May 4, 2021
International Jazz Day 2021 Concludes with Spectacular All-Star Global Concert Featuring Performances from Cities Across the Globe
• Hosted by Michael Douglas at United Nations Headquarters in New York, Concert Caps Extraordinary 10th Anniversary Celebration Spanning More than 190 Countries.
Photo: A Jazz Day Poster.
WASHINGTON, May 3, 2021 — With more than 190 countries participating, the International Jazz Day 10th Anniversary celebration concluded with a thrilling All-Star Global Concert reaching millions worldwide. Hosted by Michael Douglas and led by Herbie Hancock and musical director John Beasley, the concert brought together renowned artists from over 20 countries. It was made possible by Lead Partner Toyota, with United Airlines serving as Airline Partner.
The 2021 Global Concert featured memorable moments illustrating the unifying power of jazz. From New York, Veronica Swift and trumpeter Ingrid Jensen opened the program with “Sing,” an uplifting tribute to the positive change that music can bring to the world. Other standout performances included pianist and composer Jacob Collier in London, Beninese songstress Angélique Kidjo in Paris, Japanese pianist Junko Onishi in Tokyo, Ivan Lins in Rio De Janeiro, and vocalist/trumpeter Mandisi Dyantyis in Cape Town. Capping the remarkable presentation from Los Angeles was a sensational interpretation of “God Bless The Child” by vocalist Andra Day.
Anchored by Academy Award winner Michael Douglas from UN Headquarters in New York, the 2021 concert showcased jazz as a truly global art form. As United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted, “Ten years ago, we launched the very first International Jazz Day in the United Nations General Assembly Hall at the initiative of UNESCO and the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz. With every passing year, this has been a joyous celebration - not only of music but also of freedom, diversity, and human dignity. These are the values the United Nations works to protect and promote around the world.”
UNESCO and the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz presented free educational and outreach programming throughout the day. In one of the most anticipated events, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock engaged in a moving dialogue on the history and legacy of International Jazz Day.
International Jazz Day brings together countries and communities on all seven continents to honor the international art form of jazz. The event is celebrated with thousands of concerts and jazz-related programming worldwide each year on April 30, highlighting its essential role in encouraging dialogue, combating discrimination, and promoting human dignity.
Source: Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 5:17 AM | View the original post
May 3, 2021
The Empire State Building to Celebrate 90 Years
• New Historical Tours, Giveaways, and Other Year-Long Anniversary Celebrations Planned
Photo: The Empire State Building as seen from the “Top of The Rock.” Image Credit: Joe Shlabotnik.
Photo: The Empire State Building is illuminated in red to celebrate the landing on Mars of NASA’s Perseverance rover, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in New York City. Photo Credit: (NASA/Emma Howells). [File Photo].
NEW YORK, May 01, 2021 — The World’s Most Famous Building, the Empire State Building (ESB), celebrates its 90th anniversary on May 1, 2021.
“The Empire State Building, the international icon and symbol of dreams, was a record-breaker and trendsetter 90 years ago,” said Anthony E. Malkin, chairman, president, and CEO of Empire State Realty Trust. “Today, she is fully modernized for the 21st century, a world leader in energy efficiency retrofits in the built environment, indoor environmental quality, and on building health practices.”
“Since we first opened our doors 90 years ago, the Empire State Building Observatory has been the must-visit for travelers from around the world,” said Jean-Yves Ghazi, president of the Observatory. “We’ve welcomed everyone from the Queen of England to the Queen of Christmas (Mariah Carey) through our doors, and our most important visitors are our Observatory guests from around the world who today visit our brand new, $165 million recreation of our entire experience. With New York reopened as of July 1, we look forward to visits from our fans near and far who can safely travel to celebrate this important anniversary.”
• Brand-New Offerings for Visitors
To mark 90 years, the Empire State Building will kick off a wealth of new offerings, with more announcements throughout the year-long festivities.
Birthday Lighting: ESB’s world-famous tower lights will sparkle in white with a special “90” illuminated in the mast throughout the night.
