top news

July 14 (UPI) — Billionaire investor Warren Buffet left the Gates Foundation out of his annual charitable stock gifts and said he would give all his stock for the year to his charities run by his children.

Berkshire Hathaway said that Buffet, 95, will donate 9 million Class B shares of the company to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and 1 million shares each to the Susie Buffet-run Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation, which was founded by Peter and Jennifer Buffet. “My goal is to dispose of all of my Berkshire shares within about eight years,” Buffett said in a statement announcing the gifts. “As I explained last year, my children are unfortunately growing older. I have every hope that the three of them are able to carry out the disposal of my shares by Dec. 31, 2034.”

In previous years, the Gates Foundation was the largest recipient of his Berkshire donations. Buffett has donated more than $47 billion of Berkshire stock to the Gates foundation. The Wall Street Journal reported that Buffett was waiting for the outcome of a probe into the foundation’s involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, the sex offender who died by suicide while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges.

In March, Buffett told CNBC that he hadn’t spoken to Gates “at all since the whole thing was unveiled.”

Forbes values Buffett’s net worth at $147 billion, making him the 10th wealthiest person in the world.

Renewed conflict and tensions in the Strait of Hormuz have slowed fertiliser shipments, worsening hunger in Sudan.

Sudan risks facing a deepening hunger crisis due to ongoing conflict, aid ⁠funding cuts, and rising agricultural costs driven by the global disruption caused by the Iran war, a senior World Food Programme (WFP) official has said.

“It’s a massive crisis, both in terms of numbers, but also due to the gravity,” Carl Skau, the WFP’s acting executive director, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Skau said that more than 100,000 people were still facing famine-like conditions, placing them in the highest level of the United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). “With these kinds of numbers in IPC 5 starvation, it is extremely, extremely serious,” he said.

Sudan remains the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with around five million people facing emergency or catastrophic levels of hunger, even after an intensive ‌aid response helped reduce the number of people in famine-like conditions, Skau said.

Nearly 19.5 million people across Sudan face high levels of acute food insecurity, according to the ⁠IPC. Skau said that recent fighting around el-Obeid in North Kordofan had raised fears the ⁠city could suffer a fate similar to el-Fasher in Darfur, where conflict and siege conditions trapped civilians and hindered aid deliveries, and where the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out mass killings and gang rapes after they took control of the city in the course of their three-year conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

In recent days, however, violence has eased somewhat around el-Obeid, raising hopes that aid deliveries can be expanded from 100,000 to 250,000 in the area.

The WFP is ⁠also increasingly concerned about renewed fighting over the past week in Darfur, which has forced the closure of the Tine border crossing, a route from Chad ⁠into Darfur. This renewal of conflict threatens to reverse gains made after famine took hold in parts of the country, it said.

Throughout the country, the WFP has reduced the number of people ⁠it assists from five million a year ago to about 3.5 million, and reduced rations in many areas, including in Tawila in Darfur, as it faces a $646m funding gap after cuts from major donors, including the United States, European countries and Britain.

“We’re not heading in the ‌right direction here,” Skau said. “If anything, we are falling backwards.”

Skau also warned that soaring diesel prices and fertiliser shortages linked to conflict in the Gulf and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz could further undermine ‌Sudan’s food security during the current planting season.

Sudan relies heavily on fertiliser imports from Gulf countries, while much of its agriculture depends on irrigation pumps, which may be too expensive for farmers to run.

The ⁠war between SAF and the RSF, now entering its fourth year, has displaced millions and devastated much of the country. Aid agencies have repeatedly warned of worsening food insecurity and limited humanitarian access.

July 14 (UPI) — Two Supreme Court Justices are planning to testify before Congress Tuesday about the Court’s budget ask for extra security amid growing threats.

Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett plan to appear before the House Appropriations subcommittee that approves funding for the Court to discuss the request for a $16.6 million budget increase to improve security for the justices at work and home. But questioning could veer toward several recent controversial decisions the Court made in its 2025-2026 term.

The budget increase requested is $20.6 million for fiscal year 2027. It asks for $14.6 million to give each justice six more security agents and 25 extra officers at the Supreme Court building, The Washington Post reported. The request also includes $2 million for a residential security office to coordinate home security.

It will be the first time Court justices have gone before Congress since 2019.

Supreme Court justices regularly face personal attacks from politicians and the public who may be displeased with their decisions.

Barrett’s home was “swatted” in May, when a caller reported gunshots at her home to lure police there. In October, a woman was sentenced to eight years in prison for planning to kill Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Chief Justice John Roberts spoke out in March against personal attacks on judges after President Donald Trump criticized the justices for striking down his tariffs.

“Personally directed hostility is dangerous and has got to stop,” Roberts said during a speech in Houston.

Sending justices to Congress has become rare. Until 2011, at least one justice had appeared before Congress every year. Since then, there have been only three appearances.

A station in southeast London has been temporarily renamed Jude Bellingham Station before England faces off with Argentina in a seismic semi-final World Cup showdown. Fans hope the star midfielder can help England through to their first World Cup final since 1966.

July 14 (UPI) — The consumer price index for the year ending in June rose 3.5%, less than economists expected, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.

For the month, consumer prices fell by 0.4% due in part to the energy index dropping by 5.7%. It was the largest decline in the energy index in more than six years, following a spike in energy prices due to the Iran war and closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The consumer price index decline for the month followed a 0.5% increase in May, also making the decrease a six-year best for a single month.

The energy index remains high for the 12 months ending in June, up by 15.7%. This is bolstered by a 26.7% increase in the index for gasoline.

Energy services decreased by 0.7% on a per-month basis, putting the annual rate of inflation at 3.9%. Electricity fell by 1% to an annual 4% increase while utility gas service rose by 0.5% to an annual 3% rate of inflation.

June’s index beat estimates by the Dow Jones consensus, which projected a 0.2% decrease in the consumer price index with annual inflation at about 3.8%.

The index for all items not counting volatile food and energy, known as core inflation, remained steady between May and June. Core inflation measured at 2.6% for the year ending in June after reading at 2.9% in May.

