Forty-seven million people in Europe did not have the possibility of adequately heating their homes last winter. It is unacceptable and the Commissioner for Energy and Housing states in his hearing that this needs to be addressed.
The existing EU legislative framework addresses the need to alleviate energy poverty. The Commission will strongly support its implementation.
The recently adopted Energy Efficiency Directive EU/2023/1791[1], for example, provides for the first time a definition of energy poverty and links it with measures to be implemented at national level to empower and protect all EU citizens.
The Social Climate Fund has been established to ensure a socially fair transition and address the social impacts of the new emissions trading system for buildings and road transport (ETS2) on vulnerable groups, especially those in energy or transport poverty.
Together with a mandatory minimum 25% contribution of the Member States, the Fund will mobilise at least EUR 86.7 billion over the 2026-2032 period.
People must always remain at the heart of EU ambitions, in her Political Guidelines 2024-2029[2] and mission letters, the President of the Commission confirms that ensuring a just transition remains a priority.
The Commissioner for Energy and Housing has been tasked to develop a Citizens Energy Package to increase citizen participation in the energy transition and strengthen the social dimension of the Energy Union and to propose further measures to address energy poverty[3].
The Commission has put forward an Action Plan for Affordable Energy Prices, as part of the Clean Industrial Deal, to help bring down prices for households and business, helping combating energy poverty.
Source: United States Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont)
Deputy Secretary of the Treasury to Welch: Tariffs “may find its way into prices.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, this weekpressed Michael Faulkender, President Trump’s pick for Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Department, on how the Trump Trade War will raise costs for Vermont families. Senator Welch outlined the impact of Trump’s new proposed tariffs on imports from Canada, and potential retaliatory tariffs, which will result in higher costs and hurt employment for Vermonters.
“I’m getting increasingly concerned about where the economy is going, and there are a number of things I think we can’t ignore…There are policies that are creating an enormous amount of anxiety—certainly in Vermont—and that’s the tariffs,” said Senator Welch. “So, you’re telling me that the President is willing to make Vermonters pay 40 cents a gallon more for gasoline, maybe 10-15% higher for electricity, and 10-15% higher for home heating fuel. For our maple sugar producers to pay 25% more for the equipment they use—that that’s okay with the President?”
Watch the exchange between Senator Welch and Michael Faulkender, President Trump’s pick for Deputy
Secretary of the Treasury Department:
Read excerpts of their exchange below:
Sen. Welch: I just asked a very specific question…A Vermonter says, ‘Peter, how are we going to handle this? This is not a good thing for us.’ And I’m asking you: how are we going to handle this? They don’t want to hear about, ‘the President’s economic plan.’ They want to know how they’re going to pay their home heating bill.
Mr. Faulkender: Right, and the way that we’re going to do that is to bring down energy prices by unleashing American energy. Bring down the cost of food and clothing and other aspects that Vermonters and Americans rely upon by bringing down regulation.
Sen. Welch: Well, I’m all for dealing with regulation, but you could have regulation without higher tariffs, right?
Mr. Faulkender: And then on the tariffs, I think that the President’s objective is to address long-standing inequities in our international trade practices.
Sen. Welch: I’m talking about Canada.
Mr. Faulkender: As the president has explained the Canada tariffs are to get them to focus on the fentanyl crisis that has been causing deaths,
Sen. Welch: You know, I understand that at the southern border we’ve got full cooperation with Canada they hate fentanyl just as much as we hate fentanyl.
•••
Sen. Welch: You are talking about what the president’s goal is. I’m asking you as an economist, okay? There is a price that Vermonters will pay with these increased tariffs on Canada. Is that right or is that somehow magically wrong?
Mr. Faulkender: I think that to the extent that the promise of these tariffs will compel the Canadians to take greater effort to address their role in the fentanyl crisis then the President would be willing to remove those tariffs in order to have extracted that assistance.
Sen. Welch: I’ll try to make this clear: Will a 25% increase in tariffs, on those items I mentioned—home heating fuel, electricity, gasoline—mean that Vermonters pay more for home heating fuel, gasoline, and electricity?
Mr. Faulkender: Again Senator, it depends upon whether the Canadians take the steps the President’s looking for and whether those tariffs will remain in place.
Sen. Welch: But the tariffs are in place. I’m just asking whether those 25% tariffs will mean…Will Vermonters pay more as a result of those tariffs?…Does that mean Vermonters are going to pay more or less?
Mr. Faulkender: It’s split three ways. Some of it is going to show up in the exchange rate between the Canadian dollar and U.S. dollar, some of it will be absorbed by the Canadian producers, and then some of it may find its way into prices in a one-time adjustment.
Earlier this week, Senator Welch invited Allison Hope, Executive Director of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers’ Association, to be his guest for President Trump’s Joint Address to Congress. The Senator and Ms. Hope joined Senate Democrats for a press conference on Capitol Hill to share how Trump’s Trade War will hurt Vermont’s maple industry.
In February, Senator Welch took to the Senate floor to blast the proposed tariffs, which would be a tax on Vermonters. Senator Welch shared stories from Vermonters about how President Trump’s economic policies will impact their family, farm, and community. Watch his speech on the Senate Floor here and read his remarks as delivered here.
Source: United States of America – Department of State (video statements)
Secretary of State Marco A. Rubio meets with Botswana President Duma Boko at the Department of State, March 7, 2025.
———-
Under the leadership of the President and Secretary of State, the U.S. Department of State leads America’s foreign policy through diplomacy, advocacy, and assistance by advancing the interests of the American people, their safety and economic prosperity. On behalf of the American people we promote and demonstrate democratic values and advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world.
The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser. The Secretary carries out the President’s foreign policies through the State Department, which includes the Foreign Service, Civil Service and U.S. Agency for International Development.
Get updates from the U.S. Department of State at www.state.gov and on social media!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/statedept
X: https://x.com/StateDept
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/statedept
Flickr: https://flickr.com/photos/statephotos/
Subscribe to the State Department Blog: https://www.state.gov/blogs
Watch on-demand State Department videos: https://video.state.gov/
Subscribe to The Week at State e-newsletter: http://ow.ly/diiN30ro7Cw
State Department website: https://www.state.gov/
Careers website: https://careers.state.gov/
White House website: https://www.whitehouse.gov/
Terms of Use: https://state.gov/tou
Headline: Celebrating women in gaming: Pioneers and innovators
Women have been influential figures across all areas of the gaming world—from design and development to storytelling and production. As we continue to break down barriers and champion diverse perspectives, we’re proud to amplify the voices of those who have shaped the industry’s past and are shaping its future.
In our exclusive interview with Roberta, she reflects on her pioneering journey in the gaming industry and shares her insights into her love of mysteries, the creation of Laura Bow; one of the first heroines in gaming, advise for young women looking to get into gaming, and what inspired her to return with a new adventure, Colossal Cave. Her groundbreaking work in interactive storytelling has inspired generations of creators, and her thoughts on the past, present, and future of women in gaming offer invaluable perspectives on the road ahead.
[embedded content]
As we honor the accomplishments of women in gaming, let’s also look toward the future. The work being done today by women in this industry is setting the stage for a new generation of creators who will continue to push boundaries and inspire others. Let’s ensure that women’s voices are heard, celebrated, and given the platform they deserve—today and every day.
Discover Games Shaped by Women Creators
Celebrate International Women’s Day through the power of play. During March and beyond, you can play a variety of game collections highlighting iconic games and franchises created by women developers, showcasing how their unique perspectives have shaped the gaming world we know today.
Check out a few highlights from our full Xbox Game Collection celebrating International Women’s Day:
KeyLocker – A Cyberpunk turn-based rhythm JRPG. Play as the singer and songwriter, B0B0. Fuel your moves with the electric power of music on this unforgiving planet by using real-time execution of moves in rhythm game style! Choose a unique class, battle the authorities, unlock the secrets of Saturn, play in your own band’s concerts, and hack into the network to bring an end to this corrupt system, for better or worse.
Play KeyLocker Today
Dungeons of Hinterberg– Welcome to Hinterberg, a new tourist hotspot in the idyllic Austrian Alps! You play as Luisa, a burnt-out law trainee taking a break from her fast-paced corporate life to conquer the Dungeons of Hinterberg. There are plenty of dungeons to find and adventures to be had in Hinterberg – will Luisa be sent packing on her first day, or remain to become a Master Slayer? Only one way to find out…
PlayDungeons of HinterbergToday
Avowed – Welcome to the Living Lands, a mysterious island filled with adventure and danger. Set in the fictional world of Eora that was first introduced to players in the Pillars of Eternity franchise, Avowed is a first-person fantasy action RPG from the award-winning team at Obsidian Entertainment. You are the envoy of Aedyr, a distant land, sent to investigate rumors of a spreading plague throughout the Living Lands – an island full of mysteries and secrets, danger and adventure, choices and consequences, and untamed wilderness. You discover a personal connection to the Living Lands and an ancient secret that threatens to destroy everything. Can you save this unknown frontier and your soul from the forces threatening to tear them asunder?
Play Avowed Today
Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To–Samar is a young witch working the spirit-swapping night shift in the eastern outskirts of Demashq. A recent spike in spirits crossing over from another dimension breaks the chill atmosphere of their night shift, so with her trusty Familiarz by her side, she sets off into the city to find out what’s happened. With a popular band scheduled to kick off their big comeback tour in Demashq, Samar needs to work quickly before the city is overrun with stans and spirits alike!
Play Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To Today
Mexico 1921: A Deep Slumber – An intriguing narrative adventure where you try to solve a hundred-year-old mystery: who planned the assassination of President Álvaro Obregón? You play as Juan Aguirre, a photojournalist who will interview and photograph subjects, collect historical data and report the news that will shape Mexican history. Join Juan in post-revolutionary Mexico City to discover why Mexico ain’t no place for the weak. Developed hand in hand with the National Newspaper Library and the Popular Arts Museum, this game will be an interactive archive of Mexican post-revolutionary history.
Play Mexico 1921: A Deep Slumber Today
Colossal Cave–Embark on a timeless journey through a sprawling cave system packed with treasures, creatures, mazes, and wits-defying puzzles. The great grandpappy of adventure games will test you and tickle your problem-solving skills as you unearth its plot and secrets. Through cunning trial-and-error you will crawl through tight squeezes, encounter impressive caverns, collect inventory, locate treasure, thwart dwarf attacks, all while keeping your eye on the score before your lamp goes out.
Play Colossal Cave Today
Spotlighting Women Gaming Pioneers
Marcella Churchill – Sr. Director of Brand at SEGA of America
Marcella Churchill is a visionary leader in brand marketing with a track record of spearheading global brand campaigns at LucasArts, EA, Zynga, Discord, and now Sega of America. At Sega, she is redefining transmedia storytelling, transforming iconic franchises into multimedia powerhouses. She has played a key role in elevating Sonic the Hedgehog to new heights, leading brand marketing endeavors supporting blockbuster films, hit TV series, major brand partnerships, and best-selling games. Beyond Sonic, Marcella is driving the resurgence of beloved franchises like Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Persona, and Like a Dragon, expanding their reach and legacy. Passionate about innovation, she is dedicated to growing Sega’s global brand, crafting unforgettable fan experiences, and pushing the boundaries of brand marketing and gaming entertainment.
Q: You’ve seen incredible growth in the Sonic brand, from successful games to record-breaking movies. What do you think has been the key to Sonic’s ability to cross storytelling mediums and what’s next on the horizon for you and your team?
A: Sonic’s evolution from a beloved video game character to a full-fledged entertainment icon is a testament to the passion and dedication of our team. We’ve focused on staying true to the heart of Sonic—his energy, attitude, and sense of adventure—while expanding his storytelling across games, film, TV, comics, and beyond. By embracing a transmedia approach, we’ve introduced Sonic to new audiences while deepening the experience for longtime fans. The success of the films, alongside hit games like Sonic Frontiers and Sonic X Shadow Generations, has reinforced the strength of the franchise, and last year’s brand marketing campaign featuring the Year of Shadow was a significant moment, culminating in the movie release of ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’.
Looking ahead, we have a lot in store for Sonic fans. While we can’t reveal everything yet, our team is committed to delivering exciting new, unique experiences and pushing the brand further. Whether through innovative game projects, fresh storytelling opportunities, or unexpected collaborations, we’re focused on keeping Sonic’s momentum strong and continuing to surprise and delight fans worldwide.
