Welcome to the Swiss National Bank’s Money Market Event. My colleague Thomas Moser and I are delighted to be discussing the latest developments in Switzerland’s cashless payments landscape this evening.
Since last year, bank customers in our country have been able to make transfers that are executed immediately. The amounts are credited within seconds, every day of the week and round the clock. In our speech, we will explore the significance of these instant payments for households, companies and financial institutions.
To illustrate the relevance of this topic, it is worth reflecting briefly on our everyday lives. Consumer behaviour has changed considerably in many areas. Thanks to online shopping and streaming services, we have grown accustomed to being able to consume quickly and at any time. You know the situation: We order a pizza online from the comfort of our living room in the evening, and it is delivered within half an hour. We have come to take this for granted. And yet, surprisingly, the physical delivery of the pizza is much faster than the electronic transfer of the money to the pizzeria. The payment that we trigger when we click ‘Order’ takes longer than you might think; indeed, it can take several days – or even weeks – for the money to arrive on the pizzeria’s account.
Types of cashless payment and the benefits of instant payments
Why is this? The lag in payment settlement is due to the fact that legacy settlement mechanisms cannot keep up with the pace of modern business. A look at the structure of the financial system helps to better contextualise and understand what changes instant payments bring.
Madame Prime Minister, other Ministers, Chair of the Supervisory Board, honoured guests:
An hour before noon on Friday 15 April 1904, all stores in Reykjavík were closed, and children were given the day off school. At noon, city merchants gathered at the square in Lækjartorg and “marched” to the tune of band music to the cemetery on Suðurgata. The weather was delightful, and the Icelandic flag, which was then blue and white, and the Danish flag were held aloft as the parade moved along. When it reached the cemetery, a garland was placed on the grave of Jón Sigurdsson, speeches were given, those gathered sang “Ó Guð vors lands [O God of our Land]”, and the group returned to midtown.
That parade marked the fifty-year anniversary of free trade and the end of the Danish trade monopoly, the last vestiges of which had been lifted on 15 April 1854. The celebrations continued through the evening with gatherings all over town. Freedom was eulogised with a nineteen verse “ode to trade freedom” written by editor and Alaska explorer Jón Ólafsson. The last verse translates loosely as follows:
Let freedom to trade be the beacon that guides us
and helps us change boulders to bread.
Let freedom to trade be the bedrock beneath us,
the bulwark of freedoms ahead.
Independence leader Jón Sigurdsson had certainly prioritised free trade. In 1843, he wrote an article for the magazine Ný félagsrit [New Association Writings] entitled “On Trade in Iceland”, in which he explored Icelandic history through the lens of classical economics in the spirit of Adam Smith and David Ricardo. He attributed Iceland’s poverty to the Danish trade monopoly, thereby staking out a new political policy: Free trade would be a cornerstone of Iceland’s sovereignty. The 1904 event was therefore a victory celebration, as much had been gained over the preceding half-century. Iceland had home rule and a new bank registered in Copenhagen. Motorised boats and urbanisation were just over the horizon. Perhaps more importantly, the Icelandic nation had gained the confidence to stand on its own feet.
Honoured guests:
The period from 1860 until 1914 is often referred to as the First Globalisation – when trade in goods and capital was unrestricted and countries were interlinked by railroads, steamships, and the telegraph. The British were in the vanguard of global trade at that time, harnessing their industrial power, their might as a colonial empire, and the strength of the gold-pegged pound sterling.
This openness came to an end with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. The US took the helm from Britain as the twentieth century’s leading industrialised country but did not take the lead in world trade. This became obvious after the stock market crash of October 1929. In June 1930, the US responded by levying protective tariffs of 20% on the rest of the world. Other countries immediately responded in kind and world trade shrank by 60-70% over the ensuing two years, undeniably deepening the Great Depression.
Iceland’s fight for independence was grounded not least in its having unrestricted access to foreign markets. It was in the shelter of this certainty that the nation chose to separate from Denmark and become a sovereign state on 19 October 1918. A mere 23 days later, on 11 November 1918, World War I ended with the signing of an armistice agreement on the Western Front, and soon afterwards, Europe stopped buying Icelandic herring. Iceland was close to insolvent by October 1920, and consumer goods had to be rationed in Reykjavík over the ensuing winter. The situation was only remedied after the króna had been devalued by 30% and a loan from Britain obtained – on onerous terms.
Only two years after having gained sovereignty, Iceland had been battered by the fragility of international trade. Numerous shocks have shaken the country since then, and we have usually been poorly prepared for the headwinds. Perhaps it is not in Icelanders’ nature to make hay while the sun shines, as we are advised in to do in the Book of Proverbs. I believe the COVID pandemic in 2020 was the first and only severe shock we have weathered without staring down the barrel of a balance of payments crisis, a currency implosion, the imposition of capital controls, or goods rationing. But our relative strength in 2020 did not materialise out of nowhere.
Honoured guests:
Ever since the financial crisis struck in October 2008, we as a nation have given top priority to shoring up the economy’s resilience to external shocks. Of course, this is not the work of any single individual but a joint effort involving many, many people. With the passage of the new Central Bank Act in 2019 and the merger between the Bank and the Financial Supervisory Authority in 2020, Iceland endeavoured to integrate monetary policy, macroprudential policy, and financial supervision into a comprehensive strategy. Five years after the merger, the boundaries between the two institutions have vanished, but the improvement is plain to see.
Anyone who doubts the efficacy of macroprudential tools should read the Bank’s most recent Financial Stability report, issued this March. According to the analysis in that report, households’ and businesses’ balance sheets have seldom been healthier than they are right now, owing to moderate debt levels and ample equity. There are few signs of increased arrears as yet. Iceland’s balance of payments is broadly satisfactory, and the króna has been relatively stable. In short, we are very well prepared to face headwinds.
The application of macroprudential tools has also supported monetary policy effectively by restricting both debt levels in the real estate market and derivatives contracts in the foreign exchange market. It has enabled us both to prevent bubble formation amidst rising house prices and to limit opportunities for speculation and carry trade in the wake of a significant tightening of the monetary stance. It is also clear that capital requirements on credit institutions strengthen the transmission of the monetary stance along the credit channel by limiting the multiplier effects on deposits and lending, or the money creation associated with increased leverage.
The Central Bank has now lowered its key interest rates four times since last autumn, and inflation has been on a more or less constant downward path for well over a year. Although inflation is still too high, it is moving steadily towards the 2½% inflation target. Monetary policy works. As long as private sector balance sheets remain strong and resilience is sufficient, it is quite likely that the economy will achieve a soft landing after a period of very buoyant GDP growth. This is the scriptural lesson that truly matters.
Honoured guests:
The voices insisting that we as a nation cannot afford the macroprudential buffers we have accumulated in recent years have grown ever louder. Icelandic banks, they say, are fenced in and their competitive position weakened by excessive capital requirements. Resolving this would involve either bank mergers or a relaxation of capital requirements. In this context, I want to ask everyone to pause for a minute and look back over the past five years, and to recognise that it is indeed possible to strengthen operations without increasing leverage and indebtedness in the system.
In 2019, the three systemically important banks’ net interest income totalled 100 b.kr. or so. By 2024, it had grown to 150 b.kr. This is an increase of 16% in real terms. Over the same period, the banks’ operating expenses rose by 7 b.kr., which is equivalent to a decrease of 19% in real terms. Their expense ratios in terms of regular income fell from 57% in 2019 to 43% as of 2024. Their interest rate spreads have held broadly unchanged. Simply put, this is a revolution in Icelandic banking operations! And no wonder that the three banks’ returns were twice as strong over the past four years as over the four-year period immediately preceding. In 2017-2020, the banks’ average returns were 5.7%, but in 2021-2024 they were 11.7%. Strong returns and strong macroprudential policy therefore go hand-in-hand!
I cannot resist quoting the closing line in Voltaire’s Candide: “We must cultivate our garden.” It seems crystal-clear to me that the three large banks have made astonishing progress in cultivating their gardens over the past five years – and that a host of opportunities still await them.
I want to emphasise here that the best foundation for sound long-term returns in the financial system is economic policy that ensures stability. This should be obvious – and it is a lesson we ought to have learned many times over. The heart of the matter is this: Strong macroprudential policy and robust financial supervision create more stable revenues for the financial system and reduce the likelihood of loan losses and collapse. Macroprudential tools lay the groundwork for preventing competition in the lending market from devolving into a game of leapfrog where participants vie with each other to see who can make the most lenient requirements, as was the case during the years preceding the collapse of 2008. Being a systemically important bank in a small system brings with it both responsibilities and benefits, which must inevitably be reflected in higher capital requirements. But I want to mention that just this winter the Central Bank lowered capital buffers on Icelandic financial institutions not designated as systemically important. This is a reflection of the Bank’s assessment that systemic risk has subsided with the application of macroprudential tools.
I also want to emphasise the importance of financial supervision for the credibility of the financial system, where transparency is a key to trust. It is vital to monitor risks within individual institutions because temptation within one entity can so easily become another’s problem. In this context, it is important that we be able to investigate such cases and conclude them appropriately without giving rise to doubts about the financial system or the market as a whole. It is also important that we increase the efficacy of supervision to the extent possible, given the international commitments we have undertaken under the EEA Agreement. I would like to point out that the capital requirements imposed on Icelandic credit institutions due to specific credit risk have declined in recent years, partly because the banks’ loan books are far better diversified and carry less concentration risk now that the share of real estate-backed loans has increased. The outlook is also for capital requirements due to mortgages with relatively low loan-to-value ratios to decline even further with the implementation of the third Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR III) in coming months.
Not only have real estate-backed loans generated secure interest income for the banks and reduced capital requirements, they have also created new, favourable possibilities for foreign funding. I am convinced that, once the dust settles after the period of rapid price rises and supply shortages in the housing market, we will see continued growth in the banks’ mortgage lending, similar to that seen in neighbouring countries, and Icelandic households will then be able to borrow on the best possible terms. It is very important for the Government to support this loan form – one that is funded with deposits, on the one hand, and covered bonds, on the other – instead of launching a new system and/or sponsoring large-scale State-guaranteed lending. In this context, we should be chastened by the past, for the Housing Financing Fund’s remaining assets are hopefully being settled virtually as I speak, and at a large loss to the Treasury.
Honoured guests:
From the beginning of Iceland’s sovereignty in 1918 until November 2008, the country’s international reserves were too small to enable us to weather large external shocks. We changed course with loans taken in cooperation with the IMF in the wake of the financial crisis. But it was not until the Central Bank embarked on large-scale foreign currency purchases in the domestic interbank market in 2014-2017 that we acquired sizeable reserves financed in Icelandic krónur. These purchases created a glut of liquidity in the monetary system. Subsequently, the Central Bank’s key interest rate became its deposit rate rather than the rate on collateralised loans. Instead of receiving interest income from its collateralised loans to the banks, as it had previously, the Central Bank paid interest on banks’ deposits. If foreign interest income on the reserves were enough to cover these payments of deposit interest, the Central Bank’s finances would be broadly in balance. As things stand, however, interest rates on deposits with the Central Bank have far exceeded returns on the reserves, owing to Iceland’s interest rate differential with abroad. Furthermore, because of their prudential role, the reserves are invested in high-quality liquid assets, which generally yield lower returns than higher-risk assets would. This, in turn, entails a negative interest rate differential for the Central Bank and has eroded its capital in recent years. In 2024, the Bank took measures to curb this trend, as I explained in my speech at the Bank’s annual meeting a year ago.
The shift was of direct benefit to the commercial banks. The foreign currency purchases of previous years expanded the stock of deposits and liquid assets in the system. Thus the banks’ gross interest income is higher than it would be otherwise, which should reduce their average expenses. Furthermore, financial institutions enjoy risk-free returns on their accounts with the Central Bank. The benefits of this stem from the difference between the deposit interest the banks pay to their customers and the deposit interest they receive from the Central Bank. Here it is worth noting that liquid assets such as the banks’ deposits with the Central Bank are not subject to reserve requirements. In view of all this, it should be beyond doubt that the commercial banks derive a net benefit from the past few years’ glut of liquidity in the Icelandic monetary system – not to mention the international reserves themselves.
The advantages of large reserves should also be patently obvious. The reserves confer benefits such as improved credit ratings, easier access to foreign credit markets, and better interest rate terms, and moreover, they are available to ensure liquidity in the foreign exchange market when needed. The commercial banks benefit in particular, as they are the only domestic entities apart from the Treasury and State-owned companies that have issued bonds in foreign credit markets. The direct advantage to the three banks can be seen, among other things, in last year’s credit rating upgrades and in more favourable interest terms abroad, which ultimately deliver benefits to the banks’ customers.
The international reserves currently total 865 b.kr., or 19% of GDP. They are held jointly by the Central Bank and the Treasury, although of course, the Icelandic nation is ultimately the owner. The 300 b.kr. worth of reserves owned by the Treasury are actually borrowed, as they are financed with foreign bond issues. The Central Bank’s share in the reserves, which are financed primarily in krónur, comes to 565 b.kr. At present, the Bank and the Treasury bear the cost of the reserves jointly, together with deposit institutions via the 3% reserve requirement.
The Bank bases its assessment of the optimum size of the international reserves on the IMF’s reserve adequacy metric, or RAM. The Bank’s current assessment is that the reserves should not be below 120% of that metric. The reserves have shrunk in recent years, and their funding has changed markedly, owing in particular to the Bank’s programme of foreign currency sales during the pandemic and the Treasury’s foreign currency need. In 2024, the reserves were equivalent to 118% of the RAM. The outlook is for the reserves to shrink marginally in the coming term, all else being equal, owing to foreign payments made by the Bank on the Treasury’s behalf. The Central Bank is therefore of the opinion that the reserves need to be strengthened. As a result, and as a step in that direction, the Bank will initiate a new programme of regular foreign currency purchases in the domestic interbank market on 15 April 2025, the 171st anniversary of free trade in Iceland. The Bank plans to buy a total of 6 million euros, the equivalent of 870 b.kr., each week. The programme will be explained in more detail in a press release posted on the Bank’s website.
Honoured guests:
The foundations for the post-war renaissance of free global trade were laid at a conference of 44 nations in the small US town of Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in July 1944. Iceland was among them. At the Bretton Woods conference, the groundwork was laid for the establishment of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the so-called Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate system. Three years later, groundrules were created for the cancellation of tariffs and quotas in world trade with the signing in 1947 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT Treaty. In a total of eight rounds of negotiations, the world was opened up again, and GATT led to the establishment of the World Trade Organization in 1995, a year after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into being.