The index for food rose by 0.2%, as did the indexes for food at home and food away from home. The annual index for food rose by 3%.

Tuesday’s report comes as new Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh appears before Congress. In his prepared remarks, Warsh will tell Congress that the “number one objective is to get monetary policy right.”

“That is our clear and constant aim, the star we steer by,” Warsh’s prepared statement reads. And if we get policy right — and we will — the inflation surge of the last five years will be a thing of the past.”

July 14 (UPI) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order Tuesday putting a moratorium on building large data centers for one year.

Hochul, a Democrat, signed the executive order pausing environmental permits and said that the delay would give the state legislature time to create new laws that protect the electrical grid, environment and communities.

The order is the first statewide ban in the United States.

“As data center development threatens to hike up utility bills, deplete our natural resources, and create uncertainty for New Yorkers, it’s my responsibility to take action and lead,” Hochul said in a statement. “New York will lead the way in creating the strongest standards in the nation for data center development, ensuring that when companies succeed because of New York, New Yorkers succeed, too.”

The order will temporarily block the state from approving permits for data centers that use 50 or more megawatts of power. During that time, the state will create a regulatory framework for assessing how the projects affect the environment.

The ban won’t delay projects that already have the needed permits.

Hochul also called on lawmakers Tuesday to repeal sales tax exemptions for data centers.

New York has fewer data centers than some other states, such as Texas and Virginia. But some projects have sparked local battles around the state.

Though states once courted the artificial intelligence companies’ investment, sentiment has since soured. Data centers use an enormous amount of electricity and are adding a huge burden to the electrical grid.

A May Gallup poll showed that more Americans would rather live near a nuclear power plant than a data center.

In Monterey Park, Calif., voters recently blocked data center construction permanently. But in April, Maine Gov. Janet Mills vetoed legislation that blocked construction of data centers because she said it could block a project in a town that supported a local data center.

The Seminole Nation passed a complete moratorium that bans development on its tribal land.

Hochul’s team didn’t say how many proposed data centers the moratorium would affect, but Cleanview lists 25 proposed facilities in the state, and a planned 300-megawatt facility near Ithaca has seen protests and backlash from locals, The Washington Post reported.

Lawmakers in New York recently passed a bill that called for a one-year moratorium but Hochul’s action allows the governor to move quickly while she reviews the legislation, the office said.

“This is an important victory for the thousands of New Yorkers who demanded that their government take action to put a pause on hyperscale data centers,” said Mitch Jones, managing director for policy and litigation at environmental group Food & Water Watch.

President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday the experience of understanding North Korean-born citizens in South Korea will become a “special asset” to prepare for a future shared by the two Koreas.

Lee made the remarks in a written address delivered by Lim Woong-soon, the second deputy director of the National Security Office, in commemoration of the day for North Korean defectors, which falls on July 14.

“The experience of understanding and trusting one another in a new community will lay the foundation for social integration and serve as a valuable asset in preparing for a future in which South and North Korea live together,” Lee said.

“We will establish lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and move steadily toward shared prosperity for the two Koreas,” the president said, adding that he will make all-out efforts to usher in a future of “coexistence and cooperation” beyond conflict and confrontation.

During the speech, Lee consistently referred to North Korean defectors as “bukhyangmin,” or people whose hometown is North Korea, a new term adopted by the unification minister earlier this year. The ministry is using “North Korean-born citizens” to refer to the North’s defectors.

Meanwhile, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young underscored at the event that it marked the first year to commemorate the third anniversary under the newly adopted reference, noting the term “North Korean defectors” implies discrimination and exclusion.

Tuesday’s event in Goyang, northwest of Seoul, was attended by some 1,000 people, including North Korean-born citizens and those who helped them settle into South Korea.

Copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency prohibits its content from being redistributed or reprinted without consent, and forbids the content from being learned and used by artificial intelligence systems.

July 14 (UPI) — Newly elected Labour Member of Parliament Andy Burnham was set to become British prime minister uncontested at the beginning of next week after securing unassailable backing from fellow lawmakers.

On Tuesday, with two days of the nomination period for the leadership of the party still to run, the former Mayor of Greater Manchester had the support of 349 Labour MPs, making it a mathematical impossibility for another candidate to overtake him.

Candidates need the backing of 81 Labour MPs minimum to be nominated — equivalent to 20% of the party’s 403 lawmakers — but the level of support Burnham has means insufficient numbers of uncommitted MPs remain to nominate another candidate.

Endorsements he needs from three other affiliated groups, including two trade unions, were expected to be rubber-stamped.

As the lone candidate to replace Keir Starmer, who resigned on June 22 after six years at the helm and two years as prime minister, Burnham, 56, will formally take over as party leader on Friday and become prime minister on Monday.

Burnham increased his support tally from 322 MPs to beyond the threshold at which he could still be challenged after hustings to answer questions from Labour MPs on Monday night with the proceedings held in private.

The former MP and government minister, who quit Westminster politics in 2017 after two failed bids for the leadership of the party while it was in opposition, succeeded at his third attempt, staged via a parliamentary by-election in Manchester just three-and-a-half weeks ago, which he won easily.

Burnham has promised a drastic transfer of power to the regions and to build an efficient state with a “laser-like focus on growth and regeneration,” but has said little else, in part because, with no mandate from the electorate, he is hemmed in by the manifesto that brought Starmer to power in a landslide general election in July 2024.

Starmer was forced out amid falling approval ratings and losses at the ballot box in successive local and by-elections, as well as rebellions by his own MPs forcing policy U-turns, and the debacle over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States.

The final straw was a disastrous defeat to Reform UK in “mid-term” local elections in May, prompting defections from his cabinet and growing numbers of MPs calling on him to give way to Burnham, said to be one of the country’s most popular political figures.

The South Korean government on Tuesday revised up its economic growth projection for 2026 to 3 percent, up 1 percentage point from its previous outlook, citing a semiconductor supercycle and easing uncertainties surrounding the Middle East.

The Ministry of Finance and Economy released its economic policy plan for the second half of 2026, presenting a forecast above the 2.6 percent estimates issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

“This is the first year in which the Lee Jae Myung administration is taking full responsibility for the country’s economic management,” First Vice Finance Minister Lee Hyoung-il said during a press conference held in the central city of Sejong.

