Meltdown: Swiss glaciers hit annual tipping point weeks early

By AFP
July 4, 2025


'From now on all melt that occurs on glaciers until October is unsustainable,' says Huss - Copyright AFP Angelos TZORTZINIS

Robin MILLARD

The snow and ice accumulated last winter by Switzerland’s glaciers has already melted away, a monitoring service said, with Friday marking the alarming second-earliest arrival on record of the tipping point known as glacier loss day.

All further melting between now and October will see the size of glaciers in the Swiss Alps shrink, according to Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS).

This century, the tipping point, on average, has been reached in mid-August — itself already bad news for the nation’s 1,400 glaciers, which are shrinking at a staggering rate.

Its arrival several weeks earlier on July 4 is “another alarm call”, GLAMOS chief Matthias Huss told AFP.

“It’s like the glaciers are shouting out: ‘We’re disappearing. Help us.'”

Glaciers in the Swiss Alps began to retreat about 170 years ago.

The retreat was initially modest but in recent decades, melting has accelerated significantly as the climate warms.

The volume of Swiss glaciers shrank by 38 percent between 2000 and 2024.

– Summer of destruction –


“If we have a glacier loss day, it means that the glacier is losing mass,” said Huss.

“For a glacier that is healthy, the day would occur at the end of September, or in October — or not at all”.

With no glacier loss day, the summer would simply melt away only the snow that accumulated over the previous winter.

This would be “the ideal case — a glacier in equilibrium with the climate”, said Huss.

Its arrival on July 4 means that “critically, we have the whole summer left to destroy the ice”.

“Moving this day forward by five to six weeks before the normal date over the last 20 years means we’re just prolonging this mass loss season dramatically,” he said.

The assessment is made using 12 reference glaciers.

Last winter saw low levels of snowfall, and June was the second warmest on record, contributing to the day’s early arrival this year.

In data going back to 2000, the only time that the tipping point arrived even earlier was in 2022, when it came on June 26.

“That was really a game-changer for us glaciologists because it was the first year when we saw absolutely extreme melting.

“Everything that we knew before about glacier melting changed,” said Huss.

Experts thought 2022 was a complete outlier and although a warming climate meant other such years would be coming down the line, they did not expect to see the next very early glacier loss day coming so soon afterwards.

– Feedback effect –


Huss noted that extreme melting produces an accelerating feedback effect, worsening the situation even further.

Once the reflective white snow coverage from winter is gone from the top of the glacier, the darker, more absorbent grey surface of the bare ice is exposed.

“With the same amount of solar radiation, we can now melt more ice,” Huss said.

With the European heatwave over the past week and the possibility of further heatwaves in July and August, “it is very like that again it is a very bad year for Swiss glaciers”, he said.

Melting glaciers threatens the long-term water security for millions of people downstream who rely on them for fresh water.

Much of the water that flows into the Rhine and the Rhone, two of Europe’s major rivers, comes from the Alpine glaciers.

 

Southern Ocean current reverses for first time, signalling risk of climate system collapse

The reversal of ocean circulation in the southern hemisphere could double current atmospheric concentrations of CO₂ / ICM-CSIC

Feedly

By bne IntelliNews July 5, 2025

A major ocean current in the Southern Hemisphere has reversed direction for the first time in recorded history, in what climatologists are calling a “catastrophic” tipping point in the global climate system.

The development, which was confirmed by Spanish marine scientists at El Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) in Barcelona, has triggered widespread alarm among climate scientists due to its potential to accelerate global warming and destabilise weather patterns worldwide.

“The stunning reversal of ocean circulation in the Southern Hemisphere confirms the global climate system has entered a catastrophic phase,” said climatologist Ben See in a post on social media.

The collapse involves the deep overturning circulation in the South Atlantic — part of the global conveyor belt of ocean currents — which typically pulls cold, nutrient-rich water up from the ocean floor and drives planetary heat distribution.

The study, published on July 2, identifies a collapse and reversal of the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC) in the South Atlantic — a key part of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).

