Headline: For the first time in F1 history, a video game will be fully integrated with an F1 team
Bringing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle theming to some of the fastest cars on the planet marks the next chapter in Xbox and Alpine’s official partnership, showcasing the rich storytelling both brands are known for. The car liveries and race suits worn by drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon feature intricate details inspired by the game, including a map of the location’s players will explore, along with other branded elements from the games beautiful Collector’s Edition. The striking new car designs are revealed today, with their in-person debut set for Thursday, October 17. F1 and gaming fans alike can catch both cars in action at the United States F1 Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, from October 18 to 20.
“Working with the Xbox team to bring alive the incredible Indiana Jones and the Great Circle livery for the United States Grand Prix has been fantastic,” says Oliver Oakes, BWT Alpine Formula One Team, Team Principal. “The new look will be right at home in the Austin setting this weekend. In the past year, our partnership with Xbox has reached new heights and this is our biggest activation yet. There’s even more to come and I’m looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of the game when it comes out.”
We began teasing this collaboration with an epic real-life road trip. It all started in Los Angeles at a twilight-lit shipyard, where an Indiana Jones and the Great Circle-themed semi-truck set off, carrying a mysterious crate. Along its journey, the truck made stops at iconic U.S. landmarks like Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, Bonneville Salt Flats, and White Sands National Park, before arriving, shrouded in secrecy, at the Circuit of the Americas during a breathtaking sunset. There, the crate was finally opened to reveal its special cargo. To relive this incredible journey, visit the social channels of BWT Alpine F1 team, Bethesda, MachineGames, and Circuit of The Americas (COTA).
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is developed by MachineGames and Bethesda Softworks, in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games, and launches on December 9 on Xbox Series consoles, Xbox Game Pass and PC – with early access starting on December 6. The game is a first-person, single-player adventure set between the events of ‘Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark’ and ‘Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade’. In the year 1937, sinister forces are scouring the globe for the secret to an ancient power connected to the mysterious Great Circle, and only one person can beat them to it – Indiana Jones. Blending cinematic set-pieces, puzzle-solving, and hand-to-hand combat, players will embark on an authentic Indiana Jones experience that spans the world during the height of the legendary archaeologist’s career.
Pre-orders for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle are now open for Xbox Series X|S consoles and PC, with wish listing also available on PlayStation. Those who purchase the Premium Edition, Premium Upgrade or Collector’s Edition of the game will receive 3 days of early access, beginning December 6. More information on pre-orders can be found here. Stay tuned for more details at https://indianajones.bethesda.net/
As NATO Defence Ministers prepare to meet at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on Thursday and Friday (17-18 October 2024), Secretary General Mark Rutte previewed the expected outcomes of the meeting in a press conference at NATO Headquarters.
Allies need “to move further and faster to meet the growing threats we face”, he explained, adding that ”this requires more forces, capabilities and investment to meet the ambitious targets set by our defence plans.” Mr Rutte listed expanded defence industrial capacity, more robust supply chains and new technologies as critical to ensuring the Alliance remains resilient across all domains. He said he expected Ministers to greenlight a new NATO initiative to improve standardisation, explaining that “better implementation of standards can help reduce the cost of defence procurement, so this is essential work for NATO.”
The Secretary General reaffirmed that NATO stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine, both now and into the future. NATO Defence Ministers will meet with their Ukrainian counterpart, Rustem Umerov in the NATO-Ukraine Council on Thursday evening to discuss the battlefield situation and Ukraine’s most urgent needs. Mr Rutte indicated that work is well on track both to set up the new NATO command in Wiesbaden to coordinate security assistance and training for Ukraine, and to deliver on the pledge of 40 billion euros in military aid for Ukraine. He announced that “NATO Allies provided 20.9 billion euros in military assistance to Ukraine during the first half of 2024 and Allies are on track to meet their commitments for the rest of the year”, adding that “the message is clear: NATO is delivering for Ukraine, and we will continue to do so.”
The Defence Ministers’ meeting will also be an opportunity to exchange views on the current global security situation with NATO’s close partners in the Indo-Pacific and with the European Union. For the first time, Defence Ministers from Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea are joining a NATO Defence Ministers’ meeting. “In this more interconnected world, it is vital that we tackle our shared security challenges together” the Secretary General concluded.
U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard forces joined the United Arab Emirates naval defense force for exercise Iron Defender 24, Oct. 14-24. This maritime exercise will take place in the UAE and its territorial and coastal waters.
The combined bilateral exercise is designed to broaden levels of cooperation, support long term regional security, and enhance interoperability. Scenarios included: visit, board, search and seizure, unmanned system integration, harbor defense, diving, medical training, and training at sea.
This is one of many exercises in which the U.S. military participates with partner nations in the Middle East intended to enhance partnerships and interoperability.
The U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations encompasses nearly 2.5 million square miles of water area and includes the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea, parts of the Indian Ocean and three critical choke points at the Strait of Hormuz, Suez Canal and Bab al-Mandeb.
Canada is helping companies of every size get a fair chance to succeed. But too often in developing countries around the world, financing, such as loans and insurance, is tough to access. That means that opportunities to grow are scarce.
October 16, 2024 – Montréal, Quebec – Global Affairs Canada
Canada is helping companies of every size get a fair chance to succeed. But too often in developing countries around the world, financing, such as loans and insurance, is tough to access. That means that opportunities to grow are scarce.
Canada is changing that by improving access to financial services for underserved global populations, including women.
Today, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of International Development, announced $22.9 million in funding for the Aequitas Impact Investment Fund and $6.5 million for the fund’s Technical Assistance Facility, for a total of $29.4 million. This 12-year project, in partnership with Desjardins International Development (DID), will help make personalized financial services available to underserved communities around the world—helping them to grow and succeed.
The Aequitas Impact Investment Fund, launched in 2021, invests in small-scale financial institutions in developing countries to help them improve the availability of financial products, such as bank accounts, loans and insurance. These investments increase the availability of financial products and services for entrepreneurs who run micro-, small and medium-sized businesses, including women, youths and small-scale farmers in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Canada’s investment in this fund represents a key milestone in Canada’s progress in implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly with investments in gender equality and international development.
Canada’s investment is supported by a technical assistance facility that helps financial institutions and their clients improve their access to financial products and services to build and sustain their businesses.
“We are extremely proud of the Government of Canada’s commitment to the Aequitas Impact Investment Fund. By pooling our efforts and resources, we will be able to do more to promote the economic empowerment of women, young people and entrepreneurs of micro-, small and medium-sized businesses. This investment lines up perfectly with our goal of having a positive impact on gender equality, climate action and sustainable development—not just in Canada, but around the world.”
– Guy Cormier, President and CEO, Desjardins Group
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Several countries gave a joint statement on the establishment of the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) in response to the termination of the mandate of the Panel of Experts for the UNSC 1718 Sanctions Committee in April this year.
The Republic of Korea, Japan, the USA, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada and New Zealand gave a statement on their recent establishment of the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions regarding the DPRK:
We, the participating states of the MSMT, are aligned in our commitment to uphold international peace and security and to safeguard the global non-proliferation regime and address the threat arising from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs, which are in violation of UN Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs).
In light of the veto which disbanded the UN Security Council’s 1718 Committee Panel of Experts this year, we hereby express our intention to establish the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), a multilateral mechanism to monitor and report violations and evasions of the sanction measures stipulated in the relevant UNSCRs. The goal of the new mechanism is to assist the full implementation of UN sanctions on the DPRK by publishing information based on rigorous inquiry into sanctions violations and evasions attempts.
We underscore our shared determination to fully implement relevant UNSCRs regarding the DPRK, reaffirm that the path to dialogue remains open, and call on all states to join global efforts to maintain international peace and security in the face of the ongoing threats from the DPRK.
VICTORIA, Seychelles, Oct. 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bitget Wallet, the leading Web3 non-custodial wallet, has seen nearly 6 million app downloads in September, becoming the second most downloaded crypto app worldwide trailing Binance and surpassing the majority of Web3 wallets and crypto exchanges in new user adoption. Bitget Wallet has also announced the milestone of surpassing 40 million users globally, increasing over 100% since March 2024. This significant growth positions Bitget Wallet as the fastest-growing decentralized wallet this year, and shows the growing demand for decentralized solutions, positioning them as primary entry points into Web3.
Key Drivers Behind Explosive Growth
Several key factors have fueled Bitget Wallet’s impressive growth. Its intuitive user interface and robust product features make decentralized finance accessible, particularly for first-time crypto users. The wallet seamlessly integrates all of Web3 in one app—including asset management, swaps, launchpads, crypto trading, staking, and a DApp explorer—into a single platform. A pivotal aspect of its growth this year has been the integration with TON ecosystem and Telegram, which has facilitated user access to wallet services directly within the popular messaging platform, bridging Web2 users into Web3. In Q3 alone, the wallet saw an incredible 4886% growth in TON onchain addresses. Additionally, Bitget Wallet has gained significant traction in emerging markets, allowing for a smooth onboarding experience for new users entering crypto space. Notably, Bitget Wallet saw the strongest user growth in Q3 recorded in regions like Africa with a staggering 413% increase, followed by South Asia at 126% and the Middle-East at 105%.
Decentralized Wallets: The Future Gateway to Web3
Bitget Wallet’s rapid expansion signifies a broader trend in the industry: decentralized wallets are emerging as essential gateways to Web3, increasingly competing with centralized exchanges in terms of user base and functionality. More wallets are now working directly with Web2 platforms, such as payment solutions and social messaging apps, to increase the usability of tokens directly from self-custodial wallets. However, the Web3 landscape still faces challenges, particularly in terms of user retention. While onboarding has become easier, retaining users within decentralized ecosystems can be difficult due to limited real-world use cases and complex user interfaces. Therefore, it is critical to develop user-friendly applications and facilitate seamless interactions to ensure long-term engagement in this evolving digital landscape.
