Investing in film and TV productions is a risky venture. Even the best directors and producers are just a flop away from ruining their careers.
So if a company owns the intellectual property to a popular material, or if that material enters the public domain, these companies – risk-averse entities, to be sure – will hastily retread their tyres for another lap of the track. This is partly why you’ll see well-worn stories from your childhood told over and over onscreen, even now.
But if the new version is too similar to the old, people will cynically roll their eyes. Enter Disney, which has perfected the strategy over the past few decades of retelling the same stories from different characters’ perspectives – a gambit that seems to strike people as inherently interesting.
Maleficent, for example, is Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of the evil queen. Although this kind of fairytale revisionism goes back to Angela Carter’s best-selling feminist fiction, Disney has, more than any other corporation, become an expert at co-opting social movements in pursuit of profits.
The latest revisionist work set to be distributed by Disney+ was Nautilus. The series filters the story of Jules Verne’s inimitable maritime adventure novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea through the lens of Captain Nemo, framed as a prequel to the original.
The fact that Disney+ dropped Nautilus before its release (it has been picked up by Prime in the UK and Ireland and Stan in Australia) immediately stoked my interest. This is particularly notable because, with a budget of A$300 million, it’s the most expensive series ever made in Australia (filmed mainly on the Gold Coast).
Alas, after restlessly sitting through all ten episodes, I understand Disney’s decision.
Diluting a powerful message
Where Verne’s novel (and to a lesser extent, the 1954 Disney live action film) effortlessly creates an authentic world, which is absolutely critical to the effectiveness of any fantasy work, Nautilus seems painfully contrived from its opening.
It’s the kind of show where all the British soldiers and East India Company men speak in toffee accents and spout horrifically ruthless commands between sips of tea.
The show is a $300 million wreck. Stan
The Nautilus’ crew is made up of a miscellany of virtuous victims of the company (and thus of the British empire): a wealthy British woman being forced into an arranged marriage, an old Chinese worker, a Māori cook, a trader from Zanzibar and ex‑slave Indians.
The characters frequently pontificate about the value of freedom, the evils of slavery and the glory of the environment. In one particularly ludicrous scene early on, Nemo jumps onto a whale’s back to remove a harpoon.
In the novel, Nemo’s romantic alienation perfectly complements his maniacal drive, interspersed with Verne’s faux-scientific descriptions of the submarine, giant squid and other objects.
Similarly, here, Nemo is presented as being far from mercenary; hounded to the north seas by the British, he’s seeking treasure in order to bring the company down. But lead Shazad Latif’s delivery is monotonous and strained, as though even he doesn’t buy it.
British actor Shazad Latif’s performance as Captain Nemo is far from convincing. Stan
The idea that this is some kind of “fresh” (read “politically correct”) re‑imagining of the world of the novel is strange in the first place, given the original story (although narrated by Professor Aronnax) is already closely anchored to Nemo’s point of view.
Verne clearly presents Nemo as a kind of eco-warrior responding to the brutalities of colonialism. If anything, the original message is diluted in this adaptation as it implies Nemo’s quest is mainly personal – that he simply wants vengeance for what the company did to his family – rather than political.
At the same time, I sense the creators are going for some kind of psychological realism by painfully spelling out that Nemo had bad things done to him by the British. But this didacticism causes the spirit of adventure to suffer, so we’re left with something both silly and not particularly exciting.
The British soldiers and company men speak in ridiculous accents. Stan
A big fish isn’t always a good fish
The show’s production design and cinematography (some of the most important components in this kind of adventure epic) seem flat, too. The sets, though colourful, look decidedly artificial. The synthesis of CGI elements with filmed footage is far from smooth.
And the odd colour grade makes the characters’ skin look hyper-artificial. This was surely the intention, but why? It is distracting in every closeup.
Not to single out any particular department, every aspect of the production seems dialled in, including the score, which sounds like something hastily composed using AI software.
Of course, one could talk about the production’s benefits to the Australian industry, but this seems like a hapless argument if the work is no good. How many low-budget films could have been made with $300 million? 100? 150? Those would have also invested money in the industry, while developing local talent.
The impact of a big-budget production on local industries isn’t clear when the production in question isn’t very compelling. Stan
Not camp enough, yet not careful enough
If it were camper, Nautilus could have acquired the cult value of a great cinematic fiasco such as Renny Harlin’s 1995 film Cutthroat Island. All the actors seem to be trying hard, and the writers clearly laboured away at the story.
Perhaps this is the problem. Like so many new commercial works, Nautilus tries so hard to please everyone it ends up pleasing no one. The wider the appeal, the greater the risk mitigation, apparently.
But given it actually tries to embed the story in a sense of history, its sins seem greater than mere televisual boredom for the viewer. The series presents a monolithic and simplistic image of the way colonialism and capitalism are intertwined.
At best, this is naïve – one could argue, “who cares, it’s just a silly fantasy series”. At worst, however, it is actively destructive of historical consciousness. And that’s not smooth sailing.
Ari Mattes 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.
New genome editing technologies mean that the genetic modification of embryos is a scientific possibility, and laws governing its practice require extensive public consultation.(Shutterstock)
A little-noticed change to South Africa’s national health research guidelines, published in May of this year, has put the country on an ethical precipice. The newly added language appears to position the country as the first to explicitly permit the use of genome editing to create genetically modified children.
Heritable human genome editing has long been hotly contested, in large part because of its societal and eugenic implications. As experts on the global policy landscape who have observed the high stakes and ongoing controversies over this technology — one from an academic standpoint (Françoise Baylis) and one from public interest advocacy (Katie Hasson) — we find it surprising that South Africa plans to facilitate this type of research.
The fate of these three children, and whether they have experienced any negative long-term consequences from the embryonic genome editing, remains a closely guarded secret.
Controversial research
Considerable criticism followed the original birth announcement. Some argued that genetically modifying embryos to alter the traits of future children and generations should never be done.
Genetically modifying embryos to alter the traits of future children and generations has immense societal impacts. (Shutterstock)
Many pointed out that the rationale in this case was medically unconvincing – and indeed that safe reproductive procedures to avoid transmitting genetic diseases are already in widespread use, belying the justification typically given for heritable human genome editing. Others condemned his secretive approach, as well as the absence of any robust public consultation, considered a prerequisite for embarking on such a socially consequential path.
In the immediate aftermath of the 2018 revelation, the organizing committee of the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing joined the global uproar with a statement condemning this research.
At the same time, however, the committee called for a “responsible translational pathway” toward clinical research. Safety thresholds and “additional criteria” would have to be met, including: “independent oversight, a compelling medical need, an absence of reasonable alternatives, a plan for long-term follow-up, and attention to societal effects.”
Notably, the additional criteria no longer included the earlier standard of “broad societal consensus.”
Nobel laureate David Baltimore, chair of the organizing committee for the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing, talks about the importance of public global dialogue on gene editing.
New criteria
Now, it appears that South Africa has amended its Ethics in Health Research Guidelines to explicitly envisage research that would result in the birth of gene-edited babies.
Section 4.3.2 of the guidelines on “Heritable Human Genome Editing” includes a few brief and rather vague paragraphs enumerating the following criteria: (a) scientific and medical justification; (b) transparency and informed consent; (c) stringent ethical oversight; (d) ongoing ethical evaluation and adaptation; (e) safety and efficacy; (f) long-term monitoring; and (g) legal compliance.
While these criteria seem to be in line with those laid out in the 2018 summit statement, they are far less stringent than the frameworks put forth in subsequent reports. This includes, for example, the World Health Organization’s report Human Genome Editing: Framework for Governance (co-authored by Françoise Baylis).
Alignment with the law
Further, there is a significant problem with the seemingly permissive stance on heritable human genome editing entrenched in these research guidelines. The guidelines clearly require the research to comply with all laws governing heritable human genome research. Yet, the law and the research guidelines in South Africa are not aligned, which entails a significant inhibition on any possible research.
This is because of a stipulation in section 57(1) of the South African National Health Act 2004 on the “Prohibition of reproductive cloning of human beings.” This stipulates that a “person may not manipulate any genetic material, including genetic material of human gametes, zygotes, or embryos… for the purpose of the reproductive cloning of a human being.”
When this act came into force in 2004, it was not yet possible to genetically modify human embryos and so it’s not surprising there’s no specific reference to this technology. Yet the statutory language is clearly wide enough to encompass it. The objection to the manipulation of human genetic material is therefore clear, and imports a prohibition on heritable human genome editing.
Ethical concerns
The question that concerns us is: why are South Africa’s ethical guidelines on research apparently pushing the envelope with heritable human genome editing?
In 2020, we published alongside our colleagues a global review of policies on research involving heritable human genome editing. At the time, we identified policy documents — legislation, regulations, guidelines, codes and international treaties — prohibiting heritable genome editing in more than 70 countries. We found no policy documents that explicitly permitted heritable human genome editing.
It’s easy to understand why some of South Africa’s ethicists might be disposed to clear the way for somatic human genome editing research. Recently, an effective treatment for sickle cell disease has been developed using genome editing technology. Many children die of this disease before the age of five and somatic genome editing — which does not involve the genetic modification of embryos — promises a cure.
Somatic genome editing may provide a cure for sickle cell disease. (Shutterstock)
Implications on future research
But that’s not what this is about. So, what is the interest in forging a path for research on heritable human genome editing, which involves the genetic modification of embryos and has implications for subsequent generations? And why the seemingly quiet modification of the guidelines?
How many people in South Africa are aware that they’ve just become the only country in the world with research guidelines that envisage accommodating a highly contested technology? Has careful attention been given to the myriad potential harms associated with this use of CRISPR technology, including harms to women, prospective parents, children, society and the gene pool?
Is it plausible that scientists from other countries, who are interested in this area of research, are patiently waiting in the wings to see whether the law in South Africa prohibiting the manipulation of human genetic material will be an insufficient impediment to creating genetically modified children? Should the research guidelines be amended to accord with the 2004 statutory prohibition?
Or if, instead, the law is brought into line with the guidelines, would the result be a wave of scientific tourism with labs moving to South Africa to take advantage of permissive research guidelines and laws?
We hope the questions we ask are alarmist, as now is the time to ask and answer these questions.
Katie Hasson, Associate Director at the Center for Genetics and Society, co-authored this article.
Françoise Baylis is affiliated with the International Science Council, the UNESCO World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST) and the Royal Society of Canada.
A ‘pivotal shift’ in how UK Courts view eyewitness evidence is needed according to new research from the University of Aberdeen.
A team of researchers led by Dr Travis Seale-Carlisle from the University of Aberdeen collated expert opinion gathered from scientists from all over the world on a variety of eyewitness memory phenomena. They found an almost unanimous shift in beliefs about the relationship between eyewitness confidence and accuracy.
The research showed that in 2001, around 90 percent of experts thought that the degree of confidence expressed by the eyewitness had little relationship to how accurate they ultimately were. This opinion has now flipped to around 90 percent of experts agreeing that the higher the confidence of the eyewitness, the more likely they are to be accurate in their identification.
This is true if certain conditions are applied when collecting confidence and if the identity parade is administered properly. Another condition that the experts agree is crucial, is the time at which this confidence statement is collected. It is most informative of accuracy at the initial identification attempt – not later at trial, for example, which can occur months or even years after the crime occurred.
Psychologists who investigate eyewitness memory have periodically gathered their thoughts on a variety of eyewitness memory phenomena since the 1980’s. However, the most recent survey of expert opinion of eyewitness memory phenomena was conducted more than 20 years ago in 2001. The team in Aberdeen sought to update this.
This new understanding of the relationship between confidence and accuracy is crucial for those in the legal system to know and understand according to Dr Seale-Carlisle:
“Psychologists who investigate eyewitness memory used to think that how sure a witness was – or their confidence in their eyewitness identification, was very weakly related to how accurate they were. These opinions may have influenced policy surrounding eyewitness identification procedures in the UK.
“Guidelines in Scotland, for example, encourage eyewitnesses to justify the reason they identified someone from the identity parade, but say nothing about asking eyewitnesses for their level of confidence in their identification.
“In England and Wales, the policies surrounding identity parades also remain silent about eyewitness confidence.
“However, we now know from this research that most psychologists in the field believe eyewitness confidence, when collected properly, to be a valuable piece of information.
“Most psychologists in the field also agree that it is most valuable when gathered as early as possible rather than further down the line such as in court. This survey shows that most experts have changed their thinking on this issue. These policies in England, Scotland, and Wales therefore need to change.
The solution, Dr Seale-Carlisle asserts is simple:
“In my opinion this is the most important piece of information the legal system can collect from eyewitnesses aside from who eyewitnesses identify – and the legal system in the UK does not currently collect it.
“The policy to refrain from collecting confidence is based on an outdated notion that experts today do not agree with.
“All it takes is a simple question: “How confident are you that this is the person who committed the crime?”
“The U.S. Department of Justice recently updated their department-wide policy to encourage the collection of initial confidence, and we encourage the UK to do the same.”
Eyewitness evidence in the UK is based on an outdated notion that experts today do not agree with.” Dr Travis Seale-Carlisle
To find out how you can help support research at the University of Aberdeen please contact giving@abdn.ac.uk. If you would prefer to make a gift of your time, please contact alumni@abdn.ac.uk to find out more about our alumni volunteering opportunities.
It was a weekend of festivities (Saturday, 19 October) for Broadford Fire Brigade and the broader community, as they were recognised for 100 years of service.
The start date for the brigade has been in question for some time, with 1934 being the one documented until Broadford’s amateur historian, Sally Wearmouth, did a great deal of ground work to discover the Broadford Bush Fire League was actually first formed on 8 January 1902, when a well-attended gathering of landholders took place at the State School to decide what could be done to prevent and control bushfires in the district.
It was discussed that the disposal of cigarette butts was the cause of many fires and great damage, as was the lack of diligence around campfires and education around fire breaks.
However, to align with changes in state legislation, the Broadford Bushfire Brigade was officially registered in 1934, led by Captain Constable John Pattison. Following this, the needs of the township evolved, and the Urban Brigade was registered in 1947 before the two merged in 1989.
Captain Luke Crampton said the evening featured the unveiling of the mounted historic bell that once topped the station tower, with members ringing it for the first time since it was removed.
“The event was part of our bi-annual awards dinner, but this year we surprised our members with a greater spectacle to acknowledge the 100-year milestone,” Luke said.
“It was a great night to come together and recognise over a century of service.”
With a current membership of 67, and 38 of those operational, the brigade provides a vital fire and emergency service to the Broadford community and surrounding district.
With near 30 years of CFA experience, with 12 at Broadford and seven months as Captain, Luke said the brigade has recently recruited and are presenting with a strong, young membership.
“Our Brigade Management Team are almost all under 50, with a few in their twenties,” Luke said.
“We’ve recently reinvigorated our juniors program, with 11 very keen youngsters coming through the ranks.
“We’re really looking forward to increasing the skills and our support to the community over the next number of years.”
In 1942 the brigade received a motorised firefighting unit purchased for 175 pounds that was housed at a local garage until land was acquired for 25 pounds for a fire station. An electric siren and bell were purchased from 1951, while the Ladies Auxiliary was formed in 1957.
Works began on the new fire station in 1958 with twin-engine bays, a meeting room and toilets. While the brigade moved to their new and current station on Hamilton Street in April 2019 which now sees a 3 Bay drive through motor room, turnout areas for women and men, a brigade office, amenities for those with a disability, a workshop, multi-purpose room and sheds.
Luke said the brigade has learned many lessons through their active response, including large truck fires, flood support, and their extensive involvement in the 2009 February bushfires.
“The Kinglake Complex Fire significantly impacted the southern edges of the township, with fire reaching into the residential areas neighbouring the Hume Freeway,” Luke said.
“We also provided operational members and Incident Management Team personnel interstate during the 2019/2020 Black Summer fire season.”
So far this year, the brigade has responded to over 170 incidents including structure fires, bushfires, fires and other explosions and motor vehicle accidents.
