Released by: Minister for Energy and Climate Change
Power supplies have been restored to communities in the Far West region of NSW using a large-scale back-up generator, but households and businesses are being urged to reduce their usage this evening to minimise demand.
The Far West region is relying on the generator while Transgrid constructs temporary towers to replace those damaged by a serious storm. This could take a number of weeks.
The large-scale back-up generator is not adequate to meet consumer demand at all times of the day, in particular during the evening peak from 5:30pm to 10:30pm (Australian Central Daylight time).
During this time, Essential Energy may need to rotate power between different areas for around two hours at a time. Essential Energy will prioritise Life Support Customers and priority loads such as Broken Hill Base Hospital.
The community in the impacted area can help by taking simple steps to minimise power use between 5:30pm and 10:30pm (Australian Central Daylight Time):
Turn off any non-essential appliances.
Use lights only in occupied rooms.
If you are using air conditioning, consider raising the set point temperature to about 26 degrees and close all blinds, windows and doors.
Outside these times, the community should continue to use electricity as they normally would.
The impacted area incudes Broken Hill, Tibooburra, Wilcannia, Menindee, White Cliffs and several other surrounding communities.
The NSW Government has activated an emergency response and is coordinating assistance across a number of emergency services and government agencies, and is working with Transgrid and Essential Energy.
A NSW Rural Fire Service b-double truck which set off from Sydney loaded with supplies has now arrived in the Far West. The supplies include generators, fuel pods, cool rooms, lighting towers and Starlinks (satellite connections).
The NSW Government encourages community members to follow the guidance of emergency service crews and asks travellers to the Far West of NSW avoid the area surrounding Broken Hill, Wilcannia, Menindee and White Cliffs unless absolutely necessary.
“It’s positive news that power supplies have been restored to Broken Hill and nearby communities via a large-scale back-up generator. However, there is still a lot of work to be done to replace the transmission towers and repair the electricity network.
“I want to thank the Essential Energy and Transgrid workers who have worked tirelessly over the past two days to restore power.
“I also want to thank Perilya Mine for supplying load to the large-scale backup generator, which in turn, has provided security and stability to the Broken Hill grid and helped restore power to communities across the Far West.”
Member for Barwon Roy Butler said:
“We are focused on restoring power to all homes and businesses in Broken Hill and towns across the region.
“We welcome the arrival of supplies including generators to support those on the ground.
“I encourage everyone in our community to please check in on your neighbours and relatives, especially those who are vulnerable, as we work through this situation.”
New Zealand has a widely acknowledged infrastructure deficit, which is holding us back socially, economically and environmentally, Land Information Minister Chris Penk says.
“If we want to improve our productivity and lift our standard of living, we need to fix our pipes, increase the capacity of our schools and hospitals and build more houses, roads and renewable energy sources.
“To help achieve this we are reviewing the Public Works Act, which is a fundamental piece of legislation that allows the Government to acquire land for critical public infrastructure.
“Having not been substantially amended since 1988, the Act is no longer fit-for-purpose, and it is time to make changes to improve its fairness and efficiency.
“An independent expert advisory panel has carried out a targeted review and identified instances where the Act lacks clarity and commonsense.
“For example, all infrastructure projects that use the Act must meet a high threshold of being of ‘nationalandregional significance’. While a high threshold is important for protecting private property rights, there are many worthy and necessary projects that are vital for a particular region or community but may not be nationally significant.
“Similarly, building large-scale modern infrastructure often creates a knock-on effect where existing infrastructure must be upgraded or moved to accommodate the new project. For example, a new state highway often requires new regional roads to connect to it. Or widening a road may mean moving power pylons.
“This necessitates working across government agencies at both a central and regional level and acquiring land for direct and indirect purposes, which the current Act poorly enables.
“If we can make it simpler to acquire land for critical projects, then we reduce the likelihood of budget blow-outs and delays and can get on with growing our economy and delivering the public services Kiwis deserve.
“I’m looking forward to considering the review’s findings and recommendations in more detail and expect to announce policy decisions about changes to the Act by the end of the year, with a view of the Public Works Act Amendment Bill being introduced to Parliament in mid-2025.”
During the recent 6th World Media Summit in Urumqi, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, top TV executive Jack Gao addressed a forum about how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the world with boundless potential and evolving at an unprecedented pace.
Jack Gao speaks at a forum during the 6th World Media Summit in Urumqi, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Oct. 14, 2024. [Photo courtesy of Whale TV]
“AI possesses the ability to speak, write, see, create and learn — mimicking the very cognitive capabilities that define us as human,” said Gao, chairman of Whale TV. “I view AI as a new digital species, one that is both our companion and our partner.”
Having spent his career at the intersection of technology and entertainment — from Microsoft China and News Corp. to Fox, Legendary Pictures, AMC Theatres, and now Whale TV — the executive has been uniquely placed to witness firsthand the transformative power of technology in the media industry. He even believes AI’s impact on human civilization may very well surpass that of fire, agriculture or electricity.
Despite its growing prominence, there is still widespread misunderstanding about AI, he pointed out, and many people are either unaware of its potential or hold misconceptions about its capabilities. “AI is not overhyped; if anything, it demands more attention and awareness,” he said. “Today, AI is no longer a buzzword, but a profound force revolutionizing media production and audience engagement.”
The executive has observed several key trends shaping the media landscape: personalization at scale, whereby AI enables highly individualized experiences; interactivity and immersion, with AI, AR and VR transforming passive consumption into active participation; media-commerce integration, allowing audiences to seamlessly purchase products directly from media content; and cross-screen synergy, with AI enabling seamless media consumption across multiple devices.
“These trends offer exciting opportunities — new revenue streams, cost efficiencies and more. However, they also present significant challenges. With great AI power comes the responsibility to navigate issues of privacy, ethics and the preservation of storytelling as an art form,” he noted.
As a former board director of AMC Theatres, Gao noted the significant challenges theatres face in an age of home entertainment. However, he believes AI is revitalizing the cinema experience by offering immersive and interactive content that can be tailored in real-time. Meanwhile, personal computers and tablets have evolved into true creative powerhouses. With the help of AI, virtually anyone can produce professional-quality content, democratizing media creation in unprecedented ways. Whether it is an independent filmmaker or a young child with a great idea, the tools to create are now within reach, he said.
In terms of smartphones, the most personal and ubiquitous screen, Gao explained that AI is personalizing content consumption at an individual level, from bite-sized videos to augmented reality experiences. The executive believes phones have essentially become personal media assistants, curating experiences to people’s preferences. However, this heightened personalization presents challenges in managing attention spans and addressing the ethical implications of AI’s influence on user behavior.
Television has transformed from the bulky analog devices of the past to today’s sleek, connected digital platforms, while streaming now dominates TV consumption, replacing traditional cable and satellite. AI has made connected TV predictive, anticipating viewers’ preferences before they themselves know, Gao said. Television now serves as the central hub of smart homes, linking security systems, appliances and more, which offers media companies dynamic and profitable engagement opportunities, he added.
The promising prospects prompted Gao to join Whale TV, which powers over 100 million connected devices globally, and he eventually became the company’s chairman. “I can confidently say that connected TV operating systems will be a critical component of the media landscape in the years to come,” he said. “These systems will integrate AI and other emerging technologies, creating a future where media is not just consumed, but experienced in ways we can scarcely imagine today.”
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Ed Case (Hawai‘i – District 1)
(Washington, DC) – U.S. Representative Ed Case (D-HI-01) today announced that a $40 million grant funded by the landmark 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) will develop a back-up power source for O‘ahu’s electric grid, providing resiliency to both military and civilian communities in the event of disruptions from various sources.
The federal grant award will fund the Pu‘uloa Microgrid and Backbone Project, a partnership between the U.S. Navy, Hawaiian Electric and Ameresco, Inc.
“I strongly advocated for this project with the U.S. Department of Energy when the partnership applied for funding under the Department’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program,” said Case.
“Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH) plays a critical role in promoting national security throughout the Pacific theater. Especially given its importance, the Department of the Navy has identified energy resilience gaps that could significantly impact JBPHH’s ability to respond to and recover from grid outages. Further, new state and federal policy directives have required the Department of the Navy to improve resilience and reduce carbon emissions from the installation.
“As the U.S. Congressman in whose district JBPHH is located and a member of the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense, I have focused on the installation’s grid challenges and the potential for disruption of service to our civilian communities as well, and on assuring available funding to address these issues. This GRIP funding is critical to enabling this project to succeed.”
“We are thrilled to be chosen for the Department of Energy’s GRIP program,” said Nicole Bulgarino, Executive Vice President at Ameresco. “Partnering with the U.S. Navy and Hawaiian Electric Company on the groundbreaking Pu`uloa Microgrid project will not only enhance energy resilience and reliability for Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, but also provide significant benefits to the broader O‘ahu community. This project exemplifies our commitment to innovation, sustainability, and community engagement.”
According to the project description, the Pu`uloa Microgrid will detect the loss of power during grid outages, disconnect from the broader grid and direct power from Pu`uloa Energy to support JBPHH’s national security needs while maintaining civilian community service. During a full island outage, the system will provide black start capabilities. The project will also improve power quality to JBPHH and the local grid through ancillary services such as frequency response and voltage support.
Pu`uloa Microgrid is designed to strengthen the grid and improve resilience by increasing or establishing interconnections between Hawaiian Electric substations at JBPHH with new 46 kV transmission infrastructure that will be integrated into the microgrid control system and utilize state of the art smart grid technologies.
“Since 2021 I have been working hard to ensure that my government and community partners throughout Hawai‘i are aware of project and funding availability from both the $1.2 trillion BIL, as well as from the $500 billion Inflation Reduction Act (which Congress passed in August 2022). Together these two landmark measures are addressing our country’s most pressing infrastructure needs including those arising from climate change,” said Case.
MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Orders from October 17, 2024 No. 2884-r, No. 2885-r
Documents
Order dated October 17, 2024 No. 2884-r
Order dated October 17, 2024 No. 2885-r
On the instructions of the President, the Government will allocate additional funding for the socio-economic development of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Karelia, Chechnya, as well as the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions. Orders to this effect have been signed.
Announcing this decision atGovernment meeting on October 17, Mikhail Mishustin reported that the total amount of funds allocated to the six regions will amount to more than 9.2 billion rubles.
“They will be able to use resources to ensure the balance of their budgets in order to solve a number of important problems for the lives of citizens. Including helping local healthcare, housing and utilities, the agro-industrial complex and other areas,” the Prime Minister specified.
The funds will be used, in particular, for activities within the framework of the state program for the restoration and socio-economic development of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions. More than 3.4 billion rubles will be allocated for these purposes. Federal funding is intended to support the operation of boiler houses and water supply systems, as well as to implement other popular measures in this sector so that local residents are provided with all basic utilities without interruptions.
In addition, more than 993 million rubles will be allocated to maintain the stable operation of the healthcare system in the Kherson region.
A total of 3.5 billion rubles will be allocated from the Government’s reserve fund to Karelia and Chechnya for socially significant expenses.
The remaining documents will be published.
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: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
China willing to carry out more intellectual property cooperation with other countries: vice premier
HANGZHOU, Oct. 20 — China is willing to carry out more pragmatic and mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries in the field of intellectual property to benefit more countries and peoples, said Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing.
He made the statements while delivering a speech during the opening ceremony of the 2024 International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property World Congress on Saturday, after reading out President Xi Jinping’s congratulatory letter to the congress.
Zhang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said President Xi’s letter fully reflects the great importance China attaches to intellectual property work. China will speed up the improvement of its legal system, management system, policy system and rule system for intellectual property to further stimulate the vitality of innovation of the public and better serve high-quality development and promote Chinese modernization.
He noted that China is ready to carry out more practical and mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries in the field of intellectual property, work together to firmly uphold the multilateral intellectual property system with the World Intellectual Property Organization at its core, and promote the improvement of international rules and standards for intellectual property.
He added that the country is willing to work together with other countries to build a global intellectual property governance structure featuring extensive consultation, joint contributions and shared benefits, so that the fruits of scientific and technological innovation will benefit more countries and peoples and better improve the well-being of mankind.
Source: United States Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) introduced the Choices for Increased Mobility Act to increase access to wheelchairs made with advanced materials by allowing Medicare beneficiaries to upgrade to lighter, more functional wheelchairs without bearing the entire upfront cost. These manual wheelchairs help prevent shoulder injuries, enhance maneuverability, and reduce overall pain and fatigue for users.
“Too many Americans with disabilities face unnecessary barriers to obtaining the best mobility equipment to meet their needs,” said Senator Blackburn. “By making it easier for Medicare beneficiaries to upgrade to wheelchairs made with advanced, lighter materials like carbon fiber and titanium, this bipartisan bill would help improve the quality of life for countless individuals. I’m pleased to work with Senator Duckworth to reduce financial burdens on those who rely on these essential devices and ensure that more people have access to the mobility solutions they deserve.”
“For too long, Medicare recipients have struggled to access lighter, more functional wheelchairs that would help them get around more easily while putting significantly less strain on their bodies,” said Senator Duckworth. “Our bipartisan legislation would help ensure Medicare recipients are better able to access the wheelchairs they need to live healthier, more independent lives—with minimal cost to the federal government. It’s a win-win.”
BACKGROUND
Complex Rehab Technology (CRT) is a specialized subset of the Durable Medical Equipment benefit, which includes highly configurable manual and power wheelchairs, adaptive seating, and positioning systems. Among these, manual wheelchairs constructed from advanced materials like carbon fiber and titanium are significantly stronger and lighter than standard aluminum wheelchairs.
When the Medicare billing code for ultra-lightweight manual wheelchairs was established in 1993, materials like titanium and carbon fiber were not considered, as they were not yet in use for wheelchairs. As a result, CRT providers have struggled to supply wheelchairs with these advanced materials at the fee schedule amounts set by Medicare.
Historically, Medicare allowed beneficiaries who met medical necessity requirements to upgrade their equipment by paying the difference between standard and upgraded materials. However, a policy change in 2016 removed this option, requiring beneficiaries to prepay the entire cost of the wheelchair out-of-pocket and await reimbursement for the standard portion, significantly limiting access to these advanced wheelchairs.
CHOICES FOR INCREASED MOBILITY ACT
The Choices for Increased Mobility Act would create two new billing codes for ultra-lightweight manual wheelchairs: one for base models and another for those constructed with titanium or carbon fiber. This change would allow Medicare beneficiaries to upgrade to lighter, more functional wheelchairs without bearing the entire upfront cost. Instead, beneficiaries would only pay for the cost of the specialized materials, significantly reducing their financial burden.
This bill aims to restore the option for beneficiaries to choose and pay for advanced materials for their wheelchairs without removing medical necessity requirements. It would ensure that Medicare covers the standard portion of the wheelchair cost, with beneficiaries responsible only for the upgraded materials.
ENDORSEMENTS
This legislation is supported by the American Association for Homecare, Permobil Americas, National Coalition for Assistive and Rehab Technology, National Registry for Rehabilitation Technology Suppliers, Clinical Task Force, The VGM Group, U.S. Rehab, Association for Tennessee Home Oxygen & Medical Equipment Services, Great Lakes Home Medical Services Association, Midwest Association for Medical Equipment Services, Southwest Medical Equipment Suppliers Association, Alabama Durable Medical Equipment Association, Michigan HomeCare & Hospice Association, Pennsylvania Association of Medical Suppliers, Georgia Association of Medical Equipment Suppliers, Texas Medical Equipment Providers Association, Home Medical Equipment and Services Association of New England, Georgia Association of Medical Equipment Suppliers, Florida Alliance of Home Care Services, Atlantic Coast Medical Equipment Services Association, Northeast Medical Equipment Providers Association, Nevada Association of Medical Product Suppliers, Big Sky Association of Home Medical Equipment Suppliers, Pacific Association for Medical Equipment Services, Colorado Association for Medical Equipment Services, California Association of Medical Product Suppliers, Ohio Association of Medical Equipment Services, and Arkansas Medical Equipment Providers.
“We are so fortunate to be able to work with leaders like Senator Blackburn and Senator Duckworth who share our passion for supporting people with disabilities,” said Tom Ryan, President & CEO of the American Association for Homecare. “Their work to improve access to lightweight wheelchairs is the latest example of their commitment to ensuring people with mobility challenges can remain actively engaged in their communities.”
“Our mission will always be to enable those with disabilities to live life with independence by providing aides of the same technical standards that we all use in our daily lives. S. 5154 is a common sense, budget neutral solution that empowers individuals with the choice to access to the many benefits of titanium or carbon fiber wheelchair frames,” said Chuck Witkowski, President of Permobil Americas. “We are immensely grateful to Senators Blackburn and Duckworth and thank them for their continued leadership and support of this community.”
Click here for bill text.
The air is charged with anticipation as an auction commences at the Kunming International Flora Auction Trading Center in Kunming, southwest China’s Yunnan Province.
Giant screens flicker with the pulse of the market, displaying the ever-changing prices of fresh-cut flowers. Auctioneers make swift decisions, and soon the auctioned flowers will embark on journeys far and wide, not just within the country but to over 50 overseas markets.
Official data shows that daily transaction volume at the auction trading center, located in Dounan of Kunming, is as high as 6 million stems.
In the afternoon, Yang Tao delivers 2,000 bundles of blooms to the flower market. A second-generation flower grower, Yang bears witness to the transition of Dounan.
Residents in Dounan began planting flowers in 1983. In the 1990s, they embarked on the path of commercial cultivation and trading of fresh-cut flowers. At that time, farmers and traders sold flowers on the main road of Dounan Village, forming a 50-meter-long “Dounan flower street.”
Over the following decades, flowers grown in Dounan were sold to more regions across the country. In 1999, China’s first professional flower-trading market was established in Dounan.
Since then, Dounan has further developed and strengthened its flower industry chain, progressively establishing itself as the largest fresh-cut flower trading hub in Asia. Now seven out of 10 fresh-cut flowers in China come from Dounan.
Every day, over 1,700 varieties of fresh flowers are traded in Dounan, which has established itself as the national center for trade, logistics, financial services and big data information of flowers, as well as a convention and exhibition hub for flower tourism.
Dounan’s blooming flower industry has also consolidated China’s role as a major player in the global flower market.
With about 1.5 million hectares dedicated to flower cultivation and more than 5 million people involved in the industry, China has become the world’s largest flower producer, and an important flower trader and consumer.
A guideline jointly issued by China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs proposed that by 2025, the annual sales of the country’s flower industry will reach 300 billion yuan (about 42 billion U.S. dollars), and more than 700 billion yuan in 2035.
Such promising market prospects have encouraged flower growers to keep improving their know-how and updating cultivation techniques.
“The introduction of advanced technologies and an integrated smart irrigation system for water and fertilizer has revolutionized our cultivation techniques,” Yang said.
“This has led to a substantial increase in both the yield and quality of our roses. Now, a team of just four workers can efficiently manage 1.3 hectares of flower fields,” he said, adding that during peak holiday periods, the high market demand means he can sell 140,000 roses in a single day.
The flower industry has ignited a wave of prosperity that extends far beyond itself.
