Source: European Commission
European Commission Speech Paris, 12 Feb 2025 I am very glad to be here in France, a country that has been a such a powerful engine for European cooperation in space since the very beginning. Thanks to France, Europe is a leading space power. For now. If we want to maintain our lead in space, we need to take bold and decisive steps.
Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-000521/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Nadine Morano (PPE)
On 23 January 2025, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the release of the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal. In response, on 27 January, the Algerian Parliament strongly condemned this resolution, calling the concerns it expressed ‘false allegations’[1]. In addition, the day before, President Tebboune had called for a revision of the Association Agreement between Algeria and the EU[2].
In light of that, it is perfectly reasonable for the EU to reconsider how appropriate it is to send financial aid to Algeria. Another factor is Algeria’s failure to both comply with its international commitments and cooperate effectively with Member States, particularly France, including as regards the readmission of irregular Algerian migrants subject to an ‘obligation to leave French territory’ (OQTF). In 2023, of the 25 120 Algerian nationals[3] under such an obligation, only 2 562 were deported, which is less than 10%.
Submitted: 5.2.2025
Source: European Parliament
Rasa Juknevičienė, Michael Gahler, Andrzej Halicki, Sebastião Bugalho, David McAllister, Željana Zovko, Isabel Wiseler‑Lima, Antonio López‑Istúriz White, Wouter Beke, Krzysztof Brejza, Daniel Caspary, Andrey Kovatchev, Miriam Lexmann, Reinhold Lopatka, Ana Miguel Pedro, Davor Ivo Stier, Michał Szczerba, Alice Teodorescu Måwe, Inese Vaidere, Michał Wawrykiewicz
on behalf of the PPE Group
Yannis Maniatis, Nacho Sánchez Amor, Tobias Cremer
on behalf of the S&D Group
Adam Bielan, Rihards Kols, Małgorzata Gosiewska, Mariusz Kamiński, Sebastian Tynkkynen, Veronika Vrecionová, Ondřej Krutílek, Michał Dworczyk, Roberts Zīle, Marlena Maląg, Ivaylo Valchev, Alexandr Vondra, Jadwiga Wiśniewska, Assita Kanko
on behalf of the ECR Group
Urmas Paet, Petras Auštrevičius, Malik Azmani, Dan Barna, Helmut Brandstätter, Benoit Cassart, Olivier Chastel, Engin Eroglu, Bernard Guetta, Karin Karlsbro, Michał Kobosko, Ilhan Kyuchyuk, Nathalie Loiseau, Jan‑Christoph Oetjen, Marie‑Agnes Strack‑Zimmermann, Eugen Tomac, Hilde Vautmans, Sophie Wilmès, Dainius Žalimas
on behalf of the Renew Group
Reinier Van Lanschot
on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group
European Parliament resolution on the further deterioration of the political situation in Georgia
The European Parliament,
– having regard to its previous resolutions on Georgia, in particular that of 28 November 2024 on Georgia’s worsening democratic crisis following the recent parliamentary elections and alleged electoral fraud[1],
– having regard to Georgia’s status as an EU candidate country, granted by the European Council at its summit of 14 and 15 December 2023,
– having regard to Article 78 of the Georgian Constitution, which demands the implementation of all possible measures to guarantee Georgia’s complete integration into the EU and NATO,
– having regard to the final report of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on the parliamentary elections held in Georgia on 26 October 2024,
– having regard to Rules 136(2) and (4) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas the democratic backsliding in Georgia has dramatically accelerated since the parliamentary elections of 26 October 2024, which were deeply flawed and marked by grave irregularities, and failed to meet international democratic standards and Georgia’s OSCE commitments; whereas these elections violated the democratic norms and standards set for free and fair elections, failing to reflect the will of the people and rendering the resulting ‘parliament’, and subsequently the ‘president’, devoid of any democratic legitimacy; whereas from the very beginning of its activity, the current Georgian parliament has operated as a one-party (Georgian Dream) organ, which is incompatible with the essence of pluralistic parliamentary democracy;
B. whereas Article 2 of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement[2] concerns the general principles of the agreement, which include democratic principles, human rights and fundamental freedoms;
C. whereas Article 78 of the Georgian Constitution states that the constitutional bodies must take all measures within the scope of their competences to ensure the full integration of Georgia into the European Union;
D. whereas the President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, publicly condemned the parliamentary elections as rigged, declared that she would not recognise them and called for an international investigation; whereas the current Georgian regime, led by the Georgian Dream party and its founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, has orchestrated an unconstitutional usurpation of power, systematically dismantling democratic institutions, undermining judicial independence and eroding fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, thereby deepening Georgia’s political and constitutional crisis;
E. whereas Georgia has officially held the status of EU candidate country since December 2023; whereas on 28 November 2024, Irakli Kobakhidze announced that Georgia would delay initiating accession talks with the EU and reject its financial assistance until the end of 2028, disregarding the country’s constitutional commitment to European integration and effectively undermining Georgia’s sovereign Euro-Atlantic aspirations;
F. whereas on 28 November 2024, peaceful mass anti-government protests began across the country, demanding new, free and fair elections, an end to political violence and repression, and the return of the country to its European path; whereas the protests have been taking place without interruption for over 75 days;
G. whereas on 14 December 2024, the de facto parliament held a ‘presidential election’ with a single candidate from the Georgian Dream party, former footballer Mikheil Kavelashvili, elected with 224 out of 225 votes cast;
H. whereas Georgia’s self-appointed authorities have plunged the country into a fully fledged constitutional and political crisis, as well as a human rights and democracy crisis; whereas this has been marked by the brutal repression of peaceful protesters, political opponents and media representatives, with judges, prosecutors and police officers actively fabricating politically motivated administrative and criminal charges against protesters, journalists and opposition figures detained during peaceful anti-government demonstrations; whereas, as of December 2024, more than 460 people have been arrested or punished since the protests began, with this number growing by the day;
I. whereas riot police deliberately lacking force identification numbers have forcefully dispersed protesters with tear gas and water cannons; whereas numerous journalists have reported being targeted and beaten, and having their equipment destroyed and personal items stolen; whereas dozens of protesters have been brutally assaulted, and several hundred people have been arrested; whereas Georgia’s Public Defender has revealed that 80 % of those detained reported experiencing violence and inhumane treatment at the hands of law enforcement officers; whereas despite international condemnation, the illegitimate Georgian Government has awarded medals to officials involved in the crackdown;
J. whereas independent media outlets, including TV Formula, TV Mtavari and TV Pirveli, face severe operational and financial constraints due to the regime’s interference, while dozens of media representatives are being subjected to various forms of intense physical and psychological pressure; whereas numerous violent attacks on journalists have been documented, including the severe beatings of Aleksandre Keshelashvili, Maka Chikhladze and Giorgi Shetsiruli, and the harassment of detained journalist Saba Kevkhishvili; whereas on 12 January 2025, the Georgian authorities arrested journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli, who has been in pre-trial detention since then and is on hunger strike in solidarity with all political prisoners in Georgia; whereas she faces between four and seven years in prison;
K. whereas, on the night of 14 January 2025, Giorgi Gakharia, opposition leader of the For Georgia party and former Prime Minister, and Zviad Koridze, journalist and Transparency International activist, were physically assaulted by Georgian Dream officials in separate incidents at the same venue in Batumi;
L. whereas on 2 February 2025, Nika Melia, a leader of the pro-European Akhali party, and Gigi Ugulava, the former mayor of Tbilisi, were arrested during the anti-government protests and subjected to physical violence in detention; whereas on 12 January 2025, Elene Khoshtaria, leader of the Droa political movement, was detained in Batumi;
M. whereas the de facto Georgian authorities have used disproportionate force and excessive violence against peaceful protesters and resorted to arbitrary mass arrests to thwart dissent; whereas independent human rights organisations have reported the systemic mistreatment of detainees, including torture; whereas to date, not a single law enforcement official involved in the brutal crackdowns, arbitrary arrests and mistreatment has been brought to justice;
N. whereas the self-appointed authorities introduced new draconian legislation that came into force on 30 December 2024 and amended the Criminal Code, the Code of Administrative Offences and the Law on Assemblies and Manifestations, imposing further arbitrary restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, introducing, among other things, hefty fines for putting up protest slogans and posters, and granting police the power to detain individuals ‘preventively’ for 48 hours on suspicion of planning to violate the rules governing public assembly; whereas on 3 February 2025, the Georgian Dream party unveiled further draft legislation designed to tighten control, ramping up penalties for a variety of offences directly targeting protestors, critics and political dissent, such as harsher punishments for ‘insulting officials’, the criminalisation of road blocks and an increase in the duration of administrative detention from 15 to 60 days;
O. whereas on 27 January 2025, the Council decided to suspend parts of the EU-Georgia visa facilitation agreement for Georgian diplomats and officials, but failed to impose individual sanctions in response to the continued crackdown; whereas the Hungarian and Slovak Governments have been consistently blocking impactful EU-wide sanctions, preventing the remaining 25 Member States (EU-25) from effectively introducing sanctions against the self-appointed Georgian authorities;
P. whereas several Member States, including Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Czechia, have imposed bilateral sanctions on some Georgian politicians, judges and other officials responsible for the brutal crackdown on protesters, violations of human rights and abuse of the rule of law; whereas in December 2024, the United States sanctioned Bidzina Ivanishvili, alongside Georgia’s ‘Minister of Internal Affairs’ Vakhtang Gomelauri and Deputy Head of the Special Tasks Department Mirza Kezevadze, for their involvement in brutal crackdowns on media representatives, opposition figures and protesters; whereas the UK and Ukraine have imposed similar sanctions on high-level Georgian officials; whereas Ivanishvili, through hastily adopted laws tailored to his personal situation, is moving his offshore assets to Georgia in anticipation of further sanctions;
Q. whereas on 29 January 2025, Georgian Dream announced that it would withdraw its delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) after it demanded new, genuinely democratic parliamentary elections, the release of political prisoners and accountability for perpetrators of violence; whereas UN experts have condemned the pattern of repression and human rights violations in Georgia, while the OSCE has called this suppression a serious breach of the right to freedom of assembly;
R. whereas the ruling Georgian Dream party convened the new parliament in violation of the country’s constitution, resulting in a boycott of parliament by the opposition; whereas on 5 February 2025, the self-appointed ‘parliament’ voted to approve the early termination of the mandates of 49 out of 61 members of parliament, representing the Coalition for Change, Strong Georgia and the United National Movement, in order to strip them of their immunity and facilitate their arrest and prosecution; whereas the same ‘parliament’ established a commission to punish former ruling party United National Movement;
S. whereas a growing number of civil servants have been dismissed after speaking out against the halting of Georgia’s EU accession process; whereas Georgian Dream has amended laws on public service, simplifying procedures to dismiss public servants, several of whom have been dismissed for participating in protests, in a clear attempt to silence critical voices;
1. Condemns the Georgian Dream ‘authorities’ and urges them to immediately cease the violent repression of peaceful protesters, political opponents and media representatives; underlines that Georgia’s self-appointed authorities are currently violating fundamental freedoms, basic human rights and the core international obligations of the country, thereby undermining decades of democratic reforms driven by the country’s political class and civil society; considers Georgia as a state captured by the illegitimate Georgian Dream regime; expresses deep regret over the fact that the ruling Georgian Dream party has abandoned its path towards European integration and NATO membership; recalls that the ongoing democratic backsliding and adoption of anti-democratic laws has effectively suspended Georgia’s EU integration process; reiterates its unwavering support for the Georgian people’s legitimate European aspirations and their wish to live in a prosperous and democratic country;
2. Does not recognise the self-proclaimed authorities of the Georgian Dream party established following the rigged election of 26 October 2024, which was neither free nor fair, was held in violation of democratic norms and standards, and did not reflect the will of the people of Georgia; underlines that the extensive electoral fraud has undermined the integrity of the election process, cast doubt on the legitimacy of the result and eroded public trust, both domestically and internationally, in any new government;
3. Calls for the EU and its Member States, as well as national parliaments and interparliamentary institutions, not to recognise the legitimacy of the Georgian Dream one-party parliament and their appointed president; calls, therefore, on the international community to join the boycott of the self-proclaimed Georgian authorities;
4. Continues to recognise Salome Zourabichvili as the legitimate President of Georgia and representative of the Georgian people; praises her efforts to peacefully steer the country back towards a democratic and European path of development; calls on the President of the European Council to invite President Zourabichvili to represent Georgia at an upcoming European Council meeting and at the next European Political Community summit;
5. Underlines that the settlement of the current political and constitutional crisis in Georgia can only be achieved by way of new parliamentary elections; demands that new elections take place in Georgia within the next few months in an improved electoral environment, overseen by an independent and impartial election administration and monitored through diligent international observation to guarantee a genuinely fair, free and transparent process; encourages the Member States and EU officials to firmly demand new elections and to make any future engagement explicitly conditional on setting a new date for parliamentary elections and establishing a mechanism to ensure they are free and fair;
6. Calls on the Council and the Member States, particularly the EU-25 on a bilateral and coordinated basis, to impose immediate and targeted personal sanctions on Bidzina Ivanishvili, his family and his companies, and to freeze all his assets within the EU for his role in the deterioration of the political process in Georgia, enabling democratic backsliding and acting against the country’s constitutionally declared interests of Euro-Atlantic integration; calls on the French Government to strip Bidzina Ivanishvili of the Legion of Honour and impose individual sanctions on him; welcomes, in this regard, the sanctions imposed bilaterally by Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Czechia, as well as those already imposed by the US and the UK;
7. Calls for the EU and its Member States, in particular the EU-25 on a bilateral and coordinated basis, to impose personal sanctions on the officials and political leaders in Georgia responsible for democratic backsliding, electoral fraud, human rights violations and the persecution of political opponents and activists, including Irakli Kobakhidze, Shalva Papuashvili, Vakhtang Gomelauri, Mayor of Tbilisi and Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party Kakha Kaladze, and Chair of the Georgian Dream party Irakli Garibashvili; calls for them to extend these sanctions to judges, including those of the Constitutional Court of Georgia who are passing politically motivated sentences, and representatives of the law enforcement services, as well as to financial enablers tacitly or openly supporting the regime and the owners of regime-aligned media outlets, including TV Imedi, Pos TV and Rustavi 2 TV, for their role in spreading disinformation and seeking to manipulate public discourse in order to sustain the current ruling party’s authoritarian rule;
8. Calls on the Council and the Member States to impose sanctions on Bidzina Ivanishvili’s network of enablers, elite entourage, corrupt financial operatives, propagandists and those facilitating the repressive state apparatus, including, among others, Ekaterine Khvedelidze, Uta Ivanishvili, Tsotne Ivanishvili, Bera Ivanishvili, Gvantsa Ivanishvili, Alexander Ivanishvili, Shmagi Kobakhidze, Ucha Mamatsashvili, Natia Turnava, Ivane Chkhartishvili, Sulkhan Papashvili, Giorgi Kapanadze, Tornike Rizhvadze, Ilia Tsulaia, Kakha Bekauri, Lasha Natsvlishvili, Vasil Maglaperidze, Grigol Liluashvili, Mikheil Chinchaladze, Levan Murusidze, Irakli Rukhadze, Tinatin Berdzenishvili, Tamaz Gaiashvili, Anton Obolashvili and Gocha Enukidze;
9. Maintains the view that the measures taken so far by the EU in response to the flagrant democratic backsliding and reneging on previous commitments does not yet fully reflect the severity of the situation in Georgia and the latest developments; welcomes the Council’s decision to suspend visa-free travel for Georgian diplomats and officials, but considers it as only a first step, which must be followed by tougher measures; deplores the obstruction by the Hungarian and Slovak Governments of the Council decisions on introducing sanctions against individuals responsible for democratic backsliding in Georgia;
10. Emphasises that respect for fundamental rights is vital to the EU’s visa liberalisation benchmarks; reiterates its call on the Commission and the Council to review Georgia’s visa-free status, with the possibility of suspension if it is considered that EU standards on democratic governance and freedoms are not being upheld;
11. Strongly condemns the brutal violence and repression used by Georgia’s ruling regime against peaceful protesters since 28 November 2024; calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners and those detained during the anti-government protests; demands the release of journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli, who has been on hunger strike for over four weeks now because of her unjust detention and risks facing critical, irreversible and life-threatening consequences; denounces the assault and beating of former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, resulting in his hospitalisation, followed by the arrest on 2 February 2025 of political leaders including Nika Melia and Gigi Ugulava, as a shocking escalation of state-orchestrated violence by Georgian Dream and its allies against peaceful demonstrators and political opponents; reminds of the detention of Elene Khoshtaria on 12 January 2025 in Batumi;
12. Reiterates its solidarity with the people of Georgia and its vibrant civil society in fighting for their legitimate democratic rights and for a European future for their country; urges the Georgian Government to reverse its current political course and return to implementing the will of the Georgian people for continued democratic reforms that would reopen the prospect of future EU membership;
13. Strongly condemns the enactment of draconian legislation that imposes unjustified restrictions on freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly, and demands the annulment of such recently adopted repressive legislation; urges the Georgian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all individuals detained for peacefully exercising their fundamental rights to freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly, and to ensure prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into all allegations of unlawful and disproportionate use of force by the law enforcement agencies; considers that the Georgian justice system has been weaponised to stifle dissent, instil fear and silence free speech;
14. Calls for the ‘Georgian authorities’ to take immediate action to ensure the safety and freedom of journalists and to investigate all instances of violence and misconduct by law enforcement agencies; emphasises the importance of fostering a democratic environment where media, civil society and the opposition can operate freely without fear of retaliation or censorship;
15. Demands an independent, transparent and impartial investigation into police brutality and the excessive use of force against peaceful demonstrators; calls for those responsible for human rights violations, including law enforcement and government officials ordering acts of repression, to be held fully accountable before the law;
16. Denounces the launch of an investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office on 8 February 2025 into non-governmental organisations accused of aggravated sabotage, attempted sabotage and assisting foreign and foreign-controlled organisations in hostile activities aimed at undermining the state interests of Georgia, for which they could receive multiple-year sentences; views this action as further escalation of repression by the regime, misuse of the judicial system and accelerated democratic backsliding;
17. Condemns the broader campaign of attacks by the Georgian authorities vilifying civil society organisations and reputable international donors that support democracy, the rule of law and the protection of human rights in Georgia;
18. Denounces the termination by Georgian Dream of the mandates of 49 opposition members of parliament as a sign of further democratic backsliding, and considers this the latest move in Georgian Dream’s attack on political pluralism in the country;
19. Welcomes PACE’s decision to challenge the credentials of Georgia’s parliamentary delegation due to democratic backsliding and human rights abuses; supports PACE’s call for Georgia to immediately initiate an inclusive process involving all political and social actors, including the ruling party, the opposition and civil society, to urgently address the deficiencies and shortcomings noted during the recent parliamentary elections and to create an electoral environment conducive to new, genuinely democratic elections to be announced in the coming months;
20. Notes that Georgia, once a front runner for Euro-Atlantic integration, is undergoing an accelerated process of democratic backsliding, in a seemingly deliberate attempt to demonstrate that the will of the Georgian people no longer determines the country’s future, which could result in the country taking the Belarussian path of political development, transitioning from the current authoritarian state to a dictatorial regime;
21. Deplores the decision of Irakli Kobakhidze to suspend accession talks and reject EU funding until the end of 2028; recalls that all polls consistently show the overwhelming support of the Georgian population for a Euro-Atlantic future; expresses strong support for the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of the Georgian people;
22. Calls for an immediate and comprehensive audit of EU policy towards Georgia due to the democratic backsliding; calls on the Commission to review the EU-Georgia Association Agreement in the light of the self-declared Georgian authorities’ breach of the general principles, as laid down in Article 2, namely respect for democratic principles, the rule of law and fundamental freedoms; points out that non-fulfilment of obligations may result in the conditional suspension of economic cooperation and privileges afforded by the Agreement;
23. Welcomes the Commission’s decision to cease all budgetary support to the Georgian authorities and to suspend the initiation of any future investment projects; encourages the Commission to terminate all financial support for ongoing projects; calls for a moratorium on all investment projects in the field of connectivity; calls on the Commission to start identifying economic sectors of relevance to the oligarchic interests that support and sustain the current authoritarian rule, with a view to a potential future decision about restrictive measures or economic sanctions; calls on the Commission to start identifying connectivity projects that support and sustain the current authoritarian rule and to consider their suspension until a rerun of the parliamentary elections;
24. Condemns the climate of intimidation and polarisation fuelled by statements by Georgian Government representatives and political leaders, as well as by attacks against political pluralism, including through disturbing cases of intimidation and violence against the Georgian democratic political forces and repeated threats to ban opposition parties, to arrest their leaders and even ordinary supporters, and to silence dissent; underlines that anything but the full restoration of Georgia’s democratic standards will entail a further deterioration of EU-Georgia relations, make any move towards EU accession impossible and result in additional sanctions;
25. Calls on the Commission to swiftly redirect the frozen EUR 120 million originally intended as support for the Georgian authorities to enhance the EU’s support for Georgia’s civil society, in particular the non-governmental sector and independent media, which are increasingly coming under undue pressure from the ruling political party and the authorities, as well as to support programmes supporting democratic resilience and electoral integrity; calls for the EU’s funding mechanisms to be adjusted to take into account the needs that arise in a more hostile and anti-democratic environment; highlights the urgency of the need to support civil society in the light of growing repression and the suspension of activities of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and therefore urges the Commission to ramp up support without delay;
26. Expresses deep concern about the increasing Russian influence in the country and about the Georgian Dream government’s actions in pursuing a policy of rapprochement and collaboration with Russia, in spite of its creeping occupation of Georgian territory; deplores, in this regard, the growing anti-Western and hostile rhetoric of the Georgian Dream party’s representatives towards Georgia’s strategic Western partners, including the EU, and its MEPs and officials, and Georgian Dream’s promotion of Russian disinformation and manipulation;
27. Strongly reiterates its urgent demand for the immediate release of former President Mikheil Saakashvili on humanitarian grounds, specifically for the purpose of seeking medical treatment abroad; emphasises that the self-appointed authorities bear full and undeniable responsibility for the life, health, safety and well-being of former President Mikheil Saakashvili and must be held fully accountable for any harm that befalls him;
28. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the self-appointed authorities of Georgia.
