Kleptocracy in America – Foreign Affairs

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"Drain the swamp! the U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump shouted at campaign rallies last year. The crowds roared; he won. Our political system is corrupt! the Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders thundered at his own rallies. His approval rating now stands at around 60 percent, dwarfing that of any other national-level elected official. Although many aspects of U.S. politics may be confusing, Americans are clearly more agitated about corruption than they have been in nearly a century, in ways that much of the political mainstream does not quite grasp. The topic has never been central to either major partys platform, and top officials tend to conflate what is legal with what is uncorrupt, speaking a completely different language from that of their constituents.

Although the political establishment, including the justices of the Supreme Court, may cling to a legal notion of corruption, ordinary Americans more visceral understanding is in line with an anticorruption Zeitgeist that has swept the world in the past decade. In Brazil, huge, ongoing street protests over the course of two years have bolstered the federal police force and a crusading jurist, Srgio Moro, as they have investigated and brought to justice high-ranking perpetrators in a web of corruption scandals. Their work has already led to the impeachment of one president, Dilma Rousseff, and her successor, Michel Temer, is also in the cross hairs. A similar movement has shaken Guatemala, where a UN-backed commission has helped prosecutors bring charges against dozens of officials, including Otto Prez Molinawho was the countrys president until 2015, when he resigned and was arrested on corruption charges. Earlier this year, South Korean President Park Guen-hye met the same fate.

In countries as varied as Bulgaria, Honduras, Iraq, Lebanon, Malaysia, Moldova, Romania, and South Africa, where governments havent been toppled, citizens have nonetheless shown remarkable collective energy in protesting corruption. Taken together, these disparate movements add up to a low-grade worldwide insurrection. Elsewhere, taking the pulse of their

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Kleptocracy in America - Foreign Affairs

Steve Bannon is what made Donald Trump who he is – Kansas City Star (blog)

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Kansas City Star (blog)
Steve Bannon is what made Donald Trump who he is
Kansas City Star (blog)
The impresario of apocalyptic politics gave Trump a grandiose image of himself at a time when the real estate mogul was building a movement but had no real ideas. Until Bannon came ... He was a vibe, a zeitgeist not a platform. Bannon convinced him ...
Bannon gave Trump exactly what he cravedWashington Post
Steve Bannon, destroyer of worlds: After electing a president, he's back to building a right-wing media empireSalon
Steve Bannon, UnrepentantThe American Prospect
New York Times
all 4,809 news articles »

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Why it’s becoming cool to live in your car or a 150-sq. ft. apartment – Christian Science Monitor

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August 21, 2017 Seattle; and Los AngelesWhen Shawna Nelson leaves her office in Seattles suburbs, she does what 28-year-olds often do: dines with friends, goes out dancing, or sees a show. Sometimes she hits her swanky gym.

But at the end of the night Ms. Nelson always returns to Dora, the dusty Ford Explorer she calls home. In the back, where a row of seats should be, lies a foam mattress covered with fuzzy animal-print blankets. Nelson keeps a headlamp handy for when she wants to read before bed. Then, once shes sure she wont get ticketed or towed, she turns in for the night.

I still strive to have some sort of routine, says Nelson, who started living in her car about a year ago. Would I rather spend $1,200 on an apartment that Im probably not going to be at very much, or would I rather spend $1,200 a month on traveling?

For her, it was an easy choice.

Shes not alone. As housing costs soar, US communities have faced ballooning homelessness, declining homeownership, and tensions over gentrification. But the rising expense of homes, when combined with the demographic, cultural, and technological trends of the past decade, has also prompted a more positive phenomenon: smaller, leaner living. This conscious shift, mainly among portions of the middle and upper classes, springs from a desire to live more fully with less.

For some it means choosing tiny homes and micro-apartments typically less than 350 square feet for the chance to live affordably in vibrant neighborhoods. For others, like Nelson, it means hitting the road in a truck or van, communing with nature and like-minded people along the way. Proponents range in ages and backgrounds, but they all share a renewed thirst for alternatives to traditional lifestyles like single-family homes, long cherished as a symbol of the American dream.

I think fundamentally it comes down to a shift in perception about the pursuit of happiness how it doesnt require a consumerist lifestyle or collection of stuff, says Jay Janette, a Seattle architect whose firm has designed a number of micro-housing developments in the city. Theyre not really living in their spaces, theyre living in their city.

John Infranca, a law professor at Bostons Suffolk University who specializes in urban law and policy, says the phenomenon is driven largely by Millennials, who have been the faces of both the affordable housing crisis and the shift to minimalism.

Research shows that the 18-to-35 cohort continues to rent at higher rates than previous generations: 74 percent lived in a rental property in 2016, compared to 62 percent of Gen Xers in 2000, according to the Pew Research Center. And while the Millennial desire to not buy homes tends to be overstated studies suggest many want to own, but often cant afford to they do prioritize experiences over stuff.

They arent the only ones. Spending on experiences like food, travel, and recreation is up for all consumers, making up more than 20 percent of Americans consumption expenses in 2015. (In contrast, the share for spending on household goods and cars was in the single digits.) Baby-boomer parents, downsizing as they enter retirement, find that their grown children are uninterested in inheriting their hoards of Hummels and Thomas Kinkade paintings. The same live with less logic has begun to extend beyond stuff to the spaces these older adults occupy.

There is some cultural demand for simpler living, says Professor Infranca. And by virtue of technology, we are able to live with a lot less.

Its a distinct moment for a culture that has long placed a premium on individual ownership and a keeping up with the Joneses mentality, Mr. Janette and others say.

I think the recession changed the playing field for a lot of people, notes Sofia Borges, an architect, trend consultant, and lecturer at the University of Southern California. Job security, homeownership a lot of that went out the window and never really returned. When a change like that happens, you have to change your ideas a little bit too.

That was certainly the case for Kim Henderson, who was a marketing manager making more than $80,000 a year before the recession. I never again found a job like I had [before 2008], says Ms. Henderson, now in her 50s. When they were available, they went to younger people.

Kim Henderson plays with her dog, Olive, on Aug. 12 in her apartment in downtown Los Angeles. Ms. Henderson, who moved into the 175-square-foot unit about a year ago, says downsizing has been good for both her soul and her savings account. Theres an energy you get from purging, she says. I have more money in my pocket and less things.

Jessica Mendoza/The Christian Science Monitor

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Today Henderson makes about $37,000 a year as an executive assistant to a bar owner and lives in the Bristol Hotel, a mixed-use apartment building in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. Her studio, which she shares with her small dog Olive, is 175 square feet the equivalent of about four king-size beds. The walls are covered in framed artwork that Henderson collected from thrift shops and friends. An apartment-sized fridge and a fold-out couch are her largest possessions.

Its the same exact lifestyle [I used to live], just with less things and more money in her pocket, she says.

Henderson pays $685 a month including electricity a bargain for Los Angeles, where studios average $1,500. She can save money and still have enough disposable income to eat out and travel, she says. But at least as important is the sense of liberation. Theres an energy you get from purging, Henderson says. You dont need six towels. You dont need a ton of dishes. You pick the things out that you really want to keep in the useful category.

The sentiment is in keeping with a growing culture of minimalism. Marie Kondos The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, which urges people to keep only those things that spark joy, has sold 1.5 million copies in the US alone. Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, also known as The Minimalists, have also helped take the notion mainstream with a podcast, website, bestselling books, and documentaries.

There are other forces at play, too. Digital access to resources makes living lean more feasible, says Infranca at Suffolk. Henderson, for instance, doesnt own a car, relying instead on ride-sharing services or her own two feet to get around. And because she lives downtown shes closer to the amenities and establishments she loves.

Its a value proposition, says David Neiman, whose Seattle design firm focuses on small-efficiency dwelling units, which start at 150 square feet. I could live for the same price in a central location in housing thats clean, has internet, and I can walk to work and exciting things. Or I can live farther away, have more space, and its in a secondary neighborhood and I have to drive.

Instead of renting a micro-unit in an urban center, filmmakers Alexis Stephens and Christian Parsons decided two years ago to build their own 130-square foot house and load it onto the bed of a U-Haul. They then set off across the country in a bid to live more simply and sustainably, travel, and invest in their own place all while documenting the experience.

The Tiny House Expedition has since become a thriving enterprise. Ms. Stephens and Mr. Parsons have interviewed tiny house advocates and dwellers across 30,000 miles and 29 states. At a sustainability festival outside Seattle in July, they sold T-shirts and copies of the book Turning Tiny, a collection of essays they contributed to. They gave tours of their home. And they answered questions about building and living in a tiny house, touting its potential as an affordable, sustainable, and high-quality alternative lifestyle.

Christian Parsons stands inside the entryway of his tiny home on July 22 at a local sustainability festival at Shoreline Community College in Shoreline, Wash. Mr. Parsons built and shares the home with his partner, Alexis Stephens, and together they travel the country documenting tiny home communities.

Jessica Mendoza/The Christian Science Monitor

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People are empowering themselves to build housing options that work for them that are not available in the market, Stephens says.

Tiny homes can range from about 100 to 300 square feet and cost between $25,000 to $100,000, give or take. Stephens and Parsons built theirs using reclaimed material for about $20,000, and it comes with a loft for a queen-sized bed, a compost toilet, walls that double as storage, and shelves that turn into tables. For those with more lavish tastes, vendors like Seattle Tiny Homes offer customizable houses complete with a shower and a washer and dryer for about $85,000.

You arent downgrading from a traditional home, says founder Sharon Read. It can have everything you want and nothing you dont want.

Those who would rather not lug around a whole house while they travel, however, have turned to another alternative: #vanlife. The term was coined in 2011 by Foster Huntington, a former Ralph Lauren designer who gave up his life in New York City to surf the California coast, living and traveling in a 1987 Volkswagen Syncro. His photos, which he posted on Instagram and later compiled in a $65 book titled, Home Is Where You Park It, launched what The New Yorker dubbed a Bohemian social-media movement.

