Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Dmitry Chernyshenko at a meeting of the Coordination Council under the Government for the creation of advanced general education organizations
February 10, 2025
Dmitry Chernyshenko at a meeting of the Coordination Council under the Government for the creation of advanced general education organizations
February 10, 2025
Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov at a meeting of the Coordination Council under the Government for the creation of advanced general education organizations
February 10, 2025
Meeting of the Coordination Council under the Government on the creation of advanced general education organizations
February 10, 2025
Meeting of the Coordination Council under the Government on the creation of advanced general education organizations
February 10, 2025
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Dmitry Chernyshenko at a meeting of the Coordination Council under the Government for the creation of advanced general education organizations
A meeting of the Coordination Council under the Government for the creation of advanced general education organizations was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration Maxim Oreshkin and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko.
Maxim Oreshkin recalled that President Vladimir Putin in his Address to the Federal Assembly instructed that no less than 12 advanced schools be created by 2030.
“The creation of such schools is planned in each federal district under the national project “Youth and Children”. They will help prepare a personnel reserve for knowledge-intensive and high-tech sectors of the economy. This is not just a matter of building 12 more schools, it should be a strategic step into the future of our country. At a meeting of the Coordination Council under the Government of Russia, a decision was made to approve the presented concept of advanced general education organizations. It is important that within its framework, not only the scientific, educational and infrastructural component will be worked out, but also issues of educational work, teacher training and assessment of student success,” noted Dmitry Chernyshenko.
The implementation of such a large-scale project requires synchronization of efforts of all participants in the process: the state, society, educational institutions and business. The Ministry of Education, together with regions, universities and social partners, is already preparing mechanisms for these changes.
Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov announced that the first three flagship schools will open in the Novgorod, Ryazan and Pskov regions.
“The project to create flagship schools is not easy, but it is very important for our country. These will be schools for talented children in all federal districts. We plan to open the first three educational organizations on September 1, 2027. Graduates will develop domestic science and economics, and we set the goal of 100% employment of students in leading companies. These institutions will become methodological centers for schools in all federal districts and will disseminate the best pedagogical practices,” said Sergey Kravtsov.
Children will study in flagship schools from grades 7 to 11 and undergo annual knowledge assessment, and teachers will undergo qualification testing. Teachers will be provided with decent salaries. The creation of a network of schools involves mutual exchange between students and teachers from different regions.
First Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services Alexander Lomakin presented information on the progress of construction of advanced general education institutions in the Novgorod, Pskov and Ryazan regions. In addition, advanced schools are planned to be created in the Belgorod, Nizhny Novgorod regions and other regions.
The acting governor of the Novgorod region, Alexander Dronov, the governor of the Pskov region, Mikhail Vedernikov, and the governor of the Ryazan region, Pavel Malkov, also spoke in detail about the creation of schools.
The head of the educational foundation “Talent and Success” Elena Shmeleva noted the experience of “Sirius” in developing the federal territory around the educational center “Sirius”.
The meeting was also attended by Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky, Rector of the National Research University Higher School of Economics Nikita Anisimov, governors of the Belgorod, Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Murmansk regions, Krasnodar Krai, heads of the Republic of Crimea and the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, representatives of the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Digital Development, and Rosobrnadzor.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Jorge Luis Sanchez-Luna, 45, a citizen of Mexico and registered sex offender, in Newark Feb. 4.
“Sanchez-Luna is a deviant criminal who has a record of repeat heinous offenses against a minor,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Newark Deputy Field Office Director Arthur J. Wilson Jr. “ERO Newark considers this insidious child abuse a danger to our communities and seeks justice for the traumatized victim.”
ICE issued Sanchez-Luna a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge following his arrest.
Sanchez-Luna entered the United States on Oct. 29, 2015, at New York as lawful permanent resident.
The New Jersey Superior Court in Monmouth County found Sanchez-Luna guilty July 12, 2024, of endangering-sexual conduct with child by caretaker. He was sentenced to parole supervision for life and required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law.
Learn more about ICE’s mission to increase public safety in New Jersey communities on X: @ERONewark.
SCRANTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Jose Carlos Vides-Torres, age 46, a native of El Salvador, was sentenced on February 7, 2025, to time-served, by United States District Court Chief Judge Matthew W. Brann for one count of reentry of removed aliens.
According to Acting United States Attorney John C. Gurganus, Vides-Torres was discovered on September 10, 2022, in Bradford County, having been arrested by the Pennsylvania State Police for driving under the influence of alcohol. Vides-Torres was previously removed from the United States in 2008, and twice in 2011, and had not sought or obtained permission to reenter the United States.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). Assistant U.S. Attorney Luisa Honora Berti prosecuted the case.
In perhaps one of the greatest brand comeback stories in automotive since the Fiat 500 in 2007, British car company Austin announced the return of the Austin Arrow.
Its name is an unashamed reference to one of the most memorable Austin 7 models – first introduced in the 1920s the Arrow was the original “everyman sportscar”, before the muscle cars (think of the Dodge Challenger) of the US became popular in the 1960s. Now reimagined as an electric Vehicle (EV), the Arrow is designed and made in the UK and aims to be to 2020s consumers what the original was 90 years ago.
A number of cars are synonymous with the British car industry. In fact, as a small nation, Britain punches above its weight when it comes to classic automobile brands – The Mini, the Range Rover, London black cabs, James Bond’s Aston Martins, and even the London red bus. However, if one car can be credited for creating the dawn of the motor vehicle in the UK, it would be the diminutive Austin 7.
The car was created in the 1920s at the time when Austin was struggling. New laws were pushing manufacturers to produce smaller, less powerful cars. But Austin’s board of directors didn’t support a cheap, small car with low profit margins. Austin was known for its larger, luxury products.
However, Sir Herbert Austin and his 18-year-old apprentice Stanley Edge decided to secretly create a small car. Thank god they didn’t heed the board, because they ended up creating the greatest democratising automotive product Britain had ever seen (until they repeated it with the Austin Mini).
The reason why products such as the Austin 7 come to define their period is rarely due to their technical prowess or exhilarating performance – it’s because they bring to the masses a technology that is both useful and traditionally seen as out of reach.
The Austin 7 was a bit like the iPhone. There were smartphones that came before it, like the Sony Ericsson p800. However, these were considered expensive and out of reach for the average consumer. The Iphone did the same thing but at a cheaper price and so came to be the definitive smartphone.
With the Austin 7, Herbert Austin’s team applied the key lessons from Ford’s Model T – creating a simple, modestly powered car with just enough features for mass appeal while incorporating clever design elements that earned the respect of car enthusiasts.
When the Austin 7 was unveiled in July 1922, it was priced at just £165, when an Austin 20 was between £600 and £700. At a time when the average British worker earned around £5 per week, the only real affordable car had been Ford’s basic and utilitarian Model T at around £250.
The 7’s ingenious design was the key to its success. With a shared base frame for the car, it could be a four-seater family car, a stylish coupe, or even a racing car.
This cheap, tiny car not only was a legend in its own right and familiar around the world, but it influenced other legends too.
Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus Cars, based his first Lotus 1 on the Austin 7. What is less known is that German car manufacturer BMW built Austin 7s under licence in the 1920s and 30s but called them “Dixis”. Nissan did the same in Japan in the pre-war period. Such licensing deals helped set up both manufacturers’ future success as the powerhouses they are today.
Austin 7s were produced all over Europe, Asia and even in Australia. The 7 was also produced in the US as the “American Bantam” and its design contributed to the “Willy’s Jeep”, one of the US’s most famous vehicles.
Ultimately, the beginning of the second world war marked the end of Austin 7 production as the Austin factory at Longbridge, near Birmingham, needed to be repurposed to produce munitions. When the war ended, tastes for vehicles had changed and factories started to produce more modern designs, and not those from the 1920s, marking the end of a British automotive icon in 1939.
Now it’s back, thanks to the engineer John Stubbs who bought the Austin brand after noticing the brand and trademarks were available. The rights to these had been owned by the Nanjing Automobile Group, which bought MG Rover when it collapsed in 2005. However, Nanjing had let these lapse and Stubbs bought them for £170 in 2015.
The new Essex-based Austin Motor Company aims to recreate this classic brand, tugging at the heartstrings of those looking nostalgically at Britain’s automotive heyday. The announcement featured images of fun, cheap (£31,000) and light cars driving around the B-roads of Britain, or perhaps being taken to a racetrack for an amateur competition, harking back to earlier days. However, this car is thoroughly modern, featuring an electric motor.
The new Austin Arrow is not meant to be the usable “everyman” car the original 7 was. For starters, to be compliant with quadricycle (a micro car with less than 6kW of power and an unladen mass no more than 425 kg) legislation it is limited to 60mph as a top speed and the range will be a maximum of 100 miles on one charge.
However, as that fun, racy, open-top car that it’s predecessors were, it very much captures the spirit of the original Austin 7 Arrow.
Tom Stacey, Deputy Head of the School of Economics, Finance and Law, Anglia Ruskin University
February 10, 2025Lynn, MA, United StatesEnforcement and Removal
LYNN, Mass. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged an immigration detainer against Eric Dionida German-Pena, 25, a native and citizen of the Dominican Republic, following his apprehension in Lynn for his alleged role in the murder of a Massachusetts sandwich shop owner during an apparent home-invasion robbery.
“Eric Dionida German-Pena will have his day in court, but he stands accused of a very serious and disturbing crime against a member of our Massachusetts community. ICE Boston takes its public safety mission extremely seriously — which is why we’ve lodged an immigration detainer against him with Lynn police,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde. “The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has charged him with murder, and with the cooperation of the Lynn District Court, we intend to take him into ICE custody after he has paid his debt to society. ICE Boston will continue our mission of arresting and removing egregious alien offenders from New England.”
The Lynn Police Department police arrested German February 5 and charged him with the murder. ICE discovered that German illegally entered the United States in September 2022.
Members of the public can report crimes and suspicious activity by dialing 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or completing the online tip form.
Learn more about ICE’s mission to increase public safety in our New England communities on X: @EROBoston.
LIMA, Peru – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement supported the National Police of Peru in Lima to arrest and dismantle the illicit activities of Tren de Aragua members in the country, Feb. 7.
Members of ICE Homeland Security Investigations Lima and the ICE HSI Transnational Criminal Investigations Unit supported more than 300 National Police of Peru officers from the Directorate Against Human Trafficking and Illicit Migrant Trafficking in an operation which targeted at least eight specific locations in Santa Anita, San Martin de Porres, and Puente Piedra in Lima, Peru. Approximately 23 individuals suspected of being involved with a human trafficking network were arrested, and more than 80 human trafficking victims were rescued, including three minors.
“Peru is a dedicated partner in the fight against transnational criminal organizations like Tren de Aragua,” said ICE HSI Lima Attaché Paul Salamon. “Together, ICE HSI and the National Police of Peru are protecting our nations to ensure the safety of our citizens,”
“Last night, an operation was carried out with the support of ICE HSI Lima to dismantle the remnants of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua in various districts in Peru,” said National Police of Peru General Aldo Juan Ávila Novoa from the Directorate Against Human Trafficking and Illicit Migrant Trafficking. “We have deployed a force of 300 police officers from specialized units and the Shock Force, such as the National Division of Special Operations and the GRECCO group.”
