is an active investigation, we’re unable to discuss details of our ongoing work.”
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Lilly and Jack, or who has video footage to share with police, is asked to call the Northeast Nova RCMP Major Crime Unit at 902-896-5060. To remain anonymous, contact Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers, toll-free, at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), submit a secure web tip at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca, or use the P3 Tips app.
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
FUZHOU, May 28 (Xinhua) — The Fujian Provincial Coast Guard conducted regular law enforcement patrols in waters near the Kinmen Islands on Wednesday, the China Coast Guard said in a statement.
Since early May, the local coast guard has been continuously stepping up patrols of the waters off Kinmen to carry out special law enforcement operations related to the summer fishing moratorium, said Zhu Anqing, spokesman for the East China Sea Division of the China Coast Guard.
This, he said, has effectively strengthened the management and control of the relevant waters, properly protected the legitimate rights and interests, as well as the safety of life and property of Chinese fishermen, including those from Taiwan, and reliably ensured normal shipping and operational procedures in the Xiamen-Jinmen marine area. -0-
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, May 28 (Xinhua) — China will pilot a policy allowing holders of ordinary passports from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain visa-free entry to the country for 30 days from June 9, 2025 to June 8, 2026, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday.
At a press briefing, Mao Ning outlined the details of China’s recently announced decision to unilaterally grant visa-free entry to the four Gulf countries.
According to the diplomat, citizens of these countries arriving in China for business, tourism, visiting relatives or friends, on exchange programs or for transit purposes for up to 30 days do not need to obtain an entry visa.
“Considering that the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have introduced a mutual visa-free regime with China since 2018, the visa-free regime now covers all countries of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Persian Gulf. We invite more and more friends from the GCC countries to visit our country whenever they want, in the format of spontaneous travel,” Mao Ning said. -0-
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
JERUSALEM/SANAA, May 28 (Xinhua) — Israeli warplanes on Wednesday struck the main airport of the Yemeni capital Sanaa and several aircraft belonging to Houthi forces, the Israeli army said in a statement.
The attack destroyed the last aircraft used by Houthi forces, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
“This is a clear signal and a direct continuation of our policy: whoever opens fire on Israel will pay a high price,” he warned.
He noted that Israel would continue to strike Yemeni ports and strategic infrastructure used by the Houthis and their allies. “The airport in Sanaa will be destroyed again and again,” the statement said.
The Israeli minister also warned that the Houthis would find themselves “under a sea and air blockade.”
Airport CEO Khaled al-Shayef confirmed that a fourth Yemeni national airline plane, Yemenia Airline Company, was destroyed in Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday morning.
Since November 2023, the Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen, have carried out regular missile and drone strikes on Israel. They say they are doing so in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The group has said it will stop the attacks if Israel ends its military operations and blockade of Gaza. –0–
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BRUSSELS, May 28 (Xinhua) — The situation in Gaza remains “unbearable,” European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday.
A senior diplomat in a post on social media site X accused Israel of carrying out strikes that “go beyond what is necessary.”
K. Kallas condemned the “disproportionate use of force” by Israeli troops in Gaza and called for a return to the ceasefire to ensure the release of hostages and pave the way for a lasting, negotiated peace.
“Israel’s military operation in Gaza, the disproportionate use of force and the loss of civilian lives cannot be tolerated,” Kallas said in a statement, adding that continued attacks on civilian infrastructure are “unacceptable.”
Insisting that humanitarian aid “must never be politicized or militarized,” Kallas stressed the central role of the UN in providing aid.
“We once again urge the immediate, unimpeded and sustained resumption of assistance on a scale commensurate with the needs of the civilian population in Gaza,” she stressed. –0–
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
MADRID, May 28 (Xinhua) — At least five people, including two minors aged 5 and 16, were killed when a boat carrying about 180 migrants capsized at the entrance to the port of La Restinga on El Hierro, one of the Canary Islands, local authorities said.
The incident occurred as the boat was being towed to a dock to allow migrants from sub-Saharan Africa to disembark. Local officials also said one infant was missing.
Search and rescue efforts are ongoing and more bodies may be found in the coming hours. –0–
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BRUSSELS, May 28 (Xinhua) — The European Union formally lifted almost all economic sanctions on Syria on Wednesday, adopting a political agreement aimed at supporting the country’s reconstruction, the EU Council said in a press release.
The EU will lift all restrictive measures related to trade, investment and finance, except those based on security considerations, the press release said.
As part of the package, 24 organisations, including the Central Bank of Syria and companies involved in key sectors such as oil production and refining, cotton production and telecommunications, are exempted from the EU asset freeze.
According to the EU Council, several media outlets and television channels were also removed from the sanctions list. –0–
Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, May 28, 2025/APO Group/ —
Africa’s economy is projected to increase from 3.3 percent growth in 2024 to 3.9 percent in 2025, reaching 4 percent in 2026, despite mounting geopolitical uncertainties and trade tensions, the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) said Tuesday in its flagship 2025 African Economic Outlook report.
Despite the prevailing domestic and external challenges Africa continues to demonstrate notable resilience. The report, titled “Making Africa’s Capital Work Better for Africa’s Development,” was released during the Bank Group’s 2025 Annual Meetings, taking place in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. It demonstrates the continent’s capacity to weather multiple shocks while identifying pathways to unlock a vast potential for transformation.
Strong growth outlook despite global headwinds
The report presents encouraging projections despite significant challenges:
21 African countries will achieve growth exceeding 5 percentin 2025, with four countries—Ethiopia, Niger, Rwanda, and Senegal—potentially reaching the critical 7 percent threshold required for poverty reduction and inclusive growth.
Africa’s projected growth rates will surpass the global average and outpace most other regions except emerging and developing Asia.
Africa’s continued resilience is built on effective domestic reforms and improved macroeconomic management.
Mixed growth performance across Africa’s regions
Growth prospects vary significantly across regions: East Africa leads with a projected 5.9 percent growth in 2025-2026, driven by resilience in Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Tanzania. West Africa maintains solid 4.3 percent growth, driven by new oil and gas production coming onstream in Senegal and Niger. In the face of persistent headwinds, North Africa is expected to register 3.6 percent growth in 2025. In Central Africa, growth is projected to slow to 3.2% and Southern Africa will grow at only 2.2 percent, with its largest economy, South Africa, expected to achieve only 0.8 percent growth
Significant challenges persist. Fifteen countries are experiencing double-digit inflation, while interest payments now consume 27.5 percent of government revenue across Africa, up from 19 percent in 2019.
“Africa must now face the challenge and look inwards to mobilizing the resources needed to finance its own development in the years ahead,” said Prof. Kevin Chika Urama, Chief Economist and Vice President of the African Development Bank Group, presenting the report’s findings.
The AEO 2025 estimates that, with the right policies, Africa could mobilize an additional $1.43 trillion in domestic resources from tax and non-tax revenue sources through efficiency gains alone. Africa’s extraordinary but underutilized resource base includes:
Natural capital: Africa hosts 30 percent of global mineral reserves and could capture over 10 percent of the projected $16 trillion in revenues from key green minerals by 2030
Human capital: The continent’s median age of 19 represents a demographic dividend that could add $47 billion to Africa’s GDP through improved workforce participation
Financial capital: Pension fund assets have grown to $1.1 trillion, while formal remittances could reach $500 billion by 2035 if transfer costs are reduced
Business capital: Full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area could increase exports by $560 billion and boost continental income by $450 billion by 2035
Urgent action needed to address resource leakages
The report stresses that massive capital outflows are undermining the continent’s development. Compared to $190.7 billion of financial inflows received in 2022, Africa lost approximately $587 billion from financial leakages. Of this, around $90 billion was lost to illicit financial flows, a further $275 billion siphoned away by multinational corporations shifting profits, and $148 billion lost to corruption.
Vice President Urama said: “When Africa allocates its own capital (human, natural, fiscal, business and financial) effectively, global capital will follow Africa’s capital to accelerate investments in productive sectors in Africa.”
Key policy recommendations
“There can be no substitute to sound macroeconomic policy management, quality institutions and good governance, and rule of law.” VP Urama said, emphasizing the vital need to bolster governance.
The report also calls for comprehensive reforms across several critical areas. On fiscal revenue mobilization, it recommends enhancing tax administration through digitalization, broadening national tax bases, and strengthening social contracts with citizens to improve compliance. It advocates making natural capital accounting mandatory and enforcing domestic value retention through beneficiation requirements.
