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Im Zuger Kantonsrat steht am Freitag die Debatte über die flächendeckende Kinderbetreuung an. Geht es nach der Regierung, soll künftig für jedes Kind ab Ende des Mutterschaftsurlaubs im Kanton Zug auf Wunsch ein Betreuungsplatz zur Verfügung stehen.

A selection of the week's best photos from across the African continent and beyond.

A selection of the week's best photos from across the African continent and beyond.

A selection of the week's best photos from across the African continent and beyond.

Owas Mwape posted on Facebook about his son's drug addiction - and then met up with him for a BBC interview.

Owas Mwape posted on Facebook about his son's drug addiction - and then met up with him for a BBC interview.

Owas Mwape posted on Facebook about his son's drug addiction - and then met up with him for a BBC interview.

Cáfolta az országos rendőr-főkapitányság azokat az állításokat, amelyek szerint távozik hivatalából Ľubomír Solák országos rendőrfőkapitány. A TASR-t az országos rendőr-főkapitányság kommunikációs osztálya tájékoztatta Martina Bajo Holečková (frakció nélküli) parlamenti képviselő kijelentéseire reagálva.

Written by Andres Garcia Higuera with Adam Furman.

Europe could gain competitive edge by supporting the development of new hardware for artificial intelligence (AI). Current state-of-the-art hardware is not optimised for machine learning, and both academic and private sector research is already leading to new designs. At the same time, the need for more time- and energy-efficient machine-learning hardware is increasing as more consumers and companies want access to machine-learning applications. The European Union (EU) has the opportunity to leverage its strong regulatory framework for AI products as a mark of trust and safety, while also investing to support the next generation of hardware, opening up a new market for Europe’s high tech industry. What would happen if the EU formulated a cohesive plan to support these technologies through both research and economic policy?

Artificial intelligence and machine learning require large amounts of computing power. Training a new application and using that application to generate responses to user queries are tasks that are already performed by dedicated hardware – GPUs (graphics processing units). These specialised computer chips are fast and efficient at processing and displaying images and videos, but also faster than regular processors at machine-learning tasks.

Though graphics card manufacturers have pivoted towards AI as the   primary use of their devices, demand for GPUs has already caused shortages. At the same time, energy usage by GPUs used for machine learning is becoming a concern. Recently, Microsoft announced plans to restart a nuclear power plant just to power AI data centres. Industry leaders have stated that they expect a shift away from GPUs within 5 to 10 years, and major technology companies have already developed custom chips to execute some AI-related functions, citing the limitations of GPUs as reason.

The economic incentives to develop new hardware are strong, and Europe is in a unique position to take competitive advantage of the developing market. With the AI Act in place, there is a regulatory standard in the EU that would lend European AI technologies a mark of safety and privacy that is not currently perceived elsewhere. While the AI hardware sector is currently focused around non-European companies such as NVIDIA and AMD, a new market niche is opening: Europe could promote the development of new, specifically designed non-GPU hardware and gain market share through policy and investment.

Potential impacts and developments

The scientific community has taken note of the potential to improve the performance and energy efficiency of machine learning by developing new purpose-built hardware. Because machine learning usually consists of ‘artificial neural networks’ – code that mimics the interconnection and firing of synapses in the brain – the emerging field is called neuromorphic computing. Defined in a 2022 issue of Nature Computational Science as ‘computers whose structure and function are inspired by brains and that are composed of neurons and synapses’, research in this area includes both entirely new types of computers and direct replacements for GPUs in the form of chips dedicated to machine-learning functions. However, not all new AI hardware is necessarily called neuromorphic, and there are many routes of active inquiry.

Scientists are also developing photonic chips, which make direct use of light as an input, for their advantages in time-critical applications like autonomous driving, and in computer vision where AI is used to process visual information. Another technology being developed for machine-learning chips is the memristor, a circuit component similar to a resistor. Memristors’ electrical properties could reduce the amount of computer memory needed for machine-learning programs and speed up the computations needed to train and run them.

Current research in both photonic and memristive technologies is routinely published in major peer-reviewed academic journals. The performance of existing hardware, such as Google’s Tensor Processing Units, is likewise being studied. The consensus is that new hardware could surpass existing solutions both in terms of performance and energy efficiency, and more than one technology may succeed in doing so.

