Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative John R Carter (R-TX-31)
Today, U.S. Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA), Mike Kelly (R-PA), John Carter (R-TX), and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) led a bipartisan delegation in introducing the Military Spouse Hiring Act, legislation to amend the tax code to incentivize businesses to hire military spouses.
Today, U.S. Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA), Mike Kelly (R-PA), John Carter (R-TX), and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) led a bipartisan delegation in introducing the Military Spouse Hiring Act, legislation to amend the tax code to incentivize businesses to hire military spouses. Beyer, Kelly, and Panetta serve on the House Committee on Ways and Means, which has jurisdiction over tax policy, with Kelly chairing the Tax Subcommittee. Carter chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies, and is co-chair of the Army Caucus.
“My mother was a military spouse, and I am keenly aware of challenges facing partners of active-duty servicemembers, who often have to relocate their families long distances,” said Rep. Beyer. “Our legislation would make important changes to the tax code to overcome hurdles to employment that disproportionately affect military spouses and show military families that ther service to the nation is valued.”
“America’s soldiers and military families who support them on the frontlines deserve our nation’s support.” said Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), Chairman of the Ways & Means Subcommittee on Tax. “Unfortunately, military spouses have a higher rate of unemployment and are often underemployed due to frequent relocations and service member deployments. Our bipartisan, bicameral legislation aims to help active-duty families get a leg up financially by encouraging local businesses to hire more military spouses in their communities. It’s a win-win for America.”
“Military spouses do so much to support our servicemembers, but too often, they struggle to find steady jobs because of the unique challenges that face military families,” said Rep. Carter. “The Military Spouse Hiring Act is a simple, commonsense way to help—giving businesses an incentive to hire these hardworking men and women. At the end of the day, supporting military spouses means supporting military families, and that’s something we should all get behind.”
“Military spouses face high unemployment rates and career instability due to the frequent relocations required by military service,” said Rep. Panetta. “The Military Spouse Hiring Act directly addresses this challenge by making military spouses eligible for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, encouraging businesses to hire them and providing these families with greater economic stability. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation is a commonsense step to support our military families and ensure that they have some stability through economic opportunity.”
A Senate companion is being introduced by Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), John Boozman (R-AR), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH).
According to a survey by Blue Star Families, military spouse employment is the top issue impacting active-duty families, and the top contributor to financial stress among military families. Military spouses consistently experience unemployment rates substantially higher than the national rate, and two thirds of employed active duty military spouses report underemployment. Frequent moves often stall military spouses’ upward career progression and force them to find new jobs. This hurts military families and military readiness.
Today’s legislation would address the issue by expanding the Work Opportunity Tax Credit program—which incentivizes employers to hire individuals who experience unique employment barriers—to include military spouses.
The Military Spouse Hiring Act is supported by: Air & Space Forces Association (AFA), Air Force Sergeants Association (AFSA), Association of Military Surgeons of the United States (AMSUS), Chief Warrant Officers Association of the US Coast Guard (CWOA), Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States (EANGUS), Fleet Reserve Association (FRA), Jewish War Veterans (JWV), Marine Corps League (MCL), Military Chaplains Association (MCA), Military Family Advisory Network (MFAN), Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH), Military Spouse Advocacy network (MSAN), National Defense Committee (NDC), National Military Family Association (NMFA), National Military Spouse Network (NMSN), Non Commissioned Officers Association (NCOA), Reserve Organization of America (ROA), Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN), The American Legion (TAL), The Retired Enlisted Association (TREA), Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), United States Army Warrant Officers Association (USA WOA), Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), Wounded Warrior Project (WWP)
“Military spouse unemployment continues to hover at a very troubling 21%, and expanding the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) would help bring that number down by incentivizing employers to hire our nation’s military spouses,” said Sue Hoppin, founder and president of the National Military Spouse Network. “Our mission is to support the efforts of spouses to secure viable careers within the military lifestyle and then help them pave the way for a successful transition post military life. This expansion would go a long way. We extend our sincere thanks and gratitude to Congressman Beyer, who has been a tireless champion of the Military Spouse Hiring Act.”
“Employing military spouses is a strategic issue with direct ties to force readiness and the retention of experienced warfighters. And in 2025, having two household incomes is a baseline requirement. This bill eases an employer’s path to hiring from this talented pool of dedicated workers to invest in both military families and the viability of the all-volunteer force,” Lt. Gen. Brian Kelly, USAF (Ret), president and CEO of the Military Officers Association of America, said. “MOAA wants to thank Sens. Kaine, Boozman, Hassan and Rounds and Reps. Beyer, Kelly, Panetta and Carter for their ongoing work to support military spouses and families.”
“Hiring a military spouse isn’t just good for a business, it’s good for America,” said Besa Pinchotti, CEO of the National Military Family Association. “Expanding the Work Opportunity tax Credit to include military spouses incentivizes businesses to employ military spouses, a highly qualified talent pool. It also supports military family financial security—ensuring our military is always ready. We’re grateful to Senators Boozman and Kaine and Representatives Kelly and Beyer for introducing this important legislation.”
The bill has a history of robust bipartisan support in both chambers. Full text of the legislation is available here, with a summary here.
BELLEVUE – Southeast Eastgate Way in Bellevue will close for six months between Richards Road and 139th Avenue Southeast starting Monday, April 21. The closure supports a fish barrier removal project on Sunset Creek.
Contractor crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation will remove culverts nearly 40 feet beneath Southeast Eastgate Way that prevent fish from swimming upstream. The culverts are being replaced by a new bridge across the waterway.
“Extended roadway closures are never our first choice,” WSDOT Project Engineer Thomas La Bolle said. “But in this case, closing Southeast Eastgate Way proved to be the quickest and most efficient way to build a new bridge in this area.”
The new bridge on Southeast Eastgate Way is the fourth and final one that will be built for the Interstate 90 Sunset Creek fish passage project. Construction in this area will continue into early 2027, although most work will occur beneath I-90 starting next year.
Closure details
All lanes on Southeast Eastgate Way will close by 5 a.m. Monday, April 21, roughly halfway between Richards Road and 139th Avenue Southeast. The six-month closure creates a work zone for trucks and heavy equipment to excavate down to Sunset Creek.
A signed detour using Richards Road, Southeast 26th Street and 139th Avenue Southeast will guide pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles around the work zone during the closure.
Local access will be permitted to the east and west of the work zone, and driveways along this corridor will remain accessible. Through-traffic will not be allowed between Richards Road and 139th Avenue Southeast.
What to expect
Utility work and site preparation began in March on Southeast Eastgate Way. Bridge construction will primarily happen weekdays from 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Some intermittent night work is possible during later stages of the project.
King County Metro will relocate bus stops along Southeast Eastgate Way during construction. Some additional vehicle traffic is also likely along the detour route during peak travel times.
Southeast Eastgate Way is scheduled to reopen in fall 2025. Atkinson Construction is the lead contractor for the project.
There’s now lots of evidence which shows that our own diets and the foods we eat can influence the outcome if we are unlucky enough to suffer from cancer.
Scientists are especially interested in how this happens, in particular the cellular and molecular mechanisms behind these associations. This would better inform nutritional recommendations and help us understand how cancer forms so we can prevent it.
Now, a study has identified a molecular link between linoleic acid, a common fat contained in cooking oils, and aggressive breast cancer, renewing the discussion about dietary choices and cancer risk. The findings, while significant, require careful interpretation to avoid unnecessary alarm and give useful guidance to the public.
Common fatty acid
Linoleic acid is an omega-6 fatty acid which is found in abundant quantities in soybean, sunflower and corn oils. Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York showed it can directly activate a growth pathway in triple-negative breast cancer cells – a type of breast cancer especially known for its aggressiveness and limited treatment options.
Triple negative breast cancer makes up about 15% of all breast cancer cases, but because breast cancer is so common, this affects a lot of people. The researchers found that linoleic acid binds to a protein called FABP5 (fatty acid-binding protein 5), which is at high levels in these cancer cells.
This binding triggers the mTORC1 pathway – a critical regulator of cell growth and metabolism – fuelling tumour progression in preclinical research, including animal studies. My current research focuses on this pathway in a variety of normal and cancer cells.
In the new study, mice fed a high linoleic-acid diet developed larger tumours, suggesting dietary intake may exacerbate this cancer’s growth. There was a link to people too: elevated FABP5 and linoleic acid levels were detected in blood samples from triple-negative breast cancer patients, strengthening the biological plausibility of this link. Dr John Blenis, the senior author of the paper, said:
This discovery helps clarify the relationship between dietary fats and cancer, and sheds light on how to define which patients might benefit the most from specific nutritional recommendations in a personalised manner.
It’s also possible that the implications extend beyond triple negative breast cancer to other tumours such as prostate cancer.
Linoleic acid is an essential fatty acid so it must be obtained from food. It plays a role in skin health, cell membrane structure and inflammation regulation. However, modern diets, which are rich in processed foods, ultraprocesed foods and seed oils, often provide excessive omega-6 fats, including linoleic acid, while lacking omega-3s, which are found in fish, flaxseeds and walnuts.
The study therefore suggests that linoleic acid may directly drive cancer growth in specific contexts. This challenges earlier observational studies that found no clear association between dietary linoleic acid and overall breast cancer risk. For example, a 2023 meta-analysis of 14 studies in over 350,000 women concluded that linoleic acid intake had no significant effect on breast cancer risk in the general population.
The discrepancy highlights the importance of researchers looking specifically at cancer subtypes and also individual factors, such as FABP5 levels in cancers themselves. Another study showed that linoleic acid was protective against breast cancer, which demonstrates why it’s important to consider everything in context.
Don’t panic
Media headlines can often oversimplify complex research. While this new study highlights a plausible mechanism linking linoleic acid to cancer growth, it does not prove that cooking oils cause breast cancer – far from it. Other factors, such as genetics, overall diet and environmental exposures, play significant roles.
The findings do not warrant blanket avoidance of seed oils but suggest moderation and selectivity, especially for high-risk individuals. Many oils such as olive oil contain less linoleic acid and higher monounsaturated or saturated fats, which are more stable at high heat.
A recent study that comprehensively analysed eating habits over 30 years showed that diets that are rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and low-fat dairy products were linked to healthy ageing. In that study, the Harvard team followed more than 100,000 people between 1986 and 2016. Fewer than 10% of respondents achieved healthy ageing, defined by a lack of 11 major chronic diseases and no impairment in cognitive, physical or mental function by the age of 70.
Organisations like the World Cancer Research Fund emphasise that moderate use of vegetable oils is safe and that obesity, not specific fats, is the primary dietary driver of cancer risk.
This study, then, underscores the importance of contextualising dietary fats in cancer research. While linoleic acid’s role in triple-negative breast cancer is a critical discovery, it’s one piece of a vast puzzle. A balanced, wholefood diet remains an important cornerstone of cancer prevention, and a strategy everyone can adopt.
Justin Stebbing 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.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Nicolas Forsans, Professor of Management and Co-director of the Centre for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, University of Essex
Daniel Noboa has been re-elected as president of Ecuador with a margin that has surprised most observers. Just weeks before the April 13 runoff, polls had him neck and neck with his left-wing rival, Luisa González. In the end, Noboa secured about 56% of the vote against González’s 44%, a difference of more than 1 million votes.
The victory gives Noboa, a 37-year-old businessman and political outsider, a full four-year mandate. Noboa won a shortened presidential term in November 2023 in a snap election called when his predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, dissolved congress in an attempt to escape impeachment.
It also marks the third consecutive presidential defeat for the movement led by former president, Rafael Correa, whose influence remains polarising in Ecuadorian politics.
González is, at the time of writing, refusing to concede, claiming “grotesque” electoral fraud. “I refuse to believe that the people prefer lies over the truth”, she has said. But she has presented no evidence to support the allegation.
International observers, including the EU and the Organisation of American States, have confirmed the elections were free and fair. In the absence of proof, the fraud claims appear to be more political theatre than a real challenge to the integrity of the vote.
Political scion to dominant incumbent
Noboa’s campaign leaned heavily on security – a theme that has come to dominate Ecuadorian public life as the country grapples with record levels of violence. Since assuming the presidency in 2023, Noboa has governed under a permanent state of emergency.
He declared an “internal armed conflict” in early 2024, deployed the military in prisons and on the streets, and launched a wide-ranging security plan called Plan Fénix. This plan includes building a new maximum-security prison in the coastal province of Santa Elena modelled on El Salvador’s much-criticised approach to curbing violence.
Initially, these measures won Noboa widespread support. But the picture soon darkened. January 2025 was Ecuador’s most violent month on record, with 781 homicides. Criminal groups remain entrenched in the country’s port cities and prisons. And human rights organisations have raised serious concerns about arbitrary arrests, the excessive use of force, and the militarisation of civilian life.
Despite these setbacks, Noboa’s message of strength and order clearly resonated with voters. Ecuadorians, exhausted by spiralling violence, appear willing to accept more authoritarian governance in exchange for safety. This is a trend seen across the region, from President Nayib Bukele’s 2024 re-election in El Salvador to rising approval for militarised policing in Brazil, Honduras and Mexico.
The challenges Noboa now faces are daunting. The most pressing is Ecuador’s descent into organised crime and narco-violence. Situated between Colombia and Peru, the country has become a major transit hub for cocaine bound for the US and Europe. Powerful international cartels have partnered with local gangs, and the state has lost control over large swaths of territory.
In response, Noboa has not only empowered the armed forces but has also sought international assistance. In 2024, he met with Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, a controversial US private military contractor. This raised concerns about the outsourcing of Ecuador’s security and its implications for human rights. He has also floated the idea of hosting foreign troops in Ecuador, a proposal that would require a constitutional amendment.
But militarised solutions alone did not bring an end to violence during Noboa’s first term, nor are they likely to succeed in his second.
