Highways Baking at 158F Signal a Red-Hot Summer From China to the US
In northern China, road surfaces have soared to 158F (70C). In California's Central Valley, temperatures are reaching into the triple digits Fahrenheit. Across much of Spain, the mercury has risen so high that it's prompting warnings for tourists.
Weeks before the official start of the Northern Hemisphere's summer, signs are emerging that the coming months will be blistering in North America, Europe and Asia. There's even a chance that the season could shatter global high-temperature records, said Daniel Swain, a climatologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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Forbes
25 minutes ago
- Forbes
Pressed Juicery Enters The Sparkling Beverage Category With New Line Of Functional Drinks
Wellness Refreshers are available now As the temperatures rise, so does the need for cold, refreshing beverages. Pressed Juicery is adding an exciting new product to its current lineup with the launch of Wellness Refreshers, a new line of sparkling functional beverages now available at all of the brand's locations nationwide. The California-based company—best known for its cold-pressed juices and plant-based soft serve—is introducing the drinks as part of a larger effort to evolve its stores into more dynamic wellness hubs. Made fresh in-store, each Refresher combines cold-pressed juice, functional wellness shots, and fruit toppings, with optional boosts like collagen, creatine, and L-glutamine. The drinks are designed to fit into a variety of daily routines: from a post-workout option to a lighter alternative to coffee or soda. 'We saw a clear opportunity to bring something new to the sparkling beverage quick service space—something fresh, functional, and made with real ingredients you can pronounce that tasted great and also had legitimate function,' says Justin Nedelman, CEO of Pressed Juicery. According to Nedelman, the product development process began with flavor, prioritizing a light and crisp profile that would be easy to incorporate into guests' everyday routines. From there, Pressed incorporated ingredients from its existing wellness shots including green tea, guarana, probiotics, and biotin to deliver targeted benefits tied to energy, skin health, digestion, and relaxation. Glow-Up: acai, aloe, and biotin deliver skin-nourishing benefits from the inside out. Served with ... More strawberries. 'Examples such as our 'Just Flow' Refresher incorporate our Calm Shot with ashwagandha and theanine, or our 'Glow Up' Refresher with our Beauty Shot with biotin,' he says. 'We also have everything from probiotic-focused Refreshers to support gut health to daily multivitamin Refreshers all made with fresh fruit toppings.' The drinks are served over ice in-store and topped with fruit, offering a more interactive alternative to canned functional beverages, which often rely on shelf-stable additives or synthetic ingredients. Nedelman says the company saw this as an opportunity to raise the bar on transparency and experience. 'There's something powerful about watching your drink get made right in front of you—with real ingredients, vibrant fruit, and the option to customize it to your functional needs,' he says. 'And because they're so customizable and made fresh, they can slot into anyone's routine without feeling like a compromise.' Gut-Feeling: A citrusy blend of mango, strawberry, and probiotics designed for digestive health and ... More gut balance. The launch builds on insights from Freeze, Pressed's made-to-order plant-based soft serve, which has become a top-selling product. 'Freeze showed us how much our guests love fresh, made-to-order options made with clean, simple ingredients you can pronounce,' Nedelman says. 'To expand and draft on our wellness halo, we are moving into our version of Refreshers.' Pressed plans to monitor consumer response closely, with the potential to expand the line into new formats over time. 'These drink combinations could easily be sold in restaurants or even long term as our own ready-to-drink functional sparkling beverage,' he adds. With more than 100 locations in nine states, Pressed is positioning its retail footprint as both a consumer touchpoint and a testing ground for innovation. The company sees the Refresher format as an opportunity to diversify its in-store offerings while giving guests more ways to engage with the brand in a format that feels flexible, approachable, and habit-forming. 'We're focused on building experiences, not just products,' says Nedelman. 'It's not just about what's in the bottle anymore—it's about the full experience. When you walk into a Pressed, we want it to feel like a place where you can refuel, recharge, and genuinely support your health.' Wellness Refreshers are now available in-store at all Pressed Juicery locations.
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
He had a debilitating sports betting addiction, but he didn't realize it. His story's not uncommon.
