With the acceleration of urbanization, urban road networks, as core components of urban transport and planning systems, face challenges in balancing sustainability, multimodal mobility, and functional efficiency. The concept of urban road network hierarchy, which involves street classification and prioritization, remains ill-defined in transport engineering management—raising critical questions about its nature as a planning tool or urban essence, its qualitative/quantitative attributes, and its organic or planned origins. However, existing research lacks comprehensive answers to these questions, limiting its guidance for sustainable transport futures.
Therefore, Stefanos TSIGDINOS, Alexandros NIKITAS, and Efthimios BAKOGIANNIS from the National Technical University of Athens (Greece) and the University of Huddersfield (UK) jointly conducted a research entitled “Contextualizing urban road network hierarchy and its role for sustainable transport futures: A systematic literature review using bibliometric analysis and content analysis tools”.
This study adopts a systematic literature review (SLR) approach, combining quantitative bibliometric analysis and qualitative content analysis to contextualize the urban road network hierarchy. A total of 42 articles from Scopus-indexed journals (published 2000–2022) were analyzed. The research results show that the urban road network hierarchy encompasses 16 sub-concepts and four main research trends: a) road morphology and structure, b) advanced algorithms for street classification, c) integrated street classification planning, and d) the social dimension of street classification. Recent literature indicates a clear shift from car-centric conventional hierarchy to alternative approaches prioritizing sustainable mobility. Additionally, the urban road network hierarchy is identified as a multifaceted yet under-researched “vehicle for change”—when utilized effectively, it offers opportunities to reimagine human-centric, multimodal urban road environments, with significant implications for integrated urban and transport planning.
The paper “Contextualizing urban road network hierarchy and its role for sustainable transport futures: A systematic literature review using bibliometric analysis and content analysis tools” authored by Stefanos TSIGDINOS, Alexandros NIKITAS, Efthimios BAKOGIANNIS. Full text of the open access paper: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42524-024-0300-x.
Iron ore headed for its third weekly gain as data showed steel mill activity resumed rapidly after China’s military parade and supplies from a major export hub slowed.
Futures of the steelmaking ingredient reached their highest since February earlier this week — above $107 a ton — before trimming gains. The price traded between narrow gains on losses on Friday on the Singapore Exchange.
Children stroll in front of the parliament building in Kathmandu, which still bears the scars after being set on fire by protesters.—Reuters
• Youth, upset by their leaders’ lavish lifestyle, brought the nation of 30m to a standstill • Stormed parliament, set ablaze luxury hotels, attacked houses of ‘corrupt politicians’ • President seeks end to crisis; PM resigns; ex-chief justice tipped to lead political transition
KATHMANDU: Protests fuelled by a youth-led ‘Gen Z’ movement against corruption and inequality engulfed Nepal this week, forcing the prime minister to resign after demonstrators stormed parliament in the Himalayan nation’s worst upheaval in years.
Amid the chaos, arsonists attacked luxury hotels and the residences of political leaders, reflecting a deep-seated public anger at the lavish lifestyle of the elites in one of the world’s poorest countries.
Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, 73, an unpopular four-time leader, resigned on Tuesday, a day after 19 protesters were killed in clashes with security forces. The death toll has since risen to 34, with more than 1,300 people injured, according to Nepal’s health ministry.
The demonstrations, popularly called the “Gen Z” protests as most participants were in their teens or early 20s, have brought the nation of 30 million to a standstill. The army has imposed a curfew, with soldiers patrolling the largely quiet streets of Kathmandu for a second day.
As protesters set fire to government buildings including the parliament, the prime minister’s office and the Supreme Court, arsonists also targeted five-star hotels like the Hilton, the Hyatt Regency and the Varnabas Museum Hotel.
The homes of politicians, including Oli, were also attacked. His whereabouts remain unknown.
The Hyatt Regency, located near the significant Buddhist site of Boudhanath Stupa, was damaged, front office manager Bhushan Rane told Reuters. He confirmed no guests or staff were injured and said the hotel would remain closed until further notice.