Source: Government of India
Posted On: 12 FEB 2025 9:42PM by PIB Delhi
In the backdrop of India’s growing maritime partnerships and security initiatives, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) is organizing a two-day international conference in collaboration with the Advanced Study Institute of Asia ( ASIA) at SGT University titled ‘Monsoon: The Sphere of Cultural and Trade Influence’. ‘Project Mausam’, is an Indian transnational initiative under the Ministry of Culture. This conference, exploring historical and cultural connections among Indian Ocean nations through maritime interactions, will highlight India’s central role in shaping trade, traditions, and connectivity across the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). The inaugural session of the conference began today at IGNCA, New Delhi, and will continue until 13th February 2025. Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister Minister of Culture and Tourism, graced the occasion as the Chief Guest, with a keynote address by Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and a welcome address by Dr. Sachchidanand Joshi, Member Secretary, IGNCA. Prof. Amogh Rai, Research Director, ASIA, SGT University, and Dr. Ajith Kumar, Director of Project Mausam, were also present during the inaugural session.
Union Minister of Culture and Tourism, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, while speaking at the inaugural session, highlighted the deep interlinkages between India and the region, emphasising that India’s cultural influence across the Indian Ocean Region stems from its rich cultural, intellectual, and knowledge traditions. He noted that this influence stemmed not only from commerce and trade but also from India’s intellectual prowess and golden prosperity. He remarked that the footprints of India’s cultural impact are visible among those who came as students, monks, or even as aggressors, carrying with them the essence of India’s cultural progress, fostering diversity and unity over thousands of years. He also spoke about the unique vision of ‘Project Mausam’ to showcase a Transnational Mixed Route of Natural and Cultural Heritage, stating, “The world realises that culture is the factor that unites us all.”
The initiative is particularly timely, as India and France recently concluded their Maritime Cooperation Dialogue in New Delhi, agreeing on joint measures to assess and counter threats to maritime security in the IOR. These threats include piracy, maritime terrorism, smuggling, illegal fishing, hybrid and cyber threats, and marine pollution. Oman will also be hosting the 8th edition of the Indian Ocean Conference from February 16-17, focusing on ‘Voyages to New Horizons of Maritime Partnership’. Simultaneously, the Indian Navy’s 2025 capstone Theatre Level Operational Exercise (TROPEX) is underway, showcasing India’s preparedness in the Indian Ocean.
‘Project Mausam’ not only emphasizes India’s historical maritime influence but also resonates with the nation’s evolving geopolitical strategy in the region. The conference will focus on key themes such as ancient navigational routes, port city networks, and coastal settlements. By integrating tangible and intangible cultural heritage, the project highlights India’s continued leadership in fostering connectivity and maritime partnerships, contributing to UNESCO’s maritime heritage studies.
Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe in his address emphasised the cultural foundations of India-Southeast Asia relations, calling for intellectual and emotional investment to integrate Southeast Asia into India’s popular consciousness. Noting that cultural bonds need revitalisation, he highlighted the monsoon as a symbol of enduring connections and urged moving beyond Eurocentric perspectives. He advocated deepening cultural engagement through the Act East policy to ‘Attract East’ by strengthening cultural, strategic, and economic ties. He also called for reinforcing Dharma-Dhamma relations, reviving shared epics, promoting collaborative art and craft, advancing educational and technological exchanges, addressing climate change, and building linguistic bridges.
Dr. Sachchidanand Joshi said that IGNCA’s area studies in South and Central Asia led to the development of Vrihattar Bharat to explore cultural routes and linkages, expanding beyond the initially identified 39 countries. He noted that over 70 countries share cultural heritage with India. Emphasising international cooperation, as reflected in the G20 summit’s motto, ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, he highlighted that IGNCA’s efforts were ongoing, with the conference serving as a catalyst to expand these studies.
Prof. Amogh Rai expressed his views on the monsoon as both a physical and cultural force, highlighting its role as a cultural multiplier and the conference’s potential for further research. Dr. Ajith Kumar concluded the inaugural session by extending a formal vote of thanks and emphasising the cultural unity between India and Southeast Asian countries.
IGNCA’s international conference aims to foster deeper cultural diplomacy, with academic collaborations and heritage conservation paving the way for future policy dialogues. This dialogue aligns seamlessly with India’s evolving maritime strategies and international partnerships.
***
Sunil Kumar Tiwari
(Release ID: 2102534) Visitor Counter : 16
Source: European Parliament
Priority question for written answer P-000590/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Isabelle Le Callennec (PPE)
DG ENVI is considering reclassifying the eel to include the species in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. However, although the eel population remains low, it seems to have stabilised over the last few years, in particular thanks to the efforts of fishermen and the fisheries sector to implement Regulation (EC) No 1100/2007 and carry out restocking initiatives. This trend is starting to bear fruit, as confirmed by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea and as observed by practitioners on the ground. Eels have a lifespan of 15 to 20 years.
Reclassifying the eel under Appendix I would have serious repercussions on the French fisheries sector, including knock-on effects downstream, since it would entail a ban on the marketing of European eels for consumption and thus lead to the closure of certain artisanal fisheries, which nevertheless play a key role in restocking and stock recovery efforts. In addition, a total ban gives rise to concerns about the development of a sizeable black market.
Submitted: 10.2.2025
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Barnes, Lecturer in Physics, Western Sydney University
Three and a half kilometres beneath the Mediterranean Sea, around 80km off the coast of Sicily, lies half of a very unusual telescope called KM3NeT.
The enormous device is still under construction, but today the telescope’s scientific team announced they have already detected a particle from outer space with a staggering amount of energy.
In fact, as the team report in Nature, they found the most energetic neutrino anyone has ever seen – and it represents a tremendous leap forward in exploring the uncharted waters of the extreme universe.
To explain why it’s such a remarkable discovery, we need to understand what KM3NeT is, what it’s looking for, and what it saw.
KM3NeT is a gigantic deep sea telescope being built by an international collaboration of more than 300 scientists and engineers from 21 countries.
At the site off Sicily, and another off the coast of Provence in France, KM3NeT will be made up of more than 6,000 light detectors hanging in the pitch-black depths. When the telescope is complete, it will cover about a cubic kilometre of sea.
Down deep, KM3NeT is shielded from ordinary sources of light, such as the Sun. It is also shielded from other particles like electrons and protons, which are absorbed by the water long before they reach the detectors. So what does it see?
Of all the particles that physicists have discovered, only the elusive neutrino can reach all the way down to KM3NeT.
The neutrino is an elementary particle with no electric charge and only a very tiny mass. It interacts with matter so weakly that it can pass through kilometres of ocean – and even thousands of kilometres of Earth itself – to reach the detector. That’s why KM3NeT is at the bottom of the sea: to see neutrinos, and only neutrinos.
But won’t the neutrinos pass through the detector, too? Yes, almost all of them.
But very rarely, a neutrino will crash right into a water molecule. When it does, it can pack an enormous punch.
The energy of the neutrino can create many more particles. As these particles blast through the water, they create a bluish glow. That’s what KM3NeT detectors see.
By analysing this bluish light, and by timing each flash, scientists can reconstruct the original energy of the neutrino, and the direction from which it came. (Either that, or they’ve just clocked one of those deep-sea glowing fish travelling at nearly the speed of light.)
On February 13 2023, KM3NeT detected a neutrino travelling so fast it had 30 times more energy than any previously detected.
The amount of energy is 220 petaelectronvolts, but that doesn’t mean much to a non-particle physicist. It’s hard to imagine, but let’s try.
The neutrino had 100 trillion times more energy than a typical particle at the centre of the Sun. It’s a trillion times more energy than medical X-rays, and ten billion times more than the most dangerous radioactive particles. Earth’s biggest particle accelerators can’t produce a particle with even one ten thousandth of this energy.
Short story: it’s a lot of energy for one particle.
Neutrinos interact with matter very weakly, so how could a single neutrino have been given so much energy? What sort of cosmic event could create such a particle?
That’s the exciting part: we don’t know.
We know there are colossal explosions in the universe, such as supernovas: when a star exhausts its fuel and collapses. And there are gamma ray bursts, which are even more energetic explosions of supermassive stars, or collisions of neutron stars. These create extremely energetic neutrinos.
But there are other candidates. Supermassive black holes at the centre of galaxies have millions to billions of times as much mass as the Sun.
As matter is swallowed by these black holes, it is accelerated to extreme speeds, and becomes wrapped around intense magnetic fields. The particles that aren’t swallowed can be shot out at extreme speeds. These “active galactic nuclei” are another way that the universe could create extreme neutrinos.
Third, the neutrinos could be created more locally (cosmically speaking). Explosions and active galactic nuclei also create cosmic rays: extremely energetic protons and electrons.
These could stream across the universe towards us, before colliding with a particle of light along the way. That collision can create an energetic neutrino.
Here’s where the Australian connection comes in. KM3NeT tells us this neutrino came from a particular spot in the southern sky.
If it came from an extreme explosion or an active galactic nucleus, we might hope to spot the source with other telescopes. In particular, both supernova remnants and active galactic nuclei can be spotted using radio waves.
Australia has the biggest radio telescopes in the southern hemisphere. The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) has mapped a lot of the southern sky, and found many supernova remnants and active galactic nuclei.
My colleagues and I at Western Sydney University are using ASKAP to follow up on KM3NeT detections like this one. For this particular neutrino, there are no obvious candidates in the radio sky that it came from.
However, KM3NeT doesn’t provide a very accurate position, so we can’t be completely sure. We’ll keep looking.
KM3NeT is still under construction, and ASKAP continues to survey the sky. Our window on the extreme universe is just opening up.
Luke Barnes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
– ref. 3.5 kilometres underwater, scientists found a staggeringly energetic particle from outer space – https://theconversation.com/3-5-kilometres-underwater-scientists-found-a-staggeringly-energetic-particle-from-outer-space-249590
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Robert Diab, Professor, Faculty of Law, Thompson Rivers University
United States Vice President JD Vance made headlines this week by refusing to sign a declaration at a global summit in Paris on artificial intelligence.
In his first appearance on the world stage, Vance made clear that the U.S. wouldn’t be playing ball. The Donald Trump administration believes that “excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry just as it’s taking off,” he said. “We’ll make every effort to encourage pro-growth AI policies.”
His remarks confirmed a widespread fear that Trump’s return to the White House will signal a sharp turn in tech policy. American tech companies and their billionaire owners will now be shielded from effective oversight.
But upon a closer look, events this week point to signs that just the opposite may be unfolding. A host of nations took notable steps towards address growing safety and environmental concerns about AI, indicating that a regulatory tipping point has been reached.
The two-day global summit in Paris, chaired by France and India, led to broad consensus. Some 60 countries signed on to a Statement on Inclusive and Sustainable AI. This included Canada, the European Commission, India and China.
Both the U.S. and the United Kingdom declined to sign on. But the prevailing winds are against them.
The meeting in Paris was the third global summit on AI, following meet-ups at Bletchley Park in the U.K. in 2023 and in Seoul, South Korea, in 2024. Each of them ended with similar declarations widely endorsed.
The Paris communiqué calls for an “inclusive approach” to AI, seeking to “narrow inequalities” in AI capabilities among countries. It encourages “avoiding market concentration” and affirms the need for openness and transparency in building and sharing technology and expertise.
The document is not binding. It does little more than tout principles, or affirm a collective sentiment among the parties. One of these — perhaps the most important — is to keep talking, meeting and working together on the common concerns that AI raises.
Meanwhile, a smaller group of countries at the Paris summit, along with 37 tech companies, agreed to form a Coalition for Sustainable AI — setting out a series of goals and deliverables.
While nothing is binding on the parties, the goals are notably specific. They include coming up with standards for measuring AI’s environmental impact and more effective ways for companies to report on the impact. Parties also aim to “optimize algorithms to reduce computational complexity and minimize data usage.”
Even if most of this turns out to be merely aspirational, it’s important that the coalition offers a platform for collaboration on these initiatives. At the very least, it signals a likelihood that sustainability will be at the forefront of debate about AI moving forward.
Read more:
AI is bad for the environment, and the problem is bigger than energy consumption
A further notable event at the summit was that Canada signed the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law. In recent months, 12 other countries had signed, including the U.S. (under former president Joe Biden), the U.K., Israel and the European Union.
The convention commits parties to pass domestic laws on AI that deal with privacy, bias and discrimination, safety, transparency and environmental sustainability.
The treaty has been criticized for containing no more than “broad affirmations” and imposing few clear obligations. But it does show that countries are committed to passing law to ensure that AI development unfolds within boundaries — and they’re eager to see more countries do the same.
If Canada were to ratify the treaty, Parliament would likely revive Bill C-27, which contained the AI and Data Act.
Read more:
The federal government’s proposed AI legislation misses the mark on protecting Canadians
The act aimed to do much of what Canada agrees to do under the convention: impose greater oversight of the development and use of AI. This includes transparency and disclosure requirements on AI companies, and stiff penalties for failure to comply.
While the U.S. signed the convention on AI and human rights, democracy and rule of law in the fall of 2024, it likely won’t be implemented by a Republican Congress. The same might happen in Canada under a Conservative government led by Pierre Poilievre. He could also decide not to fulfil commitments made under other agreements about AI.
And if Poilievre comes to power by the time Canada hosts the next G7 meeting in June, he might decline to honour the Trudeau government’s commitment to make AI regulation a central focus of the meeting.
The Trump administration may have ushered in a period of more lax tech regulation in the U.S., and Silicon Valley is indeed a key player in tech — especially AI. But it’s a wide world, with many other important players in this space, including China, Europe and Canada.
The events in Paris have revealed a strong interest among nations around the globe to regulate AI, and specifically to foster ideas about inclusion and sustainability. If the Paris summit was any indication, the hope of sheltering AI from effective regulation won’t last long.
Robert Diab does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
– ref. The Paris AI summit marks a tipping point on the technology’s safety and sustainability – https://theconversation.com/the-paris-ai-summit-marks-a-tipping-point-on-the-technologys-safety-and-sustainability-249706
Source: The Conversation – UK – By David Benoit, Senior Lecturer in Molecular Physics and Astrochemistry, University of Hull
Recent research on lightweight particles called neutrinos might have passed you by – much like the more than 10 trillion neutrinos passing through your body each second. Now, our new paper – with 21 countries, more than 60 institutes and around 360 scientists contributing – reports the observation of the most energetic neutrino yet.
Despite the enormous number of neutrinos around us, this is one of the most exciting – and rarest – astronomical events of the year. Our paper has been published in the journal Nature.
Neutrinos are tiny elementary (sub-atomic) particles that are abundant in our universe. Yet, you probably haven’t seen any. They do not interact with other matter in the ways we are familiar with.
Their lack of charge, for example, means that the electrostatic force that governs most of our everyday experiences does not interact with them at all. And their vanishingly small mass means that gravity – the other major force we experience – also has no effect on them in lab conditions on Earth.
So, detecting their presence is challenging to say the least.
Neutrinos can be produced in a huge number of environments. These include the radioactive decays of bananas, the interior of the Sun, during the violent death of a massive star and in the hot, dense disks of matter around supermassive black holes, to name just a few.
They are formed through the actions of the weak nuclear force, which governs radioactive decay. It is this force that enables positively charged particles called protons, which make up to atomic nucleus, to change into neutrons, neutrally charged particles which also exist in the atomic nucleus, and vice versa.
We cannot detect a neutrino directly. But, every now and then (although very rarely), they might bump into something. When that happens, through the action of this weak nuclear force, a charged particle, such as an electron, may be created – seemingly out of nowhere – that we can detect.
Those charged particles travel at enormous speeds. And when they move through a medium such as water, they create an eerie, faint blue glow as they are slowed down. This event, called the Cherenkov effect, also happens in nuclear reactor containment pools.
How likely (or unlikely) are these interactions? Well, you would have to flip 75 heads in a row on a fair coin to have the same probability of a single neutrino interacting with a particle of matter. Think this is easy? Go ahead and flip them. It’ll take a while.
The KM3NeT telescope collaboration uses this Cherenkov effect to scrutinise the depths of the Mediterranean Sea for the telltale faint glow of those neutrino events. They operate two huge detection stations – one off the shores of Toulon, France and one off the southern coast of Sicily. Scientists keep watch for events around the clock.
The scale of those detectors is gigantic, as are most neutrino detectors, since the only way of spotting the elusive neutrino collision is to try to increase the amount of matter that the neutrino can interact with. In fact, the KM3 part of the KM3NeT acronym stands for the kilometre cube (KM3) of seawater that the detector will be surveying when completed.
The detection stations themselves each consist of nearly 600 light detectors – spherical buoys each containing 31 light sensing tubes, which are attached to cables anchored to the seabed up to 3.5km below the surface.
The particle described in our recent paper was detected on February 13 2023. And you might wonder why the long wait? The intervening time has been spent by collaborators across Europe verifying and simulating the detection to confirm the nature of the event. After months of work by the KM3NeT team, we can finally say that this is the most energetic observation of a neutrino interaction ever recorded.
About 28,000 photons (light particles) were detected across the array in Sicily, indicating that a hugely energetic event had just happened. That said, an average 75W lightbulb generates millions and millions of photons every second (about 100 quintillion to be more precise). But while these few thousands of photons might appear to be a small event, remember that this has been generated by a single particle.
In fact, the energy of the neutrino responsible for such bright display was estimated to be 220 peta-electronvolts (PeV) or 30 times more energetic than the highest-energy neutrino recorded so far. In terms of particle energies, it is around 1,000 times more energetic than the particles generated at Cern, the most energetic accelerator facility in the world.
The light generated by this record-breaking event could be followed through the detector array and our collaboration was able to use it to reconstruct the near-horizontal trajectory of this high-energy neutrino. The path taken indicates that this neutrino is of cosmic origin.
