(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – Attorney General Alan Wilson announced that his office’s new Violent Crimes Case Reduction Unit (VCCRU) got its first in-trial conviction last week after only six months in court and the adoption of over 180 violent crime cases. The team has closed or issued bench warrants in over 10% of the cases.
On Thursday, June 26th, a jury in Sumter convicted Jason Barnes, 43, of Sumter, of shooting and killing Richard “Ricky” Preusser, 51. Barnes was staying in a home owned by Preusser, which is where the murder occurred on August 19, 2022. Barnes had brought the revolver he used in the murder from the West Coast just two weeks earlier. The mobile phone found by a canine officer in the woods when Barnes was located was processed by the Sumter County Police Department. This phone contained information that gave insight into the defendant’s thoughts and concerns, especially in retrieving the murder weapon before it could be located by law enforcement.
Judge Ferrell Cothran sentenced Barnes to 38 years in prison for the murder and five years for the weapons charge. The sentences will run concurrently.
Attorney General Wilson formed the VCCRU last year to assist solicitors’ offices that have significant backlogs of violent crimes to prosecute.
“These first pleas and trials are the beginning of what will be many cases our Violent Crimes Case Reduction Unit will close to bring justice to crime victims in South Carolina,” Attorney General Wilson said.
The case was investigated by the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office and Special Investigators Rebecca Sessions and Cameron Warren of the Attorney General’s Office.
VCCRU prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Angela Tanner, was the primary attorney on the case, and VCCRU Assistant Attorney General Chris Scalzo assisted her in the courtroom. A special thank you to the VCCRU team, paralegals Glenda Amick and Margaret Osburn, law clerk Emily Culbreath, victim advocate Glynna Fogle, Assistant Attorney General Monty Bell, and Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General Heather S. Weiss for the teamwork on this trial and throughout the case.
PHOENIX, July 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Award-winning real estate technology innovator Lofty today announced the company has been selected as a preferred solution provider in eXP Realty’s new CRM of Choice program. The initiative provides agents day one access to the leading tech platforms in the industry, designed to automate time consuming processes, boost agent productivity and accelerate business growth. A recognized tech innovator, Lofty was chosen for its powerful AI capabilities and proven success in helping other fast-growing brokerages support the entire real estate process — from search to settlement. To learn more about how Lofty can help your brokerage accelerate business growth, visit HERE.
Lofty Wins Company of the Year in Real Estate in 2025 American Business Awards. Read more HERE.
Lofty Named to HousingWire 100 for Sixth Consecutive Year. Read more HERE.
As the most agent-centric brokerage on the planet, eXp Realty is committed to empowering their global community of agents with the cutting-edge tools they need to succeed. Meanwhile, today’s career-oriented, tech savvy agents have come to expect seamless access to an innovative platform, knowing the indisputable value of technology to augment their own hard work. eXp’s bold new CRM of Choice program, unveiled today, makes it even easier to deliver on this expectation and put the power of freedom, flexibility and control directly into the hands of agents. Designed for solo agents or teams, CRM of Choice empowers real estate professionals to select the system that best aligns with their unique workflow, business structure and goals, underpinned by customized onboarding and training and included within the existing monthly tech package.
eXp selected Lofty as a preferred solution provider based on the platform’s robust AI capabilities and forward-thinking approach to product development, confident in the company’s ability to consistently deliver the tools agents need to compete in a modern world. Interested agents can join a deep-dive session on Lofty every Monday and Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET. Learn more HERE.
“We are thrilled to be named a preferred solution provider in eXP Realty’s new CRM of Choice program,” said Brian Hoialmen, Chief Strategy Officer, Lofty. “Built for the way agents work, our AI-powered platform has consistently proven to not only save time and increase efficiencies but serve as a true assistant to agents in their day-to-day work. We look forward to the opportunity to support even more hard-working real estate professionals through this innovative new program.”
Lofty’s Enterprise platform was custom built to support the unique and complex needs of all brokerages and is a lynchpin to recruiting and retaining powerhouse agents. An easy to use and intuitive platform, Lofty boasts a 60%+ agent adoption rate, more than double the industry average, and has proven to convert 48% more leads on average than competitors. Featuring a wide range of AI capabilities to help agents quickly and effectively navigate the platform, build strategic marketing and social media content, promote listings, manage leads and more, Lofty empowers agents to instead focus their valued time on building customer relationships. An award-winning tech innovator, Lofty also delivers new features monthly, ensuring agents feel confident they have access to all the modern tools they need to win.
“Choosing the right CRM is essential to building a scalable real estate business,” said Kendall Bonner, Vice President, Industry Relations and Strategic Partnerships, eXp Realty. “Lofty’s sleek interface and smart automation tools help agents streamline their marketing and manage their pipeline with confidence and clarity.”
To learn more about how Lofty’s unmatched AI capabilities can help your business grow, visit lofty.com/ai/overview.
About Lofty Inc. Lofty Inc. (formerly Chime Technologies) provides an AI-powered platform that helps real estate professionals increase their productivity and accelerate business growth. Featuring award-winning technology, the Lofty platform is designed to optimize every step of the real estate journey, from search to settlement. By leveraging one unified hub, customers can automate marketing programs, streamline the sales process, and maximize collaboration between agents, empowering them to spend more time building relationships and their business. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, Lofty provides proven solutions for brokers, teams, and the enterprise. For more information, visit lofty.com.
About eXp World Holdings, Inc. eXp World Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXPI) (the “Company”) is the holding company for eXp Realty® and SUCCESS® Enterprises. eXp Realty is the largest independent real estate brokerage in the world, with nearly 81,000 agents across 27 countries. As a cloud-based, agent-centric brokerage, eXp Realty provides real estate agents industry-leading commission splits, revenue share, equity ownership opportunities, and a global network that empowers agents to build thriving businesses. For more information about eXp World Holdings, Inc., visit: expworldholdings.com.
SUCCESS® Enterprises, anchored by SUCCESS® magazine, has been a trusted name in personal and professional development since 1897. As part of the eXp ecosystem, it offers agents access to valuable resources to enhance their skills, grow their businesses, and achieve long-term success. For more information about SUCCESS, visit success.com.
Safe Harbor Statement The statements contained herein may include statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on eXp World Holdings, Inc.’s (the “Company”) management’s current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. These statements include, but are not limited to, expectations regarding the Company’s technology offerings and their availability and value to agents and brokers. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update them. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance. Important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in forward-looking statements include changes in technology platform offerings and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to the most recently filed Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and Annual Report on Form 10-K.
PROVIDENCE, R.I., July 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — via IBN — Beeline Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLNE), the fast-growing digital mortgage platform redefining the path to homeownership, today announced it has raised $6.5 million in fresh capital the last week of June through a combination of its At-The-Market (ATM) and equity line of credit (ELOC) programs during the final week of June.
In parallel, the company aggressively reduced its debt by a total of $5.3 million during the first half of 2025—$1.3 million in Q1 and $4.0 million in Q2—bringing total debt owed to third parties down to just $2.3 million (not including its subsidiary’s mortgage warehousing line). The company ended the quarter with over $6 million in cash.
“These moves mark a defining moment for Beeline,” said Nick Liuzza, CEO of Beeline. “We’ve faced a tough macro environment over the last few years, but we stayed disciplined, focused, and innovative. Now, with interest rates expected to trend lower, we’re in our strongest financial position ever—bolstered by new equity offerings and the momentum building within our SaaS arm, Beeline Labs.”
As of March 31, 2025, the company reported approximately $40 million in shareholders’ equity.
“We’re currently trading at just 30% of book value,” added Chris Moe, CFO of Beeline. “At some point, the market will reflect the fundamentals. But for now, our priority remains executing on the business—becoming debt-free and achieving positive cash flow.”
With inflation cooling and the Federal Reserve signaling potential rate cuts as early as Q3—fueled by political pressure and economic indicators—Beeline sees significant upside in both its mortgage origination engine and scalable SaaS infrastructure.
About Beeline Financial Holdings, Inc.
Beeline Financial Holdings, Inc. is a trailblazing mortgage fintech transforming the way people access property financing. Through its fully digital, AI-powered platform, Beeline delivers a faster, smarter path to home loans—whether for primary residences or investment properties. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Beeline is reshaping mortgage origination with speed, simplicity, and transparency at its core. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Beeline Holdings and also operates Beeline Labs, its innovation arm focused on next-generation lending solutions.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the lowering of interest rates, the potential for both of the company’s real estate business lines, and the market reflecting the company’s fundamentals . Forward-looking statements are prefaced by words such as “anticipate,” “expect,” “plan,” “could,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “would,” “intend,” “seem,” “potential,” “appear,” “continue,” “future,” believe,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “project,” and similar words. Forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions regarding our business, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. We caution you, therefore, against relying on any of these forward-looking statements. Our actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements for a variety of reasons, including, without limitation, the possibility that estimates, projections and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based prove to be incorrect, including the continued strength of the U.S. economy, reduced inflation rates, the future of U.S. tariff policy, and the success of the company’s home equity program. See also the Risk Factors contained in our Form 10-K filed April 15, 2025 and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this presentation speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Mike Shriberg, Professor of Practice & Engagement, School for Environment & Sustainability, University of Michigan
Invasive Asian carp are spreading up the Mississippi River system and already clog the Illinois River.AP Photo/John Flesher
In his second term, President Donald Trump has not taken many actions that draw near-universal praise from across the political spectrum. But there is at least one of these political anomalies, and it illustrates the broad appeal of environmental protection and conservation projects – particularly when it concerns an ecosystem of vital importance to millions of Americans.
In May 2025, Trump issued a presidential memorandum supporting the construction of a physical barrier that is key to keeping invasive carp out of the Great Lakes. These fish have made their way up the Mississippi River system and could have dire ecological consequences if they enter the Great Lakes.
It was not a given that Trump would back this project, which had long been supported by environmental and conservation organizations. But two very different strategies from two Democratic governors – both potential presidential candidates in 2028 – reflected the importance of the Great Lakes to America.
Perhaps nothing alarms Great Lakes ecologists more than the potential for invasive carp from Asia to establish a breeding population in the Great Lakes. These fish were intentionally introduced in the U.S. Southeast by private fish farm and wastewater treatment operators as a means to control algae in aquaculture and sewage treatment ponds. Sometime in the 1990s, the fish escaped from those ponds and moved rapidly up the Mississippi River system, including into the Illinois River, which connects to the Great Lakes.
Invasive carp are generally not eaten in the U.S. and are not desirable for sportfishing. In fact, silver carp have a propensity to jump up to 10 feet out of the water when startled by a boat motor. That can make parts of the Illinois River, which is packed with the invasive fish, almost impossible to fish or even maneuver a boat.
Look out! Silver carp fly out of the water, obstructing boats and hitting people trying to enjoy a river in Indiana.
The Brandon Road Lock and Dam solution
Originally, the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River were not connected to each other. But in 1900, the city of Chicago connected them to avoid sending its sewage into Lake Michigan, from which the city draws its drinking water.
The most complete way to block the carp from invading the Great Lakes would be to undo that connection – but that would recreate sewage and flooding issues for Chicago, or require other expensive infrastructure upgrades. The more practical, short-term alternative is to modify the historic Brandon Road Lock and Dam in Joliet, Illinois, by adding several obstacles that together would block the carp from swimming farther upriver toward the Great Lakes.
The barrier, estimated to cost US$1.15 billion, was authorized by Congress in 2020 and 2022 after many years of intense planning and negotiations. For the first phase of construction, the project received $226 million in federal money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to complement $114 million in state funding – $64 million from Michigan and $50 million from Illinois.
On the first day of Trump’s second term, however, he paused a wide swath of federal funding, including funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. And that’s when two different political strategies emerged.
A brief documentary explains the construction of a connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basin.
Trump’s support for the project was a rare moment of political unity and an extremely unusual example of leading Democrats being on the same page as Trump. I attribute this surprising outcome to two key factors.
First, the Great Lakes region holds disproportionate power in presidential elections. Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have backed the eventual winner in every presidential race for the past 20 years. This swing state power has been used by advocates and state political leaders to drive funding for Great Lakes protection for many years.
Second, Great Lakes are the uniting force in the region. According to polling from the International Joint Commission, the binational body charged with overseeing waterways that cross the U.S.-Canada border, there is “nearly unanimous support (96%) for the importance of government investment in Great Lakes protections” from residents of the region.
