UniFocus IAS ( UNIFOCUS UNIVERSAL )

Tuvalu (/tuːˈvɑːluː/ ⓘ too-VAH-loo) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Vanuatu, southeast of Nauru, south of Kiribati, west of Tokelau, northwest of Samoa and Wallis and Futuna, and north of Fiji. The islands do not have a significant amount of soil, so the country relies heavily on imports and fishing for food. Licensing fishing permits to international companies, grants and aid projects, and remittances to their families from Tuvaluan seafarers who work on cargo ships are important parts of the economy. Because it is a low-lying island nation, Tuvalu is extremely vulnerable to sea level rise due to climate change. It is active in international climate negotiations as part of the Alliance of Small Island States. To address this crisis of sea level rise, Tuvalu and Australia signed Falepili Uni...

Article 6.4 Supervisory Body has adopted a new standard on “suppressed demand”. Article 6.4 Supervisory Body was tasked with operationalizing the UN carbon market under the Paris Agreement. It is also responsible for establishing the rules and infrastructure for the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism.  Supressed Demand Standard   Suppressed demand refers to situations where people use very little energy or services, not because they don’t need them, but because they can’t afford them or the infrastructure doesn’t exist.  The new standard allows climate projects to earn carbon credits where these projects are established to address the issue of Supresses Demand. This standrad allows these projects to earn carbon credits, even if emissions increse as a result of providing infrastructure to address the issue of Supressed Demand.  The decision enables suppressed demand to be recognized in mechanism baselin...

The NASA-funded  Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System  (ATLAS)—a state-of-the-art asteroid detection system operated by the University of Hawaiʻi (UH)  Institute for Astronomy  (IfA) for the agency’s  Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO)  is capable of searching the entire dark sky every 24 hours for near-Earth objects (NEOs) that could pose a future impact hazard to Earth. Now comprised of four telescopes, ATLAS has expanded its reach to the southern hemisphere from the two existing northern-hemisphere telescopes on Haleakalā and Maunaloa in Hawai’i to include two additional observatories in South Africa and Chile.  UH IfA developed the first two ATLAS telescopes in Hawaiʻi under a 2013 grant from NASA’s  Near-Earth Objects Observations Program , now part of NASA’s PDCO, and the two facilities on Haleakalā and Maunaloa, respectively, became fully operational in 2017. After several years of successful operation in Hawaiʻi, If...

The World Health Organization (WHO) has validated Kenya as having eliminated human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) or sleeping sickness as a public health problem, making it the tenth country to reach this important milestone. HAT is the second neglected tropical disease (NTD) to be eliminated in Kenya: the country was certified free of Guinea worm disease in 2018. HAT is a vector-borne disease caused by the blood parasite  Trypanosoma brucei . It is transmitted to humans through the bites of tsetse flies that have acquired the parasites from infected humans or animals. Rural populations dependent on agriculture, fishing, animal husbandry or hunting are most at risk of exposure. As the name indicates, HAT is transmitted only on the African continent. The disease exists in two forms,  gambiense  and  rhodesiense . The  rhodesiense  form (r-HAT), which is found in eastern and southern Africa, is the only one present in Kenya. It is caused by  Trypanosoma b...

At an auto dealership in Indiana, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin released the agency’s proposal to rescind the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which has been used to justify over $1 trillion in regulations, including the Biden-Harris Administration’s electric vehicle (EV) mandate. If finalized, the proposal would repeal all resulting greenhouse gas emissions regulations for motor vehicles and engines. Brief History: Congress tasked EPA under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act with prescribing emission standards for new motor vehicles and engines when the Administrator determines that emissions of an air pollutant from any class of vehicles causes or contributes to air pollution that endangers public health or welfare. But the Obama Administration ignored Congress’ clear intent, slicing and dicing the language of the statute to make an “endangerment finding” totally separate from any actual rule setting standards for emissions from cars.  In an unpre...

On 29 March 2023, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted resolution 77/276 in which, referring to Article 65 of the Statute of the Court, it requested the International Court of Justice to give an advisory opinion on obligations of States under international law to ensure the protection of the climate system and e legal consequences under these obligations for States where they, by their acts and omissions, have caused significant harm to the climate system and other parts of the environment. For this, court held that the legal consequences resulting from the commission of an internationally wrongful act may include the obligations of:  (a) cessation of the wrongful actions or omissions, if they are continuing;  (b) providing assurances and guarantees of non-repetition of wrongful actions or omissions, if circumstances so require; and  (c) full reparation to injured States in the form of restitution, compensation and satisfaction, provided that the g...

