In the months leading up to Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest on federal sex trafficking charges on July 6, 2019, a small U.S. Virgin Islands bank he owned that had employed no one and laid dormant for years suddenly came alive.

A flurry of transactions totaling more than $20 million passed through the bank named Southern Country International from April to early July that year, according to a Miami Herald investigation based on the recently released documents by the U.S. Justice Department.

And months after the disgraced financier was found dead in a Manhattan detention facility on Aug. 10, an additional $25 million was moved through Southern Country, with roughly a quarter of that amount coming from unspecified sources.

Is it the fear of AI and automation, or fascist laws that severely restrict freedom, or is it about future wars, hunger or a worsening climate?

I've watched the big shows it's more less obvious ones I'm after

My partners cat is so good at sitting still for a picture. I wish the others would sit so well.

Taken on Kodak ultramax 400 with a JCPenny 80-200mm lens

[2026-07-12] TASS

NATO's Boeing E-3A Sentry early warning and control aircraft is circling off the Black Sea coast in Romania’s airspace, a source in the European Union’s air traffic control services has told TASS.

"A NATO plane, registered in Luxembourg, is now flying in circles in the Black Sea area, in Romania’s airspace," the source said.

In his words, the plane took off from Lithuania’s Siauliai and flew over central Romania, accompanied by Boeing KC-135T Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft. After making several circles in the area, the plane flew to Romania’s Black Sea coast, where it continues its flight at the altitude of almost 9,000 meters.

The source did not specify the goal of the flight, saying only that the plane’s onboard equipment allows to detect and identify aerial targets at the distance of up to 400 km. "The previous similar mission by Boeing E-3A Sentry took place in late June," the source added.

Over the past few months, another NATO aircraft - a US-made Bombardier Challenger 650 Artemis II intelligence and reconnaissance plane - has often been spotted over the Black Sea’s neutral waters.

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BYD has secured a record-breaking 11.2 GWh battery energy storage contract, marking one of the largest battery deals ever announced. The agreement highlights the company's growing dominance in global energy storage and reinforces its position as a major player beyond electric vehicles.

https://carnewschina.com/2026/07/10/byd-lands-historic-11-2-gwh-grid-contract-equivalent-to-186000-electric-vehicle-packs/

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8953267

Banner image: Lilac-breasted roller in Etosha National Park, Namibia. Image courtesy of Giles Laurent via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

How Namibia's bird conservation projects build community resilience (commentary)

• Droughts and land degradation often erode communities’ social bonds, but in the Karas region of Namibia, bird conservation initiatives have become a rallying point.
• Women and youth are at the forefront of these initiatives, which has inspired confidence among peers and shown that conservation is not the domain of scientists alone, but also a practice of everyday community resilience.
• “It is time for policymakers, NGOs, and donors to support these initiatives not just as biodiversity projects, but as investments in community well-being,” a new op-ed argues.
• This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

In Namibia’s Karas Region, birds are more than symbols of freedom or beauty — they are teachers of resilience. Their survival in arid landscapes mirrors the endurance of the communities who live alongside them. Grassroots bird conservation projects here have revealed something profound: protecting birds can also strengthen families, nurture hope, and build social cohesion.

Across villages in Karas, parents and children tend habitats together, restoring nesting sites and planting native vegetation. These acts of care are not only ecological interventions; they are lessons in patience and problem solving. When a child sees a weaverbird return to a reed bed that the community has protected, it is a moment of triumph that teaches perseverance in the face of environmental challenges.

Women and youth are at the forefront of these initiatives. In one community, a group of young women organized bird walks for schoolchildren, teaching them to identify species like the sociable weaver and the pale chanting goshawk. Their leadership has inspired confidence among peers and shown that conservation is not the domain of scientists alone — it is a practice of everyday resilience.

Sociable weavers nesting in acacia trees, Karas Region, Namibia. Image courtesy of Martha Karas.

These projects also counter the isolation that environmental stress can bring. Droughts and land degradation often erode social bonds, but bird conservation has become a rallying point. Families gather to monitor nesting sites, share stories, and celebrate small victories. In doing so, they weave resilience into the social fabric. Conservation here is not only about biodiversity; it is about belonging.

The ecological benefits are clear. Protecting bird habitats safeguards pollination, seed dispersal, and pest control — services that sustain agriculture and livelihoods. But equally important is the emotional strength these projects cultivate. In Karas, conservation has become a human resilience strategy: a way to confront uncertainty with collective action and hope.

This perspective challenges the conventional view of conservation as a technical exercise. Too often, policies focus narrowly on species counts or protected areas. While these metrics matter, they overlook the lived experience of communities who find strength in caring for nature. By recognizing conservation as both ecological and social, we broaden its value and deepen its impact.

