The Albanese government is trying once more to legislate wide-ranging changes to the way federal elections are administered.
The 200-page Electoral Reform Bill, if passed, would transform the electoral donation rules by imposing donation and spending caps, increasing public funding, and improving transparency.
As noble as it sounds, the bill in its current form would undermine Australian democracy by favouring established parties over independent candidates and other new players.
Donors could give A$20,000 per year, per recipient, to a branch of a party or candidate for electioneering purposes. In practice, that means donors could give no more than $20,000 per year to an independent but could contribute $180,000 to the Labor Party via each of its state and federal branches, or $160,000 to the Liberal Party (which has one less branch than the ALP).
The donation cap would reset annually and after each federal election, allowing a single donor to give $720,000 to the Labor Party in one election cycle or $640,000 to the Liberals, but no more than $20,000 to an independent who declares their candidacy in the year of an election.
Avoiding the American road
There are welcome components in the bill. Faster disclosure and lower donation thresholds would make the system more transparent. Given the large amount of undisclosed funding – “dark money ” – currently propping up political parties, this would be a significant improvement.
But democracy is not cheap.
Last year, the Financial Times reported Donald Trump and Kamala Harris spent a combined US$3.5 billion (A$5.6 billion) on their presidential races. This kind of money helps to sustain an American two-party system largely immune to challengers.
Australian campaigns look nothing like this, but there has been increased interest in the money spent in particular seats in recent years.
Former Labor minister Kim Carr revealed in his recent book Labor spent $1 million to defeat the Greens in the Melbourne electorate of Batman in 2018, while the LNP reportedly spent $600,000 campaigning to retain the affluent electorate of Fadden in 2023.
The bill before Parliament would cap election spending at $800,000 in each lower house seat. But the major parties could promote their generic party brand or a frontbench MP (in a seat other than their own) without affecting their capped spending.
These unfair discrepancies would reward the major parties while kneecapping independents whose first hurdle is to get their name “out there”.
Haunted by billionaires
The government argues its bill limits the influence of “big money” in politics, namely mining boss Clive Palmer, who spent $117 million at the last election.
For the Coalition, it is the community independents and their Climate 200 supporters who represent a kind of money “without precedent in the Australian political system” according to departing MP Paul Fletcher.
Rather than getting big money out of politics, this bill would make the major parties’ own funding pipelines the only money that matters.
The bill recognises “nominated entities” whose payments to associated political parties would not be limited by donation caps. Independents would not have this privilege.
Meanwhile, the long delay before the commencement of the bill in 2026 would give wealthy donors time to get their ducks in order. They could amass their own war chests before the new laws are due to come in to force and then register them as nominated entities at a later date.
Who pays? The taxpayer, of course!
Parties and candidates with more than 4% of the primary vote currently receive public election funding. The Hawke government introduced this measure as a “small insurance” against corruption.
The bill would raise the return to $5 per vote, which would mean an extra $41 million in funding, on top of the $71 million handed over after the 2022 election. Most of this money would go to the major parties.
The windfall would come with no extra guardrails or guidelines about how those funds could be spent. There are no laws to guarantee truth in political advertising at the federal level. Voters may well be paying for more political advertising that lies to them.
Closed consultations
Labor’s current strategy is to seek Coalition support for these changes to the rules of democracy.
Special Minister of State Don Farrell claims to have consulted widely on the design of the bill, but that came as news to independents David Pocock and Kate Chaney when asked about it last week.
The government’s haste and secrecy suggest it wants neither the bill nor its motives closely scrutinised.
Australians care about the quality of their democracy. Polling research by the Australia Institute last November showed four in five Australians expect electoral changes to be reviewed by a multi-party committee.
That’s what is needed for this bill. To do otherwise would threaten the integrity of Australian elections – or invite a High Court challenge that may overturn the entire system if the court rules freedom of political expression is at stake.
Democracy matters. The rules must not be changed on a whim.
Joshua Black is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The Australia Institute, and formerly a Palace Letters Fellow at the Whitlam Institute within Western Sydney University.
Source: United States Senator for Alabama Tommy Tuberville
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) celebrated National Girls and Women in Sports Day by participating in several events and interviews to promote his bill, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. Sen. Tuberville reintroduced his hallmark Title IX legislation—which is cosponsored by 37 of his colleagues—in the Senate last month. Companion legislation passed the House on a bipartisan basis in January.
Sen. Tuberville also praised President Trump for his leadership in signing an Executive Order today to protect women’s sports and restore Title IX protections for women and girls everywhere. While Senator Tuberville is grateful for President Trump’s commonsense leadership, he insists Congress has to pass his bill to ensure Title IX protections are made permanent. Sen. Tuberville discussed this earlier this week on “The Megyn Kelly Show” when he said, “A lot of people don’t realize that an Executive Order […] only lasts as long as that president’s there. So, we got some work to do. […] As you said—we’ve got to get it to the floor. John Thune told me he’s going to get it to the floor. […] If it’s not going to pass, we’ll do it again, but we’ve got to get people on the record because this is something that’s very dear to the heart of all parents across the country—and it’s dead wrong.”
When White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about this earlier today, she said, “It’s incredibly important that Congress immediately act on this priority. I think the President is really setting the tone—making this an immediate priority for this administration, just as he promised to do on the campaign trail.”
Sen. Tuberville also commemorated National Girls and Women in Sports Day by reintroducing the Protection of Women in Olympic and Amateur Sports Act to prohibit any governing body recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) from allowing men to participate in any women’s Olympic athletic events.
Tuberville Joins “The Faulkner Focus”
Sen. Tuberville joined Harris Faulkner on “The Faulkner Focus” to discuss the latest with the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, as well as his efforts to protect women’s Olympic sports.
Read an excerpt from the interview below or watch here.
FAULKNER: “This Executive Order that Trump is getting ready to put in play comes as today we recognize National Girls and Women in Sports Day. Also on this day, Senator, you are reintroducing that bill called the Protection of Women in Olympic and Amateur Sports Act. This is an effort to ensure that Trump’s protections are permanent. Tell us about it, Senator.”
TUBERVILLE: “Exactly, and you know I started coaching 40 years ago—right when Title IX started. And, Harris, let me tell you something. This is the best thing that this place has ever done. It gave young girls and women a different opportunity to build on leadership and have a future. And, so, this past four years—gender has been under attack. Parents have been under attack. Education has been under attack, and it all goes back to trying to not define what a woman is, and they can’t even define that. They’re telling us right now that men can have babies. So, at the end of the day, I’m giving a speech on the floor today. Leader Thune has promised he’s gonna put this bill on the floor sooner or later. This is my third time that I’ve had this up for a vote. The Democrats don’t want anything to do with it, but I gotta feeling a lot of them are gonna change their mind. And then at three o’clock, President Trump’s going to sign the Executive Order. But as you said, if when he goes out of office, if we don’t get a Republican back in there, this will change back into the gender nonsense that these Democrats have been pushing for the last four years. We have to protect women and girls in sports. And we also have to protect women and girls in Olympic sports because we have the Olympics coming here soon. And if we don’t do that, we’re gonna see men boxing against women like we did this past summer.”
Tuberville Speaks on Senate Floor
Senator Tuberville also delivered a floor speech where he called out Democrats’ out-of-touch, woke ideology that says men can get pregnant and boys should compete in women’s sports.
Read excerpts from the speech below or watch the full speech here.
“I’m here to call for a vote on my legislation, S.9, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, that would save Title IX and save women’s sports. Today is National Girls and Women in Sports Day—that’s today. To celebrate, President Trump will sign an Executive Order this afternoon in the White House ending Democrats’ intentional destruction of Title IX and saving women’s sports.
I’m very thankful for his leadership on this. President Trump’s Executive Order will make sure women’s sports are protected for at least the next four years. But unfortunately, Executive Orders can be reversed. Congress needs to act on this to make sure the next Democrat administration, whenever it is, can’t take the same steps to destroy Title IX that the Biden administration took. For the past four years, the Biden administration waged an all-out assault on gender. Since the beginning of time, people have agreed that sex is assigned at birth and determined by God. But under the Biden administration, you had people claiming that men can get pregnant. Here on this floor, I heard that. Pure insanity.
But it didn’t stop there. They weren’t content to just erase gender norms that have been accepted for thousands and thousands of years. No. They wanted to allow transgender men to participate against women and girls in sports. This has been happening at schools all across the country. Young women have been forced to compete against men and even share locker rooms and showers. And on top of that, your taxpayer dollars are paying for this nonsense. Over the past several years under the Joe Biden administration, 900 women’s medals have gone to men. 900. That is absolutely wrong.
This one is personal for me. My first coaching job was in women’s basketball—years ago. Title IX was just starting to be implemented when I took that first job. I saw firsthand the immediate difference it made. Before Title IX, at a lot of schools, college women’s athletics didn’t really exist. Back then, there were more than 10x as many male athletes in college as female athletes. After Title IX, that quickly changed. For the first time, the young women I coached had equal access to facilities, resources, and competition. I saw these hardworking young women go on to earn college scholarships, start careers, and become leaders of our country. I still keep in touch with many of these young women today, and I’m deeply proud of them.
Looking back on it now, I wonder if they would have had the same opportunities without Title IX. Would they have had the same successes if they had had to compete against males 40 years ago? This really shouldn’t be controversial. It’s just common sense. A recent poll from the New York Times of all publications showed 79% of all Americans believe men should not compete in women’s sports. 79%.
President Trump campaigned largely on this issue. If you remember, his campaign spent nearly $20 million dollars on TV ads about the importance of keeping men out of women’s sports. So, on November 5, 2024 the American people didn’t just elect President Trump. They also decisively rejected this ridiculous notion that men can get pregnant and boys should compete against women in sports. Ridiculous. And they definitely didn’t want their tax dollars funding schools that allow boys to share locker rooms with girls.
My bill would prevent a school from receiving any federal funding if they let boys compete in women’s sports. It also defines gender [as] male and female for this purpose. I was glad to see President Trump sign an Executive Order defining gender during his first few days in office. The President also made it clear in the Executive Order that he wants Congress to take action on this as well because he understands it can go away with the sign [of] an ink pen.
That’s why today I’m also reintroducing a bill to prohibit men from competing in women’s Olympic sports because men competing against women at any level is dangerous. We are all deeply disturbed—all of us were deeply disturbed this past summer to see videos of boys and men boxing against women. You know, when I was growing up, we were taught never to hit a girl, but I guess that’s over now because of the Democrats. One study found out that males can punch up to 162% harder than females. Somebody is going to get killed or seriously injured if we don’t stop this absolute nonsense. It’s unsafe, it’s unfair, and it’s just plain wrong.
The Protection of Women in Olympic and Amateur Sports Act will make sure men aren’t allowed to compete against women in any sport, but especially not in a violent sport like boxing. This bill will restore fairness for the American women who train their whole lives to represent our country on the world stage. Their entire lives, they train. I know we’re all looking forward to the United States hosting the Summer Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles. I hope our bill [has] been passed and signed in law long before that so we can all enjoy some healthy, safe women-against-women or men-against-men competition during those Olympics.
But this huge issue goes way beyond politics. I’ve heard from parents, student, teachers, and coaches all over the country about this. These are people who have personally seen the benefits of Title IX and are very concerned about Democrats’ attempts to take these opportunities away from women and girls.
There are countless stories of girls who have benefited from Title IX in my state of Alabama.
This includes athletes like Rachel Argent of Thorsby High School in Chilton County, Alabama. Rachel’s athletic ability and good grades drew the attention of college coaches across Alabama. […] Because of her talent and work ethic, Rachel received basketball scholarships to Faulkner State Community College in Bay Minette, Alabama. After [getting] her degree, she got a softball scholarship at Samford University. That scholarship […] put her on the right direction. […] She didn’t have to worry about landing a full-time job while she went to school and participated in sports. […]
After college, Rachel returned to Thorsby High School as a teacher and a coach. She wanted to give back to the school what she had gotten from Title IX. She taught Health and Physical Education for grades kindergarten to twelve. She coached girls’ softball, basketball, track, and volleyball. She made an impact on hundreds of girls across our state of Alabama. It was all made possible again by Title IX.