New Historical Tour: The new 90 in 90 Tour will take guests on a 90-year journey in 90 minutes as they explore the building’s rich history. Treated like a VIP with their own ESB Ambassador at their side, guests quickly become insiders and go behind the scenes at the Empire State Building.
90th Anniversary Collectors’ Items: The Empire State Building’s gift shop will offer limited edition 90th Anniversary items available only on-site.
Birthday Giveaway: With the purchase of a Sunrise, Premium, or All Access ticket to the Observatory, guests will receive a complimentary, celebratory 90th-anniversary tote bag.
David Yurman Window Display: America’s foremost luxury jewelry brand David Yurman will launch its new “Empire Collection” of women’s jewelry and men’s accessories with a window display in the building’s famed Fifth Avenue lobby.
Sweeping Views with Starbucks Coffee: For the entire month of May, guests who show their Observatory ticket at the 34th Street Starbucks located inside ESB before or after their visit will receive a $0.90 tall, hot or iced coffee and a Starbucks reusable cup while supplies last.
• A Reimagined Guest Experience
Since its construction, the Empire State Building has taken pride in its status as the World’s Most Famous Building - an international symbol of technology, imagination, and ambition. Recent renovations and a reimagined visitor experience serve as examples for other buildings and attractions across the globe.
Reimagination of The Observatory Experience: A five-year, $165 million overhaul of the visitor journey to the 86th Floor Observatory was completed in 2019 and introduced a new dedicated guest entrance at 34th Street, an immersive 10,000 square-foot museum, and additional exhibits on the redesigned 80th Floor. A brand-new 102nd Floor Observatory with floor-to-ceiling windows completes the redo.
Sustainability Retrofit: Over the last ten years, the Empire State Building underwent a ground-breaking energy and efficiency retrofit as part of the $550 million Empire State ReBuilding program that transformed it into one of today’s most efficient historical landmarks. The building is in the top 20 percent of all Class A commercial assets in the nation. As a result of these efforts, ESRT earned the highest possible GRESB 5 Star Rating and Green Star recognition for sustainability performance in real estate and was named a Fitwel Champion for healthy, high-performance buildings. ESB looks forward to a more sustainable future with a recently announced target to reach carbon neutrality by 2030.
Updated Tower Lights: In 2012, the Empire State Building upgraded its world-famous tower lights to display more than 16 million colors. The new lights debuted with the building’s first music-to-light show set to Alicia Keys’ “Girl on Fire” and “Empire State of Mind.” The building recently brought back the classic show during 2020 to bring a moment of joy to all New Yorkers during the pandemic.
Restoration of an Art Deco Classic: In 2009, the Empire State building fully restored its Fifth Avenue Lobby celestial ceiling mural. The project used aluminum leaf and 23-karat gold, the same materials from 1931, and took more than 20,000 person-hours. Just last year, the building restored its silhouette to the original design that influenced various architectural styles. With the removal of multiple antennas and a new coat of silver waterproof paint, ESB sparkles like new.
“Over the past 90 years, the Empire State Building has been the undisputed landmark of the New York City skyline, with its iconic tower lights that shine as a symbol of hope, strength, and perseverance,” said Mr. Malkin. “We will continue to innovate and push boundaries in technology, sustainability, and tourism to ensure that the Empire State Building remains America’s Favorite Building for the next 90 years as well.”
The Empire State Building, “The World’s Most Famous Building,” is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Empire State Realty Trust, Inc owns it. The $165 million reimagination of the Empire State Building Observatory Experience creates an all-new experience with a dedicated guest entrance, an interactive museum with nine galleries, and a redesigned 102nd Floor Observatory with floor-to-ceiling windows. The journey to the world-famous 86th Floor Observatory, the only 360-degree, open-air Observatory with views of New York and beyond, orients visitors for their entire New York City experience and covers everything from the building’s iconic history to its current place in pop culture. Officially opened on May 1, 1931, and now celebrating its 90th anniversary year, the Empire State Building welcomes more than 4 million annual visitors from around the world.
Source: Empire State Realty Trust, Inc.
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 10:13 AM | View the original post
May 1, 2021
United Way Worldwide Announces Launch of India COVID-19 Relief Fund
Give. Advocate. Volunteer. LIVE UNITED.
