Source: Country Fire Service – South Australia
Issued for Deep Creek near Delamere and Cape Jervis in the Southern Fleurieu.
The CFS is aware of the reignition of a previous burnoff near Three Bridges Road and Dog Trap Road, Delamere, near Cape Jervis in the Southern Fleurieu region of South Australia.
The local land owner will continue to monitor the pile for several days.
Smoke may be visible in the surrounding area.
Message ID 0007802
Source: Toyota
Headline: Joby Aviation and Toyota Accelerate Efforts to Realize Air Mobility
Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and Joby Aviation (Joby) came together at Toyota’s Higashi-Fuji Technical Center (Shizuoka, Japan) to assert their collective passion and ambition for air mobility in a gathering that included executives from both companies, Akio Toyoda, the chairman of the Toyota Group, and Joby CEO and founder, JoeBen Bevirt, along with Joby’s air taxi, an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL).
By Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews
Palau’s largest newspaper is being sued for defamation by the company of President Surangel Whipps Jr’s father, just days ahead of general elections in the Pacific nation.
Surangel and Sons alleges “negligence and defamation” by the Island Times and its editor Leilani Reklai for an article published on Tuesday with “false and unsubstantiated allegations,” owner Surangel Whipps Sr said in a press release on Thursday.
Reklai has rejected the company’s allegations and said the “lawsuit is trying to control how media here in Palau tells a story”, a news article about the case in the Island Times reported on Friday.
“I feel like we are being intimidated, we are being forced to speak a certain narrative rather than present diverse community perspectives,” said Reklai, who is also a stringer for BenarNews.
The Micronesian nation of 17,000 people — 650 km north of Papua New Guinea — goes to the polls on November 5. Whipps Jr’s rival is his brother-in-law Tommy Remengesau Jr, who was president from 2001 to 2009 and 2013 to 2021.
The controversy comes after Palau was top of the inaugural 2023 Pacific Media Freedom Index of 14 island countries that highlighted the region’s media facing significant political and economic pressures, bribes and corruption, as well as self-censorship.
Island Times reported on Friday the suit is seeking compensation and punitive damages and that the company asserts the “monetary awards should be substantial enough to prevent similar conduct from the newspaper and Reklai in future”.
Surangel and Sons financial details — leaked from the country’s tax office — were posted on social media last weekend, prompting heated online debate over how much it paid.
A new corporate and goods and services tax system introduced by Whipps Jr’s government is currently being rolled out in Palau and its merits have been a focus of election campaigning.
The company in a statement said its “privacy rights had been violated,” the tax details were obtained illegally, posted online without consent, and some of the figures had been altered.
Motivation ‘confusing voters’
“The motivation behind the circulation of this document is clearly for misinformation and disinformation to confuse voters. In the end Surangel and Sons is not running for office. Unfortunately, it has been victimised by this smear campaign,” the company posted on social media.
Island Times in a 225-word, front-page story headlined “Surangel & Sons condemns tax report leak as privacy violation” reported the company’s statement on Tuesday. It also quoted financial details from the leaked documents and accompanying commentary.
Whipps Jr. in a press conference on Wednesday accused the Island Times of publishing disinformation.
“Island Times continues to print political propaganda, it’s not accurate,” Whipps Jr said, calling for a correction to be published.
The lawsuit against the paper and its editor was served the next day.
Whipps Jr’s spokesperson told BenarNews any questions related to the lawsuit should be directed to the parties involved.
Surangel and Sons was founded in 1980 by Whipps Sr, who also served as Palau’s president briefly in 2005 and for two years from 2007.
Business ‘offers everything’
The privately-owned business “offers everything from housing design and automotive repair to equipment rentals, groceries, and scuba gear” through its import, sales, construction and travel arms, the company’s website says.
Previously as CEO, Whipps Jr transformed the company from a family store to one of Palau’s largest and most diversified businesses, employing more than 700 people.
His LinkedIn profile states he finished as CEO in January 2021, after 28 years in the position and in the month he became president. His spokesperson did not respond to questions from BenarNews about if he still retains any direct financial or other links to the company.
Surangel and Sons said the revelation of sensitive business information threatens their competitive advantage and puts jobs at risk.
Palau’s Minister of Finance Kaleb Udui Jr told the president’s press conference on Wednesday an investigation was underway, a special prosecutor would be appointed and apologized for the leak to the company.
“I would hope the media would make extra effort to help educate the public and discourage misinformation and breaches of privacy of the tax office and any other government office,” Udui said, confirming the tax documents had been altered before being posted on social media.
He said tax office staff have previously been warned about leaks and ensuring data confidentiality, as breaches negatively impact the confidence of foreign investors in Palau.
Explanation rather than leak
Whipps Jr added that the newspaper should have explained the tax system instead of reporting the leaked information.
He also accused Island Times of failure to disclose a paid advertisement in this week’s edition of the paper for his political opponent.
“I’m disappointed in the Island Times, because there was an article that was not an article, a paid advertisement,” Whipps Jr said about a colourful blue and yellow election campaign graphic.
Island Times told BenarNews it was not usual practice to put “Paid Advertisement” on advertisements but it would review its policy for political campaign material.
Reklai fears the lawsuit could have serious consequences for the media in Palau and bankrupt Island Times, the paper reported.
“If I don’t stand up to this, it sends a signal to all journalists that they risk facing claims for damages for powerful companies and government officials while carrying out their work,” she said.
Palau has two newspapers and four radio stations and enshrined in its constitution are protections for journalists, including a guarantee they cannot be jailed for refusing to disclose sources.
Surangel and Sons said they would no longer sell Island Times through their outlets.
Copyright ©2015-2024, BenarNews. Republished with the permission of BenarNews.
Source: Hong Kong Information Services
Hong Kong Legal Week 2024 will begin on Monday, with “Hong Kong Common Law System: World-Class Springboard to China & Beyond” as its theme.
An annual flagship event for the Department of Justice (DoJ), it will run until Friday, and will allow participants to interact with experts, practitioners, government officials and academics on topics including international law, alternative dispute resolution and opportunities in the Greater Bay Area.
The schedule will begin with the Asia-Pacific International Private Law Summit, co-organised by the DoJ, and will conclude with the official launch of the Hong Kong International Legal Talents Training Academy.
There will also be an exhibition highlighting achievements in the development of China’s rule of law in the modern era, and the role of Hong Kong in contributing to it.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Mark Griffiths, Director of the International Gaming Research Unit and Professor of Behavioural Addiction, Nottingham Trent University
After allegedly sending messages detailing cannibalistic fetishes, Hollywood actor Armie Hammer hopes to relaunch his career with a new podcast and movie.
Following the 2021 social media cannibal scandal, Hammer was also accused of rape and abuse by various women, but consistently denied any criminal behaviour and was not charged.
Now, it seems, Hammer is laughing off the cannibalism allegations. Speaking to his first podcast guest, Tom Arnold, Hammer says, “I’m not gonna lie. I’m just like, Hey, I’m a cannibal!”
But being sexually aroused by the fantasy – or reality – of cannibalism is real. I should know, as it’s one of the subjects I discuss in my latest book Sexual Perversions and Paraphilias: An A-Z
Paraphilias are uncommon types of sexual expression often described as sexual deviations, sexual perversions or disorders of sexual preference.
They are typically accompanied by intense sexual arousal to unconventional or non-sexual stimuli such as enemas (klismaphilia), statues (agalmatophilia), teeth (odontophilia) and vomit (emetophilia).
To many people paraphilias may seem bizarre or socially unacceptable, representing the extreme end of the sexual continuum – and in some cases, such as zoophilia (having sex with animals) and necrophilia (having sex with dead people), may be illegal.
Paraphilias may be laughed off, dismissed or leave some people disgusted, but there’s a pressing need for more research into uncommon sexual behaviour given how little we know.
Sexual fantasies and behaviour are a fundamental part of the human experience. What is considered immoral or even illegal changes according to the social and temporal context. But whatever sexual desires are considered illicit or depraved in a particular time and place are also stigmatised.
Researching paraphilias, even the most distasteful or criminal, is essential to help safeguard vulnerable groups. Research can also help minimise the discrimination faced by those with uncommon sexual interests, helping ensure their access to sexual health care and psychological support, which can be lacking.
Vorarephilia – or “vore” – refers to being sexually aroused by the idea of being eaten, eating another person or observing this process for sexual gratification.
Most of the fantasies of vorarephiliacs involve being the ones eaten. Devouring someone could be viewed as the ultimate act of dominance by a predator and the ultimate act of submission by the prey.
The most infamous vorarephiliac is arguably Armin Meiwes from Germany.
Meiwes had allegedly been fantasising about cannibalism since his childhood and frequented cannibal fetish websites. He posted around 60 online adverts asking if anyone would like to be eaten by him.
In March 2002, Bernd Jürgen Brandes responded to Meiwes. They met up only once. Meiwes bit off Brandes’ penis, which the two of them cooked and ate.
Brandes was videotaped being stabbed to death by Meiwes in his bath. The body was then stored for Meiwes to eat.
Meiwes was eventually convicted of murder and imprisoned for life. However, it’s worth nothing that although some paraphilias are illegal, most cause no psychological or behavioural problems when they are engaged by consenting adults.
Dacryphilia is getting sexual arousal from seeing someone cry.
I have published a number of studies on dacryphilia. One involved interviews with eight dacryphiles: six women and two men, from the US, UK, Romania and Belgium.
