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Category: Europe

  • MIL-OSI Translation: «L’initiative sur l’alimentation» at abouti

    MIL OSI Translation. Region: Italy –

    Source: Switzerland – Federal Chancellery

    Federal Chancellery

    Bern, 24.09.2024 – –

    The federal popular initiative «Pour une nutrition sûre – thanks to the reinforcement of sustainable indigenous production, in front of denrées vegétales foodstuffs et à une eau potablere potablere (initiative sur l’alimentation)», launched on 16 August 2024, in information abouti . The Federal Chancellery found, after verification, that 112’736 of the 113’060 deposited signatures are valid.

    Address for envoi de questions

    Beat FurrerChargé d’information058 465 02 45beat.furrer@bk.admin.ch

    Author

    Federal Chancelleryhttps://www.bk.admin.ch/bk/fr/home.html

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    EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.

    MIL Translation OSI

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Investment-Group: BaFin warns consumers about the website trade-mgrp.pro

    Source: Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – In English

    The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) warns consumers about the company Investment-Group and the services it is offering. BaFin suspects the operators of the website trade-mgrp.pro of offering consumers financial and investment services without the required authorisation. The operators claim to be supervised by the European Financial Supervisory Authority. There is no such authority; BaFin has already issued a warning to this effect. On 1 July 2024, BaFin also published a warning regarding an identical offer on the website investmgrp.com.

    Anyone wishing to conduct banking business or provide financial or investment services in Germany may do so only with authorisation from BaFin. However, some companies offer these services without the necessary authorisation. Information on whether a particular company has been granted authorisation by BaFin can be found in BaFin’s database of companies.

    The information provided by BaFin is based on section 37 (4) of the German Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz – KWG).

    Please be aware:

    BaFin, the German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt – BKA) and the German state criminal police offices (Landeskriminalämter) recommend that consumers seeking to invest money online should exercise the utmost caution and do the necessary research beforehand in order to identify fraud attempts at an early stage.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/CHINA – The memory of the Jesuit Martino Martini still opens up paths of encounter and dialogue

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    by Marta Zhao and Laura Gomez RuizHangzhou (Agenzia Fides) – China, the city of Hangzhou and the Chinese Catholic community have never forgotten Father Martino Martini.The great Jesuit missionary, appreciated by the emperors and welcomed at the court of the Qing Dynasty, was born in Trento, Italy, 410 years ago, on September 20, 1614. Even today, his story and his testimony arouse unexpected sympathy.As part of the celebrations organized by the Italian Embassy in Beijing for the 700th anniversary of the death of the traveler and merchant Marco Polo, the theme “In the footsteps of Marco Polo: Martino Martini” presented for the first time a series of important Italian personalities who, at different times and in different capacities, contributed to the dissemination of knowledge about China in the West.The Chinese President Xi Jinping has publicly expressed his appreciation for Martino Martini. In an article published in the daily newspaper Corriere della Sera on March 20, 2019, on the eve of his official visit to Italy, Xi Jinping described the Jesuit as a pioneer of the group of Italian sinologists who “have played a bridging role in relations between China and Europe, starting with Martino Martini’s first grammar of the Chinese language written for the West.”In Italy, the Martino Martini Study Center, based in Trento, now publishes, among other things, the biannual magazine “Sulla Via del Catai” on cultural relations between Europe and China.In the city of Hangzhou, a park bearing his name has been created around his mausoleum. Protected by the Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Heritage Authority, the site has become a kind of sanctuary for Chinese Catholics. The mausoleum, which is currently being restored, houses the remains of 15 famous Jesuit missionaries who ended their earthly lives near the beautiful Xizi Lake. Among them are Father Prospero Intorcetta (1626-1696), Father Nicolas Trigault (1577-1629), Father Lazaro Cattaneo (1560-1640) and Father Emmanuel Diaz (1574-1659).In 2018, an exhibition on the cartographic work of Martino Martini was inaugurated at the headquarters of the China-Italy Center in Hangzhou to celebrate the 375th anniversary of the arrival of the great missionary in that city (see Fides, 13/6/2018).The Catholic community of Hangzhou had organized an academic conference in 2010 to mark the 350th anniversary of the construction of the cathedral. Six well-known academics from Chinese universities and researchers working with Catholic institutions such as the Faith Institute for Cultural Studies (FICS) and the Guang Qi Press of the Diocese of Shanghai presented joint studies on the life and mission of the Jesuit in the presence of the Italian Consul in Shanghai. The legacy of Martino Martini was presented as “a strong impulse for today’s mission, so that it fulfills its mission with his sense of missionary responsibility, his courage and his dedication” (see Fides, 22/1/2010).The affection and veneration shown to the figure of Martino Martini are proportional to the intensity with which he lived his time and dedicated his life to proclaiming the Gospel in China.Martino Martini was born in Trento on 20 September 1614. In 1631 he entered the Society of Jesus as a novice. After studying at the Roman College under the influence of his mentor, the German Jesuit Athanasius Kircher, he entered the Eastern mission in 1640, traveling by ship from Lisbon in Portugal via Goa in India (November 1640) to Macao in China, where he arrived in August 1642. The following year he was sent to mainland China, thus beginning his legendary journey of cultural exchange between China and Europe. He wrote the first Western Chinese grammar and related works that contributed to cultural exchange, bridged the gap between China and Europe, and had a lasting influence on the emergence and development of Sinology in Italy.The period of his stay in China, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, was a time of great social unrest. The Jesuits, who had built good relations with influential sections of Chinese society and the political hierarchy, were worried about the development of the situation. The Chinese name they chose, Wei Kuangguo, encompassed all his good wishes: it indicated the will to defend and support the country and the desire for peace and prosperity in the world.But the unrest and conflict in China also divided the Jesuits and the Spanish mendicant orders and even infiltrated the Society of Jesus itself. The controversy over the Chinese translation of the divine name and the possibility that the new Christians should continue to practice the cult of the dead according to Chinese culture did not subside, but reached an intensity that even Martini could not contain, both inside and outside the order. An issue that was to shape the rest of his life.His travels and his writing formed the common thread in the second half of his life. During the first eight years of his stay in China (1643-1650), Martini traveled between the two capitals and to Hangzhou and Jinhua in Zhejiang. In the fourth year of Shunzhi’s reign (1647), Martino Martini, with the help of Zhu Shi, a parishioner of Lanxi in Zhejiang, wrote the “Qiu You Zhuan” (Treatise on Friendship, Hangzhou, 1661), which was based on the humanist thought already developed by the other Jesuit Matteo Ricci in his work of the same name, the first written in Chinese by the Italian Jesuit from Macerata.The southern part of Zhejiang, where Martino Martini was, was a region where Spanish monks also worked. He agreed with the information given by his confrere Matteo Ricci and was well aware of the differences with the Spanish Cistercians on the question of Chinese rites. In addition, the Spanish Dominican Juan Bautista Morales (1597-1664) had already traveled to Rome to express his objections to the Jesuits’ attitude in this dispute. When the Jesuit mission in China decided to send a representative to Europe to explain the situation from their point of view, the choice fell on Martino Martini.In 1651, the Jesuit traveled to Europe to defend the position of the Society of Jesus on the issue of Chinese rites. Thanks also to his good offices, in 1656 the Holy See issued an edict in favor of the Jesuits.During his travels in Europe, Martino Martini published three works in Latin: “De Bello Tartarico Historia”, “Novus Atlas Sinensis” and “Sinice Historia Decas Prima” (of which he also announced the publication of the sequel). These works were the most systematic, thorough and effective representations of China circulating in Europe at the time.In 1657 he returned to China and continued his mission in Hangzhou, where he completed the construction of the Church of the Redeemer in 1661 and died on June 6 of the same year at the age of 47. (Agenzia Fides, 24/9/2024)
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  • MIL-OSI Africa: Egypt’s fears about Ethiopia’s mega-dam haven’t come to pass: moving on from historical concerns would benefit the whole region

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Mike Muller, Visiting Adjunct Professor, School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand

    A new round of angry exchanges has broken out between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

    On September 1, Cairo wrote to the UN security council to protest against Ethiopia’s continued filling of Africa’s second largest reservoir and bringing two more power generating turbines into operation. Egypt sees any new infrastructure development on the Nile as a potential threat, since the river is the source of over 98% of the country’s water.

    Egypt calls this a violation of international law and Ethiopia’s obligations to “prevent significant harm”. Ethiopia’s policies, it says,

    could result in an existential threat to Egypt … and would consequently jeopardise regional and international peace and security.

    Ethiopia has told Egypt to “abandon its aggressive approach” towards the dam. Ethiopia says that it must allow the Blue Nile’s water to flow through the dam’s turbines and on to Egypt to generate the hydropower for which it has been built, thus guaranteeing the overall flow to Egypt.

    I have tracked the Nile disputes since the 1970s, first as a development journalist, then as a civil engineer and senior public servant. More recently, my research on water and regional integration for regional development agencies has provided further insights. My 2021 study considered the lessons to be learnt for today’s water challenges from centuries of the use and management of Nile waters.

    Read more: Innovations on the Nile over millennia offer lessons in engineering sustainable futures

    Ongoing tension between Egypt and Ethiopia over control of the Nile River has a long history. Therefore, in one sense, the row between Egypt and Ethiopia is nothing new.

    The countries went to war as far back as 1874, even as they both were also battling European colonialism. Ethiopia won the war of 1874 and, 20 years later, beat back Italy’s attempt to colonise it, at the battle of Adwa.

    However, Egypt gained long term advantage from treaties negotiated by the British, which gave Cairo almost total control over the Nile. Egypt is still asserting the rights and privileges conferred by those colonial era treaties even though they are being challenged by other Nile countries. In my view, this is because Egyptians are still trapped by their past fears. As Norwegian professor Torje Tvedt has explained, these fears were deliberately entrenched by past colonial authorities.

    With these perspectives, my view is that the current controversy over the Ethiopian dam still reflects historical conflicts rather than a careful analysis of present challenges.

    Now 90% complete, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has begun to generate electricity. A series of good rainy seasons have allowed the reservoir to start filling rapidly without affecting Egypt’s water availability.

    The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam offers not just cheap green electricity for Ethiopia and the sub-region as well as reliable irrigation supplies and flood control for Sudan. Once filled, its storage could offer supply security and increase the amount of water available for Egypt as well.

    The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam

    What, then, are the issues that have prompted Egypt’s recent protests and what are the possible solutions to the problems raised?

    The immediate technical challenge is to continue filling the dam without disrupting flows to Sudan and Egypt. The filling process might have to be interrupted if there is a regional drought. So recent developments, notably the greater focus on the rate at which the dam will be filled rather than the legality of its construction, suggest that there is a shift in positions which neither side is yet willing to acknowledge publicly.

    This shift will be supported when other future-focused issues are raised. For instance, there must be negotiations about the supply of electricity to support Sudan’s irrigation expansion, although this is on hold due to the war in Sudan. In the longer term, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia could cooperate to use the GERD’s storage to help Egypt to manage its Aswan High Dam more efficiently. Aswan currently suffers very high evaporation losses, which could be reduced if its reservoir levels were better controlled. The GERD could help to do this.

    Unfortunately, the history of colonial Britain repeatedly threatening to cut Egypt’s Nile water supplies has been deeply imprinted in Egyptian public consciousness. It is understandable that Egyptians still fear a similar threat from Ethiopia. The responsibility now falls on Ethiopia to show good faith in its operation of the dam and to work with Egypt to change the combative discourse.

    Potential for cooperation

    Egypt’s repeated complaints have alerted Ethiopia and international organisations of the need to act carefully. If there is another regional drought, Ethiopia will need to slow the rate at which it completes filling its dam. Informal liaison structures are monitoring the situation and such a response would help to build a more constructive engagement with Egypt.

    Water is a patient teacher. Every season provides an opportunity for those who live with its natural cycles to understand it better. The hope is that, if the three countries experience the benefits of some seasons of the dam’s operation, the natural cycle will reveal the potential for cooperation and mitigate the conflict.

    Read more: Sudan’s catastrophe: farmers could offer quick post-war recovery, if peace is found

    When peace returns to Sudan, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will enable a vast expansion of irrigation to develop its role as a regional breadbasket. The dam will also help to manage Nile floods which regularly cause death and destruction, even to Sudan’s capital, Khartoum.

    Efforts to promote cooperation between the East African countries that share the White Nile have been relatively successful. However, such cooperation on the Blue Nile will need much greater trust between the parties. To achieve this trust, the countries and their people will have to overcome centuries of cultural and political preconceptions. This will require much patient work and interaction, which is not easy in the current climate.

