SHREWSBURY, United Kingdom, July 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Lightchain AI, the decentralized AI Layer 1 protocol, has officially entered its final Bonus Round after completing all 15 presale stages and securing over $21 million in early contributions. Priced at a fixed $0.007125, the Bonus Round gives developers and early supporters one last opportunity to acquire LCAI tokens before the upcoming mainnet launch in July.
The Bonus Round marks more than a token sale milestone—it coincides with the rollout of key infrastructure designed to fuel developer participation and decentralized activity across the Lightchain ecosystem.
Meme Launchpad Goes Live
As part of its roadmap execution, Lightchain AI has launched its Meme Launchpad, a toolset enabling creators to deploy meme tokens directly on Lightchain’s native network. Projects benefit from built-in liquidity support, optimized transaction costs, and instant exposure to a growing on-chain community. This launch positions Lightchain as a home for creative and experimental use cases while demonstrating the network’s real-world readiness.
Public Repositories and Builder Tools Set for Deployment
The project’s GitHub repositories are preparing to go live, offering transparent access to its Artificial Intelligence Virtual Machine (AIVM), Proof-of-Intelligence consensus model, and cross-chain infrastructure. Accompanying APIs and SDKs are being finalized for developers eager to build applications, tools, and DeFi protocols tailored to AI-enhanced execution.
The network’s architecture also includes gas optimization features that automatically adjust transaction fees based on AI task complexity, improving usability while supporting high-throughput AI processing.
Tokenomics Built for Sustainability
Lightchain AI’s tokenomics model reinforces long-term utility. Of the total token supply, 40% is allocated to presale participants, 28.5% to staking rewards, and 26.5% toward liquidity, marketing, development, and grants. Notably, the originally reserved 5% team allocation has been fully redirected to ecosystem growth, developer incentives, and community contributions—reinforcing the platform’s decentralized and community-first approach.
Mainnet Launch on the Horizon
With validator onboarding underway and contributor nodes in testing, Lightchain AI is on track for a July 2025 mainnet launch. The Bonus Round, currently in progress, is expected to close shortly before deployment.
Supporters and developers can access token information, whitepaper documentation, and project details via official channels:
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Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
A merchant (L, front) from Nepal watches dragon dance performance outside the Yiwu International Trade Market in Yiwu, east China’s Zhejiang Province, Feb. 9, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
In a city long famed as the “world’s supermarket,” foreign businesspeople are no longer just visitors — they are being officially recognized as vital drivers of China’s future development.
Yiwu City, a bustling hub in east China’s Zhejiang Province that trades with over 230 countries and regions, has launched China’s first standardized system for formally certifying foreign trade talents.
The pilot program, launched in June, marks a shift away from traditional talent criteria that focus solely on education or technical credentials, instead rewarding foreign entrepreneurs for their real-world business contributions.
Under the new guidelines, any foreign national with a valid work permit and a registered company in Yiwu can be classified as A or B-level talent if they meet key performance metrics, such as import-export volume, job creation, or long-term local operations.
B-level talent now enjoys two- to four-year work permits, rather than having to renew them annually. At the same time, A-level recognition offers five-year permits, along with priority services and faster approvals.
“Foreign businesses and investors are essential participants in China’s modernization,” said Wang Liqin, head of the talent and cooperation section at Yiwu’s science and technology bureau. “This pilot program offers institutional support for their entrepreneurship and serves as a model of high-quality development in trade and foreign investment.”
As of late June, over 609 foreign businesspeople in Yiwu had been certified under the program, part of a community of more than 8,600 foreign work permit holders that makes Yiwu the top city in Zhejiang for foreign employment.
Yiwu’s decision to pioneer this reform reflects its long-standing international DNA. On any given day, more than 28,000 foreign merchants work in the city, a density unmatched in most of China.
For Sakhi Brahim, a Moroccan businessman who first learned about China at a Confucius Institute back home, Yiwu represents the ideal place to build a career bridging cultures.
“Foreigners are afraid of miscommunication,” he said. “So I decided to be that bridge.”
Brahim arrived in Yiwu in 2013 after studying at Beijing International Studies University. He now runs a kitchenware export business while helping Moroccan clients understand the Chinese market and ensuring local suppliers profit.
“The work opportunities here are very good. Even getting a driver’s license is easy — they offer the theory test in Arabic,” said Brahim.
Brahim credits the city’s infrastructure, openness, and new certification system for creating a foundation of trust. “It shows they recognize our contribution. That trust is why I can succeed here,” he said.
Nidal R.A. Sabarneh, who calls himself “Ni Dale” in China — a name he chose to express his hope that the support and opportunities he finds in China can reach his homeland, Palestine — also found a professional home in Yiwu.
Born in 1994, he was inspired by his father’s trade trips to China and chose to study international economics at Wuhan University, central China’s Hubei Province.
He arrived in Yiwu in 2016 and now runs his own company that sells automotive repair tools. His supply network includes over 80 factories across Zhejiang.
“Honestly, if it wasn’t Yiwu, a modern, open trade city, I doubt I could get so many factories to work with me,” he said.
His products reach 36 countries, with demand rising thanks to China’s own booming new energy vehicle exports. Yet for him, Yiwu’s greatest advantage is security.
“My home is in a war zone. I’ve traveled to many countries, and China is the safest place I know. That security is what allows us to do business,” he said.
For Dumaru Bishnuprasad, head of the Nepal-China chamber of commerce and industry in Yiwu, Yiwu has been both a business base and a family home for over two decades. He first arrived in 2002, married a local from Ningbo, and is raising three children in China.
“Yiwu is a great platform for foreigners,” he said. He pointed to opportunities created by the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and the dedicated China-Nepal railway cooperation.
Bishnuprasad’s businesses encompass trade and logistics, with a focus on selling hardware, stationery and footwear. As chamber head, he often mediates disputes between merchants and suppliers. “Ninety percent of problems can be solved inside the chamber,” he said.
He also praised Yiwu’s attentiveness to foreign families. “I take my parents to local senior centers and dining halls. It’s convenient and reassuring,” he said.
As Yiwu deepens its role as a testbed for comprehensive trade reforms, officials say the new talent certification system is only the beginning. Future plans include refining criteria, expanding service support, and sharing lessons with other regions in China.
For foreign merchants in Yiwu, the new system is not just about paperwork. It represents a formal invitation to build a lasting life in China — a place where trade ties turn into personal connections and foreign investment becomes local development.
“Yiwu isn’t just a city of small commodities,” Bishnuprasad said. “It’s a city that really takes care of people.”
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Helmet strapped and headlamp shining, 14-year-old Wang Zichen zipped into the shadowy depths of a karst cave, part of a growing wave of underground adventure tourism in southwest China’s mountainous regions.
Beneath the towering peaks of Guizhou Province stretches a vast karst world filled with tens of thousands of ancient caves. Formed over hundreds of millions of years by persistent water erosion, these caves hold dramatic geological formations, rich biodiversity and traces of early human activity.
In February, Guizhou rolled out a plan to promote classified management, ecological restoration and responsible development of cave resources, aiming to enhance their ecological, scientific and tourism values. An expanding range of cave-based ventures is now flourishing across the province, drawing visitors and boosting local economies.
This photo taken on July 5, 2025 shows a sign of the Eco Forum Global Guiyang 2025 in Guiyang, southwest China’s Guizhou Province. [Photo/Xinhua]
The province’s efforts align with the theme of the ongoing Eco Forum Global Guiyang 2025, which opened Saturday in the provincial capital, highlighting the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.
“Cave economy” takes off
“It is both exciting and informative,” said Wang, who explored the Forest Coolpark scenic spot nestled in Libo Karst — part of the South China Karst, a UNESCO World Heritage Site — with friends during his summer vacation. Inside the cave, he admired the stunning stalactites while learning about karst geology.
According to Ren Peng, general manager of the scenic site, a variety of cave-based activities have been developed to suit diverse terrain, including caving adventures, sightseeing tours, cave camping and even cave hotpot dining. Since the May Day holiday this year, the site has welcomed nearly 10,000 tourists, generating over 7 million yuan (about 978,542 U.S. dollars) in revenue.
“We follow an ecology-first principle in our development,” Ren said. “We preserve the caves’ natural features while designing tour routes, and avoid any construction in deeper sections. All waste is strictly managed and removed from the caves daily.”
“It’s necessary to develop caves based on solid scientific cave research,” said Jean Bottazzi, a French caver and representative of the French Federation of Speleology in China, in an interview with Xinhua during the eco forum. He has spent over three decades studying Shuanghedong Cave, the longest known cave in Asia, located in Guizhou’s Suiyang County.
Over the years, Bottazzi has worked with local authorities and developers to provide expert guidance on balancing cave tourism with conservation. “It’s encouraging to see that responsible development not only preserves the cave environment, but also brings economic benefits to local villagers by creating new job opportunities,” he added.
According to incomplete statistics, the direct market size of Guizhou’s cave tourism sector has reached an estimated 1 billion yuan.
In addition to tourism, many caves have been creatively repurposed for commercial use. Some have been transformed into restaurants, bars and homestays, while others serve as sites for winemaking, mushroom cultivation, or even data storage, taking advantage of their naturally stable temperature and humidity.
“These caves, once dormant in the depths of the mountains, are now awakening as unique assets of the region. They are no longer just natural wonders, but also cultural and economic symbols,” said Qin Xiaokang, deputy director of the culture, radio, television and tourism bureau of Libo County.
This photo taken on July 4, 2025 shows the intelligent tourism system of Zhijindong Cave UNESCO Global Geopark in Bijie, southwest China’s Guizhou Province. [PhotoXinhua]
Modern tech moves in
Speaking at a sub-forum of the ongoing event, Hassina Mouri, president of the International Union of Geological Sciences, emphasized the role of innovative technologies in promoting environmental engagement. “By using tools like big data and artificial intelligence, we detect, predict and better comprehend the interactions among different parts of our natural environment.”
In an interview with Xinhua, Zhou Wenlong, deputy director of the Guizhou Institute of Mountain Resources, said high-tech tools are playing a key role in addressing the challenges of karst cave conservation and development.
“Some caves have fragile ecosystems and complex terrains that are difficult to access,” Zhou said. “We use terrestrial laser scanning technology to produce high-precision 3D models of cave interiors, and leverage digital tools to offer virtual access to these delicate sites.”
These technologies have already been applied in Zhijindong Cave UNESCO Global Geopark in Guizhou’s Bijie City. According to Liu Haibo, general manager of Guizhou Zhijindong Cave Tourism Development Co., Ltd., the geopark first completed a full laser scan of the caves in 2015, with a second scan planned for next year.
“By comparing the records, we can monitor the condition of each stalactite, whether it’s growing or damaged, and adjust our conservation and development strategy accordingly,” Liu said.
Since 2019, the geopark has also introduced an intelligent tourism system to monitor cave temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide levels and visitor flow in real time, helping to ensure both landscape protection and tourist safety.
China’s green development practices are drawing international recognition. “The ideas and approaches taken in China’s green provinces to balance economic growth and environmental protection are applicable everywhere,” said Erik Solheim, former United Nations under-secretary-general. “Many cities in the developing world could look to China for inspiration.”
Deep-sea mining promises critical minerals for the energy transition without the problems of mining on land. It also promises to bring wealth to developing nations. But the evidence suggests these promises are false, and mining would harm the environment.
The practice involves scooping up rock-like nodules from vast areas of the sea floor. These potato-sized lumps contain metals and minerals such as zinc, manganese, molybdenum, nickel and rare earth elements.
Technology to mine the deep sea exists, but commercial mining of the deep sea is not happening anywhere in the world. That could soon change. Nations are meeting this month in Kingston, Jamaica, to agree to a mining code. Such a code would make way for mining to begin within the next few years.
On Thursday, Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, released research into the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining. It aims to promote better environmental management of deep-sea mining, should it proceed.
We have previously challenged the rationale for deep-sea mining, drawing on our expertise in international politics and environmental management. We argue mining the deep sea is harmful and the economic benefits have been overstated. What’s more, the metals and minerals to be mined are not scarce.
The best course of action is a ban on international seabed mining, building on the coalition for a moratorium.
The Metals Company spent six months at sea collecting nodules in 2022, while studying the effects on ecosystems.
Managing and monitoring environmental harm
Recent advances in technology have made deep-sea mining more feasible. But removing the nodules – which also requires pumping water around – has been shown to damage the seabed and endanger marine life.
CSIRO has developed the first environmental management and monitoring frameworks to protect deep sea ecosystems from mining. It aims to provide “trusted, science-based tools to evaluate the environmental risks and viability of deep-sea mining”.
Scientists from Griffith University, Museums Victoria, the University of the Sunshine Coast, and Earth Sciences New Zealand were also involved in the work.