Photo: Brian Gallagher, President and CEO of United Way Worldwide (center) with Student United Way Award Winners (L-R): Alicia Meyer, Campus Adviser of the Year, Montana State University; Krystal Draper, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor; Hoa Bui, President of Student United Way at the University of California Riverside; Caasi Algazi, Founder of Student United Way at the University of California Riverside; and Elizabeth Collins, Student Leader of the Year, Montana State University. United Way Community Leaders Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. May 2, 2012.
Students on more than 60 campuses across the United States are improving their local communities. This powerful force is known as Student United Way, the student voice of the worldwide United Way movement. Image Credit: Neil Parekh. [File Photo]
ALEXANDRIA, VA., May 01, 2021 — United Way Worldwide today announced that it had established a relief fund for United Way India to provide immediate assistance in containing the coronavirus and responding to the unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. The India COVID-19 Relief Fund will provide immediate help in medical equipment for hospitals, including oxygen supplies, ventilators, beds, Bipap Machines, and more. The Fund will also supply hygiene and food kits for communities to prevent further spread of the virus.
As India experiences the world’s worst outbreak, United Way India will distribute donations from the Fund to support the most acutely impacted in the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi NCR, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, and Bihar.
Just this week, India reported the most significant single-day spike of new COVID-19 cases at 379,000 and more than 200,000 deaths, 3,000 occurring in the past 24 hours alone. These numbers have overwhelmed the healthcare system, particularly in highly populated cities, devastating the most vulnerable population.
“The resurgence of the COVID-19 virus and the devastating impact on India’s healthcare system highlights that the fight against the pandemic is far from over and shows how vulnerable communities are still at risk,” said Neeraj Mehta, Interim President and CEO, United Way Worldwide. “I am heartened by the work of the United Way India network and am confident that we can provide much-needed critical support to alleviate the suffering of marginalized populations.”
Over the past year, the United Way India network of seven local United Ways has supported more than five million people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and provided infrastructure enhancement to more than 100 hospitals. The United Way India network has raised and distributed $60 million in relief funds to more than 60 cities throughout India.
Through the work of 100,000 volunteers, United Way has distributed over 291,951 food kits and served more than 555,886 hot meals. Additionally, the United Way India network has provided 146 hospitals with infrastructure reinforcements, including additional beds, oxygen concentrators, ventilators, and medical supplies. It has also distributed 804,154 N-95 & 3-Ply masks and 346,104 personal protection equipment (PPE) kits.
Response efforts are led locally by United Ways in the cities of Baroda, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kolkata.
United Way said it fights for every person’s health, education, and financial stability in every community.”With global reach and local impact, we’re making life better for 48 million people annually. United Way is the world’s largest privately-funded nonprofit, working in 95% of U.S. communities and 40 countries and territories. That’s why we’re the mission of choice for 2.5 million volunteers, 7.7 million donors, and 45,000 corporate partners. In the wake of COVID-19, we’re helping people stay in their homes, stock their pantries, and protect their lives and livelihoods. And we’re working to build resilient, equitable communities,” United Way elaborated.
Source: United Way Worldwide
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 3:04 PM | View the original post
April 29, 2021
Carnegie Corporation of New York Announces 26 Andrew Carnegie Fellows.
• $5.2 million in philanthropic support for significant scholarly research in the social sciences and humanities
New York, NY, April 28, 2021 — To apply scholarly perspectives to some of society’s most important issues, Carnegie Corporation of New York today announced the 2021 class of Andrew Carnegie Fellows. The philanthropic foundation will grant each fellow $200,000 to fund significant research and writing in the social sciences and humanities that address critical and enduring issues confronting our society.
The Corporation launched the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program in 2015 as an initiative conceived by the late Vartan Gregorian, who was president of the foundation since 1997. Gregorian, a former professor of history and past president of Brown University, aimed to advance and elevate the fellows’ work to reinforce the importance of the social sciences and humanities in academia and American life.