“Transnational criminal organizations have no place in the strong, secure and prosperous region we are building with our partners,” said U.S. Ambassador to Peru Stephanie Syptak-Ramnath. “The success of this operation, led by the Peruvian National Police with the support of the United States, is a testament to the great work we can accomplish together to improve the security of our citizens and our shared region.”
Members of the public with information related to criminal activities of transnational organizations can submit an anonymous tip by calling 877-4-HSI-TIP.
The Met has launched a murder investigation following the death of a 36-year-old woman in Hammersmith.
Police were called to a residential property in Coulter Road, on Sunday, 9 February at 22:13hrs following reports that a man was attempting to force entry into one of the flats.
Officers arrived and having gained entry to the property found a woman, aged 36 who had sadly died, following what appears to be a head injury.
A 38-year-old man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder and remains in custody.
Next of kin has yet to be informed. We await formal identification.
A post-mortem examination will take place in due course.
Officers are appealing for anyone with information or any witnesses to call 101 and quote CAD 6487/9Feb. To remain anonymous, please contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Detective Chief Inspector, Ollie Stride who is leading the investigation, said:
“We are saddened to hear about the loss of this young woman and are working to ensure that her family are informed and supported by specialist officers as soon as possible.
“I understand the impact this incident will have had on neighbours and the community and we are doing everything we can to investigate the circumstances.
“Although we have made an arrest, we still need to have an understanding of what took place last night in Coulter Road. Did you see or hear anything unusual on Sunday, 9 February? If you did, then please speak with us by contacting 101, and quoting CAD 6487/9Feb. You can otherwise contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
PHILADELPHIA – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed Serafin Leon Rojas, a citizen of Mexico with a final order of removal, to Mexico on Feb. 4. Leon is a foreign fugitive wanted by law enforcement authorities in Mexico for domestic violence.
“The removal of Serafin Leon Rojas demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that criminal aliens face justice,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Philadelphia acting Field Office Director Brian McShane. “By collaborating with our international law enforcement partners and enforcing immigration laws, we protect our communities and support our national security objectives.”
The U.S. Border Patrol arrested Leon near Laredo, Texas, for entering the United States without inspection or parole by an immigration official and served him with a notice and order of expedited removal, charging inadmissibility. He was removed to Mexico on July 23, 2016.
Leon again entered the U.S. without admission or parole by an immigration official on an unknown date and at an unknown location.
The Philadelphia Police Department in Pennsylvania arrested Leon on August 7, 2024, for driving under the influence, and this charge remains pending.
ICE arrested Leon in Philadelphia on Dec. 12, 2024, during a routine enforcement action and served him with a notice of intent to reinstate the prior order from July 21, 2016, charging removability. Leon remained in ICE custody throughout removal proceedings.
Members of the public with information can report crimes or suspicious activity by dialing the ICE Tip Line at 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or completing the online tip form.
Learn more about ICE Philadelphia’s mission to increase public safety in our Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia communities on X: @EROPhiladelphia.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Four more experts have been appointed members to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
Following the announcement of 10 leading experts joining the ACMD’s Advisory Council in January, 4 more appointments have been made today.
Professor Karen Ersche
Professor Sunjeev Kamboj
Doctor Lorna Nisbet
Jon Privett
The 4 will be joining the ACMD which provides advice and makes recommendations to the government on the harms caused by drugs.
Professor Ersche is Professor of Addiction Neuroscience at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, whilst Professor Kamboj is Professor of Translational Clinical Psychology at the Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology at University College London.
Doctor Nisbet is Senior Lecturer (teaching and research) at the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science, at the School of Science and Engineering, University of Dundee.
Jon Privett will bring his extensive knowledge as an expert witness in drug trafficking with the Metropolitan Police to the ACMD.
The appointments have been made in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.
Continuing his visit to Harbin, Chief Executive John Lee today called on leaders of Heilongjiang Province, visited injured Hong Kong ice hockey athletes, met Hong Kong people working in the three northeastern provinces, and toured the Beidahuang Museum.
Mr Lee met respectively CPC Heilongjiang Provincial Committee Secretary Xu Qin and Heilongjiang Governor Liang Huiling to exchange views on issues of mutual concern.
The Chief Executive remarked that Heilongjiang Province has leveraged the ice and snow economy as a new engine for economic development by making good use of its rich tourism resources while actively promoting winter sports. He added that Heilongjiang Province sets an example of integrating sports with cultural and tourism development, which is inspiring to Hong Kong.
Noting that Hong Kong is the largest source of external investment for Heilongjiang, Mr Lee said Hong Kong, as a “super connector” and a “super value-adder”, can serve the Mainland in exploring global markets.
Additionally, highlighting that the Individual Visit Scheme has been extended to include Harbin in Heilongjiang Province since last May, while direct flights between Harbin and Hong Kong were launched last June, Mr Lee said tourism co-operation between the two places has been strengthened, thereby promoting people-to-people bonds.
The Beijing Office and Liaoning Liaison Unit of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government will continue to serve as a bridge to enhance exchanges between Hong Kong and Heilongjiang in various areas, he added.
Separately, Mr Lee visited the Hong Kong ice hockey players who were injured yesterday after a match at the 9th Asian Winter Games Harbin 2025, to understand their condition and offer his support.
The Chief Executive stressed that he is highly concerned about the attack on Hong Kong athletes. He has requested the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China as well as the Culture, Sports & Tourism Bureau to follow up on the incident and make every effort to ensure the athletes’ safety.
He pointed out that the Hong Kong players had remained calm and restrained during the incident, demonstrating professionalism and sportsmanship, and praised the ice hockey team for its outstanding performance in the past competitions, making Hong Kong people proud.
The Chief Executive also encouraged the athletes not to let the incident affect their morale, to take good care of themselves and to give their best in the Games, assuring them that Hong Kong people would fully support them.
While meeting Hong Kong people working and doing business in the three northeastern provinces to learn about their daily lives and development, he encouraged them to introduce Hong Kong’s latest developments to local enterprises and tell the good stories of Hong Kong.
In the afternoon, Mr Lee visited the Beidahuang Museum to understand the transformation of the “Great Northern Wilderness”, a plain region in northeastern Heilongjiang, from a barren wilderness into a key commodity grain base and a strategic grain reserve base of China. He also gained insights into the “Beidahuang spirit” which embodies perseverance, resilience and a pioneering mindset.
Meanwhile, Secretary for Culture, Sports & Tourism Rosanna Law had a work meeting with Heilongjiang Province Department of Culture & Tourism Director-General He Jing this afternoon, during which she gave a briefing on the latest developments of Hong Kong’s culture and tourism.
Miss Law told the meeting that as the cultural and tourism resources of Hong Kong and Heilongjiang are unique in their own ways, there is significant potential for collaboration. She expressed hope to expand the market and drive bilateral tourism flow with Heilongjiang in the future.
The Chief Executive will head back to Hong Kong tomorrow.
Samsung TV Plus, Samsung’s free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service, has collaborated with Warner Bros. to launch five new FAST channels exclusively on Samsung TV Plus India. These WBTV channels deliver premium storytelling to streaming audiences, meeting the demand for high quality, free entertainment. With a strong focus on Hindi programming, these new FAST channels are designed to engage both regional and urban audiences.
Samsung TV Plus is a free streaming service that comes pre-installed on Samsung Smart TVs, offering a wide range of channels, including news, sports, entertainment, and more.
Kunal Mehta, Head Partnerships and Business Development, Samsung TV Plus India, said “We are thrilled to welcome Warner Bros. Television to Samsung TV Plus. As a leader in FAST, we are committed to bringing top-tier content to our audiences. This partnership expands entertainment choices while delivering even more value and access to our viewers—and opportunities for advertisers.”
Offering a diverse range of premium programming, the channels mentioned below are curated to captivate viewers on Samsung Smart TVs and mobile devices:
House of Crime: A gripping destination for crime enthusiasts, offering a mix of intense dramas and intriguing investigative series in Hindi.
Foodie Hub: A haven for culinary adventurers, featuring popular food shows, recipes, and gastronomic journeys, presented in Hindi.
Wild Flix: A heart-warming gateway to the wonders of the animal kingdom, showcasing captivating insights into zoo life, and awe-inspiring animal rescue stories in Hindi.
Wheel World: A high-octane destination for automobile enthusiasts, featuring exhilarating car and bike shows, and restoration stories from the best garages, presented in English.
XXtreme Jobs: An adrenaline-pumping exploration of the world’s most daring professions, unearthing extraordinary workplaces and fearless individuals behind them, presented in Hindi.
Ruchir Jain, Head of Distribution, Warner Bros. Discovery, South Asia, said: “At Warner Bros. Discovery, we are passionate about curating diverse and high-quality entertainment for our audiences. With connected TVs on the rise, we are excited to expand our presence on Samsung TV Plus through these new channels. Our partnership with Samsung TV Plus will enable us to bring our viewers the very best of WBTV.”
After a decade-long fight for justice, the Preliminary Issues Trial of Nigerian Law for Shell vs Ogale and Bille communities is set to take place at the UK High Court from 13 February to 10 March 2025.
Ten years ago, residents from the Bille and Ogale communities in Nigeria claimed their livelihoods had been destroyed and homes damaged by hundreds of oil spills caused by Shell. The pollution caused widespread devastation to the local environment, killing fish and plant life, leaving thousands of people without access to clean drinking water.
The communities brought their claims in the UK courts however Shell repeatedly delayed the case arguing it had no legal responsibility for any of the pollution. The delay has had a devastating effect on people’s lives.
On 6 December 2024, the UK Court of Appeal gave the green light for the case finally to go ahead. Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International’s Country Director for Nigeria, said:
“The Bille and Ogale communities of Nigeria’s Niger Delta oil-producing region have been living with the devastating impact of oil pollution for so long. Oil companies, particularly Shell, exposed them to multiple oil spills that have done permanent damage to farmlands, waterways, and drinking water – leaving them unable to farm or fish.
“Water contamination and other impacts affect even babies that are in some cases born with deformities. These communities have been deprived of a good standard of living. They deserve justice and effective remediation, and I hope this long-overdue trial goes someway to providing it.”
Amnesty International has published numerous reports, documenting the detrimental impact Shell’s operations are having on Nigerian communities. Going forward, Amnesty International is calling for Shell to conduct meaningful consultation with affected communities about its plans for disengagement. Shell must also provide a full remediation plan including details of all completed and ongoing clean-ups across its areas of operation, as well as adequate compensation for the severe and sustained harm affected communities have faced as a result of Shell’s operations in the Niger Delta.
Background
The two communities from Nigeria will be represented by Leigh Day. The Shell Preliminary Issues Trial of Nigerian Law will aim to resolve a number of Nigerian private and constitutional law questions, with a view to confirming the legal framework to be applied to the subsequent trial between Shell and the Ogale and Bille communities.
Over the past 20 years, Amnesty International has conducted extensive research and documented the human rights and environmental impact of Shell’s operations in the Niger Delta. In Amnesty’s 2023 report, Nigeria: Tainted Sale?, the organization recommended a series of safeguards to protect the rights of people potentially affected by Shell’s planned disposal of its oil interests in Nigeria.
