In the Republic of Ireland, official figures from the Health Service Executive (HSE) and National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre (NPEC) reports indicate that at least 108 babies were born alive after attempted abortions (and subsequently died) from 2019 to 2023.

Trump administration official mistakenly asserts that Iran’s power program presents no problem tinyurl.com/bdh2zsxk when, in fact, as NPEC has argued, it could serve as a pathway for the production of more than 200 plutonium bombs tinyurl.com/bdfz5278

CSIS report on “friendly” nuclear proliferation, repeats more than a few argument NPEC analysis has long propounded csis.org/analysis/friendly-p…

Yes NPEC gamed this four years ago npecstrategygames.org/june-2…

John Batchelor – NPEC reviews IAEA views on Russian aggression against Zaporizhzhia & PRC’s fast reactor program, the dangers of ROK nuclear fuel making tinyurl.com/yeyd2az6 & US nuclear capable aircraft deployments to our allies tinyurl.com/yc64d55n

🚨The deadline for submissions to NPEC (held at Brown University on October 2) has been extended to June 30! See below for details.🚨

28.2% of women registered with the HSE for Home births in 2024 were not Irish. CSO data table link: data.cso.ie/table/HBA05 " National Perinatal Epidemiology statistics hosted by the CSO. Any comments or queries can be sent to npec@ucc.ie "