Rachel’s daughter, Addie, played softball, tennis, golf, and basketball at Chilton County High School. She got a gold scholarship to the University of Mobile where she graduated with a degree in Nursing. Her athletics scholarship was part of her getting a degree and becoming a nurse. There are countless other young women like Addie and Rachel across Alabama and every other state across the country. More than 50,000 young women in Alabama alone competed in high school sports this past year, 50,000. Every single one of them deserves the full benefit of fair competition.
And I’m grateful that every member of the Senate Republican leadership is a cosponsor of my Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. They’ve been very supportive. Leader Thune is a proud cosponsor of my bill, and I’m glad to have his support. Leader Thune is committed to scheduling a vote on this bill and putting every Democrat on the record on whether or not they support men competing in women’s sports. We brought this bill to the floor for a vote during the last Congress. Really, we brought it twice, and every single Democrat always voted against it. What does that tell you?
Leader Thune has not rescheduled it for a vote yet this congress. Right now, we’ve obviously got a lot of things to do with [confirming] President Trump’s cabinet. Then we get started on the reconciliation process and getting the American economy jumpstarted again. We have a lot to accomplish in the first 100 days of the Trump administration, and I hope this bill is part of that 100 days.
President Trump will sign an Executive Order again today banning men from competing in women’s sports. Let’s lock that commitment in. Let’s lock it in for young girls and women all across this country. Let’s bring this bill to the floor for a vote very soon so the Senate can send it to the President’s desk and make this permanent.
To my Senate colleagues who are on the fence about this, I would ask—do you have daughters? Do you have granddaughters? Do you have nieces? Would you want them competing against men in sports? Would you feel comfortable with them sharing a locker room with a biological male?
I’m excited to welcome my first granddaughter in a couple weeks, Rosie Grace. I would raise hell if she was forced to compete, dress, or use the same showers as men. And American taxpayers should not be forced to foot the bill for any schools that are allowing this to happen. The days of woke, swamp politicians running our government are over. Common sense has been restored to the White House, and Congress needs to get back to work and let President Trump work on this bill.
This isn’t about politics. This is about right and wrong. The American people have delivered a verdict. They want men out of women’s sports and women’s locker rooms.
President Trump is 100% with us on this. The time to act is now. It’s time to restore Title IX protections and save women’s sports.”
Tuberville Attends White House Executive Order Signing
Sen. Tuberville went to the White House for President Trump’s signing of an Executive Order restoring Title IX protections for women and girls everywhere. During his speech, President Trump shouted out Sen. Tuberville for all of the work he has done to champion women’s sports in Congress and throughout his coaching career.
The President also shouted out 3x Superbowl Champion Patrick Mahomes, whom Coach Tuberville recruited when he was at Texas Tech University.
“And Tommy Tuberville [is here], a great coach,” said President Trump. “You know, his quarterback was named ‘Mahomes.’ He was a great college coach and I said ‘How good was he?’ and he said, ‘You don’t wanna know how good—he made me into a great coach.’”
Tuberville Joins Kudlow from White House
Following the Executive Order signing, Sen. Tuberville joined “Kudlow” on Fox Business live from Pebble Beach at the White House.
Read excerpts from the interview below or watch here.
KUDLOW: “No more biological men in women’s sports. Wow. Big signing today by President Trump. Joining us now to talk about it is Alabama Senator, Tommy Tuberville. Senator Tuberville, good to see you, sir. Tell us about the signing. Tell us what was in the signing, if you would.”
TUBERVILLE: “Well, it’s been too long happening, Larry. It’s just unfortunate—for the last four years we’ve had to put up with this nonsense of biological boys and men participating in women’s sports. Not just in sports here, but also in the Olympics. It was a great day. Had a lot of people there [for the] Executive Order putting a stop to it, but we’ve gotta permanently do it. I’ve got a bill that’s the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act that we’ve got. Hopefully, we get it on the floor soon where we can make it permanent. There’s no reason in the world why men and boys should be able to participate in women’s [sports]. It’s just wrong, it’s dangerous. And, you know, it’s just a great day that we finally got this done.”
KUDLOW: “Senator Tuberville, you mentioned the Olympics. So, good question—how will the Olympic Committee look at this resolution? Will they abide by it? Will they fight it? What do you anticipate, sir?”
TUBERVILLE: “Well, you got to remember, Larry. This is gonna be in L.A. the next time they have it. President Trump mentioned that. The Olympic Committee, two years ago, decided to let each sport decide what they wanted to do and how they wanted to handle it. Unfortunately, boxing let men participate against the women and it was terrible—it really was. Somebody’s gonna get hurt. And so, hopefully, they come to their senses. President Trump will probably get involved in this—with the Olympic Committee, knowing him. And hopefully, we can get all men and boys banned from any kind of [women’s] sports in the Olympics. It’s just not fair.”
KUDLOW: “You know, it’s so ironic to me, Senator, politically. For all these years, going back to, I’m gonna say, Gloria Steinem in the 1970s—over 50 years. The Democratic Party said it was the party to defend women. Okay? But in recent years, as you well know, with the trans movement and so forth and biological men now being allowed to play in women’s sports, etcetera, etcetera. All of a sudden, the Democrats are in favor of that and are wrecking women’s sports and treating women athletes, female athletes incredibly unjustly? I mean, how do you figure that? Do they see the stupidity of this whole story or not?”
TUBERVILLE: “Yeah. They see it. They just won’t admit it. The problem they have, Larry, is they’ve lost the middle class. They have no support anymore. […] They’ve lost their base. They’re not going back. They’ve really gotten so far out there, Larry. You know, even the Democrats [think men shouldn’t compete in women’s sports]. A lot of Democrats voted for President Trump because of this one issue that the Democrats kept pushing.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP, and Aging Committees.
China’s logistics efficiency continued to improve in 2024, with the ratio of social logistics costs to gross domestic product (GDP) dropping to the lowest level in history last year, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Wednesday.
The ratio stood at 14.1 percent for 2024, representing a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from the previous year — and reaching the lowest level since such statistics data was first published in 2006.
Across industry segments, the ratio of transportation costs to GDP decreased by 0.2 percentage points, while the ratio of management costs to GDP dropped by 0.1 percentage points, according to the NDRC.
China aims to lower the ratio of social logistics costs to GDP to approximately 13.5 percent by 2027.
In the future, the country will accelerate the implementation of the railway freight network project and the interconnected inland waterway transport system project, as well as support the establishment of international logistics hubs and commodity resource allocation hubs in certain regions, the commission said.
An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 15, 2024 shows a view of Tesla’s megafactory in east China’s Shanghai. [Photo/Xinhua]
U.S. carmaker Tesla said on Wednesday that its Shanghai energy-storage battery Megafactory will start official operation next week.
The construction of this Megafactory in east China was completed at the end of last year. Following its launch ceremony in May 2024, it took just seven months for the project to be completed. Trial operation began last month.
The Megafactory is the first of its kind to be built by Tesla outside the United States, and is dedicated to manufacturing Megapacks, Tesla’s energy-storage batteries. Mass production at the Shanghai facility is expected to fully commence in the first quarter of 2025, Tesla said.
This Megafactory was built with an initial annual production capacity of 10,000 units — equal to around 40 gigawatt-hours of energy storage, according to the company.
The United States government’s latest move to eliminate a “de minimis” tariff exemption for small packages and low-value items imported from China will disrupt the normal international trade order, wreak havoc in the fast-growing cross-border e-commerce industry, and ultimately hurt the interests of US consumers, said experts and industry insiders on Wednesday.
They added that in order to mitigate the negative impacts of escalating trade protectionism, China’s cross-border online retailers should strengthen the establishment of overseas warehouses, accelerate the localization of supply chains and operations, and diversify their business layouts in emerging markets.
Their comments came on the heels of the US decision to halt a trade exemption, known as “de minimis”, that allows exporters to ship packages worth less than $800 into the US duty-free. The decision came as part of the announcement of the imposition of an additional 10 percent tariff on goods from China.
The US Postal Service said on Tuesday that it had temporarily stopped accepting packages from the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, a move that may block or delay parcels from Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms including Shein and PDD Holdings’ Temu, as well as some from Amazon, from entering the US.
However, the agency said later in a notice that it will resume accepting packages from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong starting on Wednesday.
Hong Yong, an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said the US protectionist measures against China will not only increase the costs of cross-border transactions and hinder technological advancement and innovation in the global e-commerce landscape, but will also damage the interests of US consumers, especially low-income groups.
“The elimination of a small-package tax exemption will pose challenges to Chinese cross-border online marketplaces, and force these platforms to adjust pricing strategies and establish more local warehousing and logistics facilities in overseas markets, in order to reduce dependence on cross-border transportation and lower international logistics costs,” Hong said.
In response to the US Postal Service’s temporary suspension of the acceptance of incoming international parcels from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a news conference on Wednesday that the US should stop politicizing and instrumentalizing trade and cracking down on Chinese companies.
Lin said China will continue to take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate interests of Chinese enterprises.
Both Shein and Temu have gained popularity among US consumers, as they offer a wide selection of merchandise, including apparel, consumer electronics, jewelry, shoes, bags and accessories at competitive prices. Most of the products are shipped directly from factories or warehouses in China.
Zhu Keli, founding director of the China Institute of New Economy, said the US move to contain the rise of Chinese cross-border online retailers will have an adverse impact on the healthy development of the global e-commerce industry, create barriers to the free flow of commodities and services, and violate the basic principles of the market economy, thus “impeding technological progress and industrial upgrading and stunting global economic growth”.
The “de minimis” provision has existed since the 1930s in the US, but the threshold has increased and its use has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years. The number of shipments entering the US under the exemption has surged more than 600 percent in the past 10 years, according to US Customs and Border Protection.
Moreover, media reports said that the European Union will increase customs checks on goods shipped directly by e-commerce retailers like Temu and Shein to EU consumers. The new customs guidelines would require these online marketplaces to disclose more information on EU-bound packages in order to track and inspect them more efficiently.
Zhu said it is of great importance for Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms to accelerate steps to expand their presence in more diverse markets, while improving the added value of products and the service level, as well as enhancing brand competitiveness globally, amid increasing cost pressures caused by tariff hikes in the US and mounting regulatory challenges in Europe.
This photo taken on May 5, 2023 shows a view of the Urumqi Diwopu International Airport, which is undergoing reconstruction and expansion, in Urumqi, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. [Photo/Xinhua]
China’s civil aviation industry transported 18.24 million passengers during the eight-day Spring Festival holiday that ended on Tuesday, an increase of 2.9 percent compared to the same period in 2024, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said on Wednesday.
Some 145,000 flights were operated during the holiday, with a flight punctuality rate of 96 percent, up 3.4 percentage points compared with the flight punctuality rate achieved in the same period last year.
During the 2025 holiday, the average number of international passenger flights per day reached 1,888 — an increase of 24.6 percent compared to the same period in 2024. This figure is 86.6 percent of the daily average level recorded in 2019.
The most popular international routes during the 2025 Spring Festival holiday were those connecting China with Japan, Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.
This aerial photo taken on Sept. 10, 2023 shows a view of Zhangjiang area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone in east China’s Shanghai. [Photo/Xinhua]
The latest business environment improvement action plan released in Shanghai on Wednesday will help the city better address market entities’ needs and inject more vitality into the city’s economic growth, said officials and market experts.
Their comments were made on Wednesday when the Shanghai municipal government held the business environment improvement work conference for the eighth consecutive year. The latest action plan, which is now in its eighth edition, was released during the conference.
The plan aims to enhance the sense of gain among enterprises by coming up with 58 detailed measures which are more substantial and down-to-earth, according to Lu Aiguo, head of the business environment construction division at the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission.
