RALEIGH, N.C., Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Constellation Digital Partners, a leading provider of digital banking solutions for credit unions, is proud to announce the renewal of its contract with Everwise Credit Union. This continued partnership underscores Everwise’s confidence in Constellation’s ability to drive digital innovation and deliver exceptional, member-first experiences in an ever-evolving financial landscape.
“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Everwise Credit Union,” said Kristopher Kovacs, CEO of Constellation Digital Partners. “This renewal is a testament to the collaboration, trust, and shared vision we have built together. As Everwise continues to evolve in the digital age, we are excited to be their partner in providing innovative, personalized banking solutions that meet the changing needs of their members.”
Constellation’s platform empowers credit unions like Everwise to offer seamless, mobile-first banking experiences tailored to each member’s unique preferences. By embracing cutting-edge technology, Constellation helps credit unions improve operational efficiency, increase member engagement, and drive growth in an increasingly competitive financial environment.
“We’ve been able to move at an incredible pace with Constellation, which has allowed us to quickly adapt and innovate in response to our members’ needs,” said Jason Osterhage, CEO of Everwise Credit Union. “This partnership has empowered us to provide more personalized, agile banking solutions, and we’re excited to continue evolving with Constellation to stay ahead in today’s fast-changing financial landscape.”
As the digital banking landscape continues to evolve, Constellation remains dedicated to supporting Everwise Credit Union’s ongoing success, helping them stay competitive and deliver best-in-class digital banking experiences that align with the cooperative values at the heart of the credit union movement.
About Constellation Digital Partners Constellation Digital Partners provides financial institutions with a flexible, future-focused platform designed to accelerate digital transformation. By partnering with leading credit unions and banks, Constellation enables seamless and innovative digital banking experiences that prioritize member engagement and ease of use.
About Everwise Credit Union At Everwise Credit Union (originally founded as Teachers Credit Union), helping people understand and manage their financial future has always been central to what we do, even as we’ve expanded our community beyond teachers. Today, we have over $5B in assets, and serve more than 300,000 members across 50 locations in the heart of the Midwest. Through personalized resources, services, tools and unparalleled access to innovative technology, we help everyone—teenagers to retirees, business leaders to the under-served—feel more in control of their money and their future. With every interaction, we seek to fulfill our purpose of helping people grow into their dreams.
In our last Congress.gov post, Emily announced that Statute Compilations are now available on Congress.gov. Today, we are excited to announce enhancements to the Congressional Globe on Congress.gov that continue the process of migrating the Globe from our legacy Century of Lawmaking site.
The Globe is a predecessor to the Congressional Record and it covers the years 1833-1873, which means that it includes debates on many significant events in American history, including the Civil War and a portion of Reconstruction. You can locate the Congressional Globe by clicking on the browse page at the top of the screen, selecting a Congress between the 23rd – 42nd Congresses, and then taking a look under the heading “Debates of Congress.”
The Globe is legacy data that is not yet full-text searchable, so it is a good idea to use the indexes for the volumes to locate what you are interested in. If you have a particular date in mind, you can also select“Browse by Date.” For instance, you could find congressional reactions to a significant Civil War battle by browsing any debates that took place shortly after the battle. I used the browse-by-date feature to locate a reaction to the first Battle of Bull Run by Rep. Wright.
Map of the Battles of Bull Run Near Manassas. Solomon Bamberger. (1861). World Digital Library, https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.wdl/wdl.2743
Though the Globe is not yet full-text searchable, it is possible to search the page headings of the Globe by selecting “Congressional Record” in the dropdown menu on the Congress.gov homepage, typing in your search terms, and then at the bottom left-hand side of the results screen, clicking on the “Debates of Congress Edition” filter, and selecting “Congressional Globe.” Here is an example of search results concerning debates on the Civil War that have the page heading “Defense of the Union.”
When you select a page you would like to read, you will see a page-turner that has controls at the top that allow you to jump to a certain page using a dropdown menu, turn the page using the arrow buttons, zoom in on the page using the + or – buttons, or download the page. Continuing with the Civil War and Reconstruction theme, this example demonstrates the page-turner with a speech beginning at the bottom, right-hand side of the page by Hiram Revels, the first African American senator who served as a senator from Mississippi from 1870 to 1871.
Hiram R. Revels of Miss. 1870. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cwpbh.00554The page-turner display for the Congressional Globe on Congress.gov.
Do you have ideas on how to continue to improve the presentation of the Congressional Globe on Congress.gov? Send us your feedback.
Enhancements
Enhancement – Congressional Globe
Congress.gov Tip
Congress.gov has several two-minute tip videos available on topics ranging from how to set up email alerts, how to locate a bill, how to use search terms and filters, and how to locate appropriations resources on Congress.gov.
Most-Viewed Bills
The most-viewed bills for the week of February 9, 2025 are below.
1.
H.R.899 [119th]
To terminate the Department of Education.
2.
H.R.86 [119th]
NOSHA Act
3.
H.R.722 [119th]
To implement equal protection under the 14th article of amendment to the Constitution for the right to life of each born and preborn human person.
4.
H.R.55 [119th]
To repeal the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.
5.
H.R.8281 [118th]
SAVE Act
6.
S.5 [119th]
Laken Riley Act
7.
H.R.25 [119th]
FairTax Act of 2025
8.
H.Res.59 [119th]
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the sermon given by the Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde at the National Prayer Service on January 21st, 2025, at the National Cathedral was a display of political activism and condemning its distorted message.
AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AutoScheduler.AI, an innovative Warehouse Orchestration Platform and WMS accelerator, announces a LinkedIn Live Event on Cutting Through the AI Buzzwords. As AI is everywhere in supply chain conversations, companies have trouble discerning whether it is right for their business.
“Between ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Machine Learning, and ‘Proprietary Algorithms’ supply chain executives are getting lost in all the verbiage and having a hard time determining what is real and what isn’t,” says Keith Moore, CEO of AutoScheduler.AI. “In this event, I will provide a straight-talking session on what AI actually does in supply chain operations, whether in warehousing, transportation, procurement, or other, and help companies see where the real business value is.”
Date of Event: February 27, 2025 Time: 2:00 – 3:00 PM EST
The AutoScheduler LinkedIn Live Event: Cutting Through the AI Buzzwords will cover
What AI Actually Is – DeepSeek vs. ChatGPT vs. Machine Learning vs. “Proprietary Algorithms” – what’s real?
How AI is Used in Supply Chain – Warehousing, transportation, procurement, demand planning & beyond
What AI Delivers – The business value, success stories, and how to measure ROI
Presenter: Keith Moore, CEO of AutoScheduler.AI, is focused on bringing the future of technology into warehousing. He works with the top 10 Consumer Goods, Beverage, and Distribution companies to drive efficiency in distribution centers. Before launching AutoScheduler.AI, Keith was voted by Hart Energy Magazine as an Energy Innovator of the Year in 2020, was selected as a Pi Kappa Phi 30 under 30 member, and holds multiple patents in the fields of neural architecture search and supply chain planning. Keith has been published in journals and groups like SupplyChainBrain, Inbound Logistics, ISSA, and OTC for his work in logistics, cyber security, and predictive maintenance applications.
AutoScheduler.AI empowers you to take full control of your warehouse with a cloud-based solution that seamlessly integrates with your existing WMS/LMS/YMS or any other solution. We automate critical tasks like labor scheduling, dock management, and task sequencing, ensuring everything runs smoothly and efficiently. You’ve already invested in the software to run your warehouse—what we do is provide the orchestration layer that ties it all together to make real-time data driven decisions. With AutoScheduler.AI, you get smart orchestration for a smarter, more agile warehouse. For more information, visit: http://www.autoscheduler.ai.
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CodeMonkey is thrilled to announce the launch of its brand-new Digital Literacy Curriculum designed for K-8 students. This innovative program delivers a comprehensive approach to digital education, featuring over 130 engaging lessons on digital literacy, online safety, and responsible internet usage. Additionally, the curriculum includes more than 100 interactive typing lessons, ensuring that young learners develop essential keyboarding skills alongside their digital knowledge.
Empowering Students with Digital Literacy and Online Safety
In today’s technology-driven world, digital literacy has become a fundamental skill for students. CodeMonkey’s new curriculum is specifically designed to equip young learners with the knowledge and skills they need to navigate the digital landscape safely and effectively. Through a structured, age-appropriate learning pathway, students will explore critical topics such as:
Understanding Computers & the Internet – How computers and the internet work, including hardware, software, and connectivity basics.
Online Safety & Privacy – The importance of secure passwords, recognizing scams, and protecting personal information online.
Responsible Digital Citizenship – Ethical behavior, digital etiquette, and strategies to combat cyberbullying.
Media Literacy & Critical Thinking – Identifying reliable online sources, avoiding misinformation, and developing critical thinking skills.
By engaging students in interactive, gamified lessons, CodeMonkey makes learning about digital literacy both fun and accessible and ensures that students receive high-quality education in preparation for the digital future.
Mastering Keyboarding with 100+ Typing Lessons
In addition to digital literacy and safety, the new curriculum places a strong emphasis on typing proficiency. With over 100 typing lessons, students will develop proper keyboarding techniques, improving their typing speed and accuracy—a critical skill for success in the modern classroom and beyond. Through engaging and adaptive typing exercises, students will gain confidence in their ability to efficiently use digital tools.
About CodeMonkey CodeMonkey is a leading platform in computer science education for kids, providing award-winning courses that introduce students to digital literacy, ai and real programming languages like CoffeeScript and Python. From schools to after-school programs and at-home learning, CodeMonkey offers a robust curriculum that makes computer science accessible and fun for students worldwide.
Why Digital Literacy Matters More Than Ever
With the increasing presence of technology in education, work, and social interactions, digital literacy is no longer optional—it’s essential. Research shows that students who are digitally literate perform better academically and are better prepared for future careers. However, many schools struggle to find comprehensive, structured programs that effectively teach these essential skills.
CodeMonkey’s new Digital Literacy Curriculum bridges this gap by offering a holistic, engaging, and structured learning experience that empowers students to become competent, responsible, and confident digital users.
Designed for Educators, Built for the Classroom
CodeMonkey understands that educators play a pivotal role in preparing students for a digital world. That’s why the new Digital Literacy Curriculum is designed with teachers in mind, featuring:
Easy-to-Follow Lesson Plans – Structured, step-by-step guides for teachers with little to no prior digital literacy experience.
Interactive and Self-Paced Learning – Engaging activities, real-world scenarios, and game-based lessons that adapt to students’ learning pace.
Comprehensive Assessments – Built-in quizzes, projects, and progress tracking tools to measure student understanding and growth.
Bridging the Digital Divide with Future-Ready Learning
As technology continues to shape education and the workforce, CodeMonkey’s mission is to ensure that every student, regardless of background, has access to high-quality digital literacy instruction. This new curriculum provides a comprehensive and engaging solution to help students develop the critical skills necessary for success in a digitally connected world. By fostering responsible digital behavior, enhancing technical skills, and promoting ethical internet usage, CodeMonkey is paving the way for a generation of informed and empowered digital citizens.
CodeMonkey’s Digital Literacy Curriculum is now available for schools, districts, and individual educators. Schools and educators interested in integrating this program into their classrooms can reach out through the CodeMonkey website: www.codemonkey.com.
About CodeMonkey
CodeMonkey is a K12 Computer Science Curriculum and K8 Digital Literacy Curriculum, introducing kids to fundamental knowledge in today’s digital world in a gamified, engaging and fun approach. CodeMonkey is a globally recognized leader in coding and digital education and provides award-winning educational programs used by millions of students and thousands of schools worldwide. Through interactive, game-based learning, CodeMonkey empowers young learners with the skills they need to thrive in the digital age.
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Tracy Ledger, Head: Energy and Society Programme, University of Johannesburg
South Africa is one of only 52 countries that guarantee access to water as a human right. “Access” from a human rights perspective means that water is physically accessible, clean and safe for consumption, and affordable. Section 27 of the country’s constitution stipulates that everyone has the right to access sufficient water.
But South Africa is not doing well on meeting the standards of a full human rights approach to water access. In a recent paper, I and my colleagues at the Public Affairs Research Institute’s Just Transition Programme set out the extent of this failure, and mapped out what needs to be done to rectify the situation.
The Just Transition Programme aims to contribute to a successful climate transition that prioritises social justice, equity and poverty reduction.
Part of our research method is ethnography – spending time in communities struggling to access water. We do this to learn what concrete changes are required to improve people’s lives, from their own perspective.
Physical access to water for households has increased significantly since the country’s first democratic elections in 1994. Nevertheless, water quality and safety has declined over the past ten years. Almost half the country’s drinking water is considered unsafe for human consumption. Water service interruptions – sometimes lasting days – are becoming more common.
South Africa’s household poverty rate (the number of households who live below the upper bound poverty line) is now at 55%. We found that water is becoming more and more unaffordable for impoverished households. The result is that these families have to limit the amount of water they use. This worsens poverty and inequality.
To solve this problem, the South African government needs to embrace a human rights approach to access to water, where people are given enough water to live a full life.
What went wrong?
