COLUMBUS, Ohio – A local man and woman pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court here today to drug and money laundering crimes related to assisting two Chillicothe brothers traffic drugs from Mexico and Arizona.
Todd Michael Fulkerson, 42, of Columbus, admitted to conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute fentanyl and cocaine.
In February 2024, Fulkerson traveled to Arizona at the request of Caleb Barillaro, 30, who was acquiring kilogram quantities of the drugs to resell through street-level drug dealers in Chillicothe and the surrounding areas. The men drove separate vehicles to Arizona, and Fulkerson accompanied Caleb on the trip to provide security. Fulkerson was recruited for this role based on his military experience.
In Arizona, Caleb purchased two kilograms of fentanyl and five kilograms of cocaine for $94,000 in cash. Caleb put the drugs in a cooler and placed ice on top of the drugs to conceal them before putting the cooler in Fulkerson’s car.
Law enforcement surveilled the two vehicles traveling in tandem back towards Ohio from Arizona.
The two stopped at a gas station near the Indiana and Ohio border. Caleb discovered that the melting ice in the cooler had ruined some of the kilograms of drugs. He became upset and took the cooler to his car. Caleb feared he was being surveilled by law enforcement as he traveled from the gas station, and he discarded the drugs along the side of the road.
Fulkerson faces up to 20 years in prison for his role in transporting the drugs.
Lazae Lett, 24, of Chillicothe, admitted to laundering drug proceeds to Sinaloa, Mexico, to help Dillon Barillaro, 31, obtain more drugs through a source of supply there. She sent several approximately $2,000 money orders via Western Union money orders from Walmart and two Kroger locations in Chillicothe.
Dillon Barillaro provided the illicit money to Lett and instructed her on recipient names and payment amounts. Dillon Barillaro drove Lett to the Walmart and Kroger locations to conduct financial transactions in immediate succession.
Lett faces up to 20 years in prison.
The Barillaro brothers have each pleaded guilty to federal narcotics crimes punishable by at least 10 years and up to life in prison and await sentencing.
Congress sets minimum and maximum statutory sentences. Sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the Court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors at future hearings.
Kelly A. Norris, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Andrew Lawton, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Detroit Field Office; Elena Iatarola, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; and Chillicothe Police Chief Ron Meyers announced the guilty pleas offered today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Norah McCann King. Assistant United States Attorneys Nicole Pakiz and Damoun Delaviz are representing the United States in the related cases.
These investigations were originally designated as part of Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs). The cases are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
The Highland Council Adult and Youth Service has recently received CLD Standards Council developmental approval for 3 in house SCQF Level 6 qualifications.
What is Community Learning Development (CLD) – CLD is the field of professional practice in Scotland which includes youth work, community based adult learning, family learning and community development. CLD practice enables people of all ages to identify their own individual and collective goals, to engage in learning and take action to bring about change for themselves and their communities. CLD is a key element of the education sector in Scotland.
Education Committee Chair, Cllr John Finlayson said: “The Highland Council is delighted to be the first local authority in Scotland to receive CLD Standard Council developmental learning opportunities approval at SCQF level 6.
“Retention, development and expanding our local skilled ‘Workforce for the Future’ portfolio aligns with the Council’s ‘Our Future Highland Delivery Plan’, to enable growth in our own workforce and to help retain a skilled workforce across Highland as a key driver to developing the Highland economy and reducing depopulation.
“Through learning, our career development pathway efforts across Highland will contribute to empowering people, individually and collectively, to make positive changes in their lives and in their communities and we look forward to delivering the Community Learning and Development SCQF level 6 courses in the near future.”
What does this mean for CLD career pathways in Highland?
The CLD Standards Council endorsement of the 3 qualifications, offers an opportunity for people to begin a career in Community Learning & Development (CLD), to develop and grow our own workforce across Highland, opening a pathway towards a professional CLD qualification. It is hoped that this opportunity builds on and strengthens the work of CLD in Highland and the essential role that CLD practitioners contribute across our Highland communities.
The three courses available are as follows:
National Progression Award (NPD) Theory and approaches to Youth Work (SCQF Level 6)
Professional Development Award (PDA) Introduction to Tutoring ESOL (SCQF Level 6)
Professional Development Award (PDA) Adult Learning in Scotland: An Introduction (SCQF Level 6)
A new generation of community facilities is being planned for the Highlands.
At a meeting of The Highland Council last week, elected members approved funding for the first phase of projects under the Highland Investments Plan banner which will improve public facilities and sustain local communities and population.
This ambitious £2.1 billion twenty-year Highland Investment Plan will bring benefits to services and communities across the whole of the Highlands. The money will be used to tackle major capital challenges including improving transport and roads, schools and community facilities, depots and offices.
Thurso has been selected as one of the priority locations for a Community POD (Point of Delivery) as part of a new Thurso High School development and the budget approved by members includes significant capital funding for the project.
Community Points of Delivery will be places where a wide range of Council services, including education, can be delivered alongside other partner and community services as part of a future integrated operating model for partnership working.
Council Leader, Councillor Raymond Bremner said: “I am delighted that capital funding has been agreed and plans can move forward. This is great news not just for Thurso but for the whole of Caithness.
“The creation of a community POD within the new Thurso High School project is intended to create a campus that brings together primary and secondary education, early learning and childcare provision and other key community services, located on a single campus.
Other projects in phase one include improvement to Council depots in Caithness and the re-surfacing of the all-weather pitch in Wick.”
Community stakeholder events and public drop-in sessions have taken place over the last couple of months to gather feedback from members of the community.
Options being considered are:
3-18 Campus (1 Primary School): Thurso High, a combined primary school, Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) provision and Additional Support Needs (ASN) bases all located on one campus.
3-18 Campus (2 Primary Schools): As above but with primary school provision split between the 3-18 campus and one other primary school located elsewhere and with revised catchment areas.
Separate Campuses (1 Primary School): As above but one combined primary school on a separate site from the High School.
Separate Campuses (2 Primary Schools): As above but two separate primary schools with revised catchment areas.
Cllr Bremner added: “This ambitious investment plan will bring benefits to services and communities across the whole of the Highlands. The money will be used to tackle major capital challenges we face including improving transport and roads, our schools and community facilities, depots and offices.”
A report following the Thurso placed-based review will be presented to Highland Councillors at their meeting in June. The report will identify outcomes of the review, including the preferred model for the community POD, which Councillors will consider.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
An observational study published in PLOS Global Mental Health looks at screentime, sleep and depression in adolescents.
Prof Ben Carter, Professor of Medical Statistics, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London, said:
“The authors have used a pre-registered and hypothesis testing approach taking data from a previous randomised control trial which included 4810 Swedish adolescents from 55 schools aged 12 to 16. In this well set up secondary analysis where the authors apply causal inference to an observational cohort study, they found that in girls screentime displaced sleep and was associated with increased symptoms of depression over a nine-month period.
“Sleep in the development of adolescents is essential. This study offers biologically plausible data that demonstrates the evidence for widely held views of the impact of displacement of screens and the impact on sleep and symptoms of depression. The authors show that typical screentime in this cohort was in excess of Sweden’s recommended maximum of two to three hours per day. This work supports the introduction of public health leadership and introduction of national recommendations on smartphone use during school evenings for children and adolescents. This would likely lead to collective action to empower parents and help adolescents improve their sleep and prevent daytime sleepiness.
“Weaknesses include that screentime was defined as leisure time on the internet and they were not able to differentiate between the type of screen used and self-reported. The strengths of this work include that the participants were a sample of typical 12- to 16-year-olds from Europe, they applied causal inference with a directed acyclic graph to explain the causal pathways with a pre-registered a priori hypothesis.”
Prof Chris Ferguson, Professor of Psychology, Stetson University, said:
“Overall, I don’t find this article to be an impressive addition to our understanding of screen time. The measures of screen time appear to be self-report, a method known for its unreliability. The questions are crude and not validated, and likely to prompt hypothesis guessing among participants that could result in false positive results. There appear to be no proper statistical controls for theoretically relevant variables such as family environment, which might have explained any correlation. Nonetheless, the results from this study are remarkably weak. There is no correlation between screen time and depression which would seem to be important as findings go, given how much angst there is about that topic. Though billed as “longitudinal” the lag between the first and second time frames is probably too short to be meaningful. Associations between screen time and sleep were weak, overall. In conclusion, the data are correlational, not causal, of weak or (in the case of depression) null effects. Unfortunately, the authors also use causal language, which is inappropriate for any correlation design, including longitudinal, particularly given the lack of appropriate statistical controls. Ultimately, this study tells us very little about adolescent screen time, sleep, depression or anything else. With these limitations, I’d worry about making any firm conclusions which could concern parents or carers about screen use in adolescents without the evidence to back it up.”
‘Adolescents’ screen time displaces multiple sleep pathways and elevates depressive symptoms over twelve months’ bySebastian Hökbyet al.was published in PLOS Global Mental Health at 19:00 UK time April 2nd April.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and media personality Ben Shapiro at a PragerU event in Florida on March 27, 2025. (@DanielleSmith, X)
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is facing fierce criticism for using taxpayer money to meet American far-right pundit Ben Shapiro in Florida as part of a recent fundraiser for conservative think tank PragerU.
Smith was initially opposed to retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., but eventually acquiesced. Nonetheless, she recently scoffed at a poll that showed a majority of Canadians (68.1 per cent), even in the Prairies (58.8 per cent), support retaliatory tariffs on oil and gas.
Those defending her Florida appearance argue that Smith intended to reach out to a conservative American audience to present Alberta’s case in the face of Trump’s tariffs.
She appeared to attempt a balancing act as she stressed the harms of tariffs without strongly pushing back against Trump’s annexation rhetoric.
The problem with subservience
I’ve argued that a better response to Trump’s tariffs would be countervailing power, not abject subservience. Additionally, Smith’s approach to Trump’s anti-Canada actions doesn’t reflect the will of Canadians who are pushing back democratically through consumer boycotts of American goods.
Smith’s critics also argue that she cannot achieve more than social pleasantries in her forays to the U.S. to hobnob with right-wing personalities. Generally, the approach of talking to the far right is contingent on various factors, including subject matter and timing, to be successful.
The benefits of Smith exchanging social pleasantries and pleading her case with the far right in the U.S. comes at the cost of breaking rank from the united stand Canadians need given the perceived existential threat to their country.
Additionally, Smith shared a platform with those who hold hardcore beliefs about women’s autonomy, LGBTQ rights and who peddle pseudo-academia in the “intellectual dark web,” sending a troubling message to many Canadians.
The economics of Smith’s approach
Understanding Smith’s response on retaliatory tariffs requires understanding the economics behind it.
Smith has an undergraduate degree in economics. But textbook neoclassical economics itself is problematic. I’ve already addressed the shortcomings of mainstream neoclassical economics on climate change in both mainstream and academic work.
