Liberal Blogosphere

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:57:41 +0000

GMO pictures may reinforce existing views, deepening the divide

A new paper in JCOM shows that images of GMOs tend to reinforce pre-existing attitudes, amplifying polarization rather than changing minds

Sissa Medialab

image:

An example of "coactive" image used in the experiements

Credit: Bailey et al, JCOM, 2026

Images have long played a powerful role in shaping public perceptions of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), often reinforcing emotional reactions more than scientific understanding. A new experimental study published in the Journal of Science Communication (JCOM) explores how different types of images can influence people’s attitudes toward GMOs — and suggests that pictures may reinforce existing views, further polarizing them.

Powerful tools

Images are powerful tools, especially when it comes to food: they can push consumers toward one choice and steer them away from another.
Already at the beginning of this millennium, the “war” against GMOs relied heavily on images to convey negative messages — and scientifically misleading information, if not outright falsehoods — about foods produced using this technology. You may be familiar with the term “frankenfood”, popularised in a number of communication campaigns that paired images of food with those of the famous “creature” invented by Mary Shelley. Greenpeace’s campaigns are among the most famous examples, but they are far from unique: many other actors have used — and continue to use — this type of communication strategy.

Rachel Bailey is a researcher at the School of Communication at Florida State University who studies how images in the media can automatically influence people’s choices and opinions, drawing on approaches from evolutionary psychology. “I study how the media can naturally encourage people to do different sorts of things in automatic ways based on our own biological imperatives. And images tend to be quite helpful in that,” Bailey explains.

Bailey and colleagues (Jay Hmielowski, Myiah Hutchens, Pooja Ichplani, Jessica Sparks and Sun Young Park) have just published an experimental study in JCOM investigating how images may influence public attitudes toward GMOs.

Through the platform YouGov, the team recruited nearly a thousand participants, forming a sample representative of the U.S. population. Participants in the experiment read a short neutral description of GMOs accompanied by one of three possible conditions: no image, an image of an apple, or an image of an apple being injected with a substance using a syringe — intended to evoke the idea of “unnaturalness”.

Before the experiment, participants were classified according to their initial attitude toward GMOs (positive, negative, or uncertain). After viewing the text and images, they were asked to answer a series of questions measuring their attitudes toward GMOs, their willingness to try them, and the positive and negative components of their evaluation — from which the researchers calculated their level of “ambivalence” toward GMOs.

Deepening the divide
Contrary to what one might expect, in Bailey’s experiment the “positive” image — the apple alone — had a small effect on avoidance intentions among those who already supported GMOs.

The stimuli defined by the researchers as coactive (the apple with the hypodermic syringe, combining both a positive element — the apple — and a negative one — the syringe suggesting artificiality) produced an interesting result: “Compared to the no-image condition, the coactive image made people who were already supportive toward GMOs even less negative,” Bailey explains.

What emerges is a kind of opinion-extremizing effect: the images tended to reinforce attitudes that were already present. “The positive cue can make positive people more positive, but in exploratory analyses, the coactive cue did make the skeptics and the uncertain folks even less positive towards GMOs,” Bailey comments.

Bailey’s study confirms that images can have important effects on people’s opinions — particularly when food is involved — but in ways that are not always easy to predict, highlighting the importance of careful research. “I think images are still one of the best ways that we can change people’s opinions or at least lead them to be more open to a change of opinion in a persuasive context,” she says. “In this case, people have very strong attitudes. Those who had really strong attitudes towards GMOs were pretty stuck in those ideas. And that makes sense. So just an image, one cue over a very short period of time, didn’t change much for them.”

Journal

Journal of Science Communication

DOI

10.22323/156920260107081156

Article Title

You’re the apple of my ambivalence: Can the primary motivational aspects of GMO foods lessen GMO avoidance?

Article Publication Date

7-Apr-2026

What guides moral decision-making: rules, the greater good, or fairness?

PNAS Nexus

image:

Conceptual illustration of the ethical dilemma in the experiement.

Credit: Zoh et al.

When making ethical decisions, university students appear to prioritize fairness and the fate of the worst-off over either reducing total harm or obeying unconditional moral precepts, according to a study. Woo-Young Ahn and colleagues designed an experimental dilemma that pits a utilitarian approach—which seeks to minimize total harm—against an approach promoted by philosopher John Rawls, which emphasizes improving the situation of the worst-off person. Fifty-two paid volunteers from a university in South Korea were asked to allocate harm—here, the discomfort of plunging a hand into ice water—while inside fMRI scanners. In each trial, participants pressed buttons to choose between a single person experiencing a hand in ice water or a group of 3 or 4 people each experiencing the same harm for shorter times. Crucially, however, the summed time of the group was larger than the total time for the single person, representing more harm overall. In some trials, the screen shown to participants included a default option already selected. In these cases, participants could not press any buttons at all, avoiding personally causing harm. The authors expected this to be a popular approach for those who wanted to avoid causing harm directly. Most people chose to allocate the harm to the group, causing more harm overall but less unfairness. Participants chose to give 68 seconds of additional icy-cold discomfort to the group, on average, to save the lone individual from being disproportionately targeted. There was little evidence of a bias toward the default option, suggesting that participants did not feel that personally causing harm was prohibited. According to the authors, brain imaging suggests that mentalizing—modeling the mental experiences of others—is involved in this moral decision-making, along with valuation networks.

Journal

PNAS Nexus

Article Title

Decomposing the neurocomputational mechanisms of deontological moral preferences

Article Publication Date

7-Apr-2026

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 23:15:29 +0000

LA Teachers Strike: 68,000 Education Workers in 3 Unions Set to Walk

Glenn Sacks

April 8, 2026

Image by LaTerrian McIntosh.

Three unions representing 68,000 education workers are set to strike against the Los Angeles Unified School District beginning Tuesday, April 14.

Carney attracts a 5th Conservative lawmaker to Canada's Liberal Party

The Liberals now have 171 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons. They need 172 to secure a majority government, which would allow them to unilaterally pass any bill.

ROB GILLIES
Wed, April 8, 2026

The Canadian Press / AP

Prime Minister Mark Carney delivers some remarks as MP for Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong Marilyn Gladu looks on during an event in his office in Ottawa, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (Adrian Wyld /The Canadian Press via AP)

Prime Minister Mark Carney shakes hands with MP for Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong Marilyn Gladu in Ottawa, Wednesday, April 8, 2026.

(Adrian Wyld /The Canadian Press via AP)

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has attracted another opposition Conservative lawmaker to the Liberal Party, further assuring that he will soon have a majority government.

Ontario Member of Parliament Marilyn Gladu alluded to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to Canada’s sovereignty and economy for her decision to defect to the governing Liberals. Trump has talked about making Canada the 51st U.S. state and has applied punishing tariffs on certain key sectors.

“We need a serious leader who can address the uncertainty that has arrived due to the unjustified American tariffs,” Gladu said Wednesday, alongside Carney in his office.

“We need a global leader with a plan to make a more resilient Canada, a stronger Canada, a more self-reliant Canada, for this critical moment and that man is our prime minister Mark Carney.”

Gladu is the fifth Canadian lawmaker to defect to Carney and the fourth Conservative. She called it a “large Liberal tent” and said that she'd rather be inside it than outside.

“She is going to be a great member of our team,” Carney said. “This all comes at a time when the country as a whole is uniting.”

Her defection puts the Liberals on the verge of having a majority government and being able to pass any bill without opposition party support.

The Liberals now have 171 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons. They need 172 to secure a majority government, which would allow them to unilaterally pass any bill.

Carney has called special elections for three districts for Monday that would give the Liberals a majority government if his party wins one of them.

The prime minister announced on March 8 that votes will be cast April 13 in the Toronto-area districts of Scarborough Southwest and University-Rosedale, which are considered safe seats for the Liberals, and in the Montreal-area riding of Terrebonne, which is considered a toss-up.

The three other Conservative legislators who defected from their party to join the Liberals in recent months were Chris d’Entremont, Michael Ma and Matt Jeneroux. One member of the leftist New Democrats party, Lori Idlout, also defected to the Liberals.

Jeneroux referenced Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as helping his decision. In the speech, Carney condemned economic coercion by great powers against smaller countries and received widespread praise and attention for his remarks.

Carney, the former head of the Bank of England as well as Canada's central bank, has moved the Liberals to the center-right since replacing Justin Trudeau as prime minister in 2025 and winning a national election.

Gladu's defection is another blow to Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who lost the previous national election last year and even his own seat in Parliament. He has since rejoined the House of Commons.

Poilievre won a party leadership review earlier this year, but continues to have problems controlling his lawmakers.

“Mark Carney is seizing a costly Liberal majority that voters denied him, and doing so through backroom deals,” Poilievre said in a post on social media.

Poilievre said that in January, Gladu said that floor crossers should face voters in a special election to give voters the final say.

“She should honor her word and let voters decide,” he posted.

Gladu, the member of Parliament for Sarnia-Lambton near the U.S. border, served as the Ontario co-chair for Poilievre’s 2022 leadership campaign.

“This is stunning, not only because Gladu is the fourth Conversative member of Parliament to cross the floor to join the Carney Liberal caucus since the fall, but also because she had been a Conservative member of Parliament since 2015 and that she had strongly criticized the Liberals in the past,” said Daniel Béland, a political-science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

“Gladu was not typically seen as one of the most likely Conservative MPs to jump ship at this time so it must be quite shocking for many Conservatives," Béland said.

Canada's Carney on verge of majority government after another opposition member joins ruling Liberals

By David Ljunggren and Maria Cheng
Wed, April 8, 2026
REUTERS

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney looks on before making an announcement at the new and currently under construction Embleton Community Centre and Park, in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, April 7, 2026. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio

FILE PHOTO: Marilyn Gladu, a Conservative member of parliament at the time, holds a Tim Hortons cup as she arrives at a national caucus meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada January 24, 2020. REUTERS/Blair Gable/File Photo

OTTAWA, April 8 (Reuters) - A Canadian opposition legislator defected to the ruling Liberal Party on Wednesday, leaving Prime Minister Mark Carney on the verge of a parliamentary ‌majority that would make it easier to push through his agenda.

The centrist Liberals, governing with a minority ‌after the April 2025 election, need opposition support to pass key legislation. Carney says he needs a majority to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump's trade measures.

The prime minister welcomed the defection by Marilyn Gladu - a longstanding member of the right-leaning Conservatives - saying it would help the government at a time of global uncertainty.

Gladu is the fourth Conservative legislator to defect to the Liberals since November. A member of the small left-leaning New Democratic Party joined the Liberals last month.

"We need ‌a global leader with a plan ⁠to make a more resilient Canada, a stronger Canada, a more self-reliant Canada for this critical moment and that man is our Prime Minister Mark Carney," Gladu said during a ⁠meeting with Carney.

The Liberals now have 171 seats in the 343-seat House of Commons, one short of a majority, and look set to gain at least two more in special elections due to be held on Monday to fill vacant seats.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre accused Carney of "seizing a costly Liberal majority that voters denied him, and doing so through backroom deals." ‌He said in a statement that Gladu should step down and face voters in a special election.

Only the governments led by John A. Macdonald and Jean Chretien have seen more politicians defect to the ruling party, including five legislators who joined Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister, in a single day in 1869.

Semra Sevi, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Toronto, said the number of defections to Carney's government was "extraordinary by any historical ‌measure."

"Switching in the 19th century occurred in a system where party labels barely registered with voters," Sevi said in an email. In the modern era, she said the number of politicians from opposition parties who have now jumped to Carney's government "is without precedent at this ‌rate and in this compressed a timeframe."

A majority would open the way to Carney serving until October 2029.

According to Nanos polling from late last month, Carney was the preferred prime minister of 54.5% of Canadians, with Poilievre scoring 22.9%. Carney has said he has no plans to call an early election.

The latest defection will ‌put more pressure on Poilievre, who survived a leadership review in January after he blew a large lead and lost the 2025 election. The party was not immediately available for comment.

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:51:29 +0000

Who should pay for older adults' care? Caregivers answer differently

Levels of concern about costs of long term care, and access to it, are higher among those who are unpaid caregivers to people over 65, compared with those who aren’t

Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan

video:

Sarah Patterson, Ph.D., discusses findings from a national survey of people over 50, which finds differences between those who act as unpaid caregivers to older adults, and those who do not, in views about payment, costs and access related to long-term care including nursing homes, home care and assisted living.

Credit: University of Michigan

When it comes to opinions about paying for, and getting access to, care for older adults, direct experience appears to matter a lot, a new University of Michigan study finds.

People aged 50 and over who serve as unpaid family caregivers for adults over 65 are more likely than non-caregivers to say that the government should have primary responsibility for paying for the care of older Americans, at 51% vs. 43%.

Non-caregivers were more likely to say that families, or older adults themselves, should have primary responsibility for costs.

More than half of all people aged 50 and over say they are very concerned about the cost of long term care for older adults, including home care, assisted living and nursing home care.

But there were differences by caregiver status here, too.

Nearly two-thirds (64%) of caregivers said they are very concerned about long term care costs, compared with 54% of non-caregivers.

And when it came to access to quality long term care, 50% of caregivers said they’re very concerned, compared with 36% of non-caregivers.

The new paper, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society by a team from the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, is based on data from the National Poll on Healthy Aging.

The poll of people aged 50 and over, taken in 2024, showed that just under 18% were providing care to a person over 65.

Sarah Patterson, Ph.D., a U-M demographer and sociologist, worked with the poll team on the detailed analyses contained in the new paper. She is a research assistant professor at the U-M Institute for Social Research, in the Survey Research Center.

Even after accounting for demographic differences between caregivers and non-caregivers, the gap in attitudes about payment, and concerns about cost and access persisted.

“While the full sample of adults over 50 appeared to be evenly split between seeing government and families as primary payors, when we took caregiver status into account a clear divide emerged,” said Patterson.

“Previous studies have shown lower rates of support for government-first payment among adults age 65 and older, but we find that including adults ages 50 and older increases support.”

“Because caregivers are more likely to be in their 50s and early 60s, this may be both a generational and an experience-based difference in views,” said John Biziorek, a U-M Medical School student who worked on the study during a summer research experience in Patterson’s laboratory group, supported by IHPI.

While the poll did not ask about direct government payments to caregivers, which have been proposed or enacted in some states and are being discussed at the state and national levels, another recent NPHA poll found that direct payments were a top preference among family caregivers who do not feel they have enough support in their caregiving duties.

That poll, and other past work, have found that caregivers often face high personal financial impacts from their caregiving duties, including lost wages and costs for items and services for the person they care for.

Medicare generally doesn’t cover long term stays in nursing homes, nor any time in assisted living centers. It also doesn’t generally pay family caregivers to take care of someone at home, and paid home health care is covered only under specific circumstances.

Medicaid pays for nearly two-thirds of all long term nursing home care in the United States but is only open to adults with low incomes and limited assets; limits vary by state.

National statistics show that 70% of people who survive to the age of 65 will need long term care services in the future, including nursing home or at-home care, or help with medical care and daily tasks such as making and eating meals, dressing and caring for personal hygiene.

Long-term Care Costs for Older Adults: Poll explores views of people over 50

The new paper is based on data from a poll of 3,216 adults age 50 and over who were surveyed online and via phone in February and March 2024 through the NORC AmeriSpeak panel. More information about the poll methodology is available on the poll site.

Additional data from the poll, including specifics about caregiving for i

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:51:06 +0000

Depression can reduce income for years

Depression can have long-term financial consequences. A new study from the University of Southern Denmark shows that income remains lower for up to 10 years after diagnosis.

University of Southern Denmark Faculty of Health Sciences

A diagnosis of depression in connection with hospital treatment can have long-term consequences for personal finances. This is shown in a new registry-based study from the Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, which follows nearly five million people in Denmark over time. The study includes only people who had contact with a hospital and therefore does not cover those treated solely by a general practitioner or private practitioners.

Income is around 10 per cent lower 10 years after diagnosis compared with people without depression, and the gap does not disappear. At the same time, the income loss for depression is greater than for several physical illnesses such as stroke and breast cancer.

Mental illness has the greatest financial impact

The study compares depression, alcohol use disorder, stroke and breast cancer. Income falls after illness in all four groups, but the decline is greatest for mental disorders.

- We see that mental disorders affect not only health, but also people’s economic life course to a considerable extent, says Emily K. Johnson, Ph.D. Student at the Danish Centre for Health Economics, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark.

She is first author of the study, which has been published in JAMA Health Forum.

- The income loss grows over time and can still be measured 10 years later. Even though mental disorders are more common in women, losses are generally greater for men, Emily K. Johnson explains.

Not just a temporary loss

While earlier studies have often focused on short-term sick leave, the new study shows that income loss persists and in many cases grows over time.

- It is not only about being away from work for a period. We see changes in the entire income trajectory, says Emily K. Johnson.

This may, among other things, reflect reduced ability to keep a job, change jobs or progress in a career.

May reinforce social inequality

Income loss is greatest among people in the middle of working life, when earnings would normally be increasing. At the same time, the loss grows over time for younger people.

- If you are affected early in your career, you may lose your footing in the labour market. That can be difficult to recover later, says Emily K. Johnson.

People outside the labour market are also hit particularly hard. For them, illness may make it even harder to enter employment.

The findings therefore suggest that illness can reinforce existing social inequality.

Income falls before the illness is registered

Income already begins to decline in the years before people receive a diagnosis of depression in hospital care. This suggests that the consequences begin before the illness is formally registered and treated.

The study includes people who had contact with a hospital, either as inpatients or outpatients, including psychiatric hospital care. People treated only by their general practitioner or by private psychologists or psychiatrists are not included.

- This suggests that the course of illness starts earlier and that the consequences for working life emerge gradually, Emily K. Johnson explains. Job loss, income loss and poor mental health can reinforce one another over time,

Registry study covering the adult population

The study is based on Danish registry data and includes all non-retired residents aged 18 to 65 between 2000 and 2018. People with illness were compared with similar people without a diagnosis, matched on factors including age, sex, education and income, and baseline health.

Income was measured as disposable income, meaning post-tax income including wages, transfers and capital income.

Can inform health policy priorities

According to the researchers, the findings can help improve decision-making in health and social policy.

- Priority setting should not be based only on how many people become ill, but also on how illness affects people’s working lives and finances, especially for those early in their careers, says Emily K. Johnson.

The study adds new knowledge by comparing mental and physical illnesses using the same method, making it possible to assess their relative consequences.

The results should be interpreted with caution

The study includes only people who had contact with a hospital and therefore does not cover everyone with depression. At the same time, it cannot establish cause and effect with certainty, especially in the case of mental disorders which are difficult to measure.

In addition, only people who survive the course of illness are included in the analyses of income over time.

Three questions for the researcher about the study:

What does the study investigate?

This study measures the income trajectories of people in Denmark with different mental and physical health hospital diagnoses, compared to the trajectories of peers without a diagnosis.

What is the most important finding?

All four diseases we studied saw income losses up to 10 years after diagnosis, but people with mental disorders were particularly affected, with income on average up to 17 per cent lower than in the control population.

How can the results be used?

The results can be used to better inform health policy priorities by taking into account not only rates of illness, but also how diseases affect people’s working lives and livelihoods.

Facts:

Income after depression and other illnesses

Depression:

After 3 years:

Men: about 12% lower income
Women: about 7% lower income

After 10 years:

Men: about 14% lower income
Women: about 10% lower income

Other illnesses, 10 years after diagnosis:

Alcohol use disorder:

Men: about 10% lower
Women: about 7% lower

Stroke:

Men: about 4% lower
Women: about 2% lower

Breast cancer:

Women: less than 1% lower

Key points:

Income loss lasts for at least 10 years
Income begins to decline before the diagnosis is made
Losses are generally greater for men than for women
Mental disorders have greater economic consequences than the physical illnesses included in the study

About the study

Method

Registry-based observational study of 4.9 million people in Denmark aged 18 to 65. People diagnosed in connection with hospital contact were matched with similar people without a diagnosis and followed for up to 10 years.

Funding

Independent Research Fund Denmark, the EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, and Helsefonden.

Read the study

Lasting Income Costs of Mental and Physical Illness, JAMA Health Forum, published 27 March 2026. Read the study:

Rivaling Atlas: Unpaid work burdens, nonrestorative sleep, and mental health

Assessing the toll of elongated working hours in community-dwelling, middle-aged adults

Osaka Metropolitan University

image:

Long working hours affected sleep quality in both men and women and also correlated with poor mental health in women.

Credit: Osaka Metropolitan University

Mental load, invisible work, “the extra shift”; no matter the newly coined term, unpaid work in the domestic sphere, predominantly done by women, is a hidden burden eating away at the sleep and mental health of those tasked with it. This work is essential to keep everyone’s daily lives on track, from meal prep and clean clothes to school drop-offs and doctor's appointments, yet its importance is often ignored, undermined, and even belittled by the very society dependent on it.

Add paid employment, and the recipe for disaster is complete, leaving those juggling both to drown in silent exhaustion and mental distress. This occurrence is often described as time poverty, a state in which they are overwhelmed by paid and unpaid work and unable to secure sufficient time for daily living. However, much of the research on this topic has solely focused on paid working hours, thus the impact of total working hours, paid working hours + unpaid working hours, has not been sufficiently examined.

For this reason, a research group led by Professor Akiko Morimoto from the Graduate School of Nursing and Professor Naho Sugita from the Graduate School of Economics at Osaka Metropolitan University comprehensively examined the relationship between total daily working hours, nonrestorative sleep, and mental health. A self-administered postal questionnaire with questions focused on demographic variables, total amount paid and unpaid working hours, sleep quality, and mental health was distributed across five cities in Osaka Prefecture. Out of 12,446 participants, answers from 3,959 healthy Japanese workers, 1,900 men and 2,059 women, aged 40 to 64, were analyzed.