The most generous stipend of its kind, the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program has funded a total of 216 scholars, journalists, and authors, representing an investment of $43.2 million. It focuses on subjects such as U.S. democracy, the environment, technological and cultural evolution, and international relations. The criteria prioritize the originality and promise of the research, its potential impact on the field, and the scholar’s plans for communicating the findings to a broad audience.
Among this year’s winning research topics:
Law enforcement: developing tools to analyze policing data, including large volumes of body-worn camera video, to monitor racial bias and suggest evidence-based reforms.
Pandemic recovery: studying the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable families and women in the workforce to identify policies that will help rebuild a more just society.
Voting access: analyzing strategies to modernize the U.S. electoral system, including mail voting, same-day registration, and calls for a National Accessible Election law.
Racial justice: telling the story of mid-19th-century Black New Yorkers who campaigned to desegregate public transit with pioneering civil disobedience strategies.
Rural opportunity: exploring the history of agricultural property law and the views of American farmers to develop a more inclusive and sustainable land ownership system.
“Me Too” movement: documenting the cultural history of the campaign and social media’s ability to expose offenders and hold them accountable.
Immigration: exploring the immigration detention system and its multiple, unseen sites within and outside U.S. borders to understand policies and their impact on migrants.
Climate-change: developing inclusive approaches to climate policy by gathering indigenous knowledge.
Georgetown’s DeGioia, who has been a member of the jury since the start of the program, replaced the founding chair, Susan Hockfield, professor of neuroscience and president emerita of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition, Alondra Nelson, president of the Social Science Research Council, stepped down after three years of service on the fellows’ jury when she joined the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy as deputy director for science and society. Today, the jury comprises 14 distinguished scholars and academic and intellectual leaders from some of the USA’s most prominent educational institutions, foundations, and scholarly societies.
Carnegie Corporation selected this year’s class of 26 fellows from 311 nominations. The group comprises 18 women and eight men. The program seeks to include emerging and established scholars from across the country and represents public institutions of higher education and private colleges or universities.
As part of the nomination process, 700 individuals — including heads of independent research institutes, societies, and think tanks; university presidents; directors of major university presses; and editors of leading newspapers and magazines — were invited to recommend up to two individuals. All proposals undergo a preliminary, anonymous evaluation by leading authorities in the relevant fields. The top recommendations are then forwarded to the jury for a final review and selection.
The award is for up to two years, and its expected result is a book or major study.
• Class of 2021
- Elizabeth Oltmans Ananat: Barnard College, Columbia University
- Beth Bailey: University of Kansas
- Richard Bell: University of Maryland, College Park
- Deborah A. Boehm: University of Nevada, Reno
- Kristina Maria Guild Douglass: The Pennsylvania State University
- Tanisha M. Fazal: University of Minnesota Twin Cities
- Christine Folch: Duke University
- Shana Kushner Gadarian: Syracuse University
- Kali Nicole Gross: Emory University
- Françoise N. Hamlin: Brown University
- Adria L. Imada: University of California, Irvine
- Jeanne-Marie Jackson: Johns Hopkins University
- Dean Knox: University of Pennsylvania
- Daniel Laurison: Swarthmore College
- Sonali Shukla McDermid: New York University
- Léonce Ndikumana: University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Jessica A. Shoemaker: University of Nebraska College of Law
- Stefanie Stantcheva: Harvard University
- Susan C. Stokes: University of Chicago
- Neel U. Sukhatme: Georgetown University Law Center
- Kevin J. A. Thomas: The University of Texas at Austin
- Salamishah Tillet: Rutgers University-Newark
- Caroline Tolbert: University of Iowa
- Jessica Wilkerson: West Virginia University
- Gillen D’Arcy Wood: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Gabriel Zucman: University of California, Berkeley
• Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program Jurors
- John J. DeGioia: President, Georgetown University (Chair)
- Joseph E. Aoun: President, Northeastern University
- Jared L. Cohon: President Emeritus and University Professor of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
- Robbert Dijkgraaf: Director and Leon Levy Professor, Institute for Advanced Study
- Jonathan F. Fanton: President Emeritus, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Amy Gutmann: President, University of Pennsylvania
- Rush D. Holt: CEO Emeritus, American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Alberto Ibargüen: President and CEO, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
- Ira Katznelson: Interim Provost and Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University
- Arthur Levine: President Emeritus, The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
- Earl Lewis: Founding Director, Center for Social Solutions, University of Michigan; Former President, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
- Marcia McNutt: President, National Academy of Sciences
- Louise Richardson: Vice-Chancellor, University of Oxford
- Pauline Yu: President Emerita, American Council of Learned Societies
Carnegie Corporation of New York was established in 1911 by Andrew Carnegie to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding. In keeping with this mandate, the Corporation’s work focuses on the issues that Andrew Carnegie considered to be of paramount importance: education, international peace, and a strong democracy.
