SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:
Andrew King, of Sacramento, has been appointed Deputy Director of Data Operations Strategy at the Office of Data and Innovation. King has been Manager of the Data Operations Section at the California Air Resources Board since 2023, and has held several positions since 2018, including Staff Air Pollution Specialist, Air Pollution Specialist for the Transportation Analysis Section, and Air Pollution Specialist for the Criteria Pollutant Inventory Section. He was an Economist at the California Department of Toxic Substances Control from 2017 to 2018. King was a Managing Consultant at Red Peak Economic Consulting from 2013 to 2017. He was a Senior Accountability Analyst at the California Charter Schools Association from 2012 to 2013. King earned a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Southern California, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. This position does not require Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $168,468. King is a Democrat.
Lavelle Parker, of Rancho Cucamonga, has been appointed Warden of California Institution for Women, where he has been serving as Acting Warden since 2024 and was Chief Deputy Warden in 2024. Lavelle was Chief Deputy Warden at California Rehabilitation Center from 2020 to 2024. He was Associate Warden at California Institution for Men from 2012 to 2020. Lavelle held several positions at California State Prison, Los Angeles from 1992 to 2012, including Correctional Counselor III, Correctional Captain, Correctional Counselor II Supervisor, Correctional Counsel I, and Correctional Officer. This position does not require Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $193,524. Parker is registered without party preference.
Yolanda Franco-Clausen, of Hayward, has been appointed to the California Sex Offender Management Board. Franco-Clausen has served as a Police Officer for the City of Palo Alto Police Department since 2016. They were a Job Development Coordinator at Employment and Community Options in 2016. Franco-Clausen was the Co-Founder and Executive Director of PLAYNICE Productions, Inc., from 2013 to 2014. They are a member of the Palo Alto Police Officers Association. Franco-Clausen earned a Juris Doctor degree from Northwestern California School of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation, and there is no compensation. Franco-Clausen is a Democrat.
Sarah Metz, of Alameda, has been appointed to the California Sex Offender Management Board. Dr. Metz has been Director of the Division of Trauma Recovery Services in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco since 2019. She was a Staff Psychologist and Clinical Coordinator at the University of California, San Francisco Trauma Recovery Center from 2015 to 2019. Dr. Metz was a Clinical Psychologist at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System from 2011 to 2015, where she was previously a Healthcare Specialist from 2010 to 2011. She earned a Doctor of Psychology degree in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University, a Master of Science degree in Clinical Psychology from Loyola College in Maryland, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Clinical Psychology from Towson University. This position does not require Senate confirmation, and there is no compensation. Dr. Metz is a Democrat.
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2025-41 ATTORNEY GENERAL LOPEZ LEADS MULTISTATE COALITION SUING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO STOP DISMANTLING OF U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND PROTECT STUDENTS
Posted on Mar 13, 2025 in Latest Department News, Newsroom
STATE OF HAWAIʻI
KA MOKU ʻĀINA O HAWAIʻI
DEPARTMENT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
KA ʻOIHANA O KA LOIO KUHINA
JOSH GREEN, M.D. GOVERNOR
KE KIAʻĀINA
ANNE LOPEZ
ATTORNEY GENERAL
LOIO KUHINA
ATTORNEY GENERAL LOPEZ LEADS MULTISTATE COALITION SUING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO STOP DISMANTLING OF U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND PROTECT STUDENTS
News Release 2025-41
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 13, 2025
HONOLULU –Attorney General Anne Lopez today led a coalition of 21 attorneys general insuingthe Trump administration to stop the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education. On March 11, the Trump administration announced that the U.S. Department of Education would be firing approximately 50 percent of its workforce as part of its goal of a “total shutdown” of the department. Attorney General Lopez and the coalition today filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the targeted destruction of this critical federal agency that ensures tens of millions of students receive a quality education and critical resources.
“Neither a president nor his administration can abolish or render useless a department of the United States on a whim. Students in Hawaiʻi—from K-12 to the University of Hawaiʻi—rely upon the U.S. Department of Education, its programs and its public servants because they are supported by federal laws passed by Congress,” said Attorney General Lopez. “There is no higher calling in government than to fight for a better future for our children. My department will proudly fight for that future, including for federal support for low-income children and students with disabilities and for combatting discrimination in education.”
“The U.S. Department of Education plays a critical role in ensuring that students—especially those with the greatest needs—have access to the resources and opportunities they deserve. Federal education dollars support essential services in our public schools, including special education and school meal programs, and provide salaries for more than 1,100 of our dedicated full-time educators and staff,” said Hawaiʻi Department of Education Superintendent Keith T. Hayashi. “Any effort to dismantle this agency threatens not only these vital programs but also the stability of our entire public education system. We appreciate the leadership of Attorney General Lopez in standing up for students, families and educators, and we remain committed to advocating for the resources necessary to best support our students.”
“The proposed elimination of 50% of U.S. Department of Education employees raises serious concerns about the future of critical student services and programs that support educational access,” said University of Hawaiʻi President Wendy Hensel. “While the full impact on our university system is still unknown, we anticipate significant disruptions if these reductions move forward as planned. Currently, more than 270 positions across our 10-campus system are funded through U.S. Department of Education resources. These employees and the programs they administer play a crucial role in supporting our students—particularly through initiatives such as Title III, which strengthens UH’s capacity to serve Native Hawaiian students, and Title VII, which upholds essential protections against discrimination. Any reduction in these areas would not only affect our institution but also diminish opportunities for the many communities we serve.”
Solicitor General Kalikoʻonālani Fernandes and Special Assistant to the Attorney General Dave Day jointly stated: “We are all molded by the education we receive as children and young adults. The Department of the Attorney General will challenge all unlawful attempts to deprive the next generation of educational opportunities and privileges promised to them by the laws of this nation.” Hawaiʻi is represented in this litigation by Solicitor General Fernandes, Special Assistant to the Attorney General Day, and Deputy Solicitor General Ewan Rayner.
The U.S. Department of Education’s programs serve nearly 18,200 school districts and over 50 million K-12 students attending roughly 98,000 public schools and 32,000 private schools throughout the country. Its higher education programs provide services and support to more than 12 million postsecondary students annually. Students with disabilities and students from low-income families are some of the primary beneficiaries of U.S. Department of Education services and funding. U.S. Department of Education funds for special education include support for assistive technology for students with disabilities, teacher salaries and benefits, transportation to help children receive the services and programming they need, physical therapy and speech therapy services, and social workers to help manage students’ educational experience. The U.S. Department of Education also supports students in rural communities by offering programs designed to help rural school districts that often lack the personnel and resources needed to compete for competitive grants.
As Attorney General Lopez and the coalition assert in the lawsuit, dismantling the U.S. Department of Education will have devastating effects for states like Hawaiʻi. The administration’s lay-off is so massive that the U.S. Department of Education will be incapacitated and unable to perform essential functions. As the lawsuit asserts, the administration’s actions will deprive students with special needs of critical resources and support. They will gut U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, which protects students from discrimination and sexual assault. They would additionally hamstring the processing of financial aid, raising costs for college and university students who will have a harder time accessing loans, Pell Grants, and work study programs.
With this lawsuit, Attorney General Lopez and the coalition are seeking a court order to stop the administration’s policies to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education by drastically cutting its workforce and programs. Attorney General Lopez and the coalition argue that the administration’s actions to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education are illegal and unconstitutional. The department is an executive agency authorized by Congress, with numerous different laws creating its various programs and funding streams. The coalition’s lawsuit asserts that the Executive Branch does not have the legal authority to unilaterally incapacitate or dismantle it without an act of Congress.
This lawsuit is led by Attorney General Lopez and the attorneys general of California, Massachusetts, and New York. Joining the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin, Vermont and the District of Columbia.
A link to the virtual press conference Attorney General Lopez held today with California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, and New York Attorney General Letitia James can be foundhere.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
WSD seizes first Most Outstanding Award in Global Most Innovative Knowledge Enterprise (MIKE) Award (with photo)??? The Global MIKE Award is the highest accolade in the field of knowledge management, organised by the Institute of Knowledge and Innovation, Southeast Asia (IKI-SEA) at Bangkok University. The independent judging panel consists of experienced industry experts and corporate management personnel. This year, a total of 19 organisations received this honor, with three organisations, including the WSD, receiving the Most Outstanding Award. The Global MIKE Award is the most prestigious of its kind in which entries were assessed by 36 international judges through rigorous adjudication. Since 2021, the WSD has consecutively won the Global MIKE Award and the Hong Kong MIKE Award, and last year achieved the Hong Kong Top Winner for the first time. Issued at HKT 17:45
This screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Jan. 20, 2025 shows Shenzhou-19 astronaut Wang Haoze working inside China’s orbiting space station. [Photo/Xinhua] Wang Haoze, China’s first female space engineer to work in the country’s space station, sent her greetings to women and girls in a video released by the China Manned Space Agency on the occasion of International Women’s Day on March 8. “I hope that you can become the bright moon, as well as the twinkling stars. Become your own little sunshine, and grow up in the radiant and enchanting spring,” Wang said in a video recorded aboard the orbiting Tiangong space station. Wang is the third Chinese woman to participate in a crewed spaceflight mission. Together with other two Shenzhou-19 astronauts, Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong, Wang embarked on a six-month crewed spaceflight mission on Oct. 30, 2024. They are now halfway through their space journey, and their life in orbit is “busy and fulfilling,” according to Wang. In the video, she said, “In my spare time, I stare at Earth through the porthole. The blue planet and the vast universe are indescribably beautiful.” “Whenever I do this, I always think of an unyielding girl on Earth who believes that reading can change her destiny. She never bows her head and never gives up in the face of difficulty. She fearlessly embarks on a space journey toward an ocean of stars,” Wang said. “She is who I used to be, and she is also every woman who has dreams in her heart and pursues them persistently.”
Chinese astronauts Cai Xuzhe (C), Song Lingdong (R) and Wang Haoze attend a see-off ceremony at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Oct. 30, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] Born in 1990 in Luanping County, north China’s Hebei Province, Wang enrolled at Southeast University to major in thermal energy and power engineering, following her completion of the national college entrance examination. After graduating with a master’s degree, Wang joined the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation’s Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology and began her career in rocket engine research. She later signed up for the selection process for the country’s third group of astronauts. She was the only woman selected in that group and became China’s first female space engineer. She attributes the success of her space flight journey to her spiritual drive to “work harder than others.” To date, the Shenzhou-19 astronaut crew has carried out a significant number of scientific experiments and technological tests in orbit, and cooperated closely on two rounds of extravehicular activities in space, according to the China Manned Space Agency.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne
With 61% of enrolled voters counted in Saturday’s Western Australian election, the ABC is calling 40 of the 59 lower house seats for Labor, five for the Liberals and four for the Nationals, with ten remaining undecided.
Vote shares are 41.8% Labor (down 18.1% since Labor’s massive 2021 win), 28.6% Liberals (up 7.3%), 5.1% Nationals (up 1.1%), 10.5% Greens (up 3.6%), 3.7% One Nation (up 2.4%), 3.1% Australian Christians (up 1.6%), 2.3% Legalise Cannabis (up 1.9%) and 3.6% independents (up 2.9%).
While Labor had a big fall in its primary vote since winning 59.9% in 2021, this fall didn’t go directly to the Liberals and Nationals, with these parties’ combined votes up 8.4%.
The ABC’s two-party estimate shows a Labor win by 58.3–41.7, an 11.3% swing to the Liberals and Nationals from the 69.7–30.3 Labor margin at the 2021 election, which was a record victory in Australia for either major party at any state or federal election.
The Poll Bludger’s results have Labor leads in 45 of the 59 seats, the Liberals in seven, the Nationals in six and one independent lead. If these are the final numbers, Labor would lose eight seats from 2021, with the Liberals gaining five, the Nationals two and independents one.
The Poll Bludger’s two-party estimate is a little worse for Labor than the ABC’s, with a Labor lead by 57.4–42.6, a 12.2% swing to the Liberals and Nationals. If the Poll Bludger’s two-party estimate is right, the final Newspoll and DemosAU polls will be correct, while if the ABC’s is right, they will have understated Labor.
I said in my preview article that polls suggested that Labor would be well down on 2021, but that they would have a bigger win than in 2017 (41 of the 59 seats on a two-party vote of 55.5–44.5). The results show this will be the case. This will be the third landslide in a row for Labor in WA.
Most seats have counted their pre-poll votes and postal votes that arrived before election day. Remaining votes will mostly be absent votes (pre-poll and election day). These votes were cast outside a voter’s home electorate, and need to be posted back to the home electorate before they can be counted. In past elections, absent votes have assisted Labor.
There are also seats, such as Fremantle and Pilbara, where no two-candidate count has yet been provided. In those seats, the electoral commission initially selected the wrong two candidates and needs to re-do the two-candidate count. Fremantle is the only seat likely to be won by a non-major party candidate.
Federal implications and the upper house
I don’t think there are many federal implications from state elections, but this election will give a morale boost for federal Labor after losing the Queensland election last October and being narrowly behind the Coalition in the polls since December.
When a state party is the same as the federal government, that party is federally dragged, and performs worse than it would if the opposite party held government federally. Labor’s big win does not suggest federal drag was a factor in WA.
However, WA accounts for only 16 of the 150 federal seats. Victoria, where federal Labor is being dragged down by an unpopular state Labor government, has 38 seats.
The Poll Bludger wrote that the Liberals had done poorly in swing terms since the 2021 election in affluent Perth seats, suggesting that affluent metropolitan federal seats won’t swing back to the Liberals, and teal independents should retain their seats.
In my preview article, I wrote that during the last term Labor had scrapped the old very malapportioned upper house system, and all 37 upper house members will be elected by statewide proportional representation with preferences. A quota is 1/38 of the vote or 2.63%.
