Sikyong congratulates US President-elect Joe Biden and first woman Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
The democratically elected leader of Tibetan people Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay congratulated United States President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris on their victory in the 2020 US presidential election. Dr Sangay said he looked forward to a renewed policy and support on Tibet under Biden’s leadership.
“On behalf of the Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetan people, I would like to congratulate you on your election as the 46th President of the United States of America,” the Sikyong said in congratulatory message to Joe Biden.
“For decades now, the US has supported the Tibet cause on various fronts, and we are always grateful to the US and its people. However, today the concern no longer remains only for the Tibetan people; instead, today the concern is for the global democracy and the universal ideals that have come under threat from authoritarian regime such as China.”
Sikyong welcomed Biden’s recent statement avowing to meet Tibetan spiritual leader and global peace icon, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, continuing a decades-old tradition followed by US presidents since George Bush Sr, and most prominently during the presidency of Barack Obama, who hosted His Holiness four times in the White House and publicly pronounced strong support for Middle Way Policy of the Central Tibetan Administration.
Sikyong also welcomed Biden’s commitment to sanction Chinese officials responsible for human rights abuses in Tibet and said he particularly looked forward to a renewed US policy and support on the Tibet issue under his leadership.
“I genuinely admire your decades of service to the nation, and your victory is an affirmation of the trust people of the United States places in you and the values that you stand for… My sincerest congratulations and wishes on a successful term.”
Congratulating the first woman Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, he said her ascension to America’s second-highest office as first woman and the first woman of color is pathbreaking and her becoming the highest-ranking woman in the history of American government marks a new era for women in global politics and leadership.
Kamala Devi Harris, a daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, is set to become the highest-ranking woman in the nation’s 244-year existence, as well as a high-profile representation of the country’s increasingly diverse composition.
“While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities,” Harris said. “And to the children of our country, regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message: Dream with ambition, lead with conviction. And see yourselves in a way that others may not simply because they’ve never seen it before, but know that we will applaud you every step of the way.”
Black women helped propel Harris and President-elect Joe Biden to victory by elevating turnout in places like Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia. Those women will finally see themselves represented in the White House as Biden and Harris replace President Trump, who started his political career by perpetuating a racist birther lie about President Barack Obama and has a long track record of making misogynistic comments.
Born in Oakland, Harris spent years as a prosecutor in the Bay Area. She was elected San Francisco district attorney in 2003 and attorney general of California in 2010, high-profile jobs in the nation’s most-populous state — but not enough to build widespread name recognition.
She easily won a Senate seat in 2016 and soon made waves in Washington. A week after being sworn into office, she subjected John F. Kelly, Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, to forceful interrogation. She established herself as an uncompromising critic of Trump appointees, particularly during confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh and Attorney General William P. Barr.
Although Harris did not emerge as a legislative force, she signed on to or introduced several bills that had little chance of passing but were nevertheless symbolic, including Medicare-for-all and other health-care reform plans. She introduced bills aimed at reducing racial disparities in health care, the economy and the criminal justice system.
Sikyong also referenced Harris’ Indian heritage, adding that it was a matter of immense pride and inspiration for Indians across the world.
‘As you work towards the imminent challenges of restoring human rights, equality and climate change around the world, we hope that you will lend your pivotal voice to the just cause of Tibet and further strengthen decades-long US-Tibet ties.’
S4 Capital’s share price hit a record high this morning after Sir Martin Sorrell’s “new age/new data” business reported a 23% growth in organic revenue for the third quarter of 2020.
The company’s valuation rose to almost £2.4bn after S4’s share price opened at £4.60 this morning, up 4.5%, following the announcement of its latest earnings.
Its organic revenue (reported as gross profit) was £75.3m for July to September, while year-to-date billings are up 12% year on year to £424m. Gross profit was up 18% in July, 24% in August and 25% in September.