The political capital for the endeavour came from the US, as did the political conviction that trade liberalisation was the only way to guarantee world peace and that big countries should not strong-arm smaller ones by levying tariffs on them. This perspective on the link between peace and free trade has been a leitmotif in US foreign policy for over 80 years – until 2025, that is.
It is unclear what short- and long-term impact the tariffs introduced by the current US administration this April will have on the global economy or on the future of liberalised world trade. It is obvious, though, that the side-effects will be felt not least by the American people, who have benefited enormously from free international trade.
I firmly believe in common sense: World trade will adjust to a new reality and will continue to grow. That does not change the fact that we Icelanders must always be prepared to respond to shocks and changed circumstances – to ensure the resilience of our economy. There is no question that strong macroprudential policy enabled us to weather the COVID storm without significant problems. And we have recouped our previous output capacity with 20% accumulated GDP growth since 2020. With this in mind, I want to encourage stakeholders and elected officials alike to avoid short-sightedness. Solid macroprudential policy is a good investment for the Icelandic nation.
It would be highly appropriate for us to gather at Lækjartorg next Tuesday, the 15th of April, walk together to Jón Sigurdsson’s grave in the cemetery, and celebrate the abolition of the Danish trade monopoly. Jón’s political policy – that free trade is a cornerstone of sovereignty and prosperity – is still valid.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Erin Baker, Distinguished Professor of Industrial Engineering and Faculty Director of The Energy Transition Institute, UMass Amherst
A turbine from the Roth Rock wind farm spins on the spine of Backbone Mountain behind the Mettiki Coal processing plant in Oakland, Md.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The Trump administration is working to lift regulations on coal-fired power plants in the hopes of making its energy less expensive. But while cost is one important aspect, utilities have a lot more to consider when they choose their power sources.
Different technologies play different roles in the power system. Some sources, like nuclear energy, are reliable but inflexible. Other sources, like oil, are flexible but expensive and polluting.
How utilities choose which power source to invest in depends in large part on two key aspects: price and reliability.
Power prices
One way to compare power sources is by their levelized cost of electricity. This shows how much it costs to produce one unit of electricity on average over the life of the generator.
Coal is one of the more expensive technologies for utilities today, making it less competitive compared with solar, wind and natural gas, by Lazard’s calculations. Only nuclear, offshore wind and “peaker” plants, which are used only during periods of high electricity demand, are more expensive.
Land-based wind and solar power have the lowest estimated costs, far below what consumers are paying for electricity today. The National Renewable Energy Lab has found similar levelized costs for renewable energy, though its estimates for nuclear are lower than Lazard’s.
Upfront costs are also important and can make the difference for whether new power projects can be built, as the East Coast has seen lately.
But cost is not the whole story. Utilities must balance a number of criteria when investing in power sources.
Most important is matching supply and demand at every moment of the day. Due to the technical characteristics of electricity and how it flows, if the supply of electricity is even a little bit lower than the demand, that can trigger a blackout. This means power companies and consumers need generation that can ramp down when demand is low and ramp up when demand is high.
Since wind and solar generation depend on the wind blowing and the sun shining, these sources must be combined with other types of generation or with storage, such as batteries, to ensure the power grid has exactly as much power as it needs at all times.
Combining renewable energy and battery storage or both wind and solar can smooth out power supply dips and spikes. The Pine Tree Wind Farm and Solar Power Plant in the Tehachapi Mountains north of Los Angeles do both. Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Nuclear and coal are predictable and run reliably, but they are inflexible – they take time to ramp up and down, and doing so is expensive. Steam turbines are simply not built for flexibility. The multiple days it took to shut down Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant after an earthquake and tsunami damaged its backup power sources in 2011 illustrated the challenges and safety issues related to ramping down nuclear plants.
That means coal and nuclear aren’t as helpful on those hot summer days when utilities need a quick power increase to keep air conditioners running. These peaks may only happen a few days a year, but keeping the power on is crucial for human health and the economy.
In today’s energy system, the most flexible generation sources are natural gas and hydro. They can quickly adjust to meet changing electricity demand without the safety and cost concerns of coal and nuclear. Hydro can ramp in minutes but can only be built where large dams are feasible. The most cost-effective natural gas technology can ramp up within hours.
The big picture, by power source
Over the past two decades, natural gas use has risen quickly to overtake coal as the most common fuel for generating electricity in the U.S. The boom was largely driven by the growing use of fracking technology, which allowed producers to extract gas from rock and lowered the price.
But natural gas has its challenges. Natural gas requires pipelines to carry it across the country, leading to disruptive construction. As Texas saw during its February 2021 blackouts, natural gas equipment can also fail in extreme cold. And like coal, natural gas is a fossil fuel that releases greenhouse gases during combustion, so it is also helping to cause climate change and contributes to air pollution that can harm human health.
Nuclear power has been gaining interest recently since it does not contribute to climate change or local air pollution. It also provides a steady baseload of power, which is useful for computing centers as their demand does not fluctuate as much as households.
Of course, nuclear has ongoing challenges around the storage of radioactive waste and security concerns, and construction of large nuclear plants takes many years.
Solar and wind have grown rapidly in recent years due to their falling costs and environmental benefits. According to Lazard, the cost of solar combined with batteries, which would be as flexible as hydropower, is well below the cost of coal with its limited flexibility.
However, wind and solar tend to take up a lot of space, which has led to challenges in local approvals for new sites and transmission lines. In addition, the sheer number of new projects is overwhelming power system operators’ ability to evaluate them, leading to increasing wait times for new generation to come online.
What’s ahead?
Utilities have another consideration: Federal, state and local governments can also influence and sometimes limit utilities’ choices. Tariffs, for example, can increase the cost of critical components for new construction. Permitting and regulations can slow down development. Subsidies can artificially lower costs.
In our view, policies that are done right can help utilities move toward more reliable and cost-effective choices which are also cleaner. Done wrong, they can be costly to the economy and the environment.
Erin Baker receives funding from NSF, DOE, and Sloan Foundation
Paola Pimentel Furlanetto receives funding from NSF and Sloan Foundation
Retirement savings are crucial to the financial well-being of millions of especially older people in the U.S., so the concern is understandable.
But just how worried should people be by market fluctuations? And just how big a hit do 401(k)s take when markets fall? The Conversation turned to Western Governors University’s Ronald Premuroso, an expert in this area, for answers.
The employee is eligible at any age to contribute to a 401(k) plan and has the option to pay into these plans throughout their employment. Many employers match some or all of an employee’s contributions, making the plan even more attractive.
What about withdrawals?
Under Internal Revenue Service rules, someone with a 401(k) is required to start making monetary withdrawals from their plan when they reach age 73. Some people start withdrawing at an earlier age.
Someone with a 401(k) can withdraw funds from the plan early, and at any time. But the money amounts withdrawn will typically be deemed taxable income. In addition, those age 59 and a half and under will likely face a 10% penalty on the withdrawal, unless the employer’s plan allows for hardship distributions, early withdrawals or loans from your plan account.
All withdrawals starting at age 73, which tax professionals call “RMDs,” are then taxable in retirement – presumably at a lower tax rate than the employee was subject to while employed and working. So these withdrawals starting at age 73 can be a very tax-efficient way of financial planning, including personal income tax planning, for later in life, especially in one’s retirement years.
Again, it’s important to get help from a tax professional to make sure you meet the IRS’ RMD dollar withdrawal requirements once you start withdrawing.
In calendar-year 2025, the most that an employee can contribute to a tax-deferred 401(k) plan annually is US$23,500, including the employer’s match. “Super catch-up contributions are allowed for employees over the age of 50 to their employer’s 401(k) plan each year indexed to inflation. In 2025, super catch-up contributions allow individuals age 50 and older to contribute an additional $7,500 beyond the standard limit, bringing their total annual contribution to $31,000. For those turning age 60, 61, 62 or 63 in 2025, the SECURE Act 2.0 allows a higher catch-up contribution limit of $11,250, resulting in a total allowable contribution of $34,750 in 2025.
When and why did 401(k)s become popular?
Before 1978, retirement savings options were limited.
In 1935, Congress created the Social Security Retirement Plan. This was followed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, which created individual retirement accounts, or IRAs, as a way for employees to save tax-deferred money for their retirement.
401(k) plans became popular with the passage of the Revenue Act of 1978 by Congress.
Congress saw 401(k) plans at that time as an alternative way to supplement Social Security benefits that all eligible Americans are entitled to receive upon retirement. In 1981, the IRS issued new rules and regulations allowing employees to fund their 401(k)s through payroll deductions. This significantly increased the number of employees contributing to their employers’ 401(k) plans.
As of September 2024, Americans held $8.9 trillion in 401(k) plans, according to the Investment Company Institute. A study published by the Pension Rights Center toward the end of 2023 using data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics concluded that 56% of all workers – including private sector and state and local government workers – participate in a workplace retirement plan. That equates to 145 million full- and part-time workers.
How are 401(k) plans affected by market rises and falls?
Contributions to a 401(k) are typically invested in a variety of financial instruments, including in the stock market.
Most 401(k) plans offer investment options with varying levels of risk, allowing employees to choose based on their personal comfort levels and financial goals.
Employers typically outsource the management of these 401(k) plans to third parties. Some of the largest companies managing 401(k) funds on behalf of employers and employees include Fidelity Investments, T. Rowe Price and Charles Schwab, to name just a few.
Because many of these investments are tied to the stock market, 401(k) balances can rise or fall with market fluctuations.
Should I be worried about the stock market tanking my 401(k)?
It depends – on when you started making contributions, when you plan to retire and when you expect to start making withdrawals.
Employees with 401(k) accounts should only be worried about falling stocks if they need the money right now – either for retirement living expenses or for other emergency reasons. If you don’t need to take money out soon, there’s usually no reason to panic. History has shown that markets can rebound quickly; short-term drops often don’t signal long-term trends.
So even if you are a baby boomer heading for retirement and your 401(k) has taken a hit in recent weeks, don’t panic. Bear in mind the truism that stock markets can always go down as well as up.
History suggests that in the long run, depending upon your plans and timing for retirement, working together with a trusted financial adviser strategically with regard to your 401(k) retirement savings is a good approach, especially during periods like we have seen in recent weeks in the stock market.
This article is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial advice. Consult with a qualified financial adviser before making financial decisions.
Ronald Premuroso does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The 94 nuclear reactors currently operating at 54 power plants continue to generate more radioactive waste. Public and commercial interest in nuclear power is rising because of concerns regarding emissions from fossil fuel power plants and the possibility of new applications for smaller-scale nuclear plants to power data centers and manufacturing. This renewed interest gives new urgency to the effort to find a place to put the waste.
In March 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments related to the effort to find a temporary storage location for the nation’s nuclear waste – a ruling is expected by late June. No matter the outcome, the decades-long struggle to find a permanent place to dispose of nuclear waste will probably continue for many years to come.
I am a scholar who specializes in corrosion; one focus of my work has been containing nuclear waste during temporary storage and permanent disposal. There are generally two forms of significantly radioactive waste in the U.S.: waste from making nuclear weapons during the Cold War, and waste from generating electricity at nuclear power plants. There are also small amounts of other radioactive waste, such as that associated with medical treatments.
Nuclear waste is stored in underground containers at the Idaho National Laboratory near Idaho Falls. AP Photo/Keith Ridler
Waste from weapons manufacturing
Remnants of the chemical processing of radioactive material needed to manufacture nuclear weapons, often called “defense waste,” will eventually be melted along with glass, with the resulting material poured into stainless steel containers. These canisters are 10 feet tall and 2 feet in diameter, weighing approximately 5,000 pounds when filled.
For now, though, most of it is stored in underground steel tanks, primarily at Hanford, Washington, and Savannah River, South Carolina, key sites in U.S. nuclear weapons development. At Savannah River, some of the waste has already been processed with glass, but much of it remains untreated.
At both of those locations, some of the radioactive waste has already leaked into the soilbeneath the tanks, though officials have said there is no danger to human health. Most of the current efforts to contain the waste focus on protecting the tanks from corrosion and cracking to prevent further leakage.
A look inside a cooling pool for spent nuclear fuel rods.
Waste from electricity generation
The vast majority of nuclear waste in the U.S. is spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants.
Before it is used, nuclear fuel exists as uranium oxide pellets that are sealed within zirconium tubes, which are themselves bundled together. These bundles of fuel rods are about 12 to 16 feet long and about 5 to 8 inches in diameter. In a nuclear reactor, the fission reactions fueled by the uranium in those rods emit heat that is used to create hot water or steam to drive turbines and generate electricity.
After about five years, the fuel bundles are removed, dried and sealed in welded stainless steel canisters. These canisters are still radioactive and thermally hot, so they are stored outdoors in concrete vaults that sit on concrete pads, also on the power plant’s property. These vaults have vents to ensure air flows past the canisters to continue cooling them.
Even reactors that have been decommissioned and demolished still have concrete vaults storing radioactive waste, which must be secured and maintained by the power company that owned the nuclear plant.
Salt spray from the ocean can corrode waste containers at nearby nuclear waste storage sites, like this one at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in California. Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The threat of water
One threat to these storage methods is corrosion.
Because they need water to both transfer nuclear energy into electricity and to cool the reactor, nuclear power plants are always located alongside sources of water.
In the U.S., nine are within two miles of the ocean, which poses a particular threat to the waste containers. As waves break on the coastline, saltwater is sprayed into the air as particles. When those salt and water particles settle on metal surfaces, they can cause corrosion, which is why it’s common to see heavily corroded structures near the ocean.
At nuclear waste storage locations near the ocean, that salt spray can settle on the steel canisters. Generally, stainless steel is resistant to corrosion, which you can see in the shiny pots and pans in many Americans’ kitchens. But in certain circumstances, localized pits and cracks can form on stainless steel surfaces.
In recent years, the U.S. Department of Energy has funded research, including my own, into the potential dangers of this type of corrosion. The general findings are that stainless steel canisters could pit or crack when stored near a seashore. But a radioactive leak would require not only corrosion of the container but also of the zirconium rods and of the fuel inside them. So it is unlikely that this type of corrosion would result in the release of radioactivity.
Not only must a long-term site be geologically suitable to store nuclear waste for thousands of years, but it must also be politically palatable to the American people. In addition, there will be many challenges associated with transporting the waste, in its containers, by road or rail, from reactors across the country to wherever that permanent site ultimately is.
Perhaps there will be a temporary site whose location passes muster with the Supreme Court. But in the meantime, the waste will stay where it is.
Imagine nearly every seat in Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center − over 20,000 seats − are empty. That’s the scale of Pennsylvania’s projected shortfall of registered nurses by 2026, according to the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania’s nursing shortage is the result of long-standing issues in education, workforce retention and health care delivery.