In his book Economism, American law professor James Kwak highlights the problems with Economics 101 as it’s taught at universities around the world. He argues it leaves students with simplistic soundbites long after they’ve graduated that informs their political thinking in later life.
Her economic approach complements her libertarian approach that apparently involves courting right-wing groups that are often small government proponents.
When it comes to tariffs, textbook economics extols the benefits of free trade without addressing serious issues of environmental degradation and working conditions. Those studying this mainstream economic school of thought may have been left with the overwhelming impression that when the U.S. imposes tariffs, it only hurts itself.
Harvard economist Gregory Mankiw’s bestselling principles textbook shoots down arguments about how tariffs save jobs, protect infant industries, strengthen national security and prevent unfair competition.
Several Canadian economists don’t see economic merit in retaliatory tariffs and relegate the issue to politics. Trained within the mainstream neoclassical model, they also view tariffs as categorically harmful.
Australian economist Steve Keen has pointed out that mainstream economics did not have much to say about the global financial crisis in 2008. This is partly because of the belief in what’s known as the “efficient market hypothesis” that contends stocks always trade at fair value.
In terms of this “do nothing” approach in neoclassical economics, Smith’s response on retaliatory tariffs is therefore not surprising.
Steve Keen in an interview on the problems with neoclassical economics.
Alternative economics approaches
My approach to teaching economics is aimed at prioritizing worker rights, equality, environmental standards and local resilience, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic when supply chains were disrupted. I also believe unanimity is required for retaliatory economic sanctions and boycotts to work.
That’s because retaliatory tariffs and separate radical responses work when co-ordination difficulties and the “free rider” problem — meaning an individual benefits from collective effort without contributing — are minimized. A united front is required, which Smith is violating when she goes rogue in courting the American far right.
These perspectives don’t categorically reject tariffs. Instead, they highlight the role of targeted tariffs and focus on local resilience and workers’ rights, offering an alternative to the status quo.
Overall, these new models are a better alternative to Smith’s style of subservience, or do-nothing approaches based on inertia that has seeped into mainstream economics. Both of these outdated responses to American tariffs seem particularly dangerous during this tumultuous period in Canada-U.S. history.
Junaid B. Jahangir 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.
Friday’s devastating earthquakes in Myanmar not only caused mass casualties and widespread destruction, they also deepened long-standing gender inequalities – leaving millions of women and girls at heightened risk, UN aid agencies warned on Wednesday.
As emergency aid trickles in, women and girls who were already vulnerable due to years of conflict, displacement and economic instability, now face even greater risks from gender-based violence and exploitation, according to a UN-led coalition responding to the crisis.
“Girls are particularly vulnerable, especially when separated from their families or living in overcrowded shelters without adequate privacy,” it warned, stressing the need for protection measures.
“With many caregivers injured or killed, urgent efforts are needed to identify, protect and reunify unaccompanied and separated children.”
News outlets are reporting on Wednesday that Myanmar’s military junta has announced a temporary ceasefire from 2 to 22 April to facilitate emergency relief and rescue operations.
This follows an earlier ceasefire declaration by armed groups opposing the junta earlier this week.
Myanmar remains engulfed in a deepening crisis since the Tatmadaw – as the military is known – overthrew the democratically elected government in 2021, imprisoning top leaders, including President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.
Pre-existing vulnerabilities
While estimates indicate that up to 20 million people may be affected by the earthquakes, women and girls – who already made up more than half of the 10 million people in urgent need of aid before the disaster – face mounting challenges.
More than 100,000 pregnant women have been caught up in the chaos across central Myanmar, with 12,250 expected to give birth in April.
The destruction of health facilities and damage to roads and bridges have cut off access to essential reproductive health services, endangering pregnant women and survivors of gender-based violence who rely on medical support.
“Prior to the earthquakes, women and girls in Myanmar were already facing significant mental health stress due to prolonged conflict, political instability, and economic challenges. The disaster has deepened this stress,” UN agencies added.
In Sagiang, destroyed buildings show the aftermath of the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar on 28 March.
Prioritizing action
“Women, especially from crisis-affected communities, must be actively involved in designing and implementing assessments to ensure their priorities are reflected,” UN humanitarians underscored.
Women and girls need safe shelter, clean water, and enough food. Shelters should have locks, lights and private spaces. They need secure toilets and bathing areas, along with dignity kits and menstrual hygiene products.
Adequate lighting near water points and toilets can reduce the risk of gender-based violence, especially after dark, with agencies also stressing the need to involve women-led organizations in the response.
Many women-led NGOs “are on the ground and ready to provide support, drawing on their deep community ties and understanding of the context to effectively identify and respond to the specific needs of women and girls,” the UN agencies added.
Limited funding undermines relief
UN relief chief Tom Fletcher has issued an urgent appeal for increased funding to support the aid effort, warning that access to survivors is severely constrained.
While $5 million has been allocated from the UN Central Emergency Respond Fund (CERF) the response “has been hampered by a lack of funding”, he said on Tuesday, alongside disruptions to communications and transport networks.
“We are in contact with authorities on how the international community can do more. We must have unrestricted, safe access. All parties must uphold obligations to protect civilians,” he added.
“We deliver assistance through our valued partners and are deeply grateful to our donors for their swift support, enabling this rapid response. We are prepared to scale up our support as the full extent of the damage becomes clear,” said Sara Netzer, UNOPS Director in Myanmar.
Matthew Podolsky, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that JONATHAN DELAURA, a/k/a “Jon Dulak,” was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas to 485 months in prison for receiving, distributing and possessing child pornography, sending obscene material to a fifteen-year-old boy, and sending that obscene material while being a person required by law to register as a sex offender. DELAURA previously pled guilty on July 1, 2024.
Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said: “DeLaura possessed large quantities of child pornography and took advantage of a fifteen-year-old child, all while he was required by law to register as a sex offender. This case underscores the urgent need for law enforcement to continue its efforts to protect children from those who prey on them. As yesterday’s sentencing demonstrates, we will use every tool available to prosecute and punish those who sexually exploit children.”
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in related court proceedings:
On or about October 7, 2009, DELAURA was convicted, upon a guilty plea, of Sexual Misconduct: Engage in Oral/Anal Sexual Conduct Without Consent, in Bronx County Court. He was sentenced on December 16, 2009 to a term of 60 days’ imprisonment and six years’ probation, and he was required to register with the New York State Sex Offender Registry.
In December 2010, following DELAURA’s violation of probation, he was resentenced to a term of imprisonment of one year. He was released from prison in April 2011.
From at least on or about May 5, 2011, through on or about May 10, 2011, DELAURA received and distributed files containing images and videos of child pornography, in Westchester County, using a file-sharing program.
In or about November 2011, DELAURA contacted a 15-year-old boy (the “Victim”) in an Internet chat room claiming to be a 17-year-old girl and using the screen name “sillyrabbit.” After an exchange of messages, DELAURA sent sexually explicit photographs to the Victim. Thereafter, DELAURA met the Victim on two occasions and engaged in sexual activity with him. On February 2, 2012, when DELAURA tried to meet the Victim for a third time to engage in sexual activity, he was arrested by officers of the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department (“PCSD”). After DELAURA was arrested, a search warrant was executed at his residence and PCSD officers recovered an iPod, which contained approximately 162 videos containing images of child pornography and approximately 5 still photos of images containing child pornography. The iPod also contained the sexually explicit photographs DELAURA sent to the Victim.
On February 3, 2012, DELAURA was convicted of two counts of Criminal Sexual Act in the 3rd degree in Putnam County Court and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 32 months to 8 years. DELAURA completed that sentence on January 2, 2020, and has been incarcerated on the federal charges since then.
* * *
In addition to the prison term, DELAURA, 50, was sentenced to ten years of supervised release.
Mr. Podolsky praised the efforts of Homeland Security Investigations, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department, the Yorktown Police Department, the Putnam County District Attorney’s Office, the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, and the Ellington Police Department in New Jersey in connection with this investigation.
The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant United States Attorney Marcia S. Cohen is in charge of the prosecution.
MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Mario Caseiro-Antonio, 37, a Mexican national, was sentenced to 14 months in prison for reentry of a removed alien.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Caseiro-Antonio was stopped by law enforcement and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. After his arrest, officers determined he was in the country illegally and had been removed from the United States twice before.
Caseiro-Antonio will serve one year of supervised release following his prison sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Salem prosecuted the case on behalf of the government.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Customs and Immigration Enforcement and the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office investigated.
This investigation is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
NORFOLK, Va. – A Chesapeake man was sentenced yesterday to six years and eight months in prison for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.
According to court documents, on May 28, 2024, Portsmouth Police Chief Stephen Jenkins was conducting community relations near Norcom High School when he heard multiple gunshots and observed Cedrick William Davis, 39, discharging a firearm into the air. Chief Jenkins ran toward Davis and gave verbal commands. Davis then entered a vehicle and drove it toward Chief Jenkins before turning away and fleeing from the scene.
Investigators located Davis’ vehicle in a parking lot a few blocks away from the shooting incident. Law enforcement arrested Davis after observing him enter and then exit his apartment. Investigators located a backpack containing approximately a pound of marijuana, over 36 grams of cocaine, $1,090, and two firearms, including the handgun Davis fired earlier in the day.
Erik S. Siebert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Chief Jenkins; and Anthony A. Spotswood, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Washington Field Division, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Jamar K. Walker.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan M. Montoya prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:24-cr-105.
SANDY, Utah, April 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mountain America Credit Union recently announced the promotion of Nanette Graviet to senior vice president and chief risk officer. In her new role, Graviet will oversee governance, risk, compliance, and legal, as well as Mountain America’s risk management strategy. She will be responsible for overseeing the compliance management system and collaborating on all compliance risk-related tasks.
“Nanette’s extensive expertise and effective leadership make her the perfect candidate for this role,” said Sterling Nielsen, president and CEO at Mountain America. “Her vision and dedication to our organization will be crucial in advancing our risk management strategy, ensuring we maintain the highest standards of regulatory compliance and financial security for our members.”
Graviet began her career at Mountain America 31 years ago as a part-time teller. She steadily advanced through a variety of roles, leading teams in mortgage sales, member services, training, technology, public relations, quality control, and compliance.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to grow and learn throughout my career at Mountain America. I’ve been supported every step of the way by leaders who believed in me,” Graviet said. “What I love most about working here is the strong sense of purpose and the commitment we share to serve and protect our members. It’s an honor to continue that work in this new role.”
In November 2022, Graviet joined the executive leadership team as the senior vice president of enterprise risk management. In this role, she developed, communicated, and executed Mountain America’s risk management strategy, overseeing the compliance management system, and collaborating on all risk-related components for new initiatives, products, and services. Graviet also ensured all team members received education on regulations and compliance requirements that are critical to Mountain America’s continued success.
Prior to her credit union career, Graviet joined the U.S. Army Reserve in high school, completing basic and advanced training after graduation. Graviet is also an avid golfer and loves to spend time with her husband Jeff and their children.