Seamless Integration of All Web3 Services in One App
Since its founding in 2018, Bitget Wallet has established itself as a comprehensive Web3 hub. It supports 100+ blockchains, 20,000+ DApps and millions of tokens onchain, positioning it among the largest decentralized marketplaces. The wallet’s seamless swap feature allows for fast and cost-effective token exchanges, sourcing the best prices by aggregating liquidity from 100+ DEXes. In Q3, swap activity on Bitget Wallet grew 125%, while DApp activities increased 128%, and token transfers jumped by 175%, reflecting the rising adoption of decentralized financial services. Furthermore, its advanced tools—including full candlestick charts, Smart Money Alerts and hot token discovery—provide users with real-time, in-depth market insights to make informed trading decisions. With a focus on security, Bitget Wallet includes features such as keyless MPC wallet, on-chain fund tracking, and a $300 million user protection fund, ensuring a safe and user-friendly experience.
A Vision for the Future of Web3
Alvin Kan, COO of Bitget Wallet, remarked, “Surpassing 40 million users is a testament to our vision of making crypto accessible to everyone, everywhere. Bitget Wallet registered nearly 6 million downloads in a month, closing in on top exchanges signaling that decentralized wallets are catching up with centralized platforms, and we’re excited to be leading this shift. Our mission is clear: to provide a secure and user-friendly gateway to Web3 for the next billion users.” He added, “The future of Web3 depends on how effectively we bridge the gap between Web2 and Web3. By integrating with platforms like Telegram, we’re simplifying crypto adoption for mainstream users and creating tools that enable seamless interaction with decentralized platforms. Decentralized wallets will evolve to serve as one of the primary entry points for billions of new users exploring Web3 for the first time.”
About Bitget Wallet
Bitget Wallet stands as one of the world’s leading non-custodial Web3 wallets and decentralized ecosystem platform. With the Bitget Onchain Layer, the wallet is well-poised to develop a burgeoning DeFi ecosystem through co-creation and strategic incubation. Aside from a powerful Swap function, Bitget Wallet also offers multi-chain asset management, smart money insights, a native Launchpad, Inscriptions Center, and an Earning Center. Supporting over 100 major blockchains, 500,000+ tokens, and a wide array of DApps, Bitget Wallet is your top wallet for asset discovery and Web3 exploration.
Projects on the Indus River in Pakistan are helping to tackle biodiversity loss. Salik Javed/Shutterstock
When negotiations at Cop15 – the UN’s biodiversity conference – ended in December 2022, many delegates breathed a sigh of relief.
Threatening snowstorms outside the convention centre in Montreal, Canada seemed to lift just as the political weather changed and the long-awaited Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity framework was agreed. It’s mission: to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 in order to achieve the ultimate goal of a society living in harmony with nature by 2050.
Fast forward two years and governments, businesses, representatives of Indigenous people and local communities, experts from environmental groups such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and scientists will gather for the follow-up Cop16 meeting in Cali, Colombia, from October 21. Many due to attend, including myself, wonder whether the promise made to “halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030” is achievable.
Initial signs are not promising. For starters, no international targets for biodiversity have ever been met.
Only a handful of countries, including China, Canada and France, have submitted new national biodiversity plans demonstrating how they will implement the promises made two years ago. Most countries, including the UK, (that’s more than 80% in total) haven’t submitted their full plans.
Countries can also submit updates for the 23 targets listed in the framework. The UK and others have submitted targets such as promising to reduce the impact of pollution on nature and ensuring that 30% of land is effectively protected in line with the framework.
But crucial questions remain about how those goals will be reached. To make Cop16 effective, three things need to happen.
1. Decide on a plan
When delegates gather in Cali, questions of implementation will be front and centre of the negotiations. The first challenge is that the approach for monitoring progress on all 23 targets – including issues such as improving access to nature in cities, reducing harmful subsidies and restoring 30% of degraded ecosystems – is yet to be agreed.
For some, the approach that has been developed so far lacks ambition in crucial areas. Indicators suggested for monitoring progress on reducing the impacts of consumption on nature remain very weak for example. For others, it may prove too challenging.
For example, countries with limited access to data might not be able to track alien species or assess how critical services provided by nature to make societies more resilient might be affected by climate change. Getting agreement at the Cop16 negotiations will be vital in order to hold countries to account as the 2030 deadline set to achieve all of the targets approaches.
2. Find the funds
Another crucial issue is funding: who will pay for the action required? The global biodiversity framework fund (GBFF) was established in 2023 to provide financial support.
Yet so far, it has only attracted contributions of around US$230 billion (£176 billion) from a small group of countries including Canada, the UK, Germany, Japan and Spain. Leaders gathering in Cali, and especially those from developing countries, are calling for more funding and for greater control over how it is allocated.
The next UN biodiversity conference will be held in Cali, Columbia from October 21 to November 1. Tudoran Andrei/Shutterstock
In Montreal, countries agreed to make sure that the impacts on nature were considered across different policy areas (such as building new roads or developing new energy sources) and in economic sectors, from fishing to agriculture and mining to tech.
They agreed that groups most likely to be affected by the loss of nature, including Indigenous people and local communities, women and youth, should help make key decisions. While targets such as protecting 30% of the land and sea for nature are crucial, progress will only happen if nature is put on everyone’s bottom line.
Delivering real change
The urgent need for action is not lost on delegates gathering in Cali. There is a real risk that the promise countries made in Montreal to deliver “transformative action by governments, and regional and local authorities, with the involvement of all of society” won’t be met.
But there are some hopeful signs of transformative change to conserve and restore nature and ensure its sustainable use.
Take, for example, the Tree Equity Partnership in Detroit, US. This partnership between the city, US-based charity American Forests and the local non-profit charity Greening of Detroit aims to plant 75,000 trees. This will create places of beauty, biodiversity and climate resilience in underserved neighbourhoods and generate 300 new jobs in the city.
In Pakistan, the Living Indus initiative is an umbrella organisation that has identified 25 projects involving local and regional governments, businesses and communities working together to restore the ecological health of the Indus river.
Businesses are also calling for real change. More than 170 investors have signed a pledge developed by a coalition of financial institutions called the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation to take action for nature across their portfolios.
New science-based standards are being developed to drive the mainstreaming of biodiversity action through their companies and associated supply chains. Cop16 is expected to see increased interest from the private sector and a focus on tackling climate change and biodiversity together.
These projects are successfully tackling the root causes of global biodiversity loss. They integrate solutions and deal with social and environmental issues – poverty and exploitation, climate risks and land use change. Tackling these problems is just as vital as the need for sustainable production and consumption plus investment that works for, not against, nature.
Projects such as these are the ones that give scientists and conservationists like me – and organisations like WWF that I work with – hope. We want to see more projects that take action on nature, climate and social justice together. If Cop16 can make even a small step in this direction, the world will be travelling towards making real progress by the end of this decade.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Harriet Bulkeley receives funding from the European Commission and currently serves as an advisor to the UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Martin Lang, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader in Fine Art , University of Lincoln
Leap Year, a new exhibition of work by South Korean artist Haegue Yang at the Southbank Centre’s Hayward Gallery, is a bold and diverse display of contemporary art, mixing materials and ideas in unexpected ways.
Those with a knowledge of art history over the last 70 years, like me, will appreciate how Yang plays with and combines various art traditions. For example, her use of LED, neon strip-lights, steel, text, projected video and even smell are deliberate references to materials commonly used in contemporary art.
Yang’s art isn’t particularly “Korean”, but why should it be? Like many artists from around the world, Yang has been influenced by western pop culture. Coca-Cola and Hollywood movies have been as much part of life in South Korea since the Korean war as in Britain. While some see this as a downside of globalisation, many in South Korea embrace these influences, seeing them as a sign of progress. This fusion of cultures is a fact of life for Yang, and it runs through her art.
In the wall text at the exhibition, Yang claims to have developed a “culturally hybrid visual language”. Her work references modernism, minimalism and conceptual art. Large black-and-white photo collages that bring to mind early 20th-century dada art (a post-war movement that was anti-bourgeois and often satirical and nonsensical) provide the backdrop for sculptures mounted on wheeled frames, reminiscent of stage sets or even fairground rides.
Another resembles a shower cubicle, but with grab handles on the outside. The title, Sol LeWitt Vehicle, points to the conceptual artist Sol LeWitt. Geometric floor patterns recall the work of Gabriel Orozco, another well-known contemporary artist. In one room, the walls are painted in a blue that’s close to Yves Klein’s famous International Klein Blue (a shade of pure ultramarine he claimed to have invented and which features in his most famous works), although the paint was sourced locally by gallery staff.
Connecting with tradition
Yang is particularly interested in the ways contemporary art connects with older folk and craft traditions. For example, she explores weaving practices from different cultures, even working with Filipino artisans. These pieces sit alongside Reflected Red-Blue Cubist Dancing Mask, a sculpture that takes inspiration from how early cubist artists saw African masks as pure aesthetic objects, rather than ritualistic tools.
Yang’s interpretation has wheels and handles, allowing it to be worn and used performatively, restoring its function, but with a modernist aesthetic twist.
Her interest in folk traditions goes deeper. During the COVID lockdown in Seoul, she began exploring paper cutting, a traditional Korean craft often linked with shamanic rituals. From there, she expanded her research to include paper-cutting practices from other parts of the world, like wycinanki from eastern Europe and amate from Mexico.
In her Mesmerising Mesh series, she uses traditional Korean paper (hanji), as well as Japanese washi and graph paper, to create intricate collages. The wooden structures she builds around these works resemble shrines from different cultures. Though some viewers might think of them as something more familiar, like the decor in a western Chinese restaurant. In fact, these designs were inspired by the Hmong people of Southeast Asia.
In the west, since the second world war, the idea of universal art has often been viewed as tied to colonialism or cultural dominance, yet we embrace universal ideas like healthcare and human rights as progressive. Yang’s work suggests that art, too, has the power to bridge divides and foster empathy, breaking down barriers between cultures. Art may vary greatly across traditions, but at its core, it speaks to our shared humanity – a message as relevant as ever in our polarised times.