One focus of the new plan is deepening the reform by aligning with the standards specified in World Bank’s Business Ready evaluation system, said Lu. Ten related reform measures have been rolled out, covering market entry, operational venues, infrastructure, utilities, international trade and market competition, among others.
As to international trade, Shanghai will expand the benefit scope for controlled and inspected high-tech goods. The import pilot program for research and development as well as testing items should be further optimized. Customs clearance facilitation services will be improved by better implementing reform measures such as multi-modal transport and the application of electronic certificates, according to the new action plan.
Another 24 measures have been included in action plan 8.0 to optimize the all-round services rendered to companies. On the one hand, more innovative financing products should be introduced, providing continued financing support to small and medium-sized enterprises.
On the other, more efforts should be made to facilitate the outbound reaches of domestic companies while further opening up the local market. Professional service providers will be supported to set up branches in the markets involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.
Meanwhile, visas as well as entry and exit services for foreign talent will be more convenient. More foreign-invested projects should be introduced in the city and major foreign-invested projects should be settled at a faster pace, according to the new action plan.
Japanese carmaker Toyota announced on Wednesday that it has entered into an agreement with the Shanghai government to establish a new wholly-owned company in Jinshan district of Shanghai for the development and production of Lexus electric vehicles and batteries.
The advanced and mature industrial chains, logistics networks, talent supply and market size in Shanghai and the neighboring cities are the major reasons to land this new project, according to Toyota.
To improve services provided to companies, efforts will be made to promulgate a negative list for cross-border data flow within the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, according to the new action plan.
Companies will be better guided to conduct data export activities in accordance with laws and regulations. This is conducive to companies’ international competitiveness, said Huang Lina, an official from the internet security division at Shanghai Cyberspace Administration.
The new action plan also includes 14 measures to optimize supervision over companies.
According to Wu Beibei, deputy director of the laws and regulations division at Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation, the targets, frequency and content of on-site inspections will be reduced to lower the impact on companies. The goal is to lower the number of planned administrative on-site inspections in the next two to three years, she said.
The Law Council of Australia is extremely disappointed in the Government’s proposal to impose mandatory sentencing in response to certain hate crimes and a broad range of terrorism offences.
“The Law Council has been gravely concerned by the recent incidents and acts of antisemitism that have occurred across the country. At the same time, it is vitally important in challenging times to uphold rule of law principles and not adopt measures that risk serious injustice,” Law Council of Australia President, Juliana Warner said.
“The Government’s amendments to the Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2024 have introduced mandatory minimum sentences for certain hate crimes and terrorism offences. This would mean, for example, a person guilty of public display of prohibited symbols at a political protest would be subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 12 months imprisonment.
“Under mandatory sentencing, the personal circumstances of the offender are not taken into consideration. This has the potential to disproportionately impact vulnerable groups.”
Other elements of the amendments would see minimum sentences of six years imposed in relation to a broad range of terrorism offences. This would include the offence of getting funds to, from or for a terrorist organisation. Financing terrorism offences would be subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of three years.
“Mandatory sentencing laws are arbitrary and limit the individual’s right to a fair trial by preventing judges from imposing a just penalty based on the unique circumstances of each offence and offender,” Ms Warner said. “Judges are best placed to determine the appropriate and just penalty under these laws on an individual, case-by-case basis.
“The decision to add mandatory sentencing as part of the Government’s response to hate crimes has come late in the day without proper consideration. Further, the Australian Labor Party has gone against its 2023 National Platform that states Labor opposes mandatory sentencing. To our knowledge, no security or law enforcement agency has asked for these extraordinary measures.
“There has been no opportunity to scrutinise the rationale, necessity and proportionality of these changes, which comes as part of the Federal Government’s response to a rise in antisemitic incidents and deterioration in social cohesion.
“Australia is a multicultural society and we must preserve our social cohesion and protect against the specific harms of hateful speech on vulnerable groups. In doing so, we acknowledge the importance of carefully framed criminal laws proscribing speech to prevent radicalisation, violence and activities that incite hatred.
“However, expanding offences and strengthening penalties should not be seen as the default tool through which to prevent radicalism and extremism from propagating or to facilitate behavioural change of disaffected individuals. There should be greater resourcing for countering violent extremism through early intervention and diversionary programs with a specific focus on children and young people.
“We are also concerned the new offences contained in the Hate Crimes Bill have the potential to worsen existing uncertainty and inconsistency by piecemeal expansion of Commonwealth criminal offences.
“Complex and overlapping Commonwealth and state offences are more difficult to enforce and may lead to arbitrary differences in outcome. There is a risk that inconsistent penalties at Commonwealth level will have limited impact on the intended objectives and worsen complexity in this area. Further, overly broad offences may rely on discretion to enforce in circumstances which become politicised.
“Before we pursue changes to our laws, we must ensure gaps do indeed exist that require a legislative response and consult on proposals to ensure they are the best solution.
“As debate on the Bill moves through Parliament, the Law Council urges the Senate to ensure proper consideration by, and consultation with, our community before mandatory sentencing legislation is passed.”
Source: United States Senator for Illinois Dick Durbin
February 05, 2025
Durbin releases new report that highlights the health harms from federal freeze of the MMWR, a critical scientific update which has been released by the CDC every week since 1961 until now
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released a staff report that examines the impact of the Trump Administration’s federal communications freeze on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). The report reveals new findings about information that has been stifled by the cessation of the MMWR, including timely bird flu updates, and provides important assessments from public health leaders about the consequences of the Trump Administration’s freeze.
Since January 13, 1961, CDC has—without fail—published weekly issues of the MMWR, the agency’s routine update to doctors, health departments, researchers, and the public about infectious disease outbreaks, emerging health findings, and urgent new health care updates. Information from the MMWR provides timely research and analyses of public health threats, including the latest reports from the CDC’s disease detectives. For decades, the weekly report published every Thursday, and provided unbiased, science-based information to identify critical new information for the health care community.
On the report’s release, Durbin released the following statement:
“Viruses do not take a break because the President slaps a gag order on our public health agencies. Outbreaks are not contained because scientists are ordered to stop talking about them. Doctors, health care providers, and the public all benefit from the release of critical and timely health information. Without it, we will see preventable suffering and death,” said Durbin. “The Trump Administration must immediately resume the timely, objective, and scientific publication of the CDC’s MMWR reports, without any political meddling, by releasing the next MMWR issue tomorrow.”
Key findings and takeaways from Durbin’s report include:
Critical quotes and testimonials from public health practitioners in local communities who were co-authors on two separate studies that had been slated to be published in the January 23, 2025, issue of the MMWR before it was blocked;
Analyses from former CDC officials, leading epidemiologists, and disease prevention experts about the impact of the MMWR moratorium, including impacts for the historic ongoing tuberculosis outbreak underway in Kansas, the avian influenza, and fentanyl crisis.
Halting the publication of MMWRs has occurred in tandem with an unprecedented purge of public health data from the CDC’s website, which occurred within the last week and removed extensive collections of datasets used by researchers and public health officials to address vaccinations, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, tuberculosis, suicide, tobacco use, violence, and other health threats. The tampering of this data was ostensibly to comply with President Trump’s Executive Order to remove mentions of gender, accessibility, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. These actions could have profound consequences for public health interventions.
On February 4, 2025, a federal lawsuit was filed by a group of physicians seeking to restore the websites and data removed from the CDC’s website, among other sources, arguing that the purge creates a “dangerous gap” in information available to track diseases and diagnose their patients.
For a PDF copy of Durbin’s report, click here.
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Air taxis, “autonomous autos” and reusable rockets are just some of the future transport solutions that inventors all over the world are striving to make a reality, while patents for combustion engines are “flatlining”, the UN intellectual property agency (WIPO) said on Thursday.
Latest information gleaned from patent filings featuring in WIPO’s Technology Trends report on the Future of Transportation, offers a tempting glimpse of a not-so distant and enticing future where there’s less traffic pollution, fewer snarl-ups and air travel to the other side of the world – made possible in just a few hours.
“Analysis of patents shows that inventors are working hard to ensure that how we get around tomorrow is cleaner and better than today,” maintained WIPO, which said that patent filings for future transportation solutions have grown by 700 per cent over the last two decades, from 15,000 inventions in 2003 to 120,000 in 2023.
“Autonomous ships and smart ports are revolutionizing transportation at sea; electric vehicles, high-speed trains and smart traffic management systems are driving change on land,” WIPO insisted.
“Vertical take-off and landing aircraft are offering new ways to travel by air, while reusable rockets and satellite technology are pushing what is possible beyond the earth’s atmosphere.”
Driving this trend is the recognition that transportation accounts for more than one-third of CO2 emissions globally, which has encouraged the development of sustainable technologies that reduce the environmental impact of transportation.
These include the adoption of electrified propulsion, the shift to renewable energy sources and the promotion of public and shared transport options.
Digitalization is also revolutionizing the transportation sector, WIPO insists, pointing to the rise of autonomous driving, “which is projected to generate from $300 billion to $400 billion in revenue by 2035”.
Patently true
According to the Geneva-based UN agency, intellectual property supports this kind of groundbreaking innovation – such as wireless charging for electric vehicles – by encouraging investment in research and development.
Competition is fierce as firms jostle for access to rare earth minerals, while AI is also taking centre stage, WIPO says.
“The report also shows flatlining growth in patenting activity for legacy products like the internal combustion engine and other fossil fuel-based systems” such as catalytic converters, the UN agency noted.
Its data indicated that more than 1.1 million inventions have reshaped transportation since 2000, introducing the prospect of sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel-based systems such as renewable energy cells, air taxis and self-piloting cargo ships.
In the driver’s seat of this travel transformation are China, Japan, the US, South Korea and Germany, which represent the world’s top inventors. Land transportation patents dominate global filings, at 3.5 times more than for air, sea and space combined. The US, meanwhile, has filed the most international patents.
The largest area of growth in patenting is related to sustainable propulsion – such as batteries for electric vehicles or hydrogen fuel cells – which represent efforts to ensure that people and goods are moved around in a “cleaner, more climate-friendly fashion”.
Experts with an eye on imaginative transport solutions for the future say that AI is also poised to play a key role. They point to the rise of autonomous driving, although infrastructure has not adapted swiftly enough for such vehicles to take over, the WIPO report notes.
Drone dilemma
The scarcity of minerals, meanwhile, will determine whether the world can massively adopt electric cars – vehicles that report co-author Christopher Harrison says may not be miracle solutions for private owners.
“Having these rare and limited raw earth minerals in an electric vehicle for personal use that’s been utilized only a few per cent of the day is not an effective use of those tools,” he told journalists.
In the air sector, drones will continue their sky-high ascension.
“I would not like to look up at a sky full of drones delivering pizzas or a pair of gloves to my house and causing visual and noise pollution,” said Robert Garbett, the founder of Drone Major Group, cited in the WIPO report.
“If a delivery is to a remote location that is really hard to get to, people will be more likely to accept it as a beneficial solution,” he added, citing emergency medicine as an example.
According to WIPO, transport patent growth in China has been strong given its recent dominance of the electric vehicle market. But other countries have also contributed with strong patent filings activity including Sweden, Italy, India and Canada.
