India’s overall exports, comprising merchandise and services, rose to an estimated USD 210.31 billion during April-June 2025, registering a growth of 5.94 per cent compared to USD 198.52 billion during the same period last year, according to official estimates released today.
The cumulative value of merchandise exports stood at USD 112.17 billion, marking a growth of 1.92 per cent over USD 110.06 billion recorded during April-June 2024. Notably, non-petroleum exports grew by nearly 6 per cent to reach USD 94.77 billion during the same period.
Key drivers of growth include robust performances by sectors such as Electronic Goods, Drugs and Pharmaceuticals, Engineering Goods, Marine Products and Meat, Dairy and Poultry Products.
Electronic Goods emerged as a standout performer, with exports jumping by 46.93 per cent to USD 4.15 billion in June 2025, up from USD 2.82 billion in June 2024. Exports of Drugs and Pharmaceuticals rose by 5.95 per cent to USD 2.62 billion, while Engineering Goods exports recorded a modest growth of 1.35 per cent to USD 9.50 billion.
Exports of Marine Products rose by 13.33 per cent, while Meat, Dairy and Poultry Products witnessed a rise of 19.7 per cent.
Merchandise and Services Trade
During June 2025, India’s overall exports were estimated at USD 67.98 billion, reflecting a 6.5 per cent increase compared to June 2024. Total imports stood at USD 71.50 billion, registering a marginal rise of 0.50 per cent.
Merchandise exports during June 2025 remained stable at USD 35.14 billion compared to USD 35.16 billion in June last year, while imports fell slightly to USD 53.92 billion from USD 56 billion a year ago.
In the services sector, exports for June 2025 were estimated at USD 32.84 billion, up from USD 28.67 billion in June 2024, while imports rose to USD 17.58 billion from USD 15.14 billion.
Trade Deficit Narrows
India’s overall trade deficit narrowed to USD 3.51 billion in June 2025, compared to USD 7.30 billion in the same month last year. The merchandise trade deficit for April-June 2025 widened to USD 67.26 billion as against USD 62.10 billion a year ago, but the services trade surplus increased to USD 46.95 billion from USD 39.68 billion during April-June 2024.
Non-Petroleum and Non-Gems & Jewellery Trade
Exports excluding petroleum and gems & jewellery rose to USD 28.74 billion in June 2025 from USD 27.43 billion in June 2024. Imports in the same category remained stable at USD 36.57 billion compared to USD 36.55 billion a year ago.
For the April-June quarter, non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports stood at USD 88.10 billion, marking an increase from USD 82.16 billion in the same period last year.
Key Commodities and Destinations
Among commodities, Electronic Goods, Tea, Jute Manufacturing including Floor Coverings, Other Cereals, Cereal Preparations, Fruits & Vegetables, Plastics, Carpet, Chemicals, Textiles and Rice posted positive growth during June 2025.
On the other hand, imports of Pulses, Newsprint, Gold, Transport Equipment, Coal, Pearls and Precious Stones, Project Goods and Iron & Steel recorded a decline during the month.
The United States, China, Kenya, France and Brazil emerged as the top five export destinations showing positive growth in June 2025 compared to June 2024. Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and China were among the top sources registering growth in imports during the month.
For the quarter, the United States, China, Kenya, Germany and Australia led growth in export destinations, while China, UAE, Ireland, the United States and Hong Kong were the top sources for imports.
Services Exports Surge
Services exports grew by 10.93 per cent during April-June 2025, reaching USD 98.13 billion compared to USD 88.46 billion a year earlier. Services imports also rose to USD 51.18 billion from USD 48.78 billion.
Source: Republic of France in English The Republic of France has issued the following statement:
France welcomes today’s inscription of the megaliths of Carnac and of the shores of Morbihan on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
As a Site of Exceptional Value, the megaliths of Carnac and of the shores of Morbihan are a unique ensemble of vestiges of megalithic civilizations, integrated into a protected natural landscape, testifying to an age-old dialogue between man and his environment.
This heritage success is the result of long-standing cooperation between local elected representatives and tourism officials, the Ministry for Culture and the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
It is the 54th French property inscribed by UNESCO since 1979, testifying to the diversity and richness of the natural and cultural properties contained in our history and regions.
France comes fourth today in the global ranking of countries with the largest number of properties inscribed on the World Heritage List.
The diplomatic efforts led by France in terms of multilateral cooperation are bringing lasting, tangible benefits for the development of our territories, in terms of their international reputation and jobs in the culture and tourism sectors.
When we first got together, we wondered whether our unconventional project, linking space weather and human behavior, could actually bridge such a vast disciplinary divide. Now, two years on, we believe the payoffs – personal, professional and scientific – were well worth the initial discomfort.
Our collaboration, which culminated in a recent paper in the journal Science Advances, began with a single question: What happened to life on Earth when the planet’s magnetic field nearly collapsed roughly 41,000 years ago?
Weirdness when Earth’s magnetic shield falters
This near-collapse is known as the Laschamps Excursion, a brief but extreme geomagnetic event named for the volcanic fields in France where it was first identified. At the time of the Laschamps Excursion, near the end of the Pleistocene epoch, Earth’s magnetic poles didn’t reverse as they do every few hundred thousand years. Instead, they wandered, erratically and rapidly, over thousands of miles. At the same time, the strength of the magnetic field dropped to less than 10% of its modern day intensity.
So, instead of behaving like a stable bar magnet – a dipole – as it usually does, the Earth’s magnetic field fractured into multiple weak poles across the planet. As a result, the protective force field scientists call the magnetosphere became distorted and leaky.
The magnetosphere normally deflects much of the solar wind and harmful ultraviolet radiation that would otherwise reach Earth’s surface.
So, during the Laschamps Excursion when the magnetosphere broke down, our models suggest a number of near-Earth effects. While there is still work to be done to precisely characterize these effects, we do know they included auroras – normally seen only in skies near the poles as the Northern Lights or Southern Lights – wandering toward the equator, and significantly higher-than-present-day doses of harmful solar radiation.
The skies 41,000 years ago may have been both spectacular and threatening. When we realized this, we two geophysicists wanted to know whether this could have affected people living at the time.
The archaeologist’s answer was absolutely.
Human responses to ancient space weather
For people on the ground at that time, auroras may have been the most immediate and striking effect, perhaps inspiring awe, fear, ritual behavior or something else entirely. But the archaeological record is notoriously limited in its ability to capture these kinds of cognitive or emotional responses.
In response, people may have adopted practical measures: spending more time in caves, producing tailored clothing for better coverage, or applying mineral pigment “sunscreen” made of ochre to their skin. As we describe in our recent paper, the frequency of these behaviors indeed appears to have increased across parts of Europe, where effects of the Laschamps Excursion were pronounced and prolonged.
Naturally occurring ochre can act as a protective sunscreen if applied to skin. Museo Egizio di Torino
At this time, both Neanderthals and members of our species, Homo sapiens, were living in Europe, though their geographic distributions likely overlapped only in certain regions. The archaeological record suggests that different populations exhibited distinct approaches to environmental challenges, with some groups perhaps more reliant on shelter or material culture for protection.
Importantly, we’re not suggesting that space weather alone caused an increase in these behaviors or, certainly, that the Laschamps caused Neanderthals to go extinct, which is one misinterpretation of our research. But it could have been a contributing factor – an invisible but powerful force that influenced innovation and adaptability.
Cross-discipline collaboration
Collaborating across such a disciplinary gap was, at first, daunting. But it turned out to be deeply rewarding.
Archaeologists are used to reconstructing now-invisible phenomena like climate. We can’t measure past temperatures or precipitation directly, but they’ve left traces for us to interpret if we know where and how to look.
An artistic rendering of how far into lower latitudes the aurora might have been visible during the Laschamps Excursion. Maximilian Schanner (GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany)
But even archaeologists who’ve spent years studying the effects of climate on past behaviors and technologies may not have considered the effects of the geomagnetic field and space weather. These effects, too, are invisible, powerful and best understood through indirect evidence and modeling. Archaeologists can treat space weather as a vital component of Earth’s environmental history and future forecasting.
Likewise, geophysicists, who typically work with large datasets, models and simulations, may not always engage with some of the stakes of space weather. Archaeology adds a human dimension to the science. It reminds us that the effects of space weather don’t stop at the ionosphere. They can ripple down into the lived experiences of people on the ground, influencing how they adapt, create and survive.
The Laschamps Excursion wasn’t a fluke or a one-off. Similar disruptions of Earth’s magnetic field have happened before and will happen again. Understanding how ancient humans responded can provide insight into how future events might affect our world – and perhaps even help us prepare.
Our unconventional collaboration has shown us how much we can learn, how our perspective changes, when we cross disciplinary boundaries. Space may be vast, but it connects us all. And sometimes, building a bridge between Earth and space starts with the smallest things, such as ochre, or a coat, or even sunscreen.
Agnit Mukhopadhyay has received funding from NASA Science Mission Directorate and the University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School.
Raven Garvey and Sanja Panovska do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
MELBOURNE, Australia and BORDEAUX, France and RADEVORMWALD, Germany, July 15, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Semitech Semiconductor, Occitaline, and Safesquare today jointly announced the availability of the Babi-LON platform, an integrated hardware and software solution for LonWorks power line communication (PLC) networks built on Semitech’s advanced SM2400 multi-mode PLC transceiver with full EIA-709.2 protocol support.
The EIA-709.2 protocol – part of the LonWorks suite defining the physical layer for PLC – is a cornerstone technology in building automation, smart lighting, transportation, and industrial control systems worldwide. With the phase-out of legacy solutions like the widely deployed PL3120 transceiver (originally developed by Echelon), OEMs and system integrators are actively seeking reliable long-term alternatives to keep supporting existing networks and future projects.