The first problem is affordability. People cannot access water if they don’t have the money to pay for it, but most clean and safe water in South Africa must be paid for. Poverty is a key barrier to access.
The United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights to water and sanitation has emphasised that it is the responsibility of the state to assess whether households can afford to pay for water, without sacrificing other basic essential items such as food. It is up to governments to take steps to make water affordable.
The country’s Free Basic Water policy was originally intended to address this issue. It guaranteed impoverished households access to a free 6,000 litres of water per month. This is roughly 200 litres per household of eight people per day. However, in practice this policy is not a meaningful solution, for two reasons:
the amount provided is an average of 25 litres of water per person per day. This is way below the World Health Organization recommendation of a minimum water allowance of between 50 and 100 litres of water per person per day.
many millions of poor households are excluded from the benefit because of poor implementation of the policy by municipalities.
This situation reflects the failure to create, implement and oversee a regulatory environment that is necessary to realise affordable access to sufficient, clean water for all South Africans.
The policy failures
Firstly, water policy – at both national and municipal levels – has failed to take a human rights approach. A human rights approach requires that access to sufficient, quality and affordable water is the starting point for all policy making and resource allocation decisions. This has not been the case.
Secondly, access to water has been narrowly defined as making water physically available without considering affordability. Most water access policy in South Africa includes statements declaring that water must be affordable for everyone. Unfortunately, all of these policy promises have remained exactly that – just promises.
Meeting the goal of affordability requires more from the government than stating that water should be affordable. The state must develop affordability standards – in other words, calculate a water tariff that everyone can afford – and monitor it. At the moment, there is no national government oversight of water tariffs and so the affordability policy is effectively meaningless.
The actual state practices of tariff setting and approval, particularly in local municipalities, have not translated any of these promises into reality.
Fourthly, the state has failed to acknowledge the contradiction between providing universal access to services, and requiring municipalities to generate enough money to cover 90% of their running costs. Tariffs for water have increased at rates well above inflation over the past 20 years. But in a very impoverished environment where many people cannot afford to pay for water, up to two thirds of South Africa’s municipalities have been classified as being in financial distress.
There is a fundamental – and currently insoluble – conflict between the tariffs that municipalities must charge in order to maintain fully funded budgets, and the tariffs that could be defined as affordable.
What needs to be done?
These actions should be taken in the short term:
the free basic water allowance must be increased
the household indigent policy, which determines how households can access free municipal services like water, must be restructured.
affordability standards must be developed in close consultation with affected communities. This is the only way to set water tariffs that are based on what households are actually able to pay.
there must be oversight of the provision of sufficient, affordable water for everyone.
In the longer term, these two additional problems must be solved:
the local government fiscal framework requires that municipalities earn a surplus on trading services such as water. This must be changed so that municipal finances prioritise affordability of water instead.
The ethnographic research team for this work was led by Mahlatse Rampedi, who holds a master’s degree and has ten years of experience, together with Ntokozo Ndhlovu, who holds an honours degree.
– South Africa has failed to deliver access to enough water for millions – a new approach is needed – https://theconversation.com/south-africa-has-failed-to-deliver-access-to-enough-water-for-millions-a-new-approach-is-needed-247831
Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –
On February 15-16, 2025, the State University of Management hosted the in-person round of the Social Science Olympiad for schoolchildren, “Future Managers Tournament”.
The university hosted about 70 schoolchildren from different regions of Russia, including Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Moscow regions and others. The in-person tour was conducted by teachers from the State University of Management.
The children had to give detailed answers to questions from the school social studies program. The time allotted for completing the tasks was from 140 to 180 minutes, depending on the grade level.
“It is worth noting that this tournament is an excellent opportunity for schoolchildren to prepare for admission to specialties where social science is a key subject. This year, their number has tripled in the correspondence stage and doubled in the full-time stage, compared to last year. Winners and prize winners will receive 4 additional points to the total points of the Unified State Exam when entering the State University of Management. Participate, win, enter!” – urged the director of the Center for Career Guidance Elena Likhatskikh.
Preliminary results of the in-person stage will be published on March 25, as soon as the expert jury has completed its review of the works.
In April, winners and prize winners will receive their well-deserved awards within the walls of the Scientific Library of the State University of Management.
Let us recall that the Olympiad is held annually at several venues and includes two stages. The first is the qualifying (correspondence) stage, which was held from November 2024 to February 2025 using distance learning technologies. The second is in-person, the venues for which were Moscow (SUM), Nalchik, Rostov-on-Don.
Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 02/18/2025
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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.
UConn’s Cato Laurencin has a strong legacy of innovation, leadership, and a dedication to translating research into practical, life-saving medical solutions.
Dr. Laurencin, the University Professor and Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, is the recipient of the Paul Terasaki Innovation Award, created in memory of renowned organ transplant innovator Dr. Paul Terasaki.
The award recognizes outstanding achievement in the field of biomedical innovation through research, education, industry, translation, or clinical practice. Recipients also demonstrate exemplary efforts to transform their inventions to real-world solutions.
Dr. Laurencin is recognized for his pioneering work in regenerative engineering, polymer science, and musculoskeletal repair and regeneration. Dr. Laurencin invented the Laurencin-Cooper ligament (LC ligament) for regenerating the anterior cruciate ligament and engineered grafts for shoulder rotator cuff tendon repair and regeneration.
“The field of regenerative engineering has already led to the development of groundbreaking technologies that have positively impacted patients,” says Laurencin, who also serves the College of Engineering as professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, professor of materials science and engineering, and professor of biomedical engineering. “Our continued work in complex tissue regeneration promises even more transformative breakthroughs in the future.”
Dr. Laurencin and Dr. Jun Chen of UCLA will receive Terasaki awards during the 3rd Annual Terasaki Innovation Summit in March.
Laurencin’s work in regenerative engineering laid the foundation for several start-up companies, including Healing Orthopaedic Technologies, Soft Tissue Regeneration, and Healing Orthopaedic Technologies Bone. Through these companies and collaborations with industry, Dr. Laurencin has successfully brought soft tissue implants to the market. Additionally, his research has led to the development of products for bone regeneration and interference screw technologies. His contributions to science include over 500 scientific articles, and numerous patents and patent applications. He has written or edited 17 books.
“Dr. Laurencin’s extraordinary work in regenerative engineering and his dedication to advancing human health exemplify the spirit of the Paul Terasaki Distinguished Scientist Innovation Award. We are honored to recognize a visionary leader whose achievements have transformed science and improved countless lives,” says Professor Ali Khademhosseini, director and CEO of the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation. in the award announcement.
Dr. Laurencin serves as the Chief Executive Officer of The Cato T. Laurencin Institute for Regeneration, an Institute at UConn created in his honor.
He has received the highest awards of the Biomedical Engineering Society, the Materials Research Society, and the American Chemical Society, which awarded him the Priestley Medal.
In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded Dr. Laurencin with the prestigious National Medal of Technology and Innovation, is the highest honor for technological achievement in the United States.
Dr. Laurencin also is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine, and is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He is the first surgeon in history elected to all four of these academies.
Dr. Laurencin earned a BS in chemical engineering from Princeton University, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School, Magna Cum Laude, and a Ph.D. in biochemical engineering/biotechnology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Laurencin will receive the award during the 3rd Annual Terasaki Innovation Summit, to be held March 5-7, at the Terasaki Institute Research Headquarters in Woodland Hills, California.
Abu Dhabi (Agenzia Fides) – A week of meetings, dialogues and visits to symbolic places in the Arabian Peninsula to experience and understand how different religions can really live together peacefully in the same place. These are the objectives of the first edition of the course on “Training and Exchanges in the Context of the Human Fraternity Document and its Receptions”, designed for delegates of the Episcopal Conferences who work in the field of ecumenical and interreligious dialogue.As the creator of this initiative, Father Stefano Luca, OFM Cap, Director of the Interfaith and Ecumenical Dialogue Office of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia and Rector of St. Francis Church at the Abrahamic Family House, Abu Dhabi (where the course took place from Saturday 8 to Wednesday 12 February, a few days after the sixth anniversary of the signing of the document), explains, “after many months of planning, we launched the initiative with a very effective interreligious dialogue methodology: half-day training session at St. Francis Church, followed by half-day of visit of religious sites in order to gain insights from different religions present in the UAE. This enables delegates to acquire theoretical knowledge and to experience on the ground examples of best practices in terms of coexistence and dialogue”.Fifteen Regional delegates from 11 ecclesiastical regions of the Italian Bishops’ Conference attended the program, along with 5 Delegates of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia that are part of three offices: Christian Formation, School Management, and Interfaith and Ecumenical Dialogue.The presentations by experts and theologians were followed by several moments of discussions with the Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia, Bishop Paolo Martinelli. Many topics were addressed: “From the phenomenon of migration – suffice it to say that all the faithful and the clergy of the Vicariate are migrants without exception, of more than a hundred nationalities – to the history of the Catholic Church in the Gulf region,” explained Father Stefano. The day dedicated to ecumenical dialogue was attended by Armenian Orthodox Archbishop Mesrob Sarkissian, who spoke about the ecumenical movement that has developed in the region in recent years.The program continued with a visit to the four sites of the Abrahamic Family House (church, mosque, synagogue and Workshop Forum). The group then visited Sikh and Hindu temples, Greek Orthodox, Coptic and Anglican churches, as well as the great mosque of Abu Dhabi named after Sheikh Zayed.“The special thing is that in all these religious sites, we met religious leaders, and we had the possibility to have interfaith dialogue sessions with them and we learnt about the model of peaceful coexistence implemented in the UAE,” emphasizes the Franciscan.A very significant visit, says Father Stefano, “was to St. Joseph Catholic Church. Here the delegates immersed themselves in the life of a normal Sunday morning in our parishes. They took part in catechism classes and masses for children and adults. It was, as the delegates themselves said, an incredible experience.” And “not just by the number of faithful (let us keep in mind that more than 25.000 hosts are distributed at the masses every weekend), but most importantly they were impressed and edified by the joy, enthusiasm, devotion, and faith of the faithful and the children during their participation in the catechism classes and Masses as well. The high level of preparation of the catechists also impressed the delegates.”These were “valuable days for us as a church in the Gulf. Moments of dialogue, encounters, and the exchange of experiences.” “We are enriched in hearing about the experiences of those in Italy who are responsible for promoting interreligious and ecumenical dialogue, and on the other hand it is very interesting for us to be able to share the experiences that we have been having for some time now in this part of the world”, commented the Apostolic Vicar, Bishop Paolo Martinelli, who, together with Father Stefano, is already thinking about the future: “Our desire now is to invite other Episcopal Conferences to send their delegates to participate in our path of exchange and formation”. (F.B.) (Agenzia Fides, 18/2/2025)
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Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –
On February 18, 2025, in the Moscow city branch of the All-Russian Student Rescue Corps, located on the territory of the State University of Management, as part of the celebration of Defender of the Fatherland Day, a master class was held for children of veterans of the special military operation.
This initiative is an important element of social support for the families of military personnel participating in the Special Military Operations, and has received the support of the Moscow City Branch of the United Russia Party.
The master class was attended by the Vice-Rector of the State University of Management Pavel Pavlovsky and the Moscow City Duma deputy, head of the Moscow City Branch of the VSKS Maxim Dzhetygenov.
“Today we pay tribute to the defenders of our Fatherland. To the soldiers who laid down their lives for the Motherland and its people, to the living participants in military conflicts and the heroes fighting today! Today, the children of our heroes will interactively learn how to use primary fire extinguishing equipment, try to work with emergency rescue tools, provide first aid and, as part of a team, try to save a conditional “teddy bear” from a labyrinth. We will introduce the children to safety culture and rescue skills in more detail. We are grateful to the State University of Management and the Moscow City Branch of the United Russia Party for their assistance in holding the event,” Maxim Dzhetygenov, head of the Moscow City Branch of VSKS, opened the event.
“From the very beginning of the SVO, the rector of the GUU Vladimir Stroyev sets one key task for the university: “Everything for the front, everything for Victory.” And active assistance to our soldiers is one of the key areas of our work. We implement retraining programs for soldiers who were seriously wounded at the front, we support universities in historical territories, we implement the “University Shifts” project, within the framework of which children from the DPR, LPR and the Kherson region come to us at the GUU for the holidays. And this is in addition to participating in the project initiated by the guys from the VSKS, which is called “GUU – SVOim” and is aimed at providing frontline units and civilians in the border area with the necessary products and technical equipment. Our partners for two years now have been the All-Russian public movement “Veterans of Russia”, so organizing an event for children of SVO participants is a logical continuation of activities in the chosen direction. We want the soldiers defending the Motherland at the front to clearly know that there is someone in the rear who will take care of their families and their children, because children are our wealth!” said Pavel Pavlovsky, Vice-Rector of the State University of Management.
A total of 30 children of SVO veterans took part in the master class, who happily donned real firefighter clothes and fought against simulated fires, learned how to use various primary fire extinguishing equipment, tried to play Jenga using rescue tools, and in the end, as a united team, rescued a simulated victim from an inflatable labyrinth and provided him with first aid.
