A currency trader talks on the phone near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)2025-08-13T05:13:58Z BANGKOK (AP) Shares charged higher Wednesday in Asia after the U.S. stock market rallied to records when data showed inflation across the United States improved slightly last month. Tokyos benchmark Nikkei 225 added to its record set a day earlier. Shares in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia also gained more than 1%. The recent rally in share prices has been driven partly by relief over an extended truce in President Donald Trumps trade war with China, and partly by persisting hopes the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates. Those were reinforced by a moderation in the consumer price index in July. Asia woke up in full risk-on mode, riding the coattails of a U.S. session that looked like someone hit the infinite bid button after CPI didnt blow the inflation doors off, Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. China and the U.S. agreed to extend by 90 days the pause in drastically higher tariff rates to allow more time for talks on a broad trade agreement. Although uncertainty over what the negotiations will yield remains, the truce has relieved pressure on companies and countries across Asia that rely heavily in supply chains routed through China. Hong Kongs Hang Seng surged 2.5% to 25,596.90, while the Shanghai Composite index added 0.5% to 3,683.46. Stay up to date with similar stories by signing up to our WhatsApp channel. In Japan, relief over the Trump administrations confirmation that its exports will face a flat 15% U.S. import duty has driven strong buying of computer chip-related companies and other exporters. The Nikkei 225 gained 1.3% to 43,274.67.Elsewhere in Asia, South Koreas Kospi advanced 1.1% to 3,224.37. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.6% to 8,827.10. Taiwans Taiex was up 0.9% and the Sensex in India gained 0.4%. In Bangkok, the SET climbed 1%. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 1.1% to top its all-time high set two weeks ago. It closed at 6,445.76. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.1% to 44,458.61, while the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.4% to set its own record of 21,681.90.Intels stock rose 5.6% after Trump said its CEO has an amazing story, less than a week after he had demanded Lip-Bu Tans resignation. Circle Internet Group, the company behind the popular USDC cryptocurrency that tracks the U.S. dollar, climbed 1.3% despite reporting a larger loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It said its total revenue and reserve income grew 53% in its first quarter as a publicly traded company, which topped forecasts. The better-than-expected report on inflation raised hopes the Federal Reserve will have the leeway to cut interest rates at its next meeting in September. Tuesdays report said U.S. consumers paid prices for groceries, gasoline and other costs of living that were overall 2.7% higher in July than a year earlier. Thats the same inflation rate as Junes, and it was below the 2.8% that economists expected. Lower rates would give a boost to investment prices and to the economy by making it cheaper for U.S. households and businesses to borrow to buy houses, cars or equipment. President Donald Trump has angrily been calling for cuts to help the economy, often insulting the Feds chair personally while doing so. The Fed has hesitated, worried that Trumps tariffs could make inflation much worse. The Fed will get one more report on inflation and another on the U.S. job market, before its next meeting, which ends Sept. 17. The most recent jobs report was a stunner, coming in much weaker than economists expected. Critics say the broad U.S. stock market is looking expensive after its surge from a bottom in April. Thats putting pressure on companies to deliver continued growth in profit. In other dealings early Wednesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil dropped 26 cents to $62.89 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, declined 21 cents to $65.92 per barrel. The U.S. dollar fell to 147.52 Japanese yen from 147.84 yen. The euro climbed to $1.1710 from $1.1677. ELAINE KURTENBACH Based in Bangkok, Kurtenbach is the APs business editor for Asia, helping to improve and expand our coverage of regional economies, climate change and the transition toward carbon-free energy. She has been covering economic, social, environmental and political trends in China, Japan and Southeast Asia throughout her career. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Our commander in chief has decided to also command the Fortune 500.

The Manhattan restaurant drew global praise and skepticism with its climate-minded, all-plant menu. Now its chef wants to be more welcoming and popular.

People try to control a wildfire in Vounteni, on the outskirts of Patras, western Greece, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)2025-08-13T09:03:47Z ATHENS, Greece (AP) Wildfires intensified across southern Europe on Wednesday after a nightlong battle to protect the perimeter of Greeces third-largest city, with at least three more deaths reported in Spain, Turkey and Albania.Outside the Greek port city of Patras, firefighters struggled to protect homes and agricultural facilities as flames tore through olive groves.As water-dropping planes and helicopters swooped overhead, residents joined the effort, beating back flames with cut branches or dousing them with buckets of water.Firefighting resources were stretched thin in many affected countries as they battled multiple outbreaks following weeks of heat waves and temperature spikes across Mediterranean Europe.Aircraft rotated between blazes on the western Greek mainland, the Patras area and the island of Zakynthos. Athens also sent assistance to neighboring Albania, joining an international effort to combat dozens of wildfires. An 80-year-old man died in one blaze south of the capital, Tirana, officials said Wednesday. Residents of four villages were evacuated in central Albania near a former army ammunition depot. In the southern Korca district, near the Greek border, explosions were reported from buried World War II-era artillery shells. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Snchez expressed condolences after the death of a firefighting volunteer in the hard-hit Castile and Len region north of Madrid, where thousands have been displaced by evacuations. The government raised its national emergency response level, preparing additional support for regional authorities overseeing multiple evacuations and highway closures.A forestry worker was also killed Wednesday while responding to a wildfire in southern Turkey, officials said. The Forestry Ministry said the worker died in an accident involving a fire truck that left four others injured.Turkey has been battling severe wildfires since late June. A total of 18 people have been killed, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers who died in July.

People view Mendenhall Glacier from the Mendenhall Glacier Visitors Center area, Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025, in Juneau, Alaska. (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP)2025-08-13T05:01:23Z Sections of Alaskas capital city are bracing for the arrival of what could be record floodwaters due to rainwater and snowmelt flowing downstream from a basin dammed by the Mendenhall Glacier. Some Juneau residents in the flood zone have evacuated, heeding warnings. On Tuesday morning, authorities confirmed water had started escaping the ice dam, with flooding expected into Wednesday.The Mendenhall Glacier is about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from Juneau, home to 30,000 people, and is a popular tourist attraction due to its proximity to Alaskas capital city and easy access on walking trails. Homes on the citys outskirts are within miles of Mendenhall Lake, which sits below the glacier, and many front the Mendenhall River, into which the glacial outburst is flowing.The National Weather Service said it expected flooding to to peak around 8 a.m. to noon on Wednesday.This will be a new record, based on all of the information that we have, Nicole Ferrin, a weather service meteorologist, told a news conference Tuesday. Basin flooding is a yearly worryFlooding from the basin has become an annual concern since 2011, and in recent years has swept away houses and swamped hundreds of homes. Government agencies installed temporary barriers this year in hopes of protecting several hundred homes in the inundation area from widespread damage.The flooding happens because a smaller glacier near Mendenhall Glacier retreated a casualty of the warming climate and left a basin that fills with rainwater and snowmelt each spring and summer. When the water creates enough pressure, it forces its way under or around the ice dam created by the Mendenhall Glacier, enters Mendenhall Lake and eventually flows down the Mendenhall River, as it did Tuesday. Stay up to date with the latest U.S. news by signing up to our WhatsApp channel. Before the basin began overtopping, the water level was rising rapidly as much as 4 feet (1.22 meters) per day during especially sunny or rainy days, according to the National Weather Service. The city saw successive years of record flooding in 2023 and 2024 with the river last August cresting at 15.99 feet (4.9 meters), about 1 foot (30 centimeters) over the prior record set a year earlier and flooding extending farther into the Mendenhall Valley. This years flooding was predicted to crest at between 16.3 and 16.8 feet (4.96 to 5.12 meters). Last year, nearly 300 residences were damaged.A large outburst can release some 15 billion gallons of water, according to the University of Alaska Southeast and Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center. Thats the equivalent of nearly 23,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. During last years flood, the flow rate in the rushing Mendenhall River was about half that of Niagara Falls, the researchers say. A temporary levee is installedCity officials responded to concerns from property owners this year by working with state, federal and tribal entities to install a temporary levee along roughly 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) of riverbank in an attempt to guard against widespread flooding. The 10,000 Hesco barriers are essentially giant sandbags intended to protect more than 460 properties completely during an 18-foot (5.5-meter) flood event, said emergency manager Ryan OShaughnessy. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is at the start of whats expected to be a yearslong process of studying conditions in the region and examining options for a more permanent solution, such as a levee. The timeline has angered some residents, who say its unreasonable.Outburst floods are expected to continue as long as the Mendenhall Glacier acts as an ice dam to seal off the basin, which could span another 25 to 60 years, according to the university and science center researchers. ___Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer in Juneau contributed to this report. CEDAR ATTANASIO Attanasio covers New York City for The Associated Press with a focus on immigration and the ocean. He uses remote sensing to support the APs global coverage. twitter instagram facebook mailto