“We have a thriving market centered on the flower industry. We have established cooperation with 49 logistics enterprises, nearly 12,000 brands, over 10,000 flower brokers, 350,000 flower wholesale markets and florist shops across the country,” said Qian Chongjun, the executive president of Yunnan Dounan Flower Industry Group.
As the flower industry flourishes, a ripple effect is transforming the surrounding areas of Dounan. The blossoming logistics, financial services and tourism sectors are all contributing to a vibrant economic boom in the region.
To Yang, the industry brings a palpable sense of happiness and fulfillment, bringing him a comfortable income while providing a service to thousands of customers seeking flowers to adorn their homes or as a romantic gift.
“My life has taken a significant step forward thanks to the flowers,” he said, adding that he has recently invested in a new refrigerated truck and hired a driver as the volume of business continues to grow.
Three people were killed and eight others injured on Saturday during a trail ride shooting in Holmes County, the southern U.S. state of Mississippi, authorities said.
The incident occurred when at least two people opened fire into a crowd of 200 to 300 people celebrating Holmes County Consolidated School’s homecoming football win at an outdoor event several hours after the game ended.
Holmes County Sheriff Willie March said the shooting followed an argument among several young men.
The sheriff said police officers are searching for the suspects in connection to the shooting and an investigation is underway.
Having surged to the forefront of the global new energy vehicle (NEV) market with their outstanding performance, Chinese automakers are exploring strategies to gain an advantage over their competitors in the more challenging latter phase of the market race, which is increasingly driven by intelligent development and artificial intelligence.
One of the latest efforts in this push is the 2024 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference (WICV), held from Oct. 17 to 19 in Beijing.
The WICV attracted over 250 auto firms and institutions from home and abroad, with more than 200 new technologies and products making their debut.
“Intelligent connected vehicles (ICVs) have become a focus of industry innovation, and Chinese automobiles are accelerating into a new stage with intelligence as their core competitiveness,” said Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group, at the event.
Seizing the opportunities presented by intelligent technology and promoting China’s transformation into an automotive powerhouse is a challenge the entire Chinese auto industry must address, he added.
Like many of China’s leading car companies, Geely has made significant strides in intelligent innovation, driving advancements in areas such as automobile safety, human-machine interaction, intelligent driving, onboard chips and low-orbit satellites. The company is also committed to creating an integrated space-ground smart network.
According to Zhu Huarong, chairman of Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd, China’s ICVs saw rapid growth this year, with sales projected to reach 17 million and a penetration rate surpassing 63 percent.
Stefan Mecha, CEO of the Volkswagen China Passenger Cars Brand, said that China actively fosters innovation opportunities through consistent government plans for ICV and NEV development, a tech-savvy consumer base, and an openness to technology within an advanced tech ecosystem.
A comprehensive industrial system for China’s ICV sector has basically taken shape, covering products and technologies such as basic chips, sensors, computing platforms and chassis control, Minister of Industry and Information Technology Jin Zhuanglong said Thursday during the opening ceremony of WICV.
China leads the world in human-machine interaction and is rapidly advancing toward breakthroughs in technologies like steer-by-wire and active suspension technologies, among others, the minister noted.
According to Jin, the country’s ICV sector currently boasts nearly 400 “little giant” firms, or novel elites of small and medium-sized enterprises that are engaged in manufacturing, specialize in a niche market and hold cutting-edge technologies. Five Chinese lidar companies have ranked among the global top 10 in sales, while nine automotive manufacturers are piloting conditional automated driving models.
Lei Jun, founder and CEO of tech giant Xiaomi, revealed at the WICV that the company is expected to deliver more than 20,000 units of its first self-developed NEV model SU7 this month, and achieve its annual delivery target of 100,000 vehicles in November.
The new model was released by the market newcomer in late March, and technological breakthroughs in key fields have been achieved, such as modeling design, batteries, intelligent driving and intelligent cockpits.
“In the next five years, the structure of the entire automotive industry will be reconstructed on a large scale,” Lei said.
The CEO noted that the entire industry should engage in benign competition and work together to explore the international market. He also urged Chinese automakers to avoid redundant investments and focus on creating a smart automotive ecosystem.
Global players like Volkswagen are also speeding up their intelligent transformation in a bid to expand their presence in the Chinese market.
“We will invest consequently into the localization of our R&D activities to integrate ourselves much more strongly into the rapidly growing ecosystem for electric vehicles in China,” said Ralf Brandstaetter, chairman and CEO of Volkswagen Group China.
In addition to building its largest development center outside Germany in the city of Hefei in east China, Volkswagen is also strengthening cooperation with local manufacturers like Xpeng and high-tech companies such as Horizon Robotics, Thundersoft and Gotion.
“This deep integration into the world’s leading development network for ICVs will further expand our local innovative strength, but also provides us with a strategic advantage on the global markets in the mid-term,” Brandstaetter said.
“China is driving the future of the automotive industry, and we are committed to being part of this journey in the era of ICVs,” he added.
To support such rapid industrial development in China, more than 50 cities have designated over 32,000 kilometers of test routes for ICVs and upgraded about 10,000 kilometers of roads with smart technologies, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
View of Tonghai Port Area in Nantong, E China’s Jiangsu
Updated: October 20, 2024 11:16Xinhua
An aerial drone photo taken on Oct. 19, 2024 shows cargo ships docking at the Tonghai Port Area, a container terminal, at Nantong Port in Nantong, east China’s Jiangsu Province. In the first three quarters this year, the Tonghai Port saw about 1.17 million TEU of container throughput in total, up 21.82 percent year on year. [Photo/Xinhua]An aerial drone photo taken on Oct. 19, 2024 shows a view of the Tonghai Port Area, a container terminal, at Nantong Port in Nantong, east China’s Jiangsu Province. [Photo/Xinhua]An aerial drone photo taken on Oct. 19, 2024 shows cargo ships docking at the Tonghai Port Area, a container terminal, at Nantong Port in Nantong, east China’s Jiangsu Province. [Photo/Xinhua]An aerial drone photo taken on Oct. 19, 2024 shows a view of the Tonghai Port Area, a container terminal, at Nantong Port in Nantong, east China’s Jiangsu Province. [Photo/Xinhua]An aerial drone photo taken on Oct. 19, 2024 shows a view of the Tonghai Port Area, a container terminal, at Nantong Port in Nantong, east China’s Jiangsu Province. [Photo/Xinhua]An aerial drone photo taken on Oct. 19, 2024 shows a view of the Tonghai Port Area, a container terminal, at Nantong Port in Nantong, east China’s Jiangsu Province. [Photo/Xinhua]An aerial drone photo taken on Oct. 19, 2024 shows a view of the Tonghai Port Area, a container terminal, at Nantong Port in Nantong, east China’s Jiangsu Province. [Photo/Xinhua]An aerial drone photo taken on Oct. 19, 2024 shows a view of the Tonghai Port Area, a container terminal, at Nantong Port in Nantong, east China’s Jiangsu Province. [Photo/Xinhua]
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
The other Common Squirrel Monkey of Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens passed away The other Common Squirrel Monkey of Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens passed away ******************************************************************************************
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) announced today (October 20) that the other Common Squirrel Monkey of the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens (HKZBG) that was put under isolated surveillance was found dead today. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) will conduct necropsy on the animal body, to ascertain if the cause of death was the same as the other cases earlier. At present, one De Brazza’s Monkey that has been isolated since October 13 is still under isolated surveillance and given medication. A total of 11 animals of the HKZBG have passed away since October 13. The LCSD will continue to close the Mammals Section of the HKZBG, to closely monitor the health conditions of the animals, and continue to provide protective gear and health monitoring for staff who take care of animals. At present, the health conditions of staff concerned are normal. The LCSD has all along been communicating with the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health and the AFCD to ensure that appropriate protective measures are taken.
ACT Ethnic Communities spokesperson Dr Parmjeet Parmar is challenging Brian Tamaki after Indian New Zealanders and other ethnic communities raised concerns about a new campaign to “Make NZ Kiwi Again” which targets immigrants.
“I have been approached by representatives of ethnic communities in New Zealand alarmed to see Brian Tamaki is promoting conspiracy theories about an ‘Indian invasion’.In a long video tirade, Tamaki rails against Hindu temples, Indian civil aviation officials, and the proposed free trade deal with India.
“Tamaki wants New Zealanders to march to ‘Make NZ Kiwi Again’ , but he cannot be very Kiwi himself if he has forgotten our fundamental history and values. Every New Zealander has either crossed an ocean to build a life here, or is descended from someone who did. Kiwis believe in freedom and a fair chance for anyone who’s willing to offer their efforts to society.
“I hope Brian Tamaki doesn’t have to visit hospital any time soon, but if he does, he will experience firsthand the contribution of immigrant doctors, nurses, and carers that have made New Zealand home.
“The construction sector is powered by migrants who are literally building New Zealand’s future. Others develop cutting-edge technology right here in New Zealand to solve problems, boost exports, and create jobs that benefit us all.
“The migrant community shouldn’t be feared – they should be embraced for all they bring to New Zealand.
“Tamaki warns that Indians are ‘not bad people, but they have intentions’. That is part is true – we have intentions to build peaceful and prosperous lives, raise educated children, and open businesses that offer value to New Zealand.
“Brian Tamaki is a shameless self-promoter and is clearly willing to tap into any negative sentiment that draws attention and outrage. This week it’s Indians, next week it will be another group. It’s tempting to ignore him, but when he seeks to define who is and isn’t a Kiwi, he must be challenged.”
Later this week the government will receive the report of the year-long independent inquiry into its handling of the COVID pandemic.
Among the issues it will have to contend with is air quality, in particular the air quality in high occupancy public buildings such as schools, aged-care facilities, shops, pubs and clubs.
Many already have high quality air. High-fitration air conditioning (so-called mechanical ventilation) is standard in offices, hospitals and shopping centres.