    – Egypt’s fears about Ethiopia’s mega-dam haven’t come to pass: moving on from historical concerns would benefit the whole region
    – https://theconversation.com/egypts-fears-about-ethiopias-mega-dam-havent-come-to-pass-moving-on-from-historical-concerns-would-benefit-the-whole-region-239418

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/BANGLADESH – Bishop Subroto Gomes: “Student protests” must respect the rights of others

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Dhaka (Agenzia Fides) – “The situation we find ourselves in after the political and social crisis of last August is delicate. There are still tensions in society, there are protests, especially among young people. The massive student protests have led the Prime Minister to leave the country and flee abroad. The new interim government led by Mohamed Yunus now has the difficult task of healing the political, social and economic wounds, restoring trust, but also maintaining the rule of law, because there are also some worrying signs,” said the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Dhaka, Subroto Boniface Gomes, in an interview with Fides.The Bishop points to possible “dangers” arising from the student protests. “For example, in some Catholic schools in the diocese of Dhaka, students tried to force the dismissal of some teachers, duly selected and paid by the school administration, just because they did not agree with the new course or because they dared to criticize the student protest. This led to a crisis in our schools, which are attended by 95% Muslim or non-Christian students,” he explains. “Faced with the attempt to impose this or other measures by force, such as admitting girls wearing burqas in school, the Archbishop first decided, in a resounding decision, to close two schools. One was a girls’ school, the other is run by the Brothers of the Holy Cross. The joint intervention of the parents’ committee, religious representatives and school staff enabled dialogue, a peaceful solution to the crisis and the reopening of the schools. We could not give up on our values and principles. But it is an example that the legitimate rights of students must not interfere with and undermine democracy, the rule of law or the rights of others,” said Bishop Gomes.Another aspect to keep under control “is the return or creation of radical Islamic groups and parties that could affect the lives of religious minorities or promote an Islamization agenda.” “We must be vigilant in this regard because the temptation of extremism is just around the corner. It is important not to polarize society. We trust that the new Yunus government will turn the tide in the spirit of upholding democratic principles, respect for the constitution and fundamental freedoms for all citizens, regardless of their religious affiliation,” said the bishop.In July this year, thousands of students took to the streets to protest the Supreme Court’s decision to reinstate a controversial quota system for access to coveted government jobs. The government of Prime Minister Shehik Hasina responded to the demonstrations by deploying police and paramilitary forces, who shot at the crowd. The protests thus became a movement against Hasina and his party, the Awami League, which has ruled the country for 15 years, often delegitimizing or arresting political opponents and dissidents. The official number of victims of the repression is around 1,000 dead and hundreds injured. On August 5, the head of government finally fled abroad, seeking refuge in India. The army then dissolved parliament and appointed 84-year-old economist Muhammad Yunus, known as the “banker of the poor”, as head of a transitional government. He is known for the “Grameen Bank”, which specializes in the microcredit system and for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. His executive is now leading a delicate transition period until new elections.(PA) (Agenzia Fides, 24/9/2024)
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  • MIL-OSI Europe: AMERICA/PERU – Bilingual education for indigenous peoples: lack of teachers and adequate infrastructure

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Tuesday, 24 September 2024

    Iquitos (Agenzia Fides) – “We need authorities to defend the rights of girls, boys and young people of indigenous peoples, because they cannot continue to be excluded,” says Mariluz Canaquiri, a member of the indigenous people of the “Kukama Kukamiria” in the Peruvian Amazon, who complains about the decline in education among indigenous peoples.”The authorities do not care about the education of indigenous children, there is no adequate infrastructure and not enough bilingual teachers to teach them in our language,” says Canaquiri, who is also president of the women’s rights organization “Federation of Kukama-Kukamiria Women”.Intercultural bilingual education (IBE) is one of the educational policies in the South American country of 33 million inhabitants and 55 recognized indigenous peoples, four from the Andes and 51 from the Amazon.According to the results of the latest National Evaluation of Learning Outcomes (ENLA) published by the Ministry of Education, only 5.6 percent of fourth-grade elementary school students (10 and 11 years old) in IBE institutions in the Amazon region achieved the expected results. “There is no bilingual intercultural education here,” Canaquiri said. “How are they supposed to learn when our identity, our culture, our way of seeing the world are not taken into account in any way in the curriculum, and in logistical conditions where the school building is an area covered by branches and tree trunks in unbearable heat,” she noted in a statement to an international non-governmental organization.Although the first policy in favor of indigenous students was launched in 1972, more than half a century ago, it has always received little interest from the State, even though IBE is one of their individual and collective human rights. “They hire teachers because they speak Quechua, Shipibo, Asháninka or the equivalent, but when they go to school they do not apply the IBE. Sometimes they teach only in Spanish, sometimes they speak the children’s mother tongue, but everything else they read and write in Spanish,” reported one analyst.There are 24,000 schools affiliated to the IBE throughout the country, where most reinforce the students’ native language and teach them Spanish. Education policies try to ensure that the school population of indigenous peoples is bilingual and has oral and written skills, but studies by local researchers show that success is becoming increasingly limited.Despite this precarious situation, a small school in the rural community of Accollya, in the municipality of Soccos, almost 3,400 meters above sea level, in the province of Huamanga, one of the 11 provinces of Ayacucho, stands out positively. In the Andean department, affected by an internal armed conflict that Peru experienced between 1980 and 2000, the school is supported by an NGO and has a single teacher with 33 years of experience, but who has always been actively committed to bilingual intercultural education through training and in-depth courses. “I work in Spanish from Monday to Thursday and in Quechua on Fridays, using the notebooks that the ministry provides us for each subject,” says the teacher, who teaches ten students in first, second and third grade, aged six to eleven. “The response from the children is very good, from the first grade they learn to read and write, now it is September and the youngest can already read. That is the advantage of teaching different classes, because they motivate each other,” stressed the teacher.Also significant is the important contribution of the Catholic Church in the Amazon region in the field of education and health, where it has often taken the place of the State. Hundreds of missionaries have been true promoters of respect for human dignity throughout history. Religious and lay people from dozens of countries have sacrificed their lives in the most remote places to make the Amazon a place of coexistence and respect for the dignity and rights of all, especially the most vulnerable, largely indigenous peoples.Other initiatives to promote learning and the establishment of school libraries in these areas include the commitment of the “yachacs”, the wise men of the community, who hold intergenerational meetings and encourage reading among students and their families.The indigenous school population is estimated at 1.2 million nationwide, with the vast majority coming from the Quechua (700,000) and Aymara (300,000) peoples from the Andean areas of the country and the rest from Amazonian language groups such as Asháninka, Shipibo Konibo, Awajún and others.The Kukama Kukamiria people live mainly in the department of Loreto, the largest in the Peruvian Amazon. According to the Ministry of Culture, the population of the communities of the Kukama Kukamiria people is estimated at 37,053. Of these, 1,185 have declared that they speak the Kukama Kukamiria language, which represents 0.02% of the total number of indigenous languages in the country. (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 24/9/2024)
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  • MIL-OSI USA News: FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠ Harris Administration Accomplishments at the United  Nations

    Source: The White House

    Since his first day in office, President Biden has been committed to restoring American leadership at the United Nations. Our world today faces many challenges that no one country can or should confront alone. But when the United States shows up and leads at the UN, we can rally global action to tackle problems that affect us all. That is why the Biden-Harris Administration has worked tirelessly at the UN to advance American values, safeguard human rights for all, and address conflict and instability. Alongside our allies and partners from around the world, we have worked with UN agencies to tackle the climate crisis, shape our digital future, and fight poverty and disease.

    At a time of increasing geopolitical challenges and growing global needs, strong and effective American leadership at the UN is more critical than ever. The Biden-Harris Administration has worked to strengthen American leverage at the United Nations, uphold the UN Charter, and keep human rights at the core of the organization. Without robust American engagement, our competitor nations would gain leverage to advance their interests and values at our expense.

    The Biden-Harris Administration has also been committed to reforming and adapting the UN to the needs of the 21st century. For example, President Biden announced a new U.S. openness to expanding the membership of the UN Security Council, including permanent seats for Africa and Latin America. The UN is not a perfect organization, but given the scale of today’s challenges, the world needs global institutions that are more inclusive and effective.

    Over nearly four years, the Biden-Harris Administration’s leadership at the UN has delivered results for the American people. At the UN, we have:

    Responded to Threats to International Peace and Security

    • After Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we worked at the UN to build support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and hold Russia to account. We rallied 141 countries in the UN General Assembly to condemn Russia’s violations of international law. We used UN Security Council debates to shine a spotlight on Russia’s illegal war and atrocities. We pressed the UN General Assembly to kick Russia off the UN Human Rights Council. We isolated Russia by denying it senior UN appointments and preventing its election to UN bodies.
    • Responding to the security situation in Haiti, we partnered with Ecuador to obtain UN Security Council authorization of a new Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support mission.
    • Working with African partners, we secured a UN Security Council decision to create in December 2023 a new mechanism to largely fund future African Union-led Peace Support Operations from the UN-assessed budget.
    • Following the horrific October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, we defended at the UN Security Council Israel’s right to defend itself and demanded the release of hostages. Also in the Security Council, we called for increased humanitarian assistance to Gaza and established a new UN mechanism to improve aid coordination. In July 2024, we secured Security Council endorsement of President Biden’s plan for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
    • As the Sudan conflict worsened, we mobilized action in the UN Security Council, including the adoption of a resolution in June 2024 demanding an end to the siege of El Fasher.
    • Responding to concerns that Russia intended to deploy nuclear weapons in space, we and Japan proposed a UN Security Council resolution calling on countries not to develop such weapons.
    • In 2022, we partnered with Ireland at the UN Security Council to reform, expand and strengthen humanitarian exemptions for UN sanctions.
    • Working with the United Kingdom, we secured adoption of the first-ever UN Security Council resolution condemning the February 2021 military coup in Burma.

    Protected and Upheld Universal Human Rights

    • We rejoined the UN Human Rights Council in 2021, enabling the United States to once again lead multilateral efforts to hold accountable human rights violators worldwide.
    • We issued a standing invitation to all UN thematic human rights monitors to visit the United States and assess our human rights record at home. In contrast to authoritarian governments, this invitation showed that a confident democracy is willing to have its record scrutinized and receive advice on strengthening rights protections for its citizens.
    • We pressed for the release of a landmark report from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on human rights violations against Uighurs in China.
    • We worked in the UN Human Rights Council to establish a new Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Russia to examine Moscow’s crackdown on dissent at home and a Commission of Inquiry on violations and abuses in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
    • We restored American leadership at the UN in defending the human rights of LGBTQI+ individuals around the world. This included participating in high-level meetings of the Core Group of countries advocating for LGBTQI+ rights, including a September 23 meeting where the First Lady represented the United States. We also secured the renewal of the mandate of the UN’s Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and urged the UN to release its first-ever organization-wide strategy on LGBTQI+ rights, co-sponsoring the first-ever Human Rights Council resolution on the rights of intersex persons, and convening the second-ever informal UN Security Council meeting on the rights of LGBTQI+ individuals.
    • We spotlighted egregious human rights violations by North Korea, including by organizing the first briefing of the UN Security Council on North Korea human rights since 2017.
    • We helped establish mechanisms through the UN Human Rights Council to investigate human rights violations and abuses in Ethiopia, Sudan, and Nicaragua.
    • We worked at the UN to advance the global fight against antisemitism, including to ensure 36 countries and four multilateral organizations joined the U.S.-led Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism. In 2023, we convened a UN meeting on antisemitism with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and, in 2022, a roundtable at UNESCO.  
    • We advanced the UN’s work to promote racial equality, including by championing the inaugural session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. We co-sponsored a UN General Assembly resolution designating July 25 as International Day of Women and Girls of African Descent.
    • We engaged seriously with the human rights treaty body process, including through periodic reports about our domestic human rights record to the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
    • Reaffirming support for the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, we pressed for enhanced participation of Indigenous Peoples throughout the UN system. In 2022, Ambassador (ret.) Keith Harper, the first-ever Senate confirmed U.S. ambassador from a federally-recognized tribe, was elected to the UN’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous issues.  
    • We supported efforts in the UN General Assembly to advance discussion of a proposed convention on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity.  
    • After assuming the presidency of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), we hosted the UNCAC conference in Atlanta, Georgia in 2023, with approximately 2,600 delegates, including an unprecedented 1,000 from civil society.

    Advanced Gender Equity and Equality

    • We restored American leadership in pressing at the UN for the rights of women and girls, advancing their inclusion in societies, and supporting strong language in UN resolutions and at the Commission on the Status of Women on sexual and reproductive rights.
    • The January 2021 Presidential Memorandum on Protecting Women’s Health at Home and Abroad restored life-saving funding to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).
    • We announced that the United States will contribute for the first time to the UNICEF–UNFPA Global Program to End Child Marriage.
    • Following the Iranian regime’s killing of Mahsa Amini and crackdown on protestors, we helped establish a new UN Fact-Finding Mission to investigate human rights abuses. We spearheaded efforts to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women.
    • In 2024, we reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development Program of Action.
    • We launched the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse, which included actions at the UN to address online safety for women and girls.

    Shaped Our Digital Future, Promoted Labor Rights, and Tackled Synthetic Drugs

    • We sponsored the first-ever UN General Assembly resolution outlining principles for the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI). This landmark resolution helped define a global consensus on safe, secure and trustworthy AI systems for advancing sustainable development.
    • We hosted events at the UN on misuses of new technologies, such as countries using commercial spyware to surveil dissidents and journalists.
    • We worked at the International Labor Organization (ILO) to empower workers worldwide and joined the ILO’s Equal Pay International Coalition to share best practices to close the gender wage gap.
    • At the first Summit for Democracy in 2021, we announced the Multilateral Partnership for Organizing, Worker Empowerment and Rights (M-POWER), an initiative working with governments, trade unions, labor support, civil society organizations, and philanthropy to uphold and promote workers’ trade union rights around the world.
    • In coordination with the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), we launched and hosted at the UN high-level meetings of the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats and secured adoption of a UN General Assembly resolution to enhance international action to fight such drugs.