Q: As a woman in a leadership role in gaming, how have you seen Marketing in the gaming industry evolve over the years and where do you see it going?
A: Marketing in the gaming industry has evolved significantly, shifting from traditional print and TV ads to digital-first, community-driven strategies. Early on, marketing was heavily reliant on big-budget campaigns and retail partnerships. Still, engagement has become more personalized, pervasive, and interactive with the rise of social media, influencers, live service models, and more opportunities to collaborate with brands through collaborations and lifestyle partnerships. Players now expect direct communication, behind-the-scenes access, and content tailored to their interests. Looking ahead, I see marketing continuing to blend data-driven insights with creative storytelling, lifestyle partnerships, leveraging user-generated content, and emerging platforms to foster deeper player engagement and brand loyalty.
Q: As a leader in the gaming industry, what advice would you give to young women aspiring to build a career in marketing and gaming and how can they best prepare for the future you see ahead?
A: My advice to young women aspiring to build a career in marketing and gaming is to stay curious, build a strong network, and embrace creativity and data-driven decision-making. The industry thrives on innovation, so developing a deep understanding of player communities, emerging technologies, and digital marketing trends will be key. Seek mentors, advocate for yourself, and don’t be afraid to take up space in rooms where you may be the only woman. As the industry evolves, staying adaptable and continuously learning will be essential for long-term success.
Wonder Stormbreaker – Head of Studio Marketing at Undead Labs
As the Head of Studio Marketing at Undead Labs, Wonder Stormbreaker plays a crucial role in ensuring that the studio’s projects, particularly the State of Decay franchise, connect with audiences on a deep level. With a strong passion for storytelling and community engagement, Wonder’s work is centered around building immersive experiences for fans and amplifying Undead Labs’ voice in the gaming world. Whether through innovative marketing campaigns or leading the charge in social media outreach, Wonder is always thinking about how to bring players into the fold and create lasting relationships with the community.
Q: As Head of Studio Marketing, how do you approach creating authentic connections with fans and building a community around Undead Labs’ games?
A: One of my core values is integrity: be who you say you are and do what you say you’re going to do. That’s what players expect from us. We build strong relationships by delivering on what we’ve promised. To do that, we place a high value on players’ experiences and expectations. Trust is at the heart of strong relationships between studios and players.
Q: State of Decay has a passionate fanbase. What do you think has been the key to building that loyalty, and how do you keep the game’s community engaged over time?
A: It’s important to our studio culture that we never lose sight of the worth and power of an individual.
State of Decay’s popularity began as a grassroots movement. Personal touch is a priority for how we build community. I ask thorny questions: How do we make a larger, global audience feel connected and cared for? How do we automate what we do here to serve even more players, without depersonalization? We know we won’t always get the answers right on the first try, and frankly, I hate that. I would love to knock it out of the park the first time, every time. The important thing is that our players have evidence that we’re always improving their experience.
Q: Marketing in the gaming industry can be very dynamic and fast-paced. How do you stay ahead of trends, and what excites you most about the future of game marketing?
A: It’s important to think of games as one piece of the “entertainment-verse.” I have a theater and film background and often look to the film industry for clues about where we are headed, but really, it’s about how games fit into people’s lives when everything is vying for attention.
It’s easy to be swept into our own silos, even an Xbox silo. Right now, I’m working with the Turn 10 team on a few projects which is incredible for inspiration and new perspectives. I read industry newsletters like A16z’s speedrun and Naavik, as well as current event roundups like Mo News and Semafor. This may be surprising, but I avoid almost all social media. The firehose of micro-entertainment on social platforms can overwhelm the big picture, and the big picture is most interesting to me. That’s where vision flourishes.
Empowering Women Streamers with South of Midnight
In South of Midnight, we step into the shoes of Hazel, a strong, rough-edged protagonist navigating a world inspired by the American Deep South. Tasked with fixing what’s broken, Hazel must adapt to a hostile environment that’s barely recognizable. This month, Team Xbox continues its commitment to empowering women protagonists and celebrating women in the gaming industry in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland). As part of this, Xbox is partnering with the creator agency Instinct3 on a campaign to support and elevate emerging women streamers for South of Midnight. This initiative offers smaller, up-and-coming streamers the chance to apply and receive early access codes for the game. Focused on those who may not yet have the reach of more established streamers, the campaign aims to shine a spotlight on women creators by sponsoring their streams and giving them a platform to grow.
In the spirit of empowering women, streamers will support each other through Twitch’s raid mechanics, directing viewers from one stream to the next. These streams and raids will kick off with South of Midnight Early Access on April 3. Details will be shared via Xbox Wire DACH, along with opportunities to win Game Pass codes.
The campaign application opens on International Women’s Day, March 8, and runs through the month. Selected streamers will receive Game Pass and game codes, joining our paid campaign for Early Access.
Gaming with Impact
Rewards members in the United States can earn and donate points to organizations supporting women with Xbox. The organizations below will be available on the Rewards hub:
Women in Games International – Women in Games International works to cultivate resources such as advanced knowledge sharing, access to technology, and actionable mentorship programs to normalize diversity in the games industry through increased representation. (US only)
National Center for Transgender Equality– NCTE advocates to change policies and society to increase understanding and acceptance of transgender people. In the nation’s capital and throughout the country, NCTE works to replace disrespect, discrimination, and violence with empathy, opportunity, and justice. (US Only)
Xbox players 18 and older can earn Rewards points in various ways, such as playing games, completing Game Pass Quests (terms apply), and purchasing games and other eligible items at the Microsoft Store (exclusions apply). Start earning for impact today and redeem your points for great rewards. Donate your points on the Rewards hub or on the Rewards redeem page.
Wallpapers and Dynamic Backgrounds
The Xbox International Women’s Day design is available today as an Xbox wallpaper and dynamic background on console – follow these steps to apply the dynamic background:
Press the Xbox button on your controller to open the guide.
Select Profile & system > Settings > General > Personalization > My background > Dynamic backgrounds.
You can choose between Games, Xbox, or Abstract dynamic backgrounds. Choose the background art that you want with the A button.
Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell
03.06.25
Cantwell Challenges Deputy Treasury Nom on Trump’s Tariff Chaos: “People Can’t Even Follow What His Game Plan Is.”
In Senate Finance Committee, Cantwell highlights whiplash for manufacturers, growers, & consumers due to an administration that changes its tariff policies on a near-daily basis; In WA state, 2 out of every 5 jobs are tied to trade-related industries
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), senior member of the Senate Finance Committee and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, pressed Michael Faulkender – President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as Deputy Treasury Secretary – on the whiplash caused by the administration’s ever-changing tariff policies.
On Jan. 31 — citing punishment for failing to crack down on fentanyl trafficking — the Trump administration announced plans to impose a 25% tax on many goods imported into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tax on goods imported from China, then abruptly postponed those tariffs. Last month, he doubled down, announcing an additional 25% tax on all steel and aluminum imports.
At 12:01 a.m. ET Tuesday, President Trump’s long-promised 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and 10% tariff increase on goods from China took effect, causing stock prices in the United States to plummet. Then, yesterday, he announced that automobiles from Canada and Mexico would be exempt from his tariffs for one month. Just this morning, he announced that he would suspend the tariffs for some products from Mexico. Then, this afternoon, he announced he was suspending most new tariffs on products from both Mexico and Canada until April 2.
“I feel like we’re almost just having chaos about what are we doing. One day it’s about fentanyl, one day it’s about emergency services, one day we’ll give these exemptions, one day we’ll go back to this — and so I’m trying to get your views,” Sen. Cantwell said. “Apples, potatoes, and wheat are the largest agriculture exports in our state. They represent over $3 billion worth of agriculture products around the world. And so I’m trying to understand if you understand the uncertainty that’s being created right now with these tariffs. If you get that it’s hard for businesses to even follow what is the predictability and certainty about what the President is even doing or proposing, because it’s changing every day.”
Faulkender responded: “I think when you look at the President’s approach on Canada and Mexico, it was very much to get them to focus on the fentanyl crisis, on the fact that 100,000 Americans are dying of fentanyl.”
Sen. Cantwell: “Do you really think that Canada was our fentanyl problem?”
Faulkender: “I have not had access to the data on that. My understanding is that some of it does come in from Canada. I grant you that more of it comes from Mexico than Canada.”
Sen. Cantwell: “A lot more.”
She continued: “Does [Trump] understand the level of chaos that is happening now? Because people can’t even follow what his game plan is […] But I really, really hope that he understands how much damage is being done every day to the agricultural sector. And it’s not that people, rich people, won’t buy farmland — they will buy farmland. It’s just that we’ll have a lot less farmers.”
In Washington state, two out of every five jobs are tied to trade and trade-related industries. More information on how President Trump’s tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada, and China will affect consumers and businesses in the State of Washington can be found HERE. Nationwide:
A 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico would add an estimated $144 billion a year to the cost of manufacturing in the United States.
Tariffs on Canada and Mexico could increase U.S. car prices by as much as $12,000.
According to the Yale Budget Lab, Trump’s proposed tariffs would result in the highest U.S. effective tariff rate in more than 80 years, and depending on the level of retaliation by other trading partners, will result in increased costs of between $1,600 and $2,000 per household. According to their analysis, food, clothing, cars, and electronics will all see above-average price increases.
Sen. Cantwell has remained a steadfast supporter of increased trade to grow the economy and keep prices in check in the State of Washington and nationwide.
Sen. Cantwell was the leading voice in negotiations to end India’s 20% retaliatory tariff on American apples, which was imposed in response to tariffs on steel and aluminum and devastated Washington state’s apple exports. India had once been the second-largest export market for American apples, but after President Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum in his first term, India imposed retaliatory tariffs in response and U.S. apple exports plummeted.
The impact on Washington apple growers was severe: Apple exports from the state dropped from $120 million in 2017 to less than $1 million by 2023. In September 2023, following several years of Sen. Cantwell’s advocacy, India ended its retaliatory tariffs on apples and pulse crops which was welcome news to the state’s more than 1,400 apple growers and the 68,000-plus workers they support.
Video of Sen. Cantwell’s Q&A in the Senate Finance Committee today is HERE; audio is HERE; and a transcript is HERE.
Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell
03.07.25
Cantwell Bill Would Ensure Coasties Get Paid, Even if the Government Shuts Down
Pay Our Coast Guard Act would ensure members of the Coast Guard receive the same treatment as those in other U.S. military branches
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, joined her colleagues — Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Roger Wicker (R-MI), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) — in reintroducing the Pay Our Coast Guard Act, bipartisan legislation that would ensure United States Coast Guard personnel receive pay and allowances in the event of a government shutdown.
This legislation would ensure that the Coast Guard gets the same treatment as the other branches of the armed services if there is a lapse in appropriations. Because the Coast Guard is housed within the Department of Homeland Security, it was left out of a previous stopgap funding bill that only covered the Department of Defense.
“This commonsense legislation would ensure that Coast Guard members receive their paycheck in the event of a government shutdown, just like the other members of the armed forces,” said Sen. Cantwell. “Coast Guard members and their families make sacrifices for us every day and provide an incredible service to the Pacific Northwest and the nation through search and rescue, emergency response, oil spill prevention, facilitating maritime commerce, and protecting national security. We must honor their commitment and service by guaranteeing they receive their pay on time.”
Sen. Cantwell is an ardent supporter of the U.S. Coast Guard and its families. Yesterday, the Senate unanimously passed the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025, which Sen. Cantwell introduced in February. It was first introduced last Congress, in December 2024. The bill would reauthorize $30.45 billion for the U.S. Coast Guard for Fiscal Years 2025 and 2026. It includes historic protections for service members from sexual assault and harassment, and boosts workforce development programs and availability of affordable housing, among other provisions.
In 2022, Sen. Cantwell led the passage of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022. The bill included provisions to reduce sexual assault and sexual harassment at sea and crack down on illegal fishing and forced labor. It also established the “Whale Desk” pilot program, which led to the creation of a whale traffic alert system at Coast Guard Base Seattle.