Education bottlenecks: Nursing schools in Pennsylvania and nationwide turn away thousands of qualified applicants each year due to faculty shortages, limited classroom space and scarce clinical placements. More than 65,000 qualified applications were turned away from U.S. nursing programs in 2023 alone, according to a report from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
A key issue is the lack of preceptors. Preceptors are experienced nurses who teach students in real-world settings. A shortage of preceptors directly limits how many students can complete their education.
Uneven distribution: While Pennsylvania may have a sufficient number of licensed nurses on paper, those nurses don’t all still work in the profession. And among those that do, they are not evenly spread across roles or locations. Rural hospitals, long-term care centers, behavioral health settings and maternal-child health units are experiencing acute shortages.
Many cite stress as their reason for leaving the profession. New graduates often leave within their first two years, feeling unprepared for the emotional and operational realities of practice.
In Pennsylvania, the shortage has created a feedback loop. Understaffing increases pressure on those who remain. A 2023 National Council of State Boards of Nursing survey found that 41% of nurses under age 35 reported feeling emotionally drained.
This turnover erodes institutional knowledge, increases costs for onboarding and overtime, and limits the capacity to mentor incoming staff.
What’s being done
To help address the problem, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro in March 2025 proposed a US$5 million Nurse Shortage Assistance Program. If approved by the General Assembly, the program would cover tuition costs for nursing students who commit to working in Pennsylvania hospitals for three years after graduation.
HB 390 is also currently under review in the Pennsylvania General Assembly. It aims to establish a $1,000 tax deduction for licensed nurses who serve as clinical preceptors.
To meet the growing demand for nurses, Pennsylvania hospitals are partnering with colleges and universities to expand clinical training capacity, streamline pathways into nursing and develop innovative education models such as hybrid and accelerated programs.
Hospitals statewide are also offering substantial sign-on bonuses, loan forgiveness programs, housing stipends and flexible scheduling to attract nurses.
They are also increasingly using virtual nursing, telehealth services and AI-driven administrative tools to reduce nurses’ workloads, enhance patient interactions and address staffing gaps.
Continuing Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs are another solution. These federal grants, reauthorized under the March 2020 CARES Act, help fund nursing pathways and the availability of high-quality nursing care for patients nationwide.
Research consistently demonstrates that care provided by nurses who have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher directly leads to better patient outcomes, improved safety and overall health. A commitment to shoring up the nurse pipeline in Pennsylvania is a commitment to improving the well-being of individuals and communities across the state.
Board Member for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. The views, analyses, and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or positions of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Kymberlee Montgomery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
When the Trump administration announced in February 2025 that it was cutting 10% of staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it seemed that a small but storied program within it called the Epidemic Intelligence Service – also known as the CDC’s disease detectives – would also be cut. A few days later, the program was reinstated. And in March, Epidemic Intelligence Service officers traveled to Texas to support the state’s public health officials in fighting the ongoing measles epidemic.
The Epidemic Intelligence Service is a dynamic crisis response team. Just as firefighters rush into burning buildings to save lives, this team’s specialists mobilize both domestically and internationally to help curb disease outbreaks. But first and foremost, it is a training program that has produced some of the most highly trained and regarded public health experts in the country who have gone on to work at local and state public health offices, academic departments and international health organizations.
We are public health experts – one an experienced professor who served in the Epidemic Intelligence Service from 1994-1996, and the other an early career trainee who was accepted to its incoming class of 2025-2027. Although it’s not clear how the administration will enact its new vision for the CDC, we hope a continued urgency to identify and fight infectious disease threats – the essence of the Epidemic Intelligence Service – remains a national priority.
A program rooted in national security
The Epidemic Intelligence Service is a two-year fellowship open to physicians, scientists and other health professionals. The program accepts 50 to 80 people each year.
Students participate in an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer training course in July 1955. Dr. Alex Langmuir, CDC
The Epidemic Intelligence Service was founded in 1951, just five years after the launch of the CDC, in response to Cold War-era concerns about biological warfare. Alexander Langmuir, its founder, was the CDC’s chief epidemiologist and has often been called the father of shoe-leather epidemiology – on-the-ground, out-of-the-office disease investigation through extensive field work and engagement with affected populations.
In a report announcing the unit’s establishment, Langmuir and a colleague wrote that one of the “problems that would emerge in the event of biological warfare attacks” was “the dearth of trained epidemiologists.” They recognized the urgent need for a specialized team capable of rapidly identifying and responding to potential bioterrorism threats.
The new division soon evolved to address a wide range of civilian public health threats. In 1955, as one of its first major actions, the program’s officers were tasked with investigating an outbreak of polio in children that started just as the first mass vaccination campaign against the disease launched. Within weeks, Epidemic Intelligence Service officers helped trace the outbreak to a few batches of a vaccine manufactured by a California company called Cutter Laboratories in which the virus had not been properly killed. The incident led to increased safety regulations in vaccine production and boosted public confidence, paving the way to eliminating polio from the U.S. in the ensuing decades.
And in 1981, a tip from an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer serving in the Los Angeles County Health Department led to the first description of a new disease that would become the global epidemic of HIV-AIDS. The program’s officers went on to help lead foundational studies on prevalence, prevention and treatment of AIDS around the world.
Beyond vaccines and immunization
Even from its earliest days, vaccine-preventable and infectious diseases were far from the Epidemic Intelligence Service’s only focus. During the program’s first 15 years, its officers were involved in a wide swath of epidemiological investigations in areas including lead paint exposure, a cancer cluster’s connection to birth defects, family planning practices and famine relief.
These activities established the group’s priorities of addressing chronic diseases and population health – goals that have also driven its involvement in disaster response efforts, including hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria and Katrina, as well as the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
The Epidemic Intelligence Service has also played a key role in keeping the nation’s food supply safe. It investigates major outbreaks of foodborne illnesses, helping to identify which foods are implicated so that contaminated products are removed from shelves and disseminating investigation findings that inform food safety policy. For example, officers investigated a 1993 outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 linked to undercooked hamburgers at several Jack in the Box restaurants. The outbreak sickened more than 700 people and resulted in the deaths of four children. It also led to major food safety reforms including expanded meat and poultry inspection nationwide.
The CDC’s “disease detectives” train at sites across the U.S. and abroad.
A legacy of impact
The importance of an expert, nimble team of disease detectives has only increased. Over the past few years, Epidemic Intelligence Service officers have responded to countless public health threats.
Perhaps the Epidemic Intelligence Service’s most significant legacy has been in building a worldwide network of deep epidemiological expertise. To date, the program has trained more than 4,000 disease detectives, and its officers have collectively conducted thousands of outbreak investigations.
All of these activities, at home and abroad, have shaped health policy in crucial ways that in turn protect people’s health. It is increasingly clear that disease outbreaks will continue to occur in the U.S. and abroad. In our view, the Epidemic Intelligence Service’s history provides rich evidence of its value.
I am currently a member of the EIS Alumni Association Executive Committee.
Casey Luc does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Rose Cuison-Villazor, Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Social Justice Scholar, Rutgers University – Newark
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers restrain a detained person on Jan. 27, 2025, in Silver Spring, Md.Associated Press
News reports of noncitizens unexpectedly being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, have dominated headlines in recent weeks. Those being detained include noncitizens who hold lawful permanent residency status.
One story concerns the March 8, 2025, arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful permanent resident and recent Columbia University graduate, who was initially detained in New Jersey and transported to Louisiana. He remains there while he challenges his detention and the immigration judge’s April 11 decision that he can be deported
And on March 25, ICE agents arrested Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national and doctoral student at Tufts University, while she was walking on the streets of Somerville, Massachusetts. She is currently detained in Louisiana.
ICE agents have also detained and removed, among other people, hundreds of Venezuelan noncitizens to El Salvador since March, resulting in high-profile legal cases that are making their way through the court system. And the U.S. has revoked the visas of at least 300 foreign students this year.
At the most basic level, ICE has broad, sweeping powers to question, arrest, detain and process the deportation any noncitizen. But ICE is still bound by certain constitutional and other legal restrictions, including noncitizens’ rights to make their case in court to remain in the U.S.
ICE’s operating budget from Oct. 1, 2024 through Sept. 30, 2025 is approximately US$8 billion, a relatively small portion of Homeland Security’s $107.9 billion total budget for that same time period.
With more than 20,000 immigration enforcement officers stationed across the country, ICE’s day-to-day work is divided into three main areas – homeland security investigations, enforcement and removal operations, and legal representation for the government in an immigration court.
The branch focused on homeland security investigations probes transnational crime and terrorism-related activities. ICE’s second area of work focuses on apprehending and removing noncitizens who are in violation of immigration laws. Finally, staff at the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor represent the government in immigration hearings, particularly what is called removal proceedings, or deportation.
This act outlines the federal government’s authority to regulate immigration and provides immigration agencies, including those established at a later date, like ICE, broad powers to enforce these restrictions. One key part of the Immigration and Nationality Act allows ICE officers to interrogate any individual they believe to be a noncitizen regarding their right “to be or remain” in the U.S.
The Immigration and Nationality Act also says that any noncitizen can be deported for engaging in activities that the secretary of state believes “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
Rubio used the same provision to claim that Khalil’s involvement in protests at Columbia University had negative U.S. foreign policy consequences.
Detain and arrest
ICE officers have broad power to arrest noncitizens in the U.S.
With a warrant, they may arrest noncitizens who are in the country without legal permission, including foreign students whose visas are revoked. These warrants are administrative warrants signed by an immigration enforcement supervisor – not a judge.
ICE officers have long been able to carry out these arrests in plain clothes – although using face coverings, as ICE officers who arrested Ozturk and Khalil did, is a new and, I think, startling development.
Still, ICE’s powers to interrogate, arrest and detain noncitizens are not absolute.
For one, immigration law requires noncitizens to be notified in writing that they are being processed for a removal proceeding, so they can appear before an immigration judge and have the opportunity to challenge the government’s claim that they should be deported.
Noncitizens have the right to legal representation – albeit not paid for by the U.S. government – in an immigration court. Ultimately, an immigration judge, and not ICE, determines if a noncitizen should be deported.
People take part in a protest on March 27, 2025, in Newark, N.J., against the arrest and threatened deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful permanent resident. Kena Betancur/VIEWpress/Corbis via Getty Images
The Constitutional limits on ICE
Crucially, ICE is bound by various constitutional provisions that protect individual rights, including the rights of noncitizens who are living in the U.S. without legal authorization.
Three particular constitutional amendments impose different checks on ICE’s power.
The First Amendment, for example, protects individuals’ rights to free speech, assembly and religion. Consequently, ICE cannot target individuals – even if they are noncitizens living in the U.S. without legal permission – for simply participating in peaceful protests or writing something for the public. Rubio has said that he revoked Ozturk’s visa not because of her writing, but because she participated in “activities that are counter to our foreign … policy.” He also relied on this provision to support the deportation of Khalil.
But Ozturk and Khalil’s lawyers contend that their activities were protected speech. Ultimately, a federal district judge has the power to determine whether ICE targeted them for exercising their First Amendment rights.
The Fourth Amendment safeguards the right of individuals “to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” ICE must first obtain a search warrant, signed by a judge, before entering a person’s home or private areas of a workplace.
The Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures also applies in public spaces. So, law enforcement officers must have reasonable suspicion to stop a person – or have probable cause to not have a warrant when they arrest a person they believe is guilty of a crime or in violation of a law and likely to escape. The Immigration and Nationality Act also requires ICE officers to have an arrest warrant unless they have reason to believe that the noncitizen may flee before they get a warrant.
It is not clear whether ICE officers presented Khalil and Ozturk with arrest warrants before they were detained outside their home and on the street, respectively.
The Fifth Amendment guarantees the right of all individuals against self-incrimination. This means that people detained by ICE have the right to remain silent during interrogations.
It also means that before noncitizens can be deported, they must have the opportunity to go before an immigration judge to challenge the government’s plan to remove them, or may file a case before a federal judge to challenge their detention and deportation.
ICE’s power is not absolute
Even with an annual budget of approximately $8 billion, ICE does not have the capacity to pursue all immigration law violations.
In this context, recent Trump administration initiatives could significantly increase ICE’s reach. For example, an April 2025 memorandum of understanding between the Internal Revenue Service and DHS allows the IRS to share tax information of immigrants living in the U.S. without legal authorization. This could help ICE more easily identify, locate and arrest noncitizens living in the U.S. illegally.
Despite its considerable power, ICE’s authority is not without checks and balances.
But as a longtime scholar of immigration law, I believe ICE officers’ recent actions raise serious concerns that it is exceeding the bounds of its legal authority and the constitutional limits that are intended to protect individual rights.
Rose Cuison-Villazor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Paul M. Collins Jr., Professor of Legal Studies and Political Science, UMass Amherst
Jeff Sralla, left, and his partner of 28 years, Gerald Gafford, wed in 2015 in Texas.AP Photo/Eric Gay
Same-sex marriage, which the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 legalized nationwide in the case known as Obergefell v. Hodges, is facing resurgent hostility.
In the decade since the court’s decision, public support for same-sex marriage has increased. Currently, about 70% ofAmericans approve of legally recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples, a 10-percentage-point bump from 2015.
Despite this, Republican lawmakers in five states have recently introduced symbolic bills calling on the Supreme Court to overturn its ruling in Obergefell.
And Republican lawmakers in two states have proposed legislation that creates a new category of marriage, called “covenant marriage,” that is reserved for one man and one woman.
As a professor of legal studies, I believe such attacks on same-sex marriage represent a serious threat to the institution.
And others share my concern.
A 2024 poll of married same-sex couples found that 54% of respondents are worried that the Supreme Court might overturn Obergefell, with only 17% saying they did not anticipate such a challenge.
Recognizing this fear, Democratic legislators in Michigan have called for the state to pass a ballot initiative to protect same-sex marriage. The initiative would repeal a part of the state constitution that banned same-sex marriage, but which was invalidated by the subsequent Obergefell decision. If Obergefell were overturned, that ban in the Michigan constitution would go into effect again.
And a law firm in Missouri is helping LGBTQ+ couples establish medical power of attorney plans in the event Obergefell is reversed.
Here’s what’s known about the current attacks on same-sex marriage.
Plaintiff James Obergefell of Ohio, center, wipes his eyes after exiting the Supreme Court in Washington on April 28, 2015, following arguments before the court over the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry. AP Photo/Cliff Owen
What happens if anti-Obergefell state legislation passes?
Currently, two types of legislation have been introduced by Republican state lawmakers.
This legislation is symbolic, since state legislatures do not have control over what the Supreme Court does. And even if it passes, the legislation does not directly threaten the legality of same-sex marriage in those states because it does not address those states’ marriage laws.