This current system plays a crucial role in regulating global temperatures and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide in the deep ocean. The ICM’s data show that the flow of the DWBC current reversed from northward to southward for several consecutive months in 2023 — the first such event in 30 years of continuous monitoring.

“This is an unprecedented observation and a potential game-changer,” said physicist and lead author Dr Marilena Oltmanns, who warned the changes could “alter the Southern Ocean’s capacity to sequester heat and carbon.”

According to the ICM-CSIC, the reversal is likely linked to an ongoing weakening of the Antarctic overturning circulation, a deep-ocean process driven by the formation of cold, salty water masses near Antarctica. That system has slowed by up to 40% since the late 1990s, and the new findings suggest it may be destabilising regional ocean dynamics more rapidly than expected.

There has been a lot of speculation that the whole AMOC (otherwise known as the Gulf Stream), could come to a halt. The AMOC brings warm water to Europe from the equator, and when it stops flowing that will lead to a mini-ice age in Europe with winter temperatures dropping by 10-30C. While scientists are 98% certain that the AMOC will stop flowing by 2100, recent studies suggest that the collapse could come as soon as this year,  or at least in the next few decades.

The ICM report warns that the reversal of the DWBC could also unleash vast amounts of carbon dioxide currently trapped in deep-ocean reservoirs. The reversal will undermine the ocean’s role as a carbon sink, which currently absorbs about 25% of all anthropogenic CO₂ emissions.

“This could double current atmospheric CO₂ concentrations by releasing carbon that has been stored in the deep ocean for centuries,” the report said. Such a release would likely obliterate existing climate targets, as the additional emissions would overwhelm current carbon budgets and render mitigation strategies based on gradual reductions, obsolete.

“The planet is sending us increasingly clear signals that we are crossing critical thresholds,” the ICM warned, characterising the event as a shift from “chronic climate stress” to “acute systemic breakdown.”

The reversal threatens to weaken the ocean’s crucial role as a carbon sink — one of the Earth’s key natural defences against rising atmospheric CO₂ — and will also dramatically disrupt global weather systems, sea level patterns, and marine ecosystems.

The Mediterranean is as hot as bathwater

The event coincides with an unprecedented marine heatwave in the Mediterranean. A Spanish metrological buoy recorded a sea temperature of 31C on July 4 – as hot as a lukewarm bath. The northwestern Mediterranean Sea has recorded a temperature anomaly of +6.21°C above the 1982–2015 average, part of a pattern of record marine heatwaves that scientists say are reshaping entire ecosystems.

The northwestern Mediterranean Sea is currently 6.21°C above the 1982–2015 average, creating what scientists have called “bathwater” conditions in a historically temperate basin. Warmer surface temperatures could further stall or disrupt ocean currents, feeding a dangerous feedback loop of warming and current instability.

While ocean circulations have shifted in the deep past due to glacial cycles, the current reversal is the first to occur in modern times due to anthropogenic climate change. Researchers now warn of increased risk of abrupt changes in monsoon patterns, fisheries collapse, and a rapid sea-level rise in the Southern Hemisphere. They are calling for immediate global attention and a reassessment of climate adaptation strategies in light of what may be a new and more volatile climate regime.

“The stunning reversal of ocean circulation in the Southern Hemisphere confirms the global climate system has entered a catastrophic phase,” said climatologist Ben See on social media.

The reversal of the current will bring cold water up from the deep in which is trapped CO₂. That means the reversal, “could double current atmospheric CO₂ concentrations by releasing carbon that has been stored in the deep ocean for centuries,” the El Institut de Ciencies del Mar said.

“The planet is sending us increasingly clear signals that we are crossing critical thresholds,” the Institut added.

CHAIN MIGRATION

'She's outta here': Joy Reid reveals how Melania may be deported in Trump's plan

WITH HER ANCHOR BABY AND PARENTS

Carl Gibson, AlterNet
July 4, 2025 

Melania Trump (Reuters)

On multiple occasions, President Donald Trump has floated the idea of deporting naturalized U.S. citizens, including during a recent visit to a Florida detention camp for immigrants. But that policy could end up being used against his own family.