Ecuador’s security crisis is not just a matter of policing – it is a crisis of state capacity. The judiciary is riddled with corruption, prisons have become centres of criminal coordination, and police officers are often outgunned and underpaid. Without reforming these institutions, Noboa’s war on crime risks becoming a war without end.
At the same time, Ecuador’s economy is faltering. In 2024, the country fell into recession, with GDP contracting and inflation rising. Ecuador is reliant on hydropower for its electricity generation, and a historic drought that year caused blackouts lasting up to 14 hours a day. This revealed years of under-investment in infrastructure.
In response, Noboa raised VAT, cut fuel subsidies, and secured a US$4 billion (roughly £3 billion) loan from the International Monetary Fund. These unpopular measures provoked grumbling but not mass protests, a fact some analysts attribute to exhaustion rather than approval.
Inequality remains high, especially for young people and those living in rural and coastal regions. Unemployment and underemployment affect nearly half of the working-age population, and around one-third of Ecuadorians live in poverty. Noboa has announced new cash transfers and youth employment programmes, but these are palliative, not structural.
To make matters worse, Noboa governs with limited support in the National Assembly. His party, Acción Democrática Nacional, holds 66 of the chamber’s 151 seats – one less than González’s Citizen Revolution.
The Indigenous Pachakutik party controls a crucial bloc of nine seats, but is itself internally divided. Passing legislation will require building coalitions and compromising. These are skills that Noboa has yet to demonstrate at scale.
Noboa’s credibility has also been challenged. His family’s banana export company, Noboa Trading, has been linked to multiple drug seizures in Europe. While there is no evidence implicating Noboa directly, the revelations raise uncomfortable questions about the president’s anti-drug narrative and potential conflicts of interest.
Towards democratic reform
Noboa’s victory gives him an opportunity, but not a blank cheque. His success will now depend on whether he can pivot from ruling by decree to governing by consensus. The public expects results: less violence, more jobs and greater political stability.
To meet these expectations, he will need to restore the rule of law, protect human rights and build inclusive institutions capable of resisting criminal capture. This means professionalising the police, strengthening the judiciary and tackling the deep inequalities that fuel violence and despair.
It also means stepping back from theatrical gestures, such as alliances with foreign mercenaries, and focusing on the slow, often frustrating work of state-building.
In the coming months, Noboa will face a simple but profound test: can he translate his electoral mandate into real, lasting progress for a country on the edge? Ecuador’s future may depend on the answer.
Nicolas Forsans 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 UK government has announced £65 million in funding for a new system called Borealis which is intended to help the UK military defend its satellites against threats. Borealis is a software system that collates and processes data to strengthen the UK military’s ability to monitor what’s going on in space.
The government’s investment, announced on March 7, underlines the increasingly critical role played by space systems in the modern world. Space services play a key role in managing critical infrastructure such as the energy grid, transport systems and communications networks.
For example, SpaceX’s Starlink system has been vitally important for communication on the battlefield during Ukraine’s war with Russia. It is just one example of the game changing potential of satellite based services.
The investment in Borealis also shows that the UK government is taking the threat to space systems increasingly seriously. From as long ago as 2019, senior US officials have warned that space is no longer considered a “benign environment”.
In 2021, a US general claimed that states were constantly conducting attacks on satellites, including jamming and cyber-attacks. Announcing the Borealis system in 2025, Major General Paul Tedman, the commander of UK Space Command, characterised space as “increasingly contested”.
As the international order is coming under increasing pressure, nations are engaging in more combative behaviour, not just in space, but in cyberspace, and under the seas.
A space system is composed of four parts – traditionally called segments. These include the space segment (satellites and other spacecraft), the ground segment (ground stations, control rooms), and the user segment (a signal receiver, for example). Communications between these parts of the system form what’s called the link segment.
In addition to intentional attacks, satellites can also experience problems because of physical collisions with orbiting debris, from cosmic radiation, and activity on the Sun, which can interfere with onboard systems. For satellites, security against attacks has often been a secondary consideration. It was hard enough to build a system which could survive in space without introducing the additional costs and challenges of securing it against attacks from adversaries.
Addressing threats to assets in space will require an all-encompassing approach, as I have argued in a recent report. First, security needs to cover all four segments of space infrastructure. The easiest way to interrupt a space system might be to target the ground or the user segment, rather than trying to interfere directly with a satellite.
Starlink has been vitally important in Ukraine during the war with Russia. LanKS / Shutterstock
Second, security needs to be considered across the life cycle of the system, from design and construction, through launch, to operations and application. Consider, for example, if the detailed specifications of a satellite have already been leaked to a malicious party. That might provide them with an in-depth understanding of how to attack the spacecraft – and in such a way that may be difficult to defend against without going back to redesign it.
This type of issue was less of a problem when satellites were developed almost entirely by government agencies and large aerospace companies. ongoing expansion of the commercial space sector, start-ups and new entrants to the sector may not have the same approach to security as more seasoned organisations.
Third, security needs to include the whole range of threats facing space infrastructure, of which a satellite is just one part. We must therefore consider the physical security of hardware, information security, cybersecurity, the personnel working on the project, and supply chain security.
Vulnerable to sabotage
The range of threats facing space systems parallels those facing other critical systems, such as underwater telecommunications cables. There have been several recent incidents of subsea cables being cut in the Baltic Sea, for example. There is also at least one reported instance of hackers burrowing deep inside core telecommunications networks.
It is becoming painfully clear that much of the infrastructure underpinning the economy and our daily lives is fundamentally insecure. Determined attackers are increasingly operating across both the physical world and cyberspace.
Retrofitting security onto space systems is technically challenging and hugely expensive. There are also tough policy questions here. Governments simply do not have the resources or the legal powers to act alone on this issue. Neither is it clear that the private sector will voluntarily commit to higher security standards and a vast programme of investment in existing infrastructure.
Another issue is the global nature of space systems: differing security regulations make it challenging to ensure a coordinated approach to infrastructure across states.
This underscores the importance of raising public awareness around the scale and scope of threats to space systems – and making clear what the impact would be on the public if this infrastructure ceased to operate. If governments are going to invest more in securing space systems, then people will need to understand why this is critical.
However, the challenge of reverse engineering security into the complex and rapidly expanding network of space systems may ultimately be beyond the resources and appetites of governments and companies.
If that is the case, then in addition to raising awareness around security risks, governments and other organisations should also consider efforts to increase the resilience of space systems to attacks. In addition to thinking about how to better secure our space infrastructure, it may be prudent to consider how we might live without it.
Jessie Hamill-Stewart 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. Dr Neil Ashdown contributed to this article. He is the head of research at Tyburn St Raphael.
For many people in the UK work is changing: how we work, what we do and where we do it. The change is faster for some than it is for others – and it’s not always changing for the better.
A new national survey — organised and managed by my colleagues and I — paints a mixed picture of UK working life. What makes the Skills and Employment Survey 2024 unique is that it the eighth in of a series that stretches back to the mid-1980s .
The survey focuses on people’s working lives: what skills they use, how and where they work, and what they think of their job. The data series consists of interviews with nearly 35,000 workers with around 5,500 taking part in 2024.
Some people have good things to say about the way their working lives have changed. Other people’s work lives are not improving. For many of us, it’s a bit of both.
Good news
One piece of good news is that very few workers regard their jobs as having no value. Contrary to estimates by some scholars that around 40% of people “find themselves labouring at tasks which they consider pointless”, our survey suggests that only 5% of respondents think that their job is meaningless and has no value.
So-called “bullshit jobs” are rare. Instead, nearly 70% reported their jobs gave them a sense of achievement either always or most of the time, while 76% said that their work was useful.
Work is becoming more skilled too. In 2024, 46% of workers reported that they would need a graduate level qualification if they were to apply for their current job today. This is up from 20% in 1986.
A further piece of good news is that the rate of over-qualification has declined. In 2024 35% of workers reported that they held qualifications that were higher than those currently required for their jobs compared to 39% in 2006.
The job quality gender gap is narrowing. The pay gap has fallen steadily, but the gap in the physical environment of work – in working time quality, and in job skills – has also narrowed. For example, the proportion of men who reported that their health or safety was at risk from their work declined from 38% in 2001 to 21% in 2024, while among women it has remained stable at 22%.
Bad news
However, all not is well in the world of work. Workplace abuse is common – 14% of UK workers experienced bullying, violence or sexual harassment at work. The risk of abuse is much higher for women, LGBTQ+ workers, nurses, teachers and those who work at night.
One of the most striking findings of our survey is the large fall in the ability of employees to take decisions about their immediate job tasks. In 2024, 34% of employees said they had “a great deal of influence” over which tasks they did, how they did them and how hard they worked. This is down from 44% in 2012 and 62% in 1992.
The mechanisms for greater worker control have grown over time, but this has not translated into greater control at an individual level.
Mixed news
Another striking, if not unsurprising, finding is the growth in the number of people woking from home. But the long-running nature of the shift may come as a surprise. The survey shows that the growth of hybrid working started back in 2006, well before the term became fashionable.
The survey also sheds light on where within the home people work. It shows that 45% can insulate themselves from others in the household by creating a home office. The rest must make do with the kitchen table, the sofa or the corner of a room.
After years of declining trade union membership, the survey shows that the tide may eventually have turned. Membership levels have plateaued, and rates of union presence in the workplace and union influence over pay increased between 2017 and 2024.
A rising proportion of trade union members also say their union has a great or fair amount of influence over how work is organised – up from 42% in 2001 to 51% in 2024.
Technological change brings opportunities as well as benefits. The survey found that digital technology played a role in nearly all jobs, with 78% of workers considering computers “essential” or “very important” in their jobs, up from 45% in 1997.
The share of AI users surged during the period of data collection, indicating its rapid adoption. But there are few signs that it is displacing workers, at least for the time being.
Regular monitoring of all the issues raised here – and many besides – is only possible if regular and robust surveys such as the Skills and Employment Survey are carried out. These are invaluable components of our knowledge infrastructure which must be treasured, protected and supported if we are to accurately assess how the world of work is changing.
Alan Felstead receives funding from a range of organisations. The Skills and Employment Survey 2024 is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the Department for Education, and the Advisory and Conciliation and Arbitration Service with additional funding from the Department for the Economy to extend the survey to Northern Ireland (ES/X007987/1)
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rich Grenyer, Associate Professor in Biogeography and Biodiversity, University of Oxford
One of the biotech company’s ‘dire wolves’.Colossal
With wildlife populations globally 73% smaller on average than in 1970 and large mammals missing from much of the world, surely there’s never been a better time to “de-extinct” species? US biotech company Colossal Biosciences Inc claimed to do just that recently by resurrecting the dire wolf from Game of Thrones (a species that also lived in our world, several thousand years ago).
The potential seems huge. A species in trouble? Get a high-quality genome and you’ve made it a save game point, ready to replay when the environment improves. Didn’t get there in time? Never mind – you can use frozen remains in the permafrost, or shotgun-blasted specimens in a museum collection. And pretty soon, even if you don’t have those, a dose of generative AI and you can probably infer some of that genome anyway. A little genetic engineering and you have a species back from the dead, ready to go.
What’s the problem? Well, pretty much everything. These aren’t species returned from extinction. They aren’t going to be very useful, and in fact may well not survive at all. Most worrying of all, like the Freys and Boltons hidden in the hall before the Red Wedding, it’s the ethos of de-extinction hidden in these “dire wolf” puppies that will likely do the most damage to biodiversity if it establishes itself.
Extinction has not been reversed
The dire wolf was a very large carnivore that lived in the Americas about 10,000 years ago. Anatomically, it resembled a big, muscular, extra-toothy grey wolf: the species alive today that everyone thinks of when they say “wolf”.
The two pups revealed by Colossal Biosciences are not dire wolves. They are grey wolves, with 14 genes modified to produce an animal that resembles what we think a dire wolf looked like. Actually, only one of the 14 was a gene directly from a dire wolf specimen – the others were gene variants from existing grey wolf populations chosen to give physical features that made the engineered wolves bigger and whiter.
Over time, gene editing technology could increase the possible number of genes that can be engineered into a host species, and increase the complexity of the traits being inserted. But it’s not species being revived, it’s a few of their characteristics being borrowed by a species from today. It’s like claiming to have brought Napoleon back from the dead by asking a short French man to wear his hat.
The argument for this kind of genetic engineering revolves around the notion that the new hybrids might be useful for environmental restoration. As a top predator, the dire wolf could in theory bring the same revolutionary changes to ecosystems that reintroducing grey wolves to Yellowstone national park in the US famously caused in the 1990s. In other words, a more complete ecosystem, with wolves checking the voracious appetite of deer such that more complex and biodiverse habitats rebound.
However, in ecosystems where the dire wolf would reign supreme the grey wolf can very clearly fill the same role (just as it did in Yellowstone) without any of the unnecessary technology – if only people stopped trying to shoot them and exempt them from endangered species legislation.
There’s also the problem that captive breeding programmes seeking to release endangered species into the wild today regularly butt against: that the new animals have little or no idea what to do or how to live in their new habitat.
Operation Migration, dramatised in the 1996 film Fly Away Home, saw a dedicated team of pilots teach endangered migratory birds how to traverse North America by having them chase microlight aircraft for thousands of miles. This is just one example of the intensive training necessary, and which is never guaranteed to be successful. It’s obviously more difficult to train apex predators by example – I will not be volunteering for the “intro to pack hunting” session.
No quick fixes
The word “de-extinction” is not just itself untrue, but it seeks to diminish the inconvenient truth of the biodiversity crisis: we know what causes extinction, and it’s us.
Food systems have to destroy less habitat and use much less protein from animals, wild and farmed. Energy systems have to burn less carbon, so that there are fewer deaths among species (including ours) trying to adapt to higher temperatures and the changes they bring. To do both these things, our landscapes have to leave more space for nature and much of what remains must be used more efficiently to provide food, fuel and living space.
There are definite signs that we can make good on these promises: conservation does work, for humans and for other species.