The State University of Management is proud of its fighters of the All-Russian Student Rescue Corps, who never stand aside and help the residents of the Kursk region to endure temporary hardships, eliminate the consequences of inhuman terrorist attacks, clean the Black Sea coast from oil products and are always ready to share their experience and skills. They are
Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 02/18/2025
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.
South Africa is one of only 52 countries that guarantee access to water as a human right. “Access” from a human rights perspective means that water is physically accessible, clean and safe for consumption, and affordable. Section 27 of the country’s constitution stipulates that everyone has the right to access sufficient water.
But South Africa is not doing well on meeting the standards of a full human rights approach to water access. In a recent paper, I and my colleagues at the Public Affairs Research Institute’s Just Transition Programme set out the extent of this failure, and mapped out what needs to be done to rectify the situation.
The Just Transition Programme aims to contribute to a successful climate transition that prioritises social justice, equity and poverty reduction.
Part of our research method is ethnography – spending time in communities struggling to access water. We do this to learn what concrete changes are required to improve people’s lives, from their own perspective.
Physical access to water for households has increased significantly since the country’s first democratic elections in 1994. Nevertheless, water quality and safety has declined over the past ten years. Almost half the country’s drinking water is considered unsafe
for human consumption. Water service interruptions – sometimes lasting days – are becoming more common.
South Africa’s household poverty rate (the number of households who live below the upper bound poverty line) is now at 55%. We found that water is becoming more and more unaffordable for impoverished households. The result is that these families have to limit the amount of water they use. This worsens poverty and inequality.
To solve this problem, the South African government needs to embrace a human rights approach to access to water, where people are given enough water to live a full life.
What went wrong?
The first problem is affordability. People cannot access water if they don’t have the money to pay for it, but most clean and safe water in South Africa must be paid for. Poverty is a key barrier to access.
The United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights to water and sanitation has emphasised that it is the responsibility of the state to assess whether households can afford to pay for water, without sacrificing other basic essential items such as food. It is up to governments to take steps to make water affordable.
The country’s Free Basic Water policy was originally intended to address this issue. It guaranteed impoverished households access to a free 6,000 litres of water per month. This is roughly 200 litres per household of eight people per day. However, in practice this policy is not a meaningful solution, for two reasons:
the amount provided is an average of 25 litres of water per person per day. This is way below the World Health Organization recommendation of a minimum water allowance of between 50 and 100 litres of water per person per day.
many millions of poor households are excluded from the benefit because of poor implementation of the policy by municipalities.
This situation reflects the failure to create, implement and oversee a regulatory environment that is necessary to realise affordable access to sufficient, clean water for all South Africans.
The policy failures
Firstly, water policy – at both national and municipal levels – has failed to take a human rights approach. A human rights approach requires that access to sufficient, quality and affordable water is the starting point for all policy making and resource allocation decisions. This has not been the case.
Secondly, access to water has been narrowly defined as making water physically available without considering affordability. Most water access policy in South Africa includes statements declaring that water must be affordable for everyone. Unfortunately, all of these policy promises have remained exactly that – just promises.
Meeting the goal of affordability requires more from the government than stating that water should be affordable. The state must develop affordability standards – in other words, calculate a water tariff that everyone can afford – and monitor it. At the moment, there is no national government oversight of water tariffs and so the affordability policy is effectively meaningless.
The actual state practices of tariff setting and approval, particularly in local municipalities, have not translated any of these promises into reality.
Fourthly, the state has failed to acknowledge the contradiction between providing universal access to services, and requiring municipalities to generate enough money to cover 90% of their running costs. Tariffs for water have increased at rates well above inflation over the past 20 years. But in a very impoverished environment where many people cannot afford to pay for water, up to two thirds of South Africa’s municipalities have been classified as being in financial distress.
There is a fundamental – and currently insoluble – conflict between the tariffs that municipalities must charge in order to maintain fully funded budgets, and the tariffs that could be defined as affordable.
What needs to be done?
These actions should be taken in the short term:
the free basic water allowance must be increased
the household indigent policy, which determines how households can access free municipal services like water, must be restructured.
affordability standards must be developed in close consultation with affected communities. This is the only way to set water tariffs that are based on what households are actually able to pay.
there must be oversight of the provision of sufficient, affordable water for everyone.
In the longer term, these two additional problems must be solved:
the local government fiscal framework requires that municipalities earn a surplus on trading services such as water. This must be changed so that municipal finances prioritise affordability of water instead.
The ethnographic research team for this work was led by Mahlatse Rampedi, who holds a master’s degree and has ten years of experience, together with Ntokozo Ndhlovu, who holds an honours degree.
Tracy Ledger 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.
Galaxies, planets, black holes: to most people, everything about our Universe sounds and feels enormous. But while it’s true that much of what happens millions of light years away is large, there are also processes happening at the quantum end of the scale. That’s the branch of science which explains how nature works at very small scales – smaller than atoms. At this level, things behave in surprising ways.
Theoretical physicists Partha Nandi and Bibhas Ranjan Majhi explored the possibility that gravitational waves – ripples in space caused by massive objects moving or colliding – might exhibit quantum properties. They shared their findings with The Conversation Africa.
What are gravitational waves?
Simply put, they’re like tiny ripples in space, similar to the waves you see when you splash water. They occur when really heavy things in space, like stars or black holes, move around or crash into each other. These ripples then travel across space and carry energy.
They’re also far more than that: they are a method of communication. They carry information about massive cosmic events, helping scientists to “listen” to space in a way that wasn’t possible before their existence was confirmed.
In 1916 the legendary theoretical physicist Albert Einstein published a groundbreaking paper that laid out his theory of general relativity. He described gravity not as a force, but as the bending of space and time caused by massive objects. This bending affects how objects move, just like a heavy ball placed on a stretched rubber sheet makes smaller objects roll toward it.
Einstein accurately predicted the motion of planets, black holes, and even how light bends around massive objects – and the existence of gravitational waves rippling in space-time when those massive objects move or collide.
It took nearly 100 years for Einstein’s hypothesis about gravitational waves to be confirmed. That’s when the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the US detected these waves for the first time. It took such a long time because despite how huge they sound, gravitational waves are minute: they stretch or squeeze space by a factor 1,000 times smaller than the size of an atom. Special tools were needed to spot them and LIGO’s cutting-edge technology was up to the task.
You argue that some gravitational waves are quantum in nature. What does that mean?
“Quantum” is the branch of science that explains how nature works at very small scales – smaller than atoms. At this level, things behave in surprising ways.
For instance, tiny particles can behave like waves. They can also exist in more than one state at the same time, which is called superposition. Additionally, they can be mysteriously linked so that a change in one instantly affects the other, no matter how far apart they are. This is called entanglement.
Photons are a good example. These are particles of light, and scientists have proved that they behave in these “quantum” ways, such as being able to exist in superposition or becoming entangled with each other.
Entanglement is a kind of connection but it’s much deeper than a simple link. When two objects are entangled, they share something called a quantum state. This describes everything about a particle or system. It’s like a blueprint, but instead of fixed details, it gives the chance of finding the particle under different conditions, such as its position or speed.
When two objects share a quantum state, their behaviour becomes mysteriously linked. If you measure one object, the state of the other will immediately adjust to match, no matter how far apart they are. This is what makes entanglement so special and unlike anything we see in the everyday world.
What did your research reveal?
We hypothesised that gravitational waves could have both classical and quantum properties. The ones detected by LIGO so far follow classical behaviour, matching Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
But the current LIGO detectors aren’t sensitive enough to detect quantum effects, and there’s been no way to know whether our hypothesis is correct. So we modelled a detector similar to the latest generation of LIGO, which has mirrors attached to arms that can move and vibrate.
Classical gravitational waves cause the mirrors to move in specific ways, but in our study quantum gravitational waves – tiny ripples caused by particles called “gravitons” – affected the mirrors differently. They can make the mirrors’ oscillation modes become entangled: parts of the motion move together in ways that classical waves cannot create.
To visualise this, imagine two wind chimes far apart, swaying in sync because of an invisible breeze. Here, the quantum gravitational waves are like that breeze. They make distant objects move together in a way that classical gravitational waves cannot.
This suggests that at very small scales, gravitational waves may show quantum features, like entanglement, which can’t be explained classically. We’re not suggesting that all gravitational waves are quantum. However, this does not imply that all gravitational waves are quantum in nature. Instead, those originating from the early universe, approximately 13.8 billion years ago, may carry quantum signatures. These types of gravitational waves may encode information about the early universe, especially around the time of the Big Bang, and how they may have changed over time.
Why is this an important finding?
Confirming the quantum nature of gravitational waves bridges Einstein’s relativity with quantum mechanics, solving a puzzle that has challenged physics for decades: the difficulty of reconciling the principles of general relativity, which describes gravity on a large scale, with the laws of quantum mechanics, which govern the behaviour of particles at the smallest scales.
This breakthrough could revolutionise our understanding of the universe. The quantum nature of gravitational waves could help advanced sensors detect faint cosmic signals and provide insights into the universe’s origins, black hole behaviour, and the fabric of reality. While LIGO has already made great progress in measuring gravitational waves, exploring their quantum side opens up a new field of physics.
It’s important to note that more research will be needed to test and replicate our findings in different experimental settings. We’re far from the only people studying these phenomena and we hope our findings will strengthen the efforts of South African institutions such as the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences (NITheCS) and the Astrophysics Research Group at Stellenbosch University which contribute to gravitational wave astrophysics through data analysis, collaboration and theoretical work.
Advances in technology will also play a key role in expanding quantum gravitational wave research opportunities. The LIGO-India observatory, due to become operational by 2030, will be one such possible experimental setting.
– Quantum effects make distant objects move together: new research finds this may happen with ripples in space – https://theconversation.com/quantum-effects-make-distant-objects-move-together-new-research-finds-this-may-happen-with-ripples-in-space-245050
An illustration of two black holes orbiting each other. Eventually they will merge, producing gravitational waves. Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library/Getty Images
Galaxies, planets, black holes: to most people, everything about our Universe sounds and feels enormous. But while it’s true that much of what happens millions of light years away is large, there are also processes happening at the quantum end of the scale. That’s the branch of science which explains how nature works at very small scales – smaller than atoms. At this level, things behave in surprising ways.
Theoretical physicists Partha Nandi and Bibhas Ranjan Majhi explored the possibility that gravitational waves – ripples in space caused by massive objects moving or colliding – might exhibit quantum properties. They shared their findings with The Conversation Africa.
What are gravitational waves?
Simply put, they’re like tiny ripples in space, similar to the waves you see when you splash water. They occur when really heavy things in space, like stars or black holes, move around or crash into each other. These ripples then travel across space and carry energy.
They’re also far more than that: they are a method of communication. They carry information about massive cosmic events, helping scientists to “listen” to space in a way that wasn’t possible before their existence was confirmed.
In 1916 the legendary theoretical physicist Albert Einstein published a groundbreaking paper that laid out his theory of general relativity. He described gravity not as a force, but as the bending of space and time caused by massive objects. This bending affects how objects move, just like a heavy ball placed on a stretched rubber sheet makes smaller objects roll toward it.
Einstein accurately predicted the motion of planets, black holes, and even how light bends around massive objects – and the existence of gravitational waves rippling in space-time when those massive objects move or collide.
It took nearly 100 years for Einstein’s hypothesis about gravitational waves to be confirmed. That’s when the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the US detected these waves for the first time. It took such a long time because despite how huge they sound, gravitational waves are minute: they stretch or squeeze space by a factor 1,000 times smaller than the size of an atom. Special tools were needed to spot them and LIGO’s cutting-edge technology was up to the task.
You argue that some gravitational waves are quantum in nature. What does that mean?
“Quantum” is the branch of science that explains how nature works at very small scales – smaller than atoms. At this level, things behave in surprising ways.
For instance, tiny particles can behave like waves. They can also exist in more than one state at the same time, which is called superposition. Additionally, they can be mysteriously linked so that a change in one instantly affects the other, no matter how far apart they are. This is called entanglement.
Photons are a good example. These are particles of light, and scientists have proved that they behave in these “quantum” ways, such as being able to exist in superposition or becoming entangled with each other.
Entanglement is a kind of connection but it’s much deeper than a simple link. When two objects are entangled, they share something called a quantum state. This describes everything about a particle or system. It’s like a blueprint, but instead of fixed details, it gives the chance of finding the particle under different conditions, such as its position or speed.
When two objects share a quantum state, their behaviour becomes mysteriously linked. If you measure one object, the state of the other will immediately adjust to match, no matter how far apart they are. This is what makes entanglement so special and unlike anything we see in the everyday world.
What did your research reveal?
We hypothesised that gravitational waves could have both classical and quantum properties. The ones detected by LIGO so far follow classical behaviour, matching Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
But the current LIGO detectors aren’t sensitive enough to detect quantum effects, and there’s been no way to know whether our hypothesis is correct. So we modelled a detector similar to the latest generation of LIGO, which has mirrors attached to arms that can move and vibrate.
Classical gravitational waves cause the mirrors to move in specific ways, but in our study quantum gravitational waves – tiny ripples caused by particles called “gravitons” – affected the mirrors differently. They can make the mirrors’ oscillation modes become entangled: parts of the motion move together in ways that classical waves cannot create.