The Metals Company Australia, a local subsidiary of the Canadian deep-sea mining exploration company, commissioned the research. It involved analysing data from test mining the company carried out in the Pacific Ocean in 2022.
In a media briefing this week, CSIRO Senior Principal Research Scientist Piers Dunstan said the mining activity substantially affected the sea floor. Some marine life, especially that attached to the nodules, had very little hope of recovery. He said if mining were to go ahead, monitoring would be crucial.
We are sceptical that ecological impacts can be managed even with this new framework. Little is known about life in these deep-water ecosystems. But research shows nodule mining would cause extensive habitat loss and damage.
Do we really need to open the ocean frontier to mining? We argue the answer is no, on three counts.
How does deep-sea mining work? (The Guardian)
1. Minerals are not scarce
The minerals required for the energy transition are abundant on land. Known global terrestrial reserves of cobalt, copper, manganese, molybdenum and nickel are enough to meet current production levels for decades – even with growing demand.
There is no compelling reason to extract deep-sea minerals, given the economics of both deep-sea and land-based mining. Deep-sea mining is speculative and inevitably too expensive given such remote, deep operations.
Claims about mineral scarcity are being used to justify attempting to legitimise a new extractive frontier in the deep sea. Opportunistic investors can make money through speculation and attracting government subsidies.
But deep-sea mining will not necessarily displace, replace or change mining on land. Land-based mining contracts span decades and the companies involved will not abandon ongoing or planned projects. Their activities will continue, even if deep-sea mining begins.
Deep-sea mining also faces many of the same challenges as mining on land, while introducing new problems. The social problems that arise during transport, processing and distribution remain the same.
3. Common heritage of humankind and the Global South
Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the international seabed is the common heritage of humankind. This means the proceeds of deep-sea mining should be distributed fairly among all countries.
Deep-sea mining commercial partnerships between developing countries in the Global South and firms from the North have yet to pay off for the former. There is little indication this pattern will change.
For example, when Canadian company Nautilus went bankrupt in 2019, it saddled Papua New Guinea with millions in debt from a failed domestic deep-sea mining venture.
The Metals Company has partnerships with Nauru and Tonga but the latest deal with the US creates uncertainty about whether their agreements will be honoured.
European investors took control of Blue Minerals Jamaica, originally a Jamaican-owned company, shortly after orchestrating its start up. Any profits would therefore go offshore.
Given the threat of environmental harm, the evidence suggests deep-sea mining is not worth the risk.
Justin Alger receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
D.G. Webster receives funding from the National Science Foundation in the United States and various internal funding sources at Dartmouth University.
Jessica Green receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Kate J Neville receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Stacy D VanDeveer and Susan M Park do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Deep-sea mining promises critical minerals for the energy transition without the problems of mining on land. It also promises to bring wealth to developing nations. But the evidence suggests these promises are false, and mining would harm the environment.
The practice involves scooping up rock-like nodules from vast areas of the sea floor. These potato-sized lumps contain metals and minerals such as zinc, manganese, molybdenum, nickel and rare earth elements.
Technology to mine the deep sea exists, but commercial mining of the deep sea is not happening anywhere in the world. That could soon change. Nations are meeting this month in Kingston, Jamaica, to agree to a mining code. Such a code would make way for mining to begin within the next few years.
On Thursday, Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, released research into the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining. It aims to promote better environmental management of deep-sea mining, should it proceed.
We have previously challenged the rationale for deep-sea mining, drawing on our expertise in international politics and environmental management. We argue mining the deep sea is harmful and the economic benefits have been overstated. What’s more, the metals and minerals to be mined are not scarce.
The best course of action is a ban on international seabed mining, building on the coalition for a moratorium.
The Metals Company spent six months at sea collecting nodules in 2022, while studying the effects on ecosystems.
Managing and monitoring environmental harm
Recent advances in technology have made deep-sea mining more feasible. But removing the nodules – which also requires pumping water around – has been shown to damage the seabed and endanger marine life.
CSIRO has developed the first environmental management and monitoring frameworks to protect deep sea ecosystems from mining. It aims to provide “trusted, science-based tools to evaluate the environmental risks and viability of deep-sea mining”.
Scientists from Griffith University, Museums Victoria, the University of the Sunshine Coast, and Earth Sciences New Zealand were also involved in the work.
The Metals Company Australia, a local subsidiary of the Canadian deep-sea mining exploration company, commissioned the research. It involved analysing data from test mining the company carried out in the Pacific Ocean in 2022.
In a media briefing this week, CSIRO Senior Principal Research Scientist Piers Dunstan said the mining activity substantially affected the sea floor. Some marine life, especially that attached to the nodules, had very little hope of recovery. He said if mining were to go ahead, monitoring would be crucial.
We are sceptical that ecological impacts can be managed even with this new framework. Little is known about life in these deep-water ecosystems. But research shows nodule mining would cause extensive habitat loss and damage.
Do we really need to open the ocean frontier to mining? We argue the answer is no, on three counts.
How does deep-sea mining work? (The Guardian)
1. Minerals are not scarce
The minerals required for the energy transition are abundant on land. Known global terrestrial reserves of cobalt, copper, manganese, molybdenum and nickel are enough to meet current production levels for decades – even with growing demand.
There is no compelling reason to extract deep-sea minerals, given the economics of both deep-sea and land-based mining. Deep-sea mining is speculative and inevitably too expensive given such remote, deep operations.
Claims about mineral scarcity are being used to justify attempting to legitimise a new extractive frontier in the deep sea. Opportunistic investors can make money through speculation and attracting government subsidies.
But deep-sea mining will not necessarily displace, replace or change mining on land. Land-based mining contracts span decades and the companies involved will not abandon ongoing or planned projects. Their activities will continue, even if deep-sea mining begins.
Deep-sea mining also faces many of the same challenges as mining on land, while introducing new problems. The social problems that arise during transport, processing and distribution remain the same.
3. Common heritage of humankind and the Global South
Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the international seabed is the common heritage of humankind. This means the proceeds of deep-sea mining should be distributed fairly among all countries.
Deep-sea mining commercial partnerships between developing countries in the Global South and firms from the North have yet to pay off for the former. There is little indication this pattern will change.
For example, when Canadian company Nautilus went bankrupt in 2019, it saddled Papua New Guinea with millions in debt from a failed domestic deep-sea mining venture.
The Metals Company has partnerships with Nauru and Tonga but the latest deal with the US creates uncertainty about whether their agreements will be honoured.
European investors took control of Blue Minerals Jamaica, originally a Jamaican-owned company, shortly after orchestrating its start up. Any profits would therefore go offshore.
Given the threat of environmental harm, the evidence suggests deep-sea mining is not worth the risk.
Justin Alger receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
D.G. Webster receives funding from the National Science Foundation in the United States and various internal funding sources at Dartmouth University.
Jessica Green receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Kate J Neville receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Stacy D VanDeveer and Susan M Park do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Rising rural populations, drought and climate change are making water scarcity a problem in country townships – with more efficient handling of sewage system wastewater part of the solution.
Pioneered by Flinders University environmental health experts, local councils in South Australia are operating sustainable energy-efficient sewage treatment operations with low-cost high-rate algal pond (HRAP) systems.
Now new research led by Flinders University is investigating improved effluent treatment and biosolids removal with ‘sequencing batch reactors’ – or low-cost ‘SBR-HRAP’ technology field trials – installed at SA Water’s Angaston wastewater treatment plant in the Barossa Valley.
The good news is that the newer systems under development can work better and faster without major capital expense – due to the latest research of new approaches to bio-processing inside them, says Professor Howard Fallowfield, from the College of Science and Engineering at Finders University.
The SBR techniques under development involve a new kind of algae and improved removal of waste from the water, for better quality non-potable water for use in parks, gardens, sporting fields and other purposes.
“Supported by SA Water and the ARC Biofilm Research and Innovation Centre at Flinders, we are trialling selective enrichment of algal-bacterial combinations to produce higher quality treated effluent,” says Professor Fallowfield.
“Using wastewater from the Angaston community, our six pilot-scale HRAP tanks will compare the performance of these improved processes against the original HRAP operations.”
Large high-rate algal pond systems, which have been treating wastewater at local council-owned facilities near Kingston-on-Murray (since 2013) and Peterborough (since 2018) in South Australia, use low-energy paddlewheels to move township and business organic waste along shallow channels where harmless green microalgae and bacteria remove pathogens and contaminants.
PhD candidate Felipe Sabatté, who has used a native freshwater filamentous algal population to produce higher quality clarified treated effluent, says the latest developments will be scaled up in the Angaston field trials.
“While high-rate algal ponds are an accepted method of wastewater treatment, particularly for regional and rural communities, they utilise microalgae which are difficult to remove from the treated wastewater leading to unacceptably high suspended solids in the discharge,” says Mr Sabatté.
“These larger filamentous algae offer the prospect of easier separation from the treated wastewater, significantly improving treated effluent quality.”
The outcome of this research provides a new operational strategy for wastewater HRAPs, particularly for the benefit of regional and rural communities challenged with water restrictions and to help meet UN SDG6 (clean water and sanitation) targets in the long run, he says.
See more, ‘High-rate algal ponds operated as sequencing batch reactors: Towards wastewater treatment with filamentous algae’ (2025) by Felipe Sabatté, Ryan Baring and Howard Fallowfield, just published in the Journal of Applied Phycology – DOI: 10.1007/s10811-025-03545-6
This research was conducted by the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Biofilm Research and Innovation and funded by the Australian Government.
Also at the Angaston trial site, Flinders ARC Biofilm Research and Innovation Centre PhD researcher Sam Butterworth is investigating how to use this new technology to develop dense, algae-bacterial granules, which can be more readily removed from wastewater and to potentially reduce phosphorus levels.
“Algae-bacterial granule formation is a positive way for biofilms to form dense, fast-settling biomass and improve treated wastewater quality,” says Mr Butterworth.
“Using microalgae in high-rate algal ponds is increasingly seen as a better alternative to other wastewater treatment systems, such as activated sludge,” he says.
Traditional wastewater treatment methods can use more energy and water and can be less sustainable due to higher greenhouse gas emissions.
An independent validation of the HRAP projects approved the treated wastewater to be used for non-food crop irrigation. For example, the Kingston-on-Murray ponds supply reuse water to irrigate a woodlot, and the ponds in Peterborough provide reuse water for a golf course and a sports field.
Working with industry, the Flinders University ARC Training Centre for Biofilm Research and Innovation is working on a range of sustainable and environmentally friendly research solutions. See more at the website and https://youtu.be/FbWhd-lc9z0?si=pCnUqEaDDlymcDRF
Acknowledgements: This research was conducted by the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Biofilm Research and Innovation (project number IC2201000003).
Victoria’s fire services are encouraging families to practice their home fire escape plans these school holidays.
Fires can take hold at any time, and a practised escape plan could save lives.
Last year, 18 people tragically lost their lives in preventable residential fires in Victoria, with research showing that young children, people aged over 65, smokers and people with disabilities are more likely to die in house fires.
All occupants of the home should know the quickest and safest way to escape from every room, and know of two exits from every room, either through doors or windows.
You can find materials on both FRV and CFA’s respective websites to help create a plan.
FRV Deputy Commissioner Community Safety Joshua Fischer said all family members should know what to do in the event of a fire.
“In an emergency people can often panic and might not know what to do – particularly children,” Deputy Commissioner Fischer said.
“Having a practised home fire escape plan will significantly increase your chances of survival, ensuring that all members of the house know how to safely evacuate as quickly as possible.”
CFA Chief Officer Jason Heffernan said fire escape plans should be tailored to your living environment and the abilities of all members of the household.
“If you live in a high-rise building, know where the fire exits are, always take the stairs, and know the building’s evacuation procedures,” Chief Officer Heffernan said.
“And if you have people in the family who will require assistance to evacuate, such an elderly family member or young child, consider this in your plan.”
“Kids are always looking for things to do during school holidays, so why not practise your home fire escape plan together?”
When making your home fire escape plan, remember:
Know what to do if a fire occurs. Whether you are a homeowner or a renter, you should have a Home Fire Escape Plan in place.
Practice your plan with everyone in the home.
If you must keep deadlocks locked, leave your keys in the door.
When there is a fire:
Get out and stay out by getting down low and staying out of the smoke.
If it is safe, close the doors to slow down the spread of fire and smoke.
Alert other people on your way out and meet at a safe place, such as the letterbox or out the front of your home.
Call 000 from a mobile phone or neighbour’s phone.