But these changes require us to recognise that certain economic and political philosophies are no longer tenable. They require sacrifice by everyone and a willingness by rich people and countries to pay with money, trade policy, intellectual property rights and energy supply, so that many of the poorest people and countries can flourish while avoiding the environmental damage that those rich countries caused over their own histories.
What motivates people to cope with these changes is a desire for justice, a need to nurture, a drive to make things better and a recognition that while habitats can sometimes be restored, species extinctions are irreversible dead-ends which can only be avoided. That recognition is under threat.
The Trump administration is trying to defang the US Endangered Species Act. In the UK, a wholesale revision of legislation to prevent biodiversity loss has begun with the targeting of the habitat regulations, in preemptive defence of the government’s need to “build, build, build” in a desperate search for more economic growth. How useful would it be if the risk of extinction could be averted with a simple “don’t worry, we’ll pay to de-extinct it afterwards”?
There won’t be a dire wolf, and even if there were to be one, we’d have no idea what it was for (and neither would it). We’ll all pay for the mistaken belief that extinction is a solved problem, and that the business-as-usual global economy that has caused the sixth mass extinction is no big deal, because its casualties aren’t actually dead – just temporarily inconvenienced by an extinction that is no longer forever.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Rich Grenyer 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.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 2
Press release
Government invests more than £45 million in groundbreaking technologies to boost Britain’s food security
More funding for farmers to increase profits, boost food production and protect nature
New inventions and technologies to increase profits, boost food production and help protect nature have been handed a major cash injection, the government has announced today (14 April).
From robots carrying out delicate fruit picking, to health monitors for cows and sheep, right through to variable irrigation systems to maximise water usage on crops – these grants support the development of wide-range projects and products which will help a large number of farmers.
The three special funds, worth a combined £45.6 million, will support multiple projects across the research and development (R&D) lifecycle, from early-stage concepts to on-farm trials.
They will help bring cutting-edge technologies into real-world use with a particular focus on reducing on-farm emissions and capitalising on new opportunities made possible by the Precision Breeding Act, which could supercharge food production by increase crop yields, reduce pesticides and enhance disease resistance.
These funds will help to strengthen food security, increase farmers’ profits and protect nature as part of the government’s Plan for Change.
Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner said:
This government is serious about delivering its Plan for Change.
That is why I’m delighted to see money getting out the door to British farmers. This £45m will support them with technology to boost food production, profits and the rural economy.
From 28 April, applications will open for the new Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies (ADOPT) competition, which will commit up to £20.6 million of funding in 25/26. This grant will support farmers looking to test new technologies on their own farms and bridge the gap between innovation and real-world application.
Farmers can access tailored advice and apply for a £2,500 support grant at the ADOPT Support Hub to help them through the application and trial process.
From 5 May, two further competitions will open under the Farming Innovation Programme (FIP):
The first £12.5 million to support collaborative research into ways to reduce on-farm emissions, helping farms to become more sustainable and climate-resilient.
The second £12.5 million competition will fund R&D using precision-bred crops to improve yield, reduce chemical inputs and enhance disease resistance. This builds on the new opportunities enabled by the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023.
FIP, Defra’s flagship innovation programme, is delivered by Innovate UK, as part of UKRI, and forms part of the government’s wider commitment to food production and security, farm productivity and nature.
WASHINGTON — A Honduran man was extradited to the United States April 11 for his alleged involvement in a drug smuggling conspiracy, following extensive coordination and cooperation between U.S. and Honduran law enforcement authorities.
Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson for the Eastern District of Louisiana and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations New Orleans Special Agent in Charge Eric DeLaune made the announcement.
Olvin Javier Velasquez Maldonado, 39, allegedly conspired to transport approximately 24 kilograms of cocaine from Honduras to the U.S. on a vessel attempting to illegally bring 23 Honduran nationals into the country. This operation was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard in February 2022, about 75 miles off the coast of Louisiana after the vessel, M/V Pop, developed engine trouble.
According to court documents, Velasquez Maldonado was tasked with ensuring the cocaine was safely transported on the M/V Pop, which set sail from Utila, Honduras, to Cocodrie, Louisiana. When he was apprehended, Velasquez Maldonado allegedly pretended to be an undocumented immigrant aiming to stay in the U.S. to avoid prosecution.
Velasquez Maldonado is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. He made his initial court appearance in the Eastern District of Louisiana.
If convicted, Velasquez Maldonado faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
His co-defendants, Carl Allison, 47, Darrel Martinez, 41, and Josue Flores-Villeda, 37, previously pleaded guilty to associated charges in 2023. Lenord Cooper, 40, admitted to aiding in the unlawful entry of aliens into the U.S. and attempting to do so for financial gain. Hennessy Devon Cooper Zelaya, 29, and Rudy Jackson Hernandez, 38, were also convicted after trial of aiding in the unlawful entry of aliens into the U.S. and attempting to do so for financial gain.
An indictment is merely an allegation. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The investigation and extradition of Velasquez Maldonado was coordinated under Joint Task Force Alpha and the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force program. JTFA, a partnership with the Department of Homeland Security, has been elevated and expanded by the attorney general with a mandate to target cartels and transnational criminal organizations to eliminate human smuggling and trafficking networks operating in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, and Colombia that impact public safety and the security of our borders. To date, JTFA’s work has resulted in more than 355 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of alien smuggling; more than 315 U.S. convictions; more than 260 significant jail sentences imposed; and forfeitures of substantial assets.
The ECT program is a partnership between the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and ICE HSI and focuses on human smuggling networks that may present national security, public safety risks or grave humanitarian concerns. ECT has dedicated investigative, intelligence, and prosecutorial resources. ECT also coordinates and receives assistance from other U.S. government agencies and foreign law enforcement authorities.
ICE HSI Houma, Louisiana investigated the case, with assistance from ICE HSI Pittsburgh, ICE HSI Atlanta and the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation. The ICE HSI Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, D.C., U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s National Targeting Center International Interdiction Task Force, U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations, Louisiana State Police, Pennsylvania State Police, North Huntington Township Police and Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office also provided valuable assistance, in addition to the substantial assistance provided by the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the Criminal Division’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training in Honduras.
Deputy Chief Rami Badawy of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Carter Guice of the General Crimes Unit for the Eastern District of Louisiana are prosecuting the case.
1 / 5Show Caption +Hide Caption –Best Squad: 173rd Brigade Support Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade (Photo Credit: Illustration by Brenadine C. Humphrey) VIEW ORIGINAL2 / 5Show Caption +Hide Caption –Best Soldier: Pvt. 1st Class Maxwell Eskew, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade (Photo Credit: Illustration by Brenadine C. Humphrey) VIEW ORIGINAL3 / 5Show Caption +Hide Caption –Best NCO: Staff Sgt. Alesando Sinicropi, 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade (Photo Credit: Illustration by Brenadine C. Humphrey) VIEW ORIGINAL4 / 5Show Caption +Hide Caption –The 2025 Best Pen: Pvt. 1st Class Zion Smith, 4th Battalion, 319th Field Artillery Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade (Photo Credit: Illustration by Brenadine C. Humphrey) VIEW ORIGINAL5 / 5Show Caption +Hide Caption –Top Shot: Sgt. Brad Simon, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade (Photo Credit: Illustration by Brenadine C. Humphrey) VIEW ORIGINAL
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U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF)
VICENZA, Italy – Paratroopers assigned to the 173rd Brigade Support Battalion (173rd BSB), 173rd Airborne Brigade were announced as the winners of the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) Best Squad Competition at Caserma Del Din, Vicenza, Italy on April 11, 2025.
“It feels great to win. We put our hearts and souls into this competition,” said Sgt. Travis Dionne, a combat medic assigned to the 173rd BSB. “The competition really validates your skills, and it proves that you are able to accomplish your goals and become the greatest version of yourself.”
1 / 3Show Caption +Hide Caption –From left to right, U.S. Army Sgt. Travis Dionne, Sgt. Dominic Savio, Spc. Juan Rodriguez, Spc. Michael Andress, and Spc. Gavin Hale, assigned to 173rd Brigade Support Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade, pose for a photo after winning the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) Best Squad Competition (BSC) at Caserma Del Din, Italy, April 11, 2025. The three-day SETAF-AF BSC assesses each squad on their technical and tactical proficiency, as well as their ability to work as a disciplined and cohesive team. The top squads will represent SETAF-AF in the U.S. Army Europe and Africa BSC. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Jamaries Casado)
The 2025 SETAF-AF Best Squad Competition Awardees:
Best Squad: Brigade Support Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade
Best Soldier: Pvt. 1st Class Maxwell Eskew, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade (Photo Credit: Pfc. Jamaries Casado)
VIEW ORIGINAL
2 / 3Show Caption +Hide Caption –U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to 173rd Brigade Support Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade, pose for a photo after winning the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) Best Squad Competition (BSC) at Caserma Del Din, Italy, April 11, 2025. The three-day SETAF-AF BSC assesses each squad on their technical and tactical proficiency, as well as their ability to work as a disciplined and cohesive team. The top squads will represent SETAF-AF in the U.S. Army Europe and Africa BSC. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Jamaries Casado)
The 2025 SETAF-AF Best Squad Competition Awardees:
Best Squad: 173rd Brigade Support Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade
Best Soldier: Pvt. 1st Class Maxwell Eskew, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade (Photo Credit: Pfc. Jamaries Casado)
VIEW ORIGINAL
3 / 3Show Caption +Hide Caption –U.S. Army Sgt. Brad Simon, assigned to 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, receives an award from Col. Chad Froelic, U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), chief of staff, at the SETAF-AF Best Squad Competition (BSC) closing ceremony at Caserma Del Din, Italy, April 11, 2025. The three-day SETAF-AF BSC assesses each squad on their technical and tactical proficiency, as well as their ability to work as a disciplined and cohesive team. The top squads will represent SETAF-AF in the U.S. Army Europe and Africa BSC. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Jamaries Casado)
The 2025 SETAF-AF Best Squad Competition Awardees:
Best Squad: 173rd Brigade Support Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade
Best Soldier: Pvt. 1st Class Maxwell Eskew, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade (Photo Credit: Pfc. Jamaries Casado)
VIEW ORIGINAL
Dionne emphasized the importance of competition in the military—it makes the individual Soldier and the squad better. Preparing for competitions like Best Squad reinforce unit and team cohesion, while also developing the individual skills of each competitor.
Each team is composed of five Soldiers: the squad leader, a sergeant first class or staff sergeant; a team leader, a sergeant or corporal; and three squad members in the ranks of specialist or below. The three-day long competition tested their physical strength, mental fortitude, technical proficiency and ability to work as a team.
1 / 2Show Caption +Hide Caption –U.S. Army Spc. Nathan Newton, assigned to 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment (Airborne), simulates movement under fire in the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) Best Squad Competition (BSC) at Caserma Del Din, Italy, April 9, 2025. The three-day SETAF-AF BSC assesses each squad on their technical and tactical proficiency, as well as their ability to work as a disciplined and cohesive team. The top squads will represent SETAF-AF in the U.S. Army Europe and Africa BSC. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Jamaries Casado) (Photo Credit: Pfc. Jamaries Casado) VIEW ORIGINAL2 / 2Show Caption +Hide Caption –U.S. Army Pfc. Marquese Higgins, 4th Battalion, 319th Field Artillery Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, climbs over an obstacle during the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) Best Squad Competition (BSC) at Caserma Del Din, Italy, April 8, 2025. The three-day SETAF-AF BSC assesses each squad on their technical and tactical proficiency, as well as their ability to work as a disciplined and cohesive team. The top squads will represent SETAF-AF in the U.S. Army Europe and Africa BSC. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Christopher Sanchez) (Photo Credit: Sgt. Christopher Sanchez) VIEW ORIGINAL
“I think I can say for the entire team, it shows our dedication to each other,” said Specialist Gavin Hale, 173rd Brigade Support Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. “This competition shows the best of a unit and to bring out the best cohesion in a team. I am really confident that my team will win in Germany for the U.S. Army Europe and Africa competition.”
The first day of this year’s Best Squad Competition was a physical and mental gut-check consisting of an Army Combat Fitness Test, then an obstacle course event, followed by a stress-shoot and a written essay.
U.S. Army Sgt. Cristhian Gonzalez, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, fires an M4A1 carbine during the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) Best Squad Competition (BSC) at Caserma Del Din, Italy, on April 8, 2025. The three-day SETAF-AF BSC assesses each squad on their technical and tactical proficiency, as well as their ability to work as a disciplined and cohesive team. The top squads will represent SETAF-AF in the U.S. Army Europe and Africa BSC. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Christopher Sanchez) (Photo Credit: Sgt. Christopher Sanchez) VIEW ORIGINAL
Day two tested their knowledge and proficiency of warrior tasks and skills. Each team was graded on their ability to execute patrolling tasks, such as buddy-team bounding, squad movements testing their ability to move, shoot and communicate cohesively. The squads were also tested on their application of tactical combat casuatly care. Each team had to assess a casualty, provide aid and conduct medical evacuation on a simulated casualty.
Day three ended the competition with a 12-mile ruck march, weapons familiarity test and a formal board. The compressed timeline of these events tests each Soldiers’ ability to push through exhaustion and still excel at encompassing the Full-Soldier Concept, having the ability to stay professional and also be ready to execute warrior tasks and drills.
U.S. Soldiers assigned to Brigade Support Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade, conduct the 12-mile ruck march during the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) Best Squad Competition (BSC) at Caserma Del Din, Italy, on April 10, 2025. The three-day SETAF-AF BSC assesses each squad on their technical and tactical proficiency, as well as their ability to work as a disciplined and cohesive team. The top squads will represent SETAF-AF in the U.S. Army Europe and Africa BSC. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Kylejian Francia) (Photo Credit: Sgt. Kylejian Francia)VIEW ORIGINAL
The winners of this year’s SETAF-AF Best Squad Competition will represent the command in the U.S. Army Europe and Africa Command’s competition to take place August 20-28 in Hohenfels, Germany.
