Category: 3. Business

(Bloomberg) — He’s the biggest trader in the world’s top producer of nickel, a metal that’s powering the shift to batteries and electric cars. His firms handle billions of dollars worth of ore and own stakes in mines covering an area around the size of New York City. Yet even in the metals industry, few know the name Arif Kurniawan.

Indonesia’s nickel sector has seen a dramatic rise in recent years, as technological innovation turned vast, low-grade deposits into mining dominance and industrial clout. Kurniawan’s fortunes have tracked that ascent. In under a decade, he has gone from earning paychecks at Glencore Plc to controlling approximately a third of his country’s domestic trade in nickel ore.

“Indonesia has been a complete disruptor of the nickel market over the last 10 years,” said Angela Durrant, principal analyst of base metals at consultancy CRU Group based in Sydney. “These local guys are the power brokers.”

Much has been written about the Chinese tycoons who poured billions into processing nickel in the Southeast Asian nation, flipping the global market and wrongfooting rivals. Less has been said about the Indonesians who control the mines that are the ultimate source of the metal, and about the influence they wield.

This first account of Kurniawan’s rise is based on interviews with more than 19 miners, traders and smelters familiar with his operations, who did business with or worked alongside him, as well as dozens of filings from Indonesia’s company registry. Most of the people asked not to be identified so they could discuss private matters.

When contacted through two business associates, Kurniawan declined to comment for this story.

The route to prominence and wealth in Indonesia often passes through a family business. Kurniawan’s solo rise speaks instead to his alliances, skills and the speed of the country’s industrial transformation over the last decade. It also underscores the precarious nature of the achievement, as President Prabowo Subianto shakes up the mining industry and ignites a new battle for control of the country’s resources.

Kurniawan and his main business partner, Edi Liu Amas, between them have stakes in at least 20 mining concessions across the country’s major nickel centers, according to a Bloomberg analysis of corporate filings. These span more than 71,000 hectares (175,000 acres), an area roughly as large as New York City and far bigger than Weda Bay Nickel, the world’s largest mine in eastern Indonesia.

There’s no recent public data on Indonesia’s nickel ore trade, but according to the average estimate of a dozen fellow traders, miners and smelters, Kurniawan traded about a third of the ore market last year, excluding a small amount of supply consumed by integrated conglomerates. Based on last year’s production of 220 million tons, according to figures cited by Macquarie Group, and current government benchmark prices, a rough estimate would put his annual volumes at around $3 billion.

This is a remarkable slice of the flows that underpin Indonesia’s nearly 70% of global nickel production, a level of control that has made the country critical for the world’s battery industry — all at a time when China is using its own stranglehold on parts of the wider supply chain to fight back against punitive tariffs.

A slight man who is believed to be in his 40s, Kurniawan is part of Indonesia’s ethnic Chinese minority, a community long prominent in local commerce and particularly associated with powerful conglomerates during Suharto’s New Order era. Other than that, little is known about his background.

The trader keeps a low public profile and avoids social media. He dresses casually and eschews displays of wealth, maintaining the unassuming manner of his early days, according to people who know him — only the cluster of mobile phones next to him during meetings hints at his clout.

In the early 2000s, he was working at Glencore’s office in Jakarta, initially in the much larger coal division before transferring to the commodity giant’s nickel business, according to the three former colleagues who asked to remain anonymous discussing private information about his past. At the time, Indonesia’s nickel industry was less than a 10th of its current size, and the London-listed firm was largely focused on exporting ore from its mine in the country.

The sector was about to be transformed. A first key development was a ban on ore exports that took effect in 2014, as Indonesia’s government sought to shift from being an exporter of raw ore to a center for processing and manufacturing. That led to the expansion of Chinese firms, including the giant conglomerate Tsingshan Holding Group Co., which set up big smelting operations in the country. They brought with them technologies including furnace methods that allowed for low-cost production of nickel pig iron, a material used to make stainless steel.

Then came a technique called high-pressure acid leaching, or HPAL, that made it possible to produce battery-grade nickel from Indonesia’s plentiful, lower-grade ore — and upended the global industry.

Glencore sold its mining stake in 2013 as Indonesia prepared to introduce the ban. Shortly after, Kurniawan left the company to start a quarrying business. The new venture didn’t work out, so he rejoined Glencore, according to two of his former colleagues.