The AEO also emphasizes the need to deepen financial markets by tapping institutional savings, developing local currency bond markets, and harmonizing regulatory frameworks to facilitate cross-border investment.
The African Economic Outlook: The 2025 African Economic Outlook provides a comprehensive roadmap for unlocking Africa’s transformation potential through better mobilization and utilization of domestic capital resources.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the continuation of the Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS) for the financial year 2025–26. The scheme will retain the existing 1.5% interest subvention offered to eligible lending institutions, ensuring that short-term agricultural loans remain affordable and accessible to farmers across the country.
The Modified Interest Subvention Scheme is a Central Sector Scheme aimed at making short-term credit available to farmers at a reduced interest rate through the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) system. Under the scheme, farmers can avail loans of up to ₹3 lakh at a standard interest rate of 7%. A 1.5% interest subvention is provided to lending institutions, effectively reducing the lending burden. Furthermore, farmers who repay their loans promptly receive an additional incentive of up to 3% as a Prompt Repayment Incentive (PRI), bringing down the effective interest rate to just 4%. For loans taken specifically for animal husbandry or fisheries, the interest benefit is available for amounts up to ₹2 lakh.
No changes have been introduced in the structure or other operational aspects of the scheme for the upcoming financial year.
As of now, there are more than 7.75 crore active Kisan Credit Card accounts in India. The continued implementation of MISS is expected to play a crucial role in sustaining the flow of institutional credit to the agriculture sector, particularly benefiting small and marginal farmers. This support is vital for enhancing farm productivity and ensuring financial inclusion in rural areas.
In recent years, India has witnessed significant growth in agricultural credit. Institutional credit disbursed through KCC increased from ₹4.26 lakh crore in 2014 to ₹10.05 lakh crore by December 2024. Overall agricultural credit flow also rose substantially, from ₹7.3 lakh crore in the financial year 2013–14 to ₹25.49 lakh crore in 2023–24.
In addition to credit expansion, digital reforms have improved efficiency and transparency in the credit system. The launch of the Kisan Rin Portal (KRP) in August 2023 has streamlined the claim processing mechanism under the scheme, reducing delays and promoting accountability in interest subvention disbursements.
Given the current lending cost environment, including trends in the Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) and repo rate movements, maintaining the 1.5% interest subvention is considered essential. This will help rural and cooperative banks continue providing low-cost loans, enabling farmers to access timely credit without additional financial pressure.
In a significant move to improve the examination process for aspirants, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has launched a new Online Application Portal, effective from May 28. The portal is designed to simplify and speed up the registration and application process for various UPSC examinations, making it more user-friendly and efficient.
The new portal, available at [https://upsconline.nic.in](https://upsconline.nic.in), has been structured into four key sections presented as separate cards on the homepage. These include Account Creation, Universal Registration, Common Application Form, and Examination.
The first three sections contain details common to all exams and can be completed at any time, allowing candidates to register their information in advance. Only the fourth section, related specifically to each examination, needs to be filled in when an exam is officially announced. This section will include the exam notification, application form, and application status.
This setup allows candidates to complete most of the application process ahead of time, helping them avoid last-minute delays and ensuring they are prepared as soon as a new examination is announced. The system enables the reuse of personal and academic information, making the process faster and reducing errors.
All candidates are required to freshly register on the new portal and fill out their profiles and applications. The older One Time Registration (OTR) system will no longer be applicable. The portal offers detailed instructions on its homepage and within each section to assist candidates with application submission and document uploads.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to use their Aadhaar Card as their primary identity document during the registration process. Using Aadhaar will allow for quick, seamless authentication and verification of identity and details, creating a permanent and unified record for use across all future UPSC examinations.
The new portal will be used for the first time for applications to the Combined Defence Services (CDS) Exam-II, 2025, and the National Defence Academy & Naval Academy (NDA & NA) Exam-II, 2025, both of which are being notified on May 28, 2025.
With this digital reform, UPSC aims to bring greater transparency, convenience, and efficiency to its recruitment process, supporting the broader push toward digital governance in public service administration.
With traffic safety and compliance with the Highway Traffic Act front of mind, Clarenville RCMP is promoting road safety with check points and issuing tickets for violations.
On the evening of May 26, 2025, Clarenville RCMP stopped three separate motorists for speeding violations on the Trans-Canada Highway between Goobies and Sunnyside. The motorists were traveling at speeds of 140 km/h, 137 km/h and 126 km/h. Each driver was ticketed.
Additionally, police set up a check point on Memorial Avenue in Clarenville and checked approximately 50 vehicles, promoting the importance of wearing seat belts and driving sober. Three motorists were found in violation of the Highway Traffic Act; one having no registration, one having no insurance and one possessing an expired driver’s licence. Tickets were issued.
With increased traffic volumes expected over the summer months, RCMP NL encourages motorists to drive defensively and follow the rules of the road all while being well-rested and without the influence of alcohol or drugs.
If you suspect a driver is operating a vehicle while impaired or otherwise observe someone driving in a dangerous manner, please contact your local police or 911 immediately.
Victoria County District RCMP is investigating a break and enter in Bay St. Lawrence involving the theft of firearms.
On April 15, Victoria County District RCMP received a report of a break and enter believed to have occurred the day before at an unoccupied seasonal property on Bay St. Lawrence Rd. Through the investigation, officers determined that three firearms, a 12-gauge shotgun, 30-30 rifle and 303 rifle, were among the items taken. The guns were stored in a locked cabinet, which was damaged in the incident, and all included trigger locks.
Investigators are asking anyone who may have information about this incident or the whereabouts of the firearms to contact Ingonish Beach RCMP Detachment at 902-285-2021. To remain anonymous, call Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers, toll-free, at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), submit a secure web tip at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca, or use the P3 Tips app.
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Retired and active operators, civilians, and combat support representing warfighters from every era of American combat since the Vietnam War, reunited with former and current teammates on May 22, 2025, to celebrate a milestone – 50 years of Naval Special Warfare Group (NSWG) 1.
May 28, 2025 – Ottawa, Ontario — Women and Gender Equality Canada
The Honourable Rechie Valdez, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism), made the following statement on Menstrual Hygiene Day.
“Menstrual Hygiene Day is a reminder that we must always tackle the stigma around menstruation – and the very real impact that period poverty has on people’s lives.
Menstrual equity also has an important impact on the economy, as period poverty can affect workforce participation, contribute to absenteeism, and limit productivity. For instance, 15% of people in Canada who menstruate say their inability to afford menstrual products holds them back from participating in daily activities, such as attending school or work. Through Food Banks Canada we are running the Menstrual Equity Fund pilot to address barriers to accessing menstrual products. This initiative is dedicated to ensuring that menstruation is never a barrier to education or employment.
This Menstrual Hygiene Day let’s help raise awareness on what menstrual equity really means. Let’s keep pushing to end period poverty in Canada. Join the conversation online by using #MHDay2025 and help challenge taboos and make menstrual health a priority.”
May 27, 2025 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is mourning the passing of distinguished animator and director CoHoedeman, who died on May 26 in Montreal at the age of 84.
Born in Amsterdam on August 1, 1940, Co was a master of stop-motion animation whose 1977 NFB production The Sand Castle received the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
“Co Hoedeman was a master animator, whose long career at the NFB was distinguished by innovative filmmaking and powerful humanitarian themes. He cared deeply for the well-being of children and was also a fierce defender of the importance of public filmmaking. The NFB and the Canadian animation community have lost a dear friend and colleague. Fortunately for us, we have his legacy of beloved works, which embody so much of his unique spirit,” said Suzanne Guèvremont, Government Film Commissioner and NFB Chairperson.
Select biography
Shortly after directing his early films with the NFB, including his award-winning Oddball (1969), Co travelled to Czechoslovakia in 1970 to study puppet animation and then returned to the NFB to begin a series of stop-motion gems.
Tchou-tchou (1972), created with wooden blocks, received the British Academy award (BAFTA) for Best Animated Film.
During the 1970s, Co created a series of acclaimed animated films based on Inuit traditional stories, collaborating closely with artists from Nunavut and Nunavik.
Following his Oscar win for The Sand Castle, he continued to experiment with a range of techniques and themes.
In 1992, he worked with Indigenous inmates at La Macaza Institution to create The Sniffing Bear, a cautionary tale about substance abuse. In 1998, he began work on a beloved children’s series about Ludovic, a young teddy bear, available in the NFB collection Four Seasons in the Life of Ludovic.