But if it becomes law, this legislation sends a clear signal that, should Obergefell be overturned, these states could quickly enact legislation banning same-sex marriage. For a state such as Michigan, whose constitutional language defining marriage as between one man and one woman is still on the books, the status quo would revert immediately to outlawing same-sex marriage – it wouldn’t require any legislative vote.
Second, lawmakers in Missouri and Tennessee have introduced legislation that would create a new category of marriage that would be available only to opposite-sex couples. So-called “covenant marriage” would require that the couples who choose this kind of marriage undergo counseling prior to getting married and creates significant obstacles to getting divorced, except under very specific circumstances, such as spousal abuse.
Tennessee’s sponsor of the legislation, Rep. Gino Bulso, a Republican, was quoted on Knoxnews.com as saying his legislation “seeks to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court’s egregiously wrong 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.” According to Bulso, “The bill is not ‘anti’ anything or any person. It simply recognizes the natural order of things.”
Since this version of covenant marriage excludes same-sex couples, they would be denied access to covenant marriages, although they would still have access to more traditional forms of marriage.
Timing of attacks
Efforts by state Republican lawmakers to revisit same-sex marriage bans are part of a broaderassault on LGBTQ+ rights taking place in the U.S.
The timing of these efforts is primarily driven by two factors: Donald Trump’s second term as president and the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, which overturned the constitutional guarantee of the right to an abortion.
But the Biden administration reversedmost of these policies.
In his second term, Trump has upped his hostility to the LGBTQ+ community, following an election campaign in which he madetransgender rights a wedge issue. This includes canceling more than US$125 million in federal grants related to LGBTQ+ health programs and stopping the enforcement of the Equal Access Rule, a federal policy that ensured access to federal housing programs regardless of gender identity.
The Supreme Court’s decision to overrule Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson is the other key factor motivating the timing of attacks on same-sex marriage.
Legislators in the Tennessee statehouse, seen here, introduced legislation that would create a new category of marriage that would be available only to opposite-sex couples. AP Photo/George Walker IV
In Dobbs, the court’s conservative majority indicated its willingness to revisit – and overrule – precedents that it disagreed with, even if those precedents were supported by a large majority of the public, as was the case for Roe.
In addition, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion in Dobbs in which he argued that the Supreme Court should apply the logic used to overrule Roe to reconsider other decisions, including Obergefell. Although Thomas’ concurring opinion does not have the force of law, it nonetheless sent what some court observers say is a clear message to opponents of same-sex marriage that at least one justice has an appetite for reconsidering Obergefell.
Reaffirm or overrule?
Should the Supreme Court agree to hear a challenge to Obergefell, one of two main outcomes is likely.
First, the court could reaffirm Obergefell. This would probably put an end to most Republican attacks on same-sex marriage and would maintain the status quo by prohibiting states from outlawing same-sex marriage.
It would also serve to make the Supreme Court appear moderate, which may enhance its near historicallylow public approval ratings.
Second, the court could overrule Obergefell. If a majority of justices did so, I believe they would almost certainly use the same logic employed to overturn Roe v. Wade. That is, the court’s conservative majority could argue that the Constitution does not recognize marriage as a fundamental right, and therefore it is up to the states to regulate and define marriage, including prohibiting same-sex couples from obtaining marriage licenses.
Under the Respect for Marriage Act, however, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022, states outlawing same-sex marriage would have to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, as would the federal government.
The bottom line is that Trump’s second term and the Supreme Court’s conservativeactivism have lit a fire in some Republican lawmakers, who are targeting same-sex marriage as part of a broader attack on LGBTQ+ rights.
If successful, these efforts would be a dramatic blow to the progress made toward LGBTQ+ equality over the past two decades.
Paul M. Collins Jr. 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.
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – “Faced with the appalling injustice of evil, we never carry the cross of Christ in vain; on the contrary, it is the most tangible way for us to share in his redemptive love.” Under a gray sky, in St. Peter’s Square filled with pilgrims, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Vice Dean of the College of Cardinals, gave voice to the Pope by reading Pope Francis’ homily for Palm Sunday, the day that marks the beginning of Holy Week.The Pope, who is entering his fourth week of convalescence after being hospitalized for bilateral pneumonia, was absent from the ceremony, which began, as is tradition, with the blessing of olive and palm branches at the foot of the ancient obelisk in the center of St. Peter’s Square. From there, the procession continued to the square, decorated with olive trees.As last Sunday, at the end of the celebration, the Pope appeared unexpectedly on the square, greeted by long applause. “Happy Palm Sunday! Happy Holy Week!” These were the words spoken by the Pope, who, before returning to Casa Santa Marta, stopped to greet the Cardinals present and the authorities who had participated in the rite.[embedded content]In his commentary on today’s Gospel, that of the Passion according to Luke, Pope Francis, in the homily read by Cardinal Sandri, focused on the figure of Simon of Cyrene, the man who “while coming in from the countryside” was seized by the soldiers who then “laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.”The Pope described this action of carrying the cross as “ambivalent” because the man from Cyrene “was forced to carry the cross: he did not help Jesus out of conviction, but out of coercion.”On the other hand, “he then becomes personally involved in the Lord’s passion,” so that “Jesus’ cross becomes Simon’s cross. He was not the Simon, called Peter, who had promised to follow the Master at all times.That Simon disappeared on the night of betrayal, even after he had exclaimed: “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death”. Yet the Master had clearly taught: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me”. Simon of Galilee spoke but did not act. Simon of Cyrene acts but does not speak. Between him and Jesus, there is no dialogue; not a single word is spoken. Between him and Jesus, there is only the wood of the cross.””The cross of wood that Simon of Cyrene bore is the cross of Christ, who himself bore the sins of all humanity,” the Pope emphasized, recalling that Christ carries the cross “for love of us, in obedience to the Father, he suffered with us and for us. It is precisely in this unexpected and astonishing way, Simon of Cyrene becomes part of the history of salvation, in which no one is a stranger, no one a foreigner.”And when “we see the great crowds of men and women whom hatred and violence are compelling to walk the road to Calvary, let us remember that God has made this road a place of redemption, for he walked it himself, giving his life for us. How many Simons of Cyrene are there in our own day, bearing the cross of Christ on their shoulders! Can we recognize them? Can we see the Lord in their faces, marred by the burden of war and deprivation?Faced with the appalling injustice of evil, we never carry the cross of Christ in vain; on the contrary, it is the most tangible way for us to share in his redemptive love.” Jesus’ passion “becomes compassion whenever we hold out our hand to those who feel they cannot go on, when we lift up those who have fallen, when we embrace those who are discouraged.””In order to experience this great miracle of mercy, let us decide how we are meant to carry our own cross during this Holy Week: if not on our shoulders, in our hearts. And not only our cross, but also the cross of those who suffer all around us; perhaps even the cross of some unknown person whom chance — but is it really chance? — has placed on our way. Let us prepare for the Lord’s paschal mystery by becoming each of us, for one another, a Simon of Cyrene,” the Pope concluded.In the text of the reflection prepared for the recitation of the Angelus, released for the ninth consecutive Sunday only in written form, the Pontiff thanks all the faithful for their prayers on his behalf: “At this time of physical weakness, they help me to feel God’s closeness, compassion and tenderness even more. I too am praying for you, and I ask you to entrust all those who suffer to the Lord together with me, especially those affected by war, poverty or natural disasters.”The Bishop of Rome then turned his thoughts to Santo Domingo: “May God receive in His peace the victims of the collapse of a building in Santo Domingo, and comfort their families.” Then the appeal for peace, beginning with Africa: “The 15th of April will mark the second sad anniversary of the beginning of the conflict in Sudan, in which thousands have been killed and millions of families have been forced to flee their homes. The suffering of children, women and vulnerable people cries out to heaven and begs us to act. I renew my appeal to the parties involved, that they may end the violence and embark on paths of dialogue, and to the international community, so that the help needed may be provided to the populations.And let us also remember Lebanon, where the tragic civil war began fifty years ago: with God’s help, may it live in peace and prosperity.””May peace come at last to martyred Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, the Democratic Republic of Congo, to Myanmar, to South Sudan. May Mary, Mother of Sorrows, obtain this grace for us and help us to live this Holy Week with faith,” is the plea at the end of Pope Francis’s text. (F.B.) (Agenzia Fides, 13/4/2026)
Share:
Source: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe – OSCE
Headline: ODIHR opens limited election observation mission in Poland
Warsaw, 14 April 2025 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today opened a limited election observation mission for the 18 May 2025 presidential election in Poland, following an invitation from the national authorities.
The mission is led by Dunja Mijatović and consists of 12 international experts based in Warsaw and 16 long-term observers, who will be deployed throughout the country from 19 April.
The mission will assess the election for its compliance with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards, as well as with national legislation. Observers will follow voter registration, candidate registration, campaign activities, including online, the work of the election administration and relevant state bodies, implementation of the legislative framework, political and campaign finance and the resolution of election disputes. They will also assess the implementation of previous ODIHR recommendations. Comprehensive media monitoring forms an integral part of the observation.
Meetings with representatives of national authorities, political parties, as well as with representatives from the judiciary, civil society and the media will take place throughout the observation. On election day itself, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will join efforts with the ODIHR mission.
The limited election observation format is used where concerns identified in ODIHR’s pre-election needs assessment centre on the pre-election environment, election preparations, the campaign, media coverage, and the handling of election disputes, and do not focus on the voting process on election day. In line with ODIHR’s methodology for this observation format, there will therefore be no systematic or comprehensive observation of the voting, counting and tabulation on election day, although mission members will observe in a number of polling stations across the country to follow election day procedures.
An interim report will be published to update the public and the media during the course of the observation. The day after the election, a statement of preliminary findings will be presented at a press conference. A final report summing up the observation of the entire electoral process will be published some months after the election process has ended.
Further information on ODIHR’s election observation activities in Poland is available here: https://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/poland
Media contacts:
Egor Tilpunov, Media Analyst: egor.tilpunov@odihr-leom.pl and +48 724 530 079
or
Katya Andrusz, ODIHR Spokesperson, katya.andrusz@odihr.pl and +48 609 522 266
Source: Traditional Unionist Voice – Northern Ireland
Statement by TUV Leader Jim Allister:
“Rory McIlroy’s dramatic victory at the Masters is a remarkable sporting achievement. In securing the grand slam of golfing titles, Rory has written himself into the sporting history books. This is an achievement of which he, of course, will be personally, deeply proud and, because he has never forgotten his Holywood roots, it is something the people of Northern Ireland will feel they can celebrate along with him.
“Given that only a handful of golfers in the world have ever achieved this feat, attention will now turn to how the success will be marked. There is an onus on Stormont to ensure that there is a suitable homecoming celebration for Rory and that his sporting success is capitalised on in such a way so as to inspire local young people to emulate his success.”
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Press release
UK Government statement on denial of UK MP to enter Hong Kong
The UK Government has issued a response after a UK MP was refused entry to Hong Kong.
A Government spokesperson said:
During his visit to mainland China and Hong Kong Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security the Rt Hon Douglas Alexander relayed our immediate and deep concern regarding MP Wera Hobhouse denial of entry into Hong Kong. Minister Alexander raised our concerns and demanded an explanation with senior Chinese and Hong Kong interlocutors including Hong Kong’s Chief Secretary for Administration, to understand why the Hong Kong authorities refused access to a British MP.
It is deeply concerning that a UK MP was refused permission to enter Hong Kong last week. Unjustified restrictions on the freedom of movement for UK citizens into Hong Kong only serves to further undermine Hong Kong’s international reputation and the important people-people connections between the UK and Hong Kong.
As the Foreign Secretary has made clear, and Minister Alexander relayed in person, it would be unacceptable for any MP to be denied entry for simply expressing their views.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Scientists comment on the British Steel factory situation.
Dr Julian Steer, a Research Fellow from Cardiff University’s School of Engineering, said:
How hot do the blast furnaces get? How do the blast furnaces work? And why do we need these certain ores/materials to keep them running?
“The hottest part of the furnace can get to temperatures of up to 2200°C; the blast furnace converts Iron Oxide, supplied as Iron ore, to Iron by a counter current chemical reduction reaction where raw materials descend through the furnace as hot gases rise up through the furnace. The blast furnace is a very well optimized process that requires the reactions to occur at an even rate throughout the process. To do this, raw materials are selected based on the properties needed to produce iron continuously and efficiently.”
Why are the blast furnaces so difficult to switch back on if they turn off?
“The size, dimensions, and complex reactions in the blast furnace mean that heat distribution and heat transfer through the furnace are absolutely critical to stable iron production. Raw materials are continuously added to the top of the furnace as hot molten iron is continuously tapped from the bottom, the shear scale of this process means that the distribution of the heat through the furnace is critical at all times.”
Why is it crucial that they need to mobilise these supplies of fuel etc.?
“The production efficiency and stability of the whole process of iron production requires careful raw material selection to maintain consistent, and uniform reactions through the furnace and process.”
What can the government do if these blast furnace turn cold?
“If the furnace goes cold, the molten materials inside become solid, blocking the furnace and making any form of restart very difficult, costly and potentially terminally damaging to the furnace.”
Dr Abigail K Ackerman, Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow, Department of Materials, Imperial College London, said:
Blast Furnace Operation:
“A blast furnace is used to convert iron ore (hematite, Fe2O3) to pig iron (Fe) by mixing it with coke (carbon), limestone and hot air.
“Limestone is used to remove impurities, forming slag which is a waste material. The slag collects impurities, primarily silica, and is removed and used in construction materials like cement.
“The coke, which is a derivative of coal, reacts with the hot air, which is blown in at the bottom of the furnace at around 1000degC, and forms carbon monoxide (CO). The carbon monoxide reacts with the iron ore to produce molten iron and CO2, which is released as gas.
“The resultant molten liquid iron ore is tapped out at the bottom of the furnace, and is referred to as pig iron.”
Blast Furnace Temperatures:
“Blast furnaces have ‘heat zones’ in order to drive the different chemical reactions which occur within the furnaces. They are set up in a large chimney like structure and have 3 main zones:
“Top (throat) – 200degC to 600degC – Raw materials are poured in
“Middle (Stack) – 600degC to 1200degC – Iron ore starts to reduce forming gases (mainly CO) and the initial reduction of iron ore occurs. The initial reaction has the iron ore (Fe2O3) eventually reducing to FeO.
“Middle (Bosh) – 1200degC to 1600degC – The main chemical reaction occurs, where FeO reduced to Fe. The slag forms here, where limestone reacts with impurities.