The SM2400 has already been widely adopted by tier-one OEMs across smart metering, industrial automation, and transportation markets for its proven reliability, advanced modulation techniques, and robust performance under demanding noise conditions. With full EIA-709.2 support, it serves as a direct, high-performance, backward-compatible, long-term replacement for legacy EIA-709.2 transceivers, ensuring a secure long-term supply path for LonWorks-based systems.
Built around the SM2400, the new Babi-LON platform offers both a development environment and turnkey solution for LonWorks devices. It simplifies migration by providing open familiar interfaces and proven protocol stacks, allowing OEMs and system integrators to sustain and evolve their LonWorks-based systems with minimal redesign.
“We’re excited to partner with Occitaline and Safesquare to accelerate the transition to next-generation LonWorks PLC,” said Zeev Collin, CEO of Semitech Semiconductor. “The Babi-LON platform enables customers to seamlessly replace obsolete components, maintain their existing networks, and take advantage of the advanced capabilities of the SM2400.”
Occitaline and Safesquare, both recognized leaders in LonWorks and industrial automation solutions, have integrated the SM2400 into their expanded Babi-LON offering, delivering software stacks and reference designs that dramatically simplify migration and new product development.
“By incorporating the SM2400, we’re able to offer a modern, fully supported EIA-709.2 platform with long-term availability and outstanding performance,” said Daniel Zotti, CEO of Occitaline. “This gives our customers a clear, confident path to upgrade legacy products and sustain mission-critical networks.”
Martin Mentzel, CEO of Safesquare, added: “Our customers can now continue building LonWorks-based power line networks with the assurance of a next-generation, multi-protocol foundation. The Babi-LON platform with the SM2400 is essential for preserving large installed bases and preparing for future expansions.”
Key benefits of the new Babi-LON platform:
Seamless LonWorks support – full compliance with EIA-709.2, ensuring interoperability with existing devices and legacy systems
Guaranteed long-term supply (10+ years) – ensuring security of supply for extended-lifecycle projects
Accelerated time-to-market – turnkey modules, proven software stacks, and expert design-in support from Occitaline and Safesquare
Superior PLC performance – robust communication over power lines, improved noise immunity, and extended range
Availability
SM2400 samples and evaluation kits with EIA-709.2 support are available immediately through Semitech and its authorized sales partners. For more information, please visit www.semitechsemi.com.
The expanded Babi-LON platform and design-in support for customer projects from Occitaline and Safesquare will be available starting in September. For more information, please visit www.babi-lon.com.
About Occitaline
Occitaline is a technology company with over 20 years of expertise in Building Management Systems (BMS) and Smart City solutions. Specializing in the design and manufacture of open, multi-protocol network infrastructure products, Occitaline simplifies the integration of diverse equipment within buildings. Its multi-protocol routers and secure network equipment enable seamless communication and enhanced cybersecurity for smart, sustainable spaces. Occitaline also provides technical training to help professionals master BMS communication protocols. Learn more at www.occitaline.com.
About Safesquare
Safesquare is a technology development partner and system integrator specializing in open, standardized industrial communication and system integration. Safesquare is focused on creating scalable, decentralized networks with intelligent nodes and manufacturer-independent IoT capabilities. Offerings include “spega e.control” for building automation and “Babi-LON” for networked IoT solutions, alongside expertise in wired/wireless IoT and medical device development. Learn more at www.safesquare.eu.
About Semitech Semiconductor
Semitech Semiconductor is an innovative provider of robust, high-performance wireless and power line communication (PLC) solutions for the smart grid, automotive and industrial IoT markets. Semitech provides the most adaptable, yet cost effective, multi-modal communication solutions wirelessly and over power lines to address the diverse requirements of these markets, while avoiding the cost and complexity of additional wiring. Learn more at www.semitechsemi.com or follow the company on LinkedIn and X.
Media Contact: Stephanie Olsen Lages & Associates (949) 453-8080 stephanie@lages.com
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
When we first got together, we wondered whether our unconventional project, linking space weather and human behavior, could actually bridge such a vast disciplinary divide. Now, two years on, we believe the payoffs – personal, professional and scientific – were well worth the initial discomfort.
Our collaboration, which culminated in a recent paper in the journal Science Advances, began with a single question: What happened to life on Earth when the planet’s magnetic field nearly collapsed roughly 41,000 years ago?
Weirdness when Earth’s magnetic shield falters
This near-collapse is known as the Laschamps Excursion, a brief but extreme geomagnetic event named for the volcanic fields in France where it was first identified. At the time of the Laschamps Excursion, near the end of the Pleistocene epoch, Earth’s magnetic poles didn’t reverse as they do every few hundred thousand years. Instead, they wandered, erratically and rapidly, over thousands of miles. At the same time, the strength of the magnetic field dropped to less than 10% of its modern day intensity.
So, instead of behaving like a stable bar magnet – a dipole – as it usually does, the Earth’s magnetic field fractured into multiple weak poles across the planet. As a result, the protective force field scientists call the magnetosphere became distorted and leaky.
The magnetosphere normally deflects much of the solar wind and harmful ultraviolet radiation that would otherwise reach Earth’s surface.
So, during the Laschamps Excursion when the magnetosphere broke down, our models suggest a number of near-Earth effects. While there is still work to be done to precisely characterize these effects, we do know they included auroras – normally seen only in skies near the poles as the Northern Lights or Southern Lights – wandering toward the equator, and significantly higher-than-present-day doses of harmful solar radiation.
The skies 41,000 years ago may have been both spectacular and threatening. When we realized this, we two geophysicists wanted to know whether this could have affected people living at the time.
The archaeologist’s answer was absolutely.
Human responses to ancient space weather
For people on the ground at that time, auroras may have been the most immediate and striking effect, perhaps inspiring awe, fear, ritual behavior or something else entirely. But the archaeological record is notoriously limited in its ability to capture these kinds of cognitive or emotional responses.
In response, people may have adopted practical measures: spending more time in caves, producing tailored clothing for better coverage, or applying mineral pigment “sunscreen” made of ochre to their skin. As we describe in our recent paper, the frequency of these behaviors indeed appears to have increased across parts of Europe, where effects of the Laschamps Excursion were pronounced and prolonged.
Naturally occurring ochre can act as a protective sunscreen if applied to skin. Museo Egizio di Torino
At this time, both Neanderthals and members of our species, Homo sapiens, were living in Europe, though their geographic distributions likely overlapped only in certain regions. The archaeological record suggests that different populations exhibited distinct approaches to environmental challenges, with some groups perhaps more reliant on shelter or material culture for protection.
Importantly, we’re not suggesting that space weather alone caused an increase in these behaviors or, certainly, that the Laschamps caused Neanderthals to go extinct, which is one misinterpretation of our research. But it could have been a contributing factor – an invisible but powerful force that influenced innovation and adaptability.
Cross-discipline collaboration
Collaborating across such a disciplinary gap was, at first, daunting. But it turned out to be deeply rewarding.
Archaeologists are used to reconstructing now-invisible phenomena like climate. We can’t measure past temperatures or precipitation directly, but they’ve left traces for us to interpret if we know where and how to look.
An artistic rendering of how far into lower latitudes the aurora might have been visible during the Laschamps Excursion. Maximilian Schanner (GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany)
But even archaeologists who’ve spent years studying the effects of climate on past behaviors and technologies may not have considered the effects of the geomagnetic field and space weather. These effects, too, are invisible, powerful and best understood through indirect evidence and modeling. Archaeologists can treat space weather as a vital component of Earth’s environmental history and future forecasting.
Likewise, geophysicists, who typically work with large datasets, models and simulations, may not always engage with some of the stakes of space weather. Archaeology adds a human dimension to the science. It reminds us that the effects of space weather don’t stop at the ionosphere. They can ripple down into the lived experiences of people on the ground, influencing how they adapt, create and survive.
The Laschamps Excursion wasn’t a fluke or a one-off. Similar disruptions of Earth’s magnetic field have happened before and will happen again. Understanding how ancient humans responded can provide insight into how future events might affect our world – and perhaps even help us prepare.
Our unconventional collaboration has shown us how much we can learn, how our perspective changes, when we cross disciplinary boundaries. Space may be vast, but it connects us all. And sometimes, building a bridge between Earth and space starts with the smallest things, such as ochre, or a coat, or even sunscreen.
Agnit Mukhopadhyay has received funding from NASA Science Mission Directorate and the University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School.
Raven Garvey and Sanja Panovska do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The Plains will continue to be enlivened all summer long with free shows!
Quebec City, Tuesday, July 15, 2025 – After a short break during the Festival d’été de Québec, the Edwin-Bélanger Bandstand (EBB) will return to its summer program this Thursday! Every Thursday and Saturday for the rest of the summer until August 23, Quebec City’s residents and visitors are invited to come and experience free musical and cultural performances against the enchanting backdrop of the Plains of Abraham.
This week: Tom Folly, Andréanne A. Malette, and Sabor 19
Thursday, 7 p.m., Saguenay native Tom Folly will kick off the night with songs from his last album Fromage en grains. With his sincere words and a dose of humour, he will perform pieces from many genres: reggae, rock, rap, folk, pop, and even disco. At 8 p.m., Andréanne A. Malette will present Les jardins dérangés, a heartfelt performance of her latest folk-pop melodies. Through a personal narrative, she will explore the themes of healing, the present moment, and solidarity.
