An Abu Dhabi-led consortium has withdrawn its $30bn takeover bid for Australian oil giant Santos, sparing the federal government from making a high-stakes decision on whether to back the deal.
XRG, the investment arm of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, said in a statement late on Wednesday that “a combination of factors” had affected its assessment, without elaborating.
XRG had lodged a non-binding bid in mid-June before requesting a series of extensions to finalise its proposal, raising questions over whether it would proceed. It was required to submit a binding proposal by Friday.
The proposal would have put a portfolio of oil and gas assets, including large operations in Western Australia and the Cooper basin, as well as critical energy infrastructure in the eastern states, under foreign control.
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Santos also controls a lucrative stake in a Papua New Guinea liquified natural gas project.
The deal was supported by the board of the Adelaide-based Santos, but heavily criticised by Australian unions. The proposal required various regulatory approvals and would have been tested by the Foreign Investment Review Board, which provides advice to the treasurer.
In contested deals, bidders would typically receive informal advice from government representatives on their view of the proposal before official processes.
Analysts told Guardian Australia that the lack of a major Australian partner in the consortium, such as a superannuation fund, was an obvious drawback to the proposal.
In a statement, XRG said it had been prepared to undertake new long-term commitments to Australian energy production “that would deliver meaningful benefits to domestic gas consumers and enhance regional energy security”.
“While the consortium maintains a positive view of the Santos business, a combination of factors, when considered collectively, have impacted the consortium’s assessment of its indicative offer,” XRG said.
The withdrawal saves the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, from making a tricky diplomatic decision. While a foreign takeover of the assets raised questions over domestic energy security, Australia has a robust trading relationship with the United Arab Emirates, which includes a bilateral free trade agreement.
Santos said in a statement it had been notified by XRG of the withdrawal late on Wednesday.
“The XRG consortium would not agree to acceptable terms which protected the value of the potential transaction for Santos shareholders, having regard to the likely extended timeframe to completion and the regulatory risk associated with the transaction,” Santos said.
If the Battlefield series has ever been known for one thing, it’s the massive, chaotic scale of destruction that takes place in its largest multiplayer maps, and I got a wonderfully refreshing taste of just that when I dove into Battlefield 6’s upcoming 64-player game modes earlier this week. Mirak Valley, the biggest map available at launch, is a fantastic new warzone that reminds me a bit of a much bigger version of Blood Gulch from Halo, with two bases on each side battling it out in a massive, deadly no man’s land, while a remastered version of the iconic Operation Firestorm from Battlefield 3 made an appearance to kick me right in the nostalgia. Both were a literal blast to play, each in their own way, and it just felt so good to be back in large scale war games with bombs exploding and bullets flying every which way, especially with the environments being more destructible than ever and which alter the map in creative ways. Since I skipped Battlefield 2042, it’s been a good, long while since I felt the itch to play a military shooter with this kind of crazy player count, and after a few hours with Battlefield 6 I don’t know how I’ve managed to go so long without it. It feels good to be back!
As I Walk Through the Valley…
The first map I played was Mirak Valley, which Battlefield Studios says will be the largest map at launch, and yeah, this thing’s pretty huge. Though it’s got small settlements and rocky terrain across long stretches of dirt road on each side, the main attraction are the two unfinished skyscrapers found in the center of the map where a lot of the action takes place. Battling in these claustrophobic concrete boxes and stairwells allows for plenty of close-quarters gunplay, but with unfinished walls all around you, it also leaves you exposed to the outside world to snipe you of launch a missile in your direction, which adds a unique challenge as you attempt to capture the all-important zones found in each of the buildings. And while the gradual destruction of these buildings can make them harder to control, they also allow for interesting opportunities to alter the geometry of the map, like how part of a destroyed building can fall down to create a ramp, which can then be used to reach the second floor of the skyscraper from the outside and make it much easier to navigate (but also harder to defend from would-be invaders).
Battlefield 6: Mirak Valley and Operation Firestorm Screenshots
Mirak Valley ended up easily being my favorite of the two maps I played, both because it’s a fantastically well-designed and ridiculously large warzone to master, but also because of these moments where the new destruction engine makes itself so clearly known. For example, in one match I spent a lot of time in a small two-story building picking off the enemy from a distance and trying to remain hidden, but over the course of the match (and many deaths) the building I was in continued to lose pieces of itself until there was almost nothing left. The window I was shooting out of at the start became half of a wall absent a room, which then fell away as I retreated to a staircase, until there was almost none of the structure left by the end of the battle and I found myself peering out behind rubble to take my shots. Moments like that are an excellent showcasing of just how much mayhem you can cause over the course of the match, all of it which organically takes place over the course of battle instead of being pre-determined events that inevitably happen every match.
