
Switzerland Pledges $6 Million Support for Glacier-Hit Village
The Swiss government is proposing to give 5 million francs ($6 million) to the Alpine village of Blatten that was destroyed by a wave of rock and ice last week.
'It is clear to the Federal Council that aid should be provided quickly and unbureaucratically in view of the tragic events following the landslide,' the national executive said in a statement on Friday. 'The funds are to be paid out to the municipality of Blatten for immediate measures that are not covered by insurance or subsidies and need to be implemented quickly.'

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Washington Post
40 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Judge chastises Trump administration in Voice of America hearing
In a hearing Monday to determine the future of Voice of America, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth scolded the government for not complying with his preliminary injunction from April. Lamberth lamented the 'paucity' of information provided by the Trump administration about how it is complying with the statutory obligations for running Voice of America and its parent, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, as ordered in an April injunction.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Series of public inquiries on Troubles incidents ‘not the way forward'
The legacy of Northern Ireland's past is not going to be dealt with by a series of public inquiries, Secretary of State Hilary Benn has said. He came under questioning over the Government's handling of legacy cases during a meeting of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on Monday. Mr Benn insisted that a reformed Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) will be able to deal with the cases. The body led by Sir Declan Morgan, a former lord chief justice for Northern Ireland, was set up by the former government's Legacy Act after scores of legacy inquests and other court cases relating to the Troubles were halted. The Kingsmill massacre and the Guildford pub bombings are among cases it is currently looking at. Mr Benn told MPs they are working to change disclosure arrangements and to make it compliant with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 'In the end, we're not going to deal with legacy with a whole series of public inquiries,' he said. 'We're doing all this work to try and create a body which is capable of delivering justice for all, information for all, answers for all. 'That is what I am trying to do at the moment because of the incompatibilities identified.' He was asked about his decision not to call a public inquiry into the circumstances around the murder of GAA official Sean Brown in 1997. In May the UK Government confirmed it will seek a Supreme Court appeal over a court ruling that ordered it to hold a public inquiry into Mr Brown's murder. The 61-year-old then-chairman of Wolfe Tones GAA Club in the Co Londonderry town of Bellaghy was ambushed, kidnapped and murdered by loyalist paramilitaries as he locked the gates of the club in May 1997. No-one has ever been convicted of his killing. Preliminary inquest proceedings last year heard that in excess of 25 people had been linked by intelligence to the murder, including several state agents. It was also alleged in court that surveillance of a suspect in the murder was temporarily stopped on the evening of the killing, only to resume again the following morning. Asked about Mr Brown's case, Mr Benn told MPs: 'It's an awful, awful case. 'The murder of Sean Brown was shocking, deeply violent, and this has caused immense suffering to the family, to his widow Bridie and to the wider community, including the GAA family, because of the role that he undertook. 'But I came to the conclusion that the commission reformed would be capable of looking into it, and there's an issue of principle here in respect to the court ruling. 'Up until this moment, the courts accepted that it is for governments to decide whether public inquiries are ordered, not for the courts. 'What the courts have tended to say is, this is the test that has to be met, the way in which the government chooses to meet that test is a matter for governments to decide. 'There is a margin of appreciation that is made available. 'In this particular case, the court has decided to order a public inquiry. 'We're seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court because of that fundamental principle, which is, courts do not order public inquiries, governments do, and that is very important because of the nature of the mandatory order I am not able to do anything else other than order a public inquiry, which I made it clear that the Government is not going to do, because I believe there's another means of dealing with this case.' Mr Benn said there are five other cases that are in the same position. 'People say the Sean Brown case is unique. All murders are unique and uniquely painful for the family, but it is not a unique case,' he said. 'This is not a unique case, and I would also say we are not going to deal with legacy by having a whole series of public inquiries. 'That is not a way forward. That is why we have to make the reform of the commission to win public confidence. 'To make it ECHR compliant is so important because then you have a mechanism that you can use to deal with all of them and all of us, the committee, the whole team, everybody needs to be concerned about justice for everyone.' He added: 'It is open to the Brown family to go to the commission today, the commission will start work on investigating.'


Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
The Hybrid Space Imperative: Weather As The First Mission
A naval vessel cuts through towering waves during high-storm conditions. America's strategic edge in space depends on more than launch capacity or satellite numbers—it relies on speed, agility, and the seamless integration of public and commercial capabilities into a unified, resilient ecosystem. That is the promise of the Hybrid Space Architecture (HSA): a federated space enterprise where government and private-sector assets interoperate to deliver actionable intelligence at machine speed. Yet while the vision is broadly embraced, execution remains sluggish. Too many agencies are still anchored in a 20th-century mindset, with processes designed to reinforce outdated paradigms and procurement cycles that drag on for years. At the same time, operational units often lack access to the most advanced commercial data already available on orbit. The challenge is no longer one of feasibility, it's one of commitment and follow-through. Consider weather intelligence as a proving ground for hybrid space capability. Achieving a true hybrid architecture in this domain—where data refresh rates, global coverage, and precision are paramount—means that we can deliver it anywhere. Few mission areas better demonstrate both the promise and urgency of HSA implementation than weather intelligence. America is entering another summer of converging hazards: softball-sized hail threatening the Texas energy corridor, U.S. destroyers navigating strike operations in the Red Sea, and hurricane seasons that experts warn could rival the record-breaking intensity of 2020. Along the coast, NOAA anticipates 17–21 named storms this season. Even a 10 percent improvement in forecast accuracy can translate into billions in savings and critical hours gained for evacuation efforts. And across the homeland, infrastructure built for the 20th century is buckling under the pressures of 21st-century climate extremes. Centimeter-scale weather awareness is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity for keeping runways open, power grids stable, and supply chains moving. Whether the call is to shut down a refinery, launch a combat sortie, or evacuate a coastal city, one overlooked variable can change everything: precise, real-time weather data. On the front line, U.S. and partner forces have executed over 800 defensive strikes in Yemen in just the past six weeks. Real-time weather inputs—cloud ceilings, dust plumes, wind shear—could sharpen targeting windows and reduce risk, but today often sit unused due to bureaucratic lags. And that data is already available. Over the past decade, commercial innovators have deployed a new generation of venture-backed smallsats equipped with lightning mappers, Ka-band precipitation radars, and hyperspectral imagers—all delivering performance at a fraction of the cost and mass of legacy systems. These sensors now refresh global temperature, humidity, and precipitation data in minutes. In short: the architecture for weather dominance is already in orbit. Boston-based is one of many such commercial space data companies. They've already launched five microwave-sounder satellites in the past five months and now deliver global temperature and humidity profiles hourly. That's about 10x faster than legacy systems, for those keeping score. In terms of revisit-rate, CEO and Co-founder Shimon Elkabetz tells us, 'We are already exceeding the combined capacity of all national assets on orbit, and we're on track to hit 300 percent improvement, from about three hours to one hour.' What's still missing is the connective tissue, the operational and acquisition infrastructure needed to integrate these sensors into mission workflows across DoD, DHS, NOAA, and beyond. This level of integration is exactly what a functioning Hybrid Space Architecture would make routine. There are three key steps that would move HSA from blueprint to battlefield and could be adapted by the Space Force, NRO, and NASA. First, establish low-cost, open-architecture operational testbeds to foster a 'fly-before-you-buy' culture. These digital environments could be stood up within 60–90 days and aligned with ongoing government missions—whether tracking hurricanes, directing strike packages, or coordinating disaster relief. Such testbeds would enable real-world performance evaluation while informing smarter long-term procurement strategies. The outcome: drastically reduced acquisition risk and faster learning cycles. Second, develop common interfaces and interoperability standards, following the lead of the Space Development Agency's laser communication protocols. Over time, a government-wide exchange, modeled after the Defense Innovation Unit's commercial services framework, could allow all federal agencies to access calibrated, validated datasets, without the burden of crafting bespoke contracts. Weather data makes an ideal starting point: it's unclassified, globally relevant, and mission-critical across agencies. Finally, stand up mission-centric integration teams where private-sector data scientists are embedded alongside government meteorologists and planners. Agile teams that iterate weekly, not annually, will accelerate the transformation of raw data into mission-ready intelligence. Because the true value of the HSA lies not just in the data, but in turning that data into decisive action. What's missing isn't the data or the technology. Winning this second space race requires an acquisition system built not just for oversight, but for speed, scale, and operational relevance. If we can't federate space assets to address this challenge—where the stakes are urgent and the data is already overhead—what confidence can we have in our ability to respond during crisis or conflict? The HSA must now move beyond slide decks and talking points. It must enable real-time, multi-sensor tasking and deliver direct support to operations, not someday, but now. That shift won't come from theory, either. It comes from action, field-level integration, and a system willing to prioritize outcomes over process. We have the tools. The question is whether we have the will before the next storm forces our hand.