A new Lancet Commission report highlights the urgent need for regulatory reform to address the health impacts resulting from the rapid expansion of commercial gambling. The report reveals that gambling harms are far more substantial than previously understood, exacerbated by the increased visibility of the gambling industry through digital and online platforms.
The harms associated with gambling extend beyond financial losses and include physical and mental health problems, relationship breakdown, heightened risk of suicide and domestic violence, increased crime, and loss of employment. According to the report, an estimated 80 million adults worldwide experience gambling disorder or problematic gambling.
Dr. Angela Rintoul, Principal Research Fellow at Federation University and a member of the Lancet Commission, expressed concern over the Australian government’s failure to respond to urgent cross-party recommendations from the Murphy Inquiry.
The Murphy Inquiry ‘you win some, you lose more’ was released in June 2023, detailing 31 recommendations, with the aim of reducing and ending gambling advertising and addressing the serious risk of suicide linked to gambling and a comprehensive national strategy on online gambling harm.
Dr. Rintoul stated, “We know that gambling causes enormous harm not only to those who gamble, but their family members, friends, and colleagues. High levels of gambling contribute significantly to suicide, domestic violence and other health and wellbeing issues. Constant promotion of gambling is exposing young people to gambling advertising as never before, with devastating consequences for many.”
The Lancet Commission report emphasises that the harms of gambling are not evenly distributed, with adolescents, children, and those from disadvantaged socio-economic groups being more at risk.
The Lancet Commission report calls for effective and well-resourced regulatory controls and international leadership to urgently reduce the impact of commercial gambling on public health.
The Lancet Commission is an independent international body of experts that provides evidence-based recommendations to address pressing global health challenges. The Commission brings together leading researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to develop strategies for improving public health and achieving sustainable development.
Quotes attributable to Federation University Australia Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Duncan Bentley
“At Federation University, our mission is to transform lives and enhance communities and the recommendations in the Lancet Commission Report clearly outline urgent recommendations that will help keep our communities safe.”
“Gambling advertising has catastrophic impacts on lives far beyond financial stress and it is our responsibility to protect young people who are especially vulnerable to the risks.”
Quotes attributable to Federation University Australia Pro Vice Chancellor Research and Executive Deal, Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Professor Remco Polman
“The Lancet Commission Report is timely considering the Murphy inquiry in Australia and the government must heed the report’s recommendations. I am proud that Federation University is globally at the forefront of this issue.”
“Gambling does significant harm to the individual as well as their environment. It will be key to develop effective strategies to reduce the harms of excessive gambling and protect our children from the harmful effects and the predatory strategies of gambling companies.”
BOSTON, Oct. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — QuEra Computing, the leader in neutral-atom quantum computing, today announced that on September 6th, it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) to strengthen their collaboration towards the advancement and industrialization of quantum technology. This agreement builds on an April 2024 contract, under which QuEra will deliver a state-of-the-art quantum computer to Japan, installed on-premises alongside AIST’s NVIDIA-powered ABCI-Q supercomputer.
As part of this new collaboration, QuEra will establish and operate a cloud-based platform, providing remote access to the quantum computer for researchers, collaborators, and external users. This platform will seamlessly integrate with AIST’s high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, including the ABCI-Q supercomputer.
The collaboration will promote the development of a hybrid environment between ABCI-Q, a function of Global Research and Development Center for Business by Quantum-AI Technology (G-QuAT) and QuEra Computing’s neutral atom quantum computer. Additionally, the applicability of optical materials and components necessary for the hardware development of next generation neutral atom quantum computers will be tested. This effort aims not only to scale up and enhance the performance of quantum computers but also to standardize processes to strengthen future supply chains.
As the demand for the industrialization of quantum technology continues to grow, the enhanced cooperation between the two institutions is expected to lead to new technological advancements and market creation.
About QuEra QuEra Computing is the leader in developing and productizing quantum computers using neutral atoms, widely recognized as a highly promising quantum computing modality. Based in Boston and built on pioneering research from Harvard University and MIT, QuEra operates the world’s largest publicly accessible quantum computer, available over a major public cloud and for on-premises delivery. QuEra is developing useful, scalable and fault-tolerant quantum computers to tackle classically intractable problems, becoming the partner of choice in the quantum field. Simply put, QuEra is the best way to quantum. For more information, visit us at quera.com and follow us on X or LinkedIn.
About AIST The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the country’s largest public research organizations. AIST dedicates itself to bridging innovative technological seeds with commercial applications, enhancing industry and societal welfare.
Media Contact Merrill Freund press@quera.com +1-415-577-8637
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, Oct. 25 — Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang met with representatives of the advisory board of the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management (Tsinghua SEM) in Beijing on Friday.
Noting that China’s economic operation is stable overall and making progress, Ding, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that the country is speeding up the implementation of a package of incremental policies, as it strives to achieve its annual economic and social development targets.
He highlighted the ever-growing development momentum driven by reform and innovation, which serves to promote China’s steady and long-term economic development.
China always firmly supports economic globalization and will open its door only wider to the world, according to Ding, who also said that the country is willing to share the fruits of development with the world.
Ding expressed hope that the advisors would continue to actively provide suggestions and support the development of China’s economy and education system.
Citing the country’s abundant development opportunities, Apple CEO Tim Cook, chair of the advisory board, said that Apple is willing to expand investment in China — to achieve mutual benefits and win-win outcomes.
The advisory board of the Tsinghua SEM was founded in October 2000. Comprised of global business executives, business school deans and renowned scholars, the board aims to help make Tsinghua SEM a world-class school in terms of economics and management, by improving its teaching and research capabilities.
New research led by ARU finds barriers prevent everyone enjoying nature equally
New research indicates that UK adults experience less of a connection with nature than adults from most other countries, ranking 59th out of 65 national groups surveyed.
The study, which includes data from 56,968 adults aged between 18 and 99, also found that levels of connection with nature are associated with several socioeconomic and demographic factors across countries.
Led by Professor Viren Swami of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), the study involved over 250 academics from over 60 countries and is published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.
The UK was ranked 59th out of 65 on the Connectedness to Nature Scale, which asks participants to rate statements, such as “I often feel a sense of oneness with the natural world around me”, “I have a deep understanding of how my actions affect the natural world”, and “I often feel part of the web of life”.
Data for some countries was separated into different languages – for example English and French responses from Canada – providing 65 national groups. Nepal, Iran, and South Africa were the top three nations, while Israel (63rd), Japan (64th), and Spain (65th) were at the bottom of the rankings.
The UK scored better on the Nature Exposure Scale, which measures people’s contact with nature around their home and work, their recreational visits, and their nature awareness.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Lithuania were the leading three countries, with the top 10 nations on the Nature Exposure Scale all European, with the exception of French-speaking Canadians. The UK was 31st out of 65, and the bottom three nations were Lebanon, South Korea and, finally, Brazil.
Across all nations, the study found that women reported both higher nature connectedness and greater nature exposure than men, consistent with previous research showing that women overall tend to have greater environmental concern and empathy with nature. Both connectedness to nature and nature exposure scores also increased with age, which is possibly linked to older adults having more time and opportunities to engage with nature.
Taking results from the two measures together, greater nature exposure and connectedness to nature scores were both linked to socioeconomic factors. Higher scores were significantly associated with greater financial security, living in a rural location, a higher level of education, being in a committed relationship, and being in a racial majority in that particular country.
Lead author Viren Swami, Professor of Social Psychology at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), said:
“Spending time in a natural environment can provide a number of really important benefits.
“My previous research has shown how being in green spaces, ‘blue’ environments, such as by rivers or the coast, and even snowy landscapes can improve different facets of psychological well-being and mental health, and of course there are physical health benefits from spending time outdoors in nature.
“The evidence that being in nature is good for you is undeniable, but crucially this new study shows that exposure to nature and levels of connectedness to nature are not enjoyed equally by different nations or across different social groups.
“The significant associations with financial wealth, being better educated, and being part of the racial majority within a particular country reflects known socioeconomic inequities in terms of lack of access to natural environments. Racial minorities may also experience natural environments differently, for example in terms of a sense of belonging, and this can impact on people’s attitude to nature and their desire to access it.
“Unfortunately, barriers to accessing nature exist in countries across the world and it is important these barriers are broken down to allow people from all backgrounds to access and enjoy the benefits of natural spaces.”
Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –
On October 24, the State University of Management held the first training in entrepreneurial competencies as part of a large-scale project of the University Technological Entrepreneurship Platform of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia.
The opening was given by the rector of the State University of Management Vladimir Stroev, who spoke about the importance of entrepreneurial skills in the modern world.
“The State University of Management closely cooperates with the Ministry of Economic Development in the field of entrepreneurship development. In particular, it is the operator of the “My Good Business” competition, within the framework of which it works with all “My Business” centers in the country. Also this year we are holding entrepreneurial shifts in children’s recreation centers. One was already in “Okean”, there will be one in “Artek” and “Orlyonok”.
The entrepreneurial competencies that you will receive today at the training will not only help in your studies and project activities, but will also increase your competitiveness in the labor market,” Vladimir Vitalievich noted.
More than 80 students of the State University of Management came to the Information Technology Center for a business intensive. The training was conducted by an accredited trainer of the Russian Venture Company, Liliana Banis, and the CEO of VR Concept, Denis Zakharkin.
The meeting participants learned how ideas for innovative products are formed, got acquainted with the principles of project management, discussed real market cases, learned how to form a business plan and determine the role of technology in a project. The theoretical block was devoted to studying the algorithm for creating a startup with practical tasks after each stage.
In addition, in just a few hours, students learned to identify market trends and resources needed for business development, identify client segments, target audiences and their needs.
The training ended with a final pitch, where future entrepreneurs learned to present their startups to potential investors in two minutes. The projects prepared under the guidance of the trainers turned out to be completely different – from software for optimizing traffic to a dating service based on musical preferences.
All participants were given certificates of completion of the training, which will give them a starting point when applying for the Student Startup competition, and the most active students received memorable gifts and prizes from the organizers.
Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 10/25/2024
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Dmitry Chernyshenko visited Ulyanovsk State University – a participant of the Priority-2030 program
October 25, 2024
Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov during an inspection of the youth laboratory of Ulyanovsk State University – a participant in the Priority-2030 program
October 25, 2024
Visit to Ulyanovsk State University – participant of the Priority-2030 program
October 25, 2024
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Dmitry Chernyshenko visited Ulyanovsk State University – a participant of the Priority-2030 program
Universities participating in the Priority 2030 program have concluded more than 6,000 contracts worth 62 billion rubles with industrial partners. This was reported by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, commenting on the implementation of the largest program for the development of Russian universities.
“Universities participating in the Priority 2030 program have actively joined in solving problems aimed at ensuring our country’s technological leadership, one of the national goals outlined by President Vladimir Putin. Thus, they are building and strengthening partnerships with enterprises in the real sector. Over two and a half years, more than 420 consortiums have been created within the program, uniting universities, research organizations, and businesses. More than 6,000 agreements have been concluded with industrial partners for a total of more than 62 billion rubles. This joint work is aimed at conducting research, creating new technologies and products, and improving production processes,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
Examples of the consortium’s successful work include a joint project of MSTU Stankin, the A.A. Blagonravov Institute of Mechanical Engineering of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the V.A. Trapeznikov Institute of Control Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Professor N.E. Zhukovsky Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, SPbGMTU, Roscosmos State Corporation, Rosneft Oil Company, Shvabe, Mil and Kamov Scientific and Production Center, Technological Center, and USC. Together, the university, research institutes, and businesses are working to create and implement technologies in mechanical engineering.
The most important task of Priority 2030 is to train highly qualified personnel to meet economic demands, noted the head of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, Valery Falkov.
“Within the framework of Priority 2030, network programs are actively developing, which imply the organization of training using the resources of several universities, with the participation of representatives of the real sector of the economy. This is an effective tool for improving the quality of training specialists in the regions. Since 2021, more than 380 network educational programs have been operating,” he said.
As an example of such work, the Minister cited the program of the Transbaikal State University and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, which jointly train personnel for the mining industry. Students undergo practical training at the facilities of one of the country’s leading gold mining companies, Highland Gold, which was the initiator and partner of the track.
Another successful example is the first program for artificial intelligence researchers in Russia, which was launched this year, combining the expertise of four of the strongest universities and the experience of high-tech companies. We are talking about the course prepared by ITMO, MIPT, HSE and Innopolis University together with Yandex and Sber. Its main difference is its focus on developing new fundamental models, architecture and machine learning algorithms. In the future, these guys will be at the forefront of new technologies.
Also, within the framework of the Priority-2030 program, over 500 laboratories equipped with modern full-cycle equipment have been created to train strong specialists. For example, the St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation has an aerospace micromechanics laboratory, which trains students in the field of design and testing of micromechanical devices that solve aerospace navigation problems. The equipment can be used to carry out research and development work at the request of industrial partners.
Universities participating in Priority 2030 are talking about some of their developments at the PriorityFest2024 festival, which is taking place on October 24–25 at MGIMO.
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.
Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Christina Lynn Morris (46, Plant City) has pleaded guilty to wire fraud. She faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. Morris has also agreed to forfeit $293,202, which is traceable to proceeds of the offense.
According to court documents, Morris worked as a Fiscal and Business Analyst for a public research university (University) with multiple campuses in the Middle District of Florida. She also served as President for a charitable organization (Association) based in the Middle District of Florida. From July 2021 through July 2023, Morris used her positions with the University and the Association to embezzle more than $290,000. Specifically, Morris used her University credit card as well as credit cards issued to other University employees, and the Association’s business bank accounts to conduct unapproved, non-business transactions at various companies, including for the repeated bulk purchase of gift cards.