When he returned, Kurniawan wanted to expand Glencore’s ore trading business in the country, but the firm was reluctant to deal with the small miners who even now account for about half of production, according to a person familiar with the company who asked not to be identified as the discussions were private. Many nickel producers in Indonesia have opaque ownership, unreliable accounts and poor records of their mineral resources, which presented an unacceptable level of risk for the Switzerland-based trader, Kurniawan’s three former colleagues said. Glencore declined to comment.

Kurniawan set off alone once again, the three people said. His flagship PT Dua Delapan Resources — meaning 28 Resources in Indonesian, a nod to nickel’s atomic number — had been founded in 2015, according to a filing from Indonesia’s Ministry of Law. His trading unit was founded in 2018, according to another filing. Some of his former colleagues joined the new company, the people said.

The timing could hardly have been better for the man who became “Mr 28.” Indonesia’s government, which had eased ore export restrictions that year, was flagging plans to ban exports again, and the Chinese firms were rapidly building smelters.

Kurniawan, who speaks Mandarin, Indonesian and English according to multiple people who have met him, became a crucial intermediary between the Chinese businesses and the patchwork of small mines dotted across the nation of more than 17,000 islands. He had a ready network of local contacts, and the trading instincts developed at his former employer.He started with small volumes and quickly built his business, according to competitors. Mirroring Glencore’s approach, Kurniawan constantly reinvested his profits in the supply chain to gain influence, buying a portfolio of mines whose production he could trade. He snapped up many of them before 2021, when nickel prices were low, according to corporate filings and three people familiar with the matter.

His path has not always run smoothly. Tsingshan, the incumbent heavyweight, was reluctant to work with a trader who was consolidating supply and could undermine its buying power with smaller miners, five people familiar with the matter said.

So Kurniawan turned to the second-biggest player, Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry Co., another conglomerate whose operations were rapidly expanding and needed ore. He frequently visited the Chinese firm’s Jakarta offices, and was a key supplier to its three smelting operations on the island of Sulawesi, according to people who were involved in the dealings at the time. The two groups even co-invested in mines, according to data from Indonesia’s Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.

Eventually, even Tsingshan started to work with Kurniawan. It was expanding two huge smelting parks in the country, and needed more ore. The two set up a joint venture for trading in 2021, according to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry website.

In response to Bloomberg queries, representatives of Delong and Tsingshan declined to comment.

Since 2022, ore market conditions have become more favorable to miners, as government restrictions on production led to shortages. Those with supply can demand near-record prices from smelters, whose survival increasingly depends on the favor of locals like Kurniawan.

At least four Chinese firms with plants in Indonesia have slashed output or idled plants, with the ore shortage driving up costs and prices for their products near record lows. Some have even defaulted on payments to creditors and suppliers.

“There is obscene demand for ore,” CRU’s Durrant said. “That tightness has just translated into elevated ore prices.”

Indonesian miners’ grip over the wider nickel market has also only strengthened. With rivals in Australia and New Caledonia squeezed out by its low-cost production, the Southeast Asian country is now in a position to manage the supply of the metal needed to make everything from electric vehicle batteries to aircraft. Jakarta has also tightened quotas issued by the government to the largely locally owned mining sector, another factor keeping ore supply from catching up with demand.

“The country is transitioning from being a marginal cost-setter to being a deliberate price floor architect,” Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. analyst Dongchen Zhao wrote in a note earlier this month.

That should shift yet more influence and profit to those who control ore supply — at the expense of the country’s largely Chinese-owned smelters.

That’s potentially a small win for Beijing’s geopolitical rivals, who have lagged behind in the race for critical metals, but not necessarily for Kurniawan. Competition for lucrative concessions has intensified just as the country undergoes a major political shift, with Prabowo taking over as president in October last year, ending Joko Widodo’s decade in power.

Jokowi, as the former leader is better known, oversaw the vast expansion of nickel mining and processing as part of an effort to boost the value of Indonesia’s natural resource exports and build a manufacturing sector. In that boom period for nickel, Kurniawan cultivated allies in the former president’s political party through partner Liu, according to people familiar with the matter. Liu did not respond to Bloomberg queries.

Prabowo has taken a different approach. He has increased the royalties demanded of miners to fund expensive projects, and has cracked down on illegal mining, which he claims costs the country billions of dollars in lost revenue every year.

His government is also seeking to punish companies at a massive smelting park owned by Tsingshan for environmental violations. A task force led by Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin has also seized tracts of land and is threatening punitive fines against mines alleged to have breached their forestry permits, among them one of Kurniawan’s concessions on the island of Kabaena.

