We are excited to announce that Hay Hill has re-opened to the public today.
The £3.2m investment has created a public garden in the heart of the city where large areas of new planting complement the existing mature trees. The relocated Thomas Browne statue and new water feature bring a new focal point, attraction and ambiance to the city centre space. Whilst the new layout with level access, steps with handrails, more seating, and performance area makes Hay Hill a vibrant, more accessible and usable area than ever before.
Cllr Emma Hampton said, “The regeneration of this well-known, much-loved landmark has transformed the area into a vibrant space that can be enjoyed by everyone. We would like to thank everyone for their patience, while we’ve been finishing the works to make this a beautiful place where people can sit, reflect and enjoy the nature around them in the heart of our city.”
We are also pleased to welcome the local trader from the current ice cream stand into a newly constructed kiosk in the new area.
This significant city centre regeneration project was completed as part of the £25m investment from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to revitalise key areas of the city.
The Homage to Thomas Browne sculptures, previously located on Hay Hill, have been moved to Eaton Park. For further information see our previous news release.
In December 2023, LATAM had its first Boeing 777-300ER fitted with the bionic surface film in São Paulo, becoming the first airline outside the Lufthansa Group and in the Americas region to adopt this innovative CO₂-saving solution. Since then, the Latin American airline has been testing the sharkskin technology in daily operations. Given the proven results, LATAM has now decided to install the innovative film on four additional aircraft. Five AeroSHARK-modified aircraft operated by the subsidiary LATAM Airlines Brazil will soon be cruising the skies.
“Our fleet modernization strategy is a cornerstone of our commitment to sustainability and our vision of achieving net zero by 2050. We remain focused on innovation and the adoption of cutting-edge technologies, ensuring our fleet evolves in line with our environmental goals,” said Sebastián Acuto, Director of Fleet and Projects at LATAM Airlines Group.
Fuel savings confirmed: LATAM tests validate the effect of AeroSHARK
AeroSHARK is a surface film that mimics the flow-optimized structure of sharkskin. Developed jointly by BASF and Lufthansa Technik, it features riblets measuring about 50 micrometers. When several hundred square meters of this film are applied to the fuselage and engine nacelles, it reduces drag, leading to a reduction in fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions by around one percent. For LATAM Airlines Brazil’s five Boeing 777-300ER that will be equipped with AeroSHARK, this translates to expected annual savings of up to 2,000 metric tons of kerosene and 6,000 metric tons of CO₂ emissions. This is equivalent to approximately 28 scheduled flights from São Paulo to Miami on a Boeing 777.
“LATAM’s decision confirms once again: AeroSHARK works. This further encourages us to use our engineering skills and innovative strength to contribute to aviation with lower CO₂ emissions,” said Robin Johansson, Senior Director Sales Latin America and Caribbean at Lufthansa Technik. “We look forward to collaborating with more customers globally and applying our fuel-saving sharkskin technology to even more aircraft.”
Lufthansa Technik’s goal is to support many more airlines around the world in achieving their sustainability goals. The global MRO market leader and BASF are consistently developing AeroSHARK further. Current areas of focus include approvals for ever larger areas on the Boeing 777-300ER and 777F as well as for further aircraft types. The company recently announced to extend the roll-out of the sharkskin technology to Boeing 777-200ER aircraft. Including LATAM’s first modified 777-300ER, a total of 21 aircraft from different airlines worldwide are now in service with the nature-inspired technology – and the number is steadily increasing. The next modification of an aircraft for LATAM is planned in November of this year.
About Lufthansa Group
The Lufthansa Group is an aviation group with operations worldwide. With 100,000+ employees, Lufthansa Group generated revenue of €35.4bn in the financial year 2023. Our largest business segment is Passenger Airlines while other key business segments include Logistics and Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO). Other companies and Group functions such as IT companies and Lufthansa Aviation Training form complimentary components of the Group. All airlines and business segments play leading roles in their respective markets.
Samsung Electronics showcased its vision and innovations in software, services and platforms during the Samsung Developer Conference 2024 (SDC24) on October 3 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California.
Celebrating the tenth anniversary of Samsung Developer Conference, SDC24 welcomed approximately 3,000 developers, partners and media from around the world under the theme “AI for All — A Decade of Open Innovation and Beyond.”
Samsung Newsroom attended SDC24 to observe the possibilities of a new future powered by AI.
Personalized and Secure AI Experiences
The event commenced with a keynote address by Jong-Hee (JH) Han, Vice Chairman, CEO and Head of Device eXperience (DX) Division at Samsung Electronics. During his speech, Han unveiled a vision of delivering more personalized and secure experiences through multi-device AI technology.
“In the future, Samsung devices will recognize who is speaking and deliver a customized experience. What’s more, connected devices and sensors throughout the home will be able to recognize your location to provide another level of personalization,” he said. “As Samsung has the widest range of devices from mobile to TVs and home appliances, I believe we are best positioned to provide this customized AI experience.”
▲ Vice Chairman JH Han delivers his speech at SDC24.
Daehyun Kim, Executive Vice President and Head of Global AI Center, Samsung Research, outlined the company’s AI research direction and security technology strategy.
“We have more solutions that protect your privacy without compromising game-changing technology and experiences, for both on-device AI and cloud AI experiences,” he said. “Our generative AI for text, images and speech has come to life through work with our partners and plays a crucial role in shaping our vision for the future of AI.”
▲ EVP Daehyun Kim explains the intersection of AI and security.
AI-Driven Innovations for Smarter Experiences
Samsung is integrating AI across its portfolio to enhance customer experiences. The company announced plans to extend One UI beyond mobile devices to become the software experience for all Samsung consumer products.
“As we want more people to benefit from AI experiences, we will be expanding a selection of these Galaxy AI experiences beyond our flagship devices into our A series and continue to bring Galaxy AI to the entire Galaxy ecosystem,” said Sally Hyesoon Jeong, Executive Vice President and Head of Framework R&D, Mobile eXperience (MX) Business.
She also gave attendees a sneak peek into the forthcoming One UI 7. The beta version will be available to developers before the end of this year.
“We’re exploring a brand new UX design,” Jeong added. “One UI 7 will bring a fresh new look to the entire interface.”
▲ EVP Sally Hyesoon Jeong previews One UI 7.
“We’ve been working on new ways to integrate Bixby into our AI home to control appliances and improve experiences,” said Young Ah Lee, Vice President and Head of UX, Digital Appliances (DA) Business. “Our latest update for Bixby leverages AI technology to make your interactions with appliances as easy as talking to a friend.”
▲ VP Young Ah Lee discusses user experiences with Bespoke AI home appliances.
Moon-soo Kim, Vice President and Head of Application S/W R&D, Visual Display (VD) Business, shared how the upgraded Bixby helps users find and enjoy tailored TV content with simple voice commands. Meanwhile, Samsung AI Cast allows AI-generated materials from mobile devices to be sent directly to Samsung TVs.
“These kinds of interactions make Samsung TVs truly the best experience for AI interoperability,” he said.
▲ VP Moon-soo Kim highlights the new features of Samsung’s AI TVs.
In January of this year, Samsung launched Samsung Visual eXperience Transformation (VXT) — a next-generation content management solution. Alex YW Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Visual eXperience PM, Visual Display (VD) Business, showcased how users can create and organize B2B displays with AI and access a broad range of Pre-Integrated Repeatable Solutions from partners.
“As we look ahead to the future of VXT, we’re continuing to find new ways to partner with developer communities,” he said. “Join us in shaping this new ecosystem and producing the world’s best apps and services on VXT.”
▲ EVP Alex YW Lee emphasizes the importance of AI in the B2B space.
Platform Innovation and Responsible AI
In addition, Samsung revealed the latest SmartThings updates that rely on open collaboration and AI to offer more personalized and seamless user experiences.
“We just released Home Insight,” said Jaeyeon Jung, Executive Vice President and Head of SmartThings, Device Platform Center. “Designed to understand the way you live, it provides timely home reports and delivers recommendations tailored to your usage patterns, preferences and even the time of year.”
▲ EVP Jaeyeon Jung introduces the newest SmartThings services.
Hobum Kwon, Vice President and Head of Platform, Samsung Research, highlighted how Tizen OS includes AI models powered by Samsung’s neural processing unit chips and offers improved connectivity with Galaxy devices.
“Tizen’s clean software architecture ensures that Tizen devices receive OS upgrades for up to seven years,” he said.
▲ VP Hobum Kwon presents the newest features of Tizen OS.
Platform innovation is propelled by advanced security technology.
“Samsung is committed to advancing AI responsibly, and we have three core AI ethics principles — fairness, transparency and accountability — that guide everything we do,” said Shin Baik, Head of Security Assurance, Device Platform Center. “We believe that automating vulnerability detection is essential to keeping pace with this evolving threat landscape. This means that we use AI technology to conduct automated security checks on new products. You’ll see this first on Tizen products, and we’ll continue rolling this capability out across Samsung’s entire product and service portfolio.”
▲ Shin Baik, Head of Security Assurance, stresses the need for responsible AI innovation.
Building Tomorrow With Developers and Partners
Throughout the presentation, attendees witnessed Samsung’s latest software technologies and developer support initiatives. Samsung will continue growing its AI ecosystem through open collaboration with developers and partners to reinforce the company’s competitive edge in the AI era.
▲ Developers and partners watch the keynote at SDC24.
How does the radical right discourse fit with the growing anti-imperialism & anti-western sentiment in Africa?
This is also a really interesting and important question. To many, the very idea that the radical Right has an appeal or alliances in Africa and other parts of the Global South is counter-intuitive. This perspective risks badly underestimating the influence and reach of the radical Right. In The World of the Right, we explain this at length in the final chapter. The key themes are nativism or ethno-nationalism, anti-universalism, and recognition.
While the radical Right is often associated with white supremacy – and there is no doubt that many of its followers can be classified as such – it is nevertheless critical to recognise that the ideology of the contemporary radical Right is profoundly anti-universalist. Briefly put, they argue that liberalism has destroyed the distinctiveness of cultures and that this is the great failure, or tragedy, of liberalism, including its drive to spread human rights and impose democracy or regime change around the word.
