LARAY STRATEGIC ADVISORY @ArrayConsult

The man who accused me of ''witchcraft'' - after every other attack had failed - continues to champion institutional narcissism. Yet the message for him is clear: Enough with the bullying. Not every UN senior official accepts to be intimidated into silence.

Ahmed Shihab-Eldin @aseisfree

3 days ago

BREAKING: Israeli ambassador Danny Danon lost it on camera at the UN after Israel was added to a blacklist of parties suspected of conflict-related sexual violence. At a meeting Friday, Danon erupted at UN officials, demanded the resignation of Pramila Patten, the UN’s special

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A Japanese immunologist spent 20 years proving that the chemicals trees release into the air walk into your bloodstream, hunt down your stress hormones, and arm your immune system in ways no therapist or pharmaceutical has ever matched, and most of the data has been sitting in Japanese medical journals for two decades waiting to be translated. His name is Qing Li. He is a clinical professor at Nippon Medical School in Tokyo and the president of the Japanese Society of Forest Medicine. The Japanese government has been funding his research since 2004, and the body of work he has produced is the reason forest bathing is now an officially prescribed clinical therapy in Japan and Korea. The story actually starts in 1982, when the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries coined the term shinrin-yoku to describe the practice of slow, mindful walking in a forest. They did it for a practical reason. Japan was urbanizing fast, stress-related illness was climbing, and the country had thousands of square kilometers of forest sitting unused. The idea was to give people a reason to walk into the trees... They had no idea what was actually happening to the human body during those walks until Qing Li ran the first proper experiment in 2005. He took twelve healthy adult men on a three-day, two-night trip to a forest park. They walked for a few hours each day. Nothing strenuous. No prescribed routes or breathing exercises. They simply walked slowly through the trees, breathing the air, looking at the forest. Li drew blood and urine samples before the trip, on the second day, on the third day, on day seven after returning home, and again on day thirty. The numbers that came back from the lab were not what anyone expected. The activity of a specific type of immune cell called the natural killer cell, which is the cell your body uses to hunt down cancer cells and virus-infected cells before they can spread, had jumped by roughly 50 percent during the forest trip. The actual number of natural killer cells circulating in the bloodstream had increased significantly. Three different anti-cancer proteins that those cells produce, called perforin, granzymes, and granulysin, had all risen sharply. And the effect did not disappear when the men went home. The immune boost was still measurable on day seven and was still partially present on day thirty. Two hours a day in a forest had upgraded the immune system for a full month. Li ran the same experiment with women a year later and found nearly identical results. Then he ran it with a control group who took a three-day trip through an urban area with the same amount of walking, the same hotel quality, and the same diet. The urban group showed no measurable change in natural killer cell activity at all. The forest was doing the work, not the vacation. The mechanism turned out to be a class of airborne molecules called phytoncides. Trees produce these compounds to defend themselves against insects, bacteria, and fungi. Pine, cedar, oak, and cypress trees release them in particularly large amounts, especially in warmer weather and after rainfall. When you walk through a forest, you are inhaling those molecules into your lungs and absorbing them through your skin, and once inside your body they appear to directly stimulate the production and activity of the very immune cells Li was measuring in his lab. Roughly 50 percent of the health benefit of a forest walk, according to Li's data, comes from the chemistry of the air itself. The other half comes from what the forest is doing to your nervous system. This is where it stops being only about the immune system and starts being about stress. A separate Japanese research team measured cortisol, the body's main stress hormone, in 84 participants across 35 different forest sites. They drew samples before and after a 30-minute walk in each forest and compared them to control walks in matched urban environments. The cortisol levels of the people who walked in the forest were lower than the cortisol levels of the people who walked in the city by a significant margin. Their heart rates were lower. Their blood pressure was lower. The activity of their parasympathetic nervous system, which is the part responsible for rest and recovery, had gone up. The activity of their sympathetic nervous system, which is the part that drives fight or flight, had gone down. Then a researcher at the University of Michigan named MaryCarol Hunter ran the cleanest version of this experiment ever done. She recruited participants from a city and told them to take a nature pill three times a week for eight weeks. They were free to choose the time, the place, and the duration of the nature experience, as long as it was outside, in daylight, and free of phones, conversations, and aerobic exercise. They sent her saliva samples before and after each session so she could measure cortisol changes accurately and rule out the normal daily drop in stress hormones that happens to everyone. The result was that participants experienced a 21.3 percent drop in cortisol per hour spent in nature, with the biggest payoff happening between minutes 20 and 30 of the walk. After that, the cortisol kept dropping, but more slowly. The threshold dose for measurable stress relief was just 20 minutes outside in something that looked and felt like nature. What none of this means is that nature is a substitute for therapy or for medication when someone genuinely needs them. Therapy treats different things than a walk does, and Li himself has been careful in interviews to call forest bathing a complementary intervention rather than a replacement for clinical care. But what the research has settled is that the human body has a physiological response to being among trees that operates on the same biological systems modern medicine is trying to reach with drugs and clinical protocols, and that response is fast, measurable, and free. The strangest part of Li's work is the implication he keeps repeating in interviews. The average person now spends more than 90 percent of their life indoors. Their cortisol stays elevated. Their natural killer cells stay sluggish. Their parasympathetic nervous system rarely gets a chance to take over. The system that was tuned by millions of years of life under a canopy of trees is being asked to run permanently inside a box made of drywall and screens. Your body has not forgotten what it is supposed to do in a forest. It is waiting for you to walk into one.

