Source: Government of Sweden
Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard travelled to Bosnia and Herzegovina on 10–11 July to attend a memorial ceremony marking the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica. Thirty years have passed since the genocide and the subsequent conclusion of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which brought the war to an end.
Source: United States Coast Guard
U.S. Coast Guard sent this bulletin at 07/14/2025 09:45 PM EDT
07/13/2025 01:52 PM EDT
Source: United States Coast Guard
U.S. Coast Guard sent this bulletin at 07/14/2025 09:45 PM EDT
07/13/2025 01:52 PM EDT
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
China’s top diplomat holds talks with British prime minister’s national security adviser
BEIJING, July 14 — China’s top diplomat Wang Yi held talks with Jonathan Powell, the British prime minister’s national security adviser, in Beijing on Monday.
Wang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, said that under the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries, China-Britain relations have embarked on a path of improvement and development, fulfilling the aspirations of the people of both countries and aligning with the trend of the times.
Expressing China’s appreciation of Britain’s proposal to develop a consistent, lasting and mutually respectful relationship between the two countries, Wang said that China is willing to enhance strategic communication and expand strategic cooperation with Britain from a broader perspective, inject new momentum into bilateral relations and jointly promote world peace, stability and prosperity.
Powell expressed Britain’s willingness to enhance dialogue and communication with China to build a stable, practical and long-term partnership.
The two sides also exchanged views on hotspot issues of common concern.
Source: Republic of China Taiwan
The 27th Economic and Technical Cooperation Conference between Taiwan and Eswatini was held on July 2, 2025, achieving positive results in terms of enhancing bilateral ties in various areas.
During the meeting, which was co-chaired by Minister of Economic Affairs Jyh-Huei Kuo and Eswatini Minister of Economic Planning and Development Thambo Gina, the two sides discussed a range of topics, such as cooperation on business digitalization, science parks, human capital development, tourism and digital transformation.
Since the launch of the Taiwan-Eswatini Economic Cooperation Agreement in 2018, bilateral trade between the two sides has grown steadily. In 2024, two-way trade reached US$8.19 million, marking an increase of 8% compared with 2017. During that period, Eswatini’s exports to Taiwan have risen by more than 29%.
Taiwan continues to actively assist in various initiatives aimed at fostering Eswatini’s further economic growth and development, while Eswatini consistently voices support for Taiwan’s greater participation in the international community. The two sides will continue engaging in bilateral cooperation to create an even more sustainable economic and trade partnership.
Source: Republic of China Taiwan
Taipower held its 2025 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting today (June 27), briefing shareholders on its mission to ensure stable power supply for Taiwan while helping the government mitigate the impact of global developments on households and industries in recent years. Taipower noted that despite financial challenges, it sought a total of NT$300 billion in government budget subsidies over the past year, but none were approved by the legislature. To maintain the sustainable operation of Taiwan’s electricity supply, secure the nation’s power needs, and support economic development, Taipower will continue to seek government funding while doing its utmost to improve its own financial operations. Compared with the same period last year, losses from January to May this year have already narrowed by nearly NT$32 billion, a decline of over 50%.
The 2025 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting was chaired by Taipower Chairman Wen-Sheng Tseng, with President Yao-Ting Wang delivering the 2024 Business Report. During the meeting, shareholders were also briefed on last year’s corporate bond issuance, financial statements, and the approval of its deficit compensation proposal. Additionally, the biennial board member election was conducted during the meeting.
Taipower explained that the Russia-Ukraine war led to surging fuel prices globally. While other countries substantially raised electricity rates, further fueling inflation, Taipower instead chose to absorb nearly NT$600 billion in electricity costs for households and industries over the past three years to protect livelihoods and cushion inflationary pressures, resulting in significant financial losses. In 2023, Taipower recorded total revenue of NT$871.4 billion and expenditures of NT$912.5 billion, with a pre-tax net loss of NT$41.1 billion. After factoring in tax credits, the net loss remained NT$41.1 billion. As of the end of last year, cumulative losses stood at NT$422.9 billion.
Taipower stressed that a stable financial footing is crucial to protecting the public’s right to reliable power and supporting social and industrial development. In April this year, the Electricity Price Review Committee decided, in light of global trade tariffs and political-economic conditions, to freeze electricity prices, meaning Taipower continues to bear external cost pressures on behalf of households and businesses. To maintain financial soundness, Taipower has, over the past year, repeatedly sought a total of NT$300 billion in government funding to cover the costs it has absorbed to stabilize power prices, essentially subsidizing electricity for the entire nation, but these proposals have not been approved by the legislature. Taipower hopes for greater understanding and support from all sectors of society.
In addition to pursuing government subsidies, Taipower is also working to improve its own finances. For electricity price subsidies for schools and social welfare organizations, Taipower has, in accordance with the Electricity Act and the March 2024 resolution of the Electricity Price Review Committee, maintained preferential electricity rates but will reduce its direct subsidies starting this year. Relevant funding will now revert to the respective competent authorities for budgeting, which is expected to increase Taipower’s annual revenue by nearly NT$4 billion. As for subsidized electricity for offshore islands, Taipower has absorbed losses exceeding NT$100 billion to date. Moving forward, Taipower will handle related matters through the national budgeting process under the Offshore Islands Development Act and will actively seek government budget allocations to cover them.
Furthermore, Taipower has adopted four key strategies to boost revenue and reduce expenses to strengthen its financial foundation: On the power generation and procurement side, it has refined its fuel procurement strategies. On the electricity retailing side, it has expanded green power resale and low-carbon power sales. In transmission and distribution, it has reduced expenditures by adjusting line installation fees and optimizing ancillary services. Furthermore, Taipower is investing in asset revitalization to expand revenue sources, making every effort to reduce losses. From January to May this year, Taipower recorded a loss of NT$28.5 billion, nearly NT$32 billion less than the same period last year, marking a reduction of more than 50%.
Spokesperson: Vice President Chih-Meng Tsai
Tel: (02 )2366-6271/0958-749-333
Email: u910707@taipower.com.tw
Contact Person: Chief Secretary of Board Secretariat Shou-Fu Cheng
Tel: (02 )2366-6210/0900-781-357
Email: u026726@taipower.com.tw
Source: Republic of China Taiwan
The prestigious Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards (AREA), recognized as a gold standard for corporate sustainability in Asia, held its award ceremony yesterday (June 27) in Bangkok, Thailand. This year, Taipower was honored with two major awards, the Green Leadership Award and the Investment in People Award, for its efforts in marine ecological conservation and talent cultivation. This marks the eighth consecutive year since 2018 that Taipower has earned international recognition. Taipower noted that while ensuring a stable power supply remains its core mission, it is equally committed to environmental sustainability and talent cultivation, fulfilling its corporate social responsibility and giving back to society through concrete action.
Enterprise Asia has long championed Asian entrepreneurship and, since 2011, has hosted the Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards, a highly competitive benchmark for sustainability benchmark in the region. To date, over 900 organizations from 19 countries have been recognized. Now in its 15th year, the 2025 award ceremony in Bangkok presented honors across eight major categories, including Green Leadership, Investment in People, Social Empowerment, and Circular Economy Leadership.
Taipower stated that, to balance stable power supply with environmental sustainability, it published its Environmental White Paper in 2019, outlining six strategic pillars for sustainability and launching the Power Facility Ecological Integration Program. In marine conservation, Taipower has worked closely with local governments, academic experts, and environmental groups to continuously promote a wide range of eco-friendly initiatives, such as fish fry releases, beach cleanups, and ecological monitoring, while also actively promoting marine education and awareness. These sustained efforts have earned Taipower the Green Leadership Award for four consecutive years.
Taipower explained that because power plants require a stable water source for cooling, many are located along coastlines, making marine ecosystem protection a priority. Since 2002, Taipower has organized annual fish fry release programs and partnered with research institutions to build a fish fry genetic database that contributes valuable data to Taiwan’s marine research. Moreover, Taipower has also hosted nationwide beach cleanups for 31 consecutive years, mobilizing nearly 6,000 participants each year to clean the ocean and adopting 13 kilometers of coastline for long-term maintenance. At the intake area of the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant, Taipower has installed a coral reef ecological monitoring station and a livestream platform to track seawater temperatures and coral reef in real time, while continuing to invest in coral reef restoration.
In addition to its long-standing commitment to environmental stewardship, Taipower has invested in training skilled professionals to uphold its mission of a stable power supply. The Company previously received the Investment in People Award in 2019 for integrating VR technology into high-altitude operations training, in 2022 for its structured athlete system, and in 2024 for its Dalin model training center and its certification system for power plant O&M (Operation & Maintenance ) talent. This year, Taipower once again stood out among more than 70 companies, earning the award for the fourth time thanks to its robust recruitment and training programs.
On the talent recruitment front, Taipower not only attracts power industry professionals through its rigorous examination system but also recuits young talent through various channels such as internships and industry-academic partnerships. For training, Taipower operates four training centers across the country and uses a one-on-one mentorship system to rapidly and thoroughly develop employees’ technical skills. In recent years, it has further integrated digital technology into technical training, using virtual reality (VR ) simulations to replicate various power operation scenarios, greatly enhancing hands-on training outcomes for trainees.
Spokesperson: Vice President Chih-Meng Tsai
Tel: (02 )2366-6271/0958-749-333
Email: u910707@taipower.com.tw
Business Contact: Director of the Project Planning Department Chiu-Ying Kuo
Tel: (02 )2366-6440/0978-105-282
Email: u004770@taipower.com.tw
Source: Republic of China Taiwan
Today (May 17), Unit 2 of Taipower’s Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant reached the end of its 40-year operating license. The unit began a gradual power reduction in the afternoon and was disconnected from the grid and safely shut down by evening. Taipower explained that Unit 2 of Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant, with an installed capacity of 951,000 kW (or 0.951 GW), accounting for about 3% of Taiwan’s total power generation, has now completed its licensed operating life. In response to the gradual decommissioning of nuclear units in recent years, as well as the retirement or downsizing of aging coal-fired units, Taipower has proactively implemented renovation and expansion projects since 2017 at its Datan, Taichung, and Hsinta power plants. These projects focus on building low-carbon, low-emission gas-fired combined-cycle units. Coupled with the accelerated deployment of renewable energy in recent years, and supported by pumped-storage hydropower, battery storage, and demand-side management, Taipower’s diversified power dispatch strategy has kept electricity supply stable while significantly reducing air pollution and carbon emissions. This year, four large gas-fired units with a combined capacity of nearly 5 GW from the Datan, Hsinta, and Taichung power plants will come online, along with approximately 3.5 GW of wind and photovoltaic power. Together, these additions will ensure a reliable and sufficient power supply for the public.
Taipower added that Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 began commercial operation on May 18, 1985, and generated a cumulative total of approximately 274,160 GWh of electricity over its 40-year service period. In line with its license expiry, the unit began load reduction at 1:00 p.m. today, was disconnected from the grid at about 10:00 p.m., and reached safe shutdown status by midnight. Next, the reactor’s spent fuel will be removed and transferred to the spent fuel pool. Taipower will continue with the development of dry storage facilities and advance site selection and construction of final disposal sites for nuclear waste. The Company calls for public understanding and support for these critical backend nuclear waste management processes.
Spokesperson: Vice President, Chih-Meng Tsai
Tel: (02 )2366-6271/0958-749-333
Email: u910707@taipower.com.tw
Contact Person: Director of Nuclear Power Generation Department, Chih-Pao Lin
Tel: (02 )2366-7040/0921-210-506
Email: u808941@taipower.com.tw
Contact Person: Director of Power Dispatch Department, Fang-Cheng Chou
Tel: (02 )2366-6600/0952-810-417
Email: u027007@taipower.com.tw
Contact Person: Director of Nuclear Backend Management Department, Ying-Chen Liao
Tel: (02 )2365-7210 Ext. 2200/0953-685-053
Email: u880803@taipower.com.tw
Source: Samsung
In the global mobile communications industry, standards are much more than just technical specifications — they are key drivers of the global market’s direction and technological leadership. As the world moves beyond 5G and accelerates toward 6G, attention is once again turning to the technological leadership behind global standardization.
Since 2020, Samsung Electronics has played a pioneering role in advancing next-generation communication technologies through active participation in international standardization efforts. This includes the publication of its 6G white papers and securing of key positions in major organizations such as the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). At the May 2025 3GPP elections, Samsung secured additional leadership positions, reaffirming its distinct standing at the forefront of the industry.
