Less than two months after the United States and Israel launched joint military strikes on Iran that roiled global energy markets and disrupted international trade, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has publicly called out the US for launching what he frames as an unnecessary conflict built on false claims. Speaking to reporters during an interview in Brazil’s northeastern state of Ceara on Wednesday, Lula pulled no punches in his criticism of American foreign policy in the Middle East. “The United States got involved in an unnecessary war in Iran, claiming that Iran had nuclear weapons or that they were trying to make nuclear weapons. That’s a lie!” Lula told assembled press. The Brazilian leader went on to draw a direct parallel to the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, a conflict that was justified by allegations of Iraqi stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction that were never uncovered after the invasion. Lula emphasized that this pattern of manufacturing pretext for military action has a long track record, arguing that armed conflict has never produced meaningful solutions to global disputes. “That’s just a pretext … and war has never solved anything,” he added. Beyond his critique of the conflict itself, Lula highlighted the tangible economic spillover that the conflict has already inflicted on Brazil, thousands of miles from the Middle East. He called on the United Nations Security Council to undertake deliberate, rational reflection on the escalating conflict to chart a path toward de-escalation. Disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for nearly a fifth of the world’s daily oil consumption, have driven sharp upward pressure on fuel prices globally, and Brazil has not been immune. Lula confirmed that diesel prices in the Latin American giant are facing notable upward pressure as a result of the conflict, which has exacerbated existing economic headwinds for working households. To mitigate the damage, Lula said his administration has already implemented targeted policy interventions, including cuts to fuel taxes and strengthened market oversight, all aimed at protecting the livelihoods of low-income Brazilian citizens who are disproportionately affected by rising energy costs. The regional conflict has sent shockwaves across the global economy since the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran were launched on February 28. In addition to disrupting global shipping lanes and sending crude oil prices soaring in the immediate aftermath of the strikes, the escalation has introduced new uncertainty to a global economy still recovering from the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing inflationary pressures.
作者： admin
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Trump threatens to hit Iran ‘extremely hard’ over next 2 to 3 weeks
In a primetime national address delivered from the White House on April 1, 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump laid out an aggressive new timeline for the month-long conflict with Iran, threatening devastating new military strikes against the country within the next 14 to 21 days. The speech marked Trump’s first major public update on the war since it entered its fifth week, framing ongoing military operations as nearing their final phases while doubling down on hardline rhetoric against Tehran.
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How a chance meeting shaped Canadian Jeremy Hansen’s mission to the Moon
Fifty years after the last Apollo mission carried humans to the Moon’s vicinity, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen stands on the cusp of making history as the only non-American crew member of NASA’s groundbreaking Artemis II mission – a milestone decades in the making, rooted in childhood wonder and a chance mentorship that shaped his path to space.
Long before his name was attached to humanity’s first crewed lunar orbit mission in a generation, Hansen was a curious five-year-old growing up on a small farm outside London, Ontario. His passion for space ignited unexpectedly when he stumbled on an encyclopedia entry featuring Neil Armstrong and the iconic 1969 Apollo 11 lunar landing image. That moment left an indelible mark: “That page is still burnt in my brain,” Hansen recalled in a recent interview with *Spaceflight Now*. The young aspiring explorer quickly converted his family’s treehouse into a makeshift rocket, turning childhood daydreams into the first step of a decades-long journey.
By his teens, Hansen had translated that fascination into action, joining the air cadets youth program before pursuing degrees in space science and physics at university. He went on to become a Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot, flying CF-18 jets out of Cold Lake, Alberta’s military base and collaborating with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). But a chance encounter during his first year at the Royal Military College of Canada in 1995 would cement his trajectory: the young cadet met his idol, fellow Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield – years before Hadfield would take command of the International Space Station.
Hansen worked up the courage to ask Hadfield for his email address, and the quick exchange sparked a years-long mentorship that would guide Hansen’s career. When Hansen joined the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in 2009, following in Hadfield’s footsteps as both a fighter pilot and astronaut, Hadfield remained a key advisor, leaving Hansen with one simple, enduring piece of advice: chase the work that sets your passion alight. “Jeremy has been getting ready for this flight since he was five years old,” Hadfield noted in a March podcast conversation with Canadian singer Emm Gryner.