NHRC, India in collaboration with the Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur organised a National conference on combating human trafficking in the digital era In his inaugural address, NHRC, India Chairperson, Justice Shri V Ramasubramanian emphasised the need for building awareness among people about the pitfalls while engaging with digital spaces to ensure their safety
Highlighted strengthening of the regulatory and institutional frameworks as well as technological solutions to check effectively the misuse of digital space
Among various suggestions, the conference stressed on amending the ITP Act to provide clearer distinctions between child and adult trafficking with specific provisions to include cyber trafficking within its scope
Formal linkage between the ITPA and the IT Act also stressed filling existing legal gaps and addressing trafficking in the digital realm
Posted On: 10 FEB 2025 1:13PM by PIB Delhi
Justice Shri V Ramasubramanian, Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), India inaugurated a day-long National Conference on ‘Combating human trafficking in the digital era’ organised on 7th Februray, 2025 by the Commission in collaboration with the Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur, Chhattisgarh. With digital technologies increasingly being exploited for human trafficking, this conference examined the role of the internet, social media, cryptocurrency, and various online tools in facilitating trafficking crimes and the role of technology, law enforcement agencies, and the community in preventing them.
Addressing virtually, the experts, law enforcement officials, academicians, and activists gathered to deliberate upon the growing menace of cyber-enabled trafficking, Justice Ramasubramanian highlighted various forms of digital trafficking such as sexual exploitation, labour exploitation, organ trafficking, and forced marriage. He also highlighted “Active Recruitment,” known as Hook Fishing, and “Passive Recruitment,” known as Net Fishing using digital technology to lure in gullible people.
The NHRC, India Chairperson emphasised the need for building awareness among people about the pitfalls while engaging with digital spaces to ensure their safety besides strengthening the regulatory and institutional frameworks as well as technological solutions to check effectively the misuse of digital space.
The conference was divided into two thematic sessions. The first session focused on the role of the Internet in facilitating human trafficking and migrant smuggling: A legal, administrative, and regulatory perspective’. It was chaired by Smt Bhamathi Balasubramanian, IAS (Retd.), co-chaired by Dr Sanjeev Shukla, Inspector General of Police, Bilaspur. Other resource persons included Dr K.V.K. Santhy, Professor of Law, NALSAR Hyderabad; Shri Kirtan Rathore, Additional SP, Raipur; and Smt Pratibha Tiwari, Additional SP, Mahasamund.
The session provided a comprehensive discussion on the various factors contributing to human trafficking, with a strong emphasis on its gendered dimensions and the growing role of digital anonymity in facilitating such crimes. A significant portion of the discussion focused on the issue of migrant smuggling in different parts of India, particularly examining recruitment strategies, coordination networks, and the smuggling of victims.
Experts highlighted trafficking cases from Chhattisgarh, shedding light on the persistent problem of non-reporting and the critical role played by Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) in addressing these challenges. The session also explored the regulatory mechanisms in place to combat trafficking, emphasizing the need for capacity building and the development of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) tailored to the digital era. Additionally, the speakers underscored the role of the internet, artificial intelligence, and digital forensics in tracking and preventing trafficking cases, particularly those involving social media and missing children.
The second session was focused on the theme “Preventive Strategies against Human Trafficking: Role of Technology, Law Enforcement Agencies, Victim Support, and Community Engagement.” It was chaired by Dr Manish Mishra, Joint Director, Chhattisgarh Human Rights Commission, and co-chaired by Dr Purushotam Chandrakar, Member, Child Welfare Committee (Raipur). The panellists also included Ms Pallabi Ghosh, Founder & Director, Impact and Dialogue Foundation (Kolkata); Ms Chetna Desai; Shri Ritesh Kumar, Child Protection Officer, UNICEF, Chhattisgarh; and Prof. (Dr) Vishnu Konoorayar, Professor of Law, HNLU.
Shri Joginder Singh, Registrar (Law), NHRC, India in his concluding remarks said that combating human trafficking is a global effort requiring collaboration between governments, NGOs, technology companies, and individuals.
The conference brought forward several key suggestions to address the growing challenge of human trafficking some of which are as follows:
• Amend The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA) to provide clearer distinctions between child and adult trafficking, with specific provisions to include cyber trafficking within its scope; • Formal linkage is needed between the ITPA and the IT Act to fill existing legal gaps and address trafficking in the digital realm;
• Increase awareness regarding self-reporting portals such as the Centralized Complaint and Prevention of Women and Children (CCPWC), which could serve as an effective tool for public participation in reporting trafficking cases;
• Equip and train Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) to combat trafficking in the digital era; • Authentic data on human trafficking needs to be systematically collected across different categories to better inform policies and interventions;
• There is a need for community engagement as a critical component in combating trafficking in all its forms by encouraging local communities to take an active role in preventing and reporting such crimes.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, continued his visit to Harbin today (February 10) to meet with leaders of Heilongjiang Province. He also met with the injured Hong Kong ice hockey athletes and Hong Kong people working and doing business in the three northeastern provinces, and visited the Beidahuang Museum.
Mr Lee met respectively with the Secretary of the CPC Heilongjiang Provincial Committee, Mr Xu Qin, and the Governor of Heilongjiang Province, Ms Liang Huiling, to exchange views on issues of mutual concern. Mr Lee noted that Heilongjiang Province has leveraged the ice and snow economy as a new engine for economic development by making good use of its rich ice and snow tourism resources while actively promoting winter sports. He added that Heilongjiang Province sets an example of integrating sports with cultural and tourism development, which is inspiring to Hong Kong.
Noting that Hong Kong and Heilongjiang share close economic and trade ties, with Hong Kong being the largest source of external investment for Heilongjiang, Mr Lee said that Hong Kong, as a “super connector” and “super value-adder”, can serve the Mainland in exploring global markets.
Regarding people-to-people exchanges, Mr Lee highlighted that the Individual Visit Scheme has been extended to include Harbin in Heilongjiang Province since May last year, while direct flights between Harbin and Hong Kong were officially launched in June last year. These developments have strengthened tourism co-operation between the two places and promoted people-to-people bonds. The Beijing Office and Liaoning Liaison Unit of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government will continue to serve as a bridge to enhance exchanges between Hong Kong and Heilongjiang in various areas, he added.
Mr Lee also went to the athletes’ village to visit the Hong Kong ice hockey players who were injured yesterday (February 9) after the match, to understand their condition and offer his support. Mr Lee said he is highly concerned about the attack on Hong Kong athletes and has requested the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China, and the Culture, Sports, and Tourism Bureau to follow up on the incident and make every effort to ensure the safety of athletes. Mr Lee noted that the Hong Kong athletes had remained calm and restrained during the incident, demonstrating professionalism and sportsmanship. He also praised the ice hockey team for their outstanding performance in the past competitions, making Hong Kong people proud. He encouraged the athletes not to let the incident affect their morale, to take good care of themselves, and to give their best in the games, showcasing the professionalism of Hong Kong athletes. He also assured them that the people of Hong Kong would fully support them.
At noon, Mr Lee met with Hong Kong people working and doing business in the three northeastern provinces to learn about their daily lives and development. He said that Hong Kong people and enterprises there serve as an essential bridge between Hong Kong and the three provinces. He encouraged them to introduce Hong Kong’s latest developments to local enterprises and tell the good stories of Hong Kong.
In the afternoon, Mr Lee visited the Beidahuang Museum in Harbin to understand the transformation of the Great Northern Wilderness, a plain region in northeastern Heilongjiang Province, from a barren wilderness into a key commodity grain base and a strategic grain reserve base of the country. He also gained insights into the Beidahuang Spirit, which embodies perseverance, resilience, and a pioneering mindset.
Separately, the Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Miss Rosanna Law, had a work meeting with the Director-General of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Heilongjiang Province, Ms He Jing, this afternoon. They had discussions on ways to strengthen cultural and tourism collaborations between Hong Kong and Heilongjiang. During the meeting, Miss Law gave a briefing on the latest developments in Hong Kong’s culture and tourism. She said that the cultural and tourism resources of Hong Kong and Heilongjiang are unique in their own ways. While Hong Kong, as a world city, is always innovating in integrating culture and tourism, Heilongjiang is famous for its magnificent ice and snow attractions. With significant potential for collaboration between the two places, Miss Law expressed hope to expand the market and drive bilateral tourism flow with Heilongjiang in the future.
Mr Lee and the other officials will return to Hong Kong tomorrow (February 11).
Integrating adjacent workflows across the front office to connect the full portfolio life cycle
Adds technology-forward order management (OMS) and investment book of record (IBOR) capabilities
NORWALK, Conn., Feb. 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FactSet (NYSE: FDS | NASDAQ: FDS), a global financial digital platform and enterprise solutions provider, today announced the acquisition of LiquidityBook for a gross purchase price of $246.5 million in cash.
LiquidityBook provides cloud-native trading solutions to hedge fund, asset and wealth management, outsourced trading, and sell-side middle office clients and operates a proprietary FIX network that enables streamlined connectivity to over 200 brokers and order routing to more than 1,600 destinations across 80 markets globally.
Over the past year, the two companies partnered to enable a turnkey integration of LiquidityBook’s flagship order management system (OMS) into the FactSet Workstation to seamlessly link adjacent steps in the front office trade workflow, from security research and portfolio construction to order creation and trade execution. The acquisition takes this successful partnership one step further to accelerate FactSet’s mission to connect the front office with the middle office. FactSet’s ability to serve the integrated workflow needs of clients across the portfolio life cycle will be enhanced by combining LiquidityBook’s modern and scalable order management, pre-trade compliance, and investment book of record (IBOR) capabilities with FactSet’s industry-leading investment research, execution management, performance, reporting, and portfolio analytics solutions.
“This acquisition is further evidence of FactSet’s commitment to streamlining workflows across the entire portfolio life cycle to reduce our clients’ total cost of ownership,” said Rob Robie, Executive Vice President, Head of Institutional Buy Side, FactSet. “Clients want to spend their time on actionable investment decisions, not jumping between disparate research, portfolio management, and trading platforms. Deeper integration of LiquidityBook’s OMS and IBOR into the FactSet Workstation will enable a consolidated front office solution that meets the increasingly sophisticated needs of our clients.”
Founded in 2005 and headquartered in New York with approximately 70 employees worldwide, LiquidityBook offers a modular platform for the full trading life cycle, enabling multi-asset class portfolio, order, and execution management capabilities. Architected to scale on a cloud-native, multi-tenant foundation, its solutions enable clients to track intraday portfolio holdings, initiate and monitor trade orders, ensure pre-trade and regulatory compliance, manage client/broker commissions, and process post-trade reconciliations through a single code base for every use case.
“Since inception, LiquidityBook has focused on developing a modular solution on scalable architecture purpose-built to support the most sophisticated multi-asset trading workflows with a distinct advantage over inflexible, refactored legacy systems,” said Kevin Samuel, CEO, LiquidityBook. “We look forward to continuing this mission as part of FactSet to meet the growing workflow needs of clients across the trade life cycle without compromising on functionality.”
“We are excited to bring two talented teams together to expand on the existing partnership in place,” said Shawn Samuel, CTO, LiquidityBook. “The value proposition of combining our complementary solutions is already client-validated and market-tested. Joining forces now to capitalize on this opportunity is the natural next step to delivering increased value and flexibility to clients.”