For more information, visit frv.vic.gov.au or cfa.vic.gov.au
Headline: Global Topic: FC Barcelona and Panasonic agree contract for Espai Barça
Wiesbaden, Germany – FC Barcelona and Panasonic have signed a sponsorship agreement whereby the Japanese multinational will become the new “Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning Provider” for Espai Barça for four seasons up to 30 June 2028. This association adds another strategic partner for Espai Barça, ensuring the highest possible energy efficiency, with precision technology and a high level of interior air quality in the new installations, with a view to providing the highest possible comfort for every member and fan visiting the Spotify Camp Nou.
Part of the sponsorship programme associated with the future Spotify Camp Nou, this agreement will see Panasonic Heating & Cooling Solutions provide more sustainable heating, ventilation and air conditioning solutions, with air purification (using nanoeTM X technology), and latest generation of air-to-water heat pump systems for each space in the refurbished blaugrana home. Furthermore, high precision heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment will be used in the technical areas, such as rooms containing the servers and for broadcasting games, where device reliability and quality is essential.
This is also an opportunity for the sponsorship programme developed specifically for Espai Barça, one of the most important projects in the Club’s history, and which has provided a platform full of new opportunities for both companies that directly target consumers (B2C) and those focused on the business sector (B2B), making the most of FC Barcelona’s global prestige and outreach.
Espai Barça is a ground-breaking project in the world of sport and entertainment, which includes the refurbishment of the iconic Spotify Camp Nou, which is set to become the best sports complex located in the centre of a major city, providing comfort for every one of its almost 105,000 spectators. Every space in the new stadium will be fitted out with Panasonic solutions, providing the highest possible comfort, energy efficiency and highest quality interior air, offering innovative and high quality solutions for heating, ventilation and air conditioning, and air purification, among others.
“The alliance with Panasonic demonstrates the Club’s willingness to equip the Spotify Camp Nou with the highest quality technology in the market, with the comfort of every member and fan visiting the stadium in mind so they can enjoy a match day in the refurbished installation. This agreement with Panasonic will mean every space is as comfortable as possible for the best possible enjoyment of the matchday experience.”
Statement by Panasonic Heating & Cooling Europe CEO Hiroshi Komatsubara
“Panasonic is proud to be involved in this new FC Barcelona project, which will inevitably become a global benchmark in infrastructure. Moreover, in line with the Club’s commitment to sustainability and energy efficiency, Panasonic contributes to the new stadium’s design with its most innovative heating, ventilation, and air conditioning solutions. Using cutting-edge technology, these systems ensure comfort, high indoor air quality, and low CO2 emissions, marking a new era for major facilities in progressive cities worldwide.”
New York City, NY, July 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ripple (XRP) has ended its battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is getting rid of the supervision of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Garlinghouse tweeted: “True to our long-standing compliance roots, @Ripple is applying for a national bank charter from the OCC,” he added, “If approved, we would have both state (via NYDFS) and federal oversight, a new (and unique!) benchmark for trust in the stablecoin market.”
Against this backdrop, the LET Mining cloud mining platform provides XRP users with a way to participate that is both compliant with regulatory direction and can generate stable profits. Allow users to create more value for XRP through the LET Mining cloud mining service.
If Ripple Labs has any trump card, it is that it may be the most capital-rich cryptocurrency company in the world. If Ripple successfully obtains a national banking license, it will become the first crypto payment company licensed by a federal agency in the United States. This is not only a huge encouragement to the stablecoin market, but also directly enhances the credibility, use and legitimacy of XRP – this is good news for all crypto users.
And LET Mining is precisely under this compliance wave, providing users with a safer and more transparent passive income platform.
How does LET Mining achieve income? LET Mining maximizes revenue through the following mechanisms: ✅ AI computing power scheduling system: dynamically adjust mining strategies according to market difficulty and coin price ✅ Multi-node deployment: Global distributed servers ensure mining efficiency and stability ✅ Green energy drive: reduce operating costs and increase user revenue space ✅ Referral reward system: invite friends to get up to 3% additional rebate
How XRP holders can create revenue through LET Mining 1. Log in to the website https://letmining.com/ to register an account, and you can get a $12 reward after successful registration 2. Choose a cloud computing power contract that suits the user’s investment strategy. Users have the following options (minimum 50XRP to participate)
●Experience Contract: Investment amount: $100, contract period: 2 days, daily income of $4, expiration income: $100 + $8 ●BTC Classic Hash Power: Investment amount: $500, contract period: 5 days, daily income of $6, expiration income: $500 + $30 ●DOGE Classic Hash Power: Investment amount: $3,500, contract period: 24 days, daily income of $50.4, expiration income: $3,500 + $1,209.6 ●BTC Advanced Hash Power: Investment amount: $5,000, contract period: 30 days, daily income of $76, expiration income: $5,000 + $2,280 ●BTC Advanced Hash Power: Investment amount: $10,000, contract period: 45 days, daily income of $173, expiration income: $10,000 + $7,785
3. Automatically obtain revenue every day and withdraw funds at any time
Start mining with XRP to “empower” assets Although XRP itself cannot mine, LET Mining supports using XRP to activate contracts, purchase computing power, and participate in cloud mining of other currencies (such as BTC, LTC, DOGE). This model not only provides a new value channel for XRP holders, but also provides users with a way to steadily increase value in a compliant path.
Today, as the regulatory environment for XRP becomes increasingly clear, using its legal and compliant funding path to launch LET Mining computing power contracts will be the “ace combination” in asset management strategies.
As Ripple actively applies for a U.S. national banking license, XRP is gradually moving towards the core position of the mainstream financial system. In this wave of cryptocurrency compliance and financial integration, LET Mining is providing XRP holders with a new path to release value.
Through LET Mining cloud mining, users do not need to rely on traditional mining mechanisms, and can also make XRP the key to start digital wealth growth. Compliance is the direction, action is the beginning – now is the best time to use XRP to expand passive income opportunities.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
South Korea’s special counsel investigating former President Yoon Suk-yeol’s short-lived martial law imposition sought a warrant to detain the ousted president, the special counsel team’s spokesperson said Sunday.
Cho Eun-suk, independent counsel leading the investigation into Yoon’s insurrection and other charges, requested the warrant issuance from the Seoul Central District Court.
The charges specified in the warrant included the obstruction of justice, abuse of power and writing a bogus official document, the spokesperson noted.
The detention warrant was sought to keep Yoon in custody for an extended period of time, or at least 20 days.
The independent counsel team, which launched its investigation on June 18, sought a separate warrant to arrest Yoon for up to 48 hours last month, but it was dismissed by the Seoul court as Yoon showed his willingness to be questioned by the special counsel.
Yoon rejected the third police call on June 19 to appear for questioning over his charges of ordering the presidential security service to block the attempt in January to arrest him and to delete information on security phones offered to three military commanders.
Yoon was apprehended in the presidential office on Jan. 15 and was indicted under detention on Jan. 26 as a suspected ringleader of insurrection, but he was released on March 8 as prosecutors decided not to appeal against the court’s release approval.
The constitutional court upheld a motion to impeach Yoon on April 4 over his botched martial law bid last December, officially removing him from office.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Real Madrid will face Paris Saint-Germain in the FIFA Club World Cup semifinals after both sides claimed quarterfinal victories on Saturday.
In New Jersey, Real Madrid survived a late scare to secure a 3-2 win over a fast-finishing Borussia Dortmund while Paris Saint-Germain overcame Bayern Munich 2-0 in Atlanta.
Kylian Mbappe (L) of Real Madrid scores with a volley during the quarterfinal match between Real Madrid (Spain) and Borussia Dortmund (Germany) at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 in New Jersey, the United States, July 5, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)
Fifteen-time UEFA Champions League winners Real Madrid looked to be cruising as they entered second-half stoppage time with a 2-0 lead courtesy of first-half goals from Gonzalo Garcia and Fran Garcia at MetLife Stadium.
Maximilian Beier pulled one back in the 93rd minute before Kylian Mbappe appeared to settle Madrid’s nerves a minute later by volleying home his first goal of the tournament.
But Serhou Guirassy reduced the deficit again by converting from the penalty spot after he was dragged down by Dean Huijsen, an offense that earned the Spain international defender a straight red card.
The Spanish side held on to set up a duel with PSG at the same venue next Wednesday for a place in the final.
“Everything was under control but the last 10 minutes were kind of crazy,” Real Madrid manager Xabi Alonso said after the match. “We lost a little bit of our shape, our intensity and luckily we managed to hold on. Overall, it was a good eighty minutes but the last 10 minutes showed we need to improve.”
Alonso hailed the impact of Gonzalo Garcia, who has four goals in five games this tournament, as well as an assist.
“He is doing great work for the team,” the former Spain midfielder said. “He is helping the team and he is running into the right positions in the box. He is a proper No. 9, and we are happy that he is doing that work.”
Borussia Dortmund manager Niko Kovac said his team paid the price for a poor start.
“I don’t think we played well in the first half,” the former Croatia midfielder said. “We were too passive, just waiting and not aggressive enough. It was a bit better after the break.”
He reserved special praise for Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who denied Marcel Sabitzer an equalizer in the final seconds.
“That final save was unbelievable,” Kovac said. “I really thought that shot would go in but this is a world-class goalkeeper. We lost the game in the first half, not the second.”
Earlier, late goals from Desire Doue and Ousmane Dembele gave nine-man Paris Saint-Germain victory over Bayern Munich.
The result was overshadowed by a serious ankle injury suffered by Bayern midfielder Jamal Musiala in a collision with PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma just before halftime.
Doue put the European champions ahead in the 78th minute with a long-range effort that beat goalkeeper Manuel Neuer at his near post.
The Parisian side was then reduced to nine men after Willian Pacho and Lucas Hernandez were both shown straight red cards within 10 minutes.
Despite the double setback, Dembele swept home PSG’s second goal in stoppage time following Achraf Hakimi’s cross.
“It’s always difficult to play against a great team like Bayern Munich,” PSG manager Luis Enrique told a post-match news conference. “And thinking about the last part of the match where we played with one man less and then two, it was very difficult.
“We have to recover and focus on the semifinal. In this very long season, to come here with that attitude that we see from the team in each training session and each game, I think we deserve to be here. I also think our fans deserve to see this. I hope we’ll keep improving and be able to play another final. That’s our goal.”
Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany said the final scoreline did not accurately reflect the match.
“We weren’t rewarded for a performance that was exactly what was required against PSG,” he said. “That’s a shame. I knew it would be a close game. It could’ve finished 1-0 or 2-0 to us or them. That’s how it turned out. It was a game with high intensity and high quality.
“Tomorrow we fly home and have three weeks off. It’s important that the boys can also mentally switch off a bit now. We need to regain our strength for next season.”
Kompany said the club’s thoughts were with Musiala and wished the German international a prompt recovery.
“I’ve rarely been so angry at halftime, not against my players – I know there are much more important things in life, but for these guys it’s their life,” the former Belgium international defender said.
“Someone like Jamal lives for this. He just came back from a setback, and now this happens. You feel powerless. My blood is still boiling right now, not because of the result, that’s football. But because it happened to someone who enjoys the game so much.”
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Press release
Workers in line for £29,000 boost thanks to landmark Pensions Bill
The Bill is set to transform the pensions landscape for years to come and put more money in people’s pockets as part of the Plan for Change
Pension Schemes Bill could boost returns to pension saving by thousands of pounds
Changes will also make it easier for savers to access and manage their pensions
Working people on an average salary who save into a pension pot over their career, could benefit by up to £29,000 by the time they retire thanks to major Government reforms that will consolidate small pension pots, ensure schemes are value for money, and create larger pension schemes.
The figure was revealed as the Pension Schemes Bill returns to Parliament for its second reading today [7 July 2025].
Reforms in the Bill, which have received wide-spread support from the pensions industry and consumer groups, will support 20 million pension savers to get more from their pension pots and be better prepared for retirement.
The Bill will bring together small pension pots worth £1,000 or less into one pension scheme that is certified as delivering good value to savers, making pension saving less hassle and more rewarding. At present many people struggle to keep track of multiple small pensions as they move jobs and can pay high fees as a result.
In future pension schemes will also need to prove they are value for money, helping savers understand whether their scheme is giving them good returns and protecting them from getting stuck in underperforming schemes for years on end.
These measures will lay the foundation for the upcoming Pensions Review to examine how we get to a fair and sustainable pensions system, supporting growth and delivering on the government’s Plan for Change by putting more money into people’s pockets.
Minister for Pensions Torsten Bell said:
We’re ramping up the pace of pension reform, to ensure that people’s pension savings works as hard for them as they worked to save.
The measures in our Pension Schemes Bill will drive costs down and returns up on workers’ retirement savings – putting more money in people’s pockets to the tune of up to £29,000 for an average earner and delivering on our Plan for Change.
