The meeting comes amid heightened tensions between Moscow and NATO over alleged Russian violations.
Day: September 22, 2025
FBI announces $10,000 reward to find suspect who disappeared after Sid Wells was fatally shot in 1983
The recent death of Robert Redford brought renewed interest to an unresolved search for a murder suspect – the one accused of killing the boyfriend of the acclaimed actor’s daughter in Colorado decades earlier.
As local outlets recounted in the aftermath of Redford’s death, his daughter Shauna was attending the University of Colorado Boulder when her boyfriend and fellow student, Sid Wells, was fatally shot in his apartment. Redford was gearing up to film his classic The Natural at the time of the 1 August 1983 murder, yet he was at his daughter’s side in the wake of Wells’ death and was present for his funeral.
Courtesy of Jamie Davis Smith
- I love traveling with my children and we’ve been all over the world together.
- With our next trip in mind, I asked them their favorite destinations. Their answers surprised me.
- At the top of the list, Jordan offered a mix of adventure, history, and food that appealed to us.
One of my greatest joys in life is traveling with my children, who range in age from 10 to 15 years old.
We regularly take road trips throughout the United States and they have also been to various destinations in Africa, Europe, and Asia over the years.
As much as I enjoy these trips, I often feel like I am forcing my children to live out my travel dreams when we spend the night freezing in the desert or crouching through dark, dank pyramids in Egypt. While riding a camel in the Sahara, my daughter took the opportunity to remind me that her close friend was living it up at an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean, doing nothing but getting a tan.
Sometimes, I think that my children would rather go back to Disney World or lounge by the pool at a resort than tag along on my bucket list trips, but I’ve been too afraid of the answer to ask.
Recently, my children and I were plotting where to go next. We were having a hard time narrowing things down. Against my better judgment, I asked them which of our trips they liked the most. Their answers surprised me.
Jordan
Visiting Jordan had been on my bucket list for years. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to experience floating in the Dead Sea, swimming in the Red Sea, and climbing the ruins of Petra.
I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised when my children weren’t happy when I told them we would be spending their spring break this year traveling halfway around the world to hike in an ancient town that has been abandoned for centuries and sleep in a remote Bedouin camp with a shared bathroom.
Courtesy of Jamie Davis Smith
However, during our conversation about where to go next, I was surprised to discover that my children agreed that a nine-day trip to Jordan was their favorite trip of all time. They even admitted to enjoying roughing it in the desert, or at least not hating it as much as they thought they would. That’s a win in my book.
I think that Jordan offers the perfect blend of adventure, history, beaches, and cities, making it an ideal destination with a little bit of everything. I was glad to discover that my children agree. Plus, the food was surprisingly good. My 10-year-old son is still on the hunt for falafel as tasty as the kind he tried in Jordan.
Poland
Poland isn’t on everyone’s list of dream European destinations for a summer vacation. However, my children and I found ourselves there when we scored Taylor Swift tickets for her show in Warsaw last year.
Courtesy of Jamie Davis Smith
We were stunned by how much there was to do during the nine days we spent in the country. My children confessed to especially enjoying the historic town of Krakow, which retained its old-world charm because it was spared from bombing during World War II.
My children’s favorite spot in Poland, however, was the beautiful mountain town of Zakopane where we enjoyed gorgeous hikes and relaxing hot springs. They also enjoyed the cosmopolitan Warsaw, with its big parks and restored historic center.
South Korea
Our visit to South Korea was a five-day add-on to a longer vacation to the more popular Japan this past summer. We only stopped in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, for a few days because our flight had a stopover there. Since we had to switch planes in South Korea anyway, it seemed like a good opportunity to see a new place while we battled the effects of jet lag.
South Korea turned out to be one of my children’s top stops during our nearly month-long trip. Unexpectedly, according to my son, the highlight of our trip was visiting the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.
Courtesy of Jamie Davis Smith
My children said they loved walking along South Korea’s iconic suspension bridges and becoming immersed in K-pop culture along K-Star Road. They also enjoyed exploring South Korea’s picturesque Namsan Park, which we accidentally stumbled upon because it was adjacent to our hotel. I wish we had spent more time in South Korea to see even more of the country.
An expedition cruise around Iceland
My children have been on two cruises. One was on Royal Caribbean, a huge kid-friendly ship full of days at sea, unlimited ice cream, and a visit to a private island with a massive water park.
Courtesy of Jamie Davis Smith
The other was an expedition on a small National Geographic-Lindblad expedition ship that we took around the coast of Iceland. On that cruise, they ate a lot less ice cream but learned how to steer a ship, heard tales about the mythical trolls that are said to inhabit Iceland, took countless rides in zodiacs that got us close to puffins and whales, and went on hikes on islands that are hard to reach.