Dana White, CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, speaks during a news conference following the UFC 313 mixed martial arts event Saturday, March 8, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)2025-08-12T13:25:35Z Follow live updates on President Donald Trump and his administration Hours after Paramount and UFC announced a billion-dollar rights deal, Dana White said he had yet to hear from his friend, President Donald Trump, on his thoughts about the fight companys new streaming home.That was fine with White. The UFC CEO was set to travel to Washington on Aug. 28 to meet with Trump and his daughter, Ivanka, to catch up and discuss logistics on the proposed Fourth of July fight card next year at the White House.Trump said last month he wanted to stage a UFC match on the White House grounds with upwards of 20,000 spectators to celebrate 250 years of American independence. Its absolutely going to happen, White told The Associated Press. Think about that, the 250th birthday of the United States of America, the UFC will be on the White House south lawn live on CBS. This photo combination shows a UFC logo, top, outside the arena, April 24, 2021, in Jacksonville, Fla. and the Paramount logo during the Paramount Pictures presentation at CinemaCon at Caesars Palace on April 3, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough, Chris Pizzello) This photo combination shows a UFC logo, top, outside the arena, April 24, 2021, in Jacksonville, Fla. and the Paramount logo during the Paramount Pictures presentation at CinemaCon at Caesars Palace on April 3, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough, Chris Pizzello) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More The idea of cage fights at the White House would have seemed improbable when the Fertitta brothers purchased UFC for $2 million in 2001 and put White in charge of the fledging fight promotion.White helped steer the company into a $4 billion sale in 2016 and broadcast rights deals with Fox and ESPN before landing owner TKO Groups richest one yet a seven-year deal with Paramount starting in 2026 worth an average of $1.1 billion a year, with all cards on its streaming platform Paramount+ and select numbered events also set to simulcast on CBS. ESPN, Amazon and Netflix and other traditional sports broadcast players seemed more in play for UFC rights White had previously hinted fights could air across different platforms but Paramount was a serious contender from the start of the negotiating window. The Paramount and UFC deal came just days after Skydance and Paramount officially closed their $8 billion merger kicking off the reign of a new entertainment giant after a contentious endeavor to get the transaction over the finish line. White said he was impressed with the vision Skydance CEO David Ellison had for the the global MMA leader early in contract talks and how those plans should blossom now that Ellison is chairman and CEO of Paramount. When you talk about Paramount, you talk about David Ellison, theyre brilliant businessmen, very aggressive, risk takers, White said. Theyre right up my alley. These are the kind of guys that I like to be in business with.The $1.1 billion deals marks a notable jump from the roughly $550 million that ESPN paid each year for UFC coverage today. But UFCs new home on Paramount will simplify offerings for fans with all content set to be available on Paramount+ (which currently costs between $7.99 and $12.99 a month), rather than various pay-per-view fees.Paramount also said it intends to explore UFC rights outside the U.S. as they become available in the future.UFC matchmakers were set to meet this week to shape what White said would be a loaded debut Paramount card. The UFC boss noted it was still too early to discuss a potential main event for the White House fight night.This is a 1-of-1 event, White said.There are still some moving parts to UFC broadcasts and other television programming it has its hands in as the company moves into the Paramount era. White said there are still moving parts to the deal and that includes potentially finding new homes for The Ultimate Fighter, Road To UFC, and Dana Whites Contender Series. Its not necessarily a given the traditional 10 p.m. start time for what were the pay-per-view events would stand, especially on nights cards will also air on CBS. We havent figured that out yet but we will, White said.And what about the sometimes-contentious issue of fighter pay? Some established fighters have clauses in their contracts that they earn more money the higher the buyrate on their cards. Again, most of those issues are to-be-determined as UFC and Paramount settle in to the new deal with $1.1 billion headed the fight companys way.It will affect fighter pay, big time, White said. From deal-to-deal, fighter pay has grown, too. Every time we win, everybody wins. Boxer Jake Paul wrote on social media the dying PPV model which was overpriced for fights as UFC saw a decline in buys because of missing star power in many main events should give the fighters an increased idea of their worth.Every fighter in the UFC now has a clear picture of what the revenue is...no more PPV excuses, Paul wrote. Get your worth boys and girls.White also scoffed at the idea that the traditional PPV model is dead.There are still UFC cards on pay-per-view the rest of the year through the end of the ESPN contract and White and Saudi Arabia have teamed to launch a new boxing venture that starts next year and could use a PPV home. White, though, is part of the promotional team for the Canelo lvarez and Terence Crawford fight in September in Las Vegas that airs on Netflix. Its definitely not run its course, White said. There were guys out there who were interested in pay-per-view and there were guys out there that werent. Wherever we ended up, thats what were going to roll with.White said UFC archival footage kills it in repeat views and those classic bouts also needed a new home once the ESPN deal expires.Just when it seems theres little left for UFC to conquer, White says, theres always more. Why stop at becoming the biggest fight game in the world? Why not rewrite the pecking order in popularity and riches and go for No. 1 in all sports?You have the NFL, the NBA, the UFC, and soccer globally, White said. Were coming. Were coming for all of them.___AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports DAN GELSTON Gelston is an an Associated Press sports writer covering major college and pro sports in Philadelphia, including the 76ers, Flyers, Eagles, Phillies and Villanova. twitter mailto