Further, Morris used the Association’s tax-exempt status to avoid paying sales tax for items purchased with the gift cards and embezzled funds. To make the unapproved, non-business transactions appear legitimate and to prevent her fraud scheme from being discovered, Morris created and submitted falsified documents and made false attestations to the University, and withheld material information from the Association. During the scheme, Morris conducted hundreds of transactions in the manner described above, causing losses of $261,632.17 to the University and $31,569.87 to the Association.
This investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with valuable assistance from the Pasco Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Carlton C. Gammons.
The Government of Canada is committed to supporting the use of official languages in Canada and to ensuring that Canadians have access to information in the language of their choice. Today, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Quebec Lieutenant, announced a new partnership agreement between the Translation Bureau and Laval University to create a microprogram in interpretation. The goal of this partnership is to help bolster the number of accredited interpreters in Canada, many of whom provide services to Parliament and to Government of Canada departments and agencies.
October 25, 2024 – Québec, Quebec – Public Services and Procurement Canada
The Government of Canada is committed to supporting the use of official languages in Canada and to ensuring that Canadians have access to information in the language of their choice.
Today, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Quebec Lieutenant, announced a new partnership agreement between the Translation Bureau and Laval University to create a graduate microprogram in interpretation. The goal of this partnership is to help bolster the number of accredited interpreters in Canada, many of whom provide services to Parliament and to Government of Canada departments and agencies.
The Translation Bureau is looking for ways to address the shortage of interpreters in Canada. The new program announced today will be launched in September 2025 and consist of 12 credits in interpretation.
This partnership will allow the Translation Bureau and Laval University to collaborate closely on training students and recruiting interpreters, as well as carrying out research and activities focused on the future of the profession.
The Translation Bureau will support Laval University by:
offering the services of at least 2 interpreters who will assist with 2 of the program courses
offering students opportunities for learning in the workplace
inviting students who complete the program to take part in the Translation Bureau’s accreditation exam
making graduating students aware of job openings with the Translation Bureau
Quotes
“This partnership between the Translation Bureau and Laval University is an important part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to supporting the use of official languages and addressing the shortage of interpreters in Canada. This program will help grow the number of accredited interpreters across the country and allow the Translation Bureau to continue offering high-quality services to Parliament, the Government of Canada and all Canadians.”
The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Quebec Lieutenant
“Canadians from coast to coast to coast deserve access to reliable information in the official language of their choice. That’s why today we’re partnering with the Translation Bureau and Laval University to create a new microprogram to train interpreters. This will create new well-paying jobs across Canada and ensure that our official languages are spoken, shared and translated for everyone to enjoy.”
The Honourable Randy Boissonnault Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages
“The creation of this innovative microprogram responds to a societal need: the training of high-level interpreters, ready to evolve in a booming field. I am delighted with this promising partnership between Université Laval and the Government of Canada’s Translation Bureau.”
Caroline Senécal Associate Vice-Rector, Academic and Student Affairs at Université Laval
“Interpretation in Canada is of prime importance, both for the proper functioning of institutions and for good understanding between communities. Students are always looking for more profound training to meet the challenges of the working world. I’m convinced that this graduate microprogram will meet contemporary needs as well as the aspirations of the student community.”
Louis Jolicoeur Full professor and director of graduate programs in translation, Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines, Université Laval.
Quick facts
The Translation Bureau is a federal institution within the Public Services and Procurement Canada portfolio. It supports the Government of Canada in serving and communicating with Canadians in both official languages, and in Indigenous, foreign and sign languages.
There are 2 other universities in Canada that offer degree programs in interpretation: the University of Ottawa and Glendon College at York University.
The Translation Bureau has 64 full-time equivalent employees providing official language interpretation services.
The Translation Bureau also uses the services of freelance interpreters to provide interpretation services to Parliament and to federal government departments and agencies.
Twice a year, the Translation Bureau holds an accreditation exam for interpreters, usually in the spring and fall.
Associated links
Contacts
Mathis Denis Press Secretary and Senior Communications Advisor Office of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos 343-573-1846 mathis.denis@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca
On October 3rd, Sciences Po hosted a major event celebrating Africa’s rich heritage and vibrant innovations. On the occasion of the Francophonie Summit and in partnership with the French-African Foundation, AFRICA Day gathered 600 participants to imagine a future where African excellence shines on the global stage.
The day began at the Élysée Palace, where the next generation of African leaders engaged in a discussion with French President Emmanuel Macron. Following this, Arancha Gonzalez, Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA), and founding partner Nachouat Meghouar, Director General of the French-African Foundation, welcomed participants at Sciences Po and officially launched the first edition of the AFRICA Day which was supported by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, UM6P-Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Jeune Afrique magazine, Concerto, OCP Group, and Boston Consulting Group.
Throughout the day and in over 15 sessions, participants had the privilege to directly engage with more than 40 speakers and influential leaders from the continent on topics related to economics and finance, technology, development, climate change, security, entrepreneurship and creative industries. Further program details can be found at theafricaday.com.
For the final plenary session, Mohamed Ould El Ghazouani, the President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and Chairperson of the African Union, stressed how stability was necessary to Africa’s development and prosperity.
The day concluded with a memorable concert by Congolese artist Fally Ipupa, bringing together students and partners in celebration of the diverse voices and vibrant culture of the African continent.
This successful event was made possible by the dedication and enthusiasm of our many student volunteers who made sure the day went smoothly.
AFRICA Day was also a demonstration of Sciences Po’s strong commitment to Africa. We are proud to be one of Europe’s universities with the most active network of partner institutions in Africa. We also offer many academic programs and research dedicated to the continent. PSIA notably offers targeted courses through the African Studies concentration.
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee today released the agenda for its meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. The meeting will include a discussion of how venture capital fund managers are raising capital, including the limits of arm’s length fundraising and challenges facing emerging fund managers. Members of the public can watch the live meeting via webcast on www.sec.gov.
The committee, which provides advice and recommendations to the Commission on rules, regulations, and policy matters relating to small businesses, will continue its exploration of ways to expand early-stage capital raising by focusing on how certain fund managers, including emerging fund managers and diverse fund managers, are accessing capital. Committee members will hear from Professor Sabrina Howell, from the New York University Stern School of Business, who will present her upcoming academic paper that examines venture capital fund manager use of relationship-based versus arm’s length public advertising approaches to fund-raising. Professor Howell will discuss the advantages and challenges of public advertising for traditionally underrepresented managers.
Staff members from the SEC’s Division of Investment Management will provide a brief overview of the registration framework applicable to private fund advisers and their funds, including those exemptions from the registration requirements of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, which may be relied upon by emerging fund managers.
The committee will discuss the challenges that emerging fund managers report facing when seeking to raise investment funds and will hear from Karen Kerr, PhD, Board Member and Charter Class, Kauffman Fellows and Managing Director, Exposition Ventures, about how new fund managers can be supported and promoted through fellowship programs. As part of this discussion, the committee will explore ways to address some of the challenges facing emerging fund managers and consider whether regulatory or other solutions could be undertaken to further support these fund managers and the early-stage companies in which these managers invest.
The full agenda, meeting materials, and information on how to watch the meeting are available on the committee webpage.
Every year, five hours west of Mexico City on Lake Pátzcuaro in Michoacán, residents flock to the island of Janitzio to visit the graves of their departed relatives.
On the evening of Nov. 1, the Noche de animas, or Night of the Souls in Purgatory, families will bring a meal to share with their ancestors. They will also use the time to clean the graves and decorate them with elaborate displays of candles and marigolds. Some will spend the night sleeping among the tombstones.
In Mexico City, parades will feature people in colorful customs with large skull masks while skull-shaped floats move through the streets to the rhythm of Aztec drums. Marigolds, skull-painted faces and swishing skirts will fill the downtown from the main square of the Zócalo to Bellas Artes, the Palace of Fine Arts.
This vibrant scene reflects the blending of Indigenous, European and specifically Mexican customs that define Day of the Dead celebrations today.
As a scholar of colonial Mexico, I study how Indigenous people have maintained their traditions despite the Spanish invasion. Whereas scholars once thought that these cultures simply blended – a phenomenon called syncretism – researchers today understand more about how Indigenous people intentionally deliberated about which of their own traditions to continue, and how.
Celebrations for the dead had an important place in Indigenous cultures before the Spanish came. But, as historian James Lockhart explained, the Spanish, in their attempts to impose their religion and customs, often did not recognize what was most important to local cultures. As long as Indigenous celebrations for the dead did not contradict Spanish preaching, they could go unnoticed.
Indigenous choices
The immediate effects of the Spanish invasion brought hard choices for Indigenous people. Most of the Indigenous deaths of the conquest came not by the sword, but by epidemic diseases such as smallpox and salmonella, for which the native population had no natural immunity. In the 16th century, whole towns depopulated, and people needed to decide where they would go to find the best opportunities.
After the Spanish came, around Lake Pátzcuaro, displaced families suffering the effects of European illnesses and the deaths of family members moved to cities and towns. On the shores of the lake and on the island of Janitzio, they continued their customs of sharing harvest produce with the dead.
Setting aside time to care for the tombs of the dead became a yearly observance during the colonial period. After independence from Spain in 1821, a series of state decrees in Michoacán even encouraged residents to honor the war heroes buried on Janitzio.
Since the island had already been sacred for hundreds of years, it was a logical site for the veneration of the new heroes of Mexican independence. So, patriotism strengthened the Indigenous tradition of honoring the dead, which was already underway.
How Indigenous practices survived
In Mexico City, colonial policies also ironically allowed Indigenous practices to survive. Before the Spanish came, the Aztecs displayed thousands of skulls of sacrificial victims on a skull rack, called the tzompantli.
The Aztecs honored many of their sacrificial victims before these rituals with days of feasting, fine clothes, luxury lodging and other pleasures. Each year, during the festival of Miccailhuitontli, the “little feast of the dead” in the ninth month of the Aztec calendar, children were ritually killed. In the tenth month, it was the adults who were sacrificed during the festival of Huey Miccailhuitl, “great feast of the dead.”
Although Spanish military invaders suppressed these celebrations, they also unintentionally gave the newly colonized Aztecs ways to combine their beliefs with Christian celebrations.
Franciscans and other religious orders who followed brought the medieval rituals of religious theater and processions as part of their efforts to convert the local people. Both of these highly public medieval practices gathered large numbers of spectators, as Aztec rituals had done before the invasion.
The Indigenous actors in these plays, themselves recent converts, portrayed pageants during Christmas, Holy Week and other observances.
While the friars did not plan to draw on Indigenous beliefs, these religious plays had parallels with the preconquest Aztec practice of deity impersonation. For example, before the Spanish came, in the festival of Toxcatl the Aztecs would dress up a specially chosen prisoner as their deity of divination Tezcatlipoca. The impersonator danced and paraded through the city on his way to be sacrificed atop the main temple.
When Catholic religious theater came to the city, local actors continued to take on the persona they represented to such a degree that one local actor even hanged himself after portraying Judas in a Passion play.
Over time, taking cues from the “mascaradas” – the large, papier-mâché heads of Spanish processions and festivals – Day of the Dead began featuring enormous, colorful skulls parading through the streets, just feet away from where the Aztecs once displayed human skulls.
Beyond graves
Besides the usually cited All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day on Nov. 1 and 2, more covert European elements have influenced Day of the Dead practices. One of these is the belief in the soul and an afterlife. Historian Jill McKeever Furst explains that in the Aztec view, only death in battle or during childbirth earned immortality.
Most people went to Mictlan, the Land of the Dead, releasing their vital energy into the universe and ceasing to exist as individuals. Today, depictions of the living interacting with the dead, singing to or talking with them, such as in the movie “Coco,” likely reflect adapted ideas about the afterlife from Christianity, as cultural critic Anise Strong has noted.
European influences have also shaped home altars with their seven or nine levels, representing layers of underworld, Earth and paradise. Research has revealed that many Indigenous communities in what is now Mexico viewed the universe as flat and placed Mictlan far away from the living, rather than below the Earth.
Historians Jesper Nielsen and Toke Reunert have noted that it is likely that Indigenous images of the universe as made of three realms, with a reward in the sky, Earth in the middle, and the world of the dead below, come from Dante’s “Divine Comedy”. Dante’s literature depicts the universe in a vertical fashion – from the heights of heaven, through purgatory, Earth and with abysmal hell at the bottom.
As local people converted, they left horizontal views of the universe and moved toward a positive up and a negative down. The vertical cosmos contrasts with ancestral Indigenous views of the universe as a plane where humans and supernatural beings interacted.
People gather on the island of Janitzio, Mexico, to clean the graves of their deceased loved ones, decorate them with marigolds and bring baskets with offerings for the Day of the Dead in Mexico. Gerardo Vieyra/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Celebrations continue
The island of Janitzio on Lake Pátzcuaro and Mexico City show how Indigenous choices helped their traditions survive despite Spanish influence. In the city of Pátzcuaro, sharing food with the dead during harvests continued alongside All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. Meanwhile, in Mexico City, the history of public ritual sacrifice gave way to the religious pageantry of Spain’s Renaissance.
Today, individuals and groups continue to decide how to celebrate the Day of the Dead. Whether it’s about communicating with the dead, letting go, or believing they remain among the living, the holiday’s strength lies in its ability to hold many meanings.
As long as Indigenous, Spanish and modern Mexican customs continue in home rituals and public celebrations of past lives, current lives and cultural heritage, the Day of the Dead will be alive and well.
Ezekiel Stear does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Governor Kathy Hochul today announced a new real-time weather data tool to help inform New Yorkers when there is an increased risk of wildfires. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and New York State Mesonet at the University at Albany researchers are utilizing data from the University at Albany’s statewide weather network to generate daily Fire Danger Ratings to offer more reliable wildfire information and improve public safety.