Into the Fire(storm)
After not nearly enough time exploring (and blowing up) Mirak Valley, we moved on to more familiar terrain with the returning Battlefield 3 map of Operation Firestorm. If you’ve never played this one before, it takes place on an oil refinery with a big warehouse where you can get your fill of close-range encounters, or you can take the the labyrinth of metal stairs and walkways that is the refinery itself, complete with the unforgettable giant fuel tanks that explode in gobsmackingly beautiful fashion with a little provocation from the business end of your assault rifle.
The return of this map is sure to bring back fond memories of good times had and bitter rivals slain, but it was noticeable to me how some of the legacy map design choices didn’t exactly jive with modern day multiplayer expectations. To their credit, Battlefield Studios certainly made some adjustments to line of sight, destructible setpieces, and the available combat lanes you can use to take it to the bad guys, but they also had to keep a lot the same to make it recognizable as the map we know and love. That means there are plenty of barren areas you’ll have to run through, especially on the outskirts of the arena, where you’ll be wide open for someone to pick you off without much trouble or simply be a bit bored waiting to get to your destination with not much to do along the way.
That said, the virtues of this map are still as clear as ever, especially the long-range potential of the refinery’s elevated walkways, which are a sniper’s dream that I took full advantage of. Plus, being able to blow up key parts of the warehouse to do things like kill the prone enemies hidden on the rooftop by blasting away part of the ceiling and shooting them through it, is just *chef’s kiss*. It definitely didn’t click with me as much as the sparkly, new Mirak Valley though, especially since this Battlefield 3 throwback feels like such a tiny arena by comparison.
On Target
No matter which map I was on though, I was consistently impressed by how good Battlefield 6 felt, whether it was the customizable character classes, more grounded gunplay, or the handful of game modes that put my combat prowess to the test. Each of the four classes – Assault, Support, Recon, and Engineer – have their advantages that made it difficult to stick to any one, like how easy it was to get my teammates back in the fight with the support class, or how awesome it was to have sniper dummies to distract my enemies as the Recon class. One cool aspect though, is that I was able to swap out weapons I preferred with one class when I decided to change over, like how I gave my Assault character the Support character’s machine gun so I wouldn’t have to bother reloading in between kills (and because I tend to play more stationary than most and so didn’t mind the list accuracy). This felt like a nice middle ground between locking classes out of using the arsenal not natively a part of their class, since gadgets and unique abilities were still exclusive, but weapons could be freely traded, and I got a kick out of experimenting with different combinations.
I also really appreciated some of the adjustments to gunplay that made engagements a bit less goofy, like how accuracy with weapons is diminished while in motion, or especially when midair or jumping around. This meant I saw less of players bouncing up and down cartoonishly to kill me, which always feels out of place in a military shooter that’s aiming for some level of realism. Don’t get me wrong, there was still plenty of couch spamming and ducking in and out of corners to get shots off, and mastering mobility certainly plays a role in your ability to dominate the competition, but I also felt more rewarded for calming taking my shot against players scrambling around wildly to evade me.
The game modes we played on each map were variations of area control game types we’ve seen before and one new one that added a heavy helping of chaos. Conquest served as the classic game of maintaining control of as many key parts of the map as possible while scoring kills, while Breakthrough put one team on the offense to take control of specific regions of the warzone that the other team fought to defend. Escalation, on the other hand, has an interesting concept where throughout the match the capture points in play are gradually reduced, forcing conflict onto certain parts of the terrain that directs the flow of battle and reduces stalling. This made for absolute chaos as everyone rushed to certain areas for all-out warfare that usually just involved lots of tanks blowing everything to smithereens, and was maybe not as balanced as the more vanilla game modes, but damn if it didn’t make for a hilarious time.
