The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has updated its regulated areas for emerald ash borer (EAB – Agrilus planipennis) to include the City of Burnaby, in an effort to slow the insect’s spread.
Oct. 16, 2024 – Canadian Food Inspection Agency
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has updated its regulated areas for emerald ash borer (EAB – Agrilus planipennis) to include the City of Burnaby, in an effort to slow the insect’s spread.
The regulated area in British-Columbia now includes the City of Burnaby along with the City of Vancouver, the University of British Columbia (UBC) campus, and the University Endowment Lands (UEL).
EAB is commonly spread through the movement of firewood and other infested ash wood products, although it can also spread on its own by flying up to 10 kilometers.
Effective immediately, ash material (such as logs, branches and woodchips) and all species of firewood cannot be moved outside of the regulated area without permission from the CFIA. If you need to move ash material, please contact your local CFIA office to request written authorization.
Although the EAB poses no threat to human health, it is highly destructive to ash trees. It has already killed millions of ash trees in regulated areas in Canada and the United States and poses a major economic and environmental threat to urban and forested areas of North America.
The CFIA will continue to survey and monitor the spread of this pest in British Columbia and will continue to work with federal, provincial, municipal and First Nations partners and organizations to slow its spread.
If you spot EAB outside regulated areas, report it to the CFIA to help stop the spread.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) touches the lives of all Canadians in so many positive ways. Each day, hard-working CFIA employees – including inspectors, veterinarians and scientists – inspect food for safety risks, protect plants from pests and invasive species, and respond to animal diseases that could threaten Canada’s national herd and human health. Guided by science-based decision-making and modern regulations, the Agency works tirelessly to ensure access to safe and healthy food in Canada, and support access to international markets for our high-quality agricultural products. To learn more, visit inspection.canada.ca.
MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: State University Higher School of Economics – State University Higher School of Economics –
The festival “I want to go to gamedev!” has ended at the business school. It was organized by a team of teachers and graduates of the “Game Project Management” program. More than 220 representatives of the gaming industry gathered at the HSE campus on Shabolovka: from beginners to developers, scriptwriters and other gamedev professionals. The initiators of the project offered a vibrant program so that participants could immediately immerse themselves in showcase projects, master classes and discussions, lectures from industry gurus – neither theoretical nor practical aspects of game development were forgotten. The festival partner is the company “Virtual Glasses”.
The showcase zone became a special highlight of the event – students of the Game Project Management program launched their projects here. One of them was the game Twilight Wars, created by graduates and teacher Sergey Golubkin, which was recently released in early access on the VK Play platform. Participants were lucky to see the premiere from the Terrabyte Games team and blogger Daria Ostrovskaya – the game Run Away from Me: Alexandra – and many other promising projects. The children’s development project KnigaKit, developed by a graduate of the program and winner of the All-Russian competition Start the Game, the stand of the Vengeance Games studio with their projects Azrael: Herald of the Death and Shadows of Vengeance, the cooperative shooter Ironwaste from the team of a 21games graduate.
A separate area of the festival was dedicated to virtual and augmented reality technologies. The latest VR developments were tested here, such as the role-playing VR shooter “Dixotomia” and the new VR game “Smasher VR” from the BHS team.
A special guest of the festival was Anastasia Shalunkova with the team of one of the largest communities of independent developers – “Gamedev Schrödinger”. They held a master class on creating mascots and organizing online communities and discussed with the participants the future of “Gamedev Schrödinger” and cooperation with regional developers. Together with them, partners from the All-Russian competition “Start the game” took part in the event, which became a social lift for many developers. They held many activities and presented branded gifts.
The lecture part of the festival started with a greeting from Vyacheslav Utochkin, head of the Game Project Management program. The first speaker, Konstantin Sakhnov, producer and founder of Vengeance Games, talked about how to become a game designer, what skills are needed for this and how to prepare for work in the industry. Oleg Dobroshtan picked up the topic of project management and talked about the importance of assembling the right team and keeping it motivated. Sergey Chekmaev, writer, screenwriter, literary producer, member of the Board of the Union of Writers of the Russian Federation, and Nikolay Kalinichenko, Chairman of the Union of Writers of the Russian Federation, announced the release of books on game franchises. Vyacheslav Utochkin and Sergey Zykov, teachers of the Game Project Management program, together with representatives and members of the Union of Writers, presented a book in the RealRPG genre about a game designer who finds himself in the world of a game. The series of announcements was completed by the news about the opening of the Dzen Games Studio, created by future students of the “Game Project Management” program with the support of teachers.
Ilya Boytsov, another speaker at the festival, founder of the Midhard studio, also a graduate and teacher of the HSB program, shared his experience of working in the gaming industry, spoke about the risks and successes of his path. The speech by Andrey Malakhov, game director of Mensa Studio, was devoted to pitching projects and evaluating ideas at the early stages of development.
The final chord of the event was a round table, where invited experts and guests discussed current trends in game design. The discussion was attended by famous figures in the gaming industry: Konstantin Sakhnov, game producer and founder of the Vengeance Games studio, Vladimir Agarev, creative director of the Jay-Joy studio, Olga Maksimenkova, associate professor of the Faculty of Computer Science at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, and Denis Pozdnyakov, co-owner of the Vintorog and Contrast Games studios. The speakers discussed artificial intelligence in game development, the growth of indie projects, and new opportunities for developers through government funds and grants.
The “I Want to Be in Gamedev!” festival at the Higher School of Business of the National Research University Higher School of Economics has become a landmark event for everyone interested in the gaming industry.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Wendel completes the acquisition of c.50% of Globeducate, a leading international K-12 education group
Wendel (Euronext: MF.FP) has completed the acquisition of c.50% of Globeducate, one of the world’s leading international K-12 education groups, from Providence Equity Partners, (“Providence”), a premier private equity firm specializing in growth-oriented investments in media, communications, education and technology.
Wendel invested €625 million of equity, at an Enterprise Value of c.€2 billion1, to join Providence, which has been the Globeducate reference shareholder since 2017, and both firms will now own c.50% of the group.
Founded in 1972 in Spain, Globeducate provides K-12 (primary and secondary) education through a network of 67 premium bilingual and international schools, as well as online programs, across 11 countries mostly in Europe. The Group employs more than 6,000 people, including 4,000 highly qualified teachers.
Globeducate schools provide more than 40,000 students with a world-class education adhering to high academic standards. Globeducate students representing a wide range of backgrounds, benefit from a comprehensive and innovative educational experience – as well as first-class pastoral care – to prepare them to become ‘global citizens who can shape the world’. Many students achieve top grades and are typically accepted into higher education programmes at 50 of the world’s top 100 universities. School facilities are modern and well-appointed, having benefited from significant investment in recent years. Importantly, Globeducate aligns closely with Wendel’s strategy and values.
Providence has been the majority shareholder of Globeducate since 2017. Under Providence’s ownership, Globeducate has delivered double-digit average annual revenue growth through a combination of organic growth new developments, and accretive external growth, with 23 international accretive acquisitions completed over the period and opportunities in the pipeline.
Globeducate is expected to achieve revenue2 of c.€440 million, c.80% of which would be generated in Europe, and EBITDA3 of c.€120 million in its financial year ending August 2025.
Agenda
Thursday, October 24, 2024
Q3 2024 Trading update – Publication of NAV as of September 30, 2024 (post-market release)
Thursday, December 6, 2024,
2024 Investor Day.
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Full-Year 2024 Results – Publication of NAV as of December 31, 2024, and Full-Year consolidated financial statements (post-market release)
Thursday, April 24, 2025
Q1 2025 Trading update – Publication of NAV as of March 31, 2025 (post-market release)
Thursday, May 15, 2025
Annual General Meeting
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
H1 2025 results – Publication of NAV as of June 30, 2025, and condensed Half-Year consolidated financial statements (post-market release)
1 EV including IFRS 16 impacts. Excluding IFRS 16, EV stands at c.€1.86 billion.
2 Including ongoing acquisitions under exclusivity (c.€25 million).
3 Including ongoing acquisitions under exclusivity (c.€9 million). Including IFRS 16 impacts. EBITDA excluding IFRS 16 impacts stands at c.€96m.
Source: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe – OSCE
Headline: Engaging men to support gender equality in focus at Warsaw Human Dimension Conference
Katri Viinikka, Ambassador for Gender Equality at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, speaking at event organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) CHANGE project and OSCE Gender Issues Programme’s WIN project during this year’s Warsaw Human Dimension Conference. (OSCE/Piotr Dziubak) Photo details
The critical role of men in supporting gender equality was discussed at an event organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) CHANGE project and OSCE Gender Issues Programme’s WIN project during this year’s Warsaw Human Dimension Conference.
“Advancing gender equality has been a key area of ODIHR’s work since its foundation more than 30 years ago,” said Tea Jaliashvili, ODIHR Director’s Alternate/First Deputy Director. “The vital role that men and boys play in achieving this objective has not always been taken into account in the past, making our discussions even more important.”
“Men have a pivotal role to play in challenging the attitudes, behaviours and social norms that perpetuate gender inequality and allow violence against women to persist. After all, how can we expect to succeed if 50 per cent of the population do not stand in solidarity with women in the pursuit of equality?” emphasized Lara Scarpitta, OSCE Senior Adviser on Gender Issues and Head of the Gender Issues Programme.
During the event, which was also supported by the Delegations of Ireland and Norway to the OSCE, international experts discussed the need to balance men’s engagement with continued support for traditional advocates for gender equality. They shared experiences and insights and identified opportunities to increase men’s engagement and strengthen support for gender equality initiatives across the OSCE region.
“Men must be active allies in this fight, working alongside women to challenge toxic behaviours and standing against all forms of violence. We must engage men and boys in education, prevention, and in promoting respect and equality,” said Liliana Palihovici, OSCE Special Representative on Gender.
“Unconscious bias of decision-makers and employees in public administration, that is not addressed sufficiently through education and in society, much more often than ill intent, affects people’s individual experiences. If mistrust and lack of understanding of the different perspectives is at least part of the problem, then surely dialogue is a key part of the solution,” said Wojciech Brzozowski, Poland’s Deputy Ombudsman and Professor at Warsaw University.
The event was also an opportunity to present the forthcoming OSCE policy and practice recommendations for engaging men in gender equality and ODIHR Sarajevo Recommendations on Engaging Male Politicians as Critical Actors for Gender Equality in Politics.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Daniel Gover, Senior Lecturer in British Politics, Queen Mary University of London
Labour backbench MP Kim Leadbeater has introduced a bill in the House of Commons that aims to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales.
Leadbeater is not a member of the government, but has been able to introduce the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill after topping this session’s private members’ bill ballot in September.
It’s almost a decade since MPs last voted on assisted dying. Back then, the Conservatives had a majority. Now, the tables have turned and Labour has a large majority. However, it’s not yet clear whether the current cohort of MPs would back this momentous change.
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Leadbeater’s bill faces additional procedural challenges. Private members’ bills – legislation sponsored by individual MPs rather than the government – face a precarious route onto the statute book. They are highly vulnerable to objections, even if only from a small number of MPs.
While private members’ bills go through the same basic process to become law as government-sponsored legislation, they are awarded only limited parliamentary time. There are only 13 Fridays per session (typically a year) when these bills are discussed in the House of Commons.
The first major test for this bill will be its second reading stage, due on November 29. For backbench bills, and especially those that are contentious, this stage can be tricky.
Private members’ bills aren’t “programmed” like government bills, which means there is no mechanism for allocating more time to their discussion if needed. So, it only takes a small numbers of MPs to frustrate a bill’s progress by talking at length to run down the clock.
To prevent this, supporters can attempt to move the “closure” – a motion to end the debate and make a decision. This, however, requires at least 100 MPs to vote in support – a difficult feat on Fridays, when most MPs are in their constituencies. This problem was illustrated earlier this year on a bill to outlaw conversion therapy. However, on a bill of this profile, there is a good chance of passing the closure.
For Leadbeater’s bill, simply getting a vote at this stage would be an important accomplishment. It would mean that for the first time since 2015 – also on a backbench bill – the opinion of the Commons could be tested on assisted dying.
Challenge 2: public evidence?
Assuming the assisted dying bill passes the second reading stage, it would then be sent to a public bill committee for detailed consideration.
Unlike for government bills, this committee cannot, by default, hold public evidence sessions on backbench bills. For a reform of this significance, though, we should expect pressure from some MPs for an exception to be made to allow outside bodies – such as campaign groups, religious organisations and medical professionals – to submit evidence. This would delay the bill’s passage a little, though this need not be lengthy.
Challenge 3: report stage
The bill’s biggest test is likely to be at report stage – most likely on April 25 next year. This is when the bill returns to the House of Commons chamber.
Conventional wisdom is that this stage is often fatal for contentious backbench bills, since opponents can propose large numbers of amendments to the legislation, requiring many separate decisions to be made and time to be drained. Even if supporters attempt to move the closure, with enough amendments they may still run out of time. Something like this nearly happened on an EU referendum bill in 2013.
Yet, this conventional wisdom may be outdated. The speaker of the house routinely groups report-stage amendments together, reducing the number of separate decisions – and in recent years the norm has been a single group. Since 2019, there has never been more than one group of amendments up for consideration on any private member’s bill. If the speaker follows this recent practice, it may be easier to get the bill through report stage.
