CHICAGO — A federal judge has sentenced a man to more than a decade in prison for possessing multiple guns, including a semiautomatic rifle, while trafficking fentanyl and other narcotics in the Chicago suburbs.
A jury last year found OMARI ANDREWS, JR. guilty of possessing an AR-15 style firearm and three handguns while trafficking fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, and marijuana in Mt. Prospect, Ill., in 2023. Andrews also pleaded guilty prior to trial to distributing fentanyl and heroin in Westmont, Ill., Villa Park, Ill., Des Plaines, Ill., and Hillside, Ill., in late 2022 and early 2023.
Andrews, 26, of Mt. Prospect, Ill., has been detained in federal custody since his arrest in 2023. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Edmond E. Chang sentenced Andrews to ten years and three months in federal prison.
The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Matthew Scarpino, Special Agent-in-Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Chicago. The Skokie, Ill. and Evanston, Ill. Police Departments provided valuable assistance.
“The defendant possessed a small arsenal of guns and ammunition in his apartment to protect his drug trafficking activity,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alejandro G. Ortega argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “Drugs, and especially fentanyl, are a scourge to the public health and to law enforcement across the country, and a stain on the community.”
Holding firearm and drug offenders accountable through federal prosecution is a centerpiece of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). In the Northern District of Illinois, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and law enforcement partners have deployed the PSN program to attack a broad range of violent crime issues facing the district, particularly firearm offenses.
Headline: Microsoft Build 2025: The age of AI agents and building the open agentic web
TL;DR? Hear the news as an AI-generated audio overview made using Microsoft 365 Copilot. You can read the transcript here.
We’ve entered the era of AI agents. Thanks to groundbreaking advancements in reasoning and memory, AI models are now more capable and efficient, and we’re seeing how AI systems can help us all solve problems in new ways.
For example, 15 million developers are already using GitHub Copilot, and features like agent mode and code review are streamlining the way they code, check, deploy and troubleshoot.
Hundreds of thousands of customers are using Microsoft 365 Copilot to help research, brainstorm and develop solutions, and more than 230,000 organizations — including 90% of the Fortune 500 — have already used Copilot Studio to build AI agents and automations.
Companies like Fujitsu and NTT DATA are using Azure AI Foundry to build and manage AI apps and agents that help prioritize sales leads, speed proposal creation and surface client insights. Stanford Health Care is using Microsoft’s healthcare agent orchestrator to build and test AI agents that can help alleviate the administrative burden and speed up the workflow for tumor board preparation.
Developers are at the center of it all. For 50 years Microsoft has been empowering developers with tools and platforms to turn their ideas into reality, accelerating innovation at every stage. From AI-driven automation to seamless cloud integration and more, it’s exciting to see how developers are fueling the next generation of digital transformation.
So, what’s next?
We envision a world in which agents operate across individual, organizational, team and end-to-end business contexts. This emerging vision of the internet is an open agentic web, where AI agents make decisions and perform tasks on behalf of users or organizations.
At Microsoft Build we’re showing the steps we’re taking to make this vision a reality through our platforms, products and infrastructure. We’re putting new models and coding agents in the hands of developers, introducing enterprise-grade agents, making our platforms like Azure AI Foundry, GitHub and Windows the best places to build, embracing open protocols and accelerating scientific discovery with AI, all so that developers and organizations can go invent the next big thing.
Here’s a glimpse at just a few of the announcements today:
Reimagining the software development lifecycle with AI
AI is fundamentally shifting how code is written, deployed and maintained. Developers are using AI to stay in the flow of their environment longer and to shift their focus to more strategic tasks. And as the software development lifecycle is being transformed, we’re providing new features across platforms including GitHub, Azure AI Foundry and Windows that enable developers to work faster, think bigger and build at scale.
GitHub Copilot coding agent and new updates to GitHub Models: GitHub Copilot is evolving from an in-editor assistant to an agentic AI partner with a first-of-its-kind asynchronous coding agent integrated into the GitHub platform. We’re adding prompt management, lightweight evaluations and enterprise controls to GitHub Models so teams can experiment with best-in-class models, without leaving GitHub. Microsoft is also open-sourcing GitHub Copilot Chat in VS Code. The AI-powered capabilities from GitHub Copilot extensions will now be part of the same open-source repository that drives the world’s most popular development tool. As the home of over 150 million developers, this reinforces our commitment to open, collaborative, AI-powered software development. Learn more about GitHub Copilot updates.
Introducing Windows AI Foundry: For developers, Windows remains one of the most open and widely used platforms available, with scale, flexibility and growing opportunity. Windows AI Foundry offers a unified and reliable platform supporting the AI developer lifecycle across training and inference. With simple model APIs for vision and language tasks, developers can manage and run open source LLMs via Foundry Local or bring a proprietary model to convert, fine-tune and deploy across client and cloud. Windows AI Foundry is available to get started today. To learn more visit our Windows Developer Blog.
Azure AI Foundry Models and new tools for model evaluation: Azure AI Foundry is a unified platform for developers to design, customize and manage AI applications and agents. With Azure AI Foundry Models, we’re bringing Grok 3 and Grok 3 mini models from xAI to our ecosystem, hosted and billed directly by Microsoft. Developers can now choose from more than 1,900 partner-hosted and Microsoft-hosted AI models, while managing secure data integration, model customization and enterprise-grade governance. We’re also introducing new tools like the Model Leaderboard, which ranks the top-performing AI models across different categories and tasks, and the Model Router, designed to select an optimal model for a specific query or task in real-time. Read more about Azure AI Foundry Models.
Making AI agents more capable and secure
AI agents are not only changing how developers build, but how individuals, teams and companies get work done. At Build, we’re unveiling new pre-built agents, custom agent building blocks, multi-agent capabilities and new models to help developers and organizations build and deploy agents securely to help increase productivity in meaningful ways.
With the general availability of Azure AI Foundry Agent Service, Microsoft is bringing new capabilities to empower professional developers to orchestrate multiple specialized agents to handle complex tasks, including bringing Semantic Kernel and AutoGen into a single, developer-focused SDK and Agent-to-Agent (A2A) and Model Context Protocol (MCP) support. To help developers build trust and confidence in their AI agents, we’re announcing new features in Azure AI Foundry Observability for built-in observability into metrics for performance, quality, cost and safety, all incorporated alongside detailed tracing in a streamlined dashboard. Learn more about how to deploy enterprise-grade AI agents in Azure AI Foundry Service.
Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot Tuning and multi-agent orchestration: With Copilot Tuning, customers can use their own company data, workflows and processes to train models and create agents in a simple, low-code way. These agents perform highly accurate, domain-specific tasks securely from within the Microsoft 365 service boundary. For example, a law firm can create an agent that generates documents aligned with its organization’s expertise and style. Additionally, new multi-agent orchestration in Copilot Studio connects multiple agents, allowing them to combine skills and tackle broader, more complex tasks. Check out the Microsoft 365 blog to learn how to access these new tools as well as the Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave 2 spring release, which has moved to general availability and begins rolling out today.
Supporting the open agentic web
To realize the future of AI agents, we’re advancing open standards and shared infrastructure to provide unique capabilities for customers.
Supporting Model Context Protocol (MCP): Microsoft is delivering broad first-party support for Model Context Protocol (MCP) across its agent platform and frameworks, spanning GitHub, Copilot Studio, Dynamics 365, Azure AI Foundry, Semantic Kernel and Windows 11. In addition, Microsoft and GitHub have joined the MCP Steering Committee to help advance secure, at-scale adoption of the open protocol and announced two new contributions to the MCP ecosystem, an updated authorization specification, which enables people to use their existing trusted sign-in methods to give agents and LLM-powered apps access to data and services such as personal storage drives or subscription services, and the design of an MCP server registry service, which allows anyone to implement public or private, up-to-date, centralized repositories for MCP server entries. Check out the GitHub repository. As we expand our MCP capabilities, our top priority is to ensure we’re building upon a secure foundation. To learn more about this approach see: Securing the Model Context Protocol: Building a Safe Agentic Future on Windows.
A new open project called NLWeb: Microsoft is introducing NLWeb, which we believe can play a similar role to HTML for the agentic web. NLWeb makes it easy for websites to provide a conversational interface for their users with the model of their choice and their own data, allowing users to interact directly with web content in a rich, semantic manner. Every NLWeb endpoint is also an MCP server, so websites can make their content easily discoverable and accessible to AI agents if they choose. Learn more here.
Accelerating scientific discovery with AI
Science may be one of the most important applications of AI, helping to tackle humanity’s most pressing challenges, from drug discovery to sustainability. At Build we’re introducing Microsoft Discovery, an extensible platform built to empower researchers to transform the entire discovery process with agentic AI, helping research and development departments across various industries accelerate the time to market for new products and accelerate and expand the end-to-end discovery process for all scientists. Learn more here.
This is only a small selection of the many exciting features and updates we will be announcing at Build. We’re looking forward to connecting with those who have registered to join us virtually and in-person, for keynote sessions, live code deep dives, hack sessions and more — much of which will be available on demand.
Plus, you can get more on all these announcements by exploring the Book of News, the official compendium of all today’s news.
Tags: AI, Azure AI, Azure AI Foundry, Book of News, GitHub, GitHub Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Purview
Taking your pet to the vet might feel different these days, and there’s a reason for that. About 60% of UK practices are now owned by just six big companies, raising concerns about cost, care and competition.
But ownership is only part of the picture. After four years researching life inside vet practices, I’ve found that what really shapes the experience – for vets and pet owners alike – is how each clinic is managed.
Although it is the head offices of these large companies that determine business strategies, it is local managers who implement the policies. The way they choose to do this can significantly affect the experiences of vets and their clients.
Until 1999, UK vet practices had to be owned by qualified vets. Most were small, local and privately run.
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But that changed when the Veterinary Surgeons Act was amended to allow wider ownership. This opened the door for venture capitalists, healthcare companies and multinational corporations, like Mars and Nestlé, to expand into the veterinary sector. They quickly bought up small vet practices and soon dominated the market.
This domination has led to concerns of an excessive focus on profit rather than affordable veterinary care, leading to high costs for owners and stressful performance targets for vets. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been investigating the veterinary sector since September 2023 because of this.
Veterinary practices are either owned by individuals, joint ventures between corporations and vets, or wholly owned by large corporations. Those in the first category tend to be known colloquially as “independents” and the rest as “corporates”.
Much of the narrative in the media has concentrated on the dichotomy between independents and corporates. There’s a suggestion that corporates charge excessive fees and pressurise vets to sell additional services.
But my research, which included 97 interviews with 25 vets, suggests that the profession is far more nuanced than this. I spoke with a vet who described the most stressful, target-driven environment not in a corporate, but in an independent practice.
In contrast, several vets working for corporates had remained in the same practice since they graduated. They experienced supportive working environments, high standards of care and no pressure to meet targets.
Another vet had switched between corporate and independent practices and believed that it was easier to provide affordable care in the independent practices due to lower prices and greater autonomy. But they left one independent practice as they were uncomfortable with the standard of care offered. “Independent good, corporate bad” is not always the case.
I found that practice management shapes the experiences of vets and clients far more than ownership. Even within the same corporate, there are significant differences in how managers implement policies and support their teams.
Whereas in one practice a manager may turn a blind eye when a vet supports a client by missing a minor item from a bill, in another they may be reminded to bill correctly. Vets described staying in practices where they felt valued and supported, where they could provide appropriate care for their patients and where they could keep learning.
High professional standards and compassionate management cultures were important. But other vets described crying at the end of the day when the relentless workload and lack of support meant they could not care for their patients as they wished. They spoke out and nothing changed until eventually they left.
Vets may not agree with all elements of the corporate business strategy, but they are more likely to remain with a practice due to the actions of local managers than due to decisions made at the corporate headquarters.