In the upper house, 46.7% of enrolled voters have been counted, well behind the 61.3% in the lower house. Labor has 41.3%, the Liberals 27.9%, the Nationals 5.6%, the Greens 10.8%, One Nation 3.4%, Legalise Cannabis 2.8%, the Christians 2.6%, an independent group 1.3% and Animal Justice 1.1%.
On current counts, Labor would win 15 of the 37 seats, the Liberals ten, the Nationals two, the Greens four, One Nation one, Legalise Cannabis one and the Christians one. That would leave three seats undecided, with Labor, the Liberals and the independent group ahead.
However, there’s much more counting to go in the upper house, and the current counts don’t include below the line votes. The major parties do relatively badly on below the line votes and the Greens relatively well.
Adrian Beaumont 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.
Headline: DOJ, HHS, ED, and GSA Announce Initial Cancelation of Grants and Contracts to Columbia University Worth $400 Million
WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Education (ED), and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced the immediate cancellation of approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University due to the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students. These cancellations represent the first round of action and additional cancellations are expected to follow. The Task Force is continuing to review and coordinate across federal agencies to identify additional cancellations that could be made swiftly. DOJ, HHS, ED, and GSA are taking this action as members of the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism. Columbia University currently holds more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments.
Members Of the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism Take Swift Action to Protect Jewish Students in Response to Inaction By Columbia University
WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Education (ED), and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced the immediate cancellation of approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University due to the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students. These cancellations represent the first round of action and additional cancellations are expected to follow. The Task Force is continuing to review and coordinate across federal agencies to identify additional cancellations that could be made swiftly. DOJ, HHS, ED, and GSA are taking this action as members of the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism. Columbia University currently holds more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments.
On March 3rd, the Task Force notified the Acting President of Columbia University that it would conduct a comprehensive review of the university’s federal contracts and grants in light of ongoing investigations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Chaos and anti-Semitic harassment have continued on and near campus in the days since. Columbia has not responded to the Task Force.
“After the horrors of October 7th, Jewish students were shamefully targeted on American college campuses—including at Columbia University,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Any university which fails to account for the discrimination of its students will not be tolerated. Comply with federal anti-discrimination laws and take action to protect students or expect consequences.”
“Since October 7, Jewish students have faced relentless violence, intimidation, and anti-Semitic harassment on their campuses – only to be ignored by those who are supposed to protect them,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding. For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus. Today, we demonstrate to Columbia and other universities that we will not tolerate their appalling inaction any longer.”
President Trump has been clear that any college or university that allows illegal protests and repeatedly fails to protect students from anti-Semitic harassment on campus will be subject to the loss of federal funding.
“Freezing the funds is one of the tools we are using to respond to this spike in anti-Semitism. This is only the beginning,” said Leo Terrell, Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and head of the DOJ Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism. “Cancelling these taxpayer funds is our strongest signal yet that the Federal Government is not going to be party to an educational institution like Columbia that does not protect Jewish students and staff.”
The decisive action by the DOJ, HHS, ED, and GSA to cancel Columbia’s grants and contracts serves as a notice to every school and university that receives federal dollars that this Administration will use all the tools at its disposal to protect Jewish students and end anti-Semitism on college campuses.
“Anti-Semitism is clearly inconsistent with the fundamental values that should inform liberal education,” said Sean Keveney, HHS Acting General Counsel and Task Force member. “Columbia University’s complacency is unacceptable.”
GSA will assist HHS and ED in issuing stop-work orders on grants and contracts that Columbia holds with those agencies. These stop-work orders will immediately freeze the university’s access to these funds. Additionally, GSA will be assisting all agencies in issuing stop work orders and terminations for contracts held by Columbia University.
“Doing business with the Federal Government is a privilege,” said Josh Gruenbaum, FAS Commissioner and Task Force member. “Columbia University, through their continued and shameful inaction to stop radical protestors from taking over buildings on campus and lack of response to the safety issues for Jewish students, and for that matter – all students – are not upholding the ideals of this Administration or the American people. Columbia cannot expect to retain the privilege of receiving federal taxpayer dollars if they will not fulfill their civil rights responsibilities to protect Jewish students from harassment and anti-Semitism.”
Source: US Senator for New Mexico Ben Ray Luján
Senators to USDA: “The Department’s decision to suspend EKDLG Fellowship Program threatens the U.S. agricultural workforce pipeline and the opportunities this program provides educators and students nationwide”
NMSU Was Part of 2024 Fellowship Program That Supported our Nation’s Agricultural Workforce
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, and U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and 9 of their colleagues in calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to immediately reinstate its HSI E. Kika De La Garza (EKDLG) Fellowship Program. The program, suspended by the Trump administration, supports the nation’s agricultural workforce while uplifting professionals and students of all backgrounds at HSIs, including non-Latino students. Last year, staff at NMSU was selected for the 2024 EKDLG Fellowship Program.
USDA established the nonpartisan EKDLG Fellowship Program in 1998, designing the program to strengthen educational partnerships between faculty, staff, and administrators from HSIs and USDA. These partnerships support professional development, workforce development, and exposure opportunities for Hispanic-Serving Institutions nationwide, offering critical insight and understanding of the federal government.
“USDA’s partnership with HSIs and Hispanic Serving Agricultural Colleges and Universities (HSACUs) plays a vital role in establishing a collaborative relationship and creating a nationwide network of educators working with USDA to help grow the next generation of the American agricultural workforce,” wrote the Senators.
“The Department’s decision to suspend EKDLG Fellowship Program threatens the U.S. agricultural workforce pipeline and the opportunities this program provides educators and students nationwide,” continued the Senators. “We urge you to immediately reinstate the E. Kika De La Garza Fellowship Program, similar to Department’s reinstatement of the 1890 National Scholars Program, and to collaborate with Congress to ensure its long-term stability.”
Programs like the USDA EKDLG Fellowship Program are built to help students reach their full potential and reinforce America’s agricultural workforce pipeline. The 2024 EKDLG Program included eight fellowships in Texas, six in Arizona, five in California, four in New York, two in Illinois, one in New Mexico, one in Colorado, one in New Jersey, one in Florida, one in Connecticut, and one in Washington.
Hispanic-Serving Institutions are not-for-profit institutions of higher learning with 25 percent or higher total undergraduate Hispanic or Latino full-time students. There are 600 HSIs in the United States that enroll over 5.2 million Hispanic students, two-thirds of all Hispanic undergraduates, and 32.2 percent of total Pell Grant recipients — empowering and improving communities.
In addition to Senators Luján, Heinrich, Padilla, and Klobuchar, the letter is also signed by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
The letter is endorsed by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) and UnidosUS.
Full text of the letter is available here and below:
Dear Secretary Rollins,
We write to express our significant concerns about the suspension of the USDA Hispanic-Serving (HSI) E. Kika De La Garza (EKDLG) Fellowship Program and to ask that you immediately reinstate it.
The EKDLG Fellowship Program was established in 1998 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the program has had consistent support from every presidential administration since its establishment. The program strengthens educational partnerships between faculty, staff, and administrators from HSIs and USDA.
The EKDLG Fellowship Program is non-partisan and supports increasing the professional development, workforce development, and exposure opportunities for faculty, staff, and students nationwide. USDA’s partnership with HSIs and Hispanic Serving Agricultural Colleges and Universities (HSACUs) plays a vital role in establishing a collaborative relationship and creating a nationwide network of educators working with USDA to help grow the next generation of the American agricultural workforce. These fellowships are open to faculty, staff, and administrators of all backgrounds that are employed at HSIs or Hispanic-Serving School Districts and students of all backgrounds are eligible to participate.
HSIs are economic engines and shape our nation’s agricultural workforce. In 2022, HSIs enrolled 5.2 million students, including 66% of all Hispanic undergraduate students and over 31% of all college students in non-profit postsecondary institutions in the country. Programs like the EKDLG Fellowship Program equip educators with the tools to help students reach their full potential and support the nation’s agricultural workforce pipeline. For example, the list of 2024 EKDLG participants shows the program’s nationwide impact:
1. University of Houston, Sugar Land, Texas
2. New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico
3. The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
4. Arizona Western College, Yuma, Arizona
5. Coastal Bend College, Beeville, Texas
6. Adams State University, Alamosa, Colorado
7. California State University, Chico, Chico, California
8. Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey
9. Texas A&M University, Kingsville, Texas
10. Mesa Community College, Mesa, Arizona
11. Hartnell College, Salinas, California
12. Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas
13. City Colleges of Chicago, Harold Washington College, Chicago, Illinois
14. Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
15. Maricopa Community Colleges, Tempe, Arizona
16. University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut
17. Waubonsee Community College, Sugar Grove, Illinois
18. Northern Arizona University, Yuma, Arizona
19. University of California, Santa Barbara, California
20. Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, California
21. University of Texas, San Antonio, Texas
22. CUNY New York City College of Technology, Brooklyn, New York
23. CUNY Hunter College, New York, New York
24. Florida International University, Miami, Florida
25. California State University, Fresno, California
26. Arizona State University, Mesa, Arizona
27. Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas
28. The University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, Texas
29. Mt. Adams School District #209, White Swan, Washington
30. The Urban Assembly New York Harbor School, New York, New York
31. John Bowne High School, Flushing, New York
The Department’s decision to suspend EKDLG Fellowship Program threatens the U.S. agricultural workforce pipeline and the opportunities this program provides educators and students nationwide.
We urge you to immediately reinstate the E. Kika De La Garza Fellowship Program, similar to Department’s reinstatement of the 1890 National Scholars Program, and to collaborate with Congress to ensure its long-term stability.
Sincerely,
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse, Associate Professor of Neurology, University of Pittsburgh
Daylight saving time kicks in on March 9, 2025, but some say it leads to more heart attacks, depression and car accidents.Lord Henri Voton/E+ via Getty Images
Investigations into the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster revealed that key decision-makers worked on little sleep, raising concerns that fatigue impaired their judgment. Similarly, in 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil spill resulted in a massive environmental catastrophe. The official investigation revealed the third mate, in charge of steering the ship, was running on too little sleep, among other problems.
While these specific disasters were not caused by daylight saving time, they are conclusively linked to fatigue, based on postaccident investigations and reports. They underscore the well-documented dangers of sleep deprivation and fatigue-related errors. Yet a vast body of research shows that every year, the shift to daylight saving time needlessly exacerbates these risks, disrupting millions of Americans’ sleep and increasing the likelihood of accidents, health issues and fatal errors.
Imagine a world where one simple decision – keeping our clocks aligned with the natural cycle of the Sun – could save lives, prevent accidents and improve mental well-being. It’s not just about an hour of lost sleep; it’s about how small disruptions ripple through our health, our workplaces and even our children’s futures.
I’m a neurologist who specializes in sleep health. I’ve seen firsthand the negative impacts of poor sleep; it has enormous personal and economic consequences.
Yet despite overwhelming research supporting better sleep policies – such as delaying school start times to align with adolescent biology and the adoption of permanent standard time – these issues remain largely overlooked in public policy discussions.
Sleep-deprived teens have lower test scores and graduation rates. skynesher/E+
Up before dawn
Teenagers are the most sleep-deprived age group in the U.S. Multiple studies and surveys show that anywhere from 71% to 84% of high school students report getting insufficient sleep.
This is largely due to early school start times, which force teens to wake up before their biological clocks are ready. If you have a teenager, you probably see it every day: The teen struggling to wake up before sunrise, rushing out the door without breakfast, then waiting in the dark for the school bus.
More than 80% of public middle and high schools in the U.S. start before 8:30 a.m., with 42% starting before 8 a.m. and 10% before 7:30 a.m. As a result, some districts have bus pickups as early as 5 a.m.
Teenagers are going through a natural shift in their circadian rhythms by about two hours. This shift, driven by hormones and biology, makes it hard for them to fall asleep before around 11 p.m. The bodies of teens aren’t wired for these schedules, yet schools and society have designed a system that forces them to function at their worst.
Along with the health benefits, studies have found that moving school start times to 8:30 am or later could add $8.6 billion to the economy within two years, partly by increased graduation rates.
While concerns about increased transportation costs exist, such as the need for additional buses or drivers due to staggered school start times, some districts have found that optimizing bus routes can offset expenses, making the change cost-neutral or even cost-saving. For instance, a study in Boston found that reorganizing bus schedules using advanced algorithms reduced the number of buses needed and improved efficiency, which allowed high school students to start later and better align with their natural sleep cycles. This change not only supported adolescent sleep health but also saved the district $5 million annually.
Studies show that daylight saving time does not reduce energy use.
More heart attacks, car wrecks and suicide
Every March, most Americans shift their clocks forward for daylight saving time. Studies show this change disrupts sleep and leads to measurable adverse outcomes, including a significant increase in heart attacks. These effects linger for days after the shift, as sleep-deprived workers struggle to adjust.
The mental health impact is also severe. Suicide rates increase in the weeks following the switch, particularly for those already vulnerable to depression.
Unlike daylight saving time, standard time follows the body’s natural circadian rhythm, which is primarily regulated by exposure to sunlight. Our internal clocks are most stable when morning light exposure occurs early in the day, signaling the body to wake up and regulate key biological functions such as hormone production, alertness and metabolism. In contrast, daylight saving time artificially extends evening light, delaying the body’s release of melatonin and making it harder to fall asleep at a biologically appropriate time.
The U.S. tried permanent daylight saving time in 1974. It was so unpopular that Congress repealed it within nine months.
Russia tried it too, in 2011, but switched back three years later. The United Kingdom dropped permanent daylight saving time in 1971 after three years, and Portugal in 1996 after four. All of these countries found that the switch caused widespread public dissatisfaction, health concerns, more morning car accidents and disrupted work schedules. No country is currently on year-round daylight saving time.
These examples provide real-world evidence that permanent DST is undesirable due to public dissatisfaction, safety concerns and negative health effects – all three countries attempted it and ultimately reversed course. Since 2022, there has been renewed debate, largely driven by former U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s Sunshine Protection Act, which aims to make DST permanent.