At the Kathmandu Hilton, a five-star glass tower that opened last year, black plumes of smoke billowed into the sky after it was torched. A Hilton spokesperson said the property sustained damage and was closed after guests and staff were safely evacuated.
Leaders of the protest movement have distanced themselves from the arson attacks, blaming infiltrators for the violence. But analysts point to mounting frustration over wealth inequality and perceived corruption within the political establishment.
President seeks end to crisis
President Ramchandra Paudel on Thursday appealed for calm, saying he was seeking a swift end to the crisis.
“I am consulting and making every effort to find a way out of the current difficult situation in the country, within the constitutional framework,” Paudel said.
Army Chief General Ashok Raj Sigdel has launched talks with key political figures and “representatives of Gen Z,” a military spokesperson said.
Protest leaders said their primary demand is the overhaul of the current political system.
“Our first demand is the dissolution of parliament,” Sudan Gurung, a key figure among the protesters, told reporters on Thursday.
He insisted the movement was not seeking power for itself. “My humble request to everyone, including political parties: please don’t send the same old leaders. We don’t need positions in government. We need real reform.”
The unrest taps into longstanding economic woes in Nepal, where GDP per capita is just $1,447 and more than a fifth of people aged 15-24 are unemployed, according to the World Bank.
With much of the old guard having vanished from public view, the search is on for an interim leader. Sushila Karki, 73, Nepal’s first female chief justice, has emerged as a leading choice, according to protest representatives, though her backing is not unanimous.
Rakshya Bam, an activist present at the army meeting, said, “Right now, Sushila Karki’s name is coming up to lead the interim government.”
Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah, 35, posted on Facebook that he “fully supports the proposal” of Justice Karki leading an interim government to hold new elections.
Inequality
The Gen Z movement gained traction in recent months through posts on TikTok, Instagram and other social media sites allegedly showing the children of Nepal’s leaders enjoying designer clothes and pricey vacations.
The images contrasted sharply with the reality for many young Nepalis, thousands of whom leave the country daily seeking economic opportunities abroad.
“That is the frustration of the common people,” said retired Supreme Court justice Balaram K.C. “You people who are supposed to run the country in an honest way, you are taking care of yourself and your relatives and no one else.”
The chaos escalated as more than 13,500 prisoners broke out of jails nationwide, with security forces scrambling to recapture them. Only about 250 have been retaken, officials said.
• ‘Shame’ Israel still denying media access to Gaza, says watchdog • Palestinians face new dilemma as IDF troops advance, drop leaflets
STRASBOURG: EU lawmakers on Thursday called to sanction two “extremist” Israeli ministers and curb trade ties over the war in Gaza, backing up a push from European Commission boss Ursula von der Leyen.
The EU chief said on Wednesday in her keynote annual address to the European Parliament that she would propose those steps — putting the ball in the court of the bloc’s member states.
But it will be very difficult to get the measures through given deep divisions between the European Union’s 27 countries over Israel’s war in Gaza.
The European Parliament said it had voted a non-binding resolution that “endorses the Commission president’s decision to suspend EU bilateral support to Israel, and to partially suspend the EU-Israel agreement as regards trade”.
Shame’ Israel still denying media access to Gaza, says watchdog
It said it also “calls for sanctions” on Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
The EU has faced increasing criticism for failing to act more strongly over the situation in Gaza.
‘Stop killing journalists’
The Foreign Press Association condemned Israel on Thursday for continuing to deny independent access to foreign journalists nearly two years into the war in Gaza.
“Israel must stop killing journalists in Gaza and give the foreign press free and independent access to the territory,” said the association, which has more than 350 members working for foreign media outlets in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
“This continued and institutionalised delay in the process is a mark of shame on Israel and its allies, who have too often chosen not to speak up in defence of basic press freedoms,” the board of the association said in a statement.