And perhaps the governors have identified a new area for unity in a divided United States: Conservation and environmental issues have broad public support, particularly when they involve iconic natural resources, shared values and popular outdoor pursuits such as fishing and boating. Even when political strategies diverge, the results can bring bipartisan satisfaction.
Mike Shriberg was previously the Great Lakes Regional Executive Director of the National Wildlife Federation, which entailed being a co-chair (and, for part of the time, Director) of the Healing Our Waters – Great Lakes Coalition.
The 1925 Scopes trial, in which a Dayton, Tennessee, teacher was charged with violating state law by teaching biological evolution, was one of the earliest and most iconic conflicts in America’s ongoing culture war.
Charles Darwin’s “Origin of Species,” published in 1859, and subsequent scientific research made the case that humans and other animals evolved from earlier species over millions of years. Many late-19th-century American Protestants had little problem accommodating Darwin’s ideas – which became mainstream biology – with their religious commitments.
But that was not the case with all Christians, especially conservative evangelicals, who held that the Bible is inerrant – without error – and factually accurate in all that it has to say, including when it speaks on history and science.
One hundred years after the trial, and as we have documented in our scholarly work, the culture war over evolution and creationism remains strong – and yet, when it comes to creationism, much has also changed.
Holding to biblical inerrancy, these “fundamentalists” believed in the creation account detailed in chapter 1 of Genesis, in which God brought all life into being in six days. But most of these fundamentalists also accepted mainstream geology, which held that the Earth was millions of years old. Squaring a literal understanding of Genesis with an old Earth, they embraced either the “day-age theory” – that each Genesis day was actually a long period of time – or the “gap theory,” in which there was a huge gap of time before the six 24-hour days of creation.
This nascent fundamentalist movement initiated a campaign to pressure state legislatures to prohibit public schools from teaching evolution. One of these states was Tennessee, which in 1925 passed the Butler Act. This law made it illegal for public schoolteachers “to teach any theory that denies the story of divine creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.”
The American Civil Liberties Union persuaded John Thomas Scopes, a young science teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, to challenge the law in court. The WCFA sprang into action, successfully persuading William Jennings Bryan – populist politician and outspoken fundamentalist – to assist the prosecution. In response, the ACLU hired famous attorney Clarence Darrow to serve on the defense team.
Inside the courtroom, the trial became a verbal duel between Bryan and Darrow regarding science and religion. But as the judge narrowed the proceedings to whether or not Scopes violated the law – a point that the defense readily admitted – it seemed clear that Scopes would be found guilty. Many of the reporters thus went home.
But the trial’s most memorable episode was yet to come. On July 20, Darrow successfully provoked Bryan to take the witness stand as a Bible expert. Due to the huge crowd and suffocating heat, the judge moved the trial outdoors.
The 3,000 or so spectators witnessed Darrow’s interrogation of Bryan, which was primarily intended to make Bryan and fundamentalism appear foolish and ignorant. Most significant, Darrow’s questions revealed that, despite Bryan’s’ assertion that he read the Bible literally, Bryan actually understood the six days of Genesis not as 24-hour days, but as six long and indeterminate periods of time.
American lawyer and politician William Jennings Bryan during the Scopes trial in Dayton, Tenn. Hulton Archive/Getty Image
The very next day, the jury found Scopes guilty and fined him US$100. Riley and the fundamentalists cheered the verdict as a triumph for the Bible and morality.
The fundamentalists and ‘The Genesis Flood’
But very soon that sense of triumph faded, partly because of news stories that portrayed fundamentalists as ignorant rural bigots. In one such example, a prominent journalist, H. L. Mencken, wrote in a Baltimore Sun column that the Scopes trial “serves notice on the country that Neanderthal man is organizing in these forlorn backwaters of the land.”
The media ridicule encouraged many scholars and journalists to conclude that creationism and fundamentalism would soon disappear from American culture. But that prediction did not come to pass.
Instead, fundamentalists, including WCFA leader Riley, seemed all the more determined to redouble their efforts at the grassroots level.
But as Darrow’s interrogation of Bryan made obvious, it was not easy to square a literal reading of the Bible – including the six-day creation outlined in Genesis – with a scientific belief in an old Earth. What fundamentalists needed was a science that supported the idea of a young Earth.
“The Genesis Flood” and its version of flood geology remains ubiquitous among fundamentalists and other conservative Protestants.
Young Earth creationism
Today, opinion polls reveal that roughly one-quarter of all Americans are adherents of this newer strand of creationism, which rejects both mainstream geology as well as mainstream biology.
AiG’s tourist sites – the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, and the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky – have attracted millions of visitors since their opening in 2007 and 2016. Additional AiG sites are planned for Branson, Missouri, and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Presented as a replica of Noah’s Ark, the Ark Encounter is a gigantic structure – 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, 51 feet high. It includes representations of animal cages as well as plush living quarters for the eight human beings who, according to Genesis chapters 6-8, survived the global flood. Hundreds of placards in the Ark make the case for a young Earth and a global flood that created the geological strata and formations we see today.
Besides AiG tourist sites, there is also an ever-expanding network of fundamentalist schools and homeschools that present young Earth creationism as true science. These schools use textbooks from publishers such as Abeka Books, Accelerated Christian Education and Bob Jones University Press.
The Scopes trial involved what could and could not be taught in public schools regarding creation and evolution. Today, this discussion also involves private schools, given that there are now at least 15 states that have universal private school choice programs, in which families can use taxpayer-funded education money to pay for private schooling and homeschooling.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
“Bill Moyers? He’s spectacular!” George Clooney said – and no wonder.
I mentioned this legendary television journalist to the actor and filmmaker after Clooney emerged from the Broadway theater where he just had been portraying another news icon: Edward R. Murrow. Or as the Museum of Broadcast Communications put it in a tribute to Moyers, he was “one of the few broadcast journalists who might be said to approach the stature of Edward R. Murrow. If Murrow founded broadcast journalism, Moyers significantly extended its traditions.”
Moyers, who died at 91 on June 26, 2025, was among the most acclaimed broadcast journalists of the 20th century. He’s known for TV news shows that exposed the role of big money in politics and episodes that drew attention to unsung defenders of democracy, such as community organizer Ernesto Cortés Jr..
Despite his prominence, Moyers was the same down-to-earth guy in person as he seemed to be on the screen. In 1986, he was commanding a television audience of millions, and I was a historian at home with a preschooler, teaching the occasional college course in a dismal job market. Seeing that Moyers would be speaking at the conference on President Lyndon B. Johnson where I would be giving a paper, I wrote to him.
To my utter amazement, he replied and then showed up to hear my paper, on Johnson’s experiences as a young principal of the “Mexican” school in Cotulla, Texas, where he championed his students but also forged links to segregationists. Cotulla was “seminal” to LBJ’s development, Moyers said. In 1993, he recommended me for a grant that helped me finish a book: “LBJ and Mexican Americans: The Paradox of Power.
A few years later, he asked me to head up a project researching the documents related to his time in Johnson’s administration. His memoir of the Johnson years never materialized. Instead, I edited the bestselling ”Moyers on America: A Journalist and His Times.“
Part of what always impressed me about Moyers was his belief that what matters is not how close you are to power, but how close you are to reality.
‘Amazing Grace’
Moyers didn’t just dwell on politics and policy as a journalist. He also delved into the meaning of creativity and the life of the mind. Many of his most moving interviews spotlighted scientists, novelists and other exceptional people.
He was also arguably among the best reporters on the religion beat. Even if it wasn’t always the main focus of his work or what comes to mind for those familiar with his legacy, still, he was a lifelong spiritual seeker.
He once told me that his favorite of the many programs that he produced was the PBS documentary ”Amazing Grace.“ It featured inspiring renditions of this popular Christian hymn as performed by country legend Johnny Cash, folk icon Judy Collins, opera diva Jessye Norman and other musical geniuses. As they share with Moyers their personal connections to this song of redemption, he draws viewers into the stirring saga of its creator, John Newton: a slave trader who became an abolitionist through “amazing grace.”
Bill Moyers interviews Judy Collins about singing ‘Amazing Grace,’ following the production of his PBS special about the hymn.
Life’s ultimate questions
This appreciation of the ineffable clearly informed Moyers’ blockbuster TV series exploring life’s ultimate questions, “Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth.”
To my surprise, Moyers knew about this Trappist monk, telling me, “I always wished that I could have interviewed Merton,” who died in 1968.
It turned out that Moyers had been introduced to Merton by Sargent Shriver, founding director of the Peace Corps, where Moyers was a founding organizer and the deputy director.
Mentored by LBJ
Moyers characterized his Peace Corps years as the most rewarding of his life. When Johnson, his mentor, became president, he asked Moyers to join the White House staff. Moyers turned down the offer, so Johnson made it a presidential command.
The wunderkind – Moyers was 29 years old in 1963, when Johnson was sworn in after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination – coordinated the White House task forces that created the largest number of legislative proposals in American history. Among the programs and landmark reforms established and passed during the Johnson administration were Medicare andMedicaid, a landmark immigration law, the Freedom of Information Act, the Public Broadcasting Act and two historic civil rights laws.
Johnson’s war on poverty, in addition, introduced several path-breaking programs, such as Head Start.
Moyers served as one of Johnson’s speechwriters and was a top official in Johnson’s 1964 presidential campaign. The following year, the Johnson administration began escalating U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and Johnson named a new press secretary: Bill Moyers. Again, the young man tried to decline, but the president prevailed.
As Moyers had feared, he could not serve two masters – journalists and his boss – especially as the administration’s Vietnam War policies became increasingly unpopular.
Moyers left the Johnson administration in 1967, turning to journalism. He became the publisher of Newsday, a Long Island, New York, newspaper, before becoming a producer and commentator at CBS News. His commentaries reached tens of millions of viewers, but the network refused to provide a regular time slot for his documentaries. He had previously worked at PBS. In 1987, he decamped there for good.
Moyers’ programs won many journalism awards, including over 30 Emmys, along with the Lifetime Emmy for news and documentary productions.
He helped millions of Americans appreciate the world around them. As he reflected in 2023, in one of the last interviews he gave, to PBS journalist Judy Woodruff at the Library of Congress: “Everything is linked, and if you can find that nerve that connects us to other things and other places and other ideas – and television should be doing it all the time – we’d be a better democracy.”
Judy Woodruff interviews Bill Moyers about his life’s work in government and the media, including his contributions to the launch of PBS, at the Library of Congress.
“It takes time, commitment” to dig below the surface and discover the deeper meaning of people’s lives, Moyers noted. He sought to understand, for example, why so many folks in his own hometown of Marshall, Texas, have become much more suspicious – resentful, even – of outsiders than when he gave these folks voice in his poignant, prize-winning 1984 program Marshall, Texas; Marshall, Texas.
In this era of growing threats to democracy, what can a young person do who aspires to follow in Bill Moyers’ footsteps – whether in journalism or public life?
Woodruff asked Moyers that question, to which he responded: “You can’t quit. You can’t get out of the boat! Find a place that gives you a sense of being, gives you a sense of mission, gives you a sense of participation.”
Today, with the future of journalism – and of democracy itself – at stake, I think it would help everyone to take to heart the insights of this late, great American journalist.
Julie Leininger Pycior edited the book “Moyers on America: A Journalist and His Times.” She also was hired by Moyers to direct the 18-month “LBJ Years” research project.
In addtion, she served as an unpaid, informal historical adviser for some of his public television programs.
Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old woman from Georgia who had been declared brain-dead in February 2025, spent 16 weeks on life support while doctors worked to keep her body functioning well enough to support her developing fetus. On June 13, 2025, her premature baby, named Chance, was born via cesarean section at 25 weeks.
Smith was nine weeks pregnant when she suffered multiple blood clots in her brain. Her story gained public attention when her mother criticized doctors’ decision to keep her on a ventilator without the family’s consent. Smith’s mother has said that doctors told the family the decision was made to align with Georgia’s LIFE Act, which bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and bolsters the legal standing of fetal personhood. A statement released by the hospital also cites Georgia’s abortion law.
“I’m not saying we would have chosen to terminate her pregnancy,” Smith’s mother told a local television station. “But I’m saying we should have had a choice.”
The LIFE Act is one of several state laws that have passed across the U.S. since the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision invalidated constitutional protections for abortion. Although Georgia’s attorney general denied that the LIFE Act applied to Smith, there’s little doubt that it invites ethical and legal uncertainty when a woman dies while pregnant.