“Bottom (Hearth) – up to 2000degC – Hot air (1000degC to 1200degC) is blown in at the bottom of the furnace, which causes the coke to combust and release heat and CO2.
“The molten iron and slag are collected. The slag is lighter that the molten iron so is floats on top of it and can be collected by tapping, or drilling a hole, above the molten iron and allowing the slag to flow out..
“The molten pig iron is removed by tapping, or drilling, a hole in the bottom of the furnace, and flows through guide channels to be collected and transferred to a basic oxygen furnace (BOF) to mix with carbon and make steel.
“Tap holes are made roughly every couple of hours, and then plugged back up with a clay mixture to contain the heat and molten materials in the furnace.
Essential Materials:
“Coking coal, iron ore and limestone are essential to keep the blast furnaces in Scunthorpe running, and these are the critical raw materials that are being sourced. Without these materials in the correct amounts, the chemical reaction will be disrupted and the furnace will cool as the chemical reaction absorbs heat, which is provided by the burning of coke.”
Why can’t you let it go cold?
“The high temperature of the blast furnace means the iron and slag are molten at the bottom, they are in liquid form at around 1500degC. If the furnace is allowed to cool, these materials solidify and can stick to the interior of the furnace. When the metal cools it contracts, which can cause the lining of the furnace to become damaged resulting in expensive repairs to the furnace interior before it can be heated up again.
“Additionally, blast furnaces have various inlets and outlets for pumping in hot air and extracting the molten material. When this solidifies, these can become blocked and are extremely difficult and costly to fix.
“The chemical reaction is disrupted when the furnace goes cold, and restarting this reaction can be complicated due to the heat required to melt the solicited materials, and the balance of gas and materials needed to obtain the correct chemical reaction.
“Finally, a large amount of fuel is required to restart a furnace, which is costly, and it can take anything from days to weeks to get the furnace back up to temperature and getting the correct chemical reaction to occur. It takes much more energy to melt the materials back down than to keep them at temperature. And, of course, there’s a loss of production which costs money.”
Why is it crucial to keep the Scunthorpe furnaces running?
“The Scunthorpe blast furnaces are the last remaining blast furnaces operating in the UK, and therefore the only method for the UK to produce ‘virgin’ steel, which is steel that has not been used in any other process. Other steel producers in the UK, such as TATA, have moved to using recycled steel and electric arc furnaces (EAF). Without the Scunthorpe plant, there will be an impact of the supply chain of steel to essential services such as construction, rail and defence. There will also be an impact on the Scunthorpe community, with a loss of work for the many steelworkers.”
What can the Government do if they turn cold?
“If the furnaces go cold, the options are to restart the furnaces, which will be more costly that obtaining the raw materials required to continue steel production due to the damage that will occur within the furnace from the solidification of the iron and slag, and the large amount of energy required to restart the furnaces.
“The government can choose to change the type of steel production to, for example, recycled steel using EAFs, like Port Talbot, however this will most likely result in job losses, economic impact on the people of Scunthorpe and the UK economy, and significant disruption to the UK supply chain. There is also not enough scrap steel to supply EAFs, so primary virgin steel will need to be sourced from elsewhere. The National Grid is also not set up to supply the energy required to fuel EAFs at this scale so it would be a timely and costly option.
“There is also the option to start producing green steel, which uses hydrogen as a reduction agent rather than coal based coke. However, this requires a large amount of hydrogen and the UK hydrogen economy is not set up for this scale of production currently. Nevertheless, this is the best option for long term CO2 goals.
“Finally, there is the option to close British Steel. This would again have a significant impact on the UK economy, supply chain and the local area. The loss of steel sovereignty could impact the supply chain in the long run as there would be an increased dependence on external steel suppliers, which is impacted by geopolitics.”
Prof Barbara Rossi, Associate Professor of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, said:
“Steel is the most commonly used metal in the world. Blast furnaces and electric arc furnaces are present everywhere, all over the world. There is worldwide 1.9 billion tonnes of crude steel produced per annum. UK in 2020 (then still a EU member state) was the 8th largest steel producer in the European union, which produced in total >150 million tonnes of steel in 2019, only 8% of the world total. Japan alone produced roughly 100 million tonnes, while the biggest steel producing country is currently China, which accounted for above 50% of world steel production in 2020. Globally, the steel industry emits 25% of all industrial greenhouse gases, which is more than any other industrial sector.
“The construction sector is the largest steel using sector and that is not likely to change. It accounts for more than 50% of the world steel demand, with the other major uses being the manufacture of vehicles, industrial equipment and final goods. The global population is forecast to increase to more than 9 billion people over the next 40 years. The population growth rate in Europe (and the UK) is only expected to start decreasing slightly by 2050. And, by then, about 75% will live in cities (~50% today). We still have to build the buildings and infrastructures for these cities and replace those that are damaged. When our country needs more and more new homes, new buildings, new infrastructure, we will have to go higher, more slender and leaner in dense populated areas and the need for ultra-strong and highly ductile materials like steel will become increasingly pressing.
“Steel is indefinitely recyclable, and, while it is recycled, it does not lose its performance which is an extraordinary ability inexplicably often ignored. It isn’t the case of most construction materials: other than steel, aluminium or stainless steel, you can only recycle glass indefinitely provided that you sort the type of glass appropriately. Steel is not just downcycled into a less noble material, just like an old jewel can be turned into a new one, steel can be melted over and over again.
“Recycled steel is one of the industry’s most important raw materials. We have accumulated almost 1 billion tonnes of steel only in the UK, all of which must be recycled, and, today, we generate about 10 million tonnes of scrap a year. Studies show that in the next 10-15 years, that availability of steel scrap will rise from 10 million to 20 million tonnes (global flow of steel scrap are likely to treble in the next 30 years) because all the steel made in the past will be recycled. In 2018, in Europe, this exceeded 110 million tonnes, showing that there is no scrap shortage. Despite its weak position in the scene of steel production, this is one of the advantages by which the UK could profit in the current global change of steel production.
“We have already produced the steel that we will need tomorrow. With increased availability of scrap and under our nation’s commitment to cut its domestic emissions by 2050, we can anticipate a global shift from blast furnace to electric arc furnace production. Roughly 2/3 of today’s liquid steel is made from iron ore, with the rest made from scrap, but at present >50% of the scrap originates from the manufacturing process, rather than from end-of-life recuperation. This is even though (1) on average, steel products have an approximate life horizon of 35-40 years, before being scrapped, and (2), apart from ~10% of steel that is buried (e.g., oil pipes or in building foundations), most end-of-life steel can be easily collected for recycling. Even if the total demand for steel production will increase, one can demonstrate that if most old steel is recycled, future requirements could be met entirely through increased production from scrap via electric arc furnaces. In America today, >50% of all domestic steel demand is already made by recycling domestic scrap. And since steel recycling causes significantly less greenhouse gas emissions than blast furnaces (topped by the fact that the UK already produces low emissions electricity grid, with high potential for further improvement, so recycling steel in the UK today leads to a reduction in emissions of > 2/3 compared to global average primary steel), UK need for steel recycling can be expected to grow significantly and rapidly. This will increase with more renewable generation capacity and will grow strategically important as global pressure to alleviate climate change increases.
“UK’s commitment to decarbonization need to address the emissions which are released from within UK borders. Although closing steel plants in the UK would lead to a reduction in the emissions, our future demand for steel may lead to higher global emissions if the emissions intensity in other countries is greater than that in the UK. Rather than providing extensive efforts in technologies allowing reduced emissions in primary production which require major capital investment, a more effective contribution to global mitigation would be to produce our domestic steel through electric arc furnaces combined with a massive decrease of their emissions which are directly linked to the emissions intensity of local electricity generation.
“There is nonetheless a technical limitation on the extent to which scrap can be substituted for iron ore: contaminants. Scrap composed of large pieces such as that from construction, have well controlled composition while scrap collecting from mixed waste streams have higher levels of contamination. The latter is usually sourced when scrap prices are high. As a consequence of contamination, the degree to which recycled steel can replace primary steel is capped by the inability of (a) imperfect control of metal composition in scrap steel collection and (b) today’s technologies to adjust the chemical composition of liquid steel produced with electric arc furnaces. Therefore, steel scrap supplies have to date been mostly absorbed by the lowest grade products (such as reinforcement bars).
“It is possible to vaporise unwanted metal contaminants from liquid steel by vacuum arc re-melting. This is already a commercial strength in the UK and used for making some of the highest quality steels for e.g., aerospace components. The innovation opportunity is to replicate this success at higher speed and lower cost. Other processes than vacuum arc re-melting have been tested in research laboratories but were abandoned due to lack of economic incentive. The UK, with its high volumes of scrap and its commitment to act on climate mitigation is well placed to lead the development of these technologies.
“We cannot replace steel, it’s ridiculously cheap, ultra-strong and highly ductile, and completely recyclable, fitting into any story about a circular economy. Not a single construction material taken alone can compete with steel today. But we can produce low carbon steel and build better structures, lasting longer, not harming our environment. If UK would recycle its own scrap to deliver high-quality steel satisfying its domestic demand in a closed loop it would lead to massive decrease of UK Iron and Steel emissions. This necessitates to (a) establish low-carbon steelmaking plants based on electric arc furnace, (b) develop technologies to make high quality steel from recycled scrap, i.e., examine and mitigate the causes of scrap contamination and develop the opportunities to control the chemical composition of liquid steel made via electric arc furnace, and (c) develop innovative business models to allow UK downstream steel supply-chains to prosper.”
Declared interests
Dr Julian Steer: in receipt of funding from British Steel to measure, and optimise, the performance and selection of their injection coals.
For all other experts, no reply to our request for DOIs was received.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Press release
Government steps in to back British business in changing world
The Chancellor announces a multi-billion-pound increase in government-backed financing.
British businesses across the country have today been given further stability and certainty with access to new support through a multi-billion-pound increase in government-backed financing as the world enters a new era of global trade.
The new package will give UK Export Finance (UKEF) the power to expand financing support for British businesses by £20 billion, with small businesses also able to access loans of up to £2 million through the British Business Bank’s Growth Guarantee Scheme.
Thousands of companies are expected to benefit from the move, including those directly affected by tariffs – with iconic British brands like Rolls Royce through to local businesses like Alicat Workboats previously benefitting from similar programmes.
Today’s boost reaffirms government’s commitment to free and open trade, and means an £80 billion boost for businesses, meaning they can access government-backed finance and support to grow their presence both domestically and overseas, create new jobs and drive economic growth as part of the Plan for Change.
New measures come as prime minister goes further and faster to boost growth, working in partnership with business to deliver it.
This week alone has seen swift and decisive action from the government to protect UK businesses and workers by:
Taking action to keep British Steel operating, saving thousands of jobs
Increasing flexibility on the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate to help British carmakers
Cutting the red tape that slows down clinical trials in the life sciences sector
Investing up to £600 million in a new Health Data Research Service
Backing a £30 million package to support the reopening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport which is expected to support 5,000 jobs and boost the economy by £5 billion
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves said:
The world is changing, which is why it is more important than ever to back our world-leading businesses and support them to navigate the challenges ahead.
Today’s announcement will do that just, with thousands of businesses right across the country set to benefit.
We are going further and faster to boost growth, but we cannot do it alone. Only by working with businesses will we achieve our Plan for Change and put more money into people’s pockets.
Business and Trade Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds said:
Our message to British business is clear – we’ve got your back. This package, backed by the British Business Bank and UKEF, will be a crucial shot in the arm to exporters and small firms looking to trade around the world.
Within a changing world, we need to adapt, and as part of our Plan for Change, this Government is responding. These changes will help to boost growth support jobs and supercharge thousands of businesses across all four corners of the country.
UKEF will also offer businesses partial loan guarantees through more flexible uses of its Export Development Guarantee, helping to mitigate the impact of new tariffs and associated economic uncertainty. Of the £80 billion, up to £10 billion will be allocated to ensure that businesses significantly impacted in the short term by the current situation have access to the finance they need to grow.
The British Business Bank will also expand its Growth Guarantee Scheme by £500 million, which will provide vital finance for smaller businesses as they look to invest and grow. This scheme provides the lender with a 70% government-backed guarantee against loans or other types of finance, enabling lenders to support smaller businesses that would struggle to obtain financing through traditional means – and has so far enabled more than £2.1 billion of lending.
This comes on top of £1 billion of funding for British Business Bank programmes for this financial year, confirmed at Autumn Budget 2024. This includes additional support for smaller housebuilders through the ENABLE Build programme, funding for Start Up Loans and additional funding for three equity programmes supporting innovative high growth businesses
This week, the Chancellor and Business and Trade Secretary also took part in the 13th UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) in order to strengthen ties between the two countries. In addition to India, the UK is negotiating trade deals with partners including the Gulf Cooperation Council, South Korea and Switzerland, which will give businesses more opportunities than ever before to expand into new markets.
A document which outlines how planners engage with residents, businesses, groups and stakeholders is being updated to help streamline the planning process and enable decision to be made quicker.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council is currently in the process of updating its Statement of Community Involvement which formally sets out how it will engage with individuals and organisations when preparing local planning policy documents and in the planning application decision-making process.
The document – which was previously updated in 2021 – is being reviewed in line with legislation, national planning policy and best practice guidance.
As part of the review process, the council is now carrying out a public consultation and inviting people to have their say on the draft Stoke-on-Trent Statement of Community Involvement 2025.
Councillor Chris Robinson, cabinet member for housing and planning at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: “The review of our Statement of Community Involvement is something we have to do legally – all local planning authorities are required to review the document at least once every five years.
“This consultation process is essential to help improve understanding and openness of the planning process, which impacts everybody who lives in, works in or visit our city and ensure that we are effectively engaging on planning matters which affect our local communities.
“I would encourage as many people as possible to provide us with feedback through this consultation and help us shape this service for the future.”
Alternatively, for more information, email the planning policy team at planning.policy@stoke.gov.uk or call 01782 233905.
Following the consultation process, the Stoke-on-Trent Statement of Community Involvement 2025 will be finalised and published on the council’s website.
The council has been granted £545,502 through West Midlands Combined Authority’s Net Zero Neighbourhood Fund for Graiseley Low Carbon Energy Accelerator Pilot (LEAP).
This phase is for data gathering within a small cluster of streets in Graiseley, while some eligible properties will be offered energy advice, retrofit assessments and supported with low cost energy saving improvements.
Following this stage, and subject to additional funding, further measures will be explored for a potential roll out of upgrades to properties from 2026 onwards.
The pilot neighbourhood includes Lime Street, Fisher Street, Bristol Street, Manlove Street, Cardiff Street and Bingley Street, and sections of Lea Road, Owen Road, Burleigh Road, Norfolk Road, and Merridale Street West.