About Mountain America Credit Union With more than 1 million members and $20 billion in assets, Mountain America Credit Union helps its members define and achieve their financial dreams. Mountain America provides consumers and businesses with a variety of convenient, flexible products and services, as well as sound, timely advice. Members enjoy access to secure, cutting-edge mobile banking technology, over 100 branches across multiple states, and more than 50,000 surcharge-free ATMs. Mountain America—guiding you forward. Learn more at macu.com.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Kiera Vaclavik, Professor of Children’s Literature & Childhood Culture, Queen Mary University of London
This spring, Babe is returning to cinemas to mark the 30th anniversary of its release in 1995. The much-loved family film tells the deceptively simple but emotionally powerful story of a piglet who saves his bacon through intelligence, kindness and hard work.
Babe becomes the trusted ally of both farmer and farmyard animals and, like so many Hollywood heroes before and since, he refuses to stay in his lane.
It’s a film which, on paper, really shouldn’t work and which sounds alarm bells to any self-respecting children’s literature scholar like me. It takes an expertly crafted English children’s book with tasteful black-and-white illustrations – Dick King-Smith’s The Sheep Pig (1983) – and turns it into an all-singing, all-dancing technicolour extravaganza.
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The film inserts new episodes and characters – an evil cat, a plucky duck and (most alarmingly) a brace of brattish kids. And it replaces a perfectly good, does-what-it-says-on-the-tin book title with the cutesy moniker of the piglet star.
It shouldn’t work … but it really, really does. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it’s one of the most successful film adaptations of a children’s book of all time.
It met with both commercial and critical success, making over US$254 million at the box office and being nominated for no less than seven Academy Awards, one of which it secured for visual effects.
So, what exactly is so special about Babe? It was one of the first films which, thanks to the then-cutting edge combination of animatronics and visual effects, delivered convincing talking animals who, endowed with the gift of speech, could themselves “look like movie stars”. But with all the jaw-dropping technological advances of the last 30 years, how has this film managed to stand the test of time so well?
The answer in part is that its source material is exceptionally strong. The Sheep Pig is written with restraint and economy, but also great warmth and relish. King-Smith has immense fun, wallowing in words like the proverbial pig in muck, and putting it all to the service of a story whose core values are easy to get behind. The Sheep Pig is a soft-power parable which advocates for brains over brawn, for respectful communication and common decency.
But the excellence of a film’s bookish bedrock is no guarantee of success. Indeed, the brilliance of a book can often be something of a liability. Think of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, or any of the film and TV adaptations of Noel Streatfeild’s superb Ballet Shoes. With Babe, though, the book is catalyst rather than straitjacket, an enabling prompt which initiates a new work of equal strength and quality.
The pacing is well judged, the look of the film lush, and there are several actual laugh-out-loud moments – including the duck’s panicked realisation that “Christmas means carnage!” Above all, it’s a film with immense emotional intelligence and power.
Recognised for its visual effects, it also succeeds in large part because of the strength of its soundscape and score. There’s one scene in particular which really soars, and which takes on the elephant in the room: the human habit of eating pigs.
Babe is so shocked and upset on learning this fact from the evil cat (who else?) that he loses the will not just to win in the sheepdog trial, but to live at all. The supremely taciturn Father Hoggett must act to make amends and save his pig protégé.
In an astonishingly moving act of love, this man of few words takes the sickly and sick-at-heart pig onto his lap and sings to him. At first a gentle crooning, the farmer’s expression of care and affection soon swells to an out-and-out bellow, accompanied by a wild, caution-to-the-wind dance.
It’s difficult to imagine a more lyrically apt song than the 1977 reggae-inflected hit based on the powerful tune of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 in C Minor: “If I had words”, it begins. It’s a moment of huge emotional force and intensity, in which the gaping abyss of age and species difference are bridged through music and dance.
James Cromwell as Farmer Hoggett, here and throughout the film, is tremendous, his reserved performance a key factor in its success. The role – which he almost didn’t take because of the paucity of lines – was career-defining, and prompted personal epiphanies which flow naturally from this scene.
First, Cromwell never ate meat again. Second, he has spoken (with visible emotion) of the delivery of the film’s final pithy-but-powerful line of approbation – “That’ll do pig, that’ll do” – as a moment of communion with his father on catching sight of his own artificially aged reflection in the camera lens. “My life changed, and I owe it to a pig,” the actor concludes.
Babe is a film and an adaptation with many qualities. It’s wholesome without ever being sickly. But above all, it has an emotional force which worked on actors and audiences alike and which, 30 years later, remains undiminished.
Kiera Vaclavik 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 extremist organisation had existed as a mere “paper state” since its founding as the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) in October 2006. But the video release of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declaring himself the caliph on July 4 2014 marked a turning point in contemporary history.
IS subsequently published hundreds of videos, some of which shocked the world with their graphic violence. Ideological enemies of the caliphate were executed by beheading or being burned alive.
But while the violence mobilised global opposition to what the then-US president, Barack Obama, called IS’s “bankrupt” ideology, the group used video as its go-to medium for IS propaganda and recruitment.
The group’s official videos, generally described as “slick” and “Hollywood-esque”, heavily emphasised two vital aspects of its identity: Islamic and state. The Islamic aspect of IS has been debated at length by scholars – especially the question of how much they had to do with Islam, if at all. But little research has been done to investigate the statehood claim made by IS.
The fact IS termed itself as Islamic State, or ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah
(الدولة الإسلامية) in Arabic, demonstrated its claim to be a state in the truest sense of the word – not just to citizens living in the territory it controlled, but to its supporters and enemies worldwide.
IS also presented evidence of state-building activities in the form of official propaganda releases. These aimed not only to back up its statehood claims but to seek recognition from its subjects and supporters for the caliphate project.
For our book, Islamic State, Media and Propaganda: Performances of the ‘Visual Caliphate’, we conducted an in-depth visual analysis of 374 official IS videos. These were published between the caliphate’s establishment in July 2014 and its dismantlement in July 2017, and collected from various online IS channels before their takedown in mid-2015, when Twitter started suspending thousands of pro-IS accounts en-masse.
We looked at the videos IS produced through four different analyses.
1. Population
The population analysis reveals IS’s portrayal of itself as a vibrant Islamic society. IS depicted its people as a cohesive community living under shariah law, emphasising gendered roles and the Bay’ah citizenship agreement, which privileged Sunni Muslims while marginalising minorities.
This analysis highlights the disproportionate portrayal of men as fighters and breadwinners. Women, meanwhile, were largely invisible on screen, confined to domestic roles as wives and mothers. Young boys were groomed as future fighters while girls were portrayed as “pearls of chastity” and trained to raise the next generation of the caliphate.
Surprisingly, women did make a one-off appearance when they were shown fighting alongside men on the battlefield as the caliphate was on its last legs.
2. Territory
This analysis unravels three stages of IS’s expansionist territorial strategy. First, identify enemy targets and territory. Second, attack and defeat the enemy. Finally, project the victory to followers and opponents alike.
The videos also show IS exercising sovereignty over its territory – aiming to legitimise its rule in the eyes of its subjects, and encourage global supporters to emigrate, join and defend IS.
The group projected itself as a de facto sovereign state capable of capturing, controlling and defending its territory with the help of modern technology such as drones, maps and weaponry. It depicted any severe military setbacks it suffered as a divine test – and heavily downplayed their importance.
3. Governance
This showcases IS’s efforts to project itself as a modern state by documenting its governance practices, including law enforcement, public services and administration. IS presented itself as a revolutionary state that brought peace and security to a war-torn region.
The governance mode of analysis highlights IS’s theatrical performances of its ability to run a state. Videos showed civil servants working in offices as well as civilians engaging with the state institutions they ran. They regularly featured state symbols such as the IS flag and its gold dinar currency.
These displays of performative governance were made at a time when the caliphate was constantly pummelled by military operations conducted by both US- and Russia-led coalitions.
Despite its strict Salafi identity (an orthodox Islamic movement that advocates a return to the practices and beliefs of the first three generations of Muslims), IS presented itself as a modern state by deploying tools such as its own branding, currency, infrastructure and taxation.
4. Foreign policy
IS interactions with other states and non-state actors were presented as foreign policy. It rejected the modern international system, which it deemed un-Islamic, and refused to seek recognition from the international community. Instead, IS engaged in “rebel diplomacy” with other jihadi groups. The aim was to co-opt them into its global network of affiliates.
Our analysis reveals how IS used civilian casualties caused by coalition airstrikes to justify terror attacks abroad. It also selectively quoted Islamic texts to legitimise its actions, and took matters into its own hands when religious teachings did not fit its narrative.
An example of this was the horrific burning alive of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh. According to a narrative attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, burning alive as a form of punishment is forbidden in Islam.
Our research underscores IS’s unique status as a jihadi organisation that came close to establishing a de facto state. This was an unprecedented feat in contemporary history, and shows how IS’s theatrical performances of statehood were carefully scripted and staged. Jihadi-led violence has subsided across the Middle East and North Africa since the territorial collapse of IS in 2017.
But it has risen in other regions of Asia and Africa, including Central Asia, East Africa and the Sahel region. So our findings can help in the understanding of how the blueprint of the caliphate might inspire and influence existing and future jihadi movements with statebuilding ambitions.
Moign Khawaja received funding from the Irish Research Council as part of the IRC-Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellowship.
Cycling is not only a way to reduce carbon emissions, it also has huge health benefits. LeManna/Shutterstock
The current UK government and its recent predecessors have shown a reluctance to encourage and enable lifestyle changes that reduce our collective demand for energy.
Fearing a backlash from voters, many UK politicians neglect key weapons in the fight to mitigate climate change. These include directing investment away from building roads to public transport, establishing reliable infrastructure for the charging and repair of electric vehicles, and making reduction of car travel a key priority for urban planners.
As researchers focusing on how to accelerate climate action, we argue that shying away from changing the way we live is counterproductive. Conflict and disagreement are part of social change, but there are positive ways forward.
The problems and, critically, the solutions have overwhelmingly been presented by UK governments as technological. But many of these technologies are still only in development.
Practical use of nuclear fusion (the energy-generating mechanism that powers the sun), for example, has long been spoken of as “30 years away”. The efficacy of direct air capture (a set of technologies that extract CO₂ directly from the atmosphere) remains a matter of conjecture.
In the run-up to the 2024 UK general election, we conducted a survey of almost 3,000 UK citizens – of which just over half (51%) expressed support for a net zero carbon emissions target. Given the apparent indifference or outright opposition of a substantial proportion of voters, it is not surprising that politicians seek to minimise objections to net zero policy by downplaying any suggestion of personal disruption.
Our survey also asked about people’s willingness to make specific lifestyle changes (to home energy, diet and travel) for climate reasons. On average, 43% were already acting or firmly planning to do so. Another 28% said they might be prepared to make such changes in the future.
