Washington, DC - The United States welcomes The Sentry’s report chronicling public corruption among South Sudan’s leaders, including President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar.

San Diego, California - A study released this week (Sept. 12, 2016) is shedding new light on how scientists evaluate polar bear diet and weight loss during their fasting season. On average, a polar bear loses up to 30 percent of its total body mass while fasting during the open-water season. Although some scientists previously believed land-based foods could supplement the bears’ nutritional needs until the sea ice returns, a new study by San Diego Zoo Global conservationists published in the scientific journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology has revealed that access to terrestrial food is not sufficient to reduce the rate of body mass loss for fasting polar bears.

Washington, DC - If you’ve ever used a device that picks up signals over the air, you know that sometimes you just can’t get the signal to come in clearly. You point the device every which way, move it all around the room, do a little dance, but nothing seems to work. There doesn’t seem to be any explanation. Maybe it’s sunspots, who knows? While that’s an annoyance for us, sometimes people’s lives depend on that signal getting through. People like firefighters. One of my group’s more recent projects has been to help make sure that their signals get through, wherever they are.

San Diego, California - Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy in Samburu County of northern Kenya has opened the first community owned and managed elephant orphanage in Africa. The Reteti Elephant Sanctuary is situated in the remote Mathews Range, among Kenya’s second largest elephant population. It will take in orphaned and abandoned elephant calves, with an aim to release them back into the wild herds adjoining the sanctuary. This is the result of a widely recognized and expanding grassroots movement of community-driven conservation across northern Kenya—a movement that is growing new economies, transforming lives and conserving natural resources.

Washington, DC - The United States and Cuba held the inaugural Economic Dialogue in Washington, D.C., today. Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs Charles Rivkin led the opening of the dialogue. U.S. Department of State Deputy Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs John Creamer, Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs Ziad Haider, and U.S. Department of Commerce Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Industry and Security Matthew Borman co-chaired the U.S. delegation. Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Vice Minister of Commercial Policy Ileana Nunez Mordoche led the Cuban delegation.

Washington, DC - Today the White House is bringing together leadership teams from six states and more than 20 school districts to commit to redesigning their high schools – efforts estimated to reach more than 600,000 students. This second annual White House Summit on Next Generation High Schools builds on progress made during the first summit held in November 2015, which generated $375 million in private and public sector commitments to rethink the high school experience.