Luke said this year also saw the brigade proudly receive a Breathing Apparatus (BA) Support vehicle to better assist beyond their community in CFA’s District 12 and surrounding areas.
“We regularly support response in Kilmore, Glenaroua, Strath Creek- Reedy Creek, Tallarook, Clonbinane and elsewhere as required on top of our primary support area,” Luke said.
“Within our facilities we now have a BA Compressor Room and recharge station to charge the BA cylinders. We’ve all been quite excited about this addition and what it allows us to do.”
If you’re found guilty of a crime, it’s a basic principle of Australian law that you have a right to appeal.
But having a right and being able to exercise it are two different things, especially when it comes to fresh evidence casting doubt on your conviction.
In Australia, your ability to challenge a conviction with fresh evidence depends on where you live, because each state and territory has different rules. Too often, it also depends on the resources someone can access, including money and knowledge of the legal system.
Everyone should have the same opportunities to clear their name, so how can we make accessing appeals more equitable?
State by state
Direct pathways to appeal differ between the states and territories.
In all postcodes, it’s difficult to get appeal courts to consider fresh evidence in the first instance.
South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland and the ACT allow multiple appeal applications if “fresh and compelling” evidence emerges after your first appeal. Since 2013, six convictions have been quashed this way, including Henry Keogh’s in SA after the state coroner recanted trial evidence.
Tasmania and WA allow subsequent appeals only for serious offences, while SA has no such restriction.
New South Wales and the Northern Territory don’t allow subsequent appeals, so people there have less direct access to the courts if wrongly convicted.
There are, however, indirect ways people can seek an appeal with fresh evidence.
In all states, you can ask the government to refer your case back to an appeal court. For example, the Victorian Attorney-General referred Faruk Orman’s case after evidence emerged about his lawyer’s misconduct. Referral decisions are made in secret and not reviewable.
In the ACT, you can ask the Supreme Court for a judicial inquiry into your conviction. If you get an inquiry, the inquiry officer can refer your case back to the appeal court if they find reasonable doubt. This led to David Eastman’s conviction being quashed.
These inquiries are only available if the issue can’t be properly addressed in an appeal, for example because the time for filing an appeal has lapsed. But, the ACT introduced subsequent appeals in 2024 which have no time limit, so it is unclear whether this pathway is still usable.
You can also ask the NSW Supreme Court for an inquiry or direct referral of your case back to the appeal court. This path is available for all offences and sentences and decisions are public. Since 2014, 59 conviction review applications to the NSW Supreme Court have resulted in one inquiry order and six referrals, with three successful appeals.
The inquiry (currently underway) involves the Croatian Six, convicted in 1981 for conspiracy to bomb sites in Sydney. After many failed attempts, they finally secured an inquiry with fresh evidence casting doubt on police and witnesses’ trial evidence.
These different pathways across the country create an uneven playing field, where some wrongfully convicted people may have more opportunities to clear their name than others.
The right resources
Access to appeals doesn’t just depend on location. It’s also about resources.
To succeed in getting an appeal via any of the above pathways, you need the power to obtain documents and the resources to gather other evidence. You also need the ability to prepare a strong case. That’s before you even get to court.
Judicial inquiries have investigatory powers and resources, but are expensive. For example, the Eastman inquiry cost the ACT government $12 million.
These commissions have the power to compel evidence and resources to investigate claims of wrongful conviction at no cost to applicants. They also have the power to refer cases back to the courts. While these commissions don’t refer many cases overall, about 70% of of cases referred in the UK are successful on appeal.
But, even for commissions, a strong initial application is important. In the UK, the Cardiff University Innocence Project engages law students to investigate claims of innocence and prepare applications for claims with merit.
Canada and the United States don’t have criminal case review commissions. Innocence Projects there review claims of innocence and help prepare applications for government or court review.
This is similar to the work of the few innocence clinics in Australia, such as those at RMIT and Griffith universities.
Innocence initiatives around the world work with limited investigatory resources and powers compared with those of a review commission. In the absence of a such a commission in Australia, second appeals are useful, but they are expensive to run, hard to access and don’t address the resource issue.
The free NSW Supreme Court pathway doesn’t address the resource issue either. But it can lead to an inquiry or referral, is open and accountable, and comes with guiding criteria and discretion to make short shrift of baseless applications.
My research suggests free pathways to appeal are important justice mechanisms for the wrongly convicted, but they work best when applicants have legal help to prepare a clear and concise application. Involving law students to help edit applications could make it easier for decision-makers to review cases and help applicants without lawyers get a fairer chance to be heard.
Kylie Lingard 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.
HONOLULU (Oct. 24, 2024) – The East-West Center’s Board of Governors has elected the Hon. Henry Tuakeu Puna, former Cook Islands Prime Minister and recent Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum, as one of the board’s five international members.
“We are delighted that Prime Minister Puna has agreed to join us on the EWC Board of Governors,” said Board Chairman John Waihe‘e III, former Governor of Hawai‘i. “His deep understanding of the political, economic, and cultural dynamics in the Pacific will be invaluable in helping us fulfill the Center’s mission of enhancing understanding and cooperation among our region’s nations and peoples.”
“I am no stranger to the East-West Center and am extremely honored and humbled to serve on the board of such an illustrious institution,” Prime Minister Puna said. “Having recently served the Pacific region for a brief term as the Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General, this role will allow me to continue to serve the region in a different capacity and environment.”
About the EWC Board of Governors: The East-West Center Board of Governors consists of 18 members. The Governor of Hawai‘i appoints five members, the US Secretary of State appoints five members, and these ten members in turn elect five members from Asia and the Pacific. There are also three ex-officio members: the Governor of Hawai‘i, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, and the President of the University of Hawai‘i. In addition to the members, the board also welcomes three nonvoting invitees from the EWC Foundation, alumni association, and the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders.
About Hon. Henry Puna: The Hon. Henry Puna served as Prime Minister of the Cook Islands from 2010 to 2020, focusing on issues such as sustainable development, climate change, and regional cooperation. During his time as Prime Minister, he also held various additional ministerial portfolios, including Foreign Affairs, Marine Resources, and Energy. Among other challenges, his administration led the Cook Islands initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including working to allow Cook Islanders stranded overseas to return home.
As Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum from 2021 until May of this year, he worked to enhance cooperation among Pacific nations on issues such as economic development, environmental sustainability, and regional security. He has advocated for the interests of small island developing states in international forums and promoted climate resiliency and economic sustainability in the Pacific region, including the adoption of the Forum’s 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent during his tenure.
The EAST-WEST CENTER promotes better relations and understanding among the people and nations of the United States, Asia, and the Pacific through cooperative study, research, and dialogue. Established by the US Congress in 1960, the Center serves as a resource for information and analysis on critical issues of common concern, bringing people together to exchange views, build expertise, and develop policy options.
Source: The White House
On Monday, October 21st, President Biden held an East Room ceremony at the White House to present the 2022 and 2023 National Medals of Arts and the 2022 and 2023 National Humanities Medals.
The National Medal of Arts is the highest award given to artists, arts patrons, and groups by the United States Government and honors exemplary individuals and organizations that have advanced the arts in America and offered inspiration to others through their distinguished achievement, support, or patronage. The National Humanities Medal honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities and broadened our citizens’ engagement with history, literature, languages, philosophy, and other humanities subjects.
Below are the citations presented to the 2022 and 2023 medal recipients:
National Medal of Arts – Class of 2022
Ruth Asawa (Posthumously)
For groundbreaking modernism and championing art for everyone. From a family of Japanese immigrants separated in incarceration camps, Ruth Asawa emerged to become a renowned educator and artist, bringing her distinctive wire sculptures to the Nation’s museums, homes, and classrooms, and leaving a legacy as powerful and profound as her portfolio.
Randy A. Batista
For focusing the lens on human nature. Born in Tampa, Florida, to Italian and Cuban immigrants and raised on both sides of the Straits of Florida, Randy Batista is known as the people’s photographer. With the camera as his sixth sense of deep empathy, he captures people’s pain and challenges us to respect their inherent dignity.
Clyde Butcher
For focusing the lens on Mother Nature. From humble beginnings as a self-taught photographer, Clyde Butcher is considered America’s most acclaimed landscape photographer today. From the Rocky Mountains to the Everglades, and countless pristine places in between, his images inspire and challenge us to respect and defend our natural wonders.
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
For cataloging one of the Nation’s great homegrown art forms. As the world’s largest repository of country music history, in the country music capital of Nashville, Tennessee, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum preserves history, honors giants of the genre, and inspires future generations to write their own songs about the American story.
Melissa “Missy” Elliott
For shattering glass ceilings with timeless beats. From a child singing in the church choir to becoming a best-selling female rapper and pioneering hip-hop icon, Missy Elliott’s genre-defying music and rhymes have elevated an industry into a global powerhouse and inspired generations to push the sound and movement of America.
Leonardo “Flaco” Jiménez
For harnessing heritage to enrich American music. The son of a musical family in Texas, Flaco Jiménez mastered the accordion and Spanglish lyrics as a trailblazer of Conjunto. Blending Norteño, Tex Mex, and Tejano music with the Blues, Rock n’ Roll, and Pop Music, he sings the soul of America’s Southwest.
Eva Longoria
For recognizing the strength of our diversity and the full talents of our Nation. Actor, producer, director, and proud Mexican American, Eva Longoria has broken barriers on screen and uses her power to lift up Latino voices all across American life — challenging stereotypes and instilling Latino pride in our Nation.
Idina Menzel
For magical songs that lift our spirits and stir our souls. From Broadway stages to movie screens, Idina Menzel’s powerful voice has sold out shows, topped Billboard charts, and above all, empowered millions of Americans of all ages and backgrounds to be strong, use their voice, and lead with their hearts.
Herbert I. Ohta
For redefining ukulele music as a deeply moving American sound. The Hawaiian son of Japanese immigrants, Herb Ohta learned his first chords as a child and played through his service as a United States Marine. A musical innovator and mentor, he has bridged cultures and genres, spreading the peace and hope of aloha spirit.
Bruce Sagan
For seeking the truth as a true public citizen. A Chicago, Illinois, journalism legend and lifelong supporter of the performing arts, Bruce Sagan’s seven decades of leadership and stewardship in building, protecting, and uplifting local newspapers, voices, artists, and dancers have inspired his beloved city and enriched the tapestry of American life and culture.
Carrie Mae Weems
For capturing the resilience and dignity of Black America and our deeper humanity.
Over three decades at the forefront of American expression, Carrie Mae Weems has honed her craft as a renowned artist whose photography, film, video, and art confront hard truths about power and prejudice, while celebrating the indomitable human spirit.
National Medal of Arts – Class of 2023
Mark Bradford
For revealing the full history of the Nation through groundbreaking art. Inspired by the diverse cultures of Southern California, Mark Bradford’s paper-on-canvas storytelling reveals the interwoven hopes, sorrows, and joys of communities of color, with each layer challenging convention, shining light, and reminding us all of the full potential of America.
Ken Burns
For documenting the hope and history of our Nation. From his home in rural New Hampshire and deep from his imagination, Ken Burns´ pioneering documentaries of diverse people, places, and histories have shaped our understanding of the American experience, and defined him as one of the most respected filmmakers of our time.
Bruce Cohen
For championing the arts to express our highest ideals of freedom, justice, and equality.
An entertainment industry icon ahead of his time, Bruce Cohen has produced our biggest moments on screen and stage by lifting up people and stories that need to be seen and heard, making real the promise of America for all Americans.
Alex Katz
For conjuring an enduring portrait of America. Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian immigrants, Alex Katz is among the most prolific and distinctive artists in our history. With a ferocious work ethic and visionary style, he continues to condense the complexities of everyday life into iconic faces and landscapes that reveal the essence of who we are as Americans.
Jo Carole Lauder
For devoted support of the arts, culture, and civic causes in America. A renowned philanthropist leading an array of causes — from supporting the White House Historical Association to refurbishing and preserving United States embassies abroad to inspiring participation in Jewish life worldwide —Jo Carole Lauder channels her creative talents to beautify the spirit of our Nation.
Spike Lee
For revolutionizing American cinema and culture. One of the most thought-provoking filmmakers of our time, Spike Lee honors his Brooklyn, New York, roots by daring to capture the depth of the Black experience and lifting up Black culture on the world stage through vibrant films and courtside pride that shapes our Nation’s collective conscience.
Queen Latifah
For leading the Nation as a champion of women’s empowerment. A natural storyteller and one of the first ladies of hip-hop, Queen Latifah breaks the mold for women in entertainment — rapping about overcoming loss and abuse of power to exuding cool and confidence as a critically-acclaimed actor and activist, showing how infinite love is the only hope for unity.
Selena Quintanilla (Posthumously)
For cementing Tejano music into the heart of the Nation. The youngest of the Quintanilla music family, Selena brought Latin music to the masses as the Queen of Tejano music and one of the most celebrated entertainers in our history. Her young life was tragically cut short, but her voice and spirit endure for the ages.
Steven Spielberg
For filmmaking that entertains, educates, and inspires. Growing up moved by the power of films, Steven Spielberg is considered one of the greatest filmmakers ever, using his gift of storytelling to stretch our imaginations, confront the horrors of history, and inspire us to be the characters of our Nation and the world’s future — full of courage, honor, and dignity.
National Humanities Medal – Class of 2022
Wallis Annenberg
For transforming philanthropy in our Nation. The daughter of a groundbreaking media family in Los Angeles, California, Wallis Annenberg is a visionary giver and innovator who has donated to thousands of organizations in the arts, education, environment, medical research, social justice, and more — transforming countless lives by advancing, healing, and inspiring communities across America.
Appalshop
For amplifying the voices of Appalachia. Located in Kentucky’s Appalachian Mountains for 50 years, Appalshop is home to the world’s largest collection of creative work on Appalachia — a hub for new generations of artists, filmmakers, musicians, and playwrights to share their stories of pride and promise of their American roots.
Joy Harjo
For shining the light on the sacred traditions of Native American storytelling. A member of the Muscogee Nation in Oklahoma, and the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States, Joy Harjo’s distinguished poetry and award-winning music about art, justice, and healing honors ancestral generations and empowers those that follow.
Robin Harris
For educating our youngest students to be dreamers and doers of our Nation. As an elementary school teacher and trailblazing principal in Massachusetts, Robin Harris is redefining K-12 education to empower students, embrace parents, and extend learning and leadership beyond the walls of the classroom and into the free spirit of the mind.
Juan Felipe Herrera
For poeticism that captures America’s imagination. The son of California farm workers, Juan Felipe Herrera takes readers across countries and cultures, genres, and disciplines as a towering figure in Chicano poetry and the first Latino Poet Laureate of the United States, using the power of his pen to give life to our identities and common bonds.
Robert Martin
For dedicating his career to the academic achievement of Native American students. A member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Dr. Robert Martin has led Tribal colleges and launched Indian Studies programs at institutions of higher learning across the country to strengthen Tribal self-determination and empower future Native American leaders.
Jon Meacham
For drawing wisdom from history to shape the future of America. A proud son of Tennessee and celebrated historian and biographer, Jon Meacham chronicles the journey of America with an unmatched mix of historical context, parables from Scripture, and unyielding faith in the goodness of the American people that makes us a truly great Nation.
Ruth J. Simmons
For pioneering equity in our Nation’s higher education system. One of twelve children born into a sharecropper family in Texas, Dr. Ruth Simmons blazed trails in academia as a distinguished professor of literature and the first African American woman president of an Ivy League institution—showing how an education makes one free and fearless.
Pauline Yu
For a lifetime of advocacy for the humanities in America. The daughter of Chinese immigrants raised in Rochester, New York, Dr. Pauline Yu is a respected scholar of Chinese poetry and renowned advocate for the humanities, who has deepened cross-cultural understanding through language and literature, and advanced core democratic values of truth, reason, and free inquiry.