Willingness to make climate-related lifestyle changes:
This ties in with other research which indicates that people are open to significant changes in their lifestyle to support net zero, if the conditions are right. So, how can this potential for change be realised?
The answer, we argue, lies in the recent past. Over the last year, as part of a social science taskforce on net zero, we looked back at a diverse range of case studies of societal change to draw lessons for future policy. We now propose that five key steps are needed for effective net zero action.
1. Galvanise people
When seeking to build support for contentious change, it is vital to identify issues that can galvanise people. These will often relate to other (non-net zero) benefits. For instance, “school streets” projects have been successful, where other traffic reduction policies have failed, because they emphasise the benefits to the health and wellbeing of children.
Similarly, the rapid switch from coal heating to gas central heating in the 1960s and ’70s was partly connected to a popular movement for cleaner, “decent” homes.
Identifying issues that unify people can galvanise support from local communities. Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock
2. Focus on fairness
In our survey, just 37% of people saw a fairer society as a likely outcome of net zero actions, while 63% identified individual finances as a major challenge to achieving net zero. Regulation needs to establish a close connection between net zero measures and equity, so that no groups are unfairly burdened or advantaged. This requires an honest discussion about downsides and trade-offs.
Measures that focus on cheaper bills, affordable devices, accessible transport and the alleviation of fuel poverty will build optimism. In the successful Danish transition to district heating from the mid-1970s, ensuring affordable and reliable energy was vital in gaining support, as was giving residents a say in decision-making.
3. Make the policy process relatable
We noticed that survey participants expressed a lot of cynicism and uncertainty about government action on net zero. Nearly half (46%) doubted that the net zero target was achievable, while most people (62%) had serious concerns about vested interests, under-resourced local authorities (59%), and a lack of government investment in infrastructure (59%).
People also feel disconnected from decision-making. Many said they had little or no influence on climate policy (59%), and felt there was a lack of power in communities (51%).
Local authorities, businesses, community groups and other third-sector organisations can help bridge these gaps between national government and everyday life. They should play a key role delivering net zero policies that fit with local needs and issues.
When Denmark switched to district heating, the delegation of powers to municipal authorities was crucial in supporting community ownership models and empowering residents and community groups. Properly resourced local climate commissions – town- and city-wide groups that bring together local organisations and businesses – can provide an independent, trusted voice to help drive climate action at a local level.
4. Listen to other people
People need the chance to listen to and engage with each other. If they doubt their opinions and concerns are recognised, or if their worries are viewed as nothing more than obstacles, conflict becomes more likely.
Proper dialogue through collaborations like climate citizens’ assemblies can improve understanding of different positions, aspirations and capabilities. Once legitimate concerns and unintended consequences have been identified, potential solutions can be explored.
There is certainly support for this more interactive approach: 40% of people in our survey felt that affected communities should have a considerable influence on climate policies, alongside local authorities (40%) and elected MPs (42%).
Without these ongoing conversations, projects can fail. A Dutch carbon capture and storage project, using a depleted gas field under the town of Barendrecht to store CO₂ from a nearby refinery, was cancelled in 2010 following intense local opposition. The government and industry had failed to get public engagement right from the start.
5. Accept some opposition
Change to net zero is going to be difficult, and no step the UK government takes will completely eliminate the possibility of disruption and conflict. In our survey, nearly a quarter of respondents were opposed to the UK net zero target. So, politicians need to be more robust and interventionist in making a positive case for net zero, recognising that not everyone is going to agree.
However, there are grounds to be optimistic that action itself may help unlock support for net zero. Research that has followed school streets projects, for example, shows that once schemes are in place, support among residents and parents increases when anticipated problems (such as traffic displacement) do not materialise – and when the benefits, in terms of children walking and cycling more, become clear.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
H.R. 618 would direct the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to grant utility and transportation rights-of-way to the Apex Industrial Park Owners Association; Clark County, Nevada; and the City of North Las Vegas, Nevada. The bill also would adjust the requirements for BLM to sell mineral materials, such as sand and gravel, stemming from activities within the Apex Industrial Park. The rights-of-way and the sales’ proceeds (a portion of which would be shared with the state of Nevada) would be subject to valid existing rights.
The receipts related to the processing of rights-of-way are classified in the budget as discretionary offsetting collections; that is, as reductions in discretionary spending. Spending of those collections is subject to annual appropriation. CBO expects that the additional processing fees collected under the bill would be spent soon thereafter so that the net effect on spending subject to appropriation would be negligible.
Additionally, any receipts generated from the sale of mineral materials and rents from the rights-of-way would be recorded in the federal budget as offsetting receipts—that is, as reductions in direct spending. Those receipts are deposited in the general fund of the Treasury. Based on information about similar activities, CBO estimates that the offsetting receipts would be small and that the net decrease in direct spending over the 2025-2035 period would be less than $500,000.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Kelly Durand. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
H.R. 2243 would expand the authority for some current off-duty and retired law enforcement officers to carry concealed firearms. Under the bill, those officers could carry concealed firearms in school zones, national parks, certain federal facilities, and private property and property owned by state and local governments that is open to the public or used for transportation purposes. Under current law, carrying a firearm in those locations is generally unlawful. H.R. 2243 also would allow states to reduce the frequency for which retired law enforcement officers must be certified to carry a concealed firearm.
Because the bill would not have a significant effect on the scope of work conducted by federal law enforcement officers, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would have no significant cost; any related spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
H.R. 2243 would impose private-sector and intergovernmental mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA). The bill expands an existing preemption of state and local laws by allowing qualified current and retired law enforcement officers to carry concealed firearms on public transport, certain government owned properties, and on public and private transportation carriers. That preemption of state law also imposes a private-sector mandate by restricting a private party’s right to prohibit firearms on private property.
Although it would limit the application of state and local laws, CBO estimates that the preemption would impose no costs. There also are no costs associated with the private-sector mandate.
The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Jeremy Crimm (for federal costs) and Erich Dvorak (for mandates). The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
Defendant used another person’s identity to rent apartments for drug trafficking
BOSTON – A Taunton has pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to participating in drug distribution and a drug conspiracy involving wholesale quantities of cocaine, fentanyl, fentanyl analogue and methamphetamine. He also pleaded guilty to using an unknowing individual’s identity and an unauthorized access device to fraudulently rent locations he used for the purposes of drug trafficking.
Terrence Pyrtle, a/k/a “Big T,” a/k/a “T,” a/k/a “big_t558,” 42, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams and more of cocaine, 400 grams and more of fentanyl, 100 grams and more of fentanyl analogue and methamphetamine; one count of possession with intent to distribute 500 grams and more of cocaine, 400 grams and more of fentanyl, 100 grams and more of fentanyl analogue and methamphetamine; one count of possession with intent to distribute 400 grams and more of fentanyl and 100 grams and more of fentanyl analogue; one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud and aggravated identity theft; one count of access device fraud; and one count of aggravated identity theft. U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris scheduled sentencing for July 17, 2025. Pyrtle was charged in April 2023, along with co-conspirator Ashley Roostaie.
Pyrtle and Roostaie utilized the personal identification information (including name, date of birth and Social Security number) of an unknowing individual to fraudulently enter into lease agreements for two apartments in Braintree and Somerville, which Pyrtle then used to participate in a drug conspiracy involving distribution quantities of cocaine, fentanyl, fentanyl analogue and methamphetamine. The drug conspiracy in which Pyrtle participated also extended to other locations across the state.
Pyrtle and Roostaie also created an email account and obtained a counterfeit driver’s license using the individual’s identification information. Pyrtle and Roostaie also used the individual’s identification information to obtain a Green Dot debit card account, which they used to make payments associated with the apartments. By placing the apartment leases under another individual’s personal identification information, Roostaie and Pyrtle were able to conceal their connection to and use of the apartments which were used by Pyrtle in furtherance of his drug distribution and drug conspiracy.
In February 2025, Roostaie pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced in May 2025.
The charge of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams and more of cocaine, 400 grams and more of fentanyl, 100 grams and more of fentanyl analogue, and methamphetamine provides for a sentence of at least 10 years and up to life in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $10 million. The charges of possession with intent to distribute 500 grams and more of cocaine, 400 grams and more of fentanyl, 100 grams and more of fentanyl analogue, and methamphetamine each provide for a sentence of at least 10 years and up to life in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $10 million. The charge of conspiracy to commit access device fraud and aggravated identity theft provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of access device fraud provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of aggravated identity theft provides for a mandatory two-year prison term consecutive to any term of imprisonment received on a predicate, substantive count, up to a one-year term of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Boston, Brockton, East Bridgewater and Bridgewater Police Departments and Plymouth County, Suffolk County and Bristol County Sheriff’s Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kaitlin R. O’Donnell David Cutshall of the Criminal Division are prosecuting the case.
This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
MINNEAPOLIS – Abdulkarim Farah, a Minneapolis man, has pleaded guilty to his role in providing a cash bribe to a juror in the Feeding Our Future trial, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.
On April 22, 2024, seven defendants went to trial before U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel for their roles in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme. Two of the defendants on trial were brothers of Abdulkarim Shafii Farah, 25. During the trial, Abdulkarim Farah conspired with his brothers and others to provide a cash bribe to one of the jurors—Juror 52—in exchange for returning a not guilty verdict in the trial.
According to court documents, after his co-defendants identified and decided to target Juror 52, Abdulkarim Farah conducted surveillance of Juror 52 and Juror 52’s house. Abdulkarim Farah sent a map of where Juror 52 parked while serving on the jury. Co-defendant Ladan Ali was recruited to deliver the bribe money to Juror 52, and Abdulkarim Farah was instructed to drive Ali to Juror 52’s house and record a video of Ali delivering the bribe. After meeting Ali in the vicinity of Juror 52’s house, Abdulkarim Farah drove to a Target store to purchase a screwdriver. Abdulkarim Farah used the screwdriver to remove the license plate from Ali’s rental car in order to avoid detection by law enforcement.
On June 2, 2024, at approximately 8:50 p.m., Abdulkarim Farah drove Ali to Juror 52’s house and recorded her delivering a gift bag containing the bribe money. As Ali handed the money to a relative of Juror 52, she explained that there would be more money if Juror 52 voted to acquit the defendants. After the bribe money was delivered, Abdulkarim Farah sent the video he had taken to his brother, Abdiaziz Farah. After the bribe had been disclosed in court, on June 3, 2024, Abdulkarim Farah uninstalled and deleted the Signal encrypted messaging app from his iPhone in order to destroy the messages he and his co-defendants exchange concerning the bribery attempt.
Abdulkarim Farah pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court before Judge David S. Doty to one count of bribery of a juror. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later time.
“The attempted bribery of Juror 52 is a shameful chapter in Minnesota history,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick. “Juror bribery strikes at the heart of the criminal justice system. It is unacceptable—in Minnesota and in the United States—and can never be repeated. In contrast to the reprehensible behavior of the defendants, I am grateful for Juror 52, who is the true hero of this story. Juror 52—who could not be corrupted and immediately alerted law enforcement—represents the best of Minnesota.”