Fourteen years after joining the CSA, Hansen’s lifelong preparation culminated in a historic selection: he was named mission specialist for Artemis II, the first crewed mission to travel beyond low-Earth orbit and circle the Moon since NASA’s Apollo program concluded in the 1970s. Over the 10-day mission, Hansen and three crewmates – commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and fellow mission specialist Christina Koch – will travel farther from Earth than any human group in history.
Hansen is under no illusion that the groundbreaking mission will be without risk. “To do something that has never been done before means that your team is very likely to face failure,” he shared in an interview with the CSA. But that uncertainty has not dimmed his commitment to pushing human exploration forward. “I like the fact that in space, we are committed to bold goals to the extent that we will not let periodic failure stop our forward progress,” he added.
For the historic flight, Hansen has woven personal and cultural meaning into every detail of his mission. He will carry four small moon-shaped pendants, each engraved with a birthstone for his wife and three teenage children. His custom blue spacesuit bears a mission patch designed by Anishinaabe artist Henry Guimond, with input from Dave Courchene III of Manitoba’s Sagkeeng First Nation. The patch’s heptagonal shape and featured animals draw from Indigenous teachings that center on four core values: love, respect, courage and humility for all people. Hansen says the patch is a deliberate tribute to Indigenous peoples of Canada and their millennia of traditional knowledge.
In a recent BBC interview with science editor Rebecca Morelle and 13 Minutes podcast host Tim Peake – himself a former astronaut – Hansen opened up about the moments he is most anticipating. He is already looking forward to his first glimpse of Earth from orbit during his opening hour in space, but the highlight he expects will be the view of the Moon in the foreground, with our home planet hanging delicate and blue in the black distance behind it.
For Hansen, the mission is about more than just pushing the boundaries of human exploration: it is a reminder of what humanity can achieve when we work together. “I hope humanity will stop for a moment when four humans are on the far side of the Moon, and just look at some of the imagery that we are sharing – and just be reminded that we can do a better job as humans of just lifting each other up,” he said. “Not destroying but creating together.”
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Explosions at Burundi ammunition depot kill 13 civilians – army
A sequence of devastating blasts at a Burundian military ammunition storage facility has left at least 13 people dead and 57 others injured, according to official updates from the Burundian army. The incident, which unfolded on Tuesday evening in the Musaga suburb of Bujumbura — the East African nation’s most populous urban center — was triggered by an electrical malfunction, army spokespersons confirmed.
The force of the consecutive explosions was powerful enough to hurl shrapnel and wreckage more than five kilometers (three miles) from the blast site, leaving a wide trail of destruction across surrounding residential areas. Along with the human casualties, the blasts destroyed military infrastructure and equipment, while dozens of civilian homes and private vehicles sustained severe damage.
The affected military logistics depot sits in a heavily populated residential zone, positioned adjacent to both a separate military base and Mpimba Central Prison, one of the city’s main correctional facilities. One inmate at the prison was killed when a blast fragment struck the facility, and multiple other detainees were left injured, according to accounts shared with the BBC. In another residential neighborhood in northeast Bujumbura, Gisandema, a bomb fragment destroyed a private home and killed a domestic worker employed at the property. Local witnesses have shared additional accounts of two civilian fatalities near the depot, including a young woman who was killed by shrapnel as she fled the area with a crowd of other residents.
Thick plumes of dark smoke billowed over the city of more than 1 million residents, triggering widespread panic across local communities. Multiple residents reported that blasts continued intermittently from roughly 18:15 local time (16:15 GMT) through midnight, forcing hundreds of families to abandon their homes to seek safe shelter elsewhere. One resident who spoke to the BBC recalled sustaining a foot injury from falling shattered glass during the incident, while other local residents say they are waiting for official confirmation that the area is safe before they can return to rebuild their daily routines.
Burundian military officials have extended formal condolences to the families of those killed and shared sympathy with people injured in the blasts. They have called on local residents to remain calm, and urged anyone encountering unexploded ordnance to report it immediately to authorities. Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye also released a public message of condolence via the social platform X, confirming that national authorities are mobilizing to support affected communities.
