Source: Switzerland – Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research
At its meeting on 19 February 2025, the Federal Council took stock of ongoing work on the consultation draft for the package to stabilise and further develop the bilateral approach with the European Union (EU). After being briefed on the process of formally vetting the agreements, as well as on the national implementing legislation and accompanying measures, the Federal Council determined which steps to take next.
Source: City of Sunderland
A budget for the next financial year has been decided at a meeting of the City Council.
The three hour meeting at City Hall (Wednesday 19 February) saw the budget backed with a vote of 44 councillors in favour and 17 against.
From April the Council Tax for day-to-day services, which raises around £16 of every £100 the council spends, will rise by 2.49 per cent. This is to help fund hundreds of city services from waste collection to parks and street lighting.
The Adult Social Care Precept will rise by 2 per cent and the council has joined with other local authorities to lobby the Government on reforming social care funding and to end this local precept.
Leader of the City Council, Councillor Michael Mordey said: “We have worked very hard to ensure this is a positive budget, which allows us to continue with our ambitious social and economic regeneration plans for the city, whilst ensuring we continue to protect and support our residents most in need.”
The majority of city households are in Council Tax Band A and have a £0.99p weekly increase to help pay for city services and social care. The national benchmark Band D increase is a weekly city rise of £1.48p.
With increasing demand and cost pressures for adult social care, the 2 per cent precept is expected to raise around £2.6m. More spending on adult social care is a key part of the new budget with an extra £15.8m allocated for the next year.
While outlining a more positive settlement from the new Government, Cllr Mordey said that to achieve a balanced budget the council would be using £9m of reserves and continue to introduce and achieve more savings and cost efficiencies.
He said: “Raising council tax remains one of the most difficult decisions for all councils. However, if we don’t raise it, we will need to cut services and reduce our investment into key priority areas.
“That would mean cuts in services to those most vulnerable in our communities and to the services which residents tell us are a high priority.
“Our budget proposals for next year confirm that we will continue to invest in our city. We will continue to invest to protect the most vulnerable people in Sunderland, and we will continue to invest in services that our residents tell us are important to them such as tackling anti-social behaviour and increasing community safety.”
The council has a programme of ambitious investments of more than £400m over the four years and more than £250m of this is programmed for the next year. Projects due for completion in coming months include the new Wear footbridge open for the hosting of the Women’s Rugby World Cup, the Culture House opened, while a school buildings solar panel programme will get underway alongside further investments in the city’s infrastructure.
Budget reports can be viewed at: Meetings and Events
Source: United Nations MIL OSI b
Three years of war in Ukraine have reversed decades of progress for women and girls, leaving millions in urgent need of support, according to UN Women.
Russia’s full-scale invasion has forced more than 1.8 million women to flee their homes within Ukraine, while nearly 6.7 million require humanitarian assistance.
More than 3,799 women and 289 girls have been killed, though the real toll is believed to be significantly higher.
“The full-scale war has pushed an entire generation of Ukrainian women backwards,” said Sabine Freizer Gunes, UN Women Representative in the country.
“They are facing heightened exposure to gender-based violence; rising unemployment; decreased decision-making power; greater domestic burdens; and a severe mental health crisis,” she explained.
Gender-based violence has surged by 36 per cent since 2022, driven in part by conflict-related stress, UN Women reported. In parallel, depression rates among women and girls have worsened.
On the economic front, opportunities have shrunk. By 2024, less than half of displaced women had jobs whilst the gender pay gap doubled since the beginning of the war.
Meanwhile, the burden of unpaid care, from cooking to caring for children, has intensified as childcare services centres have closed and services dwindled. Women spent an average of 56 hours a week on childcare in 2024, up from 49 hours before the war.
Despite these hardships, Ukrainian women are leading humanitarian responses and driving economic resilience.
Women have assumed key roles as aid workers, community leaders and entrepreneurs. Today, one in every two businesses in Ukraine is founded by a woman.
Women are also entering traditionally male-dominated sectors such as security, transportation and demining.
“Donors’ support to Ukrainian women-led organizations and programmes is crucial so they can continue promoting gender equality, women’s rights and leadership,” said Ms. Gunes.
“Women’s full engagement will be essential to rebuild Ukraine as a gender-equal and gender-responsive society,” she added.
In 2024 alone, UN Women supported more than 180,000 women and girls affected by the war through initiatives under the Women Peace and Humanitarian Fund.
The agency provides life-saving humanitarian aid, psychosocial and legal support, protection services and programmes to strengthen women’s economic independence.
Four years on since the beginning of the war, UN Women is working to ensure that women are included in decision-making and recovery efforts, advocating for legal reforms to secure equal rights and representation.
The UN aid coordination office in Ukraine, OCHA, reported that an attack on Odesa City in the small hours of Wednesday morning had injured a number of civilians, including a child.
Local authorities say the attack left a large residential area without electricity and heating, affecting at least 160,000 people – in the midst of winter.
“Multiple apartment buildings were damaged, as well as a children’s hospital, and a kindergarten. For our part, we are providing emergency shelter materials, hot meals, psychosocial support, legal aid, and child protection services,” said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.,
Medical teams are conducting quick health checks and distributing medicines, while schools will remain closed until power and heating are restored.
In the southern city of Kherson aid workers are continuing to respond to an attack that took place on 17 February, and damaged a critical energy facility. 2,500 residents were left without electricity, heating, and water.
Source: Scotland – Highland Council
The Highland Council will be hosting a fun day at Eden Court Theatre, Inverness on Monday 3 March 2025.
Cllr David Fraser, Chair of Highland Council’s Health Social Care and Wellbeing Committee said: “Brighter Beginnings is the first event held by Inverness Family Centre bringing together families and professionals to see what’s available for Highland’s youngest children. I hope that many families will take advantage of this great new opportunity.”
Families with children under 5 years old are welcome to come along between 10.30am and 2.30pm and take part in free activities including messy play, scavenger hunt, outdoor play and puppet shows. There will also be a fire engine, police car and play bus on site. The first 100 parents/carers to come along will receive a free goodie bag!
Image of Brighter Beginnings Event poster
Gillian Forbes, PEEP Co-ordinator at the Inverness Family Centre said: “We are delighted to be hosting this event and are excited to welcome families along to meet services and enjoy the activities. We recognise the importance of the Infant Pledge and working alongside families to give our youngest children the best possible start in life.”
The event will run alongside the ‘Brighter Beginnings: Why early years matter’ Conference where there will be keynote speakers including Dan Wuori, Founder and President of Early Childhood Policy Solutions in the United States, and international author.
Dan said: “I am looking forward to visiting the Highlands and meeting everyone. Learning starts before a baby is born and it’s vital that we recognise the importance of education in early years. This event is a great opportunity to talk about the role of parents/carers and professionals in giving our youngest children the best possible start in life.”
Over 100 parents/carers and professionals will attend the Conference including children under 5.
19 Feb 2025
Source: Scotland – Highland Council
The Highland Council has added additional dates to the series of engagement events so members of the public can take part in the current consultation process on the proposed Visitor Levy Scheme for Highland.
Additional events are to take place in Portree and Kinlochbervie.
The sessions that have taken place so far have been well received, with people attending to find out more about the consultation process and to ask lots of questions.
Council Convenor Bill Lobban said: “I’d like to thank everyone who has taken up the opportunity so far to come to speak to our staff to find out more about the consultation process and to ask questions. I’m pleased to see more dates for these drop-in-events being added as we want the consultation to be as inclusive as possible, ensuring that it fairly and accurately captures opinion and feedback from across all communities.”
The Public Library Community Drop-in Events are informal in-person drop-in sessions to chat with Council staff on the proposed Visitor Levy Scheme and ask questions about the proposal or the consultation process. Public access computers will be available on-site for members of the public to fill in the online consultation document, if required.
Details of sessions still to take place are as follows:
The Community Drop-in Events still to take place are:
There will also be a Community In-person Event on the Isle of Skye on Friday 14 March that will take the form of a formal presentation from Council staff on the proposed Visitor Levy Scheme followed by an opportunity to ask questions. This event will be held in the Skye Candle Visitor Centre , Portree from 2:00-3:30pm.
Formal industry-led events to discuss the specific business-related aspects of the proposed Visitor Levy Scheme with the opportunity to ask questions about the proposal or the consultation process will also take place. Chambers of Commerce have now publicised details of these sessions that council staff will be attending, and these are also listed on the Highland Council Visitor Levy Consultation website.
Everyone is being encouraged to regularly check the Visitor Levy Consultation website as further details are confirmed, and registration links to online events are published.
lso on the website are helpful FAQs that have been updated recently with additional questions raised at earlier public engagement sessions.
Source: Government of India (2)
Posted On: 19 FEB 2025 6:10PM by PIB Delhi
Ms. Sumita Dawra, Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, led the Indian delegation at the first G20 Employment Working Group (EWG) meeting under the South African Presidency, held from 18-21 February 2025 at Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The delegation included Dr. Thelma John David, Consul General of India in Durban, South Africa, and Mr. Piyush Kumar Pathak, Deputy Director from the Ministry of Labour & Employment
Discussions were held on two priority issues namely, (i) Inclusive Growth and Youth Employment, (ii) Social Security and Digitalisation for an Inclusive Future of Work.
First G20 Employment Working Group meeting saw interventions from G20 member countries, emphasizing their respective policy approaches to employment, social security, and skills development. Invited member States including United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of the Netherlands and Kingdom of Norway also made interventions on priority areas. International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) also made a presentation on global employment trends and best practices in labour market reforms.
During the intervention, Secretary highlighted India’s major reforms aimed at job creation, labour market flexibility, and comprehensive social security. India, as the world’s fastest-growing major economy, continues to strengthen its economic landscape through strategic sectoral investments, including agriculture, MSMEs, manufacturing, medical education, and infrastructure development. The focus on global supply chains and export-driven employment was underscored, with initiatives to enhance warehousing and air cargo facilities.
