The Lord Louis Library in Newport is scheduled to undergo essential maintenance from Monday 14 October and is expected to be fully completed by the end of December 2024.
During this time the main library will remain open as much as possible except for Thursday 10, Friday 11 and Saturday 12 October when it will be closed to the general public to allow staff to move books from the areas where work will be completed.
The library will also be closed for a short time in late December alongside some possible lunch time closures and changes to opening hours during the work.
For those wanting to use the children’s library, the books will be relocated to a dedicated area within the main library. As space will be limited some activities such as Rhyme Time and adult group sessions will unfortunately not be able to take place. The public computers will still be available for use, as will printing and photocopying facilities.
Colin Rowland, director for community services “Although there may be some temporary inconvenience due to construction work, the end result will be worth it. Residents will still be able to use all the libraries online services while building works take place. We’d also like to remind and encourage residents to visit the other libraries across the Island, which are open as normal”.
Councillor Julie Jones-Evans, cabinet member for economy, regeneration, culture and leisure added; “This investment reflects our commitment to the library service and our appreciation of its value to the local community. Please make sure you follow both the library services and council’s Facebook pages for the latest updates.”
For more information on the libraries online services please visit free online services.
Residents can also visit our other libraries during this time, a list is available by clicking Isleof Wight Council libraries
The Danish economy is in mild recovery, supported by global growth and Danes regaining purchasing power after a few years of high inflation. Employment has continued to rise, but because the labour force has also grown, no further pressure has been applied to the labour market over the past year. Pressure on the labour market has eased since 2022.
There is a good chance that wage increases will slow down over the next few years, due to less pressure on the labour market and significantly lower inflation than a few years ago. Inflation is expected to stabilise at around 2 per cent.
“Even though pressure on the labour market is easing slightly, we are still in a situation of very low unemployment. Consequently, monetary and fiscal policy combined should seek to avoid boosting activity. This may therefore not be a good time to relax fiscal policy to the extent proposed by the government for the 2025 budget,” says Christian Kettel Thomsen, Governor of Danmarks Nationalbank.
In our latest projection, we expect inflation (HICP) in Denmark to be 1.3 per cent this year, 2.1 per cent next year and 1.8 in 2026. We expect GDP growth to be 2.1 per cent this year, 2.3 per cent in 2025 and 1.5 per cent in 2026.
Danmarks Nationalbank’s new analyses of the Danish economy can be found on Danmarks Nationalbank’s website, nationalbanken.dk.
Press enquiries can be directed to Communications and Press Officer Teis Hald Jensen by phone +45 3363 6066 or e-mail tehj@nationalbanken.dk.
Source: Novosibirsk State University – Novosibirsk State University –
4th year postgraduate student Faculty of Natural Sciences of NSU Vladislav Shilov has developed a structured catalyst for converting diesel fuel into synthesis gas, which currently has no industrial analogues. In 2023, the results of his work on this topic were awarded a scholarship from the Novosibirsk Region government. The researcher developed this device as part of his dissertation work under the scientific supervision of the head of the heterogeneous analysis department of the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Chemical Sciences Pavel Valerievich Snytnikov.
This year, the department’s research team, with the participation of Vladislav Shilov, is creating a fuel processor for obtaining synthesis gas that runs on commercial diesel fuel. It integrates the developed catalyst for converting diesel fuel to obtain synthesis gas from diesel. In the future, in cooperation with consortium members within the framework of the NTI project “Hydrogen as the Basis of a Low-Carbon Economy”, it is planned to create a power plant based on planar solid oxide fuel cells, combined with a diesel fuel processor for generating electricity.
— We were the first to achieve complete conversion of commercial diesel fuel into hydrogen-containing gas suitable for fuel cells. When creating the catalyst, we encountered a serious difficulty: the conversion of diesel fuel into synthesis gas is a high-temperature process (about 700 – 1000 °C), as a result of which the active component of the catalyst quickly sinters. Therefore, for these applications, we were the first to use a metal substrate made of FeCrAl alloy as a structured carrier, which has good heat and mass transfer properties. This is what makes the system we developed unique. The method of applying layers of catalytic coating to a metal mesh is quite complex and was developed over several years. This was not an easy task — the coating of the active component peeled off or cracked. We needed to increase the adhesive (i.e., “bonding”) properties of the substrate surface so that each layer of the catalytic coating would reliably adhere to it. We found a technological solution to this problem. Now we have reached the level where we can carry out small-scale production of structured catalysts for various catalytic applications, said Vladislav Shilov.
When creating the diesel fuel conversion catalyst, experiments were conducted in a laboratory setup. Now the researchers are faced with the task of creating a model of the fuel processor into which it will be integrated. Diesel fuel, water and air will enter the system, which as a result of the catalytic reaction will be converted into synthesis gas suitable for use in solid oxide fuel cells. Now this work is in the active stage and is nearing completion. Next, scientists will have to evaluate the operation of the entire power plant in order to begin industrial implementation.
— The structured catalyst we developed also turned out to be highly active in converting light hydrocarbon fuels into synthesis gas, which interested our industrial partner, the InEnergy group of companies, which is engaged in the creation of power plants based on fuel cells. This year, the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, together with InEnergy, launched small-scale production (about 600 units) of compact power plants TOPAZ-GAMMA M, operating on natural gas and propane-butane, where our development was used. One such power plant was presented by our research group at the International Forum of Technological Development “Technoprom”, where it aroused great interest, — said Vladislav Shilov.
Electrochemical generators running on diesel fuel can be used as a stationary, backup or auxiliary source of electric power, since it is a more convenient carrier of hydrogen. Compared to other alternative carriers, diesel fuel has the largest amount of hydrogen per unit volume, and its long-term storage is carried out at ambient temperature and pressure. In this regard, natural gas transported through gas pipelines and propane-butane are significantly inferior to this type of fuel. Electrochemical generators running on diesel fuel can be used as a stationary, backup or auxiliary source of electric power.
According to Vladislav Shilov, this technology will find application in remote northern regions, in the conditions of the Far North and in the development of the Arctic, as well as at other sites where diesel fuel is the main energy source. It is possible that this development will be of interest to the Russian Ministry of Defense, where most of the equipment also runs on this type of fuel. But in order to launch small-scale production of diesel electrochemical generators, it is necessary to complete work on creating a prototype in laboratory conditions and contact companies interested in launching these devices into small-scale production. The developers have no doubt that such investors will certainly be found.
— Such devices have a much higher efficiency compared to internal combustion engines. They are environmentally friendly — their emissions are carbon dioxide and water vapor. They are distinguished by silent operation, a long service life and do not require frequent maintenance. And the use of fuel cells to generate electricity allows it to be extracted from energy sources by directly converting the energy of chemical bonds into electrical energy. The efficiency of this process is higher than when using standard diesel generators, in which the energy of chemical bonds is first converted into heat, then into mechanical energy and only then into electrical energy. Increasing the efficiency of power plants will reduce the volume of resource-intensive delivery of diesel fuel to remote, Arctic regions. In addition, the use of the developed power plants will be more environmentally friendly due to the reduction in the volume of diesel fuel consumption, — explained Vladislav Shilov.
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.
Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –
On September 27, 2024, the State University of Management’s Student Clubs Day will be held in the CUVP gallery.
Want a bright and memorable student life? Join the student clubs of the State University of Management!
From 11:30 to 15:30, the CUVP gallery will host presentations of student associations. You will get to know the teams and participants:
— KVN League of the State University of Management; — Creative team “StuDos”; — International Friendship Club; — Musical club “Instrumental”; — Case club Garnet; — Historical and patriotic club “Zvezda”; — Board games club “Mind Games”; — Student parliamentary club; — Media club General Press SUM (GPS); — EcoClub named after V.I. Vernadsky.
The Student Council and the Psychological Service will also give their presentations. And at 1:15 p.m. in the lobby of the Central Office of the Vocational School there will be a concert by the creative group “StuDos”, the club “Instrumental” and the KVN League.
New friends, unforgettable events and an atmosphere of creativity await you! And we are waiting for you, come!
Subscribe to the tg channel “Our State University” Announcement date: 09/25/2024
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.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
The Health Bureau (HHB) announced today (September 25) that the new functions of the “Cross-boundary Health Record” and “Personal Folder” in the eHealth mobile application (eHealth App) will be extended to the Nansha Division of The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University (FAH-NS), Dongguan Tungwah Hospital (Tungwah Hospital) and Shenzhen New Frontier United Family Hospital (NFUFH) under the Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme (Pilot Scheme) starting from next Monday (September 30) to enhance the continuity of medical care for Hong Kong citizens through facilitating their secure use of electronic health records (eHRs) across the boundary.