It also announced several client wins over the quarter, including two “whoppers”: S4’s programmatic media agency Mightyhive has won T-Mobile’s in-house digital media account and MediaMonks has won BMW and Mini’s pan-European account. It also signed deals in Q3 with Shopify and Beyond Meat.
The company is benefitting from a client base that is heavily weighted towards technology companies, with 55% of its overall revenue coming from the sector, compared with 8% for FMCG companies and 8% for agencies.
Tech companies’ growth has been boosted even further this year as consumers and business accelerate digital transformation due to people working, shopping and being entertained more from home.
S4 expanded its revenue last quarter with Facebook, Google, Netflix, and Procter & Gamble, it reported today. Peter Kim, Mightyhive’s chief executive, cited S4’s partner relationships with the likes of Facebook and Google as being a determining factor behind recent business successes.
Its organic growth does not include the three mergers it carried out over the quarter: Orca Pacific, the full-service Amazon account management agency; BrightBlue, the data measurement company; and Dare Win, the Paris-based digital agency that gives Sorrell’s business a presence in France.
The business employed 2,870 people (as of the end of September), which is up 26% compared with the same time last year on a like-for-like basis, and S4 told investors today it would “continue to hire aggressively around strong gross profit growth and significant new business wins”.
Sorrell, S4’s executive chairman, admitted that the company had more to do when it comes to hiring more black people in the organisation. S4 is made up of 40% of people of colour and has a gender balance in the US and the UK.
Of S4’s overall business performance, he said: “Our consistent, very strong organic gross profit growth of almost 16% so far this year, and almost 23% in the third quarter, indicates that we are well positioned in the digital sweetspot of an otherwise stagnant advertising and marketing industry and that clients are responding very well to our new age/new era, purely digital, ‘holy trinity’ model of first-party data fuelling digital content, data and digital media.”
He added: “Covid-19 has acted as an accelerator for search, social and ecommerce. Our very significant client wins in 2020, which include the BMW/Mini ‘Engine’ in Europe, signal that we are achieving client conversion at scale, after achieving brand awareness in 2018 and brand trial in 2019.
“Our mantra of ‘faster, better, cheaper’ or ‘speed, quality, value’ and our unitary, one P&L structure, are clearly resonating with clients and differentiating our offer.”
“A house divided against itself cannot stand”. On June 16, 1858, Abraham Lincoln, a Senatorial candidate at the time, pronounced this sentence, inspired by the Gospel of Mark (3:25), in a speech aimed at emphasizing how the young American democracy could not endure with half of the States allowing slavery. That speech of the future president of the United States, cited countless times in the last century and a half, remains an ever-present injunction to the American people, inscribed even on its seal with the words chosen by the Founding Fathers recalling the principle of unity: E pluribus unum.
It is precisely unity, which “is greater than conflict” as Evangelii Gaudium puts it, that is strongly evoked at this moment after the most divisive and polarizing American presidential elections in the country’s recent history. “Now is the time for our leaders to come together in a spirit of national unity”, said the president of the U.S. bishops, the Archbishop of Los Angeles José H. Gomez, in a message of congratulations to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-president-elect Kamala Harris. Moreover, the American media, almost unanimously, put the theme of national reconciliation as the most urgent challenge (together with Covid-19 and the consequent economic crisis) that, as of next January 20, the next resident of the White House will face.
Significantly, last June 30, Pope Francis focused on the issue of unity in a message to the Catholic Press Association, to which Catholic communications organizations in North America belong. “E pluribus unum, the ideal of unity amid diversity, reflected in the motto of the United States”, observed the Pontiff, “must also inspire the service you offer to the common good. How urgently is this needed today, in an age marked by conflicts and polarization from which the Catholic community itself is not immune. We need media capable of building bridges, defending life and breaking down the walls, visible and invisible, that prevent sincere dialogue and truthful communication between individuals and communities”. Words addressed to the media, but also applicable to other areas of American society.