The intervention also emphasized India’s positive employment trends, noting a decline in the unemployment rate from 6% in 2017-18 to 3.2% in 2023-24, alongside a significant rise in the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) and Worker Population Ratio. Labour market modernization was highlighted, particularly the four Labour Codes and other reforms aimed at improving labour welfare, expanding social security—including for gig and platform workers—formalizing employment, and increasing female labour force participation.
India’s efforts in social security expansion were recognized, with coverage doubling from 24.4% in 2021 to 48.8% in 2024, as per the ILO’s World Social Protection Report 2024-26. With the ongoing work with ILO on including ‘in-kind’ benefits and those of the states, the potential coverage of the country will go up further.
Secretary emphasized the success of the e-Shram portal, which has registered over 300 million unorganized workers, and the modernization of ESIC and EPFO schemes. The Employment Linked Incentive (ELI) Scheme was also highlighted as a key initiative to promote formal sector employment.
On gender inclusion, Secretary reiterated India’s commitment to achieving 70% female workforce participation by 2047, citing progressive policies such as extended maternity leave, crèche facilities, and equal pay provisions. India’s increasing participation of women in high-growth sectors like IT, R&D, and engineering was noted as a critical driver of economic growth.
Youth empowerment through skill development was emphasized during India’s intervention with a key focus on employability of graduates which has risen in last decade from 34% to 55%. India’s global engagement in skills mapping with the ILO and OECD was underscored, along with bilateral agreements facilitating skilled labour mobility with major G20 countries.
Secretary reaffirmed India’s commitment to fostering economic inclusion and empowering its youth, recognizing them as key drivers of national and global growth.
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Himanshu Pathak
(Release ID: 2104788) Visitor Counter : 68
Source: Government of Italy (English)
The President of the Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, received the President of the State of Israel, Isaac Herzog, at Palazzo Chigi today, as part of the recent meetings held with the main leaders of the Middle East and the Gulf region.
This was the fourth meeting between the two leaders since President Meloni entered office, providing her with an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of upholding the Gaza ceasefire agreement. Said agreement has allowed for a number of the hostages to be released and for humanitarian aid to be significantly increased to the Strip, where Italy is at the forefront also through its ‘Food for Gaza’ initiative.
During the meeting, President Meloni reiterated Italy’s commitment to the stabilisation and reconstruction of Gaza, as well as the need for a political horizon towards a just and lasting peace in the region.
A similar hope was expressed with reference to the ceasefire reached in Lebanon, where Italy plays an irreplaceable role including through its UNIFIL contingent.
Lastly, the meeting highlighted the common will to enhance the bilateral partnership in all sectors, starting with energy, science and technology.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Eric Heinze, Professor of Law, Queen Mary University of London
Donald Trump is famous for his attacks on journalists and the media. He has banned critical reporters from official events, threatened them with lawsuits, and branded mainstream outlets the “enemy of the people”. Since last year, the US has dropped ten notches on the World Press Freedom Index. Now in 55th place, the country trails far behind many European and other democracies.
It is ironic, then, that vice president J.D. Vance dashed to the Munich Security Conference last week to scold Europeans for their supposed failings on free speech and democracy.
Speaking to European leaders, Vance fretted: “The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor.” Rather, it is “the threat from within”. This rehashing of tropes about “the enemy within” forms part of a Trumpist vocabulary borrowed from the most sinister 20th century autocracies.
One of Vance’s key claims for the decline of free speech in Europe left many UK observers dumbfounded. He rebuked the Scottish government for sending out letters in October 2024 cautioning citizens that, in his words, “even private prayer within their own homes may amount to breaking the law”.
Vance was referring to Scotland’s Safe Access Zones Act, which prohibits protesters from gathering within 200 metres of clinics that perform abortions. Yet his accusation teaches volumes about Trumpism. To call it distorted would be diplomatic: it is a bold-faced lie. The Scottish government has confirmed that letters sent to residents near safe access zones did not instruct people to stop praying in the privacy of their homes.
However, the letters did advise against conduct such as displaying anti-abortion posters or banners, or protesting on their property in ways that might be seen or heard within proximity of the clinics, or might encourage such activity in those areas.
The Scottish law echoes similar laws in other democracies, including several US states. Yes, the right to protest is essential to democratic societies, but these societies have always accepted that protesters must not harass or threaten citizens going about their everyday business, let alone when seeking essential services such as medical appointments.
Admittedly, “buffer zones” around abortion clinics cannot and need not extend so far as to impede protesters’ freedoms of expression, so a debate about the precise reach of the Scottish law can and should take place. However, as observed in England and Wales, zones have not generally been drawn with excessively broad perimeters.
Clearly, Vance’s eyes were more fixed on his own future presidential bid, playing more to religious fundamentalists back home than to anyone who might seriously care about free expression. His 18-minute speech invoked God three times, and “prayer” nine times, while saying nothing about the main issue for which delegates had gathered: Russia’s unprovoked onslaught on Ukraine.
Curiously, Vance whispered not a word of criticism about UK government crackdowns on the kinds of protests that, in the US, Trump most fears, such as protests against specific government policies and practices.
I should not have to point out that anti-abortionists in Scotland remain entirely free to proclaim their opinions, in public and in print, alongside countless other types of political expression. Such expression has long been recognised as protected under UK law, and enshrined in the Human Rights Act.
The only impact of Scotland’s new law is to prevent residents living within 200 metres of such clinics from displaying placards or holding events that would target women visiting such facilities. Admittedly, someone “only standing and praying” nearby a clinic may present a borderline case – but well within bounds that can be assessed through our democratic processes, the very processes that Trump loyalists increasingly disdain.
We can debate the rights and wrongs of the Scottish law, but any suggestion that it seriously abridges free speech – when compared to the kinds of incursions Trump himself wages – would be farcical.
Admittedly, while Scotland rightly protects its medical facilities, some people will ask whether a law can legitimately reach so far as to regulate the opinions that people wish to display in their windows and gardens. In recent years, many UK homes have flown Ukrainian or Palestinian flags from their homes, which some neighbours may find inappropriate. Yet British law protects their rights to do so.
Clearly then, we can have meaningful debates about how far free expression in the home extends, but nothing in what Trump officials have said or done on their home turf suggests that this is their real concern.
As it happens, Vance was not totally wrong when he mused: “In Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat.” For years, Hungarians have faced relentless attacks on free speech under Viktor Orbán – the autocrat whom Trump followers, including Vance himself, have so often praised.
On several occasions in The Conversation and elsewhere, I have advocated free speech and I have every intention to continue doing so. I am also willing to concede that, despite Trump’s compulsive attacks on free speech, his supporters have raised some valid concerns about the stifling of opinion on the left.
Abortion exemplifies the type of issue that sparks widespread ethical controversies. Any democracy must ensure that speakers on all sides have safe means of expressing their views in the public arena. Everyone in today’s democracies could use a few lessons in free speech – and the Trump team tops the list.
Eric Heinze has received past funding from the European Union.
– ref. Censorship, abortion and the ‘threat within’: what a free speech expert thinks of J.D. Vance’s remarks to Europe – https://theconversation.com/censorship-abortion-and-the-threat-within-what-a-free-speech-expert-thinks-of-j-d-vances-remarks-to-europe-250188
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Viktor Valgarðsson, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Southampton
Citizens’ trust in their political institutions has been falling around the world. This may not come as a shock to many.
British politics has been in chaos since the Brexit referendum in 2016. Rioters stormed the US Capitol in protest against the result of the 2020 presidential election. And the US president, Donald Trump, is continuing to attack the supposed “deep-state” controlling American politics. None of these things scream public trust in government.
But declining political trust is not self-evident. It’s possible that we may be too focused on a couple of countries that dominate our attention, and a lot has been going on in recent years that could explain the situation that we find ourselves in.
Many researchers have also pointed out that people have never been particularly fond of politics. They suggest that we’ve simply been seeing “trendless fluctuations” in trust – ebbs and flows where we happen to notice declines more than rises or stability.
In a recently published study, my co-authors and I took on this debate. We analysed more data on political trust than previous studies, from over 5 million respondents to 3,377 surveys conducted in 143 countries between 1958 and 2019.
Our models suggest that, at least since 1990, trust in parliament and government has indeed been declining by an average of about 8.4 and 7.3 percentage points respectively in democratic countries across the world.
The same does not apply to trust in non-representative “implementing institutions”, such as the civil service, justice system or police. In fact, we find that trust in the police has increased by about 12.5 percentage points across democracies on average over the same period.
Thus, declining trust in government appears to be rooted in how politics is practised, which is seemingly less inspiring to citizens today, rather than in a growing distaste for social institutions in general.
Of course, this global picture masks a more nuanced story. Political trust has been rising in a few smaller countries: Denmark, Ecuador, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. These nations may chart a path forward for the rest of the democratic world.
Conversely, trust in the legal system has been declining in many countries in eastern Europe and Latin America. The same appears to be the case more recently in the US, suggesting that implementing institutions are not immune to the political trust crisis.
Our findings do not answer why citizens of democracies are gradually losing faith in their democratic institutions, or what the consequences could be. They also do not suggest how trust in politics can be rebuilt. But what we do know is concerning.
For instance, our data tells us that political trust was declining dramatically in Hungary right up until 2010, when Viktor Orbán was re-elected as prime minister (his first term ended in 2002). When in office, Orbán started dismantling the country’s constitutional and liberal democratic order.
We also know that the US has seen one of the more dramatic declines of political trust in recent times, and that political distrust was a powerful predictor of voting for Trump at least in the 2016 Republican primaries.
In a survey conducted that year by American National Election Studies, about 24% of Trump’s primary voters said they would “never” trust the federal government to do what is right. This compared with about 9% of voters for rival Republican candidate John Kasich, and 8% and 4% of voters for Democrat candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton respectively.