Starting from next Monday, eligible elderly persons who use Elderly Health Care Vouchers at the three aforementioned hospitals can apply for their eHRs deposited in eHealth over the past three years through the “Cross-boundary Health Record” function in advance. Upon verification of an elderly person’s authorisation, a “File QR Code” and “Password QR Code” will be sent to the elderly person via the eHealth App. Healthcare professionals can then access and browse the relevant eHRs by scanning the two QR codes presented by the elderly person at the time of consultation at designated medical institutions to assist in diagnoses and treatment. Following system enhancements, the time required for verification of applications and preparation for eHRs has already been reduced to no more than 24 hours. Elderly persons should submit their applications one day prior to their consultations at the designated medical institutions to ensure that their eHRs will be ready for use at the time of the consultations.
Moreover, elderly persons can deposit medical-related records obtained during consultations received in medical institutions outside Hong Kong into their eHealth personal accounts through the “Personal Folder” function to facilitate storage and use of personal medical-related records obtained in and outside Hong Kong, including access by authorised healthcare providers in Hong Kong through eHealth during follow-up consultations.
The HHB has already set up support stations at the FAH-NS, Tungwah Hospital and NFUFH to assist Hong Kong citizens to get a better grasp of how to use the relevant functions. Citizens may visit the eHealth thematic website for more information.
The Government piloted the new “Cross-boundary Health Record” and “Personal Folder” functions of the eHealth App at the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital in July this year and extended the functions to the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University and Zhongshan Chen Xinghai Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine under the Pilot Scheme on September 6. The feedback has been positive. Taking into account the implementation experience, the Government will further streamline the workflow and enhance the user experience in a bid to better support citizens’ cross-boundary healthcare needs.
PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the “Code”)
(b)Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a): The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named.
N/A
(c)Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates: Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree
KEYWORDS STUDIOS PLC
(d)If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree:
N/A
(e)Date position held/dealing undertaken: For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure
24 SEPTEMBER 2024
(f)In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer? If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state “N/A”
N/A
2.POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE
If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security.
(a)Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)
Class of relevant security:
1p ORDINARY
Interests
Short positions
Number
%
Number
%
(1)Relevant securities owned and/or controlled:
1,386,045
1.7216
(2)Cash-settled derivatives:
(3)Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell:
TOTAL:
1,386,045
1.7216
All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.
Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).
(b)Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors’ and other employee options)
Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists:
Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages:
3.DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE
Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.
The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.
(a)Purchases and sales
Class of relevant security
Purchase/sale
Number of securities
Price per unit
1p ORDINARY
SALE
2,124
2430.0002p
(b)Cash-settled derivative transactions
Class of relevant security
Product description e.g. CFD
Nature of dealing e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position
(d)Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)
Class of relevant security
Nature of dealing e.g. subscription, conversion
Details
Price per unit (if applicable)
NONE
4.OTHER INFORMATION
(a)Indemnity and other dealing arrangements
Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer: Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state “none”
NONE
(b)Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives
Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to: (i)the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or (ii)the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced: If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state “none”
NONE
(c)Attachments
Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached?
NO
Date of disclosure:
25 SEPTEMBER 2024
Contact name:
PHIL HULME
Telephone number:
01253 376551
Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service.
The Panel’s Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code’s disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.
CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, Sept. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bango (AIM:BGO) is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with Les Mills, a premier global fitness service provider, to globally expand the accessibility of its digital fitness subscriptions. LES MILLS+ is now available through the Digital Vending Machine® (DVM™), enabling telcos and other resellers to offer this high-quality fitness service to their customers as a bundle, add-on, or as part of a Super Bundling content hub.
The popularity of at-home workouts has skyrocketed in recent years, driven by their convenience and accessibility. The proliferation of digital fitness platforms, innovative home gym equipment, and the widespread adoption of remote work have fueled this trend. Virtual fitness classes, personalized training apps, and online workout communities now offer individuals a multitude of ways to stay active from home.
LES MILLS+ offers an unparalleled workout experience with exceptional trainers, motivating music, and science-backed routines designed for optimal results. With this new partnership, telcos can now provide their customers access to these world-class workouts, whether they prefer to exercise at the gym, at home, or on the go. By tapping into the growing demand for fitness and wellness, telcos can diversify their content offerings with LES MILLS+, while Les Mills expands its reach through these new telco channels.
The DVM™ enables telcos and other resellers to quickly, easily, and cost-effectively broaden their range of third-party services. It allows them to scale their subscription service offerings at a much faster rate than traditional in-house solutions. A single connection to the DVM™ opens up a wide array of subscription services for telcos, allowing them to deliver various bundles, discounts, and offers to attract and retain customers. For content providers like Les Mills, this means significantly extending their subscription service reach to consumers worldwide beyond their direct market channels. Consumers benefit by gaining access to the best deals on their favorite subscriptions.
“Distribution is key. Reaching a wider audience is crucial, and the Digital Vending Machine® is the perfect solution. It simplifies the process of distributing our service to a broader audience, reducing complexity and saving time, allowing more people worldwide to stay fit and healthy with Les Mills workouts and programs.” Luke Waldren, Chief Customer Officer at Les Mills.
“Les Mills is a fantastic addition to the Digital Vending Machine®, enriching the range of content available to telcos with fitness services. The variety of content enhances appeal and aligns perfectly with Super Bundling content hubs, providing telcos with an excellent way to offer a broad range of subscription services in one convenient place.” Anil Malhotra, CMO at Bango.
About Bango
Bango enables content providers to reach more paying customers through global partnerships. Bango revolutionized the monetization of digital content and services, by opening-up online payments to mobile phone users worldwide. Today, the Digital Vending Machine® is driving the rapid growth of the subscriptions economy, powering choice and control for subscribers.
The world’s largest content providers, including Amazon, Google and Microsoft trust Bango technology to reach subscribers everywhere.
Bango, where people subscribe. For more information, visit www.bango.com
About Les Mills
Les Mills is the global leader in group fitness and creator of over 25 programs available in leading fitness facilities around the world. Les Mills programs include the world’s first group exercise resistance training workout BODYPUMP™, BODYCOMBAT™ (martial arts), RPM™ (indoor cycling), BODYBALANCE™ (yoga), LES MILLS GRIT™ (30-minute high-intensity interval training) and its latest fitness innovation – LES MILLS FUNCTIONAL STRENGTH.
The company was founded by Les Mills – a four-time Olympian and head coach of New Zealand’s track and field team – who opened his first gym in 1968 with the aim of taking elite sports training to the masses. Today, Les Mills workouts are delivered by 130,000 certified instructors in 21,000 clubs across 100 countries, as well as via the LES MILLS+ streaming platform and Extended Reality (XR).
Business tendency surveys provide very useful indicators of trends within an economy. The information is available well before the official statistics, such as GDP growth, and provides insights into business dynamics that cannot be found elsewhere.
For 70 years the Bureau for Economic Research at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University has been conducting business tendency surveys. Indeed, South Africa remains one of the few countries where these surveys are conducted by a non-state agency.
The surveys cover a range of questions, tracking everything from activity to demand, selling prices to inventories, investment and also the constraints holding back investment. But the most important question is very simple: are you satisfied with prevailing business conditions? Respondents can only respond with a yes or a no. There is no scale, no maybe, no but. It is a pure gut feeling. This is the only true measure of business sentiment in South Africa.
While it can be argued that at times of fast production growth sentiment is more upbeat (and vice versa during a recession), sentiment typically turns before you see production growth. Respondents to Bureau for Economic Research surveys know their business like the palm of their hand. They sense when something starts changing and know when they can turn cautiously optimistic about conditions even though activity is not there (yet). As illustrated in the figure below, confidence often turns before the business cycle phase changes from an upward to a downward phase (and the other way around).
Changes in sentiment tell us a lot about investment intentions, as well as the potential for faster economic growth and job creation in the economy. If business people in South Africa are downbeat about business conditions, it is near impossible to see growth accelerate. Why build a new factory or employ workers if you are not, at the very least, satisfied with the environment you have to operate in today?
While the survey process has changed over the past seven decades, the value of the insights has not. South Africa’s new government of national unity has promised to tackle the country’s structural constraints, with reforms aimed at improving electricity, infrastructure, water and logistics. By providing a reliable measure of sentiment, the survey will go a long way in assessing whether they are successful.
Business confidence ahead of economic shifts
While we survey a range of sectors, only the responses of a specific set of sectors are compiled into the so-called composite Business Confidence Index. This index is sponsored by Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) and is known as the RMB/BER BCI.
The index looks at the responses of manufacturers, retailers, wholesalers, new vehicle dealers and main building contractors. These sectors represent the productive sectors of the economy and tend to lead the rest of the economy.
So, if something changes here, one can be fairly sure that it will soon start changing in the rest of the economy. Manufacturers, for example, have a feel for both domestic and export demand conditions, which later trickle through the rest of the economy. New vehicle dealers will be the first to know when local consumers start holding their purse strings.
In most sectors the survey also asks respondents about constraints to business conditions. We ask the same set of questions each quarter and have been doing so for decades. This gives us a very powerful, long-term time series of data. For example, over the last ten years, manufacturers have almost consistently seen the general political climate as the most serious constraint on business conditions.