Additionally, this year’s Best Squad awarded four individual awards. Best Pen goes to the best essay written, Top Shot for the most accurate marksmanship during the stress shoot, Best Noncommissioned Officer, awarded for the most individual points for a Noncommisioned officer and Best Soldier, awarded for the highest individual points for any Soldier in the competition.
The 2025 SETAF-AF Best Squad Competition Awardees:
Best Squad: 173rd Brigade Support Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade
On Thursday night, April 17, as part of improvements to Route 146 in North Smithfield, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) will shift traffic to provide one lane southbound on the new flyover bridge at the Sayles Hill Road intersection. This work was postponed from April 11 because of inclement weather.
The other southbound travel lane will remain at ground level. The traffic signal will be adjusted to ensure that the intersection functions at maximum efficiency. This change will be in place until the end of the year.
The Route 146 Improvement Project will replace multiple bridges, repave 8 miles of road and eliminate congestion at the intersection of Sayles Hill Road and Route 146. Approximately 171,000 vehicles use Route 146 daily.
AGOURA HILLS, CALIFORNIA, April 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — MultiCorp International, Inc. (OTC Markets PINK: MCIC) Multicorp International, Inc. is pleased to announce the execution of a Quadripartite Agreement on March 26, 2025 and the currently pending $2,000,000,000 credit transfer from a top 10 European Bank to Neoforma Inc.’s domestic bank to access immediate liquidity.
Multicorp International, Inc.’s alliance with 40 Brightwater LLC’s Global Financial Consortium inclusive of Neoforma Inc. and now Airavata Developers Corporation has expanded immediate access to greater liquidity, which will be added to the previously announced financings from Edwards Capital N.A. correspondent bank.
In turn, Neoforma Inc. will provide a line of credit to MultiCorp International, Inc. in an amount of up to $1,800,000,000 (one billion eight hundred million USD), to be utilized to execute all transactions previously announced with Global X Cryptocurrency Stablecoin Tokens (GBP-pegged), Bitcoin, and gold-backed Cryptocurrency Tokens, as well as to perfect the newly-targeted acquisition of a mineral property in Michigan and to cover all required corporate expenditures.
MultiCorp International, Inc., a diversified leader in health, energy, and agriculture, announces a series of strategic initiatives aimed at accelerating its growth and expanding its market presence. The company is actively pursuing joint ventures and acquisitions, is fortifying its organizational infrastructure, and is preparing for significant advancements in the stock market.
Neoforma Inc. is a Minnesota based privately held corporation and a global leader in Software & Technology. The company has now diversified into International finance including private equity and has operations globally, including India, the UAE, the UK, Mexico and the United States and serves clients globally. Its client base includes numerous global corporations as well as government entities.
Airavata Developers Corporation is a prominent international construction firm that has carved a niche for itself in the design and construction of commercial and industrial infrastructure. With a commitment to excellence, we specialize in a wide array of services that encompass every phase of the construction process, including comprehensive pre-construction planning, meticulous project management, and effective general contracting. Each of these services is tailored to meet the specific needs and demands of our diverse clientele, ensuring that we not only meet but exceed their expectations.
At the helm of our organization are the highly respected Principal Partners, Alan Khara, who serves as the Chief Executive Director and Chairman, and David D. Brannon, the Executive Financial Director. Together, they bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the company. Their unwavering dedication extends beyond just business; they are passionately committed to fostering community excellence. This commitment is demonstrated through substantial efforts in promoting global economic development while simultaneously focusing on job creation within the communities we operate. Their leadership style emphasizes ethical practices, innovative thinking, and a deep responsibility toward societal well-being.
Airavata Developers Corporation has set forth an ambitious goal: to emerge as the global leader within this ever-evolving and dynamic construction industry. To achieve this vision, we place a strong emphasis on delivering exceptional service that stands out in a competitive marketplace. This is complemented by our proactive approach in integrating cutting-edge technology and state-of-the-art materials into our projects. By continually investing in the latest advancements in construction techniques and environmental sustainability, we ensure that our infrastructure not only meets current industry standards but also anticipates future demands.
Our commitment to quality, sustainability, and innovation drives every project we undertake, ensuring that we consistently remain at the forefront of industry trends and client expectations.
David Brannon Chief Financial Director/ Partner
About 40 Brightwater LLC:
40 Brightwater LLC is a private holding company focusing specifically on acquiring private entities and merging its holdings with public companies by leveraging its financial network and resources through its Managing Member, President & CEO Shannon Newby.
Disclaimer: This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicit an offer to buy, nor will there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction where such an offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful before registration or qualification under applicable securities laws. Any offer will be made only through a prospectus supplement and accompanying base prospectus as part of an effective registration statement.
This press release is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice or a solicitation to purchase securities. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. These statements are based on current expectations and could differ materially from actual events
As the war in Sudan between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) enters its third year, millions of people remain unseen, bombed, besieged, displaced, and deprived of food, medical care, and basic lifesaving services. Sixty percent of the country’s 50 million people need humanitarian assistance, according to the UN, amid simultaneous health crises and limited access to public health care.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reiterates our call on the warring parties and their allies to ensure that civilians, humanitarian personnel, and medical teams are protected and that all restrictions impeding the movement of humanitarian supplies and staff are lifted, especially as the rainy season fast approaches.
“The warring parties are not only failing to protect civilians—they are actively compounding their suffering,” said Claire San Filippo, MSF emergency coordinator. “Wherever you look in Sudan, you will find needs—overwhelming, urgent, and unmet. Millions are receiving almost no humanitarian assistance, medical facilities and staff remain under attack, and the global humanitarian system is failing to deliver even a fraction of what’s required.”
Wherever you look in Sudan, you will find needs—overwhelming, urgent, and unmet.
Claire San Filippo, MSF emergency coordinator
As front lines have shifted over the course of the war, especially in Khartoum and Darfur, civilians have feared retaliatory attacks from both warring parties. For the past two years, both RSF and SAF have repeatedly and indiscriminately bombed densely populated areas. The RSF and allied militias have unleashed a campaign of brutality, including systematic sexual violence, abductions, mass killings, looting of aid, erasure of civilian neighborhoods, and occupation of medical facilities. Both sides have laid siege to towns, destroyed vital infrastructure, and blocked humanitarian aid.
RSF and allied armed groups launched a large-scale ground offensive on April 11, attacking Zamzam camp and leaving its residents starved, shelled, and deprived of lifesaving assistance. Marion Ramstein, MSF emergency field coordinator in North Darfur, described the situation:
“There are reports of people fleeing and many casualties, although we can’t verify how many at the moment.
“Back in February, we were forced to suspend all MSF activities in the camp because of escalating security issues. Repeated shelling, shooting at our ambulances, and a tightened siege that prevented us from resupplying facilities and sending staff made it impossible for MSF to continue working in Zamzam despite the immense needs.
“The communication network with Zamzam has been shut down. We don’t have news of many of the people who worked with us and decided to remain with their relatives in the camp after the suspension of our field hospital. We’re horrified by what they have to endure, and extremely worried about them and the hundreds of thousands of people already on the brink of survival in the area. We were appalled to learn that nine staff from Relief International were killed. It was the only international humanitarian organization still operating in Zamzam.
We were appalled to learn that nine staff from Relief International were killed. It was the only international humanitarian organization still operating in Zamzam.
Marion Ramstein, MSF emergency field coordinator
“On April 12 and 13, our team in Tawila saw more than 10,000 people fleeing from Zamzam and nearby areas. They arrived in an advanced state of dehydration, exhaustion, and stress. They have nothing but the clothes they’re wearing, nothing to eat, nothing to drink. They sleep on the ground under the trees. Several people told us about family members left behind—lost during the escape, injured, or killed.”
MSF set up a health post at the entrance of Tawila city to receive the new arrivals and provide water and medical care. Our teams quickly distributed what we had on hand, such as blankets, mosquito nets, and buckets; and we are referring the most critical cases to the local hospital MSF has been supporting since last October. MSF teams are also screening newly arrived children for malnutrition so they can immediately receive therapeutic food and be enrolled in our nutritional program for adequate care.
Widespread starvation is taking hold in areas across Sudan, according to the UN: Sudan is currently the only place in the world where famine has been officially declared in multiple locations. Famine was first declared in Zamzam camp for internally displaced people in August 2024, and has since spread to 10 more areas. Seventeen additional regions are now on the brink. Without immediate intervention, hundreds of thousands of lives are at risk.
In March, MSF supported multi-antigen catch up vaccination campaigns for children under 2 years old in South Darfur. The over 17,000 children who received vaccinations in 11 of the 14 localities were also screened for malnutrition, with 7 percent of those screened found to be suffering from severe acute malnutrition and with 30 percent with global acute malnutrition. In December 2024, during a therapeutic food distribution in Tawila locality, North Darfur, MSF teams screened over 9,500 children under 5 years old. They found a staggering 35.5 percent global acute malnutrition rate, with 7 percent of the children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
Sudan is facing multiple, overlapping health emergencies at the same time. MSF teams have treated over 12,000 patients—including women and children—for trauma injuries directly resulting from violent attacks. During the first week of February 2025, MSF teams in three areas of Sudan—Khartoum, North Darfur, and South Darfur states—treated mass influxes of war-wounded patients. Sudan is also experiencing one of the worst maternal and child health crises we are seeing anywhere in the world. In October 2024, in two MSF-supported facilities in Nyala, capital of South Darfur, 26 percent of pregnant and breastfeeding women seeking care were acutely malnourished.
“Outbreaks of measles, cholera, and diphtheria are spreading, driven by poor living conditions and disrupted vaccination campaigns,” said Marta Cazorla, MSF emergency coordinator. “Mental health support and care for survivors of sexual violence remain painfully limited. These compounding crises reflect not just the brutality of the conflict, but the dire consequences of the crumbling public health care system and a failing humanitarian response.”
Since April 2023, more than 1.7 million people have sought medical consultations at hospitals, health facilities and mobile clinics MSF supports or is working in, and more than 32,000 people were admitted to our emergency wards.
About 13 million people have been displaced by the conflict, according to the UN—many of them displaced multiple times. Of these, 8.9 million remain displaced inside Sudan, while 3.9 million have crossed into neighboring countries. Many live in overcrowded camps or makeshift shelters, without access to food, water, health care, or a sense of the future. People depend entirely on humanitarian organizations—but organizations are not responding everywhere.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 70 percent of health facilities in conflict-affected areas are barely operational or completely closed, leaving millions without access to critical care amid one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent history. Since the war began, MSF has recorded over 80 violent incidents targeting our staff, infrastructure, vehicles, and supplies. Clinics have been looted and destroyed, medicines stolen, and health care workers assaulted, threatened, or killed.
“Buildings were destroyed, even beds were looted, and medicines ,” said Muhammad Yusuf Ishaq Abdullah, MSF health promotion officer in Tawila, North Darfur, about the state of Tawila’s hospital after being attacked and looted in June 2023. “From afar, it looked like a hospital, but when you entered it, it was a shelter for snakes and grass.”
These attacks must stop. Medical personnel and facilities are not targets.
The fast-approaching rainy season threatens to make an already catastrophic situation even worse—severing supply routes, flooding entire regions, and cutting off communities just as the hunger gap peaks and malnutrition and malaria spike.
MSF calls for immediate preparedness measures ahead of the rainy season. More border crossings must be opened, and key roads and bridges must be repaired and kept accessible, especially in Darfur, where seasonal flooding isolates communities year after year.
In addition, humanitarian restrictions must be lifted, and unhindered access must be guaranteed. MSF urges all actors—including donors, governments, and UN agencies—to enable and prioritize aid delivery, ensuring that assistance not only reaches the country but is transported swiftly and safely to the hardest-hit and most remote communities. Without a serious commitment to overcoming the political, financial, logistical, and security barriers that hinder last-mile delivery, countless lives will remain beyond the reach of help.
The people of Sudan have endured this horror for too long. They cannot and should not wait any longer to access essential needs.
“We heard you, Albertans.” With those words, Alberta Energy Minister Brian Jean put coal mining in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains back on the table last December. Common sense might suggest Jean meant that Albertans are in favour of resuscitating metallurgical coal mining there, but that’s not the case.
Instead, the public strongly opposes reviving metallurgical coal mining — also known as coking coal mining — to supply Asian steelmakers. December’s Coal Industry Modernization Initiative sadly exemplifies what has become too common in politics today — using misinformation to try to win the public’s willingness to accept the unacceptable.
In this case, the government’s treatment of expert opinion compounds its misinformation. It’s blind to expert advice from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Australian government questioning the rosiness of metallurgical coal’s future.
Bringing coal miners back to Alberta’s Rockies was extremely contentious between 2020 and 2022. Jason Kenney’s Conservatives removed the de facto exploration and exploitation restrictions in place there since the 1970s. At the same time, Benga Mining Limited proposed to resume coal mining in southwest Alberta. Together, these events ignited a public furore.
Public opposition
Andrew Nikiforuk, a journalist whose books and articles focus on epidemics and the energy industry, was one of the first to bring coal miner ambitions to the public’s attention. He told me the outrage was “probably the most important environmental protest I have ever witnessed in this province.”
Benga’s Grassy Mountain project was summarily dismissed by government regulators in 2021. Eleven weeks before that decision, Alberta created the Coal Policy Committee. It consulted Albertans about the 2020 decision to invite coal miners to return to the Rockies.
The committee gave anyone with a view on coal — positive or negative — the opportunity to contribute to its deliberations. The response was impressive. The committee received nearly 4,400 pieces of correspondence, 176 detailed written submissions and conducted 67 virtual and public meetings.
The consultation confirmed what polling firms had already found: “A significant number of respondents are apprehensive about coal development in Alberta.”
