The virus was detected on a goose farm and a turkey farm in the town of Susz
International News via Reuters:
Poland has reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu on two poultry farms in the north of the country, the World Organisation for Animal Health said on Monday, as Europe faces a seasonal upturn in the deadly disease.
The virus was detected on a goose farm and a turkey farm in the town of Susz, and killed around 4,000 birds, the Paris-based WOAH said, citing a report from the Polish authorities.
Poland last week signed an agreement with China with the aim of restarting poultry trade halted since a previous wave of bird flu in the past year.
Minister for Economy and Labour, Jason Hayward called the new pubic benefit entity policy “a milestone” for Bermuda’s corporate framework
Full press release from the Government of Bermuda:
The Ministry of Economy and Labour is pleased to introduce the document, Bermuda’s New Benefit Entity, a legal framework for public benefit entities that strengthens the island’s position as an innovative and responsible business jurisdiction.
Amendments to the Companies Act 1981, the Limited Liability Company Act 2016, and the Limited Partnership Act 1883 will establish a new type of legal entity, known as a Benefit Entity, allowing for-profit businesses to incorporate public benefits into their decision-making and operations.
Benefit companies, benefit limited liability companies, and benefit limited partnerships will now be able to balance profitability with the pursuit of positive social and environmental outcomes. These outcomes may include contributions to education, health, science, the arts, sports, community development, and other areas.
Minister of Economy and Labour Jason Hayward explained, “The introduction of Benefit Entities is a milestone in Bermuda’s corporate framework. It enables businesses to align their profit-making activities with broader goals that positively impact society and the environment, reinforcing Bermuda’s reputation as a forward-thinking jurisdiction.”
Key features of the framework include:
Optional participation: Companies, LLCs, or partnerships may choose to become a benefit entity.
Flexibility: Existing businesses can convert, or new ones can be formed as benefit entities.
Public benefit focus: Entities may specify positive impacts they aim to achieve, though not required.
Accountability: Annual statements will demonstrate how benefit entities operate responsibly and sustainably.
By providing this flexible structure, Bermuda aims to attract socially conscious companies, family offices, and investors who want to integrate sustainable business practices with financial success.
The U.N.’s top climate official opened a morning session at the annual event by urging the world to turn promises into practical solutions
International News via Reuters:
Speakers at Climate Week NYC delivered a clear message to world leaders on Monday: the global energy transition is happening now and it’s happening fast, at the event which brings together leaders, advocates and the U.N. General Assembly.
The U.N.’s top climate official opened a morning session at the annual event by urging the world to turn promises into practical solutions.
“This new era of climate action must be about bringing our process closer to the real economy,” said Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The premier of Antigua and Barbuda urged wealthy counterparts to speed their efforts, with climate change having become an existential crisis for nations like his.
“For small islands, it turns every storm into a fiscal catastrophe,” Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said.
LEADERS PRESSED TO SHOW CLIMATE PROGRESS EVEN AS AID IS CUT
World leaders at the U.N. General Assembly this week will be pressed to show progress on climate, particularly after recent cutbacks in development aid as wealthy countries also juggle war and economic stability.
G20 members Britain, Japan and Australia recently announced new climate plans, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). More countries are expected to share their updates this week, including China.
“We now look to China, the world’s top emitter, to fully commit to the Paris Agreement it helped craft by issuing an NDC that charts a credible path to that country’s goal of net zero before 2060,” said John Podesta, former climate advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden.
“This means roughly a 30% emissions reduction, covering all greenhouse gases, by 2035, below peak 2024 levels, which new data demonstrates that they reached.”
BENEFITS OF CLEAN ENERGY BOOM ‘NOT SHARED BY ALL’
With the U.N. climate summit, COP30, in November, Stiell also took time to celebrate progress that has been made, noting that investment in renewables had increased tenfold in 10 years.
“The clean energy transition is booming across almost all major economies,” he said, adding it hit $2 trillion last year.