On September 5, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the creation of a Cross-Border Task Force designed to enhance the Enforcement Division’s efforts to combat fraud involving foreign companies. The announcement is the first statement from the SEC regarding enforcement priorities since the appointment of Judge Margaret Ryan as the agency’s Director of Enforcement on August 21, 2025. The Task Force’s initial focus will be on foreign-based market manipulation that harms U.S. investors, such as pump-and-dump and ramp-and-dump schemes. The announcement specifically mentions China-based companies and warns of increased scrutiny for gatekeepers who assist foreign issuers, such as auditors and underwriters. The Task Force’s explicit focus on foreign companies and individuals is also consistent with the Trump administration’s “America First” approach to protecting U.S. markets and interests more broadly, including under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.1
Key Points
The announcement follows reports of billions in investor losses tied to Nasdaq-listed Chinese stocks promoted on social media2 and new listing standards recently proposed by Nasdaq to address those risks. The proposed Nasdaq standards include:
A $15 million minimum market value of public float for new listings under the net income standard.
An accelerated suspension and delisting process for companies with a listing deficiency and a market value of below $5 million.
A $25 million minimum public offering proceeds requirement for new listings of companies principally operating in China.
If approved by the SEC, these standards will make it more difficult for smaller companies to issue and maintain publicly listed shares in the U.S., particularly those with operations in China.
Market manipulation cases against foreign issuers are unusual, and the stated focus on gatekeepers may be a nod to difficulties investigating in jurisdictions that, like China, restrict U.S. regulators’ access to witnesses and data. An investigative “sweep” of domestic auditors and underwriters with connections to foreign issuers is a likely starting point for the Task Force and may be underway.
According to the SEC’s announcement, Chairman Paul S. Atkins has directed the SEC’s offices and divisions, including the Divisions of Corporation Finance and Trading and Markets, to recommend steps to help protect investors from cross-border misconduct. This may lead to updated guidance on disclosures for foreign issuers and new rulemaking with foreign issuers in mind.
The Task Force may also look for opportunities to investigate in parallel with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which announced charges on September 12 against the co-CEO of a Chinese company for operating a social media-driven pump-and-dump scheme that allegedly generated over $100 million in profits.3 Both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the SEC’s Office of the Inspector General investigated the case.
The creation of the Task Force complements other actions taken by the SEC and a focus by certain members of Congress. This summer, the SEC issued for public comment a concept release around the disclosure and filing requirements for foreign private issuers, suggesting that the SEC was interested in leveling the playing field for U.S.-based issuers. As to Congress, certain members have pushed for more scrutiny of China-based companies by the SEC and of China-based auditors by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.4 As a result, issuers and accounting firms may experience more pushback from regulators about their China-based firms’ efforts to protect sensitive information from disclosure as required by Chinese laws.
Implications for Market Participants
Auditors, underwriters and other professionals who represent foreign issuers should prepare themselves for SEC inquiries and consider a review of existing issuer relationships, including for suspicious social media activity and unusual trading. A review of intake procedures with a focus on ownership or control by foreign governments may be advisable, as the SEC’s announcement identifies “governmental control” as a specific risk.
Foreign issuers should ensure full and transparent risk disclosures regarding ownership, governmental influence and trading volatility, and monitor both SEC rulemaking and the implications of Nasdaq’s proposal on listed securities. It should be assumed that questions around the adequacy of disclosures and accounting arising from filing reviews by the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance will more likely result in referrals to SEC enforcement and that concerns around potential market manipulation identified in SEC exams will be more prone to referral to SEC enforcement. Issuers that experience market volatility or that have an active social media presence may be at increased risk of trading suspensions or delistings.
Bottom Line
The SEC’s Cross-Border Task Force, Nasdaq’s proposed listing changes and recent action from the DOJ represent a concerted regulatory response to a reported surge in cross-border fraud and market manipulation.
Issuers, auditors, underwriters, legal professionals and other market participants should expect increased regulatory scrutiny and higher barriers to entry for foreign issuers, particularly companies from China and other high-risk jurisdictions.
1 Memorandum, Head of Criminal Division, “Guidelines for Investigations and Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)” (June 9, 2025), available at https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1403031/dl.
2 Crypto Briefing Article, “SEC targets US firms linked to suspected Chinese pump and dump scams” (Sept. 10, 2025), available at https://cryptobriefing.com/sec-chinese-pump-dump-crackdown/ (citing Financial Times, “SEC targets US firms tied to suspected Chinese ‘pump and dump’ scams” (Sept. 9, 2025)).