We don’t know exactly where it comes from, but we’ve identified 12 potential blazars (bright cores of active galaxies) that may have produced it. It is also possible that it was created in the interaction of cosmic rays with photons from the cosmic energy background.
This detection provides a window into the ultra-high-energy phenomena happening in the universe and could, for example, help us better understand the nature of some of the most energetic cosmic rays. Moreover, the observation can help us further test the theoretical models that predict the existence of high-energy neutrinos.
David Benoit receives funding from the European Union, the Science and Technology Facilities Council and the UKRI National Quantum Computing Centre.
James Keegans receives funding from the European Union.
– ref. How our team spotted the most energetic neutrino detected to date – https://theconversation.com/how-our-team-spotted-the-most-energetic-neutrino-detected-to-date-249519
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Blane Savage, Lecturer in MA Creative Media Practice and BA(Hons) Graphic Art & Moving Image, University of the West of Scotland
The exhibition curator James Knox is to be congratulated on bringing together an impressive collection of work that tells the story of a diverse group of artists who helped transform and modernise British art in the early 20th century and contains work held in private collections not seen by the public before.
The Scottish Colourists: Radical Perspectives centres on the creativity of four Scottish artists: Samuel John Peploe, John Duncan Fergusson, Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell and George Leslie Hunter, who are known to be among Scotland’s most innovative and radical painters.
The Scottish colourists, as they were known, all visited and lived in Paris and were heavily influenced by the burgeoning avant-garde movement there in the early years of the 20th century. This was during its most dynamic and transformative stages, when cubism, post-impressionism and fauvism movements were evolving.
The exhibition highlights and contrasts the work produced by the colourists to that of Roger Fry’s Bloomsbury group members, Vanessa Bell and her amour Duncan Grant. It also includes work by the Fitzroy Street Group and several distinguished Welsh artists of that time, Augustus John and James Dickson Innes, as well as fauvist artists Andre Derain and Kees van Dongen.
The colourists’ paintings stand out in the exhibition through the maturity and confidence of their artworks, the tonal qualities and vibrancy of their colour palettes consistently rising above the more muted works surrounding them.
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The capacity of the colourists to study, travel and seek inspiration internationally, away from a grey Scottish Presbyterian climate, and particularly, embedding themselves in the Paris art scene in the early 20th century is impressive.
These artists stood shoulder to shoulder with their European contemporaries, inspired by the post-impressionist work of Cezanne, Matisse, Van Gogh and Derain. They delivered consistent and highly sophisticated artworks throughout their careers exploring light, shape and dynamic colour ranges, and often painted outdoors.
Each of the Scottish colourists returned to Scotland bringing new approaches to art with them. Peploe experimented with Cezanne-like geometric forms, whereas Fergusson’s practice was heavily influenced by the fauves. Hunter experimented with simplified post-impressionist blocks of colour to create dynamic shapes, while Cadell often focused on bold shapes and stylish impressionistic compositions.
Peploe, Hunter and Cadell exhibited in London’s Leicester Gallery in 1923 where they were first described as the “three colourists” by critic P.G. Konody.
Peploe, Fergusson and Hunter’s reputations were enhanced in 1924 when their work was bought by the French state after an exhibition organised by one of the most influential art dealers in Europe, Glaswegian Alexander Reid. He represented the four artists at the Galerie Barbazanges in Paris entitled Les Peintres de L’Ecosse Moderne, and turned their loose affiliation into an art movement.
Reid had also been responsible for developing the profile of The Glasgow Boys – a group of radical young painters whose disillusionment with academic painting signalled the birth of modernism in Scotland in the late 19th century. Reid was also a central figure in developing Sir William Burrell’s art collection. This was closely followed by a further exhibition in London’s Leicester Gallery in 1925 and then in Paris in 1931.
Peploe was the most commercially successful of the four artists, having a still life purchased by the Tate in 1927. His painting of Paris Plage captures the atmospherically startling white light of that French region. His studio work with a still life of flowers and fruit had the hallmarks of Cezanne’s style.
His love of outdoor landscapes, as shown in Kirkcudbright, painted in south-west Scotland, also resemble Cezanne’s primary geometric forms. He visited the island of Iona on a number of occasions with Cadell and other painters, revealing his love of the white sands, rocks and water which can be seen in Green Sea, Iona.
Cadell was known for his powerful still lifes, stylish portraits of elegant women in hats, and for his landscape painting on Iona. Cadell’s Green Sea on Iona and Ben More on Mull on show are part of a series of paintings of the white sands he produced on his regular visits there.
J.D. Fergusson‘s The Blue Hat, Closerie de Lilas is an outstanding piece on show which dazzles with the vibrancy of Parisian cafe life. He was attracted to fauve-like expressive colours and strong outlines in his work. The one piece of sculpture on display is by Fergusson, whose foray into sculptural medium in the Eastre, Hymn to the Sun is striking in its modernist aesthetic – like the female robot character in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.
Having no art training like the others, Lesley Hunter’s Still Life with White Jug and Peonies in a Chinese vase highlight his developing skills as a still life painter and they have a striking vibrancy to them. His outdoor scenes use loosely styled daubs of colour in a post-impressionistic style often in vibrant colours.
All the Scottish colourists were recognised for their influence and contribution to the development of Scottish art during their lifetimes, combining aspects of The Glasgow School and cutting-edge Parisian avant garde. But they fell out of fashion due to economic decline before the second world war.
They were rediscovered and packaged as a collective in the 1950s initially by art historian T.J. Honeyman in his book Three Scottish Colourists and were brought together with the inclusion of J.D. Fergusson in the 1980s. Although their key role in the development of Scottish art history is assured, interestingly their appreciation in France is even greater than in Britain.
The Scottish Colourists: Radical Perspectives is on at the Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh until June 28.
Blane Savage does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
– ref. Scottish colourists exhibition: the painters who stood shoulder to shoulder with Matisse and Cezanne – https://theconversation.com/scottish-colourists-exhibition-the-painters-who-stood-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-matisse-and-cezanne-249624
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Peter Bloom, Professor of Management, University of Essex
We are in the early days of a seismic shift in the global AI industry. DeepSeek, a previously little-known Chinese artificial intelligence company, has produced a “game changing”“ large language model that promises to reshape the AI landscape almost overnight.
But DeepSeek’s breakthrough also has wider implications for the technological arms race between the US and China, having apparently caught even the best-known US tech firms off guard. Its launch has been predicted to start a “slow unwinding of the AI bet” in the west, amid a new era of “AI efficiency wars”.
In fact, industry experts have been speculating for years about China’s rapid advancements in AI. While the supposedly free-market US has often prioritised proprietary models, China has built a thriving AI ecosystem by leveraging open-source technology, fostering collaboration between government-backed research institutions and major tech firms.
This strategy has enabled China to scale its AI innovation rapidly while the US – despite all the tub-thumping from Silicon Valley – remains limited by restrictive corporate structures. Companies such as Google and Meta, despite promoting open-source initiatives, still rely heavily on closed-source strategies that limit broader access and collaboration.
What makes DeepSeek particularly disruptive is its ability to achieve cutting-edge performance while reducing computing costs – an area where US firms have struggled due to their dependence on training models that demand very expensive processing hardware.
Where once Silicon Valley was the epicentre of global digital innovation, its corporate behemoths now appear vulnerable to more innovative, “scrappy” startup competitors – albeit ones enabled by major state investment in AI infrastructure. By leveraging China’s industrial approach to AI, DeepSeek has crystallised a reality that many in Silicon Valley have long ignored: AI’s centre of power is shifting away from the US and the west.
It highlights the failure of US attempts to preserve its technological hegemony through tight export controls on cutting-edge AI chips to China. According to research fellow Dean Ball: “You can keep [computing resources] away from China, but you can’t export-control the ideas that everyone in the world is hunting for.”
DeepSeek’s success has forced Silicon Valley and large western tech companies to “take stock”, realising that their once-unquestioned dominance is suddenly at risk. Even the US president, Donald Trump, has proclaimed that this should be a “wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing”.
But this story is not just about technological prowess – it could mark an important shift in global power. Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has framed DeepSeek’s emergence as a “shot across America’s bow”, urging US policymakers and tech executives to take immediate action.
DeepSeek’s rapid rise underscores a growing realisation: globally, we are entering a potentially new AI paradigm, one where China’s model of open-source innovation and state-backed development is proving more effective than Silicon Valley’s corporate-driven approach.
The Insights section is committed to high-quality longform journalism. Our editors work with academics from many different backgrounds who are tackling a wide range of societal and scientific challenges.
I’ve spent much of my career analysing the transformative role of AI on the global digital landscape – examining how AI shapes governance, market structures and public discourse, and exploring its geopolitical and ethical dimensions, now and far in the future.
I also have personal connections with China, having lived there while teaching at Jiangsu University, then written my PhD thesis on the country’s state-led marketisation programme. Over the years, I have studied China’s evolving tech landscape, observing firsthand how its unique blend of state-driven industrial policy and private-sector innovation has fuelled rapid AI development.
I believe this moment may come to be seen as a turning point not just for AI, but for the geopolitical order. If China’s AI dominance continues, what could this mean for the future of digital governance, democracy, and the global balance of power?
Even in the early days of China’s digital transformation, analysts predicted the country’s open-source focus could lead to a major AI breakthrough. In 2018, China was integrating open-source collaboration into its broader digitisation strategy, recognising that fostering shared development efforts could accelerate its AI capabilities.
Unlike the US, where proprietary AI models dominated, China embraced open-source ecosystems to bypass western gatekeeping, scale innovation faster, and embed itself in global AI collaboration. China’s open-source activity surged dramatically in 2020, laying the foundation for the kind of innovation seen today. By actively fostering an open-source culture, China ensured that a broad range of developers had access to AI tools, rather than restricting them to a handful of dominant companies.
The trend has continued in recent years, with China even launching its own state-backed open-source operating systems and platforms in 2023, to further reduce its dependence on western technology. This move was widely seen as an effort to cement its AI leadership and create an independent, self-sustaining digital ecosystem.
While China has been steadily positioning itself as a leader in open-source AI, Silicon Valley firms remained focused on closed, proprietary models – allowing China to catch up fast. While companies like Google and Meta promoted open-source initiatives in name, they still locked key AI capabilities behind paywalls and restrictive licenses.
In contrast, China’s government-backed initiatives have treated open-source AI as a national resource, rather than a corporate asset. This has resulted in China becoming one of the world’s largest contributors to open-source AI development, surpassing many western firms in collaborative projects. Chinese tech giants such as Huawei, Alibaba and Tencent are driving open-source AI forward with frameworks like PaddlePaddle, X-Deep Learning (X-DL) and MindSpore — all now core to China’s machine learning ecosystem.
But they’re also making major contributions to global AI projects, from Alibaba’s Dragonfly, which streamlines large-scale data distribution, to Baidu’s Apollo, an open-source platform accelerating autonomous vehicle development. These efforts don’t just strengthen China’s AI industry, they embed it deeper into the global AI landscape.
Read more:
Putting DeepSeek to the test: how its performance compares against other AI tools
This shift had been years in the making, as Chinese firms (with state backing) pushed open-source AI forward and made their models publicly available, creating a feedback loop that western companies have also – quietly – tapped into. A year ago, for example, US firm Abicus.AI released Smaug-72B, an AI model designed for enterprises that built directly upon Alibaba’s Qwen-72B and outperformed proprietary models like OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 and Mistral’s Medium. But the potential for US companies to further build on Chinese open-source technology may be limited by political as well as corporate barriers.
In 2023, US lawmakers highlighted growing concerns that China’s aggressive investment in open-source AI and semiconductor technologies would eventually erode western leadership in AI. Some policymakers called for bans on certain open-source chip technologies, due to fears they could further accelerate China’s AI advancements.
But by then, China’s AI horse had already bolted.
DeepSeek’s rise should have been obvious to anyone familiar with management theory and the history of technological breakthroughs linked to “disruptive innovation”. Latecomers to an industry rarely compete by playing the same game as incumbents – they have to be disruptive.
China, facing restrictions on cutting-edge western AI chips and lagging behind in proprietary AI infrastructure, had no choice but to innovate differently. Open-source AI provided the perfect vehicle: a way to scale innovation rapidly, lower costs and tap into global research while bypassing Silicon Valley’s resource-heavy, closed-source model.
From a western and traditional human rights perspective, China’s embrace of open-source AI may appear paradoxical, given the country’s strict information controls. Its AI development strategy prioritises both technological advancement and strict alignment with the Chinese Communist party’s ideological framework, ensuring AI models adhere to “core socialist values” and state-approved narratives. AI research in China has thrived not only despite these constraints but, in many ways, because of them.
China’s success goes beyond traditional authoritarianism; it embodies what Harvard economist David Yang calls “Autocracy 2.0”. Rather than relying solely on fear-based control, it uses economic incentives, bureaucratic efficiency, and technology to manage information and maintain regime stability.
The Chinese government has strategically encouraged open-source development while maintaining tight control over AI’s domestic applications, particularly in surveillance and censorship. Indeed, authoritarian regimes may have a significant advantage in developing facial-recognition technology due to their extensive surveillance systems. The vast amounts of data collected through these networks enable private AI companies to create advanced algorithms, which can then be adapted for commercial uses, potentially accelerating economic growth.
China’s AI strategy is built on a dual foundation of state-led initiatives and private-sector innovation. The country’s AI roadmap, first outlined in the 2017 new generation artificial intelligence development plan, follows a three-phase timeline: achieving global competitiveness by 2020, making major AI breakthroughs by 2025, and securing world leadership in AI by 2030. In parallel, the government has emphasised data governance, regulatory frameworks and ethical oversight to guide AI development “responsibly”.
A defining feature of China’s AI expansion has been the massive infusion of state-backed investment. Over the past decade, government venture capital funds have injected approximately US$912 billion (£737bn) into early-stage firms, with 23% of that funding directed toward AI-related companies. A significant portion has targeted China’s less-developed regions, following local investment mandates.
Read more:
Three lessons the west can learn from China’s economic approach to AI
Compared with private venture capital, government-backed firms often lag in software development but demonstrate rapid growth post-investment. Moreover, state funding often serves as a signal for subsequent private-sector investment, reinforcing the country’s AI ecosystem.
China’s AI strategy represents a departure from its traditional industrial policies, which historically emphasised self-sufficiency, support for a handful of national champions, and military-driven research. Instead, the government has embraced a more flexible and collaborative approach that encourages open-source software adoption, a diverse network of AI firms, and public-private partnerships to accelerate innovation. This model prioritises research funding, state-backed AI laboratories, and AI integration across key industries including security, healthcare, and infrastructure.
Despite strong state involvement, China’s AI boom is equally driven by private-sector innovation. The country is home to an estimated 4,500 AI companies, accounting for 15% of the world’s total.
As economist Liu Gang told the Chinese Communist Party’s Global Times newspaper: “The development of AI is fast in China – for example, for AI-empowered large language models. Aided with government spending, private capital is flowing to the new sector. Increased capital inflow is anticipated to further enhance the sector in 2025.”
China’s tech giants including Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and SenseTime have all benefited from substantial government support while remaining competitive on the global stage. But unlike in the US, China’s AI ecosystem thrives on a complex interplay between state support, corporate investment and academic collaboration.
Recognising the potential of open-source AI early on, Tsinghua University in Beijing has emerged as a key innovation hub, producing leading AI startups such as Zhipu AI, Baichuan AI, Moonshot AI and MiniMax — all founded by its faculty and alumni. The Chinese Academy of Sciences has similarly played a crucial role in advancing research in deep learning and natural language processing.
Unlike the west, where companies like Google and Meta promote open-source models for strategic business gains, China sees them as a means of national technological self-sufficiency. To this end, the National AI Team, composed of 23 leading private enterprises, has developed the National AI Open Innovation Platform, which provides open access to AI datasets, toolkits, libraries and other computing resources.
DeepSeek is a prime example of China’s AI strategy in action. The company’s rise embodies the government’s push for open-source collaboration while remaining deeply embedded within a state-guided AI ecosystem. Chinese developers have long been major contributors to open-source platforms, ranking as the second-largest group on GitHub by 2021.
Founded by Chinese entrepreneur Liang Wenfeng in 2023, DeepSeek has positioned itself as an AI leader while benefiting from China’s state-driven AI ecosystem. Liang, who also established the hedge fund High-Flyer, has maintained full ownership of DeepSeek and avoided external venture capital funding.
Though there is no direct evidence of government financial backing, DeepSeek has reaped the rewards of China’s AI talent pipeline, state-sponsored education programs, and research funding. Liang has engaged with top government officials including China’s premier, Li Qiang, reflecting the company’s strategic importance to the country’s broader AI ambitions.
In this way, DeepSeek perfectly encapsulates “AI with Chinese characteristics” – a fusion of state guidance, private-sector ingenuity, and open-source collaboration, all carefully managed to serve the country’s long-term technological and geopolitical objectives.
Recognising the strategic value of open-source innovation, the government has actively promoted domestic open-source code platforms like Gitee to foster self-reliance and insulate China’s AI ecosystem from external disruptions. However, this also exposes the limits of China’s open-source ambitions. The government pushes collaboration, but only within a tightly controlled system where state-backed firms and tech giants call the shots.
Reports of censorship on Gitee reveal how Beijing carefully manages innovation, ensuring AI advances stay in line with national priorities. Independent developers can contribute, but the real power remains concentrated in companies that operate within the government’s strategic framework.
DeepSeek’s emergence has sparked intense debate across the AI industry, drawing a range of reactions from leading Silicon Valley executives, policymakers and researchers. While some view it as an expected evolution of open-source AI, others see it as a direct challenge to western AI leadership.
Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, emphasised its technical efficiency. “It’s super-impressive in terms of both how they have really effectively done an open-source model that does this inference-time compute, and is super-compute efficient,” Nadella told CNBC. “We should take the developments out of China very, very seriously”.
Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, a prominent advisor to Trump, was similarly effusive. “DeepSeek R1 is one of the most amazing and impressive breakthroughs I’ve ever seen – and as open source, a profound gift to the world,” he wrote on X.
For Yann LeCun, Meta’s chief AI scientist, DeepSeek is less about China’s AI capabilities and more about the broader power of open-source innovation. He argued that the situation should be read not as China’s AI surpassing the US, but rather as open-source models surpassing proprietary ones. “DeepSeek has profited from open research and open source (e.g. PyTorch and Llama from Meta),” he wrote on Threads. “They came up with new ideas and built them on top of other people’s work. Because their work is published and open source, everyone can profit from it. That is the power of open research and open source.”
Not all responses were so measured. Alexander Wang, CEO of Scale AI – a US firm specialising in AI data labelling and model training – framed DeepSeek as a competitive threat that demands an aggressive response. He wrote on X: “DeepSeek is a wake-up call for America, but it doesn’t change the strategy: USA must out-innovate & race faster, as we have done in the entire history of AI. Tighten export controls on chips so that we can maintain future leads. Every major breakthrough in AI has been American.”
Elon Musk added fuel to speculation about DeepSeek’s hardware access when he responded with a simple “obviously” to Wang’s earlier claims on CNBC that DeepSeek had secretly acquired 50,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs, despite US export restrictions.
Beyond the tech world, US policymakers have taken a more adversarial stance. House speaker Mike Johnson accused China of leveraging DeepSeek to erode American AI leadership. “They abuse the system, they steal our intellectual property. They’re now trying to get a leg up on us in AI.”
For his part, Trump took a more pragmatic view, seeing DeepSeek’s efficiency as a validation of cost-cutting approaches. “I view that as a positive, as an asset … You won’t be spending as much, and you’ll get the same result, hopefully.”
The rise of DeepSeek may have helped jolt the Trump administration into action, leading to sweeping policy shifts aimed at securing US dominance in AI. In his first week back in the White House, the US president announced a series of aggressive measures, including massive federal investments in AI research, closer partnerships between the government and private tech firms, and the rollback of regulations seen as slowing US innovation.