What about pet owners? A survey by the CMA as part of their investigation found that most people choose a vet based on location and quality of care, not cost.
However, the research also found that many owners were not aware that their vet practices were corporates. Only two of the six corporates use distinct corporate names and branding for their practices, with the others often only mentioning corporate ownership in their small print. This lack of transparency may lead to owners choosing a practice because they incorrectly believe it is independent, a situation that concerns the CMA.
There are real challenges facing the veterinary profession, from rising costs to staff burnout and workforce shortages. But pitting independents against corporates risks missing the point. The conversation needs to be shifted away from who owns the practice and towards how they’re run on the ground. What matters is whether vets are supported to provide the kind of care they trained for, and whether managers are equipped to lead teams with compassion, fairness and professionalism.
After all, that’s what benefits everyone, whether it be the vets, the clients or the animals.
Rachel Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The 2015 Paris agreement committed countries to keeping the global temperature increase “well below 2°C”, which is widely interpreted as an average of 1.5°C over a 30-year period. The Paris agreement has not yet failed, but recent high temperatures show how close the Earth is to crossing this critical threshold.
Climate scientists have, using computer simulations, modelled pathways for halting climate change at internationally agreed limits. However, in recent years, many of the pathways that have been published involve exceeding 1.5°C for a few decades and removing enough greenhouse gas from the atmosphere to return Earth’s average temperature below the threshold again. Scientists call this “a temporary overshoot”.
If human activities were to raise the global average temperature 1.6°C above the pre-industrial average, for example, then CO₂ removal, using methods ranging from habitat restoration to mechanically capturing CO₂ from the air, would be required to return warming to below 1.5°C by 2100.
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Do we really understand the consequences of “temporarily” overshooting 1.5°C? And would it even be possible to lower temperatures again?
Faith that a temporary overshoot will be safe and practicable has justified a deliberate strategy of delaying emission cuts in the short term, some scientists warn. The dangers posed by remaining above the 1.5°C limit for a period of time have received little attention by researchers like me, who study climate change.
To learn more, the UK government commissioned me and a team of 36 other scientists to examine the possible impacts.
How nature will be affected
We examined a “delayed action” scenario, in which greenhouse gas emissions remain similar for the next 15 years due to continued fossil fuel burning but then fall rapidly over a period of 20 years.
We projected that this would cause the rise in Earth’s temperature to peak at 1.9°C in 2060, before falling to 1.5°C in 2100 as greenhouse gases are removed from the atmosphere. We compared this scenario with a baseline scenario in which the global temperature does not exceed 1.5°C of warming this century.
Our Earth system model suggested that Arctic temperatures would be up to 4°C higher in 2060 compared to the baseline scenario. Arctic Sea ice loss would be much higher. Even after the global average temperature was returned to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, in 2100, the Arctic would remain around 1.5°C warmer compared to the baseline scenario. This suggests there are long-term and potentially irreversible consequences for the climate in overshooting 1.5°C.
As global warming approaches 2°C, warm-water corals, Arctic permafrost, Barents Sea ice and mountain glaciers could reach tipping points at which substantial and irreversible changes occur. Some scientists have concluded that the west Antarctic ice sheet may have already started melting irreversibly.
Our modelling showed that the risk of catastrophic wildfires is substantially higher during a temporary overshoot that culminates in 1.9°C of warming, particularly in regions already vulnerable to wildfires. Fires in California in early 2025 are an example of what is possible when the global temperature is higher.
Our analysis showed that the risk of species going extinct at 2°C of warming is double that at 1.5°C. Insects are most at risk because they are less able to move between regions in response to the changing climate than larger mammals and birds.
The impacts on society
Only armed conflict is considered by experts to have a greater impact on society than extreme weather. Forecasting how extreme weather will be affected by climate change is challenging. Scientists expect more intense storms, floods and droughts, but not necessarily in places that already regularly suffer these extremes.
In some places, moderate floods may reduce in size while larger, more extreme events occur more often and cause more damage. We are confident that the sea level would rise faster in a temporary overshoot scenario, and further increase the risk of flooding. We also expect more extreme floods and droughts, and for them to cause more damage to water and sanitation systems.
Floods and droughts will affect food production too. We found that impact studies have probably underestimated the crop damage that increases in extreme weather and water scarcity in key production areas during a temporary overshoot would cause.
We know that heatwaves become more frequent and intense as temperatures increase. More scarce food and water would increase the health risks of heat exposure beyond 1.5°C. It is particularly difficult to estimate the overall impact of overshooting this temperature limit when several impacts reinforce each other in this way.
In fact, most alarming of all is how uncertain much of our knowledge is.
For example, we have little confidence in estimates of how climate change will affect the economy. Some academics use models to predict how crops and other economic assets will be affected by climate change; others infer what will happen by projecting real-word economic losses to date into future warming scenarios. For 3°C of warming, estimates of the annual impact on GDP using models range from -5% to +3% each year, but up to -55% using the latter approach.
We have not managed to reconcile the differences between these methods. The highest estimates account for changes in extreme weather due to climate change, which are particularly difficult to determine.
We carried out an economic analysis using estimates of climate damage from both models and observed climate-related losses. We found that temporarily overshooting 1.5°C would reduce global GDP compared with not overshooting it, even if economic damages were lower than we expect. The economic consequences for the global economy could be profound.
So, what can we say for certain? First, that temporarily overshooting 1.5°C would be more costly to society and to the natural world than not overshooting it. Second, our projections are relatively conservative. It is likely that impacts would be worse, and possibly much worse, than we estimate.
Fundamentally, every increment of global temperature rise will worsen impacts on us and the rest of the natural world. We should aim to minimise global warming as much as possible, rather than focus on a particular target.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Paul Dodds has received funding from the UK government through the Climate Services for a Net Zero World (CS-N0W) programme. While the UK government set the research questions for the study, it was carried out independently by scientists from nine organisations. Dodds has also received funding for other research projects from a range of organisations, including UK Research and Innovation organisations (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Natural Environment Research Council); the IEA Energy Technology Systems Analysis Program (ETSAP); and private organisations (National Grid; Fuels Industry UK; Johnson Matthey; Cadent). A team at UCL led by Paul Dodds jointly develops the UK TIMES energy system model in a partnership with the UK government. This model was not used in this study.
What if there were a battery that could release energy while trapping carbon dioxide? This isn’t science fiction; it’s the promise of lithium-carbon dioxide (Li-CO₂) batteries, which are currently a hot research topic.
Lithium-carbon dioxide (Li-CO₂) batteries could be a two-in-one solution to the current problems of storing renewable energy and taking carbon emissions out of the air. They absorb carbon dioxide and convert it into a white powder called lithium carbonate while discharging energy.
These batteries could have profound implications for cutting emissions from vehicles and industry – and might even enable long-duration missions on Mars, where the atmosphere is 95% CO₂.
To make these batteries commercially viable, researchers have mainly been wrestling with problems related to recharging them. Now, our team at the University of Surrey has come up with a promising way forward. So how close are these “CO₂-breathing” batteries to becoming a practical reality?
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Like many great scientific breakthroughs, Li-CO₂ batteries were a happy accident. Slightly over a decade ago, a US-French team of researchers were trying to address problems with lithium air batteries, another frontier energy-storage technology. Whereas today’s lithium-ion batteries generate power by moving and storing lithium ions within electrodes, lithium air batteries work by creating a chemical reaction between lithium and oxygen.
The problem has been the “air” part, since even the tiny (0.04%) volume of CO₂ found in air is enough to disrupt this careful chemistry, producing unwanted lithium carbonate (Li₂CO₃). As many battery scientists will tell you, the presence of Li₂CO₃ can also be a real pain in regular lithium-ion batteries, causing unhelpful side reactions and electrical resistance.
Nonetheless the scientists noticed something interesting about this CO₂ contamination: it improved the battery’s amount of charge. From this point on, work began on intentionally adding CO₂ gas to batteries to take advantage of this, and the lithium-CO₂ battery was born.
How it works
Their great potential relates to the chemical reaction at the positive side of the battery, where small holes are cut in the casing to allow CO₂ gas in. There it dissolves in the liquid electrolyte (which allows the charge to move between the two electrodes) and reacts with lithium that has already been dissolved there. During this reaction, it’s believed that four electrons are exchanged between lithium ions and carbon dioxide.
This electron transfer determines the theoretical charge that can be stored in the battery. In a normal lithium-ion battery, the positive electrode exchanges just one electron per reaction (in lithium air batteries, it’s two to four electrons). The greater exchange of electrons in the lithium-carbon dioxide battery, combined with the high voltage of the reaction, explains their potential to greatly outperform today’s lithium-ion batteries.
In terms of the benefits to carbon emissions, by our rough calculations, 1kg of catalyst could absorb around 18.5kg of CO₂. Since a car driving 100 miles emits around 18kg-20kg of CO₂, that means such a battery could potentially offset a day’s drive.
However, the technology has a few issues. The batteries don’t last very long. Commercial lithium-ion packs routinely survive 1,000–10,000 charging cycles; most LiCO₂ prototypes fade after fewer than 100.
They’re also difficult to recharge. This requires breaking down the lithium carbonate to release lithium and CO₂, which can be energy intensive. This energy requirement is a little like a hill that must be cycled up before the reaction can coast, and is known as overpotential.
You can reduce this requirement by printing the right catalyst material on the porous positive electrode. Yet these catalysts are typically expensive and rare noble metals, such as ruthenium and platinum, which is a significant barrier to commercial viability.
Our team has found an alternative catalyst, caesium phosphomolybdate, which is far cheaper and easy to manufacture at room temperature. This material made the batteries stable for 107 cycles, while also storing 2.5 times as much charge as a lithium-ion. And we significantly reduced the energy cost involved in breaking down lithium carbonate, for an overpotential of 0.67 volts, which is only about double what would be necessary in a commercial product.
Our research team is now working to further reduce the cost of this technology by developing a catalyst that replaces caesium, since it’s the phosphomolybdate that is key. This could make the system more economically viable and scalable for widespread deployment.
We also plan to study how the battery charges and discharges in real time. This will provide a clearer understanding of the internal mechanisms at work, helping to optimise performance and durability.
Lithium-carbon dioxide batteries could help humans to colonise Mars. Forelse Stock
A major focus of upcoming tests will be to evaluate how the battery performs under different CO₂ pressures. So far, the system has only been tested under idealised conditions (1 bar). If it can work at 0.1 bar of pressure, it will be feasible for car exhausts and gas boiler flues, meaning you could capture CO₂ while you drive or heat your home. Demonstrating that this works will be an important confirmation of commercial viability, albeit we would expect the battery’s charge capacity to reduce at this pressure.
If the batteries work at 0.006 bar, the pressure on the Martian atmosphere, they could power anything from an exploration rover to a colony. At 0.0004 bar, Earth’s ambient air pressure, they could capture CO₂ from our atmosphere and store power anywhere. In all cases, the key question will be how it affects the battery’s charge capacity.
Meanwhile, to improve the battery’s number of recharge cycles, we need to address the fact that the electrolyte dries out. We’re currently investigating solutions, which probably involve developing casings that only CO₂ can move into. As for reducing the energy required for the catalyst to work, it’s likely to require optimising the battery’s geometry to maximise the reaction rate – and to introduce a flow of CO₂, comparable to how fuel cells work (typically by feeding in hydrogen and oxygen).
If this continued work can push the battery’s cycle life above 1,000 cycles, cut overpotential below 0.3 V, and replace scarce elements entirely, commercial Li-CO₂ packs could become reality. Our experiments will determine just how versatile and far-reaching the battery’s applications might be, from carbon capture on Earth to powering missions on Mars.
Daniel Commandeur receives funding from the Royal Society. He is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Christians in Science.
Siddharth Gadkari receives funding from UKRI.