3 Press Release, “DOJ Announces Indictments of Co-CEO of Chinese Publicly Traded Technology Company and Financial Advisor for over $100M Securities Fraud Scheme” (Sept. 12, 2025), available at https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/co-ceo-chinese-publicly-traded-technology-company-and-financial-advisor-indicted-over.
4 Press Release, “Moolenaar, Scott Demand Answers from SEC and PCAOB on Chinese Companies’ Access to U.S. Markets” (July 16, 2025), available at https://selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/media/press-releases/moolenaar-scott-demand-answers-from-sec-and-pcaob-on-chinese-companies-access-to-us-markets.
Keir Starmer has sought to navigate a politically treacherous state visit by Donald Trump with an announcement of £150bn of US investment in the UK, as the president was kept safely within the confines of Windsor Castle.
As thousands of protesters voiced their anger in London at a Stop Trump Coalition protest, the US president was escorted by the king and queen through a first day that ended in a state banquet but kept him out of reach of his critics.
The recent sacking of Peter Mandelson as British ambassador in Washington over his relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein looms large over the historic two-day visit, with Trump himself facing questions over his dealings with the disgraced financier who killed himself in prison in 2019.
With Downing Street eager to make the best of what could prove to be a difficult few days, Starmer announced what was said to be the largest ever investment package in the UK.
Of the £150bn, £90bn was a commitment from the private equity firm Blackstone to invest in the UK over the next decade. That was on top of £10bn the company committed to an artificial intelligence datacentre earlier this year.
Other announcements include £3.9bn from the investment firm Prologis and £1.5bn from the tech company Palantir. The government said the package would create 7,600 high-quality jobs in sectors including clean energy and life sciences.
Starmer said that “with friends like the US” the UK could “help shape the future for generations to come and make people across the country better off”, adding: “These investments are a testament to Britain’s economic strength and a bold signal that our country is open, ambitious and ready to lead.”
Downing Street sources said the £150bn of inward investment was higher than the figure for the whole of last year and that the prime minister was feeling “very upbeat” because it exceeded expectations.
The announcement followed a separate pledge of billions of pounds of investment from US tech firms, including from Microsoft, which has announced a $30bn (£22bn) spending package – its largest ever outside the US.
Thousands of demonstrators protest against Trump state visit – video
But the careful choreography was dealt a blow on Wednesday when Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister who held one of the most senior roles at Meta until earlier this year, described the US-UK tech deal as “sloppy seconds from Silicon Valley”.
Speaking at the Royal Television Society conference in Cambridge, Clegg said of the US tech companies: “These companies need those infrastructure resources anyway. They’re building datacentres all over the world.
“Maybe they were pushed a bit forward just to meet the timetable with this week’s state visit. But … it’s all one-way traffic.
“We just have to be a little bit more realistic about our predicament and a little bit firmer about what we can do ourselves, rather than what I think we’re seeing with this US-UK tech deal, which is basically just sloppy seconds from Silicon Valley.”
Critics have argued that the tech deal, due to be finalised at the prime minister’s Chequers retreat with Trump on Thursday, does little to support the UK’s homegrown tech industry and have questioned what concessions the government might give US tech companies on regulation and tax.
Queen Camilla, King Charles, Donald Trump and Melania Trump pose at the state banquet. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters
After landing by helicopter in Windsor Castle’s grounds on Wednesday morning, Trump joined the king in a horse-drawn carriage but the procession remained within the royal estate and out of the reach of the public, with security concerns given as an explanation.
The president and his wife, Melania, were later hosted by Charles at a lavish state banquet inside Windsor Castle on Wednesday alongside several top business executives including Apple’s Tim Cook, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and OpenAI’s Sam Altman.
They were served Hampshire watercress panna cotta with parmesan shortbread and quail egg salad, followed by Norfolk chicken ballotine and a vanilla ice-cream bombe with Kentish raspberry sorbet interior with lightly poached victoria plums.
A whisky sour cocktail garnished with a toasted marshmallow set on a star-shaped biscuit “evoking the warmth of a fireside S’more” was served, although Trump does not drink alcohol.
During his speech the king emphasised the importance of protecting the environment, saying the legacy of both nations over the “next 250 years and beyond” was to ensure future generations can experience “natural treasures”.
Trump, meanwhile, used his speech to pay a heartfelt tribute to the US’s relationship with the UK, saying the “word ‘special’ does not begin to do it justice”.