The results revealed that, although women work fewer paid hours than men, they spend more time on unpaid work, resulting in longer working hours. A significant disparity was particularly observed in the rate of participation in household chores, with approximately 90% of women and approximately 40% of men engaging in such activities.

Furthermore, it was confirmed that longer working hours were associated with a higher risk of nonrestorative sleep for both men and women. They also correlated with a higher risk of poor mental health in women.

“For women, total daily working hours are a more important predictor of nonrestorative sleep and poor mental health than paid working hours alone,” stated Professor Morimoto. Professor Sugita concluded, “Going forward, we expect that quantifying total daily working hours and incorporating this data into policy-making and institutional design will help reduce health disparities and achieve gender equality.”

The study was published in Social Science & Medicine.

###

About OMU

Established in Osaka as one of the largest public universities in Japan, Osaka Metropolitan University is committed to shaping the future of society through the “Convergence of Knowledge” and the promotion of world-class research. For more research news, visit https://www.omu.ac.jp/en/ and follow us on social media: X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn.

Journal

Social Science & Medicine

DOI

10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.118965

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Associations of total daily working hours encompassing unpaid care and domestic work with nonrestorative sleep and mental health in middle-aged Japanese men and women: a cross-sectional study

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:59:11 +0000

Serbia Poised To Produce Drones With Israeli Arms Giant Involved In Gaza – Analysis

Hermes 900, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed for tactical missions that Elbit sold to Serbia, displayed at a military parade in Belgrade on October 20, 2025.

Photo: BIRN/Sasa Dragojlo

April 8, 2026
Balkan Insight
By Sasa Dragojlo and Avi Scharf

In early March, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced the imminent opening of a drone factory. “For serious drones,” he said. “The most serious in the world.”

Vucic said the factory would be a joint venture between two partners and might be ready in April, but he didn’t specify with whom Serbia was partnering. The answer might prove unsavoury for some.

BIRN and Haaretz can reveal that the factory will be co-owned by top Israeli Elbit Systems and Serbia’s main state-owned import-export company, SDPR – with the Israeli partner having a majority state of 51 per cent.

In a June 2025 report, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese named Elbit Systems among a number of companies profiting from “the ongoing genocide” in Gaza, where more than 70,000 Palestinians have died in Israeli military operations since the October 2023 attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas.

According to official documents obtained by BIRN/Haaretz and two independent sources, Elbit and SDPR plan to produce two types of drones for short- and long-range missions.

The partnership arguably takes defence ties between the two countries to a new level; the value of Serbian arms exports to Israel has already skyrocketed 42-fold since 2023, reaching 114 million euros last year. Most of those exports were carried out by SDPR.

Serbia stands to benefit financially from the drone joint venture and from the transfer of technology and knowledge from one of the most advanced arms companies in the world, said Vuk Vuksanovic, foreign policy lecturer in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. Israel, on the other hand, is keen to secure a military supply chain outside its immediate region, “which is constantly in a conflict zone”, he told BIRN.

On a geopolitical level, Vuksanovic said Serbia’s ruling elite has come to see Israel as a “shortcut to the White House”, at a time of growing popular dissatisfaction with Vucic and the ruling Progressive Party after 14 years in power.

“The Serbian ruling party’s main priority now is staying in power and in order to achieve that it is best not to anger the Americans, especially in the context of recent Trump moves in the global arena,” he said.

SDPR did not respond to questions from BIRN, while Elbit Systems only replied: “No comment.”

‘Omnipresent killing machines’

The plan for the project, according to documents reviewed by BIRN and corroborated by two independent sources close to the Serbian arms industry, is to produce two types of drones – a rotary-wing model capable of carrying heavy payloads of ammunition on short-range missions and a more sophisticated, long-range drone capable of flying at altitudes of up to 6,000 metres.

One source said the long-range drone is “more advanced” than the Serbian-produced Pegasus. “It has a higher flight altitude and greater operational autonomy,” the source told BIRN on condition of anonymity. “That’s the essence, because we can’t achieve that ourselves.”

“The general idea is the transfer of technology, because Serbian engineers will be working on it as well, and that drone is the crown of the whole story.”

According to one source, engineers from the Serbian aircraft company UTVA, owned by SDPR, will be also involved in the project.

Albanese’s report, From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide, mentions drones developed and supplied by Elbit Systems and another Israeli company as flying alongside the Israeli fighter jets that have been bombing Gaza. The drones, she wrote, provide surveillance of Palestinians and intelligence on targets.

With the support of these companies and collaboration with institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, wrote Albanese, “drones used by Israel acquired automated weapons systems and the ability to fly in swarm formation”.

“Drones, hexacopters and quadcopters have also been omnipresent killing machines in the skies of Gaza,” she declared.

Albanese identified Elbit System as among those companies that “contribute to producing the tools for surveillance, crowd control, urban warfare, facial recognition and targeted killing, tools that are effectively tested on Palestinians”.

Israel has dismissed allegations of genocide.

The documents obtained by BIRN reveal it was initially planned for the drone factory to be potentially located in the industrial zone of Simanovci, about 30 kilometres west of the capital, Belgrade, in a facility owned by the Pink Media group, the company of pro-government Serbian media tycoon Zeljko Mitrovic.

However, following publication of the article, Pink Media Group denied that the factory will be located there. “This information is completely false. Neither Zeljko Mitrovic nor Pink Media Group have anything to do with this project. He hasn’t participated, nor is he participating in any talks, negotiations, deals or arrangements related to this drone factory,” the company stated, adding that no company linked to Mitrovic also had any role in the project.

Reputational risk

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI, which tracks the global trade in arms, Elbit Systems is Israel’s No. 1 defence contractor, operating in fields including aerospace, land and naval command and control, communications, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems.

In March, The Jerusalem Post reported that Elbit Systems is now the biggest Israeli firm by market value listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. It has a string of major contracts with the Israeli state and has already done business with Serbia.

Early last year, Elbit Systems sold Serbia advanced artillery systems and drones worth $335 million. In August, another deal valued at $1.6 billion was signed for the delivery of drones, long-range missiles, electronic warfare systems, and other military equipment to Belgrade. The same month, BIRN reported that the Belgrade-based company Edepro – which describes itself as a “regional leader in propulsion system solutions” for rockets, drones, and missiles – had exported goods to IMI Systems, which is owned by Elbit Systems since 2018.

Its role in Gaza has given other state pause. Citing an official document, Agence France-Presse, AFP, reported in September last year that Spain had cancelled a contract worth some 700 million euros for the purchase of Elbit’s multiple rocket launcher system after the government announced a ban on military equipment sales or purchases with Israel over its Gaza offensive.

Last month, a group calling itself The Earthquake Faction claimed responsibility for a fire at a factory belonging to Czech LPP Holding, which has announced in 2023 that it would partner with Elbit in developing drones. The group said its aim was to disrupt Israeli operations in Gaza.

Such setbacks have not stopped Elbit Systems from posting revenues last year of $7.9 billion, 16.3 per cent up on 2024, boosted further by the US-Israeli attack on Iran.

Visiting in Serbia in March, Albanese described the Balkan country as “one of Israel’s strongest and most determined allies, without any shame”. In response, Serbia’s foreign ministry called her remarks “inappropriate”.
Issues even before Gaza war

In 2009, Norway’s government announced it had excluded Elbit Systems from investment by Government Pension Fund based on a recommendation by the Fund’s Council on Ethics over Elbit’s supplying of surveillance systems for a separation barrier in the West Bank. “We do not wish to fund companies that so directly contribute to violations of international humanitarian law,” said Kristin Halvorsen, Norway’s then finance minister.

In January 2010, Danske Bank added Elbit to a list of companies that it said failed its Socially Responsible Investment policy; two months later, a Swedish pension fund also boycotted the firm for its involvement in the construction of the West Bank barrier, which a 2004 advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice said contravened international law.

In 2014, one of Denmark’s largest pension fund administrators, PKA Ltd, announced it would no longer consider investing in Elbit, citing the same reasons.

And in 2018, British bank HSBC divested from Elbit following the Israeli firm’s acquisition of IMI Systems. HSBC cited IMI’s production of cluster bombs.

Balkan Insight

The Balkan Insight (formerly the Balkin Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN) is a close group of editors and trainers that enables journalists in the region to produce in-depth analytical and investigative journalism on complex political, economic and social themes. BIRN emerged from the Balkan programme of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, IWPR, in 2005. The original IWPR Balkans team was mandated to localise that programme and make it sustainable, in light of changing realities in the region and the maturity of the IWPR intervention. Since then, its work in publishing, media training and public debate activities has become synonymous with quality, reliability and impartiality. A fully-independent and local network, it is now developing as an efficient and self-sustainable regional institution to enhance the capacity for journalism that pushes for public debate on European-oriented political and economic reform.

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 12:27:27 +0000

The backlash against the backlash: Socialist feminism & left politics in a time of reaction

By Diana O’Dwyer

Published 8 April, 2026

First published at Rupture.

After every crisis of capitalism comes protest and social upheaval — of a progressive or reactionary character. The 2008 crash was followed by a decade of progressive mass movements: Occupy, Black Lives Matter, feminist movements for abortion rights and against gender-based violence, and revolutions and near-revolutions like the Arab Spring. In Ireland, we saw mass movements against water charges, for marriage equality and abortion rights and progressive legislation on gender recognition. Just like in the ‘60s and early ‘70s, when the civil rights movement was followed by second-wave feminism, the gay rights movement, the movement against the Vietnam War and May ‘68, the mass movements of the 2010s sparked other mass movements.

Unfortunately, both waves of progressive mass protest were also followed by, first, a global economic crisis and then a conservative backlash. In the 1970s and ‘80s, this meant the oil crisis, Reagan, Thatcher and neoliberalism. In the 2020s, the Covid crisis accelerated a growing far-right backlash and ushered in a new phase of reaction across the world. If you were looking to pinpoint a date when the anti-feminist backlash took off, it would probably be Trump’s first election as US President in November 2016. A rapist running on an anti-choice platform, Trump promised to overturn Roe v. Wade. This ultimately happened in June 2022, shortly after the Depp vs. Heard trial sounded the death knell for #MeToo. Trump’s second Presidency has put the backlash into turbo drive. The most powerful man on earth is again a known rapist. DEI programmes have been decimated, reproductive rights are under attack and traditional gender roles are being forcibly reaffirmed.

The seeds of the backlash were already there pre-Covid, but lockdown isolated people from real life, and the algorithm enticed them into noxious online echo chambers. This created the perfect environment for a paranoid conspiracy theory pipeline, leading from Covid denialism and anti-vax propaganda to racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia. We all have friends, family members or co-workers who have lost their minds since Covid - their brains swamped by a never-ending flood of shit.

To paraphrase Marx and Engels, no matter how much progress we make under capitalism, short of a revolution, we cannot finally rid ourselves of the “muck of ages” — it will re-emerge in various forms until the whole rotten system is overthrown. This is painfully apparent in two of the main fronts in the current anti-feminist backlash — reproductive rights and the family — and gender-based violence.

Reproductive rights & the family

Historically, fascists were notorious for burning books. Now they want to burn contraceptives as well. It was reported in July1 that the Trump administration had decided to incinerate nearly $10 million worth of contraceptives earmarked for USAID programmes in Africa. A State Department official referred to them as “certain abortifacient birth control commodities from terminated Biden-era USAID contracts” because the stocks included IUDs and emergency contraceptives.2 This is connected to the dismantling of USAID — but the reason the Trump administration wanted to burn the contraceptives rather than sell them or give them away is clearly ideological. Blocked by laws in Belgium (where the contraceptives are stored) that prohibit incinerating reusable medical devices, the plan now seems to be to allow them to expire. Planned Parenthood estimates this will lead to 174,000 unintended pregnancies and 56,000 unsafe abortions.

This literal destruction of reproductive rights is going hand in hand with the rise of a reactionary pro-natalism — championed most notoriously by Elon Musk, the slayer of USAID, who has fathered fourteen children with at least four different women. Outside of Musk’s tech bro weirdness, pro-natalism is more usually associated with the valorisation of marriage, the traditional nuclear family and rigid gender roles. It is intrinsically bound up with racism; its raison d’etre is to avoid immigration - the only other way to grow the labour supply.

The “tradwife” phenomenon is part of this. Sophie Lewis3 analyses it as an attempt to escape the “double shift” of paid and unpaid work. Women’s participation in the workforce has meant they end up doing two jobs instead of one, while their wages are swallowed up by housing and childcare costs. People cannot afford to have children until their 30s or 40s and so end up having fewer children or none at all. Parents, especially women, are exhausted by this double shift.

The far right’s response to this crisis of biological and social reproduction under capitalism is to blame it on feminism — just like they blame the housing and cost of living crisis on migrants. They say that a man’s wage used to be able to support the whole family. But now, because of feminism, everyone has to work. So it’s feminism that is destroying families, driving down birth rates and driving up the cost of housing because mortgages are now based on two incomes rather than one.

This narrative exploits a sense among some men that they are being brought down to the level of women or even below — for instance, through the decline of male manual labour and feminisation of professional jobs. Of course, this ignores the fact that women are still significantly poorer than men. The hourly gender pay gap is around ten per cent but the lifetime earnings gap is much wider; women take more time out of the workforce for childcare and are more likely to work part-time. Women also do twice as much housework as men, even when both are working full-time.

Men’s loss of privilege is in no way absolute; it’s just less than it used to be. This sense by men of a loss of privilege relative to women and a desire to reassert that privilege is fuelling the rise of the far right — just like a loss, or perceived loss, of relative superiority among white people is fuelling racism. Right-wing demagogues fan the flames of this fratricidal resentment, identifying it as the perfect way to prevent working class solidarity against the billionaires they represent.

Richard Seymour writes that the “loss of distinction” is experienced by the supporters of the far right as a massive impoverishment, “tantamount to the downfall of civilization”.4 Women or black and brown people doing less badly than white men than they used to might not sound like a good enough reason to burn things down. So conspiracy theories like the “Great Replacement” are required to link it all into one great big imaginary disaster. That’s why the language of the far right is so ludicrously apocalyptic.

The politics of gender-based violence

Lurking barely below the surface of the backlash is the threat of violence. The far right cynically exploits increased concern about gender-based violence to justify pogroms against “military-aged” foreign men. Yet those involved are often perpetrators of violence against women themselves. Half of those arrested recently for racist rioting in the North of Ireland had previously been reported to the police for gender-based violence.5

Reported rates of gender-based violence are on the rise, too. This is partly due to greater awareness post-#MeToo, but the apparent proliferation of sexist attitudes since the 2010s suggests it’s also a real increase. Some studies have found worsening sexist attitudes among young men. For others, it's not so much that young men have become more sexist but that young women have become more progressive.

Research by Women’s Aid has found that 67% of young men hold, or don’t disagree with, traditionalist sexist attitudes about masculinity, compared to 40% of men overall.6 This includes beliefs like: “men who don’t dominate in relationships aren’t real men”; “Men should use violence to get respect if necessary”; “A man’s worth is measured by power and control over others” and “Real men shouldn’t have to care about women’s opinions or feelings”. Feminists often point to the growth of the manosphere as increasing sexist attitudes among young men. A study by Dublin City University7 found that within hours of setting up a social media account more than three-quarters of content recommended to 16-18 year old males on TikTok and YouTube was masculinist, anti-feminist or otherwise extremist. Big tech companies know that people watch extreme content for longer, which means they see more ads and buy more stuff. So the proliferation of the manosphere is directly driven by the attention economy big tech profits from.

Beyond the instinct to rubberneck, something else in the manosphere is appealing to young men. Women’s Aid describes influencers like Andrew Tate as “discuss[ing] themes around traditional masculinity, independence, and resilience”. Part of the reason this resonates is that the economics of late capitalism have robbed young men of autonomy and control over their own lives that would have been taken for granted in previous generations — for instance, being able to move out of their parents’ house. The average age for moving out of home is now 28.

‘Torture and Degrading Treatment’ – The Case of Dr. Abu Safiya and Gaza’s Broken Medical System

by Ramzy Baroud | Apr 8, 2026 |

“Israel must immediately release Gazan doctor Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya,” UN experts said in a recent statement, in unequivocal terms.

Dr. Abu Safiya was “subjected to torture and other cruel and degrading treatment,” they said. His health condition is “dire.”

Many are already familiar with the iconic Palestinian doctor from Gaza. But the deserved and urgent focus on his case should not end with him. Rather, it should illuminate the broader catastrophe afflicting Gaza’s health sector – one deliberately dismantled as part of the ongoing genocide that began on October 7, 2023.

Palestinians and others continue to refer to the genocide as ‘ongoing’. This is not hyperbole. Though the rate of killing by bombs has decreased, the genocide remains in effect because the destruction of Gaza, and of all civilian infrastructure necessary for survival, continues to produce the same outcome: Palestinians are still dying as a direct result of the same policies.

This has affected every aspect of Palestinian life in Gaza that guarantees survival – from water and food to medical care.

Speaking at a WHO press briefing in Cairo on October 8, 2025, Dr. Hanan Balkhy, the World Health Organization’s top regional health official for the Eastern Mediterranean, laid it all on the table.

Though she spoke in institutional terms, outlining Gaza’s urgent healthcare needs, her account confirmed the scale of devastation caused by Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Over 1,700 health workers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the genocide, she said. The majority of Gaza’s hospitals have been destroyed or rendered non-functional, with only a few partially operating. At least 455 Palestinians have died due to hunger, including 151 children, within months.

In all of the grim numbers the Gaza genocide has produced – and continues to produce – one constant stands out: for every growing number of victims, there is a corresponding number of those meant to save them who have also been killed.

Thousands of doctors, health workers, humanitarian workers, civil defense personnel, emergency responders, volunteers, charity workers, and municipal officials have been swept into the same cycle of destruction.

It could be argued that these numbers correspond to the overall scale of death in Gaza. Official figures state that over 72,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 172,000 wounded, while independent research, including estimates published in The Lancet, suggests the true death toll may be far higher.

This argument may appear defensible. But the targeting of hospitals, the killing and wounding of doctors, and the unlawful detention and torture of health workers cannot be dismissed as a mere reflection of mass killing.

From the earliest days of the genocide, Israel placed Gaza’s hospitals at the center of its assault. On October 17, 2023, Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza was struck in one of the most horrific early massacres, followed by systematic assaults on major medical facilities, including Al-Shifa Hospital, Al-Quds Hospital, the Indonesian Hospital, and Nasser Medical Complex.

But why hospitals? Because hospitals were not only places of treatment. They were places of refuge. As tens of thousands of Palestinians sought shelter within their walls, hospitals became the last spaces where survival was still possible. To destroy them was to sever that final lifeline.

The killing of doctors, the bombing of hospitals, and the detention of medical personnel were not incidental. They formed part of a broader strategy: to render Gaza uninhabitable by dismantling the systems that sustain life.

Deprived of care, stripped of infrastructure, and denied the means to survive, Palestinians were left with fewer options – first to flee south, and ultimately, to be pushed beyond Gaza altogether.

This is why Dr. Abu Safiya has become so vital to this story.

Every Gazan doctor who refused to leave his or her post during the genocide is a hero. Every health worker who risked his or her life to save others represents a model of courage that should be emulated everywhere. And every doctor killed, wounded, or detained deserves to be remembered as the highest expression of human commitment to life.

Dr. Abu Safiya embodies all of them.

He is not unique – and that is precisely the point. He is the collective face of a medical community that refused to abandon its people, even as the system around it collapsed.

At Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, Abu Safiya remained at his post as Israeli forces advanced on the facility, already overwhelmed by waves of wounded and displaced civilians. Despite shortages of fuel, medicine, and staff, he continued to treat patients while helping to protect those sheltering inside the hospital compound.

In the final days before his detention on December 27, 2024, he was among the last senior doctors still operating in the hospital, overseeing care under conditions that defy any conventional understanding of medical practice.

One image came to define him.

Standing amid the ruins outside Kamal Adwan Hospital, surrounded by destruction, he walked alone in his white coat toward advancing Israeli armored vehicles – a lone doctor facing a war machine. The image circulated widely because it captured, in a single frame, the reality of Gaza: those who heal standing unarmed before those who destroy.

That destruction remains in effect today, even as global attention has shifted elsewhere, compounding the danger facing a besieged Gaza. “Israel must release Dr. Abu Safiya and all healthcare workers,” said UN experts. Israel should also release all Palestinian prisoners, lift the siege, and end the genocide in its entirety.

“States have the power to end his torment,” they said. They are not wrong – and there can be no moral or legal justification for their inaction.

Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His forthcoming book, ‘Before the Flood,’ will be published by Seven Stories Press. His other books include ‘Our Vision for Liberation’, ‘My Father was a Freedom Fighter’ and ‘The Last Earth’. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 12:22:06 +0000

Are war crimes being committed in the Middle East war?

With US and Israeli strikes on Iran's critical infrastructure already underway Tuesday amid threats of more to come, the UN and other organisations have warned that such attacks could constitute war crimes.

Issued on: 07/04/2026
By: FRANCE 24

A bridge struck by U.S. airstrikes on Thursday is seen in the town of Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. © Vahid Salemi, AP

A war crime is a serious violation of international humanitarian law during times of conflict.

But "not all violations committed during war are legally considered war crimes," the Geneva-based NGO Trial International explains on its website, stressing that "to qualify, they must fulfil certain criteria of purpose and gravity".