After completing his final film with the NFB, Marianne’s Theatre(2004), Co began a busy independent animation career. He collaborated with the NFB on the co-production 55 Socks (2011), a deeply personal project drawing on his childhood memories during a dark period of Dutch history, the Hunger Winter of 1944–45. He would also adapt his Ludovic character into a popular children’s TV series.
In 2003, the Cinémathèque québécoise and the NFB paid tribute to Co and his importance to Quebec cinema with an exhibition entitled “Exposition Co Hoedeman – Les Jardins de l’enfance.” The exhibition was presented the following year at the Musée-Château d’Annecy in France.
Co was interviewed in 2013 for the NFB online anthology Making Movie History and was the subject of the 1980 NFB documentary Co Hoedeman, Animator. All of his NFB films are available online free of charge at nfb.ca.
The Belfast Giants celebrate a goal.(Belfast Giants)
In its simplest form, the protracted tensions in Northern Ireland have at their foundation two separate sectarian identities deeply divided over how, and by whom, they are governed — Protestant/Unionist populations wishing to maintain British rule and Catholic/Nationalists desiring a united Ireland.
The arena is a place where symbols of division, so common across Northern Ireland via flags, murals and graffiti, are not allowed.
The lack of a historical association with one side of the conflict, the fact that the sport is played predominantly by men from outside Northern Ireland — mostly from North America and Scandinavia — and a name and logo rooted in the shared regional lore of mythical giant Finn McCool has allowed the team to forge its own path post-peace agreement.
The Belfast Giants Mascot, Finn McCool, at a recent game. (Belfast Giants)
The Friendship Four
In 2015, after years of planning, the Belfast Giants hosted the inaugural Friendship Four hockey tournament.
Held over the American Thanksgiving weekend, the tournament has since become an annual event that sees four Division I hockey teams from American universities come to Belfast for a two-day experience that includes intercultural exchange, educational visits to local schools and a hockey tournament.
Since the tournament began, it has hosted teams from the New England and Boston areas as a means of fostering stronger ties between the sister cities of Belfast and Boston.
In 2024, the Friendship Four tournament notably included a school with a long association with Ireland, the University of Notre Dame. As a prominent American Catholic university with a team name — the Fighting Irish — that is directly connected to the island’s divisive history, the team’s inclusion in the Friendship Four had the potential to tarnish the neutrality of the event.
Controversial social media post
As a researcher who has engaged significantly with supporters of the Belfast Giants, and as an alumnus of the University of Notre Dame, this tournament drew me to Belfast.
The ‘Know Before You Go’ post from Notre Dame Hockey on X on Nov. 19, 2024 that was subsequently deleted. (Notre Dame Hockey X account)
Before the 2024 tournament in November, the Notre Dame Hockey account posted guidelines on X for their supporters in Belfast, including an image of what to wear, and what not to wear, around the city. It noted: “Just a reminder to avoid our Irish symbolism, that may be deemed offensive to some, while out around town.”
The post was deleted a few hours later, and an apology was issued acknowledging the tournament was meant to build bridges, not stoke division. Nonetheless, the original post drew significant attention and criticism.
Belfast media and British news outlets picked up the story about the Notre Dame post. Many of the comments on social media about the story were situated in ethno-sectarian views or pointed fingers of blame.
The outrage that greeted the Notre Dame X post demonstrates the tension and complexity of identity and symbols in Northern Ireland. But it thankfully wasn’t replicated in the Belfast hockey arena because the groundwork of social capital among hockey fans in the city has been built over the last 25 years.
‘Game on!’ and getting on with it
On Nov. 29, 2024, the Notre Dame team took to the ice to play against Harvard without any extra fanfare.
The afternoon game was filled with school groups carrying homemade signs and cheering for the teams whose players had visited their schools earlier in the week with overt hopes of seeing themselves on the jumbotrons. The game could have been in Saskatoon given the lack of any sectarian tensions.
Action at the Friendship Four Championship Hockey Game on Nov. 30, 2024, in Belfast. (Notre Dame Hockey Facebook)
In an age of rising polarization and lack of human connection, the hockey arena in Belfast is worthy of attention.
Hallmarks of post-conflict reconstruction include the development of a shared understanding of the truth about past events and directly engaging with contested acts and issues. Neither effort has been particularly well-executed in Northern Ireland.
Nonetheless, as people wait for a more fulsome peace in the region, they have managed to live peacefully side by side in places like the Belfast hockey arena.
Eric Lepp 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 Isabel Pedersen, Professor of Communication and Digital Media Studies, Ontario Tech University
Sophisticated AI assistants are becoming commonplace in people’s lives.(Shutterstock)
The growing proliferation of AI-powered chatbots has led to debates around their social roles as friend, companion or work assistant.
And they’re growing increasingly more sophisticated. The role-playing platform Character AI promises personal and creative engagement through conversations with its bot characters. There have also been some negative outcomes: currently, Character.ai is facing a court case involving its chatbot’s role in a teen’s suicide.
Others, like ChatGPT and Google Gemini, promise improved work efficiency through genAI. But where is this going next? Amid this frenzy, inventors are now developing advanced AI assistants that will be far more socially intuitive and capable of more complex tasks.
The applications of generative AI keep growing. (Shutterstock)
Future shock
The shock instigated by OpenAI’s ChatGPT two years ago was not only due to the soaring rate of adoption and the threat to jobs, but also because of the cultural blow it aimed at creative writing and education.
My research explores how the hype surrounding AI affects some people’s ability to make professional judgments about it. This is due to anxiety related to the vulnerability of human civilization, feeding the idea of a future “superintelligence” that might outpace human control.
With US$1.3 trillion in revenue projected for 2032, the financial forecast for genAI drives further hype.
Mainstream media coverage also sensationalizes AI’s creativity, and frames the tech as a threat to human civilization.
Raising the alarm
Scientists all over the world have signalled an urgency around the implementations and applications of AI.
The turn in AI underway now is a shift toward self-centric and personalized AI tools that go well beyond current capabilities to recreating what has become a commodity: the self. AI technologies reshape how we perceive ourselves: our personas, thoughts and feelings.
The next wave of AI assistants, a form of AI agents, will not only know their users intimately, but they will be able to act on a user’s behalf or even impersonate them. This idea is far more compelling than those that only serve as assistants writing text, creating video or coding software.
These personalized AI agents will be able to determine intentions and carry out work.
Iason Gabriel, senior research scientist at Google DeepMind, and a large team of researchers wrote about the ethical development of advanced AI assistants. Their research sounds the alarm that AI assistants can “influence user beliefs and behaviour,” including through “deception, coercion and exploitation.”
There is still a techno-utopian aspect to AI. In a podcast, Gabriel ruminates that “many of us would like to be plugged into a technology that can take care of a lot of life tasks on our behalf,” also calling it a “thought partner.”
Senior research scientist at Google DeepMind, Iason Gabriel, discusses the implications of AI.
Cultural disruption
This more recent turn in AI disruption will interfere with how we understand ourselves, and as such, we need to anticipate the techno-cultural impact.
Online, people express hyper-real and highly curated versions of themselves across platforms like X, Instagram or Linkedin. And the way users interact with personal digital assistants like Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa has socialized us to reimagine our personal lives. These “life narrative” practices inform a key role in developing the next wave of advanced assistants.
The quantified self movement is when users track their lives through various apps, wearable technologies and social media platforms. New developments in AI assistants could leverage these same tools for biohacking and self-improvement, yet these emerging tools also raise concerns about processing personal data. AI tools involve the risk of identity theft, gender and racial discrimination and various digital divides.
More than assistance
Human-AI assistant interaction can converge with other fields. Digital twin technologies for health apply user biodata. They involve creating a virtual representation of a person’s physiological state and can help predict future developments. This could also lead to over-reliance on AI Assistants for medical information without human oversight from medical professionals.
Other advanced AI assistants will “remember” people’s pasts and infer intentions or make suggestions for future life goals. Serious harms have already been identified when remembering is automated, such as for victims of intimate partner violence.
We need to expand data protections and governance models to address potential privacy harms. This upcoming cultural disruption will require regulating AI. Let’s prepare now for AI’s next cultural turn.
Isabel Pedersen receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
Before then, recording was done mechanically, scratching sound waves onto rolled paper or a cylinder. Such recordings suffered from low fidelity and captured only a small segment of the audible sound spectrum.
By using electrical microphones, amplifiers and electromechanical recorders, record companies could capture a far wider range of sound frequencies, with much higher fidelity. For the first time, recorded sound closely resembled what a live listener would hear. Over the ensuing years, sales of vinyl records and record players boomed.