For the contemporary radical Right, cultures or civilisations are incommensurably different, but none have a claim to universal or global superiority. In this sense, they are nativist or ethno-nationalist, arguing that all cultures have a right to their difference (providing, of course, that difference is elsewhere). It is this anti-universalism and anti-imperialism that allow the radical Right to make common cause with many individuals, activists, groups, and governments in Africa and other parts of the Global South that also feel dominated or oppressed by the demands of global liberalism.
So we see, for example, African cultural nativists making common cause with their analogical global allies – a good example is the relationship between the radical pan-Africanist Kemi Seba, the éminence grise of the French Nouvelle Droite Alain de Benoit, and the Russian radical Right ideologue Alexander Dugin. In the book we explore this through the concept of “recognition” and show how transversal alliances join together very diverse forces from the radical Right, religious organisations, African politicians, and activists around the notion of the “natural family” in opposition to the promotion of liberal rights such as abortion and LGBTQ+.
There is much, much more to be said about this topic, but it is important to recognise that the anti-universalism and ethno-nationalism of the radical Right allows for and facilitate often surprising alliances with anti-imperialist activists and agendas in the global South.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
£10 million humanitarian package will support thousands of people who have been displaced and impacted by the conflict
The Foreign Secretary continues to work with his counterparts to reduce tensions in the Middle East.
Comes as the UK Government has chartered more flights to help British nationals leave Lebanon
The UK is boosting its humanitarian support for Lebanon with a further £10 million to respond to the mass displacement of people, as well as the growing number of civilian casualties.
The funding comes as the UK continues to urge all British nationals to leave the country as soon as possible, and for an immediate ceasefire between Lebanese Hizballah and Israel. A ceasefire would provide the space necessary to find a political solution in line with Resolution 1701 and enable civilians on both sides to return to their homes.
The aid package responds to serious concerns over a widespread lack of shelter, and reduced access to clean water, hygiene and healthcare. It will be delivered through trusted humanitarian organisations, who have a long-established presence delivering aid within Lebanon.
The announcement follows the £5 million humanitarian package delivered through UNICEF to support access to clean water and sanitation, health, and nutrition supplies.
The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), which the UK is the largest donor to, this week also allocated £7.6m to respond to the urgent conflict-related needs and displacement in Lebanon.
Anneliese Dodds, Minister of State for Development and Minister of State for Women and Equalities, said:
The human cost of the conflict in Lebanon is clear for all to see. This additional funding from the UK will help to address the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation, providing relief for people displaced by the continuing violence.
This lifesaving aid is vital, but not a long-term solution. The only way to truly address the growing humanitarian crisis is an immediate ceasefire adhered to by both sides.
We continue to urge British nationals in Lebanon to leave immediately.
The Government yesterday (3 October) announced that it is also chartering more flights to help British nationals leave Lebanon. More than 150 British nationals and dependants left Beirut on a government-chartered flight on Wednesday (2 October).
British nationals and their spouse or partner, and children under the age of 18 are eligible. All passengers must hold a valid travel document. Dependants who are not British nationals will require a valid visa that has been granted for a period of stay in the UK of more than 6 months.
The UK continues to work with partners to increase capacity on commercial flights for British nationals. Around 700 troops and Foreign Office and Home Office staff, including Border Force officers, have been deployed to Cyprus for contingency planning.
Defence Secretary John Healey travelled to Cyprus yesterday to meet and thank deployed military personnel.
Background
Today’s funding announcement comes from pre-existing Official Development Assistance budgets and is already accounted for.
The UK is committed to supporting the most vulnerable in Lebanon, including refugees and Lebanese communities, with timely, flexible assistance to address basic needs and reduce suffering.
The UK’s bilateral humanitarian support to Lebanon this financial year through the Lebanon Humanitarian Programme – including this £10 million – is focussed on:
Supporting the most vulnerable refugee and Lebanese communities to meet their basic needs
Providing essential education and child protection services to over 5,000 of the most vulnerable and marginalised out of school children and
Supporting the Government of Lebanon to develop more inclusive, sustainable, and accountable social protection systems
Through the Lebanon Humanitarian Programme, the UK is one of the largest donors to UN OCHA’s Lebanon Humanitarian Fund which has allocated $14.7 million to a range of non-governmental organisations for preparedness and response to displacement.
In addition to the $10m announced this week, earlier this year a CERF allocation of $9 million was released to support UN partners response to the rising needs in Southern Lebanon.
$2.2 million Education Cannot Wait (ECW) funding has been released to support 5,000 children affected by the crisis. The UK is the second largest donor to ECW.
MIL OSI Translation. Government of the Republic of France statements from French to English –
Source: Canton of Neuchatel Switzerland
04.10.2024
In September 2024, an increase in the number of job seekers (63) and unemployed (85) is noted and these numbers stand at 5,322 and 3,487 people respectively.
The unemployment rate in Neuchâtel increased by 0.1 pt compared to the previous month to reach 3.9%. It is up for the third consecutive month but the increase is more moderate this month (it was 0.2 pt the previous month and 0.3 pt in July). An increase of 0.1 pt is also observed at the national level and at the French-speaking level with rates reaching 2.5% and 3.6% respectively.
In terms of entry dynamics, the number of registrations in an ORP in the canton amounts to 693 people in September compared to 688 in August. As for exit dynamics, the number of people who left the ORP amounts to 628, or 41 fewer than the previous month.
Concerning the monthly variations in the number of unemployed in the canton, the evolution is contrasted. Indeed, an increase is observed among young people under 25 (45) and mainly concerns young people reaching the end of vocational training. People aged 25 to 49 (45) also see their numbers increase. On the contrary, a slight decrease is observed for those over 50 (-5). Thus, the unemployment rate for young people (under 25) increases by 0.5 pt to reach 4.9% and the unemployment rate for seniors remains stable at 3.3%.
As for the economic sectors, an increase in the number of unemployed is noted for the other manufacturing activities sector (20) and watchmaking (15). No significant decrease is noted in September.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.
The 45th ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Drug Matters (ASOD) and Its Related Meetings, which included six ASOD + Dialogue Partner(s) Consultations, namely with Australia, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia and Plus Three, were held via videoconference on 3-4 October 2024. The Meetings were attended by the ASOD Leaders of all ASEAN Member States, Dialogue Partners and the Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Political-Security Community. Timor-Leste attended as Observer. The Meetings were preceded by meetings of the five ASOD Working Groups (WG), namely on Preventive Education, Treatment and Rehabilitation, Law Enforcement, Research and Alternative Development, that were held on 2 October 2024. The series of meetings discussed, among others, the latest drug situation, emerging trends, best practices and potential cooperation against illicit drugs in the region.
The post ASEAN convenes 45th ASOD and Related Meetings appeared first on ASEAN Main Portal.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Tourists visit Hukou Waterfall on Yellow River
Updated: October 4, 2024 16:15Xinhua
An aerial panoramic drone photo taken on Oct. 4, 2024 shows tourists visiting the Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River, on the border area between north China’s Shanxi and northwest China’s Shaanxi provinces. [Photo/Xinhua]An aerial drone photo taken on Oct. 4, 2024 shows tourists visiting the Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River, on the border area between north China’s Shanxi and northwest China’s Shaanxi provinces. [Photo/Xinhua]An aerial drone photo taken on Oct. 4, 2024 shows tourists visiting the Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River, on the border area between north China’s Shanxi and northwest China’s Shaanxi provinces. [Photo/Xinhua]Tourists visit the Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River, on the border area between north China’s Shanxi and northwest China’s Shaanxi provinces, on Oct. 4, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]Tourists visit the Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River, on the border area between north China’s Shanxi and northwest China’s Shaanxi provinces, on Oct. 4, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]An aerial panoramic drone photo taken on Oct. 4, 2024 shows tourists visiting the Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River, on the border area between north China’s Shanxi and northwest China’s Shaanxi provinces. [Photo/Xinhua]An aerial drone photo taken on Oct. 4, 2024 shows tourists visiting the Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River, on the border area between north China’s Shanxi and northwest China’s Shaanxi provinces. [Photo/Xinhua]
Source: World Trade Organization – WTO (video statements)
The WTO’s Cotton and Sub-Committee was established in 2004, with the aim of addressing cotton “ambitiously, expeditiously and specifically” within agricultural negotiations.
Kwabena Bandoh, part of the WTO team assisting the Sub-Committee, explains its work, ahead of the World Cotton Day on 7 and 8 October in Cotonou, Benin.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
　　The 4th Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Culture and Arts Festival (the Festival) will roll out a wide variety of fabulous programmes in the “9+2” cities of the Greater Bay Area from October 19 to November 24. An enthusiastic public response caused tickets for the Opening Programme “Sound River” to be sold out earlier, while tickets for the Dance Drama “Wing Chun” Special Edition by Shenzhen Opera and Dance Theatre are also in high demand. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department has announced that additional tickets and performances will be arranged respectively for the two programmes for the enjoyment of local audiences and tourists. The tickets will be available for sale from October 9 (Wednesday) onwards.
　　The Festival is presented by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the People’s Government of Guangdong Province and the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region. Details on additional tickets and performances are as follows:
Additional tickets of Opening Programme “Sound River” ———————————————————————- 　　Additional tickets for seats with restricted views or those originally reserved for technical purposes will be available on the URBTIX website (www.urbtix.hk), by the mobile app URBTIX and telephone (3166 1288). Each person can purchase a maximum of two tickets each time. Programme information is as follows:
Date and time: October 19, 2024 (Saturday), 8pm Venue: Hong Kong Coliseum, Hung Hom Prices: $75 (special offer celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China)
　　”Sound River” is a new work produced by contemporary renowned Chinese composer and conductor Tan Dun. Under Tan’s baton, the concert features the newly formed Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Culture and Arts Festival Orchestra comprising members from the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, and Macao Orchestra to perform the world premiere of the work. Sixteen meticulously crafted films capturing precious snapshots during Tan’s journey from Europe, through the Arab world to Central Asia, then to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the past 12 years, will be screened during the performance. Through interweaving light, shadows and music, the work immerses the audience onto a “Silk Road of sound” that explores the past and future. The programme will also feature distinguished Mainland singer Zhou Shen as a special guest to deliver the theme song.