Saturday, 7 p.m., the ambiance will switch to the lively beat of Sabor 19. This orchestra of ten musicians, a popular fixture in Montreal’s Latin scene, is promising a festive evening with the sound of salsa and cumbia. In keeping with its celebratory spirit, the group has just one aim: get everyone up and dancing! A little earlier in the day, families will have a chance to discover Marimba et le djembé du tonnerre. The kids in the audience will be entertained with songs, amused by marionettes, and taught how to play percussion instruments.
Diverse and accessible
The EBB stage will come alive with free shows and a variety of styles: country, Latin, rock, pop, Québécois, jazz, folk, and an encounter between Western music and traditional Indigenous music. There’ll be something for everyone! On the lineup are artists who will surprise you with the depth of their performances, including Duo Phoenix, Guylaine Tanguay, Yvan Pedneault, Génération Crooner, LBA Band, Coco Country Band, New World Men, Mike DeWay, Kawandak, Gabrielle Destroismaisons, and Patrick Norman & Nathalie Lord.
The program also includes two unique cultural events. On Wednesday, July 23, there will be a public lecture about the American attack on Quebec City in 1775: Quebec 1775-1776 – Le dernier siège (in French only). On Friday, August 22, The Regimental Band of the Royal 22e Régiment will offer an exceptional musical performance on stage, thanks to its diverse range of instruments and its unique brass section.
Family morning shows
The Plains of Abraham and the EBB are known for being accessible and welcoming to all tastes and to all kinds of people. There will be four family shows on Saturdays, July 19 and 26 and August 9 and 16, starting at 11 a.m. (in French only). The kids will enjoy seeing and hearing Marimba et le djembé du tonnerre, L’orgue du Gentil Géant, Arthur L’aventurier and Le stagiaire de Monsieur Ben.
Extended business hours of the Maison Smith Café at the central pavilion
The Maison Smith Café has been on the Plains of Abraham for over a year, during which its selection of beverages and food has further enhanced the EBB experience. An aperitif on the central pavilion terrace, a picnic on the Plains with a lunchbox or a satisfying coffee in your hand—everything will be available for a heartwarming summer! This Maison Smith Café branch will be open for extended business hours during the shows.
About the National Battlefields Commission
The Battlefields Park is Canada’s leading national historic park and notably includes the Plains of Abraham and Des Braves Park. The National Battlefields Commission, an agency of the Canadian government, has striven since 1908 to preserve and develop this site that brings so many people together. All year long, it offers a variety of activities for those who wish to explore the park and its history. www.plainsofabraham.ca/
A rescheduled United Nations conference this month will discuss post-war plans for Gaza and preparations for the recognition of a Palestinian state by France and others, France’s foreign minister said on Tuesday.
France and Saudi Arabia had planned to host the conference in New York from June 17-20, aiming to lay out the parameters of a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel’s security.
“The aim is to sketch out post-war Gaza and prepare the recognition of a Palestinian state by France and countries that will engage in this approach,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in Brussels before a meeting of European Union foreign ministers.
The conference was postponed under U.S. pressure and after the 12-day Israel-Iran air war began, during which regional airspace was closed, making it hard for representatives of some Arab states to attend. Diplomats said on Friday it had been rescheduled for July 28-29.
French President Emmanuel Macron had been set to attend the conference and had suggested he could recognise a Palestinian state in Israeli-occupied territories at the conference, a move opposed by Israel.
Macron is no longer expected to attend, reducing the likelihood of any major announcements being made.
Diplomats say Macron has faced resistance from allies such as Britain and Canada over his push for the recognition of a Palestinian state.
Israel has been fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip since the Palestinian militant group’s deadly attack on Israel in October 2023. A U.S.-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire is being discussed at talks in Doha.
A rescheduled United Nations conference this month will discuss post-war plans for Gaza and preparations for the recognition of a Palestinian state by France and others, France’s foreign minister said on Tuesday.
France and Saudi Arabia had planned to host the conference in New York from June 17-20, aiming to lay out the parameters of a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel’s security.
“The aim is to sketch out post-war Gaza and prepare the recognition of a Palestinian state by France and countries that will engage in this approach,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in Brussels before a meeting of European Union foreign ministers.
The conference was postponed under U.S. pressure and after the 12-day Israel-Iran air war began, during which regional airspace was closed, making it hard for representatives of some Arab states to attend. Diplomats said on Friday it had been rescheduled for July 28-29.
French President Emmanuel Macron had been set to attend the conference and had suggested he could recognise a Palestinian state in Israeli-occupied territories at the conference, a move opposed by Israel.
Macron is no longer expected to attend, reducing the likelihood of any major announcements being made.
Diplomats say Macron has faced resistance from allies such as Britain and Canada over his push for the recognition of a Palestinian state.
Israel has been fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip since the Palestinian militant group’s deadly attack on Israel in October 2023. A U.S.-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire is being discussed at talks in Doha.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tom Long, Professor of International Relations, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick
In 1867, the world’s most powerful statesmen, including Austria’s Emperor Franz Josef, France’s Napoleon III and US secretary of state, William H. Seward, petitioned the Mexican government to spare the life of a condemned man.
Mexico’s ragtag army and militias had just humbled France, then Europe’s preeminent land power. The costly six-year campaign drained the French treasury and eroded Napoleon III’s domestic support. Napoleon’s ambition to transform Mexico into a client empire under a Vienna-born, Habsburg archduke, crowned Maximilian I, ended in spectacular failure.
After his defeat, Maximilian was brought before a Mexican military tribunal. European monarchs regarded the prisoner as their peer, but Mexican liberals convicted him as a piratical invader, usurper and traitor. Despite indignant appeals from European courts, President Benito Juárez refused to commute his sentence. The would-be emperor was executed by firing squad.
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The controversy went beyond one monarch’s fate. It crystallised a clash between opposed visions of global order — as Peru’s president Ramón Castilla said at the time, it was a “war of the crowns against liberty caps”.
Today, world politics are in flux. The so-called liberal international order, nominally grounded in multilateralism, open markets, human rights and the rule of law, is facing its gravest crisis since the second world war. Former advocates such as the United States now openly flout international law and undermine the very norms they once championed. China remains ambivalent, while Russia unabashedly hastens the order’s unravelling.
More broadly, the old post-second world war order appears out of step with the global south and with widespread anger over double standards exposed by the wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Iran.
Amid today’s crises, a world order arranged for and by the great powers looks both insufficient and doomed to lack legitimacy. Reordering will require support from diverse actors, including states across the global south.
1860s: a turbulent decade
The 1860s were a turbulent, although often overlooked, moment of global reordering. Technological shifts – the telegraph, electricity, steamships and railways – appeared as disruptive then as AI does today. Combined with shifting power dynamics, these transformations accelerated imperial expansion. Yet the rules of the emerging order remained uncertain, even among the imperial powers themselves.
In Europe, networks of dynastic rule still carried weight in international politics. Under growing pressure, the ancien régime sought to reinvent and reassert itself. The old empires often justified their expansion by promising to bring order and progress to supposedly backward peoples. But that “civilising mission” clashed with a worldview emerging from Spanish America – where countries had thrown off colonial rule to establish independent republics.
As we wrote in a recent article in American Political Science Review, Spanish American diplomats articulated a republican vision of international order centred on the protection of weaker states from domination by great powers.
Fending off Europe’s empires
Divided by civil conflict, Mexico became an easy target for European empires. Mexico’s Liberal party had regained power but faced internal dissent and crippling foreign debt. Britain, France and Spain formed a coalition to invade and demand repayment. France, however, had more ambitious designs.
Exploiting the distraction of the US civil war, Napoleon III dreamed of transforming Mexico into a Latin stronghold against Yankee expansion. Best of all, Napoleon thought the scheme would turn a profit. A stable Mexican empire could repay the costs of the intervention – with interest – by increasing production from the country’s famed silver mines. Meanwhile, France would gain a receptive market for its exports and a grateful geopolitical subordinate.
Maximilian, a young Austrian prince of the house of Hapsburg, somewhat naively accepted the offer to rule a distant and unfamiliar land. He dreamed of regenerating Mexico through a liberal monarchy while reviving his family’s declining dynasty.
Led by Juárez, Mexico’s liberals fiercely resisted Maximilian’s rule. While militarily Juárez was consistently on the defensive, he remained diplomatically proactive. The Juaristas encouraged US sympathies that proved decisive after the end of the civil war. They also enjoyed solidarity – though limited material support – from other Spanish American republics. Although the monarchies of Europe all recognised Maximilian as Mexican emperor, Juárez’s defiance became a rallying point for liberals and republicans in Europe.
Beyond stoking sympathies, Juárez and his followers offered trenchant critiques of unequal international rules and practices cloaked in liberal guise.
First, the “republican internationalism” of Mexico’s Juaristas stood in direct opposition to European liberals’ “civilising mission”. Latin American republicans rejected the notion that progress could be imposed on their countries from abroad – though some echoed civilising rhetoric toward their own non-white populations, who like in the US were subject to campaigns of violence and dispossession that stretched from northern Mexico to the Patagonia. Many Latin American liberals likewise remained silent about empire elsewhere.
Second, the Juarista vision placed popular sovereignty, not dynastic ties, at the heart of legitimate statehood. These ideas drew on Mexico’s independence tradition and the principles enshrined in the 1857 constitution. European intervention, in this view, aimed to suppress popular rule in the Americas and extend the reaction against the failed revolutions of 1848, which had seriously threatened the old order when they raged across Europe.
Third, popular sovereign states were equal under international law, regardless of power, wealth, or internal disorder. Sovereign equality also underpinned Latin America’s strong commitment to non-intervention. Liberal writer and diplomat Francisco Zarco, a close confidante of Juárez, condemned frequent European economic justifications for intervention as the work of “smugglers and profiteers who wrap themselves in the flags of powerful nations”.