i watched every single major western news outlet deny the most obvious genocide in history

BBC News (UK) @BBCNews

7 days ago

Trust in news hits a new low, research suggests bbc.in/4uFL0Zz

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📢RÉSERVEZ LA DATE Le Forum sur le commerce numérique de la #ZLECAf 2026 se tiendra les 1er et 2 juillet 2026 à Lagos, Nigéria sous le thème : « Le commerce numérique pour un marché africain connecté » Rejoignez décideurs, entreprises, innovateurs et acteurs du commerce pour façonner l’avenir du commerce numérique africain. Informations d’inscription à venir. #CreatingOneAfricanMarket #DTF26 #ZLECAf #TheAfricaWeWant

@FdedFded1 Bonne année à toute l’équipe du @FdedFded1 !

“Djibouti is not just a port state or a city state. It's also a garrison state.” 🎙️ Samson Abebe Bezabeh @HKUniversity discusses how Djibouti benefits from hosting foreign military bases. crisisgroup.org/pod/africa/dji…

The Iranian navy, which has been destroyed eight times, has apparently closed the Strait of Hormuz again, because the United States, for the seventh time, won the war that wasn’t a war, so now the United States has to open the Strait of Hormuz that was already open before the not-war began. The not-war began because Iran had uranium that was totally, completely, beautifully obliterated, so they can’t build the nuclear bomb they weren’t building, which is why the United States had to start the not-war it definitely didn’t start. Now the United States, which has nuclear weapons, is threatening to use nuclear weapons to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons, because nuclear weapons are far too dangerous for countries with nuclear weapons to allow other countries to have. If the United States saw the United States doing what the United States does in other countries, the United States would invade the United States to liberate the United States from the tyranny of the United States.

À Lomé, Biashara Afrika 2026 a acté un déplacement: la ZLECAf quitte le terrain des principes pour celui de la mise en œuvre. Jour 3: commerce intra-africain, chaînes de valeur, industrialisation, commerce numérique, convergence réglementaire. L'intégration se jugera à la transformation économique qu'elle produit. Vous en pensez quoi? Répondez et retweetez. #BA2026 #CréerUnSeulMarchéAfricain

Abyssinia with Eritrea and British, Italian & French Somaliland By George Philip & Son Published by the London Geographical Institute London, 1930

Comment l’Afrique peut transformer ses zones économiques spéciales en un puissant levier d’industrialisation (Rapport) agenceecofin.com/actualites/030…

🇫🇷 🌐 #France is currently home to more than 350 #data centres, with the largest located just on the outskirts of Paris. Japanese tech giant #SoftBank has pledged €45 billion of investment in France by 2031, part of which will be dedicated to building three more data centres. France is positioning itself as an ideal location to build the behemoth buildings, but locals around proposed data centre sites have raised concerns about their land and electricity use.

À l'ouverture du Korea-Africa Business Forum 2026, S.E. Wamkele Mene, Secrétaire général du Secrétariat de la ZLECAf, a souligné l'évolution des relations entre l'Afrique et la Corée : d'une coopération au développement classique vers un partenariat stratégique porté par le commerce, l'investissement, l'industrialisation et l'innovation. Dans son intervention, il a mis en avant les opportunités qui émergent sous la ZLECAf dans des secteurs comme l'industrie automobile, les produits pharmaceutiques, la transformation des minerais stratégiques et le commerce numérique. Il a relevé que le marché intégré africain de 1,4 milliard de personnes et la montée en puissance des chaînes de valeur régionales représentent des opportunités sérieuses pour les entreprises coréennes. Le Secrétaire général a également insisté sur le fait que les Protocoles de la ZLECAf sur l'investissement et le commerce numérique apportent davantage de certitude, de prévisibilité et d'accès au marché pour les investisseurs, renforçant l'attractivité de l'Afrique comme destination d'investissement. S.E. Mene a appelé à des partenariats interentreprises plus étroits et à un engagement accru du secteur privé, réaffirmant que l'Afrique est ouverte aux affaires et prête à travailler avec la Corée pour ouvrir des opportunités de commerce et d'investissement mutuellement bénéfiques, au service de l'industrialisation, de la création d'emplois et d'une prospérité partagée. #ZLECAf #KoreaAfricaBusinessForum #CommerceEtInvestissement #Industrialisation #CommerceNumérique #PartenariatAfriqueCorée #CommerceIntraAfricain #Investissement #UnSeulMarchéAfricain