The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially designated Health Canada, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare/Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (MHLW/PMDA) of Japan, and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of the United Kingdom as WHO-Listed Authorities (WLAs), a status granted to national authorities that meet the highest international regulatory standards for medical products. With these latest designations, WHO expands the growing list of WLAs, now involving 39 agencies across the world, supporting faster and broader access to quality-assured medical products, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In addition, the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) – one of the first regulatory authorities to complete the WLA assessment for both medicines and vaccines in October 2023 – has had its listing scope successfully expanded, now covering all regulatory functions. Around 70% of countries worldwide stil...

Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) is a orbiter mission tasked to study the origins of the solar wind and how it affects Earth. TRACERS was proposed by Craig A. Kletzing at the University of Iowa who served as Principal Investigator until his death in 2023. David M. Miles at the University of Iowa was named as Principal Investigator in his stead. The TRACERS mission received US$115 million in funding from NASA. Mission will study    how Earth’s magnetic shield protects our planet from the effects of space weather.. Short for Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites, the twin TRACERS spacecraft lifted off at 11:13 a.m. PDT (2:13 p.m. EDT) Wednesday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The twin satellites will fly one behind the other — following as closely as 10 seconds apart over the same location — and will take a record-breakin...

Krasheninnikov (Russian: Крашенинников) is a complex of two overlapping stratovolcanoes inside a large caldera on the eastern coast of Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia. It is located in Kronotsky Nature Reserve to the south of Lake Kronotskoye, and is named after explorer Stepan Krasheninnikov. The Kuril-Kamchatka island arc contains more than 60 recently active volcanoes.  The massif of the Krasheninnikov volcano contains two overlapping stratovolcanoes made up of three edifices, with the most recent historic partial cone off the northern cone being called the mid-North cone.  According to the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, the volcano's last eruption before 2025 was dated to 1550 using tephrochronology. The tephra from the caldera's forming eruption lies on top of material from another volcano's eruption of 39,000 years ago,  and has recently been dated to be 30,000 years old when about 13 km3 (3.1 cu mi) of eruptive volume was deposited up to 200 km (...

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte today (4 August 2025) welcomed the first package of U.S. military equipment for Ukraine coordinated under the new NATO Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative. The Secretary General and the Dutch government confirmed that the Netherlands is funding the first package in full. Today’s announcement follows the agreement made by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on 14 July 2025. This new initiative is funded by European Allies and Canada, and will consist of regular packages, each worth roughly $500 million, containing equipment and munitions identified by Ukraine as operational priorities. These include capabilities that the United States can provide in greater volumes than Europe and Canada alone. Packages will be prepared rapidly and issued on a regular basis. NATO will coordinate the delivery of the packages, including through the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU...

Russia has officially announced it is no longer committed to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.  Mascow sighted following reasons for its act: Deployment of  two nuclear submarines to undisclosed areas. D eployment of a Typhon missile system in the Philippines. Mascow also blamed certain actions of Western Nations is detrimental to its security.  The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union (and its successor state, the Russian Federation). US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev signed the treaty on 8 December 1987. The US Senate approved the treaty on 27 May 1988, and Reagan and Gorbachev ratified it on 1 June 1988. The Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, commonly referred to as the INF (Intermediate-Range Nuc...

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recently  classified hepatitis D as carcinogenic to humans , just like hepatitis B and C. Hepatitis D, which only affects individuals infected with the hepatitis B, is associated with a two- to six-fold higher risk of liver cancer compared to hepatitis B alone. This reclassification marks a critical step in global efforts to raise awareness, improve screening, and expand access to new treatments for hepatitis D. Treatment with oral medicine can cure hepatitis C within 2 to 3 months and effectively suppress hepatitis B with life-long therapy. Treatment options for hepatitis D are evolving. However, the full benefit of reducing liver cirrhosis and cancer deaths can only be realized through urgent action to scale up and integrate hepatitis services – including vaccination, testing, harm reduction, and treatment – into national health systems. Viral hepatitis – types A, B, C, D, and E – are major causes of acute liver infection. Am...

In a pioneering effort to combat wildlife trafficking of the threatened rhinoceros, a South African University today began implementing a project supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The project combines the safe insertion of radioactive isotopes into rhino horns and available nuclear security infrastructure to deter and detect illegal poaching. With over 10,000 rhinos lost to poaching in the past decade, South Africa – home to the world’s largest population of rhinos – remains a target for criminals driven by the illegal trade of rhino horn. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, the South African Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment reported 103 rhinos poached. In response, this project run by the University of the Witwatersrand is using radiation to support conservation and enforcement efforts. After two years of initial tests, the Rhisotope Project was created in 2021 with the idea to tag rhino horns with radioactive material. This makes the horns...