“Attempting to corrupt the judicial process through bribery strikes at the very foundation of our justice system,” said Special Agent in Charge Alvin M. Winston Sr. of FBI Minneapolis. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners will not tolerate efforts to undermine the rule of law and the fair administration of justice.”
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI with assistance from IRS – Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph H. Thompson, Matthew Ebert, Harry Jacobs, and Daniel Bobier are prosecuting the case.
NEW YORK, April 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Digital Domain (OTCQX: DDHLY; Hong Kong Stock Exchange: 547), focused on visual effects, AI and virtual human business, today announced that Mr. William Wong, CEO, will present at the AI & Technology Virtual Investor Conference hosted by VirtualInvestorConferences.com, on April 3rd, 2025
DATE: April 3rd 2025 TIME: 4:00 PM ET LINK:REGISTER HERE
All questions from investors will be recorded and forwarded to the company after the event. The company will answer the relevant questions as soon as practicable.
It is recommended that online investors pre-register and run the online system check to expedite participation and receive event updates.
Digital Domain and Toppan Holdings launched the collaboration of photorealistic virtual human solutions using biometric data from real human, aiming to increase efficiency and productivity of human services in diverse applications.
Digital Domain teamed up with AWS to expand our virtual human solutions across the AWS cloud networks with scalability and flexibility.
Digital Domain partnered with Plaza Premium Group, the largest independently run pay-in airport lounge in the world with presence of over 80 airports, to launch an innovative virtual human hospitality service.
For more details of the above announcements, you may refer to: IR Digital Domain
About Digital Domain
Digital Domain is a pioneer in the virtualization of sensory experiences. After more than 3 decades of evolution, Digital Domain has transformed from a Hollywood company to achieve global expansion in fields such as VFX, AI Virtual Human, and Visualization. Digital Domain’s rich legacy comprises hundreds of films and TV series, thousands of commercials, game graphics, and experimental immersive experiences. The most outstanding achievements include: academy awards for “Best Visual Effects” in the films Titanic, What Dreams May Come, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, blockbuster classics such as The Avengers series, and the 4th season of the popular word-of-mouth hit show Stranger Things.
Digital Domain has charted a pioneering course into the realms of AI and virtual reality since 2016, revolutionizing the creation of emotionally expressive and photorealistic virtual humans in real-time. The company’s AI Virtual Human technology is widely applicable across diverse sectors such as healthcare and elderly service, training and education, concierge service, BFSI, the public sector, Entertainment etc. It enhances service efficiency, user experience, and business value.
Digital Domain is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (Stock code: 547) and is headquartered in Hong Kong. Digital Domain maintains operations in multiple cities including Los Angeles, Vancouver, Montreal, Beijing, Shanghai, Hyderabad, and more. For more information, visit the official website – www.digitaldomain.com.
About Virtual Investor Conferences® Virtual Investor Conferences (VIC) is the leading proprietary investor conference series that provides an interactive forum for publicly traded companies to seamlessly present directly to investors.
Providing a real-time investor engagement solution, VIC is specifically designed to offer companies more efficient investor access. Replicating the components of an on-site investor conference, VIC offers companies enhanced capabilities to connect with investors, schedule targeted one-on-one meetings and enhance their presentations with dynamic video content. Accelerating the next level of investor engagement, Virtual Investor Conferences delivers leading investor communications to a global network of retail and institutional investors.
CONTACTS:
Digital Domain
Kavita Maharaj Smith
Arthur Ma
Director of Marketing Communications and Public Relations
BILLINGSHURST, WEST SUSSEX, UNITED KINGDOM, April 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Energys Group Limited (NASDAQ: ENGS) (“Energys Group” or the “Company”), a vertically integrated energy efficiency and decarbonization solutions provider for the built environment, today announced the closing of its initial public offering (the “Offering”) of 2,250,000 ordinary shares (the “Ordinary Shares”) at a public offering price of US$4.50 per Ordinary Share, for total gross proceeds of US$10,125,000 before deducting underwriting discounts and other offering expenses. The Offering closed on April 2, 2025 and the Ordinary Shares began trading on The Nasdaq Capital Market on April 1, 2025, under the ticker symbol “ENGS.”
The Company has granted the underwriters an option, within 45 days from the date of the prospectus, to purchase up to an additional 337,500 Ordinary Shares at the initial public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions, to cover over-allotments, if any.
The Offering was conducted on a firm commitment basis. American Trust Investment Services, Inc. (“American Trust”) acted as the representative of the underwriters for the Offering. Schlueter & Associates, P.C. acted as U.S. counsel to the Company, and DeMint Law, PLLC acted as U.S. counsel to American Trust, in connection with the Offering.
The Company intends to use the proceeds from this Offering 1) to expand its operating network in the United Kingdom; 2) for inventory procurement; 3) to establish operating subsidiaries in the United States; 4) to identify and pursue merger and acquisition opportunities; 5) to expand research and development capabilities; 6) to repay certain bank borrowings; and 7) to use as general working capital.
A registration statement relating to the Offering, as amended (File No. 333-275956), was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), and was declared effective by the SEC on March 14, 2025.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the securities described herein, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.
The Offering is being made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the final prospectus related to the Offering may be obtained from American Trust, Attn: Syndicate Department, 1244 119th Street, Whiting, IN 46394, via email at ib@amtruinvest.com, or via telephone at (219) 473-5542. In addition, a copy of the final prospectus can be obtained via the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
About Energys Group
Founded in 1998 as an energy conservation consultancy, Energys Group Limited (NASDAQ: ENGS) (“Energys Group” or the “Company”) has since transitioned into a vertically integrated energy efficiency and decarbonization solutions provider for the built environment. Serving organizations from both the private and public sectors, including schools, universities, hospitals and offices, primarily in the UK, the Company’s vision is to deliver innovative solutions that reduce carbon emissions, lower costs and support Net Zero agenda – alongside improving the wellbeing of building users within the built environment.
Forward-Looking Statements
All statements other than statements of historical fact in this announcement are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that the Company believes may affect its financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. Investors can identify these forward-looking statements by words or phrases such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “potential,” “continue,” “is/are likely to” or other similar expressions. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring events or circumstances, or changes in its expectations, except as may be required by law. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and the Company cautions investors that actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results and encourages investors to review other factors that may affect its future results in the Company’s registration statement and in its other filings with the SEC.
For more information, please contact: DLK Advisory Phone: +852-2857-7101 Email: ir@dlkadvisory.com
RICHLAND – Work to improve sections of State Route 240 in Richland will pave the way for safer and more efficient traveling conditions for all roadway users.
The Washington State Department of Transportation and contractors have started work on an $8 million project to build new lanes for drivers to safely merge on and off SR 240. Crews will also install a noise wall, and update traffic signals, pedestrian crossings, lights and signs.
“We understand that construction can be an inconvenience, but traveler safety and the safety of workers is our top priority,” said Alejandro Sanguino, WSDOT project engineer. “The project will help reduce congestion and improve operations and safety in the area, but please slow down, stay alert and help us all get home safely during construction.”
In March, construction began on the noise wall along the south portion of SR 240 along the Moon River RV Resort. This month, paving and repairs start along Kingsgate, Battelle Boulevard and Stevens Drive. Travelers should expect travel restrictions during the weekdays.
Starting in June, work on the Hagen Road and SR 240 intersection will begin to include reconstruction and widening of SR 240 and signal modifications. Travelers can expect nightly closures between 6 p.m. and 4 a.m. Sunday evening through Saturday morning. A signed detour will direct travelers to use Kingsgate Way, Battelle Boulevard and Stevens Drive to SR 240. The project is expected to finish in August.
Drivers are encouraged to plan their trips by using WSDOT’s real-time travel map to help avoid delays.
London, UK, April 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — If you’re looking for the most worthwhile cryptocurrency investment opportunity in 2025, but don’t want to constantly monitor the markets, engage in frequent trading, or take on high volatility risks, then this legally compliant cloud mining app might be the solution you’re looking for. It’s not only suitable for users who want to enter Bitcoin investing with low barriers but also ideal for those who care about asset security, stable returns, and ease of use. Instead of blindly chasing price fluctuations, using an intelligent tool to build a “passive income stream from crypto” that works anytime and anywhere seems to be a more rational approach for long-term wealth management.
Scene One: On the subway, you’re scrolling through your phone, and the system is silently “mining BTC for you”
Kevin, an Australian designer, opens the SpeedHash App every morning during his commute to check how much Bitcoin he earned the previous day. He doesn’t own mining equipment, nor does he track Bitcoin prices, but his account steadily grows with Bitcoin every day.
This is the passive income solution provided by SpeedHash—an easy-to-use Bitcoin investment tool that requires no equipment, supports both Android and iOS, and provides real-time payouts. All you need to do is register, and the platform will give you $18 worth of free hashrate, no deposit required, with earnings that are instantly available for withdrawal. It’s as simple as “earn Bitcoin passively with your phone.”
What is it? A Legally Compliant Bitcoin Cloud Mining Platform Powered by Cloud Hashing
TheSpeedHash App combines the computing power of a cloud mining platform with the convenience of mobile users, allowing ordinary people to easily and safely participate in the accumulation of crypto assets:
No need for mining machines, wallets, or technical knowledge
Register and get free hashrate instantly, view daily Bitcoin earnings at any time
Legally compliant cloud mining platform with operational licenses in the US, Bhutan, and Kazakhstan
All earnings are automatically settled daily
Available for both Android and iOS users, globally accessible
Rather than just being a “mining tool,” it functions as a mobile passive income generator, your digital wealth-building assistant for Bitcoin.
What’s the best Bitcoin cloud mining configuration if you have $100,000 to invest?
Many investors prefer not to bet all their funds on price speculation but instead seek to earn steady returns through mining. SpeedHash offers short-term high-return contract plans, making it ideal for investments in the $10K to $100K range.
Investment (USD)
Duration (Days)
Daily ROI
Daily Earnings
Total Return (USD)
$10,000
2
3.5%
$350
$10,700
$24,000
3
4.2%
$1,008
$27,024
$100,000
3
7.8%
$7,800
$123,400
$138,000
3
8.2%
$11,316
$171,348
These plans are suitable for investors seeking fast returns + stable cash flow, especially in a long-term Bitcoin bull market, as this approach helps mitigate market volatility.
These Users Are Earning Bitcoin Easily with Their Phones
Bitcoin investment beginners: Those looking to enter the crypto market with low risk
Finance-focused users: Prefer steady cash flow rather than market speculation
Overseas users looking for a legally compliant cloud mining platform: Those concerned about platform legitimacy or regulatory issues
Digital workers looking to create passive income via their phones: Students, freelancers, or regular office workers
Middle-class users looking to allocate $100K in crypto assets: Those aiming to diversify their investment portfolio
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How the Shuqiao barges may be used to ferry troops ashore. X (formerly Twitter)
China’s intentions when it comes to Taiwan have been at the centre of intense discussion for years. Both mainland China and Taiwan claim to represent the “real” China after the Kuomintang nationalist party under Chiang Kai Shek retreated across the Taiwan Strait and established the Republic of China there in 1949. Ever since then, mainland China – the People’s Republic – has maintained a claim over Taiwan.