Challenge 4: out of time?
It is quite possible the assisted dying bill could overcome all these procedural hurdles. But if not, ministers may need to step in to set aside some of the government’s own parliamentary time to discuss the bill further.
Government time for backbench bills has been rare in recent years, although it did occur in 2019 during the passage of a bill to strengthen the laws around female genital mutilation. But there are some striking historical precedents.
In the 1960s, private members’ bills were used to pass major social reforms on the laws around homosexuality and abortion, and to abolish the death penalty. In all three cases, the government stepped in to dedicate extra time in the face of attempts to slow these bills’ progress.
Challenge 5: up to the Lords
If the bill makes it past these stages, then it also has a good chance of completing its final House of Commons (third reading) stage. But it would then need to complete a similar process in the House of Lords. While there are not quite the same time pressures in this chamber – notably, it does not have the same system of 13 Fridays – there is also no programming for any bills.
It is hard to predict exactly how the Lords would respond to an assisted dying bill. There have been multiple previous attempts to legislate on this matter over the years. The last time one reached committee stage, in 2015, it got bogged down with amendments and made it no further.
Leadbeater’s bill will be helped by another bill on assisted dying, started in the House of Lords by Labour peer Charlie Falconer. This is scheduled for debate in the coming months and may help identify and resolve some of the detailed points of contention – though this is not guaranteed.
It would be unusual, though not impossible, for the Lords to fail to pass a private member’s bill agreed by the House of Commons. Since 2010, there appear to have been only two that were actively held up in the Lords – as opposed to just running out of time. Even so, a small number of determined opponents to assisted dying could make life difficult.
Were this to happen – at this point an extreme hypothetical – one option available to MPs would be to re-introduce the bill in the subsequent session, perhaps from the new crop of ballot bills. Under the provisions of the Parliament Act(s), this bill might then be eligible to become law without the assent of the Lords. Such a situation very nearly occurred this year on another backbench bill, on hunting trophies, though the timing of the general election intervened.
Despite these procedural hurdles, the assisted dying bill has a reasonably good chance of passing into law. In the end, much will depend on whether MPs are willing to back this change, and how determined they are to do so.
Daniel Gover 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.
Projects on the Indus River in Pakistan are helping to tackle biodiversity loss. Salik Javed/Shutterstock
When negotiations at Cop15 – the UN’s biodiversity conference – ended in December 2022, many delegates breathed a sigh of relief.
Threatening snowstorms outside the convention centre in Montreal, Canada seemed to lift just as the political weather changed and the long-awaited Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity framework was agreed. It’s mission: to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 in order to achieve the ultimate goal of a society living in harmony with nature by 2050.
Fast forward two years and governments, businesses, representatives of Indigenous people and local communities, experts from environmental groups such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and scientists will gather for the follow-up Cop16 meeting in Cali, Colombia, from October 21. Many due to attend, including myself, wonder whether the promise made to “halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030” is achievable.
Initial signs are not promising. For starters, no international targets for biodiversity have ever been met.
Only a handful of countries, including China, Canada and France, have submitted new national biodiversity plans demonstrating how they will implement the promises made two years ago. Most countries, including the UK, (that’s more than 80% in total) haven’t submitted their full plans.
Countries can also submit updates for the 23 targets listed in the framework. The UK and others have submitted targets such as promising to reduce the impact of pollution on nature and ensuring that 30% of land is effectively protected in line with the framework.
But crucial questions remain about how those goals will be reached. To make Cop16 effective, three things need to happen.
1. Decide on a plan
When delegates gather in Cali, questions of implementation will be front and centre of the negotiations. The first challenge is that the approach for monitoring progress on all 23 targets – including issues such as improving access to nature in cities, reducing harmful subsidies and restoring 30% of degraded ecosystems – is yet to be agreed.
For some, the approach that has been developed so far lacks ambition in crucial areas. Indicators suggested for monitoring progress on reducing the impacts of consumption on nature remain very weak for example. For others, it may prove too challenging.
For example, countries with limited access to data might not be able to track alien species or assess how critical services provided by nature to make societies more resilient might be affected by climate change. Getting agreement at the Cop16 negotiations will be vital in order to hold countries to account as the 2030 deadline set to achieve all of the targets approaches.
2. Find the funds
Another crucial issue is funding: who will pay for the action required? The global biodiversity framework fund (GBFF) was established in 2023 to provide financial support.
Yet so far, it has only attracted contributions of around US$230 billion (£176 billion) from a small group of countries including Canada, the UK, Germany, Japan and Spain. Leaders gathering in Cali, and especially those from developing countries, are calling for more funding and for greater control over how it is allocated.
The next UN biodiversity conference will be held in Cali, Columbia from October 21 to November 1. Tudoran Andrei/Shutterstock
In Montreal, countries agreed to make sure that the impacts on nature were considered across different policy areas (such as building new roads or developing new energy sources) and in economic sectors, from fishing to agriculture and mining to tech.
They agreed that groups most likely to be affected by the loss of nature, including Indigenous people and local communities, women and youth, should help make key decisions. While targets such as protecting 30% of the land and sea for nature are crucial, progress will only happen if nature is put on everyone’s bottom line.
Delivering real change
The urgent need for action is not lost on delegates gathering in Cali. There is a real risk that the promise countries made in Montreal to deliver “transformative action by governments, and regional and local authorities, with the involvement of all of society” won’t be met.
But there are some hopeful signs of transformative change to conserve and restore nature and ensure its sustainable use.
Take, for example, the Tree Equity Partnership in Detroit, US. This partnership between the city, US-based charity American Forests and the local non-profit charity Greening of Detroit aims to plant 75,000 trees. This will create places of beauty, biodiversity and climate resilience in underserved neighbourhoods and generate 300 new jobs in the city.
In Pakistan, the Living Indus initiative is an umbrella organisation that has identified 25 projects involving local and regional governments, businesses and communities working together to restore the ecological health of the Indus river.
Businesses are also calling for real change. More than 170 investors have signed a pledge developed by a coalition of financial institutions called the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation to take action for nature across their portfolios.
New science-based standards are being developed to drive the mainstreaming of biodiversity action through their companies and associated supply chains. Cop16 is expected to see increased interest from the private sector and a focus on tackling climate change and biodiversity together.
These projects are successfully tackling the root causes of global biodiversity loss. They integrate solutions and deal with social and environmental issues – poverty and exploitation, climate risks and land use change. Tackling these problems is just as vital as the need for sustainable production and consumption plus investment that works for, not against, nature.
Projects such as these are the ones that give scientists and conservationists like me – and organisations like WWF that I work with – hope. We want to see more projects that take action on nature, climate and social justice together. If Cop16 can make even a small step in this direction, the world will be travelling towards making real progress by the end of this decade.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Harriet Bulkeley receives funding from the European Commission and currently serves as an advisor to the UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Every year the Spanish ministry of culture awards prizes for different artistic disciplines. From next year onwards, the country’s national bullfighting award will be withdrawn. The current Spanish minister of culture, the Barcelona-born Green politician Ernest Urtasun, supports the prohibition of what has long been known as Spain’s “national fiesta”.
At the awards ceremony held at the Reina Sofia Museum last week, the minister refused to applaud this year’s winner for “sustained excellence in bullfighting”, Julián López El Juli, the recently retired Madrid-born matador. El Juli retorted to the slight by holding out his hand and publicly calling out the minister’s lack of respect as evidence that he was unfit to hold office.
Bullfighting predates football as a form of mass entertainment, and has been a source of inspiration for artists and intellectuals for centuries. It still has its followers in the present day, but young urban Spaniards are increasingly sensitive to the undeniable cruelty involved. Bullfighting was banned in Catalonia in 2011. Bullfights, known as corridas, are still staged in much of the rest of Spain, but it can be career suicide for artists, politicians or intellectuals to be associated with them.
So I, like many in Spain and the Basque Country, didn’t expect the jury of the 72nd San Sebastian Film Festival to award its highest accolade, the Concha de Oro (Golden Shell), to a bullfighting documentary. The director of Tardes de Soledad (Afternoons of Solitude) is Albert Serra, an iconoclastic filmmaker from Gerona, a fiercely pro-independence province of Catalonia.
The trailer for Tardes de Soledad.
For five years, Serra and his crew have been following the exploits of two rising stars with the ambition to become figuras, the term for that handful of elite matadors like El Juli, who appear on the most lucrative and prestigious bills.
Bullfighting and the screen arts have history in and beyond Spain. During cinema’s infancy, early filmmakers the Lumière brothers filmed matadors in Madrid. At annual village fairs, Spaniards would pay to enter a tent and watch recordings of professional corridas. The Valencian Vicente Blasco Ibánez’s 1908 novel Blood and Sand has a strong claim to being the earliest literary text to be written with a future film adaptation in mind.
In 1951, Hollywood actress Ava Gardner (a close friend of Ernest Hemingway, author of bullfighting novel Death in the Afternoon) starred alongside Catalan matador Mario Cabré in Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, which featured corridas in Gerona (the city’s bullring was demolished in 2006). Spanish television started broadcasting bullfights in 1956. Nearly 70 years later, Movistar Spain shut down its dedicated bullfighting channel in March 2023.
Oscar-winning writer and director Pedro Almodóvar – who received a lifetime achievement award at San Sebastian this year – has his Madrid offices close to the world’s premiere bullring, Las Ventas. In 1986 he portrayed the world of bullfighting in Matador, starring a very young Antonio Banderas, later returning to the subject in Talk to Her (2002).
This film, which won Almodovar the Oscar for best screenplay, contains scenes in which a female matador is gored in the picturesque bullring in Aranjuez. The British Board of Film Censorship insisted on cuts, and Almodóvar faced legal challenges from animal rights groups. According to Spanish law, corridas are permitted and can be filmed. The legal situation becomes thornier if a bull is killed by a professional matador for the sole purposes of the event being captured on film.
The trailer for Talk to Her.
Documenting the glory and the horror
Nothing is staged for Serra’s documentary. He followed the Peruvian Andrés Roca Rey, a box-office phenomenon often dismissed by serious aficionados as a crass populist; and the more refined Pablo Aguado, a native of Seville.
Serra connected better with Roca Rey, capturing his fears and solitude in an often hostile professional environment. Pay-for-view television channel Canal+ set a new gold standard for broadcasting bullfights with technical panache. Serra makes no attempt to replicate this labour. Placing the camera at the eye level of the bull and the matador results in a far more graphic and gruesome spectacle.
The Catalan filmmaker is amongst world cinema’s masters of sound design, and the audience is privy to the bull’s breathing as well as conversations between the matador and his team once the afternoon’s activities in the sand have come to a bloody conclusion.
Tardes de Soledad is likely to anger and unnerve aficionados and abolitionists alike. Industrial farming is arguably crueller than bullfighting, but recognising this fact is not automatically a defence of the “national fiesta”. It might just be that any hypothetical prohibition needs to framed alongside a wider reassessment of our relationship with, and responsibility to, non-human creatures.
Some abolitionists suggest that, even though bulls are sold for meat afterwards, it is death and torture being employed for entertainment that renders corridas so problematic. Psychological desensitisation is a real risk, especially when children are in attendance.
Aficionados claim bullfighting is a rare opportunity to address our own mortality in a society in which death and nature are increasingly kept at a distance. Almodóvar’s pristinely shot bullfighting scenes nevertheless show how ritualised beauty – the vivid stylised outfits, the music, the choreography and the architecture – often divert attention from the blood.
Serra’s harrowing footage might even shake some enthusiasts out of their complacency. Can so much animal and human suffering be justified in the name of an ancestral art? Conversely, Tardes de Soledad registers the poetry, pain and pathos of bullfighting in and beyond the arena. Dialogues between Roca Rey and his entourage establish a new benchmark for depicting the interior world of a matador, more unforgiving and empathetic than anything by Hemingway.
A rallying call at anti-bullfighting demonstrations is: “It’s not culture, it’s torture.” Serra’s documentary warrants the Concha de Oro for showing the terms are not mutually exclusive.
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Duncan Wheeler 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.
For those of a certain age, Coneheads is an iconic 90s film. But for breakdancers, it seems, developing a cone-shaped head can be an occupational hazard.
According to a 2024 medical case report, a breakdancer who’d been performing for 19 years was treated for “headspin hole”, a condition also known as “breakdancer bulge” that’s unique to breakdancers. It entails a cone shaped mass developing on top of the scalp after repetitive head-spinning. Additional symptoms can include hair loss and sometimes pain around the lump.
Approximately 30% of breakdancers report hair loss and inflammation of their scalp from head-spinning. A headspin hole is caused by the body trying to protect itself. The repeated trauma from head-spinning causes the epicranial aponeurosis – a layer of connective tissue similar to a tendon, running from the back of your head to the front – to thicken along with the layer of fat under the skin on top of the head in an attempt to protect the bones of skull from injury.
The body causes a similar protective reaction to friction on the hands and feet, where callouses form to spread the pressure and protect the underlying tissues from damage. Everyday repetitive activities from holding smartphones or heavy weights through to poorly fitting shoes can result in callouses.