Certainly, unity for the Pope does not mean uniformity. Even in this particular context, we are aided by the image of the polyhedron which, in Francis’ vision, “reflects the convergence of all its parts, each of which preserves its distinctiveness”. This model is all the more valid for a nation that from its birth presents itself as plural: multi-ethnic, multicultural and multi-religious. This search for unity – corroborated by social friendship to echo Fratelli tutti – is not, however, an end in itself, but tends toward the promotion of the good of the person and the community. The two were at the heart of Francis’ speech before the United States Congress (a first for a Pope on Capitol Hill), which took place on September 24, 2015.
“If politics must truly be at the service of the human person,” was his exhortation on that occasion, “it follows that it cannot be a slave to the economy and finance. Politics is, instead, an expression of our compelling need to live as one, in order to build as one the greatest common good: that of a community which sacrifices particular interests in order to share, in justice and peace, its goods, its interests, its social life”. Addressing himself directly to the members of U.S. congress, the Pope said: “I do not underestimate the difficulty that this involves, but I encourage you in this effort”. An exhortation that today, in such a delicate moment in the history of the United States, echoes even more strongly.
Ethiopian Prime Minster Abiy Ahmed is pressing ahead with a military campaign he announced on Wednesday against the northern region of Tigray. The International community is calling for dialogue between the Federal Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
On Friday the Prime Minister vowed air strikes in Tigray would continue. The initial strikes targeted arms depots and military sites.
About 600,000 people in Tigray depend on food aid to survive, while another 1 million receive other forms of support, all of which have been disrupted, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report released Saturday.
Clashes between federal troops and Tigrayan forces had broken out in eight locations in the region, according to the report.
Six combatants were killed and more than 60 wounded in fighting near the border between the Tigray and Amhara regions, a humanitarian source told Reuters on Sunday. Both sides suffered casualties and some of the wounded were brought to hospitals in and near the town of Gondar, the source said.
Efforts to combat a locust infestation also jeopardised
A desert locust infestation in East Africa has hit Tigray particularly hard and efforts to combat the insect swarms are feared to have stopped because of the conflict, risking further damage to crops, the U.N. report read.
Abiy said on Twitter on Saturday that his military campaign “aims to end the impunity that has prevailed for far too long,” he said.
Animosity between Abiy and his former allies has grown steadily since 2018. Tigrayans complain of persecution under Abiy, an ethnic Oromo, who ordered the arrest of dozens of former senior military and political officials from the TPLF in a crackdown on corruption. Last year, Abiy reorganised the ruling coalition into a single party that the TPLF refused to join.
Mediation offers
Experts and diplomats are sounding alarms of a potential civil war that could destabilise the country of 110 million people in the strategic Horn of Africa region.
The federal military’s biggest command, and the majority of its heavy weapons, are stationed in Tigray. One of the biggest risks is that the army could plit along ethnic lines, with Tigrayans defecting to their region’s own force.
Tigrayan forces number up to 250,000 men and have their own significant stocks of military hardware, experts say.
“The fragmentation of Ethiopia would be the largest state collapse in modern history,” a group of former United States diplomats said in a statement published by the U.S. Institute of Peace on Thursday. The escalation of the conflict would also kill remaining hope for the democratic reforms Abiy has promised, the statement read.
Abiy spoke on Saturday with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who “offered his good offices.” The U.N. chief also spoke on Saturday to the African Union’s Commission Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat and to Sudanese Primes Minster Abdalla Hamdok in his capacity as chair of the regional Africa group IGAD,.
<span>Today, the European Union (EU) informed the Government of Armenia about the disbursement of € 35.6 million in grants to support Armenia in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The EU's decision follows a positive assessment on progress in selected sector reform areas, macroeconomic stability, public financial management and state budget transparency. </span>
It is part of the EU € 92 million assistance package for Armenia announced last April, which included restructured and new funds to support Armenia in its fight against the COVID-19 crisis, in order to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the Armenian people.