The association pointed out that Israel’s supreme court had repeatedly postponed hearings on its petition demanding access to Gaza. The association “notes with dismay that it has been a full year since it submitted its second petition to the Israeli Supreme Court for free and independent access to Gaza”, the statement said.
“Despite the urgency, the court has repeatedly agreed to the government’s request for delays and postponed one hearing after another.”
The association also slammed Israel for targeting Palestinian journalists operating inside Gaza. “Palestinian journalists have been directly targeted. Places where they habitually gathered have been bombed,” it said, adding that at least 200 of them have been killed by Israeli fire.
“Despite all of these dangers, they continue to inform the world while facing not only violence, but also hunger and repeated displacement.”
Last month, Israeli strikes on a hospital in Gaza killed more than 20 people, including five journalists, according to local authorities.
The FPA also criticised Israeli leaders and the military for going to “extreme lengths to discredit the work of our Palestinian colleagues, and to a great extent, the work of the foreign press as a whole”.
New dilemma for Palestinians
Palestinians in the relatively unscathed Al-Naser area of Gaza City were having to decide whether to stay or go on Thursday after the Israeli military dropped leaflets warning that troops would take control of the western neighbourhood.
Israel has ordered the hundreds of thousands of people living in Gaza City to leave as it intensifies its all-out war on the Palestinian group Hamas, but with little safety, space and food in the rest of Gaza, people face dire choices.
“It has been almost two years, with no rest, no settling down, not even sleep,” said Ahmed Al-Dayeh, a father, as he and his family prepared to flee the city in a truck pulled by a motorcycle, laden with some of their belongings.
“Our life revolves around war,” he said. “We have to go from this area to that area. We can’t take it anymore, we are tired.”
Israeli strikes killed 34 people across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, according to medics and local health authorities, including 22 in Gaza City and 12 in the central and southern parts of the territory.
Seven of those killed were searching for food when they were hit, the Palestinian officials said.
Israeli ground troops had operated in parts of Al-Naser at the start of the war in October 2023, and the leaflets dropped late on Wednesday left residents fearful that tanks would soon advance to occupy the entire neighbourhood. On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it struck 360 targets in Gaza.
People are exposed to millions of fungal spores every day, even potentially harmful ones like those from Aspergillus fumigatus. For most individuals, this constant exposure is harmless, as the immune system efficiently clears the spores without causing illness. However, for a growing number of people with weakened immune systems due to cancer, organ transplants, or chronic diseases, Aspergillus spores can lead to life-threatening infections known as aspergillosis. Thus, understanding the specific immune mechanisms that fight fungal infections is essential for developing therapies and improving outcomes for those affected.
Scientists have long studied a family of sensor proteins called C-type lectin receptors (CLRs), which are crucial for detecting and eliminating pathogens. Most CLRs act like a car’s gas pedal, initiating powerful immune responses to attack invading microbes. However, one specific CLR, the dendritic cell immunoreceptor (Dcir), is a known immunoregulator that instead acts like a brake, dampening immune responses. While its role in limiting inflammation and autoimmunity is well-documented, its precise function during fungal infections remains unclear.
In a recent study, a research team led by Associate Professor Shinobu Saijo and Assistant Professor Fabio Seiti Yamada Yoshikawa of the Medical Mycology Research Center at Chiba University, Japan, tackled this knowledge gap. Using mouse models, the team investigated how Dcir influences the host response to Aspergillus fumigatus, focusing on how it affects a key immune cell type. The study was published in Volume 16 of the journal Frontiers in Immunology on August 4, 2025.
Initial experiments revealed that mice lacking Dcir (or ‘Dcir-knockout’) were significantly better at clearing the fungal infection from their lungs and spleen compared to wild-type mice. To understand why the absence of this receptor improved the immune response, the team focused on neutrophils, which are the primary immune cells responsible for combating this type of infection. They discovered that the protective effect of Dcir deficiency was entirely dependent on neutrophils, as depleting these cells in Dcir-knockout mice eliminated the enhanced fungal clearance they had previously observed.