As China resumes full-scale operations after Spring Festival, authorities across the country are rolling out services to stabilize employment, with Guangdong province leading the way by organizing special trains and buses to help migrant workers return to work. In January, Guangdong launched employment initiatives that will run through March, aimed at coordinating and providing services during the peak period of job changes before and after the eight-day holiday, which ended on Tuesday. Various levels of human resources and social security authorities in the province plan to organize about 20 special high-speed trains to help migrant workers return to their workplaces. Guangdong has more than 43 million migrant workers, including over 24 million from other provinces and regions, according to provincial human resources and social security authorities. “I am satisfied with my current job and income in Guangdong,” said Tan Jinying, who has worked in the province for nine years. A native of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Tan has actively participated in skills training, continuously enhancing her expertise and business capabilities. Starting as a front-line operator in 2014, she has grown into a technical specialist responsible for quality control and inspection. “The company I work for has accelerated its transformation and upgrading, with automation continuously improving, helping to enhance efficiency and improve the work environment,” she said. Tan was among 600 migrant workers from Guangxi who returned to Guangzhou, Guangdong’s capital, on a chartered high-speed train on Monday. To accelerate the development of a high-level talent hub, Guangdong aims to strengthen the talent base of its modern industrial system, said Huang Kunming, Party secretary of the province, at a high-quality development conference on Wednesday. The province will implement a talent action plan this year, offering competitive salaries and positions to attract 1 million university graduates for employment and entrepreneurship. Similar initiatives have been launched in many regions to ensure a smooth return to work and attract more talent. Chartered buses and trains have been heading to various destinations in recent days. In Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province, a large-scale job fair was held on Wednesday, with more than 300 companies offering over 8,000 job positions. The event also featured livestreamed company presentations, allowing job seekers to learn about corporate culture and work environments in real time. Fang Jingtong, a 23-year-old university student in Changsha, Hunan province, expressed her desire to return to her hometown of Taiyuan after graduating in June. “Shanxi, known for its rich cultural and tourism resources, offers opportunities for young people like me majoring in visual design,” she said. The job fair featured positions in various sectors, including hardware design, marketing planning, operations management and new media, catering to diverse career interests. “We hope to recruit more young people skilled in high and new technology,” said Yang Pu, a human resources manager at Foxconn’s Taiyuan Technology Industrial Park. The industrial park, one of seven on the Chinese mainland built by Foxconn Technology Group, plans to hire more than 50 engineers, human resources specialists and college graduates.
Passengers wait for the train at Hangzhou East Railway Station in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province, Feb. 4, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua] During the eight-day Spring Festival holiday that ended on Tuesday, more than 2.3 billion passenger trips were made across all regions in China, official data showed Wednesday. The total included 96.26 million railway trips, 2.18 billion road trips, 9.41 million waterway trips, and 18.24 million air trips, according to data from the Ministry of Transport, the Civil Aviation Administration of China, and the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., among others. The annual Spring Festival travel rush, known as chunyun in China, is set to break records this year. Between Jan. 14 and Feb. 22, an estimated 9 billion inter-regional passenger trips are expected. The Spring Festival, an occasion for family reunions, fell on Jan. 29 this year. In recent years, a notable trend during chunyun has been the surge in the use of new energy vehicles (NEVs), driven by the fast expansion of charging infrastructure and the Chinese people’s growing eco-friendly awareness. The State Grid Corporation of China has expected the charging volume for NEVs on the country’s highways to reach a record high during the Spring Festival holiday.
China is expected to maintain its annual economic growth target at around 5 percent for 2025, the same as last year’s goal, in a bid to shore up market expectations in the face of tepid domestic demand and rising trade protectionism, analysts and executives said.
The world’s second-largest economy has vowed to enhance countercyclical adjustments, including a more proactive fiscal policy and a moderately loose monetary policy, and provide a strong underpinning for achieving its annual goals, they added.
Though China’s GDP target will only be officially disclosed during the National People’s Congress session in March, the anticipation for the unchanged growth target comes as China’s major economic hubs — like Beijing and Shanghai as well as the provinces of Guangdong and Zhejiang — have announced GDP growth goals in the vicinity of 5 percent for the year.
Aside from Qinghai’s relatively lower target of around 4.5 percent, most other provincial-level regions have also set their growth goals at around 5 percent or slightly above 5 percent.
Notably, the Xizang autonomous region has set the most ambitious growth objective, targeting over 7 percent with an aim to reach 8 percent. Chongqing, along with the provinces of Hainan and Hubei as well as the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, have set their growth goals at around 6 percent for this year.
“The country is expected to aim for a GDP expansion of around 5 percent, as China is committed to achieving the goal of doubling per capita GDP by 2035, which requires an implied growth rate of no less than 4.6 percent,” said Zhang Ming, deputy director of the Institute of Finance and Banking, which is part of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The growth target will also help boost confidence and expectations in the current context of relatively subdued sentiment and provides a framework for policymakers to coordinate resources, Zhang said.
Moreover, based on data from 2020 to 2024, every 1 percentage point increase in GDP has the potential to create around 2.61 million new urban jobs. A growth rate of around 5 percent could generate over 13 million new jobs, which would significantly alleviate employment pressure, said China Minsheng Bank.
Through ramping up the intensity of countercyclical adjustments, China can harness its underlying growth potential to meet its 5 percent GDP growth target for 2025, even in the face of potential economic headwinds, said Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank.
“With external demand likely to face trade barriers tipped by certain economies, China will need to direct its efforts toward unlocking the potential of domestic consumption as the main engine of economic growth,” Wen said.
China’s consumer goods trade-in programs, which have driven a more than 1 percentage point increase in the annual growth of the country’s total retail sales last year, are set to cover a broader range of consumer goods and offer even more attractive incentives in 2025.
“China is likely to double the funding for its consumer goods trade-in initiatives this year to 300 billion yuan ($41 billion),” said Wang Qing, chief macroeconomic analyst at Golden Credit Rating International.
This significant increase in funding is expected to drive a substantial boost in consumption, with Wang forecasting an additional 750 billion yuan in spending in 2025, equivalent to a 1.5 percentage point acceleration in the growth rate of the total retail sales of consumer goods.
China’s economic growth is poised to outshine the global average this year, underpinned by the dynamism of its innovation-driven private sector and the rapid expansion of future-oriented industries, said Ernesto Torres Cantu, head of international at Citi.
This dynamism in the private sphere is a key factor behind China’s robust economic performance and the positive sentiment surrounding Chinese companies, he said.
Meanwhile, such future-oriented industries as artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, green energy and humanoid robots will keep driving the country’s growth forward for years to come, with their impact also being felt worldwide, he added.
Russia and Ukraine have swapped 300 prisoners of war in their latest swap mediated by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Russian defense ministry said Wednesday.
The released Russian soldiers are receiving medical care in Belarus and will soon return to Russia, according to the ministry.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 150 Ukrainians had returned home from Russia as part of the swap.
An ongoing exhibition at Shanghai Library East is celebrating the Year of the Snake with a display of 270 snake-themed artworks. The exhibition, which is taking place through March 2, explores snake-related myths, legends, history and modern interpretations.
Co-hosted by Shanghai Library, Shanghai Artists’ Association and Shanghai Animation and Cartoon Association, this marks the third consecutive year of Chinese zodiac-themed exhibitions at the library.
As one of the 12 animals in the traditional Chinese zodiac, the snake is widely represented in Chinese culture, symbolizing intelligence, rejuvenation and agility. The exhibition features a diverse array of works, including paintings, cartoons, illustrations, engravings and digital art, created by established artists like Dai Dunbang and Zheng Xinyao, star artists on social media, and art students. The exhibits were selected from more than 6,000 submissions from home and abroad.
Additionally, the library has also introduced snake-themed furnishings and decorations, along with a new interactive game that brings some of the featured artworks to life.
Six Sisters, a highly anticipated TV series, topped the country’s daily ratings on Wednesday, according to industry tracker Beacon.
The drama, adapted from writer Yi Bei’s 2018 novel of the same name, follows the story of the He family, focusing on He Changsheng and his wife Liu Meixin as they navigate the challenges of raising six daughters.
After the father dies in a car crash, He Jiali, the oldest daughter, shoulders the burden of raising the large family with her mother and grandmother by taking care of her five younger sisters, helping them to establish their own families and secure jobs.
Starring actress Mei Ting as the oldest daughter and actor Lu Yi as her husband, the drama debuted on China Central Television’s CCTV-1 and simultaneously streamed on Tencent Video on Feb 3.
The series, which also stars actresses Vivian Wu and Xi Meijuan as the mother and grandmother, was filmed in Huainan in East China’s Anhui province, capturing some time-honored locations, including Huaishang Dock, Beitou Food Market Street and Huainan Normal University.
Set in the city, the drama incorporates many local elements ranging from customs to food. For example, satang, a type of rice porridge made with broth, appears in multiple scenes as the mother’s favorite dish.
Yang Xiaopei, the chief producer and art director of the drama, said that each character has their own story and these tales intertwine to become an indispensable source of strength in each other’s lives. She hopes the project conveys a sense of warmth and strength to audiences.
Yi, who also serves as the scriptwriter, shared that he employed a comedic narrative style, hoping that the story reflects the societal changes over four decades through the perspectives of ordinary people living in a small city.
“The stories of the six sisters revolve around universal themes such as birth, aging, illness, death, love, and marriage. However, when placed against a specific backdrop, they take on a unique theme,” Yi added.
The agreement commits nations to provide a new pledge, known as a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) every five years. But it also requires each pledge to be a “progression beyond” the previous one.
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced New Zealand would commit to reducing emissions by 51-55% below 2005 levels by 2035, which is only 1-5% above the current NDC of a 50% cut by 2030.
Technically, the new NDC represents a progression, albeit the smallest possible one. It was criticised as underwhelming and unambitious to combat climate change, raising the question whether the coalition government has done enough to comply with its international obligations.
The commitments of each member nation should align with the Paris Agreement’s purpose to hold global average temperature rise well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to keep it at 1.5°C.
But the agreement also requires that each country’s NDC reflects its “highest possible ambition, reflecting its common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in light of different national circumstances”.
Does the government’s announcement to step up emissions cuts by as little as 1% really represent New Zealand’s highest possible ambition in present circumstances?
In October last year, looking specifically at New Zealand’s potential domestic contribution to the new NDC, the Climate Change Commission advised that emissions cuts of 66% could be achieved without shrinking the economy.
This excludes potential additional cuts achieved through offshore mitigation – paying for overseas carbon credits or funding other countries to reduce their greenhouse emissions.
Clearly, deeper cuts are possible and there is room for significantly greater ambition.
The goal of the Paris Agreement is to limit climate change impacts by holding temperature rise well below 2°C. Fiona Goodall/Getty Images
Bare minimum commitment
Even if the new NDC meets a minimal requirement for compliance, it is difficult to see how it adheres to the purpose of the Paris Agreement and the level of ambition required.
New Zealand’s NDC falls short of the commitments offered by other comparable countries and even some developing nations, including the oil and gas producer Brazil, which pledged to cut its emissions by 59-67% by 2035.
International law has long been guided by the principle of pacta sunt servanda, which translates to “agreements must be kept”. The principle reminds parties to any agreement or convention that all international obligations should be fulfilled in good faith.
Viewing New Zealand’s new NDC in the context of other recent decisions, it seems the coalition government may be pursuing policies that could undermine climate action while pledging the bare minimum internationally. This would be difficult to characterise as a party acting in good faith.
Immediately following the new NDC announcement, Resources Minister Shane Jones unveiled New Zealand’s national minerals strategy, along with a list of critical minerals.
These documents support the government’s goal to double exports from the mineral sector by 2035.
Despite reassurance in the strategy that minerals production will not come at the expense of our environment, it includes plans to scale up exports of metallurgical coal. But mining more of this coal, then burning it (usually in the process of steelmaking), will add to greenhouse gas emissions.
Even recent measures to allow increased road speed limits have been criticised for increasing greenhouse gas emissions as well as worsening air quality and reducing road safety.
Despite Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s claim to be “all about yes” even on climate change, such decisions are difficult to square with a responsible party to the Paris Agreement acting in good faith.
The Paris Agreement is clear that emissions pledges are not imposed but are to be determined nationally. The agreement itself lacks an enforcement mechanism, but recently agreed trade deals with the European Union and with the United Kingdom both contain binding and enforceable commitments to the agreement.
This is a reminder that trading partners are already monitoring New Zealand’s climate actions. Consumer attitudes and trade obligations might become a more powerful lever for climate action in the future. No government should ignore this.
As the US administration begins to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, now more than ever is the time for other countries to stay focused on its purpose and to match national commitments accordingly.