That's according to former MSNBC host Joy Ann Reid, who recently interviewed Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) on her YouTube podcast. The Daily Beast reported that Jayapal joined Reid to discuss, among other things, Trump's new "Alligator Alcatraz" facility in the Florida Everglades. They both pointed out to listeners that Trump said during his visit to the prison camp earlier this week that even native-born U.S. citizens could one day find themselves in federal custody.

"They’re not new to our country. They’re old to our country. Many of them were born in our country," Trump said. "I think we ought to get them the hell out of here, too, if you want to know the truth."

Trump also floated that proposal to El Salvadoran President Nayyib Bukele during visit to the White House in April. NPR reported at the time that Trump said "homegrowns" born in the U.S. could one day be sent to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison, which is notorious for flagrant human rights abuses. Reid said there was nothing theoretically stopping a future administration from targeting Trump's wife and family members.

"If you give the president of the United States monarchical-like powers to say, ‘I don’t like your views, I don’t like your take on issues, I don’t like that you’re too liberal, you’re not conservative enough, I’m just gonna take away your naturalized citizenship,‘ well ... If we ever get a Democratic president, they could say, ‘I don’t like Melania Trump. She wasn’t born here. She was born in Slovenia. She is a naturalized citizen. She’s outta here,'" Reid said.

"And by the way, Ivana Trump, the late Ivana Trump, who’s buried in the golf course in New Jersey in Donald Trump’s golf club, she wasn’t an American citizen. And three of her children are Don Jr., Eric, and Ivanka," Reid added. "And maybe the next Democratic president says, ‘You know what? I don’t like the Trumps. And so we’re gonna denaturalize all of the Trump children, whose mother was a foreigner at the time.'"

Trump hasn't yet denaturalized a U.S. citizen, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt previously suggested that the administration hadn't ruled out a denaturalization investigation into New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) has called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to conduct denaturalization proceedings over rap lyrics Mamdani wrote in 2017.

Watch Reid's interview with Jayapal below, or by clicking this link.

The 'safety of the American public' is at risk: NYT busts Trump's FBI

Tom Boggioni
July 5, 2025

RAW STORY

Kash Patel (Photo via Reuters)


In an extraordinarily long and comprehensive editorial from the New York Times, the editors raised the red flag that Donald Trump's FBI is no longer up to the task of defending the interests of the U.S.

Basing their observations on interviews with former FBI officials, the editors warned right from the start, "Mr. Trump’s playbook for the F.B.I. is plain to see. He is turning it into an enforcement agency for MAGA’s priorities. He is chasing out agents who might refuse to play along and installing loyalists in their place. He is seeking to remove the threat of investigation for his friends and allies. And he is trying to instill fear in his critics and political opponents."

All of that is occurring at the same time that Trump-appointed FBI Director Kash Patel has "fired, pressured to leave or transferred" FBI officials, which has “obliterated decades of experience in national security and criminal matters at the F.B.I."

According to one former official, the purge at the agency has left it, "... completely unprepared to respond to a crisis, including the fallout from the current conflict in the Middle East.”

RELATED: Kash Patel accused of being spotted more in nightclubs than at his job

After writing, "These developments should unsettle all Americans, regardless of party," the editors elaborated that Trump "has made clear that he considers the F.B.I.’s first priority to be loyalty. Consider the Signal scandal from this spring, when senior officials disclosed sensitive information in a group chat. In any other administration, the F.B.I. probably would have investigated. Under Mr. Trump, the bureau looked the other way."


Director Patel was also harshly criticized, with the editorial alleging, "His mission at the F.B.I. is to politicize it. He is dismantling key operations and reshaping the bureau into an instrument of Mr. Trump’s political will. Mr. Trump spent years baselessly accusing the F.B.I. and the Justice Department of being weaponized against him; now he is turning federal law enforcement into the very thing he claimed it was: a political enforcer."

