All posts tagged: seeks

New council seeks solutions to ‘lost learning’

New council seeks solutions to ‘lost learning’

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles A new expert group has been formed to find solutions to help prevent children from “losing learning”, after research found 32 million days were lost to unauthorised absence and exclusions last year.  Chaired by ASCL general secretary Pepe Di’Iasio, the council will bring together experts and leaders including Sir Dan Moynihan, chief executive of Harris Federation and Liz Robinson, chief executive of the Big Education academy trust (see full list below).  Over the next six months, the ‘Who’s Losing Learning Solutions Council’ will hear evidence from school leaders, parents and organisations to find “promising work” with potential to become national policy solutions for mainstream schools across the next two parliaments.  Kiran Gill, chief executive of The Difference, a charity to set up to get more teachers working in alternative provision, said the panel would be “hearing evidence on how mainstream schools can evolve to better serve the needs of all children – especially those struggling with their mental health.   “Many teachers and school leaders are stepping towards this challenge, …

Germany seeks arrest of Ukrainian diver for Nord Stream sabotage | Business and Economy News

Germany seeks arrest of Ukrainian diver for Nord Stream sabotage | Business and Economy News

Published by Sam

Ukrainian diving instructor Volodymyr Z is accused of being part of a team that blew up the gas pipelines. Germany has issued a European arrest warrant for a Ukrainian diving instructor over his alleged involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea, according to German media. German investigators believe Volodymyr Z was a member of a team that in September 2022 planted explosive devices on the pipeline route carrying natural gas from Russia to Germany, German media reported on Wednesday. German law does not allow publication of the suspect’s surname. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly denied his country was behind the sabotage, which disrupted Russian gas exports to the European Union, hitting Moscow’s energy revenues hard. Volodymyr Z was last known to have lived in Poland, according to a report by the Suddeutsche Zeitung and Die Zeit newspapers and the ARD public broadcaster, which quoted unnamed sources. The Polish prosecutor’s office confirmed on Wednesday that it had received a German arrest warrant for a Ukrainian man who is a …

Cop29 host Azerbaijan seeks bn from fossil fuel producers for climate fund | Azerbaijan

Cop29 host Azerbaijan seeks $1bn from fossil fuel producers for climate fund | Azerbaijan

Published by skeptic

Fossil-fuel producing countries and companies are being asked to pay into a new international fund to help poor countries cope with the effects of the climate crisis. The climate investment fund is being set up by the Azerbaijan government, host country of the Cop29 UN climate summit in November. The Climate Finance Action Fund will take financial contributions from fossil-fuel-producing countries and companies and use the money to invest in projects in the developing world that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help build resilience to the impacts of extreme weather. Yalchin Rafiyev, the chief negotiator for the Cop29 presidency, said: “Traditional funding methods have proven to be inadequate to the challenges of the climate crisis, so we have decided on a different approach. The fund will be capitalised with contributions from fossil-fuel countries and companies and will catalyse the private sector. Any developing country will be eligible [to receive money from] the fund.” But contributions to the fund will be voluntary and no mechanism is proposed to force the countries and companies most responsible for …

China seeks detention of foreigners in disputed South China Sea | South China Sea News

China seeks detention of foreigners in disputed South China Sea | South China Sea News

Published by Sam

Philippines files new legal submission before the UN, asserting its own entitlements while challenging China’s claim. New maritime rules issued by China that allow its coastguard to detain foreigners for trespassing in the disputed South China Sea have taken effect – but their international legitimacy is being questioned by neighbouring countries. China claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, brushing aside competing claims from several Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines and a 2016 ruling by an arbitration tribunal in The Hague, which declared that its stance had no legal basis. The Chinese government has been deploying the country’s coastguard and other boats to patrol the waters it claims as its own, and has turned several reefs into militarised artificial islands. In recent years, Chinese and Philippine vessels have had a series of confrontations in disputed areas that have raised fears of a wider conflict. From Saturday, China’s coastguard can detain foreigners “suspected of violating management of border entry and exit”, according to the new regulations published online. Detention is allowed for up …

A ‘non’ for Mélenchon? France’s left seeks unifying figure ahead of legislative elections

A ‘non’ for Mélenchon? France’s left seeks unifying figure ahead of legislative elections