The hashtag has since been used more than a million times on Instagram. Vanlifers drive everything from cargo vans to SUVs, though the Volkswagen Vanagon remains the classic choice.

Its definitely found a renewed zeitgeist, says Jad Josey, general manager at GoWesty, a Southern California-based vendor of Volkswagen van parts. The fact that you can be really compact and mobile and almost 100 percent self-sufficient in a Vanagon is really attractive to people.

People like freelance photographer Aidan Klimenko, who has been living off and on in vans and SUVs for three years, traversing the US and South America.

The idea of working so hard to pay rent which ultimately, thats just money down the drain is such a hard concept for me, says Mr. Klimenko. Vanlife, he adds, is access to the outdoors and its movement. Im addicted to traveling. Im addicted to being in new places and meeting new people and waking up outside.

Still, the movement to live smaller may not be as extensive as social media makes it seem, some housing analysts say. Zoning regulations especially in dense urban areas often restrict the number and size of buildable units, slowing growth among micro-apartments and tiny homes. Constructing or living in a tiny home or micro-unit can still pose a legal risk in some cities.

And by and large, Americans continue to value size. The average new home built in the US in 2015 wasa record 2,687 square feet 1,000 square feet larger than in 1973, according to the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

Living mobile isnt all grand adventures and scenic views, either. Van dwellers say theyve had to contend with engine trouble, the cold and the heat, and unpleasant public restrooms. And Henderson in Los Angeles says she once lived in an affordable micro-housing development that had a pervasive drug-dealing problem.

Still, those who have embraced leaner living say what they might lose in creature comforts, they gain in perspective and experience. In crisscrossing the country, Stephens and Parsons opened themselves up to the kindness of strangers. Its a nice reminder that as Americans we have so much more in common than we realize, Stephens says. They also spend more time connecting with others, instead of closeting themselves at home.

Whether youre choosing a van, a school bus, a tiny house, or a micro-apartment, you get a lot of the same benefits, she says. We need more housing options, period, in America. Weve boxed ourselves in a very monolithic housing culture. Were showing its OK to venture outside of that.

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The Venus Project

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What is The Venus Project?

The Venus Project is an organization that proposes a feasible plan of action for social change, one that works towards a peaceful and sustainable global civilization. It outlines an alternative []

The plans of The Venus Project offer society a broader spectrum of choices based on the scientific possibilities directed toward a new era of peace and sustainability for all. Through []

Global problems faced by mankind today are impacting individuals and nations rapidly. Climate change, famine, war, epidemics of deadly diseases and environmental pollution contribute to the long list of global []

The history of The Venus Project offers a unique perspective into Jacque Frescos life. From the early years when he worked at Wright Field to the time he and his []

Visit Roxanne Meadows live at the Research Center in Florida.

Participate in a Seminar lecture and go on a tour around the research center.

Get together with Roxanne and get all your questions about The Venus Project and a Resource Based Economy answered.

There are many ways to help The Venus Project. First and foremost is to become aware of this new direction and learn about it as much as you can.

Later you can become a volunteer and help to spread the word and take part in official projects.

Donations to our cause are also very much appreciated.

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The Venus Project

Resisting White House Chaos By Building Community | HuffPost – HuffPost

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I started my professional career in the federal government, in the U.S. EPA. I was proud of our work in Washington and proud of our country. In the years since, I always thought our national government was capable of doing better, but mostly considered its dysfunction to be the result of conflicting interests and the role of money in politics and the media. I looked elsewhere for progress and found it everywhere. Then came President Trump: For most of the past seven months Ive found the federal government disheartening and threatening, but unsurprising. Last week all of that was replaced with shame. I was deeply ashamed of the behavior of Donald Trump as he made excuses for the racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, and sexist fiends marching in Virginia. It was the worst behavior I have ever seen from an American president. The president is our head of state and our head of government. He is both king and prime minister. As the head of state, his job is to represent the American people and their values. Last week he failed in performing that function; he abdicated his position as head of state.

What do the rest of us do in the face of this onslaught? He is the duly elected president, and although how long he remains in office is difficult to predict, his legitimacy as president is real. Last week we saw a little bit of what we do. Corporate leaders ran away from his advisory councils and even Republican elected leaders took him on. There will be more of this to come because Donald Trumps greatest talent is calling attention to himself. He will do whatever it takes to get noticed and most of us cannot help but watch what he is doing. However, I am coming to the conclusion that our energies would be better spent elsewhere. The federal government is too important to ignore, and so we need to continue to stay engaged, but a higher proportion of our effort should be devoted to our communities, businesses, institutions, cities and states.

The school year will soon begin and millions of American children will return to classrooms. Teachers will engage with students, coaches will inspire kids, and parents will cheer from the sidelines. Our hospitals will heal the sick with technology that continues to progress, smartphones will provide us with even more distractions than they do today, and new technology will help move us toward a renewable resource-based economy. In my home city, teenagers will help a mom carry her babys stroller up the subway stairs, someone will carry groceries to an apartment for an elderly neighbor, and people will see something and say something. We will try to keep each other safe and secure in a world that really is better than the media wants us to believe.

It also means that we need to stop waiting for the federal government to come to our rescue and fund the aging infrastructure that is crumbling in our communities. We will need to generate our own revenues to maintain subways, build bridges and tunnels, repave roads, build water and waste systems, modernize our electric grid, and expand air and seaports. This will require taxes, user fees, and public-private partnerships. Investing in the future means that we defer some gratification today so our children can benefit in the future. Extreme income inequality will not be addressed by the federal tax code and so whatever adjustments can be made will take place by the market and by state and local actions.

The absence of a federal government will make it more difficult for poorer states to invest in the future, unless they can develop a strategy that attracts capital and wealth from the outside. Here in New York City, we have the wealth needed to invest, but are suffering from political posturing and preening by our mayor and governor. Our need for a well-maintained subway system is now being held hostage to their national political ambitions. But despite their dispute, New Yorkers have the ability to generate the funds we need and our attention should be focused on crafting a deal that allows our mass transit system to be maintained and expanded.

While racists may march with torches in Virginia, we see the new multi-racial, multi-national America taking shape on our sidewalks, in our school yards, in social gatherings, and in all of our public spaces. Despite the efforts to turn back the clock to an imaginary America, our demography and mass social change have made this entire nation the gorgeous mosaic that my colleague Professor David Dinkins called New York City a quarter century ago. Most people have friends from different parts of the world and of different races and ethnic backgrounds. Most of our family stories are immigration stories. All four of my grandparents were immigrants. The global economy and world wide web have led to increased global travel and immigration. As a nation that still has a history of welcoming immigrants, America has become more diverse over the past half century. According to DVera Cohn and Andrea Caumont of the Pew Research Center:

Americans are more racially and ethnically diverse than in the past, and the U.S. is projected to be even more diverse in the coming decades. By 2055, the U.S. will not have a single racial or ethnic majority. Much of this change has been (and will be) driven by immigration. Nearly 59 million immigrants have arrived in the U.S. in the past 50 years, mostly from Latin America and Asia. Today, a near-record 14% of the countrys population is foreign born compared with just 5% in 1965. Over the next five decades, the majority of U.S. population growth is projected to be linked to new Asian and Hispanic immigration. American attitudes about immigration and diversity are supportive of these changes for the most part. More Americans say immigrants strengthen the country than say they burden it, and most say the U.S.s increasing ethnic diversity makes it a better place to live.

The demonstrators in Virginia were seeking to resist this emerging reality and prevent this change from occurring, but most Americans and most communities embrace diversity. Immigration presents challenges, but American communities have always been built by people from different places coming together, finding common values and sharing the ideas, beliefs, food and customs they brought from their former home. Mayor Dinkins image of the gorgeous mosaic is appropriate here. Close up, each tile in the mosaic is distinct and identifiable, but when you step back and see how the tiles fit together you see a beautiful picture that has its own grace and logic. That is the American community that most of us see every day. It may not be visible from the penthouse of Trump Tower or the ballroom of Mar-a-Lago, but it is both the American dream and, for the most part, the American reality.

The recent effort to focus immigration on highly skilled workers misses the point. Yes, we want scientists and engineers from other nations. But we also want ambition, drive, daring and leadership. My grandfather, Ben Cohen, was a baker and a carpenter. He was not well-educated. But all five of his children turned out to be successful professionals. Wed like more Albert Einsteins but we need more Ben Cohens. In the coming decades, this nation can maintain its dynamism, as it has in the past, by being the last best hope of humanity. By being a gathering place for those yearning to be free. That was not the spirit of those carrying torches and chanting disgusting slogans, but it is the American spirit at its best. Despite the chaos that has enveloped the White House, we can take comfort in the day-to-day functioning of our American communities.

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Women drive Sadc integration agenda – The Herald

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Nyarai Kampilipili and Kizito SikukaCorrespondents The event had nothing to do with the annual Womens Month that is celebrated here in South Africa every August to remember the sacrifices and contribution of women to the struggle for social equality.

Rather, the sight of Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax addressing the media ahead of the 37th SADC Summit in South Africa was a clear affirmation that women continue to make a positive contribution towards deepening regional integration and sustainable development in southern Africa.

Nkoana-Mashabane is the incoming chairperson of the SADC Council of Ministers, while Dr Tax is the Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

In fact, Dr Tax is the first woman to assume the top post at the SADC Secretariat, and since her appointment at a summit in August 2013 in Lilongwe, Malawi has exhibited that performance is key and not gender in holding key decision-making positions.

Based in Gaborone, Botswana, the SADC Secretariat is the principal executive institution of SADC, responsible for strategic planning, facilitation and coordination and management of all SADC programmes, activities and projects. The SADC Council of Ministers oversees the functioning and development of SADC by ensuring that regional policies are properly implemented.