“Prabowo is trying to signal that he really wants to improve the governance in Indonesia,” said Siwage Negara, a research fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. The president’s methods, though, are not always transparent, he added. “He doesn’t really use the existing institutions and bureaucracy. He uses his own people.”

The Indonesian president’s office referred queries to the Energy Ministry, which did not respond to requests for comment.

Kurniawan has been out of Indonesia for much of this year, according to people in contact with him. The exact reason is unclear. His business has been in the hands of one of his subordinates, according to two of his clients.

Prabowo’s efforts to consolidate control under the presidency have not always favored the businessmen who flourished under Jokowi and earlier administrations. They’ve been asked to buy so-called patriot bonds, for example — debt instruments yielding lower than market rates that are issued by Danantara, the sovereign wealth fund started by the current president this year.

Kurniawan has built strong relationships over years, even without the name recognition of other tycoons. Maintaining his grip on the ore trade, though, will require the forging of new political alliances, according to people familiar with the matter, at a time when favor has rarely been more valuable — or more contested.

Lower nickel prices have not helped extend the sector’s influence, especially at a time of personnel change at the top, said political analyst Kevin O’Rourke at Reformasi Information Services, a Jakarta-based consultancy. “It’s a rearranging of the patronage networks,” he added. “It’s a new administration and a new set of supporters and allies. There’s an impetus to reward friends and punish enemies.”

–With assistance from Chandra Asmara, Jack Farchy and Harry Suhartono.

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

Crews had nearly finished dealing with the aftermath of Boxing Day’s freezing rain when heavy rain and strong winds hit London on Sunday.

A flood warning is now in place and the wind, expected to continue through Monday, has London Hydro bracing for potential further outages.

While London Hydro crews have now restored power to nearly every customer who lost it on Boxing Day, they have also been resting up in anticipation of more damage to power lines from the wind, spokesperson Kathryn Arnot said.

“We need to be prepared for that because what we might see is a lot of these frozen tree limbs start to fall off again with high winds,” Arnot said.

Environment Canada predicted wind gusts of up to 80 km/h would begin Sunday night and end by Tuesday morning.

Hydro crews responded to thousands of outages across the region on the evening of Dec. 26. In London, Ont., trees fell onto people’s homes and blocked roads.

At one point, London Hydro said more than 70 outages were active, though that number fluctuated. The utility company also turned to the fire department for help.

As of Saturday night, London Hydro had about 31 customers without power across eight outages. By Sunday morning that had decreased to a few individual homes across the city, Arnot said.

London Hydro was also dealing with approximately 300 trouble calls by Sunday morning, Arnot added, and they have been working through the list, making sure they reach out to each customer.

Flood warning in place

Local streams, rivers and ditches are expected to rise Monday, according to the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA).

The rain began Sunday afternoon, and according to Environment Canada, a total of 30 to 60 milimetres of rain will fall before clearing up early Monday morning, with locally higher amounts possible. Temperatures stayed above freezing for most of Sunday, but with the ground frozen and already saturated, rain, melting snow and ice will cause runoff, leading to potential flooding, the UTRCA said in a statement.

“Everyone is reminded to stay out of any flooded areas and not drive through flooded roadways,” UTRCA said. “Parents and caregivers should keep children and pets away from watercourses.”

With rising water levels, it is not safe to take shelter along riverbanks, or low-lying areas, UTRCA warned. Stream banks may be slippery and any ice cover will be unstable.

The Thames River is expected to reach peak levels Monday evening and will remain high throughout the rest of the week.

Iron ore prices have held at elevated levels for most of 2025, but next year’s fundamentals point to a more bearish environment. This is set to be shaped by shifting sentiment around China’s growth trajectory and the pace at which new supply, especially from Simandou, materialises.

China steel consumption slows
China remains the single most important swing factor for iron ore demand, but the nature of its demand is changing. While the property market shows little sign of a meaningful recovery, which has eroded a key pillar of steel consumption, Beijing has a renewed focus on infrastructure investment, particularly in transport, energy and advanced manufacturing.
This shift, however, is less steel-intensive than previous investment booms and does not fully offset the drag from traditional demand drivers. It does, however, help to stabilise overall consumption and has underpinned import resilience even as domestic steel margins have compressed.