A man walks past a Vietnamese flag painted on a wall in Hanoi, Vietnam on August 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)2025-08-13T04:20:10Z HANOI, Vietnam (AP) Beneath red banners and a gold bust of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh in Hanois central party school, Communist Party chief To Lam declared the arrival of a new era of development late last year. The speech was more than symbolic it signaled the launch of what could be Vietnams most ambitious economic overhaul in decades. Vietnam aims to get rich by 2045 and become Asias next tiger economy a term used to describe the earlier ascent of countries like South Korea and Taiwan. The challenge ahead is steep: Reconciling growth with overdue reforms, an aging population, climate risks and creaking institutions. Theres added pressure from President Donald Trump over Vietnams trade surplus with the U.S., a reflection of its astounding economic trajectory. In 1990, the average Vietnamese could afford about $1,200 worth of goods and services a year, adjusted for local prices. Today, that figure has risen by more than 13 times to $16,385. Vietnams transformation into a global manufacturing hub with shiny new highways, high-rise skylines and a booming middle class has lifted millions of its people from poverty, similar to China. But its low-cost, export-led boom is slowing and it faces a growing obstacle to its proposed reforms expanding private industries, strengthening social protections and investing in technology and green energy from climate change. Stay up to date with similar stories by signing up to our WhatsApp channel. Its all hands on deck. . . . We cant waste time anymore, said Mimi Vu of the consultancy Raise Partners. A cargo ship sails on Saigon river in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam on April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh) A cargo ship sails on Saigon river in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam on April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More The export boom cant carry Vietnam foreverInvestment has soared, driven partly by U.S.-China trade tensions, and the U.S. is now Vietnams biggest export market. Once-quiet suburbs have been replaced with industrial parks where trucks rumble through sprawling logistics hubs that serve global brands. Vietnam ran a $123.5 billion trade surplus with the U.S. trade in 2024, angering Trump, who threatened a 46% U.S. import tax on Vietnamese goods. The two sides appear to have settled on a 20% levy, and twice that for goods suspected of being transshipped, or routed through Vietnam to avoid U.S. trade restrictions. During negotiations with the Trump administration, Vietnams focus was on its tariffs compared to those of its neighbors and competitors, said Daniel Kritenbrink, a former U.S. ambassador to Vietnam. As long as theyre in the same zone, in the same ballpark, I think Vietnam can live with that outcome, he said. But he added questions remain over how much Chinese content in those exports might be too much and how such goods will be taxed.Vietnam was preparing to shift its economic policies even before Trumps tariffs threatened its model of churning out low-cost exports for the world, aware of what economists call the middle-income trap, when economies tend to plateau without major reforms. To move beyond that, South Korea bet on electronics, Taiwan on semiconductors, and Singapore on finance, said Richard McClellan, founder of the consultancy RMAC Advisory. But Vietnams economy today is more diverse and complex than those countries were at the time and it cant rely on just one winning sector to drive long-term growth and stay competitive as wages rise and cheap labor is no longer its main advantage. It needs to make multiple big bets, McClellan said. A car frame is being welded by robots at a Vinfast factory in Hai Phong, Vietnam on Sept. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh, File) A car frame is being welded by robots at a Vinfast factory in Hai Phong, Vietnam on Sept. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh, File) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Vietnams game plan Following Chinas lead, Vietnam is counting on high-tech sectors like computer chips, artificial intelligence and renewable energy, providing strategic tax breaks and research support in cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Danang. Its also investing heavily in infrastructure, including civilian nuclear plants and a $67 billion NorthSouth high-speed railway, that will cut travel time from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City to eight hours.Vietnam also aspires to become a global financial center. The government plans two special financial centers, in bustling Ho Chi Minh City and in the seaside resort city of Danang, with simplified rules to attract foreign investors, tax breaks, support for financial tech startups, and easier ways to settle business disputes. Underpinning all of this is institutional reform. Ministries are being merged, low-level bureaucracies have been eliminated and Vietnams 63 provinces will be consolidated into 34 to build regional centers with deeper talent pools. A vendor sells vegetables to people out for morning exercises in a park in Hanoi, Vietnam, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Huy Han) A vendor sells vegetables to people out for morning exercises in a park in Hanoi, Vietnam, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Huy Han) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Private business to take the leadVietnam is counting on private businesses to lead its new economic push a seismic shift from the past. In May, the Communist Party passed Resolution 68. It calls private businesses the most important force in the economy, pledging to break away from domination by state-owned and foreign companies. So far, large multinationals have powered Vietnams exports, using imported materials and parts and low cost local labor. Local companies are stuck at the low-end of supply chains, struggling to access loans and markets that favored the 700-odd state-owned giants, from colonial-era beer factories with arched windows to unfashionable state-run shops that few customers bother to enter.The private sector remains heavily constrained, said Nguyen Khac Giang of Singapores ISEASYusof Ishak Institute.Again emulating China, Vietnam wants national champions to drive innovation and compete globally, not by picking winners, but by letting markets decide. The policy includes easier loans for companies investing in new technology, priority in government contracts for those meeting innovation goals, and help for firms looking to expand overseas. Even mega-projects like the North-South High-Speed Rail, once reserved for state-run giants, are now open to private bidding. By 2030, Vietnam hopes to elevate at least 20 private firms to a global scale. But Giang warned that there will be pushback from conservatives in the Communist Party and from those who benefit from state-owned firms. A bridge is seen under construction in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh) A bridge is seen under construction in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More A Closing Window from climate changeEven as political resistance threatens to stall reforms, climate threats require urgent action.After losing a major investor over flood risks, Bruno Jaspaert knew something had to change. His firm, DEEP C Industrial Zones, houses more than 150 factories across northern Vietnam. So it hired a consultancy to redesign flood resilience plans. Climate risk is becoming its own kind of market regulation, forcing businesses to plan better, build smarter, and adapt faster. If the whole world will decide its a priority...it can go very fast, said Jaspaert. When Typhoon Yagi hit last year, causing $1.6 billion in damage, knocking 0.15% off Vietnams GDP and battering factories that produce nearly half the countrys economic output, roads in DEEP C industrial parks stayed dry.Climate risks are no longer theoretical: If Vietnam doesnt take strong action to adapt to and reduce climate change, the country could lose 1214.5% of its GDP each year by 2050, and up to one million people could fall into extreme poverty by 2030, according to the World Bank.Meanwhile, Vietnam is growing old before it gets rich.The countrys golden population window when working-age people outnumber dependents will close by 2039 and the labor force is projected to peak just three years later. That could shrink productivity and strain social services, especially since families and women in particular are the default caregivers, said Teerawichitchainan Bussarawan of the Centre for Family and Population Research at the National University of Singapore.Vietnam is racing to pre-empt the fallout by expanding access to preventive healthcare so older adults remain healthier and more independent. Gradually raising the retirement age and drawing more women into the formal workforce would help offset labor gaps and promote healthy aging, Bussarawan said. ___The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL Ghosal covers the intersection of business and climate change in southeast Asia for The Associated Press. He is based out of Hanoi in Vietnam. twitter mailto