The technology also allowed some enterprising music fans to make recordings in surprising and innovative ways. As a physician and scholar in the medical humanities, I am fascinated by the use of X-ray film to make recordings – what was known as “bone music,” or “ribs.”
This rather bizarre, homemade technology became a way to skirt censors in the Soviet Union – and even played an indirect role in its dissolution.
Skirting the Soviet censorship regime
At the end of World War II, Soviet censorship shifted into high gear in an effort to suppress a Western culture deemed threatening or decadent.
Many books and poems could circulate only through “samizdat,” a portmanteau of “self” and “publishing” that involved the use of copy machines to reproduce forbidden texts. Punishments inflicted on Soviet artists and citizens for producing or disseminating censored materials included loss of employment, imprisonment in gulags and even execution.
The phonographic analog of samizdat was often referred to as “roentgenizdat,” which was derived from the name of Wilhelm Roentgen, the German scientist who received the first Nobel Prize in physics in 1901 for his discovery of X-rays.
Roentgen’s work revolutionized medicine, making it possible to peer inside the living human body without cutting it open and enabling physicians to more easily and accurately diagnose skeletal fractures and diseases such as pneumonia.
Today, X-rays are produced and stored digitally. But for most of the 20th century they were created on photographic film and stored in large film libraries, which took up a great deal of space.
Because exposed X-ray films cannot be reused, hospitals often recycled them to recoup the silver they contained.
Making music from medicine
In the Soviet Union in the 1940s, some clever people realized that X-ray film was just soft enough to be etched by an electromechanical lathe, or sound recording device.
To make a “rib,” or “bone record,” they would use a compass to trace out a circle on an exposed X-ray film that might bear the image of a patient’s skull, spine or hands. They then used scissors to cut out the circle, before cutting a small hole in the middle so it would fit on a conventional record player.
Then they would use a recording device to cut either live sound or, more commonly, a bootleg record onto the X-ray film. Sound consists of vibrations that the lathe’s stylus etches into grooves on the disc. Such devices were not widely available, meaning that only a relatively small number of people could produce such recordings.
A disc-cutting lathe demonstrates the production of an X-ray record at a 2021 exhibition in Berlin, Germany. Adam Berry/Getty Images
The censors kept a close eye on record companies. But anyone who could obtain a recording device could record music on pieces of X-ray film, and these old films could be obtained after hospitals threw them out or purchased at a relatively low price from hospital employees.
Compared with professionally produced vinyl records, the sound quality was poor, with recordings marred by extraneous noises such as hisses and crackles. The records could be played only a limited number of times before the grooves would wear out.
Nonetheless, these resourceful recordings were shared, bought and sold entirely outside of official channels into the 1960s and 1970s.
A window into another life
Popular artists “on the bone” included Ella Fitzgerald and Elvis Presley, whose jazz and rock ’n’ roll recordings, to the ears of many Soviet citizens, represented freedom and self-expression.
In his book “Bone Music,” cultural historian Stephen Coates describes how Soviet authorities viewed performers such as The Beatles as toxic because they appeared to promote a brand of amoral hedonism and distracted citizens from Communist party priorities.
“It is true that from time to time they are caught, their equipment confiscated, and they may even be brought to court. But then they may be released and be free to go wherever they like. The judges decide that they are, of course, parasites, but they are not dangerous. They are getting suspended sentences! But these record producers are not just engaged in illegal operations. They corrupt young people diligently and methodically with a squeaky cacophony and spread explicit obscenities.”
Bone music was inherently subversive.
For one thing, it was against the law. Moreover, the music itself suggested that a different sort of life is possible, beyond the strictures of Communist officials. How could a political system that prohibited beautiful music, many asked, possibly merit the allegiance of its citizens?
The ability of citizens to get around the censors and spread Western thought, whether through books or bone music, helped chip away at the government’s legitimacy.
One Soviet-era listener Coates interviewed long after the USSR’s collapse described the joy of listening to these illicit recordings:
“I was lifted up off the ground, I started flying. Rock’n’roll showed me a new world, a world of music, words, and feelings, of life, of a different lifestyle. That’s why, when I got my first records, I became a happy man. I felt like a changed person, it was as if I was born again.”
The playing of a bootleg record from the Soviet Union, recorded on an X-ray negative.
Richard Gunderman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
When the computer or phone you’re using right now blinks its last blink and you drop it off for recycling, do you know what happens?
At the recycling center, powerful magnets will pull out steel. Spinning drums will toss aluminum into bins. Copper wires will get neatly bundled up for resale. But as the conveyor belt keeps rolling, tiny specks of valuable, lesser-known materials such as gallium, indium and tantalum will be left behind.
Those tiny specks are critical materials. They’re essential for building new technology, and they’re in short supply in the U.S. They could be reused, but there’s a problem: Current recycling methods make recovering critical minerals from e-waste too costly or hazardous, so many recyclers simply skip them.
Sadly, most of these hard-to-recycle materials end up buried in landfills or get mixed into products like cement. But it doesn’t have to be this way. New technology is starting to make a difference.
A treasure trove of critical materials is often overlooked in e-waste, including gallium in LEDs, indium in LCDs, and tantalum in surface mount capacitors. Ansan Pokharel/West Virginia University, CC BY
As demand for these critical materials keeps growing, discarded electronics can become valuable resources. My colleagues and I at West Virginia University are developing a new technology to change how we recycle. Instead of using toxic chemicals, our approach uses electricity, making it safer, cleaner and more affordable to recover critical materials from electronics.
Even worse, nearly half the electronics that people in Northern America sent to recycling centers end up shipped overseas. They often land in scrapyards, where workers may use dangerous methods like burning or leaching using harsh chemicals to pull out valuable metals. These practices can harm both the environment and workers’ health. That’s why the Environmental Protection Agency restricts these methods in the U.S.
The tiny specks matter
Critical minerals are in most of the technology around you. Every phone screen has a super-thin layer of a material called indium tin oxide. LEDs glow because of a metal called gallium. Tantalum stores energy in tiny electronic parts called capacitors.
All of these materials are flagged as “high risk” on the U.S. Department of Energy’s critical materials list. That means the U.S. relies heavily on these materials for important technologies, but their supply could be easily disrupted by conflicts, trade disputes or shortages.
Right now, just a few countries, including China, control most of the mining, processing and recovery of these materials, making the U.S. vulnerable if those countries decide to limit exports or raise prices.
At West Virginia University’s Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering, I and materials scientist Edward Sabolsky asked a simple question: Could we find a way to heat only specific parts of electronic waste to recover these valuable materials?
If we could focus the heat on just the tiny specks of critical minerals, we might be able to recycle them easily and efficiently.
This equipment isn’t very different from the microwave ovens you use to heat food at home, just bigger and more powerful. The basic science is the same – electromagnetic waves cause electrons to oscillate, creating heat.
In our approach, though, we’re not heating water molecules like you do when cooking. Instead, we heat carbon, the black residue that collects around a candle flame or car tailpipe. Carbon heats up much faster in a microwave than water does. But don’t try this at home; your kitchen microwave wasn’t designed for such high temperatures.
West Virginia University researchers are using this experimental microwave reactor to recycle critical materials from end-of-life electronics. Ansan Pokharel/West Virginia University, CC BY
In our recycling method, we first shred the electronic waste, mix it with materials called fluxes that trap impurities, and then heat the mixture with microwaves. The microwaves rapidly heat the carbon that comes from the plastics and adhesives in the e-waste. This causes the carbon to react with the tiny specks of critical materials. The result: a tiny piece of pure, sponge-like metal about the size of a grain of rice.
This metal can then be easily separated from leftover waste using filters.
So far, in our laboratory tests, we have successfully recovered about 80% of the gallium, indium and tantalum from e-waste, at purities between 95% and 97%. We have also demonstrated how it can be integrated with existing recycling processes.
Many important technologies, from radar systems to nuclear reactors, depend on these special materials. While the Department of Defense uses less of them than the commercial market, they are a national security concern.
We’re planning to launch larger pilot projects next to test the method on smartphone circuit boards, LED lighting parts and server cards from data centers. These tests will help us fine-tune the design for a bigger system that can recycle tons of e-waste per hour instead of just a few pounds. That could mean producing up to 50 pounds of these critical minerals per hour from every ton of e-waste processed.
If the technology works as expected, we believe this approach could help meet the nation’s demand for critical materials.
How to make e-waste recycling common
One way e-waste recycling could become more common is if Congress held electronics companies responsible for recycling their products and recovering the critical materials inside. Closing loopholes that allow companies to ship e-waste overseas, instead of processing it safely in the U.S., could also help build a reserve of recovered critical minerals.