The administration’s framing of AI as a critical national interest reflects a broader urgency sparked by China’s rapid advancements, particularly DeepSeek’s ability to produce cutting-edge models at a fraction of the cost traditionally associated with AI development. But this response is not just about national competitiveness – it is also deeply entangled with private industry.
Musk’s growing closeness to Trump, for example, can be viewed as a calculated move to protect his own dominance at home and abroad. By aligning with the administration, Musk ensures that US policy tilts in favour of his AI ventures, securing access to government backing, computing power, and regulatory control over AI exports.
At the same time, Musk’s public criticism of Trump’s US$500 billion AI infrastructure plan – claiming the companies involved lack the necessary funding – was as much a warning as a dismissal, signalling his intent to shape policy in a way that benefits his empire while keeping potential challengers at bay.
Not unrelated, Musk and a group of investors have just launched a US$97.4 billion (£78.7bn) bid for OpenAI’s nonprofit arm, a move that escalates his feud with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and seeks to strengthen his grip on the AI industry. Altman has dismissed the bid as a “desperate power grab”, insisting that OpenAI will not be swayed by Musk’s attempts to reclaim control. The spat reflects how DeepSeek’s emergence has thrown US tech giants into what could be all-out war, fuelling bitter corporate rivalries and reshaping the fight for AI dominance.
And while the US and China escalate their AI competition, other global leaders are pushing for a coordinated response. The Paris AI Action Summit, held on February 10 and 11, has become a focal point for efforts to prevent AI from descending into an uncontrolled power struggle. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, warned delegates that without international oversight, AI risks becoming “the wild west”, where unchecked technological development creates instability rather than progress.
But at the end of the two-day summit, the UK and US refused to sign an international commitment to “ensuring AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy … making AI sustainable for people and the planet”. China was among the 61 countries to sign this declaration.
Concerns have also been raised at the summit about how AI-powered surveillance and control are enabling authoritarian regimes to strengthen repression and reshape the citizen-state relationship. This highlights the fast-growing global industry of digital repression, driven by an emerging “authoritarian-financial complex” that may exacerbate China’s strategic advancement in AI.
Equally, DeepSeek’s cost-effective AI solutions have created an opening for European firms to challenge the traditional AI hierarchy. As AI development shifts from being solely about compute power to strategic efficiency and accessibility, European firms now have an opportunity to compete more aggressively against their US and Chinese counterparts.
Whether this marks a true rebalancing of the AI landscape remains to be seen. But DeepSeek’s emergence has certainly upended traditional assumptions about who will lead the next wave of AI innovation – and how global powers will respond to it.
DeepSeek’s emergence has forced US tech leaders to confront an uncomfortable reality: they underestimated China’s AI capabilities. Confident in their perceived lead, companies like Google, Meta, and OpenAI prioritised incremental improvements over anticipating disruptive competition, leaving them vulnerable to a rapidly evolving global AI landscape.
In response, the US tech giants are now scrambling to defend their dominance, pledging over US$400 billion in AI investment. DeepSeek’s rise, fuelled by open-source collaboration, has reignited fierce debates over innovation versus security, while its energy-efficient model has intensified scrutiny on AI’s sustainability.
Yet Silicon Valley continues to cling to what many view as outdated economic theories such as the Jevons paradox to downplay China’s AI surge, insisting that greater efficiency will only fuel demand for computing power and reinforce their dominance. Companies like Meta, OpenAI and Microsoft remain fixated on scaling computational power, betting that expensive hardware will secure their lead. But this assumption blinds them to a shifting reality.
DeepSeek’s rise as the potential “Walmart of AI” is shaking Silicon Valley’s foundation, proving that high-quality AI models can be built at a fraction of the cost. By prioritising efficiency over brute-force computing power, DeepSeek is challenging the US tech industry’s reliance on expensive hardware like Nvidia’s high-end chips.
This shift has already rattled markets, driving down the stock prices of major US firms and forcing a reassessment of AI dominance. Nvidia, whose business depends on supplying high-performance processors, appears particularly vulnerable as DeepSeek’s cost-effective approach threatens to reduce demand for premium chips.
The growing divide between the US and China in AI, however, is more than just competition – it’s a clash of governance models. While US firms remain fixated on protecting market dominance, China is accelerating AI innovation with a model that is proving more adaptable to global competition.
If Silicon Valley resists structural change, it risks falling further behind. We may witness the unravelling of the “Silicon Valley effect”, through which tech giants have long manipulated AI regulations to entrench their dominance. For years, Google, Meta,and OpenAI shaped policies that favoured proprietary models and costly infrastructure, ensuring AI development remained under their control.
DeepSeek is redefining AI with breakthroughs in code intelligence, vision-language models and efficient architectures that challenge Silicon Valley’s dominance. By optimising computation and embracing open-source collaboration, DeepSeek shows the potential of China to deliver cutting-edge models at a fraction of the cost, outperforming proprietary alternatives in programming, reasoning and real-world applications.
More than a policy-driven rise, China’s AI surge reflects a fundamentally different innovation model – fast, collaborative and market-driven – while Silicon Valley holds on to expensive infrastructure and rigid proprietary control. If US firms refuse to adapt, they risk losing the future of AI to a more agile and cost-efficient competitor.
But China is not just disrupting Silicon Valley. It is expanding “geotechnopolitics”, where AI is a battleground for global power. With AI projected to add US$15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030, China and the US are racing to control the technology that will define economic, military and political dominance.
DeepSeek’s advancement has raised national security concerns in the US. Trump’s government is considering stricter export controls on AI-related technologies to prevent them from bolstering China’s military and intelligence capabilities.
As AI-driven defence systems, intelligence operations and cyber warfare redefine national security, governments must confront a new reality: AI leadership is not just about technological superiority, but about who controls the intelligence that will shape the next era of global power.
China’s AI ambitions extend beyond technology, driving a broader strategy for economic and geopolitical dominance. But with over 50 state-backed companies developing large-scale AI models, its rapid expansion faces growing challenges, including soaring energy demands and US semiconductor restrictions.
China’s president, Xi Jinping, remains resolute, stating: “Whoever can grasp the opportunities of new economic development such as big data and artificial intelligence will have the pulse of our times.” He sees AI driving “new quality productivity” and modernising China’s manufacturing base, calling its “head goose effect” a catalyst for broader innovation.
To counter western containment, China has embraced a “guerrilla” economic strategy, bypassing restrictions through alternative trade networks, deepening ties with the global south, and exploiting weaknesses in global supply chains. Instead of direct confrontation, this decentralised approach uses economic coercion to weaken adversaries while securing China’s own industrial base.
China is also leveraging open-source AI as an ideological tool, presenting its model as more collaborative and accessible than western alternatives. This narrative strengthens its global influence, aligning with nations seeking alternatives to western digital control. While strict state oversight remains, China’s embrace of open-source AI reinforces its claim to a future where innovation is driven not by corporate interests but through shared collaboration and global cooperation.
But while DeepSeek claims to be open access, its secrecy tells a different story. Key details on training data and fine-tuning remain hidden, and its compliance with China’s AI laws has sparked global scrutiny. Italy has banned the platform over data-transfer risks, while Belgium and Ireland launched privacy probes.
Under Chinese regulations, DeepSeek’s outputs must align with state-approved narratives, clashing with the EU’s AI Act, which demands transparency and protects political speech. Such “controlled openness” raises many red flags, casting doubt on China’s place in markets that value data security and free expression.
Many western commentators are seizing on reports of Chinese AI censorship to frame other models as freer and more politically open. The revelation that a leading Chinese chatbot actively modifies or censors responses in real time has fuelled a broader narrative that western AI operates without such restrictions, reinforcing the idea that democratic systems produce more transparent and unbiased technology. This framing serves to bolster the argument that free societies will ultimately lead the global AI race.
But at its heart, the “AI arms race” is driven by technological dominance. The US, China, and the EU are charting different paths, weighing security risks against the need for global collaboration. How this competition is framed will shape policy: lock AI behind restrictions, or push for open innovation.
DeepSeek, for all its transformational qualities, continues to exemplify a model of AI where innovation prioritises scale, speed and efficiency over societal impact. This drive to optimise computation and expand capabilities overshadows the need to design AI as a truly public good. In doing so, it eclipses this technology’s genuine potential to transform governance, public services and social institutions in ways that prioritise collective wellbeing, equity and sustainability over corporate and state control.
A truly global AI framework requires more than political or technological openness. It demands structured cooperation that prioritises shared governance, equitable access, and responsible development. Following a workshop in Shanghai hosted by the Chinese government last September, the UN’s general secretary, António Guterres, outlined his vision for AI beyond corporate or state control: “We must seize this historic opportunity to lay the foundations for inclusive governance of AI – for the benefit of all humanity. As we build AI capacity, we must also develop shared knowledge and digital public goods.”
Both the west and China frame their AI ambitions through competing notions of “openness” – each aligning with their strategic interests and reinforcing existing power structures.
Western tech giants claim AI drives democratisation, yet they often dominate digital infrastructure in parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America, exporting models based on “corporate imperialism” that extract value while disregarding local needs. China, by contrast, positions itself as a technological partner for the rest of the global south; however, its AI remains tightly controlled, reinforcing state ideology.
China’s proclaimed view on international AI collaboration emphasises that AI should not be “a game of rich countries”“, as President Xi stated during the 2024 G20 summit. By advocating for inclusive global AI development, China positions itself as a leader in shaping international AI governance, especially via initiatives like the UN AI resolution and its AI capacity-building action plan. These efforts help promote a more balanced technological landscape while allowing China to strengthen its influence in global AI standards and frameworks.
However, beneath all these narratives, both China and the US share a strategy of AI expansion that relies on exploited human labour, from data annotation to moderation, exposing a system driven less by innovation than by economic and political control.
Seeing AI as a connected race for influence highlights the need for ethical deployment, cross-border cooperation, and a balance between security and progress. And this is where China may face its greatest challenge – balancing the power of open-source innovation with the constraints of a tightly controlled, authoritarian system that thrives on restriction, rather than openness.
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Peter Bloom does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
– ref. DeepSeek: how China’s embrace of open-source AI caused a geopolitical earthquake – https://theconversation.com/deepseek-how-chinas-embrace-of-open-source-ai-caused-a-geopolitical-earthquake-249563
Source: The Conversation – France – By Camille Mahé, Maîtresse de conférences en histoire, Université de Strasbourg
While the first world war and the Spanish civil war had already drawn children in Europe and beyond into the orbit of conflict, the second world war marked a pivotal period in how young people have experienced the horrors of war.
During the 1940s, children faced unprecedented mobilisation and violence. From bombings and massacres to forced displacement and genocide, the impact was staggering. Millions of children were directly affected by these atrocities, while countless others endured the indirect consequences: shortages, family separations and grief.
In the aftermath of the war, childhood experts such as pediatricians, psychologists and nutritionists, as well as political leaders and humanitarian workers, feared for this potentially “lost generation”. With recognition of the vulnerability of children as a social group, there was a transnational push to implement protective measures. This shared awareness led to milestones such as the establishment of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in December 1946 and, later, the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child.
The period from 1939 to 1949 not only highlighted the need to protect children worldwide, but also underscored their importance in building a peaceful future. As detailed in La Seconde Guerre mondiale des enfants (The second world war of children), published in September 2024 by Presses Universitaires de France, children embodied hope for postwar nations. They were seen not only as victims of war but also as active participants in shaping a peaceful world.
After 1945, schools became central to Europe’s social reconstruction. Seen as spaces of socialisation that included nearly all children, schools were viewed as critical for rebuilding society. Some measures mirrored those introduced after the first world war. Children, particularly those aged 6 to 14 (the typical age for compulsory education in Europe), were tasked with preserving the memory of fallen soldiers, resistance fighters and civilian victims. They cleaned and adorned graves, attended public ceremonies and paid homage to the dead.
However, postwar education went further. In some countries, particularly those that formerly had authoritarian or totalitarian regimes such as Italy and Germany, school curricula underwent significant transformation. Lessons on democratic governance and peaceful figures were either reinforced or reintroduced, and history classes began emphasising cultural, political and economic exchanges between nations. These reforms aimed to counteract the nationalist ideologies that had fuelled war and division.
Unlike the post-WWI era, the years after 1945 saw efforts to strengthen ties between nations by fostering connections among their youngest citizens. Programs promoting international school exchanges flourished. French students corresponded with Canadian peers, British children sent books to Germans and Swedish students traveled to Belgium.
Germany hosted one of the most ambitious programs: the US-led “World Friendship Among Children Program”. This initiative included pen-pal projects, student travel and even the symbolic adoption of war orphans by classrooms. The program also established the “World Friendship Council of the Future”, where young people proposed initiatives for international dialogue, mimicking the operations of newly formed organisations such as the United Nations, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and the World Health Organization.
It was also in Germany that Houses of America, or Youth Centres, were established. While the goal was to offer children sports and cultural activities, they were primarily seen by Americans as tools of soft power and political instruments to (re)educate youth about the principles of democracy.
Indeed, after 1945, educating children for peace also meant educating them about democracy. Across Western Europe, teaching methods inspired by progressive education movements – championed by figures such as Maria Montessori, Ovide Decroly and John Dewey – became widespread.
For educational leaders, merely teaching democratic principles wasn’t enough: children needed to practice them. Classrooms became miniature societies where students elected class representatives, voted on school matters and debated everyday and political issues. This active engagement aimed to cultivate civic responsibility and critical thinking.
Some postwar experiments went further. Communities of children or “children’s republics” emerged across Europe to provide homes for children who had lost their homes and parents. While their primary mission was humanitarian, these communities were also intended to form the foundations of new, peaceful societies. Self-governance was central to their goal of preparation for active citizenship. In the Repubblica dei Ragazzi (boys’ republic) in Santa Marinella, near Rome, children ran their own court, deliberative assembly and union.
While schools are indeed the cornerstone of global peacebuilding, debates about fostering peace go beyond the classroom to encompass all aspects of children’s lives. This includes the private sphere, as evidenced by numerous transnational legislative efforts to ban violent comic books and war-themed toys, which are accused of inciting aggression in children and thus threatening a peaceful future.
This surge of post-WWII initiatives underscores the fact that educating for peace and democracy was a European – if not global – project. However, its interpretation varied depending on country and region. In France, West Germany and Italy, the project was rooted in liberal ideals; in Eastern Europe, it reflected a different understanding of democracy.
In the West, the focus was on the individual, with boys and girls assigned traditional, gendered roles: girls were encouraged to become future mothers, while boys were groomed to be workers contributing to economic growth. In contrast, the Eastern model emphasised collective values within a socialist framework, promoting more egalitarian relationships between boys and girls, albeit in service of political objectives.
Regardless of ideological differences, these post-1945 initiatives left a lasting legacy. Their influence can still be seen today in school activities such as student elections and class trips, which continue to echo the democratic ideals of that era.
Camille Mahé ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.
– ref. Education for peace: the effort to teach children how to rebuild societies after WWII – https://theconversation.com/education-for-peace-the-effort-to-teach-children-how-to-rebuild-societies-after-wwii-246087
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
NUMBER OF SHARES COMPOSING CURRENT SHARE CAPITAL AND TOTAL NUMBER OF VOTING RIGHTS AS OF 31 JANUARY 2025
Regulated Information
Paris, 12 February 2025
Information about the total number of voting rights and shares pursuant to Article L.233-8 II of the French Commercial Code and Article 223-16 of the AMF General Regulations.
| Date | Number of shares composing current share capital | Total number of voting rights |
| 31 January 2025 | 800,316,777 |
Gross: 885,499,593 |
Press contacts:
Jean-Baptiste Froville_+33 1 58 98 68 00_ jean-baptiste.froville@socgen.com
Fanny Rouby_+33 1 57 29 11 12_ fanny.rouby@socgen.com
Societe Generale
Societe Generale is a top tier European Bank with more than 126,000 employees serving about 25 million clients in 65 countries across the world. We have been supporting the development of our economies for 160 years, providing our corporate, institutional, and individual clients with a wide array of value-added advisory and financial solutions. Our long-lasting and trusted relationships with the clients, our cutting-edge expertise, our unique innovation, our ESG capabilities and leading franchises are part of our DNA and serve our most essential objective – to deliver sustainable value creation for all our stakeholders.
The Group runs three complementary sets of businesses, embedding ESG offerings for all its clients:
Committed to building together with its clients a better and sustainable future, Societe Generale aims to be a leading partner in the environmental transition and sustainability overall. The Group is included in the principal socially responsible investment indices: DJSI (Europe), FTSE4Good (Global and Europe), Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, Refinitiv Diversity and Inclusion Index, Euronext Vigeo (Europe and Eurozone), STOXX Global ESG Leaders indexes, and the MSCI Low Carbon Leaders Index (World and Europe).
For more information, you can follow us on Twitter/X @societegenerale or visit our website societegenerale.com.
Attachment
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
Raleigh, NC, Feb. 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — RegEd, the leading provider of regulatory compliance and credentialing solutions for the financial services industry, today announced the expansion of its Xchange Producer Management platform to support insurance licensing and securities registration in Canada. This expansion enables financial services firms to harmonize their US and Canadian licensing and registration processes, leveraging Xchange’s advanced automation to improve efficiency, enhance compliance, and accelerate time-to-market for financial professionals operating across both regions. The move comes as part of a new agreement with one of the largest wealth management firms in the US, who will partner with RegEd to launch the new capabilities.
As financial services firms continue to focus on digital transformation, many are seeking to modernize outdated licensing and registration systems. U.S.-based firms with operations in Canada, in particular, require a single, unified platform to support licensing and registration processes in both countries. The expansion of Xchange enables these firms to streamline operational workflows, reduce administrative overhead, and ensure compliance across multiple jurisdictions.
“As firms look to replace aging licensing and registration systems, they need a solution that can support their entire North American footprint,” said Frank Brienzi, CEO of RegEd. “With Xchange’s expansion into Canada, we are meeting that need—offering a comprehensive, automated solution that simplifies compliance for firms operating in both the U.S. and Canada.”
How Xchange Will Deliver More Value for Firms Who Operate in Canada
By investing in localization capabilities and NRD integration, RegEd is reinforcing its commitment to delivering best-in-class compliance technology to global financial services firms.
“Xchange has long been the industry’s most trusted licensing and registration solution in the U.S.,” said Ethan Floyd, Chief Product Officer of RegEd. “Now, we’re bringing that same automation, efficiency, and compliance-driven innovation to the Canadian market, helping firms retire legacy systems and unify their licensing and registration functions.”
About RegEd
RegEd is the market-leading provider of RegTech enterprise solutions with relationships with more than 200 enterprise clients, including 80% of the top 25 financial services firms.
Established in 2000 by former regulators, the company is recognized for continuous regulatory technology innovation with solutions hallmarked by workflow-directed processes, data integration, regulatory intelligence, automated validations, business process automation and compliance dashboards. The aggregate drives the highest levels of operational efficiency and enables our clients to cost-effectively comply with regulations and continuously mitigate risk.
Trusted by the nation’s top financial services firms, RegEd’s proven, holistic approach to RegTech meets firms where they are on the compliance and risk management continuum, scaling as their needs evolve and amplifying the value proposition delivered to clients. For more information, please visit www.reged.com.
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
2024: improved financial results in what remains a degraded environment
* Change at actual exchange rates (%)
** Proposed to the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting on April 25, 2025
| In millions of euros | October 1 – December 31 | January 1 – December 31 | ||
| 2024(1) | 2023 | 2024(1) | 2023 | |
| Revenues | 132.5 | 119.3 | 526.7 | 477.6 |
| Change at actual exchange rates (%) | 11% | 10% | ||
| EBITDA before non-recurring items(2) | 22.6 | 19.8 | 91.1 | 79.0 |
| Change at actual exchange rates (%) | 14% | 15% | ||
| EBITDA margin before non-recurring items (in % of revenues) |
17.1% | 16.6% | 17.3% | 16.5% |
| Income from operations before non-recurring items(2) | 11.9 | 12.3 | 49.3 | 49.1 |
| Change at actual exchange rates (%) | -3% | 0% | ||
| Net income | 8.4 | 7.7 | 29.6 | 32.6 |
| Free cash flow before non-recurring items(2) | 22.2 | 13.2 | 72.1 | 45.3 |
(1) 2024 figures include Launchmetrics since January 23,2024
(2) The definition for performance indicators appears in the Management Discussion of December 31, 2024
Paris, February 12, 2025. Today, Lectra’s Board of Directors, chaired by Daniel Harari, reviewed the consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year 2024. Audit procedures have been performed by the Statutory Auditors. The certification report will be issued at the end of the Board of Director’s meeting of February 27, 2025.