Finally, Mexican liberals called for an international system premised on republican fraternity, drawing on aspirations for cooperation that went back to liberator Simón Bolívar. The independence leader and committed republican convened a conference in 1826, hoping that a confederation of the newly independent Spanish American states would “be the shield of our new destiny”.
Similar arguments for an international order that advances non-domination still resonate in the global south today. The Mexican experience also underscores that the architects of international order have never come exclusively from the global north – and those who shape its future will not either.
Tom Long receives support from UK Arts and Humanities Research Council grant AH/V006622/1, Latin America and the peripheral origins of the 19th-century international order.
Carsten-Andreas Schulz receives support from UK Arts and Humanities Research Council grant AH/V006622/1, Latin America and the peripheral origins of the 19th-century international order.
The government of Senegal and the Santiago network will host a capacity building workshop for LDCs and SIDS in Africa, with a specific focus on their unique challenges and opportunities. The workshop will introduce Santiago network operative guidelines and assist countries and other stakeholders in understanding the processes for making requests for technical assistance and becoming a Member of the Santiago network.
The key objectives of the workshop are:
Familiarise and update LDCs and SIDS in Africa on the Santiago network and its progress
Enhance understanding on modalities of access to technical assistance through the Santiago network (including orientation on the operative guidelines)
Facilitate the identification of capacity gaps in regional and country contexts, and based on this, initiate the drafting of requests for technical assistance
Discuss and articulate the next steps for enhancing capacity relevant to loss and damage through technical assistance from the Santiago
network
The workshop will be run in an interactive ‘write-shop’ format with a focus on developing demand-driven technical assistance requests by countries. Every session will be structured around introductory presentations to provide an overview, followed by interactive discussion and exchanges and write-up exercises to complete the technical assistance template.
This workshop is targeted at representatives from LDCs and SIDS in Africa, particularly national liaisons to the Santiago network Secretariat, loss and damage contact points and disaster risk reduction focal points.
SOCIETE GENERALE SIGNS AN AGREEMENT WITHTHE STATE OF CAMEROON TO SELL ITS SUBSIDIARYSOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE CAMEROUN
Press release Paris, 15 July 2025
Societe Generale has signed an agreement with the State of Cameroon which provides for the total sale of the group’s shares (58.08%) in Société Générale Cameroun. The State of Cameroon, already a shareholder, would thus hold 83.68% of the shares of Société Générale Cameroun. According to the commitments made, the State of Cameroon would take over all the activities operated by this subsidiary, as well as all the client portfolios and all the employees of this entity.
This transaction would have a positive impact of around 6 basis points on the Group’s CET1 ratio, on the expected completion date which could take place by the end of 2025. (1)
This divestment project is subject to the usual conditions precedent and the validation of the relevant financial and regulatory authorities.
Societe Generale is a top tier European Bank with around 119,000 employees serving more than 26 million clients in 62 countries across the world. We have been supporting the development of our economies for 160 years, providing our corporate, institutional, and individual clients with a wide array of value-added advisory and financial solutions. Our long-lasting and trusted relationships with the clients, our cutting-edge expertise, our unique innovation, our ESG capabilities and leading franchises are part of our DNA and serve our most essential objective – to deliver sustainable value creation for all our stakeholders.
The Group runs three complementary sets of businesses, embedding ESG offerings for all its clients:
French Retail, Private Banking and Insurance, with leading retail bank SG and insurance franchise, premium private banking services, and the leading digital bank BoursoBank.
Global Banking and Investor Solutions, a top tier wholesale bank offering tailored-made solutions with distinctive global leadership in equity derivatives, structured finance and ESG.
Mobility, International Retail Banking and Financial Services, comprising well-established universal banks (in Czech Republic, Romania and several African countries), Ayvens (the new ALD I LeasePlan brand), a global player in sustainable mobility, as well as specialized financing activities.
Committed to building together with its clients a better and sustainable future, Societe Generale aims to be a leading partner in the environmental transition and sustainability overall. The Group is included in the principal socially responsible investment indices: DJSI (Europe), FTSE4Good (Global and Europe), Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, Refinitiv Diversity and Inclusion Index, Euronext Vigeo (Europe and Eurozone), STOXX Global ESG Leaders indexes, and the MSCI Low Carbon Leaders Index (World and Europe).
The Commission is concerned about ensuring children are protected online and is, as part of this, working on a common EU approach to age verification.
To this end, a robust EU-harmonised age verification app that is privacy-preserving and easy to use is being developed in cooperation with the Member States via the European Board for Digital Services[1].
This work is part of a set of measures for the protection of minors, including the Digital Services Act art. 28 guidelines and enforcement actions, the action plan against Cyberbullying, and the inquiry on the impact of social media on mental health.
The app will initially allow users to prove that they are over 18 years when accessing online content restricted to adults (e.g. pornography, gambling, online alcohol purchase). It is technically possible and envisaged to extend the app to other age limits.
Mid-July 2025, a white-label app will be made available to Member States, who may then customise and adapt it to their national contexts (e.g. compatibility with national digital infrastructures and legal frameworks, branding and translation) and decide to publish it in the app stores.
This release launches a pilot phase during which the white-label app will be tested and further customised in collaboration with Member States, online platforms and end-users.
5 frontrunner Member States — Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, and Spain — will be the first to take up the technical solution in view of publishing a customised national app on the app stores. The Commission prepares to scale the app to Member States with national implementation strategies.
The European Parliament is kept informed on this and broader actions in this policy area through presentations at the appropriate Committees meetings and structured dialogues.
The Commission is concerned about ensuring children are protected online and is, as part of this, working on a common EU approach to age verification.
To this end, a robust EU-harmonised age verification app that is privacy-preserving and easy to use is being developed in cooperation with the Member States via the European Board for Digital Services[1].
This work is part of a set of measures for the protection of minors, including the Digital Services Act art. 28 guidelines and enforcement actions, the action plan against Cyberbullying, and the inquiry on the impact of social media on mental health.
The app will initially allow users to prove that they are over 18 years when accessing online content restricted to adults (e.g. pornography, gambling, online alcohol purchase). It is technically possible and envisaged to extend the app to other age limits.
Mid-July 2025, a white-label app will be made available to Member States, who may then customise and adapt it to their national contexts (e.g. compatibility with national digital infrastructures and legal frameworks, branding and translation) and decide to publish it in the app stores.
This release launches a pilot phase during which the white-label app will be tested and further customised in collaboration with Member States, online platforms and end-users.
5 frontrunner Member States — Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, and Spain — will be the first to take up the technical solution in view of publishing a customised national app on the app stores. The Commission prepares to scale the app to Member States with national implementation strategies.
The European Parliament is kept informed on this and broader actions in this policy area through presentations at the appropriate Committees meetings and structured dialogues.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4
A spokesman for Hong Kong Talent Engage (HKTE) said today (July 15) that to support Hong Kong’s development as an international innovation and technology (I&T) hub, HKTE had organised three online and offline career fairs during the past three weeks to proactively attract global I&T talent to pursue development in Hong Kong, with a view to contributing to building Hong Kong into an international hub for high-calibre talent.
HKTE held a online career fair last Thursday and Friday (July 10 and 11), featuring 47 renowned enterprises and organisations, to offer nearly 2 000 quality job vacancies across sectors such as data centre operations, cyber security and business analysis.
The online career fair recorded nearly 33 000 visits, featuring job-seeking talent mainly from 14 countries or regions, including the Mainland, Singapore, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, Canada, Germany, France and Switzerland, with over 3 000 curricula vitae received. To facilitate connections between job-seeking talent and employers, a one-to-one online meeting session was set up specifically at the career fair, resulting in nearly 5 000 direct dialogues.
A spokesman for the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, one of the participating organisations, commented that the career fair facilitated effective interactions between global professionals in artificial intelligence, fintech and smart city technologies as well as digital innovation with Hong Kong employers. Nearly 90 per cent of participating enterprises and organisations expressed satisfaction with the event arrangements and indicated interest in joining future recruitment events organised by HKTE.
In addition, HKTE co-organised physical job fairs with working partners two weeks ago, including the second edition of the Hong Kong International Talents Career Expo 2025 and the NovaX Global Investmatch Carnival 2025, to connect I&T talent and entrepreneurs with employers and investors, facilitating the settlement of talent in Hong Kong.
The spokesman for HKTE added that talent is critical to the promotion of I&T development. HKTE will continue organising diverse activities to assist Hong Kong in attracting international I&T talent, including an online career fair targeting European and American markets in the second half of the year, thereby providing solid talent support for the development of the “eight centres” strategic positioning.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4
A spokesman for Hong Kong Talent Engage (HKTE) said today (July 15) that to support Hong Kong’s development as an international innovation and technology (I&T) hub, HKTE had organised three online and offline career fairs during the past three weeks to proactively attract global I&T talent to pursue development in Hong Kong, with a view to contributing to building Hong Kong into an international hub for high-calibre talent.
HKTE held a online career fair last Thursday and Friday (July 10 and 11), featuring 47 renowned enterprises and organisations, to offer nearly 2 000 quality job vacancies across sectors such as data centre operations, cyber security and business analysis.
The online career fair recorded nearly 33 000 visits, featuring job-seeking talent mainly from 14 countries or regions, including the Mainland, Singapore, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, Canada, Germany, France and Switzerland, with over 3 000 curricula vitae received. To facilitate connections between job-seeking talent and employers, a one-to-one online meeting session was set up specifically at the career fair, resulting in nearly 5 000 direct dialogues.
A spokesman for the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, one of the participating organisations, commented that the career fair facilitated effective interactions between global professionals in artificial intelligence, fintech and smart city technologies as well as digital innovation with Hong Kong employers. Nearly 90 per cent of participating enterprises and organisations expressed satisfaction with the event arrangements and indicated interest in joining future recruitment events organised by HKTE.