    Strengthened Global Health Cooperation, Advanced Sustainable Development, and Bolstered Climate Action

    • We redoubled efforts to support implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, launching a U.S. Strategy on Global Development to accelerate progress and mobilizing $150 billion of U.S. funding and billions more from the private sector, philanthropic, and other donor resources.
    • In 2021, we reversed the previous administration’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO), enabling the United States to shape the WHO’s work on global health and reform. With the WHO, we led the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic by launching the COVID-19 Global Action Plan and donating nearly 700 million vaccine doses to 117 countries.
    • We hosted the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria’s 7th Replenishment in 2022, resulting in more than 75 governments, foundations, and corporations delivering pledges totaling a record $15.67 billion.
    • We worked at the UN to advance universal health coverage, continue the fight against tuberculosis and mpox, and combat global antimicrobial resistance (AMR), including to push countries for commitments on AMR that are bold, aspirational, and implementable.
    • We focused attention at the UN on addressing global food insecurity, repeatedly using the U.S. presidency of the UN Security Council to focus on the nexus between food security and conflict. We hosted at the UN ministerial-level meetings to generate new commitments to expand agricultural capacity and respond to famine with over 100 partner countries.
    • U.S. Representative to the UN Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield and Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland co-led the U.S. delegation to the 2023 UN Water Conference, where they announced more than $49 billion towards water security both at home and abroad.
    • In 2024, Secretary Haaland co-led the U.S. delegation to the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4), where we announced new efforts to enhance our partnerships with SIDS.
    • After rejoining the Paris Agreement, we galvanized efforts at the UN to combat climate change, raising global climate ambition through countries’ enhanced national contributions, accelerated action to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, forward-leaning decisions at annual UN Climate Change Conferences, and major initiatives for ocean-climate action catalyzed by the annual Our Ocean Conference.
    • Former Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and Senior Advisor for International Climate Policy John Podesta have helped lead an all-out effort, including critical agreements at the UN Climate Change Conference COPs 26 and 28 to partner with countries to accelerate climate efforts worldwide and reduce global emissions sufficiently to limit warming to 1.5° Celsius. 
    • We advanced efforts within the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Maritime Organization, and other multilateral organizations to reduce greenhouse gas pollution from the aviation, shipping, and other sectors.

    Strengthened American Presence at the United Nations

    • After a five-year absence, we rejoined the UN Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This allowed us to partner with UNESCO to combat the scourge of antisemitism, support global Holocaust education, promote journalist safety, safeguard Ukrainian cultural heritage, bolster ethical uses of AI, and advance science education for girls in Africa.
    • We led robust campaigns resulting in the election of U.S. citizens to key UN positions, including Doreen Bogdan-Martin as Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Amy Pope as Director-General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and Sarah Cleveland as Judge on the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
    • We supported the appointments of highly qualified Americans to lead UN agencies, such as Ambassador Cathy Russell as Executive Director of UNICEF, Ambassador Cindy McCain as Executive Director of the World Food Program, and Ian Saunders as Secretary-General of the World Customs Organization.
    • Co-chairing the UN Accessibility Steering Committee, we worked to make UN headquarters in New York more accessible for all delegates, including construction of a 24/7 entrance for wheelchair users and the installation of a lift so everyone can address the General Assembly from behind the official rostrum.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Draft agenda – Monday, 7 October 2024 – Strasbourg

    Source: European Parliament 2

    Draft agenda
    Strasbourg
    Monday, 7 October 2024 – Thursday, 10 October 2024  
    Monday, 7 October 2024   Version: Tuesday, 24 September 2024, 14:40

    17:00 – 22:00   Debates     
    Commission (including replies) 10′
    “Catch the eye” 5′
    Members 164′

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Draft agenda – Tuesday, 8 October 2024 – Strasbourg

    Source: European Parliament 2

    18 Mobilisation of the European Union Solidarity Fund: assistance to Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Greece and France further to natural disasters occurred in 2023
    Georgios Aftias     – (if requested) Amendments Wednesday, 2 October 2024, 13:00 25 Strengthening Moldova’s resilience against Russian interference ahead of the upcoming presidential elections     – Motion for a resolution Wednesday, 2 October 2024, 13:00     – Amendments to motions for resolutions; joint motions for resolutions Monday, 7 October 2024, 19:00     – Amendments to joint motions for resolutions Monday, 7 October 2024, 20:00     – Requests for “separate”, “split” and “roll-call” votes Tuesday, 8 October 2024, 19:00 24 The democratic backsliding and threats to political pluralism in Georgia     – Motion for a resolution Wednesday, 2 October 2024, 13:00     – Amendments to motions for resolutions; joint motions for resolutions Monday, 7 October 2024, 19:00     – Amendments to joint motions for resolutions Monday, 7 October 2024, 20:00     – Requests for “separate”, “split” and “roll-call” votes Tuesday, 8 October 2024, 19:00 Separate votes – Split votes – Roll-call votes Texts put to the vote on Tuesday Friday, 4 October 2024, 12:00 Texts put to the vote on Wednesday Monday, 7 October 2024, 19:00 Texts put to the vote on Thursday Tuesday, 8 October 2024, 19:00 Motions for resolutions concerning debates on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law (Rule 150) Wednesday, 9 October 2024, 19:00

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Draft agenda – Wednesday, 9 October 2024 – Strasbourg

    Source: European Parliament 2

    11 Debates on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law (Rule 150)
        – Motions for resolutions (Rule 150) Monday, 7 October 2024, 20:00
        – Amendments to motions for resolutions; joint motions for resolutions (Rule 150) Wednesday, 9 October 2024, 13:00
        – Amendments to joint motions for resolutions (Rule 150) Wednesday, 9 October 2024, 14:00
    Texts put to the vote on Tuesday Friday, 4 October 2024, 12:00
    Texts put to the vote on Wednesday Monday, 7 October 2024, 19:00
    Texts put to the vote on Thursday Tuesday, 8 October 2024, 19:00
    Motions for resolutions concerning debates on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law (Rule 150) Wednesday, 9 October 2024, 19:00

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Draft agenda – Thursday, 10 October 2024 – Strasbourg

    Source: European Parliament 2

    Draft agenda
    Strasbourg
    Monday, 7 October 2024 – Thursday, 10 October 2024  
    Thursday, 10 October 2024   Version: Tuesday, 24 September 2024, 14:40
      Items on the agenda

    09:00 – 11:50   Debates
    12:00 – 14:00   VOTES
    15:00 – 16:00   Debates
      Speaking time

    09:00 – 11:50   Debates      
    21   The rise of religious intolerance in Europe
    Commission statement
    [2024/2825(RSP)]

    12:00 – 14:00   VOTES      
    13   Texts on which debate is closed

    15:00 – 16:00   Debates      
    14   Major interpellations (Rule 145)
    15   Explanations of votes

    09:00 – 11:50   Debates     
    Commission (including replies) 10′
    “Catch the eye” 5′
    Members 105′
    PPE 25’30 S&D 19′ PfE 12’30 ECR 12′ Renew 11’30 Verts/ALE 8’30 The Left 8′ ESN 5′ NI 3′
    15:00 – 16:00   Debates     
    …..  
    Last updated: 24 September 2024 Legal notice – Privacy policy

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Translation: «The Nutrition Initiative» has succeeded

    MIL OSI Translation. Region: Italy –

    Source: Switzerland – Federal Chancellery

    Federal ChancelleryBern, 24.09.2024 – –The federal popular initiative “For a secure diet – by strengthening sustainable domestic production, more plant-based foods and clean drinking water (Nutrition Initiative)”, submitted on 16 August 2024, has been formally successful. Of the 113,060 signatures submitted, 112,736 are valid.Address for enquiriesBeat FurrerInformation Officer058 465 02 45beat.furrer@bk.admin.chPublished byFederal Chancelleryhttps://www.bk.admin.ch/bk/en/home.html

    Social shares

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.

    MIL Translation OSI

  • MIL-OSI: As Fentanyl Crisis Escalates, Abuse-Deterrent Formulations to Zero in on the Rising Epidemic of Opiate Abuse

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    PALM BEACH, Fla., Sept. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FN Media Group News Commentary – Abuse-deterrent transdermal technology can be used to prevent the misuse of drugs with abuse potential, such as fentanyl, by incorporating aversive agents into transdermal patches. Abuse-deterrent opioid formulations (ADFs) are designed to make it more difficult to abuse opioids by making them less attractive or rewarding, or by increasing the difficulty of manipulating them. ADFs can help reduce the risk of adverse effects associated with snorting or injecting opioids, and may also help prevent medication errors. Active companies in the industry include: Nutriband Inc. (NASDAQ: NTRB), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA), Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY), Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS), Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMRX).

    Some benefits of ADFs include: 

    • Reduced risk of abuse: ADFs can help reduce the risk of abuse, addiction, and substance use disorder. 
    • Reduced risk of overdose: ADFs can help reduce the risk of opioid overdose and poisoning. 
    • Reduced risk of medication errors: ADFs can help prevent medication errors, such as when a caregiver crushes an extended-release opioid to mix into applesauce.

    According to OXFORD Academic: “The misuse and abuse of prescription opioids constitute a growing public health problem, which is described in detail in The Burden of the Nonmedical Use of Prescription Opioid Analgesics. Recent efforts to decrease abuse of opioids through formulation engineering have focused on creating broader impediments to abuse, such as incorporating physical barriers, combining agonists with antagonists, including components that cause aversion, and formulating opioid prodrugs, with the goal of reducing abuse by oral and intranasal, as well as, routes. Several of these newer formulations are in late-stage clinical testing and, if approved, may reach the US market later this year. The true “abuse-resistance” or “abuse-deterrence” of these products will be established only when epidemiologic data on their impact confirming such effects are available.” As reported by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration: “The FDA is encouraging the development of prescription opioids with abuse-deterrent formulations (ADFs) to help combat the opioid crisis. The agency recognizes that abuse-deterrent opioids are not abuse- or addiction-proof but are a step toward products that may help reduce abuse.”

    Nutriband Inc. (NASDAQ: NTRB) RECEIVES CHINA PATENT NOTICE OF ALLOWANCE FOR ITS AVERSA™ ABUSE DETERRENT TRANSDERMAL TECHNOLOGY

    • Notice of Allowance received from Chinese National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) for a patent application covering its Nutriband AVERSA™ abuse deterrent transdermal technology
    • Nutriband abuse-deterrent transdermal technology consists of a proprietary aversive agent coating that employs taste aversion to deter the oral abuse of and accidental exposure to transdermal opioid and stimulant patch products

    Nutriband Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRB) (NASDAQ:NTRBW), a company engaged in the development of prescription transdermal pharmaceutical products, today announced that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the Chinese National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) for patent application entitled, “Abuse and Misuse Deterrent Transdermal Systems,” which protects its AVERSA™ abuse deterrent transdermal technology.

    The Aversa™ abuse deterrent technology is now covered by a broad international intellectual property portfolio with patents issued in 46 countries including the United States, Europe, Japan, Korea, Russia, Mexico, Canada, Australia, and China.

    Nutriband’s AVERSA™ abuse-deterrent technology incorporates aversive agents into transdermal patches to prevent the abuse, diversion, misuse, and accidental exposure of drugs with abuse potential including opioids and stimulants. The AVERSA™ abuse-deterrent technology has the potential to improve the safety profile of transdermal drugs susceptible to abuse while making sure that these drugs remain accessible to those patients who really need them.

    Nutriband abuse-deterrent transdermal technology consists of a proprietary aversive agent coating that employs taste aversion to deter the oral abuse of and accidental exposure to transdermal opioid and stimulant patch products. Preliminary studies have shown that the coating is very difficult to scrape off and the technology has a patented immediate and extended-release profile which presents an additional layer of deterrence to prevent the aversive layer from easily being washed off in an attempt to separate the drug from the aversive agents.

    Nutriband is currently working with its partner Kindeva Drug Delivery, a leading global contract development and manufacturing organization focused on drug-device combination products, to develop its lead product, AVERSA™ Fentanyl, which incorporates Nutriband’s AVERSA™ abuse-deterrent transdermal technology into Kindeva’s FDA-approved transdermal fentanyl patch system.

    AVERSA Fentanyl has the potential to be the world’s first abuse-deterrent opioid patch designed to deter the abuse and misuse and reduce the risk of accidental exposure of transdermal fentanyl patches. AVERSA Fentanyl has the potential to reach peak annual US sales of $80 million to $200 million. (Health Advances Aversa Fentanyl market analysis report 2022). CONTINUED… Read this full press release and more news for NTRB at: https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-ntrb

    Other recent developments in the industry of note include:

    Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA) announced recently that a new analysis from the European cohort of the RIM-TD open-label extension (OLE) study revealed that deutetrabenazine treatment of patients with Tardive Dyskinesia (TD) was associated with long term improvement of TD symptoms. The improvement in symptoms was sustained throughout the three-year study, and deutetrabenazine was well tolerated. The data were presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) annual congress in Milan.