Early informal accounts from witnesses and security sources had varied on the death toll, with some sources initially reporting higher casualty numbers, before the army released its official, updated count.
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A rare school in Kenya is empowering teenage mothers with education and child care
Nestled in Kenya’s Kajiado County, just south of the capital Nairobi, Greenland Girls Secondary School stands out as a revolutionary lifeline for young women who have been forced out of mainstream education by teenage pregnancy. Unlike any other institution in the country, this unique boarding school caters exclusively to adolescent mothers, providing them with free secondary education and on-site childcare for their children — opening a door to opportunity that would otherwise remain locked for most.
For 19-year-old Valarie Wairimu, a top-performing student at the school who dreams of becoming a doctor, the daily routine revolves around balancing coursework and caring for her infant son, Kayden. When break time hits at Greenland, Wairimu does not head to the courtyard or dorms to relax like her peers at other schools. Instead, she grabs a quick snack, hurries to the school’s on-site nursery, where nannies have been caring for Kayden while she attended class, and feeds her son before her next lecture. Wairimu’s path to Greenland was not easy: raised by a single father with a younger brother to support, she could not afford to care for her newborn after becoming pregnant. It was her grandmother who connected her to the school’s national referral network, which works with teachers and community leaders across Kenya to reach young mothers in need, even in far-flung regions like the western part of the country where Wairimu’s family lives.
Founded in 2015 and operated by the nonprofit organization Shining Hope for Communities, Greenland currently serves 310 students and cares for more than 80 of their children, ranging from newborn infants to walking toddlers. Nearly all students attend via full or partial grants, removing the financial barrier that pushes millions of young Kenyan women out of schooling each year. Most students come from low-income backgrounds across the country, and many were pushed into pregnancy through sexual assault or forced child marriage — abuses that remain widespread in parts of rural Kenya. In many cases, students face rejection from their own families and local communities, which often stigmatize teenage mothers and bar them from returning to school. According to school manager Paul Mukilya, outreach teams frequently have to negotiate with community elders to secure permission for pregnant girls and young mothers to enroll at Greenland. Once students arrive, the institution provides far more than just classroom education: it offers free psychological counseling, mentorship, and practical parenting training to help young women rebuild their confidence and care for their children. While students attend classes, trained staff handle childcare, and caregivers work with mothers who once saw their children as an overwhelming burden to develop positive parenting skills.
Kenyan law criminalizes sexual activity with minors under 18, but a gap in the legislation means only male perpetrators can face criminal charges, leaving young pregnant girls with no legal recourse and often bearing the social blame for their situation. Greenland supports students through court processes and liaises with local authorities to intervene in cases of unlawful underage forced marriage, standing as a legal advocate for vulnerable young women.
The need for this model of education could not be more urgent in Kenya, a nation with one of the fastest-growing youth populations on the African continent. Official 2024 Kenyan national statistics recorded more than 125,000 live births to adolescent mothers under the age of 19. Decades of research have repeatedly documented the link between teenage pregnancy and school dropout: a 2015 study from the Population Council, a global health and development think tank, found that two-thirds of teenage mothers in Kenya left school because of their pregnancy. As recently as 2022, research organization IDinsight confirmed that unintended pregnancy remains the second-leading cause of girls dropping out of secondary school, surpassed only by an inability to pay school fees.
Development experts praise Greenland as a replicable model for closing Kenya’s gender equity gap in education. “Every girl who gets pregnant and drops out during their school time must be allowed reentry,” explained Dr. Githinji Gitahi, chief executive of Amref Health Africa, a leading African development organization. “Special schools are important in supplementing the general scalable policy framework. We should focus on these schools that are helping to close the equity gap.”
Thanks to overwhelming demand from young mothers across the country, Greenland is preparing to expand: a second campus is set to open in Kilifi County along Kenya’s coast, where rates of teenage pregnancy and school dropout are particularly high. To date, the school has already helped hundreds of young women graduate secondary school, and many have gone on to build successful professional careers in fields ranging from government to medicine.