It showed there were sub-types of dacryphilia, even among such a small group. Based on the interviews, I identified three types of dacryphile.
Compassionate dacryphiles are sexually aroused by the compassion of comforting a crier.
Dominant or submissive dacryphiles are sexually aroused by either causing tears in a consenting submissive partner or by being made to cry by a consenting dominant partner.
“Curled lip” dacryphiles are sexually aroused by the curling of a protruded bottom lip during crying.
Eproctophilia involves being sexually aroused by flatulence.
In 2013, I published the first case study of an eproctophile. The case concerned a 22-year-old single man, Brad*, an American from Illinois.
Brad recalled that in middle school he had a crush on a girl who had farted in the class. Brad said:
This blew my mind [I] knew by simple biology that girls farted, but hearing that the girl I had been fawning over was capable of such a thing sparked a strange interest in me.
Brad first engaged in an eproctophilic act with a male friend in his mid-teens. Up to that point he had considered himself heterosexual. However, this changed when he heard his male friend fart.
Brad said it was “appealing in sound” and that he began fixating on it. He set up a bet with the wager being the right to fart in the loser’s face for a week. He continued to lose such bets once every few weeks for about two years.
Apotemnophilia refers to being sexually aroused by the fantasy or reality of being an amputee.
Some apotemnophiles may pretend to be amputees but, for a minority, the behaviour involves obsessive scheming to convince a surgeon to perform a medically unnecessary amputation.
To most people, this might seem like a type of masochism, but case studies suggest that there is no erotisation of pain – only of the healed amputated stump.
Salirophilia is sexual arousal from soiling or dishevelling someone attractive, which can include tearing or damaging the desired person’s clothing, covering them in mud or filth or messing up their hair or make-up.
My 2019 case study involved Jeff*, a 58-year-old Australian heterosexual. Jeff recounted that when he was young he wanted to masturbate in strange places such as lying under a cabinet in a dirty garage.
Jeff said that he engaged in solitary salirophilic practices regularly but very infrequently with female partners because it was difficult to find like-minded women.
He was also a fan of the television show Fear Factor in which contestants perform revolting tasks for prize money, such as eating rotting food or being submerged in foul fluids. These were a source of sexual arousal for Jeff. He told me: “I just find the defilement of an attractive woman’s body erotic.”
*The names of case study participants in this article have been changed.
Dr. Mark Griffiths has received research funding from a wide range of organizations including the Economic and Social Research Council, the British Academy and the Responsibility in Gambling Trust. He has also carried out consultancy for numerous gambling companies in the area of player protection, social responsibility and responsible gaming.. Views expressed here are his own and not those of these funding bodies.
– ref. I research sexual perversions and paraphilas – here’s what we’ve learned about them – https://theconversation.com/i-research-sexual-perversions-and-paraphilas-heres-what-weve-learned-about-them-238446
Source: Hong Kong Information Services
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s decision to obtain Hong Kong residency testifies to the attractions of the city and will inspire the Government to increase its efforts to attract outside talent, Secretary for Labour & Welfare Chris Sun said today.
Mr Sun made his remarks when asked by reporters this morning about the snooker star becoming a Hong Kong resident via the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme.
“The fact that O’Sullivan has decided to come to Hong Kong and become a part of us speaks volumes about the attraction of Hong Kong. Clearly he has spoken a lot about the good things of being in Hong Kong.
“With this success and with the launching of a new stream under the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme where we are going to invite top talents from all over the world direct, we are going to do a lot more.”
The labour chief highlighted the attractions of Hong Kong, and said these stand to entice more talented individuals to relocate to the city.
“We truly believe in the attraction of Hong Kong. Be it our tax system, our natural beauty, the convenience, the great food and all the great things here in Hong Kong, (these are) a huge attraction to top talents all over the world.”
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Morse Park Swimming Pool temporarily closed
Morse Park Swimming Pool temporarily closed
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Attention TV/radio announcers:Please broadcast the following as soon as possible and repeat it at regular intervals: Here is an item of interest to swimmers. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (November 2) that Morse Park Swimming Pool in Wong Tai Sin District has been temporarily closed for cleaning and superchlorination following the discovery of a small amount of vomit in the pool. It will be reopened at 7.30pm today. The department appeals to swimmers to be considerate and to keep the swimming pools clean. They are advised not to swim after a full meal and should use the toilet facilities if necessary before swimming.
Ends/Saturday, November 2, 2024Issued at HKT 17:24
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Source: Hong Kong Information Services
The Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department (AFCD) today held an opening ceremony for Robin’s Nest Country Park (RNCP) and launched a hiking challenge for the park that will also form part of celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
The 25th country park in Hong Kong, RNCP is located at Sha Tau Kok in the northeastern New Territories, and forms an ecological corridor with Shenzhen Wutong Mountain.
Officiating at the ceremony, Secretary for Environment & Ecology Tse Chin-wan highlighted that the RNCP, which connects to the Shenzhen Wutong Mountain Scenic Area, boasts beautiful scenery and rich biodiversity.
“Its establishment is beneficial for ecological conservation and history revitalisation, marking a significant milestone in the ecological integration of Hong Kong and Shenzhen,” he added.
Deputy Secretary-General of Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government Chan Yaodong, who also officiated, stated that RNCP embodies the shared aspiration of Hong Kong and Shenzhen for a beautiful ecological environment.
Mr Chan said he hopes that both places will strengthen co-operation in areas such as resilience to climate change, the development of the Northern Metropolis, technological innovations in ecology and the environment, alignment of ecological and environmental planning and standards, the development of the Loop, and improvements to urban ecological spaces.
The public and tourists can participate in the Discovering Robin’s Nest Country Park Hiking Challenge from today until February 28 next year.
Participants should register on the dedicated website, then visit eight designated checkpoints along the two hiking trails in RNCP, namely the Robin’s Nest Country Trail and Lin Ma Hang Country Trail. They can scan QR codes with their smartphones at checkpoints to record their progress in the challenge.
Participants who complete a designated number of checkpoints during the event will receive themed prizes.
Additionally, the AFCD has produced a series of promotional videos, titled Discovering Robin’s Nest Country Park, and these are being uploaded to the Hong Kong Country Parks YouTube channel.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Hong Kong Talent Engage (HKTE) will participate in two job fairs to assist incoming talent in directly matching jobs with employers, facilitating their career development in the city. About 500 companies will take part in these job fairs, offering over 11 500 job vacancies.
To dovetail with national development strategies, “The Chief Executive’s 2024 Policy Address” includes a specific chapter on building Hong Kong into an international hub for high-calibre talent with an aim to empower the high-quality development of Hong Kong as well as contribute to the development of new quality productive forces of the country. To this end, HKTE will support talent in pursuing development in Hong Kong by expanding its network of collaborative partners and co-organising job fairs with industries and employer organisations.
HKTE is participating in the Innovating Hong Kong – Global Talent Carnival Autumn 2024 at the AsiaWorld-Expo today and tomorrow (November 2 and 3). The event offers over 10 000 job vacancies for local and incoming talent, covering positions in technical support, business development, customer service, and graduate trainee roles.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the event, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to assisting talent in pursuing development in Hong Kong. He said that both local and incoming talent will help enrich the city’s talent pool, spur industrial development, and inject impetus for the long-term development of Hong Kong.
HKTE has established a sharing station at the event to invite industry experts to advise on job-seeking strategies and provide consultation services to help incoming talent integrate into the local community.
In addition, HKTE will participate in the Hong Kong Talent Recruitment Exhibition 2024 Autumn at Tsim Sha Tsui Community Hall next Friday (November 8). Participating companies are from various sectors, including real estate development, telecommunications, public utilities, and financial services, with an expected offer of over 1 500 job vacancies.