To shine a light on this progress, Samsung Newsroom is launching an interview series with the leaders of the company’s communications business, which will introduce the current state of next-generation communications technology research and global standardization efforts. In part one of the Communications Leadership Interview series, the Newsroom sat down with Jin-Kyu Han, Vice President of the Tech Standards Research Team at Samsung Research, to discuss the current landscape and future outlook of 6G standardization, as well as Samsung’s strategies and vision.
▲ Jin-Kyu Han, Vice President of the Tech Standards Research Team at Samsung Research
International Standards for Seamless Communication Across Borders
Today, using our own smartphones to access roaming services while traveling abroad is something we often take for granted. This is a convenience that has only become truly seamless through the invisible promise of international standards — born from the collaboration of countless companies and experts around the world.
“Common protocols are essential for products and services from different companies to work together seamlessly,” explained Han. “In the mobile communications industry, where a diverse range of players — including smartphone manufacturers, network equipment vendors, telecom operators and semiconductor companies — are involved, standardization is an indispensable element. It plays a key role in uniting the world into a single market.”
Standardization serves as the backbone that drives the global communications industry toward a unified direction. “At technological inflection points like the transition to 6G, the importance of industry-wide discussions and consensus on standards becomes even greater,” Han emphasized.
Global Collaboration Driving 6G Standardization
How does global standardization actually function? Unlike initiatives driven by a single entity, global telecommunications standardization is built on a clear, step-by-step framework of collaboration. Two key players in this process are the International Telecommunication Union (ITU1) and the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP2).
“The ITU sets the direction for each new generation of communication technology, and based on that blueprint, the 3GPP works with global companies to define the technical details and carry out the standardization process,” explained Han.
▲ Overview of ITU and 3GPP
Global 6G standardization has now entered its launch phase. Following preliminary discussions on 6G technology directions that began in 2021, ITU-R officially announced the recommended framework for 6G standardization in November 2023. With the goal of finalizing 6G technical specifications by 2030, 3GPP plans to develop and propose a range of candidate technologies.
“3GPP took its first step toward 6G standardization by hosting a workshop in Korea this March,” explained Han. “6G study items were approved during its plenary meeting in June, and starting in the second half of this year, detailed technical discussions will begin within its Working Groups (WGs).”
▲ Key milestones and objectives of the ITU and 3GPP by year
The standardization of 6G is a shared journey in which the world works together toward a common goal. As standardization efforts gain momentum, companies worldwide are moving quickly to position their technologies within this framework, ensuring interoperability while developing solutions that meet market demands.
Samsung’s 6G Leadership: Driving Consensus Amid Fierce Competition
Countries and companies around the world are participating in discussions on next-generation communications standardization, each taking on specific roles. This process demands forward-looking leadership capable of both steering technological development and harmonizing diverse viewpoints—a role where Samsung Electronics has emerged as a central figure, simultaneously advancing innovation while building industry consensus.
Standardization is a continuous process marked by fierce competition among countless global stakeholders that aim to secure a lead in standards by having their own technologies incorporated. In this complex landscape, Samsung has consistently been elected to leadership positions within groups, earning recognition for its neutrality, credibility and coordination capabilities
“Samsung chaired the ITU-R’s 6G Vision Group, helping to establish the initial global vision for 6G and contributing to the design of its early roadmap,” explained Han. “We’re also leading discussions within 3GPP by serving as chairs and vice-chairs across various technical groups, steering the direction of standardization.”
Currently, Samsung Electronics holds a total of eight chair and vice-chair positions across 3GPP’s key Technical Specification Groups (TSGs). Han added, “In particular, the Radio Access Network (RAN) and System Architecture (SA) WG2 groups, where Samsung serves as chair, are central to shaping the structure and direction of 6G technologies. These groups are at the core of industry-wide technical discussions and the fact that Samsung chairs them is a testament to our influence.”
Samsung is also laying a solid technological foundation for standardization discussions through its pioneering research activities across various core 6G technologies. Since standardization only holds real value when it is backed by concrete technologies and practical feasibility, Samsung’s technological competitiveness contributes to making these discussions more effective.
“3GPP chairs are responsible for guiding discussions according to the timeline, while mediating and resolving various conflicts that arise during the standardization process,” Han explained. “Holding a significant number of chair positions is a clear sign that the mobile communications industry recognizes our technological capabilities and leadership.”
Key Focus Areas for Next-Generation 6G Research
As technical discussions within 3GPP begin in earnest this year, Samsung is concentrating its research on the core technologies necessary for 6G commercialization. At the heart of these discussions are three key phrases: AI integration, enhanced energy efficiency, and strengthened security.
“6G should deliver user-perceivable improvements, not just faster speeds or higher quality,” noted Han. “By applying AI technologies to network operations, we can automate complex processes while simultaneously reducing operational costs and improving service quality.”
“From the increasingly critical perspective of security and privacy, Samsung is also focusing on building safer communication systems while increasing system flexibility to easily and rapidly incorporate new services,” he added.
As we approach the 6G era — where technologies and services will connect seamlessly across national borders — international cooperation and coordination are more important than ever. In this evolving landscape, Samsung Electronics continues to play a leading role in shaping the global conversation on next-generation connectivity.
In part two of this series, Samsung Newsroom will explore the 6G standardization roadmap, key focus technologies and Samsung’s role as chair of the 3GPP TSG RAN, providing a closer look at the forefront of next-generation communications discussions.
1 Short for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations specialized agency dedicated to advancing information and communication technologies (ICT) and networks. Its work includes allocating radio frequencies, establishing technical standards, and supporting developing countries, while playing a vital role in fostering international cooperation in the global ICT sector.
2 Short for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, an international collaborative initiative established to develop standards for mobile communication technologies. It primarily develops globally applicable specifications for mobile communication systems, including radio access networks, services and systems, core networks, and mobile devices.
US Senate News:
Source: United States Senator for Tennessee Bill Hagerty
WASHINGTON—Today, United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, hailed the inclusion of the Stop the Nosy Obsession with Online Payments (SNOOP) Act, in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, 2025. The SNOOP Act and its corresponding text in the OBBBA eliminates a Biden-era policy that massively expanded the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) 1099-K reporting requirements for small businesses, gig workers, and individual sellers.
“Small businesses and Tennesseans were unreasonably targeted by the previous administration’s overreach,” said Senator Hagerty. “By eliminating an ill-conceived and invasive Biden-era policy, the ‘One, Big Beautiful Bill’ provides much-needed tax relief and helps hardworking Americans keep their focus on serving their customers—not the IRS.”
The SNOOP Act restores the 1099-K reporting thresholds to $20,000 and 200 transactions, their levels prior to the enactment of the American Rescue Plan during the Biden Administration. Senator Hagerty introduced the SNOOP Act in the 119th, 118th, and 117th Congresses.
US Senate News:
Source: United States Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock – Georgia
Senator Reverend Warnock leads the Democratic caucus in demanding the Trump administration explain its rollback of the medical debt rule finalized in January 2025
In the final days of the Biden Administration, Senator Warnock successfully pressed the CFPB to ban credit lenders from including medical bills in credit reports and prohibit lenders from using medical information in lending decisions
In Georgia, 27% of rural citizens have medical collections on their credit report, ten percentage points higher than the national average due in part to the state’s refusal to expand Medicaid
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and 26 other senators pushed the Trump administration for answers regarding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) decision to vacate the medical debt rule finalized in January 2025. The letter demands CFPB share any data the agency relied on in deciding to petition a court to vacate the rule and any communications it had with entities during the process that would profit from its decision.
“On April 30, 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) asked a court to vacate the agency’s recently released rule to remove medical debt from consumer credit reports. We write to request the information you relied on in making that determination, including any communications with collection agencies that stand to profit from it,” the senators said.
“Medical debt collections information is often inaccurate, and studies show that it is not useful in determining a consumer’s ability to repay other debts…Almost half of all medical bills contain at least one error, and almost half of nonprofit hospitals have routinely and mistakenly billed patients who were eligible for free or discounted care,” they continued.
At the conclusion of the letter, the senators emphasize the need for transparency into the agency’s decision-making process.
“On April 30, the CFPB filed a joint motion with the industry groups that oppose the rule, petitioning the court to vacate it – lining the pockets of corporations off the backs of American consumers. Given the substantial evidence that the CFPB’s rule was well-considered and would help consumers without reducing the accuracy of their credit scores, we write to request that the CFPB make public all information relied on by the agency in its decision to drop the rule, including any communications with the debt collection industry,”the senators closed.
Senator Warnock continues to stand up in defense of Georgia consumers by holding the CFPB under President Trump accountable. In February, Senator Warnock questioned Trump administration CFPB nominees at a Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Hearing. During the hearing, Senator Warnock asked the nominees if they agreed with President Trump on the CFPB being, ‘A very important thing to get rid of’ and if the agency would address the 266,560 outstanding complaints from Georgians in a timely manner. In May, President Trump withdrew his nominee for the CFPB. OMB Director Russell Vought serves as acting director of the agency.
In Georgia, roughly 640,000 people don’t have access to affordable health care because state leaders have refused to expand Medicaid. 27% of rural citizens have medical collections on their credit report – ten percentage points higher than the national average. Senator Warnock has a long track record of working to address the harmful consequences of medical debt on working families including calling on the CFPB to establish an ombudsman position for consumer medical debt and urging the CFPB to protect Americans from predatory medical debt collection practices.
In addition to Senators Warnock, Warren, Schumer, and Merkley the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Adam Schiff (D-CA), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), John Fetterman (D-PA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tina Smith (D-MN), Jack Reed (D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Angus King (I-ME), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Peter Welch (D-VT), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV).
Read the full letter HERE, and the text is below
Dear Acting Director Vought,
On April 30, 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) asked a court to vacate the agency’s recently released rule to remove medical debt from consumer credit reports. We write to request the information you relied on in making that determination, including any communications with debt collection agencies that stand to profit from it.
Medical debt collections information is often inaccurate, and studies show that it is not useful in determining a consumer’s ability to repay other debts. One major credit scoring company, VantageScore, has stopped using medical debt in its newer models entirely. Almost half of all medical bills contain at least one error, and almost half of nonprofit hospitals have routinely and mistakenly billed patients who were eligible for free or discounted care. People often receive collection notices for debts they did not owe, in the wrong amount, or that should have been covered by insurance—but still end up experiencing long-lasting damage to their credit scores.
Listing medical debt on a person’s credit report drives down their credit score, which hurts their ability to purchase a car, buy a home or rent an apartment, get utility service, start a business, or access other banking services. This has profound effects on families that can last generations. To make matters worse, medical debt is the most common reason debt collectors contact consumers; the debt collection industry makes one-fourth of its annual revenue from health care debt. Including medical debt on credit reports makes consumers more vulnerable to predatory debt collection practices.
Medical debt on credit reports also blocks working families from access to credit that they would be able to repay.The CFPB found that people who had all their medical debts completely removed from their credit reports experienced an average credit score increase of 20 points, in some cases elevating families into a higher credit score tier.
In response to growing data that medical debt is not a good indicator of creditworthiness, states across the country have acted to ban the inclusion of medical debt on credit reports. And on January 7, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a final rule to remove medical debt from consumer credit reports. The rule would remove an estimated $49 billion in medical bills from the credit reports of 15 million Americans, prohibit credit reporting companies from sharing medical debt information with lenders, and bar lenders from considering medical debt in underwriting decisions. It was designed to help the millions of Americans who are struggling to make ends meet, by lowering costs and increasing access to affordable credit for working families without affecting the predictive value of their credit reports. The rule would also help reduce the effects of structural racism and other prejudices. People of color are disproportionately harmed by the inclusion of medical debt on credit reports. Meanwhile, adults with a disability and new moms are more than twice as likely to carry medical debt.
Despite the critical importance of the medical debt rule, on April 30, the CFPB filed a joint motion with the industry groups that oppose the rule, petitioning the court to vacate it—lining the pockets of corporations off the backs of American consumers. Given the substantial evidence that the CFPB’s rule was well-considered and would help consumers without reducing the accuracy of their credit scores, we write to request that the CFPB make public all information relied on by the agency in its decision to drop the rule, including any communications with the debt collection industry, by July 28, 2025. We specifically request that CFPB publicly publish all data about how medical debt relates to key economic indicators, including:
We are particularly concerned about the outsize impact that medical debt has on the credit scores of seniors, veterans, new parents, people with disabilities, cancer patients and survivors, and small business owners.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
US Senate News:
Source: United States Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), John Curtis (R-Utah), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) introduced bipartisan legislationto support and commemorate the 2028 and 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Games set to take place in Los Angeles, California and Salt Lake City, Utah, respectively, through the minting of new commemorative coins. Representatives Brad Sherman (D-Calif.-32), Frank Lucas (R-Okla.-03), Ken Calvert (R-Calif.-41), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.-37), and Blake Moore (R-Utah-01) introduced companion legislation in the House.