“We’re seeing the effects of climate change in real time, with dangerous wildfire seasons across the continent year after year,” Governor Hochul said. “We want to make sure the state has the latest tools and information to prepare for and respond to wildfires to ensure our communities and resources are protected.”
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Interim Commissioner Sean Mahar said, “Even before wildland fires ignite, accurate data is crucial to deploy resources and advise communities of potential dangers. DEC’s partnership with New York State Mesonet will offer enhanced and reliable wildfire information to help keep communities safe by harnessing the power of the Mesonet to increase the number of stations recording observations in each of the state’s Fire Danger Rating Areas. This data will help inform a new, easier to read map that will benefit New Yorkers when wildfire dangers arise.”
New York State Mesonet Director June Wang said, “As the climate is getting warmer, the frequency and severity of fire weather is increasing across the U.S. This new collaboration will respond by taking full advantage of NYS Mesonet weather data and expertise, providing a more detailed and accurate fire danger rating scale.”
Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Jackie Bray said, “Wildfires are a threat to people, animals, nature and communities. This new data tool will help get critical information to the public and firefighters faster and more accurately so that the danger created by these wildfires can be minimized.”
UAlbany’s Atmospheric Sciences Research Center Director and Executive Director of the NYS Mesonet Chris Thorncroft said, “Localized weather data has a critical role to play in how we adapt to the most severe impacts of climate change. We are proud to continue working with our public and private partners across the state on projects like this one that improve the resilience of New Yorkers to weather-related extremes.”
Localized Fire Weather Information
The New York State Mesonet is the nation’s most advanced and largest early-warning weather detection system. It features 127 standard weather observation stations that cover the entire state, including at least one in every county and borough. Each site measures temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, pressure, precipitation, solar radiation, snow depth, soil information and offers camera images. The data is collected in real-time every five minutes, feeding weather prediction models and decision-support tools for users across New York.
DEC’s Wildfire Predictive Services issues and updates a fire danger map that divides New York into multiple Fire Danger Rating Areas and then rates each on a wildfire risk scale from low to extreme.
The enhanced data collection helps identify the local variability of fire danger across the state, allowing community leaders, emergency managers and everyday New Yorkers to adapt their activities to prevent fires and reduce damage. It will be publicly available, offering year-round fire danger ratings and, in conjunction with DEC’s weather forecasts, other fire weather environmental and meteorological variables for all Fire Danger Rating Areas in New York.
Improving Wildfire Preparedness
Fire Danger maps are published simultaneously on both the DEC website and the New York State Mesonet Fire Danger Products web page.
Similar to the current RAWS system, the New York State Mesonet will provide the national Weather Information Management System, which serves as the host for the National Fire Danger Rating System, with the data necessary to publish regional fire danger rating products.
The public website available through the New York State Mesonet offers current and historic fire weather information, updated daily. The project is funded by DEC through a U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant.
View the New York State Mesonet Fire Danger Products page here.
The DEC Fire Danger Map will continue to host the fire danger map in addition to specific information about fire danger ratings and the fire danger rating areas.
Fire Danger is ‘High’ in Entire State
Recent dry conditions across the state are resulting in a “High” fire danger. A high fire danger means all fine, dead fuels ignite readily and fires start easily from most causes, including unattended brush and campfires. Fires may become serious and controlling them difficult unless attacked successfully while still small. The remainder of New York State is at a moderate level of fire danger. An updated fire danger map is available on the DEC website. While the statewide burn ban is no longer in effect, brush burning should only be done when absolutely necessary. Burning garbage or leaves is prohibited year-round in New York State.
Open burning is prohibited in New York, with these exceptions:
Campfires or any other outdoor fires less than three feet in height and four feet in length, width or diameter are allowed.
Small cooking fires are allowed.
Ceremonial or celebratory bonfires are allowed. Disposal of flags or religious items in a small-sized fire is allowed, if it is not otherwise prohibited by law or regulation.
Only charcoal or dry, clean, untreated or unpainted wood can be burned.
Fires cannot be left unattended and must be fully extinguished.
For more information about fire safety and prevention, go to DEC’s FIREWISE New York webpage.
Mayor urges public to stay safe at Derry Halloween celebrations
25 October 2024
As the city’s world renound Halloween celebrations begin in earnest this Monday October 28th, Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Councillor Lilian Seenoi-Barr, has appealed to the public to make safe choices to ensure a safe and happy celebration for everyone.
The Awakening the Walled City Trail in the city centre will run nightly from 6pm to 9pm from Monday October 28th to Wednesday October 30th
It is set to draw crowds of up to 25,000 people each night before the climactic carnival parade and fireworks on Thursday 31st October which traditionally attracts over 30,000 people.
Other attractions include ghastly ghost tours, creepy arts and crafts, spooky story-telling and horrific haunted houses.
With such large crowds expected, Mayor Barr appealed to everyone to follow the Carnival Care guidance and plan ahead to ensure they get to and from the event safely.
“All the necessary preparations have been made for record crowds over the coming days but we still need the cooperation of the public to ensure that this is an enjoyable festive experience for everyone,” she said.
“To cope with the huge influx of people expected in and around our city centre, a number of measures have been introduced to manage the numbers.
“I would ask people to access the trail maps and to follow all signage.
“For those travelling to and from the event by car, please familiarise yourself with the traffic and travel advice and consider public transport or active travel to help reduce congestion in and around our city centre.
“Also please co-operate fully with stewards and the PSNI who will be there to ensure your safety.
“We all have a responsibility to safeguard those around us and to make sure our behaviour doesn’t put others at risk.”
Parents are being advised to be extra vigilant when it comes to keeping an eye on children and young people throughout the festival. Festival and Events Manager at Council, Jacqueline Whoriskey, issued some further advice to those attending.
“With such large crowds expected it is a good idea to plan ahead and arrange meeting points if you are out in a group,” she stressed. “Please ensure teenagers have transport home if out with friends, and that mobile phones are charged.
“Translink will have additional services operating over the weekend and especially on Halloween night to help reduce traffic and parking in the city centre and ensure people get home safely.
“We can’t wait to have everyone with us, so access all the information on the event website and plan an unforgettable Derry Halloween.”
Derry Halloween is funded by Derry City and Strabane District Council, Tourism Northern Ireland and The Executive Office, with support from Ulster University and Air Coach. Follow all the latest news at derryhalloween.com which includes traffic and travel, carnival care and accessibility advice.
Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –
On October 25, 2024, the State University of Management held a ceremonial opening of the student expeditionary corps.
The official ceremony took place in the lobby of the Information Technology Center. All those present were able to see unique footage of the expeditions conducted by the students of the State University of Management at a photo exhibition, and also watched a video about the first trip.
The opening ceremony was attended by the rector of the State University of Management Vladimir Stroyev, the acting vice-rector of the State University of Management Nikolay Mikhailov, the vice-rector of the Russian Technical University MIREA Igor Tarasov and the deputy general director of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives Evgeny Murakhveri. The event was moderated by the head of the expeditionary corps of our university Vladimir Linnik.
Vladimir Stroyev admitted that the path to opening the corps was long and difficult. The first step in this direction was the project “Beacons of Friendship. Towers of the Caucasus”, which is still being successfully implemented, but has a relatively narrow localization. The expeditionary corps will significantly expand the geography of trips and diversify the areas of activity with environmental, patriotic and charity trips. As an example, the rector cited search expeditions to Sebezh.
“These works not only contribute to personal development, but also help preserve historical knowledge, are useful for society, especially in today’s situation. On behalf of the university management, I promise the corps comprehensive support and from this moment I propose to consider it open,” said Vladimir Vitalievich.
Vice-Rector of MIREA Igor Tarasov said that the volunteer expedition movement at his university has been around for 10 years, but previously trips were organized only for its students. And six months ago, the “Arctic Team” was created – a unique in its scale and subject inter-university project based on RTU MIREA. In a relatively short period of its work, 77 expeditions have already been conducted for 1,000 people from 45 universities in Russia. Their participants have visited many regions of Russia, the North Pole and Antarctica, as well as Armenia, Hungary and Kazakhstan. Right now, the ship “Mikhail Somov” is carrying another student expedition along the Northern Sea Route. At the end of his speech, Igor Aleksandrovich thanked several students of the State University of Management by name for their active participation in the activities of the “Arctic Team”.
Acting Vice-Rector of the State University of Management Nikolay Mikhailov, as a candidate of geographical sciences, has spent more than 10 years of his life on expeditions. At the opening ceremony, he admitted that he loves the mountains most of all and noted that students make a great contribution to the work of scientists, and their participation in the search for the remains of soldiers of the Great Patriotic War is extremely important for the whole society. Nikolay Nikolaevich wished those who have already started going on expeditions to preserve their love for them for the rest of their lives. He admitted that soon the current students will become qualified specialists, managers, will start families and will have less and less time for travel, but at least occasionally it is always nice to go on trips.
At the level of vice-rectors, Igor Tarasov and Nikolai Mikhailov signed an agreement on cooperation between the student expeditionary corps of GUU and RTU MIREA.
Deputy Director General of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives Evgeny Murakhveri noted that any expedition is a combination of business with pleasure, it is teamwork, which also reveals forgotten history and lost elements of culture to society, which is fully consistent with modern state policy, the tasks set by Vladimir Putin, and the direction of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives. The guest said that in his youth he loved hiking, studied to be a geophysicist and spent an interesting scientific youth on expeditions. On hikes he made friends for life, became interested in rock music, acquired survival skills and worked with various tools, so he highly recommends enrolling in the student corps of the State University of Management – it will be interesting.
The head of the expedition corps Vladimir Linnik reported that before the opening, our students had managed to participate in 10 expeditions. The plans for 2025 include an archaeological expedition to the village of Khotylyovo in the Bryansk region to the sites of primitive people of the Paleolithic era, as well as to the Valdai Reserve to clean up the eco-trail. If the topic of future expeditions corresponds to the student’s field of study, then participation can be counted as practice. Nikolay Mikhailov, taking advantage of the occasion, presented Vladimir Linnik with a membership card of the Russian Geographical Society, of which he himself has been a member for 52 years.
Awarded with the Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation for her search activities, third-year student of the Institute of Search and Rescue Sciences Daria Monul briefly spoke about her four years of experience in expeditions and wished everyone to receive high awards for their favorite work.
At the end of the ceremony, the expedition participants showed a second video about the expeditions of the GUU students, after which, together with their friends from MIREA, they personally shared their emotions from the trips, talked about their travels and thanked the leadership of the two universities for the opportunities provided.
Anyone can join the GUU expeditionary corps.
Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 10/25/2024
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
SINGAPORE, Oct. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — EduEdge is proud to announce its Formula-Style method, designed to transform the way struggling students master English. Despite English being Singapore’s first language, many students struggle with deeper aspects of the language, such as comprehension, written expression and critical thinking. This proficiency gap affects not only their English grades but also their performance in other subjects. Research highlights a strong link between English language proficiency and academic achievement in areas like Maths and Science, underscoring the importance of mastering English for well-rounded academic success.
From left to right: Angela’s mum, brother, EduEdge Founders: Edwin Edangelus Cheng and Rowena May Yue, Angela Ray Oh
Traditional teaching methods often fall short of helping students achieve true language mastery. As English is the most widely spoken language globally, this lack of holistic proficiency concerns parents who want their children to excel, not just in exams but in life. EduEdge addresses this challenge through a revolutionary approach to English education.
Pioneered by founder Edwin Edangelus Cheng, EduEdge developed the groundbreaking Formula-Style method, designed to take the guesswork out of English learning. Backed by years of educational research, this structured approach goes beyond exam preparation by equipping students with the critical language skills and deep understanding necessary for lifelong success. By breaking down complex language concepts into easy-to-apply formulas, EduEdge empowers students to excel academically while mastering the communication skills essential for future professional achievements.
Edwin Edangelus Cheng’s personal journey resonates with many parents and students. “I once was like your child,” Edwin shares, recalling his struggles with English as a student from a Chinese-speaking family. His experience and years as a public school teacher, where he taught both English and Physics, inspired him to find structured methods for language learning.
“I saw how students approached learning English,” Edwin explains. “They often rely on intuition without the structure or proper articulation needed for true mastery. In Physics, we see results quickly because of its formula and steps. I wondered, could the same formula-style approach work for English?” This question led to the development of EduEdge’s Formula-Style method, offering a more structured and methodical way to teach and learn English.
What makes the Formula-Style method different is its ability to break down English learning into easy-to-apply and easy-to-remember formulas, similar to Maths and Science. This system, known as the Total English Mastery System (TEMS), helps students learn English in a faster, smarter and more effective way. Over the past 10 years, TEMS has helped more than 3,500 students from over 150 schools across Singapore improve by at least two grades, with many achieving high Bs and As in English and General Paper (GP) exams. Students who started with borderline or failing grades found success by mastering six core language skills—Vocabulary, Grammar, Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking.
The impact of the Formula-Style method is shown in the stories of students who have experienced notable success. One such example is Angela Ray Oh, who, like many others, struggled with English during secondary school and was stuck at a C6 grade despite her determination. Her breakthrough came in Sec 4 when her mum enrolled her in EduEdge. After learning structured techniques, Angela’s approach to English transformed, leading her to score an A2 for her O-Levels.
The benefits of these techniques extended beyond secondary school. While studying at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Angela was awarded the Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) STEP Award, a highly competitive scholarship. The application process required writing two essays within 48 hours. Drawing on the writing techniques and critical thinking skills she gained at EduEdge, Angela crafted her submissions with confidence and aced both essays and the interview, demonstrating how EduEdge’s method equips students for real-world success.