Other measures include:
New rules creating multi-employer DC scheme “megafunds” of at least £25 billion, so that bigger and better pension schemes can drive down costs and invest in a wider range of assets.
Simplifying retirement choices, with all pension schemes offering default routes to an income in retirement.
Increased flexibility for Defined Benefit (DB) pension schemes to safely release surplus worth collectively £160 billion, to support employers’ investment plans and to benefit scheme members.
The reforms will also unlock long-term investment in the UK economy by removing barriers to growth, strengthening the security and governance of pension schemes and ultimately delivering better returns for people saving for their retirement.
The pace of pension reform has ramped up with measures in the Bill set to revolutionise the pensions landscape in the coming years. While the benefits of the Bill are clear, significant challenges still remains with these benefits varied for different workers and different groups. This is why the upcoming Pensions Review will examine challenges such as pension adequacy to ensure underserved groups do not miss out on the benefits arising from these measures.
Reforms announced as part of the Bill will also future proof the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) by leading to the consolidation of all £400 billion of assets into a small number of expert asset pools which can invest in local areas infrastructure, housing and clean energy.
Minister for Local Government and English Devolution Jim McMahon OBE said:
This Bill will ensure the Local Government Pension Scheme is fit for the future and harness its full potential, with assets due to reach £1 trillion by 2040, and will strengthen investment in local communities to accelerate growth as part of our Plan for Change.
Zoe Alexander, Director of Policy and Advocacy for PLSA:
The introduction of the Pension Schemes Bill is a significant milestone, bringing forward necessary legislation to enact important reforms that have the full backing of the pensions industry. This includes small pots consolidation, the Value for Money regime, decumulation options and changes to give DB funds more options for securing member benefits over the long-term.
Once fully implemented, these measures should reduce the cost of administering pensions, remove complexity for savers and help ensure schemes are maximising the value they provide members.
Additional Information
To build scale in the pensions industry and stimulate UK investment, the Pension Schemes Bill will:
Require multi-employer Defined Contribution schemes used for automatic enrolment, unless exempt, to have at least £25 billion of assets in their main default arrangement by 2030 or be on route to achieving that scale by 2035 through having £10 billion in their main default.
Allow more flexibility for trustees of well-funded Defined Benefit pension schemes to share surplus funds with employers and their scheme members, with strict funding safeguards, unlocking some of the £160 billion surplus funds to be reinvested across the UK economy, boosting business productivity and delivering for members.
Create a legislative framework for the regulation of superfunds to encourage growth of the superfund market and underpin the security of members’ benefits.
Relax restrictions to allow the Board of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) to reduce the annual pension protection levy it collects from pension schemes, when it is not required and collect less from businesses up and down the country.
Extend the definition of ‘terminal illness’ in the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme legislation, so that eligible members who are diagnosed as terminally ill can receive payments at an earlier stage of their illness.
Lead to all Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales (LGPS) investments being managed by FCA-regulated asset pools, who will be responsible for implementing investment strategies set by their partner LGPS Administering Authorities.
To ensure better outcomes for savers, the Pension Schemes Bill will:
Introduce powers to create a Value for Money framework to enable a shift in focus from cost towards value and protect savers from becoming stuck in underperforming arrangements for extended periods.
Implement Guided Retirement Options which will place duties on trustees to provide default solutions for their members, unless the member chooses to opt-out. The default will provide an income in later life, including consideration for longevity protection – which could include CDC provision.
Enable authorisation of providers to act as a consolidator scheme. This will also aid the building of scale with pots worth £1,000 or less consolidated into a small number of large, good value schemes.
Facilitate PPF and FAS information to be displayed on dashboards.
The Competent Court measure in the Bill will confirm the legal standing of The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) to make enforceable determinations in pensions overpayment recoupment cases without requiring a county court judge’s order, leading to quicker customer journeys and shorter waiting times.
The £29,000 boost to retirement pots is estimated through assuming greater investment performance through addressing underperformance and increasing diversification, reducing costs which could be passed onto savers and by investing for longer, ensuring worker’s pension pots work harder, for longer.
These figures are based on published annual earnings averages, which shows a full-time male will earn just over £37,000 a year and a woman just under £32,000.
Measures in the Bill mean that an average male earner at the start of their career could see up to £31,000 more in their retirement fund by the time they retire while a women could see £26,000 more in their retirement fund. See the Pension Schemes Bill Impact Assessment for further details on the calculations.
Dwelling and household estimates: June 2025 quarter – information release
7 July 2025
National dwelling and household estimates are used for many purposes including planning, policy formation, business decisions, and as ‘bottom lines’ in the calculation of market coverage rates.
Key facts
At 30 June 2025, the estimated number of:
private dwellings is 2,125,000
households is 2,041,900.
Visit our website to read this information release:
Left to right – Ethan Brown, Pat Sutton and David Wheeldon. Image: Uniform Photography
Three members of Trentham Fire Brigade have been recognised for their extraordinary bravery after they ventured into a severe storm to assist isolated community members in need.
CFA volunteers David Wheeldon, Pat Sutton and Ethan Brown each received the distinguished Unit Citation for Courage, at a ceremony at the Trentham Community Hub on Sunday (6 July).
On the night of 9 June 2021, destructive winds exceeding 160km/h tore through central Victoria, felling hundreds of trees, blocking roads, and cutting power and water to entire Trentham community for days.
Faced with dangerous conditions, David, Pat and Ethan recognised the need for immediate action after receiving an urgent call for help from a woman who had been left stranded by the storm damage and urgently needed access to an oxygen cylinder due to a health condition.
With roads blocked and no way for vehicles to get through, the trio set out to deliver the oxygen themselves.
Joined by a Victoria Police officer, they began to cut their way through a road strewn with dozens of trees.
David, who is now the captain of the brigade, said they didn’t give the rescue a second thought.
“You don’t think, you just go. The road was completely blocked, some of the fallen trees were huge and the weather just kept getting worse,” David said.
“I’ve never experienced winds like that, it was over 100 miles an hour, and trees continued to come down around us as we worked.”
Despite their efforts, the road proved to be impassable, but using local knowledge of backroads and paddocks, the crew was able to reach the person in need and deliver the oxygen in time.
“We thought we were responding to help the one person, but when we finally got through, there were six or seven cars out there with around 10 people trapped,” David said.
The crew moved the group to a nearby farmhouse, providing them with blankets, water and supplies to ensure their safety.
“We couldn’t bring them back it was too dangerous,” David said.
“So, we gave them any essentials we had on hand to ensure they were comfortable.”
After confirming the group was safe, and catching a few hours rest, response efforts resumed at first light.
David added that it was an honour to be recognised alongside Pat and Ethan.
“I couldn’t have asked for two better people to be out there with,” David said.
CFA Chief Officer Jason Heffernan, who presented the trio with their awards, praised the crew’s bravery and dedication.
“These volunteers placed themselves in harm’s way to protect others, without hesitation and under incredibly dangerous conditions,” Jason said.
“Their courage, teamwork and community mindedness perfectly reflect what CFA stands for.”
Tens of thousands of households will be better off thanks to changes being made to FamilyBoost to help families with the cost of living, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says.
“From the start of this month, families will get larger FamilyBoost rebates on the early childhood education fees they pay, with rebates increasing from 25 per cent to 40 per cent of weekly fees, and those with household incomes of up to $229,000 now eligible to apply.
“This means for example that a family with early childhood fees of $100 a week could have their weekly FamilyBoost payment increased from $25 a week to $40 a week, meaning their annual payments would increase from $1,300 to $2,080 over the course of a year, making them hundreds of dollars better off.
“FamilyBoost rebates are calculated according to the weekly fees parents pay, so the maximum payment is also increasing, from $75 a week to $120 a week. The maximum refund is only available to those who pay weekly fees of $300 or more, however it’s important to note that parents at all fee levels can now claim 40 per cent of their total fees, so these changes will result in bigger payments for many families who already take part in the scheme.
“Cabinet has also decided to increase the number of families eligible for the scheme, by reducing the abatement rate for families earning more than $140,000. This means the upper limit for households to receive a portion of FamilyBoost increases from $180,000 a year of income to just under $230,000.
“We know many people are still doing it tough. These changes will help many families to deal with the increased costs that come with having young children.
“The changes will put more money in the bank accounts of households currently receiving FamilyBoost and extend the scheme to thousands of families that were previously ineligible for it.
“We note that only eligible families who make a claim will receive the rebate. To date, around 60,000 families have successfully claimed the FamilyBoost tax credit which is less than the number of families estimated to be eligible.
“The changes we are making will make around 22,000 more households eligible for the scheme. Based on the current take-up rate, officials estimate this may result in up to 16,000 more families accessing the payment.
“Officials estimate these changes can be accommodated within the appropriation set for the scheme in Budget 2024.
“I encourage all households who think they may be eligible for FamilyBoost to register for it on Inland Revenue’s website. Families who have done so tell us it is simple to do and only takes five minutes.
“FamilyBoost is paid out every three months. The changes will apply for fees paid from 1 July, with claims available to be made from 1 October.
“We have also asked officials to progress work on longer term improvements to the scheme, including by having fees information provided directly to Inland Revenue by ECE providers. FamilyBoost will also be included in the Early Childhood Education Funding Review which is examining the full range of supports available to families with children in early childhood education.”
Legislation giving effect to the changes will be introduced in time for the increases to be in place when households next claim rebates in October. The changes will apply to fees incurred from 1 July 2025.
Through face-to-face workshops, CFA’s Landscaping for Bushfire plant selection tool is helping keen gardeners to have valuable conversations about how to enhance bushfire resilience around their homes, while providing enjoyable landscapes and habitat for wildlife.
These initiatives are a collaboration between CFA and Community-Based Bushfire Management facilitators.
Workshops like this allow people to walk around different zones of gardens classed as ‘fire-wise’ properties, have conversations about practical landscaping elements and how to best place plants to achieve passive fire protection. This includes through site analysis and design (zoning), understanding plant flammability (placement and separation), while incorporating well-placed hard landscaping, such as paths, driveways, low walls and pruned vegetation.
Subtle modifications to your garden can make living with bushfire less scary and aesthetically beautiful.
“Workshop participants said they left feeling empowered and confident to design a garden that looks after wildlife,” Newham Landcare Group event organiser Jess Szigethy-Gyula said. “They are not so scared of bushfires now.”
The Landscaping for Bushfire tool can be used to test a range of plant specimens from local gardens for fire-wise attributes. This means touching, scrunching and smelling foliage, and sharing different opinions about the values these plants provide people.
Participants also learned that while some plants may be ranked as more flammable, they can be managed through pruning or by placing them in safer locations more than 10 metres from the house.
“We can increase our understanding of not only the structure of plants, but also how their safe placement in a garden is influenced by the property’s location and topography,” workshop presenter Owen Gooding said.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin Alger, Associate Professor / Senior Lecturer in Global Environmental Politics, The University of Melbourne
Deep-sea mining promises critical minerals for the energy transition without the problems of mining on land. It also promises to bring wealth to developing nations. But the evidence suggests these promises are false, and mining would harm the environment.
The practice involves scooping up rock-like nodules from vast areas of the sea floor. These potato-sized lumps contain metals and minerals such as zinc, manganese, molybdenum, nickel and rare earth elements.
Technology to mine the deep sea exists, but commercial mining of the deep sea is not happening anywhere in the world. That could soon change. Nations are meeting this month in Kingston, Jamaica, to agree to a mining code. Such a code would make way for mining to begin within the next few years.
On Thursday, Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, released research into the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining. It aims to promote better environmental management of deep-sea mining, should it proceed.
We have previously challenged the rationale for deep-sea mining, drawing on our expertise in international politics and environmental management. We argue mining the deep sea is harmful and the economic benefits have been overstated. What’s more, the metals and minerals to be mined are not scarce.
The best course of action is a ban on international seabed mining, building on the coalition for a moratorium.
The Metals Company spent six months at sea collecting nodules in 2022, while studying the effects on ecosystems.
Managing and monitoring environmental harm
Recent advances in technology have made deep-sea mining more feasible. But removing the nodules – which also requires pumping water around – has been shown to damage the seabed and endanger marine life.
CSIRO has developed the first environmental management and monitoring frameworks to protect deep sea ecosystems from mining. It aims to provide “trusted, science-based tools to evaluate the environmental risks and viability of deep-sea mining”.
Scientists from Griffith University, Museums Victoria, the University of the Sunshine Coast, and Earth Sciences New Zealand were also involved in the work.
The Metals Company Australia, a local subsidiary of the Canadian deep-sea mining exploration company, commissioned the research. It involved analysing data from test mining the company carried out in the Pacific Ocean in 2022.