In this regard, both Nkoana-Mashabane, who is the South African International Relations and Cooperation Minister and Dr Tax carry the responsibility of making sure the benefits of belonging to a shared community in southern Africa continue to be enjoyed and impact on the lives of SADC citizens.

During her one-year tenure as Council of Ministers chair, Nkoana-Mashabane is expected to provide guidance to the SADC Secretariat on the implementation of regional programmes, while Dr Tax will ensure that the decisions of the 37th SADC Summit are implemented over the next 12 months.

This will include making sure that the momentum built since 2014 in terms of the implementation of the industrialisation agenda is maintained as part of regional efforts to transform from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based one that is able to add value to its own natural resources and compete strongly on global markets.

SADC has over the years made significant progress towards promoting gender equality and equity in the region.

In fact, gender equality is firmly rooted in the Declaration and Treaty that established the shared community of SADC, and member states fully realise that equality and empowerment of both women and men is crucial for the attainment of sustainable development.

This is clearly reflected in the constitutions of most SADC countries that provide for the creation of legal frameworks that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender and other differences.

Some countries have also legislated affirmative action and quota systems that guarantee the participation and representation of women in political and other decision-making positions.

According to the SADC Gender and Development Monitor 2016, four member states are among the top 20 countries in the world with the highest number of women in parliament and other key decision-making positions.

These are Seychelles, South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique, followed closely by Angola, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

In the education sector, gender gaps in literacy levels continue to close, with Botswana, Lesotho, Seychelles and Swaziland having higher literacy rates for women compared to men.

The Revised SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, which was approved at the 36th SADC Summit held in the Kingdom of Swaziland in August 2016, aims to align the protocol with provisions of other instruments such as those relating to the Sustainable Development Goals, Agenda 2063, and the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap.

The revised protocol provides for the empowerment of women, elimination of discrimination and attainment of gender equality and equity through enactment of gender-responsive legislation and implementation of policies, programmes and projects.

The 37th SADC Heads of State and Government Summit is scheduled for 19-20 August, and will deliberate on a wide range of issues, including exploring ways of harnessing the potential of the private sector to contribute to the industrialisation agenda and sustainable economic development in the region.

The theme for the summit is Partnering with the private sector in developing industry and regional value-chains.

At the summit, South African President Jacob Zuma will assume the rotating SADC chair from King Mswati III of Swaziland.

Prior to the SADC Summit, there will be a Double Troika meeting on August 18 to discuss the general political situation in the region. sardc.net

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Opinion: UBC erases boundaries between engineering and health – Vancouver Sun

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Mark Ansermino, left, and Guy Dumont were working on a device in 2005 to aid people monitoring patients during surgery. Ward Perrin / Vancouver Sun

A deceptively simple device invented at the University of B.C. is saving lives in the worlds most impoverished places.

Called the Phone Oximeter, it clips onto a persons fingertip and is connected by wire to a smartphones audio port. By measuring blood-oxygen levels and heart and breathing rates with unprecedented simplicity, portability and affordability, its enabling easier diagnosis of illness in Mozambique, Pakistan and Uganda.

How it came to be at UBC reveals the magic of universities.

Fifteen years ago, electrical engineer Guy Dumont, an expert in creating intelligent automated systems, met Mark Ansermino, an anesthesiologist who wanted to improve measurement of vital signs during surgery. From that first encounter between two complementary faculty members, a string of inventions followed.

The Phone Oximeters genesis at a university was no accident. UBC, like so many of its peer institutions, attracts experts in diverse fields. Brought together into a larger community, they sometimes share ideas and wind up doing things they could never achieve or even dream of achieving on their own.

But when that lightning does strike, its often by accident or the result of occasional get-togethers. If only we could make such interactions a regular feature on our campuses, imagine the ingenuity that would spring forth.

Now we are now doing just that, with UBCs latest creation: a school of biomedical engineering.

This new cluster of faculty and students, a joint venture of the faculties of medicine and applied science, will break down antiquated academic boundaries. We want to replicate many times over the genius of the Phone Oximeter applying an engineering mindset to disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

That could mean medical devices like the Phone Oximeter. But it also means extending engineering into realms that most people have a hard time grasping: the splicing of genes, the rearrangement of proteins and the cultivation of stem cells, which can be coaxed into repairing or even replacing damaged tissues or organs.

This is a squishier world than many engineers are used to. But its governed by the same physical principles that all engineering students must master. And its just as yielding to their quantitative approach and creative design skills, which offer new solutions to societys major health challenges, including cancer, neurological disease, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

UBC is the first university in Western Canada to recognize the importance of this burgeoning field with a school of its own. And we are doing it at a propitious time, as B.C. diversifies its resource-based economy by cultivating a vibrant tech sector, and as the province joins the University of Washington in creating the Cascadia Urban Analytics Cooperative, emulating the success of such regional tech hubs as Silicon Valley, North Carolinas Research Triangle and Bostons Route 128 Corridor.

To fulfil even part of that tech-based vision, higher education must position itself several steps ahead by preparing students to readily enter that economy from the moment they graduate, and to play leading roles in both established companies and new ventures. Playing catch-up isnt an option we need to cultivate the talent now or risk having that vision wither for lack of local talent.

The Phone Oximeter, invented at the University of B.C., clips onto a persons fingertip and is connected by wire to a smartphones audio port. By measuring blood-oxygen levels and heart and breathing rates with unprecedented simplicity, portability and affordability, its enabling easier diagnosis of illness in Mozambique, Pakistan and Uganda. Handout / PNG

Clearly, there is a demand for such training. The faculty of applied science started offering masters degrees and doctorates in biomedical engineering a mere seven years ago, and applications have increased steadily to almost 200 in 2016.

The new school will provide those students expected to number about 90 this year with a distinct, high-profile home, signalling to future students our commitment to be a leader in this field. In the years ahead we hope to extend the talent pipeline even further by offering bachelors degrees in biomedical engineering as well.

That higher profile will also help attract the most promising or sought-after biomedical engineering faculty. In fact, it already has: Peter Zandstra, most recently of the University of Toronto, has joined UBC to become the schools first director.

Zandstra wont need much help finding his way around he spent five years at UBC earning his doctorate in biotechnology and chemical engineering. But we recruited him for his ingenuity in growing stem cells, his mathematical modelling to predict how stem cells behave and how they can be controlled, and his success in generating human tissue for drug testing or treatment. On top of all that, he has proven leadership skills, honed from his experience steering large academic research groups and startup companies.

Joining him in the months and years ahead will be seven other new faculty members, along with 20 current faculty members jointly appointed from their current departments, including electrical engineer Tim Salcudean, who has proudly ignored the obsolete divisions that once separated him from his medical colleagues.

Salcudean is advancing two innovations that have already transformed patient care: magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound. He is making those technologies more revealing by bringing digital analysis to images that are now mostly eyeballed. He is also making them more useful by superimposing MRI and ultrasound images onto magnified images of a surgical field, so surgeons can see underneath the tissue on which theyre operating, and thus spot patches of cancer that would normally be hidden.

These arent an academics theoretical musings. Thanks to UBCs partnerships with the provinces health system, Salcudean has been able to team up with UBC urologist Peter Black to successfully test ultrasound and MRI image-guided techniques on 27 patients with prostate cancer. Based on those results, there are plans for more.

We cant simply leave those kinds of advances to the random happenstance of the occasional symposium or accidental meeting. The stakes in terms of lives saved or quality of life are too high.

Our new school of biomedical engineering will bring health scientists, clinicians and engineers together on a daily basis and provide them with the space and the tools to collaborate. Just as important, it will bring graduate students and medical students into that collaboration to learn from it, emulate it and, we hope, take it in directions that we havent yet imagined.

Dermot Kelleher is dean of the faculty of medicine and James Olson is interim dean of the faculty of applied science at the University of B.C.

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Aging Japan Wants Automation, Not Immigration – Bloomberg

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Japantends to be less wary of automation, even in nursing homes.

Japan's next boom may be at hand, driven by the very thing that is supposed to be bad for its economy.

Japan's aging and shrinking populationhas been partly blamed for the on-again, off-again nature of growth and deflation the past three decades. Lately, it's been drivingadifferent and just as powerful idea: In the absence of large-scale immigration, the only viable solution for many domestic industries is toplow money into robots and information technology more generally.

Humans will still be needed, of course, and that's behind a separate by-product of Japan's demographic challenges that I wrote about during a visit there last month. With unemployment down to 2.8 percent, companies are increasingly realizing they need to pay up to attract and keep qualified personnel.The other option -- increased immigration -- is politically difficult.

Japanese tech innovation in yesteryear was about gadgets and games designed to give pleasure. Think Sony's iconic Walkman and Nintendo games. Now the demand in Japan comes from an older demographic. A nursing home may well be the place to look for the next wave.

As my colleagues Henry Hoenig and Keiko Ujikane wrote this week, an owner of nursing homes in the Tokyo area plans to spend 300 million yen ($2.7 million) on software to make life easier for employees and residents.

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Hoenig, Toru Fujioka and I heard anecdotes like that numerous times during a December trip to Kadoma, a city near Osaka. The area was once an industrial powerhouse that rode Japan's post-1945 industrial surge with local employers like Panasonic Corp. Now, Mayor Kazutaka Miyamoto frets openly about whether there will simply be enough wage earners to pay the taxes to maintain hospitals, public transport and schools (for those few children who are born and actually stay).

Miyamoto does not share the worries that dominate conversations about robots and AI in the West. He almost laughed when pressed on the issue in a conversation in his office. What if robots eliminate jobs? He said that would be a good thing. He told us to look around: There aren't many people on the streets in the middle of a weekday.

