SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " general " 2,536 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Ukraine's General Valery Zaluzhny emerges as a key figure in national politics
While still hypothetical, elections have reportedly been discussed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the fall, fueling speculation about a possible candidacy by the former commander-in-chief. Like Zaluzhny, several senior officers enjoy strong public support and could play a major role in political life after the war.
Does Trump Worry About Conflicts of Interest? ‘I Found Out That Nobody Cared.’
American presidents have generally tried to avoid appearing to profit from the office. President Trump has chosen a different path.
Trump administration sues California, Virginia over new gun laws
Attorneys general in both states vowed to defend their gun laws
Both chambers of General Assembly pass budget, another vote Thursday
Both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly passed a state budget Wednesday and are a second vote away from sending it to Gov. Josh Stein's desk.
AG Sunday Ensures Protections for Patients via Settlement after Review of Allegheny Health Network’s Acquisition of Heritage Valley Health - PA Office of Attorney General
HARRISBURG – Attorney General Dave Sunday and the Office of Attorney General’s Antitrust Section announced a court-approved settlement that will protect patients, physicians, and health plans potentially impacted by Allegheny Health Network’s (AHN) recent acquisition of Heritage Valley Health Systems (HVHS). The Office of Attorney General thoroughly reviewed the transaction and outlined a number of […]
Sony will cease production of discs for new PlayStation games in 2028
New games sold for PlayStation consoles will only be available digitally and won’t be sold on discs effective January 2028, Sony has announced. The move applies to all PlayStation games released from that point on, including those made by Sony and those released by third parties. The PlayStation group calls the change “a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs,” according to a PlayStation blog post reviewed by Game File in advance of its publication. As movies, TV and music have shifted from physical media to an age of downloads and streaming, Sony’s move could speed the demise of physical media in a gaming. The industry has offered consumers games via cartridges, cassettes, floppy discs, CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays across a 50-year stretch. Sony has been reporting to investors in recent years that PlayStation games have been increasingly purchased as downloads, not as discs. The most recent figures show nearly four in five purchases of full games for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 were purchased digitally in the past year. Stats like that may cause today’s news to carry an air of the inevitable. But Sony’s declaration for 2028 is still likely to produce a shock, as the biggest gaming platform on the planet that uses game discs leaves them behind. Discs going away, but the fate of game boxes is unknown Sony is committing to still selling games in physical retailers even after they drop discs in 2028. Just how those games will be sold—in boxes with codes inside, as cards marked with digital redemption codes—is unclear. Digital games will also continue to be sold in the online PlayStation Store. New games released for PlayStation consoles prior to January 2028 will be unaffected by the policy change, Sony says. That means the PS5 games of 2027, be they a new Madden, a new God of War, a new Call of Duty, a new Sly Cooper (one can dream?), would still potentially be offered on disc. PlayStation 6 implications Sony’s timeline for a transition to a no-disc era will also spin up more speculation about the timing and configuration of Sony’s next-generation console, the probable PlayStation 6. “This pretty much guarantees that PS6 won’t arrive until 2028 at the earliest,” Piers Harding-Rolls, senior games research analyst at Ampere Analysis tells Game File. Harding-Rolls also concludes from today’s news that “the base version of a PS6 will not include a physical media drive,” as Sony looks to keep costs down on the device. Sony itself is saying nothing about the PS6 today: not its timing, nor how it might or might not support internal or external disc drives in order to run disc-based PS4 and PS5 games, should the console be backwards compatible. The many signs this was coming Industry support for games being released on physical media has been waning. As has consumer interest in them. PC games effectively went all-digital years ago, thanks to the popularity of playing games through Steam and other digital storefronts. The Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns that kept much of the global population home helped shift shopping patterns toward downloads. Sony’s own data shows PlayStation game downloads being an uncommon consumer choice a decade ago and now becoming the norm. On consoles, physical media has been in such decline that Sony and Microsoft both launched their current gen Xbox Series and PS5 consoles in 2020 with cheaper versions that lacked disc drives. In early 2024, Phil Spencer, then head of Xbox, told me that ““[w]e ship games physically and digitally, and we’re really just following what the customers are doing.” He added that the game industry had become an outlier in still supporting disc-based entertainment, even as movies and TV have bailed on discs in favor of downloads and steaming: “Gaming consoles themselves have kind of become the last consumer electronic device that has a drive. And this is a real issue, just in terms of the number of manufacturers that are actually building drives and the cost associated with those. And when you think about cogs that we’re going to go put in a console—and as you have fewer suppliers and fewer buyers—the cost of the drive does have an impact.” Last year, the Nintendo’s Switch 2, which uses cartridges rather than discs, introduced the concept of game-key cards, which are physical media that contain no game, just a prompt for a download. Even disc-based games aren’t what they once were, now frequently containing just stubs of games rather than the whole thing. The website Does It Play has tested over 3000 games and found that, for example, that the disc version of this year’s hit 007: First Light, only contained the game’s first mission, with the rest needing to be downloaded. Beyond all that, last week brought the news that Grand Theft Auto VI, likely the biggest game launch this decade, will debut for PS5 and Xbox Series without a disc-based version. Today’s big news comes to you for free. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and ensure more of my work is possible, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Discs helped define PlayStation However the trends in entertainment may be going, it is still remarkable to see PlayStation ditch discs given their importance in PlayStation history: In the late 1990s, the first PlayStation’s support for games on relatively cheap CD-ROMs instead of traditional game cartridges allowed the upstart console to outmaneuver cartridge-based systems from Nintendo and Sega, as it drove down game prices down in the process. (The cheaper disc format even prompted Final Fantasy VII maker Square to taunt Nintendo in a magazine ad, saying that if the game was “available on cartridge, it’d retail for around $1200.”) PlayStation devices often doubled as machines for watching movies and TV on the latest disc-based formats. In the late 2000s, for example, Sony’s pricy PS3 gained traction as a go-to device for playing then-novel Blu-Ray discs. In 2013, Sony effectively roasted the digital game-sharing restrictions proposed by rival Microsoft for its upcoming Xbox One console by showing how games could be shared for the then-upcoming PS4. In a 21-second clip that has over 20 million views on YouTube, one PlayStation