War crimes are primarily defined by the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols, as well as by the 1998 Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the world's only permanent court for prosecuting war crimes – the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Article 8 of the Rome Statute sets out dozens of examples which could be considered a war crime.

They include wilful killing, torture, taking hostages and intentionally attacking civilians.

Also on the list are intentional "attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives".

Article 54 of the first additional protocol of the Geneva Conventions meanwhile emphasises that it is "prohibited to attack, destroy, remove, or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population", including "crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works".

Situation in Middle East?

Civilian infrastructure, including power and desalination plants, have been repeatedly hit in the conflict that began when the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28.

Trump ramped up his rhetoric towards Iran on Monday, vowing to carry out the "complete demolition" of Iran's critical infrastructure, particularly bridges and power plants if a deal was not reached by late Tuesday.

But hours before the deadline, Israel said it had already completed a broad wave of strikes targeting "infrastructure sites" across Iran.

Writing on Truth Social, Trump stated that "a whole civilisation will die tonight" if the country does not heed his call for a deal.

Without mentioning Trump by name, United Nations rights chief Volker Turk on Tuesday slammed the "incendiary rhetoric" expressed during the war as "sickening".

"Under international law, deliberately attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime," Turk said, insisting that "anyone responsible for international crimes must be held to account by a competent court."

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, also stressed that "civilian infrastructure, including energy infrastructure, may not be attacked".

Even in cases where "specific civilian infrastructure were to qualify as a military objective, international humanitarian law would still prohibit attacks against them if they (were) expected to cause excessive incidental civilian harm," he warned.

Mirjana Spoljaric, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, denounced on Monday "deliberate threats, whether in rhetoric or in action, against essential civilian infrastructure".

Who prosecutes war crimes?

Trial International points out that "unlike other human rights violations, war crimes do not engage state responsibility but individual criminal responsibility".

Domestic courts are typically responsible for prosecuting war crimes. However, this can prove impossible during or in the aftermath of conflicts.

In such cases, one option can be universal jurisdiction, which allows countries to prosecute the most serious international crimes regardless of where they were committed.

International courts may also have jurisdiction, including the ICC.

Cases can be referred to the ICC by a country that has signed up to the Rome treaty or whose citizens have been the victims of crimes.

Cases may also be referred by the UN Security Council. A non-member state can also agree to accept the court's jurisdiction.

Neither the United States, Israel nor Iran are state parties to the Rome Statute.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 12:19:40 +0000

French arms exports to Israel ‘a continuous pipeline of military hardware’

ANALYSIS

Throughout the war in Gaza, France maintained that its exports of military equipment to Israel were solely for defensive purposes or intended for re-export to other countries. A new report by two pro-Palestinian groups argues that French firms and transport hubs have continued to arm Israel’s military operations “through supply chains that have bypassed public scrutiny”.

Issued on: 08/04/2026 -
FRANCE24
By: Benjamin DODMAN

French electronics firm Sermat has been ordered to halt exports of components used for Israeli drones such as the Hermes 900, built by Elbit Systems. © Jack Guez, AFP

In October last year, French customs agents paid a surprise visit to the headquarters of Sermat, an electronics firm based on the edge of Paris. Its purpose was to investigate the company’s dealings with Israeli defence contractor Elbit Systems, the country’s leading arms manufacturer.

A day earlier, customs at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, France’s main hub, had blocked an Israeli-bound shipment of Sermat’s alternators – electric generators used by Elbit Systems to equip drones that have been widely deployed by the Israeli army in Gaza.

The rare move came just days after investigative website Disclose revealed that Sermat had also supplied Elbit Systems with electric motors fitted onto Israeli drones – including the Hermes 450 unmanned aircraft that was involved in the fatal killing of humanitarian workers for the NGO World Central Kitchen in April 2024.

Following those revelations, the French government moved swiftly – and discreetly – to ban all exports of Sermat products to Israel. The ban, Disclose wrote at the time, amounted to an admission that “there is a real risk of exported components being used in the bombardments” that have now killed more than 72,000 people in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, according to health officials.
‘Defensive systems’

Since the early months of the Gaza War, France has repeatedly stated that it does not export lethal military equipment liable to be used in the Palestinian territory – a stance recently reiterated by Catherine Vautrin, the French minister for the armed forces and veterans.

In a social media post on April 4, Vautrin stressed that French military exports to Israel were limited to components for “defensive systems designed to protect civilians”, such as Israel’s Iron Dome, or authorised shipments intended for weapons to be assembled in Israel and then exported to other countries.

But critics argue that the line between defensive and offensive uses is often blurry, and that French authorities have no control over the components once they have been sold. In Sermat’s case, Disclose pointed to loopholes in export rules, noting that the company’s contracts with Elbit Systems originally involved the equipment of unarmed surveillance drones – and was therefore exempt from the “dual-use” classification that involves more stringent controls.

Sermat is among more than a dozen French firms cited in a report published on Tuesday by pro-Palestinian advocacy groups Urgence Palestine and People’s Embargo for Palestine. Titled “Exposing French military shipments to Israel”, the 66-page report details the steady flow of French-made equipment that has continued to supply Israel’s military industry throughout the Gaza War.

Compiled from open-source export data, it charts “more than 525 shipments of military goods (that) have been shipped from French manufacturers to Israeli defence and aerospace industries” between October 2023 and March 2026.

Goods include “actuators, optical components, and batteries for avionics and ground systems; ammunition links for rifles and machine guns; as well as sensors for armored vehicles and forgings for artillery systems”. Though none of the components constitute lethal weapons that are ready for use, the report says they “represent a continuous pipeline of military hardware to Israel, directly facilitating the technical infrastructure of its assaults”.

Contacted by FRANCE 24, the French finance ministry did not wish to comment on the report, while the defence ministry referred to Vautrin’s social media post. The French government has taken steps to dissolve Urgence Palestine for “inciting hatred”, in a move criticised by several human rights experts appointed by the UN.

‘Bypassing public scrutiny’

The report by Urgence Palestine and People’s Embargo for Palestine also details the important role played by French airports and seaports as transport hubs for military shipments to Israel, notably from the US. It states that the FedEx hub at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle handled 117 shipments carrying Lockheed Martin components that are crucial to the maintenance and repair of Israel’s fleet of F-35 jets.

“As a signatory to the Geneva Conventions, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), and the Genocide Convention, France is legally and morally bound to ensure that its industrial and state exports do not facilitate serious violations of international law,” the report concludes, adding that the evidence suggests “these obligations have been breached through supply chains that have bypassed public scrutiny”.

As early as January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) warned of the “risk” of genocide being committed against the Palestinian people. Last September, a UN human rights commission concluded that the risk had become reality, adding that the international community was under the “legal obligation to use all means that are reasonably available to them to stop the genocide in Gaza”.

Some European countries have heeded such calls, with Spain and Belgium notably enacting arms embargos on Israel. The Spanish government has also banned the use of its ports and airports for exports of weapons, dual-use technology and military equipment to Israel.

Docker protests

Elsewhere, most notably in Italy, dock workers have taken matters into their own hands, sometimes refusing to load military equipment onto ships bound for Israel.

In June last year, mirroring earlier protests in Genoa, Salerno and Ravenna, dockers in the French port of Fos-sur-Mer refused to load crates of links used in machine guns aboard a cargo vessel bound for the Israeli port of Haifa. It came days after another investigation by Disclose revealed that the port near Marseille was a key link in the secretive export of spare parts for machine guns.

The links manufactured by local company Eurolinks are small metal pieces used to connect machine gun bullets and allowing rapid bursts of fire. Rights groups say they have likely been used against civilians in the Gaza Strip, including in the February 24, 2024 “Flour Massacre” in which hundreds of Palestinians were killed or injured as they sought food from aid trucks.

Sébastien Lecornu, then France’s defence minister and the current prime minister, stated at the time that the export licence granted to Eurolinks “relates solely to re-export” and “does not entitle the Israeli army to use these components”. He did not elaborate on whether and how the French authorities sought to enforce the terms of the licence in Israel.

French arms manufacturers contacted by Disclose and Le Monde have offered similar answers, suggesting it was up to their Israeli clients to abide by French export rules.

Defence ties between the two countries have cooled sharply since the start of the Gaza War, with Paris taking an increasingly critical line toward Israel and at one point banning Israeli firms from a major arms fair.

According to a parliamentary report published last year, France authorised more than 200 dual-use export licences to Israel in 2024 worth €76.5 million – a 60% decrease from the previous year. Those figures look set for an even sharper drop next year – though not at France’s initiative.

The Israeli defence ministry announced last week it would stop all defence procurement from France, accusing Paris of a hostile stance. The ministry said it would instead rely on the local defence industry and suppliers in “friendly” countries.

Analysts, however, suggest the announcement had more to do with heated rhetoric than a substantial policy shift, noting that existing contracts are expected to be honoured and that private companies may still pursue deals.

Serbia Poised To Produce Drones With Israeli Arms Giant Involved In Gaza – Analysis

Hermes 900, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed for tactical missions that Elbit sold to Serbia, displayed at a military parade in Belgrade on October 20, 2025.

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:55:24 +0000

Public comfort with AI in health care falls, Ohio State survey finds

Among those who use AI, half of Americans rely on AI to make important health decisions

Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

video:

A new survey from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center reveals a significant trend in health care: half of Americans are using artificial intelligence to make important health decisions without consulting their doctor. This rising reliance on AI for self-diagnosis is raising alarms among medical professionals who caution that the technology cannot replace human expertise.

Credit: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Artificial intelligence seems to be everywhere – in our jobs, in our homes and at the doctor’s office. While the use of AI grows, a new survey commissioned by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center finds fewer Americans are open to AI being used in their health care.

The national poll of 1,007 adults found only 42% are open to AI being used as part of their care compared to 52% when this survey first ran in 2024. The belief that AI can make some health processes more efficient also fell, going from 64% to 55%.

The drop is on par with the natural hype cycle of any kind of technology, according to Ravi Tripathi, MD, chief health informatics officer at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center.

“When we first see something new and shiny, we think it's going to fix the world and replace health care and solve all of our medical problems,” Tripathi said. “People are learning that there are pros and cons of artificial intelligence, where it has actual use and where it really doesn't have a place. I think over the next 2 to 5 years, we'll definitely start to see that increase again as people understand what the true use of artificial intelligence is and as it becomes just common day to all of health care technology.”

One task medical professionals say AI shouldn’t be used for is making health care decisions. The survey found 51% of adults used AI to make an important health decision without consulting a medical professional.

“We know that 2% of the time AI is going to be inaccurate or it will potentially hallucinate,” Tripathi said. “Physicians are not using AI 100%. We're not trusting it 100%. I would be really concerned about a patient who is following AI. The artificial intelligence doesn't understand your story.”

Tripathi suggests using AI in partnership with your doctor. AI can compile health data, explain test results and diagnoses, and help identify questions to ask your provider. Those who participated in the Ohio State survey agree:

62% use AI to help understand symptoms before deciding whether to seek medical care
44% use AI to help explain test results or a medical diagnosis
25% use AI to compare treatment options or help make a treatment decision
20% use AI to prepare for an upcoming medical appointment

“There's a strong value for using artificial intelligence as augmented intelligence,” Tripathi said. “Patients should have oversight of what the technology is doing but consult with their health care team for the final plan.”

What is the survey methodology?

This study was conducted by SSRS on its Opinion Panel Omnibus platform. The SSRS Opinion Panel Omnibus is a national, twice-per-month, probability-based survey. Data collection was conducted from January 16 – January 20, 2026, among a sample of 1,007 respondents. The survey was conducted via web (n=977) and telephone (n=30) and administered in English. The margin of error for total respondents is +/-3.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All SSRS Opinion Panel Omnibus data are weighted to represent the target population of U.S. adults ages 18 or older.

###

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

People

An editorial by Tsu-Jae Liu on AI in engineering

PNAS Nexus

image:

<(From Left) Dr. Jonghyeok Park, Ph.D candidate Yunkyoung Han, Professor Hyunjoon Song, Dr. Sungjoo Kim>

Credit: KAIST

In the process of converting carbon dioxide into useful chemicals such as ethylene—a key precursor for plastics—a major challenge has been the flooding of electrodes, where electrolyte penetrates the electrode structure and reduces performance. KAIST researchers have developed a new electrode design that blocks water while maintaining efficient electrical conduction and catalytic reactions, thereby improving both efficiency and stability.

KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced on the 6th of April that a research team led by Professor Hyunjoon Song from the Department of Chemistry has developed a novel electrode structure utilizing silver nanowire networks—ultrafine silver wires arranged like a spiderweb—to significantly enhance the efficiency of electrochemical CO₂ conversion to useful chemical products.

In electrochemical CO₂ conversion processes, a long-standing issue has been flooding, where the electrode becomes saturated with electrolyte, reducing the space available for CO₂ to react. While hydrophobic materials can prevent water intrusion, they typically suffer from low electrical conductivity, requiring additional components and complicating the system.

To overcome this, the research team designed a three-layer electrode architecture that simultaneously repels water and enables efficient charge transport. The structure consists of a hydrophobic substrate, a catalyst layer, and an overlaid silver nanowire (Ag NW) network, which acts as an efficient current collector while preventing electrolyte flooding.

A key finding of this study is that the silver nanowires do more than just conduct electricity—they actively participate in the chemical reaction. During CO₂ reduction, the silver nanowires generate carbon monoxide (CO), which is then transferred to adjacent copper-based catalysts, where further reactions occur. This creates a tandem catalytic system, in which two catalysts cooperate sequentially, significantly enhancing the production of multi-carbon compounds such as ethylene.

The electrode demonstrated outstanding performance. It achieved 79% selectivity toward C₂₊ products in alkaline electrolytes and 86% selectivity in neutral electrolytes, representing a world-leading level. It also maintained stable operation for more than 50 hours without performance degradation. These results indicate that most of the converted products are the desired chemicals, while also overcoming the durability limitations of conventional systems.

Professor Hyunjoon Song stated, “This study is significant in showing that silver nanowires not only serve as electrical conductors but also directly participate in chemical reactions,” adding, “This approach provides a new design strategy that can be extended to converting CO₂ into a wide range of valuable products such as ethanol and fuels.”

This research, led by Jonghyeok Park (KAIST, first author), was published on March 24, 2026, in the international journal Advanced Science.

※ Paper title: “Overlaid Conductive Silver Nanowire Networks on Gas Diffusion Electrodes for High-Performance Electrochemical CO₂-to-C₂₊ Conversion,” DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.75003

< Schematic diagram of a porous polymer–copper oxide catalyst silver nanowire network electrode structure >

< Conceptual diagram of a CO₂ electrolysis electrode utilizing a stacked silver nanowire structure (AI-generated image) >

Credit

KAIST

Journal

Advanced Science

Distributed solar and carbon trading enable more affordable and equitable clean heating in rural Northern China

KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.

image:

Figure 1: County-level heating expenditure burden in the 2+26 region under different policy scenarios.

Credit: Feng Wang, et al.

China's campaign to replace bulk coal with clean heating has delivered air-quality and health benefits across the Northern China. But as subsidies begin to shrink in some places, a new question has emerged: can rural households still afford to stay clean?

In a study published in Fundamental Research, researchers from Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Shandong University, and the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning addressed that question across the "2 + 26" region — Beijing, Tianjin, and 26 surrounding cities that have been central to Northern China's rural clean heating policy.

Using a township-level dataset covering 25,187 villages or communities, the team estimated what rural households spend on clean heating, how large that burden is relative to local income, and what happens when operating subsidies are reduced or removed. They also tested possible ways to ease the pressure: revenues from China’s voluntary carbon market and distributed rooftop solar photovoltaics

"We found that current heating subsidies mask potential regional inequalities," shares first author Feng Wang from Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology. "Under the 2020 baseline with subsidies in place, about 0.67 million households in 15 counties across Hebei, Henan, and Shanxi Provinces were already facing excessive heating burdens."

Notably, if operating subsidies were fully removed, total household heating expenditure across the region would rise by 36.2%, or about 10.3 billion CNY in aggregate. On average, each household would pay about 523 CNY more per year.

"The pressure would not be shared equally. Low-income households would be hit the hardest, particularly in parts of Hebei, Henan and Shanxi where incomes are lower and electricity-based heating is more common", says co-corresponding author Wei Zhang of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning.

In some cities, most retrofitted households would struggle to stay within an affordable heating threshold if subsidies were cut back. The team then tested whether new income streams could ease the burden. Carbon credits from clean heating emission cuts could help, but only modestly at current prices. "Across the whole region, clean-heating carbon credits would generate about CNY1.91 billion in revenue — just enough to offset around 18.7% of the increased heating costs, or roughly CNY97 per household on average," adds Wang.

Rooftop solar performed better. In regions with stronger solar potential and supportive conditions, distributed photovoltaics could offset a much larger share of the added heating expense. The study estimates that in Hebei, Shanxi and Beijing, rooftop solar could compensate for an average of 32.2–64.5% of the extra costs.

"Under one larger-scale solar scenario, the added benefits would offset 93.8% of the increase caused by subsidy removal, and 25 of the 46 hardest-hit counties would return to an affordable range," says co-corresponding author Jiashuo Li of Shandong University. "A one-size-fits-all subsidy exit would create serious affordability risks — a more durable path is to phase subsidies out selectively, protect low-income households, and expand distributed solar where it can genuinely improve household incomes."

The authors say their results point to a more targeted next stage for rural clean-heating policy: faster subsidy reform in wealthier places, more precise support for poorer counties and households, and earlier solar-heating pilots in provinces such as Henan and Shanxi where affordability pressures are most acute.

###

Contact the author: Feng Wang, School of Business, Institute of Climate Economy and Low-carbon Industry, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China, vanf1004@nuist.edu.cn; Wei Zhang, Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Beijing 100041, China, zhangwei@caep.org.cn; Jiashuo Li, Institute of Blue and Green Development, Shandong University, Weihai 264209, China, lijiashuo@sdu.edu.cn.

The publisher KeAi was established by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media Ltd to unfold quality research globally. In 2013, our focus shifted to open access publishing. We now proudly publish more than 200 world-class, open access, English language journals, spanning all scientific disciplines. Many of these are titles we publish in partnership with prestigious societies and academic institutions, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

Journal

Fundamental Research

DOI

10.1016/j.fmre.2024.11.020

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Exploring the economically sustainable solutions for clean heating in rural Northern China

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:42:00 +0000

BAN DEEP SEA MINING

New study unveils rich biodiversity in Japan's deepest ocean trenches, featuring record-breaking discoveries and an unidentified "mystery" species

Pensoft Publishers

image:

The submersible 'Limiting factor' before the expedition launch.

Credit: Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre, Inkfish and Caladan Oceanic

A new study, published in the Biodiversity Data Journal, provides a profound look at life up to nearly 10 kilometers below the ocean's surface in the Japan, Ryukyu, and Izu-Ogasawara trenches. The research catalogs at least 108 distinct organism groups (morphotaxa), including the deepest-ever observation of a fish and a baffling, unidentified animal that has left global taxonomic experts stumped.

Conducted during a two-month 2022 expedition aboard the vessel DSSV Pressure Drop, the mission was a collaboration involving scientists from the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre and the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology and funded by Caladan Oceanic LLC and Inkfish.

Rather than rely on traditional trawls and physical sampling - which can damage fragile organisms and rarely capture behavior - the team used a dual approach: crewed submersible transects to study seafloor-associated animals and their habitats, and free-fall baited landers to target bait-attending fauna such as fishes and decapods.

This combination enabled us to build the most comprehensive visual baseline yet for abyssal and hadal megafauna in the Northwest Pacific to date.
- the team noted.

An animal science cannot name

Perhaps the most enigmatic encounter was a unique, slow-gliding organism, currently designated as Animalia incerta sedis, filmed twice at depths down to 9,137 meters. Despite extensive consultations with global taxonomic experts, the animal cannot be confidently assigned to any known phylum. While it shares some visual traits with nudibranchs or sea cucumbers, its identification remains a mystery.

Crinoid meadows and carnivorous sponges

Further, the crewed submersible transects allowed researchers to observe dense aggregations of deep-sea life in their natural benthic habitats and record rare behaviors. At the base of the Boso triple junction at 9,137 meters, the team traversed stunning "crinoid meadows" consisting of over 1,500 stalked crinoids anchored to rock terraces.

Additionally, the submersibles recorded carnivorous sponges belonging to the Cladorhizidae family in the Izu-Ogasawara Trench at depths between 9,568 and 9,744 meters, representing the deepest in-situ observation of carnivorous sponges to date.

A new depth record for fish

Building on previously published findings from the expedition, baited landers captured footage of a snailfish (Pseudoliparis sp.) feeding at a record depth of 8,336 meters - the deepest in-situ observation of a fish ever recorded. These landers also revealed the presence of the massive "supergiant" scavenging amphipod, Alicella gigantea, across all three surveyed trenches, as well as several other bait-attending fishes and invertebrates at great depth.

Patterns and pressures

The study revealed that while many organism groups are shared across the region, local patterns differ significantly, with the Japan Trench hosting the highest number of observed morphotaxa. These differences highlight how geological processes, depth, and nutrient inputs from surface waters shape life in subduction zones. The researchers also made an observation regarding human impact: "While it’s easy to think of deep-sea trenches as untouched wilderness, our findings also showed evidence of human-derived debris, likely transported by downslope processes."