But not in schools. Almost all of our schools (98% in NSW) use windows.
In Australia’s national construction code, this is called “natural ventilation” and it is allowed so long as the window, opening or door has a ventilating area of not less than 5% of the floor area, a requirement research suggests is insufficient.
Windows, but no requirement to keep them open
There’s no requirement to actually open the windows. School windows are often shut to keep in the heat in (or to keep out the heat in summer).
The result can be very, very stuffy classrooms, far stuffier than we would tolerate in shopping centres. This matters for learning. Study after study has found that when air circulation gets low, people can’t concentrate well or learn well.
And they get sick. Diseases such as flu, COVID and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) spread when viruses get recirculated instead of diluted with fresh air.
The costs of the resulting sickness are borne by students, parents, teachers and education systems that need to find replacement staff to cover for teachers who are sick and parents who need to look after sick children at home.
A pilot study prepared for the Australian Research Council Centre for Advanced Building Systems Against Airborne Infection (known as “Thrive”), suggests the entire cost of installing high-filtration air conditioning in every Australian school would be offset by the savings in reduced sickness.
What classroom air is like
The study carried out by the education architecture firm ARINA compared the ventilation of 60 so-called naturally ventilated schools in southern NSW and the Australian Capital Territory to that of a school in Sydney that happened to have been fitted with a Standards Australia-compliant air conditioning system to control aircraft noise.
It used carbon dioxide levels to measure ventilation. Carbon dioxide is a good proxy for ventilation because its levels are determined by both the number of people breathing out concentrated carbon dioxide and the clean air available to dilute it.
Under a normal load, defined as 26 students, one teacher and one assistant, measured levels of carbon dioxide in the air-conditioned school stayed below 750 parts per million (ppm) and were typically between 500 and 600 ppm.
A reading of 700 ppm is particularly good. It means the people in the room breathe in less than 0.5% of air breathed out by others.
But in “naturally ventilated” classrooms the reading often climbed to 2,500 ppm and sometimes more, within an hour of a class commencing.
At 2,500 parts per million, people in the room are breathing in 5.5% of the air breathed out by others. This is also high enough to affect cognition, learning and behaviour, something that begins when carbon dioxide climbs above 1,200 ppm.
Research suggests using ventilation to cut carbon dioxide to 700 ppm can cut the risk of airborne transmission of disease by a factor of two and up to five.
The economic case for healthy air
In 2023, Australia had 9,629 schools with 4,086,998 students.
ARINA has previously estimated the cost of ensuring all of these schools are mechanically ventilated at A$2 billion per year over five years.
Offsetting that cost would be less sickness. Documents released under freedom of information laws show Victoria spent $360.8 million on casual relief teachers between May 2023 and May 2024, 54% more than before COVID in 2019.
The figures for other states are harder to get, but if Victoria (with 26% of Australia’s population) is spending $234 million more per year on casual relief teachers than before COVID, it is likely that Australia is spending $900 million per year more.
Add in the teachers in non-government schools (37% of Australia’s total) and the potential saving from air conditioning schools exceeds $1 billion per year.
Add in the other non-COVID viruses that would no longer be concentrated and circulated in classrooms and the potential savings grow higher still.
Worth more than $1 billion per year
And, in any event, the cost of replacement teachers is a woefully incomplete measure of the cost of illness in schools. Many ill teachers can’t be replaced because replacements aren’t available, making schools cancel lessons and combine classes, costing days, weeks and sometimes months of lost education.
Also, the bacteria and viruses spread by recirculated air infect students as well as teachers, keeping students (and often their parents) at home as well.
This suggests the costs per year of not air conditioning schools exceed $1 billion and may well approach or exceed $2 billion, which is the estimated cost per year over five years of air conditioning every Australian school.
Natural ventilation was never a good idea for classrooms: it was cheap at the time, but not cheap at all when the costs are considered. Those costs happen to extend beyond disease to thermal comfort, energy use and the ability of students to concentrate.
It’s time we gave students and teachers the kind of protections we demand for ourselves in our offices, our shopping centres and often our homes. It would soon pay for itself.
Geoff Hanmer is a member of the executive of the Industry Training and Transformation Centre for Advanced Building Systems against Airborne Infection Transmission (known as Thrive) which receives funding from the Australian Research Council, QUT, the University of Melbourne and industry partners in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. He is a director of the health expert body OzSAGE and the managing director of ARINA, an architectural consultancy.
As the summer boating season begins, Maritime New Zealand and the Safer Boating Forum are urging all boaties and watercraft users to prioritise safety.
Safer Boating Week, starting Monday, 21 October, highlights the importance of safety as recreational boaties, and craft users (whether in a power boat, waka ama, kayak, canoe or paddle board) return to the water. For many, this will be the first time since last summer they venture out, making this year’s theme, ‘Come Home Safe’, more relevant than ever. It builds on last year’s theme and reinforces the need for safe boating practices and encourages everyone to make safety a priority to ensure they return home.
Maritime NZ’s Director, Kirstie Hewlett, highlighted the ongoing importance of Safer Boating Week in promoting safety messages year-round. “This is our 11th Safer Boating Week, and it’s as important as ever. Over the past decade, more than 170 people have lost their lives in recreational craft incidents.
“These figures are deeply concerning, and the Safer Boating Forum is committed to reducing the number of deaths on the water,” she says.
The Safer Boating Forum represents a wide range of recreational craft activities, and this year’s launch event will focus on paddle craft safety.
Paddle craft users accounted for a significant portion of last year’s fatalities, with 5 out of 11 fatal incidents involving paddle craft.
At the launch event, we’ll hear from newly crowned Paris Olympic champions Tara Vaughan and Olivia Brett (members of the women’s K4 team with Lisa Carrington), and five-time NZ surf lifesaving Ironwoman champion Danielle Mackenzie. They will share their journeys to becoming elite athletes and how they want to encourage others to take up their sports -safely. Coming from surf lifesaving backgrounds, they know how crucial it is to stay safe around water.
Maritime NZ’s Harm Prevention Lead for Recreational Craft, Victoria Slade, says paddle craft are particularly vulnerable due to their design and the environments in which they operate.
“Paddle craft are more likely to capsize than non-paddle craft, and most incidents occurred within one nautical mile of shore or on inland waterways like lakes and rivers. This highlights that danger isn’t just far out at sea,” she says.
New Zealand’s waters can turn rough quickly, especially for paddle craft users. A calm day can become dangerous within minutes, with strong winds and waves easily overwhelming smaller vessels.
“If you’re planning to head out on the water, check the marine weather forecast, take two forms of waterproof communication to call for help, and always wear a properly fitting lifejacket,” Ms. Slade says.
As of 15 October this year, 14 people in recreational craft have died or gone missing after heading out on the water. These tragic incidents occurred in 10 separate incidents.
Therefore, to help reduce the number of these fatalities, this year’s launch event will also feature a safety campaign calledCome Home Safe Deals.
Research conducted for Maritime NZ about how diverse communities engage with recreational craft safety shows that whānau, family, and friends want to support each other in being safe on the water. These groups are key sources of information and strength.
Ms. Slade explains, “This safety campaign taps into the importance of these connections, encouraging children, partners, whānau, and friends to influence our target audience and promote safe behaviour.”
Come Home Safe Deals involves individuals pledging to take certain actions if people they care about follow key safety rules. For example, “If you promise to always wear a lifejacket, I’ll promise to clean my room,” or “If you check the marine weather forecast, I’ll cook your favourite dinner.”
As part of this initiative, a dedicated web app allows participants to enter into these agreements.
“Our safety campaign efforts will target this broader audience, guiding them to the Come Home Safe Deals webpage, where they can enter for a chance to win prizes by setting up their deal online,” Ms. Slade says.
The website,comehomesafe.nz, goes live on October 21 and will run for one month.
For more safety advice, visithttp://www.saferboating.org.nz, where recreational craft users can find guidance on planning their trips, staying safe on the water, maintaining their boats, and using different types of recreational crafts safely.
– The research was conducted by Litmus, a social research and evaluation agency with specialist multi-disciplinary teams. Maritime NZ commissioned Litmus to conduct a qualitative study on how different communities in Aotearoa New Zealand use craft in interactions with marine environments, how they kept themselves safe while doing so and what ideas they had for how safety could be improved.
Headline: Disaster Recovery Center Opens in Mecklenburg County
Disaster Recovery Center Opens in Mecklenburg County
RALEIGH, N.C. – A Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) will open Monday, Oct. 21 in Charlotte (Mecklenburg County) to assist North Carolina survivors who experienced loss from Tropical Storm Helene.
The Mecklenburg County DRC is located at:
Corvian Community School 9501 David Taylor Drive Charlotte, NC 28262 Open: 8 a.m. – 7 p.m., Monday through Sunday
A DRC is a one-stop shop where survivors can meet face-to-face with FEMA representatives, apply for FEMA assistance, receive referrals to local assistance in their area, apply with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for low-interest disaster loans and much more.
FEMA financial assistance may include money for basic home repairs, personal property losses or other uninsured, disaster-related needs, such as childcare, transportation, medical needs, funeral or dental expenses.
Centers are already open in Asheville, Bakersville, Boone, Brevard, Hendersonville, Jefferson, Lenoir, Marion, Morganton, Newland, Old Fort, Sparta, Sylva and Waynesville. To find those center locations, go to fema.gov/drcor text “DRC” and a zip code to 43362. Additional recovery centers will open soon. All centers are accessible to people with disabilities or access and functional needs and are equipped with assistive technology.
Homeowners and renters in 39 North Carolina counties and tribal members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians can visit any open center, including locations in other states. No appointment is needed.