To visualise this, imagine two wind chimes far apart, swaying in sync because of an invisible breeze. Here, the quantum gravitational waves are like that breeze. They make distant objects move together in a way that classical gravitational waves cannot.
This suggests that at very small scales, gravitational waves may show quantum features, like entanglement, which can’t be explained classically. We’re not suggesting that all gravitational waves are quantum. However, this does not imply that all gravitational waves are quantum in nature. Instead, those originating from the early universe, approximately 13.8 billion years ago, may carry quantum signatures. These types of gravitational waves may encode information about the early universe, especially around the time of the Big Bang, and how they may have changed over time.
Why is this an important finding?
Confirming the quantum nature of gravitational waves bridges Einstein’s relativity with quantum mechanics, solving a puzzle that has challenged physics for decades: the difficulty of reconciling the principles of general relativity, which describes gravity on a large scale, with the laws of quantum mechanics, which govern the behaviour of particles at the smallest scales.
This breakthrough could revolutionise our understanding of the universe. The quantum nature of gravitational waves could help advanced sensors detect faint cosmic signals and provide insights into the universe’s origins, black hole behaviour, and the fabric of reality. While LIGO has already made great progress in measuring gravitational waves, exploring their quantum side opens up a new field of physics.
It’s important to note that more research will be needed to test and replicate our findings in different experimental settings. We’re far from the only people studying these phenomena and we hope our findings will strengthen the efforts of South African institutions such as the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences (NITheCS) and the Astrophysics Research Group at Stellenbosch University which contribute to gravitational wave astrophysics through data analysis, collaboration and theoretical work.
Advances in technology will also play a key role in expanding quantum gravitational wave research opportunities. The LIGO-India observatory, due to become operational by 2030, will be one such possible experimental setting.
Partha Nandi receives funding from the University of Stellenbosch. as a posdoctoral fellowship.
Bibhas Ranjan Majhi 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.
United States President Donald Trump has temporarily put his trade war against Canada and Mexico on hold after vowing to slap 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian and Mexican imports, although he’s imposed tariffs on all steel and aluminum, including from Canada.
He has also upped the ante by threatening to increase tariffs should Canada carry through on its own threat of retaliatory tariffs, with the possibility of further sanctions in the spring following a U.S. government study investigating ways to address the country’s trade deficits.
This is nothing less than an attempt at the economic subordination of Canada by its giant and — until very recently — friendly neighbour and ally. But what makes Trump’s impending trade war even more absurd is that it is based on a series of lies.
Trade, drugs, migrants, banks
Trump has claimed that the U.S. has a “US$200 or $250 billion” trade deficit with Canada. The American government’s own data show that the trade in goods deficit with Canada in 2024 was US$55 billion.
But when you factor in services (in technology or finance), an area in which the U.S. currently enjoys a trade surplus, the annual U.S.-Canada annual trade deficit falls to US$45 billion. And if you exclude energy exports, sold to the U.S. at a discount, the trade scales tip decidedly in favour of the U.S.
Then we also have Trump’s claim that tariffs are needed to penalize Canada for allowing an “invasion” of drugs (mainly fentanyl) and undocumented migrants into the U.S.
But once again, figures from his own government agencies show that only 1.5 per cent of migrants apprehended in 2024, and a mere 0.2 per cent of all fentanyl impounded at U.S. borders in 2024, originated in Canada.
Finally, just hours before the American reprieve on tariffs, Trump raised a new red herring: that Canada does not allow American banks into the country. But many U.S. banks do operate in Canada, making up half of the country’s foreign banking assets.
Just as was the case in his 2016 election campaign, Trump’s 2024 campaign successfully tapped into people’s frustrations and anxieties over everything from high food prices to the housing crisis and rising precarious employment as he promised once more to “make America great again.”
Tariffs featured prominently, with Trump bidding to put “America First” by punishing the country’s three largest trading partners — Mexico, Canada and China — for their alleged “unfair” trade practices.
These types of seductive populist slogans unite people under a common banner, soothing their anxieties. But the accompanying peril is their dependence on the construction of national enemies to unify the nation. In 2016, Trump singled out Muslims and Mexicans. Today it is migrants, trans people and America’s supposed three main trading villains.
Dangerous sentiments
Trump’s populism is therefore built on irrational, if not dangerous, sentiments: blind fear, pridefulness, xenophobia, transphobia, racism and aggression.
No wonder he engages in both blatant falsehoods and unabashed bullying. His lies are integral to his continuing attempts to paint the U.S. as a victim, despite its global supremacy in many areas, thereby justifying attempts at subordinating America’s putative “enemies” and even its friends. Populist sentiment, precisely because it is rooted in the irrational exuberance of pride and unity, cares little about facts, logic or veracity.
A case in point is Trump’s affirmation that the U.S. is “subsidizing” Canada as a result of the trade deficit. The allegation contravenes any economic sense — trade deficits are the result of market-driven imports exceeding exports — yet its deployment here evokes the anxiety-producing prospect that Canada is ripping off American taxpayers.
Populist passion trumps rational argument. Bluster whips up national fervour.
In the days leading up to Trump’s tariff executive order, Canadian federal ministers and provincial premiers also frantically engaged in a public relations offensive (interviews on American TV, meetings with congressional lawmakers and Trump’s cabinet nominees) aimed at changing minds. All to no avail.
Trump finally blinked only a few hours before the Feb. 4 tariff deadline. All it took was the offer by Trudeau of measures that, for the most part, had already been included in the previously announced border security/fentanyl measures. It seems the repackaged deal was enough to allow the president to declare a victory, while granting Canada a mere temporary reprieve.
So all in all, much ado about not too much. Lots of theatrics and brinkmanship, but little advancement, especially on the supposed main problem to be addressed — trade deficits.
The Trump administration has basically stuck to its populist platform, providing more evidence that rational decision-making does not play a role.
Quite the opposite, in fact: attempts to appease Trump appear to have been taken as proof that his threats work, and more demands are undoubtedly in store. That’s evident by the continuing prospect of tariffs in March and the possibility of more to come afterwards (including on steel and aluminum).
Self-defeating irrationality
Trump’s tariff war is senseless. If the measures go ahead, they could plunge Canada into a painful recession requiring state stimulus to support the economy and jobs, and retaliatory and counter-retaliatory trade measures.
This may well be Trump’s intention — he has declared he wants to annex Canada by “economic force” — but it is likely to backfire. Any future trade war will harm not just Canada, Mexico and China, but also the U.S.
Canada’s counter-tariffs target Red States, where Trump derives most of his electoral support.
And given the American dependence on Canada for some 50 per cent of its crude oil imports, Canada’s nuclear option is to impose export tariffs on oil to the U.S. That would cause American prices at the pump to increase dramatically overnight and prove highly unpopular.
In the longer term, then, no one stands to win as a consequence of Trump’s irrational populist policy-making. In the meantime, expect not much else from Trump’s administration than more unpredictability, brinkmanship, intimidation … and, yes, lies.
Ilan Kapoor 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.
Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Student Team Day at SPbGASU
On the Day of Russian Student Teams on February 17, student teams of SPbGASU held an event to attract new candidates to their ranks. The guys talked about team life, handed out leaflets, sang and even boxed.
Students were offered to test their knowledge of the history of the university and the detachment movement in a quiz format. Prizes were raffled off among the participants.
“We need new, energized people to grow and develop,” explained Georgy Galayev, commander of the Hermes student agricultural team and a third-year student in the Faculty of Engineering Ecology and Urban Economy. This is Georgy’s first year in the team, but he already holds a responsible position. Georgy said that before this he worked in the Kusto team, but realized that he still needed the sun and vitamin D.
Sofia Sidorova (commissioner) and Daria Gorbunova (commander) of the SPO “Svoboda”
You can also get a lot of sun and vitamin D by joining the pedagogical team “Freedom”. “We go only to places where there is a sea. This is our rule,” said team leader Darya Gorbunova, a second-year student at the Faculty of Engineering Ecology and Urban Economy. “Every summer, the team works two shifts. And before work, they rest – to gain strength, get a good tan and start teaching children happy and full of energy.”
Vadim Fedotov, a fifth-year student at the Automobile and Road Engineering Department, represented the Kusto team. Kusto spends its working seasons mostly in the North. Vadim was invited to join the movement in his second year. Deciding that student teams were similar to school practice, Vadim initially refused. But in his third year, he decided to give it a try. He liked it and stayed.
Sergey Voronin, a fourth-year undergraduate student at the Faculty of Architecture, a fighter, and former commissar of the Lin student archaeological squad, shared his story: “For three years I have been spinning in a whirlpool of youth and fun – in squads! I have gone from a candidate to a fighter and leader of cultural and mass activities, a commissar. In the summer, I always had a backpack on my back, and ahead were endless natural spaces that leave memories for a lifetime. The rest of the year, there are many cool university, city, and all-Russian events of various types: entertaining, educational, creative, and sincere. And the list of informal friendly meetings is endless, with an incredible story for each one! Spontaneity, energy, and adventurism accompany us on adventures every time. The only thing missing is you!”
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.
MIAMI, Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NextNRG Inc. (“NextNRG” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: NXXT), a pioneer in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning applications for energy solutions, today announced its fueling-division EzFill, has entered into a fleet fueling agreement with Florida Beauty, a division of Mogul Energy International, Inc. (OTCMARKETS: MGUY), a publicly traded company specializing in refrigerated logistics and the transportation of time- and temperature-sensitive cargo.
This strategic collaboration highlights NextNRG’s focus on rapidly expanding its commercial fleet fueling services while providing additional shareholder value for both companies through operational synergies and innovative solutions. Under the agreement, NextNRG will deliver mobile fueling solutions to Florida Beauty’s fleet of over 200 semi-trucks and 300 refrigerated trailers.
Florida Beauty is one of the nation’s largest floral logistics companies and plays a key role in the transportation of fresh-cut flowers and other perishable goods across the country. During peak season times, Florida Beauty anticipates more than 1,000 loads leaving its facilities in Miami, FL and Ventura CA to support flower distribution.
As a high-volume carrier, Florida Beauty relies on efficient fueling logistics to maintain supply efficiency during high demand periods like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, when supply chain reliability is critical.
With floral imports exceeding 1.1 billion stems annually, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a consistent fuel supply is essential for minimizing downtime and ensuring timely deliveries. Miami International Airport handles nearly 90% of the nation’s fresh-cut flower imports during peak seasons, making it a critical hub for floral logistics. NextNRG’s fleet fueling services help companies like Florida Beauty operate efficiently, reducing disruptions and optimizing delivery operations.
“As one of the nation’s largest transporters of fresh-cut flowers arriving from South America to Miami, and with over 40 years of experience in nationwide floral logistics, we take great pride in streamlining our operations,” said Ronen Koubi, CEO of Mogul Energy International, Inc. “Florida Beauty spends approximately $12 million annually refueling its massive fleet. With NextNRG, we can significantly improve efficiency by having fuel delivered directly to us, saving time and labor costs while reducing operational disruptions. Additionally, we look forward to continuing discussions with NextNRG about the electrification of our fleet and the deployment of a smart microgrid and wireless charging solutions at our headquarters.”
“This Agreement with Florida Beauty reflects the value of combining innovative fueling solutions with the needs of high-volume logistics providers,” said, Michael D. Farkas CEO and Executive Chairman of NextNRG. “By working together, we will help Florida Beauty maximize operational efficiency while reinforcing our commitment to delivering tailored solutions for industries where uptime and reliability are essential. This agreement brings significant value to both organizations, strengthening shareholder confidence and positioning NextNRG as the go-to fueling solution for fleet operators in perishable goods logistics.”
About NextNRG, Inc. (f/k/a EzFill Holdings, Inc.)
NextNRG Holding Corp. (NextNRG) and EzFill have merged to form a combined entity focused on renewable energy, mobile fueling, and next-generation energy infrastructure. By leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies, NextNRG is developing an integrated ecosystem that combines solar energy generation, battery storage, wireless electric vehicle (EV) charging, and on-demand fuel delivery.
At the core of NextNRG’s strategy is the deployment of NextNRG Smart Microgrids, which utilize AI-driven energy management alongside solar power and battery storage to enhance energy efficiency, reduce costs, and improve grid resiliency. These microgrids are designed to serve commercial properties, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, parking garages, rural and tribal lands, recreational facilities, and government properties, expanding energy accessibility while supporting decarbonization initiatives.
Following the merger with EzFill, NextNRG is integrating sustainable energy solutions into mobile fueling operations. The company will provide renewable energy to its fueling partners, supporting more efficient fuel delivery while advancing clean energy adoption. It continues to expand its growing fleet of fuel delivery trucks and national footprint, including the acquisition of Yoshi Mobility’s fuel division, further solidifying its position as a leader in the on-demand fueling industry.
By combining renewable energy innovation with mobile fueling expertise, NextNRG is building a sustainable energy ecosystem that bridges traditional fuel needs with AI-powered clean energy solutions.
The combined entity, NextNRG, trades under the symbol NXXT on the Nasdaq Capital Market. To find out more visit NextNRG.com.
About Mogul Energy International, Inc.