But a cone-shaped head isn’t the only injury to which breakdancers are prone, however. Common issues can include wrist, knee, hip, ankle, foot and elbow injuries, and moves such as the “windmill” and the “backspin” can cause bursitis – inflammation of the fluid filled sacs that protect the vertebrae of the spine. A headspin hole isn’t the worst injury you could sustain from breakdancing either. One dancer broke their neck but thankfully they were lucky enough not to have any major complications.
Others, such as Ukrainian breakdancer Anna Ponomarenko, have experienced pinched nerves that have left them paralysed. Ponomarenko recovered to represent her country in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
As with other sports, it’s unsurprising to hear that the use of protective equipment results in the reduction of injuries in breakdancing too.
But breakdancers aren’t the only ones to develop cone shaped heads.
Newborns
Some babies are born with a conical head after their pliable skull has been squeezed and squashed during the journey through the vaginal canal and the muscular contractions of mother’s uterus.
A misshapen head can also be caused by caput secundum, where fluid collects under the skin, above the skull bones. Usually, this condition resolves itself within a few days. Babies who’ve been delivered using a vacuum assisted cup (known as a Ventouse) – where the cup is applied to the top of the baby’s head to pull them out – can develop a similar fluid lump called a chignon.
Vacuum assisted delivery can also result in a more significant lump and bruising called a cephalohematoma, where blood vessels in the bones of the skull rupture. This is twice as common in boys than in girls and resolves within two weeks to six months.
If you’ve ever seen newborns wearing tiny hats in the first few hours of their life, then one of these conditions may be the reason.
Newborn skulls are made up of lots of small bony plates that aren’t fused together, which enables babies’ brains to grow without restriction. Usually, once the brain reaches a slower growth pace that the bones can keep up with, the plates fuse together. In craniosynostosis, the plates fuse together too early creating differently shaped heads. Surgery can prevent brain growth restriction but is usually unnecessary if the child hasn’t been identified as having an shaped head by six months of age.
Adam Taylor 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 Martin Lang, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader in Fine Art , University of Lincoln
Leap Year, a new exhibition of work by South Korean artist Haegue Yang at the Southbank Centre’s Hayward Gallery, is a bold and diverse display of contemporary art, mixing materials and ideas in unexpected ways.
Those with a knowledge of art history over the last 70 years, like me, will appreciate how Yang plays with and combines various art traditions. For example, her use of LED, neon strip-lights, steel, text, projected video and even smell are deliberate references to materials commonly used in contemporary art.
Yang’s art isn’t particularly “Korean”, but why should it be? Like many artists from around the world, Yang has been influenced by western pop culture. Coca-Cola and Hollywood movies have been as much part of life in South Korea since the Korean war as in Britain. While some see this as a downside of globalisation, many in South Korea embrace these influences, seeing them as a sign of progress. This fusion of cultures is a fact of life for Yang, and it runs through her art.
In the wall text at the exhibition, Yang claims to have developed a “culturally hybrid visual language”. Her work references modernism, minimalism and conceptual art. Large black-and-white photo collages that bring to mind early 20th-century dada art (a post-war movement that was anti-bourgeois and often satirical and nonsensical) provide the backdrop for sculptures mounted on wheeled frames, reminiscent of stage sets or even fairground rides.
Another resembles a shower cubicle, but with grab handles on the outside. The title, Sol LeWitt Vehicle, points to the conceptual artist Sol LeWitt. Geometric floor patterns recall the work of Gabriel Orozco, another well-known contemporary artist. In one room, the walls are painted in a blue that’s close to Yves Klein’s famous International Klein Blue (a shade of pure ultramarine he claimed to have invented and which features in his most famous works), although the paint was sourced locally by gallery staff.
Connecting with tradition
Yang is particularly interested in the ways contemporary art connects with older folk and craft traditions. For example, she explores weaving practices from different cultures, even working with Filipino artisans. These pieces sit alongside Reflected Red-Blue Cubist Dancing Mask, a sculpture that takes inspiration from how early cubist artists saw African masks as pure aesthetic objects, rather than ritualistic tools.
Yang’s interpretation has wheels and handles, allowing it to be worn and used performatively, restoring its function, but with a modernist aesthetic twist.
Her interest in folk traditions goes deeper. During the COVID lockdown in Seoul, she began exploring paper cutting, a traditional Korean craft often linked with shamanic rituals. From there, she expanded her research to include paper-cutting practices from other parts of the world, like wycinanki from eastern Europe and amate from Mexico.
In her Mesmerising Mesh series, she uses traditional Korean paper (hanji), as well as Japanese washi and graph paper, to create intricate collages. The wooden structures she builds around these works resemble shrines from different cultures. Though some viewers might think of them as something more familiar, like the decor in a western Chinese restaurant. In fact, these designs were inspired by the Hmong people of Southeast Asia.
In the west, since the second world war, the idea of universal art has often been viewed as tied to colonialism or cultural dominance, yet we embrace universal ideas like healthcare and human rights as progressive. Yang’s work suggests that art, too, has the power to bridge divides and foster empathy, breaking down barriers between cultures. Art may vary greatly across traditions, but at its core, it speaks to our shared humanity – a message as relevant as ever in our polarised times.
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Martin Lang does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Ken Murphy, CEO of the British multinational supermarket chain Tesco, recently said at a conference that Tesco “could use Clubcard data to nudge customers towards healthier choices”.
Loyalty schemes have been around as far back as the 1980s, with the introduction of airlines’ frequent flyer programmes.
Advancements in loyalty schemes have been huge, with some even using gamified approaches, such as leaderboards, trophies and treasure hunts, to keep us engaged. The loyalty principle relies on a form of social exchange, namely reciprocity.
In exchange, we accept that, in many cases, loyalty schemes collect data on us. Our purchasing history, often tied to our demographics, generates improvements in the delivery of the service.
If we accept this, then we continue to benefit from reward schemes, such as promotional offers or other discounts. The effectiveness depends not only on making attractive offers to us for things we are interested in purchasing, but also other discounted items that we hadn’t considered buying.
Does it work?
So is this the future? The first issue is whether we’re happy to have data collected on us. There is a trade-off between the level of personalisation we want, and the amount of data we are willing to give. Research has shown that the more personalised the schemes are, the more alarmed we are about the crossing of privacy boundaries. For example, many of us dislike tailored communication about services through the use of chatbots.
The second, related point is that loyalty scheme data is, and will continue to be, of enormous value to third-party organisations. For instance, market research can use loyalty scheme data to track consumer trends more accurately. Researchers can use the data to make inferences about health-related behaviour.
As valuable as the data from loyalty schemes is for scientific purposes, not all shoppers are happy with having their data shared in this way. In one 2023 survey conducted by Yasemin Hirst from Lancaster University and colleagues of 1,539 people, 39% said they were unwilling to share their personal data with academic institutions, while 56.9% didn’t want to share with private organisations.
What data people were willing to share also varied: for example, people were happier sharing loyalty card data (51.8%) than social media data (30.4%) for research purposes. In general, people worried about privacy as well as misuses of their data.
All of this points to data privacy and permission being needed for sharing personal data with third-party advertisers and data brokers for people shopping online.
The final aspect is what the data reveals. Data from loyalty schemes does not present a complete picture of a shopper. We mix and match where we buy our food because of our budget and our geographical location. And some retailers have greater coverage and delivery in rural areas than others – further influencing our behaviour.
In our recent research, Sarah Jenkins and I conducted a study to look at issues related to what Murphy had in mind. We asked 389 people to evaluate ways their grocery shopping behaviour could be influenced.
We looked at three categories. One included financial incentives and discount offers. The second was classic “nudging” methods, such as labelling healthy or green options, campaigns or education schemes.
Finally, we looked at technological incentives that could be implemented via smart phones or laptops when making online purchases. For example, there could be suggestions as to nutritional choices, or an automated system that would select only healthy food choices. Alternatively, the system could score your shopping choice according to how healthy they were.
People assessed all of these options in terms of whether they could help boost healthy and green choices. Generally, participants preferred the financial methods overall, specifically discounts on healthy food options (44.7%). They also judged taxes on unhealthy food items as effective.
Campaigns for sustainability (6.3%) and automated choices for sustainability (6.5%), such as online shopping algorithms only offering us sustainable options, were least preferred. One possible reason for this might be a lack of understanding of what sustainability actually means.
Behavioural and financial methods were judged to be slightly more ethical than technological methods, though most people found all options fairly ethical.
That said, techniques to nudge people’s behaviour in the right direction don’t always work. People like or dislike them depending on a mix of factors, including whether it seems effective, whether it is ethical and whether they actually have a desire to change their behaviour.
Future options
Across the different ways market researchers study our shopping trends, the same pattern emerges: about 25% of the time, we buy our groceries online. The precise percentage varies by country and by foodstuffs we buy, but in general the forecasts is that it will increase to about 45% in the next 5-10 years.
This will mean further innovations in loyalty schemes, designed both to attract new customers as well as maintain the current base. Retailers therefore need to be aware of the shortcomings of such approaches, including that they don’t work on people who don’t want to change their behaviour, that they only provide limited information, and that there may be a point where services are so personalised that many people become unwilling to share their data.
Some of us will continue to enjoy the benefits of these schemes, so long as we have the chance to exercise choice. Indeed, some want to have suggestions made that ease the selection of healthy or sustainable options, but others don’t. What matters is having a choice.
Magda Osman receives funding from ESRC, Research England, British Academy, EPSRC, Food Standards Agency.
Celebrities can have huge influence and reach enormous audiences. That’s why Kamala Harris was happy to recently gain the endorsement of musician Taylor Swift.
Due to their media attention and massive fan bases, some Hollywood stars and musicians can appear more powerful than traditional politicians. And these perceptions of influence may also translate into actual impact.
Indeed, some celebrities have taken up causes, using their fame to overtly push for change (for instance, Bob Geldof and Princess Diana). Others endorse politicians, or successfully run for office themselves (for instance, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan).
While it may seem like celebrities who pivot to politics are able to trade on their pre-existing notoriety, few celebrities are well known beyond their fan bases and many people would expect them to lack the gravitas of world leaders.
However, results of our recent exploratory study conducted in the UK shows that at least one celebrity, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, stands out. He achieved public recognition, leadership and trust ratings as high as the most well-known politicians.
Indeed, our study found that The Rock’s recognition was on par with the Nobel prize-winning, two-term US president Barack Obama. He was also considered more trustworthy than many politicians.
In the study, we invited 251 participants to evaluate the faces of 40 seasoned politicians and celebrities to assess their leadership potential and perceived personality traits.
Only six of the faces had close to universal recognition. Former US presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, former UK prime minister Boris Johnson and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson scored 90% or above. By contrast, US president Joe Biden and Russian president Vladimir Putin were each recognised by 80%.
Interestingly, The Rock was also judged to be more considerate, competent, credible, intelligent and trustworthy than most politicians.
When asked to indicate how strongly participants felt about each figure’s leadership potential, the results were surprising. Biden scored 64%, higher than Putin’s 56%, which was in turn higher than Trump and Boris Johnson who both received 42%.
But a much larger percentage, 72%, rated The Rock as a strong leader, only bettered by Obama’s score of 87%. In our statistical models, two key personality traits, competency and credibility, predicted The Rock’s perceived potential as a national leader.
The Rock’s fame, stemming from his wrestling career persona, television presence, and Hollywood stardom, seem to demonstrate the impact of a well-maintained media image. His expertise in wrestling’s “kayfabe” style of performance (a dramatic wrestling style that is presented as genuine) has greatly boosted his public persona as an authentic “nice guy”.
This early experience, and a strong screen presence, is likely to have contributed to leadership scores similar to Obama. Here it seems that The Rock’s heavily cultivated media personality has translated into perceptions of effective leadership.
This idea connects with the theory of mediated authenticity , which suggests that positive perceptions arise when audiences view media figures in a favourable light. The Rock’s wrestling persona has allowed him to build a connection to his fans and he seems to have developed this further with his Hollywood roles.
What can Trump and Harris learn?
Politicians must also connect with the public. Boris Johnson, for example, did well in the 2019 UK election because he knew how to connect and leveraged this ability to his advantage.
However, leaders also need to be seen as knowledgeable and trustworthy to make an enduring positive difference.
The Rock was asked about political ambitions.
Some theorists of power argue that social influence derives from being well-liked, not just being famous. Of course, The Rock is famous for his nice guy image, along with his movie catalogue and perpetually perfect physique. His perceived leadership potential could come from being both popular and seen as a good role model.
The Rock’s potential has been spotted by political parties. He describes himself as an independent and back in 2023 he revealed that he had been approached by multiple political parties about possibly running for office.
Can you be a ‘nice’ populist?
The last few years has seen the rise of numerous political leaders around the world, who have been labelled with the term “populist”. Leading figures on this list include Trump, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and Boris Johnson. However, these leaders tend not to be highly trusted.
The erosion of trust in politicians and political systems is a significant issue that can lead to decreased engagement with the democratic process, regardless of political level. This ultimately results in a civic structure that fails to represent the people it is meant to serve.
With the US presidential election just weeks away, and still virtually tied, political strategists for both of the major parties must confront a key question: how much trust does each candidate have from the public?
