Tibetans have even fewer civil and political rights than Chinese people also ruled by the Chinese Communist Party.
The Chinese government enforces its control on Tibet through the threat and use of arbitrary detentions and punishments, at times including severe violence. Any act deemed to threaten its rule can be made a criminal offence.
Amid rising criticism of China over its human rights abuses in Tibet, the Tibet Bureau Geneva has said that Switzerland needs to take a stronger stance on Tibet and include the concerns of Tibetans and Uyghurs in its Foreign Policy Strategy on China 2021-24.
According to a report by Tibet Bureau Geneva, Switzerland’s State Secretary Krystyna Marty held political dialogue via videoconference with China’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Qin Gang on November 9 focusing on economic relations, human rights situation in China as well as COVID-19 pandemic situation in a bid to foster “sustainable relations” between the two countries as noted in the press release.
During the discussions, Switzerland tabled its concerns about the “lack of respect for human rights in China”, especially the manner of treatment of Tibetans by the Chinese authorities.
The discussions were held in the backdrop of China-based Swiss Ambassador Bernardino Regazzoni’s visit to Tibet between September 7 and 11, which was the first official Swiss visit since 2017.
The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said in its statement that the Ambassador along with other 10 diplomatic missions visited Lhasa and Shigatse wherein they addressed issues such as human rights situation with the local government.
Expressing concern over the human rights situation in Tibet, the Foreign Affairs Department had assured that “the free access of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to Tibet and the protection of Tibetan human rights defenders remain core demands of Switzerland”, the Central Tibetan Administration said.
The Tibet Bureau Geneva has welcomed Switzerland’s move to include the promotion of human rights as a key component of the political dialogue and for raising the human rights situation in Tibet issue.
Switzerland is one of the first countries granting asylum to Tibetans fleeing China’s brutal annexation of Tibet. Switzerland has also been a supporter of dialogue between the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and China.
The Tibet Bureau Geneva has, however, opined that Switzerland needs to take a stronger stance on Tibet and include the concerns of Tibetans and Uyghurs in its Foreign Policy Strategy on China 2021-2024. Further, Switzerland needs to consider the calls against China hosting the Winter Olympic Games of 2022, dubbed as “Genocide Games” by Human Rights activists.
Despite reassurances by the authorities of non-implementation against Tibetans, Tibetans in Switzerland are concerned by the Swiss “secret-deal” on asylum and migration with China as under this agreement, Switzerland can invite Chinese officials to interview persons of Chinese origin to facilitate their deportation to China, the Tibet Bureau said.
It further said that this deal coincides with Switzerland’s change of stance in categorising Tibetans as “Chinese” nationals and the rejection of around 300 asylum applications by Tibetans.
Meanwhile, these asylum-seekers are also facing difficulties in their “hardship-case” applications despite submitting identity cards issued by the Central Tibetan Administration proving their ethnicity, Tibet Bureau added.
Since its forceful settlement of Tibet, the Chinese Communist Party has relentlessly pushed for the persecution of religion, especially Tibetan Buddhism. By employing its state machinery, it has executed campaign after campaign to meet its objective, each more brutal and oppressive than the last.
In the recent past, there have been reports of incidents of surveillance and censorship on Tibetans living in Switzerland by the Chinese authorities. This has been the case in New York and Sweden as well.
Samsung Bioepis and Biogen Announce FDA Filing Acceptance of SB11, A Proposed Biosimilar Referencing Lucentis® (ranibizumab) – Book Publishing Industry Today – EIN Presswire
European Commission Speech Brussels, 18 Nov 2020 Good morning. Our Autumn Package is based on the economic forecast we presented a couple of weeks ago.
Our view is that we are not having a “v-shaped&rdqu…
European Commission Speech Brussels, 18 Nov 2020 Now that Europe is caught up in the second wave of the pandemic, we are again facing a very deep socio-economic impact.
It is a difficult time for everyone. All…
Released on Wednesday, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) report Geospatial Practices for Sustainable Development showcases examples from the region’s countries employing applications of space technology to advance sustainable development.
“Night-light” satellite images monitoring the impact of lockdowns, “heatmaps” to chart out communities vulnerable to the pandemic and its socio-economic consequences, real-time situational analysis, and dashboards integrating a wide gamut of critical information to support decisions are some of the practices cited.
The examples, according to the report, show how space applications and geospatial data have played an important role in providing essential location-based and temporal data to make an “overall data map” and snapshots on the COVID-19 pandemic for policymakers and the public.
In addition, combining spatial data from contact tracing, quarantining, and social distancing with digital solutions and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven risk analytics can help enhance community resilience.