The acquisition closed on February 7, 2025 and was funded by borrowings under FactSet’s existing revolving credit facility. The transaction is expected to be modestly dilutive to FactSet’s fiscal 2025 GAAP and adjusted diluted EPS.
FactSet’s advisors on the transaction include Citi as financial advisor and Cravath, Swaine & Moore as legal advisor. LiquidityBook’s advisors include IA Global Capital as financial advisor and Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle as legal advisor.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements based on management’s current expectations, projections, beliefs and assumptions. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements and future results could differ materially from historical performance.
About FactSet
FactSet (NYSE:FDS | NASDAQ:FDS) helps the financial community to see more, think bigger, and work better. Our digital platform and enterprise solutions deliver financial data, analytics, and open technology to more than 8,200 global clients, including over 218,000 individual users. Clients across the buy-side and sell-side as well as wealth managers, private equity firms, and corporations achieve more every day with our comprehensive and connected content, flexible next-generation workflow solutions, and client-centric specialized support. As a member of the S&P 500, we are committed to sustainable growth and have been recognized amongst the Best Places to Work in 2023 by Glassdoor as a Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award winner. Learn more at www.factset.com and follow us on X and LinkedIn.
About Liquidity Book
LiquidityBook is a leading provider of cloud-native buy- and sell-side trading solutions and is trusted by many of the industry’s largest and most sophisticated firms. The LiquidityBook platform is easily configurable and enhanced daily with client requests, giving these firms peace of mind that their trading platform will adapt and scale as they grow. A disruptive force in the market for nearly 20 years, the founder-led LiquidityBook backs their platform with unparalleled support and employs a client-centric business model with no hidden fees. For more information, please visit www.liquiditybook.com or contact sales@liquiditybook.com.
The Consultation Group on LawTech Development held its first meeting today to discuss development strategies and policies to promote the use of lawtech in the legal and dispute resolution industry.
The consultation group, established by the Department of Justice in January, is chaired by Deputy Secretary for Justice Cheung Kwok-kwan and comprises representatives from the legal and dispute resolution sector, law schools and experts on the application of lawtech.
The consultation body will provide advice and assistance to the department regarding the promotion and development of lawtech in Hong Kong.
Mr Cheung explained that lawtech can enhance efficiency and productivity of Hong Kong’s legal and dispute resolution industry, noting that it can improve efficiency and service quality, save costs and enhance competitiveness with the use of artificial intelligence, document automation and electronic file management.
This would advance the city’s position as a major international legal and dispute resolution services centre in the Asia-Pacific region, he added.
The Deputy Secretary for Justice also said that the Government will actively consider the recommendations of the consultation group to formulate and implement strategies to promote the use of lawtech.
The country turned 185 on Thursday, but not everyone wanted to celebrate and debate.David Seymour’s address is here.They turned their backs and took his microphone, but nobody actually tried to argue that division based on ancestry is better than liberal democracy.
Spaghetti Government
Just over a year ago the New Zealand Initiative, a think tank, released a short and brilliant report on Government in New Zealand.Cabinet Congestion: The Growth of a ministerial maze.
The gist of the report is that our Government has far more Ministers, and far more portfolios, than similar-sized countries. For example the Government of Ireland has fifteen ministers with eighteen portfolios and eighteen departments.
Once upon a time New Zealand was roughly like that. Cabinet had sixteen ministers who all attended the main Cabinet meeting. Each Minister had one or two departments they were responsible for, and that was also their portfolio. For example, if you were the Minister of Police, you were responsible for Police, Police was your portfolio, and you were the only Minister of Police.
Then came the MMP and the Government required multiple parties. It meant the Bolger Government needed to share power, but wouldn’t. Instead, Ministerial power was diluted with a little water in the wine.
National negotiated the position of ‘Treasurer’ for Winston Peters, because they couldn’t imagine giving up Finance. The idea of a Minister outside Cabinet was also born, meaning Ministers who don’t attend the main Cabinet meeting. Four of these new Ministers meant 20 in total.
Not to be outdone, Helen Clark formed an even bigger Government three years later. Cabinet expanded to 20 Ministers, and Ministers outside cabinet doubled to eight. Then there were 28.
Not much has changed since then, except for an eruption of portfolios and departments. We now have a Ministry for Pacific Peoples, and a Ministry for Ethnic Affairs. Then there are portfolios without a specific department, including Racing, Mental Health, Auckland, the South Island, to name a few of the 78 Portfolios that now exist.
There are other complications. For example needing to pick nearly 30 Ministers from a Government majority of just over 60 MPs affects quality. It means nearly half of MPs are Ministers when their ‘side’ is in Government. There’s been more than a few in recent years who wouldn’t have got a job like being a Minister otherwise.
Most Ministers have multiple portfolios, around three to four on average. They’ll be less effective at, say, improving foreign relations if they’re also responsible for local government (Nanaia Mahuta was terrible at both). They’ll be less effective because they can’t specialise, but also because a specialist is less likely to be appointed in the first place.
On the other hand, many departments have multiple ministers. There are three in Education, but that’s nothing compared with the 18 that MBIE is responsible to. Who is in charge?
As theInitiativereport argues, confusion empowers the bureaucracy. They can face multiple Ministers who themselves have many other jobs, often in totally unrelated areas. This makes it extremely difficult to shrink Government, or get much done at all.
Some will criticise ACT for creating the Minister for Regulation. The Party would respond that restricting how other people can use their property is the most important government power to restrain besides taxing and spending. The latter has the Minister of Finance and Treasury, but who restrains regulation?
ACT is now at the centre of government for the first time, and sits at the table that’s been set over the last thirty years of MMP. If the Party was charged with setting the table, there would be fewer placemats.
How would we do it again? Any future Government should stick to three rules when it’s being set up.
Every Minister sits in Cabinet so they’re part of every discussion.
Every Minister has a department, so there are no portfolios that don’t involve managing a department.
No Department has more than one Minister, so every public servant knows who they’re accountable to.
This would mean getting rid of about half the portfolios and eight Ministers. It would go a long way to improving government efficiency and allow the government to get a lot more done much faster with much less ‘resource.’
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – “Jesus is not concerned with showing off to the crowds, with doing a job, with following a timetable in carrying out his mission. On the contrary, he always makes it his priority to encounter others, to relate to them, and to sympathize with the struggles and setbacks that often burden hearts and take away hope”.With these words, Pope Francis presided this morning in St. Peter’s Square over a solemn Eucharistic concelebration, which marked the conclusion of the Jubilee events dedicated to the Armed Forces and Police.The Pontiff did not read the full text of the homily: “Excuse me, I will now ask the Master [of Liturgical Celebrations] to continue reading due to my difficulty in breathing”, he said after reading the first part of the text and adding a few spontaneous words. Last Thursday, the Holy See Press Office announced in a statement that the Pope was suffering from bronchitis, which is why the weekend audiences were held at the Casa Santa Marta.Archbishop Diego Ravelli, Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations, then continued reading the text. In his reflection, the Pope highlighted three key words, taken from the passage of the Gospel according to Luke proclaimed in the liturgy of the day, which tells of the call of the first Apostles: “he saw”, “he went aboard ” and “he sat down”. Christ – the papal homily stressed – “looks with compassion at the expressions of those men, sensing their discouragement and frustration after having worked all night and caught nothing, their hearts as empty as the nets they haul”. But Jesus “does not simply stand by and watch as things go wrong, as we often do, and then complain bitterly. Rather, taking the initiative, he approaches Simon, spends time with him at that difficult moment and chooses to board the boat of his life, which that night had seemed fraught with failure”.Jesus “boards the boat in order to proclaim the good news, to tell of the beauty of God even amid the struggles of life, and to reaffirm that hope endures even when all seems lost.Then the miracle happens: when the Lord gets into the boat of our lives to bring us the good news of God’s love that constantly accompanies and sustains us, then life begins anew, hope is reborn, enthusiasm revives, and we can once again cast our nets into the sea”.In his homily, read by Archbishop Ravelli, the Bishop of Rome also expressed his gratitude to “all the military” who daily carry out their service to protect security and justice: “We are grateful for what you do, at times at great personal risk”.At the end of the celebration, in the words pronounced before the Angelus, in front of the multitude of women and men in uniform gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis renewed his appeal for peace, citing the conciliar constitution Gaudium et Spes: “This armed service is to be exercised only for legitimate defence, never to impose dominion over other nations, always observing the international conventions on matters of conflict, and before that, in sacred respect for life and creation”. The Pontiff also recalled the conflicts that continue to tear peoples and nations apart: “Let us pray for peace, in tormented Ukraine, in Palestine, in Israel and throughout the Middle East, in Myanmar, in Kivu, and in Sudan. Let arms be silent everywhere, and let the cry of the peoples, who are asking for peace, be heard!” (F. B.) (Agenzia Fides, 9/2/2025)
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#iubilaeum2025 – Holy Mass on the occasion of the Jubilee of the Armed Forces, Police and Security Forces, 10.02.2025
At 10.30 this morning, Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, on the occasion of the Jubilee of the Armed Forces, Police and Security Forces, the Holy Father presided over Holy Mass in Saint Peter’s Square.
The following is the homily begun by Pope Francis and then read by Archbishop Diego Ravelli, master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations:
Homily of the Holy Father
Jesus’ actions at the Lake of Gennesaret are described by the Evangelist with three verbs: he saw, he went aboard and he sat down. Jesus saw, Jesus went aboard and Jesus sat down. Jesus is not concerned with showing off to the crowds, with doing a job, with following a timetable in carrying out his mission. On the contrary, he always makes it his priority to encounter others, to relate to them, and to sympathize with the struggles and setbacks that often burden hearts and take away hope.
That is why Jesus, on that day, saw, went aboard and sat down.
First, Jesus saw. He has a discerning gaze that, even amid the great crowd, makes him able to spot two boats approaching the shore and to see the disappointment on the faces of those fishermen, now washing their empty nets after a night of fruitless labour. Jesus looks with compassion at those men. Let us never forget this: the compassion of God. God’s three attitudes are closeness, compassion and tenderness. Let us not forget: God is near, God is tender and God is always compassionate. Jesus looks with compassion at the expressions of those men, sensing their discouragement and frustration after having worked all night and caught nothing, their hearts as empty as the nets they haul.
Excuse me, I will now ask the Master [of Liturgical Celebrations] to continue reading due to my difficulty in breathing.
Seeing their discouragement, Jesus went aboard. He asks Simon to put out a little way from the shore and he climbs aboard the boat. In this way, he enters into Simon’s life and shares in his sense of disappointment and futility. This is significant: Jesus does not simply stand by and watch as things go wrong, as we often do, and then complain bitterly. Rather, taking the initiative, he approaches Simon, spends time with him at that difficult moment and chooses to board the boat of his life, which that night had seemed fraught with failure.
Then, once aboard, Jesus sat down. In the Gospels, this is typical of a master, of one who teaches others. Indeed, the Gospel states that Jesus sat down and taught. Glimpsing in those fishers’ eyes and hearts the frustration of a night of fruitless toil, Jesus boards the boat in order to proclaim the good news, to bring light to the dark night of disappointment, to tell of the beauty of God even amid the struggles of life, and to reaffirm that hope endures even when all seems lost.