Additional performances of the Dance Drama “Wing Chun” Special Edition by Shenzhen Opera and Dance Theatre ————————————————————————————— 　　Tickets for the two additional performances will be available at all URBTIX outlets, self-service ticketing kiosks, on the URBTIX website (www.urbtix.hk), by the mobile app URBTIX and telephone (3166 1288). Each person can purchase a maximum of four tickets each time on the first day of ticket sales. Information of the two additional performances are as follows:
Date and time: November 23, 2024 (Saturday), 2.30pm 　　　　　　　　November 24, 2024 (Sunday), 7.30pm Venue: Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre Prices: $200, $320, $420, $520 and $620
　　The dance drama “Wing Chun” was written by the Chairman of the China Dancers Association, Feng Shuangbai, and co-directed by acclaimed Mainland choreographers Han Zhen and Zhou Liya. The performance integrates martial arts with classical and modern dance, providing audiences with a captivating visual experience. This special edition of “Wing Chun” features a Hong Kong production team and artists, bringing new elements to the original performance. Hong Kong conductor Fung Ka-hing will lead local orchestra The Symphonic Pops in an accompaniment. Huang Danyang, a graduate from the School of Dance of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, will also take part in the performance. In addition, renowned Hong Kong singer George Lam was invited to produce a new theme song titled “Wing Chun” for the dance drama. He produced, composed, and sung the song, with lyrics by Keith Chan.
　　Hong Kong is the host city of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Culture and Arts Festival for the first time this year. It is organising and co-ordinating over 260 performances and exchange activities to be held across the “9+2” cities of the Greater Bay Area. The festival aims to showcase the vibrant and diverse cultural richness of the region, and foster cultural exchanges and co-operation among the cities. For detailed information about the rich programme line up of the festival, please visit http://www.gbacxlo.gov.hk.
A Concluding Statement describes the preliminary findings of IMF staff at the end of an official staff visit (or ‘mission’), in most cases to a member country. Missions are undertaken as part of regular (usually annual) consultations under Article IV of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, in the context of a request to use IMF resources (borrow from the IMF), as part of discussions of staff monitored programs, or as part of other staff monitoring of economic developments.
The authorities have consented to the publication of this statement. The views expressed in this statement are those of the IMF staff and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF’s Executive Board. Based on the preliminary findings of this mission, staff will prepare a report that, subject to management approval, will be presented to the IMF Executive Board for discussion and decision.
Washington, DC – October 4, 2024:
San Marino’s economy remains resilient, supported by a more diversified growth model with manufacturing and the nonfinancial service exporting sectors as key drivers. Prudent fiscal policy and access to international capital markets helped weather the pandemic and energy crises. However, additional fiscal consolidation is warranted given the still high debt level and contingent liabilities from the financial sector. Notwithstanding important progress in resolving legacy issues, further efforts are needed to improve asset quality and strengthen banks’ capitalization and profitability. With the recently negotiated European Union (EU) association agreement, San Marino has a unique opportunity to accelerate much-needed public and financial sector reforms and to further the integration with the EU’s single market to boost confidence in the economy and lift potential growth.
San Marino’s economic growth remained positive despite adverse external shocks, including a regional slowdown and higher interest rates. After an exceptionally strong post-pandemic recovery in 2021-22, growth slowed in 2023 to 0.4 percent following a decline in external demand. Manufacturing, which has been operating at high levels, has decelerated as export orders declined, in part due to the phase-out of fiscal incentives in Italy and a related slowdown in the construction sector. The strong service sector performance, benefiting from the tourism boom and healthy domestic demand, kept employment growing at a robust pace.
Growth is projected to edge up in 2024, strengthening further in 2025, as external demand improves. Stronger consumption on the back of rising real wages and higher investment, facilitated by easing financial conditions, will support domestic and external demand next year. However, there are risks ahead. Downside risks are related to the weakening of external demand while remaining vulnerabilities in the financial sector constitute one of the key domestic risks. The underlying strength of the manufacturing sector, the healthy private sector balance sheets, and prompt implementation of the EU association agreement constitute upside risks to the baseline.
The fiscal position was stronger than expectedlast year but further efforts are needed to ensure sustainability.The government has saved the cyclical tax revenues, kept expenditures in check and primary balance stable in 2023. However, moderate government spending pressures arose in 2024 ―as real spending compression reached its limits and the cost of interest subsidies for the private sector expanded. The public debt-to-GDP ratio continued declining, but its level remains high.
Additionalfiscal consolidation is needed to mitigate financing risks, build fiscal buffers, and reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio below 60 percent.San Marino is an euroized small open economy with a vulnerable financial sector and limited fiscal buffers. The government’s goal of reducing public debt below 60 percent of GDP over the medium term is an important anchor to guide fiscal policy. To achieve this target a moderate additional fiscal effort totaling 1 percent of GDP over the next three years is recommended through:
Designing and implementing a tax reform package introducing a value-added tax (VAT) and broadening the income tax base. With a low tax-to-GDP ratio, introducing a VAT in San Marino can simultaneously enhance fiscal revenues and tax efficiency while minimizing related distortions, increasing fairness and progressivity, and aligning indirect tax procedures with international standards, benefitting the ease of exports. Redesigning tax rebates to avoid overlaps with other exemptions—such as San Marino Card (SMaC) discounts and income tax deductions—can further rationalize the system. The authorities should leverage the technology used for the SMaC in combination with electronic invoicing to mitigate tax avoidance in the new VAT system. Equallyimportant, income tax revenues can be significantly enhanced by rationalizing income tax deductions.
Improving the efficiency of public spending.San Marino should shift from real expenditure compression across all spending areas to prioritizing consolidation of spending with low social return. In this context, it will be important to review transfers to the private sector―including interest subsidy programs―to ensure that transfers are more targeted. Reviewing extra-budgetary funds is also needed to rationalize spending. Large investment plans require sound prioritization based on rigorous cost-benefit analyses.
Keepingpublic wages and pensions growth in check. Moderate public wage and pension growth was key to improving the primary balance. Looking forward, given the limited fiscal space, it is critical to avoid public wage and pension growth above domestic inflation.
Long-term demographic challenges will require additional parametric pension recalibration. The 2022 pension reform has increased contributions, delaying the depletion of the pension fund for a decade. However, ensuring the long-term sustainability of the pension system will require further parametric calibrations to address generous benefits. In addition, there is a need to continue the gradual diversification of the investments of the pension fund towards international markets to mitigate concentration of risks and increase returns.
The debt management strategy needs strengthening to minimize refinancing risks. The recently published fiscal strategy marks an important advancement in the predictability of fiscal policy and communication with investors, but further efforts are needed to upgrade San Marino’s debt management capacity, including more autonomy to implement the financing plan approved in the budget. To smooth the debt amortization of the Eurobond in 2027, the authorities should consider liability management operations, including smaller international issuances with longer maturities.
Banks’ liquidity and reported profits improved in 2023, but declining interest margins, high personnel costs, and remaining legacy non-performing loans (NPLs) pose risks going forward. Higher interest rates last year have improved banks’ cyclical profits without deteriorating the quality of loan portfolios, but structural profitability remains low. The safeguarding of profits to increase capital, as requested by the Central Bank, is welcome. However, with limited income-generating assets, high operating costs, and tight reported capitalization in some banks, the financial sector remains vulnerable.
A speedy adjustment of banks’ costs is a priority to improve long-term viability and capital positions. Most banks’ profitability remains significantly lower than regional peers. The continuing reduction of income-generating assets in recent years has not been followed by a scale-down of banking sector employment. San Marino’s banking system also has the largest number of branches per capita in Europe. With the EU association agreement, the opening of the banking sector will bring new opportunities, but San Marino banks need to improve efficiency to be competitive.
Important progress has been made in implementing the authorities’ strategy to reduce nonperforming loans (NPLs) through an Asset Management Company (AMC) and calendar provisioning. The write-off of a large NPL position and AMC securitization have reduced the NPL ratio from 53 to 21 percent. The asset recovery of the AMC has progressed better than expected, with the principal of state-guaranteed senior securities declining from 70 to 44½ million euros in the first half of 2024. Meanwhile, calendar provisioning has prompted banks to expedite the recovery and write-offs of NPLs. However, it will be important to improve dissemination of the information about the AMC asset recovery to anticipate and address any bottlenecks. The risk weights for junior securities should be increased faster to reflect the difference between the net book value and the real economic value of NPLs on banks’ balance sheets. Any undercapitalization that could arise from the securitization process and the implementation of calendar provisioning should be promptly addressed with credible capitalization plans. To strengthen CBSM supervisory powers and to help attract external capital, legal limits on banks’ shareholding structure should be lifted.
The bank resolution framework needs to be updated to widen burden-sharing. The bank resolution law should be updated to gradually complete the alignment with EU standards. The process needs to be coordinated with addressing existing issues in the banking system.
San Marino should continue to make progress to strengthen its AML/CFT framework. The domestic legal framework was amended in 2023 to incorporate the 5th EU AML Directive and improve technical compliance with the FATF standards. This resulted in an upgrade by MONEYVAL on technical compliance for AML/CFT sanctions regime. The National ML/TF Risk Assessment will be updated next year. San Marino should continue working to enhance the adequacy, accuracy, and up-to-dateness of its central beneficial ownership registry.
The EU association agreement sets an ambitious financial sector reform agenda. The agreement requires the central bank of San Marino (CBSM) to complete the alignment of the regulatory framework with the EU. To that end, the CBSM will need additional staff and financial resources. The CBSM financial position should be strengthened to safeguard its independence and support financial sector stability through an effective lender of last resort capacity. To comply with EU standards, legacy issues should be addressed, including through a gradual conversion of the perpetual bond owned by the state-owned bank into liquid instruments. Overall, while the banking sector has 15 years to meet the requirements, earlier implementation, as envisaged by the authorities, will boost confidence.
The conclusion of the EU association negotiations signals strong commitment to deeper integration with the EU and could lift potential growth by accelerating structural reforms. The successful implementation of the agreement is a priority and will support the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector and help consolidate gains in tourism. The authorities should ensure sufficient resources and staff are available to support implementation without undermining the fiscal consolidation path. In addition, further labor market flexibility is needed to improve labor reallocation, including in the banking sector. Real estate market reforms to facilitate price and market information dissemination and foreign ownership, will be key to support NPL resolution. Finaly, the authorities should foster energy safety and green transition, including by allowing households to sell back excess solar generated electricity.
The mission would like to thank the authorities and other counterparts for their warm hospitality as well as candid and productive discussions.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Thirteen landlords of subdivided units (SDUs), who contravened Part IVA of the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance (Cap. 7) (the Ordinance), pleaded guilty and were fined a total of $40,400 today (October 4) at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts. Since the Ordinance came into force, the Rating and Valuation Department (RVD) has successfully prosecuted 415 cases involving a total of 358 SDU landlords, with fines ranging from $400 to $34,800, amounting to a total of $857,410.