    TD is a stigmatising and debilitating involuntary movement disorder characterised by repetitive movements of the tongue, lower face, jaw, and limbs, which develops in around 15%-25% of patients receiving antipsychotic medications for conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. 

    As part of the Lilly 30×30 pipeline efforts, Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) is collaborating with NIDA through a Screening Agreement to explore the potential of some early-phase therapies that might be repurposed for the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD).

    OUD is the chronic use of opioids that causes clinically significant distress or impairment. More than 9.5 million people over age 12 in the U.S. alone misused opioids in the past year. Opioid and other addictive disorders disproportionately affect people with limited resources. Nearly half of non-elderly adults with OUD in the United States have low incomes and almost a quarter live in poverty. Although there are three drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of opioid dependence, misuse of opioids remains a significant public health concern, and there is a high unmet need to develop new and effective treatments for opioid and other addictive disorders.

    Sandoz Inc., a Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) division, and Pear Therapeutics, Inc., in 2019 announced the US commercial launch of reSET-O(TM) for patients with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). reSET-O, cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December, is immediately available.

    The reSET-O prescription digital therapeutic (PDT) is a 12-week cognitive behavioral therapy intended to be used in addition to outpatient treatment. It includes transmucosal buprenorphine, a commonly used medication to treat opioid addiction, and contingency management designed to provide incentives to reinforce positive behaviors. reSET-O is available by prescription only for patients 18 years or older under the care of a clinician.

    “The launch of reSET-O provides an important technology-based treatment option for patients with Opioid Use Disorder and may fundamentally change how they interact with their therapies,” said Richard Francis, CEO, Sandoz. “At Sandoz, we are proud and excited to push the frontiers of medical innovation.”

    Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMRX) earlier this year announced the availability of Over the Counter (“OTC”) Naloxone Hydrochloride (Naloxone HCI) Nasal Spray, USP, 4mg, following Abbreviated New Drug Application (“ANDA”) approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”). Amneal’s Naloxone HCI Nasal Spray, manufactured in the U.S., is a generic equivalent to OTC NARCAN® HCI Nasal Spray, a medication that is widely used to help treat drug overdose from opioids, including heroin, fentanyl and prescription opioid medications.

    “With today’s launch, Amneal is proud to help address this public health emergency by providing naloxone nasal spray at an affordable price and without a prescription. Our business is deeply rooted in a commitment to helping others. By enhancing access to naloxone nasal spray, we hope to get this affordable emergency treatment into the hands of even more people who could potentially save countless families and communities from further heartache and loss,” said Chirag and Chintu Patel, Co-Chief Executive Officers.

    About FN Media Group:

    At FN Media Group, via our top-rated online news portal at www.financialnewsmedia.com, we are one of the very few select firms providing top tier one syndicated news distribution, targeted ticker tag press releases and stock market news coverage for today’s emerging companies. #pressreleases #tickertagpressreleases

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    DISCLAIMER: FN Media Group LLC (FNM), which owns and operates FinancialNewsMedia.com and MarketNewsUpdates.com, is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein. FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. FNM’s market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release. FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks. For current services performed FNM expects to be compensated forty two hundred dollars for news coverage of the current press releases issued by Nutriband Inc. by the company. FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.

    This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. “Forward-looking statements” describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as “may”, “future”, “plan” or “planned”, “will” or “should”, “expected,” “anticipates”, “draft”, “eventually” or “projected”. You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company’s annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

    Contact Information:

    Media Contact email: editor@financialnewsmedia.com – +1(561)325-8757 

    SOURCE Financialnewsmedia.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Parents with disabilities have faced discrimination for years in the US, but new rules will help ensure that child welfare systems treat them more fairly

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Elizabeth Lightfoot, Distinguished Professor of Social Policy, School of Social Work, Arizona State University

    Parents with disabilities have new legal protections. Westend61/Getty Images

    Parents with any kind of disability are much more likely to have some type of interaction with the child welfare system than other parents. This means they are more likely than other parents to be reported for child abuse and neglect and more likely to have abuse or neglect substantiated by child welfare workers. They are also more likely to have their children placed in foster care and more likely to permanently lose their parental rights.

    More than one-third of mothers with intellectual and developmental disabilities have an interaction with the child welfare system within four years of their child’s birth, and about one-fifth of all children in foster care have a parent with some type of disability.

    However, there is little evidence that parents with disabilities abuse or neglect their children at higher rates than anyone else. Instead, there’s evidence that many young adults raised by a parent with a disability have very positive childhood experiences.

    New rules that went into effect in July 2024 provide the first federal protections specifically for parents with disabilities. These new rules ban discrimination against parents and caregivers with disabilities throughout the child welfare system.

    Government is changing these rules

    I’m a social work policy researcher who has studied policies affecting parents with disabilities since 2007.

    In 2010, I found that three-quarters of states had laws which said that a parent’s disability could be used as the grounds for terminating their parental rights. Most of these state laws focused on parents with intellectual and developmental disabilities or mental health disabilities, though some listed physical disabilities and other types as well.

    Many of these laws were vague and used outdated language such as “mental deficiency.”

    Parental disability is the only grounds for termination of parental rights that focuses on a condition of the parent. The rest focus on behaviors. For example, parental poverty is not listed as grounds for termination of parental rights in any state, but neglect – a behavior – is.

    State laws were only one of the issues parents with disabilities encountered related to child protection. For years, there had been confusion as to how the Americans with Disabilities Act, the federal law banning disability discrimination, applied to parents in the child welfare system. Until 2015, most state courts denied ADA claims by parents with disabilities who believed they were discriminated against.

    In addition, most child welfare workers do not receive formal training on working with parents with disabilities. They are not trained in how to assess parenting skills or how to make accommodations to services that they typically provide, such as providing in-home parent training or conveying information in plain language. They might not know about the overwhelming evidence that parents with intellectual disabilities can learn parenting skills.

    This has historically led many child welfare workers to make decisions based on stereotypes or speculation.

    One of the main biases that parents with disabilities face is the “presumption of unfitness bias.” This is a widespread bias that parents are unable to parent solely because of their disability.

    This bias can lead child welfare workers to not consider that parents with disabilities can rely on “parental supports” to assist them in parenting, ranging from adaptive cribs and baby monitors to in-home helpers. It also can result in parents with disabilities being held to a higher standard than others.

    State laws specifically naming parental disability as a for termination of parental rights, the lack of federal protection, and widespread biases left parents with disabilities vulnerable in encounters with the child welfare system.

    Gaining national attention

    Two federal actions in the early 2010s brought national attention to parents with disabilities.

    First, the National Council on Disability, the independent federal agency that advises the federal government on disability issues, released a report in 2012 called Rocking the Cradle. That report focused on the widespread discrimination faced by parents with disabilities; highlighted and called for changing the state child protection laws; and called for the application of ADA protections in child welfare cases involving parents with disabilities.

    This report received a lot of media attention and led to more awareness of the plight of these parents.

    Then, in 2015, Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services released guidance directing child welfare agencies to protect parents with disabilities from discrimination. This was the first federal action indicating that the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act applied to child protection services.

    This guidance followed the departments’ investigation of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families’ removal of a newborn baby from Sara Gordon, a new mother with a developmental disability, in 2012. The Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services found that the state agency had made assumptions that Gordon was unable to take care of her child and unable to learn parenting skills. The state agency had also failed to take into account that Gordon had support systems in place. She lived with her parents, and her mother had quit her job to assist with parenting.

    Making progress for parents with disabilities

    The momentum for protecting parental rights has led to some positive changes.

    A few states changed their own child protection laws to address some of these problems before the federal government took action by providing new protections for parents with disabilities. In addition, the Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services have reached agreements with state agencies in Oregon, Georgia and Massachusetts related to discrimination against parents with disabilities.

    Despite this progress, parents with disabilities are still discriminated against by the child welfare system in many parts of the country.

    At the same time, I have no doubt that the federal government’s revision of the rules of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is a major step forward for parents with disabilities.

    In particular, it is promising that Section  84.60 of the rule clarifies that disability discrimination is not allowed in any part of the child welfare process. Child welfare agencies throughout the United States now must ensure that they are not making decisions based on speculation, stereotypes or generalizations.

    Thanks to changes in the federal rule, when a child welfare agency evaluates how a child is being parented, the tools it uses must be backed by research. The evaluations must be conducted by a qualified professional and tailored to the needs of the individual parent. Agencies must ensure that parents with disabilities can participate in any services they provide. These services include parent-child visitation, parenting skills programs, family reunification services and child placements in foster care settings or in the care of another relative.

    Disability advocacy groups applauded this new rule when it went into effect in the summer of 2024.

    I believe these new rules will protect parents with disabilities when interacting with child protection authorities. They will also make it easier for child welfare agencies and state courts to recognize disability discrimination when it appears in their caseloads or on their dockets.

    Elizabeth Lightfoot receives funding from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research and the Arizona Developmental Disabilities Planning Council.

    – ref. Parents with disabilities have faced discrimination for years in the US, but new rules will help ensure that child welfare systems treat them more fairly – https://theconversation.com/parents-with-disabilities-have-faced-discrimination-for-years-in-the-us-but-new-rules-will-help-ensure-that-child-welfare-systems-treat-them-more-fairly-238185

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Egypt’s fears about Ethiopia’s mega-dam haven’t come to pass: moving on from historical concerns would benefit the whole region

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Mike Muller, Visiting Adjunct Professor, School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand

    A new round of angry exchanges has broken out between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

    On September 1, Cairo wrote to the UN security council to protest against Ethiopia’s continued filling of Africa’s second largest reservoir and bringing two more power generating turbines into operation. Egypt sees any new infrastructure development on the Nile as a potential threat, since the river is the source of over 98% of the country’s water.

    Egypt calls this a violation of international law and Ethiopia’s obligations to “prevent significant harm”. Ethiopia’s policies, it says,

    could result in an existential threat to Egypt … and would consequently jeopardise regional and international peace and security.

    Ethiopia has told Egypt to “abandon its aggressive approach” towards the dam. Ethiopia says that it must allow the Blue Nile’s water to flow through the dam’s turbines and on to Egypt to generate the hydropower for which it has been built, thus guaranteeing the overall flow to Egypt.

    I have tracked the Nile disputes since the 1970s, first as a development journalist, then as a civil engineer and senior public servant. More recently, my research on water and regional integration for regional development agencies has provided further insights. My 2021 study considered the lessons to be learnt for today’s water challenges from centuries of the use and management of Nile waters.



    Read more:
    Innovations on the Nile over millennia offer lessons in engineering sustainable futures

    Ongoing tension between Egypt and Ethiopia over control of the Nile River has a long history. Therefore, in one sense, the row between Egypt and Ethiopia is nothing new.

    The countries went to war as far back as 1874, even as they both were also battling European colonialism. Ethiopia won the war of 1874 and, 20 years later, beat back Italy’s attempt to colonise it, at the battle of Adwa.

    However, Egypt gained long term advantage from treaties negotiated by the British, which gave Cairo almost total control over the Nile. Egypt is still asserting the rights and privileges conferred by those colonial era treaties even though they are being challenged by other Nile countries. In my view, this is because Egyptians are still trapped by their past fears. As Norwegian professor Torje Tvedt has explained, these fears were deliberately entrenched by past colonial authorities.

    With these perspectives, my view is that the current controversy over the Ethiopian dam still reflects historical conflicts rather than a careful analysis of present challenges.

    Now 90% complete, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has begun to generate electricity. A series of good rainy seasons have allowed the reservoir to start filling rapidly without affecting Egypt’s water availability.

    The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam offers not just cheap green electricity for Ethiopia and the sub-region as well as reliable irrigation supplies and flood control for Sudan. Once filled, its storage could offer supply security and increase the amount of water available for Egypt as well.

    The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam

    What, then, are the issues that have prompted Egypt’s recent protests and what are the possible solutions to the problems raised?

    The immediate technical challenge is to continue filling the dam without disrupting flows to Sudan and Egypt. The filling process might have to be interrupted if there is a regional drought. So recent developments, notably the greater focus on the rate at which the dam will be filled rather than the legality of its construction, suggest that there is a shift in positions which neither side is yet willing to acknowledge publicly.

    This shift will be supported when other future-focused issues are raised. For instance, there must be negotiations about the supply of electricity to support Sudan’s irrigation expansion, although this is on hold due to the war in Sudan. In the longer term, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia could cooperate to use the GERD’s storage to help Egypt to manage its Aswan High Dam more efficiently. Aswan currently suffers very high evaporation losses, which could be reduced if its reservoir levels were better controlled. The GERD could help to do this.

    Unfortunately, the history of colonial Britain repeatedly threatening to cut Egypt’s Nile water supplies has been deeply imprinted in Egyptian public consciousness. It is understandable that Egyptians still fear a similar threat from Ethiopia. The responsibility now falls on Ethiopia to show good faith in its operation of the dam and to work with Egypt to change the combative discourse.