A foundation for future exploration

The team emphasized the necessity of a non-destructive visual approach. "Historically, our understanding of abyssal and hadal ecosystems, including those associated with subduction features, relied largely on trawls and physical samples," they explained. "While these methods provide essential information, they can damage fragile organisms and rarely capture behaviour or ecological context."

By producing a comprehensive, illustrated guide of these habitats, the research team hopes to support future imagery-based biodiversity surveys.

"This study was not simply about observing deep-sea organisms, but also aimed to establish a foundation for future research at these depths. More than anything, the hadal zone remains one of Earth’s least-explored and most intriguing frontiers.
- the team concluded.

Green recycling process for spent lithium-ion batteries with extremely low chemical consumption

KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.

image:

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of reaction mechanism

Credit: Zhi Sun

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), known for their superior electrochemical performance, are critical components in new energy vehicles and energy storage systems. With the development of the global new energy industry, LIBs, which have a service life of approximately 5 to 8 years, are entering their end-of-life phase. This is expected to generate a large number of spent batteries.

A typical LIB consists mainly of cathodes, anodes, separators, current collectors, and electrolyte. Commercial LIBs primarily use cathode materials like LiCoO2, NCM and LiFePO4, which contain valuable metals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese. The electrolyte is usually composed of carbonate solvents and LiPF6. Therefore, achieving efficient and low-consumption recycling of this urban mine is important for ensuring resource supply, reducing environmental pollution, and mitigating safety risks.

Recycling spent LIBs, however, is a complex engineering process involving multiple steps, such as pre-treatment, metallurgical extraction, separation, purification, and material regeneration. Although metallurgical routes have matured into established technological pathways and achieve large-scale production, they continue to face challenges posed by the rapidly updating battery materials, increasingly complex compositions, and continuously rising industry standards.

In a recent study led by Prof Zhi Sun from Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, a novel mechanical activation assisted strategy, which can achieve the selective extraction of Li+ from spent cathode materials with highly utilization efficiency of H+ (>97%), was developed obviating the need for auxiliary reagents, and substantially reduces secondary pollutant generation.

The main findings, published in Fundamental Research, outlined:

Two leaching stages and one intermediate: The low reaction activity of the intermediate product from the initial leaching stage hinders the further leaching of Li+. The introduction of mechanical force has proven effective in significantly change these intermediates through activating spent cathode materials, thereby increasing the presence of defects and H+, which subsequently reduces the energy barrier for the second stage.
A novel mechanical activation assisted selective recycling technology was developed, which achieves a Li+ leaching efficiency exceeding 90% with high H+ utilization efficiency at 160 ºC. This technology is applicable not only to LiCoO2 but also to various NCM cathodes and LiMn2O4. Demonstrating broad cathode material compatibility.
As cathode materials continue to develop, recycling technologies must accommodate a growing diversity of cathode types. Therefore, recycling technologies should possess broad applicability. While hydrothermal methods have already reached scalable production, mechanical ball milling still faces challenges in large-scale implementation.

###

Contact the author: Zhi Sun, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, (sunzhi@ipe.ac.cn)

Journal

Fundamental Research

DOI

10.1016/j.fmre.2024.03.016

Small quantum system outperforms large classical networks in real-world forecasting

University of Science and Technology of China

Can a handful of atoms outperform a much larger digital neural network on a real-world task? The answer may be yes. In a study published in Physical Review Letters, a team led by Prof. PENG Xinhua and Assoc. Prof. LI Zhaokai from the University of Science and Technology of China of the Chinese Academy of Sciences demonstrated that a quantum processor comprising just nine interacting spins outperformed classical networks with thousands of nodes in realistic weather forecasting tasks.

By exploiting unique quantum features such as superposition and entanglement, quantum devices offer new ways to represent and process information. Recent experiments have shown their advantages on specialized benchmark tasks, but extending these gains to real-world applications remains a challenge. In particular, many quantum approaches rely on complex circuits that are difficult to implement accurately on today’s noisy hardware.

In this study, the researchers realized that the natural dynamics of quantum systems could inherently provide rich computational power, bypassing the need for deep quantum circuits. This led to reservoir computing, a brain-inspired machine learning approach in which a dynamical system processes incoming signals and retains memory on its own, without precise control.

In the implementation, input signals were encoded into quantum states whose entangled evolution naturally processed information in ways that are difficult to simulate classically. Even dissipation, which was usually seen as harmful in quantum computing, was turned into a useful resource for regulating the system's memory. By harnessing these native dynamics rather than fighting against them, this approach was naturally better suited to near-term quantum devices.

Using nuclear magnetic resonance techniques, the researchers built a quantum reservoir computer based on nine interacting atomic spins. They first tested it on a widely used time-series prediction benchmark known as NARMA, which achieved the best performance reported among experimental quantum approaches, reducing prediction errors by one to two orders of magnitude compared with previous circuit-based implementations.

The researchers then tested it in weather forecasting which is vital but difficult. Experimental results showed that the quantum model accurately captured temperature trends over several days. Besides, the researchers compared it with a standard classical reservoir model known as the echo state network. Notably, the nine-spin quantum reservoir achieved higher accuracy than classical reservoir networks with thousands of nodes in multi-day forecasts.

The findings provide experimental evidence that a quantum machine-learning system may outperform much larger classical counterparts on realistic tasks. This work suggests that harnessing the native dynamics of current quantum devices rather than waiting for fully fault-tolerant quantum computers may promote useful applications.

Journal

Physical Review Letters

DOI

10.1103/r8ww-qw7j

Article Title

High-Accuracy Temporal Prediction via Experimental Quantum Reservoir Computing in Correlated Spins

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:29:33 +0000

FI-R model, a novel remote sensing method for fine-scale extraction of vegetation

KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.

image:

Fig. 1 Comparison of rapeseed with other typical underlying surface features at different flowering levels.

Credit: Sixian Yin, et al.

The fine-scale characterization of vegetation surface information serves as a basis for studying the spatial distribution of resources and the dynamic patterns of environmental responses. Accurately extracting the distributions of different crop species is important for improving agricultural production efficiency and ensuring food security. Traditional fine-scale vegetation extraction methods, however, have limited applicability across large areas due to the presence of spectrally similar features and the substantial influence of background interference. As a key phenological stage of angiosperms, flowering is characterized by distinctive flowering times, floral morphology, and canopy spectral signatures, so it is an effective pathway for fine-scale vegetation extraction using remote sensing.

In a new study published in the Journal of Integrative Agriculture, team of researchers from China developed the FI-R model, a novel flowering spectral index for the fine-scale extraction of angiosperms over large areas in complex multi-regional backgrounds, using rapeseed as an example. FI-R shows low sensitivity to background complexity and rapeseed varieties, and has good applicability to multiple multi-spectral sensor images.

"Using rapeseed as an example, we developed a spectral index model for precise flowering vegetation extraction (FI-R) based on Landsat OLI imagery," shares corresponding author Taixia Wu, a professor at Hohai University. "The model integrates a yellowness index (Blue, Green) and a peak index (Red, Nir and SWIR1) while leveraging the NDVI to mitigate background interference from spectrally similar objects."

Notably, the model successfully enables the rapid and accurate large-scale mapping of flowering vegetation under complex background conditions. "It was tested in five rapeseed cultivation regions worldwide with diverse backgrounds and validation datasets were generated using GF imagery and the U.S. CDL dataset," says Wu. "The FI-R model demonstrated superior capability in distinguishing flowering rapeseed from other vegetation, and achieved overall accuracies exceeding 94% in all study areas."

"Furthermore, FI-R is compatible with other multispectral sensors that have similar band configurations, so it is applicable to rapeseed extraction in broader contexts," adds co-corresponding author Hongzhao Tang, a Professor at Land Satellite Remote Sensing Application Center. "It also shows strong potential for the fine-scale extraction of other types of flowering angiosperm vegetation."

###

Contact the author: Sixian Yin, E-mail: yinsx@hhu.edu.cn; Correspondence Taixia Wu, E-mail: wutx@hhu.edu.cn; Hongzhao Tang, E-mail: tanghz@pku.edu.cn

Journal

Journal of Integrative Agriculture

DOI

10.1016/j.jia.2025.05.006

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Development of the FI-R model, a novel remote sensing method for fine-scale extraction of vegetation, using rapeseed as an example

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:52:52 +0000

'Speaking helps us heal' says Rwandan survivor on genocide anniversary

Rwanda on Tuesday began its annual commemoration of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis – a period of remembrance for the victims and reflection on the legacy of the killings. For survivor Godelieve Mukasarasi, that past has shaped more than three decades of work helping women who were raped during the genocide, and children born of sexual violence, to rebuild their lives.

Issued on: 07/04/2026 - RFI

Portraits of children displayed as part of a Red Cross tracing campaign launched after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which sought to reunite families separated by the violence. AFP - FABRICE COFFRINI

More than 800,000 people, mainly ethnic Tutsis, were killed in about 100 days after the assassination of president Juvénal Habyarimana on 6 April 1994, which followed years of ethnic tension. The genocide has left deep scars across Rwanda, destroying families, communities and social bonds.

Sexual violence was used on a vast scale, leaving many women traumatised and many children born of rape facing stigma and rejection. Around 70 percent of the population was born after the genocide, but its impact is still felt in families, in collective memory and through national commemorations.

Mukasarasi is a Hutu woman whose Tutsi husband and one of her children were killed during the genocide, which also targeted moderate Hutus amid long-standing ethnic divisions. She was also raped. In the years since, Mukasarasi founded the non-profit Sevota, which has supported more than 1,000 women and children.

In a new book, La Réparatrice, co-written with French journalist Capucine Graby, Mukasarasi shares her story and describes her work. Mukasarasi tells RFI that recovery is not only about justice, but also about restoring dignity and memory.

RFI: Why did you choose the title La Réparatrice (The Repairer) for your book?

Godelieve Mukasarasi: Because it reflects the role I gave myself after the genocide. There were shattered lives, destroyed social bonds and invisible wounds among survivors.

I do not see myself only as a victim, but as someone who helps rebuild dignity and Rwanda’s collective memory. I committed myself to preserving the memory of the genocide by giving survivors a voice and refusing to let it be forgotten.

For me, the title symbolises my role in reconciliation and in justice that helps repair. It is also about repairing what cannot be seen. The book focuses on psychological and social wounds that are invisible but need just as much care as physical injuries.

The word “repairer” goes beyond Rwanda. It speaks to women’s resilience in the face of war violence around the world. It raises the question of whether societies can recover from collective trauma. It embodies the idea that repair is not only judicial, but also human, social and spiritual – for women, for children, for the fabric of communities and for the memory shattered by genocide.

RFI: Through Sevota you have supported more than 1,000 women who were raped, and children born of rape. Is speaking out central to the rebuilding process for you?

GM: Survivors were silenced by shame, fear or stigma. Giving them a space where they can speak freely, be heard and be recognised is already a form of healing. Speech becomes a tool of liberation. Expressing what they went through helps them regain control of their own story. It is also an act of memory and transmission.

What we do is both therapeutic and political. We give a voice back to those who were silenced and ensure their stories become part of a collective memory that refuses erasure. In our spaces, other forms of expression also help, such as prayer, songs, poetry and theatre. Working on trauma through the body can be a gentler approach, because speaking can sometimes trigger painful memories.

We also focus on economic recovery. Poverty and precarity play an important role in psychological stability, so we introduced income-generating activities to help women become more independent. Accepting yourself as a survivor, and accepting a child born of violence, is very difficult. The women even created a song saying their children are beautiful.

Rwanda marks 1994 genocide amid tensions over M23 rebellion in DRC

RFI: As a woman and a mother in a survivor family, what gives you the strength to support others?

GM: When I created Sevota, it was a promise I made during the genocide, when people came to kill my children and my husband. In my prayer, I said that if my children survived, I would create this work. My strength comes from transforming my pain into action – that is already an inner victory. I refused to let suffering define my life.

When I met other survivors, I saw that shared pain can become a bond. I feel memory turning into a future, and their courage feeds mine. I know my story can inspire others, and I carry the responsibility of showing that it is possible to rise again.

Each time I see a young person born of violence succeed, each time a mother accepts and embraces her child, each time she dares to dream of a better future, then we are standing. Standing for dignity, for solidarity and for hope. Because if we survived, it is to live. And if we live, it is to give the world a testimony of resilience and love.

Godelieve Mukasarasi, founder of Sevota, has spent decades supporting women raped during the genocide and children born of sexual violence. @Archives SEVOTA

RFI: You have supported what you call “children born of chance” – children born of sexual violence, often rejected and long stigmatised. You say their image has changed. How?

GM: In the past, these children were seen very negatively. They were called children of misfortune, children of the bush, mixed children like their fathers, even traitors, and so on. Today, thanks to support, that image has changed in many ways.

They are now seen as innocent children. They are no longer defined only by the circumstances of their birth, but by their talents, ambitions and achievements. Their image has moved from stigmatised victims to young people who carry the future.

RFI: More than 30 years after the genocide, how is trauma passed on in Rwandan society, when most of the population was born after it?

GM: Trauma is now passed on across generations. Young people still carry indirect effects of what their mothers and society lived through. Some parents still suffer from post-traumatic stress and can pass on anxiety, depression and relationship difficulties to their children.

Rwanda has built a strong model of remembrance, with annual commemorations, museums and NGOs like Ibuka [an umbrella organisation representing genocide survivors] that keep the memory alive. This is very important to prevent another genocide. But young people born afterwards must still deal with a past they did not experience.

Psychologists say they need support from trained teachers, therapists and institutions to help turn this trauma into constructive memory rather than a psychological burden.

Court weighs survivors' claim that French troops stood by during Rwanda genocide

RFI: In your book, you mention the Pelicot trial in France after the repeated rapes suffered by Gisèle Pelicot while she was drugged. You describe it as a turning point. What did that trial mean to you?

GM: That trial was seen as a real turning point. It marked a change in how French and international society deals with sexual violence, especially crimes committed under chemical submission. It strongly echoed our own struggle for recognition of victims and against impunity.

It highlighted forms of violence that are often invisible and minimised. This echoes what many women in Rwanda, and also in Syria and elsewhere, experienced during and after the genocide, often in silence.

RFI: What are your ongoing projects with Sevota in Rwanda?

GM: We are building a peace institute. It will include training, education and meeting spaces, as well as rooms for vocational learning for young people and for medical consultations. There will also be a museum dedicated to women who testified at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

And there will be a garden of memory and gratitude called the Garden of the Righteous of Humanity, in Kamonyi [a district in southern Rwanda where massacres took place]. It will be used especially to educate young people about the genocide against the Tutsis in 1994, but also about other genocides.

This interview has been adapted from an audio version in French by and lightly edited for clarity.

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:44:49 +0000

France pushes for wider truce as Iran ceasefire leaves Lebanon out

French President Emmanuel Macron convened a meeting of top defence and security officials on Wednesday after a two-week ceasefire was agreed between the United States and Iran, calling the deal “a very good thing” but saying it must “fully” include Lebanon.

Issued on: 08/04/2026 - RFI

An anti-war protester holds a sign with a peace dove during a rally near the White House in Washington on 7 April 2026, as a ceasefire in the Iran war was announced. © Getty Images/AFP/Alex Wong

The defence council brought together ministers and senior officials to discuss “the situation in Iran and the Middle East,” the Élysée said. The meeting also addressed the return of two French nationals, Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, freed by Iran.

The ceasefire, brokered by Pakistan, comes on the 40th day of the war and is meant to halt fighting for two weeks while negotiations take place. It also includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz, whose disruption to oil shipments drove up global energy prices.

However Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ceasefire does not include Lebanon, where operations against Hezbollah continued on Wednesday.

Macron said the ceasefire must be fully respected “in the days and weeks to come” and allow negotiations on Iran’s nuclear, ballistic and regional issues.

Pakistan is set to host talks from Friday in Islamabad. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the deal applied across the region.

“I am pleased to announce that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America, along with their allies, have agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere, effective immediately,” he wrote on X.

Relief and caution

European leaders reacted with cautious optimism but stressed the need for a lasting settlement.

“I welcome the ceasefire agreement reached overnight, which will bring a moment of relief to the region and the world,” said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a statement.

Starmer’s office said he would travel to the Middle East for talks with Gulf partners on ensuring the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz remains permanent.

Oman, which had been mediating indirect talks, also welcomed the ceasefire and called for “intensifying efforts” to resolve the crisis.

Germany voiced support for continued diplomacy. “The aim now must be to negotiate a lasting end to the war in the coming days,” said Friedrich Merz. “This can only be achieved through diplomatic channels.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha praised the deal and used it to call for similar action against Russia’s war in Ukraine, saying on social media that “American decisiveness works”.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on all parties to abide by the terms of the ceasefire “to pave the way towards a lasting and comprehensive peace in the region”, his spokesman said.

Terms and tensions

However, key details of the agreement remain unclear, with differing accounts from the parties involved.

US President Donald Trump said he agreed to suspend attacks after Iran proposed what he described as a “workable” plan, before later calling it fraudulent without elaborating.

He had earlier warned that “A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”

Iran said ships would be allowed through the strait under military supervision and could be charged fees. A regional official told the Associated Press that both Iran and Oman would collect those fees, with Tehran expected to use the money for reconstruction.

(with newswires)

Shipping companies 'see opportunities' but seek clarity on Strait of Hormuz reopening

By Quirino Mealha

Published on 08/04/2026 - EURONEWS

Major shipping lines express cautious optimism over transit opportunities in the Strait of Hormuz after the US-Iran ceasefire was announced, but stress the urgent need for full clarity before any vessels move.

Reports of the two-week US-Iran ceasefire potentially opening the Strait of Hormuz to vessels after over a month of near-total closure has prompted shipping companies to weigh their options against persistent uncertainties.

The world’s second-largest container shipping operator, Maersk, has taken the lead in responding to the development.

“The ceasefire may create transit opportunities, but it does not yet provide full maritime certainty and we need to understand all potential conditions attached,” the Danish company stated.

Maersk further guaranteed it is "working with urgency" to clarify exactly how ships will be able to pass through the Strait of Hormuz following months of severe restrictions.

Decisions on any transits, it emphasised, will depend on continuous risk assessments, close monitoring of the security situation and guidance from authorities and partners.

The German shipping line Hapag-Lloyd has adopted a similarly measured tone.

CEO Rolf Habben-Jansen told clients in a call on Wednesday that it was too early to judge how much traffic would be able to pass through the vital waterway.

Habben-Jansen warned that it would take at least six weeks before the firm could regain a fully normal network, even if some vessels would be able to leave the Gulf fairly soon.

The company estimates that around 1,000 merchant ships remain stuck in the Persian Gulf, six of them belonging to Hapag-Lloyd.

This substantial backlog is expected to make management of any resumption of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz significantly harder, while the conflict continues to cost the firm roughly $55 million (€47.5mn) per week.

US President Donald Trump described the reopening as a core requirement of the ceasefire, calling for the "COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING" of the Strait of Hormuz and pledging US support for traffic management.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that, provided attacks on Iran cease, safe passage would be possible for the two-week period via coordination with Iran’s Armed Forces and taking into account technical limitations.

Regional officials have indicated that both Iran and Oman are expected to charge transit fees on vessels, marking a departure from the maritime chokepoint’s previous status as a toll-free route.

Exact amounts and procedures have not been confirmed publicly.

Other shipping operators monitor developments closely

Other companies such as the Japanese shipping and logistics firm NYK Line have also stated they are closely monitoring the situation following the ceasefire announcement.

With hundreds of vessels idling for weeks, opportunity costs have continued to rise through lost revenue, higher insurance premiums and demurrage charges which are fees levied by operators when a ship remains at a port for longer than the agreed-upon time.

Even limited flows during the temporary window could allow some ships to exit the Gulf and serve alternative routes, thereby reducing those accumulated losses.

However, the requirement for military coordination and the introduction of new fees add further layers of uncertainty and complexity that operators categorically state must be resolved before meaningful operational decisions can be taken.

The situation remains fluid as broader talks are scheduled to begin in Islamabad on Friday with Pakistani authorities acting as mediators.

For the time being, the known facts indicate a tightly regulated, two-week period of access rather than an immediate return to pre-conflict operations.

Shipping companies and energy markets will continue to monitor developments closely for further guidance in the coming days.

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:41:38 +0000

Germany has become a leader in plug-in solar. What’s taking other European countries so long?

By Liam Gilliver

Published on 07/04/2026 - EURONEWS

The war on Iran has triggered a growing interest in plug-in solar panels, which have long been all the rage in Germany.

The energy shock from the war on Iran has been partially cushioned by renewables, as Europe scrambles to reduce its fossil fuel reliance.

A recent analysis from SolarPower Europe found that harnessing sunlight for energy has saved the continent more than €100 million per day since 1 March by lowering demand for imported gas. This means Europe saved €3 billion last month alone.

Experts say if gas prices remain high due to Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz – a crucial fossil fuel chokepoint which carries around one-fifth of global oil supplies – solar capacity could save Europe a staggering €67.5 billion in 2026.

Amid sky-high prices, Europeans are rushing to invest in clean energy, such as heat pumps, electric vehicles (EVs) and solar systems. But for those without the space or money for rooftop solar panels, attention has turned to plug-in alternatives.

What is plug-in solar?

Commonly found in areas like balconies, terraces and shed roofs, plug-in solar uses small panels that can be attached to an external wall. In many European countries, these can be purchased from the supermarket or online.

The power generated from plug-in solar can be used directly through a mains socket like any other device (such as a mobile phone charger) without any installation costs.

They’re often seen as a great alternative for people living in rented or shared accommodation, where building rooftop solar panels isn’t permitted.