From an industrial perspective, memristor-based hardware more closely resembles the process for traditional silicon chips (though sometimes requiring slightly different materials). Photonic chips present an entirely new paradigm, though existing photolithography techniques – where Europe is already a leader – are still relevant. In either case, new industrial facilities may be necessary for full-scale commercialisation.

Multiple new companies, including Ephos, Lightmatter (photonic chips) and Graphcore (dedicated AI processors), have received funding – including from the European Innovation Council (EIC) – to develop hardware informed by new scientific research. Within the next decade, one or multiple technologies will likely become available to the market. GPUs for AI represented a US$48 billion market in 2023 that is projected to grow by roughly 25 % year on year. This creates a strong incentive for new technologies to compete. Combined with a growing awareness of the energy costs of AI, it is highly probable that new, specifically designed hardware will be sought after and implemented as it becomes available.

Anticipatory policymaking

A concerted research effort could position Europe as the leader of a new wave of machine-learning hardware developments. The European Chips Act already has objectives, including energy efficiency and innovation in semiconductor technologies, that align with supporting purpose-built AI hardware. The increased energy efficiency of this hardware would also align with European Green Deal goals.

More efficient hardware would lower the cost of generative AI applications, leading to their even greater proliferation. Generative AI is already causing concern, especially among creative and programming workers, and ‘deepfake’ media is troubling for both law enforcement and European citizens concerned with the integrity of elections. The risk to democracy exists regardless of whether new AI tools are actually used maliciously, since their mere presence can be enough to create distrust.

The risks of AI have been covered in other EPRS publications, discussing how those risks apply to democracy, the European economy, and healthcare, among other things. The AI Act has already set a strong regulatory standard, so far unique in the world, and the European AI safety initiative has been followed up by the creation of the Centre for Algorithmic Transparency. Building on existing regulation, information on how to use AI tools responsibly should be distributed, with special attention given to elections. The risks of AI should not discourage the promotion and development of new hardware.

European digital leadership could be improved by pairing the safety and transparency created through strong regulation with investment in new machine-learning hardware. If the best AI hardware were European, this would create an incentive to bring new AI applications to the European market. Strong regulation could be reframed as a new European brand – tied to a certification standard – for AI products. An ‘EU Safe AI’ label, reflecting compliance and quality, could promote European hardware and software.

There are ways to advance this strategy and strengthen the EU’s competitive resilience. First, directing funds from Horizon Europe and the next framework programme for research and innovation towards new and existing machine-learning hardware research would help position AI hardware as a fundamental part of Europe’s digital and industrial value chains. Second, funds such as the European Fund for Strategic Investments Equity Instrument could help companies with actionable product designs. Finally, an incentive structure could be created to encourage AI software companies to develop applications in the EU that comply with the AI Act using the new European hardware. These actions should cover the whole industrial chain, from raw materials to software, in turn generating both software- and hardware-related jobs.

European AI products would emerge with a reputation for safety, privacy, efficiency, and speed. Broad investment in multiple new machine-learning hardware technologies would increase resilience and minimise risks, and a similar research investment structure could also benefit related fields. Novel hardware could provide Europe with a unique and decisive competitive edge in technological innovation.

Read this ‘at a glance’ note on ‘What if Europe championed new AI hardware?‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Aujourd'hui dans l'Expresso : grève générale en Italie contre le projet de budget de Giorgia Meloni, le débat sur l'adhésion de l'Islande à l'UE relancé avant les élections législatives.

António Costa, übernimmt am Freitag (29. November) das Amt des EU-Ratspräsidenten von Charles Michel. Seine Hauptaufgabe wird es sein, die angeschlagene institutionelle Struktur zu reformieren und die Beziehungen zwischen Rat, Kommission und Parlament zu verbessern.

La question de l’appartenance de l’Islande à l’Union européenne (UE) pourrait bien revenir à l’ordre du jour à l’approche des élections législatives samedi 30 novembre, alors que deux partis pro-UE se positionnent en tête et qu'un possible référendum à ce sujet pourrait être envisagé.

Both candidates for the 8 December presidential election runoff, Călin Georgescu and Elena Lasconi, condemned the Constitutional Court ruling.

A mother carries her baby in Port Sudan, on the Sudanese coast. Escalating violence and new atrocities in Sudan have pushed the humanitarian crisis to unprecedented levels, with displacement now exceeding 11 million people amid reports of mass killings and systematic-sexual violence across multiple regions, UN officials said October 2024. Credit: WFP/Abubakar Garelnabei

By Madiha Abdalla
KHARTOUM, Sudan , Nov 29 2024 (IPS)

On 15 April 2023, the outbreak of war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) drastically altered the face of Sudanese society. The fighting left thousands of dead, wounded, displaced people and refugees.