I was pleasantly surprised when my kids told me they would rather go on an expedition cruise again than sail on a ship designed to be kid-friendly with a non-stop carnival-like atmosphere.
I’m still not sure where our next trip will take my family. However, I am relieved to know that my children enjoy, and don’t just tolerate, the out-of-the-box ideas I come up with — even if they would sometimes rather go to the beach.
Read the original article on Business Insider
Michael Bene is repaying £763 ‘advance’ despite evidence he did not attend face-to-face verification interview
A special needs teacher has spent almost a year trying to clear his name after a fraudulent universal credit claim was made using his identity, which has left him on the hook for hundreds of pounds in repayments.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has refused to acknowledge the fraud, even though Michael Bene has supplied evidence he was in the Scottish Highlands when the claimant attended a face-to-face verification interview in Cheshire.
Almaty is gradually becoming a hub for resolving issues of not only regional but also global significance. The recent opening of the UN Regional Center for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for Central Asia and Afghanistan here was an event no less significant than the 80th anniversary session of the General Assembly in New York.
This is no coincidence: the global agenda at the UN today is increasingly focused on the regional level. Central Asia is not a periphery, but a kind of “model for the future,” where climate, water resources, and security challenges are intertwined.
For example, the Tian Shan glaciers have shrunk by more than 25% over the past decade and continue to melt faster than predicted, directly threatening the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers. These rivers are increasingly failing to reach the Aral Sea, and its dried-up bed is turning into a giant source of dust and salt.
Air pollution levels in the region’s cities, as measured by PM2.5, exceed World Health Organization guidelines by an average of 4–6 times. Extreme heat and drought are leading to the loss of agricultural land and the degradation of ecosystems, which affects not only regional but also global food security.
Central Asia has already become a unique “testing ground for the future.” The region is testing mechanisms for cross-border cooperation. The CASA-1000 energy project connects Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan with Afghanistan and Pakistan, creating a “green energy corridor.” Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s Qosh Tepa Canal is altering the balance of water usage on the Amu Darya, forcing neighboring countries to seek new models of agreement. The question is whether these nations can develop a system of joint water and energy management. The outcome will shape not only regional but also global processes.
At the same time, the United Nations itself is grappling with a deficit of trust and effectiveness. The Security Council is paralyzed, while General Assembly resolutions often carry only advisory weight. In the face of nuclear risks, environmental upheavals, and the threat of epidemics, the global community is stalling. Even large-scale initiatives such as the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) remain largely declarative rather than actually limiting “dirty” investments.
Therefore, reform proposals are becoming increasingly vocal, in particular, to strengthen regional UN divisions that are capable of responding more quickly to crises and ensuring practical cooperation between countries. Another way to overcome the trust deficit could be to involve independent expert councils – scientists, NGOs, think tanks – more widely in the decision-making process, which would reduce the influence of political gridlock at the global level.
Overall, Almaty can be seen as a model of a “UN in miniature” – a regional center capable of promptly addressing issues that may seem “too small” for New York, yet are critically important for the countries of the region. For instance, the SDG Center could initiate the creation of a regional water monitoring system with unified measurement standards and transparent data sharing.
Such decentralization could form the basis for future UN reform. This is not an alternative to the organization but its renewal: granting more authority and resources at the regional level while maintaining strict accountability to headquarters in New York. In this model, regional SDG centers become not only analytical hubs but also coordination platforms, where decisions on concrete issues such as water, environment, energy, migration are made.
Decentralization also helps reduce vulnerability to political blockages. For example, disputes in the UN Security Council between major powers rarely touch on the actual situation in Central Asia. Yet the regional center in Almaty could ensure real-time data sharing on glacier conditions, Amu Darya and Syr Darya water levels, or air quality in urban areas, and propose collaborative projects. In this way, the UN transforms from an abstract “world organization” into a tool of direct benefit to people.
The financial foundation of such reform also requires innovative approaches. One possible solution would be to account not only for countries’ economic power (GDP) but also their ecological footprint. The higher a nation’s emissions and pollution levels, the greater its mandatory contributions. Such a model would encourage major polluters to invest in reducing their carbon footprint and in clean technologies, with contributions directed specifically toward regional UN operations.
More and more, ideas are emerging about humanity’s need to move from the stage of the “self-centered teenager” with a consumerist attitude toward the world and deep distrust to the stage of “adult responsibility,” based on cooperation and “global rationalism.”
Perhaps visions of global unification, or even a “world government”, remain utopian. But Central Asia may become the platform for implementing at least part of these ideas. By the UN’s 100th anniversary, a new world architecture is unlikely to emerge. Yet if Almaty becomes the place where real solutions for a sustainable future are developed. Such solutions as rational water distribution, transition to green energy, adoption of water-saving technologies, and investment in science will already mark a major step forward.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the publication, its affiliates, or any other organizations mentioned.