In addition, HKTE co-organised physical job fairs with working partners two weeks ago, including the second edition of the Hong Kong International Talents Career Expo 2025 and the NovaX Global Investmatch Carnival 2025, to connect I&T talent and entrepreneurs with employers and investors, facilitating the settlement of talent in Hong Kong.
The spokesman for HKTE added that talent is critical to the promotion of I&T development. HKTE will continue organising diverse activities to assist Hong Kong in attracting international I&T talent, including an online career fair targeting European and American markets in the second half of the year, thereby providing solid talent support for the development of the “eight centres” strategic positioning.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3
News story
Soldier of the Highland Light Infantry rededicated in France
Family members and military representatives gathered in France to honour Second Lieutenant John Taylor Macintyre of the Highland Light Infantry over a century after he fell in battle during the World War One.
Headshot of 2Lt John Taylor Macintyre (courtesy of his family).
The moving service, organised by the Ministry of Defence’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC), took place at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s (CWGC’s) Canadian Cemetery No.2, where a new headstone bearing his name was unveiled.
The family of 2Lt Macintyre with the military party at his graveside. Crown Copyright.
JCCC Caseworker Alexia Clark said:
I am so pleased to have been involved in the final chapter of the story of John Taylor Macintyre. Being able to rededicate his grave, with a new headstone bearing his name, and in the presence of his family is a very special occasion to be a part of. I am grateful to the researcher who originally submitted the case which has brought us to this point.
Second Lieutenant Macintyre shipped out to France in November 1914, coincidentally on the same vessel as his brother Duncan, who served with the Cameronians. John spent the duration of the war on the Western Front, returning home only for brief periods of leave and to recuperate following a gas attack in the summer of 1917.
During that summer, the 18th Battalion Highland Light Infantry were rotating in and out of the front line near Lempire, on the edge of the Somme sector. The battalion was tasked with capturing and holding Guillemont Farm, and it was during one of many actions linked to this objective that John died on 25 August 1917. He was listed as wounded and missing following the engagement.
In November 1931, the body of an unknown officer was recovered close to Guillemont Farm. His badges and buttons identified him as an officer of the 9th Highland Light Infantry, but he carried nothing that could identify him by name. He was reburied at Canadian Cemetery No.2 at Neuville St Vaast as an unknown officer. Recent research has conclusively identified this unknown soldier as John Taylor Macintyre.
The CWGC has placed a new headstone on the grave and will continue to care for it in perpetuity.
Katie Palmer, Records Officer at CWGC, said:
It is an honour to have been involved in Second Lieutenant Macintyre’s story, who now has a headstone bearing his name. As part of the process, we help the family choose a personal inscription, something which future generations of visitors can discover and connect with. It is our privilege to care for 2nd Lt Macintyre’s grave, in perpetuity.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3
News story
Two World War One Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Commemorated in France
Military representatives and others gathered this week to honour two First World War soldiers from the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders at special commemoration ceremonies in France.
Bugler Cpl Paul McEntee and Piper L/Cpl Donald Stewart (Crown Copyright)
The services, organised by the Ministry of Defence’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC), paid tribute to Company Quarter Master Serjeant Charles Monro and Corporal Francis Flynn at Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) cemeteries.
Human remains discovered during de-mining work near Le Maisnil were identified as CQMS Monro through DNA testing. He received a burial with full military honours at Aubers Ridge British Cemetery – a dignified farewell denied for over a century.
Monro, born in County Wicklow in 1875, was an experienced soldier who had joined the army in 1894. Serving with the 2nd Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, he lost his life during the Battle of Armentières on 21 October 1914.
The military party at CQMS Monro’s graveside (Crown Copyright)
In a separate ceremony, Corporal Francis Flynn’s grave was rededicated at Roclincourt Valley Cemetery. Flynn, who served with the 1/7 Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, died on 9 April 1917 during the first day of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
Though initially buried as an unknown Corporal, recent research by the JCCC, the National Army Museum and others revealed Flynn was the only missing Corporal from his battalion matching the burial details, finally reuniting his name with his resting place.
The military party at the graveside of Cpl Francis Flynn (Crown Copyright)
JCCC Caseworker Alexia Clark said:
I am so pleased to have been involved in the final chapters of the stories of these two men. Returning them to their families, and reuniting their names with their mortal remains, we have ensured that their sacrifice will not be forgotten.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has placed new headstones on both graves.
Dr Daniel Seaton, Commemorations Case Officer at the CWGC, said:
It was an honour to have been involved in the cases of CQMS Monro and Corporal Flynn. It is always moving when casualties are formally identified – their families having chosen poignant personal inscriptions for their new headstones being a fitting tribute. The Commission will care for the graves of these casualties in perpetuity.
Grave of missing World War One soldier identified in France
More than a century after his death, the previously unmarked grave of Serjeant (Sjt) Robert Sutherland has finally been identified and marked.
Captain Finn MacPherson reads the Regimental Collect at Serjeant (Sjt) Robert Sutherland’s rededication service. Crown Copyright.
The rededication service organised by the MOD’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC), also known as the ‘War Detectives’, was held at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s (CWGC’s) Highland Cemetery, Roclincourt on 9 July 2025.
The military party and Sjt Sutherland’s family at his graveside. Crown Copyright.
Born in Brora, Scotland, Robert joined the territorial army in December 1908 and was mobilised immediately when World War One began in August 1914. As part of the Seaforth Highlanders’ 152nd Brigade, he fought in several major battles including Festubert, Givenchy, High Wood and the Ancre.
He died on the first day of the Battle of Arras (9 April 1917) and was buried in Highland Cemetery at Roclincourt. Though unidentified at burial, recent research confirms he is the only missing Serjeant of the 6th Bn Seaforth Highlanders lost in this area at that time, identifying him as the unknown Serjeant buried there.
His Commanding Officer later praised him in the Northern Times as ‘an excellent soldier who died gallantly’, and ‘one of the best Non-Commissioned Officers in the Battalion’.
Alexia Clark, JCCC Caseworker, said:
I am grateful to the researcher who originally submitted evidence suggesting the location of the grave of Sjt Sutherland. In rededicating his grave we have reunited his mortal remains with his names, in the presence of his family, ensuring that his sacrifice will not be forgotten.
The headstone was replaced by CWGC and will be cared for in perpetuity.
Dr James Wallis, Head of Commemorations Casework at the CWGC, said:
The identification case for Serjeant Robert Sutherland, submitted by one of our regular researchers, was a privilege to investigate. With his name now engraved on a headstone that features a poignant tribute from his family, our gathering today allows for the rededication of his grave, and for us to remember the sacrifice he made alongside his comrades who lost their lives on the first day of the Battle of Arras.
Grave of missing World War One soldier identified in France
More than a century after his death, the previously unmarked grave of Serjeant (Sjt) Robert Sutherland has finally been identified and marked.
Captain Finn MacPherson reads the Regimental Collect at Serjeant (Sjt) Robert Sutherland’s rededication service. Crown Copyright.
The rededication service organised by the MOD’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC), also known as the ‘War Detectives’, was held at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s (CWGC’s) Highland Cemetery, Roclincourt on 9 July 2025.
The military party and Sjt Sutherland’s family at his graveside. Crown Copyright.
Born in Brora, Scotland, Robert joined the territorial army in December 1908 and was mobilised immediately when World War One began in August 1914. As part of the Seaforth Highlanders’ 152nd Brigade, he fought in several major battles including Festubert, Givenchy, High Wood and the Ancre.
He died on the first day of the Battle of Arras (9 April 1917) and was buried in Highland Cemetery at Roclincourt. Though unidentified at burial, recent research confirms he is the only missing Serjeant of the 6th Bn Seaforth Highlanders lost in this area at that time, identifying him as the unknown Serjeant buried there.
His Commanding Officer later praised him in the Northern Times as ‘an excellent soldier who died gallantly’, and ‘one of the best Non-Commissioned Officers in the Battalion’.
Alexia Clark, JCCC Caseworker, said:
I am grateful to the researcher who originally submitted evidence suggesting the location of the grave of Sjt Sutherland. In rededicating his grave we have reunited his mortal remains with his names, in the presence of his family, ensuring that his sacrifice will not be forgotten.
The headstone was replaced by CWGC and will be cared for in perpetuity.
Dr James Wallis, Head of Commemorations Casework at the CWGC, said:
The identification case for Serjeant Robert Sutherland, submitted by one of our regular researchers, was a privilege to investigate. With his name now engraved on a headstone that features a poignant tribute from his family, our gathering today allows for the rededication of his grave, and for us to remember the sacrifice he made alongside his comrades who lost their lives on the first day of the Battle of Arras.
Source: State University “Higher School of Economics” –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
INInstitute of Artificial Intelligence and Digital SciencesFKN HSE University has proposed a new approach based on modern machine learning methods to determine a person’s genetic origin. Graph neural networks make it possible to distinguish even very close populations with high accuracy.
Genetic analysis is a service that has become popular in the last 10-15 years not only as a medical diagnostic tool, but also as an opportunity to learn more about one’s origins. DNA analysis allows one to assess ethnic composition, determine where ancestors lived and moved, and find the number of Neanderthal mutations in the genome.
This has become possible thanks to the development of modern technologies – genotyping, data storage and processing systems, machine learning – and a significant reduction in their cost. But at the same time, existing testing methods do not allow us to separate genetically close, related populations that have lived in adjacent territories for a long time.