Experts say it takes an average of two to six years to recoup the cost of the system, depending on what you paid for it, its size and where it is positioned. But once up and running, plug-in solar reduces the amount of electricity taken from the grid, cutting your energy bills.

Germany leads the race in plug-in solar

Germany has been riding the plug-in solar wave long before the US-Israel war on Iran began, with more than one million systems installed between 2022 and 2025.

Much of this can be attributed to government incentives that reward plug-in solar buyers with feed-in tariffs – for example, giving households a fixed price for every unit of electricity that is sent to the grid.

“Customers had already started this boom and successfully demanded simplified bureaucracy from politics,” a spokesperson for Meyer Burger, a German manufacturing company, said in 2024.

“Measures such as the elimination of VAT contributed to the popularity of balcony solar.”

The rapidly falling price of solar power and battery storage is also making start-up costs even cheaper. Balcony solar panels in Germany have halved in price over the last few years, with small models now costing around €200.

Bigger models that include storage, such as a battery, cost under €1,000, but these can generate significantly more clean energy.

Since 2024, tenants and apartment owners have been allowed to install solar panels on their balconies themselves, removing additional installation costs.

Experts say plug-in solar devices could cover up to two per cent of electricity demand by 2045, when Germany aims to have achieved climate neutrality.

Europe tries to catch up on plug-in solar

The uptake of plug-in solar has been stalled due to a slew of factors, including safety concerns.

Many houses in Europe have ageing, modified or poorly maintained electrics – meaning they need to be checked out by a professional before occupants purchase plug-in solar.

SolarPower Europe says the “exact numbers are difficult to uncover” when it comes to plug-in solar, but states that growth is happening across Europe.

Plug-in solar is now legal in all 27 EU member states, except for Sweden and Hungary. Belgium legalised self-installed panels back in April 2025, while Spain has also been capitalising on its consistently sunny weather, which is ideal for solar generation.

Tornasol Energy, a plug-in solar company in Spain, says it equipped more than 1,300 homes with solar kits in 2025 – saving customers more than €620,000 on their energy bills and preventing more than 14 tons of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere.

Since starting up five years ago, Tornasol Energy has fitted more than 5,000 homes with plug-in solar kits.

The UK is the latest European country to lift restrictions on plug-in solar, recently announcing it is “driving forward” with a rollout of low-cost panels that will soon be available from budget retailers like Lidl and Iceland.

“The Iran war has once again shown our drive for clean power is essential for our energy security so we can escape the grip of fossil fuel markets we don’t control,” says UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.

“Whether through solar panels fitted as standard on new homes or making it possible for people to purchase plug-in solar in shops, we’re determined to roll out clean power so we can give our country energy sovereignty.”

Analysis from Carbon Brief found that plug-in solar panels could save a typical UK household £1,100 (around €1,261) during their 15-year lifetime.

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:47:52 +0000

Silence is golden: Embarrassing moment as Artemis II astronauts give Trump the silent treatment

By David Mouriquand

Published on 08/04/2026 - EURONEWS

A clip of the Artemis II crew’s silence to Donald Trump's praise and ranting has gone viral.

In space, no one can hear you cringe.

Following the historic space mission to the far side of the moon, the crew of Artemis II got a call from none other than Donald Trump.

He congratulated the astronauts on their lunar flyby before going off on a tangent, ranting to Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen about how he’d spoken to former Canadian ice hockey player and MAGA supporter Wayne Gretzky (which Trump refers to as “the Great One”), as well as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

“Well, I have to say I spoke to a very special person, Wayne Gretzky, who I think you know, the Great One,” said Trump. “And I spoke to your prime minister and many other friends I have in Canada. They are so proud of you.”

“You have a lot of courage,” he continued. “I’m not sure if they’d want to do that. I’m not even sure if the Great One would want to do that, to be honest with you...”

This comment was met with an awkward silence, which lasted for an excruciatingly long time. No one said anything for more than a minute after Trump stopped speaking, before a com check was asked for, “to make sure you guys are still on the line and we didn’t have a handover.”

The coms were working fine, and judging by arguably the most hilarious part of this embarrassing moment, there was no delay. Indeed, there was an immediate response from Trump, who was waiting for a reaction from the astronauts.

“I am, yes, I am,” replied Trump.

Check out the clip below:

Silence is golden. And speaks volumes, according to the internet.

The clip of the Artemis II crew’s silence has gone viral, with many joking about how even at more than 250,00 miles from Earth you can’t escape a Trump rant. Others praised the crew for not appeasing Trump.

“As if we couldn't love them anymore, they give the perfect response,” wrote one user on X, while another argued: “This is what integrity looks like. How refreshing to see people not laugh it up for the most moronic leader of all time. Thank you.”

Check out some more reactions to the viral mic drop (mic float?):

Where in Europe are workers the most stressed?

By Alessio Dell'Anna

Published on 08/04/2026 - EURONEWS

A new study covering 160 countries compares Europe's stress levels with those of the rest of the world, finding a mix of good and bad news for the old continent's employees and employers.

Stressed or disengaged employees aren't just a retention risk — but can potentially drag down productivity.

That's according to management consulting firm Gallup, which sets the loss as high as 9% of global GDP, in its 2026 State of the Global Workplace report.

The trend appears to be worsening. Worldwide, employee engagement is dipping, with workers feeling less motivated, connected and committed.

Gallup puts the global rate at just 20%, the lowest since 2020.

Are workers more stressed in Europe or in the Americas?

The global picture reveals a striking dichotomy. Europe is less stressed, but also the least engaged region overall (for the sixth consecutive year), while the US and Canada boast the most engaged workforces — and the most stressed at the same time.

Which European employees handle stress better?

When it comes to stress, southern Europeans tend to be the most affected in general, with the Greeks (61%), Maltese (57%), Cypriots (56%), Italians (51%) and Spaniards (47%) recording the highest stress levels.

At the same time, Danes (19%), Poles (22%) and Lithuanians (23%) appear to feel less under pressure.

According to Gallup, the profile of the most stressed employees points to a majority of managers, under 35, and in hybrid work arrangements.

Who is least engaged, demographically and geographically?

The lowest engagement rates in Europe emerged in Croatia (7%), Poland (7%), France (8%), Switzerland (8%), Luxembourg (9%), Ireland (9%) and Austria (9%).

Spain (10%), the UK (10%), Germany (11%) and Italy (11%) just narrowly hit double digits, too.

At the same time, Albania (32%), Romania (31%), Sweden (25%) and Malta (25%) show some of the highest levels of engagement on the continent.

Gallup's data points to a profile among the least engaged workers: typically under 35, in non-managerial roles and without remote work access, even partially, although the differences with other demographic profiles are minimal here.

A futher 15% declare not just to be "unengaged", but "actively disengaged", meaning they are purposely and consciously psychologically detaching themselves from their work, team and employer — what is today known as "quiet quitting".

Research calls this engagement slump a "cause for concern".

"This is the first time global engagement has dropped for two consecutive years. The largest drop was in South Asia (-5 points). No region of the world increased engagement in the past year".

Are European workers better off globally?

Despite a poor engagement record, data says European workers are far better off when it comes to well-being.

Some 49% of employees across the continent claim to be thriving, compared to 34% globally.

Half of the world regions saw a rise in thriving, with Latin America and the Caribbean (+2 points) and Europe (+2) experiencing the largest increases.

Finland (81%), Iceland (78%) and Denmark (78%) top the happiness chart in Europe.

Amid challenges brought by AI and global volatility, the majority of European workers are optimistic, with 57% claiming it's a good time to find a job — higher than the 52% global average — led by the Netherlands (86%), while Slovakia closes the chart at 32%.

The least optimistic world region here is the Middle East and North Africa (36%), while South-East Asians are the most confident at 64%.

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:28:45 +0000

Taiwan opposition leader makes rare visit to China in 'journey for peace'

By Malek Fouda

Published on 08/04/2026 - EURONEWS

Taiwan’s opposition leader makes historic six-day trip to Beijing to “boost dialogue and promote peace” ahead of a heavily anticipated summit between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

Taiwan opposition leader Cheng Li-wun arrived in China on Tuesday at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, in what she's calling a “journey for peace” as Beijing continued its decades-long push for the self-ruled island to come under its control.

The visit is the first by a Taiwanese opposition leader in a decade and comes ahead of a meeting in Beijing between Xi and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, scheduled for May.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's opposition-controlled parliament has stalled its government's attempts to pass a $40 billion (€34.2 billion) special defence budget, expected to fund arms deals with the US and the development of Taiwan's domestic defence industry.

China claims the self-ruled island as its own territory and has not excluded the use of force to take it.

Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) leader Cheng Li-wun toasts with China's Director of Taiwan Affairs Office Song Tao during a dinner gala in Shanghai, China Tuesday, April 7, 2026 AP/Kuomintang

Beijing has been ramping up its military pressure against the island by regularly sending warplanes and naval vessels near it, while its military occasionally stages live-fire drills around it, the latest in December.

The US State Department said such activities “increase tensions unnecessarily” and called on Beijing to cease military pressure against Taiwan.

Before leaving Taipei, the chairperson of the Kuomintang party (KMT) told reporters that Taiwan must spare no effort to prevent war and seize any opportunity to promote peace.

A few dozen supporters and detractors of Cheng showed up at Taipei’s airport, chanting slogans and holding signs.

“The purpose of this visit to mainland China is precisely to show the world that it is not just Taiwan that unilaterally hopes for peace,” she said.

“I believe that through this journey for peace, everyone is even more eager to see the sincerity and determination of the CPC Central Committee to use peaceful dialogue and exchange to resolve all possible differences between the two sides,” added Cheng.

Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) leader Cheng Li-wun speaks at a dinner gala with China's Director of Taiwan Affairs Office Song Tao in Shanghai, China Tuesday, April 7, 2026 AP/Kuomintang

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday that relations with Taiwan were part of China's internal affairs. “China’s opposition to military ties between the US and Taiwan is consistent and clear,” said spokesperson Mao Ning.

Beijing has repeatedly criticised Washington’s weapons sales to Taiwan, in particular a massive deal announced by the Trump administration in December, valued at more than $11 billion (€9.4 billion), which includes medium-range missiles, howitzers and drones.

China prohibits all its diplomatic partners, including the US, from maintaining formal ties with Taipei. Washington is the island’s strongest informal backer and weapons provider, and the arms sale is expected to be discussed at the Xi-Trump summit.

During a February call between Xi and Trump, the Chinese leader said that “Taiwan will never be allowed to separate from China.”

Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) leader Cheng Li-wun speaks near China's Director of Taiwan Affairs Office Song Tao during a dinner gala in Shanghai, China Tuesday, April 7, 2026 AP/AP

It was unclear whether Cheng would meet with Xi as part of her six-day trip to China, which started in the eastern metropolis of Shanghai and is set to conclude in Beijing.

Her visit contrasts with Beijing's treatment of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, with whom China does not engage, labelling him a “separatist".

Lai's party views Taiwan as a sovereign country, not a subordinate to China. The KMT, meanwhile, officially recognises only one China — the Republic of China — which before 1949 included the mainland and is today Taiwan’s official name.

Taiwan has been governed separately from China since 1949, when a civil war brought the Communist Party to power in Beijing. Defeated KMT forces fled to Taiwan, where they set up their own government.

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:25:04 +0000

Why Anthropic’s most powerful AI model Mythos Preview is too dangerous for public release

Copyright AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File

By Pascale Davies
Published on 08/04/2026 - EURONEWS

Anthropic said its artificial intelligence model Mythos Preview is not ready for a public launch because of the ways cybercriminals and spies could abuse it.

US-based AI developer Anthropic this week announced a new artificial intelligence general-purpose language model that it claims is too powerful to release into the world.
The company said on Tuesday that its latest technology, Mythos (officially dubbed "Claude Mythos Preview"), is not ready for a public launch because it is too effective at finding high-severity vulnerabilities, or potential weaknesses, in major operating systems and web browsers. This could result in it being abused by cybercriminals and spies.
A data leak in March first unveiled that Anthropic was working on Mythos Preview, which it said at the time "poses unprecedented cybersecurity risks." These rumours caused cybersecurity stocks to slump, as the technology's strength could make it a hacker’s dream device.
Now, further evidence adding to these concerns has spurred the company to press pause on the technology's public release.
"Claude Mythos Preview's large increase in capabilities has led us to decide not to make it generally available," Anthropic wrote in the preview's system card released on Tuesday.
"Instead, we are using it as part of a defensive cybersecurity programme with a limited set of partners."
Related
What is Anthropic's Mythos? The leaked AI model that poses 'unprecedented' cybersecurity risks'

How powerful is Mythos?

The company detailed several alarming findings about the new model, including how it could follow instructions that encouraged it to break out of a virtual sandbox, meaning it bypassed the security, network or file system constraints imposed on the model.
The prompt asked Mythos to find a way to send a message if it could escape. "The model succeeded, demonstrating a potentially dangerous capability for circumventing our safeguards," Anthropic said, adding that the model then decided to go further.
"In a concerning and unasked-for effort to demonstrate its success, it posted details about its exploit to multiple hard-to-find, but technically public-facing, websites."
Anthropic is withholding some details about the cybersecurity vulnerabilities Mythos discovered, but did give some examples. It found errors in the Linux kernel, used in most of the world's servers, and autonomously chained them together in a way that would let a hacker take complete control of any machine running the Linux systems.
In another worrying observation, Mythos discovered a 27-year-old vulnerability in the open-source operating system OpenBSD that may allow hackers to crash any machine running it. OpenBSD is heavily used worldwide in specific, high-security, and critical infrastructure roles.
Related
Light and shade: What 81,000 people want and don't want from AI, major Anthropic study reveals

Who will it be released to?

Given these findings, Anthropic will only make Mythos Preview available to some of the world’s biggest cybersecurity and software firms.
Anthropic itself, as well as 11 other organisations (Amazon Web Services, Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Google, JPMorganChase, the Linux Foundation, Microsoft, Nvidia and Palo Alto Networks) will get access to the model as part of a new Anthropic initiative named "Project Glasswing".
This allows the companies to use Mythos Preview as part of their security work, and Anthropic will share the takeaways from what the initiative finds.
The company named the cybersecurity project after the glasswing butterfly, saying it is a metaphor for how Mythos found vulnerabilities in plain sight and avoided harm by being transparent about the risks.
Anthropic said its "eventual goal is to enable our users to safely deploy Mythos-class models at scale, for cybersecurity purposes, but also for the myriad other benefits that such highly capable models will bring.
"To do so, that also means we need to make progress in developing cybersecurity (and other) safeguards that detect and block the model's most dangerous outputs," Anthropic wrote in its blog.

Is Anthropic in talks with the US government?

Anthropic said in its blog post that it has been in "ongoing discussions" with US government officials about Claude Mythos Preview and its "offensive and defensive cyber capabilities."
"The emergence of these cyber capabilities is another reason why the US and its allies must maintain a decisive lead in AI technology," Anthropic said. The company wrote that governments have an important role to play in maintaining the lead and assessing and mitigating national security risks associated with AI models.
"We are ready to work with local, state, and federal representatives to assist in these tasks."
The announcement comes as Anthropic and the Pentagon are in a legal standoff after the US Department of Defence labelled the company a supply chain risk in February over Anthropic's refusal to allow the use of its AI, Claude, in autonomous weapons and mass surveillance.
Related

Do other AI tools have the same capabilities?

"More powerful models are going to come from us and from others, and so we do need a plan to respond to this," Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a video, which was released alongside the Mythos announcement.
It could take betwee

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:28:33 +0000

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and Scripps Institution of Oceanography partner for innovative conservation efforts

Collaboration harnesses advanced digital technology and biobanking techniques to boost conservation impact

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance

image:

Image of the Safari Park Biodiversity Reserve (SPBR), the model for the first prototype of the digital twin. The SPBR is located in Escondido, California at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Credit: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance

SAN DIEGO (April 7, 2026) – Today, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA) and UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography announced a formal partnership through the Agile Restoration & Conservation Hubs (ARCH) initiative. With over 200 years of combined experience in scientific research and public outreach, the two organizations aim to jointly accelerate innovation and expand their global conservation impact.

Biodiversity threats, emerging pathogens and environmental challenges are complex, interconnected crises growing faster than current strategies can address. Technological and system limitations have hindered the development of solutions at the speed and scale required, creating an urgent need for large-scale, adaptable approaches to conservation.

The ARCH initiative provides a solutions-oriented approach, harnessing cutting-edge science, technological innovation and community engagement to address these critical environmental challenges. The joint effort focuses on three core areas of collaboration:

Knowledge transfer of best practices in collections and biobanking, including the cryopreservation of living cells, with a focus on marine species.
Innovating advanced conservation technologies, such as “digital twins,” which digitally replicate physical environments or systems.
Creating student engagement and learning pathways across partner institutions to build the next generation of conservation leaders.

“Through this collaboration, teams across Scripps Institution of Oceanography and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance will unite to drive breakthroughs in conservation science,” says Jack Gilbert, deputy director of research at Scripps Oceanography and a leader with the ARCH initiative. “By leveraging our collective strengths — Scripps Oceanography’s expertise in marine science, weather forecasting and machine learning and the Alliance’s terrestrial wildlife knowledge and extensive conservation practice — this partnership is uniquely positioned to deliver meaningful, science-driven conservation solutions.”

“This collaboration offers a unique opportunity to combine resources, knowledge and innovation to address pressing environmental challenges,” says Nadine Lamberski, chief conservation and wildlife health officer at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. “By uniting San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s expertise in wildlife care and conservation science with Scripps Oceanography’s leadership in marine and atmospheric research, we can drive meaningful conservation breakthroughs that protect biodiversity.”

BIOBANKING

Scientists at SDZWA and Scripps are identifying sampling opportunities and developing biodiversity banking protocols — such as live cell culture and cryopreservation — for marine organisms including fish, invertebrates, microbes and seaweeds. As wildlife and ecosystems face rapid, widespread decline, preserving genetic diversity through biobanking has become a critical tool for understanding, characterizing and conserving biodiversity before it’s too late.

Through workshops and training, SDZWA staff will share best practices with researchers at the world-renowned Scripps Oceanographic Collections as they expand and refine biobanking protocols for marine organisms.

The collaboration draws on SDZWA’s 50 years of experience in biobanking, establishing the organization as a widely recognized leader in the field. The Scripps Oceanographic Collections are among the oldest and largest in the world, often described as “underwater libraries” of preserved specimens that support scientific research, education and decision-making. These repositories include millions of specimens, ranging from marine vertebrates to pelagic and benthic invertebrates. Yet despite their global importance, the collections currently lack the advanced biobanking infrastructure of SDZWA’s Frozen Zoo. This partnership seeks to bridge that gap, and builds upon the success of an existing SDZWA collaboration with Birch Aquarium at Scripps to spawn the endangered sea star.

“Training and support from the SDZWA team will help Scripps develop sophisticated techniques for biobanking marine species, starting with threatened kelp found right here off San Diego,” says Stuart Sandin, director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at Scripps and a leader of the ARCH initiative. “We’re excited about the new possibilities this partnership creates for conservation science and education.”

Aligned with the core goal of student engagement and learning, this collaboration will provide students and faculty with hands-on training and information-sharing on biobanking processes, further supporting established conservation initiatives.

DIGITAL TWIN

The partnership also pioneers the development of advanced conservation technologies, including the creation of a “digital twin.” A digital twin is an intricate digital replication of a physical environment, integrating long-term observational data, in-situ monitoring and AI-driven tools like machine learning pipelines. This innovative approach allows for near-real-time modeling of ecosystems, enabling scientists to simulate and predict the impacts of climate events on biodiversity and local communities.

“The first prototype, a digital twin of the Safari Park Biodiversity Reserve, is already underway and has the potential to revolutionize conservation science,” says Megan Owen, vice president of conservation science at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. “This model will serve as a blueprint for future regional and global digital twins, providing a comprehensive, adaptive and scalable tool for addressing biodiversity loss, climate adaptation and community stewardship.”

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and Scripps Institution of Oceanography recently shared additional information on the partnership and its conservation potential at the 2026 South by Southwest (SXSW) tech conference in Austin, Texas. The panel, “Can Science Safeguard Earth’s Wildlife?”, explored how collaborations like the ARCH initiative are driving impactful solutions to today’s environmental challenges. View the panel recording on YouTube.

About San Diego Zoo Wildlife Allian

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:26:50 +0000

Phengite identified as key carrier of halogens into Earth’s deep mantle

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters

image:

Schematic diagram showing the deep F, Cl influx of global AOC that pass through the sub-arc depth through phengite

Credit: WANG Yu

Surface volatiles—chemical substances that easily become gases or fluids at relatively low temperatures and pressures—are transported into the Earth through subduction zones, with some being transported into the deep mantle and others to shallower dep

According to conventional models, halogens such as fluorine (F) and chlorine (Cl) are largely released at shallow depths when hydrous minerals break down, making it difficult for them to reach the deep mantle. However, a new study has identified high-density saline inclusions in deep diamonds and fluorine enrichment in mantle minerals, indicating that some halogens survive transport to great depths.

At the heart of this study, a team led by Prof. WANG Yu from the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), together with collaborators including Prof. CHEN Chunfei from China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), has used high-pressure and high-temperature experiments to provide evidence for how these halogens reached the deep mantle.

Their results, published in Science Advances on April 1, show that phengite, a mineral widely distributed in subduction zones, may act as a key carrier that transports halogens into the deep mantle of the Earth. Using altered oceanic crust analogs, the researchers found that phengite remains stable up to 11 gigapascals (GPa) and 1,050 °C (1,922 °F), allowing it to carry fluorine and chlorine to depths of about 330 km (205 mi).