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Martin Lang does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Celebrities can have huge influence and reach enormous audiences. That’s why Kamala Harris was happy to recently gain the endorsement of musician Taylor Swift.
Due to their media attention and massive fan bases, some Hollywood stars and musicians can appear more powerful than traditional politicians. And these perceptions of influence may also translate into actual impact.
Indeed, some celebrities have taken up causes, using their fame to overtly push for change (for instance, Bob Geldof and Princess Diana). Others endorse politicians, or successfully run for office themselves (for instance, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan).
While it may seem like celebrities who pivot to politics are able to trade on their pre-existing notoriety, few celebrities are well known beyond their fan bases and many people would expect them to lack the gravitas of world leaders.
However, results of our recent exploratory study conducted in the UK shows that at least one celebrity, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, stands out. He achieved public recognition, leadership and trust ratings as high as the most well-known politicians.
Indeed, our study found that The Rock’s recognition was on par with the Nobel prize-winning, two-term US president Barack Obama. He was also considered more trustworthy than many politicians.
In the study, we invited 251 participants to evaluate the faces of 40 seasoned politicians and celebrities to assess their leadership potential and perceived personality traits.
Only six of the faces had close to universal recognition. Former US presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, former UK prime minister Boris Johnson and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson scored 90% or above. By contrast, US president Joe Biden and Russian president Vladimir Putin were each recognised by 80%.
Interestingly, The Rock was also judged to be more considerate, competent, credible, intelligent and trustworthy than most politicians.
When asked to indicate how strongly participants felt about each figure’s leadership potential, the results were surprising. Biden scored 64%, higher than Putin’s 56%, which was in turn higher than Trump and Boris Johnson who both received 42%.
But a much larger percentage, 72%, rated The Rock as a strong leader, only bettered by Obama’s score of 87%. In our statistical models, two key personality traits, competency and credibility, predicted The Rock’s perceived potential as a national leader.
The Rock’s fame, stemming from his wrestling career persona, television presence, and Hollywood stardom, seem to demonstrate the impact of a well-maintained media image. His expertise in wrestling’s “kayfabe” style of performance (a dramatic wrestling style that is presented as genuine) has greatly boosted his public persona as an authentic “nice guy”.
This early experience, and a strong screen presence, is likely to have contributed to leadership scores similar to Obama. Here it seems that The Rock’s heavily cultivated media personality has translated into perceptions of effective leadership.
This idea connects with the theory of mediated authenticity , which suggests that positive perceptions arise when audiences view media figures in a favourable light. The Rock’s wrestling persona has allowed him to build a connection to his fans and he seems to have developed this further with his Hollywood roles.
What can Trump and Harris learn?
Politicians must also connect with the public. Boris Johnson, for example, did well in the 2019 UK election because he knew how to connect and leveraged this ability to his advantage.
However, leaders also need to be seen as knowledgeable and trustworthy to make an enduring positive difference.
The Rock was asked about political ambitions.
Some theorists of power argue that social influence derives from being well-liked, not just being famous. Of course, The Rock is famous for his nice guy image, along with his movie catalogue and perpetually perfect physique. His perceived leadership potential could come from being both popular and seen as a good role model.
The Rock’s potential has been spotted by political parties. He describes himself as an independent and back in 2023 he revealed that he had been approached by multiple political parties about possibly running for office.
Can you be a ‘nice’ populist?
The last few years has seen the rise of numerous political leaders around the world, who have been labelled with the term “populist”. Leading figures on this list include Trump, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and Boris Johnson. However, these leaders tend not to be highly trusted.
The erosion of trust in politicians and political systems is a significant issue that can lead to decreased engagement with the democratic process, regardless of political level. This ultimately results in a civic structure that fails to represent the people it is meant to serve.
With the US presidential election just weeks away, and still virtually tied, political strategists for both of the major parties must confront a key question: how much trust does each candidate have from the public?
Like it or not, The Rock’s wrestling persona relied on building a genuine connection with fans through his kayfabe-style performance, and his friendly image. The careful cultivation of this has given him enduring popularity and, as an unintended consequence of that performance, leadership appeal on the national stage.
When you are perceived as being a genuinely nice leader, our early research suggests, trust will follow. Something that more politicians clearly need to understand.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Headline: Narrowing the Digital Divide: Households with broadband, laptops and desktops rising
Today, we’re launching a refresh of the Microsoft Digital Equity Data Dashboard with current data from the FCC, the United States Census Bureau, Code.org, Broadband Now, and Microsoft to help federal, state, and local policymakers gain a better understanding of the factors contributing to the digital divide in communities across the United States. Originally launched in 2022 as part of our Airband Initiative, the dashboard provides critical data to help understand broadband gaps at the local level, allowing these decision makers to anchor their policies and programs in data and maximize investments in areas of highest need.
Today’s update allows tracking of historical broadband data to analyze trends and progress being made as a result of government and private sector investments. This includes the new data from the dashboard, which shows that all states, including Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, saw an increase in the number of households with broadband connections as well as an increase in the number of households with laptops or desktops. The greatest changes were in households earning less than $20,000. These households saw an average increase of over 10.8 percentage points in internet connectivity compared to previous metrics, meaning there are nearly 325,000 more households connected in this group.
We’ve long held the belief in the value of data, and this dashboard refresh is the latest step in our ongoing journey to help close the digital divide around the world.
Bridging the Rural Broadband Gap in the United States
In 2017, we launched the Microsoft Airband Initiative with a clear mission: to bridge the significant rural broadband gap in the United States. That year, government data showed that at least 23.4 million people across the United States did not have access to reliable high-speed internet, and this lack of access createdsignificant barriers to education, healthcare, and economic opportunities. At the same time, it’s been shown thatincreasing access and usage of broadband in rural areas leads to higher property values, increased job and population growth, increased entrepreneurship, and lower unemployment rates.This stark reality illustrated by this data highlighted the urgent need for action to bridge the digital divide.
We set out to help solve the problem by bringing private sector investment and innovative technologies together with advocacy for regulatory support and financial frameworks to increase connectivity. Over the years, we have tried different approaches to bridging the digital divide, and we’ve learned a lot. We initially focused onTV White Spaces, believing this unique technology would extend reliable and affordable broadband to rural areas. As time went on, we determined that to make a tangible impact in rural communities, we couldn’t rely on specific technology, so we shifted to a technology neutral approach. Today, our partners are leveraging fiber, fixed wireless, satellite, and other disruptive technologies to drive broad networks deeper into rural areas. As a result, our partners have extended coverage toover7.4 million people in rural communities across 41 states and territories in the United States.
But technology alone was not a solution. High costs, the absence of new and alternative technologies, and market and regulatory conditions all hampered efforts. The economic impact was substantial, not only hindering individual progress but also stifling the overall development of rural areas. So, we also used our corporate voice and joined forces with others to directly advocate for Congress to deploy targeted funding to combat the digital divide.
Targeted Funding to Combat the Digital Divide
In the U.S., none of the progress we’ve seen would be possible, without the vision of the U.S. Congress to proactively and significantly invest in broadband infrastructure programs. Our experiences since 2017 have made it clear that these government investments are necessary to drive deep impact. Bipartisan investments in digital infrastructure and inclusion through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) were a huge step forward in our journey to close the digital divide in the United States.
As a result of these government investments and public private partnerships,our internet service provider partners in the U.S. have received more than $725 million in government infrastructure funding awards to accelerate network expansion and drive broadband adoption across the country, with approximately 80% going to rural communities.
An example includes Microsoft partner,Nextlink Internet, which is leveraging government investment and partnership to bring meaningful connectivity to rural communities in the Midwest, Southwest, and Southeast regions of the United States.Federal infrastructure fundingenabled Nextlink to extend their seven-state footprint to 11 states in total: Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Looking Forward Globally with a Clear Vision
Outside of the United States, our global partnerships have brought coverage to nearly 100 million previously unserved and underserved people. Internationally, we’re also seeing success from similar models of participating in government infrastructure programs, with the U.S. government leading the way. This includes significant investments and leadership from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) via theDigital Invest programand theWomen in the Digital Economy Fund (Wi-DEF), as well as the United States Trade and Development Agency’s (USTDA)Digital Transformation with Africainitiative.
These partnerships have also enabled digital infrastructure and off-grid energy in unserved and underserved communities around the world. In Nigeria, for instance, providers likeTizetiare leveraging government investments to bring connectivity to schools, health clinics, and community anchor institutions. And communities are experiencingimproved outcomesin education and healthcare as a result. If connectivity alone has enabled these outcomes, imagine what additional innovation AI could unlock.
But there are still 2.6 billion people who remain offline. Limited internet can exacerbate economic inequalities and inhibit access to social services, civic activities, and online learning resources. In places where we’re using AI to map global populations in real-time, we can provide early warnings that allow communities to better plan disaster recovery during times of crisis. Communities that remain offline do not get these early warnings and cannot act on them. As AI becomes more prevalent, communities that remain offline will not be able to fully access the benefits of this new technology.
To continue momentum, we are looking to the lessons we learned in the U.S. We must scale innovative technologies, expand connectivity and energy access, and leverage strategic partnerships. Governments, financial institutions, philanthropic institutions, and the private sector must come together to address critical financing barriers, invest in development finance, and expand digital infrastructure.
We’ve committed to reaching 250 million people with meaningful connectivity by the end of next year. Today, we’re calling for continued support and collaboration from all sectors to ensure no one is left behind. We call on all stakeholders to join us in this mission.
Governments must create enabling regulatory environments that prioritize funding for digital infrastructure and support quick and efficient allocation of funding by federal, state, and local entities.
The private sector must invest in innovative technologies and business models.
Philanthropic organizations must continue to advocate for digital inclusion and develop initiatives anchored in the local community.