RuPauls Drag Race All Stars Season 10 just wrapped a record-breaking season. Featuring a supersized cast to mark a decade of the series, the season broke the mold with a bracket-style competition reminiscent of a rhinestoned March Madness. Yet, many viewers called season 10 predictable and over-produced, an issue furthered by rampant spoilers on social media.Meanwhile, Love Island USA, another reality show known for its catfights and neon aesthetics, dominated American social feeds this summer with its chaotic twists and red-hot challenges. But what if Drag Race took a page out of Love Island's playbook?No, I don't mean that Drag Race should become a dating show (although Kori King and Lydia B. Kollins somehow made that happen). But adopting aspects of Love Island's format and production could re-energize the Drag Race fanbase and keep the show fresh with elements already working in reality TV. The show could re-energize itself by borrowing three tactics from Love Island USA: Real-time production, audience involvement, and more unpolished moments.Real-time productionOne of Love Island's strengths is its real-time feel. The show premieres while the contestants are still living in a hidden camera-filled paradise. Episodes roll out mere days after they are filmed, creating urgency and voyeuristic audience investment made possible by real-time competition. Anything can happen.Of course, Drag Race is a different beast. Contestants are writing songs, doing standup, and competing in talent shows rather than lounging by a pool. A rushed edit could lead to a messy season (as Love Island sometimes suffers from repeated confessional clips and choppy transitions). However, a tighter turnaround from filming could restrict spoilers and lend itself to more organic storylines.Leaks are sporadic in the Love Island universe thanks to its quick pace and on-set secrecy. If Drag Race adopted the Love Island quick-production format, producers could build hype by announcing the cast before filming and virtually eliminating spoilers with a release-after-filming timeline. It wouldn't have to be days, but a tighter turnaround (say, weeks) rather than the current 6+ months could make the season feel current rather than a rumor-laden recap. This would also prevent episode-by-episode spoilers familiar to the Drag Race Instagram comment section and avoid competition drama from going stale by the time it premieres.Audience InvolvementAnother appealing aspect of Love Island is its audience involvement.Love Island USA lets fans participate in the show by encouraging them to vote on everything from favorite islander to least favorite couple, a democratic feature made possible by the official Love Island app. These audience-determined metrics factor into regular eliminations and shape storylines in real-time. They also lead to exciting contestant reactions (like islanders realizing they aren't as popular with the audience as they assumed).Although letting the audience vote off queens might not be possible, the Drag Race franchise could benefit from more audience participation to secure season-long buy-in. For Drag Race, this might look like letting the fan base vote on the season's lip sync songs and challenges. Perhaps more appealingly, the audience could have a say in which queens get sent into the Werk Room arena.Unpolished momentsFinally, Drag Race could benefit from Love Island's emphasis on unpolished moments.The firepit ceremonies, where Love Island contestants get eliminated, can be likened to the Drag Race mainstage; both arenas are the centerpiece of drama and competition. However, the most appealing scenes from Love Island are often the conversations in the villa over breakfast or before bed. For most of the episode, the audience watches the islanders interact within the villa environment while having conversations that naturally further their relationships (and the competition).Drag Race includes aspects of this in the "getting ready" Werk Room scenes, which often reveal vulnerability and camaraderie beyond the main stage. But these scenes usually feel manufactured or too brief. This season, Denali allegedly stormed backstage after losing a lip sync to Ginger Minj. But fans would have no idea if they didn't spot her absence at the end of the episode or watch a Roscoe's recap.Unpolished moments make reality television sparkle. For Drag Race, spotlighting the real moments would be less copying Love Island and more returning to the roots that made the show so popular in the first place.To its credit, Drag Race is trying something new with the All Stars bracket format. But looking at Love Island may help the show keep the audience engaged for the whole season. And who knows? Putting a bunch of drag queens in a villa is something I would certainly watch.Perspectives is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Visit Pride.com/submit to learn more about submission guidelines. Views expressed in Perspectives stories are those of the guest writers, columnists, and editors, and do not directly represent the views of PRIDE or our parent company, equalpride.

Nature, Published online: 13 August 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-02509-7Physicists are developing laboratory tests to give insight into the true nature of gravity.

Nature, Published online: 12 August 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-02579-7H5N1 avian influenza might be airborne, helping it to spread rapidly in dairy cows. Plus, the most massive black hole ever detected and the grim reality of cuts to US malaria programmes.

by Jake Pearson ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as theyre published. A task force appointed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is recommending that the state spend at least $15 million per year and create state-level oversight to bolster its troubled guardianship system, in which judges assign individuals or organizations to care for some 30,000 residents deemed incapable of looking after their own affairs. If adopted, the plan would represent a major change in how the state government cares for some of its most vulnerable residents. New York currently budgets just $1 million to fund a guardianship hotline, and the legal arrangements receive little official oversight, with responsibility for peoples wellbeing spread among the courts, nonprofit organizations, private lawyers and companies. The policy proposal, contained in the states Master Plan for Aging, comes three years after Hochul, a Democrat, issued an executive order creating a panel to map out the needs of New Yorks aging population and suggest how best to serve older adults.The plan concludes that improving the guardianship system would offer outsize benefits and would not be overly difficult to achieve. The recommendations mark the first time Hochuls administration has addressed problems with the states guardianship system since ProPublica investigated it extensively in a series of stories last year. Those stories revealed how some guardians neglected the vulnerable clients entrusted to their care. They also highlighted how few guardians the state has to serve the New Yorkers who require assistance and how little oversight exists to ensure proper care. The problem is particularly acute for poor people who have no family able or willing to look after them, ProPublica found, a population known in industry circles as the unbefriended. To fill the provider void, New York has long relied on a network of loosely regulated nonprofits and private companies, some of which have racked up hundreds of clients each but provided little or no services. That dynamic, ProPublica found, has resulted in claims of spectacular abuse and neglect, prompting the courts to appoint a special counsel to oversee guardianship reforms and Attorney General Letitia James to launch an investigation into some providers. Advocates and judicial leaders have been calling for the guardianship system to be overhauled for years, but such an effort has remained elusive. Its unclear whether Hochuls task force will change that, even as the groups report keeps guardianship in the political conversation in Albany. The Legislature has barely funded guardianship services, allotting just enough in its budget the past two years to maintain a statewide hotline. And even the governor wont say whether she plans to implement the reforms suggested by her own panel.The Governor appreciates the dedicated time and effort that many stakeholders put into producing the proposals included in the Master Plan for Aging and looks forward to working with these stakeholders and the legislature to collectively evaluate how best to utilize them to ensure New York remains a place where older New Yorkers can thrive, a spokesperson for the governor said in a statement.The spokesperson, Nicolette Simmonds, didnt respond to an email and call asking for more specifics, including what Hochuls position is on guardianship reform.But Guardianship Access New York, a statewide coalition of nonprofit guardians and elder and disability justice advocates, said that it was encouraged by the governors plan since it acknowledged a long-standing crisis. New Yorks guardianship system is past the point of crisis, and the Governor and Legislature must act now before it collapses, Arthur Diamond, a former supervising judge of guardianship matters in Nassau County and a member of GANY, said in a statement. We must stop ignoring the most vulnerable of the elder population and protect them now. But how, exactly, that will happen remains unclear. GANY has proposed the state fund a network of nonprofits with experience in government contracting and providing guardianship services. Within the court system, a guardianship advisory committee recommended earlier this year that the state create a taxpayer-funded statewide organization to care for the unbefriended, records obtained by ProPublica show. And some lawmakers have proposed changes, though none of them seek comprehensive reform. One bill would require someone petitioning for a guardianship to identify all possible people who could manage the incapacitated persons affairs, for example, while another would make it harder for a guardian to deny family members the right to visit a loved one under their care and control. Assemblyman Charles Lavine, who chairs his chambers judiciary committee, said he supports a series of public roundtables to be hosted this fall by the courts and advocates to gather local input and firsthand perspectives on guardianship access challenges as a means of formulating a more comprehensive solution.These discussions will help inform statewide efforts to expand and improve guardianship services, including the creation of a comprehensive public guardianship system, he said.Still, any significant reform effort will require buy-in from the Legislatures top leaders. Neither Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins nor Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie responded to requests for comment on Hochuls Master Plan for Aging.

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by Lexi Churchill and Jasmine Aguilera, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, and Ellis Simani, ProPublica Texas education landscape is changing. Our reporters at ProPublica and The Texas Tribune know that education policy today will shape the states future for generations to come. That is why we need your help covering this issue. Whether youre a teacher; parent; school leader; student who has been affected by decisions made at the local, state or national level; or one of the government employees shaping them, we want to hear from you. Tell us what issues you believe require greater oversight, whether they are the impact of vouchers, misuse of public funds, disproportionate disciplinary policies, budget deficits or anything else that is affecting how students learn. We appreciate you sharing, and we take your privacy seriously. We are gathering these responses for our reporting and will contact you if we wish to publish any part of them.Our team may not be able to respond to everyone personally, but we will read everything you submit. A reporter from ProPublica or the Tribune may reach out to learn more.You can also contact reporter Lexi Churchill on Signal at 816-898-5462 if you have sensitive information to share.