Mahsa Masoudi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
“We strongly oppose the expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza. The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable. Yesterday’s announcement that Israel will allow a basic quantity of food into Gaza is wholly inadequate. We call on the Israeli Government to stop its military operations in Gaza and immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. This must include engaging with the UN to ensure a return to delivery of aid in line with humanitarian principles. We call on Hamas to release immediately the remaining hostages they have so cruelly held since 7 October 2023.
The Israeli Government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law. We condemn the abhorrent language used recently by members of the Israeli Government, threatening that, in their despair at the destruction of Gaza, civilians will start to relocate. Permanent forced displacement is a breach of international humanitarian law.
Israel suffered a heinous attack on October 7. We have always supported Israel’s right to defend Israelis against terrorism. But this escalation is wholly disproportionate.
We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions. If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.
We oppose any attempt to expand settlements in the West Bank. Israel must halt settlements which are illegal and undermine the viability of a Palestinian state and the security of both Israelis and Palestinians. We will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions.
We strongly support the efforts led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt to secure an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. It is a ceasefire, the release of all remaining hostages and a long-term political solution that offer the best hope of ending the agony of the hostages and their families, alleviating the suffering of civilians in Gaza, ending Hamas’ control of Gaza and achieving a pathway to a two-state solution, consistent with the goals of the 18 June conference in New York co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France. These negotiations need to succeed, and we must all work towards the implementation of a two-state solution, which is the only way to bring long-lasting peace and security that both Israelis and Palestinians deserve and ensure long-term stability in the region.
We will continue to work with the Palestinian Authority, regional partners, Israel and the United States to finalize consensus on arrangements for Gaza’s future, building on the Arab plan. We affirm the important role of the High-level Two-State Solution Conference at the UN in June in building international consensus around this aim. And we are committed to recognizing a Palestinian state as a contribution to achieving a two-state solution and are prepared to work with others to this end.”
May 19, 2025 – Ottawa, Ontario – Global Affairs Canada
The foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as the the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, the EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management and the EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean, today issued the following statement:
“Whilst we acknowledge indications of a limited restart of aid, Israel blocked humanitarian aid entering Gaza for over two months. Food, medicines and essential supplies are exhausted. The population faces starvation. Gaza’s people must receive the aid they desperately need.
“Prior to the aid block, the UN and humanitarian NGOs delivered aid into Gaza, working with great courage, at the risk of their lives and in the face of major access challenges imposed by Israel. These organisations subscribe to upholding humanitarian principles, operating independently, with neutrality, impartiality and humanity. They have the logistical capacity, expertise and operational coverage to deliver assistance across Gaza to those who need it most.
“Israel’s security cabinet has reportedly approved a new model for delivering aid into Gaza, which the UN and our humanitarian partners cannot support. They are clear that they will not participate in any arrangement that does not fully respect the humanitarian principles. Humanitarian principles matter for every conflict around the world and should be applied consistently in every warzone. The UN has raised concerns that the proposed model cannot deliver aid effectively, at the speed and scale required. It places beneficiaries and aid workers at risk, undermines the role and independence of the UN and our trusted partners, and links humanitarian aid to political and military objectives. Humanitarian aid should never be politicised, and Palestinian territory must not be reduced nor subjected to any demographic change.
“As humanitarian donors, we have two straightforward messages for the Government of Israel: allow a full resumption of aid into Gaza immediately and enable the UN and humanitarian organizations to work independently and impartially to save lives, reduce suffering and maintain dignity. We remain committed to meeting the acute needs we see in Gaza. We also reiterate our firm message that Hamas must immediately release all remaining hostages and allow humanitarian assistance to be distributed without interference. It is our firm conviction that an immediate return to a ceasefire and working towards the implementation of a two-state solution are the only way to bring peace and security to Israelis and Palestinians and ensure long-term stability for the whole region.”
Grip strength refers to the power generated by the muscles of the hand and forearm to perform actions such as grabbing, squeezing an object or even shaking hands. This action involves a complex interplay between the various muscle groups located in the forearm, as well as the muscles within the hand itself.
Grip strength is a very cheap, easy and non-invasive measure of muscle strength. This test has been used since the mid-1950s as a measure of overall health. Since then, the simple test has been firmly established as a reliable marker of various aspects of health – with some researchers even suggesting grip strength can be used to determine a person’s risk of everything from type 2 diabetes to depression.
The standard method for measuring grip strength involves using a handheld dynanometer – an instrument which can measure a person’s power. This test is usually done while a person is sitting down. With their forearm bent at a 90-degree angle and wrist held in a neutral position, the person then squeezes the dynamometer as hard as they can – usually three separate times for one minute each.
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The average of the highest readings from each hand, or sometimes just the dominant hand, is then recorded as the person’s grip strength. This can be measured in both kilograms or pounds. A grip strength value of under 29kg for men and 18kg for women is typically considered low. You can pick up a handgrip dynamometer for under £5 should you wish to test at home.
Moreover, the stronger a person’s grip is, the more independent they will be in their daily life as they get older. This means they’ll be able to perform normal daily activities without assistance, such as rising from a chair and moving around the house.
A substantial body of evidence also shows low grip strength is not only linked with greater susceptibility of a wide range of chronic diseases – including cancer and cardiovascular disease – but greater risk of early death due to these chronic disease, as well.
Researchers have also observed links between low grip strength and greater risk of depression, anxiety and diabetes, to name a few.
There’s also a significant association between grip strength and a person’s lifespan. In this study, people who died before the age of 79 were 2.5 times less likely than those who lived to be 100 to be in the top 33% for grip strength when they were middle aged.
Grip strength is actually a proxy measure of overall muscle strength. Microgen/ Shutterstock
However, in a 12-year prospective study published in 2022, the authors reported that baseline hand grip strength was the same in participants that died between the beginning and end of the study as in those who survived. But walking speed, speed of standing up from a chair and leg press strength were all worse in the people that died than in t that survived. This tells us is that there are better predictors of longevity than grip strength – such as total body muscle mass and leg strength.
So why is it that such a simple measure can tell us about the risk of so many diseases, and ultimately death? The answer is that grip strength is a proxy measure of total muscle strength and size. This means that grip strength alone is not a cause of early mortality or disease, but is correlated with a cause of early mortality or disease (such as low muscle mass or muscle strength of the legs).
Muscle also releases chemicals called myokines, which act upon other tissues and organs in the body – such as fat, our bones, the gut, liver and even our skin and brain. These myokines generally appear to have a protective effect on all of these tissues. This suggests muscle provides more than just the power we need to move our bodies.
Improving your grip strength
Unless you’re a rock climber or otherwise need a strong grip, there’s not much point working specifically on improving your grip strength. Although grip strength is linked with longevity and disease, this is because grip strength is an estimate of total body strength.
As such, if you want to improve your health and strength, you should focus on training your leg strength. Leg strength is particularly important for health and fitness as it permits movement and helps you continue doing tasks independently in your daily life. Research also shows a correlation between leg strength and a person’s risk of chronic disease and their longevity.
You can also add in other movements such as deadlifts, press-ups and pull-ups to build strength in your core, back and arms.
Grip strength values serve as a very cheap and easy measure of a person’s overall health. It’s a cost-effective tool for measuring health but there are better ways to improve health with exercise.
Lawrence Hayes has received funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the Chief Scientist Office (CSO), the RS Macdonald Charitable Trust, and the Physiological Society.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Nimesh Dhungana, Lecturer in Disasters and Global Health, Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute, University of Manchester
An earthquake that struck south-east Asia in late March is thought to have killed more than 3,000 people in Myanmar, a country ruled by a military junta that has blocked humanitarian aid and continued waging war on quake-ravaged rebel territory.
I am interested in how authoritarian regimes handle disasters and whether they disrupt or reinforce the ruling elite’s agenda. My research has led me to Tibet, which has endured Chinese occupation since 1951 and suffered a 7.1-magnitude earthquake in early January 2025.
Beijing controls the access of independent media and international observers in Tibet. What we know about the disaster’s impact is largely based on initial reporting by the Chinese media, which has claimed the loss of 126 lives and damage to roads and communication networks.
Tibetan sources have, however, contended that there has been much greater destruction, including to a number of monasteries and nunneries across the region.
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Following the earthquake, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, ordered “all-out search and rescue efforts” and pledged a rapid recovery. The constrained political environment has meant that Chinese relief agencies and the Chinese state-run media have controlled the narrative, praising Beijing’s capacity for “speed and compassion” in mobilising rescue efforts while using the disaster to highlight China’s record of “good governance and putting people and their lives first”.
These accounts not only fail to report on the civic responses to disaster, such as mutual aid networks organised by Tibetans both locally and internationally, but they tend to overlook the immediate concerns of the affected communities.
Survivors and activists using social media to challenge Chinese media narratives of purported success in rescue and relief efforts have faced censorship and outright hostility from the Chinese authorities. A previous study, looking at the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, found that communities that were considered a challenge to Chinese authority had their demands for relief suppressed.
The earthquake has sparked further concerns among Tibetans that Chinese authorities will use the disaster to tighten their grip on the region.
The situation is reminiscent of the April 2010 earthquake that struck Tibet’s Yushu region, claiming more than 2,600 lives and causing significant disruption to local life. The earthquake enabled China to push its vision of modernity and development in Tibet amid allegations of corruption in relief distribution and forced relocations.
The aftermath revealed a divergence between the Chinese interpretation of recovery and what many Tibetans saw as essential for preserving and promoting their unique cultural identity.
In their study of the Zimbabwean state’s response to tropical cyclone Idai in 2019, anthropologist Denboy Kudejira described this phenomenon as “disaster authoritarianism”: when an authoritarian regime exploits a disaster to reassert its power. Akin to China’s model, the Zimbabwean government restricted the involvement of non-state groups in longer-term recovery efforts.
The relative lack of attention journalists and politicians abroad pay to Tibet makes this problem more acute. For instance, the wildfires in Los Angeles erupted at the same time as the earthquake, but garnered greater and more sustained media attention that mounted scrutiny on responsible agencies. By contrast, the Tibet earthquake quickly faded from the news.
‘Confrontational politics emerging’
For Tibetans, challenging disaster authoritarianism is part of a delicate political struggle. Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, called the disaster “a natural phenomenon and not the result of human activities”, while urging Tibetans not to be “angry with the Chinese”. This appears to reflect his long-held wisdom that antagonising Chinese authorities will invite further hardship for communities enduring political marginalisation.
Others are more sceptical. Some people inside Tibet have questioned the official number of casualties reported by Beijing and pushed Chinese authorities to clarify the scale of the tragedy.
There are signs of more confrontational politics emerging. The International Campaign for Tibet, which lobbies for self-determination for Tibetans, has labelled the disaster “the silent earthquake” and accused Chinese authorities of censoring the true nature of suffering.
Another rights group, the Tibetan Rights Collective, has highlighted China’s interventions in Tibet that have made the region more geologically unstable, including the building of hydropower dams and roads. Recent research shows that China’s push to build infrastructure in the region has increased the risk of disasters, such as floods and landslides, for downstream communities in south Asia.
Research a colleague and I conducted during the pandemic showed that community groups can compensate for gaps in state-led disaster responses, and alert where help is needed. But this depends on public participation and grassroots organising that, in authoritarian contexts such as Tibet and Myanmar, is heavily restricted.
The climate crisis is increasing the risk of disasters at the same time as there is widespread fear of increasing authoritarianism globally. We should all worry about how these two trends might interact.
Nimesh Dhungana does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
As many people sit at the wheel of their car, they are certain they know what colour is. It’s the red traffic light in front of them, the garish yellow hatchback in the next lane, or the green verge banking to their right.
Colour, as many people understand it, is the property of a thing. That light is green. The sky is blue. But scientifically, that’s not quite true. No one can experience the exact same colour as you do. Colour is a perceptual experience created by our brains.