The US leader also heaped praise on the king, describing his as a “very, very special man”. He went on to say: “We’re joined by history and faith, by love and language and by transcendent ties of culture, tradition, ancestry and destiny. We’re like two notes in one chord or two verses of the same poem, each beautiful on its own, but really meant to be played together.”
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Among those in attendance was Rupert Murdoch, who sat next to Starmer’s under-fire chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.
The visit, which has been marked by protests involving an estimated 5,000 people in London and a much smaller number in Windsor, comes after two bruising weeks for Starmer that saw him lose both his deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, and his US ambassador, raising questions about his political judgment and ability to lead his party into the next election.
At the Stop Trump Coalition protest in London, the musician Billy Bragg performed songs aimed at the US president featuring the lyrics “you fascists are bound to lose”. The president came to Britain because he “wants to feel like a king”, Bragg claimed.
The comedian Nish Kumar launched a blow-up ball with the vice-president JD Vance’s face on it into the crowd. “Donald Trump is a lightning rod [for] white supremacist groups and racists around the world,” he said.
Every effort was put on to impress Trump in Windsor but a flypast of F-35 jets above Windsor Castle had to be cancelled due to poor weather and at times the president appeared bored.
Keir Starmer has come under fire for inviting Trump on a second state visit. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian
Trump laid a wreath at the late Queen Elizabeth’s tomb inside St George’s Chapel and he was given a tour with his wife that included Henry VIII’s burial vault and a memorial plate in honour of Sir Winston Churchill. “This was a great honour,” the president said.
Trump and his wife also joined the king and queen to inspect artefacts pertaining to British-American relations.
“Wow,” Trump said as he looked at documents about US independence. “That’s fascinating,” said Charles as he pointed out another table, detailing the transatlantic cable used for communication between the two countries. Trump agreed: “That’s so amazing.”
Members of the royal family joined the US president for lunch in the state dining room along with the new interim ambassador to the US, James Roscoe, and Trump’s entourage.
The president and the king chatted amiably throughout the day but Trump appeared to breach an unofficial protocol by twice touching the monarch’s back.
On Wednesday, YouGov released new polling that suggested that more than half of Britons think the Trump presidency has been bad for the UK. Fewer than one person in 10 thinks it has been good.
Britons were said to be fairly evenly divided between those who think Starmer has been too positive towards Trump (30%) and those who think he has got the balance right (27%), the poll suggests.
To mark his second state visit, Starmer will give Trump a bespoke ministerial red box adorned with the presidential seal and title. The first lady will receive a colourful silk scarf based on artwork created by Ukrainian children, in a nod to her work raising awareness of their plight. The Trumps will receive the gifts during their visit to Chequers on Thursday.
Two people were arrested in Windsor over public order incidents linked to Trump’s visit, Thames Valley police said.
It’s been a very busy year for Taylor Swift. She’s fresh off of her record-breaking Eras Tour, she just regained ownership of all of her master recordings, and she recently got engaged to Travis Kelce. If this was a movie, well, the credits would be playing right now.
But if I’ve learned anything from following Taylor Swift, it’s that she never stops creating. In fact, her twelfth studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, drops in just two weeks. The studio isn’t the only place where she gets in the creative mood though. On a recent episode of the New Heights podcast, Taylor revealed some of her favorite hobbies. Or, as she put it, “I’d say all my hobbies could be categorized as, like, hobbies you could have had in the 1700s.”
We know Taylor likes baking cookies, and it turns out that another of those hobbies is making sourdough bread. I need to know who feeds her starter when she’s on tour! Details aside, I’ve been trying to get motivated to get back into sourdough. The stars seem to have aligned, because Aldi just dropped a sourdough kit that has everything you need. Or should I say, knead.
What’s in Aldi’s sourdough kit?
Courtesy Aldi
Making sourdough bread requires a few advanced techniques and special tools. Think of this Aldi sourdough kit as having everything but the sourdough starter. It includes:
Bench scraper: You’ll need this to divide the dough and to shape the dough into a loaf while creating surface tension.
Dough whisk: Different from French whisks and flat whisks, a dough whisk is made specifically for thicker batters and doughs.
Lame with two blades: Bread lames are one of the essential bread baking tools. Use these to score your loaves with all sorts of designs (besides aesthetics, scoring bread lets steam escape for a more even bake).