The journey to close the digital divide is a long one. Building out infrastructure takes time. It’ll take time for us to see some of the direct results of this work, but there is room for optimism. We are extremely grateful for the leadership and vision of the United States government, which is laying a blueprint for other countries to follow, as well as state and local leaders working to ensure these programs are successful. We encourage all policymakers to proceed efficiently so the benefits of these investments reach local communities sooner rather than later.
With continued collaboration and commitment, we can use the power of data, technology, and partnership to achieve our ambitious goals. We’re dedicated to making a lasting impact, and we are excited about the future.Let’s come together to bring the power of digital connectivity and transformation to people around the world.
Tags: Airband initiative, broadband, broadband access, connectivity, digital access, digital divide, digital inequity, Digital Inequity Dashboard, Internet access, rural broadband
MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Denis Manturov took part in the opening of the Kyakhta customs and logistics terminal on the Russian-Mongolian border
19 hours ago
First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov took part in the opening of the new Kyakhta customs and logistics terminal on the Russian-Mongolian border via video link. The event was also attended by the head of Buryatia, Aleksey Tsydenov.
“A modern, technologically advanced complex has been created for cargo handling, temporary storage, customs clearance of goods, radiation and phytosanitary control. The formed infrastructure will increase the efficiency of customs procedures when moving goods across the Russian-Mongolian border. We currently have 10 border crossings in this direction. Among them, the Kyakhta automobile checkpoint is one of the busiest. The new terminal will allow us to expand bottlenecks and increase throughput. This is especially important given the growing role of Asian countries in the global economy and the reorientation of significant volumes of our foreign trade to this direction. The counter flow of goods with the states of the eastern macroregion will continue to expand. Therefore, today’s event, we can safely say, contributes to the development of Russia’s foreign economic activity,” Denis Manturov noted.
“The terminal that opens today in Kyakhta is the first and so far the only such facility. Kyakhta is the main checkpoint and communications hub between Russia and Mongolia. And the growing cargo flow is exactly what meets the task set by the President of increasing the throughput capacity of international transport corridors by one and a half times. The new infrastructure for handling cargo and handling vehicles creates all the necessary conditions for increasing throughput capacity,” said Alexey Tsydenov.
The total area of the terminal is 188.8 thousand square meters. The customs control zone is designed to accommodate 80 trucks at a time. Temporary storage warehouses can accommodate up to 350 trucks. There are also two accredited laboratories on the territory of the terminal, which will allow checking the quality of supplied products and other goods. All this will increase throughput: clearance at the point will take no more than 10 minutes.
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.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis (“FHLBank Indianapolis” or the “Bank”) announced today that pre-development affordable housing grants are now available to the 12 federally recognized tribal nations located in Michigan through the Tribal Nations Housing Development Assistance Program (TNHDAP).
Announced earlier this year, the TNHDAP is a unique and innovative capacity-building housing development grant program in partnership with the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA). The TNHDAP provides dedicated training and technical assistance coupled with grant funding opportunities to support tribal nations in creating innovative housing solutions tailored to the unique needs of each nation. The Bank’s program grant of up to $3 million marks the largest investment to a single organization in FHLBank Indianapolis history.
FHLBank Indianapolis is making $800,000 available for project-specific pre-development grants with up to $75,000 available per project. Pre-development dollar grants may support either rental or homeownership projects, dependent upon individual tribal priorities.
“Pre-development grants are often the hardest type of funding to find, and one of the most impactful tools to help kickstart projects,” said Anna Shires, VP, Community Investment Outreach Partner at the Bank. “We’re excited to complement all of the technical assistance underway, and help tribes get one major step closer to providing safe and affordable housing for their communities.”
Through the program, the Bank also will be providing project-specific gap funding subsidies as well as supporting additional capacity building needs identified by tribal nations in Michigan. Through next year, each tribe also will receive dedicated technical assistance to identify their unique housing needs, support for overall housing initiatives and project-specific guidance.
In keeping with the knowledge and capacity-building focus of the program, the National American Indian Housing Council and its partners facilitated a series of training sessions earlier this year focusing on the wide range of available affordable housing solutions. Sessions focused on multi-unit development, Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LITHC) and other funding sources, housing development for special needs populations, and homeownership development opportunities. Sessions included presentations and discussions between the tribes and FHLBank Indianapolis, MSHDA, HUD leadership, the Michigan Balance of State Continuum of Care, and local and national housing and finance industry leaders.
“The completion of this training series represents a significant commitment of time and effort, and we commend everyone involved for their dedication to this critical work,” said Karen Gagnon, Tribal Liaison for MSHDA. “It’s truly exciting to see the program entering its next phase. This support will play a pivotal role in advancing essential housing projects for these communities, and we look forward to the far-reaching impact of these new investments and partnerships.”
Media contact information: For more information, contact Katherine Marshall, Corporate Communications Specialist, at kmarshall@fhlbi.com.
Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis: Building Partnerships. Serving Communities FHLBank Indianapolis is a regional bank in the Federal Home Loan Bank System. FHLBanks are government-sponsored enterprises created by Congress to provide access to low-cost funding for their member financial institutions, with particular attention paid to providing solutions that support the housing and small business needs of members’ customers. FHLBanks are privately capitalized and funded, and they receive no Congressional appropriations. One of 11 independent regional cooperative banks across the U.S., FHLBank Indianapolis is owned by its Indiana and Michigan financial institution members, including commercial banks, credit unions, insurance companies, savings institutions and community development financial institutions. For more information about FHLBank Indianapolis, visit http://www.fhlbi.com and follow the Bank on LinkedIn, and Instagram and X at @FHLBankIndy.
Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson have been awarded the 2024 Nobel memorial prize in economics for their influential work on how institutions shape economic development. Some would say the decision to award these scholars the Nobel was long overdue.
The paper that formed the basis of their work is one of the most cited in economics. Acemoglu and Robinson’s subsequent book, Why Nations Fail, has also been hugely influential.
These works have inspired a rich debate on the relationship between societal institutions and economic development – so in that sense, congratulations are in order. But they have also been the subject of substantial criticism. In the aftermath of the award, it is fitting to highlight the blind spots in their analysis.
The most important piece of criticism concerns the connection between the quality of a country’s societal institutions and its level of economic development. Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson’s work divides institutions into two categories: “inclusive” and “extractive”.
Inclusive institutions – such as those that enforce property rights, protect democracy and limit corruption – foster economic development, according to the laureates. In contrast, extractive institutions, which give rise to a high concentration of power and limited political freedom, seek to concentrate resources in the hands of a small elite and thus stifle economic development.
The laureates claim the introduction of inclusive institutions has had a positive long-term effect on economic prosperity. Indeed, these institutions are today found primarily in high-income countries in the west.
A huge problem with this analysis, however, is the claim that certain institutions are a precondition for economic development.
Mushtaq Khan, a professor of economics at Soas, University of London, has analysed Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson’s work extensively. He argues that it mainly shows today’s high-income countries score higher on western-based institution indexes, and not that economic development was achieved because states first established inclusive institutions.
In fact, history is rife with examples of countries that grew rapidly without having these inclusive institutions in place as a precondition for growth. East Asian states such as Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are good examples. Most recently, so too is China.
Yuen Yuen Ang’s award-winning books on China’s development process have laid out in detail how China was riddled with corruption during its growth process. In the wake of this year’s Nobel award, Ang went as far as saying that the laureates’ theory not only fails to explain growth in China, but also growth in the west. She points out that institutions in the US were smeared with corruption during the country’s development process.
Ignoring the brutality of colonialism
Nations are not wrong to pursue some of the inclusive institutions outlined in Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson’s work. But another worrying part of their analysis is that it legitimises the supremacy of western institutions – and, at worst, processes of imperialism and colonialism.
Their work has, indeed, been criticised for not paying attention to the brutality of colonialism. We need to dig a bit deeper into their methods to understand this criticism.
The laureates establish their claim by looking at long-term development in settler colonies versus non-settler colonies. In settler colonies, such as the US, Canada and Australia, Europeans established inclusive institutions. But in non-settler colonies, which include large parts of Africa and Latin America, Europeans established extractive institutions.
Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson point out that, over time, settler colonies perform better. European institutions are thus better for development, they argue.
But, considering that the process of colonisation is a central method of their paper, it’s a mystery that the laureates do not discuss the costs of colonialism more broadly.
Even in settler colonies, where inclusive institutions were eventually developed, years of violence – in many cases verging on the genocide of native populations – predated the development of such institutions. Should this not be factored into the development process?
According to this year’s laureates, Europeans settled in the poorest and most sparsely populated places, and introduced institutions that contributed to long-term prosperity. Johan Jarnestad / Nobel Prize Outreach
After receiving the award, Acemoglu said that normative questions of colonialism didn’t concern them: “Rather than asking whether colonialism is good or bad, we note that different colonial strategies have led to different institutional patterns that have persisted over time.”
This statement might come a shock to some people – why is Acemoglu not concerned about whether colonialism is good or bad? But for those familiar with the inner workings of the economics discipline, this statement doesn’t come as a surprise.
It has, sadly, become a badge of honour in mainstream economics to analyse the world without a normative lens or value judgments. This is a broader issue with the discipline and, in part, explains why economics has become increasingly insular and distant from other social sciences.
The Nobel prize in economics, which actually wasn’t among the five original Nobel prizes, also illustrates this problem. The list of past winners is narrow in geographical and institutional scope, mainly consisting of economists based at economics faculties in a small number of elite universities in the US.
Furthermore, a recent study found the institutional and geographic concentration of awards in economics is much higher than in other academic fields. Almost all the winners of major awards have had to journey through one of the top US universities (limited to less than ten) in their career.
This year’s Nobel prize in economics is no exception. Perhaps this is why it feels like every year, the prize goes to someone who asks “how does a change in variable X affect variable Y”, rather than asking difficult questions about colonialism, imperialism or capitalism – and daring to question the supremacy of western institutions.
Jostein Hauge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Headline: Azure Cobalt 100-based Virtual Machines are now generally available
We are excited to announce the general availability of the new Azure Cobalt 100 Virtual Machines (VMs). These VMs run on Microsoft’s first fully custom Arm-based Cobalt 100 CPU and represent a significant milestone in our end-to-end approach to building cloud infrastructure.