by Lexi Churchill, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, and Ellis Simani, ProPublica This article is co-published with The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan local newsroom that informs and engages with Texans. Sign up for The Brief Weekly to get up to speed on their essential coverage of Texas issues. For about eight years, a Houston private school has followed a unique pattern when appointing members to its governing board: It has selected only married couples. Over 200 miles away, two private schools in Dallas have awarded more than $7 million in combined contracts to their board members.And at least seven private schools across Texas have issued personal loans, often reaching $100,000 or more, to their school leaders under terms that are often hidden from public view.Such practices would typically violate laws governing public and charter schools. But private schools operate largely outside those rules because they havent historically received direct taxpayer dollars. Now, as the state moves to spend at least $1 billion over the next two years on private education, lawmakers have imposed almost none of the accountability measures required of the public school system.If held to the same standards, 27 private schools identified by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune through tax filings likely would have violated state law. The news organizations found, and three education law experts confirmed, more than 60 business transactions, board appointments and hiring decisions by those schools that would have run afoul of the state rules meant to prevent self-dealing and conflicts of interest if they were public.Its frankly astonishing to me that anyone would propose the massive sort of spending that were talking about in these school voucher programs with, at best, minimal accountability, said Mark Weber, a public school finance lecturer at New Jerseys Rutgers University who opposes vouchers. If I were a taxpayer in Texas, Id be asking, whos going to be looking out for me? Texas has long stood as a holdout in the national push for voucher programs, even as other conservative states embraced them. Gov. Greg Abbott gave school voucher proponents a major win this year, signing into law one of the largest and costliest programs in the country. In doing so, Abbotts office has argued that the state has strict financial requirements, saying that Texas taxpayers expect their money to be spent efficiently and effectively on their behalf, both in private and traditional public schools.The law, however, imposes no restrictions to prevent the kinds of entanglements that the newsrooms found. The contrast is sharp. Public or charter school officials who violate these rules could be subject to removal from office, fines or even state jail felony charges. Private schools face none of those consequences.Supporters of the voucher program argue that oversight of private schools should come not from the state, but from their boards and the marketplace.If you transform the private schools into public schools by applying the same rules and regulations and procedural requirements on them, then you take the private out of the private school, said Patrick Wolf, an education policy professor at the University of Arkansas. Wolf, who supports vouchers, said that if parents are unhappy with the schools, they will hold them accountable by leaving and taking their tuition dollars with them. Typically, neither parents nor the states taxpayers have access to information that shows precisely how private schools spend money. Only those that are organized as nonprofits are required to file public tax forms that offer limited information. Of the states more than 1,000 accredited private schools, many are exempt from submitting such filings because they are religious or for-profit institutions, leaving their business conduct opaque. It is unclear if private schools that participate in Texas voucher-like program will have to detail publicly how they use taxpayer dollars. The public system is not always perfect, but when its not perfect, we see it, said Joy Baskin, associate executive director for policy and legal services at the Texas Association of School Boards, which represents public districts across the state. That kind of transparency doesnt exist in private schools. The Chinese Baptist Church in Houston, where Trinity Classical School has a campus (Danielle Villasana for ProPublica and The Texas Tribune) Just Isnt RightConflicts of interest in education were on the minds of legislators this spring. At an education committee hearing in March, Texas state Rep. Ryan Guillen, a Republican from Rio Grande City, along the southern border with Mexico, introduced a bill that would bar businesses with close ties to board members from applying for school district contracts. Such deals were previously permitted as long as school leaders publicly disclosed conflicts and abstained from voting.But Guillen, who did not respond to requests for comment, argued those rules were abused, pointing to recent scandals in two districts that led to state investigations and, in one case, resulted in federal charges.He described his bill as a commonsense proposal that would ensure no one in a position of power can exploit the system for financial benefit. The Legislature passed the bill, which was signed into law by Abbott.Notably, the measure excluded private schools. In public testimony, no one brought them up, and there was no debate about them even as lawmakers advanced a proposal that would direct state money to them. The newsrooms found at least six private schools that awarded contracts to companies with ties to their board members.Cristo Rey Dallas College Prep, a Catholic high school serving primarily low-income students of color, awarded more than $5 million to a construction firm owned by one of its board members for interior finish work between 2017 and 2021, tax filings show. The school did not respond to questions about the payments. Raul Estrada, who was on the school board when his firm received the payments, said he recused himself from any votes or decisions related to the contract. He added that the companys work provided substantial savings to the school but did not provide specific figures. Just 30 miles north, board members at the Shelton School, which specializes in teaching students with learning differences such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia, have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments over the last decade. Tax records show one trustee was awarded over $465,000 for landscaping, and another collected more than $1.2 million for printed education material. The board members whose firms received the contracts did not respond to requests for comment. Suzanne Stell, the schools executive director, said the board members who received contracts were not involved in the decisions. Stell also said that the contract for printed material included training for educators.Our investigation also found dozens of instances of nepotism or relatives serving on boards together at private schools, some of which were started and are led by families. Trinity Classical School in Houston, for example, has long maintained a family-led chain of governance on its school board exclusive to married couples, appointing a new pair each time one cycled off. The board deviated from that pattern only once, when it selected Neil Anderson, the schools leader, according to tax filings. None of the current board members responded to interview requests, nor did Anderson or the school.Such arrangements have been prohibited since 2012 in charter schools, which are restricted from appointing more than one family member to serve as a trustee at the same time. Andersons appointment would also not be allowed in traditional public schools, where employees are barred from serving on their schools governing board.At the elite Greenhill School in the Dallas area, where tuition can exceed $40,000 a year, the previous leader, Scott Griggs, hired his son to coach the boys volleyball team and teach middle school math. While allowed in private schools, state nepotism laws prevent public and charter schools from hiring close relatives of superintendents and trustees, with few exceptions. Griggs told the newsrooms that hed already announced his retirement when he asked the board in 2017 to approve hiring his son, who did not respond to requests for comment.The following year, the college prep academy provided a personal loan of nearly $100,000 to its current head of school, Lee Hark, for a down payment on a home. The school did not disclose the terms of the agreement in its tax filings, including whether it charged interest or what would happen should Hark default. Hark declined to comment.Private schools are generally free to use money as they choose, but a 150-year-old provision of the Texas Constitution bars public schools from lending taxpayer dollars. The state does not require private schools to publicly disclose whether taxpayer money would be used for such arrangements under the voucher program.In a written statement, a Greenhill spokesperson said the school operates with sound financial principles that meet or exceed all standards of accountability for independent schools. She said the school charged interest on the loan and it has since been paid off, but did not provide records.Many of the private schools examined by the news organizations, including Greenhill, said that they are still deciding whether to participate in the voluntary voucher program. The lack of accountability for private schools has sparked concern from public school parents like Sarah Powell, a mother of two near Dallas. She was among thousands who urged lawmakers to reject voucher legislation earlier this year.Youre either part of the system or youre not, Powell later told the newsrooms. You cant have the resources and not any of the regulations. It just isnt right. The Greenhill School, where tuition can surpass $40,000 per student, in Addison, just outside of Dallas (Shelby Tauber for ProPublica and The Texas Tribune) Repeating HistoryState funds flowing to public and charter schools are monitored by the Texas Education Agency, which requires annual independent audits and assigns ratings that gauge each schools fiscal health. Districts that repeatedly underperform risk sanctions, including forced closure.The state, however, will not directly regulate private schools under the new voucher program, which will begin next year. Instead, supervision will largely fall to one of 20 private organizations, which schools must pay to obtain and maintain the accreditation required to receive public funds. A review by the newsrooms of these organizations standards found they are generally far less rigorous than the states. Most do not require annual financial audits, which some accreditation organizations say can be too costly and time-consuming, and many do not mandate policies to prevent nepotism and conflicts of interest.If a private school loses accreditation from one group, it can simply apply to another. Texas lawmakers laid the groundwork for publicly funded schools with limited state oversight when they authorized charter schools in the 1990s as an alternative to traditional public education. At the time, they exempted charter schools from many regulations, betting that greater flexibility would lead to innovation and stronger academic performance.But over the past three decades, the state has steadily increased restrictions on charter schools in response to concerns about financial mismanagement and academic performance. Charter schools, for example, were initially exempt from the states nepotism and conflict-of-interest laws, but lawmakers gradually changed that after reports exposed leaders enriching themselves and their families. The state implemented another round of stricter rules after newspapers uncovered lavish spending on perks such as Spurs tickets and lucrative land deals. Even as oversight of charter schools has been strengthened, gaps remain. Earlier this year, a ProPublica and Tribune investigation found that a charter network with 1,000 students was paying its superintendent nearly $900,000 annually, making him among the highest-paid public school leaders in the nation. Yet the school did not disclose the superintendents full compensation to the state and later rebuffed calls to lower his salary from lawmakers and the advocacy group representing charters. The school board defended Cavazos salary, saying it was merited because of his duties and experience.Looking back on it today, I think it was necessary, Bob Schulman, a longtime education attorney, said about many of the reforms. Schulman, who has represented Texas charter schools for decades, said that some leaders abused the limited state oversight for years, making it more concerning that lawmakers launched a voucher program with even fewer regulations.Im very disturbed, Schulman said. But Im hopeful that it will be a quicker turnaround than it was for the charters. How We Reported This StoryFor this story, reporters reviewed nonprofit tax filings for 90 of the 200 highest-enrollment private schools listed in the Texas Private Schools Accreditation Commission database. Those filings were not available for the other 110 schools, as for-profit schools or those tied to houses of worship are not typically required to make tax documents public. For the schools that filed these records, reporters reviewed available annual reports dating back to at least 2015.Reporters identified more than 60 instances involving conflicts of interest, nepotism and financial transactions with related parties at 27 schools. Three education lawyers confirmed our findings.That total, however, is likely an undercount even within the sample of schools the newsrooms reviewed. Reporters identified dozens more conflicts listed in tax forms, for example, but the schools provided sparse information about what they were. Because of that, there is no way to determine if the conduct would have violated state laws if it had occurred at a public or charter school. The newsrooms reached out to each school about the missing information, but none answered questions. Help ProPublica and The Texas Tribune Report on Education