In 2021, Sen. Cantwell championed two Coast Guard provisions that were included in the landmark Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including $309 million for repairs and new construction of Coast Guard owned housing and infrastructure across the country and $120 million to build Coast Guard owned and operated childcare centers, which are critical to the retention of women serving in the Coast Guard.
In 2017, Sen. Cantwell advocated for Coast Guard paid family leave policies to be expanded to include LGBTQ+ couples, adoptive parents, and secondary caregivers. The U.S. Coast Guard announced the expansion of their paid family leave policy in June 2018. In 2015, Sen. Cantwell authored an amendment to ensure Coast Guard members were not receiving less maternity leave than other branches of the military, such as the Navy. This resulted in paid maternity leave for Coast Guard members being doubled from 6 to 12 weeks.
Defendants Sexually Assaulted Teen Victim in Their Van and Apartment Over Several Days
ROANOKE, VA. – A federal grand jury returned an indictment yesterday charging Justin Johiah Curtright, 40, and Christin Marie Curtright, 32, a married couple from Springfield, Missouri. This indictment follows the couples’ arrest and preliminary hearing last month on a federal criminal complaint. The complaint alleged that the Curtrights groomed a 13-year-old victim over the internet, traveled from Missouri to pick her up from her home in Virginia, then repeatedly sexually assaulted her in their van and at their apartment until she was rescued by police.
The indictment charges: coercion and enticement of a minor, which carries a 10-year mandatory minimum prison sentence; conspiracy and transportation of a minor in interstate commerce to engage in criminal sexual activity, which also carries a mandatory 10-year minimum prison sentence; and three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, which each carry 15-year mandatory minimum prison sentences. If convicted, the Curtrights face a maximum punishment of life in prison.
According to court documents, in May 2024 the victim met Justin Curtright on Discord, an online group chat platform, where the two talked for hours. The victim initially used an alias and claimed she was 18 years old. Justin Curtright soon began talking in sexual overtones and eventually sent the victim a sexually explicit video of himself.
The next morning, Justin added the victim to a private Discord channel that included both him and his wife, Christin Curtright. From that point, the three talked extensively, both online and by phone. The victim eventually admitted she was only 13 years old.
The Curtrights also engaged in sexually explicit acts on camera while video chatting with the victim. Justin would frequently pretend to be the victim’s father.
At some point near the end of June, the Curtrights devised a plan to drive to Virginia to abduct the victim and take her to their Springfield apartment. On the morning of July 24, 2024, as planned, the Curtrights met the victim near her home in Virginia. The victim got in the Curtrights’ vehicle, and they drove her back to Missouri.
During the trip back to Missouri, the Curtrights each took turns sexually assaulting the victim while the other drove. Once they reached their apartment, they continued their sexual abuse and exploitation of the victim for several more days.
On July 27, 2024, officers with the Springfield Police Department went to the Curtrights’ apartment, where they found the victim hiding in the back of a closet in the Curtrights’ bedroom. The victim had a debit card and false ID that Justin Curtright gave her, which represented her as Justin’s 15-year-old daughter.
Springfield officers seized the Curtrights’ phones, which held recordings of the Curtrights’ video chats grooming and sexually exploiting the victim, as well as images of the victim being abused during the drive to Missouri.
Acting United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee and Stanley M. Meador, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Division, made the announcement today.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Springfield Police Department, and various local law enforcement agencies investigated the case.
Assistant United States Attorneys Drew O. Inman is prosecuting the case for the United States.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identity and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.
Amid the chaos of the Trump administration’s first few weeks in office, a court case regarding the president’s legal right to stop payment of nearly $2 billion in U.S. Agency for International Development contracts poses an important legal question whose answer may show just how strong the country’s separation of powers actually is.
On Jan. 20, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order pausing all foreign aid funding, most of which is administered by USAID. A little more than two weeks later, USAID laid off all but a few hundred of its 10,000 workers.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali issued a temporary order on Feb. 13 for the administration to not end or pause any existing foreign aid contracts – and again ordered on Feb. 25 that the administration needed to pay the $2 billion owed to various aid organizations for completed work.
After the Trump administration filed an emergency appeal of the decision to the Supreme Court, the justices, in a 5-4 ruling on March 5, found that the federal judge’s decision can temporarily take effect while the district court considers the merits of the case.
Amy Lieberman, a politics and society editor at The Conversation U.S., spoke with Charles Wise, an expert on public administration and law, to understand what is fueling this court case and why it has become a test of how far Trump can push the boundaries of presidential power.
Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh, left, Amy Coney Barrett, center, and former Justice Anthony Kennedy speak with President Donald Trump after his speech at the U.S. Capitol in March 4, 2025. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
1. What is most important to understand about the Supreme Court’s ruling on USAID funding?
The Trump administration issued a blanket executive order freezing all USAID funds on Jan. 20, 2025. There have been many twists and turns in this case since then, but the Washington, D.C., district court determined in February that the organizations that receive USAID funding to deliver food or health care to people in need, as well as other recipients of USAID money in foreign countries, would suffer irreparable harm.
The U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., also said that the administration did not follow proper procedures in the law. The Administrative Procedure Act has a set of standards that requires the president to do certain things before making any unilateral kind of action to withhold funds.
The Supreme Court’s March 5 order is not the final ruling on the case, but it does allow the U.S. District Court decision to stand – at least for now. This ruling requires the government to release funds to USAID recipients. The Supreme Court’s decision also directs the district court to clarify what the government must do to comply with the district court’s order, including considering the feasibility of the timeline within which the government must release the money.
This is all taking place in a very short time frame, in the context of the D.C. district court issuing a temporary restraining order. It is saying: Let’s freeze the existing situation in place so we can have a full hearing on this issue.
2. Why is this case important?
Any administration is prohibited from just withholding funds for any program it doesn’t like without following the procedures prescribed by law. This case matters because the D.C. district court’s decision puts boundaries on what the Trump administration can do to withhold funds that Congress has appropriated. It forces the administration to follow the laws that Congress and previous presidents have agreed on and adopted.
It ultimately comes down to a contest between the branches of government, and, specifically, the presidency and Congress. This is where Articles 1 and 2 of the U.S. Constitution – and how they divided powers between the president and Congress – comes in. The Trump administration claimed that the court should have respected the president’s Article 2 powers to administer the federal government’s spending. The D.C. court acknowledged the president’s powers under Article 2 but said it has to be balanced against Congress’ right, under Article 1, to appropriate funds.
A terminated federal worker leaves the offices of the U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 28, 2025, after being fired. Bryan Dozier/Middle East/AFP via Getty Images
3. What happens if Trump and his administration do not abide by this order?
Trump’s officials have a decision to make. Are they going to follow the executive order or the court’s order? That’s not a fun place to be. Administrative officials take an oath to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the U.S., which subjects them to court decisions.
The president himself is not responsible for distributing USAID funds. State Department officials are responsible for dispersing the funds, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio was appointed as the acting administrator of USAID on Feb. 3, 2025.
If Rubio and other officials refuse to comply with the court’s order, the D.C. judge, Amir Ali, can hold those officials in contempt of court. Ali has a variety of tools he can use – one is to levy fines against them individually. He could say they have to pay a thousand dollars per day for each day they don’t execute the court’s order.
4. What will happen next in this case?
The Supreme Court said in a brief opinion on March 5 that the Feb. 26, 2025, deadline for the government to pay USAID and its contractors had already passed and instructed Ali to “clarify what obligations the Government must fulfill to ensure compliance” with paying USAID.
The government has argued to the court that the timeline the judge initially set was too fast – they couldn’t do it that fast.
Now, a few things are going to happen. Ali has ordered the government to develop and release a new schedule to release funds and to have that ready by March 10.
The second part is that the district court judge will probably schedule a hearing on the merits of the case, in which Ali will be assessing the administration’s argument about whether the administration has violated the Administrative Procedure Act. Ultimately, the Trump administration could appeal Ali’s decision, and the case could wind up back at the Supreme Court.
Charles Wise had a cooperative agreement for work with USAID that ended in 2007.
As we gather to celebrate International Women’s Day.
We do so standing on the shoulders of generations of women who have fought for the rights we enjoy today.
Women rights activists, feminist movements, and civil society organizations who have paved the way, often at great personal cost, for the progress that we see today.
Every hard-won gain is a testament to their relentless efforts.
This fight is not a battle against windmills. It is real..
What is at stake is not just words in resolutions or declarations.
Eleanor Roosevelt once wisely asked, “Where, after all, do universal human rights begin?”
They of course begin in the everyday lives of individuals.
In the daily lives of women and girls in our societies and communities.
Yet, we are far from where we should be:
In their own homes, women are often subject to violence.
At their workplaces, they often face discrimination and unequal pay.
Online, women often endure harassment and abuse.
Women continue to bear the brunt of unpaid care work, stifling their economic potential and limiting their opportunities.
And when denied equal access to education and the labour market, they are held back from shaping the future they deserve.
These are the everyday injustices that women and girls face. And if their rights are not upheld in these spaces, our work is far from complete.
The impact of inequality is real. It is measured in lost potential, in opportunities denied, in lives constrained by outdated norms and systemic barriers.
Excellencies,
Sisters,
Our journey is not over. We will keep moving forward.
We will continue to reverse centuries of systemic discrimination.
We will dismantle inequalities, prevent rollbacks and push forward—relentlessly—to defend and advance gender equality and the rights of all women and girls, in all their diversity.
And when the patriarchy pushes back. So will we.
We have done it countless times before, and we will do it again.
Because the rights of women and girls – our rights – cannot be taken away.
Eighty years ago, the UN was founded on the principle of non-discrimination.
That principle remains at the heart of our work. The entire United Nations family stands united in its commitment to championing gender equality – not just in words but in action.
We will lead the world humbly and boldly. And every step of the way, we will stand with you.
Together, we have the power to succeed.
Together, we can create a world where every woman and girl can live with dignity, freedom, and opportunity.
Saskatchewan Families with Sick Children to Have a Place to Stay, Close to their Child’s Side
Today, the Government of Saskatchewan announced $3.5 million in funding to Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) to help build the first ever Ronald McDonald House in Prince Albert.
“This new Ronald McDonald House will offer comfort, affordability and convenience to Saskatchewan families with sick children who travel to Prince Albert for treatment,” Premier Scott Moe said. “I am grateful that our province can help create a space where families feel supported and cared for, a true home away from home.”
The Ronald McDonald Home in Prince Albert will support families whose children are undergoing treatments at nearby health care facilities. The design includes 12 bedrooms, a smudge room, communal kitchen, dining room, living room, play space and family games room.
“The support to build the Ronald McDonald House – Prince Albert will ensure that families traveling to the Victoria Hospital in Prince Albert, for the health care of their child or children, have a place to stay, close to their child’s side,” Chief Executive Officer of RMHC Saskatchewan Tammy Forrester said. “This historic capital investment by the Government of Saskatchewan into Ronald McDonald House Charities Saskatchewan is an investment into all Saskatchewan families.”
The new facility will be built on 5.6 acres located at 791 25th Street West in Prince Albert.
Families across the province have stayed at the Ronald McDonald House in Saskatoon. The Trudel family have experienced firsthand what the home offers.
“Staying at the Ronald McDonald House felt like home, in fact, when we eventually left, we missed it,” Shianne Trudel said.
Construction of the Ronald McDonald House Charities Prince Albert will begin late spring 2025 and is expected to be completed in early 2027.
Last month, the government announced $6.5 million to help build a 20-bedroom Ronald McDonald House in Regina, bringing the total provincial funding to RMHC to $10 million.
RMHC Saskatchewan was founded in 1985. RMHC currently operates two programs in Saskatchewan with Ronald McDonald House in Saskatoon and Family Room in Prince Albert. Approximately 29,800 Saskatchewan families have been served by these programs.
-30-
For more information, contact:
Media Desk Health Regina Phone: 306-787-4083 Email: media@health.gov.sk.ca
Source: United States Senator for Iowa Chuck Grassley
Q: Why did President Trump address a joint session of Congress?
A: Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution says the president “shall from time to time” give Congress information about the state of the union. George Washington set the precedent by fulfilling this duty in person. Although his successors from 1801 to 1913 sent their messages to Congress in writing, President Woodrow Wilson resumed the tradition of delivering the address in person that’s continued through the 47th president. While President Harry Truman’s 1947 address was the first televised to the nation, LBJ’s address in 1965 started the tradition of delivering the televised address in the evening.