National Humanities Medal – Class of 2023
Anthony Bourdain (Posthumously)
For making food a gateway to understanding the world and one another. A beloved chef, writer, and social commentator, Anthony Bourdain is remembered across the globe for his empathy, openness, and humor—approaching every table with equal reverence for the people it convened, and embodying the best of American curiosity and exploration.
LeVar Burton
For imagining a more optimistic and enlightened America for everyone. A celebrated actor, advocate, and storyteller, LeVar Burton confronted the trauma of history, took us to the depths of space, and transformed literacy in America by sharing the gift of reading with generations of children, unlocking our imaginations and spirit of discovery.
Roz Chast
For healing a Nation with humor and observation. One of the most prolific cartoonists of our time, Roz Chast has wielded pen and watercolor for over 45 years to make ordinary things extraordinary, blaze a trail for women in her field, and define an era of American wit and wisdom.
Nicolás Kanellos
For amplifying Hispanic voices in America’s past, present, and future. Raised between Puerto Rico and Jersey City, New Jersey, Nicolás Kanellos channeled a childhood love for Spanish literature into a distinguished literary career in Houston, Texas, leading the Nation’s oldest and largest Hispanic publishing house and elevating the diversity of American literature.
Robin Wall Kimmerer
For sharing Indigenous wisdom in America’s natural sciences. A citizen of Potawatomi Nation and a renowned scientist and writer, Robin Wall Kimmerer has transformed our understanding of environmental science by incorporating Indigenous knowledge into college curriculum and critical efforts to heal a climate in crisis, offering new hope for generations to come.
Mellon Foundation
For charting an unparalleled course for the arts and humanities in America. For over 50 years, the Mellon Foundation has been the trusted benefactor for thousands of people and organizations harnessing the power of ideas and imagination to advance social justice and freedom, and defend the arts as essential to American democracy.
Dawn Porter
For documenting the good, the bad, and the truth of our Nation. Beginning her career as a lawyer, Dawn Porter pursued filmmaking to showcase the vibrancy of Black culture and history. By chronicling the lives of America’s everyday heroes and legendary leaders, her award-winning documentaries remind us that the work of perfecting our Union is essential and never-ending.
Aaron Sorkin
For trademark storytelling in America. Drawn to theatre at a young age, Aaron Sorkin found his calling as a groundbreaking writer and creator, scripting and show-running iconic films and television shows that inspired an entire generation to believe in the possibilities of our Nation and walk, talk, and answer “what’s next?”
Darren Walker
For showing us hope is the oxygen of democracy. With boundless passion and enduring purpose, Darren Walker harnesses empathy from his modest upbringing in the South to advance the most ambitious philanthropic goals of our Nation, as a visionary leader whose commitment to improving the human condition has fortified justice and good governance in America and around the world.
Rosita Worl
For embodying the resilient community spirit of Native American culture. As a child in Alaska, Dr. Rosita Worl survived the brutalities of Federal Indian boarding school that took her from her family and Nation. As an anthropologist and advocate, she has since spent her life pushing to right wrongs and build a new era of understanding and healing.
Additional information
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), established by Congress in 1965, is an independent Federal agency that is the largest public funder of the arts and arts education in communities nationwide and a catalyst of public and private support for the arts. The NEA’s mission is based on an abiding conviction that the arts play an integral role in our national life and public discourse. The arts strengthen and promote the well-being and resilience of people and communities. By advancing equitable opportunities for arts participation and practice, the NEA fosters and sustains an environment in which the arts belong to and benefit everyone in the United States.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Created in 1965 as an independent Federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) supports learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other humanities subjects by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the Nation that support research in the humanities, foster education, nurture humanities infrastructure, and expand the reach of the humanities. Since 1965, NEH has awarded over six billion dollars to cultural institutions, individual scholars, and communities throughout the United States. The Endowment serves and strengthens the country by bringing high-quality historical and cultural experiences to large and diverse audiences in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and five territories; providing opportunities for lifelong learning, expanding access to cultural and educational resources, and preserving the human stories that connect all Americans.
The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) was founded in 1982 by Executive Order to advise the President on cultural policy. The First Lady has historically served as Honorary Chair of the Committee, which is composed of members appointed by the President. Private committee members include prominent artists, scholars, and philanthropists who have demonstrated a serious commitment to the arts and humanities. Public members represent the heads of key Federal agencies with a role in culture, including the Chairs of the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities, the Librarian of Congress, the Secretary of the Smithsonian, and the Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services among others. The PCAH facilitates public-private partnerships, promotes interagency cooperation, and proposes programs that enhance arts, humanities, museums, and library services across the country. Over the past 40 years, PCAH has catalyzed Federal programs and played a vital role in the advancement of arts and humanities education, cultural diplomacy, and the creative economy.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers an important speech titled “Combining the Great Strength of the Global South To Build Together a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind” at the “BRICS Plus” leaders’ dialogue in Kazan, Russia, Oct. 24, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]
KAZAN, Russia, Oct. 24 — As BRICS leaders gathered with non-member countries seeking closer ties with the group on Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping voiced strong support for Global South countries.
Participating in the “BRICS Plus” leaders’ dialogue during the final day of the Kazan summit, Xi said “the collective rise of the Global South is a distinctive feature of the great transformation across the world.”
“We support more Global South countries in joining the cause of BRICS as full members, partner countries or in the ‘BRICS Plus’ format so that we can combine the great strength of the Global South to build together a community with a shared future for mankind,” Xi said.
No matter how the international landscape evolves, said the Chinese president, “we in China will always keep the Global South in our heart, and maintain our roots in the Global South.”
Leaders from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, as well as representatives of several international organizations, attended the meeting, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The 16th BRICS Summit’s agenda covered a range of pressing issues, including world peace and stability, reform of global governance, sustainable development, poverty eradication, climate change, and the fight against terrorism and transnational crimes.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, chairing the summit, said it is crucial for BRICS members to discuss all these issues with countries from the Global South.
“All our countries share similar aspirations, values and a vision of a new democratic world order that reflects cultural and civilizational diversity,” Putin said.
The Kazan summit marked the first in-person gathering of leaders of BRICS after the group’s membership expansion last year. On Wednesday, the BRICS leaders adopted the Kazan summit declaration, which summarized the summit’s outcome.
According to the declaration, BRICS countries agreed to jointly build the New Development Bank into a new type of multilateral development bank, support its further expansion of membership, and expedite the review of membership applications from BRICS countries in accordance with its general strategy and related policies.
The BRICS countries are also encouraged to strengthen financial cooperation and promote local currency settlement, it said.
Leaders of non-member countries expressed their expectation for BRICS’ future development. The BRICS mechanism has great potential for development, as well as experience in building the future based on respect and partnership, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said at Thursday’s meeting.
Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith also said BRICS currently plays a key role in changing the world order.
The world economy is set to rely even more heavily on the BRICS group of emerging economies to drive expansion, according to latest forecasts of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Compared with its last round of predictions six months ago, the IMF now expects a bigger share of growth over the next five years to come from powerhouse BRICS economies.
“The BRICS has played an extremely important role in advancing multilateralism,” said B.R. DEEPAK, professor of Center for Chinese and South East Asian Studies of Jawaharlal Nehru University in India.
The inclusion of more countries in BRICS cooperation shows “the kind of appeal it has, especially in the Global South, who wants to make best of what BRICS has created,” he said.
The NSW Government has passed legislation addressing the refusal of private insurers to pay their bills in public hospitals.
The refusal of the country’s biggest private health funds to pay the correct single room rate has been robbing public hospitals of $140 million each year.
The bill passed the Legislative Council 21 to 17 with the support of the Greens, the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, the Animal Justice Party and the Legalise Cannabis Party.
In the Legislative Assembly it passed 50 to 31 with the backing of six of the eight independents who voted, and the Greens.
The result means the Leader of the Opposition led a vote against the very same legislation he backed a decade ago.
In 2013, Liberal Leader Mark Speakman supported then-Treasurer Mike Baird’s bill to amend the Health Insurance Levy.
This achieved an agreement from the private insurers to pay their fair share.
However in 2019 the major funds began walking away from that agreement, and since then have doubled their profits.
Mr Baird’s 2013 legislation was supported by NSW Labor in a united effort to ensure the big private health insurers paid their bills.
But the Liberal Party’s opposition signals that under Mr Speakman’s leadership, private insurers can walk away from their bills with no recourse.
The Opposition Leader, the Shadow Treasurer and the Member for Vaucluse must explain why they believe wealthy private insurers don’t have to play by the same rules as hard-working families across NSW and pay their bills.
The NSW Government remains open to dialogue with major insurers to resolve the issue.
The Government applauds the majority of non-profit private health funds, including Teachers Health, Nurses and Midwives Health and Emergency Service Health, who continue to pay the correct rate.
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said:
“Mike Baird was right in 2013 when he demanded insurers pay their fair share and a decade later, we are right to reinforce that agreement.
“Premiums didn’t go down when the big insurers stopped paying their bills. They shouldn’t threaten families with an increase now. The big insurers can still resolve this impasse by simply paying their bills.
“The Government thanks those on the cross benches in both houses who supported this bill.”
Minister for Health Ryan Park said:
“All we’re asking is that private health insurers pay their fair share of their use of public hospital beds.
“Every day they don’t, it’s costing the state over $338,000 – every single day.
“It is so emblematic of the current Liberal Opposition that they refuse to support the very same bill they proposed when they were confronted with this very same set of circumstances.
“It is so symptomatic of this Liberal Opposition which no longer knows what it stands for, completely devoid of conviction.”
The Albanese Government and National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) are taking further action to reduce road trauma and save lives on Australia’s roads by funding 16 crucial industry-led projects through Round 9 of the Heavy Vehicle Safety Initiative (HVSI).
The ninth round will see $3.9 million invested into the 16 road safety projects to deliver safety improvements across Australia’s heavy vehicle industry and help protect all road users. Successful applicants include:
Deakin University’sTruckwise Roadshowwhich aims to increase awareness of safety practises when working with heavy vehicles through the use of virtual reality.
St John Ambulance’sDefibs in Trucks Programwhich will equip 50 heavy vehicles with new, high quality Automated External Defibrillators (AED’s) and provide First Aid training to drivers to reduce deaths in regional, rural, and remote communities.
GM Cartage and Contracting’sAccelerating Ambitions Programwhich aims to increase awareness among young drivers of career opportunities within the trucking industry and provide innovative solutions to increase diversity in the industry.
The new initiatives are set to provide tangible improvements for the transport and logistics sector, supporting productivity, and making the road network safer by developing much-needed training, educational campaigns and innovative new technologies.
The Australian Government has invested more than $41 million across 169 HVSI projects since the program commenced in 2016. A list of successful applicants and more information about the HVSI is available here.
Quotes attributable to Assistant Minister for Regional Development, Anthony Chisholm:
“The trucking industry is the backbone of our nation’s economy and that’s why our government is continuing to invest in road safety programs that will keep truckies safe and keep Australia’s economy moving.
“These 16 successful projects provide solutions to challenges that we’re currently seeing throughout the industry, such as removing barriers for young people entering the sector, increasing awareness of how to drive safely around heavy vehicles and boosting safety within the industry itself.
“This includes the excellent initiative by St John Ambulance to equip 50 trucks with new, high-quality Automated External Defibrillators, and training truck drivers to provide first aid, reducing roadside deaths in regional, rural, and remote communities in the process.”
Quotes attributable to NHVR CEO, Sal Petroccitto OAM:
“The NHVR’s HVSI program continues to support safety initiatives that benefit the heavy vehicle industry and the wider community.
“Through this game-changing program, we have seen projects across the country deliver lasting and transformative results.
“We look forward to continuing to engage with safety-focused groups towards a shared goal of safer roads for all – and utilise their extensive knowledge and existing work to deliver future improvements to heavy vehicle safety.
“There is still plenty of work to do to reduce road trauma in Australia, which is why I am looking forward to seeing these 16 new initiatives get underway, and the positive impact they are sure to have on heavy vehicle safety right across the country.”
Source: United States Senator for New York Charles E Schumer
Funding Will Help Alstom & Partners Produce And Test Hybrid, Battery-Powered Trains At Southern Tier Facility
Schumer Urged U.S. Transportation Secretary – Which Brings Together Two Emerging Areas Of Manufacturing In The Southern Tier – To Fund Project Boosted By The Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Law
Schumer: Fed $$ For Battery-Powered Rail Development Puts Southern Tier On Track To Lead In Developing Future Of This Industry!
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer today announced $15,982,500 for Steuben County IDA, in partnership with Norfolk Southern Railway, Binghamton University’s New Energy New York (NENY) consortium, and Alstom to develop new battery technology for more energy-efficient trains.
“This nearly $16 million in federal funding puts Steuben County IDA and its partners – including Alstom, a national leader in cutting-edge rail development – on track to develop new state-of-the-art hybrid locomotives that will enhance rail safety and improve climate resilience,” said Senator Schumer. “I’ve led the charge to establish the Southern Tier as a hub for battery manufacturing and research & development, and today’s investment will boost efforts to make sure the next generation of rail technology is stamped ‘Made in Upstate NY.’ I also fought to boost funding for the Department of Transportation’s rail infrastructure improvement program in the Bipartisan Infrastructure & Jobs Law and am thrilled that the program is continuing to deliver for NY.”
This project will help produce and test two hybrid, battery-powered trains at Alstom’s Southern Tier facility and aims to enhance safety and improve climate resilience. The federal funding comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program, which Schumer fought to increase funding for in his Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Law.
“Alstom is grateful to Senator Schumer for his support and leadership that has made New York’s Southern Tier the nation’s center of rail manufacturing excellence,” said Michael Keroullé, Alstom Americas President. “Together with our partners, Steuben County Industrial Development Agency, Binghamton University and Norfolk Southern, we will use this project to develop and test new battery and rail technologies to help advance efforts to decarbonize the freight sector.”
Steuben County Industrial Development Agency’s Federal Railroad Administration’s Hybrid Locomotive Project aims to develop new battery technology to produce and test two hybrid, battery-diesel locomotives at Alstom’s Kanona facility in Bath. The rebuilt locomotives will use batteries as the primary power source, enhancing safety and improving climate resilience.
“The Steuben County Industrial Development Agency is pleased to be partnering with Alstom and Norfolk Southern Railway on the development of the locomotive of the future at Alstom’s facility in Kanona, New York. The CRISI award will help advance a new clean diesel battery hybrid technology that builds off the region’s deep history in transportation manufacturing and innovation in battery and clean energy technology. The project aligns the region’s strengths to establish the County as a leader in clean tech manufacturing. We appreciate the strong support that Senator Schumer has shown towards the Steuben County IDA and his commitment to new battery technology in the Southern Tier, ” said James C. Johnson, Executive Director of Steuben County Industrial Development Agency.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure & Jobs Law, which Schumer crafted and led to passage in the Senate, included $5 billion over five years for the CRISI program. The program invests in various projects within the United States to improve railroad safety, efficiency, and reliability; mitigate congestion at both intercity passenger and freight rail chokepoints to support more efficient travel and goods movement; enhance multi-modal connections; and lead to new or substantially improved Intercity Passenger Rail Transportation corridors.
Schumer has long fought to secure federal investment to boost Binghamton and Upstate NY’s battery manufacturing and R&D. Most recently, Schumer announced the Binghamton University-led Upstate New York Energy Storage Engine won the esteemed U.S. National Science Foundation’s Regional “Innovation Engines” Competition (NSF Engines), which was created by his CHIPS & Science Law. Schumer said the Binghamton-led project was one of only ten projects across the country selected for this award which brings $15 million in federal funding, with up to $160 million total over the life of the program from the NSF to supercharge growth and cutting-edge research in battery development and manufacturing in Upstate NY.
“Our engineers have met with Alstom representatives and discussed future collaborations on this exciting project. Through our Watson College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and through all of our resources available through our New Energy New York and Upstate New York Energy Storage Engine programs, we stand ready to assist Alstom in any way we are able. Electrification of all forms of transportation– vehicles, planes and trains– is simply what has to happen in the US and we are pleased to play a role in this important transformation,” said Dean Atul Kelkar, Watson College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Binghamton University.