Source: Carnegie Corporation of New York
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 5:28 AM | View the original post
April 28, 2021
International Leadership Association Announces Its 2021-2022 Fellows
Photo: Responsive and Responsible Leadership. Brian T. Moynihan, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America Corporation, USA, speaking during the session: Responsive and Responsible Leadership at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 20, 2017. Image provided by & Copyright © World Economic Forum / Greg Beadle. [File Photo]
SILVER SPRING, Md., April 27, 2021 — The International Leadership Association (ILA) work is made possible by the power of its members’ curiosity, creativity, and desire to make an impact. Each year, it recognizes a select group of expert members who desire to give back to the field of leadership as ILA Fellows.
Fellows engage with ILA’s mission across sectors and disciplines to do worthy work at the intersection of leadership research and practice. They contribute to special initiatives that help drive the ILA’s mission to advance leadership knowledge and practice for a better world.
This year’s Fellows include the new Fellow roles of Executive in Residence and Scholar in Residence
ILA Executive in Residence
- John Heiser is a transformational, global, and relational executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience in multimillion-dollar pharmaceutical, technology, and manufacturing organizations.
ILA Scholar in Residence
- Gill Robinson Hickman is Professor Emerita of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond, one of the first institutions with a multidisciplinary faculty devoted to the study of leadership.
ILA Fellows
ILA’s 2021-2022 Fellows include thought leaders from around the world. Together they will share their knowledge and expertise, explore today’s challenges in dialogue with other leaders, and apply their practical wisdom to inform and inspire. They are:
- Scott J. Allen, Standard Products—Dr. James S. Reid Chair in Management, John Carroll University
- Keith Grint, Professor Emeritus, Warwick University
- Maureen Metcalf, Founder, CEO, & Board Chair, Innovative Leadership Institute
- Stella Nkomo, Professor of Human Resource Management, University of Pretoria
- Erwin Schwella, Dean, School of Social Innovation, Hugenote Kollege
- Katherine Tyler Scott, Principle, Ki ThoughtBridge
Maureen Metcalf, returning for another term as an ILA Fellow, will continue her partnership with ILA to produce a series of 12+ podcasts on global leadership, part of her weekly Innovating Leadership show. The ILA adds another podcaster to its Fellows group with Scott Allen, the host of Phronesis: Practical Wisdom for Leadership. Scott will work with ILA to produce weekly episodes of Phronesis under the banner of “ILA’s official podcast.” Scott shared his excitement for the partnership, writing: “ILA has played a central role in my growth and development as a leadership educator and scholar. I have moderated the listserv, chaired a member community, and served on the board. As an ILA Fellow, I’ll have the opportunity to engage in a new and exciting way! I am thrilled to partner with ILA to bring inspirational and thought-provoking content to people all over the globe.”
ILA Fellows, Keith Grint, Stella Nkomo, Erwin Schwella, and Katherine Tyler Scott will share their insights via blogs looking at the challenges of today through a leadership lens. Grint, Schwella, and Tyler Scott are experienced bloggers, having contributed several pieces to ILA’s blog in 2020 including, “Leadership in Times of Crisis,” “The Fire Next Time,” and “The Global Pandemic: A Trigger for Deeply Systemic Disruptive Social Innovation? Or an Inevitable Global Apocalypse?” Echoing other fellows, Katherine affirmed that “ILA has been instrumental in my professional development, leadership, and service as a scholar-practitioner. I have been privileged to serve as Chair of Leadership Development, Conference Weaver, Vice-Chair and Chair of the ILA Board.” She added, “The honor of being selected as an ILA Fellow is another opportunity to contribute to this special community of learners.”