Such applications can also help in the recovery phase to build back better, by providing an evidence base for decisions on the easing of lockdown and the resumption of economic and social activities, the report added.
“The effective integration of geospatial data, with existing statistics and ground-based information, will be key to delivering the timely data needed for governments, businesses, communities and citizens to make evidenced-based decisions”, said Armida Salsiah Alisjahjabana, Executive Secretary of ESCAP.
In addition to presenting an overview of the status along thematic areas such as disaster risk, natural resource management, connectivity, social development, energy, and climate change, the report also highlights the importance of multi-stakeholder partnerships.
“Many regional and country-based efforts are sparking innovations that attract both public and private capital, supporting start-ups and spinoffs from space applications research and pilots,” said ESCAP.
The report outlined seven key recommendations for policymakers to integrate applications of geospatial information into their planning and actions towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
These include investments to cultivate national experts; incorporating geospatial information into national institutions and platforms; integrating geospatial data with other data sources; employing geospatial data to create, implement and monitor policies; ensuring privacy, safety and ethics of data; providing open data access; and encouraging local to international collaborations.
JUBA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a €6.1 million contribution from the European Union to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable communities in Northern and Western Bahr El Ghazal states.
The funds will provide a four-year project to transform the livelihoods of 10,000 vulnerable households through capacity building and providing agricultural inputs and tools to increase production, reduce food losses and enhance access to markets.
“The EU infrastructure development programme, for which the EU has mobilised a total of €16 million under the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, complements and builds synergies with previous and current EU-funded interventions in the mentioned states, where priority rural infrastructures have been already constructed and are in use,” said European Union Ambassador Christian Bader.
“This programme not only addresses connectivity and food security, but also fundamental values and issues critical for a sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development such as: promotion of social cohesion, peacebuilding, gender equality, human rights protection, job creation for youths and women, enhanced incomes for poor vulnerable households and, last but not least, environmental safeguards,” he added.
“We are grateful to the European Union for its commitment to supporting vulnerable communities. The empowerment of smallholder farmers is integral to fighting food insecurity and driving economic development,” says Matthew Hollingworth WFP Country Director in South Sudan.
WFP fights food insecurity, restores livelihoods of rural populations, eliminates isolation and inequity in South Sudan through resilience building programmes such as Smallholder Agriculture Market Support (SAMS). SAMS increases agricultural production and productivity, reduce food losses and boost farm-to-market access in areas with agricultural potential and to improve rural connectivity to social services.
In the 2019-2020 harvest, WFP trained more than 10,500 smallholder farmers— 35 percent of whom were women—and distributed over 30,000 post-harvest handling materials. WFP also bought over 677 metric tons of maize, valued at over US$250,000, directly from smallholder farmers.
The European Union is a long-standing WFP partner, supporting its emergency and development work in South Sudan. It has contributed €152 million to WFP’s operations in the country over the past five years
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The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.
Follow us on Twitter @WFP_SouthSudan and @WFP_Africa
For more information please contact (email address: [email protected]):
BRUSSELS, Nov 18 (Reuters) – Lithuanian Rail on Wednesday had its 27.9 million euro ($33 million) EU antitrust fine cut by a third though Europe’s second-top court backed EU enforcers’ ruling that it had hindered competition by removing a track running to Latvia.
The European Commission in its 2017 decision said it was unacceptable that the operator removed the 19-kilometre (12 mile) stretch of track in 2008 after Polish oil company PKN Orlen wanted to redirect its freight to Latvian ports from its refinery in Lithuania by using another rail operator and a short route to the border.
Lithuanian Rail subsequently challenged the ruling at the Luxembourg-based General Court. Judges took the EU competition enforcer’s side.
“The Commission made no error in determining that removal of a railway track before the renovation works had even begun constituted highly unusual conduct in the rail sector,” the court said.
It however cut the fine to 20.07 million euros, citing its jurisdiction in this area and the gravity and duration of the operator’s wrongdoing.
$1 = 0.8418 euros Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, editing by Louise Heavens
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STOCKHOLM, Nov. 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Embracer Group AB (“Embracer”) and its subsidiaries have as previously communicated this morning entered into 13 acquisition agreements (the “Acquisitions”). The acquired businesses are, during the financial year ending 31 March 2022, expected to contribute to Embracer Group’s net sales in the range of SEK 850-1,050 million and contribute to operational EBIT in the range of SEK 300-400 million. In addition, during FY 2021/2022 the expanded studio footprint is expected to bring savings on capitalized game development in the range of SEK 50-100 million. The combined operational EBIT and savings on game development are expected to be in the range of SEK 350-500 million and this profitability is expected to grow in the following years as more game development projects will be completed.