For students like 20-year-old Mary Wanjiku, who hopes to become a lawyer after graduation, what makes Greenland most transformative is the stigma-free learning environment it provides. “People used to judge me because I got pregnant,” Wanjiku said, whose son is now 18 months old. “The moment I came here, I was received with love.”
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New Zealand and Cook Islands sign a defense pact, easing tensions over a China deal
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – After more than 12 months of strained diplomatic relations stoked by the Cook Islands’ deepening engagement with China, the South Pacific partners have signed a new defense and security agreement that formally eases ongoing tensions between the two nations.
While the standoff between the two Pacific states – one a nation of 5 million people, the other a small island nation with just 15,000 residents – never rose to the level of a major geopolitical clash, the prolonged rift drew close attention from regional analysts. The dispute laid bare the unique balancing act that small Pacific island states face when managing long-standing traditional alliances with Western powers like New Zealand and Australia, while pursuing new economic and infrastructure overtures from Beijing.
Under the terms of the new declaration, the Cook Islands has formally committed that New Zealand will remain its “partner of choice regarding defense and security matters” – a guarantee that eliminates the security concern Wellington raised that China could seek to fill a defense vacuum in the Cook Islands. New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters noted that the agreement resolves long-running “ambiguity” surrounding the terms of the two nations’ existing relationship.
The diplomatic rift first erupted in February 2025, when Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown signed a comprehensive strategic partnership with China during an official visit to Beijing. Wellington raised immediate alarm over the deal, because Brown declined to share the full text of the agreement with New Zealand officials before signing – a step New Zealand argued was required for security reasons, given the long-standing relationship between the two nations.
The Cook Islands has operated as a self-governing state under a free association agreement with New Zealand since 1965. Under that arrangement, New Zealand bears full responsibility for the Cook Islands’ defense and security, and all Cook Islanders hold New Zealand citizenship, allowing them to live and work freely across New Zealand. The terms of the free association also require Cook Islands leaders to consult Wellington on any international agreements that could impact New Zealand’s security interests.
Brown defended his choice not to disclose the text of the China agreement, arguing that existing diplomatic arrangements between the two nations did not mandate pre-approval or full disclosure for new foreign pacts. In response, New Zealand – the Cook Islands’ largest international aid donor – paused millions of dollars in targeted aid funding to Avarua, though the frozen amount made up only a small share of New Zealand’s total annual contribution to the Cook Islands. Peters confirmed Thursday, during his visit to sign the new agreement alongside Brown, that the paused aid will now resume immediately.
China pushed back on the dispute Thursday, asserting that its relationship with the Cook Islands “is not directed at any third party, nor should it be subject to interference or constraints by any third party.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning emphasized in a daily briefing in Beijing that all sovereign Pacific island nations deserve respect for their independent policy choices.
“Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the two countries have always treated each other on equal footing with mutual respect and pursued common development,” Mao Ning said. “We are willing to deepen practical cooperation with Cook Islands to continuously enhance the well-being of the two peoples.”
The Cook Islands, an archipelago of 15 islands scattered across the South Pacific, is one of dozens of small regional states that China has actively courted in recent years. Beijing has extended large-scale aid packages, low-interest loans, and infrastructure development deals across the Pacific as part of a broader push to expand its diplomatic and strategic influence in the region. The sparsely populated South Pacific holds major strategic value for global powers, and most Pacific island states control vast, resource-rich exclusive economic zones. Brown has actively advanced plans to explore deep-sea mineral mining within the Cook Islands’ exclusive economic zone, a potentially lucrative development project that has drawn international interest.
Peters acknowledged Thursday that the regional strategic landscape has shifted dramatically since the 1965 free association agreement was signed. “The strategic environment we face is more complex and contested today than at any other point since New Zealand and the Cook Islands formed our free association relationship in 1965,” he said.
Tensions between Wellington and Avarua first began building in late 2024, when Brown floated a plan to create a separate Cook Islands passport – a proposal he quickly shelved after New Zealand made its strong opposition clear, in what Brown described as New Zealand “baring its teeth” over the issue. “It’s no secret that our two governments have had a series of serious disagreements since late 2024,” Peters acknowledged Thursday.