He had a debilitating sports betting addiction, but he didn't realize it. His story's not uncommon. To Sam DeMello's friends, it seemed like the then 26-year-old had everything together: a six-figure tech salary, an enviable workout regimen and a happy relationship. But as he crossed the finish line of the 2013 Nike San Francisco marathon, he was surrounded by a deep sense of self-loathing. His friends, family and girlfriend had no idea he was struggling with a crippling sports betting addiction. He fell into an addiction just a few weeks after being introduced to sports gambling, though he didn't realize it until years later. 'All of my friends would come to me and say, 'Congratulations, man, you're crushing it. We're so proud of you,'' DeMello says. 'I would just feel this dissonance, because I felt so fraudulent.' DeMello, now 38 and in recovery, wishes he saw the warning signals sooner. As legalized sports betting grows across the United States, a growing number of young men are falling into gambling addictions without recognizing the signs. Driven by the explosion of mobile betting platforms and a lack of age-targeted resources, many see betting as a form of entertainment or investing until it's too late. The problem, addiction experts say, is as serious as substance abuse and widely misunderstood — and it could be the next public health crisis for young people. 'In the last seven years, we've had expansion of gambling and sports betting to the point where it's not only just normalized, but it's embedded in everything we do in American culture,' says co director of the UCLA Gambling Studies Program Dr. Timothy Fong '[Teens are] growing up thinking that sports entertainment is gambling.' Sports gambling addiction explained: Inside the high-stakes, high-risk world of sports betting and how it's gripping young men How the brain rationalizes addiction Addiction develops when a substance or behavior triggers the reward center of the brain. The rush of that activity — like hitting a parlay — sends a fast release of the pleasure-inducing chemical dopamine to the brain. Over time, this repeated behavior overwhelms the brain's reward pathways in a way that can permanently alter how it processes impulse control, pleasure and motivation. 'With substances, you're actually physically injecting something or inhaling it or somehow putting it into your body, whereas with problem gambling, it's all behavioral,' says Heather Eshleman, the prevention manager at the Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling. That distinction has led to increased stigma. 'Gambling addiction is incredibly stigmatized, even more so than substance use disorder,' says Cait Huble of the National Council on Problem Gambling. 'A lot of people incorrectly still assume that it is a moral failing, lack of self control, when chemically, it's exactly the same as any other type of addiction.' Starting to gamble at a younger age and doing so more frequently are key factors that increase the risk of developing a gambling addiction, according to Fong. There's a large deficit in young adults' ability to deal with the highs and lows of gambling. Teenagers' executive functioning, abstract thinking and decision-making skills continue to develop through age 25. 'A (teenager's) brain doesn't have impulse control. It doesn't have the ability to recover from losses quickly,' Fong says. 'It knows, 'I want money, I want excitement, I want things that my friends have. I want to prove that I'm super cool to my friends.' ' Young men often view gambling as a hobby During the height of his addiction, DeMello's life revolved around scheduled sports games. He gambled on his phone during the elevator rides down from the $150-an-hour therapy sessions he booked. He would check his wagers before he put on his clothes after the deprivation flotation tank sessions he bought to relax his mind. And when he attended Burning Man as an escape, the last thing he did before he lost cell service was see if his bets won. Still, DeMello didn't understand he had an addiction. Gambling addictions, he thought, were for guys spending their last $5 at the horse track, not him. He never put charges on his credit card that he didn't pay back, and he didn't borrow money from anyone. 