Today we are announcing the general availability of the new Azure Cobalt 100-based Virtual Machines (VMs). These VMs run on Microsoft’s first 64-bit Arm-based Azure Cobalt 100 CPU, which has been fully designed in-house. They represent a significant milestone in our journey in designing and building out our cloud infrastructure, with optimization and customization across every layer of the infrastructure stack—from silicon, to servers, to services. Through vertical integration across hardware and software, Azure Cobalt 100-based VMs are one of Microsoft’s latest examples of innovating to enhance and optimize our cloud infrastructure with an end-to-end systems approach, to deliver the right mix of performance, power efficiency, and scale for our customers.
The Cobalt 100-based VMs consist of our new general purpose Dpsv6-series and Dplsv6-series and our memory-optimized Epsv6-series VM series. They offer up to 50% better price performance than our previous generation Arm-based VMs, making them an attractive option for a wide range of scale-out and cloud-native Linux-based workloads, including data analytics, web and application servers, open source databases, caches, and more.
The new Azure Cobalt 100-based VMs deliver leading performance across various workloads compared to previous generations of Azure Arm-based VMs: up to 1.4x CPU performance, up to 1.5x performance on Java-based workloads, and up to 2x performance on web servers, .NET applications, and in-memory cache applications compared to the previous generation Azure Arm-based VMs. These VMs also support 4x local storage IOPS (with NVMe) and up to 1.5x network bandwidth compared to the previous generation Azure Arm-based VMs.
The new VMs are broadly available in Canada Central, Central US, East US 2, East US, Germany West Central, Japan East, Mexico Central, North Europe, Southeast Asia, Sweden Central, Switzerland North, UAE North, West Europe, and West US 2. The number of regions will continue to expand in 2024 and beyond with Australia East, Brazil South, France Central, India Central, South Central US, UK South, West US 3, and West US coming soon.
Customer adoption and scenarios
We have been working with several internal and external customers during the preview period. For example, IC3, the platform that powers billions of customer conversations in Microsoft Teams, is serving its growing customer base more efficiently, achieving up to 45% better performance on Cobalt 100-based VMs.
We’re also delivering Cobalt 100-based VMs to many of our independent software vendor (ISV) partners offering platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS) solutions on Microsoft Azure.
“The Cobalt 100, Microsoft Azure’s new Arm-based processor, represents a huge step forward for optimizing performance and productivity. Cadence and Microsoft’s collaboration helps our mutual customers tackle the demands of giga-scale compute that advanced-node silicon design demands. The Cobalt 100 helps our thousands of electronic design automation (EDA) and systems customers meet their ever-increasing demands for throughput to speed time-to-market.” —Mahesh Turaga, Vice President (VP) of Cloud Business Development, Cadence
“We are really excited about the new Cobalt 100 VMs. We are making them the primary platform for our Databricks SQL Serverless offering on Azure, as they offer outstanding efficiency and allow us to deliver significant price-performance improvements to our customers. Customers using our Azure Databricks classic Jobs offering will also greatly benefit from Cobalt VMs by selecting them for their Jobs cluster nodes, achieving noticeable performance improvements while keeping operating costs down.” —Michael Kiermaier, VP of Business Strategy and Operations, Databricks
“At Elastic, we are driving innovation and cost-efficiency by enabling customers to leverage our Search AI-powered observability, security, and search solutions on Arm-based architecture. Azure Virtual Machines with Cobalt 100 Arm CPUs enables Elastic to deliver better throughput and up to 37% improved performance compared to Azure’ previous generation Arm based VMs.” —Uri Cohen, Vice President, Product Management, Elastic
“At Rescale, our mission is to elevate innovation by providing the best tools in high performance computing, data, and AI to organizations of every size to deliver engineering and scientific breakthroughs that enrich humanity. We have tested the Azure Cobalt 100 VMs to power our high-performance computing platform and found it to deliver about a 40% improvement in performance compared to Azure’s previous generation Arm-based VMs. We look forward to upgrading our Azure infrastructure to these new VMs and offer comparable performance improvements to our customers so they can tackle complex challenges with greater speed and efficiency.” —Adam McKenzie, Chief Technology Officer, Rescale
“Siemens EDA continues to expand its partnership with Microsoft to develop innovative solutions for our mutual silicon and electronic systems customers. Our collaboration around Microsoft Azure Cobalt 100 Arm-based VMs running analog, standard-cell, memory, and digital verification workloads has demonstrated compelling performance and economic benefits. The general availability of these new VMs marks an important milestone for the industry, highlighting its fast-growing reliance on continuously advancing hardware and software platforms optimized for high throughput and efficiency.” —Craig Johnson, Vice President, Siemens EDA Strategy
“We have extensively tested Azure’s new Cobalt 100 VMs and compared them to the previous generation Arm VMs on Azure using Snowflake workloads. We’re thrilled with the significant improvements in performance. And now, we’re excited to adopt these latest Cobalt 100 VMs and share that performance improvement with our customers!” —Gabe Bryant, Senior Manager, Snowflake
“In the face of unprecedented compute and memory demands driven by increasingly sophisticated systems, designers are leveraging the cloud to scale their computing resources. Our close collaboration with Microsoft Azure facilitates the adoption of Arm architecture-based compute resources by providing customers with industry-leading, AI-driven EDA tools enabled on the Azure cloud to help them address the escalating workload demands.” —Sanjay Bali, senior vice president of EDA strategy and product management at Synopsys
“Templafy relies on the stability and scalability of Microsoft Azure to run our document generation platform for enterprises worldwide, and we’re excited about the new Azure Cobalt 100 VMs. After evaluation we’ve observed significant performance improvements, including approximately 25% higher throughput and 35% lower CPU usage compared to Azure’s previous generation Arm-based VMs. We look forward to harnessing these advancements to enhance our platform’s performance and deliver even better experiences for our customers when it comes to their critical business documents.” —Marco van Kimmenade, Director of Engineering, Templafy
Synergy with our technology partners
We value the collaboration with our technology partners.
“The Cobalt 100 processor is a fantastic example of how Arm-based silicon, supported by a robust software ecosystem, is addressing the growing compute complexity of modern infrastructure,” said Mohamed Awad, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Infrastructure Business, Arm. “Following years of collaboration with Microsoft to bring Arm-based VMs to market, the general availability of Cobalt 100 marks an important milestone in our partnership, and demonstrates the power, efficiency and flexibility of Arm Compute Subsystems in driving the workloads of the future.”
The journey to Arm: Embracing innovation and customer benefits
Microsoft has a longstanding history of contributing to Arm architecture and integrating Arm technology. This experience has enabled us to develop important industry standards that prepared the Arm architecture for datacenter-scale computing. We have also been working closely with Arm on industry initiatives such as ServerReady and SystemReady and received industry recognition for both initiatives. Our journey into Arm-based VMs is based on a vision to deliver superior price-performance and power efficiency. The Cobalt 100-based VMs embody this vision by offering these benefits. By embracing Arm-based VMs, we have been able to offer our customers a unique combination of performance and cost effectiveness.
Developer ecosystem
The developer ecosystem for Arm continues to thrive and has seen tremendous progress in the last couple of years. Major developer platforms and languages such as C++, .NET, and Java provide Arm-native versions. We have invested in Arm-specific optimizations for each of these platforms and languages so we’re fully leveraging the capabilities of the Arm architecture.
The larger ecosystem has embraced Arm with many popular infrastructure and deployment solutions now available with native Arm support. GitHub Actions, GitHub’s continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) workflow engine, is an integral part of many developers’ workflows and used to continuously build, test, and deploy apps. This is now available for Arm in two flavors—self-hosted runners that can be hosted on an Arm VM or on local Arm hardware, and GitHub-hosted runners.
Containers are a popular deployment target for many reasons: a streamlined development workflow, isolation and security, efficient resource utilization, portability, and reproducibility. Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) now supports the creation of Arm agent nodes as well as mixing x86 and Arm architecture nodes within a cluster.
Specifications
You can select from a range of Azure Virtual Machines of three memory ratios for a given vCPU size, giving you the flexibility to choose the configuration that works best for your workloads in terms of CPU performance and memory needs. All these VM series are available with and without local disks so that you can deploy the option that best fits your workload.
The new Dpsv6-series and Dpdsv6-series general-purpose VMs offer up to 96 vCPUs and 384 GiB of RAM (4:1 memory-to-vCPU ratio). They are ideal for scale-out workloads, cloud-native solutions like AKS, small to medium open-source databases, application servers, and web servers. Arm developers can use these VMs in CI/CD pipelines, development, and test scenarios.
The new Dplsv6-series and Dpldsv6-series VMs provide up to 96 vCPUs and 192 GiB of RAM (2:1 memory-to-vCPU ratio). They are perfect for media encoding, small databases, gaming servers, microservices, and workloads that don’t need high RAM per vCPU.
The new Epsv6-series and Epdsv6-series memory-optimized VMs offer up to 96 vCPUs and 672 GiB of RAM (up to 8:1 memory-to-vCPU ratio). These VMs are designed for memory-intensive workloads such as large databases, in-memory caching applications, and data analytics.
The new virtual machines support all remote disk types such as Standard SSD, Standard HDD, Premium SSD and Ultra Disk storage. To learn more about various disk types and their regional availability, please refer to Azure managed disk type. Disk storage is billed separately from virtual machines. You can deploy these new VMs using existing methods including the Azure portal, SDKs, APIs, PowerShell, and the command-line interface (CLI).
You can learn more about the new Azure Cobalt 100-based VMs by visiting the specification pages: Dpsv6-series, Dpdsv6-series, Dplsv6-series, Dpldsv6-series, Epsv6-series, Epdsv6-series.
Pricing
To learn more about the pricing of Azure Cobalt 100-based VMs, please visit the Azure Virtual Machines pricing and Pricing calculator pages.