This success is no coincidence. EduEdge’s Formula-Style method is powerful, but its true impact is realised through the exceptional educators who bring it to life. The highly qualified and passionate teachers at EduEdge are rigorously selected, ensuring that the method is delivered to its full potential. This combination of structured techniques and top-tier teaching creates a transformative learning experience that drives students’ success.
Every journey at EduEdge begins with a Diagnostic Consultation Assessment (DCA) involving both parents and students. This personalised session provides a clear and quantifiable understanding of the child’s current abilities and identifies specific areas that need improvement. Many parents believe misconceptions like, “My child speaks English, but their test results aren’t great,” or “My child reads a lot, but the results aren’t improving.” The DCA dispels these misconceptions by pinpointing underlying issues in comprehension, writing or critical thinking. This tailored approach allows EduEdge to develop a plan for effective improvement, ensuring more conducive learning.
Parental involvement is a key aspect of the EduEdge approach. Regular feedback is provided via email, based on detailed marking of the child’s submitted work. This ensures parents stay up to date on their child’s progress. Post-lesson consultations are also available to address any specific concerns.
Committed to continuous innovation, EduEdge keeps refining its methods to ensure students receive quality education not just for exams but for lifelong success. As part of its forward-thinking approach, EduEdge is exploring the use of AI and cutting-edge technology to personalise learning for every student further and extend educational support beyond the classroom. These tools will help create a more adaptive learning environment that tracks progress, identifies areas for improvement in real time and provides tailored resources.
Additionally, EduEdge is expanding its reach with care, ensuring that high teaching quality is never diluted while maintaining accessibility for students and parents. With existing branches in Serangoon and Bukit Timah, EduEdge is set to open a new branch in Marine Parade, further increasing accessibility across Singapore while upholding the high standards that has made it one of the country’s leading English tuition specialists.
Experience the EduEdge difference today. Book a complimentary 60-minute DCA using the coupon code ELSUCCESS. Give your child, aged 10 to 18 (or Primary 4 to Junior College 2), the personalised support they need to improve their English skills and excel academically.
It’s not every day that the name of a mountain is restored to the one used by Indigenous peoples for centuries.
But after nearly two years of trying, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians finally convinced the U.S. Board on Geographic Names on Sept. 18, 2024, to formally agree to rename the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of Tennessee to Kuwohi (koo-whoa-hee).
The mountain, known as “Clingmans Dome” since 1859, has been a sacred place for the Cherokee people, serving as a place of prayer, reflection and gathering of mulberries for medicine. In fact, the name Kuwohi translates to “the mulberry place” in Tsalagi, the Cherokee language.
Though known as Kuwohi by the Cherokee people for hundreds of years, explorer Arnold Guyot effectively ignored that history after he surveyed the mountain range in 1859. Guyot named the peak “Clingmans Dome” after his friend Thomas Lanier Clingman, a North Carolina U.S. senator and a Confederate brigadier general during the Civil War. Clingman never set foot on this mountain, but his name remained there for 165 years until now.
What is place name repatriation?
The government’s renaming of the mountain to Kuwohi is a significant example of place name repatriation, or the return of an original, Indigenous name to a particular place or landscape.
Sometimes the primary motivation for place renaming is to remove an offensive or irrelevant place name from the landscape, such as the renaming of Squaw Peak in Arizona to Piostewa Peak in 2008.
In other cases, such as the renaming of Mount McKinley in Alaska to Denali in 2016, the motivation was to create a more authentic and historically accurate name for a particular place.
In the case of Kuwohi, the return to its original name was a mixture of both. The government’s decision recognized the original Indigenous name and removed the name of a white man who defended the enslavement of African people. It is also about restoring a larger sense of respect and recognition of Indigenous identity across the landscape.
Just as important is the fact that it was individuals from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians who put forward this proposal and remained the lead throughout the process.
Place naming is only truly reparative if these processes truly reflect the agency and intent of these historically oppressed groups. Otherwise, it contributes to the long history of dismissing Indigenous claims to land and culture by not involving them.
View of observation tower on Kuwohi in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Joshua Moore/Getty Images
Why does place naming matter?
A name is one of the most fundamental ways to identify and give meaning to places. In other words, the name of the place makes a big difference in how people perceive it.
There is growing public recognition that place names can transmit harmful messages that misrepresent the history and identity of minority communities. Place names also can demonstrate how those in power have used them to disrespect and misrepresent ethnic and racial groups that have been historically discriminated against.
For those groups, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names found in 2022 that derogatory place names are a source of recurring trauma.
If place naming did not matter, disputes over name changes would not occur. Some critics find place renaming to be an example of unnecessary political correctness, while others see it as a meaningful solution that will leave a lasting positive impact.
The elimination of names of Confederate generals from some U.S. military bases provides another example. Former President Donald Trump has pledged to restore the name “Fort Bragg” to the North Carolina Army base that’s known today as Fort Liberty if reelected. Originally named after Braxton Bragg, a slave-owning Confederate general, the fort was one of nine U.S. installations that the Defense Department ordered in 2023 to have their names changed to among 3,700 recommendations.
Trump’s stance exemplifies the wave of backlash that has occurred against local and state school officials across the country that have removed the names of Confederate generals and others from public buildings.
Despite such backlash, efforts by Indigenous people and civil rights advocates slowly move forward and are seen across the U.S. in places like streets, neighborhoods, college campuses and beyond.
For Lavita Hill and Mary Crowe, the two members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians who took the lead on submitting the proposal, the renaming of Kuwohi was a moment of success. Their campaign was heavily inspired by the renaming of Mount Doane to First Peoples Mountain in Yellowstone National Park in 2022.
Crowe told reporters that she saw friends and relatives shed tears when they learned of the name change. “It was humbling,” she said. “It was beautiful.”
What comes next?
The success of the effort to restore the name Kuwohi may help other communities in their ongoing place renaming efforts.
One such proposal involves a 100-year-old fight to rename Mount Rainier in Washington state to “Tacoma,” the original name given to it by the Salish people of the Pacific Northwest.
This movement began in 1924 among the Salish and other groups because its namesake, Peter Rainier, was a British naval officer who was known as being “anti-American.”
Another example is a push by 20 different Indigenous tribes, including the Lakota Nation and the Oglala Sioux Tribe, to rename Devils Tower in Wyoming to Bear Lodge. The current name of this butte resulted from a poor English translation of the original Indigenous name of “bear lodge” to “bad god’s tower.” Over time, the name was simplified to “Devils Tower.”
As geographers who have studied the significance of place renaming, we have learned that it is important to engage the folks that these movements will benefit most in all conversations and decisions.
What is at stake is not just removing insulting names, but also ensuring that the process of changing place names is collaborative of all Americans, especially historically oppressed communities, to truly be restorative and meaningful for society.
Seth T. Kannarr is affiliated with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as an Education Branch VIP (Volunteer-In-Parks) part-time.
Derek H. Alderman once served on the Federal Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names, U.S. Department of Interior.
It was a heady week for the Paris-based global media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) — celebration of seven years of its Taipei office, presenting a raft of proposals to the Taiwan government, and hosting its Asia-Pacific network of correspondents.
Director general Thibaut Bruttin and the Taipei bureau chief Cedric Alviani primed the Taipei media scene before last week’s RSF initiatives with an op-ed in the Taiwan Times by acknowledging the country’s media freedom advances in the face of Chinese propaganda.
But the co-authors also warned over the credibility damage caused by media “too often neglect[ing] journalistic ethics for political or commercial reasons”.
As a result, only three in 10 Taiwanese said they trusted the news media, according to a Reuters Institute survey conducted in 2022, one of the lowest percentages among democracies.
“This climate of distrust gives disproportionate influence to platforms, in particular Facebook and Line, despite them being a major vector of false or biased information,” Bruttin and Alviani wrote.
“This credibility deficit for traditional media, a real Achilles heel of Taiwanese democracy, puts it at risk of being exploited for malicious purposes, with potentially dramatic consequences.”
RSF director-general Thibaut Bruttin speaking at the reception celebrating seven years of Taipei’s Asia Pacific office. Image: Pacific Media Watch
The week also highlighted concerns over the export of the China’s “New World Media Order”, which is making inroads in some parts of the Asia-Pacific region, including the Pacific.
At the opening session of the Asia-Pacific correspondents’ seminar, delegates referenced the Chinese disinformation and assaults on media freedom strategies that have been characterised as the “great leap backwards for journalism” in China.
“Disinformation — the deliberate spreading of false or biased news to manipulate minds — is gaining ground around the world,” Bruttin and Alviani warned in their article.
“As China and Russia sink into authoritarianism and export their methods of censorship and media control, democracies find themselves overwhelmed by an incessant flow of propaganda that threatens the integrity of their institutions.”
Both Bruttin and Alviani spoke of these issues too at the celebration of the seventh anniversary of the Asia-Pacific office in Taipei.
Why Taipei? Hongkong had been an “likely choice, but not safe legally”, admitted Bruttin when they were choosing their location, so the RSF team are happy with the choice of Taiwan.
Hub for human rights activists “I think we were among the first NGOs to have established a presence here. We kind of made a bet that Taipei would be a hub for human rights activists, and we were right.”
About 200 journalists, media workers and press freedom and human rights advocates attended the birthday bash in the iconic Grand Hotel’s Yuanshan Club. So it wasn’t surprising that there was a lot of media coverage raising the issues.
RSF director-general Thibaut Bruttin (centre) with correspondents Dr David Robie and Dr Joseph Fernandez in Taipei. Image: Pacific Media Watch
In an interview with Voice of America’s Joyce Huang, Bruttin was more specific about the “insane” political propaganda threats from China faced by Taiwan.
However, Taiwan “has demonstrated resilience and has rich experience in resisting cyber information attacks, which can be used as a reference for the world”.
Referencing China as the world’s “biggest jailer of journalists”, Bruttin said: “We’re very worried, obviously.” He added about some specific cases: “We’ve had very troublesome reports about the situation of Zhang Zhan, for example, who was the laureate of the RSF’s [2021 press freedom] awards [in the courage category] and had been just released from jail, now is sent back to jail.
“We know the lack of treatment if you have a medical condition in the Chinese prisons.
“Another example is Jimmy Lai, the Hongkong press freedom mogul, he’s very likely to die in jail if nothing happens. He’s over 70.
“And there is very little reason to believe that, despite his dual citizenship, the British government will be able to get him a safe passage to Europe.”
Problem for Chinese public Bruttin also expressed concern about the problem for the general public, especially in China where he said a lot of people had been deprived of the right to information “worthy of that name”.
“And we’re talking about hundreds of millions of people. And it’s totally scandalous to see how bad information is treated in the People’s Republic of China.”
Seventeen countries in the Asia-Pacific region were represented in the network seminar.
Representatives of Australia, Cambodia, Hongkog, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar, Mongolia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, South Korea, Tibet, Thailand and Vietnam were present. However, three correspondents (Malaysia, Singapore and Timor-Leste) were unable to be personally present.
Discussion and workshop topics included the RSF Global Strategy; the Asia-Pacific network and the challenges being faced; best practice as correspondents; “innovative solutions” against disinformation; public advocacy (for authoritarian regimes; emerging democracies, and “leading” democracies); “psychological support” – one of the best sessions; and the RSF Crisis Response.
RSF Oceania colleagues Dr David Robie (left) and Dr Joseph Fernandez . . . mounting challenges. Image: Pacific Media Watch
What about Oceania (including Australia and New Zealand) and its issues? Fortunately, the countries being represented have correspondents who can speak our publicly, unlike some in the region facing authoritarian responses.
“While this puts Australia in the top one quarter globally, it does not reflect well on a country that supposedly espouses democratic values. It ranks behind New Zealand, Taiwan, Timor-Leste and Bhutan,” he says.
“Australia’s press freedom challenges are manifold and include deep-seated factors, including the influence of oligarchs whose own interests often collide with that of citizens.
“While in opposition the current Australian federal government promised reforms that would have improved the conditions for press freedom, but it has failed to deliver while in government.
“Much needs to be done in clawing back the over-reach of national security laws, and in freeing up information flow, for example, through improved whistleblower law, FOI law, source protection law, and defamation law.”
Dr Fernandez criticises the government’s continuing culture of secrecy and says there has been little progress towards improving transparency and accountability.
“The media’s attacks upon itself are not helping either given the constant moves by some media and their backers to undermine the efforts of some journalists and some media organisations, directly or indirectly.”
A proposal for a “journalist register” has also stirred controversy.
Dr Fernandez also says the war on Gaza has “highlighted the near paralysis” of many governments of the so-called established democracies in “bringing the full weight of their influence to end the loss of lives and human suffering”.
“They have also failed to demonstrate strong support for journalists’ ability to tell important stories.”
An English-language version of this tribute to the late RSF director-general Christophe Deloire, who died from cancer on 8 June 2024, was screened at the RSF Taipei reception. He was 53. Video: RSF
Aotearoa New Zealand In New Zealand (19th in the RSF Index), although journalists work in an environment free from violence and intimidation, they have increasingly faced online harassment. Working conditions became tougher in early 2022 when, during protests against covid-19 vaccinations and restrictions and a month-long “siege” of Parliament, journalists were subjected to violence, insults and death threats, which are otherwise extremely rare in the country.
Research published in December 2023 revealed that high rates of abuse and threats directed at journalists put the country at risk of “mob censorship” – citizen vigilantism seeking to “discipline” journalism. Women journalists bore the brunt of the online abuse with one respondent describing her inbox as a “festering heap of toxicity”.
While New Zealand society is wholeheartedly multicultural, with mutual recognition between the Māori and European populations enshrined in the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, this balance is under threat from a draft Treaty Principles Bill.