“But this boom is uneven. Its vast benefits are not shared by all,” Stiell said. “Meanwhile, climate disasters are hitting every economy and society harder each year. So we need to step it up fast.”
He also said a new global initiative called Build Clean Now would help to fast-track clean industry shifts.
Also on Monday, an alliance working to boost renewables said it plans to spur $7.5 billion in investment toward green energy in developing countries, including India.
CLIMATE CHANGE STILL A ‘SYSTEMIC RISK’ GLOBALLY
“Despite political debate globally, varying regulations between markets, emerging de-regulation and reports of corporates deprioritizing ESG, climate change remains a critical systemic risk across the world,” said Omar Ali, EY Global Financial Services Leader.
A boost to joint decision-making came last week, after countries ratified the High Seas Treaty, which sets into motion the first legal framework for protecting the vast ocean areas that lie beyond any national jurisdiction.
The treaty contains 75 points covering areas such as protecting, caring for and ensuring responsible use of marine resources, and includes a provision for requiring environmental impact assessments for economic activities in international waters.
WWF International director general Kirsten Schuijt called it a “monumental achievement for ocean conservation” and “a positive catalyst for collaboration across international waters.”
Reporting by Simon Jessop and Katy Daigle; Additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici and Virginia Furness; Editing by Bernadette Baum
Between June 1 and September 30, 2024, the mortality rate rose by 23% from the same period a year earlier
International News via Reuters:
More than 62,700 people died in Europe from heat-related causes in 2024, according to research published in Nature Medicine on Monday, with women and the elderly representing the largest part of the death toll.
Researchers at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, known as ISGlobal, who obtained daily mortality records from 32 European countries, estimated over 181,000 people died from heat-related complications over the summer months of 2022 to 2024.
Between June 1 and September 30, 2024, the mortality rate rose by 23% from the same period a year earlier, although the number of deaths was still just below the 67,900 deaths recorded in 2022, the first year of the study.
“This number is saying to us that we should start adapting our populations,” said Tomás Janos, the lead author of the study.
HOTTEST SUMMER ON RECORD IN EUROPE
The summer of 2024 was the hottest on record in Europe, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Two-thirds of the estimated deaths occurred in Southern Europe. Italy, which has Europe’s largest population of elderly proportionally, and experienced soaring temperatures all three summers, had the highest absolute death toll each summer.
Though summer 2025 was not part of the study, the Italian Society for Emergency Medicine said emergency room admissions rose by up to 20% in certain regions during peak temperatures this year, indicating that the country is still grappling with heat risk for the elderly.
“Patients who were already frail and suffering multiple ailments required more hospital care, which increased pressure on hospital services, as happens during periods of influenza surges,” said Alessandro Riccardi, president of SIMEU, told Reuters.
European health authorities increasingly provide heat warnings when temperatures are expected to meet official definitions of a heatwave that vary from country to country.
Janos, however, said heat-related mortality is noticeable even at temperatures as low as 24 degrees Celsius (75.2°F) for certain populations in specific locations.
PROTECTION FROM HEAT SHOULD BE ‘AN ESSENTIAL MEDICINE’
Gerardo Sanchez, an official at the European Environment Agency, who is part of the expert group revising the World Health Organization’s heat health guidelines, said data on heat-related deaths needed to be matched by long-term investment to improve Europe’s built infrastructure and access to cooling.
“Protection from heat needs to be treated as an essential medicine for those that need it the most,” Sanchez told Reuters.
ISGlobal said it had undercounted heat deaths for 2022 and 2023, which had been calculated on weekly, not daily, records, and revised their previous estimates slightly upwards.
Reporting by Alison Withers; editing by Barbara Lewis
Gabriella Cechini has had a standout performance at the Jerry Hart Cross Country Invitational in East Windsor, New Jersey, running a personal best time to secure a podium finish.