Proofing basket: Also called a banneton, this is a lined basket that helps keep the shape of your loaf while it proofs.
The best part is that you get all of these materials for $14.99. It’s an incredible value, especially since you can use these tools over and over again to make plenty of loaves.
When is Aldi’s sourdough kit available?
This kit is available right now at Aldi stores nationwide, while supplies last. Since it’s an Aldi Find, it lives by the store’s “here today, gone tomorrow” credo. That means that once they’re sold out, they’re gone for good. So if you’re ready to enter your sourdough era, then it’s time to take a “Getaway Car” to Aldi!
Wednesday, September 17th, 2025
Posted by Jim Thacker
Ton Roosendaal is to stop down as chairman and Blender CEO on 1 January 2026. The news was announced during today’s keynote at the annual Blender Conference.
Roosendaal – the original author of the open-source 3D software, and its public figurehead for the past three decades – will pass on his roles to current Blender COO Francesco Siddi.
Roosendaal himself will move to the newly established Blender Foundation supervisory board.
Other new Blender Foundation board positions will also include Sergey Sharybin (Head of Development), Dalai Felinto (Head of Product) and Fiona Cohen (Head of Operations).
“We’ve been preparing for this since 2019,” said Roosendaal, “I am very proud to have such a wonderfully talented young team around me to bring our free and open source project into the next decade.”
We aim to update this story with a brief retrospective of Ton’s time as Blender CEO and the growth of Blender during that time, so check back for updates.
Read the official announcement that Ton Roosendaal is stepping down as Blender CEO
Thanks to our old friend Ken Gruberman, who wrote on TidBITS Talk in response to “When Should You Upgrade to Apple’s OS 26 Releases?” (15 September 2025):
If you have an M3 Ultra Mac Studio, like me, the answer is NEVER. That’s because macOS 26 Tahoe WILL NOT INSTALL on these machines; you can’t update the existing system nor install it onto an external drive.
Others are also reporting the issue on the Apple Support Community, so it’s not an isolated problem. While some Apple support reps may not yet be aware of the issue, the growing number of reports suggests that Apple’s engineers are working on a fix. In the meantime, M3 Ultra Mac Studio users should either stay on their current version of macOS or upgrade to macOS 15.7 Sequoia for the latest security fixes. Given the high-end nature of the affected machines and embarrassing nature of the lapse, I expect Apple to address this issue quickly, likely within days.
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EVD is a severe, often fatal illness in humans caused by infection with the Ebola virus. It is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in human populations through direct contact with blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected individuals, and through contaminated surfaces and materials. The average case fatality rate is around 50 per cent but can vary from 25 to 90 per cent depending on the outbreak and the timeliness of treatment and control measures. Case numbers are evolving rapidly. As of the 14 September reporting cycle, 30 cases have been confirmed and 27 deaths have been reported, including four health workers. There are 43 suspected cases across four districts including Bulape, Mweka, Mushenge and Kanzala, and contacts have been traced to Tshikapa, reflecting ongoing investigations and data consolidation. Operational constraints are significant. Road access from Kinshasa can take up to three days and the nearest isolation unit has roughly 15 beds, well below current needs. Surveillance, contact tracing and Safe & Dignified Burials (SDB) must scale up quickly as well to interrupt transmission chains. Currently, 2,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine are pre-positioned in Kinshasa for ring vaccination of contacts and frontline workers.
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this view of a mountain nearly 57 miles (91 kilometers) away and outside of Gale Crater, where Curiosity landed in 2012. The rover is currently in the foothills of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain within the crater.
Estimated to be 8,202 feet (2,500 meters) tall, the mountain’s summit just peeks over the crater rim in the panorama. It has never been viewed with this much detail. Toward the lower left, dark rocky outcrops are visible.
Curiosity captured the view with its black-and-white Remote Micro Imager, or RMI. Part of the rover’s ChemCam instrument, RMI can be used like a small telescope to see distant features, creating a circular “spyglass” view. Ten RMI images taken on Aug. 28, 2025 (the 4,643rd Martian day, or sol of the mission) were stitched together to create the mosaic.
Curiosity was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, in Los Alamos, New Mexico, developed ChemCam in partnership with scientists and engineers funded by the French national space agency (CNES), the University of Toulouse, and the French national research agency (CNRS).
