Still, profits aren’t huge. Walling makes less than 200,000 rupees per annum (roughly $2,300) and like most farmers, is still engaged in jhum cultivation, the traditional slash-and-burn method of farming practised by Indigenous tribes in northeastern hills. With erratic weather patterns and decreasing soil fertility in recent decades, intensified land use in jhum cultivation has been known to lead to further environmental degradation and greenhouse gas emissions, exacerbating climate change.
When Trump’s meme coin launched, it first surged, then fell in value, while its creators, which include an entity linked to the Trump Organization, made hundreds of millions in trading fees.The Trump family is now deeply invested in crypto, with ventures like First Lady Melania Trump’s coin and a stake in World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm founded in 2024.
While government officials have financial disclosure requirements, and regulatory agencies can monitor the goings-on of officials, critics have warned of conflicts of interest, as Trump backs crypto after once opposing it, potentially using policy to boost his own gains.By offering security and counterterrorism courses to students from repressive regimes without appropriate checks, British institutions risk complicity in torture.Across the UK, pro-Palestinian protests in reaction to the war in Gaza have placed universities’ response to human rights concerns under the spotlight. But concerns about links between Britain’s higher education institutions and human rights abuses are not limited to one area.
A new investigation by Freedom from Torture has found that UK universities are offering postgraduate security and counterterrorism education to members of foreign security forces, including those serving some of the world’s most repressive regimes. These institutions are offering training to state agents without scrutinising their human rights records, or pausing to consider how British expertise might end up being exploited to silence, surveil or torture.The investigation reveals that British universities may not just be turning a blind eye to human rights abuses, but could also be at risk of training some of the abusers. Some universities have even partnered directly with overseas police forces known for widespread abuses to deliver in-country teaching. Others have welcomed individuals on to courses designed for serving security professionals from countries where torture is a standard tool of state control. All of this is happening with virtually no oversight of the risks to human rights.
These are not abstract concerns. They raise serious, immediate questions. What happens when the covert surveillance techniques taught in British classrooms are later used to hunt down dissidents? Why are universities not investigating the backgrounds of applicants from regimes where “counterterrorism” is a common pretext for torture and arbitrary detention?
Freedom from Torture’s investigation found that universities across the UK are accepting applicants for security education from some of the world’s most repressive states. Yet just one university in the study said they are screening out applicants who they believed have either engaged in human rights violations or “intend to”.How effective Sunday's elections are in achieving those ideals remains to be seen. Voter turnout is expected to be low, according to Arias.
“Participation is not expected to surpass 10 to 20 percent," Arias explained.That projection is a significant drop from normal election turnouts, she added. "In Mexico, participation is usually around 60 percent.”
The Judicial Electoral Observatory, a monitoring body formed by organisations including Laboratorio Electoral, has also noted that there arein some areas than in others during this election cycle.