Here are the top stories for this week all summarized so you can stay informed and save time!
All sources are at the end of the post.
Nikki Haley Enters Race for Republican Presidential Nominee:
Nikki Haley announced on Tuesday that she will enter the 2024 presidential race. This marks the former South Carolina Governor and UN Ambassador as the first Republican to challenge former President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination. Haley, announcing her launch a day before she started campaigning in Charleston, has so far called for fiscal responsibility and secure borders. Her announcement makes her the second candidate in what is likely to be a wide Republican primary field.
Taliban plans to turn former foreign bases into special economic zones:
Parked vehicles are seen in Bagram U.S. air base, after American troops vacated it, in Parwan province, Afghanistan July 5, 2021. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail
On Sunday, the Taliban’s acting deputy prime minister for economic affairs announced that the administration will move ahead with plans to turn former foreign military bases into special economic zones. The acting commerce minister announced his intention in December to bring it before the Prime Minister and Cabinet for approval and they have now begun a pilot program in Kabul. This is part of the Taliban’s stated aim of focusing on boosting economic self-sufficiency through trade and investment. However, foreign investors remain worried over the administration’s ability to address human rights concerns and ward off terrorist attacks by Islamic State.
In ‘Mega Milestone’ India Connects 80 Million Rural Households to Water Supply in Just 4 Years:
India’s Jal Jeevan Mission of growing tap water access has become and continues to be a great story of human development. Almost 79 million households have been provided with access to a tap water connection since the program’s launch in August 2019, bringing the total to 111 million, or 56% of rural households in the nation. The initiative faced disruptions during the pandemic, but the program has seen remarkable success from a starting point of just 32.2 million rural households out of a registered 192 million.
Scientists Grew Living Human Skin Around a Robotic Finger:
Living human skin covering a robotic finger can bend with the finger (shown) and self-heal.
SHOJI TAKEUCHI
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have built a robotic finger similar to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s terminator, which has grown human skin. To cover the finger in the skin, Takeuchi and colleagues submerged the robotic digit in a blend of collagen and human skin cells called dermal fibroblasts. The mixture settled into a base layer of skin, or dermis, covering the finger. The team then poured a liquid containing human keratinocyte cells onto the finger, which formed an outer skin layer, or epidermis. After two weeks, the skin covering the finger measured a few millimeters thick, comparable to the thickness of human skin. The artificially produced skin is strong and flexible enough to withstand robotic movements and has the possibility of being able to heal itself.
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