“We are thrilled to be working with this year’s group of outstanding Fellows,” noted Cynthia Cherrey, CEO & President of the ILA. “Their commitment to ILA and contributions to the field of leadership are unparalleled and will be appreciated for years to come.”
The International Leadership Association is a worldwide professional association committed to advancing leadership knowledge and practice for a better world. It accomplishes its mission by creating trusted leadership resources. The synergy that occurs by bringing people together in the charged space of its conferences and events produces a multiplier impact on leadership and change. For more than twenty years, the ILA has convened extraordinary talent across sectors, cultures, disciplines, and generations.
Source: International Leadership Association
|GlobalGiants.Com|
— The Editor is a Member of the International Leadership Association.
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 1:27 PM | View the original post
April 26, 2021
Oscars 2021: 93rd Academy Awards Winners List
Photo: Oscar nominee Garrett Bradley arrives on the red carpet of The 93rd Oscars at Union Station in Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, April 25, 2021. Image provided by & Copyright © Matt Petit / A.M.P.A.S.
Photo: On behalf of Denmark, Thomas Vinterberg poses backstage with the Oscar for International Feature Film during the live A.B.C. Telecast of The 93rd Oscars at Union Station in Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, April 25, 2021. Image provided by & Copyright © Matt Petit / A.M.P.A.S.
Photo: James Reed, Pippa Erlich (L), and Marlee Matlin pose backstage with the Oscar for Documentary Feature during the live A.B.C. Telecast of The 93rd Oscars at Union Station in Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, April 25, 2021. Image provided by & Copyright © Matt Petit / A.M.P.A.S.
Photo: Chloé Zhao poses backstage with the Oscar for Directing during the live A.B.C. Telecast of The 93rd Oscars at Union Station in Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, April 25, 2021. Image provided by & Copyright © Matt Petit / A.M.P.A.S.
Photo: Oscar nominee Will Berson and guest arrive on the red carpet of The 93rd Oscars at Union Station in Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, April 25, 2021. Image provided by & Copyright © Richard Harbaugh / ©A.M.P.A.S.
LOS ANGELES, CA - The 93rd Oscars were held on Sunday, April 25, 2021, at Union Station Los Angeles and the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood. The event was televised live on A.B.C. The Oscars were also televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
Nomadland won big at the Oscars as it won the Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress awards. Anthony Hopkins won the Best Actor for The Father. David Fincher’s Mank, which led the way with ten nominations, took home awards for cinematography and production design.
HERE IS THE FULL LIST OF NOMINATIONS & WINNERS:
• Performance by an actor in a leading role
- Riz Ahmed in “Sound of Metal”
- Chadwick Boseman in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
- Anthony Hopkins in “The Father” — WINNER
- Gary Oldman in “Mank”
- Steven Yeun in “Minari”
• Performance by an actor in a supporting role
- Sacha Baron Cohen in “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
- Daniel Kaluuya in “Judas and the Black Messiah” — WINNER
- Leslie Odom, Jr. in “One Night in Miami…”
- Paul Raci in “Sound of Metal”
- Lakeith Stanfield in “Judas and the Black Messiah”
• Performance by an actress in a leading role
- Viola Davis in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
- Andra Day in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”
- Vanessa Kirby in “Pieces of a Woman”
- Frances McDormand in “Nomadland” — WINNER
- Carey Mulligan in “Promising Young Woman”
• Performance by an actress in a supporting role
- Maria Bakalova in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
- Glenn Close in “Hillbilly Elegy”
- Olivia Colman in “The Father”
- Amanda Seyfried in “Mank”
- Yuh-Jung Youn in “Minari” — WINNER
• The best animated feature film of the year
- “Onward” Dan Scanlon and Kori Rae
- “Over the Moon” Glen Keane, Gennie Rim and Peilin Chou