Since then, the nation’s chief executive has used the annual opportunity to speak directly to the American people, outline the priorities and achievements of the administration and offer legislative proposals for Congress in the coming year. Although it looks and sounds like a State of the Union address, that title refers to the annual speech after a president’s first year in office. So, while March 4th was the fifth time for President Trump to give an annual address before a joint session of Congress, this update covered the first 43 days of his second term. And that six-week timeline is notable for the remarkable breadth of executive actions – and achievements – since inauguration day on January 20.
Since Iowans first sent me to Congress, I’ve represented the people of Iowa under nine administrations. That adds up to a half-century of annual presidential addresses. In all that time, this is the first presidency that has dramatically upended business-as-usual since day one. I compare Trump’s first month in office of his second term as a hurricane uprooting the status quo. He wasted no time delivering on his promises to secure the border, bring manufacturing jobs back to America and reverse the disastrous policies of the previous administration that led to historic inflation and high cost of living.
Q: What were the highlights of President Trump’s message?
A: This president understands the power of the bully pulpit. Throughout his speech – the longest annual address in modern history, surpassing President Bill Clinton’s 85-minute State of the Union address in 1995 by 15 minutes –Trump grabbed the bull by the horns and charged full steam ahead, declaring “America is back.” His critics need to come to grips with reality. Trump won the popular vote and America witnessed a historical electoral shift that delivered Republican majority control in both houses of Congress and the White House. In our system of self-government, elections are intended to have consequences. The victories in November are a mandate for Trump’s agenda: the American people rejected the reckless policies of the previous administration that fostered historic inflation and open borders that allowed a wave of an estimated 10 million illegal immigrants to enter the country, empowering dangerous cartels to infiltrate communities with drug and human trafficking networks.
As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I recently held a hearing on my bipartisan HALT Act that would give law enforcement better tools to put an end to our nation’s deadly opioid crisis. Chinese fentanyl poured into the U.S. under the Biden-Harris administration’s open border. The bill I got passed out of committee in February is now one step closer to the president’s desk. Families grieving the loss of a loved one from deadly fentanyl are leading a grassroots effort to prevent other families from experiencing the crushing loss of an overdose death. During his address, Trump explained one of the reasons for the tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China were partly a response to their inaction toward the flow of fentanyl into the United States, which kills 200 Americans every day in our country.
Trump also doubled down on his work to scrutinize federal spending and curb the cost of living. By cutting costly regulations and unleashing the power of American energy, the Trump administration seeks to lower energy costs by investments in natural gas pipelines and expanding the production of rare earth minerals. With unapologetic pride and hope for America, the president highlighted a handful of Americans in attendance who captured the spirit of America for their sacrifice, heroism and pursuit of the American Dream. During the speech he made a 13-year-old cancer survivor an honorary Secret Service agent; told an aspiring candidate to the U.S. military academy he was admitted into West Point; and, shined a spotlight on grieving families of crime. Notably, the first bill Trump signed into law was the Laken Riley Act, which included Sarah’s Law, named after a young Iowan killed nine years ago by an illegal migrant while driving drunk. It was an honor to be at the White House signing ceremony in her memory, alongside Sen. Joni Ernst and Rep. Randy Feenstra who I worked with to get this legislation passed. The president presented a strong agenda to strengthen American sovereignty, uphold freedom and liberty and bring prosperity to households, farms and businesses across the country. As always, I’m committed to represent the views and concerns of Iowans as Congress continues work on the people’s business.
Ten years after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, reports show we are gravely off track. Intensifying, interconnected challenges continue to endanger the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
For example, the global goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030 is in danger of failure, with almost 600 million people still living in extreme poverty. Hunger is also increasing, and we have witnessed the warmest years on record with carbon dioxide levels continuing to rise. But we cannot give up hope or dilute our ambitions. It’s time to rescue the SDGs as a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. We must build on our successes and accelerate progress in key areas that will achieve the greatest impact.
The number of people lacking electricity access in the world fell by almost 30 per cent from 2015 to 2022. Internet access increased by about 70 per cent.
For local communities these transformations represent real opportunities. To improve health and widen access to education and social protection. To make food systems more resilient, while creating green jobs. To open e-commerce and financial services, while also protecting the environment and biodiversity.
But developing countries cannot take these actions alone. We need to support them in designing and implementing their economic transformations.
At the Summit of the Future last September, world leaders set out the Pact for the Future, a sharp vision of a multilateralism that can deepen cooperation and deliver on these promises.
The Pact contains commitments that can unlock financing, including an SDG Stimulus, a review of the sovereign debt architecture and reform of the international financial architecture.
As TERI and this Summit make clear, these reforms will be critical to help developing countries mobilize the financing and support they need to invest in green solutions and renewable energy systems for the future.
Financing can play a key role in creating demand for renewables and low-carbon solutions at all levels — from households to businesses — while ensuring positive socio-economic and environmental benefits.
To accelerate these efforts, the UN system is working to support country level policy reforms, integrate stakeholder innovations, build institutional capacities, and boost infrastructure investments across the entire renewable clean energy supply chain.
And the Secretary-General’s panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals offers important Principles and Actionable Recommendations to ensure this new era does not repeat historical patterns of exploitation.
This work will be critical in supporting countries as they develop national climate plans ahead of COP30 — plans that must reduce emissions by investing in renewable solutions that can create new jobs and sources of prosperity.
The message is clear. No single nation can navigate challenges alone. Effective collaboration is increasingly critical to shaping our common future.
The United Nations is committed to standing with all partners as we accelerate action on the SDGs and shape the sustainable future all people need and deserve.
Source: United States Senator for Vermont – Bernie Sanders
WASHINGTON, March 7 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), today released a new report exposing the stark disparities in life expectancy based on income, education, race and geography. The findings show that working class people in America die much younger than the wealthiest people in our country.
The new analysis reveals that people living in the top 1% of counties ranked by median household income live seven years longer, on average, than Americans living in the bottom 50% of counties.
“The massive income and wealth inequality that exists in America today is not just an economic issue, it is literally a matter of life and death,” said Sanders. “In America today, the bottom 50% of our population can expect to live seven years shorter lives than the top 1%. Even worse, Americans who live in working-class, rural counties can expect to die 10 years younger than people who live in wealthier neighborhoods across the country. The enormous stress of living paycheck to paycheck not only causes far too many Americans to die much quicker than they should, but also leads to higher levels of anxiety, depression, cardiovascular disease and poor health. This is an issue that Congress must address.”
Here are the key findings from the report:
Wealthy Americans live longer than the working class. People living in the top 1% of counties ranked by median household income live an average of 84.3 years, while people living in the bottom 50% of counties ranked by median household income live an average of 77.4 years – a difference of 7 years.
Rural counties face the greatest disparities. Urban and suburban counties with a median household income of $100,000 have an average life expectancy of 81.6 years, while small rural counties with a median household income of $30,000 have an average life expectancy of 71.7 years – a 10-year gap.
Geographic disparities persist. In Loudoun County, Virginia, the highest-earning county in the U.S., life expectancy is 84 years. Just 350 miles away, in McDowell County, West Virginia, one of the lowest-earning counties in the U.S., the life expectancy is 69 years – a 15-year difference.
Higher incomes translate to longer lives. Among rural counties, a $10,000 increase in median annual household income is associated with an additional 2.6 years of life expectancy. Among lower- and lower-middle income populations in urban and suburban counties, the same income increase is associated with a 2.1-year gain in life expectancy.
Through a survey shared on social media, Sanders recently asked working people how stress impacts their lives. The response was overwhelming. Americans shared stories that paint a picture of daily hardship: the stress of affording health care, food, and gas; the anxiety of living paycheck to paycheck; and the feeling of hopelessness that comes from constant financial strain.
Here are just two of those responses.
Edwardo from Texas said: “We struggle to get sleep. Our diets fluctuate, and we get sick from spoiled food from the donation pantry. Working long hours I was recently injured and am struggling, unable to pay for care to help heal.”
Caitlan from Colorado said: “Stress isn’t just an inconvenience for me—it’s a direct threat to my heart. Living with a congenital heart defect and multiple mechanical valves means that every surge of anxiety, every sleepless night worrying about bills, isn’t just mentally exhausting—it physically wears on my heart. Stress triggers palpitations, spikes my blood pressure, and leaves me drained, knowing that too much of it could lead to serious complications. Managing it is a daily battle.”
The report released today also describes policy solutions that would support working Americans and make progress toward closing the life expectancy gap, including:
Raising the minimum wage to at least $17 an hour to ensure workers can earn a living wage.
Guaranteeing health care as a human right by enacting Medicare for All.
Ending the international embarrassment of the United States being the only major country on earth not to guarantee paid family and medical leave.
Making education from child care to trade school and graduate school available to everyone regardless of their income or ZIP code.
Expanding Social Security and restoring defined benefit pension plans so that every senior in America can retire with dignity.
Read the report here.
Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
March 7, 2025
In the Northwestern Federal District, the resettlement of people from houses unfit for habitation continues.
In the Northwestern Federal District, people are being resettled from uninhabitable buildings. Vladimir Putin set the task of reducing the emergency housing stock and improving the living conditions of people living there for the Russian construction industry. Since 2019, when the implementation of the national project “Housing and Urban Environment” began, the subjects of the Northwestern Federal District have resettled 1.5 million square meters of housing recognized as uninhabitable, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin reported.
“Resettlement of emergency housing is one of the tasks that the Government keeps under special control. We are working on solving this problem together with the regions. Under the national project “Housing and Urban Environment”, almost 84 thousand citizens have been resettled from emergency housing in the district to date. The unsuitable housing stock has been reduced by 1.5 million square meters. The resettlement program not only helps improve the quality of life of thousands of Russians, but also contributes to the renewal of urban development and the creation of a comfortable urban environment. Since 2025, these tasks have been solved within the framework of the new national project “Infrastructure for Life”, – said the Deputy Prime Minister.
According to Marat Khusnullin, in the Northwestern Federal District, the largest number of residents moved from dilapidated housing in the Arkhangelsk Region – 26.1 thousand people, the Leningrad Region – 12.7 thousand people, the Komi Republic – 10.4 thousand people, the Republic of Karelia – 9.4 thousand people and the Vologda Region – 7.1 thousand people.
The General Director of the Territorial Development Fund, Ilshat Shagiakhmetov, noted that many regions are working ahead of schedule, completing assigned tasks in a shorter time frame.
“In addition, it has already become a good tradition that regions connect their mechanisms to solve the problem of resettling emergency housing, create their own resettlement programs. Thus, the subjects of the Northwestern Federal District, at the expense of their budgets, resettled 13.2 thousand people out of the total number. Here we can note the Komi Republic, where the region independently resettled 3.8 thousand people, and the Arkhangelsk Region, where, thanks to the initiative of the subject, almost 3 thousand citizens improved their housing conditions,” said the head of the Territorial Development Fund.
The program for resettling citizens from emergency housing stock is supervised by the Russian Ministry of Construction. Its operator is the Territorial Development Fund.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
March 7, 2025
Alexander Novak, together with Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office of Russia Maxim Oreshkin, held a meeting on the development of a national model of target conditions for doing business.
“The President has set national development goals, and one of the key tasks is to ensure that the economy grows at a rate higher than the world average and maintain fourth place in the world in terms of purchasing power parity. To do this, we need to achieve sustainable growth rates and increase the volume of investment in fixed assets by 60%. One of the areas of work to achieve these indicators is the constant improvement of the investment climate. On the instructions of the President, the Ministry of Economic Development, together with the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, is developing a national model of target conditions for doing business,” said Alexander Novak.
The national model includes priority areas and target indicators at the federal and regional levels to simplify the launch and operation of a business in Russia.
“The Government is currently developing a plan for structural changes in the Russian economy in order to remove restrictions that prevent rapid growth. Target conditions for doing business are one of the key elements of this work. Our task is to reduce losses, unnecessary steps and ineffective stages along the investment process,” said Maxim Oreshkin.