The researchers then moved on to in vitro experiments, for which they isolated neutrophils from the Dcir-knockout mice. “Neutrophils eliminate pathogens via phagocytosis, programmed cell death, oxidative stress, and degranulation,” explains Dr. Fabio Seiti Yamada Yoshikawa. “We sought to pinpoint the exact effector mechanism through which Dcir regulates fungicidal activity againstA. fumigatus.” The team confirmed that these neutrophils were more effective at killing fungal hyphae-the filamentous structures that make up the main body of the fungus-through degranulation. This is a powerful process in which neutrophils release their internal store of enzymes, destroying pathogens too large to be engulfed. Neutrophils from Dcir-deficient mice exhibited significantly higher degranulation activity, which the researchers linked to increased intracellular calcium mobilization and the activation of a specific signaling protein called PLCγ2. Conversely, when they blocked the degranulation process with a drug, the protective effect of Dcir deficiency disappeared, both in vitro and in the mouse model.
By acting as a negative regulator of neutrophil degranulation, Dcir essentially puts a brake on the immune system, limiting its effectiveness against A. fumigatus. Overall, these findings broaden our understanding of CLR functions in host defense, highlighting an additional level of complexity in host–fungi interactions that could be leveraged in clinical practice. “The identification of Dcir as a receptor involved in the host defense to Aspergillus fumigatus suggests that it can be a potential target for pharmacological interventions, helping in the treatment of patients affected by this infection,” notes Dr. Saijo. “Our work thus opens new avenues of investigation that can help improve the current understanding of aspergillosis and its management.”
Further research will focus on whether genetic variations in the Dcir gene are associated with the severity of aspergillosis in humans and on identifying the specific molecules on Aspergillus that Dcir recognizes. With any luck, these efforts will ultimately lead to better options for those at higher risk of fungal infection.
Source:
Journal reference:
Yoshikawa, F. S. Y., et al. (2025) . (2025). The C-type lectin receptor Dcir (Clec4a2) restrains Aspergillus fumigatus elimination by limiting the degranulatory activity of neutrophils. Frontiers in Immunology. doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2025.1639400
STOCKHOLM: Press freedom across the globe have plummeted to their lowest point in half a century, as indicated by a recent report from a democracy think tank, coinciding with the United States plans to significantly shorten the stay of foreign journalists in the country.
Afghanistan, Burkina Faso and Myanmar — already among the poorest performers in press freedoms — posted the biggest falls, the report by the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) said.
The fourth-biggest drop was in South Korea, it added, citing “a spike in defamation cases initiated by the government and its political allies against journalists, and raids on journalists’ residences”.
“The current state of democracy in the world is concerning,” IDEA secretary general Kevin Casas-Zamora, secretary general told AFP.
Over 100 media groups urge US not to reduce duration of foreign journalists’ stay
More than half of countries in the world (54 percent), registered a drop in one of the five key democracy indicators between 2019 and 2024, the report said.
“The most important finding in our report is the very acute deterioration in press freedom around the world,” Casas-Zamora said.
Between 2019 and 2024, it saw “the biggest drop over the past 50 years”.
“We’ve never seen such an acute deterioration in a key indicator of democratic health,” he said.
Press freedoms declined in 43 countries across all continents, including 15 in Africa and 15 in Europe.
“There’s a toxic brew that is coming together, which involves, on the one hand, heavy-handed interventions on the part of governments,” some of them “legacies of what happened during the pandemic”.
On the other hand, “you have the very negative impact of disinformation, some of which is real disinformation and some of which is used as a pretext by governments to clamp down on press freedoms”.
The think tank is concerned about the consolidation of traditional media worldwide, as well as the “disappearance in many countries of local media which plays a very important role in supporting a democratic debate”, Casas-Zamora said.
The report only covers the period 2019 to 2024 and does not include the first effects of US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January.
But “some of the things that we saw during the election at the end of last year and in the first few months of 2025 are fairly disturbing”, Casas-Zamora said.