Neither leader has clarified what the new defense declaration means for the Cook Islands’ earlier strategic partnership with China, which covers deep-sea mining development, infrastructure projects, and educational scholarships, and does not include explicit security provisions. Brown stressed Thursday that the new agreement with New Zealand does not alter or invalidate any of the Cook Islands’ other international agreements. Still, Brown reaffirmed Wellington’s primary role in the nation’s security affairs: “But New Zealand would be our first port of call on anything to do with defense and security,” Brown said.
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Australia to crack down on gambling ads after years of criticism
Australia, which holds the unenviable title of the world’s highest per capita gambling losses, has finally introduced long-awaited regulations on gambling advertising after years of mounting public pressure for change. While the new package of measures imposes stricter limits on where and when gambling promotions can run, and who is allowed to feature in them, it stops short of the full industry-wide ban that had secured cross-party political support and backing from dozens of community and public health organizations across the country.
The proposed restrictions faced fierce opposition ahead of their announcement from powerful domestic gambling agencies, major media outlets, and national sports organizations, all of which warned that a full ban would trigger a catastrophic collapse in their annual revenue streams. The push for comprehensive reform dates back more than 1,000 days, when a federal parliamentary inquiry into gambling harm recommended Australia follow the lead of nations including Italy, Belgium and Spain, which have implemented full or near-total bans on gambling advertising.
Speaking at the National Press Club on Thursday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defended his government’s approach, framing the partial restrictions as a measured compromise that strikes the right balance for the nation. “Letting adults have a punt if they want to, but making sure our children don’t see betting ads everywhere they look,” Albanese said of the policy’s core goal.
The full slate of reforms is set to take effect from January 1 next year, and includes a series of targeted restrictions across broadcast, digital and physical platforms: TV gambling advertisements will be capped at three spots per hour between 6 a.m. and 8:30 p.m., with a complete ban on promotions during all live sports broadcasts in that same window; radio gambling ads will be prohibited during school drop-off and pick-up hours to reduce child exposure; celebrities and professional athletes will be banned from appearing in any gambling marketing; online platform gambling ads will only be allowed for logged-in users over 18 who have explicitly opted in to seeing promotions; all gambling advertising will be outlawed in live sports venues, and from the uniforms of players and game officials.
Beyond advertising restrictions, the government also announced a wider crackdown on unregulated illegal offshore gambling sites, and will ban additional forms of online gambling including online Keno and digital platforms designed to mimic physical poker machines.
Almost immediately after the reforms were unveiled, the policy drew backlash from both the gambling industry and reform advocates, leaving neither side satisfied with the final outcome. For industry groups, the new rules go too far, with leaders warning of widespread economic harm.
Kai Cantwell, chief executive of Responsible Wagering Australia, the national peak body for domestic betting agencies, called the new measures “draconian” and claimed they set a “dangerous precedent” for regulation of other consumer industries. “Today it’s gambling advertising, tomorrow it’s alcohol, then it’s sugary drinks, fast food, critical minerals and who knows what else comes next,” Cantwell said in an official statement. He added that the government had caught the sector off guard, noting the industry supports 30,000 Australian jobs and provides major funding for domestic sports, horse racing and broadcast industries.
A spokesperson for Sportsbet, one of Australia’s largest betting operators, said the company was concerned that the “overly blunt” restrictions could have unintended consequences that ultimately increase harm, including pushing more Australian gamblers to use unregulated illegal offshore betting platforms that are not subject to the same rules. The spokesperson added that Sportsbet had already recognized shifting community attitudes toward gambling advertising and taken proactive steps to limit harmful promotion on its own.
On the other side of the debate, public health and gambling reform advocates say the reforms do not go nearly far enough to protect vulnerable communities and children from exposure to gambling marketing. Reverend Tim Costello, a leading voice for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, which has pushed for a full ban across broadcast and digital platforms as well as the creation of a dedicated national industry regulator, drew a comparison to tobacco regulation to criticize the partial cap on ads. “Imagine three cigarette ads per hour,” Costello said. “Australian children deserve to grow up in a country that puts their wellbeing before corporate profits.”