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Gerika Mudra an 18-year-old cis biracial lesbian high school student in Minnesota filed a discrimination complaint against Buffalo Wild Wings, alleging that, while enjoying dinner with a friend around the Easter holiday in April, a female employee at the chicken restaurants Owatonna location followed her into the womens restroom and demanded proof of her female gender.Minnesota has no laws restricting restroom use by transgender people. However, Mudras lawsuit filed with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights by the LGBTQ+-inclusive legal group Gender Justice alleges that the employee violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act, a law that explicitly prohibits discrimination in public accommodations based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Related Trans man uses womens restroom to follow the law. Police detained him for it anyway. The employee reportedly pounded on a bathroom stall door and said, This is a womens restroom. The man needs to get out of here. When Mudra exited the stall, she told the employee, I am a lady, NBC News reported. The server reportedly responded, You have to get out now.In response, Mudra unzipped her hoodie to show that she has breasts. (Mudra was wearing a shirt that covered her chest.) The employee reportedly said nothing in response, but left the restroom. Buffalo Wild Wings didnt respond to NBC News request for comment. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today This wasnt the first time something like this happened, but this is like the worst time, Mudra said in a video created by Gender Justice. This one she was like, mad, screaming. She made me feel very uncomfortable.After that, I just dont like going in public bathrooms. I just hold it in, she added. I want to be able to use the bathroom in peace. Mudras stepmother, Shauna Otterness, said she was enraged upon hearing about the incident, which she called cruel and humiliating.We know Gerika was targeted because of how she looks,Otterness said.She didnt do anything wrong. She just didnt fit what that server thought a girl should look like. I was shocked and heartbroken by how many people shared similar stories after I posted about it online.This shouldnt be normal, Otterness added. We can do better, and we have to. The Minnesota Human Rights Actexplicitly forbids discrimination based on gender identity, whether real or perceived. As such, if the employees behavior arose from the suspicion that Mudra was trans, the employees actions are still potentially illegal. Additionally, the law requires businesses to train staff, enforce anti-discrimination policies, and ensure their spaces are safe and welcoming to everyone, Gender Equity noted.While Minnesota doesnt have laws restricting trans peoples restroom use, 19 states do. Republicans nationwide have repeatedly accused trans women of invading womens spaces to harm girls and women. No evidence shows that trans-inclusive restroom policies contribute to a rise in restroom-related assaults. Gender Justice also noted that nearly one-third ofLGBTQ+ people report experiencing harassment for using a bathroom, and nearly 60%of trans people have avoided using public restrooms out of fear of harassment or violence. The transphobia thats happening, it really affects everyone and its really bad for everyone because theres expectations about what women should look like, what womens bodies should look like. And if you dont meet those stereotypes, youre gonna be targeted, said Jess Braverman, Gender Justices legal director.Holding ones bodily waste to avoid restrooms can result in increased urinary tract infections, constipation, the presence of blood in the urine, and even kidney disease, according to the American Medical Association. Exclusionary bathroom policies can also contribute to increased anxiety, depression, and suicidality amongst trans individuals, according to the National Institutes of Health.Black girls and women also face relentless policing of their appearance and identity. In schools, they are suspended atsix times the rateof white girls, often for subjective reasons tied to how they dress, speak, or wear their hair, Gender Justice added. These same biases follow them into places like restaurants and bathrooms where they are often treated as suspicious or out of place for simply being themselves.Morgan Peterson, Gender Justices executive director, said, A growing culture of suspicion and control is targeting trans, gender-nonconforming, and Black girls and womenanyone who doesnt match narrow ideas of how women should look or behave. When people are harassed just for existing, none of us are truly safe. Cis women are regularly harassed because of transphobic restroom policiesIn March, Phoenix copsburst into a womens restroom to remove a butch lesbian, accusing her of being a man. That same month, a 64 cisgender female Walmart employee was followed into a womens restroom by a customerwho verbally assaultedher because he thought she was trans.In January, anti-trans Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO)reportedlytold a cis woman in a Capitol womens restroom, You shouldnt be here, before storming back into the restroom with her transphobic colleague, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), only to realize the woman wasnt trans.I made an error regarding a mistaken identity, Boebert said in a statement after the incident. I apologized, learned a lesson, and it wont happen again.In November 2022, a cisgender womanharassed another cis womanwith short hair in the public restroom of the Rampart Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, because she thought she was transgender.In May 2016, 22-year-old cis woman Aimee Toms wascalled disgusting, flicked off, and escorted out of the bathroombecause a woman mistook her for being trans.In other words, anti-trans restroom policies encourage people to harass the very women and girls that the laws purport to protectSubscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the opening ceremony of the Knesset Museum in the old building of the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, Aug.11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, Pool)2025-08-13T12:33:11Z TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) At least 25 people were killed by Israeli gunfire Wednesday while seeking aid, according to health officials and witnesses, as efforts to revive ceasefire talks resume and Israels prime minister said it will allow Palestinians to leave while scaling up the offensive in Gaza. efforts to revive ceasefire talks have resumedStaff at Nasser and Awda hospitals, which received the bodies, as well as witnesses said people were killed on their way to aid distribution sites and while awaiting convoys entering the strip. Israel did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that the right thing to do was allow Gazas population to leave as Israel prepares for the next stage of the war by seizing Gaza City and other Hamas strongholds. Netanyahu wants to realize U.S. President Donald Trumps vision of relocating much of Gazas population through what Netanyahu refers to as voluntary migration. Give them the opportunity to leave! First, from combat zones, and also from the Strip if they want, Netanyahu said in an interview with i24, an Israeli TV station. We are not pushing them out but allowing them to leave. Israel and South Sudan are in talks about relocating Palestinians to the war-torn East African nation, The Associated Press reported Tuesday. The office of Israels Deputy Foreign Minister, Sharren Haskel, said Wednesday that she was arriving in South Sudan for a series of meetings in the first visit by a senior government official to the country, but she did not plan to broach the subject of moving Palestinians. Ceasefire talks set to reopenEfforts to revive ceasefire talks have resumed after appearing to have broken down last month. Hamas and Egyptian officials were set to meet Wednesday to discuss efforts to stop the war, according to Hamas official Taher al-Nounou.Israel has no current plans to send its negotiating team to talks in Cairo, the prime ministers office said. Israel has said it will widen its military offensive against Hamas to the areas of Gaza that it does not yet control, where most of the territorys 2 million residents have sought refuge.Those plans have sparked international condemnation and criticism within Israel and could be intended to raise pressure on Hamas to reach a ceasefire. The militants still hold 50 hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war. Israel believes around 20 of them are alive.Netanyahu was asked by i24 News if the window had closed on a partial ceasefire deal and he responded that he wanted all of the hostages back, both alive and dead. Egyptian Foreign Ministry Badr Abdelatty told reporters that Cairo is still trying to advance an earlier proposal for an initial 60-day ceasefire, the release of some hostages and an influx of humanitarian aid before further talks on a lasting truce.Hamas has long called for a comprehensive deal but says it will only release the remaining hostages in return for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The militant group has refused to lay down its arms as Israel has demanded. Killed while seeking aidAmong those killed while seeking aid Wednesday were 14 Palestinians in the Teina area approximately 3 kilometers away from a food distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to staff at Nasser hospital.Hashim Shamalah, who was trying to reach the sites, said Israeli troops fired toward them as people tried to get through. Many were shot and fell while fleeing, he said.Five other Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire while trying to reach another GHF distribution site in the Netzarim corridor area, according to Awda hospital and witnesses.The U.S. and Israel support GHF, an American contractor, as an alternative to the United Nations, which they say allows Hamas to siphon off aid. The U.N., which has delivered aid throughout Gaza for decades when conditions allow, denies the allegations.GHF said there were no incidents at or near its sites Wednesday. There are aid convoys from other groups that travel within 100 meters (328 feet) of GHF sites and draw large crowds attempting to loot them. An overwhelming majority of violent incidents over the past few weeks have been related to those other aid convoys, the organization said, noting it has provided more than 1 million meals to aid seekers.At least six other people were killed by Israeli fire waiting for aid trucks close to the Morag corridor, which separates parts of southern Gaza, Nasser hospital said. The U.N. and food security experts have warned starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at the highest levels since the war began.U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday reported the warning from the World Food Program and said the Gaza Health Ministry told U.N. staff in Gaza that five people died over the previous 24 hours from malnutrition and starvation. Gazas Health Ministry says 106 children have died of malnutrition-related causes during the war and 129 adults have died since late June when the ministry started to count deaths among this age group.The U.N. and its humanitarian partners are doing everything possible to bring aid into Gaza, Dujarric said, but still face significant delays and impediments from Israeli authorities who prevent the delivery of food and other essentials at the scale needed.Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the 2023 attack. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals.Israels air and ground offensive has since displaced most of Gazas population, destroyed vast areas and pushed the territory toward famine. The offensive has killed more than 61,700 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children.The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.___Follow APs war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war MELANIE LIDMAN Lidman is an Associated Press reporter based in Tel Aviv, Israel. SAMY MAGDY Magdy is a Middle East reporter for The Associated Press, based in Cairo. He focuses on conflict, migration and human rights abuses. twitter facebook mailto