After noting that over 650 FBI agents have recently filed for retirement under Trump and Patel, the editors added that the two, along with fellow Trump appointee Dan Bongino, "have put the reputation and effectiveness of the F.B.I. at risk. In doing so, they are risking the safety of the American public."

You can read the whole editorial here.

E.Guinea launches ICJ case against France over Paris mansion


By AFP
July 4, 2025


The mansion is worth well over 100 million euros 

- Copyright AFP Rizwan TABASSUM

Equatorial Guinea launched a case against France at the top United Nations court on Friday, the latest salvo in a long-running legal battle over a swanky Paris mansion confiscated by French authorities.

The west African nation asked the International Court of Justice to issue emergency orders against France over a building seized after the conviction of Vice President Teodorin Obiang for corruption.

It asked the court to order France not to sell the mansion, located on the upscale Avenue Foch near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, which the two countries have been squabbling over for several years.

French authorities seized the property, which boasts a cinema, hammam and marble and gold water taps, after convicting Obiang under a law targeting fortunes fraudulently amassed by foreign leaders.

In 2021, France’s top appeals court gave Obiang — the eldest son of the long-standing president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang — a three-year suspended sentence and 30 million euros in fines.

France also confiscated assets, including the luxurious Avenue Foch building with an estimated value well above 100 million euros.

In its latest complaint to the ICJ, dated July 3 but published by the court on Friday, Equatorial Guinea says French police entered the property last month and changed the locks on several of the doors.

Equatorial Guinea called on the court to order France to give it “immediate, complete and unhindered access” to the building.

– Embassy or residence? –

The mansion was also at the centre of an earlier case filed by Equatorial Guinea in 2016 at the ICJ, which rules on disputes between UN member states.

Equatorial Guinea argued the building served as the country’s embassy in France and that France had broken the Vienna Convention, which safeguards diplomats from interference by host countries.

But the UN court sided with France, which said the building was merely Teodorin Obiang’s residence and served no diplomatic purpose.

The ICJ upheld France’s objections that Equatorial Guinea had only tried to designate it as such after the investigation began into Obiang, and that the country already had an embassy in Paris.

A request for emergency orders — provisional measures, in the court’s jargon — takes precedence over all other court business.

The ICJ is currently wrestling with a busy caseload, including a high-profile case brought by South Africa against Israel alleging breaches of the UN Genocide Convention in Gaza.

It is also expected to deliver a key ruling on countries’ climate change obligations within months.

While the ICJ is the top United Nations court, whose rulings are binding, it has no way of enforcing its decisions.

For example, it has ordered Russia to stop its invasion of Ukraine — to no avail.

‘Always hiding’: Haitian laborers fear Dominican deportation push


By AFP
July 4, 2025


An employee works at a banana plantation in the Dominican Republic

 - Copyright AFP Eddy Vittini

Sauro Scalella

Agamise Cheranfant hides as soon as he finishes his work at a banana plantation in the Dominican Republic. Like many others, he is Haitian, undocumented, and lives in constant fear of deportation.

Owners of farms, construction companies and tourism businesses are also nervous — they rely on Haitian laborers to work long days under the scorching sun.

On the banana plantations in Mao, in the country’s northwest, most of the workers are from Haiti, which shares an island with the Dominican Republic.

It is an arduous job that few Dominicans want to do.

The daily wage of 800 pesos (less than $14) “is very low,” said Cheranfant, 33.

And with immigration authorities breathing down undocumented workers’ necks, “we’re always scared, we’re always hiding,” he said.

Relations between the Dominican Republic and Haiti are marked by resentment and mistrust.

Dominican President Luis Abinader has toughened his policy on migration from the neighboring country, which is plagued by poverty and gang violence that has led thousands of Haitians to flee.

Abinader ordered the construction of a wall on the border and increased raids and deportations of undocumented immigrants.

In the first half of 2025 alone, more than 200,000 Haitians were sent home, even as gang violence there soars.

Such “disorderly” repatriations have reduced the availability of labor in tasks that “aren’t of interest to Dominicans,” according to the construction workers’ association, Acoprovi.