“On the back of the government’s prompt response to the Middle East war and robust export performance, the economy is maintaining a stable growth trend,” the first vice finance minister said, adding that the revised 3 percent growth forecast reflects those developments.

Lee said the revised growth forecast, which is significantly higher than those presented by major international institutions, remains achievable because it reflects the latest data.

“I think the outlooks from other organizations were based on data from March and April,” Lee said. “We made our assessment based on the latest data, with the major changes including stronger exports driven by the semiconductor boom. Tensions in the Middle East have eased further since then.”

“We believe such developments will exert downward pressure on consumer prices and inflation, positively affecting both exports and consumption,” he added.

In the report, the finance ministry said the policy vision for the remainder of 2026 is to mark the first year of a major economic leap toward establishing an “irreplaceable Republic of Korea,” referring to South Korea’s official name.

Seoul also unveiled the so-called 3-4-5 vision, under which the country will seek to achieve a potential growth rate of 3 percent, become one of the world’s top four exporters, and raise gross national income (GNI) per capita to US$50,000. The GNI per capita came to US$36,850 in 2025.

The finance ministry said the growth momentum, which began to expand in the second half of 2025, is expected to further accelerate this year on the back of the continuing semiconductor boom, along with policy measures, including an extra budget aimed at shielding the country from the impact of the Middle East war.

The country will also seek to successfully implement three mega projects aimed at fostering the semiconductor, AI data center and physical AI industries, the report said.

South Korea will additionally focus on maintaining an unwavering supply chain based on lessons learned from the Middle East war, including offering tax benefits for the domestic production of strategically important items.

On exports, the finance ministry said South Korea’s outbound shipments are expected to jump a whopping 40 percent on-year in 2026 on the back of the global artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

Non-IT products, such as ships, biohealth and secondary batteries, are also expected to remain robust, it added.

South Korea’s monthly exports reached a record $102.25 billion in June, surpassing the $100 billion mark for the first time after jumping 70.9 percent on-year.

The current account for 2026 was expected to reach a $290 billion surplus, marking a record high, buoyed by the surge in overseas demand and an increase in the number of foreign tourists.

In 2027, however, the current account surplus was expected to narrow to $245 billion following a rise in imports on the back of increasing domestic consumption.

Facility investment for 2026 could expand 5 percent on-year due to the robust performance of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, although growth will be limited by sluggish machinery and petrochemical sectors.

The policy report also projected inflation of 2.6 percent in 2026, up from the previous 2.1 percent estimate, citing the lingering impact of the Middle East war, which led to higher petroleum prices.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, is expected to remain at around 2 percent.

“In the second half of 2026, as tensions surrounding the Middle East war ease and global crude oil prices decline, consumer price growth is expected to slow,” the ministry said.

“However, uncertainties also linger amid the progress of Middle East war negotiations and weather conditions, which could lead to volatility in energy and agricultural product prices,” it added.

Looking ahead to 2027, the ministry projected annual inflation to reach 2.2 percent despite lower global crude oil prices due to demand-led inflationary pressure.

The government said it will continue to focus on rolling out a post-Middle East war strategy by pursuing stable macroeconomic policies while maintaining a stable supply chain.

“In response to the changing economic environment, we plan to establish a comprehensive response system to maintain market stability across the macroeconomy, financial markets, the foreign exchange market and the real estate market,” the first vice finance minister said. “Based on favorable tax revenue conditions, we will continue active fiscal management.”

Copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency prohibits its content from being redistributed or reprinted without consent, and forbids the content from being learned and used by artificial intelligence systems.

The United States carried out attacks against Iran for a third consecutive night late on Monday.

Iran has continued to hit targets in the Gulf in several waves of retaliatory strikes on Tuesday, including UAE‑flagged oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and US military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait.

Here is a recap of what has happened on Monday night and Tuesday, and what each side has said.

Where did the US attack Iran?

US Central Command, the military’s regional command known as CENTCOM, said its latest strikes began at 4:45pm ET (20:45 GMT) on Monday and were aimed at degrading Iran’s capacity to attack “innocent civilians and commercial shipping” in the strait.

CENTCOM later announced the conclusion of its strikes and said the latest round of attacks on Iran lasted five hours. It added that US forces “successfully struck military targets across Iran including Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa, and Bandar Abbas”.

Iranian state television and semi-official news agencies reported explosions throughout the night across the country’s southern coast, including the port city of Bandar Abbas, and on Kish and Qeshm islands, as well as the town of Jam in Bushehr province.

A projectile that struck western Bandar Abbas caused no casualties, the Fars news agency reported, citing the regional governor’s office.

What areas did Iran target?

For its part, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had launched a wider retaliatory campaign against US allies and interests across the Gulf.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that Iranian forces had struck several “violating” vessels in the strait, and that a US-made drone had been shot down near Bandar Abbas.

The UAE: The UAE said two of its oil tankers had been hit by Iranian cruise missiles in Omani waters in the Strait of Hormuz. The UAE added that one Indian national crew member had been killed on one of the tankers, and eight other people were wounded.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency said the IRGC hit two “offending” oil supertankers, citing an IRGC statement – apparently referring to the two UAE tankers.

Kuwait: The Iranian army said on Monday that it had carried out a drone attack on US military targets in Kuwait. In a statement posted by state broadcaster IRIB, the army said it launched drones at a US Patriot missile system, fuel tanks, a watchtower, an ammunition depot and communication systems.

Bahrain: The IRGC said it targeted “several weapons storage depots, a satellite communications centre, and a building housing US forces” at al-Juffair Base in Bahrain. It also said it had hit the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain with missiles and drones.

Air sirens have been heard four times in Bahrain on Tuesday so far.

Jordan: Jordan’s army said it shot down four missiles in Jordanian airspace that were fired from Iran, according to the official Petra news agency. After this, the IRGC said it launched ballistic missiles at US forces and key facilities at an airbase in Jordan.