Mixed drinks are displayed at a bar in Baltimore, Feb. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)2025-08-13T10:35:49Z WASHINGTON (AP) Fewer Americans are reporting that they drink alcohol amid a growing belief that even moderate alcohol consumption is a health risk, according to a new Gallup poll released Wednesday.A record high percentage of U.S. adults, 53%, now say moderate drinking is bad for their health, up from 28% in 2015. The uptick in doubt about alcohols benefits is largely driven by young adults the age group that is most likely to believe drinking one or two drinks a day can cause health hazards but older adults are also now increasingly likely to think moderate drinking carries risks.As concerns about health impacts rise, fewer Americans are reporting that they drink. The survey finds that 54% of U.S. adults say they drink alcoholic beverages such as liquor, wine or beer. Thats lower than at any other point in the past three decades. The findings of the poll, which was conducted in July, indicate that after years of many believing that moderate drinking was harmless or even beneficial worries about alcohol consumption are taking hold. According to Gallups data, even those who consume alcohol are drinking less. The federal government is updating new dietary guidelines, including those around alcohol. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, government data showed U.S. alcohol consumption was trending up. But other government surveys have shown a decline in certain types of drinking, particularly among teenagers and young adults. This comes alongside a new drumbeat of information about alcohols risks. While moderate drinking was once thought to have benefits for heart health, health professionals in recent years have pointed to overwhelming evidence that alcohol consumption leads to negative health outcomes and is a leading cause of cancer. Growing skepticism about alcohols benefitsYounger adults have been quicker than older Americans to accept that drinking is harmful, but older adults are coming around to the same view.About two-thirds of 18- to 34-year-olds believe moderate drinking is unhealthy, according to the new poll, up from about 4 in 10 in 2015. Older adults are less likely to see alcohol as harmful about half of Americans age 55 or older believe this but thats a substantial increase, too. In 2015, only about 2 in 10 adults age 55 or older thought alcohol was bad for their health. In the past, moderate drinking was thought to have some benefits. That idea came from imperfect studies that largely didnt include younger people and couldnt prove cause and effect. Now the scientific consensus has shifted, and several countries recently lowered their alcohol consumption recommendations. Earlier this year, the outgoing U.S. surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, recommended a label on bottles of beer, wine and liquor that would clearly outline the link between alcohol consumption and cancer. The federal governments current dietary guidelines recommend Americans not drink or, if they do consume alcohol, men should limit themselves to two drinks a day or fewer while women should stick to one or fewer. Gallups director of U.S. social research, Lydia Saad, said shifting health advice throughout older Americans lives may be a reason why they have been more gradual than young adults to recognize alcohol as harmful.Older folks may be a little more hardened in terms of the whiplash that they get with recommendations, Saad said. It may take them a little longer to absorb or accept the information. Whereas, for young folks, this is the environment that theyve grown up in ... in many cases, it would be the first thing young adults would have heard as they were coming into adulthood.The government is expected to release new guidelines later this year, under the directive of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has promised big changes. Kennedy has not hinted at how the alcohol recommendations may shift.Drinking rates fall to decade lowSlightly more than half of Americans, 54%, report that they drink alcohol a low in Gallups data that is especially pronounced among women and young adults. Young Americans alcohol consumption has been trending downward for years, accelerating the overall decline in alcohol consumption. In sharp contrast with Gallups findings two decades ago, when young adults were likeliest to report drinking, young adults drinking rate is now slightly below middle-aged and older adults. Americans reported drinking is among the lowest since the question was first asked in 1939. For most of the last few decades, at least 6 in 10 Americans have reported drinking alcoholic beverages, only dipping below that point a few times in the questions history. Americans who drink alcohol are consuming lessEven if concerns about health risks arent causing some adults to give up alcohol entirely, these worries could be influencing how often they drink.The survey found that adults who think moderate drinking is bad for ones health are just as likely as people who dont share those concerns to report that they drink, but fewer of the people with health worries had consumed alcohol recently.About half of those who worry moderate drinking is unhealthy said they had a drink in the previous week, compared with about 7 in 10 who did not think drinking was bad for their health.Overall, only about one-quarter of Americans who drink said they had consumed alcohol in the prior 24 hours, a record low in the survey. Roughly 4 in 10 said that it had been more than a week since they had poured a drink.___Associated Press writer Amanda Seitz contributed to this report. LINLEY SANDERS Sanders is a polls and surveys reporter for The Associated Press. She develops and writes about polls conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, and works on AP VoteCast. twitter