Without an NDC in line with the Paris goal, New Zealand’s government is not sending the right message to New Zealanders or to our trading partners and neighbours. It is failing to show international and regional leadership at a time when many Pacific nations are on the frontline of climate-related risk and damage.
Nathan Cooper does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: United States Senator for West Virginia Shelley Moore Capito
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee unanimously passed the Brownfields Reauthorization Act of 2025, legislation to reauthorize the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Brownfields program, and the Strategies to Eliminate Waste and Accelerate Recycling Development (STEWARD) Act, legislation to improve our nation’s recycling and composting systems.
The Brownfields Reauthorization Act of 2025 wasintroduced by U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Chairman of the EPW Committee, and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), andthe STEWARD Act was introduced by Chairman Capito, and U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the EPW Committee, and John Boozman (R-Ark.).
The Brownfields Reauthorization Act of 2025:
“Rural and underserved communities lack the resources needed to compete with larger entities, putting them in an unfair position. Our bill streamlines the application process to level the playing field. The legislation also modernizes the program’s grant amounts to match current construction costs and project sizes, aligning them with the reality of doing business today,” Chairman Capito said.
“Cleaning up brownfield sites can be costly and burden our local communities,”Senator Blunt Rochester said. “The Brownfield Reauthorization Act will help us reduce environmental hazards, spur economic development, and support the health and safety of our people. I’m proud to lead this bill alongside Chair Capito, and I’m also honored to carry on the work previously championed by my predecessor, former Senator Carper. Delaware will benefit from this legislation, and I hope to see it signed into law.”
A one-pager of the legislation is available here.
The STEWARD Act:
“For too many Americans, recycling remains out of reach – either because facilities don’t exist in their communities or because the infrastructure to make recycling economically viable is not in place. The STEWARD Act aims to close these gaps by ensuring that recycling services are accessible to all communities. The bill also recognizes that, to solve a problem, you need to measure and understand it first. The data provisions in the STEWARD Act will empower decision-makers to track progress, identify areas for improvement, and make informed decisions that will drive real change in our nation’s recycling systems,” Chairman Capito said.
“We are living through a plastic pollution crisis: it’s accumulating in our food, in our water, and in our bodies, and it’s threatening people’s health,” Ranking Member Whitehouse said. “I’m proud to join Chairman Capito and Senator Boozman to lead the STEWARD Act, which is an essential preliminary step in reducing the amount of plastics seeping into our bodies and environment. Recycling is a stopgap in the rising flood of plastic waste, and I look forward to working with my colleagues—on both sides of the aisle—to tackle this issue on all fronts.”
“Strengthening our commitment to recycling in order to preserve the resources we are blessed with, as well as spur economic growth and encourage industry innovation, benefits all Americans,” Senator Boozman said. “I am proud to see the STEWARD Act advance with bipartisan support as we continue our efforts to encourage sustainable recycling infrastructure systems and practices.”
A one-pager of the legislation is available here.
BACKGROUND:
The Brownfields Reauthorization Act unanimously passed the EPW Committee last Congress in September 2023. The STEWARD Act is the combination of the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act of 2023 and the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act, which both unanimously passed the EPW Committee last Congress in April 2023 and passed the U.S. Senate by unanimous consent in March 2024.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PETE HEGSETH: Well, Mr. Prime Minister, it’s great to see you. It was a pleasure to see you last night in the White House as well, and it is the truth that we have no greater ally than the state of Israel. We are honored to stand alongside you, stare down many of the same threats that you do. And under President Trump’s leadership, just like you, we are totally committed to achieving peace through strength through standing with Israel on our side, putting America first and never backing down from anything. That it has been and will continue to be an unbreakable bond between our countries.
As you know, I’ve had a chance to visit Israel eight or nine times. Spent time with you at the Western Wall. Watched the IDF in action, visited terror tunnels. Understand the proximity, whether it’s the Golan Heights or Hezbollah or the Gaza Strip, the threat that Israeli citizens have been under. And it always struck me, the sense of purpose that permeates the state of Israel living under an existential threat. And have always had a great deal of respect for the response that country has had.
And now destroying Hamas’s capabilities in Gaza, Hezbollah’s capabilities in the north, damaging the Houthi infrastructure in Yemen and things that are of great importance to America. Those are all of great importance to us, but in September of 2024, killing the man responsible for the 1983 bombing of the Marine Corps compound in Beirut, killing 241 Americans. You have a long memory. We have a long memory and may our relationship continue to endure.
We’re going to continue to grow our defense industrial base. We’ve supplied munitions that were previously not supplied that are useful in eradicating radical enemies. And we are committed to continuing to do so. So, I hope you’ve noticed here at the Defense Department under President Trump, we are laser focused on reviving the warrior ethos, on rebuilding America’s military, and reestablishing deterrence, which is something you, Prime Minister, have done in your neighborhood in impressive, aggressive and important ways.
So, it’s an honor to welcome you to the Pentagon on behalf of the Department of Defense. Thank you for spending the afternoon with us, sir.
PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Well, thank you, Mr. Secretary. Pete, you’ve been a great and stalwart friend of Israel, and we see President Trump and the team that he’s put together is extraordinary friends, extraordinary patriots of America and therefore also champions of the American-Israel Alliance. I truly believe Israel obviously has no greater friend than the United States. And I think the United States has no better friend than Israel.
It’s an ally that perhaps is different from any of your allies because we have no compunction about fighting our enemies by ourselves. We’re willing to shoulder the burden of our defense. But by confronting the forces of radicalism and terror and the forces that are anti-American at their core, they call you the Great Satan and they call us the small Satan. We just stand in their way, but you are their great enemy.
By confronting these various enemies, we are not only defeating those who wish to attack us, but those who wish to attack you as well. And therefore, our victory is your victory, and we are well ahead and well advanced in the pursuit of our war goals that will give security and peace. And that’s the only way you get it in our region and perhaps in many other regions. The only way you get peace and an enduring peace is by being very, very strong.
And with our alliance with your support, including the decision you just mentioned of supplying Israel the much-needed tools for our defense, we are a lot stronger than we’ve ever been. I thank you for this warm reception. It’s good to see you again and I look forward to our discussions away from the cameras.
SECRETARY HEGSETH: Good to see you, sir. Welcome to the Pentagon.
Q: Secretary Hegseth [crosstalk].
Q: How do you feel about American involvement in Gaza considering your views and worldview?
SECRETARY HEGSETH: I would just say to the question of Gaza; the definition of insanity is attempting to do the same thing over and over and over again. And as the president and prime minister pointed out last night, the president is willing to think outside the box, look for new and unique dynamic ways to solve problems that have felt like they’re intractable.
So, we look forward to more conversations about that, creative solutions to that. And as the man tasked with leading the Defense Department here, we’re prepared to look at all options as we’ve said.
Q: Including directly with [crosstalk]?
Q: [Crosstalk] to Gaza, Mr. Secretary? Do you have a plan to send troops to Gaza?
Q: Are you working on options for the president right now that would involve US troops in Gaza?
SECRETARY HEGSETH: The president is involved in very complex and high-level negotiations of great consequence to both the United States and the state of Israel. And we look forward to working with our allies, our counterparts, both diplomatically and militarily
to look at all options. But we certainly would not get ahead of the president or provide any details about what we may or may not do. That’s just bad military planning.
Amid growing public understanding we need to reduce sexual violence and teach young people about healthy relationships, consent is now part of the national curriculum until Year 10.
But is this education working?
Our research with teens suggest some young people are not coming away with an adequate understanding of consent or how to use it in their relationships.
What is consent education supposed to involve?
Before 2023, consent was taught at the discretion of each school as part of relationships and sexuality education classes. The Morrison government announced age-appropriate consent lessons in 2022, to start in the first year of school.
The aim is to teach students about the importance of consent, ensuring they understand it is an ongoing agreement between individuals. This means consent needs to be actively sought and freely given.
It is still largely up to individual schools to work out how they teach the material.
Consent education is now a compulsory part of Australia’s National Curriculum. Wendy Wei/Pexels, CC BY
This research is part of a broader study of young people’s perceptions of online sexual content and experiences of relationships and sexuality education.
For our research, we have spoken to 46 Australian teens (aged 11-17) through a mix of interviews and focus groups. The interviews were done between 2021-2023 and the focus groups were held in December 2023.
As part of this, we asked interviewees what they learned about consent at school. The comments in this article were made after consent education became compulsory.
‘Nothing’ about how to speak to peers
While some young people told us their schools had over-emphasised consent – “like they’ve gone through everything” – other interviewees found the lessons difficult to apply in their lives. As one focus group participant (in a group of mixed genders, aged 14-16) explained:
[Young people are] taught in a basic stereotypical movie way like ‘no’, ‘stop that’, but they don’t actually teach, like, real-life situations.
Lauren* (14) added young people were only taught “if you didn’t want to have sex, then just say no”. As she explained, teens need more practical advice on how to respond to potential partners. This includes:
more focus on examples of other people asking for sex and what [to] do if you were asked to have sex with someone [or] on how to say ‘no’.
Another participant (from a focus group of mixed-genders, aged 14-16) noted how saying “no” was more complex than what school lessons suggested and teens could be taught how to advocate for themselves:
Especially for non-confrontational people ‘cause my friend, [a] creepy guy was being really weird to her, and she wouldn’t say anything about it ‘cause she’s so nice and other people had to step up for her because she wouldn’t tell him that she didn’t want it.
Interviewees said they wanted more advice on how to handle real-life situations around consent. ArtHouse Studio/Pexels, CC BY
‘We don’t want to get in trouble’
Interviewees told us how consent is often discussed within the context of unwanted sex and sexual assault, or as Tiffany (15) explained “all the negative things”. This may contribute to fears about sexual activity.
Young people also saw consent as a means to avoid “getting into trouble”, rather than checking the comfort and willingness of their sexual partners.
As Warren (17) told us:
My friend group that I hang out with, we’re very big on consent. That’s because we’ve heard of cases where people might not have got consent, then they’ve got in trouble because of it […] we don’t want to get in trouble for doing the wrong thing […]
I don’t know how I’d go about getting it every time, like, if I just invited a girl over [do] I have to get it in writing or something?
He added he and his friends were thinking about having partners sign a form during their end-of-school celebrations:
if we bring girls back, we want them to sign a consent form or something like that. That’s an idea we had.
There are several issues with teens thinking they need a written form for sex. Not only is it transactional and impractical, it could create an idea someone is not “allowed” to withdraw consent at any time. It also presents consent as a simple box-ticking exercise for “yes” or “no”, when it should be based on mutual respect and care, as part of an evolving discussion.
Going beyond consent
We only interviewed a modest sample of students from Perth. But our study feeds into other research suggesting “consent” in itself may not stop or prevent sexual violence. That is, even if one partner says “yes” it does not mean the sex is free from coercion or is pleasurable.
This suggests young people need more skills and knowledge than simply being told to “seek consent” – a low bar for ethical sex. Consent education also needs to explore communication skills, self-confidence, pleasure, love and relationship dynamics: all topics teens tell us they want to learn about.
This should not be taken as a criticism of passionate, hardworking teachers and schools. But it suggests they need more support and training to provide consent education in ways young people can actually use.
*names have been changed.
Imogen Senior from Body Safety Australia, Gracie Cayley from the Kids Research Institute, Associate Professor Debra Dudek and Dr Harrison W. See from Edith Cowan University contributed to the research on which this article is based.
This study was funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project Adolescents’ perceptions of harm from accessing online sexual content (DP 190102435). Primary funding was received from the ARC. The focus groups, were part-funded by Edith Cowan University’s School of Arts and Humanities: School research investment fund as part of the Love Studies’ Teenagers, Consent, and Sex Education project. Giselle Woodley is a member of Bloom-Ed, a relationships and sexuality education advocacy group, whose views are not expressed here. Giselle is also an expert advisor for ‘On your terms’ a consent study run by the Australian Human Rights Commission and funded by the Commonwealth Department of Education.