This direct financial contribution recognizes and supports the Government commendable efforts to preserve jobs and support SMEs, as well as to ensure basic health and social services for those most affected by COVID-19. This assistance announced today is complementary to other instruments of support with CSOs and European financial institutions to assist vulnerable households and businesses.
H.E. Mher Grigoryan, Deputy Prime Minister, said: “As the world faces a multi-layered crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic, we highly appreciate the EU’s support to tackle the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic in Armenia. This timely allocation is the manifestation of our productive cooperation with the European Union and I’m sure that our joint efforts will result in increased COVID-19 crisis resilience of Armenia.”
H.E. Andrea Wiktorin, EU Head of Delegation, said: “This direct budget support disbursement is once again a very tangible demonstration of the EU and its citizens’ strong commitment to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Armenia. The European Union and its Member States are contributing to strengthen the health systems and meet the urgent human & economic implications of COVID-19 in Armenia.We share the challenge and we can only succeed together”.
The EU’s response follows a Team Europe approach, aimed at saving lives by providing quick and targeted support to our partners to face this pandemic. It combines resources from the EU, its Member States and European financial institutions to support partner countries and address their short-term needs, as well as the longer-term structural impacts on societies and the economy.
A diabetes monitoring earring; an Underground air pollution solution; an alternative to Styrofoam made of food waste; a Sudden Infant Death Syndrome prevention device; a skin patch that monitors nutrition data and superworms that convert plastic into organic matter.
Today sees the unveiling of 100 ideas from over 40 countries that could change the way we live
• Global Grad Show, the world’s most diverse gathering of graduate ideas for social impact, unveils 5 trends that are the top-of-mind challenges according to graduates from 60 countries • A multi-media, interactive exhibition will showcase 100 projects that provide solutions to social and environmental challenges • 22 Asian universities were selected from 1,600 submissions from 270 universities, from the most established institutions in Western Europe, USA and Israel to universities in China, Philippines, India, Singapore, Thailand
South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan • Selected students will be invited to a new cohort of the entrepreneurship programme that accelerates the development of impact innovations
22 Asian entrants are among the 100 chosen submissions to be showcased in Global Grad Show, a virtual and interactive year-long exhibition, launched today. The ideas are the outcome of rigorous academic research conducted by graduates and their professors, reflecting areas of deepest environmental, social or economic concern, such as the world’s aging population, the number of people living with chronic illness, the radical approaches dealing with waste and the increasing number of communities vulnerable to emergencies.
India • An over jacket made up of bamboo fabric to protect waste collectors from disease whilst working, Bangalore University, India • A flood emergency design that creates safe movement for people getting from one place to another during flood like situations, Pearl Academy • A modular air purification system which is versatile and flexible enough to be deployed in multiple scenarios, IDC School of Design, IIT Bombay • A thin, non-intrusive dissolvable bandaid-like sticker that displays directions to guide you to your intended location, Indian School of Design & Innovation • A unique material that reduces mining for natural resources by 60% through recycling of post-industrial fired ceramic waste, National Institute of Design
Philippines • A smart solar street lighting system that provides internet connectivity, access to clean energy and better lighting, De La Salle University, Philippines • A device that allows users to track their electricity consumption and bill in real-time, Anteneo de Manila University, Philippines
Singapore • Using Durian fruit as an alternative to Styrofoam, National University of Singapore • A product that monitors the reproductive health stages for women, National University of Singapore • A vending machine that encourages citizens to give a second life to used plastic bags, Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD)
Thailand • A dog waste scooper made from fruit waste, Chiang Mai University, Thailand
South Korea • A pillow that prevents users from going on their phones before bed to get a better sleep, Samsung Art and Design Institute (SADI), South Korea
China • A renewable material folding hat that provides safety for children commuting between home and school in backward mountainous areas, Zhejiang University • A piece of technology that detects real time data in the environment and live performance is also carried out, Central Academy of Fine Arts • A sustainable looping product and system that provides a solution to air pollution caused by wheat straw incineration, Hunan University, China • A device that can recycle paper receipts and other wastes (coffee grounds, tea grounds etc.) onsite into useful paper cup sleeves, East China Normal University • An inhalation drug treatment that is designed to help patients achieve higher inhalation efficiency, Tongji University • A children’s family programming learning toolkit that contains scientific and technological inventions, Hunan University
Hong Kong • A future bus seat and interior design solution for the aging population in the future, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design
Indonesia • A low-cost portable water container that allows easy navigation, Pearl Academy • A project that utilizes the Papua Noken material for alternative products, Pelita Harapan University
Japan • Branding that is used to communicate relevant instructions to consumers that will contribute to solve a humanitarian issue, Keio University Graduate School of Media Design
The programme, now in its sixth year, and held in partnership with Dubai Culture and A.R.M Holding, saw entries rise by 30% and features ideas from leading institutions such as Imperial College and Harvard, alongside first-time representation from countries such as Indonesia, El Salvador and Oman.