He doesn't see any real appetite for immigration on a scale that would substitute for more robots and AI. Few businesses we spoke to that day did. One small manufacturer insisted that immigration would dilute Japan's homogeneous society. He would happily get a few robots if he could afford them. Wait until the price comes down.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch forecast IT investment in Japan to rise as much as 9 percent annually in coming years, with the difference in software investment per worker versus the U.S. falling to 5 to 1 by 2020 from about 10 to 1 now.

The budding surge isn't limited to manufacturers. Non-manufacturing companies planned 2.4 trillion yen in software investment in the fiscal year ending in March 2018, according to the Bank of Japans Tankan survey, released in July. That would be the most since 2009. Retailers plan to spend 146.4 billion yen on software this fiscal year, the most on record for data going back to 1999.

Another reason Japanese people don't share American angst about robotics: Astro Boy. Cultural affection for the anime character has made it easier for people to feel more relaxed about robots and technology in their lives.

Just as well. That nurse assisting you in retirement may soon be a robot, along with the dog that keeps you company.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story: Daniel Moss at dmoss@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Philip Gray at philipgray@bloomberg.net

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Aging Japan Wants Automation, Not Immigration - Bloomberg

The self-driving car of security automation – CSO Online

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By Kumar Saurabh, Contributor, CSO | Aug 22, 2017 7:01 AM PT

Opinions expressed by ICN authors are their own.

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When I speak with CISOs about automation in cybersecurity, it can conjure up parallels to self-driving cars. After all, if machine learning can create cars that drive themselves, why cant we have self-driving security?

Its a bit early and optimistic, however, to say machine learning and automation will immediately solve all cybersecurity challenges, if ever. Given the threat landscapes inevitable evolution, it will most likely remain an arms race between the defenders and the attackers for the near and long term.

Alternatively, the promise of a machine doing what we thought only humans could do is quickly approaching reality. Theres a lot of early results, hype and even more potential. In fact, this is also true for self-driving cars. The Washington Post highlighted the different levels of development in regards to autonomy in self-driving cars established by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).

Specifically, the evolutionary path to the much-hyped fully autonomous car with each stage providing exponential value.

Similarly in cybersecurity, increasing levels of intelligent automation will also provide exponential benefits. If we compare the levels in the auto industry and apply them to the world of cybersecurity, level zero has very little automation while level five is most autonomous.

On one hand, you have solutions such as User Behavior Analytics and Network Traffic Analysis that profess to automatically analyze normal behavior and alert anything abnormal. The drawback is the inability to understand the full context of an environment or situation, which results in a tendency to generate too many false positives and requires significant analyst involvement to triage.

On the other hand, you have early orchestration solutions that can partially automate some of the easier and repeatable actions during an incident response process. While this solution is adequate to collect relevant information for an investigation process, the actual decision making is delegated to the analyst.

In essence, Level 2 automates actions and repeatable tasks, but not the decision making and judgments that require intelligence.

The first is full, end-to-end alert triage automation. This is where the system has the intelligence, based on context and awareness of an alerts severity, to make decisions and accept feedback from human analysts. Though more advanced systems are able to provide a full explanation of their scoring, analysts still need to review the systems results. However, 95 percent of the overhead work they used to have to do is effectively eliminated.

Second is automated threat hunting that is possible after expert analysts map out the logic they would use in an investigation. The system applies cognitive automation to intelligently hunt for threats 24/7, but at a scale with which human analysts cant keep up. This approach can be made more manageable with prescriptive logic flows for specific use cases, such as Threat Hunter for CloudTrail or Threat Hunter for Office 365.

Such a solution does not exist today, but is often what CISOs hope for when they hear security automation. Achieving this nirvana will require significant advancements in machine learning and computing power.

Security operations technologies have greatly evolved in the past decade. The first big wave was driven by log aggregation and analytics, followed by predictive technologies. The next generation of solutions will be Prescriptive Security Intelligence, offering specific solutions to typical security use cases. The industry will take time to enter a fully autonomous state. If security automation is your end goal, start by looking for Level 3 security solutions that can drive 80 percent of the way to your destination.

This article is published as part of the IDG Contributor Network. Want to Join?

Kumar Saurabh is the CEO and co-founder of security intelligence automation platform LogicHub. Kumar has 15 years of experience in the enterprise security and log management space leading product development efforts at ArcSight and SumoLogic, which he left to co-found LogicHub.

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PMMI Set To Release Automation Report – Automation World

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While the packaging and processing industries have always been key adopters of automation technologies, there is a growing trend across these industries to use greater amounts of automation than they previously have.

According to a new report from PMMI, The Evolution of Automation 2017 for the processing and packaging, food, beverage, pharmaceutical and personal care industries, there are six key trends driving greater plant floor automation use across these industries. (Editors note: PMMI Media Group, publisher of Automation World, is owned by PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.) Those trends are:

Though these factors are driving greater interest in and use of automation across the industries surveyed, the actual implementation of automation technologies in these industries is progressing at a moderate rate due to several factors. The PMMI report highlights the following reasons for the steady, yet slow, adoption of increased levels of automation across the packaging and processing industries:

One chart in the report, A Projection of How Automation Will Advance in Processing and Packaging Companies, (shown above) indicates that all aspects of machine and software automation will increase significantly over the next decade. This prediction is based on the collective average response of survey participants, with larger companies automating and integrating faster; small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are also investing more, but at a slower rate.

The report notes that SMEs are embracing automation not just to optimize production processes, but also to survive in an increasingly faster-paced market driven by supply chain partner and consumer demands. Though one of the drawbacks to greater automation use for SMEs is the cost of the technology, the report highlights three key benefits that can help offset a significant portion of those costs:

When it comes to spending on automation technologies, over half of the end users taking part in the research said, There is not a separate line item specifically for automation, but capital budgets are increasing. Despite this lack of spending clarity from a majority of respondents, one quarter of respondents noted that they do have a budget specifically set aside for automation investments.

Breaking out respondents comments to assess spending trends across the vertical industries covered in the study, the PMMI report shows:

The full report from PMMI will be released following PACK EXPO 2017 at http://www.pmmi.org/research. Highlights from report will also be showcased during the PACK EXPO event in Las Vegas, September 25-27.

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PMMI Set To Release Automation Report - Automation World

Automation, Unemployment and Moravec’s Paradox | National Review – National Review

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Writing in the Guardian, heres Larry Elliott on automation.The whole article is well worth a read, even if its too simplistic to argue (as he does) that the Luddites were wrong. Over the longish term they most certainly were. The industrial revolution paved the way for an immense improvement in living standards. But what that happy history omits is the fact that it took a while to do so, a phenomenon known as the Engels pause:

In the first half of the nineteenth century, the real wage [in Britain] stagnated while output per worker expanded. The profit rate doubled and the share of profits in national income expanded at the expense of labour and land. After the middle of the nineteenth century, real wages began to grow in line with productivity, and the profit rate and factor shares stabilized.

Put another way, the Luddites were (broadly) right about what the new technology could do totheir prospects and those of their children, but hugely wrong about what it would mean for their grandchildren.

Its worth noting that the Engels Pause was also a time of growing popular political discontent in Britain,

Convinced by the logic that the hit to demand from mass unemployment will (to oversimplify) constrain the extent to which tasks are handed over to the robots, Elliott argues that the robots will create more jobs. More jobs? Im not convinced, but hes on stronger ground when he asks this:

[W]hat if these jobs are less good and less well paid than the jobs that automation kills off? Perhaps the weak wage growth of recent years is telling us something, namely that technology is hollowing out the middle class.

Robots are likely to result in a further hollowing out of middle-class jobs, and the reason is something known as Moravecs paradox. This was a discovery by AI experts in the 1980s that robots find the difficult things easy and the easy things difficult. Hans Moravec, one of the researchers, said: It is comparatively easy to make computers exhibit adult-level performance on intelligence tests or playing checkers, and difficult or impossible to give them the skills of a one-year-old when it comes to perception and mobility. Put another way, if you wanted to beat Magnus Carlsen, the world chess champion, you would choose a computer. If you wanted to clean the chess pieces after the game, you would choose a human being.

In the modern economy, the jobs that are prized tend to be the ones that involve skills such as logic. Those that are less well-rewarded tend to involve mobility and perception. Robots find logic easy but mobility and perception difficult.

It follows, says Joshi [an economist at BCA Research], that the jobs that AI can easily replicate and replace are those that require recently evolved skills like logic and algebra. They tend to be middle-income jobs. Conversely, the jobs that AI cannot easily replicate are those that rely on the deeply evolved skills like mobility and perception. They tend to be lower-income jobs. Hence, the current wave of technological progress is hollowing out middle-income jobs and creating lots of lower-income jobs.

Recent developments in the labour market suggest this process is already well under way. In both Britain and the US, economists have been trying to explain why it has been possible for jobs to be created without wage inflation picking up. The relationship between unemployment and pay the Phillips curve appears to have broken down.

But things become a bit easier to understand if the former analysts and machine operators are now being employed as dog walkers and waiting staff. Employment in total might be going up, but with higher-paid jobs being replaced by lower-paid jobs. Is there any hard evidence for this?

Well, Joshi says it is worth looking at the employment data for the US, which tends to be more granular than in Europe. For many years in America, the fastest-growing employment subsector has been food services and drinking places: bar tenders and waiters, in other words.

AI is still in its infancy, so the assumption has to be that this process has a lot further to run. Wage inflation is going to remain weak by historic standards, leading to debt-fuelled consumption with all its attendant risks. Interest rates will remain low. Inequality, without a sustained attempt at the redistribution of income, wealth and opportunity, will increase. And so will social tension and political discontent.

The Guardian is what it is, thus the call for sustained redistribution, but the risk of social tension and political discontent cannot be wished away. Andthe risk of that will rise significantly asautomation gnaws its way higher up the food chain.