'That kept me in addiction for probably seven years,' DeMello says. Like DeMello, many young men view gambling as a hobby or way to engage with their favorite sports team. After a 2018 Supreme Court overturning of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) turned regulation of betting over to the states, a boom in legalization followed. Today, sports betting is legal in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Sportsbooks became accessible in young adults' pockets all day, every day. A multi-million dollar advertising blitz quickly followed legalization, reaching millions of American teens who watch sports. There is no federal legislation specific to sports betting advertisements, leaving the field unregulated compared to laws that restrict ads for traditional gambling. Young adults over the age of 18 can gamble with units as small as $5 or $10. And online sportsbook apps like DraftKings and FanDuel offer incentives for new customers to bet seemingly risk-free. 'I see a lot of young people who come in, get exposed to the gambling and have a means to gamble with a little bit, and then that activates the addiction,' Fong says. Huble says that part of the problem is that young people don't recognize activities like raffles, bingo and fantasy sports as gambling. While 92% of those 65 or older consider betting on sports outcomes to be gambling, the figure drops to 50% when looking at 18 to 24 year olds, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling's 2021 NGAGE survey of public attitudes toward gambling. DeMello tried upwards of 50 times to quit cold turkey, and he would make it two or three days before he relapsed. He lived with his fiancée for a year without her knowing. But he eventually developed an alcohol and drug problem as a result of his gambling addiction — something gambling experts say is common. 'It's always the same story with other addictive disorders, that they run together with mental health,' Fong says. 'The chicken leads to the egg, and the egg leads to the chicken.' Gambling is easier than ever. Report warns it's a global 'threat to public health.' 'I did not think that I had an addiction' As DeMello lost control over his gambling, he punished himself in other ways — refusing to buy groceries, manically tracking calories or pushing himself to exhaustion in the gym. Over the 10 years when addiction ruled his life, he estimates that he lost between $500,000 and $1 million. 'We talk about gambling being the hidden addiction, because it's really easy to hide from other people, but it's also really easy to hide from yourself,' DeMello says. 'I did not think that I had an addiction.' When DeMello tried traditional methods for treating addiction, he felt isolated. When he started attending therapy, his therapist's prodding about his childhood trauma didn't resonate — he was acutely aware of his privilege growing up in Oakland in the '90s. He figured he'd try a Gamblers Anonymous meeting. But he was the youngest person in the room by 30 years and gave up after six months. 'I walked out of my first therapy appointment and said, 'Oh, this isn't for me. This is for people with real problems,'' DeMello says. To correct that understanding, experts like Fong and Eshleman say responsible gambling education needs to start much younger. What parents, young people need to know about sports betting addictions Gambling prevention materials haven't caught up to the industry's boom and receive less support compared to mandated education on cannabis, tobacco and alcohol use. Unlike other mental health and addiction services, there are no federal agencies that oversee problem gambling. As a result, gambling prevention is left to the states. 'When you look at how many young people just dive into this behavior, they dive into it really with very little training or education. There's no owner's manual, right? There's no teacher, as it were, to show them how to gamble responsibly,' Fong says. When it comes to recovery resources, DeMello says gambling harm reduction advocates need to show up for young people in a digital environment, where the stigma of having to pick up the phone and call somebody is a barrier. He founded Evive, a digital therapy app specific to gambling, to fill a gap in age and technology. Based out of Boston, health authorities in Oregon, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Virginia and Nevada have partnered with the app. In the meantime, Fong and DeMello say conversations about sports betting can start at home, where adults should advocate for responsible habits. 'It needs to become part of the American Zeitgeist that you talk to your kids about sex and drugs and gambling,' DeMello says. Young adults struggling with responsible gambling can text or call National Problem Gambling Helpline 24 hours a day at 800-GAMBLER or find a Gamblers Anonymous meeting. Rachel Hale's role covering Youth Mental Health at USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Pivotal Ventures and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input. Reach her at rhale@ and @rachelleighhale on X.