Like it or not, The Rock’s wrestling persona relied on building a genuine connection with fans through his kayfabe-style performance, and his friendly image. The careful cultivation of this has given him enduring popularity and, as an unintended consequence of that performance, leadership appeal on the national stage.
When you are perceived as being a genuinely nice leader, our early research suggests, trust will follow. Something that more politicians clearly need to understand.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Tensions are running high in the Middle East. The murderous attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7 2023 kicked off a spiral of violence in the region. That has culminated, a year later, in Israel mounting a ground invasion of Lebanon. The invasion, which Israel says aims to confront and destroy Hezbollah, follows 12 months of tit-for-tat strikes between Israel and Iran, which have gradually escalated in intensity.
Given that Hezbollah is closely associated and supported by Iran, there is mounting concern that this conflict could become a major flashpoint in international relations. The worry is that this war might provide the spark that causes the next global conflict.
To understand how dangerous the situation could be, it’s worth looking at the theory of conflict escalation. In 1997, Austrian economist Friedrich Glasl published his nine-stage model of conflict escalation, which is generally accepted as the most sophisticated study of how conflicts can develop from disputes to all-out conflict (a step he gives the rather ominous name of “Together into the abyss”).
Nine stages of confict escalation. Graphic by Swinnall, original from Sampi. Derived from: Konflikteskalation nach Glasl.svg, CC BY-NC
The first level is when a conflict is readily or easily resolved, but when a resolution is not achieved, positions on either side of the argument harden and frustration begin to mount. The next step naturally occurs when conflict parties seek to make their case, hoping to gain advantage in the court of global opinion.
Stage three of the model sees the adversaries beginning to take action. Neither side wants to yield advantage to the other, while any sense that discussion might mitigate the conflict has disappeared in mutual antagonism and mistrust. Accordingly at stage four, the conflict parties resort to an “us v them” rhetoric in an attempt to build coalitions and attract support. Stage five, described as “loss of face”, is when one or other of the antagonists feels they have become tarnished in the eyes of the community as a whole. Reputation no longer matters as much as achieving their ends. Sometimes one side or the other commits an act that it feels has isolated it, which only serves to harden it position.
In stage six, threats or ultimatums are issued. This can lead to hostilities spiralling as the conflict parties seek credibility by putting a timescale on a threat, which in turn will heighten the pressure on both sides. This can also bind another of the warring parties to a course of action from where there is little opportunity to retreat. This facilitates the move to stage seven, where the antagonists begin to trade the first limited blows in response to the threats they have made.
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In stage eight, the offensive blows intensify, with the focus on trying to injure – or even destroy – the adversary’s capacity for response or call into question the legitimacy of the other side’s leader. Often this can lead to one or another of the parties fragmenting into warring factions, making the situation increasingly uncontrollable.
As the conflict hurtles into stage nine, the threat to one or another of the parties has become existential, who are now falling “together into the abyss”. All sense of caution is abandoned as the only goal is the total annihilation of the adversary. A state of total war.
What stage are we at?
After years of animosity and denunciation on both sides, the conflict between Israel and Iran has now progressed to the stage that both sides have exchanged limited blows against each other. Reports have linked Iran to the planning of the Hamas attack on October 7. Tehran has recently denied having any part in the massacre. Hezbollah, which is more closely linked to the Islamic Republic, has carried out a year-long barrage of rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel. In response, Israel has now directly struck against Iran’s proxy, invading southern Lebanon to engage and attempt to destroy Hezbollah.
Both sides clearly want to demonstrate their power and influence in the region. But the stakes could rise if Iran feels an urgent need to protect its proxies. For Israel, its leaders have long argued that its very existence is at stake.
In terms of Glasl’s stages of escalation, the two countries appear to have reached stage seven, where they are launching limited blows against each other while avoiding direct confrontation. Both want to make their adversary consider whether the cost of continuing is worth the potential rewards that can be gained.
Iran’s air attacks on Israel suggest that while Iran can see that its regional position is being threatened and is still seeking to support the non-state actors in Gaza and Lebanon, the way in which they have conducted their attacks suggest that Tehran does not feel itself powerful enough to escalate further than it already has.
The only direct blows the two powers have launched against each other have been from the air. Iran has now launched two (large) barrages of rockets against Israel, one in April this year and again at the end of September. Both bombardments were announced in advance and neither has resulted in Israeli casualties.
Israel responded in April with a targeted strike against an Iranian airbase close to one of the country’s nuclear installations. It has yet to directly respond to the latest Iranian barrage, but Netanyahu has said Israel would target Iran’s military installations “based on Israel’s national security needs”.
Analysts believe that both sides – so far at least – are using these limited strikes to signal their unwillingness to escalate. But there is a great deal at stake. Iran will feel its position as a regional power threatened by Israel’s ground campaign in Lebanon. Meanwhile Israel has repeatedly declared that it is fighting for the security of its people. Neither appears to want a wider conflict – and their allies certainly wouldn’t encourage them if they did.
So it’s clear that – up to now at least – neither Israel nor Iran wants to venture any further down the road to “the abyss” as envisaged by Glasl’s nine-stage model.
Matthew Powell 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.
MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –
Sergei Sobyanin met with students of the Science and Technology University, College and Educational Centre “Sirius”. The meeting was held in the “Atom” hall in Sochi. The Moscow Mayor spoke about new solutions in the sphere of improving the quality of life in cities using the example of the strategy for the development of the capital until 2040 and answered questions.
According to the Mayor of Moscow, the main idea of the development strategy is to make the capital the best city in the world.
“For our city to be the best, it must have the most powerful economy in our country, it must have the best opportunities for every person, the best urban environment, and it must be a global center of attraction that the whole world would know and strive to come to Moscow,” said Sergei Sobyanin.
The capital has a large-scale public transport infrastructure – underground, surface and water. Over the past 14 years, the city has built a large number of new metro stations, equal in number to those built throughout the history of Moscow. An above-ground metro has appeared – four Moscow Central Diameters, which allow you to get to the Moscow region and nearby areas. In addition, a decision has been made to build a high-speed railway (VSM-1) to St. Petersburg.
“This is the President’s project, a high-speed railway (HSR) connecting St. Petersburg and Moscow, then Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Voronezh. I think that most of you live in one or another region where this project should come. This means that the entire country will be closer, travel options will be more comfortable, accessible, and the country will develop differently,” the Moscow Mayor emphasized.
The new rail framework will become a powerful impetus for regional development. The HSR-1 (Moscow-St. Petersburg), the construction of which began in 2024, will cover more than 80 percent of the Russian population. The speed of trains will reach 400 kilometers per hour.
New centers of economic activity are being created in the capital. In addition to the historical center, there will be six more comparable in size. They will be located in abandoned depressed areas where a large number of transport highways intersect. Thus, all districts of Moscow will receive their own modern center for life, work and leisure.
One such center of economic activity is “Yuzhny Port – Tekstilshchiki”It is being created as part of the world’s largest industrial zone reorganization project.
The city is implementing a complex renovation program that has no analogues in the world. It includes 5,175 buildings. City residents are moving from outdated apartments to new, modern and comfortable ones. In 2024, housing was provided for the resettlement of more than 170 thousand Muscovites. In addition, as part of the renovation program, over 400 social facilities will be built and more than 200 thousand jobs will be created.
The capital is renewing its urban environment and creating comfortable public spaces. Moscow is developing not just residential areas, but complex districts with parks, squares and embankments where you can work and relax. They are becoming mini-cities with high-quality infrastructure, where there is everything necessary for life.
The world’s largest monument restoration program is in effect in the capital. More than 2,100 of them were restored in 2011–2024. More than 150 more monuments are planned to be restored annually.
“In total, more than two thousand monuments have been restored, are in very good condition and continue to serve Muscovites not only as monuments, but also as life, business, public and city organizations,” said Sergei Sobyanin.
Instead of old cultural centers, multifunctional recreation and entertainment centers are appearing in the city. The largest cinema park “Moskino” was built in TiNAO.
The capital can be proud of its unique, accessible and best healthcare system in the world. Today, artificial intelligence (AI) helps to recognize diseases from CT, MRI and ultrasound images. With the help of AI, it will be possible to predict health problems for each resident and conduct preventive work. The average life expectancy in the capital is expected to approach 80 years.
Digital technologies are also being implemented in the education system. The world’s largest project, the Moscow Electronic School, allows for the creation of a digital twin of each student and the personalization of their development trajectory. Secondary vocational education is being revived. The capital is dramatically improving its quality and doubling the number of colleges. 75 percent of vacancies on the labor market are for workers with this type of training.
The digital ecosystem is developing. Its 90 key projects cover all areas of city life, from public utilities to city services, transport, and education.
The digital system of Moscow services is the best in the world according to the United Nations. The mos.ru portal offers 420 electronic services. They allow you to draw up documents and social benefits, pay bills, and transmit meter readings.
A digital twin of a city is a project that helps to see its future for decades to come, plan development, design buildings, structures, engineering and social infrastructure, ensuring a comfortable life for Muscovites.
The capital is becoming safer thanks to new technologies, artificial intelligence systems, video surveillance, and facial recognition. The crime rate in Moscow is one of the lowest among world cities.
The capital’s economic structure corresponds to the world level: it has a powerful industry, government services, transport, logistics, creative industry, etc. Labor productivity in Moscow is twice as high as the national average.
“Well, Moscow ultimately occupies a worthy place among all the cities of the world in terms of economy, despite the fact that the largest financial centers of the world are ahead of us. Despite the sanctions, despite the sanctions war declared against us, despite the difficulties, the SVO and so on, Moscow today is one of the world leaders. It is very important that it maintains its leadership. It is the locomotive of the country’s development, and I hope that you will carry this flag further and develop our beautiful capital and wonderful Russia,” the Mayor of Moscow concluded.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Dmitry Chernyshenko and His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ held a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for the Preservation and Development of the Solovetsky Archipelago
October 16, 2024
Dmitry Chernyshenko during a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for the Preservation and Development of the Solovetsky Archipelago
October 16, 2024
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ during a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for the Preservation and Development of the Solovetsky Archipelago
October 16, 2024
A meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for the Preservation and Development of the Solovetsky Archipelago was held
October 16, 2024
Marat Khusnullin at a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for the Preservation and Development of the Solovetsky Archipelago
October 16, 2024
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Dmitry Chernyshenko and His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ held a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for the Preservation and Development of the Solovetsky Archipelago
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko held a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for the Preservation and Development of the Solovetsky Archipelago. Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin also took part in the event.
During the meeting, the most important issues of implementing measures to preserve and develop the Solovetsky Archipelago were discussed.
In his speech, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ Kirill noted that the Government of the Russian Federation has done a great deal of work to organize effective interaction between government agencies and the Church in order to preserve the spiritual, cultural and natural heritage of the Solovetsky Archipelago, as well as to develop its infrastructure.
As part of the implementation of the decisions of the Board of Trustees, meetings of the headquarters on issues of preserving and developing the Solovetsky Archipelago are regularly held at the Government site under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko. Representatives of federal and regional authorities, as well as representatives of the Church, participate in these meetings.
Dmitry Chernyshenko noted that the meeting was held with a new composition: by decree of President Vladimir Putin, six new members were included in the board of trustees, and a new chairman of the foundation’s board, Andrei Guts, was appointed.
“Let me remind you that President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on celebrating the 600th anniversary of the founding of the first monastic settlement on Solovki in 2029. Preparations for this date are of particular importance, because the Solovetsky Archipelago is simultaneously one of the most important religious sites, a point of attraction for pilgrims and tourists, it bears the imprint of the turning point in the history of our country and, in addition, is a unique natural landmark. In anticipation of the 600th anniversary, the Government is carrying out comprehensive work. The federal budget provides funds for the restoration of cultural heritage sites and the construction, reconstruction of transport, utilities and social infrastructure. I would like to note that research work is being carried out that will help determine the optimal annual flow of pilgrims to Solovki,” the Deputy Prime Minister noted.
In connection with preparations for the celebration in 2029 of the 600th anniversary of the founding of the first monastic settlement on the Solovetsky Archipelago, an organizing committee has been created, and plans have been prepared for the main and additional events to prepare for and conduct the celebration.
Schedules for construction and restoration work until 2029 have been drawn up and approved by the co-chairs of the board of trustees. The implementation of activities on the Solovetsky Archipelago is carried out in accordance with the schedules.
Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov said that in the summer of 2024, a set of educational and outreach events for children and youth related to the study of the heritage and history of the Solovetsky Archipelago was held for the first time on the Solovetsky Archipelago. Schoolchildren visited the day camp “Roads of Victory”, took part in thematic shifts and programs, including a student tour guide team.
“Together with the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, Rosmolodezh, the Ministry of Defense, the government of the Arkhangelsk region, the Directorate for the Development of the Solovetsky Archipelago and in cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Church, we have prepared a draft plan of events for next year, which includes holding a shift of the “Movement of the First”, a regional youth sea expedition “Young Fleet of Pomorye”, educational programs of a patriotic nature, an interregional labor project of the Russian student teams “Solovki”, excursion and educational programs, volunteer shifts and schools, as well as other events,” noted Sergey Kravtsov.