Lelia Green is part of the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Project funding scheme (project DP190102435). The views expressed here are those of the authors and not necessarily of the Australian government or the ARC.
President Donald Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. should “take over” Gaza, displace its current population and turn the enclave into “the Riviera of the Middle East” is unsettling – in both a literal and, to Palestinians, a very personal sense.
The remarks, which followed earlier comments in which the president expressed a desire to “clean out” Gaza, have been taken by some Middle East experts as a call to “ethnically cleanse” the strip of its 2.2 million Palestinian inhabitants. They worry that such talk will bolster the hopes of Israel’s far-right settlers and their supporters in government, who want to remove Palestinians from Gaza and build Jewish-only settlements on the enclave’s beachfront property.
Following Trump’s remarks, Riyad Mansour, Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, stated: “Our homeland is our homeland.” He added, “I think that leaders and people should respect the wishes of the Palestinian people.”
As a scholar of modern Palestinian history, I know that calls to remove the Palestinians from Gaza are not new – but neither is Palestinians’ determination to remain in their homeland. For almost 80 years, Palestinians in Gaza have resisted various proposals to displace them from the enclave. In fact, those plans have often spurred resistance to occupation and removal.
A people already uprooted
Most people in Gaza are the product of displacement in the first place.
In 1948, over 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes when the state of Israel was established and a war between the new country and its Arab neighbors erupted.
These Palestinians became nationless refugees, placed under the care of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency. In the Gaza Strip, the agency set up eight refugee camps to care for over 200,000 Palestinians who had been forced out of over 190 towns and villages.
In December 1948, the U.N. General Assembly adopted Resolution 194 stipulating that “the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date.”
While Israeli leaders initially expressed a willingness to allow some refugees back, they rejected the refugees’ wholesale return. They argued that doing so would undermine Israel’s security and dilute its character as a “Jewish state.”
As such, Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, looked for ways to “motivate the refugees to move eastward” toward Jordan. He hoped that by moving refugees further away from Israel, they would be less likely to return.
At first, the United States called upon Israel to repatriate a substantial number of refugees. But with Israel consistently refusing to do so, leaders in Washington started turning to the idea of resettlement. They hoped that the promise of economic prosperity could induce large numbers of refugees to move to other Arab countries – and give up on the idea of returning home. For example, in 1953, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles drew up plans to resettle Palestinian refugees in Syria as part of a large water management project there.
Likewise in 1961, the recently formed U.S. Agency for International Development began funding an irrigation project in Jordan, bringing in Palestinian refugees to work as farmers. U.S. officials hoped that the refugees would start to identify as Jordanians, rather than as Palestinians, and agree to permanently resettle in Jordan.
But it did not work. A survey taken five years later found that the refugees still identified as Palestinians and wished to return to their homeland.
Rejecting resettlement
A further war between Israel and neighboring countries in 1967 resulted in Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which had been under Jordanian rule, as well as the Gaza Strip, which had been previously administered by Egypt.
It also sparked a renewed sense of Palestinian national identity, especially among younger generations who increasingly took up guerrilla-style tactics in a bid to force Israel, and the international community, to recognize their right to return.
In response, Israel looked to resettlement as a way to reduce the Palestinian population in territories it now occupied. In 1969, the Israeli government drew up secret plans to permanently transfer up to 60,000 Palestinians from Gaza to Paraguay. The scheme came to an abrupt halt when two Palestinians confronted the Israeli ambassador in Asunción about being brought to Paraguay under false pretenses.
Meanwhile, between 1967 and 1979, far-right Israeli Jewish settlers established seven settlements in Gaza. They hoped to see Palestinians removed from the strip so the land could be incorporated into their vision of a “greater Israel.”
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Israeli officials proposed various plans to remove refugees from the camps and resettle them elsewhere. This included a 1983 plan to dismantle refugee camps in the occupied Palestinian territories and resettle their inhabitants in better housing in towns and cities.
But Palestinian refugees firmly rejected the offer because it would have required them to give up their refugee status and relinquish their right of return.
The Oslo negotiations of the 1990s rejected the notion of removing Palestinians from Gaza. In fact, keeping the refugees in Gaza was central to the premise of a two-state solution. At the same time, questions over the right of refugees to return to their original homelands in what is now Israel were shelved.
No money can ‘replace your homeland’
But with hopes of a two-state solution long since faded, resettlement plans have reemerged.
Shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas gunmen in Israel that sparked the widespread bombing and siege of Gaza, the Biden administration asked Congress to fund “the potential needs of Gazans fleeing to neighboring countries.” The news outraged many Palestinians, who saw it as giving Israel a green light to carry out what many viewed as an attempt to ethnically cleanse Gaza.
In October 2024, far-right Jewish settlers gathered on the border of Gaza and called for the reestablishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza that had been dismantled in 2005. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called upon Israel to “encourage emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza. He proposed telling the Palestinians there: “We’re giving you the option, leave to other countries, the Land of Israel is ours.”
Palestinians have responded with their feet. As soon the ceasefire went into effect on Jan. 19, 2025, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who had been displaced to southern Gaza walked for hours to reach their homes in northern Gaza. Hundreds posted videos of cleaning out their damaged homes so they can live there once again.
The road to recovery in Gaza will be long. The U.N. estimates that rebuilding Gaza will cost US$50 billion and take at least 10 years.
I believe Palestinians want help rebuilding, not resettlement. Many of them have already vehemently rejected Trump’s call to move out. As one Palestinian told The Guardian newspaper: “We would rather die here than leave this land.” He insisted, “No amount of money in the world can replace your homeland.”
Resettlement schemes have a long history, yet Palestinians have thwarted them at every turn. There is no reason to think that this time will be any different.
Maha Nassar is affiliated with the Foundation for Middle East Peace.
Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell
02.05.25
Cantwell Votes NO On Advancing Trump’s Pick to Lead Commerce Department
Lutnick supports Trump’s tariffs & waffled on his commitment to allocate chips funding & preserve NOAA; In WA state, every 2 in 5 jobs are tied to trade
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Finance Committee, voted against advancing Howard Lutnick, President Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of the Department of Commerce, to the full Senate for consideration.
In a committee markup today, Sen. Cantwell expressed her concerns with Lutnick’s support for President Trump’s proposed tariffs. She also pointed to Lutnick’s failure to commit to fully allocating the funds approved by Congress under the Cantwell-led CHIPS & Science Act, as well as his waffling on whether he’d protect NOAA – including NOAA’s crucial missions and functions, and the workforce delivering those services to the American people.
Sen. Cantwell had previously questioned Lutnick on these topics in a committee hearing last week – video of that hearing is HERE.
ON TRADE & TARIFFS
“Tariffs and trade wars are a major problem for my state, where two out of every five jobs are tied to trade-related industries,” Sen. Cantwell said in today’s committee meeting. “The Commerce [nominee] has said he’s advocating for the president’s policy [that] would cost my constituents $5 billion or more. We need a secretary that understands that these products and these issues need coalition building, not throwing down gauntlets that will lose jobs for my farmers.”
Yesterday, Sen. Cantwell delivered a speech on the Senate floor calling for the United States to repudiate the trade philosophy of Trump — whose proposed 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariff on goods from China would spark a trade war, drive up costs for American consumers, harm domestic businesses across hundreds of industries, and compromise the United States’ global leadership in the free trade ecosystem. A video of that speech is HERE; a transcript is HERE.
In Washington state, two out of every five jobs are tied to trade and related industries. In 2023, the state imported $19.9 billion of goods from Canada – primarily oil, gas, lumber, and electrical power — making our northern neighbors Washington state’s largest trade partner. Also in 2023, the state imported $1.7 billion in goods from Mexico, including motor vehicles, vehicle parts, and household appliances. More information about how President Trump’s proposed tariffs will impact businesses and consumers in the State of Washington is HERE.
ON CHIPS & SCIENCE FUNDING
“Over the last four years, there has been much investment in infrastructure [for] manufacturing that this committee has supported. Semiconductor expansion — $450 billion right here in the United States, thanks to the CHIPS & Science Act — and Mr. Lutnick, in various answers to various members of the committee, did not give a full commitment to making sure this money continues to go out the door,” Sen. Cantwell said in today’s committee meeting.
Sen. Cantwell was the main architect and key negotiator of the CHIPS & Science Act. In her position as Commerce chair, she was instrumental in securing the science R&D funding authorizations in the 11th hour of negotiations. A key component of the legislation is the Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs (Tech Hubs) program that was authored by Sen. Cantwell to strengthen U.S. economic and national security with investments in regions across the country. Earlier this month, the American Aerospace Materials Manufacturing Center (AAMMC) in Spokane was awarded $48 million from the program to establish the first-of-its-kind testbed facility in the United States focused on developing advanced thermoplastic materials – new types of lightweight, heat-moldable, and recyclable materials that can replace metal in aircraft parts. The AAMMC will serve as the nation’s hub for creating and testing these innovative materials that are essential for more rapidly building fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly aircraft.
ON DISMANTLING NOAA
“[NOAA] makes up more than 60% of the Commerce budget. When asked for the record if NOAA should be dismantled, as called for in [Project 2025], Mr. Lutnick would only say, if confirmed, he would figure it out. Given how central NOAA is for providing accurate weather forecasting, managing our fisheries, protecting our fishermen from Russian and Chinese illegal fishing, I was looking for a stronger commitment,” Sen. Cantwell said today.
Project 2025 calls for NOAA to be “dismantled and many of its functions eliminated,” calling it part of the “climate change alarm industry.” NOAA provides critical services to the Nation including weather forecasts, extreme storm tracking and monitoring, tools to enable communities to adapt to sea level rise and climate change, supporting fisheries management, and conserving marine mammals and other protected species.
Sen. Cantwell is a champion of NOAA and helped secure $3.3 billion in NOAA investments in the Inflation Reduction Act to help communities prepare for and adapt to climate change, boost science needed to understand changing weather and climate patterns, and invest in advanced computer technologies that are critical for extreme weather prediction and emergency response. Her Fire Ready Nation Act, bipartisan legislation to strengthen NOAA’s ability to help forecast, prevent, and fight wildfires, passed the Commerce committee unanimously today and now heads to the full Senate for consideration.
Video of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks on her Lutnick vote is HERE; audio is HERE; and a transcript is HERE.
Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell
02.05.25
Cantwell Calls For Immediate Hearings on DOGE Treasury Access
Joins letter from 19 Senators to Republican leaders of Senate Finance, Senate Banking committees
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), a senior member of the Senate Committee on Finance and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, joined fellow members of the Senate Committee on Finance and of the Senate Banking Committee in sending a letter to Finance Chair Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Banking Chair Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), requesting immediate hearings about reports that officials associated with Elon Musk gained access to sensitive U.S. Treasury payment systems.
“The Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems control the flow of more than $6 trillion in annual payments to households, businesses and other entities nationwide,” the lawmakers write. “Putting this system in the hands of unaccountable political actors raises significant economic and national security risks.”
“We ask that the Finance Committee and Banking Committee swiftly schedule hearings to allow Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to answer critical questions about the risks posed by Musk and DOGE’s access to the Bureau of Fiscal Service’s payment systems,” the lawmakers conclude.
On Sunday, Sen. Cantwell released a statement regarding reports that Musk and his DOGE team had accessed these systems: “This threatens the privacy and funds owed to every American taxpayer and Social Security recipient. Congressional Republicans cannot continue to turn a blind eye as to how their own constituents’ private financial records are handled,” she said.
The full text of the letter is HERE and below:
Dear Chairman Crapo and Chairman Scott:
We write requesting that the Committee on Finance and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs immediately hold hearings to examine reports that officials associated with Elon Musk and the so-called U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”) have gained access to systems that control payments to millions of American citizens, including Social Security, Medicare, tax refunds, and payments to small businesses.1 It is critical that the Senate understands this threat to the stability of a payment system that millions of Americans rely upon and that is critical to America’s global financial standing.
The Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems control the flow of more than $6 trillion in annual payments to households, businesses and other entities nationwide. These payment systems cover 87% of all federal payments and process more than a billion payments annually and are responsible for the distribution of Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax refunds, payments to federal employees and contractors, including competitors of Musk-owned companies, and thousands of other functions.
Putting this system in the hands of unaccountable political actors raises significant economic and national security risks. Information in these systems is critical to the Department’s management of the national debt. The takeover by Mr. Musk and his associates was achieved by engineering the ouster of a key official responsible for managing the extraordinary measures the Department has been taking to avoid a default. A misstep with these payment systems could lead to a technical default with a wide range of devastating consequences, from seniors missing Social Security payments to a global financial meltdown that costs trillions of dollars and millions of jobs.
Furthermore, granting access to Mr. Musk and his team – who may not have appropriate security clearances – access to this system risks exposing the sensitive tax and financial information of nearly every American. The Treasury payment system “includes sensitive personal information about the millions of Americans who receive Social Security checks, tax refunds and other payments from the federal government.” It is not clear why these individuals were granted unfettered access to such data, what they could do with it once inside the system, and what protections are in place to ensure the Department has been complying with its legal obligations under the Privacy Act, 26 U.S.C. 6103, as well as other statutes and Treasury regulations and policies that protect such sensitive information about millions of Americans.
Finally, we are deeply concerned that following the federal grant and loan freeze earlier this week, as well as Musk’s own comments on social media, officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments authorized by law, and to circumvent the court orders prohibiting that freeze from going into effect. We ask that the Finance Committee and Banking Committee swiftly schedule hearings to allow Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to answer critical questions about the risks posed by Musk and DOGE’s access to the Bureau of Fiscal Service’s payment systems.
Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts Ed Markey
Bill Text (PDF) | Watch: Senator Markey’s Remarks
Washington (February 5, 2025) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committee’s Subcommittee on Primary Health & Retirement Security, along with Senators Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), today reintroduced the Right to Contraception Act, legislation that would create a statutory right to obtain and use contraceptives and ensure health care providers have a right to provide contraceptives, contraception, and share information about this essential care. The legislation is led by Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) in the House.
In July 2022, the Right to Contraception Act passed the House (220-195). That same month, Republicans blocked an attempt in the U.S. Senate to pass the bill by unanimous consent. They did the same in June 2023. In June 2024, Republicans blocked Senate Democrats’ attempt to pass the bill on the floor.
“The right to contraception is essential for people’s freedom to make decisions about their lives and their health without politicians getting in the way,” said Senator Markey. “Contraception is essential not only for sexual and reproductive health, but also to treat a wide array of medical conditions and decrease the risk of certain cancers. The Right to Contraception Act will protect the right for people to get contraception and for providers to give it in the face of President Trump and Republicans’ relentless attacks on reproductive justice.”
“I am proud to introduce the Right to Contraception Act in the 119th Congress in response to the real threats to accessing birth control in Texas and across our country,” said Congresswoman Fletcher. “With 200 original co-sponsors in the House, the Right to Contraception Act reflects the position of the vast majority of Americans who rely on contraception of all kinds to plan their families and their lives. Efforts to restrict access to birth control are not about reflecting the will of the people, they are about taking away the freedom, dignity, and autonomy of all Americans. As a representative from a state intent on taking our reproductive rights away, I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress and do everything I can to protect and restore the health, privacy, dignity, and autonomy of women and families across our country. We will not give up.”
“Contraception is essential health care that millions of people across the country rely on,” said Senator Hirono. “The Right to Contraception Act simply protects patients’ right to access contraception, as well as providers’ right to provide it. I’m proud to join Senator Markey and Representative Fletcher in reintroducing this important bill. The right to control your own body, free from government interference, is as fundamental as it gets, and we’ll continue doing everything we can to protect the reproductive rights of all Americans.”
“Ever since the Supreme Court threw out Roe v. Wade, we’ve seen extreme MAGA Republicans across the country work to roll back health care and tear reproductive freedom away from Americans—which has cruelly threatened birth control, plan B, IUDs and other forms of contraception,” said Senator Duckworth. “I refuse to let my daughters grow up in a world with fewer rights than I had. As MAGA Republicans continue their anti-choice, anti-science crusade, it is as important as ever that the Senate acts to codify the right to contraception into law so that every American in every state—regardless of their skin color, zip code or income—has equal access to basic, necessary health care. I’m proud to join Senators Markey and Hirono in reintroducing our Right to Contraception Act to do just that.”
“Nobody wants Donald Trump rifling through their medicine cabinet,” said Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (MA-05). “Democrats’ Right to Contraception Act is as clear-cut as it gets. This is about the health, freedom, and dignity. Republicans once again have a chance to show us where they stand: on the side of health care bans or on the side of the American people.”
“Affordable, accessible contraception is one of the building blocks for people to be able to make ends meet and get what they want out of life. And now that the Supreme Court has eliminated the constitutional right to abortion, Republicans at every level of government are targeting contraception access – including by threatening to gut Medicaid, the country’s biggest payer of reproductive health care coverage like contraception. We will keep fighting to pass the Right to Contraception Act to keep the government out of our business and out of our exam rooms,” said Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (CA-51).
“It feels like every day we wake up to someone trying to take away another fundamental right. We have an extremist president, a submissive Republican Congress, and a radical Supreme Court that wants to undo decades of progress. That means it is up to us to protect the rights we once believed were secure—including access to contraception,” said Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-05). “I am co-leading the Right to Contraception Act to protect the millions of people who use contraception every day to safeguard their health, the health of others, or manage medical conditions. We must continue to protect the freedom to make personal healthcare decisions.”
“Access to birth control should be a given, but with extreme Republicans chipping away at women’s reproductive rights by the day, we have no choice but to enshrine this protection into law,” said Congresswoman Angie Craig (MN-02). “I will always stand up for our fundamental rights and freedoms, and that’s why I’m proud to be co-leading the Right to Contraception Act.”
“Everyone, no matter their ZIP code, should be able to get the birth control they need, when they need it. At a time when reproductive freedom is under attack across the country, this bill will help people make their own health care decisions and get birth control without government interference. We’re grateful to Sens. Markey, Hirono, and Duckworth and Reps. Fletcher, Jacobs, Craig, and Williams for reintroducing the Right to Contraception Act and for their continued leadership in the fight to make sexual and reproductive health care more accessible. Now is the time to safeguard birth control for our freedom and well-being,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
“Republicans promised on the campaign trail that they wanted to protect contraception, but there isn’t a single Congressional Republican who has signed on to the Right to Contraception Act. Actions speak louder than words and refusing to back this commonsense bill is a refusal to listen to what voters overwhelmingly support across party lines. No matter what they say, Republicans never had any intention of protecting the fundamental right to contraception. Thank you to Senators Markey, Duckworth, and Hirono and Representatives Fletcher, Craig, Williams, and Jacobs for introducing this essential legislation, and to all of our champions in Congress for reaffirming their commitment to protecting reproductive freedom,” said Mini Timmaraju, President and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All.
“The Right to Contraception Act is a vital safeguard for the fundamental freedom to make personal health decisions. As a physician, I see daily how contraception empowers patients to protect their health, plan their families, and shape their futures. Rep. Fletcher’s leadership in advancing this legislation is critical to securing this essential right for all Americans,” said Dr. Dara Kass, Emergency Medicine Physician and Board Member for Americans for Contraception.
“As an OB-GYN, I’ve seen firsthand that the right to birth control is essential for the well-being of my patients, their families and their communities. For nearly six decades, birth control has allowed millions of people to manage health conditions, plan if and when to have children and achieve their career and educational aspirations. Not surprisingly, birth control is incredibly popular and those who attack it are spreading misinformation and disinformation in order to justify their attacks. If policymakers truly mean what they say regarding support for contraception, there is no clearer way to meaningfully demonstrate that support than by co-sponsoring and passing the Right to Contraception Act,” said Dr. Raegan McDonald-Mosley, MD, MPH, CEO of Power to Decide.
“Threats to contraceptive access are on the rise—misinformation, distortion of science, funding cuts, restrictions on young peoples’ access, and more. Plus, the network of family planning providers who deliver reproductive health care to thousands is facing unprecedented attacks. Contraception helps people who want to have a baby have well-timed, healthier pregnancies, and more agency in their relationships, education, work life, and finances. That’s why Americans overwhelmingly support contraceptive access. Congress must meet the moment and enshrine the right to contraception into law,” said Clare Coleman, President and CEO of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association.
“The Right to Contraception Act is needed now more than ever as an essential safeguard to protect birth control rights and access. President Trump and extremist members of Congress, state legislators, and judges have all made it clear — they are intent on going after contraception. In just the last two weeks, President Trump unraveled efforts to expand access to birth control, and critical guidance on prescribing contraception has vanished from federal websites. And we are seeing more targeted efforts against birth control in state legislatures, the courts, and on social media. This legislation is critical to push back against these attacks and ensure everyone maintains the right to access the birth control they need, when they need it,” said Gretchen Borchelt, Vice President for Reproductive Rights and Health at the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC).
The Right to Contraception Act is endorsed by Power to Decide, National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, National Women’s Law Center, Guttmacher Institute, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America), Population Connection Action Fund, Americans for Contraception, Advocates for Youth, National Partnership for Women & Families, American Public Health Association, American Humanist Association, National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health , Center for Biological Diversity, Ibis Reproductive Health, Physicians for Reproductive Health, Upstream USA, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, National Health Law Program, SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, Reproductive Health Access Project, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Upstream USA, In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, Center for American Progress, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, All* Above All, and Center for Reproductive Rights.
Source: United States Senator for Wyoming Cynthia Lummis
February 5, 2025
Washington D.C. – Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) released the following statement today celebrating National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
Senator Lummis joined President Donald J. Trump and others at the White House for the signing of the Executive Order: Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports
“The far left’s attack on female athletes is the women’s rights issue of our time,” said Lummis. “Wyoming is home to a long list of trailblazers who have paved the way for women’s rights. On National Girls and Women in Sports Day, I celebrate our fearless female athletes and will continue to work to reverse the woke policies that threaten the safety of women and girls on the playing field.”
Read Senator Lummis’ recent op-ed with Riley Gaines in Fox News discussing the importance of protecting women’s sports.
Headline: Single Employer Model grows with 29 new doctors starting work across regional NSW
Published: 6 February 2025
Released by: Minister for Regional Health
The NSW Government’s successful Single Employer Model is continuing to boost the regional health workforce, with another 29 doctors joining the Rural Generalist Single Employer Pathway (RGSEP) this week.
RGSEP is an employment pathway for doctors seeking a career as a rural generalist who work across both primary care and hospital settings.
Rural generalists are General Practitioners (GPs) who have an extended skill in a specialty area such as anaesthetics, obstetrics, paediatrics, emergency medicine, mental health or palliative care.
RGSEP trainees are offered a length-of-training contract with a Local Health District (LHD) in regional NSW. This allows trainees to retain and use their NSW Health Award entitlements during GP training.
Rural generalist trainees also receive the same pay and conditions as their hospital trained counterparts.
The new recruits bring the total number of doctors participating in the Program to 44 across Far West, Illawarra Shoalhaven, Hunter New England, Mid North Coast, Murrumbidgee, Northern NSW, Southern NSW and Western NSW LHDs.
RGSEP trainee Dr Marty Ryan has worked across health facilities in Temora, Cootamundra Gundagai and Wagga Wagga and is encouraging other doctors to consider becoming a rural generalist.
Quotes attributable to Regional Health Minister Ryan Park:
“I’m excited to welcome 29 new trainees to the Rural Generalist Single Employer Pathway, all with a commitment and passion for regional healthcare and communities.
“The program supports rural generalist trainees throughout their training, helping to prepare them for a career providing our regional, rural and remote communities with the essential care they need.
“This year, we have trainees working in regional centres such as Broken Hill, Tamworth and Dubbo, but also in GP practices in our smaller regional communities like Condobolin, Guyra and Tumut.