China’s manufacturing activity (NBS PMI) edged higher in November but remained stuck in contraction for the eighth consecutive month, underscoring persistent softness in external demand and ongoing domestic headwinds. Broader macro indicators point to continued weakness as policymakers appear to be delaying further policy support. Looking ahead, without stronger policy support or a clearer rebound in demand, China’s industrial cycle will struggle to regain momentum.

China steel output continues to drop
China’s steel production continued to slide in October as a result of weakening domestic demand and output cuts at mills amid China’s crackdown on overcapacity in domestic industries. Crude industrial steel production dropped 12% in October from a year earlier to 72 million tonnes – the lowest since December 2023. The year-to-date figure is 4% behind last year’s pace. China’s crude steel output has now dropped for five months in a row.

With manufacturing momentum softening, property activity still under pressure, and policy support unlikely to fully offset these headwinds, China’s steel output is set to remain under pressure. This should keep iron ore demand on a weaker footing.

High finished steel export volumes have remained a central theme in 2025, extending the trend from 2024. In the January-October period, China exported more than 97 million tonnes, 6.6% higher year-on-year, and is on course to surpass last year’s total of 111 million tonnes.

With domestic steel prices under pressure and domestic consumption remaining soft, China is expected to keep export volumes high again in 2026, with volumes increasing into Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa, despite a rising number of trade barriers.

Although steel output has been disappointing, China’s iron ore imports have been strong this year, hitting 113.3 million tonnes in October. That’s around 7% more than a year earlier, and above 100 million tonnes for the fifth month straight.

At the same time, iron ore port inventories have built, reflecting a combination of decreasing domestic iron ore production and restocking amid optimism following a positive meeting between US President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping in late October. Iron ore prices have hovered in a relatively tight range, which has also supported incremental importing this year. These inventories may act as a buffer, limiting the extent of any near-term price rallies unless steel output surprises to the upside. But if steel demand continues to struggle, imports could face downward pressure again.

Seaborne iron ore supply is rising
On the supply side, global seaborne iron ore supply is expected to continue growing, with Australia and Brazil set to increase shipments.

Iron ore shipments from Australia’s Port Hedland, a major Australian export terminal, rose to a record high in October at 49.5 million tonnes, up almost 8% from October 2024. Another major exporter, Brazil, shipped an average of 1.85 million tonnes per day in October. The country has hit record export volumes this year.

One of the potential game-changers in iron ore supply is Guinea’s Simandou project – one of the largest sources of potential new high-grade supply in decades. Even partial volumes entering the market would contribute to a more comfortably supplied balance. As additional tonnes come through, higher-cost producers, particularly low-grade Chinese domestic mines, may face renewed profitability pressure, reinforcing the dominance of large, low-cost exporters.

The giant Simandou iron ore mine made its first shipment in November, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of development, and is expected to arrive in China between January and February 2026. The mine is expected to send around 20 million tonnes of iron ore in 2026, with full capacity of 120 million tonnes per year expected by 2030.

Simandou’s ramp-up could shift the global market’s power dynamics, reducing China’s reliance on major miners and strengthening its leverage in the iron ore market, as well as providing it with greater ability to influence global prices.
BHP-China dispute adds to uncertainty

The ongoing pricing standoff, which began two months ago between BHP and China’s state-backed CMRG (China Minerals Resources Group), has added to uncertainty in the iron ore market. The standoff is part of China’s strategic push to exert greater influence over iron ore pricing and to increase the use of the yuan in contract settlements, reducing reliance on the US dollar.

CMRG was created by Beijing three years ago to shift leverage from major iron ore producers toward China, the world’s largest iron ore buyer.

Beijing has recently expanded its embargo on some BHP cargoes, ordering steel mills and traders to stop buying “jingbao fines”, a low-grade of iron ore that represents a small part of the miner’s exports to China. The ban follows an earlier halt on BHP’s “jimblebar fines”, a Pilbara iron ore grade and one of BHP’s most popular export types.

While the dispute is likely a negotiating tactic rather than a structural break, it heightens near-term volatility by disrupting trade flows and undermining confidence in China’s procurement approach. If unresolved, the impasse could drive a rerouting of some trade flows and force BHP to discount cargoes into alternative markets. For now, BHP has kept its full-year 2026 production guidance unchanged at 258-269 million tonnes.

More weakness ahead
Iron ore prices are likely to drift lower over the next year. Rising seaborne supply, persistent Chinese property sector weakness, and elevated inventories all point toward a weakness in prices in 2026. Inventory risk, especially port stocks in China, could act as a cap on the upside. We see prices averaging $95/t in 2026.