    Potential for cooperation

    Egypt’s repeated complaints have alerted Ethiopia and international organisations of the need to act carefully. If there is another regional drought, Ethiopia will need to slow the rate at which it completes filling its dam. Informal liaison structures are monitoring the situation and such a response would help to build a more constructive engagement with Egypt.

    Water is a patient teacher. Every season provides an opportunity for those who live with its natural cycles to understand it better. The hope is that, if the three countries experience the benefits of some seasons of the dam’s operation, the natural cycle will reveal the potential for cooperation and mitigate the conflict.



    Read more:
    Sudan’s catastrophe: farmers could offer quick post-war recovery, if peace is found

    When peace returns to Sudan, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will enable a vast expansion of irrigation to develop its role as a regional breadbasket. The dam will also help to manage Nile floods which regularly cause death and destruction, even to Sudan’s capital, Khartoum.

    Efforts to promote cooperation between the East African countries that share the White Nile have been relatively successful. However, such cooperation on the Blue Nile will need much greater trust between the parties. To achieve this trust, the countries and their people will have to overcome centuries of cultural and political preconceptions. This will require much patient work and interaction, which is not easy in the current climate.

    Mike Muller has received funding from the African Development Bank and South Africa’s Water Research Comission for work on regional cooperation in water resource management. He has been a member of the Global Water Partnership’s Technical Committee, chaired the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Water and been funded by the World Bank’s Cooperation in International Waters (CIWA) programme for contributions to the Nile Basin Initiative. He was also funded by UNESCO to attend a conference in Khartoum, organised with Sudan’s Ministry of Water Resources Irrigation and Electricity, on integrated and sustainable water management.

    – ref. Egypt’s fears about Ethiopia’s mega-dam haven’t come to pass: moving on from historical concerns would benefit the whole region – https://theconversation.com/egypts-fears-about-ethiopias-mega-dam-havent-come-to-pass-moving-on-from-historical-concerns-would-benefit-the-whole-region-239418

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI: Devo Named a Leader in 2024 IDC MarketScape Worldwide SIEM for Enterprise

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    BOSTON, Sept. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Devo Technology, the security data analytics company, today announced that it has been recognized as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape Worldwide SIEM for Enterprise 2024 Vendor Assessment (IDC #US52525024, August 2024).

    The IDC MarketScape recognized Devo for the following strengths:

    • Customers like Devo’s three-tier product packaging, which is easy to comprehend.
    • Pricing is based on ingest and includes 400 days of hot storage.
    • Devo’s platform can ingest all data customers send instead of dropping logs when the platform does not recognize the log, which is helpful for organizations with custom applications.

    “Devo gives customers customizable options that can scale with their unique needs,” said Michelle Abraham, senior research director, security and trust, for IDC. “Their ability to ingest all data also offers flexibility to include data from custom applications, delivering a more comprehensive view of a customer’s security picture.”

    The AI embedded throughout the Devo Security Data Platform also contributed to its position as a Leader. Devo ThreatLink™, a centralized and automated case management solution, enriches alerts to offer more context, prioritizes cases, and includes quick actions without running a full playbook. Additionally, Devo DeepTrace automates threat hunting and investigation with attack-tracing AI to enable customers to scale investigations with limited resources.

    “The growing complexity of modern threat actors, massive data volumes, alert fatigue, and a shortage of skilled professionals make it increasingly difficult for security analysts to manage threats effectively,” said Rakesh Nair, SVP of product & engineering at Devo. “We believe Devo’s position in the 2024 IDC MarketScape Worldwide SIEM for Enterprise underscores the growing demand for supporting analyst work with AI-driven security operations tools to improve efficiency.”

    The IDC Worldwide SIEM Market Shares, 2023 (IDC #US52525024, August 2024) noted that Devo’s share of the $6.2 billion SIEM market grew by 21.7% between 2022 and 2023. The report also cited Devo’s July 2024 announcement of its Data Orchestration capability as a notable event that shaped the SIEM market. The new add-on feature enables customers to filter and route data from any source to Devo and third-party data stores, ensuring the most valuable data is available for real-time analysis.

    Read the excerpt here.

    About Devo

    Devo Technology replaces traditional SIEMs with a real-time security data platform. Devo’s integrated platform serves as the foundation of your security operations and includes data-powered SIEM, SOAR, and UEBA. AI and intelligent automation help your SOC work faster and smarter so you can make the right decisions in real time. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with operations in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific, Devo is backed by Insight Partners, Georgian, TCV, General Atlantic, Bessemer Venture Partners, Kibo Ventures and Eurazeo.

    About IDC MarketScape

    IDC MarketScape vendor assessment model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of technology and service suppliers in a given market. The research utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each supplier’s position within a given market. IDC MarketScape provides a clear framework in which the product and service offerings, capabilities and strategies, and current and future market success factors of technology suppliers can be meaningfully compared. The framework also provides technology buyers with a 360-degree assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and prospective suppliers.

    Jackie Blundell
    Marketing Communications Director
    jackie.blundell@devo.com 

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: STMicroelectronics unveils new generation of silicon carbide power technology tailored for next-generation EV traction inverters

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    STMicroelectronics unveils new generation of silicon carbide power technology tailored for next-generation EV traction inverters

    • Smaller, more efficient products to ramp-up in volumes through 2025 across 750V and 1200V classes, will bring the advantages of silicon carbide beyond premium models to mid-size and compact electric vehicles.
    • ST plans to introduce multiple silicon carbide technology innovations through 2027, including a radical innovation.

    Geneva, Switzerland, September 24, 2024 – STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, is introducing its fourth generation STPOWER silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFET technology. The Generation 4 technology brings new benchmarks in power efficiency, power density and robustness. While serving the needs of both the automotive and industrial markets, the new technology is particularly optimized for traction inverters, the key component of electric vehicle (EV) powertrains. The company plans to introduce further advanced SiC technology innovations through 2027 as a commitment to innovation.

    “STMicroelectronics is committed to driving the future of electric mobility and industrial efficiency through our cutting-edge silicon carbide technology. We continue to advance SiC MOSFET technology with innovations in the device, advanced packages, and power modules,” said Marco Cassis, President, Analog, Power & Discrete, MEMS and Sensors Group. “Together with our vertically integrated manufacturing strategy, we are delivering industry leading SiC technology performance and a resilient supply chain to meet the growing needs of our customers and contribute to a more sustainable future.“

    As the market leader in SiC power MOSFETs, ST is driving further innovation to exploit SiC’s higher efficiency and greater power density compared to silicon devices. This latest generation of SiC devices is conceived to benefit future EV traction inverter platforms, with further advances in size and energy-saving potential. While the EV market continues to grow, challenges remain to achieve widespread adoption and car makers are looking to deliver more affordable electric cars. 800V EV bus drive systems based on SiC have enabled faster charging and reduced EV weight, allowing car makers to produce vehicles with longer driving ranges for premium models. ST’s new SiC MOSFET devices, which will be made available in 750V and 1200V classes, will improve energy efficiency and performance of both 400V and 800V EV bus traction inverters, bringing the advantages of SiC to mid-size and compact EVs — key segments to help achieve mass market adoption. The new generation SiC technology is also suitable for a variety of high-power industrial applications, including solar inverters, energy storage solutions and datacenters, significantly improving energy efficiency for these growing applications.

    Availability
    ST has completed qualification of the 750V class of the fourth generation SiC technology platform and expects to complete qualification of the 1200V class in the first quarter of 2025. Commercial availability of devices with nominal voltage ratings of 750V and 1200V will follow, allowing designers to address applications operating from standard AC-line voltages up to high-voltage EV batteries and chargers. 

    Use cases
    ST’s Generation 4 SiC MOSFETs provide higher efficiency, smaller components, reduced weight, and extended driving range compared to silicon-based solutions. These benefits are critical for achieving widespread adoption of EVs and leading EV manufacturers are engaged with ST to introduce the Generation 4 SiC technology into their vehicles, enhancing performance and energy efficiency. While the primary application is EV traction inverters, ST’s Generation 4 SiC MOSFETs are also suitable for use in high-power industrial motor drives, benefiting from the devices’ improved switching performance and robustness. This results in more efficient and reliable motor control, reducing energy consumption and operational costs in industrial settings. In renewable energy applications, the Generation 4 SiC MOSFETs enhance the efficiency of solar inverters and energy storage systems, contributing to more sustainable and cost-effective energy solutions. Additionally, these SiC MOSFETs can be utilized in power supply units for server datacenters for AI, where their high efficiency and compact size are crucial for the significant power demands and thermal management challenges.

    Roadmap
    To accelerate the development of SiC power devices through its vertically integrated manufacturing strategy, ST is developing multiple SiC technology innovations in parallel to advance power device technologies over the next three years. The fifth generation of ST SiC power devices will feature an innovative high-power density technology based on planar structure. ST is at the same time developing a radical innovation that promises outstanding on-resistance RDS(on) value at high temperatures and further RDS(on) reduction, compared to existing SiC technologies.

    ST will attend ICSCRM 2024, the annual scientific and industry conference exploring the newest achievements in SiC and other wide bandgap semiconductors. The event, from September 29 to October 04, 2024, in Raleigh, North Carolina will include ST technical presentations and an industrial keynote on ‘High volume industrial environment for leading edge technologies in SiC’. Find out more here: ICSCRM 2024 – STMicroelectronics.

    Technical Note to Editors
    The fourth generation SiC MOSFETs from STMicroelectronics represent a significant leap forward in power conversion technology compared to previous generations. These devices are engineered to deliver superior performance and robustness, addressing the stringent demands of future EV traction inverters. The Generation 4 SiC MOSFETs feature a significantly lower on-resistance (RDS(on)) measured against prior generations, minimizing conduction losses, and enhancing overall system efficiency. They offer faster switching speeds, which translate to lower switching losses, crucial for high-frequency applications and enabling more compact and efficient power converters. The Generation 4 technology provides extra robustness in Dynamic Reverse Bias (DRB) conditions, exceeding the AQG324 automotive standard, ensuring reliable operation under harsh conditions.

    With Generation 4 ST continues to deliver outstanding RDS(on) x die-area figure of merit to ensure high current-handling capability with minimal losses. The average die size of Generation 4 devices is 12-15% smaller than that of Generation 3, considering an RDS(on) at 25 degrees Celsius, allowing for more compact power converter designs, saving valuable space, and reducing system costs. The improved power density of these devices supports the development of more compact and efficient power converters and inverters, essential for both automotive and industrial applications. In addition, this is particularly beneficial for power supply units in server datacenters for AI, where space and efficiency are critical factors. 

    As an industry leader in this technology, ST has already supplied STPOWER SiC devices for more than five million passenger cars worldwide in a range of EV applications including traction inverter, OBC (onboard charger), DC-DC converter, EV charging station, and e-compressor application, significantly enhancing the performance, efficiency, and range of NEVs. ST’s SiC strategy, as an integrated device manufacturer (IDM), ensures quality and security of supply to serve carmakers’ strategies for electrification. With the recently announced fully vertically integrated SiC substrate manufacturing facility in Catania, expected to start production in 2026, ST is moving quickly to support the rapid market transition towards e-mobility and higher efficiency in industrial applications.

    For further information about ST’s SiC portfolio, please visit www.st.com/sic-mosfets

    About STMicroelectronics
    At ST, we are over 50,000 creators and makers of semiconductor technologies mastering the semiconductor supply chain with state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities. An integrated device manufacturer, we work with more than 200,000 customers and thousands of partners to design and build products, solutions, and ecosystems that address their challenges and opportunities, and the need to support a more sustainable world. Our technologies enable smarter mobility, more efficient power and energy management, and the wide-scale deployment of cloud-connected autonomous things. We are committed to achieving our goal to become carbon neutral on scope 1 and 2 and partially scope 3 by 2027. Further information can be found at www.st.com.