The Absa Manufacturing Survey shows that it’s a more serious constraint than insufficient demand or the short-term interest rate, despite the latter being at the highest level in 15 years. Interestingly, the political climate constraint fell sharply in the third quarter of 2024, following the formation of the government of national unity. The disruptions at local ports were also picked up by our surveys, with load-shedding top of mind for many respondents in 2023 (and before).
The graph below shows a long-term series of business confidence. A reading of 100 would signal extreme optimism with every respondent satisfied with business conditions – this has never happened before. A reading of zero means not a single respondent is satisfied with business conditions. This, too, has not happened before, but we did see confidence fall to just 5 index points in the second quarter of 2020, the worst of the COVID-19 lockdowns, with many businesses forced to close temporarily. The BER surveys provided invaluable information about business dynamics in the formal economy during the pandemic and the recovery.
Figure 1: RMB/BER Business Confidence Index (BCI)
The RMB/BER BCI edged up by three index points to 38 in the third quarter of 2024. This was the first survey after the formation of the new government, and some may have hoped for a bigger boost to sentiment. Still, underlying results suggest respondents are turning cautiously more optimistic about the future. For the first time since early 2022, most respondents across the different sectors expect business conditions to improve in 12 months’ time, instead of deteriorating (further).
Current demand conditions, however, remained tough, which held back a bigger recovery in sentiment.
A firm commitment by the new government of national unity to continue with structural reform aimed at alleviating the constraints on the South African economy and an effort to bring down the cost of doing business (by lowering the administrative burden, for example) would go a long way in supporting a more pronounced recovery in business confidence.
Higher confidence will translate into faster economic growth over time.
How the index is compiled
Taking a step back, in 1954, and for many decades after that, everything at the BER was done by hand. The surveys were sent by post, and indices were painstakingly calculated as the responses trickled in. Some graphs were even drawn up by hand. Over time, more electronics became involved. South African postal services deteriorated to such an extent that relying on them was no longer feasible.
The little pigeonholes for the postal letters at the BER offices were removed earlier this year and all survey responses are now received via email. Responses are weighted for firm and sector size, and we try to keep the survey as representative of the sectors as possible.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to expand our panel in a world where inboxes are flooded with fly-by-night surveys and spam. Our close relationship with international bodies such as the Centre for International Research on Economic Tendency Surveys and our academic footing as a university research institute ensures that we continue to follow global best practices.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Johann Kirsten, Director of the Bureau for Economic Research, Stellenbosch University
Business tendency surveys provide very useful indicators of trends within an economy. The information is available well before the official statistics, such as GDP growth, and provides insights into business dynamics that cannot be found elsewhere.
For 70 years the Bureau for Economic Research at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University has been conducting business tendency surveys. Indeed, South Africa remains one of the few countries where these surveys are conducted by a non-state agency.
The surveys cover a range of questions, tracking everything from activity to demand, selling prices to inventories, investment and also the constraints holding back investment. But the most important question is very simple: are you satisfied with prevailing business conditions? Respondents can only respond with a yes or a no. There is no scale, no maybe, no but. It is a pure gut feeling. This is the only true measure of business sentiment in South Africa.
While it can be argued that at times of fast production growth sentiment is more upbeat (and vice versa during a recession), sentiment typically turns before you see production growth. Respondents to Bureau for Economic Research surveys know their business like the palm of their hand. They sense when something starts changing and know when they can turn cautiously optimistic about conditions even though activity is not there (yet). As illustrated in the figure below, confidence often turns before the business cycle phase changes from an upward to a downward phase (and the other way around).
Changes in sentiment tell us a lot about investment intentions, as well as the potential for faster economic growth and job creation in the economy. If business people in South Africa are downbeat about business conditions, it is near impossible to see growth accelerate. Why build a new factory or employ workers if you are not, at the very least, satisfied with the environment you have to operate in today?
While the survey process has changed over the past seven decades, the value of the insights has not. South Africa’s new government of national unity has promised to tackle the country’s structural constraints, with reforms aimed at improving electricity, infrastructure, water and logistics. By providing a reliable measure of sentiment, the survey will go a long way in assessing whether they are successful.
Business confidence ahead of economic shifts
While we survey a range of sectors, only the responses of a specific set of sectors are compiled into the so-called composite Business Confidence Index. This index is sponsored by Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) and is known as the RMB/BER BCI.
The index looks at the responses of manufacturers, retailers, wholesalers, new vehicle dealers and main building contractors. These sectors represent the productive sectors of the economy and tend to lead the rest of the economy.
So, if something changes here, one can be fairly sure that it will soon start changing in the rest of the economy. Manufacturers, for example, have a feel for both domestic and export demand conditions, which later trickle through the rest of the economy. New vehicle dealers will be the first to know when local consumers start holding their purse strings.
In most sectors the survey also asks respondents about constraints to business conditions. We ask the same set of questions each quarter and have been doing so for decades. This gives us a very powerful, long-term time series of data. For example, over the last ten years, manufacturers have almost consistently seen the general political climate as the most serious constraint on business conditions.
The Absa Manufacturing Survey shows that it’s a more serious constraint than insufficient demand or the short-term interest rate, despite the latter being at the highest level in 15 years. Interestingly, the political climate constraint fell sharply in the third quarter of 2024, following the formation of the government of national unity. The disruptions at local ports were also picked up by our surveys, with load-shedding top of mind for many respondents in 2023 (and before).
The graph below shows a long-term series of business confidence. A reading of 100 would signal extreme optimism with every respondent satisfied with business conditions – this has never happened before. A reading of zero means not a single respondent is satisfied with business conditions. This, too, has not happened before, but we did see confidence fall to just 5 index points in the second quarter of 2020, the worst of the COVID-19 lockdowns, with many businesses forced to close temporarily. The BER surveys provided invaluable information about business dynamics in the formal economy during the pandemic and the recovery.
Figure 1: RMB/BER Business Confidence Index (BCI)
Source: BER. Note, business cycle downswing phases as determined by the South African Reserve Bank are shaded.
The RMB/BER BCI edged up by three index points to 38 in the third quarter of 2024. This was the first survey after the formation of the new government, and some may have hoped for a bigger boost to sentiment. Still, underlying results suggest respondents are turning cautiously more optimistic about the future. For the first time since early 2022, most respondents across the different sectors expect business conditions to improve in 12 months’ time, instead of deteriorating (further).
Current demand conditions, however, remained tough, which held back a bigger recovery in sentiment.
A firm commitment by the new government of national unity to continue with structural reform aimed at alleviating the constraints on the South African economy and an effort to bring down the cost of doing business (by lowering the administrative burden, for example) would go a long way in supporting a more pronounced recovery in business confidence.
Higher confidence will translate into faster economic growth over time.
How the index is compiled
Taking a step back, in 1954, and for many decades after that, everything at the BER was done by hand. The surveys were sent by post, and indices were painstakingly calculated as the responses trickled in. Some graphs were even drawn up by hand. Over time, more electronics became involved. South African postal services deteriorated to such an extent that relying on them was no longer feasible.
A copy of the 1955 business confidence survey results.Source: Bureau for Economic Research
The little pigeonholes for the postal letters at the BER offices were removed earlier this year and all survey responses are now received via email. Responses are weighted for firm and sector size, and we try to keep the survey as representative of the sectors as possible.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to expand our panel in a world where inboxes are flooded with fly-by-night surveys and spam. Our close relationship with international bodies such as the Centre for International Research on Economic Tendency Surveys and our academic footing as a university research institute ensures that we continue to follow global best practices.
– Business confidence in South Africa: how a 70-year-old survey has given early signals of the economy’s pulse – https://theconversation.com/business-confidence-in-south-africa-how-a-70-year-old-survey-has-given-early-signals-of-the-economys-pulse-237773
Source: United Kingdom National Police Chiefs Council
Recovered vehicles valued at over £4m in total with 180 arrests made
Partnership working to tackle vehicle crime
180 arrests made relating to vehicle crime, including burglary
NaVCIS-led operations at ports recovered stolen vehicles destined for overseas
The first intensification week as part of national policing’s Operation Alliances to tackle serious organised vehicle crime has concluded with 316 stolen vehicles recovered with an estimated value of over £4m.
The stolen vehicles included cars, motorcycles, lorries, scrap vehicles and various vehicle parts linked to thefts were also recovered.
Op Alliances is delivered by Opal, policing’s national intelligence team for serious organised acquisitive crime, and brought together a number of organisations working in partnership with policing to stem the flow of stolen vehicles leaving the UK and support enforcement action at ports.
Vehicle crime is on the increase, with the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS) recording a 29 per cent increase in vehicles identified at ports in the second quarter of 2024. There’s evidence from Opal’s analysis that vehicle crime forms a large part of serious organised acquisitive crime, presenting a significant risk which damages communities and industry.