Schumer secured the prestigious tech hubs designation for Binghamton University’s New Energy New York (NENY) project, which he also created in the CHIPS & Science Act, accelerating the Southern Tier’s emergence as America’s next battery tech hub. Receiving that designation made $500,000 in funding through the CHIPS & Science Law, along with the potential for philanthropic and private sector investment, possible. Schumer designed the Tech Hubs program to strengthen a region’s capacity to commercialize, manufacture, and grow technology in key focus areas like batteries, and now, thanks to his efforts, Binghamton is spurring innovation and bringing the manufacturing of batteries back to America, all while supporting the economic resurgence of the Southern Tier.
In addition to the NSF Engine award and national recognition through the Tech Hubs program, Schumer’s American Rescue Plan created programs like the $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC) that also supported Binghamton’s efforts. Schumer personally advocated for the selection of Binghamton University’s battery hub proposal for the BBBRC federal investment and in December 2021, Binghamton’s project was selected as a Phase 1 awardee out of over 500 applications from around the country to compete for a final award. In April 2022, Schumer personally visited the Southern Tier to double down on his advocacy, standing with Dr. Whittingham, to reiterate his support and urge federal leaders to select Binghamton as a final Regional Challenge awardee.
Finally, in September 2022, Schumer secured Binghamton’s spot as a final awardee, with a $63.7 million federal investment, one of the largest grants made in the competition, which was matched by $50 million in funding from New York State, to help make the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes a national hub for battery research and manufacturing. Additionally, Schumer brought Dr. Whittingham as his guest to last year’s State of the Union to highlight Binghamton’s national leadership in battery technology.
A copy of Schumer’s letter to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg can be found below:
Dear Secretary Buttigieg:
I am pleased to write on behalf of the Steuben County Industrial Development Agency’s application to the Federal Railroad Administration’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) Program. This collaborative effort between the Steuben County IDA, Alstom, Norfolk Southern Railway, and Binghamton University’s New Energy New York (NENY) consortium will result in the production and testing of two hybrid, battery-diesel locomotives. The project will demonstrate the efficiency, reliability, and commercial viability of technology that can be implemented to help accelerate the reduction of carbon emissions in the freight rail industry.
In particular, the project will convert two GP 38/40 locomotives into a battery-diesel hybrid design. These locomotives will be remanufactured at Alstom’s Kanona facility in Bath, NY, and will reuse existing steel frames to significantly reduce carbon emissions. The rebuilt locomotives will use batteries as the primary power source, increasing pulling capacity by approximately 50% and maximizing engine efficiency. In addition, the locomotive will be designed to allow for the diesel engine to be replaced with zero emission technology as it becomes commercially and technology viable. This is a first step toward developing important prototype technology that has the potential to greatly benefit both industry and the environment.
The Southern Tier is well positioned to help advance energy storage solutions for the freight rail industry given Binghamton University’s NENY. Following years of personal advocacy, NENY was designated a U.S. Economic Development Administration (U.S. EDA) Regional Technology and Innovation Hub, National Science Foundation (NSF) Regional Innovation Engine, and secured significant investment through the Build Back Better Regional Challenge. These federal awards recognize the region’s ability to lead the nation in battery innovation. Hence, the collaboration with experts at Binghamton University on battery-related subjects such as power density, modeling, and
optimization underscores the potential of this project.
I applaud the Steuben County Industrial Development Agency and the other partners for their foresight and sincerely hope the application is met with your approval. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or my grants coordinator at (202) 224-6542.
In the lead up to the inauguration of President Prabowo Subianto last Sunday, Indonesia established five “Vulnerable Area Buffer Infantry Battalions” in key regions across West Papua — a move described by Indonesian Army Chief-of-Staff Maruli Simanjuntak as a “strategic initiative” by the new leader.
The battalions are based in the Keerom, Sarmi, Boven Digoel, Merauke and Sorong regencies, and their aim is to “enhance security” in Papua, and also to strengthen Indonesia’s military presence in response to long-standing unrest and conflict, partly related to independence movements and local resistance.
According to Armed Forces chief General Agus Subiyanto, “the main goal of the new battalions is to assist the government in accelerating development and improving the prosperity of the Papuan people”.
However, this raises concerns about further militarisation and repression of a region already plagued by long-running violence and human rights abuses in the context of the movement for a free and independent West Papua.
Thousands of Indonesian soldiers have been stationed in areas impacted by violence, including Star Mountain, Nduga, Yahukimo, Maybrat, Intan Jaya, Puncak and Puncak Jaya.
As a result, the situation in West Papua is becoming increasingly difficult for indigenous people.
Extrajudicial killings in Papua go unreported or are only vaguely known about internationally. Those who are aware of these either disregard them or accept them as an “unavoidable consequence” of civil unrest in what Indonesia refers to as its most eastern provinces — the “troubled regions”.
Why do the United Nations, Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and the international community stay silent?
While the Indonesian government frames this move as a strategy to enhance security and promote development, it risks exacerbating long-standing tensions in a region with deep-seated conflicts over autonomy and independence and the impacts of extractive industries and agribusiness on West Papuan people and their environment.
Exploitative land theft The Centre for Climate Crime and Climate Justice, in collaboration with various international and Indonesian human and environmental rights organisations, presented testimony at the public hearings of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) at Queen Mary University of London, in June.
The tribunal heard testimonies relating to a range of violations by Indonesia. A key issue, highlighted was the theft of indigenous Papuan land by the Indonesian government and foreign corporations in connection to extractive industries such as mining, logging and palm oil plantations.
The appropriation of traditional lands without the consent of the Papuan people violates their right to land and self-determination, leading to environmental degradation, loss of livelihood, and displacement of Indigenous communities.
The tribunal’s judgment underscores how the influx of non-Papuan settlers and the Indonesian government’s policies have led to the marginalisation of Papuan culture and identity. The demographic shift due to transmigration programmes has significantly reduced the proportion of Indigenous Papuans in their own land.
Moreover, a rise in militarisation in West Papua has often led to heightened repression, with potential human rights violations, forced displacement and further marginalisation of the indigenous communities.
The decision to station additional military forces in West Papua, especially in conflict-prone areas like Nduga, Yahukimo and Intan Jaya, reflects a continuation of Indonesia’s militarised approach to governance in the region.
Indonesian security forces . . . “the main goal of the new battalions is to assist the government in accelerating development and improving the prosperity of the Papuan people,” says Armed Forces chief General Agus Subiyanto. Image: Antara
Security pact The Indonesia-Papua New Guinea Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) was signed by the two countries in 2010 but only came into effect this year after the PNG Parliament ratified it in late February.
Indonesia ratified the pact in 2012.
As reported by Asia Pacific Report, PNG’s Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko and Indonesia’s ambassador to PNG, Andriana Supandy, said the DCA enabled an enhancement of military operations between the two countries, with a specific focus on strengthening patrols along the PNG-West Papua border.
This will have a significant impact on civilian communities in the areas of conflict and along the border. Indigenous people in particular, are facing the threat of military takeovers of their lands and traditional border lines.
Under the DCA, the joint militaries plan to employ technology, including military drones, to monitor and manage local residents’ every move along the border.
Human rights Prabowo, Defence Minister prior to being elected President, has a controversial track record on human rights — especially in the 1990s, during Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor.
His involvement in military operations in West Papua adds to fears that the new battalions may be used for oppressive measures, including crackdowns on dissent and pro-independence movements.
As indigenous communities continue to be marginalised, their calls for self-determination and independence may grow louder, risking further conflict in the region.
Without substantial changes in the Indonesian government’s approach to West Papua, including addressing human rights abuses and engaging in meaningful dialogue with indigenous leaders, the future of West Papuans remains uncertain and fraught with challenges.
With ongoing military operations often accused of targeting indigenous populations, the likelihood of further human rights violations, such as extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, and forced displacement, remains high.
Displacement Military operations in West Papua frequently result in the displacement of indigenous Papuans, as they flee conflict zones.
The presence of more battalions could drive more communities from their homes, deepening the humanitarian crisis in the region. Indigenous peoples, who rely on their land for survival, face disruption of their traditional livelihoods and rising poverty.
The Indonesian government launched the Damai Cartenz military operation on April 5, 2018, and it is still in place in the conflict zones of Yahukimo, Pegunungan Bintang, Nduga and Intan Jaya.
Since then, according to a September 24 Human Rights Monitor update, more than 79,867 West Papuans remain internally displaced.
The displacement, killings, shootings, abuses, tortures and deaths are merely the tip of the iceberg of what truly occurs within the tightly-controlled military operational zones across West Papua, according to Benny Wenda, a UK-based leader of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP).
The international community, particularly the United Nations and the Pacific Islands Forum have been criticised for remaining largely silent on the matter. Responding to the August 31 PIF communique reaffirming its 2019 call for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights visit to West Papua, Wenda said:
“[N]ow is the time for Indonesia to finally let the world see what is happening in our land. They cannot hide their dirty secret any longer.”
Increased global attention and intervention is crucial in addressing the humanitarian crisis, preventing further escalations and supporting the rights and well-being of the West Papuans.
Without meaningful dialogue, the long-term consequences for the indigenous population may be severe, risking further violence and unrest in the region.
As Prabowo was sworn in, Wenda restated the ULMWP’s demand for an internationally-mediated referendum on independence, saying: “The continued violation of our self-determination is the root cause of the West Papua conflict.”
Ali Mirin is a West Papuan academic from the Kimyal tribe of the highlands bordering the Star Mountain region of Papua New Guinea. He is a contributor to Asia Pacific Report and Green Left in Australia.
Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy
October 24, 2024
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) joined U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and 20 of their Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Stellantis—the giant automotive manufacturer responsible for common car brands like Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep. In their letter, the senators called on Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares to honor the collective bargaining agreement signed last year with the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the promises the company made to strengthen and expand good-paying union jobs in America.
“We are writing to express our growing concerns about the failure of Stellantis, under your leadership, to honor the commitments it made to the United Auto Workers (UAW) in last year’s collective bargaining agreement…” the senators wrote. “We urge Stellantis not to renege on the promises it made to American autoworkers and to provide details on the timelines for these investments.”
In the contract ratified last year, Stellantis committed to make nearly $19 billion in new investments and product commitments in the U.S., including:
Re-opening the plant in Belvidere, Illinois that was “indefinitely idled” last year;
Establishing a parts and customer care Mega Hub in Belvidere;
Continuing to manufacture the Dodge Durango in Detroit through 2025; and
Manufacturing the next generation Dodge Durango in Detroit starting in 2026.
Instead, Stellantis has taken actions that undermine the commitments made to the UAW and leave “behind thousands of American workers who built the company into the auto giant it is today,” the senators wrote. These actions may include moving the next generation Dodge Durango out of the U.S. and into “low-cost” countries like Mexico, as well as delaying planned investments to reopen and expand the Belvidere assembly plant.
This year, Stellantis has spent over $8 billion on stock buybacks and dividends to benefit its wealthy executives and stockholders. During the first six months of this year, Stellantis has generated over $6 billion in profits, making it one of the most profitable auto companies in the world. The company has also benefited from billions of dollars in financial assistance from American taxpayers and the federal government. In July, the Department of Energy announced Stellantis would receive nearly $335 million in federal dollars to support Belvidere Assembly Plant’s conversion to electric vehicle production.
“Last year, while blue collar auto workers in Belvidere were being laid off indefinitely, you were able to receive a 56 percent pay raise, boosting your total compensation to $39.5 million, which made you the highest paid executive among traditional auto companies,” the senators continued. “We believe that if Stellantis can afford to spend over $8 billion this year on stock buybacks and dividends, it can live up to the contractual commitments it made to the UAW. This is especially true given the billions of dollars in financial assistance American taxpayers have spent to support your company and the enormous sacrifices autoworkers have been forced to make over many decades.”
U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also signed the letter.
The full letter is available HERE and below.
Dear Mr. Tavares:
We are writing to express our growing concerns about the failure of Stellantis, under your leadership, to honor the commitments it made to the United Auto Workers (UAW) in last year’s collective bargaining agreement.
In that contract, ratified by UAW members, Stellantis committed to “establish long-term stability and job security” for its workforce. The agreement includes nearly $19 billion in new investment and product commitments in the United States, including promises to:
Re-open the plant in Belvidere, Illinois that was “indefinitely idled” last year;
Establish a parts and customer care Mega Hub in Belvidere;
Continue to manufacture the Dodge Durango in Detroit through 2025; and
Manufacture the next generation Dodge Durango in Detroit starting in 2026.
We are deeply concerned that Stellantis is not keeping the promises it made to strengthen and expand good-paying union jobs in America.
Specifically, Stellantis is now delaying planned investments to reopen and expand the Belvidere assembly plant, leaving behind thousands of American workers who built the company into the auto giant it is today. We are also concerned with reporting that Stellantis is planning to move production of the next generation Dodge Durango out of the United States, after previously announcing layoffs that threaten the economic security and well-being of thousands of autoworkers. Moreover, Stellantis has stated publicly that it plans to source 80 percent of supply from “low-cost countries” like Mexico. By your own admission, Stellantis’s growth plan hinges on shifting “industrial production into cost competitive countries” like Mexico, where workers are making substandard wages. These actions violate the obligations Stellantis made to the UAW. We urge Stellantis not to renege on the promises it made to American autoworkers and to provide details on the timelines for these investments.
This year, Stellantis has spent over $8 billion on stock buybacks and dividends to benefit its wealthy executives and stockholders. Last year, while blue collar auto workers in Belvidere were being laid off indefinitely, you were able to receive a 56 percent pay raise boosting your total compensation to $39.5 million, which made you the highest paid executive among traditional auto companies. During the first six months of this year, Stellantis has generated over $6 billion in profits, making it one of the most profitable auto companies in the world.
We believe that if Stellantis can afford to spend over $8 billion this year on stock buybacks and dividends, it can live up to the contractual commitments it made to the UAW. This is especially true given the billions of dollars in financial assistance American taxpayers have spent to support your company and the enormous sacrifices autoworkers have been forced to make over many decades.
For example, the Department of Energy announced in July that nearly $335 million in federal dollars would be going to supporting Belvidere Assembly Plant’s conversion to electric vehicle production. With hundreds of millions of dollars of federal support going towards ensuring strong union jobs stay in the U.S., Stellantis must honor the promises it made to UAW workers and the Belvidere community.
We urge you to deliver on the commitments you made to the UAW in your 2023 national agreement without further delay.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11)
UNION, NJ –Representative Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11), Senate President Nicholas Scutari (LD-22), Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz (LD-29), and the Union County Board of County Commissioners visited Kean University to underscore the importance of high-impact tutoring programs in combating pandemic-related learning loss, supporting New Jersey students, and expanding the education workforce.
Sherrill’s bipartisanExpanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Actwould help to complement statewide tutoring initiatives championed by Scutari and Ruiz, like the High Impact Tutoring Grant program and the NJ Tutoring Corps, aimed at providing quality tutoring resources to school districts. Recently, Kean University has implemented an innovative tutoring program to help students stay on track in their studies while training aspiring teachers.
“New Jersey is home to the best public school system in the nation and, as a mom of four, I’m committed to ensuring that every student, in every school district and zip code, can reap the benefits of their Garden State education. That’s why I am proud to work with leaders like Senate President Scutari, Majority Leader Ruiz, and the incredible educators and student tutors at Kean University to expand access to high-quality tutoring for New Jerseyans of all ages and backgrounds. I will continue to work to get myExpanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Actacross the finish line to bring back additional federal funding to enact tutoring programs that will help our children get ahead,”said Rep. Sherrill.
“Tutoring is more than an educational resource. It is an investment in our shared future. By helping students recover from pandemic-related learning loss, high-impact tutoring programs are closing achievement gaps and giving our children the tools they need to succeed in life. When our students thrive, our communities thrive,”said Senate President Nicholas Scutari.