But in recent years, Chinese leaders – including the current president, Xi Jinping – have talked of plans for “reunification” which would bring Taiwan and its population of 23 million under the control of Beijing. By force if necessary.
Now, the recent appearance of a handful of odd-looking barges at a beach in Guangdong province in the People’s Republic may be a significant movement towards that unwelcome potential outcome.
The Shuiqiao barges filmed in March 2025 working together to form a relocatable bridge – the name means “water bridge” – enable the transfer of vehicles, supplies and people between ship and shore, over shallow beaches and potential obstacles on to firm ground. Analysts have already pointed out that there is no obvious commercial role for such large vessels, so the most likely purpose is for landing armed forces during amphibious operations.
All major navies maintain some form of amphibious capability. The UK’s Royal Fleet Auxiliary, for example, operates the UK’s three bay class landing ships, which are due to be replaced by six modern multi-role strike ships. What is particularly significant, however, is that the Shuiqiao offers capabilities along similar lines to the Mulberry harbours built for the D-Day Normandy landings.
The specialised nature of these landing barges, with only one real purpose – to help land large numbers of military forces, stands in contrast with mainstream amphibious vessels. Bay class ships, for example, continue to be used for civilian evacuations, humanitarian aid, disaster relief and a wide range of military roles.
That is a crucial distinction as amphibious operations present huge logistical challenges. D-Day required 850,000 troops, 485,000 tons of supplies and 153,000 vehicles to be landed safely over the first three weeks. Ports tend to be difficult to seize intact, as was demonstrated to great cost during the 1942 raid on Dieppe, so it is generally necessary to land armies over the invasion beaches.
The ability to install temporary harbours, which is what the Shuiqiao bridges appear to provide, offers a means of quickly landing large forces from bigger ships to shore. That also reduces the number of specialised landing ships required, by enabling the use of commercial vessels for ferrying troops to those makeshift ports.
Is an invasion of Taiwan imminent?
What is of concern is that such specialised landing barges are not normally constructed until shortly before they are intended to be used. The Mulberry harbours went into production only a year before the Normandy landings. This is both to ensure they are in good working order when required, but also as they tend to offer little additional value and yet come at a significant price. In this present case, the nearest comparable civilian and military vessels cost hundreds of millions of dollars each.
This does not mean that their appearance guarantees that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is imminent. At present there are reported to be three completed prototype landing barges ready for deployment and three under construction. This would offer one or two beach bridges, each an estimated 820 metres long.
That would be of minimal value in a major invasion. The single US Navy Jlots modular floating pier in Gaza, for example, was only able to land 8,800 tonnes of aid in 20 days. While the Gaza effort was affected by bad weather, any Shuiqiao landing bridges would face much more dangerous wartime conditions. Three to six barges could also still plausibly be intended for disaster relief, even if does not seem a particularly cost-effective means of delivering aid.
How the US Jlot floating pier works.
But if the number of these barges continues to increase then the assumption must be that a major amphibious expedition is likely within the next decade. Historically, neither the UK, US or any other major power has maintained more than a handful of such highly specialised landing vessels, except for when they intended to use them. In the case of these barges the target may not necessarily be Taiwan – although it would be the most obvious target.
Assuming that an invasion does not trigger a world war, it might still be unsuccessful. Despite years of preparation and near complete control of the sea and skies, the Normandy landings were incredibly perilous and at times looked at risk of defeat. Success came at great cost in lives, through great skill, and at times a little luck. More than 4,400 allied soldiers are believed to have died within the first 24 hours alone, with many more wounded.
Furthermore, getting forces ashore is only part of the challenge. Taiwan’s geography is not suited to rapid movement inland and in similar historic cases that has led to significant additional casualties and delays.
The battle of Anzio during the 1944 invasion of Italy, for example, registered tens of thousands of casualties as the allies struggled to break out of the beachhead. Likewise, at Gallipoli in 1915, repeated failures to move inland saw allied forces suffer hundreds of thousands of casualties only to eventually withdraw.
As a historian who is fond of China, I can only hope that these prototypes will remain just that and this will join the list of other forgotten moments in world history. If not, then the conflicts we have seen since the cold war and even those of the past few years may look minor in comparison to what could be unleashed as a result of an invasion of Taiwan.
Matthew Heaslip is a Visiting Fellow at the Royal Navy’s Strategic Studies Centre.
Whether you’re an avid runner or frequently go to the gym, many fitness enthusiasts find they eventually get stuck in a routine – logging the same miles or doing the same workout over and over again.
What if there were a way to challenge both endurance and strength at once with an effective, varied training routine?
Welcome to Hyrox – the increasingly popular fitness race that blends endurance running and strength. Designed for everyday athletes and elite competitors alike, Hyrox offers an accessible yet competitive race format.
By focusing on functional fitness, this workout provides a structured way for people to push their limits while training for a clear goal. It also comes with many physiological benefits regardless of your skill level – including strength, endurance and power.
Athletes run 8km in total, but after each kilometre they must complete a functional fitness exercise. In a Hyrox race, the first exercise is 1,000m on a ski ergometer, followed by a 50m sled push, a 50m sled pull, 80m of burpee broad jumps, a 1,000m row, a 200m farmer’s carry, 100m walking sandbag lunges – finishing with 100 wall balls.
A Hyrox race can be competed individually, in pairs, or in a team of four done in a relay-format. The difficulty of the race depends on your skill level. Athletes in the pro division work with heavier weights than the open division. Those competing as a pair split the stations but run together – adding teamwork to the race.
The average finish time of a Hyrox race is 90 minutes – though this can vary depending on a person’s age, gender and fitness level. Elite racers will aim for a sub-60 time – with current world records set at around 50 minutes.
A race of this duration and intensity puts serious physiological stress on the body – which requires a good level of overall fitness.
Transitioning between runs and exercises causes the body to shift between different energy systems during Hyrox. The aerobic system uses oxygen to steadily fuel the muscles over a period of time. This is essential for the running segments. The anaerobic system, on the other hand, provides short bursts of energy without needing oxygen. This is crucial for the high-intensity exercise portions.
The adrenaline and intensity of the race also means your endurance, explosive power and strength are put to the test simultaneously. Without adequate training and a race plan, this could leave you feeling fatigued towards the end of the race, which can affect your coordination and power.
Hyrox training
Because Hyrox is a new competition format, research on its training benefits is limited. But some early findings suggest that a successful race performance is linked to the amount of training a person puts in ahead of competition and their overall fitness levels. This aligns with what we know about endurance and strength-based training.
The combination of running and intense exercises over a long duration challenges the body’s ability to use oxygen efficiently. Training for Hyrox can lead to improvements in the aerobic capacity or maximum oxygen uptake (VO₂ max), a measure of aerobic fitness.
An improvement in VO₂max means your body can use oxygen more efficiently, allowing you to sustain higher intensities of exercise for longer periods of time. This improves endurance, helps you maintain speed throughout the race and contributes to overall cardiovascular health.
Training for Hyrox requires a balanced approach of running, strength training and Hyrox-specific workouts. This training strategy is known as concurrent training. Research shows concurrent training has benefits for strength, muscular health and cardio-respiratory fitness in people of all ages.
Regular long runs of 40-60 minutes at a low intensity help improve aerobic capacity as well. This allows your body to use oxygen more efficiently for sustained effort. Meanwhile, high-intensity interval runs – such as repeatedly running 400m to 1km with short rest periods of 30-60 seconds – improves your body’s anaerobic threshold. This means you can sustain higher intensities of exercise for longer before fatigue sets in.
The functional stations require full-body strength and muscular endurance, which will be built up gradually as you train for a race. Once you’re more familiar with these exercises, you can begin practising them under fatigue. This is essential for both performance during a race and for preventing injuries.
To maximise performance, a typical weekly training plan should prioritise endurance training over strength training to ensure you are well-prepared to finish a Hyrox race. For the best results, this structured approach should be followed for at least six weeks.
Even without signing up for a race, Hyrox training can give you fitness benefits. You can modify the exercises and how much you run depending on your fitness level.
An all-round Hyrox programme does not just improve functional fitness – it pushes athletes to new limits with a clear, goal-oriented training approach. Whether you’re an elite racer or just looking for a new fitness challenge, Hyrox offers a unique test of endurance and strength.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Maximilienne Toetie Allaart, Postdoctoral Researcher in Gut Microbiome Research, University of Tübingen
The smell of your farts can give you clues about what’s keeping your gut microbes busy.Roquillo Tebar/ Shutterstock
We’ve all been there: you try your best to keep it in, but you just can’t hold it anymore. You have to let it slip – how bad could it be? Then the unpleasant smell wafts your way, and all you can do is hope that no one comes near you for the next couple of minutes.
However uncomfortable or embarrassing they are, farts are natural and a sign that your digestive system is alive. Quite literally, actually. It’s not just your own body that’s responsible for producing gases. Trillions of microbes live in your gut, helping you digest your food – and producing farts in the process.
Our gut microbes play an indispensable role in our health. This is why it’s so important to take good care of them. And, bizarre as it might sound, the smell of your farts can actually tell you something about what’s keeping your gut microbes busy.
Gassy gut microbes
Your gut microbiome is as personal as your fingerprint. There can be significant variation between people in the specific microbes present in their guts.
In general, your gut microbes work together to turn large molecules (the sugars, fats, proteins and fibres that are extracted from the foods we eat) into small molecules – mainly volatile fatty acids and gases. These fatty acids feed the cells lining the colon, while the gases naturally escape our body – sometimes quietly, sometimes explosively.
The large molecules that we consume in our food mainly consist of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and, in smaller amounts, nitrogen and sulphur atoms. These give our gut microbes the capacity to produce different gases – such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen gas, methane and hydrogen sulphide.
While carbon dioxide, hydrogen and even methane gas are odourless, hydrogen sulphide is extremely smelly. This gas produces that rotten egg smell you might be familiar with in your own farts’ fragrance profile.
The gases that are produced by our gut microbes also serve as a vehicle for other smelly molecules – such as the volatile fatty acids mentioned earlier.
Our fatty acid molecules mainly exist in the gut as dissolved compounds. But when there’s gas present, a part of these molecules becomes “volatile”. This means they can be carried around by the gas, making them a bit like hitchhikers on their way out of the gut.
The three most important volatile fatty acids are acetate, propionate and butyrate. While these are all associated with good gut health, they’re also rather smelly. They reek of vinegar, smelly gym socks and vomit, respectively, and I can tell you from experience with them in the lab that they’re quite pungent.