People went hungry, civil rights were violated in the most horrible ways, and discrimination was practiced on the basis of gender, race and tribe. Across the country, infrastructure was destroyed in cities and villages – not even hospitals and schools were spared – and the capital Khartoum became a shattered city unfit for life.

According to UN estimates, some 10.9 million people are now internally displaced within Sudan. Another 2.2 million people have fled to other countries since the conflict began. Food insecurity is rife, and the warring parties regularly attack and kill civilians.

Despite this horrific panorama, international attention to the conflict has waned and humanitarian support has been stymied – earlier this month, Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that called for a ceasefire and crucial humanitarian aid.

Few have suffered more during this war than women human rights defenders (WHRDs).

Madiha Abdalla

As a longstanding WHRD and journalist, since the outbreak of the war, I was exposed to the risks of losing the right to life, as bullets and shells continued to fall on my residential area in a suburb of Khartoum, located near a military area that witnessed violent confrontations between the parties to the war since its beginning.

Initially, my family and I were displaced to a relatively safe area in central Sudan and along with fellow human rights defenders, I worked as a volunteer in shelter centres, contributing to providing services to the displaced and raising awareness of civil rights.

After the RSF invaded the area, we were displaced again, and I traveled to Uganda after the security risks increased when the war expanded. Since February 2024, I continue my journalistic and civilian work with human rights groups and journalists to stop the war and protect civilians.

WHRDs in Sudan face numerous risks as a result of this ongoing and expanded conflict. They are targeted with armed threats, liquidation, and arrest; security agencies threaten to prosecute WHRDs who work in emergency rooms that provide services and support to the displaced. These threats sometimes extend to family members, too.

Security agencies stalk and pursue WHRDs, personally targeting them and their kin. This is especially true for those who work in the legal field and monitor violations; they are regularly forced to flee and seek refuge in other regions and countries, resulting in the closure of legal offices and the loss of the right to work.

Sudanese WHRDs risk being accused of spying for one side of the war against the other, leading to armed men confiscating their phones as well as increased insecurity in using social media and exposure to the risk of being hacked.

Many WHRDs are forced to leave their homes with sick family members in harsh conditions without money or means of protection, and even though they hate to leave their homeland, they are forced to seek refuge in other countries.

Many of those forced to flee their homes due to the fighting do so on foot, with no belongings; they become displaced to other areas or live with relatives, always running the risk of violence and looting by armed men on their displacement routes.

Their freedom of movement is restricted, with threats of death and rape by armed men and the looting of phones, forcing them to remain silent and not reveal their violations out of fear. As a result, they often lose contact with relatives and other groups of WHRDs for long periods of time.

The ever-widening circle of fighting has led to many WHRDs being subjected to repeated displacement experiences, which leads to the evacuation of huge displacement complexes that include thousands of people, including these women defenders and their families.

On their way there, they are exposed to the dangers of bullets and shells and the injury of children and patients, bringing with it a constant feeling of terror, often sparked by hearing ordinary sounds.

In addition to the risk of being looted and attacked, by being repeatedly forced to leave their homes and shelters behind, women human rights defenders ran the risk of being separated from their families and losing job opportunities.

These harsh conditions have negatively affected women human rights defenders economically, socially and psychologically, and have affected human rights work in monitoring violations and defending and protecting human rights in the midst of a deadly war.

The international community should show solidarity with the people of Sudan – in particular our women human rights defenders – and support our efforts to stop the war and build peace in Sudan.

Madiha Abdalla is a Sudanese woman human rights defender and journalist. She recently visited Ireland to speak about her experiences as part of Front Line Defenders’ Dublin Platform, aimed at giving a voice to human rights defenders at risk from around the world.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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A fővárosiak különleges látványnak lehetnek tanúi a héten, ugyanis nehéz katonai járművek érkeznek Budapestre. A Nemzeti Közszolgálati Egyetem Hadtudományi és Honvédtisztképző Kara pénteki nyílt napja alkalmából több harcjármű is megérkezik a Zrínyi Miklós laktanyába.