“In New Jersey, over half of third graders are not reading at grade level, and the data is even more troubling for students of color, with 73.6% of Black and 72.5% of Latino third graders falling short. We are at a critical juncture and must have bold, innovative conversations about how we educate our children,”said Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Ruiz. “Academic success leads to better career outcomes and a higher quality of life. If we provide every child, regardless of ZIP code, with the opportunity to reach their potential, we can secure them a brighter future. We’ve made significant state-level investments, and collaboration with Congress will enhance these efforts. I thank Congresswoman Sherrill for her steadfast partnership as we expand high-impact tutoring, close achievement gaps, and strengthen the foundation for our students’ success.”
“As we take this significant step forward with the Managed Peer-to-Peer Tutoring initiative, I am proud to see our vision becoming a reality. This program, developed through strong partnerships between our Union County Commissioner Board with Kean University and key leaders like Senate President Nicholas Scutari, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill and Senator Teresa Ruiz, is designed to address the learning challenges our students faced due to the pandemic,”said Union County Commissioner Sergio Granados. “By connecting students with their peers, we aim to create a supportive and effective learning environment that will not only help them recover but excel. Together, we are building a sustainable model for academic success and community connection in Union County.”
“As New Jersey’s urban research university, Kean is deeply committed to providing the critical support students need to thrive, from Pre-K through higher education,”said Kean University President Lamont O. Repollet, Ed.D.“We were honored to welcome Congresswoman Sherrill, along with state and county leaders, to our campus to discuss vital tutoring initiatives that will address post-pandemic learning loss. These initiatives are crucial to creating an equitable path to success for students of all backgrounds across New Jersey.”
Sherrill has long been a leader in supporting New Jersey’s education system and protecting our children and teens. As a former member of the House Education and Labor Committee, she fought hard to support the American Rescue Plan, which helped our students return to the classroom and is continuing to fund tutoring initiatives across New Jersey. Additionally, she is fighting to hold social media companies accountable with the Kids Online Safety Actand the Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act.
This photo taken on Oct. 19, 2024 with a mobile phone shows Vesa Niskanen (C), a Finnish part-time photographer, receiving a certificate for his work “Jingshan Park” being selected for display at the “Hello, Beijing” photography exhibition, in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Lyu Qiuping)
Standing in front of a giant photograph, George Doupas introduced his work “Happy Graduation” to a visitor. In the image, a group of university graduates in gowns throw their trencher caps into the sky, with the Temple of Heaven, one of Beijing’s architectural landmarks, in the background.
“I just love the hutongs (alleys), siheyuan (quadrangle courtyards) and ancient architecture in Beijing. Traditional and alive,” said Doupas, a Greek freelance photographer who lives in Beijing.
His works — two photos and one video clip — are part of a photography exhibition called “Hello, Beijing” held from Oct. 19 to 28 at the China Millennium Monument.
After attracting entries from Chinese and foreign professional photographers and enthusiasts both domestically and internationally, a panel of experts selected over 200 pieces for display. The works of six foreign photographers from Britain, France, Greece and other countries are among the exhibits.
The event is hosted by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism.
Beijing, with a history of over 3,000 years, has served as the Chinese capital for 870 years, making it a treasure trove of cultural heritage.
In recent years, the city has strengthened its core functions as the national political center, cultural center, international exchange center and scientific innovation center, striving to build itself into a world-class harmonious and livable metropolis.
The photo exhibition consists of four sections highlighting the beauty of Beijing’s nature, history, humanity and innovation. It seeks to show the city’s progress and cultural heritage, the vibrancy of its daily life and the exchange of ideas between civilizations.
Doupas first visited Beijing in 2005 as a backpacker and settled here in 2009 after marrying a Chinese woman.
He said that one part of Beijing is full of historical sites like a living museum, while the other part is a new modern city, with some amazing architectural buildings, bridges, libraries and much more.
“I often feel that Beijing is a perfect example of how the old and new nicely blend together,” he said.
Liu Jingmin agrees with Doupas. At the exhibition, she is showing a photo of a pair of birds engaged in courtship on a lake at the Summer Palace. Originally an amateur wildlife photographer, she has also become a fan of capturing Beijing’s city views.
She said she often climbs the stairs onto the roofs of high-rise buildings to take panoramic photos near the city’s Central Axis.
“The contrast between the new modern buildings and ancient architecture, like the Temple of Heaven, is especially interesting and favored by photographers,” said Liu, 52.
At a session in India in late July, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization added the 700-year-old Beijing Central Axis, dubbed the “spine of the city’s culture,” to the World Heritage List.
The Beijing Central Axis, the best-preserved example of traditional central axis architecture in China, extends 7.8 km from Yongding Gate in the south to the Bell and Drum Towers in the north. Fifteen heritage components, including the Tian’anmen Square Complex, the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, are located on or alongside the axis.
Vesa Niskanen, a Finnish part-time photographer, has his work “Jingshan Park” included in the exhibition. Jingshan Park is also along the Central Axis.
He said that in addition to the ancient architecture, he likes to take photos in Beijing’s busy streets.
“In this populated city, you can see people singing and dancing, and you can also see vendors selling stuff like crickets. The streets are so vibrant,” said Niskanen, the representative of a Finnish cultural association in Beijing.
Wang Yuanjing, who has retired from her civil service career, enjoys photography as a hobby. One of her displayed works is about the winter view of the Summer Palace, while the other captures the five-ring fireworks at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
“Over the years, Beijing has developed rapidly and the photos show the different sides of the city, ranging from an ancient cultural capital to a window for international exchanges,” said Wang, who also took her family to visit the exhibition.
Su Heling, a 63-year-old visitor from the Haidian District, was amazed by the images on display.
The retiree said he is also a photography fan, snapping pictures with his camera everywhere he goes.
“Through the exhibition, I hope I can learn more about photography skills, as well as the beauty of Beijing,” Su said.
In addition to the “Happy Graduation,” Doupas is also showing another piece, which was captured in a library. The library is converted from an outdated cinema, and the big screen can still be seen in the middle.
Doupas said the photo embodies the vitality of Beijing, as renovation has given life to many old buildings in the city, such as Shougang — the site of a former steel plant that has been transformed into a cultural venue for sightseeing and sports activities.
“As I walk in the streets of Beijing, there is always something interesting before my eyes. There is always something I want to capture with my camera,” Doupas said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged more efforts to achieve marine sci-tech breakthroughs in a reply letter to faculty and students of the Ocean University of China. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, congratulated the university’s faculty, students and alumni on its centenary.
It’s been more than three decades since Sinologist Martin Kern studied at Peking University in the late 1980s under Yuan Xingpei, a well-known expert on classical Chinese literature.
Kern had been a journalist for four years before he started studying Sinology at the University of Cologne in Germany. He was looking for a field with which he was not familiar, so he took up contemporary Chinese poetry and came to Beijing on a scholarship from the German government in 1987.
Over the course of the following two years, he became interested in the early works of Chinese literature and “went backward into antiquity”, as he himself has put it. His focus remains the same today.
As a professor at the Department of East Asian Studies at Princeton University in the United States, and codirector of the International Center for the Study of Ancient Text Cultures at Renmin University of China, his academic interest mainly covers literature from the Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century-771 BC) to the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220).
For Kern, this is a period when early China’s textual culture — integrating philosophical and literary traditions, as well as historical narratives — was closely related to the social and political development of that time.
During an academic forum themed “From Practices to Things: First Books in the Ancient World” at RUC’s Suzhou Campus in Jiangsu province in late August, he argued that although writing had appeared much earlier in China, it was not until the 5th century BC that a broader textual culture emerged out of practices such as philosophical debate, poetry performances, historical anecdotes, royal speeches and political observations.
These shorter texts — poems, speeches, anecdotes or essays — were compiled into larger anthologies of anonymous individual texts, giving rise to an early book culture which prioritized compilation and annotation over authorship, interpretation and commentary over the written text itself.
At the forum, established Chinese and foreign scholars discussed the formation and development of early textual cultures in major ancient civilizations such as those of Greece, Rome, Egypt, Sumer and China, in terms of the social and cultural atmosphere, knowledge practices, participants, materials and mediums that facilitated their invention.
“It’s so important to strengthen international collaboration and make connections,” Kern says. “For many years, I have encouraged my friends and colleagues here in China to learn a foreign language, read foreign scholarship on early China, as well as scholarship on other ancient civilizations, so that we can have a real conversation.
“We need to develop a shared intellectual language where we share ideas, concepts and questions,” he adds.
Xu Jianwei, professor at the School of Liberal Arts at RUC, says that according to his own observations, many high-level scholars of other major ancient civilizations share common working languages — mostly English, German and French — which means they can easily read each other’s academic findings.
However, they are seldom exposed to Chinese studies and ancient texts, and few Chinese scholars are able to read and write well in other languages. As a result, the study of early China has been isolated from the global academic community.
“We need to introduce Chinese classical studies into a broader framework of global civilizations studies and related discourse systems,” Xu says, adding that it’s a pity that the wealth of ancient Chinese texts have yet to provide inspiration and contribute to the development of humanities around the world.
He calls for a change in the way of storytelling and writing by Chinese scholars, saying that holding events like the forum, and bringing domestic and foreign scholars together, will help them work out how they can make themselves understood to an international audience.
Kern says that there was a time when discussions of classical studies in the West revolved largely around ancient Greece and Rome, but that studies of the ancient world now increasingly involve dozens of classical traditions, including that of early China.
Xu says that for a century, Chinese scholars have become used to a classification system that categorizes the study of ancient textual cultures into disciplines such as history, philosophy and Chinese literature, but he adds that it’s time to bring back the field of “Chinese classical studies”, which breaks the current disciplinary boundaries, and is consistent with the academic tradition of ancient China that has proved efficient over the course of history.
Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Kristina Dmitrova
SPbGASU has announced a student competition for the concept of the main building’s vestibule. The best project will be proposed for implementation, and its author will go down in the history of their native university. Graduates of our university who have succeeded in their profession and built a career at the international level have been invited as experts. They not only evaluate the works, but also give lectures where they share their experience. Among them is the famous and successful architect Kristina Dmitrova.
Kristina Dmitrova graduated from the architecture department of SPbGASU in 2015 with honors. At the age of twenty-one, she won an architectural competition and went to Rome for an internship at the Exclusiva Design studio, which developed premium-class interior projects. At twenty-four, Kristina opened her own business specializing in the design of public interiors and private homes. One of her first commercial projects was the Alpenhaus restaurant on Krestovsky Island in St. Petersburg for 1,200 people. Today, Kristina Dmitrova’s company has accumulated extensive experience in cooperation with various business areas, the public sector, and has designed more than 50 thousand square meters of various objects, including abroad. Based on her own experience, she identified nine golden rules of public interior design and recommended that students carefully study them in order to design a successful project that will be approved by the customer. The lecturer confirmed each rule with real objects.
So, rule #1 “Clarity, clarity, clarity” requires being specific and consistent, being able to correctly and clearly convey the details of your project to the customer and make decisions promptly. Otherwise, decisions will be made by third-party contractors involved in the project, and the reputation of the architect-designer will suffer. “Your task is to competently implement the project, and not dissolve in creative fantasies,” advised Kristina Dmitrova.
Rule #2 “5 percent and 95 percent” clearly distinguishes between time and effort for design and project implementation. As practice shows, only 5 percent of time and labor resources should be devoted to design, the rest should be spent on implementation. For example, out of the entire team, only two specialists are engaged in design during the month, and the rest – in implementation for nine months. “Meanwhile, the success of the project implementation largely depends on these 5 percent. Therefore, the concept must be seriously dealt with, but keep in mind that without the competencies of other specialists participating in the implementation of the project, without experienced managers, success cannot be achieved,” the architect emphasized.
Rule #3 requires the use of wear-resistant materials. Public places usually have a high flow of visitors, so the materials must be durable so that the facility can justify itself functionally. The larger the public project, the greater the flow of people and the more wear-resistant the materials must be. “Otherwise, they will soon become unusable, the establishment will incur repair costs and will be forced to close, which means it will lose profits. Therefore, wear-resistant and easily restored materials are a priority,” the expert advised.
Rule No. 4 provides principles of interaction with contractors. It is necessary to take into account that, in addition to the architect, other specialists are also involved in the project, for example, engineers, who are obliged to comply with standards and requirements. “And here you need to be a mediator-negotiator. They do according to the requirements, and we need to create a beautiful interior. Therefore, our task is to get permission from them and not spoil the design. To do this, it is necessary to study engineering systems in order to understand the engineer’s train of thought in advance,” Kristina emphasized.
Rule #5 requires paying attention to vandalism prevention. Don’t have illusions that people will use everything carefully, everything should be securely fastened.
Rule #6 says: the less maintenance the interior requires, the better. For example, if you want to add greenery, then you should give preference to artificial, because living greenery requires proper care, proper lighting, and hiring additional staff. “Technology in the production of artificial greenery has advanced far, and now it is difficult to distinguish it from living plants. Even in Singapore, where, it would seem, there are all the conditions for growing living plants, this is the rule they adhere to in interior design,” said Christina.
Rule #7 requires working closely with the fire department. Their requirements do not allow for flexibility, so it is necessary to discuss any restrictions with them in advance.
Rule #8 is the proper use of the customer company’s branding elements – corporate colors, symbols. For such interior visualization, you need to request their brand book.
Rule #9 concerns the creation of a unique design. Often, the customer wants not only to receive a unique interior at the time of creation, but also to prevent its further duplication. This is normal practice, and such wishes should be listened to.
The specialist also advised participating in various competitions to gain experience. The students listened to the practicing architect with interest and actively asked questions.
“By participating in the competition as an expert, I thank my home university for the time I spent here, the teachers who gave me deep professional knowledge, and I consider it my duty to contribute to its further development. In addition, I want to help students with practical advice that I would be glad to hear from practicing specialists during my years of study. I am sure that my experience will help them in the competition and in their future profession,” noted Kristina.
The operator of the competition was the Educational Center for Project-Based Learning of SPbGASU. Its director Alexandra Yugay emphasized that the contestants face a difficult task.
“Based on this, we invited not only heads of departments and teachers as experts, but also graduates of our university who have built a career in interior design bureaus, so that they could give applied lectures on public interior design, talk about approaches to design, based on their own practice. This will allow the competition participants to adjust their projects taking into account advice from professionals, and delve deeper into this topic. The semi-final of the competition will take place on November 8, ten finalists will be announced. Taking into account the opinions of experts, they will finalize their projects to participate in the final, which will take place at the end of November,” said Alexandra Yugai.
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.
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Beam Global, (Nasdaq: BEEM), a leading provider of innovative and sustainable infrastructure solutions for the electrification of transportation and energy security, is pleased to announce the appointment of Andy Lovsted as Vice President of Sales. In this role Mr. Lovsted will spearhead Beam Global’s sales strategy to expand the company’s footprint in electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure and energy security markets.
Mr. Lovsted is a proven leader in managing sales for large enterprises and in emerging markets with over 20 years of executive leadership experience in the technology sector. He is recognized for his ability to transform sales organizations and deliver exceptional results, most recently, as Vice President of Sales at Nice North America LLC, previously known as Nortek Security & Control, LLC, one of the largest smart commercial and industrial solutions manufacturing companies in the world. Mr. Lovsted managed a portfolio of products including partnerships with ADT, Brinks Home, Samsung and TELUS, responsible for approximately $500M in annual revenue. His expertise spans various industries including transportation, storage and security technologies where he has been instrumental in launching innovative products and driving significant revenue.
“We are thrilled to welcome Andy to our team at a pivotal moment for Beam Global, to drive growth in commercial and government sectors through optimizing our internal team’s capabilities and, importantly, through the force multiplication effect of engaging agents, resellers and distributors,” said Desmond Wheatley, CEO of Beam Global. “Andy’s proven track record in driving high-performance teams and his extensive experience in growing distribution networks in the technology and automation sectors make him uniquely qualified to scale our sales programs and capture new opportunities in the rapidly expanding markets we target.”