However, the name is misleading because it doesn’t “protect” sunshine but rather eliminates critical morning light, which is essential for regulating circadian rhythms. Major health organizations, along with the National Safety Council, strongly oppose permanent DST due to its well-documented risks.
There are signs that suggest the U.S. is finally waking up to these problems. Out of 13,000 school districts, 1,000 have independently adopted later school start times. California and Florida have enacted laws requiring high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. California’s mandate went into effect in 2022, and Florida’s is set to begin in 2026.
Permanent standard time and later school start times are not radical ideas. They’re practical, evidence-based solutions based on human biology. Implementing these changes nationally would require congressional action. However, current federal law already allows states to adopt permanent standard time, as Arizona and Hawaii have done, setting a precedent for the rest of the country.
Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The Jan Aushadhi Diwas celebrated with the theme of ““Jan Aushadhi: Low price, excellent medicine” by organizing week-long events in different states/UTs across the country from 1st of March 2025 to 7th March 2025 Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare and Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda visits Jan Aushadhi Kendra at AIIMS Bilaspur and interacts with beneficiaries on the occasion of 7th JanAushadhi Diwas
Chief Ministers of the State/UTs and Central and State level ministers participate in events conducted across the country
More than 350 different events conducted across the country in which approx. 50,000 people participated in week long celebrations on the occasion of 7th Jan Aushadhi Diwas
More than 200 new Jan Aushadhi Kendras open: taking tally to a total of 15291
Posted On: 07 MAR 2025 7:07PM by PIB Delhi
On 7th day of the week long celebrations, PMBI (Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Bureau of India) celebrated the 7th Jan Aushadhi Diwas, 2025 today across the country by conducting more than 100 major events where the Hon’ble Chief Ministers of the State/UTs, Members of Parliament, Members of the Legislative Assemblies, Councilors and other public representatives including many senior Government officials of the Central and the States have marked their presence to grace the event by elaborating upon the benefits of the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya JanAushadhi Pariyojna (PMBJP) so that awareness and benefits may be availed by the public.
Union Minister Health & Family Welfare and Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda visited Jan Aushadhi Kendra at AIIMS, Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh and interacted with beneficiaries. Kendra owners and beneficiaries of Jan Aushadhi scheme also shared their experiences.
Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare and Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda and Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers Ms Anupriya Patel, shared video message through social media and wished everyone a very Happy 7th Jan Aushadhi Diwas, 2025 to all the citizens of the country.
Also, Chief Minister of Delhi, Ms. Rekha Gupta, also visited a Jan Aushadhi Kendra at Ashok Vihar, Delhi today where she explained the benefits of this Pariyojana and encouraged people to become a part of this noble project which is aimed at providing quality medicines at affordable rates.
On the occasion of 7th Jan Aushadhi Diwas, renowned sand artist Padmashree Sudarshan Patnaik created a divine sand art depicting the theme of ‘Daam Kam Dawai Uttam’ on the shores of Niladri Beach, Puri, Odisha. Its grandeur is not only attracting people but also reflecting the vision of the Prime Minister.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP), Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI), the implementing agency of PMBJP is celebrating the 7th Jan Aushadhi Diwas 2025. The programme commenced with Jan Aushadhi Jan Chetna Abhiyan on 1st March across the country and ended with the celebration of Jan Aushadhi Diwas, 2025 on 7th March. The events that took place continued from Jan Chetna Abhiyan/Padyatra, Heritage Walks and Health Camps, Jan Aushadhi Bal Mitra, Ek Kadam Matri shakti ki Ore, Pharmacist Awareness programme, Aao Jan Aushadhi Mitra Banein and the Jan Aushadhi Diwas on 7th March.
The large-scale activities focused on inclusion and ensured holistic participation of people, beneficiaries and multi-level stakeholders of the PMBJP. The major highlight of the event was flagging off Jan Aushadhi Rath (mobile van) by Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers and Health & Family Welfare, Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda to generate mass awareness among the people of the country. The mobile vans had travelled throughout the National Capital of the country to reach the people. On the same day, Jan Aushadhi Pratigya Yatras were conducted across the country. Pad Yatras were conducted to create a mass fervor among the people. The pad yatras were attended by school children wearing the Jan Aushadhi T-shirts and Caps.
On 2nd March, 2025, Heritage walks with the theme – Jan Aushadhi Virasat Ke Sath were organised on pan India level at 25 major historical locations like Hauz Khas, New Delhi, Gwalior Fort, Beyond Taj Mahal, Imambara, Lucknow, etc. at 500 locations across the country, Health Camps were organised for the senior citizens of the country.
On 3rd March, 2025, Jan Aushadhi Bal Mitra Participation was conducted at different schools across the country to persuade children into various activities through which the message of Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana was spread.
On 4th March, 2025 women beneficiaries were present at 30 locations in all States/UTs at Jan Aushadhi Kendras where interaction was conducted in the presence of women public representatives, women doctors, NGO’s and information sharing about Health benefits of Jan Aushadhi medicines was done.
On 5th March, 2025 seminars were conducted at Pharmacy Colleges/Universities across the country to guide Pharmacy students with the information about the employment opportunities under Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana. Pan India seminars and workshops on PMBJP in Pharma colleges and Universities were conducted.
On the 6th Day of week-long celebration of Jan Aushadhi Diwas, 2025. PMBJP has organized ‘Aao Jan Aushadhi Mitra Banein’ to register citizens as volunteers across the nation. Qutub Minar was also illuminated with beautiful lights, spreading the message of Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana.
As part of the weeklong celebration, more than 1.12 crore Digital messages to national pensioners and beneficiaries of Jan Aushadhi and other schemes were sent across the country to spread awareness about this noble project. In order to educate the youth of the country, various competitions such as essay writing, poster making, quiz etc. were organised through MyGov portal. Winners of the quiz/competitions have been awarded. Through the MyGov portal more than 7 crore messages were also sent to generate awareness. Community Radio stations at 300 locations were also used as a medium to spread the message and create awareness among the masses.
Professor John Mandyck, the CEO of the Urban Green Council and the former Chief Sustainability Officer at United Technologies, will speak on the topic, “Is Sustainability Dead?’’ next month.
The presentation is part of the Equity Now speaker series and it will be livestreamed at 6 p.m. March 27. Students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the university are welcome to participate. Pre-registration is required.
With the United States again out of the Paris Climate Treaty and the Trump administration favoring fossil fuels, it’s easy to wonder if the sustainability movement is over. It’s definitely not, according to Mandyck.
“Climate disruption now impacts everyone, everywhere,’’ Mandyck said. “There’s no escaping it and the trillions of dollars of damage from fires, floods, and extreme weather. Climate denialism and political short-termism cannot wish away these impacts that are shifting markets and investments as they scramble to manage growing risk.’’
Mandyck Highlights Three Reasons for Optimism
John Mandyck (contributed photo)
Mandyck will discuss his recent article, published in The Harvard Business Review, that predicts that despite strong headwinds, sustainability efforts will grow, for three key reasons.
States and cities will lead the way. Mandyck argues that history has shown that U.S. cities and states step up to fill sustainability voids. In 2019, for example, New Yor City passed a law that places carbon caps on large buildings, as a counter-response to Trump’s first-term environmental policies. More recently, 350 U.S. mayors recommitted to climate action in anticipation of changing national policy.
China will drive sustainability demand. Although it is the world’s largest carbon polluter, China’s growth in the sustainability arena continues to lead the world, Mandyck said. Almost half of the world’s solar and wind capacity already resides in China, with more renewable energy technology under development. China’s leadership will yield more affordable clean-energy technology for the world and China may possibly emerge as a stronger diplomatic force for climate negotiations as the U.S. turns its attention elsewhere.
Climate risk, extreme weather, will move markets. Climate denialism will not slow the growing disruption of extreme weather, Mandyck said. The news has been filled with articles about floods, fires, and other weather-created disasters, which are causing economic hardship and human disruption at a rapid pace. In Florida alone, the average homeowner’s insurance costs rose close to 60 percent from 2019 to 2023. This has further focused the business community in favor of addressing climate change, and lenders are looking closely at the sustainability risks associated with each big investment.
Students Still Face A Bright Future in Sustainability Careers
Mandyck’s advice to students interested in pursuing careers in sustainability is to stay-the-course.
“The global need for sustainability grows every day, and so will careers,’’ he said. “Terminology and semantics may change in the short-term, but the long-term direction is clear. Even the federal government cannot pull the full nation in retreat, with the state and local governments pressing forward and filling voids.’’
Mandyck leads the Urban Green Council, a nonprofit organization based in New York City, dedicated to decarbonizing buildings for healthy and resilient communities. Since 2018, he has helped triple the organization’s reach with research, public policy development and education, shaping some of the world’s foremost climate laws for real estate and buildings.
He retired as the global Chief Sustainability Officer for United Technologies after a 25-year career there. He’s an adjunct professor for sustainability at the School of Business and served as a visiting scientist at Harvard University. He’s the co-author of the book Food Foolish, which explores the hidden connection between food waste, hunger, and climate change.
The Equity Now speaker series is produced by the UConn School of Business in coordination with the Academy of Legal Studies in Business, Virginia Tech, Indiana and Temple universities. This is the fourth of five programs offered during the 2024-25 academic year. To register for the program, please visit: the registration page
Amid the chaos of the Trump administration’s first few weeks in office, a court case regarding the president’s legal right to stop payment of nearly $2 billion in U.S. Agency for International Development contracts poses an important legal question whose answer may show just how strong the country’s separation of powers actually is.
On Jan. 20, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order pausing all foreign aid funding, most of which is administered by USAID. A little more than two weeks later, USAID laid off all but a few hundred of its 10,000 workers.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali issued a temporary order on Feb. 13 for the administration to not end or pause any existing foreign aid contracts – and again ordered on Feb. 25 that the administration needed to pay the $2 billion owed to various aid organizations for completed work.
After the Trump administration filed an emergency appeal of the decision to the Supreme Court, the justices, in a 5-4 ruling on March 5, found that the federal judge’s decision can temporarily take effect while the district court considers the merits of the case.
Amy Lieberman, a politics and society editor at The Conversation U.S., spoke with Charles Wise, an expert on public administration and law, to understand what is fueling this court case and why it has become a test of how far Trump can push the boundaries of presidential power.
Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh, left, Amy Coney Barrett, center, and former Justice Anthony Kennedy speak with President Donald Trump after his speech at the U.S. Capitol in March 4, 2025. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
1. What is most important to understand about the Supreme Court’s ruling on USAID funding?
The Trump administration issued a blanket executive order freezing all USAID funds on Jan. 20, 2025. There have been many twists and turns in this case since then, but the Washington, D.C., district court determined in February that the organizations that receive USAID funding to deliver food or health care to people in need, as well as other recipients of USAID money in foreign countries, would suffer irreparable harm.
The U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., also said that the administration did not follow proper procedures in the law. The Administrative Procedure Act has a set of standards that requires the president to do certain things before making any unilateral kind of action to withhold funds.
The Supreme Court’s March 5 order is not the final ruling on the case, but it does allow the U.S. District Court decision to stand – at least for now. This ruling requires the government to release funds to USAID recipients. The Supreme Court’s decision also directs the district court to clarify what the government must do to comply with the district court’s order, including considering the feasibility of the timeline within which the government must release the money.
This is all taking place in a very short time frame, in the context of the D.C. district court issuing a temporary restraining order. It is saying: Let’s freeze the existing situation in place so we can have a full hearing on this issue.
2. Why is this case important?
Any administration is prohibited from just withholding funds for any program it doesn’t like without following the procedures prescribed by law. This case matters because the D.C. district court’s decision puts boundaries on what the Trump administration can do to withhold funds that Congress has appropriated. It forces the administration to follow the laws that Congress and previous presidents have agreed on and adopted.
It ultimately comes down to a contest between the branches of government, and, specifically, the presidency and Congress. This is where Articles 1 and 2 of the U.S. Constitution – and how they divided powers between the president and Congress – comes in. The Trump administration claimed that the court should have respected the president’s Article 2 powers to administer the federal government’s spending. The D.C. court acknowledged the president’s powers under Article 2 but said it has to be balanced against Congress’ right, under Article 1, to appropriate funds.
A terminated federal worker leaves the offices of the U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 28, 2025, after being fired. Bryan Dozier/Middle East/AFP via Getty Images
3. What happens if Trump and his administration do not abide by this order?
Trump’s officials have a decision to make. Are they going to follow the executive order or the court’s order? That’s not a fun place to be. Administrative officials take an oath to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the U.S., which subjects them to court decisions.
The president himself is not responsible for distributing USAID funds. State Department officials are responsible for dispersing the funds, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio was appointed as the acting administrator of USAID on Feb. 3, 2025.
If Rubio and other officials refuse to comply with the court’s order, the D.C. judge, Amir Ali, can hold those officials in contempt of court. Ali has a variety of tools he can use – one is to levy fines against them individually. He could say they have to pay a thousand dollars per day for each day they don’t execute the court’s order.
4. What will happen next in this case?
The Supreme Court said in a brief opinion on March 5 that the Feb. 26, 2025, deadline for the government to pay USAID and its contractors had already passed and instructed Ali to “clarify what obligations the Government must fulfill to ensure compliance” with paying USAID.
The government has argued to the court that the timeline the judge initially set was too fast – they couldn’t do it that fast.
Now, a few things are going to happen. Ali has ordered the government to develop and release a new schedule to release funds and to have that ready by March 10.
The second part is that the district court judge will probably schedule a hearing on the merits of the case, in which Ali will be assessing the administration’s argument about whether the administration has violated the Administrative Procedure Act. Ultimately, the Trump administration could appeal Ali’s decision, and the case could wind up back at the Supreme Court.
Charles Wise had a cooperative agreement for work with USAID that ended in 2007.
Solving the Nursing Shortage: Governor Shapiro Visits Temple University Health System to Highlight Investments in Nurse Training to Grow Pennsylvania’s Health Care Workforce
Governor Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) Secretary Nancy A. Walker visited Temple Women & Families – part of Temple University Health System (TUHS) – to highlight the investments included in the Governor’s 2025-26 budget proposal aimed at tackling Pennsylvania’s nursing shortage and strengthening the Commonwealth’s health care workforce.