Albertans didn’t believe coal’s economic benefits justified its risks to landscapes and water quality. Only eight per cent of those who answered the committee’s survey question about the economic benefits of coal mining felt they were very important; 64 per cent regarded those benefits as “not important at all.”
This unambiguous public opposition repeated what the federal-provincial review panel into Benga’s Grassy Mountain coal mine proposal revealed in 2020-2021. Ninety-eight per cent of the more than 4,400 public comments left on the review panel’s website opposed the proposal to bring coal mining back to the Crowsnest Pass.
Second, the committee concluded that land-use planning, with public consultation, needed to take place before a decision could be made about permitting coal exploration in the Rockies.
Premier Danielle Smith’s government hasn’t listened. It doesn’t intend to conduct the land-use planning called for by the committee.
Jean has also said he will consult industry — and only industry — as he tries to get his new policy in place this year. He promised “targeted” engagement with coal industry stakeholders. The public and other interests will be mere spectators.
Global coal demand is a myth
Alberta’s coal initiative has an optimistic view of future metallurgical coal demand.
Jean markets his proposal by saying Alberta coal is needed “given the current and anticipated future global demand for coal.” But the IAE doesn’t share that optimism. Nor do experts from the Australian government, the world’s largest exporter of metallurgical coal.
The IEA’s annual coal report is a benchmark for understanding the medium-term global outlook for coal. Its most recent report projects metallurgical coal production will fall by 4.2 per cent from 2024 to 2027. The IEA’s 2024 World Energy Outlook predicted steelmaking coal production would fall over the next two decades as steelmakers reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2050, it expects world coking coal production to drop 35.8 per cent from the 2024 level.
Australia’s pre-eminence comes from producing 46 per cent of global metallurgical coal exports. The Australian government’s March 2025 Resources and Energy Quarterly confirms the general thrust of the IEA’s analyses. A slight increase in the amount of steel produced without metallurgical coal “will likely result in a slight fall in global metallurgical coal demand through to 2030.”
The IEA makes it clear that Australian producers don’t intend to relinquish market share willingly. Forty-seven Australian coal projects are in the pipeline, with most focused on metallurgical coal or metallurgical/thermal coal combined. Three-quarters of Australia’s metallurgical coal exports feed the Asian steel industry.
Then there’s Mongolia. After its “recent extraordinary export growth” into China, Mongolia now supplies nearly one-half of China’s imports. The country is the world’s second largest metallurgical coal exporter. Mongolia’s high-quality coal, proximity to China and improved rail infrastructure will make its production difficult to displace.
It’s unlikely, then, that new coal production from Alberta will gain easy access to Asian markets.
Alberta’s Coal Industry Modernization Initiative illustrates two dangerous trends in politics today — the refusal to heed both the public and experts.
The stakes here are large. Coal mining will undoubtedly have a substantial impact on the headwaters that serve people in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Smith’s Conservatives should in fact embrace common sense and the spirit of party policy from the 1970s. Prohibit coal mining in Alberta’s Rockies.
Ian Urquhart 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.
Madame Chair, President of the General Assembly, Excellencies, Distinguished delegates, Dear young people,
I greet you in peace, always of concern for African people all over the world and the noble pursuit of the United Nations.
It is an honor for me to join you at this esteemed Forum. Since its establishment four years ago, UNFPA has been present at every session, a testament to our unflinching support for the crucial mandate of this Forum.
As a people, we have come to learn through history – our shared African history – that progress comes when we rise and demand long overdue justice. Referencing the great Frederick Douglass:
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation, want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning, they want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.”
And so the struggle for full freedom carries on, in this generation spearheaded by the African Union, including its sixth region, its proud diaspora.
For UNFPA, that means carrying on with our important work to uphold the dignity and rights of women and girls of African descent, who continually face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and oppression, yet still contributing massively to shaping economies, cultures and scientific developments, including robotics, artificial intelligence, mathematics, populations studies, and so much more.
UNFPA is assisting countries to disaggregate population data by race and ethnicity to help us lift the cloak of invisibility off groups too often left behind. Why? Because you cannot change what you cannot see.
With UNFPA’s support, 22 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean now include race and ethnic self-identification in their censuses, which is essential in devising policies to end inequality and discrimination.
UNFPA addresses disparities in reproductive health, because as we know all too well, it is Black women and adolescent girls who are at a much higher risk of maternal mortality and the consequences of adolescent pregnancy. This must change and it should not take five, ten or twenty years for that change to manifest.
In partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and with the generous support of Luxembourg, UNFPA recently launched the Global Maternal Health Coalition for People of African Descent. The first technical workshop of this Coalition is due to take place later this year.
We are also pleased to partner on targeted interventions for the implementation of Recommendation Number 5 of the Committee of Experts for the Belém do Pará Convention. It calls on countries to end gender-based violence against women of African descent.
Gender-based violence is an ugly, troubling epidemic now exacerbated by online toxicity directed at women and girls of African descent. This Forum has a role to play in insisting that racism and sexism have no place in public dialogue, including in the digital space.
Let us take heart from last year’s first-ever commemoration of the International Day for Women and Girls of African Descent on July 25th, led by the Governments of Brazil and Colombia. This is another important step towards uplifting people of African descent and advancing gender equality.
The beauty of Black women is undeniable and it is our business to instill in every young girl an appreciation of her inner beauty and her inherent strength.
Excellencies, dear partners,
Stony the road we trod Bitter the chastening rod Felt in the days when hope unborn had died Yet with a steady beat Have not our weary feet Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
Yes we have arrived to this place, yet am I wrong to say that the road ahead is uncertain? We cannot wait to act to protect the hard-won gains that began from the moment of abduction from Africa, through the Middle Passage, up until today.
Already, there is heightened pushback on progress that intended to level the playing field and improve the everyday lives of Black people in areas such as education, health and employment.
Already, we have seen attacks on innocent migrants whose only desire was to make a better life for themselves and their children.
Meanwhile, on the African continent conflict and war are having repercussions far and wide.
Now is the time to recommit to our quest for peace and equality. Now is the time for recognition. Now is the time to raise the demand for justice for all people of African descent.
Excellencies, dear partners,
“I am my mother’s daughter, and the drums of Africa still beat in my heart.”
These are words of educator and activist Mary McLeod Bethune.
That drum invites us to dialogue.
I am delighted to invite all of you to an extraordinary moment that will take place outside this afternoon at 1:15pm at the Ark of Return memorial dedicated to the victims of enslavement, which is marking 10 years since it was unveiled. It is there that you will be able to hear the sounds and rhythms of drums – drums that will connect us and guide our common heartbeats as we work together towards building a peaceful, equal, healthy and just world for people of African descent, and for all.
(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont and Comptroller Sean Scanlon today announced that effective May 1, 2025, the State of Connecticut is expanding the benefits it provides to firefighters to include free, enhanced cancer screenings.
This new benefit comes in response to evidence that firefighters, due to their repeated exposure to smoke, toxic chemicals, and carcinogens in the line of duty, have a greater prevalence of cancer diagnoses and cancer-related deaths than the general population.
More than 900 firefighters enrolled in the state employee health plan and Partnership Plan, both of which Comptroller Scanlon oversees, will now have free access to a comprehensive, full-body scan once every two years. The screenings are designed to detect cancers early – often before symptoms appear – when treatment is more effective, and outcomes are significantly better.
While expected to cost the state about $150,000 annually, the costs associated with later-stage cancers are far greater – not to mention the hardship placed on firefighters, their families, and their departments.
“Firefighters have high-risk jobs and in the course of their duties are exposed to toxins that can wreak havoc on their health and put them at risk for cancer,” Governor Lamont said. “Expanding the state health plan to provide all firefighters with regular cancer screenings is essential because early detection is key to successful treatment outcomes. I appreciate Comptroller Scanlon for working with our administration to enact this change to the state health plan and provide this benefit for Connecticut’s firefighters.”
“When they’re putting their lives on the line every day, the last thing our firefighters should have to worry about is navigating their healthcare,” Comptroller Scanlon said. “That’s why I’m proud that the state health plan I run will now provide our members with the best preventative care and early screenings. Through better early detection, we can keep the men and women who serve our communities healthy and their minds at ease. I’ve been honored to work with the Uniformed Professional Fire Fighters Association of Connecticut and Governor Lamont to bring this initiative to fruition.”
“Firefighters are an essential part of keeping all Connecticut residents safe,” Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) Commissioner Ronnell A. Higgins said. “At DESPP, where we are training and recruiting the firefighters of the future, we stand behind the continuing efforts by Governor Lamont and Comptroller Scanlon to keep the men and women of the fire service healthy.”
“Unfortunately, there is growing prevalence of cancer in firefighters, but early detection saves lives, and it saves our families – by blood and by profession – immense grief and hardship,” Peter Brown, president of the Uniformed Professional Fire Fighters Association of Connecticut, said. “This new healthcare offering is a critical step forward in securing firefighter health and wellbeing. UPFFA is grateful for our continued partnership with Comptroller Scanlon and Governor Lamont.”
Any firefighter enrolled on the state employee health plan or Partnership Plan who is seeking more information can visitcarecompass.ct.govto connect with a representative, schedule an appointment, and find providers in their area.
Headline: How human-AI agent teams will reshape your workforce
AI agents are already becoming powerful partners in knowledge work. Now, as more companies adopt them, they’re poised to reshape work dynamics. In this new reality, leaders will for the first time be able to add intelligence—once a scarce and costly resource—to their organization without increasing headcount. Soon, all businesses will operate with collaborative teams of humans and agents.
This evolution will require every leader to redefine how they think about their teams. Agents will be a true force multiplier—everyone from interns to the C-suite will become an “agent boss” who oversees their own constellation of agents that power business processes. One new imperative will be to find the optimal ratio of humans to agents for whatever task or project your teams are working on.
The upshot: where you once defaulted to relying on human intelligence you can strategically consider whether an agent should handle the task—unlocking scale like never before.
AI-enhanced teams outperform traditional ones
In March, a remarkable field study by Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School showed how AI can boost performance for individuals and teams. Chronicled in a paper titled “The Cybernetic Teammate,” the experiment involved nearly 800 employees at P&G, the global consumer goods company. The employees were all asked to work on product innovation challenges, but some of them were given AI and others were not.
The study showed that individuals with AI performed as well as teams without it. Teams that used AI were significantly more likely to produce top-tier ideas than any other group. The same study showed how AI breaks down silos: Without AI, R&D professionals suggested more technical solutions, while commercial professionals also leaned into their own expertise. AI users produced balanced solutions regardless of their backgrounds.
These benefits address a critical reality. In times of economic uncertainty, leaders face pressure to drive growth with the current, or a reduced, headcount. Adding agents to the team will allow employees to hand off some of their routine work, relieving some of the pressure and enabling them to focus on higher-value tasks.
What human-agent collaboration looks like
Bringing agents into the mix promises a new dynamic for how individuals operate, with ripple effects for teams. Say you catch wind that a major client is thinking about leaving. You can tap an agent to wade into the data and quickly analyze what might be driving their decision, rather than pulling your human colleagues off whatever they’re working on to investigate.
Agents can research for you, provide expertise you don’t have, or code for you. In the firm of the future, every employee (and every team) will manage a pool of them, with the exact number varying depending on their goals and preferences. I’m starting to see this pattern emerge on my team. Alex Farach, a data scientist and researcher, is deep into a big project, and he’s using three agents to assist him. One agent goes online every day and scoops up relevant new research, another assists with statistical analysis, and a third drafts rich briefs that help him connect the dots.
The trio of personalized agents help Alex get up to speed more quickly on the latest research and spend less time on coding related to data analysis. And it’s not just Alex who becomes more effective: this human-agent collaboration produces insights and outputs that benefit my team more broadly.
Managing a new team dynamic
It’s early days, and most employees aren’t proactively building agent teams to assist them. Managers can’t count on individual employees to make this shift on their own. You need to be intentional—and strategic—about adding digital labor to your teams. Focus on areas where agents can have immediate and substantial impact on your business, build those agents, and deploy them to your people, along with the training they need to work with agents and new workflows. And, importantly, share the results so employees across the organization can learn.
Down the line, you’ll need to start considering a new metric: the human-agent ratio. What’s the ideal balance for unlocking productivity? We expect the ratio to vary by task, process, and industry, but in each context it will be critical to find the right blend of digital labor and human judgment. Get it wrong, and you might miss out on the full value of AI or add AI overwhelm to your employees’ work challenges. Hit the sweet spot, and you unlock the kind of performance demonstrated in the P&G study.
The big picture: organizational impact
If you’re a new company starting from scratch, you have the advantage of designing your processes around human-agent teams from the ground up. Established companies, meanwhile, face the challenge of reinventing—instead of just retrofitting—entire processes to take advantage of what AI offers. And employees will need upskilling to make the most of their partnership with agents.
You’ll also need to redefine roles and responsibilities. You might need new roles for overseeing agentic resources: tracking performance, leading deployment, and monitoring the human-agent balance. In a very dynamic labor market, employees and leaders who emerge as effective “agent bosses” will likely get a leg up.
Many leaders tell me they’re being asked to do more with less. In a difficult economic context, agents can relieve some of the pressure on humans. By bringing agents on board you can simultaneously support your employees and create an infinitely scalable, adaptable organization—and start building the firm of the future.
For more insights on AI and the future of work, subscribe to this newsletter.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mark Alford (Missouri 4th District)
Today, Congressmen Mark Alford (R-MO-04) and Randy Feenstra (R-IA-04), along with Senators Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and Deb Fischer (R-NE), led a bicameral group of colleagues in sending a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin. In the letter, the members call for the use of sound science and risk-based analysis as the MAHA Commission finalizes its work, particularly on crop protection tools and food-grade ingredients. The letter states:
“We write to express our strong appreciation for your leadership and interest in working with each of you to ensure America has the healthiest people in the world. In recent decades, chronic illness rates have risen. This warrants our careful scrutiny to support better health outcomes. It is essential that policies supported by sound science and risk-based analyses are used to accomplish this goal.”