The nation’s bicultural dimension is not entirely reflected in the media, still dominated by the English-language press. A rebalancing is taking place, as seen in the success of the Māori Television network and many Māori-language programmes in mass media, such as Te Karere, The Hui and Te Ao Māori News.
New Zealand media also play an important role as a regional communications centre for other South Pacific nations, via Tagata Pasifika, Pacific Media Network and others.
Papua New Guinea’s Belinda Kora (left) with RSF colleagues . . . “collaborating in our Pacific efforts in seeking the truth”. Image: Belinda Kora
Papua New Guinea The Papua New Guinea correspondent, Belinda Kora, who is secretary of the revised PNG Media Council and an ABC correspondent in Port Moresby, succeeded former South Pacific Post Ltd chief executive Bob Howarth, the indefatigable media freedom defender of both PNG and Timor-Leste.
“I am excited about what RSF is able and willing to bring to a young Pacific region — full of challenges against the press,” she says.
“But more importantly, I guess, is that the biggest threat in PNG would be itself, if it continues to go down the path of not being able to adhere to simple media ethics and guidelines.
“It must hold itself accountable before it is able to hold others in the same way.
“We have a small number of media houses in PNG but if we are able to stand together as one and speak with one voice against the threats of ownership and influence, we can achieve better things in future for this industry.
“We need to protect our reporters if they are to speak for themselves and their experiences as well. We need to better provide for their everyday needs before we can write the stories that need to be told.
“And this lies with each media house.
The biggest threat for the Pacific as a whole? “I guess the most obvious one would be being able to remain self-regulated BUT not being accountable for breaching our individual code of ethics.
“Building public trust remains vital if we are to move forward. The lack of media awareness also contributes to the lack of ensuring media is given the attention it deserves in performing its role — no matter how big or small our islands are,” Kora says.
“The press should remain free from government influence, which is a huge challenge for many island industries, despite state ownership.
Kora believes that although Pacific countries are “scattered in the region”, they are able to help each other more, to better enhance capacity building and learning from their mistakes with collaboration.
“By collaborating in our efforts in seeking the truth behind many of our big stories that is affecting our people. This I believe will enable us to improve our performance and accountability.”
Example to the region Meanwhile, back in Taiwan on the day that RSF’s Thibaut Bruttin flew out, he gave a final breakfast interview to China News Agency (CNA) reporter Teng Pei-ju who wrote about the country building up its free press model as an example to the region.
“Taiwan really is one of the test cases for the robustness of journalism in the world,” added Bruttin, reflecting on the country’s transformation from an authoritarian regime that censored information into a vibrant democracy that fights disinformation.
Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Dmitry Chernyshenko sent greetings to the participants of the Nauka 0 festival, which opened in the city of Shenzhen in China
October 25, 2024
Dmitry Chernyshenko sent greetings to the participants of the Nauka 0 festival, which opened in the city of Shenzhen in China
October 25, 2024
Dmitry Chernyshenko sent greetings to the participants of the Nauka 0 festival, which opened in the city of Shenzhen in China
October 25, 2024
Dmitry Chernyshenko sent greetings to the participants of the Nauka 0 festival, which opened in the city of Shenzhen in China
October 25, 2024
Dmitry Chernyshenko sent greetings to the participants of the Nauka 0 festival, which opened in the city of Shenzhen in China
October 25, 2024
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Dmitry Chernyshenko sent greetings to the participants of the Nauka 0 festival, which opened in the city of Shenzhen in China
Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Chernyshenko sent greetings to the participants of the Nauka 0 festival, which opened in the city of Shenzhen in China. The event is being held as part of the foreign program of the Decade of Science and Technology, announced by the President of Russia.
“This year, the Open Week is dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China and the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and China. 10 years ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping made a historic decision to establish a joint university, MSU-PPI. During this time, it has become the flagship of bilateral cooperation in higher education, science and innovation. Today, more than 3.4 thousand undergraduate and graduate students study at 14 faculties at MSU-PPI, and large advanced research centers have been created. The landmark initiative of MSU and its rector Viktor Antonovich Sadovnichy – the Open Week Nauka 0 in China – is another bridge of friendship between our countries, their university and academic communities,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
Dmitry Chernyshenko added that the main theme of the week – “Science Around Us” – will unite more than 500 different events. Leading Russian and Chinese scientists, popularizers of science and representatives of science-intensive companies will share their knowledge and practices in the field of research and development.
Rector of Moscow University, Academician Viktor Sadovnichy, speaking about the Nauka 0 Open Week in Shenzhen, noted the importance of the event for the development of science and education.
“This is the second time that we are holding the Nauka 0 Open Week at the joint Russian-Chinese university MSU-PPI. This is a gift from the university community of Russia and China to all those who share our conviction that science and education are the key areas of civilization development and the basis for cooperation between peoples in the modern world. As part of the Nauka 0 Open Week, our students and teachers, as well as leading scientists from academic institutes, will take part in hundreds of popular science and educational events. Their goal is to once again remind society of the results and significance of the researcher’s work. It is important to demonstrate, using outstanding scientific achievements as an example, how scientists’ discoveries affect our present and future,” Viktor Sadovnichy emphasized.
On the Russian side, the festival is organized by the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia with the support of Lomonosov Moscow State University, the Russian Academy of Sciences, scientific and educational organizations and corporations. On the Chinese side, the organizers are the joint Russian-Chinese university MSU-PPI in Shenzhen, and the government of Shenzhen.
Leading Russian scientists will give popular science lectures from October 25 to 27. During master classes, festival visitors will also learn what liquid wires are, create a magnet, feed a single-celled hydra, and extract DNA from a banana. They will see a unique FNIRS device designed to read brain parameters in several people at the same time. Visitors will also try to determine the age of a fish by its scales, print their own DNA on a 3D printer, and learn Chinese calligraphy. And during a “bio tour,” participants will learn about the flora of the MSU-PPI campus.
The festival aims to tell the general public in a clear and accessible language what science is, what scientists do, how scientific research improves the quality of life and what prospects it opens up for modern man.
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.
Today, the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health, announced research grants for four organizations through the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Transmission Dynamics of Respiratory Infectious Diseases Research Funding Opportunity.
October 25, 2024 | Ottawa, Ontario | Public Health Agency of Canada
Understanding how different respiratory infectious diseases, like COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), spread in our environment is important to help prevent serious negative health outcomes. Further research into how these diseases are transmitted and prevented can help inform public health measures that are timely and effective in reducing the impacts of respiratory illness on individuals and the health system.
Today, the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health, announced research grants for four organizations through the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Transmission Dynamics of Respiratory Infectious Diseases Research Funding Opportunity. Queen’s University, Carleton University, the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, and the University of Waterloo will receive funding to work on individual projects investigating the transmission dynamics of respiratory infectious diseases.
These projects will help expand our understanding of respiratory infectious diseases and inform advice for people in Canada on effective measures to prevent their spread. This information will also help prepare for future pandemic planning and response, helping people in Canada prepare for respiratory outbreaks and take the steps needed to keep themselves and others healthy.
Matthew Kronberg Press Secretary Office of the Honourable Mark Holland Minister of Health 343-552-5654
The recent Brics summit in the Russian city of Kazan was less notable for what happened at the meeting than for what happened before, on the margins, or not at all. Among the notable things that did not happen was another expansion of the organisation.
Since the addition of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the 2023 Brics summit in Johannesburg, which almost doubled the number of member countries from the original five (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), further enlargement has stalled.
Argentina, which was also invited in 2023, declined to join. Saudi Arabia, another 2023 invitee, has not acted on the offer to become a member either. Its de-facto ruler, crown prince Mohammad bin Salman, was among the notable absentees in Kazan.
And Kazakhstan, Russia’s largest neighbour in Central Asia, decided not to join shortly before the summit. This drew Russia’s ire, resulting in a prompt ban on imports of a range of agricultural products from Kazakhstan in retaliation.
While invitees have declined the opportunity to join Brics, a long list of applicants have not been offered membership. According to a statement by Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, at a meeting of senior Brics security officials in September, 34 countries have expressed an interest in closer relations with Brics in some form.
This appears to be a substantial increase in interest in Brics membership compared to a year ago, when South Africa’s foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, listed 23 applicants ahead of the 2023 summit.
But the fact that, since then, only six invitations have been extended – and four accepted – indicates that formal enlargement of the organisation, at least for now, has been stymied by the inability of current members to forge consensus over the next round of expansion and the reluctance on the part of some invitees to be associated with the organisation.
Meetings on the margins
The summit declaration may offer little of substance. But there were a number of bilateral meetings before and in the margins of the gathering that are more indicative of the direction of Brics. Perhaps most importantly, India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, and China’s president, Xi Jinping, held their first face-to-face discussion in five years.
This is a remarkable change from just a few months ago, when tensions between New Delhi and Beijing were intense enough for Modi to cancel his participation in the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Astana, Kazakhstan. Yet, with a deal now reached over their countries’ longstanding border dispute, the two most populous and, in terms of GDP, economically most powerful members of Brics have an opportunity to rebuild their fraught relations.
A warming of relations between China and India could generate more momentum for Brics to deliver on its ambitious agenda to develop, and ultimately implement, a vision for a new global order. Implicit in this would be a shift of leadership in Brics from China and Russia to China and India, and with it, potentially a change from an anti-western to a non-western agenda.
This is, of course, something that exercises Putin. He acknowledged as much when he referred to the global south and global east in his remarks at the summit’s opening meeting. He also emphasised that it was important “to maintain balance and ensure that the effectiveness of Brics mechanisms is not diminished”.
In his own bilateral meetings before and during the summit, Putin drove home the point that, despite western efforts, Russia was far from isolated on the world stage. One-to-one meetings with Xi, Modi, South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, and the president of the UAE, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, gave Putin the chance to push his own vision of Brics as a counterpoint to the US-led west.
This may be a view shared in the global east – Russia, China and Iran, as well as non-Brics members North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela. But many in the global south – particularly India and Brazil – are unlikely to go all in with this agenda. They will focus on benefiting from their Brics membership as much as possible while maintaining close ties with the west.
Lacking a coherent agenda
India is the most significant player in Brics when it comes to balancing between east and west. Nato member Turkey is the equivalent on the outside. The country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, travelled to Kazan and did not shy away from an hour-long meeting with his “dear friend” Putin.
The relationship between Moscow and Ankara is fractious and complex across a wide range of crises from the South Caucasus, to Syria, Libya and Sudan. Yet, on perhaps the most divisive issue of all, Russian aggression towards Ukraine, Turkey has consistently maintained opened channels of communication with Russia and remains the only Nato power able to do so.
The fact that there has been relatively little public pressure from official sources in the west on Erdoğan to stop is probably a reflection that such communication channels are still valued in the west. This, and Nato’s continued cooperation with India, point to a hedging strategy by the west. India cooperates with the US, Australia and Japan – the so-called Quad group of nations – on security in the Indo-Pacific, and it has maintained political dialogue with Nato since 2019.
Turkey and India may not see eye-to-eye with the west on all issues. But neither do they with the global east camp inside Brics, and especially not with Russia. If nothing else, this limits the ability of Brics to forge a coherent agenda, deepen integration and ultimately mount a credible challenge to the existing order.
Relying on India and Turkey to do the west’s bidding in undermining Brics, however, is not a credible long-term strategy. Brics may have achieved little as an organisation, but the Kazan summit declaration indicates that its key players continue to harbour aspirations for more.
However, as the flailing expansion drive of the organisation indicates, there is also an internal battle in Brics over its future direction. This, in turn, creates space and time for the west to exercise more positive and constructive influence in the ongoing process of reshaping the international order.
The global east may be beyond redemption, but there is still a massive opportunity to reengage with the global south.
Stefan Wolff is a past recipient of grant funding from the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK, the United States Institute of Peace, the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK, the British Academy, the NATO Science for Peace Programme, the EU Framework Programmes 6 and 7 and Horizon 2020, as well as the EU’s Jean Monnet Programme. He is a Trustee and Honorary Treasurer of the Political Studies Association of the UK and a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre in London.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Christopher Featherstone, Associate Lecturer, Department of Politics, University of York
With less than two weeks to go until the US presidential election, another surprise twist has emerged. Donald Trump has accused the “far-left” Labour party in the UK of election interference by sending volunteers to help the Kamala Harris campaign. This news must have come as a surprise to prime minister Keir Starmer.
The core of the accusations made by Trump and his team is that Labour was offering financial support to volunteers and helping them arrange accommodation for their trips to the US – and that this amounted to “illegal foreign national contributions” to the Harris campaign.
And at the centre of those accusations appears to be a now-deleted LinkedIn post from a Labour official saying she had “10 spots available” to campaign in North Carolina. Labour insists this did not mean any financial support was being offered. Labour figures have suggested the campaigning was being done by private citizens.
Trump’s lawyers filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) against both the Labour party and the Harris campaign on October 22 claiming otherwise. And the finance point is key, since – under the rules of the FEC – foreign volunteers can assist a campaign, but only if they are unpaid. 10 Downing Street insists the campaigners associated with Labour were not being paid.
Want more politics coverage from academic experts? Every week, we bring you informed analysis of developments in government and fact check the claims being made.
While there are important questions that need to be answered as to whether the Labour party did break US election rules, the questions about the implications of Trump’s accusations for US-UK relations are likely to be of even greater significance.
Regardless of whether Trump’s accusations are sustained by the FEC, they are likely to frame his perception of the Starmer government should he win the presidency in less than two weeks’ time. Labour has made improving relations with politicians on both sides of the aisle in Washington a priority. These efforts appear to have been undermined overnight with Trump’s accusations.
These accusations will likely be investigated after the election has been held. If Trump wins the presidency, he will have enormous influence over this investigation and the surrounding media coverage, which would be an unwelcome situation for Starmer to find himself in.