But the biggest change may come from simple economics. Once technology becomes available to recover these tiny but valuable specks of critical materials quickly and affordably, the U.S. can transform domestic recycling and take a big step toward solving its shortage of critical materials.
Terence Musho has received funding from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Patrick Aguilar, Professor of Practice of Organizational Behavior, Washington University in St. Louis
Pharmacies are more than just stores – they’re vital links between people and their health care.
One of us, Patrick, witnessed this firsthand in 2003 while working as a pharmacy technician at Walgreens in a midsize West Texas town. Each day involved handling hundreds of prescriptions as they moved through the system – meticulously counting pills, deciphering doctors’ handwriting and sorting out confusing insurance issues. The experience revealed that how pharmacies are owned and managed is as much a public health issue as it is a financial one.
Fast-forward to today, and Walgreens – one of the world’s largest pharmacy chains, which filled nearly 800 million U.S. prescriptions in 2024 – is at a turning point. In March, the company announced it would be acquired by private equity firm Sycamore Partners for US$10 billion, just 10% of its peak market value. That deal takes the storied pharmacy chain off the public market for the first time in nearly 100 years.
We’re professors who study the intersection of medicineand business, and we think this deal offers a window into the future of pharmacy care. It matters not just to pharmacists but also to the tens of millions of Americans who rely on outlets like Walgreens to meet their everyday health needs.
The rise and struggles of Walgreens
A lot has changed in the pharmacy industry since 1901, when Charles R. Walgreen Sr. purchased the Chicago drugstore where he served as a pharmacist. The company went public in 1927, expanded rapidly throughout the 20th century and grew to 8,000 stores by 2013. By 2014, a merger with the European pharmacy chain Alliance Boots made Walgreens one of the largest pharmacy chains in the world.
More recently, however, the picture for the pharmacy industry hasn’t been so rosy. Labor costs have risen. Front-end retail sales – things like snacks, greeting cards and cosmetics – have fallen. And financial pressures from pharmacy benefit managers – those third-party groups that manage the cost of prescription drug benefits on the behalf of insurers – have grown.
All of these things have significantly constrained revenues across the industry, leading stores to shutter. Some estimates suggest that as many as one-third of U.S. retail pharmacies have closed since 2010.
Against that backdrop, Sycamore Partners’ March acquisition of Walgreens raises big questions. What does Sycamore see in this investment, and what might their strategies imply about the future of American pharmacy care?
Framing the private equity bet
Private equity firms typically buy companies, streamline their operations and seek to sell them for a profit within five to seven years of the acquisition.
This growing movement of private equity into the global economy is by no means limited to health care. In 2020, private equity firms employed 11.7 million U.S. workers, or about 7% of the country’s total workforce. The total assets under management by such investors have grown by over 11% annually over the past two decades, a trend that’s expected to continue.
In looking at Walgreens, Sycamore, like many of these businesses, likely sees an opportunity to buy low, cut costs and improve profitability. One survey of private equity investors found that the most common self-reported sources of value creation in these deals for companies of Sycamore’s size were changing the product and marketing it more robustly to drive demand, changing incentives for those within the business, and facilitating a high-value exit.
While private owners may have more patience than public markets, critics argue that private equity firms tend to have a short-term focus, looking for quick, predictable services of margin improvement – like, for example, cutting jobs.
There’s some evidence in favor of that claim. One study found that employment often drops in the years following a private equity buyout. And if the focus shifts to repaying debt or prepping for resale, long-term projects, such as investing in future innovation, can get deprioritized.
The history of privatized public companies offers a mix of successes and failures. Dell Technologies and hotel chain Hilton are two prominent examples of companies that went private, restructured successfully and came back stronger. In those cases, going private helped management focus without the constant pressure of quarterly earnings reports.
On the other hand, companies such as Toys R Us, which was taken private in 2005 and filed for bankruptcy in 2018, show how high debt and missed innovation can lead to collapse.
What’s next for Walgreens
So, where does this leave Walgreens − and the investors involved in the deal?
As the dust settles on the purchase, Sycamore has indicated an interest in splitting Walgreens into three business units: one focused on U.S. pharmacies, one on U.K. pharmacies and one on U.S. primary health care through its VillageMD subsidiary.
That’s not unusual: Sycamore has used a similar approach before with its investment in the office supply retailer Staples, a strategy that has garnered strong financial returns but been called into question for its long-term sustainability.
Given the significant financial challenges VillageMD has faced since its acquisition by Walgreens, this represents an opportunity to separately evaluate and optimize its performance. Meanwhile, Sycamore’s historic focus on retail and customer-focused businesses might help it modernize the in-store experience or optimize staffing.
For more than a century, Walgreens has survived and adapted to sweeping changes in retail. Now, it’s entering a new chapter – one that could reshape not just its own future but the role of pharmacies in American life.
Will Sycamore help Walgreens thrive, using its resources to strengthen services and deliver more value to customers? Or will pressure to generate quick returns create problems? Either way, the answer matters – not just for investors but for anyone who’s ever relied on their neighborhood pharmacy to stay healthy.
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.
Four helicopters carrying an arrest team whirled over the mountains near Mexico’s southwestern coast toward Cervantes’ compound in the town of Villa Purificación, the heart of the infamous Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel.
As the lead helicopter pulled within range, bullets from a truck-mounted, military-grade machine gun on the ground struck the engine. Before it reached the ground, the massive helicopter was hit by a pair of rocket-powered grenades.
This .50-caliber cartridge was found stuck in the truck-mounted Browning M2HB machine gun that the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel used to damage a Mexican Security Forces Super Cougar helicopter. ATF
Four soldiers from Mexico’s Secretariat of National Defense were killed in the crash. Three more soldiers were killed in the firefight that followed, and another 12 were injured.
The engagement was the first known incident of a cartel shooting down a military aircraft in Mexico. The cartel’s retaliation for the attempted arrest was swift and brutal. It set fire to trucks, buses, banks, gasoline stations and businesses. The distractions worked. Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho,” escaped.
The Browning machine gun that took down the helicopter was traced to a legal firearm purchase in Oregon made by a U.S. citizen. And a Barrett .50-caliber rifle used in the ambush was traced to a sale in a U.S. gun shop in Texas 4½ years before.
Many military-grade weapons like these are trafficked into Mexico from the U.S. each year, aided by loose standards for firearm dealers and gun laws that favor illicit sales.
We – a professor of economic development who has been tracking gun trafficking for more than 10 years, and an investigative journalist – spent a year sifting through documents to find the number, origins and characteristics of weapons flowing from the U.S. to Mexico.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – the agency known as ATF tasked with regulating the industry – publishes the number of U.S. guns seized in Mexico and traced back to U.S. dealers, but it doesn’t provide an official trafficking estimate. The 2003 Tiahrt Amendments bar the ATF from creating a database of firearm sales and prohibit federal agencies from sharing detailed trace data outside of law enforcement.
To estimate weapons flow, we gathered trafficking estimates, including leaked data, previous research, firearm manufacturing totals and the ATF trace data.
The model we generated gave us a conservative middle estimate: About 135,000 firearms were trafficked across the border in 2022. In contrast, Ukraine, engaged in a war with Russia, received 40,000 small arms from the United States between January 2020 and April 2024 – an average of 9,000 per year.
An increase in guns trafficked to Mexico from the U.S. relates to an increase in Mexico’s homicide rate.
More of the most destructive weapons come from independent gun dealers versus large chain stores – 16 times as many assault-style weapons and 60 times as many sniper rifles.
The trafficking flow drives an arms race between criminals and Mexican law enforcement; the U.S. gun industry profits on sales to both.
ATF oversight of dealers reduces the likelihood their guns are resold on the illicit market.
Following the flow
Since 2008, the U.S. has spent more than US$3 billion to help stabilize Mexico through the rule of law and stem its surges of extreme violence, much of it committed with U.S. firearms. Many programs are funded through the U.S. State Department, which is facing budget cuts, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, which has sustained deep cuts.
Meanwhile, the gun industry and its supporters have undercut these efforts by fighting measures to regulate gun sales.
From 2015-2023, 185,000 guns linked to crimes in Mexico were sent to the ATF to be traced – the process of using a firearm’s serial number and other characteristics to identify the trail of gun ownership. About 125,000 of those weapons have been traced back to the U.S.