The America’s Olympic and Paralympic Games Commemorative Coins Act would direct the Treasury Department to mint and issue four types of coins each in commemoration of the 2028 and 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The coins would be minted at no cost to the federal government, and any proceeds collected from the sale of these commemorative coins would aid in the execution of the 2028 and 2034 Games as well as support their legacy programs, which include the promotion of youth sports in the United States.
“After years of careful preparation and federal collaboration, Los Angeles will be under the world spotlight for the Olympic and Paralympic Games before we know it,” said Senator Padilla. “Our bipartisan legislation will help ensure Los Angeles has the resources it needs to put on a world-class event — with a token to commemorate the Games for years to come. There is strong congressional interest in promoting and supporting all upcoming U.S.-hosted Olympic events to showcase our nation and our athletes on the global stage, and I look forward to working alongside my colleagues to advance this bill.”
“The 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will showcase Utah’s pioneer spirit, community strength, and commitment to excellence,” said Senator Curtis. “These commemorative coins honor not just the athletes, but the values that built our state and the legacy we’ll pass on to future generations.”
“It is such an honor that our Golden State will be hosting the 2028 Summer Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. And I am proud to join my colleagues in introducing this bipartisan legislation to commemorate these historic games and our incredible athletes,” said Senator Schiff.
“American athletes are the pinnacle of our exceptionalism and I am looking forward to them leading the way as we host both the 2028 Summer Olympic Games and the 2034 Winter Olympic Games. As Oklahoma’s world-class facilities will be home to multiple official venues, I am honored to join with my colleagues on this important legislation,” said Senator Mullin.
“The dedication demonstrated by the American athletes who participate in the Olympic and Paralympic Games is truly inspiring and our nation is honored to host both the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Games and Salt Lake City 2034 Winter Games. That is why I am proud to join my colleagues in celebrating our athletes by introducing America’s Olympic and Paralympic Games Commemorative Coins Act. As a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over this legislation, I look forward to Congress moving quickly to advance this important bill. As an Angelino, I am excited to witness the Olympics return to Los Angeles after 44 years, and I am proud to join with my colleagues to honor the Salt Lake City 2034 Games as well,” said Representative Sherman.
“It is no small honor to host the Olympic Games, and no small feat to organize them either. That is why these commemorative coins would not only pay proper tribute to such a great honor, but also help pay for the preparations to ensure the upcoming Olympic games – including the 2028 games in my home state – receive the resources they need,” said Representative Lucas.
“The Olympic and Paralympic Games are incredible events that celebrate athletic achievement and the human spirit. I’m especially excited for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles, which will allow southern California residents to get an up-close look at these remarkable competitions as well as deliver a tremendous boost to our tourism economy. I want to thank all of my colleagues who have worked together to advance the bipartisan America’s Olympic and Paralympic Games Commemorative Coins Act,” said Representative Calvert.
“As we gear up for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, I’m proud to co-lead the America’s Olympic and Paralympic Games Commemorative Coins Act,” said Representative Kamlager-Dove. “This commemorative coin will celebrate not only the upcoming games, but also nearly a century of Olympic history in Los Angeles. The 2028 Games in Los Angeles memorialized by this coin will be a feat all Angelenos and Americans can be proud of.”
“I’m immensely proud to represent Utah in co-leading the America’s Olympic and Paralympic Games Commemorative Coins Act. The return of the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games to Salt Lake City in 2034 will mark only the second time in history that the Winter Olympics have returned to the same city, and I cannot wait to see Utah front and center on the world stage once again,” said Representative Moore. “This bid was supported by over 80% of Utahns and will bring billions in GDP growth, tens of thousands of jobs, and showcase the world’s best athletes on the Greatest Snow on Earth. I’m also thrilled that the Summer Olympics will return stateside to Los Angeles in 2028 and look forward to this bill quickly passing through both houses of Congress.”
“The 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games will mark the historic return of the summer Games to America in more than 30 years,” said LA28 Chief Executive Officer Reynold Hoover. “The heart and dedication demonstrated by the athletes who participate in the Games is truly unparalleled. Los Angeles 2028, followed by Salt Lake 2034 will serve as an opportunity for American athletes to showcase their talent and resilience on the world’s stage. We’re grateful to Senators Padilla, Curtis, Schiff, and Mullin and Congressmembers Sherman, Lucas, Calvert, Kamlager-Dove and Moore for moving this bill forward to honor these athletes and our U.S. host cities for the 2028 and 2034 Games.”
“As a four-time Olympian, I greatly appreciate the commemorative coin program as another means of showcasing our Olympic and Paralympic athletes,” said Catherine Raney Norman, Vice President Development and Athlete Relations, Salt Lake City-Utah 2034, A four-time Olympic speed skater.
Specifically, the America’s Olympic and Paralympic Games Commemorative Coins Act would direct the Treasury Department to mint and issue commemorative $5 gold coins, $1 silver coins, half-dollar clad coins, and proof silver $1 coins in commemoration of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games set to be held in in Los Angeles and the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games set to be held in Salt Lake City.
The United States has hosted the modern Olympic Games nine times, with the 2028 Games set to become the third time Los Angeles will host the summer Olympic Games and the 2034 Games set to become the second time Salt Lake City will host the Olympic Winter Games.
Senator Padilla has secured millions of dollars in federal investments to help prepare Los Angeles for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Last year, Padilla, Representative Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.-34), and former Representative Grace F. Napolitano celebrated nearly $900 million in federal investments in LA Metro to improve mobility and upgrade transportation infrastructure ahead of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This included $139 million for LA Metro’s “Removing Barriers and Creating Legacy” project, which will reconnect communities and strengthen mobility across highway and arterial barriers ahead of the Games. The funding comes through the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Grant Program (RCN), which includes the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program that was modeled off the Reconnecting Communities Act that Padilla co-led in 2021. Padilla also traveled on a presidential delegation to Paris last year for the opening ceremony of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in preparation for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
Full text of the bill is available here.
US Senate News:
Source: United States Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) led 21 Senate Democrats in pressing the Trump Administration on its recent initiatives to weaponize immigration court hearings as an inhumane trap to arrest immigrants just trying to follow the law by terminating their immigration court cases and deporting them without adequate due process.
In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons, the Senators condemned these predatory actions as an affront to due process. The Senators expressed serious concern over recent reporting of the Trump Administration’s inhumane initiatives of detaining noncitizens at their immigration court hearings, often suddenly dismissing their immigration cases and arresting them without prior notice.
“These actions prevent noncitizens from having their fair day in court and raise serious legal and due process concerns,” wrote the Senators. “They also make clear that this Administration is not targeting the worst criminals and threats to public safety, instead redirecting staff and resources away from drug trafficking and human trafficking and towards these operations targeting noncriminal immigrants who are following the law and showing up for their day in court.”
“These actions also place noncitizens in an impossible position. If noncitizens who fear arrest do not attend their immigration court hearing, they may receive an in absentia removal order that will newly subject them to swift detention and removal. If they do attend, they risk arrest, detention, and a swift deportation, possibly to South Sudan, Libya, or El Salvador—countries they may have no connection to. This manipulation of existing laws to enact this Administration’s mass deportation agenda is creating chaos in our immigration system while doing nothing to make our communities safer,” concluded the Senators.
The Senators admonished the misuse of expedited removal (ER) as part of the Trump Administration’s efforts, noting that it typically has only been applied to noncitizens upon their arrival or within 14 days of their arrival if they are detained near the border. The widespread use of ER for law-abiding noncitizens entrenched in the United States — including those working or attending school — is unprecedented and violates due process protections.
The Senators also underscored the insincerity and misleading nature of ICE’s intentions outside these hearings, arguing that ICE often did not give prior notice or explanation of their intentions for fast-track removals surrounding these hearings. This prevents noncitizens from seeking counsel or taking steps to oppose their removals. They also made a series of information requests.
In addition to Padilla, Durbin, and Kelly, the letter is signed by U.S. Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
Senators Padilla and Schiff, as well as Representatives Scott Peters (D-Calif.-50), Juan Vargas (D-Calif.-52), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.-51), and Mike Levin (D-Calif.-49), previously sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem expressing their concern over the deliberate targeting of immigrants trying to follow the legal process at courthouses, including at the San Diego Immigration Court located in the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building.
Full text of the letter is available here and below:
Dear Secretary Noem, Attorney General Bondi, and Acting Director Lyons:
We are extremely concerned by reports of a recent initiative to arrest and detain noncitizens at their immigration court hearings, and in many cases, dismiss their immigration cases without advance notice and while hiding the government’s intent to arrest them. Some reports indicated that plain-clothed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel stationed outside of immigration courtrooms had lists of cases marked for dismissal and even photos of the individuals they intended to arrest. Upon the granting of this request by an immigration judge, ICE officers have reportedly arrested individuals or families outside the courtrooms and placed them in a fast-track removal process known as expedited removal (ER). These actions prevent noncitizens from having their fair day in court and raise serious legal and due process concerns. They also make clear that this Administration is not targeting the worst criminals and threats to public safety, instead redirecting staff and resources away from drug trafficking and human trafficking and towards these operations targeting noncriminal immigrants who are following the law and showing up for their day in court.
ER historically has applied only to a noncitizen who “is arriving in the United States” and certain other noncitizens apprehended close to the border less than 14 days after arrival in the United States. Individuals subject to ER are mandatorily detained and can be summarily deported without a hearing before a judge, administrative appeal or federal court review, unlike regular removal proceedings. The ER process offers very limited administrative review and no meaningful opportunity for a noncitizen to challenge whether they can legally be placed in ER. There is no real opportunity to provide documentation, for example, that would demonstrate they have continuously resided in the United States for more than two years, or that they were, in fact, admitted or paroled into the United States and therefore not subject to ER. ICE is now expanding the application of ER to noncitizens in the interior of the United States who have developed significant ties to the United States, including by lawfully working and attending school. Arresting law-abiding individuals and placing them in ER deprives them of the opportunity to have their fair day in court with the due process protections in immigration court proceedings.
Nevertheless, we understand that ICE attorneys have been instructed to look for immigration court cases that can be dismissed and then orally request, without prior notice, that removal proceedings be dismissed or the Notice to Appear be withdrawn. ICE often did not inform immigration judges or the noncitizens that the purpose of their request was not relief from removal, but instead that ICE intended to arrest and place the individual in fast-track removal without a hearing. It has been a longstanding practice to dismiss cases that are not a priority for enforcement or that ICE chooses not to prosecute, allowing noncitizens to instead pursue immigration applications affirmatively through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Here, however, many noncitizens were not notified that their cases were being dismissed for a different purpose—to place them in ER—and effectively deny them access to a decision from an immigration judge as well as affirmative applications through USCIS. Because noncitizens did not understand the purpose of their dismissal, they did not, through counsel or otherwise, have an opportunity to take steps to oppose the ICE attorneys’ motions to terminate or withdraw.
Immigration judges—who are not part of an independent judiciary but housed under the Executive Office of Immigration Review within the Department of Justice—have also received guidance encouraging immigration judges to grant the ICE attorneys’ motion to dismiss “with no additional documentation or briefing” or opportunity for a noncitizen to respond. In some cases, immigration judges were not made aware of the purpose of the dismissal. As a result, immigration judges could not take into account in their dismissal determination that the noncitizen will immediately be placed in ER. In some cases, the immigration judge did not give noncitizens adequate time to respond to ICE motions to dismiss, or ensure those appearing pro se were informed of the consequences of their cases being dismissed. And in some cases, the immigration judge dismissed the case over the strong objections from the noncitizen who wished for their immigration case to continue with the court.
Noncitizens whose removal proceedings are abruptly dismissed in this manner lose the ability to request relief in immigration court for which they are otherwise eligible, such as asylum or adjustment of status to lawful permanent resident, or to request that an immigration judge hold their case while they pursue an immigration status with USCIS, such as classification as a Special Immigrant Juvenile. Many of these noncitizens who had their cases dismissed had reportedly already submitted an asylum application or other forms of relief to the immigration court, raising serious concerns that their applications were wrongfully denied any consideration. For example, a Mexican transgender woman with no criminal history who came to the United States in 2023 after being subject to abduction and rape by members of the Knights Templar drug cartel in Mexico, had applied for asylum; upon her appearance for her court hearing in Portland, Oregon, ICE moved to dismiss her case, the court granted the request, and she was subsequently arrested by ICE agents in the lobby. In another case, ICE requested the dismissal of a case of a Cuban man who entered the United States in 2021 and had an asylum application pending; an immigration judge in the Miami Immigration Court told the asylum seeker he could seek asylum affirmatively from USCIS after the dismissal; instead, ICE arrested and detained him.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently stated, “[w]e have long held that no person shall be removed from the United States without opportunity, at some time, to be heard. Due process requires notice that is reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances, to apprise interested parties and that affords[s] a reasonable time …to make an appearance.” Here, it appears that the ICE attorneys are being told to dismiss immigration cases and place noncitizens in expedited removal. At the same time, immigration judges are being told that they may dismiss such cases without any briefing or opportunity to respond. In addition, often noncitizens have not been notified of the purpose of their dismissal, in order to respond or contest the dismissal of their immigration cases, or the placement of their case into expedited removal. Taken together, these actions raise serious due process concerns.