The key things to watch will be China’s steel production policy, the pace of infrastructure spending, and the timing of new supply additions.

If Chinese stimulus gathers momentum or if major supply projects experience delays, prices could stabilise at higher levels.

A sharper-than-anticipated deterioration in China’s construction sector or a faster ramp-up of new mines would increase downside risks.
Source: ING

Driving innovation, improving Veteran care

The 2025 Veterans Health Make-a-thon marks a pivotal phase in the Veterans Health Venture Studio (VHVS) pipeline, a visionary program founded and led by Dr. Indra Sandal, chief of Innovation at James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital. Building on the momentum of the highly successful 2025 Veterans Health Hackathon, a dynamic group of innovation teams has been selected to advance promising solutions that tackle critical challenges in Veteran health care while strengthening collaboration across VA and partner organizations nationwide.

“The hackathon has been an incredible experience—more than I expected, said Eugene Fisco,” a VA employee hacker and Air Force Veteran. “It brings together diverse teams from within and outside VA to collaborate, share expertise and develop innovative ideas focused on delivering better care and truly meeting Veterans where they are. It’s inspiring to see so many people thinking outside the box to improve patient outcomes and create meaningful change for Veterans like me.”

Collaboration driving success

The Veterans Health Make-a-thon is powered by a robust coalition of collaborators, including VA leadership, VA’s Office of Healthcare Innovation and Learning, The American Legion and Microsoft. At the heart of the Make-a-thon, Microsoft powers innovation through expert training and mentorship, fueling the innovators’ journeys to transform Veteran care.

Waco Hoover, Marine Veteran and chair of The American Legion, highlights the significance of the program, when he shared: “The VHVS is one of the more innovative and important programs I’ve seen VA or any branch of government launch in some time. It taps into the advantage of piloting at scale within an organization and getting real-time feedback from clinicians, nurses and staff—something startups rarely get.”

Across the Make-a-thon, collaborators engage with Advisory Council members who guide the strategic direction of VHVS, while faculty and subject matter experts work closely with teams to refine and enhance their solutions. This collective expertise and support ensure innovations are not only brought to life but are also positioned for meaningful, scalable impact throughout VA’s system.

Veterans Health Venture Studio: Fueling innovation from ideation to impact

The Veterans Health Venture Studio is an engine designed to develop and sustain a pipeline of innovative projects that address VA’s most pressing needs. The studio’s three-fold mission focuses on People Development, Technology Development and Community Development, aiming to build innovation capacity, launch new products and foster public-private collaborations.

After the successful completion of the 2024 Venture Studio program, which saw seven final teams create working prototypes, the program kicked off the 2025 cohort with the Hackathon in August. Of the 51 concepts developed at the Hackathon, 17 teams were selected to join the Make-a-thon (December 2025 – March 2026), where they will advance their concepts into technical solutions ready to prototype. A subset will progress to the Accelerator, working with technical experts to create functional prototypes prepared for piloting within VA.

The 2025 Veterans Health Make-a-thon is a critical milestone in this journey, combining innovation curriculum, a development bootcamp and a demo day to refine and advance selected projects.

The 2025 Veterans Health Hackathon: A launchpad for innovation

The 2025 Hackathon convened over 350 participants—including Veterans, clinicians, caregivers and technologists—across 17 VISNs and more than 100 VA and non-VA organizations. Over four days, interdisciplinary teams collaborated intensively to develop AI-driven solutions aligned with VHA strategic priorities.

Judged by a panel of 17 experts, nine teams were named winners for their exceptional concepts in three transformative tracks:

• Track 1: Timely Access to Care: Bravo Zulu Health, SPEED Access Care, CareBridge
• Track 2: Optimize Enterprise-wide Costs and Operational Efficiency: VA Resource Allocation Mapping (VA R.A.M.), autoVAte, CareNav
• Track 3: Improve Community Care Coordination: Mission Fax Possible, Laser Focus, Team Care Continuity

In addition to the nine winning teams, all projects were rigorously assessed across key metrics, with eight additional teams selected by VA leadership to advance to the Make-a-thon, bringing the total number of teams progressing to 17.