Our analyses show that U.S.-Mexico firearms trafficking has dire implications for ordinary Mexicans – and that U.S. regulatory actions can have an enormous impact. This adds to a growing body of research tying U.S.-sold guns to Mexico-based gangs and cartels, illegal drug trafficking, homicide rates, corruption of Mexican officials, illicit financial transactions and migration trends.
Oregon guns tied to cartel
The Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel is poised to be the biggest player in the drug cartel game. El Mencho, still at large, is one of the most powerful people directing the flow of heroin, fentanyl and methamphetamines into the United States, while orchestrating campaigns of fear, intimidation and displacement in Mexico.
The Browning .50-caliber rifle that aided El Mencho’s evasion in 2015 was manufactured by a company based in Morgan, Utah, and legally sold to Erik Flores Elortegui, a U.S. citizen.
Elortegui fled the country after he was indicted in Oregon for smuggling guns into Mexico and is now at the top of the ATF’s most wanted list. He wasn’t alone in his gunrunning schemes. According to a grand jury indictment, Elortegui purchased 20 firearms through an accomplice, Robert Allen Cummins, in 2013 and 2014. Cummins was straw purchasing – buying weapons under his name for Elortegui.
Two of the .50-caliber weapons that Cummins purchased for Elortegui – the long rifles on the right – were among those later recovered from a tractor trailer in Sonora, Mexico. USA v. Robert Allen Cummins. USA v. Robert Allen Cummins
Before she gave Cummins a 40-month prison sentence in 2017, Judge Ann Aiken admonished him for the pain and suffering his weapons were likely going to cause. She told him to read “Dreamland,” which chronicles America’s opioid crisis and its connection to Mexican drug cartels.
After their mother was killed by organized crime five years ago, Emylce Ines Espinoza-Alarcon’s sister’s family migrated to the States, she said.
Espinoza-Alarcon, her children and other relatives were more recently driven from their homes by violence. “As a parent, you try to flee to a different place where they might be safe,” Espinoza-Alarcon said. She said she believes American weapons are to blame, but there “is nowhere else for us to go.”
Emylce Ines Espinoza-Alarcon holds her toddler as she listens while her aunt, Alicia Zomora-Guevara, front, describes the cartel attack on her town that forced their families into exile. Zomora-Guevara’s son, Kevin Jait Alarcon-Zamora, stands to the right, and Espinoza-Alarcon’s son and teenage daughter sit on the Mexico City hotel room bed in front of her. Sean Campbell, CC BY-ND
A 2023 survey found that 88% of the 180,000 Mexican migrants to the U.S. that year were fleeing violence – a flip from 2017 when most were coming for economic opportunity.
The ATF’s enforcement
ATF inspections keep illicit guns in check, our analysis shows.
The agency’s primary enforcement tools are inspections, violations reports, warning letters and meetings, and, when inspectors find violations that are reckless or willfully endanger the public, revocation notices.
But the bureau’s 2025 congressional budget request points out that it would need 1,509 field investigators to reach its goal of inspecting each dealer at least once every three years.
This is a condensed version. To learn more about the connections between U.S. gun sales, U.S. regulations, Mexican drug cartels and migration, read the full investigation
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.
Pennsylvania residents may get sticker shock when they see their electric bills this summer. Aging infrastructure, extreme weather, transmission bottlenecks and increased demand are sending electricity rates soaring.
Widespread rate hikes across the commonwealth started in December 2024 and are continuing in 2025. Rising prices are related to how the wholesale electricity market in Pennsylvania operates, among other factors. Utilities are paying much more than in previous years to ensure they can meet their customers’ future demand, and these costs are being passed on to consumers.
For example, Philadelphia residents were among those hit with a 10% rate increase that went into effect in January 2025 for all residential customers of PECO, Pennsylvania’s largest electric and gas utility. Some of PECO’s residential customers will see an additional 12.5% rate increase kick in on June 1, 2025.
A notice from PECO sent May 21, 2025.
As Penn State University professors who research energy law and electricity markets, we want to suggest five ways Pennsylvania consumers can lower their electric bills amid price hikes.
1. Use less
Much like when gasoline prices rise, the best response for individual consumers when electric rates go up is often to use less electricity.
Weatherization has an added benefit: improved health. In addition to maintaining a more comfortable indoor temperature, weatherizing paired with ventilation improvements can improve indoor air quality and control indoor moisture and mold.
Making a home more energy efficient can be tricky for low-income people, who might not be able to afford the costs, and renters, who don’t own the premises. However, Pennsylvania offers several programs to help residents make energy efficiency improvements, and organizations such as the Philadelphia Energy Authority try to reach low-income households.
Through the state’s low income usage reduction program, eligible tenants can receive help installing energy-saving features with written permission from their landlord. The multifamily weatherization assistance program has also provided grants for weatherization measures such as insulation and “air sealing to reduce infiltration” in buildings with five or more units that meet income criteria for residents.
Pennsylvania has what is called “retail electricity choice,” which means residents can pick who generates their electricity. For example, consumers can shop around for different rates charged per kilowatt-hour of electricity they consume or for electricity produced from wind and solar power.
But electricity customers cannot choose who carries that electricity to their residences. That is done by a regulated electric distribution company, or utility, with a monopoly on service.
Consumers can sometimes reduce their bills by choosing a cheaper offer for generation. But retail choice can be risky if consumers do not carefully read the conditions of the contract.
For example, some plans charge a higher rate than the default rate from the distribution company. Others charge different rates depending on whether the electricity is consumed during peak or off-peak hours. And still others lock customers into long contracts at a fixed price. This becomes undesirable if the default electricity rate drops lower than the contracted rate.
3. Try solar
For those who own their home, installing rooftop solar panels is another way to avoid higher electric bills.
The cost of solar panels has fallen steadily for many years, and rising electric rates make the economics of solar better.
Pennsylvania also has fairly advantageous rules for “net metering, which allows solar homeowners to get credits from the utility for excess solar power fed back into the grid.
For example, say a customer uses 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity in a month and their rooftop solar panels generate 1,200 kilowatt-hours. They won’t have to pay for the 1,000 kilowatt-hours they used, and those additional 200 kilowatt-hours will be credited on their next monthly electric bill.
Additionally, a number of federal and state tax incentives are available for rooftop solar energy in Pennsylvania. These incentives offset some of the up-front costs of installing solar panels.
Buying solar panels is a high up-front expense, however, even with tax credits. Programs such as Solarize Greater Philadelphia can help reduce the cost. But keep in mind that not all properties have roofs that are large, strong or sunny enough to benefit from solar.
For homeowners with suitable roofs, third-party solar is another option. This is when a company installs and continues owning the solar panels and charges the customer a fixed rate for the electricity produced by the solar panels. This rate is typically cheaper than the rate offered by the utility. But as with any contract, consumers need to read the fine print carefully and understand the long-term obligation.
4. Go to a public hearing
Local electric utilities are regulated by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. Pennsylvania residents can file formal complaints with the PUC about rate hikes, or they can attend one of PUC’s public input hearings.
Consumers might want to pay particular attention to the commission’s proceedings as it considers new electric rates and regulation for data centers and other large-load customers. These rates will determine which costs are shouldered by the data center operators and which costs wind up on the electric bills of all Pennsylvanians.
Consumers can file comments to advocate for a rate-sharing plan they believe will be fair.
5. Think holistically
As Americans continue to digitize their lives, electricity demand – and therefore prices – will likely continue to rise.
Given that growing electricity demand contributes to higher future rates, consumers may want to think about the energy-intensive online applications they use, such as data storage and all the AI features that tech companies are integrating into their products.
Consumers might also want to consider the types of energy they want produced in their neighborhood. Many people understandably oppose constructing new energy facilities in their communities due to the aesthetic impacts, use of land and in some cases pollution. But this opposition can also slow the construction of new energy generation.
Better processes for community involvement can enable the construction of generation with fewer negative impacts. These processes include, among other things, more detailed developer-community discussions and more comprehensive and thoughtful community benefits agreements. These agreements allow communities to negotiate services and resources that the energy developer will provide them. Such offerings might include vocational training programs, financial or other donations, or commitments to hire local labor.
Hannah Wiseman receives or has recently received funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Arnold Ventures, U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Center for Rural Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. She is a member of the Center for Progressive Reform.
Seth Blumsack receives or has recently received funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Heising Simons Foundation, U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, NASA, U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, Center for Rural Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Benjamin Gonzalez O’Brien, Associate Professor of Political Science, San Diego State University
While sanctuary policies for immigrants have grown in the U.S. since the 1980s, the Trump administration is the first to challenge them. Marcos Silva/iStock/Getty Images Plus
San Francisco, Chicago and New York are among the major cities – as well as more than 200 small towns and counties and a dozen states – that over the past 40 years have adopted what is often known as sanctuary policies.