We do not yet have data for the 2024 US presidential election. But it does not take a political scientist to know that Trump leaned even more heavily on people’s distrust in government in his campaign. Since becoming president, he has stepped up his efforts to dismantle America’s constitutional and liberal democratic order.
Declining political trust is not the only cause of these developments. We are also seeing illiberal candidates and parties doing increasingly well in countries where we didn’t see the same trust declines in our data. The rising popularity of Geert Wilders in the Netherlands or the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party in Germany are both good examples.
Some of this may be driven partly by more recent trust declines, like in the Netherlands where trust in parliament has dropped substantially since 2020. Or it could be driven by a polarisation of trust between a more trusting majority and a deeply distrusting minority. But much of it is also probably driven by other factors, such as economic distress, attitudes towards immigration and the “culture wars” of our day.
It stands to reason that voters who deeply distrust the political establishment would tend to be attracted to populist leaders who rail against that establishment.
These voters probably still support democracy as an ideal. Support for democratic principles has, in fact, remained high globally – although there are worrying signs among younger generations in US and UK. But these voters appear to be more willing to vote for politicians who will attack the institutions needed to make it work.
This brings us to one crucial question: are citizens right to distrust government? After all, political institutions haven’t been working all that well for a large portion of citizens – except maybe in areas like Scandinavia, where we have seen rising trust in recent times.
A degree of sceptical mistrust of government is certainly vital for a healthy democracy. We are reminded of this by some of the more sobering points in our data.
China has the highest rates of reported trust in the world, while Hungary and Russia have both seen rising trust levels as their governments have become less democratic and seized control of the media environment. Clearly, trust is not unequivocally good from a democratic perspective.
Our challenge is to find the right balance: a climate of sceptical trust, where we hold our governments to account and engage critically with our institutions without throwing them away in favour of autocratic populists.
To save the foundations of liberal democracy, we may need to rediscover its appeal to the ordinary citizen. If it’s something about the way politics is practised that citizens distrust, perhaps those politics need to change.
Viktor Valgarðsson 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.
– ref. Trust in politics is in long-term decline around the world – new research – https://theconversation.com/trust-in-politics-is-in-long-term-decline-around-the-world-new-research-250078
Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police
The victim of a fatal stabbing in Hackney has been named as 20-year-old Jason Junior Romeo.
Police were called to reports of an altercation in Bodney Road, E5 at 17:59hrs on Tuesday, 18 February. Officers and the London Ambulance Service worked to treat Jason at the scene but he sadly died as a result of a stab wound.
Two men in their 20s have been arrested and remain in police custody.
Detective Superintendent Kelly Allen, leading the investigation in Hackney, said: “Jason had his whole life ahead of him but this senseless attack has taken that from both him and his loved ones. Our continued thoughts go out to his family, who are being supported by specialist officers.
“If anyone saw this incident, or was nearby, please do share that information with officers. We are especially interested in any footage from the surrounding area.”
The public can contact the police via 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 with any information, reference CAD 5635/18Feb.
A crime scene will remain in place until the forensic investigation has concluded.
Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway, who leads policing in Hackney and Tower Hamlets, said: “It is absolutely devastating for Jason’s family and extremely distressing for our communities that another young life has been taken away as a consequence of knife crime. We continue to work closely with our local community partners and Hackney Council to tackle the causes and effects of knife crime.
“I repeat an appeal I have sadly had to make too frequently. If any young person feels they need to carry a knife please speak to a parent, carer, teacher, youth leader or adult you trust and we can get you the support to step back from that decision safely.
“I will have additional uniformed and plain clothed officers working in the area as a consequence of this tragic event. While the investigation continues to work to understand the motive for this attack, we will work tirelessly to reduce the risk of any further violence.”
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Scientists comment on the sinkhole that has appeared in Surrey.
Dr Collins, Deputy Dean, College of Engineering, Design & Physical Sciences and Reader in Geology & Geotechnical Engineering, Brunel University of London, said:
“The term ‘sinkhole’ is often reserved for naturally formed features, though the fundamental processes and end results are similar. In this case, the cause of the visible holes appears to be the washout of soil from beneath the road as a result of a burst water mains. This burst would have pumped a large volume of water into the soil in a short period of time, overcoming its strength and turning it to a slurry which was then washed away. It isn’t clear where the soil went yet, but it is likely to have gone into the sewers, which may cause problems elsewhere.
“One of the contributing factors is the local geology, which is sand, and the former land use which is a sand quarry that was located immediately to the west of the sinkhole. Sand can be strong when compacted as the particles are packed together, but weak when it becomes wet, and particularly if there is a lot of water under pressure.
“The area near the sinkhole has been developed over the last few decades and some of the properties look quite new. Normally, the ground would have been investigated before any construction. This might have involved shallow trial pits or boreholes. The local geology would possibly have been seen as fairly stable and low risk, and the buildings are not large so the amount of investigation could have been limited. Geotechnical engineers looking at the site would have been primarily concerned with soil strength and drainage and, perhaps quite reasonably, are unlikely to have considered the ‘lateral blast’ effect of a burst high pressure water main.
“What is currently unclear is why the mains pipe ruptured. One possibility is soil movement that caused the pipe to deform. Interestingly, an ‘Entrance to Subterranean Sand Pit’ is marked very close to the position of the sinkhole on the 1868-9 Ordnance Survey map and, while this has been infilled, its may have left a legacy of deeper, weaker soil. There are some clay-rich layers in the local sands that could heave and shrink over time. An alternative is that there was a structural failure in the pipe or a nearby sewer.
“The pipe rupture does highlight the challenge that comes with having buried infrastructure as they are often buried at depths in excess of a metre. The depth is to reduce the impact of deep freeze during a very cold winter and the place the pipe below the soil most exposed to seasonal changes in moisture content. Unfortunately, this makes them hard to monitor and repairs can be difficult, including the replacement of soil in the excavated hole once the repair is complete.
“Hopefully, in this case, the extent of the damage is limited to the areas that have already collapsed and the foundations of the adjacent properties have not been affected. Repairing the collapse hole might not be straightforward as the ground is currently saturated and will need to drain. There will need to be ground investigations to see if the hole extends further under the road and buildings. Ultimately, it may be filled with processed sand that would need to be artificially compacted or with concrete.”
Declared interests
No reply to our request for DOIs was received.
Source: United Nations 4
Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s opening remarks, as delivered, at the Member States’ briefing on the second Food Systems Summit Stocktake, in New York today:
It is a real pleasure to join our permanent representatives and welcome you all today.
As you all know transforming our food systems is essential to driving progress across the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and delivering for everyone, everywhere — sufficient, nutritious food — now and in the future, particularly as we go towards the five years to deliver on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
That is why, in 2021, the UN Secretary-General convened the UN Food Systems Summit. This established the foundation for a new, integrated approach to food systems — placing food at the heart of our efforts to address poverty, zero hunger, inequality, climate change and biodiversity loss. It has reshaped the global narrative, building an engine of transformation that recognizes food systems as a key lever to accelerate and reinforce SDG progress.
Building on this momentum, the first Summit Stocktake, hosted by the Government of Italy in 2023, reaffirmed strong political will among nations. Countries pledged to increase the pace of their efforts towards sustainable, inclusive and resilient food systems transformation.
But, it also highlighted persistent gaps and challenges. Among them, an urgent need to enhance public-private-community partnerships, and strengthen private sector engagement.
These crucial issues identified at the first stocktake, resulted in the UN Secretary-General’s Call to Action. The Call identified six critical areas for concerted action, including: securing concessional finance, investments, budget support and debt restructuring. It also emphasized addressing food security in crisis situations.
The proposed SDG Stimulus — of $500 billion a year — was recognized as a game-changer, offering fiscal space and resources, including through Special Drawing Rights rechannelling. Finance was emphasized as a critical component of food systems transformation, along with support of our multilateral development banks in unlocking investments in this field.
Given the global context riddled with challenges of rising living costs, social inequalities, climate change and geopolitical tensions, we will need all hands on deck to reach food systems transformations with the impact to advance on the 2030 Agenda.
Now, in just over five months, Addis Ababa will host the second United Nations Food Systems Summit Stocktake.
We are grateful to the Government of Ethiopia for hosting this important event and for making our commitment to take the second stocktake to a developing country, a reality. Worth noting also is its leadership and extensive work on its policy environment, infrastructure development and the production of food that engages small holder farmers across the country. We are grateful to Italy, which has agreed to co-host, for its legacy and continued leadership and support to food systems transformation. It is important that we see leadership and sustainability of that support at the country level.
The Stocktake will be different — it has to be — in response to many of the requests for us to have more focus and impact.
First, we will be reflecting on progress since 2023, with a report from the system, but also a shadow report from our stakeholders. Second, we will be partnering to track commitments and outcomes through national food systems pathways to accelerate SDG implementation. And third, unlocking investments to sustain and scale transformative initiatives aligned with the SDGs.
In preparations for the Stocktake, we are committed to an inclusive, cross-sectoral efforts and consultations. We will hold a second briefing in Nairobi next week engaging UN headquarters in Nairobi, Rome and Geneva. In addition, we will hold five regional briefings, on the margins of the United Nations Regional Forums on Sustainable Development, from March to May.
We will also be engaging all our resident coordinators in UN country teams, at the country level so that they are fully engaged with our Member States in bringing to Addis Ababa the progress, and of course, the challenges and opportunities.
At the same time, we will push progress towards food systems transformation, including through important gatherings this year — the fourth Financing for Development Conference in Spain, thirtieth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30) in Brazil, the second World Summit on Social Development in Qatar and the third United Nations Ocean Conference in France.
These are all critical platforms to drive progress, harness collective action and create new investment opportunities.