The offences of these landlords include (1) failing to submit a Notice of Tenancy (Form AR2) to the Commissioner of Rating and Valuation within 60 days after the term of the regulated tenancy commenced; and (2) requesting the tenant to pay money other than the types permitted under the Ordinance (i.e. requiring the tenant to pay an amount of rent for the second-term tenancy exceeding the maximum amount of rent permitted under the Ordinance). One of the landlords committed nine offences under (1) and (2) and was fined $8,000.
The RVD earlier discovered that the landlords failed to comply with the relevant requirements under the Ordinance. Upon an in-depth investigation and evidence collection, the RVD prosecuted against the landlords.
A spokesman for the RVD reiterated that SDU landlords must comply with the relevant requirements under the Ordinance, including prohibiting the landlords from requiring the tenant to pay an amount of rent for the second-term tenancy exceeding the maximum amount of rent permitted under the Ordinance, and also reminded SDU tenants of their rights under the Ordinance. He also stressed that the RVD will continue to take resolute enforcement action against any contraventions of the Ordinance. Apart from following up on reported cases, the RVD has been adopting a multipronged approach to proactively identify, investigate and follow up on cases concerning landlords who are suspected of contravening the Ordinance. In particular, the RVD has been requiring landlords of regulated tenancies to provide information and reference documents of their tenancies for checking whether the landlords concerned have complied with the requirements of the Ordinance. If a landlord, without reasonable excuse, refuses to provide the relevant information or neglects the RVD’s request, the landlord commits an offence and is liable to a maximum fine at level 3 ($10,000) and to imprisonment for three months. Depending on the actual circumstances, and having regard to the information and evidence collected, the RVD will take appropriate actions on individual cases, including instigating prosecution against suspected contraventions of the Ordinance.
To help curb illegal acts as soon as possible, members of the public should report to the RVD promptly any suspected cases of contravening the relevant requirements. Reporting can be made through the telephone hotline (2150 8303), by email (enquiries@rvd.gov.hk), by fax (2116 4920), by post (15/F, Cheung Sha Wan Government Offices, 303 Cheung Sha Wan Road, Kowloon), or in person (visiting the Tenancy Services Section office of the RVD at Room 3816-22, 38/F, Immigration Tower, 7 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, and please call 2150 8303 to make an appointment). Furthermore, the RVD has provided a form (Form AR4) (www.rvd.gov.hk/doc/en/forms/ar4.pdf) on its website to facilitate SDU tenants’ reporting to the RVD.
The RVD reminds that pursuant to the Ordinance, a regulated cycle of regulated tenancies is to comprise two consecutive regulated tenancies (i.e. the first-term tenancy and second-term tenancy) for an SDU, and the term of each regulated tenancy is two years. A tenant of a first-term tenancy for an SDU is entitled to be granted a second-term tenancy of the regulated cycle, thus enjoying a total of four years of security of tenure. Since the first batch of regulated tenancies has already approached their second-term tenancies, the RVD has started a new round of publicity and education work in order to assist SDU landlords and tenants to understand the important matters pertaining to the second-term tenancy, and procedures that need to be followed about two months prior to the commencement of the purported second-term tenancy. In addition, the RVD has started issuing letters enclosing relevant information to the landlords and tenants concerned of regulated tenancies in batches, according to the expiry time of their first-term tenancies, to remind them about their respective obligations and rights under the Ordinance. These landlords and tenants may also visit the dedicated page for the second-term tenancy on the RVD’s website (www.rvd.gov.hk/en/tenancy_matters/second_term_tenancy.html) for the relevant information, including a concise guide, brochures, tutorial videos and frequently asked questions. SDU landlords and tenants are also advised to familiarise themselves with the relevant statutory requirements and maintain close communication regarding the second-term tenancy for handling the matters properly and in a timely manner according to the Ordinance.
For enquiries related to regulated tenancies, please call the telephone hotline (2150 8303) or visit the RVD’s webpage (www.rvd.gov.hk/en/our_services/part_iva.html) for the relevant information.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
26 persons arrested during anti-illegal worker operations (with photo) 26 persons arrested during anti-illegal worker operations (with photo) **********************************************************************
The Immigration Department (ImmD) mounted a series of territory-wide anti-illegal worker operations codenamed “Contribute”, “Fastrack”, “Lightshadow” and “Twilight”, and a joint operation with the Hong Kong Police Force codenamed “Windsand”, on September 30, October 2 and yesterday (October 3). A total of 21 suspected illegal workers and five suspected employers were arrested. During the anti-illegal worker operations, ImmD Task Force officers raided 50 target locations including a food factory, massage parlours, premises under renovation, residential buildings and restaurants. The arrested suspected illegal workers comprised 14 men and seven women, aged 24 to 62. Among the arrested persons, three men were holders of recognisance forms, which prohibit them from taking any employment. Two men and three women, aged 49 to 60, suspected of employing the illegal workers, were also arrested. An ImmD spokesman said, “Any person who contravenes a condition of stay in force in respect of him or her shall be guilty of an offence. Also, visitors are not allowed to take employment in Hong Kong, whether paid or unpaid, without the permission of the Director of Immigration. Offenders are liable to prosecution and upon conviction face a maximum fine of $50,000 and up to two years’ imprisonment. Aiders and abettors are also liable to prosecution and penalties.” The spokesman warned, “As stipulated in section 38AA of the Immigration Ordinance, an illegal immigrant, a person who is the subject of a removal order or a deportation order, an overstayer or a person who was refused permission to land is prohibited from taking any employment, whether paid or unpaid, or establishing or joining in any business. Offenders are liable upon conviction to a maximum fine of $50,000 and up to three years’ imprisonment. ” The spokesman reiterated that it is a serious offence to employ people who are not lawfully employable. Under the Immigration Ordinance, the maximum penalty for an employer employing a person who is not lawfully employable, i.e. an illegal immigrant, a person who is the subject of a removal order or a deportation order, an overstayer or a person who was refused permission to land, has been significantly increased from a fine of $350,000 and three years’ imprisonment to a fine of $500,000 and 10 years’ imprisonment to reflect the gravity of such offences. The director, manager, secretary, partner, etc, of the company concerned may also bear criminal liability. The High Court has laid down sentencing guidelines that the employer of an illegal worker should be given an immediate custodial sentence. According to the court sentencing, employers must take all practicable steps to determine whether a person is lawfully employable prior to employment. Apart from inspecting a prospective employee’s identity card, the employer has the explicit duty to make enquiries regarding the person and ensure that the answers would not cast any reasonable doubt concerning the lawful employability of the person. The court will not accept failure to do so as a defence in proceedings. It is also an offence if an employer fails to inspect the job seeker’s valid travel document if the job seeker does not have a Hong Kong permanent identity card. Offenders are liable upon conviction to a maximum fine of $150,000 and to imprisonment for one year. In that connection, the spokesman reminded all employers not to defy the law by employing illegal workers. The ImmD will continue to take resolute enforcement action to combat such offences. Under the existing mechanism, the ImmD will, as a standard procedure, conduct an initial screening of vulnerable persons, including illegal workers, illegal immigrants, sex workers and foreign domestic helpers, who are arrested during any operation with a view to ascertaining whether they are trafficking in persons (TIP) victims. When any TIP indicator is revealed in the initial screening, the ImmD officers will conduct a full debriefing and identification by using a standardised checklist to ascertain the presence of TIP elements, such as threats and coercion in the recruitment phase and the nature of exploitation. Identified TIP victims will be provided with various forms of support and assistance, including urgent intervention, medical services, counselling, shelter or temporary accommodation and other supporting services. The ImmD calls on TIP victims to report crimes to the relevant departments immediately.
Editor’s note: This week, at the Google Responsible AI Summit in Paris, our VP of Trust & Safety Laurie Richardson delivered a keynote address to an audience of experts across academia, industry, startups, government and civil society. The following excerpt has been edited for brevity.
AI has the potential to solve big challenges, from saving lives by predicting when and where floods may occur, to transforming our understanding of the biological world and drug discovery. However, in order to realize these opportunities, it is critically important that we build and maintain trust in AI’s potential.
That’s why, as people begin to use AI in their daily lives, we are building technology in ways that seek to maximize benefits and minimize risks.
Our AI Responsibility Lifecycle
Our Trust & Safety teams are pioneering testing, training and red-teaming techniques to ensure that when our GenAI products go to market, they are both bold and responsible. Every day, we learn more about how to test for safety, neutrality, fairness and dangerous capabilities, and we’re committed to sharing our approach more broadly.
This year we launched our AI Responsibility Lifecycle framework to the public. This is a four-phase process — covering Research, Design, Governance and Sharing — that guides responsible AI development end-to-end at Google.
Detecting abuse at scale
Our teams across Trust & Safety are also using AI to improve the way we protect our users online. AI is showing tremendous promise for speed and scale in nuanced abuse detection. Building on our established automated processes, we have developed prototypes that leverage recent advances, to assist our teams in identifying abusive content at scale.
Using LLMs, our aim is to be able to rapidly build and train a model in a matter of days — instead of weeks or months — to find specific kinds of abuse on our products. This is especially valuable for new and emerging abuse areas, such as Russian disinformation narratives following the invasion of Ukraine, or for nuanced scaled challenges, like detecting counterfeit goods online. We can quickly prototype a model and automatically route it to our teams for enforcement.
LLMs are also transforming training. Using new techniques, we can now expand coverage of abuse types, context and languages in ways we never could have before — including doubling the number of languages covered with our on-device safety classifiers in the last quarter alone. Starting with an insight from one of our abuse analysts, we can use LLMs to generate thousands of variations of an event and then use this to train our classifiers.
We’re still testing these new techniques to meet rigorous accuracy standards, but prototypes have demonstrated impressive results so far. The potential is huge, and I believe we are at the cusp of dramatic transformation in this space.
Boosting collaboration and transparency
Addressing AI-generated content will require industry and ecosystem collaboration and solutions; no one company or institution can do this work alone. Earlier this week at the summit, we brought together researchers and students to engage with our safety experts to discuss risks and opportunities in the age of AI. In support of an ecosystem that generates impactful research with real-world applications, we doubled the number of Google Academic Research Awards recipients this year to grow our investment into Trust & Safety research solutions.