“The goal of the national model is to solve specific problems of improving the business climate through reforms that businesses need. To measure changes, it is necessary to develop target indicators of efficiency at the federal and regional levels. That is, to determine the criteria for assessing the activities of government bodies in working with businesses. At all stages – from registering a legal entity to entering the international market,” said Maxim Reshetnikov, head of the Ministry of Economic Development.
The Minister noted that the formation and implementation of the national model play a key role in the plan of measures for structural changes in the economy until 2030. The implementation of the model will affect not only the provision of a favorable institutional environment and improvement of the business climate, but also the solution of other strategic tasks. For example, stimulating investment, providing financial resources for economic growth, and developing the labor market.
11 working groups headed by representatives of companies and government bodies are engaged in identifying procedural and process-related difficulties in doing business at various stages of the life cycle of enterprises. The first results have shown that there are both long-standing issues and promising areas for reform.
For example, these are bankruptcy and competition laws, out-of-court settlement mechanisms, issues of labor market flexibility, diversification of business financing sources, and improvement of law enforcement practices in energy infrastructure.
Svetlana Chupsheva, Director General of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, reported on regional indicators of the national model of target conditions for doing business. She focused on the methodology for determining and monitoring target indicators at the regional level.
“At the regional level, it is planned to use 29 key indicators of the National Investment Climate Rating. The average results of 20 leading regions were taken as benchmarks by 2027, and the results of the leading five by 2030. We plan to approve them at the next meeting of the State Council Commission on Investments. Then, together with the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia and the regions, we will develop action plans to achieve the set goals,” the head of ASI said.
Federal indicators will be reflected in regional ones for mandatory implementation at the local level. Thus, the rating will remain a tool for measuring the state of the investment climate. And the model will determine where and what problems need to be solved in order to improve the conditions for business operations.
Representatives of regions, business associations and federal agencies also took part in the meeting.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
[. 28. The agreement will help unleash further opportunity for the city to promote economic growth, vibrancy, safe and affordable housing, and community development.
Pending a positive outcome from ongoing negotiations and the successful passage of Budget 2025, Alberta’s government will contribute up to $183.4 million to this work, which will further revitalize the region, boost the economy and support the creation of new housing developments.
“Alberta’s government is proud to be partnering with the City of Edmonton and OEG Sports and Entertainment on this exciting plan to support world-class facilities and services, revitalize downtown Edmonton, and build new housing. This investment will ensure that Edmonton continues to be one of Canada’s and North America’s leading entertainment and event districts.”
The total cost for all projects is $408.2 million, which will be shared by all three partners. When complete, it is estimated that the event park will add more than $70 million to local gross domestic product. Alberta’s government will provide $158.4 million through grants and $25 million by extending the term of the Edmonton Capital City Downtown Community Revitalization Levy (CRL), for a total commitment of up to $183.4 million.
Of the province’s total contribution, $55 million is being contributed to the $90 million cost demolition of the Coliseum at Exhibition Lands and site improvements and $97 million is being contributed to the $250 million cost of the event park.
Recently, the Edmonton City Council Executive Committee took the first step towards approving a 10-year extension to the Downtown CRL to allow investment into these projects and other catalyst proposals in the city’s core.
These priority projects will provide residents and visitors with year-round access to sports, culture and entertainment activities, as well as improve safety and security in Edmonton’s downtown. The Government of Alberta will not build, own or operate any aspect of these projects.
“Alberta’s municipalities are vital to our province’s identity and success so we’re supporting their growth and prosperity. These priority projects will revitalize downtown Edmonton, attract visitors, spur economic growth and diversification, and build attainable housing.”
“This funding is a promising initial step towards accelerating housing options and expanding economic opportunities in our city. The provincial government and OEGSE have been collaborative partners in this negotiation and though we still have far to go, I am hopeful that this commitment will signal Edmonton’s support for development and investment in our core neighbourhoods.”
In addition, this agreement will support the development of much-needed housing in the capital city. Alberta’s government will contribute $31.4 million toward the cost of public infrastructure site servicing for the Village at ICE District, which will provide about 2,500 new residences north of Rogers Place. The total investment from all partners to create more housing options, including affordable and attainable housing and student accommodations will be $68.2 million.
“We are proud of our work to date with the development of Rogers Place and surrounding facilities and look forward to building on that success through this new agreement with the Government of Alberta and City of Edmonton. Rogers Place is not only the home of the Edmonton Oilers, it is a gathering place for residents, visitors and community groups from across Oil Country to come together in the heart of our city. The arena and surrounding developments have also become catalytic drivers of private investment and revitalization in Edmonton’s downtown core. We still have lots of work to do to attract more residents, visitors and investment downtown, and this agreement is a significant step in the right direction that will add the community programming, activity, vibrancy and housing needed to continue our revitalization efforts.”
Budget 2025 is meeting the challenge faced by Alberta with continued investments in education and health, lower taxes for families and a focus on the economy.
Quick facts
The total cost of the Edmonton projects is $408.2 million. Of the up to $183.4 million provided by Alberta’s government:
$97 million is being contributed to the $250 million cost of the event park.
$55 million is being contributed to the $90 million cost for the coliseum demolition and site improvements.
$31.4 million is being contributed to the total $68.2 million cost of site servicing for the Village at ICE District North.
The Alberta government is providing $158.4 million through grants and $25 million through the Edmonton CRL for a total of up to $183.4 million.
The Government of Alberta will not build, own or operate any aspect of these projects.
Alberta’s investment of up to $183.4 million for these City of Edmonton infrastructure improvements is similar to the support that the Government of Alberta committed for Calgary’s event centre project in April 2023.
While Calgary received more provincial funding for their project, Alberta government funding represented 27 percent of the overall costs. Meanwhile, Edmonton is receiving 40 per cent of its overall costs for the event park and Village at ICE District North site servicing.
Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
PEORIA, Ill. – A Marquette Heights, Illinois, man, Dalton Lee Mattus, 35, was sentenced on March 5, 2025, to an aggregate 57 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for possessing a firearm as a felon, possessing a stolen firearm, and possessing an unregistered destructive device.
At the sentencing hearing in front of Senior U.S. District Judge Michael M. Mihm, the court was informed that Mattus had multiple prior criminal convictions within Tazewell and Peoria Counties that prohibited him from possessing a firearm. In May 2024, he was the passenger in a car that was stopped by Pekin Police Department officers. During the traffic stop, the officers confiscated a locked bag from the car. After obtaining a search warrant for the bag, they found a stolen Springfield Armory XD-S .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol and two unregistered destructive devices. The devices were made from cardboard tubing, metal BBs, and chemical powder used to make explosives. The officers also obtained a search warrant for Mattus’s residence, where they found three additional unregistered destructive devices, along with materials to make several more. Officers also seized 50 rounds of live ammunition and equipment used to assemble and disassemble firearms.
In sentencing Mattus, Judge Mihm commented that while this was a very serious case, what was most troubling was that the explosives were homemade and were intended to harm others. The judge commented that this is “about as bad as it gets.”
Mattus was arrested by the Pekin Police Department in May 2024, and a federal complaint was filed two weeks later, followed by a federal indictment in June 2024. He entered a guilty plea in October 2024.
The statutory penalties for possessing a firearm as a felon are not more than 15 years’ imprisonment. The maximum term of imprisonment for possessing a stolen firearm and possessing an unregistered destructive device is ten years’ imprisonment. Each count carries up to a three-year term of supervised release.
The Peoria Area Federal Firearms Task Force, comprised of agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Peoria Police Department; the Peoria County Sheriff’s Department; Illinois Department of Corrections; and the Illinois State Police, investigated the case. The Pekin Police Department and Tazewell County Sheriff’s Department also participated in the investigation.
The case against Mattus is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
CHICAGO, March 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Financial institutions nationwide are preparing to navigate significant economic uncertainties and mounting competition from non-traditional, digitally based competitors and industry consolidation throughout 2025, according to a new report from Strata Decision Technology.
The 2025 CFO Outlook for FinancialInstitutions report combines industry analysts’ projections with Strata’s independent research. The impacts of interest rate changes and other economic factors — such as tariffs on imports from countries such as China, Canada, and Mexico — remain unknown. At the same time, analysts predict financial institutions could benefit from regulatory changes and the expansion of new technologies.
“Financial institution leaders face considerable challenges as they work to bolster stability for their institutions in 2025,” said Eric Wheeler, Senior Director for Product Management at Strata. “Yet analysts are cautiously optimistic and predict that the momentum of 2024 will continue this year. Leaders will need to prepare for a variety of potential outcomes as they navigate shifting market forces, rising competition, and an unclear economic environment.”
Finance leaders cited shifting interest rates as both the No. 1 risk and the primary driver of business model change in 2025. The Federal Reserve has indicated it will lower interest rates in 2025, but not to the extent originally projected and dependent on how the broader economy performs.
With the Trump administration’s promises to scale back Biden-era regulations, financial institutions anticipate potential easing of capital requirements and further incentives for digital innovation. At the same time, however, the Trump administration is also easing restrictions on fintechs and cryptocurrency providers, which could lead to heightened competition from non-traditional financial services companies.
The continued rise of digital-only, alternative finance providers such as neobanks and buy-now pay-later platforms remains a serious concern for industry leaders. In response, leaders cited their top three areas for technology spend in 2025 as digital banking, data and analytics, and fraud prevention and security.
Analysts predict the industry will see an increase in the number of mergers and acquisitions in 2025, as asset quality improvements that began in late 2024 continue. Banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions are expected to continue to consolidate as they seek to build scale and keep pace with technological advancements. Some analysts anticipate the increased M&A activity will include a rise in non-traditional mergers among credit unions and banks, and banks and fintech companies.
Artificial intelligence (AI) was identified as the top factor that will have the biggest impact on the future of financial services. Business applications of AI remain relatively low across all industries — including financial institutions — but that is expected to rapidly change in the coming years. Strata customers have said their institutions are applying AI primarily for customer service, such as the use of chatbots to communicate with customers. Many institutions plan to expand AI use over the next 12-18 months in areas such as financial systems, planning, fraud prevention, and further personalizing the customer experience.
To address interest rate uncertainties, institutions are implementing numerous strategies, including increasing their focus on non-interest income, decreasing expenses, and changing product pricing. Financial institution leaders noted that commercial loans are projected to be their top area of profitability growth in 2025. Other anticipated growth areas include mortgage loans, consumer loans, deposits, and small business loans.
About Strata Decision Technology
Strata Decision Technology, LLC provides a cloud-based, enterprise performance platform for software, and data and service solutions to help organizations better analyze, plan, and perform in support of their missions. More than 2,300 organizations rely on Strata’s StrataJazz and Axiom solutions for financial analytics, planning, and performance management. Named the market leader for Business Decision Support for more than 15 consecutive years, Strata delivers first-class solutions and service, with an intense focus on accelerating innovation. For more information, please go to www.stratadecision.com.
Source: United States Senator for North Dakota John Hoeven
03.07.25
WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven this week joined Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) in reintroducing the Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security (PASS) Act, legislation to ban individuals and entities controlled by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from purchasing agricultural land and businesses located near U.S. military installations or sensitive sites.
“Foreign adversaries are buying up U.S. farmland which is a threat not only to our food security, but our national security. Our legislation will prevent these bad actors from purchasing farmland and agricultural businesses near our strategic assets to better protect our nation from those with malign intentions,” said Hoeven.
The PASS Act is also cosponsored by Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.).
In February 2025, President Trump issued a National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM) to promote foreign investment while protecting America’s national security interests. In the NSPM, the President specifically mentioned adopting new rules to stop China from “buying up America.”
Specifically, the PASS Act would:
Ban purchases of agricultural land by individuals/entities controlled by North Korea, China, Russia and Iran near military installations and sensitive sites.
Make the Secretary of Agriculture a voting member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) for all covered transactions involving the purchase of agricultural land, biotechnology, and any other transaction related to the agriculture industry in the United States.
Give the U.S. Department of Agriculture the ability to refer cases to CFIUS for review if there is reason to believe an agriculture land transaction may raise a national security concern.
Source: United States of America – Department of State (video statements)
We are fully committed to bringing every American hostage and wrongful detainee home.
———-
Under the leadership of the President and Secretary of State, the U.S. Department of State leads America’s foreign policy through diplomacy, advocacy, and assistance by advancing the interests of the American people, their safety and economic prosperity. On behalf of the American people we promote and demonstrate democratic values and advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world.