It will involve working with residents and businesses to investigate how measures such as home energy improvements, smart energy systems, active travel, community events and better green spaces can improve lives.
A series of public events will be held for people within the neighbourhood to get involved, which will be advertised in the coming weeks.
The findings of the pilot will lead to a model that can benefit the whole city – helping cut energy bills, make energy supplies more resilient and create green jobs.
Councillor Qaiser Azeem, Cabinet Member for Transport and Green City at City of Wolverhampton Council, said: “I am delighted we have secured this funding and am excited to see the opportunities and benefits it can bring, and the lessons we can learn as part of our collaborative, city-wide Our Net Zero City 2041 efforts with communities and technical advisors.
“We want residents and businesses to be well informed and empowered to take climate action that can make a positive difference to their lives, and they will be at the centre of making this project a success.”
City of Wolverhampton Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for City Housing, Councillor Steve Evans, said: “Helping create neighbourhoods with more energy efficient homes, reducing fuel poverty for vulnerable residents is very important to us.
“The data gathering phase of this trailblazing project will allow us to see how measures such as better insulation or rooftop solar panels and heat pumps could make a big difference to lives.”
Councillor Jasbir Jaspal, Cabinet Member for Adults and Wellbeing at City of Wolverhampton Council, said: “Looking at how we can make improvements to create better insulated, warmer properties that are cheaper to heat can have a positive effect on health reducing the risk of respiratory illnesses.
“Creating greener more welcoming spaces through more tree planting and pocket parks is also known to boost wellbeing and happiness.”
Anyone struggling in the cost of living crisis can find advice via Cost of Living Support.
The Capital is once again searching for a worthy recipient of the coveted Edinburgh Award, with nominations for this year opening today (Monday 14 April).
Since 2007, this accolade has honoured individuals who have made remarkable and lasting contributions to the city, putting Edinburgh firmly on the national and global map.
The Edinburgh Award celebrates those whose outstanding achievements have enriched our capital and showcased it to the world. Past recipients have included extraordinary musicians, bestselling authors, pioneering scientists, human rights activists, and top-tier athletes – all of whom have left an indelible mark on Edinburgh’s legacy – and all have a cast of their handprints imprinted in flagstones in front of the City Chambers.
In 2024, the Edinburgh Award was presented to Mel Young MBE, a visionary leader who has transformed lives through the Homeless World Cup. The global initiative now spans 70 countries, empowering over 100,000 homeless individuals annually.
Mel’s co-founding of the Big Issue in Scotland in1993 and leadership as Chair of Sportscotland between 2016 and 2024 also exemplify his profound impact on the city.
Edinburgh has four weeks to cast nominations for the 2025 award, before a recipient is selected by the Civic Awards Committee.
The Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh, Robert Aldridge has urged individuals and businesses to nominate someone for the Award:
Edinburgh’s global influence over the last two centuries is thanks to the exceptional character, achievements, and excellence of our citizens. The Edinburgh Award gives us a chance to honour the individual whose work continues to make Edinburgh the extraordinary city we all know and love. I am continually inspired by the way Edinburgh’s people support one another, and this award reflects that community spirit.
We are now in the 19th edition of the Edinburgh Award, and I invite everyone to nominate someone who has truly made a difference to our city. Now is your chance to help identify the next individual to be celebrated with the Edinburgh Award 2025.
Nominations open today Monday 14 April and close at 12 noon on Friday 16 May 2025.
Leicester City Council is working with leading UK skatepark specialists Maverick Industries to create the new facility at St Margaret’s Pastures sports grounds, off St Margaret’s Way.
Construction of the new skatepark is now well underway and it is expected to open to the public from July.
The new skatepark – which will be completely free to use – will include flat bank ramps, grind rails and ledges, a stair set, a wheelie or ‘manny’ pad and an impressive quarter pipe that will run the full length of one end of the facility. Its specially laid surface will also feature a bold colourful design.
City Mayor Peter Soulsby said: “The new skatepark is now taking shape and it will be fantastic to see it complete and in use this summer.
“St Margaret’s Pastures is already home to several well-used sports pitches and facilities and it made good sense to use a vacant part of the site to expand the range of outdoor activities on offer.
“Maverick are experts in their field and the design they have developed for this new skatepark is very impressive. They’ve listened very carefully to what skaters and other enthusiasts want from a new facility.”
As part of its initial design process, Maverick carried out an online survey and collected feedback from over 570 respondents ranging from beginner to expert skaters, as well as BMX and scooter riders.
Sam Reynolds, director at Maverick, said: “There’s a real sense of excitement for a new purpose-built skatepark in Leicester and we’re dedicated to creating a space that best serves the area.
“The enthusiastic response to our online survey – the largest we’ve seen in the UK – has been key in shaping a design the community can be passionate about. We are stoked to have the new skatepark ready for people to enjoy this summer.”
The new skatepark is being built on an area of council-owned land currently leased to Leicester Hockey Club, immediately next to its Olympic standard pitch.
Located close to the city centre, the new facility will be easily accessible by foot, bike or skateboard and is near to car parking and toilets.
The city council approved funding of £375,000 for the scheme in 2022, under cash set aside for people and neighbourhoods policy provision.
[Ends]
Top picture:(from left) Mohd Bin Jalil, Leicester City Council construction project manager; John Squires, Leicester City Council technical project manager; City Mayor Peter Soulsby; Dan Castle, Maverick Industries site foreman; Mark Clogg, Maverick Industries director and health and safety officer.
Bottom picture:Artist’s impression showing how the skatepark will look.
THERE’S lots going on in Leicester during the school holidays this Easter that’s completely free for children and families to enjoy.
At the Kingfisher Youth & Community Centre on the Saffron estate today (Monday 14 April), there’s a Safer Saffron Community Day, with everyone welcome to join free activities including sport, music and games between 12 noon and 4pm.
Booking is required at a free event atBraunstone librarytoday (Monday 14 April), when youngsters will be able to decorate wooden eggs, bunnies and Easter bonnets. Also today (Monday),there’s a drop-in session to make bunny hats and Easter wreaths atBeaumont Leys libraryfrom 2pm-3.30pm.
On Tuesday 15 April, there are Easter crafts at bothEvingtonandHighfieldslibraries (booking required), there’s Easter fun atKnightonandBraunstonelibraries (booking required), while Belgrave library invites those aged seven and over to use their STEM skills in a freeGangsta Granny activity(booking required).
At Newarke Houses Museum, also on Tuesday 15 April, youngsters can make their own bunny mask and follow the Easter trail. Tickets for theEaster Eggstravaganzaare £4 when booked online (£5 on the door).
The following day – Wednesday 16 April – there’s anEaster Fun Dayat the Guildhall, with arts and crafts and the chance to make a hatching chick and a mini Easter basket. Tickets are £4 when booked online (£5 on the door).
Belgrave Hall hosts itsHoppy Easterevent on Thursday 17 April, with bunny races on the lawn, face painting and lots of garden games. Tickets are £4 per child when booked online (£5 on the door).
Railway enthusiasts will be able to hop on board the train at Abbey Pumping Station on Tuesday 22 April, with a specialEaster Holiday Railway Day. Rides on the pumping station’s narrow gauge railway are just 50p and the fun runs from 11.30am to 4pm.
There’s the chance toplay with clay at Belgrave Hallon Wednesday 23 April, while the Guildhall hosts itsArty Play Fun Dayon Thursday 24 April, when children will be able to create a fun design on a t-shirt brought from home. For both events, tickets cost £4 per child when booked online (£5 on the door).
Those aged nine and over can help build the cardboard components needed for a stunning reconstruction of the entrance to Leicester’s long-gone Roman forum next week.
From Easter Monday (21 April) until Friday 25 April, celebrated visual artist Olivier Grossetête will leada series of free workshopsat the Highcross shopping centre, where families will be able to help him make the arches, balconies and roofs required for the giant structure.
People of any age are then invited to drop in to Jubilee Square on Saturday 26 April to help the artist tape the cardboard sections together – returning on Sunday 27 April to take part in the artwork’s dramatic dismantling.
TheOld Town Festivalitself (26-27 April) will incorporate traditions to mark St George’s Day, including a fire-breathing dragon and a gallant knight, as well as a celebration of the city’s fascinating Roman heritage, with Olivier Grossetête’s spectacular cardboard archway at its heart.
Taking place on Jubilee Square and sites within the city’s Old Town, the free festival will feature a living history Roman camp, an artisan craft market, hands-on archaeology and themed storytelling.
And there’s a Roman theme for a free guided bike ride on Sunday 20 April, with Leicester’s Roman heritage brought to life by Hidden Histories’ Jim Butler. Places must be booked at letsride.co.uk/rides and children under 16 must wear a helmet and be accompanied by an adult.
On Saturday 26 April, the whole family is invited to join the Old Town Festival’s Roman Bike Parade – an easy circular ride that starts at the Town Hall Bike Park at 12 noon. Book your place on the parade at letsride.co.uk/rides
The Haymarket shopping centre has organised lots of free activities for the Easter break too, including Easter egg decorating on Saturday 19 April and puppet-making for St George’s Day on Wednesday 23 April.
It’s also going Roman, with a free family event on Thursday 24 April that will feature stilt-walking Roman statues, some hilarious gladiators and a friendly dragon called Smokey, while on Friday and Saturday (25-26 April), youngsters can help create a fabulous fabric Roman mosaic.
The last few weeks have given me so many reasons to be proud of our region but my recent trips to the MIPIM Real Estate Summit and China have really brought this home for me.
I’ve been reminded of just how much Derby has to offer not only to the rest of the UK but internationally. We’re seeing record rates of investment into our city by key players who also recognise the potential of our relatively small but very mighty city.
MIPIM, the world’s leading real estate event, gave Team Derby the opportunity to spend time with potential investors, not only telling them all about Derby’s incredible regeneration story, but taking time to listen to what they have to say. The event was the perfect opportunity to launch Derby’s ‘City Centre First for Offices’ prospectus, showcasing office opportunities and supporting a drive to get more people into our city centre and supporting the local economy. A big thanks once again to Marketing Derby for coordinating Derby’s part in the event.
We’re passionate about collaboration and partnership so it’s important to learn what our potential investors think. The message was loud and clear from investors and developers alike: stability and confidence is key. This has been crucial in attracting the big investors and names we see here now and those in the pipeline. Finally, we are a city on the up!
Whilst in China, I had the opportunity to spend time with trade leaders discussing potential investments into our region and strengthening partnerships that will unlock new opportunities for our economic growth. The week-long visit had a packed agenda, and we six Mayors and Deputy Mayors worked really hard to promote our regions and the UK as a prime place to invest.
The trip was a significant step forwards in the UK’s efforts to secure its position as a global leader in trade, technology, and innovation – setting the stage for a new era of international collaboration. I’m confident that by forging deeper ties with China, we can revitalise the UK’s economic foundations by boosting trade, creating new jobs and securing investment opportunities that will ensure long-term prosperity.
It was a fantastic opportunity and I’m very excited to see the impact that these two trips will have on our city over the coming months and years.
Of course, I can’t talk about the last few weeks without mentioning our wonderful new city centre venue! It was thrilling to attend the Vaillant Live opening event at the start of this month and see the venue alive with people having a fantastic time. Thinking back to what the site looked like the first time I visited in June 2023, the transformation that has taken place is staggering and I’m so proud of all we’ve achieved. The excitement really was palpable on opening day and the feedback that we’ve received has been overwhelmingly positive.
This is yet another example of international players, such as ASM Global and Vaillant, choosing to invest into Derby. With their headquarters in Belper and manufacturing site at Indurent Park Derby, Vaillant have already invested heavily in Derbyshire, and I’m pleased to see this continue into the Becketwell development. I was able to go along to the opening of Vaillant’s heat pump manufacturing site, which is just outside of the city centre, at the end of March and see first-hand the impact of their investment.
Looking ahead, I’m incredibly excited for the Market Hall re-opening next month and cannot wait for everyone to see all the hard work that has been poured into revitalising one of our beloved buildings. We made our intention to transform our city centre into a vibrant heart very clear when we came into power almost two years ago and it’s fantastic to see this start to come to life.
Confidence in Derby as a vibrant, pioneering city and a centre for manufacturing excellence is sky-high right now. Backed by support from partners locally and across the globe, we’re creating a vibrant city centre with culture at its heart and I’m very proud to be a part of the journey.
(Joshua Quek and Edmund Tan, Operations Managers of Primech A & P)
SINGAPORE, April 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Primech Holdings Limited (the “Company”) (Nasdaq: PMEC), an established technology-driven facility services provider in the public and private sectors operating mainly in Singapore, today announced its strategic transformation initiatives that are revolutionizing the industry through cutting-edge innovation, operational excellence, and sustainable growth strategies.
“We’re not just adapting to the future of facility services—we’re actively creating it,” said Mr. Kin Wai Ho, Chief Executive Officer of Primech Holdings. “Through our comprehensive integration of AI, robotics, and digital solutions, Primech A & P is establishing new benchmarks for efficiency, quality, and sustainability in the facility services sector.”
Pioneering Smart Cleaning Through Technology Primech A & P has invested significantly in AI-powered cleaning robots and IoT-enabled monitoring systems operating across high-traffic commercial spaces. These autonomous solutions ensure consistent hygiene standards while effectively addressing labor shortages in the industry.
The Company’s technological ecosystem includes:
Cloud-based workforce management systems for real-time operations tracking
Equipment health monitoring via software API to minimize downtime
Resource allocation optimization through performance metrics analysis
This digital transformation has enhanced service delivery while optimizing operational costs, directly benefiting customers through higher quality and more reliable facility services.
Excellence Through People and Performance Primech A & P’s market leadership is built on a foundation of workforce development and superior service standards. The Company has implemented comprehensive training and upskilling programs that equip employees with cutting-edge industry knowledge and technological expertise.
The Company currently maintains facilities at several of Singapore’s most prestigious locations, including:
Singapore’s internationally acclaimed airport
Premium commercial office buildings
Essential public spaces, including food courts
Private residential condominiums
Government housing developments
Strategic Expansion into High-Value Sectors As part of its growth strategy, Primech A & P is actively expanding into specialized sectors requiring advanced cleaning solutions:
Healthcare and Hospitals: Providing hygiene-critical cleaning for medical facilities, laboratories, and pharmaceutical environments
Road Sweeping Innovation: Conducting in-depth assessments to drive technological advancements in public infrastructure maintenance
High-Tech Environments: Delivering precision cleaning for semiconductor cleanrooms and cloud data centers
Luxury Residential and Commercial: Increasing market share in premium property segments
Environmental Leadership Primech A & P has integrated substantial eco-friendly practices into its operations, including:
Deployment of an electric vehicle fleet to reduce carbon emissions
Installation of solar panels at company headquarters
Development of sustainable cleaning methodologies
With a strong market presence, a commitment to AI-driven innovation, and a roadmap for expansion, Primech A & P presents an exciting investment opportunity. The Company’s leadership team continues to drive operational excellence, digital transformation, and sustainable growth—paving the way for the next era of smart cleaning and automation.