Mogul Energy International, Inc. (OTCMARKETS: MGUY), operating under the Florida Beauty brand, provides transportation, logistics, and warehouse consolidation and distribution services for perishable and other time- and temperature-sensitive cargo. With over 40 years of experience, Mogul Energy specializes in refrigerated long-haul, regional, and dedicated deliveries for industries such as floral, produce, plants, dairy, poultry, and meats, as well as dry, high-value commodities. Operating one of the largest floral transportation fleets in the U.S., Mogul Energy plays a vital role in the timely and efficient delivery of perishable goods.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. In addition, from time to time, we or our representatives may make forward-looking statements orally or in writing. We base these forward-looking statements on our expectations and projections about future events, which we derive from the information currently available to us. Such forward-looking statements relate to future events or our future performance, including: our financial performance and projections; our growth in revenue and earnings; and our business prospects and opportunities. You can identify forward-looking statements by those that are not historical in nature, particularly those that use terminology such as “may,” “should,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “contemplates,” “estimates,” “hopes,” “believes,” “plans,” “projected,” “predicts,” “potential,” or “hopes” or the negative of these or similar terms. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, those related to trade disputes, regulatory changes, or disruptions in the supply chain that could impact the floral logistics sector.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said that Britain is “ready and willing to contribute to security guarantees to Ukraine by putting our own troops on the ground if necessary”.
While reports suggest these would be “peacekeeping” forces, the reality is that true peacekeepers must be impartial. British troops placed to support Ukraine could certainly be seen as “partial”. And the positioning of British forces in Ukraine would fit the Russian narrative that casts Nato as the aggressor.
Ukraine is not a member of Nato, but the goal of Nato membership is enshrined in its constitution. British forces involved in any sort of fighting in Ukraine would not enable article 5, which states that each member will regard an attack on any other member as an attack on themselves and assist it, to be invoked. Additionally, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that European troops deployed to Ukraine should not be covered under article 5.
The weakness with Starmer’s idea is that Britain does not have the wherewithal to provide enough troops, supplies and weapons to act as a real deterrent. This isn’t too dissimilar from the state of British forces when faced with war in Europe more than a century ago.
In 1914 Lord Kitchener, then secretary of state for war, speaking of the cabinet’s decision to go to war in Europe, thundered, “Did they remember, when they went headlong into a war like this, that they were without an army, and without any preparation to equip one?”
Small numbers would be nothing more than a “speed-bump” against a large attack, as the British Expeditionary Force was in 1914 and again in 1940. Poor preparation, small numbers and limited equipment meant their deployment was more an indication of Britain’s support, rather than real capability to fight a long war against a peer enemy.
Britain is again in this position. Years of spending cuts have removed the ability of British forces to prosecute a war against a peer adversary for an extended time. The number of troops has fallen from 100,000 full-time trained personnel in 2000, to approximately 70,000 today.
Britain also does not have the capacity to manufacture at the levels required for a modern war. Much will be needed for immediate capital investment, such as manufacturing capacity for arms and ammunition. Longer-term investment will be required for arms production, as will the reinstatement of supporting infrastructure, such as airfields and storage facilities abandoned after the end of the cold war, both within Britain and across Europe.
There is no solution to the immediate problem except increasing the money available for defence. But Britain, and many other Nato members, have been unwilling to increase spending on defence, even though the current capabilities have been run down to such an extent that European nations cannot field a capable force.
Defence spending
US president Donald Trump has called for Nato countries to up their defence spending to 5% of GDP from the current Nato target of 2%. This would be very difficult to achieve in Britain’s current financial situation without spending cuts elsewhere.
While it has been reported that defence chiefs are pushing for a rise to 2.65% of GDP, Starmer indicated he would resist pressure to increase spending above 2.5%.
The last time the UK spent more than 5% of its GDP on defence was in the height of the cold war. The current international situation has already begun to shift into two distinct blocs similar to the east-west split between 1945 and 1991. However, the bipolar balance of the cold war has been replaced with an increasing instability, as displayed by Russian aggression in Georgia and Ukraine.
Replacing lost capacity is almost always more expensive than maintaining it. Had the governments of past decades maintained the capabilities of the armed forces, the overall cost would most likely have been lower than the amount the nation will now have to invest to obtain the same level of defence.
Each defence review since 1957 has led to cuts to the defence budget in real terms. Reductions in the military budget continue because, previously, nothing presented a sufficient sub-nuclear threat to the nation deemed significant enough to reverse them. Those cuts are now so deep that the nation is on the edge of being unable to defend itself, let alone project military power abroad in any significant capacity.
The prime minister wrote: “We have got to show we are truly serious about our own defence and bearing our own burden.” This assertion is quickly undermined by the indication that he won’t increase spending anytime soon.
None of the western members of Nato have shown any willingness to significantly increase their defence spending. Great Britain expects to spend £56.4 billion for 2024-25, amounting to approximately 2.3% of GDP. But this includes £0.65 billion in pensions and benefits, and £0.22 billion in “arms-length bodies” that do not contribute to the defence establishment in any practical terms.
Britain and Nato have had clear warning since 2014 to correct the deficiencies of their defences. All have chosen to ignore the developing threat from Russia. The impression is that not only are we hoping for the best, but we are planning for the best too.
Lord Tedder, chief of the air staff after the second world war, wrote, “It is at the outset of war that time is the supreme factor.” Three years into the war in Ukraine, and it is clear that Nato missed the opportunity to strengthen its defences in the early stages. It now faces a significant increase in defence spending simply to make up the shortfall from previous decades.
Kenton White 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.
A new educator survey commissioned by Samsung Solve for Tomorrow reveals the growing importance of artificial intelligence (AI) and entrepreneurship in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, showing both advancements and persistent challenges in preparing students for the future. Nearly all teachers (96%) believe AI will become an intrinsic part of education within the next decade, yet 97% say they lack the necessary resources to integrate emerging technology like AI and concepts like entrepreneurship into their curriculum.
Samsung Solve for Tomorrow’s second “The State of STEM Education” survey, conducted in partnership with DonorsChoose, the leading education nonprofit for teachers, polled 1,039 U.S. public middle and high school teachers. The findings uncovered educators’ optimism about the value of AI in classrooms and the urgent need to modernize STEM education. In fact, 59% of teachers named professional development, updated curriculum resources, collaboration with tech industry professionals, or improved technology as a crucial need, with another 38% saying they need all of the above.
Samsung Empowers Schools & Educators for an AI-Driven Future
Samsung is working to close this gap. Through the annual Samsung Solve for Tomorrow STEM competition, which challenges students in grades 6-12 to use STEM to solve real-world problems in their communities, the Company has awarded over $27 million in technology and classroom supplies to more than 4,000 U.S. public middle and high schools. In addition, the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Teacher Academy has enhanced STEM teaching for hundreds of educators by providing professional development to help them implement AI strategies, design thinking, and social impact entrepreneurship in their classrooms—key skills for students navigating a rapidly changing world.
The urgency for AI-focused education is clear. When Samsung Solve for Tomorrow conducted its first State of STEM Education survey in 2022/2023, AI was still an emerging factor in classrooms. Today, the impact is undeniable—42% of State Winners’ community projects from the current 2024/2025 Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition leverage AI-driven STEM solutions, compared to just 6% in 2022/2023—a remarkable sevenfold increase. This surge in AI-driven projects reinforces the pressing need for resources to keep pace with STEM’s evolving landscape and better prepare students for tomorrow’s workforce. For instance, Mississippi’s 2024/2025 State Winner is creating an AI app to detect anxiety in students with autism, while Montana’s winners are using AI and VR to connect students with Native communities for immersive cultural learning.
“Samsung is committed to bridging the resource gap in STEM education,” said Allison Stransky, CMO at Samsung Electronics America. “As AI reshapes industries and job markets, it’s essential to equip educators with the tools and training needed to integrate AI into their classrooms and prepare students for an AI-driven future. By fostering innovation and social impact through technology, we also inspire students to use their skills to improve their communities.”
Drilling Down on AI in Education
Samsung’s educator survey found that a majority (53%) are already using AI tools in their classrooms, with another 33% exploring possible uses for AI. Among AI applications respondents currently use are interactive learning tools (20%), personalized student learning experiences (22%), and data analysis to gain insights into student performance (11%).
The survey also revealed a range of teacher concerns about AI in education. These include plagiarism (20%), insufficient training on AI education tools (15%), the potential to spread misinformation (13%), and reduced human interaction in learning (12%). Notably, only 5% of teachers expressed concerns about AI leading to job displacement, indicating a broader focus on the opportunities AI presents for teaching and learning.
Encouragingly, 88% of teachers stressed the importance of educating students on the ethical use of AI, underlining its potential to shape responsible, tech-savvy learners.
Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –
Maxim Rybachuk, a leading specialist at the Center for Strategic and Innovative Research at the Research Institute of Public Policy and Management of Industrial Economics at the State University of Management, has become a laureate of the Moscow Government Prize for Young Scientists for 2024.
The Moscow Government Prize Competition for Young Scientists has been held since 2013. Awards are given annually for achieving outstanding results in fundamental and applied scientific research in the field of natural, technical and humanitarian sciences, as well as for the development and implementation of new technologies, equipment, devices, equipment, materials and substances that contribute to improving the efficiency of activities in the real sector of the economy and the social sphere of the capital.
In total, over 8,000 applications were submitted for the awards during the competition, 1,332 of which were submitted this year. Awards were given to 758 young scientists, 78 of which were submitted this year.
The award was presented to the laureates by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
“We have never had so many competition applications – more than 1,300 works were submitted. And choosing you was not an easy task for us either. So these are truly well-deserved awards that you have earned with your talent, skill, and commitment to science. And of course, I hope that these awards are not the last in your life, but only the beginning of your great scientific career,” Sergei Semenovich addressed the young scientists.
The mayor also announced a decision to double the bonus, which has not been indexed since 2019. The 2024 bonuses are also planned to be recalculated taking into account the increase. At the moment, it is 2 million rubles.
A young scientist from the State University of Management, Maxim Rybachuk, received the award in the Social Sciences category for a series of nine previously published works on the topic of “Socioeconomic Ecosystems as a Core Component of the Systemic Transformation of the Russian Economy”. In his research, Maxim Aleksandrovich analyzed the landscape of the Russian ecosystem market, defined the criteria for ecosystems, key market players and their industry specifics. He assessed the impact of the development of the ecosystem structure of the economy on Russia’s GDP and put forward a number of recommendations in the field of economic policy to protect market participants from the unconstructive influence of ecosystems. In particular, it was proposed to create a national regulator that would combine functions similar to those of the FAS Russia and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in relation to the activities of ecosystems, because ecosystems are not subject to antimonopoly legislation.
We congratulate Maxim Rybachuk on receiving the prestigious award and wish him further success in his scientific work for the benefit of the Russian economy.
Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 02/18/2025
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.
Today, on January 18th, 2025, the Coop Pank AS decided to extend the term of office of Mr. Margus Rink, a Member of the Supervisory Board of Coop Liising AS a subsidiaries of Coop Pank AS, for a another 3-years term effective as of the end of his previous term.
Margus Rink has been the Chairman of the Management Board of Coop Pank AS since 2017. He is also a member of the Supervisory Board of bank’s subsidiaries Coop Liising AS and Coop Kindlustusmaakler AS. Margus Rink is a member of the Council of the Estonian Banking Association and member of the management board of Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Margus Rink obtained a master’s degree in business administration from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Tartu in 2000 and a bachelor’s degree in financial accounting and analysis from the same university in 1994. Margus Rink currently owns 806 000 shares in Coop Pank and 7 subordinated bonds of Coop Pank.
Coop Pank, based on Estonian capital, is one of the five universal banks operating in Estonia. The bank has 209 500 everyday banking customers. Coop Pank uses the synergies between retail and banking and brings everyday banking services close to people’s homes. The majority shareholder of the bank is the domestic retail chain Coop Eesti, whose sales network includes 320 stores.
MISHAWAKA, Ind., Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Schurz Communications, Inc. (“Schurz”) today announced that Austin Cook has been appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
As CFO, Cook will oversee financial strategy and operations for Schurz. He will direct all aspects of the company’s finance organization and work with Schurz’s portfolio companies as well as the board of directors on strategic projects. Cook previously served as the CFO of Schurz’ cloud business OTAVA and has been Schurz’ interim CFO since 2024. He will remain aligned with OTAVA, delivering strategic support.
“Austin has been a part of the Schurz family for nearly six years delivering significant contributions to the leadership team,” said John Reardon, President and CEO of Schurz Communications. “Austin’s initiative, drive, and supportive mindset make him a strong leader for the business. We are thrilled to work with him in this expanded role.”
Cook is a seasoned finance leader with more than a decade of experience. He joined Schurz’ cloud service provider OTAVA in 2019 where he has held multiple finance roles, including Vice President of Finance, Controller, and most recently CFO. Prior to OTAVA, Cook served as Controller at ForeSee, where he oversaw all aspects of accounting and finance. Earlier in his career, he held other accounting roles and was an adjunct professor at Concordia University in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
“Schurz Communications is an outstanding organization with deep roots, strong financial backing, and time-honored leaders,” said Cook. “With a focus on broadband and cloud technology, Schurz has a clear vision for the future, and I am excited to be part of the team creating ongoing growth, advancement, and innovation in areas that matter most to today’s customers.”