“I’m excited to join Beam Global as the company continues its leadership in providing rapidly deployed, scalable and sustainable EV charging, smart city and energy storage solutions,” said Mr. Lovsted. “The rapid adoption of electric vehicles, increased electrical capacity requirements and evermore challenging environmental conditions make me confident that Beam Global’s innovative products are well-positioned to meet the growing demand while creating a fantastic growth engine. Building a sales team that gets to sell industry leading, unique and patented products that are highly relevant, is exciting, fun and rewarding. I look forward to being at the sharp end of the company’s mission of providing sustainable energy solutions.”
Throughout his career Mr. Lovsted has demonstrated an ability to build and execute effective go-to-market strategies, foster key industry relationships and implement transformative sales initiatives. He focuses on maximizing efficiency, driving accountability and implementing strategic change management to optimize team performance. His background includes driving significant sales and marketing and business development for Hewlett Packard, Seagate, Siemens, Nice and others where he has built and led teams of 100+. Mr. Lovsted holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Marketing from San Diego State University.
About Beam Global
Beam Global is a clean technology innovator which develops and manufactures sustainable infrastructure products and technologies. We operate at the nexus of clean energy and transportation with a focus on sustainable energy infrastructure, rapidly deployed and scalable EV charging solutions, safe energy storage and vital energy security. With operations in the U.S. and Europe, Beam Global develops, patents, designs, engineers and manufactures unique and advanced clean technology solutions that power transportation, provide secure sources of electricity, save time and money and protect the environment. Headquartered in San Diego with facilities in Chicago, Belgrade and Kraljevo, Beam Global has a deep patent portfolio and is listed on Nasdaq under the symbol BEEM. For more information visit BeamForAll.com, LinkedIn, YouTube and X (formerly Twitter).
If Donald Trump wins the US presidency on November 5, his victory will have profound implications for other countries on many fronts. Not least of them will be climate change policy.
Perhaps the uncertainty now hanging over US politics was on the mind of Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, who shilly-shallied this week over when he’ll announce Australia’s 2035 emissions reduction target under the Paris climate agreement.
Bowen refused to be pinned down at the Australian Financial Review’s energy and climate summit on whether the target would be public before next year’s election. Neither his office nor that of the prime minister would be more specific later.
Australia, like other countries, is required under the Paris agreement to put forward its target in February. But, also like other countries, Australia is focused on what’s happening in the US.
Trump wants to take the US out of the Paris agreement for the second time. The first exit took effect immediately after his 2020 defeat and incoming President Joe Biden was able to reverse it at once. This time, there’d be no such quick turnaround.
The Biden administration has been strongly committed on climate issues. If the US exited, the Paris agreement would likely be transformed.
There may be other reasons why Bowen is being cagey about the 2035 target. Climate change and energy will be harder issues for Labor in this election, as it struggles with the realities of the transition, than in the 2022 one.
In the run-up to that election, a desperate Scott Morrison pulled out all stops to win support within the Coalition to sign up to the 2050 net-zero emissions target.
Labor was on the front foot, with a policy for a 43% reduction in emissions (on 2005 levels) by 2030, underpinned by a target of 82% renewable electricity by then. The election promise for consumers was a $275 cut in household power bills by 2025.
Crafting a policy is often easier than implementing it. The journey to a clean energy economy is arduous.
The $275 promise was quickly seen as unrealisable. The government has had to provide rebates to keep prices in check. The rollout of renewables is complicated by local resistance to some projects, including wind farms and transmission lines. At present, more than 40% of electricity comes from renewables.
The cost-of-living crisis has increasingly dominated everything. Climate change remains a significant issue with people, but over time it tends to go up and down their scale of concerns, depending on changing circumstances.
The Ipsos Climate Change Report, done annually, found in 2024 “strong notional support for the energy transition”, but low understanding of what progress had been made.
Concerns about the negative impacts of the transition on cost of living and energy reliability have increased, particularly in the current high inflation environment. The perceived economic benefits of the transition are less clear, with many unsure about the impact on jobs and the broader economy.
The emphasis on cost of living is influencing priorities for the energy transition, with Australians wanting to see energy prices and reliability prioritised. There is a growing sentiment that Australia should only take action if other countries are also contributing fairly to climate change efforts.
Of course a summer of bad bushfires can change people’s priorities suddenly. Barring that, Labor is looking at a 2025 election in which it will be more on the defensive than the offensive on climate and energy issues.
The opposition has already acted to sharpen the difference with Labor over the medium term targets. Peter Dutton will have no 2035 target before the election, and has questioned the 2030 target to which Australia is signed up, although he says a Coalition government would not leave the Paris agreement. He is also running hard on his controversial policy for nuclear energy.
While Bowen is not clarifying whether he’ll announce the government’s target ahead of the election, it would be awkward for Australia not to meet the February deadline.
There would not be a penalty, but it would be a bad look, especially given we are vying with Turkey to host, together with Pacific countries, COP31 in 2026. One unknown, incidentally, is whether a Coalition government would continue this bid, which the opposition has describes as a “vanity project”.
If the government does announce the 2035 target before the election, the big question is how ambitious it will make it.
Bowen will receive advice on this from the Climate Change Authority, to which the government has appointed, as head, former New South Wales Liberal Treasurer Matt Kean.
A 2035 target in the range of 65-75% […] could be achievable and sustainable if additional action is taken by governments, business, investors and households […]. However, attempting to go much faster could risk significant levels of economic and social disruption and put progress at risk.
A bold target would make the government more vulnerable, just when Labor would want the attention on the Coalition’s problematic nuclear policy. On the other hand, if the target were modest, that would be exploited by the Greens.
Next month, Bowen will attend COP29 in Azerbaijan, where the central issue will be a financial goal, replacing the 2015 goal, for developed and major economies to help fund developing countries’ emission reduction efforts. Bowen, with Egyptian Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad, is leading the consultations on this, and so has a significant role at the conference.
At the COP meeting, Bowen will get a better idea of where other countries are on their expected 2035 targets. He indicated this week he has already started taking soundings. “Obviously […] of course you think about international context.”
By the time of COP, which runs November 11-22, America will have chosen its next president. The COP meeting will either be business-as-usual, looking to an incoming Kamala Harris presidency, or trying to anticipate the implications of a Trump administration that could be a major disruptor of international climate policy.
Michelle Grattan 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: The Conversation – UK – By Frank Ledwidge, Senior Lecturer in Military Strategy and Law, University of Portsmouth
A friend of mine, usually an intensely optimistic pro-Ukraine analyst, returned from Ukraine last week and told me: “It’s like the German Army in January 1945.” The Ukrainians are being driven back on all fronts – including in the Kursk province of Russia, which they had opened with much hope and fanfare in August. More importantly, they are running out of soldiers.
For most of 2024, Ukraine has been losing ground. This week, the town of Selidove in the western Donetsk region is being surrounded and, like Vuhledar earlier this month, is likely to fall in the next week or so – the only variable being how many Ukrainians will be lost in the process. Over the winter, the terrible prospect of a major battle to hold the strategically significant industrial town of Pokrovsk beckons.
Ukrainian forces are steadily losing ground close to the strategically vital town of Pokrovsk, western Donetsk region. Institute for the Study of War
Ultimately, this is not a war of territory but of attrition. The only resource that counts is soldiers – and here the calculus for Ukraine is not positive.
Ukraine claims to have “liquidated” nearly 700,000 Russian soldiers – with more than 120,000 killed and upwards of 500,000 injured. Its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, admitted in February this year to 31,000 Ukrainian fatalities, with no figure given for injured.
A dreadful debate is taking place in Ukraine. The question revolves around whether to mobilise – and risk serious casualties to – the 18-25 age group. Due to economic pressures in the early 2000s, Ukraine suffered a major drop in its birth rate, leaving relatively few people now aged between 15 and 25. Mobilisation and serious attrition of this group may be something Ukraine simply can’t afford, given the already serious demographic crisis the country faces.
History knows of no example where taking on Russia in an attritional contest has proved successful. Let’s be clear: this means there is a real possibility of defeat – there is no sugar-coating this.
Zelensky’s maximalist war aims of restoring Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders, along with other unlikely conditions – which were unchallenged and encouraged by a confused but self-aggrandising west – will not be achieved, and the west’s leaders are partly to blame. Ill-advised wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East left western armed forces hollow, poorly armed, and entirely unprepared for a serious and prolonged conflict, with ammunition stocks likely to last weeks at best.
Only the US has significant stocks of weaponry in the form of thousands of armoured vehicles, tanks and artillery pieces in reserve – and it is unlikely to change its policy of drip-feeding weapons to Ukraine now. Even if such a decision is made, the lead-time for delivery will be years, not months.
In a confidential briefing I attended recently given by western defence officials, the atmosphere was downbeat. The situation is “perilous” and “as bad as it has ever been” for Ukraine. Western powers cannot afford another strategic disaster like Afghanistan which, in the words of Ernest Hemingway (aptly quoted by the strategist Lawrence Freedman), happened “gradually, then suddenly”.
There will be no decisive breakthrough by Russia’s army when they take this town or that (say, Pokrovsk). They haven’t the capability to do it. So, there won’t be a collapse – no “Kyiv as Kabul” moment.
However, there are limits to the losses Ukraine can take. We do not know where that limit lies, but we’ll know when it happens. Crucially, there will be no victory for Ukraine. Unforgivably, there is not, and never has been, a western strategy except to bleed Russia as long as possible.
The problem, as so often before, is that the west has not defined what it considers a success. The cost, meanwhile, is becoming all-too clear.
To have clearly defined its goals and limits would have constituted the beginnings of a strategy – and the west isn’t good at that. Nato’s leaders now need to move quickly beyond meaningless rhetoric or anything that smacks of “as long as it takes”. We saw where that led in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.
We need a realistic answer to what something like a “win”, or at least an acceptable settlement, now looks like – as well as the extent to which it is achievable, and whether the west is really going to pursue it. And then for western leaders to act accordingly.
A starting point could be accepting that Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk are lost – something an increasing number of Ukrainians are beginning to say openly. Then we need to start planning seriously for a post-war Ukraine that will need the west’s suppport more than ever.
Russia cannot possibly take all, or even the bulk of, Ukraine’s territory. Even if it could, it could not possibly hold it. It is amply clear there will be a compromise settlement.
So, it is time for Nato – and the US in particular – to articulate a viable end to this nightmarish ordeal, and to develop a pragmatic strategy to deal with Russia in the coming decade. More importantly, the west must plan how to support a heroic, shattered – but still independent – Ukraine.
Frank Ledwidge 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.
The mirror universe, with the big bang at the centre.Neil Turok, CC BY-SA
We live in a golden age for learning about the universe. Our most powerful telescopes have revealed that the cosmos is surprisingly simple on the largest visible scales. Likewise, our most powerful “microscope”, the Large Hadron Collider, has found no deviations from known physics on the tiniest scales.
These findings were not what most theorists expected. Today, the dominant theoretical approach combines string theory, a powerful mathematical framework with no successful physical predictions as yet, and “cosmic inflation” – the idea that, at a very early stage, the universe ballooned wildly in size. In combination, string theory and inflation predict the cosmos to be incredibly complex on tiny scales and completely chaotic on very large scales.
The nature of the expected complexity could take a bewildering variety of forms. On this basis, and despite the absence of observational evidence, many theorists promote the idea of a “multiverse”: an uncontrolled and unpredictable cosmos consisting of many universes, each with totally different physical properties and laws.
This is article is part of our series Cosmology in crisis? which uncovers the greatest problems facing cosmologists today – and discusses the implications of solving them.
So far, the observations indicate exactly the opposite. What should we make of the discrepancy? One possibility is that the apparent simplicity of the universe is merely an accident of the limited range of scales we can probe today, and that when observations and experiments reach small enough or large enough scales, the asserted complexity will be revealed.
The other possibility is that the universe really is very simple and predictable on both the largest and smallest scales. I believe this possibility should be taken far more seriously. For, if it is true, we may be closer than we imagined to understanding the universe’s most basic puzzles. And some of the answers may already be staring us in the face.
The trouble with string theory and inflation
The current orthodoxy is the culmination of decades of effort by thousands of serious theorists. According to string theory, the basic building blocks of the universe are miniscule, vibrating loops and pieces of sub-atomic string. As currently understood, the theory only works if there are more dimensions of space than the three we experience. So, string theorists assume that the reason we don’t detect them is that they are tiny and curled up.
Unfortunately, this makes string theory hard to test, since there are an almost unimaginable number of ways in which the small dimensions can be curled up, with each giving a different set of physical laws in the remaining, large dimensions.
Meanwhile, cosmic inflation is a scenario proposed in the 1980s to explain why the universe is so smooth and flat on the largest scales we can see. The idea is that the infant universe was small and lumpy, but an extreme burst of ultra-rapid expansion blew it up vastly in size, smoothing it out and flattening it to be consistent with what we see today.
Inflation is also popular because it potentially explains why the energy density in the early universe varied slightly from place to place. This is important because the denser regions would have later collapsed under their own gravity, seeding the formation of galaxies.
Over the past three decades, the density variations have been measured more and more accurately both by mapping the cosmic microwave background – the radiation from the big bang – and by mapping the three-dimensional distribution of galaxies.
In most models of inflation, the early extreme burst of expansion which smoothed and flattened the universe also generated long-wavelength gravitational waves –– ripples in the fabric of space-time. Such waves, if observed, would be a “smoking gun” signal confirming that inflation actually took place. However, so far the observations have failed to detect any such signal. Instead, as the experiments have steadily improved, more and more models of inflation have been ruled out.
Furthermore, during inflation, different regions of space can experience very different amounts of expansion. On very large scales, this produces a multiverse of post-inflationary universes, each with different physical properties.
The history of the universe according to the model of cosmic inflation. wikipedia, CC BY-SA
The inflation scenario is based on assumptions about the forms of energy present and the initial conditions. While these assumptions solve some puzzles, they create others. String and inflation theorists hope that somewhere in the vast inflationary multiverse, a region of space and time exists with just the right properties to match the universe we see.
However, even if this is true (and not one such model has yet been found), a fair comparison of theories should include an “Occam factor”, quantifying Occam’s razor, which penalises theories with many parameters and possibilities over simpler and more predictive ones. Ignoring the Occam factor amounts to assuming that there is no alternative to the complex, unpredictive hypothesis – a claim I believe has little foundation.
Over the past several decades, there have been many opportunities for experiments and observations to reveal specific signals of string theory or inflation. But none have been seen. Again and again, the observations turned out simpler and more minimal than anticipated.
It is high time, I believe, to acknowledge and learn from these failures, and to start looking seriously for better alternatives.
A simpler alternative
Recently, my colleague Latham Boyle and I have tried to build simpler and more testable theories that do away with inflation and string theory. Taking our cue from the observations, we have attempted to tackle some of the most profound cosmic puzzles with a bare minimum of theoretical assumptions.
Our first attempts succeeded beyond our most optimistic hopes. Time will tell whether they survive further scrutiny. However, the progress we have already made convinces me that, in all likelihood, there are alternatives to the standard orthodoxy – which has become a straitjacket we need to break out of.
I hope our experience encourages others, especially younger researchers, to explore novel approaches guided strongly by the simplicity of the observations – and to be more sceptical about their elders’ preconceptions. Ultimately, we must learn from the universe and adapt our theories to it rather than vice versa.
Boyle and I started out by tackling one of cosmology’s greatest paradoxes. If we follow the expanding universe backward in time, using Einstein’s theory of gravity and the known laws of physics, space shrinks away to a single point, the “initial singularity”.
In trying to make sense of this infinitely dense, hot beginning, theorists including Nobel laureate Roger Penrose pointed to a deep symmetry in the basic laws governing light and massless particles. This symmetry, called “conformal” symmetry, means that neither light nor massless particles actually experience the shrinking away of space at the big bang.