It is deeply terrifying, and frankly a sickening display of comprador treason, that a former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, is now openly calling for foreign military interventions in his own country. It is absolutely shameful and disgusting that a former Head of State, a man who naturally had access to unredacted, highly classified intelligence reports detailing the ruthless mechanisms of Western imperialism, is advocating for the very forces that destroy nations. He has watched firsthand as foreign interventions systematically created burning, failed states across Africa, as seen in the catastrophic destruction of Libya, the endless balkanization of Sudan, the engineered chaos in Somalia, and the corporate looting of the Democratic Republic of Congo. And this imperial devastation is not limited to Africa alone. If we look at Latin America, we can easily point to the CIA-backed bloodbaths in Nicaragua, the violent overthrow of democracy in Chile, the funded death squads in El Salvador, and the corporate extraction in Guatemala. Yet, this exact same man is confidently sitting on national television, calling for those exact same foreign predators to intervene in his own sovereign country. Listen very carefully to the treacherous statement he made during his recent AIT interview. He declared, "If our government cannot do it, if they cannot protect us, we have a right to call on the international community." Now, on the superficial surface, the naive public might interpret this as a bold, direct attack on the current political establishment. But on a much deeper, geopolitical level, this is a calculated psychological operation. This is especially true when you recognize that under this current Tinubu administration, Nigeria has practically surrendered its territorial sovereignty by allowing the US government and AFRICOM to negotiate military drone bases in the North, and by quietly permitting foreign intelligence to dictate our security parameters under the fraudulent guise of fighting "insecurity." So, this highly publicized statement from Obasanjo is not in any way a genuine attack on Tinubu. He is actually acting as a mouthpiece for the empire, deliberately conditioning the Nigerian people to accept that their domestic situation is entirely "hopeless." He is executing a psychological warfare campaign to prepare the minds of the masses to eventually see heavily armed foreign troops on their soil, not as a hostile military occupation or a nation under imperial siege, but as a miraculous form of "liberation." But again, none of this is remotely surprising when you consider the source. This is coming directly from Olusegun Obasanjo, the exact same comprador elite who singlehandedly destroyed the foundational education system of his own country by working hand-in-glove with predatory Western and multilateral organizations, such as the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF, USAID, and the UK Department for International Development. It was precisely under the Obasanjo administration in 1999 that these foreign agents engineered the Universal Basic Education scheme in Nigeria, and Obasanjo happily implemented it on their behalf to satisfy his Western handlers. Of course, this satanic program was beautifully dressed in colorful humanitarian costumes and aggressively marketed as a revolutionary scheme that would transform primary education in Nigeria, promising free, compulsory, and continuous nine-year basic education for every single Nigerian child. But on a structural level, what this neo-colonial policy actually did was permanently sever federal funding pipelines and deliberately starve local teachers of their rightful salaries. Understand that before this World Bank intervention, the federal government had a functional system. Before sharing revenue from the Federation Account among the three tiers of government, the state deducted the total exact amount needed for primary school teachers' salaries and basic operational costs directly from the source. This deducted money was paid directly into the National Primary Education Fund managed by NPEC. NPEC then disbursed the funds seamlessly to State Primary Education Boards and Local Government Education Authorities. Because the money was safely deducted at the federal level before it could ever reach the greedy hands of state governors or local politicians, primary school teachers' salaries were absolutely guaranteed. This effectively ended the dark era of unpaid teachers and ensured that public primary schools across the nation had a steady, reliable baseline of operational funding. This protective payment scheme was originally introduced by the Babangida administration because he was being violently forced to cut funding for primary education and healthcare under the ruthless Structural Adjustment Programmes attached to the IMF loans he so happily collected. So, under that specific NPEC scheme, the baseline funding for primary education was temporarily shielded from the austerity measures demanded by his Western creditors. But the main reason the IMF and the World Bank give you loans is never to actually grow your domestic economy, nor is it to properly fund your educational institutions. Their goal is much more sinister. They seek total economic subjugation. So they absolutely had to kill this financial backdoor that Babangida created, which allowed the state to bypass their financial imperialism. And Olusegun Obasanjo, the exact same man who is shamelessly calling for foreign interventions today, happily welcomed this destruction. His new UBE system strictly stipulated that federal UBE funds could never be used to pay teachers' salaries or cover daily school running costs. These critical operational burdens were violently pushed entirely back onto the states and the local governments, which are heavily underfunded. Consequently, corrupt governors happily diverted whatever local funds they had to bogus security votes or to paving random roads just to open their states up for foreign corporate investments, leaving the teachers to starve. Furthermore, the federal government simultaneously stopped direct capital interventions. They stopped building infrastructural projects, they stopped supplying subsidized textbooks, they stopped funding essential teacher training, they stopped providing modern laboratory equipment, they stopped providing mechanized agricultural tools for rural schools, and they completely halted digital literacy programs. If a Local Government wants to access the trapped UBE funding for these basic necessities today, they are legally forced to meet a ridiculous fifty percent matching fund requirement. The vast majority of these local governments, especially those in impoverished rural communities, cannot even come close to meeting this threshold because they simply do not have any functional way to generate enough internal revenue to meet those strict corporate criteria. This has created a devastating national nightmare where hundreds of billions of naira are currently sitting idle and trapped in Universal Basic Education accounts in Abuja, while thousands of schools across Nigeria are completely dilapidated and look like abandoned war zones. Students are forced to sit on bare floors, learn under leaking roofs, rely on underpaid and demoralized contract teachers, and buy highly expensive textbooks that the state claims it cannot afford to provide. This intentionally creates a hyper-polarized, deeply unequal situation in the country where people in the commercial cities have slightly better access to education because their local governments can generate enough money through extortionate market levies, heavy corporate taxes, and federal allocation advantages to unlock these matching funds, while our rural communities are systematically doomed to disintegrate into absolute oblivion. Also, it was under this same administration that the Christian Association of Nigeria and massive Islamic Associations such as NSCIA, JNI, and JIBWIS actively lobbied the government. These are organizations that receive tens of millions of dollars annually from foreign nations like Saudi Arabia, the US, and the UK under the deceptive guise of "humanitarian aids" and "religious grants". They lobbied the Obasanjo administration to aggressively integrate Christian Religious Studies and Islamic Religious Studies into the core school curriculum, making them strictly compulsory under the Universal Basic Education scheme. This fatal political concession practically turned our secular school systems into neocolonial theological institutes. It opened the floodgates to seamlessly integrate radical Salafi-Wahhabi doctrines and Western evangelical subservience directly into the Nigerian educational system, effectively weaponizing religion to divide the youth and program them for absolute docility. It is also incredibly important to note that it was precisely Obasanjo who violently ripped Nigerian markets open for foreign corporations to feast on the blood of the country. He ran a brutal, uncompromising privatization and commercialization program that involved him auctioning off hundreds of state-owned enterprises. He sold off our commercial banks, our national cement plants, our state oil marketing groups, our federal hotels, and our sovereign vehicle assembly plants to the absolute highest bidder, effectively transferring national wealth into the hands of a few comprador oligarchs and foreign cartels. Because of his policies, most state-owned enterprises today are either fully bought by foreign corporations or they are controlled by ruthless private monopolies. And since they are owned by private individuals, maximizing shareholder profit becomes the absolute, primary goal of the institution, completely disregarding the welfare and survival of the Nigerian people. For example, in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria today, only 49 percent of the joint ventures are state-owned, while the controlling 51 percent belongs entirely to international oil majors. This means that if anything goes wrong in the global oil sector, the prices of fuel are instantly skyrocketed locally, and the crushing economic burden is seamlessly pushed onto the necks of impoverished Nigerians just to keep Western shareholders happy and to balance corporate books on the tears of the masses. So this is exactly why I am not surprised for a single second that the same man whose neoliberal policies singlehandedly crippled the educational system of the country, who opened our borders for NGO vultures to feast on our sovereignty, who introduced compulsory religious education to aggressively brainwash the masses, and who shamelessly sold off our sovereign state-owned institutions to the highest foreign bidder, is once again sitting on television calling on foreign military interventions to come and occupy the country. What truly surprises and sickens me is that a large population of Nigerians still hold this man in high regard. They actually believe he is an elder statesman fighting for the good of Nigeria, completely ignoring the glaring historical fact that he was a primary architect in the coalition that maliciously imposed the Western-backed puppet, Muhammadu Buhari, into power, accelerating the total economic and security collapse we are suffering today.