Julian Rait, vice-president of the Australian Medical Association, echoed that criticism in a statement, arguing that “partial bans do not work.” “Anything less than a comprehensive ban will continue to expose Australians – especially children – to relentless gambling promotion,” Rait said.
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Danish warship sunk by Nelson’s British fleet discovered after 225 years
On the 225th anniversary of one of the most pivotal naval battles of the Napoleonic era, marine archaeologists from Denmark’s Viking Ship Museum have announced a landmark discovery: the wreck of the Danish flagship *Dannebroge*, sunk by British forces under Admiral Horatio Nelson during the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen, has been located on the seabed of Copenhagen Harbor.
The conflict that claimed the *Dannebroge* was rooted in 19th century European geopolitics. Denmark had joined the League of Armed Neutrality, an alliance of Northern European powers including Russia, Prussia and Sweden, that sought to protect neutral shipping from British blockades during the Napoleonic Wars. To prevent the Danish navy from falling under French control, Nelson led a British fleet in a surprise attack on the Danish blockade positioned outside Copenhagen Harbor on April 2, 1801. The brutal, hours-long clash killed and wounded thousands of combatants, and remains remembered as one of Nelson’s most famous military victories. It was during this battle that Nelson, who had lost vision in his right eye decades earlier, allegedly ignored a recall order from his superior, famously remarking, “I have only one eye, I have a right to be blind sometimes” — an anecdote that gave rise to the enduring idiom “to turn a blind eye.”
As the Danish flagship and Nelson’s primary target, the 48-meter *Dannebroge* commanded by Commodore Olfert Fischer bore the brunt of the British attack. Cannon fire shredded its upper deck, and incendiary shells sparked an uncontrollable blaze. “When a cannonball hits a ship, it’s not the cannonball that does the most damage to the crew, it’s wooden splinters flying everywhere, very much like grenade debris,” explained Morten Johansen, head of maritime archaeology at the Viking Ship Museum, describing the nightmare conditions for sailors on board. The badly damaged vessel drifted northward in the harbor before eventually exploding, with historical records noting the blast produced a deafening roar heard across the entire city of Copenhagen.
For more than two centuries, the exact location of the wreck remained a mystery. That changed when archaeologists launched targeted surveys of the area late last year, zeroing in on a site that aligned with historical accounts of the *Dannebroge*’s final resting position, 15 meters below the water’s surface. Working in thick seabed sediment with near-zero visibility, the team has already confirmed the wreck’s identity: the dimensions of recovered wooden fragments match 19th century ship schematics, and dendrochronological dating, which uses tree rings to date wood, confirms the timber matches the period when the *Dannebroge* was built. So far, divers have recovered two intact cannons, military uniforms, metal insignia, footwear, glass bottles, ceramic fragments, basketry, and even a partial human lower jawbone, likely belonging to one of the 19 *Dannebroge* crew members still unaccounted for after the battle.
Working at the site is a grueling challenge. Silt stirred up by divers’ movements keeps the water in near-complete darkness. “Sometimes you can’t see anything, and then you really have to just feel your way, look with your fingers instead of with your eyes,” said Marie Jonsson, a diver and maritime archaeologist on the project. Even more pressing is the race against time: the wreck site lies in the footprint of Lynetteholm, a massive planned coastal housing and development project scheduled to begin construction on the site in the near future, with completion targeted for 2070. The months-long underwater excavation is being rushed to recover as much of the wreck and its artifacts as possible before construction begins.
For Denmark, the discovery of the *Dannebroge* is far more than a archaeological find: the 1801 battle is deeply woven into the country’s national identity. “It’s a big part of the Danish national feeling,” Johansen noted. While the battle has been extensively documented by historians for more than two centuries, much of what is known comes from secondhand accounts from outside observers. Archaeologists believe the wreck holds untold new details about what life was really like for sailors caught in the brutal fighting, and may uncover long-lost personal stories of the men who served on the flagship. “There are bottles, there are ceramics, and even pieces of basketry,” Jonsson said. “You get closer to the people onboard.” The Associated Press was the only international news outlet granted exclusive access to the excavation site.