Finally, information quality has always been core to Google’s mission, and part of that is making sure that users have context to assess the trustworthiness of content they find online. As we continue to bring AI to more products and services, we are focused on helping people better understand how a particular piece of content was created and modified over time.
Earlier this year, we joined the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), as a steering committee member. We are partnering with others to develop interoperable provenance standards and technology to help explain whether a photo was taken with a camera, edited by software or produced by generative AI. This kind of information helps our users make more informed decisions about the content they’re engaging with — including photos, videos and audio — and builds media literacy and trust.
Our work with the C2PA directly complements our own broader approach to transparency and the responsible development of AI. For example, we’re continuing to bring our SynthID watermarking tools to additional gen AI tools and more forms of media including text, audio, visual and video.
We’re committed to deploying AI responsibly — from using AI to strengthen our platforms against abuse to developing tools to enhance media literacy and trust — all while focused on the importance of collaborating, sharing insights and building AI responsibly, together.
MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –
On October 1, 2024, a master class was held at the State University of Management with Professor, Deputy Governor of the Oryol Region, Head of the Representative Office of the Oryol Region to the Government of the Russian Federation Alexander Biryukov on the topic “State and Municipal Projects and Programs”.
The event was held as part of a series of open lectures with invited speakers, organized by the Department of Project Management. The participants of the meeting were 2nd-year students of the Master’s program “Project and Program Management”.
During the master class, Alexander Biryukov spoke about the experience of using various methods of project and program management in the development of the Oryol region, about the specifics of planning and change management in the implementation of state and municipal programs.
The speaker provided a comparative analysis of the approach to implementing projects in the Belgorod, Kaluga and Oryol regions, and examined examples of implementing a portfolio of PPP projects in the field of agriculture.
At the end of the event, a discussion with the students took place, during which Alexander Petrovich spoke about the specifics of interaction with various stakeholder groups, with state and federal authorities, and also answered questions about the implementation and planning of projects in an unstable environment using the example of the Belgorod Region.
Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 10/4/2024
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.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
The lower part of SH8 inland from Milton, south of Dunedin, to Lawrence, has been closed tonight due to surface flooding says NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA).
SH1 was closed this afternoon south of Waihola to Milton – this section has now reopened but the area south of Milton beyond the SH8 intersection to Allison Road/ Moneymore is now closed. (The NZTA Journey Planner map should be updating shortly)
These conditions are changeable given the water flowing downstream and affecting different areas of highway overnight. People should not drive through deep water, particularly in the dark, stay home tonight.
Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:
CAIRO, Egypt, October 4, 2024/APO Group/ —
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com) has approved a US$20.8 million financing facility for Nigeria-based Starlink Global & Ideal Limited to enable the company construct and operate a 30,000-metric tonne per annum cashew processing factory in Lagos.
According to the facility agreement signed in on July 22, 2024, Afreximbank will provide the funds in two tranches with the first tranche of US$7.48M going toward capital expenditure for the construction of the factory and the second, totalling US$13.25M to be deployed as working capital for the operations of the factory.
The facility is expected to promote value addition which will guarantee increased earnings to the company while also fostering the creation of about 400 new jobs once the factory becomes operational. It is also expected to support about 40 small and medium-sized enterprises.
Commenting on the transaction, Mrs. Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President, Intra Africa Trade and Export Development, Afreximbank, said that by supporting Starlink Global to establish a modern processing facility, Afreximbank is making it possible for Africa to add value to its agro-commodities, thereby facilitating exports and subsequent inflow of much-needed foreign exchange into the continent.
“We are delighted at this partnership which promises to deliver significant impact on employment in Nigeria. It will contribute to value creation and to the development of the local community while also improving the lots of smallholder farmers and small business suppliers that will work with Starlink across the value chain,” Mrs. Awani added.
Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:
PARIS, France, October 4, 2024/APO Group/ —
Two weeks after the highly successful inaugural Tranoï Tokyo trade show held in Japan from September 4-5, over 20 exceptional fashion brands from across Africa and the diaspora showcased their designs at the Paris Fashion Week on 26-29 September at Tranoï, Palais Brongniart as part of Afreximbank’s CANEX Presents Africa initiative (www.Afreximbank.com).
Afreximbank’s dedicated scenographic exhibition space showcased a diverse array of brands, including Ethiopia’s Mafi Mafi, Kenya’s Adele Dejak, We Are NBO, and Katush, Zanzibar’s Doreen Mashika, and Nigeria’s Emmy Kasbit, WUMAN and Bloke. Representing South Africa were JUDY SANDERSON, David Tlale, and Thebe Magugu, while Zimbabwe was represented by Vanhu Vamwe.
Other incredible brands included The Cloth from Trinidad and Tobago, Olooh and Kente Gentlemen from Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana’s Christie Brown and Beyodoe, Late For Work from Morocco and Margaux Wong from Burundi.
The event climax was a highly anticipated runway show, celebrating the richness and diversity of Africa’s design talent. Held beneath the majestic columns of the iconic Palais Brongniart, the show marked a historic moment in the global fashion calendar.
Artistic Director Jenke Ahmed Tailly, renowned for his visionary approach, curated an exclusive fashion show featuring three distinguished African designers Sukeina, Lagos Space Programme and Thebe Magugu, each presenting unique collections that embodied the essence of African creativity and craftsmanship. This presentation highlighted the synergy between tradition and modernity, with designs that ranged from bold, avant-garde statements to intricate, culturally inspired pieces.
The event provided a powerful platform for these designers to showcase their work to an international audience, affirming Africa’s growing influence on the global fashion scene. From vibrant textiles and intricate patterns to contemporary silhouettes and sustainable innovations, the runway show captured the continent’s rich heritage and innovative approach to fashion. Each designer brought their distinct vision to life, offering a fresh perspective on what African fashion represents in the 21st century.
Commenting on the event, Mrs. Kanayo Awani, Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade and Export Development, said: “We are immensely proud of our growing impact on Africa’s Creative and Cultural Industries through CANEX Presents Africa initiative which continues to spotlight the continent’s abundant talent. This moment is quite significant as it marks the first time three of our designers have taken to the prestigious runway at the Paris Fashion Week – a milestone only possible following years of consistent hard work and focus. By providing an exclusive platform to these brands to showcase their designs and engage with international buyers, we are not only developing the continent’s creative sectors but also expanding Africa’s influence in global cultural trade.”
Given the relevance and opportunities provided by the creative economy as a key driver for development and job creation, Afreximbank has deployed the Creative Africa Nexus Programme (CANEX) to facilitate the development and growth of the creative and cultural industries in Africa and the diaspora. The programme provides a range of financial and non-financial interventions to support Africa’s production, trade, and investment in creative content. CANEX Presents Africa provides emerging fashion designers with a platform for development through the transfer of skills, linkages and partnerships as well as market access opportunities aimed at equipping the participants with skills for creating financially sustainable businesses capable of being scaled.
The inaugural CANEX Presents Africa event took place in Porto, Portugal in October 2021. To date, 80 designers from 27 African countries and the Diaspora have benefited from the initiative.
Current account surplus at €381 billion (2.6% of euro area GDP) in four quarters to second quarter of 2024, after a €76 billion surplus (0.5% of GDP) a year earlier.
Geographical counterparts: largest bilateral current account surpluses vis-à-vis United Kingdom (€215 billion) and Switzerland (€79 billion) and largest deficits vis-à-vis China (€78 billion) and United States (€18 billion).
The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €381 billion (2.6% of euro area GDP) in the four quarters to the second quarter of 2024, following a €76 billion surplus (0.5% of GDP) a year earlier (Table 1). This development was mainly driven by a larger surplus for goods (from €72 billion to €358 billion) and, to a lesser extent, by widening surpluses for services (from €134 billion to €149 billion) and for primary income (from €34 billion to €37 billion). Moreover, the deficit for secondary income decreased slightly from €164 billion to €163 billion.
The estimates on goods trade broken down by product group show that, in the four quarters to the second quarter of 2024, the increase in the goods surplus was mainly due to a smaller deficit in energy products (from €454 billion to €275 billion). In addition, the surplus for machinery and manufactured products increased from €240 billion to €318 billion, while the balance for other products switched from a €28 billion deficit to a €2 billion surplus.
The higher surplus for services in the four quarters to the second quarter of 2024 was mainly due to larger surpluses for telecommunication, computer and information (from €159 billion to €184 billion) and for travel (from €47 billion to €57 billion), and a lower deficit for other business services (from €54 billion to €42 billion). This was partly offset by a widening deficit for other services (from €55 billion to €75 billion) and a decreasing surplus for transport (from €16 billion to €1 billion).
The increase in the primary income surplus in the four quarters to the second quarter of 2024 was mainly due to larger surpluses in direct investment (from €73 billion to €100 billion) and other primary income (from €5 billion to €14 billion), partly offset by a larger deficit in portfolio equity (from €143 billion to €182 billion).
Table 1
Current account of the euro area
(EUR billions, unless otherwise indicated; transactions during the period; non-working day and non-seasonally adjusted)
Source: ECB. Notes: “Equity” comprises equity and investment fund shares. Goods by product group is an estimated breakdown using a method based on statistics on international trade in goods. Discrepancies between totals and their components may arise from rounding.
Data on the geographical counterparts of the euro area current account (Chart 1) show that in the four quarters to the second quarter of 2024, the euro area recorded its largest bilateral surpluses vis-à-vis the United Kingdom (€215 billion, up from €184 billion a year earlier) and Switzerland (€79 billion, down from €89 billion). The euro area also recorded a surplus vis-à-vis the residual group of other countries of €96 billion, after a €21 billion deficit a year earlier. The largest bilateral deficits were recorded vis-à-vis China(€78 billion, down from €135 billion a year earlier) and the United States (€18 billion, down from €32 billion).