EUSPA today announced the forthcoming official launch of the Galileo Open Service – Navigation Message Authentication (OSNMA), a new authentication mechanism that lets OS users verify the authenticity of the data used for the GNSS positioning and timing on 24 July. Coming at a time when attacks on GNSS signals, such as spoofing, are on the rise, OSNMA provides a critical layer of protection. Spoofing involves the transmission of counterfeit satellite signals that deceive GNSS receivers, potentially resulting in false and unreliable positioning. These events can affect critical applications in transportation, finance, telecommunications, information technology, energy, utilities, manufacturing, health services, emergency services and law enforcement, in which GNSS, and in particular Galileo, is used. In sectors such as aviation or maritime, this can lead to serious safety risks. The Galileo OSNMA mitigates these threats by allowing users to confirm that the data they receive is genuinel...

  The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) came into force in 1997, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, with its 193 Member States, it oversees the global endeavour  to permanently and verifiably eliminate chemical weapons. The OPCW was awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize for its extensive efforts in eliminating chemical weapons.  India is an original signatory to the Convention. The National Authority Chemical Weapons Convention (NACWC) is the national authority responsible for implementing the Convention in India. In 2024, NACWC successfully mentored the Kenya National Authority under the OPCW Mentorship/ Partnership Programme to strengthen its implementation capacity. The Indian Chemical Council (ICC), India’s  oldest Chemical  Industry Association works closely with  the NACWC for reaching out to industry. ICC brought laurels for India as it was awarded the OPCW-The Ha...

The second of the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) satellites and the first instrument for the Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission successfully launched.  Both are Earth observation missions developed by the European Sp ace Agency (ESA) with it partnes.  The main mission objective of MTG-S1 mission  is to observe the concentration of air quality parameters in the atmosphere above Europe and North Africa, including ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, glyoxal, and formaldehyde. Sentinel-4 will focus on monitoring of trace gas concentrations and aerosols in the atmosphere to support air-quality near-real time applications, air-quality monitoring, and climate monitoring – specifically with a short revisit period over Europe. The Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission is part of Copernicus, the Earth observation component of the European Space Programme. The European Space Agency  The European operational satellite agency World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

The WHO Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), a panel of 27 independent, international, multidisciplinary experts, today published its  report  on the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. In its report, SAGO considered available evidence for the main hypotheses for the origins of COVID-19 and concluded that “the weight of available evidence…suggests zoonotic spillover…either directly from bats or through an intermediate host.” WHO requested that China share hundreds of genetic sequences from individuals with COVID-19 early in the pandemic, more detailed information about the animals sold at markets in Wuhan, and information on work done and biosafety conditions at laboratories in Wuhan. To date, China has not shared this information either with SAGO or WHO. WHO News

  The World Health Organization (WHO) today has launched a major new initiative urging countries to raise real prices on tobacco, alcohol, and sugary drinks by at least 50% by 2035 through health taxes in a move designed to curb chronic diseases and generate critical public revenue.  The “3 by 35” Initiative  comes at a time when health systems are under enormous strain from rising noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), shrinking development aid and growing public debt. The Initiative has an ambitious but achievable goal of raising US$1 trillion over the next 10 years. Between 2012 and 2022, nearly 140 countries raised tobacco taxes, which resulted in an increase of real prices by over 50% on average, showing that large-scale change is possible. The “3 by 35” Initiative introduces key action areas to help countries, pairing proven health policies with best practices on implementation. These include direct support for country-led reforms with the following goals in mind: Cutting...

Today, Suriname became the first country in the Amazon region to receive malaria-free certification from the World Health Organization (WHO). With today’s announcement, a total of  46 countries and 1 territory  have been certified as malaria-free by WHO, including 12 countries in the Region of the Americas. Certification of malaria elimination is granted by WHO when a country has proven, beyond reasonable doubt, that the chain of indigenous transmission has been interrupted nationwide for at least the previous three consecutive years. WHO News

It was  jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science. It is located in  Cerro Pachón in Chile. It’s named after astronomer Vera Rubin, who provided the first convincing evidence for the existence of dark matter. The 8.4-meter Simonyi Survey Telescope at Rubin Observatory is equipped with the LSST Camera — the largest digital camera ever built.  The telescope will take detailed images of the southern hemisphere sky for 10 years. About  Vera C. Rubin Observatory Relevance: BBC