“Being a rural generalist means being a part of the community. It’s a unique, challenging and rewarding career, and it’s exciting to see our trainee numbers continue to grow year on year.”
Quotes attributable to Dr Marty Ryan, Rural Generalist Trainee:
“The beauty of this model is it allows the seamless transition from the primary setting into a hospital under the one contract.
“The breadth of experience you get as a rural generalist gives you so much job satisfaction and variety.
“One moment you’re at a hospital treating someone with pneumonia and the next hour you’re back down at the general practice clinic. It’s constant mental stimulation. That’s why I love the job.
“Growing up in a country town I know how deep the community spirit runs through them in the hard times as well as the good. It is such a special role and every day there are always compliments from patients who are so grateful to have you here.
“I thoroughly recommend this program to other doctors who are thinking of becoming a rural generalist.”
The 152nd Airlift Wing “High Rollers” from the Nevada Air National Guard achieved a historic first by participating in Operation Deep Freeze.
The High Rollers supported the annual U.S. military mission in Antarctica by flying augmented max duty day missions, logging over 30 hours in three days in December. The operation challenges the U.S. military with Antarctica’s extreme and unpredictable environment— the coldest, windiest and most inhospitable continent on Earth.
Rapidly changing weather conditions immediately confronted the High Rollers, operating out of Christchurch, delaying their inaugural mission until Dec. 18. Despite the setbacks, the team maintained readiness and transported 39 passengers and vital cargo to McMurdo Station in Antarctica aboard their C-130 Hercules aircraft. Their efforts provided significant relief to the 139th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron of the New York Air National Guard, which has handled the bulk of ODF missions for decades.
The 139th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron uses LC-130 aircraft equipped with skis, enabling landings on ice and snow. The unit manages the north-south resupply runs between Christchurch and McMurdo Station and intra-Antarctic missions, including deliveries to remote research stations and the South Pole. This demanding workload has heavily strained their fleet and personnel.
“We are so happy to see you guys here,” said Senior Master Sgt. Dave Ricks, the 139th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron’s superintendent. “We really appreciate the help that the High Rollers are providing.”
A C-17 unit from Washington state supports north-south missions during the winter months. However, during the summer, warmer temperatures render the runways too slushy for C-17s to land.
The High Rollers’ deployment to Operation Deep Freeze strengthens partnerships within the Air National Guard and reduces the operational burden on individual units. Col. Catherine Grush, 152nd Airlift Wing commander, highlighted the collaboration’s importance.
“It is my hope that we can make this an enduring partnership with the New York Air National Guard and the National Science Foundation,” Grush said. “We are excited to help out and provide whatever support is needed from us.”
The High Rollers brought fresh resources and enthusiasm to the mission, marking an important step in building capacity and resilience within the U.S. military’s Antarctic operations. Their success highlights the value of joint efforts in tackling the logistical and environmental challenges of operating at the bottom of the world.
A U.S. space domain awareness payload hosted on Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite 6 (QZS-6) successfully launched on a Japanese H-3 launch vehicle from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) in Japan on February 2, 2025. This is the first bilateral U.S. Japan cooperative space effort focused on national security, and the first of two launches as part of the JAXA Quasi-Zenith Satellite System Hosted Payload (QZSS-HP) program.
The satellite will be operated by Space Operations Command’s (SpOC) Mission Delta 2 (MD 2), which conducts Space Domain Awareness operations to identify, characterize, and exploit opportunities and mitigate vulnerabilities in the national security space terrain on behalf of the U.S. Space Force (USSF) and U.S. Space Command. The satellite will deliver near real time data to the Space Surveillance Network bolstering the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) understanding of the Geosynchronous Orbit regime above the Indo-Pacific region.
“This launch is a historic milestone for the U.S.-Japan alliance,” said USSF Col. Bryon McClain, program executive officer for Space Systems Command’s (SSC) Space Domain Awareness and Combat Power. “In an increasingly contested space domain, Japan’s contribution to the U.S. DoD’s deterrence strategy has been, and will continue to be, key to INDOPACOM awareness and operations. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with Japan on space modernization, data sharing, satellite communications, and more.”
“Congratulations to both nations on this achievement. Mission Delta 2 is honored to operate these payloads as they get on orbit on behalf of the USSF. These sensors will support the fusion of space- and ground-based Space Domain Awareness to further reinforce all-domain collective defense with allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific,” explained USSF Col. Raj Agrawal, commander or SpOC’s Mission Delta 2.
“I’m proud of the team for this achievement as the first launch in this first-ever bilateral collaboration,” said CMSgt. Jacqueline Sauve,’ SSC’s senior enlisted leader, who was on-site at TNSC for the launch. “This mission is just the beginning of what we can accomplish together with allies and partners.”
The QZSS-HP program encompasses the integration, launch, and operations of two U.S. payloads hosted on Japanese satellites. In preparation for launch, USSF and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT/LL) teams have worked side-by-side with the NSPS and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO) teams in Japan over the past two years to integrate and test the first hosted payload alongside its Japanese QZS-6 host.
Both U.S. payloads for this mission were designed and built by MIT/LL in Lexington, MA. The Japanese host Quasi-Zenith Satellites were designed and built by MELCO in Kamakura, Japan to augment the U.S. global positioning system (GPS) capabilities in the region. QZSS-HP utilizes the Multi-Mission Space Operations Center/Enterprise Command and Control – Schriever (MMSOC/EC2-S) enclave located in Colorado.
“A key component to ensuring the success of the QZSS-HP mission is the ground infrastructure,” said USSF Col. Joe Roth, director of SSC’s Innovation and Prototyping Acquisition Delta. “Ensuring the ground piece exceeds expectation paves the way for continued successful partnership opportunities with our Asia-Pacific allies.”
The strategic partnership between the USSF and Japan’s National Space Policy Secretariat (NSPS) originated through a December 2020 international agreement to jointly execute the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System-Hosted Payload (QZSS-HP) program. The mission’s second payload aboard QZS-7 is on track for launch in early FY2026.
Space Systems Command is the U.S. Space Force field command responsible for acquiring, developing, and delivering resilient capabilities to protect our nation’s strategic advantage in, from, and to space. SSC manages a $15.6 billion space acquisition budget for the Department of Defense and works in partnership with joint forces, industry, government agencies, academic and allied organizations to outpace emerging threats. Our actions today are making the world a better space for tomorrow.
Space Operations Command is the service force provider, focused on generating combat-ready Space forces, sourcing and providing forces for service and combatant commands, and advocating for combat-ready space power from future force to fielded force.
Mission Delta 2 is the Space Force’s lead Delta for application of Space Domain Awareness to achieve our Nation’s interests in, from, and to space.
Media representatives can submit questions for response regarding SSC by sending an e-mail to sscpa.media@spaceforce.mil
Media representatives can submit questions for response regarding SpOC and MD 2 by sending an e-mail to spoc.pa.media@spaceforce.mil
“I still see the knife, and the lady who held me down,” saidHawa’aMohamed Kamil, a peer educator in Djibouti, who was subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) at just six years old, an experience that left both physical and psychological scars.
“I’m afraid of men, of everyone, of everything,” she told the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA).
FGM, a practice that involves altering or injuring the female genitalia for non-medical reasons, is internationally recognised as a violation of fundamental human rights.
It is a global issue, reported in 92 countries across all continents, with over 230 million girlsand women having survived it in the world.
Data from about a third of the countries where the practice is still common have indicated a decline over the last three decades, with one out of three girls undergoing the practice compared to one out of two girls previously.
While steps in the right direction have been taken, in 2025 alone, nearly 4.4 million girls are projected to be at risk. Positive results would need to be stepped up drastically to meet the target of ending the practice by 2030.
Hawa’a Mohamed Kamil is a survivor of female genital mutilation in Djibouti.
Breaking the cycle
Hawa’a works together with Elle&Elles, a UNFPA network which supports and trains female leaders advocating for women’s health and rights.
She travels from Djibouti City to remote villages to raise awareness, including among boys, who can play a crucial role in shifting societal attitudes.
She also persuaded her own family members to adopt her message: abandon female genital mutilation – simple yet revolutionary for such a traditional area.
Meanwhile, in the northern-central Tadjourah region, 39-year-old Khadija crosses miles of unforgiving terrain to encourage families to spare their daughters from the procedure.
Khadija advocates for the elimination of female genital mutilation in Djibouti.
“Twenty-five years ago, I let my daughter go through female genital mutilation,” she told UNFPA. “But I have vowed to protect my granddaughter.”
A survivor herself, Khadija has seen the pain that follows female genital mutilation, as well as the infections, complications during childbirth and even tragic deaths.
“We lost many women who bled to death before they could reach a health facility,” she said.
She began weaving her message of change into conversations first with women, then men, and even religious leaders.
But their journey was far from smooth, as both women described being ostracised by their communities and chastised for spreading false information. “People suspected my motives,” recalled Khadija. “They couldn’t believe I was doing this for free, from my heart.”
Yet their commitment remains unshaken. “I am proud of the change we see today,” said Hawa’a.
For Khadija, the transformation has been remarkable: Her village recently made a public declaration to abandon the practice for good. “Change takes time, but it comes eventually,” she said.
Ibrahim, a teacher at a school in the Tadjourah region advocates against female genital mutilation.
A lesson in resistance
At a nearby school, the classroom buzzes with young voices reciting French phrases in unison. Beyond the lessons in grammar and vocabulary, however, 31-year-old Ibrahim is teaching something more profound – the value of girls’ rights and well-being.
“I made a vow that if I got married and had baby girls, I wouldn’t subject them to this and make them suffer,” he told UNFPA.
Ibrahim brings awareness of female genital mutilation’s harms into his lessons, gently guiding his young students towards a future where girls are empowered and their health safeguarded.
But when his first daughter was born, Ibrahim had to choose between upholding his promise and confronting opposition from his family, including his wife and grandmother. He chose to keep his promise.
“The most important thing is health,” he said. “I urge all families to take care of their girls’ health and to not cut them.”
His stance against female genital mutilation has rippled through his community, where over 100 people now oppose the practice.
Mother of five Hawi Mohammed is a survivor and community activist against female genital mutilation.
A religious woman leads the charge
Hawi Mohammed, 46, is a mother of five, fervent community activist, respected local religious leader, and a survivor of one of the most severe forms of female genital mutilation.
She is also a prominent member of the Shamikhat Djibouti network – a regional religious leaders’ group against female genital mutilation.
As a child she was subjected to what is often referred to as infibulation, in which part or all of a girl’s external genitalia are removed and the opening sealed over. An agonising and dangerous procedure, it can lead to severe bleeding, infections and all too often death.
Hawi said she only understood the full extent of the violation when she hit puberty: the pain, especially during menstruation, was excruciating. “I couldn’t go to school. I needed painkiller injections just to function,” she emphasised.
Her fury fuelled her advocacy, and she now hosts a popular radio and television programme in the Afari language, delivers lectures in mosques that challenge traditional interpretations and emphasise the true spirit of Islam.
“People used to run away when we talked about female genital mutilation,” she explained. “But the new generation is different. Mothers are educated, informed. They are doctors, activists, and teachers.”
Hawi’s own daughters and nieces are living proof of her commitment: Despite facing pressure from family and community members, she refused to subject them to female genital mutilation.
“I’ve gone through enough pain – I won’t let any girl suffer like I did,” she said.
Multilateral action
As the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation approaches on 6 February, UNFPA is highlighting the importance for the international community to invest in resources, foster open discussions and challenge social norms, alongside local activists’ work.
This year’s theme, “Stepping up the pace: Strengthening alliances and building movements to end FGM,” underscores the critical need for collaboration. It urges all actors from youth to governments to take action.
“As agents of change, everyone has a role to play in ensuring girls grow up free from this harmful practice. The urgency to unite efforts in abolishing FGM has never been greater,” wrote the agency.