Smith’s case has swiftly become the focus of a reproductive rights political firestorm characterized by two opposing viewpoints. For some, it reflects demeaning governmental overreach that quashes women’s bodily autonomy. For others it illustrates the righteous sacrifice of motherhood.
In my work as a gender and technology studies scholar, I have cataloged and studied postmortem pregnancies like Smith’s since 2016. In my view, Smith’s story doesn’t fit straightforwardly into abortion politics. Instead, it points to the need for a more nuanced ethical approach that does not frame a mother and child as adversaries in a medical, legal or political context.
Birth after death
For centuries, Catholic dogma and Western legal precedent have mandated immediate cesarean section when a pregnant woman died after quickening, the point when fetal movement becomes discernible. But technological advances now make it possible sometimes for a fetus to continue gestating in place when the mother is brain-dead, or “dead by neurological criteria”– a widely accepted definition of death that first emerged in the 1950s.
The first brain death during pregnancy in which the fetus was delivered after time on life support, more accurately called organ support, occurred in 1981. The process is extraordinarily intensive and invasive, because the loss of brain function impedes many physiological processes. Health teams, sometimes numbering in the hundreds, must stabilize the bodies of “functionally decapitated” pregnant women to buy more time for fetal development. This requires vital organ support, ventilation, nutritional supplements, antibiotics and constant monitoring. Outcomes are highly uncertain.
Adriana Smith’s baby was delivered by cesarian section on June 13, 2025.
Smith’s 112-day stint on organ support ranks third in length for a postmortem pregnancy, with the longest being 123 days. Hers is also the earliest ever gestational age from which the procedure has been attempted. Because time on organ support can vary widely, and because there is no established minimum fetal age considered too early to intervene, a fetus could theoretically be deemed viable at any point in pregnancy.
Postmortem pregnancy as gender-based violence
Over the past 50 years, critics of postmortem pregnancy have argued that it constitutes gender-based violence and violates bodily integrity in ways that organ donation does not. Some have compared it with Nazi pronatalist policies. Others have attributed the practice to systemic sexism and racism in medicine. Postmortem pregnancy can also compound intimate partner violence by giving brain-dead women’s murderers decision-making authority when they are the fetus’s next of kin.
From the perspective of reproductive rights advocates, postmortem pregnancy is the bottom of a slippery slope down which anti-abortion sentiment has led America. It obliterates women’s autonomy, pitting living and dead women against doctors, legislators and sometimes their own families, and weaponizing their own fetuses against them.
A medical perspective on rights
Viewed through a medical lens, however, postmortem pregnancy is not violent or violating, but an act of repair. Although care teams have responsibilities to both mother and fetus, a pregnant woman’s brain death means she cannot be physically harmed and her rights cannot be violated to the same degree as a fetus with the potential for life.
This response does not necessarily stem from conscious sexism or anti-abortion sentiment, but from reverence for vulnerable patients. If physicians declare a pregnant woman brain-dead, patienthood often automatically transfers to the fetus needing rescue. No matter its age and despite its survival being dependent on machines, just like its mother, the fetus is entirely animate. Who or what counts as a legal person with privileges and protections might be a political or philosophical determination, but life is a matter of biological fact and within the doctors’ purview.
Even the Supreme Court recognized this entangled duality in their 1973 ruling on Roe v. Wade, which established both constitutional protections for abortion and a governmental obligation to protect fetal life. Whether a fetus is considered a legal person or not, they wrote, pregnant women and fetuses “cannot be isolated in their privacy” – meaning that reproductive rights issues must strike a balance, however tenuous, between maternal and fetal interests. To declare postmortem pregnancy unequivocally violent or a loss of the “right to choose” fails to recognize the complexity of choice in a highly politicized medical landscape.
Second, maternal-fetal competition muddles the right course of action. In the U.S., competent patients are not compelled to engage in medical care they would rather avoid, even if it kills them, or to stay on life support to preserve organs for donation. But when a fetus is treated as an independent patient, exceptions could be made to those medical standards if the fetus’s interests override the mother’s.
For example, pregnancy disrupts standard determination of death. To protect the fetus, care teams increasingly skip a necessary diagnostic for brain death called apnea testing, which involves momentarily removing the ventilator to test the respiratory centers of the brain stem. In these cases, maternal brain death cannot be confirmed until after delivery. Multiple instances of vaginal deliveries after brain death also remain unexplained, given that the brain coordinates mechanisms of vaginal labor. All in all, it’s not always clear women in these cases are entirely dead.
Ultimately, women like Adriana Smith and their fetuses are inseparable and persist in a technologically defined state of in-betweenness. I’d argue that postmortem pregnancies, therefore, need new bioethical standards that center women’s beliefs about their bodies and a dignified death. This might involve recognizing pregnancy’s unique ambiguities in advance directives, questioning default treatment pathways that may require harm be done to one in order to save another, or considering multiple definitions of clinical and legal death.
In my view, it is possible to adapt our ethical standards in a way that honors all beings in these exceptional circumstances, without privileging either “choice” or “life,” mother or fetus.
This research was supported by a grant from The Institute for Citizens and Scholars.
Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted a series of raids throughout Los Angeles and Southern California in early June 2025, sparking protests in downtown Los Angeles and other cities, including New York, Chicago and Austin, Texas.
Some demonstrators expressed growing frustration with ICE by showcasing the Mexican flag, which has become the defining symbol of the protests in Los Angeles.
The use of the flag has also become the subject of intense debate in the media.
Research published in 2010 found that even though the public was more likely to be bothered by protesters waving the Mexican flag than the U.S. flag, that difference was largely absent once you divided the public into subgroups, including white people, Latinos and immigrants.
To reexamine public attitudes toward protesters waving the Mexican flag, we conducted an online survey experiment among 10,145 U.S. adults in 2016.
We found that even though much of the public continued to be less bothered by the American flag than the Mexican flag, there were also important and perhaps surprising differences in protest attitudes between white Americans and other racial and ethnic groups.
A demonstrator holds a Mexican flag in front of law enforcement during a protest on June 13, 2025, in Los Angeles. AP Photo/Wally Skalij
More or less bothered
In the study, we randomly divided respondents into two groups: a treatment group and a control group. Respondents in the treatment group were shown an image of protesters waving a Mexican flag. Respondents in the control group were shown an image of protesters waving the U.S. flag. After viewing the image, respondents were then asked about the extent to which they supported or were bothered by the protests.
Overall, 41% of the respondents said they were bothered by protesters waving the Mexican flag, and 28% said protesters waving the U.S. flag bothered them.
Our results show important differences in opinion between racial and ethnic groups.
White respondents were more likely than any other racial and ethnic group to say they were bothered by protesters waving Mexican flags. Sixty-nine percent of white respondents said they were bothered, 31 percentage points more than the average of nonwhite respondents.
However, 51% of white respondents were also bothered by the image of protesters waving U.S. flags. By contrast, just 20% of Latinos, 33% of Black Americans and 34% of Asian Americans said they were bothered by protesters waving U.S. flags.
Put differently, large majorities of nonwhite respondents were supportive of showing U.S. flags at protests despite their more positive views toward Mexican flags.
What explains racial differences?
When taking a deeper look at what causes Americans to feel bothered about protesters waving Mexican flags, some clear patterns emerge.
On average, older Americans were more likely to be bothered relative to younger Americans. This was particularly true for Americans over 40 years of age compared with millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, and Gen Z respondents, born between 1997 and 2012.
However, there are some nuances when examining age groups and whether they had attended a protest, march or rally in the previous year.
Our findings suggest that older Americans who had not engaged in protests were most likely to be bothered when they saw images of protesters waving Mexican flags. Millennials and Gen Z respondents who participated in a protest were least likely to be bothered.
Given that this issue intersects nationality, race, ethnicity, gender and citizenship status, it’s logical that these factors explained why Americans supported or opposed the use of Mexican flags at immigration protests.
A woman carrying a flag with details of the United States and Mexican flags walks past members of the United States Marine Corps on June 14, 2025, in Los Angeles. Cristopher Rogel Blanquet/Getty Images
For example, racial minorities who have a stronger sense of ethnic or racial identity were more likely to be supportive of protesters waving Mexican and U.S. flags. In other words, group identity is a strong predictor of support for protests in general, regardless of what flag is being flown.
However, minorities who lack a sense of ethnic pride and identity were most likely to be upset when they saw others expressing their First Amendment right to peaceably assemble.
The reality is that recent immigration protests across the country are the first time many of the Latino youth who are citizens have participated in these types of protests. Anyone under age 22 would not have memory of, or been alive during, the last large pro-immigrant protests in 2006.
The Mexican flag represents more than nationalistic pride. It represents their parents’ heritage, hard work and their binational experience as Americans engaged in politics.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Kassem Fawaz, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Many apps and social media platforms collect detailed information about you as you use them, and sometimes even when you’re not using them.Malte Mueller/fStop via Getty images
You wake up in the morning and, first thing, you open your weather app. You close that pesky ad that opens first and check the forecast. You like your weather app, which shows hourly weather forecasts for your location. And the app is free!
But do you know why it’s free? Look at the app’s privacy settings. You help keep it free by allowing it to collect your information, including:
What devices you use and their IP and Media Access Control addresses.
Information you provide when signing up, such as your name, email address and home address.
App settings, such as whether you choose Celsius or Fahrenheit.
Your interactions with the app, including what content you view and what ads you click.
Inferences based on your interactions with the app.
Your location at a given time, including, depending on your settings, continuous tracking.
What websites or apps that you interact with after you use the weather app.
Information you give to ad vendors.
Information gleaned by analytics vendors that analyze and optimize the app.
This type of data collection is standard fare. The app company can use this to customize ads and content. The more customized and personalized an ad is, the more money it generates for the app owner. The owner might also sell your data to other companies.
Many apps, including the weather channel app, send you targeted advertising and sell your personal data by default. Jack West, CC BY-ND
You might also check a social media account like Instagram. The subtle price that you pay is, again, your data. Many “free” mobile apps gather information about you as you interact with them.
As an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and a doctoral student in computer science, we follow the ways software collects information about people. Your data allows companies to learn about your habits and exploit them.
It’s no secret that social media and mobile applications collect information about you. Meta’s business model depends on it. The company, which operates Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is worth US$1.48 trillion. Just under 98% of its profits come from advertising, which leverages user data from more than 7 billion monthly users.
Before mobile phones gained apps and social media became ubiquitous, companies conducted large-scale demographic surveys to assess how well a product performed and to get information about the best places to sell it. They used the information to create coarsely targeted ads that they placed on billboards, print ads and TV spots.
Mobile apps and social media platforms now let companies gather much more fine-grained information about people at a lower cost. Through apps and social media, people willingly trade personal information for convenience. In 2007 – a year after the introduction of targeted ads – Facebook made over $153 million, triple the previous year’s revenue. In the past 17 years, that number has increased by more than 1,000 times.
Five ways to leave your data
App and social media companies collect your data in many ways. Meta is a representative case. The company’s privacy policy highlights five ways it gathers your data:
First, it collects the profile information you fill in. Second, it collects the actions you take on its social media platforms. Third, it collects the people you follow and friend. Fourth, it keeps track of each phone, tablet and computer you use to access its platforms. And fifth, it collects information about how you interact with apps that corporate partners connect to its platforms. Many apps and social media platforms follow similar privacy practices.
Your data and activity
When you create an account on an app or social media platform, you provide the company that owns it with information like your age, birth date, identified sex, location and workplace. In the early years of Facebook, selling profile information to advertisers was that company’s main source of revenue. This information is valuable because it allows advertisers to target specific demographics like age, identified gender and location.
And once you start using an app or social media platform, the company behind it can collect data about how you use the app or social media. Social media keeps you engaged as you interact with other people’s posts by liking, commenting or sharing them. Meanwhile, the social media company gains information about what content you view and how you communicate with other people.
Advertisers can find out how much time you spent reading a Facebook post or that you spent a few more seconds on a particular TikTok video. This activity information tells advertisers about your interests. Modern algorithms can quickly pick up subtleties and automatically change the content to engage you in a sponsored post, a targeted advertisement or general content.
Your devices and applications
Companies can also note what devices, including mobile phones, tablets and computers, you use to access their apps and social media platforms. This shows advertisers your brand loyalty, how old your devices are and how much they’re worth.