Published by Sam

Three-time French presidential candidate and hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Wednesday said he is “capable” of becoming the country’s next prime minister should a leftwing union win a majority in the snap legislative elections set for June 30 and July 7. His statement was met with a cool response from some coalition allies amid concerns that Mélenchon is too divisive to lead the left. “I don’t rule myself out but I don’t impose myself,” Mélenchon, the founder of the hard-left La France insoumise (France Unbowed or LFI) party, said about the possibility of becoming prime minister during an appearance on France 2 television. France’s president selects its prime minister, but the premier usually hails from the party with a majority in the National Assembly. His statement comes amid an ongoing whirlwind in French politics. President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday announced the dissolution of the National Assembly and called legislative polls after the far right’s historic success in European elections. Leaders in the Socialist Party, the Greens, the French Communist Party (PCF) and LFI on Monday agreed to form …

Ukraine seeks air defence boost to protect battered energy grid | Russia-Ukraine war News

Ukraine seeks air defence boost to protect battered energy grid | Russia-Ukraine war News

Published by Sam

The Ukrainian leader asks for help in repelling air attacks, warning Russia has destroyed half of Ukraine’s power production capacity. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on allies to increase their air defence support to Ukraine to help protect his country’s energy infrastructure. Speaking on Tuesday at a conference in Germany on the reconstruction of Ukraine, Zelenskyy said that Russia has destroyed half of his country’s electricity-generating capacity. Another seven Patriot missile systems, as well as other aerial defences, are needed to allow the military to shield Ukraine’s urban centres from the storm of missiles, he claimed. The two-day Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin marks the start of a week of intense diplomacy for the Ukrainian president, which will also see him travel to the Group of Seven (G7) summit featuring his country’s leading Western allies, and a peace summit in Switzerland. The German hosts say it is bringing together 2,000 people from national and local politics, business and other areas, arguing that the task of supporting Ukraine’s recovery is too big for governments alone. Sustained …

EU seeks ‘fair and balanced’ trade ties with China, says bloc’s foreign policy chief Borrell

EU seeks ‘fair and balanced’ trade ties with China, says bloc’s foreign policy chief Borrell

Published by Sam

“The purpose of this conference is to bring as many people as possible to discuss how peace could look like,” said Mr Borrell, adding that the EU has a “strong moral commitment” to back Ukraine against Russian invaders. “This country wants to explain to the rest of the world what’s happening and which are their proposals to stop the war, and the more people (attend) at the highest possible level, the more the international community has to use their influence and their capacity to stop this war. It’s not a peace conference, it’s a conference about peace.” In 1994, three years after its independence, Ukraine gave up its arms and nuclear arsenal – the third largest in the world at the time – to Russia in exchange for security assurances that its territorial sovereignty would be respected. Ukraine was then a nuclear power, but it returned all the missiles “because the international community was not in favour of proliferation”, Mr Borrell pointed out.  “Russia signed a commitment ensuring the territorial integrity of Ukraine. So whoever …

India’s Oyo, once valued at billion, seeks new funding at 70% discount

India’s Oyo, once valued at $10 billion, seeks new funding at 70% discount

Published by skeptic

Oyo, the Indian budget-hotel chain startup, is negotiating with investors to raise a new round of funding that could cut the Indian firm’s valuation to $3 billion or lower, three sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The startup is engaging with investors, including Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah, for the new funding, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the matter is private. The new funding round is likely to see some secondary transactions as well that will value the startup at as low as $2.5 billion, the sources added. The proposed terms, if they materialize, would represent a steep drop from the peak valuation of $10 billion at which Oyo raised a funding round in 2019. A valuation of $3 billion or less would also be lower than the amount of capital Oyo has raised against equity and in debt over the years. The deliberations for the new funding are ongoing, and its terms may still change, or a round may not materialize, the sources cautioned. The cut in valuation is hardly a surprise. …

UN atomic watchdog chief seeks tougher nuclear checks in Iran

UN atomic watchdog chief seeks tougher nuclear checks in Iran

Published by skeptic

The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi flew to Iran on Monday to improve his agency’s oversight of the Islamic Republic’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. Grossi warned that Iran has amassed enough highly enriched uranium for “several” nuclear bombs if it chooses to build them. Iranian officials have threatened they could pursue atomic weapons. “For us, making the atomic bomb is easier than not building [an] atomic bomb,” said Mahmoud Reza Aghamiri, chancellor of Shahid Beheshti University and a specialist in nuclear physics. Grossi acknowledged the agency cannot guarantee whether Iran’s centrifuges are being used for secret enrichment. “The level of inspection [in Iran] is not at the level we should have,” he told Sky News last month. Iranian media said Grossi will meet Monday afternoon with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian. Analysts and diplomats say Grossi has limited leverage and must be wary of empty promises. Grossi is also expected to attend an Iranian nuclear conference Tuesday in the city of Isfahan while on his two-day trip. Isfahan came under Israeli fire in recent …