CNN
2 hours ago
- CNN
Trump's tariff threat exposes China's tight grip on the global pharmaceuticals industry
It's the most prescribed antibiotic in the United States, used by tens of millions of people every year to treat bacterial infections including pneumonia, stomach ulcers, and strep throat. Yet, it isn't exactly common knowledge that amoxicillin, a relative of penicillin that has been in chronic short supply, has only one manufacturer in the US, or that China controls 80% of the raw materials required for its production. That's a major concern as US President Donald Trump threatens to impose tariffs on pharmaceutical imports, throwing a spotlight on America's dependence on critical drug supplies from abroad. 'Increasing trade hostilities or more protracted conflicts could devastate our access to amoxicillin or the ingredients used to make it should Beijing weaponize its supply chain dominance,' Rick Jackson, founder and CEO of Jackson Healthcare, which owns America's sole amoxicillin manufacturer, told CNN. Last year, 96% of US imports of hydrocortisone (the active ingredient in the anti-itch cream), 90% of imports of ibuprofen (found in common over-the-counter pain relievers), and 73% of imports of acetaminophen (in other kinds of pain relievers) all came from China, according to CNN calculations based on trade data from the Census Bureau. With the US already facing shortages of many essential medications, experts warn that Beijing could potentially exploit this reliance as leverage in an escalating trade war. Tensions between the two sides have soared since Trump unleashed his trade assault on the world's second-largest economy. While the two countries have announced a temporary truce that rolled back the three-digit tariffs for 90 days, relations remain tense with ongoing feuding over chip restrictions imposed by the US. Leland Miller, a commissioner at the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said the 'chokepoints' that China holds over the US pharmaceutical supply are 'detrimental to American security.' 'Simply by having this leverage … whether or not they ever pull the trigger, causes us to change our policy positions on a lot of things, and that's not good,' he said. So far, China has made no official public threat about weaponizing its dominant position in this segment of the pharmaceutical industry. But Trump's tariffs on the sector, if imposed, could worsen existing drug shortages and drive up prices for Americans, undermining his promise to lower health care costs. Generic drugs, which are designed to provide the same therapeutic effects as brand-name ones and are released after their patents expire, account for 90% of all prescriptions in the US. India produces many of those generics, often from ingredients imported from China. Even though industry insiders and experts widely acknowledge America's heavy reliance on Chinese pharmaceuticals, there is little comprehensive data on the full extent of this dependence across the sector, as major pharmaceutical firms have little incentive to disclose such information. That's part of the reason why last month, the Trump administration launched a probe into pharmaceuticals imports as part of efforts to impose tariffs on the sector on national security grounds. With China making 80% of the world's raw materials for amoxicillin, according to Jackson, it's a clear example of just how vulnerable the world could be to 'Chinese political or economic whims.' 'Any interruption by China along the lengthy amoxicillin supply chain could be catastrophic, particularly in the face of a potential bacterial epidemic,' he said. In 2021, Jackson purchased a bankrupt manufacturing site located in Bristol, Tennessee, and renamed it USAntibiotics. The facility, built in the 1970s, used to produce enough amoxicillin for the whole country at the time. After the amoxicillin patent expired in 2002, the Tennessee facility began to make generic equivalents. At that point, it began facing lower-cost competition from overseas and eventually went bankrupt. Concerns about America's dependence on Chinese pharmaceuticals aren't new. As early as 2019, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission recommended that Congress assess America's pharmaceutical vulnerabilities. Two years later, when Jackson bought the amoxicillin factory, he cited national security and the need to ensure a steady supply of antibiotics as a major reason for the purchase. Still, progress in growing America's pharma supply chain has been slow. In late April, Trump said pharmaceutical companies were 'going to have to' produce drugs in the US or face a 'tariff wall.' A key goal behind Trump's threats of pharmaceutical tariffs is to 'onshore' drug production. An American study in 2021 found that the US imports 72% of its essential medicines. But experts said tariffs are unlikely to achieve that goal for generics, which have become commodities, with price being the main differentiator. So-called brand-name drugs, by contrast, are protected by patents and therefore command higher prices and bigger profit margins. Instead, tariffs would not only drive up medical costs for patients, but they could also exacerbate ongoing drug shortages by pushing generic drug makers out of the American market. Even if they are willing to build drug-making facilities in the US, the process could take years. China's dominance in the global drug supply chain is part and parcel of its position as the world's factory. Over decades, the pursuit of lower production costs has prompted drug makers to shift production from Western countries to places like China and India. China plays an outsize role in the drug supply chain for its significant production of the critical chemical compounds, called key starting materials or KSM, which are necessary to produce active ingredients, called active pharmaceuticals ingredients or API. China and India dominate the global manufacturing capacity for API. Together, they account for 82% of all API manufacturer filings to the US Food and Drug Administration, according to United States Pharmacopeia (USP), a nonprofit that sets official quality standards for medicines. The filings contain detailed information about the facilities and manufacturing processes submitted by API manufacturers. In the two years after 2021, according to the most recent data, India's share of the filings dropped to 50%, while China's surged to 32%. Chinese manufacturers have also benefited from Beijing's policy incentives and subsidies for the pharmaceutical sector since the early 2000s, which led to industry clusters springing up in the country, said Qingpeng Zhang, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong's LKS Faculty of Medicine. 