These actions also place noncitizens in an impossible position. If noncitizens who fear arrest do not attend their immigration court hearing, they may receive an in absentia removal order that will newly subject them to swift detention and removal. If they do attend, they risk arrest, detention, and a swift deportation, possibly to South Sudan, Libya, or El Salvador—countries they may have no connection to. This manipulation of existing laws to enact this Administration’s mass deportation agenda is creating chaos in our immigration system while doing nothing to make our communities safer.
We request responses to the following questions by July 25, 2025:
1. What specific guidance has DHS or DOJ/EOIR issued regarding the dismissal of standard 240 removal proceedings and the facilitation of enforcement actions in and around immigration courtrooms? Please provide a copy of the relevant guidance, email, memorandum, or other directives associated with this policy.
2. How many individuals have been detained and placed in ER following dismissal of their cases from January 20th to May 19th, 2025? How many have been detained and placed in ER following dismissal since May 20, 2025? Provide the total number of individuals arrested and detained by week, and disaggregate by country of origin, gender, and age.
a. What number of the total individuals detained and placed in ER following the dismissal of their removal proceedings have been referred for a credible fear interview (CFI)? How many have passed that interview with the asylum officer and how many did not? Of the total negative CFIs by an asylum officer, how many were reviewed by an Immigration Judge and reversed?
b. Of the total individuals detained and placed in ER following dismissal of their cases, how many had applications pending with the immigration court in INA 240 proceedings at the time that the ICE attorney moved for dismissal? How many had applications pending with USCIS (e.g. adjustment of status, SIJ classification, T or U visa)? Of those with applications pending in immigration court, how many were asylum applications and how many were for adjustment of status to lawful permanent resident?
c. Of those individuals who had asylum applications pending in immigration court when the ICE attorney requested the dismissal of proceedings, how many were subsequently given a CFI after dismissal and their placement in ER? Of those, how many passed that interview with the Asylum Officer and were placed back into proceedings to again pursue their asylum claim? Of those with an asylum application pending who were subsequently given a CFI after dismissal and their placement in ER, how many had a negative CFI with an asylum officer which was subsequently reversed by an IJ and were placed back into proceedings?
d. What number of the total individuals detained and placed in ER following the dismissal of their removal proceedings have been placed back into INA 240 proceedings for any reason?
3. Are immigration judges being monitored or tracked on how they respond to ICE motions to dismiss the cases or to withdraw the NTA? If so, how is that information being utilized?
4. There are reports of cases where the immigration judge did not immediately grant ICE’s motion to dismiss and did give the noncitizen additional time to respond, but ICE detained the noncitizen anyway.
a) Since May 20th, in how many cases has an ICE attorney orally requested a dismissal, and the IJ has either denied such a motion or granted additional time for the noncitizen to respond?
b) In how many of those cases did ICE arrest and detain the noncitizen despite the removal proceedings not being dismissed?
c) In how many of those cases did ICE request a Change of Venue to a detained docket?
d) For the subset of cases moved to the detained docket, in how many cases has ICE moved to dismiss again before a different immigration judge in order to place the noncitizen in ER?
5. Of the total detained and placed in ER after the dismissal of their court cases, how many had a criminal conviction?
6. Of the total detained and placed in ER after dismissal of their court cases, how many were continuously present in the United States for more than two years? Provide an explanation of the legal basis for their placement in ER.
7. Of the total detained and placed in ER after dismissal of their court cases, how many were in removal proceedings after having been initially paroled into the United States at a port of entry? Provide the total number and disaggregate by country of origin, gender and age. Also, provide the total number of individuals who were initially paroled more than two years prior to the issuance of the I-860 ER order.
8. Provide a complete list of all the immigration courts where ICE courthouse arrests and placements into ER have occurred since May 20, 2025. At each of these immigration courts, disaggregated by each individual court, have in abstentia removal orders increased and if so, by what percentage of the total scheduled court hearings? Provide a daily accounting of the number of in absentia removal orders issued in each immigration court since January 1, 2025, disaggregated by court.
Sincerely,
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, holds talks with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Beijing, capital of China, July 14, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday that China and India should adhere to the direction of good-neighborliness and friendship, and find a way for mutual respect and trust, peaceful coexistence, common development and win-win cooperation.
Wang made the remarks when holding talks with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Beijing.
As two major Eastern civilizations and major emerging economies living adjacent to each other, the essence of China-India relations lies in how to live in harmony and achieve mutual success, said Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.
Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached important consensus during their meeting in Kazan, pointing out the direction for the improvement and development of China-India relations, Wang said.
Wang called on both sides to aim high, plan for the long term, adhere to the direction of good-neighborliness and friendship, and realize the “Dragon-Elephant Tango.”
Wang said that this year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and India, and the sustained improvement and growth of bilateral relations have not come easily, making them more valuable to cherish.
Noting the relationship between the two countries is not directed against any third party, nor should it be disrupted by any third party, Wang called on both sides to build mutual trust rather than suspicion, pursue cooperation rather than competition, and seek mutual success rather than mutual attrition.
China is willing to work with India to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, consistently enhance political mutual trust, meet each other halfway to expand exchanges and cooperation, act with consideration for the bigger picture to properly manage differences, and strengthen coordination via multilateral platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), to promote the sustained, healthy, and steady development of China-India relations, Wang said.
Wang said that President Xi proposed the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, and Prime Minister Modi advocated that “the world is one family,” noting that these concepts are interrelated.
Both sides support multilateralism and hope that the international order will develop in a more just and reasonable direction, Wang said.
He added that China is willing to enhance communication and coordination with India, and jointly safeguard the multilateral trading system, the stability of the global industrial and supply chains, and an international environment of openness and cooperation.
China is willing to work with India to promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, and safeguard the common interests of the Global South to promote regional peace, stability, development and prosperity, Wang said.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, holds talks with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Beijing, capital of China, July 14, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
For his part, Jaishankar said that the Kazan meeting between the leaders of the two countries has provided important guidance for India-China relations, with bilateral exchanges and cooperation across various fields being normalized.
He also expressed the appreciation for China’s facilitation of the resumption of Indian pilgrimages to China’s Xizang.
Noting that India and China are development partners, not rivals, the Indian foreign minister said India is willing to view its relations with China from a long-term perspective, take the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties as an opportunity to focus on common interests, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, enhance people-to-people exchanges, and jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border regions.
He called on both sides to work on positive factors in the bilateral relationship, so that the differences will not escalate into disputes, and competition will not turn into conflict.
As India and China are important neighbors, populous countries, and major global economies, their relations carry regional and global significance, said Jaishankar.
He added that India adheres to strategic autonomy and pursues an independent foreign policy. India stands ready to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China at the multilateral level to promote a multipolar world, Jaishankar noted.
He also said that India fully supports China in successfully hosting the SCO summit as its rotating chair.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic attends a joint press conference in Brussels, Belgium, July 14, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen condemned the Trump administration’s threat to impose 30 percent tariffs on European Union (EU) exports as “absolutely unacceptable” during a joint press conference with EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic on Monday.
Rasmussen said that the bloc views the threat as “absolutely unacceptable and unjustified” and is prepared to respond if talks with Washington fail to produce a viable outcome.
“We are committed to continuing working with the United States on a negotiated outcome,” he said, but the agreement has to be “mutually acceptable” on both sides.
He revealed that the EU will react with robust and proportionate countermeasures if required.
Sefcovic noted that the 27-country bloc is preparing potential countermeasures worth 72 billion euros (84 billion U.S. dollars).
“We must be prepared for all outcomes, including, if necessary, well-considered proportionate measures to restore balance in our transatlantic relationship,” he stressed.
Sefcovic said that he believes there is “still a potential to continue the negotiations” but stressed any deal will need the backing of all EU member states and the European Parliament. (1 euro = 1.17 U.S. dollar)
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
A doctor of the 27th batch of the Chinese medical team to Benin (C) examines a patient at the Mono and Couffo Departmental Hospital Center in Lokossa, Benin, on July 14, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
When Yang Ping stepped back into the intensive care unit, a wave of relief washed over her: Beatrice Lawe, a 45-year-old patient once teetering on the brink of death, was breathing on her own, vital signs stable, after an emergency operation performed by Yang and fellow members of the Chinese Medical Team in Benin.
“She really made it through,” recalled Yang, a surgeon who leads the 27th Chinese medical team.
Lawe had earlier undergone surgery for peritonitis and appendicitis at another hospital, but developed severe complications shortly after. When her condition suddenly deteriorated, she was rushed to the Mono and Couffo Departmental Hospital Center in Lokossa, southwest Benin.
Yang still remembers the moment of her initial assessment. “Based on clinical experience, the odds of her survival were almost nil,” she said.
Despite the grim outlook, Yang and her colleagues pressed on with emergency procedures, fully supported by the patient’s family. Two weeks later, a miracle unfolded: Lawe regained consciousness with her condition stabilized.
She was eventually discharged in good health and, six months later, underwent a successful second operation for colostomy reversal and digestive tract reconstruction, after which she fully returned to normal life.
Her recovery became more than just a clinical success. It symbolized the deep trust and friendship between Chinese doctors and Beninese patients.
The hospital where Lawe was cured has a longstanding bond with China. Built with Chinese aid and inaugurated in April 1997, the Mono and Couffo Departmental Hospital Center serves as a key regional medical center in Benin.
Since 1978, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China has continuously dispatched medical teams to the West African country, a commitment that has remained unbroken for 47 years.
The 27th batch of the Chinese medical team arrived in Benin in January 2024, consisting of 22 members, including 18 medical professionals. They are stationed in Lokossa and Natitingou.
Since their arrival, they have provided medical care to 15,382 patients, performed 2,758 surgeries, and organized 26 visits across Benin to provide locals with free consultation, treatment and, when needed, medication.
In a country with limited infrastructure, scarce advanced equipment, and a high prevalence of tropical diseases, the Chinese medical team often works under intense pressure.
“Motorcycle-related trauma cases are especially frequent,” Yang noted. “At peak times, we handle up to seven or eight severe orthopedic injuries a day.”
To help address these challenges, China and Benin signed a cooperation agreement in 2021, establishing a partnership between the General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University and the Mono and Couffo Departmental Hospital Center.
Through telemedicine consultations, academic exchanges, talent training, and expert visits, the program aims not just to heal, but to empower.
“We are not only here to treat patients,” Yang said. “We are here to leave behind skills that will stay on and benefit our Beninese friends for generations.”
Through case discussions, live demonstrations, and bedside teaching, the Chinese team helps local hospital staff improve their ability to independently manage situations such as emergency trauma, fracture reduction, and postoperative care.
The resulting effects are evident to the Beninese crew. Head nurse Jacqueline Oussou, who has worked in Lokossa for 15 years, said she has seen an increase in patients coming specifically for Chinese doctors.
“They are so dedicated, and they did an excellent job in surgery, obstetrics, otolaryngology and ophthalmology,” she said.
In the anesthesia department, nurse Elsie Tchenagni highlighted the importance of the new equipment and skills brought by the Chinese team.
“They not only brought in new equipment, but also trained us patiently on how to use them,” she said. “Now our procedures are much more precise. Even with language barriers, we have developed strong working chemistry.”
From emergency surgeries to daily rounds, from hands-on training to technology transfer, the Chinese medical team in Benin has become more than just a group of doctors. They are trusted partners in health and an embodiment of friendship.
Over the past 47 years, successive generations of Chinese doctors have traveled from afar to serve in Benin, upholding the principle that “people come first, life comes first.” Their unwavering dedication is reflected in the lives they save and the lasting impact they have on local healthcare.
In every hospital ward and surgical theater, their presence tells a quiet yet powerful story — one of humanity, perseverance, and a shared hope for a healthier future.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (C) speaks at the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025 at the UN headquarters in New York, on July 14, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
With only five years to go, merely 35 percent of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are on track, while nearly half are stalling and 18 percent have regressed, according to a UN report released on Monday.