There is not a single definition of a sanctuary policy. But it often involves local authorities not asking about a resident’s immigration status, or not sharing that personal information with federal immigration authorities.
So when a San Francisco police officer pulls someone over for a traffic violation, the officer will not ask if the person is living in the country legally.
American presidents, from Ronald Reagan to Joe Biden, have chosen to leave sanctuary policies largely unchallenged since different places first adopted them in the 1970s. This changed in 2017, when President Donald Trump first tried to cut federal funding to sanctuary places, claiming that their policies “willfully violate Federal law.” Legal challenges during his first term stopped him from actually withholding the money.
At the start of his second term, Trump signed two executive orders in January and April 2025 which again state that his administration will withhold federal money from areas with sanctuary policies.
“Working on papers to withhold all Federal Funding for any City or State that allows these Death Traps to exist!!!” Trump said, according to an April White House statement. This statement was immediately followed by his April executive order.
These two executive orders task the attorney general and secretary of homeland security with publishing a list of all sanctuary places and notifying local and state officials of “non-compliance, providing an opportunity to correct it.” Those that do not comply with federal law, according to the orders, may lose federal funding.
San Francisco and 14 other sanctuary cities, including New Haven, Connecticut, and Portland, Oregon, sued the Trump administration in February on the grounds that it was illegally trying to coerce cities to comply with its policies. A U.S. district court judge in California issued an injunction on April 24preventing the administration – at least for the time being – from cutting funding from places with sanctuary policies.
However, as researchers who have studied sanctuary policies for over a decade, we know that Trump’s claim that sanctuary policies violate federal immigration law is not correct.
It’s true that the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over immigration. Yet there is no federal requirement that state or local governments participate or cooperate in federal immigration enforcement, which would require an act of Congress.
In 1979, the Los Angeles Police Department was the first to announce a prohibition on local officials asking about a resident’s immigration status.
However, it was not until the 1980s that the sanctuary movement took off, when hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Nicaraguans fled civil war and violence in their home countries and migrated to the U.S. This prompted a number of cities to declare solidarity with the faith-based sanctuary movement that offered refuge to Salvadoran, Guatemalan and Nicaraguan asylum seekers facing deportation.
In 1985, Berkeley, Calif., and San Francisco pledged that city officials, including police officers, would not report Central Americans to immigration authorities as long as they were law abiding.
“We are not asking anyone to do anything illegal,” Nancy Walker, a supervisor for San Francisco, said in 1985, according to The New York Times. “We have got to extend our hand to these people. If these people go home, they die. They are asking us to let them stay.”
Today, there are hundreds of sanctuary cities, towns, counties and states across the country that all have a variation of policies that limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Sometimes – but not always – places with sanctuary policies bar local law enforcement agencies from working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the country’s main immigration enforcement agency.
A large part of ICE’s work is identifying, arresting and deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. In order to carry out this work, ICE issues what is known as “detainer requests” to local law enforcement authorities. A detainer request asks local law enforcement to hold a specific arrested person already being held by police until that person can be transferred to ICE, which can then take steps to deport them.
While places without sanctuary policies tend to comply with these requests, some sanctuary jurisdictions, like the state of California, only do so in the cases of particular violent criminal offenses.
Yet local officials in sanctuary places cannot legally block ICE from arresting local residents who are living in the country illegally, or from carrying out any other parts of its work.
However, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 2018 case involving San Francisco and Santa Clara County, California, that the president could not refuse to “disperse the federal grants in question without congressional authorization.”
These cases were in the process of being appealed to the Supreme Court when the Department of Justice, under Biden, asked that they be dismissed.
Other Supreme Court rulings also suggest that the Trump administration’s claim that it can withhold federal funding from sanctuary places rests on shaky legal ground.
The Supreme Court ruled in 1992 and again in 1997 that the federal government could not coerce state or local governments to use their resources to enforce a federal regulatory program, or compel them to enact or administer a federal regulatory program.
Under pressure
The first Trump administration was not generally successful, with the exception of the split over the Edward Byrne Memorial Assistance Grant Program, at stripping funding from sanctuary places. But cutting federal funding – even if it happens temporarily – can be economically damaging to cities and counties while they challenge the decision in court.
Local officials also face other kinds of political pressure to comply with the Trump administration’s demands.
A legal group founded by Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff in the Trump administration, for example, sent letters to dozens of local officials in January threatening criminal prosecution for their sanctuary policies.
Michelle Wu, the mayor of Boston, a sanctuary city, testifies during a House committee hearing on sanctuary city mayors on March 5, 2025, in Washington. Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
The real effects of sanctuary policies
One part of Trump’s argument against sanctuary policies is that places with these policies have more crime than those that do not.
But there is no established relationship between sanctuary status and crime rates.
There is, however, evidence that when local law enforcement and ICE work together, it reduces the likelihood of immigrant and Latino communities to report crimes, likely for fear of being arrested by federal immigration authorities.
Sanctuary policies are certainly worthy of debate, but this requires an accurate representation of what they are, what they do, and the effects they have.
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.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Nicholas J. Cull, Professor of Communication, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
The bluegrass group Della Mae plays at an orphanage in Kyrgyzstan on its State Department-sponsored American Music Abroad tour in 2012.Photo: Paul Rockower
Previous U.S. administrations have realized this, including during President Donald Trump’s first term, when his team, led by Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Marie Royce, raised the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs budget to an all-time high.
Modern Jazz Quartet traveled to Germany in 1960 as jazz ambassadors on a State Department-sponsored tour.
Giving politics a human dimension
Government-funded cultural diplomacy is an old practice. In 1889, President Benjamin Harrison’s government hosted a delegation of leaders from Latin America on a 5,000-mile rail tour around the American heartland as a curtain raiser for the first Pan-American conference. The visitors met a variety of American icons, from wordsmith Mark Twain to gunsmiths Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson.
President Teddy Roosevelt initiated the first longer-term cultural exchange program by spending money raised from an indemnity imposed on the Chinese government for its mishandling of the Boxer Rebellion, during which Western diplomats had been held hostage. The program, for the education of Chinese people, included study in the U.S. In contrast, European powers did nothing special with their share of the money.
This work went into high gear during the 1950s. The U.S. sought to stitch postwar Germany back into the community of nations, so that nation became a particular focus. Programs linked emerging global leaders to Americans with similar interests: doctor to doctor; pastor to pastor; politician to politician.
Visits gave a human dimension to political alignment, and returnees had the ability to speak to their countrymen and women with the authority of personal experience.
From jazz to promoting peace
The globally focused International Visitor Leadership Program built early-career relationships between U.S. citizens and young foreign leaders who later played a central role in aligning their nations with American policy.
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s note from 10 Downing Street about her 1967 exchange visit to the US – ‘Forevermore I shall be a true friend to the United States.’ U.S. Department of State
Current programs include bringing emerging highfliers in tech, music and sports to the U.S. to connect to and be mentored by Americans in the same field and then go home to be part of a living network of enhanced understanding. Such programs are in danger of being cut under Trump.
Five U.S. hip-hop artists traveled to Harare, Zimbabwe, in 2024 to perform for audiences and collaborate with local artists as part of the State Department’s Next Level program. U.S. Department of State
Personal experience conquers stereotypes
How exactly does this work advance U.S. security?
I see these exchanges as the national equivalent to the advice given to a diplomat in kidnap training: Try to establish a rapport with your hostage-taker so that they will see the person and be inclined to mercy.
The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is the part of the Department of State that cultivates empathy and implicitly counters the claims of America’s detractors with personal experience. Quite simply, it is harder to hate people you really know. More than this, exchanged people frequently become the core of each embassy’s local network.
Of course, an exchange program is just one part of a nation’s reputational security.
Reputation flows from reality, and reality is demonstrated over time. Historically, America’s reputation has rested on the health of the country’s core institutions, including its legal system and higher education as well as its standard of living.
U.S. reputational security has also required reform.
In the 1950s, when President Dwight Eisenhower faced an onslaught of Soviet propaganda emphasizing racism and racial disparities within the U.S., he understood that an effective response required that the U.S. not only showcase Black achievement but also be less racist. Civil rights became a Cold War priority.
As lawmakers in Washington debate federal spending priorities, building relationships through cultural tools may not survive budget cuts. Historically, both sides of the political aisle have failed to appreciate the significance of investing in cultural relations.