“Since what happens in the US has this ability to go global, this does not bode well for democracy globally,” he added.
Slashing journalist visas
Meanwhile, more than 100 international media groups and industry bodies urged Washington not to slash the time foreign journalists can stay in the United States, saying the planned change would hurt its image abroad.
President Donald Trump’s plan would “reduce the quantity and quality of coverage coming from the US” and “damage, not enhance, America’s global standing”, AFP news agency and 117 other signatories to a joint statement wrote.
Backers of the appeal ranged from international news agencies like AFP and Reuters, to public broadcasters including Britain’s BBC, Germany’s ARD and Australia’s ABC, national newspapers like Canada’s Globe and Mail or the Irish Times and press freedom groups including Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The Trump administration last month trailed plans to slash journalists’ stays to a renewable 240-day period — or just 90 days for Chinese media workers — alongside a four-year limit on student visas.
Current rules allow journalists to stay in the US for up to five years, meaning they “gain the deep knowledge, trusted networks and contextual immersion needed to explain America to global audiences”, the signatories said.
“This serves a critical US interest: ensuring that America’s policies, culture, and leadership are clearly and accurately communicated to international audiences in their own languages,” they added.
Slashing the length of journalists’ stays risks leaving the world less informed about American news and current affairs, the news organisations said on Thursday.
Rival nations and powerful adversaries will waste no time in filling the resulting vacuum with narratives about the US that serve their own interests before the truth, they added.
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SpaceX continued its busy 2025 tonight (Sept. 11), sending a satellite high above Earth for an Indonesian telecom company.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Nusantara Lima satellite lifted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 9:56 p.m. EDT (0156 GMT on Sept. 12), after being grounded for three days by bad weather.
The rocket’s first stage returned to Earth as planned about 8.5 minutes later, touching down on the SpaceX drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas,” which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is seen in silhouette, backlit by the lights on the ocean-based droneship that supported its landing on Sept. 11, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX)
It was the 23rd launch and landing for this particular booster (which is known by the designation 1078), according to a SpaceX mission description. That’s seven short of the company’s reflight record, which was set late last month on a launch of SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites.
Previous Booster 1078 launches
The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, continued carrying Nusantara Lima skyward. The satellite was deployed into geosynchronous transfer orbit on schedule, 27.5 minutes after liftoff.
The satellite, which was built by Boeing, will set up shop in geosynchronous orbit (GEO), 22,236 miles (35,785 kilometers) above Earth. Orbital speed matches Earth’s rotational speed at that altitude, allowing spacecraft to “hover” over one patch of the planet. GEO is therefore a popular orbit for communications, weather and reconnaissance spacecraft.
Nusantara Lima is expected to start work in 2026 after completing a series of checkouts. PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN), Indonesia’s first satellite-based private telecom company, will use the spacecraft to beam service to customers across Indonesia’s 17,000 islands, as well as in neighboring countries.
Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!
“Indonesia was one of the first nations to adopt satellite communications to connect its citizens, and Nusantara Lima continues that legacy,” Adi Rahman Adiwoso, CEO of PSN Group, said in a Boeing statement last month.
“This satellite will empower communities, schools, and businesses that have never had reliable access before,” Adiwoso added. Nusantara Lima, “with the capacity of more than 160 Gbps, will strengthen our capability to provide national capacity for our nation[al] needs. Our partnership with Boeing and our global technology partners is about making sure no one is left behind as Indonesia grows.”
The Nusantara Lima satellite is seen after its deployment in the light of an orbital sunrise on Sept. 11, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX)
Tonight’s launch was the 114th Falcon 9 mission of 2025. More than 70% of these flights have been dedicated to building out the Starlink megaconstellation in low Earth orbit, which consists of more than 8,300 operational satellites and is growing all the time.
SpaceX has also launched four other missions so far this year. They were test flights of its next-generation Starship megarocket, which the company is developing to help humanity settle Mars, among other goals. The most recent Starship launch occurred on Aug. 26 and was a complete success, according to SpaceX.