The projects will be brought to life in an inaugural interactive digital exhibition on globalgradshow.com, giving a voice to the next generation of innovators and connecting the public and potential investors all over the world with ideas that have the potential to change lives. The virtual exhibition will showcase the graduates behind each one of ideas and will also see prototypes, films and original research material visually curated for online visitors to engage and interact with.
The chosen projects have been organised around five key emerging trends that were identified from the 1,600 applications from 270 universities in 60 countries. Those trends are: – Living with Illness & Disability – Coping in a Complex World – Saving and protecting vulnerable lives – Cleaning a Waste Filled Planet -Sustaining the Urban Experience
Tadeu Baldani Caravieri, Director, Global Grad Show comments: “Over the last six months we’ve been reminded just how vital good health, balanced natural ecosystems and well-equipped public services are to a happy, productive and future-ready society. Equally, we’ve paid more attention than ever to the power of new technologies in optimising resources, shortening distances and minimising collateral damage.”
“Thankfully, a significant number of the innovations that tackle head-first big social and environmental challenges of our time are under way. Often unbeknownst to the general public, researchers inside universities are developing a myriad of solutions for complex issues of today and tomorrow. From medical engineering to architecture and data science, young graduates are at the forefront of complex problem-solving, working on technologies for the greater good.”
“As evidenced by the +1,600 entries we reviewed for Global Grad Show 2020, many of these are looking for more efficient, equitable and humane healthcare systems, for patients and medical staff. This is more crucial now than ever before.”
“By offering these graduates a development programme, we hope to accelerate the creation of solutions to communities around the world. We do that by bringing together know-how and key private and public stakeholders, together creating collaboration and funding opportunities to our community.”
Global entries include: • A fluorescent hat for commuting children walking in the dark, Zhejiang University, China • An autonomous weeding robot for small-scale urban farmers, Lund University School of Industrial Design, Sweden • Using Durian fruit as an alternative to Styrofoam, National University of Singapore • A temperature regulating curtain, University of Arts, Berlin • A device which replaces clinical sounds with colour during chemotherapy treatment, RMIT, Australia • A CO2 eliminator using green bacterial technology, Unaula University, Colombia • A fire fighting light aircraft with a targeted foam firing bionic arm, Universidad Privada del Norte, Peru • An airbag belt to cushion the elderly from falls, University of Limerick, Ireland • Low cost shoes made from recycled bottle plastics for school-girls walking lengthy distances, Mackerere University, Uganda
A year-round activation, Global Grad Show entrepreneurship programme supports innovators to materialize their real-world impact. Through training, mentorship, connections with the industry and funding opportunities, it accelerates the process of bringing graduate projects to life. The focus is to develop business skills and offer structured startup-building route to participants. Last year, A.R.M. Holding pledged over £2 million (AED 10 million) for a 10-year fund to help talents from Global Grad Show entrepreneurship programme to advance towards market launch, having already supported eight projects.