executive simply handed a game box—presumably with disc inside—to another, who said “thanks.” Sony’s possible motivations The PlayStation announcement today cites “consumer preferences” and a shift away from discs among “the broader entertainment industry,” but does not delve into the decision-making process that brought Sony to this point. Sony is not discussing the economics of this move (I asked!), but there are a number of potential factors: Abandoning discs will spare Sony the cost of manufacturing and shipping them, which analysts and industry veterans I spoke to said could account for $1 or so of a game’s retail price. For first-party games, that’s direct savings for Sony, though the amount is limited by the winnowing percentage of people who were even buying the disc-based versions. For third-party games, Sony could pass the savings on to partners or just retain the better profit margin for themselves. As the 2024 comments from Phil Spencer alluded to, leaving discs behind could mean leaving disc-drives behind, allowing Sony to produce consoles more cheaply. Switching to digital-only for games could diminish the risks of copies of new games leaking. It would also seemingly make second-hand sales of used games impossible, pushing more people to buy their own copies of games. These economic benefits for Sony could be boons for the games industry overall, Ampere analyst Piers Harding-Rolls tells Game File. Among other things, it could free publishers and retailers from having to worry about securing an inventory of game discs when trying to sell games, he noted. “If there is a way to streamline the business of games retail, I generally think it’s a good thing for the industry as it removes unnecessary costs,” Harding-Rolls said. “This will help offset pressure on margins from other directions – development and staffing costs for example.” Should the industry shift from game boxes that contain discs to smaller, cheaper game cards, Harding-Rolls said, that reduces pressure on publishers and retailers. “The advantage of everything going digital for the industry is that sales can be tracked much more easily and there is less commercial risk for publishers wanting to continue selling via retail,” he said. The shift to no discs will also likely impact game development timelines, as developers will no longer face the same urgency to have a build ready to submit to PlayStation for the production of a disc, as industry experts noted around GTA VI’s no-disc news last week. Instead, projects may gain weeks of development time, in the event delivery deadlines for platform approval move closer to release date. Preservationists’ likely worries While millions of gamers have shifted to digital, there are still people who associate game discs—and only game discs—with actual ownership of PlayStation games. That portion of the gaming community spoke up last week about wanting to buy a version of GTA VI that they could hold in their hands, could lend to a friend and could potentially pop into a well-preserved PS5 console three decades from now and still see it run. Such gamers didn’t want to worry that they’d merely purchased a digital copy that could lose access to the game if, say, the company behind the game someday turns of the servers that transmit downloadable copies. Digital copies of games are inherently less long-lasting, because consumers aren’t actually buying a game (on a disc), just buying access to the game. The fine print in online gaming shops notes this, as does a recent law that went on the books in California in 2025. That lasw requires game publishers doing business in the state to refrain from words like “sell” when offering digital copies of games, unless they explicitly tell consumers that what’s being sold isn’t the game itself but a potentially revocable license to access it. A Sony spokesperson noted to Game File that “[w]ith all digital content, including games, movies, and music, players are purchasing a personal license for non-commercial use.” Regarding the fears of PlayStation games being lost to time in an all-digital era, the rep also noted that Sony remains “committed to delivering experiences from past generations to the new platforms our players are using.” They noted that PlayStation has used emulation and remasters to keep offering its classic games to modern gamers. It’s true that many consumers have become accustomed to not having physical copies of new music albums or movies, but the relative precariousness of digital copies of games is in fact being highlighted today by…. Sony’s other big announcement: the upcoming closure of the PS3 and PS Vita online stores Sony said today that it will be closing the online marketplaces for its PlayStation 3 console and PS Vita handheld in most countries in July 2027 (sooner elsewhere: August 2026 for the PS3 store Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua; late 2026 for PS3 in other Latin American countries and the Middle East). “We know this news may be disappointing to PS3 and PS Vita players who hold a special place in their hearts for this generation of gaming,” Sony said in its announcement, saying the move “was not an easy decision for us to make.” Sony said that PS3 and Vita marketplaces “are no longer able” to support modern commerce systems, prompting a “need” to close the shops and focus on more modern PlayStation platform stores. The news may spark some deja vu. Sony announced back in March 2021 that it planned to take the PS3, Vita and PlayStation Portable marketplaces offline that summer. The move would have caused some 2,000 digital-only games to become unavailable for new purchasers, according to a VGC analysis at the time. Fans complained loudly. By April 2021, Sony walked back the PS3 and Vita shop closures, with then PlayStation boss Jim Ryan saying “it’s clear that we made the wrong decision here.” This time around, Sony is giving a longer notice period in most regions. The closure of those stores is still likely to cut off access to new purchases of digital-only PS3 and Vita games. The current PlayStation 5 marketplace sells PS5 and PS4 games, as well as a selection of PS1 and PS2 games. It does not sell PS3 games, because games for that platform can’t run on the system (some are offered via a PlayStation Plus streaming option). Vita games also aren’t sold via PS5. Sony says digitally purchased PS3 and Vita games will be downloadable after the stores’ shutdowns “for the foreseeable future.” Sony’s move contrasts with Microsoft’s Xbox platform, which continues to sell and support games from all four Xbox console generations. But it puts it in line with Nintendo, which disabled purchases in the marketplace for its Wii console (a contemporary of the PS3) in 2019. Nintendo discontinued purchases in the online shop for its 3DS portable (a contemporary of the Vita) in 2023. The big questions about Sony’s 2028 post-disc era Will Microsoft follow suit, ending support for new disc-based games on Xbox platforms and therefore all game consoles, too? Whether Microsoft does or not, will third-parties that can no longer release games on discs for PlayStation, simply ditch the disc options across the board? Given the GTA VI no-disc experiment launching this November, will more game publishers decide to forgo disc-based offerings even in 2027? How will no-disc PS5/6 games be packaged and sold in brick-and-mortar retail stores? What becomes of game sharing in an all-digital era? Will Sony modify its current set-up, which currently allows some sharing of digital games across a pair of consoles, to allow more casual lending? (See for example, Nintendo’s year-old system of letting players lend a digital game to another player in a “family group” for up to 14 days.) Will there be a version of a PS6 with a disc drive? Or will a drive be offered as an add-on? And how will gamers who want to retain access to PS4/PS5 disc-based games react to whichever configurations Sony chooses to offer? What will the final disc-based PlayStation game be?