In a message addressed directly to Jordanians, the IRGC insisted that the operation was aimed at the US military presence in the country rather than at Jordan or its citizens. “You know that we hold no animosity toward your country. On the contrary, we deeply love you, the noble people. You understand the pain and suffering of the Palestinian people better than any other nation, and you are aware of the crimes of the Zionist regime in the massacre of 70,000 Palestinians, including 20,000 children in Gaza, carried out with the direct involvement of the United States,” it said.

What have the US and Iran said?

US President Donald Trump formally notified Congress on July 10 that fighting with Iran had resumed on July 7, invoking his authority to keep US forces in combat for another 60 days without lawmakers’ approval.

At a news conference on Monday, Trump said Iran’s offensive capabilities were being dismantled, but he still thinks a “deal is possible” despite the return to open fighting.

Trump also repeated an earlier demand that Gulf nations help cover the cost of protecting shipping, saying Washington was “protecting a very rich portion of the world” and expected to be paid for it.

On Monday, Trump also threatened to “take out” Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, also known as Pickaxe Mountain, a suspected nuclear site near the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran.

Meanwhile, the US blockade on Iran, confirmed by the US Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Centre (JMIC), is due to begin at 20:00 GMT on Tuesday.

The US’s blockade covers Iran’s ports and terminals along the entire southern coastline, according to JMIC.

Ebrahim Azizi, the head of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security Committee, has warned that Iran remains steadfast in defending its red lines, following the formal introduction of a bill to manage the Strait of Hormuz.

In an X post on Tuesday, Azizi wrote: “Last night, coinciding with the downing of US drones, the ‘Strategic Action for the Security and Sustainable Progress of the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf’ bill was formally introduced in Iran’s Parliament. We remain steadfast in defending our red lines, particularly regarding the management of the Strait of Hormuz.”

What is happening to shipping in Hormuz?

Oil prices rose more than 9 percent on Monday, with Brent crude climbing to about $81 a barrel, its highest level since mid-June.

Kpler, the ship-tracking firm, said crossings through the strait fell by about 52 percent between July 10 and July 12, compared with the previous week.

Madrid, Spain – Badr Tmairi, 22, from Morocco, has spent six years living in Spain without legal status. He arrived at 16, alone, without his family. He held legal residency briefly after turning 18, but lost it when he failed to renew it in time.

“What I want is to get my papers back so I can work as a hairdresser and travel to visit my family in Morocco,” he said.

Tmairi is one of more than a million people who have now applied for regularisation under a new scheme that contrasts with a growing European trend against irregular immigration.

He has been homeless for the past year. Without documents, finding work and decent housing in Spain is difficult.

“It’s very encouraging to know that so many people submitted an application and are trying to regularise their situation, but that huge number is also proof that the state has failed in its duty to protect the most vulnerable,” Edith Espinola, president of the Active Domestic Workers’ Service Association (SEDOAC) and spokesperson for the Regularizacion Ya (Regularisation Now), told Al Jazeera.

Regularizacion Ya, a collective made up of migrants, has led the push for regularisation since 2020. The measure grew out of a broad social consensus and has been backed by civil society organisations, the Catholic Church, trade unions and business associations.

Living without legal status, Espinola said, condemns people to social exclusion, as it has for Tmairi. Without rights or protection from abuse, they are unaligned with most of the rest of the population.

The new initiative, Spain’s first regularisation process since 2005, began in April and closed on June 30. The government now has three months to resolve the vast majority of the applications submitted.

Of the 1,174,978 applications, according to the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, only 11,000 have received a favourable resolution so far. About 608,000 have been accepted for processing, granting provisional residency and work permits until a final resolution.

‘All I want is to work’

Rocio Neciosupe, 54, is a Peruvian migrant who has spent two years without legal status in Spain. “Regularisation isn’t a handout; all I want is to work. To work without fear and with rights, so that if I fall and I’m sick, I don’t have to go to work that day and can still get paid, like anyone else,” she said.

Neciosupe, a cleaner in private homes, is busy across six different buildings around Madrid. But she is currently recovering from a back injury sustained in a fall at work. Without documents or a contract, she has no right to sick leave.

Unable to afford to lose her income while she recovers, her husband accompanies her to work each day and helps her with tasks she cannot manage alone.

Rocio, her husband and their two daughters, aged 22 and 17, have all had their regularisation applications accepted for processing and are now awaiting a favourable resolution.

“I want to support the country I live in, and if the country grows, we grow too,” Neciosupe added.

It is precisely in the contribution and growth potential of people like her that the Spanish government has framed its case for the measure.

“By 2050, Spain’s GDP would be 19 percent lower, 90,000 bars would close, 50,000 classrooms would shut and 220,000 farms would disappear,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said recently in a public address.

Gonzalo Fanjul, director of ISGlobal’s policy and development team and head of Research at the porCausa Foundation, said: “If you look at what’s happening in the United States, there are already estimates of the impact of the government’s violent, hostile anti-migration policies. Whole economic sectors are struggling to keep functioning.”

One of those sectors is care work. With an ageing population, Spain needs trained workers to fill positions in that sector, among others.

Josselyn Aguirre, 32, is one of those workers. A nursing assistant, she migrated from Ecuador to Spain in 2024. Her original plan had been to move to the United States, but her visa application was rejected.

“My goal is to stay and help older people. I really enjoy working with them,” she said.

“Here, in my country and in other countries around the world, this sector is collapsing due to a shortage of staff. That’s why I believe that being able to regularise your status and contribute as a professional benefits everyone,” she told Al Jazeera.

Migrants and refugees who applied for regularisation had already been living in Spain, working in the informal economy for years; 57 percent are men, most come from Latin American countries, and six out of 10 are below the age of 34.

So far, 159,097 additional people have registered with the Social Security system as a result of the regularisation process.

With this measure, “Spain has made a bet on growth. We’re going to be a country of 50 million people,” Fanjul said. “But it’s not enough.”

Amid a European political climate in which anti-migration rhetoric appears to be gaining ground, Spain’s approach shows another path is possible, though “regularisation is only the beginning”, Fanjul said.

“The system has been reset, but none of the underlying reasons that brought us to this point have been resolved.