It is not necessary to go to a center to apply for FEMA assistance. The fastest way to apply is online at DisasterAssistance.gov or via the FEMA app. You may also call 800-621-3362. If you use a relay service, such as video relay, captioned telephone or other service, give FEMA your number for that service.
Anyone who has spent time inside a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) knows it’s intense.
For the tiny babies cared for in these wards, any infection could prove fatal. Great care is taken to prevent the spread of pathogens, but outbreaks still occur.
Traditionally, detecting outbreaks within a NICU has been reactive – only after multiple babies fall ill at the same time.
Our research is advancing the use of whole-genome sequencing technologies to detect outbreaks early and stamp out bacteria before they threaten more babies.
From reactive to proactive
NICU outbreak surveillance usually involves monitoring rates of illness and identifying spikes and long-term trends that may point to a pathogen circulating on the ward.
When a potential outbreak is identified, bacteria may be cultured and retrospectively sequenced to determine if they can be linked to a shared source or transmission on the ward.
Wellington Regional Hospital has changed its approach to infection surveillance in the NICU. Rather than waiting for infants to fall ill, they are using the same sequencing technology we developed at the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) for genomic contact tracking during the COVID pandemic.
Infants in the unit have diagnostic swab samples taken as part of routine practice. If any key bacteria are cultured from these samples, they are sequenced promptly to identify possible transmission events in near real time. This allows us to monitor the situation closely and respond quickly to emerging outbreaks.
Genome sequencing allows NICU teams to monitor infectious bacteria before babies fall ill. Getty Images
Because not all infants carrying a particular bacterial strain will experience a severe infection, this proactive approach can detect an outbreak before any babies fall ill.
And because whole-genome sequencing decodes the entire genetic makeup of bacteria, it also provides the NICU team with information on how pathogens are related to each other. This allows them to differentiate one-off cases imported to the unit from any circulating within it.
This level of detail allows for precise infection monitoring and fast, informed decisions on outbreak control.
A case study
This shift was recently tested when proactive genomic surveillance showed two infants in the NICU had eye infections caused by the same organism, an uncommon strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
MRSA is notorious for its resistance to common antibiotics, making it particularly dangerous in hospitals.
The onsite sequencing showed the two cases were likely linked. The priorities were to establish whether other infants were affected and limit the pathogen’s spread as quickly as possible. Screening of infants in the NICU found six more carrying the same strain of MRSA (though none with serious illness).
This meant these infants could be isolated rapidly and the outbreak contained before any others developed a significant infection. ESR’s experience as genomic contact tracers helped establish how these infections spread in the unit.
An outbreak response takes up resources and involves multiple steps, from the initial confirmation of the infection and its transmission route to communication with parents.
This proactive approach to infection surveillance provides an early-warning system. It means the NICU team can be confident an outbreak is underway and act quickly to contain it.
MRSA in New Zealand
The power of genome sequencing extends beyond immediate outbreak control.
By comparing the genomic data generated in the lab to that collected in national surveillance projects, our team was able to show the strain that caused the eye infections may have emerged in the early 1990s.
This strain has slowly accumulated the genes required to evade first-choice antibiotics, underpinning the risk of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Aotearoa New Zealand.
We also highlighted the power of genomics to reveal connections when we found the MRSA strain causing illness in the NICU was related to bacteria collected from cattle. This discovery underscores the concept of “One Health” – the idea that human health, animal health and environmental health are inextricably linked.
The data suggest bacteria from a cow milk tank and from babies in a hospital may have shared a common ancestor at some point.
Future focus
As we continue to unravel the complex world of microbes, tools like whole-genome sequencing offer hope in the ongoing battle against infectious diseases. The work at Wellington Regional Hospital’s NICU is just the beginning.
From protecting our most vulnerable newborns to uncovering unlikely connections between farm animals and hospital patients, genomic technology is changing how we combat infectious diseases.
As this technology continues to evolve, it promises to play an increasingly crucial role in safeguarding public health, one DNA sequence at a time.
In the face of growing antibiotic resistance and emerging pathogens, this proactive, genomics-based approach to infection control may well be our best defence.
We would like to acknowledge the contributions by Max Bloomfield and the teams at Awanui Labs, and Emma Voss and team at Livestock Improvement Corporation.
Rhys White received a travel bursary from Oxford Nanopore Technologies and a travel grant from the UK Microbiology Society.
David Winter and Suzanne Manning 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 (Au and NZ) – By Adam Guastella, Professor and Clinical Psychologist, Michael Crouch Chair in Child and Youth Mental Health, University of Sydney
Neurodevelopmental conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism affect about one in ten children. These conditions impact learning, behaviour and development.
Executive function delays are core to challenges people with neurodevelopmental conditions experience. This includes skills such as paying attention, switching attention, controlling impulses, planning, organising and problem-solving.
These skills are important for learning and long-term development. They have been linked with future occupational, social, academic and mental health outcomes. Children with improved executive function skills and supports for these skills do better long term.
Decades of studies have described how difficulties in attention and impulse control underpin ADHD. Meanwhile, difficulties with switching attention and flexibility of thinking have been proposed to underpin autism.
As a result, different supports and interventions developed for different neurodevelopmental conditions target these skills. It sets up a system where a diagnosis is made first, then a set of supports is provided based on that diagnosis.
But our recent study, published in Nature Human Behaviour, shows executive function problems are similar across all neurodevelopmental conditions. Understanding these common needs could lead to better access to supports before waiting for a specific diagnosis.
Our study found more similarities than differences
We looked at 180 studies, over 45 years, that compared executive function skills across two or more neurodevelopmental conditions.
We brought the research together for all neurodevelopmental conditions that have been defined by diagnostic manuals, including ADHD, Tourette’s syndrome, communication disorders and intellectual disabilities.
Surprisingly, we found most neurodevelopmental conditions showed very similar delays in their executive skills.
Children with ADHD showed difficulties with attention and impulse control, for example, but so did children with autism, communication and specific learning conditions.
There were very few differences between each neurodevelopmental condition and the type of executive function delay.
This suggests executive function delay is best considered as a common difficulty for all children with neurodevelopmental conditions. All of these children could benefit from similar supports to improve executive skills.
But supports have become siloed
For decades, research has failed to integrate findings across conditions. This has led to siloed research and practices across the education, health and disability sectors.
Our data showed a gradual shift in the type of conditions that have been studied since 1980. In the earlier days, as a percentage, there were a far greater proportion of studies conducted on tic disorders, such as Tourette’s syndrome. In the past ten years, autism has been of greater focus.
This means research and practice is also siloed, based on the focus on funding and interest in the community. Some groups miss out from good science and practice when they become less visible in the political landscape.
This has led to a skewed support system where only children with a specific diagnosis can be offered certain interventions. It also reduces access to supports if families can’t access diagnostic services, which can be particularly difficult in regional and rural communities.
Due to these diagnosis-driven research practices, there are now assessment services, guidelines and treatments that are recommended for autism. These are usually independent from and not offered to children with ADHD, Tourette’s syndrome, communication disorders or intellectual disabilities despite a significant overlap in children’s needs.
How does this affect access to support
Families often find it hard to get the help they need. They often describe the assessment and support process as confusing, with long wait times and lots of barriers.
We have previously shown caregivers often attend assessment and support services with a broad range of needs, but leave with many needs unaddressed.
Recent national child mental health, autism and ADHD guidelines call for more integrated supports for children. But most services are not well set up to do this. It will take time to drive such system change if this is to be achieved.
Why we need integrated research
More integrated research will lead to more cohesive support systems across education, health and disability for all children in need.
Studies show, for example, that many risk factors (genetic and environmental) are common to all neurodevelopmental conditions. These include a broad overlap of risk genes that are the same between conditions, and common environmental factors that influence development in the womb, such as the use of certain drugs, stress and a significant immune response.
Other studies show how most children diagnosed with one neurodevelopmental condition will also be diagnosed with others.
But gaps remain. While we know certain stimulant medications can work well for ADHD, for example, we have less information about how they might help children with other neurodevelopmental conditions who have attention difficulties.
Unlike our knowledge about social supports for children with autism, we don’t have much research on how we can help children with ADHD with their social needs.
We should take a wider view of children’s needs
It’s important for families to be aware that if their child meets criteria for one neurodevelopmental condition, it is very likely that they will meet criteria for other neurodvelopmental conditions. They will likely have many needs relevant to other conditions.
It is worth asking clinical services about broader needs beyond a diagnosis. This should include developmental, mental and physical health needs.
It is also important to consider that many common interventions may have potential to support all children with neurodevelopmental conditions.
This is an important issue for government. Reviews are under way for supporting the needs of people with autism, intellectual disability and ADHD.
It’s time to establish more integrated systems, supports and strategies for all people with neurodevelopmental conditions for their home, school, play and work.
Adam Guastella receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian Research Council for research into neurodevelopmental conditions. He is director of the Clinic for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research and scientific chair of Neurodevelopment Australia, a scientific group seeking to improve the knowledge and supports for all people with neurodevelopmental conditions.
Kelsie Boulton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mike Lee, Professor in Evolutionary Biology (jointly appointed with South Australian Museum), Flinders University
Welcome to our ‘Light and health’ series. Over six articles, we look at how light affects our physical and mental health in sometimes surprising ways.
For most of our evolutionary history, human activity has been linked to daylight. Technology has liberated us from these ancient sleep-wake cycles, but there is evidence sunlight has left and continues to leave its mark.
Not only do we still tend to be awake in the daytime and sleep at night, we can thank light for many other aspects of our biology.
Light may have driven our ancestors to walk upright on two legs. Light helps explain the evolution of our skin colour, why some of us have curly hair, and even the size of our eyes.
As we’ll explore in future articles in this series, light helps shape our mood, our immune system, how our gut works, and much more. Light can make us sick, tell us why we’re sick, then treat us.