Team selection and make-up

The selected teams showcase a diverse range of VA expertise and roles, including nurses, social workers, pharmacists, health system specialists, occupational therapists and entrepreneurs. Representing 13 of 18 VISNs and 22 VA Medical Centers, the cohort includes 68 VA employee Makers, 28 community Makers, and 23 Veterans or active military members from 26 states and territories—reflecting a truly nationwide commitment to advancing Veteran care.

Notable teams and projects include:

Timely Access to Care

• Bravo Zulu Health: Consolidates Veteran appointments and test scheduling into a single portal, reducing missed care and cancellations.
• SPEED Access Care: Uses AI to screen for high-risk symptoms, preventing delayed diagnoses and guiding provider routing.
• CareBridge: Empowers Veterans and providers with real-time access to care plans, discharge summaries, and chatbot support.
• Referral IQ: Enhances consult completeness through AI pre-validation against service line rules.
• Info Not Data: Halves chart review time using OCR technology to make scanned records searchable.
• PIVOT: Reduces no-shows and boosts engagement via an AI hub enabling appointment rescheduling across preferred channels.

Optimize Enterprise-wide Costs and Operational Efficiency

• VA Resource Allocation Mapping (VA R.A.M.): Tracks medical supply inventories using AI to limit waste from surpluses and expirations.
• autoVAte: Streamlines ePAS workflows with AI-driven assessment, triaging, and auto-approval.
• CareNav: Reduces misdiagnosis by suggesting CPT/ICD codes from clinical notes using AI.
• Exit Strategy: Improves discharge planning and clinical capacity through a real-time dashboard.
• Improving Outcomes: Utilizes a digital CHF tool to promote adherence and monitor patient weight, reducing readmissions.

Improve Community Care Coordination

• Mission Fax Possible: Automates community care records management to reduce treatment delays.
• Laser Focus: Increases referral transparency through AI document intelligence scanning and validation of high-risk forms.
• Care Continuity: Provides Veteran-focused tracking with real-time views, AI alerts, and secure messaging.
• Care Ninjas: Integrates a scalable mobile and MyHealtheVet referral tracker to build Veteran trust.
• Care Connect: Streamlines prescribing with pharmacist-led, standardized intake and secure messaging.
• Shadow PACT: Preserves care continuity by scanning provider notes with AI for clinical triggers and auto-generating information packets.

The road ahead: Outcomes and impact

The Make-a-thon is designed to:

• Align leadership and teams to pursue high-potential projects.
• Advance projects toward functional prototypes integrated with VA systems like CPRS and OIT.
• Strengthen the health care innovation community through mentorship and collaboration.
• Prepare teams for pilot testing and scaling within VA medical centers and program offices.

With over 4,980 person-hours of training already delivered through mentorship and active learning, these teams exemplify VA’s commitment to innovation that improves Veteran health outcomes and operational efficiency.

Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan said he expects the Trump administration to de-escalate trade tensions next year after tariffs sent shockwaves through the US economy in 2025.

This First Person article is the experience of Alaya McIvor, a Winnipeg-based community matriarch and advocate. For more information about CBC’s First Person stories, please see this FAQ. You can read more First Person articles here.

This is my gratitude post to those overlooked in service delivery.

A few years ago, I was chronically homeless, strategically planning my stays at people’s residences while employed by the government.

At times, it was impossible for me to commit to a full-time work schedule, because nothing was concrete while couch surfing. Sometimes, out of the blue — at three or four in the morning, while I was sleeping — I’d be asked to leave the place I was staying at.

I was so embarrassed to reach out to anyone.– Alaya McIvor

I remember one night I even called 911, volunteering to be put in the drunk tank just to feel safe. It was a place I tried so hard to avoid.

At that lowest point in my life, I couldn’t even get employment insurance, even though I had more than enough hours.

I even tried the whole process of applying for income assistance. But I was met with so many barriers and obstacles, it felt like they were literally put in place just to make it impossible for people who need that social program.

Reaching out

I remember the week of Nov. 25 of that year, when I reached out to Marion Willis of Street Links to inquire about a possible hand-up approach to help me get back on my feet. I was so embarrassed to reach out to anyone.

Thank God she replied to my message and kept in contact with me. She worked with her team of people — whom I call my “heart helpers” —  who literally are out on the streets doing the hard work. They meet people where they’re at, house them, and give them a sense of purpose and belonging again.

By that weekend I was housed. She even made sure I had food to eat. I couldn’t be more grateful.

I remember through all of this going back and forth to income assistance, and every single time, I was sent on a different search for another document they would randomly need.