And gnawing away is what its doing. Here (for example) is a recent story from CNBC on radiologists:

Arterys, a medical imaging startup, reads MRIs of the heart and measures blood flow through its ventricles. The process usually takes a human 45 minutes. Arterys can do it in 15 seconds.The remarkable power of todays computers has raised the question of whether humans should even act as radiologists. Geoffrey Hinton, a legend in the field of artificial intelligence, went so far as to suggest that schools should stop training radiologists. Those on the front lines are less dramatic.

Theres a misunderstanding that someone can program a bot that will take over everything the radiologist does, said Carla Leibowitz, head of strategy and marketing at Arterys. Radiologists still use the product and still make judgment calls. [We're] trying to make products to make their lives easier.

According to Dreyer, a radiologist spends about half the day examining images. The rest is spent communicating with patients and other physicians. Theres only so much that automated systems can take over.

Our desire to have somebody in control, I dont think that will go away anytime soon, said General Leung, cofounder of MIMOSA Diagnostics, which is testing a smartphone device that uses AI to aid diabetics. Someones always going to want a person to have made the decision.

True, but what will they be paid to make that decision?

Meanwhile, at the lower end of the scale, the traditional retail sector is taking a battering from the impact of e-commerce, but so far as retail workers are concerned, the hit from the switch to online shopping will be both direct (store closings) and, in a sense, indirect, as those stores that survive turn to automation to defend their profitability:

A recent analysis by Cornerstone Capital Group suggests that 7.5m retail jobs the most common type of job in the country are at high risk of computerization, with the 3.5m cashiers likely to be particularly hard hit. Another report, by McKinsey, suggests that a new generation of high tech grocery stores that automatically charge customers for the goods they take no check-out required and use robots for inventory and stocking could reduce the number of labor hours needed by nearly two-thirds. It all translates into millions of Americans jobs under threat.

None of this will happen overnight, and there will still be room for employees to work alongside them, but there will be fewer of them and what will they be paid?

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Automation, Unemployment and Moravec's Paradox | National Review - National Review

Global Terminal Automation Market in the Oil and Gas Industry 2017-2021 – Key Vendors are ABB, Emerson, Implico … – PR Newswire (press release)

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The global terminal automation market in the oil and gas industry to grow at a CAGR of 6.72% during the period 2017-2021.

Global Terminal Automation Market in the Oil and Gas Industry 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report also includes a discussion of the Key vendors operating in this market. To calculate the market size, the report considers new installations, value, and aftermarket services market.

Terminal automation is a system that eases the product handling at the terminal and enables integration of these operations with the business software. It is used to measure, control, automate, and report all the exchanges and transfers. It offers complete management from receipt of the product to inventory control to dispatch recording. Terminal automation systems are deployed in various applications in the oil and gas terminals. Oil terminals include truck and pipeline terminals, whereas gas terminals include liquefaction liquid natural gas (LNG) and regasification LNG terminals.

One trend in the market is emergence of IoT and cloud integration. IoT is the next generation technology for all the applications due to its superior advantages in connectivity.

According to the report, one driver in the market is global expansion in oil terminals. Oil terminals are required to store the crude oil and petroleum products. The tank terminal industry is one of the spurring industries since last decade. The oil terminal owners made profits owing to the increased trade of oil and gas and increasing demand for storing the product in the high oil and gas prices scenario.

However, in low oil prices scenario, the industry is propelled by the trading and marketing activities by the countries. With low crude oil prices, oil and gas supply chain market structure is contango (a situation in which future value of the commodity is higher compared to spot pricing).

Further, the report states that one challenge in the market is huge capital investment and business downtime. Terminal automation provides several benefits ranging from increased operational efficiency to lowering the manual interference.

Key vendors

Other prominent vendors

Key Topics Covered:

Part 01:Executive summary

Part 02: Scope of the report

Part 03: Research Methodology

Part 04: Introduction

Part 05: Market landscape

Part 06: Market segmentation by product

Part 07: Market segmentation by application

Part 08: Geographical segmentation

Part 09: Decision framework

Part 10: Drivers and challenges

Part 11: Market trends

Part 12: Vendor landscape

Part 13: Key vendor analysis

Part 14: Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/ccf8nt/global_terminal

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Global Terminal Automation Market in the Oil and Gas Industry 2017-2021 - Key Vendors are ABB, Emerson, Implico ... - PR Newswire (press release)

On Monuments and Minimum Wages – The American Prospect

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The statue of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va.

At 9 p.m. last Tuesday night, city workers began to enclose in plywood the Confederate monument that sits in Birminghams Linn Park. By the following afternoon, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall had announced that he was suing the city for violating state law.

Activists in Birmingham first began calling for the removal of the 52-foot Confederate Soldiers and Sailors monument in 2015, after white supremacist Dylann Roof murdered nine parishioners in a Charleston, South Carolina, church. That, in turn, prompted Gerald Allen, a state senator from Tuscaloosa, to introduce the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act to prohibit cities from removing or altering historic monuments more than 40 years old without the approval of a state committee. The predominantly (if not entirely) white Republicans who control the legislature passed the bill along party lines. Republican Governor Kay Ivey signed it into law in May.

Birmingham Mayor William Bell ordered the monument to be covered amid a renewed and urgent call from activists and officials to remove such tributes to the Confederacy, after white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, rallied around a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and proceeded to attack counter-protesters, killing one woman. Several citiesfrom Baltimore to San Antoniohave since taken down Confederate monuments while others debate similar actions.

Mayor Bell, who is black, says he doesnt necessarily want to remove the statuedespite demands from local activistsbut he does think it should provide a broader context that condemns the Confederacy, rather than celebrates it. The Confederacy was an act of sedition and treason against the United States of America and represented the continuation of human bondage of people of color, Bell told the Prospect in an interview. Its anathema to anyone supportive of the United States government to have such a structure sitting on public property.

Furthermore, he points out, Birmingham didnt become a city until 1871, during the post-Civil War Reconstruction era. And the monument wasnt erected until 190550 years after the war endedwhen a local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy commissioned the memorial as a gift to the city.

Its my desire to no longer allow this statute to be seen by public until such time that we can tell the full story of slavery, the full story of what the Confederacy really meant, Bell told reporters last week. Now, Bell says, the city is exploring its legal options in light of the states lawsuit. The state attorney general is asking a district court to fine the city $25,000.

I don't believe that the legislative body has the authority to dictate what monuments or statues we have on public property. Thats a right that the municipal government should control, Bell says. This was built with private dollars and is now protected by the state. The city should have the power to eliminate any source of contention and to maintain public tranquility.

THE STATE OF ALABAMA'S CRACKDOWN ON BIRMINGHAMis just its latest attempt to limit the authority of the majority-black city, which has a black mayor and a majority-black city council. In February 2016, the Birmingham city council approved a $10.10-an-hour minimum wage. Two days later, the Republican-controlled legislature passed a law prohibiting Alabama cities from passing such ordinances and voiding a wage hike for tens of thousands of Birminghams low-wage workers.

The experience of Birmingham is indicative of a broader GOP-led assault on the political power and home rule of Southern cities, home to large black populations, often led by black politicians, and, increasingly, purveyors of progressive policies that seek to improve upon the low standards of state law. From the removal of Confederate monuments to the enactment of local minimum wages, Republican-controlled statehouses are preempting blue citiesand undermining black voices.

These are nothing more than 21st-century Jim Crow laws, Johnathan Austin, chair of the Birmingham City Council, said of the monument removal and minimum-wage preemption laws in an interview with the Prospect. The state of Alabama is trying to control the [states] largest cityand largest black city by prohibiting us from governing ourselves.

Twenty-five statesincluding nearly every Southern statehave laws that prohibit cities and counties from setting their own minimum wage. The four states that have no minimum wage of their own (Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee), adhering to the federal minimum instead, are in the South. Now, at least six states have laws limiting the power of cities to remove Confederate monuments, with most passed in the last couple years. All of them are in the South, where Republicans control every single legislative chamber. Despite their calls for local control and fewer regulations, state Republicans are now regulating both the cultural and economic authority of localities.

Last year, state legislators passed the Tennessee Heritage Preservation Act of 2016, which requires public notice, hearings, and a two-thirds majority vote of the legislature in order to remove historic monuments. In 2015, North Carolina signed the Cultural History Artifact Management and Patriotism Act, an Orwellian amalgamation of nouns that requires a state historical commission to approve any removal of monuments. Georgia, Mississippi, and Virginia also have similar laws.

In Memphis, a majority-black city, officials are ready to suethe stateif it denies its a new waiver request to remove a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis downtown, as well as a statue of Confederate General and Ku Klux Klan founding member Nathan Bedford Forrest. The move came after the city tried and failed to slog its way through the byzantine maze of GOP-instituted regulations protecting such statues. The matter may very well end up before the state Supreme Court. Legislators in Tennessee, which has the highest proportion of minimum-wage workers in the country, also passed a law in 2014 that prohibits cities from enacting minimum-wage ordinances higher than the state level, which is chained to the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour.

As Barry Yeoman reported for the Prospect last week, protesters in Durham, North Carolinaa liberal city stripped of its authority to take down monuments by the right-wing legislaturefound a way around that impasse by pulling down a Confederate statue themselves. I understand why people felt this was the most expedient way, Jillian Johnson, an African American member of the city council, told Yeoman. There was no legal way to make it happen.

Meanwhile, the Durham council has also been barred from increasing the minimum wage (save for city employees) by the same infamous legislation that restricted transgenders bathroom use.

Durham is just one of dozens of Democratic-controlled citiesAtlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte, Charleston, Durham, Jackson, Nashville, Memphis, and so on, the blue dots in red stateswhich have lost the authority to raise wages for their (predominately black) workers struggling to get over the poverty line or to remove prominent monuments to a racist and oppressive ideology so their residents dont have to see a general fighting for slavery looking down on them as they go to work.