To facilitate analysis of the Group’s results, the accounts of Lectra excluding Launchmetrics (the “Lectra 2023 scope”) are analyzed separately from the Launchmetrics accounts. The detailed 2024 vs 2023 comparisons for the Lectra 2024 scope and for Launchmetrics are based on actual exchange rates, whereas the comparisons for the Lectra 2023 scope are stated on a like-for-like basis.
1. SUMMARY OF THE YEAR 2024
The year 2024 was marked by a severely degraded macroeconomic and geopolitical environment, prompting the Group’s customers to exercise prudence in their investment decisions, though situations varied across geographies and market sectors.
Under these conditions, for the Lectra 2023 scope, orders for new systems were stable, and new SaaS subscriptions grew by 8%, confirming their success and increasing adoption by the Group’s customers.
2024 earnings in line with recent estimates
On October 30, the Group reported that revenues and EBITDA before non-recurring items were expected to be near the lower end of the ranges indicated on February 14, i.e., revenues of 480 million euros and EBITDA before non-recurring items of 85 million euros for the Lectra 2023 scope; and 42 million euros in revenues and EBITDA margin before non-recurring items of over 15% for Launchmetrics, i.e., revenues of 522 million and 91.3 million euros of EBITDA margin before non-recurring items for the Lectra 2024 scope.
In total, full-year 2024 revenues grew 10% to 526.7 million euros and EBITDA before non-recurring items increased 15% to 91.1 million euros.
Successful integration of Launchmetrics
Launchmetrics achieved revenues of 41.2 million euros and an EBITDA before recurring items of 7.0 million euros, and exceeded the Group’s profitability expectations with an EBITDA margin before non-recurring items of 16.9%.
What’s more, this acquisition has considerably expanded Lectra’s SaaS activity, providing the basis for a twofold increase in SaaS revenues to 77.4 million euros at end-2024 and strengthening SaaS’s future potential.
The integration — in terms of processes, teams and products — is already a proven success and enables Lectra to form a coherent set of SaaS activities. Launchmetrics has also contributed its top-level practices in the area of SaaS, thus enriching the customer experience across the Group.
Continuing improvement in the fundamentals of the Group’s business model
The fundamentals of the Group’s business model were substantially improved, notably on the basis of the strict cost control policy implemented since May 2023, and the contribution of Launchmetrics. Recurring revenues increased by 18%, with margins covering nearly all fixed costs. The EBITDA margin before non-recurring items rose 0.8 percentage point, to 17.3%. Free cash flow before non-recurring items generated in 2024 came to 72.1 million euros (+59%) and the Group’s net debt was brought down to 20.6 million euros at December 31, 2024.
2. Q4 2024
Q4 2024 revenues were up 11% compared to Q4 2023, at 132.5 million euros, with Launchmetrics contributing 11.0 million euros.
EBITDA before non-recurring items (22.6 million euros) was up 14% and the EBITDA margin before non-recurring items came to 17.1% (+0.5 percentage points).
Free cash flow before non-recurring items rose sharply to 22.2 million euros (+68%).
Lectra 2023 scope
Currency changes had only a limited impact on revenues and results.
Orders for new systems were stable compared to Q4, 2023, at 38.6 million euros, and new SaaS subscriptions came up to 3.6 million euros (+17%).
Revenues came to 121.5 million euros, up 1%: revenues for new systems were down 6%, while recurring revenues were 5% higher.
EBITDA before non-recurring items was 21.0 million euros and the EBITDA margin before non-recurring items came to 17.3%, up 0.3 percentage point.
3. 2024
Full-year 2024 revenues came to 526.7 million euros, up 10% with the following breakdown: 28% of total revenues for new systems, down 5%, 72% of total revenues in recurring revenues, up 18%, including Saas revenues of 77.4 million euros (x2.5).
Launchmetrics, which has been consolidated since January 23, 2024, contributed 41.2 million euros to 2024 revenues.
Gross profit came to 376.9 million euros, up 13%, and the gross profit margin was 71.6%, up 1.8 percentage points over 2023.
EBITDA before non-recurring items came to 91.1 million euros, up 15%, and the EBITDA margin before non-recurring items rose 0.8 point to 17.3%.
Income from operations before non-recurring items amounted to 49.3 million euros, stable compared to 2023. This included a 22.7-million-euro charge for amortization of intangible assets arising from the acquisitions carried out since 2021.
Research and development costs, which were fully expensed in the period and included in fixed overhead costs, represented 12.8% of revenues (11.7% in 2023).
Financial income and expenses represented a net charge of 6.0 million euros (2.8 million euros in 2023) due to higher interest rates and the financing of the Launchmetrics acquisition.
Foreign exchange gains and losses generated a net loss of 2.2 million euros.
Taking into account the amortization of intangible assets, the increase in financial expenses, and an income tax expense of 10.9 million euros, net income amounted to 29.6 million euros, down 9% compared to 2023.
Free cash flow before non-recurring items was significantly higher, at 72.1 million euros (+59%).
A particularly robust balance sheet
At December 31, 2024, the Group had a particularly robust balance sheet with a consolidated shareholders’ equity of 374.4 million euros, a negative working capital requirement of 25.2 million euros and net debt of 20.6 million euros. The net debt consisted of financial debt of 102.5 million euros and cash of 81.9 million euros.
Lectra 2023 scope
Currency changes had only a limited impact on revenues and results.
Orders for new systems (144,9 million euros) were stable compared to 2023.
Orders for perpetual software licenses (11.4 million euros) fell by 18% — as most new software is now sold in SaaS mode— while orders for equipment and accompanying software (113.0 million euros), and for training and consulting (17.3 million euros) rose by 2% and 9%, respectively.
Revenues were up 2% at 485.5 million euros, and recurring EBITDA was up 7% at 84.2 million Euros.
4. DIVIDEND
The Company maintained its attractive shareholder compensation policy with dividends representing a payout ratio of about 40% of net income in 2023 and, as a result of the strong increase in free cash flow, the company has decided on a payout ratio of 50% of net income for the year 2024.
The Board of Directors will propose to the Shareholders’ Meeting of April 25, 2025 the payment of a dividend at €0.40 per share in respect of fiscal year 2024.
5. CHANGES IN GOVERNANCE
Following a disagreement with the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer regarding the role of the Lead Director, Ross McInnes has decided to resign from his position as Director, effective April 24, 2025. The Board of Directors thanks him for his contribution over the past three years.
As of April 25, 2025, the Board of Directors of Lectra will consist of 7 members: Daniel Harari (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer), Nathalie Rossiensky (Lead Director, Independent Director), Céline Abecassis-Moedas (Independent Director), Karine Calvet (Independent Director), Pierre-Yves Roussel (Independent Director), Jérôme Viala (non-Independent Director) and Hélène Viot-Poirier (Independent Director).
6. ASSESSMENT OF THE 2023-2025 STRATEGIC ROADMAP – SECOND PROGRESS REPORT
Launched in 2017, the Lectra 4.0 strategy aims to position the Group as a key Industry 4.0 player in its three strategic market sectors: fashion, automotive and furniture, before 2030. The strategy has been implemented up to now through three strategic roadmaps.
The first strategic roadmap, which covered the 2017-2019 period, established the key fundamentals for the future of the Group.
The second roadmap, which ran from 2020 through 2022, achieved a new dimension for the Group – primarily through the acquisition of Gerber in June 2021 – and opened new perspectives, with a financial position stronger than ever before, an extended worldwide presence, a broader customer base, a powerful product portfolio, a growing number of customers using its new offers for Industry 4.0, and a new brand image.
The Group’s ambition over the 2023-2025 period is to take full advantage of its change in dimension to accelerate growth, to significantly increase the volume of SaaS in revenues, and to seize acquisition opportunities.
Despite the unstable economic and geopolitical climate, Lectra successfully maintained its long-term strategic orientations. Further, all the fundamentals of the Group’s business model improved significantly and customer adoption of the SaaS model accelerated. The Group acquired Launchmetrics and strategic partnerships were concluded with Six Atomic and AQC.
With the commitment of employees and recognition by customers, Lectra stands at the forefront in building a more sustainable future. The Group has taken numerous steps to enhance its offering to reduce environmental impact for its customers, notably through material traceability for fashion, thanks to the acquisition of a majority stake in TextileGenesis in early 2023.
Details of the second progress report on this 2023-2025 strategic roadmap can be found in the December 31, 2024 “Management Discussion and Analysis” document, available on Lectra.com.
7. OUTLOOK
In the challenging environment of 2024, Lectra proved to be highly resilient, confirming the relevance of its strategy and the quality of its fundamentals—crucial assets for the Group’s continued development.
Outlook for 2025
While initial positive signs can be detected, the lack of visibility in what remains an uncertain economic and geopolitical context, could continue to weigh on investment decisions by the Group’s customers going forward.
In this context, the Group has begun the year 2025 with confidence and will pursue its strategy by meeting the needs of its customers as closely as possible via the quality of its offers for Industry 4.0 and by developing its SaaS activity.
As in the previous two years, visibility regarding orders for new systems remains low, with no way of anticipating the timing or magnitude of a possible rebound, which could nevertheless occur during the course of the year.
Recurring revenues, which accounted for 72% of total revenues in 2024, are expected to grow further in 2025, largely on the strength of expanding SaaS activity.
Furthermore, the Group will maintain strict cost controls and anticipates a mix of orders that will favorably impact the gross margin.
In light of the above, Lectra has set the 2025 objective of achieving recurring revenues of over 400 million euros, including 90 million euros of SaaS revenues.
Overall, revenues are expected to be between 550 and 600 million euros, with an EBITDA margin before non-recurring items close to 20%, based on exchange rates at December 31st, 2024, particularly of $1.04/€1.
The Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations and the financial statements for Q4 and the fiscal year 2024 are available on lectra.com. First quarter earnings for 2025 will be published on April 24. The Annual Shareholders’ Meeting will take place on April 25, 2025.
About Lectra
As a major player in the fashion, automotive and furniture markets, Lectra contributes to the Industry 4.0 revolution with boldness and passion by providing best-in-class technologies.The Group offers industrial intelligence solutions – software, equipment, data and services – that facilitate the digital transformation of the companies it serves. In doing so, Lectra helps its customers push boundaries and unlock their potential. The Group is proud to state that its 3,000 employees are driven by three core values: being open-minded thinkers, trusted partners and passionate innovators.Founded in 1973, Lectra reported revenues of 527 million euros in 2024. The company is listed on Euronext, where it is included in the following indices: CAC All Shares, CAC Technology, EN Tech Leaders and ENT PEA-PME 150.
For more information, visit lectra.com.
Lectra – World Headquarters: 16–18, rue Chalgrin • 75016 Paris • France
Tel. +33 (0)1 53 64 42 00 – www.lectra.com
A French Société Anonyme with capital of €37,966,274 • RCS Paris B 300 702 305
Attachment
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
Q4 and Full Year 2024 financial report available
Paris, February 12, 2025 – Lectra informs its shareholders, in compliance with article 221-4-IV of the General Regulation of the Autorité des marchés financiers, that the Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations for the fourth quarter and the full year 2024 is available on the company’s website: www.lectra.com
It is also available, upon request, at the company’s headquarters 16-18 rue Chalgrin, 75016 Paris (email: investor.relations@lectra.com)
About Lectra
A major player in the fashion, automotive and furniture markets, Lectra contributes to the development of Industry 4.0 with boldness and passion, fully integrating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into its global strategy. The Group offers industrial intelligence solutions – software, cutting equipment, data analysis solutions and associated services – that facilitate the digital transformation of the companies it serves. In doing so, Lectra helps its customers push boundaries and unlock their potential. The Group is proud to state that its 3,000 employees are driven by three core values: being open-minded thinkers, trusted partners and passionate innovators. Founded in 1973, Lectra reported revenues of 527 million euros in 2024. The company is listed on Euronext, where it is included in the following indices: CAC All Shares, CAC Technology, EN Tech Leaders and ENT PEA-PME 150. For more information, visit lectra.com.
Lectra – World Headquarters: 16–18, rue Chalgrin • 75016 Paris • France
Tel. +33 (0)1 53 64 42 00 – www.lectra.com
A French Société Anonyme with capital of €37,966,274• RCS Paris B 300 702 305
Attachment
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
PRESS INFORMATION
Heading: 2024 annual revenues Nanterre, February 12, 2025 (after trading)
8.6% organic growth in 2024
| (being audited, in € millions) | 2023 | 2024 | Growth | of which organic |
| Revenues | 741.2 | 810.4 | + 9.3% | + 8.6% |
Achievements
Forecasts for the year were exceeded, both in terms of activity and operating profit:
With double-digit growth, the Group’s expansion is driven by digital projects, data, cybersecurity, public clouds, sovereign ans trusted clouds (SecNumCloud).
The Group’s net increase in the payroll of 340 by 2024 has been supplemented by greater use of subcontracting.
The full final annual results will be published on Wednesday, March 5, 2025 after the stock exchange closes.
Outlook
As usual, the forecasts for 2025 will be posted along with the Group’s Q1 revenues.
* being audited.
About NEURONES
With 7,100 experts, and ranking among the French leaders in consulting and digital services, NEURONES helps large companies and organizations implement their digital projects, transform their IT infrastructures and adopt new uses.
Euronext Paris (compartment B – NRO) – Euronext Tech Leaders – DSS mid-caps – ‘PEA-PME’ eligible
www.neurones.net
Attachment
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
Paris, 12 February 2025 – 5:45 pm
The Management Board, at its meeting of 2 January 2025, decided to launch an employee shareholding plan “Rubis Avenir 2025” by way of the sale by the Company of treasury shares reserved for eligible employees of companies participating in the Rubis Avenir Company Savings Plan (Group companies based in France) under the conditions described below.
The shares offered are existing treasury shares previously repurchased by the Company pursuant to the share buyback programme authorised by the Ordinary Shareholders’ Meeting on 11 June 2024 (22th resolution).
The shares offer, established under Articles L. 3332-18 et seq. of the French Labor Code, will cover a maximum of 400,000 shares.
The acquisition price, set at €17.15, corresponds, in accordance with Article L. 3332-19 of the French Labor Code, to 75% of the average share price over the 20 trading days preceding the decision of the Management Board.
The subscription period will run from 17 March to 4 April 2025.
The funds invested in Rubis shares through the “Rubis Avenir” mutual fund will be available at the end of a five-year lock-up period, except in cases where early release is allowed in accordance with Article R. 3324-22 of the French Labor Code.
The acquired shares under the offer are existing ordinary shares fully assimilated with the existing shares comprising Rubis’ share capital.
The “Rubis Avenir” mutual fund was set up in 2002 to allow employees to invest in Rubis’ capital, and thereby to strengthen the link between employees and the company. Rubis has performed an employees shareholding plan each year since the fund’s establishment.
As of 31 December 2024, employees of the Group held 2.17% of Rubis’ share capital through the “Rubis Avenir” mutual fund.
| Contact | |
| RUBIS – Legal department | |
| Tel: +(33) 1 44 17 95 95 |
Attachment
Source: Government of Canada – Prime Minister
Working together, Canada and its transatlantic partners have created good-paying jobs for our peoples, strengthened our economies, and advanced progress on key priorities, including climate change and international security. With increasing geopolitical instability and economic disruptions, including proposed U.S. tariffs, it is critical to accelerate these partnerships, now and into the future.
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today concluded a successful visit to Paris, France, and to Brussels, Belgium, where he strengthened Canada’s ties with transatlantic partners and made progress on shared priorities, including artificial intelligence (AI).
In Paris, the Prime Minister participated in the AI Action Summit, co-chaired by France and India, where he engaged with business and policy leaders on how we unlock opportunities and growth for Canadians. As part of our 2025 G7 Presidency, the Prime Minister underlined Canada’s commitment to responsibly power, adopt, and share AI. This includes helping partners access clean and reliable energy to power AI, finding ways to leverage AI and build more reliable energy grids, supporting small and medium-sized businesses’ use of AI to improve their productivity, and sharing the AI revolution with the world so our prosperity remains inclusive.
At the Summit, Prime Minister Trudeau signed a joint Leaders’ Declaration on inclusive and sustainable AI, which reinforces Canada’s approach to AI development and ensures it aligns with human rights, public interest, and environmental protection. The Prime Minister also met with over a dozen CEOs and leading AI business leaders to position Canada as an ideal partner for innovation and investment while helping deepen Canada’s commercial relations with its partners across the U.S. and the European Union (EU).
While in Paris, the Prime Minister also chaired a roundtable on infrastructure and energy requirements for AI and participated in the closing ceremony of a ministerial meeting of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, of which Canada is a founding member.
In Brussels, Prime Minister Trudeau took part in a Canada-EU Leaders’ Meeting with the President of the European Council, António Costa, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The leaders reaffirmed the strong ties between Canada and the EU and discussed the progress made in recent years for the benefit of people on both sides of the Atlantic. This includes a strengthened trade relationship under the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which continues to create significant opportunities for businesses and good-paying jobs for workers in Canada and the EU. They also discussed the imposition of U.S. tariffs as well as Canada and the EU’s responses.
At the meeting, the leaders reaffirmed their commitment to building on the Canada-EU relationship and continuing to deliver results on a range of shared priorities. This includes promoting global economic security and stability, strengthening bilateral and global trade and investment – including in response to expected tariffs by the U.S. – defending the rule of law, advancing defence and security co-operation, and supporting Ukraine. They also discussed developments in the Middle East, including in Gaza and Syria, stressing the importance of an inclusive Syrian-led political governance structure.
While in Brussels, the Prime Minister also met with the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Mark Rutte. He reaffirmed Canada’s commitment to working with NATO Allies to strengthen Euro-Atlantic security and continue supporting Ukraine in the face of Russia’s unjustifiable war of aggression. He also highlighted Canada’s contributions to NATO’s collective defence efforts across Europe, including through Operation REASSURANCE.
Shared challenges require shared solutions. By working together, we can make the world safer, create good-paying jobs for our peoples, harness the potential of the greatest innovations, and ensure that growth is inclusive. As a leader in AI and a steadfast member of the NATO Alliance, and as part of our G7 Presidency this year, Canada is taking action to create a better, safer, and more prosperous world.
“During my trip to Paris and Brussels, I had one message – if you’re looking for a strong, reliable, and trustworthy partner, Canada is it. We’re advancing progress on AI, strengthening our defence alliances, creating good-paying jobs, and making sure businesses, innovators, and partners choose Canada.”
Source: Republic of France in English
The Republic of France has issued the following statement:
Artificial intelligence (AI) is profoundly transforming our society, opening up unprecedented opportunities in many fields. For this technological revolution to benefit everyone, it is crucial to ensure its responsible and ethical development, with trust at its heart. AI raises major concerns regarding safety and security, as clearly demonstrated by the summits in Bletchley Park (United Kingdom – November 2023) and Seoul (South Korea – May 2024). Whether in anticipating extreme risks or addressing those already visible, a resolutely ambitious approach to building trust in AI is essential on an international scale.
Technological advances in AI also offer exceptional possibilities in the field of security. With this in mind, the AI Action Summit is committed to promoting safe and secure AI, particularly by providing the necessary tools to mitigate these risks.
For AI to fulfill its promises, a collaborative approach is essential. The AI Action Summit calls on public, private, and academic stakeholders to work together to build a trusted AI ecosystem.