As Member States, you are at the forefront of this transformation. Your leadership and coordination will be instrumental in ensuring that the Stocktake inspires real action at the national level. The United Nations is with you — committed to creating sustainable, inclusive, healthy and resilient food systems everywhere, across all our regions, reaching everyone.
We thank you for this important opportunity that will help us to shape the Stocktake in Addis Ababa in July.
Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI
Khartoum (Agenzia Fides) – A violation of “international law, the Charter of the United Nations, the Constitutive Act of the African Union and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.” This is how the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Sudanese government, led by General Abdel Fattah al Burhan, defined Kenya’s decision to welcome the “signing of a political agreement between the terrorist militia Janjaweed, responsible for the ongoing acts of genocide in Sudan, and its affiliated individuals and groups”.The document, called the “Political Charter for the Government of Peace and Unity,” promoted by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Mohamed Hamdan “Hemeti” Dagalo, together with other Sudanese political and military actors, effectively represents the creation of a parallel government to that led by Al Burhan from Port Sudan. The capital Khartoum is still disputed between the two adversaries, although the military of Al Burhan’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) appears to have regained some important strategic points in the region in recent weeks.“Since the stated aim of this agreement is to establish a parallel government in part of Sudanese territory, this step promotes the fragmentation of African states, violates their sovereignty and interferes in their internal affairs,” the Sudanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “This is therefore a clear violation of the UN Charter, the founding act of the African Union and the established principles of the modern international order.” Meanwhile, the term “Janjaweed” used in the statement evokes sad memories, especially for people in Darfur, the RSF’s bastion. The Janjaweed were the militias allied with the Khartoum regime that bloodily suppressed the uprisings in this region of western Sudan in the early 2000s. The RSF is its evolution, which in turn has rebelled against the regular army over the years.According to the statement, by hosting the event, Kenya is also complicit in the crimes committed by the RSF (“genocide, ethnically motivated massacres of civilians, attacks on camps for displaced persons and rapes”).The formation of an alternative government is seen as an attempt by the RSF leader, Dagalo, to gain international legitimacy. Both the Sudanese army and the RSF are subject to international sanctions for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the conflict. However, Al Burhan’s government enjoys international recognition that Dagalo’s troops do not. Nairobi’s decision to host the event should be seen against the backdrop of the renewed relations of the Sudanese government with Russia and Iran. Russia, through the private military company Wagner, had initially supported the RSF and has now decided to support General Al Burhan, who in return has granted Moscow a military base on the Red Sea. Iran, which until 15 years ago had close military relations with the Al-Bashir regime, which were severed by the latter under pressure from the West and some Gulf countries, now sees a new window opened for the resumption of relations with the meeting of the two foreign ministers on February 17, during which Tehran stressed the importance of Sudan’s territorial integrity and the end of foreign interference in Sudan. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 19/2/2025)
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Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI
Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Archdiocese of Mandalay
by Paolo AffatatoMandalay (Agenzia Fides) – When on the evening of February 14 a commando of ten armed men arrived at the rectory of the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in the village of Kangyi Taw (in the Shwe Bo district of the Sagaing region), Father Donald Martin Ye Naing Win, a 44-year-old priest of the Archdiocese of Mandalay, fearlessly confronted the ten militiamen who threatened him. They had first threatened and silenced two women, teachers and parish workers, who were on the church premises and were helping the priest to organize classes for the children of the parish’s about 40 Catholic families. In the Sagaing region, affected by the clashes between the Burmese army and the resistance forces, the state system has collapsed, there are no public services and education is only guaranteed by spontaneous initiatives such as those of the parishes.It is the two women who were present at the events and are now in a protected place for security reasons who tell the details of the incident. Their testimony, which Fides has received, has already reached the Ministry of Justice of the National Unity Government (NUG) in exile, on which the People’s Defense Force (PDF) depends, which controls the territory in the so-called “liberated areas”, i.e. those taken from the control of the military junta by the opposition forces.The men who attacked Father Donald, the women reported, were in an an evident abnormal mental state, either due to alcohol or drugs. They came from the neighboring village. It is not clear why they attacked the priest with such violence, whom the leader ordered to kneel. Father Donald watched them and replied with the gentleness and inner peace that characterize him as a man and priest with an upright conscience: “I only kneel before God”. And then he continued quietly: “What can I do for you? Is there a matter we can discuss?”.One of the men responded to his words by striking him from behind with a dagger that was still in its sheath. However, with this weapon he accidentally hit the leader of the armed group. The leader, who was already in a state of drunkenness and rage, which was also due to Father Donald’s reaction, pulled out a knife and angrily attacked the priest, repeatedly stabbing him brutally in the body and neck. Father Donald did not utter a word or complain. He endured the senseless violence without reacting, like an innocent man, “like a lamb to the slaughter,” as the witnesses report. The other men stood by and watched the murder being carried out. The repeated blows to the throat almost severed the head from the body, which sank in a lake of blood. After the crime, the group of men left the scene.The women raised the alarm and called the villagers, who, in shock and tears, took the lifeless body with them. The soldiers of the People’s Defence Force were then alerted, who tracked down and arrested the attackers. The two women’s testimonies were recorded and sent to the Government of National Unity, which stressed in a statement that it was “deeply saddened by the murder of Father Donald Martin, a priest from Mandalay” and that it would “commit itself to punishing the alleged murderers according to the law”. “The People’s Defence Forces (PDF) of Shwebo district arrested ten suspects on the same day” and began the relevant investigations, the statement continued. “The accused belong to a local defence group,” the text said. “As it is known that they belong to the armed forces, the Government of National Unity and the Ministry of Defence will take legal action”, applying the law provided for the military. “The National Unity Government,” it concludes, “strongly condemns attacks on civilians, including religious leaders, by any organization.”As the Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners (AAPP) explains, in the areas controlled by the resistance – which constitute a kind of “parallel state” – “there is no definitive legal framework to guide governance, administration and legislation.” In some liberated areas, “there is a judicial system with district judges who establish a procedure and, in some cases, apply their own legal framework.”On the other hand, in the current context, it is difficult to draft and implement completely new laws, so in many liberated areas, national laws are still applied. However, efforts are being made to selectively enforce laws that are “consistent with international human rights standards” enacted and amended by the army for Myanmar in recent years, with a focus on laws enacted by the country’s successive military juntas that “give the authorities excessive power and disproportionate punishments”. The AAPP points to the need for “comprehensive judicial reform” and a “fair and just system” in which no authority (judges, administrative bodies, local police officers and other armed groups), regardless of their status, “is above the law”.It is pointed out that, meanwhile, anyone accused of a crime must have the opportunity to defend themselves. Currently, in the liberated areas, a district judge has the power to impose the death penalty. If the accused is sentenced to death, he has de facto no right of appeal.(Agenzia Fides, 19/2/2025)
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Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI
Wednesday, 19 February 2025 wars
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – The M23 advance in the Congolese province of South Kivu continues after the capture of Bukavu, the capital of this province in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (see Fides, 17/2/2025).With the recent capture of the cities of Kamanyola and Luvungi, the M23 militiamen have paved the way for the capture of Uvira, the second largest city in the province of South Kivu. Uvira is located on Lake Tanganyika, from which a road leads to Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi. The withdrawal of Burundian soldiers a few days after the fall of the city of Bukavu is said to have facilitated the rebels’ advance towards Uvira, where tensions are increasing; the state authorities have meanwhile decided to release prisoners before the arrival of the rebels.At least 12 people were killed in the town on February 17 in clashes between regular army soldiers (FARDC) and pro-government Wazalendo militiamen. According to Radio Okapi, citing the head of the civil society of Congolese nationalists, Serge Kigwati, the clashes began when the Wazalendo tried to disarm soldiers returning from the northern front to the south of the province. The FARDC’s refusal to hand over its weapons led to gun battles between the two sides.Meanwhile, Ugandan special forces entered Bunia, the capital of neighboring Ituri province. The Ugandan military has long had a presence in the region to conduct the joint “Shujaa” operation with the FARDC against the ADF/NALU jihadists linked to the Islamic State. However, the reinforcement of the Ugandan army in Ituri brings back memories of the joint actions of the Rwandan and Ugandan military during the two previous wars, that of 1996-97 against Mobutu’s then Zaire and that of 1998 against then President Laurent-Désiré Kabila. The specter of a regional conflict still looms over the Democratic Republic of Congo.(L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 19/2/2025)
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Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI
Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Vatican Media
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – While Pope Francis is being treated for bilateral pneumonia at the Agostino Gemelli Hospital in Rome, the Holy See Press Office has released the text of the catechism prepared by the Holy Father for the general audience of 19 February 2025.As part of the cycle of catechisms on the life of Jesus, in the catechism published today, after speaking of the birth of the Son of God, the Pope speaks of the visit of the Magi, “people who do not belong to the people of the covenant “. They are “foreigners, who immediately arrive to pay homage to the Son of God who entered into history with an entirely precedented kingship”. After the shepherds, then the Magi. From the Gospels it is clear “that the poor and foreigners are invited among the first to meet God made child, the Saviour of the world”.The Magi, as the text says, ” are men who do not stay still but, like the great chosen ones of biblical history, feel the need to move, to go forth. They are men who are able to look beyond themselves, who know how to look upwards”.Once they arrive in Jerusalem, “their naivety and trust in asking for information about the newborn king of the Jews clashes with the shrewdness of Herod, who, troubled by the fear of losing his throne, immediately tries to obtain a better view, contacting the scribes and asking them to investigate”. In these lines “the earthly ruler thus shows all his weakness”. And not just that of the king.The experts know the Scriptures and refer to the king “the place where, according to Micah’s prophecy, the leader and shepherd of the people of Israel should be born: little Bethlehem, and not great Jerusalem! Indeed, as Paul reminds the Corinthians, “God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor 1:27). The scribes, “who are able to identify the Messiah’s birthplace exactly, show the way to others, but they themselves do not move! Indeed, it is not enough to know the prophetic texts to tune in to the divine frequencies; one must let them to enter within and allow the Word of God to revive the yearning to seek, the kindle to desire to see God”.Herod asks the wise men who have come from far away to inform him when they find the child. The king, however, acts ” as do the deceitful and violent” because “for those attached to power, Jesus is not the hope to be welcomed, but a threat to be eliminated!”. But as soon as they leave Jerusalem, “the star reappears and leads them to Jesus, the sign that creation and the prophetic word represent the alphabet with which God speaks and lets Himself be found. The sight of the star inspires an irrepressible joy in those men, because the Holy Spirit, who stirs the heart of whoever sincerely seeks God, also fills it with joy”.So they reached the place where the child was and “they prostrate themselves, adore Jesus and offer Him precious gifts, worthy of a king, worthy of God”. Pope Francis describes the reason for this gesture by quoting Chromatius of Aquileia, who in commenting on the Gospel of Matthew, about the Magi, writes: they see “a humble little body that the Word has assumed; but the glory of divinity is not hidden from them. They see an infant child; but they worship God”.”The Magi thus become the first believers among the pagans, the image of the Church drawn together from every language and nation. Let us, too, follow in the footsteps of the Magi, these “pilgrims of hope” who, with great courage, turned their steps, hearts and goods towards the One who is the hope not only of Israel but of all peoples. Let us learn to adore God in His smallness, in His kingship that does not crush but rather sets us free and enables us to serve with dignity”, the Pontiff concludes. (F.B.) (Agenzia Fides, 19/2/2025)
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Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –
Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
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Alexander Novak held a meeting of the presidium of the subcommittee on expanding foreign economic cooperation
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak held a meeting of the presidium of the subcommittee on expanding foreign economic cooperation with promising partners from friendly states of the Government Commission on Economic Development and Integration at the Government Coordination Center. Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk, representatives of federal executive bodies, the Bank of Russia, and specialized companies took part in the event.