“We have concerns that environmentalists are advancing harmful health, economic, or food security policies under the guise of human health,” the letter continues. “Despite insinuations to the contrary, regular testing by FDA and USDA finds that more than 99% of all pesticide residues meet extremely conservative limits established by EPA according to the best available science.”
In addition to Congressmen Alford and Feenstra, the letter was also signed by Reps. Mike Flood (R-NE-01), Don Bacon (R-NE-02), Adrian Smith (R-NE-03), Michael Baumgartner (R-WA-05), Jack Bergman (R-MI-01), Mike Bost (R-IL-12), James Comer (R-KY-01), Troy Downing (R-MT-02), Jake Ellzey (R-TX-06), Gabe Evans (R-CO-08), Mike Ezell (R-MS-04), Randy Feenstra (R-IA-04), Mark Alford (R-MO-04), Vince Fong (R-CA-20), Michael Guest (R-MS-03), Dusty Johnson (R-SD-AL), David Kustoff (R-TN-08), Darin LaHood (R-IL-16), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA-01), Frank Lucas (R-OK-03), Tracy Mann (R-KS-01), Mark Messmer (R-IN-08), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA-01), Dan Newhouse (R-WA-04), Mike Rogers (R-AL-03), Derek Schmidt (R-KS-02), Austin Scott (R-GA-08), Jefferson Shreve (R-IN-06), Claudia Tenney (R-NY-24), David Valadao (R-CA-22), and Ann Wagner (R-MO-02).
The letter was also signed by U.S. Senators Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Steve Daines (R-MT), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Jim Justice (R-WV), Jim Risch (R-ID), Todd Young (R-IN), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Mike Rounds (R-SD).
Read the full letter here or below:
Dear Secretary Kennedy, Secretary Rollins, and Administrator Zeldin:
We write to express our strong appreciation for your leadership and interest in working with each of you to ensure America has the healthiest people in the world. In recent decades, chronic illness rates have risen. This warrants our careful scrutiny and to support better health outcomes. It is essential that policies supported by sound science and risk-based analyses are used to accomplish this goal.
We also urge you to safeguard the work of the Make America Healthy Again Commission (Commission) from activist groups promoting misguided and sometimes even malicious policies masquerading as health solutions. The influence of these groups in the Commission would result in shoddy science; a less abundant, less affordable food supply; greater reliance on foreign adversaries for our food; diminished U.S. agricultural production and manufacturing; and, ultimately, poorer health outcomes.
President Trump recently stated environmental activists were holding the economic prosperity of our country hostage. We now have concerns that they are seeking to influence the work of the Commission to advance their agenda. For decades activist groups have tried to ban safe, well-regulated agricultural inputs by any means necessary. Without these products, yields and quality are negatively impacted by otherwise avoidable insects, fungus, weeds, and other pest pressures. This drives up food prices for American consumers and forces reliance of food imports.
The same groups have seized upon the Commission’s work as an opportunity to misrepresent the science on common food and feed categories or ingredients, such as plant-based oils. These inputs are subject to a robust, risk-based regulatory system which focuses on protecting human health. Unfounded accusations harm the U.S. farmers who grow our food, upend food and feed supply chains, and significantly increase grocery food prices – all without public health benefit.
We have concerns that environmentalists are advancing harmful health, economic, or food security policies under the guise of human health. Despite insinuations to the contrary, regular testing by FDA and USDA finds that more than 99% of all pesticide residues meet extremely conservative limits established by EPA according to the best available science.
We applaud the Commission’s desire to improve the health and well-being of Americans. We implore you to ensure policy decisions are grounded in sound science and risk-based analyses. With unity, we can protect American agricultural producers from environmental activists’ attacks on proven-safe inputs critical to their profitability and long-term viability while promoting positive health outcomes.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs with the assistance of the Department’s Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) transferred 13 Mexican nationals, serving prison sentences for drug distribution-related convictions in the United States, to their home country on Friday.
“Friday’s transfer of 13 federal inmates to correctional authorities in Mexico has saved the United States over $3 million by eliminating the need to pay incarceration costs for the 75 years remaining on their combined sentences,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Justice Department’s International Prisoner Transfer Program, which is administered by the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs, enhances offender rehabilitation, reduces incarceration costs, and relieves overcrowding in federal prisons. The transfer is pursuant to the Treaty between the United States of America and the United Mexican States on the Execution of the Penal Sentences.”
All 13 inmates transferred today were serving sentences relating to the distribution of controlled substances, including cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl. The inmates will complete the remainder of their sentences in Mexico pursuant to the treaty. The inmates requested to be transferred to their home country, and the governments of both the United States and Mexico approved these transfers.
The U.S. Congress enacted legislation authorizing the International Prisoner Transfer Program in October 1977, which also set the requirements of the transfer program. The United States signed its first transfer treaty with Mexico in 1976, which entered into force in November 1977, and since that time has entered into 10 additional bilateral transfer agreements and two multilateral transfer conventions. These international agreements give the United States transfer treaty relationships with more than 85 countries.
The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs’s International Prisoner Transfer Unit (IPTU) administers the program. Under the program, approved foreign national inmates in federal and state prisons are permitted, under certain circumstances, to complete their prison terms in their home countries’ prisons.
This is the 184th such transfer since the treaty entered into force in 1977. The last transfer prior to today, which took place in December 2024, transferred nine inmates to Mexico pursuant to the treaty. To learn more about the International Prisoner Transfer Program, visit: https://www.justice.gov/criminal/criminal-oia/iptu
Lily Vittayarukskul was a college grad at 14 on track to become a NASA aerospace engineer. However, an aunt’s cancer battle upended those plans, wreaking havoc on her family and their finances. The experience inspired her to launch the AI-powered startup Waterlily, helping people better predict expenses for getting older, including eldercare or assisted living, costs most don’t realize aren’t fully covered by either health insurance or Medicare. In this talk, Lily wades through the mounting data showing how super-ageing societies will struggle to meet and afford long-term care needs She also shares the tough lessons her personal story taught her and what others can do to prepare for an aging economy.
This interview was recorded January 2025 at the Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland
About this episode
Waterlily: https://www.waterlily.com/
Related World Economic Forum Initiatives:
Waterlily is an Uplink Innovator
About Uplink: https://uplink.weforum.org/uplink/s/
About the Uplink / Manulife – Prosperity in Longevity Challenge
https://uplink.weforum.org/uplink/s/uplink-issue/a00TE000003HcDrYAK/prospering-in-longevity-challenge
World Economic Forum Longevity Economy Initiative: https://initiatives.weforum.org/financial-resilience-for-every-generation/home
Related Reports:
Future-Proofing the Longevity Economy: Innovations and Key Trends: https://www.weforum.org/publications/future-proofing-the-longevity-economy-innovations-and-key-trends/
Global Risks report: https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-risks-report-2025/digest/
Related Podcasts:
Meet The Leader – Adam Grant: Future leaders won’t succeed without this key trait https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buVVIpttzUA
Meet The Leader – How leaders can prepare teams for the future of work: ADP’s Chief Economist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShvNPomJ4mE&t=508s
The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. We believe that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to make positive change.
Source: United States Senator for Oklahoma James Lankford
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — Senator James Lankford (R-OK) and Congressman Greg Steube (R-FL) introduced the Safeguarding Charity Act to protect the independence of our nation’s tax-exempt organizations. It safeguards churches, nonprofits, and private schools from a perilous line of litigation in federal courts that could subject them to burdensome federal regulations.
“Tax-exempt organizations should not live in fear of federal control every day because courts want to redefine the meaning of tax-exempt status. Tax-exempt status is not the same as receiving federal funding, and it should not be used as political leverage against the nonprofits in Oklahoma and across the nation,” said Lankford. “We should be focused on enabling the work of these organizations—not burdening them with unnecessary and costly federal requirements.”
“Radical judges do not have the authority to twist federal law and force religious institutions to choose between their convictions and compliance,” said Steube. “The Safeguarding Charity Act reaffirms that tax-exempt status does not mean an organization is receiving federal financial assistance. This bill is about protecting churches, religious schools, and charities from federal overreach. I’m grateful to Senator Lankford for his leadership on this important effort in the Senate.”
“Charities and other nonprofits provide invaluable services to their communities,” said Greg Baylor, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Senior Counsel. “In part to recognize their critical work, nonprofits are tax-exempt so that they can devote scarce resources to serving those in need. Until recently, no one really thought that their tax-exempt status was the sort of “federal financial assistance” that triggered the application of several burdensome federal statutes and regulations. But some courts have embraced this unfounded view, and Congress needs to set things straight. Let’s be clear: a nonprofit’s tax-exempt status should not be considered government funding and thus should not trigger multiple burdensome federal laws under which charities and other nonprofits could lose their tax-exempt status. ADF commends Sen. Lankford and Rep. Steube for introducing the Safeguarding Charity Act to protect nonprofits from these financially crushing burdens so that nonprofits can continue to serve their communities free from unfair and unexpected government overreach.”
“ACSI commends Senator Lankford and Congressman Steube for their leadership in introducing the Safeguarding Charity Act,” said P. George Tryfiates, VP for Public Policy and Legal Affairs at the Association of Christian Schools International. “This legislation is critical to set the record straight: an organization’s nonprofit status is not the receipt of federal financial assistance. It never has been. It is not now. Politically motivated lawsuits based on this false premise must stop, or else all nonprofits will be at risk. We urge every member of Congress to support the Safeguarding Charity Act.”
“Agudath Israel of America is pleased to support the ‘Safeguarding Charity Act (SCA),’ introduced by Senator James Lankford and Representative Greg Steube,” said Rabbi Abba Cohen, VP for Government Affairs of Agudath Israel of America. “This legislation is vitally important to nonprofits across the country, including synagogues, religious schools and charities within the Jewish community. It will enshrine into law that which has generally been understood that ‘tax-exempt status’ does not constitute ‘federal financial assistance.’”
Background
The legislation is also supported by Philanthropy Roundtable, Seventh-day Adventist Church, ERLC, American Association of Christian Schools, Association for Biblical Higher Education, Family Research Council, Citygate Network, Christian Employers Alliance, and National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.
Lankford first introduced the legislation with Congressman Steube in 2024.
In 2023, Lankford also introduced the Charitable Act to incentivize giving to America’s nonprofits. The bill would expand and extend the expired non-itemized deduction for charitable giving that would ensure Americans who donate to charities, houses of worship, religious organizations, and other nonprofits of their choice are able to deduct that donation from their federal taxes at a higher level than the previous $300 deduction.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Press release
UK sends multi-million pound military equipment loan to Ukraine
The UK makes second £752 million payment to Ukraine through the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration Loans for Ukraine scheme.
A £752 million payment has today (14 April) been sent to Ukraine through the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration Loans for Ukraine scheme. The funding will support Ukraine to procure vital military equipment, including urgently needed air defence. This comes as Russia continues its air assault on Ukraine, striking the city of Sumy.
The loan, which will be paid for through the profits of sanctioned Russian sovereign assets in the EU, forms part of a wider £2.26 billion loan agreed between the Chancellor and Minister Marchenko on 1 March.
The payment highlights the UK’s steadfast support to Ukraine whilst building on the Chancellor’s Spring Statement pledge to go further and faster to protect our national security and maximise the economic growth potential of the UK defence sector. The equipment support and maintenance elements will be mainly spent in the UK, boosting the UK economy and skilled jobs.
Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer said:
The world is changing before our eyes, reshaped by global instability, including Russian aggression in Ukraine.
A strong Ukraine is vital to UK national security and this second tranche of funding will help put them in the strongest possible position, and contribute towards our collective security.
Defence Secretary, John Healey MP said:
2025 is the critical year for Ukraine and this is the critical moment. This is the moment for our defence industries to step up, and they are; a moment for our militaries to step up, and they are; a moment for our Governments to step up, and we are.
This new tranche of funds is part of our £4.5 billion of military support this year – more than ever before – and will be used to buy urgently needed air defence, artillery, and parts to help repair vehicles and equipment to get them back into the fight.
We are stepping up support for Ukraine to deter Russian aggression and bolster Britain’s national security as the foundation of our Plan for Change.
Today’s payment forms the second part of the UK’s £2.26 billion loan, which has been spaced into three separate tranches to give Ukraine more flexibility and allow them to swiftly adapt to the ever-changing battlefield. The first payment was made on 6 March, with the final payment to follow in 2026.
The multi-billion payment forms part of the UK’s contribution to the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration Loans for Ukraine scheme, which is a G7 commitment to collectively support Ukraine through a total of $50 billion.
It follows a £450 million surge in military support that was announced by the UK last week, which includes £350 million from this year’s record £4.5 billion military support funding for Ukraine. Further funding is being provided by Norway, via the UK-led International Fund for Ukraine.
In addition to providing financial support, the Ministry of Defence will also support Ukraine to procure the equipment needed to fight Russia’s invasion. This will include a new ‘close fight’ military aid package – with funding for radar systems, anti-tank mines and hundreds of thousands of drones – worth more than £250 million, using funding from the UK and Norway.
The government’s Plan for Change will see UK defence spending increased to 2.5% of GDP by 2027. The UK’s world-leading defence sector is vital to the economy, supporting 430,000 high-skilled, high-paid jobs across the UK and strengthening our security. 68% of defence spending is outside of London and the South East, benefitting every nation and region of the UK.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine looks at CT scans and lifetime cancer risk in the USA.
Lynda Johnson, Professional Officer for Clinical Imaging and Radiation Protection, The Society and College of Radiographers, said:
“The Society and College of Radiographers (SoR) welcomes research into the harmful effects of ionising radiation and recognises the importance of balancing benefit and risk information to patients and the public.