It’s the interaction between a material, light and the mind. The way a material absorbs and scatters light affects what reaches our eyes. And colour needs to be processed by the brain.
The shape of objects and the context in which you encounter them can also shape the way you perceive colour. If you’ve ever picked a paint colour that looked perfect in the shop but turned into something entirely difference once on your walls, you’ve already encountered this phenomenon.
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This notion of colour as experience was recently shown in a study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, who used lasers to manipulate participants’ eyes into seeing a new colour – a blue-green they call olo.
To achieve this, the scientists used lasers to activate specific photoreceptor cells in the retina that detect green wavelengths of light, called M cones. We also have S and L cones, types of photoreceptors that detect short blue, and longer red wavelengths of light respectively. Everyone has slight variations in the number and sensitivity of these cones, so we each experience colour a little differently.
Outside the lab, the reflected light that comes into our eyes illuminates large areas of the retina, which stimulates multiple cone types. The wavelengths perceived by the M and L cones overlap by over 85%. This means that under natural conditions, the two are always activated together, but in varying degrees.
By targeting just the M cones, the scientists at Berkeley have in essence created a pure colour. Olo doesn’t have context or material conditions. It will look the same to different people.
But this isn’t the only example which shows the place of the brain in colour perception.
The most common type of red-green colour blindness, deuteranomaly, occurs when the M and L cones overlap more than they should. This reduces people’s ability to distinguish between colours in that range, without affecting sharpness or brightness.
Language may play a role in colour perception, influencing how easily or accurately we discriminate between colours, especially when languages differ in how they categorise or label colour distinctions. This highlights the gulf between an objective property and the processing of the brain.
The difference between the subjective experience of colour and the fixed, physical means of producing it means that most artists’ search for “pure” paint will fail. British artist Stuart Semple recently claimed he’d recreated olo in paint form. He called the paint yolo. But when people look at it, M and L cones will be activated at the same time. A “pure” paint is still impossible.
Semple’s Black 3.0, along with other ultra-black materials, is marketed as a “pure” black paint. It absorbs nearly all light, using a high concentration of light-absorbing pigments and a matte binder to minimise reflections. But instead of offering a pure colour, it removes colour altogether – delivering a universal experience of “black” by eliminating visual stimulus.
In truth, artists have known colour is a matter of perception for quite some time. The modernist artist Mark Rothko was notoriously meticulous about how his work was displayed. Rothko insisted that his work be hung low, with as little white wall visible as possible, in dim light.
He was shaping the experience of colour his work presented to the onlooker by controlling brightness, contrast and the surroundings. Rothko, like the scientists at Berkeley, recognised that colour is an interaction between material, light and observer. It is not just about manipulating what we don’t see, but about engineering what we do.
I have been running a public engagement programme, Transcending the Invisible, which brings together scientists and artists to explore scientific ideas through art. What I’ve been struck by most is that scientists and artists
It’s a question that’s long been the cause of debate: is it better to shower in the morning or at night?
Morning shower enthusiasts will say this is the obvious winner, as it helps you wake up and start the day fresh. Night shower loyalists, on the other hand, will argue it’s better to “wash the day away” and relax before bed.
But what does the research actually say? As a microbiologist, I can tell you there actually is a clear answer to this question.
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First off, it’s important to stress that showering is an integral part of any good hygiene routine — regardless of when you prefer to have one.
Showering helps us remove dirt and oil from our skin, which can help prevent skin rashes and infections.
Showering also removes sweat, which can quell body odour.
Although many of us think that body odour is caused by sweat, it’s actually produced by bacteria that live on the surface of our skin. Fresh sweat is, in fact, odourless. But skin-dwelling bacteria – specifically staphylococci – use sweat as a direct nutrient source. When they break down the sweat, it releases a sulphur-containing compound called thioalcohols which is behind that pungent BO stench many of us are familiar with.
Day or night?
During the day, your body and hair inevitably collect pollutants and allergens (such as dust and pollen) alongside their usual accumulation of sweat and sebaceous oil. While some of these particles will be retained by your clothes, others will inevitably be transferred to your sheets and pillow cases.
The sweat and oil from you skin will also support the growth of the bacteria that comprise your skin microbiome. These bacteria may then also be transferred from your body onto your sheets.
Showering at night may remove some of the allergens, sweat and oil picked up during the day so less ends up on your bedsheets.
However, even if you’ve freshly showered before bed, you will still sweat during the night – whatever the temperature is. Your skin microbes will then eat the nutrients in that sweat. This means that by the morning, you’ll have both deposited microbes onto your bed sheets and you’ll probably also wake up with some BO.
A night shower can help rinse away the day’s dirt and grime, but you might not smell as fresh the next morning. leungchopan/ Shutterstock
What particularly negates the cleaning benefits of a night shower is if your bedding is not regularly laundered. The odour causing microbes present in your bed sheets may be transferred while you sleep onto your clean body.
Showering at night also does not stop your skin cells being shed. This means they can potentially become the food source of house dust mites, whose waste can be allergenic. If you don’t regularly wash your sheets, this could lead to a build-up of dead skin cell deposits which will feed more dust mites. The droppings from these dust mites can trigger allergies and exacerbate asthma.
Morning showers, on the other hand, can help remove dead skin cells as well as any sweat or bacteria you’ve picked up from your bed sheets during the night. This is especially important to do if your sheets weren’t freshly washed when you went to bed.
A morning shower suggests your body will be cleaner of night-acquired skin microbes when putting on fresh clothes. You’ll also start the day with less sweat for odour-producing bacteria to feed on – which will probably help you smell fresher for longer during the day compared to someone who showered at night. As a microbiologist, I am a day shower advocate.
Of course, everyone has their own shower preference. Whatever time you choose, remember that the effectiveness of your shower is influenced by many aspects of your personal hygiene regime – such as how frequently you wash your bed sheets.
So regardless of whether your prefer a morning or evening shower, it’s important to clean your bed linen regularly. You should launder your sheets and pillow cases at least weekly to remove all the sweat, bacteria, dead skin cells and sebaceous oils that have built up on your sheets.
Washing will also remove any fungal spores that might be growing on the bed linen – alongside the nutrient sources these odour producing microbes use to grow.
Primrose Freestone does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Keir Starmer’s recent speech on immigration has generated a good deal of controversy. In announcing a government white paper to cut legal migration, the prime minister said: “Nations depend on rules – fair rules. Sometimes they’re written down, often they’re not, but either way, they give shape to our values … Without them, we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together.”
As someone who has researched what gives people a sense of national belonging, I would argue there is evidence that Britain has become an “island of strangers” in the sense that people live increasingly isolated lives. But the problem has very little to do with migration.
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New public opinion research from think tank More in Common has found that 50% of Britons feel disconnected from society around them, while 44% say they sometimes feel like “strangers in their own country.” This feeling of alienation was strongest among Asian Britons.
Some evidence suggests a relationship between diversity (ethnic and racial diversity) and lack of social cohesion, rather than migration. The More in Common polling found that 53% of those polled say multiculturalism benefits the UK’s national identity, while 47% say it harms it. But the evidence is mixed, and studies find that it is inequality, not diversity, that has the biggest effect.
Rather than portraying the problem as solely because of immigration, the prime minister might usefully focus on other significant factors that have made people feel like strangers.
First is the dramatic loss of community spaces and assets in recent decades in the face of local government cuts and rising property prices. Government austerity has led to a decrease in funding for local authorities of around 50% between 2010 and 2020.
My own research in this area shows the significance of places like community centres in allowing young people from different backgrounds to come together. When they do, they feel a greater sense of belonging in their communities. Some research has also shown a link between austerity cuts to youth services and rising knife crime.
Over the last three decades, places and spaces where people come together to participate in activities and engage with those from different backgrounds have been decimated.
Between 2018 and 2023 in London alone, 46 community spaces permanently shut down. The public service union Unison estimates that “funding cuts have led to the closure of more than two-thirds of council-run youth centres in England and Wales since 2010”.
Almost 800 libraries were closed during the 2010s, and more continue to disappear each year. Leisure centres are also at risk. A 2023 report by the Local Government Association suggests that 40% of council areas will lose some or all of their leisure centre services in the next two years.
The undermining of publicly-owned community spaces has been matched in the private sector. The pub – a key marker of community identity for many – has been subject to increasing pressure.
A recent report from industry body the BBPA claimed that “nearly 300 pubs closed across England and Wales in 2024 – an equivalent of six a week”. The group pointed to rising costs and the fact that consumer habits are changing, with younger people drinking far less.
A lonely island
The loss of community assets means people have fewer places to engage with others on a regular basis. There is also evidence that the pandemic and online isolation have driven high rates of loneliness affecting all age groups and generations.
According to the Campaign to End Loneliness, in 2022 nearly 50% of UK adults reported feeling lonely occasionally, sometimes, often or always. And around 7% experience chronic loneliness.
While levels of isolation and loneliness have gone up for all generations, it is notable that a report for the Centre for Social Justice found the problem is worst for 18- to 24-year-olds, with 29% of this age group saying they “feel a fundamental separateness from other people and the wider world”.
When it comes to discussing community and cohesion in contemporary Britain, it is interesting that only certain groups (usually particular kinds of migrants and their offspring) are the focus. We can see this in wider political and media debates, where such groups are blamed for living separate lives or not integrating.
I’ve written about this idea before, finding that minority groups “broadly replicate the ethnic majority in terms of their attitudes towards British identity and institutions”. More recent survey data supports this. Figures for various ethnic groups are remarkably consistent when it comes to feeling they belong in Britain – Asian (85%), black (86%) and white (84%).
Class divide
The idea that people in Britain are increasingly living separate lives – or in what Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, calls a segregated society – is rarely discussed in terms of inequality or class.
And yet, the More in Common polling found that financial insecurity is one of the strongest predictors of whether Britons feel disconnected from society.
Income inequality in Britain is widening. Recent figures show that in 2022 alone, “incomes for the poorest 14 million people fell by 7.5%, while incomes for the richest fifth saw a 7.8% increase”. Moreover, research shows a link between lower economic status and higher rates of loneliness and social isolation.
It is perhaps these growing divisions that should really be the focus of any government strategy. Focusing on local initiatives designed to protect, or expand, community assets such as libraries and youth and outreach centres appears a much more productive means of ensuring that Britain’s isn’t completely transformed into an island of strangers.
Michael Skey receives funding from the Arts & Humanities Research Council
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Press release
Joint statement from the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Canada on the situation in Gaza and the West Bank
Joint statement from the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Canada on the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.
We strongly oppose the expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza. The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable. Yesterday’s announcement that Israel will allow a basic quantity of food into Gaza is wholly inadequate. We call on the Israeli Government to stop its military operations in Gaza and immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. This must include engaging with the UN to ensure a return to delivery of aid in line with humanitarian principles. We call on Hamas to release immediately the remaining hostages they have so cruelly held since 7 October 2023.
The Israeli Government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law. We condemn the abhorrent language used recently by members of the Israeli Government, threatening that, in their despair at the destruction of Gaza, civilians will start to relocate. Permanent forced displacement is a breach of international humanitarian law.
Israel suffered a heinous attack on October 7. We have always supported Israel’s right to defend Israelis against terrorism. But this escalation is wholly disproportionate.
We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions. If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.
We oppose any attempt to expand settlements in the West Bank. Israel must halt settlements which are illegal and undermine the viability of a Palestinian state and the security of both Israelis and Palestinians. We will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions.
We strongly support the efforts led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt to secure an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. It is a ceasefire, the release of all remaining hostages and a long-term political solution that offer the best hope of ending the agony of the hostages and their families, alleviating the suffering of civilians in Gaza, ending Hamas’ control of Gaza and achieving a pathway to a two-state solution, consistent with the goals of the 18 June conference in New York co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France. These negotiations need to succeed, and we must all work towards the implementation of a two-state solution, which is the only way to bring long-lasting peace and security that both Israelis and Palestinians deserve, and ensure long-term stability in the region.