HKTE will continue to collaborate with industry partners, stakeholders, and government departments to provide comprehensive one-stop support services for talent, including co-organising at least 12 job fairs with the industries and employer organisations in 2025.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
SEE exchanges views on ecological conservation and various environmental issues with young people (with photos)
SEE exchanges views on ecological conservation and various environmental issues with young people (with photos)
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The Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Mr Tse Chin-wan, today (November 2) attended the Dialogue with the Secretary for Environment and Ecology session on the public day of the 19th Eco Expo Asia to exchange views on the beauty of Hong Kong’s ecology and various environmental matters with some 400 young people from various schools and uniformed groups. The event began with the screening of an extract of the documentary series “Enchanting China”, produced by the Environment and Ecology Bureau (EEB) and the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), in collaboration with the Center for Environmental Education and Communications of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, as well as “Picturesque Bays of Hong Kong”, which is the first episode of the documentary series “Beautiful Hong Kong” produced by the EEB. The documentaries showcase the contributions and achievements made by the country and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government in environmental protection and nature conservation. Through the “Picturesque Bays of Hong Kong” documentary, Mr Tse highlighted that Hong Kong is not only a highly developed city, but is also committed to conserving the natural environment. He said that Hong Kong has a total of 25 country parks, the latest of which is Robin’s Nest Country Park established this year. These country parks cover over 40 per cent of Hong Kong’s land area together with 22 special areas. Hong Kong also possesses a designated internationally important wetland under the Ramsar Convention and the Hong Kong UNESCO World Geopark, etc. This proportion surpasses many cities with economic developments similar to Hong Kong, making it an important asset. In terms of sea area, Hong Kong has a coastline of about 1 200 kilometres and a total sea area of more than 1 600 square kilometres. Although it only accounts for less than 1 per cent of the total sea area of the country, it has numerous beautiful bays and a quarter of the country’s marine species. Hong Kong is home to over 80 species of marine stony corals, more than the total sum in the entire Caribbean Sea. The bird species here exceed 580, accounting for about one-third of the country’s total. Mr Tse said, “I hope that through the ‘Picturesque Bays of Hong Kong’ documentary, we can learn about the beauty of the place where we live, explore and, more importantly, cherish the beauty of Hong Kong’s ecosystems and work together to help conserve nature.” Young people attending the event were very interested in various environmental topics, and many of them noted the increasing frequency of extreme weather and Hong Kong’s endeavours to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 to combat climate change. Mr Tse said that carbon emissions in Hong Kong already peaked in 2014, and the current carbon emissions have been reduced by about a quarter from the peak. The per capita greenhouse gas emissions in Hong Kong are one-fourth of those in the United States and six-tenths of those in the European Union, showing that Hong Kong compares well with other regions in carbon reduction. Nevertheless, achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 is still a great challenge. The Government is leading Hong Kong towards carbon neutrality through a range of measures, such as accelerating green and low-carbon transformation, promoting green transport and cultivating the local practice of waste reduction and recycling, as well as developing new energy sources and green scientific research industries. Mr Tse said he hopes that through Eco Expo Asia, students can learn more about different environmental issues and integrate environmental concepts into their daily lives to practise low-carbon living, and lead Hong Kong towards a low-carbon future together. Apart from the Dialogue with the Secretary for Environment and Ecology session, speakers from the Hong Kong Observatory, the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, the Civil Engineering and Development Department, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, the EPD, etc shared their environmental information and knowledge during the green seminars to raise public awareness of environmental protection. The last day of Eco Expo Asia is a public day, which is open to all free of charge. This year’s public day programme also includes guided tours, green workshops, a green market, green seminars and a free ride experience on a hydrogen fuel cell double-decker.
Ends/Saturday, November 2, 2024Issued at HKT 19:27
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Source: Hong Kong Information Services
Hong Kong Talent Engage (HKTE) is participating in a job fair this weekend to assist incoming talent in directly matching with employers, and will also attend another fair due to be held next week.
The Innovating Hong Kong – Global Talent Carnival Autumn 2024 is being held at the AsiaWorld-Expo today and tomorrow. The event offers over 10,000 job vacancies for local and incoming talent, covering technical support, business development, customer service, and graduate trainee roles.
Speaking at the carnival, Secretary for Labour & Welfare Chris Sun reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to assist talent in pursuing career development in Hong Kong.
He added that both local and incoming talent will enrich Hong Kong’s talent pool, spur industrial development, and inject impetus for the city’s long-term development.
HKTE has established a sharing station at the event, with industry experts being invited to advise attendees on their job-seeking strategies, and consultation services being offered to help incoming talent.
Additionally, HKTE will take part in the Hong Kong Talent Recruitment Exhibition 2024 Autumn at Tsim Sha Tsui Community Hall on Friday. Participating companies are from various sectors, including real estate development, telecommunications, public utilities and financial services. More than 1,500 job vacancies are expected to be on offer.
HKTE will continue to collaborate with industry partners, stakeholders, and government departments to provide one-stop support services for talent, including co-organising at least 12 job fairs in collaboration with industries and employer organisations in 2025.
Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: State University Higher School of Economics – State University Higher School of Economics –
The importance of statistics in the digital age is reaching a new level. Most decisions at the state level and in business are made based on data analysis. However, the attitude towards official statistics is ambiguous, and this negatively affects the level of trust in government policy. How to change this was discussed by the heads of statistical agencies of the BRICS countries in Kazan. A representative of the Higher School of Economics also took part in the forum.
The 16th meeting of heads of national statistical services of the BRICS countries was held in Kazan on October 28–29 as part of the BRICS Summit. Representatives of various government agencies and experts from Russia, South Africa, the UAE, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt, India, the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Azerbaijan participated in it.
The special session “Development of the statistical community in Russia and the BRICS countries” was organized at the initiative of the Russian delegation. The experts discussed issues of cooperation between statistical professional and expert communities, modernization of statistical production, interaction of state statistical services with the public and increasing statistical literacy of the population.
Professor of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Chairman of the Board of the Russian Association of Statisticians Alexey Ponomarenko said that in Russia, starting in 2023, the subject “Probability Theory and Statistics” has become a mandatory part of the school curriculum. In grades 7–11, there is at least one lesson on statistics per week. Thus, about 6 million schoolchildren receive knowledge and skills in statistical thinking. They will be able to understand and competently apply information containing statistical data.
Meanwhile, today school teachers need the help of professional statisticians. Moreover, targeted efforts are needed to develop literacy and education in this area. One of the centers of such work could be the National Research University Higher School of Economics, where a team of statisticians with extensive experience in practical work and scientific research has been formed.
“We are ready to cooperate with both Russian teachers and colleagues from the BRICS countries, especially since the statistical community of many BRICS countries is well developed and there is much to learn from our colleagues,” emphasized Alexey Ponomarenko.
Teachers and researchers of the Department of Statistics and Data Analysis of the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the National Research University Higher School of Economics fully support the idea of cooperation with statisticians of the BRICS countries, confirmed the Director of Statistical Research at the HSE, Head of the Department of Statistics and Data Analysis of the National Research University Higher School of Economics Department of Statistics and Data Analysis FEN Alexander Surinov. “We have many common problems with such huge BRICS countries as China, India or Brazil. For example, subnational studies of indicators of socio-economic development of regions taking into account local specifics. I think that if such projects are implemented, HSE statisticians will take an active part in them,” he concluded.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: Hong Kong Information Services
Secretary for Environment & Ecology Tse Chin-wan today attended a dialogue session at the 19th Eco Expo Asia to exchange views on Hong Kong’s environment and various ecological matters with some 400 youngsters from schools and uniformed groups.
Discussing “Picturesque Bays of Hong Kong”, the first episode in a documentary series produced by the Environment & Ecology Bureau, Beautiful Hong Kong, Mr Tse said that besides being a highly developed city, Hong Kong is also committed to conserving its natural environment.
He highlighted that Hong Kong’s 25 country parks, including the newly established Robin’s Nest Country Park, and 22 special areas, cover over 40% of the city’s land area.
He added that the city’s beauty spots include an internationally important wetland designated as such under the Ramsar Convention, and the Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark. He mentioned that Hong Kong also has about 1,200 km of coastline and a sea area of more than 1,600 sq km, and that its waters contain about a quarter of China’s marine species.
Hong Kong is home to over 80 species of marine stony corals, more than the entire Caribbean Sea, while the number of bird species here exceeds 580, accounting for about a third of China’s total, he added.
“I hope that through the ‘Picturesque Bays of Hong Kong’ documentary, we can learn about the beauty of the place where we live, explore and, more importantly, cherish the beauty of Hong Kong’s ecosystems and work together to help conserve nature.”
The young participants in the dialogue session voiced concerns on various environmental topics, including the increasing frequency of extreme weather.
Mr Tse said that carbon emissions in Hong Kong peaked in 2014, and that the city’s current emissions have been reduced by about a quarter since then. Hong Kong’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions are a quarter of those of the US and three-fifths of the EU’s, he added.
Acknowledging that achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 is a great challenge, the environment chief emphasised that the Government is adopting a range of measures to steer Hong Kong towards carbon neutrality.
These include accelerating green and low-carbon transformation, promoting green transport and cultivating the practice of waste reduction and recycling, as well as developing new energy sources and green scientific research industries.
In addition to the dialogue session, speakers from the Hong Kong Observatory and relevant departments shared their knowledge at seminars on environmental protection.
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
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Source: The Conversation – USA – By Joseph Patrick Kelly, Professor of Literature and Director of Irish and Irish American Studies, College of Charleston
If elected, Donald Trump has vowed to demolish what he calls the “deep state” – a conspiratorial term for the American federal bureaucracy. A second Trump administration, running mate JD Vance has said, should fire thousands of civil servants and replace them with MAGA loyalists.
Trump has said he would tap the billionare Elon Musk as the hatchet man to lead his proposed government commission on “efficiency” in government.
Compared with the other fireworks of the campaign – like Trump’s promise to criminally prosecute his political rivals and suppress news organizations – threats to gut the United States’ vast federal bureaucracy don’t get much attention. But doing so is a big a threat to democracy.
For years, conservatives have claimed that taking power from government agencies gives it back to the people. Yet while it might seem counterintuitive, Americans actually exercise their sovereignty through the administrative state.
The American administrative state was established almost 100 years ago by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. As a historian of American democracy, I think it’s valuable to remember what the old deal looked like while Trump rails against the New Deal.
Around 1900, America was not really democratic. The federal government did not rule by the consent of the governed. As historian Heather Cox Richardson recently argued, the American government was an oligarchy.
Millions of working-class Slavs, Jews, Italians, Asians and Scotch-Irish Appalachians toiled mercilessly in death-trap sweatshops, suffocating mines and fiery steel mills. Cotton farmers in the Black Belt lived like peons.
These people were America’s “other half,” as the social reformer Jacob Riis called them in 1890. And they were effectively excluded from the social contract.
Meanwhile, for rich white men like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller it was, as Mark Twain quipped, a “Gilded Age.” Robber barons ran their industrial empires with impunity.
When their employees tried to organize or protest, industrialists got sheriffs and police to suppress them. Or they hired private armies of “detectives,” like the Pinkertons, as Carnegie did when steelworkers struck in Homestead, Pennsylvania.