People moves: Lucy Fato departs from Seaport Entertainment Group
Seaport Entertainment Group has confirmed that Lucy Fato, its EVP, general counsel and corporate secretary, h
Baton Rouge General’s Health Tip of the Week: Man, it’s hot in here!
Sponsored by Baton Rouge General Night sweats affect nearly 45% of adults at some point, and while it might not be talked about as much as it is with women and menopause, men do experience those middle-of-the-night wakeups drenched in sweat. Low testosterone disrupting the body’s temperature regulation system is a big culprit, but there […]
Colorado voters pick state Senate primary winners
Colorado voters on Tuesday night picked winners in the Republican and Democratic primaries in an election that will shape the contests in the general election later this year. The eventual winners will join the Colorado General Assembly in January 2026. Here are the results in key districts. Senate District 3 Colorado voters appear to be […]
Weiser wins Colorado Democratic governor primary race over Bennet
NBC News projects that Weiser will move on to the general election after defeating Bennet, who has served in the Senate for 17 years.
Allen wins Republican primary for attorney general
Michael Allen has defeated David Willson in the Republican primary for attorney general, according to The Associated Press. Allen received just over 60% of the vote, according to the secretary of state’s website. Allen will face Democrat Jena Griswold in November. Allen, the district attorney for the 4th Judicial District, brings more than two decades […]
Jena Griswold leads early returns in Colorado’s Democratic attorney general primary
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold led the field of Democratic attorney general candidates by a wide margin in early returns posted minutes after polls closed Tuesday night. Four Democrats are running for the office held by term-limited Democratic Attorney General Weiser, who is running for governor. In addition to Griswold, who is serving her […]
Phil Weiser defeats Michael Bennet in Colorado’s Democratic gubernatorial primary
Attorney General Phil Weiser took an early lead over three-term U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in Colorado’s Democratic gubernatorial primary and held onto it, defeating the state’s longest-serving senator in more than 50 years to win a nomination that’s likely to land him in the governor’s office. Weiser led Bennet 55% to 45% just before 8 […]
Phil Weiser leads Michael Bennet in early returns in Colorado’s Democratic gubernatorial primary
Attorney General Phil Weiser took an early lead over U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in Colorado’s Democratic gubernatorial primary as election officials posted initial returns soon after polls closed Tuesday night. In the first round of results, Weiser had secured 60% of the vote to Bennet’s 40%, with just over 200,000 total ballots counted statewide. The […]
'Save Women's Sports' legal defense and trans athlete's attorneys speak out after landmark SCOTUS ruling
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador and West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey praise the ruling as a victory for fairness in women's sports.
Colorado voters head to the polls today — check here for regular updates
Colorado voters head to the polls today to pick primary winners that will vie for statewide offices in November, the result of which would determine the direction of the state in the coming years. At stake are the parties’ nominees for U.S. senator, governor, attorney general and several statewide offices, along with races for Congress […]
Vatican Observatory addresses one of science’s greatest enigmas: quantum gravity
A conference addressed the subject of quantum gravity with regard to the incompatibility of quantum mechanics with general relativity, presenting a challenge for researchers to propose solutions.
KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust: Update on Common Vaccine Myths
This poll looks at exposure to and belief in several vaccine myths and finds that people without a trusted health care provider, and those who regularly use social media or AI for health information, are generally more likely than others to belief the false claims. It also analyzes belief across vaccine myths, showing the share of the public that are consistent myth believers, consistent myth deniers, and those who land in the "mixed middle."
Leading Colorado toward modern mental health solutions
By Sean Camacho America is facing a silent crisis. Millions of Americans are living with invisible illnesses like generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), major depressive disorder (MDD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which decrease quality of life and, amid limited treatment options, create a vicious cycle of endless medications and, for many people, hopeless therapies. This […]
Live Results: Colorado midterm primaries
The Democratic gubernatorial primary between U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and state Attorney General Phil Weiser will not only determine who might lead Colorado, but it could also create an opening in the closely divided U.S. Senate.
Beloved gas station pizza chain CEO reveals 400-store expansion plan as food business booms
Casey's General Stores plans to add at least 400 new locations over three years while expanding its prepared food menu with wings and fries.
Apple Releases iOS 26.5.2 With Security Fixes
Apple today released iOS 26.5.2 and iPadOS 26.5.2, minor updates to the iOS and iPadOS 26 operating systems that came out in September. iOS 26.5.2 comes a month after the launch of iOS 26.5.1, an update that added a charging fix for the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 models. iOS 26.5.2 and iPadOS 26.5.2 can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update.
Eskin named general manager of NEXUS sports and entertainment complex
Middlesex County, in partnership with The Sports Facilities Companies, announced Edison native Katie Eskin as General Manager of NEXUS.