Then the miracle happens: when the Lord gets into the boat of our lives to bring us the good news of God’s love that constantly accompanies and sustains us, then life begins anew, hope is reborn, enthusiasm revives, and we can once again cast our nets into the sea.
Brothers and sisters, this message of hope accompanies us today as we celebrate the Jubilee of the Armed Forces, Police and Security Personnel. I thank all of you for your service, and I greet all the Authorities present, the military associations and academies, and the military Ordinaries and chaplains. All of you have been entrusted with a lofty mission that embraces numerous aspects of social and political life: defending our nations, maintaining security, upholding legality and justice. You are present in penitentiaries and at the forefront of the fight against crime and the various forms of violence that threaten to disrupt the life of society. I think too of all those engaged in relief work in the wake of natural disasters, the safeguarding of the environment, rescue efforts at sea, the protection of the vulnerable and the promotion of peace.
The Lord also asks you to do as he does: to see, to go aboard and to sit down. To see, because you are called to keep your eyes ever open, alert to threats to the common good, to dangers menacing the lives of your fellow citizens, and to environmental, social and political risks to which we are exposed. To go aboard, because your uniforms, the discipline that has shaped you, the courage that is your hallmark, the oath you have taken — all these are things that remind you of the importance not only of seeing evil in order to report it, but also of boarding the storm-tossed boat and working to ensure that it does not run aground. For that too is part of your mission in the service of the good, freedom, and justice. Then, finally, to sit down, because your presence in our cities and neighbourhoods to uphold law and order, and your taking the part of the defenceless, can serve as a lesson for all of us. They teach us that goodness can prevail over everything. They teach us that justice, fairness and civic responsibility remain as necessary nowadays as ever. They teach us that we can create a more human, just and fraternal world, despite the opposing forces of evil.
In carrying out your work, which embraces your whole life, you are accompanied by your chaplains, an important priestly presence in your midst. Their job is not — as has at times unfortunately happened in history — to bless perverse acts of war. No. They are in your midst as the presence of Christ, who desires to walk at your side, to offer you a listening and sympathetic ear, to encourage you to set out ever anew and to support you in your daily service. As a source of moral and spiritual support, they accompany you at every step and help you to carry out your mission in the light of the Gospel and in the pursuit of the common good.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are grateful for what you do, at times at great personal risk. Thank you because by boarding our storm-tossed boats, you offer us protection and encourage us to stay our course. At the same time, I would encourage you never to lose sight of the purpose of your service and all your activity, which is to promote life, to save lives, to be a constant defender of life. And I ask you, please, to be vigilant. Be vigilant against the temptation to cultivate a warlike spirit. Be vigilant not to be taken in by the illusion of power and the roar of arms. Be vigilant lest you be poisoned by propaganda that instils hatred, divides the world into friends to be defended and foes to fight. Instead, be courageous witnesses of the love of God our Father, who wants us all to be brothers and sisters. Together, then, let us set out to be artisans of a new era of peace, justice and fraternity.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
New records reveal the government is utilising AI and technology to enhance public services, including streamlining MOT inspections and speeding up planning with satellite habitat mapping.
How AI is improving public services and new AI Playbook will drive public sector use.
New records reveal how government is using AI and tech to deliver for the public – including by streamlining MOT garage inspections and using satellite habitat mapping to speed up planning
Comes alongside practical tips to help public sector build tech to speed up decision making and transform services for working people – delivering the Plan for Change
Guidance shares top tips from development of GOV.UK Chat and other advanced tech on using safeguards to ensure the tech works in the public’s interest
AI and satellite images are being used to predict how natural habitats are changing across the country, so more current data can be used to accelerate planning proposals and stop NIMBYism getting in the way of growth and the Plan for Change.
Satellite images and machine learning – a type of AI – are being used by Natural England to build a detailed map of “Living England”, showing the current extent of habitats across the country. Rather than the manual surveys of the past, changes to English habitats will now be tracked more efficiently and across the country – speeding up decisions around planning and land use while better protecting nature.
Details of the project are being released today alongside 13 other examples of how AI and algorithmic tools are used to speed up decision making and improve public services – spanning examples including how AI is being used to better predict the weather and keep standards high at MOT testing centres.
A new AI Playbook, published today, gives public sector technical experts top tips and guiding principles on how to replicate this work and build AI to help their organisations fix services for citizens – ultimately delivering on the government’s ambition to transform public services with AI.
Civil servants are guided on how to buy and manage the development of AI technology in their departments and encouraged to work with AI companies closely so the technology can be put to work more quickly.
Today’s announcement comes as world leaders gather for the AI Action Summit in Paris, and follow’s the publication of the UK’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, which has put the UK on course to revolutionise public services and become an AI superpower – already attracting over £14 billion in investment since launching just last month.
Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said:
Every corner of the public sector can be using technology to save money, speed things up, and crucially, improve public services for people across the UK, driving our Plan for Change forward.
The publication of our AI Playbook today comes with a call to arms for tech specialists across the public sector – use the guidance we are sharing to put AI to work in your organisations at whiplash speed, so we can repair our broken public services together.
Natural England’s Chief Scientist, Professor Sallie Bailey said:
Nature restoration, development and economic growth are not opposing forces – they can and must work together to create a sustainable future for both people and wildlife.
Our Living England project is harnessing the power of AI to inform and support planning decisions far more efficiently. This means we can make the biggest impact for Nature recovery, while helping to deliver the new homes and infrastructure the country needs.
The AI Playbook, published by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, outlines ten principles civil servants building AI should follow, making sure they:
Have meaningful human control at the right stages, so any decisions recommended by technology can be monitored properly, and changed rapidly if needed.
Choose the right tool for the right job and avoid using AI where more basic technology can fulfil the same task.
Work with teams responsible for buying technology right from the start, to make sure agreements struck with private sector companies can be utilised to maximum potential in this rapidly evolving market.
The Playbook also insists that public servants working with AI do so openly and collaboratively, making sure the public know how technology is being used and allowing other public sector organisations to benefit from work that has already taken place.
Other records being released today detail how the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) uses AI to prioritise which of the 23,000 active MOT testing garages should receive an inspection next.
Producing a traffic light rating for every garage, the AI tool takes in data from MOT tests to spot anomalies and identify which garages should be checked first, so inspectors can confirm they are working to crucial safety standards. Previously, inspections were based only on the amount of time that had passed since the last check.
Today’s release follows the Technology Secretary publishing the blueprint for a modern digital government, setting out how his department will use AI and technology to help the public sector improve their services and target £45 billion in potential efficiency savings every year. This is as well as announcing a bundle of tools to be known as “Humphrey” and set to be made available to all civil servants soon.
Among other things, the tools will help civil servants assess responses to consultations, take minutes at meetings and analyse decades of debate from the Houses of Parliament.
Weather and climate forecasting: A combination of multiple different algorithmic tools used to produce weather forecasts.
Natural England (Defra)
Living England map: Habitat mapping for the whole of England using satellite imagery, targeted field survey and machine learning.
DVSA (DfT)
MOT Risk Rating: An algorithmic to identify potential non-compliance in MOT testing, and prioritise visits to MOT garages.
Wilton Park
Data Cleaning Tool: Enables compliance with The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by identifying and automatically cleaning personal data from the Wilton Park customer database.
OSCB (DBT)
Interest Calculator: Assists small business owners to calculate the amount of interest due on an overdue invoice.
National Highways (DfT)
Highways webchat: provides customers with an additional communication channel to get immediate answers to their questions using publicly available information (such as traffic information).
DSIT: GOV.UK site search
The search engine for GOV.UK. It enables users to search for information and services on GOV.UK by entering a search query to view results that are relevant to their query.
NHS Business Services Authority (DHSC)
Residency Checker for EHIC/GHIC/PRC: A process to support confirmation of UK residency for entitlement to healthcare in an European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland.
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
Employment and Support Allowance Online Medical Matching: A tool which helps Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) officials process claims more quickly.
Money and Pensions Service (MaPs)
Budget Planner: A free online tool that helps users track and categorize their spending, provides a detailed breakdown of their finances, and offers personalized tips to improve their money management.
Money and Pensions Service (MaPs)
Redundancy Pay Calculator: Online tool designed to help individuals who have been or are at risk of being made redundant understand their legal rights, calculate their potential redundancy pay, assess their financial situation, and explore available benefits and support.
Ministry of Justice (MoJ)
The Effective Proposal Framework: Used by Probation Practitioners at pre-sentence stage and as part of pre-release planning to identify requirements, licence conditions and interventions for individuals based on their risk and need profile.
Health Research Authority (DHSC)
Proportionate Review Toolkit: A toolkit to help Research Ethics Committee applicants determine whether their project would be eligible for proportionate review.
His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
Logo Detection and Classification Toolkit: A tool to detect unauthorised uses of HMRC’s logo.
It generally ends badly. An old tyrant embarks on an ill-considered project that involves redrawing maps.
They are heedless to wise counsel and indifferent to indigenous interests or experience. Before they fail, are killed, deposed or otherwise disposed of, these vicious old men can cause immense harm.
To see Trump through this lens, let’s look at a group of men who tested their cartographic skills and failed: King Lear and, of course, Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte, and latterly, George W Bush and Saddam Hussein.
I even throw in a Pope. But let’s start first with Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump himself.
Benjamin Netanyahu and a map of a ‘New Middle East’ — without Palestine In September 2023, a month before the Hamas attack on Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to an almost-empty UN General Assembly. Few wanted to share the same air as the man.
In his speech, he presented a map of a “New Middle East” — one that contained a Greater Israel but no Palestine.
In a piece in The Jordan Times titled: “Cartography of genocide”, Ramzy Baroud explained why Netanyahu erased Palestine from the map figuratively. Hamas leaders also understood the message all too well.
“Generally, there was a consensus in the political bureau: We have to move, we have to take action. If we don’t do it, Palestine will be forgotten — totally deleted from the international map,” Dr Bassem Naim, a leading Hamas official said in the outstanding Al Jazeera documentary October 7.
Hearing Trump and Netanyahu last week, the Hamas assessment was clear-eyed and prescient.
Donald Trump In defiance of UN resolutions and international law, he recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, recognised the Syrian Golan Heights as part of Israel, and now wants to turn Gaza into a US real estate development, reconquer Panama, turn Canada into the 51st State of the USA, rename the Gulf of Mexico and seize Greenland, if necessary by force.
And it’s only February. The US spent blood, treasure and decades building the Rules-Based International Order. Biden and Trump have left it in tatters.
Trump is a fitting avatar for the American state: morally corrupt, narcissistic, burning down all the temples to international law, and generally causing chaos as he flames his way into ignominy.
The past week — where “Bonkers is the New Normal” — reminded me of a famous Onion headline: “FBI Uncovers Al-Qaeda Plot To Just Sit Back And Enjoy Collapse Of United States”.
The Iranians made a brilliant counter-offer to the US plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza and create a US statelet next to Israel — send the Israelis to Greenland! Unlike the genocidal US and Israeli leadership, the Iranians were kidding.
Point taken, though.
King Lear: ‘Meantime we will express our darker purpose. Give me the map there.’
Lear makes the list because of Shakespeare’s understanding of tyrants and those who oppose them.
