Commission Vice-President Dubravka Šuica has received, today, a Statement on “Defending democracy in Europe: Addressing the threat of authoritarian populism and reinforcing democratic practice” from the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE), an independent advisory body to the Commission.The report was requested by the Vice-President following the EGE’s Opinion on “Democracy in the Digital Age” of June 2023, which had analysed – upon a letter to the EGE by President von der Leyen – how current socio-technical arrangements can have detrimental effects on democratic practice. The EGE’s new Statement focuses on questions around civic engagement and European…
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Waste collection contractor to pay back wages, interest to 54 female job applicantsSAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Department of Labor announced that its Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has reached a conciliation agreement with a Southern California waste collection and recycling company to resolve alleged hiring discrimination against female job applicants cited in a review of the company’s federal contracts.The agreement follows an OFCCP compliance review of Arakelian Enterprises Inc. that found, from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, the company — operating as Athens Services — discriminated against female applicants for positions as operatives and laborers. OFCCP enforces Executive Order 11246 which prohibits federal contractors…
Farage — whose shock comeback to the U.K. political scene at the helm of the right-wing challenger party has rattled the ruling Conservatives as a July 4 general election looms — was leaving a Wetherspoons pub when he was hit by a McDonald’s banana milkshake Tuesday. Essex Police said Bowen will appear at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on July 2. Speaking to POLITICO after the rally Tuesday, Farage admitted to being rattled — but described such incidents, which drew condemnation from his political opponents, as an occupational hazard on campaign walkabouts. “If somebody chucks something and it hits you in the…
What do cycling, showering and making love have in common?All three activities prove the usefulness of a new generation of skin patches that can monitor people’s vital signs like blood pressure and heart rate, according to Professor Klas Hjort, head of the microsystems technology programme at Uppsala University in Sweden.Patch workWhile “smart wearables” are already very much on the market and in people’s lives, researchers are seeking to improve the technologies in areas such as e-health and make the devices more comfortable to wear during regular activities.Hjort led a research project called SINTEC that received EU funding to develop soft,…
Everything in biology ultimately boils down to food and sex. To survive as an individual you need food. To survive as a species you need sex. Not surprisingly then, the age-old question of why giraffes have long necks has centered around food and sex. After debating this question for the past 150 years, biologists still cannot agree on which of these two factors was the most important in the evolution of the giraffe’s neck. In the past three years, my colleagues and I have been trying to get to the bottom of this question. Necks for sex In the 19th…
Thank you, Mr Chair. Since we met in this forum last week Russia has continued to press across the front line. However, it does so reaping little strategic gain and at significant cost. Where Russia has attempted to attack military targets, the results have been notably modest. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have repelled Russia’s attacks on the village of Starytsia, close to Vovchansk, inflicting significant losses on Russia’s forces. Only three weeks’ ago, I mentioned that Russia was on track to sustain half a million casualties by 2025. Throughout May, however, Russia’s casualties have averaged over 1,200 per day –…
Yaoundé – On 15 May 2024, the entire international community celebrated the 30th anniversary of the International Year of the Family. In Cameroon, the day was marked by the official ceremony to launch activities relating to the celebration. The ceremony was attended by a host of guests, including Mrs Marie Thérèse Abena Ondoa, Minister for the Promotion of Women and the Family (MINPROFF). Governmental, administrative, civil, religious and traditional authorities, representatives of diplomatic missions and international organizations were given the opportunity, through presentations and discussions, to exchange views on the contemporary challenges facing families and impacting on their structure and…
Sexting — sending sexually suggestive or explicit messages and images — is now a widespread practice, and can be a healthy way to express and explore sexuality. However, there is a need to distinguish between consensual sexting and forms of sexual harassment like cyberflashing. Cyberflashing refers to the act of non-consensually sending sexual imagery (like nudes or “dick pics”) to another person. It is facilitated through communications technologies including text, AirDrop and social media applications like Snapchat and Tinder. Similar to flashing — when a person unexpectedly and deliberately “flashes” their genitals to others — that occurs in person, cyberflashing…
Recent outbreaks of bird flu – in US dairy herds, poultry farms in Australia and elsewhere, and isolated cases in humans – have raised the issue of food safety. So can the virus transfer from infected farm animals to contaminate milk, meat or eggs? How likely is this? And what do we need to think about to minimise our risk when shopping for or preparing food? How safe is milk? Bird flu (or avian influenza) is a bird disease caused by specific types of influenza virus. But the virus can also infect cows. In the US, for instance, to date…
Buyout firm Apollo Global Management will acquire a 49 per cent equity interest in a joint venture related to Intel’s manufacturing facility in Ireland for US$11 billion, the companies said on Tuesday. Apollo will acquire the stake in the Fab 34 joint venture in Leixlip, Ireland, the US chipmaker’s first high-volume location for its Intel 4 manufacturing process using extreme ultraviolet lithography machines. The deal, expected to close in the second quarter, would allow Intel to redeploy parts of its investment in the project to other parts of its business, the company said. Intel has invested US$18.4 billion in the…