In conclusion, His Holiness the Patriarch thanked Dmitry Chernyshenko for the great work done to preserve the spiritual, cultural and natural heritage of the Solovetsky Archipelago and develop its infrastructure. He also expressed confidence that, through joint efforts, the tasks set will be accomplished by the 600th anniversary of monastic life on Solovki and the ancient monastery will shine in its former glory.
The meeting of the board of trustees took place in the Patriarchal Hall of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. It was also attended by Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration Maxim Oreshkin, First Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing and Utilities Alexander Lomakin, Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova, Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Dmitry Vakhrukov, Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for the Preservation and Development of the Solovetsky Archipelago Andrei Guts, Abbot of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Solovetsky Monastery Bishop Porfiry of Ozersk, Governor of the Arkhangelsk Region Alexander Tsybulsky and others.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
With affordability, housing and health care at the top of voters’ minds in British Columbia, they haven’t heard much about climate change with less than a week to go until the provincial election.
But a closer look at the platforms and policy announcements of the province’s Conservatives, New Democratsand Greens reveals fundamental differences on almost every climate-related policy.
While there is uncertainty about how much B.C.’s emissions would decline under another NDP government, they would almost certainly increase under a new Conservative one.
Climate action measures
The parties differ on the threat posed by climate change and urgency of action. The NDP and Green platforms both acknowledge the “climate crisis,” and each devotes a chapter on protecting communities from extreme weather, such as flooding, wildfires and heat domes like the one that occurred in 2021.
In contrast, the Conservatives claim climate change is not a crisis and that wildfires are a natural occurrence, without acknowledging how the blazes are amplified by climate change-driven heat and drought. The party favours adaptation technology over a “doom cult” perspective.
The three parties also present very different visions of B.C.’s economic future. Both the NDP and Greens emphasize the province’s comparative advantage in clean energy, and commit to skills training for the renewable energy and clean tech sectors.
In contrast, the Conservative proposal for a “free and prosperous” B.C. does not mention climate change or clean energy, while the party’s “clean energy” announcement embraces natural gas heating and oil-powered vehicles.
The Conservatives propose to scrap “any and all carbon taxes,” which suggests both the consumer and industrial carbon taxes. Although the party indicates it would do so “regardless of what happens in Ottawa,” the current federal government would respond by imposing both federal carbon taxes, as it has in other provinces.
The NDP would repeal only the consumer tax if the federal government does. The Greens would retain both taxes and remove sectoral benchmarks below which industrial polluters don’t pay the tax.
On electricity, the NDP proposes to double renewable electricity capacity by 2050 to substitute for declining consumption of fossil fuels. The party highlights BC Hydro’s recent call for clean power, which yielded proposals for triple the capacity originally sought.
The Greens similarly propose to expand rooftop solar and other renewables. The Conservatives welcome “all power sources,” including renewables, but also natural gas plants and nuclear.
Flood waters cover highway 1 in Abbotsford, B.C., in November 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Oil and gas accounts for the next largest share of B.C.’s emissions at 20 per cent. The NDP election platform commits to implement a cap on oil and gas emissions. In addition, the NDP government announced in 2023 that future liquid natural gas (LNG) approvals will be conditional on net-zero operations within the province.
The Conservative Party seeks to double LNG capacity, without mention of either an oil-and-gas cap or net-zero commitment. For their part, the Greens would reject all future LNG development, ban fracking and manage a decline of gas production.
The NDP and Greens both promise financial support for rooftop solar, home retrofits and heat pumps. In contrast, the Conservatives argue, without evidence, that the grid cannot support heat pumps and promise to repeal the voluntary zero-carbon building code and a “ban” on natural gas heating.
B.C. has been a climate laggard
B.C. has been slow to act on climate. That will make it very challenging to meet our 2030 emissions target.
But progress will only be made by strengthening climate policies, something both the NDP and Greens commit to do.
In contrast, the Conservatives promise to repeal current climate policies and halt development of others. But with a growing population and plans for LNG expansion, B.C.’s emissions would increase rather than decline under that strategy.
As B.C. voters prepare to cast their ballots this week, they’ve got a lot to contemplate on climate.
Kathryn Harrison receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She is chair of the mitigation advisory panel of the Canadian Climate Institute, and a member of British Columbia’s Climate Solutions Council, but her comments do not represent either body nor the University of British Columbia.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)
Pressley Secured $250K in Federal Funds to Support Project
Video (YouTube) | Photo (Dropbox)
BOSTON – Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) joined Just A Start, elected officials and community advocates and members for the formal ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil the Economic Mobility Hub at Rindge Commons, a 70,000-square-foot facility designed to address the evolving needs of the community. Rep. Pressley secured $250,000 in federal community project funding to support the center.
The center brings together affordable housing, state-of-the-art job training for youth and adults, Universal Pre-K classrooms, and community resources—all under one roof. By consolidating services, the Hub will serve over 2,800 individuals annually, building long-term pathways to economic stability and opportunity in the region.
“Today’s ribbon-cutting ceremony at Rindge Commons is a testament to the commitment Just A Start and our communities have to uplifting one another and expanding economic opportunities for our neighbors,” said Rep. Pressley. “I was proud to secure $250,000 in federal community project funding to make this effort a reality, and I look forward to seeing the long-term impact the Economic Mobility Hub will have on families across the Massachusetts 7th.”
“The Rindge Commons is an incredible example of collaboration and partnership,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “Not only did its development involve federal and state agencies and the private sector, but this building also addresses our state’s need for affordable housing and promotes economic development in Cambridge. Our administration was proud to support this expansion, and we congratulate the team at Just A Start for their hard work.”
“We are thrilled to see Just A Start growing with its new addition of the Economic Mobility Hub at Rindge Commons,” said Secretary of Economic Development Yvonne Hao. “This project will support affordable housing, a safe space for children, and career training for adults. We congratulate Just a Start on its expansion, and we’re so grateful for its work supporting Massachusetts residents.”
“MassHousing is thrilled to be a partner in Just A Start’s Rindge Commons that has delivered 24 brand-new affordable rental homes as well the dynamic Economic Mobility Hub that will be providing educational and job-training opportunities for youth and adults,” said MassHousing CEO Chrystal Kornegay. “This development will also allow Just A Start to coordinate its many mission-driven community programs and efforts to promote equitable communities in greater Cambridge from one new, integrated space.”
“The Rindge Commons development is aligned with LIIF’s commitment to support projects that build equity, opportunity, and wellbeing in communities that need it most,” said Kirsten Shaw, Vice President of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic RegionsofLow Income Investment Fund (LIIF). “The development’s wide-ranging impact will improve vibrancy and quality of life in the community, and we’re thrilled to have had the opportunity to support this project with New Markets Tax Credits and additional financing. The Rindge project demonstrates how important public-private partnerships are to driving community revitalization and resiliency efforts.”
Footage of the event can be found here and photos are here.
Rep. Pressley secured federal funding for the center in the Fiscal Year 2024 government spending package that passed Congress and was signed into law by President Biden. Rep. Pressley has secured approximately $35 million in federal community project funding for the Massachusetts 7th since Fiscal Year 2022.
On June 18, 2024, Rep. Pressley visited Boston Medical Center (BMC) to celebrate $370,000 in federal community project funding she secured to support BMC’s Violence Intervention Advocacy Program.
On June 18, 2024, Rep. Pressley visited Chelsea HealthCare Center to celebrate $1,150,000 in federal community project funding she secured to support Massachusetts General Hospital’s (MGH) efforts to address the statewide shortage of bilingual, culturally diverse mental health providers for immigrant and limited English proficiency communities.
On April 22, 2204, Rep. Pressley and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) visited Nubian Square in Roxbury for a roundtable discussion to celebrate the $1,000,000 million in federal funding they secured for the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts (BECMA).
On March 28, 2024, Rep. Pressley visited Roxbury to celebrate the $1,000,000 in federal funding she secured to provide emergency childcare support for families experiencing homelessness in the City of Boston.
In February 2024, Rep. Pressley visited Chelsea City Hall for a roundtable and press conference to celebrate the $750,000 in federal funding she secured for the City of Chelsea’s and City of Everett’s Island End River Coastal Flood Resilience Project.
In January 2024, Rep. Pressley visited Somerville to celebrate the $2.4 million in federal funding she secured to support the community-led transformation of the Clarendon Hill housing community, an ethnically, linguistically and economically diverse neighborhood.
In December 2023, Rep. Pressley visited Brighton to celebrate $400,000 she delivered for Amplify Latinx’s ALX Small Business Program.
In November 2023, Rep. Pressley visited Roxbury Community College (RCC) to celebrate $1 million in federal community project funding she secured for Northeastern University’s Roxbury Associate’s to Master’s Workforce Accelerator (RA2MWA).
In June 2023, Rep. Pressley visited Chelsea to celebrate $2,000,000 in federal community project funding she secured to improve the Broadway Corridor—home to an array of BIPOC-owned small businesses, vibrant public spaces, high frequency public transit routes, and dense residential housing.
In April 2023, Rep. Pressley visited Randolph to celebrate $524,000 she secured for Randolph Public Schools to support a mobile library and STEM programming.
In March 2023, Rep. Pressley visited Dorchester to celebrate $250,000 in new Community Project Funding she secured for Big Sister Association of Greater Boston’s one-to-one mentoring and enrichment programs for girls.
In February 2023, Rep. Pressley visited the African Community Economic Development of New England (ACEDONE) to celebrate the $643,003 in community project funding she secured for ACEDONE to support small businesses in predominately Black, brown and African immigrant communities.
In October 2022, Rep. Pressley visited The Dimock Center in Roxbury to celebrate $1 million in federal community project funding she secured to support substance use treatment and programming at the health center.
In August 2022, Rep. Pressley visited Randolph to deliver $275,000 in federal community project funding for culturally responsive resources and digital literacy tools for Randolph Public Schools.
In June 2022, Rep. Pressley visited the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology to deliver $300,000 in direct federal funding for the development of a Clean Energy Building Automation Systems certificate and associate degree program.
In May 2022, she visited Bunker Hill Community College to celebrate the $1,000,000 in federal community project funding she secured to expand the City of Boston’s Tuition-Free Community College program.
In April 2022, she visited Randolph to deliver $1,000,000 in federal community project funding for a new school-based community health center at Randolph High School.
In March 2022, she visited La Colaborativa in Chelsea to celebrate the $300,000 in federal community project funding that she delivered for La Colaborativa’s COVID Employment Recovery Program.
Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson have been awarded the 2024 Nobel memorial prize in economics for their influential work on how institutions shape economic development. Some would say the decision to award these scholars the Nobel was long overdue.
The paper that formed the basis of their work is one of the most cited in economics. Acemoglu and Robinson’s subsequent book, Why Nations Fail, has also been hugely influential.
These works have inspired a rich debate on the relationship between societal institutions and economic development – so in that sense, congratulations are in order. But they have also been the subject of substantial criticism. In the aftermath of the award, it is fitting to highlight the blind spots in their analysis.
The most important piece of criticism concerns the connection between the quality of a country’s societal institutions and its level of economic development. Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson’s work divides institutions into two categories: “inclusive” and “extractive”.
Inclusive institutions – such as those that enforce property rights, protect democracy and limit corruption – foster economic development, according to the laureates. In contrast, extractive institutions, which give rise to a high concentration of power and limited political freedom, seek to concentrate resources in the hands of a small elite and thus stifle economic development.
The laureates claim the introduction of inclusive institutions has had a positive long-term effect on economic prosperity. Indeed, these institutions are today found primarily in high-income countries in the west.
A huge problem with this analysis, however, is the claim that certain institutions are a precondition for economic development.
Mushtaq Khan, a professor of economics at Soas, University of London, has analysed Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson’s work extensively. He argues that it mainly shows today’s high-income countries score higher on western-based institution indexes, and not that economic development was achieved because states first established inclusive institutions.
In fact, history is rife with examples of countries that grew rapidly without having these inclusive institutions in place as a precondition for growth. East Asian states such as Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are good examples. Most recently, so too is China.
Yuen Yuen Ang’s award-winning books on China’s development process have laid out in detail how China was riddled with corruption during its growth process. In the wake of this year’s Nobel award, Ang went as far as saying that the laureates’ theory not only fails to explain growth in China, but also growth in the west. She points out that institutions in the US were smeared with corruption during the country’s development process.
Ignoring the brutality of colonialism
Nations are not wrong to pursue some of the inclusive institutions outlined in Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson’s work. But another worrying part of their analysis is that it legitimises the supremacy of western institutions – and, at worst, processes of imperialism and colonialism.
Their work has, indeed, been criticised for not paying attention to the brutality of colonialism. We need to dig a bit deeper into their methods to understand this criticism.
The laureates establish their claim by looking at long-term development in settler colonies versus non-settler colonies. In settler colonies, such as the US, Canada and Australia, Europeans established inclusive institutions. But in non-settler colonies, which include large parts of Africa and Latin America, Europeans established extractive institutions.
Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson point out that, over time, settler colonies perform better. European institutions are thus better for development, they argue.
But, considering that the process of colonisation is a central method of their paper, it’s a mystery that the laureates do not discuss the costs of colonialism more broadly.