Deputy Minister of Economic Development Vladimir Ilyichev reported on the work being carried out with foreign countries in the trade, economic, investment, energy, industrial, technological, educational, cultural, sports and other spheres.
Alexander Novak instructed federal executive bodies to monitor the implementation of measures to expand integration with partners from friendly countries. The Ministry of Economic Development will coordinate this work.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: Scottish Greens
Abortion rights are human rights.
Scottish Green MSP Gillian Mackay has condemned anti-choice protests taking place today outside the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow, with the first arrest reported under the Safe Access Zones legislation.
Ms Mackay introduced the bill that secured 200 metre wide safe access zones, or buffer zones, around abortion service providers to stop the intimidating anti-choice protests that have taken place across Scotland.
The Daily Record has also reported that US anti-choice campaign group 40 Days for Life have listed protests in Glasgow starting next month.
Ms Mckay said:
“The protests that have taken place outside Queen Elizabeth have been utterly shameful and I am grateful to Police Scotland for acting so quickly.
“This kind of intimidation has no place in a modern or progressive Scotland. Everybody deserves to have access to healthcare without harassment. That is why I introduced my Act, and why these disgraceful protests are now illegal.
“We know the awful impact that these protests have had. Some of the testimonies from women who have had to endure them have been heartbreaking.
“I urge 40 Days For Life and anyone else who is planning to protest in a safe access zone to think again, as they will be stopped and there will be consequences.”
Ms Mackay added:
“It’s no coincidence that this has happened so soon after JD Vance and his supporters have spread toxic misinformation about Scotland, it is vital that we stand up for reproductive rights and against those who are working to undermine them.”
Source: Scottish Government
Protecting the powers of the Scottish Parliament.
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes has demanded the repeal of the Internal Market Act and the full restoration to the Scottish Parliament of the powers that were removed by the last UK administration.
In October 2023 the Scottish Parliament called for the Act to be repealed – but that vote was ignored by the previous UK Government.
The current UK Government has now launched a review of the Act but has said it too will not consider repeal.
Ms Forbes said:
“It is baffling that the new UK Government has explicitly ruled out repealing the Internal Market Act before it begins the review process and consultation.
“Neither the scope nor terms of reference of the review acknowledge the longstanding position of the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament to repeal the IMA.
“We still face the prospect of laws passed in this parliament being nullified at the stroke of a pen by the UK Government. The very existence of such a risk diminishes the powers of this parliament.
“This, therefore, is a key test for the new UK Government to show whether it intends to continue to ignore the democratic voice of the Scottish Parliament.
“Today is an opportunity for the Parliament to send a clear message to Westminster that it must change course by repealing the Internal Market Act and that the era of undermining Scottish democracy must come to an end.”
Background
On 25 January the UK Government launched a consultation as part of its statutory review on the Internal Market Act.
In October 2023, MSPs voted to repeal the UK Internal Market Act.
Source: City of Derby
Joint statement from:
Amber Valley Borough Council
Bolsover District Council
Chesterfield Borough Council
Derby City Council
Derbyshire Dales District Council
Erewash Borough Council
High Peak Borough Council
North East Derbyshire District Council
South Derbyshire District Council
“In our roles as the Leaders of Derbyshire’s eight District and Borough Councils and the Leader of Derby City Council, we came together last week to discuss options for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) in Derbyshire, mindful of the Government’s deadline of Friday 21 March for initial proposals. The Leader of Derbyshire County Council was also invited but declined to attend.
“Working collaboratively, and in the best interests of local residents and businesses, we explored a range of options that would ensure that Derbyshire’s historic boundaries remained intact, while also creating new unitary councils of the right scale to deliver the best possible services for our communities.
“The current options we are exploring would involve the creation of two new unitary Councils utilising the geographies of the eight district councils as the key building blocks alongside the geography of Derby City Council.
“It is important to stress that the County of Derbyshire and the City of Derby would continue to exist and retain their own unique identities irrespective of whatever option is agreed going forward. The proposals would however result in both Derbyshire County Council and Derby City Council being abolished, along with Derbyshire’s eight District and Borough Councils.
“The options under consideration clearly meet the criteria set out in the Government’s invitation to submit proposals for unitary Local Government, in particular a population size of c500,000, and a sustainable local taxbase that is fair and balanced across all of Derbyshire and Derby. They also provide the opportunity for the two new unitary Councils to work in genuine partnership and collaborate on the delivery of all local government services, in turn ensuring the best possible value for money to local taxpayers. Most importantly, we believe they would be of the appropriate size to strike the right balance between retaining the strong local connections we already have with our communities and being financially sustainable.
“To guide our final decision, our proposals will be subject to extensive consultation with residents, businesses, our workforces, partner public bodies, and the voluntary sector; ensuring all voices are captured and heard collectively.
“We are of the view that Derbyshire County Council’s proposed ‘county unitary’ option would effectively ‘doughnut’ Derby City Council. This would create a large and remote Council, with disparate communities, particularly across Southern Derbyshire, that would in turn lead to the inefficient delivery of services. It would also create a significant imbalance in the local taxbase; a County Unitary with a taxbase of c810,000, and Derby City Council with a taxbase of only 270,000, with little space for growth.
“Across the wider East Midlands, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire and likewise, Leicester and Leicestershire, are engaging in discussions between the respective city and county councils to restructure their local authority frameworks, with a focus on creating more efficient and cohesive unitary systems.
“Consequently we are still open to meeting with the Leader of Derbyshire County Council for future discussions around LGR, as although our current positions aren’t aligned, we firmly believe this would be in the best interests of the residents that elect us and use our services, and the businesses that rely on us to support local employment and drive economic growth.”
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
NASDAQ FIRST NORTH GROWTH MARKET MEDDELELSE NR. 2/2025
København, den 19. februar 2025
FN2/2025 Kapitalforhøjelse – Nye aktier
I forlængelse af FN1 vedrørende kapitalforhøjelsen meddeler selskabet hermed, at de nye aktier (i alt 49.257 stk.) er ansøgt optaget til handel på Nasdaq First North Growth Market Denmark hurtigst muligt.
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Source: Central Bank of Iceland
In accordance with the Monetary Policy Committee Rules of Procedure, the minutes of the Committee’s most recent meeting have been published on the Bank’s website. The minutes are published two weeks after the announcement of the Committee‘s decision.
Source: The White House
About the Office of Political Affairs:
The White House Office of Political Affairs (OPA) reports to Assistant to the President and White House Deputy Chief of Staff, James Blair. The Office is managed by Deputy Assistant to the President and OPA Director, Matt Brasseaux. The White House Office of Political Affairs serves as the chief correspondent between state and national political affairs across the country and the Administration, with an emphasis on educating and communicating the President’s legislative agenda to the American people.
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
Coop Pank AS (Bank) has established an EUR 750,000,000 Covered Bond Programme (Programme). The Central Bank of Ireland has approved the base prospectus (Base Prospectus) for the Programme on 19 February 2025. The Base Prospectus will be available on the website of Euronext Dublin at www.ise.ie and on the Bank’s website at https://www.cooppank.ee/en/investor.
Establishment of the Programme is one of the preparatory steps in the commencement of issuance of covered bonds by the Bank. According to initial forecasts, the first issuance is expected to take place in the first half of 2025. The Bank will notify the market with a separate stock exchange announcement once the exact timing and conditions of the issuance are determined. The covered bonds to be issued under the Programme are expected to be rated (P)Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service Ltd.
Coop Pank, based on Estonian capital, is one of the five universal banks operating in Estonia. The number of clients using Coop Pank for their daily banking reached 209,500. Coop Pank aims to put the synergy generated by the interaction of retail business and banking to good use and to bring everyday banking services closer to people’s homes. The strategic shareholder of the bank is the domestic retail chain Coop Eesti, comprising of 320 stores.