The most significant changes in the geographical components of the current account relative to the previous year were as follows: the goods deficit vis-à-vis China declined from €166 billion to €105 billion, while the balance vis-à-vis Russia shifted from a deficit (€41 billion) to a surplus (€3 billion). Furthermore, the balance vis-à-vis the residual group of Other countries shifted from a deficit (€104 billion) to a surplus (€39 billion), which was partly explained by a smaller deficit vis-à-vis Norway (from €39 billion to €21 billion) and a shift from a deficit (€6 billion) to a surplus (€5 billion) vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia. The goods surplus increased vis-à-vis the United Kingdom (from €116 billion to €148 billion) and vis-à-vis the United States (from €169 billion to €191 billion). In services, the deficit vis-à-vis the United States increased (from €117 billion to €141 billion), which was more than offset by a shift from a deficit (€15 billion) to a surplus (€18 billion) vis-à-vis Offshore centres. In primary income, the deficit vis-à-vis Offshore centres (€11 billion) turned to a surplus (€21 billion), while a smaller deficit is recorded vis-à-vis the United States (from €82 billion to €67 billion). The deficit in secondary income vis-à-vis the EU Member States and EU institutions outside the euro area decreased (from €77 billion to €71 billion).
Chart 1
Geographical breakdown of the euro area current account balance
(four-quarter moving sums in EUR billions; non-seasonally adjusted)
Source: ECB. Note: “EU non-EA” comprises the non-euro area EU Member States and those EU institutions and bodies that are considered for statistical purposes as being outside the euro area, such as the European Commission and the European Investment Bank. “Other countries” includes all countries and country groups not shown in the chart, as well as unallocated transactions.
At the end of the second quarter of 2024, the international investment position of the euro area recorded its largest net assets on record, increasing to €1.18 trillion vis-à-vis the rest of the world (8.0% of euro area GDP), up from €0.76 trillion in the previous quarter (Chart 2 and Table 2).
Chart 2
Net international investment position of the euro area
(net amounts outstanding at the end of the period as a percentage of four-quarter moving sums of GDP)
The €423 billion increase in net assets was mainly driven by lower net liabilities in other investment (down from €0.76 trillion to €0.63 trillion) and in portfolio equity (from €3.31 trillion to €3.19 trillion), as well as larger net assets in direct investment (up from €2.41 trillion to €2.52 trillion) and in reserve assets (up from €1.22 trillion to €1.27 trillion).
Table 2
International investment position of the euro area
(EUR billions, unless otherwise indicated; amounts outstanding at the end of the period, flows during the period; non-working day and non-seasonally adjusted)
Source: ECB. Notes: “Equity” comprises equity and investment fund shares. Net financial derivatives are reported under assets. “Other volume changes” mainly reflect reclassifications and data enhancements. Discrepancies between totals and their components may arise from rounding.
The developments in the euro area’s net international investment position in the second quarter of 2024 were driven mainly by positive price changes, transactions and other volume changes which were slightly offset by negative exchange rate changes (Table 2 and Chart 3). The large positive price changes reflect the divergent evolution of the stock exchange markets in the euro area and outside the euro area.
At the end of the second quarter of 2024, direct investment assets of special purpose entities (SPEs) amounted to €3.52 trillion (28% of total euro area direct investment assets), down from €3.59 trillion at the end of the previous quarter (Table 2). Over the same period, direct investment liabilities of SPEs decreased from €3.26 trillion to €3.25 trillion (33% of total direct investment liabilities).
At the end of the second quarter of 2024 the gross external debt of the euro area amounted to €16.52 trillion (112% of euro area GDP), down by €78 billion compared with the previous quarter.
Chart 3
Changes in the net international investment position of the euro area
(EUR billions; flows during the period; non-working day and non-seasonally adjusted)
Source: ECB. Note: “Other volume changes” mainly reflect reclassifications and data enhancements.
This statistical release incorporates revisions to the data for the reference periods between the first quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2024. The revisions reflect revised national contributions to the euro area aggregates as a result of the incorporation of newly available information, including from major regular revisions.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Scientists comment on a government pledge of £21.7bn for carbon capture projects.
Prof Stuart Haszeldine, Professor of Carbon Capture and Storage at the University of Edinburgh, said:
“This is fourth time lucky for CCS in the UK. After 3 false starts on projects with single sources to capture CO2, a change of philosophy has produced multiple industrial CO2 capture projects, mutually supporting pipelines feeding into secure geological stores. This ambitious and complex pathway is starting to convert the world’s first nation to industrialise coal use into the world’s first nation to decarbonise industry.
“The UK’s long CCS design journey started in 2005 with an unexpected offer from BP – not accepted by Government, leading to a competition to retrofit coal power electricity not awarded in 2011, then last minute cancellation in 2016 of funding for gas powered capture, and from 2018 a pivot to industrial projects mutually supporting shared pipelines and stores.
“CCS has operated successfully and safely in the Norwegian North Sea since 2006. But the debate between Perfect or Pragmatic on CCS still exercises those commentators and campaigners who prefer to completely escape from fossil fuels. However, hundreds of CO2 injections into geological storage worldwide have been competed with no leakage. But providing energy from adequate supplies of renewable electricity, and electrolysis to make green hydrogen, will not be installed for several decades. CCS provides achievable steps to rapidly decrease emissions at industrial scale, starting a transition into a lower carbon future. This is a revolutionary leap in energy systems.
“Perception of price remains the biggest blockage to routine installation of CCS. But the cost of government subsidy for the first projects will be spread between across the national energy system – equivalent to a fraction of penny each kilowatt hour. At full decarbonisation, CCS will cost around 15 pence per litre of petrol – much less than annual market price variations, and affordable.
“Anticipating successful CCS operating projects, the UK government now needs to plan future CCS projects to operate without government grant support. Existing policies are mis-directed to pay for permissions to emit. What is needed for the future is a payment reward for storage of CO2. That can be achieved by an extended obligation on oil company suppliers of fossil carbon to capture and store CO2 emissions arising from their products. That principle was legally established for development of new oilfields in the UK Supreme Court ‘Finch’ case in June 2024.”
Declared interests
Stuart Haszeldine is not funded by hydrocarbon companies or CCS developers supported by government
The Isle of Wight Council’s Adult Community Learning team is excited to announce the launch of its autumn programme, offering a diverse range of workshops and courses.
Whether you’re interested in improving your functional skills in English and maths, exploring ICT, or engaging in arts, crafts, health, and wellbeing activities, there is something for everyone.
There are also FREE online short courses available.
Alternatively, you can speak to a member of staff by calling 01983 817280 or visiting The Learning Centre at Westridge, Ryde.
If you’re looking to develop your skills further, perhaps to retrain or return to work, you can book a careers appointment with Claire Rixon, our information, advice, and guidance professional.
Claire can assist with CV writing, covering letters, and application forms, and provide support with career changes, redundancy, education, and training. To book an appointment, call 01983 817280.
Drop-in sessions are also available at Westridge, Ryde centre every Friday from 9.30am to 12.30pm during term time. No booking is necessary; just pop in during these times.
For those needing help with online learning or computer access, the ICT drop-in dates for this term are:
18 October
15 November
29 November
13 December
If you need advice with job applications, the drop-in dates are:
MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Rosneft – Rosneft – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
From October 1 to 4, the Rosneft Research Institute in Ufa held a unique oil and gas conference, “Digital Technologies in Hydrocarbon Production: Modern Challenges.” This year, more than 700 participants from 54 Russian cities registered for the large-scale event.
On the first day, the conference venue featured an alley of Rosneft’s science-intensive software. Participants were given a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the functionality of 17 software packages designed to support exploration, design, and development of oil and gas fields.
12 conference sections were devoted to current issues of geological exploration and oil production using digital products. Industry experts discussed modern technologies of artificial intelligence, extraction of reserves in complex geological conditions, as well as trends in professional training of personnel. Participants demonstrated the latest achievements in seismic exploration, robotics, 3D printing.
The conference announced the release of new software “RN-Alpha” for joint modeling of field development, underground and surface infrastructure. With the help of this software, it will be possible to implement a seamless format for data transfer from field developers to designers. To date, 24 software modules and 9 calculation services have been created and tested. More than 200 conceptual design projects have been digitized and loaded into the software database. A distinctive feature of “RN-Alpha” is the prompt calculation of hundreds of options. This helps to make engineering and management decisions quickly and efficiently.
The conference also included a series of tournaments using digital simulators created by specialists from a scientific institute in Ufa. Participants solved tasks related to the work of a chief geologist at an oil-producing enterprise and a geonavigator.
Department of Information and Advertising of PJSC NK Rosneft October 4, 2024
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.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Household gross disposable income increased in second quarter of 2024 at a lower annual rate of 4.8%, after 6.1% in the first quarter of 2024. The compensation of employees grew at a lower rate of 5.5% (after 6.0%), and gross operating surplus and mixed income of the self-employed increased at a lower rate of 4.6% (after 5.9%). Household consumption expenditure grew at a lower rate of 3.1% (after 4.2%).
The household gross saving rate increased to 14.9% in the second quarter of 2024, compared with 14.5% in the previous quarter.
Household gross non-financial investment (which refers mainly to housing) decreased at a lower annual rate of -1.7% in the second quarter of 2024 (after -3.2% ). Loans to households, the main component of household financing, increased at an unchanged rate of 0.5%.
Household financial investment increased at a higher annual rate of 2.1% in the four quarters to the second quarter of 2024, after 1.9% in the four quarters to the first quarter of 2024. Among its components, currency and deposits grew at a higher rate of 2.3% (after 1.5%), while investment in debt securities increased at a lower rate (28.1% after 40.2%). Investment in shares and other equity grew at a higher rate of 0.3% (after 0.0%). This was due to unlisted shares and other equity decreasing more slowly (-0.3% after -0.9%), while investment fund shares grew at a broadly unchanged rate (1.9%). Investment in listed shares decreased faster (-0.9% after -0.6%). Life insurance decreased at a broadly unchanged rate (-0.2%) and pension schemes grew at a lower rate (2.2% after 2.4%).
Household net worth increased at an annual rate of 2.8% in the second quarter of 2024, after 2.1% in the previous quarter. Net financial and non-financial assets grew due to valuation gains in addition to investments. Housing wealth, the main component of non-financial assets, increased (0.5%) after decreasing in the previous quarter (-1.3%). The household debt-to-income ratio decreased to 83.1% in the second quarter of 2024 from 87.5% in the second quarter of 2023.