Because mobile devices travel with you, they have access to information about where you’re going, what you’re doing and who you’re near. In a lawsuit against Kochava Inc., the Federal Trade Commission called out the company for selling customer geolocation data in August 2022, shortly after Roe v Wade was overruled. The company’s customers, including people who had abortions after the ruling was overturned, often didn’t know that data tracking their movements was being collected, according to the commission. The FTC alleged that the data could be used to identify households.
Information that apps can gain from your mobile devices includes anything you have given an app permission to have, such as your location, who you have in your contact list or photos in your gallery.
If you give an app permission to see where you are while the app is running, for instance, the platform can access your location anytime the app is running. Providing access to contacts may provide an app with the phone numbers, names and emails of all the people that you know.
Cross-application data collection
Companies can also gain information about what you do across different apps by acquiring information collected by other apps and platforms.
The settings on an Android phone show that Meta uses information it collects about you to target ads it shows you in its apps – and also in other apps and on other platforms – by default. Jack West, CC BY-ND
This is common with social media companies. This allows companies to, for example, show you ads based on what you like or recently looked at on other apps. If you’ve searched for something on Amazon and then noticed an ad for it on Instagram, it’s probably because Amazon shared that information with Instagram.
Companies, including Google, Meta, X, TikTok and Snapchat, can build detailed user profiles based on collected information from all the apps and social media platforms you use. They use the profiles to show you ads and posts that match your interests to keep you engaged. They also sell the profile information to advertisers.
Meanwhile, researchers have found that Meta and Yandex, a Russian search engine, have overcome controls in mobile operating system software that ordinarily keep people’s web-browsing data anonymous. Each company puts code on its webpages that used local IPs to pass a person’s browsing history, which is supposed to remain private, to mobile apps installed on that person’s phone, de-anonymizing the data. Yandex has been conducting this tracking since 2017, while Meta began in September 2024, according to the researchers.
What you can do about it
If you use apps that collect your data in some way, including those that give you directions, track your workouts or help you contact someone, or if you use social media platforms, your privacy is at risk.
Aside from entirely abandoning modern technology, there are several steps you can take to limit access – at least in part – to your private information.
Read the privacy policy of each app or social media platform you use. Although privacy policy documents can be long, tedious and sometimes hard to read, they explain how social media platforms collect, process, store and share your data.
Check a policy by making sure it can answer three questions: what data does the app collect, how does it collect the data, and what is the data used for. If you can’t answer all three questions by reading the policy, or if any of the answers don’t sit well with you, consider skipping the app until there’s a change in its data practices.
Remove unnecessary permissions from mobile apps to limit the amount of information that applications can gather from you.
Be aware of the privacy settings that might be offered by the apps or social media platforms you use, including any setting that allows your personal data to affect your experience or shares information about you with other users or applications.
These privacy settings can give you some control. We recommend that you disable “off-app activity” and “personalization” settings. “Off-app activity” allows an app to record which other apps are installed on your phone and what you do on them. Personalization settings allow an app to use your data to tailor what it shows you, including advertisements.
Review and update these settings regularly because permissions sometimes change when apps or your phone update. App updates may also add new features that can collect your data. Phone updates may also give apps new ways to collect your data or add new ways to preserve your privacy.
Use private browser windows or reputable virtual private networks software, commonly referred to as VPNs, when using apps that connect to the internet and social media platforms. Private browsers don’t store any account information, which limits the information that can be collected. VPNs change the IP address of your machine so that apps and platforms can’t discover your location.
Finally, ask yourself whether you really need every app that’s on your phone. And when using social media, consider how much information you want to reveal about yourself in liking and commenting on posts, sharing updates about your life, revealing locations you visited and following celebrities you like.
This article is part of a series on data privacy that explores who collects your data, what and how they collect, who sells and buys your data, what they all do with it, and what you can do about it.
Kassem Fawaz receives funding from the National Science Foundation. In the past, his research group has received unrestricted gifts from Meta and Google.
Jack West 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.
How does geopolitical uncertainty affect inflation? How do we keep monetary policy fit for purpose in a rapidly changing world? And what are the main topics at this year’s ECB Forum in Sintra, Portugal?
In the first episode of our special Sintra series for The ECB Podcast, our host Paul Gordon discusses all these questions and more with Chief Economist and Executive Board member, Philip R. Lane.
The views expressed are those of the speakers and not necessarily those of the European Central Bank.
Published on 25 June 2025 and recorded on 16 June 2025.
In this episode:
01:28 The ECB Governing Council lowered key interest rates to 2%.
What was the motivation behind the decision?
04:30 How do we ensure that risks and uncertainties are integrated into the monetary policy decision-making process?
What is our baseline? What factors need to be taken into account?
06:44 Alternative scenarios in the latest projections
Why do we communicate our “what if” scenarios?
08:11 Meeting-by-meeting, data-dependent approach
Why do we follow this approach?
09:50 Strategy review
How can we make sure our strategy is up to date?
12:02 High-level uncertainty
How do we factor heightened uncertainty in our strategy?
13:50 ECB Forum on Central Banking in Sintra, Portugal
What is the ECB Forum and what’s behind it? What’s the goal of the Forum? What’s Philip R. Lane looking forward to?
16:53 Our guest’s hot tip
Philip R. Lane shares his hot tip.
Programme of ECB Forum on Central Banking in Sintra, Portugal
www.ecb.europa.eu/press/conference…_banking.en.html
Ken Rogoff “Our dollar, your problem”
yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300275…r-your-problem/
“One hundred and fifty-eight years ago, a few provinces bet on the idea that they’d be stronger together than they ever could be apart. They were right, and so they became a new federation that’s now grown into our strong, bilingual, multicultural, and ambitious country.
“Our story didn’t begin at Confederation. For thousands of years, Indigenous Peoples have called this land home, and our country’s next chapter will be written together in true partnership with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis.
“Our shared history has been marked by inflection points. Moments where Canada has had to step up – on the battlefield of Vimy, on the beaches of Normandy, in the homes of Gander after 9/11.
“Now, we face another such moment. The world is changing. Old friendships are fraying, our economy is being buffeted by a trade crisis, and our values are being tested by attacks on democracy and freedoms.
“In a more divided and dangerous world, Canadians are uniting. Together, we will build one Canadian economy – connected by major projects, powered by Canadian energy, transformed by Canadian technology, and crafted by Canadian workers. Together, we’re breaking down barriers across the country so you can buy Canadian everywhere and work anywhere. Together, we’ll rebuild, rearm, and reinvest in our Armed Forces – because Canadian leadership is defined not only by the strength of our values, but also by the value of our strength.
“This is the greatest nation on earth. Our destiny is to make it greater still – not by what we say, but by what we do. Happy Canada Day.”
A complex decommissioning project to cut over 750 electrical cables to isolate Oldbury site’s turbine hall power supply has been safely completed.
Oldbury cable cutting team in the turbine hall
Pioneering innovation enabled the team to cut 356 electrical cables inside the tunnels between the turbine hall and reactor building of the redundant nuclear power station over two weekends – reducing work time by 91%. This was achieved by disconnecting the site’s entire power supply to remove the risk of cutting through a live cable and the need to trace each cable to its source.
Wider safety measures avoided work near to potential asbestos which eliminated the need for scaffolding and prevented work in confined spaces or close to degrading assets.
John Alderton, Oldbury Site Director, commented:
I’m incredibly proud of how everyone collaborated to deliver this project safely and successfully. It’s a great example of how innovation and creative thinking can solve long-standing challenges. By learning from previous cable cutting campaigns and applying those insights to a new strategy, the team has truly transformed the way we work and set a new benchmark for the industry.
The learning from this innovative method of bulk cable cutting can be applied to any area of decommissioning in the right circumstances. It took 18 months to complete over 2,000 cable cuts in challenging environments and declare the building free of electrical hazards following a period of verification.
Adam Bird, Oldbury Site Senior Project Engineer, said:
Delivering this solution has been a great challenge that has really stretched our ways of thinking – not only within the team but with others on site too.
Now that the turbine hall has been isolated, we are looking forward to commencing bulk asbestos removal, followed by de-planting of the building. The turbine hall, welfare area and administration complex will then be demolished – clearing a four-acre footprint ready for its next use.
Heather Barton, NDA Head of Performance Improvement, added:
Learning from each other across the NDA group remains to be a critical enabler to deliver our mission.
It presents us with opportunities such as this where we can look at how this could be replicated elsewhere across our estate, and where we can present ourselves with more opportunities to challenge the norm.
These shared and mutual benefits can truly be realised across our group, bringing innovation, collaboration, and joint solutions to our common challenges, enhancing every business in our group.
Tom Eagleton, the Office for Nuclear Regulation’s (ONR) Head of Safety Regulation for decommissioning, fuel and waste sites, commented:
ONR was pleased to support the approach taken by NRS to de-cabling at Oldbury.
The method used at the site delivered significant safety benefits to the workers involved, including reducing potential exposure to asbestos and elimination of risks associated with inadvertently cutting live cables.
As an enabling regulator, we will always be open to holding discussions with licensees and dutyholders about novel and innovative approaches, providing they are safe and do not compromise worker or public safety.
Over its lifetime Oldbury generated 137.5 terawatt hours of low carbon electricity – enough to power one million homes for over 20 years. The site was shut down in February 2012 after 44 years of safe operation.
This most recent NRS achievement follows on from the successful de-plant and demolition of the turbine hall and adjoining structures at Sizewell A site in Suffolk. Learning from the Sizewell project is helping plans to deliver similar work at Oldbury site.
“Cuts in aid from major donors are close to crippling the humanitarian response in some of the world’s most dire displacement crises. It is hard to articulate the depth of donors’ abandonment. Compared to this point last year, just two-thirds of the humanitarian funding has been received, which itself was dramatically lower than the previous year,” said Jan Egeland, Secretary General of NRC. “These cuts are costing lives and must be reversed.”
As of the end of June, 6 billion US Dollars have been provided globally for the humanitarian response, down from 9 billion US Dollars at the same point in 2024. In total, 44 billion US Dollars has been requested for 2025.
Last month the United Nations announced a ‘hyper-prioritised’ plan to try and ensure the most vulnerable were able to receive support. This plan aims to reach 114 million of the 300 million people in need, with 29 billion US Dollars. This prioritisation leaves almost 200 million people who need assistance beyond the focus of the humanitarian response.
“Given the funding levels so far in 2025, even many of those targeted by the ‘hyper-prioritised’ plan are likely to be left with their needs unmet. Alongside traditional humanitarian donors, we need to see other step up to bridge this gap, including a wider group of donor countries and the private sector. Development actors, including development banks, must also step up their investments in fragile and conflict-affected countries so that displaced people and host communities can access the support they need,” said Egeland.
The consequences of aid cuts can be clearly seen across the world. In Mozambique, where Japan is so far this year’s largest humanitarian donor country, aid agencies are being forced to scale down their support due to the abrupt ending of their United States (US) funding.
“I witnessed first-hand the consequences in Mozambique, where I saw water tanks that can no longer be refilled due to the overnight cancellation of US funding. Families are left without a safe supply of drinking water. This is not only devastating lives but means that good investments already made with taxpayers’ money are getting lost. Our NRC teams too have been forced to scale down their support due to this halt in funding, and are now no longer able to provide safe housing for families made homeless by the recent cyclones. This is truly gut-wrenching,” said Egeland.
In Afghanistan, the US has drastically cut its aid work. Last year it supported 45 per cent of the humanitarian response in country.
“Our teams in Afghanistan remain on the ground and committed to the communities we have been working with for over two decades, but having lost our largest donor in the country our teams are being compelled to make heartbreaking choices on who and where we can help. We are not alone in this challenge. Many humanitarian organisations are being forced to reduce their support at a time when we are seeing more and more families returning to the country in need of urgent assistance,” said Egeland.
“This picture is being repeated time and time again around the world as international solidarity is being forced to cede to other priorities. Wealthy nations should step up funding before more lives are lost. If we can afford to host World Cups and global summits, and if NATO members can afford to increase defence spending to five per cent of GDP, we can afford to maintain support to the most vulnerable in their hour of greatest need.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).