Million of years of evolutionary history means humans are still very much creatures of the light.
We stood up, then walked out of Africa
The first modern humans evolved in warm African climates. And reducing exposure to the harsh sunlight is one explanation for why humans began to walk upright on two legs. When we stand up and the Sun is directly overhead, far less sunshine hits our body.
Early Homo sapiens had extra Sun protection in the form of strongly pigmented skin. Sunlight breaks down folate (vitamin B9), accelerates ageing and damages DNA. In our bright ancestral climates, dark skin protected against this. But this dark skin still admitted enough UV light to stimulate vital production of vitamin D.
However, when people colonised temperate zones, with weaker light, they repeatedly evolved lighter skin, via different genes in different populations. This happened rapidly, probably within the past 40,000 years.
With reduced UV radiation nearer the poles, less pigmentation was needed to protect sunlight from breaking down our folate. A lighter complexion also let in more of the scarce light so the body could make vitamin D. But there was one big drawback: less pigmentation meant less protection against Sun damage.
How our skin pigmentation adapted with migration patterns and changing light.
This evolutionary background contributes to Australia having among the highest rates of skin cancer in the world.
Our colonial history means more than 50% of Australians are of Anglo-Celtic descent, with light skin, transplanted into a high-UV environment. Little wonder we’re described as “a sunburnt country”.
Sunlight has also contributed to variation in human eyes. Humans from high latitudes have less protective pigment in their irises. They also have larger eye sockets (and presumably eyeballs), maybe to admit more precious light.
Again, these features make Australians of European descent especially vulnerable to our harsh light. So it’s no surprise Australia has unusually high rates of eye cancers.
We cannot shake our body clock
Our circadian rhythm – the wake-sleep cycle driven by our brains and hormones – is another piece of heavy evolutionary baggage triggered by light.
Humans are adapted to daylight. In bright light, humans cansee well and have refined colour vision. But we see poorly in dim light, and we lack senses such as sharp hearing or acute smell, to make up for it.
Our nearest relatives (chimps, gorillas and orangutans) are also active during daylight and sleep at night, reinforcing the view that the earliest humans had similar diurnal behaviours.
This lifestyle likely stretches further back into our evolutionary history, before the great apes, to the very dawn of primates.
The earliest mammals were generally nocturnal, using their small size and the cover of darkness to hide from dinosaurs. However, the meteorite impact that wiped out these fearsome reptiles allowed some mammalian survivors, notably primates, to evolve largelydiurnal lifestyles.
If we inherited our daylight activity pattern directly from these early primates, then this rhythm would have been part of our lineage’s evolutionary history for nearly 66 million years.
This explains why our 24-hour clock is very difficult to shake; it’s so deeply ingrained in our evolutionary history.
Successive improvements in lighting technology have increasingly liberated us from dependence on daylight: fire, candles, oil and gas lamps, and finally electric lighting. So we can theoretically work and play at any time.
However, our cognitive and physical performance deteriorates when our intrinsic daily cycles are disturbed, for instance through sleep deprivation, shift work or jet lag.
Futurists have already considered the circadian rhythms required for life on Mars. Luckily, a day on Mars is around 24.7 hours, so similar to our own. This slight difference should be the least of the worries for the first intrepid martian colonists.
How would humans cope on Mars? At least they wouldn’t have to worry too much about their body clocks. NikoNomad/NASA/Shutterstock
Light is still changing us
In the past 200 years or so, artificial lighting has helped to (partly) decouple us from our ancestral circadian rhythms. But in recent decades, this has come at a cost to our eyesight.
Many genes associated with short-sightedness (myopia) have become more common in just 25 years, a striking example of rapid evolutionary change in the human gene pool.
And if you have some genetic predisposition to myopia, reduced exposure to natural light (and spending more time in artificial light) makes it more likely. These noticeable changes have occurred within many people’s lifetimes.
Light will no doubt continue to shape our biology over the coming millennia, but those longer-term effects might be difficult to predict.
Mike Lee receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Hermon Slade Foundation
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robin Smit, Adjunct Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney
Statements have been circulating online, including leading news platforms, that battery electric cars will greatly increase the average mass of the on-road fleet. This claim is used as an argument against these cars.
Even the Australian motoring organisation NRMA has posed the question: “EVs are heavy. Are they safe on our roads and carparks?” (It does say the answer is yes.)
The stated reason for such concerns is generally that electric car batteries are heavy and increase overall vehicle mass. A heavier vehicle needs more energy to drive it and so will typically increase emissions. A greater mass also reduces traffic safety and could have damaging impacts on parking spaces and roads.
A critical review released yesterday took a closer look at these claims to see if they hold true in Australia. It finds these claims don’t stack up in a country where sales of fossil-fuelled (petrol, diesel, LPG) vehicles skew towards large and heavy utes and SUVs.
When adjusted for actual top 10 vehicles sold and using realistic mass values, the average mass of battery electric and fossil-fuelled cars differs by just 68 kilograms. That difference is not significant, especially because electric cars are much more energy-efficient.
Oversimplifying a complex topic
The claims being made often oversimplify a complex reality. They tell only part of the story, which can be misleading.
For instance, internal combustion engine cars have consistently increased in mass over time. Known as car obesity, this fact is often unfairly ignored in comparisons.
Similarly, these statements pretend to know how complex consumer behaviour will respond to future availability of battery electric cars and their fast-changing and improving features. Often, the results of overseas studies cannot be directly applied to different Australian conditions.
4 points of contention
Our report identifies and unpacks four main points of contention.
First, there are different ways to define and compare the mass of battery electric and combustion engine cars. In practice, the choice is rather arbitrary. Depending on the method, the comparison may be neither adequate nor accurate.
Often the comparison is made between similar or similarly sized battery electric and combustion engine cars. Or electric cars can be compared only to an equivalent non-electric version of models such as the VW Golf. Another variation is to simply compare the average mass of a large range of cars currently on sale, without considering the impact of sales volumes.
Second, a common argument is that batteries are heavy, so electric cars are heavier than fossil-fuelled cars. But this is simplistic – it’s not only the battery that matters.
Offsetting the extra battery mass, other parts of the electric car such as their motors are smaller and lighter. They can cut its mass by up to 50%.
And actual extra battery mass itself depends on a range of factors. Battery chemistry, battery size and energy storage capacity (which determines how often a car needs recharging) all affect the mass. Indeed, battery mass varies between 100 and 900 kilograms for cars.
Third, car obesity has greatly and consistently increased fossil-fuelled car mass. Unless we include this rise in car obesity, the comparison with battery electric cars tells only half the story.
Finally, it is challenging to accurately predict the mass impacts of electric cars. A common assumption is that future vehicle buyers’ behaviour does not change when switching to battery electric cars. This assumption seems unlikely and again oversimplifies the comparison.
For instance, market availability, marketing focus, purchase price and performance characteristics will largely guide buyers’ decisions. These considerations are all highly dynamic. They are changing significantly and fast.
So how do they compare in Australia?
A proper comparison needs, at least, to include realistic vehicle mass and sales data. Our study compares the differences in vehicle mass between the top ten best-selling cars for both battery electric and fossil-fuelled vehicles in Australia in 2022, as shown below.
Masses of the top 10 most popular new battery electric (top) and fossil-fuelled (bottom) passenger cars sold in Australia in 2022. Circle sizes represent sales volumes. The top-selling internal combustion engine car is the Toyota Hilux (64,391 sold). For pure battery electric cars it’s the Tesla Model 3 (10,877 sold). Vehicle mass is defined as ‘mass in running order’, adjusted for average vehicle occupancy. Author provided, Transport Energy/Emission Research (TER)
Currently sold top 10 models of battery electric cars cluster more at the heavy end, but the most popular cars are relatively light. The top 10 models of fossil-fuelled cars have a larger spread in mass. Yet, when it comes to sales, most are relatively heavy SUVs or utes.
When ranked by popularity and compared, battery electric cars are not always heavier. They can be almost 300kg (12%) lighter to almost 800kg (55%) heavier than the corresponding fossil-fuelled car. Importantly, the overall difference in the average mass of the two categories when adjusted for sales is just 68kg (about 3% of total vehicle mass).
This small difference is insignificant in terms of energy and emission impacts. A more important factor here is the superior energy efficiency of battery electric vehicles.
How will they compare in future?
Clearly, future sales profiles may differ from current sales profiles. The current profile may be largely defined by a certain type of customer (such as a high-income early adopter). They might not be typical of mainstream consumers in coming years.
Buyers’ future behaviour is uncertain and hard to predict. It would depend on the effectiveness of (new) policy measures such as Australia’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard, the actual vehicles offered for sale, marketing efforts by car suppliers and possibly also cultural changes.
Any shifts in buyer behaviour could greatly influence the car fleet’s average mass. They could continue the current trend towards larger and heavier vehicles, or shift to smaller and lighter vehicles.
But this is the point: the impacts of electrification of passenger vehicles on average mass are highly uncertain. Statements on the matter are often speculative and can be unfairly biased by the methods used.
In markets where heavy petrol and diesel vehicles dominate car sales, such as Australia and New Zealand, current evidence suggests increased electric car sales are unlikely to greatly increase average vehicle mass. In fact, average mass could actually go down as cheaper and lighter electric cars go on sale here.
Vehicle mass remains important
Importantly, the report is not downplaying the importance of vehicle mass for transport emission abatement.
In previous research it was estimated that only a passenger vehicle fleet dominated by small and light battery electric vehicles may get Australia close to achieving the net-zero emissions target in 2050.
To meet the target, it is thus important to reverse the trend of increasing car obesity, for all cars. But vehicle mass should not be used as an argument against electrification.