We will continue to work with the Palestinian Authority, regional partners, Israel and the United States to finalise consensus on arrangements for Gaza’s future, building on the Arab plan. We affirm the important role of the High-level Two-State Solution Conference at the UN in June in building international consensus around this aim. And we are committed to recognising a Palestinian state as a contribution to achieving a two-state solution and are prepared to work with others to this end.
Bihar took centre stage in India’s agri-food export push as the International Buyer-Seller Meet (IBSM) 2025 commenced in Patna on Monday. Organised by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) in collaboration with APEDA, TPCI, and the Government of Bihar, the two-day event aims to boost food exports, facilitate global trade linkages, and unlock the state’s rich agricultural potential.
The inaugural session was graced by Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Chirag Paswan, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha, Industries Minister Nitish Mishra, and senior officials from MoFPI, APEDA, TPCI, and the Bihar government.
With participation from 70 international buyers representing 20 countries, including six global retail chains, along with 50 domestic and 20 institutional buyers, the meet is expected to generate strong procurement momentum through 400+ curated B2B meetings. Products such as rice, spices, makhana, and fruits are in focus, with global players like LuLu Group (UAE), SARTAJ (Japan), Datar & Sons (UAE) and Global Foods Trading (Germany) showing strong sourcing interest.
In his keynote address, Union Minister Chirag Paswan described the meet as a “turning point for rural prosperity” and reiterated the Government’s commitment to making Bihar a hub in India’s journey towards ‘Viksit Bharat @2047’. He noted, “We envision Bihar’s youth becoming job creators, not job seekers. The government will fully facilitate every investor.”
Highlighting Bihar’s ancient legacy and agricultural strengths, the Minister revealed that in FY 2024–25 alone, 10,270 loans worth ₹624.42 crore were sanctioned under the PMFME Scheme in Bihar—the highest among all Indian states. He also emphasized the upcoming NIFTEM institute in Bihar, calling it a future centre of innovation and research in food technology.
The event also witnessed the launch of a strategic report titled “Strategies to Boost India’s Makhana Exports”, reaffirming Bihar’s global leadership in this GI-tagged product.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha underlined food processing as the best way to double farmers’ income, while Industries Minister Nitish Mishra spoke about the Muzaffarpur Mega Food Park and rapid land allotment through Bihar’s Single Window Clearance System. APEDA Chairman Abhishek Dev emphasized that efforts like Tracenet 2.0 will enhance traceability and export readiness of Indian produce.
So far, 12 companies have confirmed long-term procurement commitments across rice, pulses, spices, fruits, vegetables, and makhana, marking a major milestone in Bihar’s export journey.
The IBSM 2025 also includes exhibitions, technical sessions, and investment discussions to catalyse partnerships and promote Bihar’s food processing ecosystem. The meet sets the stage for the state’s emergence as a key contributor to India’s agri-export ambitions.
Finally, the Union Minister invited stakeholders to World Food India 2025, MoFPI’s flagship global event, which will further showcase India’s and Bihar’s growing footprint in global food markets.
The Great Financial Crisis (GFC) was a watershed event that set in motion two related structural changes to the global financial system. Those changes define the state of the system today. The first is the shift in the underlying claims from those on private sector borrowers (especially mortgages) to claims on the government in the form of sovereign bonds. The second structural change is the shift from banks to non-bank financial intermediaries. The GFC was essentially a banking crisis where (mostly) regulated banks were the protagonists. The post-GFC financial system has, instead, cast portfolio managers and other non-bank financial intermediaries as the main actors to take centre stage.
Even as expansive fiscal policies have meant that sovereign bond issuance has outpaced the growth of private sector debt, portfolio managers of all stripes have absorbed the rapid issuance of sovereign bonds. The global nature of sovereign bond markets means that currency choice is an integral part of the investment decision. Pension funds and life insurance companies from rich economies that have obligations to their beneficiaries or policyholders in domestic currency nevertheless hold a globally diversified asset portfolio in several currencies. Currency hedging is therefore a key theme, and the system has evolved to allow such hedging. In this process, the banking system has played a crucial role. Banks enable the market for foreign exchange (FX) swaps, allowing investors to hedge currency risk. When boiled down, an FX swap is a collateralised borrowing operation. A euro area pension fund, for example, borrows dollars to invest in dollar bonds by pledging euros as collateral, with a promise to unwind the transaction at a pre-agreed exchange rate. In this sense, FX swaps make money fungible across currencies. The outstanding stock of FX swaps stands at $113 trillion, having increased rapidly since the GFC. Accounting convention allows not including FX swaps in debt, even though they are collateralised borrowing arrangements. In this respect, the apparently smaller footprint of the banking sector after the GFC is more an artifact of accounting conventions, rather than the underlying economics. Most of the time, the FX swap market lies out of view, but it is thrust into the limelight from time to time. The eventful first few months of 2025 are a good example.
This lecture takes the audience through the operation of the FX swap market and how, with the greater role of global portfolio investors, it has served to intensify the transmission of financial conditions across borders. Portfolio decisions involve gross positions and are only loosely related to current account imbalances and associated net positions. As sovereign bond markets are set to grow even larger with expansive fiscal policies in key jurisdictions, this lecture aims to highlight how the sovereign bond market and exchange rates are two sides of the same coin. The banking sector plays the key linchpin role in connecting the two, even if the accounting convention allows them to keep a smaller footprint.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has, through his weekly newsletter, called on South Africans to celebrate the lives of struggle icons who fought and died for freedom.
The President’s call comes days after the reburial of struggle icon, Advocate Duma Nokwe, who the President recently conferred the honorary title of Senior Counsel (Silk).
In Monday’s newsletter, President Ramaphosa described the lives lost during the fight against Apartheid as a “heavy price” paid for the families that lost loved ones.
“For the many families and communities across this country who never got the opportunity to lay their loved ones to rest or to even know how they died, the past will continue to cast a long shadow. In the interests of national reconciliation; in the interests of moving forward, we will continue with our efforts to restore dignity to all those who were denied it in life.
“A heavy price was paid by many for the democracy we have today. This should continue to inspire us as we work together towards a shared future,” he said.
Following the fall of the apartheid government, South Africa established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) described by President Ramaphosa as an attempt to “shed a light on the atrocities committed during apartheid”.
“Even as democratic South Africa attempted to unearth what happened and to hold those accountable to account, many apartheid-era security officials either refused to appear before the TRC or did not fully disclose their actions. Others resorted to delaying tactics and obstruction to evade trial.
“As we recently announced, I am in the process of establishing a judicial commission of inquiry to look into allegations of interference in the investigation and prosecution of apartheid-era crimes referred by TRC,” he said.
Repatriating heroes
During the apartheid era, several political parties faced banning orders from the racist government – forcing many activists into exile.
Some activists – like Advocate Duma Nokwe – died while in exile with their remains still in those countries.
President Ramaphosa assured families still waiting for the return of the remains of their loved ones that government is “steadfast in our commitment to restoring the dignity of activists who died and were buried abroad, and to our country men and women who were subjected to indignities in foreign lands.”
“This is being done within legal frameworks such as the National Heritage Resources Act. This framework facilitated the repatriation of Sara Baartman’s remains for burial in South Africa in 2002. We have also developed a draft National Policy on the Repatriation and Restitution of Human Remains and Heritage Objects which will guide our efforts going forward.
“The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and other government institutions continue to engage with several countries to facilitate the return of human remains,” he said.
The President reflected that although dealing with “the memory of past atrocities is one of the most difficult and delicate tasks a nation can undertake,” it can be a “cathartic process”.
“[It] is vital if a country is committed to enhance national healing, cohesion and unity. The way a country remembers its painful past can shape the character of its democracy, the legitimacy of its institutions and the resilience of its people.
“As a country, we have had to contend with our past in the interests of social cohesion and nation-building. We have advanced policies of restitution and redress to both acknowledge and correct the historical injustice of apartheid.
“We remain equally committed to restoring the dignity of apartheid’s countless victims and to bringing closure to their families,” President Ramaphosa said. – SAnews.gov.za
Deputy President Paul Mashatile has on Monday arrived in Paris, France, for a working visit aimed at reinforcing South Africa’s historic and warm bilateral relations with that country.
During the working visit, the two countries will be expanding on existing cooperation projects as well as identify new areas of cooperation with specific focus on trade and investment.
The Deputy President’s visit follows a recent visit by Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, last week to co-chair the 9th Session of the Forum for Political Dialogue (FPD) where the status of bilateral political relations between the two countries was discussed, including matters of mutual interest relating to international developments.
“Deputy President Mashatile will participate in the SA-France Investment Conference, where South Africa will intensify cooperation in the fields of infrastructure development; science, technology and innovation; education and skills development as well as improve the already strong people-to-people links between the two countries and increase the flow of tourism to South Africa from France,” said the Presidency in a statement.
It said France is the 14th largest investor in South Africa, with about 400 French companies investing in sectors such as Financial Services, Renewable Energy, Rail, Chemicals, Oil and Gas, to mention but a few.
“French companies have played a pivotal role in the Presidential Investment Conference.
“Since the first Presidential Investment Conference hosted in 2018, French companies have committed more than R70 billion with the majority of projects either completed or being implemented. “
As part of his programme, Deputy President Mashatile will pay a courtesy call on Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, meet with captains of different industries and conduct site visits to the Suez Global Waste Management Company and Dassault Systèmes.
The Deputy President is accompanied by Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi; Minister of Small Business Development Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams; Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy; Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie; Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille; Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Alvin Botes; Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training Buti Manamela; Deputy Minister Trade, Industry and Competition Zuko Godlimpi and Deputy Minister of Electricity and Energy Samantha Graham-Maré. – SAnews.gov.za
Deputy President Paul Mashatile has expressed condolences to the family of Member of Parliament, Lungi Mnganga-Gcabashe, who passed away on Saturday.
Mnganga-Gcabashe, 64, was serving as Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Tourism in Parliament at the time of her passing.
She previously served in the legislative body between 2014 and 2019 and before re-election in 2024.
“In the past week, Honourable Mnganga-Gcabashe participated in the Africa Travel Indaba, hosted by the Department in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. A true testament to her commitment to the country and serving South Africans.
“Her commitment to a non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous society has guided her path and contribution to the struggle against apartheid through the United Democratic Front, Natal Organisation of Women and during the course of our democracy in legislative structures.
“I would like to send my heartfelt condolences to her family, friends, and comrades. May her soul rest in peace and may the contributions she has made to the struggles for gender equality and non-racialism remain etched in the history of our country,” Deputy President Mashatile said in a statement. – SAnews.gov.za
Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Narend Singh has called on delegates from governments across the continent to innovatively think about financing biodiversity, beyond the traditional funding from national budgets.
According to the Deputy Minister, more than 7 000 species across the continent face extinction, which could harm Africa’s economic potential.
“Biodiversity is not a luxury; it is the foundation of our economies, our health, and our survival. As you are aware that the financing gap to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 from all sources is estimated at 200 billion US Dollars annually.
“Every hectare of forest cleared, every waterway polluted, and every species lost diminishes not just our ecological wealth, but our economic potential,” Singh said on Monday in Cape Town.
He was addressing the regional dialogue for member States of the Southern African Development Community, the East African Community and other Anglophone countries on the update or revision of national and regional biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs).
This regional dialogue offers an opportunity for countries that have already revised their NBSAPs to share good practices, address common challenges, and identify potential solutions.
The goal of the NBSAP is to conserve and manage biodiversity to ensure sustainable benefits to the people of South Africa, through co-operation and partnerships that build on strengths and opportunities.