“For the state to open up legal, safe and orderly channels for labour mobility is simply common sense,” he concluded.

Espinola is in no doubt.

Despite criticism from those opposed to the regularisation, she stressed, “We have come out stronger. The migrant community has once again shown its capacity for mutual support in difficult situations.”

The regularisation process is not yet over, she added: “We will remain vigilant to make sure the more than a million applications submitted are processed properly.”

July 14 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has signed a pair of executive orders shrinking two southern Utah national monuments by more than a million acres each, sparking anger from environmentalists who say the moves will open the formerly protected lands to exploration.

The executive orders reduce the size of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument from 1.87 million acres to about 181,500 acres and the Bears Ears National Monument from 1.36 million acres to 121,100 acres. Both are located in redrock country.

Trump signed the orders on Monday in the Oval Office while surrounded by Utah’s Republican leadership, including Gov. Spencer Cox, Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis and several GOP House representatives.

“This is a big day for Utah,” Cox said.

The executive orders mark the latest development in the nearly decade-long tug-of-war over the size of the monuments, though Republicans have opposed Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and its 1.7-million-acre boundary since President Bill Clinton designated it in 1996. The Bears Ears National Monument was designated by President Barack Obama in late 2016.

During his first term, Trump shrunk both monuments — Bears Ears by 85% and Grand Staircase-Escalante by almost half — only for President Joe Biden to restore both of them to their previous boundaries in 2021.

Republicans, including Cox, argue that the monuments violate the Antiquities Act, which limits the designation to the smallest parcel of land necessary for the proper care and management of the objects to be protected. In a White House fact sheet on the executive orders, the Trump administration argues that the term “objects of historic or scientific interest” has been stretched to include landscapes and biodiversity.

“Now, we care. We definitely care about protecting these antiquities and will continue to do so. The problem is with these giant monument designations, there are resources that come with those,” Cox said at the White House press conference.

“We’re grateful that the president has made a determination that we need to rightsize these monuments.”

He added that this will not remove protections already in place, but will make “the monuments more manageable so that we have the resources necessary to continue to protect these antiquities.”

Trump criticized the size of the monuments, saying the designations prevented the public from using the land.

“You can’t go hunting. You can’t go fishing. You can’t do anything. You can virtually not even walk on it,” he said, though the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources states that people can hunt and fish in both monuments.

Environmental groups have been fighting to maintain the size of both monuments since Trump originally shrunk them, pointing to the fact that Grand Staircase-Escalante was designated due to its wide array of scientific and historic resources and Bears Ears was created following a proposal by five Tribal Nations.

Scott Braden, executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said Monday’s executive orders make clear that Utah is the “epicenter of Republican efforts to dismantle and obliterate America’s system of public lands.”

“These two landscapes deserve to be protected for current and future generations of Utahns and Americans, not opened to exploitation,” Braden said in a statement, adding that the group would challenge the executive orders in court.

“We are confident that President Trump’s reckless and unlawful acts will be rejected and the monuments restored.”

According to the Center for Western Priorities, the executive orders may open the land formerly part of the monuments for sale or lease to oil, gas, mining and logging companies within 60 days.

“The people of Utah and the entire country have spoken with one voice: These lands belong to all of us, not Mike Lee, President Trump or the mining companies his kids are in business with,” CWP Executive Director Aaron Weiss said in a statement.

Lamine Yamal insists he would take no fear into Spain’s World Cup semifinal against France when both sides meet after he celebrated his 19th birthday.

The Barcelona prodigy raised eyebrows following Spain’s 2-1 quarterfinal defeat of Belgium last week after being quoted as saying that France rather than Spain ought to be “afraid” given recent defeats against La Roja.

A relaxed-looking Yamal addressed those comments as he spoke to reporters on Monday at a press conference.

“I was asked if I was afraid of France, and I said no,” Yamal explained. “We are European champions. It’s simply football,” the teenager explained.

Yamal said he had marked his 19th birthday by buying a chunky jewel-encrusted necklace he wore to his press conference. The real birthday present, though, would be a place in Sunday’s World Cup final.

“I haven’t received many gifts yet. The best gift would be a win on Tuesday and a trip to New York,” he said.

While other stars at this World Cup have been in blistering goal-scoring form, Yamal so far has only found the net once during the tournament – but is ready to add to his tally against France.

“I don’t focus on goals, but it’s always special to score in a match like this. I accept the challenge. That’s why I came here,” Yamal said, promising a “beautiful match for the spectators”.

“It’s the game everyone was waiting for,” he added.

While acknowledging the momentous nature of Tuesday’s game, Yamal remained laid-back in his approach.

“There are far more difficult situations in life than a football match, so I’m calm,” he said. “I don’t feel any extra pressure; I’ll go out and play like always and give my all for the team.”

‘We’ve known each other for a while’

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente says his team plan to go on the “front foot” against tournament favourites France when they face off in a heavyweight semifinal showdown.

De la Fuente’s Spain will attempt to impose their possession-based game on France in what is shaping up as a gripping clash of styles.

While France coach Didier Deschamps insists Spain remain favourites for the World Cup, betting markets overwhelmingly back France to clinch a second title in three attempts.

Les Bleus have powered into the last four with a scintillating brand of attacking football based around such talents as Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembele.

But De la Fuente, whose team have beaten France in their last two meetings, is quietly plotting another ambush at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Tuesday.

“We’ve already analysed France in great detail; we’ve known each other for a while now,” De la Fuente said.

“We faced each other for a few years now, and they have great players, but so do we. We have to put all of our virtues on the table and try to counteract the strengths of the opponent.

“And that’s what football is about – the team that strikes a better balance is usually closer to getting the victory.

“We’ll have to think about their players. We’ll try to win those duels and will try to be on the front foot during the game, imposing our style.”

France ‘far better’

De la Fuente, though, is under no illusions about the difficulty of the task facing his side.

France, he said, have improved significantly since Spain defeated them 5-4 in a hectic UEFA Nations League semifinal in Stuttgart last year, when the Spaniards led 5-1 before a late French rally. That encounter would bear no resemblance to Tuesday’s game, De la Fuente said.

“We’re talking about two very different matches,” he admitted.