There are also molecules that simply smell like, well, farts – such as indole and skatole. These molecules are produced when the amino acid tryptophan – one of the building blocks of protein – ferments in the large intestine. The molecular structure of indole and skatole not only makes them very adept at lingering, but also gives them the capacity to partition into gas. This means they can also be carried out of our guts and into the world by our non-smelly, friendly gut gases.
Food versus farts
There’s a correlation between what you eat, how much gas your belly creates and how the gas smells. This is because each food affects your body and your gut microbes differently.
For instance, hydrogen sulphide – the smelliest of the gases our gut microbes make – can only be produced if your food contains sulphur. Sulphur is typically found in the amino acids cysteine and methionine, which are part of proteins. There are generally higher levels of these amino acids in animal proteins (such as eggs and red meat) than in plant proteins.
In general, proteins are more likely to produce malodorous gas because they contribute to a process called putrefaction – the fermentation of excess protein in the large intestine. This same process makes those extra-stinky indole and skatole molecules. So, too much protein fermentation can cause foul smells – and is also linked to negative health effects, such as ulcerative colitis and bowel cancer.
But don’t worry, there’s no need to cut out proteins altogether. Your body actually needs them. If you eat the right amount for your body, most protein will be digested in the small intestine to fuel our cells. It’s only when you eat way too much protein that the excess can’t be used and ends up in the colon, where smelly molecules of all kinds will be produced from it.
You might also have noticed that fibre-rich foods, such as beans, make you gassy. Fibres cause more gas production because our body lacks the capacity to break down fibre by itself. This means that all the fibre we ingest will reach our large intestine, where the microbes do the heavy lifting of breaking them down into health-promoting volatile fatty acids. Fortunately, fibre-rich foods are mainly associated with the production of hydrogen and carbon dioxide, our non-smelly intestinal gases.
Your gut is a complex jungle of interactions between the body, its microbes and your food. And just as each person’s microbiome is unique, so is the scent of the gas it produces.
Although farts aren’t exactly ideal, it’s important to remember they’re a sign that your microbes are working. Having a diverse microbiome is related to good gut health. Eating diverse foods will help you maintain a diverse set of microbes. Exercise is also a good way to ensure your digestive system can move everything – including gases – around as it should.
Maximilienne Toetie Allaart receives funding from the Alexander von Humboldt foundation.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By James Fletcher, Lecturer (Assistant Professor), Management Information, Decisions & Operations at the Institute for Digital Security and Behaviour, University of Bath
For Paul, a finance administrator, things came to a head when his report mistakenly included £7,000,000 of costs rather than £700,000. Fearing accusations of fraud, Paul disclosed his recent dementia diagnosis to his boss.
Six weeks of sick leave became six months, and then a stepping stone to early retirement. Several years later, Paul regrets his unwanted unemployment, but at the time there didn’t seem to be an alternative.
Paul was participating in an unrelated study about public transport when he told us about his unemployment. As researchers, we had heard many similar accounts – so we decided to dig down into the research on work and dementia. We were curious about how typical Paul’s experience was of the trajectories of people diagnosed while working.
For some, this takes the form of redundancy or retirement. For others – like Paul – a period of temporary leave gradually evolves into a permanent exit.
Alongside workforce ageing, digital transformation is perhaps the single most important development in modern industry. Almost all our working lives are now shaped by digital technologies in some form.
Older people are often stereotyped as technologically incompetent. This can be even worse for people with dementia. When exciting digital innovations are discussed in relation to them, the focus is almost always on providing care. But someone diagnosed with dementia in their 60s today might have been blogging in their 30s, scrolling social media on a phone in their 40s and using a smart home assistant in their 50s.
The tech is here already
The reality is that many people with dementia use digital tools every day. This ranges from familiar products like Google Maps to more cutting-edge technologies. A person with dementia recently introduced us to their voice-activated AI companion, with which they watch and discuss films. These companions can provide vital social interaction for people fearing judgement or isolation because of their cognitive decline.
Far from being a barrier, digital technologies could offer ways to help people with dementia to enjoy positive working lives, just as they help workers who don’t have dementia. The trick is to use them to tailor work and workplaces to the individual.
For example, if a worker is struggling to remember appointments, automated and shared calendar scheduling can take care of that. If a worker has impaired wayfinding, mapping apps can be tailored to working environments and live location data can be used to guide staff around complicated sites. This is hardly futuristic tech. Many of us would struggle without our online calendars and maps.
Research shows that touchscreens can be particularly challenging for older people with dementia. To make interfaces more suitable, developers could encourage the integration of voice-operated smart assistants into employee workstations (think of Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri).
While discussions of dementia often focus on memory loss, the various types of dementia are associated with a wide range of symptoms. One very common symptom is the struggle to find the right words. But recent developments in generative AI (like OpenAI’s ChatGPT) are proficient at predicting and expressing the next word in a sequence.
These tools are also excellent at transforming text into different formats. Guidance on dementia-friendly information recommends features such as large fonts, single-clause sentences and single-syllable words.
A generative AI tool could quickly transform documents into dementia-friendly formats. The integration of these tools into emailing and writing applications could make a lot of work far more accessible to people with dementia.
These days, it makes little sense for workers to be manually entering costings into a spreadsheet. Dementia or no dementia, these practices are ripe for human error. By outsourcing them to digital technologies, we can free up our ageing workforces to use their unmatched skills, such as networking and experience.
Getting the balance right can free an employee with dementia from tasks they find challenging to maximise their other skills and experience. fizkes/Shutterstock
In practice, employers will likely be responsible for supporting positive working lives with dementia in the future. The best way to do this will be to develop strategies, in consultation with people with dementia, that identify interventions suitable for the workplace. Then, when an employee is diagnosed, they can pick and mix a personalised collection of tools to address their needs.
Right now, we are not aware of any workplace that has such a strategy. But many organisations already have robust policies for other conditions. Our own employer, the University of Bath, has a repository of reasonable adjustments that can be tailored to support staff and students experiencing mental illness. Dementia could be approached in much the same way.
The UK government is currently attempting to increase the number of people with disabilities participating in the labour market. It is simultaneously driving an agenda to increase the use of AI throughout the country.
The potential of a digital working life for people with dementia highlights both promise and peril. Simply forcing every person into work is a surefire way of turning challenging situations into real problems. But providing tailored support for those who want to work can enrich organisations and workers alike.
James Fletcher receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and the Wellcome Trust.
Olivia Brown 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 Will Hawkes, Insect Migration Researcher, College of Life and Environmental Science, University of Exeter
As I sprinted across the flower-rich meadow on the eastern coast of Cyprus, I could barely see my car. The air was full of tiny black dots, pelting like bullets past me. I hauled open the car door and breathed a sigh of relief once inside. I was surrounded by millions of flies, amid the most incredible migration event I have ever seen.
The migration cameras my team and I use to monitor these insects counted nearly 6,000 flies per metre per minute. Being hit by a fly travelling over 25mph (helped by the wind) hurts enough to make you want shelter quickly.
All of these flies had just travelled at least 60 miles (100km) across open sea from the Middle East to Cyprus. This journey forms part of their springtime migration towards northern Europe.
Butterflies and dragonflies are well-known insect migrants, but not because they’re the most numerous. That title is given to the flies. I have studied all of the insects migrating through Cyprus and the Pyrenees on the France-Spain border. Flies make up nearly 90% of all migrants. Yet they have been consistently overlooked by scientists and their ecological contribution has been hugely underappreciated.
My colleagues and I set out to change this. We have spent months collecting written sources that mentioned fly migration from anywhere in the world. Our findings, now published in Biological Reviews, could change our perception of flies forever. Previously, nobody really knew the extent to which flies migrated, yet they are the most numerous and most ecologically important of all terrestrial migrants.
Fly migration has been part of written human history for millennia. In the book of Exodus, when the pharoah of Egypt didn’t let Moses’s people go, God sent a plague of flies to change his mind. Then God removed flies from the land until “not a fly remained”. This last biblical quote is key.
If these flies had been misidentified mayflies coming out of the river Nile, which are known to amass in huge numbers, their exhausted bodies would have remained for days. Because they all disappeared without a trace, this suggests a huge migration of flies. Egypt is on an important fly migration route. So perhaps fly migration was significant enough to be the subject of divine intervention.
Flies migrate to reproduce, moving to exploit seasonal food resources. All over the world, it’s mostly females that migrate. They have been recorded migrating through mountain passes high in the Himalayas, on ships hundreds of miles out to sea in the Gulf of Mexico and in their millions migrating through western Europe. Amazingly, while on fieldwork in the Maldives, I saw Forcipomyia midges use their soft foot hairs to stick to dragonfly wings to hitch a lift over the Indian Ocean.
Vital roles
Flies are so important to the planet and to us. No other group of terrestrial migrants (including vertebrates such as mammals) are as ecologically diverse as flies. More than half (62%) of all migrating flies, including hoverflies, are pollinators. Without them, food crop production would decline.
As they migrate, flies transport and disperse pollen between flowers. This could help plants adapt to climate change by maintaining genetic diversity.
Many migratory fly species (34%) are decomposers, ensuring the planet isn’t covered in rotting carcasses and animal dung. One study showed that the larvae of just 50 houseflies (Musca domestica), – the very ecologically similar and equally abundant autumn housefly Musca autumnalis migrate south through the Pyrenees in their millions – can decompose up to 444kg of pig manure.
The ecological roles of flies are not all positive, though. My latest study shows that monoculture crops provide lots of food for some migratory fly species (18%) that have subsequently become crop pests. Some (16%) carry diseases, such as mosquitoes that migrate huge distances and bring diseases such as malaria.
But migratory flies have an overwhelmingly positive impact on the planet. Hoverfly larvae eat trillions of aphids each year in southern England. Insect migration is already known to be the most important way that the nutrients plants need to grow are moved across the land and flies make up the majority of the insects that transport the nutrients.
The movement and subsequent death of trillions of migrating flies, whose bodies contain elements, such as phosphorous and nitrogen which plants need to grow, could be vital to soil health of the soils too. Migratory birds have been noted feeding on and moving at the same time as migratory flies, perhaps using them as fuel for their journeys.
We’re only just waking up to the significance of flies. Hopefully, it’s not too late to protect them. One German study found that the number of aphid-eating migratory hoverflies declined by 97% over the last 50 years. Fewer aphid-eating hoverflies means more crop-eating aphids and also fewer pollinators. So that’s a terrifying statistic that could have drastic consequences.
A sunrise of hope exists, however. These brilliant migratory flies have so many young that if we improve landscape connectivity, reduce pesticide usage and provide suitable habitat, they can bounce back really quickly. We need these flies as much as we need the air we breathe. So next time you see a fly up against your window, open it and let it out. It has a long way to go and such important work to do.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Frédéric Dimanche, Professor and Director, Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Toronto Metropolitan University
The parallels to the COVID-19 pandemic are notable. During the crisis, media coverage contributed to widespread fear of travel, even after borders reopened and health experts deemed it safe. Today, similar discourse is emerging. But how much of this concern is based on real risk, and how much is driven by heightened media attention?