The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser. The Secretary carries out the President’s foreign policies through the State Department, which includes the Foreign Service, Civil Service and U.S. Agency for International Development.
Get updates from the U.S. Department of State at www.state.gov and on social media!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/statedept
X: https://x.com/StateDept
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/statedept
Flickr: https://flickr.com/photos/statephotos/
Subscribe to the State Department Blog: https://www.state.gov/blogs
Watch on-demand State Department videos: https://video.state.gov/
Subscribe to The Week at State e-newsletter: http://ow.ly/diiN30ro7Cw
State Department website: https://www.state.gov/
Careers website: https://careers.state.gov/
White House website: https://www.whitehouse.gov/
Terms of Use: https://state.gov/tou
On Monday 3 March, the Town Hall opened its doors to host a networking event for International Women’s Day.
The day saw a panel of local women speak about their experiences in the workplace and how they have implemented change.
This year’s theme was ‘Accelerate Action’ and community members from across Preston were invited to attend to listen to the key speakers and have the opportunity for networking.
This showcased the number of strong female role models present within the community and the collective drive towards equality in Preston.
The speakers were:
Mrs Amanda Parker – His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Lancashire
Superintendent Sally Riley – Lancashire Constabulary, Chair of Inspire – The Women in Policing Network
Miss Zaynab Jogi – Self-Defence Trainer and Mountaineer
Dr Kailash Parekh – MBE, Community Champion and Educationalist
Dr Chinyere Ajayi – Course Lead at the School of Health, Social Work and Sport, UCLan
Mrs Sarah Threlfall – Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Community and Wellbeing at Preston City Council
There were also stalls shining a light on the work carried out in the community by:
Lancashire Women
Sahara
Ashton Food Aid and Penwortham Care and Share representing Preston Food Network
According to data from the World Economic Forum, at the current rate of progress it will take 133-years to reach full gender parity, which is roughly five generations from now.
One of the best ways to forge equality is to understand what works and do more of this faster.
More than 50 women attended this networking event, and they were catered for by participants of the Lady Boss course – a programme engaging with a group of 10 non-registered, home-based female cooks from minority communities who were interested in gaining a food safety qualification, registering with the local authority for food safety purposes, and incorporating as a business.
By the end of the programme, all members had achieved a Level 2 Food Safety certification.
The food was delicious and off the back of this success, they received another booking for an upcoming event in Preston.
Reflecting on the event, Councillor Nweeda Khan, Preston City Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities and Social Justice said:
It was an honour to be part of the International Women’s Day networking event today, and it was inspiring to hear from women from different career paths contributing towards a change in the workplace.
Preston City Council actively applies and prioritises the principles of Community Wealth Building wherever applicable and appropriate. Community Wealth Building is an approach which aims to ensure the economic system builds wealth and prosperity for everyone.
ATLANTA – Jordan Pack has been sentenced for two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon and one count of unlawful possession of ammunition by a convicted felon.
“Pack continued to possess firearms and commit violent offenses after being previously convicted of a violent felony,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Richard S. Moultrie, Jr. “This case is another example of the effective law enforcement partnerships in our district that enable the successful prosecutions of dangerous repeat offenders like Pack.”
“This sentence reflects ATF commitment to ensure that those with a history of crime are held accountable”, said Special Agent in Charge Benjamin Gibbons. Convicted felons possessing firearms presents a danger to the community and ATF along with our law enforcement partners will work hard to remove them from our community.”
According to Acting U.S. Attorney Moultrie, the charges, and other information presented in court: In October 2008, Jordan Pack was convicted of Armed Robbery (involving a firearm) in the Superior Court of Douglasville, Georgia. He was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment, with 10 years to serve in custody and the remainder to be served on probation. He was released from prison in April 2018.
On October 22, 2021, officers responding to a motor vehicle collision in Dacula, Georgia, arrested Pack for giving false identifying information to a police officer. A crossbody satchel that Pack was wearing at the time of his arrest contained live .38 caliber ammunition, and officers later learned that, after the accident, Pack had discarded a .38 caliber Taurus revolver under a nearby vehicle. Upon recovering the revolver, officers discovered that the firearm was loaded with the hammer cocked.
Later, on June 17, 2022, Atlanta Police Department (APD) officers responded to the scene of a shooting at a single-family home in Northwest Atlanta. A female resident of the home advised that, following a domestic dispute, Pack had threatened to shoot her. He then retrieved a firearm from his vehicle, fired multiple shots into the air, and fled the scene. Both the victim and her young child were present in the home at that time. Officers recovered five spent .45 caliber shell casings from the driveway of the home.
On August 10, 2022, officers with the APD fugitive unit located Pack at an apartment complex in Southwest Atlanta. Pack was working at the location as an armed security guard (under the alias “William Tate”) and in possession of a Tokarev 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun. During a search of Pack incident to his arrest, officers recovered a .45 caliber Highpoint semi-automatic pistol which was loaded with 17 rounds of ammunition in a high-capacity magazine, a pair of brass knuckles, a pocketknife, a canister of bear mace, and a large machete. In addition, during a search of Pack’s vehicle, officers seized the Tocarev shotgun, two magazines, 14 rounds of 12-gauge shotgun shells, and several .45 caliber cartridge casings.
On March 6, 2024, Chief District Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr. sentenced Jordan Pack, also known as “William Tate,” 35, of Atlanta, Ga., to 66 months of incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release. Pack pleaded guilty to the charges on November 12, 2024.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Atlanta Police Department.
Assistant United States Attorney Joshua May, and former Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jesika French and Norman Barnett, prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6280. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News (b)
Sunday, March 9, marks the 18th anniversary of the abduction of retired FBI Special Agent Robert A. “Bob” Levinson from Kish Island, Iran, in 2007. Bob served his country as a Drug Enforcement Administration agent for six years and then as an FBI special agent for 22 years. He retired in 1988.
March 9 also marks National Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day, a time for our country to pause and remember all American citizens unjustly held abroad—including Bob.
“Our job is to protect the American people and to hold accountable those who harm our citizens, so this case hits especially close to home for all of us at the FBI, where Bob served for so long,” FBI Director Kash Patel said. “It’s been 18 years since Bob’s abduction, and Iran has continued to target U.S. citizens, including the president, other government officials, and dissidents who criticize the regime in Tehran. Our nation will not tolerate threats to any Americans, at home or abroad, and we demand that Iran make good on its past promises to provide answers about what happened to Bob.”
Bob should be celebrating his 77th birthday with his wife, children, and grandchildren next week. Instead, Bob’s family, friends, and colleagues mark yet another year without him. As the FBI remembers Bob, we renew our commitment to resolving his case and holding the Iranian regime responsible for its role in Bob’s disappearance. The investigation continues to develop new leads and intelligence, and the FBI will pursue all options to hold every Iranian official who was involved to account.
As part of our ongoing efforts, the FBI recently released seeking information posters featuring two senior Iranian intelligence officials who were allegedly involved in Bob’s abduction: Mohammad Baseri and Ahmad Khazai. They worked for Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) at the time of Bob’s abduction, detention, and probable death.
Additionally, the U.S. State Department’s Rewards for Justice program is offering a reward of up to $20 million for information that leads to Bob’s location, recovery, and return as well as information that leads to the identification, location, arrest, or conviction of any person responsible for his abduction, including Baseri and Khazai, who are wanted for their alleged involvement in Bob’s disappearance.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tom Wingfield, Deputy Director of the Centre for Tuberculosis Research, Reader in Tuberculosis and Social Medicine, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK; and Honorary Research Associate at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and, University of Liverpool
TB outbreaks in wealthy countries act as a canary in a coalmine, reflecting cracks in national public health systems. More broadly, TB outbreaks in any setting have deeper implications for the struggle to end TB globally.
In the UK, TB rates consistently declined between 2011 and 2020. But, like the US, this decline reversed since COVID emerged in early 2020.
In 2023, there was a 13% increase in the number of people who became unwell with TB in England, compared with 2022.
At 9.5 people with TB per 100,000 people per year, England is in jeopardy of losing its “low TB incidence” status (less than ten people with TB per 100,000 people per year).
Rates of TB in England have a stark social gradient, with the poorest 10% of people having five times higher rates of TB than the richest 10%.
But the increase in TB in the UK cannot be put down to greater risk of disease alone. The response of the health and social care system to prevent and cure TB is crucial.
The BCG vaccine, currently the only TB vaccine, is not nearly as effective as we would like at preventing disease. There is hope on the horizon with several vaccines under development, but their effect may be impeded by vaccine hesitancy driven by misinformation.
For countries with lower incidence of TB across Europe and North America, many TB policies are targeted at identifying and treating TB in groups who are most at risk of being exposed to the disease, including people moving from regions of the world where TB is more common.
Patterns of migration to the UK changed significantly following Brexit. A need to expand the workforce, particularly in health and social care, has led to active recruitment and movement of people from higher TB burden countries. This is relevant because, in England, four in five people with TB were born outside the UK, and rates among this group increased by 15% between 2022 and 2023.
Screening migrant populations as part of their visa application process pre-entry is effective at identifying people with infectious TB. But prevention is better than cure, and there remains a gap in screening for TB infection or TB disease without symptoms.
Providing well-tolerated, preventive TB treatment can reduce the risk of developing active TB disease by 85% in the future. Yet the screening programme in the UK is under-resourced, with just 11.5% of eligible migrants screened for TB infection in 2023.
We should not overlook the fact that rates of TB also increased, although to a lesser extent (3.9%), among people born in the UK – the first time this has happened for many years.
Among both UK-born and non-UK-born populations, often overlapping social risk factors such as homelessness, asylum seeker status, drug or alcohol misuse, incarceration and mental health disorders continue to drive TB. These factors, which jumped by 27% between 2022 and 2023, not only increase the likelihood of TB disease but are associated with much lower rates of cure.
Early diagnosis and treatment of TB are crucial to prevent long-term health issues or even death. The sooner someone starts effective treatment, the sooner they stop being infectious, helping to reduce the spread of TB. Improving access to diagnosis and care will lower TB transmission.
Unacceptable delays in treatment
Nearly a third of people with TB in the UK experience a delay of four months between the onset of their symptoms (commonly cough, fever, night sweats and weight loss) and taking their first anti-TB medicine. This unacceptable delay is similar to (or even longer than) the treatment delays we have documented in low- and middle-income countries with much higher TB burdens, including Peru, Nepal and Mozambique.
In the UK, most people are entitled to free NHS care, and TB care and prevention is free to all. However, the NHS is overwhelmed and policies relating to healthcare recovery costs of visitors and migrants can prevent people with TB, wherever they are from, from getting timely care. This situation poses a public health threat to us all.
Effective TB prevention and care is possible. While current tools are imperfect, albeit with recent progress in diagnostics and treatment, researchers around the world are further advancing science and innovation in the fight against TB. This includes the promise of nutritional supplementation, financial and social support, and a new TB vaccine. Providing timely support to everyone with TB remains fundamental to our response to this illness of poverty.
To end TB, whether in the US, UK, or globally, we would do well to remember and apply the old medical adage: treat the person, not the disease.
Tom Wingfield is supported by grants from: the Wellcome Trust, UK (209075/Z/17/Z); the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Wellcome, UK (Joint Global Health Trials, MR/V004832/1); the Medical Research Council (Public Health Intervention Development Award “PHIND”, APP2293); the Medical Research Foundation (Dorothy Temple Cross International Collaboration Research Grant, MRF-131–0006-RG-KHOS-C0942); and UNITAID (2022-50-START-4-ALL). Tom is an honorary research associate at the Department of Global Public Health, Karolinksa Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and is also an ad hoc consultant for the World Health Organization and the Stop TB Partnership.
Jessica Potter has previously received research funding from Medical Research Council UK. She chairs a grassroots network called UK Academics and Professionals to end TB and is an advisory member of the Innovations Constituency of the Stop TB Partnership.
Kerry Millington receives funding from UK aid from the UK government for the research programme that she works on. Views expressed are those of her own and do not necessarily reflect the UK government’s official policies.