“Tomorrow is another semifinal. I will just try to repeat the positive scenarios, but there were other details where things weren’t that positive.

“We were winning 5-1, and in a few minutes they managed to make it 5-4. So we’re trying to repeat what we did well and the opposite of what we didn’t do well.

“We need to try and impose our game. We have completely antagonistic playing styles, so we’ll try to be on the front foot and take the initiative.”

De la Fuente also believes a maturing France squad will be a tougher proposition.

“I think they are a better team, far better, because those players have grown, and what they are doing now is better than what they were doing then,” he said.

“So they’ve improved their skills in the past two years, and that’s the reality.”

While controlling possession and tempo will be key, De la Fuente will also tell his players to savour the challenge. Asked what his final message to his team would be, he replied: “Let’s get out there and enjoy it.

“We are in a unique setting. Who knows whether we will come back? We must be the team that we know that we can be. We must be strong and try to counter the strength of the opponent.”

US President Donald Trump is threatening to attack a heavily-fortified underground nuclear facility in Iran known as ‘Pickaxe Mountain’. It followed a third night of US strikes and a demand the US be paid 20% of the value of all cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer has fatally shot a motorist in Maine, the second ICE-related fatality by force this week. Protesters took to the streets of Maine, demanding accountability.

Hungarian parliament passes amendment that would remove President Sulyok, appointed under ex-Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Hungary’s parliament has approved a constitutional amendment to remove President Tamas Sulyok from his largely ceremonial position, the latest move to dismantle the power of figures associated with former Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The measure, passed on Monday with 139 votes in favour and only six opposing, would immediately bring an end to Sulyok’s term in office and pave the way for parliament to elect a new president.

Hungarians voted out the right-wing nationalist Orban in April, with new Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s Tisza Party winning in a landslide. The election result ended 16 years of power for Orban’s Fidesz party, which had come to dominate many aspects of the country.

Since Magyar’s victory, he has sought to erode that power, including by removing the current president. The constitutional amendment also introduces a series of judicial reforms, creates a body to investigate alleged financial abuses under the previous government, and imposes a 12-year term limit on lawmakers.

Sulyok now has five days to sign the constitutional amendment passed by parliament. Magyar has said that parliament will launch an impeachment procedure against Sulyok if he does not sign it.

The president and other members of Fidesz boycotted Monday’s parliamentary session.

Sweeping away the old order

The parliament elected Sulyok, a former chief of the Constitutional Court of Hungary, in February 2024. He was nominated to replace Katalin Novak, who resigned after pardoning a man convicted of covering up child sexual abuse.

But days after Magyar’s centre-right Tisza Party won a two-thirds parliamentary super-majority in April, the new prime minister declared Sulyok “unworthy to embody the unity of the Hungarian nation” and demanded that he leave office once the new government was formed.

In June, after the deadline to resign had passed, Magyar branded the president a “puppet” of Orban and promised to strip him and other holdovers from office by constitutional means. Weeks later, he unveiled a reform programme, dubbed “Operation Cleansing Fire”, which seeks to install a new constitution, purge state institutions and establish an anticorruption office.

While the presidency is a largely symbolic post, it is empowered to approve laws and can refer them to the Constitutional Court for review, raising fears that Sulyok might use his presidential powers to stymie Tisza’s ambitious reform agenda.

The jailing of one of Indonesia’s most influential entrepreneurs in a controversial corruption case has raised fears of damage to investor confidence in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

Nadiem Makarim, the cofounder of the popular super-app Gojek, was last month sentenced to 10 years in prison for allegedly abusing his authority while serving as the country’s education minister.

Makarim was found guilty of giving favourable treatment to Google, an early investor in Gojek, when procuring Chromebook laptops for schoolchildren during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prosecutors argued that Makarim, who served as former Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s education minister from 2019 to 2024, inflicted state losses of $120m, alleging that he should have been aware the laptops would not work in remote areas with poor internet access.

Critics of the prosecution have argued that the case against Makarim lacks evidence and that the startup founder-turned-politician is the latest victim of a campaign of political retribution being waged by the administration of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.

Nicky Fahrizal, a researcher of politics and social change at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta, said foreign investors will inevitably think twice before committing capital to Indonesia following the verdict.

“The Nadiem case, along with a string of similar incidents, has served as a warning signal to investors,” Fahrizal told Al Jazeera.

“For them, non-economic factors, such as legal certainty and the quality of the judicial system, are absolute prerequisites.”

Makarim was found guilty by a panel of five judges on June 30, following charges related to the procurement of more than 1 million laptops intended for use in schools in remote and impoverished areas.

At the trial held at the Indonesian Court for Corruption Crimes in Jakarta, prosecutors alleged that Makarim deliberately tailored the tender specifications to favour Google, which invested in Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (AKAB), Gojek’s then-parent company.

Scrutiny of the tender process first arose among the public after it emerged that the Chromebooks often did not work in remote areas, raising questions about how Google was chosen in the first place.

“Choosing a device that relies on an internet connection amid uneven infrastructure… demonstrates a mismatch with needs…” Judge Sunoto said during the sentencing.

Following the verdict, prosecutor Corneles Geeb Paulus hailed the outcome as a victory for “the schoolchildren whose rights were taken away and who were deprived of equitable access to digital education across Indonesia”.

Google has denied providing or offering authorities any inducements to win the tender.

The California-based tech giant, which has a market value of more than $4 trillion, was not indicted in the case.

“From a legal standpoint, authorities seem to have hit a wall in their efforts to secure sufficient evidence and establish the necessary criminal nexus to prosecute the corporation,” the CSIS’s Fahrizal said.

“From a political perspective, Google is a tech giant with immense business influence.”

Taking action against Google could have jeopardised the government’s ongoing digitalisation efforts, Fahrizal added, describing the company as “too big to fail” within the digital sector.

Trissia Wijaya, an Indonesian-born research fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute, said Nadiem’s prosecution, coupled with the uncertainty of the business environment under Prabowo, would inevitably erode market confidence.

“Regardless of whether Nadiem is actually guilty or not, he is a symbol of startups and market optimism in Indonesia, especially in the mid-2010s,” Wijaya told Al Jazeera.