A látványos konvoj csütörtök este indul útnak az ország több pontjáról. A Gidrán páncélozott jármű és a Leopard 2A7HU harckocsi Tatáról, a Lynx KF41 pedig Hódmezővásárhelyről indul. A járművek az M0-ás autóúton találkoznak, majd közösen haladnak tovább a főváros felé. A konvoj várhatóan éjfél körül érkezik a Hős utcába, ahol a laktanyába való behajtás ideje alatt rövid útlezárásra kell számítani.

A nyílt napon a látogatók megtekinthetik a legmodernebb hazai és nemzetközi haditechnikai eszközöket, köztük a most érkező harcjárműveket is. Az esemény egyedülálló lehetőséget nyújt azoknak, akik érdeklődnek a katonai pálya iránt.

The post Harckocsik és páncélosok érkeznek a fővárosba: Látványos katonai konvoj vonul Budapesten appeared first on Biztonságpiac.

Ministerpräsident der Slowakei, Robert Fico, hat die Einladung des russischen Präsidenten Wladimir Putin nach Moskau angenommen, was er als Würdigung der Roten Armee im Zweiten Weltkrieg begründet. Die EU bekräftigt unterdessen ihre einheitliche Haltung im Umgang mit Russland.

Une conférence sur l’inclusion des personnes en situation de handicap a lieu ce vendredi au Palais fédéral. Une initiative du conseiller national Jean Tschopp. Interview.

Credit: UN Foundation

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 29 2024 (IPS)

John Bolton a former US ambassador to the United Nations (2005-2006) once infamously declared that if the 39-storeyed UN Secretariat building in New York “lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”

That statement triggered a sarcastic response from a New York Times columnist who said Bolton would have done better as an urban planner than a US diplomat –while another newspaper described him as “a human wrecking ball”

Similarly, one of his successors Niki Haley told a Republican National Convention that the “UN was a place where dictators, murderers and thieves denounce America, and demand that we pay their bills.”

And now comes President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee — House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of New York—who has condemned the United Nations as “corrupt and antisemitic” — to be his next ambassador to the world body.

She has threatened to cut funding for the UN, including a UN agency providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians, and denounced the Geneva-based Human Rights Council.

So, what else is new?

According to a November 11 report in Politico, a Washington-based digital newspaper, Trump is elevating a fierce critic of the U.N. as his emissary to the world body — the latest sign that he plans to make good on pledges to strongly support Israel on the world stage and play hardball with international organizations and alliances.

In a 25 September article in the Washington Examiner titled “If the United Nations continues its antisemitism, the US must withdraw support”, Stefanik said the U.N. “has proven again and again that it is a cesspool of antisemitism that has completely turned against Israel in its darkest hour.”

But her hard-hitting comments have triggered equally strong condemnations.

Kul Gautam, a former UN assistant Secretary-General, told IPS Trump’s proposed new appointment is “a frightening prospect for the UN”.

“Stefanik seems to represent the antithesis of the UN ideals, multilateralism, and respect for international laws — all in the interest of blanket US support for Israel,” he said.

Indeed, all of Trump’s national security nominees seem to fit what Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council characterizes as: Israel-First, America-Second, Humanity-Last ethos, said Gautam, a former Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF.

According to the US Congressional Research Service (CRS), the approved regular budget for U.N. is $3.6 billion for FY 2024. The General Assembly determines a regular budget scale of assessments every three years based on a country’s capacity to pay. The Assembly will likely adopt new assessment rates for the 2025-2027 period in December 2024.

The United States is currently assessed 22%, the highest of any U.N. member, followed by China (15.25%) and Japan (8.03%).

But this may change under the Trump administration.

As Stefanik warned: “We must strive for a U.N. in which no one nation is expected to foot the bill but receive no accountability or transparency in return, in which no despot or dictator can sit in judgment of others while deflecting attention away from their own human rights abuses, and in which no organization corrupted by the likes of the Chinese Communist Party can dictate sweeping conventions and international standards across its membership”.

Ian Williams, President of the New York-based Foreign Press Association told IPS the vultures are fluttering home to roost.

“When Elise Stefanik launches off at the UN, interpreters should program their ChatGB with the translation “yada yada yada” for her message.”

Delegates and media should deride, rebut or mock her. There is no upside to pandering to her nor even to trying to reason with here, said Williams.

During the Balkan Wars, he pointed out, many young State Department professionals struck the board and cried “no more!” at the shameless double standards. The current generation appears either to be opportunistically complaisant in the face of Netanyahu’s genocide, or worse, true believers.