By exploiting this symmetry, one can follow light and particles all the way back to the beginning. Doing so, Boyle and I found we could describe the initial singularity as a “mirror”: a reflecting boundary in time (with time moving forward on one side, and backward on the other).
Picturing the big bang as a mirror neatly explains many features of the universe which might otherwise appear to conflict with the most basic laws of physics. For example, for every physical process, quantum theory allows a “mirror” process in which space is inverted, time is reversed and every particle is replaced with its anti-particle (a particle similar to it in almost all respects, but with the opposite electric charge).
According to this powerful symmetry, called CPT symmetry, the “mirror” process should occur at precisely the same rate as the original one. One of the most basic puzzles about the universe is that it appears to [violate CPT symmetry] because time always runs forward and there are more particles than anti-particles.
Our mirror hypothesis restores the symmetry of the universe. When you look in a mirror, you see your mirror image behind it: if you are left-handed, the image is right-handed and vice versa. The combination of you and your mirror image are more symmetrical than you are alone.
Likewise, when Boyle and I extrapolated our universe back through the big bang, we found its mirror image, a pre-bang universe in which (relative to us) time runs backward and antiparticles outnumber particles. For this picture to be true, we don’t need the mirror universe to be real in the classical sense (just as your image in a mirror isn’t real). Quantum theory, which rules the microcosmos of atoms and particles, challenges our intuition so at this point the best we can do is think of the mirror universe as a mathematical device which ensures that the initial condition for the universe does not violate CPT symmetry.
Surprisingly, this new picture provided an important clue to the nature of the unknown cosmic substance called dark matter. Neutrinos are very light, ghostly particles which, typically, move at close to the speed of light and which spin as they move along, like tiny tops. If you point the thumb of your left hand in the direction the neutrino moves, then your four fingers indicate the direction in which it spins. The observed, light neutrinos are called “left-handed” neutrinos.
Heavy “right-handed” neutrinos have never been seen directly, but their existence has been inferred from the observed properties of light, left-handed neutrinos. Stable, right-handed neutrinos would be the perfect candidate for dark matter because they don’t couple to any of the known forces except gravity. Before our work, it was unknown how they might have been produced in the hot early universe.
Our mirror hypothesis allowed us to calculate exactly how many would form, and to show they could explain the cosmic dark matter.
A testable prediction followed: if the dark matter consists of stable, right-handed neutrinos, then one of three light neutrinos that we know of must be exactly massless. Remarkably, this prediction is now being tested using observations of the gravitational clustering of matter made by large-scale galaxy surveys.
The entropy of universes
Encouraged by this result, we set about tackling another big puzzle: why is the universe so uniform and spatially flat, not curved, on the largest visible scales? The cosmic inflation scenario was, after all, invented by theorists to solve this problem.
Entropy is a concept which quantifies the number of different ways a physical system can be arranged. For example, if we put some air molecules in a box, the most likely configurations are those which maximise the entropy – with the molecules more or less smoothly spread throughout space and sharing the total energy more or less equally. These kinds of arguments are used in statistical physics, the field which underlies our understanding of heat, work and thermodynamics.
The late physicist Stephen Hawking and collaborators famously generalised statistical physics to include gravity. Using an elegant argument, they calculated the temperature and the entropy of black holes. Using our “mirror” hypothesis, Boyle and I managed to extend their arguments to cosmology and to calculate the entropy of entire universes.
To our surprise, the universe with the highest entropy (meaning it is the most likely, just like the atoms spread out in the box) is flat and expands at an accelerated rate, just like the real one. So statistical arguments explain why the universe is flat and smooth and has a small positive accelerated expansion, with no need for cosmic inflation.
How would the primordial density variations, usually attributed to inflation, have been generated in our symmetrical mirror universe? Recently, we showed that a specific type of quantum field (a dimension zero field) generates exactly the type of density variations we observe, without inflation. Importantly, these density variations aren’t accompanied by the long wavelength gravitational waves which inflation predicts – and which haven’t been seen.
These results are very encouraging. But more work is needed to show that our new theory is both mathematically sound and physically realistic.
Even if our new theory fails, it has taught us a valuable lesson. There may well be simpler, more powerful and more testable explanations for the basic properties of the universe than those the standard orthodoxy provides.
By facing up to cosmology’s deep puzzles, guided by the observations and exploring directions as yet unexplored, we may be able to lay more secure foundations for both fundamental physics and our understanding of the universe.
Neil Turok 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.
In the UK and Ireland, children who have significant special educational needs and disabilities can receive their education outside mainstream school. This often takes place in “special schools” or “special classes”.
In the UK, as well as the Republic of Ireland, legislation sets out that children have the right to attend mainstream education. This right cannot be refused based on the complexity of the child’s needs. However, many children are educated in specialist schools, and the devolved governments of the UK, and Ireland, have taken differing approaches to this provision.
But there is a problem. Across the UK and Ireland, there are far fewer places available in specialist schools and classes for the number of children identified with needs significant enough to warrant a place.
England
In 2010, then-prime minister David Cameron set out the aim to “end the bias” towards including children with special educational needs and disabilities in mainstream schools.
His government felt there had been an overemphasis on inclusion in mainstream schools. As a consequence, England has seen an expansion of specialist education provision. From 2015 to 2023, there has been a 47% increase in the number of pupils at special schools in England – from 109,177 to 161,072.
However, as of May 2024, 4,407 children across England were waiting for school places in specialist provision.
There has also been a large increase in the number of appeals against councils by parents or carers of children with special educational needs in England, challenging the decision made around a child’s school placement and provision.
A new report from the National Audit Office on special educational needs suggests that the current system in England is unsustainable, with many councils set to run out of money by early 2026.
Wales
Wales has also seen a 25% increase in special school provision from 2017-18 to 2023-4.
However, there has recently been a large decrease in the number of learners being identified with additional learning needs. This has coincided with the introduction of a new additional learning needs system.
However, the proportion of all learners in special schools has increased. This means that this reduction in identification does not seem to have changed the number of those who require specialist placements.
Scotland
Scotland has taken a different route. Here, the legal right to mainstream schooling has been taken a step further: there is an underlying “presumption of mainstreaming”, in other words, a right to attend a mainstream school, although exceptions in which a specialist provision should be considered are set out.
This presumption of mainstreaming means that there has been a reduction in the number of special schools. However, alongside this there has been an increase in the proportion of children not spending time in mainstream classes.
This implies that more children are being educated in units attached to mainstream schools, without necessarily participating in mainstream classes. A recent review has raised concerns that the children with additional support needs in mainstream schools are not having their needs met.
Northern Ireland
The number of children with a statement of special educational needs in Northern Ireland increased by 24% in the five years from 2017-18 to 2021-22. A Department of Education official recently told the Education Committee of the NI Assembly that there was a need for an additional 1,000 places for children with SEN. This would require 66 new special school classes and 94 new specialist classes in mainstream schools.
Northern Ireland is addressing the increased demand for special school places by embarking on a programme to develop specialist provision in mainstream schools. It is important to note, however, that although attached to and often under the same roof as mainstream schools, these are separate, specialist classes for children whose needs would ordinarily have been met in special schools, if pupil places had been available.
Republic of Ireland
In the Irish republic, there has been a dramatic increase in demand for specialist provision. There has also been an increase in the number of special schools in recent years, from 123 in 2018-19 to 134 in 2024-25, and further schools are planned.
However, the challenges experienced by children with SEN in accessing school places continues. Some children are receiving home tuition grants because they don’t have a school place, and even more students are waiting to secure a place for the school year 2024-25. To address this, the minister for education in Ireland is now able to compel schools to open special classes under amended legislation.
The challenge
The devolved governments of the UK, and the Republic of Ireland, are committed to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which upholds the right to inclusive education for all learners. This includes the right to be educated without segregation.
Scotland have addressed this by reducing specialist provision – although there have been criticisms of how this has been implemented in practice. Elsewhere in the UK, the demand for specialist provision is leading to each government increasing the amount of specialist provision, as opposed to considering how the principles of inclusive education could be embedded in mainstream schools.
In line with guidance from the UN, it is important to consider how mainstream schools can effectively support and include all learners. If these schools are designed to better accommodate a broader range of learners, the need for specialist placements could well decrease.
However, criticisms of the Scottish system show that without adequate support, placing children with special educational needs in mainstream schools is not enough for students to feel fully included.
Cathryn Knight receives funding from the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account.
Joanne Banks receives funding from The Irish Research Council New Foundations Award.
Noel Purdy 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.
Most people imagine philosophers as rational thinkers who spend their time developing abstract logical theories and strongly reject superstitious beliefs. But several 20th-century philosophers actively investigated spooky topics such as clairvoyance, telepathy – even ghosts.
Many of these philosophers, including Henri Bergson and William James, were interested in what was called “psychical research”. This was the academic study of paranormal phenomena including telepathy, telekinesis and other-worldly spirits.
These thinkers attended seances and were attempting to develop theories about ghosts, life after death and the powers exhibited by mediums in trances. My recent archival research has been looking at how these topics shaped 20th-century philosophy.
CD Broad (1887-1971) was a professor of philosophy at the University of Cambridge. He is now recognised as one of the most important writers on the philosophy of time. He also published on ethics, logic and the history of philosophy. What is less known, though, is that he was an active member of the Society for Psychical Research, a learned society dedicated to the study of paranormal phenomena. The society twice elected him as their president, and he published widely on topics including clairvoyance and poltergeists.
In his 1925 book, The Mind and Its Place in Nature, Broad developed what has come to be known as the “compound theory” of ghosts. Broad argued that the human mind was a compound of two components. One of these was the “physical factor,” roughly corresponding to the body. The other one was the “psychic factor,” which carries our mental content like emotions or thoughts. The two of them conjointly form the human mind – just like salt is composed of sodium and chloride.
Broad believed that after death, the psychic factor can continue existing for a bit on its own and might enter, like a spirit, a medium during a seance.
Images in the ether
Another philosopher interested in ghosts and spirits of the dead was HH Price (1899-1984). He was a professor of logic at the University of Oxford and is mostly known for his publications on the philosophy of perception. However, just like Broad, he was heavily involved in the Society for Psychical Research and attended several international conferences dedicated to life after death and telepathy.
In his presidential address to the society in 1939, Price tried to offer an explanation of ghosts and hauntings.
At any given moment, he argued, your mind is full of “mental images” – the memory of your last holiday, the things you see outside your window, your hopes and expectations for the future. Price theorised that there is a substance, which he called the “psychic ether” that exists halfway between matter and the human mind. He believed that this ether could carry the images that currently exist in your mind even after you die. A bundle of these images and memories can appear as a ghost to some particularly sensitive people.
What does ‘ghost’ mean?
Casimir Lewy (1919-1991) was one of the most influential philosophical logicians of the 20th century. He spent most of his career at the University of Cambridge – in fact, the philosophy faculty library there is named after him.
Lewy is now mostly known for his work on logic, and few people know that he actually wrote his PhD thesis (which was examined by Broad) on life after death.
Portrait of Casimir Lewy by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (1937). Trinity College
He was primarily interested in language and in the meanings of the terms people use when they talk about ghosts and life after death. What does it mean to say that I might survive the death of my body? What sort of experiences would I need to have as a ghost for the statement “I have survived my death” to be true? Would I have to be able to see myself in the mirror, or to speak to people in the seance room?
Lewy insisted that these questions need answering before looking at the empirical “evidence” for ghosts.
Following a series of scandalous and widely publicised discoveries of fraudulent mediums faking their supernatural powers and accusations of pseudo-scientific research methods, psychical research eventually moved to the fringes of academia. Lewy, for example, never returned to write on these topics after passing the defence of his PhD in 1943.
Nevertheless, despite its brief lifespan, academic psychical research had a significant influence on an entire generation of British philosophers. It shaped their views on time, causation and matter, and gave them an opportunity to think one of life’s most pressing questions: what happens after we die?
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Matyáš Moravec 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 report from the National Audit Office into special educational needs provision in England has concluded that despite a significant increase investment over the last decade, “the system is still not delivering better outcomes for children and young people”.
This is borne out by my research. Students with special educational needs in England are significantly behind in reading, writing and maths compared to their classmates.
Laws like the 2014 Children and Families Act, which aimed to improve support for these students, haven’t closed the gap. My recent research suggests that we need to rethink current educational policies and practices.
My study looked at data from 2.5 million year 6 students (aged ten and 11) between 2014 and 2019. It shows that students with special educational needs are significantly behind in key academic areas.
On average, students with special educational needs are two years behind in writing and one and a half years behind in reading and maths. The gap in maths is growing, which is especially worrying. It shows that current educational strategies are failing these students.
Not all students with special educational needs face the same challenges. Students with intellectual disabilities were, on average, more than two years behind in writing and maths. In contrast, students with autism spectrum disorder and visual impairment do somewhat better, especially in reading, but they are still, on average, about one year behind.
Rethinking support
Despite well-intentioned policies, current educational frameworks are falling short. A major issue is the heavy reliance on teaching assistants as the main support for students with special educational needs in mainstream schools.
Teaching assistants are dedicated and play an important role in classrooms. However, research shows that their involvement can sometimes have negative effects on academic outcomes due to a limited range of teaching methods and lack of professional development. Over-relying on teaching assistants without specialised support might be one reason for the continuing achievement gap.
This raises important questions. If we would not accept teaching assistants as the main instructors for typical students, it should not be acceptable for students with special educational needs, who have more complex learning needs.
Support in schools also comes from special educational needs coordinators. They manage the school’s approach to supporting students with special educational needs. They handle administrative tasks, work with parents and outside agencies, and ensure legal compliance. But while their role is important, they usually do not teach students directly.
One solution is to have specialised special education teachers in mainstream schools. This is not just a suggestion; it’s a critical need.
Special education teachers are trained educators who work directly with students needing extra support. They teach tailored lessons, adapt teaching materials, and use specialised strategies to meet individual learning needs. Their focus is on providing hands-on educational help within the school.
Learning from other countries
Integrating special education teachers into our mainstream classrooms, as seen in countries such as the US and Singapore, could be the key to better supporting our students.
In these countries, special education teachers are part of the mainstream classrooms. They complete certification programmes, learning advanced skills in assessing students’ needs, developing tailored support and creating individual education plans. They teach alongside general educators, ensuring that students with special educational needs are not left out but receive high-quality support.
This approach addresses both academic and emotional needs in the classroom, providing an effective support system.
Similar steps should be taken in England to establish comprehensive special education teacher training programmes. This could include postgraduate certifications in special education or specialised modules in existing teacher education programmes.
Inspection frameworks like Ofsted must include specific criteria to evaluate the presence and effectiveness of specialised support in classrooms for students with special educational needs.
Schools should be encouraged to hire qualified special education teachers, and government funding models must be changed to support these professionals. Also, ongoing professional development should be a priority, ensuring that all educators expand their expertise in proven teaching methods.
By aligning teacher training, hiring and policies, England can reduce its reliance on teaching assistants as the main support for students with special educational needs. Instead, schools can have strong support systems led by trained special education teachers. These specialists can work with teaching assistants and classroom teachers to provide more effective, targeted support.
This change would provide students with special educational needs with improved overall quality of teaching and learning. This could lead to mainstream classrooms fostering a truly inclusive educational environment.
Johny Daniel 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.
This December, the Council’s Chamber will come alive with the sound of Christmas as the Mayor of Preston hosts the annual ‘Carols in the Chamber’.
On Wednesday, 4 December, members of the community are invited to join the Mayor, civic leaders and Preston Gilbert and Sullivan Society, at Preston Town Hall for a heartwarming evening of traditional carols.
Preston Gilbert and Sullivan Society will lead the audience in singing Christmas classics such as O Little Town of Bethlehem, Away in a Manger, Joy to the World, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and Silent Night.