The aggregated day one purchase price for the Acquisitions amounts to approximately SEK 2.0 billion on a cash and debt free basis. Approximately SEK 1.7 billion is paid in cash and SEK 0.3 billion in newly issued Embracer B shares with a maximum additional consideration amounting to SEK 1.8 billion, which is subject to fulfilment of agreed milestones, both operational and financial, over a period of up to 10 years. The additional consideration comprise a maximum of approximately SEK 0.9 billion which may be paid in cash and a maximum approximately SEK 0.9 billion to be paid in Embracer B shares at a price corresponding to the volume weighted average price per Embracer B share at Nasdaq First North Growth Market during 20 trading days up until and including the date of signing of the Acquisitions (VWAP 20). The aggregated maximum consideration amounts to SEK 3.8 billion.
The total number of shares that are issued as part of the aggregate consideration, excluding shares issued as part of earn-out structures, amounts to approximately 1,723,000 Embracer B shares issued at a price of approximately SEK 174 per B share. The part of the additional consideration consisting of Embracer B shares amounts to a maximum of approximately 5,170,000 shares provided that all earn out targets are met. Approximately 1,367,000 B shares being part of the additional consideration are issued at closing of the Acquisitions and subject to such as claw back rights and lock-up restrictions. A maximum of approximately 3,803,000 B shares may be issued in the future as additional consideration subject to fulfillment of certain targets. The share issues are made pursuant to the authorization granted by the extra general meeting held on 16 November 2020.
The Acquisitions
All of Embracer’s operating units – THQ Nordic, Deep Silver/Koch Media, Coffee Stain, Amplifier Games Invest, Saber Interactive and Deca Games – are making bolt-on acquisitions. Embracer onboards more than 1,250 experienced and talented people, strengthens its developer footprint in Eastern Europe as well as its development and UA capabilities within free-to-play. In most of the transactions, earn-outs and management incentives over 5-10 years, have been put in place to ensure long term alignment with the founders and management teams joining Embracer.
The announced Acquisitions are aligned with Embracer’s growth strategy and is enabled by the group’s decentralized operating model. Over the past three years, Embracer has expanded from one to six operating units. Each of these operating units have put in place their own M&A agenda with the purpose of adding additional organic growth opportunities and to improve long term profit and cash flow generation. For Embracer’s decentralized operating model to be sustainable and scalable, it is a necessity that most acquisitions are originated and onboarded on the operating unit level. For the Embracer operating model with emphasis on decentralized decision making and independence for local management to work, it is also necessary that founders and management of acquired companies join Embracer with a long-term mindset.
Through the Acquisitions, Embracer Group grows to 58 internal studios and more than 5,700 employees and contracted employees in more than 45 countries.
Embracer’s inhouse developer footprint is expanded by 767 developers, equivalent to a 30 percent increase and brings the total number of internal developers to 3,318. The total headcounts within the group increases to more than 5,700 employees and contracted employees following the Acquisitions. The management depth is further extended by the addition of strong business leaders and local management teams with an impressive track record, where many of the acquired companies are leading premium games developers in their respective countries.
Deca Operating Unit will triple in size in terms of revenues and employees
Embracer entered the free-to-play games segment with the acquisition of Deca Games in August 2020. Today, the Deca Operating Unit is established with the addition of A Thinking Ape and IUGO, two studios based in Canada. Embracer estimate the new Deca Operating Unit will triple in size in terms of revenues and employees and create a full scale free-to-play operation with expertise across IP origination, game development, marketing, user acquisition and live operations. Deca Games, A Thinking Ape and IUGO will continue to operate as independent companies within the Deca Operating Unit free-to-play ecosystem with their respective management teams continuously responsible for day-to-day operations. Founders and management across these businesses have a long term alignment with Embracer and shares a passion for creating a substantial free-to-play business over time through a combination of organic growth and by welcoming more FTP gaming entrepreneurs to the Embracer family.
Embracer Group’s capital allocation strategy are essential for continued growth
The capital allocation priorities for Embracer are unchanged. The first priority for allocation of operational cash flow from released games to reinvest as much as possible into value enhancing organic growth opportunities, e.g. new game projects. The second priority is to use free cash flow to finance, bolt-on acquisitions in the operating units.
Embracer reiterates the ambition to maintain a strong balance sheet and strives to maintain a net cash position to maintain maximum strategic flexibility. For the right inorganic growth opportunity, financial leverage could temporarily exceed 1,0x operational EBIT to net debt, where operational EBIT is measured as management expectations for the coming twelve months. In such circumstances, leverage should at least return to below 1,0x net debt to operational EBIT over the medium term, either by retaining cash from operations or by raising primary capital in the equity market.