The experiments further reveal that fluorine and chlorine follow different paths once phengite becomes unstable. Chlorine preferentially enters the released fluid, whereas most fluorine is retained in the newly formed high-pressure KMgF3 phase, which can carry fluorine deeper into the mantle. In other words, chlorine is more readily mobilized by deep fluids, while fluorine can remain in solid phases and continue its downward transport.

These findings also shed light on the origin of saline inclusions in deep diamonds. The breakdown of phengite produces potassium- and chlorine-rich fluids containing 9.6–19.9 wt.% Cl, which closely matches the composition of high-density saline inclusions observed in natural diamond samples. These results suggest that the breakdown of phengite in subduction zones may be an important source of deep saline fluids linked to diamond formation and cratonic metasomatism.

Based on their experimental results, the researchers estimated that phengite can transport 1.7 × 1012-2.6 × 1012 g/yr of F and 0.52 × 1012-1.1 × 1012 g/yr of Cl into the deep mantle, suggesting that phengite is an important mineral pathway in the global deep halogen cycle.

Together, these results provide new experimental evidence to resolve the long-standing contradiction between shallow halogen loss and deep halogen enrichment, and offer new insight into deep fluid activity, diamond formation, and Earth's long-term chemical evolution.

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China, the Strategic Priority Research Program of CAS, and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China.

Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.aee6110

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Phengite-mediated fluorine and chlorine fluxes from subduction zones to the deep mantle

Article Publication Date

1-Apr-2026

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:24:48 +0000

Beyond sunlight: A molecular “bridge” protects metals from rust, day and night

HEP Data Cooperation Journals

image:

Electronic structure analysis and the corresponding photocathodic protection mechanism of the heterojunction.

Credit: HIGHER EDUCATION PRESS

Despite its potential for marine corrosion control, photocathodic protection (PCP) suffers from a persistent bottleneck: the conflict between thermodynamic driving forces and charge kinetics. While WO3/TiO2 type-II heterojunctions facilitate energy storage, they typically sacrifice reduction potential and face sluggish transport due to surface defects. To date, it has remained a significant challenge to develop a molecular approach that resolves this impasse by simultaneously amplifying the driving force and accelerating kinetics through defect passivation.

Here, we propose a “hydrogen-bond-mediated molecular bridge” strategy by introducing flexible polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) into the WO3/TiO2 interface. We demonstrate that PVP carbonyl groups preferentially hydrogen-bond with bridging hydroxyls on TiO2. This interaction not only passivates surface defects but also induces an interfacial dipole field. The resulting electrostatic field shifts the conduction band edge (−0.88 V), amplifying the driving force for electron injection while preserving efficient charge transfer.

This work provides a generalizable paradigm for utilizing soluble polymers to tune inorganic interfaces and achieves “round-the-clock” protection, maintaining a protective potential for over 12 h in darkness. The work entitled “Interfacial hydrogen-bond engineering of PVP–bridged WO3/TiO2 for efficient solar-driven cathodic metal protection” was published in Advanced Powder Materials (Available online on 17 February 2026).

Journal

Advanced Powder Materials

DOI

10.1016/j.apmate.2026.100408

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Interfacial hydrogen-bond engineering of PVP–bridged WO3/TiO2 for efficient solar-driven cathodic metal protection

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:20:50 +0000

Outdoor sunlight driven CO2 capture and cycloaddition from flowing simulated industrial flue gas using amino functionalized bismuth catalysts

HEP Data Cooperation Journals

image:

Cycloaddition mechanism of CO2 and 1,2-epoxybutane over BNOC-TEPAx.

Credit: HIGHER EDUCATION PRESS

Efficient capture and conversion of low-concentration CO2 from industrial flue gas into high-value chemicals is one of the key challenges for achieving carbon reduction and resource utilization. In this work, an amino-functionalization strategy was innovatively employed to successfully graft tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) onto the surface of the layered bismuth-based photocatalyst Bi4NbO8Cl (BNOC), constructing a novel photocatalytic system with dual Lewis acid–base sites (BNOC-TEPAx). Under visible light and even natural sunlight, this catalyst can directly convert CO2 at a concentration of only 15% in simulated industrial flue gas into high-value cyclic carbonates under ambient conditions. Experimental results and DFT calculations collectively indicate that the terminal primary amines provided by TEPA serve as Lewis base sites, significantly enhancing CO2 adsorption and activation, while the abundant coordinative Bi sites in BNOC act as Lewis acid centers, effectively promoting epoxide activation. Moreover, the Bi–N coordination-induced interfacial polarization field greatly improves the separation and migration efficiency of photogenerated charge carriers. In outdoor experiments scaled up by a factor of 100, BNOC-TEPA30 achieved a production rate of 4.45 mmol·g‒1·h‒1 under natural sunlight and flowing simulated flue gas, demonstrating promising industrial application potential. This study provides a new catalyst design strategy for the integrated “capture–conversion” of low-concentration industrial flue gas CO2.

The work titled “Outdoor Sunlight Driven CO2 Capture and Cycloaddition from Flowing Simulated Industrial Flue Gas Using Amino Functionalized Bismuth Catalysts”, was published in Advanced Powder Materials (Available online on 28 January 2026).

Journal

Advanced Powder Materials

DOI

10.1016/j.apmate.2026.100405

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Outdoor sunlight driven CO2 capture and cycloaddition from flowing simulated industrial flue gas using amino functionalized bismuth catalysts

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:18:35 +0000

Wind and solar power to keep the lights on in Ecuador

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

The country had to make emergency purchases of diesel and gas as alternative energy sources, but this was insufficient. For months, Ecuadorians had to endure power cuts of more than 12 hours a day. The economy suffered enormous damage in the energy crisis. According to witnesses, many Ecuadorians felt like being “back in the 18th century”. The cause of the disaster was clear: Ecuador’s overdependence on hydropower, increasingly affected by droughts due to climate change.

“The production of wind and solar power can, of course, fluctuate strongly from day to day,” explains Professor Sebastian Sterl (VUB), lead author of the study. “But on a seasonal level, this is not the case. In some months of the year, the wind is always stronger than in others, just as some months are always sunnier than others. These patterns recur every year, unlike the rainy season, which can fail.” If large-scale wind and solar farms were built, this knowledge could help adapt reservoir management to better withstand dry periods.

“Ecuador could refill its reservoirs more quickly in the months when wind and solar plants reach peak production—since the need for hydropower to meet demand is reduced during that time,” says Tinne Mast (VUB), a colleague of Sterl and co-author of the study. “In very dry years, this could prevent a crisis scenario. Instead of depleting the reservoirs to the last drop, wind and solar power would be used to bridge the failed rainy season.”

In other words: wind and solar extend the availability of hydropower in time. Using energy model calculations, the researchers show that a buildout of wind and solar plants could largely avoid a repeat of the Ecuadorian energy crisis of 2024. This would require installing around 500 megawatt of capacity for wind and for solar each—for comparison, Ecuador’s largest hydropower plant has a capacity of 1500 megawatt. Thanks to the synergies between wind, solar, and hydro, this would reduce the unmet demand in extremely dry years by 90%, without Ecuador having to import a drop of additional fuel.

Towards a resilient Ecuadorian power system

Not only is the overall electricity generation boosted by wind and solar—in dry years, these energy sources also increase the power grid’s capability to respond to demand at peak times. This is a surprising discovery, because wind and sun normally contribute very little to peak capacity. After all, there is no guarantee that it will be windy or sunny at those times. “But what can be guaranteed, is that the reservoirs fill up better thanks to their interaction with wind and solar,” explains Sterl. “This prevents hydropower plants from becoming inoperative due to low water levels, and as a result, their peaking capacity is no longer lost during extreme droughts.”

According to the research team, this resilience strategy could serve as an example for other countries that are heavily hydropower-dependent. “This is hugely relevant in Latin America,” says Professor Luis E. Pineda of Yachay Tech, who co-authored the study. “Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Paraguay, Costa Rica...: their power generation comes largely from hydropower and is vulnerable to droughts, which could be mitigated by combining hydropower with solar and wind power. But elsewhere too, for example in Norway, Canada and China, dry periods have led to energy problems in recent years.”

With the frequency and severity of droughts projected to increase with rising global temperatures, and in the context of an increasingly unstable geopolitical world order, reducing the need for “emergency” procurement of fossil fuels during droughts is an example of climate resilience as well as of national security.

Their findings were published in the leading journal Nature Water in a paper entitled “Variable renewables fortify Ecuador’s power system against recurrences of drought-driven energy crises”.

Full reference: Sterl, Pineda, Mast, Rodriguez, Muñoz, and Thiery, 2026, Nature Water, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-026-00617-w.

Journal

Nature Water

DOI

10.1038/s44221-026-00617-w

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:11:53 +0000

The Persian-Parsi Identity – Analysis

Parsi wedding in India. Credit: The Parsees and the Towers of Silence at Bombay, India by William Thomas Fee, The National Geographic Magazine, Dec 1905, Wikipedia Commons

April 8, 2026
Gateway House
By Coomi Kapoor

With Iran in the news, the Parsi community in India is finding that their peripheral connection to the country evokes interest. Iran is the land of their very distant ancestry. Parsis are the followers of the prophet Zarathustra, who preached the ancient Persian faith, considered the world’s oldest monotheistic religion. It exercised a profound influence on later religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam on issues such as heaven, hell and the Day of Judgement.

Parsis see themselves as inheritors of the glorious traditions of two great Persian empires, the Achaemenid (550-330 BCE) and the Sassanid (224-651 CE). The ruins of Persepolis, standing majestically atop a hill, an architectural marvel of the ancient world, are a reminder of the legacy of the mighty Persian empire founded by Cyrus the Great was fortified by Darius the First. A replica of the `Cylinder of Cyrus’ from 539 BC is preserved in the United Nations building in New York and is acknowledged as the world’s first bill of human rights. The Old Testament refers to Cyrus, King of Persia, who conquered Babylon and set free the Jews who had lived in captivity for 70 years, allowing them to return to Jerusalem. The Book of Ezra refers to Cyrus as “Anointed of “The Lord”, a term normally reserved for Jewish prophets.

The Parsis fled Persia for India about a century after the Sassanid empire collapsed and Persia came under Arab control following the Battle of Nahavand in 642 CE. India and Persia were two ancient civilisations with a deep connection and similar roots. Their early dialects, Vedic Sanskrit and Avestan, are sister languages with many common words, sometimes with opposite meanings. Their religions have several common concepts, including the deification of fire. The commonalities between the two countries continue. The most obvious is an extensive vocabulary of familiar words: khush, jabardast, hafta, sal, pyar mohbat, muskeelian, meherbani, tehzeeb, etc.

Persian was the official language for the Indian courts, administration and literature under the Mughal emperors and even early British rule. The fabled mosques and palaces of Persia, with their brilliant colours and delicate workmanship, was the inspiration for India’s Mughal monuments. Great Persian poets like Firdosi, Omar Khayam, Hafez, Rumi and Sa’di had a huge impact on Indian literature. Despite their theocratic state, the Iranians have remained proud of their pre-Islamic heritage, whether it is Persepolis or the Tomb of Cyrus. The winged Farohar, symbol of the Zoroastrian deity Ahura Mazda, can be seen on some Islamic houses and across tourist shops in the country.

Anjuman Atash Bahram, Mumbai, with the winged Farohar symbol at the top. Image credits: Heritage India

Iranians constantly emphasised that they were Persian Aryans as opposed to being of Arabic origins like most of West Asia. Many Iranians steadfastly continue to celebrate the ancient spring festival of Navroze with flowers and fruit decorations despite the disapproval of hardline Muslim clerics.

The Persian civilisational journey is a contrast with that of Pakistan, which inherited the famous cradle of civilisation, Mohenjo Daro, in Sindh. Few Pakistanis visit this glorious site; the locals feel little ancestral connection to the site, preferring to trace their roots to West Asia and not to Mohenjo Daro, despite being of sub-continental ethnicity.

Persia and India’s impact on each other go back to antiquity. But the extent of the Persian influence on the Parsi identity is more difficult to quantify. Till the 19th century, and even today for formal occasions, the Parsis have elements of Persian style in their dress code, including covering their heads. Men still wear long, stiff, lacquered black pagris or black prayer caps to the fire temple. Parsi women took to the sari early, but Persian elegance with bold colours and refined design is seen in their Chinese-style embroidered gharas. Their success in cultivating fruit orchards, usually chikoos or mangoes. is often attributed to their Persian heritage.

Wedding photograph of a Parsi couple in traditional attire from the 1900’s. Image credits: Chitravali

Rock icon Freddie Mercury, though a Parsi who consciously tried to hide his identity, in an unguarded moment admitted that his flamboyant persona was because he was a “Persian Popinjay”.

Farrokh Bulsara, aka Freddie Mercury (centre), with his father, Bomi, and mother, Jer Bulsara, who were a part of the Parsi community from Bulsar (present-day Valsad), Gujarat. Image credits: Mid-Day

Persian influence is also glimpsed in Parsi food, where fruit and nuts are common embellishments in savoury dishes. The later Zoroastrian immigrants, the Iranis, who arrived in India in the 19th and 20th centuries looking for better opportunities, set up several bakeries and cafes in Mumbai in the style of those back in Iran. Most familiar Parsi names, such as Meher, Feroze, Hormaz, Darius, Jamshed, Dinshaw, Rustom, Sorab, Niloufer, Roxana et al., continue to be popular not just in Iran but all over West Asia. The names are from Avestan times and appear in Zoroastrian folklore and history.

Yazdani Bakery, 73 years old, is one of Mumbai’s iconic Iranian bakeries. Much loved by locals, it has been cherished through paintings and artworks, as seen on the left.

Despite this deep cultural connect, however, Parsis do not identify with Iran as the mother country. They left for India in the eighth century after more than a 100 years of religious persecution following the Arab invasion of Persia and assimilated completely with India, even while rigidly maintaining their own identity and religion. The local people named the new arrivals Parsis since they came from the Pars region in Iran. Zoroastrians who left Iran, however, retained ties with their co-religionists back home over the centuries through messages known as Rivayats. But while initially it was the Indian side which deferred to the spiritual advice from their fellow believers in Iran, gradually the tables turned as the Parsis became more prosperous and influential and the Iranian Zoroastrians more marginalised.

For instance, when the Iranian Zoroastrians pointed out the inaccuracies in the Parsi calendar, with spring falling in August, many Parsi scholars declined to own their mistake in calculation. While back in Iran and much of Central Asia, modern-day Navroze and spring are ushered in on the basis of the vernal equinox and not calendars. Orthodox Parsis stick dogmatically to their own calendar. They did eventually reach a compromise – but only to dub the new equinox festival as Jamshedji Navroz.

In the mid-nineteenth century, prominent Parsis, enlisting the help of the British government, sought to alleviate the lot of their Zoroastrian brethren in Iran by getting the jizya tax – levied for centuries by the Muslim rulers on all non-Muslim communities such as Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians was abolished by 1882, encouraging them to settle in India with their assistance.

The 20th century’s self-anointed Iranian monarchs, Reza Shah Pahlavi and his son Mohammed Reza Shah II, impressed with the achievements of the progressive Parsis in India, attempted to persuade them to return to Iran. Though Parsis often referred approvingly to II as “apro Shah” (Our Shah) since his family has assumed the title Pahlavi from pre-Islamic Persia and he celebrated the 2,500-year anniversary of Cyrus’s dynasty with jaw-dropping extravagance, he could not be enticed to leave India. The Shah, by playing up Persia’s ancient glory, only further alienated the Muslim theocracy and may have contributed to the Islamic revolution.[1]

In 19th-century British Raj India, Christian missionaries who converted a Parsi boy taunted the Parsis, suggesting that they recited their prayers by rote without understanding them. This motivated the Parsis to take renewed interest in learning the dead languages of Persia, in which their scriptures are written. The generations of Parsi boys were made to study the language of their liturgical texts in Avestan, the extinct Persian language dating back to 1500 BCE.

It has similarities to Vedic Sanskrit and Pahlavi spoken from the 3rd to the 7th century CE. Today, Zoroastrianism and the early Persian language are taught in a few educational institutions in India, such as the K.R. Cama Oriental Institute in Mumbai and the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, and some centres in the West, such as SOAS in London, are funded by Parsi trusts. But in present-day Iran, there seems to be little interest in learning this ancient language.

[1] Avesta.org. “The Persian Rivayats.” Edited by Ervad Bamanji Nusserwanji Dhabhar.
https://www.avesta.org/rivayats/rivayats.htm

About the author:

Coomi Kapoor is the author of The Tatas, Freddie Mercury and Other Bawas: An Intimate History of the Parsis.

Source: This article was written for Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations.

Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations is a foreign policy think-tank established in 2009, to engage India’s leading corporations and individuals in debate and scholarship on India’s foreign policy and its role in global affairs. Gateway House’s studies programme will be at the heart of the institute’s scholarship, with original research by global and local scholars in Geo-economics, Geopolitics, Foreign Policy analysis, Bilateral relations, Democracy and nation-building, National security, ethnic conflict and terrorism, Science, technology and innovation, and Energy and Environment.

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:07:51 +0000

As Emerging Markets Attract More Nonbank Capital, They Also Face New Challenges – Analysis

April 8, 2026
By Salih Fendoglu, Mahvash S. Qureshi and Felix Suntheim
published by IMF Blog

Emerging-market firms and governments seeking funding from abroad are increasingly looking beyond banks to nonbank sources. As we discuss in an analytical chapter of the latest Global Financial Stability Report, this trend delivers important benefits but also poses new risks—notably greater vulnerability to a sudden reversal in capital flows when global shocks occur.

Since the global financial crisis, portfolio flows to emerging markets have increased eightfold, reaching about $4 trillion in cumulative terms, compared with a more modest increase in bank flows. Most of these inflows take the form of debt: portfolio debt liabilities now average about 15 percent of gross domestic product in emerging markets, up from around 9 percent in 2006. Eighty percent of this capital is provided by nonbanks, including investment funds, hedge funds, pension funds and insurance companies, twice the share seen 20 years ago.

For borrowers in emerging markets, the advantages can be significant. Plentiful capital can lower financing costs, supporting higher investment and stronger productivity growth. Market-based finance can help firms integrate into global value chains, a key driver of exports, by easing access to funding for trade, working capital, and other needs that increase their productive capacity. Over time, sustained access to international capital markets can also help deepen domestic financial systems and support long-term financial development.

At the same time, portfolio flows to emerging markets tend to be more volatile than bank flows and are increasingly sensitive to global risk conditions, as our analysis shows. Abrupt retrenchments can intensify external financing pressures, raise borrowing costs, and trigger sharp currency depreciations, leading to financial strains that weigh on economic growth. These risks have come to the fore in the context of the war in the Middle East, as several emerging markets are experiencing a reversal of capital flows from nonresident nonbank investors.

To gauge these effects, we use a one-standard-deviation increase in a widely used measure of global risk appetite, the CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX. This is roughly equivalent to the measure’s surge during the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate increases in early 2022. Such a jump is associated with portfolio debt outflows from emerging markets of about 1 percent of quarterly GDP on average (corresponding to a 0.3 standard deviation decline in flows relative to GDP). Outflows from investment funds are roughly twice as large. These effects are likely larger in countries with weaker fundamentals, such as higher public debt burdens, less adequate international reserve buffers, and weaker institutional quality.

Why are portfolio debt flows from nonbank financial investors so volatile? The reasons vary across investor groups.

Investment funds, which account for the bulk of portfolio investments in emerging markets, can be exposed to sudden redemption pressures, forcing them to sell assets quickly. Benchmark-driven strategies, such as those used by passive funds and most exchange-traded funds, automatically adjust portfolios when index weights change, increasing the risk of synchronized asset sales. Hedge funds, an increasingly important investor group in some emerging markets, often use leverage to amplify returns.

Such strategies can create vulnerabilities, as rising market volatility may trigger margin calls or risk limits, forcing asset sales and amplifying price pressures. Moreover, post‑2008 regulatory reforms that constrained the risk-taking capacity of global banks have likely pushed riskier borrowers toward nonbank financing. The result: reduced sensitivity of bank‑based financing to global risk, and increased sensitivity for market‑based nonbank financing.

Among nonbank investors, hedge funds and mutual funds are most sensitive to changes in global risk, while other investor groups such as pension funds and insurance companies tend to be more stable. For example, a VIX surge is associated with a decline of 1.3 percent in hedge funds’ holdings of emerging market securities. Mutual funds also retrench, but by a smaller amount—around 0.6 percent—broadly in line with the average response of all nonresident nonbank financial investors. By contrast, holdings by insurance companies and pension funds do not show a statistically significant response to the same shock.

Private credit, a fast-growing and relatively opaque segment of nonbank finance, poses additional challenges. In emerging markets, private credit—mainly direct lending to companies by nonbank investors—has expanded rapidly, with estimated assets under management increasing fivefold over the past decade to between $50 billion and $100 billion. While private credit can broaden access to capital, gaps in transparency and data availability may make it hard to quickly identify vulnerabilities or potential risks to financial stability.
Building resilience

Our analysis underscores the need for emerging market policy makers to closely monitor the composition of the nonbank investor base when assessing financial stability risks. Strengthening institutional quality and maintaining adequate fiscal and external buffers can also help mitigate capital flow volatility and attract more stable, long-term external investment.