In a media briefing this week, CSIRO Senior Principal Research Scientist Piers Dunstan said the mining activity substantially affected the sea floor. Some marine life, especially that attached to the nodules, had very little hope of recovery. He said if mining were to go ahead, monitoring would be crucial.
We are sceptical that ecological impacts can be managed even with this new framework. Little is known about life in these deep-water ecosystems. But research shows nodule mining would cause extensive habitat loss and damage.
Do we really need to open the ocean frontier to mining? We argue the answer is no, on three counts.
How does deep-sea mining work? (The Guardian)
1. Minerals are not scarce
The minerals required for the energy transition are abundant on land. Known global terrestrial reserves of cobalt, copper, manganese, molybdenum and nickel are enough to meet current production levels for decades – even with growing demand.
There is no compelling reason to extract deep-sea minerals, given the economics of both deep-sea and land-based mining. Deep-sea mining is speculative and inevitably too expensive given such remote, deep operations.
Claims about mineral scarcity are being used to justify attempting to legitimise a new extractive frontier in the deep sea. Opportunistic investors can make money through speculation and attracting government subsidies.
But deep-sea mining will not necessarily displace, replace or change mining on land. Land-based mining contracts span decades and the companies involved will not abandon ongoing or planned projects. Their activities will continue, even if deep-sea mining begins.
Deep-sea mining also faces many of the same challenges as mining on land, while introducing new problems. The social problems that arise during transport, processing and distribution remain the same.
3. Common heritage of humankind and the Global South
Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the international seabed is the common heritage of humankind. This means the proceeds of deep-sea mining should be distributed fairly among all countries.
Deep-sea mining commercial partnerships between developing countries in the Global South and firms from the North have yet to pay off for the former. There is little indication this pattern will change.
For example, when Canadian company Nautilus went bankrupt in 2019, it saddled Papua New Guinea with millions in debt from a failed domestic deep-sea mining venture.
The Metals Company has partnerships with Nauru and Tonga but the latest deal with the US creates uncertainty about whether their agreements will be honoured.
European investors took control of Blue Minerals Jamaica, originally a Jamaican-owned company, shortly after orchestrating its start up. Any profits would therefore go offshore.
Given the threat of environmental harm, the evidence suggests deep-sea mining is not worth the risk.
Justin Alger receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
D.G. Webster receives funding from the National Science Foundation in the United States and various internal funding sources at Dartmouth University.
Jessica Green receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Kate J Neville receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Stacy D VanDeveer and Susan M Park do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin Alger, Associate Professor / Senior Lecturer in Global Environmental Politics, The University of Melbourne
Deep-sea mining promises critical minerals for the energy transition without the problems of mining on land. It also promises to bring wealth to developing nations. But the evidence suggests these promises are false, and mining would harm the environment.
The practice involves scooping up rock-like nodules from vast areas of the sea floor. These potato-sized lumps contain metals and minerals such as zinc, manganese, molybdenum, nickel and rare earth elements.
Technology to mine the deep sea exists, but commercial mining of the deep sea is not happening anywhere in the world. That could soon change. Nations are meeting this month in Kingston, Jamaica, to agree to a mining code. Such a code would make way for mining to begin within the next few years.
On Thursday, Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, released research into the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining. It aims to promote better environmental management of deep-sea mining, should it proceed.
We have previously challenged the rationale for deep-sea mining, drawing on our expertise in international politics and environmental management. We argue mining the deep sea is harmful and the economic benefits have been overstated. What’s more, the metals and minerals to be mined are not scarce.
The best course of action is a ban on international seabed mining, building on the coalition for a moratorium.
The Metals Company spent six months at sea collecting nodules in 2022, while studying the effects on ecosystems.
Managing and monitoring environmental harm
Recent advances in technology have made deep-sea mining more feasible. But removing the nodules – which also requires pumping water around – has been shown to damage the seabed and endanger marine life.
CSIRO has developed the first environmental management and monitoring frameworks to protect deep sea ecosystems from mining. It aims to provide “trusted, science-based tools to evaluate the environmental risks and viability of deep-sea mining”.
Scientists from Griffith University, Museums Victoria, the University of the Sunshine Coast, and Earth Sciences New Zealand were also involved in the work.
The Metals Company Australia, a local subsidiary of the Canadian deep-sea mining exploration company, commissioned the research. It involved analysing data from test mining the company carried out in the Pacific Ocean in 2022.
In a media briefing this week, CSIRO Senior Principal Research Scientist Piers Dunstan said the mining activity substantially affected the sea floor. Some marine life, especially that attached to the nodules, had very little hope of recovery. He said if mining were to go ahead, monitoring would be crucial.
We are sceptical that ecological impacts can be managed even with this new framework. Little is known about life in these deep-water ecosystems. But research shows nodule mining would cause extensive habitat loss and damage.
Do we really need to open the ocean frontier to mining? We argue the answer is no, on three counts.
How does deep-sea mining work? (The Guardian)
1. Minerals are not scarce
The minerals required for the energy transition are abundant on land. Known global terrestrial reserves of cobalt, copper, manganese, molybdenum and nickel are enough to meet current production levels for decades – even with growing demand.
There is no compelling reason to extract deep-sea minerals, given the economics of both deep-sea and land-based mining. Deep-sea mining is speculative and inevitably too expensive given such remote, deep operations.
Claims about mineral scarcity are being used to justify attempting to legitimise a new extractive frontier in the deep sea. Opportunistic investors can make money through speculation and attracting government subsidies.
But deep-sea mining will not necessarily displace, replace or change mining on land. Land-based mining contracts span decades and the companies involved will not abandon ongoing or planned projects. Their activities will continue, even if deep-sea mining begins.
Deep-sea mining also faces many of the same challenges as mining on land, while introducing new problems. The social problems that arise during transport, processing and distribution remain the same.
3. Common heritage of humankind and the Global South
Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the international seabed is the common heritage of humankind. This means the proceeds of deep-sea mining should be distributed fairly among all countries.
Deep-sea mining commercial partnerships between developing countries in the Global South and firms from the North have yet to pay off for the former. There is little indication this pattern will change.
For example, when Canadian company Nautilus went bankrupt in 2019, it saddled Papua New Guinea with millions in debt from a failed domestic deep-sea mining venture.
The Metals Company has partnerships with Nauru and Tonga but the latest deal with the US creates uncertainty about whether their agreements will be honoured.
European investors took control of Blue Minerals Jamaica, originally a Jamaican-owned company, shortly after orchestrating its start up. Any profits would therefore go offshore.
Given the threat of environmental harm, the evidence suggests deep-sea mining is not worth the risk.
Justin Alger receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
D.G. Webster receives funding from the National Science Foundation in the United States and various internal funding sources at Dartmouth University.
Jessica Green receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Kate J Neville receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Stacy D VanDeveer and Susan M Park do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Today, President Donald J. Trump officially signed The One Big Beautiful Bill into law — a once-in-a-generation piece of legislation that makes good on his campaign promises and puts America First.
Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Lauren S. Hughes, State Policy Director, Farley Health Policy Center; Associate Professor of Family Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
As researchers studying rural health and health policy, we anticipate that these reductions in Medicaid spending, along with changes to the Affordable Care Act, will disproportionately affect the 66 million people living in rural America – nearly 1 in 5 Americans.
People who live in rural areas are more likely to have health insurance through Medicaid and are at greater risk of losing that coverage. We expect that the changes brought about by this new law will lead to a rise in unpaid care that hospitals will have to provide. As a result, small, local hospitals will have to make tough decisions that include changing or eliminating services, laying off staff and delaying the purchase of new equipment. Many rural hospitals will have to reduce their services or possibly close their doors altogether.
Hits to rural health
The budget legislation’s biggest effect on rural America comes from changes to the Medicaid program, which represent the largest federal rollback of health insurance coverage in the U.S. to date.
First, the legislation changes how states can finance their share of the Medicaid program by restricting where funds states use to support their Medicaid programs can come from. This bill limits how states can tax and charge fees to hospitals, managed care organizations and other health care providers, and how they can use such taxes and fees in the future to pay higher rates to providers under Medicaid. These limitations will reduce payments to rural hospitals that depend upon Medicaid to keep their doors open.
Rural hospitals play a crucial role in health care access.
Second, by 2027, states must institute work requirements that demand most Medicaid enrollees work 80 hours per month or be in school at least half time. Arkansas’ brief experiment with work requirements in 2018 demonstrates that rather than boost employment, the policy increases bureaucracy, hindering access to health care benefits for eligible people. States will also now be required to verify Medicaid eligibility every six months versus annually. That change also increases the risk people will lose coverage due to extra red tape.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that work requirements instituted through this legislative package will result in nearly 5 million people losing Medicaid coverage. This will decrease the number of paying patients at rural hospitals and increase the unpaid care hospitals must provide, further damaging their ability to stay open.
Additionally, the bill changes how people qualify for the premium tax credits within the Affordable Care Act Marketplace. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this change, along with other changes to the ACA such as fewer and shorter enrollment periods and additional requirements for documenting income, will reduce the number of people insured through the ACA Marketplace by about 3 million by 2034. Premium tax credits were expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic, helping millions of Americans obtain coverage who previously struggled to do so. This bill lets these expanded tax credits expire, which with may result in an additional 4.2 million people becoming uninsured.
An insufficient stop-gap
Senators from both sides of the aisle have voiced concerns about the legislative package’s potential effects on the financial stability of rural hospitals and frontier hospitals, which are facilities located in remote areas with fewer than six people per square mile. As a result, the Senate voted to set aside $50 billion over the next five years for a newly created Rural Health Transformation Program.
These funds are to be allocated in two ways. Half will be directly distributed equally to states that submit an application that includes a rural health transformation plan detailing how rural hospitals will improve the delivery and quality of health care. The remainder will be distributed to states in varying amounts through a process that is currently unknown.
While additional funding to support rural health facilities is welcome, how it is distributed and how much is available will be critical. Estimates suggest that rural areas will see a reduction of $155 billion in federal spending over 10 years, with much of that concentrated in 12 states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and have large proportions of rural residents.
That means $50 billion is not enough to offset cuts to Medicaid and other programs that will reduce funds flowing to rural health facilities.
Rural and frontier hospitals have long faced hardship because of their aging infrastructure, older and sicker patient populations, geographic isolation and greater financial and regulatory burdens. Since 2010, 153 rural hospitals have closed their doors permanently or ceased providing inpatient services. This trend is particularly acute in states that have chosen not to expand Medicaid via the Affordable Care Act, many of which have larger percentages of their residents living in rural areas.
Currently more than half of rural hospitals no longer deliver babies. Rural facilities serve fewer patients than those in more densely populated areas. They also have high fixed costs, and because they serve a high percentage of Medicaid patients, they rely on payments from Medicaid, which tends to pay lower rates than commercial insurance. Because of these pressures, these units will continue to close, forcing women to travel farther to give birth, to deliver before going full term and to deliver outside of traditional hospital settings.
And because hospitals in rural areas serve relatively small populations, they lack negotiating power to obtain fair and adequate payment from private health insurers and affordable equipment and supplies from medical companies. Recruiting and retaining needed physicians and other health care workers is expensive, and acquiring capital to renovate, expand or build new facilities is increasingly out of reach.
Finally, given that rural residents are more likely to have Medicaid than their urban counterparts, the legislation’s cuts to Medicaid will disproportionately reduce the rate at which rural providers and health facilities are paid by Medicaid for services they offer. With many rural hospitals already teetering on closure, this will place already financially fragile hospitals on an accelerated path toward demise.
Far-reaching effects
Rural hospitals are not just sources of local health care. They are also vital economic engines.
Hospital closures result in the loss of local access to health care, causing residents to choose between traveling longer distances to see a doctor or forgoing the services they need.
But hospitals in these regions are also major employers that often pay some of the highest wages in their communities. Their closure can drive a decline in the local tax base, limiting funding available for services such as roads and public schools and making it more difficult to attract and retain businesses that small towns depend on. Declines in rural health care undermine local economies.
Furthermore, the country as a whole relies on rural America for the production of food, fuel and other natural resources. In our view, further weakening rural hospitals may affect not just local economies but the health of the whole U.S. economy.
Lauren S. Hughes has received funding for rural health projects from the Sunflower Foundation, The Colorado Health Foundation, the University of Colorado School of Medicine Rural Program Office, the Caring for Colorado Foundation, and the Zoma Foundation. She currently serves as chair of the Rural Health Redesign Center Organization Board of Directors and is a member of the Rural Primary Care Advisory Council with the Weitzman Institute.
Kevin J. Bennett receives funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, the Health Resources and Services Administration and the state of South Carolina. He is currently on the Board of Trustees of the National Rural Health Association as immediate past president.