Governors called in the National Guard, as Ephraim Morgan did in 1921 to suppress a labor dispute in West Virginia. Sometimes, it was the regular Army, as in 1919, when soldiers from Camp Pike propped up the peonage system of tenant farming by indiscriminately machine-gunning Black farmers hiding in the woods outside Elaine, Arkansas.
Forced by popular clamor, Congress decided to act.
It created the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887 and told its commissioners to compel railroads, which were gouging some customers and favoring others, to charge fair rates to everyone.
This was the start of federal regulation.
In 1895, the New York Legislature passed the Bakeshop Act, making it illegal to force an employee to work more than 10 hours a day or 60 hours a week.
The Supreme Court, however, was still friendly to business. In its 1905 decision in Lochner v. New York, the court ruled against the Bakeshop Act. No one could regulate the workday or work week. The decision stripped Congress and state legislatures of their nascent regulatory powers. That enraged President Teddy Roosevelt.
“(T)he right of the people to rule,” Roosevelt later thundered, had been usurped by the corporations. With apocalyptic fury he predicted, “We stand at Armageddon!”
That was in 1912. The Lochner era, as historians call this period when workers and the public had few protections from exploitative businesses, lasted another 20 years.
Then, in 1929, the U.S. economy collapsed.
One-quarter of Americans had no work. Starving and desperate migrants wandered across the country. An army of veterans marched on Washington.
The apocalyptic misery of the Great Depression finally made American oligarchy untenable.
In 1932, the people rewrote the social contract: They elected Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his New Deal in a landslide.
It was, in essence, a revolution. After nearly 60 years of corporate domination, the 1932 election would “return America to its own people,” to use Roosevelt’s words.
Of course, it was not really a “return.” In the precorporation world, most Americans – notably women and Black people – couldn’t participate in their own government. But 1932 was a giant step toward democracy. And the great innovation that would usher in this modern, liberal democracy was the administrative state: a meritocracy of career civil servants dedicated to carrying out the law.
Have you ever wondered why a green light means “go” in every state? In 1935, the Bureau of Public Roads – now the Federal Highway Administration – wrote and enforced its first Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways.
That’s the administrative state in action. It’s how 122 million people cooperated to make complex, modern society work – without surrendering their sovereignty to some dictator like Benito Mussolini or Josef Stalin.
But the Supreme Court kept striking down New Deal laws and regulations.
After a massive electoral victory in 1936, FDR threatened to “pack” the court by raising the number of justices from nine to 15. Finally, the court relented. In a 5-4 decision, it allowed the state of Washington’s Industrial Welfare Committee to establish a minimum wage – $14.50 for a 48-hour work week.
Most history textbooks don’t mention this milestone, but that’s when liberal democracy was secured.
To be sure, it would take almost 30 more years before the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s brought democracy to the Jim Crow South. But even that victory depended on the Justice Department’s power to regulate elections in historically white supremacist states.
The administrative state has been protecting the rights of ordinary Americans and executing the sovereignty of the people for the past 87 years.
Who grounded Boeing airplanes when a door blew off a 737 in midflight? It was civil servants in the Federal Aviation Administration, a government agency founded by Congress in 1958 “to regulate civil aviation.”
Why does the U.S. have cleaner air and water today than it did in the 1960s? Because in 1970, Congress passed the Clean Air Act, and a new Environmental Protection Agency was empowered to write and perpetually rewrite regulations that execute Congress’ antipollution laws.
This system produces the occasional injustice or overreach.
A farmer’s puddling acre, for example, might be overregulated as a “wetland.” A fishing company might be ordered to maintain a government-appointed herring counter at a cost of $710 a day.
But gutting regulatory agencies and replacing a meritocratic bureaucracy with MAGA loyalists won’t help small farmers or family-owned fishing boats. It will empower big corporations to pollute, exploit their workers, price-gouge customers, cut corners on safety – and to corrupt the political system.
It’s also illegal. Congress has deliberately protected those bureaucrats from the volatility of presidential politics.
Unlike presidential appointees, who serve at the pleasure of the president, civil servants work for the people. They are empowered by Congress, and the president cannot fire them. At least for now.
Joseph Patrick Kelly has previously volunteered as an officer at the county and precinct level in the Democratic Party.
– ref. Undoing the ‘deep state’ means Trump would undo over a century of progress in building a federal government for the people and not just for rich white men – https://theconversation.com/undoing-the-deep-state-means-trump-would-undo-over-a-century-of-progress-in-building-a-federal-government-for-the-people-and-not-just-for-rich-white-men-234421
Source: Government of Canada News
Parks Canada Commemorates Teyoninhokarawen (John Norton).
November 2, 2024 Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON Parks Canada
Today, Parks Canada commemorated the national historic significance of Teyoninhokarawen (John Norton) at a special plaque unveiling ceremony at Queenston Heights Park in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. The commemoration ceremony was held by Parks Canada in collaboration with Niagara Parks Commission during the annual Valour and Victory: Honouring Indigenous Veterans event at Queenston Heights Park.
Born on December 16, 1770, to a Scottish mother and an Ani-Yunwiya (Cherokee) father, Teyoninhokarawen (John Norton) was a great political and military leader, interpreter, and author before, during, and after the War of 1812. As an interpreter for the Indian Department at Niagara, Upper Canada, in the 1790s, Norton met and impressed the renowned Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) chief Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant). Thayendanegea’s mentorship led Norton to join the Grand River Kanien’kehá:ka, where he was adopted as his nephew and successor. As an emissary, Norton journeyed to London, England, to convince the Privy Council to support Haudenosaunee land rights, in opposition to the Indian Department.
During the War of 1812, Norton’s leadership and military acumen was crucial, convincing many First Nations communities and their warriors to ally with the British in key battles, contributing to victories at the Battles of Queenston Heights, Stoney Creek, Chippawa and Lundy’s Lane. His success as a leader of Indigenous forces helped to counter American advances and solidify British positions.
Norton also left a rich literary legacy, including a translation of the Gospels of St. John and St. Matthew into Kanien’kéha (the Mohawk language) and journals which provide a rare record of the times and a Haudenosaunee perspective on the war. His work served as a bridge between cultures. As a leader, he played a crucial role in the military and diplomatic arenas in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
The Government of Canada, through Parks Canada and the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, recognizes significant people, places, and events that shaped this country as one way of helping Canadians connect with their past. By sharing these stories with Canadians, we hope to foster understanding and reflection on the diverse histories, cultures, legacies, and realities of Canada’s past and present.
The designation process under Parks Canada’s National Program of Historical Commemoration is largely driven by public nominations. To nominate a person, place or historic event in your community, please visit the Parks Canada website for more information: https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/culture/clmhc-hsmbc/ncp-pcn/application.
-30-
Hermine Landry
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change
873-455-3714
hermine.landry@ec.gc.ca
Source: US State of New York
NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today joined a bipartisan multistate coalition of 50 attorneys general in announcing settlements with Heritage Pharmaceuticals (Heritage) and Apotex Inc. (Apotex) totaling $49.1 million for their roles in a massive, long-running scheme to artificially inflate and manipulate prices, reduce competition, and restrict trade for dozens of generic prescription drugs. The companies in the scheme, some of which increased prices by 1,000 percent, manufactured essential medications to treat diseases ranging from diabetes to cancer to ADHD. As part of the settlements, both companies have agreed to cooperate in ongoing multistate investigations against 30 corporate defendants and 25 individual executives. Both companies have also agreed to implement internal reforms to ensure fair competition and compliance with antitrust laws.
“Affordable generic drugs are a lifeline for millions of New Yorkers who rely on them every day to treat everything from diabetes to heart conditions,” said Attorney General James. “The companies involved in this scheme engaged in a massive conspiracy to illegally coordinate prices, driving up costs for consumers as much as 1,000 percent. These two settlements will help enable the victims of this scheme to get compensation, and will hopefully ensure this type of illegal price fixing will not happen again. I thank my fellow attorneys general for their hard work and collaboration to protect consumers from this unfair anticompetitive conduct.”
The settlements are the result of two lawsuits filed by the Office of the Attorney General and a coalition of attorneys general against some of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical companies. The first complaint, filed in 2016, included Heritage and 17 other corporate defendants, two individual defendants, and 15 generic drugs. Two former executives from Heritage Pharmaceuticals, Jeffrey Glazer and Jason Malek, have since entered into settlement agreements and are cooperating with the states’ investigations. The second complaint was filed in 2019 against Teva Pharmaceuticals and 19 of the nation’s largest generic drug manufacturers. The complaint names 16 individual senior executives as defendants. The third complaint was filed in 2020 against Sandoz and 18 other of the nation’s largest generic drug manufacturers, in addition to 10 individual defendants.
The lawsuits allege these companies engaged in a broad, coordinated, and systematic conspiracy to fix prices, avoid competition, and rig bids for more than 100 different generic drugs. The companies maintained an interconnected web of industry executives where these competitors met with each other during industry dinners, “girls’ nights out,” lunches, cocktail parties, and golf outings, and communicated via frequent telephone calls, emails, and text messages that sowed the seeds for their illegal agreements. Defendants used terms like “fair share,” “playing nice in the sandbox,” and “responsible competitor” to describe how they unlawfully discouraged competition, raised prices, and enforced an ingrained culture of collusion.