You can also take advantage of Reserved Instances, Azure savings plan for compute, and Spot Virtual Machines to lower your costs. Reserved VM Instances can reduce costs and improve your budget forecasting through upfront one-year or three-year commitments. For a limited time, you can save up to 15% more when you purchase one-year Azure Reserved Virtual Machine (VM) Instances for select Linux VMs. This offer is available between from October 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025. See here for more details. The Azure savings plan for compute gives you the flexibility to save across multiple Azure services, including Azure VMs. Spot Virtual Machines can significantly reduce the cost of running in Azure and further optimize your cloud spend for workloads that can tolerate interruptions and have flexible execution time.
A new era of price performance and power efficiency
The general availability of Azure Cobalt 100-based VMs marks the beginning of a new era in Azure’s infrastructure. With our custom silicon program, we are delivering exceptional price performance and power efficiency to our customers. We are excited to see the impact of these innovations on our customers’ businesses and we look forward to bringing even better solutions to our customers in the future.
Thank you for joining us on this exciting journey.
For questions, please go to Azure Support and our experts will be there to help you.
E nga rau rangatira mā, e huihui nei I tenei po, tēnei aku mihi nui ki a koutou. Nau mai, piki mai, tauti mai.
Thank you for accepting the invitation to join Richard and myself here for dinner at Government House. I especially wanted the chance to meet the most senior leaders of the NZDF, with a new CDF and new Heads of Armed Services. You take up these roles at a critical time in the country and world history.
This is an opportunity to thank you and your loved ones, for the support you give me in undertaking my role as Governor General and Commander-in-Chief.
I have had the opportunity over the past three years to meet the men and women serving our nation and I couldn’t be prouder of the calibre of people that we have defending our interests – whether it be in peace-keeping or Treaty monitoring, surveillance and intelligence, or information gathering to inform our national and international obligations, we do a sterling job with far fewer resources than other five-eye nations.
Current conflict in Lebanon, Israel, Gaza and Syria, highlights the sometimes life-threatening circumstances our United Nations peace-keepers can encounter in our nation’s commitment to contribute to a wider international rules based order and stability.
Cyclone Gabrielle and subsequent extreme weather events, remind New Zealanders of how much we and our Pacific neighbours depend on the courage and expertise of Defence personnel to assist people in coping with the aftermath of extreme weather events. Climate change is a huge challenge for us all.
I have been proud to act as reviewing officer at graduation ceremonies and Beat Retreat in Waitangi and look forward to ‘push the colour’ at the upcoming Kings Colour ceremony in Christchurch which reinstates a crucial part of our military legacy, recognising as it does the Māori Battalion and Pioneer Battalion battles. We will be the first Commonwealth country to issue the new Kings Colours under King Charles III.
Tonight’s dinner is our way of saying, on behalf of fellow New Zealanders, how much we appreciate your leadership in the delivery of Defence services on behalf of Aotearoa New Zealand.
I fully intended this to be a celebration of recent leadership appointments. At the same time, I acknowledge HMNZS Manawanui and the aftermath of its loss may be top of mind for us all.
My thoughts have been with you all, especially Rear Admiral Golding, the crew of Manawanui and Defence personnel involved in the response to this sinking.
The progress of Defence Chiefs through to the highest levels of command is testament to the wealth of experience, training, and expertise you bring to those challenges, and which will serve you in good stead in inspiring those you lead with hope and confidence into the future.
Every time I visit other countries, be it the Republic of Korea such as the DMZ, Malaysia or Australia, they sing the praises of the New Zealand members of the Armed Forces and their contribution to their efforts. This goes beyond doing one’s duty, to being the best person to fulfil a wider brief of leadership and collaboration. Thank you for this.
I wish you all the very best with your duties and look forward to working with you all. Please enjoy the hospitality of Government House tonight.
We, the participating states of the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), are aligned in our commitment to upholding international peace and security, safeguarding the global non-proliferation regime and addressing the threat arising from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK’s) weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, which are in violation of UN Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs).
October 16, 2024- Ottawa, Ontario – Global Affairs Canada
“We, the participating states of the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), are aligned in our commitment to upholding international peace and security, safeguarding the global non-proliferation regime and addressing the threat arising from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK’s) weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, which are in violation of UN Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs).
“In light of the veto which disbanded the UN Security Council’s 1718 Committee Panel of Experts this year, we hereby express our intention to establish the MSMT, a multilateral mechanism to monitor and report violations and evasions of the sanction measures stipulated in the relevant UNSCRs. The goal of the new mechanism is to assist in the full implementation of UN sanctions on the DPRK by publishing information based on rigorous inquiry into sanctions violations and evasion attempts.
“We underscore our shared determination to fully implement relevant UNSCRs regarding the DPRK; reaffirm that the path to dialogue remains open; and call on all states to join global efforts to maintain international peace and security in the face of the ongoing threats from the DPRK.”
Signed: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, U.K, and U.S.
FREMONT, Calif., Oct. 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Enovix Corporation (“Enovix”) (Nasdaq: ENVX), a global high-performance battery company, today announced it will release financial results for the third quarter of 2024 on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, after the close of the market.
Enovix will hold a live video call at 2:00 PM PT / 5:00 PM ET on October 29, 2024, to discuss the company’s business updates, key milestones, and financial results. To join the call, participants must use the following link to register: https://enovix-q3-2024.open-exchange.net/registration. This link will also be available via the Investor Relations section of Enovix’s website at https://ir.enovix.com. Investors may also submit questions on the registration page that they would like addressed on the call by Enovix management.
An archived version of the call will be available on the Enovix investor website for one year at https://ir.enovix.com.
About Enovix
Enovix is on a mission to deliver high-performance batteries that unlock the full potential of technology products. Everything from IoT, mobile, and computing devices, to the vehicle you drive, needs a better battery. Enovix partners with OEMs worldwide to usher in a new era of user experiences. Our innovative, materials-agnostic approach to building a higher performing battery without compromising safety keeps us flexible and on the cutting-edge of battery technology innovation.
Enovix is headquartered in Silicon Valley with facilities in India, Korea and Malaysia. For more information visit http://www.enovix.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
Released by: The Premier, Minister for Jobs, Minister for Sport, Minister for Tourism
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will return to Sydney, attracting tens of thousands of fans, millions of dollars in spending, and millions of global television viewers, as the Minns Labor Government delivers on another election commitment.
The UFC 312 event will be held in The Octagon at Qudos Bank Arena on 9 February 2025. This event is the second of three mega events the Minns Government secured as part of a four year deal with the world’s premier mixed martial arts organisation.
The first event in the Sydney series (UFC 293) in September 2023 sold out in 13 minutes with 18,168 people attending. 9,500 (52%) were from overseas or interstate, injecting more than $15.3 million into the NSW visitor economy.
The highly anticipated UFC 312 is also expected to sell-out and deliver another significant boost to the NSW visitor economy. It will also generate valuable global exposure for Sydney as the nation’s premier city for major sporting events through the UFC’s huge pay-per-view television audience and online following.
There are now more than 700 million UFC fans across the globe, including a combined 233 million followers across UFC’s social media channels. In Australia and New Zealand combined, UFC has more than 4.3 million fans and 6 million social media followers.
The UFC’s contribution to NSW goes beyond the Octagon, earlier this year the UFC signed a three-year partnership with PCYC NSW Fit for Life program to establish the UFC’s first youth mentoring initiative in the country.
Today the NSW Premier Chris Minns, the Minister for Jobs and Tourism John Graham and the Minister for Sport Steve Kamper will join UFC Vice President for Australia/NZ Pete Kloczko and No.1 UFC featherweight and former champion Alex Volkanovski, to announce the global juggernaut will again light up the NSW sporting calendar.
Ticket sales and the fight card for UFC 312 will be announced later this year. For all the latest information head to ufc.com/Sydney.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said:
“UFC’s return to Sydney is another step in us delivering on this election commitment.
“Last years event was a huge success and we expect next years event will match that, showcasing Sydney on the global stage as a top destination for sporting events.
“We are continuing to secure a calendar of unmissable events that help local businesses and create jobs, and that’s exactly what these UFC events do.”
Minister for Jobs and Tourism John Graham said:
“Hosting the UFC cage puts Sydney on the world stage, demonstrating that we punch above our weight when it comes to hosting blockbuster events.
“When the Octagon comes to town, so do thousands of visitors who stay in our hotels, eat in our cafes and restaurants and visit other attractions.
“Hosting the UFC alongside our calendar of incredible arts and cultural events like Vivid or SXSW Sydney, shows NSW has a diverse world class offering that will continue driving our visitor economy to new heights.”
Minister for Sport Steve Kamper said:
“The Minns Labor Government is focused on securing Sydney’s place as the premier destination of the Asia Pacific, and we are once again ready to showcase Sydney to millions around the world with UFC 312.
“This partnership is delivering more than just a boost to our economy, with PCYC NSW and UFC partnering together to deliver a life changing program which will promote a healthy lifestyle and positive decision making.”
The Government is making changes so that more veterans who have served New Zealand will be formally recognised as part of official Anzac Day commemorations, Veterans Minister Chris Penk and Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Paul Goldsmith say.
“Veterans often tell me that recognition is the most meaningful form of thanks. Serving your country comes with great personal sacrifice which can never be fully repaid, but recognising the bravery, honour and dedication of service personnel through official commemorations like Anzac Day goes a long way,” Mr Penk says.
“Anzac Day commemorations were originally designed to remember those who fell at Gallipoli. But increasingly New Zealanders are using the occasion to remember and honour all who have served New Zealand.
“What many people don’t realise is that as a matter of law Anzac Day doesn’t commemorate the contribution New Zealand forces have made in conflicts after 1966, when the Anzac Day Act was last updated. The final conflict mentioned in the Act is the Vietnam War.
“The Government is doing something about this by progressing a Bill to amend the Anzac Day Act so that the day will officially recognise those who have taken part in more recent war-like conflicts, including our peacekeeping forces, as well as those from previous wars.