The Governor’s budget proposal includes a first-time state-level investment of $5 million to create the Nurse Shortage Assistance Program, which will provide funding to hospitals that partner with nursing schools to cover tuition costs for students who commit to a three-year work placement at Pennsylvania hospitals after graduation. This initiative aims to build a pipeline of trained nursing professionals- boosting retention, limiting turnover, and helping maintain a skilled health care workforce that delivers high-quality care all across the Commonwealth.
“We need to take action now to address Pennsylvania’s nursing shortage, and my budget makes strategic investments to do just that,” said Governor Shapiro. “By expanding education programs, providing tuition assistance, and strengthening workforce pipelines, we can ensure hospitals have the skilled professionals they need to deliver high-quality patient care. We know this model of tuition assistance works, and for the first time ever, we are proposing to help nursing students with an investment of state dollars that not only gives them peace of mind but creates a pipeline of new, highly trained nurses for our communities.”
List of Speakers: Michael Young, President and CEO of TUHS Governor Shapiro Carter Short, Chief Nursing Executive of TUHS Chaudron Maura Cabry,senior nursing student Nancy A. Walker, L&I Secretary
International Women’s Day is the perfect time to celebrate how far we’ve come in transforming the lives of women and girls around the world.
Historically, women have faced subjugation and limited freedom, with societal expectations confining us to marriage and child-rearing. In the UK, the suffragette movement in the early 20th century was a pivotal moment in the fight for women’s rights. The efforts of activists like Emmeline Pankhurst and the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), along with parallel movements worldwide, laid the ground for future advancements.
Fast forward to the 21st century and increased access to education and healthcare has shattered the notion of women as passive, opening up a world of new opportunities. Here are eight examples of social changes that have made the world a more equitable place for women in their 20s and 30s than things were for our mothers.
No one’s 20s and 30s look the same. You might be saving for a mortgage or just struggling to pay rent. You could be swiping dating apps, or trying to understand childcare. No matter your current challenges, our Quarter Life series has articles to share in the group chat, or just to remind you that you’re not alone.
In the 1960s, career options for women were generally limited to roles like domestic servants, teachers, nurses or dressmakers.
Thanks to decades of relentless advocacy and progress, today, women are breaking barriers across all industries. Although challenges still exist, we can now find roles in traditionally male-dominated fields such as technology, engineering and finance.
Policies supporting work-life balance and combating discrimination are more prevalent. And the rise of remote work and flexible schedules allow many women to more effectively balance their careers with their personal lives.
2. We are experiencing an education revolution
Women’s education was limited in the 1960s by societal norms that prioritised marriage over academic achievement. Young women often left school early, and few could pursue higher education.
Today, the education landscape has transformed dramatically, offering more opportunities for women to pursue higher education and specialised training. Scholarships and grants, as well as online education platforms have made education more accessible and affordable.
In the UK, diverse family structures, including single parenthood, cohabitation and LGBTQ+ partnerships are now recognised by the law. This means we have the freedom to make choices in our relationships based on our own needs and desires.
4. We have gained control over our reproductive choices
Reproductive rights were severely limited in the 1960s. Most women had little access to birth control and limited knowledge about family planning.
Today we have greater control over our reproductive choices, supported by legal rights and medical advances. Increased access to contraception and comprehensive reproductive health services are empowering us to make informed decisions.
The social and cultural landscape has undergone a seismic shift, empowering women like never before.
Movements such as #MeToo (a social campaign against sexual abuse and harassment, empowering survivors to share their experiences), and Time’s Up (a movement founded in 2018 by celebrities that aimed to support victims of workplace sexual harassment and advocate for gender equality), have shattered the silence on gender inequality and harassment.
Oprah Winfrey’s Golden Globes speech marked an important moment in the Time’s Up movement.
6. We have gained legal rights and political influence
More women are now lawyers, judges and lawmakers, leading to more equitable laws and policies addressing workplace discrimination, domestic violence and reproductive rights. As of 2024, women make up over 50% of law firm associates and more than 40% of the nation’s lawyers. In the 1980s women comprised only about 8% of the legal profession.
Our political influence has also grown. Today, women occupy more significant positions in government globally than ever before , from local councils to prime ministers and presidents. Our voices are now crucial in shaping policies and representing diverse perspectives.
7. We are making strides internationally
Worldwide, between 2012 and 2020, the proportion of girls completing lower secondary school rose from 69% to 77%, while the proportion completing upper secondary school rose from 49% to 59%.
The adolescent birth rate has fallen globally from 51 to 42 births per 1,000 girls aged 15-19 since 2012. Meanwhile, the proportion of young women married as children has declined globally from 23% to 19% over the past decade.
And the proportion of girls aged 15-19 who have undergone female genital mutilation in countries where it is highly concentrated has decreased from 41% to 34% over the past decade.
The fight continues
Despite significant progress, many outdated and oppressive laws against women persist globally. In conflict zones, women often bear the brunt of brutality, and the continuing refugee crisis puts thousands of women and girls at risk of sex trafficking and exploitation.
Education also remains a critical issue. Nearly 30% of girls worldwide still do not complete lower secondary school, and around 48% do not complete upper secondary school. And in the least developed countries, adolescent birth rates remain alarmingly high at 94 births per 1,000 girls aged 15-19. The barriers to accessing effective contraceptives include cost, stigma, lack of accurate information and limited decision-making autonomy.
We’ve made incredible strides in advancing women’s rights, but these setbacks remind us that the fight isn’t over. We must continue to advocate and take action to ensure equality and protection for all women, not just on International Women’s Day, but all year round.
Hind Elhinnawy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tom Wingfield, Deputy Director of the Centre for Tuberculosis Research, Reader in Tuberculosis and Social Medicine, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK; and Honorary Research Associate at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and, University of Liverpool
TB outbreaks in wealthy countries act as a canary in a coalmine, reflecting cracks in national public health systems. More broadly, TB outbreaks in any setting have deeper implications for the struggle to end TB globally.
In the UK, TB rates consistently declined between 2011 and 2020. But, like the US, this decline reversed since COVID emerged in early 2020.
In 2023, there was a 13% increase in the number of people who became unwell with TB in England, compared with 2022.
At 9.5 people with TB per 100,000 people per year, England is in jeopardy of losing its “low TB incidence” status (less than ten people with TB per 100,000 people per year).
Rates of TB in England have a stark social gradient, with the poorest 10% of people having five times higher rates of TB than the richest 10%.
But the increase in TB in the UK cannot be put down to greater risk of disease alone. The response of the health and social care system to prevent and cure TB is crucial.
The BCG vaccine, currently the only TB vaccine, is not nearly as effective as we would like at preventing disease. There is hope on the horizon with several vaccines under development, but their effect may be impeded by vaccine hesitancy driven by misinformation.
For countries with lower incidence of TB across Europe and North America, many TB policies are targeted at identifying and treating TB in groups who are most at risk of being exposed to the disease, including people moving from regions of the world where TB is more common.
Patterns of migration to the UK changed significantly following Brexit. A need to expand the workforce, particularly in health and social care, has led to active recruitment and movement of people from higher TB burden countries. This is relevant because, in England, four in five people with TB were born outside the UK, and rates among this group increased by 15% between 2022 and 2023.
Screening migrant populations as part of their visa application process pre-entry is effective at identifying people with infectious TB. But prevention is better than cure, and there remains a gap in screening for TB infection or TB disease without symptoms.
Providing well-tolerated, preventive TB treatment can reduce the risk of developing active TB disease by 85% in the future. Yet the screening programme in the UK is under-resourced, with just 11.5% of eligible migrants screened for TB infection in 2023.
We should not overlook the fact that rates of TB also increased, although to a lesser extent (3.9%), among people born in the UK – the first time this has happened for many years.
Among both UK-born and non-UK-born populations, often overlapping social risk factors such as homelessness, asylum seeker status, drug or alcohol misuse, incarceration and mental health disorders continue to drive TB. These factors, which jumped by 27% between 2022 and 2023, not only increase the likelihood of TB disease but are associated with much lower rates of cure.
Early diagnosis and treatment of TB are crucial to prevent long-term health issues or even death. The sooner someone starts effective treatment, the sooner they stop being infectious, helping to reduce the spread of TB. Improving access to diagnosis and care will lower TB transmission.
Unacceptable delays in treatment
Nearly a third of people with TB in the UK experience a delay of four months between the onset of their symptoms (commonly cough, fever, night sweats and weight loss) and taking their first anti-TB medicine. This unacceptable delay is similar to (or even longer than) the treatment delays we have documented in low- and middle-income countries with much higher TB burdens, including Peru, Nepal and Mozambique.
In the UK, most people are entitled to free NHS care, and TB care and prevention is free to all. However, the NHS is overwhelmed and policies relating to healthcare recovery costs of visitors and migrants can prevent people with TB, wherever they are from, from getting timely care. This situation poses a public health threat to us all.
Effective TB prevention and care is possible. While current tools are imperfect, albeit with recent progress in diagnostics and treatment, researchers around the world are further advancing science and innovation in the fight against TB. This includes the promise of nutritional supplementation, financial and social support, and a new TB vaccine. Providing timely support to everyone with TB remains fundamental to our response to this illness of poverty.
To end TB, whether in the US, UK, or globally, we would do well to remember and apply the old medical adage: treat the person, not the disease.
Tom Wingfield is supported by grants from: the Wellcome Trust, UK (209075/Z/17/Z); the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Wellcome, UK (Joint Global Health Trials, MR/V004832/1); the Medical Research Council (Public Health Intervention Development Award “PHIND”, APP2293); the Medical Research Foundation (Dorothy Temple Cross International Collaboration Research Grant, MRF-131–0006-RG-KHOS-C0942); and UNITAID (2022-50-START-4-ALL). Tom is an honorary research associate at the Department of Global Public Health, Karolinksa Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and is also an ad hoc consultant for the World Health Organization and the Stop TB Partnership.
Jessica Potter has previously received research funding from Medical Research Council UK. She chairs a grassroots network called UK Academics and Professionals to end TB and is an advisory member of the Innovations Constituency of the Stop TB Partnership.
Kerry Millington receives funding from UK aid from the UK government for the research programme that she works on. Views expressed are those of her own and do not necessarily reflect the UK government’s official policies.
Riotous Irish film Kneecap has attracted much critical and public acclaim since it debuted at Sundance in January 2024 as the festival’s first Irish-language film, winning the prestigious NEXT audience award.
Its Irish premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh the following July saw it scoop best Irish film, the audience award and the Irish language feature film award. It was selected also as an entry for best international feature film and best original song at this year’s Oscars (but was unsuccessful in securing a nomination). Now Kneecap’s latest film honour comes from Britain, where its writer and director Rich Peppiatt won outstanding debut at the Baftas last month.
The film, which mixes fantasy with reality, tells the hilarious tale of struggling real-life Irish-language rap group Kneecap (who play themselves in the film) as they become the unlikely face of the civil rights campaign to recognise the Irish language – also known as Gaelic. The bio on the group’s website states theirs “is a voice which comes screaming from the too-often deprived areas of the North of Ireland, speaking in a language which is too-often ignored”.
The social and political impact of the arts and culture has long been established. Funding is often available for films that support the cultural agenda of nation states, and this plays a significant role in terms of soft power, a concept developed by political scientist Joseph Nye.
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Academic Alan Bradshaw’s review captures the complexity of the themes of the film and its attempt to distance younger people – “the ceasefire generation” – from those of us who lived through the period of civil unrest commonly referred to as the Troubles.
The Kneecap rappers are focused on advocating for the rights (cearta) of the people of Northern Ireland. Their open criticism of British rule, expressed through their music and film led to objections to them receiving public subsidies from the British taxpayer.
However, consideration of the funding for the production reflects the central themes of the film. Northern Ireland Screen, the BFI, Screen Ireland, Coimisiún na Meán (Ireland’s independent media regulator) and TG4 (an Irish public service broadcaster providing film and television in Gaelic) collectively funded the film, demonstrating the strong creative collaborations that have developed over the past few years across Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the UK.
While it is not uncommon to see UK-Irish co-productions – ironically, perhaps, the UK and Ireland are largely treated as one territory for film distribution – usually such collaboration is related to the shared use of English. In this case, Irish language is at the centre of the storytelling, highlighting the contentious history behind this shared use of English.
The Irish language is not just the language in which the story is told, it is at the very heart of the film. In 2020, the Gaelic film Arracht (English title Monster), a story of the Irish famine, was screened in British cinemas and was Ireland’s entry for the 2020 Academy Awards, but it was not nominated for any awards in the UK.
While Arracht dealt with the famine, illustrating the destructive impact of colonial rule on the Irish people, culture and language, in 2022 An Cailín Ciúin (A Quiet Girl)
demonstrated the beauty of the Gaelic language and provided many audiences outside of Ireland with their first opportunity to see a film in Irish.
Kneecap shifts the focus forward to contemporary Northern Ireland and the fight to resuscitate and reinstate the Irish language in the six counties still under British rule. This was eventually recognised in 2022 when the UK parliament passed the Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act.
The film’s Bafta win and Oscar entry follow on from The Quiet Girl, which made it onto the Academy Awards’ shortlist for best international feature film and garnered Bafta nominations for best film not in the English language, and best screenplay (adapted), in 2023.
Although in terms of pace and energy, Kneecap and The Quiet Girl could not be more different, both films are in the Irish language. The Quiet Girl earned over US$6.5 million (£5 million) globally at the box office – the first film in the Irish language to break the US$1m mark – while Kneecap has earned US$4.5 million so far.
Kneecap’s Oscar ambitions may have been thwarted, but its success at the Baftas demonstrates the significance of film in terms of reflecting contemporary politics, shining a light on UK-Irish relations and the relevance of Northern Ireland both politically and culturally.