Additional information:
Paavo Truu
CFO
Phone: +372 5160 231
E-mail: paavo.truu@cooppank.ee
Source: Apple
Headline: Apple debuts iPhone 16e: A powerful new member of the iPhone 16 family
February 19, 2025
PRESS RELEASE
Apple debuts iPhone 16e: A powerful new member of the iPhone 16 family
iPhone 16e joins the iPhone 16 lineup, featuring the fast performance of the A18 chip, Apple Intelligence, extraordinary battery life, and a 48MP 2-in-1 camera system — all at an incredible value
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today announced iPhone 16e, a new addition to the iPhone 16 lineup that offers powerful capabilities at a more affordable price. iPhone 16e delivers fast, smooth performance and breakthrough battery life, thanks to the industry-leading efficiency of the A18 chip and the new Apple C1, the first cellular modem designed by Apple. iPhone 16e is also built for Apple Intelligence, the intuitive personal intelligence system that delivers helpful and relevant intelligence while taking an extraordinary step forward for privacy in AI. The 48MP Fusion camera takes gorgeous photos and videos, and with an integrated 2x Telephoto, it is like having two cameras in one, so users can zoom in with optical quality. When outside of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage, Apple’s groundbreaking satellite features — including Emergency SOS, Roadside Assistance, Messages, and Find My via satellite — help iPhone 16e users stay connected and get assistance when it matters most.1
iPhone 16e will be available in two elegant matte finishes — black and white — with colorful cases available to accessorize. Pre-orders begin Friday, February 21, with availability beginning Friday, February 28.
“iPhone 16e packs in the features our users love about the iPhone 16 lineup, including breakthrough battery life, fast performance powered by the latest-generation A18 chip, an innovative 2-in-1 camera system, and Apple Intelligence,” said Kaiann Drance, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing. “We’re so excited for iPhone 16e to complete the lineup as a powerful, more affordable option to bring the iPhone experience to even more people.”
A Beautiful and Durable Design with Breakthrough Battery Life
iPhone 16e is built to last, featuring splash, water, and dust resistance with a rating of IP68; the Ceramic Shield front cover with an advanced formulation that is tougher than any smartphone glass; and the toughest back glass in a smartphone.2 The 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display with OLED technology has an edge-to-edge design that is perfect for watching HDR videos, playing games, and reading crisp text.3 iPhone 16e has the best battery life ever on a 6.1-inch iPhone, lasting up to six hours longer than iPhone 11 and up to 12 hours longer than all generations of iPhone SE.4 And with Face ID enabled by the TrueDepth camera system, users can securely unlock their iPhone, authenticate purchases, sign in to apps, and more. iPhone 16e also offers convenient charging options, including both wireless charging and USB-C for easy connection to a wide range of accessories.
Performance and Connectivity
iPhone 16e is powered by Apple’s latest-generation A18 chip, which enables fast, smooth performance, incredible power efficiency, and Apple Intelligence. The 6-core CPU is up to 80 percent faster than the A13 Bionic chip on iPhone 11, handling both everyday and intensive tasks with ease — from simple workloads, to more demanding actions with Apple Intelligence. The 4-core GPU powers stunning graphics performance and unlocks next-level mobile gaming on the go, enabling graphically demanding AAA titles and hardware-accelerated ray tracing for more realistic lighting and reflections. The 16-core Neural Engine is optimized for large generative models and runs machine learning (ML) models up to 6x faster than A13 Bionic.
Expanding the benefits of Apple silicon, C1 is the first modem designed by Apple and the most power-efficient modem ever on an iPhone, delivering fast and reliable 5G cellular connectivity. Apple silicon — including C1 — the all-new internal design, and the advanced power management of iOS 18 all contribute to extraordinary battery life.
Built for Apple Intelligence
iPhone 16e is built for Apple Intelligence, unlocking exciting new capabilities that make iPhone even more helpful and powerful. With the Clean Up tool, it’s easy to remove distracting elements in images, and natural language search in the Photos app allows users to search for just about any photo or video by simply describing what they are looking for.
Users can also explore creative new ways to express themselves visually with Image Playground, create the perfect emoji with Genmoj, and make their writing even more dynamic with Writing Tools. They can now type to Siri, and Siri is more conversational with the ability to follow along if users stumble over their words. Siri can also maintain context from one request to the next. With extensive product knowledge, Siri can answer thousands of questions about the features and settings of Apple products, so users can learn how to do things like take a screen recording or schedule a text message to send later.
With access to ChatGPT seamlessly integrated into Writing Tools and Siri, users can choose to access ChatGPT’s expertise without jumping between applications, so they can get things done faster and easier than ever before. In addition, users can access ChatGPT for free without creating an account, and privacy protections are built in — their IP addresses are obscured and OpenAI won’t store requests. Users can choose whether to enable ChatGPT integration, and are in full control of when to use it and what information is shared with ChatGPT.
Apple Intelligence marks an extraordinary step forward for privacy in AI and is designed to protect users’ privacy at every step. It starts with on-device processing, meaning that many of the models that power Apple Inteligence run entirely on device. For requests that require access to larger models, Apple’s groundbreaking Private Cloud Compute extends the privacy and security of iPhone into the cloud to unlock even more intelligence. When using Private Cloud Compute, users’ data is never stored or shared with Apple; it is used only to fulfill their request.
Access Favorite Features and Unlock Visual Intelligence with the Action Button
iPhone 16e features the Action button, allowing users to easily access a variety of functions with just a press. Once customized in Settings, the Action button can be used to quickly open the camera or flashlight; switch between Ring and Silent modes; recognize music with Shazam; activate Voice Memos, Focus, Translate, and accessibility features like Magnifier; or use Shortcuts for more options. The Action button can even access in-app functionality like launching the camera in Snapchat, unlocking a car door with FordPass, tracking a child’s sleep schedule with Napper, and more.
The Action button on iPhone 16e also unlocks a new visual intelligence experience that builds on Apple Intelligence to help users learn about objects and places. Visual intelligence can summarize and copy text, translate text between languages, detect phone numbers or email addresses with the option to add to contacts, identify an animal or plant, and more. Visual intelligence also allows users to search Google so they can see where they can buy an item, or benefit from ChatGPT’s problem-solving skills. Users are in control of when third-party tools are used and what information is shared.
A Powerful Camera System to Capture Any Moment
The powerful 2-in-1 camera system on iPhone 16e is perfect for capturing everyday moments and important memories, including in Night mode and Portrait mode. Using computational photography, the 48MP Fusion camera takes super-high-resolution photos, so users can capture gorgeous images that balance light and detail. With an integrated 2x Telephoto, users have the equivalent of two cameras in one, and can zoom in with optical quality to get closer to the subject and easily frame their shot. And the front-facing TrueDepth camera with autofocus enables sharper close-ups and beautiful group selfies. The latest generation of HDR captures subjects and the background with true-to-life renderings of skin tones, while ensuring photos have bright highlights, rich mid-tones, and deep shadows.
iPhone 16e takes stunning videos with the ability to record in 4K with Dolby Vision up to 60 fps, and users can stop and restart a recording for more flexibility when capturing the moment. iPhone 16e also records video in Spatial Audio for immersive listening with AirPods, Apple Vision Pro, or a surround sound system, and enables more ways to edit video sound with Audio Mix. Users can adjust their sound after capture to focus on the voice of the person on camera, make it sound like the video was recorded inside a professional studio, or position vocal tracks in the front and environmental noises in surround sound. With wind noise reduction, powerful ML algorithms automatically reduce unwanted noise for better audio quality.
Groundbreaking Safety and Communication Capabilities
iPhone 16e helps users stay connected and get assistance when it matters most. Apple’s satellite features help users text via satellite when they’re outside of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage. This includes Messages via satellite to text friends and family; Emergency SOS via satellite to connect with emergency services; and Roadside Assistance via satellite to reach a roadside assistance provider in case of car trouble. Users can also use the Find My app to share their location via satellite, reassuring friends and family of their whereabouts while traveling off the grid. Crash Detection on iPhone 16e can detect a severe car crash and automatically dial emergency services if a user is unconscious or unable to reach their iPhone.5
Featuring iOS 18
iOS 18 makes iPhone 16e more personal, capable, and intelligent than ever.6 With more customization options, users can give apps and widgets a new dark or tinted look and arrange them in any open space on the Home Screen. The controls at the bottom of the Lock Screen can be customized; Control Center has been redesigned to provide users with easier access to many of the things they use every day, including third-party apps; and new privacy protections include the ability to lock and hide apps to protect sensitive apps and the information inside them. iOS 18 also provides powerful updates for staying connected. In Messages, users can use text effects to bring words, phrases, sentences, and more to life. Tapbacks expand to include emoji, Genmoji, or stickers, and now users can schedule a message to send later. When messaging contacts who do not have an Apple device, the Messages app now supports RCS for richer media and more reliable group messaging when compared to SMS and MMS.
Better for the Environment
iPhone 16e is designed with the environment in mind. As part of Apple 2030, the company’s ambitious goal to be carbon neutral across its entire carbon footprint by the end of this decade, Apple is transitioning to renewable electricity for its manufacturing, and investing in wind and solar projects around the world to address the electricity used to charge all Apple products, including iPhone 16e. Today, all Apple facilities run on 100 percent renewable electricity — including the data centers that power Apple Intelligence.
To achieve Apple 2030, the company is designing products with more recycled and renewable materials, which further drives down the carbon footprint. iPhone 16e features over 30 percent recycled content overall, including 100 percent recycled cobalt and 95 percent recycled lithium in the battery, 85 percent recycled aluminum in the enclosure, and more.7 Additionally, the main logic board and back glass of iPhone 16e are designed to be manufactured more efficiently, reducing the amount of raw materials needed. The packaging is also entirely fiber-based, bringing Apple closer to its goal of removing plastic from its packaging by the end of this year.8
Pricing and Availability
About Apple Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro. Apple’s six software platforms — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, visionOS, and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, iCloud, and Apple TV+. Apple’s more than 150,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth and to leaving the world better than we found it.