Austin is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Certified Management Accountant (CMA). He holds a B.B.A. in Accounting from Concordia University and an MBA in Accounting from Liberty University.
About Schurz Communications Schurz is a family-owned corporation that has been helping businesses, communities and individuals make meaningful connections for five generations. The Schurz legacy began in newspaper publishing, radio, and television, and today, the company remains committed to making information more accessible through the platforms and technology of the digital age. Schurz Communications’ recent investments include regional broadband companies and cloud managed services providers, and the company’s portfolio also includes a variety of minority investments. For more information, visit: www.schurz.com.
SAN DIEGO, Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Franklin Wireless Corp. (NASDAQ: FKWL) announces the appointment of Ira Greenstein to the Company’s Board of Directors, effective February 17, 2025.
“We are pleased to welcome Ira Greenstein to the Company’s Board of Directors,” said OC Kim, President and CEO of Franklin Wireless. “Ira’s extensive legal, corporate, and government experience brings a new depth of knowledge, critical skills in strategic decision-making and governance to the board.”
Mr. Greenstein is a Founding Partner of the Pierson Ferdinand LLP law firm. He previously served as Deputy Assistant and Strategist to the President during the first Trump Administration. Before his government service, he was President of IDT Corporation and Genie Energy Ltd.
Mr. Greenstein holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and a Juris Doctor (JD) from Columbia University School of Law. He is currently a member of the board of Forafric Global plc. (NASDAQ: AFRI), where he serves on the Audit and Remuneration Committees.
Mr. Greenstein will be replacing Gary Nelson on the Board as Mr. Nelson has decided to resign from the Board to enjoy more time with his family.
About Franklin Access Franklin Access (NASDAQ: FKWL) specializes in integrated connectivity solutions powered by 4G LTE and 5G technologies. The company offers mobile device management (MDM), network management solutions (NMS), and innovative wireless products for the digital age. For more information, visit FranklinAccess.com.
Safe Harbor Statement Certain statements in this press release constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied due to various factors.
Chinatown’s rich tradition of activism was on full display for the past two and half years, as residents and allies fiercely opposed the Philadelphia 76ers’ plans to build a basketball arena in the Market East neighborhood at the southern edge of Chinatown.
A city-sponsored community impact study found that the arena could have resulted in the “loss of Chinatown’s core identity and regional significance.” It estimated that half of the neighborhood’s small businesses would have suffered due to increased congestion, potential rent increases and a new demographic less likely to patronize the area’s ethnic businesses.
While the reason for the Sixers’ sudden decision to scrap the Market East arena plan remains unclear, the announcement in January 2025 came as a relief to Chinatown community members who felt they had averted yet another threat to their neighborhood’s existence.
I’m a historian whose research focuses on Asian Americans, cities and social movements, and I’ve seen how urban residents take the existence of Chinatowns in major cities across the country – and even globally, from London to Havana, Cuba, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – for granted. Chinatowns continue to exist and thrive thanks to the residents and allies who fight for them.
The fight over the Sixers arena was only the latest struggle in over 50 years of community organizing in Philadelphia’s Chinatown.
Like other American Chinatowns, Philadelphia’s formed during an era of virulent anti-Chinese racism. The neighborhood was established in the 1870s as a refuge for immigrants fleeing the American West, where white railroad workers and miners declared “The Chinese must go!”.
Among the earliest businesses were a handful of laundries and a restaurant on the 900 block of Race Street, just north of Philadelphia’s main commercial district.
In 1923, the Bell Telephone Company purchased additional real estate along the corridor for its new high-rise building and parking lot, displacing Chinese residents. In the same decade, the city used eminent domain to demolish blocks of housing to make way for the Broad-Ridge Spur connecting the Eighth Street and Vine Street subway stations. A Philadelphia Evening Bulletin article in 1934 declared Chinatown to be “a thing of the past.”
As the city began to accommodate more car owners, Race Street was remade as a major thoroughfare to the Delaware Valley Bridge, now called the Ben Franklin Bridge. In 1926, the year the bridge was completed, the Bulletin declared that “The Delaware River Bridge has come and Chinatown must go,” echoing the xenophobic slogans that drove Chinese workers out of western states half a century earlier.
In 1966, the city proposed the expansion of Vine Street into an expressway that would have demolished large swaths of Chinatown, including the beloved Holy Redeemer church and school. Established for Chinese American Catholics in 1941, Holy Redeemer hosted neighborhood meetings and recreational events as well as religious services. The Vine Street Expressway project was one instance of the national phenomenon of urban renewal, which aimed to clear and redevelop areas designated as blighted.
These groups comprised the 1970s Save Chinatown movement. They held numerous protests, made frequent media appearances and used the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act to craft their strategy. They demanded an environmental impact statement, which, when issued in 1983, recommended a much smaller expressway than originally designed. Holy Redeemer was saved. The final plans also scrapped two off-ramps that would have cut through the neighborhood. Construction on the expressway was completed in 1991.
Resisting a prison, baseball stadium and casino
The Save Chinatown movement continued through the decades as community members successfully fought the construction of a federal prison in 1993, a baseball stadium in 2000 and a casino in 2008 – all proposed for sites in or bordering Chinatown.
“The future of Chinatown is going to be a huge battle,” activist Debbie Wei stated in a 2002 documentary released after the conclusion of the baseball stadium fight a few years earlier. “We’re going to fight it, and my children are probably going to have to fight it as well.”
‘Look Forward and Carry on the Past: Stories from Philadelphia’s Chinatown’ (2002). Debbie Wei’s reflections on the future of Chinatown begin at 25:28.
Her words were prescient. Her daughter Kaia Chau emerged as a key leader of the campaign against the Sixers arena 20 years later.
Chau co-founded Students for the Preservation of Chinatown with fellow student leader Taryn Flaherty. The group organized teach-ins, galvanized Philadelphia-area students to join protests, and highlighted arena developers’ ties to local universities, including the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University. By focusing on the developers, students made connections between the arena proposal and the gentrification of West Philadelphia, including the demolition of the University City Townhomes, an affordable housing complex whose residents were mostly Black.
The movement against the Sixers arena became part of a multiracial, citywide fight against displacement. As Rev. Gregory Holston of Black Philly 4 Chinatown, part of the Save Chinatown coalition, put it: “In North Philadelphia, in West Philadelphia, in South Philadelphia, the same process is happening over and over and over again, where people are pushing and displacing people of color out of this city.”
Activists have also created new housing, educational and arts institutions to keep Chinatown a family-friendly neighborhood.
The location where the prison was planned in 1993 is now Hing Wah Yuen, a 51-unit mixed-income affordable housing complex developed by the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation – the same organization that led the fight against the Vine Street Expressway in the 1970s.
The K-8 school, located in the footprint of the proposed stadium, teaches Mandarin and emphasizes art and music classes that reflect students’ cultural background.
More recently, recognizing the need for more “third places” for youth beyond home and school, student leaders Chau and Flaherty launched the Ginger Arts Center in 2024. The organization provides a recreational space and arts programs for young people in Chinatown.
The community institutions that have sprung up in the wake of defeated development projects illustrate how Chinatown is not a thing of the past, nor is it solely a food and culture destination to be consumed.
Rather, Chinatown is a thriving community that has long fought to survive, reinvent itself and determine its own future – one that carries the legacy of previous generations of resistance.
Vivian Truong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
With the recent confirmations of Tulsi Gabbardand Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – two of the most controversial of President Donald Trump’s high-level administration nominees – the president’s attempt to remake government as a home for political loyalists continues.
This unprecedented sequence of events in the U.S. has left many observers in a daze, struggling to make sense of the dramatic reshaping of the bureaucracy under way.
Yet, as researcherson authoritarianpolitics, it is no surprise to us that a leader bent on expanding his own power, such as Trump, would see the bureaucracy as a key target. Here’s why.
Elon Musk, standing next to President Donald Trump, explains his theory concerning government bureaucracy.
Dismantle democracy from within
A well-functioning bureaucracy is an organization of highly qualified civil servants who follow established rules to prevent abuses of power. Bureaucracies, in this way, are an important part of democracy that constrain executive behavior.
For this reason, aspiring strongmen are especially likely to go after them. Whether by shuffling the personnel of agencies, creating new ones, or limiting their capacity for oversight, a common tactic among power-hungry leaders is establishing control over the government’s bureaucracy. Following a failed coup attempt in 2016, for example, Turkish President Reccep Tayyip Erdoğan fired or detained as many as 100,000 government workers.
In the long term, this hollowing out and reshaping of the bureaucracy is part of a broader plan in which aspiring autocrats usurp control over all institutions that can constrain them, such as the legislature and the courts. As we document in our book, “The Origins of Elected Strongmen,” attacks on the bureaucracy constitute a significant step in a larger process in which elected leaders dismantle democracy from within.
Take control of bureaucracy
The seemingly bizarre series of events that have transpired in Washington since Trump came to power are highly consistent with other countries where democracy has been dismantled.
Soon after taking control, Talon created new agencies housed in the executive office and defunded existing ones, as a means of skirting bureaucratic constraints to his rule. The central affairs of the state were in the hands of an informal cabinet, initially led by Olivier Boko, a wealthy businessman considered to be Talon’s right-hand man despite not having any official position in government.
Consolidating control over the bureaucracy was just one step in a larger process of turning Benin into an autocratic state. Talon eventually amassed greater power and influence over key state institutions, such as the judiciary, and intervened in the electoral process to ensure his continued rule. By 2021, Benin could no longer be considered a democracy.
Purge civil service
A similar dynamic occurred in Hungary. After governing relatively conventionally for one term, Prime Minister Viktor Orban was defeated in elections in 2002. He blamed that outcome on unfriendly media and never accepted the results as legitimate.
As a Hungarian former politician wrote in 2016, “While the mafia state derails the bureaucratic administration, it organizes, monopolizes the channels of corruption and keeps them in order.”
Likewise in Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez had his cronies draw up a blacklist of civil servants to be purged for signing a petition in support of a referendum to determine whether Chávez should be recalled from office in 2004; government employees who signed were subsequently fired from their jobs.
More than a decade later, Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s current leader, would conduct his own purge of civil servants after they signed a petition to hold another recall referendum. After multiple rounds of government and military purges, Maduro was able to overturn an election he lost and jail his opponents, knowing full well the judges and generals would follow his orders.
Benin’s leader, Patrice Talon, consolidated control over the bureaucracy as part of a larger process of turning the country into an autocratic state. Yanick Folly/AFP via Getty Images
Foster culture of secrecy and suspicion
Orban and Chavez, like Talon, were democratically elected but went on to undermine democracy.
In environments where loyalty to the leader is prioritized over all else, and purges can happen at a moment’s notice, few people are willing to speak up about abuses of power or stand in the way of a power grab.
Fostering a culture of secrecy and mutual suspicion among government officials is intentional and serves the leader’s interests.
As a World Bank report highlighted in 1983, in President Mobutu Sese Seko’s Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo, the bureaucracy had been “privatized by the ruling clique,” creating a climate in which “fear and repression … prevented any serious threat from dissenting groups.”
When leaders gain full power over the bureaucracy, they use it to reward and punish ordinary citizens as well. This was a tried-and-true tactic under the PRI’s rule in Mexico for much of the 20th century, where citizens who supported the PRI were more likely to receive government benefits.
In short, when aspiring autocrats come to power, career bureaucrats are a common target, often replaced by unqualified loyalists who would never be hired for the position based on merit. Recent events in the U.S., as unprecedented as they may seem, are precisely what we would expect with the return of Trump, a would-be autocrat, to power.
Andrea Kendall-Taylor is affiliated with the Center for New American Security.
Joe Wright has received funding from the Charles Koch Foundation.
Erica Frantz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Tatyana Golikova presented the new national project “Personnel” to the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans’ Affairs
February 18, 2025
Tatyana Golikova presented the new national project “Personnel” to the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans’ Affairs
February 18, 2025
Tatyana Golikova presented the new national project “Personnel” to the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans’ Affairs
February 18, 2025
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Tatyana Golikova presented the new national project “Personnel” to the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans’ Affairs
Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova and representatives of the federal executive authorities presented the new national project “Personnel” to the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans’ Affairs. Tatyana Golikova and Minister of Labor and Social Protection Anton Kotyakov spoke about the prerequisites for the formation, main goals and directions of the national project. Representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs and the Social Fund of Russia also took part in the presentation.
As Tatyana Golikova noted, in his Address to the Federal Assembly in February last year, the President named Russia’s entry into the world’s four largest economies by 2030 as one of the country’s development priorities. And one of the most important tasks associated with this is providing the economy with personnel.
The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that currently there are 1.5 million vacancies available on the Rabota Rossii portal in the country, a third of which (471 thousand) are blue-collar jobs. At the same time, the unemployment rate at the end of 2024 did not exceed 2.3%. According to preliminary estimates, up to 3.1 million workers need to be additionally attracted to the economy by 2030 compared to 2022 as a basis. “This means that we need to additionally involve about 800 thousand people in the economy by 2030. But that’s not all, because during the same period, based on demographic trends that traditionally occur in the labor market every year, which we did not notice during the period of calm economic development, we will have to replace another 10.1 million people due to retirement. That is, the total estimate of both replacement and involvement in the economy today is 10.9 million people,” the Deputy Prime Minister explained.