India created history with a 336-run win over England in the second Test at Birmingham, securing not only their first-ever victory at Edgbaston but also their biggest Test win away from home in terms of runs.
Skipper Shubman Gill, along with pacers Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj, spearheaded a collective team effort as India levelled the series, overcoming the Birmingham blues with a win that will be remembered for ages.
This is India’s biggest away win in Tests, surpassing their 318-run victory over the West Indies at North Sound in 2016, as they defended a total of 419. Jasprit Bumrah picked up a memorable five-wicket haul in the match, while Ajinkya Rahane was named Player of the Match for his knocks of 81 and 102.
Gill, besides breaking an endless list of records with the bat, also made history as captain. At 25 years and 301 days old, he became the youngest Indian captain to win a Test overseas, surpassing Sunil Gavaskar, who was 26 years and 202 days old when he led India to victory against New Zealand in Auckland in 1976.
Coming to the match, England once again opted to field first. After removing KL Rahul (2) early, an 80-run stand between Yashasvi Jaiswal (87 off 107 balls, 13 fours) and Karun Nair (31 off 50 balls, five fours) helped India recover. Skipper Gill stitched valuable partnerships — 203 runs with Ravindra Jadeja (89 off 137 balls, 10 fours and a six) and a 144-run stand with Washington Sundar (42 off 103 balls, three fours and a six) — steering India to a mammoth 587. Gill scored a marathon 269 off 387 balls, hitting 30 fours and three sixes.
Shoaib Bashir (3/167) was England’s most successful bowler, while Chris Woakes and Josh Tongue claimed two wickets each.
In England’s first innings, India reduced them to 84/5. However, a 303-run stand between Harry Brook (158 off 234 balls, 17 fours and a six) and wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith (184* off 207 balls, 21 fours and four sixes) kept England alive. But Siraj (6/70) and Akash Deep (4/88) made the new ball count, bundling out the last five wickets for just 20 runs, dismissing England for 407 and giving India a 180-run lead.
In reply, India’s batters piled on the pressure. Jaiswal (28 off 22 balls, six fours) and Rahul (55 off 84 balls, 10 fours) set the tone with a brisk half-century stand. A 110-run fourth-wicket stand between Rishabh Pant (65 off 58 balls, eight fours and three sixes) and Gill accelerated the charge, before Gill forged another epic 175-run stand with Jadeja. Gill smashed 161 off 162 balls, with 13 fours and eight sixes, while Jadeja remained unbeaten on 69* off 118 balls (five fours and a six). India declared at 427/6, setting England an improbable target of 608.
In the run chase, England were quickly reduced to 50/3. Jamie Smith (88 off 99 balls, nine fours and four sixes) offered the only resistance before England were bundled out for 271, losing by 336 runs. Akash Deep’s brilliant spell of 6/99 gave him a ten-wicket haul for the match.
Gill was named Player of the Match as India levelled the series 1-1.
Haruki Ume spoke to UN News at the UN Pavilion at Expo 2025 currently being held in the Japanese city of Osaka.
One section of the pavilion features a rotating presentation focusing on a specific UN agency or entity and recently, attention turned to the UN Volunteers programme.
“As a 17-year-old, I travelled to the United States on an educational exchange programme and my main motivation was to play baseball and experience American culture.
I met a lot of other people from Africa and Asia as well as Europe and I was shocked and then impressed by their passion and motivation to support their villages and communities back home.
One boy from Azerbaijan told me he was selected for the exchange from over 100 applicants as the only student from his country. As a result, he said that he had a responsibility not to waste his time and represent all those other applicants and his country to the best of his ability.
Haruki Ume plays with two boys during a visit to the Philippines in 2017.
It was at this moment that I decided that I wanted to contribute more to society and so I started studying development issues. I travelled as much as I could during my vacations, to places like Cambodia, the Philippines, India, Peru, Egypt and Uganda.
As a volunteer, I supported education and other initiatives during the field missions and was really driven by helping people who were less fortunate than I. I also learnt a lot from these people, so I definitely valued it an exchange of experiences and knowledge.
Understanding the outside world
I was raised in a small town in rural Japan where there were no foreigners. People grow up, work and die there and many do not ever experience foreign cultures or really understand the outside world.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson
A UN Volunteers staff member explains the role of the organization to visitors at the UN Pavilion.
I remember being nervous about speaking English and eating food that I was not used to, but I was keen to break through these personal barriers and broaden my world.
Being open to new experiences has made it easier to adapt to other cultures and this understanding promotes peace and friendship and ultimately international cooperation.
I have been working at the UN Pavilion at Expo 2025 to promote the UN and the work of UN Volunteers. I’m doing this in the spirit of building cooperation and creating positive change in the world.
Expo 2025 is bringing the world to Osaka and is providing the opportunity for Japanese people to discuss how we can work together more effectively to create a fairer and more peaceful world.”
The UN and volunteering
Headquartered in Bonn, Germany, UNV was established 1970 and is active in around 169 countries and territories every year.
In 2024, UNV deployed over 14,500 volunteers to almost 60 UN entities across the world.
They serve in diverse roles including: community development, human rights, humanitarian assistance, peacebuilding, medical services and communications.
Tech founders creating innovative, high growth companies can face a surprising obstacle outside the startup ecosystem – they frequently struggle to secure home loans.
Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) has addressed this challenge with the launch of Founder Housing: a new home loan solution designed specifically for tech entrepreneurs.
The new proposition addresses a common frustration in the tech community: founders of tech companies often have business losses counted against their personal income, which can make them ineligible for home loans, even when their businesses are thriving and backed by significant investment.
“We kept hearing the same story from tech founders and entrepreneurs,” says Tim Wixon, Head of Technology Industries at BNZ.
“They’d built promising companies, secured investment, and were earning good salaries, but couldn’t buy homes because traditional lending criteria didn’t recognise the way high-growth tech startups operate. It just didn’t make sense.”
One founder’s journey
Startup founder Emily Blythe’s experience illustrates this challenge. As CEO of Pyper Vision, an innovative aerospace startup developing AI-powered fog forecasting technology, Blythe has built a company with strong financial backing and major partnerships, including trials with Air New Zealand and British Airways CityFlyer. Yet when she tried to buy her first home, traditional lending criteria worked against her.
“I had a stable salary and a consistent track record of Pyper Vision paying me, but that wasn’t recognised by most banks,” Blythe explains. “What was particularly frustrating was that two of my team had recently secured bank loans easily, but because they were employees rather than the founder, banks viewed their positions as more secure than mine.”
Despite Pyper Vision’s strong fundamentals – including Startmate accelerator backing, government support, and enterprise partnerships – Blythe was rejected by eight different banks over a three-month period.
“I spoke to other founders going through the same struggle who couldn’t find a solution,” she says.
“They were having their partners buy houses instead or setting up complex trust structures – anything to work around the system.”
Blythe’s experience highlights exactly why BNZ developed Founder Housing.
The problem stems from how growth-focused tech companies structure their finances. Early-stage businesses typically prioritise R&D, marketing and expansion over profit, creating accounting losses that appear on founders’ personal financial assessments despite potentially strong business fundamentals.
BNZ’s Founder Housing takes a different approach by evaluating business viability and potential rather than focusing solely on profit and loss statements. The solution recognises institutional investment as a positive indicator and includes specialised assessment criteria tailored to tech companies.
“It’s about applying the right approach and metrics for this type of business model,” Wixon says.
“A founder running an equity-backed company with strong growth metrics is often a very different proposition from what traditional lending criteria might suggest.”
For Blythe, BNZ’s approach proved different.
“It wasn’t the standard black-and-white response of ‘you’re a founder, therefore we can’t approve this.’ BNZ actually evaluated both the company’s financial position as a tech business and my personal circumstances together. It was a much more logical and rational approach.”
Securing her Christchurch home has provided crucial stability for her role leading an international business.
“Having my own home gives me the freedom to travel for work, knowing I have a secure base to return to. It’s the first time I’ve felt properly grounded.”
Her advice to other tech founders facing similar challenges is clear: “I’d strongly recommend working with BNZ’s team. The traditional banking approach to founders is just ridiculous.”
Banking on growth
Founder Housing builds on BNZ’s established commitment to supporting New Zealand’s tech ecosystem.
The bank has pioneered several innovative financing solutions for technology companies, including Revenue Based Financing for SaaS businesses launched in 2021, and Contracted Receivables Financing introduced in 2023 to help high-tech manufacturing, infrastructure, software-enabled hardware and biotech companies access capital based on signed contracts rather than traditional profit measures.
Last month, BNZ also announced fast-approval unsecured business loans up to $50,000 that can be confirmed in just three minutes, recognising that businesses need to move quickly when opportunities arise.
“We’ve been working to rewrite the playbook for how banks can better support tech companies at every stage of their journey,” Wixon says.
“Founder Housing is the natural extension of that work – supporting the founders themselves, not just their businesses.”
The solution’s introduction comes at a time when supporting innovation and competitive business settings are increasingly recognised as vital for economic development.
“We’re proud to be the first major bank to turn this approach into a formal proposition,” Wixon says.
“By understanding the unique challenges these founders face, we can help them build personal assets while they continue growing their businesses here in New Zealand, helping to attract and retain talent in Aotearoa.
*All home loans are subject to BNZ lending criteria (including minimum equity requirements), terms and fees.
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On the last voyage of the Rainbow Warrior prior to its sinking by French secret agents in Auckland harbour on 10 July 1985 the ship had evacuated the entire population of 320 from Rongelap in the Marshall Islands.
After conducting dozens of above-ground nuclear explosions, the US government had left the population in conditions that suggested the islanders were being used as guinea pigs to gain knowledge of the effects of radiation.
Cancers, birth defects, and genetic damage ripped through the population; their former fisheries and land are contaminated to this day.
Denied adequate support from the US – they turned to Greenpeace with an SOS: help us leave our ancestral homeland; it is killing our people. The Rainbow Warrior answered the call.
Human lab rats or our brothers and sisters? Dr Merrill Eisenbud, a physicist in the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) famously said in 1956 of the Marshall Islanders: “While it is true that these people do not live, I might say, the way Westerners do, civilised people, it is nevertheless also true that they are more like us than the mice.”
Dr Eisenbud also opined that exposure “would provide valuable information on the effects of radiation on human beings.” That research continues to this day.
A half century of testing nuclear bombs Within a year of dropping nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the US moved part of its test programme to the central Pacific. Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands was used for atmospheric explosions from 1946 with scant regard for the indigenous population.
In 1954, the Castle Bravo test exploded a 15-megaton bomb — one thousand times more deadly than the one dropped on Hiroshima. As a result, the population of Rongelap were exposed to 200 roentgens of radiation, considered life-threatening without medical intervention. And it was.
Part of the Marshall Islands, with Bikini Atoll and Rongelap in the top left. Image: www.solidarity.co.nz
Total US tests equaled more than 7000 Hiroshimas. The Clinton administration released the aptly-named Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments (ACHRE), report in January 1994 in which it acknowledged:
“What followed was a program by the US government — initially the Navy and then the AEC and its successor agencies — to provide medical care for the exposed population, while at the same time trying to learn as much as possible about the long-term biological effects of radiation exposure. The dual purpose of what is now a DOE medical program has led to a view by the Marshallese that they were being used as ‘guinea pigs’ in a ‘radiation experiment’.
This impression was reinforced by the fact that the islanders were deliberately left in place and then evacuated, having been heavily radiated. Three years later they were told it was “safe to return” despite the lead scientist calling Rongelap “by far the most contaminated place in the world”.
Significant compensation paid by the US to the Marshall Islands has proven inadequate given the scale of the contamination. To some degree, the US has also used money to achieve capture of elite interest groups and secure ongoing control of the islands.
Entrusted to the US, the Marshall Islanders were treated like the civilians of Nagasaki The US took the Marshall Islands from Japan in 1944. The only “right” it has to be there was granted by the United Nations which in 1947 established the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, to be administered by the United States.
What followed was an abuse of trust worse than rapists at a state care facility. Using the very powers entrusted to it to protect the Marshallese, the US instead used the islands as a nuclear laboratory — violating both the letter and spirit of international law.
Fellow white-dominated countries like Australia and New Zealand couldn’t have cared less and let the indigenous people be irradiated for decades.
The betrayal of trust by the US was comprehensive and remains so to this day:
Under Article 76 of the UN Charter, all trusteeship agreements carried obligations. The administering power was required to:
Promote the political, economic, social, and educational advancement of the people
Protect the rights and well-being of the inhabitants
Help them advance toward self-government or independence.
Under Article VI, the United States solemnly pledged to “Protect the inhabitants against the loss of their lands and resources.” Very similar to sentiments in New Zealand’s Treaty of Waitangi. Within a few years the Americans were exploding the biggest nuclear bombs in history over the islands.