Op Alliances is policing’s targeted approach to tackling this criminality with partners including NaVCIS, the Ports Police, Home Office, Border Force, manufacturers, Europol, Interpol, the National Crime Agency and many others (see full list in notes to editors).
Activity took place across nine different ports, acting on intelligence to locate stolen vehicles and parts destined for overseas markets.
Police forces across England and Wales took part in the week, engaging with local communities to offer crime prevention advice and initiatives to support vehicle owners in keeping their vehicles safe, as well as encouraging reporting of thefts. 180 arrests were made across the country for vehicle crime-related offences, including burglary and theft of car keys which is an increasingly common tactic used by criminals.
Forces conducted multiple search warrants, locating and closing down a number of ‘chop shops’, (locations where stolen vehicles are broken down into parts) as well as engaging with scrap metal and motor salvage businesses around enforcement and guidance.
Many seizures were also made of offensive weapons, theft devices, thousands of pounds in cash, suspected stolen tools, suspected stolen plant and agricultural equipment and a large quantity of drugs.
Assistant Chief Constable, Jenny Sims is National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime. She said:
“This intensification week has seen policing, local enforcement, partners and the industry coming together in a targeted effort to tackle some of the highest harm offenders in vehicle crime and the results speak for themselves.
“We know that organised crime groups are responsible for a significant proportion of vehicle thefts, whether to export high-end vehicles overseas or to break them up for parts. We also know that stolen vehicles are used in poly-criminality, for example in other areas of acquisitive crime but also drug offending and modern slavery, so tackling these groups can be extremely impactful.
“I’m grateful to all of our partner agencies and organisations who are instrumental in this fight against vehicle crime. The intensification activity this week has supported us in driving intelligence gathering and sharing, as well as our operational work together and I look forward to seeing the results continue.”
Sharon Naughton is Head of NaVCIS. She said:
“The Port of Felixstowe handles more than four million shipping containers per year. The challenge of locating stolen cars in shipping containers can seem like a needle in a haystack. NaVCIS intelligence and analysis helps to make the needle bigger and the haystack smaller when disrupting this type of criminality.
“NaVCIS bridge the gap between policing and industry. The vehicle crime intensification week has been a huge success, particularly at ports, where NaVCIS officers work hard every day of the year to intercept and seize stolen vehicles before they are exported overseas. Through our well-established and positive relationships with industry partners and law enforcement colleagues, we proactively investigate this type of serious and organised acquisitive crime to develop intelligence to increase opportunities to bring offenders to justice.
“Our port operations are vital to tackle vehicle crime, deprive criminals of assets and return cars to their rightful owners.”
DCI Lee Newman-West is Head of Operations at Opal, the team which coordinated the national activity. He said:
“Opal is committed to tackling serious organised acquisitive crime (SOAC) and the team work tirelessly with law enforcement agencies and a host of key partners and industry colleagues within the UK and overseas to enhance our intelligence flows and understanding of key threats.
“We continue to champion and drive multi-agency responses to support collaboration and operational activity, tackling vehicle crime and wider SOAC threats in partnership. We will do all we can to disrupt this criminality and protect our communities.”
Key partners involved in delivering the intensification activity to date: (not exhaustive):
Opal- National Intelligence Unit for Serious Organised Acquisitive Crime (SOAC)
NaVCIS- National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service
NCA- National Crime Agency
JICC- Joint International Crime Centre
FLEC- Foreign Law Enforcement Community
Europol
Interpol
Home office intelligence
Port of Dover Police
UK Police forces
Vehicle examiners
UKBF- Border Force
MACC- Multi Agency cash cell
FTT- Federated Tasking team
National APMIS team
NICRP- National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership
BTP- British Transport Police
Environment Agency
Crime Prevention Initiatives
National vehicle crime tactical lead
ROCU disruptions teams- Regional Organised Crime Units
GAIN- Government Agency Intelligence Network
NCATT- National Construction Agricultural Theft Team
Today, the Crown Mineral Amendment Bill was read for the first time, reversing the ban on oil exploration off the coast of Taranaki.
It was no accident that this proposed law change was read directly after the Government started to unravel the ability of iwi and hapū Māori to have their rights in the Foreshore and Seabed recognised with the Takutai Moana Amendment Bill.
“The insidious timing of the Crown Minerals Bill demonstrates this government’s true priorities: Short-term profit has been chosen over the rights and well-being of Māori communities, our moana, and our whenua.” Said MP for Te Tai Hauāuru and Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
“Whānau, hapū, and iwi Māori are the last line of defence against mega rich oil and gas companies relentlessly mining and drilling our seabeds and causing irreversible damage to our Taiao.
“This is textbook colonisation. They have come to our land, they are taking our resources, and they are selling them off to the highest bidder – with no benefit to Māori.
“This will not be the last exploitative bill passed by this government. Once they erase the few rights we have left, there will be nothing stopping them from plundering and pillaging as they please.
“For years, ngā iwi o Taranaki have been determined to permanently rid their coastlines of exploitative oil exploration.
“No one wants to go backward. The government must collaborate with Taranaki iwi and hapū to transition toward renewable energy.
“Te Pāti Māori believes that the only way forward is to ban seabed mining permits nationwide, withdraw existing permits and introduce a national Māori strategy for renewable energy,” said Ngarewa-Packer.
Governments must take bold action to make meaningful progress against drug resistance worldwide.
Drawing on our years of experience tackling drug resistance, we urge governments to build on their commitments at the second-ever United Nations High Level Meeting on antimicrobial resistance.
Geneva/New York – Ahead of the second-ever United Nations (UN) High Level Meeting on antimicrobial resistanceAMR — when microbes like bacteria, viruses, and fungi evolve and survive despite the antimicrobial medicines, such as antibiotics, used against them — can make medical care less effective and much more difficult, prolonged, and costly for patients and treatment providers. (AMR) tomorrow, where world leaders will come together to agree on commitments to advance the global response to AMR, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) calls on governments to take swift, bold action to translate this political declaration into meaningful progress against drug resistance.
Headway against AMR since the first declaration nearly a decade ago has been inadequate and inequitable, with low- and middle-income countries – and humanitarian contexts, in particular – least equipped to respond despite bearing the highest burdens of drug-resistant infection. Drawing on years of experience tackling drug resistance around the world, MSF urges governments to build on the commitments made and take an ambitious set of follow-on steps to empower those most affected by AMR to prevent, detect, and respond to it.
AMR is a leading cause of death worldwide, and contributed to to 4.95 million deaths in 2019 alone, with recent estimates showing the threat is still growing at alarming rates, possibly contributing to 8.2 million deaths annually by 2050.https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01867-1/fulltext
“We are seeing staggering rates of drug-resistant infections in many of the low-resource and humanitarian settings where we work, in large part because healthcare workers don’t have what they need to prevent, detect, and respond to AMR,” says Dr Christos Christou, International President of MSF. “The UN Political Declaration on antimicrobial resistance is a welcome step towards strengthening the global AMR response and expresses important aspirations for global equity and solidarity.”
“Considering the magnitude of the challenge of AMR though, and how few of the hardest-hit countries have been able to fund and implement national action plans, the declaration text should have been much more concrete and ambitious,” he says. “The declaration must now go beyond words on paper: governments must not only enact and be accountable to the commitments they’ve made, but they must also build on and refine them to ensure low-resource and humanitarian settings are no longer left behind.”
People in low- and middle-income countries experience the highest rates of AMR and infectious diseases globally, but are the least likely to have access to healthcare, including the medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics they need. In humanitarian settings, other factors compound the AMR crisis. Conflicts or natural disasters, for example, can result in traumatic injuries that can easily become infected and force people to take refuge in overcrowded settings where resistant bacteria can spread easily.
In the political declaration, governments acknowledged the importance of addressing AMR in humanitarian settings like those in which MSF works, as well as several issues that MSF has highlighted as key priorities in responding to AMR. However, the commitments made to address these issues should have been bolder and more precisely calibrated to address global inequities. MSF recommends that governments build on and refine these commitments in the following ways:
The declaration’s commitment to include affected communities and humanitarian organisations in the governance of platforms and mechanisms to address AMR must now be put into practice. Only by ensuring the inclusive participation of these groups in global AMR initiatives can an effective roadmap for reaching the most underserved settings take shape. For example, if established, the proposed Independent Panel on Evidence for Action Against AMR must adhere to principles of impartiality, transparency, and accountability to all countries, and prioritise research in and for communities most affected by AMR. This is important, because communities in conflict-affected, fragile and humanitarian settings are more vulnerable to AMR, but evidence needed to inform the response in these settings is acutely lacking.
The declaration recognizes the need for strengthening laboratory capacity and commits to “improve access to diagnosis and care,” but this broad commitment must be made more specific and precise in follow-on agreements and accountability frameworks to ensure expanded and equitable availability of quality-assured microbiology laboratories. Access to microbiology laboratories is a critical foundation for preventing, detecting and controlling AMR more effectively, but many places with high rates of AMR do not have quality laboratories.