It was not a service designed for people living in crisis. It was just a horrible experience that seemed like it would never end. I remember even asking for a bus ticket from them, to get to the place they needed the document from.

They housed me in a place where I could stabilize myself and feel safe again.– Alaya McIvor

Weeks would go by, and I was feeling on edge because I couldn’t even get a hold of anyone to be told what to expect next. Instead, I found out from one of Marion’s heart helpers that the income assistance office had actually rejected me, despite the crisis I was in at that moment. I remember sitting in their makeshift office, getting this information second-hand.

My immediate response was, “I’m sorry. I don’t have the rent money to pay the rent and don’t have money to even buy myself food. I’ll pack up my stuff and leave as soon as I can.”

But then Marion told me, “That’s not going to happen.”

I swear, this woman and her team are forms of human guardian angels who were sent to our communities for a purpose.

Even though all the odds were stacked against me, in that moment they helped me overcome them with the simplest act possible: caring with compassion. They housed me in a place where I could stabilize myself and feel safe again without fear.

This is something our relatives need when in situations such as this.

From the bottom of my heart, I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge their heartfelt work. Miigwetch, Marion Willis and the heart helpers!

Do you have a compelling personal story that can bring understanding or help others? We want to hear from you. Here’s more info on how to pitch to us.

A frothy pub market underscored a string of mega deals for landmark Aussie hospitality venues that ushered in new owners in 2025.

The $140m sale of Byron Bay’s Beach Hotel headlined the high profile trades, notching the nation’s second most expensive hotel sale on record.

Businessman Scott Didier, group CEO of Johns Lyng Group, added ‘The Beachie’ to his family’s growing portfolio in the region.

The venue is popular with locals, including Hollywood A-lister Chris Hemsworth, who calls Byron Bay home.

“We are sure it will continue to thrive as a beloved part of the Byron Bay landscape under the guidance of the Didier family,” Redscape Hospitality managing director Chris Unger said when confirming the sale in May.

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In another notable trade, billionaire Sydney Roosters chairman Nick Politis recently wrapped up a $50m deal for Queensland’s most iconic pub, The Caxton Hotel.

It marks the end of an era for the Farquhar family, which has owned the famous rugby league hotel for 28 years.

The Caxton, first opened in 1864, is a magnet for fans who gather in their thousands around State of Origin clashes before walking to nearby Suncorp Stadium.

The sales highlight the growing popularity of Aussie trophy pubs for family offices and high-net-worth individuals.

JLL reported a notable trend of towards “the outsized role of private capital” in 2025 as transactions volumes in the hotel sector surged above $2 billion.

South of the border, several owners sought to cash in on the strengthening market by calling time on long-held venues.

MORE: Countries that will pay Aussies $140k to move there

Sydney’s landmark Crystal Palace Hotel, across the road from Central Train Station, sold to the Feros family’s JDA Hotels in an off-market deal.

Records show the property traded for $13.5m.

In North Sydney, publican Mark Barry offloaded the Firehouse Hotel after 25 years during which it was converted from a heritage-listed fire station to a favoured watering hole, while The Good Beer Group sold the Union Hotel to Aston Waugh’s Watering Hole Hotels for $22m.

Another Aussie icon, the original Ettamogah Pub, just off the Hume Highway near Albury, is currently on the market for circa $50m – which includes the rights to the brand.

Changes are also afoot in Melbourne’s CBD, where Billionaire Justin Hemmes unveiled his vision for transform a car park into a new high-end entertainment precinct.

He paid $55m for the eight-storey complex in Little Collins St, a “passion project” where he hopes to creates restaurants, bars, a boutique hotel and skygarden.

“We want to create the most exciting and iconic destination, not only for the city of Melbourne and the people of Melbourne, but an iconic destination within Australia,” he said.

Just a few blocks away, the hospitality group behind Nomad has taken over Guy Grossi’s stable of venues Floretino, The Grill, Cellar Bar, Ombra and Arlechin.

New owners with an appetite to continue the legacy of Great Ocean Road dining institution Chris’s Beacon Point have also been found.

Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise and gridiron giant Joe Montana are big names who dined at the Skenes Creek eatery, which sold for $3m in July.

Another international dining destination, the Birregurra farm that home’s to the world-renowned Brae restaurant, hit the market in November with $5m price hopes.