How six venture capital giants are reshaping startup financing
The venture capital landscape is becoming increasingly concentrated, with six megafirms— Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Thrive Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Founders Fund and General Catalyst—now raising more capital than all other U.S. venture firms combined over the past two years, Inc. reports. Their growth has been fueled by the enormous capital requirements of AI startups, […]
World Cup: our breakout XI from the group stage ⚡️
They made a name for themselves!The World Cup, even more so with 48 teams, is always an opportunity to discover new players, but also to allow others to truly make themselves known to the general publ...
Ahead of the MLB trade deadline, here’s where the Yankees stand
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is almost always aggressive when he believes in his team.
Martin County residents keep pressing state officials for funding to reopen hospital
ECU Health has proposed converting Martin General into a Rural Emergency Hospital under a federal designation.
John Oliver scores his dream job: A soap opera gig on 'General Hospital'
The host of HBO's "Last Week Tonight" will realize one of his big wishes in July with a guest spot on the ABC soap opera "General Hospital."
Efzimfotase alfa demonstrated improvements in bone health in treatment-naïve pediatric patients with hypophosphatasia achieving median difference of 1.67 vs placebo in RGI-C Score at week 25 in MULBERRY Phase III trial
Positive results from the MULBERRY Phase III trial showed that efzimfotase alfa (ALXN1850), an investigational enzyme replacement therapy, demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in bone health in children (2 to
Galaxy Z's days are apparently numbered: Accessories point to a very unusual name for Samsung's iPhone Ultra competitor
At first, it was called the Galaxy Z Wide Fold or the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide, then—according to generally reliable sources—simply the Galaxy Z Fold8. Now a fourth name has surfaced for the compact and wider iPhone Ultra alternative, that Samsung will unveil on July 22 alongside the updated Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. However, as authentic as these images seem to be, there are doubts.
State Sen. Josh Becker unveils "Wartime Price Gouging Prevention Act"
California Sen. Josh Becker has introduced a bill to empower the state attorney general to investigate price gouging during wartime emergencies, addressing what he says is a significant financial burden on Californians.
Brain activity under anesthesia challenges what we know about consciousness
The unconscious brain appears to be far more capable than scientists once believed. Researchers found that patients under general anesthesia could still process language at a sophisticated level, distinguishing nouns, verbs, and adjectives while listening to stories. Even more remarkably, neural activity showed signs of predicting upcoming words before they were heard. The results challenge traditional ideas about consciousness and hint at new possibilities for brain-computer interfaces.
Israel missing out on global life sciences recovery
IATI's annual report for 2025 portrays general stagnation in the Israeli industry. with one or two bright spots.
Carman: Tuesday’s election is more than just a primary. It’s a colossal opportunity to change history.
The template for tyrants goes back at least to Ancient Rome and, as Nero discovered, generally ends badly.
Black Canyon City business defrauded by GM
A woman was arrested Tuesday for allegedly stealing $40,000 from the Black Canyon City business for which she was the general manager.
City of Palms new downtown parking program: How local business react to the change
The Fort Myers City Council recently approved a change impacting parking rates at all three of downtown Fort Myers' parking garages. As it stood, visitors would receive one hour of free parking followed by a hourly rate. Now, the change has made it so visitors are entitled to two free hours followed by a hourly rate. Local business owners and managers said it's a good idea giving visitors more time to bask under the royal palms and indulge in some shopping. But one general manager points out a problem that did not start yesterday, but years prior.
Angels fire g.m. Minasian
The Anaheim Angels fired general manager Perry Minasian on Friday
Bill Barr says Todd Blanche isn't 'a toady,' urges senate to confirm Trump's AG pick
Bill Barr argues Todd Blanche's relationship with Trump is a strength, urging Senate Republicans to confirm him as attorney general amid GOP reservations.
A lack of funding, a glut of stigma: How Ohio LGBTQ+ health outcomes are impacted
Being able to access healthcare in general is a struggle for LGBTQ+ individuals, and with legislation in Ohio and elsewhere that banned gender-affirming care for minors, for example, a need for healthcare can often clash with the hesitation to seek help.
We almost had a smartphone in the 90s. Why did it fail?
In the early 90’s, a company called General Magic began working on a portable device that would allow people to check email, make phone calls, even play games. It was basically a smartphone. But it never caught on.On today’s show, a theory about why this device failed. General Magic had generous investors, world-class talent and creative freedom. But is it possible what they needed was constraints?Support:Planet Money+Read: Our book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life Our weekly longform Planet Money newsletterOur weekly Indicator round-up newsletterFollow: InstagramTikTokYouTubeFacebookThis episode was hosted by Erika Beras and Emma Peaslee. It was produced by Emma Peaslee with help from Sam Yellowhorse Kesler and James Sneed. It was edited by Marianne McCune and fact-checked by Charlotte Isidore. It was engineered by Jimmy Keeley with help from Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.
General manager arrested for stealing over $40,000 from Black Canyon City business
An investigation found that financial records had been deleted, documentation was incomplete and deposits were missing.
General Atlantic Serves Up Djokovic Hire in Sports Push
The private-equity firm has already invested in a number of sports assets.