This global approach is based on three pillars: science, solutions, and standards. With a robust international scientific consensus on AI, the time has come to develop technical solutions that are open and accessible to all, while creating common international standards recognized by the entire ecosystem. This will help prevent fragmentation and encourage convergence at all levels.
As part of the AI Action Summit, the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and the General Secretariat for Defence and National Security have supported the action of the thematic envoy, Guillaume Poupard, to federate an ecosystem of stakeholders, both nationally and internationally, mobilised to strengthen the safety and security of AI.
Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements
Defence leaders from across the world have gathered in Brussels today as the UK convenes a major Ukraine summit at NATO HQ.
UK convenes the 26th Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Brussels today – the first time the meeting has been chaired by a European nation – supporting UK and European security, a foundation of the Government’s Plan for Change.
Defence Secretary confirms landmark half a million rounds of artillery ammunition – worth more than £1 billion – has now been provided to Ukraine by the UK
New £150 million firepower package of military aid including drones, tanks and air defence systems will give Ukrainian soldiers fighting Russia the equipment they need.
Defence leaders from across the world have gathered in Brussels today as the UK convenes a major Ukraine summit at NATO HQ, demonstrating the UK’s leadership and unwavering military support for Ukraine in its fight against Putin’s illegal invasion.
Over 50 allies and partners, including Ukraine, the US, Japan and Australia, met for the 26th Ukraine Defence Contact Group, chaired by Defence Secretary John Healey, the first time for any European nation.
Opening the meeting, the Defence Secretary announced a new £150m military support package to support Ukrainian troops fighting Russia on the frontline, part of the UK’s unprecedented £3 billion annual pledge to Ukraine.
This year, the UK’s total commitment has reached its highest ever level, standing at £4.5 billion, ensuring Ukraine can achieve peace through strength and underscoring the new 100 Year Partnership between the UK and Ukraine.
2025 is the critical year for the war in Ukraine. Ukrainians continue to fight with huge courage – military and civilians alike, and their bravery – fused with our support – has proved a lethal combination.
Speaking as a European Defence Minister, we know our responsibilities. We are doing more of the heavy lifting and sharing more of the burden.
While Russia is weakened, it remains undeniably dangerous. We must step up further – and secure peace through strength – together.
Speaking at today’s meeting, where he was joined by Ukrainian Defence Minster Rustem Umerov, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Defence Secretary Healey confirmed that the UK has sent a landmark 500,000 rounds of ammunition to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, worth over £1 billion.
The Defence Secretary also confirmed that the UK is on track to provide more than 10,000 drones to Ukraine in a single year, with final deliveries due next month.
Today’s £150 million package includes thousands of drones, dozens of battle tanks and armoured vehicles and air defence systems.
More than 50 armoured and protective vehicles, including modernised T-72 tanks will be deployed to Ukraine by the end of spring, building on the thousands of pieces of equipment the UK has already given to Ukraine.
The air defence equipment will support more than 100 Ukrainian air defence teams, and has a 90% success rate of shooting down kamikaze drones, protecting Ukrainian critical national infrastructure including electricity sites frequently targeted by Russia. Announced by the Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Kyiv last month, the UK and Denmark are also providing fifteen Gravehawks to Ukraine.
Today’s package also includes major new maintenance contracts to support in-country repairs to critical kit – helping keep Ukraine’s tanks and artillery in the fight and bringing broken equipment back into use.
The Government is clear that the security of the UK starts in Ukraine and is therefore committed to Ukraine’s long-term security as a foundation for the government’s Plan for Change.
As part of today’s announcement, thousands of pieces of military equipment the UK has already donated to Ukraine will be repaired and better maintained through contracts worth around £60 million.
In a boost the UK’s economy, this includes a multi-million-pound contract with UK defence firm Babcock, who will train Ukrainian personnel to maintain and repair crucial equipment such as Challenger 2 tanks, self-propelled artillery, and combat reconnaissance vehicles inside Ukraine. Through this agreement, equipment can be serviced and returned to the front line quicker.
UK defence giant BAE Systems has also been awarded a £14 million contract, funded by Sweden and procured through the UK-administered International Fund for Ukraine, to repair Archer artillery systems. Working with Lancashire-based firm AMS, repairs of the Swedish-gifted Archer systems will be carried out in Ukraine with Ukrainian soldiers given technical training so they can maintain equipment for years to come.
Today’s announcement comes ahead of tomorrow’s NATO Defence Ministerial meeting, where Defence Secretary Healey will set out that in this critical year, nations must step up and back Ukraine with the resources they need to achieve long-term peace in the face of Russian aggression.
Published 12 February 2025
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
Municipality Finance Plc
Financial Statements Bulletin
12 February 2025 at 5:00 pm (EET)
Municipality Finance Plc Financial Statements Bulletin 1 January–31 December 2024
In brief: MuniFin Group in 2024
Comparison figures deriving from the income statement and figures describing the change during the financial year are based on figures reported for the corresponding period in 2023. Comparison figures deriving from the balance sheet and other cross-sectional items are based on the figures of 31 December 2023 unless otherwise stated.
* Alternative performance measure.
Key figures (Group)
| Jan–Dec 2024 | Jan–Dec 2023 | Change, % | |
| Net operating profit excluding unrealised fair value changes (EUR million)* | 181 | 176 | 2.9 |
| Net operating profit (EUR million)* | 166 | 139 | 19.5 |
| Net interest income (EUR million)* | 260 | 259 | 0.3 |
| New long-term customer financing (EUR million)* | 5,056 | 4,319 | 17.1 |
| New long-term funding (EUR million)* | 8,922 | 10,087 | -11.6 |
| Cost-to-income ratio, %* | 27.7 | 32.2 | -14.0** |
| Return on equity (ROE), %* | 7.2 | 6.6 | 9.3** |
| 31 Dec 2024 | 31 Dec 2023 | Change, % | |
| Long-term customer financing (EUR million)* | 35,173 | 32,022 | 9.8 |
| Green and social finance (EUR million)* | 9,353 | 7,029 | 33.1 |
| Balance sheet total (EUR million) | 53,092 | 49,736 | 6.7 |
| CET1 capital (EUR million) | 1,646 | 1,550 | 6.2 |
| Tier 1 capital (EUR million) | 1,646 | 1,550 | 6.2 |
| Total own funds (EUR million) | 1,646 | 1,550 | 6.2 |
| CET1 capital ratio, % | 107.7 | 103.4 | 4.2** |
| Tier 1 capital ratio, % | 107.7 | 103.4 | 4.2** |
| Total capital ratio, % | 107.7 | 103.4 | 4.2** |
| Leverage ratio, % | 12.3 | 12.0 | 2.5** |
| Personnel | 178 | 185 | -3.8 |
* Alternative performance measure.
** Change in ratio.
Comment on the 2024 financial year by President and CEO Esa Kallio
The operating environment in global economy and international politics went through a whirlwind of changes in 2024. Even in the turmoil, Finland stood steady and secure: our society is built on long-standing practices and institutions that have been developed together and tried and tested over time. This stability also helps safeguard MuniFin’s strong performance through shifts in the operating environment. Finnish society must continue to operate in broad collaboration and develop the structures of society in the long term. Sometimes this requires difficult decisions in society in the short term.
In 2024, the demand for MuniFin’s financing was especially high in the affordable social housing sector. In the future, however, the sector will be facing reductions on interest subsidy loan authorisations.
The Finnish system for affordable social housing is a success story that has served as a model across Europe – and will hopefully continue to do so, especially now that the rising cost of living has led to a surge in homelessness in many countries. Our state-subsidised housing production system has proven effective in reducing homelessness and regional segregation, increasing the supply of affordable social housing in growth centres, advancing municipalities’ housing policy goals of ensuring a diverse housing structure, and providing high-quality housing also to students, senior citizens and people with disabilities.
Especially in the past couple of years, affordable housing production has also significantly supported the vitality of the Finnish construction sector, helping offset the slump in housing construction. Finland’s well-functioning system should not be changed; rather, the current model and level of housing production subsidies should be kept as they are. Timely investments into affordable social housing production can also help level out construction cycles and support employment.
In 2024, MuniFin reached new milestones in sustainable investments. In October, we issued our tenth green bond, the high demand of which was once again testament to our strong position as an international forerunner in the financial sector. Moreover, sustainable finance made up the majority of the new long-term customer financing we granted in 2024.
Information on the Group results
| Consolidated income statement | Jan–Dec 2024 | Jan–Dec 2023 | Change, % | Jul–Dec 2024 | Jul–Dec 2023 | Change, % |
| (EUR million) | ||||||
| Net interest income | 260 | 259 | 0.3 | 132 | 135 | -2.4 |
| Other income | 2 | 0 | >100 | 1 | -1 | >100 |
| Income excluding unrealised fair value changes | 262 | 259 | 1.1 | 132 | 134 | -1.4 |
| Commission expenses | -17 | -16 | 8.2 | -9 | -8 | 11.2 |
| HR expenses | -21 | -20 | 2.0 | -10 | -10 | -4.3 |
| Other items in administrative expenses | -23 | -20 | 12.4 | -12 | -11 | 12.0 |
| Depreciation and impairment on tangible and intangible assets | -6 | -7 | -7.8 | -3 | -3 | -14.3 |
| Other operating expenses | -14 | -19 | -27.0 | -7 | -7 | -0.6 |
| Costs | -81 | -82 | -1.9 | -40 | -39 | 3.0 |
| Credit loss and impairments on financial assets | 0 | -1 | -72.9 | -1 | -1 | -38.7 |
| Net operating profit excluding unrealised fair value changes | 181 | 176 | 2.9 | 92 | 95 | -2.8 |
| Unrealised fair value changes | -16 | -37 | -58.4 | -31 | -33 | -3.6 |
| Net operating profit | 166 | 139 | 19.5 | 61 | 62 | -2.4 |
| Income tax expense | -33 | -28 | 17.3 | -12 | -12 | -2.3 |
| Profit for the period | 133 | 111 | 20.1 | 48 | 50 | -2.4 |
The Group’s net operating profit excluding unrealised fair value changes
MuniFin Group’s core business operations remained strong in 2024. The Group’s net operating profit excluding unrealised fair value changes increased by 2.9% (3.2%) and amounted to EUR 181 million (EUR 176 million). The growth was influenced both by an increase in other income and a decrease in costs as net interest income remained at the level of previous year.
The Group’s income excluding unrealised fair value changes was EUR 262 million (EUR 259 million) and grew by 1.1% (6.5%). Net interest income grew by 0.3% (7.5%), totalling EUR 260 million (EUR 259 million). Net interest income was positively affected by growing business volumes. The increase in funding costs due to the market conditions and the shape of the yield curve slowed the growth of net interest income.
Other income totalled EUR 2.0 million (EUR 0.1 million). It consisted mainly of the billing of MuniFin’s digital services and the turnover of the subsidiary company Inspira from the early part of the year. In the previous year, negative realised FX rate changes reduced other income. At 0.8% (0.1%), other income relative to income excluding unrealised fair value changes forms only a minor part of the Group’s income.
The Group’s costs were EUR 81 million (EUR 82 million), down by 1.9% from the year before (+12.4%). The reduction in expenses was due to the fact that no contribution fee was collected for the Single Resolution Fund in 2024.
Commission expenses totalled EUR 17 million (EUR 16 million), of which EUR 14 million (EUR 13 million) consisted of the guarantee commission collected by the Municipal Guarantee Board for guaranteeing MuniFin’s funding.
HR and administrative expenses grew by 7.2% (9.0%) and reached EUR 44 million (EUR 41 million). HR expenses comprised EUR 21 million (EUR 20 million) and other administrative expenses EUR 23 million (EUR 20 million). The average number of employees in the Group was 187 (183) during the financial year. Other items in administrative expenses grew by 12.4% (8.8%), mainly due to the increased costs of maintaining and developing information systems.
During the financial year, depreciation and impairment of tangible and intangible assets totalled EUR 6 million (EUR 7 million).
Other operating expenses were EUR 14 million (EUR 19 million). The main reason for this decrease is that there was no contribution fee to the Single Resolution Fund in 2024. Other operating expenses excluding fees collected by authorities grew by 22.1% (9.9%) to EUR 11 million (EUR 9 million).
Credit loss and impairments on financial assets were EUR 0.3 million (EUR 1.2 million). This item consists of expected credit losses (ECL). The Group updated the model used to estimate the probability of default and the forward-looking macro scenarios during the financial year. The Group’s management has assessed the impact of general cost inflation and increased interest rates on customer financing receivables and credit risk and decided to release the additional discretionary provision in full at the end of 2024 (the amount of the additional discretionary provision was EUR 0.6 million at the end of 2023, and in June 2024, EUR 0.4 million of the additional provision was released). The update of the probability of default model increased expected credit losses by EUR 0.9 million euros, as the amount of exposures that moved from stage 1 to stage 2 increased. Most of the transferred exposures were subject to the previous additional discretionary provision. Therefore, the Group’s management considered that there is no longer a basis for recording a group-specific additional provision.
The Group’s overall credit risk position has remained low. The amount of forborne loans was EUR 561 million (EUR 497 million), while non-performing exposures amounted to EUR 292 million (EUR 142 million) at the end of the year. These non-performing exposures represented 0.8% (0.4%) of total customer exposures. At the end of December, the Group had EUR 13 million in receivables due to the insolvency of customers, for which the collateral realisation process is ongoing, or the credit receivable is due for payment by the guarantor (there were no such receivables at the end of 2023). All the Group’s customer financing receivables are from Finnish municipalities, joint municipal authorities, wellbeing services counties or joint county authorities, or accompanied by a securing municipal, joint municipal authority, wellbeing services county or joint county authority guarantee or a state deficiency guarantee supplementing real estate collateral, and therefore no final credit losses will arise. According to the management’s assessment, all receivables from customers will be fully recovered. During the Group’s history of 35 years, it has never recognised any final credit losses in its customer financing.
The credit risk of the Group’s liquidity portfolio has likewise remained at a low level, and the average credit rating of the debt securities in the portfolio is AA+ (AA+).
The Group’s profit and unrealised fair value changes
The Group’s net operating profit was EUR 166 million (EUR 139 million). Unrealised fair value changes decreased the Group’s net operating profit by EUR 16 million (in 2023: decreased by EUR 37 million). In January–December, unrealised fair value changes in hedge accounting amounted to EUR -12 million (EUR -27 million) and unrealised net result on financial assets and liabilities through profit or loss to EUR -4 million (EUR -10 million).
The Group’s effective tax rate in the financial year was 19.9% (20.2%). Taxes in the Consolidated income statement amounted to EUR 33 million (EUR 28 million). After taxes, the Group’s profit for the financial year was EUR 133 million (EUR 111 million).
The Group’s full-year return on equity (ROE) was 7.2% (6.6%). Excluding unrealised fair value changes, the ROE was 7.9% (8.4%).
The Group’s other comprehensive income includes unrealised fair value changes of EUR 169 million (EUR 109 million). During the financial year, the most significant item affecting the other comprehensive income was net change in fair value due to changes in own credit risk of financial liabilities designated at fair value through profit or loss totalling EUR 137 million (EUR 75 million). The cost-of-hedging amounted to EUR 30 million (EUR 25 million). Net change in fair value of financial assets at fair value through other comprehensive income was EUR 2 million (EUR 8 million).
On the whole, unrealised fair value changes net of deferred tax affected the Group’s equity by EUR 122 million (EUR 57 million) and CET1 capital net of deferred tax in capital adequacy by EUR 13 million (EUR -3 million). The cumulative effect of unrealised fair value changes on the Group’s own funds in capital adequacy calculations was EUR 58 million (EUR 45 million).
Unrealised fair value changes reflect the temporary impact of market conditions on the valuation levels of financial instruments at the time of reporting. The value changes may vary significantly from one reporting period to another, causing volatility in profit, equity and own funds in capital adequacy calculations. The effect on individual contracts will be removed by the end of the contract period. In the financial year, unrealised fair value changes were influenced in particular by changes in interest rates and credit risk spreads in the Group’s main funding markets.
In accordance with its risk management principles, the Group uses derivatives to financially hedge against interest rate, exchange rate and other market and price risks. Cash flows under agreements are hedged, but due to the generally used valuation methods, changes in fair value differ between the financial instrument and the respective hedging derivative. Changes in the shape of the interest rate curve and credit risk spreads in different currencies affect the valuations, which cause the fair values of hedged assets and liabilities and hedging instruments to behave in different ways. In practice, the changes in valuations are not realised on a cash basis because the Group holds financial instruments and their hedging derivatives almost always until the maturity date. The counterparty credit risk related to derivatives is comprehensively covered by collateral management. Changes in credit risk spreads are not expected to be materialised as credit losses for the Group, because the Group’s liquidity reserve has been invested in instruments with low credit risk.
The Parent Company and subsidiary company Inspira’s results
In 2024, MuniFin’s net interest income amounted to EUR 260 million (EUR 259 million) and net operating profit to EUR 166 million (EUR 139 million).
The turnover of MuniFin’s subsidiary company, Financial Advisory Services Inspira Ltd, was EUR 0.4 million (EUR 1.4 million), and its net operating result amounted to EUR -0.5 million (EUR 0.0 million). The Group discontinued Inspira’s advisory services in the spring. In the future, the subsidiary company will provide some of the digital added value services MuniFin offers to its customers.
The Group’s financial performance in July–December
In the second half of 2024, the Group’s net operating profit excluding unrealised fair value changes amounted to EUR 92 million (Jul–Dec 2023: EUR 95 million), remaining almost at the same level as in the year before. Net interest income totalled EUR 132 million (Jul–Dec 2023: EUR 135 million) and costs EUR 40 million (Jul–Dec 2023: EUR 39 million) in July–December. Unrealised fair value changes weakened the net operating profit by EUR 31 million (in the comparison period Jul–Dec 2023: weakened by EUR 33 million). The Group’s net operating profit amounted to EUR 61 million (Jul–Dec 2023: EUR 62 million) in July–December.
In the second half of the year, the Group’s net operating profit excluding unrealised fair value changes increased by 3.1% from the first half. Net interest income went up by 2.4% from the first half of the year. Costs amounted to EUR 40 million in July–December and to EUR 41 million in January–June. The Group’s net operating profit totalled EUR 61 million in July– December, decreasing by 42.4% from January–June. In the second half of the year, unrealised fair value changes affected the net operating profit by EUR -31 million, while in the first half of the year, their effect was EUR 16 million.
Outlook for 2025
Europe’s economy is starting 2025 off from a weaker position than anticipated. Business cycle expectations are subdued, and the global operating environment is fraught with uncertainty. Donald Trump’s presidential administration is expected to pursue protectionist trade policies, which could, at worst, severely slow down the euro area’s economic recovery.
However, if Europe is exempted from the planned universal tariff on all US imports and the euro continues to weaken, businesses in the euro area could even find new opportunities to expand their market share in the US. Europe could also suffer negative economic effects if capital needed to improve productivity is increasingly allocated to strengthening military defence and supply security. The political turmoil in France and Germany adds another layer of uncertainty into the euro area economy.
To counterbalance the growing economic uncertainty, the European Central Bank is expected to continue brisk interest rate cuts in 2025. Short-term market rates are projected to come down to about two per cent or even slightly below that by mid-year.
The sharp interest rate cuts will be the most crucial booster for the Finnish economy in 2025. Although the overall tone of the economic turnround is still relatively subdued, the simultaneous recovery of demand drivers could boost annual GDP growth to surprisingly strong figures. Even so, macroeconomic forecasts continue to be very uncertain. Finland’s two most important export markets, the US and Germany, both entail considerable risks, and a sharperthan-expected decline in employment casts a shadow over the recovery of the domestic market. From the Group’s perspective, the 2024 rise in credit risk spreads is expected to push up the cost of funding, weakening the Group’s net interest income in 2025.
Municipalities are undergoing sizeable adjustment programmes, but their financing deficit is nevertheless expected to grow again in 2025. Municipal finances are strained by several factors: central government transfer cuts resulting from the balancing of health and social services reform transfers, increased net investments, health and social services facilities that are left unused by wellbeing services counties but continue to incur maintenance, conversion and demolition costs, as well as uncertainty surrounding the actual costs of the employment services reform. In addition, the weakened employment outlook poses a serious risk to tax revenues.