Researchers at the HSE Institute of AI and Digital Sciences have developed a method that allows one to distinguish the origins of people from closely related populations. The technology is based on graph neural networks. The algorithm relies not on the DNA sequence itself, but on graphs that indicate genetic connections between people with common sections of the genome. Such sections reflect the degree of kinship between people and indicate how many generations ago they had common ancestors. The more matches, the closer the people are in origin. The vertices in the model correspond to a person, and the edges reflect the degree of kinship.
The method was tested on data from different regions. The results for the population of the East European Plain, for which a large database has already been collected, were especially interesting. The graph neural network was able to accurately determine the population affiliation of representatives of genetically very close peoples.
“Existing methods of genetic analysis solve a different problem: they determine belonging to large isolated populations, for example, they determine who had French, who had Germans, who had English in their ancestry. Our method allows us to work with closely related populations, which is especially relevant for Russia, a historically multinational country,” says Alexey Shmelev, one of the authors of the work, a research intern.International Laboratory of Statistical and Computational GenomicsInstitute of AI and Digital Sciences, Faculty of Computer Science, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
In the future, the researchers plan to teach the neural network to predict the percentage of different populations in the genome.
The researchers registered theirdevelopmentcalled AncestryGNN — “Neural Network Prediction of Population Belonging from Common Genome Segments.”
As Vladimir Shchur, head of the International Laboratory of Statistical and Computational Genomics at the Institute of AI and Digital Sciences of the Faculty of Computer Science at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, noted, the proposed method opens up new prospects for more accurately determining the population history of people and can be used in genealogical research and anthropology.
Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Tuesday, 15 July 2025 | SAINT HELIER, Jersey – CoinShares International Limited (“CoinShares” or the “Company“) (Nasdaq Stockholm Market: CS; US OTCQX: CNSRF), a global investment firm specialising in digital assets, today announces an amendment to the Company’s financial calendar published on its website, https://coinshares.com.
In addition to the quarterly earnings reports the Company has released since 2021, CoinShares has also historically elected to engage its auditors to provide an interim review opinion. While this was performed as part of the Q3 earnings during 2023 and 2024, it has been determined that the Company will now perform this review at the halfway point of the year. As such, the release date for the Q2 earnings as per the Company’s website has been amended from 19 August 2025 to 29 August 2025.
This is to allow sufficient time for the requisite work to be performed by the Group’s auditors for provision of the review opinion.
About CoinShares
CoinShares is a leading global investment company specialising in digital assets, that delivers a broad range of financial services across investment management, trading and securities to a wide array of clients that includes corporations, financial institutions and individuals. Focusing on crypto since 2013, the firm is headquartered in Jersey, with offices in France, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US. CoinShares is regulated in Jersey by the Jersey Financial Services Commission, in France by the Autorité des marchés financiers, and in the US by the Securities and Exchange Commission, National Futures Association and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. CoinShares is publicly listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm under the ticker CS and the OTCQX under the ticker CNSRF.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Chinese archaeologists inspired by Xixia Imperial Tombs’ World Heritage inscription
Tourists visit the Xixia Imperial Tombs archaeological site park in Yinchuan, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, July 13, 2025. China’s Xixia Imperial Tombs were officially added to the UNESCO World Heritage List on Friday during the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Paris, France. (Photo by Yuan Hongyan/Xinhua)
Upon receiving the news that the Xixia Imperial Tombs have been inscribed on the World Heritage List, archaeological workers at the historical site of Yinxu in central China’s Henan Province were overjoyed.
“We’ve always had high hopes for the Xixia Imperial Tombs’ successful inscription on the list,” said Yang Liying, deputy head of the Anyang Yinxu world cultural heritage protection and management committee in the city of Anyang, where Yinxu, or the Yin Ruins, are located.
She added that the Xixia Imperial Tombs’ inscription on the list will help elevate China’s status and influence in the realm of world cultural heritage preservation, and hoped that the two sites can engage in broader cooperation and exchange.
The 3,300-year-old Yin Ruins, confirmed as the capital site of the late Shang (Yin) Dynasty (1600 B.C.-1046 B.C.), was added to the World Heritage List in 2006 by UNESCO.
Now, nearly two decades later, the Xixia Imperial Tombs were inscribed on the list during UNESCO’s 47th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Paris, France, on July 11. This has brought the total number of World Heritage sites in China to 60, nearly doubling the figure from 2006, when there were 33.
Located at the foot of Helan Mountain in Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the tombs were built by the Tangut, an ethnic group that thrived in northwest China between the 11th and 13th centuries. In 1038, the Tangut people founded the Xixia Dynasty, establishing its capital in what is now Yinchuan.
By analyzing the tombs’ location, layout, architecture and artifacts, historians were able to see how the Xixia Dynasty adapted Han models during the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties while infusing distinct ethnic features.
This evidence of ethnic integration is not unique to the Xixia tombs. It can be found in many of China’s historical sites. According to Ji Tao, head of the Hailongtun cultural heritage management bureau in Zunyi, Guizhou Province, the tombs and the ancient ruins of Hailongtun Fortress share similarities in this regard.
“Both are important physical evidence of the development of a pluralistic yet integrated ethnic pattern in Chinese history, and both manifest the political wisdom of ‘harmony without uniformity,’” said Ji.
In 2015, Hailongtun Fortress was added to the World Heritage List, along with two other historical sites. The three were jointly referred to as “Tusi Sites”. They were deemed to “bear exceptional testimony” to the Tusi system, a chieftain system adopted by ancient Chinese central governments to unify national administration, while allowing ethnic minorities to retain their customs and way of life.
Apart from its historic and cultural value, the Xixia Imperial Tombs also illustrate China’s multifaceted preservation of cultural heritage sites, said Liu Xiangyu, head of the cultural relics protection and management institute of Ji’an, northeast China’s Jilin Province.
The protection work of the tombs is overseen by the cultural relics administration department of Yinchuan Municipal People’s Government. Meanwhile, departments of city planning, land and resources, as well as housing and urban-rural development all work in coordination within their respective duties, forming a joint force for protection.
According to Liu, this tiered and coordinated system of historical site preservation was also adopted in the protection of the Capital Cities and Tombs of the Ancient Koguryo Kingdom in Jilin, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2004. “As heritages of the same type, the two sites share many similarities in terms of protection methods,” Liu said.
With its World Heritage inscription, the Xixia Imperial Tombs have now gained a new opportunity to inspire archaeological workers in China and the Chinese people as a whole. The head of the Xixia tomb area management office has vowed to take the inscription as an opportunity to comprehensively and continuously explore the cultural value of the site, and spare no effort in advancing its systematic protection, utilization and research.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Chinese archaeologists inspired by Xixia Imperial Tombs’ World Heritage inscription
Tourists visit the Xixia Imperial Tombs archaeological site park in Yinchuan, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, July 13, 2025. China’s Xixia Imperial Tombs were officially added to the UNESCO World Heritage List on Friday during the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Paris, France. (Photo by Yuan Hongyan/Xinhua)
Upon receiving the news that the Xixia Imperial Tombs have been inscribed on the World Heritage List, archaeological workers at the historical site of Yinxu in central China’s Henan Province were overjoyed.
“We’ve always had high hopes for the Xixia Imperial Tombs’ successful inscription on the list,” said Yang Liying, deputy head of the Anyang Yinxu world cultural heritage protection and management committee in the city of Anyang, where Yinxu, or the Yin Ruins, are located.
She added that the Xixia Imperial Tombs’ inscription on the list will help elevate China’s status and influence in the realm of world cultural heritage preservation, and hoped that the two sites can engage in broader cooperation and exchange.
The 3,300-year-old Yin Ruins, confirmed as the capital site of the late Shang (Yin) Dynasty (1600 B.C.-1046 B.C.), was added to the World Heritage List in 2006 by UNESCO.
Now, nearly two decades later, the Xixia Imperial Tombs were inscribed on the list during UNESCO’s 47th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Paris, France, on July 11. This has brought the total number of World Heritage sites in China to 60, nearly doubling the figure from 2006, when there were 33.
Located at the foot of Helan Mountain in Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the tombs were built by the Tangut, an ethnic group that thrived in northwest China between the 11th and 13th centuries. In 1038, the Tangut people founded the Xixia Dynasty, establishing its capital in what is now Yinchuan.
By analyzing the tombs’ location, layout, architecture and artifacts, historians were able to see how the Xixia Dynasty adapted Han models during the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties while infusing distinct ethnic features.
This evidence of ethnic integration is not unique to the Xixia tombs. It can be found in many of China’s historical sites. According to Ji Tao, head of the Hailongtun cultural heritage management bureau in Zunyi, Guizhou Province, the tombs and the ancient ruins of Hailongtun Fortress share similarities in this regard.
“Both are important physical evidence of the development of a pluralistic yet integrated ethnic pattern in Chinese history, and both manifest the political wisdom of ‘harmony without uniformity,’” said Ji.
In 2015, Hailongtun Fortress was added to the World Heritage List, along with two other historical sites. The three were jointly referred to as “Tusi Sites”. They were deemed to “bear exceptional testimony” to the Tusi system, a chieftain system adopted by ancient Chinese central governments to unify national administration, while allowing ethnic minorities to retain their customs and way of life.
Apart from its historic and cultural value, the Xixia Imperial Tombs also illustrate China’s multifaceted preservation of cultural heritage sites, said Liu Xiangyu, head of the cultural relics protection and management institute of Ji’an, northeast China’s Jilin Province.
The protection work of the tombs is overseen by the cultural relics administration department of Yinchuan Municipal People’s Government. Meanwhile, departments of city planning, land and resources, as well as housing and urban-rural development all work in coordination within their respective duties, forming a joint force for protection.