The drugs included in the scheme span all types, including tablets, capsules, creams, and ointments; and classes, including antibiotics, anti-depressants, contraceptives, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. They treat a range of diseases and conditions from basic infections to diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, HIV, ADHD, and more. In some instances, the coordinated price increases were over 1,000 percent. Digoxin, an essential heart medication manufactured by Heritage, tripled in price, causing patients to pay hundreds of dollars more for the drug.
The cases stem from an investigation built on evidence from several cooperating witnesses at the core of the conspiracy, a massive database of over 20 million documents, and a phone records database containing millions of call detail records and contact information for over 600 sales and pricing individuals in the generics industry.
A motion for preliminary approval of the $10 million settlement with Heritage was filed yesterday in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut in Hartford. A settlement with Apotex for $39.1 million is contingent upon obtaining signatures from all necessary states and territories and will be finalized and filed in the U.S. District Court.
Consumers who purchased a generic prescription drug manufactured by either Heritage or Apotex between 2010 and 2018 may be eligible for compensation. To determine your eligibility, call 1-866-290-0182, email info@AGGenericDrugs.com or visit www.AGGenericDrugs.com.
Joining Attorney General James in announcing the settlements are the attorneys general of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
These settlements are the latest example of Attorney General James taking action to stop companies from engaging in anticompetitive conduct and harming New Yorkers. In May, Attorney General James joined 40 other states and the Department of Justice in suing Live Nation and Ticketmaster for monopolizing the live music industry. In October 2023, Attorney General James secured $4.5 million from one of the nation’s largest title insurance companies for using illegal no-poach agreements with competitors to keep employees from switching jobs. Attorney General James has now ended the use of no-poach agreements by the five largest commercial underwriters in the United States, including First American, Fidelity, Old Republic, Stewart, and Amtrust. In 2022, Attorney General James sued a ski resort company in Syracuse for buying its main competitor and shutting it down in order to monopolize the local market.
New York’s investigation has been led by Assistant Attorneys General Bob Hubbard and Saami Zain and Legal Assistant Arlene Leventhal of the Antitrust Bureau, under the supervision of Deputy Bureau Chief Amy McFarlane and Bureau Chief Elinor Hoffmann of the Antitrust Bureau. The Antitrust Bureau is part of the Division for Economic Justice, overseen by Chief Deputy Attorney General Christopher D’Angelo and First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.
Source: United States INDO PACIFIC COMMAND
CAMP CASEY, Republic of Korea –
Oh, Who Seok, the vice governor of Gyeonggi-do, six vice mayors from different Gyeonggi province cities, and key staff members toured Camp Casey and Camp Hovey during the 4th Northern Gyeonggi Vice Governor and Vice Mayor’s Conference Oct. 31.
Gyeonggi-do hosts the conference in a different city every other month, selecting Dongducheon city for the month of October. The event is meant to introduce vice mayors to various things of importance they may encounter during their tenure. Dongducheon city reached out to U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan-Casey and requested a tour of the installation to promote Korean-American friendship and more effectively explain the military’s presence in the area.
The group consisted of Oh, Who Seok, Gyeonggi-do vice governor; Kim, Ken Ki, Paju vice mayor; Park, Seong Nam, Uijeongbu vice mayor; Kim, Jeong Min, Yangju vice mayor; Kim Jong Hun, Pocheon vice mayor; Lim, Kyoung Suk, Dongducheon city vice mayor, key staff, and community relations representatives.
Dr. Irving Taylor, Yongsan-Casey deputy to the garrison commander, welcomed the officials to the installation and took them on a walking tour of some of the facilities.
“We have a great relationship with our community partners,” said Taylor. “Our Soldiers and civilians are frequently invited to wonderful off-base activities that really help improve cross-cultural understanding and create long-lasting memories. I hope all of today’s guests enjoyed the trip and gained a better understanding of life on a military installation. This place is more than just a piece of land, it’s home to an entire community of diverse and hard-working professionals.”
During the driving portion of the tour, Kim, Song Ae, Yongsan-Casey community relations officer, described the history of the installation, which goes all the way back to the Korean War. Along the route, the vice mayors asked a variety of engaging questions aimed at gaining a better understanding of the Soldiers’ lives and how the military presence here fits into the larger kaleidoscope.
The capstone of the tour featured a M270A1 Multiple Launch Rocket System, M1068 FDC track vehicle, and Humvee display. U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to 6-37 Field Artillery Regiment, 210th Field Artillery Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, introduced the vehicles to the vice mayors while having several engaging conversations about their personal experiences and impressions of life in Korea.
Many of the officials also served in the military in years past, attesting to the strength and endurance of the ROK-U.S. alliance and creating a shared sense of camaraderie among the group. The South Korean and American patriots, stood side-by-side and rendered a salute during the playing of Retreat, which signaled the end of the duty day, temporarily pausing the friendly conversations.
The vice governor of Gyeonggi province expressed his gratitude to U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan-Casey and the Soldiers of 210th Field Artillery Brigade for their support of the initiative.
“It was a meaningful experience to observe firsthand the training and daily lives of U.S. Soldiers dedicated to the peace of the Korean Peninsula,” said Oh. “Gyeonggi Province will continue to work to strengthen the U.S.-Korea alliance and to promote stability in border regions.”
Oh volunteered to don the Improved Outer Tactical Vest just before the conclusion of the tour. The entire group beamed with joy as they watched Oh put on the uniform and talk about the experience.
U.S. Army Yongsan-Casey organizes over 100 events a year to help promote cross-cultural understanding and awareness. U.S. Army Soldiers, civilians and citizens in the area frequently articulate their appreciation for such events and the positive impacts they have on quality of life while abroad.
Source: New Zealand Police (District News)
Emergency services are in attendance at a serious crash in Broadlands, Rotorua which was reported shortly before 7:30am.
It’s believed there may be serious injury.
Diversions are currently in place off Broadlands Road at Ohaaki Road and Vaile Road, and are expected to remain in place for some time.
ENDS
Source: US Federal Emergency Management Agency
Headline: Disaster Recovery Center Opens in Gaston County
Disaster Recovery Center Opens in Gaston County
RALEIGH, N.C. – A Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) will open Sunday, November 3, in Dallas (Gaston County) to assist North Carolina survivors who experienced loss from Tropical Storm Helene. The Gaston County DRC is located at: Dallas Civic Center206 S. Oakland St.Dallas, NC 28034Open: 8 a.m. – 7 p.m., Sunday through SaturdayA DRC is a one-stop shop where survivors can meet face-to-face with FEMA representatives, apply for FEMA assistance, receive referrals to local assistance in their area, apply with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for low-interest disaster loans and much more. FEMA financial assistance may include money for basic home repairs, personal property losses or other uninsured, disaster-related needs, such as childcare, transportation, medical needs, funeral or dental expenses. To find additional DRC locations, go to fema.gov/drc or text “DRC” and a zip code to 43362. Additional recovery centers will open soon. All centers are accessible to people with disabilities or access and functional needs and are equipped with assistive technology. Homeowners and renters in 39 North Carolina counties and tribal members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians can visit any open center, including locations in other states. No appointment is needed. It is not necessary to go to a center to apply for FEMA assistance. The fastest way to apply is online at DisasterAssistance.gov or via the FEMA App. You may also call 800-621-3362. If you use a relay service, such as video relay, captioned telephone or other service, give FEMA your number for that service.
barbara.murien…
Sat, 11/02/2024 – 19:02
Source: New Zealand Police (District News)
A man has died following a single motorcycle crash on Port Hutt Road, Chatham Islands.
Police responded to the scene around 7pm.
The rider was transported to hospital where he has since died.
Enquiries into the circumstances of the crash are ongoing.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre
Source: New Zealand Police (District News)
Ten people are reportedly injured from the crash in Broadlands, Rotorua this morning.
It involved a single bus rolling at the intersection of Broadlands Road and Allen Road shortly before 7:30am.
Three people have serious injuries, two are moderately injured, and five others have minor injuries – all have been taken to hospital by helicopter.
The road remains blocked and is expected to remain so for some time.
Diversions are in pace at Ohaaki Road and Vaile Road.
ENDS
Source: Australian Ministers for Education
The Albanese Labor Government will cut a further 20 per cent off all student loan debts, wiping around $16 billion in student debt for around three million Australians.
By 1 June next year, the Government will cut 20 per cent off all student loans to reduce the debt burden for Australians with a student loan.
This will cut around $16 billion in debt, including all HELP, VET Student Loan, Australian Apprenticeship Support Loan and other income-contingent student support loan accounts that exist on 1 June next year.
For someone with the average HELP debt of $27,600 they will see around $5,520 wiped from their outstanding HELP loans next year.
This will provide significant relief to Australian students and workers with a student loan debt and builds on our reforms to fix the indexation formula, which is cutting around $3 billion in student debt.
This means, all up, the Albanese Labor Government will cut close to $20 billion in student loan debt for more than three million Australians.
This builds on the Government’s announcement that from 1 July next year it will reduce the amount Australians with a student debt have to repay per year and raise the threshold when people need to start repaying.
Together these reforms also build on the Government’s substantial tertiary education reforms, including:
Quotes attributable to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese:
“I will always fight for every young Australian to have access to a good education. My Government will make sure our education system is fairer and affordable for every Australian and we won’t delay unwinding the damage caused by the former Coalition Government.
“We’re already fixing indexation and today, we are going further by taking 20 per cent off student debt – for everyone with a student debt.
“This will help everyone with a student debt right now, whilst we work hard to deliver a better deal for every student in the years ahead.