Republicans insist that protecting these monumentsthe majority of which were built in the early 1900s or during the 1960sare about preserving the history and heritage of the South. Just as they insist that prohibiting local increases to the minimum wagewhich hasnt been lifted on the federal level in eight yearsis about protecting low-wage workers from job loss.

In these ways, GOP lawmakers are actually memorializing the values of the Antebellum South: White supremacy and lowor, rather, nowages.

This article has been corrected to clarify that the city of Memphis has not yet sued the state, but intends to if its waiver to remove its Confederate monuments is denied, and that one of the statues is of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

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Ross Ahlfeld: Take a stand with us against a UK arms trade causing devastation around the world – CommonSpace

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Ross Ahlfeld: Take a stand with us against a UK arms trade causing devastation around the world
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He ended by encouraging us all to work for the abolition of war, poverty, nuclear weapons and environmental destruction, and fund and support non-violent conflict resolution. With this in mind, Glasgow Catholic Workers are asking for as many people as ...

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Philip Hammond urged to use budget to help low-income families … – The Guardian

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The Child Poverty Action Group report estimates that it now costs a couple more than 155,000 to bring up a child from birth to age 18. Photograph: Gary Calton for the Observer

Philip Hammond is being urged to use his autumn budget to ease the plight of low-income families, as research shows that rising inflation is making benefits cuts bite harder.

A couple both working full-time on the national living wage in 2017 will generate only enough income to meet 87% of the basic costs of bringing up a child, according to research published by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG). For a lone parent, the figure is 83%.

CPAGs annual Cost of a Child report, by Prof Donald Hirsch of Loughborough Universitys Centre for Research in Social Policy, suggests a series of benefits cuts and freezes, together with the recent rise in inflation, is making it increasingly difficult for low-income families to make ends meet.

Alison Garnham, CPAGs chief executive, said: With the return of inflation, the benefits freeze has become toxic for struggling families. Rather than prioritising tax cuts, which help the better-off, the chancellor should use the autumn budget to invest in helping families with children. Ending the benefits freeze should be the first step he takes to rebalance the finances of ordinary families.

Many in-work benefits have been frozen since last April, in a policy announced by Hammonds predecessor, George Osborne. Other cuts, including the abolition of the child element of tax credits and the decision to offer no additional tax credits for third and subsequent children, are gradually affecting more families.

And Hirschs research suggests the cost of bringing up a child based on survey evidence about what the public believe are the basic necessities of a decent standard of living has begun rising again.

In total, including housing costs, he estimates that it now costs a couple 155,100 to bring up a child from birth to age 18 up from 151,600 last year.

The report says: After a short period of price stability, the cost of a child is once again starting to rise. For the first time in postwar history, these cost increases are not being matched by increases in support given to families from the state. While this policy persists, the struggle that low-income families face to make ends meet will become steadily harder.

Hirsch finds that out-of-work families are left with just 58% of the income they need to meet the costs of bringing up a child and future cuts will see them fall further behind.

For them, the safety net of means-tested support no longer merits this name, since it does not offer the safety of an income capable of covering essentials. Families unable to cover their costs on benefits must either undergo serious hardship, fall back on the help of their families or go into debt, he says.

Inflation has been rising steadily over the past 18 months, from just above zero at the start of 2016 to 2.6% on the new CPIH measure, which includes housing costs.

The Conservative manifesto promised to implement tax cuts first proposed by David Cameron, including raising the higher-rate threshold for income tax to 50,000 by 2020.

During the election campaign, Labour repeatedly contrasted these plans with the plight of low-paid, insecure workers although it did not promise to reverse all planned welfare cuts.

Debbie Abrahams, the shadow secretary of state for work and pensions, said: This report highlights just how hard it is for working families to get by, with a record high of 4 million children now living in poverty under this Tory government.

The Tories have no plan to tackle stagnant wages, insecure employment and rising inflation, choosing instead to make the poorest pay for austerity and their economic mismanagement.

The next Labour government will ensure that work will always pay and put an end to in-work poverty by transforming universal credit, which currently is not fit for purpose and will make families worse off than they were just five years ago.

Osborne announced deep reductions in state support for poorer families in 2015, in a bid to shave 12bn from the annual welfare budget. Some aspects of the package were softened after a parliamentary revolt but the bulk of the cuts are still due to take effect.

A government spokesperson said: Were helping millions of households meet the everyday cost of living and keep more of what they earn. We introduced universal credit, and increased the national living wage and tax free personal allowance to make sure it pays to be in work.

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Government employees go on strike – The Hindu

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State Government employees in almost all departments boycotted work and more than 10,000 of them took to the streets on Tuesday in response to a State-wide strike call given by the Joint Action Committee of Tamilnadu Teachers Organisations and Government Employees Organisations (JACTO-GEO).

According to sources, around 5,000 employees from various government offices and nearly 5,500 teachers from State Government-run and aided schools with affiliation to the JACTO-GEO protested in Pollachi, Valparai, Mettupalayam, Sulur, Annur and Kinathukadavu.

The Coimbatore city too saw a protest in front of the Coimbatore South Taluk office. The sources said that around 50 % of the employees from various departments and nearly 50 per cent teachers boycotted work.

Around 2,500 of them, including nearly 1,000 women employees, participated in the protest.

District representatives of JACTO-GEO M. Rajasekaran, V. Senthilkumar and S. Ganesh Kumar led the protests.

C. Arasu, member, district high-level committee, JACTO-GEO, said they had only three demands - the State Government should give up the new contributory pension scheme and revert to the old pension scheme. The new pension scheme was not beneficial to employees and kin of employees who had died in harness did not stand to gain.

The employees were unaware where the money deducted towards pension was and did not want to continue in the new scheme.

V. Senthilkumar said the employees wanted the State Government to implement the Eighth Pay Commission and that too after removing the anomalies in the Seventh Pay Commission. In the interim period, the government should pay 20 % as relief.

Todays was a token strike. If the Government did not heed to their demands, the employees would go on an indefinite strike from September 7, the leaders added.

To mitigate the impact of strike, the School Education Department had roped in students of Bachelor of Education, part-time and special teachers to teach students in its schools. It also took help from private school managements.

Around 11,200 employees of various government departments, affiliated to Joint Action Council of Tamil Nadu Teachers Organisations and Government Employees Organisations, struck work in the district on Tuesday.

The employees staged a protest in front of the Collectorate to highlight their multiple demands including abolition of contributory pension scheme.

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Government employees go on strike - The Hindu

Personal Empowerment | SkillsYouNeed

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Personal empowerment is about looking at who you are and becoming more aware of yourself as a unique individual.

Personal empowerment involves developing the confidence and strength to set realistic goals and fulfil your potential.Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and a range of skills that are used in everyday situations, but all too often people remain unaware of, or undervalue, their true abilities.

A person aiming for empowerment is able to take control of their life by making positive choices and setting goals. Developing self-awareness, an understanding of your strengths and weaknesses - knowing your own limitations is key to personal empowerment.

Taking steps to set and achieve goals - both short and longer-term and developing new skills, acts to increase confidence which, in itself, is essential to self-empowerment.

Personal Empowerment and Personal Development are two areas that overlap and interweave, it is recommended that you read this page in conjunction with our page: Personal Development.

At a basic level, the term 'empowerment' simply means 'becoming powerful'. Building personal empowerment involves reflecting on our personal values, skills and goals and being prepared to adjust our behaviour in order to achieve our goals. Personal empowerment also means being aware that other people have their own set of values and goals which may different to ours.

Many other, more detailed, definitions exist. These usually centre on the idea that personal empowerment gives an individual the ability to:

Developing personal empowerment usually involves making some fundamental changes in life, which is not always an easy process.The degree of change required will differ from person to person, depending on the individual starting point.

The following dimensions of personal empowerment are based on the belief that the greater the range of coping responses an individual develops, the greater their chance of coping effectively with diverse life situations.

These dimensions are:

Self-awareness involves understanding our individual character and how we are likely to respond to situations.

This enables us to build on our positive qualities and be aware of any negative traits which may reduce our effectiveness. Self-aware people make conscious decisions to enhance their lives whenever possible, learning from past experiences.

Values are opinions or beliefs that are important to us but of which we are not always aware.

They can be any kind of belief or perceived obligation, anything we prefer and for any reason.The reasons we may prefer one thing over another, or choose one course of action over another, may not always be obvious or known; there may be no apparent reason for our values.Nevertheless our values are important to us as individuals.In order to be self-aware it is necessary to be aware of our values, to critically examine them and to accept that our values may be different from those of others.

An individual's skills are the main resource which enables them to achieve their desired goals.

Skills can be gained through experience, practice, education and training.It is only by developing such skills that individual values can be translated into action.

Knowledge or information is necessary in the development of self-awareness and skills.

Knowing where to find appropriate information is in itself an essential skill.Without information, the choices open to people are limited, both in their personal and working lives.The internet has provided an easy way for everybody to access huge amounts of information very quickly and easily. The problem is then centred around the quality of the information found, and the skill set is concerned with finding accurate and reliable information.

Setting goals is a means by which an individual can take charge of their life.

The process of setting a goal involves people thinking about their values and the direction that they would like their lives to follow.Choices are made through reflection followed by action.Goals should always be both specific and realistic. Setting personal goals gives us a sense of direction in life, this direction is essential to personal empowerment.

Language is the main medium of human communication whether used in spoken or written form.

The use of language, how individuals express themselves verbally and non-verbally to others, can be empowering to both themselves and the people with whom they are communicating. Looking at how language is used is important in terms of self-empowerment and when attempting to empower other people.