In the past decade since the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted, notable global achievements have been made in health, education, energy and digital connectivity, said “The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025.”
New HIV infections have declined by nearly 40 percent since 2010. Malaria prevention has averted 2.2 billion cases and saved 12.7 million lives since 2000. Social protection now reaches over half the world’s population, up significantly from a decade ago. Since 2015, 110 million more children and youth have entered school. Child marriage is in decline, with more girls staying in school and women gaining ground in parliaments around the world, the report said.
In 2023, 92 percent of the world’s population had access to electricity. Internet use has surged from 40 percent in 2015 to 68 percent in 2024. Conservation efforts have doubled protection of key ecosystems, contributing to global biodiversity resilience, the report said.
However, the pace of change remains insufficient to meet the SDGs by 2030.
More than 800 million people still live in extreme poverty. Billions still lack access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services. Climate change pushed 2024 to be the hottest year on record. Conflicts caused nearly 50,000 deaths in 2024. By the end of that year, over 120 million people were forcibly displaced. Low- and middle-income countries faced record-high debt servicing costs of 1.4 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023, according to the report.
The document called for action across six priority areas — food systems, energy access, digital transformation, education, jobs and social protection, and climate and biodiversity action.
“We are in a global development emergency — an emergency measured in the over 800 million people still living in extreme poverty, in intensifying climate impacts, and in relentless debt service, draining the resources that countries need to invest in their people,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the launch of the report.
“Today’s report shows that the Sustainable Development Goals are still within reach. But only if we act — with urgency, unity, and unwavering resolve,” he said.
When introducing the report, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Li Junhua called for “urgent multilateralism” to address the lack of progress in the SDGs.
“The challenges we face are inherently global and interconnected. No country, regardless of its wealth or capacity, can address climate change, pandemic preparedness or inequality alone. The 2030 Agenda represents our collective recognition that our destinies are intertwined and that sustainable development is not a zero-sum game, but a shared endeavor that benefits all,” said Li.
“This moment demands what I call ‘urgent multilateralism’ — a renewed commitment to international cooperation based on evidence, equity and mutual accountability. It means treating the SDGs not as aspirational goals but as non-negotiable commitments to current and future generations,” he said.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
An aerial drone photo taken on Nov. 11, 2024 shows an automatic sorting line at an express delivery company in Changxing County of Huzhou City, east China’s Zhejiang Province. [Photo/Xinhua]
China’s express delivery market saw stable growth in the first half of 2025, maintaining a high market volume, the State Post Bureau said Monday.
The country’s express delivery revenue is expected to have surpassed 700 billion yuan (about 97.9 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-June period, up 8.5 percent year on year.
The volume of parcels handled during the period is estimated to surpass 95 billion, marking a 19-percent increase from a year earlier, Zhu Li, an official with the Development and Research Center of the State Post Bureau, told a press conference.
In June alone, the express delivery development index stood at 454.3, a year-on-year increase of 4.7 percent.
In the first half of this year, China’s express delivery sector saw steady growth, meeting the delivery needs of livestreaming e-commerce, the holiday economy and consumer goods trade-in, Zhu noted.
It has also tapped into potential needs in cultural tourism and sports events, further stimulating online consumption, Zhu said.
In the second half, the industry is expected to gain further growth momentum, driven by deeper industrial coordination and increasingly diversified services, Zhu added.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Workers work in the filling workshop of the Global Intelligent Manufacturing Industrial Park of Yili Modern Intelligent Health Valley in Tumd Left Banner in Hohhot, north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, April 17, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
China’s dairy industry will make significant strides toward all-round modernization by 2030, the Dairy Association of China said on Monday.
By 2030, the country’s milk self-sufficiency rate is expected to be maintained at over 70 percent, with annual milk yield per cow exceeding 10 tonnes, according to a document released by the association at the 16th Dairy Conference held in Xiamen, east China’s Fujian Province.
The dairy product quality inspection pass rate should remain above 99 percent by 2030, according to the document, which added that the production process should be more environmentally friendly.
To achieve the goals, an advanced forage production and supply system and a high-efficiency dairy cattle breeding system will need to be established, said the association.
Efforts should also be made to propel the processing of dairy products to be more digital-savvy, it said.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Inbound passengers line up for documents checking at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport in southwest China’s Chongqing, July 8, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
China is experiencing a surge in foreign tourist arrivals as the summer vacation season kicks off, with increasing numbers of international travelers drawn to the country’s unique blend of ancient culture and modern vitality.
Thomas Watts, a short video creator from the United States, said he invited friends to Chongqing this summer after seeing numerous online posts highlighting the city’s steep hills and bold flavors.
“It reminds me of San Francisco, but with spicier food and a spectacular neon-lit skyline. I came to experience it and film it myself,” he said.
He is not alone in choosing China as a summer destination. Kittiphume Pannil, a university student from Thailand, arrived in China for the first time last week and plans to spend his summer break on an exchange program at a local university in Chongqing.
“When I saw Chongqing from the plane, it looked like a city of dazzling lights and towering skyscrapers, like something straight out of the future,” Pannil said.
Official data showed that in the first half of 2025, Chongqing’s border checkpoints handled more than 1.14 million inbound and outbound travelers, a 35 percent year-on-year increase. Among them, over 330,000 were foreign nationals, setting a new record for the city.
The country’s capital is also drawing a growing number of international visitors. According to official data, Beijing’s ports of entry handled over 640,000 inbound and outbound travelers from July 1 to 10, including 171,000 foreign tourists, marking a 22.1 percent year-on-year increase.
Among the newcomers is Robert Alex Barbender, a traveler from the Netherlands. “A friend told me Beijing is beautiful, and now with the visa-free policy, I thought why not come and have a look?” he said.
“Honestly, it feels like I’ve stepped into a video game, everything is busy and crowded, but still runs in perfect order,” he added.
Other major cities are also welcoming record numbers of international visitors. According to official data, a total of 2.56 million foreign travelers entered China through Shanghai’s Pudong and Hongqiao international airports in the first half of this year, marking a 44.7 percent year-on-year increase.
Meanwhile, Xi’an, a cultural hub known for its Terracotta Warriors, has welcomed more than 135,000 foreign visitors this year, a 124 percent jump from the same period last year. Notably, over 100,000 of them arrived under visa exemption policies, including unilateral and mutual visa-free entry as well as the visa-free transit policy, marking a staggering 290 percent surge compared to 2024.
To meet the growing demand, immigration authorities at major border checkpoints have introduced a range of measures to reduce waiting times and improve the travel experience.
Tourism destinations across the country are also tailoring experiences for international visitors. In Beijing, the Palace Museum offers foreign-language tours focusing on the architectural significance of the landmark spots. In Xi’an, tourists can immerse themselves in China’s rich history by dressing in traditional Tang Dynasty costumes.
This significant rise in inbound tourism this summer is no coincidence. Summer is traditionally a major vacation season for travelers from Europe, North America and Southeast Asia, leading many to choose China as their preferred destination during these months.
The surge has also been driven by China’s continued easing of entry policies for foreign visitors. As of now, China’s 240-hour visa-free transit policy applies to 55 countries, while nationals from 47 countries are eligible for unilateral visa-free entry.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
An aerial drone photo shows vehicles to be exported at Yantai Port in east China’s Shandong Province, Jan. 2, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
China’s foreign trade continued to recover in the first half of 2025, with imports returning to positive growth in June, as the world’s second-largest economy showed resilience despite global economic uncertainties.
The country’s total imports and exports of goods in yuan-denominated terms rose at a pace of 2.9 percent during the January-June period to 21.79 trillion yuan (about 3.05 trillion U.S. dollars), a record high for the period, data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC) showed on Monday.
The growth rate accelerated from a rise of 2.5 percent registered in the first five months of the year.
Describing the first-half foreign trade performance as “hard-won,” GAC deputy head Wang Lingjun told a press conference that China still faces growing global unilateralism and protectionism, which have increased the complexity and uncertainty of the external environment. He stressed that “arduous efforts” are needed to stabilize foreign trade growth in the second half of the year.
A breakdown of the data showed that China’s exports rose 7.2 percent year on year during the first half of the year, while imports fell 2.7 percent, according to the GAC data.
In June alone, the country’s exports climbed 7.2 percent from a year earlier, while imports gained 2.3 percent, reversing from a decline of 2.1 percent posted in May.
Monday’s data also showed continued structural improvements in China’s foreign trade.
High-tech product exports maintained strong growth in the first half of the year, rising 9.2 percent year on year. Notably, Chinese brands accounted for a larger share of the total, reaching 32.4 percent.
In terms of trading partners, trade between China and ASEAN totaled 3.67 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.6 percent. China’s trade with the European Union went up 3.5 percent year on year to 2.82 trillion yuan, while its trade with the United States decreased by 9.3 percent year on year to 2.08 trillion yuan, according to the data.
China’s trade with Belt and Road partner countries rose 4.7 percent to 11.29 trillion yuan, and trade with African countries increased 14.4 percent to 1.18 trillion yuan during the period.
Wang noted that China has the strength, confidence and capability to overcome various risks and challenges, citing its diversified and stable markets, innovative and competitive products, and resilient exporters as key buffers against external risks.
The foreign trade data were released one day ahead of the country’s other key economic indicators for the first half of the year, including GDP, retail sales, industrial production and fixed-asset investment.
China’s economy expanded 5.4 percent year on year in the first quarter of the year, compared with an annual growth of 5 percent in 2024. The country has set its full-year growth target at around 5 percent for this year.
Source: US National Education Union
By: National Education Association
Published: July 14, 2025
National Education Association President Becky Pringle released the following statement:
“Among many items debated at NEA’s 2025 Representative Assembly, delegates voted to forward a recommendation to the NEA Executive Committee that the National Education Association (NEA) not use, endorse, or publicize materials from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) or participate in ADL programs. As was shared with delegates at that time, a vote to support the measure would result in an automatic referral to the NEA Executive Committee in accordance with NEA rules on sanctions and boycotts.
“As educators, we know that before making any decision, we must do our own research, listening, and learning. That process has begun by meeting with a multitude of Jewish leaders, civil rights leaders, academic practitioners, and elected officials. Today, I met with Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, to clarify NEA’s process and restate our commitment to combating the rise of antisemitism in our society. The NEA has a long history of combating antisemitism and providing resources for educators to use in our schools and communities. And we have increased that work over the last several years, given the clear rise of antisemitism. As educators, our duty is to increase understanding and strengthen the culture of respect and inclusion all of our students need. Antisemitism has no place in our union, in public education, or in our country.
“We will move expeditiously, with integrity and authenticity, to abide by our organization’s clear process. As always, our work will be guided by our mission, vision, and core values.”
-###-
Follow us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/neapresident.bsky.social and https://bsky.app/profile/neatoday.bsky.social
The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, students preparing to become teachers, healthcare workers, and public employees. Learn more at www.nea.org
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Salud Carbajal (CA-24)
U.S. Representative Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24) issued the response below following ICE’s inaccurate and misleading claims about the Carpinteria, CA, raid that took place on July 10, 2025.
“This is a blatant attempt to distort what occurred in Carpinteria,” said Rep. Carbajal. “DHS and ICE conducted their raid using a disturbing and disproportionate level of force, both on the farm workers they were targeting and the peaceful protesters who gathered to defend their neighbors. I witnessed agents, in full military gear, fire smoke canisters and other projectiles into a crowd of peaceful civilians. Just before I arrived at the scene, witnesses told me the agents threw a stun grenade into the crowd. Several civilians were injured, including a child.
“This aggressive behavior in a normally quiet part of the Central Coast sparked alarm across our community, prompting a flood of calls and messages to my office from concerned citizens. I went to the scene to seek answers and represent my constituents. In response to my questions, an ICE Public Affairs Specialist voluntarily gave me his card in full public view of the dozens of TV cameras, reporters, and livestreaming smartphones that were around us to film the interaction.
“ICE’s claims of ‘doxxing’ and ‘violent mobs’ are attempts to deflect attention from their unjust tactics, distort the facts to support misleading narratives, and avoid accountability for their aggressive actions that caused injuries and left our community traumatized.”
Source: Government of Canada – Prime Minister
Note: All times local
10:00 a.m. The Prime Minister will chair the virtual Cabinet meeting.
Closed to media
12:15 p.m. The Prime Minister will convene the Incident Response Group to discuss the ongoing wildfire situation across the country.
Closed to media
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aarushi Bhandari, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Davidson College
In 2001, social theorist bell hooks warned about the dangers of a loveless zeitgeist. In “All About Love: New Visions,” she lamented “the lack of an ongoing public discussion … about the practice of love in our culture and in our lives.”