In some areas, the labor supply has fallen by between 40 and 80 percent.

In tourism, the labor squeeze has affected areas such as cooking, said Henri Hebrard, an economist and consultant.

“This could affect the quality of service,” he said.



– Companies demand change –



Business leaders are calling for a regularization plan for undocumented laborers.

Acoprovi proposes issuing 87,000 temporary work permits.

But the government, so far, has shown no signs of flexibility regarding the requests.

Antony Florestal has a passport, alien identification card and work card that have all expired.

If he is caught in a raid, he faces deportation.

“I’m scared,” said the 32-year-old, who has been working in agriculture since 2009.

“I live here (on the farm) so I don’t have to go out on the street.”

The Dominican Republic exports bananas to the United States, Europe and other countries in the Caribbean, with agriculture representing 5.6 percent of the country’s economic output.



– ‘Can’t live in peace’ –



At the plantation where Cheranfant works, bunches of bananas are harvested with machetes, before being placed on a steel hook and moved along a cable to another area where they are sorted and packed for sale.

The best bananas are exported, in this case to Germany. The rest are sold on the local market.

The country’s banana industry was already in crisis due to factors including the weather, pests and rising costs.

Production fell 44 percent between 2021 and 2024, according to the Dominican Association of Banana Producers.

The labor shortage is yet another blow.

“Here, the workforce has decreased by more than 50 percent” due to the deportations, said producer Osvaldo Pineo.

Some Haitians now work “nomadically,” he said.

“Today, they offer you the service, but tomorrow, you don’t know if you’ll get it.”

For employers, too, there is a risk.

“If you put them in a vehicle and it’s checked (by the authorities), you’re accused of being a trafficker of undocumented migrants,” Pineo said.

Cheranfant has already been deported several times but always returns — life is a constant game of cat and mouse with immigration authorities.

His wife and three children live in a town near the plantation.

“Almost every day we flee, in the morning, at night, at three in the morning, at one in the morning,” Cheranfant said.

“You’re scared while you sleep and while you eat. We can’t live in peace.”

Search continues after Pakistan building collapse kills 16


By AFP
July 5, 2025


The residential block crumbled on Friday morning in the impoverished Lyari neighbourhood of Karachi, which was once plagued by gang violence and considered one of the most dangerous areas in Pakistan

 - Copyright AFP Rizwan TABASSUM

Sameer MANDHRO

Rescue teams in Pakistan worked in searing heat and humidity on Saturday to recover residents trapped under the rubble of a building that collapsed, killing 16 people.

Authorities said the building had been declared unsafe and eviction notices were sent to occupants over three years, but landlords and some residents told AFP they had not received them.

Residents reported hearing cracking sounds shortly before the apartment block crumbled around 10:00 am on Friday in Karachi’s impoverished Lyari neighbourhood, which was once plagued by gang violence and considered one of the most dangerous areas in Pakistan.

The death toll stood at 16 on Saturday, with 13 injured, according to Summiaya Syed, a police surgeon for the provincial health department.

“My daughter is under the rubble,” 54-year-old Dev Raj told AFP at the scene.

“She was my beloved daughter. She was so sensitive but is under the burden of debris. She got married just 6 months ago.”

Rescue teams worked throughout the night, and families said that at least eight people were still believed to be trapped as temperatures climbed to 33 degrees Celsius (91 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday morning.

A senior district government official, Javed Nabi Khoso, said that notices had been served in 2022, 2023 and 2024 to occupants.

“We don’t want to impose our orders by force. We work in phases and send them notices to leave the building. They didn’t take the notices seriously,” he told AFP.

But Imran Khaskheli, an owner and resident watching the rescue operation on Saturday, denied receiving notices.

“Do you think we are out of our senses to stay in an unsafe building with our families?” he said.

He told AFP he had seen cracks in the pillars of the building early on Friday morning.

“I knocked on all the doors and asked families to leave immediately,” he said, adding that around 40 families lived in the building but that many did not heed his warning.