Potentially even more serious is the fact that if Trump loses, this could be the story that he focuses on to explain why he lost. It may seem trivial but triviality has not stopped Trump before. The suggestion that Labour helped Harris could prove just as useful to Trump as the unfounded claims of widespread “voter fraud” in 2020 that helped him seed an insurrection on January 6.
Whether the FEC finds that the role of Labour activists in the Harris campaign constitutes foreign interference or not, entanglement in this story is unlikely to help relations with either a Trump or a Harris White House.
UK invovlement in US elections
Foreign activists have long been involved in US election campaigning – and they do so on both sides.
The current UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, campaigned for Barack Obama in 2012. In 2017, the Australian Labor party was fined by the FEC for paying for their volunteer’s flights to the US to campaign for Bernie Sanders in Democratic primaries.
Indeed, the Trump campaign has used foreign activists and campaigners in the past. Before he decided to run for the seat of Clacton-on-Sea in July 2024, Nigel Farage claimed that he was going to devote his time to campaigning for Trump. Farage has repeatedly been on stage with Trump at his rallies. Former UK prime minister Liz Truss also attended the Republican National Convention in 2024, supporting Trump and calling Joe Biden, then the Democratic Party’s nominee, “weak”.
What is rare, however, is FEC scrutiny on all this campaigning. While the involvement of foreign volunteers is legal and normal in the US, the rules are rarely debated or tested by a legal probe. These accusations may initiate renewed attention to the issue, and potentially a change in these rules in future elections.
Importantly, while the coverage of Trump’s accusations against Labour and the Harris campaign have received huge coverage in the UK, attention in the US is limited. Much of the US media coverage has focused on allegations from John Kelly against Trump. Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, has accused Trump of being a fascist and of having said that he wished he had generals like “Hitler’s generals”. Trump’s claims about the UK have therefore received far less attention in the US than might have been anticipated. This will have diminished the impact of Trump’s claims with US voters, good news for the future. But Starmer should still be concerned about the impact on diplomatic relations.
As with many of Donald Trump’s accusations and more controversial comments, there are a lot of moving parts. Trump showed how important his own personal attitudes were in US diplomacy during his previous administration. He is unlikely to forget about these accusations anytime soon, whether he wins or loses.
Christopher Featherstone 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.
Walmart heiress Alice Walton is one of the richest people in the world and a celebrated philanthropist, whose lifetime giving total recently hit an estimated US$1.5 billion (£1.2 billion). Her largest gift to date, US$390 million in the year to September 2023, included US$249 million for the Alice L Walton School of Medicine in her family’s hometown in Arkansas, US.
Walton’s other major philanthropic activities include founding the Alice L. Walton Foundation, to increase access to the arts, improve education, enhance health and advance economic opportunities. She also established the Art Bridges Foundation to expand access to American art across the nation. So it seems unsurprising that Forbes magazine ranks Walton as one of the 30 biggest lifetime givers in the US.
Her philanthropic efforts have also been recognised with accolades and awards: from being named one of the world’s most influential people by Time magazine, to receiving the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art Medal and the Getty Medal for contributions to the arts and humanities.
But before joining the celebrations, it is important to reflect on billionaire philanthropy for a moment.
From almost a decade of research at the Centre for the Study of Philanthropy & Public Good, it is clear that any billionaire philanthropy comes with questions about the societal costs underpinning it. In the case of huge businesses such as Walmart (a retail chain of hypermarkets, discounters and grocery shops), the sort of areas that come in for scrutiny are labour practices and the treatment of workers, the impact on communities and the environment, as well as tax practices and the cost to the taxpayer.
Such concerns are not new, of course. They are continuations of debates that go back to at least the beginning of the 20th century and the potential tensions between the business practices and philanthropic activities of major industrialists – from Andrew Carnegie, JP Morgan and John D. Rockefeller back then to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg or the Sackler family, founders of Purdue Pharma, nowadays.
There are also questions about the extent to which billionaire philanthropy is actually generous. While US$1.5 billion might sound impressive, it seems a bit like small change when examined more closely.
The size of the sacrifice
With an estimated net worth of US$91.3 billion, Walton has given away around 1.64% of her wealth. According to Forbes’ ranking of billionaires’ philanthropy, this puts her in the second lowest category of philanthropists: those who have given away between 1% and 4.99% of their wealth.
It makes her more generous than her older brother Rob Walton, who is classified as having given away less than 1% of his wealth, but her US$1.5 billion is dwarfed by the philanthropic efforts of some of her contemporaries, such as novelist and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott or investor Warren Buffett.
Scott, with an estimated net worth of US$35.3 billion, has already given away more than US$17 billion, or almost half of her wealth. Buffett, who has given around US$60 billion to date, has promised to give away 99% of his wealth, currently sitting at US$146.4 billion, during his lifetime or at death.
But do these philanthropic efforts actually present personal sacrifices?
It is difficult to get access to billionaires’ income data, but we can assume that a balanced portfolio for a wealthy investor can currently provide an annual return of around 5-8%. In the case of the US$91.3 billion fortune that Walton holds, this could mean an annual return of up to US$7.3 billion per year, acknowledging that depending on investment strategies and successes this might be lower or substantially higher. Compared to this, US$1.5 billion appears, once again, to be quite small.
Whether they present major or meaningful contributions for the billionaire themselves is outlined by Warren Buffett.
“I am giving up nothing that has utility to me”.
Buffett is a signatory of the Giving Pledge, a campaign he launched in 2010 with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Gates’ then-wife Melinda French Gates as an invitation to billionaires to commit the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.
In his pledge, Buffett highlights that although he will give away 99% of his wealth, in fulfilling this pledge neither he nor his family will give up anything they will ever need or want. The remaining 1% of their wealth is sufficient – he has highlighted that “this pledge will leave my lifestyle untouched and that of my children as well”.
So it seems that while billionaire philanthropy might be impressive in absolute terms, and offers significant opportunities for addressing urgent social, cultural, economic, political and environmental challenges, in relative terms its actual contribution might be quite negligible.
This is particularly the case when you compare the societal costs associated with amassing billionaire fortunes with the societal contributions their philanthropy makes, and taking into account the wider damage that extraordinary economic inequality brings about.
So while the major sums involved in billionaire philanthropy can offer unrivalled potential for change, it is still necessary and important to ask questions about the actual significance, scale and sacrifices for all of the parties involved.
Tobias Jung 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.
Will the next human to walk on the Moon speak English or Mandarin? In all, 12 Americans landed on the lunar surface between 1969 and 1972. Now, both the US and China are preparing to send humans back there this decade.
However, the US lunar programme is delayed, in part because the spacesuits and lunar-landing vehicle are not ready. Meanwhile, China has pledged to put astronauts on the Moon by 2030 – and it has a habit of sticking to timelines.
Just a few years ago, such a scenario would have seemed unlikely. But there now appears to be a realistic possibility that China could beat the US in a race that America, arguably, has defined. So who will return there first, and does it really matter?
Nasa’s Moon programme is called Artemis. The US has involved international and commercial partners to spread the cost. Nasa set out a plan to get American boots back on lunar soil over the course of three missions. In November 2022, Nasa launched its Orion spacecraft on a loop around the Moon without humans aboard. This was the Artemis I mission.
Artemis II, scheduled for late 2025, is similar to Artemis I, but this time Orion will carry four astronauts. They will not land; this will be left for Artemis III. For this third mission, Nasa will send a man and the first woman to the lunar surface. Though as yet unnamed, one of them will be the first person of colour on the Moon.
Artemis III astronauts are set to use SpaceX’s Starship vehicle to land on the Moon. Nasa
Artemis III was scheduled to launch this year, but the timescale has slipped several times. A review in December 2023 gave a one in three chance that Artemis III would not have launched by February 2028. The mission is currently slated to happen no earlier than September 2026.
Meanwhile, China’s space programme seems to be moving at speed, without significant failures or delays. In April 2024, Chinese space officials announced that the country was on track to put its astronauts on the Moon by 2030.
It’s an extraordinary trajectory for a country that launched its first astronaut in 2003. China has been operating space stations since 2011 and has been ticking off important, challenging firsts through its Chang’e lunar exploration programme.
These robotic missions returned samples from the surface, including from the lunar far side. They have tested technology that could be crucial for landing humans. The next mission will touch down at the lunar south pole, a region that attracts intense interest because of the presence of water ice in shadowed craters there.
This water could be used for life support by a lunar base and turned into rocket propellant. Making rocket propellant on the Moon would be cheaper than bringing it from Earth, making lunar exploration more affordable. It is for these reasons that Artemis III will land at the south pole. It’s also the planned location for US and Chinese-led bases.
On September 28 2024, China showed off a spacesuit, to be worn by its Moon walkers, or “selenauts”. The suit is designed to protect the wearer against extreme temperature variations and unfiltered solar radiation. It is lightweight and flexible. Is it a sign of China already overtaking the US in one aspect of the Moon race? The company manufacturing the Artemis Moon suit, Axiom Space, is currently having to modify several aspects of the reference design given to them by Nasa.
The lander that will carry US astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface is also delayed. In 2021, Elon Musk’s SpaceX was given the contract to build this vehicle. It is based on SpaceX’s Starship, which consists of a 50m-long spacecraft that launches on the most powerful rocket ever built.
On October 13 2024, Starship scored a successful fifth test flight. But several challenging steps are required before the Starship Human Landing System can carry astronauts down to the lunar surface. Starship cannot fly directly to the Moon. It must refuel in Earth orbit first (using other Starships that act as propellant “tankers”). SpaceX needs to demonstrate refuelling and conduct a test landing on the Moon without crew before Artemis III can proceed.
In addition, during Artemis I, Orion’s heat shield suffered considerable damage as the spacecraft made the high-temperature return through Earth’s atmosphere. Nasa engineers have been working to find a remedy before the Artemis II mission.
Too complicated?
Some critics argue that Artemis is too complex, referring to the intricate way in which astronauts and Moon lander are brought together in lunar orbit, the large number of independently operating commercial partners and the number of Starship launches required. Depending who you ask, between four and 15 Starship flights are needed to complete the refuelling for Artemis III.
Former Nasa administrator Michael Griffin has advocated a simpler strategy, broadly along the lines of how China expects to accomplish its lunar landing. His vision sees Nasa relying on traditional commercial partners such as Boeing, rather than relative “newbies” such as SpaceX.
However, simple is not necessarily better or cheaper. The Apollo programme was simpler, but at almost three times the cost of Artemis. SpaceX has been more successful, and economical, than Boeing in sending crews to the International Space Station.
The Artemis I mission was broadly successful, but Orion’s heat shield suffered damage. Nasa
New technology is not developed through simple, tried approaches but in bold endeavours that push boundaries. The James Webb Space Telescope is highly complex, with its folded mirror and distant position in space, but it allows astronomers to peer into the depths of the universe as no other telescope can. Innovation is especially crucial bearing in mind future ambitions such as asteroid mining and a settlement on Mars.
Does it matter whether the first 21st-century selenauts are Chinese or American? This is largely a question about the relationship between governments and their citizens, and between nations.
Democratic governments depend on public support to safeguard funding for expensive, long-term ventures – and prestige is an important selling point. But prestige in a 21st-century Moon race will be earned by doing it well, not sooner. Rushing back to the Moon could be costly, both financially and in the risk to human life.
Governments must set an example of responsible behaviour. Peace, inclusivity and sustainability should be guiding principles. Going back to the Moon must not be about dominion or superiority. It should be a chance to show that we can improve on how we have previously behaved on Earth.
Jacco van Loon 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.
With COP29, hosted by Baku, right around the corner, let’s have a look at Azerbaijan and its secular history with Altay Goyushow, professor of history at Baku State University and visiting scholar at Sciences Po Center for International Studies (CERI).
A fine observer of the Azerbaijani regime, he answers the questions of Miriam Périer (CERI) about the ruling elite’s attitude toward religion, and Islam in particular, and the need to look back at the Soviet period to understand the current situation.
What is the aim of the current Azerbaijani ruling elite’s policies in the field of religion?
Azerbaijan is a secular state. A genuine secularist movement was started in Azerbaijan in the mid-nineteenth century by the local Russian and European-educated intelligentsia. The greatest success of this movement was the creation of the first secular republic during the First World War and the Russian Revolution.
In 1920, the Red Army put an end to this republic. However, during Soviet rule the secularist traditions of Azerbaijani society strengthened further, even though, as I said earlier, the collapse of the Soviet Union was accompanied by the impressive revival of religion. Soviet rule eradicated local sources of religious knowledge and because of this, in the 1990s, the revival was led primarily by foreign actors.
Then, in the late 1990s, local clerics educated abroad took the leading role in religious proselytism. This situation was unacceptable to Azerbaijani authorities, as they wanted religious learning to be concentrated in the hands of locally educated Muslim clerics. The authorities have been pursuing a policy of domesticating Islam. Unlike the Soviets, the current Azerbaijani government does not intend to get rid of religion; they instead want to make Islamic elites into loyal supporters of the secular system and ruling elite.
This policy has given birth to a complex religious situation in the country. On the one hand, there is an official Islam loyal to the government. On the other hand, there are Islamic communities that aim to exist without the secular state’s interference. The constitution says that the state and religion are separate; however, the real situation is much more complicated.
Both the government and independent Islamic communities complain about interference from their counterparts. Islamic communities complain that the state infringes on their freedom of conscience, while the government complains that independent communities are a threat to the secular nature of the state.
You mention that the current ruling elite of Azerbaijan is particularly concerned by Muharram traditions, partly because these do not correspond to so-called “civilised religion” according to the government. Can you tell us why?