“We know that there is more we can – and should – do to better recognise service personnel’s sacrifices. Even the question of who is officially recognised as a ‘veteran’ is more complicated than most would realise, with not all people who have operationally served in the New Zealand Defence Force recognised as a veteran.
“However, today’s announcement, made by the Prime Minister at the RSA’s 108th National Council meeting in Wellington, is an important step in the right direction.”
Mr Goldsmith emphasised that it is time for the Act to catch up with public sentiment.
“Kiwis are grateful for the courage, commitment and sacrifice of servicemen and women not only in the past, but also in the present, and Anzac Day is one of the ways they want to show it,” Mr Goldsmith says.
“The service personnel of today are part of a long and proud tradition. A change is well overdue, and we need to acknowledge that all those who have served New Zealand in time of war and war-like conflicts deserve to be officially recognised and honoured. It’s appropriate to do that on Anzac Day.”
The Anzac Day Amendment Bill is expected to be introduced in the House before Anzac Day 2025 and passed in time for Anzac Day 2026
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) said on Thursday that the roads and railways connecting South Korea in the eastern and western parts of the DPRK southern border have been completely blocked, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
“Under an order of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) on Oct. 15th took a measure to physically cut off the DPRK’s roads and railways which lead to the ROK through the east and west sections of the southern border of the DPRK as part of the phased complete separation of its territory, where its sovereignty is exercised, from the ROK’s territory,” the KCNA said, referring to South Korea by using the acronym of its official name, the Republic of Korea.
“In the daytime of October 15th, the 60-metre-long sections of the roads and railways in Kamho-ri, Kosong County, Kangwon Province and the 60-metre-long sections of the roads and railways in Tongnae-ri, Panmun District, Kaesong Municipality have been completely blocked through blasting,” a spokesman for the DPRK Ministry of National Defence was quoted by the KCNA as saying.
“This is an inevitable and legitimate measure taken in keeping with the requirement of the DPRK Constitution which clearly defines the ROK as a hostile state, and due to the serious security circumstances running to the unpredictable brink of war owing to the grave political and military provocations of the hostile forces,” according to the KCNA report.
A spokesman for the DPRK Ministry of Land and Environment Protection confirmed that the blasting had no negative effect on the surrounding ecological environment and that the routes linking the DPRK to the ROK have been completely separated, the KCNA said.
The Ministry of National Defence said that the DPRK will continue to take measures to “permanently fortify the closed southern border”, the KCNA added.
The KPA General Staff said on Oct. 9 that the DPRK will completely cut off roads and railways connecting South Korea amid the precarious situation on the Korean Peninsula, according to a previous KCNA report.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, Oct. 16 — China is forging its own path to modernization, offering not only inspiration to other developing countries but also tangible opportunities for growth amid a sluggish global economy.
Amid rising trade protectionism, China, the world’s largest developing nation, remains committed to advancing high-level opening up and serving as a reliable partner for developing countries on the path to modernization.
On the domestic front, China is prioritizing institutional openness, unlocking vast market potential and creating abundant opportunities for foreign businesses. Measures like lifting foreign investment restrictions in manufacturing and enhancing intellectual property protection are making China an increasingly attractive destination for global enterprises.
On the global stage, the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which now encompasses over three quarters of the world’s countries, exemplifies China’s commitment to collaborative progress. Projects once deemed unattainable have become realities, significantly improving the lives of millions.
As Belt and Road cooperation has entered its second decade, new opportunities are emerging, with plans to break new ground through enhanced collaboration with partner countries. In July, a resolution was adopted during the third plenum of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee. It calls for efforts to improve the integrated framework for land, sea, air and cyberspace connectivity and build a multidimensional network to connect countries along the Belt and Road.
Cooperation within the BRI framework will be strengthened in key areas such as green development, the digital economy, artificial intelligence, finance, and disaster mitigation. As China rapidly advances in digital communications, it is well-positioned to assist partner countries in developing their digital economies and bridging the digital divide.
In the realm of technological innovation, China has consistently embraced a spirit of collaboration. Its belief that science should benefit all humanity is not mere rhetoric; it is reflected in concrete actions.
China has established scientific and technological cooperation ties with over 160 countries and regions, and signed 118 intergovernmental agreements on such cooperation. China also issued the International Science and Technology Cooperation Initiative, featuring open, fair, equitable and non-discriminatory international science and technology cooperation.
A prime example of such cooperation is the establishment of 10 overseas science and education centers by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, South America and beyond. More than 100 scientific and technological projects have been launched, training nearly 5,000 high-level professionals from these regions.
China has provided the international community with abundant public goods, including the annual China International Import Expo and regional initiatives like the China-ASEAN Expo. These influential platforms are set to evolve into concrete cooperation projects that deliver tangible benefits to the people of participating countries. Committed to offering even more global public goods to support peace and prosperity, China aims to achieve more win-win outcomes through its reform and opening up while collaborating with other nations on modernization.
The effectiveness of these efforts is evident. Following its pledge in July to further open its doors to the world’s least developed countries, China announced in early September that it would grant zero-tariff treatment on 100 percent of tariff lines to all the least developed countries that have established diplomatic relations with China. This makes China the first major developing nation and the first significant economy to take such a step.
Cooperation between China and other developing nations is expected to accelerate in the future, especially in green transition efforts aimed at tackling climate change. China’s strengths in clean energy equipment and electric vehicles have already been translated into successful cooperation programs in relevant sectors across developing countries.
Modernization is a shared aspiration for humanity. Chinese modernization dispels the misconception that modernization equates to Westernization. Rather than pursuing isolated success or creating a model that hinders others, China is dedicated to partnering with other nations to jointly advance modernization.
As the world’s second-largest economy, China has contributed more than 30 percent of global economic growth over the past years. The widening door of opportunity being opened by Chinese modernization welcomes all, particularly Global South countries.
The venue of the 2024 World Agri-food Innovation Conference (WAFI 2024) is seen in Beijing, capital of China, Oct 11, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] A global panel of agrarians has called for the innovation-driven green transition of the world’s agri-food system, as part of efforts to curb carbon emissions and mitigate the impact of climate change on food production. While some food-producing regions have initially benefited from warmer weather, the substantial uncertainties caused by global warming are disrupting agriculture across Asia, Africa and South America, the experts said. They made the remarks on the sidelines of the 2024 World Agri-Food Innovation Conference, held in Beijing earlier this month. The event was organized by China Agricultural University. Sun Qixin, president of China Agricultural University and an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told China Daily that mainstream models indicate a 6 to 8 percent decrease in food production for every 1 C increase in global temperatures, unless technological innovations are introduced to alleviate these effects. “However, the impact of a warmer climate is not uniform across the globe,” he said. Despite instances of warmer and wetter climate boosting food production in some areas that were previously cold and prone to drought, the sudden and extreme shifts in weather patterns are causing widespread disruptions in food production globally, Sun noted. Given that the green transition necessitates a substantial reduction in agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, it is crucial to invest in research and technological innovations to ensure that these reforms do not result in decreased output, Sun said. “We must proceed in this direction despite the challenges,” he added. An estimate by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations body for evaluating climate science, showed that the agri-food sector, covering the entire cycle from food cultivation to consumption, contributes one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Fu Wenge, a professor at China Agricultural University, said that innovations facilitating green transition do not always require groundbreaking scientific discoveries, adding that sometimes, minor and cost-effective reforms in management models and other fields can bring significant changes. Fu cited the university’s Science and Technology Backyard project, which encourages students to live and work alongside smallholding farmers in rural areas as part of their education programs. The arrangement aims to help promote high-yield crop varieties and environmentally friendly farming practices among rural farming communities. “This model has been implemented in Africa and other regions,” he said. Ismahane Elouafi, executive managing director of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, or CGIAR, a global partnership that unites research groups for a food-secure future, said that the green transition could be achieved through innovations that span technological, policy and institutional levels and include models for countries to work together. “The impact of climate change is multiplying every day, and the only way forward for us is to adopt innovation in its broad sense to really transform the agriculture system,” she said. The experts also called for greater awareness of increasing food production with reduced carbon footprint and more care for the environment. Patrick Caron, vice-chair of the CGIAR system board, said that humans have managed to increase food production throughout history, as living conditions improved and consumption patterns changed. “However, at the moment, we are looking at the increase of production with a different angle,” he said, referring to greater care to avoid climate change and degradations of land, water and biodiversity. Makers of food policy point to China as a source of hope amid the gloomy outlook of increasing food insecurity worldwide, citing the country’s ambitious goal to boost its annual food production capacity to approximately 700 million metric tons by 2030, up from the 695 million tons in 2023. Elouafi, the CGIAR executive managing director, said, “I think China really is a bright spot in the global picture, and not only in increasing productivity in a very smart way, but also in reducing poverty and hunger.” Despite a recent reversal in global progress, the world made significant strides in alleviating hunger and poverty between 2000 and 2017, largely because of China’s efforts, she said. Elouafi noted that China’s adoption of technologies and innovations in the agri-food sector, along with its initiatives to enhance rural incomes, played a pivotal role in the success. Wednesday marked World Food Day, which has been celebrated annually on Oct 16 since 1981 to raise awareness and promote action for fighting hunger and ensuring food security for all. At a news conference on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said that as the world’s largest food producer, China attaches great importance to global food security. “China has provided more funding and experts and undertaken more projects than any other developing country under the framework of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s South-South Cooperation Programme,” she said. Mao added that China is willing to continue strengthening cooperation on food security with all parties to strive for a world free of hunger.
The report details how mining and metals made up over 80% of Kazakhstan’s gross exports in 2021 and explains the need for the country to develop secondary and tertiary sectors. It outlines the steps Kazakhstan could take to invest in infrastructure and human capital, reform its financial systems, and finetune trade agreements to help boost its global competitiveness and reduce its exposure to external shocks.
Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, had a breakfast meeting with H.E. Josephine Teo, Minister for Digital Development and Information and Minister-in-charge of Smart Nation and Cybersecurity of Singapore and the host of the 9th ASEAN Ministerial Conference on Cybersecurity. They exchanged views on the ASEAN Digital economy and digital transformation agenda, including key initiatives on cybersecurity, among others.
The post Secretary-General of ASEAN meets with the Minister for Digital Development and Information and Minister-in-charge of Smart Nation and Cybersecurity of Singapore over breakfast appeared first on ASEAN Main Portal.
Qu Dongyu (R), director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), presents the FAO Achievement Award to the Institute of Plant Protection of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (IPPCAAS) at a ceremony to mark the World Food Day in Rome, Italy, on Oct. 16, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]
The Institute of Plant Protection of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (IPPCAAS) was awarded the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Achievement Award Wednesday at a ceremony held by the FAO to mark the 44th World Food Day in Rome, Italy.
FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu presented the prestigious FAO Achievement Award to the IPPCAAS and described their groundbreaking work in combating the Fall Armyworm as having a profound impact in China, across Asia, and globally, making significant strides in protecting crops and securing food supplies.
This year’s World Food Day, with the theme “Right to foods for a better life and a better future,” aims to raise global awareness about the right to foods and advocates for transforming agrifood systems to support peaceful, resilient, and inclusive livelihoods for all.
According to the FAO, around 730 million people are currently facing hunger, and over 2.8 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet. This means that even if their calorie intake is sufficient, they may not be receiving the necessary nutrients and dietary diversity to maintain good health.
In his address, Qu called for renewed “commitment to building more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agrifood systems that can nourish the world,” saying, “There is no time to lose; we must take immediate action.”
In a video message, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that a zero-hunger world was possible, but “food systems need a massive transformation,” to become more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable.
As part of the World Food Day celebrations, a World Food Forum event is being held at FAO headquarters from Oct. 14 to 18.
The FAO Award for Achievement is awarded every two years to honor an entity or individual for outstanding technical cooperation or humanitarian work in the fields of sustainable agriculture, rural development, or food security at the country level.
Starting Wednesday, foreign residents living in Hong Kong and Macao can apply for multiple-entry visas to the Chinese mainland with a validity period of up to five years by following a simplified procedure, according to the central government. The Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region announced on Wednesday that non-Chinese Hong Kong permanent residents and non-Chinese Hong Kong residents who are traveling to the mainland for tourism, business, family visits or cultural and academic exchanges can apply for a visa valid for up to five years, which will allow them to stay on the mainland for up to 180 days. Under the new arrangement, applicants are not required to provide proof of round-trip tickets or hotel reservations when applying for visas, the office said. Those who successfully applied for visas from overseas Chinese visa-issuing authorities and had their fingerprints collected during the process will be exempted from fingerprint collection when applying from Hong Kong, the office added. The office stressed that the validity of the visa and duration of stay will be decided case by case, and applicants may also be asked to submit additional documents or attend interviews. The visa policy does not apply to foreign domestic helpers, the office noted. Also on Wednesday, the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Macao SAR announced a similar optimization for permanent and temporary foreign residents of the city. People who apply from Macao for short-term activities such as tourism, trade and family visits can get visas with a validity period of five years and a stay for no more than 180 days, the office said, adding that proof of outbound transportation and hotel bookings are no longer required under the new arrangement. Starting July 10, non-Chinese permanent residents of both Hong Kong and Macao can apply for a new mainland travel permit, which allows multiple entries into the mainland within a five-year validity period, with each stay capped at 90 days.
Two films celebrating the dedication and tenacity of Korean and South Australian performers with and without disability will hit the big screen as part of the Asia-focused arts festival OzAsia.
Counterpoise,which features nine artists from Adelaide-based Restless Dance Theatre and the Korean 29Dong Dance Theatre, is a contemporary black and white dance film created at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Directed by Larissa McGowan and Matt Byrne, the 20-minute dance film highlights the noise of life, as well as quiet loneliness within ourselves. Counterpoise’s detailed choreography melded with electrifying music by KOREAN MUSIC PROJECT using a combination of traditional and western instruments embedded with digital technology.
Dancing Against the Odds, a documentary directed by Adelaide filmmaker Matt Byrne, follows the innovative and inclusive journey of making Counterpoise over three years. Produced by University of South Australia arts management experts Dr Boram Lee and Professor Ruth Rentschler OAM, the 60-minute film embraces diversity, inclusion and self-expression.
The project began in 2020, when dancers could only collaborate virtually due to COVID-19. It wasn’t until 2022, when members from the three companies – Restless, 29Dong Dance Theatre, and KOREAN MUSIC PROJECT – could meet face-to-face in Adelaide for the first time and continue the bonds formed online.
In 2023, Restless Dance Theatre had the opportunity to travel to Seoul, reuniting the team for a public preview of Counterpoise and workshops with Korean artists with and without disabilities. This journey not only expanded the project’s reach but also nurtured community connections, inspiring a deeper appreciation for inclusive arts.
Dr Boram Lee says the project connected people across Australian and Korean borders to help foster a network of inclusivity and diversity through the arts.
“After a three-year saga of overcoming international borders, language barriers, and perceptions of disability, we’ve transformed the impossible into a breathtaking reality,” she says.
“This collaboration showcases the incredible power of public initiatives, made possible by the steadfast support of the Korean and Australian governments and our diverse partners.
“With multiple layers of collaboration among dancers, musicians, academics and filmmakers, we’ve fostered deep people-to-people connections, and we’re excited to share our learning with communities around the world.”
Professor Ruth Rentschler OAM says the project embraced diversity, inclusion and self-expression to help shift stereotypes around the capabilities of artists with disability.
“These films present disability in a new light. They showcase what the dancers can do rather than focusing on what they can’t do,” she says.
Counterpoise and Dancing Against the Odds is supported by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and KOFICE as part of Kore·A·Round Culture 2023, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade through the Australian Cultural Diplomacy Grants Program, Australia-Korea Foundation, and Arts South Australia.
Screening of the two films Counterpoise and Dancing Against the Odds
When: Tuesday 29 October, 5:45pm
Where: Palace Nova East End, Adelaide
The screening will be followed by an artists’ talk moderated by Prof Ruth Rentschler and including selected dancers in the film, and Dr Boram Lee.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) today (October 17) removed four compact fluorescent lamp models, one washing machine model and three induction cooker models from the record of listed models under the Energy Efficiency (Labelling of Products) Ordinance (the Ordinance). Supply of such products is no longer allowed in Hong Kong with immediate effect.
Details of the products are as follows:
Compact fluorescent lamp
Importer/ Hotline/ Email Brand Model Reference number
The EMSD administers the Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme in accordance with the Ordinance and selects samples of the listed models regularly for conducting compliance monitoring tests to check whether they conform with the energy efficiency and performance characteristics submitted to the EMSD. As the test results of the products concerned showed that they failed to reach the relevant energy efficiency and/or performance characteristics, the EMSD has decided to remove such products from the record of listed models.
The EMSD has served notices under the Ordinance to the importers concerned. The importers will publish newspaper notices to announce the termination of supply of the products concerned.
Members of the public can contact the above importers for enquiries.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
The Rating and Valuation Department (RVD) issued letters today (October 17) to remind payers of rates and/or Government rent who have not yet responded to the requisition form (Form R1A) issued to them in August to complete and return the form to the RVD immediately. They can complete and submit an electronic form (Form e-R1A) by using the Electronic Submission of Forms service provided on the RVD website (www.rvd.gov.hk). The website also provides answers to commonly asked questions on completing the form.
The RVD issued about 350 000 R1A forms to payers of rates and/or Government rent in August to obtain occupation particulars, rents and tenancy details for different types of properties for assessing rateable values for the next general revaluation.
“Irrespective of whether premises are vacant, let or owner-occupied, payers of rates and/or Government rent should complete and return the form within the specified period,” a spokesman for the RVD said.
Under the Rating Ordinance or the Government Rent (Assessment and Collection) Ordinance, any person who knowingly makes a false statement or refuses to furnish any of the particulars specified in the form commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a maximum fine of $25,000 or $10,000 respectively and an additional fine equivalent to three times the amount of rates and/or Government rent undercharged.
Payers of rates and/or Government rent are reminded to affix sufficient postage if they return the form by post to ensure a timely and successful postal delivery.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
The opening ceremony and programme “Sound River” of the 4th Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Culture and Arts Festival will be held at the Hong Kong Coliseum this Saturday (October 19). The Leisure and Cultural Services Department has arranged a live broadcast of the programme at 8pm that night. Members of the public should not miss the concert.
The music piece “Sound River” is a new work by contemporary renowned Chinese composer and conductor Tan Dun. It will be performed by the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Culture and Arts Festival Orchestra, newly formed by members of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra and the Macao Orchestra, under the baton of Tan as the world premiere. Sixteen meticulously crafted videos capturing precious footage during Tan’s journey from Europe, through the Arab world to Central Asia, then to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area over the past 12 years, will be screened during the performance. Through an audio-visual process, audience members can explore the past and future of the “Silk Road of sound”. The programme will also feature a performance by distinguished Mainland singer Zhou Shen as a special guest.
Members of the public can enjoy the live radio, television and online broadcast of the programme at 8pm on RTHK Radio 4 (FM97.6-98.9), RTHK TV32, Phoenix Hong Kong Channel (Channel 85), Festival’s website (www.gbacxlo.gov.hk), RTHK website (www.rthk.hk), Ifeng (www.ifeng.com) and Feng Show APP. For more information about the programme and live broadcast, please call 2734 2960 or visit the above-mentioned website.
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Culture and Arts Festival is presented by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the People’s Government of Guangdong Province and the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region. Hong Kong is the host city of the festival for the first time this year. It is organising and co-ordinating over 260 performances and exchange activities to be held across the “9+2” cities of the Greater Bay Area. The festival aims to showcase the vibrant and diverse cultural richness of the region and foster cultural exchanges and co-operation among the cities. For detailed information about the rich programme line up of the festival, please visit http://www.gbacxlo.gov.hk.