Primech A & P is not just shaping the future of facility services—it is revolutionizing the industry through technology, excellence, and forward-thinking solutions.
About Primech Holdings Limited Headquartered in Singapore, Primech Holdings Limited is a leading provider of comprehensive technology-driven facilities services, predominantly serving both public and private sectors throughout Singapore. Primech Holdings offers an extensive range of services tailored to meet the complex demands of its diverse clientele. Services include advanced general facility maintenance services, specialized cleaning solutions such as marble polishing and facade cleaning, meticulous stewarding services, and targeted cleaning services for offices and homes. Known for its commitment to sustainability and cutting-edge technology, Primech Holdings integrates eco-friendly practices and smart technology solutions to enhance operational efficiency and client satisfaction. This strategic approach positions Primech Holdings as a leader in the industry and a proactive contributor to advancing industry standards and practices in Singapore and beyond. For more information, visit www.primechholdings.com.
Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this announcement are forward-looking statements, including, for example, statements about completing the acquisition, anticipated revenues, growth, and expansion. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on the Company’s current expectations and projections about future events that the Company believes may affect its financial condition, results of operations, business strategy, and financial needs. These forward-looking statements are also based on assumptions regarding the Company’s present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future. Investors can find many (but not all) of these statements by the use of words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “likely to” or other similar expressions. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring events or circumstances or changes in its expectations, except as may be required by law. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure that such expectations will be correct. The Company cautions investors that actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results and encourages investors to review other factors that may affect its future results in the Company’s registration statement and other filings with the SEC.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, April 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Red Cat Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: RCAT) (“Red Cat” or “Company”), a drone technology company integrating robotic hardware and software for military, government, and commercial operations, has successfully closed the previously announced registered direct offering with certain institutional investors for the purchase and sale of 4,724,412 shares of common stock resulting in gross proceeds of approximately $30 million, before deducting placement agent fees and other offering expenses. The offering closed on April 11, 2025.
“We believe this financing positions Red Cat for significant growth in the drone industry focused on aerospace and defense technologies, establishing Red Cat as one of the fastest growing drone companies based in the United States,” said Jeff Thompson, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Red Cat.
Red Cat remains focused in the near term on driving growth through being the previously announced sole winner of the U.S. Army Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) Program of Record and will continue to grow sales of its Black Widow, Edge 130 and FANG product offerings and invest in new product offerings.
Red Cat is reiterating its calendar 2025 guidance of $80-120 million, driven by military contracts and strategic partnerships, including the recently announced partnership with Palantir Technologies, which integrates Palantir’s Visual Navigation (VNav) and Warp Speed manufacturing operating system.
Red Cat continues to hire strategic talent, most recently adding Christian Koji Ericson as CFO, previously with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Shawn Webb as President of FlightWave Aerospace, leveraging his 25 years of aerospace and defense experience, including a leadership role at AeroVironment (Nasdaq: AVAV), to enhance the company’s military drone production capabilities.
The Company intends to use net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital.
Northland Capital Markets acted as the exclusive placement agent and Ladenburg Thalmann served as financial advisor for the transaction.
The offering is being made pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-283242), which was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on December 11, 2024. A final prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus relating to the registered direct offering was filed with the SEC and is available on the SEC’s website located at http://www.sec.gov. Additionally, when available, electronic copies of the final prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus may be obtained from Northland Securities, Inc., 150 South Fifth Street, Suite 3300, Minneapolis, MN.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.
About Red Cat Holdings, Inc.
Red Cat (Nasdaq: RCAT) is a drone technology company integrating robotic hardware and software for military, government, and commercial operations. Through two wholly owned subsidiaries, Teal Drones and FlightWave Aerospace, Red Cat has developed a leading-edge Family of Systems. This includes the flagship Black Widow™, a small unmanned ISR system that was awarded the U.S. Army’s Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) Program of Record contract. The Family of Systems also includes TRICHON™, a fixed wing VTOL for extended endurance and range, and FANG™, the industry’s first line of NDAA compliant FPV drones optimized for military operations with precision strike capabilities. Learn more at www.redcat.red.
Safe Harbor Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” that are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release may be identified by the use of words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “seek,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “target,” “aim,” “should,” “will” “would,” or the negative of these words or other similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the expected timing of the offering and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions related to the offerings, and our intended use of proceeds from the offering. Forward-looking statements are based on Red Cat Holdings, Inc.’s current expectations and are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. These and other risks and uncertainties are described more fully in the section titled “Risk Factors” in the Form 10-KT filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 31, 2025. Forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are made as of this date, and Red Cat Holdings, Inc. undertakes no duty to update such information except as required under applicable law.
SEATTLE, April 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Overland AI today announced the launch of ULTRA, its fully autonomous tactical vehicle.
ULTRA represents a significant advancement in autonomous ground systems, integrating Overland AI’s proprietary OverDrive software stack, its SPARK hardware infrastructure, and modular payloads that include uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) and counter-UAS systems.
ULTRA, Overland AI’s fully autonomous tactical vehicle, integrates and deploys multiple modular payloads, including UAS for reconnaissance and breaching operations.
“ULTRA can navigate environments ranging from dense forests to volcanic ridges,” said Byron Boots, co-founder and chief executive officer of Overland AI. “This empowers the warfighter to win in crucial contested theaters like the Indo-Pacific while keeping them out of harm’s way.”
ULTRA features a 1,000-pound payload capacity and a top speed of 35 miles per hour, with a cruising range extending to 100 miles. Its off-road autonomy software, developed through extensive and rigorous testing in the DARPA RACER program, enables uncrewed platform movement in GPS-denied environments across brutal terrain and conditions.
ULTRA is a highly sophisticated yet attritable autonomous ground system that is ready today. Here the vehicle accelerates through complex terrain at high speeds without GPS or prior maps.
What sets ULTRA apart is its versatility across critical ground operations, including integrated reconnaissance operations, direct support of maneuver forces, counter-UAS protection, resupply for humanitarian aid, including food and water, and contested logistics missions. The system’s networked capabilities enable seamless communication with warfighters and command nodes through local mesh networks, 5G, and satellite uplinks.
“ULTRA gives commanders an immediately deployable solution for reconnaissance, counter-UAS, and logistics operations,” added Greg Okopal, co-founder and chief operating officer of Overland AI. “The vehicle is backed by resilient, networked communications that extend reach and reduce risk.”
ULTRA supports many use cases and tactical missions for U.S. Armed Forces with a wide variety of payloads for all-domain intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), logistics, counter-UAS, and onboard UAS.
The ULTRA system builds on Overland AI’s established relationship with the U.S. Armed Forces, following the company’s $18.6 million contract with the U.S. Army and Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) for the Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) program. The company continues to support programs across the Army, Marine Corps, and Special Operations Command.
To learn more about ULTRA and Overland AI’s autonomous ground systems, visit www.overland.ai.
About Overland AI Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Overland AI is powering ground operations for modern defense. The company leverages over a decade of advanced research in robotics and machine learning, as well as a field-test forward ethos, to deliver advanced autonomy for unit commanders. Hazardous missions in austere and electronically denied environments demand that this technology is reliable and resilient. Overland AI’s SPARK autonomy upfit and OverDrive stack enable ground vehicles to navigate off-road without GPS or direct operator control. The company built its fully autonomous tactical vehicle, ULTRA, in-house by integrating SPARK and OverDrive into a modular and attritable platform that is currently in production. Overland AI developed OverWatch, its intuitive C2 interface, to provide commanders with the precise coordination of autonomous ground systems that is vital for complex missions to succeed. Overland AI has achieved the end-to-end integration of ground autonomy, from operator to effect, and is putting this capability into the hands of tactical operators today.
PHOENIX, April 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Award-winning real estate technology innovator, Lofty today unveiled a new, fully automated lead generation offering, Lofty Bloom. Designed to drive both hyper-local brand awareness and inbound seller leads, Lofty Bloom combines the power of direct mail campaigns with digital retargeting ads and AI-driven follow up all from one integrated application. This advancement will enable real estate professionals to dominate key zip codes by offering guaranteed exclusivity and positioning agents as the “go-to” local neighborhood expert. To learn more about how Lofty’s innovations can help your agents and teams streamline daily business operations and drive business growth, visit lofty.com.
By combining direct mail and digital ad campaigns with AI-driven follow up, Lofty Bloom can provide the hyper-local marketing boost agents need to stand out. Each zip code comes with guaranteed exclusivity allowing teams to dominate their local area and help sellers get top dollar for their property. As with other Lofty applications, Lofty Bloom is easy-to-use and can be set up quickly to start generating leads.
Unlike other available offerings, Lofty Bloom fully automates marketing campaigns by combining four distinct channels including prospecting, retargeting, follow up, and nurturing. Campaigns are launched automatically, without any agent intervention, based on defined triggers and alerts, to establish a consistent marketing cadence. This includes AI-driven follow up and nurturing activities that run entirely on autopilot.
For example, with Lofty Bloom agents can automatically send out postcards to homeowners in a specified zip code notifying them of just sold and just listed homes in the area – without having to go into the system and execute the task. Postcards include a QR code that directs the recipient to the Home Valuation page on the agent’s Lofty website and serve as an opt in to be contacted and receive marketing communications from the agent. Once the recipient fills out the QR code, Lofty will automatically launch Facebook re-targeting digital ads and leverage Lofty’s award-winning AI technology to follow up, qualify new leads, and schedule appointments.
“Lofty Bloom is the most dynamic, end-to-end digital farming tool, seamlessly combining postcards, digital marketing, AI-powered nurture, and follow-up for exclusive ZIP Code targeting. Designed to engage homeowners and sellers, it maximizes exposure and ensures agents stand out in their most targeted markets,” noted Dave Carter, Vice President at Lofty.
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.
Are twins allergic to the same things? – Ella, age 7, Philadelphia
Allergies, whether spring sneezes due to pollen or trouble breathing triggered by a certain food, are caused by a combination of someone’s genes and the environment they live in.
The more things two people share, the higher their chances of being allergic to the same things. Twins are more likely to share allergies because of everything they have in common, but the story doesn’t end there.
I’m an allergist and immunologist, and part of my job is treating patients who have environmental, food or drug allergies. Allergies are really complex, and a lot of factors play a role in who gets them and who doesn’t.
What is an allergy?
Your immune system makes defense proteins called antibodies. Their job is to keep watch and attack any invading germs or other dangerous substances that get inside your body before they can make you sick.
An allergy happens when your body mistakes some usually harmless substance for a harmful intruder. These trigger molecules are called allergens.
Y-shaped antibodies are meant to grab onto any harmful germs, but sometimes they make a mistake and grab something that isn’t actually a threat: an allergen. ttsz/iStock via Getty Images Plus
The antibodies stick like suction cups to the allergens, setting off an immune system reaction. That process leads to common allergy symptoms: sneezing, a runny or stuffy nose, itchy, watery eyes, a cough. These symptoms can be annoying but minor.
Allergies can also cause a life-threatening reaction called anaphylaxis that requires immediate medical attention. For example, if someone ate a food they were allergic to, and then had throat swelling and a rash, that would be considered anaphylaxis.
The traditional treatment for anaphylaxis is a shot of the hormone epinephrine into the leg muscle. Allergy sufferers can also carry an auto-injector to give themselves an emergency shot in case of a life-threatening case of anaphylaxis. An epinephrine nasal spray is now available, too, which also works very quickly.
A person can be allergic to things outdoors, like grass or tree pollen and bee stings, or indoors, like pets and tiny bugs called dust mites that hang out in carpets and mattresses.
A person can also be allergic to foods. Food allergies affect 4% to 5% of the population. The most common are to cow’s milk, eggs, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish and sesame. Sometimes people grow out of allergies, and sometimes they are lifelong.
Who gets allergies?
Each antibody has a specific target, which is why some people may only be allergic to one thing.
The antibodies responsible for allergies also take care of cleaning up any parasites that your body encounters. Thanks to modern medicine, people in the United States rarely deal with parasites. Those antibodies are still ready to fight, though, and sometimes they misfire at silly things, like pollen or food.
Kids are less likely to develop food allergies if they try foods early in life rather than waiting until they are older. Sometimes a certain job can contribute to an adult developing environmental allergies. For example, hairdressers, bakers and car mechanics can develop allergies due to chemicals they work with.
Genetics can also play a huge role in why some people develop allergies. If a mom or dad has environmental or food allergies, their child is more likely to have allergies. Specifically for peanut allergies, if your parent or sibling is allergic to peanuts, you are seven times more likely to be allergic to peanuts!
Back to the idea of twins: Yes, they can be allergic to the same things, but not always.
Researchers in Australia found that 60% to 70% of twins in one study both had environmental allergies, and identical twins were more likely to share allergies than fraternal (nonidentical) twins. Identical twins share 100% of their genes, while fraternal twins only share about 50% of their genes, the same as any pair of siblings.
A lot more research has been done on the genetics of food allergies. One peanut allergy study found that identical twins were more likely to both be allergic to peanuts than fraternal twins were.
So, twins can be allergic to the same things, and it’s more likely that they will be, based on their shared genetics and growing up together. But twins aren’t automatically allergic to the exact same things.
Imagine if two twins are separated at birth and raised in different homes: one on a farm with pets and one in the inner city. What if one’s parents smoke, and the others don’t? What if one lives with a lot of siblings and the other is an only child? They certainly could develop different allergies, or maybe not develop allergies at all.
Scientists like me are continuing to research allergies, and we hope to have more answers in the future.
Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.
And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.
Breanne Hayes Haney 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.
To live together in social communities, people create and maintain expectations about what is normal and what is not. Sometimes things can fall outside the range of normal and people are OK with it. You might have a neighbor who likes to wear Revolutionary War-era costumes on their evening walks around the neighborhood. Their behavior seems weird to you, but you consider it an instance of everyone’s freedom to express themselves.
But other times something seems not only abnormal but also unacceptable. In this case, people take active steps to squelch what feels unfair, inappropriate, bad or deviant. Things that people think are morally abnormal – aberrant behavior, transgressions, violations of their most sacred values – are viewed as highly threatening and necessary to shut down, with force if necessary. Most people would find a neighbor who purposefully starves and tortures their dogs morally repugnant. That neighbor would need to be stopped and would deserve to be punished.