The commitment to increased international financing and technical assistance to enable low- and middle-income countries to implement national action plans to address AMR must result in stronger and more ambitious funding, as the currently proposed US$100 million to see 60 per cent of countries achieve funded plans to tackle AMR by 2030 is not sufficient to address a health issue of this magnitude.
The commitment to ensure timely and equitable access to affordable medical tools, including antimicrobials and diagnostic tests, must translate into concrete action. The significant global gaps in access to medical tools must be tracked and quantified to guide efforts to achieve more equitable access, and resources allocated accordingly for both access strategies and antimicrobial stewardship programs. Furthermore, when governments provide funding for research and development for new antimicrobials, they should prioritise public and nonprofit initiatives, as these facilitate access, stewardship, and collaborative approaches to research. Funders must also attach upfront conditions ensuring equitable global access to any resulting medical tools into agreements when providing the “push” and “pull” funding called for in the declaration.
“To effectively combat AMR globally, governments must address the significant discrepancies in the amount of evidence for action available in high-income and low-resource settings,” said Dušan Jasovský, Antimicrobial Resistance Pharmacist with the MSF Access Campaign. “This means that the Independent Panel on Evidence for Action Against AMR proposed in the declaration must prioritise research in communities most affected by AMR, which are often in humanitarian or low-resource settings where there is currently the least evidence to guide action.”
“This panel is in a great position to inform a response to drug resistance in the hardest-hit areas based on interventions that work, but to do so it must operate with transparency, accountability, and impartiality, backed by ambitious financial means of implementation, and in close collaboration with affected communities,” says Jasovský.
MSF is a leading actor in preventing, detecting, and responding to AMR in humanitarian settings, with infection prevention and control, and stewardship initiatives across multiple contexts and 50 sites with planned or existing access to diagnostic microbiology in 20 countries worldwide. MSF has developed an interdisciplinary approach to addressing AMR which includes targeted training and support for infection prevention and control, and antimicrobial stewardship, and in some cases also efforts to provide access to microbiology lab-based diagnosis.
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For many Australians, the COVID-19 pandemic has become a fading memory as the world has moved away from lockdowns and masks. However, its lasting impacts, including persistent inflation, remain.
Academic economists Steven Hamilton and Richard Holden, in their just-published book, Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism, examine how Australia fared in handling the COVID crisis in its economic and health policies.
We’re joined on the podcast by Holden to talk about the book and also Australia’s economic outlook, during what has been a big week for economic news.
On COVID, Hamilton and Holden found a mixed picture: Australia scored highly in its economic response but fell down on its vaccine procurement and provision of RATs.
I think Treasury gave excellent advice to the Treasurer [Josh Frydenberg] and he not only […] took that advice but was able to sell it to a sometimes sceptical cabinet. […] So I think it was good advice and strong leadership on the economic front. On the health front, I think the advice was really quite poor at times. I mean we make quite a point of Scott Morrison’s use of the phrase when it comes to vaccines “It’s not a race” when clearly it was a race. It was a race against the virus. It was a race to get vaccinated. It was a race to be able to reopen our economy.
On the RBA and inflation, Holden agrees with this week’s decision to hold rates but believes they should have risen earlier at least once more:
I have argued […] that late last year or early this year, the Reserve Bank should have raised rates at least one more time to get us closer to what happened in peer jurisdictions overseas, to try and beat inflation faster. The Reserve Bank has taken a different approach. They want to have interest rates peak, maybe a full percentage point lower than in places like the US, and they’re willing to tolerate inflation for longer.
At least they’re not caving into political pressure from people like Jim Chalmers and Wayne Swan to precipitously cut interest rates and I give the governor, Michele Bullock, great credit for standing firm on that, including in her press conference remarks [on Tuesday].
On when interest rates will start moving down, Holden gives a grim assessment:
My view is the most likely case is very late in 2025, somewhere about 12 months from today. Again, it’s going to depend on the inflation numbers and I’d like nothing more [than] for us to be well inside the target band and for interest rates to be able to be moderated.
I think it’s a real shame that we took a different strategy in Australia to what peer jurisdictions overseas did, which was raise rates more aggressively, take our medicine, have tamed inflation and now be cutting rates. That’s the story in the US and several other jurisdictions.
Holden warns against RBA Governor Michele Bullock making predictions of future rate moves:
Governor Bullock, I think, is at risk of repeating, albeit a milder version of, the mistake that Philip Lowe made in providing forward guidance. Now it’s not as dramatic as saying interest rates are not going to rise until 2024, which was sort of three years of forward guidance or thereabouts. Governor Bullock has fallen into, I think, a little bit of a trap by saying over six weeks ago that she and her colleagues on the board didn’t think that interest rates would be cut this calendar year.
I don’t really understand what the virtue of her doing that was. I think that was probably, in hindsight, something that she may regret. [Although] I don’t think it will do any real damage because I think it’s a prediction that’s incredibly likely to come true.
On the government potentially making changes to negative gearing, Holden outlines why it could be a good idea:
Getting rid of negative gearing would put potential owner-occupiers on a level playing field with investors at an auction. I think it’ll be very good news for people trying to move from the rental market into being owner-occupiers; I think it’ll be good news for the classic Australian dream. To be fair about it, the existence of negative gearing is something that puts downward pressure on rents. So negative gearing, in a funny way, is good for renters who are always going to rent but bad for renters who want to buy. So there are pros and cons.
It was a good idea eight or nine years ago. I think it’s still a good idea today and I think it’s interesting that the government seems to be at least floating the test balloon.
Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, today delivered a lecture at Guangxi University in Nanning, China. The lecture was titled “Fostering Friendship and Cooperation: The Role of People-to-People Connections and Exchanges in ASEAN-China Relations” and was attended by hundreds of college students from multidisciplinary backgrounds. During the lecture, Dr. Kao shared various achievements that both ASEAN and China have made in realizing people-to-people connections, particularly in the areas of culture, education, youth, and the digital economy.
The post Secretary-General of ASEAN delivers lecture at Guangxi University appeared first on ASEAN Main Portal.
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – Two churches desecrated by a group of rebels have been closed in the diocese of Bunia, the capital of Ituri in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This was announced by Dieudonné Uringi Uuci, Bishop of Bunia, during the mass on Sunday 22 September. Mgr. Uringi in his statement states that “Considering the reprehensible acts committed by elements of the armed group CODECO (Cooperative for the Development of Congo), who closed the churches of Kpandroma and Jiba on the night between 28 and 29 August, acts qualified as desecration and which require compensation pursuant to canon 1211, Considering their threat against the physical and moral integrity of the priests working in these ecclesial structures and the arbitrary taking hostage of two faithful collaborators of the priests, Considering their voluntary intention to extort money for the release of these faithful with the sole aim of causing damage to the Church; Considering our immediate ordinary power under canon 381 paragraph 1, we decree: the closure of the Marie-Reine parish of Jiba and the sector of the pastoral institution of Kpandroma for an indeterminate period”. Msgr. Uringi has also decided to withdraw the priests who were working in the two churches. Canon 2011 of the Code of Canon Law establishes that “Sacred places are desecrated if gravely outrageous actions are committed in them with scandal, which in the judgment of the Ordinary of the place, are so serious and contrary to the sanctity of the place that it is not lawful to exercise worship in them until the outrage is repaired with the penitential rite, according to the liturgical books”. The Bishop emphasizes that the violence began after the Church launched an appeal for dialogue and to lay down arms. In response, the CODECO militiamen asked to see the priests. Not finding them, they attacked their collaborators, ransacked the premises and blocked the doors of the two churches. A similar episode had occurred six months ago in one of the parishes involved. The militiamen had mistreated and imprisoned several priests, demanding the release of the prisoners belonging to CODECO. This acronym indicates an association of various militias based on the Lendu ethnic group. The original acronym Cooperative for the Development of Congo, quite unusual for a guerrilla group, derives from the fact that when it was founded in the 1970s, CODECO was a real agricultural development cooperative composed of Lendu farmers. Over the years, land disputes with the Hema shepherds have caused two groups to arm themselves and CODECO has become an acronym indicating an association of various Lendu militias fighting against the Hema. CODECO is accused of various crimes against humanity including massacres in villages and refugee camps. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 25/9/2024)Share:
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.
Every worker deserves a real living wage and protections.
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Every worker deserves a real living wage and protections, says Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman, who has called on the Scottish Government to support and impelment recommendations from the Fair Work Convention’s Fair Work Hospitality Inquiry Report.
The report, launched yesterday, made 12 recommendations, including the creation of tax incentives for businesses who pay the Real Living Wage, developing accredited training for managers to champion fair work practices, and creating a single Fair Work Charter under which hospitality businesses can operate.