MAI-Code-1-Flash for Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise
MAI-Code-1-Flash, Microsoft AI’s in-house coding model, is now generally available for GitHub Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise, building on its recent expansion across Copilot surfaces. Purpose-built for coding and optimized…
Sweden and WHO launch new long-term initiative to transform Ukraine’s health system
WHO and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) have launched a new multi-year cooperation project to support the long-term recovery and transformation of Ukraine’s health system. The new project, “Ukraine’s Health System Transformation Initiative: Strengthening Health Governance, Health Financing and Service Delivery for Long-Term Recovery”, was launched at the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2026 in Gdansk, Poland on 26 June, and will run from June 2026 to 2029. Sweden will contribute approximately US$ 26 million (240 million Swedish krona) to support this project. This contribution forms part of Sweden’s broader support to Ukraine through the Team Europe approach, which brings together the European Union, its Member States, and key partners such as the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood and Enabel, and WHO as lead health agency, to support Ukraine’s recovery, reform agenda and European integration.“Ukraine’s health recovery cannot be measured only by what is rebuilt, but by whether people can count on the health system when they need it most. The scale of the task is immense, with health reconstruction and modernization needs estimated at US$ 19.4 billion over the next decade. Sweden’s US$ 26 million contribution to Ukraine’s Health System Transformation Initiative is a timely investment in the institutions, financing and services that will support Ukraine’s long-term recovery and European integration. WHO remains a trusted partner of the Government of Ukraine in advancing this process. I am deeply grateful to Sweden for its consistent support and partnership,” said Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe. More than 4 years of war have placed unprecedented pressure on Ukraine’s health system, creating 3 interconnected challenges. The first is responding to the immediate consequences of the war and the urgent health needs of the population. The second is recovering and modernizing health services today. The third is continuing reforms and aligning the health system with European standards in the context of Ukraine’s future accession to the European Union. The war has led to large-scale population displacement, an increasing need for trauma care and rehabilitation, and shortages of health workers. High out-of-pocket payments in Ukraine make access to health services more difficult. Around 46% of total health expenditure is paid directly by individuals, placing a significant financial burden on many households and underscoring the need for reforms in health financing. Older people, persons with disabilities, women, children and veterans continue to face the greatest difficulties in accessing health services. “Ukraine is demonstrating that health system transformation can continue even during war. Ukraine is also continuing to align its health system with European norms and standards. WHO is committed to supporting Ukraine on this journey. We provide technical support, help coordinate partners’ efforts and support the institutional changes needed to strengthen the system. We are grateful to Sweden for its support. Through this partnership, we can help Ukraine build a more resilient, accessible and people-centred health system,” said Dr Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative in Ukraine. About the Health System Transformation InitiativeThe new initiative will support Ukraine through 3 interconnected areas: strengthening governance and coordination of health sector reforms through more inclusive coordination platforms and structured policy dialogue; transforming service delivery by reinforcing a primary health care-centred model that integrates family medicine, nursing and midwifery; and improving financial sustainability by supporting reforms that ensure the long-term viability of the national health system and reduce out-of-pocket payments for households. Overall, these reforms are expected to make the health system more coherent and easier to navigate, improve the quality and continuity of care, and ensure more equitable access to services, particularly for those who need them most. They will also support Ukraine’s progress towards a more modern health system aligned with European standards. “We are convinced that long-term recovery is not possible without strong, high-quality, person-centred health services that are accessible to everyone. Our partnership with WHO is designed to support deep and lasting systemic changes. Investments in human capital especially autonomous midwives, whose role for maternal, newborn and adolescent sexual and reproductive health cannot be understated, stronger governance, digital transformation and the financial sustainability of the health system are investments in Ukraine’s future. We are proud to support this process,” said Malin Perhult, the Head of the Ukraine Unit at Sida. Focus throughout implementation will be given to the most vulnerable population groups, including older people, women and children, and persons with disabilities, who have been affected by the war and face greater health-care needs. The initiative will be implemented in close cooperation with the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the National Health Service of Ukraine, the Public Health Centre of Ukraine, regional authorities and international partners. This project will help Ukraine move towards a system where everyone can access the health care they need. It will strengthen primary care, make the health finance system more stable and predictable, and reduce the out-of-pocket costs that Ukrainians face when using health services. As a result, the Ukrainian health system will become more aligned with European standards and more sustainable in the long run.
Dunleavy vetoes some health and education increases approved by Alaska lawmakers
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy canceled funding increases for a variety of state health and education programs on Wednesday, vetoing a combined $57.8 million in general-purpose money from state budget bills passed by the Legislature.
Texas Democrats head to convention with optimism, but questions about November remain
The Texas Democratic Convention begins Thursday in Corpus Christi. The three-day convention features several national and statewide figures in the party — this while polls show Democratic candidate James Talarico essentially even with his Republican opponent for U.S. Senate, Attorney General Ken Paxton.
ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY VETERAN MICHELE PAGE JOINS SOUNDEXCHANGE AS GENERAL COUNSEL
/PRNewswire/ -- SoundExchange, the largest neighboring rights collective in the world, today announced the appointment of veteran entertainment industry lawyer...
Keith Flaherty: Translating Science into Medicine
Keith Flaherty: Translating Science into Medicine / American Association for Cancer Research, cancer, Keith Flaherty, Massachusetts General Hospital,
How should European scientists respond to the US AI kill switch?