The 1998 Good Friday agreement, brought an end to the Troubles, and addressed the decades of imbalance in the rights of Northern Irish Catholic citizens in relation to governance, civil and political rights as well as cultural rights.
The right to use the Irish language was finally acknowledged as a cultural right and was reinstated as an official language of Northern Ireland in 2022 following the repeal of a penal law from 1737 which established English as the only language permissible in courts.
This fundamental right to your native language is the key theme in Kneecap, focusing on opposing the legacy of British colonial oppression of language and culture. Its success in receiving public funding, delighting UK critics and audiences alike, as well as winning a prestigious British film award is well worth reflecting upon.
Does this demonstrate that Britain is beginning to recognise the damage of colonialism on the psyche, culture and economics of those who are oppressed and disposed? Is this acceptance of the living legacy of colonialism?
Giving the Bafta for outstanding debut for Kneecap to Peppiatt – an Englishman living in Belfast – can perhaps be seen as the start of such recognition. But it may be too early for a film opposing colonial British rule to be awarded the award for outstanding British film.
Finola Kerrigan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Richard Hargy, Visiting Research Fellow in International Studies, Queen’s University Belfast
The US vice-presidency is famously rather dull and mostly frustrating, according to some of the people who have taken on the role.
“I do not propose to be buried until I am dead,” Daniel Webster is believed to have said, after turning down the vice presidency in 1839. “I would a great deal rather be anything, say professor of history, than vice president,” said Theodore Roosevelt, just before taking the job.
J.D. Vance, the current vice-president, appears to have little intention of sitting back in the shadows while waiting for his chance at the top job. Instead, the former marine turned politician is rapidly turning into Donald Trump’s high-profile attack dog.
His aggressive questioning of Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky in a televised press conference at the White House on February 28, switched the tone of the whole event from uncomfortable to disastrous.
“Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America … and the president of the United States of America, who is trying to save your country,” Vance said to Zelensky, before pushing the Ukrainian president to respond.
The press conference, which had been set up to sign a US-Ukraine mineral deal, descended into chaos, and ended with Donald Trump deciding that he was not prepared to go ahead, and Zelensky was not ready.
The New York Times White House correspondent Michael Shear described the astonishing spectacle of a vice-president inserting himself into a tense diplomatic melee as both a sign of Vance’s “media savvy”, as well as his desire to not be “relegated to the B-team” and a determination not to be in the shadow of Elon Musk.
It also demonstrated Vance’s awareness of something Trump expects from all subordinates: being publicly defended by them.
Steadfast loyalty to Trump is a non-negotiable prerequisite. As Dartmouth College professor, Russell Muirhead, and Harvard professor emerita, Nancy L. Roenblum, have said: “Trump’s problem is not that he requires loyalty to his agenda … It is that he demands personal loyalty.”
Vance understands this, which has been evidenced in acts such as publicly backing Trump’s argument that his executive power should not be challenged by the courts. On X, the vice-president argued that, “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”
J.D. Vance on his role in the Zelensky press conference.
Tough on allies
On the foreign policy front, the vice-president has also come out fighting, and showing his willingness to be Trump’s rottweiler in all arenas. Last month in Munich Vance used a speech to reprimand the continent’s leaders for stepping away from fundamental values by suppressing free speech.
Vance went on to criticise the US’s European allies some days later when he called out a UK-France plan for European troops to guarantee peace in Ukraine, stating the proposal was unworkable and could not be guaranteed by “some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years”.
A key advantage that Vance enjoys over his Republican predecessor, Mike Pence, is that he does not have to navigate between the Republican establishment and Maga factions of the party. Both these worlds have coalesced around Trump. Vance is also considered, like Trump, to be a spokesperson for Maga values.
Where did Vance come from?
Only a few years ago, however, Vance was far from a Trump loyalist. In 2016 he referred to Trump as “cultural heroin” and worried he could be “America’s Hitler”.
Vance, 40, is the third youngest vice-president in US history. In his 2016 best-selling biography, Hillbilly Elegy, Vance told of his difficult upbringing in Ohio and Kentucky as well as offering his own personal insight into the struggles facing impoverished white working-class people. Vance’s memoir made him a coveted analyst during the first Trump administration to explain the president’s appeal to these communities.
Vance appears in lockstep with Trump on almost all foreign policy issues, particularly Ukraine, and his pro-Russia position. Even before his election to the Senate in 2022, Vance had made known his opposition to US aid to the country in support of its military campaign against Russia. In a podcast interview he said, “I’ve got to be honest with you. I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other.”
One area of difference could be with his position on the western military alliance. In his address to the Munich Security Conference Vance said: “I don’t think that we should pull out of NATO, and no, I don’t think that we should abandon Europe. But yes, I think that we should pivot.”
It is unclear if the same can be said of Donald Trump. Germany’s new chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, issued a blunt warning: “We must prepare for the possibility that Donald Trump will no longer uphold NATO’s mutual defence commitment unconditionally”.
John Bolton, a former National Security Advisor to Trump, believes the current commander-in-chief is shifting the goalposts on what he demands from fellow Nato members relating to defence spending and by setting targets that few European states can meet.
In the early weeks of this second Trump administration, Vance has sought to remain a loyal subordinate and someone who will “reinforce (Trump’s) hard-right agenda”, according to Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a research non-profit.
Just over four weeks into his new role, however, Vance has yet to secure the total endorsement from his boss to be his heir apparent. During an interview on Fox News on February 10, when asked if he viewed Vance as his inevitable successor in 2028, Trump responded: “No, but he’s very capable.”
The clearly ambitious Vance knows the next four years could make or break his ability to get the top job, and right now he is betting that his attack-dog status could help win him that role.
Richard Hargy 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.
US biotechnology company Colossal Laboratories and Biosciences has a radical proposal: it wants to resurrect the woolly mammoth from extinction. In a preprint paper published on March 4, scientists at Colossal report making a significant step towards this objective. They genetically modified the DNA of mice to give them mammoth-like traits in their hair shape, colour and length.
By testing out their methods in a familiar laboratory animal, the researchers can make sure they work before applying them to Asian elephants – the closest living relatives of the mammoth.
De-extinction is an idea which, if successfully implemented, would allow us to bring back any species from the dead. It means that no animal could go truly extinct as long as we can obtain its DNA.
However, mammoths were heavily adapted to a cold climate and a biome – an area with specific climate, vegetation and animal life – that no longer exists.
The Siberian habitats once roamed by the creatures – known as the mammoth steppe – are significantly warmer today. Many of the animals and plants they lived among have also disappeared, and the regions are now home to new ones that never lived alongside the mammoth.
Attempts to reintroduce woolly mammoths in our modern tundras could therefore prove difficult, and have untold repercussions on the current ecosystem. Against a background of climate change, these tundras are only going to get warmer and less suitable for an animal like the mammoth.
Nevertheless, Colossal is pushing ahead with efforts to recreate these striking creatures. Asian elephants diverged from mammoths around 6.7 million years ago and share over 95% of their DNA. Colossal plans to bridge this gap by transforming the genomes of Asian elephants to make them more like those of woolly mammoths.
Scientists have obtained high-quality woolly mammoth DNA sequences from carcasses preserved in Siberian permafrost. These genomes (the full complement of DNA in the cell) have allowed scientists to compare the genes that differ between the mammoth and the Asian elephant.
Multiplex editing
In order to generate their beauty prize-worthy mice, Colossal’s scientists used a range of highly advanced genome editing techniques to modify the sequence of DNA in the mouse. Regions of mouse DNA can be changed so they resemble genes in other organisms, such as a woolly mammoth.
These techniques are known collectively as multiplex editing and include the best known method, Crispr-Cas9. Multiplex genome editing gives scientists the ability to target and affect several genes at once (up to seven at a time in this case).
The scientists modified ten genes in total in their mice, in different combinations. Interestingly, only three were changed to resemble genes found in the woolly mammoth. The other seven had been previously identified to cause hair variation in mice, and produce traits somewhat similar to those found in mammoth hair. Although these are not mammoth gene variants, modifying them demonstrates the team’s ability to edit several genes at once through multiplex editing.
Two of the three mammoth-associated genes (Krt27 and Tgfa) have previously been linked to hair texture, based on comparisons with Asian elephants. Another gene, Fabp2, is thought to have facilitated efficient fat metabolism in mammoths – a presumed evolutionary adaptation to cold.
Modifying the Krt27 and Tgfa hair genes in mice led to a change in texture, making some hairs longer and rougher and others wavier and zigzaggy. The fact these gene modifications produced physical traits seen in mammoth hair provides a way of verifying the genes are indeed associated with changes in hair pattern, and therefore contribute to the mammoth’s distinctive woolliness. But editing the mice so they had the Fabp2 gene variant from mammoths led to no observable physical difference.
Of the seven mouse-identified genes modified by the researchers, one (a variant of the Mc1r gene) led to the shiny blond coat colour. At least one mammoth carcass dug up from the Siberian permafrost has a similar coat colour, so the change is certainly evocative of these ice age creatures.
A much bigger task
Although this is an exciting study into an area of research with incredible potential, there are a few limitations to keep in mind. While Asian elephants are the closest thing we currently have to mammoths, it would take a lot more than a few tweaks to hair length and squiggliness to meaningfully make a mammoth out of an elephant.
While George Church, the Harvard genetics professor who founded Colossal, claims that modifying 65 genes in Asian elephants will accomplish this goal, the reality is likely to be more complicated.
Indeed, the fact that editing the Fabp2 gene – associated with fat metabolism in mammoths – led to no observable difference in the mice is one example of the many gaps in our understanding of mammoth genetics. Put another way, this shows that we have some way to go to fully understand the causal relationship between genes and phenotype – the visible characteristics in a living organism.
Increasing the number of simultaneously targeted genes from seven to 65 could also introduce various unintended consequences, including accidentally modifying unintended DNA regions similar to the target sequence (known as the off-target effects of genome editing). It also remains difficult to achieve changes in all genes at once; here too, scaling up from seven to 65 will pose a noteworthy challenge.
On top of this, even if Colossal manages to make all 65 gene changes in their Asian elephants, there are likely to be many more differences between mammoth and elephant genomes that have not yet been identified. These include genes involved in behaviour, and in regions of the genome that dictate when genes are switched on or off. While mice are an extremely well studied experimental organism, elephants are less well characterised.
As a proof of concept, this research is fascinating, although it remains to be seen whether Colossal’s goal of creating an elephant-mammoth hybrid by 2028 is achievable. It would be more likely to generate a mammoth-like Asian elephant than something exactly like the ice age creature.
Finally, it is worth considering the end goal of this branch of research. Mammoths went extinct only 4,000 years ago, but at this point they had already been pushed into a fraction of their initial range – restricted to a tiny surviving population on Wrangel island in the Russian Arctic.
Another of Colossal’s objectives is to bring back the thylacine, a carnivore that once lived in Tasmania. Given it went extinct due to active hunting in the 20th century, the thylacine should at least still have suitable habitat.
However, if the goal is simply to counteract extinction, more sustainable efforts to avoid future extinctions might be better than expensive genetic engineering. De-extinction cannot replace efforts to preserve the one planet we have, and all the living organisms we share it with.
Benjamin Tapon receives funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, through the LIDo DTP.
Alex de Mendoza receives funding from European Research Council and the Royal Society.
The comedian Shappi Khorsandi once commented that she used the mythical concept of “sugar worms” to get her children to brush their teeth after sweets. It’s a trick I poached to convince my daughter to do the same. She’s since grown wise to this, but now luckily manages to navigate her way around a toothbrush twice a day without resistance.
Real worms have now replaced fictitious worms as a point of discussion in many other households with young children. Every few weeks, nurseries and schools inform parents of yet another occurrence of threadworm. It’s not surprising that these wriggly beasties keep rearing their heads, considering how easily transmissible they are.
Threadworm
Threadworm infestation is a common minor ailment, particularly in kids. The worm species that causes it – Enterobius vermicularis – goes by many other names, including pinworm. This is because it really is as thin and pointy as a pin, and silvery-white in appearance. It’s also sometimes known as seatworm, possibly because the body parts it most commonly affects are those which you sit on.
The circle of life for a threadworm is simple. Their larvae come from ingested eggs that then hatch in the small intestine. They typically form a colony within the first part of the large intestine (the caecum).
But their most noticeable effect appears to be on the back passage, since the female worms migrate there, usually at nighttime, to lay their eggs. This results in the common symptoms of a very itchy bottom, especially at night. The itching naturally makes the sufferer scratch, installing the newly laid eggs under their fingernails and allowing them to spread to other hosts through contact. It can affect anyone – both adults and children.
It’s possible to spot threadworms in the stool after a bowel movement. They can make themselves known in several other ways, including nighttime irritability and bed wetting. Because the worms prefer living in the intestine, in rare conditions they may cause abdominal pain and mimic appendicitis. In fact, in some cases the appendix is removed and found to be chock-full of wriggling worms.
The condition is usually mild and can be treated at home. Mebendazole, an oral anti-worm medication, can be bought over the counter at most pharmacies and is normally effective.
It’s recommended to treat everyone in the household over the age of two, in case they have already spread – remembering that sometimes there are no symptoms to be noted at all. But it’s important to speak to a doctor for children younger than two years old, and pregnant or breastfeeding women with threadworm, as medication may not be suitable.
Hygiene measures are important to help clear the infection and prevent the spread, especially in those who can’t take medication. This involves scrupulous washing of hands, laundry and avoiding scratching the affected areas. It’s a good idea to trim fingernails too, to prevent the eggs from getting caught under them.
Hookworm
Threadworms aren’t the only worms (helminths) that invade humans. Hookworms, for example, affect about 470 million people worldwide. Infections in the UK are rarer, since hookworms favour a warmer climate.
Like threadworm, they also tend to take up residence in the small intestine – though they can also get there in a much more complicated way. The larvae of hookworms are able to pass through the skin and travel to the lungs in the bloodstream. Once there, they journey upwards into the throat where they can then be swallowed down.