Speaking after the launch, Maggie Chapman said “The hospitality sector is a vibrant and essential part of our culture and economy, and those working in it deserve clear protections.
“The Fair Work Convention has shown what many already know about the hospitality sector: it is plagued by precarity, built into its structures, with a clear lack of collective bargaining and a low expectation for what is considered ‘fair’ in work.
“Hospitality workers come from such a diverse range of backgrounds in Scotland, from the small independent coffee shops to the big city centre bars and restaurants.
“The Scottish Greens look forward to working further with the Convention as well as trade unions, to ensure that the report’s recommendations are taken forward as quickly as possible.”
The recommendations are a response to significant reports of accidents, bullying, and job insecurity, due to a lack of clarity on the protections which hospitality workers are owed.
The Convention is also working directly with Unite Hospitality’s ‘Get Me Home Safely’ campaign, which is pushing for employers to ensure their workers can get home safely after late night shifts. This campaign was established after a Unite member was sexually assaulted while walking home from a late-night shift, having been refused a taxi by her employer.
Following the report’s launch, Inquiry member from Unite Hospitality, Bryan Simpson added: “This inquiry set a really important precedent, giving workers in the sector the voice they deserve.
“Unite Hospitality workers have been working hard to deliver better conditions for their colleagues, and it is high time these voices were heard at the same table as government ministers and industry leaders. For Scotland’s lowest-paid sector, it is vital that these workers are properly recognised.
“If the recommendations are accepted and rolled out, it will be transformational for the sector. Workers’ lives will improve. And the industry as a whole will be better for it.”
Ms Chapman has also submitted a parliamentary motion recognising the work of the Convention and its report.
Text of Maggie Chapman’s Motion
Title: Fair Work Hospitality Industry Inquiry
That the Parliament recognises what it sees as the important activities of the Fair Work Convention; notes that the Convention undertook an inquiry into fair work in the hospitality industry and how this could be improved for the benefit of both employers and workers; understands that the inquiry recommends the establishment of a voluntary Fair Work Charter for Hospitality that stipulates a range of workers’ protections, from payment of the Real Living Wage and recognition of Real Living Hours to effective voice through trade union access and recognition, robust anti-bullying procedures and “safe home” policies for all workers asked to travel to or from work after 11pm; further understands that Unite Hospitality’s Get Me Home Safe campaign has, and continues to promote, the adoption of “safe home” policies associated with the charter; believes that there is a continued requirement to raise awareness of the Fair Work Convention, its work and the Fair Work Charter for Hospitality, and commends and congratulates the Fair Work Convention on its ongoing work.
PUBLIC DEALING DISCLOSURE BY AN EXEMPT PRINCIPAL TRADER WITH RECOGNISED INTERMEDIARY STATUS DEALING IN A CLIENT-SERVING CAPACITY Rule 8.5 of the Takeover Code (the “Code”)
1. KEY INFORMATION
(a) Name of exempt principal trader:
Shore Capital Stockbrokers Ltd
(b) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates: Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree
musicMagpie Plc
(c) Name of the party to the offer with which exempt principal trader is connected:
musicMagpie Plc
(d) Date dealing undertaken:
24 September 2024
(e) Has the EPT previously disclosed, or is it today disclosing, under the Code in respect of any other party to this offer?
No
2. DEALINGS BY THE EXEMPT PRINCIPAL TRADER
(a) Purchases and sales
Class of relevant security
Purchases/ sales
Total number of securities
Highest price per unit paid/received
Lowest price per unit paid/received
Ordinary
Purchases
N/A
N/A
N/A
Ordinary
Sales
1,761
5.708p
5.708p
(b) Derivatives transactions (other than option)
Class of relevant security
Product description e.g. CFD
Nature of dealing e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position
Number of reference securities
Price per unit
(c) Options transactions in respect of existing securities
(i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying
Class of relevant security
Product descriptione.g. call option
Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc.
Number of securities to which option relates
Exercise price per unit
Type e.g. American, European etc.
Expiry date
Option money paid/ received per unit
(ii) Exercising
Class of relevant security
Product description e.g. call option
Number of securities
Exercise price per unit
(d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)
Class of relevant security
Nature of dealing e.g. subscription, conversion
Details
Price per unit (if applicable)
The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.
Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(b), copy table 2(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.
3. OTHER INFORMATION
(a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements
Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the exempt principal trader making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer: If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state “none”
None
(b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives
Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the exempt principal trader making the disclosure and any other person relating to: (i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or (ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced: If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state “none”
None
Date of disclosure:
25 September 2024
Contact name:
Justin Ball
Telephone number:
0207 647 8130
Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service and must also be emailed to the Takeover Panel atmonitoring@disclosure.org.uk. The Panel’s Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code’s dealing disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129. The Code can be viewed on the Panel’s website atwww.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.
The Financial Services & the Treasury Bureau today published the consultation conclusions on promoting paperless corporate communication for Hong Kong companies, outlining the views received during the consultation, along with the Government’s response and the way forward.
The public consultation was conducted from November 27, 2023, to January 26, 2024, during which nine submissions were received from the community, including business chambers, professional bodies and public organisations.
Noting that the paperless corporate communication proposals received general support from the community, the bureau said the respondents agreed that the proposals will enhance cost-effectiveness and operational efficiency of companies, thereby achieving the objectives of streamlining procedures and promoting a green business environment.
Respondents also provided valuable comments on different aspects of the proposals, including introducing an implied consent mechanism, removing the separate notification requirement, and enhancing protection of shareholders’ interest, it added.
The bureau has briefed the Legislative Council Panel on Financial Affairs on the legislative proposals, consulted the Standing Committee on Company Law Reform and organised a briefing session for seven industry organisations.
Additionally, it is drafting the amendment bill and plans to introduce it into the Legislative Council within this year. The Government hopes the community will continue to support the implementation of the legislative proposals.
A walk with Deb Rogers and Maurice Greenham, hosted by Anna Francis.
Join the Friends of Spode Rose Garden for a series of walks aimed at exploring the city ceramics and the natural world.
This walk will celebrate the diversity of plants, nature and our city’s green spaces. It will also celebrate Hanley Park as the annual venue for Stoke Pride.
Stoke-on-Trent Pride Legends Maurice Greenham and Deb Rogers will be there to welcome everyone, and particularly those from the LGBTQ+ community.
Maurice has been campaigning to support people living with HIV and the older LGBT community and Deb Rogers is an artist and researcher whose practice explores the relationship between humans and animals, and has lead the Stoke-on-Trent Pride Arts programme for many years.
The walk will begin in the Spode Rose Garden, and end the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
As part of a set of judgements published today, RSH found that Harlow District Council failed to meet the new consumer standards.
As a result, RSH has given the landlord a C3 grade, which means there are serious failings and it needs to make significant improvements.
RSH investigated Harlow Council after reviewing its Tenant Satisfaction Measure (TSM) results. RSH concluded that the council had:
Carried out fire risk assessments for only 20% of buildings that it should have done, out of its 9,100 social housing homes.
Over 500 high risk fire safety remedial actions overdue, and a further 1,500 medium risk actions overdue (the majority of which are more than 12 months overdue).
Harlow Council has employed an external consultant to help it to develop a detailed improvement plan as a priority and the RSH will be engaging with the landlord as it addresses these failings
The Council is working to complete the outstanding fire risk assessments and resulting actions, starting with the highest risk blocks. RSH continues to scrutinise the Council closely and it must demonstrate that it is reducing risks to tenants as it puts these issues right.
Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement at RSH, said:
It is unacceptable that Harlow Council has failed to meet fire safety requirements. Providing safe, decent homes for tenants begins with robust data, and this must include fire risk assessments for every home that needs one.
We identified these failings by scrutinising the council’s TSM results. It is the landlord’s responsibility to notify us themselves of material issues.
Our new proactive approach and expanded consumer remit is helping to bring issues to the surface earlier. We expect all providers to regularly review and evaluate their services to improve outcomes for tenants.
The investigation was carried out as part of RSH responsive engagement.
RSH has also today published a range of other judgements resulting from its ongoing regulatory activity, including seven programmed inspections as well as RSH’s first stability check for a for-profit provider.
RSH carries out annual stability checks to see whether a provider’s current viability grade is consistent with the financial information submitted in their regulatory returns.