Global Grad Show’s Covid-19 initiative, one of the first international open calls to innovators addressing Covid-19 challenges, has four projects currently undergoing entrepreneurship training, with one advancing to pilot stage:
• Foresight: an AI system which processes clinical information of patients in intensive care units, capable of predicting and alerting patient heath deterioration, up to 48hrs earlier than current diagnosis alternatives. The system was designed to be easily integrated into hospitals, using data already commonly collected by intensive care units, being capable of streamlining patient care around the world. The founder is Sam Tukra, currently undertaking a PhD at Imperial College London in AI and Advanced Machine Vision. ENDS
Further Information – Global Grad Show Global Grad Show, an initiative by the Art Dubai Group, is a year-round programme for graduates and universities working on Social Impact Innovation projects in the fields of design, science, technology and engineering. It aims to promote graduates on an international stage providing them with development opportunities through its Entrepreneurship Programme which helps innovators to accelerate projects towards market implementation.
Besides being a platform for promotion and discovery, over the last five years 700 innovative projects, selected from over 5,000 applications, have taken part in the programme, the only one of its kind, helping to drive the development of innovations created by graduates from over 20 countries, through the Progress Prize, which awards and celebrates the next generation of innovators. In 2019, A.R.M. Holding pledged an AED 10 million (£2.1 million) 10-year fund to help talents from Global Grad Show to develop their business models and go to market, having already supported 8 projects so far.
This year Global Grad Show participants will be invited to apply to the new cohort of the Entrepreneurship Programme, which to date has supported 30 projects, in fields ranging from medical to waste management and from mental health to migrating communities.
All participating students will go through month-long entrepreneurial training including business advice sessions and mentorship support before being shortlisted to present. All shortlisted students then participate in two months of tailored acceleration hot housing with venture capital experts ahead of displaying their demos to A.R.M, in the hope of receiving funding.
Two projects from Global Grad Show 2019 Entrepreneurship Programme are the first recipients of seed capital from the A.R.M. Holding Fund – SpectrumLab, a reflective paint that changes its colour based on temperature developed by graduates from the Politecnico di Torino and Collège des Ingénieurs and Safe Cooking, a portable stove for communities without access to clean and safe cooking methods, developed by a graduate from the University of Karachi.
Global Grad Show also engages its community through knowledge exchange opportunities, where academics and industry professionals share their experiences and insights about innovation and solutions for a better future. Recently named as one of the key initiatives under the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority’s plan to realize its vision of evolving Dubai into a global hub for culture and innovation, Global Grad Show has built a community of over 260 universities across the world that includes the world’s leading institutions alongside those from developing countries.
This year’s initiative will also be added to with the launch of a MENA show specifically to support regional talent. The programme, which received more than 200 submissions from 35 universities based on the Middle East and North Africa will inaugurate a physical exhibition focusing on talent from the region, as part of Dubai Design Week. Visit www.globalgradshow.com for further information.
COMMENT | The latest horrifying episode of religious terrorism in France has, unfortunately, put Malaysia in the international limelight with the former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, adding fuel to the religious fires and hatred.
Many that have followed Mahathir’s career during the past 70 years will not be surprised by his extremist response.
Unfortunately too, we have not seen the last of such fire and brimstone practitioners. They follow a well-trodden pattern going back thousands of years.
Perhaps the only way to get out of this cycle of religious violence and terrorism is for the leaders of religious institutions to also teach about the history of the estimated 6,000 religions of the world, the differences, commonalities and patterns, and associations with cultural and political features.
Using scientific evidence, logic and rationality, such courses can help put into proper perspective the so-called universal truths and answers peddled by the religious books and scriptures of the Abrahamic religions as well as…