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Post-mortem indicates New Zealand rugby player who died by suspected suicide had CTE
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Post-mortem analysis has confirmed that former professional New Zealand rugby player Shane Christie, who died of suspected suicide in August 2023 at age 39, was living with high-stage chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain condition tied to repeated head impacts and concussions. Coroner Ian Telford announced the official diagnosis during a preliminary public hearing into Christie’s death this Thursday.
CTE is a progressive disorder that gradually damages brain tissue, triggering a range of disabling symptoms including dramatic mood swings, impulsive decision-making, and clinical depression. Unlike most neurodegenerative conditions, a definitive CTE diagnosis can only be made after death, through post-mortem examination of brain tissue.
A former representative player for the New Zealand Māori rugby side, Christie built a professional career playing Super Rugby for two top New Zealand franchises, the Crusaders and Highlanders. He was forced to retire from the sport in 2018, after years of accumulated symptoms from repeated concussions sustained during his playing career. Long before his death, Christie suspected he had developed CTE, and became a vocal advocate for greater public and institutional understanding of the condition following the 2020 suspected suicide of his friend and fellow professional rugby player Billy Guyton.
Both Guyton and Christie donated their brains to the University of Auckland’s Neurological Foundation Human Brain Bank, a leading research facility studying neurodegenerative conditions linked to contact sports. The diagnosis of advanced CTE was confirmed by Dr. Clinton Turner, a pathologist attached to the brain bank program. Coroner Telford noted that while the pathological diagnosis is confirmed, the official cause of Christie’s death will be finalized through the full coronial inquiry process.
CTE has long been associated with adverse long-term outcomes and deaths among athletes in multiple high-impact contact sports, including the U.S. National Football League, professional hockey, and soccer. Following the public announcement of Christie’s diagnosis, New Zealand Rugby chief executive Steve Lancaster reaffirmed the governing body’s commitment to addressing CTE risks. The organization officially recognizes the confirmed link between repeated head impacts in rugby and the development of CTE, and takes the public health threat of the condition extremely seriously.
“New Zealand Rugby acknowledges the CTE pathology results for Shane Christie confirmed by The Neurological Foundation Human Brain Bank. We also acknowledge and respect the role of the coroner to determine the nature of any inquiry they may hold examining the cause and circumstances of Shane’s passing,” Lancaster said in a statement to local media. “We share the concerns about the potential long-term effects of repeated head knocks in rugby and support the need for ongoing research into this issue.”
Close friends and family of Christie shared that the former player always intended for his post-mortem diagnosis to be made public. His goal was to raise global awareness of CTE symptoms and risks, to support current athletes living with undiagnosed or unaddressed impacts of repeated head injuries.
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New funding transforms lives by expanding electricity access across Africa
Deep in the pre-dawn darkness of Nairobi’s dense informal settlement of Mathare, Agnes Mbesa reaches up to flick on a single bare bulb suspended from her corrugated tin roof. Just a few years ago, the mother of three would have relied on a dim, smoke-choked kerosene lamp to navigate her small home. Today, electricity not only illuminates her living space but powers the small neighborhood shop she runs from her front veranda, transforming her ability to earn a living.
“Before we had power, we had to shut down the shop as soon as dusk fell — it was just too dark to work,” Mbesa explained. “Now customers stop by even late into the evening, and I can bring in extra income that I never could before.”
Hundreds of kilometers away in the lakeside village of Sori, in western Kenya, fisherman Samuel Oketch shares this story of transformation. When a community solar mini-grid was installed to serve his remote settlement, Oketch invested in a electric freezer to store his daily catch. Previously, he was forced to sell all his fish immediately at cut-rate prices to middlemen who controlled cold storage. Today, his catch can be preserved and transported to higher-value markets in larger nearby towns, cutting out exploitative brokers and boosting his household income.
“These small, quiet changes add up to everything,” Oketch said. “Electricity opens up choices we never had before. Now my wife can sell our fish directly, without being ripped off by the brokers who used to hold all the power with their freezers.”