OUT OF SCHOOL CHILDREN: A new Conversation: Political Parties should focus on serious issues. 2: Sept 6, 1976, General Olusegun Obasanjo launched the Universal Primary Education at OKE SUNA MUNICIPAL PRIMARY School in Lagos. -(a): It was the nation’s first attempt at free, nationwide primary schooling. -(b): Govt of Shagari failed to implement this initiative faithfully. Out of school children increased. 3: Gen Babangida took over payment of teachers’ Salaries in 1993 by promulgating Decree No 96 which established National Primary Education Commission (NPEC) bcos States and LGAs were owing them. 4: September 30, 1999, President Obasanjo re-launched and expanded as the @ubecnigeria in Sokoto. 5: UBEC act was officially passed into law in 2004. 6: Funding arrangements: 50% matching grants to states subject to the 50% counterpart contribution. 7: Fast Forward to the FG not Tinubu: -(a): He approved a strategy that clears a five-year backlog (2020-2024), utilizing state specific data to directly engage Govs and encourage them to fulfill their 50% counterpart funding obligations. -(b): Tinubu initiated bills at the National Assembly to reduce state counterpart contribution requirements while increasing the Federal block grant contribution from 2% to 4% of the Consolidated Revenue Fund in order to reduce out of school children. 8: Summary: From 1976 to 2026, the problem of Out of School Children lies with Govs. -(a): the inability of the state governments to access billions of Naira in matching grants despite increased revenues from the Federal Government. 9: Way Out: -(a): @NGRSenate @HouseNGR should review UBEC law so as to remove Govs from paying the counterpart funds. -(b): The amendment should allow @ubecnigeria to deal directly with the LGAs Chairmen. -(c): That LGA counterpart funding should be DEDUCTED at SOURCE by the Accountant General of the Federation. -(d): that the fund will be jointly administered per each LGA chairman with UBEC in terms of contract awards for rehabilitation of schools by using local contractors in that state. -(c): Same principle will apply to improving teachers 10: People will feel the benefits of subsidy removal at the grassroots. 11: 1976 -2026: Enough is enough @DrTunjiAlausa @NigEducation @AishaMGarba @mudassirr_sml @alhajingod @Kaypee442 @Suwaiba_Said @Alpha_Yom @Yeribaaba @iamAhmadOlolu @babapronto @ERINFOLAMI2024 @thplatform_NPPY @ayurexars @Educ4a @NesriNigeria @ansem_edet @dranthoniaeddo