“When Gojek started booming and gaining traction, Indonesia was one of the main target countries for global investors, both from the US and China, to invest in the fintech industry,” Wijaya added, describing Indonesia’s business environment as being at a “critical juncture.”

Since taking office in 2024, Prabowo has faced criticism over his handling of the economy, including high levels of spending on public initiatives, such as his signature free lunch programme, which is expected to cost about $15bn this year.

In June, the Indonesian rupiah hit an all-time low against the US dollar, a nadir economic analysts partly attributed to investors’ scepticism about Prabowo’s populist economic policies.

For his part, Prabowo has denied that he is anti-business, while emphasising that Indonesia must uphold the rule of law.

“Some have claimed that I dislike foreign investors and will drive them away, but that is not the case. I have met many investors who are planning to enter the market,” Prabowo told a conference for young entrepreneurs in the city of Lampung last month.

“The government must create a favorable environment for entrepreneurs, including the enforcement of the law. If the law is not enforced, what ensues is the law of the jungle… law based on power, and in the end, that is not good for any of us.”

‘Credibility’ of government policies

Siwage Dharma Negara, a co-coordinator of the Indonesia studies programme at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said Indonesia’s reputation as an investment destination had already been in decline before the Makarim verdict.

“Investors are unsure about the credibility of government policies, and they are unsure about the credibility of institutions, whether executive, legislative, or judicial in Indonesia,” Negara told Al Jazeera.

“Nadiem’s case is only one factor that has damaged foreign investor confidence. But there are many other factors that contribute, including government policies that are increasingly less pro-market.”

Teguh Yudo Wicaksono, an economics lecturer at Universitas Islam Indonesia in Yogyakarta, said that although he does not expect the case to have much of an impact on foreign investment, it could deter Indonesian talent based overseas from returning home.

“This could result in a brain drain and Indonesia losing talent,” Wicaksono told Al Jazeera.

Makarim attended Harvard Business School and Brown University in the United States before returning to Indonesia in 2006 and cofounding Gojek four years later.

In 2019, Gojek, which began as a ride-hailing business before evolving into a super-app that also offers food delivery and digital payment services, became the first Indonesian tech company to achieve a valuation of more than $10bn.

Not all observers see the Makarim case as a negative for investor sentiment.

I Gusti Ngurah Bayu Pradana, an expert in business law at the Bali-based Malekat Hukum International Law Firm, said the enforcement of corruption law should be seen as a “positive signal for legal certainty and governance quality in a country, rather than a negative one”.

“Experienced foreign investors generally understand that the greatest risk in investing is not the existence of law enforcement, but rather, legal uncertainty, or a situation in which the rules of the game are unclear, legal processes lack transparency, or enforcement is selective and unpredictable,” Pradana told Al Jazeera.

While Makarim was found guilty of abusing authority and causing state losses, he was acquitted of an additional charge of directly seeking to enrich himself, and he was handed a lower sentence than the 18 years sought by the prosecution.

While reading the verdict, Judge Andi Saputra also presented a dissenting opinion, saying that he found “no evidence of malicious intent or malicious acts” and scant “causal connection or indication between the conflict of interest and the corporate crime”.

The Malekat Hukum law firm’s Pradana pointed to the judge’s dissenting view as evidence of the Indonesian judiciary’s independence and rigorous fact-finding.

“For foreign investors considering Indonesia as an investment destination, the takeaway from this case should not be alarm, but rather confidence that Indonesia’s legal system functions and can hold anyone accountable equally before the law,” Pradana said.

“So long as investment contracts are clearly drafted, business processes are conducted transparently, and implementation complies fully with applicable laws and regulations, investment in Indonesia remains a safe and promising choice.”

July 13 (Asia Today) — South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back is facing mounting pressure from an allegation that he deserted his military post four decades ago and growing opposition to his plan to consolidate the country’s three service academies.

The two controversies have converged, raising questions about whether the Lee Jae Myung administration can maintain momentum behind its broader military reform agenda.

Complaint filed over parliamentary testimony

Kim Young-soo, head of the Korea Institute for Military Rights and a former Navy major, filed a police complaint against Ahn on June 27. The complaint alleges Ahn violated a law governing testimony and evidence before the National Assembly.

At a news conference at the National Assembly on Monday, Kim claimed Ahn left his post without authorization for about seven months while serving as a supplementary-duty soldier with an Army unit in Gochang County in 1984.

Kim also alleged that military police arrested Ahn and detained him for 30 days.

The complaint argues that Ahn gave false testimony during his confirmation hearing in July 2025 when he denied that such incidents had occurred.

The case is being investigated by Yongsan Police Station in Seoul. Police are scheduled to question Kim as the complainant Thursday.

The allegations have not been substantiated and remain under investigation.

Ministry calls allegation “clearly false”

The Defense Ministry rejected the desertion allegation Friday, calling it “clearly false.”

According to Ahn and the ministry, he completed his required service and was discharged from supplementary duty in January 1985. He returned to Sungkyunkwan University in March but was told in June that he was required to perform additional service.

The ministry said the issue arose after Ahn’s mother served lunch to active-duty soldiers at the request of his company commander. The period during which the incident was internally reviewed was mistakenly omitted from the administrative process when Ahn was initially released from duty, leading to his recall in August.

The ministry said Ahn was never detained or subjected to disciplinary action.

It has declined to publicly release his military service record, however, arguing that disclosing an incorrect 40-year-old document could create further misunderstanding regardless of the underlying facts.

Ahn has said he will seek to have the record corrected after leaving office.

SBS reported Sunday that a small number of ruling-party officials had examined the military records and said they contained no entries related to desertion or detention.

Military academy announcement abruptly postponed

Amid the dispute, the ministry abruptly postponed the scheduled release of its basic plan for establishing a unified armed forces academy. The announcement was canceled about 100 minutes before a briefing Monday.

The proposal calls for jointly selecting cadets for the Army, Navy and Air Force academies. Cadets would receive common instruction during their first two years and service-specific education during their third and fourth years.