The firsthand accounts from Mbesa and Oketch put a human face on a decades-long global push to expand energy access across Africa, where hundreds of millions of people still live without reliable power. Right now, more than 730 million people across the globe lack access to any electricity at all, and nearly 80% of that population lives in Africa. Widespread energy poverty holds back progress across every sector of development: it limits access to modern health care, stifles educational opportunity, blocks digital connectivity, and stunts the creation of small businesses and formal jobs.
To accelerate progress toward universal energy access, major international institutions and philanthropic organizations have announced billions in new financing for renewable energy projects across sub-Saharan Africa, unveiled in coordinated actions this March. The European Investment Bank committed more than $1.15 billion to support a range of projects, including utility-scale hydropower, wind and solar farms, and expansion of both national and community-level power grids.
“This funding represents Europe’s unwavering commitment to deliver cleaner, more affordable, and more reliable energy to hundreds of millions of people across Africa,” said European Investment Bank President Nadia Calviño.
The Rockefeller Foundation followed that announcement with a pledge of an additional $10 million in investment, made public during the Africa Energy Indaba conference in Cape Town, South Africa. The funding will be deployed in partnership with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet to strengthen national electrification strategies and support policy reforms that expand private and community-led energy solutions across at least 15 African nations.
“African governments are leading the transformation of their own energy sectors, committing to national energy compacts and investing in homegrown solutions that meet their people’s needs,” said William Asiko, senior vice president at the Rockefeller Foundation.
These new investments fold into the broader Mission 300 initiative, led jointly by the World Bank and the African Development Bank. The ambitious campaign set a target to connect 300 million people across sub-Saharan Africa to electricity by 2030, relying on a mix of national grid expansion and decentralized solutions like community mini-grids and household-level off-grid solar systems.
For most of sub-Saharan Africa, national power grids are often overstretched, unreliable, and do not reach many remote and low-income communities. That gap has turned decentralized mini-grids into a fast-growing and effective alternative. These small, community-managed systems, most often powered by solar or hybrid renewable sources, generate and distribute power locally, eliminating the need for costly large-scale transmission infrastructure to reach isolated areas.
Off-grid systems, by contrast, operate independently at the household level, with affordable stand-alone solar kits that give individual families access to power even when they are located far from any centralized infrastructure. These solutions have become critical for closing electricity gaps in the rural and informal settlement communities that are most often left behind by national grid expansion.
To hit the 2030 target, Mission 300 is providing tailored support to countries across the continent: governments in Malawi and Liberia receive technical assistance to refine their national energy plans, expand transmission networks, and improve the reliability and efficiency of power distribution. In Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Senegal, the initiative provides local currency financing and pooled procurement support to drive down costs and speed up project deployment.
Andrew Herscowitz, CEO of the Mission 300 Accelerator at RF Catalytic Capital, warned that scaling access to meet the 2030 goal will require sustained long-term financing and strengthened local implementation capacity, including improved impact monitoring and better aligned policy support to speed up new connections.
“Energy access is the foundational key that unlocks human potential and broad-based economic development,” Herscowitz noted.
Kenya, one of the early beneficiaries of Mission 300 funding, has already seen dramatic gains under the initiative. Since 2017, the country has received support from the World Bank, African Development Bank and partner organizations for its Last Mile Connectivity program, which targets households located near existing grid infrastructure — particularly those in rural areas and informal urban settlements — as the country works toward universal electricity access by 2030.
The results have been staggering: national rural electricity access jumped from less than 7% in 2010 to roughly 68% in 2023. Across eastern and southern Africa, where only 48% of the total population and just 26% of rural residents currently have access to power, World Bank programs aim to expand access across up to 20 countries over the next seven years through a portfolio of renewable energy projects.
Mbesa, the Mathare shopkeeper, received her grid connection in 2021 through the Last Mile Connectivity Project, which covered the standard $115 connection fee for eligible low-income households and small businesses located near existing transformers. In remote communities like Oketch’s village, which lies far beyond the reach of the national grid, the program has supported the deployment of off-grid solutions including solar mini-grids and stand-alone household systems.
For Mbesa, the tangible impact of that connection is impossible to overstate. The small bulb above her shop has extended her working hours, and the electricity has let her children study after dark instead of stopping when the sun goes down.
“Electricity changes everything,” she said. “Once you have it, life finally starts moving forward.”
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