Non-financial corporations
Net value added by NFCs grew at a higher annual rate of 1.6% in the second quarter of 2024 (after 1.2% in the previous quarter). The negative growth rate of gross operating surplus decreased (-3.5% after -4.2%), while the growth rate of net property income – defined in this context as property income receivable minus interest and rent payable – increased (4.2% after 0.7%). As a result gross entrepreneurial income (broadly equivalent to cash flow) decreased at a lower rate of -1.3% (after ‑3.7%).[1]
NFCs’ gross non-financial investment decreased at a faster annual rate of -7.0% (after -5.8% in the previous quarter).[2] NFCs’ financial investment grew at a higher rate of 2.2% (after 1.9%) in the four quarters to the second quarter of 2024. Among its components, currency and deposits grew at a higher rate (2.5% after 0.4%), while loans granted increased at a lower rate (3.8% after 4.2%). Investment in shares and other equity grew at an unchanged rate of 1.6%.
Financing of NFCs increased at a higher annual rate of 1.0% (after 0.8%), as financing via debt securities (3.1% after 2.2%), shares and other equity (0.8% after 0.4%) and trade credits (2.1% after 0.4%) all grew at higher rates. Loan financing grew at a lower rate of 0.8% (after 1.2%).[3]
NFCs’ debt-to-GDP ratio (consolidated measure) decreased to 66.7% in the second quarter of 2024, from 69.2% in the same quarter of the previous year; the non-consolidated, wider debt measure decreased to 128.2% from 131.3%.
This statistical release incorporates revisions to the data since the first quarter of 2020.
Revisions of the entire time series may be more pronounced in this and the following release as in 2024 EU countries implement a benchmark revision in national accounts statistics. For further information see also: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/esa-2010/data-revision.
The annual growth rate of non-financial transactions and of outstanding assets and liabilities (stocks) is calculated as the percentage change between the value for a given quarter and that value recorded four quarters earlier. The annual growth rates used for financial transactions refer to the total value of transactions during the year in relation to the outstanding stock a year before.
The euro area and national financial accounts data of non-financial corporations and households are available in an interactive dashboard.
Hyperlinks in the main body of the statistical release are dynamic. The data they lead to may therefore change with subsequent data releases as a result of revisions. Figures shown in annex tables are a snapshot of the data as at the time of the current release.
The ECB publishes experimental Distributional Wealth Accounts (DWA), which provide additional breakdowns for the household sector. The release of results for 2024 Q2 is planned for 29 November 2024 (tentative date).
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Right wing separated from airframe in-flight, Radnor Range, Powys, 5 October 2023
This statement provides an update on the ongoing AAIB investigation into an accident involving a UAS CGT 50 unmanned aircraft at Radnor Range, Powys on 5 October 2023. During a demonstration flight, the unmanned aircraft suffered a structural failure of the right wing. It entered an uncontrolled descent, striking the ground near to some personnel working on the range. There were no injuries.
The investigation, which is nearing completion, has considered the reason for the structural failure, and for the ground personnels’ proximity to the aircraft’s flight path. A final report will be published in due course.
MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Dmitry Patrushev met with the Governor of Novosibirsk Region Andrey Travnikov
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev visited Novosibirsk Oblast as part of a working trip to the regions of the Siberian Federal District, where he discussed issues of the region’s socio-economic development with Governor Andrei Travnikov.
According to Dmitry Patrushev, Novosibirsk Region is traditionally one of the centers of attraction for competent personnel, scientific community and business. This year, active growth of investments is noted. The manufacturing sector is developing, in particular, technological and knowledge-intensive production.
Speaking about agriculture, the Deputy Prime Minister separately noted the positive dynamics in livestock farming. Novosibirsk Oblast is the first region in Siberia in terms of livestock and poultry production, and is among the top three in terms of milk production. The new harvest is currently being harvested here in full swing. Despite the difficult weather conditions, more than 2 million tons of grain have already been harvested, the Deputy Prime Minister noted, and wished farmers worthy results.
“The government, for its part, supports the development of the region’s agro-industrial complex. In 2024, more than 2 billion rubles have been allocated for these purposes. But the pace of delivery needs to be increased. It is also necessary to analyze the work within the framework of the state programs “Land” and “Comprehensive Development of Rural Territories,” Dmitry Patrushev emphasized.
He also noted the work of the Novosibirsk Region in the field of nature management and environmental protection. The region participates in the activities of the national project “Ecology” to eliminate illegal dumps and preserve forests. This year, the Government allocated 281 million rubles for them. In the national project “Ecological Well-being”, the list of areas will be expanded. In particular, the region will continue to work on creating a waste management system within the framework of the new federal project “Closed Cycle Economy”.
The Deputy Prime Minister expressed confidence that all this will improve the level of comfort and quality of life of the population of the Novosibirsk Region.
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.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Rosneft – Rosneft – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
The team of the company “Slavneft-Krasnoyarskneftegaz” took 1st place in the International Engineering Championship “CASE-IN” within the framework of “Russian Energy Week”. Young specialists of the enterprise created a software algorithm based on a neural network, allowing to predict failures in the operation of production equipment and take timely measures to prevent them. The award for the developed project was personally presented to the oil workers by Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak.
The algorithm, built on the basis of a neural network, regulates the content of chloride salts in oil and warns of possible failures of pump units and jumps in liquid levels in devices. The flexibility of the algorithm allows it to be used in any area, which can significantly increase production efficiency.
The neural network module has been successfully tested on real data obtained at the Kuyumbinskoye field in Eastern Siberia. The studies have shown that the developed software improves the accuracy of forecasts by 80-90% compared to traditional methods. The new technology makes the process of oil preparation and equipment management as predictable as possible, thereby ensuring stability and continuity of production.
Rosneft is a leader in IT developments and innovative changes in the Russian oil and gas industry. The company is betting on digitalization in all areas of activity, which is one of the key elements of the Rosneft-2030 strategy. The emphasis on the implementation of digital technologies allows for increased transparency, controllability and speed of decision-making throughout the Company’s production chain.
Reference:
Slavneft-Krasnoyarskneftegaz, a joint venture between NK Rosneft (operator) and PJSC Gazprom Neft, carries out geological survey, exploration and production of hydrocarbons in five license areas with a total area of over 18 thousand km2 in the Evenki municipal district of Krasnoyarsk Krai. Thanks to the use of highly effective methods of geological exploration, drilling and well testing, Slavneft-Krasnoyarskneftegaz is one of the industry leaders in terms of growth rates of hydrocarbon reserves.
Department of Information and Advertising of PJSC NK Rosneft October 4, 2024
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.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
While trying to deliver malware on victims’ devices and stay on them as long as they can, sometimes attackers are using quite unusual techniques. In a recent campaign starting in 2022, unknown malicious actors have been trying to mine cryptocurrency on victims’ devices without user consent; they’ve used large amounts of resources for distribution, but what’s more, used multiple unusual vectors for defense evasion and persistence. One of these vectors was abusing the open-source SIEM “Wazuh” agent.
We are quite sure that this campaign was a global one, but in this article, we’ll focus on an infection chain that, according to our telemetry, was targeting mainly Russian-speaking users. The attackers distributed the malicious files using websites for downloading popular software (uTorrent, Microsoft Office, Minecraft, etc.) for free. These websites were shown to users in the top search results in Yandex. Malware was also distributed through Telegram channels targeted at crypto investors and in descriptions and comments on YouTube videos about cryptocurrency, cheats and gambling.
Infection
The attackers were advertising their websites in Yandex search results. Users would see these malicious sites in the top results when searching for resources freely distributing popular software like uTorrent, MS Excel, MS Word, Minecraft, Discord and so on.
Links to malicious websites in Yandex search results
The frontend of these websites is a copy of either the official software website or a known piracy website distributing this kind of software:
Malicious websites
The attackers are running multiple Telegram channels distributing the malware in question. These channels are most definitely targeted at cryptocurrency owners or cheating gamers: they are offered to download specific software that presumably might be of interest to them. To prevent anyone trying to disclose information about these channels and the fraudulent activity of their creators, the administrators disabled message forwarding, screenshots, and previews of these channels in the Telegram web-version.
Malware in the attackers’ Telegram channel
Even more, the malware was also distributed via YouTube. The attackers uploaded numerous videos in English from multiple accounts which were presumably stolen. It’s also possible that the video content was downloaded from other YouTube channels and reuploaded without the authors’ consent. In the video description and in the top comment the attackers left links to their resources and instructions on how to launch the malware. Some of these links redirected users immediately to malicious websites, while others led to the aforementioned Telegram channels. We have also seen links to known IP logging websites, allowing the malicious actors to collect the IP addresses of anyone who follows the link and gets redirected to the malware-carrying website.
Examples of videos with malicious links in their description or comments
Comment with a link to a malicious Telegram channel
Persistence and defense evasion
After visiting the attackers’ website or channel, users might download a ZIP file being falsely advertised as popular software. Inside the archive is an MSI file and a TXT file with a password required for installation. There are also instructions on how to install the software, in which the attackers recommend disabling any installed antivirus and Windows Defender beforehand. In many cases, the instructions and the password are also provided on the websites and channels from which the user downloaded the malicious archive.
Content of text file
When launched, the MSI file asks for the password from the TXT file, which is one of the first countermeasures against sandbox analysis. If the user specifies the right password, the CustomAction field value of the MSI file is executed — this is effectively a VB script. This script launches a BAT file which extracts the next element of the attack chain from an encrypted archive. The first step is to escalate privileges by adding another BAT file to autorun, granting SYSTEM privileges for a single execution. After that, the system reboots.
CustomAction field value in the MSI file
The BAT file from autorun extracts the encrypted RAR archive and runs the “start” command with two DLL files as arguments — these were previously extracted from the archive. One of these files is a legitimate AutoIt interpreter and the second is a legitimate dynamic library with a valid digital signature. The malicious payload is an A3X script which was compiled into an EXE file and injected right inside the second DLL file signature.
Malicious payload hidden inside a legit dynamic library signature
This technique is interesting for two reasons. First, the A3X script is added to the signature in such a way that its validity remains intact and the whole file is still considered as signed, even with the payload. Such a malicious addition is almost impossible to detect without file content analysis. Second, the AutoIt interpreter has an interesting way of reading files that were specified in its launch argument. The file is scanned for a specific AutoIt signature which is present only in compiled scripts, and all other contents of the file are ignored. This behavior allows the attackers to hide their malicious payload anywhere in the file where it won’t be harmful for the container itself.
Signature at the beginning of the A3X script
Placing malicious payloads in an arbitrary section of a file is not new. Such techniques have been used not only with AutoIt, but with other platforms too. But what makes this attack stand out is the bypass of signature verification, making it possible for the payload-bearing file to seem legitimate.