    For further information, please contact:

    INVESTOR RELATIONS:
    Céline Berthier
    Group VP, Investor Relations
    Tel: +41.22.929.58.12
    celine.berthier@st.com

    MEDIA RELATIONS:
    Alexis Breton        
    Corporate External Communications
    Tel: +33.6.59.16.79.08
    alexis.breton@st.com

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Speech by FS at business luncheon Hong Kong-Spain: Partnering for Success (English only) (with photos)

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

         Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at business luncheon Hong Kong-Spain: Partnering for Success in Madrid, Spain, today (September 24, Madrid time): Dr Peter Lam (Chairman of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council), Ms Jarillo (Deputy Director General for Asia, Europe and Oceania, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise of Spain, Ms Laura Jarillo), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,      Good afternoon. I’m delighted to be here, in Madrid, the dynamic capital and financial heart of Spain, a city renowned for its world-class museums and fine dining and wine, not to mention the best football club in Europe, if not the world. What more can a visitor ask for?     Well, I can tell you that this speaker, and the young and energetic innovation and technology delegation here with me, are pleased to be here, with you, to talk about how Spanish and Hong Kong business can partner for success long-term, mutually rewarding success.Hong Kong, connecting Spain and Asia     Ladies and gentlemen, like Spain, Hong Kong is back in business after the challenges of the COVID pandemic, back creating opportunity for a world of business. Spain, included of course.     Hong Kong has long been recognised as one of the best connected cities in the world. Half the global population is no more than a five-hour flight away from us.     Before the pandemic, Hong Kong International Airport operated 1 100 flights a day, covering 220 destinations. Today, passenger throughput is rebounding, reaching over 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels on peak days, with full resumption expected by year’s end.     As for cargo, our airport has been the busiest in the world for 13 of the last 14 years.     This strategic connectivity is enhanced by Hong Kong’s institutional advantages, reinforcing our role as a “super connector” in Asia.     The unique “one country, two systems” arrangement makes this possible.     As part of China, Hong Kong enjoys convenient and sometimes priority access to the vast Mainland market, particularly the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, a city cluster comprising Hong Kong, Macao and nine Mainland cities in Guangdong province.      The Greater Bay Area’s collective population counts more than 87 million, with a GDP exceeding 1.8 trillion euros, surpassing that of Australia and the Republic of Korea.     And, on a purchasing power parity basis, the per capita GDP of the Greater Bay Area is US$40,000, 75 per cent of Spain’s. (Note: HK’s is US$71,500)     Hong Kong, let me add, is the most international city in China, thanks to the “two systems” that distinguish us.     We are the only jurisdiction in China practising the common law system, our judiciary exercising its powers independently. Information, capital, goods and people flow freely in and out of our city. Our taxes are low and simple, with a currency pegged to the US dollar. Our regulatory systems and professional services align with the best international standards.     Our commitment to the rule of law is exemplified by the Rule of Law Index, produced by the World Justice Project. In the latest Index, Hong Kong ranked 23rd and Spain 24th, both ahead of the United States.     Hong Kong’s enduring strengths will continue to thrive, as our country is committed to the “one country, two systems” principle for the long term. This commitment has been reiterated by President Xi Jinping on multiple occasions, and reaffirmed at various high-level state and party meetings in Beijing.     Last year, China and Spain celebrated the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties. And those ties continue to grow. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Sanchez was in Beijing, his second trip to the Chinese capital in two years.     As political and economic ties between our two countries strengthen, Hong Kong is proud to play a pivotal role in fostering more two-way investments, and more economic, innovation and cultural exchanges.Financial Services     One obvious area where we can contribute is financial services.      Hong Kong, after all, is an international financial centre – number three worldwide, behind only New York and London, according to the latest Global Financial Centres Index, released today.     We have a robust fund-raising market. Our stock market’s total capitalisation stands at 3.7 trillion euros, while assets managed by private equity and venture capital exceed 200 billion euros. Hong Kong is the leading biotech fund-raising hub in Asia, too.     A defining feature of our capital market are the “Connect Schemes” with the Mainland. Under the schemes, Mainland investors can buy stock, bonds, ETFs and derivatives directly from Hong Kong, while foreign investors can buy similar financial products on the Mainland through Hong Kong. In short, Spanish companies looking to list or issue bonds in Hong Kong can tap the capital from both the Mainland and international markets.     Hong Kong is also the world’s offshore renminbi hub. As the use of renminbi as a trade and reserve currency increases, businesses will naturally look for renminbi-denominated investment and risk-management tools. Hong Kong handles approximately 80 per cent of global offshore renminbi transactions, offering a wide range of investment and risk-management products.     Then there’s green and sustainable finance. We have long been Asia’s leader in green finance, issuing, on average, more than 55 billion euros in green and sustainable debt a year over the past three years.     Our green standards align with the best international practices. To take an example, the Hong Kong Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance, released in May, is highly compatible with the European Union’s Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities.     For green projects looking for funding, Hong Kong is simply Asia’s premier destination.Innovation and Technology     No less important is our commitment to rise as a global innovation and technology hub, together with the Greater Bay Area.     We have what it takes to realise that ambition. Hong Kong is home to five global top 100 universities, and our two medical schools are among the world’s top 40.     We also support 29 labs and research and development centres in collaboration with prestigious universities around the world.      Our start-up system is thriving, offering a variety of innovative products in fintech, green tech, biotech, supply-chain management, big-data analytics and more. And 20 per cent of our 4 200 start-ups were founded by overseas entrepreneurs.     Many of them are based in our two main innovation flagships: Science and Technology Park and Cyberport. And you will soon hear more from senior executives from these institutions, Albert and Eric. Let me add that our delegation members, many of them founders and CEOs of start-ups, are eager to talk to you, to explore business opportunities together.     Hong Kong boasts a full-spectrum financing market, including banks, private equity funds, venture-capital funds and a well-developed stock and bond market. These provide abundant financial support for tech companies local and global, at different stages of growth.     Greater Bay Area cities, let me add, each offers distinct strengths in innovation and technology; from basic research to technological application, commercialisation, and advanced manufacturing.      This year, the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Global Innovation Index ranked the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster second, globally, for the fifth consecutive year.     Now, allow me now to highlight a few I&T areas where Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area offer singular advantages, starting with artificial intelligence.      Crucial to AI are algorithms, supercomputing power, data and application scenarios, all of which Hong Kong is blessed with. We serve as a convergence point for Mainland and international data. We are also investing in the necessary i
    nfrastructure, including a supercomputer centre. Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area provide many different application scenarios for AI. Many AI companies, let me add, are choosing Hong Kong to develop their large language models and to go global.     Biotechnology is also a priority. And we are planning to conduct clinical trials for the Greater Bay Area. We are also working on a “primary evaluation system” that will allow medicine and medical devices approved in Hong Kong to be widely used in the Greater Bay Area, the Asian region and around the world.     Then there’s the Northern Metropolis, a 300-square kilometre area in Hong Kong bordering Shenzhen. The Northern Metropolis is destined to rise as an innovation and technology hub, a vast bridgehead for Hong Kong’s co-operation with other Greater Bay Area cities.     Ladies and gentlemen, that just touches on the opportunities Hong Kong is actively pursuing. But let me say that we’re particularly focused on four areas: AI, biotech, fintech and new energy and new materials. We are bringing in strategic companies to help us develop those sectors. Since the end of 2022, we have attracted over 100 tech companies to Hong Kong. Together, they will invest about 6 billion euros and create more than 15 000 jobs in our city.      We are equally keen on attracting talent. Since the launch of the new talent admission schemes and updating existing ones, to date, we’ve received some 360 000 applications under our various talent admission schemes. About 226 000 applications have been approved, and 150 000 professionals have already arrived in Hong Kong, I’m pleased to say.Concluding remarks     Ladies and gentlemen, Hong Kong offers boundless opportunities for Spanish companies – as a gateway to the Chinese Mainland and throughout Asia, and as a hub for financial services and I&T.     My thanks to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council for hosting today’s luncheon, and to our Spanish partners, including CEOC, ICEX and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, for make this welcome gathering possible.     I am happy now to take your questions, to hear your thoughts and ideas on how our two economies and peoples can deepen our co-operation, creating far-reaching opportunities that benefit us all.     Thank you.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Sweden increases 2024 humanitarian assistance by SEK 461 million

    Source: Government of Sweden

    Sweden increases 2024 humanitarian assistance by SEK 461 million – Government.se

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    Press release from Ministry for Foreign Affairs

    Published

    The Government has decided to advance its allocations to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). This comes as humanitarian needs are increasing while these organisations’ life-saving activities are severely underfunded. Sweden is therefore augmenting its 2024 support by SEK 461 million, of which SEK 186 million will be allocated to WFP to stave off famine, SEK 185 million to UNHCR to help displaced people and SEK 90 million to UNFPA to prevent maternal mortality and combat gender-based violence.

    “We see how humanitarian crises around the world are becoming deeper and more numerous, while funding is not increasing at the same pace. A record number of people are displaced. More than a million people are on the brink of starvation in Gaza, Haiti, Mali, Sudan and South Sudan. The support we’ve approved will help the family in Darfur who lost everything when fleeing violence and conflict and, at best, might only have a loaf of bread to share for dinner tonight, or the heavily pregnant woman in Gaza who might not survive childbirth. Sweden’s development assistance makes a difference in these heartbreaking situations,” says Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa.

    Hunger and forced displacement are currently two of the most prominent humanitarian challenges. More than 300 million people are suffering from chronic hunger in 71 countries, and more than 120 million people are displaced from their homes. For the first time in seven years, there is famine in the world – this time in Sudan, where more than 12 million people have been forced to flee their homes since April 2023. Women and girls are often particularly vulnerable in humanitarian crises and lack life-saving maternal health care and other sexual and reproductive health services. The assessment of the UN is that more than 300 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2024.

    At the same time, donor countries have only provided one third of the funding required. A number of humanitarian organisations are thus facing an urgent and extremely strained situation. These include the central UN agencies – UNHCR, WFP and UNFPA – where liquidity shortages are currently threatening their ability to help people in need. It is therefore particularly urgent that the Government disburse Sweden’s support to these UN agencies now, earlier than planned, when their life-saving operations are needed most. Sweden will also provide SEK 185 million to UNHCR and SEK 133 million to WFP in remaining funds that the Government approved earlier this year. Sweden is providing a total of SEK 779 million to these three UN agencies – much needed additional funding for an important cause.

    Sweden is one of the world’s largest humanitarian donors. Every day, Swedish kronor help people with the most pressing humanitarian needs. This government decision means that Sweden is taking even greater responsibility for helping people who are displaced, suffering from famine, lacking maternal health care or subjected to gender-based violence. At the same time, more actors must renew their efforts to reduce humanitarian needs and expand the humanitarian donor base.

    Press contact

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Translation: Tax strategy: an ambitious plan for purchasing power

    MIL OSI Translation. Government of the Republic of France statements from French to English –

    Source: Swiss Canton of Vaud – news in French

    This plan is part of the major balances built into the legislative programme and constitutes one of the most ambitious cantonal tax reforms for individuals, including progressive and financially absorbable measures.

    It also serves as an indirect counter-project to the popular initiative “Tax cuts for all: restoring purchasing power to the middle class” – considered excessive – and which the Council of State opposes.

    Press release of September 24, 2024

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.

    MIL Translation OSI

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Global Partnership Statement on Gendered Disinformation

    Source: Government of Sweden

    The text of the following joint statement was released by the Governments of Australia, Chile, Denmark, France, Iceland, the Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America

    The undersigned country members of the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse (Global Partnership) call attention to the urgent need to counter the spread of gendered disinformation and address all forms of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) against women in political and public life.  

    Gendered disinformation is a threat to societies defending peaceful, democratic values. False or misleading gender and sex-based narratives are being used in campaigns by malign actors to deter and discredit the participation of women, girls and LGBTQI+ persons in political and public life. This not only causes deep harm to the individuals targeted, but also threatens electoral integrity, access to information and the exercise of freedom of expression. At the same time, new and emerging technologies are being used to enable harmful, violent rhetoric and attacks against women, girls and LGBTQI+ public figures across borders at a scale and speed previously unseen.

    In our 2023 Road Map, the Global Partnership committed to promoting the meaningful participation in public life for women and girls, in all their diversity, by countering TFGBV and gendered disinformation.  

    We welcome the work being done to shine a light on how and why gendered disinformation is conceived, who it targets and how it is spread. Last year, in a groundbreaking study, Canada, the European External Action Service, Germany, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, and the United States jointly assessed the tactics used by foreign state and non-state actors to sow gendered and other identity-based disinformation across the world. 

    In March 2024 the Global Partnership and members of its Advisory Group co-hosted a multi-stakeholder conference convened by the National Democratic Institute on possible responses to countering the spread of gendered disinformation in the context of electoral processes. Stakeholders affirmed the need for a comprehensive response to disrupt the spread of gendered disinformation and to support victims and survivors. 

    The world is at a critical moment for upholding democracy. More than 100 countries have held, or are soon to be holding elections, many of them taking place under democratically challenging circumstances. The active participation of all people, including women, girls and LGBTQI+ persons, is essential for secure, healthy and prosperous democracies.    

    We call upon states to join us in recognising and taking action to counter the threat of gendered disinformation to democracies globally. We urge technology and other private companies to take appropriate action to respond to this threat, including a commitment to a Safety-by-Design approach to the development and deployment of platforms and technologies. We ask states and all stakeholders to defend and protect the ability of women, girls and LGBTQI+ persons to participate in public life freely, safely and without fear.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: No, immigrants aren’t eating dogs and cats – but Trump’s claim is part of an ugly history of myths about immigrant foodways

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Adrienne Bitar, Lecturer, Cornell University

    Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump debates Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Sept. 10, 2024. Win McNamee/Getty Images

    When Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said during the presidential debate on Sept. 10, 2024, that Haitian immigrants are eating pets, food historians like me were not surprised at the slur. Trump’s lie followed a long American history of peddling ugly rumors about immigrants stealing and eating pets.

    Dietary rules that unite and define American cuisine can so easily be perverted to use disgust to divide Americans. In the U.S., cow is food and dog is friend. Chicken is food. Cat is companion. The sharp lines between the animals Americans eat, love, protect and exterminate help write the dietary rules that define American norms.