Cash at hand and available credit facilities post the cash payment of the Acquisitions amounts to more than SEK 8.5 billion. Furthermore, on 16 November 2020, the extra general meeting authorized the board of directors to issue B shares in the amount not exceeding ten (10) percent of the total number of shares in the Company at the time when the authorization is used the first time to fund acquisitions, parts of this mandate has been used according to the Acquisitions. The ambition is to continue to partly fund acquisitions with equity to create long term alignment with founders and management joining Embracer.
The shares and dilution
Through the Acquisitions, Embracer may in aggregate issue, including earn-out consideration shares, a total of approximately 6,893,000 shares, meaning that the number of shares in Embracer can increase from 421,139,665 to approximately 428,032,665 B shares, and that the number of votes can increase from 721,731,898 to approximately 728,624,898.
The total number of shares that are issued as part of the aggregate consideration, excluding shares issued as part of earn-out structures, are issued at a price of approximately SEK 174 per B share.
The part of the additional consideration for the Acquisitions consisting of Embracer B shares amounts to a maximum of approximately 5,170,000 shares provided that all earn out targets are met. Approximately 1,367,000 B shares being part of the additional consideration are issued at closing of the Acquisitions and subject to such as claw back rights and lock-up restrictions. A maximum of approximately 3,803,000 B shares may be issued in the future as additional consideration subject to fulfillment of certain targets. All earn-out shares are issued at a price of approximately SEK 174 per B share.
The Acquisitions will, if all earn-out consideration shares are issued, lead to a dilution of approximately 1.61 percent of the share capital and approximately 0.95 percent of the votes in Embracer based on the number of shares and votes in Embracer following completion of the Acquisitions and issuance of all earn-out consideration shares.
All shares issued as part of the consideration for the Acquisitions, excluding the earn-out consideration shares, are issued based on the authorization from the extra general meeting on 16 November 2020.
Advisers
Ernst & Young AB is providing transaction support and Baker McKenzie is acting as legal counsel to Embracer in connection with the Acquisitions.
Responsible party
This information constitutes inside information that Embracer Group AB is obliged to make public in accordance with the (EU) Market Abuse Regulation 596/2014. The information in this press release has been made public through the agency of the responsible person set out below for publication at the time stated by Embracer Group’s news distributor Cision at the publication of this press release. The responsible person below may be contacted for further information.
For additional information, please contact:
Lars Wingefors, Co-founder and Group CEO Embracer Group AB
Tel: +46 708 47 19 78
E-mail: [email protected]
About Embracer Group
Embracer Group is the parent company of businesses developing and publishing PC, console and mobile games for the global games market. Embracer Group has an extensive catalogue of over 190 owned franchises, such as Saints Row, Goat Simulator, Dead Island, Darksiders, Metro, MX vs ATV, Kingdoms of Amalur, TimeSplitters, Satisfactory, Wreckfest, Insurgency and World War Z, amongst many others.
With its head office based in Karlstad, Sweden, Embracer Group has a global presence through its six operative groups: THQ Nordic GmbH, Koch Media GmbH/Deep Silver, Coffee Stain AB, Amplifier Game Invest, Saber Interactive and DECA Games. Embracer Group has 46 internal game development studios and is engaging more than 4,000 employees and contracted employees in more than 40 countries.
Embracer Group’s shares are publicly listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market Stockholm under the ticker EMBRAC B with FNCA Sweden AB as its Certified Adviser; [email protected] +46-8-528 00 399.
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Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the company’s intentions, beliefs, or current expectations about and targets for the company’s future results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, performance, prospects, anticipated growth, strategies and opportunities and the markets in which the company operates. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by words such as “believe”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “may”, “plan”, “estimate”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “aim” or “might”, or, in each case, their negative, or similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions. Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that they will materialize or prove to be correct. Because these statements are based on assumptions or estimates and are subject to risks and uncertainties, the actual results or outcome could differ materially from those set out in the forward-looking statements as a result of many factors. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in this release by such forward-looking statements. Embracer does not guarantee that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements in this press release are free from errors and readers of this press release should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements in this press release. The information, opinions and forward-looking statements that are expressly or implicitly contained herein speak only as of its date and are subject to change without notice. Neither the Embracer nor anyone else undertake to review, update, confirm or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that arise in relation to the content of this press release, unless it is not required by law or Nasdaq First North Growth Market’s rule book for issuers.