“Observers often wonder whether the UN could survive without the United States. Time to reverse the query- how can the UN survive in any meaningful way with the US as a malignant metastasizing tumor at its core” said Williams, a former President of the UN Correspondents’ Association (UNCA).

In his last days, Obama let through a conscience-easing resolution against Israel resolution: there is little or no chance of a significant gesture from the Biden administration in its dying days.

In contrast, Biden and Harris forfeited their chances of power with their shameless abasement to indicted war criminal Netanyahu- who had spent his term as Israeli PM campaigning against their re-election.

“We have been here before. John Bolton’s initiative to punish member states that failed to explicitly pre-amnesty American troops brought the US into more disrepute than the UN and not just its “moral” standing. It was simply shrugged off and forgotten by most members. This time, the organization’s members would get their retaliation in first. It is pointless to try creative engagement with bigots”, declared Williams.

Norman Solomon, executive director, Institute for Public Accuracy and national director, RootsAction.org, told IPS for many decades, the U.S. government has viewed the United Nations as either a legitimizing rubber stamp or a recalcitrant dissenter to be ignored and belittled.

During the leadup to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, for instance, the George W. Bush administration sought UN approval and never got it. But when the Security Council approved aggressive military actions led by the United States, as with the 1991 Gulf War, officials in Washington were glad to trumpet the UN’s importance, he pointed out.

“Stefanik is a jingoistic politician who gladly asserts the U.S. prerogative to run as much of the world as possible. To the extent that the Trump administration sees the United Nations as useful in that pursuit, her stint at the UN will go smoothly.”

And to the extent that many of the countries, with the other 95 percent of the planet’s population seem to be getting in the way, “we can expect chauvinistic bombast from Stefanik, and Trump, reviling such countries and the UN as retrograde impediments to the glorious supreme virtues and power of the United States of America”, said Solomon.

Mandeep S. Tiwana, Interim Co-Secretary General, CIVICUS, told IPS the United States played a key role in the establishment of the UN in 1945.

“By choosing someone who clearly despises the UN and what it stands for as a candidate for Ambassador, Donald Trump and his advisors are repudiating the legacy of Late President Franklin Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt who put in significant efforts to help set up the UN as a world body committed to international law and determined to save future generations from the scourge of war,” he said.

Disdain for human rights and the rules based international order brought untold suffering to humanity in the 20th century through two world wars. It would be extremely unwise for the incoming presidential administration in the United States to ignore these lessons from history,” declared Tiwana.

Solomon argued what was sometimes a more subtle attitude of a leader, such as president Joe Biden, providing king-of-the-world messages tinged with condescension and noblesse oblige, will be transformed into a harsher and more vicious approach beginning next year.

Stefanik as a personality will be largely beside the point. The underlying imperial approach to the world will be a no-holds-barred assault in rhetorical, economic and – when seen as needed – military terms, he said

“For domestic consumption, the message from the Trump presidency will be the equivalent of no-more-mister-nice-guy, asserting that it’s time to insist on fairness to Uncle Sam at last.”

Posturing as the victim will, perhaps more than ever, be the effect of the U.S. government in foreign policy, at once claiming to be a victim while the United States renews efforts to dominate as much of the world as possible, said Solomon, author of “War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine”

Meanwhile, Stefanik was also critical of “the absurdly misnamed “Human Rights Council,” composed of some of the world’s worst human rights abusers, which has a standing antisemitic agenda item related to Israel and adopted a resolution stating that Israel should be held responsible for war crimes, all while failing to condemn the atrocities committed by Hamas”.

“The world is looking to the U.S. for moral leadership. As Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran and its terrorist proxies such as Hamas create a dangerous axis of evil that threatens the shared global commitment to peace, prosperity, and freedom, the U.S. must boldly defend our principles at every opportunity”, she declared.

As the largest financial contributor to the U.N., the U.S. must present the U.N. with a choice: reform this broken system and return it to the beacon of peace and freedom the world needs it to be, or continue down this antisemitic path without the support of American taxpayers, she noted.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Russia has not so far struck Ukrainian government ministries, parliament or the president's office in the course of the 33-month war.

Deutschland und Polen, als größter EU-Nettozahler und -empfänger, treiben die Reform der Kohäsionspolitik voran und fordern eine stärkere Verknüpfung von Fördermitteln mit Reformen. Dabei geraten regionale Prioritäten und neue Herausforderungen zunehmend in den Fokus.