Europe's largest paper @BILD reported on my @FNCGlobalNews that Iran's regime has enough Plutonium to build more than 200 nuclear weapons, according to one expert. US-Experte warnt Lagert der Iran hier Material für 200 Atombomben? bild.de/politik/ausland-und-… US-Experte warnt, dass in Busher Plutonium für 200 Atombomben lagert Ein US-Experte warnt, dass im Atomkraftwerk Busher Plutonium für 200 Atombomben lagert Teheran/Washington – Sind die Mullahs der Atombombe näher, als die USA und Israel denken? Ein früherer US-Regierungsexperte warnt vor einer gefährlichen Lücke in der Iran-Strategie des Westens. Henry David Sokolski (74) sagt laut Fox News: Der Fokus liege fast ausschließlich auf dem Uranprogramm des Irans. Doch es gebe noch einen zweiten Weg zur Bombe. Über Plutonium. Im verbrauchten Brennstoff des iranischen Atomkraftwerks Bushehr könnte genug Plutonium für mehr als 200 Bomben stecken, warnt Sokolski. Dieses Material ist hochradioaktiv, allerdings nicht sofort nutzbar. Die Gefahr entsteht, wenn der Iran diesen Brennstoff unkontrolliert entfernen und chemisch aufarbeiten kann. Dann würde aus einer theoretischen Möglichkeit ein konkreter Weg zur Bombe. Uran ist nicht der einzige Weg zur Bombe Die internationale Debatte über das Atomprogramm der Mullahs dreht sich bisher fast ausschließlich um Zentrifugen, um Anreicherung und um die Frage, wie schnell Teheran an genügend hochangereichertes Uran für eine Bombe kommen könnte. Dabei ist das nicht der einzige Weg. Plutonium entsteht während des Betriebs zwangsläufig im Reaktor und sammelt sich im verbrauchten Brennstoff. BILDspielt Kostenlose Onlinespiele zocken Die Forderung des Experten: Der Iran darf den verbrauchten Brennstoff nicht eigenmächtig entfernen. Internationale Kontrolleure müssen überprüfen können, wo sich dieses Material befindet. Nur so lasse sich nachvollziehen, ob es wirklich nicht für den Bau von Atombomben genutzt wird. Mehr zum Thema Heftige Iran-Drohung Hormus-Schließung „für immer“ Das Mullah-Regime droht der Weltgemeinschaft mit einem heftigen Szenario! Für Washington ist das eine unbequeme Warnung. Wenn die Regierung von US-Präsident Donald Trump (79) Irans Atomprogramm stoppen will, reicht es nicht, nur die Urananreicherung zu begrenzen. Es gehe darum, jede Option zur Bombe auszuschließen – auch den bislang weniger beachteten Weg über Plutonium aus Bushehr. Henry David Sokolski (74) ist ein US-amerikanischer Experte für nukleare Nichtverbreitung. Von 1989 bis 1993 war er stellvertretender Leiter für Nichtverbreitungspolitik im US‑Verteidigungsministerium. Er leitet das Nonproliferation Policy Education Center (NPEC), einen Thinktank in Washington. Sokolski gilt als profilierter Kritiker der Ausweitung ziviler Nuklearprogramme, weil er darin Risiken für die Weiterverbreitung von Atomwaffen sieht.