The Azerbaijani government aims to create distinct characteristics of local Islam which it describes as a “civilised” Islam. The methods used to achieve this goal include the implementation of a unique education programme for training Muslim clerics in the newly established Theological Institute, the adaptation of distinct uniforms for Azerbaijani Muslim clerics, the promotion of joint Sunni-Shi’i prayers, among other things.
“Correcting” rituals of Muharram commemorations are among the planned reforms. It should be noted that Muharram is the most popular religious commemoration in Azerbaijan. It has been for centuries. However, beginning in the early twentieth century, some practices of Muharram commemorations, such as self-flagellation or striking oneself with swords and knives, have been heavily criticised by the local secular intelligentsia as “uncivilised” rituals.
The Soviets launched multiple campaigns against Muharram observations like these and others. In the post-Soviet era, this approach has been continued, and some practices have been replaced with novelties, such as making blood donations instead of striking themselves with knives or self-flagellation with metal chains.
During the last decade, another government concern has been the increased pilgrimage of Azerbaijani believers to Shi’i shrines in Iraq and Iran at the end of annual Muharram commemorations. The government considers the rising number of pilgrims to those places as a security risk. So, by implementing various measures and restrictions, the authorities are trying to curb the number of pilgrims.
Does the Azerbaijani population support the ruling elite’s policies toward religion? What is the position of secular youth movements in the face of the government’s attitude toward independent Muslim communities?
It is an interesting question. Azerbaijan, despite the impressive religious revival in the post-Soviet period, remains a largely secular country. So, most Azerbaijanis cherish their society’s secular characteristics and do not appreciate the interference of religion or religious communities in state affairs.
However, state institutions’ deep interference with the life of religious communities in many instances infringes on people’s freedom of conscience. And in this particular matter, there is a generational disruption within society. While the older Soviet-trained and educated part of the society, especially the urbanised part, is not particularly critical of the excesses of the government’s religious policies, the younger population, especially its quite vocal liberal and progressive representatives, despite appreciating and praising the secular fundamentals of the society, is frequently critical of the tough measures implemented by the government in the promotion of religious conformity.
It should also be added that ethnic nationalism is a strong feature of Azerbaijani society. And traditionally, secular nationalists have been critical of Islamic movements, and on this issue, they tend to align more with the government than Islamic communities.
Cover image caption: Baku, Taza-Pir mosque, the seat of the Sheikh-ul-Islam, the head of the Caucasus Muslim Board. (credits: Altay Goyushow)
Research led by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Center for Hybrid Organic Inorganic Semiconductors for Energy (CHOISE), an Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC), discovered a new process to induce chirality in halide perovskite semiconductors, which could open the door to cutting-edge electronic applications.
This illustration shows how the structure of a halide perovskite is distorted when it interacts with chiral molecules. Image from CHOISE
The development is the latest in a series of advancements made by the team involving the introduction and control of chirality. Chirality refers to a structure that cannot be superimposed on its mirror image, such as a hand, and allows greater control of electrons by directing their “spin.” Most traditional optoelectronic devices in use today exploit control of charge and light but not the spin of the electron.
The researchers have been able to create a spin-polarized LED using chiral perovskite semiconductor in the absence of extremely low temperatures and a magnetic field, as was previously reported. The newest advance accelerates the materials development process for spin control.
The details are spelled out in a newly published paper, “Remote Chirality Transfer in Low-Dimensional Hybrid Metal Halide Semiconductors,” which appears in the journal Nature Chemistry. The key was in introducing a chiral molecule with a different headgroup into the perovskite. The chiral molecule intentionally does not fit into the perovskite latticebut “twists” the structure from the surface. The chiral molecule transfers its properties several unit cells or layers deep into the perovskite structure. This twist can be controlled by employing left- or right-handed chiral molecules into the grain boundaries and surfaces of a perovskite film, which control the spin properties accordingly. Such twisted structures enable unique functionalities for energy applications where spin-control adds additional potential by acting as electronic spin filters.
Md Azimul Haque, the first author of the paper, said introducing chirality to the low-dimensional perovskite semiconductors generally includes a chiral molecule being present in the perovskite lattice, which needs extensive analysis every time one changes the composition of the chiral molecule. The ability of a proximal chiral molecule to transfer its properties without changing the perovskite composition makes the process simple, faster, and less limiting on the composition, he said.
“We can create materials with known properties now with added chirality very easily compared to traditional methods,” said Haque, a postdoctoral researcher. “The next step is to experiment with the materials and incorporate them into new applications.”
Funding for the research comes from the EFRC program of the Office of Science within the Department of Energy. The work relied on a broad range of expertise drawn from CHOISE, including NREL, University of Utah, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and Duke University.
Hybrid perovskites refer to a crystalline structure, containing both inorganic and organic components. In other semiconductors, such as those made from silicon, the material is purely inorganic and rigid. Hybrid perovskites are soft and more flexible, “so a twisting molecule on the surface, will extend the effect deeper into this semiconductor than it can in most rigid, inorganic semiconductors,” said Joey Luther, an NREL senior research fellow and corresponding author.
His coauthors from NREL are Steven Harvey, Roman Brunecky, Jiselle Ye, Bennett Addison, Yifan Dong, Matthew Hautzinger, Kai Zhu, Jeffrey Blackburn, Joseph Berry, and Matt Beard. Other coauthors from CHOISE include Andrew Grieder, Yuan Ping, Junxiang Zhang, Seth R. Marder, Heshan Hewa Walpitage, Zeev Valy Vardeny, Yi Xie, and David B. Mitzi.
“This is a new way to induce chirality in halide perovskites,” Luther said, “and it could lead to technologies that we can’t really envision but might be somewhere along the lines of polarized cameras, 3D displays, spin information transfer, optical computation, or better optical communication—things of that nature.”
Operating at altitudes above 99% of the Earth’s atmosphere, NASA’s ER-2 aircraft is the agency’s highest-flying airborne science platform. With its unique ability to observe from as high as 65,000 feet, the ER-2 aircraft is often a platform for Earth science that facilitates new and crucial information about our planet, especially when the plane is part of collaborative and multidisciplinary projects. “We’re deploying instruments and people everywhere from dry lakebeds in the desert to coastal oceans and from the stratosphere to marine layer clouds just above the surface,” said Kirk Knobelspiesse, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “We live on a changing planet, and it is through collaborative projects that we can observe and understand those changes.” One mission that recently benefitted from the ER-2’s unique capabilities is the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem Postlaunch Airborne eXperiment (PACE-PAX) project. The PACE-PAX mission uses the ER-2’s capabilities to confirm data collected from the PACE satellite, which launched in February 2024. The PACE observatory is making novel measurements of the ocean, atmosphere, and land surfaces, noted Knobelspiesse, the mission scientist for PACE-PAX. This mission is all about checking the accuracy of those new satellite measurements.
“The ER-2 is the ideal platform for PACE-PAX because it’s about the closest we can get to putting instruments in orbit without actually doing so,” Knobelspiesse said. The collaborative project includes a diverse team of researchers from across NASA, plus the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON), the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, the Naval Postgraduate School, and other institutions. Similarly, the Geological Earth Mapping eXperiment (GEMx) science mission is using the ER-2 over multiple years to collect observations of critical mineral resources across the Western United States. “Flying at this altitude means the GEMx mission can acquire wide swaths of data with every overflight,” said Kevin Reath, NASA’s associate project manager for the GEMx mission, a collaboration between the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA.
The GEMx team collects visible, shortwave infrared, and thermal infrared data using instruments installed onboard the ER-2. Combining these instruments with the aircraft’s capability to fly at high altitudes bears promising results. “The dataset being produced is the largest airborne surface mineralogy dataset captured in a single NASA campaign,” Reath said. “These data could help inform federal, tribal, state, and community leaders to make decisions that protect or develop our environment.” Learn more about the ER-2 aircraft. Learn more about the PACE-PAX mission. Learn more about the GEMx mission. Learn more about NASA’s Airborne Science Program.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Penny Van Bergen, Head of School of Education and Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Wollongong
Everyone knows a kid who cheats at Monopoly or backyard cricket. Perhaps they have even cheated on a test at school.
If your notice your own child is doing this, you may worry they are headed for a life of crime.
But in developmental terms, cheating is not usually a cause for concern for kids.
What is cheating?
Cheating occurs when a child behaves dishonestly to gain an unfair advantage. They might pretend to roll a six, peek at others’ cards, score a sports game incorrectly, or use video game modifications to skip levels.
Despite parents’ and teachers’ best efforts, cheating is remarkably common. In one experiment, five-year-olds were asked not to peek inside a box while the experimenter left the room. Almost all peeked and most then denied having done so.
A sign of development
The capacity to deceive can signal the emergence of new skills, including an understanding of others peoples’ minds.
To cheat effectively, we have to think about what someone else is thinking. We then need to trick them into believing a different reality. These cognitive skills only emerge in preschool, and it is not until the primary years that children can successfully maintain a false story over time.
Research shows it is very common for children to cheat. spass/Shutterstock
Cheating at school
As children get older, they can get more cautious about cheating in general, but also start cheating at school.
In a US study, more than three in four high school students reported cheating at school at least once over the past year.
Common techniques included sharing their work with others, getting test answers ahead of time, plagiarising from the internet, and collaborating when they weren’t supposed to.
Students were more likely to see cheating as acceptable when helping a peer, or when they could rationalise the behaviour in a pro-social way (for example, they ran out of time and needed to cheat because they were caring for a family member).
Temptation matters
Like adults, children are more likely to cheat when the temptation is greater. In one study, children aged seven to ten were more likely to cheat at a die-rolling game if they could win a bigger prize.
Children and adolescents also report being more likely to cheat to avoid negative consequences. As far back as 1932, US school principal M.A. Steiner wrote how too much work encourages students to cheat. In a 2008 study, students themselves reported cheating at school because they were uninterested in the material or under pressure to perform.
While temptation encourages cheating, the risk of being caught can encourage honesty. Children must weigh up the benefits of cheating against the risks of being caught.
As they get older, children may also consider how cheating impacts their sense of self. For example, “being a good person is important to me – so I won’t cheat”.
Do boys cheat more than girls?
Some children are more likely to cheat than others. For example, in a 2019 study in which children’s rolls of six dice could win them prizes, boys cheated more than girls. Boys and girls also approached cheating differently: girls were more likely to cheat to avoid losses, while boys were equally motivated by losses and gains.
Social skills also make a difference. A 2003 US study showed second grade children who have been rejected by their peers are more likely to cheat at board games – even when playing with new children they have never met before. It is possible such children are not as good at regulating their emotions and behaviours.
Adolescents with lower self-restraint and greater tolerance for breaking rules are more likely to accept academic cheating, as are those who misbehave in class.
Although cheating is common, it can pose increasing problems for children and teens as the stakes become higher. Research with Chinese students in the eighth grade showed those who cheated when scoring their own test were less likely to have learned the correct answer later on.
Here are four things parents and teachers can do to help discourage cheating.
1. Have open conversations: talk openly and compassionately about why cheating is not a good idea (for example, “it ruins the fun for your friends”). Research shows children and adolescents who made a promise to experimenters not to cheat at a game were less likely to do so. But children who fear getting in trouble are less likely to tell the truth.
2. Don’t put too much pressure on results: when talking about school, use language related to learning rather than performance (“just try your best, that’s all you can do”). Studies show highly competitive academic environments make cheating more likely, because the benefits of success and risks of failure are heightened.
3. Be positive about your child’s character:in one study, preschoolers were allocated to one of two groups. In the “good reputation” group, children were told “I know kids in your class and they told me you were a good kid”. In another group, children were not told anything. All children were then asked not to peek at a tempting toy while the experimenter left the room. Those in the good reputation group were less likely to cheat (60%) than those in other group (90%).
4. Show kids how it’s done: if adults are being honest and open, children are more likely to do the same. In one study, children were told there was a big bowl of candy in the next room. When this turned out to be a lie, children themselves were more likely to cheat in a game and to lie about it.
Penny Van Bergen receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the NSW Department of Education.
“Nature positive” is seemingly everywhere. Two weeks ago, Australia hosted the first Global Nature Positive Summit. This week, nations are meeting in Colombia for a global biodiversity summit to discuss progress on nature positive commitments.
Nature positive has a simple meaning: ensuring more nature in future than there is now. Making it a reality is the hard part.
It’s necessary because nature is in trouble. Once common species are becoming threatened and threatened species are going extinct. Humans, too, will be severely impacted. When ecosystems are healthy, they provide vital benefits. Insects pollinate crops, trees slow floodwaters, earthworms, fungi and soil critters make healthy soil and natural vistas improve our mental wellbeing.
While Australia’s government is working to embed nature positive ideas in environmental reform efforts, we may see lip service rather than real change. The government’s Nature Positive Plan faces opposition from businesses and politicians ahead of a looming election. And the plan itself doesn’t fully align with true nature positive outcomes.
In our article published today in Science, we lay out four vital steps to ensure nature positive policies are actually positive for nature.
Step 1: Ensure biodiversity increases are absolute
At present, Australia’s planned nature positive reforms would only require developers removing habitat to achieve a relative net gain for nature compared to business as usual.
We have argued this approach won’t work – it should be an absolute net gain.
It might sound abstract – but it makes all the difference. For instance, consider a population of endangered koalas living on the site of a new mine. Any negative impact to koalas would have to be offset with a benefit to the species elsewhere, usually on a separate site.
If Australia had absolute net gain in effect, the company would have to ensure there are more koalas overall. If the mine site and an offset site had a combined population of 100 koalas before the development, this combined population would need to be more than 100 koalas after the development – even though some will be lost.
But let’s say these 100 koalas over two sites were expected to fall to 80, even if the mine didn’t happen. In this case, a relative net gain could be achieved if the mine and offset site had 90 koalas. The population fell, but less than it would have otherwise.