“This paper articulates the complexities of large-scale dose estimation and acknowledges the many variables which influence an individual’s likelihood of developing cancer at some point in their lifetime. In the UK, the use of ionising radiation is governed by The Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations 2017 (The Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2018). Central to the legislation and UK radiographic practice, as this paper rightly concludes, are the principles of justification and optimisation. Justification means that any exposures to ionising radiation for medical purposes must be demonstrated to provide a greater benefit than risk to the individual. Once justified, the exposure must be optimised, meaning that it is as low as reasonably practicable to provide the intended outcome, or answer the clinical question.
“Computed Tomography (CT) scans are undertaken by highly trained radiographers and nuclear medicine technologists who have met the educational and professional standards required to ensure all CT scans are appropriately justified and optimised. Considering the increased use of CT as an invaluable diagnostic tool, it is imperative that the risk of harm from potential misuse, poor quality referrals, or inappropriate exposure parameters continues to be managed effectively. This is achieved by safeguarding standards of education, training and practical experience, compliance with the regulations, and applying best practice quality standards such as The Quality Standard for Imaging.
“It is particularly important to recognise, as this paper highlights, the increased risk to children from unjustified CT exposures. Staff are trained to give special consideration to the justification and optimisation of CT scans for children and will assess the benefits and risks of using CT against alternative techniques that do not involve ionising radiation such as MRI and Ultrasound.
“Accurate communication around the benefits and risks of CT is essential to protect the public from harm. Focussing on risk alone is not helpful and, in some cases, might prevent a person from attending a scan that could provide early diagnosis of cancer. Anyone undergoing a CT scan must be provided with balanced, accurate and relevant information to enable them to understand what it means to them as an individual in terms of their diagnosis, treatment and potential long-term care.
“The UK Health Security Agency is responsible for undertaking dose audits and producing National Diagnostic Reference levels (NDRLs) for computed tomography. These inform local practices and employers must ensure their organisational doses do not consistently exceed the NDRLs. They are publicly available here alongside helpful dose comparisons here and benefit and risk information for patients here.”
Dr Doreen Lau, Lecturer in Inflammation, Ageing and Cancer Biology at Brunel University of London, said:
“This is a well-conducted modelling study using robust data from US hospitals and established methods for estimating cancer risk from radiation exposure. It provides a timely reminder that while CT scans are often life-saving and essential for diagnosis, they do come with a small but real potential risk of contributing to cancer over a lifetime, especially when used repeatedly, in younger patients, or when not clinically necessary.
“The findings don’t mean that people should avoid CT scans when recommended by a doctor. In most cases, the benefit of detecting or ruling out serious illness far outweighs the very small risk of harm. What this research highlights is the need to minimise unnecessary imaging and use the lowest dose possible, particularly in settings where CT usage is high. Where appropriate, clinicians may also consider alternative imaging methods that do not involve ionising radiation, such as MRI or ultrasound—especially for younger patients or when repeat imaging is anticipated.
“CT scan rates are much higher in the US than in the UK, where imaging is used more conservatively and with stricter clinical justification. That means the estimated risks in this study are likely to be much lower in the UK context, though the message about appropriate use still holds.
“Importantly, this study models estimated cancer risk from radiation exposure. It does not show a direct causal link between specific CT scans and individual cancer cases. These are projections based on population-level data and assumptions about radiation risk, not observed cancer rates. Although the model estimates a small increased risk with each scan, it does not prove that any one scan causes cancer. Other factors such as underlying health issues and clinical decision-making, may also influence who gets scanned and how often.”
Prof Stephen Duffy, Emeritus Professor of Cancer Screening, Centre for Cancer Screening, Prevention and Early Diagnosis, Queen Mary University of London, said:
“This paper reports on a very high quality numerical modelling exercise, estimating the likely number of cancers occurring in the USA as a result of 93 million CT examinations. The authors estimate that just over 100,000 cancers are predicted to occur as a result of radiation from these CT examinations. This amounts to around a 0.1% increase in cancer risk over the patients lifetime per CT examination. When we consider that the lifetime risk of cancer in the general population is around 50%, the additional risk is small. Doctors do not order CT examinations unless they are necessary, and it seems to me that the likely benefit in diagnosis and subsequent treatment of disease outweighs the very small increase in cancer risk.
“I would also remark that the estimates, while based on the best models available to the authors, are indirect, so there is considerable uncertainty about the estimates.
“Thus I would say to patients that if you are recommended to have a CT scan, it would be wise to do so.”
Dr Giles Roditi, Consultant Cardiovascular Radiologist and Honorary Clinical Associate Professor of Radiology, University of Glasgow, said:
“CT scanning is a powerful diagnostic tool and has become a bedrock of modern radiology departments, particularly for emergency department imaging. However, the paper by Smith-Bindman et al. is a timely reminder that with great power comes great responsibility. The paper makes the case that the rise in the utilisation of CT scanning is now at such a scale that its projected use could lead to scenario in which CT-associated cancer eventually accounts for 5% of all new cancer diagnoses annually in the USA. What should we do with this information and how does this translate to and inform practise in the UK ?
“Firstly, the evidence base is sound and there is little new as regards the basic assumptions that the paper is based upon but the authors have updated this with more modern dose estimates and data on the utilisation of CT scanning not only across different age groups but also stratified by gender and the exposure of different organs that have different sensitivities to ionising radiation induced damage. The authors are to be congratulated in the detailed breakdown of CT utilisation across these categories and how lifetime risk of cancer impacts across age and gender etc. as well as the modern dosimetric approach used plus accounting for multiphase CT examinations that inevitably entail higher dose.
“With all medical endeavours there is an element of risk. Risk is generally defined as a situation involving exposure to danger or the possibility that something unpleasant will occur. Furthermore, the use of the word risk often implies an element of chance, uncertainty or unpredictability. However, risk can often be well defined in any particular context as – Risk = (probability of an event) x (impact of event)
“Risk is thus different for ‘well’ versus ‘sick’ patients with the latter deriving greater benefit. This paper helps us better define risk at a population level by updating knowledge on the probable incidence of later CT-associated cancer. A potential limitation that could be levelled at the paper is that not all the risks associated with CT are included, only those related to later development of cancer diagnoses. For example, other relevant factors as a demerit to CT scanning could include the very small risks of anaphylaxis related to the use of contrast medium, used now in a large proportion of scans in Western medicine. Similarly, the small but potential other risks such as cataract acceleration are not mentioned.
“On the other hand, while the authors mention that ‘CT is frequently lifesaving’ they have not in my opinion really put the information in full relevant context. The authors context is that this is approximately 5% of new cancer diagnoses could be attributable to CT i.e. a figure of 100,000 cancers in the USA is where there were 1,777,566 new cancer cases reported in 2021 and 608,366 people died of cancer in 2022 (the latest CDC data available). This is because the natural incidence of cancer induction is 1 in 2 for adults. Hence, an alternative way of looking at this would be that although the figure of 100,000 cancers is alarming this is only a small additional risk over and above an individual’s lifetime risk of developing cancer i.e. a risk rising from about 50% to 52.5%. The authors also do not address how many of these cancer will be fatal although we presume based upon CD data it would be approximately one third.
“The main issue, however, is that the benefits of CT scanning are not more explicitly stated. This is likely because the benefits of most medical imaging in terms of morbidity & mortality have been very difficult to quantify with surprisingly little published in the literature. This is mainly because imaging has too often only been part of an overall therapeutic strategy where the main treatment outcomes depend critically upon the imaging but the imaging itself is not tested (e.g. treatments for stroke and cancer). However, there have been recent trials that provide some context, for example SCOT-HEART was probably the first major trial in which diagnostic CT was shown to save lives. In SCOT-THEART the patients were randomised to a conventional treatment pathway without CT scan or an investigative arm in which the standard care pathway was simply supplemented by a CT scan of the coronary arteries. This trial showed clear benefit for those patients that had CT with a significantly lower mortality rate and this has been shown to persist now up to 10 years following the end of the trial. Similarly trials of lung cancer screening have now shown positive benefit from CT scanning in the detection of early, treatable stage lung cancer in high risk patients.
“So how does this translate into the situation in the UK ? Firstly, there are significant differences in practise due to both cultural and legislative environments. In the UK we operate under the precepts of the Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations last updated in 2017 which mandates that we apply the ALARA/ALARP principles and should opt for diagnostic imaging tests with the lowest radiation dose, or preferably an imaging test with no ionising radiation exposure (e.g. ultrasound or MRI) where this answers the clinical question. Culturally in the UK we also regard all requests for imaging as just that, requests that can be questioned through discussion. In the USA clinicians order scans and radiology departments have little room to manoeuvre when it comes to not performing or changing these orders, particularly since the imaging fees that accompany the scanning activity are the lifeblood of the department. Another issue in the USA in addition to the overuse of CT mentioned in the paper is the repeat imaging that is often performed in a fragmented healthcare system where it is easier (and more profitable) for an institution to simply repeat a scan on a patient referred in from elsewhere rather than seek out and transfer the original scans.
“In the NHS we have systems that allow image transfer between institutions and of course unlike the USA we are very capacity limited and often have long waiting times for scans. One side effect of this is that it tends to reduce demand such that tests unlikely to influence clinical decision-making are less likely to be requested. On the downside is that the CT scanner base in the UK is aging and we know that older scanners inevitably expose patients to higher radiation doses than modern systems for the same type of scan, often with less good image quality. Indeed, on modern generation systems with advanced iterative reconstruction algorithms and AI enhancements in the imaging chain then CT scans can be acquired at doses similar to (or little more than) conventional x-rays. These advances have largely been spurred by the drive to reduce dose in coronary CT scans but the benefits potentially reduce doses across all CT scanning. The paper by Smith-Bindman et al. reminds us that we must advocate more strongly to upgrade our CT scanners for the benefit of our patients.
“So what would I say to a UK patient scheduled to have a CT scan and worried by this paper ? In general terms I would strongly advise them not to worry as they are highly likely to benefit from a well indicated scan, this is particularly so in those who are unwell and in older patients (those > 55 years). For younger patients, particularly those of child-bearing age where the breasts and/or reproductive organs would be included and for those who are physically well then if concerned they can always ask to discuss the merits of alternative scans such as ultrasound and MRI. For example, in our own practise we image all our altruistic potential living kidney donors with MRI rather than CT since our own (unpublished) estimates indicate that if we used CT then 1 in 526 of these well people would have a fatal induced cancer, a risk eliminated by using MRI.”
Prof Richard Wakeford, Honorary Professor in Epidemiology, Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH), University of Manchester, said:
“Although it is not unreasonable to reiterate guidance on the potential risks to health arising from exposures to low levels of ionising radiation, such as the x-ray doses received from CT scans, considerable caution is required in providing quantitative estimates of the effects produced by such exposures. This is largely because of the substantial assumptions that must be made in applying risk models derived from epidemiological studies of populations briefly exposed to moderate and high doses, primarily the Japanese survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to low-level exposure circumstances. For example, for the purposes of radiological protection, it is prudent to assume that the size of the additional risk is directly proportional to the dose received, with no threshold dose below which the risk is zero, and this is the assumption made by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) in making its recommendations. However, ICRP notes that these assumptions “conceal large biological and statistical uncertainties”, and cautions against risk projections based on large numbers of people receiving low doses.
“The direct epidemiological investigation of cancer incidence among patients who have been examined by CT is a worthwhile exercise, but substantial care is required in the interpretation of results – as with all medical diagnostic procedures, people are examined because they are ill, have been ill, or are suspected of being ill, and such selection for exposure leads to difficulties in obtaining reliable conclusions about the effects of radiation exposure from these studies.
“The “bottom line” of the paper is that ~103,000 cases of cancer (which does not include cases of non-melanoma skin cancer, lymphoma, or multiple myeloma) are estimated to result from CT scans conducted in the USA in 2023, an estimate that must be viewed with circumspection. This estimate of ~103,000 cases of cancer is, on the face of it, rather alarming, but it is also uncertain, to an extent that extends (well) beyond the uncertainty limits presented in the paper. ICRP emphasises that all medical exposures must be justified as doing more good than harm, and the potential risk from radiation exposure during a diagnostic examination clearly needs to be factored into clinical judgement about the need for a specific diagnostic procedure. The level of potential risk posed by exposure to low doses of radiation should be taken into account in reaching a balanced decision on whether or not a CT scan is clinically desirable, but this judgement should not be unduly influenced by large, but uncertain, projected numbers of cancers.”
‘Projected Lifetime Cancer Risks From Current Computed Tomography Imaging’ by Rebecca Smith-Bindman et al. was published in JAMA Internal Medicine at 16:00 UK time on Monday 14 April 2025.
DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.0505
Declared interests
Prof Stephen Duffy: I have no conflict of interest.
Dr Giles Roditi: Prof Roditi is a Past-President of the British Society of Cardiovascular Imaging/Cardiovascular CT, a Past President of the Society of Magnetic Resonance Angiography and a member of the SCOT-HEART investigators.
Prof Richard Wakeford: “I am, or was, a member of a number of national and international expert committees addressing radiation risks, such as ICRP, UNSCEAR and (previously) COMARE, SAGE, etc.. Details can be found at: https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/richard.wakeford
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
A meta analysis published in Nature Human Behaviour looks at technology use and cognitive aging.
Dr Davide Bruno, Reader in Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, said:
“A lot of variables are controlled for in this study, and the results are promising, but a lot of our cognitive resilience may well be genetically determined, which could also lead to greater ease with using technology. The authors do an excellent job of pointing out the limits of their study and acknowledging that there is more work to do. For example, what type of digital activities are better for our brain? This is a well-done study tackling a timely issue. The authors are careful in their conclusions.”
Dr Leah Mursaleen, Head of Clinical Research at Alzheimer’s Research UK says:
“This large-scale analysis reviewed over 50 published studies from around the world to try to unravel the link between use of digital tech and cognitive ability. This study challenges previous research that has suggested digital technology could reduce cognitive function as we age and instead suggests that use of technology may be linked to lower rates of cognitive decline in older adults.