Privately funded housing production is expected to take an upward turn in 2025, but its volume will nevertheless remain well below normal levels. The housing market is starting to gradually pick up, and housing prices are expected to start rising moderately from 2025 onwards. In contrast, state-subsidised housing production will see fewer building starts due to reductions on interest subsidy loan authorisations. In March 2025, the Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland (Ara) will cease to operate as an independent government agency and its operations will instead be integrated under the Ministry of the Environment. This change does not mean the end of state-subsidised housing production; rather, it aims to improve the administration of affordable social housing production. According to MuniFin’s analysis, the integration will not have a direct effect on MuniFin’s business. Interest subsidy loans will continue to be granted to state-subsidised housing production, but the related processes will be administered at the Ministry of the Environment. MuniFin will monitor the practical implications closely. With the managing authority changing, the Company may need to make changes to some of its processes in response.
Considering the above-mentioned circumstances, the Group expects its net operating profit excluding unrealised fair value changes to be at the same level or lower in 2025 as in 2024. The Group expects its capital adequacy ratio and leverage ratio to remain strong. The valuation principles set in the IFRS framework may cause significant but temporary unrealised fair value changes, some of which increase the volatility of net operating profit and make it more difficult to estimate.
These estimates are based on a current assessment of the development of MuniFin Group’s operations and the operating environment.
Municipality Finance Plc
Further information:
Esa Kallio, President and CEO, tel. +358 50 337 7953
Harri Luhtala, Executive Vice President, Finance, CFO, tel. +358 50 592 9454
MuniFin (Municipality Finance Plc) is one of Finland’s largest credit institutions. The owners of the company include Finnish municipalities, the public sector pension fund Keva and the State of Finland. The Group’s balance sheet is over EUR 53 billion.
MuniFin’s customers include municipalities, joint municipal authorities, wellbeing services counties, joint county authorities, corporate entities under the control of the above-mentioned organisations, and affordable social housing. Lending is used for environmentally and socially responsible investment targets such as public transportation, sustainable buildings, hospitals and healthcare centres, schools and day care centres, and homes for people with special needs.
MuniFin’s customers are domestic, but the Company operates in a completely global business environment. The Company is an active Finnish bond issuer in international capital markets and the first Finnish green and social bond issuer. The funding is exclusively guaranteed by the Municipal Guarantee Board.
Read more: www.munifin.fi
Attachment
Source: International Chamber of Commerce
Headline: Unveiled: 2024 ICC Arbitration and ADR preliminary statistics
Alexander G. Fessas, Secretary General of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and Director of ICC Dispute Resolution Services, said:
“The preliminary figures highlight once more the confidence companies and states place in ICC as their preferred institution for resolving disputes. Staying close to the needs of ICC Arbitration and ADR users worldwide, we remain committed to delivering fair, efficient and transparent services that meet the evolving needs of domestic and international commerce”.
In 2024, the number of new cases remained strong, with 831 cases filed under the ICC Arbitration Rules (of which 17 began with Emergency Arbitrator applications) and 10 cases under the ICC Appointing Authority Rules. This is similar to the average caseload of the last five years. In October, ICC reached a milestone when it registered its 29,000th case under the ICC Arbitration Rules. In total 1,789 cases were pending at the end of 2024.
In 2024, 152 new cases were administered under the Expedited Procedure Provisions (‘EPP’). The ICC Court has administered a total of 865 cases under the EPP since the procedure was established in 2017.
A total of 2,392 parties participated in ICC arbitrations in 2024, of which 1,100 were claimants and 1,292 were respondents. Parties originated from 136 jurisdictions, with an increased presence compared to 2023 in North and West Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, South and East Asia, and the Pacific.
For new cases, the top 10 countries from which parties originated were the United States (167 parties) followed by Brazil (156), Spain (137), Mexico (106), Italy (101), the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong SAR (98), Germany (85), Türkiye (80), and France and the United Arab Emirates (73 parties each).
A total of 45 states and 143 state-owned entities were involved in 159 cases filed during the year, accounting for 19% of new cases.
ICC arbitral tribunals were seated in 107 cities across 62 countries or independent territories on all continents. The top 10 jurisdictions were the United Kingdom (96 cases), France (91), Switzerland (83), the United States (72), the United Arab Emirates (38), Spain (33), Brazil and Mexico (30 each), Singapore (28), and Germany (20).
Amounts in dispute in new cases varied significantly, ranging from just below US$10,000 to US$53 billion. The aggregate amount in dispute for new cases reached US$103 billion, with an average of US$130 million and a median of approximately US$5 million.
With a total of US$354 billion, the aggregate amount in dispute for pending cases sets an all-time record. The corresponding average and median amounts were US$211 million and US$14 million, respectively.
Claudia Salomon, President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, said:
“The 2024 statistics underscore the ICC Court’s role as the leading arbitral institution. With so many parties from jurisdictions around the world and a record value of pending cases, it is clear that arbitration remains a vital tool for resolving domestic and cross-border disputes. As we move forward, we continue to prioritise accessibility, efficiency and innovation, ensuring that ICC remains a trusted and effective solution for businesses and States worldwide”.
A total of 61 requests were filed with the ICC ADR Centre in 2024: 37 under ICC Mediation Rules, 20 under the Expert Rules, three under DOCDEX Rules and one under the Dispute Board Rules.
The full 2024 ICC Dispute Resolution Statistics report will be released later this year. ICC DRS statistical reports since 1997 are available on the ICC Dispute Resolution Library (jusmundi.com).
Information presented herewith is subject to verification prior to publication in the complete 2024 annual statistical report.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Christopher Wolff, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University at Albany, State University of New York
As an archaeologist, you picture yourself traveling to some remote location, digging into the ground, and returning to a lab in a university or museum to study the remains of past civilizations, with hopes of answering important questions.
In contrast, I’ve often found myself working to return those remains to their rightful cultures. Repatriation is the process of returning ancestral human remains and important objects to descendant populations. Since the passing of the National Museum of the American Indian Act in 1989 and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in 1990, it has become an increasingly important part of archaeological practice, yet about 110,000 ancestors remain in collections.
This work is about more than legal obligations. To many researchers such as myself, it is a matter of human rights.
When first enacted, these laws were controversial among archaeologists. Much of this anxiety stemmed from worries about losing access to research opportunities. Some concerns were shaped by legal battles surrounding the remains of “Kennewick Man,” whom Indigenous people refer to as the “Ancient One.” This man’s remains were found in Washington state in 1996 and dated to over 8,000 years ago. Scientists won the legal right to study them, in opposition to local tribal nations’ requests, until a 2016 law returned the remains of the individual to those groups.
Over time, many archaeologists have seen that while repatriation requirements limit research in some ways, in others they have been beneficial and improved aspects of archaeologists’ relationships with Indigenous communities.
More importantly, repatriation laws have served as a partial remedy for the historical trauma of those peoples.
This is not an idea I was exposed to as a graduate student. Like many others in my field, I had virtually no exposure to the actual process of repatriation, even more than a decade after the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, called NAGPRA, was signed into law. Rather, it is one that developed while I served as a repatriation archaeologist for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History from 2009-2011, and in the following years as a professor of archaeology.
Repatriation includes important steps that are required by law, as well as other ethical considerations. First, any human remains or objects that fall within certain categories – such as sacred objects, or funerary objects – should be stored where they can be properly cared for with respect. For instance, Indigenous groups may ask that tobacco be placed with the remains, as an offering to their ancestors’ spirits.
Researchers must compile information about these human remains into an itemized list containing the number of individuals and objects, brief descriptions of them, where they were found, and how they came into the institution’s possession. This list is then provided to representatives of communities that may be descendants, or possible living relatives.
If those communities decide to request the remains’ return, then the formal process of assessing “cultural affiliation” begins. This is a thorough analysis of any evidence demonstrating a connection between the remains or objects and a particular group today. Evidence can include many things, including physical characteristics of the human remains or objects, written documents, oral history, or distinct cultural attributes of the artifacts.
Legally, this process is required only for federally recognized Indigenous groups. However, institutions can choose to apply the same consideration to other communities if they believe it is appropriate, such as the hundreds of Indigenous groups that lack federal recognition.
The analysis is officially submitted to the national NAGPRA database, and a public notice is posted so that other interested parties could potentially make a claim on the remains or objects.
If researchers confirm there is a cultural affiliation, after a 90-day waiting period an official repatriation statement is filed with the national office. Researchers then consult with the requesting parties about how to conduct the physical return. What happens next is in the hands of the affiliated groups, and their wishes must be accommodated.
Unfortunately, many remains have already suffered significant damage by the time repatriation begins. A great many of them have sat on shelves unstudied, sometimes for decades or longer – even those that came into the collection legally and in collaboration with Indigenous groups.
One such individual was the key to a major shift in how I viewed repatriation – no longer as a research hindrance but as a question of human rights. Out of respect for the Indigenous nation, I cannot discuss specifics – only a broader picture of this “aha” moment.
One day at work, I found myself looking at an individual who had died several centuries ago, but was so well preserved that his death looked much more recent. It can be too easy to look at a collection of human bones and forget that they were once a living person, despite trying to teach students otherwise. However, that day I looked down and clearly saw a man: his face painted, his hair neatly done, earrings in his ears, laid out in a beautiful box.
Obviously, whoever tended to him after his death had taken great care, placing him in a sacred place where he had every expectation that he would be left undisturbed. He could not have perceived that centuries later someone would collect his remains and ship him away from his traditional lands to be studied in a museum.
That hit home for me. I would not want someone to go against my final wishes, or those of my family, and felt this man should have the same human rights I have in that regard.
I regret it took me so long to see that. Ever since, I’ve worked hard to make up for that by teaching my students to see the past full of people with expectations, hopes and emotions, and to extend ethical obligations to them as we would want applied to us. Archaeology is about learning from the past, and working in repatriation and meeting this individual provided me with one of the best lessons of my career.
Christopher Wolff does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
– ref. Repatriation to Indigenous groups is more than law, it’s human rights − an archaeologist describes the day that lesson hit home – https://theconversation.com/repatriation-to-indigenous-groups-is-more-than-law-its-human-rights-an-archaeologist-describes-the-day-that-lesson-hit-home-247763
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Mitchell Gallagher, Ph.D Candidate in Political Science, Wayne State University
Every year, China’s minister of foreign affairs embarks on what has now become a customary odyssey across Africa. The tradition began in the late 1980s and sees Beijing’s top diplomat visit several African nations to reaffirm ties. The most recent visit, by Foreign Minister Wang Yi, took place in mid-January 2025 and included stops in Namibia, the Republic of the Congo, Chad and Nigeria.
For over two decades, China’s burgeoning influence in Africa was symbolized by grand displays of infrastructural might. From Nairobi’s gleaming towers to expansive ports dotting the continent’s shorelines, China’s investments on the continent have surged, reaching over US$700 billion by 2023 under the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s massive global infrastructure development strategy.
But in recent years, Beijing has sought to expand beyond roads and skyscrapers and has made a play for the hearts and minds of African people. With a deft mix of persuasion, power and money, Beijing has turned to African media as a potential conduit for its geopolitical ambitions.
Partnering with local outlets and journalist-training initiatives, China has expanded China’s media footprint in Africa. Its purpose? To change perceptions and anchor the idea of Beijing as a provider of resources and assistance, and a model for development and governance.
The ploy appears to be paying dividends, with evidence of sections of the media giving favorable coverage to China. But as someone researching the reach of China’s influence overseas, I am beginning to see a nascent backlash against pro-Beijing reporting in countries across the continent.
China’s approach to Africa rests mainly on its use of “soft power,” manifested through things like the media and cultural programs. Beijing presents this as “win-win cooperation” – a quintessential Chinese diplomatic phrase mixing collaboration with cultural diplomacy.
Key to China’s media approach in Africa are two institutions: the China Global Television Network (CGTN) Africa and Xinhua News Agency.
CGTN Africa, which was set up in 2012, offers a Chinese perspective on African news. The network produces content in multiple languages, including English, French and Swahili, and its coverage routinely portrays Beijing as a constructive partner, reporting on infrastructure projects, trade agreements and cultural initiatives. Moreover, Xinhua News Agency, China’s state news agency, now boasts 37 bureaus on the continent.
By contrast, Western media presence in Africa remains comparatively limited. The BBC, long embedded due to the United Kingdom’s colonial legacy, still maintains a large footprint among foreign outlets, but its influence is largely historical rather than expanding. And as Western media influence in Africa has plateaued, China’s state-backed media has grown exponentially. This expansion is especially evident in the digital domain. On Facebook, for example, CGTN Africa commands a staggering 4.5 million followers, vastly outpacing CNN Africa, which has 1.2 million — a stark indicator of China’s growing soft power reach.
China’s zero-tariff trade policy with 33 African countries showcases how it uses economic policies to mold perceptions. And state-backed media outlets like CGTN Africa and Xinhua are central to highlighting such projects and pushing an image of China as a benevolent partner.
Stories of an “all-weather” or steadfast China-Africa partnership are broadcast widely, and the coverage frequently depicts the grand nature of Chinese infrastructure projects. Amid this glowing coverage, the labor disputes, environmental devastation or debt traps associated with some Chinese-built infrastructure are less likely to make headlines.
Questions of media veracity notwithstanding, China’s strategy is bearing fruit. A Gallup poll from April 2024 showed China’s approval ratings climbing in Africa as U.S. ratings dipped. Afrobarometer, a pan-African research organization, further reports that public opinion of China in many African countries is positively glowing, an apparent validation of China’s discourse engineering.
Further, studies have shown that pro-Beijing media influences perceptions. A 2023 survey of Zimbabweans found that those who were exposed to Chinese media were more likely to have a positive view of Beijing’s economic activities in the country.
The effectiveness of China’s media strategy becomes especially apparent in the integration of local media. Through content-sharing agreements, African outlets have disseminated Beijing’s editorial line and stories from Chinese state media, often without the due diligence of journalistic skepticism.
Meanwhile, StarTimes, a Chinese media company, delivers a steady stream of curated depictions of translated Chinese movies, TV shows and documentaries across 30 countries in Africa.
But China is not merely pushing its viewpoint through African channels. It’s also taking a lead role in training African journalists, thousands of whom have been lured by all-expenses-paid trips to China under the guise of “professional development.” On such junkets, they receive training that critics say obscures the distinction between skill-building and propaganda, presenting them with perspectives conforming to Beijing’s line.
Ethiopia exemplifies how China’s infrastructure investments and media influence have fostered a largely favorable perception of Beijing. State media outlets, often staffed by journalists trained in Chinese-run programs, consistently frame China’s role as one of selfless partnership. Coverage of projects like the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway line highlights the benefits, while omitting reports on the substandard labor conditions tied to such projects — an approach reflective of Ethiopia’s media landscape, where state-run outlets prioritize economic development narratives and rely heavily on Xinhua as a primary news source.
In Angola, Chinese oil companies extract considerable resources and channel billions into infrastructure projects. The local media, again regularly staffed by journalists who have accepted invitations to visit China, often portray Sino-Angolan relations in glowing terms. Allegations of corruption, the displacement of local communities and environmental degradation are relegated to side notes in the name of common development.
Despite all of the Chinese influence, media perspectives in Africa are far from uniformly pro-Beijing.
In Kenya, voices of dissent are beginning to rise, and media professionals immune to Beijing’s allure are probing the true costs of Chinese financial undertakings. In South Africa, media watchdogs are sounding alarms, pointing to a gradual attrition of press freedoms that come packaged with promises of growth and prosperity. In Ghana, anxiety about Chinese media influence permeates more than the journalism sector, as officials have raised concerns about the implications of Chinese media cooperation agreements. Wariness in Ghana became especially apparent when local journalists started reporting that Chinese-produced content was being prioritized over domestic stories in state media.
Beneath the surface of China’s well-publicized projects and media offerings, and the African countries or organizations that embrace Beijing’s line, a significant countervailing force exists that challenges uncritical representations and pursues rigorous journalism.
Yet as CGTN Africa and Xinhua become entrenched in African media ecosystems, a pertinent question comes to the forefront: Will Africa’s journalists and press be able to uphold their impartiality and retain intellectual independence?
As China continues to make strategic inroads in Africa, it’s a fair question.
Mitchell Gallagher does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
– ref. China flexes its media muscle in Africa – encouraging positive headlines as part of a soft power agenda – https://theconversation.com/china-flexes-its-media-muscle-in-africa-encouraging-positive-headlines-as-part-of-a-soft-power-agenda-245804
Source: Deutsche Bundesbank in English
Check against delivery.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I’m glad to join you today at the “Gesellschaftshaus Palmengarten”. Its history goes back to the 19th century. It was the “Gründerzeit” or “founders’ period” – an era of strong economic expansion in Germany – when this building was constructed. And when Germany was developed as an industrial location. Developed by people, men and women, lead by curiosity, innovation, and a desire to achieve.
We have to cast our minds back a few years to see times of growth, real innovation and increasing productivity in Europe.
1 The role of the financial industry
In the 2010s Germany had a period of solid growth that some called “the golden decade”.
Today, however, we see a need for growth and increasing productivity. Hence, our competitiveness is at stake. Not only in Germany, but also in other parts of Europe. And this comes at a time, when we are facing numerous major challenges:
Consider the significant geopolitical uncertainties of our time – which make a rethink necessary in many respects. Also consider the digitalisation of large parts of our economy, incl. disruptive AI. And think about the climate-related need for an ecological transformation.
Financing all of this requires a substantial amount of capital.
This is where the financial industry comes in: The financial industry can act as an enabler of growth in the real economy. Growth that is so much needed right now.
Looking forward, the financial industry could translate growth potential into real growth in many fields – digitalisation, AI, clean tech, pharma, biotech any many more.
In sum, there are huge business opportunities for Germany and the EU. And we need the Financial industry to take advantage of the business opportunities.
But let us not forget that innovation happens in many places – at start-ups but also at well established companies. We need to make sure that a variety of funding sources are available to support our real economies.
We need a specific financial ecosystem that enables young, innovative companies to flourish. Be it VC, PE, etc. We need established capital markets. Above all, we need a strong and healthy banking sector that supplies our economy with sufficient credit.
That means: We need both traditional loans and venture capital. In any case, all the pockets of the financial industry provide the basis for a growing economy. It’s also the basis for the ecological transformation.
The German Council of Experts on Climate Change published [a week ago] new figures on the investment needs estimated for the transition towards net-zero economic activity. Those investment needs range between 135 and 255 billion euro – each year for Germany alone.[1] That’s a lot.
Let’s now have a closer look at the digitalization including AI.
2 Artificial intelligence: innovation and competitiveness
The term artificial intelligence (AI) was coined in the middle of the 20th century. But it was the release of ChatGPT in November 2022 that marked a breakthrough. For the first time it became possible to use an AI system without detailed technical knowledge.
Nowadays almost anyone can use AI. The importance of responsible AI practices on the increase – as highlighted in the latest Declaration by the G20.[2]
There are important questions – to which, to be honest, there are no simple answers:
Are the opportunities and risks of AI balanced?
Does AI lead to a global fragmentation, to a new barrier between those who use AI and those who don’t?
Does AI, as a general-purpose technology, help us better manage economic challenges?[3]
One example of the latter point: Many societies are lacking skilled labour due to demographic change. Here, the use of AI could provide a solution by increasing efficiency or substituting human services. AI can also help drive innovation.
AI enables both incremental and disruptive innovation across all parts of society:
by facilitating faster decision-making
optimizing existing processes,
or by collecting, processing and using huge amounts of data.
It fosters creativity, supports scientific breakthroughs, and unlocks opportunities for entirely new industries and business models – a potential, albeit disruptive, growth engine.
Nevertheless, human creativity is still a key driver of innovation. In 2023, individuals or SMEs filed almost one in four patent applications in Europe.[4]
Today, we are at a crucial stage: With international competition on the one side and technical and intellectual skills on the other. AI models from the United States are well-known and often considered state of the art. China in particular has recently come up with new and apparently very efficient language models. However, the discussion about the background is not yet complete.