Bild @BILD hat meinen Fox News Digital: @FNCGlobalNews Text aufgegriffen: US-Experte warnt Lagert der Iran hier Material für 200 Atombomben? bild.de/politik/ausland-und-… Ein US-Experte warnt, dass in Busher Plutonium für 200 Atombomben lagert Ein US-Experte warnt, dass im Atomkraftwerk Busher Plutonium für 200 Atombomben lagert Teheran/Washington – Sind die Mullahs der Atombombe näher, als die USA und Israel denken? Ein früherer US-Regierungsexperte warnt vor einer gefährlichen Lücke in der Iran-Strategie des Westens. Henry David Sokolski (74) sagt laut Fox News: Der Fokus liege fast ausschließlich auf dem Uranprogramm des Irans. Doch es gebe noch einen zweiten Weg zur Bombe. Über Plutonium. Im verbrauchten Brennstoff des iranischen Atomkraftwerks Bushehr könnte genug Plutonium für mehr als 200 Bomben stecken, warnt Sokolski. Dieses Material ist hochradioaktiv, allerdings nicht sofort nutzbar. Die Gefahr entsteht, wenn der Iran diesen Brennstoff unkontrolliert entfernen und chemisch aufarbeiten kann. Dann würde aus einer theoretischen Möglichkeit ein konkreter Weg zur Bombe. Uran ist nicht der einzige Weg zur Bombe Die internationale Debatte über das Atomprogramm der Mullahs dreht sich bisher fast ausschließlich um Zentrifugen, um Anreicherung und um die Frage, wie schnell Teheran an genügend hochangereichertes Uran für eine Bombe kommen könnte. Dabei ist das nicht der einzige Weg. Plutonium entsteht während des Betriebs zwangsläufig im Reaktor und sammelt sich im verbrauchten Brennstoff. BILDspielt Kostenlose Onlinespiele zocken Die Forderung des Experten: Der Iran darf den verbrauchten Brennstoff nicht eigenmächtig entfernen. Internationale Kontrolleure müssen überprüfen können, wo sich dieses Material befindet. Nur so lasse sich nachvollziehen, ob es wirklich nicht für den Bau von Atombomben genutzt wird. Mehr zum Thema Heftige Iran-Drohung Hormus-Schließung „für immer“ Das Mullah-Regime droht der Weltgemeinschaft mit einem heftigen Szenario! Für Washington ist das eine unbequeme Warnung. Wenn die Regierung von US-Präsident Donald Trump (79) Irans Atomprogramm stoppen will, reicht es nicht, nur die Urananreicherung zu begrenzen. Es gehe darum, jede Option zur Bombe auszuschließen – auch den bislang weniger beachteten Weg über Plutonium aus Bushehr. Henry David Sokolski (74) ist ein US-amerikanischer Experte für nukleare Nichtverbreitung. Von 1989 bis 1993 war er stellvertretender Leiter für Nichtverbreitungspolitik im US‑Verteidigungsministerium. Er leitet das Nonproliferation Policy Education Center (NPEC), einen Thinktank in Washington. Sokolski gilt als profilierter Kritiker der Ausweitung ziviler Nuklearprogramme, weil er darin Risiken für die Weiterverbreitung von Atomwaffen sieht.

Fox News sites NPEC analysis in an article spotlighting the need to focus on Iran’s option to make plutonium bombs tinyurl.com/5n7rer96

کارشناس هشدار می‌دهند: ایران plutonium کافی برای تولید بیش از ۲۰۰ بمب هسته‌ای دارد. این ادعا بر اساس مقاله‌ای از هِنری سوکولسکی مدیر اجرایی مرکز آموزش سیاست عدم اشاعه (NPEC) و معاون سابق در وزارت دفاع آمریکا، در Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists مطرح شده است.