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Au cours de la table ronde du Comité économique Afrique-Corée, S.E. Wamkele Mene, Secrétaire général de la ZLECAf, a présenté la création du Comité d'affaires Afrique-Corée comme une étape dans la concrétisation des résultats du Sommet Afrique-Corée de 2024. En ouverture, il a souligné le rôle de cette plateforme pour resserrer les liens entre les secteurs privés coréen et africain et transformer les engagements pris au plus haut niveau en partenariats concrets, dans le commerce, l'investissement et l'industrie. Le Secrétaire général a mis en avant l'immense potentiel de l'Afrique dans l'industrie manufacturière, les minerais stratégiques, l'industrialisation verte et les investissements liés au climat. Il a réaffirmé l'engagement du continent en faveur d'un système commercial fondé sur des règles et les efforts en cours pour lever les obstacles au commerce afin de faciliter les affaires et l'investissement. S.E. Mene a invité les entreprises des deux régions à saisir les opportunités qui s'ouvrent et à nouer des partenariats durables et commercialement viables. Il a insisté sur un point : face à une incertitude mondiale croissante, l'Afrique et la Corée doivent agir ensemble pour bâtir davantage de stabilité, élargir les flux de commerce et d'investissement, et produire des résultats mesurables qui démontrent la solidité, la résilience et la valeur de ce partenariat. #ZLECAf #CréerUnSeulMarchéAfricain #AfriqueCorée #Industrialisation #Investissement #IntégrationRégionale

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🚨 LARAY’s Briefing Report is LIVE Read the full analysis here: open.substack.com/pub/laraystrat…

In Windhoek, H.E. Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, participated in the 25th Annual Lecture Series themed “Can Intra-African Trade Enhance Namibia’s Economy?”, organised by the Ministry of International Relations and Trade of the Republic of Namibia in honour of the late Dr Theo-Ben Gurirab, distinguished statesman and former President of the United Nations General Assembly. In his keynote address, the Secretary-General reaffirmed the importance of pan-African unity and economic integration, noting that amid ongoing geopolitical uncertainties and global economic disruptions, advancing intra-African trade remains central to Africa’s resilience and economic transformation. He further highlighted the need to address infrastructure constraints while leveraging Namibia’s strategic position as a logistics hub, and underscored the role of the AfCFTA in strengthening regional value chains, promoting intra-African trade, and supporting inclusive growth for youth, women, and MSMEs across Africa. #AfCFTA #CreatingOneAfricanMarket

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Africa’s next trade breakthrough? Not tariffs! Save the Date for the Africa Trade Development Forum (ATDF) 2026. This year, the biennial event is co-convened with the Government of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia. The high-level platform will bring together African governments, international partner capitals, businesses, investors, and trade experts to engineer the future of Africa’s exports, and by extension the continent's economic growth - through quality for market entry and sustained access. Look out for your invitation or details on how to apply for accreditation. ------------------------------------------------------------ La prochaine grande avancée commerciale de l’Afrique ? Ce ne sont pas les tarifs douaniers ! Réservez la date pour le Forum africain sur le commerce et le développement (ATDF) 2026. Cette année, l’événement biennal est coorganisé avec le Gouvernement de la République fédérale démocratique d’Éthiopie. Cette plateforme de haut niveau réunira des gouvernements africains, des partenaires internationaux, des entreprises, des investisseurs et des experts du commerce afin de concevoir l’avenir des exportations africaines — et, par extension, la croissance économique du continent — grâce à la qualité comme levier d’accès aux marchés et de maintien durable de cet accès. Restez à l’affût de votre invitation ou des informations sur les modalités de demande d’accréditation. #ATDF2026 #AfricaQualityExports @TCatalystAfrica @ethiop_mot

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Central Bank Revises FX Directive, Loosens Trade Finance Controls 🔗 Read the full story: thereporterethiopia.com/50848/

Happy #AfricaDay

Today marks a celebration of Africa's diversity, resilience, and potential. #AfricaDay reaffirms the continent's shared vision for unity and prosperity. TradeMark Africa supports this vision by growing intra-African trade, reducing barriers, and creating opportunities that lift communities across the continent. From border efficiency to digital innovation, from empowering vulnerable groups to building sustainable trade corridors, every step forward moves toward the Africa TradeMark Africa believes in. Together, let us keep Africa trading and thriving. #AfricaDay #KeepAfricaTrading

In my own words I caution that assuming the Middle East’s historic focus on development of petroleum resources means the region is not endowed with minerals including those critical for energy transition would be a premature for some countries and an incorrect for others. Sheila Khama - YouTube Subscribe to sheilakhama.com/podcast/ to receive an alert on this and other series. @AfricanAmdc @IGFMining @CCSI_Columbia @KACST #Saudi_Geological_Survey @CSIR @MaadenKSA @PolicyCenterNS