Press Contacts
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Source: The Conversation – France – By Brad Harris, Professor of management, associate dean of MBA programs, HEC Paris Business School
For many corporate teams, the notion of “good conflict” is merely a myth. Most often, conflict is seen as a roadblock to success–especially when it involves clashing personalities or disagreements over strategy. But what if, in certain cases, the right kind of team conflict fuels creativity? That’s the idea behind our new research, which suggests that, handled well, some team fights might just be the key to sparking fresh ideas.
And it turns out that who is in conflict can make all the difference.
Researchers have long explored how team conflicts affect creativity, with some arguing that the right conflict can boost creativity, and others saying that conflict erodes it. Unfortunately, the findings have been all over the place so far. A common research approach has been to lump all conflict into the same bucket, or to separate task-centered conflict and relationship-oriented conflict and then assume they affect everyone in the team equally. But as we’re learning, these approaches might be too simplistic.
Newer research, including our own, suggests that considering the roles of individual team members, and particularly their network status in the team, can paint a much clearer picture of how conflict can affect creativity. In particular, conflicts involving “critical members”–those who play a central role in a team’s workflow–seem to be where the real action is.
In any team, disagreements about the task at hand–such as how to distribute resources, make decisions or handle workflow – are bound to happen. These are known as “task conflicts”. And traditional research has often considered such disputes as potentially helpful, arguing that they can bring in new perspectives, spur discussion and, if managed properly, enhance team creativity. That said, data often tell a different, more complicated story. We started our research as an attempt to reconcile some of the inconclusive results.
Using network analysis, which is a way to explore the unique interactions and relationships between individuals, in 70 new product development teams, we found that task conflicts involving critical members of a team can indeed spark creativity by pushing the team to reflect on their work. But this is only under certain conditions. Specifically, critical members’ task-related disagreements seem to have creative potential when they occur in teams that report higher levels of shared goals. These results hold even when accounting for all other task conflicts in the team.
Here’s how it works: when a critical member – the one others depend on for essential information – engages in task conflict, teams are forced to take a step back, reassess what’s happening and consider new approaches. It pushes the team out of autopilot mode and, so long as team members are aligned with shared goals, it encourages a mindset of flexibility and fresh ideas, which are the lifeblood of creativity. Absent shared goals, we don’t really see much creative benefit from critical members’ task conflicts, which is not surprising – why do the hard work of questioning the status quo if you don’t agree on the outcome you want? As it turns out, much of what we have traditionally assumed about and measured in task conflict does not really help us understand how it is conducive to creativity; what happens with the critical members in the center of a team’s network is where the fruits of diverse thinking can emerge.
On the flip side, personal spats – known as “relationship conflicts” – have a different effect. These are conflicts that aren’t really about the work itself, but rather stem from personality clashes or interpersonal issues.
Past research has been pretty clear about the negative effects of team relationship conflict on creativity, but our work shows that when these conflicts involve critical members, the effects are even more deleterious. Namely, critical members’ interpersonal conflicts erode the team’s cohesion, i.e., the “glue” of the group, which destroys the trust and safety needed to try new, creative things.
When critical members possess high levels of emotional intelligence, the worst of these negative effects can be mitigated. In short, emotional intelligence helps these key players handle personal tensions in a way that keeps the team together, even when conflicts pop up. So, once again, our study’s findings emphasize that the way conflict affects teamwork is largely dependent on how the people in the center of the network experience it.
So, what can leaders do to harness the creative potential of conflict while minimizing its downsides? Here are a few actionable steps:
Get crystal clear on goals: By establishing common goals, leaders create an environment where task conflicts are more likely to be constructive. When team members are all pulling in the same direction, disagreements about how to get there can be resolved more productively, driving the team to reflect and adapt in creative ways.
Coach for emotional intelligence: Because relationship conflicts involving critical members can harm cohesion, it’s essential to equip these key players with the emotional skills needed to manage personal tensions. Often, star individual contributors find themselves in the center of a team’s network because of their task-related skills, not because of their interpersonal ones. This is a dangerous recipe! Selecting for or coaching on emotional intelligence can help set critical members up to handle conflicts in ways that don’t damage team unity, preserving the group’s creative potential.
Reconsider conflict: Recognize that not all conflicts are equally disruptive – or equally beneficial. A well-designed team structure will consider both the roles of critical members and how conflicts involving them can shape team dynamics. Leaders can look at conflict not just as a problem, but as a potential driver of creativity, depending on who is involved and how it’s handled.
Overall, traditional research on team conflict treated task and relationship conflicts as if they affect everyone equally. This might explain why we still know relatively little about links between conflict and creativity. Thanks to advances in how we explore team data using more complex network analyses, we can see that conflict involving critical members disproportionately affects team dynamics and creativity – and start identifying ways to manage conflict in more productive ways.
Brad Harris ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.
– ref. Team conflict at work can boost creativity, but it depends on the ‘fighters’ as much as the fights – https://theconversation.com/team-conflict-at-work-can-boost-creativity-but-it-depends-on-the-fighters-as-much-as-the-fights-247934
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
A study published in Nature looks at Microsoft Azure Quantum on measuring topological qubits.
Professor George Booth, Professor of Theoretical Physics at King’s College London, said:
What is the significance of this work?
“Companies have typically measured their progress in terms of qubits, or quantum units of information that they compute and by this measurement Microsoft have lagged behind others. However, they have instead focused on the long-game by working on a system which is inherently more resilient to noise and interference – using so called ‘topological’ qubits. This noise resilience could pay off in the long term, as processing quantum information (rather than the classical bits that traditional computers work with) is inherently fragile.
These topological qubits protect the information they carry by using the properties of a new type of “emergent particle, a Majorana fermion, which means that it is harder for this information to be lost as it is processed. However, this added layer of complexity when constructing these qubits when compared to competing architectures.
“This work demonstrates progress on measuring these topological qubits, which is an essential operation to realise the potential of these devices. They stop short of unambiguously demonstrating that they can measure a full topological qubit but get closer to a viable topological qubit.
What does it mean for progress in quantum computing?
“There is no doubt that having competition between scientific platforms for quantum computing compounds the probability that (at least) one will emerge as a viable platform. This is a step in the direction of a very different platform that could compete with the more mature technologies pioneered by the likes of Google. There is still a significant way to go from here in demonstrating that the technology can be scaled up, but Microsoft is bullish about their roadmap for the future.
“Ultimately, the importance of this work will probably only be able to be judged in hindsight, if and when the technology reaches maturity compared to other platforms. However, it is certainly an impressive technical achievement, demonstrating control over these emergent particles at the most fundamental levels.
Is this good quality research? Are the conclusions backed up by solid data? How does this work fit with the existing evidence?
“It is a highly technical paper, and works hard to present the scientific facts without hyperbole. They are cautious, likely since Microsoft have been burnt before by their claims of developing topological qubits in a paper which had to be later retracted after scientific flaws were pointed out. In this work, they are much more tempered about their conclusions that they are actually measuring a topological qubit, but present the evidence that it is at least highly likely.”
Have the authors accounted for confounders? Are there important limitations to be aware of?
“The work is clearly seen by all as a step on a long road and not an ending point. Within the paper, it even takes care not to overstate the implications of the work, or even the certainty by which they have measured a topological state.
“I think that for many in the field there is still some healthy scepticism of the timescales for the roadmaps of some of these tech companies towards a quantum computer that is routinely solving practical problems, but this paper demonstrates that fundamental hurdles are being overcome. Whether a claim of ‘years’ is accurate will remain to be seen.
What are the implications in the real world? Is there any overspeculation?
“The end goal of this line of research is a ‘universal’ quantum computer. This would be able to simulate certain problems much faster than classical supercomputers would ever be able to.
“Of these problems where a speedup can be demonstrated, certain ones are causing the most interest and are likely driving the investment. Namely, these are breaking encryption protocols, chemical simulations to design new drugs and materials, and solving certain ‘difficult’ optimisation problems, like a logistical supply chain issue.
“These are not problems that most people have to tackle on a day-to-day basis, so they will likely always be specialist machines for these jobs and not something that most people would have or need access to. However, there is significant commercial interest in these activities, and therefore a significant payoff to the company who can develop the viable technology first.”
Prof Paul Stevenson, School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Surrey, said:
“Microsoft have pioneered the idea of so-called “topological qubits” as the basic building blocks of future quantum computers, but so far have failed to demonstrate working devices while competitors have been building basic quantum computers for a few years now using other qubit technology. What Microsoft are counting on is that their devices, once realised, will be naturally much more robust by design than the somewhat temperamental competing technologies. Their latest result shows that they have managed to build roughly one half of one qubit. Now the challenge is to build that up first into a single qubit, then an array of qubits, at which point they will be very serious competitors in the field. The new papers are a significant step, but as with much promising work in quantum computing, the next steps are difficult and until the next steps have been achieved, it is too soon to be anything more than cautiously optimistic.”
‘Interferometric Single-Shot Parity Measurement in InAs-Al Hybrid Devices’ by Morteza Aghaee et al. was published in Nature at 16:00 UK time on Wednesday 19 February 2025.
Declared interests
Professor George Booth:
Prof Paul Stevenson: I am funded for my research by direct UK government research council grants, and grants from AWE, part of MOD. I am a member of UK Government research council funding and advisory panels and a UK delegate to the NuPECC European Nuclear Physics committee
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
A study published in Cell Metabolism looks at the artificial sweetener aspartame, insulin levels and blood inflammation in mice.