Back then, the internet was at a crossroads. The dot-com crash had bankrupted many early internet companies, and people wondered if the technology was long for this world.
The doubts were unfounded. In only a few decades, the internet has merged with our bodies as smartphones and mined our personalities via algorithms that know us more intimately than some of our closest friends. It has even constructed a secondary social world.
Yet as the internet has become more integrated in our daily lives, few would describe it as a place of love, compassion and cooperation. Study after study describe how social media platforms promote alienation and disconnection – in part because many algorithms reward behaviors like trolling, cyberbullying and outrage.
Is the internet’s place in human history cemented as a harbinger of despair? Or is there still hope for an internet that supports collective flourishing?
I explore these questions in my new book, “Attention and Alienation.”
In it, I explain how social media companies’ profits depend on users investing their time, creativity and emotions. Whether it’s spending hours filming content for TikTok or a few minutes crafting a thoughtful Reddit comment, participating on these platforms takes work. And it can be exhausting.
Even passive engagement – like scrolling through feeds and “lurking” in forums – consumes time. It might feel like free entertainment – until people recognize they are the product, with their data being harvested and their emotions being manipulated.
Blogger, journalist and science fiction writer Cory Doctorow coined the term “enshittification” to describe how experiences on online platforms gradually deteriorate as companies increasingly exploit users’ data and tweak their algorithms to maximize profits.
For these reasons, much of people’s time spent online involves dealing with toxic interactions or mindlessly doomscrolling, immersed in dopamine-driven feedback loops.
This cycle is neither an accident nor a novel insight. Hate and mental illness fester in this culture because love and healing seem to be incompatible with profits.
In his 2009 book “Envisioning Real Utopias,” the late sociologist Erik Olin Wright discusses places in the world that prioritize cooperation, care and egalitarianism.
Wright mainly focused on offline systems like worker-owned cooperatives. But one of his examples lived on the internet: Wikipedia. He argued that Wikipedia demonstrates the ethos “from each according to ability, to each according to need” – a utopian ideal popularized by Karl Marx.
Wikipedia still thrives as a nonprofit, volunteer-ran bureaucracy. The website is a form of media that is deeply social, in the literal sense: People voluntarily curate and share knowledge, collectively and democratically, for free. Unlike social media, the rewards are only collective.
There are no visible likes, comments or rage emojis for participants to hoard and chase. Nobody loses and everyone wins, including the vast majority of people who use Wikipedia without contributing work or money to keep it operational.
Wikipedia is evidence of care, cooperation and love hiding in plain sight.
In recent years, there have been more efforts to create nonprofit apps and websites that are committed to protecting user data. Popular examples include Signal, a free and open source instant messaging service, and Proton Mail, an encrypted email service.
These are all laudable developments. But how can the internet actively promote collective flourishing?
In “Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want,” sociologist Ruha Benjamin points to a way forward. She tells the story of Black TikTok creators who led a successful cultural labor strike in 2021. Many viral TikTok dances had originally been created by Black artists, whose accounts, they claimed, were suppressed by a biased algorithm that favored white influencers.
TikTok responded to the viral #BlackTikTokStrike movement by formally apologizing and making commitments to better represent and compensate the work of Black creators. These creators demonstrated how social media engagement is work – and that workers have the power to demand equitable conditions and fair pay.
This landmark strike showed how anyone who uses social media companies that profit off the work, emotions and personal data of their users – whether it’s TikTok, X, Facebook, Instagram or Reddit – can become organized.
Meanwhile, there are organizations devoted to designing an internet that promotes collective flourishing. Sociologist Firuzeh Shokooh Valle provides examples of worker-owned technology cooperatives in her 2023 book, “In Defense of Solidarity and Pleasure: Feminist Technopolitics in the Global South.” She highlights the Sulá Batsú co-op in Costa Rica, which promotes policies that seek to break the stranglehold that negativity and exploitation have over internet culture.
“Digital spaces are increasingly powered by hate and discrimination,” the group writes, adding that it hopes to create an online world where “women and people of diverse sexualities and genders are able to access and enjoy a free and open internet to exercise agency and autonomy, build collective power, strengthen movements, and transform power relations.”
In Los Angeles, there’s Chani, Inc., a technology company that describes itself as “proudly” not funded by venture capitalists. The Chani app blends mindfulness practices and astrology with the goal of simply helping people. The app is not designed for compulsive user engagement, the company never sells user data, and there are no comments sections.
What would social media look like if Wikipedia were the norm instead of an exception?
To me, a big problem in internet culture is the way people’s humanity is obscured. People are free to speak their minds in text-based public discussion forums, but the words aren’t always attached to someone’s identity. Real people hide behind the anonymity of user names. It isn’t true human interaction.
In “Attention and Alienation,” I argue that the ability to meet and interact with others online as fully realized, three-dimensional human beings would go a long way toward creating a more empathetic, cooperative internet.
When I was 8 years old, my parents lived abroad for work. Sometimes we talked on the phone. Often I would cry late into the night, praying for the ability to “see them through the phone.” It felt like a miraculous possibility – like magic.
I told this story to my students in a moment of shared vulnerability. This was in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, so the class was taking place over videoconferencing. In these online classes, one person talked at a time. Others listened.
It wasn’t perfect, but I think a better internet would promote this form of discussion – people getting together from across the world to share the fullness of their humanity.
Efforts like Clubhouse have tapped into this vision by creating voice-based discussion forums. The company, however, has been criticized for predatory data privacy policies.
What if the next iteration of public social media platforms could build on Clubhouse? What if they brought people together and showcased not just their voices, but also live video feeds of their faces without harvesting their data or promoting conflict and outrage?
Raised eyebrows. Grins. Frowns. They’re what make humans distinct from increasingly sophisticated large language models and artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT.
After all, is anything you can’t say while looking at another human being in the eye worth saying in the first place?
Aarushi Bhandari 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.
– ref. Is there any hope for the internet? – https://theconversation.com/is-there-any-hope-for-the-internet-259251
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael J. Socolow, Professor of Communication and Journalism, University of Maine
It was a surrender widely foreseen. For months, rumors abounded that Paramount would eventually settle the seemingly frivolous lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump concerning editorial decisions in the production of a CBS interview with Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in 2024.
On July 2, 2025, those rumors proved true: The settlement between Paramount and Trump’s legal team resulted in CBS’s parent company agreeing to pay $16 million to the future Donald Trump Library – the $16 million included Trump’s legal fees – in exchange for ending the lawsuit. Despite the opinion of many media law scholars and practicing attorneys who considered the lawsuit meritless, Shari Redstone, the largest shareholder of Paramount, yielded to Trump.
Redstone had been trying to sell Paramount to Skydance Media since July 2024, but the transaction was delayed by issues involving government approval.
Specifically, when the Trump administration assumed power in January 2025, the new Federal Communications Commission had no legal obligation to facilitate, without scrutiny, the transfer of the CBS network’s broadcast licenses for its owned-and-operated TV stations to new ownership.
The FCC, under newly installed Republican Chairman Brendan Carr, was fully aware of the issues in the legal conflict between Trump and CBS at the time Paramount needed FCC approval for the license transfers. Without a settlement, the Paramount-Skydance deal remained in jeopardy.
Until it wasn’t.
At that point, Paramount joined Disney in implicitly apologizing for journalism produced by their TV news divisions.
Earlier in 2025, Disney had settled a different Trump lawsuit with ABC News in exchange for a $15 million donation to the future Trump Library. That lawsuit involved a dispute over the wording of the actions for which Trump was found liable in a civil lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll.
It’s not certain what the ABC and CBS settlements portend, but many are predicting they will produce a “chilling effect” within the network news divisions. Such an outcome would arise from fear of new litigation, and it would install a form of internal self-censorship that would influence network journalists when deciding whether the pursuit of investigative stories involving the Trump administration would be worth the risk.
Trump has apparently succeeded where earlier presidents failed.
From Jimmy Carter trying to get CBS anchor Walter Cronkite to stop ending his evening newscasts with the number of days American hostages were being held in Iran to Richard Nixon’s administration threatening the broadcast licenses of The Washington Post’s TV stations to weaken Watergate reporting, previous presidents sought to apply editorial pressure on broadcast journalists.
But in the cases of Carter and Nixon, it didn’t work. The broadcast networks’ focus on both Watergate and the Iran hostage crisis remained unrelenting.
Nor were Nixon and Carter the first presidents seeking to influence, and possibly control, network news.
President Lyndon Johnson, who owned local TV and radio stations in Austin, Texas, regularly complained to his old friend, CBS President Frank Stanton, about what he perceived as biased TV coverage. Johnson was so furious with the CBS and NBC reporting from Vietnam, he once argued that their newscasts seemed “controlled by the Vietcong.”
Yet none of these earlier presidents won millions from the corporations that aired ethical news reporting in the public interest.
Before Trump, these conflicts mostly occurred backstage and informally, allowing the broadcasters to sidestep the damage to their credibility should any surrender to White House administrations be made public. In a “Reporter’s Notebook” on the CBS Evening News the night of the Trump settlement, anchor John Dickerson summarized the new dilemma succinctly: “Can you hold power to account when you’ve paid it millions? Can an audience trust you when it thinks you’ve traded away that trust?”
“The audience will decide that,” Dickerson continued, concluding: “Our job is to show up to honor what we witness on behalf of the people we witness it for.”
There’s an adage in TV news: “You’re only as good as your last show.”
Soon, Skydance Media will assume control over the Paramount properties, and the new CBS will be on the airwaves.
When the licenses for KCBS in Los Angeles, WCBS in New York and the other CBS-owned-and-operated stations are transferred, we’ll learn the long-term legacy of corporate capitulation. But for now, it remains too early to judge tomorrow’s newscasts.
As a scholar of broadcast journalism and a former broadcast journalist, I recommend evaluating programs like “60 Minutes” and the “CBS Evening News” on the record they will compile over the next three years – and the record they compiled over the past 50. The same goes for “ABC World News Tonight” and other ABC News programs.
A major complicating factor for the Paramount-Skydance deal was the fact that “60 Minutes” has, over the past six months, broken major scoops embarrassing to the Trump administration, which led to additional scrutiny by its corporate ownership. Judged by its reporting in the first half of 2025, “60 Minutes” has upheld its record of critical and independent reporting in the public interest.
If audience members want to see ethical, independent and professional broadcast journalism that holds power to account, then it’s the audience’s responsibility to tune it in. The only way to learn the consequences of these settlements is by watching future programming rather than dismissing it beforehand.
The journalists working at ABC News and CBS News understand the legacy of their organizations, and they are also aware of how their owners have cast suspicion on the news divisions’ professionalism and credibility. As Dickerson asserted, they plan to “show up” regardless of the stain, and I’d bet they’re more motivated to redeem their reputations than we expect.
I don’t think reporters, editors and producers plan to let Donald Trump become their editor-in-chief over the next three years. But we’ll only know by watching.
Michael Socolow’s father, Sanford Socolow, worked for CBS News from 1956 to 1988.
– ref. ABC’s and CBS’s settlements with Trump are a dangerous step toward the commander in chief becoming the editor-in-chief – https://theconversation.com/abcs-and-cbss-settlements-with-trump-are-a-dangerous-step-toward-the-commander-in-chief-becoming-the-editor-in-chief-261006
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Logan, Senior Lecturer Above the Bar, Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury
New Zealand 2050: On the morning of February 27, the sea surged through the dunes south of the small town of Te Taone, riding on the back of Cyclone Harita’s swollen rivers and 200mm of overnight rainfall.
By mid-morning, floodwaters had engulfed entire streets. Power was out. Roads were underwater. Emergency services responded swiftly, coordinating evacuations and establishing shelters.
But for many residents, the realisation came days later: the help they expected after the water receded – support to rebuild, relocate or recover – wasn’t coming.
“We lost everything,” says Mere Rākete, a solo mother of three, standing outside her home, now uninhabitable. “I rang the council, the government helpline, even the insurance company. They all said I’m not covered.”
Mere lives in a suburb long identified as “high risk” under national climate risk maps. She didn’t stay there because she ignored the risk. She stayed because she had no viable alternative.
“They say we had a choice. But when houses here were $400,000 and anything safer was $700,000, what choice is that?”
Although this story is fictitious, it describes a plausible future based on how New Zealand’s draft climate adaptation framework could play out. It reflects the likely consequences of policy decisions that focus narrowly on financial exposure.
Last week’s recommendations from the Ministry for the Environment’s Independent Reference Group rightly called for urgent and improved risk information. But they focused narrowly on direct risk to property and infrastructure.
In particular, the group proposed that beyond 2045 the government should not buy out property owners after climate-related disasters (or those at high risk of future events).