Earlier in June, Europe’s worst fears of technological dependence were confirmed when the White House ordered the AI firm Anthropic to stop non-US citizens using its leading models. This kill-switch moment crystalised anxieties in Brussels that the continent, lagging the US on the creation of leading-edge AI models, is now a technological of vassal of Washington. The shock has specific implications for European scientists and universities. Some governments are now worried that with AI being integrated into labs, Donald Trump now has his finger hovering over an off switch for European science. “Having restrictions on this tool, it can have an impact on our own research,” said France’s research minister, Philippe Baptiste, at the VivaTech conference in Paris on June 18.Baptiste, himself a former academic, said that colleagues in mathematics had recently warned him they were now cut off from leading-edge US models, risking their work. “This model is not available anymore now because of the US restriction, and for the first time this had an impact on mathematics,” a field where large language models (LLMs) are making a significant contribution, said Baptiste. So, should European scientists avoid relying on US models in the future? Or would this be a self-harming overreaction? And how is AI being used in science, anyway? What happened?On June 12, it emerged that Washington, citing cybersecurity concerns, had ordered Anthropic to stop non-US citizens using two models: Claude Mythos 5, and Claude Fable 5, a version of Mythos but with guardrails to prevent abuse. Anthropic said Washington’s concerns were overblown. But forced to follow the order, yet with no way to check who was using the models, the company suddenly shut down access for everyone, US citizens included. There’s still no agreement on how to restore broad access. But last week, Bloomberg reported that select US companies, and the US government, still had access to Mythos despite the ban, but the EU’s cybersecurity agency Enisa had been shut out. Class division of researchersIn the longer term, access outside the US should be restored, said Marcel Salathé, co-director of the AI centre at the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (EPFL), because a permanent restriction would be financially ruinous to US AI firms. “Even Trump will eventually budge to economic pressure,” he said.However, US AI firms might end up operating rather like banks, doing due diligence on users of their leading-edge AI models, he went on.European scientists are unlikely to fall foul of such checks, he said. But having a Chinese postgraduate in their lab, or doing a type of research the US disapproved of, could potentially result in access being denied. “It will create a sort of class division of researchers,” he said. More than frontier modelsHowever, successfully deploying AI in science is about far more than just having access to leading LLMs such as Mythos.Instead, many science-specific tools, most famously Alphafold, which predicts protein folding structures, require “far less” computing power to train than frontier models, well within the capabilities of European supercomputers, according to a recent analysis by the Arq Foundation, a Brussel-based AI think tank. Instead, tools such as Alphafold are possible because certain fields, like protein folding, weather prediction or astronomy, have large, clean, standardised datasets that can be used to train predictive models. Rather than compute, “data is the central constraint for AI for science,” the report says. For example, a less powerful physics model trained on CERN’s data “will be more valuable than the best model without certain data,” said Bengüsu Özcan, author of the report. European advantage?Europe could therefore steal a march by using its scientific data and infrastructure to create models US digital giants cannot. “They might actually match or go even beyond what these big [US] companies are doing,” said Özcan.Indeed, some European start-ups hope to create automated testing labs to create the kind of standardised data that could speed up the discovery of new materials. Materials scientists say there’s currently too little data to train models. AI scientistsHowever, even if the bottleneck for AI in science is often data, rather than compute, being at the mercy of the US for LLM access could still become a problem for European scientists. A new class of “AI scientists” based on leading LLMs is also emerging, Özcan’s report says.Unlike domain-specific tools like Alphafold, these try to automate day-to-day scientific work, by providing an overarching tool that coordinates specific models to synthesise existing literature, generate hypotheses or run analysis of data. The problem for Europe, however, is that these tools are sometimes based on US leading models. Google Deepmind’s AI Co-Scientist, for example, is built on Google’s Gemini LLM. Systematic failureThese scientific automation tools are still in their early stages, and still exhibit “systematic failures on scientific tasks,” Özcan’s report says. One of the problems is that the messy, day-to-day process of scientific discovery is largely not documented, meaning LLMs don’t have a good source of data to learn how scientists actually work. Meanwhile, some tasks, such as literature synthesis, don’t typically require access to leading edge models.However, the performance of AI scientific assistants could improve as companies such as Google pour resources into developing them. Rely on US“Unfortunately, for scientific assistants, there is not much we can do right now except rely on US frontier AI,” said Antoine Bosselut, a natural language processing expert based at EPFL. Chinese-built open models, which can run on local computers, lessening the risk of a shutdown, are touted as one alternative to US dependence. There’s also Mistral, once seen as Europe’s main AI hope, but the Paris-based company has seen its recent models fall behind in performance. But the Chinese alternatives are generally not as capable as US frontier AI models, said Bosselut, unless paired with fiddly, custom tools that allows them to act as independent agents. “Most scientists do not have the time,” he said. Don’t jump ship yetAlthough the kill switch moment is seen a warning shot for European scientists, it doesn’t mean labs should abandon US AI tools immediately. “I do not think the right response is simply to abandon US-based models and systems under the banner of sovereignty or independence,” said Mattias Björnmalm, secretary general of the Cesaer university association. “That would be an overreaction.”Related articlesEuropean sovereignty in AI requires ‘ugly trade-offs,’ say experts Robotic lab start-up makes case for €500M EU-funded materials testing facilityAI in science: is it useful? Instead, European researchers need to ask themselves whether they’re becoming dependent on technology that could be turned off in Washington, said Özcan. “They might not see this today, but they should really start asking this question,” she said. European researchers need a plan B, said Salathé. “I would recommend to every researcher, very proactively explore alternatives.”Own toolsIn addition, Björnmalm and others want European research institutions to develop their own scientific AI tools.Instead of signing AI deals with US digital giants, European universities should be using this money to create their own models, which may end up being superior for research, said Sabine Leonelli, an expert on the use of AI in science at the Technical University of Munich. “Universities in Europe seem to be happy to sign commercial contracts with US companies on the assumption [their AI tools] are better,” she said. But US frontier LLMs are typically opaque, and have been developed without independent scientific input, she said. “This is not good enough for science.”Last year, Swiss researchers released Apertus, an LLM designed to be completely transparent, from its development methods to its training data. The idea is that this makes scientific tools built on top of the model far more reproducible than with closed, commercial alternatives.“Europe needs more of this: serious capacity-building that gives researchers, universities and companies credible options,” said Björnmalm.
NATO’s Leader Makes His Case to Trump for Preserving the Alliance
Using charts, Secretary General Mark Rutte appeared to defuse the president’s anger by showing that European countries were “equalizing” defense spending with the U.S.