Councillor Phil Crowe, Mayor of Preston, said:
“This is a tradition that dates back many years, and I’m privileged to host this event once again. I look forward to welcoming the community for an evening of festivities and joyful singing.
The money raised from the event will be going to my chosen charities which I am proud to support and all do fantastic work in their communities.”
The evening will begin with a festive reception at 6:30pm, featuring complimentary mince pies and drink. Carols will commence at 7pm.
Tickets for the evening cost £10, with all proceeds from the event going to the Mayor’s chosen charities:
Naga (Agenzia Fides) – More than 25 parishes and church facilities, such as the Basilica of Our Lady of Peñafrancia and the Ateneo de Naga University of the Archdiocese of Caceres, managed by the Jesuit Order, have opened their doors and are acting as temporary evacuation centers for displaced persons and families affected by the effects of Typhoon Kristine (international name: Trami), which is devastating the northeastern Philippines. The floods and landslides caused by the tropical storm, which began yesterday, October 23, have claimed at least 24 lives in the Bilcol region, while thousands are trapped in the villages. The government has closed schools and offices throughout the island of Luzon to protect the population. The “National Council for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management” reported that about 78,000 families in 14 provinces were affected by the devastating effects of the typhoon, after which initial relief efforts were immediately activated by institutions, non-governmental organizations and the church. As Caritas Philippines reports, the Catholic dioceses in the affected areas have activated teams of volunteers to assess the extent of the damage and take appropriate measures. “Our priority is to ensure the fastest possible aid for the most needy and weakest,” said Bishop Colin Bagaforo, President of Caritas Philippines. He points out that the structures of the local churches have agreed to welcome the refugees.The Archdiocese of Cáceres, meanwhile, made a public appeal to parishes, schools and institutions that can temporarily provide rooms for the displaced. In the diocese of Legazpi, several parish churches have been flooded but, despite the floods, have opened the doors of their parish centers, which are still accessible: the parish church of Polangui, for example, although affected, is hosting nearly 300 people, the most vulnerable displaced, such as pregnant and breastfeeding women with their children, the sick and the elderly. Some of them are housed in the parish priest’s home.Caritas Philippines has also launched a nationwide appeal for donations to provide essentials and humanitarian aid to the displaced. (PA (Agenzia Fides, 24/10/2024)
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Legible Inc. (CSE: READ) (OTCQB: LEBGF) (FSE: D0T) (“Legible or “the Company”), a leading platform and innovator in digital literature, announces an offering of units (“Units”) for gross proceeds of $2,100,000 by way of a non-brokered private placement (the “Offering”) pursuant to exemptions from applicable securities laws. Each Unit consists of one common share (“Common Share(s)”) and one whole Common Share purchase warrant (“Warrant(s)”) with each Warrant entitling the holder to acquire 1 Common Share at a price of $0.14, at any time prior to 5:00 pm (PST) on the date that is two years from the closing date. If the volume weighted average trading price of the Common shares is at least $0.40 per Common Share for a period of 5 consecutive trading days, the expiry date of the Warrants may be accelerated by the Company to a date that is not less than 14 days after the date that notice of such acceleration is provided to the Warrant holders by way of a press release.
The Company has received subscription agreements totaling $1.7 Million. Closing may occur in tranches, with the first tranche expected to close on or about October 31, 2024.
Legible is also pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Andrew Nelson to the position of Chief Technology Officer. Mr. Nelson is a Senior Software Engineer who brings nearly 20 years of experience in a wide array of technological and business development roles spanning a wide array of industries, having held a number of senior positions. Prior to Mr. Nelson’s appointment as Legible’s CTO, Mr. Nelson held the position of Director of Technology at Legible as of January 2024. Mr. Nelson’s proficiencies in software development, web design, cybersecurity, data analytics, organizational planning, and product development have helped companies create and implement scalable, customer-focused solutions to drive business growth and brand recognition. Mr. Nelson also has extensive executive and board experience.
Andrew Nelson stated, “I’m incredibly grateful to take on this leadership role at Legible, a company with such a positive mission to revolutionize how people read and interact with digital literature. Our technology roadmap is centered around creating personalized, accessible, and intuitive experiences that seamlessly integrate into everyday life. As CTO, I’m committed to ensuring that our product innovation and leadership align fully with Legible’s mission, enriching the way audiences engage with literature across the globe.”
Kaleeg Hainsworth, CEO of Legible, commented, “We are deeply grateful for the support of our lead investor, a U.S.-based private financial services corporation, which has committed CDN$1.61 million to this Offering. This funding will strengthen our balance sheet and empower us to ramp up marketing and sales initiatives, fueling the growth of our Legible Unbound Subscription service. At just US$9.99 per month, Legible Unbound is gaining traction by offering unlimited access to a vast and growing catalogue of eBooks and audiobooks. We are thrilled also to welcome Andrew Nelson as our new Chief Technology Officer. Andrew’s sophisticated understanding of user experience, technological trends, and eCommerce will be invaluable as we scale globally across all our verticals. He is experienced, proven, genuinely understands what Legible is achieving, resilient, a fantastic people person, and is greatly respected in his community. Andrew enhances our executive team and supports Legible’s mission to innovate and lead in the digital literary space, now more than ever.”
Further to Legible’s Press Release dated July 18, 2024 wherein Legible announced its warrant incentive program (the “WIP”), Legible is pleased to announce the WIP resulted in: (i) a total of 3,374,936 warrants being exercised at $0.07 for proceeds of $236,246, which included $180,233 in the settlement of outstanding indebtedness; and (ii) the issuance of new warrants exercisable on or before August 16, 2025 at $0.10 for an additional 3,374,936 common shares. In the event that the volume weighted average trading price of the common shares of Legible on the Canadian Securities Exchange is at least $0.30 for a minimum of 10 consecutive trading days (whether or not trading occurs on all such days), Legible may, in its sole discretion, issue a news release announcing that the exercise period has been reduced to twenty-one (21) days following the date of the issuance of such news release (the “Accelerated Expiry Date”). If such news release is issued, all such warrants that are not exercised prior to 5:00 p.m. Vancouver time on the Accelerated Expiry Date will expire immediately after such time on the Accelerated Expiry Date.
In addition, further to the Company’s press release dated January 24, 2024, Legible announces the conclusion of its engagement with Investor Cubed Inc. (“Investor Cubed”), which provided investor relations and shareholder communication services, effective immediately. Legible extends its gratitude to Investor Cubed for their contributions and support during the engagement.
About Legible Inc.
Legible is a groundbreaking, mobile-centric global company specializing in eBook and audiobook entertainment. Its extensive partnerships encompass four of the Big 5 Publishers, the world’s largest eBook distributors, and outstanding publishers of all sizes, enabling Legible to deliver millions of eBooks and audiobooks, transforming any smart device into a source of cutting-edge infotainment.
Legible recently released My Model Kitchen– Vol. 2: Vegetables – The Garden of Earthly Delights, the second of 15 video-enriched Living Cookbooks by former supermodel, bestselling author, TV host and celebrity chef Cristina Ferrare, with an AI Sous Chef for each recipe. The Living Cookbooks and Ms. Ferrare have been featured twice on the Drew Barrymore Show and in many other major US media outlets.
A first mover in the rapidly expanding automotive infotainment market, Legible has partnered with media providers Faurecia Aptoide, Harman Ignite, LiveOne, and Visteon. Legible has the only Android Automotive app that delivers both audiobooks and eBooks to drivers and passengers in tens of millions of vehicles around the globe, positioning Legible at the forefront of the new world of in-car infotainment experiences.
The 2024 EdTech Breakthrough Award winner for eLearning Innovation of the Year, Legible is reshaping the digital publishing landscape, committed to gaining significant market share through its innovative 21st-century publishing solutions and enriched reading experiences. Visit Legible.com, where eBooks come to life.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Information This Press Release contains certain statements which constitute forward-looking statements or information (“forward-looking statements”), including statements regarding Legible’s business. Such forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond Legible’s control, including the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, currency fluctuations, the lack of availability of qualified personnel or management, stock market volatility and the ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources. Although Legible believes that the expectations in its forward-looking statements are reasonable, they are based on factors and assumptions concerning future events which may prove to be inaccurate. Those factors and assumptions are based upon currently available information. Such statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could influence actual results or events and cause actual results or events to differ materially from those stated, anticipated or implied in the forward- looking information. As such, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward- looking information, as no assurance can be provided as to future results, levels of activity or achievements. The forward-looking statements contained in this document are made as of the date of this document and, except as required by applicable law, Legible does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The forward-looking statements contained in this document are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.
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The $15 million financing will enable BURN to produce and distribute its industry-leading ECOA Induction Cooker to over 1 million households across East Africa.
The investment will positively impact 6.5 million people, avoiding 12 million tons of carbon emissions over a period of 5 years.
Today BURN, the world’s leading clean cooking appliance manufacturer, distributor, and carbon project developer, and the European Investment Bank signed an agreement to invest $15 million from the EIB to fund the distribution of BURN’s ECOA Electric Induction cooker to households across the East African region.
Announced at a signature ceremony on the margins of the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings in Washington, the US$15 million debt investment from EIB Global will finance a solution that could significantly reduce indoor air pollution in homes across the world – a problem that currently causes 4 million premature deaths a year, and disproportionally affects the health of women living in developing countries.
Speaking from Washington the EIB Group President, Nadia Calviño said, “The investment that we have agreed today is not just about improving lives, but saving them as well. With relatively simple technology for clean cooking we will strengthen communities, especially by protecting the health of women, and their families.
This will have a positive impact on the climate as well by lowering carbon emissions. Supporting potentially transformative projects like BURN’s expansion of affordable clean cooking for more than a million households in Africa is the kind of initiative that the European Union aims to support more of under our Global Gateway Initiative.”
From Washington, Peter Scott, Founder and CEO of BURN, stated, “BURN has already brought our unique PAYC electric cooking solution to thousands of households in Kenya and Tanzania that were previously relying on traditional charcoal stoves. This investment by EIB will help us transition over a million low-income households to cooking with electricity, allowing them to cook on grids that are 80-95% powered by renewable energy.”
The EIB financing announced today in Washington will enable the appliances to be offered via BURN’s innovative, Pay-As-You-Cook payment offering. This tech-enabled payment solution enables affordable financing for low-income households currently using solid biomass as their primary cooking fuel but who are unable to afford full upfront payments typically required for clean electric cooking appliances.
This project is also actively supporting the empowerment of women – and has been qualified as a gender lens investment by the 2X Challenge, a global initiative launched at the G7 summit in 2018, with the EIB as one of its members. The 2X Challenge aims to accelerate private sector investments that support women in low- and middle-income countries, using a standardized set of criteria known as the 2X criteria.
The financing support to BURN is through the Desiree Investment Envelope under the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Impact Finance Envelope (“IFE”).
The financing package from the European Commission aims to support the participation by the EIB in high-risk projects in ACP countries to support greater investments in energy efficiency and electrification ventures. The IFE supports projects that generate superior developmental impact with the overarching objective of poverty reduction through developing the private sector by taking a higher risk of investment for high developmental impact.
The ECOA Induction cooker is bundled with a high-quality, 3-piece stainless steel induction cookware set, fully manufactured in Kenya. The appliances reduce indoor air pollution by 100%, decrease cooking time by 70%, and save households money on cooking fuels.
BURN’s electric cooking appliances generate high-integrity carbon credits by using integrated cellular-enabled IoT technology which allows for effective, real-time and end-to-end monitoring of energy usage. These electric appliances reduce ~2.5 tonnes of carbon emissions annually, and contribute to EIB’s climate action, gender equality, and economic development objectives.
The company, which is also exporting its products to other countries, is also showcasing Africa’s untapped manufacturing opportunities, that create sustainable job opportunities for many young people.
To date, BURN has distributed over 5 million clean cookstoves across Africa, transforming the lives of 25 million people and preventing 26 million tons of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere.
ABOUT BURN
Founded in 2011, BURN is Africa’s leading producer of clean cookstoves, committed to saving lives, protecting forests, and reducing CO2 emissions. Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, BURN operates in 9 countries and employs over 3,500 people, with a mission to revolutionize the clean cooking sector and provide sustainable cooking solutions across the continent.
The efficiency, safety, and benefits of BURN’s clean cooking appliances have been independently verified through peer-reviewed Randomized Control Trial (RCT) by the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago.
The study found a match to BURN’s usage and consumption measurements, finding a fuel savings of 39% against the baseline, saving families US$119 per year, with each cookstove reducing CO2 emissions by approximately 3.5 tons per year (their recent update to the study found these savings to be robust for 3 years and counting, with 98% of the stoves still in use). This study was peer-reviewed and published in the world’s leading economics journal, The American Economic Review (AER).
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals.
EIB Global is the EIB Group’s specialised arm devoted to increasing the impact of international partnerships and development finance, and a key partner in Global Gateway. We aim to support €100 billion of investment by the end of 2027, around one third of the overall target of this EU initiative. With Team Europe, EIB Global fosters strong, focused partnerships, alongside fellow development finance institutions and civil society. EIB Global brings the Group closer to local people, companies and institutions through our offices around the world.
The EIB Group aims to embed gender equality and in particular women’s economic empowerment in its business model and is also committed to driving gender equality in its workplace. The EIB financed a total of 63 projects across the globe in 2023 that significantly contributed to gender equality and women’s economic empowerment, providing €5.8 billion of investment, more than half of which also supported climate action.
Vadym Chursin’s mother died long before the war. His father, Dmytro, has been his parent and best friend since he was very young. The two have grown even closer since their town near Ukraine’s southern border was occupied by Russian soldiers.
“There is barely anything left of our house today and not a single building still standing in our old town,” says Vadym, who is 16 years old and had lived in Oleshky, a city near Kherson, where his father ran a business building trendy tiny homes on wheels. For the past two years, father and son have been renting half a house about 220 kilometres to the west in Odesa, near Vadym’s new school. “We’re what people call displaced persons. There are many of us here and all of us are helping each other.”
Vadym attends Odesa School No. 41, one of the first schools repaired in 2021 under the European Investment Bank’s first Ukraine recovery programme. The Bank has helped modernise a group of Odesa schools since then and a city hospital.
Schools are a focus for the dozens of engineers, economists, loan officers and advisory specialists at the European Investment Bank who are trying to meet the urgent needs of Ukraine. Other critical work involves electricity lines, heating, water, roads, hospitals, community centres and bomb shelters. These types of projects allow people to go to work, drive to the doctor, buy groceries, get an education and stay safe during bomb attacks.
The Russian invasion has caused widespread devastation and created a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and surrounding countries. Roads, bridges, hospitals, schools and residential buildings need repair in Ukraine, particularly in areas of intense fighting such as Kharkiv and the Donbas region. One study estimates economic damage in Ukraine at more than $150 billion since Russia invaded in February 2022. The cost of recovery over the next decade is estimated at about $500 billion.
The European Investment Bank is helping to renovate more than 300 schools, kindergartens, hospitals and social housing facilities in about 150 Ukrainian cities. It has improved electricity, gas, water, sanitation and solid waste management in more than a dozen regions, and has finished more than 100 projects. It receives new requests for help every week.
Pavel Novak, a public sector engineer at the European Investment Bank who is from Kyiv, where his parents still live, says a friend who was disabled in the war reminded him that soldiers are fighting to beat Russia, but also to see that other Ukrainians can continue to live normal lives in their home cities and communities today.
“My friend said to me, ‘Look, Pavel, we are doing this to keep life going on, bakeries and restaurants open, keep kids going to school and ensure that something beyond war still exists in this country.’”
In September 2024, the European Union’s financing arm proposed a €600 million energy rescue plan to help Ukraine as winter approaches, ensuring that businesses and homes have electricity and heat. Shelters will be built to protect electricity substations from bombings. The European Investment Bank is in regular discussions with Ukrhydroenergo, Ukraine’s largest hydropower company, and Ukrenergo, the national electricity transmission operator, to repair damaged power networks. It’s common for some parts of Ukraine to lose electricity for half of every day.