The Director General of the Ministry of Interior, Federal Affairs and Reconciliation @AbdulkadirEA , officially closed the National Peace Education Initiative Workshop, bringing together representatives from the Federal Government of Somalia and Federal Member States to strengthen coordination and joint implementation. The workshop focused on the finalization and validation of the National Peace Education Curriculum (NPEC) and the establishment of Technical Working Groups (TWGs) to support delivery. The engagement reflects ongoing efforts to reinforce a government-led approach to peace education as a foundation for social cohesion, stability, and long-term state-building across Somalia.

DO YOU TRUST THESE 101 PEOPLE WHO VOTEDTO DENY PAIN RELIEF TO DYING BABIES? In 2021, 101 TDs voted No in response to the Foetal Pain Relief Bill, effectively denying pain relief to babies during and after the abortion process (some survive). Regardless of anyone's personal views on abortion, MOST people would never wish to deny a baby pain relief DURING or AFTER the abortion process (between 2019 and 2024, official records show AT LEAST 108 babies survived the abortion process in Ireland only to be left to die alone without pain relief). 108 of your public representatives (REPRESENTING YOU) felt pain relief was not only an unnecessary act of compassion, but that it would contravene HUMAN RIGHTS to provide it (the mother's). Some of these people are no longer TDs (some are MEPs or no longer politicians) but their legacy is chilling and quite frankly sadistic (in my view). Many of them are still politicians (most). One (@HollyCairnsTD, leader of the Social Democrats), is proposing the lifting of a three day wait period (and is proposing other measures) calling it paternalistic and patronising. I am of the opposite view and feel it protects women. Cairns appears to wish to diminish what a monumental decision choosing to have an abortion can be. It can be transformative. In seeking to end a life, trauma, grief, a sense of loss and profound guilt CAN be created. Cairns and others do not wish to acknowledge that an abortion process ends a human life and that this is something that should be carefully considered for the sake of the woman. Not just the unborn baby. They don't appear to care that women may live with a lifetime of regret. They say they trust women (but funnily enough don't trust women's legitimate fears around importing masses of unvetted males from incompatible cultures where women are treated like animals). They also voted to ban fox hunting on the same day they discussed to extend abortion parameters. I believe in a fox hunt ban but these people appear to believe a fox has more right to life than a baby. Do you trust Holly Cairns? Or do you feel the three day wait period is sensible (and allows time for clarity and calm during a time of apprehension and fear)? The Health Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy (Foetal Pain Relief) Bill 2021 was introduced by @CNolanOffaly TD and several others, this bill was specifically designed to address the treatment of the fetus during later-stage abortions. It sought to make it a legal requirement for doctors to administer pain relief (anaesthetic or analgesic) to a fetus before any abortion performed at 20 weeks gestation or later. The bill also stipulated that if a baby is born alive following a termination procedure, the medical team must provide the same standard of pain relief and palliative care as they would for any other newborn infant. The bill's supporters aimed to ensure that if a fetus is considered "sentient" (capable of feeling pain), it should not suffer during a medical procedure. The bill did not pass. According to data released by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre (NPEC) in response to parliamentary questions, approximately 108 to 120 babies were born alive following termination procedures in Ireland between 2019 and 2024. The majority of these cases occur during terminations carried out under "Section 11" of the Irish Act, which covers pregnancies involving a fatal fetal abnormality. Most of these live births occurred between 22 and 27 weeks of pregnancy. The HSE claims infants born alive in these circumstances are provided with "comfort care". But where is the proof? Why the need for a bill so? Supporters of the bill argue there's lack of transparency and formal legal mandates are needed to ensure babies receive specific pain relief and medical intervention, rather than just "comfort care," especially if born at a gestational age where survival might be otherwise possible. By Susanne Delaney @SuzieD755164