Since the respiratory tract and gut are the favourite places for these worms to bunk down, the symptoms of a hookworm infection tend to be associated with them – such as coughing and wheezing. Inflammation in the small intestine, triggered by the infestation can generate abdominal pain and diarrhoea. It can also hamper the absorption of proteins and iron from the gut, causing anaemia.
A characteristic rash might be noted in the stage where the larvae start to burrow through the skin – looking a bit like a snake writhing through it. In the medical profession, we call this cutaneous larva migrans.
Like threadworm, hookworm can also be treated with oral medications.
Cutaneous larva migrans can resemble snakes burrowing under the skin. TisforThan/Shutterstock
Filariae
Worms don’t just invade the gut or lungs. Some of them work their way into other regions of the body. Take lymphatic filariasis, a condition that arises when certain worms of the Filariidae order, infiltrate the lymphatic system.
The lymph vessels act as drainage pipes, removing excess fluid from the tissues and returning it to the bloodstream. When the worms invade and inflame the lymphatic system, the result is lymphoedema – an accumulation of fluid in the extremities (like the legs), which causes swelling and discomfort.
In extreme cases, the swelling can be profound, resulting in a condition known as elephantiasis. This is because the worm infestation causes not just swelling, but also skin changes – making it thicker and tougher, and taking on the appearance of elephant skin.
These are just a few of the helminth conditions that can affect humans. Other examples include tapeworms and whipworms – which are also intestinal. Ringworm is a misnomer though, and not a worm at all – it’s actually caused by a fungal infection.
Dan Baumgardt 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.
Despite exuding confidence, narcissistic people relentlessly crave admiration. In other words, they are unable to convince themselves of their own brilliance.
Growing research shows the gap between perception and reality for narcissistic people goes far deeper than their inflated views about their appearance, accomplishments and abilities.
Narcissism is a personality trait that exists along a spectrum, where the lower end reflects a healthy balance of self-esteem and confidence. At the extreme end of the spectrum, however, narcissism is considered a personality disorder which affects 1-2% of the population. Most of us manifest narcissistic traits to varying degrees, but the more elevated the features are, the wider the gap between perception and reality.
Narcissistic people with elevated features frequently belittle anyone who fails to provide them with the special treatment they feel entitled to. Ironically, they continuously undermine the false self they are trying to build and maintain.
They can also be quick to respond with anger and aggression to criticism, in an attempt to protect their grandiose yet fragile sense of self. A 2021 UK study found they experience more paranoia, even when there is no evidence of people meaning to harm them, compared with people with lower levels of narcissism.
Similarly, recent research by US psychologists found that narcissistic people experienced heightened fear of being left out, and accused others of deliberately ostracising them when there was no evidence to support their belief.
The study found that participants high in narcissistic traits were more likely to interpret ambiguous social cues as rejection (for instance, a delayed text message). This suggests their perceptions of social behaviour may be distorted.
Narcissism and ostracism fuel one another
Narcissism can be expressed in “vulnerable” features (socially-inhibited and neurotic) as well as “grandiose” features (dominant and extroverted). People with more grandiose features are overtly assertive and self-promoting. People with more vulnerable features tend to be outwardly distressed, hypersensitive and inhibited.
Although these are separate forms of narcissism, they share a core of entitlement and an antagonistic character style. And just like we all exhibit varying degrees of narcissistic traits, we also fluctuate between these two expressions of narcissism.
The US researchers chose to focus on grandiose narcissism only. The study differentiated between two facets of grandiose narcissism: narcissistic admiration (the ability to charm and manipulate people) and narcissistic rivalry, which includes devaluing and acting aggressively towards others.
The research team analysed data for more than 77,000 participants from a series of seven studies by other scientists spanning 2009-2022. The first two studies investigated the relationship between narcissism and ostracism using surveys and experience sampling (a method used to investigate participants’ cognition and behaviour outside the lab – for example, using participants’ smartphones to track their behaviour).
The first study found people who reported higher narcissism levels said they experienced significantly more ostracism, compared with other participants. This was backed up by the second study, in which participants completed the narcissism assessments then reported feelings of ostracism within a 14-day period, using a mobile app.
The remaining experiments examined how people with higher levels of narcissism perceive ambiguous social interactions, and how others respond to narcissistic traits. After a group task, people with higher traits in narcissistic rivalry were more likely ostracised, even when other participants weren’t told the target had elevated levels of narcissism.
This supports the findings of a 2017 meta-study showing that people high in narcissistic rivalry may provoke direct conflict through their behaviour, and perceive others more negatively.
The US researchers concluded that, while narcissistic features can fuel social exclusion, ostracism itself can, over time, contribute to pronounced narcissistic traits. It appears that ostracism can make people already high in narcissism even higher in these traits.
Other research has similarly shown disparity between the narcissistic self and reality, and the role paranoia plays in this relationship. For instance, a 2015 study found that elevated levels of narcissism are associated with belief in conspiracy theories. This association was driven by paranoid thought.
These findings are concerning given the harmful consequences of conspiracy theories for society. They can fuel violence, climate denial and vaccine hesitancy.
Narcissistic personality features also tend to be higher among political leaders than the general population. Conspiracy theories may be appealing to politicians – particularly during times that challenge their entitled need for superiority and power.
The ideal self and the actual self
The US study’s findings carry practical implications for interventions aimed at people with high levels of narcissism. The researchers said interventions should not only try to improve relationships by identifying personality risk factors (in this instance, the rivalry component of narcissism), but also consider the perceptions of the person involved.
Narcissistic personality disorder comes with a higher risk of suicide and mental health difficulties, and treatment rarely makes much difference. This is partly because of patients’ resistance to abandoning the “ideal self”, leading to frustration, anger and conflict with their therapist.
But some interventions could target the cognitive distortions of narcissistic people that hamper their ability to function in society. For example, psychological therapies could aim to help them process the defensive mechanisms (overvaluing themselves) that mask underlying feelings of vulnerability.
Helping narcissistic people develop greater insights into their habitual reactions – such as responding aggressively to self-esteem threats and feelings of social exclusion – could help them foster skills that reshape their cognitive distortions. This could ameliorate distress, anger and hostility for narcissistic people – and the people around them.
Ava Green 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.
A displaced Yemeni woman makes food for her children in the camp where they live in the city of Taiz.akramalrasny/Shutterstock
International Women’s Day, marked each year on March 8, is all about celebrating women and furthering efforts towards gender equality. Companies are keen to join these conversations and shout about their achievements on a day when minds are focused on female empowerment. But this has led to accusations of hypocrisy.
In 2021, one user on X created the Gender Pay Gap bot. Until 2023,this automated account reposted companies’ supportive messages about International Women’s Day, quoting information about their gender pay gap. The bot’s posts received tens of thousands of views and shares, showing an appetite for calling out misleading corporate claims about women’s empowerment.
Activists and researchers label these misleading actions “gender washing”. It describes communications and practices that present corporations as taking action on gender inequalities even as they engage in things that may be harmful to women and girls.
Gender washing takes many forms. It might be, for example, sponsoring girls’ education programmes without addressing known practices of child labour and sexual harassment in supply chains. Or it could be applying for corporate social responsibility awards while facing lawsuits for discrimination against female employees.
Our research examines global arms manufacturers, including Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman. It is estimated that the global arms trade as a whole was worth US$138 billion (£109 billion) in 2022 (the last year for which data are compiled).
It is hard to say how many people are killed by these weapons, but at a minimum it numbers in the tens of thousands each year. Beyond this, the after-effects of weapons use include displacement, starvation and health emergencies, as has been seen in Yemen.
Arms manufacturers continue to produce and sell weapons that cause untold suffering (including to women) across the world. But interestingly, arms manufacturers also issue communications celebrating International Women’s Day.
Careers in science and tech
Where previous research highlights how gender washing shows corporations or their products in a positive light, our research revealed bigger effects. We found that, through joint communications with governments and militaries, arms manufacturers were engaged in the process of gender washing war itself.
By posting for International Women’s Day, these companies portray the technologies and corporate operations of warfare as empowering to women and girls. They show women succeeding in science and technology careers, and girls receiving inspirational talks and science education, while saying nothing about what that science is being used for.
For example, Lockheed Martin Middle East and Africa shared a video on X showing a group of female engineers at the company’s innovation centre in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The post states that the company is “committed to inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers through real-world #STEM education”.
The video shows a group of women wearing traditional Emirati dress in futuristic labs. They are interacting with touchscreen images of helicopters flying over deserts, examining a drone and sitting next to magnifying glasses. The soundtrack is like something out of a Hollywood action movie.
But the women do not speak for themselves. We are supposed to assume that, thanks to Lockheed Martin, they are being educated in cutting-edge technology and empowered to pursue careers in science. They get hands-on experience using the very military technologies being deployed in many parts of their region.
Lockheed Martin’s sale of weapons to warring parties in the Middle East, including arms sold to Saudi Arabia with devastating consequences for Yemeni women, is presented as a learning opportunity, “inspiring” women of the Middle East into science careers.
For its part, Lockheed Martin said in its 2023 gender pay gap report that it had closed the salary gap by 12.1% since 2017. It also said its investment in STEM activities helped it to focus on a future pipeline of female talent.
We also found that some corporations attempt to join progressive conversations without actually saying anything at all. We label this “constructive silences”. This is where companies say nothing of substance on gender issues, and do not reveal any efforts to tackle gender inequalities within their own practices. But nonetheless they tap into conversations about International Women’s Day that might enhance their reputations.
A post on X from Lockheed Martin India uses International Women’s Day hashtags. But there is no clear link to the accompanying text, which does not mention women specifically. Nor is there any connection to initiatives to address gender inequalities. Instead it talks about how “an inclusive environment” helps employees to “develop innovative solutions”.
This matters because – through social media – arms manufacturers present technologies of war as a force for public good. It is easier to deflect criticism of the harms created by your products when you can point to your efforts supporting women’s empowerment.
These posts for International Women’s Day, and other gender-washing practices, make it easier for governments to continue subsidising the arms industry, buying and using weaponry, and issuing licenses for the sale of weapons in conflicts across the globe. All the while, they give the impression that the corporations producing those weapons are educating and empowering women and girls.
This International Women’s Day, take a look for yourself. Think about which companies are professing care for women and what harms might they be obscuring.
In a statement to The Conversation, a spokesman for Lockheed Martin said: Lockheed Martin’s core business safeguards human rights by advancing cutting-edge technologies that help US and allied defence forces promote deterrence and protect their people. We adhere to strict and ethical business practices guided by US government laws, regulations and policies related to international military sales and the use of products sold to international customers. Our company culture is collaborative and respectful, which allows all of our team members to impactfully contribute to our mission-critical work.
Raytheon and Northrop Grumman were also approached for comment about the claims made in this article, but did not respond by the time we published.
Rosie Walters receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Learned Society of Wales.
Natalie Jester does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By May Darwich, Associate Professor of International Relations of the Middle East, University of Birmingham
US president Donald Trump famously called Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi his “favourite dictator” in 2019, but their relationship has been complex. Trump’s return to the White House for a second term has sent ripples of concern through Cairo. In January 2025, Trump proposed a resolution to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza: forcibly relocating Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan. Trump simultaneously threatened to withdraw US aid if these countries didn’t comply with the proposal. Sisi’s Egypt will need to navigate Trump’s ambition without sacrificing the regime’s own survival. May Darwich, who has studied Arab states’ foreign policies and alliances in the Middle East, explains what’s at stake.
US aid has been a cornerstone of Egyptian-US relations for decades.
Since 1979, Egypt has been a central pillar of US policies in the Middle East. Military aid is deemed essential to ensure that the regime in Egypt aligns with US interests. At the same time, this aid is widely seen as contributing to the survival of Egypt’s authoritarian regime.
But history shows that Egypt can soften the potential impact of the US freezing assistance during periods of strained relations.
After a period of review, the Barack Obama administration released aid to Egypt to preserve US interests. As US secretary of state John Kerry once explained:
We are getting a return on that investment that is not inconsequential. The army also is helping us enforce security in the Sinai (in Egypt). The army is also helping us enforce the Gaza peace.
Should this relationship come under strain again, Egypt could learn to become even more independent. China’s influence in Egypt is growing, and the Gulf states that enjoy a close relationship with Sisi may also decide to commit funding.
How has Egypt balanced its interests with Arab states, Israel and the US?
The signing of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty in 1979 marked a shift in Egyptian foreign policy. The treaty aligned Egypt with the west in recognising Israel. This decision, however, led to Egypt’s isolation in the Arab world and its expulsion from the Arab League (it was readmitted in 1989).
Egypt condemned Israeli aggression against Palestinians and against Lebanon in 1982 and 2006, and froze efforts to normalise relations with Israel. This reinforced its pivotal position in Arab circles without jeopardising its peace with Israel.
Meanwhile, Egypt helped US military assets to move across the region and oil to flow through the Suez Canal. It maintained peace and stability with Israel by pressuring Palestinian resistance movements into de-escalation. This balancing act allowed Egypt to become a mediator between Palestine and Israel.
Egypt under Sisi has made efforts to maintain the balancing act. However, the ongoing Gaza war has intensified Egypt’s challenges. These include refugee flights and instability at its border. The war has also threatened Egypt’s longstanding role in the Middle East region.
How has the Gaza war threatened Egypt’s balancing act?
The onset of the Gaza war in October 2023 put Egypt on edge. Cairo is apprehensive about Israel’s potential strategy of forcibly locating Palestinians to the Sinai Peninsula, which is on its territory. Egyptian officials have deemed that scenario as a red line. Cairo doesn’t want to be seen as undermining the Palestinian cause.
Also, Egyptians harbour concerns that the presence of a substantial Palestinian population in Sinai – which links Africa to Asia, and borders Israel and Gaza – could transform the region into a launchpad for attacks on Israel. This would compel Egypt to either suppress such activities or face retaliation from Israel.