As experts in tourism and travel, we are here to explain the current risks associated with travelling to the U.S., the rights of travellers if they are stopped at the border and safety tips for those who still choose to make the journey.
While some of those affected are Americans returning from vacation or business trips, anyone can be stopped, including foreign students with visas, Canadians and Europeans, even with valid documentation.
The current situation aligns with research showing that risk perceptions about travel can impact a country’s image as a travel destination, which, in turn, affects whether people want to visit it.
Other concerns relate to local resident negative sentiment. While many Americans are sharing their support of Canada and continuing to head north, there is still concern for how some in the U.S. may react to Canadian travellers.
What rights do travellers have when crossing the border? Very few. While travellers have the right to refuse to answer questions from immigration officers, doing so can result in increased suspicion and being denied entry.
Canadians should be aware that U.S. border officials have broad inspection powers, which can include requesting passwords to digital devices. These powers apply not only at border crossings but also in customs-controlled areas — designated zones in a border crossing area or airport.
Both the Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have the authority to examine any digital device.
Once at a land border, Canadians are under the exclusive jurisdiction of U.S. laws, not Canadian laws or the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. If questioned, travellers can ask if they are being detained, or if they are free to leave. If they are not free to leave, the agent needs reasonable suspicion to justify the detention.
Tips for reducing risk while traveling
Following customs and immigration laws generally means travellers are unlikely to encounter any issues. However, there are some things that could set off red flags at the border, including staying longer than intended, failing to declare goods to a border officer or not having the proper documentation.
If you intend to travel, be respectful of local customs, even if political perspectives differ. Avoid political messaging on clothing, offensive behaviour or sparking political conversations with locals.
While electronic device searches are rare, it is best to be cautious about the content on your devices, including social media posts and profile, political views and other personal information.
It’s important to stay updated on government travel advisories related to geopolitical conflicts because they are rapidly evolving. Be sure to follow recommended travel precautions, like these ones for the U.S.
‘Antipathy’ to U.S. has real impacts
Reports of increased detainments, stricter border enforcement and heightened security screenings demonstrate that the risk for travellers at the border is real.
These incidents have not only created fear among travellers but have also started to take a toll on the U.S. tourism industry.
Global geopolitical tensions have fuelled growing resentment toward the U.S., with many international travellers choosing not to travel for political and economic reasons.
Canada, on the other hand, could end up benefiting from a tourism perspective. International visitors are opting for Canada as a safer and more affordable alternative than the U.S. for leisure and business travel.
The question now is whether this trend will last. The geopolitical situation has led many around the world to feel antipathetic towards the U.S., and reversing those attitudes will take effort and time.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
class=”has-text-align-center”>BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
On World Autism Awareness Day, we recognize the millions of Americans living with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Their proud perseverance in overcoming tremendous hurdles is emblematic of the strength and grit that makes America great. The First Lady and I extend our heartfelt appreciation to the families, friends, and communities aiding Americans with ASD as we empower every citizen to take part in and shape our new golden age.
Autism now affects 1 in 36 children in the United States, a staggering increase from the 1980s, when the disorder was found in only 1 to 4 out of every 10,000 individuals. I created the Make America Healthy Again Commission to investigate and address the root causes of our escalating health crisis, with a focus on childhood disorders like autism. As part of this effort, my Administration is prioritizing gold-standard research and increasing transparency to gain new insights to aid those with ASD.
Under my leadership, our great Nation will be stronger than ever before, with opportunities for all Americans to thrive and prosper. Despite challenges, Americans with ASD have made, and will continue to make outstanding contributions for our country and the world.
Early detection is crucial to improving the quality of life of those with ASD, as timely intervention can significantly improve long-term outcomes. Identifying signs of autism at the onset allows parents and healthcare providers to implement therapies and support strategies which can enhance communication and social skills. Loving parents want the best for their children in educational environments and so do we. By supporting our children and their families, we can help them in overcoming challenges during childhood, the most crucial stage of development.
Together, on World Autism Awareness Day, we declare our unending support and wholehearted respect for Americans living with autism. My Administration will empower them to reach their full potential and realize their American Dream.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 2, 2025, as World Autism Awareness Day. I call upon all Americans to learn more about the signs of autism to improve early diagnosis, understand the challenges faced by individuals with autism, and find ways to support those with autism and their families.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.
Mental Health and Addictions Minister Lori Carr is pleased to announce that all 60 inpatient treatment spaces are now available at the new addictions treatment centre near Lumsden.
Intake for the second phase of 40 inpatient spaces at the EHN Willowview Recovery Centre started April 1.
“The best help that we can give someone who finds themself struggling with an addiction, is to offer them a path to recovery,” Carr said. “These inpatient treatment spaces are open to residents across our province. Patients will receive holistic, wrap-around addictions treatment for up to 16 weeks to support their recovery journey.”
These 40 inpatient spaces are in addition to the first phase that started at Willowview in January with 20 inpatient beds.
EHN Willowview Recovery Centre is operated by EHN Canada. EHN is a leading addictions treatment provider with decades of experience operating facilities across Canada.
“We are incredibly proud to provide life-changing mental health and addiction treatment to those who need it most,” EHN COO Christina Basedow said. “This milestone represents not only the culmination of dedicated work and partnership, but also a powerful step forward for the province. Saskatchewan continues to demonstrate national leadership by investing boldly in mental health and addiction services, and we are deeply honoured to work alongside the government to bring hope, healing, and recovery to individuals, families, and communities across the province.”
EHN Canada was one of the successful proponents chosen through a competitive Request for Proposals process initiated by the Ministry of Health and the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) seeking addictions treatment services, including intensive outpatient, inpatient treatment and recovery or transitional services.
The agreement to provide the service is between the SHA and EHN Canada.
“The Saskatchewan Health Authority is committed to strengthening mental health and addictions services across the province to ensure timely, appropriate access to care,” Integrated Regina Health Mental Health and Addictions Executive Director Zoe Teed-McKay said. “Individuals who are facing addiction challenges are our friends and family members; they live in our communities. Having all 60 of these addictions treatment spaces now open for in-patient service delivery will enhance existing services, reduce wait times, and help more of those people we care about receive the treatment they need to overcome addictions and live healthy, safe lives in recovery.”
To date, 264 of the 500 new spaces under Saskatchewan’s Action Plan for Mental Health and Addictions are now available to Saskatchewan residents.
This includes:
15 inpatient treatment spaces at Muskwa Lake Wellness Camp;
15 withdrawal management spaces at Onion Lake Cree Nation;
15 inpatient treatment spaces and five withdrawal management spaces at Thorpe Recovery Centre near Lloydminster;
26 post-treatment spaces at St. Joseph’s Addiction Recovery Centre in Estevan;
32 intensive outpatient treatment spaces through Possibilities Recovery Center in Saskatoon;
40 mobile withdrawal management spaces with Medavie in Saskatoon;
14 inpatient addictions treatment spaces with Poundmaker’s Lodge in North Battleford; and
San Jose, CA, April 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Andes Technology, a leading supplier of high-efficiency, low-power 32/64-bit RISC-V processor cores and a Founding Premier member of RISC-V International, proudly announces the Silicon Valley 2025 Andes RISC-V CON scheduled for April 29, 2025. The in-person event will gather industry leaders, innovators, and developers to explore the latest advancements in RISC-V technology and celebrate Andes Technology’s two decades of groundbreaking innovation.
Attendees will have the opportunity to gain exclusive insights from Andes executives and prominent industry leaders, explore the latest advancements in RISC-V technology, and learn about cutting-edge projects shaping the RISC-V future. Additionally, engage and network with Andes and its valued ecosystem partners, fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange.
The 2025 RISC-V CON will feature two parallel conference tracks: The Main Conference and Exhibition, open to everyone, and the new Developer Track, designed for engineers seeking deep-dive, hands-on technical training.
The main conference welcomes all attendees, featuring over ten sessions and speeches that cover the RISC-V market and the development of SoCs using RISC-V across AI, automotive, application processing, communications, and more. Participants will also have opportunities to network with speakers and exhibitors from over twenty sponsoring companies offering IP, software, tools, services, and products.
Highlighted Main Conference Presentations:
Frankwell Lin, Chairman and CEO, Andes Technology – Celebrating 20 years of driving SIP innovation and 15 years of pioneering RISC-V.
Dr. Charlie Su, President and CTO, Andes Technology – Provides insights on advancing modern computing with Andes RISC-V processor solutions.
Paul Master, Co-founder and CTO, Cornami – Presenting Fully Homomorphic Encryption, the Holy Grail.
Fireside chat: What’s coming in AI? – Facilitated by Charlie Cheng, Andes, Board Advisor with keynotes from:
Jeff Bier, Founder, Edge AI and Embedded Vision Alliance
Pete Warden, Founder & CEO, Useful Sensors
Developer Track – Hands-on Technical Training (Limited Seating!)
For engineers looking to gain practical insights, the Developer Track offers four in-depth sessions designed to provide hands-on experience with cutting-edge RISC-V concepts and system optimization. Attendees should bring a fully charged laptop.
Optimization with RISC-V Vector ISA – Understand how RISC-V Vector Extensions (RVV) enhance performance and get hands-on experience using AndeSight tools.
IAR Professional Tools for RISC-V – Discover how advanced debugging and functional safety tools accelerate development cycles.
Create Your Own RISC-V Custom Instructions – Learn to enhance RISC-V ISA with Andes’ Automated Custom Extensions (ACE) and experience hands-on instruction with Andes Copilot.
Unleashing the Power of Heterogeneous Computing: Optimizing Resource Utilization – Join Andes, Imagination, and Baya to explore how trace-based CPU and GPU analysis can boost compute efficiency.
Event Details
Location: DoubleTree by Hilton, San Jose, CA Time: 8:30 – 6:00 PDT Admission: RISC-V CON is free to attend Registration:visit the event website
About Andes Technology
As a Founding Premier member of RISC-V International and a leader in commercial CPU IP, Andes Technology (TWSE: 6533; SIN: US03420C2089; ISIN: US03420C1099) is driving the global adoption of RISC-V. Andes’ extensive RISC-V Processor IP portfolio spans from ultra-efficient 32-bit CPUs to high-performance 64-bit Out-of-Order multiprocessor coherent clusters.
With advanced vector processing, DSP capabilities, the powerful Andes Automated Custom Extension (ACE) framework, end-to-end AI hardware/software stack, ISO 26262 certification with full compliance, and a robust software ecosystem, Andes unlocks the full potential of RISC-V, empowering customers to accelerate innovation across AI, automotive, communications, consumer electronics, data centers, and mobile devices. Over 16 billion Andes-powered SoCs are driving innovations globally. Discover more at www.andestech.com and connect with Andes on LinkedIn, X , and YouTube.