In the next five years, about 6.7 million graduates from universities and colleges will enter the labor market, and our task is to provide them with qualified advanced professional training in accordance with the labor market forecast. “On the one hand, this is our golden resource, and on the other hand, we must very clearly understand that the young people entering the labor market meet the needs of the labor market. This is the most difficult task, because in a number of industries and professions there is a discrepancy with the needs of the labor market. We see that the need for qualified labor today makes up 70% of the total need, the rest are specialists in higher education,” noted Tatyana Golikova.
The established trends served as prerequisites for the development of a new interdepartmental national project “Personnel”.
“Over 116 billion rubles will be allocated for the implementation of the national project in the next six years, of which over 113 billion rubles will come from the federal budget. We plan that as a result, a new model for managing the country’s personnel supply will be created, which will allow us to increase the rate of reduction of the personnel deficit by 2030 by increasing employment by 3.4%,” said Tatyana Golikova.
The national project includes four federal projects: “Labour Market Management”, “Education for the Labour Market”, “Active Measures to Promote Employment”, and “The Working Person”.
The first is aimed at managing the labor market. It is planned to create mechanisms and tools for effective involvement in employment. The average time of employment for citizens who applied to employment centers in search of suitable work will be reduced by 25%. This will be facilitated by the modernization of more than 1.5 thousand employment centers, the creation of new models of their work based on the annual updating of the forecast of the need of economic sectors for specialists for a five-year period, the development of services of the unified digital platform “Work in Russia”.
The second federal project is aimed at creating a system for training personnel for priority sectors of the economy based on the forecast of demand. Other national projects are also aimed at training personnel, for example, “Youth and Children”, within the framework of which the “Professionality” project is being implemented.
Within the framework of the national project “Personnel”, it is planned to create 298 career centers based at universities, and a routing of employment for graduates of both secondary and higher education will be introduced.
The third federal project is aimed at creating an effective system of training, retraining and advanced training of personnel for priority sectors of the economy based on the forecast of demand for them. In parallel, issues related to providing opportunities for citizens experiencing difficulties in finding work will be resolved. Thus, the share of equipped workplaces for which people with disabilities are employed will be increased.
The fourth federal project is a continuation of the policy of increasing the prestige of blue-collar jobs.
Minister of Labor and Social Protection Anton Kotyakov emphasized that, based on the tasks set by the head of state, the main goal of the national project “Personnel” is to meet the economy’s need for personnel, primarily through our internal reserves. The main reserves of the labor market: increasing labor productivity; increasing the level of youth employment; increasing the employment of citizens with disabilities; involving citizens caring for loved ones in the economy; maintaining employment of workers with family responsibilities.
One of the most important activities of the national project is the preparation of an annual five-year forecast of personnel needs and its linking with the target figures for admission.
“The President set the task of calculating how many and what kind of specialists, in which regions we will need in order to ensure national development goals, technological leadership projects. We have formed a forecast of personnel needs for a five-year period. It took into account the forecast of socio-economic development, target economic indicators, projects included in strategic planning documents, demographic trends, and the rate of growth of labor productivity,” said Anton Kotyakov.
Not only the new demand that arises due to the growth of industries was analyzed, but also the so-called replacement demand related to the annual retirement of workers. In addition, in order to break down the structure of demand in detail by skill levels and specialties, an all-Russian survey of employers was conducted, in which 260 thousand companies with 22 million employees took part. In preparing the forecast, experts processed 3 million unique job titles.
“As a result of this large-scale and painstaking work, we have received for the first time a detailed forecast in the industry, regional and professional-qualification contexts. The forecast will be calculated annually and taken into account when forming the control figures for admission. Considering that the adaptation of educational processes to the needs of the economy does not happen at once, we understand that a longer forecasting corridor is needed. Therefore, from April 1, an all-Russian survey of employers on the prospective need of the economy for personnel will start for the next forecast. It is planned to calculate it for seven years at once – until 2032,” said Anton Kotyakov.
In conclusion, Tatyana Golikova and representatives of the federal executive authorities answered questions from deputies regarding the national project “Personnel”.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: Republic of France in English The Republic of France has issued the following statement:
Following on from the 19th Francophone Summit and the 30th anniversary of the Toubon Law governing the use of the French language, the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs is continuing its efforts to promote the French language and ensure that it plays a central role in international relations.
The Ministry is committed to creating and popularizing French terms and expressions for new concepts with foreign names via its Collège de Terminologie et de Néologie [“College of Terminology and Neology”]. The College also has authority over international place names and is responsible for designating the names of countries, inhabitants, capitals, etc.
It plays a major role in the interministerial structure tasked with enriching the French language.
Given the challenges posed by disinformation and the need to tackle issues relating to AI, the clear and precise usage of the correct words is vital.
Former Ambassador François Gauthier is the new president of the College, which falls under the supervision of Emmanuel Lebrun-Damiens, the senior official responsible for terminology and the French language who also serves as Director of Cultural, Educational, Academic and Scientific Diplomacy. Mr. Gauthier succeeds Véronique Bujon-Barré in this position.
STRASBURG, Va., Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — First National Corporation (the “Company” or “First National”) (NASDAQ: FXNC), the bank holding company of First Bank (the “Bank”) is pleased to announce the addition of Joe Shearin as President, Greater Richmond Market. Joe will lead First Bank’s strategic efforts across Richmond, Southside Virginia, and northern North Carolina. He will be responsible for community impact and all lines of business banking and business development in the expanded footprint, following the 2024 merger with Touchstone Bank.
Joe brings over 40 years of banking experience and is retired President and CEO of Sonabank/Southern National Bancorp (formerly EVB/Eastern Virginia Bankshares). During Joe’s tenure as President and CEO of Sonabank, he successfully led the company through major economic conditions, while growing the bank from approximately $500 million in assets to over $3.4 billion when he retired.
“We are thrilled to have a banker of Joe Shearin’s experience and caliber join our team. He is a proven community leader, and with his banking expertise and knowledge of the greater Richmond and Southside Virginia communities, this is a tremendous win for First Bank,” said Scott C. Harvard, CEO of First National Corporation and First Bank. “We believe banking is a people business, and Joe is a known and trusted advisor to his clients and in the community. His experience clearly aligns with our culture and strategic commitment to growth in the Richmond region and beyond.”
Joe was appointed in 2023 by Governor Glen Youngkin as the Executive Director of the Small Business Financing Authority (VSBFA). The VSBFA is dedicated to providing essential financing programs that support businesses, not-for-profits, and economic development authorities with the financing necessary for economic growth and expansion throughout the Commonwealth. In addition, Joe is the Founder and CEO of Jamescrest Consulting Group, whose mission is to assist organizations develop strategies to help improve their efficiencies, productivity, and profitability. A graduate, and now trustee, of North Carolina Wesleyan University, Joe has served as board member for Infinex Financial Services, Virginia Bankers Association, and director and previous chairman of Virginia Association of Community Banks. Currently he is director and Chairman of the Board for Community Bankers Bank. Joe is very active in the community, serving with many non-profit organizations.
“As a long-time Prince George and Richmond area resident, I am excited about the opportunity to lead true community banking here. First Bank understands what is important to our current clients and is eager to share those values with new and existing customers,” Joe stated. “While the banking industry in the Tri-Cities market is competitive, we feel the flexibility and efficiency that First Bank provides are key aspects of how we do business and do it well. Our team is focused on delivering community banking with a personal touch and a commitment to service.”
Joe and his team stand prepared to meet the banking needs of small businesses, corporations, real estate investors, individuals, municipalities, and non-profits alike.
Harvard added, “Joe adds to already impressive roster of leadership in our growing Richmond area market. His experience fully aligns with our culture and our focus on positioning First Bank for transformational growth in greater Richmond and beyond. We are excited about the significant contributions he will bring to First Bank.”
First National Corporation (NASDAQ: FXNC) is the parent company and bank holding company of First Bank, a community bank that first opened for business in 1907 in Strasburg. The Bank offers loan and deposit products and services through its website, www.fbvirginia.com, its mobile banking platform, a network of ATMs located throughout its market area, a loan production office, a customer service center in a retirement community, and thirty-three bank branch office locations located through the Shenandoah Valley, the south-central regions of Virginia, the Roanoke Valley, the Richmond MSA, and in northern North Carolina. In addition to providing traditional banking services, the Bank operates a wealth management division under the name First Bank Wealth Management. First Bank also owns First Bank Financial Services, Inc, which owns an interest in an entity that provides title insurance services.
Restrictions on medical care for transgender youth assume that without the ability to medically transition, trans people will vanish.
As of 2024, 26 U.S. states have banned gender-affirming care for young people. Less than a month into office, President Donald Trump issued numerous executive orders targeting transgender people, including a mandate to use “sex” instead of “gender” on passports, visas and global entry cards, as well as a ban on gender-affirming care for young people. These actions foreground the upcoming Supreme Court case of U.S. vs. Skrmetti which promises to shape the future of gender-affirming health care in the U.S., including restrictions or bans.
History, however, shows that withholding health care does not make transgender people go away. Scholarship of medieval literature and historical records reveals how transgender people transitioned even without a robust medical system – instead, they changed their clothes, name and social position.
Surgery in medieval times
Surgery was not a widespread practice in the medieval period. While it gained some traction in the 1300s, surgery was limited to southern France and northern Italy. Even there, surgery was dangerous and the risk of infection high.
Cutting off fleshy bits is an old practice and, potential dangers aside, removing a penis or breasts wasn’t impossible. But amputating functioning limbs was nearly always a form of punishment. Medieval people, including surgeons and patients, likely would not have had positive views of surgery that involved removing working body parts.
Illustration from a Latin translation of Albucasis’ Chirurgia, depicting surgical instruments. Wellcome Collection
Surgeons in the 14th century were increasingly thinking about how to perform surgery on those with both male and female genitalia – people now called intersex. But they thought about this in terms of “correcting” genitalia to make it more apparently male or female – an attitude still present today. Historically, the procedure was probably performed on adults, but today it is usually performed on children. Both then and now, the surgery often disregards the patient’s wishes and is not medically necessary, at times leading to complications later. For patients deemed female, excess flesh could be cut away, and for patients deemed male, the vulva could be cauterized to close it.
There is, however, at least one historical example of a transgender individual receiving surgery. In 1300, near Bern, Switzerland, an unnamed woman was legally separated from her husband because she was unable to have sex with him. Soon after, the woman headed to Bologna, which was the surgery capital of Europe at the time. There, a surgeon cut open the woman’s vulva, revealing a penis and testicles. The account ends, “Back home, he took a wife, did rural work, and had legitimate and sufficient intercourse with his wife.”
The story presents the possibility of medical transition, possibly even a desire for it. But given the limits of surgical techniques and ideologies at the time, these forms of medical transition were unlikely to be common.
Transitioning without medicine
To transition without medicine, medieval transgender people relied on changes they could make themselves. They cut their hair, put on different clothes, changed their names, and found new places in society.
In 1388, a young woman named Catherine in Rottweil, Germany, “put on men’s clothes, declared herself to be a man, and called herself John.” John went on to marry a woman and later developed breasts. This caused some initial consternation – the city council of Rottweil sent John and his wife to court. However, the court did not see breasts as inhibiting John’s masculinity and the couple went home without facing any charges.
In 1395, a transgender woman named Eleanor Rykener appeared before a court in London, England, after she was caught working as a prostitute. The court clerk wrote “that a certain Anna … first taught [her] to practice this detestable vice in the manner of a woman. [She] further said that a certain Elizabeth Bronderer first dressed [her] in women’s clothing” and later she took on work as an embroideress and tapster, a sort of bartender. The account is Rykener’s own, but the court clerk editorialized it, notably adding the phrase “detestable vice” in reference to prostitution.
Rykener’s account reveals that there were a number of people interested in helping her transition – people who helped her dress, taught her how to behave, provided her employment and supported her choice of a new name. Community was a more important part of her transition than transforming her body. Based on the record, she apparently did not make an effort to create breasts.
Another account appeared in 1355 in Venice, Italy, concerning Rolandina Ronchaia. While John declared himself male, and Rykener was very active in her transition, Ronchaia’s transition was spurred on by the perceptions of others. She argued that she had always had a “feminine face, voice and gestures,” and was often mistaken for a woman. She also had breasts, “in women’s fashion.” One night, a man came to have sex with her, and Ronchaia, “wishing to connect like a woman, hid [her] own penis and took the man’s penis.” After that, she moved to Venice, where, although she continued to wear men’s clothes, she was still perceived as a woman.
Ronchaia’s account is unique because it emphasizes her body and her desire to change it by hiding her penis. But this was still a matter of what she herself could do to express her gender, rather than a medical transition.
A long transgender history
The accounts of medieval transgender individuals are limited – not only in number but in length. A lot of things did not get written down, and people were not talking about transgender people the way we are now.