“No matter where you live or how much your parents earn, my Government will work to ensure the doors of opportunity are open for you.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Education Jason Clare:
“This is a game-changer for the more than three million Australians with a student loan.
“By 1 June next year, we will wipe around a further $16 billion from all Australians with a student dent, including Australians who went to uni and vocational education.
“This builds on our changes to make indexation fairer and all up this means we are wiping close to $20 billion in student debt.
“This is another significant reform that will help us build a better and fairer education system.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth:
“This is great news for Australians with student debt – whether from studying at university or vocational education – the Albanese Government will reduce their debt alongside our changes to make indexation fairer.
“We want all Australians to have the opportunity for higher education, and our changes are making the system fairer and more affordable.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Skills and Training Andrew Giles:
“This will deliver very welcome cost-of-living relief to the more than three million Australians who have student loans and is an example of the great Labor tradition of making education more accessible.
“This support applies to all government student loans including vocational training, so whether you’re an apprentice or a tradie, a carer or a nurse, if you’re paying off a student loan you’ll receive this cost of living relief.”
Source: New Zealand Government
Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay will lead a large trade delegation to the 7th annual China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai next week, followed by a visit to Guangzhou.
This year, almost 70 New Zealand companies will participate in CIIE, to interact with over 3,400 exhibitors and 410,000 visitors.
“This visit is part of the Government delivering on its promise to lead more trade missions than any previous administration during this term of parliament, Mr McClay says.
“China is our largest export market accounting for $38 billion in two-way trade. This is a significant economic partnership for both countries. It’s important we continue to invest in this relationship and grow the New Zealand economy by assisting our exporters to sell more,
“The CIIE will showcase New Zealand’s safe, high-quality and innovative products and our world-leading service sector to China’s growing middle class of over 500 million consumers.”
While supporting New Zealand exhibitors at the Expo, Minister McClay will also meet with Chinese trade leaders and deliver a keynote address at the Hongqiao International Economic Forum, underscoring New Zealand’s commitment to expanding its trade partnerships and reinforcing the Government’s goal of doubling New Zealand’s exports by value in ten years.
Following CIIE, Mr McClay will visit Guangzhou, a commercial gateway for New Zealand into southern China where he will engage with Kiwi businesses operating in the region.
“A strong export sector is part of our plan to grow the economy, lift incomes for kiwis, and create jobs.”
This will be Mr McClay’s second visit to China this year following political meetings in April.
Source: Hong Kong Information Services
The WorldSkills Competition took place in Lyon, France, in September. This year, the Construction Industry Council sent seven competitors to participate in six categories.
One of them was Wesley Fong, 20, who graduated from the Hong Kong Institute of Construction in 2022. He won the championship in the 2nd Hong Kong Construction Skills Competition last year, earning the qualification to compete as a finalist in joinery at the WorldSkills Competition, after training and assessment.
“It typically takes five to six years to train a competitor in other countries or regions, but we only had about one year, which necessitated intensive training and precise planning,” Mr Fong’s instructor, Hong Kong Institute of Construction Supervising Instructor Terence Lam explained.
“Initially, Wesley struggled with some of the skills, leaving him frustrated. We needed to push him, even scold him, but sometimes he just needed a bit of encouragement. As Wesley was willing to spend time on weekends to practise, of course we wanted to help him.”
Facing challenges
The 19 joinery trade competitors were required to carry out the requested project within 22 hours over four days. They were given a sketch and asked to create a one-to-one drawing. Working from the drawing, the joiner would measure and cut joints then assemble, install, and finish a door with its frame to a high standard.
Even with adequate preparation, Mr Fong admitted that the road to success did not come easy.
“I made some mistakes in the drawing and felt a little discouraged on the first night of the competition,” he said.
“The next day I made improvements, so I was able to make up for the mistakes and they did not affect me too much. When I saw the competitors next to me working so hard, I was inspired to raise my game.”
Mr Fong’s hard work paid off and he was awarded a medallion for excellence, an outcome he said he never anticipated. The final result has boosted his confidence and he is now determined to continue with a career in the construction industry.
Meanwhile, his instructor Mr Lam, who has been teaching for nearly 30 years, wishes to pass on his knowledge to his students and expressed hope for a sustainable industry.
Family skills
Ricky Chow, 22, also won a medallion for excellence at WorldSkills Lyon 2024 in welding – a skill taught to him by his father, which he was proud to showcase to the world.
Like Mr Fong, he made it on to the WorldSkills team after winning the Hong Kong Construction Industry Skills Competition last year.
The welding competitors had to complete four modules that involved working on carbon steel, a pressure vessel, aluminium and stainless steel within 18 hours. Mr Chow found welding the pressure vessel to be the most challenging task, as it required utilising all welding techniques to ensure it was watertight.
“Initially, most of my pressure vessels leaked, with only one or two being watertight. After practising for six months to a year, I gradually learnt the necessary techniques. Welding a pressure vessel is also physically demanding and time-consuming.”
But Mr Chow stayed focused and recalled his instructor’s advice to pull him through the tough moments of the competition.
“My instructor advised me to stick to my usual methods and once I completed all the modules, I would proceed to the stage where I could receive an award.”
Rigorous training
He missed out on the top three awards, but received a medallion for excellence. His instructor, Hong Kong Institute of Construction Instructor Charles Li attributed Mr Chow’s success to his perseverance.
“Despite training for only one year, compared to Ricky’s competitors from other places who trained for three to five years, he worked diligently. His schedule was demanding, training from 8am to 10pm, including weekends and public holidays.
“Ricky may not have been the most skilled of all the trainees, but he certainly was the most persistent. He was the only one to complete the training.”
Organised biennially by WorldSkills International, the WorldSkills Competition is the largest skills competition globally and hailed as the “Skills Olympics”. This year, the Construction Industry Council sent seven competitors, with two winning medallions for excellence – achieving the best ever results by Hong Kong construction industry players.
Source: Minister for Trade
Today I will travel to Shanghai to lead Australia’s delegation at the world’s largest import expo, the China International Import Expo (CIIE), at the invitation of China’s Minister of Commerce, Wang Wentao.
The expo is an important platform for Australian businesses to showcase their world-class goods and services to our largest export market.
In the year since Prime Minister Albanese and I attended the last expo, tariffs on Australian wine imports into China have been removed and suspensions lifted on eight red meat export facilities.
Last month, Prime Minister Albanese and Chinese Premier Li agreed a timetable for the full resumption of Australian live rock lobster exports by the end of this year.
As a result of the Albanese Labor Government’s deliberate, careful and calibrated approach, nearly $20 billion worth of trade impediments on Australian exports to China have been removed.
But we can’t rest on our laurels, the job is not done.
Which is why I am proud to be supporting a record number of Australian businesses at the expo this year as they seek out new opportunities to grow and diversify their markets.
I will meet with my counterpart, Minister Wentao, where I will continue to press for the full resumption of normal bilateral trade.
China is our largest trading partner and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Total two-way trade reached a record $327 billion in 2023.
The benefits of our trade relationship with China flow to everyday Australians in the form of more well-paying jobs, increased business opportunities, and a lower cost of living.
Every single product we export to the world represents thousands of Australian jobs, and the Albanese Labor Government is committed to helping Australian businesses, exporters and producers diversify their markets.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
URUMQI, Nov. 2 — Edil Mohammed, who commutes daily for about an hour by bus from Yarkent, Kazakhstan, to Horgos, China, has adapted to the lifestyle of cross-border work.
As the head of a branch of Kazakhstan’s Bank CenterCredit, which is located in the China-Kazakhstan International Border Cooperation Center in Horgos, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, he is part of a pioneering group of foreign banks that entered Xinjiang following the establishment of the China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in November 2023.
The Xinjiang pilot FTZ, which encompasses three iconic areas — Urumqi, Kashgar and Horgos — stands as the first FTZ in China’s northwestern border regions and the 22nd nationwide. As it embraces its first anniversary, the zone has shown promising results.
As the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) continues to forge ahead, Xinjiang has committed to building itself into an important corridor linking Asia and Europe and to serving as a gateway for China’s opening-up efforts in the west.
“Global investors are seizing opportunities in the pilot FTZ, and many jobseekers have found satisfying positions, such as in cross-border e-commerce, international live-streaming, translation and diverse agents,” said Mohammed, adding that the growth of new business models and expanding trade will attract even more international financial institutions and enterprises.
SUPPORTIVE POLICIES
Qin Xiaoyu, a customs declarer at a foreign-trade enterprise specializing in the import and export of daily consumer goods to five Central Asian countries, has benefited from enhanced services following the establishment of a dedicated market procurement window at the FTZ’s Urumqi area.
“The consultation and whole process only take a few minutes,” said Qin. “The dedicated service window can save both time and costs. Enterprises benefit from policies such as value-added tax exemptions, simplified declaration processes and flexible foreign exchange collection, all of which improve export efficiency.”
The service window is part of a broader set of measures rolled out by the Xinjiang pilot FTZ to boost foreign trade, providing a low-cost, high-efficiency export channel for small and micro enterprises, as well as individual businesses, according to Ju Ning, an official at the Urumqi Economic & Technological Development Zone.
“The ‘green channel’ for the rapid customs clearance of agricultural products at the border ports between China-Kazakhstan, China-Tajikistan and China-Kyrgyzstan has been fully implemented, cutting the customs declaration time for agricultural exports from five days to just one day,” said He Yadong, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce.