According to Liu, this tiered and coordinated system of historical site preservation was also adopted in the protection of the Capital Cities and Tombs of the Ancient Koguryo Kingdom in Jilin, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2004. “As heritages of the same type, the two sites share many similarities in terms of protection methods,” Liu said.
With its World Heritage inscription, the Xixia Imperial Tombs have now gained a new opportunity to inspire archaeological workers in China and the Chinese people as a whole. The head of the Xixia tomb area management office has vowed to take the inscription as an opportunity to comprehensively and continuously explore the cultural value of the site, and spare no effort in advancing its systematic protection, utilization and research.
A series of atrocity sites of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia have been formally entered onto the World Heritage list, as part of the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee.
This is not only important for Cambodia, but also raises important questions for atrocity sites in Australia.
Before this, the World Heritage list only recognised seven “sites of memory” associated with recent conflicts, which UNESCO defines as “events having occurred from the turn of the 20th century” under its criterion vi. These sat within a broader list of more than 950 cultural sites.
In recent years, experts have intensely debated the question of whether a site associated with recent conflict could, or should, be nominated and evaluated for World Heritage status. Some argue such listings would contradict the objectives of UNESCO and its spirit of peace, which was part of the specialised agency’s mandate after the destruction of two world wars.
Sites associated with recent conflicts can be divisive. For instance, when Japan nominated the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, both China and the United States objected and eventually disassociated from the decision. The US argued the nomination lacked “historical perspective” on the events that led to the bomb’s use. Meanwhile, China argued listing the property would not be conducive for peace as other Asian countries and peoples had suffered at the hands of the Japanese during WWII.
Heritage inscriptions risk reinforcing societal divisions if they conserve a particular memory in a one-sided way.
Nonetheless, the World Heritage Committee decided in 2023 to no longer preclude such sites for inscription. This was done partly in recognition of how these sites may “serve the peace-building mission of UNESCO”.
Shortly after, three listing were added: the ESMA Museum and Site of Memory, a former clandestine centre for detention, torture and extermination in Argentina; memorial sites of the Rwandan genocide at Nyamata, Murambi, Gisozi and Bisesero; and funerary and memory sites of the first world war in Belgium and France.
A number of legacy sites associated with Nelson Mandela’s human rights struggle in South Africa were also added last year.
Atrocities of the Khmer Rouge
The recently inscribed Cambodian Memorial Sites include prisons S-21 (now known as Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum) and M-13, as well as the execution site Choeung Ek.
These sites were nominated for their value in showing the development of extreme mass violence in relation to the security system of the Khmer Rouge in 1975–79. They also have value as places of memorialisation, peace and learning.
The Khmer Rouge developed its methods of disappearance, incarceration and torture of suspected “enemies” during the civil conflict of 1970–75. It established a system of local-level security centres in so-called “liberated” areas.
One of these centres was known as M-13, a small, well-hidden prison in the country’s rural southwest. A man named Kaing Guek Eav – also called Duch – was responsible for prisoners at M-13.
Shortly after the entire country fell to the Khmer Rouge in April 1975, Duch was assigned to lead the headquarters of the regime’s security system: a large detention and torture centre known as S-21.
Under his instruction, tens of thousands of people were detained in inhumane conditions, tortured and interrogated. Many detainees were later taken to the outskirts of the city to be brutally killed and buried in pits at a place called Choeung Ek.
The sites operated until early 1979, when the Khmer Rouge was forced from power.
The S-21 facility and the mass graves at Choeung Ek have long been memorialised as the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre.
However, the former M-13 site shows few visual clues to its prior use, and has only recently been investigated by an international team led by Cambodian archaeologist and museum director Hang Nisay. The site is on an island in a small river that forms the boundary between the Kampong Chhnang and Kampong Speu provinces.
Further research, site protection and memorialisation activities will now be supported, with help from locals.
From repression to reflection
The Cambodian memorial sites have been recognised as holding “outstanding universal value” for the way they evidence one of the 20th century’s worst atrocities, and are now places of memory.
In its nomination dossier for these sites, Cambodia drew on findings from the Khmer Rouge Tribunal to verify and link the conflict and the sites.
In 2010, the tribunal found Duch guilty of crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. Duch was sentenced to 30 years in prison (which eventually turned into life imprisonment). He died in 2020.
While courts such as the International Criminal Court have previously examined the destruction of heritage as an international crime, drawing on legal findings to assert heritage status is an unusual inverse. It raises important questions about the legacies of former UN-supported tribunals and the ongoing implications of their findings.
The recent listings also raise questions for Australia, which has many sites of documented mass killing associated with colonisation and the frontier wars that lasted into the 20th century.
Might Australia nominate any of these atrocity sites in the future? And could other processes such as truth-telling, reparation and redress support (or be supported by) such nominations?
Rachel Hughes has consulted to UNESCO Cambodia.
Maria Elander does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on July 15, 2025.
A warning from the future: the risk if NZ gets climate adaptation policy wrong today Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Logan, Senior Lecturer Above the Bar, Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury Getty Images 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
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
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:
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
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.
Keith Rankin Analysis – Reporting International Migration: Less than the Truth Analysis by Keith Rankin. 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 saying, would the last person to leave New Zealand please turn out the lights” (a saying which has been used in
Antisemitism plan fails on a number of fronts – a contentious definition of hate is just the start Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Chappell, Scientia Professor, UNSW Sydney The antisemitism strategy presented to the Albanese government has attracted considerable – and wholly justifed – criticism. Produced by Jillian Segal, the special envoy to combat antisemitism, the blueprint falls short in a range of areas essential to good public policy.
Do I have prostate cancer? Why a simple PSA blood test alone won’t give you the answer Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin M. Koo, NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow, The University of Queensland Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Australia, with about 26,000 men diagnosed per year. The majority (more than 85%) are aged over 60. Prostate cancer kills around 3,900 Australians a year. Yet most prostate
Many fish are social, but pesticides are pushing them apart Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kyle Morrison, PhD Candidate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UNSW Sydney Kazakov Maksim, Shutterstock Scientists have detected pesticides in rivers, lakes and oceans worldwide. So what are these pesticides doing to the fish? Long before pesticides reach lethal doses, they can disrupt hormones, impair brain function and
Almost half of young workers expected to work unpaid overtime, while a quarter aren’t paid compulsory super Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Howe, Associate Dean (Research), Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne Anna Kraynova/Shutterstock A young person gets a job, excited to earn their first paycheck. Over time, they realise the hours are long and the payslips small. They are told to stay back to clean up
Israeli settlers shoot, beat to death 2 Palestinians in latest lynchings BEARING WITNESS: By Cole Martin in occupied West Bank Two young Palestinians were shot and beaten to death on their land, and 30 injured, by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank on Saturday. A large group of settlers attacked the rural Palestinian village of Sinjil, in the Ramallah governorate, beating Sayfollah “Saif” Mussalet, 20,
View from The Hill: Segal’s antisemitism plan gives government controversy, not clarity Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Prime Minister Anthony Albanese may be rueing what seemed a good idea at the time – the appointment of a special envoy to combat antisemitism (as well as an envoy to combat Islamophobia). Or perhaps Jillian Segal, a former president
David Robie condemns ‘callous’ health legacy of French, US nuclear bomb tests in Pacific Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – A journalist who was on the Rainbow Warrior voyage to Rongelap last night condemned France for its “callous” attack of an environmental ship, saying “we haven’t forgotten, or forgiven this outrage”. David Robie, the author of Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the
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
Confusing for doctors, inequitable for patients: why Australia’s medicinal cannabis system needs urgent reform Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Mary Hallinan, Senior Research Fellow, Department of General Practice and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne Vanessa Nunes/Getty Images In 2024 alone, Australia’s medicines regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), authorised at least 979,000 prescription applications for medicinal cannabis
Treasury warns the government it may not balance the budget or meet its housing targets Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Head, Canberra School of Government, University of Canberra Kokkai Ng/Getty In the runup to each election, federal treasury produces a “blue book” and a “red book”, with advice tailored to the priorities of the two alternative governments. One of these is given to the incoming
How do you stop an AI model turning Nazi? What the Grok drama reveals about AI training Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aaron J. Snoswell, Senior Research Fellow in AI Accountability, Queensland University of Technology Anne Fehres and Luke Conroy & AI4Media, CC BY Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot embedded in X (formerly Twitter) and built by Elon Musk’s company xAI, is back in the headlines after calling
Author condemns ‘callous’ health legacy of French, US nuclear bomb tests in Pacific Asia Pacific Report A journalist who was on the Rainbow Warrior voyage to Rongelap last night condemned France for its “callous” attack of an environmental ship, saying “we haven’t forgotten, or forgiven this outrage”. David Robie, the author of Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow Warrior, said at the launch
Washington’s war demands – Australia right to refuse committing to a hypothetical conflict with China over Taiwan Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Andy. LIU/Shutterstock The United States can count on Australia as one of its closest allies. Dating back to the shared experiences in the second world war and the ANZUS Treaty signed in 1951, Australia has steadfastly
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on July 15, 2025.
A warning from the future: the risk if NZ gets climate adaptation policy wrong today Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Logan, Senior Lecturer Above the Bar, Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury Getty Images 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
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
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:
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
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.
Keith Rankin Analysis – Reporting International Migration: Less than the Truth Analysis by Keith Rankin. 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 saying, would the last person to leave New Zealand please turn out the lights” (a saying which has been used in
Antisemitism plan fails on a number of fronts – a contentious definition of hate is just the start Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Chappell, Scientia Professor, UNSW Sydney The antisemitism strategy presented to the Albanese government has attracted considerable – and wholly justifed – criticism. Produced by Jillian Segal, the special envoy to combat antisemitism, the blueprint falls short in a range of areas essential to good public policy.