When director Robert Eggers asked him what kind of movies he was interested in, Robert Pattinson said: “I only wanna do strange things.” It seems he’s taken the same approach to stardom as fellow teen star, Daniel Radcliffe – make your name in a big-budget franchise, then spend the rest of your career starring in the interesting, the unexpected and downright weird.
Since his turn as the sparkle-skinned teen vampire heartthrob Edward Cullen in the Twilight movies, Pattinson has played a tortured lighthouse keeper, a celibate space prisoner and a city slicker who barely leaves his limousine. Even his iteration of Batman was kooky – a tragic, lonely hero in smudged black eye make-up.
The trailer for Mickey 17.
So, it’s no wonder that he jumped at the chance to star in Mickey 17. The latest film by renowned Korean writer-director Bong Joon-ho, it follows a mission to establish a human settlement on an inhospitable alien planet in the year 2054. In this imagined future, it has become possible to replicate human beings with total accuracy using an advanced form of 3D printing.
Although outlawed on ethical grounds back on Earth, human printing is legal in the remote regions of space. There, disposable workers known as “expendables” can be reprinted on demand each time they perish. Our reviewer, an expert in science fiction, said: “Like Bong’s earlier films, Mickey 17 combines artful world-building, an impeccable cast, social satire, anarchic humour – and a taste for the grotesque.”
Pattinson’s Batman has yet to face the Joker, the character’s arch nemesis, and a recurring role that is even more prized among actors than Bruce Wayne. But Vera Drew, who co-writes, directs and stars as several iterations of the character in her new film The People’s Joker, hasn’t let a casting director get in the way of her ambitions.
The trailer for The People’s Joker.
In this surreal, hilarious – and very much unofficial – film, Drew plays a mix of both Harley Quinn and the Joker. It’s a queer twist on the DC universe, and a metaphor for the difficulties she encountered as a transgender teen.
For our reviewers, experts in comic books and their adaptations, it was a breath of fresh air. Proof that, in the era of Marvel’s box office dominance, there is still room for unique remixes of familiar superhero stories.
The People’s Joker is touring cinemas across the UK
Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.
The most streamed TV series on Netflix this week is the new drama Toxic Town – and deservedly so. It tells the true story of a group of women from Corby in Northamptonshire, UK, who gave birth to children with limb differences in the 1980s and 90s. The children were born with shortened arms or legs or missing fingers.
The drama follows their battle to uncover the cause and their subsequent fight for justice. It makes for compelling viewing, with standout performances from former Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker and White Lotus’s Aimee Lou Wood.
The trailer for Toxic Town.
We asked a pair of climate researchers to review the show. They found it to be a “stark warning about the dangers of weak environmental protections”. Far from being a thing of the past, they argue that we could return to the toxic times seen in Corby if we fail to prioritise stringent environmental safeguards.
For more culture with a message this week, we highly recommend No Other Land. Winner of the Oscar for best documentary feature film, it chronicles the efforts of Palestinian townspeople to combat an Israeli plan to demolish their villages in the West Bank and use the area as a military training ground.
The trailer for No Other Land.
The film was directed by four Palestinian and Israeli activists and journalists including Basel Adra, who is a resident of the area facing demolition. The film’s subject matter has made it difficult to attract distributors in many countries, including the US. British viewers, though, can stream the film for free on Channel 4.
Show Don’t Tell is the new short story collection from Curtis Sittenfeld. She’s the American writer behind Rodham, the 2020 novel that reimagined the life of Hilary Clinton. Offering slices of life in the American Midwest, it’s a profound exploration of individual and social conflict at a time when the US is on the verge of momentous political change.
Many of Sittenfeld’s characters are experiencing a low-level sense of dread. Some are obsessed with death. But the stories remind us that, considering the chaotic past decade, where catastrophe and complex political issues have dominated American lives, fear and anxiety are an entirely reasonable emotional response.
Our reviewer, an expert in American literature and history, read all 12 stories in one sitting. She found them to be moving, witty and achingly real.
Source: United States Senator for Colorado John Hickenlooper
Reports show food shortages due to DOD reallocation of funding designated for service member meals
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper, along with six of his Senate colleagues, and 14 U.S. Representatives called on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to address the Department of Defense’s (DOD) apparent underinvestment in quality food options for service members.
Their letter follows recent reports highlighting issues with food quality and access at several military installations, including Colorado’s Fort Carson. Reports claim over half of the money withheld from soldiers’ paychecks for food, known as Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS), is repurposed, leaving base leadership with limited funds for nutritious food services.
“Our service members are the best among us and expect fair compensation from their government,” wrote the lawmakers. “If a service member is losing money from their paycheck because they are being given a meal, it is reasonable for them to expect that funding will be used only to cover the costs of providing it and to ensure it is of the highest possible quality.”
Poor-quality meals and limited availability of food mean service members must perform grueling physical and mental training exercises without the proper fuel, undermining readiness. The federal government has an obligation to support those who put their lives on the line for our nation’s freedoms.
Full text of the letter is available HERE and below:
Dear Secretary Hegseth,
We write to express our concern about the Department of Defense’s (DOD) apparent underinvestment in food options for members of the military.
Recent public reporting in military.com highlighted that DOD spends far less on food for servicemembers who are afforded subsistence-in-kind than would be given directly to those servicemembers in Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) if they were not eligible for government-provided meals. Previous reporting also highlighted DOD’s challenges in providing healthy food for servicemembers. This reporting underscores the ongoing challenges the military services have in ensuring our servicemembers have access to high-quality
and nutritious meals.
Current law states that most servicemembers who receive basic pay are entitled to receive BAS to help them afford the cost of food. It also gives the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Service Secretaries, the ability to prescribe policies regarding the use of dining facilities. Current DOD policy requires most servicemembers who receive government-provided meals to pay for their meals, including through BAS deductions managed by Defense Financial Accounting Service. The current policy delegates the use of those collected funds to the military services.
The report noted that many installations’ current spending on DFAC operations represented only a small percentage of the BAS collected from servicemembers serving on those installations. The findings, which include 2024 financial records from eleven of the largest Army installations, show that more than $151 million of the $225 million in BAS collected from servicemembers on these installations was not spent on food costs. That figure does not include the additional garrisons under the Army’s control, nor does it include spending at installations managed by the other military services suggesting the issue may be much more widespread.
Congress provides servicemembers with BAS to help them afford meals. If BAS is taken from servicemembers for meals the government gives them, then that funding should be used to cover the costs and investments needed to serve those meals. Additionally, for Congress to effectively conduct its oversight responsibilities, it must be fully apprised of how the funding provided is appropriated and must ensure open transparency on behalf of the services.
The article also found that a lack of nutrient-dense food, shortages, and inconsistent adherence to the Army’s nutrition policy negatively affects junior
enlisted servicemembers specifically because they often live in unaccompanied housing on installations. These junior enlisted servicemembers are also disproportionately affected by the loss of their BAS as it represents a significant portion of their overall compensation.
Through your experience as a junior officer, you can empathize with the importance of a reliable, nutritious dining facility, and its importance
to morale. You are now ultimately responsible for the welfare of these servicemembers, and we request your prompt response to the following questions by April 31, 2025:
What elements of DOD funding are used to provide meals to servicemembers?
How do the military services program through the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) fund food service operations?
How do the military services make decisions regarding investments in their on-post food service operations?
How do you consider including nutritious options on their menus?
Are there barriers to the military services providing healthy and nutritious meals to servicemembers living in unaccompanied housing on military installations?
If so, what are they?
Does the Department or the military services require additional resources or authorities to provide healthy and affordable food options to these servicemembers? If so, what are they?
How do you plan to improve the quality and nutrition of food at dining facilities and other food service providers across the Joint Force to meet the needs of the modern warfighter?
Our servicemembers are the best among us and expect fair compensation from their government. If a servicemember is losing money from their paycheck
because they are being given a meal, it is reasonable for them to expect that funding will be used only to cover the costs of providing it and to ensure it is of the highest possible quality. We trust you will move expeditiously to answer our inquiries. Thank you for your earnest attention to this matter.
From Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/housing-infrastructure-communities/news/2025/03/the-governments-of-canada-and-british-columbia-sign-an-agreement-to-address-homelessness.html
French version: https://www.canada.ca/fr/logement-infrastructures-collectivites/nouvelles/2025/03/les-gouvernements-du-canada-et-de-la-colombie-britannique-signent-une-entente-pour-lutter-contre-litinerance.html
Today, the federal government and the Government of British Columbia announced that an agreement to support people experiencing homelessness, including sheltering in encampments, has been signed as part of the Unsheltered Homelessness and Encampments Initiative (UHEI).
Funding will support the implementation of Community Encampment Response Plans (CERP) and immediately provide additional support to people living without homes. Each plan is tailored to the specific needs of a community and expands the work of the Province to implement key initiatives under Belonging in BC.
Through this agreement, over two years, the governments of Canada and British Columbia will each contribute up to $39.9 million, which will be made available in Vancouver, Abbotsford, and Kamloops. This is in addition to what the federal government is investing through the regionally delivered streams of Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy, which includes over $638 million from 2019 to 2028 in British Columbia to address local homelessness needs.
Through this funding, the Province will continue to provide ongoing response and outreach to people experiencing homelessness and encampments through its Homeless Encampment Action Response Team (HEART) and Homeless Encampment Action Response Temporary Housing (HEARTH) programs. Since launching the homelessness response initiatives in 2023, the Province has partnered with 10 municipalities to open 15 HEARTH sites across B.C. for a total of 611 temporary supportive homes or shelter beds. The Province invested up to $1.5 billion through Budget 2023 in new initiatives to help prevent and reduce homelessness. These investments build on the $633 million the Province invested into actions to prevent and reduce homelessness.
This funding will help individuals and families transition into safer, more appropriate, and stable housing and shelter. Additionally, client support services will help improve integration and connectedness to essential services such as food programs, emergency shelters, transportation, healthcare, and disability support. It will also assist with economic, social, and cultural integration to help individuals access and retain stable housing. Other services and initiatives include coordinating resources and enhancing data collection and quality to improve service delivery.
Housing provides stability and security and serves as the foundation for overall well-being. Everyone deserves a safe and affordable place to live.
Quotes:
“A safe place to call home is the foundation for a brighter future. Yet, homelessness continues to affect thousands of people across British Columbia, blocking their path to stability and opportunity. This funding will be a vital resource for communities in need, offering more than just shelter — it provides hope and the chance to rebuild. Beyond providing housing, it will provide essential support, life skills training, and access to healthcare, helping individuals and families regain their independence and build a more secure and promising future.”
— The Honourable Dr. Hedy Fry, Member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre
“We’re connecting people with the housing and supports they need to get on a better path and live full, healthy lives. The high cost of living and shortage of affordable housing have caused homelessness rates in BC and across the country to rise. We’re pleased to have the Government of Canada contribute to our Province’s work with local governments and community partners to address homelessness and build safer and stronger communities where all of us can thrive.”
— The Honourable Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs
Quick Facts:
The Unsheltered Homelessness and Encampments Initiative (UHEI) will help reduce the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, particularly those living in encampments. It is based on the deployment of a Community Encampment Response Plan (CERP) in each targeted community, adopting an approach that promotes housing stability with support services to ensure the dignity of individuals.
As part of Canada-British Columbia Agreement for this initiative, the federal and provincial governments are each providing up to $39.9 million, over two years, to support CERP activities in Vancouver, Abbotsford, and Kamloops.
The Province, through BC Housing has provided funding for 6,742 shelter spaces in 59 communities throughout B.C. this fall and winter – a 20% increase in spaces available compared to last year this time.
The Government of British Columbia put forward approximately $228 million over three years to help create regional multidisciplinary teams and temporary spaces through the Homeless Encampment Action Response Team and Homeless Encampment Action Response Temporary Housing (HEART and HEARTH) to support rapid response for communities with substantive encampments in their area.
The Provincial funding includes approximately $44 million of capital funding approved through Budget 2023 to help expand access to temporary supportive housing and shelter (HEARTH) and provide more on-site support for people sheltering in encampments, such as fire prevention, safety and outreach, while housing gets built.
These investments build on the $633 million that B.C. invested into actions to prevent and reduce homelessness through Budget 2022, including the almost $4 million over three years to support people in encampments to stay safe, connect to supports and transition to housing.