More than 50 buildings in the district have been declared unsafe, with six evacuated since yesterday, according to Khoso.

– ‘We are helpless’ –

Abid Jalaluddin Shaikh, leading the government’s 1122 rescue service at the scene, told AFP the operation was expected to continue into Saturday evening.

Many of the victims are believed to be women, who are more likely to be at home during the day.

All six members of 70-year-old Jumho Maheshwari’s family were in their first-floor apartment when he left for work early in the morning.

“Nothing is left for me now — my family is all trapped and all I can do is pray for their safe recovery,” he said on Friday.

Another resident, Maya Sham Jee, told AFP her brother’s family was also trapped under the rubble.

“It’s a tragedy for us. The world has been changed for our family,” she said.

“We are helpless and just looking at the rescue workers to bring our loved ones back safely.”

Shankar Kamho, a 30-year-old resident, was out at the time when his wife called to say the building was cracking.

“I told her to get out immediately,” he told AFP.

“She went to warn the neighbours, but one woman told her ‘this building will stand for at least 10 more years’,” he said.

“Still, my wife took our daughter and left. About 20 minutes later, the building collapsed.”

Search on for survivors of Pakistan building collapse


By AFP
July 4, 2025


Rescuers and city residents worked together to pull people from the debris of the rundown building in the mega port city of Karachi 

- Copyright AFP Rizwan TABASSUM
Sameer MANDHRO

A five-storey building collapsed in Pakistan on Friday, killing at least eight people and injuring nine others, officials said, with rescuers searching through the rubble for more trapped victims.

The incident happened shortly after 10:00 am (0500 GMT) in the impoverished Lyari neighbourhood of Karachi, which was once plagued by gang violence and considered one of the most dangerous areas in Pakistan.

Up to 100 people had been living in the building, senior police officer Arif Aziz told AFP.

Shankar Kamho, 30, a resident of the building who was out at the time, said around 20 families were living inside.

“I got a call from my wife saying the building was cracking and I told her to get out immediately,” he told AFP at the scene.

“She went to warn the neighbours, but one woman told her ‘this building will stand for at least 10 more years’. Still, my wife took our daughter and left. About 20 minutes later, the building collapsed.”

The Sindh provincial health department said the death toll had risen to eight killed and nine injured late Friday.

The search for survivors continued into the night, with relatives gathered near the site waiting for news.

Saad Edhi, of the Edhi welfare foundation that is part of the rescue operation, told AFP there could be “at least eight to 10 more people still trapped”, describing it as a “worn-out building”.



– Race against time –



Nearby residents rushed to save their neighbours before rescuers took over to remove the rubble, along with at least five excavators.

The heavy machinery struggled to access the narrow alleys, and police baton-charged residents to clear the way.

All six family members of 70-year-old Jumho Maheshwari were at his flat on the first floor when he left for work early in the morning.

“Nothing is left for me now — my family is all trapped and all I can do is pray for their safe recovery,” he told AFP.

Another resident, Maya Sham Jee, said her brother’s family was also trapped under the rubble.

“It’s a tragedy for us. The world has been changed for our family,” she told AFP.

“We are helpless and just looking at the rescue workers to bring our loved ones back safely.”

In June 2020, at least 18 people were killed when a residential building housing about 40 apartments collapsed in the same area of the city.

Roof and building collapses are common across Pakistan, mainly because of poor safety standards and shoddy construction materials in the South Asian country of more than 240 million people.

But Karachi, home to more than 20 million, is especially notorious for poor construction, illegal extensions, ageing infrastructure, overcrowding, and lax enforcement of building regulations.

BRICS nations voice ‘serious concerns’ over Trump tariffs


By AFP
July 5, 2025


Members of the Brazilian Navy patrol the Tomorrow Museum (Museu do Amanha) at Praca Maua, where the BRICS summit 2025 will be held - Copyright AFP Daniel RAMALHO
Facundo Fernández Barrio, Andrew BEATTY

BRICS leaders meeting in Rio de Janeiro from Sunday are expected to decry US President Donald Trump’s “indiscriminate” trade tariffs, saying they are illegal and risk hurting the global economy.