This concern stems from a 1955 incident. The Israeli army raided an Egyptian military camp in the Gaza strip, which was then under Egyptian control. Seventeen soldiers were killed following a Palestinian militant’s killing of an Israeli. A plan to move Palestinians to Sinai sparked protests in the Gaza strip, bringing the Egyptian military in direct confrontation with Palestinians.
This historical event has continued to shape Egyptian foreign policy, which rejects any relocation of Palestinians in Sinai.
The current war has highlighted structural weaknesses in the already precarious Egyptian economy. The Houthi attacks in the Red Sea that began in 2024 caused a sharp drop in revenues from the Suez Canal, a critical source of foreign revenue for Egypt.
Sisi played on European fears that what happened in Gaza could harm Egypt’s economic situation and lead to mass migration to Europe. But cash infusions won’t solve the deep-seated economic challenges facing the country.
Cairo’s role as a mediator between the west, Israel and the Arab world is facing renewed challenges. Other mediators, like Qatar, have emerged.
What could affect Egypt’s response to Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians?
Trump’s proposal places the Egyptian regime in a precarious position. If Egypt agrees to the plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, it would signify a dramatic departure from its foundational foreign policies. It could also reignite discontent among its population.
Rejecting the proposal would strain Egypt-US relations, potentially undermining the support for Sisi’s regime, which might then have to seek aid from other countries.
The Gaza conflict underscores Egypt’s historical and political entanglement with the Palestinian issue.
– Egypt on edge: finding a delicate balance between Gaza and Trump – https://theconversation.com/egypt-on-edge-finding-a-delicate-balance-between-gaza-and-trump-251375
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By May Darwich, Associate Professor of International Relations of the Middle East, University of Birmingham
US president Donald Trump famously called Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi his “favourite dictator” in 2019, but their relationship has been complex. Trump’s return to the White House for a second term has sent ripples of concern through Cairo. In January 2025, Trump proposed a resolution to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza: forcibly relocating Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan. Trump simultaneously threatened to withdraw US aid if these countries didn’t comply with the proposal. Sisi’s Egypt will need to navigate Trump’s ambition without sacrificing the regime’s own survival. May Darwich, who has studied Arab states’ foreign policies and alliances in the Middle East, explains what’s at stake.
US aid has been a cornerstone of Egyptian-US relations for decades.
Since 1979, Egypt has been a central pillar of US policies in the Middle East. Military aid is deemed essential to ensure that the regime in Egypt aligns with US interests. At the same time, this aid is widely seen as contributing to the survival of Egypt’s authoritarian regime.
But history shows that Egypt can soften the potential impact of the US freezing assistance during periods of strained relations.
After a period of review, the Barack Obama administration released aid to Egypt to preserve US interests. As US secretary of state John Kerry once explained:
We are getting a return on that investment that is not inconsequential. The army also is helping us enforce security in the Sinai (in Egypt). The army is also helping us enforce the Gaza peace.
Should this relationship come under strain again, Egypt could learn to become even more independent. China’s influence in Egypt is growing, and the Gulf states that enjoy a close relationship with Sisi may also decide to commit funding.
How has Egypt balanced its interests with Arab states, Israel and the US?
The signing of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty in 1979 marked a shift in Egyptian foreign policy. The treaty aligned Egypt with the west in recognising Israel. This decision, however, led to Egypt’s isolation in the Arab world and its expulsion from the Arab League (it was readmitted in 1989).
Egypt condemned Israeli aggression against Palestinians and against Lebanon in 1982 and 2006, and froze efforts to normalise relations with Israel. This reinforced its pivotal position in Arab circles without jeopardising its peace with Israel.
Meanwhile, Egypt helped US military assets to move across the region and oil to flow through the Suez Canal. It maintained peace and stability with Israel by pressuring Palestinian resistance movements into de-escalation. This balancing act allowed Egypt to become a mediator between Palestine and Israel.
Egypt under Sisi has made efforts to maintain the balancing act. However, the ongoing Gaza war has intensified Egypt’s challenges. These include refugee flights and instability at its border. The war has also threatened Egypt’s longstanding role in the Middle East region.
How has the Gaza war threatened Egypt’s balancing act?
The onset of the Gaza war in October 2023 put Egypt on edge. Cairo is apprehensive about Israel’s potential strategy of forcibly locating Palestinians to the Sinai Peninsula, which is on its territory. Egyptian officials have deemed that scenario as a red line. Cairo doesn’t want to be seen as undermining the Palestinian cause.
Also, Egyptians harbour concerns that the presence of a substantial Palestinian population in Sinai – which links Africa to Asia, and borders Israel and Gaza – could transform the region into a launchpad for attacks on Israel. This would compel Egypt to either suppress such activities or face retaliation from Israel.
This concern stems from a 1955 incident. The Israeli army raided an Egyptian military camp in the Gaza strip, which was then under Egyptian control. Seventeen soldiers were killed following a Palestinian militant’s killing of an Israeli. A plan to move Palestinians to Sinai sparked protests in the Gaza strip, bringing the Egyptian military in direct confrontation with Palestinians.
This historical event has continued to shape Egyptian foreign policy, which rejects any relocation of Palestinians in Sinai.
The current war has highlighted structural weaknesses in the already precarious Egyptian economy. The Houthi attacks in the Red Sea that began in 2024 caused a sharp drop in revenues from the Suez Canal, a critical source of foreign revenue for Egypt.
Sisi played on European fears that what happened in Gaza could harm Egypt’s economic situation and lead to mass migration to Europe. But cash infusions won’t solve the deep-seated economic challenges facing the country.
Cairo’s role as a mediator between the west, Israel and the Arab world is facing renewed challenges. Other mediators, like Qatar, have emerged.
What could affect Egypt’s response to Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians?
Trump’s proposal places the Egyptian regime in a precarious position. If Egypt agrees to the plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, it would signify a dramatic departure from its foundational foreign policies. It could also reignite discontent among its population.
Rejecting the proposal would strain Egypt-US relations, potentially undermining the support for Sisi’s regime, which might then have to seek aid from other countries.
The Gaza conflict underscores Egypt’s historical and political entanglement with the Palestinian issue.
May Darwich 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.
Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank
Claudia Buch, Chair of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank
Klaas Knot, President of De Nederlandsche Bank
Annamaria Lusardi, Professor at Stanford University
Joachim Nagel, President of the Deutsche Bundesbank
Fabio Panetta, Governor of the Banca d’Italia
This International Women’s Day, Councillors have formed a new collaboration to tackle the economic inequality between men and women in the city.
Cabinet Members Chris Penberthy, Jemima Laing and Sally Haydon have implemented action on Community Safety, Poverty, Skills and Education, Housing, Health, and Children’s Services throughout their careers.
They are starting this focus on work and wages, with an invitation to women’s organisations in Plymouth to meet to discuss the causes and consequences of economic inequality.
Trevi, Gifted Women, and Westcountry Women’s Awards will be founder contributors to the discussion. Professor Jasmine Kelland at the University of Plymouth Business School will support discussions with her expertise and network that focusses on men’s experiences of balancing work with caring responsibilities.
Phase two will invite businesses from the city to discuss their experiences of tackling work accessibility, low wages, flexible working, discrimination, and other measures to address this persistent imbalance.
Councillor Jemima Laing, Deputy Leader of the Council said: “This project is something we are all equally passionate about, we want to come together and help tackle economic inequality.
“A real living wage is necessary for individuals to pay for basic living expenses. At £12.60 per hour or £466 for a 37 hour week, around half of women in Plymouth earn less compared to one in five men.
“The consequences of this don’t just leave women relying on other people for basic living expenses, it also affects families and children, and wider communities.
“We look forward to starting this project and engaging with businesses in the city on this important issue.”
Proactive approaches by businesses in the city include enhanced support for flexible working, enhanced paternity pay and parental leave, travel to work plans for parents and carers and women-specific support such as networking, mentoring, and ensuring that there is a woman on recruitment panels for shortlisting and interviews.
Leaders of the 27 EU countries have agreed in principle to a massive increase in defence spending at a summit that was hastily organised in the wake of Donald Trump’s withdrawal of support for Ukraine.
Talks over European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s €800 million (£670 million) military spending package went on for ten hours before an agreement could be reached. And while the deal is in place, leaders can’t agree on how to finance it.
With pressure from the United States to increase their contribution to Nato, European states have also agreed to increase defence spending as a share of their GDP.
Many EU countries wanting to spend more on defence argue they can’t afford to do so because they are already struggling with government debt. However, France has the largest debt as a proportion of its GDP in the EU and is still increasing defence spending.
The challenge for nearly all EU member states has been how to go about spending more on defence without over-borrowing and putting the euro currency in danger through government defaults on existing loans.
The European Commission has set out new funding for defence industries which could lower the cost of defence procurement for EU member states. However, the EU doesn’t have enough funds to sustain a high level of defence investment.
Hungary and Slovakia have stated that they are not interested in an EU defence budget. They would rather see individual member states increase their budgets. Both Hungary and Slovakia are resistant to EU calls to further isolate Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Hungarian president Viktor Orbán was the holdout at the Brussels meeting. Orbán has been far more lenient than others on Moscow since the start of the war.
Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, wants a more constructive relationship with Russia and the return to the supply of natural gas that is piped through Ukraine. He did, however, ultimately fall in behind other member states at the Brussels meeting.
Now that a package has been agreed, the challenge for European leaders and the EU is how to grow defence budgets without breaking the budget, forcing many governments into determining what they are not going to spend money on even before they can figure out how to grow defence spending.
The nuclear dilemma
At the summit, French president Emmanuel Macron also presented a plan to bring other European nations under France’s nuclear umbrella, effectively making France’s deterrent their joint deterrent.
The rationale here is the concern that the US could withdraw from Nato or at least water down article five, the commitment by Nato countries to treat any attack on a member state as an attack on all member states. Doing so would mean Europe could no longer rely on the US nuclear deterrent for protection.
But while European countries want to prepare for a potential US withdrawal, they also don’t want to signal to Washington that the US deterrent is no longer needed. In fact most European Nato countries would like the US to maintain its nuclear posture in Europe and are working hard on a diplomatic level with Washington to slow the retreat.
At the same time, European member states want security guarantees so talks on Macron’s proposal will continue.
European support for Ukraine
The EU showed renewed commitment for Ukraine at the summit with meetings between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and several European and EU leaders.
A joint statement was agreed, stressing that peace talks must include Ukraine and confirming the EU’s support. Orbán was, again, the only leader not to sign up to the statement.
The hope is that, with these actions, Europe can pressure the Trump administration to continue to engage Ukraine as it seeks a peace with Russia. But it is unclear how much of an impact such European solidarity for Ukraine will have.
Europe cannot be ready for a new defence reality overnight but this defence summit has been a good start. Now the really hard work begins.
David J. Galbreath has received funding from the ESRC, AHRC, British Academy and Leverhulme Trust.
Transforming Blenheim Estate’s low-grade farmland into woodlands for nature and communities
Blenheim Estate planted 270,000 trees to improve biodiversity, water quality and public access, as well as generate income through timber production.
Main facts
site: Blenheim Estate, Oxfordshire
size: 104 hectares with a further 47 hectares planned
type: multi-purpose lowland woodland with mixed broadleaf, some non-native species and conifer
species: 27 species including oak, hornbeam, lime, sycamore, wild cherry with a woody understorey. Experimental species are also included to assess climate change resilience. A small percentage of conifer will provide a productive timber crop and winter habitats for wildlife
grants: blended finance from Forestry Commission England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) and private investment from Morgan Sindall
date: EWCO application approved in October 2021, planting began in November 2021
Main objective
Convert low-grade, unprofitable agricultural land into new woodlands to deliver multiple benefits including carbon sequestration, improved biodiversity, water quality and public amenity access, starting with a 30-year woodland management cycle.
Roy Cox, Estate Director said:
The health of the area around an estate directly affects the wellbeing of the estate itself. By investing in new woodlands, we are making Blenheim a better place for the community to thrive.
Investing in trees for all to enjoy
The Blenheim Estate is set in the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside, covering 12,000 acres. Home to Blenheim Palace, it is a world heritage site and features several Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Its farming heritage spans hundreds of years, but with the phasing out of the Basic Payment Scheme the owners began seeking new opportunities. Aware of the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, they seized the opportunity to invest in trees and woodlands and capitalise on the myriad of economic, social and environmental benefits trees offer.
The Dorn and Glyme Valley Woodland Creation Scheme is creating 7 new woodlands. At the time of planting it was one of the largest woodland creation projects in the South East to date, transforming unproductive, low-grade agricultural land into a sustainable and commercially viable asset.
The owners are planting over 270,000 new trees to sequester 20,000 tonnes of carbon over 25 years, which will boost biodiversity and generate wider community benefits – including a forest school and 15km of new woodland trails to enjoy and explore. The project will help the estate achieve their net zero aims and continue to prosper.
Diversity and management delivering wider benefits
Species diversity and active management help to secure the long-term health, resilience, and profitability of Blenheim’s new woodland. Planting has incorporated an innovative mix of 27 carefully selected species, from native broadleaves like hornbeam, lime, oak, sycamore, wild cherry, Norway maple, alder and beech, to experimental species such as paulownia, tulip tree and robinia. Several conifer blocks will deliver a productive timber crop and winter habitats for wildlife.
This diverse mix will help reduce risk from pests and diseases and improve resilience to the effects of climate change. The controlled planting of novel species will provide valuable insight for studies on climate change resilience carried out by the University of Oxford.
The design also includes an understorey of woody shrub species to create a diverse and self-sustaining ecosystem. Planting areas will be seeded with wild grass and a flower mix.
The scheme incorporates long-term management plans, beginning with a 30-year management cycle with the Forest Canopy Foundation. Effective woodland management is vital for carbon sequestration, biodiversity gains and to achieve a profitable timber crop year-on-year. Well managed woodlands will not only ensure the estate can sequester carbon now, but far into the future through carbon being locked into timber products.