Historical accounts of transgender individuals are almost always in court records, which reflect the concerns of the court more clearly than the concerns of its subjects. The court was especially worried about sexual activity between men, which both overemphasizes the importance of sex in medieval transgender people’s lives and often obscures that these accounts are even about transgender people. Eleanor Ryekener’s account frequently misgenders her and refers to her as “John.”
But it’s clear that transgender people existed in the medieval period, even when medical care was unavailable to them.
It is also the case that many of these individuals – Rykener is a likely exception – were probably intersex, and their experience would be different from those who were not. Intersex people were legally recognized and allowed some leeway if they chose to transition as an adult. This is starkly apparent in an account from Lille, France, in 1458, where a transgender woman was accused of sodomy and burned at the stake. She claimed “to have both sexes,” but the account says this was not the case. While being demonstrably intersex may not have saved her, that she claimed she was is telling.
Gender transition has a long history, going even further back than the medieval period. Then as now, the local community played a vital role in aiding an individual’s transition. Unlike the medieval period, most modern societies have far greater access to medical care. Despite current restrictions, transgender people have far more options for transition than they once did.
Medieval modes of transitioning are not a solution to current denials of medical care. But medieval transgender lives do illuminate that transgender people will not vanish even when the legal and medical systems strive to erase them.
Sarah Barringer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Understanding the relationship between humans and the ocean is crucial for making informed and effective decisions that will shape the future of our ocean. With this in mind, achieving lasting global progress in ocean protection requires prioritising ocean literacy.
Right now, there is a disconnect between young peoples’ recognition of the ocean’s vital role in climate change, and the measures required to protect and restore it.
My work as a marine social scientist focuses on ocean literacy. For me, knowledge is one of the most powerful tools to incite the action needed to save ocean health. The development of ocean literacy, through a range of education and engagement initiatives worldwide that embrace different types of knowledge, must be better prioritised.
Only then can we equip young people with what they need to protect our ocean and to know who to hold accountable for its health.
The ocean — stretching past the horizon, beneath the surface, and into the depths — remains largely out of sight, out of mind. But what happens within it affects us. Fostering stronger ocean literacy across society can help us mend this disconnect.
Ocean literacy is defined as “having an understanding of the ocean’s influence on you and your influence on the ocean”. While not a new concept, ocean literacy has gained increasing popularity in recent years, partly due to its inclusion as a potential mechanism for change within the UN Ocean Decade, launched in January 2021.
Young people must be central in efforts to restore ocean literacy across society. It is essential for them to understand the challenges facing the ocean, recognise who is responsible for addressing them, and advocate for more action. Enhancing ocean literacy among this generation encourages a greater appreciation of the ocean’s critical role in our daily lives, now and in the future.
According to a recent global study engaging 3,500 young people from across 35 countries, a large percentage of young people express concern about the ocean’s health.
It highlights that 53% of young people believe that the ocean can protect us from climate change, yet 61% place a higher priority on protecting forests, tackling air pollution and freshwater scarcity. This shows that young people around the world have low ocean literacy.
This echoes a growing number of national ocean literacy assessments. In 2022, a study of ocean literacy in Wales found that although 84% of people indicated that protecting the marine environment was important to them, 40% felt that their lifestyle had no impact on the sea at all. This highlights a concerning level of disconnect and lack of ocean literacy that could undermine our ability to tackle urgent challenges, including biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution.
Swimming, sailing, even just building a sandcastle – the ocean benefits our physical and mental wellbeing. Curious about how a strong coastal connection helps drive marine conservation, scientists are diving in to investigate the power of blue health. This article is part of a series, Vitamin Sea, exploring how the ocean can be enhanced by our interaction with it.
It’s all about accountability
This is not a blame game. However, accountability ensures that governments, industries and people take responsibility for their role in ocean health, driving the transparency and action needed for meaningful education and engagement.
The Back to Blue study found that while half (50%) of young people surveyed were concerned about ocean pollution, very few (17%) wanted increased responsibility from corporations and businesses.
That study, which I advised on, also reveals that young people have high expectations of governments, conservation charities and local communities. Almost half (46%) said that governments should take stronger action to protect ocean health. Yet, expectations of the private sector – some of the biggest ocean polluters – were very low. Young people are misunderstanding where accountability for ocean pollution and the decline in ocean health lies.
The lack of accountability slows progress and perpetuates a cycle of ocean neglect. But, engaging young people in ocean issues will empower them to demand more action and help develop effective solutions.
In some places, ocean literacy is more embedded into students’ learning. More than 500 certified European blue schools are part of the Network of European Blue Schools. And the All-Atlantic Blue Schools Network has established ocean literacy projects and blue school ambassadors in schools in 16 countries, from Angola to the US.
Education can help to engage young people. But only if education systems worldwide integrate ocean literacy from a young age and across all subject areas.
By prioritising ocean literacy, we can empower young people to become informed stewards of the ocean, ensuring that they are not only aware of its vital role in our daily lives but also actively involved in changing the tide.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Emma McKinley 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.
Thirteen million people across the UK sat down to watch a brand new soap opera that burst onto their screens on February 19 1985. The first character to speak on EastEnders was Dirty Den, as he came to be known, played by Leslie Grantham. Breaking into a dingy flat with fellow characters Arthur Fowler (Bill Treacher) and Ali Osman (Nejdet Salih), Den uttered the words “Stinks in ‘ere, dunnit?”, before discovering the elderly Reg Cox (Johnnie Clayton) close to death.
Up until this point, the BBC had not had much luck with the continuing serial drama, or soap opera, format. Its first serial, The Grove Family, ran for only three years between 1954 and 1957, for instance. Although The Archers had been running since 1951 on Radio 4, and the Welsh-language soap opera, Pobol y Cwm, began in 1974 (and recently celebrated its 50th anniversary), the BBC lacked anything comparable to ITV’s Coronation Street.
Launched in 1960, Coronation Street demonstrated that there was a public appetite for drama which focused on the everyday lives of ordinary people. ITV’s second soap success, Crossroads which ran between 1964 and 1988, and later between 2001 and 2003, underlined that point, as did Emmerdale Farm, which was launched in 1972, becoming just Emmerdale in 1989.
When Channel 4 launched with a gritty, realist soap opera, Brookside, in November 1982, the BBC had to respond. With that channel’s extra competition, and cable and satellite television being discussed as the next big thing, the BBC’s audience share was in danger of decreasing to the point where people may have questioned the justification for the licence fee.
And so EastEnders was born and became an immediate success. Over the years it’s had its ups and downs in terms of viewing figures, but has still endured. So, in a broadcasting landscape where there is now so much competition from streaming services and a variety of platforms from which we can now engage with “content” (“programme” can feel like an old-fashioned word now), how has the serial retained it popularity?
Realism meets melodrama
Part of the answer lies in the ways in which soap operas are constructed. They focus on people and peoples’ relationships with each other. This gives us the audience an immediate connection. We can all relate to one or more characters. We are given an insight into their family lives, their work, their feelings and emotions.
Drama can entertain and provide escapism. At the same time, it can prick the conscience and stir the soul. It can deal with complex ideas and flights of fancy, gritty social issues and controversial topics. It has the ability to both engage and alienate audiences and provoke wider public debate. EastEnders has done all of these things.
Soap operas can also run multiple storylines that overlap. This means that if one story ends – such as a character leaving, or a conflict being resolved – there are other stories to carry the audience along, while new storylines are developed.
Another characteristic of soap operas is that they aim to balance realism with just the right amount of melodrama. Those of us who remember the early years of EastEnders will recall Christmas day 1986 when more than 30 million viewers tuned in to see Dirty Den hand divorce papers to wife Angie (Anita Dobson) after discovering she had been faking a terminal illness.
Dirty Den hands Angie divorce papers on Christmas Day 1986.
And, of course, any successful soap opera like EastEnders requires a team of skilled writers and believable characters. Such was the popularity of characters like Dirty Den that the BBC brought him back from the dead in 2003 after an absence of 14 years in a bid to halt declining viewing figures. Den did eventually die “properly” to mark the 20th anniversary on February 18 2005. And 13 million people watched as his wife, Chrissie (Tracy-Ann Oberman), dealt the fatal blow.
Grit, grime and real life
EastEnders has not shied away from gritty or social-realist storylines.
Communications scholar Anthony McNicholas has described EastEnders as a “public service soap opera”, by which he means that the stories featured often reflect values and issues in contemporary society.
Some of the early storylines revolved around teenage pregnancy, rape and drug-taking. There were characters who had HIV/Aids at the time the subject was being widely discussed in the UK.
Baddie Janine pushes husband Barry off a cliff in a famous scene from New Year’s Day 2004.
The soap has also dealt with domestic abuse. It worked closely with the charity Women’s Aid on a domestic abuse story in 2020. This prompted the domestic abuse charity, Refuge, to praise the soap for drawing the issue to peoples’ attention. It noted that EastEnders had done a great job reflecting on screen what is a horrific reality for so many families.
Dealing with controversial yet realistic storylines has sometimes led to the programme coming into conflict with the regulator, Ofcom, for broadcasting certain harrowing scenes before the 9.00pm watershed.
As EastEnders reaches middle age, there’s no sign of it slowing down. The anniversary promises to be eventful and engaging, featuring a live episode. And there will always be a place for relatable storylines, drama, passion and characters that we can love and hate. Happy Birthday EastEnders and here’s to the next 40 years.
Jamie Medhurst has received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), British Academy, and The Leverhulme Trust.
Absolute pitch has long been viewed as a kind of musical superpower. It refers to the ability to identify or produce a tone, like an A or a C-sharp, without any provided reference point.
With only 12 possible answers, naming the pitch of a tone may seem easy. However, it is somehow incredibly difficult for most musicians, including the professionally trained ones.
Adding to this mystery, for gifted musicians and composers such as Mozart, Chopin, and Beethoven, absolute pitch can feel as intuitive as recognising the colour red, reinforcing the widespread belief that absolute pitch – also referred to by many people as perfect pitch – is a rare, exceptional talent.
For decades, many scientists and musicians believed that you either had absolute pitch – or you didn’t. If you are not the lucky ones who carry special genes and have started musical training during early childhood, you were thought to have missed the opportunity entirely. Our new research, however, suggests this isn’t actually true.
Our research adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that absolute pitch remains a learnable skill in adulthood – many adults can train their way to levels of performance comparable to individuals who naturally possess this skill in everyday life.
Intense training
To help adults progressively learn to identify tones, our research team designed an eight-week online training programme. On average, 12 musicians dedicated 21 hours and completed over 15,000 pitch naming exercises. These involved hearing a piano or guitar note (within three octaves) for 800 milliseconds and having to name it within a certain amount of time. The participants had to complete 25 hours of training online over eight weeks. The training included a total of 288 training levels, with 24 levels for each additional pitch.
The training required really hard work – participants did not only learn to name the tones accurately, but also very quickly. Over time, the difficulty ramped up as more tones were introduced, and the time allowed for response was further tightened.
We carefully avoided common pitfalls in previous studies. By including a wide range of tones, we ensured that they learned to identify the pitch class – the fundamental quality that makes a note sound like a C, D or E, regardless of whether the tone sounds high or low.
This approach truly captures the essence of absolute pitch. We eliminated feedback during testing, so participants could not rely on their working memory as a crutch. To rule out “lucky guessing,” we required participants to repeatedly demonstrate their abilities with strict criteria for success.
Effort vs talent
By the end of the training, participants had made remarkable progress. On average, they could correctly identify more than seven musical notes almost every time, taking as little as one or two seconds to respond. Their ability to identify the correct notes more than doubled.
Even when they made mistakes, their responses got 43% closer to the correct answer. These impressive gains were also found for notes they hadn’t been specifically trained to recognise, suggesting they were learning something deeper about pitch perception.
Notably, two participants mastered all 12 pitches with performance comparable to that of possessors of absolute pitch in the real world.
What made learning absolute pitch in adulthood possible now, given a century of unconvincing findings? The human brain and perceptual systems are highly adaptable, and this holds well into adulthood. Through practice and feedback, adults can improve their ability to recognise and distinguish sensory inputs, such as visual patterns and speech sounds.
Our training takes advantage of this amazing potential of the human perceptual system to learn. What we have done differently from previous efforts was ultimately that we designed an effective learning experience, including the right learning materials, effective feedback and changes in difficulty for each learner – all while making it fun.
Together with motivated learners, learning absolute pitch in adulthood was made possible.
Music training and beyond
The fact that absolute pitch was previously thought to be locked behind a genetic lottery or early musical exposure has sadly discouraged countless musicians and music educators from learning or teaching it.
Our findings offer an encouraging counter-narrative – absolute pitch is not just for the lucky few. With a well-designed learning tool, it is a skill that many adults can cultivate.
More broadly, our findings demonstrate how science can challenge deep-rooted assumptions about human abilities. Instead of being fixed by biology or early experiences, many skills can still be developed and improved well into adulthood.
This shift in understanding could inspire us to adopt a growth mindset, showing that it is never too late to learn and improve, no matter what you think might hold you back.
So, if you have ever dreamed of identifying musical notes like a virtuoso, it is not too late to work on it now.
Yetta Kwailing Wong 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.
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