'These industry clusters, which help drive down overall costs while maintaining quality … ultimately made China an ideal location for the production of generics and APIs within a free trade environment,' he said. Besides lower costs, the environmental impact of drug production also contributed to China's rise in this sector, as the US and European Union often have stricter environmental regulation, according to Ronald Piervincenzi, CEO of USP. Even India, the world's top supplier of generics, relies on China for APIs and other key ingredients. In fact, 70% of India's API imports come from China, according to a 2023 report commissioned by the Indian government. Dinesh Thakur, a public health expert and author of 'The Truth Pill,' a book on Indian drug regulations, said that India's reliance on China for drug materials reflected the 'natural evolution' of the industry. At the time when Indian drug companies moved up the value chain toward higher-margin products like formulations and injectables, China's nascent pharmaceutical sector made inroads with API production at a lower price point, he said. The Indian companies then 'bought the API for a lesser cost from China and focused their money and their capacity in India on building competence for developing more complex finished formulations,' Thakur said. He added that China's well-established chemicals industry, built independently of pharmaceuticals, also gave its manufacturers a head start in producing drug-related chemicals. Besides its cost advantage, China's pharmaceutical industry also got a boost from the government. In 2015, Chinese leader Xi Jinping unveiled his signature 'Made in China 2025' industrial strategy, which identified biopharma and advanced medical products as key sectors for development in its broader push to reduce the country's reliance on foreign technology. The Covid-19 pandemic further exposed global dependence on China for pharmaceutical supplies – and served as a reminder to Beijing of the strategic advantage that that dominance provides. In a state-run magazine in 2020, Xi said China must consolidate its leadership in its advantageous industries, and 'tighten global industrial chains' dependence on China to build strong countermeasures and deterrent capabilities against deliberate external supply cutoffs.' In 2021, during the height of the epidemic, China's National Development and Reform Commission, the state planner, highlighted APIs as a 'key strength in China's pharmaceutical industry's participation in global competition.' Li Daokui, a professor of finance at Tsinghua University in Beijing and a Beijing adviser, even suggested that China, given its strategic position in the production of raw materials for vitamins and antibiotics, could limit drug supplies to the US as 'countermeasures' against American sanctions. While Trump is not the first US president to push for onshoring drug production, he is the first to attempt it through the threat of sweeping tariffs. Some companies have fallen in line. British firm AstraZeneca, for instance, is shifting production of certain medicines from Europe to the US, following a $3.5 billion investment plan announced late last year. Similarly, companies including Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly have pledged to expand their US operations. But these companies primarily focus on patented drugs. Stephen Farrelly, global head of pharma and healthcare at Dutch bank group ING, noted that the US accounted for 44% of global pharmaceutical sales in 2023, making it imperative for makers of patented drugs to maintain a presence in the country. The story is different for generics because their margins are often half those of branded ones. 'Given their margin profiles, they can't afford to make long-term investment decisions with so much uncertainty around,' he said. 'If even possible, it would take in excess of five years to begin reshoring.' Tariffs on pharmaceuticals would eventually fall on patients, experts say, widening health disparities in an already strained health care system. Because generics are as much as 85% cheaper than branded drugs, low-income patients and those without health insurance rely on them disproportionately. An April study commissioned by the main American pharmaceutical lobby group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, revealed that a 25% tariff will increase costs of imported pharmaceuticals by $50.8 billion annually, causing prices to rise by 12.9% if passed to consumers. ING also found that a 25% tariff on a common generic cancer medication could raise its price by up to $10,000 for a 24-week prescription. Rather than achieving the intended goal of onshoring production, experts said the tariffs could risk pushing generics manufacturers to abandon the US market altogether. Piervincenzi warned that even modest tariffs could disrupt the supply of generics. 'There's very little profit there and any tariff would just result in [generic drug makers] being underwater and just exiting,' he said. Incentives other than tariffs are necessary to create a resilient drug supply chain, Piervincenzi said. And unlike with other industries, drug supply disruption or shortages could have life-threatening consequences. 'Each of these drugs, people's lives depend on them, and a single drug goes into shortage and a child can't get their cancer therapy, and it becomes a disaster, which you don't see if your favorite brand of ketchup's out of stock,' he said. 'You may be annoyed, but your life is not in danger.'