Even in settler colonies, where inclusive institutions were eventually developed, years of violence – in many cases verging on the genocide of native populations – predated the development of such institutions. Should this not be factored into the development process?
According to this year’s laureates, Europeans settled in the poorest and most sparsely populated places, and introduced institutions that contributed to long-term prosperity. Johan Jarnestad / Nobel Prize Outreach
After receiving the award, Acemoglu said that normative questions of colonialism didn’t concern them: “Rather than asking whether colonialism is good or bad, we note that different colonial strategies have led to different institutional patterns that have persisted over time.”
This statement might come a shock to some people – why is Acemoglu not concerned about whether colonialism is good or bad? But for those familiar with the inner workings of the economics discipline, this statement doesn’t come as a surprise.
It has, sadly, become a badge of honour in mainstream economics to analyse the world without a normative lens or value judgments. This is a broader issue with the discipline and, in part, explains why economics has become increasingly insular and distant from other social sciences.
The Nobel prize in economics, which actually wasn’t among the five original Nobel prizes, also illustrates this problem. The list of past winners is narrow in geographical and institutional scope, mainly consisting of economists based at economics faculties in a small number of elite universities in the US.
Furthermore, a recent study found the institutional and geographic concentration of awards in economics is much higher than in other academic fields. Almost all the winners of major awards have had to journey through one of the top US universities (limited to less than ten) in their career.
This year’s Nobel prize in economics is no exception. Perhaps this is why it feels like every year, the prize goes to someone who asks “how does a change in variable X affect variable Y”, rather than asking difficult questions about colonialism, imperialism or capitalism – and daring to question the supremacy of western institutions.
Jostein Hauge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Today, Taki Sarantakis, President of the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS), announced the creation of a new permanent Chair dedicated to values and ethics and the promotion of ethical leadership across federal government departments and agencies.
October 16, 2024 Ottawa, Ontario
Today, Taki Sarantakis, President of the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS), announced the creation of a new permanent Chair dedicated to values and ethics and the promotion of ethical leadership across federal government departments and agencies.
This new role, to be known as the “Ian D. Shugart Visiting Scholar”, is named for the late Clerk of the Privy Council, whose storied 30-year career in the federal public service culminated in being appointed Clerk in 2019, before being appointed to the Senate in 2022. Senator Shugart passed away on October 25, 2023.
The announcement was made on the final day of the two-day “What Unites Us, Defines Us: Values and Ethics in Today’s Federal Public Service” symposium, hosted by the Privy Council Office and the Canada School of Public Service. The event brought federal public servants together to engage in an interactive discussion on the role of values and ethics in the public service, a conversation that the current Clerk, John Hannaford, launched in September 2023.
The symposium featured more than 20 speakers and panelists with a combined on-site and virtual audience of more than 15,500 federal civil servants from across the country and abroad. Hannaford, who delivered a keynote at the symposium, welcomed the initiative.
The new Chair will focus specifically on helping develop and enrich existing learning and training that encourages decision-making rooted in values and ethics principles—particularly at the leadership levels—and promote the importance of ethical leadership across government.
The role will also establish linkages between the public sector and academia to help infuse the public service with the latest insights and research, explore best practices in ethics and governance, within Canada and internationally, as well as provide guidance on ethical frameworks in response to emerging challenges like digital governance, social media, and artificial intelligence.
Appointees will serve on a rotational basis, starting in 2025. Successful candidates will bring to bear their experience in public sector values and ethics and associated disciplines, such as governance, federalism, technology, and history.
Source: US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation FDIC
WASHINGTON – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today announced its Board of Directors has approved the appointment of Hansel J. Cordeiro as Director of the agency’s new Office of Professional Conduct (OPC).
In June, the Board announced the creation of the OPC to serve as a single point of entry for employee complaints of harassment and other interpersonal misconduct. In this role, Mr. Cordeiro will lead the OPC’s work to receive, investigate and report on complaints of interpersonal misconduct within the FDIC workplace. OPC will also determine and discipline anyone violating the FDIC’s anti-harassment or anti-retaliation policies. Mr. Cordeiro will report on the work of the OPC directly to the FDIC Board.
Mr. Cordeiro was selected from among several highly qualified candidates after a competitive nationwide public solicitation. Most recently, he served as Executive Director of Accountability and Strategic Business Management at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In that role, Mr. Cordeiro led the FAA’s anti-harassment program, the largest program within the U.S. Department of Transportation; established the agency’s anti-harassment policies; and oversaw the receipt and investigation of allegations of harassment, sexual misconduct, and retaliation involving FAA employees and contractors, as well as management actions on substantiated allegations. In addition, he oversaw anti-harassment training for more than 45,000 FAA employees and contractors.
Prior to his role at FAA, Mr. Cordeiro served at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in various executive and leadership positions, including leading efforts to remediate deficiencies in the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection, which is responsible for improving personnel and organizational accountability within VA. Mr. Cordeiro also served in the Office of General Counsel as a principal legal advisor to several Secretaries of Veterans Affairs on employment and labor law issues. Mr. Cordeiro began his government career at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, where he developed and implemented several landmark reforms to the federal government’s personnel systems.
Mr. Cordeiro has a Juris Doctor from the Washburn University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hunter College of the City University of New York.
Effort To Increase Grid Resilience and Energy Access for Low-Income Communities in Puerto Rico Enters Its Next Phase
After Hurricane Fiona in October 2022, President Joe Biden visited Puerto Rico and pledged to leverage the technical support of federal agencies to improve the archipelago’s electric grid.
In December 2022, President Biden signed the Fiscal Year 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act into law, which included $1 billion to establish the Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund (PR-ERF) to drive key investments in renewable and resilient energy infrastructure in the commonwealth. The fund also supports Puerto Rico’s goal of meeting 100% of its electricity needs with renewable energy by 2050. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Grid Deployment Office launched the PR-ERF in February 2023 to alleviate both the energy cost and grid resilience challenges that Puerto Ricans face.
In the summer of 2023, DOE issued a funding opportunity announcement—a public notice to fund installations and consumer protection for its new Programa Acceso Solar, an initiative to connect low-income households across Puerto Rico with subsidized rooftop solar and battery storage systems. The funding opportunity announcement gave solar companies, nonprofits, energy cooperatives, and governmental bodies a chance to apply for federal funding. DOE also launched the Solar Ambassador Prize, a complementary competitive funding opportunity for organizations in Puerto Rico to help identify, engage, and assist with the intake processing of qualifying households for residential solar and battery installations. Currently, 14 solar ambassadors selected through the prize are actively working to identify eligible households for subsidized solar and battery storage installations through Programa Acceso Solar.
The Programa Acceso Solar and the Solar Ambassador Prize make up the first round of PR-ERF funding. In July 2024, DOE announced the second phase—the Programa de Comunidades Resilientes (Resilient Communities Program)—to increase energy resilience for community healthcare facilities and shared spaces within subsidized multifamily housing. These PR-ERF programs will be implemented over the next few years with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) continued support of the program design.
Building Energy Resilience Through Collaborative Success of the Programa Acceso Solar
Applications are currently open for Puerto Rican households to apply to the Programa Acceso Solar, and solar installers have already begun installing subsidized solar and battery storage systems for low-income homeowners. The Programa Acceso Solar provides these installations with zero upfront costs, including education and support on how to use and maintain the systems through partnerships with several installers and community-based organizations.
“The impact of the Programa Acceso Solar will be incredible,” NREL Project Lead Mike Campton said. “Thousands of people will be able to access reliable and affordable electricity for their homes. I am incredibly proud to say that NRELians played a huge role in delivering this positive impact to Puerto Ricans.”
NREL’s team helped DOE determine which homes qualified for solar and battery installation and facilitated outreach and intake efforts. NREL’s Caleigh Isaacks, project manager, led the team assisting DOE’s Grid Deployment Office in developing, implementing, and managing the prize since the program’s inception. In addition, the NREL team has also contributed to outreach efforts, including webinars and training sessions, and played a key role in shaping the funding structure and rules.
“It is truly special to be a part of such an important project,” Isaacks said. “The team’s efforts in collaborating with local community-based organizations for outreach and directly assisting homeowners across Puerto Rico are critical to rebuilding the grid there.”
Thousands of low-income households across Puerto Rico are eligible for solar and battery storage systems through the Programa Acceso Solar. This includes households in areas most affected by frequent and prolonged power outages, as well as those with residents dependent on electricity-powered medical equipment.
Energy analysts and software engineers at NREL, like Brian Mirletz, lead the research efforts to support the Programa Acceso Solar. Mirletz evaluated potential designs for residential solar-plus-battery storage systems using NREL’s System Advisor Model™. With this model, Mirletz determined how factors such as the energy needs of equipment for people with disabilities could impact the systems’ ability to meet critical loads during power outages.
Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and the Mayor of Loíza, Julia Nazario Fuentes, talk with a homeowner who received one of the first solar and battery storage systems through the Programa Acceso Solar in July 2024. Photo by DOE
In early July, inspectors from partner installers evaluated the first applicants’ homes to receive systems through Programa Acceso Solar. One inspected home now awaits the installation of an almost 6-kilowatt solar and battery system. The program will cover the majority of the homeowner’s nearly $200 monthly electricity costs. Once the system is installed, the homeowner will pay only $20 per month to cover maintenance expenses.
“I’m thrilled to hear about the first of those systems being installed!” Mirletz said. “It is amazing to see a physical realization of the analysis work our team has done for this project in the last year and what it will mean for communities in Puerto Rico in the future.”
Learn more about the Puerto Rico Grid Resilience and Transitions to 100% Renewable Energy Study and the Solar Ambassador Prize. Read about NREL’s grid modernization research.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
First round of funding launches for up to 300 school-based nurseries – part of government’s Opportunity Mission to give every child the best start in life
Thousands of families are one step closer to accessible, affordable and high-quality early years provision in their local area, as the first stage of the government’s plan to deliver 3,000 school-based nurseries begins today (17 October).
Primary schools can now apply for up to £150,000 of £15 million capital funding, with the first stage of the plan set to support up to 300 new or expanded nurseries across England.
This comes as 321,462 additional children are now accessing 15 hours of government-funded early education per week, since the government delivered on the promises made to parents for the second phase of the childcare rollout last month.
The work forms part of the government’s Opportunity Mission, which will break the unfair link between background and opportunity – starting with giving every child the best start in life and resetting the relationship with the early years sector to boost life chances for children and work choices for parents.
The delivery of this phase has been in no small part due to the brilliant joined-up efforts of local authorities and providers. The Secretary of State has promised a new era of child-centred government and will work alongside the sector to deliver meaningful long-term reform of early years, whilst building the places and workforce that are required for the next more challenging phase.
Importantly, this will be done in a way that makes the hours accessible and affordable for all families that need them. That’s why the government is taking action to tackle reported instances of parents facing very high additional charges on top of the funded entitlement hours.
These could include mandatory extra charges for nappies, lunch or other ‘consumables’ – and should not be made a condition of accessing a funded place.
In the coming months, the government will be engaging with local authorities and providers to clarify our statutory guidance on charging, including on so-called ‘top up fees’ and consider how we better support local authorities to protect parents from overcharging.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said:
All children should have the opportunity of a brilliant early education, no matter who they are, where they’re from or how much their parents earn.
Our new school-based nurseries will provide thousands of additional places where they are needed most, plugging historic gaps and making sure geography is no barrier to high quality childcare.
Whilst some parents may not get their first-choice place next September, I’m determined that every parent is able to access and afford the hours that they are entitled to.
According to the Department for Education’s latest projections, around 70,000 additional places and 35,000 early years educators will still be needed to deliver the expansion to 30 hours next September, with some of the most disadvantaged areas in need of the largest uplifts.
Published for the first time, the projections show that around half of local areas need to increase their capacity by between 10% and 20% to meet demand for September. Some need an uplift of more than 20% – with areas that see traditionally lower household incomes including Northumberland, Plymouth and Rotherham all in this group.
That’s why the government is taking action now, and providing schools, private providers and local authorities a clear picture of the department’s understanding of demand, and where there are gaps in supply.
Providers and schools are urged to consider the latest data in their bids for the school-based nurseries programme, and work closely with local authorities to outline how proposals will respond to local need and subsequently contribute to the government’s plan for an early years system that breaks down barriers to opportunity for children across the country.
While all parts of the sector are valuable to delivering the quality care that our children need, schools are at the heart of our communities. Proportionally, school-based nurseries currently look after more children with special educational needs and offer a higher number of places in the most deprived areas.
School-based nurseries currently have lower turnover and the option to use some staff more flexibly between reception and early primary, and the government is working with the early years sector through our expanded recruitment campaign to attract more people to a career in early years.
To make sure the programme is delivered in a way that continues to support or most vulnerable children and builds on the important offers of the existing market, the school-based nursery funding will be available to projects that are school-run or delivered by private and voluntary providers or childminders.
So that the government can ensure new provision is in the right places and meets the needs of parents, children and schools, schools who are interested in expanding but are not currently ready to apply will be able to register an interest for future phases of the programme.
We expect funding to be allocated to successful schools in Spring 2025 to support delivery for the first cohort of places for the September rollout.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the school leader’ union, NAHT said:
School-based nurseries play a vital role in the early years sector. It makes sense that where there is spare capacity in schools and demand in the local area, that the government looks to expand school-based provision.