Robin Smit is the founding Research Director at the Transport Energy/Emission Research (TER) consultancy.
WICHITA, Kan., Oct. 20, 2024 — Today, local Textron IAM members voted to accept the latest contract offer, which covers nearly 5,000 members across three campuses in Wichita. They will return to work beginning Wednesday, Oct. 23.
IAM Local 774 (District 70) members voted down the companies’ last, best, and final offer in September, citing concerns over wages and healthcare as some of the top issues they felt Textron Aviation did not address.
Read: Together We are Unstoppable: IAM Leadership Gives Boost to Local 774 Textron Strike Lines
“Our skilled members in Wichita know what it takes to make Textron Aviation products just like they know how to stick together for what’s right,” said IAM International President Brian Bryant. “The dedication it takes to stand up with your Brothers and Sisters to fight for what you deserve is admirable, and the entire IAM is beyond proud of Local 774.”
Read: IAM Local 774 Members at Textron Aviation Vote to Reject Contract, Strike for Fairness
The offer extended across the table in September was not enough for many workers at one of Wichita’s largest aircraft producers. Keeping Textron Aviation as a strong player in a competitive market, these essential workers toiled during the worst pandemic in recent history. With wages 7% below the national average for aerospace members at Local 774, they fought hard to bring their wages up and over flatline.
Healthcare was another top concern for many families employed by Textron Aviation. With a deeply flawed healthcare system, many of the industry’s top savings measures include passing these costs onto hardworking families for Local 774.
Read: IAM Local 774 Members Demand More for Families, Wichita Community as Textron Aviation Strike Enters Second Wee
The new offer that Local 774 members voted on over the weekend includes a fifth year, as several members were adamant about not having a contract expire in an election year. There is also a 5% wage increase and an additional $3,000 directable bonus.
Some of the other highlights include:
31% overall increase in wages throughout the five-year agreement
$3,000 directable lump sum to use how the member sees fit
Longevity bonuses
New technical and license holder premium pays
Automatic Quarterly Increases raised to 30 cents per hour
COLA cap increased from $700 to $1,500
Define Benefit plan negotiated new rate increases
New Insurance premium increase caps at 3%
Insurance premium rates will remain at 2025 rates for the No Deductible plan for the life of the agreement
Improvements earned time off with improved accrual time
“Our members know what matters to them and used their voices as the essential tool to gain more,” said IAM Southern Territory General Vice President Craig Martin. “Textron Aviation is a powerhouse in today’s market and needed to offer more. I am proud of our members in Wichita – they stood strong and won for their families and communities.”
At a time when unions are flexing their power, there appear to be small glimpses of hope when it comes to business leadership—or at least an understanding that you have to treat your employees respectfully and listen. For those businesses that don’t, the members of the IAM have no problem giving a little push.
“We know aircraft in Wichita,” said IAM District 70 Business Representative for Local 774 Clint Shockley. “We also know family, survival, and our members’ rooted values here. Local 774 members have shown that through collective action and won.”
The new offer will be backdated to Sept. 23 and will remain in effect until September 2029.
SH1 resurfacing next week, north of Levin – ahead of schedule Roading crews working to rebuild a stretch of State Highway 1 north of Levin are ahead of schedule and will be resealing a section of the road next week.
The sealing will take place next week over two days – Monday 21 October and then again on Thursday 24 October, between the hours of 9am and 6pm (weather permitting).
The work is being carried out next week to make the most of potential efficiencies in the programme and ensure the site is as free from disruption as possible for the long Labour weekend. As a result of next week’s sealing, the road will be under stop/go traffic management with delays of up to 30 minutes expected.
Crews have been on site at SH1 between Roslyn Road and just north of Heatherlea East Road since the end of September, rebuilding the road and working to improve the area’s drainage. Some maintenance work is continuing at night, under one lane stop/go traffic management. However, to give the new asphalt the best chance of success, the sealing of the road needs to be done during the day, for warmer, drier temperatures.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi understands these potential delays are significant and we strongly recommend road users plan their trips accordingly, try to avoid the area or take alternative routes.
NZTA thanks road users in the area for driving to the conditions and for taking an alternative route where possible. NZTA appreciates at times there will be disruption on our network, and our roadworkers will do their best to complete their work safely and efficiently and keep you moving this summer.
Further information
The night-time road maintenance work of SH1 is expected to finish earlier than the advertised date of Wednesday 18 December (weather permitting), and will provide an update closer to the time. Please note, our crews are completing this rebuild work in sections, and further daytime resealing in this area is expected, with delays. We will communicate further resealing works closer to the time.
Keep up to date with our maintenance work via our webpage here:
The season’s work is funded through the State Highway Maintenance and Pothole Prevention activity classes in the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP).
“When hospitals are attacked, their infrastructure destroyed, and the electricity cut off, the lives of patients and medical staff are under threat.”
Hundreds of people in need of vital care must urgently be evacuated as their lives are in danger. Essential items, including food, are only entering in quantities that are largely insufficient for the population in the north of the Strip.
“This is purely and simply a collective punishment imposed on Palestinians in Gaza, who must choose between being forcibly displaced from the North or killed,” said Halford. “We fear that this will not stop. Israel’s all-out war on Gaza seems to have no end in sight. Israel’s allies bear a heavy responsibility for this dire situation, caused by their unwavering support for the war. They must immediately do everything in their power to obtain a sustained ceasefire. Not tomorrow, not in a week. Now.”
The British Columbia election has turned out to be a nail-biter. Throughout the four-week campaign, the polls predicted a very close race between the incumbent NDP led by David Eby and a newly rejuvenated Conservative Party under the leadership of John Rustad. Those polls turned out to be accurate as no clear winner has emerged in the hours after British Columbians cast their ballots.
The B.C. Liberal Party, a right-of-centre amalgam of Liberal and Conservative voters federally that had ruled the province between 2001-2017, disappeared from the scene, resulting in a political realignment — New Democrats vs. Conservatives — and matching what has become the norm in Canada’s three other western provinces.
In one way, the 2024 election is a repeat of the 2017 vote, when the B.C. Liberals and the NDP were just two seats apart. The Greens threw their three seats behind the NDP to pave the way for an NDP government. The same may well prove to be the case this time around once the dust has settled.
In another way, this election is reminiscent of 1952, when a newly led Social Credit party under W.A.C. Bennett came out of nowhere to topple the old-line Liberal and Conservative parties, edge out the CCF (the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation) — predecessor to today’s NDP — by a single seat and go on to rule the province for a full 20 years.
In 1951, Bennett had broken with his party, the Conservatives, to sit as an Independent MLA. Rustad had been turfed out of his party, the B.C. Liberals, to sit as an Independent MLA, before assuming the leadership of a B.C.’s dormant Conservative Party. The Conservatives had not held a seat in the provincial legislature for almost 50 years, and had last won a provincial election in 1928.
Yet in 2024, with 43.5 per cent of the popular vote compared to the NDP’s 44.5 per cent, Rustad’s party is a major contender for power.
Geographical and ideological divides
What the election results ultimately show is that there are two British Columbias. The NDP tends to dominate on the coast, with a clear majority of the seats in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island. The Conservatives dominate the B.C. Interior of the province, with a fair sprinkling of suburban seats in the Lower Mainland as well.
Beyond the geographical divide lies a deeper ideological one. In some ways it parallels the old divide between a more free-enterprise oriented party and one with a stronger commitment to the welfare state. Rustad said as much in his speech on election night. But there is more to the story than that.
The NDP, after all, has become much more of a centrist party than it was previously, in particular when it governed the province under Dave Barrett between 1972 and 1975.
It’s no accident that in the 2024 election, no small number of federal Liberal supporters voiced their support for the NDP rather than the Conservatives. With respect to issues like gun control, protection of the environment, reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples or vaccine mandates during pandemics, their views align more closely with the NDP than the Conservatives.
British Columbia is clearly polarized politically, a phenomenon we’re seeing even more distinctly south of the border and in various European countries.
The task of governing from the centre — on the assumption that the NDP and Greens reach a confidence-and-supply agreement — may therefore prove a more challenging one than before due to a much empowered Conservative opposition.
But had the Conservatives won a clear mandate to govern, they would have faced significant opposition from the more liberal-minded sections of the population given some of the party’s hard-line positions on unabashed resource development, Indigenous reconciliation and the role of private versus public providers in the health-care system.
Such is the state of play in Canada’s westernmost province.
Philip Resnick 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.
Press Conference by the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Siobhán Mullally.
—————————–
Briefing reporters in New York City, a UN expert highlighted that limited progress has been made to integrate measures to combat trafficking in persons into the Women and Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, nearly 25 years after the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1325.
Siobhán Mullally, the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children delivered a report to the 79th session of the General Assembly that “looks at the intersections between trafficking in persons and Gender Peace and Security, extending beyond the attention on Women Peace and Security to include a wider focus on gender and gender equality, recognizing the significance of gender in the realization of justice, peace and security.”
Mullally said, “the achievement of gender equality requires a transformation of gendered relations of power and inequality and a recognition of the indivisibility of economic, social and cultural and civil and political rights.”
In her report to the General Assembly, Mullally called for effective measures to address the gendered impact of trafficking in persons in the WPS agenda and related action plans and programmes. She presents targeted recommendations to strengthen action to combat trafficking in persons in the WPS agenda, prioritising human rights of trafficked persons, effective prevention and accountability measures, including reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence.
While recognition of trafficking in persons for purposes of sexual exploitation, or sexual slavery, as a form of sexual violence in conflict has increased attention to such risks, other forms of trafficking in persons, for purposes of forced labour, forced marriage, or domestic servitude, receive less attention, resulting in failures to identify, assist and protect victims of trafficking, and failures of prevention, the Special Rapporteur’s report noted.