Provider
Governance
Viability
Consumer
Engagement Process
Notes
Saxon Weald
G1 Assessed and unchanged
V2 Assessed and unchanged
C2 First grading
Programmed inspection
Great Places Housing Group
G1 Assessed and unchanged
V2 Assessed and unchanged
C2 First grading
Programmed inspection
Calico Homes
G2 Assessed and unchanged
V2 Regrade
C2 First grading
Programmed inspection
Bolton at Home
G2 Assessed and unchanged
V2 Regrade
C2 First grading
Programmed inspection
The Havebury Housing Partnership
G1 Assessed and unchanged
V2 Assessed and unchanged
C1 First grading
Programmed inspection
Rooftop Housing Group
G1 Assessed and unchanged
V2 Assessed and unchanged
C2 First grading
Programmed inspection
Mossacre St Vincent’s Housing Group Limited
G1 Assessed and unchanged
V2 Assessed and unchanged
C2 First grading
Programmed inspection
Legal and General Affordable Homes
G1*
V1*
N/A
Stability check
RSH does not assess consumer grades as part of its annual stability checks
Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association Limited
G2 Downgrade
V2 Assessed and unchanged
N/A
Responsive engagement following a self-referral
Responsive engagement related to governance issues, so consumer grade not yet assessed
Landlords must meet the outcomes of the economic and consumer standards set by RSH.
Governance and financial viability remain cornerstones of RSH’s regulation of housing associations and other private registered providers (including for-profits). Landlords must manage the risks associated with financial viability and reduced capacity with robust governance in place to meet the outcomes of RSH’s standards.
A C1 grading means that, overall, the landlord is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards, and they identify issues when they occur and put plans in place to remedy them and minimise their recurrence. We expect that, even where a landlord is assessed as C1, it will continue to review, evaluate and improve its services to tenants.
C2 means there are some weaknesses in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards, and it needs to make improvements.
Notes to editors
On 1 April 2024 RSH introduced new consumer standards for social housing landlords, designed to drive long-term improvements in the sector. It also began a programme of landlord inspections. The changes are a result of the Social Housing Regulation Act 2023 and include stronger powers to hold landlords to account. More information about RSH’s approach is available in its document Reshaping Consumer Regulation.
We use an asterisk with a for-profit landlord’s grade (for example, G1, V1, C2*) to make it clear that the assessment refers to a landlord that is designated on the register as being for-profit.
RSH promotes a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver more and better social homes. It does this by setting standards and carrying out robust regulation focusing on driving improvement in social landlords, including local authorities, and ensuring that housing associations are well-governed, financially viable and offer value for money. It takes appropriate action if the outcomes of the standards are not being delivered.
Announcement on Open Market Operations No.191 [2024]
(Open Market Operations Office, September 25, 2024)
In order to keep liquidity adequate at a reasonable level in the banking system at quarter-end, the People’s Bank of China conducted reverse repo operations in the amount of RMB196.5 billion through quantity bidding at a fixed interest rate on September 25, 2024.
We’ve done the outside – now the inside of Plymouth’s Guildhall is to be given a makeover to help bring the buzz back to this landmark building.
Contractors TEC Construction will take over the building this week to prepare for a major overhaul that will bring this historic landmark bang up to date for gigs, entertainment events, conferences, training and weddings.
The project will involve installing features such as acoustic curtains in the Great Hall, acoustic panels from the ceiling to improve the sound quality for different types of events. Facility panels will also be provided in the Great Hall to enable event organisers better audio visual connectivity for productions.
Also in the Great Hall, the roof trusses are being strengthened to enable higher spec lighting to be used and modular staging is to be installed offering organisers who hire the building more flexibility.
Toilets on the ground floor and within the Lounge Bar will also be refurbished, and a commercial kitchen installed adjacent to the Great Hall, while outside a ramp for wheelchairs and prams is being created to improve access.
The existing Lounge Bar will be demolished and replaced with a new larger and more modern bar increasing the number of covers and improving the customer experience. The building will also benefit from new lighting in key areas and upgraded WiFi throughout.
Councillor Chris Penberthy, Cabinet Member for Housing, Cooperative Development and Community, said: “This is a massively important building for the city and it deserves to be back in the spotlight and play a bigger part in people’s lives and the life of the city centre.
“It’s played host to some incredible artists – Bowie, Queen and the Who in the 70s, but the needs of bands, orchestras and events organisers have changed over the years. It’s great to see the work get underway.”
The alterations are sympathetic to the building’s character and interior which Historic England describe as a ‘rare and unusually rich example’ of an unaltered `Festival of Britain’ interior. There are some glorious touches including an imposing black and white marble staircase, a mural depicting famous sons of Plymouth and the city’s maritime history and three stunning 1950s chandeliers.
Over the last few months, the Council has been in discussions with the contractor to value engineer the original specification to reduce the price to a more affordable sum that still delivers the scheme’s key outcomes, which is to create a space in the city centre that will attract a new wave of visitors and users.
A separate programme of restoration for the Guildhall’s exterior has just been completed to clean and repair the effects of decades of pollution and salty sea air, which has damaged stonework and detailing.
Work was carried out in three phases, initially focussing on the northern Royal Parade-facing side and the western tower. The work started at the end of 2022 and scaffolding has recently down from the front of the building to reveal crisp clean stonework. Repairs were also carried out to the wave-shaped awning over the front doors and roof repairs.
A compound is being set up in front of the entrance ahead of work starting in full.
The Guildhall was originally built in the 1870s but reduced to a shell during the Blitz.
It was one of the few damaged buildings to be restored rather than rebuilt, with the restoration continuing through most of the 1950s.
The work is expected to be complete by early summer 2025.
The project will cost in the region of £3.9m and is funded by the Future High Streets Fund.
Preston Pride is set to return in 2024, bringing together people from all walks of life to celebrate diversity, inclusivity, and equality.
This year’s event will take place on Saturday 28 September in the heart of Preston, offering a day filled with activities, performances, and opportunities to show your support for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Building on the success of previous years, Preston Pride will feature a wide range of entertainment, including live music, drag performances, and local artists.
The event aims to create a welcoming space for everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or background. Attendees can expect to see a variety of stalls from local organisations, charities, and businesses that support the LGBTQIA+ community.
There will be road closures between 10:15am – 11:15am for the Pride Parade beginning at Kendal Street on the city’s Adelphi Square at the University of Central Lancashire campus and then runs down Friargate to the Flag Market.
Councillor Hindle, Cabinet Member for Culture and Arts at Preston City Council said:
“Preston Pride is a cornerstone event for our city, showcasing our commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion.
It is vital that we continue to support and celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community, not just during Pride but every day of the year. Preston Pride is an opportunity for us all to stand together, demonstrate our solidarity, and foster a city where everyone feels welcome and valued. I encourage everyone in Preston and beyond to join us for this important day and feel welcome to show our solidarity.”
Preston Pride is more than just a celebration, it is a statement of solidarity and support. It is an opportunity for the community to come together and promote a message of acceptance.
The event also serves as an important platform to raise awareness of the ongoing challenges faced by LGBTQIA+ individuals and to encourage dialogue and education.
Preston Pride is expected to draw a large crowd, as it has in previous years, and preparations are well underway to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for all attendees. The family-friendly environment will also include activities for children, ensuring the event is accessible to all ages.
Preston City Council actively applies and prioritises the principles of Community Wealth Building wherever applicable and appropriate. Community Wealth Building is an approach which aims to ensure the economic system builds wealth and prosperity for everyone.
With the Government promising to bring Britain’s railways back into public ownership, how should that look in practice and implementation in London?
Tomorrow, the Transport Committee will ask guests what needs to be done to ensure that new arrangements result in a better experience for passengers, and what role the Mayor should have in any further devolution of services.
The Committee will also ask the Deputy Mayor for Transport and Transport for London (TfL) for an update on the impact on passengers of the ongoing cyber incident at TfL.
Panel 1 (10am – 10.40am)
Prof Iain Docherty, Dean of the Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Stirling
Panel 2 (10.45am – 1pm)
Seb Dance, Deputy Mayor for Transport, Greater London Authority
Geoff Hobbs, Director of Public Transport Service Planning, Transport for London
From 12.30 pm, the Committee will hear how TfL is trying to help passengers affected by the impact of the recent cyber attack.
The ongoing impacts of the attack include passengers being unable to apply for or renew discounted Oyster passes, and delays to the rollout of contactless payments to 47 stations.
The meeting will take place on Thursday 26 September from 10am, in the Chamber at City Hall, Kamal Chunchie Way, E16 1ZE.
Media and members of the public are invited to attend.
The meeting can also be viewed LIVE or later via webcast or YouTube.
The findings of the study could revolutionise the way we think about the evolution of biodiversityAn international team of scientists has made a groundbreaking discovery that could reshape our understanding of how global biodiversity evolved.
By reconstructing the evolution of species over the past 45 million years, researchers found that the geographic origins of many plants, insects and mammals are more closely linked than previously thought.
Led by the University of Aberdeen in collaboration with Bangor University in Wales, Lakehead University in Canada, and several Indonesian institutes including IPB University in Bogor, the team used Southeast Asia – one of the world’s most biodiversity-rich regions – as a natural laboratory to trace the geographic origins of a wide range of species.
Their findings challenge long-standing theories that groups of flora and fauna evolved separately on different landmasses before diversifying across the region.
Central to this research is a new evolutionary model, developed at the University of Aberdeen, which enabled the team to include extinct species in their analysis for the first time.