Lappet-faced vultures like this are native to the arid plains of the Karas Region, and organizations like Vultures Namibia ensure there’s awareness of them. Image courtesy of Martha Karas.

The lesson from Karas is urgent. As climate change intensifies, resilience will be as critical as resources. Grassroots bird projects show that resilience can be cultivated through simple, shared acts of care. They remind us that conservation is not only about saving species, but about sustaining the human spirit.

It is time for policymakers, NGOs, and donors to support these initiatives not just as biodiversity projects, but as investments in community well-being. Funding should prioritize programs that empower women and youth, foster intergenerational learning, and strengthen social bonds through conservation.

Birds in Namibia’s Karas Region are survivors of harsh landscapes. But they are also mentors of resilience, teaching us how to endure, adapt, and thrive together. By listening to the voices of those who lead grassroots efforts, we can reimagine conservation as a strategy for human strength as much as ecological survival.

Supporting these projects is not charity — it is foresight. In every nest protected, in every child inspired, we see the seeds of resilience that will carry communities through the challenges ahead.

Conservation, at its best, is a story of hope. And in Karas, that story is being written by birds and the people who care for them.

Martha Karas is a Namibian writer based in the Karas region.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10041321

Infineon Technologies has opened its Smart Power Fab in Dresden, Germany, months ahead of schedule, bringing the world’s largest manufacturing facility for intelligent power semiconductors and analog/mixed-signal technologies into operation.

The facility represents a €5 billion (about $5.7 billion) investment, the largest in the company’s history. It creates 1,000 direct jobs and doubles Infineon’s manufacturing capacity in Dresden.

The factory will produce chips that improve how electricity is converted and managed. Those devices will support AI data centers. They will also help power electricity grids and software-defined vehicles.

...

Archived

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/12140427

Banner image: The Maud Island frog of New Zealand is expected to face rising wildfire risk due to climate change. Image by Phil Bishop via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5).

Scientists forecast wildfire risk for species survival under climate change

A new study warns climate change could increase the global area susceptible to wildfires in the future, putting many more species at risk than today.

Previous research has shown that climate change is increasing the risk of wildfires as precipitation patterns change and vegetation becomes drier in parts of the world. Researchers have now projected how the length of fire seasons and the extent of burned area might change in the future under four scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions. Using these forecasts, they also assessed the future impact of wildfire for 9,592 species of animals, plants and fungi, currently reported on the IUCN Red List as threatened by wildfire.

Under the moderate-emissions scenario, where current greenhouse gas emission trends continue, the researchers found that by 2100, the extent of burned areas globally could increase by 9.3%, and that nearly 84% of fire-threatened species will be exposed to higher risk of wildfires.

Xiaoye Yang, study lead author from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, told Mongabay by email that “there are clear spatial disparities in future wildfire risk to biodiversity.”

Regions such as South America and Oceania are expected to face especially elevated risks of burning, Yang said. Fires in high-latitude areas of the Northern Hemisphere are also projected to increase rapidly in the future, although they’ve historically been rare in these regions, he added.

The study found that the top 1% of species most affected by wildfires (96 species) are found in South America, South Asia, southern Australia and New Zealand. These species, including the Maud Island frog (Leiopelma pakeka) and North Island saddleback (Philesturnus rufusater), a bird, both from New Zealand, share common traits, the authors write: they have very small geographic ranges and are already threatened with extinction.

Species in areas newly threatened by wildfires may lack adaptive experience with fire, making them particularly vulnerable to emerging wildfire regimes, Yang said.

At the same time, some regions like Central Africa could see a reduction in burned area in the future, the study found. About 1,000 species in Africa could also experience lower exposure to wildfire risk.

“Although the increase in wildfire risk will vary across regions — meaning that some countries contributing more to emissions may not experience proportional increases in wildfire impacts — collective action remains crucial,” Yang said.

Carla Staver, a professor at Princeton University in the U.S., who studies wildfires in savannas, told Mongabay that framing wildfires as a blanket biodiversity threat is a limited perspective, since certain ecosystems depend on fires. “For example, the 41.8% of African species that could experience a decrease in wildfire risk probably mostly occur in savannas, which are fire dependent, so reductions in fire activity in those systems aren’t good news either,” she said.

James Talarico: "Ken Paxton just denied our public information request for the Hoffman Files. Adam Hoffman — an admitted child molester — should be in prison, but Ken Paxton let him off the hook. Texans deserve to know why. We don’t need any more pedophile protectors in our government."

https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/talarico-shares-update-on-hoffman-files-calls-on-paxton-to

mainly used for carrying around a pencil case, water, folders, laptop and odd bits. While I understand durability comes at a cost, I have a budget of £50. Thanks and I look foward to responding to your suggestions