Responding to the recommendations last week, climate policy analyst Jonathan Boston wrote that ruling out property buyouts “is philosophically misguided, morally questionable, administratively inept, and politically naïve”.
But it appears the government shares the reference group’s view. Addressing the current flooding disaster in the Tasman district, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said, “In principle, the government won’t be able to keep bailing out people in this way.”
Beyond the specifics of financial compensation, however, lie the cascading and systemic risks that follow a major weather event. In reality, the impacts do not stop at the property boundary.
When a family is displaced, or even fears displacement, the consequences ripple outward: schooling is disrupted, jobs are lost, mental health declines, community networks fragment and local economies suffer.
Research shows how the after-effects of a disaster domino through interconnected systems, affecting health, housing, labour markets and social cohesion.
Back to the future: our fictional town of Te Taone sits in a floodplain identified decades ago. By the 2040s, insurance had become unaffordable. New development slowed but many families, especially those on lower incomes, remained, with few relocation options.
The adaptation framework proposed in 2025, based on a “beneficiary pays” model, created a 20-year transition period that ended in 2045. After that, residents in high-risk areas became ineligible for buyouts or standard recovery funding.
Future government investment was limited to Crown-owned assets or projects with “national benefit”. Restoration of local infrastructure such as roads and power lines would depend on whether councils or ratepayers could pay.
Today, parts of Te Taone remain cut off. Power is still out in some areas. The school has relocated inland. Local shops have closed. Many homes are damaged, waterlogged, or destroyed, and some families are now living in tents.
“It’s not that we weren’t warned,” says a local community worker. “It’s just that we couldn’t afford to do anything but live with the risk and hope for the best.”
Te Taone’s experience is now raising deeper concerns that Aotearoa New Zealand’s climate adaptation framework may be entrenching a form of “climate redlining”. Those with the means can move to escape risk, while others are left behind to bear it.
Māori communities are especially affected. Parts of the floodplain include ancestral land, some communally owned, some leased by whānau who cannot easily relocate. In many cases, this land was only recently returned from the Crown, after years of land court proceedings or Treaty settlements.
The prospect of abandoning it again, without coordinated support, echoes earlier waves of institutional neglect. Mere Rākete is now considering joining a class action, one of several reportedly forming across the country.
Residents are challenging the government or local councils over a failure in their duty of care by allowing homes to be built, sold or inhabited in known risk zones without clear and enforceable warnings or adequate alternatives.
Meanwhile, adaptation experts are calling for a reset: a national compensation framework with clear eligibility rules, long-term investment in affordable housing beyond hazard-prone areas.
Above all, they argue, government policy based on a climate adaptation framework developed 25 years ago has not reduced exposure to risk. Instead, it has redistributed it from those who could leave to those who couldn’t.
In the meantime, the remaining residents of Te Taone wait for the next cyclone and wonder whether, next time, anyone will help.
Our imagined future scenario can be avoided if governments take a broader view of adaptation. Treating climate risk as an individual responsibility may reduce short-term government liability. But it will not reduce long-term social and fiscal liability.
The risk of failing to act systemically is that the country pays in other ways – in fractured communities, rising inequity and preventable harm.
Adaptation to climate change has to be about more than limiting the upfront costs of buyouts or infrastructure repairs. Ignoring the wider impacts will only shift the burden and increase it over time.
Real economic and community resilience means planning with people in mind, investing early and making sure no one is left behind. That work must begin now.
Tom Logan owns shares in Urban Intelligence. He receives funding from the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment and the Royal Society of NZ.
Paula Blackett works part time for Urban Intelligence. She receives research funding from the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment and undertakes consulting work regarding climate risk and adaptation.
– ref. A warning from the future: the risk if NZ gets climate adaptation policy wrong today – https://theconversation.com/a-warning-from-the-future-the-risk-if-nz-gets-climate-adaptation-policy-wrong-today-260912
Asia Pacific: Here is a summary of significant articles published on ForeignAffairs.co.nz on July 15, 2025.
MIL-Evening Report: ABC’s and CBS’s settlements with Trump are a dangerous step toward the commander in chief becoming the editor-in-chief
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael J. Socolow, Professor of Communication and Journalism, University of Maine Will settlements by news companies with President Donald Trump turn journalists into puppets? MARHARYTA MARKO/iStock Getty Images Plus It was a surrender widely foreseen. For months, rumors abounded that Paramount would eventually settle the seemingly frivolous […]
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Cost of living remains priority in Q3
Source: New Zealand Government Continuing to address cost of living pressures over the coming months is key as Prime Minister Christopher Luxon reveals a fresh set of targeted Government actions in the Q3 Action Plan. “While it’s still tough out there for too many Kiwis, our Government’s focus on unlocking economic growth is starting to […]
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Consultation on 2026 funding determinations is now open
Source: Tertiary Education Commission Last updated 15 July 2025Last updated 15 July 2025 Print Share The Ministry of Education (MoE) invites sector feedback on proposed variations to 2026 funding determinations.The Ministry of Education (MoE) invites sector feedback on proposed variations to 2026 funding determinations. Providers have been sent an invitation to participate through DXP Ngā […]
MIL-Evening Report: Hung parliament still likely outcome of Tasmanian election, with Liberals well ahead of Labor in new poll
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A new Tasmanian DemosAU poll gives the Liberals a 34.9–24.7 statewide vote lead over Labor, implying the Liberals will win the most seats but be short of […]
MIL-Evening Report: Luxon and Peters to miss Cook Islands’ 60th Constitution Day celebrations
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist New Zealand will not send top government representation to the Cook Islands for its 60th Constitution Day celebrations in three weeks’ time. Instead, Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro will represent Aotearoa in Rarotonga. On August 4, Cook Islands will mark 60 years of self-governance in free association with New Zealand. […]
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Economy – RBNZ explores the impact of an ageing population on the financial system
Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand 15 July 2025 – New Zealand faces an economic shift as the population ages, according to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in a Financial Stability Report special topic article released today. While the economic impact will unfold slowly, the Reserve Bank is urging financial institutions to understand and be […]
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Rural News – Alternative grass grub weapon now urgent – Federated Farmers
Source: Federated Farmers Federated Farmers says urgent action is needed to plug a looming gap in treatments to fight native grass grub, which costs the agricultural sector hundreds of millions of dollars each year. “This is our biggest agricultural pest by a country mile, yet there’s a real risk farmers’ arsenal to fight it will soon […]
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Marine Environment – Sea spurge found at Kapowairua (Spirits Bay) Northland
Source: Northland Regional Council A new sea spurge infestation has been found at Kapowairua (Spirits Bay) – the first discovery of the unwanted beach weed east of Cape Reinga and at least 60 kilometres from the closest known site on Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe – Ninety Mile Beach. Joanna Barr, Northland Regional Council’s Biosecurity Manager – Pest Plants, […]
MIL-Evening Report: Keith Rankin Analysis – Reporting International Migration: Less than the Truth
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. Yesterday I listened to RNZ’s political commentators. The principal topic was an aspect of the recently released May 2025 international migration. Kathryn Ryan starts by reminding us of the “old […]
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Feedback sought on national fuel security plan
Source: New Zealand Government The Coalition Government is seeking feedback on a draft Fuel Security Plan that provides a long-term strategy to ensure New Zealanders have reliable access to fuel in times of domestic and global disruption, Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones says. “As a small and remote island nation that imports nearly all of […]
MIL-OSI China: Women’s Asia Cup: Australia cruise, S. Korea seal last-second win
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News Australia, South Korea and Japan all claimed victories in Monday’s group-stage matches at the 2025 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup, with Australia cruising past Lebanon, Japan edging the Philippines and South Korea sealing a dramatic last-second win over New Zealand. Australia continued its dominant run with a […]
MIL-OSI Australia: Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging
Source: Airservices Australia The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has today released a Consultation Paper as part of its Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging. This follows an extensive public consultation process since the release of an Issues Paper in October 2024. The Payments System Board has reached the preliminary view that it […]
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Northland News – Plan winter earthworks carefully; NRC
Source: Northland Regional Council As Northland moves through the wetter months from May to September, the Northland Regional Council is warning effective planning and management of earthworks is critical to reducing environmental impact and ensuring successful outcomes. “While significant rain events can occur in summer, late autumn through early spring sees the most frequent and intense […]
MIL-OSI Australia: Power bank recalls on the rise due to serious burn and property damage risks
Source: Australian Ministers for Regional Development The ACCC is urging consumers to be alert to a growing list of recalled wireless power banks, which have the potential to cause serious burns and property damage. Power banks, also known as portable battery packs, are portable battery chargers commonly powered by rechargeable lithium-ion or lithium-polymer batteries. They […]
MIL-OSI USA: Governor Kehoe Signs Ten Bills into Law
Source: US State of Missouri JULY 14, 2025 Jefferson City — This afternoon, Governor Mike Kehoe signed ten pieces of legislation into law: Senate Bills (SB) 105, 133, 145, and 271, and House Bills (HB) 145, 147, 225, 262, 595, and 596. “Our bill signings this afternoon marked the official conclusion of an incredibly successful legislative session,” […]
MIL-OSI: Amazing Returns: XRP Soars Instantly with the Help of DRML Miner
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI) NEWYORK, NY, July 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — New choice for XRP holders: not only holding coins, but also making profits XRP has become one of the preferred digital assets for institutions and users due to its high transaction volume, low handling fees and strong liquidity. DRML Miner breaks through traditional barriers […]
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Fresh look for remote Trains Hut
Source: NZ Department of Conservation Date: 15 July 2025 Trains Hut is a well-loved, six-bunk hut used regularly by trampers and hunters, reached by a 15 km tramp along the rugged Trains Track. This remote and rewarding backcountry track takes visitors through regenerating native forest, rugged ridgelines, and across several swing bridges. DOC Ranger Rhydian Lewis, […]
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Refocusing local government to deliver for Kiwis
Source: New Zealand Government The Government’s plan to refocus councils on core services, such as roading, core infrastructure, water, and rubbish, has taken a major step forward with the introduction of the Local Government (System Improvements) Amendment Bill to Parliament. Local Government Minister Simon Watts says the Bill will help restore discipline, transparency and performance […]
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: National two-minute silence to mark VJ Day 80
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments Press release National two-minute silence to mark VJ Day 80 National two-minute silence will be held at 12 noon on 15 August 2025 to honour the 80th anniversary of VJ Day Event at National Memorial Arboretum to honour VJ veterans will be broadcast live Red Arrows will […]
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Application to establish the Puketeraki mātaitai reserve near Karitāne, north of Dunedin
Source: NZ Ministry for Primary Industries Your views sought Kāti Huirapa Rūnaka ki Puketeraki has applied for a mātaitai reserve (Puketeraki mātaitai reserve) near Karitāne, north of Dunedin, Otago. Kāti Huirapa Rūnaka ki Puketeraki and Fisheries New Zealand will hold a public meeting to discuss the application. This is the first of 2 consultations to […]
South America: Here is a summary of significant articles published on ForeignAffairs.co.nz on July 15, 2025.