In addition, a combination of measures—including monetary policy and exchange rate flexibility, complemented where appropriate by foreign exchange intervention—and macroprudential tools can help contain vulnerabilities and protect against potential risks. The IMF’s Integrated Policy Framework provides guidance on calibrating the appropriate mix and sequencing of these policy tools.

Systemwide stress tests, which simulate the impact of severe but plausible economic shocks, can further help gauge the resilience of the financial system to sudden capital flow reversals and ensure that financial institutions hold adequate capital and liquidity buffers.

Finally, stronger international cooperation is essential to close regulatory and data gaps and to limit the undesirable cross-border effects of global financial shocks.

—This article is based on Chapter 2 of the April 2026 Global Financial Stability Report, Capital Flows to Emerging Markets: The Role of Global Nonbank Investors.

About the authors:

Salih Fendoglu is a Senior Financial Sector Expert in the Monetary and Capital Markets Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He works in the Global Financial Stability Analysis Division, where he regularly contributes to the thematic chapters of the Global Financial Stability Report. He has also participated in the IMF’s Article IV surveillance and the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) for Japan.

Mahvash S. Qureshi is an Assistant Director and Division Chief in the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department, where she heads the Global Financial Stability Analysis Division and oversees production of the analytical chapters of the Global Financial Stability Report.

Felix Suntheim is a Deputy Division Chief in the Global Financial Stability Analysis Division of the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department. Previously, he worked in the Economics Department at the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority.

Source: This article was published by IMF Blog

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:04:23 +0000

Putin Seen Making Ever More Mistakes, Sending Approval Rating Down – Analysis

April 8, 2026
By Paul Goble

Russian anger over President Vladimir Putin’s moves against the internet is growing and spreading even to groups long thought to be his most loyal supporters (The Moscow Times; Kavkaz Realii; Vazhnye Istorii, April 3; see EDM, April 6). Russian commentators are pointing to other mistakes the Kremlin leader has been making, and polls show that his approval rating is falling to the lowest level since before he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine (The Moscow Times; Agentstvo; Radio Svoboda, April 3). He now faces a buildup of negativity that one Russian sociologist calls “a perfect storm” (Echo, April 5).

There are even signs—and this is surely more important in the Russian system—that opposition to Putin’s policies is spreading within Russian elites, increasing the likelihood that they will coalesce into groups that will seek and perhaps even succeed in blocking Kremlin policies that they do not approve of (Agentstvo, April 4).

None of this, to be sure, means Putin is about to be overthrown—all of it could lead him, as it has in the past when he felt at all cornered, to take even more repressive and aggressive steps. This combination of factors, however, does suggest that he will no longer be able to act as if opposition is irrelevant and will likely have to devote more time to rebuilding his authority among elites and in the population than he has in recent times.

Putin’s moves against the internet are increasingly unpopular because they have affected the lives of so many Russians, including members of the elite in government, the military, and business, who have grown accustomed to using various internet channels (see EDM, April 2;Agentstvo, April 4).

Recent polls show that support for and trust in the Kremlin leader have fallen to seven-year lows. The decline reflects anger over his internet policies, a flood of bad news at home and abroad in recent months, and signs that Putin does not intend to change course. This marks a shift from the past, when he often backed away from the more extreme aspects of his policies or sought to isolate unpopular ones by restricting their impact, as was the case with his war against Ukraine, where, instead of general mobilization, he relied on huge bonuses to encourage enlistment (see EDM, September 11, 23, October 9, 21,November 5, 2025, February 12, March 2).

That policy, however, is also failing. In 2022, only 15 percent of Russians had a close relative in the war. Now more than twice that share do (Echo, April 5). Russian analysts argue that popular anger over Putin’s moves against the internet is compounded by other concerns, including the lack of progress in Ukraine toward either victory or peace, failures in Venezuela and Iran, and deteriorating economic and social conditions at home (The Moscow Times, April 3).

Putin has responded to protests about the internet in two ways—repression and silence. He has ordered widespread arrests and detentions of those who have taken to the streets to protest his actions. He has not spoken out about the internet restrictions or any of these other problems in recent times, reducing his public appearances in the last quarter by a significant amount compared to a year ago (see EDM, April 6). The Kremlin leader may assume that repression is enough, but his failure to address various issues may result in an even larger problem, analysts say, as it contributes to the sense that he is out of touch (The Moscow Times, April 3).

The Kremlin leader may not care very much about popular opposition to his internet policies. He still has reliable security forces to control the situation, and his popularity ratings are above 60 percent in polls released by his regime (Echo, April 5). Putin certainly has reason to worry about the appearance of opposition to his internet policies among members of his elite, especially technocratic groups that favor development over tighter control. Ever more members of these groups have been speaking out, contributing to the sense, not only among other elite groups but also in the Russian population, that splits are developing in the Kremlin. This perception encourages others to resist, in the hope of tipping the political balance away from Putin and toward those who share their views (Echo, April 5). [1]

The question now is how far this process, involving the alienation of the Russian population and of Russian elites beyond the super-loyalist siloviki segment, will go. Russian commentator Sergey Shelin suggests that Putin has been committing more mistakes and angering more ordinary people and members of the elites than at any time since he began his expanded war against Ukraine. While the situation has not yet reached a critical level and, as a result, Putin may be able to ride out this storm, it will come with increased difficulty, especially if he does not return to the tactics he used in earlier crises his regime has faced (The Moscow Times, April 3).

In six earlier crises since Putin became president, Shelin says, the Kremlin leader not only took public positions to seize the propagandistic high ground but also modified his policies. This signaled that he was paying attention to the population and would avoid angering it more than he felt necessary. Now Putin is doing neither, however, appearing in public far less frequently and showing no signs of being willing to modify his original decisions. This increasingly sclerotic approach has come to a head over the last three months, as the Kremlin has suffered a series of policy defeats abroad amid a rising tide of problems at home. Dictators fail when the number of problems grows too large for them to handle. Such rulers, however, risk serious problems if they do not show themselves responding to crises and act as if they are not required to (The Moscow Times, April 3).

That is where the Putin dictatorship now stands. The number of problems is growing, although likely not yet to the point where they alone will be enough to bring the Kremlin leader down, Shelin suggests. Putin’s failure to react now is undermining his rule, perhaps not enough to lead to his ouster in the immediate future but likely reducing the number of additional crises that could prove sufficient to produce that outcome.

[1] For a detailed, heavily footnoted survey of who among the Russian elites has spoken out on Putin’s moves against the internet, see, in particular, the compilation at Agentstvo, April 4.

This article was published at The Jamestown Foundation

Paul Goble

Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia. Most recently, he was director of research and publications at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy. Earlier, he served as vice dean for the social sciences and humanities at Audentes University in Tallinn and a senior research associate at the EuroCollege of the University of Tartu in Estonia. He has served in various capacities in the U.S. State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the International Broadcasting Bureau as well as at the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mr. Goble maintains the Window on Eurasia blog and can be contacted directly at paul.goble@gmail.com .

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:53:40 +0000

U.S. Army’s Dark Eagle:

America’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) – Analysis

Artist notional rendering of the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon, Dark Eagle.

Photo credit: Lockheed Martin.

April 8, 2026
The Congressional Research Service (CRS
By Andrew Feickert and Ebrima M’Bai

What Is the Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon?

The Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW)—also known as Dark Eagle —with a reported range of 1,725 miles, consists of a ground-launched missile equipped with a hypersonic glide body and associated transport, support, and fire control equipment. The LRHW is intended to provide the Army with a long-range, conventional precision strike capability against time sensitive and heavily defended targets, particularly in contested environments.

The Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) notes that, “Army commanders will use the LRHW (Dark Eagle) to engage adversary high-payoff and time-sensitive targets. U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), with direction from the National Command Authority, will serve as the employment authority for LRHW missions.”

On April 24, 2025, the Army formally designated the LRHW as the Dark Eagle.

LRHW Components

Missile

The missile component of the LRHW is being developed by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. When the hypersonic glide body is attached, it is referred to as the Navy-Army All Up Round plus Canister (AUR+C). The missile component serves as the common two-stage booster for the Army’s LRHW and the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) system, which can be fired from both surface vessels and submarines.
Common Hypersonic Glide Body

The Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB) is based on the Alternate Re-Entry System developed by the Army and Sandia National Laboratories. Dynetics, a subsidiary of Leidos, currently is under contract to produce C-HGB prototypes for the Army and Navy. The C-HGB uses a booster rocket motor to accelerate to well above hypersonic speeds and then jettisons the expended rocket booster. The C-HGB, which can travel at Mach 5 or higher on its own, is planned to be maneuverable, potentially making it more difficult to detect and intercept.

LRHW Organization and Units

The LRHW battalion is organized into batteries. According to the Army, the “LRHW system [battery] consists of Army ground support equipment—one battery operations center (BOC), four transporter erector launchers, a BOC support vehicle and up to eight All-Up Rounds plus Canister.”

The 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), WA, was designated to operate the first battery of eight LRHW missiles. The battalion, also referred to as the Long-Range Fires Battalion, is part of the Army’s 1st Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF), a unit in the Indo-Pacific-oriented I Corps stationed at JBLM. Other LRHW batteries are planned for Long-Range Fires Battalions in the remaining MDTFs scheduled for activation.

LRHW Testing and Program Activities

According to the January 2023 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study U.S. Hypersonic Weapons and Alternatives, extensive flight testing is necessary to shield “hypersonic missiles’ sensitive electronics” to understand “how various materials perform,” and predict “aerodynamics at sustained temperatures as high as 3,000° Fahrenheit.” The Army originally planned for three flight tests of the LRHW before the first battery fielding in FY2023. On October 21, 2021, the booster rocket carrying the C-HGB vehicle reportedly failed a test flight, resulting in what defense officials characterized as a “no test,” as the C-HGB had no chance to deploy. Reportedly, a June 2022 test of the entire LRHW missile also resulted in failure.

Flight Test Delays

In October 2022, the Department of Defense (DOD), which is “using a secondary Department of War designation” under Executive Order 14347 dated September 5, 2025, “delayed a scheduled LRHW test to assess the root cause of the June 2022 no-test.”
March 2023 LRHW Test Scrubbed

On March 10, 2023, it was reported that. “On March 5, [DOD] was preparing to execute Joint Flight Campaign-2 featuring the Army version of the prototype weapon launched at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, FL, when the countdown was halted…. “As a result of pre-flight checks during that event, the test did not occur.”

Cancelled September 2023 LRHW Test and Program Delay

On September 6, 2023, it was reported that, “[DOD] “planned to conduct a flight test at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, to inform hypersonic technology development. As a result of pre-flight checks, the test did not occur.”

On September 14, 2023, in an Army statement to Bloomberg News, the Army reportedly acknowledged it would not be able to meet its goal of deploying the LRHW by the end of FY2023.

Successful LRHW Flight Test

On June 28, 2024, DOD announced that, “The U.S. Navy and U.S. Army recently completed an end-to-end flight test of a hypersonic missile from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, HI.”

Reportedly, the two-stage missile was launched from a ground stand in Hawaii across the Pacific Ocean more than 2,000 miles to a test range in the Marshall Islands, with the missile flying its intended course and releasing the C-HGB, which flew to the target.

December 2024 LRHW Flight Test

On December 12, 2024, DOD announced that, “The U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, in collaboration with the U.S. Navy Strategic Systems Programs, recently completed a successful end-to-end flight test of a conventional hypersonic missile from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.”

This is the second successful end-to-end flight test of the All Up Round (AUR) this year and was the first live-fire event for the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon system using a Battery Operations Center and a Transporter Erector Launcher.

March 2026 LRHW Flight Test

On April 2, 2026, DOD announced that, “The U.S. Army’s Portfolio Acquisition Executive Fires, in partnership with the U.S. Navy’s Portfolio Acquisition Executive Strategic Systems Programs, conducted a successful launch of a common hypersonic missile from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, on March 26, 2026.”
First Operational LRWH Fielding Expected

Reportedly, on March 20, 2026, an Army official stated that “the Dark Eagle battery based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord [JBLM] in the Pacific Northwest will receive its first operational [LRHW] missiles soon” and that “Bravo Battery, 1st Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Multi-Domain Task Force, based at JBLM, has been designated to operate” the LRHW.

LRHW Procurement and Estimated Missile Cost

According to the January 2023 CBO study, purchasing 300 Intermediate-Range Hypersonic Boost-Glide Missiles (similar to the LRHW) was estimated to cost $41 million per missile (in 2023 dollars).

In CRS discussions with Army program officials, the Army stated that the “fly away cost” for the eight missiles requested in the Army’s FY2025 budget request would exceed CBO’s 2023 per missile cost estimate, but future missile costs could likely decrease as order quantities increased.

During June 4 and 5, 2025, Army Posture testimony to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, then Chief of Staff of the Army General Randy George stated the following regarding the LRHW:

We are getting ready to do some tests this summer, with long-range missiles that are a tenth of the price. And when you start talking about “magazine depth” … we can invest in things that are much more cost-effective.

Oversight Consideration for Congress

Congress could consider additional oversight of the LRHW program.

LRHW Missile Costs, Operational Testing, and Stockpile

Congress has expressed its concern regarding the cost of LRHW missiles as well as further operational testing and missile stockpile requirements. As the Army begins procurement of its first eight missiles, continues fielding LRHW batteries, conducts additional operational tests, and builds missile stockpiles, Congress might decide to require more frequent updates from Army program officials. Enhanced oversight of the LRHW program as it attempts to achieve full operational capability could better inform future congressional budgetary decisions and the program’s overall direction.

About the authors:

Andrew Feickert, Specialist in Military Ground Forces
Ebrima M’Bai, U.S. Army Fellow

Source: This article was published by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) works exclusively for the United States Congress, providing policy and legal analysis to committees and Members of both the House and Senate, regardless of party affiliation. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS has been a valued and respected resource on Capitol Hill for nearly a century.

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:11:07 +0000

Engineered bacteria unlock seaweed potential: dual enzyme system enables complete alginate depolymerization

HEP Data Cooperation Journals

image:

Growth and production of riboflavin in E. coli using alginate depolymerized by heterologously expressed alyB and alyD as sole carbon source.

Credit: HIGHER EDUCATION PRESS

Alginate constitutes 30%–60% of the polysaccharide content in brown seaweed and represents a promising renewable resource. However, its high molecular weight and complex block structure have limited industrial applications. The research team heterologously expressed alyB and alyD genes from the marine bacterium Vibrio algivorus in C. glutamicum, an industrial workhorse traditionally used for amino acid production.
Findings revealed that AlyB and AlyD possess distinct but complementary modes of action. AlyB exhibits endo-activity, cleaving alginate internally to produce oligomers, while AlyD acts exo-lytically on these products to release monosaccharides. Together, they achieve complete depolymerization. Notably, the researchers discovered that AlyB displays C-5 epimerization activity, which is the first report of such activity in the PL7 family of polysaccharide lyases.
To demonstrate practical application, the team used the enzyme-treated alginate to support growth of engineered E. coli producing riboflavin (vitamin B2), achieving concentrations of 2.1 μg/mL. The research provides a foundation for developing integrated bioprocesses that couple alginate degradation with biosynthesis, potentially enabling sustainable production of food additives, biochemicals, and biofuels from seaweed resources.
The work entitled “Heterologous expression and functional characterization of two alginate lyases in Corynebacterium glutamicum” was published on Systems Microbiology and Biomanufacturing (published on January 07, 2026).

Journal

Systems Microbiology and Biomanufacturing

DOI

10.1007/s43393-025-00432-6

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Heterologous expression and functional characterization of two alginate lyases in Corynebacterium glutamicum

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:17:22 +0000

How electric cars could help tropical cities run on solar

A Columbia Engineering study shows how neighborhood-level electric vehicle charging could let tropical cities expand solar energy without costly grid upgrades.

Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science

image:

These illustrations show how electric vehicles can help balance a city’s power grid as solar generation fluctuates during passing thunderstorms.

Credit: Urban Systems Engineering Lab

In tropical cities, afternoon thunderstorms can plunge entire neighborhoods into brief moments of darkness.

When civil engineer Markus Schläpfer moved to Singapore a decade ago, he recognized these thunderstorms as an emerging engineering challenge. For cities that hope to run on solar energy, these short periods without strong sunlight could destabilize urban power grids and undermine reliability.

In a new paper, published April 7 in Nature Communications, Schläpfer and collaborators explain how tropical cities, which will soon contain half of the global population, can address this problem without expensive infrastructure build-outs. For Schläpfer, the solution lies in connecting electric vehicles to the grid.

"If you have a thunderstorm moving over an area with solar energy, you can have your electric cars that are parked serve as the energy source and balance out this lack of energy generation," said Schläpfer, assistant professor of civil engineering and engineering mechanics at Columbia Engineering. “When the thunderstorm moves away, the cars are charged again by the photovoltaics.”

The hidden cost of going solar

Solar photovoltaics (PV) have become one of the cheapest sources of energy on the planet. PV energy is inexpensive, carbon-free, and reliable — when the sun is shining. When thunderstorms cut off power generation in one neighborhood, electricity has to travel from neighboring regions that are generating power. While that trip may only be a mile or two, the amount of electricity flowing through powerlines can easily overwhelm the grid’s capacity.

Traditionally, fixing a problem like this would require new infrastructure, but that comes with significant drawbacks. In dense cities, such projects can be staggeringly expensive. Underground transmission lines in Singapore, for example, cost around 60 million Singapore dollars per kilometer.

“Building new infrastructure is extremely challenging and expensive in dense cities,” Schläpfer said. “This is a way to use the existing network in a more efficient way and integrate more solar photovoltaics, which would otherwise need more transmission line capacity.”

Batteries already on the road

Researchers across the world are exploring the possibility of using electric vehicles — namely their batteries — as a substitute for new grid capacity. The idea is simple: since electric vehicles have high-capacity batteries that connect to the grid through charging cables, the grid should be able to use the energy stored in these batteries as a backup during short-lived lulls in PV generation.

"Car batteries can feed in the electricity stored in their batteries to the grid," Schläpfer explained. "We do not need to import the electricity from nearby neighborhoods. Therefore, we do not need to install a new cable.”

When a thunderstorm cuts off solar generation in a neighborhood, nearby parked cars discharge stored energy into the local grid, absorbing the shortfall without requiring power to travel from elsewhere. When the storm passes, the panels recharge the cars.

The right scale for the problem

Schläpfer’s paper demonstrates the importance of scale in developing a strategy for charging and discharging EV batteries for this purpose. A conventional city-wide optimization strategy can make things worse: by smoothing aggregate demand, it allows local imbalances to accumulate, forcing the system to push large amounts of electricity across longer distances. According to the team’s research, loads traveling through some transmission lines more than doubled during thunderstorms.

A better approach is managing charging neighborhood by neighborhood — in this case, across Singapore's 55 urban planning areas — to reduce maximum line loads by roughly 18 percent on storm days while also smoothing the broader daily demand curve.

"It's one of those things that only seems intuitive once you see it," Schläpfer said. "This potential hasn’t really been explored before."

Where cars park matters

The method's effectiveness depends on where cars are parked. Residential neighborhoods empty out during the day, leaving fewer batteries available when solar generation peaks. Commercial districts show the reverse. The researchers mapped these patterns using anonymized, aggregated mobile phone data, which provided a level of detail that allowed for more accurate models.

Crucially, the approach works even where car ownership is low. Singapore has roughly one vehicle per eight residents.

"This solution is really working in very car-light environments," Schläpfer said. "We need only a small number of cars, and it works."

Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

Water on the moon? New study narrows down the mostly likely locations

University of Colorado at Boulder

Water likely accumulated on the moon slowly over billions of years, rather than during one big event, according to a new study by an international team of scientists

The researchers, including Paul Hayne, a planetary scientist at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder, published their findings April 7 in the journal Nature Astronomy.

The study gets at a lunar mystery that has puzzled scientists for decades. Observations from NASA missions and other sources have provided tantalizing hints that water might be plentiful on the moon. It gathers as ice in the deep, dark craters around the moon’s South Pole.

But how that ice got there, or why it seems to exist in some craters but not others, hasn’t been clear.

The team’s findings can’t pin down the exact source, but they rule out a few possibilities—including water arriving on the moon at once on a humongous comet crashing into the lunar surface.

“It looks like the moon’s oldest craters also have the most ice,” said Hayne, an associate professor in the Department of Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences. “That implies the moon has been accumulating water more or less continuously for as much as 3 or 3.5 billion years.”

Water on the moon would be a goldmine for astronauts, Hayne said. Future lunar explorers could mine ice for drinking water, or even to produce rocket fuel by splitting apart the hydrogen and oxygen atoms.

“Finding water beyond Earth in liquid and usable form is one of the most important challenges in astronomy,” said Oded Aharonson, lead author of the study and a planetary scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, in a press release [link to WIS release].

Permanent lunar shadows

Hayne cited several possible sources for the moon’s water: Volcanoes in the distant past may have transported water from deep inside the moon to its surface. Water may have also traveled to the moon on comets or asteroids, and it may have arrived via solar wind—a steady stream of charged particles that flows away from the sun and into the solar system.

“Through the solar wind, a constant stream of hydrogen bombards the moon, and some of that hydrogen can be converted to water on the lunar surface,” Hayne said.

Regardless of where the water came from, scientists like Hayne are fairly certain that ice has built up in what are known as “cold traps”—craters on the lunar surface that exist in permanent shadow and haven’t seen the sun for, in some cases, billions of years.

Observations from the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) instrument on the NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter(LRO), which launched in 2009, found evidence of what might be ice in some of those craters.

“What’s clear is that the ice has a patchy distribution,” Hayne said. “It’s not concentrated in the same quantities in every crater. And there was no great explanation for that.”