Emerging nations, which represent about half the world’s population and 40 percent of global economic output, are set to unite over “serious concerns” about US import tariffs, according to a draft summit statement obtained by AFP.

Since coming to office in January, Trump has threatened allies and rivals alike with a slew of punitive duties.

His latest salvo comes in the form of letters informing trading partners of new tariff rates that will soon enter into force.

The draft summit declaration does not mention the United States or its president by name.

But it is a clear political shot directed at Washington from 11 emerging nations, including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

“We voice serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures which distort trade and are inconsistent with WTO (World Trade Organization) rules,” the draft text says.

It warns that such measures “threaten to further reduce global trade” and are “affecting the prospects for global economic development.”

– Xi no show –


Conceived two decades ago as a forum for fast-growing economies, the BRICS have come to be seen as a Chinese-driven counterbalance to Western power.

But the two-day summit’s political punch will be depleted by the absence of China’s Xi Jinping, who is skipping the annual meeting for the first time in his 12 years as president.

“I expect there will be speculation about the reasons for Xi’s absence,” said Ryan Hass, a former China director at the US National Security Council who is now with the Brookings Institution think tank.

“The simplest explanation may hold the most explanatory power. Xi recently hosted Lula in Beijing,” said Hass.

The Chinese leader will not be the only notable absentee. War crime-indicted Russian President Vladimir Putin is also opting to stay away, but will participate via video link, according to the Kremlin.

Hass said Putin’s non-attendance and the fact that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be a guest of honor in Brazil could also be factors in Xi’s absence.

“Xi does not want to appear upstaged by Modi,” who will receive a state lunch, he said.

“I expect Xi’s decision to delegate attendance to Premier Li (Qiang) rests amidst these factors.”

Still, the Xi no-show is a blow to host President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who wants Brazil to play a bigger role on the world stage.

In the year to November 2025, Brazil will have hosted a G20 summit, a BRICS summit, and COP30 international climate talks, all before heading into fiercely contested presidential elections next year, in which he is expected to run.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, whose nation is still reeling from a 12-day conflict with Israel, is also skipping the meeting.

A source familiar with the negotiations said the BRICS countries were divided over how to respond to the wars in Gaza and between Iran and Israel.

Iranian negotiators were pushing for a tougher collective stance that goes beyond referencing the need for the creation of a Palestinian state and for disputes to be resolved peacefully.

But one diplomatic source said the text would give the “same message” that BRICS delivered in June when Iran was being bombed by Israel and the United States, expressing “concern.”

Artificial intelligence and health will also be on the agenda at the summit.

Original members of the bloc Brazil, Russia, India, and China have been joined by South Africa and, more recently, by Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Ethiopia and Indonesia.

China’s first Legoland opens to tourists in Shanghai


By AFP
July 5, 2025


People attend the grand opening ceremony of the Legoland Shanghai Resort, the world's largest Legoland theme park - Copyright AFP STR
Jing Xuan TENG

Thousands of local tourists poured into China’s first-ever Legoland as it opened its gates in Shanghai on Saturday, the latest theme park hoping to capitalise on a domestic tourism boom.

The Chinese branch of the British-owned theme park franchise is the biggest Legoland in the world.

It drew in early customers who flocked to attractions including a miniature train ride and a dragon-themed rollercoaster.

“I personally love to play with Lego blocks and we have many sets at home… so I wanted to come to Legoland at the earliest opportunity,” said Shi, a 35-year-old resident of nearby city Hangzhou, who was visiting the park with his wife and child.

Despite the Chinese economy’s sluggish growth in recent years, domestic tourist spending grew 18.6 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the previous year, according to statistics.

“Ever since the pandemic, I’ve made very few trips abroad,” said Shi, adding his family now travels to theme parks around China “many times a year”.

Eager Lego fans rushed into the park as soon as it opened, wearing themed shirts and waving branded flags as they enjoyed the 318,000-square-metre (78.5-acre) compound in scorching temperatures.