Trump, like Lear, surrounds himself with a college of schemers, deviants and psychopaths. Image: www.solidarity.co.nz
Kent: My life I never held but as a pawn to wage against thy enemies.
Lear: Out of my sight!
Kent and all those who sought to steer the King towards a more prudent course were treated as enemies and traitors. I think of Ambassador Chas Freeman, John Mearsheimer, Colonel Larry Wilkerson, George Beebe and all the other wiser heads who have been pushed to the periphery in much the same way.
Trump, like Lear, surrounds himself with a college of schemers, deviants and psychopaths.
Napoleon Bonaparte I was fortunate to study “France on the Eve of Revolution” with the great French historian Antoine Casanova. His fellow Corsican caused a fair bit of mayhem with his intention to redraw the map of Europe.
British statesman William Pitt the Younger reeled in horror as Napoleon got to work, “Roll up that map; it will not be wanted these 10 years,” he presciently said.
Bonaparte was an important historical figure who left a mixed and contested legacy.
Before effective resistance could be organised, he abolished the Holy Roman Empire (good job), created the Confederation of the Rhine, invaded Russia and, albeit sometimes for the better, torched many of the traditional power structures.
Millions died in his wars.
We appear to be back to all that: a leader who tears up all rule books. Trump endorses the US-Israeli right of conquest, sanctions the International Criminal Court (ICC) for trying to hold Israel and the US to the same standard as others, and hands out the highest offices to his family and confidantes.
Hitler “Lebensraum” (Living space) was the Nazi concept that propelled the German war machine to seize new territories, redraw maps. As they marched, the soldiers often sang “Deutschland über alles”(Germany above all), their ultra-nationalist anthem that expressed a desire to create a Greater Germany — to Make Germany Great Again.
All sounds a bit similar to this discussion of Trump and Netanyahu, doesn’t it? Again: whose side should we be on?
Saddam Hussein and George W Bush When it comes to doomed bids to remake the Middle East by launching illegal wars, these are two buttocks of the same bum. Now we have the Trump-Netanyahu pair.
Will countries like Australia, New Zealand and the UK really sign up for the current US-Israeli land grab? Will they all continue to yawn and look away as massive crimes against humanity are committed? I fear so, and in so doing, they rob their side of all legitimacy.
Pope Alexander VI There is a smack of the Borgias about the Trumps. They share values — libertinism and nepotism, to name two — and both, through cunning rather than aptitude, managed to achieve great power.
Pope Alexander VI, born Rodrigo Borgia, father to Lucretia and Cesare, was Pope in 1492 when Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
1494. The Treaty of Tordesillas hands the New World over to the Spanish and Portuguese. Image: www.solidarity.co.nz
He was responsible for the greatest reworking of the map of the world: the Treaty of Tordesillas which divided the “New World” between the Spanish and Portuguese empires. Millions died; trillions were stolen.
We still live with the depravities the Europeans and their heritors unleashed upon the world.
I’m sure the Greenlanders, the Canadians, the Panamanians and whoever else the United States sets their sights on will resist the unwelcome attempt to colour the map of their country in stars & stripes.
History is littered with blind map re-makers, foolish old men who draw new maps on old lands.
Like Sykes, Picot, Balfour and others, Trump thinks with a flourish of his pen he can whisk away identity and deep roots. Love of country and long-suffering mean Palestinians will never accept a handful of coins and parcels of land spread across West Asia or Africa as compensation for a stolen homeland.
They have earned the right to Palestine not least because of the blood-spattered identity that they have carved out of every inch of land through their immense courage and steadfastness. We should stand with them.
Eugene Doyle is a community organiser and activist in Wellington, New Zealand. He received an Absolutely Positively Wellingtonian award in 2023 for community service. His first demonstration was at the age of 12 against the Vietnam War. This article was first published at his public policy website Solidarity and is republished here with permission.
Youth charged in relation to evade and crash at Bridgewater
Monday, 10 February 2025 – 4:23 pm.
A youth has been charged in relation to an evade incident and crash on the Bridgewater Bridge yesterday. The 15-year-old has been charged with aggravated evade, motor vehicle stealing, unlicensed driving, and traffic offences. They will appear before the Youth Justice Court tonight.
Care required not to trigger duty or double duty10 min read
The recent Tasmanian case of Van Dairy1 suggests that an agreement to procure a sale of property might be liable to duty as an agreement for sale, even if the owner of the property is not a party to it. This is significant because, in the context of this case, it meant the Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) triggered adverse stamp duty implications. This included that the purchaser became a land-rich entity before completion, so that a double duty liability was triggered by the transfer of its shares before completion of the land purchase.
To ‘change your mind’ after the contract is signed involves a major risk of incurring double duty under the landholder duty provisions of each Australian jurisdiction.
The principle in the case is potentially relevant when a corporate or other entity, which wholly controls one or more subsidiaries, undertakes to procure or arrange for those subsidiaries to sell land, shares or other assets held by them to a buyer.2 It could potentially apply to impose duty on other agreements where the owners of the relevant sale property are not parties, such as scheme implementation agreements, or global business sale agreements in which parent companies of global groups undertake to procure their subsidiaries in various countries to buy and sell relevant businesses or companies.
We understand that the taxpayers have appealed the decision, and it remains to be seen whether the decision is overturned, or whether it will be followed in other Australian jurisdictions.
The case is also a salutary lesson about the importance of establishing ownership of a special purpose entity before it enters into a contract to acquire land assets, to ensure double duty does not arise under the landholder duty provisions in any Australian jurisdiction.
Key takeaways
A sale and purchase agreement under which a controlling entity agrees to procure the sale of property by an entity which it controls, can potentially be characterised as a binding agreement for the sale of that property, even though the entity that owns the property is not a party to the agreement. Thus, such an agreement can trigger adverse duty consequences.
Taxpayers establishing entities to acquire land assets or other property should strive to establish them with the correct or intended ownership prior to signing any contract to purchase the assets. To ‘change your mind’ after the contract is signed involves a major risk of incurring double duty under the landholder duty provisions of each Australian jurisdiction.
This is subject to the potential for a taxpayer that is a member of a corporate group being able to rely on corporate reconstruction exemptions and concessions, to obtain an exemption or reduction in duty for a change in ownership within a corporate group of the special purpose entity after it acquires the land assets.
Who in your organisation needs to know about this?
Members of the tax and legal teams, and others involved in negotiating SPAs and global sale agreements, and in establishing special purpose entities to acquire land or other assets.
A summary of the Van Dairy case
Facts
In October 2015, certain Tasmanian properties (the Woolnorth properties) were marketed for sale. They were then owned by two companies named Van Diemen’s Land Company (VDL) and Tasman Ferndale Pty Ltd (TFPL), both of which were wholly owned by Tasman Land Company (TLC).
Mr Lu Xianfeng (Mr Lu) wanted to purchase the Woolnorth properties and related assets that were to be sold by interests controlled by TLC. Mr Lu at all relevant times controlled the corporate appellants in the matter. On 30 October 2015, Moon Lake Investments Pty Ltd (Moon Lake) was incorporated, with Mr Lu as the sole shareholder, holding all five shares in the company.
On 20 November 2015, Mr Lu, Moon Lake and TLC executed a written agreement referred to as the SPA. Under this agreement, as per clause 3, TLC agreed to ‘procure the sale and transfer to [Moon Lake] of the Assets … with affect from Closing’. The Assets referenced were owned by ‘the group’, which consisted of TFPL and VDL, which—as noted above—were wholly owned subsidiaries of TLC.
On 12 January 2016, according to the Moon Lake share register held by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Mr Lu’s five shares in Moon Lake were transferred to Ningbo Kaixin Investment Co Ltd (Ningbo).
On 24 March 2016, Ningbo’s shares in Moon Lake were then transferred to Van Dairy (Hong Kong) Group Ltd (VDHK).
On 31 March 2016, completion of the sale of the land took place. Moon Lake partly funded payment of the purchase price by issuing a large number of shares to VDHK. Moon Lake received the executed land transfers from VDL and TFPL and, on around 4 April 2016, these were lodged to be assessed for stamp duty by the State Revenue Office (SRO), together with payment of estimated duty of over $8 million.
Subsequently the SRO told Moon Lake’s solicitors it would give further consideration as to whether Ningbo and/or VDHK had any liability to pay land-rich duty, separately from Moon Lake’s liability to pay duty on the acquisition of the Woolnorth properties.
On 28 January 2021, the corporate appellants received a notice from the SRO that it intended to investigate whether Ningbo and/or VDHK had acquired any relevant interest in a land-rich corporation.
On 20 April 2021, Moon Lake received further correspondence from the SRO, which included the following statement:
The acquisition by shares by [Ningbo] on 15 January 2016 and then subsequently by [VDHK] on 24 March each resulted in a separate dutiable transaction under s66 of the Act as at the time of each of those majority acquisitions, Moon Lake was deemed to be a land-rich company.
On 5 July 2021, the SRO informed Ningbo and VDHK that each were liable to pay duty interest and penalty tax in the sum of approximately $10.5 million.
On 2 September 2021, Ningbo and VDHK each lodged notices of objection with the Commissioner regarding the 5 July 2021 assessments. The Commissioner disallowed their objections (apart from a reduction in the quantum of each assessment). The assessments, as revised, were the subject of challenge in the case.
Issues
The most significant issue from a duty viewpoint was whether the SPA was an uncompleted agreement for the sale of land, despite the fact that the owners of the land were not parties to the agreement. If so, it meant the SPA had the effect of causing Moon Lake to be a land-rich corporation both at the time of the transfer of its shares to Ningbo and then to VDHK, triggering multiple duty.
The decision on whether the SPA was an uncompleted agreement for the sale of land
Under section 60(1) of the Duties Act 2001, a private corporation was land rich if:
it had land holdings in Tasmania where the unencumbered value is $500,000 or more; and
its land holdings in all places, whether within or outside Australia, comprised 60% or more of the unencumbered value of all its property.
A land holding included any interest in land, with some exceptions that were not relevant to the facts of the case.3
Under section 61(4), the vendor and the purchaser under an uncompleted agreement for the sale of land were each taken to be separately entitled to the whole of the land. While the land-rich duty provisions in Tasmania were subsequently replaced by landholder duty provisions (removing the 60% requirement), there is an equivalent provision in section 79(1) of the current Act. In addition, all Australian jurisdictions have an equivalent provision in their landholder duty legislation.
Before the Supreme Court of Tasmania, Ningbo and VDHK argued that s61(4) did not deem Moon Lake to be entitled to the whole of the land the subject of the SPA as it was not a purchaser under an uncompleted agreement for the sale of land. The basis of this argument was that the SPA was a contract between TLC and Moon Lake. The land was not owned by TLC, but by companies controlled by TLC. Ningbo asserted that this is different from TLC itself selling the land to Moon Lake.
Acting Justice Marshall noted that the proper interpretation of s61 was central to the resolution of this issue. Firstly, his Honour noted that the expression ‘agreement for the sale of land’ was not defined in the Act. In turning to the ordinary natural meaning of the words, his Honour held:
“The ordinary natural meaning of the words is to provide a description of an agreement which results in the sale of land. The words in the section are not “an agreement for the sale of land by a vendor and its purchase by a buyer”.