DO YOU TRUST THESE 101 PEOPLE WHO VOTED TO DENY PAIN RELIEF TO DYING BABIES? In 2021, 101 TDs voted No in reponse to the Foetal Pain Relief Bill, effectively denying pain relief to babies during and after the abortion process (some survive). Regardless of anyone's personal views on abortion, MOST people would never wish to deny a baby pain relief DURING or AFTER the abortion process (between 2019 and 2024, official records show AT LEAST 108 babies survived the abortion process in Ireland only to be left to die alone without pain relief). 108 of your public representatives (REPRESENTING YOU) felt pain relief was not only an unnecessary act of compassion, but that it would contravene HUMAN RIGHTS to provide it (the mother's). Some of these people are no longer TDs (some are MEPs or no longer politicians) but their legacy is chilling and quite frankly sadistic (in my view). Many of them are still politicians (most). One (@HollyCairnsTD, leader of the Social Democrats, is proposing the lifting of a three day wait period (and is proposing other measures) calling it paternalistic and patronising. I am of the opposite view and feel it protects women. Cairns appears to wish to diminish what a monumental decision choosing to have an abortion can be. It can be tranfigurative. In seeking to end a life, trauma, grief, a sense of loss and profound guilt CAN be created. Cairns and others do not wish to acknowledge that an abortion process ends a human life and that this is something that should be carefully considered for the sake of the woman. Not just the unborn baby. They don't appear to care that women may live with a lifetime of regret. They say they trust women (but funnily enough don't trust women's legitimate fears around importing masses of unvetted males from incompatible cultures where women are treated like animals). They also voted to ban fox hunting on the same day they discussed to extend abortion parameters. I believe in a fox hunt ban but these people appear to believe a fox has more right to life than a baby. Do you trust Holly Cairns? Or do you feel the three day wait period is sensible (and allows time for clarity and calm during a time of apprehension and fear)? The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) (Foetal Pain Relief) Bill 2021 was introduced by @CNolanOffaly TD and several others, this bill was specifically designed to address the treatment of the fetus during later-stage abortions. It sought to make it a legal requirement for doctors to administer pain relief (anaesthetic or analgesic) to a fetus before any abortion performed at 20 weeks gestation or later. The bill also stipulated that if a baby is born alive following a termination procedure, the medical team must provide the same standard of pain relief and palliative care as they would for any other newborn infant. The bill's supporters aimed to ensure that if a fetus is considered "sentient" (capable of feeling pain), it should not suffer during a medical procedure. The bill did not pass. According to data released by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre (NPEC) in response to parliamentary questions, approximately 108 to 120 babies were born alive following termination procedures in Ireland between 2019 and 2024. The majority of these cases occur during terminations carried out under "Section 11" of the Irish Act, which covers pregnancies involving a fatal fetal abnormality. Most of these live births occurred between 22 and 27 weeks of pregnancy. The HSE claims infants born alive in these circumstances are provided with "comfort care". But where is the proof? Why the need for a bill so? Supporters of the bill argue there's lack of transparency and formal legal mandates are needed to ensure babies receive specific pain relief and medical intervention, rather than just "comfort care," especially if born at a gestational age where survival might be otherwise possible. By Susanne Delaney

Weekly John Batchelor-NPEC show examines growing vulnerability of US critical infrastructure, the need for public education tinyurl.com/2rkxfrvf and how prepared our military for this future type of warfare tinyurl.com/55jsp9zd

@briangknight and I are excited to announce the 3rd Northeast Political Economy Conference (NPEC), Oct 2, 2026 @BrownUniversity. Interdisciplinary (Econ Poli Sci), 8 presentations, with keynotes by @RDancygier and Jesse Shapiro. Please submit by June 5 forms.gle/8awQHipn9PdSPxUf6

Weekly NPEC John Batchelor Show explores the new robot wars in Ukraine and the future face of warfare tinyurl.com/3kn4u6zb as well as how Iran could possibly make 200 bombs from plutonium contained in spent fuel at its Bushier reactor tinyurl.com/mwuyn59j

Gulf states again consider piping oil out of the region skirting the Strait of Hormuz, tinyurl.com/2f4tp6y3 something NPEC research recommended over 20 years ago tinyurl.com/bnyxxhxs