MIL-Evening Report: Is there any hope for the internet?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aarushi Bhandari, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Davidson College Hate and mental illness fester online because love and healing seem to be incompatible with profits. Ihor Lukianenko/iStock via Getty Images In 2001, social theorist bell hooks warned about the dangers of a loveless zeitgeist. In “All About Love: […]
MIL-OSI USA: Governor Newsom signs legislation 7.14.25
Source: US State of California Governor Jul 14, 2025 SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced that he has signed the following bills: AB 78 by Assemblymember Phillip Chen (R-Yorba Linda) – Attorney’s fees: book accounts. AB 223 by Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco (D-Downey) – Jury selection: acknowledgment and agreement. AB 233 by Assemblymember Mike Gipson […]
MIL-OSI USA: Luján Secures Over $6.9 Million in Federal Investments for New Mexico Communities in Committee-Passed Appropriations Bill
US Senate News: Source: United States Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico) Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, announced the Appropriations Committee’s bipartisan passage of the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations […]
MIL-OSI USA: Duckworth Joins Durbin, Colleagues in Pressing Trump Administration on Weaponizing Immigration Court Hearings to Trap, Arrest, Deport Immigrants
US Senate News: Source: United States Senator for Illinois Tammy Duckworth July 11, 2025 [WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), U.S. Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Alex Padilla (D-CA) and 20 Senate Democrats in pressing the Trump Administration on its recent initiatives to weaponize immigration […]
MIL-OSI USA: Hickenlooper, Bennet, Colleagues Press Trump Admin on Weaponizing Immigration Court Hearings to Arrest Immigrants
US Senate News: Source: United States Senator John Hickenlooper – Colorado According to recent reports, the administration has targeted noncriminal immigrants who show up for their court hearings WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet joined 22 of their Senate colleagues to call out the Trump administration’s recent efforts to arrest noncriminal immigrants […]
MIL-OSI USA: Joint Statement from Senators Graham and Blumenthal
US Senate News: Source: United States Senator for South Carolina Lindsey Graham WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) today made this joint statement after President Trump made a series of announcements regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, including his intention to impose secondary tariffs on Russia if they do not agree to […]
MIL-OSI USA: Cortez Masto, Senate Democrats Press Trump Administration on Weaponizing Immigration Court Hearings to Deport Immigrants
US Senate News: Source: United States Senator for Nevada Cortez Masto Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) joined a group of 22 Senate Democrats led by Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) pressing the Trump administration on its recent initiatives to weaponize immigration court hearings to arrest and deport immigrants who are trying to […]
MIL-OSI USA: Durbin, Kelly, Padilla, Senate Democrats Press Trump Administration on Weaponizing Immigration Court Hearings to Trap, Arrest, Deport Immigrants
US Senate News: Source: United States Senator for Illinois Dick Durbin July 11, 2025 WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) led a group of 21 Senate Democrats in pressing the Trump Administration on its recent […]
MIL-OSI USA: Murray, Durbin, Kelly, Padilla, Senate Democrats Press Trump Administration on Weaponizing Immigrant Court Hearings to Trap, Arrest, Deport Migrants
US Senate News: Source: United States Senator for Washington State Patty Murray KUOW: ICE agents at Seattle courthouse arrest people whose deportation hearings are dismissed Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, joined Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator […]
Heinrich Announces Committee Passage of Over $12.5 Million for New Mexico
US Senate News: Source: United States Senator for New Mexico Martin Heinrich Investments Heinrich championed fully fund SNAP & WIC, increase funding for the Southwest Border Commission, support Tribes & farmers, provide rental assistance, & more WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) announced the bipartisan Senate Appropriations Committee passage of the Fiscal Year 2026 […]
MIL-OSI United Nations: Security Council renews UN’s Haiti mission amid spiralling crises
Source: United Nations 2 By adopting resolution 2785, the Council renewed the authorization of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), reaffirming support for a Haitian-led solution to the island nation’s overlapping crises. The decision comes as armed gangs maintain their grip on most of the capital, Port-au-Prince, with over 1.3 million people displaced and […]
MIL-OSI Security: Environmental Crimes Bulletin – June 2025
Source: United States Attorneys General 7 View All Environmental Crimes Bulletins In This Issue: Cases by District/Circuit District/Circuit Case Name Conduct/Statute(s) 7th Circuit Court of Appeals United States v. Clark Conspiracy; False Statement; Mail Fraud; Obstruction District of Alaska United States v. Matanuska Diesel, LLC, et al. Emissions Tampering; Clean Air Act; Conspiracy Central District […]
MIL-OSI Security: Defense Contractor Berg Co. Agrees to Pay $3.3M to Resolve Allegations of Causing Fraudulent Bids
Source: United States Attorneys General Berg Companies Inc. (Berg) has agreed to pay $3.3 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting, or causing the submission of, false claims under prime vendor contracts with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), which the Department of Defense (DoD) uses to purchase goods and […]
MIL-OSI Russia: BRICS expansion is a new era of global cooperation – Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan Han Chunlin
Translation. Region: Russian Federal Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article. Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News Almaty, July 14 /Xinhua/ — In an exclusive article for DKnews.kz, Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan Han Chunlin […]
MIL-OSI Europe: Study – A comprehensive analysis of the updated trade part of the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement – 14-07-2025
Source: European Parliament After more than two decades of negotiations, the EU and Mercosur reached an initial agreement text (EUMETA) in 2019. Since then, however, several political developments – most notably the increase in deforestation rates in Brazil under President Bolsonaro – have called for further negotiations. Concerns over sustainability led the EU to demand […]
MIL-OSI USA: States sue to release $7B in federal education funding illegally withheld
Source: Washington State News SEATTLE — Attorney General Nick Brown today announced his office has joined litigation against the U.S. Department of Education and the Office of Management and Budget for the government’s illegal withholding of $7 billion in formula grants allocated to the states. “Student success and wellbeing is a nonpartisan issue. It’s inexcusable that […]
MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Bonta Sues Trump Administration for Freezing Billions in Education Grants Just Weeks Before School Year Start
Source: US State of California In California, over $900 million in federal education funding is frozen, jeopardizing key programs for after school and summer learning, teacher preparation, and to support students learning English OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today sued the Trump Administration over its unconstitutional, unlawful, and arbitrary decision to freeze funding for six […]
MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General James Sues Trump Administration for Illegally Freezing Billions in Education Funds
Source: US State of New York EW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James and 22 other attorneys general, as well as the governors of Pennsylvania and Kentucky, today sued the Trump administration for illegally freezing nearly $7 billion dollars in critical education funding. On June 30, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and […]
MIL-OSI Europe: EU – Central America Association Council, 14 July 2025 – Joint Communiqué
Source: Council of the European Union The European Union and the six Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama met in Brussels on 14 July 2025 for an historical first EU-Central America Association Council in the framework of the Association Agreement between Central America and the EU. MIL OSI […]
MIL-OSI USA: Welch for Fox News: I’m a Democrat and we need to fix FEMA with local control
US Senate News: Source: United States Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont) WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) this morning published an opinion in Fox News entitled: “I’m a Democrat and we need to fix FEMA with local control.” Read Senator Welch’s op-ed and view an excerpt below: SENATOR PETER WELCH: I’m a Democrat and we need […]
India: Here is a summary of significant articles published on ForeignAffairs.co.nz on July 15, 2025.
MIL-OSI Submissions: Africa – Unlocking Opportunity: How India can Harness the Africa Corridor to Grow Merchandise Exports (By Shivank Goel)
Source: Rand Merchant Bank From tech stack adoption in countries like Ghana and Angola, to partnerships between Indian public sector firms and African energy providers, the bilateral relationship is rapidly deepening SANDTON, South Africa, July 14, 2025 – By Shivank Goel, an Indo-Africa Corridor Specialist at RMB (www.RMB.co.za) At GTR Africa 2025, a diverse panel […]
India hopes zero tolerance for terrorism will be strongly upheld: EAM Jaishankar before key SCO meeting
Source: Government of India Source: Government of India (4) A day ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (CFM) in Tianjin, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar on Monday stated that the “primary mandate” of the grouping is to “combat terrorism, separatism and extremism”. “Tomorrow, we will be meeting in […]
MIL-OSI Russia: China and India should adhere to the course of good-neighborliness and friendship – Chinese Foreign Minister
Translation. Region: Russian Federal Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article. Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) — China and India should adhere to the policy of good-neighborliness and friendship […]
India-China relationship gradually moving in a positive direction: EAM Jaishankar
Source: Government of India Source: Government of India (4) External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar on Monday said that the India-China relationship has been gradually moving in a positive direction since the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan in October 2024. “Our bilateral relationship requires that we take […]
MIL-OSI: Enovix Appoints Srikanth Kethu as Head of Enovix India to Accelerate Global Innovation and Regional Expansion
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI) FREMONT, Calif., July 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Enovix Corporation (Nasdaq: ENVX) (“Enovix”), a leader in advanced silicon battery technology, today announced the appointment of Srikanth Kethu as Head of Enovix India, effective today. In this key leadership role, Mr. Kethu will oversee the company’s Hyderabad R&D center and play a strategic […]
MIL-OSI China: Chinese vice president meets Indian FM
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News Chinese Vice President Han Zheng meets with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Beijing, capital of China, July 14, 2025. (Xinhua/Gao Jie) Chinese Vice President Han Zheng on Monday met with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Beijing. Han said, last October, Chinese President […]
MIL-OSI Russia: China Vice Chairman Meets Indian Foreign Minister
Translation. Region: Russian Federal Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article. Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) — Chinese Vice President Han Zheng met with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam […]
NITI Aayog releases third edition of ‘Trade Watch Quarterly,’ highlights India’s trade resilience and impact of US trade policy
Source: Government of India Source: Government of India (4) India’s trade performance in the third quarter of FY 2024–25 demonstrated cautious resilience amid rising geopolitical tensions and fluctuating global demand, according to the latest edition of Trade Watch Quarterly released by NITI Aayog on Monday. The third edition of the quarterly report, unveiled by NITI […]
AI 171 crash: preliminary report finds no mechanical or maintenance faults, says Air India CEO
Source: Government of India Source: Government of India (4) Air India CEO and Managing Director Campbell Wilson on Monday said that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) preliminary report on AI-171 plane crash in Ahmedabad has not found “mechanical or maintenance issues with the aircraft or engines” and urged people not to draw any “premature […]
MIL-OSI Africa: Unlocking Opportunity: How India can Harness the Africa Corridor to Grow Merchandise Exports (By Shivank Goel)
Source: APO . By Shivank Goel, an Indo-Africa Corridor Specialist at RMB (www.RMB.co.za) At GTR Africa 2025, a diverse panel of experts – including representatives from the Reserve Bank of India’s research wing, MSME chambers and leading financial institutions – explored the question of how India can double its export trade to reach the government’s […]
Indian investors flock to silver as returns overtake those from gold
Source: Government of India Source: Government of India (4) Indian investors, traditionally obsessed with stockpiling gold, are increasingly turning to silver, which was trading near a 14-year high on Monday, as its returns this year outpaced those of gold. Imports fill most of the demand in the world’s largest consumer of silver, where domestic prices […]
MIL-OSI Russia: 9 killed, 11 injured in road accident in southern India
Translation. Region: Russian Federal Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article. Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News NEW DELHI, July 14 (Xinhua) — At least nine people were killed and 11 others injured after […]
India’s wholesale inflation turns negative in June as food, fuel prices fall
Source: Government of India Source: Government of India (4) India’s wholesale inflation slipped into negative territory for the first time in 2025, with the Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation falling to -0.13% in June, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday. The decline was primarily driven by a drop […]
Widespread rainfall predicted across India; Delhi-NCR to see light showers: IMD
Source: Government of India Source: Government of India (4) India continues to witness an active monsoon phase, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting extremely heavy rainfall (over 21 cm ) at isolated places in Rajasthan on Monday and Tuesday. Similar intense showers are likely over Gangetic West Bengal, Odisha, and southeast Jharkhand on July […]
MIL-OSI Banking: India’s Top Gamers Compete in Samsung’s #PlayGalaxy Cup Season 4; Delhi AI Legends Crowned Champions
Source: Samsung Aditya Babbar, VP, MX Business, handing over the trophy to Delhi AI Legends, the winners of the #PlayGalaxy Cup Season 4 Samsung, India’s largest consumer electronics brand, today announced the fourth season of #PlayGalaxy Cup – with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7. Top gamers from across the country participated in the nailbiting […]
MIL-OSI Submissions: Was the Air India crash caused by pilot error or technical fault? None of the theories holds up – yet
Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Guido Carim Junior, Senior Lecturer in Aviation, Griffith University Over the weekend, the Indian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau released a preliminary report on last month’s crash of Air India flight 171, which killed 260 people, 19 of them on the ground. The aim of a preliminary report […]
MIL-Evening Report: Was the Air India crash caused by pilot error or technical fault? None of the theories holds up – yet
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Guido Carim Junior, Senior Lecturer in Aviation, Griffith University Over the weekend, the Indian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau released a preliminary report on last month’s crash of Air India flight 171, which killed 260 people, 19 of them on the ground. The aim of a preliminary report […]
Heavy rain batters UP, HP, Rajasthan as northern India braces for continued Monsoon surge
Source: Government of India Source: Government of India (4) India is currently in the midst of an active monsoon phase, with widespread rainfall and dynamic weather conditions affecting large parts of the northern and central regions on Monday. According to the Regional Meteorological Centre in New Delhi, the past 24 hours witnessed significant precipitation across […]
India Signs Long-Term Fertilizer Supply Agreements with Saudi Arabia During Minister JP Nadda’s Visit
Source: Government of India Source: Government of India (4) Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilizers JP Nadda concluded his three-day visit to Saudi Arabia, securing crucial agreements that will significantly enhance India’s fertilizer supply chain and strengthen bilateral cooperation in health and pharmaceutical sectors. The visit, which took place from […]
Indian Railways to install CCTV cameras in all coaches and locomotives to boost passenger safety
Source: Government of India Source: Government of India (4) The Ministry of Railways on Sunday announced plans to equip all passenger coaches and locomotives across the country with CCTV cameras, aiming to strengthen passenger safety and security. The move follows the positive results of pilot projects where CCTV systems were successfully tested on select trains. […]