“Strong NBSAPs are more than policy, they are strategic tools to unlock international finance, attract private investment, and guide public spending where it matters most. But a plan on paper is not enough – it must be matched by budgets and political commitment,” he said.
The Deputy Minister offered insights into the innovative finance solutions that were developed in South Africa through the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) programme.
The BIOFIN programme supports countries to enhance their financial management of biodiversity and ecosystems.
“Through the BIOFIN programme, a framework has been developed to guide a fee setting process for biodiversity permits, which enables cost recovery and value attribution to the natural resources.
“The basis for this work is that revenue from sources such as protected area gate fees, tourism concessions, conferencing facilities, fees and permits related to biodiversity can play an important role in supporting the financial sustainability of the conservation estate,” he said.
Through the programme, some municipalities have given rates relief to conservation areas leading to funds saved which can be further invested into biodiversity conservation.
“The financial result of this has been 124 000.00 US dollars saved by conservation areas over the last three years. We were delighted to learn from the Botswana example, where their rate collection increased seven-fold,” Singh said.
A biodiversity offset portal will be launched on 22 May 2025 as part of celebrating the International Day of Biodiversity.
The offset portal which will be publicly accessible is aimed at improving the way offsets are conducted for the benefit of funding protected area management.
“The Biodiversity Sector investment portal was launched in 2022 and formally handed over to the Government of South Africa. The portal has been institutionalized within the department and established a Biodiversity Economy Investment Portal, officially recognised as an ongoing conduit of opportunities for investment in the Small and Medium Enterprises. The department has fully taken over the portal and allocated a budget towards its ongoing maintenance,” he said. –SANews.gov.za
Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr David Masondo, has emphasised the importance of closing the financial inclusion gap for women and ensuring that they can leverage financial services to smooth their incomes, invest in opportunities, and protect themselves against shocks.
“Usage remains low, and significant gaps persist, particularly for women, youth, informal workers, and rural entrepreneurs,” Masondo said on Monday in Skukuza, Mpumalanga.
Addressing the second Plenary Meeting of the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion, the Deputy Minister said empowering women is not just a matter of fairness or social equity; it is smart economics.
“When women gain access to financial tools and earnings, they invest in their families and communities to an impressive degree. Studies find that women typically reinvest up to 90% of their income back into their households, compared to around 30–40% for men.
“We have seen that financially empowering a woman creates a ripple effect; children stay in school longer, family nutrition improves, and local economies become more resilient. Conversely, when women remain on the margins of finance, we all lose out on growth and innovation.
“Let us remember that closing the financial inclusion gap for women is not a sidebar, it is central to our agenda. … Giving women access to and the ability to use affordable payments, credit, and insurance will boost development broadly,” he said.
The Deputy Minister asserted that South Africa has made women’s economic empowerment a priority in the national strategies encouraging progress is being made.
“But there is much farther to go to ensure that the creative entrepreneur I described, and millions like her can prosper. She does not want charity; she wants the playing field: levelled reliable digital payments, safe savings, and fair credit so her enterprise can grow.
“Turning this vision into reality will require concerted action on multiple fronts: public policy, private innovation, and grassroots capacity-building. South Africa is committed to doing its part.
“Through our Financial Sector Development Reform Program (FSDRP), supported by partners like the World Bank and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, we invest in the infrastructure and reforms that move inclusion from access to usage,” Masondo said.
The Reserve Bank has launched the Inclusive Payments Digitalisation Programme that aims to bring practical digital payment solutions to the informal sector.
“We have piloted it in two communities, Tembisa and Hammanskraal, to develop digital ecosystems right where people live and work. Some of you visited these enterprises in March.
“This pilot is a testament to what is possible when we blend policy intent with on-the-ground innovation. We plan to expand such efforts, informed by data and community feedback, so that no entrepreneur is left behind by the digital finance revolution.
“Our commitment goes further. We are streamlining regulations to encourage low-cost fintech solutions through the Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group, strengthening consumer protection to build trust in digital finance through the Conduct of Financial Institutions (COFI) Bill, and improving connectivity in rural areas through the SA Connect programme,” he said.
In essence, efforts are being made to create an environment where using financial services is easy, affordable, and safe so that inclusion translates into actual economic participation.
“But South Africa cannot do it alone. The beauty of the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) is that it allows us to learn from each other and to tackle common challenges together. Every country in this room has experiences, successful policies, clever tech applications, and even instructive failures that can inform the way forward for all of us,” Masondo said.
GPFI is an inclusive platform for Group Twenty (G20) countries, non-G20 countries and relevant stakeholders for peer learning, knowledge sharing, policy advocacy and coordination.
It is the primary implementing mechanism of the G20 Financial Inclusion Action Plan (FIAP).
South Africa assumed the G20 Presidency from 1 December 2024 to 30 November 2025 under the theme: “Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability”. – SAnews.gov.za
Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy
May 18, 2025
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WASHINGTON–U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Sunday joined NBC’s Meet the Press with Kristen Welker to discuss the Trump administration and congressional Republicans’ plan to give the ultra-wealthy a giant tax break paid for by slashing Medicaid and programs millions of Americans rely on, and President Trump’s corruption of U.S. foreign policy.
Murphy slammed the disastrous Republican tax plan: “Well, what we’re standing in the way of is the most massive transfer of wealth from the poor and the middle class to the rich in the history of the country. This budget bill is an absolute disaster. It is going to kick over 10 million people off of their health care — Medicaid covers about a quarter of all Americans — in order to pass along a new trillion-dollar tax cut for the richest 1%. Nobody in this country is asking for that…These guys are running the economy recklessly because all they care about is the health of the Mar-a-Lago billionaire class. They only care about their corporate friends. They’re going to destroy this economy, they’re going to throw millions of people off of health care, just so that they can pass along a benefit to a small handful of very rich Americans.”
Murphy pushed back on claims by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the growing deficit is due to Democratic policies: “I think it’s important to remember that some of the most important legislative achievements during Joe Biden’s presidency were done in a way that reduced the deficit. In fact, the Inflation Reduction Act – which made massive investments in renewable energy, reduced prescription drug costs – was done in a way that drove down the deficit, not driving the deficit up. Most of the deficit was added under Joe Biden’s presidency was in those early days when we were still recovering from the pandemic. But there’s just no doubt that it was Donald Trump who added more to the deficit than any president in the history of the country, and he is on pace to do it for a second time. It’s going to crater the economy. And listen, it won’t have an impact on his billionaire friends. His Mar-a-Lago crowd will come out all right, but it will impact the regular people I represent in New Britain, Bristol and Bridgeport, Connecticut.”
On Trump’s corrupt trip to the Middle East, Murphy said: “So why did he choose these three countries to go to for his first major foreign trip? It’s not because these are our most important allies, are the most important countries in the world. It’s because these are the three countries willing to pay him off. Every single one of these countries is giving Trump money — the plane from Qatar and investment in his cryptocurrency scam from the UAE, and they are asking for national security concessions in return. This is the definition of corruption. Foreign governments putting money in the President’s pocket and in the United States, giving them national concerning concessions that hurt our own security.”
He continued: “By the way, the plane is not a gift to the American people, as the Secretary said. It is going directly to Donald Trump. That library will take a decade to build, and so once he leaves the White House until the library is built, he gets to use that plane to fly around all of his billionaire friends while his policies result in millions of Americans losing their health care and having to pay higher costs. That is the definition of corruption.”
WASHINGTON – The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is proud to announce the appointment of Madhu Gottumukkala as its new Deputy Director. In this role, he will help lead CISA’s mission to understand, manage, and reduce risk to the cyber and physical infrastructure that the American people rely on every day.
Prior to his appointment as the CISA Deputy Director, Dr. Gottumukkala served as Commissioner and Chief Information Officer for South Dakota’s Bureau of Information and Technology, overseeing statewide technology and cybersecurity initiatives. He assumed this role after serving as South Dakota’s second-ever chief technology officer, focused on innovation through the adoption of emerging technologies, while increasing efficiency by replacing outdated legacy systems.
“I am honored to be appointed by Secretary Noem to serve as Deputy Director of CISA. As a former state and local leader, I have seen firsthand the exceptional work CISA does in advancing our nation’s cybersecurity and infrastructure resilience,” said Gottumukkala. “I look forward to building on that foundation by fostering collaboration and strengthening resilience across all levels of government and the private sector. Together, through trusted partnerships, transparency, and shared responsibility, we can better manage systemic risks and safeguard the critical functions that ensure our nation’s safety and prosperity.”
“CISA is excited to welcome Madhu to the team. As we work around the clock to safeguard our nation’s most critical infrastructure, Madhu brings a unique blend of technical expertise and real-world experience that will enhance our mission,” said CISA Senior Official Performing the duties of the Director Bridget Bean. “His deep understanding of both the complexities and practical realities of infrastructure security will strengthen CISA in its role as the nation’s lead cyber defense agency and the national coordinator for infrastructure resilience today and into the future.”
With over 24 years of experience in information technology (IT), Dr. Gottumukkala has held leadership roles spanning both the public and private sectors, including work across the wireless and telecom, unified communications, and health technology industries. He currently serves on the Advisory Committee of the College of Business and Information Systems at Dakota State University.
Dr. Gottumukkala holds a Ph.D. in Information Systems from Dakota State University, an MBA in Engineering and Technology Management from the University of Dallas, an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Arlington, and a B.E. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Andhra University.
For more information about CISA’s leadership team, please visit the official CISA website at CISA Leadership | CISA
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About CISA
As the nation’s cyber defense agency and national coordinator for critical infrastructure security, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency leads the national effort to understand, manage, and reduce risk to the digital and physical infrastructure Americans rely on every hour of every day.
Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday conducted a comprehensive review of inland waterways infrastructure projects in Assam and the Northeast. The high-level meeting, attended by senior officials from the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW), Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL), Indian Port Rail and Ropeway Corporation Ltd (IPRCL), and state PWD, focused on aligning regional development with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Viksit Bharat.
Sonowal emphasised the timely completion of projects under the ₹1,000 crore inland waterway development plan for the region, asserting that the Northeast remains a top priority for the central government. “Our work must resonate with the larger vision of Viksit Bharat. In the past two years, over Rs. 1,000 crore has already been invested, with ₹300 crore worth of work completed. The remaining ₹700 crore projects are on track to finish by end-2025,” he said.
Projects under the spotlight include key developments along National Waterways 2 (Brahmaputra) and 16 (Barak). These cover passenger vessel construction, modern terminal infrastructure, and capacity-building initiatives. The minister also reviewed proposed projects in Nagaland’s Doyang, Noune, and Shilloi lakes for IWT and tourism, and feasibility studies in Mizoram and Meghalaya for similar ventures.
Highlighting inland waterways as a catalyst for economic transformation, Sonowal said, “Since 2014, the Modi government has revived this once-neglected mode of transport. Initiatives like Jalvahak are helping businesses adopt this cost-effective and eco-friendly alternative, reducing the burden on road and rail networks.”
To ensure skill development aligns with infrastructure growth, the government is developing the Maritime Skill Development Centre in Guwahati and the Centre of Excellence for Inland Water Transport in Dibrugarh. “We are training a workforce ready for both inland and global maritime opportunities,” he added.
Looking ahead, over Rs. 1,500 crore has been earmarked for additional projects to be completed by 2027-28. These include modern jetties at Silghat, Bishwanath Ghat, Neamati Ghat, and Guijan. In Guwahati, a new cruise terminal worth Rs. 100 crore, a Rs. 315 crore Water Metro project with two electric catamarans, and infrastructure for the Mercantile Marine Department are also in the pipeline.
The IWAI is executing Rs. 1,010 crore worth of work across NW2 and NW16, which includes terminals at Bogibeel and Jogighopa and a Rs. 208 crore ship repair facility at Pandu. The Barak River corridor will be equipped with dredging equipment and floating terminals at Karimganj and Badarpur.