WATCH: Under proposed rule, USPS won't deliver mail ballots to states that don't provide voter rolls, postmaster general says
Postmaster General David Steiner told a Senate committee Wednesday that, if a proposed rule is adopted, the U.S. Postal Service would withhold mail ballots from states that do not hand over to the federal government lists of people who have requested absentee or mail ballots.
The biotech founder asking why good science gets stuck
As an undergraduate, Alinta Furnell led student societies, pitched startup ideas and built biotechnology ventures. Now, the UNSW alumna is investigating one of innovation’s biggest challenges – why so many scientific breakthroughs never make it beyond the lab.
Voters should expect party politics in this nonpartisan school board race
Montgomery County residents should brace for a decidedly partisan tone ahead of November’s general election for an at large seat on the school board.
Casey's CEO on fuel margins, expansion, food business and more
Casey’s General Stores chair and CEO Darren Rebelez joins CNBC's "Closing Bell Overtime" to discuss the company's food and fuel business, its outlook and more.
Jasmine Crockett’s silence could hurt James Talarico’s U.S. Senate chances in November
The Dallas congresswoman, Talarico’s erstwhile rival in the Democratic primary, has yet to say whether she’ll campaign for him in the general election against Republican Ken Paxton.
Rand Paul questions USPS business model as postmaster general seeks reform
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is questioning the United States Postal Office’s (USPS) business model following the appearance of the agency’s postmaster general before lawmakers.
Cityblock in talks to buy fellow General Catalyst-backed startup Homeward Health
Cityblock Health in talks to acquire General Catalyst-backed rural care startup Homeward, expanding into Medicare Advantage, source says.
USPS tells Congress it needs cash rescue amid broken business model
Postmaster General David Steiner told a Senate committee the agency has amassed nearly $31 billion in cumulative defaults and could run out of cash by year's end
New York primaries: Clean sweep as 3 candidates endorsed by Mamdani win
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani flexed his political muscle Tuesday, getting a clean sweep as his three endorsed congressional candidates advanced to November's general election.
Pope: Healthcare must reveal God’s compassion to those who suffer
Pope Leo XIV sends his greetings to participants in a conference on health organized by Caritas Internationalis, and calls for cooperation in ...
Fired Navy Admiral Wins Democratic Runoff in South Carolina’s 1st District
Democrats expect Nancy Lacore to run a competitive general election despite the district’s Republican leaning.
Wilson wins GOP nomination for South Carolina governor after Trump hedges his bet on race
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson won a runoff election on Tuesday, swiftly routing the candidate initially endorsed by President Donald Trump to be the Republican nominee for governor.
Florida Attorney General Issues Subpoena to CVS Health in Pharmacy Probe
Florida’s attorney general says he is examining whether CVS’s pharmacy benefit manager steers patients to its own pharmacies.
AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC) Is Down 16.5% After Dilutive Debt-Reduction Equity Raise - Has The Bull Case Changed?
Earlier today, AMC Entertainment Holdings announced a registered direct follow-on equity offering of 95,250,000 common shares at about US$2.10 each, aiming to raise roughly US$200.03 million primarily to redeem 6.125% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2027 and for general corporate purposes. This latest capital raise follows AMC’s roughly US$150 million at-the-market equity offering completed in early June, underlining how ongoing balance sheet repair is coming at the cost of further dilution...
Florida AG launches investigation into CVS Health over pharmacy competition concerns
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued a Civil Investigative Demand to CVS Health Corporation, the owner of the Caremark pharmacy benefit manager and hundreds of CVS retail pharmacies across the state.
4 charged in separate health care fraud cases in Michigan, AG announces
Four people are facing charges in separate health care fraud cases, the Michigan Attorney General’s Office announced on Tuesday.
Appendix B: Classifying European political parties
Classifying parties as populist Although experts generally agree that populist political leaders or parties display high levels of anti-elitism, definitions of populism vary. We use three measures to classify parties as populist: anti-elite ratings from the 2024 Chapel Hill Expert Survey (CHES), the 2023 Populism and Political Parties Expert Survey (POPPA) and the 2023 PopuList. […]
2026 NHL Draft: Defensemen targets for the Penguins
Piggybacking off the earlier look into the forwards that could make sense for the Penguins to consider with the 22nd pick in Friday’s NHL draft, let’s take a turn to the blueline. Be it coincidence or preference, Kyle Dubas has only drafted one defenseman in the first round since he became a general manager in […]
The push to hold plastics producers accountable in North Carolina
Despite repeated setbacks in the General Assembly, momentum for plastics producer accountability is building in North Carolina.
Lancaster General Health sells downtown Lititz office building for $8.1M
The new owners of a historic mill that most recently served as Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health’s administrative offices will look to revitalize the building as a mix of retail,
From an indictment to an alleged affair, Ken Paxton’s controversies hang over his Senate bid
The attorney general has won statewide elections twice since his legal woes began. This time he will be at the top of the ticket, facing a fundraising juggernaut in James Talarico.
Apple Seeds iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 Second Betas to Developers
Apple today seeded the second betas of iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 to developers for testing purposes, with the update coming a week after Apple released the first betas following the WWDC 2026 keynote. Registered developers can download the betas from the Settings app on the iPhone or iPad by going to the General section and selecting Software Update. iOS 27 introduces Apple's smarter version of Siri, Siri AI.
WMO Executive Council seeks to balance growing demands for science and services
“The demand for what WMO delivers and what National Meteorological and Hydrological Services produce - weather forecasts and warnings, climate data and standards and for scientific cooperation - is growing. Every extreme event makes that clearer,” WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo told the opening session.
The State of Politics: Race for Wisconsin Attorney General Could Be Very Close. Again
Rematch of Eric Toney against incumbent Democrat Josh Kaul will be hard fought.
GOP runoff wins, Tuberville lawsuit reshape Alabama politics
Republican runoff victories, a new Tuberville lawsuit and dismal turnout reveal Alabama’s power struggles heading into the general election season.