In terms of personal empowerment and communication the following ideas are helpful and their use can be both self-affirming and positive:

Use Positive Language: Research into language suggests that a person's self-image is reflected in the words that they use.For example, people who say they 'should' behave in a certain way implies passivity and can detract from them seeming to be in control and taking responsibility for their actions.Talking about yourself in a positive way, acknowledging strengths and weaknesses, can be empowering.

Use Active Language: Use terms which imply positive action rather than making vague statements, particularly when talking about the future.For example, 'I will...' and 'I can...'.

Use Words to Define Your Own Space and Identity: If you fail to use words to define your own space and identity then others will tend to define you and set standards by which you evaluate yourself.Furthermore, they will try to persuade you to conform to their demands.Be clear about who you are and what your values and goals are do not let others define you.

In order to use language to help empower others:

Do not use jargon or complex terminology The use of jargon and complex terminology can be both alienating and dis-empowering.When working with others the use of jargon can create feelings of intimidation and inferiority.Without shared understanding of the words you use, effective and empowering communication cannot take place. Choose words with care, which give clarity to what you are trying to express.

Focus on the words people use Mirror words people use, see our pages:Reflection and Clarification for more information. Using shared terminology appropriately can enable you appear more in tune with the other person and what they are saying.

Choose positive words Choosing positive or active words such as 'will' or 'can' indicates that you have control in your life and is more likely to induce positive action in others.Compare the use of these words with others such as might' or 'maybe' which suggest hesitancy.Using words and statements which carry responsibility are empowering as they suggest a determined rather than a passive approach.

Avoid criticism and negativity: Criticism should always be given with extreme care and only when absolutely necessary.Once words have been spoken they cannot be easily taken back.If criticism is necessary then it can be given in a constructive way, through the use of positive and supporting words and phrases.Always attempt to cushion criticism with positive observations. Our page, Offering Constructive Crictism has lots more infomation.

Use open questions when appropriate: The use of closed questions will restrict responses to 'yes' and 'no' answers.This type of question can leave people feeling powerless because there is no opportunity to explain their response.On the other hand, open questions give the person being asked the chance to explore the reasons behind their answers.Open questions encourage a person to take responsibility for their thoughts and actions and can therefore aid empowerment.Open questions can also help people to solve problems through their own devices, help them to set their own goals and work out an appropriate plan of action.

See our pages: Questioning and Question Types for more information.

We all have opportunities to explore and develop new skills. In order to become more empowered we can, in our interactions with others, aim to:

Developing trust can be a difficult and lengthy process. In order to develop trust with others you may choose to:

In the workplace, and in any professional working relationship there are three basic components of trust:

Trust can be broken very quickly and may never be restored to its former level. Think about the points above and try to build and maintain trusting relationships in both your personal and professional life.

Avoid the following actions that may destroy trust and have a detrimental effect on personal empowerment:

See our page on Trustworthiness and Conscientiousness for more information.

Becoming empowered includes knowing your own strengths and weaknesses: identifying these will enable you to work on improving your weaknesses and build on your strengths.

It is not uncommon for other people to have misjudged your strengths and weaknesses, or for you to misjudge those of others.This can lead to opportunities being limited due to the misconception of abilities.It is important, therefore, to know your own strengths and weaknesses and to communicate them clearly to others, whilst encouraging others to communicate their strengths and weaknesses to you.

In some circumstances you may feel that you face problems that are truly beyond your capabilities.In such cases you should seek help.Empowered people know their own limits and have no problems with asking for help or guidance.Self-knowledge, often referred to as self-awareness, is a strength which enables you to set personal improvement goals in order to make a more substantial contribution.The more empowered you become, the more you will be able to help others to become empowered.

Confidence acts as one of the greatest motivators or most powerful limitations to anyone trying to change their behaviour and become more empowered.

Most people only undertake tasks that they feel capable of doing and it takes great effort to overcome a lack of confidence in one's capabilities. Self-empowerment involves people constantly challenging their own beliefs and what they are capable of undertaking.

See our pages on Building Confidence and Self Esteem for more information.

Personal empowerment is not a static thing that you can do once in your life.

You should view personal empowerment as ongoing personal development. As circumstances change and develop, and as we ourselves change and develop, so do our needs for development and empowerment.

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Personal Empowerment | SkillsYouNeed

Helping others is not about personal gain – POST-COURIER

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August 22, 2017

BY SIMON KESLEP

The ability to help others is not about gaining recognition because one needs to be passionate about what he or she does in their dream job.

Aspiring 23-year-old Eileen-May Kehena Murepe, who hails from Kikori in Gulf Province, is one of those young Papua New Guineans who has the passion to help others.

My desire to help people and give back is entirely driven by the lack of development and provision of basic and essential services in the rural areas. I come from one of the most remote places in PNG and I know the hardship my people are going through, Ms Murepe said.

As a young Papua New Guinea, Ms Murepe strives to impact the lives of others by doing what she is passionate about.

Ms Murepe had a glimpse of the employment world when she was an intern at Mineral Resources Development Company, 7 News Sydney, Australia, and Oil Search Sydney, Australia.

She is not so much a job dreamer as she is interested and passionate about a lot of things.

I would take any job that enables me to help my people of Kikori, especially the women, where gender inequality is rampant, Ms Murepe said.

Asked how her dream job would encourage other young Papua New Guineans to strive in their respective walks of life, she said her dream job would possibly be her passion.

My passion would encourage and inspire people around me to pursue their passion so they will enjoy and love doing what they do, she adds.

Ms Murepes educational journey has brought her into contact with a lot of amazing people that she tends to look up to. She thinks anyone who inspires you in any way is your role model and so she has a lot of role models.

My parents are my role models because they have proved that from nothing and through hard work and sacrifices, you can be somebody and you can make something for yourself, she said.

Some iconic role models that Ms Murepe also feels inspired by are one of Americas earlier presidents, Abraham Lincoln and talk show host, Oprah Winfrey for women empowerment and giving back to the people.

She also feels inspired by British actress, model and activist Emma Watsons fight for gender equality.

Ms Murepe is currently studying at the University of Papua New Guinea as a communication and arts student. She has keen interests in photography, video, events planning, community work, volunteering, leadership and advocating mainly in women empowerment, gender equality, equal distribution of wealth, childrens rights, entrepreneurship, travelling and adventures and enjoys reading books on crime and investigation.

As a young woman keen to make a difference in her community, Ms Murepe was not happy with how the results of the 2017 National Election, especially without a woman in the 10th Parliament, which meets for the first time today.

She posed the questions: What happened to the female population of voters? What happeneed to supporting each other?

The National Government has been urged to engage proactively with the business sector and community to provide and enable policies to successfully deal with challenges that they are currently encountering.

Papua New Guineas economy is in a strong position compared to similar economies around the world, Prime Minister Peter ONeill said in Parliament yesterday.

The Government does not really know how many people live in Papua New Guinea as there had only been estimates.

The National Government has been urged to engage proactively with the business sector and community to provide and enable policies to successfully deal with challenges that they are currently encountering.

Papua New Guineas economy is in a strong position compared to similar economies around the world, Prime Minister Peter ONeill said in Parliament yesterday.

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Helping others is not about personal gain - POST-COURIER

Infosys’ Sikka’s resignation letter: ‘I now need to… return to an environment of respect, trust and empowerment’ – Khaleej Times

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Vishal Sikka quit as Infosys CEO on Friday, following a public battle with the tech giant's founders that spanned for months.

In his blog, Timelessness, Sikka posted his resignation letter in full, under the title 'Moving On..." and which we are republishing below.

Dear Friends,

After a lot of reflection, I have resigned from my position as your MD & CEO effective today.A succession process has been initiated, with Pravin serving as interim MD & CEO, and I will work closely with the Board and management team over the next few months to ensure a smooth transition. In addition, I have agreed to serve as Executive Vice Chairman on the Board to further ensure continuity until the new management is in place.

For days, indeed weeks, this decision has weighed on me. I have wrestled the pros and cons, the issues and the counterbalancing arguments. But now, after much thought, and considering the environment of the last few quarters, I am clear in my decision. It is clear to me that despite our successes over the last three years, and the powerful seeds of innovation that we have sown, I cannot carry out my job as CEO and continue to create value, while also constantly defending against unrelenting, baseless/malicious and increasingly personal attacks.

In 2014, we started with a very challenging set of conditions, and in the last three years, we have decisively turned things around.

Three years ago, I started this journey with a calling, to help reshape the company around innovation and entrepreneurship, to deliver breakthrough value for clients, and to help elevate our work, our standing, our selves, on the basis of a dual strategy, bringing together dualities of renew and new, automation and innovation, people and software, to show a new path forward in a time of unprecedented disruption within the industry and beyond. That time, around and before June 2014, was a difficult time. Our growth rates were low and attrition was high. There was a sense of apprehension all around and I came here to help enable a great transformation as our core business faced intense pricing pressure, and clients looked increasingly to innovative partners to help shape their digital futures. Now, a bit more than three years later, I am happy to see the company doing better in every dimension I can think of.

We have grown our revenues, from $2.13B in Q1FY15 to $2.65B this past Q1. We did so while keeping a strong focus on margins, closing this past quarter at 24.1% operating margin, beating some competitors for the first time in many years, and improving against most in our industry.Perhaps more importantly, our revenue per employee has grown for six quarters in a row. Our attrition has fallen, from 23.4% in Q1FY15 to 16.9% this past Q1, and high performer attrition is hovering at or below the single-digit threshold for a while now.We grew our $100M+ clients from 12 when I started, to 19, and increased our large deal wins from ~$1.9B in FY15 to ~$3.5B this past year. We've done all this while improving our overall utilization, to a 10-yr high this past quarter, and an all time high including trainees, while improving our cash reserves, rewarding employees with a new equity plan, and returning cash to our stakeholders. And we have done all this while improving our standing with clients to the highest ever in the 12 years since we've done our client satisfaction survey, and a jump of 22 points in CxO satisfaction.