This approach highlights that the words ‘for the sale of land’ are the key element of the description of the agreement and should not be construed narrowly or pedantically. The words indicate binding agreements by which the sale of land is effected. On the facts of the case there was no doubt TLC was able to secure the sale of the land to Moon Lake as required under the SPA. Therefore, Moon Lake was a purchaser under an uncompleted agreement for the sale of land, and was treated as holding an interest in the land for the purposes of s61(1) of the Act.
The court also referred to the judgment of Justice Fullagar in Hall v Busst, where his Honour said there were ‘three essential elements’ required for a concluded agreement including the parties, the subject matter and the price.4 All three were satisfied in Van Dairy, including the parties.
Implications
The decision suggests that an agreement to procure a sale of property might be liable to duty as an agreement for sale, even if the owner of the property is not a party to it.
We understand an appeal against the decision of the Tasmanian Supreme Court has been lodged in the Tasmanian Court of Appeal by the taxpayers. Pending the outcome of that appeal, the decision remains persuasive in other jurisdictions.
It remains to be seen whether the decision is ultimately overturned, or is followed in other jurisdictions. It may be that it can be confined to its facts—although the owners of the relevant land were not parties to the SPA, their controlling parent company, TLC, undertook a binding obligation to procure that they sold the land, and there was no other agreement for sale entered into or contemplated. The SPA operated as the agreement that regulated the sale of the land. It might be different if the agreement had been drafted as an obligation of TLC to procure that its subsidiaries entered into a separate agreement for the sale of the land with the purchaser. This is often the case with global sale agreements, where the parent company of a multinational group undertakes to procure that its subsidiaries enter into separate country-specific agreements relating to the sale of downstream assets.
The result in Van Dairy might also have been different if the question was whether the deeming provision in s61(4) applied to the owners of the land as vendors, since they were not parties. Alternatively, if only TLC and Mr Lu (but not Moon Lake) had entered into the agreement, perhaps s61(4) would not have applied because Moon Lake, as purchaser, would not have been a party to the agreement.
In the case of a scheme implementation agreement in a takeover context, the target company undertakes to take steps to seek shareholder (and court) approval of a scheme for the sale of its shares by the shareholders to the acquirer. This might potentially trigger a landholder duty liability under the provisions of the duties legislation in Queensland or Western Australia. However, the target company is generally not in a position to definitely procure the sale—there is doubt about the scheme proceeding, because it generally depends on approval by the shareholders (and the court). So, on that basis, the position might be distinguishable from the decision in Van Dairy.
As indicated in Van Dairy, double duty can be triggered when ownership of a purchaser entity is not established correctly at the outset. There were two transfers of the shares in Moon Lake after the SPA had been signed, triggering two lots of duty on the transfers of shares in Moon Lake, in addition to the duty on the purchase of the land. Therefore, it is important to seek to establish the correct entities as shareholders (or unitholders in the case of a unit trust) prior to the purchaser entity entering into a contract to acquire the land. Any transfer of ownership of the purchaser entity after it becomes a landholder could potentially attract landholder duty. This is subject to whether relief might be available under exemptions or concessions for transfers within a corporate group, as explained below.
As noted above, the landholder duty legislation of other Australian jurisdictions has similar provisions deeming a company to be a holder of land where it has entered into an uncompleted agreement to purchase the land. For this reason, the Van Dairy decision will be persuasive authority on the interpretation of those provisions.
For example, under section 160(1) of the Duties Act 1997 (NSW), the transferor and the transferee under an uncompleted agreement for the sale or transfer of land are each taken to be separately entitled to the whole of the land.5
The use of the terms transferor and transferee correspond to the use of the terms vendor and the purchaser in the Tasmanian Act. If the same facts as in Van Dairy occurred in relation to NSW land, then the case would be persuasive authority for the same interpretation of the NSW legislation.
Corporate reconstruction exemptions and concessions
For the purposes of changing the structure of a corporate group or changing the holding of assets within a corporate group, a taxpayer may seek to consider corporate reconstruction exemptions and concessions. A corporate group broadly consists of a parent corporation and its subsidiaries where there is at least 90% ownership.6 Where such an exemption or concession is available, it provides some flexibility to change the ownership of a landowning entity within a corporate group even after it has acquired land or entered into a contract to acquire land.
By way of example, the Duties Act 1997 (NSW) relevantly provides for a duty concession for corporate reconstruction transactions. For eligible transactions that occur on or after 1 February 2024, the duty is reduced to 10% of the duty that would otherwise be payable.
Section 273B applies to a transaction if the Chief Commissioner is satisfied, on application by a party to the transaction, that—
the transaction is a corporate reconstruction transaction, and
the transaction, or the series of transactions of which the transaction is a part, is undertaken for the purpose of either or both of the following—
changing the structure of a corporate group,
changing the holding of assets within a corporate group, and
the transaction, or the series of transactions of which the transaction is a part—
is not undertaken for a purpose of avoiding or reducing duty under this Act on another transaction, and
is not undertaken for the sole or dominant purpose of avoiding or reducing a liability for tax, other than duty under this Act, under a law of an Australian jurisdiction.
All Australian jurisdictions have broadly similar exemptions or concessions, including Tasmania. The Tasmanian exemption was presumably not available in Van Dairy for the transfers of shares in Moon Lake. In the case of the first transfer from Mr Lu to Ningbo, Mr Lu, as an individual, could not have been a member of a relevant corporate group. In the case of the second transfer from Ningbo to VDHK, presumably the two companies were not part of the same corporate group as defined under the duties legislation.
Actions you can take now
Exercise caution when establishing the ownership of a purchaser entity and seek to have the correct ultimate shareholders in place prior to the signing of a contract to acquire land or completion of the purchase. Be aware of the double duty risk if you ‘change your mind’ later.
Consider the duty implications of entering into sale and purchase agreements, including where the intended seller or purchaser of the property is not a party to the agreement. Seek timely advice.
Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
The Northern Territory Police Force has arrested a 24-year-old male in relation to a Kava seizure that occurred in Maningrida on Saturday.
Around 12:00pm, local police conduced a lawful search of a property in the community after they received intelligence that the substance was present at the premises.
During the search, police located and seized 255.13kg of Kava and over $3,900 in cash.
A 24-year-old male was arrested at the scene and charged with possess commercial quantity of kava and supply commercial quantity of kava.
The alleged offender is due to appear in the Darwin Local Court on Thursday 13 February 2025.
Sergeant Timothy Gillahan said, “I commend the officers for their swift action in response to intelligence, as well as the community for their reporting.
“This seizure will undoubtedly reduce the social and financial harm within the community often caused by Kava use.
“The NT Police Force remains committed to disrupting the flow of destructive substances into restricted communities.”
Coles is reducing its product range by at least 10%, a move that has sparked public backlash and renewed discussions about the role of supermarkets in the cost-of-living crisis.
The goal is to boost profitability by reducing costs, increasing sales, and increasing control over the supply chain.
Coles is unlikely to cut traditional brands, especially those from companies with significant market power like Coca-Cola or Nestle. In a battle between giants, the status quo is likely to prevail.
Smaller suppliers are likely to bear the load as they struggle to renew contracts and face increased competition from home brands.
To fully understand the reasons behind this move and its impact on the cost of living, insights from psychology, finance, and supply chain management come in handy.
Why cut back on brands?
The Coles move is all about profitability.
Over the past decade, competition in the Australian supermarket sector has intensified. Coles’ market share declined from 31% to 25% between 2013 and 2023, while Woolworths’ share fell from 41% to 37%.
This shift reflects the rise of Aldi, which now holds approximately 10% of the market, and its strong position in the home brand space.
To boost profitability with a smaller customer base, Coles needs to find ways to enhance its earnings. This can be achieved by raising prices, cutting costs, or increasing the market share of its home brands.
Raising prices vs cutting costs
Raising prices is not a viable option, as consumers are already struggling with high food prices inflation and the rising cost-of-living. However, there is room to cut costs.
One approach is to squeeze suppliers, but again this is unlikely to be effective. The consumer watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), is holding an inquiry into concerns that the supermarkets are using their market power to the disadvantage of their suppliers and consumers.
Additionally, as producers exit unprofitable businesses, supermarkets risk supply chain disruptions due to increased market concentration among surviving suppliers.
Another strategy is to reduce complexity. The more product variety there is, the more complicated and expensive it becomes to manage. Tasks such as stocking shelves, adjusting prices, maintaining inventory, managing delivery schedules, and disposing of expired products all contribute to higher costs.
Simplifying the product range can also boost sales. When faced with too many options, consumers can experience “choice overload”. A widely recognised study in psychology found that people are more likely to make a purchase when presented with a limited selection rather than an extensive array of choices.
Coles has pointed to shampoo and salt as two potential product ranges that can be simplified. I.K.Media/Shutterstock
Shifting to home brands
Simplifying the range will likely focus on items where Coles has a home brand. Home brands now account for 33.5% of Coles’ sales, with 6,000 products. About 1,100 were added over the past year.
This move is a response to competitors like Aldi and Costco. While Coles and Woolworths manage over 25,000 items in their stores, Aldi limits its offering to about 1,800 products.
Coles is focusing on its home brands to better compete with non-branded offerings from Aldi. In its report to the ACCC, the supermarket highlights its investment in expanding its own-brand range to provide more affordable prices, up to 40% cheaper than similar proprietary brands.
While consumers may have fewer choices, it is expected that they will benefit from better prices.
This shift towards home brands is not exclusive to Australia. In the United States, private label sales hit a record in 2023 across a range of items from beauty products to general merchandise. In the United Kingdom, home brand products now account for over half of supermarket sales.
Have we been here before?
Almost 10 years ago, Woolworths and Coles started a significant move to adjust their price positioning in response to the competition. Along with Metcash (IGA), they reduced product ranges in 2015–16 by 10% to 15% to simplify the weekly grocery shop for consumers.
At that time, the culling of products put suppliers under pressure (as now) while consumers were ambivalent: some wanted more brand variety and others preferred less.
As history repeats itself, it will be interesting to see if Woolworths and Metcash will follow the latest move from Coles and how customers, suppliers, and the ACCC will react this time.
A/Prof Flavio Macau is affiliated with the Project Management Institute (PMI)
Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
The Northern Territory Police Force has charged a 17-year-old male following a series of property offences and indecent incidents in Lyons last week.
Between 3 and 6 February, it was observed through CCTV that the 17-year-old allegedly entered a residence on seven different occasions, stealing alcohol and personal items, and indecently exposing himself on several occasions.
On 6 February, an adult resident allegedly witnessed the male and intervened before he fled the scene.
On 8 February, about 8:30pm, Strike Force Trident Detectives attended the victim’s residence to progress their investigation, when the Detectives were notified of an alleged indecent touching incident that had only just occurred, on a female who was exercising in Lyons.
Trident Detectives swiftly located and arrested the 17-year-old male and he was subsequently charged with:
• 7 x Trespass
• 2 x Aggravated burglary
• 4 x Theft
• 2 x Indecent exposure
• Damage to property
• Indecent touching
• Breach bail
He was remanded over the weekend and will appear in court today.
Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Chris Humphries said “I commend the efforts of my Detectives for their swift response and comprehensive investigation into these incidents.