This innovative approach has not only provided a more complete evolutionary picture but has paved the way for a fresh understanding of how biodiversity arose and spread across landmasses. The model is now being used in international collaborations to revisit the evolutionary history of other continents, promising to reshape our understanding of global biodiversity.
“We wondered whether several groups of plants and animals could have the same geographic origin as new geological evidence contrasted with current reconstructions of species’ origin and spread,” said Dr Leonel Herrera Alsina, Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen’s School of Biological Sciences. “However, the ongoing extinction of species throughout evolution takes away key information to reconstruct the past.”
The inclusion of extinct species in the modelling process allowed researchers to trace evolutionary patterns further back in time, revealing that many groups of species in Southeast Asia spread across the entire region earlier than previously thought.
This result reinforces the idea that land bridges existed and acted as stepping stones in the spread of species out of Borneo and Continental Asia.
“Previous methods ignored the impact of extinct species but, by incorporating them, we’ve been able to create a more accurate and comprehensive picture of how the incredible biodiversity of this region evolved,” said Professor Lesley Lancaster, Personal Chair at the University of Aberdeen.
“This new understanding aligns with recent geological findings and could transform how we view the origins and spread of species globally.”
Professor David Burslem, Director of the Interdisciplinary Institute at the University of Aberdeen, emphasised the broader significance of the study: “This research underscores the importance of studying ecological and geological processes in unison. The evolutionary patterns we see today are deeply intertwined with the region’s geological history. Integrating these disciplines allows us to better understand the origins of biodiversity and how it has developed over millions of years.”
The study, published this week by the Royal Society, sheds new light on the evolutionary history of life on Earth and offers valuable insights into how evolutionary processes can be integrated into conservation prioritisation, helping to safeguard biodiversity as ecosystems face increasing pressures from climate change.
“Our findings revolutionise the way we think about the evolution of biodiversity, not just in Southeast Asia but globally,” added Professor Justin Travis, Personal Chair at the University of Aberdeen. “This model, now being used in collaborations around the world, opens the door to revisiting long-held theories about evolution on other continents as well.
“The work sets the stage for future research that will revise our understanding of how species have adapted and diversified over millions of years.”
The research was funded by UKRI’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). The paper is published in the journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B.
Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –
Thanks to the city’s support, Moscow producers have increased exports of processed and food products to Africa and Southeast Asia since the beginning of 2024. This was reported by the Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Transport and Industry Maxim Liksutov.
“In accordance with the order of Sergei Sobyanin, the city is actively helping the capital’s enterprises develop trade and economic cooperation. For example, the volume of mutual trade between Moscow and Indonesia for the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 has almost doubled. Among industrial goods, the drivers of development were metalworking products, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, as well as products of the food and processing industries,” said Maxim Liksutov.
The capital’s enterprises supply products for healthy nutrition, dentistry, as well as medicines and cosmetics.
“Moscow’s non-resource, non-energy exports to Indonesia in the first half of 2024 have grown almost 10-fold compared to the same period last year. For example, in 2024, Moscow producers supplied semi-finished steel products to this country for the first time. The food industry is also showing positive dynamics – compared to the first six months of last year, supplies have grown by more than 19 percent,” said the Minister of the Moscow Government, Head of the Moscow Department of Investment and Industrial Policy
The mutual trade between the Russian capital and Senegal has also increased almost 2.5 times compared to the previous similar period. Thus, supplies of Moscow ice cream, popular there, have grown by 78 percent.
Starting from 2022, the capital’s producers of non-raw materials, non-energy products have reoriented their export flows and found new partners in the markets of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the CIS countries. This became possible, among other things, thanks to the support of the Mosprom center.
A digital platform is operating within the framework of the national project “International Cooperation and Export” “My export”, where entrepreneurs are provided with support. For example, there you can get free expert advice, analytics, help in promoting products on international marketplaces, and also take online training. More information about national projects implemented in the city is available at special page.
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.
http://vvv.mos.ru/nevs/item/144405073/
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and or sentence structure not be perfect.
Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –
On September 29, the Moskino Cinema Park cinema will show the legendary Russian film Cinderella from 1947. The film will be shown in color on a big screen for the first time. Visitors will be able to examine everything in the smallest detail.
You can watch the film for free. You must register in advance. on the websiteThe show will start at 13:00.
An hour before the show, a masquerade ball for children under 14 will be held in the cinema lobby. To participate, you need to come in a themed fairy-tale costume, such as a princess, a sorceress, a prince or a king. At the end of the ball, there will be a costume contest, with the participants themselves serving as judges. Winners will receive invitations to screenings of animated films in the Moskino cinema chain. In addition, the organizers will treat all young viewers to cotton candy. Admission is free.
The plot of “Cinderella” is one of the most popular in the world. The story of a hard-working girl is close and understandable to everyone. For Russians, the main Cinderella was the actress Yanina Zheimo. The stepmother in the film was played by the incomparable Faina Ranevskaya, the king – by Erast Garin. The role of a sincere page boy was played by Igor Klimenkov. It was he who was remembered by viewers for the phrase “I am not a wizard, I am just learning!”
The film “Cinderella” was released in 1947. At that time, the head of the Lenfilm studio, Sergei Vasiliev, said at a meeting of the artistic council of the USSR Ministry of Cinematography: “This fairy tale was conceived in such a way that it would be made in colors. The fact that it was released without colors impoverished it to some extent, and we are very sorry about that.”
The creators’ idea was brought to life, and in 2010, a color version of the film was released. They did not colorize the film stored in the State Film Fund, but a digitized copy of the film. Each frame was processed separately. 120 thousand frames passed through the hands of restorers. To accurately convey the color and texture of the fabrics, costume designer Natalia Moneva (the films Love and Doves, Formula of Love, and others) worked in the archives of the Lenfilm studio, made watercolor sketches, and selected materials. She ensured that modern technology did not violate the texture of the fabrics that viewers see on the screen. Therefore, they all look believable: velvet – like velvet, silk – like silk. The final color correction of the already colored film was carried out under the supervision of cameraman-colorist Alexei Lebeshev. In total, about 200 professionals of 30 different specialties participated in the work.
The Moscow Film Cluster is an infrastructure facility, services and facilities for film producers, which are being developed by the Moscow Government within the framework of Sergei Sobyanin’s “Moscow — City of Cinema” project. The film cluster structure includes cinema park “Moskino” in TiNAO, the M. Gorky Film Studio on three sites – on Ryazansky Prospekt, Sergei Eisenstein Street and Valdai Passage, a cinema chain, a film commission and cinema platform “Moskino”.
In the Moskino cinemas, residents and guests of the capital can watch classic and modern feature films and documentaries, as well as attend special film screenings and other events.
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.
http://vvv.mos.ru/nevs/item/144424073/
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and or sentence structure not be perfect.
People fleeing from Lebanon are seen at the Jdeidat Yabous border crossing in the countryside of Damascus, Syria, on Sept. 24, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]
Lebanese ministers announced on Tuesday measures to shelter 27,000 displaced persons from southern Lebanon and suspension of educational activities until the end of the week due to ongoing Israeli raids.
The 27,000 displaced were seeking refuge in 252 shelters, according to Lebanese Environment Minister Nasser Yassin.
Yassin said in a press conference for the Ministerial Emergency Committee that “the national operations room and the Higher Relief Commission have been activated to secure the basic needs of the displaced.”
For his part, Minister of Education and Higher Education Abbas Halabi suspended educational activities in the country until the end of this week while demanding that public schools be opened to receive the displaced.
He said that in current circumstances, the closure of educational and vocational institutions in the governorates of the south, Nabatieh, Bekaa, Baalbek-Hermel, and the southern suburbs will be extended until the end of this week. The suspension of classes in schools and universities in the governorates of Beirut, Mount Lebanon, and North will also be extended, the minister added.
Worries about food security and fuel shortages have prompted local citizens to stockpile food and fuel products, alarming officials about a potential rapid depletion of the country’s reserve stock.
In this regard, Minister of Economy and Trade Amin Salam called on the public to rationalize the storage of food and vital commodities.
“Let the goods be stored for a week or two or even a month and not more, to ensure that the rest of the citizens obtain their need for basic commodities under the current circumstances,” Salam said.
He noted that the current wheat stock in the local market is adequate for at least two months and assured the public that supplies are being consistently secured.
Fuel stations also witnessed a great demand in light of the escalation of Israeli raids, prompting Minister of Energy and Water Walid Fayyad to reassure citizens that “the necessary reserves of petroleum derivatives are available in the medium term.”
Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been exchanging fire across the Lebanon-Israel border since Oct. 8, 2023.
On Monday, Israel began its most extensive bombardment of Lebanon since 2006, resulting in more than 550 deaths, including civilians, and over 1,800 injuries across the country. The casualty tolls and the intensity of the attacks have caused panic among Lebanese people.