A few days ago, Nitesh, Radha, and I met a client in our office in Palo Alto. It is one of the largest companies in the world - and the CIO was excited and proud about seeing automation come to life in their landscape.Her reaction to seeing many of our innovation projects, as well as our workspace itself, was thoroughly rewarding, and a testament to all we have achieved. She requested us to bring our innovative work and processes to everything we do with her team in a similar space, and even that we help them establish a similar presence for their company in the valley!This is a sentiment I've often heard from clients who've visited our 12,000 sqft space here, that has seen 2200 visits over its ~27 months; clients where we saw much faster than average revenue growth following their visits. So, as I look back on the three years as CEO, what brings me the most joy is the new roads that all of you have traveled, the new frontiers that all of you have enabled.From embracing the new ideas in education, teaching ourselves Design Thinking like no one else ever has, learning AI, new development processes, and more, to applying these learnings via Zero Distance, a one-of-a-kind program of massive grassroots innovation, powered by education, by the amazing Zero Bench, and by your creative confidence.With 16500+ ideas generated, 2200+ of which have already been implemented, ZD is proof that innovation need not be the domain of a chosen few in some elite department, but is the prerogative of us all; proof that the extraordinary within each one of us can indeed be unleashed. To complement this grassroots innovation, we've launched 25+ new services that contributed 8.3% of our revenue last quarter, up from zero in April 2015.And our own new software business is now at 1.6% of revenue.Our AI platform, Nia, now with 160+ scenarios deployed at more than 70 clients, is helping drive both automation within the company, and breakthrough new business scenarios outside.Beyond new services and new software, we've ventured into new horizons, from our startup fund's investments in promising new businesses, to the work we've done in the last 3 years in local hiring around the world, especially in the US, to the exemplary and inspiring work our US foundation has done in bringing computer science education and a culture of making, to the masses.

And I am proud of how we have upheld our values, our culture, our integrity, whilst we have gone about this massive transformation.I am proud of how our Board has worked, tirelessly, selflessly, these past quarters, despite intense, unfair, and often malicious and personal, criticism, in not only upholding our standards of governance and integrity, but also indeed raising these.None of our successes would be worthwhile for a moment, if this was not the case.

I was, and remain, passionate about the massive transformation opportunity for this company and industry, but we all need to allow the company to move beyond the noise and distractions.

Back in May 2014, when I first met many board colleagues, I thought of the road ahead as a road for the next 33 years of this iconic company. For Infosys is more than a company: it is an idea, a dream, a pioneering possibility.Back then I thought, just as I do today, that the time ahead called for a company that could show the way to a digital future, a future where our humanity, amplified by automation and software, would unleash our creativity, our imagination, to construct great worlds of our futures, and would do so powered by education, by our timeless value of learnability.Such an Infosys, whilst staying true to its core, to her values and timeless principles, would shine the light in an altogether different context, a different reality. Such an Infosys would be one where an individual's entrepreneurship, ability to imagine and create, ability to learn, and to amplify themselves with software, with AI, would create a greater whole. Rather than an overarching system enabling the people, the people's agility and imagination would create a greater system. Three years later, we can clearly see that the seeds of this idea have taken root and are growing, into beautiful new flowers and plants, and I see no reason why these cannot continue, and help shape our company's future.

For sure this journey has been a difficult one.No one, especially me, thought it would be easy.Transformations are hard to begin with.A massive transformation, of such an iconic institution, with such groundbreaking achievements behind her, would be even tougher, and the exponential rates of change all around us, further amplified by geopolitical matters, would add that much more headwind.But all this was known, and clear, and in many ways added to the calling that I felt.For as the legendary architect Daniel Burnham said, "Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir man's blood."

But after much contemplation I have decided to leave because the distractions, the very public noise around us, have created an untenable atmosphere. I deeply believe in creating value in an atmosphere of freedom, trust and empowerment. Life is too short to engage in battles of opinions in the public, these add no value, take critical time and focus away from the business, and indeed add more to the noise, to the eardrum buzz, as I wrote to you a few months ago. The founding principle of the strategy I laid out for our renewal was personal empowerment, working in an entrepreneurial environment.I need this for my own work as well.Steve Jobs, in his famous commencement speech at my alma mater, said:

"Your time is limited, don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other opinions drown your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become."

I now need to move forward, and return to an environment of respect, trust and empowerment, where I can take on new lofty challenges, as can each of you.

As Steve Jobs said, I must follow my heart and my intuition, build my buildings, give my givings, and do something else. Over the next weeks and months, I look forward to working with the Board and management to create a smooth transition, and simultaneously staring into the great unknown, and to doing something great, something purposeful, for the times ahead. And also to spend some time with my loved ones.I've been away from home far too often and far too long.

As I completed my three years recently, many people asked me if I have any regrets. This question is more apt today and the answer is a clear NO. Not for a second.However difficult the noise of the last several months has been, I wouldn't trade our time together for anything. I would not give up the experience of seeing the gleam in your eyes as you described a new idea, invention, or contribution. You worked on these confidently, without reward, without arrogance, showing exactly the kind of creative confidence that David Kelley talked about in Design Thinking - a wonderful thing to witness.

I am deeply grateful for the immense support and love I've received from all of you, from our worthy clients for whom we do our life's work, and by our shareholders across the globe.I am grateful for your trust, confidence and friendship, and am thankful to our team of amazing leaders, who will help lead our company to greatness.To my first Infoscion colleague and trusted friend Ranga, who enabled us to achieve the things we achieved, to the amazing Ravi, a pocket of passion and energy and execution excellence, to the calm and steadfast Mohit, who introduced me to the band of brothers and lived it, day after day, to the larger than life Rajesh, with his great heart and big laugh, to Binod, a veritable bulldozer brother with his broad shoulders and broader smile, to the one of a kind Ramadas, the architect and protector of our magnificent campuses with his indomitable spirit and world-class excellence, to the always smiling Deepak who helped live the strategy, to Krish and the best HR team in the world, especially the extraordinary Richard, Nanju, Shruthi and their amazing team for helping to carry out some of the craziest and most amazing people initiatives, to Inderpreet, a new voice to the team, a voice of calm, strength, integrity and a stability that far belies the little time she's been with us, to Jayesh and our entire finance team for their dedication, their impeccable meticulous integrity and world-class excellence, and especially to my partner, friend, and pillar of strength, Pravin, who carried all the load in the world, with a smile, impeccable integrity and the most amazing grace, and will now lead you to the next phase of our company's growth.To Zaiba, Bala sir, Nagaraju, Hari and many others for making it possible for me to be me and to do my work, to my Palo Alto family: Sanjay, Abdul, Navin, Ritika, Barbara, Tao, Vinod, Shabana, April, Sudhir and others who have stood by me and have given up so much to be a part of this journey and contributed so much to it, and indeed to thousands of Infoscions who've made it all matter.I am thankful to Sesh and our entire board for their unfailing support and confidence in me throughout this journey.

Together we have achieved a lot.Even in the midst of all of the distractions, even as the tendency was to return to the familiar, we still managed to persevere and make wonderful progress. We have laid the foundation for the next 30 years of Infosys, and I feel deeply proud to have worked alongside all of you in sowing the seeds that will return this company to the bellwether it once was.As you've all often reminded us, Infosys is no bigger and no smaller than any of us, the people, the Infoscions.You are the ones that will take Infosys to the next 30 years and beyond.As I think about the time ahead, for all of us, I can only see us powered by a freedom from the known, of renewing ourselves to thrive in the time ahead. Each one of you has vindicated my deeply held belief that people are capable of doing more, achieving more, being more, than they ever imagined possible. So, keep pushing yourself to do better at whatever you are good at, but also learning to do things you have never done before, indeed, nobody has ever done before. I know I will be doing the same.

The Board, Pravin, and I will communicate additional details as we move forward in this transition, and meanwhile, we continue our work as is. I wish all of you the very best in your journeys ahead.

V

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Infosys' Sikka's resignation letter: 'I now need to... return to an environment of respect, trust and empowerment' - Khaleej Times

Personal leadership to give cos competitive advantage – Times of India

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By Anuranjita Kumar

Technology has come to play a vital role in the lives of many and has significantly shaped consumer perceptions, behaviours, and preferences. Technology is driving a host of disruptive innovations lately, also aided by the interesting demographic changes witnessed globally. Initially, driven by the younger populations of the world, the uptake of digitisation is slowly spreading far and wide sans boundaries, sans demographic or age barriers. On the other hand, evolving geopolitical equations are also shaping the world significantly, giving rise to newer opportunities. Yet also, in some cases, raising unforeseen barriers.

These are just a few things adding to the complexity of the environment businesses function in. It demands leaders to be nimble in evaluating the emergent situations and making prompt decisions. 'Speed to market' is critical to the success of organisations today. It allows them to reach their clients faster with better products, offers and services ahead of their competition and also being able to stay on their toes to constantly evolve these very products and services, sometimes even on the go, to give business as well as the stakeholders an edge.

Previously, major changes or transformations have been led by the executive teams of the organisation. The new realities, however, require organisations to be more agile by adopting the concept of distributed leadership. In order to deftly respond to market changes and exceed customer expectations, organisations need employees across locations to promptly make important decisions that impact 'speed to market'.

This calls for organisations to leverage 'individual leadership' which, simply put, means individuals who are ready to take decisions and hold the courage and integrity to not only stand by them but also bring with it the conviction to drive others to rally and succeed. No longer is leadership confined to the traditional definition of 'people management'. The 'individual leadership' concept inspires organisations to develop the leadership ability of its employees regardless of their work location, or position in the hierarchy. It aims to build the capabilities of employees across levels through the levers of empowerment and engagement.

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Personal leadership to give cos competitive advantage - Times of India