Since 2017, the Province of British Columbia has nearly 92,000 homes that have been delivered or underway.
Federal funding provided for this agreement is part of a $250 million commitment, outlined in Budget 2024, to address the urgent issue of encampments and unsheltered homelessness across Canada.
The $250 million investment from the federal government is a tool to coordinate matching funds from provincial and territorial governments to address encampments throughout the country.
The UHEI builds on existing programs like Reaching Home, through which the federal government is investing $5 billion over nine years to address homelessness across Canada.
Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy supports the goals of Canada’s Housing Plan and the National Housing Strategy – to support the needs of the most vulnerable Canadians and to improve access to safe, stable and affordable housing.
Since 2015, the federal government has helped almost two million Canadians find a place to call home.
Up to one million desperate Syrians living in camps and displacement sites across the country’s northwestintend to return homewithin the next year – sparking deep concerns of a new humanitarian crisis.
According to UN refugee agency, UNHCR, 600,000 people could be on the move in the next six months, according to its latest survey.
UNHCR spokesperson Celine Schmitt said on Friday that people will need “housing, jobs, schools, hospitals, electricity and clean water” – all of which are lacking after 14 years of civil conflict.
She described meeting one mother living in a tent with her children having fled from the rubble of her former home, without access to water, or employment – with the nearest school two kilometers away.
Yearning for home
The mother said she was “planning to take her tent and to go back home and put the tent next to her house, just to be back home…She was asking for small humanitarian help to be able to restart, to rebuild her life.”
Twenty-three districts in Syria could see their populations at least double, placing additional strain on already overstretched basic services and infrastructure.
The survey showed that 51 per cent of households intend to return to their areas of origin, with 93 per cent planning to go home within three to twelve months.
The survey took place between 26 January and 23 February, surveying 4,800 households – more than 29,000 individuals – in 514 displacement sites across northwest Syria.
As of January, more than 3.4 million IDPs were still in the northwest. The intention to return is particularly strong among IDPs in Idleb, where two in three households are opting to head home. Former frontline areas in the Idleb and Aleppo governorates are the primary intended destinations.
UN support for returnees
UNHCR and partners are providing transport, legal assistance and support in repairing damaged homes as well as mattresses, blankets and winter clothing for the tough months ahead.
“Nearly 14 years after the crisis began, Syria is at a crossroads, urgently needing support for rebuilding as years of conflict have devastated the economy and infrastructure, leaving 90 per cent of the population reliant on aid,” said Ms. Schmitt.
“There is now hope and a historic opportunity. UNHCR calls on the international community to make a firm commitment to support Syrians with essential aid for returnees and by investing in early recovery.”
Temporary shelters stand in rows in rural Aleppo in Syria.
Seven million displaced overall: IOM
A new report released on Friday by the UN migration agency, IOM, shows that around 750,000 IDPs have already returned to their places of origin in Syria since November 2024. – but some seven million remain displaced.
IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) – the first such report on Syria since 2022 – shows that one in five displaced people in Syria are residing in tents or makeshift shelters, facing harsh living conditions.
Around 28 per cent of those who returned to their places of origin are residing in damaged or unfinished buildings.
“Syria remains a major humanitarian crisis, and the needs are immense.” said IOM Director General Amy Pope.
“IOM is dedicated to helping the people of Syria on their journey to recovery, and collecting and analyzing data like we’ve done in this new Displacement Tracking Matrix report is one of the key ways we will do that.”
As it re-establishes its presence in Damascus, IOM is reactivating its data collection operations in Syria so it can address critical knowledge gaps and enhance humanitarian coordination.
Returns from Lebanon, Türkiye and Iraq
Since January 2024, a total of 571,388 individuals have returned to Syria from abroad, of whom 259,745 returned to the country after November 2024, when events that led to the toppling of the Assad regime in early December gathered pace.
About 76 per cent of arrivals from aboard returned to their place of origin, while others returned to another location likely due to significant damage and security concerns in their place of origin, said IOM.
Fifty percent of Syrians returning from outside the country came from Lebanon, 22 per cent from Türkiye and 13 per cent from Iraq.
At least 458 people experiencing homelessness died in British Columbia in 2023, according to data from the BC Coroners Service.
This reflects an increase of 23% from 2022 (373) and is nearly three times the number of people who died while experiencing homelessness in the province in 2020 (155).
“The data speaks to the tragic reality of the struggles many face in our communities throughout B.C.,” said Dr. Jatinder Baidwan, chief coroner. “During the period studied, between 2016 and 2023, the deaths of 1,940 people were reported to the BC Coroners Service, identified as experiencing homelessness.”
For the purpose of the report, an individual experiencing homelessness was defined as:
unsheltered: a person living outdoors, in a make-shift shelter, a parked vehicle, a vacant home or any other structure not intended for habitation;
sheltered: a person staying at an emergency shelter (overnight) or who is temporarily sheltered (suspected to be for less than 30 days) by friends or family, in a short-term shelter, safe house for youth, or transition house for women and children fleeing violence; and
persons residing in short-term shelters, safe houses, or transition houses for an unknown length of time.
More than half of deaths reported in 2023 were people between the ages of 30 through 49, and 79% of decedents were males. The data also shows that nearly half of those deaths were males who were unsheltered (47%).
In 2023, 91% of deaths of people experiencing homelessness were classified as accidental (419), and 86% were due to accidental unregulated drug toxicity (394).
Additional notable findings from the report include:
about 46% of individuals met the criteria for unsheltered homelessness, versus 35% for sheltered homelessness;
in 2023, 41% of female decedents were sheltered, compared to 34% of males;
the highest proportion of deaths of people experiencing homelessness occurred in winter (28%), followed by spring (27%) in 2023;
26% of deaths of people experiencing homelessness in 2023 occurred in the Fraser Health Authority (117), followed closely by 25% within Island Health (114); and
in 2023, the health service delivery area of Vancouver had the highest number of deaths (77), followed by central Vancouver Island (55), which includes the Cowichan Valley, Nanaimo and Tofino, and then Fraser East (50), which includes Abbotsford and Hope.
Note that mortality rates within the report should be interpreted with caution. The BC Coroners Service does not investigate all deaths of individuals experiencing homelessness and the number of deaths within the report excludes individuals experiencing homelessness that did not meet the legal criteria of the Coroners Act for reporting. Additionally, the data is preliminary and subject to change as coroners’ investigations conclude.
Learn More:
To read the report, Deaths of Individuals Experiencing Homelessness in British Columbia, 2016-2023, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/birth-adoption-death-marriage-and-divorce/deaths/coroners-service/statistical/250212_homeless_web_report_2016-2023.pdf
US biotechnology company Colossal Laboratories and Biosciences has a radical proposal: it wants to resurrect the woolly mammoth from extinction. In a preprint paper published on March 4, scientists at Colossal report making a significant step towards this objective. They genetically modified the DNA of mice to give them mammoth-like traits in their hair shape, colour and length.
By testing out their methods in a familiar laboratory animal, the researchers can make sure they work before applying them to Asian elephants – the closest living relatives of the mammoth.
De-extinction is an idea which, if successfully implemented, would allow us to bring back any species from the dead. It means that no animal could go truly extinct as long as we can obtain its DNA.
However, mammoths were heavily adapted to a cold climate and a biome – an area with specific climate, vegetation and animal life – that no longer exists.
The Siberian habitats once roamed by the creatures – known as the mammoth steppe – are significantly warmer today. Many of the animals and plants they lived among have also disappeared, and the regions are now home to new ones that never lived alongside the mammoth.
Attempts to reintroduce woolly mammoths in our modern tundras could therefore prove difficult, and have untold repercussions on the current ecosystem. Against a background of climate change, these tundras are only going to get warmer and less suitable for an animal like the mammoth.
Nevertheless, Colossal is pushing ahead with efforts to recreate these striking creatures. Asian elephants diverged from mammoths around 6.7 million years ago and share over 95% of their DNA. Colossal plans to bridge this gap by transforming the genomes of Asian elephants to make them more like those of woolly mammoths.
Scientists have obtained high-quality woolly mammoth DNA sequences from carcasses preserved in Siberian permafrost. These genomes (the full complement of DNA in the cell) have allowed scientists to compare the genes that differ between the mammoth and the Asian elephant.
Multiplex editing
In order to generate their beauty prize-worthy mice, Colossal’s scientists used a range of highly advanced genome editing techniques to modify the sequence of DNA in the mouse. Regions of mouse DNA can be changed so they resemble genes in other organisms, such as a woolly mammoth.
These techniques are known collectively as multiplex editing and include the best known method, Crispr-Cas9. Multiplex genome editing gives scientists the ability to target and affect several genes at once (up to seven at a time in this case).
The scientists modified ten genes in total in their mice, in different combinations. Interestingly, only three were changed to resemble genes found in the woolly mammoth. The other seven had been previously identified to cause hair variation in mice, and produce traits somewhat similar to those found in mammoth hair. Although these are not mammoth gene variants, modifying them demonstrates the team’s ability to edit several genes at once through multiplex editing.
Two of the three mammoth-associated genes (Krt27 and Tgfa) have previously been linked to hair texture, based on comparisons with Asian elephants. Another gene, Fabp2, is thought to have facilitated efficient fat metabolism in mammoths – a presumed evolutionary adaptation to cold.
Modifying the Krt27 and Tgfa hair genes in mice led to a change in texture, making some hairs longer and rougher and others wavier and zigzaggy. The fact these gene modifications produced physical traits seen in mammoth hair provides a way of verifying the genes are indeed associated with changes in hair pattern, and therefore contribute to the mammoth’s distinctive woolliness. But editing the mice so they had the Fabp2 gene variant from mammoths led to no observable physical difference.
Of the seven mouse-identified genes modified by the researchers, one (a variant of the Mc1r gene) led to the shiny blond coat colour. At least one mammoth carcass dug up from the Siberian permafrost has a similar coat colour, so the change is certainly evocative of these ice age creatures.
A much bigger task
Although this is an exciting study into an area of research with incredible potential, there are a few limitations to keep in mind. While Asian elephants are the closest thing we currently have to mammoths, it would take a lot more than a few tweaks to hair length and squiggliness to meaningfully make a mammoth out of an elephant.
While George Church, the Harvard genetics professor who founded Colossal, claims that modifying 65 genes in Asian elephants will accomplish this goal, the reality is likely to be more complicated.
Indeed, the fact that editing the Fabp2 gene – associated with fat metabolism in mammoths – led to no observable difference in the mice is one example of the many gaps in our understanding of mammoth genetics. Put another way, this shows that we have some way to go to fully understand the causal relationship between genes and phenotype – the visible characteristics in a living organism.
Increasing the number of simultaneously targeted genes from seven to 65 could also introduce various unintended consequences, including accidentally modifying unintended DNA regions similar to the target sequence (known as the off-target effects of genome editing). It also remains difficult to achieve changes in all genes at once; here too, scaling up from seven to 65 will pose a noteworthy challenge.
On top of this, even if Colossal manages to make all 65 gene changes in their Asian elephants, there are likely to be many more differences between mammoth and elephant genomes that have not yet been identified. These include genes involved in behaviour, and in regions of the genome that dictate when genes are switched on or off. While mice are an extremely well studied experimental organism, elephants are less well characterised.
As a proof of concept, this research is fascinating, although it remains to be seen whether Colossal’s goal of creating an elephant-mammoth hybrid by 2028 is achievable. It would be more likely to generate a mammoth-like Asian elephant than something exactly like the ice age creature.
Finally, it is worth considering the end goal of this branch of research. Mammoths went extinct only 4,000 years ago, but at this point they had already been pushed into a fraction of their initial range – restricted to a tiny surviving population on Wrangel island in the Russian Arctic.
Another of Colossal’s objectives is to bring back the thylacine, a carnivore that once lived in Tasmania. Given it went extinct due to active hunting in the 20th century, the thylacine should at least still have suitable habitat.
However, if the goal is simply to counteract extinction, more sustainable efforts to avoid future extinctions might be better than expensive genetic engineering. De-extinction cannot replace efforts to preserve the one planet we have, and all the living organisms we share it with.
Benjamin Tapon receives funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, through the LIDo DTP.
Alex de Mendoza receives funding from European Research Council and the Royal Society.