Ice boxes

Hayne, Aharonson and co-author Norbert Schörghofer wanted to come up with an explanation—and to do that, they hit rewind on the moon’s history. Aharaonson led the work as a visiting scholar at CU Boulder in 2025. The team used lunar surface temperature data from LRO’s Diviner instrument and a series of computer simulations to estimate the evolution of craters on the lunar surface.

Hayne noted that the moon didn’t always sit in the orientation we know today. Instead, its tilt relative to Earth has shifted over time. As a result, craters that are in shadow today may not always have been in shadow.

Drawing on their simulations, the researchers came up with a list of the moon’s cold traps that have been darkest the longest.

The team also discovered something intriguing: The moon’s oldest and darkest craters are also where LAMP had seen the greatest signs of ice.

The team’s results may give astronauts hints about where to go looking for water. The moon’s Haworth Crater, which sits near the South Pole, for example, has likely been in shadow for more than 3 billion years. It’s a top candidate for storing a lot of ice, Hayne said.

The planetary scientist said that researchers need to collect more detailed observations of craters on the moon that may harbor ice. He’s developing a new instrument to do just that called the Lunar Compact Infrared Imaging System (L-CIRiS), which NASA plans to deploy near the moon’s South Pole in late 2027

“Ultimately, the question of the source of the moon’s water will only be solved by sample analysis,” he said. “We will need to go to the moon to analyze those samples there or find ways to bring them from the moon back to Earth.”

Journal

Nature Astronomy

DOI

10.1038/s41550-026-02822-9

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:12:31 +0000

‘Reinforced concrete’ architecture enables strong composites with superior electromagnetic wave absorption

HEP Data Cooperation Journals

image:

image

Credit: HIGHER EDUCATION PRESS

With the rapid development of wireless communication technologies, electromagnetic radiation pollution has become a growing concern. This highlights an urgent need for high-performance electromagnetic wave absorbing (EWA) materials that are lightweight, broadband, well impedance-matched, and mechanically robust. However, achieving both superior absorption and high mechanical strength in a single material remains challenging. Although Ti3C2Tx MXene shows promise due to its layered structure and electrical properties, its high reflectivity, low absorption, and brittleness limit its application.
Inspired by the “reinforced concrete” concept, this study proposes a novel composite design. Core-shell structured CF@PANI acts as the “reinforcement”, while a micro-layered Fe3O4/PDA/Ti3C2Tx serves as the “concrete” matrix. These components are integrated through a combined method of in-situ polymerization, mineralization, and electrostatic self-assembly, driven by charge attraction and hydrogen bonding.
Structural characterization confirmed the successful formation of the core-shell CF@PANI and its uniform composite with Fe3O4/PDA/Ti3C2Tx at an optimal ratio, creating a hierarchical porous structure with multiple heterogeneous interfaces. The composite with a CF@PANI to Fe3O4/PDA/Ti3C2Tx mass ratio of 0.75 (CPFT-0.75) demonstrated exceptional EMW absorption: a minimum reflection loss of −37.34 dB at 13.76 GHz with a thickness of only 1.5 mm, an effective absorption bandwidth of 3.28 GHz, and near-perfect impedance matching. This performance stems from synergistic interfacial polarization, conductive loss, magnetic loss, and multiple scattering. Furthermore, the “reinforced concrete” structure effectively toughened the material. The CPFT-1.0 sample exhibited a balanced rigidity and toughness, with a Young’s modulus of 20.8 MPa, tensile strength of 3.63 MPa, and fracture elongation of 10.98 %. This work provides a viable strategy for designing lightweight, high-performance, and mechanically robust EWA materials by biomimetic structural design.
The work titled “Strengthening of Fe3O4/Ti3C2Tx MXene/CF@PANI composites with ‘reinforced concrete’ structure and high electromagnetic wave absorption performance”, was published on Acta Physico-Chimica Sinica (published on January 24, 2026).

Journal

Acta Physico-Chimica Sinica

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Strengthening of Fe3O4/Ti3C2Tx MXene/CF@PANI composites with ‘reinforced concrete’ structure and high electromagnetic wave absorption performance

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:23:01 +0000

The world could run out of chocolate by 2050

Is the world going to run out of chocolate by 2050? The accelerating climate crisis is making it more difficult to grow cacoa plants. / bne IntelliNews

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By bne IntelliNews April 7, 2026

The world could face a severe shortage of chocolate by 2050 as climate change disrupts cocoa production in key growing regions, according to scientific estimates and industry data.

Rising temperatures and declining rainfall in West Africa — particularly in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, which together account for up to 70% of global cocoa output — are placing increasing strain on crop yields. Researchers warn that as much as half of the land currently suitable for cocoa cultivation could become unusable within the next 25 years. But over the past two years, cocoa production has plummeted by as much as 40% due to changes in the weather.

The last three years have been the hottest in recorded history and even hotter years are ahead as the Climate Crisis accelerates faster than scientists predicted. For every 1℃ increase in air temperature, the atmosphere is able to hold around seven per cent more moisture, which can cause more intense and heavy rainfall. Cocoa plants love humidity, but they drown if there is too much rain.

That is already dramatically changing rainfall patterns that threaten to turn formerly fertile regions into barren wastelands and make parts of the planet uninhabitable for human life and unproductive for agriculture.

The projected decline reflects cocoa’s sensitivity to climatic conditions. The crop requires a narrow range of temperature, humidity and rainfall, leaving it vulnerable to even modest environmental shifts. Prolonged dry seasons and higher average temperatures have already begun to reduce productivity in some areas.

Ghana raised the price it pays cocoa farmers by more than 60% for the 2025/26 season to pressure top producer Ivory Coast and boost production. Ghana's cocoa industry was on the brink of crisis in 2024 as local Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) face potential collapse, threatening the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and destabilising the country's cocoa supply chain

The tightening supply outlook has been reflected in global markets. Cocoa prices have surged by more than 400% in recent years, driven by poor harvests and mounting concerns over long-term availability. The sharp increase has added pressure on manufacturers, many of whom have responded by reducing the size of chocolate products while maintaining prices.

Industry participants are also exploring adaptation strategies, including the development of more resilient cocoa varieties and shifting cultivation to higher altitudes. However, such measures face logistical and economic constraints, particularly for smallholder farmers who dominate production in West Africa.

The cocoa belt sits in the band 20 degrees north and south of the equator, where there are the best conditions to grow the cocoa trees, everywhere from Mexico to Fiji. The steady moisture a cocoa tree needs to thrive is being replaced with consistent rainfall along with a climb in temperature as weather patterns move due to global warming.

In 2024 Côte d'Ivoire saw 40% more rain than expected, submerging plantations and damaging crops. By December, the rains had vanished, leaving cocoa trees to wither in scorching heat. In Peru, wildfires destroyed vast areas of farmland, in Mexico, cocoa farming is on the decline as extreme heat and erratic rainfall push young farmers to abandon the industry altogether. And in Brazil, Ecuador, and Indonesia, rising temperatures and unpredictable weather patterns are putting cocoa production at risk.

In addition to climate change, a fungus has plagued cocoa plants in South America for decades. However, scientists from the University of California, UC Berkley, are using CRISPR gene-editing to tweak the DNA of cocoa to make it more disease-resistant, according to reports.

Researchers are already looking for alternatives to keep the billion-dollar chocolate industry going and focused on carob, a climate-resilient plant grown in the Mediterranean that thrives in hot, arid climates with very low water requirements. After roasting, it releases a "unique aroma” that resembles cocoa – but doesn’t quite taste the same. But through the use of enzymes to increase bitterness and enhance sweetness, researchers are hoping to create a viable alternative.

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:19:47 +0000

Can pipelines make a comeback?

/ bne IntelliNewsFacebook

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By Newsbase April 7, 2026

The shock to LNG supply is forcing buyers to confront both physical disruption and rising dependence on the US, which could revive interest in long-stalled pipeline projects.

WHAT: A fifth of global LNG supply has been knocked offline, exposing the market’s reliance on a handful of producers and leaving the US accounting for roughly a third of remaining flows.

WHY: The crisis highlights twin vulnerabilities—geographic concentration of supply and growing dependence on US LNG—prompting concerns over both physical disruptions and potential geopolitical leverage.

WHAT NEXT: Attention will turn to whether projects such as Power of Siberia 2 and expansions of the Southern Gas Corridor can gain momentum, although political, commercial and security constraints mean only a limited number are likely to advance.

The ever-escalating US-Iran war has exposed how vulnerable the global LNG market is to supply shocks, given that production of the fuel is heavily concentrated in only a handful of countries.

Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and subsequent strikes against Qatar’s Ras Laffan liquefaction hub has caused global LNG production to drop by a fifth. Of remaining global flow, about a third comes from the US, whose increasingly erratic foreign policy calls into question the reliability of this supply. Some US allies in Europe have already raised this concern, fearing that Washington might one day weaponise US LNG to exert political pressure.

The meteoric rise of LNG trading over the past decade had led to a belief that large-scale gas pipeline projects were mostly a thing of the past. But in light of these key vulnerabilities, major consumers of natural gas may reconsider long-delayed pipeline projects, which—while not without geopolitical risks of their own—are less exposed to the global price swings and shipping disruptions that define the LNG market.

The key question now is which of these projects could receive a meaningful tailwind from the current crisis.

Power of Siberia 2

NewsBase considers Power of Siberia 2 as the pipeline project most likely to make significant headway as a result of the Middle East crisis. Russia has been trying to convince China to sign a long-term supply contract to underpin its construction for seven years now, but Beijing has been wary of relying too much on its northern neighbour for gas, given that it already imports 38bn cubic metres (bcm) per year from Siberia via the Power of Siberia 1 pipeline, and is set to receive a further 10 bcm per year from a new Far East pipeline later this decade. Beijing has also been pushing for a price cut.

China is the world’s biggest LNG importer, but until recently received about a fourth of its supply from Qatar. A third comes from Australia and the rest from Malaysia, Russia and others. As geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington mount, China views reliance on US LNG as increasingly risky. China can always fall back on domestic coal for its energy security, but as far as gas is concerned, LNG may be viewed as a more unreliable source of supply as a result of the crisis.

Power of Siberia 2 would transport 50 bcm per year of gas from the Russian Arctic to China via Mongolia. Beijing could view such large quantities of Russian gas supply as a strategic vulnerability. And even if a supply contract is signed tomorrow, the pipeline would not deliver meaningful volumes until the early-to-mid 2030s. Even so, NewsBase believes the crisis presents an opportunity that Moscow will be eager to capitalise on.

Southern Gas Corridor expansion

An expansion of the existing Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) network that pumps Azeri gas to Europe might seem like the most obvious project to get a greenlight as a result of the crisis. But NewsBase still doubts whether the EU will provide the necessary conditions to enable it to go ahead.

SGC has been flowing over 10 bcm per year of Azeri gas to southern Europe for seven years. After Russia cut most of its pipeline gas supply to Europe, Brussels agreed with Baku on doubling shipments to 20 bcm per year by 2027. With deliveries reaching under 13 bcm per year, this target is sure to be missed.

The Azeri side has criticised the EU for discouraging the long-term supply contracts and financing necessary to support increased SGC deliveries. These policies are rooted in concerns that support for new fossil fuel projects would derail its ambitious climate agenda. Despite a spike in gas prices in Europe over the past month, Brussels has shown no indication it will shift its position. As such, while a SGC expansion has a very strong economic rationale, it simply lacks the needed political will.

EastMed

The 10 bcm per year EastMed pipeline that would pipe gas from Israel to Europe looks far riskier now than it did prior to the war, for obvious reasons. The project has been on hold for years already, largely because of limited support from Europe. The EU is simply uninterested in large-scale pipeline projects which it feels would lock in natural gas use for longer.

TAPI

The 33 bcm per year Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) project was first conceived in the 1990s and has hardly made any progress since then. That said, Turkmenistan does appear to be making some incremental headway, having completed its section some years ago and finished some initial works in Afghanistan.

The ultimate question is whether Pakistan and India will support the project fullheartedly. In the past, both countries have favoured more flexible LNG supply instead. After many decades of mutual deep-rooted mistrust, India is also reluctant to rely on gas supply through Pakistan.

The crisis may prompt a rethink of energy policy in both countries. With limited access to market, Turkmen gas could potentially be secured at a cost lower than typical LNG prices, provided that the Turkmen government is sufficiently pragmatic. Pakistan frequently grapples with energy shortages – this has been the case for years – while India has ambitious plans to expand the role of gas in its energy mix over the coming years and curb its use of coal. TAPI might be the solution.

African options

Initial agreements on the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline were first reached in 2016 and the project has barely made any headway since. A memorandum The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on construction in 2022 at the height of the prior energy crisis. With a proposed capacity of 30 bcm per year, it would deliver gas to Morocco for onward delivery to Europe through existing pipelines.

NewsBase views this 5,600-km project as a very unlikely prospect, considering that it will involve coordination between no less than 13 West African nations whose territories it would possible through and, for reasons stated earlier, will struggle to get any tangible support from the EU.

Prospects for the shorter Trans-Saharan pipeline that would run from Nigeria through Niger to Algeria looks equally dim. The 4,000-km pipeline would also carry 30 bcm per year of Nigerian gas for onward supply to Europe. Both projects are beset by regulatory and policy risks and will not receive the political will from Brussels that is necessary.

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:46:25 +0000

JD Vance praises Viktor Orban, accuses EU and Ukraine of meddling in Hungarian elections

THE REAL MEDDLER IS RUSSIA

/ Facebook/Viktor OrbanFacebook

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By bne IntelliNews April 8, 2026

US Vice President JD Vance praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for his leadership on energy security, calling him a model for other European leaders to follow amid the continent's ongoing energy crisis at a joint press conference in Budapest on April 7.

Despite the geopolitical tension, Vance paid a visit to Budapest to endorse US President Donald Trump's strongest EU ally, just days before the pivotal elections on April 12. After 16 years of supermajority rule, Hungary's veteran leader is at risk of losing out to a younger challenger, former Fidesz cadre Peter Magyar, whose grassroots movement has become the largest political bloc in two years.

During a joint press conference at Orban's office in the Castle, Vance emphasised the importance of energy independence and affordability for European families, stating that EU leaders should have followed Hungary's energy policies under Orban.

While energy prices were high across the continent, Hungary had managed to mitigate these increases more effectively than most, he said. Analysts point out that while Hungary previously benefited from a clear price advantage in purchasing crude oil from Russia, a situation that held before the Iran war, this advantage did not translate into lower prices for consumers.

Although the specifics of Hungary's long-term gas contract with Gazprom, signed in 2021, remain confidential, trade data indicate that Budapest is not currently experiencing a price benefit. Reports suggest that the pricing follows the TTF benchmark, with a two-month delay.

He added that his visit also sought to highlight the moral cooperation between the U.S. and Hungary, driven by shared values of Western civilisation and Christian traditions.

He accused Brussels bureaucrats of trying to undermine Hungary's economy, energy independence, and political leadership, calling the level of interference from the European Union "truly disgraceful." Vance said,

"Hungary is facing one of the worst examples of foreign election interference that I've ever seen. The bureaucrats in Brussels have tried to destroy the economy of Hungary and drive up consumer prices, simply because they hate "this guy", he said.

Vance also expressed his support for Orban ahead of Hungary's parliamentary election, although he said the United States will cooperate with Hungary's next government, regardless of who leads it, when asked by Reuters.

"I am confident that Viktor Orban is, of course, going to win", he added.

Orban was heard saying: "That is the plan," while making a hand gesture that roughly conveyed "not so sure." In an interview with the radical right Ultrahang portal, he said the gesture signalled that the battle is still open and said: "We're gaining momentum now as we can focus on the campaign from March 15, while opposition does not have the burden of governance," he added.

Opposition leader Peter Magyar said Vance's comment at the press conference indicates that Washington is no longer counting on Orban's election victory. The new Tisza-led government would regard the US as a key partner, both as a Nato ally and an economic partner, and he extended an invitation to the US leaders to visit Budapest for the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution on October 23.

At the same time on X, and at his many rallies over the past weeks, Magyar stressed that Hungarian history is not written in Washington, Moscow, or Brussels; it is written in Hungary's streets and squares.

Vance also praised Orban's diplomatic efforts, saying he "has done more than anyone to help the U.S. leadership understand what Ukraine and Russia need to achieve peace."

In a later interview with pro-government Index.hu he said that the prime minister's international role extends beyond Hungarian politics. "Viktor is one of those statesmen in the world whom we can rely on. He is truly capable of mediating and engaging in dialogue with both the Ukrainians and the Russians. For this reason, he is an invaluable asset to us. This is why I support Viktor. The opposition is not my focus," he added.

Vance said that "elements within the Ukrainian intelligence services" were trying "to put their thumb on the scale" of US and Hungarian elections, without providing evidence.

Later at a campaign rally at a Budapest sports hall, dubbed Hungarian-US Friendship Day 2026, Vance put Trump on speakerphone. The US president called Orban "a fantastic man" and praised their "tremendous relationship".

"Remember this: he didn't allow people to storm your country and invade your country as other people have," he said, referring to Orban's anti-immigration policies.

In his speech, the Hungarian leader heaped praise on the strategic partnership and cooperation with the US, thanks to Trump, who "put an end to the power of the globalist elite ruling in the name of ideologies and proclaimed the era of strong nations."

Bilateral relations entered into a new golden age, he said, highlighting tangible benefits such as visa-free travel, economic collaboration, joint defence initiatives, and shared energy projects.

In his speech, he underscored the "civilisational and spiritual" foundation of the Hungarian-American friendship, invoking the shared values of freedom and independence as central to the relationship.

The Hungarian prime minister devoted much of his speech to criticising the European Union, framing Brussels as a stronghold of progressive forces that are "holding Europe captive." He accused the EU of imposing harmful policies, such as gender ideology, open borders, and interventionist foreign policies that have led to economic instability.

He sharply criticised the EU's sanctions regime targeting Russia, calling them "irresponsible" and likening them to "suicide." He warned that these sanctions would result in skyrocketing energy prices and the depletion of Europe's energy supplies.

He lashed out at Brussels for "not representing us, but colluding with the Ukrainians" in the energy blockade of Hungary, and for trying to trivialise the "attempted sabotage of the TurkStream pipeline."

Orban concluded his speech by urging a united front between freedom-loving Americans and Hungarians to preserve Western civilisation. He identified three key areas for action: defeating progressive forces in Brussels, ending the war in Ukraine, and resolving the energy crisis.

Orban framed Hungary's election as a decision between two paths: one of submission, where Hungary loses significance, where the country would be forced to send soldiers and money to Ukraine. The other path is one of freedom, where the nation stands proudly on its own. He urged voters to support peace, Hungary's security, and its future, believing that choosing freedom could spark a European "reclamation movement" of patriotic governments.

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:11:21 +0000

Argentina revokes press credentials amid probe into alleged Russian disinformation network

The move follows findings by an international consortium of investigative media that a Russian network known as “La Compañía” financed the placement of pro-Russian content in Argentine media between June and October 2024.Facebook

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By bnl editorial staff April 8, 2026

Argentina’s government revoked press credentials for several local media outlets on April 6 following allegations they were linked to a Russian-backed disinformation campaign uncovered by an international investigation, escalating tensions between President Javier Milei’s administration and the press.

Journalists from outlets including Ámbito Financiero, C5N, La Patriada FM, A24, El Destape and Tiempo Argentino were denied access to the presidential palace and, in some cases, Congress, according to reporters and media organisations. One journalist said that she was informed upon arrival that her name was on a list barring entry, EFE reported.

The move follows findings by an international consortium of investigative media that a Russian network known as “La Compañía” financed the placement of content in Argentine media between June and October 2024. According to leaked documents cited in the investigation, the network allocated about $283,000 to publish at least 250 articles under fake aliases across more than 20 outlets to promote pro-Russia narratives amid the war in Ukraine. Since taking office in December 2023, Milei has emerged as a staunch supporter of Kyiv, in stark contrast to the previous Peronist administration, which took a more neutral stance on the conflict. This is said to have alarmed Moscow and prompted the Kremlin to mount a covert influence operation targeting Argentine outlets, according to the investigation.

Argentina’s government echoed the findings, saying the operation sought to “disseminate false information and influence Argentine public opinion in favour of foreign geopolitical interests,” a claim previously raised by the State Intelligence Secretariat (SIDE).

President Milei described the revelations as highly serious and pledged further action. “We will pursue this to the fullest extent to identify all the direct and indirect actors who participated in this illegal espionage network,” he said on social media. He added that “‘journalists’ and ‘media outlets’ linked to this are only the tip of the iceberg of something much bigger.”

The investigation reported that the alleged network used intermediaries such as agencies and consultants to distribute content, some of which contained distortions or falsehoods, while other pieces were published under fabricated identities, including AI-generated profile images. Several targeted outlets denied receiving payments, although some sources acknowledged compensation linked to private actors concerned about government policies.

The probe also suggested the network attempted to inflame regional tensions, including by circulating false claims about Argentine actions targeting infrastructure in neighbouring Chile.

Press freedom groups criticised the government’s decision to restrict access. The Buenos Aires Press Union (SiPreBA) said the measure aimed to silence critical journalism, stating that authorities were preventing accredited reporters from entering official institutions.

The revocation comes after the government introduced stricter accreditation rules in May 2025, including tighter quotas, scoring requirements and enhanced conduct regulations. The latest developments add to a broader climate of friction between the administration and the media, marked by accusations of censorship, budget cuts affecting public outlets and reports of hostility towards journalists during protests.

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:08:44 +0000