Statistics show that from January to August, Xinjiang’s import and export volume increased by 30.9 percent to 285.32 billion yuan (about 40.11 billion U.S. dollars).
“The pilot FTZ prioritizes institutional innovation, actively exploring reforms in government functions, management models, and the facilitation of trade and investment. It effectively plays a leading role in deepening reform and expanding opening up,” said Buvejer Abula, a researcher of economic and social development with the Xinjiang Agricultural University.
RISING INDUSTRIAL CLUSTERS
In the FTZ’s Horgos area, refrigerated trucks loaded with fruit and vegetables pass through a fast-track customs clearance “green channel” destined for Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia and beyond.
Yu Chengzhong’s trade company exports over 500 tonnes of fruit and more than 300 tonnes of vegetables daily. This fresh produce can reach markets in Almaty in Kazakhstan within just a few hours.
“The establishment of the FTZ has given our company a unique opportunity for growth,” said Yu, adding that the company has established sales networks in the five Central Asian countries, and this year, the company built a 66-hectare warehouse in Kazakhstan to further penetrate local markets.
In the production workshop of a lithium battery enterprise called Shengyuehengchang, two automated production lines, each capable of producing 200,000 Ah lithium batteries per day, are running smoothly, fulfilling orders for its clients in Kyrgyzstan.
The company normally manufactures small-capacity batteries but is now transitioning towards high-rate energy storage and power battery production. These batteries are primarily sold to the Central Asian market and are widely used in products such as electric motorcycles, drones, power tools and solar-energy products.
“Leveraging the FTZ’s geographical advantages and favorable opening up policies, local companies are increasingly eyeing overseas markets for diverse development paths,” said Bo Yinjiang, an official with the Kashgar Economic Development Zone.
The zone has already attracted 28 enterprises related to lithium batteries, covering the areas of lithium battery materials, manufacturing and supply chains. The annual output value of the enterprises is expected to exceed 10 billion yuan upon full operation, forming a burgeoning lithium battery industry cluster.
“Since the pilot FTZ’s inception, a number of business associations and companies have visited Xinjiang to seek market opportunities and collaboration. There is also a rise in foreign-invested enterprises,” said Li Xuan, from the regional commerce department.
“The pilot FTZ offers a significant historical opportunity for pursuing high-level opening up and high-quality development in Xinjiang. It must actively align with high-standard international trade and economic rules, integrate into the dual circulation of domestic and international markets, and support the development of the core region of the BRI,” Li added.
The Ministry of Commerce will promote the industrial exchange and cooperation between the Xinjiang pilot FTZ and the central and eastern regions of the country, and support the FTZ in prioritizing key industries and fostering integrated innovation throughout the entire value chain, according to He, the ministry spokesperson.
Source: Australian Ministers for Education
ANDREW CLENNELL: Well, joining me live now from Adelaide, where Anthony Albanese is giving that speech, is the Education Minister, Jason Clare. Jason Clare, thanks for joining me. Let’s start with today’s announcement. Why have you decided to cut the debt that these students would have expected to pay by 20%?
JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: G’day, mate. This is massive help for 3 million Australians right across the country with a student debt. People have got a university degree, or a TAFE qualification and it’ll cut their debt by 20 per cent.
The average debt at the moment is about $27,000, so that will cut their debt by more than $5,000.
For somebody that’s got a student debt of about $50,000, and there’s plenty of people like that out there, then this will cut their debt by $10,000.
When you and I were at university, back last century, university was a lot cheaper than it is today. Even in the early 2000s, it was cheaper. Back then, students contributed, on average, about 30 per cent to the cost of the degree, and taxpayers, the Government, contributed the other 70 per cent.
Now it’s more like a bit over 40 per cent that on average students contribute and the taxpayer, or the Government, contributes about 60 per cent. This fixes that. It fixes that for this generation of Australians, 3 million Australians who’ve got uni and TAFE qualifications over the last decade or so.
CLENNELL: Someone has to pay for this, and I assume it’s taxpayers.
CLARE: This is the thing, whether it’s TAFE or whether it’s university, the individual benefits and the country benefits as well. That’s why it’s always been the case that we both chip in. It’s why we’ve rolled out about half a million fee free TAFE places. Free TAFE places for Australians. But it’s also why Australian taxpayers and the Government contributes to investing in our universities as well.
The bottom line here is a lot of young Australians are doing it tough at the moment. They’re just starting out, they’ve just finished their uni degree or just finished their TAFE qualifications, just leaving home, starting to pay rent, paying the bills, they’ve got to pay this bill, too. This will cut the cost of that bill and what we announced yesterday will make it easier to pay that off as well.
CLENNELL: Indeed. But if this is such a great initiative, why not? I mean, Parliament sits this week. Why not introduce the legislation now? Jason Clare, why say it’s contingent on an election win? I mean, it effectively looks like an electoral bribe to younger people.
CLARE: We’ve got legislation in the Parliament right now that cuts student debt by $3 billion for 3 million Australians. That fixes the indexation formula. Everyone watching will remember that when inflation spiked last year, so did student debt. We’re fixing that and wiping out what happened last year, making sure that it doesn’t happen again. So, that legislation is in the Parliament right now. We want to see that done and finished and fixed by the end of the year.
That bill also includes other big reforms like paid prac. So, for the first time ever, we’re going to provide financial support for teaching students and nursing students and social work students while they do their practical training. That bill also includes something else that’s important. Massively expanding the free courses that are effectively bridging courses for students between school and starting a university degree…
CLENNELL: Okay, but why save this for the election? Why tie this to an election?
CLARE: Just important to make the point that we’re making changes to student debt in the Parliament right now. What Anthony will say today is that if we are re-elected, this will be the first piece of legislation that we introduce to the Parliament after the election. And it’ll make a massive difference for a lot of young Australians right across the country. Not just young Australians, though. Everybody that has a student debt cut by 20 per cent.
CLENNELL: All right, a lot of young Australians would just like to see HECS fees cut, full stop. So, this obviously affects those who’ve accumulated the debt, who’ve graduated or are graduating. You spoke about when we went to university, my HECS debt was $9,500. Now, an arts degree can cost you 50 grand. Medicine or law degree can cost you 80 grand. Why not just cut those fees?
CLARE: There’s more to do here as well, mate, that’s the truth. As I said, there’s legislation in the Parliament to help students at university right now with that paid prac that financial support while they do their training and those free courses.
But what we’ve also said we would do is create an Australian Tertiary Education Commission to help us set those fees, fix the funding model for universities, and also provide universities with extra funding for students who are more likely to drop out to help them complete their degrees. And I hope to be in a position later this year to provide more detail on all of that.
CLENNELL: And lifting the threshold for paying it back from $54,000 a year to $67,000. What difference will that make? Because ultimately it means it takes longer to pay your debt back, doesn’t it?
CLARE: Not necessarily. It always depends on the individual. And remember, this is the minimum that you have to pay if you want to pay more off you can. The bottom line with this reform, and this is a reform recommended by the Universities Accord Panel, recommended in fact by Bruce Chapman, who’s the architect of HECS back in the 80s, is that it’s designed to make sure that you start to pay off your university degree when university starts to pay off for you.
For a lot of young people, they’re straight out of uni, they’re on a low income, they’re paying the rent, paying the bills, trying to save for a mortgage, trying to start a family, and they already have to start paying off their HECS bill. This gets them a little bit of relief, takes the pressure off, means that they don’t have to start paying back that debt until they’re earning $67,000 a year, which is about three quarters of the average graduate salary. And it means for somebody that might be on say $80,000 a year, that they’re paying about $850 less a year than they have to at the moment. So, that’s more money in their pocket rather than being in the Government’s pocket to help them pay the rent and pay the bills.
CLENNELL: Well, just on that, is this policy a sign of how expensive housing and rents are that you’ve had to do this? And are you trying to take votes back or off the Greens here by appealing to younger people?
CLARE: I think it’s just a simple fact that a lot of young people are doing it tough, doing it tougher than many other Australians. If they’re straight out of uni and they’re into the workforce and they’ve moved out and they’ve got to pay the rent and they’ve got this bill as well, then cutting that debt by 20 per cent and making it easier to pay off is going to help them. But it’s also part of a bigger plan that we’ve got to build Australia’s future.
Back when Hawke and Keating were running the country, we saw a jump in the number of young people finishing high school from 40 per cent to almost 80 per cent. And that was nation changing stuff. It’s made us smarter and stronger and wealthier as a country. And this Universities Accord report tells us that by the middle of this century, it’s not going to be just 80 per cent of people that finish school. We’re going to need a workforce where 80 per cent of people have finished school and then gone to TAFE or gone to university. And if we’re going to build that workforce, then we’ve got to reform our education system, make it better and make it fairer. That’s what the reforms in the Parliament are about. And this will help as well.
CLENNELL: Whose idea is 20 per cent? A 20 per cent cut? Is it yours? Is it the Prime Minister’s? Did you look at 30 per cent? Did you look at 40 per cent? Did you look at 10 per cent?
CLARE: We looked at a range of different options, but they’re decisions that are made by Cabinet, made by the ERC, and I’m not going to go into that detail.
CLENNELL: Did you want a greater cut? Did you want a bigger cut as Education Minister?
CLARE: No. Very, very simple here. I’m the education minister. I put this recommendation to my colleagues, and they’ve backed it, and I’m glad they have.