NEW YORK, July 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bishop Street Underwriters (“Bishop Street”), a RedBird Capital Partners portfolio company, today announced that it has acquired Aerospace Insurance Managers (“AIM”), a general aviation insurance services provider, from Hallmark Financial (“Hallmark”). This acquisition marks Bishop Street’s entry into the aviation insurance market, strengthening its differentiated MGA platform with an expanded portfolio of specialized client solutions. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
AIM provides general aviation coverage for aircraft hull, aircraft and airport liability, with a focus on small aircrafts flown for pleasure or business, as well as hangar owners, FBO operators, private and municipal airports, and flight school and charter operators. Operating across 47 states, AIM will benefit from the resources and commitment to underwriting profitability offered by the Bishop Street platform, enabling improved service quality for clients and new business expansion opportunities. AIM’s 16-person team will continue to offer A+ rated coverage and be led by Sean Kelley, Vice President – Chief Underwriting Officer, and Randy Kasen, Vice President – Business Development and Operations, providing quality underwriting services to clients across the country.
“AIM is entering an exciting new chapter, powered by access to new strategic partners and capital resources,” said Sean Kelley. “Joining the Bishop Street platform significantly strengthens our team’s capabilities, allowing us to expand our reach and positioning us to grow our business while continuing to provide top-tier client service.”
Randy Kasen added, “Bishop Street has created a strong home base for operators like us, who provide tailored services to specific audiences and want access to a wider spectrum of resources and business development opportunities. The team’s commitment to innovation and growth couldn’t be more complementary to our goals for the future of AIM, and we look forward to seeing what comes next.”
“We are pleased to welcome AIM to Bishop Street, maintaining our positive momentum and setting the stage for our continued expansion,” said Chad Weber, President of Bishop Street. “The team brings specialized expertise, strong capacity partners and an excellent reputation to our platform, further diversifying our portfolio and advancing our commitment to aligning with the best of the best in the insurance industry.”
Mike Zabik, Partner of RedBird Capital, said, “The acquisition of AIM adds another high-performing, niche insurance provider to the portfolio to complement the firm’s existing business lines and create opportunities to continue scaling Bishop Street’s unique platform. Bishop Street continues to grow rapidly, fueled by opportunistic acquisitions and a unique ability to execute on strategic lift outs of specialty underwriting teams. Following the acquisition of AIM, Bishop Street has successfully completed three carrier carveouts in less than two years.”
This acquisition follows a series of key strategic developments for Bishop Street, including the acquisitions of Landmark Underwriting, Ethos Specialty’s Transactional Liability unit, Conifer Insurance Services, Ahoy!, an investment in Verve Services and the establishment of partnerships with Skyward Specialty Insurance and Topsail Re.
Raymond James & Associates, Inc. served as the exclusive financial advisor and Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP provided legal counsel to Hallmark. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP and McDermott Will & Emery LLP provided legal counsel to Bishop Street Underwriters.
About Bishop Street Bishop Street Underwriters, a RedBird Capital portfolio company, seeks to partner with Managing General Agents (“MGAs”) as well as niche underwriting teams. Bishop Street aims to combine their best-in-class (re)insurance executive team’s vision with RedBird’s strong track record, expertise and network in the financial services sector to build a differentiated platform that is uniquely positioned to capitalize on secular growth tailwinds in the industry. For more information, please go to www.bishopstreetuw.com.
About RedBird Capital Partners RedBird Capital Partners is a private investment firm that builds high-growth companies with strategic capital solutions to founders and entrepreneurs. The firm currently manages $12 billion in assets on behalf of a global group of blue chip institutional and family office investors. Founded in 2014 by Gerry Cardinale, RedBird integrates sophisticated private equity investing with a hands-on business building mandate that focuses on three core industry verticals – Financial Services, Sports and Media & Entertainment. Over his 30-year investment career, Cardinale has partnered with founders and entrepreneurs to build some of the most iconic growth companies in their respective industries. For more information, please go to www.redbirdcap.com.
NEW YORK, July 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bishop Street Underwriters (“Bishop Street”), a RedBird Capital Partners portfolio company, today announced that it has acquired Aerospace Insurance Managers (“AIM”), a general aviation insurance services provider, from Hallmark Financial (“Hallmark”). This acquisition marks Bishop Street’s entry into the aviation insurance market, strengthening its differentiated MGA platform with an expanded portfolio of specialized client solutions. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
AIM provides general aviation coverage for aircraft hull, aircraft and airport liability, with a focus on small aircrafts flown for pleasure or business, as well as hangar owners, FBO operators, private and municipal airports, and flight school and charter operators. Operating across 47 states, AIM will benefit from the resources and commitment to underwriting profitability offered by the Bishop Street platform, enabling improved service quality for clients and new business expansion opportunities. AIM’s 16-person team will continue to offer A+ rated coverage and be led by Sean Kelley, Vice President – Chief Underwriting Officer, and Randy Kasen, Vice President – Business Development and Operations, providing quality underwriting services to clients across the country.
“AIM is entering an exciting new chapter, powered by access to new strategic partners and capital resources,” said Sean Kelley. “Joining the Bishop Street platform significantly strengthens our team’s capabilities, allowing us to expand our reach and positioning us to grow our business while continuing to provide top-tier client service.”
Randy Kasen added, “Bishop Street has created a strong home base for operators like us, who provide tailored services to specific audiences and want access to a wider spectrum of resources and business development opportunities. The team’s commitment to innovation and growth couldn’t be more complementary to our goals for the future of AIM, and we look forward to seeing what comes next.”
“We are pleased to welcome AIM to Bishop Street, maintaining our positive momentum and setting the stage for our continued expansion,” said Chad Weber, President of Bishop Street. “The team brings specialized expertise, strong capacity partners and an excellent reputation to our platform, further diversifying our portfolio and advancing our commitment to aligning with the best of the best in the insurance industry.”
Mike Zabik, Partner of RedBird Capital, said, “The acquisition of AIM adds another high-performing, niche insurance provider to the portfolio to complement the firm’s existing business lines and create opportunities to continue scaling Bishop Street’s unique platform. Bishop Street continues to grow rapidly, fueled by opportunistic acquisitions and a unique ability to execute on strategic lift outs of specialty underwriting teams. Following the acquisition of AIM, Bishop Street has successfully completed three carrier carveouts in less than two years.”
This acquisition follows a series of key strategic developments for Bishop Street, including the acquisitions of Landmark Underwriting, Ethos Specialty’s Transactional Liability unit, Conifer Insurance Services, Ahoy!, an investment in Verve Services and the establishment of partnerships with Skyward Specialty Insurance and Topsail Re.
Raymond James & Associates, Inc. served as the exclusive financial advisor and Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP provided legal counsel to Hallmark. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP and McDermott Will & Emery LLP provided legal counsel to Bishop Street Underwriters.
About Bishop Street Bishop Street Underwriters, a RedBird Capital portfolio company, seeks to partner with Managing General Agents (“MGAs”) as well as niche underwriting teams. Bishop Street aims to combine their best-in-class (re)insurance executive team’s vision with RedBird’s strong track record, expertise and network in the financial services sector to build a differentiated platform that is uniquely positioned to capitalize on secular growth tailwinds in the industry. For more information, please go to www.bishopstreetuw.com.
About RedBird Capital Partners RedBird Capital Partners is a private investment firm that builds high-growth companies with strategic capital solutions to founders and entrepreneurs. The firm currently manages $12 billion in assets on behalf of a global group of blue chip institutional and family office investors. Founded in 2014 by Gerry Cardinale, RedBird integrates sophisticated private equity investing with a hands-on business building mandate that focuses on three core industry verticals – Financial Services, Sports and Media & Entertainment. Over his 30-year investment career, Cardinale has partnered with founders and entrepreneurs to build some of the most iconic growth companies in their respective industries. For more information, please go to www.redbirdcap.com.
Highest volume of listings and capital raise in the first half of the year since 2021
Maintained leadership in switches – crossed $3 trillion in market value transferred since 2005
Driving smart policy reforms to improve regulatory processes for public companies
NEW YORK, July 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) announced today that in the first half of 2025, it welcomed 142 listings (IPOs), raising a total of $19.2 billion. A total of 83 operating companies and 59 SPACs listed on Nasdaq during the first six months of 2025, representing an 86% win-rate of Nasdaq-eligible listings in the U.S. market, and extending Nasdaq’s leadership to 46 consecutive quarters. In addition to the IPOs, 11 companies transferred their corporate listings to Nasdaq, crossing the threshold of $3 trillion in total market value from exchange transfers since 2005.
“The first half of the year has seen an impressive volume and roster of companies coming to market, with Nasdaq cementing its position as home to innovative brands across sectors including financial technology, digital assets, and biotech. Nasdaq’s client-first value proposition continues to attract companies via new listings and exchange transfers, a testament to our ability to support at all stages of a company’s lifecycle.” said Jeff Thomas, Executive Vice President, Chief Revenue Officer and Global Head of Listings at Nasdaq. “For the first time this year, the Nasdaq IPO Pulse Index ticked upwards, following higher returns, valuations, and encouraging conditions for listing. We’re looking forward to promising activity in the months ahead.”
U.S. listings market leadership: Year-to-date, Nasdaq welcomed 142 IPOs, raising $19.2 billion. Marquee listings include the largest technology IPO of the year, CoreWeave, fintech powerhouse, Chime, and digital asset leader, Galaxy Digital. This is the highest volume of listings and capital raise on Nasdaq in the first half of the year since 2021.
Exchange of choice for switches: In the first half of 2025, 11 companies transferred their corporate listing to Nasdaq, totaling $271 billion and including Shopify, the largest exchange transfer so far this year, representing $123 billion in market cap, as well as leading consumer-goods brand, Kimberly-Clark.
Leading U.S. exchange for consumer and healthcare IPOs: Nasdaq maintained its strong track records for consumer (100% win-rate) and healthcare (89% win-rate), with sector-defining listings including Smithfield Foods and Metsera, a GLP-1 developer.
Helping companies join the public markets via SPACs: A total of 20 SPAC business combinations also listed in the first 6 months of 2025, representing an 95%-win rate in the U.S. Further, Nasdaq continued its influence in the SPAC market, welcoming 94% of all eligible SPAC IPOs, raising $10.6 billion and including the largest SPAC listing of the year with Churchill Capital Corp X.
Championing smart regulatory reform to encourage capital formation: To enhance the current operating environment for public companies and drive capital formation, Nasdaq recently published a new white paper calling for regulatory reform to strengthen the capital markets. Public markets help many Americans secure their economic future through retirement accounts and investments, yet it has become increasingly cumbersome for companies to go public or remain public. There is a critical need to build and protect the markets, modernize the regulatory environment in which it operates, and restore their essential role in wealth creation for all Americans.
Major Nasdaq listing anniversaries: Nasdaq celebrated the listing anniversaries of Huntington Bancshares Inc (40 years), Cisco Systems, Inc. (35 years), Autodesk Inc. (30 years), DexCom, Inc. (20 years), PayPal Holdings, Inc. (10 years), as well as the first-year listing anniversary of Waystar.
About Nasdaq: Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) is a leading global technology company serving corporate clients, investment managers, banks, brokers, and exchange operators as they navigate and interact with the global capital markets and the broader financial system. We aspire to deliver world-leading platforms that improve the liquidity, transparency, and integrity of the global economy. Our diverse offering of data, analytics, software, exchange capabilities, and client-centric services enables clients to optimize and execute their business vision with confidence. To learn more about the company, technology solutions, and career opportunities, visit us on LinkedIn, on X @Nasdaq, or at www.nasdaq.com
-NDAQG-
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Information set forth in this communication contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Nasdaq cautions readers that any forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and that actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such “will,” “plans,” “expects,” “may,” “believe” and other words and terms of similar meaning. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the Company’s growth strategy and market expectations, products and services, ability to enhance or innovate new ways for companies to join the public markets, and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties, or other factors beyond Nasdaq’s control. These risks and uncertainties are detailed in Nasdaq’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q which are available on Nasdaq’s investor relations website at ir.nasdaq.com and the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Nasdaq undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Highest volume of listings and capital raise in the first half of the year since 2021
Maintained leadership in switches – crossed $3 trillion in market value transferred since 2005
Driving smart policy reforms to improve regulatory processes for public companies
NEW YORK, July 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) announced today that in the first half of 2025, it welcomed 142 listings (IPOs), raising a total of $19.2 billion. A total of 83 operating companies and 59 SPACs listed on Nasdaq during the first six months of 2025, representing an 86% win-rate of Nasdaq-eligible listings in the U.S. market, and extending Nasdaq’s leadership to 46 consecutive quarters. In addition to the IPOs, 11 companies transferred their corporate listings to Nasdaq, crossing the threshold of $3 trillion in total market value from exchange transfers since 2005.