By contrast, England brought in a net gain approach in February of this year, with developers now required to provide a 10% net gain in biodiversity.
Importantly, the vast majority of developments affecting threatened species habitat never require any offset at all. Plugging this major gap is also key.
For nature positive to work properly, any damage done to a species by a development has to be offset by net gain. Pictured: Peak Hill gold mine in NSW. Phillip Wittke/Shutterstock
Step 2: Avoid conservation payments in risky situations
The Australian government plans to introduce conservation payments, where developers can pay into a government-managed fund rather than providing direct offsets.
If developers were to cut down trees used by the critically endangered Leadbeater’s possum, for example, they could choose either to improve habitat elsewhere to offset the damage – or they could pay into the fund instead.
This is a risky plan. For one, it’s often almost impossible or extremely expensive to find suitable habitat for critically endangered species because they have very little habitat remaining.
It’s far better to avoid all further habitat removal. For developers, this would mean avoiding damage to rare habitat in the first place.
Even where offsetting is possible, payments are often inadequate to cover the cost of purchasing and managing an offset site.
Then there’s the time lag. The fund might take years to buy or restore habitat sites, adding to already-long delays between damage and any benefit. And worse, under the government’s proposal, the money could be used for different, potentially less threatened species.
Under Queensland’s scheme, most developers choose to pay into a fund rather than create their own offset sites. Very little of these offset funds have been spent.
Meanwhile, the latest independent assessment of the New South Wales biodiversity offset payment scheme recommended the fund be completely phased out.
Step 3: Go beyond compensation
Compensating for new damage is important. But it’s not nearly enough. Over the last century, we have done huge damage to the natural world. Australia’s southern seas were once ringed with oyster reefs, for instance, but these were nearly all fished out.
We need to begin to recover what was lost by restoring ecosystems, managing weeds and reducing risk of diseases.
Nature-positive laws should include funding and actions designed to produce absolute gains in biodiversity over and above any required compensation.
The world has long seriously underfunded conservation, including threatened species recovery, ecosystem restoration and protected area management. Australia alone needs a roughly 20-fold increase in funding to actually bring back threatened species.
While this sounds large, it’s off an extraordinarily low base – just A$122 million in 2019. By contrast, we spend over $100 billion on human health each year.
Two years ago, the government passed the first of its nature-positive reforms to create a nature repair market aimed at drawing more funds into nature restoration. But as the market will rely on voluntary private sector investment, we don’t know how much funding will flow or whether it will focus on threatened species recovery.
Ensuring compliance with new nature-positive laws requires transparent and effective enforcement, such as through the independent national environment protection authority with extra powers proposed in Australia.
Its independence and powers may be less than required, due to proposed call-in powers allowing the minister to overrule decisions. True independence and adequate resources are crucial.
If governments do pass environmental reforms, we need to collect adequate and robust data on species to know if they are actually working to boost nature recovery. At present, many Australian threatened species remain unmonitored.
Is nature positive within reach?
It’s not easy to create a future with more nature than we have now. Australia’s current government took office vowing to embrace nature positive. To date, their reforms are not yet likely to make that a reality.
But the task will only get more urgent. Meaningful nature-positive policy means ensuring targets of absolute net gain for threatened species, ensuring strict compensation for any nature loss, independently resourcing and financing other recovery efforts and implementing these laws effectively.
With a course correction, Australia can still act as a leading example for other nations as they reform their own policies to meet nature-positive ambitions. Now is the time for real and decisive action.
We acknowledge our research coauthors, Brooke Williams (Queensland University of Technology), Martine Maron (University of Queensland), Jonathan Rhodes (Queensland University of Technology), Jeremy Simmonds (2rog), and Michelle Ward (Griffith University).
Yi Fei Chung has received funding from UQ Research Training Scholarship. He is also involving in a Australian Research Council Linkage Project with financial and in-kind support from the NSW Department of Planning and Environment, the Biodiversity Conservation Trust, Tweed Shire Council, and the NSW Koala Strategy.
Hannah Thomas has received funding from WWF-Australia and an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. She is an early-career leader with the Biodiversity Council.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Evelyn Parr, Research Fellow in Exercise Metabolism and Nutrition, Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University
Type 2 diabetes affects 1.2 million Australians and accounts for 85-90% of all diabetes cases. This chronic condition is characterised by high blood glucose (sugar) levels, which carry serious health risks. Complications include heart disease, kidney failure and vision problems.
Diet is an important way people living with type 2 diabetes manage blood glucose, alongside exercise and medication. But while we know individualised, professional dietary advice improves blood glucose, it can be complex and is not always accessible.
Our new study looked at the impact of time-restricted eating – focusing on when you eat, rather than what or how much – on blood glucose levels.
We found it had similar results to individualised advice from an accredited practising dietitian. But there were added benefits, because it was simple, achievable, easy to stick to – and motivated people to make other positive changes.
What is time-restricted eating?
Time-restricted eating, also known as the 16:8 diet, became popular for weight loss around 2015. Studies have since shown it is also an effective way for people with type 2 diabetes to manage blood glucose.
Time-restricted eating involves limiting when you eat each day, rather than focusing on what you eat. You restrict eating to a window during daylight hours, for example between 11am and 7pm, and then fast for the remaining hours. This can sometimes naturally lead to also eating less.
Participants in our study could still share meals with family, as long as it was within a nine-hour window finishing at 7pm. Kitreel/Shutterstock
Giving your body a break from constantly digesting food in this way helps align eating with natural circadian rhythms. This can help regulate metabolism and improve overall health.
For people with type 2 diabetes, there may be specific benefits. They often have their highest blood glucose reading in the morning. Delaying breakfast to mid-morning means there is time for physical activity to occur to help reduce glucose levels and prepare the body for the first meal.
How we got here
We ran an initial study in 2018 to see whether following time-restricted eating was achievable for people with type 2 diabetes. We found participants could easily stick to this eating pattern over four weeks, for an average of five days a week.
Importantly, they also had improvements in blood glucose, spending less time with high levels. Our previous research suggests the reduced time between meals may play a role in how the hormone insulin is able to reduce glucose concentrations.
Other studies have confirmed these findings, which have also shown notable improvements in HbA1c. This is a marker in the blood that represents concentrations of blood glucose over an average of three months. It is the primary clinical tool used for diabetes.
However, these studies provided intensive support to participants through weekly or fortnightly meetings with researchers.
While we know this level of support increases how likely people are to stick to the plan and improves outcomes, it is not readily available to everyday Australians living with type 2 diabetes.
What we did
In our new study, we compared time-restricted eating directly with advice from an accredited practising dietitian, to test whether results were similar across six months.
We recruited 52 people with type 2 diabetes who were currently managing their diabetes with up to two oral medications. There were 22 women and 30 men, aged between 35 and 65.
Participants were randomly divided into two groups: diet and time-restricted eating. In both groups, participants received four consultations across the first four months. During the next two months they managed diet alone, without consultation, and we continued to measure the impact on blood glucose.
In the diet group, consultations focused on changing their diet to control blood glucose, including improving diet quality (for example, eating more vegetables and limiting alcohol).
In the time-restricted eating group, advice focused on how to limit eating to a nine-hour window between 10am and 7pm.
Over six months, we measured each participant’s blood glucose levels every two months using the HbA1c test. Each fortnight, we also asked participants about their experience of making dietary changes (to what or when they ate).
Continuous glucose monitoring measures the levels of glucose in the blood. Halfpoint/Shutterstock
What we found
We found time-restricted eating was as effective as the diet intervention.
Both groups had reduced blood glucose levels, with the greatest improvements occurring after the first two months. Although it wasn’t an objective of the study, some participants in each group also lost weight (5-10kg).
When surveyed, participants in the time-restricted eating group said they had adjusted well and were able to follow the restricted eating window. Many told us they had family support and enjoyed earlier mealtimes together. Some also found they slept better.
After two months, people in the time-restricted group were looking for more dietary advice to further improve their health.
Those in the diet group were less likely to stick to their plan. Despite similar health outcomes, time-restricted eating seems to be a simpler initial approach than making complex dietary changes.
Is time-restricted eating achievable?
The main barriers to following time-restricted eating are social occasions, caring for others and work schedules. These factors may prevent people eating within the window.
However, there are many benefits. The message is simple, focusing on when to eat as the main diet change. This may make time-restricted eating more translatable to people from a wider variety of socio-cultural backgrounds, as the types of foods they eat don’t need to change, just the timing.
Many people don’t have access to more individualised support from a dietitian, and receive nutrition advice from their GP. This makes time-restricted eating an alternative – and equally effective – strategy for people with type 2 diabetes.
People should still try to stick to dietary guidelines and prioritise vegetables, fruit, wholegrains, lean meat and healthy fats.
But our study showed time-restricted eating may also serve as stepping stone for people with type 2 diabetes to take control of their health, as people became more interested in making diet and other positive changes.
Time-restricted eating might not be appropriate for everyone, especially people on medications which don’t recommend fasting. Before trying this dietary change, it’s best speak to the healthcare professional who helps you manage diabetes.
Evelyn Parr receives funding from Diabetes Australia and Australian Catholic University.
Brooke Devlin received funding from Diabetes Australia.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sathana Dushyanthen, Academic Specialist & Senior Lecturer in Cancer Sciences & Digital Health| Superstar of STEM| Science Communicator, The University of Melbourne
Cancers are abnormal groups of cells that grow uncontrollably and start invading neighbouring sites. They can also spread to other organs in the body. This is known as metastases.
Treatment of early disease, when cancer is confined to the original site, is focused on that single area, most often with surgery or radiation therapy. Treatment of advanced disease, when it has spread, often relies on treatments that can travel all around the body such as chemotherapy or immunotherapy.
A more advanced form of radiation therapy, called stereotactic ablative radiotherapy, may be able to treat both early and advanced cancers. So how does it work? And how does it compare to existing therapies?
It delivers a higher dose to a smaller target
Stereotactic radiotherapy uses high doses of radiation to target and kill cancer cells. It uses newer machines that can deliver very focused radiation beams. Combined with advances in imaging and radiation planning software this allows clinicians to “track” and target cancers.
This results in such high precision – with a targeting accuracy less than 1mm – that cancers can be safely treated with minimal risk of damaging surrounding healthy organs.
Having a higher dose means radiotherapy can be delivered in fewer treatments (one to five sessions over one to two weeks) where it previously would have been divided into many small doses (20 to 40), delivered over weeks or even months.
Stereotactic radiotherapy has increasingly been used to treat cancer in the brain and lungs. But new data has shown it can also effectively treat prostate cancer.
What did the new study find?
A study published this month in the New England Journal of Medicine compared two groups of patients with early prostate cancer with a median age of 69.8 years. Half (433 participants) received five sessions of stereotactic radiation therapy, the other half (431 participants) received standard radiation therapy consisting of at least 20 sessions.
The researchers found no long-term difference in outcomes between the groups, with 95% of patients showing no evidence of disease five years after treatment. These cure rates are equivalent to patients who had their prostates surgically removed.
Early evidence suggests that stereotactic radiation therapy appears to be as effective, less onerous and less invasive than currently available treatment options.
Prostate cancer that has spread beyond its original site is, unfortunately, incurable in most circumstances. Treatments for this stage of disease are aimed at suppressing or controlling the cancer for as long as possible.
However, studies have shown stereotactic radiation therapy can be used to target disease that has spread to distant sites in patients who have advanced prostate cancer.
Researchers found stereotactic radiation therapy could render patients free of clinically evident disease for eight to 13 months, delaying the need for hormone therapy or chemotherapy.
How do the side effects compare to other cancer treatments?
Stereotactic radiation therapy is delivered daily, with painless radiation beams. In the weeks following delivery it is common to notice soreness and/or inflammation at the treated site. This reaches a level requiring medication in one-third of cases.
Erectile function is frequently impacted during prostate cancer treatment, as the nerves and blood vessels responsible for erections are often damaged.
Another recent study comparing stereotactic radiation therapy to surgery found 48% of patients treated with stereotactic radiation therapy had difficulties with their sexual function two years after treatment compared to 75% of patients who had surgery.
Comparison of differences between traditional radiotherapy and stereotactic radiotherapy. Precision Radiation Oncology
What are the costs? And who can access it?
Newer and more advanced radiation treatment machines can deliver more precise treatments, but these are much more expensive than standard machines. They also have more complex maintenance and operational requirements.
However, traditional radiotherapy machines can also be upgraded to provide stereotactic precision.
While the initial investment costs can be high, cost-benefit analyses show stereotactic radiation therapy for lung cancer costs the health system less than other cancer treatments and conventional radiotherapy. This is in part because treatment is completed far more quickly. Formal cost-benefit analyses have not been completed for prostate cancer but are likely to be similar.
Stereotactic radiation therapy is now widely available at most major Australian public hospitals for many cancer types, including selected lung cancers, kidney cancers, advanced brain cancers and bone cancers. This has no out-of-pocket costs for patients. It is also provided in many private centres.
However, even when a centre can deliver stereotactic radiation therapy, there is still significant variation in the devices used to deliver the therapy.
In addition, the actual planning and delivery of radiation therapy is a complex skill. Studies have shown that patients treated by clinicians with higher caseloads have better outcomes, due to their greater familiarity with these specialised techniques.
Radiotherapy departments throughout the world have rapidly upgraded their capability over the past few years to provide stereotactic radiotherapy. After the recent clinical trial findings, it’s likely prostate cancer will be added to the list of cancers treated this way.
David Kok has a clinical appointment at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre which provides prostate cancer treatments including stereotactic radiotherapy, conventional radiotherapy and surgery.
Sathana Dushyanthen 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.