The top 5 most-read dermatology content of 2025 on AJMC.com included innovative advances from artificial intelligence (AI)–enabled wearable devices for atopic dermatitis (AD) to new FDA-approved therapies and novel treatments to treat rare dermatological diseases like bullous pemphigoid and complex disorders like vitiligo.

Here are our top 5 dermatology pieces of 2025, and you can click here to see more of our dermatology coverage.

5. Nicotinamide Reduces New Skin Cancer Risk in Large Veteran Study

Nicotinamide, a derivative of vitamin B3, may offer meaningful protection against skin cancer. Using the health records of 33,000 veterans with a history of skin cancer, researchers found that oral nicotinamide was associated with a significant reduction in new skin cancers. Nicotinamide has been researched for its ability to support DNA repair and reduce ultraviolet-induced immune suppression. The efficacy demonstrated in the phase 3 trial could encourage dermatologists to recommend it to patients, but further research is still needed to assess the long-term benefits and real-world impact.

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4. AI-Enabled Wearable Sensor Reduces Scratching in Atopic Dermatitis

A new study found that an AI-enabled wearable sensor may reduce nocturnal scratching in patients with AD and self-reported moderate or severe scratching behaviors. The flexible wearable device is mounted on the dorsal hand using an AI-driven scratch algorithm that demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity in adult patients with AD when detecting nocturnal scratching when compared against infrared video recordings. Although the study population was limited in size, researchers are aiming to expand it to include pediatric patients.

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3. FDA Expands Dupilumab Approval as First New Biologic for Bullous Pemphigoid

The FDA approved dupilumab to treat bullous pemphigoid, a chronic relapsing disease that can cause intense itch and blisters, red skin, and painful chronic lesions. The expanded approval of the fully human monoclonal antibody was based on results from the LIBERTY-BP ADEPT phase 2 and 3 trial, which met both its primary and secondary end points. Sustained disease remission was achieved in 20% of patients receiving dupilimab at 36 weeks compared with 4% in those who received the placebo. There were no adverse events that led to death in the dupilumab group vs 2 in the placebo group. This approval further reinforces the safety of dupilumab, which has been approved for numerous other indications. 

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2. Future of Vitiligo Treatment: Emerging Therapies, Impact on Quality of Life

Vitiligo is a complex dermatologic disorder that affects patients’ psychosocial well-being and quality of life, especially those with darker skin tones. However, emerging therapies, such as Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors like FDA-approved ruxolitinib, and experimental treatments like simvastatin, afamelanotide, and metformin, show promise for improving regimen and symptom management. Novel approaches, including autophagy promotion and prostaglandin analogs, are also being explored. While these treatments offer hope for more targeted and effective care, further research is needed to establish their safety, efficacy, and optimal use.

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1. Hidradenitis Suppurativa: Advancing Treatment With Biologics

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, painful inflammatory skin condition often managed with biologics. Adalimumab, a tumor necrosis factor–α inhibitor, was FDA approved in 2015, and secukinumab, an IL-17A inhibitor, gained approval in 2023, both targeting moderate to severe HS. Treatment decisions must consider patient-specific factors such as age, comorbidities, and immunosuppression risks; also, loss of response to biologics is common, prompting therapeutic drug monitoring. Ongoing research is focused on optimizing biologic therapies and identifying individualized treatment strategies to improve long-term outcomes.

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Four players who purchased Powerball tickets in Colorado received a huge surprise when they turned out to be winners in the drawing on Christmas Eve.

According to the Colorado Lottery, the winners took home prizes ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 in the drawing. A player who purchased a ticket in Arkansas won the $1.82 billion jackpot on Christmas Eve, the second largest U.S. lottery prize ever.

The biggest winner in Colorado will take home a $500,000 prize, thanks to a ticket they purchased at the King Soopers located at 1070 W Baptist Rd. in Colorado Springs. Another ticket sold in Colorado Springs, this one at the Circle K at 3211 Centennial Blvd., scored the winner $100,000.

In southern Colorado, a ticket purchased at the Alta Convenience located at 504 S. Prairie Ave. also brought the winner a $100,000 prize.

Another $100,000 winning ticket was sold at a 7-Eleven in Lonetree.

To claim their prizes, the winners must either bring their winning tickets and a valid government issued photo ID to one of the four claims centers, claim the prize online, or mail a completed Colorado Lottery Prize Claim Form and a signed winning ticket to Colorado Lottery.

The next Powerball drawing takes place on Monday, Dec. 29, with a jackpot worth $33 million.