A decade of researchin my psychology lab and others’ demonstrates that people struggle to express tolerance for different moral values – for instance, about sexual orientation, helping the poor, being a stay-at-home mother and so on.
In study after study, people are less willing to help, share with, date, be roommates with and even work for people who have different moral values. Even children and adolescents express more willingness to shun and punish moral transgressors than people who do something personally obnoxious or offensive but not immoral.
When asked to talk with a stranger who they know disagrees with them, people will turn their bodies away more and move farther away when the disagreement involves a moral rather than personal disagreement. And they are more willing to condone using violence against someone who doesn’t share their morals.
In other words, when it is clear that people you see as your peers – members of your community – disagree with each other, you recognize the need for continued respectful discussion. It automatically tones down the natural tendency toward intolerance for moral views that differ from your own.
Splintering off into polarized groups
While perceived disagreement within a community appears to function as a corrective to intolerance, the opposite is also true: Consensus is a powerful trigger of intolerance. When most of the community agrees that something is morally bad, then those who disagree are viewed as outliers and labeled as “deviant.” Intolerance becomes not only justified but is seen as necessary.
But how is consensus reached? In diverse, democratic societies like ours − where people are allowed to form their own opinions − there are two ways this might happen.
The democratic ideal is that over time, through shared discussion and reflection, people eventually come to an agreement or compromise. Once a sense of consensus – or close enough – has been reached, group members can be confident that those who continue to disagree can be safely ignored or no longer tolerated.
More often, though, consensus is achieved when the disagreement becomes strong enough to fracture communities into multiple, smaller “issue-position” groups. Here’s an example.
Consider a controversial issue, such as abortion. Two people may agree that terminating a pregnancy is something that causes harm but also falls within women’s reproductive autonomy. Yet, at the same time, they may disagree – one prioritizes discouraging abortions whenever possible, while the other prioritizes the freedom to make that choice.
Over time, the two people encounter others whose views are more extreme. Because the two resonate more with different sides of the issue, they find themselves pulled in opposite directions, eventually becoming more at odds with each other.
At the community level, when more extreme views grow strong enough and gain enough traction with enough people, it activates new group identities. Where once there was a community of people who disagreed with one another about abortion, there are now two smaller, distinct and separate communities of pro-lifers and pro-choicers.
What is problematic is that issue-position groups, by definition, create consensus, signaling to their members that they, and not the other group, have got things right.
One prominent example in the United States is that people are more likely than they were in the past to experience politics as not just about disagreement on various political values and approaches to governance but as opposing groups. Being liberal or conservative is an identity that puts one group in opposition to the other. And only one side can be “right” and “moral.”
At least in these group-identity-fueled contexts, people can lose sight of the fact that they are all Americans, even going so far as to assert that their smaller group represents the only “true” or “real” Americans.
The proliferation of issue-position groups is made easier by the ability to quickly find and connect with people who share your views via the internet and social media. Many Americans don’t actively participate in civic life within the larger groups they’re a part of, such as their neighborhood or city, where they would naturally encounter a diversity of opinions. People have less practice sharing their views and making room for those who disagree.
In contrast, it’s easy, especially online, to find like-minded communities to join and feel validated. This is made even easier by the algorithms employed by search engines and social media apps that prioritize showing content that reflects and reinforces your beliefs, values, activities and practices and shields you from those who are different – unless presenting them as things to disparage and hate.
This process can accelerate movement toward extreme issue-position groups and identities. As online algorithms begin taking people down different paths, the likelihood that they will find themselves ultimately with more extreme attitudes becomes more probable and more rapidly accomplished.
Reengaging with your broader communities
How can people combat this dangerous trend?
For one, you can get off social media and back into your communities, welcoming opportunities to interact with the complex diversity they contain. And even when online, you can take intentional steps to “burst” the alogrithms, actively finding ways to connect with people who are not like you and ideas with which you may not agree.
Most importantly, you can always take a step back from the impulse toward intolerance and humbly remember our shared humanity. Even looking into another’s eyes without words can activate compassion and remind you that we are all ultimately members of the same global community.
Jen Cole Wright is affiliated with the Charleston Climate Coalition, a 501c3 that advocates for a livable climate in the Lowcountry.
As a child, Tehreem Fatima ’28 (CLAS) spent hours reconstructing microscopes from secondhand parts and conducting various science experiments at home.
As she finishes her first year at UConn, Fatima has channeled that curiosity to research glioblastoma, an aggressive and deadly form of brain cancer originating in the brain’s glial cells. The research, which she conducted with no professional support or academic resources, has been accepted into dozens of academic and professional conferences.
“I never imagined that so many conferences would accept my work,” Fatima says. “It’s exciting, but since I’m conducting this research independently, I don’t have the funding to attend all of them.”
Fatima’s interest in glioblastoma began after her five-year-old cousin, who lived in Pakistan was diagnosed and later died from the disease in February 2025.
“When he was diagnosed, I thought, ‘Okay, he’s in Pakistan—there’s nothing I can do for him,’” Fatima says. “But something valuable I can do is apply my skill set. So, I did a lot of research and asked, ‘Where is there a gap in the research?’”
Fatima, a physiology and neurobiology major on a fullSTEM scholarship, an honors program which provides financial support to promising students, first delved into research during high school through a three-year college program in Albany, New York.
Early Drive for Research
During her sophomore year of high school, Fatima was selected for a competitive three-year program sponsored by SUNY Albany calledScience Research, which required students to secure a mentor and participate in research.
Tehreem Fatima at the Yale Undergraduate Research Conference. (Contributed by Tehreem Fatima).
At just 15 years old, she struggled to find academic researchers willing to take her on. But she persisted and eventually convinced J. Andrew Berglund, distinguished professor of biology and director of SUNY Albany’s RNA Institute, to mentor her.
“Even before I had a mentor, I was driven to understand how research worked,” Fatima says. “I wanted to build the skills necessary to contribute meaningfully.”
Before joining Berglund’s lab, Fatima had taught herself research fundamentals by conducting literature reviews and enrolling in independent courses on platforms like Udemy.
Her initial work at the RNA Institute focused on statistical analysis rather than lab experiments, since her young age prevented her from working in an in-person laboratory. Over time, she took on more responsibilities, and by the end of the three-year program, she was leading a summer course at the institute, teaching bioinformatics to students ranging from high school to graduate levels.
Independent Research on Glioblastoma
During her first year at UConn, Fatima explored a wide range of interests, taking classes across multiple disciplines, writing poetry, and meeting new people. But she also wanted to build on her research experience and continue to study glioblastoma treatments.
She designed a study using open-source data, compiling and analyzing chemotherapy treatment datasets. Her goal was to determine whether, when used together, a combination of two widely used chemotherapies could target additional genetic markers compared to using each drug individually.
Her work focused on immune checkpoint genes or molecules that glioblastoma tumors use to evade detection by the immune system. By analyzing patient data, she aimed to identify correlations among gene expression, patient survival, and chemotherapy effectiveness. Her findings suggested potential avenues for improving glioblastoma treatment strategies.
“Some labs have already collected similar data, but funding constraints have limited further research,” she says. “I wanted to see if my analysis could stand on its own and be useful to the professional community.”
Fatima submitted her findings to multiple academic conferences throughout the U.S. as well as internationally, hoping for at least one acceptance. Instead, her research was accepted into over 25 conferences, including those at Brown University, Harvard University, and Yale University.
She plans to attend as many of the symposiums as she can, both in-person and online.
Next Steps in Her Research
This summer, Fatima will participate in a bioinformatics cybersecurity internship at SUNY Albany, where she hopes to expand on her previous research and refine her analysis of glioblastoma therapies.
Fatima says it will provide her with valuable skills and resources to further advance her research, and help her as she works toward earning both medical and law degrees. Her long-term goal is to bridge the gap between medicine and public policy.
“I want to make science more accessible,” she says. “A lot of times, science is seen as a prestigious field that’s difficult to enter.”
Fatima hopes her research will contribute to the fight against glioblastoma and offer hope to families affected by the disease.
“Your only limit is yourself,” she says. “I constantly remind myself that if I want to accomplish something, the only thing stopping me is me.”
Kaltura (Nasdaq: KLTR), the AI Video Experience Cloud, announced the Kaltura TV Genie has won the Product of the Year for Streaming at the 2025 NAB Show Awards. This official awards program recognizes some of the most significant and promising new products and technologies showcased by exhibitors at NAB Show.
Kaltura’s TV Genie enables media and telecommunication companies to offer AI-powered, hyper-personalized lean-forward viewing experiences for audiences, as well as streamline their operations through the enhancement and automation of content enrichment and curation.
TV Genie uses advanced AI to analyze a user’s real-time mood and feedback, their preferences, and more, learning their behavior to generate more accurate and tailored viewing recommendations, transforming endless content searches into instant engaging discovery. It makes a broader range of content accessible to wider audiences with automatic translation and improved navigation through advanced content chaptering, allowing users to easily skip to their desired viewing moments.
Beyond generating hyper-personalized recommendations for users, TV Genie helps streaming services create better content for their viewers, automatically curating and suggesting content in real-time for editors based on their catalogue and current trends – driving continuous and ongoing engagement.
“AI is transforming the entire content lifecycle – from creation to discovery to consumption – driving down costs and boosting viewer engagement and revenue,” said Natan Israeli, Chief Customer Officer at Kaltura. “We’re honored by this recognition from NAB and remain committed to innovating AI technologies that deliver hyper-personalized viewing experiences.”
NAB Show Product of the Year Award Winners were selected by a panel of industry experts in 16 categories and announced in a live awards ceremony at NAB Show on April 8. To be eligible for an award, nominated products had to come from companies exhibiting at the 2025 NAB Show and be delivered within the 2025 calendar year.
“NAB is proud to recognize the industry’s top work driving a remarkable range of solutions opening new frontiers and shaping the future of content creation, distribution and monetization,” said Eric Trabb, senior vice president and chief customer success officer at NAB. “Congratulations to Kaltura on earning the 2025 NAB Show Product of the Year Award for its TV Genie— a breakthrough solution transforming a pivotal stage of the content lifecycle and empowering storytellers to meet today’s challenges while shaping the future of media.”
Click here for more information about the 2025 NAB Show Product of the Year Awards.
Learn more about Kaltura AI-infused video solutions, here
About Kaltura
Kaltura’s mission is to create and power AI-infused hyper-personalized video experiences that boost customer and employee engagement and success. Kaltura’s Video Experience Cloud includes a platform for enterprise and TV content management and a wide array of Gen AI-infused video-first products, including Video Portals, LMS and CMS Video Extensions, Virtual Events and Webinars, Virtual Classrooms, and TV Streaming Applications. Kaltura engages millions of end-users at home, at work, and at school, boosting both customer and employee experiences, including marketing, sales, and customer success; teaching, learning, training and certification; communication and collaboration; and entertainment, and monetization. For more information, visit www.corp.kaltura.com.
About NAB
The National Association of Broadcasters is the premier advocacy association for America’s broadcasters. NAB advances radio and television interests in legislative, regulatory and public affairs. Through advocacy, education and innovation, NAB enables broadcasters to best serve their communities, strengthen their businesses and seize new opportunities in the digital age. Learn more at www.nab.org.
About NAB Show
NAB Show is the preeminent conference and exhibition driving the evolution of broadcast, media and entertainment, held April 5-9, 2025 (Exhibits April 6-9) in Las Vegas. Produced by the National Association of Broadcasters, NAB Show is the ultimate marketplace for next-generation technology inspiring superior audio and video experiences. From creation to consumption, across multiple platforms, NAB Show is where global visionaries convene to bring content to life in new and exciting ways. Learn more at NABShow.com.
Mr President of the Autonomous Province of Trento, Mr Mayor, Rector, Distinguished Authorities, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me begin by expressing my sincere gratitude to the organizers of the Festival of Economics – the Autonomous Province of Trento, Trentino Marketing, and the 24 Ore Group – as well as to the Fondazione Caritro, which graciously hosts us today, for their invitation to take part in this inaugural event.
The exhibition we are opening today offers a preview of the future Money Museum, whose permanent home will be in Rome, on Via Nazionale.
The Adventure of Money is a journey through five thousand years of history, a journey in which economics, society, politics and technology converge. It is a narrative that traces the evolution of the major monetary and financial phenomena, with the aim of making accessible a heritage often perceived as distant or obscure.
The past helps us understand the present better. Tools, technologies and objects now obsolete continue to speak to us: they reveal how societies have sought to meet needs that, in their essence, remain with us today.
The gold coins displayed here, for example, tell stories spanning centuries: bearing the likeness of emperors, recounting the economic might of cities such as Florence, or the maritime exploits of Venice.
Were we to melt them all down, we would be left with a single, modest ingot, and yet their value far exceeds the precious metal they contain. That added value stems from the trust that the issuing institutions were able to inspire – a trust that transformed simple metal discs into stable, recognized and widely accepted instruments of exchange.
From a certain point in history – illustrated with clarity throughout this exhibition – trust in money ceased to rest only on the material of which it was made or on the authority of the sovereign who issued it.
Over time, the foundation of trust in money shifted – from metal and monarch to the prudent governance of central banks, whose role is to preserve price stability, ensure the soundness of financial systems, and maintain public confidence. This remains the guiding purpose of the Bank of Italy and the entire European System of Central Banks. The decision to devote an exhibition – and soon a museum – to the history of money and finance is part of a broader financial education initiative, aimed at providing citizens with the tools to navigate complex areas such as payments, credit and the management of personal savings.
Money and finance are often viewed as technical, remote, even dry subjects. Precisely for this reason, the exhibition – and the museum that will follow – employs narrative techniques and immersive technologies, to make even the most intricate concepts accessible and to spark curiosity, especially among younger generations.
In the long historical development of payment instruments over time, there have been relatively few major milestones, yet each has marked a profound transformation. From minted coinage – often in precious metals – we moved to the banknote, first convertible, then purely fiduciary, and finally to modern electronic payment systems. Each of these transitions accompanied pivotal moments in economic history, contributing to ever greater speed, safety and efficiency in transactions.
Yet innovation continues. Today’s payment instruments, though highly advanced, still have limitations.
It is within this context that the ambitious European project of the digital euro takes shape: a digital form of central bank money, free of charge, accessible to all, privacy-protective, and anchored to the stable value of physical cash. This innovation will not replace current banknotes, but will complement them, thus expanding our options and strengthening our monetary system.
In this sense, The Adventure of Money is more than just the title of an exhibition. It is the thread that connects a millenary history – one that continues to evolve and, today in Trento, links itself to new generations and new horizons.