File with payload successfully bypasses signature verification
If the “start” command failed, the BAT file removes the entire directory with the installed files, including itself. Otherwise, the malicious A3X implant is launched, which checks all active processes in attempt to find anything related to debugging or anti-malware products. If anything is found, the script immediately exits, as you can see in the snippet of deobfuscated code below.
Security process name check by malicious implant
The compiled A3X script contains multiple FileInstall function calls. This function takes two arguments: a path to the file that will be installed, and its destination path. Before compilation, this call just copies the file from its source path to its destination, but during the compilation the interpreter stores the files for installation right inside the compiled script.
The resulting file contains not only the executable code itself, but also additional malicious files which will be installed directly from the implant. These files are required for persistence and to execute the next steps of the infection chain. The files are installed to the following paths:
For persistence purposes, the directories containing the installed files have system, hidden and read-only attributes. In addition, using the icacls utility, the implant forbids all users across all domains to remove these folders, change their permissions, own them, add any files or subdirectories, write to them any attributes (including extended ones), or remove files from them.
Files are copied to directories with unusual names for a reason. For example, the folder name “Classic.{BB64F8A7-BEE7-4E1A-AB8D-7D8273F7FDB6}” is treated specially by Windows Shell: Explorer will find the GUID in its name and treat it as a link — in this case to the Action Center. As a result, the user will not be able to view the contents of the directory.
Malicious directory in Explorer
After installing all the necessary files, the implant establishes persistence using WMI by creating filters which are activated by common events — common enough to guarantee filter activation. For each created filter, a polling frequency is specified. When a filter is activated, a specific command is executed using the __FilterToConsumerBinding class.
Once every three minutes, the netcat utility masked as StartMenuExperienceHost.exe is launched with the C&C address of the attackers (sportjump[.]ru) and “-e cmd.exe” as its arguments. It is then used as a reverse shell by the attackers.
Once every five to ten minutes, files named “nun.bat” are executed. They are copies of the same file which starts the next step of the infection chain. The attackers created two copies to increase the chance of malware execution, but if there are no outages, both of them are launched.
Once every fifteen minutes, the next step of the infection chain is launched directly via the “start” command.
All these methods are used again for a better persistence by launching the “insta.bat” file right before the end of the A3X implant execution.
Launch of the netcat utility
Persistence is established not only through WMI; the implant also directly starts netcat, the “nun.bat” files, and the “start” command. After that, it also abuses the registry keys “Image File Execution Options”, “Debugger” and “MonitorProcess” with the same goals.
One of the most interesting things about some variants of the malware is the download and use of the Wazuh SIEM agent for remote access and telemetry harvesting. To ensure that the attackers can execute any arbitrary command on the victim’s device, during the agent installation, the “remote_commands” option is set.
Installation and launch of the Wazuh agent
The first stage of the A3X implant collects the following information: computer name, username, OS version and architecture, CPU name, data about the GPU and installed AV software. All this information along with the current time is sent to a special Telegram bot chat controlled by the attackers. We’ve also seen some of the malware variants sending a screenshot of the user’s desktop or installing a malicious browser extension, which may replace cryptocurrency wallets in the clipboard.
Malicious browser extension
The next stage of the infection chain consists of two DLL files, that use the same technique as the first stage: a legitimate AutoIt interpreter and another A3X implant, located in the signature of the legitimate dynamic library. This implant is the final payload in the malware variant described here. It injects into a newly created explorer.exe process memory an open-source miner named SilentCryptoMiner, which contains the URL of the attacker’s mining configuration. This configuration specifies the cryptocurrency to be mined, the wallet, and so on. In the analyzed variants, we could see that the attackers mostly use anonymous cryptocurrencies like Monero or Zephyr.
Example of the miner configuration
Aside from its main purpose of generating cryptocurrency, SilentCryptoMiner can also hide its own activity from the processes specified in the “stealth-targets” argument and stop processes from the “kill-targets” process names list.
Attack geography
Most of the attacks with this infection chain targeted Russian users (87.63%). After that, the other top ten countries with the highest number of users affected by these attacks were Belarus, India, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Germany, Algeria, Czech Republic, Mozambique, and Turkey.
TOP 10 countries where users were affected by the described infection chain, June — August 2024 (download)
Conclusion
The attack described in this article vividly illustrates the fact that even mass campaigns can be quite complex and open up a wide range of opportunities for attackers. As a result of the multistage infection chain, the attackers can establish persistence in users’ systems in multiple ways, gaining full access. Even though the main goal of the attackers is to make profit by stealthily mining cryptocurrency, some variants of the malware can perform additional malicious activity, such as replacing cryptocurrency wallets in the clipboard and taking screenshots. The most interesting action in this attack was the implementation of unusual techniques like using an SIEM agent as backdoor, adding the malicious payload to a legitimate digital signature, and hiding directories containing malicious files.
It’s important to mention that the websites, videos, and Telegram channels created by the attackers primarily target users seeking free versions of popular software or videogame cheats. This audience makes an easy target for the attackers because they are open to installing unofficial software from obscure sources and disabling security measures.
Our products detect this malware with the following names:
HEUR:Trojan-Dropper.OLE2.Agent.gen
HEUR:Trojan.BAT.Agent.gen
HEUR:Trojan.VBS.Agent.gen
Trojan.Script.AutoIt.ak
Trojan.BAT.Agent.cix
Trojan.BAT.Miner.id
HEUR:Trojan.Multi.Agent.gen
PDM:Trojan.Win32.Generic
MITRE ATT&CK Matrix
Tactic
Technique ID
Technique
Resource Development
T1608.006
Stage Capabilities: SEO Poisoning
T1608.001
Stage Capabilities: Upload Malware
Execution
T1204.001
User Execution: Malicious Link
T1204.002
User Execution: Malicious File
T1059.010
Command and Scripting Interpreter: AutoHotKey & AutoIT
T1059.003
Command and Scripting Interpreter: Windows Command Shell
Should young people be paid less than their older counterparts, even if they’re working the same job? Whether you think it’s fair or not, it’s been standard practice in many industries for a long time.
The argument is that young people are not fully “work-ready” and require more intensive employer support to develop the right skills for their job.
Why? They say the need to be fairly paid for equal work effort, as well as economic considerations such as the high cost of living and ongoing housing crisis, mean paying young adults less based on their age is out of step with modern Australia.
So is there a problem with our current system, and if so, how might we go about fixing it?
What are youth wages?
In Australia, a youth wage or junior pay rate is paid as an increasing percentage of an award’s corresponding full adult wage until an employee reaches the age of 21.
This isn’t the case in every industry – some awards require all adults to be paid the same minimum rates.
But for those not covered by a specific award, as well as those working in industries including those covered by the General Retail Industry Award, Fast Food Industry Award and Pharmacy Industry Award, employees younger than 21 are not paid the full rate.
Why pay less?
Conventionally, junior rates have been thought of as a “training wage”. Younger people are typically less experienced, so as they gain more skills on the job over time, they are paid a higher hourly rate.
But there are a few key problems with this approach, which may not be relevant given many employers’ expectations for their workers to start “job-ready” and a lack of consistency in the training they provide.
Training up and developing skills is an important part of building any career. But it isn’t always provided by their employers.
Many young workers train themselves in job-related technical education and short courses, often at their own expense and prior to starting work.
Employers reap the benefit of this pre-employment training and so a “wage discount” for younger workers may be irrelevant in this instance.
None of this is to say employers aren’t offering something important when they take on young employees.
Younger workers coming into employment relatively early have access to more than just a paid job, but also become part of a team, with responsibilities and job requirements that support “bigger-picture” life skills.
Those who employ them may be contributing to their broader social and cultural engagement, something that could be considered part of a more inclusive training package. Whether that justifies a significant wage discount is less clear.
There are growing calls for a rethink on the way we compensate young people for their efforts.
An application by the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association – the union for retail, fast food and warehousing workers – seeks to remove junior rates for adult employees on three key awards. This action will be heard by the Fair Work Commission next year.
Sally McManus, Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, said the peak union body will lobby the government to legislate such changes if this application fails. The Greens have added their support.
That doesn’t have to mean abolishing youth wages altogether. But 21 years of age is a high threshold, especially given we get the right to major adult responsibilities such as voting and driving by 18.
A transition strategy could consider gradually lowering this threshold, or increasing the wage percentages over time.
Lessons from New Zealand
We wouldn’t be the first to make such a bold change if we did.
Our geographically and culturally close neighbour, New Zealand, has already removed the “youth wage” – replacing it with a “first job” rate and a training wage set at 80% of the full award rate in 2008.
A common argument against abolishing youth wages – and increasing the minimum wage in general – is that it will stop businesses hiring young people and thus increase unemployment.
But a 2021 study that examined the effects of New Zealand’s experience with increasing minimum wages – including this change – found little discernible difference in employment outcomes for young workers.
The authors did note, however, that New Zealand’s economic downturn post-2008 had a marked effect on the employment of young workers more generally.
It’s easy to see how we arrived at the case for paying younger adults less. But younger workers should not bear the burden of intergenerational inequity by “losing out” on wages in the early part of their working life.
The debate we see now echoes the discussions about equal pay for equal work value run in the 1960s and ‘70s in relation to women’s unequal pay.
We were warned that paying women the same as men would cause huge economic dislocation. Such a catastrophe simply did not come to pass.
Kerry Brown is a member of the National Tertiary Education Union.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is today on a Working Visit to the Kingdom of Lesotho at the invitation of His Majesty King Letsie III.
During Friday’s visit, the President will participate in the Kingdom’s 58th Independence Day and Bicentennial Celebrations.
The Bicentennial Celebration of the founding of the Basotho Nation by Morena Moshoeshoe I and Independence Day are being held at Setsoto Stadium in Maseru.
“President Ramaphosa will deliver remarks during the celebrations to commemorate the Basotho Nation’s rich heritage, as well as the extraordinary achievements of Morena Moshoeshoe I and the indelible impact he had on the people of the Kingdom of Lesotho,” the Presidency said in a statement.
The Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Lesotho enjoy strong and cordial bilateral relations and cooperation in a number of fields, including in the water sector.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Angie Motshekga, will serve as the Acting President of the Republic during the duration of the President’s travel. – SAnews.gov.za