Prof Naveed Sattar, Professor of Cardiometabolic Medicine/Honorary Consultant, University of Glasgow, said:
“This seems like worrying findings but of course, before it can taken seriously, the findings have to be replicated in man. There is no good evidence from trials that exogenous insulin increases cardiovascular risks in people with prior cardiovascular disease AND in people with type 1, by improving glucose levels, exogenous insulin lowers many risks. Whether excess pancreatic insulin occurs with aspartame in amounts regularly consumed occurs and then accelerates vascular risks in man is also not proven. For now, I remain happy to take sweeteners and related diet beverages instead of sugar filled drinks as the former limits excess calorie intake.”
Prof James Leiper, Director of Research, British Heart Foundation, said:
“This study has revealed much more about the known potential risks of artificial sweeteners. In these mice, a diet that included an artificially high level of aspartame did exacerbate the size and number of fatty plaques in their arteries. The effect of these plaques was not measured here, but they are known to greatly increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke.
“While it is important to note that these findings have not yet been seen in humans, the results highlight the importance of further research to determine whether these additions to our food, and their effect on insulin levels, are contributing to an increased risk of cardiovascular events.
“These sweeteners are now found in many foods and drinks, and people are probably consuming more than they realise. But this research is not a green light to have more sugar instead. We all need to reduce our intake of the processed foods and beverages that contain high levels of fat, sugars, sweeteners and salt. This is the best way of ensuring a healthy diet and a lowered risk of heart and circulatory disease.”
Prof Oliver Jones, Professor of Chemistry, RMIT University in Melbourne, said:
“I have several concerns about this study.
“The authors claim that the consumption of Aspartame by adults and children “often exceeds those levels recommended by the FDA” – this is extremely unlikely in my view. The FDA-acceptable daily intake of Aspartame is 50 mg per kg of body weight per day. I weigh 80 kg, so this means this means the FDA-based safe dose for me is 4000 mg (or 4 grams) of Aspartame per day, every day, for life. Given a diet drink contains about 200 mg of Aspartame, I would have to drink the equivalent of 20 cans of diet soda a day to get this dose. A child of 40 kg would have to drink 10 cans a day, every day. Even then, the 50 mg/kg dose has a safety factor of 100 built-in.
“The study design also has some issues. The main one is that the authors used a particular type of lab mouse called an ApoE mouse, which is bred to be prone to heart disease. They also fed it a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet, which itself increases the risk of heart disease. They also don’t seem to have measured how much of the Aspartame water the mice drank, or the Aspartame level in the blood, so it is unknown what the mice actually received.
“To my mind, the authors’ admission that feeding mice that are already genetically susceptible to heart disease with a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet that is known to cause heart disease “diminishes clinical relevance” is somewhat of an understatement.
“Contrary to the paper’s claims, it is quite well-established that Aspartame doesn’t stimulate glucose or insulin levels in humans [1, 2].
“Aspartame is essentially just two common amino acids (aspartic acid and phenylalanine) joined together. In the gut, it is broken down to aspartic acid and phenylalanine. There is no reason to think amino acids from Aspartame would be worse than those from any other source.
“The authors would appear to think little work has been done on safety testing in Aspartame; this is just not true. All food ingredients are rigorously tested and safety assessed before they are approved for use. Aspartame is one of the most researched ingredients in the world. It is just that a lot of the data is in safety assessments for regulatory approval, not the academic literature.
“Finally, even if Aspartame did cause some increase in cardiovascular risk (which this study does not prove), then that risk would likely be very small compared to things like high fat/high sugar diets and lack of exercise, etc.
“In short, I don’t think this study itself gives us more reason to worry about diet drinks or aspartame.”
References
1 Santos, N. C., de Araujo, L. M., De Luca Canto, G., Guerra, E. N. S., Coelho, M. S., Borin, M. de F. (2017). Metabolic effects of aspartame in adulthood: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 58(12), 2068-2081. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2017.1304358
2 Stern S.B., Bleicher S.J., Flores A., Gombos G., Recitas D., Shu J. Administration of aspartame in non-insulin-dependent diabetics. (1976) Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health,. 2(2):429-39. https:// 10.1080/15287397609529444
‘Sweetener aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation’ by Weijie Wu et al. was published in Cell Metabolism at 16:00 UK time on Wednesday 19 February 2025.
DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2025.01.006
Declared interests
Prof Naveed Sattar: “Takes occasional diet drinks.
Has consulted for several companies that make diabetes medicines but also contributed to several lifestyle trials.
“For Novo Nordisk: have consulted for company in advisory boards but not on any of their weight loss drug trial committees; am on steering committee for ZEUS trial but this is not a weight loss trial product but anti-inflammatory. Do not have any shares either for any product in health etc.
“N.S. declares consulting fees and/or speaker honoraria from Abbott Laboratories, Afimmune, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Hanmi Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Sanofi; and grant support paid to his university from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, and Roche Diagnostics.”
Prof James Leiper: “No conflicts of interest to declare.”
Prof Oliver Jones: “I have no conflicts of interest to declare.”
Source: City of York
City of York Council is set to consider the adoption of its Local Plan following the findings of the Inspector’s Report on the Examination of City of York’s Local Plan.
The Local Plan will be presented for consideration at Full Council on Thursday 27 February.
City of York Council is set to consider the adoption of its Local Plan following the findings of the Inspector’s Report on the Examination of City of York’s Local Plan, which will be presented for consideration at Full Council on Thursday 27 February.
Once adopted, this Plan will be the city’s first comprehensive development framework since 1956 and will guide York’s growth for the next decade, marking a pivotal milestone in the city’s future development and growth ambitions, whilst establishing the city’s green belt and historic setting for the first time.
The Local Plan outlines the vision for sustainable housing, economic development, and infrastructure in York. It addresses key priorities such as affordable housing, environmental sustainability, and the protection of York’s historic character. The Plan provides a policy framework for decisions on development, shaping the city’s future spatial development until 2038.
As part of the adoption process, the Council will review the Inspector’s recommendations and the main modifications to housing allocations, green belt boundaries, and transport infrastructure planning. The final decision on whether to formally adopt the Local Plan will be made at the Full Council meeting on Thursday 27 February.
Cllr Claire Douglas, Leader of the Council, said:
“The Local Plan is an historic step in shaping York’s bright future, and we’re excited about what it means for our city. We welcome the Inspector’s findings and are confident that their modifications will strengthen the Plan, ensuring it supports York’s vision for a sustainable, inclusive city for all. The Plan provides us with a clear roadmap for how our city will develop and grow over the next decade – meeting the needs of our residents and businesses.
“A huge thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to bring this Plan to life. We truly appreciate your dedication and commitment to York’s future.”
Cllr Katie Lomas, Executive Member for Finance, Performance, Major Projects, Human Rights, Equality, and Inclusion, added:
“This Local Plan is designed to support the growth of York while promoting equality, accessibility, and sustainability. We are particularly focused on ensuring that affordable housing remains a central component of this Plan, along with infrastructure that meets the needs of all residents, including those from the most disadvantaged groups. This is a long-term investment in creating a fairer, greener York for future generations.”
Cllr. Michael Pavlovic, Executive Member for Housing, Planning and Safer Communities, commented:
“The Local Plan represents the outcome of 7 years extensive consultation, public hearings, and thorough examination. The Plan outlines significant investments in housing, transport, and employment opportunities, which will help drive York’s economy and provide much-needed infrastructure. For York to prosper we need to be ambitious, and this Plan unlocks the potential to make those ambitions a reality.”
Inspector’s Report and Next Steps
The Inspector’s Report, published following extensive independent examination, recognised that the Local Plan meets all statutory duties to cooperate and aligns with national planning policies. However, the Report also identified certain areas requiring modifications to ensure the Plan’s soundness, particularly regarding the housing supply, green belt boundaries, and infrastructure delivery.
The Council has already responded to the Inspector’s recommendations, requesting main modifications that will address these deficiencies. Full Council will be asked to adopt the plan with the Inspectors’ modifications.
The Local Plan in Brief
The Local Plan will provide a comprehensive strategy for:
• Delivering 20,000 new homes over the duration of the plan, including a significant proportion of affordable housing.
• Allocating sites for economic growth, including areas for employment and retail expansion.
• Investing in sustainable transport infrastructure, including improved bus routes, cycling paths, and EV charging stations.
• Mitigating and adapting to climate change with enhanced green infrastructure, flood defences, and energy-efficient building standards.
• Safeguarding York’s historic and cultural heritage while ensuring new development respects the city’s unique character.
• Setting the city’s green belt and protecting the historic setting for the first time.
The adoption of the Local Plan represents a turning point in York’s growth, ensuring that development is sustainable, well-planned, and consistent with local priorities.
For more details on the Inspector’s Report and the upcoming Full Council meeting, visit the City of York Council website at www.york.gov.uk/LocalPlanInspectorsReport.
Full Council takes place on Thursday 27 February, the agenda is available to view online at https://democracy.york.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=331&MId=15004 and the meeting will be available to view live or on demand at www.york.gov.uk/webcasts.
Source: Scotland – City of Aberdeen
An Aberdeen City Council spokesperson said: “Dyce Academy remains closed to pupils and staff following a fire overnight.
“Council officers and the headteacher have not yet been able to gain access to the school building to fully assess the extent of the damage. They have been advised that the fire damage appears to be contained to a small number of rooms, however they expect there to be extensive smoke and water damage, and a need for repair work required before pupils and staff can return to the building.
“In order to fully assess and address the damage, and to ensure that utilities are fully operational, Council officers are working on the assumption that the school will be closed for the remainder of this week (Thursday 20 and Friday 21 February). The situation will be reviewed tomorrow (Thursday 20 February). The headteacher will provide a formal update to parents, carers and school staff on the situation on Friday morning. All options to facilitate pupils’ learning from Monday are being considered.
“School Google Classrooms will be fully operational on Thursday 20 and Friday 21 February, and work will be posted to allow for online learning activities over these two days. Overview information will also be shared on Year Group Classrooms. Learners will be able to access this from their school Chromebook, or from their own devices using the online app or via the school website.”