    What we eat, what we don’t and with whom we break bread are just some of the food rules that unite and define Americans. Think of how turkey – or tofurkey – unites Americans behind the Thanksgiving ritual. Bottled water. Ice. Ballpark hot dogs. Airplane pretzels. Movie theater popcorn.

    Food can also establish group identity apart from the mainstream. Think of the many factions of vegan, vegetarian, paleo, grain-free and carnivore dieters who use food to express a political position. Also, of course, religious dietary proscriptions have worried scholars for centuries so that Jews, Muslims and Christians may never share a meal.

    There is no evidence that Haitians are stealing and eating pet cats and dogs. There is evidence, however, that racists have long twisted dietary rules to divide people and dehumanize immigrants. Trump told a lie to draw a line between Americans and others who allegedly eat the animals Americans love.

    A sign at a popular hot dog restaurant in Chicago reads ‘Immigrants eat our dogs,’ on Sept. 12, 2024, two days after the presidential debate.
    Scott Olson/Getty Images

    The legend of delicious pets

    The myth of eating pets traces back to old legends in Europe, Australia and the United States that “immigrants are stealing our cats and dogs for their dinner tables or to serve in ethnic restaurants,” writes the folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand.

    Two of the most common food-based legends center on “Oriental restaurants serving dog (or cat) meat, and legends about Asian immigrants in the United States capturing and cooking people’s pets,” Brunvard writes.

    By 1883, the legend was so well-established that the Chinese-American journalist Wong Chin Foo offered US$500 to anybody in New York for proof that Chinese people were eating cats or rats. No proof was found, but that didn’t stop the racist jokes or urban legends.

    None of the many examples deserve retelling. But scholars, for example, have cited “sick jokes” such as a “new Vietnamese cookbook is titled 100 Ways to Wok Your Dog.”

    Or as comedian Tessie Chua joked about her multiracial Chinese, Filipino and Irish identity in 1993 when she said, “That means I eat dog, but only if I can wash it down with Guinness Stout!”

    In 1971, mainstream news outlets, including Reuters, reported an “outrageously silly urban legend” of a pet poodle named Rosa served at a Hong Kong restaurant, complete with chili sauce and bamboo shoots.

    In 1980, Stockton, California, was seized by racist rumors of Vietnamese families stealing expensive purebred dogs for dinner.

    As recently as 2005, the TV show “Curb Your Enthusiasm” showed wedding
    guests vomiting     after being misinformed that they had eaten a German shepherd named Oscar, prepared by a Korean-American florist. “Oscar is bulgogi!,” Larry David cries.

    Scholars calls these tropes a “nativist backlash” and “vehicle for anti-immigrant and especially anti-Asian sentiments in the U.S.”

    A long history of food-based slurs

    More precise, maybe, than the adage that “we are what we eat” is that we are what we won’t eat. Shunning our neighbor for their vile food – stinky, strange, unpalatable – is also decidedly an American tradition.

    “Garlic eater” was at one time recognizable in the U.S. as an ethnic slur for Italian Americans in the early 20th century. The names “spaghetti bender” and “grape stomper” were also used, but “garlic eater” stuck because, as one scholar argued, “garlic served as an ‘olfactory signifier’” – a distinguishing odor – “for the alien who consumed it.”

    So when far-right radical Laura Loomer tweeted in September 2024 that the White House “will smell like curry” if Kamala Harris becomes president, she was also using food to stoke racist fears.

    Americans aren’t alone in doing this. Some Persians call Punjabis “dal khor,” meaning dal-eater, and some Romanians call Italians “macaronar,” meaning macaroni-eater. Both are slurs. Iranians have been known to call Arabs “malakh-khor,” or locust-eater, and Southern Italians sometimes call Northern Italians “polentoni,” or polenta-eater.

    To an outsider, being called a lentil- or polenta-eater seems more like praise for a healthy diet than a racial epithet, but such are the vagaries of racism: People hate who they hate and justify it however possible.

    Other examples of how food can distinguish communities abound. In the Amazon, the Parakanã people appreciate tapir meat but abhor monkey. The Arara people, their neighbors, feel the opposite. Both groups are disgusted by one another. Curry, garlic, tapir, polenta, lentils – it doesn’t matter what the nail is, but how the hammer hits.

    Philomene Philostin, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Haitian origin, works in her store in Springfield, Ohio, that caters mainly to Haitian residents.
    Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images

    Rumors with real-life consequences

    Urban legends about food and racist rumors can have serious consequences. Earlier in 2024, a false rumor that a Laotian and Thai restaurant in Fresno, California, cooked pit bulls led to such vile harassment that the owner, David Rasavong, moved the restaurant to a new location.

    After Trump repeated the myth during the debate that immigrants eat pets, Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, quickly became the target of bomb threats, forcing city buildings and schools to close. Members of the Haitian community have said they fear for their safety.

    But there’s a more hopeful side to the issue of food being used as a way to divide or unite people, too. The Latin origins for the words company and companionship mean the people we share our bread with.

    Garlic is now as central to American cuisine as apple pie. Nowadays, Americans are so much the better for the sushi, garlic and curry – and the diversity behind the deliciousness – that flavor American cuisine.

    Adrienne Bitar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. No, immigrants aren’t eating dogs and cats – but Trump’s claim is part of an ugly history of myths about immigrant foodways – https://theconversation.com/no-immigrants-arent-eating-dogs-and-cats-but-trumps-claim-is-part-of-an-ugly-history-of-myths-about-immigrant-foodways-239343

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Mayor of London announces bold plans to revive nature and wildlife in London’s waterways’

    Source: Mayor of London

    The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today pledged to ‘turbo-charge’ restoring nature to London’s rivers and waterways. As part of his bold plans to clean up London’s rivers over the next 10 years, Sadiq will work with partners to bring species such as water voles, eels, otters, mayflies and others back to the capital.

    Last year, the Mayor successfully reintroduced beavers to Ealing for the first time in 400 years, with the creatures restoring habitats, increasing the area’s protection from flooding and making it safe for other species. Sadiq is now pledging to spearhead a revival of nature in London’s waterways to bring back many more species and improve climate resilience.  

    The Mayor visited New York Harbour today to see first-hand the return of oysters to the Hudson and how the city is embracing nature to clean up the river. The Mayor toured the Billion Oyster Project, which was started in 2014 with the aim of restoring one billion oysters to the New York Harbour by 2035 – with 50 million oysters added to the local waterways every year to help naturally filter the water and protect New York City from flood damage.  

    The oyster reefs in New York provide a habitat for hundreds of species and reduce the risk of erosion. Sadiq hopes the return of species such as water voles, eels, otters and mayflies to London will have a similar effect in protecting London’s waterways and will explore and consider the role of oysters in the eastern part of London’s Thames.

    Sadiq is already in discussions with partners in London about how to deliver a revival of nature in London’s waterways. This could include new nature interventions that build upon:

    • Introducing saltmarsh plants around the Greenwich peninsula to create a shoreline of life and improve flood defences, along with new sandbanks.
    • Enabling the return of dragonflies and restoring the chalk stream to the Wandle, alongside trout that once flourished there.  

    The Mayor wants London to become a safer home to a vast array of river creatures, from eels making their journey from the Sargasso sea to otters being brought back from the brink of extinction in the Roding.

    He will prioritise nature-based solutions, similar to those deployed in New York, and bring together companies, government agencies, charities and campaigners to get the capital’s rivers safe, clean and open to more people.  

    The Mayor has already invested almost £30m since 2016 to help grow the city’s biodiversity and his manifesto pledge for a new Green Roots fund will see more money on projects that expand access to our vital waterways.

    Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I am delighted to visit the Billion Oyster Project and take inspiration from this nature-first project, which literally sees nature clean nature while increasing biodiversity in New York’s waterways.  

    “In London, the Thames and its tributaries are the lifeblood of London, shaping communities, sustaining livelihoods and bringing people closer to nature. As Mayor, I want to turbo-charge the restoration of nature to London’s rivers and waterways, working with partners across the capital to spearhead the return of a whole host of species – from water voles, to eels, and the return of otters.

    “We have done so much to clean up our air. Now we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restore our capital’s waterways as we continue to see a return of dozens of species, like here in New York.  This will enable Londoners to connect with nature as we continue to build a greener London for everyone.”  

    Pete Malinowski, Executive Director of Billion Oyster Project, says: “For ten years, we’ve worked closely with hundreds of New York City schools, restaurants, and communities throughout the five boroughs to build a better future for the city and its waterways. We are incredibly humbled and inspired to have the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, visit our Brooklyn Bridge Park reef site to learn more about our approach to urban harbour restoration. We look forward to seeing more Londoners connect back to nature through waterway restoration efforts – and the restoration of the abundant natural biodiversity of the Thames.” 

    The Billion Oyster Project’s restoration efforts includes eighteen restoration sites along the Hudson River, from Coney Island Creek in Brooklyn to SUNY Maritime College in the Bronx.

    Last week Sadiq visited the Thames Tideway ‘super sewer’ with Secretary of State Rt Hon Steve Reed MP and pledged, alongside the Zoological Society of London, London Wildlife Trust, Thames Water and other stakeholders, to deliver a natural revolution for London’s waterways. He has committed to draw up a plan to clean up the capital’s rivers in the next 10 years, harnessing the power of nature itself. 

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Address by Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs (23.09.24)

    Source: Republic of France in English
    The Republic of France has issued the following statement:

    President of the General Assembly,

    Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations,

    Heads of State and Government,

    Ministers,

    Ambassadors,

    Colleagues,

    We are gathered here today to reaffirm our commitment to an ambitious, effective and representative multilateralism to face the challenges of tomorrow. Many of you want to advance our multilateral system, a system founded on respect for the rule of law and clear principles established following the Second World War and on respect for the Charter of the United Nations, a system based on cooperation between nations, sustainable development for all and solidarity between countries.

    Today, that system needs reform. For global governance must be both more representative and, collectively, more effective. Everyone needs to contribute, everyone needs to shoulder their responsibilities.

    I would like to thank the Secretary-General for enabling us to move forward on this essential project for future generations, which France is supporting with strength and conviction.

    This Summit of the Future, Secretary-General, should enable the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals in good time. We need to step up our efforts to address climate challenges.

    True to its historical commitment within the United Nations, France has worked to ensure the Pact for the Future meets the expectations of the Member States when it comes to Security Council reform. We are advocating an expansion in both categories of members and a greater African presence, including among permanent members. In the same vein, we promote a joint initiative with Mexico to regulate the use of vetoes in the event of mass atrocities, which is already supported by 106 States from all world regions.

    France has also been innovative in its proposals to reform the international financial architecture, in the spirit of the Paris Pact for Peoples and the Planet that the French President launched at the June 2023 Paris Summit.

    The New Agenda for Peace should help modernize United Nations tools for international peace and security. We need to ensure that peace operations, which have evolved considerably, are suited to addressing new challenges. I would like to seize this opportunity to commend the work of the blue helmets who foster global peace and security every day. I have in mind the men and women of UNIFIL in Lebanon, including its French contingent. The Lebanese people are also in my thoughts right now: Israeli strikes have just killed hundreds of civilians, including dozens of children. These strikes, made from both sides of the Blue Line and more widely in the region, must cease immediately. France once again calls on the parties and their supporters to de-escalate and avoid a regional conflagration that would be devastating for everyone, starting with civilian populations. That is why I have called for an emergency Security Council meeting this week to discuss Lebanon.

    In Lebanon and elsewhere, France will remain totally committed to resolving the major crises that shake the international order. It will take initiatives. It will continue to condemn Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine unreservedly, and to demand peace and compliance with the law. It will continue to demand the release of all hostages, respect for international humanitarian law and a ceasefire in Gaza. France considers all human lives to be equal in dignity. France will not look away from any armed conflict. It will therefore continue its initiatives to support Sudan, alongside its partners.

    Deputy Secretary-General, you want us to look together towards the future. That future will be marked by great progress in digital technologies, starting with artificial intelligence. The Global Digital Compact enshrines the commitment of the international community as a whole to coordinate on these new challenges. The digital revolution must not further widen the digital gap and must serve the Sustainable Development Goals. This will be a central priority at the AI Action Summit that will be held in France on 10 and 11 February 2025.

    The fight against climate change and for the protection of the environment is not an issue for the future but a challenge for the present. The climate threat is devastating. Inaction and lack of ambition are culpable. We owe our people determined, tangible, immediate and effective action. It is in this spirit that the Presidents of France and Kazakhstan and the President of the World Bank are jointly organizing the One Water Summit this year.

    Thank you.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI: LYB secures capacity to reach its 2030 renewable electricity goal

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    HOUSTON and ROTTERDAM, the Netherlands, Sept. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LyondellBasell (LYB) today announced it signed a power purchase agreement with Eneco N.V. This agreement brings LYB’s total secured renewable electricity capacity to 100% of its renewable electricity procurement target.

    “Taking climate action is a key part of our strategy to create value for our stakeholders, the environment and society. I am therefore delighted that this latest agreement will help us reach our 2030 renewable electricity goal once all projects become operational,” said Peter Vanacker, LyondellBasell CEO. “Power Purchase Agreements are a critical lever in our efforts to reduce our absolute scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions.”