Within a year of the US assuming trusteeship of the islands, another pillar of international law came into effect: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) — which affirms the inherent dignity and equal rights of all humans. Exposing colonised peoples to extreme radiation for weapons testing is a racist affront to this.
America has a long history of making treaties and fine speeches and then exploiting indigenous peoples. Last year, I had the sobering experience of reading American military historian Peter Cozzens’ The Earth is Weeping, a history of the “Indian wars” for the American West.
The past is not dead: the Marshall Islands are a hive of bases, laboratories and missile testing; Americans are also incredibly busy attacking the population in Gaza today.
Eyes of Fire – the last voyage of the Rainbow Warrior Had the French not sunk the Rainbow Warrior after it reached Auckland from the Rongelap evacuation, it would have led a flotilla to protest nuclear testing at Moruroa in French Polynesia. So the bookends of this article are the abuse of defenceless people in the charge of one nuclear power — the US — and the abuse of New Zealand and the peoples of French Polynesia by another nuclear power — France.
Senator Jeton Anjain (left) of Rongelap and Greenpeace campaign coordinator Steve Sawyer on board the Rainbow Warrior . . . challenging the abuse of defenceless people under the charge of one nuclear power. Image: David Robie/Eyes of Fire
This incredible story, and much more, is the subject of David Robie’s outstanding book Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow Warrior, published by Little Island Press, which has been relaunched to mark the 40th anniversary of the French terrorist attack.
A new prologue by former prime minister Helen Clark and a preface by Greenpeace’s Bunny McDiarmid, along with an extensive postscript which bring us up to the present day, underline why the past is not dead; it’s with us right now.
Between them, France and the US have exploded more than 300 nuclear bombs in the Pacific. Few people are told this; few people know this.
Today, a matrix of issues combine — the ongoing effects of nuclear contamination, sea rise imperilling Pacific nations, colonialism still posing immense challenges to people in the Marshall Islands, Kanaky New Caledonia and in many parts of our region.
Unsung heroes Our media never ceases to share the pronouncements of European leaders and news from the US and Europe but the leaders and issues of the Pacific are seldom heard. The heroes of the antinuclear movement should be household names in Australia and New Zealand.
Vanuatu’s great leader Father Walter Lini; Oscar Temaru, Mayor, later President of French Polynesia; Senator Jeton Anjain, Darlene Keju-Johnson and so many others.
Do we know them? Have we heard their voices?
Jobod Silk, climate activist, said in a speech welcoming the Rainbow Warrior III to Majuro earlier this year: “Our crusade for nuclear justice intertwines with our fight against the tides.”
Nuclear-Free and Independent Pacific . . . the Rainbow Warrior taking on board Rongelap islanders ready for their first of four relocation voyages to Mejatto island. Image: David Robie/Eyes of Fire
Former Tuvalu PM Enele Sapoaga castigated Australia for the AUKUS submarine deal which he said “was crafted in secret by former Prime Minister Scott Morrison with no public discussion.”
He challenged the bigger regional powers, particularly Australia and New Zealand, to remember that the existential threat faced by Pacific nations comes first from climate change, and reminded New Zealanders of the commitment to keeping the South Pacific nuclear-free.
Hinamoeura Cross, a Tahitian anti-nuclear activist and politician, said in a 2019 UN speech: “Today, the damage is done. My people are sick. For 30 years we were the mice in France’s laboratory.”
Until we learn their stories and know their names as well as we know those of Marco Rubio or Keir Starmer, we will remain strangers in our own lands.
The Pacific owes them, along with the people of Greenpeace, a huge debt. They put their bodies on the line to stop the aggressors. Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira, killed by the French in 1985, was just one of many victims, one of many heroes.
A great way to honour the sacrifice of those who stood up for justice, who stood for peace and a nuclear-free Pacific, and who honoured our own national identity would be to buy David Robie’s excellent book.
You cannot sink a rainbow.
Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira being welcomed to Rongelap Atoll by a villager in May 1985 barely two months before he was killed by French secret agents during the sabotage of the Rainbow Warrior. Image: David Robie/Eyes of Fire
The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) recently released its annual Online Safety Survey that discovered almost 50 per cent of parents surveyed aren’t using parental controls to manage their children’s devices. These are tools that would ostensibly help parents filter out inappropriate content or unwanted interactions on their children’s devices.
The FOSI authors conclude the reason parents aren’t using the tools is because they feel “overwhelmed” and recommend parents educate themselves as a good first step toward broader use.
While overwhelm is a real thing, we suggest a bigger problem with parental controls is how they are designed. This includes how little attention is given to supporting open communication between parents and children.
We also asked their parents how they mediated their kids’ gaming. Nearly half of them don’t use parental controls either. They say parental controls don’t always work as promised, offer little context about how settings affect gameplay and force binary choices that don’t align with household rules or with children’s maturity levels.
The parents we asked said they aren’t avoiding parental controls because they feel overwhelmed by them. It’s that the tools are poorly designed.
Parent controls can introduce more problems
At the same time, many of the parents described themselves as highly engaged in their child’s gameplay; talking with their children regularly or encouraging play in shared, supervised spaces. Several said they choose to trust their child rather than set top-down limits.
Our findings align with previous research on digital parenting. In one British study, parents said they felt some controls were valuable supplements to mediation, while other controls were poorly designed, introducing more problems than solutions.
The use of parental controls doesn’t necessarily translate to increased child safety. In fact, using parental controls can create a disconnect between parents and children on key safety issues.
Awareness of risks
Six children we interviewed were not aware their parents were using controls, and at least two children revealed they didn’t even know why a parent would use parental controls in the first place. In this context, parents’ efforts to protect their children had the unintended side effect of obscuring vital knowledge, leaving the children unaware of some of the key risks associated with playing online. Parental controls can remove opportunities to teach kids about safety if they aren’t part of the conversation.
We believe that the behind-the-scenes protections enabled by (some) parental controls can be detrimental to parent-child communication about online safety. What are the risks? How can children avoid the riskiest behaviour? What should they do when or if they’ve encountered danger?
Meanwhile, parents aren’t always familiar with the features and activities they are asked to restrict or allow. Very few parental controls contain information about how gameplay will be impacted by their settings. Many contain terms only someone familiar with the game would understand, while others are hard to navigate.
All of this can lead to misinterpretations and parent-child conflicts, making the tools even harder to use.
Power of communication
Open communication between parents and children on safety topics fosters trust, which increases the likelihood kids will turn to their parents for help when something dangerous happens.
It enables children to build resiliency, which in turn reduces the risk they’ll be harmed by negative online encounters.
The importance of open communication is also emphasized in the FOSI report. In households where conversations about online safety happened regularly (six times or more a year), parents and children were both more likely to view parental controls as a useful and valuable tool for online safety.
On this point, we couldn’t agree more. Families would benefit from making parental controls and safety settings a family affair. Kids and parents have a lot to learn from each other about the digital world, and reviewing these systems together can provide a much-needed opening for crucial conversations about risk, safety and what kids find meaningful about digital play.
Rethinking safety tools
Let’s not pretend parental controls are a panacea for child safety.
Many parental controls contain serious design flaws and limitations. Very few comprehensively address the needs and concerns of either children or their parents.
Now that lawmakers are starting to make parental controls a mandatory part of new child safety legislation, we urgently need to start taking a closer and more critical look at what they can and can’t do.
Parental controls can be a useful tool when they are designed well, applied with transparency, and provide families with ample options so they can be tailored to not only fit with but foster household rules and open communication.
There’s a lot of work to be done before this is the standard. But also a growing impetus for game and other tech companies to make it happen.
Sara M. Grimes receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada,
Riley McNair 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.
People shop for food in Brooklyn in 2023 at a store that makes sure that its customers know it accepts SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps and EBT. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
In my research on the history of food stamps, I’ve found that the program was meant to be widely available to most low-income people. The SNAP changes break that tradition in two ways.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that about 3 million people are likely to be dropped from the program and lose their benefits. This decline will occur in part because more people will face time limits if they don’t meet work requirements. Even those who meet the requirements may lose benefits because of difficulty submitting the necessary documents.
Inspired by the plight of unemployed coal miners whom John F. Kennedy met in Appalachia when he campaigned for the presidency in 1960, the early food stamps program was not limited to single parents with children, older people and people with disabilities, like many other safety net programs were at the time. It was supposed to help low-income people afford more and better food, regardless of their circumstances.
From the start, the states administered the program and covered some of its administrative costs and the federal government paid for the benefits in full. This arrangement encouraged states to enroll everyone who needed help without fearing the budgetary consequences.
Who could qualify and how much help they could get were set by uniform national standards, so that even the residents of the poorest states would be able to afford a budget-conscious but nutritionally adequate diet.
The federal government’s responsibility for the cost of benefits also allowed spending to automatically grow during economic downturns, when more people need assistance. These federal dollars helped families, retailers and local economies weather tough times.
The changes to the SNAP program included in the legislative package that Congress approved by narrow margins and Trump signed into law, however, will make it harder for the program to serve its original goals.
Restricting benefits
Since the early 1970s, most so-called able-bodied adults who were not caring for a child or an adult with disabilities had to meet a work requirement to get food stamps. Welfare reform legislation in 1996 made that requirement stricter for such adults between the ages of 18 and 50 by imposing a three-month time limit if they didn’t log 20 hours or more of employment or another approved activity, such as verified volunteering.
Budget legislation passed in 2023 expanded this rule to adults up to age 54. The 2025 law will further expand the time limit to adults up to age 64 and parents of children age 14 or over.
States can currently get permission from the federal government to waive work requirements in areas with insufficient jobs or unemployment above the national average. This flexibility to waive work requirements will now be significantly limited and available only where at least 1 in 10 workers are unemployed.
Concerned senators secured an exemption from the work requirements for most Native Americans and Native Alaskans, who are more likely to live in areas with limited job opportunities.
The new changes to SNAP policies will also deny benefits to many immigrants with authorization to be in the U.S., such as people granted political asylum or official refugee status. Immigrants without authorization to reside in the U.S. will continue to be ineligible for SNAP benefits.
Tracking ‘error rates’
Critics of food stamps have long argued that states lack incentives to carefully administer the program because the federal government is on the hook for the cost of benefits.
In the 1970s, as the number of Americans on the food stamp rolls soared, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program, developed a system for assessing if states were accurately determining whether applicants were eligible for benefits and how much they could get.
A state’s “payment error rate” estimates the share of benefits paid out that were more or less than an applicant was actually eligible for. The error rate was not then and is not today a measure of fraud. Typically, it just indicates the share of families who get a higher – or lower – amount of benefits than they are eligible for because of mistakes or confusion on the part of the applicant or the case worker who handles the application.
States responded by increasing their red tape. For example, they asked applicants to submit more documentation and made them go through more bureaucratic hoops, like having more frequent in-person interviews, to get – and continue receiving – SNAP benefits.
These demands hit low-wage workers hardest because their applications were more prone to mistakes. Low-income workers often don’t have consistent work hours and their pay can vary from week to week and month to month. The number of families getting benefits fell steeply.
The USDA tried to reverse this decline by offering states options to simplify the process for applying for and continuing to get SNAP benefits over the course of the presidencies of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Enrollment grew steadily.
Despite this requirement, the national average error rate jumped from 7.4% before the pandemic, to a record high of 11.7% in 2023. Rates rose as states struggled with a surge of people applying for benefits, a shortage of staff in state welfare agencies and procedural changes.
The big legislative package will increase states’ expenses in two ways.
It will reduce the federal government’s responsibility for half of the cost of administering the program to 25% beginning in the 2027 fiscal year.
And some states will have to pay a share of benefit costs for the first time in the program’s history, depending on their payment error rates. Beginning in the 2028 fiscal year, states with an error rate between 6-8% would be responsible for 5% of the cost of benefits. Those with an error rate between 8-10% would have to pay 10%, and states with an error rate over 10% would have to pay 15%. The federal government would continue to pay all benefits in states with error rates below 6%.
Republicans argue the changes will give states more “skin in the game” and ensure better administration of the program.
While the national payment error rate fell from 11.68% in the 2023 fiscal year to 10.93% a year later, 42 states still had rates in excess of 6% in 2024. Twenty states plus the District of Columbia had rates of 10% or higher.
At nearly 25%, Alaska has the highest payment error rate in the country. But Alaska won’t be in trouble right away. To ease passage in the Senate, where the vote of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, was in doubt, a provision was added to the bill allowing several states with the highest error rates to avoid cost sharing for up to two years after it begins.
About 600,000 individuals and families will lose an average of $100 a month in benefits because of a change in the way utility costs are treated. The law also prevents future administrations from increasing benefits beyond the cost of living, as the Biden Administration did.