In 2013, when still a general heading Central Command, Jim Mattis, later Trump’s secretary of defense, was blunt about what such lack of regard would mean. In 2013 he told Congress: ‘If you don’t fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition, ultimately.“
Nicholas J. Cull 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.
Cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF, is a clear, colorless liquid that plays a crucial role in maintaining the health and function of your central nervous system. It cushions the brain and spinal cord, provides nutrients and removes waste products.
Despite its importance, problems related to CSF often go unnoticed until something goes wrong.
Recently, cerebrospinal fluid disorders drew public attention with the announcement that musician Billy Joel had been diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus. In this condition, excess CSF accumulates in the brain’s cavities, enlarging them and putting pressure on surrounding brain tissue even though diagnostic readings appear normal. Because normal pressure hydrocephalus typically develops gradually and can mimic symptoms of other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, it is often misdiagnosed.
I am a neurologist and headache specialist. In my work treating patients with CSF pressure disorders, I have seen these conditions present in many different ways. Here’s what happens when your cerebrospinal fluid stops working.
What is cerebrospinal fluid?
CSF is made of water, proteins, sugars, ions and neurotransmitters. It is primarily produced by a network of cells called the choroid plexus, which is located in the brain’s ventricles, or cavities.
Cerebrospinal fluid circulates throughout the brain and spinal cord. OpenStax, CC BY-SA
CSF has several critical functions. It protects the brain and spinal cord from injury by absorbing shocks. Suspending the brain in this fluid reduces its effective weight and prevents it from being crushed under its own mass. Additionally, CSF helps maintain a stable chemical environment in the central nervous system, facilitating the removal of metabolic waste and the distribution of nutrients and hormones.
If the production, circulation or absorption of cerebrospinal fluid is disrupted, it can lead to significant health issues. Two notable conditions are CSF leaks and idiopathic intracranial hypertension.
Cerebrospinal fluid leak
A CSF leak occurs when the fluid escapes through a tear or hole in the dura mater – the tough, outermost layer of the meninges that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.
The dura can be damaged from head injuries or punctured during surgical procedures involving the sinuses, brain or spine, such as lumbar puncture, epidurals, spinal anesthesia or myelogram. Spontaneous CSF leaks can also occur without any identifiable cause.
CSF leaks were originally thought to be relatively rare, with an estimated annual incidence of 5 per 100,000 people. However, with increased awareness and advances in imaging, health care providers are discovering more and more leaks. They tend to occur more frequently in middle-aged adults and are more common in women than men.
An upright headache could be a sign of a CSF leak.
Unfortunately, it’s common for health care providers to misdiagnose a CSF leak as another condition, like migraine, sinus infections or allergies. What can make diagnosing a CSF leak challenging is its broad symptoms. Most people with a CSF leak have a positional headache that improves when lying down and worsens when standing. Pain is usually felt in the back of the head and may involve the neck and between the shoulder blades. In addition to headaches, patients may experience ringing in the ears, vision disturbances, memory problems, brain fog, dizziness and nausea.
Conservative treatment for a CSF leak involves rest, lying flat and increasing your fluid intake to give your spine time to heal the puncture. Increasing your caffeine consumption to an equivalent of three to four cups of coffee per day can also help by increasing CSF production through stimulating the choroid plexus. Caffeine also relieves pain by interacting with adenosine receptors, which are key players in the body’s pain perception mechanisms.
If a conservative approach is not successful, an epidural blood patch may be necessary. In this procedure, blood is drawn from your arm and injected into your spine. The injected blood can help form a covering over the hole and promote the healing process. Headache improvement can be fast, but if the patch does not work or the results are short-lived, additional testing may be needed to better locate the site of the leak. In rare cases, surgery may be recommended. Most patients with a CSF leak respond to some form of these treatments.
Idiopathic intracranial hypertension
Idiopathic intracranial hypertension is a disorder involving an excess of CSF that elevates pressure inside the skull and compresses the brain. The term “idiopathic” indicates that the cause of the raised pressure is unknown.
Most patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension have a history of obesity or recent weight gain. Other risk factors include taking certain medications such as tetracycline, excessive vitamin A, tretinoin, steroids and growth hormone. Middle-aged obese women are 20 times more likely to be diagnosed with idiopathic intracranial hypertension than other patient groups. As obesity becomes more prevalent, so too does the incidence of this condition.
Idiopathic intracranial hypertension results from increased intracranial pressure.
Patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension typically experience headaches and vision changes, tinnitus or eye pain. Papilledema, or swelling of the optic disc, is the hallmark finding on a fundoscopic examination of the back of the eye. Clinicians may also observe paralysis of the patient’s eye muscles.
Normal pressure hydrocephalus, Joel’s diagnosis, is a form of this condition that commonly results in difficulty walking, loss of bladder control and cognitive impairment, sometimes referred to as the “wet, wobbly and wacky” triad. Joel’s diagnosis has brought awareness to this underrecognized but potentially treatable disorder, which is often managed through surgically placing a shunt to divert excess fluid and relieve symptoms.
Brain imaging of patients suspected of having idiopathic intracranial hypertension is crucial to excluding other causes of elevated CSF pressure, such as brain tumors or blood clots in the brain. A lumbar puncture or spinal tap to measure the pressure and composition of CSF is also central to diagnosis.
Since high intracranial pressure can damage the optic nerve and lead to permanent vision loss, the primary goal of treatment is to decrease pressure and preserve the optic nerve. Treatment options include weight loss, dietary changes and medications to reduce CSF production. Surgical procedures can also reduce intracranial pressure.
Future directions and unknowns
Cerebrospinal fluid is indispensable for brain health. Despite advances in understanding diseases related to CSF, several aspects remain unclear.
The exact mechanisms that lead to conditions like CSF leaks and idiopathic intracranial hypertension are not fully understood, though there are many theories. Further research is vital to enhance diagnostic accuracy and effective treatments for CSF disorders.
Danielle Wilhour 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.
The Security Bureau today submitted a regulation to the Legislative Council (LegCo) that aims to facilitate the implementation of the Registered Fire Engineer (RFE) Scheme on November 1.
The Security Bureau said that currently, a person who intends to run various types of licensed premises can only rely on public services in making a fire safety risk assessment of the premises concerned and certifying fire safety compliance.
To facilitate business operations and make good use of professional and qualified human resources in the market, the bureau proposed to introduce the RFE Scheme to leverage professional engineers and qualified people in the market for the provision of fire safety risk assessment and certification services.
The Fire Safety Department will continue to deliver such services to members of the public if they so choose.
Apart from offering an additional option to the market, the implementation of the scheme could promote the development of the fire engineering profession. The fees of RFE services would be determined by the market.
The bureau highlighted that one of the key considerations for the Government in introducing the RFE Scheme is that it must not compromise fire safety and public safety.
Hence, in formulating the regulation, the Government aims to regulate RFE registration, and the provisions will cover the registration mechanism and duties of RFEs, the disciplinary and appeal mechanisms as well as the issue of the code of practice.
The Fire Services (Registered Fire Engineers) Regulation is subject to LegCo’s scrutiny by the positive vetting procedures.
At a later stage, the Government will introduce into LegCo the other three pieces of subsidiary legislation which are relevant to the implementation of the RFE Scheme for negative vetting.
Separately, the Secretary for Security will specify November 1 as the commencement date by notice in the Gazette, so that the scheme can start on the same day.
The Government today welcomed the passage of a bill by the Legislative Council to increase the air passenger departure tax from $120 to $200 per passenger, which would apply to air tickets purchased from October 1 onwards.
It is anticipated that government revenue will increase by about $1.6 billion per year.
The Government said the new tax rate, which was proposed in the recent Budget, has struck a balance between raising revenue and minimising the impact on passengers when considering increasing the departure tax.
It added that the impact of the increase on the overall cost of travelling for air passengers is minimal.
The Air Passenger Departure Tax (Amendment) Bill 2025 will be published in a Gazette notice on June 6.
Source: United States of America – Department of State (video statements)
Secretary of State Marco A. Rubio meets with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul at the Department of State, on May 23, 2025.
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Under the leadership of the President and Secretary of State, the U.S. Department of State leads America’s foreign policy through diplomacy, advocacy, and assistance by advancing the interests of the American people, their safety and economic prosperity. On behalf of the American people we promote and demonstrate democratic values and advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world.
The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser. The Secretary carries out the President’s foreign policies through the State Department, which includes the Foreign Service, Civil Service and U.S. Agency for International Development.
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