She also raised concerns about limited attention to rights of persons with disabilities in WPS actions, and in peacebuilding measures, despite women and girls with disabilities being disproportionately impacted by armed conflict.
Mullally said racism and racial discrimination play a pivotal role in increasing the risks of trafficking in persons and in limiting the effectiveness of prevention, protection and assistance measures. She said, “in conflict and post conflict situations, discrimination and violence against indigenous peoples, persons of African descent and racialized and minority communities intersect with gender to increase risks of trafficking for all purposes of exploitation, including by armed groups and armed forces and by criminal organizations and networks.”
The expert concluded by saying the best way to prevent trafficking in persons is “ensuring safe migration, planned relocation, for example, in the context of climate displacement, and effective access to asylum resettlement opportunities without discrimination.”
Deadly attacks on journalists in Gaza and double standards and discrimination against those advocating for Palestinian rights have created a global crisis of freedom of expression, Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression said.
Presenting her report to the General Assembly, Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, highlighted the widespread violations of freedom of expression arising from the conflict in Gaza, including the killing of journalists in Gaza, the crushing of protests worldwide against the carnage, the muzzling of Palestinian advocacy and the upsurge of disinformation, misinformation and hate speech online and offline.
Speaking to reporters in New York today (18 Oct), Khan said, “The target killings of journalists, arbitrary detention of dozens of them, the extensive destruction of press facilities and equipment in Gaza, the denial of access to international journalists, as you know, I think only one has been permitted to enter by Israel. The banning of Al Jazeera, the tightening of censorship within Israel and in the Occupied Territories, seem to indicate a strategy of the Israeli authorities to silence critical journalism and obstruct documentation of possible international crimes. We all know the deliberate killing of a journalist is a war crime, yet not a single killing of a journalist this past year, or for that matter, in previous years in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has ever been properly investigated, prosecuted or punished. Impunity is total.”
The Special Rapporteur also said, “Bans, including some blanket bans of pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been imposed in many European countries. Campus protests, as you know, in the United States earlier this year, were crushed harshly. Public display of Palestinian national symbols like the flag or the keffiyeh and certain slogans have been prohibited, even criminalized in some countries. Such blanket discriminatory prohibitions of speech, protest and slogans are inherently incompatible with international human rights because they fail to meet the test of necessity, proportionality and the principle of non-discrimination.”
Khan added, “We also see the silencing and sidelining of dissenting voices in academia and in the arts. Some of the best academic institutions in the world, as you know, have failed to ensure equal protection to all members of their academic communities, whether Jewish, Palestinian, Israeli, Arab, Muslim or otherwise, and intellectual intercourse has been diminished. Artistic freedom is being censored in many institutions in Western countries.”
She said, “While Arabs, Jewish Israelis and Palestinians are all targeted online, many companies, most companies, actually have shown a bias in their responses. As far as I could see, all of them were showing a bias in their responses, being more lenient regarding Israel and more restrictive about Palestinian expression. And from what I can see, it seems that inherently biased policies, opaque, inconsistent content moderation and heavy reliance on automated tools have led to this over restrictive, unbalanced content moderation.”
The Special Rapporteur also said, “Online and offline, international legal standards are being distorted and misinterpreted to conflate criticism of Israel and Zionism with anti-semitism. Anti-semitism is racial, the worst form of racial and religious hatred of Jews, and must be unequivocally condemned. But conflating protected speech which is political criticism with prohibited speech which is hate speech undermines the fight against anti-semitism, and it also chills freedom of expression.”
Khan added, “The point I want to make is equality is a fundamental principle of human rights, and States, companies and private institutions are obliged uphold that right to equality in the context of the right to freedom of expression of all persons, and any restriction, there are very clear guidelines laid down in international law as how they should be made and those guidelines are not being followed.”
The Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
City of York Council has published information to support residents and visitors as a key road near York Station closes over 5 nights in November.
As an essential part of works to transform the area to the front of York Station, the new Queen Street diversion road will be closed for five consecutive weeknights. The road will reopen to traffic during the day.
The road will be closed from:
7.30pm on Monday 4 November 2024 until 6.00am Tuesday 5 November 2024
7.30pm on Tuesday 5 November 2024 until 6.00am Wednesday 6 November 2024
7.30pm on Wednesday 6 November 2024 until 6.00am Thursday 7 November 2024
7.30pm on Thursday 7 November 2024 until 6.00am Friday 8 November 2024
7.30pm on Friday 8 November 2024 until 6.00am Saturday 9 November 2024
These closures are to allow the removal of the remaining part of Queen Street Bridge, which was left in place while further work took place to protect the city walls.
This follows two weekend closures in April 2024 which saw the removal of the majority of Queen Street Bridge and the construction of the diversion road.
The council has now published information to offer advice for pedestrians, cyclists, wheelers, blue badge holders, bus users, taxis and drivers.
Trains to and from York will be running as usual. Buses will continue to operate throughout the closure, but some routes will change as a result of the road closures. This will include the temporary relocation of some bus stops.
Free shuttle buses will also be running until midnight, between Blossom Street and stops RF-RJ opposite the station. The shuttle buses will run regularly and will stop at all regular bus stops along the route.
The station car park will be open during these works. Residents and businesses on Queen Street will be able to access their premises at all times. Lowther Terrace gates will be open as usual.
York remains open for business. Residents and visitors are being asked to please plan ahead if travelling in the area and, if possible, consider other ways to travel in to the city during these closures.
Councillor Kate Ravilious, Executive Member for Transport at City of York Council, said:
“Removing the remaining sections of Queen Street Bridge is an important milestone for the project, as we move closer to seeing the benefits of this exciting transformation.
“We understand how disruptive these closures are and will continue working to keep disruption to a minimum.
“As with the closures earlier in the year, we encourage everyone to plan ahead and give themselves extra time if travelling in the area and check the travel information online.
“We appreciate the efforts to help keep York moving throughout these works, and want to thank residents, visitors and businesses for their continued patience.”
This major scheme is being delivered in partnership by City of York Council, Network Rail, LNER and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority alongside contractor for the highways works for the project, John Sisk & Son.
The project will completely transform the area to the front of the station, providing an effective transport interchange, enhanced public space and an improved setting for the city walls.
BRUSSELS, Oct. 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Eclipse Foundation, a leading open source foundation, today announced the release of Eclipse Zenoh 1.0.0, a breakthrough open source protocol that seamlessly integrates communication, storage, and computation in embedded systems and across cloud platforms. This milestone release builds on years of development and real-world deployment experience, delivering new features tailored for developers and engineers in robotics, automotive, and broader edge and IoT sectors.
“Eclipse Zenoh has proven to be a valuable protocol for innovative robotics and automotive applications, and with this release, we expect that trajectory to accelerate,” said Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation. “Its unique blend of abstraction, scalability, and high performance make it ideal for complex, real-time applications like advanced robotics.”
Eclipse Zenoh, which has been in use for several years, unifies data in motion, data at rest, and computations. The 1.0.0 release represents a significant evolution, incorporating insights from industrial deployments to deliver a mature, production-ready solution.
“The Eclipse Zenoh 1.0.0 release represents a carefully considered step forward,” said Angelo Corsaro, CEO & CTO of ZettaScale, the creator of the Zenoh project. “We’ve taken the time to learn from real-world implementations, refining Zenoh to meet the complex needs of modern network communication. This release offers developers an efficient, scalable toolset that streamlines development and communication across critical technology stacks.”
Key enhancements in Eclipse Zenoh 1.0.0 include shared memory and zero-copy support, advanced end-to-end protection, high-performance access control, and specific extensions for robotics and automotive protocols. As the 1.0.0 release, the update also introduces backward compatibility and enables long-term support.
Eclipse Zenoh has gained significant adoption across industries such as manufacturing, transportation, medical, and industrial automation. To see a list of industry adopters, visit https://zenoh.io/adopters/
Eclipse Zenoh has also been recognised by the Robot Operating System (ROS) community as the leading protocol for robotics, further validating its capabilities in robotics applications.
About the Eclipse Foundation The Eclipse Foundation provides our global community of individuals and organisations with a business-friendly environment for open source software collaboration and innovation. We host the Eclipse IDE, Adoptium, Software Defined Vehicle, Jakarta EE, and over 420 open source projects, including runtimes, tools, specifications, and frameworks for cloud and edge applications, IoT, AI, automotive, systems engineering, open processor designs, and many others. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, the Eclipse Foundation is an international non-profit association supported by over 385 members. Visit us at this year’s Open Community Experience (OCX) conference on 22-24 October 2024 in Mainz, Germany. To learn more, follow us on social media @EclipseFdn, LinkedIn, or visit eclipse.org.
Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
Media contacts: Schwartz Public Relations (Germany) Gloria Huppert/Marita Bäumer Sendlinger Straße 42A 80331 Munich EclipseFoundation@schwartzpr.de +49 (89) 211 871 -70/ -62
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
18 OCTOBER 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:
1,345,039
1.6701
(2)Cash-settled derivatives:
(3)Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell:
TOTAL:
1,345,039
1.6701
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
1,000
2438.04p
1p ORDINARY
SALE
300
2440.1743p
(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:
21 OCTOBER 2024
Contact name:
MARK ELLIOTT
Telephone number:
01253 376539
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.
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
ECKOH 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
18 OCTOBER 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:
10p ORDINARY
Interests
Short positions
Number
%
Number
%
(1)Relevant securities owned and/or controlled:
20,624,891
7.0982
(2)Cash-settled derivatives:
(3)Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell:
TOTAL:
20,624,891
7.0982
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
10p ORDINARY
SALE
17,450
43.0755p
(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:
21 OCTOBER 2024
Contact name:
MARK ELLIOTT
Telephone number:
01253 376539
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.