“The first half of the year has seen an impressive volume and roster of companies coming to market, with Nasdaq cementing its position as home to innovative brands across sectors including financial technology, digital assets, and biotech. Nasdaq’s client-first value proposition continues to attract companies via new listings and exchange transfers, a testament to our ability to support at all stages of a company’s lifecycle.” said Jeff Thomas, Executive Vice President, Chief Revenue Officer and Global Head of Listings at Nasdaq. “For the first time this year, the Nasdaq IPO Pulse Index ticked upwards, following higher returns, valuations, and encouraging conditions for listing. We’re looking forward to promising activity in the months ahead.”
U.S. listings market leadership: Year-to-date, Nasdaq welcomed 142 IPOs, raising $19.2 billion. Marquee listings include the largest technology IPO of the year, CoreWeave, fintech powerhouse, Chime, and digital asset leader, Galaxy Digital. This is the highest volume of listings and capital raise on Nasdaq in the first half of the year since 2021.
Exchange of choice for switches: In the first half of 2025, 11 companies transferred their corporate listing to Nasdaq, totaling $271 billion and including Shopify, the largest exchange transfer so far this year, representing $123 billion in market cap, as well as leading consumer-goods brand, Kimberly-Clark.
Leading U.S. exchange for consumer and healthcare IPOs: Nasdaq maintained its strong track records for consumer (100% win-rate) and healthcare (89% win-rate), with sector-defining listings including Smithfield Foods and Metsera, a GLP-1 developer.
Helping companies join the public markets via SPACs: A total of 20 SPAC business combinations also listed in the first 6 months of 2025, representing an 95%-win rate in the U.S. Further, Nasdaq continued its influence in the SPAC market, welcoming 94% of all eligible SPAC IPOs, raising $10.6 billion and including the largest SPAC listing of the year with Churchill Capital Corp X.
Championing smart regulatory reform to encourage capital formation: To enhance the current operating environment for public companies and drive capital formation, Nasdaq recently published a new white paper calling for regulatory reform to strengthen the capital markets. Public markets help many Americans secure their economic future through retirement accounts and investments, yet it has become increasingly cumbersome for companies to go public or remain public. There is a critical need to build and protect the markets, modernize the regulatory environment in which it operates, and restore their essential role in wealth creation for all Americans.
Major Nasdaq listing anniversaries: Nasdaq celebrated the listing anniversaries of Huntington Bancshares Inc (40 years), Cisco Systems, Inc. (35 years), Autodesk Inc. (30 years), DexCom, Inc. (20 years), PayPal Holdings, Inc. (10 years), as well as the first-year listing anniversary of Waystar.
About Nasdaq: Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) is a leading global technology company serving corporate clients, investment managers, banks, brokers, and exchange operators as they navigate and interact with the global capital markets and the broader financial system. We aspire to deliver world-leading platforms that improve the liquidity, transparency, and integrity of the global economy. Our diverse offering of data, analytics, software, exchange capabilities, and client-centric services enables clients to optimize and execute their business vision with confidence. To learn more about the company, technology solutions, and career opportunities, visit us on LinkedIn, on X @Nasdaq, or at www.nasdaq.com
-NDAQG-
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Information set forth in this communication contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Nasdaq cautions readers that any forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and that actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such “will,” “plans,” “expects,” “may,” “believe” and other words and terms of similar meaning. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the Company’s growth strategy and market expectations, products and services, ability to enhance or innovate new ways for companies to join the public markets, and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties, or other factors beyond Nasdaq’s control. These risks and uncertainties are detailed in Nasdaq’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q which are available on Nasdaq’s investor relations website at ir.nasdaq.com and the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Nasdaq undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
BOSTON and GREENSBORO, N.C., July 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Columbia Forest Products, the largest manufacturer of hardwood veneer and hardwood plywood in the U.S., has transformed its M&A operations with Midaxo’s purpose-built deal management platform, complete with seamless Microsoft Outlook integration. The result: a smarter, faster, and more connected pipeline that helps the company scale with both purpose and precision.
“Our M&A strategy is rooted in values. We’re not just acquiring businesses—we’re giving them a lasting home where employees become part-owners, not just staff,” said Rick Brewer, Vice President of Corporate Development at Columbia Forest Products. “To do that well, we needed smarter tools that fit the way we work. Midaxo’s Outlook Plug-in brought instant visibility and clarity to our pipeline. Now we always know where every deal stands—and what comes next.”
Previously reliant on spreadsheets and manual processes, Columbia’s M&A team sought a scalable solution to manage growing deal flow while maintaining their people-first approach. With Midaxo, they now have a centralized, real-time view of every conversation, document, and task—embedded directly within their email workflow.
“We’re proud to support Columbia Forest Products as they scale with purpose,” said Jude McColgan, CEO of Midaxo. “Our platform is designed for teams that want speed without sacrificing control. With powerful real-time analytics, integrated VDR, and seamless Outlook integration, we’re helping Columbia close more of the right deals, faster.”
The move to Midaxo isn’t just a digital upgrade—it’s a strategic shift. By aligning intuitive technology with their mission-driven approach, Columbia is accelerating deal execution, strengthening transparency, and staying true to what matters most: people.
About Columbia Forest Products Columbia Forest Products is North America’s leading manufacturer of hardwood plywood and hardwood veneer products. Known for its environmental leadership and innovation, Columbia was the first in its industry to eliminate added urea formaldehyde from its panels using its proprietary PureBond® technology. The company supplies a wide range of sustainable wood solutions to cabinet, furniture, and millwork manufacturers, as well as DIYers across the U.S. and Canada. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, Columbia is 100% employee-owned and operates with a strong commitment to quality, sustainability, and customer success.
AboutMidaxo Midaxo provides the most widely used work management solution for corporate development. Digitally transforming the transaction process, Midaxo Cloud leverages automation, AI, and machine learning to deliver accelerated inorganic growth while decreasing deal risk. The platform can be customized to fit the needs of each company to enable corporate development and M&A leaders to find, evaluate, and deliver inorganic growth with unprecedented speed and accuracy. Users of the M&A capabilities report identifying and managing 5x more targets, reducing diligence time by 50%, and accelerating time to value realization up to 40%. More than 500 Midaxo customers, including Banner Health, Daimler AG, Professional Services Co., and United Site Services, have closed over 5,000 transactions valued in excess of $1 trillion.
BOSTON and GREENSBORO, N.C., July 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Columbia Forest Products, the largest manufacturer of hardwood veneer and hardwood plywood in the U.S., has transformed its M&A operations with Midaxo’s purpose-built deal management platform, complete with seamless Microsoft Outlook integration. The result: a smarter, faster, and more connected pipeline that helps the company scale with both purpose and precision.
“Our M&A strategy is rooted in values. We’re not just acquiring businesses—we’re giving them a lasting home where employees become part-owners, not just staff,” said Rick Brewer, Vice President of Corporate Development at Columbia Forest Products. “To do that well, we needed smarter tools that fit the way we work. Midaxo’s Outlook Plug-in brought instant visibility and clarity to our pipeline. Now we always know where every deal stands—and what comes next.”
Previously reliant on spreadsheets and manual processes, Columbia’s M&A team sought a scalable solution to manage growing deal flow while maintaining their people-first approach. With Midaxo, they now have a centralized, real-time view of every conversation, document, and task—embedded directly within their email workflow.
“We’re proud to support Columbia Forest Products as they scale with purpose,” said Jude McColgan, CEO of Midaxo. “Our platform is designed for teams that want speed without sacrificing control. With powerful real-time analytics, integrated VDR, and seamless Outlook integration, we’re helping Columbia close more of the right deals, faster.”
The move to Midaxo isn’t just a digital upgrade—it’s a strategic shift. By aligning intuitive technology with their mission-driven approach, Columbia is accelerating deal execution, strengthening transparency, and staying true to what matters most: people.
About Columbia Forest Products Columbia Forest Products is North America’s leading manufacturer of hardwood plywood and hardwood veneer products. Known for its environmental leadership and innovation, Columbia was the first in its industry to eliminate added urea formaldehyde from its panels using its proprietary PureBond® technology. The company supplies a wide range of sustainable wood solutions to cabinet, furniture, and millwork manufacturers, as well as DIYers across the U.S. and Canada. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, Columbia is 100% employee-owned and operates with a strong commitment to quality, sustainability, and customer success.
AboutMidaxo Midaxo provides the most widely used work management solution for corporate development. Digitally transforming the transaction process, Midaxo Cloud leverages automation, AI, and machine learning to deliver accelerated inorganic growth while decreasing deal risk. The platform can be customized to fit the needs of each company to enable corporate development and M&A leaders to find, evaluate, and deliver inorganic growth with unprecedented speed and accuracy. Users of the M&A capabilities report identifying and managing 5x more targets, reducing diligence time by 50%, and accelerating time to value realization up to 40%. More than 500 Midaxo customers, including Banner Health, Daimler AG, Professional Services Co., and United Site Services, have closed over 5,000 transactions valued in excess of $1 trillion.
BOSTON and GREENSBORO, N.C., July 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Columbia Forest Products, the largest manufacturer of hardwood veneer and hardwood plywood in the U.S., has transformed its M&A operations with Midaxo’s purpose-built deal management platform, complete with seamless Microsoft Outlook integration. The result: a smarter, faster, and more connected pipeline that helps the company scale with both purpose and precision.
“Our M&A strategy is rooted in values. We’re not just acquiring businesses—we’re giving them a lasting home where employees become part-owners, not just staff,” said Rick Brewer, Vice President of Corporate Development at Columbia Forest Products. “To do that well, we needed smarter tools that fit the way we work. Midaxo’s Outlook Plug-in brought instant visibility and clarity to our pipeline. Now we always know where every deal stands—and what comes next.”
Previously reliant on spreadsheets and manual processes, Columbia’s M&A team sought a scalable solution to manage growing deal flow while maintaining their people-first approach. With Midaxo, they now have a centralized, real-time view of every conversation, document, and task—embedded directly within their email workflow.
“We’re proud to support Columbia Forest Products as they scale with purpose,” said Jude McColgan, CEO of Midaxo. “Our platform is designed for teams that want speed without sacrificing control. With powerful real-time analytics, integrated VDR, and seamless Outlook integration, we’re helping Columbia close more of the right deals, faster.”
The move to Midaxo isn’t just a digital upgrade—it’s a strategic shift. By aligning intuitive technology with their mission-driven approach, Columbia is accelerating deal execution, strengthening transparency, and staying true to what matters most: people.
About Columbia Forest Products Columbia Forest Products is North America’s leading manufacturer of hardwood plywood and hardwood veneer products. Known for its environmental leadership and innovation, Columbia was the first in its industry to eliminate added urea formaldehyde from its panels using its proprietary PureBond® technology. The company supplies a wide range of sustainable wood solutions to cabinet, furniture, and millwork manufacturers, as well as DIYers across the U.S. and Canada. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, Columbia is 100% employee-owned and operates with a strong commitment to quality, sustainability, and customer success.
AboutMidaxo Midaxo provides the most widely used work management solution for corporate development. Digitally transforming the transaction process, Midaxo Cloud leverages automation, AI, and machine learning to deliver accelerated inorganic growth while decreasing deal risk. The platform can be customized to fit the needs of each company to enable corporate development and M&A leaders to find, evaluate, and deliver inorganic growth with unprecedented speed and accuracy. Users of the M&A capabilities report identifying and managing 5x more targets, reducing diligence time by 50%, and accelerating time to value realization up to 40%. More than 500 Midaxo customers, including Banner Health, Daimler AG, Professional Services Co., and United Site Services, have closed over 5,000 transactions valued in excess of $1 trillion.
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, July 1 (Xinhua) — A freight train carrying goods from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area departed from Zengcheng Railway Station in Guangzhou City, capital of south China’s Guangdong Province, on Thursday, and will cross the border at Horgos Port in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to Kazakhstan. The goods on board mainly include dishwashers, refrigerators and clothing, worth about 15.3 million yuan, the Guangzhou Daily reported, citing local customs information.
In recent years, the pace of urbanization in Central Asian countries has accelerated, and local consumers’ demand for various goods has increased significantly. A wide range of goods produced in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, including household appliances, clothing and footwear, are popular in the Central Asian market.
“The trains to Central Asian countries mainly carry consumer goods produced in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The return trains carry agricultural and food products from Central Asia,” said Li Siqiang, an official with the International Freight Train Management Company of Guangzhou Transport Investment Corporation.