“This behaviour will not be tolerated and police will continue to put serious offenders before the courts.”
Secretary for Justice Paul Lam will depart for Beijing today to attend meetings with various central ministries to discuss the work of the Department of Justice.
Mr Lam will return to Hong Kong tomorrow. During his absence, Deputy Secretary for Justice Cheung Kwok-kwan will be Acting Secretary.
Good morning, everyone. I would like to begin by thanking Kirk Hope and the Financial Services Council for the opportunity to speak to you all this morning. I’d also like to acknowledge our friends at the FMA and in particular the CE, Samantha Barrass, who you will be hearing from shortly. I’m delighted to speak to you at the start of the year. I hope everyone is refreshed after a good summer, and ready for another big year of delivering for New Zealanders. 2024 was a big year. It was a challenging year. I know all of you in the room today would have felt firsthand the economic challenges. But we got a lot of important work underway and 2025 is shaping up to be an exciting year. At this event last year, many of you will remember that I announced plans to reform the financial services sector. As you all know, things were not in a good place. Over successive years, governments had layered up regulations, causing a lack of clarity and excessive conservativism. My mission when I took on the Commerce and Consumer Affairs portfolio was to simplify the financial services landscape. This meant:
Clarifying the roles of the various regulators to remove duplication; and Tidying up laws and regulations that were constraining businesses from providing great financial products and services.
My guiding principle was to make it simpler to provide financial services, while balancing the need for appropriate guardrails and consumer protections. Over time this equation had become unbalanced and was so risk-averse that it was harming consumers. Many of you will have heard me talk before about the perverse outcomes of making it too hard for Kiwis to access a safe loan from a reputable provider. I am very pleased to say that these financial services reforms are now well progressed. Democracy is a wonderful thing, but the nature of developing good policy and running a thorough consultation process means it can take a long time to for change to work its way through the system. However, we are on track to have the Financial Services Bill passed through all stages by the end of Q1 next year. Contracts of Insurance One key highlight of 2024 was passing into law the Contracts of Insurance Act. This work was long overdue. The Law Commission recommended that our insurance law be updated in the 1990s. It is fantastic that we finally got it over the line. In terms of other work, the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister is responsible for six crown entities including the Commerce Commission and the FMA. And, according to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Minister is broadly responsible for:
corporate law and governance financial markets competition policy consumer policy protecting intellectual property; and, trade policy and international regulatory cooperation.
It’s no small list. These are absolutely foundational pieces of architecture for our economy, and in 2024 I kicked off work relating to nearly every single thing on that list. This year I intend to tick two remaining items off that list by progressing a review of copyright and intellectual property and launching a review of the Fair Trading Act. The Fair Trading Act is a hugely consequential piece of legislation that covers everything from product safety and product descriptions, through to contract terms and advertising standards. Unfortunately, the structural economic issues we face – whether that be declining productivity, lack of capital, a dearth of foreign investment, or over-regulation stymieing growth and innovation – means economic reform is urgent. As a result, you should hopefully have heard me in the media or at events like this talking about work I have underway to modernise our economy, including:
Reviewing the Companies Act and reforming our corporate governance laws; and
Related to this, launching a review of directors’ duties and liabilities led by the Law Commission;
Implementing a ‘consumer data right’ and laying the foundations for ‘open banking’ and ‘open electricity’ to inject more competition into our economy; Creating a new model for the economic regulation of water services; Initiating a more coordinated whole-of-government approach to combatting online financial scams; Invigorating New Zealand’s capital markets by removing barriers to list on the stock exchange and making it easier for KiwiSaver funds to be invested in unlisted assets; Reviewing our competition law to prevent excessive market concentration; and Finally, responding to recommendations from the Commerce Commission to improve competition in the banking and grocery sector.
2025 2025 is all about delivering on this work. And I know it sounds like a long and unwieldy list, but you can broadly view all the work underway through the lens of two key themes:
Creating the conditions for businesses and private enterprise to thrive so that we can grow our economy.
As you have heard the PM talk about – a bigger, wealthier economy means more jobs and higher salaries for Kiwis, and it means increased tax revenue which pays for public services like schools, roads and hospitals. This means making sure that the laws and regulations that determine the operating environment for businesses are modern, fair, and fit for purpose.
The second key theme is competition.
The reality is that New Zealand suffers from overly concentrated markets in several key sectors of our economy – whether that be banking, groceries, building supplies, or parking services. The OECD and others have drawn a link between our lack of competition and falling productivity and the spotlight is well and truly focused on invigorating completion.
From the government’s perspective we will be going through every key initiative and programme of work line by line and asking ourselves and our officials: Will this grow the economy? Will this improve competition? Will this help New Zealanders to take legitimate business risks? Will it enable them to hire more staff or access capital to invest in new equipment? Will it free up their time so it can be used more productively? Will it encourage innovation and enable them to offer new products and services? And if the answer is no, then don’t expect to see it progressed this year. If the answer is yes, then we will be working at pace to implement it. One of my top focuses this year is improving competition. Competition is one of the most important ways to drive productivity, grow the economy, and lift living standards. That’s why I have launched a two-part review:
First, I have asked officials to update the merger and competition provisions in the Commerce Act, to ensure our legal framework is fit for purpose.
Mergers can improve market efficiencies but can also entrench market power and create monopolies. Our merger regime has not been reviewed in over 20 years and since then our economic landscape has changed significantly. I think everyone in this room can probably point to a merger or acquisition that – with the benefit of hindsight – did not serve us well.
I have also commissioned an independent review of the governance and effectiveness of the Commerce Commission to maximise its performance.
On the one hand, we need strong competition laws, and on the other hand we need a powerful and courageous regulator to enforce the law.
These are important structural changes and signify a strategic shift for our economy. This year I am also continuing with reforms to unlock capital for the benefit of New Zealand’s economy. I know that New Zealand urgently needs to address our falling productivity and failing infrastructure. That’s why I want to invigorate our capital markets, to encourage investment in infrastructure and productive businesses. As part of this, we are looking at changes to make it easier for KiwiSaver funds to be invested in unlisted assets, such as infrastructure projects and great New Zealand business. We are also exploring adjustments to reduce the costs and barriers faced by companies listed, or listing, on the stock exchange. We will look at other aspects of capital markets settings in the second half of this year. Consumer Data Right As many of you may be aware, the Customer and Product Data Bill is currently being progressed and is set to have its second reading in Parliament’s next sitting block, which starts next week. This Bill will establish a framework to unlock the potential of customer data, driving innovation and competition in key sectors. We recently consulted on applying the Bill to the banking sector to enable open banking and are beginning work on applying it out to the electricity sector too. The ability to provide new data-driven products and services is hugely exciting. Possible applications for open banking include the ability to apply for a 10-minute online home loan and make instant, low-cost payments. Meanwhile open electricity will make it easier to compare electricity plans and switch providers. Scams Lastly, I want to talk about a big issue for the financial services sector: Scams. Last year, New Zealanders reportedly lost around $200 million to scams, which is 15 per cent more than the previous year. However, some estimates suggest the real losses could be as high as $1 billion. This has prompted me to lead an all-of-government effort to engage with industry to tackle this growing issue. I am working closely with telco, banking, and digital platforms and am watching the reforms being progressed in Australia. I expect to be in a position to announce progress on this work shortly. Combatting scams is an important social and moral issue – scammers are causing harm and distress to Kiwis – but it is also a business and financial issue. As Kiwis become increasingly concerned about scams, they become distrustful and unwilling to do business online. One of the by-products of scams is legitimate businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to get in touch with their clients. Consumers no longer want to pick up the phone to an unknown number, or respond to unexpected emails or text messages. For all these reasons, it is vital that we work with industry to better protect Kiwis from sophisticated and devious scammers – most of whom are based overseas and fall outside our law enforcement. ACC Before I close, I just want to briefly talk about ACC, which is a new portfolio I have recently taken up. I am incredibly excited about my new responsibility. ACC has nearly $50 billion under investment. And while there is a lot to be proud of about ACC, the scheme faces several significant challenges. For the last 10 years, ACC’s performance – measured as rehabilitating injured people and getting them back to work – has continuously declined. And this comes at an enormous cost. The liability of existing ACC claims increased from $52 billion in 2022/23 to $60 billion in the last financial year. That’s an increase of $8 billion in a single year. Clearly that’s unsustainable. As employers, you will know that levies are set to rise around 5 per cent to help meet these rising costs. But we cannot meet the increased costs through levies alone. That’s why we have commissioned an independent review of ACC’s performance so we can address broader, underlying issues with the scheme. Turning around ACC’s performance is no mean feat. It is like turning around a super tanker. There are a number of key actions that I will initiate early this year, but it will take a while for these actions to flow through to the front lines and for them to show up on the balance sheet. My job as Minister is to chart the course by creating a robust action plan and setting tight expectations so that within a few years, the super tanker is heading in the right direction. I want to be clear that this is not about cost cutting. It is about ensuring ACC is fair and sustainable and can serve future generations without saddling them with unreasonably high levy increases. One of the key principles of the ACC scheme is that future generations should not pay for today’s injuries. If we do not arrest the financial situation now, all we do is kick the can down the line and make it the next generation’s problem. Close As you can tell, 2024 was a busy year. And 2025 is shaping up to be just as critical. We’ve got several work streams on the go, which I’ve outlined today. I expect to be progressing them at rapid pace, and I look forward to working with you to take our economic growth to the next level. Thank you again to the Financial Services Council for having me here today.
Police are conducting a large-scale road safety operation at Carrick today, to ensure motorists departing the annual Party in the Paddock festival are safe. Inspector Grant Twining said “Over the weekend, we saw thousands of people descend on Carrick for the annual Party in the Paddock festival.” “Police, including drone operators and members from Launceston and Central North Uniform, and Taskforces Raven and Scelus, were on-site for the duration of the festival conducting proactive patrols throughout the site, to ensure public safety.” “Pleasingly, police would like to thank the large majority of attendees who were well behaved and safe during the event.” “Disappointingly, a number of people were detected for drug related matters and will be dealt with by the courts.” During the festival police detected a number of offences including:
A 25-year-old man from New Norfolk was arrested in relation to serious drug matters. He was charged with Possess Controlled Drug, Sell Controlled Drug and Wilfully Obstruct Police. He will appear before the Hobart Magistrates Court at a later date.
Five people will be proceeded against for minor drug matters.
A 24-year-old man from South Launceston was charged with drink driving after he drove through the boundary fence to exit the festival on Saturday night. He will appear before the Launceston Magistrates Court at a later date.
Attribute to Inspector Lincoln Sycamore, Hawke’s Bay Area Commander
Police are pleased to report no significant issues following a tangi for a senior member in the Mongrel Mob in Hawke’s Bay today.
An operation to monitor the behaviour of those involved was carried out by Police, monitoring the tangi as well as the procession to the cemetery.
One person was arrested for displaying gang insignia and two people were warned for obstructing a public way.
Police worked with the whānau and gang leaders leading up to the tangi to minimise the impact to the community, while also allowing mourners space to grieve.
We would like to thank the members of the public for their patience.
Police encourage the public to report any instances of unlawful activity on the roads to us, so we can take appropriate action.
Please contact 111 if it is happening now or report other matters to Police by calling 105 or making an online report here.