It will be important that interested schools are well supported through this process, both practically and financially, and that the government continues to focus on building a strong and sustainable early years workforce.
We would encourage schools that are ready to expand or open a nursery to apply for this grant, and for those who may be interested in future to register their interest with the DfE.
Accessible, affordable childcare is vital economic infrastructure, enabling women who would otherwise have been forced out of the workforce to choose to stay in work, and benefitting not just them and their families but also the wider economy.
The increase in the funded entitlement hours is welcome recognition of this fact, but we still hear all too often from parents on Mumsnet who struggle with top up costs or face shortages of childcare places in their area.
These measures will help ensure that all families can access the childcare they need when and where they need it.
DENVER – Today, Governor Polis appointed Ian J. MacLaren to the Montezuma County Court in the 22nd Judicial District. This appointment fills a vacancy created by the appointment of the Honorable JenniLynn E. Lawrence to the District Court in the 21st Judicial District and is effective immediately.
Mr. MacLaren is the Montezuma County Attorney, a position he has held since 2021. His practice consists of civil matters. Mr. MacLaren is also a Dolores County Court Judge and Dove Creek Municipal Court Judge, positions he has held since 2024 and 2023, respectively. His dockets consist of civil, criminal, and municipal matters. Previously, he was Assistant Montezuma County Attorney (2016-2021) and Private Practitioner at Ian MacLaren Attorney at Law (2016-2021). Mr. MacLaren received his B.A. from the College of Holy Cross in 2009 and his J.D. from Gonzaga University School of Law in 2012.
WESTMINSTER – Today, Governor Polis discussed Colorado’s leadership in transit, housing, and workforce, and visited Colorado STEM Academy in Westminster, a Governor’s Bright Spot Award-Winning Middle School.
Governor Polis discussed Colorado’s leadership in creating more housing Coloradans can afford and expanding transit access remotely at the Vision Zero 2024 Conference in New York. Earlier this year, Governor Polis signed legislation to break down barriers and expand access to housing Coloradans can afford, by giving Coloradans the freedom to build an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) on their own property, expanding housing near transit and job centers, eliminating costly parking requirements and discriminatory occupancy limits, and creating more housing supply that’s affordable to fill critical gaps in our communities. The Governor also signed legislation to expand transit access in Colorado.
“Colorado is breaking down barriers to access to housing Coloradans can afford while continuing to expand transit opportunities across the state, helping people get where they want to go while saving time and money,” said Governor Polis.
Governor Polis then attended the 2024 Americas Leadership Luncheon, hosted by the Biennial of the Americas, where he discussed the importance of state and national collaboration on the issues that matter most to Coloradans and people around the world. He then spoke at the Apprenticeships for America convening, and focused on the state’s work to strengthen Colorado’s workforce by increasing apprenticeship opportunities to help Coloradans gain skills needed to fill good-paying jobs and power Colorado’s already thriving economy. To continue building on the progress of apprenticeships in Colorado in the public and private sector, Governor Polis signed House Bill 24-1439, sponsored by Representatives Leslie Herod and Eliza Hamrick, and Senators James Coleman and Rachel Zenzinger, which invested $2 million in Scale Up grants so that businesses interested in apprenticeship had the cash to build a great program. Additionally, Governor Polis signed legislation creating $15 million in refundable tax credits to help employers hire and retain apprentices in their business.
“Apprenticeships are a great way for Coloradans to build skills that will lead to a career and earn money while doing it. In Colorado we are committed to making our workforce even stronger, and ensuring Coloradans have the skills needed to fill in-demand jobs and businesses have the talent needed to drive our economy forward,” said Governor Polis.
The Governor then toured the Colorado STEM Academy, a Governors Bright Spot Science Award Recipient. The Bright Spot Award recognizes schools that excelled academically since 2019. Providing Colorado students with a high-quality education remains a priority for Governor Polis. As Chair of the National Governors Association, Governor Polis’s Chair Initiative “Let’s Get Ready: Education All Americans For Success” focuses on ensuring that students and Americans have the skills needed to power the economy.
“I was excited to visit the Colorado STEM Academy and see all the amazing things Colorado students are learning and collaborating on. Education is the foundation to success, and Colorado is committed to ensuring every student and teacher has the resources needed to thrive in and outside of the classroom,” said Governor Polis.
We know that boys and girls are produced in much the same frequency. But how – and why – is this 1:1 ratio achieved?
A new paper searches huge human data sets for gene variants that throw the 1:1 sex ratio off balance, and test the biological and theoretical rules of sex ratio.
What produces the 1:1 sex ratio?
Early scientists credited divine providence with ensuring that “every male should have its female”.
Of course, we now know that sex chromosomes are the real determiners of sex. Females have two X chromosomes; males have a single X and a male-specific Y.
The Y carries a male-determining gene called SRY, which kickstarts the differentiation of a ridge of cells into a testis. The embryonic testis makes male hormones which direct the embryo to develop as a boy. Without SRY, an alternative pathway is activated that makes an ovary, and the embryo develops as a girl.
The 1:1 ratio results from the way the X and Y chromosomes are doled out in sperm and eggs. Our cells all have two sets of chromosomes that constitute our genome, one set from each parent. A special type of cell division makes sperm and eggs with just a single set of chromosomes, so that a fertilised egg once again has two sets (one set from the sperm and the other from the egg).
So sperm all get a single copy of each chromosome – and just one sex chromosome, either an X or a Y. XX females make eggs with a single chromosome set, all of which carry an X.
When a sperm fertilises an egg, the sex chromosome the sperm carries determines the sex of the baby. Embryos that receive one X from the mother and another X from the father are destined to be XX girls, and embryos that receive a Y-bearing sperm will develop as XY boys.
So the 1:1 XY ratio in sperm should produce a 1:1 ratio of XX girls and XY boys.
Sex ratio variation
But there are lots of exceptions to a 1:1 ratio in the animal kingdom. There are genetic mutations that subvert the orderly segregation of the X and Y, or that preferentially kill male or female embryos.
Why should the sex ratio be stuck at 1:1 anyway? After all, a few males can fertilise the eggs of many females.
Indeed, for many animals, unequal sex ratios are the norm. For instance, the mouse-sized marsupial Antechinus stuartiiproduces only 32% males, even when assessed at birth (so it’s not that male babies die more often).
Many birds have sex ratios far from 1:1, and some show very specific adaptations that make ecological sense. For instance, the second kookaburra chick to hatch, facing a lower chance of survival, is usually a female, the sex most likely to survive.
And there are systems of non-standard sex chromosomes. Polar mammals and strange rodents, for instance, are famous for systems in which a mutant X chromosome quashes SRY to form fertile XY females, or a mutated version of SRY doesn’t work. In these species, females predominate, which makes sense for mammals that have to get all their breeding done in a short summer.
Insects take the cake. An extreme case is a kind of mite that produces a ratio of 15 females to 1 male. In many fruit fly species, 95% of sperm carry the X chromosome, so the progeny are largely female.
Why a 1:1 sex ratio in humans? Fisher’s principle
So if sex ratio is so malleable, why have humans (and most mammals) gone for a 1:1 ratio? The great British statistician Ronald Fisher proposed that the ratio is self-correcting and will tend to 1:1 unless there are evolutionary forces that select for distortions.
The argument is simple. Given every baby must have a mother and a father, if there is a deficiency in one sex, the parents of the rarer sex will have more grandchildren than parents of the more common sex.
For instance, if males are the rarer sex, parents who by chance produce more sons than daughters will leave more grandchildren than those that produce more daughters than sons. As a result, son-producing genes will get a boost until parity is reached.
So do we see measurable and heritable departures from 1:1 in the family sex ratio of human sons to daughters? What about Fisher’s principle – is there any evidence that strong evolutionary effects are constraining the human population sex ratio to be 1:1?
In the new research published this week, researchers Siliang Song and Jianzhi Zhang from the University of Michigan conducted an exhaustive examination of huge human data sets from the United Kingdom and found the answer is an emphatic no. They did identify two genetic variants that affected sex ratio, but these seemed not to be passed on through families.
So why do humans obey the 1:1 rule? Is it just statistical artefact, because any one family has relatively so few children that even large departures from a 1:1 ratio get evened out across many families?
Some families have the gene variants to produce more sons than daughters, but other families produce more daughters than sons. Song and Zhang’s analysis suggests this high variability is part of the problem for demonstrating any systematic bias.
Another possibility is that humans face special evolutionary constraints. Perhaps the human tendency for monogamy places additional evolutionary pressure on humans to adhere to Fisher’s principle in a way that does not apply to other animal species.
Whatever the answer, this paper by Song and Zhang raises many intriguing questions, and will be a stimulus to further research on the longstanding and fascinating question of parity in the human sex ratio.
Jenny Graves receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
Arthur Georges receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
Gambling, especially sports and race betting, is a hot political issue at the moment.
This is largely due to the recommendations from a 2023 report from a nonpartisan federal government committee, chaired by the late Peta Murphy, called You Win Some, You Lose More.
This report recommended “the Australian government, with the cooperation of the states and territories, implement a comprehensive ban on all forms of advertising for online gambling”.
This has led to lots of debate and controversy.
Recently, Peter V’landys, head of the NRL and Racing NSW, claimed lotteries were more harmful than race and sports betting combined, citing independent statistics.
Let’s explore the relative harm of different types of gambling and see if this claim holds up.
Australians love a punt
Gambling is widespread in Australia, with more than half of adults engaging in at least one form each year.
According to the latest national data, lotteries are the most common type (40% of Australians buy a ticket annually), followed by race betting (17%), pokies (16%), scratchies (15.7%) and sports betting (9.6%).
However, the popularity of a gambling form doesn’t necessarily reflect its harm. Different gambling activities have distinct characteristics.
Two key factors mean that some gambling forms are more harmful than others: the speed of gambling and bet size.
Pokies allow for frequent, small bets, with spins every three seconds. Race and sports betting can involve much larger sums and betting that is relatively fast, but still slower than pokie spins.
Sports betting, in particular, is getting faster with in-play betting and microbetting.
Poker machines, or ‘pokies’ are the biggest single source of gambling losses in Australia.
Lotteries, on the other hand, are much slower-paced.
People typically spend a small amount on tickets and wait for a draw to find out if they’ve won.
Although it’s possible to spend a lot on tickets, people tend not to, unlike with faster gambling forms.
The average spend on pokies among the 16% who play them is around $4,782 per year, compared to an average spend on lotteries of $377 per year. These are averages. Most won’t spend these amounts but some will spend far more, which raises the average amount.
V’landys’ claim about lotteries being more harmful than race and sports betting was based on “independent statistics”.
He said that of 100 people seeking help from a gambling hotline, 70 had issues with pokies, 15 with lotteries, eight with race betting, four with sports betting, and three with casinos.
We were unable to verify these figures – if anyone has the data, we’d love to see the research to assess them.
However, we do have publicly available data.
What the data say
The NSW GambleAware website’s 2020-21 report shows that of 2,886 people seeking help, 73.3% identified pokies as their primary form of gambling, while only 13 people (less than 1%) listed lotteries. Race betting accounted for 13.1%, and sports betting for 7.9%.
People who experience problems also usually take part in more than one form of gambling, as the NSW report showed.
When these secondary gambling activities were considered, sports betting was cited by 35.5%, race betting by 33.5%, pokies by 19.5%, and lotteries by 13.7%.
What we discovered
The best evidence on gambling problems and harm comes from large-scale prevalence studies, typically commissioned by governments and conducted by independent researchers.
These studies offer high-quality insights into how each gambling form contributes to problems.
While one prevalence study is great, our team recently combined data from seven national and state-based prevalence studies. This resulted in a very high-quality dataset that we can use to study this question.
In our analysis, we used statistical techniques to show how strongly each gambling form is associated with problems.
These techniques give us regression coefficients, which are just numbers that tell us how strong the association is. A higher number means a stronger association between that form and gambling problems.
The most problematic form was pokies (coefficient = 0.147), followed by casino games (0.136), sports betting (0.068) and race betting (0.038).
Lotteries, with a coefficient of 0.001, were the least problematic and were not statistically significant even in our large sample.
As you might guess from such a low number, there’s very little relationship between lotteries and gambling problems.
What about prevalence?
Prevalence matters too – while pokies were most strongly associated with problems, the number of people participating in each gambling form is also important.
Let’s consider an analogy – a car that gives out a lot of exhaust fumes. That car is harmful, but if virtually no one owns one, then it’s not going to account for much pollution.
The same idea applies for gambling forms. If a gambling form is very harmful but very few people do it, it doesn’t account for many problems in the population.
It works the other way, too – if there is a very clean type of car that many people drive, they also won’t add up to much pollution.
Similarly, if we have gambling forms that have very little association with problems, it won’t add up to many problems in the population, even if lots of people take part.
The regression coefficients tell us how problematic each gambling form is. Prevalance tells us how many people do it.
When we combine these two bits of information, we can work out the degree of problems in the community that come from each form.
When we did this, pokies were responsible for 52-57% of gambling problems in the community.
Sports and race betting each contributed 9-11%, with a combined total of around 20%.
Lotteries accounted for just 0.1-1% of problems.