In Europe, we have to do our utmost to keep up with the pace. An important initiative recently came from France: In Paris the “EU AI Champions Initiative”, a high-level summit, was held at the beginning of this week.
President Macron mentioned a funding volume of roundabout € 109 billion for AI in France. This approach is very encouraging for other EU member states. By comparison: US-President Trump has mentioned USD 500 billion for his “Stargate” plan in the US.
Despite these substantial investments, there is no guarantee of success. On the other hand, we must not allow ourselves to be deterred by possible failures. One example is the French AI chatbot LUCIE, which has been taken offline after giving some weird answers. I am sure France will take this as a chance to try even harder.
The narrative with all kind of innovation is: Accept failure to grow. The pioneers of the “Gründerzeit” – which I mentioned earlier – knew this only too well.
We need this kind of courage to embrace a “culture of trial and error”. It provides an important impetus to do things better. On the other hand, we have to ensure that new technology does not cause severe damage. Especially because AI is a relatively new technology with unknown potential and consequences for the entire society.
Risks can arise for the financial system, but much further afield as well. Imagine, risk management or investment advice would be provided mainly by AI. Would this mean that investment recommendations are becoming more and more similar? Would we have concentration of risks? And what consequences would this have for financial stability?[5]
Even more far-reaching questions concern our society.
The core question is: What does AI mean for our democracies, for our constitutions, for our fundamental rights? Specifically, we need to ask ourselves: Where is AI beneficial and where do we need clear rules.
In other words: What are the basic rules for using this technology?
It is therefore necessary to find a compromise between having the courage to innovate – and clear rules.
3 Strengthening the financial industry
Regardless of how we deal with AI, we have to return to the issue of financing its development. As indicated earlier, the financial industry, as an enabler, has an important role to play.
Given the challenges of our time I mentioned earlier, it is vital to strengthen the European financial industry.
Let me highlight only two measures:
First, we need to get started on improving start-up funding. In 2024, more than 2,700 innovative start-ups were founded in Germany, the second-highest count after the record year of 2021. There is no shortage of innovative concepts and entrepreneurship per se, but implementation is lacking.
Further completing the European capital markets union (CMU) is essential in this respect – promoting the development of the VC and private equity market as well as exit options for start-ups. The European Commission’s “Competitiveness Compass”, published recently, 29 January 2025, is a good start.
Second, we need to leverage digital technologies to create efficient, integrated and resilient European financial markets. The digital CMU could be a game changer in this respect.
Let me make it perfectly clear: Europe is a leader in this field.
We at the Bundesbank are engaged in several initiatives. And we have a prominent role to play in the development of a central bank digital currency (wholesale CBDC).
4 Conclusion
Ladies and gentlemen, let me sum up: And I can be very brief, but still to the point.
The European Financial industry has to become an enabler of growth. Our Financial industry is key to ensure that the European economy stays competitive.
Thank you very much.
Source: US State of Connecticut
When Grégory Pierrot talks about growing up in northeastern France near Luxembourg and Germany, he uses the word “American” at least a half dozen times.
“I’ve had a long personal relationship with American culture,” he says, describing how as a boy he’d listen to American music and write down as many words as he could catch to translate into French, so he could figure out what was being said.
Now an associate professor of English at UConn Stamford who teaches African American literature, Pierrot says he’s been a student of American culture – its literature, music, and history – since he was a teenager, even as his methods have turned more intellectual.
His latest project for Rot Bo Krik, “It was Nation Time: Fictions of African American Revolution,” which looks at African American literature during the Black Power era and how readers of French translations received the works, might be the best way to encapsulate all that has intrigued him since his youth.
“I’m very interested in the way literature, music, and film – all those things that may seem less serious than politics or unrelated to it – actually convey most of what people think they know about a given moment or given political period,” Pierrot says. “Ideas are conveyed in those texts, in those songs, and in those films, and they have much more of an impact on us than scholarly studies or political speeches even.”
Pierrot says the French, even though an ocean away, are fascinated by what happened in America in the mid-1960s to 1970s, those volatile years after Jackie Robinson and Rosa Parks when the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts took effect, the Black Panthers took rise, and Martin Luther King Jr. took his last breath.
Writers including John A. Williams, best known for “The Man Who Cried I Am”; Chester Himes, who wrote a series of “Harlem Detective” novels; and Sam Greenlee, author of “The Spook Who Sat by the Door” told fictionalized but compelling accounts of what being Black in the United States was like.
“This is such a fraught moment in American history, with fraught ideas in American politics,” Pierrot says. “This idea of a ‘Black Revolution,’ while it wasn’t greatly popular, it was in the air. So, when novels like these came out everybody would be talking about them.”
Through the years, for instance, Williams’ novel “Sons of Darkness, Sons of Light,” which imagined the outset of such a revolution, and his “Captain Blackman,” which traces Black soldiers’ contributions to the Army, have been forgotten – along with so many other works, even as those stories echo in the events of today.
“It’s shocking just how much the plots in these novels often sound like they could have been written yesterday,” Pierrot says. “In quite a few of these, either the premise or one of the important events in the plot has to do with young African American boys being shot by police for no reason. Others have to do with the rise of extreme right-wing politics. To that extent, they are very much of this moment.”
Of course, France and the U.S. have been connected since long before the American Revolution gave this country its independence from Britain, and France gifted the Statue of Liberty to celebrate a century of liberty.
France has been the place where African Americans, particularly artists, have fled when wanting or needing to escape racism in North America, Pierrot explains, as France, perhaps infamously, prides itself as being a place where racism doesn’t exist.
“Racism in France was different enough than what was happening in the U.S. that it felt like relief for African Americans who still get treated very differently than other members of the African diaspora in France,” Pierrot says. “Historically, to put it simply, it’s often been easier to be African American than to be Black and French in France.”
In research for the project, funded as part of a year-long fellowship from the UConn Humanities Institute, Pierrot says that even though he’s built a career absorbed in the literature of this period, he found himself fascinated recently by Malcolm X’s connection to France, which remains largely unknown among citizens there despite pop culture references to him.
In the 10 years before the Black activist was assassinated in 1965, despite his growth in the U.S. as a name known around the dinner table, he was mentioned only a handful of times in the French newspaper of record.
Malcolm X traveled to Paris in November 1964 to deliver a speech and attempted to visit a second time in February 1965 but was stopped by French customs at the border and blocked from entry, Pierrot says. Three weeks later he was killed and only then did the French public start hearing about him.
“The novels from this time, even though they’re works of fiction, are historical artifacts. They give us a view of that moment that we may have forgotten,” he explains.
“We all have a sense of the 1960s based on the media – films, books, and music – that we consume,” he continues. “There was flower power and Woodstock, but that’s not all the 1960s were. It was a violent time. There were assassinations left and right and wars around the world. The texts I study offer elements of American history that many people do not know or do not quite remember.”
Source: Government of India
India has embraced “Women-led development,” ensuring women are key players in shaping the development trajectory : Smt.Thakur
India has launched large-scale programs to bridge the gender digital divide, promoting digital and financial literacy, especially in rural areas empowering millions of women entrepreneurs
Posted On: 12 FEB 2025 9:25AM by PIB Delhi
India took part in the 63rdsession of the Commission for Social Development (CSoCD), held from February 10 to 14, 2025 at New York ,USA . This participation was led by Smt. Savitri Thakur, the Minister of State for the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India (GoI). This session aimed to encourage discussions and collaborations on pressing social development challenges, with an emphasis on advancing inclusive social policies and fostering global social well-being. The session witnessed the participation from 49 Countries including Ministers from 16 countries like France, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, etc.
India’s involvement includes active participation in key discussions. On Tuesday, February 11, 2025, Smt. Savitri Thakur delivered India’s statement at the Ministerial Forum, addressing the priority theme: “Strengthening Solidarity and Social Cohesion.”
India expressed its appreciation to the Commission for its leadership in discussing the importance of strengthening solidarity and social cohesion to ensure no one is left behind. Since the 1995 Copenhagen Summit on Social Development, India has made significant progress in addressing poverty, malnutrition, and universal healthcare, while also pioneering digital public infrastructure for sustainable development. By aligning with global best practices and developing indigenous solutions, India has become a model for the Global South.
While addressing the Session, the Minister highlighted that India is driven by the vision of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas” (Development for All), with a focus on inclusivity. Through initiatives like the JAM TRINITY (Jan Dhan, Aadhar, Mobile), India has achieved financial inclusion for disadvantaged communities, especially women, persons with disabilities, and the elderly. The country has also embraced “Women-led development,” ensuring women are key players in shaping the development trajectory.
She said that India has launched large-scale programs to bridge the gender digital divide, promoting digital and financial literacy, especially in rural areas. This has empowered millions of women entrepreneurs, from start-ups to scalable businesses.
As India works toward accelerating progress on the 2030 Agenda for development, increasing women’s workforce participation is a key priority. India’s robust social protection model includes 26 weeks of paid maternity leave, maternity benefits for 37.5 million mothers, a network of One Stop Centres, and an integrated National Women’s Helpline. Additionally, India’s early childhood care, nutrition, and education initiatives benefit over 100 million children, mothers, and adolescent girls.
Hon’ble MoS Smt. Savitri Thakur @savitrii4bjp delivered India’s national statement at the 63rd CSoc-D session.
Highlighted the success achieved by India in social development, poverty eradication and access to healthcare through leveraging technology, initiative of… pic.twitter.com/69x1B7rFcl
— India at UN, NY (@IndiaUNNewYork) February 11, 2025
India supported the resolution on the priority theme and is progressing with the concept of saturation in social protection to ensure the delivery of essential services to the poorest populations, addressing multidimensional poverty.
India’s rights-based approach to universal health coverage, including reproductive health, and the provision of clean cooking fuel, safe drinking water, sanitation, and affordable housing has transformed the lives of women and marginalized communities. Over 40 million homes have been built for the poor, with women as either sole or joint owners.
Nearly 100 million women have been linked with self-help groups (SHGs), contributing to economic transformation and grassroots leadership.
In conclusion, India is fully committed to accelerating global progress and supporting the Commission’s efforts toward a just world for all.
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SS/MS
(Release ID: 2102077) Visitor Counter : 67
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
LCQ19: Lifesaving services at swimming pools
LCQ19: Lifesaving services at swimming pools
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Following is a question by the Hon Kenneth Fok and a written reply by the Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Miss Rosanna Law, in the Legislative Council today (February 12): Question: It is learnt that the Leisure and Cultural Services Department has installed artificial intelligence (AI) drowning detection systems developed by the University of Hong Kong and France at the Kwun Tong Swimming Pool and the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park Swimming Pool respectively to help strengthen lifesaving services at public swimming pools. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council: (1) whether the Government has examined the manpower and financial expenditure (including acquisition costs, installation costs and system maintenance fees) involved since the commissioning of the aforesaid two AI systems and reviewed their effectiveness; if so, of the details; if not, whether it will expeditiously commence the relevant work before the summer swimming season; (2) whether the Government has assessed and compared the actual operation of the aforesaid two systems, including their effectiveness, accuracy, ease of operation and interface with lifeguards and lifesaving mechanisms at swimming pools, with a view to providing a reference point for the retrofitting of such systems at more public swimming pools in the future; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) given that according to a report released by the Office of The Ombudsman in March last year on its direct investigation into the regulation of licensed swimming pools by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), the FEHD has not put in place an accident notification mechanism for licensed swimming pools, whether the Government will consider mandating private swimming pools to install AI drowning detection systems and establish a real-time notification mechanism to ensure that the FEHD and the relevant government departments can be expeditiously informed of drowning incidents, thereby enhancing regulatory efforts on private swimming pools; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that? Reply: President, Having consulted relevant government departments, my reply to the questions raised by the Hon Kenneth Fok is as follows: (1) The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) has all along prioritised the safety of swimmers in both the facilities as well as the operation of its venues. Apart from providing sufficient lifeguards, the LCSD has put on trial two different sets of artificial intelligence (AI) drowning detection systems at Kwun Tong Swimming Pool and Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park Swimming Pool respectively to assist lifeguards in monitoring the real-time condition of swimmers and locating drowning victims promptly with a view to further strengthening life-saving services. The AI drowning detection system developed by the University of Hong Kong Sport AI Laboratory has been on trial at the outdoor secondary pool of Kwun Tong Swimming Pool since August 2023. Through AI detection technology, the system analyses the videos and images captured by cameras installed underwater and calculates the drowning probability of swimmers. If suspected drowning is detected, the system will alert the lifeguards to carry out a rescue. The system was developed with a grant of around $900,000 by the Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau. The LCSD has subsequently installed additional sets of underwater detection devices and upgraded the existing sets of underwater cameras in the secondary pool. The project cost was around $700,000, with an estimated annual expenditure on system maintenance of around $130,000. The AI drowning detection system developed by a French company was installed at the indoor main pool and training pool of Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park Swimming Pool in September 2024. The system uses cameras installed above the pools to capture images and performs comprehensive tracking and analysis of swimmers’ motions. If a swimmer is found to remain stationary for over 10 seconds, the system will consider it a case of suspected drowning, trigger the alarm and display the drowning location for lifeguards to carry out a rescue. Relevant installation cost of the system was about $7.9 million, with an annual maintenance cost of approximately $1.1 million. In addition, equipment and devices of the system require a comprehensive inspection every three years to ensure its stability and safety. The estimated cost of such inspection is around $500,000. (2) At present, the two detection systems mentioned above are still in trial phase. The LCSD needs to adjust the systems from time to time based on the actual environment and usage, and observe the operation of the systems in different seasons so as to ensure the stability and reliability of the data collected. Hence, a comprehensive set of data for assessment has yet to be available. Upon completion of tests and data analyses in different seasons, the LCSD will review and compare the cost-effectiveness of the two systems before deciding whether to extend the application of the systems to other public swimming pools. (3) To strengthen the regulation of licensed swimming pools, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) has, in response to the recommendations of the Office of the Ombudsman, established a notification mechanism for fatal drowning cases in licensed swimming pools. In May 2024, the FEHD issued a letter to swimming pool licensees imposing new licensing conditions which require the reporting of cases involving casualties within a prescribed period. The FEHD officers will conduct site inspections for fatal drowning cases to ascertain whether the swimming pools concerned have provided sufficient life-saving attendants and appropriate life-saving equipment as required by the law and the licensing conditions. The FEHD will also examine the relevant cases and require the licensed swimming pools to take additional measures to further protect the safety of swimmers as necessary. The FEHD and the LCSD share experience and exchange information from time to time on the regulation and management of swimming pools, including the application of technology to enhance swimmers’ safety. As the AI drowning detection system is still in the trial stage, the FEHD will maintain contact with the LCSD to understand the application of the system.
Ends/Wednesday, February 12, 2025Issued at HKT 11:15
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Source: Government of India
Posted On: 12 FEB 2025 8:00AM by PIB Delhi
Defence Secretary Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh held a number of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of Aero India 2025 in Bengaluru on February 11, 2025. He held discussions with the Mozambican Defence Secretary Mr Casimiro Augusto Mueio; Secretary, Ministry of Defence of Sri Lanka Air Vice Marshal (Retd) Sampath Thuyacontha; Permanent Secretary of Defence, Suriname Mr Jayantkumar Bidesie; State Secretary of Mongolia Brigadier General Gankhayug Degvadorj; Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Nepal Mr Rameshwor Dangal; Permanent Secretary, Mauritius Mr Devendre Gopaul and Permanent Secretary, Democratic Republic of Congo Major General Lukwikila Metikwiza Marcel.
The meetings focused on reviewing the ongoing defence cooperation and exploring ways to enhance the ties. In particular, the discussions centred on enhancing defence industrial cooperation. Later, the Defence Secretary also met Director of the International Directorate of the Directorate General of Armament, France Lt Gen Gael Diaz de Tuesta to discuss various joint projects and defence industrial cooperation.
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SR/Savvy
(Release ID: 2102070) Visitor Counter : 75
Source: Government of India (2)
Posted On: 11 FEB 2025 11:59PM by PIB Delhi
Your Excellency, President Macron,
Industry leaders from India and France present here,
Namaskar, Bonjour!
I feel a wonderful energy, excitement and dynamism in this room. This isn’t just a normal business event.
It is a confluence of the best business minds of India and France. The report of the CEO Forum that has just been presented is welcome.
I see that all of you are moving ahead with the mantra of Innovate, Collaborate and Elevate. You are not just making boardroom connections. You all are also strengthening the Indo-French strategic partnership.
Friends,
It is a pleasure for me to join this forum with my friend President Macron. This is our sixth meeting in the last two years. Last year, President Macron was the Chief Guest at our Republic Day.
This morning we had co-chaired the AI Action Summit together. I heartily congratulate President Macron for this successful summit.
Friends,
India and France are not just linked by democratic values. The foundation of our friendship is based on the spirit of deep trust, innovation, and public welfare.
Our partnership is not limited to just two countries. We are cooperating together to address global problems and challenges. During my last visit, we had outlined the 2047 roadmap for our partnership. Following that, we are pursuing cooperation in a comprehensive manner in every field.
Friends,
Most of your companies are already present in India. You are active in different areas like aerospace, ports, defence, electronics, dairy, chemicals and consumer goods.
I have had the opportunity to meet many CEOs in India as well. You are well aware of the changes that have taken place in India in the last decade. We have established a stable polity, and predictable policy ecosystem.
Following the path of reform, perform, and transform, today India is the fifth largest economy in the world. It is the fastest growing major economy in the world.
It will soon become the world’s third largest economy. India’s skilled young talent factory and innovation spirit are our identity on the global stage.
Today, India is fast becoming a preferred global investment destination.
We have launched AI, semiconductor and quantum missions in India. In defence, we are promoting Make in India and Make for the World. Many of you are associated with it. We are scaling new heights in space technology. This sector has been opened up for FDI. We are rapidly making India a global biotech powerhouse.
Infrastructure development is a matter of priority for us. And on this, we are doing public expenditure of more than $114 billion a year. We have laid railway tracks on a massive scale, using technology to modernize and upgrade the railways.
We are fast moving towards the target of 500 Gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030. For this, we have promoted solar cell manufacturing. We have also launched the Critical Mineral Mission.
We have also taken up the Hydrogen Mission. For this, electrolyser manufacturing is being emphasized. By 2047, we are aiming for 100 gigawatts of nuclear power. I am happy to share that this sector is being opened up to the private sector. We are focusing on SMR and AMR technologies.
Friends,
Today India is becoming the biggest center of diversification and de-risking. A few days ago, a new generation of reforms were outlined in our budget.
New steps have been taken for ease of doing business. In the last few years, we have rationalized more than 40,000 compliances. To promote trust-based economic governance, a high level committee for regulatory reforms has been formed. The custom rate structure has been rationalised.
To facilitate international trade, “India Trade Net” is being introduced with the help of digital public infrastructure. We are bringing a new simplified income tax code towards Ease of Living.
The National Manufacturing Mission has been announced. And, new sectors, such as the insurance sector, have been opened for 100 percent FDI. You must study all these initiatives carefully.
Let me tell you all, this is the right time to come to India. Everyone’s progress is linked to India’s progress. An example of this was seen in the aviation sector, when Indian companies placed large orders for airplanes. And, now, when we are going to open 120 new airports, you can imagine the future possibilities for yourselves.
Friends,
The 1.4 billion people of India have resolved to build a developed India by 2047. Be it defence or advanced technology, fintech or pharma, tech or textile, agriculture or aviation, healthcare or highways, space or sustainable development. There are many opputunities for investments and collaborations in all these areas for all of you.
I welcome you all to join India’s development journey.
When France’s finesse and India’s scale meet…
When India’s pace and France’s precision join…
When France’s technology and India’s talent unite…
Then, not just business landscape, but global transformation will happen.
Once again, I thank you all very much for taking your precious time to come here.
DISCLAIMER – This is the approximate translation of Prime Minister’s remarks. Original remarks were delivered