The trees have been planted using biodegradable tree guards made of corn starch, supporting the estate’s aim to be plastic-free as far as possible. This approach provides valuable insight for ongoing research into plastic-free alternatives. In parallel, rabbit and deer fencing will protect young trees against browsing mammals.
Great oaks from little acorns grow
Many of the oak trees have been grown from acorns collected from Blenheim Park – providing a natural connection to the park and its heritage up and down the valley. A total of 11,402 acorns have been handpicked. Each one is labelled with the tree it came from. They will be planted along paths at entry points and key locations as special feature trees.
Unlocking blended finance – through EWCO and private investment
The Dorn and Glyme Valley scheme is multi-faceted and brings many natural capital benefits. It’s been made possible through a blended finance model – a combination of EWCO and private investment from Morgan Sindall, who are purchasing the carbon sequestered by the trees to help offset CO2 emissions.
The scheme secured over £350,000 in additional contributions through EWCO for its benefits to:
nature recovery: by planting new native woodland in locations that will connect and expand existing woodland
water quality: by carefully positioning woodland to help filter soil particles
society: creating woodland close to people and granting permissive access via a 15km network of new paths
It also trailblazes use of the Grown in Britain metric, based on the UK Forestry Standard, to quantify the provision of ecosystem services on each site. Using the metric helped to secure the private investment from Morgan Sindall.
Liz Nicholson, Forestry Agent said:
Courage, creative thinking and hard work are required to create a space and framework to realise the best markets which, in turn, will empower farming and forestry to develop into unsubsidised commercial sectors.
Wildlife, water and wellbeing
Woodlands provide huge benefits for people, nature, climate and the economy. The Dorn and Glyme Valley Woodland Creation Scheme at Blenheim is no exception:
the biodiversity of the area will improve significantly, most of the woodland blocks are close to, or adjoin existing native woodland and will help expand and connect natural habitats
an objective is to reduce siltation of Blenheim Lake, with the woodlands carefully positioned to improve water quality by helping to filter soil particles, reducing the frequency and costs of dredging the lake
the trees also provide natural flood management benefits, as well as further upstream in the Dorn valley – the Environment Agency are working with Blenheim Estate, Thames Water, and Evenlode Catchment Partnership to develop ‘Stage Zero’, a small slowing the flow project, which will recreate the impact of beavers on a catchment
the pandemic demonstrated the value that trees, woodlands and open spaces have on our physical and mental health, the scheme will improve access to nature for the community by creating a 15km circular trail with benches and glades, connecting communities across the estate, and will host a new forest school
The scheme is designed as a 100-year project, leaving a lasting legacy for future generations.
Top tips
The Woodland Creation Planning Grant supports landowners in exploring the opportunities and constraints of a site. It helps facilitate a smooth transition of the final design to EWCO.
Planting a diverse mix of species is important for overall woodland resilience and protection against pests and diseases.
Active management, including ongoing deer and squirrel control, is vital to long-term success.
Public access is not just a ‘nice thing to do’, there are sound economic and business models behind it.
Trees and woodlands provide a profitable investment.
In Germany’s snap parliamentary elections, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) doubled its vote share to 21%, leaping from the fifth-largest party in Germany’s lower house to the second. In the UK, Reform UK is rising in the polls.
The populist radical right is on the rise across Europe, and mainstream parties are grappling with how to respond.
The German “firewall” approach involves treating them as a pariah. This means refusing to enter coalition with them, as well as excluding them from parliamentary posts and refusing to debate or engage with their parliamentary motions. After Germany’s election, the first-place party, the Christian democrats (CDU/CSU), has no majority and will need at least one coalition partner to form a government. But it will not ask the AfD – and nor will any other party due to the firewall.
There are clear threats to this approach. Often the appeal of the populist right is that they are plucky outsiders, challenging a self-interested political cartel that ignores the views of the people. What better way to prove this case than by ignoring the democratically elected populists too?
Furthermore, the firewall has clearly not worked in dampening support for the populists in Germany, as well as in France. This is especially the case when the populists have allies in the media, have privileges given them by the constitution or parliamentary rules (for example, membership on committees), or strong regional bases.
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Mainstream parties must also decide whether to maintain their own policy positions or ape those of the populist radical right, especially on key topics like immigration and welfare.
For social democratic centre-left parties, academic research is clear: do not move towards the populist radical right on policy.
Typically, the voter base of social democratic parties is made up of two coalitions: the educated, urban and liberal middle classes, and the old core of industrial workers who tend to hold more authoritarian attitudes. In attempting to win over voters lost to the populist right by copying their policies, these parties tend to lose more voters on their liberal-left wing than they win on their populist-right wing.
For the centre-right, the decision is harder. They face a similar challenge to the centre-left in that their support coalition is often made up of social authoritarians (who are more likely to be populist radical right-curious) and more centrist free-market liberals. Moving towards the populist right will alienate the latter camp, so it is not a silver bullet for bringing voters back into the fold.
By not talking about policy areas which are clearly salient to the public, centre-right parties risk seeming out of touch. In contrast, talking about these issues increases their salience and highlights their rivals’ positions – but the centre-right may not be rewarded for this if they are seen to have been forced into changing policy by the populist radical right.
Academics have explored this question in various ways. A 2021 study looked at voters’ ideological positions and subsequent propensity for voting for the centre-right or populist radical right. Another, published in 2022, examined changing party positions through manifestos and subsequent voter flows between the populist radical right and the centre-right across 13 western European countries. The evidence suggests that when parties adopt populist radical right positions, voters are more likely to defect to the radical right instead.
The final strategy is the complete opposite to the German firewall: bring the populist radical right into government. The Austrian case is instructive here. In 1999, the centre-right Austrian People’s Party (OVP) entered a coalition with the populist radical right Freedom Party (FPO), which lasted until 2005. The pressures of government resulted in the FPO imploding and losing roughly two-thirds of its seat share in the next general election.
But the FPO has increased its seat share in every subsequent election, reentering government in 2017 and emerging as the largest party in the 2024 general election. The centrist parties have now taken a firewall approach, forming a coalition without the FPO – and the FPO have soared in the polls. By bringing them into government in the first place, the OVP legitimised the FPO in the eyes of many voters.
What should mainstream parties do?
For the centre-left, the choice is obvious: resist the urge to ape the populist radical right and instead (following the lead of the Danish Social Democrats) adapt to a party system where the populist right cannot be gotten rid of, but is a problem to be managed.
Centre-left parties need a robust message on immigration but they should not forget economics. They should primarily focus on traditional concerns around social protection and defending workers against the effects of globalisation.
This has clear implications for the debate around Blue Labour ideology – that the Labour party should combine leftwing economics with more socially authoritarian stances on crime and immigration, plus a greater emphasis on community over the state and market – and how closely Keir Starmer should be paying attention to it.
For centre-right parties like the UK’s Conservatives, there are no easy options.
The UK does not have the historical baggage of Germany which sustains the firewall against the AfD. But Reform UK is also less extreme than its German counterparts, so its electoral ceiling is likely to be higher than the AfD’s. And the first-past-the-post system makes the consequences of a three-party system much harder to predict.
Reform – like Ukip in the early 2010s – cannot be treated as a pariah, especially since it already has parliamentary representation which will probably be extended to Holyrood and the Senedd. The party also has a largely friendly rightwing media landscape. And perhaps most importantly, the Conservative party is split about whether to do a deal with Reform – if, of course, it actually wants said deal.
Openly ignoring the issues Reform campaigns on will not work. Immigration is too much of a salient concern among voters (especially on the right) to ignore. While banging on about immigration will only add fuel to Reform’s fire, the Conservatives do need to say something – and that should start with “sorry for the last 14 years”.
The Tories cannot openly move to the right without losing some of their centre flank. Of the seats won in 2024, Reform came second in nine, while Labour and the Liberal Democrats came second in 87 and 20 respectively. In 2024, for every vote the Conservatives lost to Reform, they also lost a vote to the Liberal Democrats or Labour.
There is no “magic formula” for the centre-right to vanquish the populist radical right. Instead, they need to nail a tricky combination: a clear vision of what they believe, a consistent policy platform that flows from these beliefs, and a charismatic leader who can communicate this to the public.
David Jeffery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The complexities of history have always posed problems for commercial cinema. With rare exceptions, mainstream historical films tend to flatten the inconveniently irregular textures of individual biographies and their context into simpler templates of good and evil, valour and villainy.
This is abundantly true of dramatisations of German resistance in the Third Reich. Of course, there can be no overstating the enormity of Nazi crimes, the unquestionable courage of the regime’s all-too-few committed opponents – and the terrible price they almost all inevitably paid. So it’s perhaps understandable that people such as Claus von Stauffenberg (leader of the July 20 1944 attempt on Hitler’s life), or student dissident Sophie Scholl, have been portrayed in fairly one-dimensional ways.
Yet acts of extraordinary courage and integrity are thrown into even sharper relief when we appreciate the flaws as well as the nobility of the people who undertake them. Not to do so risks turning these heroic, yet all too human, people into plaster saints.
Sadly, director Todd Komarnicki’s earnest but painfully reductive new biopic of the Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-45) falls into all of these familiar traps.
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Executed in the final days of the second world war, Bonhoeffer’s heroism is beyond question. From the very start of Nazi rule, and fully aware of the likely consequences, he stood in uncompromising, public opposition. He saw Nazi tyranny, above all, as an assault on Christian values.
Bonhoeffer drove a campaign to repudiate the Nazi efforts to co-opt and “Aryanise” mainstream Protestantism. And he helped to establish the dissenting “confessing church”.
Eventually he became a peripheral part of the network seeking to assassinate Hitler, though he was not a prime mover. By the time of the failed July 1944 bomb plot (one of several botched assassination attempts), he was already imprisoned.
The film’s publicity, with its tagline “Pastor. Spy. Assassin” and ludicrous poster image of Bonhoeffer (Jonas Dassler) brandishing a pistol, erroneously implies otherwise.
The trailer for Bonhoeffer.
The real Bonhoeffer
Bonhoeffer’s opposition to Nazism was moral, spiritual and expressed principally in his work as a theologian and teacher.
His posthumously collected writings run to 17 volumes. Yet Bonhoeffer fluffs the essential task of making its hero’s religious faith dramatically compelling.
The film prefers to imagine him as a figure of conventional derring-do, conspiring in cafés, infiltrating Nazi intelligence and personally ferrying Jewish fugitives across the Swiss border.
All these scenes have some minor basis in Bonhoeffer’s biography. But cumulatively they misrepresent the essence of his anti-Nazi dissidence to the point of seriously distorting the historical record.
One glaring example is the film’s depiction of his response to the Holocaust. Bonhoeffer denounced Jewish persecution at Nazi hands earlier, more forcefully and more consistently than almost any of his colleagues. Yet his opposition remained limited and complexly bound up with his Christian convictions.
He was not, as the film suggests, a proto-Schindler rescuer; nor was he, or could he have been, impelled to action by viewing (non-existent) clandestine film of the death camps, as a very ahistorical scene implies.
Bohoeffer imposes a wholly anachronistic modern comprehension of the Holocaust as Nazism’s defining crime, as if this will make its protagonist’s actions more admirable. In doing so, it ends up muffling the more complex particularities of his courage.
Such inaccurate scenes abound. Bonhoeffer is mystifyingly slipshod on basic historical accuracy. Switching confusingly and with inadequate signposting between his final hours and his earlier life, the film includes such howlers as dissidents threatened with transfer to the “eastern front”, apparently in the mid-1930s.
There’s also a cartoonishly lurid depiction of the Nazis’ attempted “Aryanisation” of the church. Swastikas block stained-glass windows and Bibles are swapped for Mein Kampf in pulpits.
Melodrama over history
The film’s portrait of German society during the Third Reich is also grossly misleading. Cadre of uniformed Nazis aside, we encounter barely a single German citizen who supports the regime. Wider German society is represented by the congregation who enthusiastically applaud a (fictitious) anti-Nazi sermon while the SS stage a huffy but mysteriously peaceful walkout.
Again and again, Bonhoeffer substitutes difficult history for conventionalised melodrama. Shortly before his arrest in 1943 the 36-year-old Bonhoeffer became engaged to his former confirmation pupil, a girl of barely 18.
His filmic avatar, by contrast, seems to lack any personal life whatsoever. Beyond, that is, an admittedly endearing affinity for jazz acquired during his seminary studies in New York (though seeing Bonhoeffer replace a Black female pianist onstage at a Harlem club, to apparently universal enthusiasm, leaves a sour taste).
Even Bonhoeffer’s execution – which may have in reality been protracted and excruciating – is rendered as a bloodlessly ethereal affair. The moment is as sentimentally devotional as any studio-era Hollywood hagiography.
Bonhoeffer’s posthumous standing, like that of other German anti-Nazis, has grown immensely. Since 1998, his limestone effigy has stood above Westminster Abbey’s west door as one of ten “modern martyrs.” But Bonhoeffer misses the opportunity to breathe credible dramatic life into this sainted figure.
The Conversation approached the director and writer of Bonhoeffer, Todd Komarnicki, for comment.
He told us that his screenplay was informed by the biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer written in 1966 by Bonhoeffer’s best friend, Eberhard Bethge. As part of a lengthy response, Komarnicki also maintained that the film’s depiction of Bonhoeffer’s involvement in a plot to assassinate Hitler is accurate. He also argued that it was reasonable to speculate that Bonhoeffer could have seen the footage from the death camps. While he agreed that Dietrich did not literally take the Jewish prisoners into Switzerland as a proto-Schindler rescuer, he said: “I took the dramatic license in the film to illustrate the fact that his bravery did save actual Jewish lives.”
He continued “Bonhoeffer is not a documentary. I have written many true life movies, and the necessity to alter timelines and to choose metaphor over fact (only when the metaphor supports the fact) comes up now and again … It is the job of cinema to entertain and inspire, to instruct and imagine. That is what the art form requires if it hopes to be any good at all. Every frame of my film tried to honour the man at its centre. And to tell the truth.”
Barry Langford 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.