States cannot cut benefits below the national standards set in federal law.
But the shift of costs to financially strapped states will force them to make tough choices. They will either have to cut back spending on other programs, increase taxes, discourage people from getting SNAP benefits or drop the program altogether.
The changes will, in the end, make it even harder for Americans who can’t afford the bare necessities to get enough nutritious food to feed their families.
Tracy Roof does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
People shop for food in Brooklyn in 2023 at a store that makes sure that its customers know it accepts SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps and EBT. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
In my research on the history of food stamps, I’ve found that the program was meant to be widely available to most low-income people. The SNAP changes break that tradition in two ways.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that about 3 million people are likely to be dropped from the program and lose their benefits. This decline will occur in part because more people will face time limits if they don’t meet work requirements. Even those who meet the requirements may lose benefits because of difficulty submitting the necessary documents.
Inspired by the plight of unemployed coal miners whom John F. Kennedy met in Appalachia when he campaigned for the presidency in 1960, the early food stamps program was not limited to single parents with children, older people and people with disabilities, like many other safety net programs were at the time. It was supposed to help low-income people afford more and better food, regardless of their circumstances.
From the start, the states administered the program and covered some of its administrative costs and the federal government paid for the benefits in full. This arrangement encouraged states to enroll everyone who needed help without fearing the budgetary consequences.
Who could qualify and how much help they could get were set by uniform national standards, so that even the residents of the poorest states would be able to afford a budget-conscious but nutritionally adequate diet.
The federal government’s responsibility for the cost of benefits also allowed spending to automatically grow during economic downturns, when more people need assistance. These federal dollars helped families, retailers and local economies weather tough times.
The changes to the SNAP program included in the legislative package that Congress approved by narrow margins and Trump signed into law, however, will make it harder for the program to serve its original goals.
Restricting benefits
Since the early 1970s, most so-called able-bodied adults who were not caring for a child or an adult with disabilities had to meet a work requirement to get food stamps. Welfare reform legislation in 1996 made that requirement stricter for such adults between the ages of 18 and 50 by imposing a three-month time limit if they didn’t log 20 hours or more of employment or another approved activity, such as verified volunteering.
Budget legislation passed in 2023 expanded this rule to adults up to age 54. The 2025 law will further expand the time limit to adults up to age 64 and parents of children age 14 or over.
States can currently get permission from the federal government to waive work requirements in areas with insufficient jobs or unemployment above the national average. This flexibility to waive work requirements will now be significantly limited and available only where at least 1 in 10 workers are unemployed.
Concerned senators secured an exemption from the work requirements for most Native Americans and Native Alaskans, who are more likely to live in areas with limited job opportunities.
The new changes to SNAP policies will also deny benefits to many immigrants with authorization to be in the U.S., such as people granted political asylum or official refugee status. Immigrants without authorization to reside in the U.S. will continue to be ineligible for SNAP benefits.
Tracking ‘error rates’
Critics of food stamps have long argued that states lack incentives to carefully administer the program because the federal government is on the hook for the cost of benefits.
In the 1970s, as the number of Americans on the food stamp rolls soared, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program, developed a system for assessing if states were accurately determining whether applicants were eligible for benefits and how much they could get.
A state’s “payment error rate” estimates the share of benefits paid out that were more or less than an applicant was actually eligible for. The error rate was not then and is not today a measure of fraud. Typically, it just indicates the share of families who get a higher – or lower – amount of benefits than they are eligible for because of mistakes or confusion on the part of the applicant or the case worker who handles the application.
States responded by increasing their red tape. For example, they asked applicants to submit more documentation and made them go through more bureaucratic hoops, like having more frequent in-person interviews, to get – and continue receiving – SNAP benefits.
These demands hit low-wage workers hardest because their applications were more prone to mistakes. Low-income workers often don’t have consistent work hours and their pay can vary from week to week and month to month. The number of families getting benefits fell steeply.
The USDA tried to reverse this decline by offering states options to simplify the process for applying for and continuing to get SNAP benefits over the course of the presidencies of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Enrollment grew steadily.
Despite this requirement, the national average error rate jumped from 7.4% before the pandemic, to a record high of 11.7% in 2023. Rates rose as states struggled with a surge of people applying for benefits, a shortage of staff in state welfare agencies and procedural changes.
The big legislative package will increase states’ expenses in two ways.
It will reduce the federal government’s responsibility for half of the cost of administering the program to 25% beginning in the 2027 fiscal year.
And some states will have to pay a share of benefit costs for the first time in the program’s history, depending on their payment error rates. Beginning in the 2028 fiscal year, states with an error rate between 6-8% would be responsible for 5% of the cost of benefits. Those with an error rate between 8-10% would have to pay 10%, and states with an error rate over 10% would have to pay 15%. The federal government would continue to pay all benefits in states with error rates below 6%.
Republicans argue the changes will give states more “skin in the game” and ensure better administration of the program.
While the national payment error rate fell from 11.68% in the 2023 fiscal year to 10.93% a year later, 42 states still had rates in excess of 6% in 2024. Twenty states plus the District of Columbia had rates of 10% or higher.
At nearly 25%, Alaska has the highest payment error rate in the country. But Alaska won’t be in trouble right away. To ease passage in the Senate, where the vote of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, was in doubt, a provision was added to the bill allowing several states with the highest error rates to avoid cost sharing for up to two years after it begins.
About 600,000 individuals and families will lose an average of $100 a month in benefits because of a change in the way utility costs are treated. The law also prevents future administrations from increasing benefits beyond the cost of living, as the Biden Administration did.
States cannot cut benefits below the national standards set in federal law.
But the shift of costs to financially strapped states will force them to make tough choices. They will either have to cut back spending on other programs, increase taxes, discourage people from getting SNAP benefits or drop the program altogether.
The changes will, in the end, make it even harder for Americans who can’t afford the bare necessities to get enough nutritious food to feed their families.
Tracy Roof does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
People shop for food in Brooklyn in 2023 at a store that makes sure that its customers know it accepts SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps and EBT. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
In my research on the history of food stamps, I’ve found that the program was meant to be widely available to most low-income people. The SNAP changes break that tradition in two ways.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that about 3 million people are likely to be dropped from the program and lose their benefits. This decline will occur in part because more people will face time limits if they don’t meet work requirements. Even those who meet the requirements may lose benefits because of difficulty submitting the necessary documents.
Inspired by the plight of unemployed coal miners whom John F. Kennedy met in Appalachia when he campaigned for the presidency in 1960, the early food stamps program was not limited to single parents with children, older people and people with disabilities, like many other safety net programs were at the time. It was supposed to help low-income people afford more and better food, regardless of their circumstances.
From the start, the states administered the program and covered some of its administrative costs and the federal government paid for the benefits in full. This arrangement encouraged states to enroll everyone who needed help without fearing the budgetary consequences.
Who could qualify and how much help they could get were set by uniform national standards, so that even the residents of the poorest states would be able to afford a budget-conscious but nutritionally adequate diet.
The federal government’s responsibility for the cost of benefits also allowed spending to automatically grow during economic downturns, when more people need assistance. These federal dollars helped families, retailers and local economies weather tough times.
The changes to the SNAP program included in the legislative package that Congress approved by narrow margins and Trump signed into law, however, will make it harder for the program to serve its original goals.
Restricting benefits
Since the early 1970s, most so-called able-bodied adults who were not caring for a child or an adult with disabilities had to meet a work requirement to get food stamps. Welfare reform legislation in 1996 made that requirement stricter for such adults between the ages of 18 and 50 by imposing a three-month time limit if they didn’t log 20 hours or more of employment or another approved activity, such as verified volunteering.
Budget legislation passed in 2023 expanded this rule to adults up to age 54. The 2025 law will further expand the time limit to adults up to age 64 and parents of children age 14 or over.
States can currently get permission from the federal government to waive work requirements in areas with insufficient jobs or unemployment above the national average. This flexibility to waive work requirements will now be significantly limited and available only where at least 1 in 10 workers are unemployed.
Concerned senators secured an exemption from the work requirements for most Native Americans and Native Alaskans, who are more likely to live in areas with limited job opportunities.
The new changes to SNAP policies will also deny benefits to many immigrants with authorization to be in the U.S., such as people granted political asylum or official refugee status. Immigrants without authorization to reside in the U.S. will continue to be ineligible for SNAP benefits.
Tracking ‘error rates’
Critics of food stamps have long argued that states lack incentives to carefully administer the program because the federal government is on the hook for the cost of benefits.
In the 1970s, as the number of Americans on the food stamp rolls soared, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program, developed a system for assessing if states were accurately determining whether applicants were eligible for benefits and how much they could get.
A state’s “payment error rate” estimates the share of benefits paid out that were more or less than an applicant was actually eligible for. The error rate was not then and is not today a measure of fraud. Typically, it just indicates the share of families who get a higher – or lower – amount of benefits than they are eligible for because of mistakes or confusion on the part of the applicant or the case worker who handles the application.
States responded by increasing their red tape. For example, they asked applicants to submit more documentation and made them go through more bureaucratic hoops, like having more frequent in-person interviews, to get – and continue receiving – SNAP benefits.
These demands hit low-wage workers hardest because their applications were more prone to mistakes. Low-income workers often don’t have consistent work hours and their pay can vary from week to week and month to month. The number of families getting benefits fell steeply.
The USDA tried to reverse this decline by offering states options to simplify the process for applying for and continuing to get SNAP benefits over the course of the presidencies of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Enrollment grew steadily.
Despite this requirement, the national average error rate jumped from 7.4% before the pandemic, to a record high of 11.7% in 2023. Rates rose as states struggled with a surge of people applying for benefits, a shortage of staff in state welfare agencies and procedural changes.
The big legislative package will increase states’ expenses in two ways.
It will reduce the federal government’s responsibility for half of the cost of administering the program to 25% beginning in the 2027 fiscal year.
And some states will have to pay a share of benefit costs for the first time in the program’s history, depending on their payment error rates. Beginning in the 2028 fiscal year, states with an error rate between 6-8% would be responsible for 5% of the cost of benefits. Those with an error rate between 8-10% would have to pay 10%, and states with an error rate over 10% would have to pay 15%. The federal government would continue to pay all benefits in states with error rates below 6%.
Republicans argue the changes will give states more “skin in the game” and ensure better administration of the program.
While the national payment error rate fell from 11.68% in the 2023 fiscal year to 10.93% a year later, 42 states still had rates in excess of 6% in 2024. Twenty states plus the District of Columbia had rates of 10% or higher.
At nearly 25%, Alaska has the highest payment error rate in the country. But Alaska won’t be in trouble right away. To ease passage in the Senate, where the vote of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, was in doubt, a provision was added to the bill allowing several states with the highest error rates to avoid cost sharing for up to two years after it begins.
About 600,000 individuals and families will lose an average of $100 a month in benefits because of a change in the way utility costs are treated. The law also prevents future administrations from increasing benefits beyond the cost of living, as the Biden Administration did.
States cannot cut benefits below the national standards set in federal law.
But the shift of costs to financially strapped states will force them to make tough choices. They will either have to cut back spending on other programs, increase taxes, discourage people from getting SNAP benefits or drop the program altogether.
The changes will, in the end, make it even harder for Americans who can’t afford the bare necessities to get enough nutritious food to feed their families.
Tracy Roof does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
SEOUL, July 6 (Xinhua) — The special prosecutor investigating former South Korean President Yun Seok-yul’s attempted imposition of martial law has requested a warrant for his detention, a spokesman for the special prosecutor’s team said Sunday.
Independent special prosecutor Cho Eun-seok, who is handling the sedition and other charges against the former president, has asked the Seoul Central District Court to issue a warrant.
Charges listed in the warrant include obstruction of justice, abuse of power and falsification of official documents, the spokesman said.
The warrant was requested to detain Yun Seok Yeol for an extended period of time, at least 20 days.
The independent prosecutor’s team, which began its investigation on June 18, last month requested an arrest warrant for Yoon Seok-yeol for up to 48 hours, but the court rejected the request because Yoon Seok-yeol’s side said he was willing to appear for questioning at the special prosecutor’s request.
On June 19, Yoon Seok-yeol ignored a police summons for a third time in a case involving his order to thwart an attempted arrest in January by presidential security forces and delete information from secure phones given to three military commanders.
Let us recall that Yun Seok-yol was detained in the presidential administration building on January 15. On January 26, while in custody, he was charged with organizing a rebellion. However, on March 8, the politician was released after the prosecutor’s office decided not to appeal the court’s decision.
On April 4, the Constitutional Court upheld a motion to impeach Yun Seok-yul over the attempted imposition of martial law last December, formally removing him from office. –0–
Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