Do I have prostate cancer? Why a simple PSA blood test alone won’t give you the answer Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin M. Koo, NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow, The University of Queensland Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Australia, with about 26,000 men diagnosed per year. The majority (more than 85%) are aged over 60. Prostate cancer kills around 3,900 Australians a year. Yet most prostate
Many fish are social, but pesticides are pushing them apart Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kyle Morrison, PhD Candidate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UNSW Sydney Kazakov Maksim, Shutterstock Scientists have detected pesticides in rivers, lakes and oceans worldwide. So what are these pesticides doing to the fish? Long before pesticides reach lethal doses, they can disrupt hormones, impair brain function and
Almost half of young workers expected to work unpaid overtime, while a quarter aren’t paid compulsory super Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Howe, Associate Dean (Research), Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne Anna Kraynova/Shutterstock A young person gets a job, excited to earn their first paycheck. Over time, they realise the hours are long and the payslips small. They are told to stay back to clean up
Israeli settlers shoot, beat to death 2 Palestinians in latest lynchings BEARING WITNESS: By Cole Martin in occupied West Bank Two young Palestinians were shot and beaten to death on their land, and 30 injured, by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank on Saturday. A large group of settlers attacked the rural Palestinian village of Sinjil, in the Ramallah governorate, beating Sayfollah “Saif” Mussalet, 20,
View from The Hill: Segal’s antisemitism plan gives government controversy, not clarity Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Prime Minister Anthony Albanese may be rueing what seemed a good idea at the time – the appointment of a special envoy to combat antisemitism (as well as an envoy to combat Islamophobia). Or perhaps Jillian Segal, a former president
David Robie condemns ‘callous’ health legacy of French, US nuclear bomb tests in Pacific Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – A journalist who was on the Rainbow Warrior voyage to Rongelap last night condemned France for its “callous” attack of an environmental ship, saying “we haven’t forgotten, or forgiven this outrage”. David Robie, the author of Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the
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
Confusing for doctors, inequitable for patients: why Australia’s medicinal cannabis system needs urgent reform Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Mary Hallinan, Senior Research Fellow, Department of General Practice and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne Vanessa Nunes/Getty Images In 2024 alone, Australia’s medicines regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), authorised at least 979,000 prescription applications for medicinal cannabis
Treasury warns the government it may not balance the budget or meet its housing targets Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Head, Canberra School of Government, University of Canberra Kokkai Ng/Getty In the runup to each election, federal treasury produces a “blue book” and a “red book”, with advice tailored to the priorities of the two alternative governments. One of these is given to the incoming
How do you stop an AI model turning Nazi? What the Grok drama reveals about AI training Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aaron J. Snoswell, Senior Research Fellow in AI Accountability, Queensland University of Technology Anne Fehres and Luke Conroy & AI4Media, CC BY Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot embedded in X (formerly Twitter) and built by Elon Musk’s company xAI, is back in the headlines after calling
Author condemns ‘callous’ health legacy of French, US nuclear bomb tests in Pacific Asia Pacific Report A journalist who was on the Rainbow Warrior voyage to Rongelap last night condemned France for its “callous” attack of an environmental ship, saying “we haven’t forgotten, or forgiven this outrage”. David Robie, the author of Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow Warrior, said at the launch
Washington’s war demands – Australia right to refuse committing to a hypothetical conflict with China over Taiwan Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Andy. LIU/Shutterstock The United States can count on Australia as one of its closest allies. Dating back to the shared experiences in the second world war and the ANZUS Treaty signed in 1951, Australia has steadfastly
Leading researcher of the NTI Center of Novosibirsk State University, head of the laser technology laboratory of the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Engineering Alexander Malikov spoke in detail about the essence of the development and the prospects for its implementation:
— Our new method allows us to restore heavily worn sections of gas turbine blades, fully preserving the original performance characteristics of the product. To do this, we use a special mode of laser pulse-periodic action, which allows us to form strong protective layers of metal or ceramic composites on the surface.
According to Alexander Malikov, the task was to restore the thin edges of the blades, which are subject to intense exposure to high temperatures and pressure during engine operation. The advantage of the proposed technology is that using the traditional surfacing method would lead to overheating and destruction of sensitive areas of the parts.
“We proposed an original solution to the problem by preliminary forming special protective layers before the main stage of surfacing. This approach allowed us to preserve the original geometric shape of the blade and ensure reliable adhesion of the restored layer to the main structure,” the scientist explained.
The new method significantly reduces the cost of repairs, ensuring high strength and durability of restored elements of gas turbine units.
The developed technology is in high demand on the Russian energy generation and aircraft manufacturing market. Modern gas turbine engines are used everywhere – from civil aviation to electric power engineering and natural gas transportation.
Alexander Malikov noted the importance of this area of research:
— The production of high-quality blades is one of the ten key technologies of the modern world. Their production requires complex solutions due to extreme operating conditions. Only four countries in the world have the necessary competencies: the USA, Great Britain, France and Russia.
Previously, the energy segment of the Russian market was heavily dependent on foreign suppliers of spare parts and services for the restoration of parts. With the departure of Western companies from the Russian market, there was a need to develop our own technologies and services capable of replacing foreign analogues. The new technology created by Novosibirsk scientists is capable of significantly increasing the reliability and cost-effectiveness of servicing large industrial enterprises and facilities using gas turbine units.
In the near future, it is planned to introduce the technology into serial production; a number of Russian companies have shown interest in it. Meanwhile, researchers continue to develop technologies for the restoration of various types of blades and other elements of industrial equipment.
— To solve problems of this type, we first need to carefully study the properties of the material from which the product is made at the atomic level. In our work, we use synchrotron radiation, which provides great opportunities for emitting phase composition at a very high resolution level, and if we know the exact phase states of the material, the structural phases, then we can control it, — explained Alexander Malikov.
Scientists will have even more opportunities with the launch of the Siberian Ring Photon Source (SKIF), at one of whose workstations a number of studies in this area are already planned.
Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
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PORTLAND PORT, England – Exercise Sea Breeze 25-2 officially concluded following two weeks of multinational mine countermeasure operations in the waters off the United Kingdom’s southern coast July 11, 2025.
Exercise Sea Breeze 25-2 officially concluded following two weeks of multinational mine countermeasure operations in the waters off the United Kingdom’s southern coast July 11, 2025. Naval forces from 14 nations, including NATO allies and partners, demonstrated coordination and enhanced interoperability in a dynamic maritime environment.
From June 30 to July 11, participating forces from Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Georgia, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and the United States conducted joint mine hunting operations, dive and salvage missions, explosive ordnance disposal, and the deployment of cutting-edge robotic and autonomous systems (RAS).
The culminating demonstration showcased a unified application of these capabilities, reinforcing the collective strength and cohesion of participating nations in high-intensity, multi-domain scenarios.
“The U.S. Navy’s mission is to keep the seas open. Mines restrict that. Our MCM force is small, so we rely heavily on partners and allies. These exercises ensure we can interoperate and conduct mine countermeasure operations together,” said Capt. William Williams, the commodore of Mine Countermeasures Group 6.
At the center of the exercise was a fully integrated, combined headquarters that executed advanced staff planning, targeting operations, and command-and-control across a coalition force. The inclusion of RAS, electronic warfare integration, and real-time situational awareness significantly expanded the participating nations’ capacity to operate across domains.
This year, Exercise Sea Breeze 2025 occurred in two iterations, Sea Breeze 25-1 and 25-2. The first iteration, Sea Breeze 25-1, was hosted by the Romanian Armed Forces at Smardan Range, Romania, June 1-20, 2025.
Since 1997, Exercise Sea Breeze has brought together Black Sea nations, NATO Allies and partners together to train and operate with NATO members in the pursuit of building increased capabilities. Exercise Sea Breeze 2025 is an annual multinational maritime exercise, involving sea, land, and air components co-hosted by the United States and Ukraine to enhance interoperability and capability among participating forces.
Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allies, international partners, and other U.S. government departments and agencies to advance U.S. national interests, security, and stability in Europe and Africa.
Question for written answer E-002428/2025/rev.1 to the Commission Rule 144 Paolo Inselvini (ECR), Carlo Fidanza (ECR), Nicola Procaccini (ECR), Bert-Jan Ruissen (ECR), Miriam Lexmann (PPE), Ruggero Razza (ECR), Giovanni Crosetto (ECR), Sergio Berlato (ECR), Margarita de la Pisa Carrión (PfE), Mariateresa Vivaldini (ECR), Daniele Polato (ECR), Michele Picaro (ECR), Marion Maréchal (ECR), Marco Squarta (ECR), Nicolas Bay (ECR), Laurence Trochu (ECR), Chiara Gemma (ECR), Stephen Nikola Bartulica (ECR), Francesco Ventola (ECR), Mariusz Kamiński (ECR)
On 4 June 2025, two pro-life advocates – Lois McLatchie Miller and Chris Elston – were arrested by Belgian police while peacefully demonstrating their convictions on the use of puberty blockers for children and raising awareness about the dangers of these. They were holding signs with messages saying ‘Children are never born in the wrong body’ and ‘Children cannot consent to puberty blockers’, without using offensive language or engaging in violent conduct.
When surrounded by an aggressive crowd, they called the police. They were taken to the police station, searched and released after several hours without any formal charges. They were also informed that their signs had been destroyed.
This incident, incompatible with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and occurring in the heart of the EU, raises serious concerns about freedom of thought and expression, especially regarding opinions on ethically sensitive issues.
1.Is the Commission aware of the events described above?
2.Does it consider the arrest of individuals peacefully expressing non-violent opinions to be compatible with Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU?
3.Does it intend to request clarification from the Belgian authorities in order to safeguard the freedom of expression guaranteed by the aforementioned international instruments?