CLENNELL: All right, We’ve revealed Labor’s slogan to be announced today is ‘Building Australia’s future’. In 2022 it was ‘A better future’. Has Australia seen a better future between 2022 and 2024, particularly in light of 12 interest rate increases?
CLARE: We’ve made real progress on a number of important fronts. We’ve created a million new jobs in just over two years. That’s more than any government ever has. We’ve cut inflation in half. When we came to office, inflation was high and going up. Now it’s low and coming down back into the band that we’ve delivered two surpluses in a row, something the Liberal Party could only have ever dreamed of. And now we’re starting to see real wages grow again. So, that’s real progress, but it’s just the start.
What we’ll be talking about today is what we want to do if we’re privileged enough to win a second term, and that’s building Australia’s future. A big part of that is building the workforce, building the skills that we’re going to need to build the next generation of Australians, to build Australia for the years ahead.
CLENNELL: Let me ask you about this issue of flight upgrades. I looked through your register. You declared a $15 bottle of wine and a phone charger at one stage. Jason Clare. But you did also declare – And do you really have to declare…
CLARE: …a pineapple I think.
CLENNELL: Okay. All right. But you did also declare an upgrade with Qantas in 2019 on a flight from Sydney to Singapore. Was that personal travel and how did that happen?
CLARE: Yeah, good pickup, mate. That was a personal trip. And that was a situation where I had just got out of hospital, I had surgery on my leg and I asked for upgrade and I was assisted by Qantas.
CLENNELL: So, who do you ask in that scenario?
CLARE: I remember picking up the phone and asking for a bit of assistance there, but I can’t remember all of the details.
CLENNELL: Was it a government relations person or…?
CLARE: Probably. I don’t want to mislead you, but I definitely asked for that, just to help me after the surgery.
CLENNELL: What do you make of this? Just on this. I don’t want to labour too much time on this. Was your family on that trip with you? Did they also get an upgrade?
CLARE: No.
CLENNELL: Okay. It was a personal trip. Okay. By yourself? Or were they on another section of the flight? Were they with you?
CLARE: No, I had to go into hospital. You might remember that. I had a melanoma on my leg. I had to get it cut out. My family were overseas, I caught up with them as soon as I was allowed to.
CLENNELL: Sure, ok. What do you make of this Joe Aston claim that Anthony Albanese got the upgrades from Alan Joyce? Obviously, a claim that the Prime Minister disputes.
CLARE: He said that that’s not right. The bottom line here is declare it. And you’ve just gone through my declarations. If you get an upgrade or you’re given anything else, you declare it, you fill out a form, you whack it on the internet and it’s there for everybody to see.
CLENNELL: Why do you think it took the PM so long to shut this issue down? He could have easily come out that first press conference to say, no. I never contacted Alan Joyce about this. I mean, has it been a bad distraction for the government?
CLARE: He’s gone out of his way to check and make sure that all of the questions that he answers are correct here, over more than a decade, to do the due diligence that you’re supposed to do to make sure that you answer the questions correctly. You just asked me a question I didn’t know the answer to. You’ve got the choice there that you make it up or you check. And that’s what Anthony has done. It’s a bit of a difference to what Peter Dutton did this week, when he was asked whether he’d asked Gina Rinehart to use the private plane, he said no, and then a couple of days later had to say that in fact, he had.
CLENNELL: And finally, Jason Clare what do you expect to happen in the US election this week? What would a Donald Trump win mean to Australia? Because on things like climate change, the US would be running in a whole separate direction, perhaps on Ukraine as well.
CLARE: This is a decision for the American people. If the polls are right, it’s likely to be a very close result. Whatever happens would be good if it’s a clear result for the United States. Whoever wins, though, it doesn’t change the relationship between Australia and the United States. The United States is our closest ally, and that is a matter of bipartisan support. I’m sure Simon will tell you the exact same thing in a couple of minutes time. Whether it’s a Labor government or a Liberal government in Australia or a Republican government or a Democratic government in the United States, we are the best of friends and closest of allies and that will continue.
CLENNELL: Education Minister Jason Clare, thanks so much for your time.
CLARE: Thanks, mate.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3
Foreign Secretary David Lammy visits Nigeria and South Africa.
David Lammy will begin a visit to Nigeria and South Africa today (3rd November), his first trip to the African continent as Foreign Secretary and the first to visit South Africa since 2013.
Committing to a fresh approach to Africa that works productively from Morocco to Madagascar, the Foreign Secretary will announce the start of a five-month consultation process, to ensure African voices inform and sit at the very heart of the UK’s new approach to the continent. Accommodating the diverse needs and ambitions of 54 countries, the consultation will guarantee the UK’s relationships across Africa are based on mutual respect and partnership.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said:
Africa has huge growth potential, with the continent on track to make up 25% of the world’s population by 2050.
Our new approach will deliver respectful partnerships that listen rather than tell, deliver long term growth rather than short term solutions and build a freer, safer, more prosperous continent. I want to hear what our African partners need and foster relationships so that the UK and our friends and partners in Africa can grow together.
Growth is the core mission of this government and will underpin our relationships in Nigeria, South Africa and beyond.
This will mean more jobs, more prosperity and more opportunities for Brits and Africans alike.
In Nigeria, the Foreign Secretary will sign a modern and progressive Strategic Partnership – the first of its kind between the UK and Nigeria. This new dialogue will cover the breadth of the UK-Nigeria areas of shared cooperation from growth and jobs to national security, tackling the climate and nature crisis to strengthening our people-to-people ties.
Nigeria will be the world’s fifth largest economy by 2075 – the Foreign Secretary will advocate for further collaboration on mutual growth via the UK-Nigeria Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership, signed earlier this year. This partnership is the key vehicle for driving trade and market access between the UK and Nigeria and plays a vital role in the UK’s growth mission.
The Foreign Secretary will advocate for further trade and climate collaboration between Nigeria and the UK in high level meetings with President Tinubu, Foreign Minister Tuggar and Lagos Governor Sanwo-Olu.
Building on President Tinubu’s macro-economic reforms, the Foreign Secretary will announce a diverse Technical Assistance package to the Nigerian Ministry of Finance, offering British expertise from the Bank of England, HMRC and others to help continue to modernise and diversify the Nigerian economy. Catalysing reform across Nigeria will create further opportunities within the flourishing Nigerian economy for British businesses – generating growth, jobs and incomes for Brits and Nigerians.
Travelling on to South Africa, David Lammy will agree to develop a new UK-South Africa Growth Plan. South Africa is our largest trading partner on the continent and this plan will allow trade to flourish even more through collaboration on market access, a new UK Trade Partnership programme to boost South Africa exports, and a new programme to increase the number of agricultural jobs in rural South Africa. This will simultaneously boost trade for Brits whilst bolstering opportunities within South Africa.
At the biennial UK-South Africa bilateral forum the Foreign Secretary and Foreign Minister Lamola will refresh the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to 2030 – raising joint ambition on climate, nature, trade and security and committing to UK-SA cooperation for the next two years on trade and investment, energy transition, and security.
South African exports to the UK supported over 137,000 jobs in 2020 – the Foreign Secretary will boost this with the renewal of a risk-sharing partnership between British International Investment and Standard Chartered to provide trade finance for SMEs and corporates operating across Africa and Asia.
No growth can be truly inclusive nor effective unless it is green. In both Nigeria and South Africa, the Foreign Secretary will build on the momentum from his Kew Lecture to encourage green growth and climate cooperation. In South Africa the Foreign Secretary will celebrate climate innovation at the Earthshot+ thought leadership conference. Founded by Prince William, The Earthshot Prize is a global environmental prize and platform designed to discover, accelerate and scale ground-breaking solutions to repair and regenerate the planet. The Foreign Secretary will speak with these innovators to understand how the UK can support and help channel finance to where biodiversity, climate risk and energy needs are greatest. He will announce a further Biodiversity Challenge Fund to help tackle the illegal wildlife trade and technical assistance to support South Africa’s energy transition.
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Source: China State Council Information Office 3
The New Zealand Asia Pacific Film Festival (NZAPFF) 2024, showcasing films from China, South Korea, Japan and New Zealand, was launched on Friday night.
Chairman of NZAPFF Bo Li stressed the festival’s commitment to diversity in his opening speech.
“At this year’s festival, we have maintained strong international inclusion, inviting filmmakers and artistic panels from all backgrounds to share their unique stories. This commitment to diversity enriches our festival and deepens our understanding of the world through the lens of the film,” Li said.
Glen Katu from the NZ Maori Tourism said the festival is “a remarkable celebration of the diverse cultures and stories that shape our vibrant Asia Pacific region.”
“Storytelling is foundational in both Maori and Asian cultures, serving not only as a bridge between generations but also as a heritage. This connection is visible tonight as we gather to share stories, a universal language that transcends boundaries and brings us all together,” said Katu.
The opening ceremony concluded with lucky draws and a film screening of the award-winning movie “A Place Called Silence.”
This year marks the 12th anniversary of the NZAPFF. It also features the first New Order Youth International Film Festival (NOYIFF), which is the brand of the NZAPFF short film unit to encourage young filmmakers to participate in the event and discover their talent. The NOYIFF has received 5,691 submissions from 120 countries, with the award to be given at the closing ceremony of the NZAPFF next week.
The New Zealand Asia Trust, the New Zealand Culture and Arts Foundation, and the New Zealand Maori Tourism co-organized this year’s festival. The opening ceremony was attended by over 600 people including representatives from the Maori Tourism Board, diplomatic envoys, community leaders, movie lovers, celebrities and artists.