To maintain year-round navigability along Brahmaputra (NW2), the Dredging Corporation of India has been assigned to maintain a minimum draft of 2.5 metres up to 2026-27, supported by an additional Rs. 191 crore.
Reiterating the government’s focus, Sonowal said, “The Northeast is not just a gateway to Southeast Asia but a key pillar in India’s journey toward becoming a global maritime leader by 2047.”
Reacting to Starmer’s European Union trade deal, Scottish Greens Co-Leader Patrick Harvie has said, “the only deal good enough for Scotland is a deal to rejoin the EU”.
The trade deal secured by the UK Labour Government and the European Union guarantees EU fishing boats access to UK waters until 2038, controversial carbon markets and farming agreements.
Scottish Greens Co-Leader Patrick Harvie MSP said:
“Five years after Brexit, we are still picking up the pieces of a disastrous decision that the people of Scotland overwhelmingly rejected.
“Keir Starmer may celebrate this deal as if it’s the greatest possible outcome, but in reality, this is just another disappointment that lets Scotland down. We didn’t vote to leave the EU, but Scottish communities and businesses are being hit the hardest by decisions made in Westminster.
“This deal fails to deliver for people or planet, it shows the true long-term economic damage that pandering to Nigel Farage and the far-right can have on the economy and our society. The only deal good enough for Scotland is a deal to rejoin the EU that allows Scotland to regain our rights as European citizens.
“Scotland deserves better. As an independent nation, we could rejoin the EU and work together with our friends across the continent to tackle the climate emergency and build a fairer, greener Europe.”
Alongside industrial trade agreements, the deal is set to include a youth experience scheme and potential access to the Erasmus+ programme, something the Scottish Greens have long called for.
Mr Harvie added:
“Rejoining Erasmus+ would be extremely welcome, but this hasn’t been included in the initial deal, and clearly hasn’t been a priority for Labour Ministers. Young people have already been missing out on life-changing opportunities, and their freedom of movement should be restored to them.
“It’s more important than ever that the UK government get this part of the deal over the line to open doors for students in Scotland, the UK, and across Europe.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized four countries – the Republic of Austria, the Kingdom of Norway, the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of Singapore – for their exemplary efforts in eliminating industrially produced trans fats from their food supplies. These countries have implemented best-practice policies alongside effective monitoring and enforcement mechanisms to promote public health.
The WHO validation certificates were officially presented by WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly. “Eliminating industrially produced trans fats is one of the most cost-effective strategies to reduce the global burden of cardiovascular diseases. Trans fats are a major contributor to preventable deaths each year, particularly due to their impact on heart health,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “These countries are not only protecting the health of their populations, but also setting an exemplary standard for other countries to follow.”
This recognition marks another significant milestone in the global effort to eliminate trans fats, reflecting not only policy commitments but also the concrete actions being taken to remove trans fat from the food supply.
Trans fat clogs arteries, increasing the risk of heart attacks and coronary heart disease – responsible for over 278 000 deaths each year globally. Trans fat, or trans-fatty acids (TFA), are unsaturated fatty acids that come from either artificial (industrial) or natural sources. Industrially produced trans fats are often found in many baked goods such as biscuits, pies and fried foods, as well as margarine, vegetable shortening, Vanaspati ghee, among many others. Both industrially produced and naturally occurring trans fats are equally harmful.
“Recognizing the incredible harm caused by industrially produced trans fats, we became the second country to introduce measures to eliminate it. An EU-wide regulation is now in place, and Austria acknowledges its pioneering role in this important development. Bold, evidence-based policies can deliver real public health impact, and we are proud to be among the countries leading this global effort,” said Korinna Schumann, Minister of Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection, Austria.
Seven years ago, WHO called for the global elimination of industrially produced trans fats. At that time, only 11 countries covering 6% of the global population had best-practice trans-fat elimination policies in effect. Today, nearly 60 countries have best-practice policies in effect, covering 46% of the global population.
“Eliminating industrially produced trans fats marks a significant milestone in our commitment to protecting our population’s health. We are proud to be among the 60 countries implementing this lifesaving policy, and especially honored to be recognized as one of the nine countries leading the way in eliminating this harmful ingredient,” said Dr Hilal bin Ali bin Hilal Alsabti, Minister of Health, Oman.
WHO recommends that governments implement best-practice trans fat elimination policies either by setting a mandatory limit of 2 grams of trans fat per 100 grams of total fat in all foods and/or by banning the production and use of partially hydrogenated oils (PHO) as an ingredient in food products. The WHO validation programme for trans fat elimination recognizes countries that have gone beyond introducing best practice policies by ensuring that rigorous monitoring and enforcement systems in place. Monitoring and enforcing compliance with policies is critical to maximizing and sustaining health benefits.
“Our efforts to implement robust, best-practice trans fat elimination policies are showing clear, measurable results. The latest monitoring data confirms that it is not only possible to reduce trans fat intake but to virtually eliminate it,” said Jan Christian Vestre, Minister of Health and Care Services, Norway.
Replacing trans fats with healthier oils and fats is a low-cost intervention that yields high economic returns by improving population health, saving lives and reducing healthcare costs. Governments can eliminate the cause of 7% of cardiovascular disease globally with a low-cost investment aimed at reducing or eliminating trans fats from the food supply.
“Our journey towards eliminating industrially produced trans fats began over a decade ago. Today, we have made significant progress. This is a powerful testament to what can be achieved through applying a consistent public health policy, across countries and regions, and working collaboratively with the industries. We are proud to stand alongside other countries in building a healthier and safer food environment for all,” said Mr Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Health, Singapore.
WHO remains committed to supporting countries in their efforts and to recognizing their achievements. By working with national nutrition and food safety authorities, WHO can better support governments not only in developing and adopting trans fat elimination policies, but also in monitoring and enforcing them to ensure lasting impact.
The next application cycle for the TFA elimination validation programme is now open and countries are welcome to apply by 31 August 2025 to be considered for the third cycle.
Note to editors
The World Health Organization has partnered with Resolve to Save Lives, a not-for-profit organization, to support the development and implementation of the REPLACE action package. Launched in 2018, the WHO’s REPLACE action package provides a strategic approach to eliminating industrially produced trans fat from national food supplies.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09)
ICYMI: Kaptur, Murray call for reversal of arbitrary cap on DOE-funded research — a policy already blocked in federal court for university grants
Washington, DC — Today, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, sent aletter to Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright expressing deep concern about the Department’s recently announced caps on indirect costs for DOE research for a variety of recipients. The new caps, which follow the Department’s previously announced arbitrary cap on indirect costs for research at universities, will jeopardize critical research and innovation — and Kaptur and Murray call for the immediate reversal of the policy.
“We write in response to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) decision to impose sweeping new caps on indirect cost rates across a wide spectrum of its funding recipients — including state and local governments, non-profit organizations, and for-profit partners,” write Kaptur and Murray. “Capping indirect cost rates far below their current values compounds the detrimental policy you have already announced cutting funding for university-led research, and these proposed cuts put energy innovation and economic development in communities across the country at serious risk.”
The lawmakers note the policy will disproportionately hurt smaller research institutions: “Ultimately, this policy threatens to prevent smaller, under-resourced organizations from getting the support they need to conduct cutting-edge research, which will stifle innovation in regions that need investment the most.”
“If left to stand, the consequences of these cuts will be severe: multi-sector collaboration will be chilled, community-led innovation efforts across the US will be disrupted, and thousands of jobs supporting energy and infrastructure will be at risk. This abrupt policy change will undercut the very institutions — state and local governments, non-profits, and research organizations — that drive energy innovation, workforce development, and clean energy solutions in local communities,” Kaptur and Murray write.
They conclude by calling for an immediate reversal of the policies and demanding answers on how the Department determined the caps, whether it consulted with stakeholders, and whether it considered the economic consequences.
The full letter is available HERE and below:
The Honorable Christopher Wright Secretary of Energy U.S. Department of Energy 1000 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20585
Dear Secretary Wright,
We write in response to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) decision to impose sweeping new caps on indirect cost rates across a wide spectrum of its funding recipients — including state and local governments, non-profit organizations, and for-profit partners. While direct costs support salaries, supplies, and equipment, indirect costs provide essential support for general operations and infrastructure. Capping indirect cost rates far below their current values compounds the detrimental policy you have already announced cutting funding for university-led research, and these proposed cuts put energy innovation and economic development in communities across the country at serious risk. Like so many actions your Department has already taken, these new cuts will also raise energy costs for American families and businesses.
By imposing an arbitrary, inflexible cap of 10 or 15% on indirect costs — regardless of organizational type, mission, or financial structure — the Department is undermining the ability of its grantees and partners to deliver on DOE’s core priorities. Ultimately, this policy threatens to prevent smaller, under-resourced organizations from getting the support they need to conduct cutting-edge research, which will stifle innovation in regions that need investment the most. These indirect cost caps disregard the essential infrastructure required to administer safe, scalable, and high-impact projects.
Local governments and non-profits, already stretched thin, now face arbitrary limitations that will squash efforts to fortify electricity grids to be robust to storms and other disruptions, initiatives to ensure all community members can access affordable and reliable energy, and emerging technology deployment at the local level.
If left to stand, the consequences of these cuts will be severe: multi-sector collaboration will be chilled, community-led innovation efforts across the US will be disrupted, and thousands of jobs supporting energy and infrastructure will be at risk. This abrupt policy change will undercut the very institutions — state and local governments, non-profits, and research organizations — that drive energy innovation, workforce development, and clean energy solutions in local communities. America’s energy future must be built on strong partnerships — not policies that penalize those on the front lines of progress.
These abrupt changes have been announced without the transparency you have promised, without public engagement, and without any meaningful justification. Worse, they appear to ignore the diverse cost structures and compliance burdens that entities must absorb to responsibly manage federal funds. These are not “wasteful” administrative expenses — they are essential costs of conducting federally sponsored research that benefits the American people.
We reiterate our call to immediately reverse these harmful caps, urge you to engage stakeholders and experts in crafting any future reforms, and request written responses to the following questions by no later than May 30:
What will happen to existing (conditional and nonconditional) awards if they do not meet the new terms and conditions in this policy?
What data and models did DOE use to conclude that a uniform 10 or 15% cap would be sufficient and sustainable across such varied institutional types (e.g., local governments, non-profits, for-profits)? Will DOE release this analysis publicly?
How does DOE justify this cap given that many organizations and governments currently operate with indirect cost rates significantly higher than the new proposed cap?
How does DOE reconcile these cost caps with existing negotiated indirect cost rates under OMB Circulars and 2 CFR 200, particularly where they exceed the new ceilings?
What outreach or consultation — if any — did DOE undertake with non-profit, municipal, or private-sector stakeholders prior to issuing these policy changes?
What specific exemptions, waivers, or appeal mechanisms will DOE make available for awards where capped indirect costs would result in program delays, layoffs, or funding shortfalls?
Has DOE assessed the potential regional economic and workforce consequences of capping indirect costs on state, local, and non-profit implementation partners? If so, will DOE release that analysis publicly?
We look forward to your responses and attention to this critical issue.
Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:
WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America, May 19, 2025/APO Group/ —
With the successful launch of the new data portal—the National Summary Data Page (NSDP) — the Central African Republic has implemented a key recommendation of the IMF’s Enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e-GDDS) to publish essential macroeconomic and financial data. The e-GDDS is the first tier of the IMF Data Standards Initiatives that promote transparency as a global public good and encourage countries to voluntarily publish timely data that is essential for monitoring and analyzing economic performance.
The launch of the NSDP is a testament to the Central African Republic’s commitment to data transparency. It serves as a one-stop portal for disseminating various macroeconomic data compiled by multiple statistical agencies. The published data include statistics on national accounts, prices, government operations, debt, the monetary and financial sector, and the external sector.