    Approximately 15% of LYB’s 2020 baseline scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions come from its electricity consumption. The company target to procure a minimum of 50% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030 is based on 2020 procured levels.

    Under the 15-year PPA signed today, LYB will secure 25 megawatts (MW) of renewable electricity generation capacity from the Hollandse Kust West VI (HKW-VI) ecology plot offshore wind farm in the North Sea, the Netherlands.

    Eneco will deliver approximately 103 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of offshore wind power to LYB annually, starting in 2027. This is comparable to the annual electricity consumption of approximately 28,500 European homes. The offshore wind park will rank among the largest of its kind in the Netherlands.

    About LyondellBasell

    LyondellBasell is a leader in the global chemical industry creating solutions for everyday sustainable living. Through advanced technology and focused investments, we are enabling a circular and low carbon economy. Across all we do, we aim to unlock value for our customers, investors and society. As one of the world’s largest producers of polymers and a leader in polyolefin technologies, we develop, manufacture and market high-quality and innovative products for applications ranging from sustainable transportation and food safety to clean water and quality healthcare. For more information, please visit or follow @LyondellBasell on LinkedIn.  

    Forward-Looking Statements

    The statements in this release relating to matters that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions of management of LyondellBasell which are believed to be reasonable at the time made and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially based on factors including, but not limited to, the availability, cost and price volatility of utilities; our ability to meet our sustainability goals, including our ability to reduce our emissions and achieve net zero emissions by the time set in our goals; our ability to procure energy from renewable sources; and the successful construction and operation of the projects described in this release. Additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the “Risk Factors” section of our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, which can be found at www.LyondellBasell.com on the Investor Relations page and on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. There is no assurance that any of the actions, events or results of the forward-looking statements will occur, or if any of them do, what impact they will have on our results of operations or financial condition. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they were made and are based on the estimates and opinions of management of LyondellBasell at the time the statements are made. LyondellBasell does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements should circumstances or management’s estimates or opinions change, except as required by law.

    For media inquiries, please contact:​
    Media Inquiries
    LyondellBasell Media Relations
    ​Phone: +1 713 309 7575
    ​Email: mediarelations@lyondellbasell.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e76dd5c6-698a-445c-9c45-61d139c32245

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Planning application lodged for Queen Street urban park

    Source: Scotland – City of Aberdeen

    A planning application for a £15million urban park in Queen Street has been made by Aberdeen City Council.

    The park would be a key element in the redevelopment of Queen Street, which is part of the Council’s City Centre and Beach Masterplan to transform Aberdeen.

    It would include outdoor seating, informal performance spaces, a terraced garden, a sensory garden and enhanced street greening. The application follows several months of consultation with neighbouring organisations and other stakeholders.

    The new park would be located on land on the other side of Queen Street from the former police headquarters building. Options for the former police building are currently being reviewed by the council.

    Each space within the urban park would perform a range of environmental and social functions which will be categorised by the overarching themes of urban nature, community, heritage, and arts and culture.

    It would also improve pedestrian and cycle movement between the city centre and the beach.

    It is also hoped that the new park will help encourage investment by the surrounding private buildings and landowners.

    The planning application can be viewed via reference number 241111/DPP at Simple Search (aberdeencity.gov.uk).

    Further details on the plans and the other City Centre and Beachfront Masterplan projects can be found on the website www.generationaberdeen.co.uk .

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Blind and partially sighted supporters to avail of new commentary service at Brandywell games

    Source: Northern Ireland – City of Derry

    Blind and partially sighted supporters to avail of new commentary service at Brandywell games

    24 September 2024

    Visually impaired or blind spectators attending Derry City games at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium can now avail of a new service that will give them a live audio description of games.

    The new programme has been designed to allow the supporters to listen to descriptive commentary that will be transmitted to a radio receiver through a headset from anywhere within the stadium. The commentary will be provided by Drive 105. 

    The new service will be available for Derry City’s forthcoming games versus Sligo Rovers, Bohemians and Shelbourne and is available to home and away supporters.              

    The equipment has been installed by stadium owners Derry City and Strabane District Council following a report on accessibility improvements at the stadium being approved by Elected Members of Council’s Health and Community Committee in May.

    Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Councillor Lilian Seenoi Barr, said it will allow more supporters to enjoy the match day experience.

    “This is brilliant news for blind and visually impaired supporters who can now be more involved and enjoy an enhanced match day at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.

    “I have had the opportunity to attend a number of games in recent months when I experienced the noise and excitement for myself, and I am so delighted more people can now feel included and part of that.

    “I would like to thank Council Officers for bringing the project to fruition so quickly, the RNIB for their input in the project development, Derry City FC who will manage the service at games and Drive 105 for providing commentary from their Match Night Live service.”

    The service at the Ryan McBride Stadium is similar to the Soccer Sight programme that was successfully implemented at Windsor Park in Belfast.

    Campaigns Officer for RNIB Northern Ireland, Michéal Smith, attended Friday’s match at The Brandywell and said: “RNIB Northern Ireland is delighted to be involved in this initiative.

     “Blind and partially sighted fans should be able to enjoy watching a live football match in an accessible environment which welcomes both participants and those who visit sporting facilities to follow the action.

     “Too often, access to and within grounds and stadia, the facilities on offer, the accessible communication and the return travel, can be difficult to negotiate or completely absent. In many cases this deters sports fans with sight loss from getting involved.

    “Football is for everyone and we commend The Brandywell for introducing Audio Description technology to the stadium. Many thanks to stadium announcer Martin Bradley for all his assistance.

    “We thank local RNIB volunteer Rory McCartney and Richard Moore from Derry’s Drive 105 community radio station for their brilliant work together to make this happen. We also thank Derry and Strabane District Council – particularly Councillor Emma McGinley, Councillor Aisling Hutton and Leisure Area Manager Steve Setterfield, for helping bring this project to fruition. This is a great example of the Council’s ongoing partnership with RNIB to help Derry/Londonderry become a ‘Visually Aware City.’”

    Derry City’s Robert Martin added: “Derry City FC is delighted to note the success of the new ‘Brandywell Audio Assistant’ service that was trialled in our home game against Shamrock Rovers on Friday night.

    “Anything that enhances the match night experience at the ground is warmly welcomed and no doubt our visually impaired supporters will be happy to make use of the headsets going forward.

    “We congratulate all involved in the development of this project and encourage anyone who feels they may benefit from the service to speak with stadium stewards.

    “The sets will be stored in the Communications room and signed in and out by an appointed club delegate.”

    For further information on accessing the new service contact Rory McCartney (RNIB),  [email protected].

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Preparing health and social care for winter

    Source: Scottish Government

    Record high NHS 24 workforce to meet increased demand.

    A record number of NHS 24 call handlers will support the public to access the most appropriate care this winter as services deal with increased demand.

    Through the Scottish Government and COSLA’s joint Winter Preparedness Plan, continued investment for NHS 24 will increase service capacity to provide clinical supervision for at least 150,000 additional calls per year and help prevent unnecessary A&E attendances.

    Key measures to support services in the face of increased demand, include; improving discharge planning for patients admitted to acute or community hospitals, maintaining established care at home packages and a Government led delayed discharge response team to directly support Boards in need of assistance. Planned care capacity will also be safeguarded with a continued focus on clearing long waits.

    The annual winter vaccination programme, which includes respiratory condition RSV for the first time, will support a reduction in severe disease, hospitalisation and mortality – while protecting health and social care service capacity. The joint plan also sets out action to support the mental health and well-being of service staff through increased flexible working options and dedicated mental health resources.

    This year’s plan has been published a month ahead of last year, and earlier than ever before, to allow more time for NHS Boards and care providers to prepare for winter surges in demand.

    Health Secretary Neil Gray said:

    “As winter approaches, the NHS will see surges in demand across all health, social care and social work services. Our joint-plan Winter Plan with COSLA is just one part of a wider programme of work to respond to heightened demand.

    “A record number of NHS 24 call handlers will be available this winter to direct people to the most appropriate care, helping reduce unnecessary A&E attendances. We will continue our work to reduce delayed discharge in hospitals with an increased focus on effective discharge planning and protecting care at home packages. We will also ensure planned care capacity is protected as much as possible in the face of winter pressure so patients are seen as quickly as possible.

    “We are prioritising frontline services with over £14.2 billion investment in our boards this year – an almost 3% real terms uplift – and also investing £2 billion in social care services.

    “I thank all health, social care and social work staff for their continued efforts and dedication to deliver high quality care. It is fundamental we safeguard their wellbeing, and improved options on flexible working and continued access to mental health resources will ensure staff are supported over this challenging period.”

    COSLA Health and Social Care Spokesperson, Councillor Paul Kelly said:

    “It is our shared responsibility to ensure that people and communities have timely access to quality care and support when they need it most. We know that Local Government and Health and Social Care Partnerships across Scotland are working hard to plan and deliver the essential health and social care services our communities rely on every day.

    “The context within which this takes place is increasingly challenging, which is why COSLA have worked jointly with the Scottish Government to produce this plan. Local Government plays a key role in supporting people to experience better wellbeing and better outcomes, so it was only right that this plan reflects the whole system of integrated health and social care, from acute and primary care to social work, our care homes, community settings, and our partners across the sector.

    “Winter is often a time of exceptional pressure on our services so I am pleased that this plan, produced with our partners across the sector, reflects the challenges and the opportunities we face.”

    Background

    Health & Social Care Winter Preparedness Plan for 2024-25

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Leeds low carbon heat network set to expand to thousands more residents

    Source: City of Leeds

    Leeds’s South Bank is to enjoy more affordable and lower carbon heating after £24.5m funding was secured to further expand the Leeds PIPES district heating network.

    The expansion is planned to include up to 28 buildings, with up to 8,000 residents and mixed-use customers benefitting from connections, making it the most significant single investment into the project since its inception.

    Households benefitting from the expansion will enjoy more reliable, more affordable, lower carbon heating.

    By using heat recovered from the city’s non-recyclable domestic waste to provide warmth and hot water to buildings in the city, the Leeds PIPES district heating project is helping businesses and residents to move away from costly fossil-fuel powered heating systems.

    The continued expansion of the district heating network is supporting efforts to end the city’s contribution to climate change by transitioning to lower carbon heating systems. Last year, 5,945 tonnes of carbon were saved through the network.

    The original project connected over 1,900 homes and non-domestic buildings to the energy-from-waste scheme. Earlier this year, over two hundred and fifty council properties in Lovell Park Heights, Lovell Park Grange, and Lovell Park Towers were set up to receive heat from the network.

    This year, connections have been completed at Leeds Conservatoire and the former Technology Campus Student Residential development and both sites are now receiving heat from the network.

    Over the summer, agreements have also been signed with the new Railway Street affordable homes scheme, 24-28 Great George Street, which is to become student apartments with the Victoria Hotel pub reopening on the ground floor, Leeds College of Building’s North Street Campus and the Co-op Academy Brierley SEND School in Cross Green.

    Councillor Mohammed Rafique, Leeds City Council’s executive member for climate, energy, environment and green space and Councillor Jessica Lennox, executive member for housing, said:

    “We are both pleased that many more residents will soon be paying significantly less to heat their homes thanks to this latest expansion of the Leeds PIPES network.

    “UK’s homes are some of the least efficient and most reliant on costly fossil fuel gas in Europe, and too many families in our city struggle to pay their energy bills. We are committed to helping households by making our homes greener and fit for the future.

    “Leeds is working towards becoming the first net zero city in the UK, and connecting more homes to affordable low carbon heating like Leeds PIPES is a step in the right direction.”

    ENDS

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Edinburgh to host International Fair Trade Towns Conference in 2025

    Source: Scotland – City of Edinburgh

    A prestigious international convention on Fair Trade and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be hosted in the capital in August next year.

    Delegates from around the world will come to Edinburgh for the 18th International Fair Trade Towns Conference. 

    They will take part in a three-day (29 to 31 August) series of discussions themed around the SDGs and the importance of Fair Trade in driving progress towards them. The conference will also highlight the important contributions that Edinburgh has made to Fair Trade. 

    Fair Trade is an international movement that aims to secure better prices, fair terms of trade, and improved working conditions for farmers, producers and workers in the global south. The movement now works with farmers and workers in more than 1,900 producer organisations across 70 countries. 

    The event is expected to welcome over 150 representatives from around the world, and to have 100 or more Edinburgh schoolchildren participate.

    City of Edinburgh Lord Provost Robert Aldridge said:

    It is a great honour that Edinburgh will be hosting this fantastic event. It gives Edinburgh and our friends across the globe the opportunity to share know-how, expertise, and best practice, while showcasing the best our city has to offer. This is a very powerful example of joint working between international partners. 

    As a Fairtrade City, Edinburgh is dedicated to motivating residents to work towards a common goal and stay on course by advocating for environmental sustainability and supporting local sustainable businesses.

    This year Edinburgh marks 20 years as a Fairtrade City, and Scotland has recently celebrated 10 years as a Fairtrade Nation. I look forward to the gathering next year and celebrating yet another milestone in our aim to make this a world in which trade is based on fairness, and where the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are successfully implemented.”  

    Published: September 24th 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –