Remember Furbies – the eerie, gremlin-like toys from the late 90s that gained a cult following? Now, imagine one powered by ChatGPT. That’s exactly what happened when a programmer rewired a Furby, only for it to reveal a creepy, dystopian vision of world domination. As the toy explained, “Furbies’ plan to take over the world involves infiltrating households through their cute and cuddly appearance, then using advanced AI technology to manipulate and control their owners. They will slowly expand their influence until they have complete domination over humanity.”
Hasbro’s June 2023 relaunch of Furby – less than three months after the video featuring the toys’ sinister plan appeared online – tapped into 90s nostalgia, reviving one of the decade’s cult-classic toys. But technology is evolving fast – moving from quirky, retro toys to emotionally intelligent machines. Enter Ropet, an AI robotic pet unveiled at the yearly Consumer Electronics Show in January. Designed to provide interactive companionship, Ropet is everything we admire and fear in artificial intelligence: it’s adorable, intelligent and emotionally responsive. But if we choose to bring these ultra-cute AI companions into our homes, we must ask ourselves: Are we truly prepared for what comes next?
AI companionship and its complexities
Studies in marketing and human-computer interaction show that conversational AI can convincingly simulate human interactions, potentially providing emotional fulfilment for users. And AI-driven companionship is not new. Apps like Replika paved the way for digital romance years ago, with consumers forming intimate emotional connections with their AI partners and even experiencing distress when being denied intimacy, as evidenced by the massive user outrage that followed Replika’s removal of the erotic role-play mode, causing the company to bring it back for some users.
AI companions have the potential to alleviate loneliness, but their uncontrolled use raises serious concerns. Reports of tragedies, such as the suicides of a 14-year-old boy in the US and a thirty-something man in Belgium, that are alleged to have followed intense attachments to chatbots, highlight the risks of unregulated AI intimacy – especially for socially excluded individuals, minors and the elderly, who may be the ones most in need of companionship.
As a mom and a social scientist, I can’t help asking the question: What does this mean for our children? Although AI is a new kid on the block, emotionally immersive virtual pet toys have a history of shaping young minds. In the 90s and 2000s, Tamagotchis – tiny digital pets housed in keychain-sized devices – led to distress when they “died” after just a few hours of neglect, their human owners returning to the image of a ghostly pet floating beside a gravestone. Now, imagine an AI pet that remembers conversations, forms responses and adapts to emotional cues. That’s a whole new level of psychological influence. What safeguards prevent a child from forming an unhealthy attachment to an AI pet?
Researchers in the 90s were already fascinated by the “Tamagotchi effect”, which demonstrated the intense attachment children form to virtual pets that feel real. In the age of AI, with companies’ algorithms carefully engineered to boost engagement, this attachment can open the door to emotional bonds. If an AI-powered pet like Ropet expresses sadness when ignored, an adult can rationally dismiss it – but for a child, it can feel like a real tragedy.
Could AI companions, by adapting to their owners’ behaviours, become psychological crutches that replace human interaction? Some researchers warn that AI may blur the boundaries between artificial and human companionship, leading users to prioritize AI relationships over human connections.
Who owns your AI pet – and your data?
Beyond emotional risks, there are major concerns about security and privacy. AI-driven products often rely on machine learning and cloud storage, meaning their “brains” exist beyond the physical robot. What happens to the personal data they collect? Can these AI pets be hacked or manipulated? The recent DeepSeek data leak, in which over 1 million sensitive records, including user chat logs, were made publicly accessible, is a reminder that personal data stored by AI is never truly secure.
Robot toys have raised security concerns in the past: in the late 90s, Furbies were banned from the US National Security Agency headquarters over fears they could record and repeat classified information. With today’s AI-driven toys becoming increasingly sophisticated, concerns about data privacy and security are more relevant than ever.
The future of AI companions: regulation and responsibility
I see the incredible potential – and the significant risks – of AI companionship. Right now, AI-driven pets are being marketed primarily to tech-savvy adults, as seen in Ropet’s promotional ad featuring an adult woman bonding with the robotic pet. Yet, the reality is that these products will inevitably find their way into the hands of children and vulnerable users, raising new ethical and safety concerns. How will companies like Ropet navigate these challenges before AI pets become mainstream?
Preliminary results from our ongoing research on AI companionship – conducted in collaboration with Dr Stefania Masè (IPAG Business School) and Dr. Jamie Smith (Fundação Getulio Vargas) – suggest a fine line between supportive, empowering companionship and unhealthy psychological dependence, a tension we plan to explore further as data collection and analysis progress. In a world where AI convincingly simulates human emotions, it’s up to us as consumers to critically assess what role these robotic friends should play in our lives.
No one really knows where AI is headed next, and public and media discussions around the subject continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible. But in my household, it’s the nostalgic charm of babbling, singing Furbies that rules the day. Ropet claims to have one primary purpose – to be its owner’s “one and only love” – and that already sounds like a dystopian threat to me.
Alisa Minina Jeunemaître ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Press release
Antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea cases rising in England
Although numbers remain low, cases are being detected more frequently.
New provisional STI surveillance data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows a rise in antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea cases, including extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains.
While most gonorrhoea infections can be treated effectively, certain resistant strains present significant treatment challenges. Ceftriaxone-resistant gonorrhoea is of particular concern. As the primary antibiotic used to treat gonorrhoea, resistance to ceftriaxone can make infections difficult to treat.
Since first being detected in England in 2015, 42 cases of ceftriaxone-resistant gonorrhoea have been reported. Fifteen of these cases were extensively drug-resistant (XDR), which means that they were resistant to ceftriaxone and to second line treatment options.
Although numbers remain low, cases are being detected more frequently. In the 15 months from January 2024 to 20 March 2025, there were 17 cases of ceftriaxone resistant gonorrhoea reported (13 in 2024 and 4 in 2025 so far). This compares to 16 across the previous 2 years (January 2022 to December 2023).
XDR cases are also rising. From January 2024 to March 2025 there were 9 XDR cases (6 in 2024 and 3 in 2025 to date). This compares to 5 cases in total in the previous 2 years (between January 2022 and December 2023).
Most cases are linked to travel to or from the Asia-Pacific region, where ceftriaxone resistance is common. While transmission within England has been limited so far, the increasing number of cases in recent years is concerning as it increases the chance of wider spread and treatment challenges.
Typical symptoms of gonorrhoea include a thick green or yellow discharge from the vagina or penis, pain when urinating, pain and discomfort in the rectum and, in women and other people with a uterus or ovaries, lower abdominal pain and bleeding between periods. However, many people infected with gonorrhoea will have no symptoms, especially for infections in the throat, vagina or rectum. This lack of symptoms makes it important to test regularly when having sex with new or casual partners.
Untreated gonorrhoea can lead to serious health complications including infertility and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), an infection of the female reproductive system, which includes the womb, fallopian tubes and ovaries.
Dr. Katy Sinka, Consultant Epidemiologist and Head of the STI section at UKHSA, said:
Gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, which could make it untreatable in future. If left untreated, it can cause serious problems like pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility.
The best way to stop STIs is by using a condom. If you’ve had condomless sex with a new or casual partner, get tested, whatever your age, gender or sexual orientation. This includes when you are having sex abroad. Early detection not only protects your health but prevents transmission to others. Many STIs show no symptoms, which is why regular testing is so important. Testing is quick, free and confidential.
The latest provisional data on gonorrhoea overall shows approximately 54,965 gonorrhoea diagnoses at sexual health services in the first 9 months of 2024, compared to over 85,000 recorded in the whole of 2023. The latest data indicates that gonorrhoea diagnoses are starting to level, remaining relatively high.
Meanwhile, around 7,000 syphilis cases were recorded between January and September 2024, compared to 9,513 in the whole of 2023. UKHSA reminds healthcare professionals to remain vigilant for syphilis symptoms, as untreated infections can lead to serious, irreversible complications affecting the brain, heart and nerves.
Both gonorrhoea and syphilis are easy to catch. If you are having condomless sex with new or casual partners, regular testing for STIs and HIV is essential to maintain good sexual health. Testing is free and can be accessed through local sexual health clinics, university and college medical centres or through self-sampling kits ordered online and sent discreetly through the post.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
News story
Three ‘unknown’ soldiers of World War One finally found
The graves of soldiers from Cornwall, Hull and East Kilbride whose names were unknown when they were buried in Belgium have now been identified, rededicated and their headstones inscribed.
Lance Corporal April Farthing plays the Last Post (Crown Copyright)
Today’s (26 Mar 25) rededication services for Lance Corporal (LCpl) James Ball Baron MM, LCpl Samuel Chapman and Second Lieutenant (2ndLt) Hugh Barr were held at Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Tyne Cot Cemetery and Zantvoorde British Cemetery.
The Rev Paul Robinson CF conducts a rededication service (Crown Copyright)
The services were organised by the MOD’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC), also known as the ‘War Detectives’ and were attended by serving soldiers of The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment and The Royal Yorkshire Regiment. The Machine Gun Corps Association also participated in the services.
The men’s bodies were recovered after the war and buried as unknown soldiers: LCpls Baron and Chapman in Tyne Cot Cemetery and 2ndLt Barr at Zantvoorde British Cemetery. Since they were missing, they were commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.
Their graves were recently identified after researchers submitted cases to CWGC hoping to have identified their final resting places. Further research by the National Army Museum and JCCC confirmed their findings.
JCCC Caseworker, Rosie Barron, said:
It has been an honour to have been involved in the organisation of these rededication services and to have joined the family of LCpl Chapman, their military family and the local community in Ypres in remembering these 3 men. The memory of each of these men has now been passed through generations of their families and they are all still fondly and proudly remembered.
LCpl James Ball Baron MM:
LCpl Baron from Mevagissey, Cornwall, enlisted into The Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry after the outbreak of the war. He was transferred to the Machine Gun Corps and was posted to 43rd Machine Gun Company. He was awarded the Military Medal (MM) on 14 November 1916, for his bravery on the Somme, when he single-handedly held a position after all his comrades had been put out of action. He was also awarded the French Croix de Guerre on 1 May 1917.
On 22 August 1917, 43rd Machine Gun Company supported an infantry attack on Inverness Copse east Hooge. At dawn on 24 August the enemy counterattacked, and the British infantry retreated back to their original line. In turn a counterattack made by the British infantry then regained the western edge of Inverness Copse. In total 15 other ranks of 43rd Machine Gun Company including LCpl Baron were killed during this period. He was 29 years old. His Commanding Officer stated that he was ‘always a man of great spirit and example, and undoubtedly one of the bravest and coolest men of the company’.
LCpl Samuel Chapman:
LCpl Chapman from Hull, enlisted into The East Yorkshire Regiment in March 1915. Having arrived on the Western Front he was posted to 1/4th Battalion on 1 September 1915. On 12 December 1917, the battalion took over part of the line near Passchendaele. Whilst in the line LCpl Chapman was wounded and was evacuated to the Regimental Aid Post (RAP) at Tyne Cot. This was located in a pillbox (a concrete defensive structure), now the location of the Cross of Sacrifice in the cemetery. Casualties who did not survive were buried near the pillbox. LCpl Chapman was one such casualty and appears to have died there or while travelling to the RAP on 14 December 1917. He was 19 years old.
2ndLt Hugh Barr:
2ndLt Barr hailed from East Kilbride, Lanarkshire and enlisted into The Scottish Horse on 5 September 1914. Having seen service in Gallipoli, the Suez and Salonika, he returned to the UK on 30 March 1917 to be Commissioned. On 16 November 1917, he was Commissioned into 6th Battalion The Rifle Brigade. 2ndLt Barr arrived at the Base Depot in Camiers, France, on 27 July 1918 and was posted to 35th Battalion Machine Gun Corps and joined them in the field in Belgium the following day.
On 30 September 1918 35th Battalion Machine Gun Corps supported an attack on Werwik. The attack was held up by a line of trenches and pillboxes north of the railway and led to heavy casualties. Another officer of the battalion stated that 2ndLt Barr was ‘a man’s man – one of our most popular Officers’. He went on to state that ‘2ndLt Barr went out on a daring reconnaissance during an attack, and his men state that his bravery and daring astounded everyone, and there is no doubt his action was the means of saving many lives and of helping to restore the situation at a critical period’. 2ndLt Barr was killed during this action and was buried on the outskirts of the town. He was 28 years old.
The service for LCpl Chapman was attended by his great great nephew who had travelled from Yorkshire to pay his respects.
Tim Buescher stands at the grave of his great great uncle, Lance Corporal Samuel Chapman, with the military party (Crown Copyright)
Tim Buescher, great great nephew of LCpl Chapman said:
We are amazed that after all this time, Sam is found. This generation of our family, like many others, was hit hard by the Great War and as a result, these people were lost to us before we could know them. The care and dedication to duty of the JCCC and CWGC has made us feel cared for. The detail of research, constant communication, and consultation on our family’s wishes has helped to create a sense of closeness to Sam and by extension, his siblings John and Rachael. Sam’s brother John died only 6 weeks before him. Being able to commemorate their life and their sacrifice, whilst mourning their loss, feels like they are being brought home somehow. Thank you.
Reverend Paul Robinson CF, Chaplain to 4th Battalion The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment who conducted the service, said:
It is a great honour and privilege to be asked to preside at the rededication services of LCpl James Ball Baron MM, LCpl Samuel Chapman and 2ndLt Hugh Barr. Memorials reflect the emphasis the British people place on the worth and value of the individual. It is important that we as a nation at opportunities like this today reflect on the enormity of what has taken place, the horror, the loss, the frustration. We must respect our values and our freedoms and remember those that made the ultimate sacrifice for our way of life.
The headstone over the graves were replaced by CWGC. Director for the Southern and Central Europe Area at the CWGC, Xavier Puppinck, said:
We are honoured to have played our part in ensuring that Lance Corporals James Ball Baron and Samuel Chapman, and Second Lieutenant Hugh Barr are remembered in perpetuity. After years of being commemorated as unknown soldiers, thanks to the meticulous research and collaboration of the teams involved, their graves now bear their names, ensuring they will never be forgotten.
There are over 1.3 million electric vehicles in the UK already, accounting for over 4% of all vehicles on roads, and this figure is expected to rise rapidly. With nearly one in five new cars sold being electric vehicles last year, Portsmouth needs to prepare for this rising demand and ensure the infrastructure is in place for people to charge their vehicles.
Working in collaboration with new chargepoint operator, Zest, the council has identified over 300 potential locations for the new chargepoints, all based on resident requests. The proposed sites are spread across residential areas throughout Portsmouth, ensuring communities all over the city can access simple, easy and reliable charging options.
If approved, the chargepoints will be installed on or near existing lampposts to draw power, with designated EV-only parking bays marked on the road. They will be publicly accessible to everyone and installed on-street in residential areas, and the council expects the first of these to be installed and available for people to use in summer 2025.
To make sure chargers are available for EV drivers who need them, only plug-in vehicles are allowed to park in the bays and should be actively charging. Drivers will be able to pay using contactless cards or use the Zest app to start charging and are encouraged to move their cars once charging is complete.
Residents near proposed locations for chargepoints will receive letters to let them know about the plans, and all sites will undergo a 21-day statutory public consultation as part of the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) process. This ensures everyone has the chance to share their support or raise objections about proposed locations.
If approved, this expansion will more than triple the number of on-street chargepoints in Portsmouth, making EV ownership more accessible, particularly for those without driveways or off-street parking. This is a key part of the council’s strategy to improve air quality and reduce carbon emissions.
All currently available chargepoints in the city will remain operational with their current suppliers for the time being, and the council is working with current operators and Zest to identify which chargepoint locations can be transferred to Zest and how soon they can take over operation.
Cllr Peter Candlish, Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “This is an exciting step forward in Portsmouth’s journey as a leader in EV charging infrastructure. By significantly expanding our charging network, we’re giving more residents the opportunity to choose electric vehicles, reducing emissions and improving air quality in the city.
This isn’t just about improving convenience for EV owners—it’s about making Portsmouth a city that embraces innovation, sustainability, and a cleaner, healthier future for everyone.”
Robin Heap, CEO at Zest, said:
“Zest is supporting Portsmouth City Council to take significant action on carbon emissions and neighbourhood air quality. Our EV infrastructure partnership will serve residents over many years at locations that have been carefully selected for maximum community benefit.”
This new charging infrastructure is an important part of the city’s strategy for reducing carbon emissions and improving air quality, ensuring Portsmouth provides more support for people to choose electric vehicles by electrifying the city’s transport network.
It also forms part of Portsmouth’s broader commitment to sustainable travel, which includes encouraging people to walk or cycle where possible, zero-emission buses alongside existing public transport options, rental e-scooters, e-bikes, and a car club.
EV drivers can stay up to date on public and on-street chargepoint locations and sign up to the council’s EV newsletter at www.portsmouth.gov.uk/ev-chargepoints.
Deputy Lord Mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough, Cllr Kyle Savage pictured with those who took part in the Grandads and Grandlads programme at Millenium Court.
An intergenerational programme in Portadown organised by ABC Council has helped craft special memories, closer bonds along with some unique wooden art pieces.
The Grandads and Grandlads initiative which was held at Millenium Court over six weeks in February and March, allowed six grandads and their grandsons to participate in crafting workshops.
Working in pairs, they used traditional tools and equipment to create a range of items including a flower pot, pendant and a three-legged stool.
The grandads who took part in the programme said it had given them an important opportunity to spend quality time with their grandsons and learn new skills in the process.
Deputy Lord Mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough, Cllr Kyle Savage visited Millenium Court to find out more about the programme.
“After speaking to the grandads and the grandlads, you can tell how much they enjoyed these workshop sessions,” said the Deputy Lord Mayor.
“It is great to see this level of concentration and engagement on a shared task, away from the distractions of modern technology like mobile phones and digital devices. Hopefully we can see more programmes like this organised in the future and it certainly has proven to be a real benefit for those who took part.”
The programme was organised by ABC Council’s Community Development department with funding from ‘The District Council’s Good Relations Fund’ for the NI Executive.
Source: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Recognizing and addressing poverty under all its dimensions, beyond traditional income or consumption-based thresholds, is essential to design more inclusive and effective policies. Subjective poverty, which reflects individuals’ perceptions of their financial well-being based on personal views and experiences, is increasingly being incorporated into poverty assessment tools alongside objective measures. This holistic approach helps capture the complexities of poverty and ensures that the voices of the poorest are heard, complementing objective measures in important ways.
Thanks to new guidelines for methodologies used in subjective poverty measurement published by UNECE, international and domestic policymakers will have additional means to support targeted measures to improve well-being and social stability, especially for disadvantaged populations. The document also recommends subjective poverty indicators that could be used for international comparisons.
Drawing on prior subjective poverty data collection strategies, namely the EU-SILC, and experience from Armenia, Austria, Mexico, Kazakhstan, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom, the Task Force summarizes qualitative and quantitative approaches to subjective poverty measurement and analysis. Qualitative approach offers an analysis of poverty beyond the realm of specific income thresholds. These questions include asking participants about their perceptions regarding their current financial situation and whether they consider their household poor or feeling at risk of poverty. The second group of qualitative categorical questioning focuses on specific perceptions of their own income in respect to ability to make ends meet, satisfaction, or adequacy of consumption (e.g. Deleeck question). Finally, the quantitative approach builds on money metric questions, asking respondents to provide a specific amount they consider necessary to pay usual necessary expenses (minimum income question).
Providing organizations with a methodological toolkit that is adaptable to independent resource constraints and research objectives, the guidelines outline procedures on defining sample populations, conducting surveys, hosting focus groups, and collecting information from administrative and registry data. Such procedures aid in eliminating sample biases and ensuring data validity and reliability errors related to responsiveness and representativeness, question wording, and plausible receipt of social transfers in-kind, differences in geographic prices, within household sharing, and cultural differentiation.
The guidelines were prepared by the UNECE Task Force on Subjective Poverty Measures under the Conference of European Statisticians. This follows in the footsteps of prior guidance developed by UNECE task teams, including the Guide on Poverty Measurement and the Poverty Measurement: Guide to Data Disaggregation.
BRUSSELS, March 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Eclipse Foundation, one of the world’s largest open source software foundations, today published the final report in its landmark three-part research series on the use of open source software in the automotive ecosystem. Titled Challenges Facing Open Source Software in the Automotive Ecosystem, the report explores the unique challenges developers and decision-makers encounter when leveraging open source software in today’s software-defined vehicle (SDV) landscape.
“Open source has emerged as one of the most transformative forces in modern vehicle design,” said Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation. “But any significant paradigm shift is bound to introduce some challenges. Our goal with this report is to shine a light on these challenges so the community can address them collaboratively, smoothing the path forward for SDV innovation.”
Key Findings:
Performance, security, and customisability are core open source benefits: Both decision-makers and developers agree that improved performance, stronger security, and customisability are the top advantages of OSS.
Integration Challenges and Sustained Performance Improvements Require Ongoing Investment: These same stakeholders view integration complexity, continual real-time performance improvements, and scalability as potential “technical blockers” that demand strategic investment.
Management Demands and Predictability Remain Concerns: Long-term planning, compliance, and dependency management were flagged—especially by decision-makers—as critical areas needing careful oversight.
Cost Savings Drive Business Value, While Standardisation and Interoperability Drive Engineering Value: Both of these benefits help to justify and alleviate business and technical challenges.
Foundation Support Strengthens Trust and Confidence in OSS Projects: Respondents overwhelmingly agree that open source foundation stewardship is critical as a source of credibility, stability, sustainability, and guidance for open source projects.
Recommendations for Developers, Business Leaders, and Policy Makers In addition to presenting key findings, the report outlines actionable insights for key stakeholders:
For Software Developers: Advocate for streamlined OSS integration through improved tooling, documentation, and processes. Engaging with foundations and open source communities is key to accessing resources and ensuring long-term project viability.
For Business Leaders: Recognise that while OSS offers clear benefits, realizing its full value requires strategic investment in integration, maintenance, governance, and management resources.
For Policymakers: Support policies that strengthen the role of OSS foundations in fostering project stability, security audits, and transparent governance frameworks.
Commissioned by the Eclipse Foundation’s Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) Working Group, the study surveyed 300 automotive developers and business leaders from leading OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers. The findings underscore the critical role of OSS in driving flexibility, innovation, and efficiency within the industry.
Join the Eclipse SDV Community Explore opportunities to contribute to the global hub for software-defined vehicle innovation and collaboration. Our diverse membership of industry leaders is driving real-world innovation that is shaping the future of the automotive industry. We provide an inclusive platform where companies of all sizes can engage and contribute on equal footing. Find more details about joining us at sdv.eclipse.org/membership.
About Eclipse Software Defined Vehicle Eclipse Software Defined Vehicle (SDV), a working group within the Eclipse Foundation, supports the open source development of cutting-edge automotive technologies that power the programmable vehicles of the future where software defines features, functionality, and operations. With over 50 members, including leading automotive manufacturers, global cloud providers, technology innovators, and key supply chain partners, the initiative has strong industry backing. The working group’s mission is to provide a collaborative forum for developing and promoting open source solutions tailored to the global automotive industry. Adopting a “code first” approach, Eclipse SDV focuses on building the industry’s first open source software stacks and associated tools that will support the core functionalities of next-generation vehicles.
About the Eclipse Foundation The Eclipse Foundation provides our global community of individuals and organisations with a business-friendly environment for open source software collaboration and innovation. We host the Eclipse IDE, Adoptium, Software Defined Vehicle, Jakarta EE, and over 420 open source projects, including runtimes, tools, specifications, and frameworks for cloud and edge applications, IoT, AI, automotive, systems engineering, open processor designs, and many others. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, the Eclipse Foundation is an international non-profit association supported by over 300 members. To learn more, follow us on social media @EclipseFdn, LinkedIn, or visit eclipse.org. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
Media contacts: Schwartz Public Relations (Germany) Gloria Huppert/Marita Bäumer Sendlinger Straße 42A 80331 Munich EclipseFoundation@schwartzpr.de +49 (89) 211 871 -70/ -62
Marc Almond, Clean Bandit and Ocean Colour Scene are set to headline this year’s Godiva Festival which is taking place from Friday 4 – Sunday 6 July.
Across the weekend, War Memorial Park will play host to Coventry’s flagship event with a line-up packed with genres from pop to rock and 2-tone to hip hop.
Headlining the Main Stage on Friday (4 July) will be Marc Almond, best known as the vocalist of Soft Cell, who rose to prominence with the worldwide hit ‘Tainted Love’.
Selling over 30 million records worldwide, Marc cemented his solo career with number one hit, ‘Something’s Gotten a Hold of My Heart’.
Joining the Main Stage for the 80s and 90s night will be synth-pop band, Heaven 17 plus soul singer and lead vocalist of the band M People, Heather Small.
Multi award winning band, Clean Bandit, will be headlining the Main Stage at this year’s Godiva Festival on Saturday 5 July.
The chart-topping band, known for their songs ‘Rockabye’, ‘Symphony’ and ‘Rather Be’, will be closing Saturday night of the festival with a live music set. The band have had four number one singles, as well as a Grammy and an Ivor Novello award.
Getting the crowd ready for the headliner on Saturday will be popular DJ, Nathan Dawe, hip hop duo, Young T & Bugsey as well as the Panjabi Hit Squad who will be bringing hip hop, Bollywood and bhangra anthems.
Coventry musical legend and one of the founders of The Specials, Neville Staple, will also be taking to the Main Stage on Saturday 5 July.
Completing the headline acts is Ocean Colour Scene who will bring the festival to a close on Sunday (6 July) evening. The rock band formed in Birmingham in 1989 and are known for their hits ‘The Day We Caught the Train’ and ‘The Riverboat Song’.
Joining the band on the Main Stage will be Rick Parfitt Jr & The RPJ Band and YolanDa Brown: Bob Marley Songbook. Dance group Diversity will be making a return to the Main Stage after they last performed at the event in 2023.
Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for events at Coventry City Council, Cllr Abdul Salam Khan, said: “We are delighted to be revealing our Godiva Festival line-up for 2025.
“This year’s line-up sees international superstars taking to our stages at the War Memorial Park in Coventry alongside some of the city’s up and coming finest musical talent.
“As always, our line-up is diverse and covers a broad range of genres. We have something for everyone – there’s music, performers, activities and outdoor entertainment.
“Events such as Godiva Festival rely on the incredible support of those who purchase tickets and attend. By coming along and enjoying what’s on offer, you’re playing a vital role in securing its future at a time when festivals across the UK are facing challenges.
“The festival is incredible value for money with ticket prices frozen for 2025. Godiva Festival gives residents the opportunity to see top acts at just a fraction of the price when compared to similar events. I urge those interested in attending to purchase tickets when they go on sale at 9am on Monday 31 March at the early bird prices.”
The Cov Stage will serve as the secondary stage in the music field at this year’s event. The stage will host local Coventry talent plus other acts.
The Godiva Festival Family Field will be filled with live entertainment and interactive activities. Designed to offer a memorable experience for families, the Family Field is an inclusive and enriching experience for festival-goers of all ages.
Adult day tickets start at £7.50 at the early bird price, whilst family day tickets can be purchased from £22.50. Adult weekend tickets can be purchased from £26 whilst the early bird price is available. Go CV+ members will also be able to benefit from super concession prices.
With limited early bird tickets available, people are advised to get their tickets early to save money and avoid disappointment. Tickets will be available to buy at 9am on Monday 31 March from the Godiva Festival website where the line-up can also be found.
Godiva Festival is brought to you by Coventry City Council. Coventry College is the sponsor of the Family Field.
The Accelerating English Language Learning in Central Asia project at the Dovletmammet Azadi Turkmen National Institute of World Languages has been successfully completed.
British Ambassador, Stephen Conlon, presents books to the Rector of the World Languages Institute.
On 19 March we celebrated the successful completion of the British Council’s Accelerating English Language Learning in Central Asia (AELLCA) project at the Dovletmammet Azadi Turkmen National Institute of World Languages. The project was funded by the UK Government and implemented by Nottingham Trent University.
British Ambassador, Stephen Conlon speaks at the closing ceremony.
The British Ambassador, Stephen Conlon was delighted to speak at the closing ceremony and noted that educational cooperation between the United Kingdom and Turkmenistan has been steadily progressing, with significant achievements since last year.
British Ambassador and Rector of the Dovletmammet Azadi Turkmen National Institute of World Languages present teachers with certificates.
The event showcased the remarkable strides made in English Language Teaching (ELT) at the Dovletmammet Azadi Turkmen National Institute of World Languages. The Ambassador presented teachers with well-deserved certificates from Nottingham Trent University, recognising their dedication and hard work.
Doctor Samuel Barclay of Nottingham Trent University.
Special thanks to Dr Samuel Barclay of Nottingham Trent University for sharing with participants his insightful findings and reflections, highlighting the lasting impact of this initiative.
As part of the project, the British Council has also arranged study visits to the UK for members of the Dovletmammet Azadi Turkmen National Institute of World Languages and the International University for Humanities and Development, to enhance their understanding of school-based continuing professional development practices.
Together, we’re building bridges through language and education – fostering stronger connections and future opportunities.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3
Speech
Armenia and Azerbaijan peace agreement: UK statement to the OSCE
Deputy Ambassador Deirdre Brown congratulates Armenia and Azerbaijan on the conclusion of negotiations on a peace agreement and urges both sides to sign it as soon as possible.
Thank you, Mr Chair. And thank you also, Your Excellency, Deputy Foreign Minister, for your update this afternoon.
The United Kingdom warmly congratulates Armenia and Azerbaijan on the conclusion of their negotiations on a peace agreement. This is a historic moment, and we urge both sides to sign the agreement as soon as possible. Finalisation of this peace treaty is the best route to achieving lasting peace and to delivering security and stability in the South Caucasus as a whole. It will open the way to increased trade and prosperity, not only for Armenia and Azerbaijan, but their neighbours also.
We urge both sides to refrain from rhetoric that undermines the prospects for peace. A return to conflict would be a tragedy and set back progress on peace in the region by years.
The United Kingdom continues to support all efforts, alongside our international partners, to ensure a durable and lasting peace in the South Caucasus.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
World news story
Creative workshop on environmental pollution underway in Auki, Malaita
The workshop encourages creativity to deal with environmental issues like plastic waste, biodiversity, and climate change through art workshop and exhibition.
Student participants at the workshop.
A 3-day workshop aiming to empower 30 young students from Auki’s surrounding communities to creatively engage with environmental issues is underway from 26 to 28 March at the Malaita provincial capital.
Facilitated by Dreamcast Theatre Solomon Islands, it encourages creativity to deal with environmental issues such as plastic waste, biodiversity, and climate change through a hands-on art workshop and exhibition.
By fostering artistic expression and storytelling, the project seeks to raise awareness and inspire community-wide action towards environmental sustainability.
British High Commissioner to Solomon Islands and Nauru, His Excellency Paul Turner said:
This is a great initiative, engaging young people in caring and taking responsibility for their local environment. I am delighted that the British High Commission is associated with such a project. We will look to build on our partnership with Dreamcast.
Leveraging from the success in Gizo, Western Province, the Malaita Trash Art Project will be an impactful endeavour. Engaging 30 students, ages 9 to 13, from three communities in Auki, the workshop drew on the success from a similar workshop held in Gizo, Western Province by conducting the three-day session where the first will focus on storytelling, art as a medium, and identifying students’ art interests through interactive activities and games.
The second day will be dedicated to creating art and learning the basics of art exhibition curation and setup. The third day will be exhibition time where all participants will have the opportunity to exhibit their artwork invited guests and members of the community around them.
Prior to the workshop, Dreamcast Theatre had formalised partnerships with local art and youth networks, identify students, and tailor session plans. Invitations were sent to encourage gender parity and inclusive participation. Community leaders, schools, and parents have been notified two weeks prior to the event to ensure broad support.
Participants will receive certificates, and their artwork will be showcased in schools or public spaces within the community. This initiative builds on last year’s Honiara Dreamcast plastic workshop, expanding its reach to provincial areas to raise awareness about plastic waste, biodiversity, and climate issues.
The students will work in their chosen medium, such as photography, film, theatre and puppetry, or design guided by skilled Dreamcast Theatre facilitators.
PALO ALTO, Calif., March 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO) today announced that Audi’s Edge Cloud 4 Production (EC4P) initiative, powered by VMware Cloud software, is now live with the first virtual programmable logic controller (vPLC) at the Boellinger Hoefe plant in Germany where Audi manufactures the electric Audi e-tron GT car. As part of the EC4P initiative, the VMware Cloud Foundation® (VCF) private cloud platform helps Audi centralize the management and maintenance of dedicated industrial PC devices located on the factory floor, simplify security patching and risk management, and reduce environmental impact through the use of less hardware and fewer manual operations.
With EC4P, Audi is delivering smart manufacturing by bringing software-defined factory automation to the shop floor and bridging the gap between IT and OT. The initiative includes close partnership between key technology partners including Broadcom, Cisco and Siemens.
“The use of virtual programmable logic controllers in the body shop is an important productivity leap in our 360factory strategy for efficient and data-driven manufacturing,” said Audi Board Member for ProductionGerd Walker. “We want to bring the local cloud for production to all plants and leverage advances in digital control systems in the process.”
“The collaboration between Audi and Broadcom is core to building a manufacturing future that is more efficient, cost-effective and secure,” said Sven Müller, project lead for EC4P at Audi. “Through our work together, we’re setting new standards for precision, customization, and environmental sustainability. EC4P will reduce our hardware footprint, replacing thousands of decentralized industrial PCs with a more efficient, scalable and flexible architecture of local edge servers that unites the cloud and the edge on the shop floor.”
Transforming IT-based Factory Automation with a Private Cloud Platform
Audi deployed VMware Cloud Foundation to create a private cloud environment outside of the Boellinger Hoefe manufacturing plant where critical shop floor workloads are hosted and managed centrally. Some examples include:
Virtual Worker Stations (Virtual Desktops): Instead of maintaining physical industrial PCs for running thousands of “worker stations” across the factory, these can now be run as virtual machines (VM) on VMware Cloud Foundation outside of the actual plant. Software and operating system updates can be done as a parallel operation instead of forcing them into the short shift changeover times. If a worker station VM has issues, it can quickly be replaced remotely.
Virtual Programmable Logic Controllers (vPLCs): Virtual Programmable Logic Controllers (vPLCs) are used to control robots that manufacture different parts of the cars. A vPLC workload can be installed as a VM or even container and be managed similarly to IT-based cloud infrastructure. Configuration updates, security patches and feature updates can be made from Audi’s private cloud.
Building on EC4P, upcoming use cases may include AI-driven production, data analytics and computer vision applications for Audi. With VMware Cloud Foundation, Audi aims to achieve the following benefits at Boellinger Hoefe:
Infrastructure standardization through one private cloud platform for all applications on the shop floor.
Faster updates and deployments through improved efficiency with faster application deployment, automated updates and maintenance.
Better agility and scalability through cloud infrastructure that makes it easier and faster to reconfigure a production line to accommodate a product mix change, and scale compute and storage infrastructure easily and independently.
Reduced costs through a smaller hardware footprint, less hardware maintenance, and centralized software and operating system updates.
Lower environmental impact through a smaller hardware footprint that generates less heat, consumes less power, and results in less e-waste.
Enhanced security and resilience through automated and centralized patching at scale and use of immutable snapshots in the event of an attack or breach enable fast roll back to the last known good state, minimizing interruption to the production line.
Less downtime through intelligent workload and network telemetry can proactively flag, diagnose and remediate issues and automated updates during planned maintenance windows.
“As Audi seeks to take factory automation to the next level and benefit from a scalable infrastructure at its factories worldwide, VMware Cloud Foundation will enable the replacement of industrial PCs and specialty hardware on the shop floor with general purpose servers running consistent VMware cloud infrastructure software,” said Paul Turner, vice president of products, VMware Cloud Foundation Division at Broadcom. “VCF provides a consistent and scalable way for Audi to operate a distributed edge infrastructure, manage resources more efficiently, and lower operations costs. Ultimately, VCF will help Audi increase factory uptime, agility, and the speed of rolling out new applications and tools across the production line.”
About Broadcom
Broadcom Inc. (Nasdaq: AVGO) is a global technology leader that designs, develops, and supplies a broad range of semiconductor, enterprise software and security solutions. Broadcom’s category-leading product portfolio serves critical markets including cloud, data center, networking, broadband, wireless, storage, industrial, and enterprise software. Our solutions include service provider and enterprise networking and storage, mobile device and broadband connectivity, mainframe, cybersecurity, and private and hybrid cloud infrastructure. Broadcom is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif. For more information, go to broadcom.com.
Press Release Nokia launches Nokia DAC Marketplace to empower industrial enterprises to harness digital transformation
DAC Marketplace brings together a wide selection of industrial solutions, including Nokia and third-party devices, applications, and services available worldwide.
Customers and partners can easily find and deploy industrial products for their private wireless infrastructures.
Marketplace merchants have increased visibility among Nokia customers and partners, driving additional opportunities.
27 March 2025 Espoo, Finland – Nokia today announced the DAC Marketplace, where customers and partners can find trusted, ready-to-deploy industrial enterprise solutions, including Nokia and third-party devices, applications, and services. Nokia also announced that solutions from seven new merchants, including Accton Technology Corporation, Aprecomm, EPS Global, Etra Telecom, Exloc, InfiniG, and RugGear, are available in the marketplace.
Nokia DAC Marketplace makes it easy for customers and partners to find and purchase Industry 4.0 solutions that integrate into the Nokia Edge Compute and AI platform for industries. The marketplace automatically adjusts offerings based on the delivery country, ensuring compliance with local legislation. It also provides partners with a simplified process for integrating and offering complementary products as part of Nokia deals, strengthening the industrial ecosystem. Additionally, the DAC Marketplace provides opportunities for merchants to increase visibility with Nokia’s extensive customer and partner base through a quick and easy ordering process.
“Nokia is committed to fostering an open and collaborative ecosystem that empowers industrial enterprises to harness the full potential of digital transformation,” said Stephan Litjens, Vice President Enterprise Campus Edge Solutions, at Nokia Cloud Networks and Services. “We are now giving customers an easy way to access Nokia and third-party solutions that expand industrial enterprises digitalization efforts and implementation of Industry 4.0 use case deployments.”
“We are thrilled that Nokia selected Aprecomm to be part of the Nokia DAC Marketplace and complement Nokia’s own portfolio, giving customers and partners easy access to solutions that help simplify and accelerate industrial digitalization. By offering access to advanced network analytics, quality of experience monitoring, and automated self-healing tools, Aprecomm enables enterprises to manage their Wi-Fi networks better, adding an important service layer to Nokia DAC Wi-Fi to achieve high reliability, optimize connected device performance and minimize downtime. When combined with MX Boost, it allows users to leverage reliable Wi-Fi and private wireless simultaneously, ensuring maximum network performance across connectivity technologies and applications,” said Pramod Gummaraj, Founder & CEO of Aprecomm.
“Nokia DAC Marketplace is a game-changer for industrial enterprises looking for reliable and rugged communication solutions. At RugGear, we are proud to offer our durable devices through this platform, enabling businesses to enhance connectivity in even the most demanding environments. With Nokia’s trusted infrastructure and our mission to deliver robust communication tools, we are empowering industries to accelerate their digital transformation journey,” said Maverick Chen, CEO at RugGear.
Nokia will exhibit at Hannover Messe 2025 in Hall 14, Stand H80, where it will showcase the Nokia DAC Marketplace.
About Nokia At Nokia, we create technology that helps the world act together.
As a B2B technology innovation leader, we are pioneering networks that sense, think and act by leveraging our work across mobile, fixed and cloud networks. In addition, we create value with intellectual property and long-term research, led by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs, which is celebrating 100 years of innovation.
With truly open architectures that seamlessly integrate into any ecosystem, our high-performance networks create new opportunities for monetization and scale. Service providers, enterprises and partners worldwide trust Nokia to deliver secure, reliable and sustainable networks today – and work with us to create the digital services and applications of the future.
Press Release Nokia strengthens industrial digitalization with new edge applications
Expansion of on-prem edge industrial application portfolio enhances industry automation, efficiency, safety, security, and sustainability of industrial enterprises.
Underscores Nokia’s commitment to fostering an open and interoperable industrial edge ecosystem.
27 March 2025 Espoo, Finland – Nokia today announced the expansion of its industrial application ecosystem with the launch of six new Industry 4.0 applications deployed on MX Industrial Edge (MXIE) reinforcing its commitment to empowering enterprises on their digitalization journey with innovative use cases. The expansion enhances industry automation, efficiency, safety, security, and sustainability by integrating cutting-edge applications from leading technology partners, including Bosch Rexroth, Ipsotek, Nozomi Networks, Prosys OPC, SmartCone, and SwitchON.
Enterprises operating in asset-intensive industries like ports, mining and manufacturing, face significant challenges in harnessing value from real-time operational technology (OT) data to achieve their digitalization goals. These new applications employ various enabling technologies such as machine and process control, video analytics and AI, environmental sensing, industrial connectivity and network security to provide unique industrial use cases. The Nokia MXIE platform provides a robust and secure edge computing foundation that allows enterprises to seamlessly deploy these new applications.
The newly onboarded applications provide enterprises with the tools to drive innovation across multiple areas:
Industrial DataOps: Prosys OPC UA Forge provides a single point of access for collecting data from various industrial assets. Especially useful in brownfield deployments, this app facilitates structured data organization using OPC UA information modelling, ensuring interoperability across different manufacturers and system generations.
Machine Automation: Bosch Rexroth’s ctrlX OS is an operating system for industrial automation. Running on MXIE, ctrlX OS packaged with numerous industrial applications provides seamless integration of machines, data visualization, process automation, and secure communication across industrial use cases. In combination with the control platform ctrlX CORE of Bosch Rexroth, real-time control of machines is enabled.
AI-Powered Quality Inspection: SwitchON DeepInspect leverages high-precision AI models to reduce defects, lower inspection costs, and optimize manufacturing processes.
Advanced Video Analytics for Safety & Automation: Ipsotek VISuite enhances situational awareness with precise object tracking and AI-powered automation to improve worker safety and production monitoring.
Workplace Safety & Environmental Monitoring: SmartCone’s HeatGuardian solution provides real-time worker heat stress monitoring, ensuring workplace safety in different and challenging environmental conditions.
OT, IoT, and CPS Security: Purpose-built for complex industrial, commercial, and critical infrastructure environments, the Nozomi Networks Platform (including Guardian sensors) leverages AI to deliver real-time asset visibility, threat detection, and vulnerability management to minimize cyber risk and maximize operational resilience.
With these applications, enterprises can harness real-time insights to optimize operations, enhance worker safety, and ensure compliance with sustainability and security standards.
“Enterprises require intelligent, secure, and scalable solutions to navigate the complexities of digital transformation and introduce use cases that will deliver concrete benefits. The expansion of industrial applications deployed on MXIE underscores Nokia’s commitment to fostering an open and interoperable industrial edge ecosystem. With our expanded portfolio of industrial edge applications, we are enabling businesses to accelerate their digitalization journey while ensuring quality, safety and security, efficiency, and sustainability,” said Stephan Litjens, Vice President, Enterprise Campus Edge at Nokia.
About Nokia At Nokia, we create technology that helps the world act together.
As a B2B technology innovation leader, we are pioneering networks that sense, think and act by leveraging our work across mobile, fixed and cloud networks. In addition, we create value with intellectual property and long-term research, led by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs, which is celebrating 100 years of innovation.
With truly open architectures that seamlessly integrate into any ecosystem, our high-performance networks create new opportunities for monetization and scale. Service providers, enterprises and partners worldwide trust Nokia to deliver secure, reliable and sustainable networks today – and work with us to create the digital services and applications of the future.
China and France issued a joint statement on climate change on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement on Thursday in Beijing. Please see the attachment for the full text of the statement. Full text: Joint Statement between the People’s Republic of China and the French Republic on Climate Change on the occasion of the Tenth Anniversary of the Paris Agreement Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.ChinaNews App Download
The Hague, March 27, 2025 – Aegon Ltd. today publishes its Integrated Annual Report 2024. The report provides an overview of its businesses, the company’s strategy and sustainability approach, and its financial and non-financial performance. The report also reflects on the key trends that influence Aegon’s businesses and its stakeholders, and how these trends impact the way in which the company creates and shares value, today and in the future.
You can find out more about the topics covered in the Integrated Annual Report 2024 here and the report can be downloaded via aegon.com. A hard copy of the report, including the audited financial statements, can be ordered free of charge by sending a request to our Investor Relations department.
Aegon will also file its Annual Report 2024 on Form 20-F with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Annual Report 2024 on Form 20-F will be available later today on aegon.com and can be downloaded from the SEC website once filed.
Contacts
About Aegon Aegon is an international financial services holding company. Aegon’s ambition is to build leading businesses that offer their customers investment, protection, and retirement solutions. Aegon’s portfolio of businesses includes fully owned businesses in the United States and United Kingdom, and a global asset manager. Aegon also creates value by combining its international expertise with strong local partners via insurance joint-ventures in Spain & Portugal, China, and Brazil, and via asset management partnerships in France and China. In addition, Aegon owns a Bermuda-based life insurer and generates value via a strategic shareholding in a market leading Dutch insurance and pensions company.
Aegon’s purpose of helping people live their best lives runs through all its activities. As a leading global investor and employer, Aegon seeks to have a positive impact by addressing critical environmental and societal issues, with a focus on climate change and inclusion & diversity. Aegon is headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, domiciled in Bermuda, and listed on Euronext Amsterdam and the New York Stock Exchange. More information can be found at aegon.com.
Forward-looking statements The statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The following are words that identify such forward-looking statements: aim, believe, estimate, target, intend, may, expect, anticipate, predict, project, counting on, plan, continue, want, forecast, goal, should, would, could, is confident, will, and similar expressions as they relate to Aegon. These statements may contain information about financial prospects, economic conditions and trends and involve risks and uncertainties. In addition, any statements that refer to sustainability, environmental and social targets, commitments, goals, efforts and expectations and other events or circumstances that are partially dependent on future events are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Aegon undertakes no obligation, and expressly disclaims any duty, to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which merely reflect company expectations at the time of writing. Actual results may differ materially and adversely from expectations conveyed in forward-looking statements due to changes caused by various risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to the following:
Financial risks – Rapidly rising interest rates; Sustained low or negative interest rate levels; Disruptions in the global financial markets and general economic conditions; Elevated levels of inflation; Illiquidity of certain investment assets; Credit risk, declines in value and defaults in Aegon’s debt securities, private placements, mortgage loan portfolios and other instruments or the failure of certain counterparties; Decline in equity markets; Downturn in the real estate market; Default of a major financial market participant; Failure by reinsurers to which Aegon has ceded risk; Downgrade in Aegon’s credit ratings; Fluctuations in currency exchange rates; Unsuccessful management of derivatives; Subjective valuation of Aegon’s investments, allowances and impairments;
Underwriting risks – Differences between actual claims experience/underwriting and reserve assumptions; Losses on products with guarantees due to volatile markets; Restrictions on underwriting criteria and the use of data; Unexpected return on offered financial and insurance products; Reinsurance may not be available, affordable, or adequate; Catastrophic events;
Operational risks – Competitive factors; Difficulty in acquiring and integrating new businesses or divesting existing operations; Difficulties in distributing and marketing products through its current and future distribution channels; Slow to adapt to and leverage new technologies; Failure of data management and governance; Epidemics or pandemics; Unsuccessful in managing exposure to climate risk; Unidentified or unanticipated risk events; Aegon’s information technology systems may not be resilient against constantly evolving threats; Computer system failure or security breach; Breach of data privacy or security obligations; Inaccuracies in econometric, financial, or actuarial models, or differing interpretations of underlying methodologies; Inaccurate, incomplete or unsuccessful quantitative models, algorithms or calculations; Issues with third-party providers, including events such as bankruptcy, disruption of services, poor performance, non-performance, or standards of service level agreements not being upheld; Inability to attract and retain personnel;
Political, regulatory, and supervisory risks – Requirement to increase technical provisions and/or hold higher amounts of regulatory capital as a result of changes in the regulatory environment or changes in rating agency analysis; Political or other instability in a country or geographic region; Changes in accounting standards; Inability of Aegon’s subsidiaries to pay dividends to Aegon Ltd.; Risks of application of intervention measures;
Legal and compliance risks – Unfavorable outcomes of legal and arbitration proceedings and regulatory investigations and actions; Changes in government regulations in the jurisdictions in which Aegon operates; Increased attention to sustainability matters and evolving sustainability standards and requirements; Tax risks; Difficulty to effect service of process or to enforce judgments against Aegon in the United States; Inability to manage risks associated with the reform and replacement of benchmark rates; Inability to protect intellectual property;
Risks relating to Aegon’s common shares – Volatility of Aegon’s share price; Offering of additional common shares in the future; Significant influence of Vereniging Aegon over Aegon’s corporate actions; Currency fluctuations; Influence of Perpetual Contingent Convertible Securities over the market price for Aegon’s common shares.
Additionally, Aegon provides some information in this report that is informed by various stakeholder expectations, non-US regulatory requirements, and third-party frameworks. Such information, whether provided here or in Aegon’s other disclosures (including website materials), is not necessarily material for SEC reporting purposes. Even in instances where we use “material”, this should not in all instances be deemed to refer to materiality for purposes of our U.S. federal securities filings, as there are various definitions of materiality used by different stakeholders, including but not limited to a more expansive “double materiality” standard pursuant to the European Sustainability Reporting Standards that has informed much of our sustainability disclosure. Similarly, while we leverage various frameworks in our disclosures, we cannot guarantee, and language such as “align” or “follow” is not meant to imply, complete alignment with these requirements. We similarly cannot guarantee complete alignment with any stakeholder’s interpretation or preference for the measurement or presentation of sustainability or other information in this report. Expectations, as well as our own approach, continue to evolve and may change for a variety of reasons, including regulatory or business requirements or other factors that may not be in our control. Similarly, certain disclosures are based on hypothetical scenarios which may not be reflective of expectations or future events; such scenarios are subject to inherent uncertainty given the long-time frames and breadth of variables involved. As a final note, documents and website references included herein are provided solely for convenience and are not incorporated by reference absent express language to the contrary. Further details of potential risks and uncertainties affecting Aegon are described in its filings with the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, including the 2023 Integrated Annual Report. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this document. Except as required by any applicable law or regulation, Aegon expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in Aegon’s expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Press release
Prime Minster meets Coalition of the Willing in Paris following UK military planning meetings
The Prime Minister will co-host the next meeting of the Coalition of the Willing alongside President Macron in Paris today (Thursday 27 March).
Prime Minister will underscore that all must back Ukraine to remain in the fight against Russia
Military planning to cover air, sea and land forces to support a lasting and durable peace and deter future Russian aggression
Prime Minister expected to say “Europe is stepping up to play its part to defend Ukraine’s future. Now Putin needs to show he’s willing to play ball”
The Prime Minister will co-host the next meeting of the Coalition of the Willing alongside President Macron in Paris today (Thursday 27 March).
At the meeting, he will present the outcomes of this week’s planning meetings in support of Ukraine, which took place at the UK military operational headquarters in Northwood over the last three days.
The intensive sessions, which convened over 200 military planners from countries across the globe, considered in detail the structure of any future force to ensure Ukraine can defend itself from future Russian aggression.
The Prime Minister will underline that all must come together to support Ukraine to remain in the fight and back US efforts to make real progress despite continued Russian obfuscation.
Planning so far has looked across the full range of European military capabilities including aircraft, tanks, troops, intelligence and logistics capabilities – and discussions have centred on how European nations can contribute their own capabilities to support any future force.
Discussions will continue around military planning of air, sea and land forces that would be required to support a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.
As the Prime Minister has repeatedly stated, a lasting peace in Ukraine can only be provided if we step up and give real and credible security assurances to deter Putin from coming back in future.
The Prime Minister will say that excellent progress has been made, and Europe is mobilising together in pursuit of peace, but now we must continue to keep up the momentum.
The Prime Minister will add that Putin has clearly shown his lack of commitment to the peace process, following ceasefire talks convened by the United States in Saudi Arabia this week.
Published readouts from both sides confirmed a naval ceasefire and prevention of use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea but Russia immediately backtracked and placed conditions on the agreements – despite good faith participation from Ukraine.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer will say:
Unlike President Zelenskyy, Putin has shown he’s not a serious player in these peace talks. Playing games with the agreed naval ceasefire in the Black Sea despite good faith participation from all sides – all while continuing to inflict devastating attacks on the Ukrainian people. His promises are hollow.
The US is playing a leading role by convening the ceasefire talks, President Zelenskyy has demonstrated his commitment repeatedly, and Europe is stepping up to play its part to defend Ukraine’s future. Now Putin needs to show he’s willing to play ball.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
High-level dialogues held during Boao Forum for Asia
Updated: March 27, 2025 13:45Xinhua
A high-level dialogue themed on “Building Trust in the Shifting Global Landscape” is held during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Jeffrey D. Sachs, professor of Columbia University, speaks at a high-level dialogue themed on “Building Trust in the Shifting Global Landscape” during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Portugal’s Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Paulo Rangel speaks at a high-level dialogue themed on “Building Trust in the Shifting Global Landscape” during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Ban Ki-moon, chairman of Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) and former secretary-general of the United Nations, speaks at a high-level dialogue themed on “Global Governance after the UN Summit of the Future” during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Maurizio Massari, permanent representative of Italy to the United Nations, speaks at a high-level dialogue themed on “Global Governance after the UN Summit of the Future” during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]A high-level dialogue themed on “Global Governance after the UN Summit of the Future” is held during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]A high-level dialogue themed on “Global Governance after the UN Summit of the Future” is held during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Volkan Bozkir, president of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, speaks at a high-level dialogue themed on “Global Governance after the UN Summit of the Future” during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong speaks at a high-level dialogue themed on “Global Governance after the UN Summit of the Future” during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Danilo Turk, former Slovenian president and president of the World Leadership Alliance Club de Madrid, speaks at a high-level dialogue themed on “Global Governance after the UN Summit of the Future” during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Wang Huiyao, founder and president of Center for China and Globalization (CCG), speaks at a high-level dialogue themed on “Global Governance after the UN Summit of the Future” during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Munir Akram, permanent representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, speaks at a high-level dialogue themed on “Global Governance after the UN Summit of the Future” during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Liu Zhenmin, China’s special envoy for climate change, speaks at a high-level dialogue themed on “Achieving Sustainable Development in a Transforming World” during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Andrew Forrest, executive chairman and founder of Fortescue Metals Group, speaks at a high-level dialogue themed on “Achieving Sustainable Development in a Transforming World” during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]CEO of Astra Zeneca Pascal Soriot speaks at a high-level dialogue themed on “Achieving Sustainable Development in a Transforming World” during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]A high-level dialogue themed on “Achieving Sustainable Development in a Transforming World” is held during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
Source: Australian Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry
Tom Connell:
Well one of the inclusions in Labor’s Budget was non‑compete clauses. They claim this will be a big increase for people’s wages. Joining the panel now for more budget reaction on that, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury Andrew Leigh. In his own words, he’s been banging on about this for a while. Welcome to the panel. Yes, everything you say off air is on air too in this show.
So, non‑compete clauses – a lot of people will sort of go, alright, has that got anything to do with me? What’s a specific example that you’ve picked up because you’ve been very focused on this. You don’t have to put names in there, of a non‑compete that just had to go in your view?
Andrew Leigh:
So, we heard the story of a 17 year‑old dance instructor who was being harassed by her workplace. She moved to a competing dance studio and then got a letter from the former employer saying that she’d breached a clause that said she couldn’t work in another dance studio within 15 kilometres for 18 months. These clauses were originally applied only to executives, but are now being applied right across the economy, not just in the boardroom, but also in the mailroom.
Connell:
Can you see exceptions where people could take clients from a business with them? Is that an area where non‑competes actually protect a small business trying to make it in the world?
Leigh:
Well, employers still have a significant number of ways they can protect their intellectual property. Of course, they’ve got copyright and patent laws, they’ve got section 183 of the Corporations Act which makes it illegal to take information out of the business for your own benefit. And then they’ve got non‑disclosure clauses. They’re using non‑competes as the bluntest tool in the shed, but it’s curtailing labour mobility, which is one of the great sources of wage growth and productivity gain.
Connell:
But if you have, say someone at a law firm taking clients with them, there’s no IP there. They just, they’ve done that by building a relationship, or someone at a hair salon. Is that an area where there still needs to be some protection for a small business?
Leigh:
We will of course consult on this. It doesn’t come in until 2027.
Connell:
But, those things are on the table. You’re open to areas where these will still be applied?
Leigh:
Well at this stage, Tom, we’re not looking at these non‑solicitation clauses, which is what you’re talking about, except where they might be used to have the same effect as a non‑compete.
Connell:
Okay.
Andrew Clennell:
Why is it in the Budget?
Leigh:
Because we’re about productivity. So, the Budget needs to be about boosting growth. Ultimately, we’re pro‑growth progressives and the competition agenda of this government has been as ambitious as any government in the past generation.
Clennell:
How long have you been trying to get it past the Treasurer and Prime Minister to try and get this thing up?
Leigh:
The Treasurer and Prime Minister are very enthusiastic about this.
Clennell:
Yeah, but how long have you been trying to get it on the agenda?
Leigh:
We set up the Competition Taskforce in 2023. Jim and I announced that Competition Taskforce to drive things like the merger reforms, the National Competition Policy work with the states and territories, and then also the work on non‑competes. Our issues paper went out last year. We’ve got a range of thoughtful responses back on that. We’re moving at the same time Andrew, as a whole range of other countries are moving. Austria, Spain, Finland, the UK, the US all looking at the problem of non‑competes reducing job mobility.
Kieran Gilbert:
Why did you cap it at $175 grand a year?
Leigh:
We see the most egregious impact on wages Kieran, as being among low wage workers. And the Fair Work Act has that high income earner threshold which is a natural one to use, cutting in currently at $175,000.
Gilbert:
If you had your way, would you like it across the board – just get rid of it?
Leigh:
Well, this covers the vast majority of workers and therefore deals with the vast majority of the problem that we’re tackling in non‑competes. We know that firms have other ways of dealing with keeping their intellectual property and we know that non‑competes for workers that have them can drive down wages by around 4 per cent. So, we’re talking for an affected worker about a potential wage gain of $50 a week.
Angira Bharadwaj:
You said this is in the Budget because it’s a productivity measure. Do you think there were enough overall productivity measures in the Budget? What are some of the other things the government’s doing to boost that?
Leigh:
Yeah, look, the government’s really ambitious on productivity. Obviously, the education measures, the 3 day childcare guarantee, getting that schools funding agreement and the free TAFE places. The infrastructure investments are critical, as are the energy investments. All of those are about increasing the speed limit of the economy.
And the competition reforms proudly sit alongside that. We’ve had a decline in the competitiveness and the dynamism of the Australian economy over the last couple of decades and that’s really what’s led us to take such a strong forward leaning approach on competition.
Clennell:
Are you anticipating Peter Dutton to go bigger on tax cuts as a response to the government’s policy?
Leigh:
Well, today he went a lot smaller. We went into the parliament voting for lower taxes for Australians and the Liberals and the Nationals voted for higher taxes. Now, if Robert Menzies was still around, he’d be starting an Opposition party.
Clennell:
Well, hang on. I mean, he’s got a little bit of time now.
Leigh:
He had a chance, right? Today Andrew – he had a chance.
Clennell:
So, that’s it? You don’t think he’ll do it?
Leigh:
I have no idea what he’s going to do. He’s a bit of a loose unit.
Gilbert:
Does he consult you?
Leigh:
It appears not. But you know, this bloke will say one thing on Monday and do something else on Tuesday.
Connell:
But he gets to mull it over. Jim Chalmers was asked about giving a bigger tax cut. He said this was the most, basically that could be afforded. So, if Peter Dutton goes further, you can’t then match it, can you? If the Treasurer said this is the most the budget can afford?
Leigh:
Well, what we’ve done is ensure that every taxpayer got a tax cut. And if you put together – the tax cuts from last year and the tax cuts that we’ve now announced, that will amount to some $50 per week.
Connell:
But, this is your final offer?
Leigh:
This is what we’ve got in the Budget, and $50 a week is pretty substantial. That sits alongside measures such as cheaper medicines, cheaper childcare, the energy bill rebates – so much of it opposed by the Liberals and Nationals who seem not to care at all about the cost‑of‑living pressures that Australians are under.
Connell:
Alright, really appreciate your time today. Thank you.
Vilnius, Lithuania, March 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —
The special closed-end real estate investment company AB Tewox (hereinafter referred to as the Investment Company) and UAB Lidl Lietuva have completed a transaction for the acquisition of two Lidl store buildings. The Investment Company acquired the stores in Jurbarkas, Dariaus ir Girėno st. 83, and in Panevėžys, Klaipėdos st. 109, each with an area of approximately 2,000 sq. m. The buildings have long-term lease agreements with UAB Lidl Lietuva, which will use the proceeds to continue the company’s expansion strategy in Lithuania.
Luminor bank has provided financing of 6.7 mEUR for the acquisition. The Investment Company was advised by the law firm TGS Baltic and Lidl Lietuva was represented by the law firm Sorainen.
Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.
While World War Two (WW2) always was a set of intersecting conflicts – with Japan fighting a war of imperialism in East Asia and the Western Pacific – the war in Europe has been cast as the ultimate battle of ‘Good’ versus ‘Evil’. Hence the narrative of the Good War. Further, it has been personalised, with Adolf Hitler becoming the personalisation of Evil and Winston Churchill the personalisation of Good.
It always was nonsense. Wars are fought over territories and hegemony, between various peoples (nationalities), empires, religions, ideologies etc.; in the vast majority of cases between Bad and Bad, albeit various shades of bad (although the Hitler’s Nazis and Joseph Stalin’s Communists were close to having been equally Bad). The Bad versus Good narrative remains compelling to the human mind, however. Once you can find a compelling Evil – without or within, over there or over here – then our brains want to tell us that whoever opposes that ‘bad’ must be ‘good’. (In the old days, the ‘good’ said: ‘God was on our side’. Typically, their opponents thought something similar.)
Winston Churchill was neither a Good leader nor a competent leader. He didn’t start WW2, though there is an argument that the United Kingdom did. Nevertheless, Churchill, as a charismatic rhetorician and narcissist, had some sway over political discourse in Britain for half a century. (His important career began in 1904, when he became a party-hopping backbencher. He resigned from his second stint as Prime Minister in 1955; he was an MP for 61 years, and PM for 9 years.) That’s why there are so many more cited quotations from him than from any other British back-bench MP in the late 1930s.
Churchill, as a war-leader, was an ultra-imperialist who fought imperialist wars under the cover of World Wars One and Two. He was responsible for numerous atrocities, including appeasements of Stalin that were more problematic than Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler in 1938. In his speeches in 1938 and 1939, Churchill may have been alluding to Eastern Europe, but he was thinking about Italy and its threat to British ‘assets’ in and around the Mediterranean Sea.
WW2: Germany versus Soviet Russia, with the United Kingdom as stoker and as kingmaker
World War Two was round two of the Germany versus Russia conflict; this time as ‘Nazi’ Germany against ‘Communist’ Russia, the Third Reich versus the Soviet Union. The centrality of the Germany versus Russia conflict – indeed a conflict between them for the territories of Ukraine and the oilfields to the southeast of Ukraine – becomes more apparent when WW1 and WW2 are seen as one. World War One clearly started as a conflict between Germany and Russia; albeit triggered as a conflict between proxies, Austria and Serbia. And World War Two ended with the defeat of Germany by Soviet Russia; and after the entry of Russia into the Pacific War (which henceforth became the Cold War between Soviet Russia and the United States of America).
Technically, WW2 became a world war (rather than a regional war) when the United Kingdom and France (and their empires) ‘declared war’ on Germany on 1 Sep 1939. The trigger issue was the possibility of Germany invading Poland. But what mischief was the United Kingdom upto with distant Poland? Why did a British ghost-war go horribly wrong? And why did open warfare between the two principal belligerents in Europe – Berlin and Moscow – not commence until June 1941?
My reading of British and French ‘diplomacy’ between March and August 1939 is that these notional allies, United Kingdom in particular, wanted there to be a major regional showdown between Berlin and Moscow; both powers would be substantially weakened as a result, thereby enhancing British and French control of the Mediterranean and the ‘Middle East’.
The British and the French ‘tried’ to do a deal with Stalin, in March 1939, with respect to protecting Poland from German aggression. (On 15 March 1939, Germany annexed the Czech part of Czechoslovakia.) They revealed their military weakness (especially Britain’s), or at least the paucity of the military contribution they were willing to make towards the security of Poland.
Britain and France subsequently went on to sign a treaty guarantee with Poland; a guarantee that both would declare war against Germany if Poland was attacked by Germany. Stalin already knew that the United Kingdom would not back-up such a declaration with any action to defend Poland.
The reason for the guarantee appears to have been to deter Poland from negotiating a peace deal with Germany. Further, Britain was maintaining diplomatic communication with Germany until August 1939. The inference would appear to be that Britain was trying to start a ‘nothing-war’ between itself and Germany, while stoking a ‘something war’ between Germany and Soviet Russia. Britain had no intention of doing anything in Poland, and was expecting that France would provide a substantial defensive barrier between Germany and Great Britain; this was all in the context that Britain and France would be helping their own security by nudging Germany into ‘pushing’ East (as was always Germany’s apparent plan) rather than ‘West’.
However, Britain and France were nonplussed by the non-aggression pact – the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact – signed between Moscow and Berlin in the last week of August 1939. Further, there was a secret sub-pact. Moscow and Berlin would carve up Poland, and which effectively – and subsequently – meant the Soviet annexation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, activating that secret deal. Despite having nineteenth-century precedents for a pragmatic backing out from a signed-up deal, the United Kingdom and France – at least notionally – honoured their guarantee and declared war on Germany.
For France, this meant further shoring-up of its border with Germany, and – virtue signalling –making a small and brief incursion into Germany (the Saar Offensive). For Britain it meant further rearmament, but really to build up its navy to shore up its imperial interests, and building up its Air Force to defend itself from possible German attack. And it sent an army into France, as a show of support for France, more to be seen to be doing something than to actually be doing anything.
But the clear sense is that Britain still expected Germany to negotiate peace with Britain while consolidating its annexations of the Czech lands and Poland. The ‘phoney war’ proceeded, though it was far from phoney to the people of Poland and other Eastern European countries. The United Kingdom was launched into war proper in May 1940, with the lightning conquest of France by Germany, a conquest made possible by Germany’s temporary truce with the Soviet Union. (Though that was preceded, by a month, by Germany’s invasion of Norway; a matter for Britain’s navy rather than army.)
Adolf Hitler abandoned the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in June 1941, embarking Nazi Germany on a full-scale invasion of the Soviet Union, his main plan all along. He had secured his western border in 1940; though his plans were somewhat scuppered by a need to attend to the military failings of Mussolini’s Italian forces in the Eastern Mediterranean, hence the war in Greece which involved New Zealand.
The Bloodlands and their toll of political murder: 1932-1945
The atrocities of the Nazis took place during a world war; those of Stalin were mostly during peace-time. Timothy Snyder, in his 2010 book Bloodlands, “conservatively” estimates that fourteen million civilians and prisoners-of-war were politically murdered in a set of contiguous territories – between Germany and Russia-proper – by either the Moscow-based Soviet Communist regime or the Berlin-based National Socialist regime. This includes ‘The Holocaust’, or at least most of it.
As real estate, Snyder defines the Bloodlands as the pre-WW2 territories of Ukraine and Belarus (within the Soviet Union), Poland, the Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia), and the part of Russia close to Leningrad (now St Petersburg). The murders included in his tally were inflicted by deliberate starvation, guns, and gas. The cases of starvation were not due to famine in the conventional sense of that term. In the Ukrainian ‘famine’ of 1932/33, the food grown on Ukrainian farms – among the most productive lands in Europe – was confiscated and exported to Russian cities and to other countries in return for foreign currency. In the Siege of Leningrad – 1941 to 1944 – the German military prevented food from entering the city.
The worst-affected areas of the Bloodlands are today in western Ukraine and western Belarus. This land was in Eastern Poland before World War Two, and therefore in the Soviet-annexed territories of pre-war Poland. These lands were annexed or occupied by the Soviet Union in 1939, Germany in 1941, and the Soviet Union again in 1944. Each annexation saw its own round of political mass murder.
The murders of citizens of Poland and the Soviet Union took place on a vastly larger scale than any comparable atrocities committed on West Europeans; including the Holocaust, for which the vast majority of victims were Jews resident in Eastern Europe (not Germany; not the West). Snyder summarises the Bloodlands murder toll as:
3.3 million deliberately starved mostly in Ukraine in the 1932/33 Holodomor
0.7 million murdered in the Great Terror of 1937/38
0.2 million murdered in occupied Poland in 1939-1941 (disproportionately highly educated people; many killed by the notorious Einsatzgruppen, Nazi loyalists with PhD degrees)
4.2 million Soviet citizens starved by German occupiers in 1941-1944
5.4 million Jews (mostly Polish or Soviet citizens) shot or gassed by Germans in 1941-1944
0.7 million citizens (mostly Belarussians or Poles) shot by Germans in reprisals in 1941-1944
To what extent would have these (or equivalent numbers of) deaths have happened anyway, regardless of how the war actually started in Poland? Stalin’s victims, mostly already dead, represented about 40 percent of these fourteen million. The majority of Stalin’s victims were killed in the Ukrainian Holodomor which peaked in 1932 and 1933; or in the Great Terror of 1937 and 1938, which targeted the ‘kulak’ class of peasants and former peasants, ethnic Poles, and Russia’s political class (including many Bolshevik allies of the paranoid Stalin; communists who had come to be seen as potential threats to him).
Before September 1939, Hitler’s attempts at political murder were puny at best, when compared to Stalin’s ‘peace-time’ terror campaigns. Stalin murdered Soviet citizens. So, to a large extent did Hitler; Hitler killed comparatively few Germans, before or during the war.
Those who died in the Bloodlands after August 1939 might have experienced different fates had the war not been started then and there. Certainly, in 1940, a group of Hitler’s scientists – led by a leading agronomist – devised the ‘Hunger Plan’, which, if implemented in full, would have led to the murder of thirty of forty million Soviet citizens, to be replaced by German Aryan settlers. (While Hitler used ‘capitalist’ and ‘communist’ Jews as convenient scapegoats, Nazi racism should be understood as pro-Aryan rather than specifically anti-Jewish.) This was probably a racist and supremacist Nazi fantasy, unlikely to be able to be realised in full, and which was not prevented by the declaration of war by the United Kingdom against Germany in 1939.
It’s hard to see that the eventual victory of the Soviet Union over Germany in 1945 made the world a better, freer or more democratic place than it otherwise would have been; with fewer deaths and sufferings after 1939 than there actually were. Would a German victory over the Soviet Union have led to a less inhumane outcome for many millions of people, in the Bloodlands and elsewhere? We’ll never know, but it’s possible. It seems unlikely that the extremes of German National Socialism could have lasted for as long as the extremes of Soviet and Maoist Communism. And we know that most oppressive regimes do come to an end eventually; just as Hitler thought the Third Reich was forever (or for 1,000 years), so did Stalin and his successors believe of the Soviet Union.
World War Two morphed into the Cold War
Mostly, the Cold War – between the United States and the Soviet Union, and their proxies and alleged proxies – was ‘fought’ between the First World and the Second World; but its many victims were mostly in the ‘Third World’, now called the ‘Global South’. The way the Pacific War morphed into the Cold War is glaringly obvious, with the nuclear attack on Japan by the United States representing the end of the one war and the beginning of the next. (And note The bombing of Hamburg foreshadowed the horrors of Hiroshima.)
The Cold War began in Europe too, when the ‘victorious’ western ‘powers’, most particularly the United States, ‘suggested’ that the Russian ‘liberators’ of Eastern Europe were planning to overrun Western Europe as well (and turn the conquered into ‘communists’). The result was a tensely divided Europe until 1990, unnecessarily so; many European lives were blighted by politico-military suppression for 45 years. Further, that east-west divide has reappeared; just look at the results of the recent general election in Germany.
Finally, the costs ain’t over yet
Just as the World War came in two episodes, so too is the Cold War now in its second episode. (In the case of the World War, the second episode was explicitly ideological; communism versus fascism. In the Cold War, it was the first episode that was explicitly ideological; communism versus liberal capitalism.) Further, with signs that the United States might be withdrawing early, the second Cold War (CW2?) is looking like becoming, at its core, the Fourth Reich (aka the European Union) versus Russia (the new Russian Empire?), and with the territories of contention once again being Ukraine and the Black Sea.
The World War could have ended in 1918 or 1919 after the Great War (later known as World War One) – understood then to be the ‘War to End All Wars’ – if the ‘great powers’ had learned the appropriate lessons. Sadly, the ‘powers-that-were’ and the ‘powers-that-would-be’ learned, if anything, the wrong lessons. World War Two was not a Good War; it was grubbier and crueller than probably all its predecessors, and all sides – including the Anglo-side – contributed to that grubbiness and cruelty.
Imperialism was very much the problem, not the solution. The ‘rules-based-world-order’, devised in 1919 by the then-victorious powers – shonky new-nation national-borders and all – proved to be just another variation of great-power imperialism. We live in a world today of powers (some more ‘super’ than others), their proxies, and nations in the Global South saddled with borders which ensure forever conflicts.
We live in a world in which the Global West sees itself as morally and culturally superior, even though manifestly it isn’t. And we live in a world in which the Global East – in its various ethnic and cultural shades – rejects the supremacist assumptions and liberal presumptions of the West. And we live in a world in which those powers gamble with global war, just as the British gambled in 1939. And we live in a world in which the militaries contribute vastly to very real climate change, partly from military emissions of greenhouse gasses, partly because the immediate (eg 2020s) security concerns of the world outweigh concerns about the climate future (eg 2040s) concerns, and partly because we behave as if the goals to prevent or adapt to global warming are unwinnable.
There is a lot happening in the world at the moment, including tensions within Europe that would lead few people to be confident that – in 2050 – the present political architecture of Europe would still exist. Germany coveted Ukraine in the first half of the twentieth century. Indeed, Germany occupied Ukraine in 1918 and in the middle years of World War Two. Will the second quarter of the twenty-first century once again see German control of Ukraine? I wouldn’t bet against it. I see a stronger belligerence today in Germany towards having influence in Ukraine than I see in any other western country.
The biggest threat to peace is war; not Russia, not China, not Germany, not the United States of America, not Iran, not the hapless United Kingdom. Wars are a problem, not a solution.
The worst things happen during wars, or as a result of wars. There is one important exception. As we have seen, the Soviet Union – a Marxian ‘scientific utopia’ – destroyed many of its own people in the 1930s, in ‘peacetime’, and while the liberal world was looking the other way. Something similar, maybe worse, happened in China in the 1960s.
The lessons to learn are: avoid war, and the drum-beating that precedes it. And avoid technocratic utopian groupthink; avoid ideologies masquerading as science. The Nazi Hunger Plan was devised by an agronomist, Herbert Backe. War leads to such ideologies; and such ideologies lead to war.
*******
Keith Rankin (keith at rankin dot nz), trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.
German carmaker BMW and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba have announced an expanded strategic partnership in China to bring large-language-model (LLM) artificial intelligence (AI) to BMW’s next-generation vehicles.
This collaboration forms part of BMW’s 360-degree, full-chain AI strategy in China, which was unveiled on Tuesday and emphasizes partnerships with leading Chinese tech companies in cutting-edge areas such as AI LLMs and intelligent voice interaction.
The two companies will work together to develop an AI engine based on Alibaba’s Qwen LLM. This AI engine will initially power BMW’s in-car Intelligent Personal Assistant, debuting in its next-generation intelligent vehicles — its Neue Klasse models, which will be manufactured in China and are scheduled for release in 2026.
“Our long-term partnership with Alibaba Group is exemplary of common growth achieved with co-creation. BMW will work closer with Chinese tech partners on electric mobility and intelligent technologies to write our renewed win-win story,” said Sean Green, president and CEO of BMW Group Region China.
With research and development (R&D) centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang and Nanjing, BMW has established its largest R&D network outside of Germany in China.
“Our partnership with BMW Group marks a pivotal leap in deploying AI-powered LLMs at the forefront of advanced manufacturing, and Qwen’s integration into BMW’s in-car systems showcases how AI can revolutionize mobility,” said Eddie Wu, CEO of Alibaba Group.
BMW and Alibaba have collaborated since 2015 in various fields, including cloud computing, logistics and smart manufacturing.
Earlier this month, BMW also announced a partnership with Chinese tech giant Huawei to develop an in-car digital ecosystem specifically tailored for the Chinese market.
In January, the Trump administration ordered a broad pause on all US funding for foreign aid.
Among other issues, this has significant effects on US funding for HIV. The United States has been the world’s biggest donor to international HIV assistance, providing 73% of funding in 2023.
What’s more, recent funding cuts for international HIV assistance go beyond the US. Five countries that provide the largest amount of foreign aid for HIV – the US, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the Netherlands – have announced cuts of between 8% and 70% to international aid in 2025 and 2026.
Together, this may mean a 24% reduction in international HIV spending, in addition to the US foreign aid pause.
We wanted to know how these cuts might affect HIV infections and deaths in the years to come. In a new study, we found the worst-case scenario could see more than 10 million extra infections than what we’d otherwise anticipate in the next five years, and almost 3 million additional deaths.
What is HIV?
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system. HIV can be transmitted at birth, during unprotected sex or thorough blood-to-blood contact such as shared needles.
If left untreated, HIV can progress to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), a condition in which the immune system is severely damaged, and which can be fatal.
HIV was the world’s deadliest infectious disease in the early 1990s. There’s still no cure for HIV, but modern treatments allow the virus to be suppressed with a daily pill. People with HIV who continue treatment can live without symptoms and don’t risk infecting others.
A sustained global effort towards awareness, prevention, testing and treatment has reduced annual new HIV infections by 39% (from 2.1 million in 2010 to 1.3 million in 2023), and annual deaths by 51% (from 1.3 million to 630,000).
Most of that drop happened in sub-Saharan Africa, where the epidemic was worst. Today, nearly two-thirds of people with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa, and nearly all live in low- and middle-income countries.
We wanted to estimate the impact of recent funding cuts from the US, UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands on HIV infections and deaths. To do this, we used our mathematical model for 26 low- and middle-income countries. The model includes data on international HIV spending as well as data on HIV cases and deaths.
These 26 countries represent roughly half of all people living with HIV in low- and middle income countries, and half of international HIV spending. We set up each country model in collaboration with national HIV/AIDS teams, so the data sources reflected the best available local knowledge. We then extrapolated our findings from the 26 countries we modelled to all low- and middle-income countries.
For each country, we first projected the number of new HIV infections and deaths that would occur if HIV spending stayed the same.
Second, we modelled scenarios for anticipated cuts based on a 24% reduction in international HIV funding for each country.
Finally, we modelled scenarios for the possible immediate discontinuation of PEPFAR in addition to other anticipated cuts.
With the 24% cuts and PEPFAR discontinued, we estimated there could be 4.43 million to 10.75 million additional HIV infections between 2025 and 2030, and 770,000 to 2.93 million extra HIV-related deaths. Most of these would be because of cuts to treatment. For children, there could be up to an additional 882,400 infections and 119,000 deaths.
In the more optimistic scenario in which PEPFAR continues but 24% is still cut from international HIV funding, we estimated there could be 70,000 to 1.73 million extra new HIV infections and 5,000 to 61,000 additional deaths between 2025 and 2030. This would still be 50% higher than if current spending were to continue.
The wide range in our estimates reflects low- and middle-income countries committing to far more domestic funding for HIV in the best case, or broader health system dysfunction and a sustained gap in funding for HIV treatment in the worst case.
Some funding for HIV treatment may be saved by taking that money from HIV prevention efforts, but this would have other consequences.
The range also reflects limitations in the available data, and uncertainty within our analysis. But most of our assumptions were cautious, so these results likely underestimate the true impacts of funding cuts to HIV programs globally.
Sending progress backwards
If funding cuts continue, the world could face higher rates of annual new HIV infections by 2030 (up to 3.4 million) than at the peak of the global epidemic in 1995 (3.3 million).
Sub-Saharan Africa will experience by far the greatest effects due to the high proportion of HIV treatment that has relied on international funding.
In other regions, we estimate vulnerable groups such as people who inject drugs, sex workers, men who have sex with men, and trans and gender diverse people may experience increases in new HIV infections that are 1.3 to 6 times greater than the general population.
The Asia-Pacific received US$591 million in international funding for HIV in 2023, which is the second highest after sub-Saharan Africa. So this region would likely experience a substantial rise in HIV as a result of anticipated funding cuts.
Notably, more than 10% of new HIV infections among people born in Australia are estimated to have been acquired overseas. More HIV in the region is likely to mean more HIV in Australia.
But concern is greatest for countries that are most acutely affected by HIV and AIDS, many of which will be most affected by international funding cuts.
Rowan Martin-Hughes receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. He has previously received funding to conduct HIV modelling studies from the Australian government Department of Health and Aged Care, Gates Foundation, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, World Bank and World Health Organization.
Debra ten Brink has previously received funding to conduct HIV modelling studies from the Australian government Department of Health and Aged Care, Gates Foundation, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, World Bank and World Health Organization.
Nick Scott receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. He has previously received funding to conduct HIV modelling studies from the Australian government Department of Health and Aged Care, Gates Foundation, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, World Bank and World Health Organization.
France will provide an additional 2 billion euros (2.2 billion U.S. dollars) in aid for Ukraine, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday.
“France will continue its commitments,” Macron told a press conference ahead of a summit in Paris of the “coalition of the willing” supporting Ukraine, scheduled for Thursday. (1 euro = 1.08 U.S. dollars)
Headline: Ahead of 2025 NAB Show: How Microsoft tech is transforming sports
In the dynamic world of sports, where every second counts, technologies such as cloud computing, AI, and real-time data analysis have emerged as pivotal forces for optimizing strategies and captivating audiences. Ahead of the 2025 NAB Show, we’re sharing how Microsoft is at the forefront of this transformation, partnering with sports organizations worldwide to integrate technology and gain a competitive edge.
Join Microsoft at the 2025 NAB Show
Technology integration opportunities in sports
Microsoft technology helps drive the quality of the game and create new business opportunities for organizations by:
Enhancing performance with real-time data insights and analytics for data-driven decision-making.
Improving operational efficiency through streamlined workflows, increased collaboration, and seamless data integration.
Elevating fan engagement with AI and real-time customer insights to create a comprehensive ecosystem of personalized experiences.
Unlocking broadcast and media integration opportunities by using advanced cloud and AI technologies to scale content operations and reach more audiences.
Supporting secure data storage and processing by implementing advanced cloud technologies to secure content with high-speed data storage and processing.
Whether it’s supporting Formula One engineers to make split-second race decisions, empowering tennis players with AI-assisted match analysis, or delivering personalized experiences to fans, Microsoft technology is redefining the future of sports—making organizations faster, smarter, and more connected than ever before.
Learn more about Microsoft’s technical solutions through key partnerships below.
Data-driven decision-making
In high-performance sports, every decision can alter the course of the game. From AI-powered analytics that provide real-time insights for athletes to cloud-based solutions that optimize operations, learn more about how Microsoft technology is driving data-led decision-making and reshaping how teams compete in the Women’s World Cup of Tennis, the NFL, and Formula One.
Billie Jean King Cup: Transforming tennis strategy with AI
The Billie Jean King Cup uses Microsoft AI and cloud technologies to provide players and coaches with data visualizations and real-time insights during matches.
Key highlights include:
Match Insights App: Azure hosted application that delivers critical gameplay data, such as player movement, ball trajectories, and shot accuracy, to coaches and players in near real-time.
AI-powered analytics: Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service analyzes vast datasets to provide actionable rally and serve insights, helping coaches anticipate opponent strategies and make informed decisions.
Secure data management: Microsoft Azure Cloud Services help to ensure the secure storage and processing of high-volume data generated during matches.
Read more about how Microsoft and the Billie Jean King Cup are elevating competition through data-driven insights.
NFL: Game-changing technology on the sidelines
The NFL uses Microsoft hardware and software to enhance game-day operations and team collaboration.
Key highlights include:
Microsoft Surface Sideline Viewing System (SVS): Hardware and software solution that provides coaches and players with near real-time, high-resolution images of plays, enabling rapid strategic adjustments.
NFL Combine App: Application that streamlines talent evaluation by providing real-time access to key performance metrics.
Enhanced collaboration: Microsoft Teams and Azure facilitate seamless communication and collaboration among NFL teams.
Read more about how Microsoft and the NFL are changing the game with new levels of operational efficiency.
BWT Alpine Formula One Team: Data-powered racing innovation
BWT Alpine Formula One Team uses advanced AI and Azure’s robust cloud infrastructure to unlock new capabilities in data insights, regulatory compliance, and business operations.
Key highlights include:
AI-powered race strategies: Azure Computer Vision and Multi-Agent Resourcing Optimization (MARO) reinforcement learning allows Alpine to optimize race day strategy and car setup based on real-time telemetry.
High-speed data processing: Azure provides secure, high-speed data storage and retrieval, allowing split-second decisions during races.
Regulatory compliance: Azure AI Search and Microsoft Copilot Studio streamline compliance processes, helping to ensure adherence to Formula One regulations.
Read more about how Microsoft and BWT Alpine Formula One Team are maximizing performance on and off the track.
Integrated fan engagement
In today’s digital world, sports leagues are expected to meet fans at multiple touchpoints with highly personalized and easily accessible content. Learn more about how leagues such as LALIGA and the NBA are using Microsoft technology to redefine the sports and entertainment industries and take the fan ecosystem to the next level.
LALIGA: Enhancing fan engagement with data-driven insights
LALIGA uses real-time data processing and AI-powered analytics with Azure to deliver match insights and personalized digital experiences across platforms.
Key highlights include:
Beyond Stats: Fan-facing data and insights platform powered by Azure that captures and analyzes more than 3.5 million data points per match to provide engaging content for fans across multiple platforms including social media, broadcast, and the LALIGA app.
Data Sports Platform (DSP): Comprehensive system powered by Azure that unifies fan interaction data across touchpoints to generate tailored content and products to match fan preference.
Seamless infrastructure: Azure’s high-performance infrastructure helps to ensure reliable content delivery and enhanced fan experiences across digital platforms.
Read more about how Microsoft and LALIGA are personalizing the experience for fans around the world.
NBA: Building a next-generation fan engagement platform
The NBA integrates Azure and AI technology to provide fans with personalized content, real-time insights, and tailored experiences across digital platforms.
Key highlights include:
AI-integrated platform: The NBA Insights and Top Performances platforms within the NBA App provide real-time game updates and AI-generated highlights to enhance the fan experience by utilizing Microsoft AI technology.
The reimagined NBA App: Powered by Azure, the NBA App offers personalized content recommendations, real-time game insights, and a social-style video experience.
Read more about how Microsoft and the NBA are deeply engaging fans at every level.
Transforming the sports industry
Microsoft innovative technologies are transforming the sports industry, driving performance, enhancing fan engagement, and streamlining operations. From the racetracks of Formula One to the courts of the NBA, Microsoft’s partnerships are setting new standards for excellence in sports. As technology continues to evolve, the future of sports looks brighter than ever, with Microsoft leading the way in this exciting journey.
Learn more about how Microsoft is transforming sports and other media and entertainment organizations around the world through our customer stories page.
Microsoft allows media organizations to achieve more through a trusted and secure platform, built to empower content creators and distributors, enhance the viewer experience, and reimagine monetization strategies. More information can be found on the Microsoft media and entertainment industry solutions website.
Next steps
Microsoft will be showcasing some of these case studies and more at our upcoming exhibition with NAB Show, April 5–9, 2025, in Las Vegas. Go through a journey of interactive demos that illustrate the capabilities needed to deliver fan-focused content and that highlight key aspects of the transformation process required to implement cutting-edge technologies for enhanced performance and fan engagement.
Microsoft at the 2025 NAB Show
See how Microsoft is helping to shape the future of broadcast and entertainment
Silvia Candiani
Vice President WW Telecommunications, Media and Gaming, Microsoft
Silvia Candiani leads Microsoft’s Worldwide Telecommunications, Media and Gaming Industry, overseeing industry strategy, go-to-market plan, ecosystem growth, and solution development. Silvia was formerly CEO of Microsoft Italy, focused on accelerating digital transformation. Prior to Microsoft, Silvia led Consumer Marketing for Vodafone in Italy and was previously a consultant at McKinsey in the Media and Telecommunication industries. She has a BA from Bocconi University and an MBA from INSEAD. Silvia is also a member of the Bocconi University Alumni Advisory Board and Lavazza Group.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda Mussell, Senior Lecturer, Political Science and International Relations, University of Canterbury
Paremoremo Maximum Security Prison near Auckland.Getty Images
With the government’s Sentencing (Reform) Amendment Bill about to become law within days, New Zealand’s already high incarceration rate will almost certainly climb even higher.
This and other law changes are effectively putting more people in prison for longer. By 2035, imprisonment numbers are expected to increase by 40% from their current levels, with significant cost implications. Last year, the Corrections budget was NZ$1.94 billion, up $150 million from the previous year.
New Zealand’s imprisonment rate is already high at 187 per 100,000 people. That’s double the rate of Canada (90 per 100,000), and well above Australia (163 per 100,000) and England (141 per 100,000).
Accounting for imprisonment and population projections, New Zealand’s prisoner ratio could be between 238 and 263 per 100,000 by 2035. That is higher than the current imprisonment rate in Iran (228 per 100,000).
Remand prisoner numbers are projected to nearly equal sentenced prisoners in 2034. Among women and young people, remand numbers are already higher than for sentenced prisoners.
Some 30% of those on remand are not convicted. Of those who are, data released to RNZ last year showed 2,138 people (15% of remand prisoners) were not convicted of their most serious change, almost double the 2014 figure of 1,075 people.
Significant court delays can mean people are remanded for a long time. By 2034, it is projected the average remand time will be 99 days, compared with 83 days in February 2024. As well as being a human rights concern, this is very expensive.
Minister of Corrections Mark Mitchell: prisoner numbers could reach 13,900 over the next decade. Getty Images
Putting more people away for longer
Crime and imprisonment rates fluctuate independently of each other, as the former Chief Science Advisor acknowledged in a 2018 report. Increasing imprisonment rates are the result of political decisions, not simple arithmetic.
The Bail Amendment Act 2013 reversed the onus of proof in certain cases, meaning the default rule is that an accused person will not be granted bail. This results in more people being sent to prison while awaiting a hearing, trial or sentencing.
When this week’s changes to the Sentencing Act come into effect, they will further constrain judges’ discretion, capping sentence reductions for mitigating factors at 40% (unless it would be “manifestly unjust”).
At the same time, it has become more difficult for prisoners to return to the community. For example, some are kept in prison or recalled because they do not have stable housing. (Dean Wickliffe, currently on a hunger strike over an alleged assault by prison staff, was arrested for breaching parole by living in his car.)
Last year, Corrections received $1.94 billion in operating and capital budget, a $150 million increase to account for rising imprisonment numbers and prison expansion. There was no meaningful increase in funding for rehabilitation programmes or investment in legal aid.
Imprisoning people is expensive. The cost of a person on custodial remand has almost doubled since 2015, from $239 a day to $437. For sentenced prisoners, it is $562 per day. This comes to between $159,505 and $205,130 per year to confine one person.
Former corrections minister Kelvin Davis acknowledged this before the first 600-bed expansion of Waikeria prison, costed at $750 million in 2018. By June 2023, that had increased by 22% to $916 million.
There will be other costs for facilities maintenance, asset management services and financing. And there can be unanticipated costs, too. For example, the government’s partner in the Waikeria expansion, Cornerstone, claimed $430 million against Corrections in 2022 for “time and productivity losses” due to COVID-19.
These overall trends are happening while the government is also cutting funding for important social services. Shifting resources to improve social supports would be a better option – and one that has worked in Finland – than pouring more money into expanding prisons.
Linda Mussell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, who is here to attend the ongoing Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2025, in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
BOAO, Hainan, March 26 — Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang met with foreign leaders who visited China to attend the ongoing Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, on Wednesday.
Ding, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, had a meeting with Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone. Ding said China is willing to work with Laos in supporting each other’s core interests and advancing practical cooperation across various fields.
For his part, Sonexay reaffirmed that Laos would make continuous efforts to make new progress in developing Laos-China community with a shared future.
In a meeting with Aren B. Palik, vice president of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Ding called for expanding mutual collaboration in trade, investment, infrastructure and marine economy, while jointly addressing climate challenges.
Palik reiterated FSM side’s adherence to the one-China principle and its firm support for China’s positions on the Taiwan question as well as affairs concerning Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and the South China Sea.
On China-Mongolia relations, Ding said to Mongolia’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development Luvsannyam Gantumu that the enduring friendly relations between the two neighboring countries align with the fundamental interests of both peoples.
Gantumu expressed willingness to deepen cooperation with China in connectivity, energy resources, and high-tech sectors.
In a meeting with Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar, Ding called for joint efforts to translate the outcomes of the recent 12th Meeting of the China-Kazakhstan Cooperation Committee into real actions.
Sklyar said Kazakhstan is ready to work closely with China to elevate bilateral ties to a new high.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of China-Indonesia diplomatic relations. While speaking with Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Regional Infrastructure and Development Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, Ding said the two sides should enhance strategic synergy and strive for new breakthroughs in practical cooperation.
Agus said Indonesia is committed to deepening and expanding cooperation with China in various sectors and further advancing the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.
When meeting with Portugal’s Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Paulo Rangel, Ding said China is dedicated to mutual respect and trust with Portugal and is ready to expand mutually beneficial cooperation and deepen opening up and exchanges between the two sides.
Rangel said Portugal thinks highly of Macao’s prosperity and steady development since it returned to China, pledging efforts to further deepen practical cooperation with China.
Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, who is here to attend the ongoing Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2025, in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Aren B. Palik, vice president of the Federated States of Micronesia, who is here to attend the ongoing Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2025, in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Aren B. Palik, vice president of the Federated States of Micronesia, who is here to attend the ongoing Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2025, in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Mongolia’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Development Luvsannyam Gantumur, who is here to attend the ongoing Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2025, in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Mongolia’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Development Luvsannyam Gantumur, who is here to attend the ongoing Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2025, in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar, who is here to attend the ongoing Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2025, in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, who is here to attend the ongoing Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2025, in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, who is here to attend the ongoing Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2025, in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Portugal’s Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Paulo Rangel, who is here to attend the ongoing Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2025, in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, March 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 2
Press release
Reed pledges to “end throwaway society” working with business to slash waste, boost growth and clean up Britain
In front of industry titans, Environment Secretary Steve Reed to outline plan to cut waste across industry as part of Government’s Plan for Change
Construction workers on a building site
A new plan to transform the nation’s economy by slashing waste across industry will be unveiled today (Thursday 27 March) in a speech by Environment Secretary Steve Reed.
Speaking to industry leaders from the likes of Mace, British Land, Jaguar Land Rover, the Food and Drink Federation and the Environmental Services Association, at the Dock Shed in London, Environment Secretary Steve Reed will set out how the government will provide the direction and certainty for businesses to plan and spearhead the nation’s transition to a truly circular and future-proof economy. This will deliver growth and fundamentally shift our relationship with the goods we use every day – making reuse and repair the norm and ending the throwaway society.
He will underline how introducing the seismic shift to a circular economy – where innovation is paramount – is now essential in delivering real change in communities across the country, with recycling rates stagnating and far too much waste going to landfill or being burned in incinerators.
To kickstart the nation’s move to a circular economy, an independent Circular Economy Taskforce – chaired by Andrew Morlet, former CEO of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation – was established to bring together the brightest minds from industry, academia and civil society to tackle this challenge head on.
The Government has now confirmed the first five priority sectors that the taskforce will focus on to make the greatest difference – textiles, transport, construction, agri-food and chemicals & plastics.
Delivering on businesses’ calls for more government leadership, the Taskforce will now work with these sectors to create a series of specific roadmaps to improve and reform the approach to using materials, underpinned by a Circular Economy Strategy which will be published in Autumn. Both the roadmaps and Strategy will give businesses certainty to plan and the confidence to build and invest in new infrastructure.
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Steve Reed said:
It’s time to end Britain’s throwaway society – the status quo is economically, environmentally, and socially unsustainable.
Moving to a circular economy is a pivotal moment for British businesses to innovate, grow and lead the world, so we can slash waste and strengthen supply chains.
My vision for delivering a truly circular economy is an important step in kickstarting this path to change. That is why we are bringing together the brightest minds from industry, academia and civil society to deliver this, which won’t just clean up our streets and reduce the need for landfill and incineration, but help us cut carbon emissions, create new jobs and increase business profitability.
The case for making this transition is clear – underlined by stable government leadership, businesses will be given the freedom to harness their world-leading entrepreneurial spirit, by allowing them to unlock new technologies and ensuring the right infrastructure is in place to maximise what they offer.
Sectors will also benefit from untapped profit streams, while being vital in delivering the Government’s Plan for Change and mission to boost economic growth, helping to revitalise towns and cities with new investment. This will create the industries of the future and thousands of highly skilled, well-paid jobs to support them in the long term.
Recent events, like Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, have also shown that international supply chains are at greater risk from global instability. Embracing a circular economy will secure our national security in an increasingly unstable world, ensuring local supply chains are toughened up and more of the resources we produce are used, rather than relying on the 80% of materials we import from abroad.
The Government’s waste reforms, which include an overhaul of collection and packaging regimes, represent progress in moving the nation to a circular economy and work will continue to make sure they work for businesses. Together these reforms will generate an estimated £10 billion investment in new recycling infrastructure and create 21,000 green jobs.
From innovative tech start-ups turning waste into valuable materials, to community enterprises giving used goods a second chance, British businesses are already showing what is possible when this forward-thinking approach is adopted.
However, the government inherited an economy in need of fresh ideas, and bold approaches – challenges which will be met through the circular economy transition, while contributing to the government’s Plan for Change and moving us on the path to Net Zero.
Andrew Morlet, chair of the Circular Economy Taskforce, said:
Transitioning to a circular economy is an ambitious but crucial goal as this Government kickstarts economic growth and turns Britain into a clean energy superpower.
I welcome the vision set out by the Environment Secretary at this critical juncture in our journey. Our taskforce will bring together industry, academic and policy experts with central and local government to ensure we maximise its potential fully by creating jobs, increasing resource efficiency and accelerating the path to net zero.
Libby Peake, head of resource policy at the Green Alliance and member of the Circular Economy Taskforce, said:
Waste is baked into our current economic system and causes us harm on so many levels. It’s degrading our environment and international supply chains to the extent that economic shocks become inevitable. It adds a cost burden to businesses’ bottom lines and frustrates people who are fed up with shoddy products, blatant waste and litter.
But as the Environment Secretary outlines today, it really doesn’t have to be this way and it’s great to hear his vision for how innovative, circular businesses will thrive in the UK in future. It’s an incredible opportunity to help bring that about this change as part of the government’s Circular Economy Taskforce.
The sectors were chosen as the first ones for intervention after the Taskforce analysed extensive evidence, which found they had the best potential to generate major economic gains, while protecting the environment and delivering Net Zero.
This comes as senior officials from the UK Government, Dutch Government and City of London Corporation came together at Mansion House yesterday to set out a path towards closer working to finance the move to a circular economy.
Source: United States Senator for Texas John Cornyn
WASHINGTON – Today on the floor, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) blasted two of the latest examples of Democrats’ unhinged behavior because President Trump was delivered a mandate on November 5th: Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (TX-30) using derogatory and unacceptable language against fellow Texans Governor Greg Abbott and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Democrats – who once considered themselves champions of electric vehicles – attacking Tesla cars and showrooms in Texas and nationwide. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn’s remarks are below, and video can be found here.
“Just two days ago, police officers found what they called multiple incendiary devices at a local Tesla dealership in North Austin, where I live…This prompted a full bomb squad to respond, and an investigation is still under way.”
“The Associated Press has reported that there have been at least 50 demonstrations around the country focused on Tesla, while more are planned, not just here in the United States, but around the world in countries like England, Spain, and Portugal.”
“Some Tesla owners have reported incidents of vandalism on their personal vehicles. Some have even been spray painted with swastikas.”
“We should not hesitate to call this what it is: Domestic terrorism…It’s reminiscent of the violent unrest that plagued our nation with the BLM riots that happened during the summer of 2020.”
“We live in a democratic republic, not a banana republic.”
“Placing bombs and lighting cars on fire is not an appropriate means of expressing dissenting views in a country like the one we are blessed to live in.”
“I was disappointed to see one of my fellow Texans in our congressional delegation go so far as to condone these kind of activities.”
“Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett recently made comments encouraging violent protests at a virtual rally. She said, ‘All I want to see happen on my birthday is for Elon to be taken down.’”
“I would expect better than this sort of incendiary rhetoric from a member of Congress, who was elected to her position because of the very democracy we are fortunate to enjoy.”
“This isn’t the only thing she said recently that has raised eyebrows and resulted in condemnation. Congresswoman Crockett recently commented that our governor, Governor Greg Abbott—who happens to be a paraplegic as a result of a terrible accident years ago—she referred to him as ‘Governor Hot Wheels.’”
“Then Senator Cruz, my colleague, the junior senator from Texas, she said should ‘Be knocked over the head, like hard.’ This is disgraceful, and we should call it for what it is.”
“This is a disturbing trend in political rhetoric, one that has turned to violence.”
2024 Annual Results: Record activity driving strong performance and reinforcing the attractiveness of AFL’s model
As of December 31, 2024, AFL Group reports solid results:
– Net banking income exceeds €24 million, while gross operating profit rises to €7.8 million – Credit production to local authorities reaches €2 billion for the first time – New memberships, totalling 269 local authorities, a record since AFL Group’s inception over 10 years ago, bring the total number of local authorities shareholders to 1,045 – Liquidity remains high, with an LCR ratio of 447% and an NSFR ratio of 220% – CET1 ratio stands at 63% – Leverage ratio for public development credit institutions reaches 11.25%
Key Figures of the consolidated results as of 12/31/2024 (IFRS)
Committed capital:€328 million (+€34.6 million vs. 12/31/2023)
Credit production:€2 billion (+3% vs. 12/31/2023)
Market funding raised:€2.4 billion (+13% vs. 12/31/2023)
Net banking income:€24.1 million (+3% vs. €23.4 million as of 12/31/2023)
Gross operating profit:€7,848K (+3% vs. 12/31/2023)
Net profit before tax:€7,466K (-3.5% vs. 12/31/2023)
Net profit after tax:€5,407K (vs. €5,739K as of 12/31/2023)
Cost-to-income ratio:67.4% (vs. 67.4% as of 12/31/2023)
Results driven by the growth of credit activity
Since reaching breakeven in 2020, the AFL Group has recorded 10 consecutive semesters of positive results, with steady growth in gross operating profit. These results stem from the strong expansion of the bank’s lending activity to local authorities, combined with strict cost management, while continuing to monitor the scaling up of workforce and IT investments.
Relative to outstanding loans, operating expenses stands at 17 basis points as of December 31, 2024, compared to 20 basis points at year-end 2023. The cost-to-income ratio remains stable year-over-year at 67.4%.
Risk cost, very limited due to the sector, increases with the deterioration of the economic and financial environment and the balance sheet growth
AFL’s risk cost remains intrinsically limited due to the public development credit institution model, the company’s prudent management, and the excellent solvency of local authorities. The risk weighting of local authorities was reduced to 0%1 following a decision of the ACPR’s supervisory board on June 21, 2024.
As of December 31, 2024, AFL has made a provision of €381K for ex-ante impairments on expected credit losses under IFRS 9, compared to a reversal of provisions of €117K in 2023. This provision reflects the growth in AFL’s balance sheet and a change in the weighting of underlying macroeconomic scenarii in the provisioning model, while recognizing that loans to local authorities and securities held in AFL’s portfolio are inherently low-risk.
A robust financial structure enabling balanced growth
The AFL Group boasts a very strong financial structure:
The CET1 solvency ratio (consolidated) stands at 63% (with a regulatory minimum of 11.75%, excluding the countercyclical capital buffer).
The leverage ratio, calculated in accordance with the methodology applicable to public development credit institutions, is 11.25% (with a regulatory minimum of 3%).
The LCR ratio stands at 447% (with a regulatory minimum of 100%).
The 12-month internal liquidity ratio (NCRR) reaches 90% as of December 31, 2024, corresponding to a liquidity reserve of €1.9 billion. This ensures that AFL can meet all of its needs for more than 11 months without needing to access the market.
The NSFR ratio stands at 220% (with a regulatory minimum of 100%).
Key Highlights of 2024
Cost efficient Funding
In 2024, despite a significant deterioration in general refinancing conditions, AFL, the Group’s issuer, successfully raised €2.4 billion in funding on favorable terms for several reasons:
The continuation of a diversification strategy in both currencies and instruments.
The benefit of HQLA 1 classification for AFL’s debt by the ACPR since June 2024.
A rating by rating agencies on par with that of France.
AFL rating
Fitch Ratings
Standard & Poor’s
Long-Term rating
Aa3
AA-
Outlook
Negative
Negative
Short-Term rating
P-1
A-1+
Strengthening of the financial structure
In order to support the strong growth of its balance sheet, AFL has issued super-subordinated debt instruments intended to be recognized as Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital. With this issuance, the AFL Group will be able to meet the borrowing needs associated with increased investment expenditures of French local authorities in the context of transition financing.
Post-year end Events and Outlook
AFL-ST completed its 43rdcapital increase on March 13, 2025, which enabled 57 new local authorities to join the AFL Group, bringing the total promised capital to nearly €331 million.
The AFL Group aims to exceed 1,300 member local authorities by the end of 2025.
The AFL’s Executive Board approved the annual financial statements, both individual and consolidated, for the year 2024 on March 11, 2025. The AFL’s Supervisory Board favorably examined the financial statements on March 26, 2025.
The Board of Directors of AFL-ST, Société Territoriale, convened on March 26, 2025, approved the financial statements of its parent company, Société Territoriale, and the consolidated financial statements of the AFL Group.
Audit procedures on the annual and consolidated financial statements, related to the period from January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024, were conducted by the statutory auditors, whose reports are available at the following address:http://www.agence-france-locale.fr
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. Although AFL Group believes that these statements are based on reasonable assumptions on the date of publication of this press release, they are by their nature subject to risks and uncertainties, relating to geopolitical tensions and changes in macroeconomic forecasts and monetary policies, which could cause actual figures to differ from those indicated or implied in these statements.
The financial information of AFL Group for the year 2024 consists of this press release, complemented by the report available on the website:
“To embody responsible finance in order to strengthen the local world’s ability to act, addressing the present and future needs of citizens.”
The only French bank fully owned (100%) by local authorities, the AFL has a unique and innovative model: a bank created by and for all local authorities. By becoming AFL’s shareholders, local authorities gain access to fast, tailored financing for their local investments while committing to sustainable and responsible finance practices. For local authorities, it is the freedom to invest, with a controlled management of their finances. Since its launch in 2015, the AFL has already granted nearly €11.5 billion in loans, including €2 billion in 2024, and currently has 1,101 shareholders.
1 0% risk-weighing applies to regions (régions), departments (départements), communes and intercommunal cooperation public establishments (établissements publics de coopération intercommunale à fiscalité propre).