“China-Central Asia train services are highly efficient, low-cost and flexible. The transportation time is about 10-15 days, more than twice as fast as sea transportation. It is suitable for transporting goods such as electronic products and auto parts,” said Xiao Shuailun, a manager at a local supply chain company.
Since May 2021, when China-Central Asia freight train services from Guangzhou were first launched, there have been 126 departures of such trains, carrying goods worth more than RMB 1.6 billion. -0-
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, July 1 (Xinhua) — The roar of container ships in the port of Lianyungang (Jiasu Province, east China) and the hoot of China-Europe freight trains sound in unison. “Steel caravans” loaded with photovoltaic panels and precision instruments set off from the banks of the Yangtze River to the deserts of Central Asia. And on the shelves of Jiangsu stores, dried fruits from Central Asia look tempting, spreading a subtle aroma; cotton yarn from Central Asia dances briskly between the machines of textile factories, adding a special flavor to the “Made in Jiangsu” brand… According to the latest data from Nanjing Customs, in the first five months of 2025, Jiangsu Province’s export volume to five Central Asian countries amounted to 8.9 billion yuan, up 21.4 percent year on year.
As part of the high-quality construction of the Belt and Road, Jiangsu and Central Asia are entering a “golden period” of cooperation together, local newspaper Xinhua Daily reported.
Engineering projects are like a “steel frame”, trade flows are like “digital channels”, and high-level mutual visits and the implementation of policies and initiatives are “bridge pillars”, which are all involved in building the “Golden Bridge of the Silk Road” between Jiangsu and Central Asia. Despite the thousands of mountains and rivers separating them, thanks to the close industrial ties, Jiangsu and the Central Asian region have achieved deep integration. With unprecedented depth and breadth, the two sides continue to strengthen the foundation of mutually beneficial cooperation.
Uzbekistan, the most populous country in Central Asia and a key hub on the ancient Silk Road, has been accelerating its industrialization in recent years and has been actively working with Jiangsu to develop practical cooperation.
From the construction of a new district in Samarkand to the processing plant of the Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Plant… The equipment of the Chinese engineering giant – Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co., Ltd. (XCMG) – has become the “standard equipment” for infrastructure construction for industrialization in Central Asia. “In Uzbekistan, XCMG equipment is present at almost all large construction sites,” said Sun Si, the responsible project manager of XCMG Corporation. Over the past three years, XCMG equipment exports to Uzbekistan have exceeded 2 billion yuan, and the current stock of such equipment in the country exceeds 8,000 units. Close partnerships have been formed with many local large construction companies, equipment rental companies and mining companies.
As the e-commerce data and platform services of SOHO Holding intersect in the Central Asian digital space, the “Golden Bridge of the Silk Road” between Jiangsu and Central Asia will build more industrial highways. In January this year, SOHO Holding opened a representative office in Kazakhstan. This trading platform, located in the hinterland of Central Asia, will help enterprises in Jiangsu Province and other parts of the country to develop the Central Asian market.
“We are creating not only a trading platform, but also a high-speed channel for industrial integration,” explained the project manager in charge. The main areas of cooperation were the creation of B2C e-commerce and car trade platforms, as well as the construction of foreign warehouses in Kazakhstan. According to the set goals, this cooperation will allow SOHO Holding to achieve a bilateral trade volume of USD 1 billion with Central Asia in 5 years.
“Good products from Jiangsu” appear one after another on the market of Central Asian countries, and high-quality products from Central Asia continuously fill the shelves of stores in Jiangsu Province. “Last year, 14,800 tons of barley and 2,700 tons of feed wheat flour from Kazakhstan arrived in China on 11 China-Europe freight trains,” said a responsible executive of SUMEC International Technology Co., Ltd., which signed a framework agreement on cooperation in the field of agricultural products for 2024 with Kazakhstan’s Fort LLP worth about 500 million yuan. The company uses the direct purchase model from the manufacturer to reduce costs. In the future, it also plans to actively build a complete supply system for agricultural products within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, using Kazakhstan’s breadbasket.
Crossing deserts and seas, linking the East and Central Asia, China-Europe freight trains, like racing “steel dragons,” carry hopes for cooperation and development opportunities. Since the launch of China-Europe freight train services, a total of more than 14,000 trains have been sent from Jiangsu to Central Asia with wagons loaded at 100 percent. Jiangsu Province has firmly held its position as the main transit corridor to Central Asia. -0-
The city council and its partners took swift action against the encampments – in Hartshill and Shelton – after the public raised concerns.
Three unauthorised encampments in Stoke-on-Trent have been cleared as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour and criminality.
The city council and its partners took swift action against the encampments – in Hartshill and Shelton – after the public raised concerns.
As part of the operation, nine community protection warnings were issued in response to anti-social behaviour.
Staffordshire Police made one arrest for criminal damage and threatening behaviour, and recovered goods stolen in a recent burglary in Stoke.
The council’s Environmental Crime Unit also cleared a large amount of dumped waste.
Targeted locations included Pyenest Street, Shelton, Hartshill Road, Hartshill, and Stoke Minster.
The city council is committed to reducing homelessness and is currently leading a major multi-agency programme of support. That includes providing more help with access to housing, jobs and training, as well as support for substance addiction and mental health conditions linked to homelessness.
At the same time, the council has a zero-tolerance approach to criminal and anti-social behaviour.
As part of this approach – tackling both causes and consequences – the Rough Sleeper Team visited the sites ahead of the action to assess individual needs and offer tailored support.
Four people were signposted to further help through The Hub.
The Hub – based in Hanley – offers emotional and practical support to those who are currently experiencing, or are at risk of, homelessness. Support available includes access to a hot meal, showers, laundry facilities and healthcare. Financial guidance, mental health support, drug and alcohol support and accommodation advice can also be found at The Hub.
The council is working closely with key partners, including Staffordshire Police, Changing Lives, CDAS (Community Drug & Alcohol Service) and other local support networks to deliver both the help and the enforcement needed to keep communities safe and ensure no one is left behind.
Councillor Majid Khan, cabinet member for community resilience and safety at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: “Our priority is to support those who are struggling, but we must also make it clear that we will not tolerate behaviour that puts others at risk or damages our communities.
“We all have a responsibility to each other.
“There’s incredible support available in Stoke-on-Trent for those ready to accept help. This work shows how we’re addressing both the causes and the consequences of rough sleeping and anti-social behaviour.
“We’re committed to supporting our most vulnerable residents but everyone has a responsibility to contribute to safe, respectful communities.”
Councillor Chris Robinson, cabinet member for housing and planning at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: “Homelessness is a complex issue which we know has been exacerbated over the last few years due to things like the cost of living crisis and housing pressures.
“Locally, there are simply not enough affordable homes available to those on the lowest incomes. But we’re committed to doing everything we can to ensure everyone – including our most vulnerable residents – have a decent place to call home. And we want to make sure that they are being given the support they need to live independently.”
Staffordshire Police Inspector Rebecca Price, from the Stoke South local policing team, said: “We continue to combat crime and anti-social behaviour across the city through our Making Great Places project.
“This includes working closely with partner agencies to help vulnerable residents in our communities and ensure those who need assistance are receiving it.
“I’m pleased we have been able to work alongside the city council to tackle this issue and hopefully allow local residents to feel safer in their neighbourhood.”
Residents, businesses and community groups are being invited to have their say on proposals to reorganise local government and create a Greater Oxford Council.
The government has asked councils across England for proposals on simplifying the structure of local government in their regions.
In March, Oxford City Council put forward outline proposals that would see Oxfordshire’s six councils abolished and replaced with three new councils:
Greater Oxford Council – covering Oxford and its Green Belt
Northern Oxfordshire Council – covering most of the existing Cherwell and West Oxfordshire districts
Ridgeway Council – covering most of the existing South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse districts combined with existing West Berkshire unitary (based on the proposals being developed by those councils, but with those villages within the Green Belt closest to the city becoming part of Greater Oxford)
All three councils would have natural geographic and demographic connections, local accountability to residents, and would be viable under the government’s plans.
Today (1 July), Oxford City Council launched an online survey and a series of drop-in events across Oxfordshire to hear from residents across the whole area on key issues in the proposals.
They are an opportunity to help shape the final proposals for local government reorganisation, which will be submitted to the government in November.
Anyone in Oxfordshire and West Berkshire with an interest in how local government works – including residents, business and community groups – is invited to take part.
The survey will take about 10 minutes to complete.
Drop-in events
The drop-in events will take place across Oxfordshire and West Berkshire:
Oxford Town Hall in Oxford between 12pm and 3pm on 8 July
Newbury Market in Newbury between 11am and 2pm on 10 July
The Merry Bells in Wheatley between 10am and 1pm on 11 July
Kennington Village Hall in Kennington between 12pm and 3pm on 15 July
The Berin Centre in Berinsfield between 10am and 1pm on 16 July
Marriotts Walk Shopping Centre in Witney between 12pm and 3pm on 18 July
Seacourt Hall in Botley between 3pm and 6pm on 22 July
Market Place in Abingdon between 4pm and 7pm on 24 July
Exeter Hall in Kidlington between 4pm and 7pm on 28 July
Berro Lounge in Didcot between 4pm and 7pm on 29 July
Castle Quay in Banbury between 3pm and 6pm on 31 July
Greater Oxford proposals
Oxford City Council is proposing to form a new council to serve Oxford and its immediate surroundings.
The council – known as Greater Oxford Council – would be responsible for all services currently provided by Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council.
The proposal would bring local decisions under one roof and closer to the people they affect.
This would help the new council build more affordable homes, provide new bus connections, protect green spaces and enhance biodiversity, and create new, secure jobs for our children and grandchildren.
Oxford and Shires Council – comprising all of the existing district areas of Cherwell, Oxford City and West Oxfordshire.
Ridgeway Council – comprising all of the existing district areas of South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse, and the whole of West Berkshire Council’s area
One council covering Oxfordshire County Council’s current boundaries
Following the public engagement, Oxford City Council will draw up its final Greater Oxford proposals, which will be submitted to the Government in November.
The final decision on local government reorganisation across England, including in Oxford and Oxfordshire, will be made by the Government in 2026.
New councils are expected to be created in 2028.
Comment
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to simplify the way local government works in Oxfordshire. The last time this happened was in 1974.
“We think our three unitary proposal is the best option for the whole area. This would bring local decisions under one roof and closer to the people they affect.
“It would also enable us to build more affordable homes, provide new bus connections, protect green spaces, and create new, secure jobs for our children and grandchildren.
“But proposals can always be improved with new ideas and voices, so please have your say by visiting our drop-in sessions or taking part in our online survey.”
Councillor Susan Brown, Leader of Oxford City Council
STUDENTS preparing to move out of their term-time homes for the summer are being given a helping hand to dispose of preloved items and do their bit for charity.
Leicester City Council has teamed up with British Heart Foundation (BHF) to bring the charity’s ‘Pack for Good’ scheme to some of the city’s most popular student areas. Temporary reuse banks have been installed across twelve sites on streets close to the city’s two universities to encourage students to donate any items they no longer want and help the charity generate vital stock for their local shops and stores.
BHF shops are always in need of clothing, shoes, accessories, CDs, vinyl and Blu-rays, books, kitchenware, furniture and electricals.
Daniel Ward at the BHF, said: “We’re looking forward to working alongside Leicester City Council to encourage students to donate their preloved items to us. This will be a huge help to our shops in Leicester and I’d hope as many students as possible get involved and support the scheme.
The money raised by these donations helps the BHF fund lifesaving research into heart and circulatory diseases. In a year, the BHF saves over 57,000 tonnes of goods going to waste, including 13,000 tonnes of clothing. Through the reuse and recycling of donated items this helps prevent 130,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions being released into the atmosphere.
Deputy city mayor Cllr Elly Cutkelvin, who leads on neighbourhoods, said: “As students prepare to move out of their rented accommodation for the summer, they can face a bit of a challenge getting rid of the stuff they don’t want to take with them. The BHF’s Pack for Good scheme gives them the chance to donate any items that could be used again.
“It’s a really good way for students to get rid of their preloved items responsibly and charitably.”
Donation points for the BHF’s Pack for Good scheme will be in place from late May until early September. They will be located at Queens Road, Thurlow Road, Cradock Road, Putney Road, and on the corner of London Road and St Albans Road in Clarendon Park; at Westcotes library, Briton Street, Western Boulevard and Eastern Boulevard in Westcotes; and at Jarron Street, The Newarke and Bath Lane.
The council will also be supporting students by encouraging them to use the free bulky waste collection service to have any large items and additional bags of household waste removed.
For more information about the BHF Donation points or how to book a free bulky waste collection visit www.leicester.gov.uk/recycling
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) has approved a $474.6 million loan for South Africa’s Infrastructure Governance and Green Growth Programme (IGGGP). This financing marks a significant milestone in the country’s transition toward a sustainable, low-carbon economy.
This IGGGP is the second phase of the Bank’s strategic support for South Africa’s Just Energy Transition. It builds on the success of the $300 million Energy Governance and Climate Resilience Programme, approved in 2023, which delivered key reforms that bolstered financial stability and increased renewable energy capacity.
Structured around three interconnected pillars: enhancing energy security through power sector restructuring, supporting a low-carbon and just transition, and improving transport efficiency – the IGGGP is designed to accelerate South Africa’s green transformation and promote inclusive, resilient growth. South Africa’s Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, described the Bank’s support as valuable.
“Our country faces the significant challenge of energy shortages, leading to loadshedding, as well as significant transport bottlenecks, which have been detrimental to growing our economy and achieving our developmental aspirations. With your partnership, our government has committed itself to stay the course and implement these critical reforms in the energy and transport sectors, while endeavoring to achieve our international commitments on climate change and our JET objectives,” he said.
The IGGGP also places strong emphasis on green industrialization, skills development, and job creation, including support for electric vehicle manufacturing and green hydrogen production. Recent estimates from the IMF show that South Africa’s Just Energy Transition could boost the country’s GDP growth by 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points annually between 2025 and 2030.
“This approval represents more than financing — it’s a blueprint for Africa’s energy future,” said Kennedy Mbekeani, African Development Bank Group’s Director General for Southern Africa. “South Africa’s success in building a just, green, and inclusive energy system demonstrates that sustainable development and economic growth can go hand in hand.”
This financing includes targeted grant components to promote energy efficiency initiatives and advance rail sector reforms. Key priorities include accelerating vertical separation and establishing an investment framework to revitalize South Africa’s freight and logistics systems. These efforts are expected to strengthen competitiveness of the transport sector and contribute to regional integration and economic growth across the Southern African Development Community.
As an advanced economy in Africa and a regional power hub, South Africa’s success in its energy transition could catalyze similar transformations across the continent. Its experience integrating renewable energy, modernizing its grid, and implementing just transition policies will provide valuable lessons for other African nations pursuing sustainable development goals.
The initiative incorporates comprehensive environmental and social safeguards, with a particular focus on gender and youth empowerment. Women will constitute 70% of the beneficiaries of the expanded Social Employment Fund, and dedicated youth skills programmes will equip the next generation for emerging opportunities in the green economy.
The success of the IGGGP will contribute to several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), industry, innovation, and infrastructure (SDG 9), and climate action (SDG 13).
The African Development Bank’s support forms part of a historic $2.78 billion international financing package that includes $1.5 billion from the World Bank, €500 million from Germany’s KfW, up to $200 million from Japan’s JICA, and an expected $150 million from the OPEC Fund. This coordinated financing underscores the global significance of South Africa’s energy transition, particularly under its G20 presidency. The programme aligns with South Africa’s updated Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement, which targets reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 398–510 million tons of CO₂ equivalent by 2025 and 350–420 million tons by 2030.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
Media contact: Emeka Anuforo, Communication and External Relations Department, media@afdb.org
About the African Development Bank Group: The African Development Bank Group is Africa’s premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 41 African countries with an external office in Japan, the Bank contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information: www.AfDB.org
Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –
Part of the former industrial zone Yuzhnoye Butovo, located in the South-West Administrative District of the capital, will be reorganized. This was announced by the Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Urban Development Policy and Construction Vladimir Efimov.
“The city has signed an agreement with the company on the redevelopment of two sections of the former industrial zone Yuzhnoye Butovo with a total area of 30.7 hectares. The contract price was 109.6 million rubles. The developer intends to transform the former depressed site into a new comfortable urban space. The emphasis will be on creating a balanced development: along with housing, social, public and business, industrial and municipal infrastructure facilities will be built there. Investments in the development of the site are estimated at more than 106 billion rubles, and the annual budget effect will be at least 1.7 billion rubles. As a result of the project, more than four thousand jobs will be created,” said Vladimir Efimov.
The only participant trades The Moscow company “Specialized developer “Grad Pekhotnaya”” won the right to conclude an agreement on the integrated development of the territory (IDT). Both sites, which it will redevelop, are located near the Butovo station of the second Moscow Central Diameter. One of them is adjacent to 2-nd Melitopolskaya Street, the other is located closer to Varshavskoe Shosse.
“As part of the project, about 27 thousand square meters of housing will be built to implement the renovation program. An educational complex will be built next to the new buildings. It will include a school for 900 students and a kindergarten for 200 children. The investor will also build a sports center with a swimming pool, a multifunctional public complex with a hotel, facilities for two court areas and other real estate on the territory. Improvement and landscaping work will be carried out in the new city block. Thus, part of the former industrial zone will turn into a self-sufficient, attractive residential area,” said the Minister of the Moscow Government, head of the capital’s Department of Urban Development Policy
According to the KRT program, multifunctional city blocks are being created, where roads, comfortable housing and all the necessary infrastructure are being designed on the sites of former industrial zones and inefficiently used areas. Currently, 302 projects for the integrated development of territories with a total area of about 4.2 thousand hectares are at various stages of development and implementation in Moscow. This work is being carried out on behalf of Mayor of Moscow.
The renovation program was approved in August 2017. It concerns about a million Muscovites and provides for the resettlement of 5,176 houses. Earlier, Sergei Sobyanin ordered an increase implementation rates renovation programs twice as much.
Moscow is one of the leaders among regions in terms of construction volumes. High rates of housing construction correspond to the goals and initiatives of the national project “Infrastructure for life”.
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In a move aimed at transforming India’s sporting ecosystem, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday approved the National Sports Policy (NSP) 2025. The policy replaces the National Sports Policy of 2001 and sets a comprehensive roadmap to establish India as a leading sporting nation, with a particular focus on preparing for the 2036 Olympic Games.
The National Sports Policy 2025 is the culmination of extensive consultations involving Central Ministries, NITI Aayog, State Governments, National Sports Federations, athletes, experts, and public stakeholders. It lays out a strategic framework for developing sports in the country across multiple dimensions, including excellence, economic growth, social development, mass participation, and educational integration.
The policy aims to strengthen India’s sports ecosystem from grassroots to elite levels, focusing on early talent identification, building competitive leagues, expanding infrastructure in rural and urban areas, and enhancing training, coaching, and athlete support systems. It also seeks to modernize governance within National Sports Federations and promote the use of sports science, medicine, and technology to boost performance.
Recognizing the economic potential of sports, the policy promotes sports tourism, international event hosting, and the development of a robust sports manufacturing and startup ecosystem. It calls for greater private sector participation through Public-Private Partnerships, Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, and innovative financing mechanisms.
Social inclusion is another key pillar, with targeted programs to increase sports participation among women, tribal communities, economically weaker sections, and persons with disabilities. The policy also aims to revive indigenous and traditional games, promote dual-career pathways, and engage the Indian diaspora through sports.
To foster a culture of fitness and make sports a mass movement, National Sports Policy 2025 proposes nationwide campaigns, the introduction of fitness indices in schools and workplaces, and improved access to sports facilities. In line with the National Education Policy 2020, it emphasizes integrating sports into school curricula and equipping educators with specialized training.
The policy outlines a robust implementation strategy, including a national monitoring framework with defined performance benchmarks and timelines. It will serve as a model for states and union territories to align their sports policies with national goals. The “whole-of-government” approach aims to mainstream sports across various departments and schemes, ensuring a unified and impactful strategy.
With this ambitious and forward-looking policy, the government aims to position India not only as a global sporting powerhouse but also to promote healthier, more inclusive, and empowered citizens through sports.
In a move aimed at transforming India’s sporting ecosystem, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday approved the National Sports Policy (NSP) 2025. The policy replaces the National Sports Policy of 2001 and sets a comprehensive roadmap to establish India as a leading sporting nation, with a particular focus on preparing for the 2036 Olympic Games.
The National Sports Policy 2025 is the culmination of extensive consultations involving Central Ministries, NITI Aayog, State Governments, National Sports Federations, athletes, experts, and public stakeholders. It lays out a strategic framework for developing sports in the country across multiple dimensions, including excellence, economic growth, social development, mass participation, and educational integration.
The policy aims to strengthen India’s sports ecosystem from grassroots to elite levels, focusing on early talent identification, building competitive leagues, expanding infrastructure in rural and urban areas, and enhancing training, coaching, and athlete support systems. It also seeks to modernize governance within National Sports Federations and promote the use of sports science, medicine, and technology to boost performance.
Recognizing the economic potential of sports, the policy promotes sports tourism, international event hosting, and the development of a robust sports manufacturing and startup ecosystem. It calls for greater private sector participation through Public-Private Partnerships, Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, and innovative financing mechanisms.
Social inclusion is another key pillar, with targeted programs to increase sports participation among women, tribal communities, economically weaker sections, and persons with disabilities. The policy also aims to revive indigenous and traditional games, promote dual-career pathways, and engage the Indian diaspora through sports.
To foster a culture of fitness and make sports a mass movement, National Sports Policy 2025 proposes nationwide campaigns, the introduction of fitness indices in schools and workplaces, and improved access to sports facilities. In line with the National Education Policy 2020, it emphasizes integrating sports into school curricula and equipping educators with specialized training.
The policy outlines a robust implementation strategy, including a national monitoring framework with defined performance benchmarks and timelines. It will serve as a model for states and union territories to align their sports policies with national goals. The “whole-of-government” approach aims to mainstream sports across various departments and schemes, ensuring a unified and impactful strategy.
With this ambitious and forward-looking policy, the government aims to position India not only as a global sporting powerhouse but also to promote healthier, more inclusive, and empowered citizens through sports.
NEW YORK, July 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM), operator of regulated markets for trading 12,000 U.S. and international securities, today announced AMAROQ MINERALS LTD. (TSX-V: AMRQ; AIM: AMRQ; XICE: AMRQ; OTCQX: AMRQF), an independent mine development corporation, has qualified to trade on the OTCQX® Best Market. AMAROQ MINERALS LTD. upgraded to OTCQX from the Pink® market.
AMAROQ MINERALS LTD. begins trading today on OTCQX under the symbol “AMRQF.” U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for the company on www.otcmarkets.com.
Upgrading to the OTCQX Market is an important step for companies seeking to provide transparent trading for their U.S. investors. For companies listed on a qualified international exchange, streamlined market standards enable them to utilize their home market reporting to make their information available in the U.S. To qualify for OTCQX, companies must meet high financial standards, follow best practice corporate governance and demonstrate compliance with applicable securities laws.
Eldur Olafsson, Amaroq CEO, commented:
“We have enjoyed a strong level of support from U.S. investors to date, and we hope that with the increased visibility of a quotation on the OTCQX, this will continue to grow and expand our global reach, as we execute on our strategy of becoming the proxy for Greenland’s growing mining and infrastructure industries.”
About AMAROQ MINERALS LTD. Amaroq’s principal business objectives are the identification, acquisition, exploration, and development of gold and strategic metal properties in South Greenland. The Company’s principal asset is a 100% interest in the Nalunaq Gold mine. The Company has a portfolio of gold and strategic metal assets in Southern Greenland covering the two known gold belts in the region as well as advanced exploration projects at Stendalen and the Sava Copper Belt exploring for Strategic metals such as Copper, Nickel, Rare Earths and other minerals. Amaroq Minerals is continued under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) and wholly owns Nalunaq A/S, incorporated under the Greenland Companies Act.
About OTC Markets Group Inc. OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM) operates regulated markets for trading 12,000 U.S. and international securities. Our data-driven disclosure standards form the foundation of our public markets: OTCQX® Best Market, OTCQB® Venture Market, OTCID™ Basic Market and Pink Limited™ Market.
Our OTC Link® Alternative Trading Systems (ATSs) provide critical market infrastructure that broker-dealers rely on to facilitate trading. Our innovative model offers companies more efficient access to the U.S. financial markets. OTC Link ATS, OTC Link ECN, OTC Link NQB, and MOON ATS™ are each SEC regulated ATS, operated by OTC Link LLC, a FINRA and SEC registered broker-dealer, member SIPC. To learn more about how we create better informed and more efficient markets, visit www.otcmarkets.com.