“With technology now embedded in our daily lives, it’s encouraging to see that using digital tools like computers, smart phones and the internet could be linked to better brain health in later life. However, it’s important to note that this analysis could not include measures of physical changes happening in the brain or consider the age that people were first exposed to digital tech.
“Although the authors explore possible reasons as to why the use of digital tech may promote better cognitive function, more research is needed to understand the relationship further especially in people who are the first generation to grow up with these advances”.
A meta-analysis of technology use and cognitive aging’ byJared F. Bengeet al.was published inNature Human Behaviourat 16:00 UK time on Monday 14th April.
DOI: 10.1038/s41562-025-02159-9
Declared interests
Dr Davide Bruno: None
For all other experts, no reply to our request for DOIs was received.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jimmy Gomez (CA-34)
Brutal Cuts compromise the health of 166 million Americans, other impact includes long delays and skyrocketing caseloads
WASHINGTON, DC – Representative Jimmy Gomez (CA-34) joined House Ways and Means Committee Democrats in demanding answers from the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the closure of half of all HHS Regional Offices. These Regional Offices (RO) have collaborated with state and local communities to ensure that nursing homes and childcare centers are safe, local fraud is rooted out, federal law is followed, and state and local communities have a voice in federal policies for over 50 years. The closure of these offices will profoundly endanger communities across America.
The affected ROs were in Boston, New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle. This gross act of retribution will not only compromise the health of 166 million Americans, but also put remaining ROs under even more stress, with long delays and skyrocketing caseloads because of the brutal cuts.
“Since 1974 when the Nixon Administration created the 10-region structure to facilitate efficiency and collaboration at a local level, ROs have partnered with state and local communities to ensure that nursing homes and child care centers are safe, local fraud is rooted out, federal law is followed, and state and local communities have a voice in federal policies,” Gomez and lawmakers wrote. “Eliminating these functions in half of the country will harm the health and safety of local communities and risks inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars by eroding oversight over programs like Medicare and Medicaid.”
The lawmakers continued, “Staff in these offices work on essential functions to improve quality and reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in federal health care programs and ensure human service programs support vulnerable children and families—the value these offices bring to all of our communities cannot be overstated.”
Finally, the Gomez and his colleagues wrote: “Simply put, they make our communities healthier and safer for us all.”
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs with the assistance of the Department’s Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) transferred 13 Mexican nationals, serving prison sentences for drug distribution-related convictions in the United States, to their home country on Friday.
“Friday’s transfer of 13 federal inmates to correctional authorities in Mexico has saved the United States over $3 million by eliminating the need to pay incarceration costs for the 75 years remaining on their combined sentences,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Justice Department’s International Prisoner Transfer Program, which is administered by the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs, enhances offender rehabilitation, reduces incarceration costs, and relieves overcrowding in federal prisons. The transfer is pursuant to the Treaty between the United States of America and the United Mexican States on the Execution of the Penal Sentences.”
All 13 inmates transferred today were serving sentences relating to the distribution of controlled substances, including cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl. The inmates will complete the remainder of their sentences in Mexico pursuant to the treaty. The inmates requested to be transferred to their home country, and the governments of both the United States and Mexico approved these transfers.
The U.S. Congress enacted legislation authorizing the International Prisoner Transfer Program in October 1977, which also set the requirements of the transfer program. The United States signed its first transfer treaty with Mexico in 1976, which entered into force in November 1977, and since that time has entered into 10 additional bilateral transfer agreements and two multilateral transfer conventions. These international agreements give the United States transfer treaty relationships with more than 85 countries.
The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs’s International Prisoner Transfer Unit (IPTU) administers the program. Under the program, approved foreign national inmates in federal and state prisons are permitted, under certain circumstances, to complete their prison terms in their home countries’ prisons.
This is the 184th such transfer since the treaty entered into force in 1977. The last transfer prior to today, which took place in December 2024, transferred nine inmates to Mexico pursuant to the treaty. To learn more about the International Prisoner Transfer Program, visit: https://www.justice.gov/criminal/criminal-oia/iptu
NEW BERN, N.C. – A Rocky Mount man was sentenced Friday to 68 months in prison for possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and distribution of a quantity of fentanyl. Nedall Alwan, 30, pled guilty to the charge on January 14, 2025.
According to court documents and other information presented in court, in March 2023, the Tarboro Police Department and Edgecombe Sheriff’s Office received information that Alwan, who operated a vape and tobacco store in Tarboro, was involved in the sale of narcotics. Between March 8 and April 5, 2023, law enforcement made three controlled purchases of “Perc 30” pills from Alwan. The pills contained fentanyl. On April 6, 2023, law enforcement searched Alwan’s vape and tobacco business. Law Enforcement found 290 “M-30” pills which contained 30 grams of fentanyl, a 9mm rifle and $9,533.00 in U.S. currency. A 9mm handgun was also found in Alwan’s car, and additional U.S. currency was found at Alwan’s residence.
Daniel P. Bubar, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan. The Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Enforcement, Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Office, and the Tarboro and Rocky Mount Police Departments investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Severo prosecuted the case.
Conspirators used the U.S. Postal Service to Mail Kilograms of Cocaine from Texas to Michigan
LANSING – Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Andrew Birge today announced that Srecko Darnell Walker, 35, of Muskegon, has been sentenced to a total of 32 years in federal prison. At sentencing, Chief United States District Judge Hala Y. Jarbou remarked on Walker’s extensive criminal history, which now includes a total of seven drug-related convictions, and instances of criminal dishonesty. Before pronouncing its sentence, the Court told Walker, “You’ve spent most of your life lying. You’ve spent most of your life committing crimes . . . You have earned the sentence that you’re going to get.”
The Court imposed concurrent terms of 30 years for each of the three crimes a federal jury found Walker guilty of in November 2024: (1) conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine; (2) distribution of cocaine; and (3) possession with intent to distribute cocaine. The Court also imposed a consecutive 2-year sentence for violations Walker committed while on supervised release following a previous federal cocaine trafficking conviction.
Evidence admitted at trial showed that in 2021 and 2022, Walker worked with Steven Rasic, a Muskegon-based U.S. Postal Service mail carrier, to import kilograms of cocaine into West Michigan from Hugo Benavides, a Texas-based cocaine supplier. Walker coordinated the cocaine shipments, which were sent to vacant addresses on Rasic’s mail route. Both Rasic and Benavides pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge prior to trial and have been sentenced separately.
During trial, the jury heard that over the course of the investigation, law enforcement agents seized five kilograms of cocaine from the mail that Walker and his co-conspirators intended to distribute in West Michigan. In March 2022, investigators seized two kilograms of cocaine. After the seizure, Rasic tried to recover the parcel containing cocaine, falsely stating that he was acting on behalf of the U.S. Postal Service. In fact, Rasic was trying to recover the cocaine on Walker’s behalf, and text messages from Rasic’s phone showed that Rasic had alerted Walker to the cocaine seizure. Months later, in October 2022, investigators saw Walker distribute cocaine to a woman in Muskegon, and later, inside Walker’s residence, investigators found more cocaine, a cutting agent, and digital scale used to weigh cocaine.
The jury also learned that after the search of his residence, Walker admitted to importing cocaine through the mail, and told investigators that he sold his first kilogram of cocaine sometime in 2021. Walker also admitted to tracking some of the mail parcels that contained cocaine, including one parcel with over one kilogram of cocaine inside.
“This sentence reflects the hard work and dedication of USPS OIG Special Agents, U.S. Postal Inspectors and DEA Special Agents working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to bring charges on this significant narcotics investigation,” said Special Agent in Charge Dennus Bishop, U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, Central Area Field Office. “The USPS OIG, along with our law enforcement partners, remain committed to safeguarding the U.S. Mail and ensuring the accountability and integrity of U.S. Postal Service employees.”
“As the law enforcement arm of the U.S. Postal Service, the Postal Inspection Service prioritizes the safety and security of postal employees and customers above all else,” said Detroit Division Acting Inspector in Charge Sean McStravick. “Let the severity of this sentence be a warning to those who abuse the nation’s mail system to transport narcotics and other dangerous or illegal substances: We will find you, we will arrest you, and we will seek to prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”
“The DEA remains committed to continue to dismantle criminal organizations—domestic and foreign,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Andrew Lawton, DEA Detroit Field Division. “This operation is a testament to the power of collaboration between agencies to ensure justice is served and our communities are protected.”
The United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), The United States Postal Service Office of the Inspector General (USPS OIG), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Michigan State Police (MSP) West Michigan Enforcement Team (WEMET) investigated this case, and it was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Austin J. Hakes and Stephanie M. Carowan.
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Kurtis Gordon-Greenwood of St. Paul, Minnesota, has been convicted by a federal jury for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, attempted possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute, and illegal possession of a firearm as a felon, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.
According to evidence presented at trial, law enforcement began investigating a fentanyl distribution crew in St. Paul in 2022. During that investigation, they intercepted a UPS package from Arizona containing more than five kilos—50,000 fentanyl pills—addressed to the apartment of Kurtis Lavonte Gordon-Greenwood, 30. In a subsequent search of Gordon-Greenwood’s apartment, officers discovered a Fedex shipping receipt for a package sent to Phoenix, three cell phones, and a Taurus 9mm pistol with an extended magazine. When law enforcement intercepted the Fedex package Gordon-Greenwood sent to Phoenix, they discovered $8,240 in cash inside.
Because Gordon-Greenwood has prior felony convictions, he is prohibited from legally possessing firearms or ammunition.
“Firearms and drugs are a deadly combination – make no mistake that lives will be saved with Gordon-Greenwood off the streets,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick. “Drugs are trafficked to Minnesota by air, vehicle, or through the mail, as we saw in this case. Thanks to the work of our task force partners on this investigation, we have kept thousands of deadly fentanyl pills from hitting our neighborhoods.”
“It can’t be stated enough that fentanyl pills carry deadly consequences,” Drug Enforcement Administration Omaha Division Acting Special Agent in Charge Rafael Mattei said. “If these 50,000 pills had made their way to the streets, there would be countless families across the Twin Cities mourning the loss of a loved one. Remind your loved ones that one pill can kill.”
After a three-day trial before Judge Donovan W. Frank in U.S. District Court, Gordon-Greenwood was convicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, one count of attempted possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Gordon-Greenwood’s co-defendants, Joshua Lanard Howse, 33, and Cornelius David Pierce, 34, have both pleaded guilty for their respective roles in the conspiracy.
This case is the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Dakota County Drug Task Force, and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas M. Hollenhorst tried the case.
Mayor’s ‘One Big Weekend, One Big Cause’ set to rock Derry
14 April 2025
An incredible weekend of sensational music, supercars, and entertainment will have Derry rocking as Mayor Lilian Seenoi Barr marks the end of her year in office with a massive fundraising extravaganza in aid of the Bud Club, a life-changing organisation for young people with additional needs.
The ‘One Big Weekend, One Big Cause – Revved Up and Ready to Rock for Bud Club’ extravaganza which will take place on the Bank Holiday weekend of May 24th and 25th features three incredible events designed to appeal to all ages and interests.
Car enthusiasts across the city and district are in for a treat as the Mayor’s popular Supercar Saturday roars into Guildhall Square and Harbour Square on Saturday 24th May from 12-5pm. Local car enthusiasts Gary and Stephen McCaul will showcase approximately 35 luxury vehicles including Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, McLaren and Maserati for public viewing.
Popular local entertainer Micky Doherty will lead this family-friendly event which offers children and big kids the chance to get up close with one of Ireland’s finest collections of supercars. Adding to the festive atmosphere, DJ Lui and DJ Richie Rich will keep the music flowing throughout the day. A mobile gaming truck will provide additional entertainment for younger attendees, while local food vendors will be on site serving delicious refreshments.
As the sun sets that evening the iconic Guildhall will host a star-studded night of music and comedy featuring outstanding performers from various genres. The night will begin with local favourite Ritchie Remo, the talented musician has a wide repertoire of tunes and is guaranteed to have the crowd on their feet. Next up funnyman Black Paddy will bring his own unique blend of comedy to the event – expect a high-octane performance and laughs aplenty.
Bringing this incredible evening to an end will be The Mindbenders with The Ultimate Yacht Rock Show. Featuring some of the greatest artists to come out of the 70s and 80s it’s time to immerse yourself in tunes from The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs, Hall and Oates, Toto, Christopher Cross and many more. When the curtain comes down on this epic Saturday you will certainly leave the Guildhall with a smile on your face and a tune in your heart.
The weekend concludes with the ultimate club night at St Columb’s Hall featuring the best in Afrobeat, house, and dance music. Afrobeat, with its roots in West Africa, blends traditional rhythms with jazz, funk, R&B and electronic beats, creating infectious grooves and high-energy vibes. This celebration of culture, rhythm, and unity will bring together music lovers from all backgrounds for a night of non-stop dancing.
“I am absolutely thrilled to invite everyone to join us for what promises to be an unforgettable weekend,” said Mayor Lilian Seenoi Barr. “These events represent everything I’ve tried to champion during my time in office – bringing our community together through shared experiences while supporting those who need it most. Bud Club does extraordinary work supporting young people with additional needs, and I can’t think of a better way to cap off my term than by raising funds for this incredible organisation. My thanks are extended to the Garvan O’Doherty Group for sponsorship of the Afrobeats evening. Your support allows even more funds to go towards supporting Bud Club and is very much appreciated.
“From luxury cars to live music and dancing, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. So make sure you have ‘One Big Weekend, One Big Cause – Revved Up and Ready to Rock for Bud Club’ in your calendar, bring your family and friends, and let’s make this a weekend to remember while supporting a cause that makes a real difference in young people’s lives!”
All proceeds from the weekend’s events will directly benefit the Bud Club charity.
For more information and to purchase tickets to the Guildhall concert and Afrobeats night go to www.derrystrabane.com/OneWeekend. You can also keep up to date with everything that is happening on What’s On Derry Strabane and Council’s social channels.