Representing Mercersburg Academy, Cechini competed in the Girls Varsity 5K race and showed her impressive form by clocking a personal best time of 18 minutes and 10.9 seconds. Her outstanding run saw her cross the finish line in third place overall, a significant achievement in the competitive field.
Cechini’s performance was a highlight for the Mercersburg Academy team, who also had a successful day collectively. Both the Boys and Girls Cross Country teams finished in third place, showcasing the depth of talent within the squad.
Years of share price underperformance after a foray into renewables in 2020 prompted BP to announce in February that it would shift spending back to more profitable oil and gas projects
International News via Reuters:
BP has stopped work on its Rotterdam biofuels plant, a company spokesperson said on Monday, marking the latest in a string of abandoned biofuels projects by oil companies such as BP and Shell in the face of weak demand.
Years of share price underperformance after an ill-fated foray into renewables in 2020 prompted BP to announce in February that it would shift spending back to more profitable oil and gas projects.
It also dropped its target to produce 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of biofuels by the end of the decade.
In recent months BP has halted plans to build standalone biofuels plants at its Kwinana site in Australia, paused work at plants in Lingen, Germany, and Cherry Point in the United States, leaving its Castellon site in Spain as a potential long-term option for further development.
As recently as 2023 BP said those plants and the Rotterdam project were expected to produce a combined 50,000 bpd by 2030. None of them has made it to a final investment decision.
This leaves BP’s biofuels business focused on BP Bunge Bioenergia in Brazil, with capacity of 50,000 bpd of ethanol from sugarcane, and co-processing at existing oil refineries.
BP said in February that it produced about 10,000 bpd of biofuels through such co-processing.
“BP is stopping further work on development of a standalone biofuels production facility at our Rotterdam refinery. We are growing our co-processing capacity, maximising integrated value from our refineries, and will continue to evaluate biofuels options at our refining sites, favouring capital-light opportunities,” the spokesperson said.
BP set itself an investment hurdle of 15% returns for biofuel projects, the same as for upstream oil and gas projects.
The company said at its latest results, where a better-than-expected downstream performance helped it beat overall analysts’ profit forecasts, that it had cut costs at its downstream unit by $1 billion from 2023 levels and increased first-half retail earnings by 50%.
Shell said this month that it would not resume construction of its Rotterdam biofuel plant because it would be uncompetitive.
Reporting by Shadia NasrallaEditing by David Goodman
The Bermuda Volleyball Association has announced its women’s national team is heading to Antigua and Barbuda to compete in the 2025 ECVA Women’s Final Four.
The team earned their place in the tournament after a strong performance at the 2024 ECVA Women’s Championship, where they secured a silver medal.
The ultimate prize is a spot in the 2026 NORCECA Panamerican Cup, which will go to the tournament winner. Head Coach Rick Bevis and assistant Lisa LeBlanc will lead the team, which includes Amber Simons, Megan Hands, Sharri Weldon, Olivia Gazzard, Monique Cordeiro, Cailey Longworth, Kaylee Trott, Natalie Gazzard, Kayley Hamilton, and Khianda Pearman-Watson.
“Athletes that are on-island have been training diligently, and I am pleased with the progress that is being made technically and tactically,” said Coach Bevis. “Our challenge will be to come together in Antigua and collectively play to our potential.”
The tournament, which runs from September 26th to 28th, features the top four teams in the region and promises to be a valuable experience for the team as they face stiff competition.
Cobenfy, a new type of antipsychotic medicine that activates proteins called muscarinic receptors in the central nervous system, carries a U.S. list price of $1,850 a month
International News via Reuters:
Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) plans to launch schizophrenia drug Cobenfy in the UK next year at a price matching its U.S. list price, it said on Monday.
Cobenfy, a new type of antipsychotic medicine that activates proteins called muscarinic receptors in the central nervous system, carries a U.S. list price of $1,850 a month, or about $22,500 annually.
The company’s announcement follows mounting pressure on drugmakers to lower their U.S. prices. BMS was one of 17 drugmakers to receive letters from U.S. President Donald Trump in July outlining how they should cut prices to match those paid overseas.
Eli Lilly, another recipient, said in August that it would raise the UK list price of its weight-loss treatment Mounjaro by up to 170% for private payers from September.
Drugmakers and the Trump administration have met to discuss ways to raise overseas drug prices to offset U.S. cuts, Reuters reported in August.
The U.S. pays more for prescription drugs than any other country, often nearly three times as much as other developed nations.
“We agree with the Trump administration that other countries need to pay their fair share,” said Adam Lenkowsky, chief commercialization officer at BMS.
Lenkowsky said the company aims to work with Britain’s drugs cost-effectiveness watchdog NICE and its National Health Service to secure access to the drug but will walk away if the medicine’s value is not reflected adequately.
Unlike in the U.S., where market forces determine drug prices, European governments typically negotiate directly with companies to set prices for their national healthcare systems.
BMS said it will file a fast-track marketing authorisation application for Cobenfy with the UK regulator before the end of the year.
The company estimates schizophrenia affects about 1 in 100 people in the UK. The mental health disorder causes persistent delusions and hallucinations, significantly impairing the way patients perceive reality.
Reporting by Sneha S K in Bengaluru, Patrick Wingrove in New York and Maggie Fick in London; Editing by Anil D’Silva, Shailesh Kuber and David Goodman
Hurricane Gabrielle, the season’s second major storm, reached Category 3 today but luckily, is due to gave Bermuda a wide berth.
The Bermuda Weather Service said the system is positioned around 160 nautical miles to the east south east of the island.
The nearest point of approach is expected to pass within 150 nautical miles to the east south east at 3pm today.
Gabrielle, a category 3 hurricane, is packing winds of 105 knots with gusts of 130 knots. The only effects the island may see are rough seas and southeasterly swells.
Hurricane hunter aircraft from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – or NOAA – touched down here in Bermuda yesterday.
They have used the island as a base from which to collect valuable meteorological data on the storm.
The specialized crews flew into Gabrielle’s eye to measure wind speeds, pressure, and rainfall patterns, helping forecasters sharpen their models and improve predictions for the Atlantic hurricane season.
Ministry honours addiction specialists during National Recovery Month
As part of National Recovery Month, the Ministry of National Security and the Department for National Drug Control (DNDC) partnered with the Bermuda Addictions Certification Board (BACB) to recognise outstanding substance abuse professionals.
At a ceremony held at the Police Recreation Club, Camily Lovell, Clinical Manager of Pathways, was named Substance Abuse Professional of the Year. Runner-up honours went to Karla Trott, Clinical Supervisor at Turning Point.
Minister of National Security Michael Weeks praised the awardees for their dedication, saying their work “strengthens our families, our communities, and Bermuda as a whole.”
The event highlighted the essential role of certified professionals in supporting recovery and underscored the message of Recovery Month: with the right treatment and resources, recovery is possible.
The 2025/26 Bermuda Karting Club season got off to a flying start at the Southside Moto Sports Park, with multiple winners across all classes.
In the TAG Senior Class, it was a two-way battle for the top spot, with Ryan Burgess claiming victory in two of the three races. The remaining race was won by Nathan DeCosta, setting the stage for a tight championship.
The TAG Junior Class saw a similar split of results. Alondro Albouy took two wins, while Tanner Correia secured a victory of his own.
The L206 Senior Class was dominated by Jason North, who won two of the three races, with David Barbosa winning the other. In the Masters Class, Kenneth Harrison took the checkered flag in all three races.
In the KZ Shifter category, Ryan Rebello claimed victory twice, while Blake Horseman won the other. In the KZ Masters Class, Jason DeCouto won two races, and Will Dunkley won the other.
Finally, in the CADETS Class, Tanner Correia was in a class of his own, winning all three races to start his season.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