Even if we include scratchies as part of lotteries, this only adds another 2-5% of problems, still far below sports and race betting.
The real issue
What’s the takeaway?
Lotteries are widely played but are not typically associated with much harm.
Sports and race betting, despite having fewer participants, are more harmful due to their faster pace and the potential for large, frequent bets.
Lotteries involve slower betting and lower spending, making them much less risky.
If we aim to reduce gambling harm in our community, the focus should be on pokies, which are widespread in pubs and clubs outside WA, casino games and race and sports betting.
These forms have features that make them far more harmful than slower-paced gambling like lotteries.
Alex Russell receives funding from Gambling Research Australia, the Department of Social Services, the NSW Responsible Gambling Fund, the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission, the New Zealand Ministry of Health, the South Australian Government, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, the Northern Territory Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade, the Alberta Gambling Research Institute and Arts Queensland. He previously provided statistical advice on projects to inform a casino group about gambling and gambling problems amongst their employees, and what could be done to reduce this.
He is a board member for the Australian Loneliness Research Foundation.
Matthew Browne has received funding from the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission, the NSW Office of Responsible Gambling, the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, Gambling Research Australia, the Alberta Gambling Research Institute, the Queensland Department of Justice and Attorney-General, the Commonwealth Department of Social Services, the Office of Responsible Gambling, and the South Australian Independent Gambling Authority for various research studies on gambling behaviour, youth gambling, and the social costs of gambling, and gambling-related harm.
Matthew Rockloff receives funding from Matthew Rockloff has received funding from the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission, the NSW Office of Responsible Gambling, the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, Gambling Research Australia, the Alberta Gambling Research Institute, the Queensland Department of Justice and Attorney-General, the Commonwealth Department of Social Services, the Office of Responsible Gambling, and the South Australian Independent Gambling Authority for various research studies on gambling behaviour, youth gambling, and the social costs of gambling, and gambling-related harm.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Kweisi Mfume (MD-07)
BALTIMORE – Today, U.S. Congressman Kweisi Mfume, Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin, with Governor Wes Moore and Congressmen Steny Hoyer, Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, Jamie Raskin, David Trone, and Glenn Ivey, announced $13.9 million in federal funding to support workforce development and postsecondary education for individuals with disabilities. Administered through the Maryland Department of Disabilities, the funding will help increase access to resources, promote data sharing, and improve employment outcomes.
“Team Maryland continues to drive federal investment in Marylanders’ futures. These new funds will bolster the use of evidence-based strategies to engage individuals with disabilities in careers of their choice, enhancing inclusion, economic mobility, and career growth,” said members of the Maryland Congressional Delegation Congressman Mfume, Senators Cardin, Van Hollen, and Hoyer; and Congressmen Ruppersberger, Sarbanes, Raskin, Trone and Ivey. “One in four Americans has a disability, and these investments will empower those Americans to achieve greater economic independence while supporting our changing economic and workforce needs. This is an important investment in ensuring people with disabilities are able to continue playing a meaningful role in their community.”
“’Leave no one behind’ is not just a talking point for us, it’s a governing philosophy. Today’s action reaffirms Maryland’s commitment to building a state where every person is seen and supported,” said Gov. Moore. “I want to thank the Biden-Harris Administration for their partnership. Together, we will open paths to work, wages, and wealth for Marylanders; grow our economy; and create an equitable future for all.”
The U.S. Department of Education allocated $9.4 million from the Disability Innovation Fund Program to develop a tool that connects students with accessible services, including vocational rehabilitation and long-term support. The tool represents a pioneering data-sharing system that will enable school and state agency personnel—including the Maryland State Department of Education Division of Rehabilitative Services and the Developmental Disabilities Administration at the Maryland Department of Health—to share information about student applications, eligibility, and services.
The Maryland Department of Disabilities also received $4.5 million from the Social Security Administration’s Interventional Cooperative Agreement Program. The funding will be used to assess the impact of outreach and assistance for children with disabilities who qualify for both Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income, in an effort to enhance access to transition services and improve employment outcomes through competitive, integrated employment.
The two grants begin this month and will continue over five years.
“Both grants underscore our unwavering commitment to advancing opportunity, access and choice for individuals with disabilities,” said Maryland Department of Disabilities Secretary Carol A. Beatty. “Allowing them to live a life of their own choosing in their communities. Everyone can work with the right support and services and jobs are a critical element of independence.”
Governor Moore issued a proclamation in support of October as National Disability Employment Awareness Month, highlighting that people with disabilities are more than twice as likely to be unemployed than their non-disabled peers. By removing barriers to employment, Maryland is putting young people with disabilities on the road to financial independence.
For more information on the Disability Innovation Fund grant visit ed.gov.?
For more information on the Interventional Cooperative Agreement Program grant visit ssa.gov.
This follows ongoing reports of disturbing events involving sexist abuse by students in both independent and government schools in Victoria and around the country.
But while this week’s announcement is a welcome and necessary step, we need a more comprehensive plan to eliminate gender-based violence in our schools.
What is the ‘manosphere’?
The “manosphere” is an overlapping collection of extreme men’s communities on social media that are anti-women and against women’s empowerment. This includes Tate, the “misogynist influencer” who is facing trial in Romania on charges of human trafficking and rape (which he denies).
Our recent research found women teachers are increasingly exposed to sexism, misogyny and sexual harassment as the result of boys’ exposure to “manfluencer” ideas and behaviours. These problems are further compounded by the infiltration of far-right sentiments into schools, which has been linked to far-right online forums.
At the same time, women teachers report they are not being supported by school leadership.
The new teaching resources were developed by education academics Helen Cahill and Debbie Ollis, in consultation with teachers, students and parents.
They aim to give students skills to counter the influence of “Tate-types”, and to navigate issues such as consent, sextortion, pornography and gender-based bullying.
They will be part of respectful relationships education, which is mandatory in Victorian government schools (following a recommendation of the 2015 Royal Commission into Family Violence).
Problems with respecful relationship education
There have been implementation issues with respectful relationships education.
A 2022 review (of which one of us, Naomi Pfitzner, was an author) found problems with the funding, quality of resources and training supplied to schools, and with schools’ levels of commitment
Previous research also suggests teachers may be hesitant to engage with controversial or tricky topics. There is a risk some issues are being left out of classroom discussions.
Crucially, respectful relationships is not mandatory in all Victorian schools — independent and faith-based schools in Victoria need to opt in.
In other Australian states and territories, respectful relationships education is not compulsory in any school system.
We need more information
Education departments around the country collect various forms of data about school life, such as learning and attendance. But we don’t have accurate national data on the prevalence of gender-based violence in schools.
Without the full picture of how widespread gender-based violence is in Australian schools, it is difficult to resource and design an appropriate response.
Gender-based violence in schools is inextricably connected to the endemic levels of violence against women in Australia.
We cannot separate a broader culture that enables gendered slurs, misogyny and gender inequity — known enablers of gender-based violence — from attitudes towards women and girls in schools.
The proliferation of online misogynist content requires a new, tailored approach.
Our current project with Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety is examining how online misogyny in the manosphere influences young boys and men in Australia. We will then create resources to support teachers and help make schools safer for all young people.
It is shameful many girls’ first experience of gendered violence happens as students at school. And teachers deserve a safe workplace free from misogyny and sexism.
Stephanie Wescott receives funding from Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS).
Alexandra Phelan receives funding from Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS).
Naomi Pfitzner has received funding from the Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety, the Victorian and Queensland governments and the Australian government. She was an author of the review into Respectful Relationships Education in Australia mentioned in this article.
Sarah McCook receives funding from Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS).
Steven Roberts receives funding from Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS), the Australian government and the Australian Research Council. He is a Board Director at Respect Victoria, but this article is written wholly independently from that role.
The Australian Government is expanding the Connected Beginnings program, helping more First Nations children thrive in the crucial early years.
Minister for Early Childhood Education Dr Anne Aly today announced $1.8 million for Dalaigur Pre-School and Children’s Services Aboriginal Corporation to deliver Connected Beginnings program in Kempsey.
The program connects First Nations children aged zero to five with a range of early childhood education, health and family support services – helping children meet the learning and development milestones necessary to achieve a positive transition to school.
The new site will support around 700 local First Nations children. The Kempsey site joins 47 other locations across the country supporting more than 23,700 First Nations children.
The community-led program is a key contributor to the early childhood Closing the Gap targets, driving an increase in preschool enrolments and improvements to developmental outcomes.
The Government partners with SNAICC – National Voice for our Children and the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation to deliver the program.
The new Kempsey site is part of an investment of $81.8 million from the Australian Government to expand the program to 50 sites nationally. Once all 50 sites are established, the program has the potential to support up to 20 per cent of all First Nations children aged zero to five.
Other Connected Beginnings sites in New South Wales include Bourke, Broken Hill, Doonside, Dubbo, Gosford, Mount Druitt, Taree, Wagga Wagga and Wyong.
Once all New South Wales sites are up and running, the program will support around 6,900 First Nations children across the state.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Early Childhood Education Dr Anne Aly:
“All children, no matter their background or where they live, should be able to access the transformational benefits of quality early childhood education and care.
“Connected Beginnings is delivering significant positive results for First Nations children right across the country, helping to Close the Gap by improving developmental outcomes.
“The Connected Beginnings program is empowering communities to design and deliver the program in a way which supports their individual needs and aspirations.”
Quotes attributable to Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health Ged Kearney:
“Labor is committed to closing the health gap that leads to a significantly lower life expectancy for First Nations people.
“Connected Beginnings is all about centring the voices of First Nations Australian and a community-led approach.
“From child care, to pre-school, to primary school, Connected Beginnings is setting First Nations kids up for best start in life.”
Quotes attributable to SNAICC Chief Executive Catherine Liddle:
“SNAICC is very proud to be the Community Partner in the Connected Beginnings program, that is expanding access to culturally-centred early education and care to many more children and families around the country.
“This is helping to drive positive outcomes in early childhood for Aboriginal and Torres Strait children by increasing participation in early education activities and increasing school readiness.
“The benefits of Connected Beginnings extend to the entire community, as we know closing the gap starts with our children.”
Quotesattributable toDalaigur Pre-School and Children’s Services Aboriginal Corporation Chairperson Fred Kelly:
“It is essential that all our Aboriginal children have a sense of their culture and in particular a strong cultural identity. Dalaigur Pre-School and Children’s Services Aboriginal Corporation provide this through language and culture educators working with both preschools.
“Connected Beginnings is an exciting new program that will provide the resources and services for this solid foundation to be further expanded upon by providing the opportunity to draw upon the experience of existing and new connections and accessing the extensive knowledge from our local community to increase the support for the varied needs of our children.”
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Final of China International College Students’ Innovation Competition 2024 held in Shanghai
Updated: October 17, 2024 09:31Xinhua
The project of Xidian University is introduced during the final of the China International College Students’ Innovation Competition 2024 in Shanghai, east China, Oct. 15, 2024. The final of the China International College Students’ Innovation Competition 2024 was held in Shanghai on Tuesday, during which six teams from home and abroad competed for the champion. The project of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University won the champion. Since this May, altogether 5.14 million projects from 5,406 colleges of 153 countries and regions have been registered to take part in the competition. [Photo/Xinhua]Representatives of contestants are seen during the final of the China International College Students’ Innovation Competition 2024 in Shanghai, east China, Oct. 15, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]The project of Shanghai Jiao Tong University is introduced during the final of the China International College Students’ Innovation Competition 2024 in Shanghai, east China, Oct. 15, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]Representatives of contestants are seen during the final of the China International College Students’ Innovation Competition 2024 in Shanghai, east China, Oct. 15, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]The project of Shanghai Jiao Tong University is displayed during a college students’ innovation achievements exhibition in Shanghai, east China, Oct. 14, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]A college students’ innovation achievements exhibition is held in Shanghai, east China, Oct. 14, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]A model of the project of Wuhan University is displayed during a college students’ innovation achievements exhibition in Shanghai, east China, Oct. 14, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]The representative of the project of the University College London is questioned during the final of the China International College Students’ Innovation Competition 2024 in Shanghai, east China, Oct. 15, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]
Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping and UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls’ and women’s education, sent a congratulatory message to the 2024 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education award ceremony held on Wednesday in Paris, France.
In her message, Peng paid high tribute and extended best wishes to the award-winning organizations from Uganda and Zambia, saying that girls’ and women’s education has a bearing on their growth and development, the well-being of numerous families and the world’s future.
She expressed the hope for every quarter to strongly support health education and digital education among girls and women, develop and gear science education more toward them, and help them attain better health conditions, digital skills and scientific literacy, particularly the competence to innovate and start up business, so as to contribute to advancing women’s education and development in the new era.
Peng said that China has always attached great importance to the cause of girls’ and women’s education, actively pushing forward the global cause of women’s education while continuously improving the educational environment for women in China.
Peng said that as a UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls’ and women’s education, she is ready to work with every party in pooling efforts to achieve gender equality and advance the global women’s cause.
The UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education, established by China in cooperation with UNESCO, is the organization’s only prize for promoting girls’ and women’s education. It plays a vital role in publicizing the concept of gender equality in education and related good practices and in implementing gender equality as a global priority.