The government has also reportedly considered relocating the Korea Military Academy from its current campus in northeastern Seoul to South Jeolla Province.

The ministry attributed the postponement to Ahn’s attendance at a presidential meeting and his schedule accompanying President Lee to a NATO summit.

The decision was widely interpreted, however, as a response to strong opposition from retired military organizations and alumni associations.

Academy alumni stage first joint protest

The alumni associations of the Army, Navy and Air Force academies held a rally outside the National Assembly on Wednesday opposing the consolidation plan and the proposed relocation of the Army academy.

It was the first time the three associations had jointly mobilized over the issue.

People Power Party Reps. Han Ki-ho and Lim Jong-deuk, both graduates of the Korea Military Academy, attended the demonstration. They described the proposal as a deterioration of national defense rather than genuine reform and called for it to be reconsidered from the beginning.

Twelve former commanders of the Army Training and Doctrine Command also issued a statement calling for a review of the plan.

The opposition People Power Party has linked the military service allegation with the academy consolidation proposal and called for Ahn’s resignation.

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon has also demanded that Ahn release his military service record.

A public petition seeking Ahn’s impeachment had received more than 310,000 signatures as of Sunday.

Thursday’s police questioning of the complainant is expected to become the first major turning point in the dispute over Ahn’s service history.

The policy battle, however, is unlikely to disappear regardless of the investigation’s outcome.

Opposition to consolidating the academies and dismantling the Defense Counterintelligence Command has already developed independently of the allegation against Ahn. The unprecedented joint protest by the three academy alumni associations demonstrates the extent of that resistance.

The ministry’s continued refusal to release Ahn’s service record is also prolonging the controversy. Its decision to postpone correction procedures until after Ahn leaves office risks allowing the dispute to remain a source of political conflict.

At the same time, treating the military service allegation and the academy reform proposal as a single political issue could undermine a substantive national security debate.

Defense experts familiar with the controversy say the allegation should be investigated according to the law, while the merits of military reform should be debated separately according to the national interest.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260713010004389

July 13 (UPI) — Scientists have discovered erythrulose, a type of sugar also found in raspberries, in a gas cloud near the center of the Milky Way, the galaxy that also includes our solar system.

This is the first time that researchers have discovered this sugar outside our solar system, although they have found other sugars, including ribose and glucose, in meteorites and asteroids. The study was published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Along with water and carbon, sugars are a key ingredient in life as we know it. They help to provide energy and serve other important purposes, researchers said.

“We were able to achieve this detection thanks to the combination of exceptionally sensitive observations, extensive frequency coverage and highly accurate laboratory spectroscopic data,” said Dr. Izaskun Jiménez-Serra, study co-author and staff researcher at the Spanish National Research Council. “In addition, our astronomical target is one of the richest chemical inventories in the galaxy, which enhances the probabilities of detection.”

Jiménez-Serra said erythrulose is “particularly relevant for the field of origins of life.”

Erythrulose is made up of four carbon atoms. It was confirmed by use of the Yebes 40-meter telescope and IRAM 30-meter telescopes in Spain, the study said.

The discovery is notable in part because it shows researchers that erythrulose could be found in the interstellar medium before finding its way into rocky planets such as Earth when they first formed, rather than later developing on the young planet. Lab experiments had shown that not enough of the sugar could have formed on pre-life Earth.

“The findings suggest that erythrulose can be made from simpler molecules on dust grains in space, and may then become part of more complex chemical systems,” researchers said.

Erythrulose is important because it changes the makeup of threose, another sugar, which in turn may be part of the origin of the nucleic acids that became RNA and DNA.

July 13 (UPI) — Pete Hegseth, secretary of the U.S. Defense Department, announced Monday that the Pentagon will team up with the Justice Department to “identify and prosecute” those leaking information to the press.

In a video posted on social media, Hegseth said he has delegated tasking authority to the department’s office of general counsel, empowering it to “request and receive all information, records and support across the department concerning media leak investigations.”

“Leaked information risks lives; these new tools and processes will greatly assist us in protecting our joint force,” Hegseth said. He thanked acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for “his help in this important project.”

The task force announcement comes after the Trump administration issued subpoenas this weekend to New York Times journalists, demanding they testify in front of a federal grand jury “in regard to an alleged violation of federal criminal law.” The Times reported last week, using anonymous sources, about security concerns involving President Donald Trump‘s new Air Force One, which was donated by Qatar.

Representatives from the Times also said a senior FBI official contacted a reporter and senior editor before the story ran, wanting the article to be withheld and asking for the names of sources.

A top newsroom lawyer for the Times said the journalists report the facts and “advance the American public’s right to know how their government is operating and their taxpayer dollars are being used.”

“This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs,” lawyer David McCraw said.

Justice Department spokeswoman Emily Covington said in response to the Times that reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are.”

Earlier in 2026, the Justice Department also issued subpoenas to journalists at The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. It withdrew them after the news organizations challenged the attempt. Federal agents also raided the home of a Washington Post reporter in January in connection with a government contractor’s handling of classified information.

July 13 (UPI) — More than 2,800 cases of cyclospora infection have been reported, largely concentrated in Michigan, state health officials reported Monday.

Cyclospora is a parasite that is known to cause “explosive” and “watery diarrhea,” stomach pains, loss of appetite, and weight loss. The outbreak comes about one year after the Trump administration cut funding to state and local health department programs focused on foodborne illnesses such as cyclosporiasis.

On Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 843 confirmed cases and 1,500 suspected cases of cyclosporiasis across 31 states. There have been 86 hospitalizations, including 44 in Michigan, and no deaths.

“CDC is aware that states are likely to report higher case counts of cyclosporiasis than reflected in CDC data and is working closely with states to update numbers as additional cases are confirmed,” the CDC said in a statement.

The largest concentration of cases has been in Michigan, where about 2,640 suspected cases have been reported. Neighboring Ohio has reported 177 cases. Neither state’s health departments have identified a source for the outbreak.

Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive for the State of Michigan, said the state’s health department believes the outbreak is most likely related to produce.

As of Thursday, cases have been reported in 43 Michigan’s 83 counties, including 215 in Monroe and 160 in Wayne County.