The launch of the NSDP was supported by an IMF technical assistance mission, financed by the Government of Japan through the Japan Administered Account for Selected Fund Activities (JSA), and conducted in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB) from May 12 to 16, 2025. The mission was hosted by “Institut Centrafricain de Statistique et des Études Économiques et Sociales,” in close collaboration with the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) and the Ministry of Finance and Budget.
With this reform, the Central African Republic will join 75 countries worldwide and 33 countries in Africa using the e-GDDS to disseminate standardized data.
Mr. Bert Kroese, Chief Statistician and Data Officer, and Director of the IMF’s Statistics Department, welcomed this as a major milestone in the Central African Republic’s statistical development. He went on to express that the country would benefit from the improvement in data transparency and that the IMF stood ready to “continue supporting the authorities in further developing their statistical systems.”
Source: United States Senator for Tennessee Bill Hagerty
NEW YORK CITY—Today, United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Appropriations, Banking, and Foreign Relations Committees and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, joined Squawk Box on CNBC live in-studio to discuss the GENIUS Act vote in the Senate, the budget reconciliation package, and President Donald Trump’s ongoing trade negotiations.
*Click the photo above or here to watch*
Partial Transcript
Hagerty on the GENIUS Act: “It’s actually born from a great deal of frustration. We started working on the bill in earnest back in the fall, but we’ve watched what’s happened with the absence of any type of regulatory framework here in America. And what we see is this type of innovative technology moving offshore. The last thing I want to see is that I don’t want to see innovation leaving America. It’s all happening here right now. But what we saw was a lack of regulatory framework, which means a lack of certainty. And if you’re using enforcement actions from the [Securities and Exchange Commission], which was what has been happening for the past four years, to regulate the markets, it creates massive amounts of uncertainty. This will fix it […] It basically establishes a legal and regulatory framework to issue stablecoins here in America. Stablecoin is stable, meaning it’s backed by a certain currency. In this case it’s tied to the U.S dollar, but also, it’s backed either by cash or by short-term U.S. treasury securities. So, it’s entirely safe having that type of regulatory framework and disclosure around it so we know exactly what’s backing up these digital dollars, if you will, is going to be great.”
Hagerty on the difference between stablecoins and typical cryptocurrency:“This is a payment mechanism, and not to be confused with Bitcoin or something that has a speculative component. This puts us into a digital payment framework. The fastest rails available, much better than the system developed in the seventies and eighties, which is slow. It takes days to clear […] It’s not going to be [backed by] equities. It’s going to be high quality, short-term assets, either short-term U.S. treasuries or cash. I think the majority of it’ll be U.S. treasuries. In fact, what this will do, and the projections are by 2030, this is according to Citibank, stablecoin issuers will be the largest holders of U.S. treasuries in the world.”
Hagerty on opposition to the GENIUS Act: “No one in the industry is [opposing this legislation] and has to do with my colleagues. And basically, it’s gotten to be a question; we’ll find out tonight. We have broad policy agreement, Democrats and Republicans. The question is, can we get past the partisan politics and allow us to actually have a victory? I would enjoy having a bipartisan victory […] It’s politicians that want to see centralized control. And centralized control, if you want that, buy the digital yuan. I don’t want to see that happen here in America. I think it would be devastating for the dollar’s value as the reserve currency. This will actually perpetuate the dollar’s value as a reserve currency. It will extend that momentum. It’s going to extend demand for U.S. treasuries. There’s a lot to like about this.”
Hagerty on Moody’s U.S. credit downgrade highlighting the need to pass the budget reconciliation package: “I think it puts more pressure on us as well, over the next couple of weeks, to get this reconciliation bill done in a way that’s responsible and shows real progress against the deficit […] I’d certainly like to see [the bill passed] sooner, and so would my colleagues in the Senate […] [Treasury Secretary] Scott [Bessent’s] perspective on the market is born from his experience. I’ll just say the immediate impact is real, but I think the market’s going to digest this. The other rating agencies [have] already put us at this place, but what I want to see is the reconciliation package come through stimulation of capital investment. That capital investment will be at more jobs, more economic activity, that’s going to be good for revenue growth […] My colleagues in the Senate want to see significant cuts.”
Hagerty on the ongoing trade negotiations: “I think it’s coming much more clear. What we have is a system that’s a result of—you go back to the post World War II era, we put in place very favorable terms of trade. Countries like those in Europe, Japan, their economies were devastated. But we should have put a GDP-per-capita or a time limit on those. We didn’t. So, we wind up with these gross imbalances. For example, you build a car here in America, sell to Europe, ten percent tariff. They build one there, sell to us, two and a half percent. We’d never do that deal today. So, this sort of reciprocity is sorting itself out. We’ve had a deal struck with the UK; we’re in a good place with China.”
Hagerty on tariff impacts: “To the extent there is an increase, you’ve got the producer, you’ve got the shipper, you’ve got the middleman, the retailer, and you’ve got the consumer. All of them may bear some of that. But it’s not certain to me at all, that that’s where we’re going to head. We could head to lower tariffs around the board […] The president’s been working very hard with China to make sure we get this thing addressed as quickly as possible.”
Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren
May 19, 2025
Warren asks former Congressman Billy Long to commit to resisting Trump’s attempts to politicize agency
“I am deeply concerned about your ability to lead an agency as critical as the IRS and ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share, hardworking Americans can file their taxes and claim refunds, and the agency protects taxpayer privacy and retains its independence and non-partisan integrity.”
Text of Letter (PDF)
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, wrote to Billy Long, nominee for Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), with concerns over his record of supporting regressive tax policies, his acceptance of “campaign donations” from tax-dodging companies, his work promoting fraudulent tax credits, and more. Long will face senators, including Warren, at his hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on May 20, 2025.
Long served as a Missouri congressman from 2011 through 2023. His time in Congress ended after an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2022. He was nominated by President Trump to lead the IRS in December 2024, despite his lack of tax policy experience, and his conflicts of interest.
Senator Warren concerns include:
Long’s potential politicization of the IRS, given President Trump’s promise to use the agency against his political opponents, including, most recently, Harvard University, after the university refused to cave to the Administration’s demands to change their hiring and other practices. Senator Warren asked Long to commit to preserving the agency’s independence and non-partisan stance.
“[T]he IRS is a non-political and non-partisan institution, created to meet the needs of the American public, not the political whims of the President…If confirmed, you will be responsible for maintaining that independence…However, I have serious doubts that you will do so,” said Senator Warren.
Long’s slim tax policy experience and record of supporting regressive tax policies. Long’s record in Congress includes supporting the abolition of the IRS itself, along with the Fair Tax Act, which would overhaul the entire tax system and replace it with a regressive, 30 percent sales tax. The bill would have also slashed taxes for the rich and increased taxes for lower and middle-income taxpayers.
“As head of the IRS, you will play an integral role in writing and enforcing tax rules, directly affecting who pays their fair share…I am concerned that your lack of experience in a role directly related to administering the tax code, paired with your focus on cutting taxes for the wealthy as a U.S. Representative, make you a dangerous pick for this position,” wrote Senator Warren.
Long accepting donations from tax-dodging companies, posing major ethical concerns and calling into question his fitness for the role of IRS Commissioner. Following his nomination to lead the IRS, companies, including ones tied to an allegedly fraudulent tax credit scheme referred to the IRS for criminal investigation by Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Wyden, donated to Long’s failed 2022 Senate campaign. All of these companies donated to Long more than two years after he had lost the election, and the donations were enough to cover Long’s outstanding personal campaign debt of $130,000. In May 2025, Senator Warren demanded answers from these companies for these donations to Long.
“It is implausible to suggest that those were legitimate contributions to an ongoing campaign—one cannot run in the 2022 election more than two years later. Instead, these companies appear to be attempting to earn your indulgence and cash in on those contributions, if you are confirmed, in the form of favorable treatment and regulatory decision-making from the IRS,” said Senator Warren.
Long’s record of promoting the fraud-ridden Employee-Retention Tax Credit. After leaving Congress in 2023, Billy Long worked as a tax consultant, repeatedly pushing businesses to file for the ERTC, a refundable tax credit designed to support businesses that struggled as a result of COVID-19 pandemic. Long bragged about securing a $3 million faulty refund, and falsely claimed “everybody qualifies” for the credit. In January 2025, Senator Warren pressed Long to explain his involvement in this scheme.
“Given the widespread issues caused by ERTC mills and your role in their questionable practices, taxpayers deserve a better understanding of your work promoting these credits,” wrote Senator Warren.
Long’s promotion of fake “Tribal Tax Credits.” The Treasury Department and the IRS have confirmed that “tribal tax credits” do not exist. Long is affiliated with firms promoting selling these fake credits, which donated to Long’s failed Senate campaign.
Senator Warren asked Long to explain his role in the allegedly fraudulent tax scheme, and whether he would recuse himself from matters related to these fake tax credits.
Long’s potential continuation of cuts to the IRS’s Workforce. Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have repeatedly targeted the IRS through mass firings at the agency. The firings have disproportionately targeted people working in collections, despite the IRS collecting 96 percent of federal revenue and the agency already being understaffed.
“This presents a serious problem that, if confirmed, you will have to address. A functional IRS is the backbone of a strong federal government,” said Senator Warren.
Senator Warren asked Long to be prepared to answer her questions at his hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on May 20, 2025.
Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren
May 19, 2025
Democratic lawmakers agree with Trump goal to close loophole, press Trump to demand Congressional Republicans eliminate it in tax bill
“You were an avid supporter of closing the carried interest loophole throughout your first campaign and during the first few months of your first administration…So, Mr. President, will you get it done?”
Text of Letter (PDF)
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) led colleagues in sending a letter to President Donald Trump, challenging him to eliminate the carried interest loophole. Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) joined in signing the letter.
“During your first campaign, you claimed that the carried interest loophole was ‘ridiculous’ and ‘unfair to American workers’ and that the individuals reaping the benefits from the loophole were ‘getting away with murder.’ We agree,” wrote the lawmakers. “We write to ask that you follow through on your promise to eliminate the carried interest loophole and demand that Congressional Republicans eliminate it in any tax bill they send to your desk.”
When private equity managers oversee an investment fund, they receive a 20% share of the profits earned from the funds’ investments, called “carried interest.” This interest is not subject to the ordinary income tax rate of 37%, and is instead taxed at the 20% capital gains rate as long as the investments are held for at least three years. As a result, private equity fund managers who routinely make hundreds of millions of dollars are subject to a tax rate lower than that of an average blue-collar worker.
“Despite the extraordinary profits that private equity funds are raking in each year, the carried interest loophole allows private equity managers to avoid paying their fair share of taxes, often paying tax rates that are lower than middle-class workers,” wrote the lawmakers.
Although he was an avid supporter of closing the carried interest loophole during his first term, President Trump failed to get it done. Now, he has another opportunity.
“You have once again confirmed your desire to end the loophole, and we understand that last week you asked Speaker Johnson to close the carried interest loophole. Notably, the House Ways and Means Committee defied your wishes and chose to advance legislation that does not eliminate the carried interest loophole,” wrote the lawmakers. “So, Mr. President, will you get it done?”
The massive loophole costs the federal government tens of billions of dollars in tax revenue, and the private equity industry regularly donates significant sums to politicians sympathetic to their cause in order to make sure the loophole remains open for their profit. The industry has donated almost $600 million to political campaigns over the last decade to maintain a loophole worth upwards of $63 billion over the next 10 years.
“It is clear that the private equity industry has fought hard to retain these extraordinary tax giveaways. What is less clear is whether you will allow your party to deviate from your commitments, bow to industry demands, and fail to close the loophole for a second time,” the lawmakers wrote to President Trump.