We start this week with Jasons article about a CBP official wearing Meta Ray-Bans smart glasses to an immigration raid. A lot of stuff happened after we published that article too. After the break, Sam tells us about the bargain that voice actors are making with AI. In the subscribers-only section, Jason tells us how a DEA official used a cops password to AI cameras to then do immigration surveillance.Listen to the weekly podcast onApple Podcasts,Spotify, orYouTube. Become a paid subscriber for access to this episode's bonus content and to power our journalism.If you become a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the subscribers-only version! You can also add that subscribers feed to your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode that way. The email should also contain the subscribers-only unlisted YouTube link for the extended video version too. It will also be in the show notes in your podcast player. Get your subscriber code and tickets for the live event hereA CBP Agent Wore Meta Smart Glasses to an Immigration Raid in Los AngelesVoiceover Artists Weigh the 'Faustian Bargain' of Lending Their Talents to AIFeds Used Local Cop's Password to Do Immigration Surveillance With Flock CamerasCongress Launches Investigation into Flock After 404 Media Reporting

This article was primarily reported using public records requests. We are making it available to all readers as a public service. FOIA reporting can be expensive, please consider subscribing to 404 Media to support this work. Or send us a one time donation via our tip jar here.The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has shown interest in using GeoSpy, a powerful AI tool that can pinpoint the location of photos based on features such as the soil, architecture, and other identifying features, according to emails obtained by 404 Media. The news also comes as GeoSpys founder shared a video showing how the tool can be used in relation to undocumented immigrants in sanctuary cities, and specifically Los Angeles.The emails provide the first named case of a law enforcement agency showing clear interest in the tool. GeoSpy can also let law enforcement determine what home or building, down to the specific address, a photo came from, in some cases including photos taken inside with no windows or view of the street.Lets start with one seat/license (me), an October 2024 email from an LAPD official to Graylark Technologies, the company behind GeoSpy, reads. The LAPD official is from the agencys Robbery-Homicide division, according to the email. 404 Media obtained the emails through a public records request with the LAPD.The email conversation appears to be in response to the LAPD inquiring about the tool, with one email from GeoSpy saying We received your inquiry about our PRO tool. The email then answers some questions that appeared to have been asked by the LAPD about pricing and when the tool will be available.Later on, Dan Heinen, the founder of Graylark which makes GeoSpy, tells the LAPD official that the annual cost of GeoSpy is $5,000 per user, which provides 350 searches. In the October 2024 email, the LAPD official wrote that Any purchase wouldnt be for about a year out.Do you know about any other agencies using GeoSpy, or where GeoSpy sources its data from? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.This week Heinen uploaded a demonstration video of GeoSpy to the companys Discord server which shows it geolocating a photo in Los Angeles. With dramatic music playing, the user brings up a tweet from X.com commentator Kevin Dalton, which says Sanctuary cities get people killed.Los Angeles man shot and killed by 2 illegal immigrants attempting to steal his catalytic converter. Both men had been arrested and released more than a DOZEN times in LA county for violent crimes in the past few years, Dalton adds. The tweet refers to the murder of Juan Miguel Sanchez in February.The GeoSpy user then crops a section of that video, which comes from a Ring camera, to show just one of the homes in the background and uploads it to GeoSpy.Searching CA - Los Angeles Analyzing image features to determine precise location, the tool says.A few seconds later, GeoSpy then provides what it believes to be the precise latitude and longitude coordinates where the photo was taken, the property address, and a Google Street view interface for exploring that location. Heinen previously uploaded another test video related to Los Angeles which shows similar capabilities. That clip briefly shows a dropdown menu of other locations such as Las Vegas, Memphis, and Miami Dade County. Representatives from law enforcement agencies in those locations did not respond to a request for comment. 0:00 /0:35 1 Heinen and other representatives of GeoSpy did not respond to a request for comment. In an interview with the tech publication Indicator published Monday, Heinen said My job as a leader in my space is to build the best technology that customers are asking for. It's not my job to play the ethics game because our elected officials will eventually figure that out. I have full faith in the American people to decide who to elect and what to vote on.The LAPD did not respond to multiple requests for comment about its interest in GeoSpy. Although Los Angeles is a sanctuary city, meaning that local law enforcement cannot legally help federal authorities with immigration enforcement, the agency cracked down on anti-ICE protests earlier in the year.Cooper Quintin, senior public interest technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), has been following GeoSpy and said he was given access to the tool. On the LAPDs interest in the tech, he said GeoSpy should be a powerful reminder that what we post on social media isnt private, especially if combined with social media monitoring tools.He added that in his tests GeoSpy has proven to not be very accurate in my experience and this tool could lead to false accusations and further harassment of innocent people. Its also a powerful tool for stalking or other misuse by police. He said if the LAPD are going to use tools like GeoSpy, there needs to be community oversight, transparency, and accountability for misuse.A screenshot of one of the emails. Image: 404 Media.Open source intelligence (OSINT) practitioners have been geolocating photos like this for years. What makes GeoSpy different is that it allows essentially any law enforcement officer with no expertise to geolocate photos near instantly.GeoSpy is trained on hundreds millions of images worldwide, which allow it to recognize distinct geographical markers such as architectural styles, soil characteristics, and their spatial relationships, according to marketing material available online. Regarding where GeoSpys training dataset comes from, in the Indicator interview Heinen said There's lots of data sets out there that people don't know about. Through partnerships, purchasing data etcetera, we've been able to license data that isn't really privacy problematic, and that has geotags in them.Under a section of its website entitled For Enterprise & Law Enforcement, the company says GeoSpy is an advanced platform integrating powerful AI location models for your city or country. Delivering up to meter level accuracy, state of the art computer vision models all in an easy to use interface.Recently GeoSpy said its tool had been used by an unnamed metropolitan police department to track down a fugitive who posted a photo of his car to his Instagram Story. This photo has no GPS metadata and was in an area that had virtually no public map data because it was a new development, according to the blog post on GeoSpys website. The company claims the police department was able to find a location in 20 minutes and made an arrest.The image posted online of a GeoSpy demonstration in a Secret Service field office. Redactions included in original.GeoSpy appears to have been in communication with other local law enforcement agencies too. Heinen recently uploaded a photo of himself giving a demonstration of GeoSpy in a room with a law enforcement agency's logo. The distinctive shield logo was redacted in the photo but 404 Media saw it resembled the Secret Service. The Secret Service told 404 Media the demonstration took place at the agency's Miami field office, but that it was for local law enforcement and not the Secret Service. Local agencies in the Miami area did not respond to requests for comment.404 Media first covered GeoSpy in January, when the tool was being marketed to government agencies but also had a public version that anyone could use. At the time, some members of GeoSpys Discord asked for help locating specific women. GeoSpy closed off its public access tool after 404 Medias reporting.Recently GeoSpy has been advertising its ability to geolocate indoor photographs. Heinen tweeted a video last month which took a still from a TikTok showing an interior wall. GeoSpy then provided an address for a property.In GeoSpys Discord, someone presented themselves as a representative of a private intelligence company called Colossus. Were a small ex mil protective intelligence provider, the person said while showing interest in gaining access to GeoSpy. Colossus did not respond to a request for comment.

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