Beijing has announced subsidies intended to make travelling within the country more affordable for Chinese citizens, and is pushing local governments to heavily market their attractions on social media.

Companies have taken note of the wider local tourism boom and stepped up their plans in China.

A new “Spider-Man” attraction at Shanghai Disneyland broke ground in May, while Warner Brothers is set to open a Harry Potter experience in Shanghai by 2027.

Toy giant Hasbro said this week its giant Peppa Pig park in the city was now “in the phase of creative design”.

Chinese collectable toy maker Pop Mart has also opened an attraction in Beijing featuring life-sized versions of its popular Labubu toys.

“The various provinces are putting a lot of effort into expanding their tourism industries, and all of them have special attractions,” said Xu, a 34-year-old parent visiting Legoland on Saturday with his children.

But profitability remains a problem, especially for local companies with less brand recognition.

As of late 2024, around 40 percent of parks were still failing to turn a profit, according to state media reports.

Yet analysts point to a growing population of retirees and job market changes as key factors pushing more locals to visit domestic attractions.

“The labour market is turning more flexible,” said Ernan Cui, China consumer analyst at Gavekal Research.

“More people have leisure time to travel around.”

Can a smell change your mind? Science links sensing scent to PSTD


By Dr. Tim Sandle
July 5, 2025

DIGITAL JOURNAL

Juree Burgett, who traveled from Kansas, smells various varieties of cannabis at a dispensary in Kansas City, Missouri -- a state where recreational pot use is now legal - Copyright AFP LOIC VENANCE

Does a change in smell lead our brains to switch interest from one thing to another? Certainly, our brain makes decisions based on direct associations between stimuli in our environment. Scientists have been investigating how the brain makes decisions by participating in the storage of associations between different stimuli.

Investigating rodents, researchers from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute demonstrate how mice taught to link smells with tastes, and later fear, can reveal, upon analysis of the mouse brain, how the amygdala teams up with cortical regions to let the brain draw powerful indirect connections.

The relevance to humans is because the researchers believe that the brain circuits involved in decision-making processes in humans are similar to those in mice.

The researchers set out to determine the mechanisms involved in how the brain makes decisions based on indirect associations between different stimuli. That is, instead of directly associating a specific stimulus with a rewarding or aversive situation, the brain establishes connections between two or more stimuli.

Lead scientist Dr. Arnau Busquets explains: “The project aims to understand how the brain enables us to make decisions based on indirect relationships between stimuli in our environment.”

The mice were subjected to various behavioral tests. They were trained to associate one smell-banana-with a sweet taste, and another smell-almond-with a salty taste. Later, a negative stimulus was associated with the smell of banana. From that point on, the mice rejected the sweet taste, which was linked to the banana smell and thus carried a negative connotation.

Using genetic techniques delivered via viral vectors, the researchers were able to observe which areas of the mice’s brains were activated throughout the process of encoding and consolidating the associations. They found that the amygdala, a brain region associated with responses such as fear and anxiety.

By deploying imaging techniques, the researchers were next able to establish a connection between these areas and a part of the cerebral cortex.

“We have identified a brain circuit that controls associations between stimuli and allows for these indirect associations,” says Busquets.

The scientists also confirmed that if amygdala (located in the brain’s limbic system) activity was inhibited while the mice were exposed to the stimuli, the animals were unable to form these indirect associations. The main function of the amygdala is to regulate emotions, such as fear and aggression.

Amygdala dysfunction has been linked to several mental health conditions, including social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder.

Further studies involving disabling this circuit erased the links, hinting that similar pathways in humans could underlie disorders like PTSD and psychosis.These conditions could be tuned with future brain-modulation therapies.

As Busquets notes: “Alterations in these indirect associations form the basis of various mental disorders. Understanding the brain circuits involved in these complex cognitive processes can help us design therapeutic strategies for humans.”

The research appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, titled: “Projecting neurons from the lateral entorhinal cortex to the basolateral amygdala mediate the encoding of incidental odor–taste associations.”