Digital Health Institute welcomes French delegation to explore pathways to collaboration
The Houston Methodist-Rice Digital Health Institute recently welcomed Frank Marchetti, Consul General of France in Houston, and his team to discuss health care innovation and avenues for international collaboration.
Keir Starmer’s resignation speech: the six key takeaways
PM reminds listeners of his landslide general election win and achievements in office before ending with tribute to his family
Iran MOU signals ‘major shift’ from military to economic, political objectives for Trump: Retired general
Ret. Gen. Jack Keane on Sunday said the US-Iran memorandum of understanding signals a “major shift” in the Trump administration’s approach to foreign policy ideals in the Middle East. “It’s a…
Opinion: Is the role of the Alaska Board of Fisheries sustainability or politics?
The recent decision by the Alaska attorney general’s office to overturn several Area M management proposals raises serious concerns about the state’s commitment to sustainable fisheries management.
Inside California Politics: Ben Allen makes his insurance commissioner case
(Inside California Politics) — The race for insurance commissioner doesn’t often get a lot of attention. But this year, amid an insurance crisis, the November general election will pit two De…
How my dad’s love of the White Sox taught me to look at life and sports differently
Sometimes baseball, and sports in general, is about much more than wins and losses.
UPDATE Primaries 2026: Will Working Families Party Wave Finally Upend Legacy Politics in the Northwest Bronx?
Local voters will no doubt be aware of a growing progressive Democratic movement in the Northwest Bronx, and in The Bronx generally, as in much of New York City over the past several years. Past notable wins have included State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33) in 2010, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) in 2018, along with former State Sen. Alessandria Biaggi, and former Congressman Jamaal Bowman (NY-16) in 2020.
UPDATE Will Working Families Party Wave Finally Upend Legacy Politics in the Northwest Bronx?
Local voters will no doubt be aware of a growing progressive Democratic movement in the Northwest Bronx, and in The Bronx generally, as in much of New York City over the past several years. Past notable wins have included State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33) in 2010, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) in 2018, along with former State Sen. Alessandria Biaggi, and former Congressman Jamaal Bowman (NY-16) in 2020.
Will Working Families Party Wave Finally Upend Legacy Politics in the Northwest Bronx?
Local voters will no doubt be aware of a growing progressive Democratic movement in the Northwest Bronx, and in The Bronx generally, as in much of New York City over the past several years. Past notable wins have included State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33) in 2010, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) in 2018, along with former State Sen. Alessandria Biaggi, and former Congressman Jamaal Bowman (NY-16) in 2020.
This week in politics: How Schuylkill County’s legislators voted
The PA House of Representatives was in session this past week and passed 16 bills. Let’s take a look at how Schuylkill County’s legislators voted on notable pieces of legislation. PA General Assembly HB 2084, PA Promise – Improving Co…
Does low primary voter turnout indicate low general election turnout?
Election officials and poll workers across the Empire State are preparing for Tuesday for whoever wants to cast their ballot.
TGH Behavioral Health Hospital Launches Partial Hospitalization Program, Expanding Access to Outpatient Mental Health Care
/PRNewswire/ -- Tampa General Hospital (TGH) Behavioral Health Hospital has launched its Partial Hospitalization Program, a structured daytime treatment...
Three-armed Sashimi-Bot learns to slice and serve fish like a pro
If you ever need help in the kitchen cutting fish into appetizing bites, a new three-armed robot may be able to help. And that's no easy feat for robots. While they are generally good at picking up rigid ...
Edenville General Store looks to expand entertainment offerings
Edenville General Store is looking to increase live music and other entertainment offerings with the addition of a new mobile outdoor stage. The approximately 2...
Matt Dunlap Wins Democratic House Primary in Maine’s Swing District
Mr. Dunlap, a progressive Democrat, is set to face former Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, in a competitive general election in November.
OpenAI's health care threat is getting real
Generalized LLMs outperform specialized models, a new study finds.
Janeese Lewis George wins the Democratic primary for mayor of Washington, D.C.
In an overwhelmingly Democratic city, Lewis George is likely to take the top spot in November's general election, replacing moderate Muriel Bowser, who decided not to run again after three terms.
Arizona prosecutors dismissing fake elector case but vow to seek new indictment
The decision announced Thursday marks the third such fake elector case filed by states to be dismissed, though the Democratic attorney general is vowing to bring it back to a grand jury in hopes of securing another indictment.
Jason Stone Joins Tepper Sports & Entertainment as General Manager of Stadium & Venue Operations
Stone will join the organization on July 8, 2026, and oversee all stadium and venue operations for Carolina Panthers (NFL) games, Charlotte FC (MLS) matches and all other events at Bank of America Stadium, in addition to TSE’s broader portfolio of venues, including Atrium Health Performance Park and the Atrium Health Training Facility.
‘Dear ACSWP’ webinar focuses on GA items of business with a focus on social witness policy
LOUISVILLE — “Dear ACSWP: Advice, Counsel and Social Witness Policy” was the name of a Wednesday webinar offered ahead of the 227th General Assembly by members and staff of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy. More than 60 people attended.
St. Francois Co. man charged, illegal gaming devices seized from business
A St. Francois County, Mo. man is facing charges after 13 illegal gaming devices were seized, along with cash, as part of an investigation by the attorney general, local and state police.
Multilingual benchmark evaluates how well AI interprets clinical text and health records in nine languages
Researchers at Mass General Brigham recently developed BRIDGE, a multilingual benchmark that evaluates how well large language models (LLMs) understand clinical patient care text, including language used ...
Midterms 2026: Science Appropriators Up for Reelection
Some of the most important decision-makers in science policy are facing voters in primaries and general elections this year.