- “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon” Richard Phelan, Will Becher, and Paul Kewley
- “Soul” Pete Docter and Dana Murray — WINNER
- “Wolfwalkers” Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Paul Young and Stéphan Roelants
• Achievement in cinematography
- “Judas and the Black Messiah” Sean Bobbitt
- “Mank” Erik Messerschmidt — WINNER
- “News of the World” Dariusz Wolski
- “Nomadland” Joshua James Richards
- “The Trial of the Chicago 7” Phedon Papamichael
• Achievement in costume design
- “Emma” Alexandra Byrne
- “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” Ann Roth — WINNER
- “Mank” Trish Summerville
- “Mulan” Bina Daigeler
- “Pinocchio” Massimo Cantini Parrini
• Achievement in directing
- “Another Round” Thomas Vinterberg
- “Mank” David Fincher
- “Minari” Lee Isaac Chung
- “Nomadland” Chloé Zhao — WINNER
- “Promising Young Woman” Emerald Fennell
• Best documentary feature
- “Collective” Alexander Nanau and Bianca Oana
- “Crip Camp” Nicole Newnham, Jim LeBrecht and Sara Bolder
- “The Mole Agent” Maite Alberdi and Marcela Santibáñez
- “My Octopus Teacher” Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed, and Craig Foster — WINNER
- “Time” Garrett Bradley, Lauren Domino, and Kellen Quinn
• Best documentary short subject
- “Colette” Anthony Giacchino and Alice Doyard — WINNER
- “A Concerto Is a Conversation” Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
- “Do Not Split” Anders Hammer and Charlotte Cook
- “Hunger Ward” Skye Fitzgerald and Michael Scheuerman
- “A Love Song for Latasha” Sophia Nahli Allison and Janice Duncan
• Achievement in film editing
- “The Father” Yorgos Lamprinos
- “Nomadland” Chloé Zhao
- “Promising Young Woman” Frédéric Thoraval
- “Sound of Metal” Mikkel E. G. Nielsen — WINNER
- “The Trial of the Chicago 7” Alan Baumgarten
• The best international feature film of the year
- “Another Round” Denmark — WINNER
- “Better Days” Hong Kong
- “Collective” Romania
- “The Man Who Sold His Skin” Tunisia
- “Quo Vadis, Aida?” Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Achievement in makeup and hairstyling
- “Emma” Marese Langan, Laura Allen and Claudia Stolze
- “Hillbilly Elegy” Eryn Krueger Mekash, Matthew Mungle, and Patricia Dehaney
- “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson — WINNER
- “Mank” Gigi Williams, Kimberley Spiteri, and Colleen LaBaff
- “Pinocchio” Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli and Francesco Pegoretti
• Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
- “Da 5 Bloods” Terence Blanchard
- “Mank” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
- “Minari” Emile Mosseri
- “News of the World” James Newton Howard
- “Soul” Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste — WINNER
• Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
- “Fight For You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah” — WINNER
- Music by H.E.R. and Dernst Emile II; Lyric by H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas
- “Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
- Music by Daniel Pemberton; Lyric by Daniel Pemberton and Celeste Waite
- “Husavik” from “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”
- Music and Lyric by Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus and Rickard Göransson
- “Io Sì (Seen)” from “The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)”
- Music by Diane Warren; Lyric by Diane Warren and Laura Pausini
- “Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami…”
- Music and Lyric by Leslie Odom, Jr. and Sam Ashworth
• Best motion picture of the year
- “The Father” David Parfitt, Jean-Louis Livi, and Philippe Carcassonne, Producers
- “Judas and the Black Messiah” Shaka King, Charles D. King and Ryan Coogler, Producers
- “Mank” Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth and Douglas Urbanski, Producers
- “Minari” Christina Oh, Producer
- “Nomadland” Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey and Chloé Zhao, Producers — WINNER
- “Promising Young Woman” Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell, and Josey McNamara, Producers
- “Sound of Metal” Bert Hamelinck and Sacha Ben Harroche, Producers
- “The Trial of the Chicago 7” Marc Platt and Stuart Besser, Producers
• Achievement in production design
- “The Father” Production Design: Peter Francis; Set Decoration: Cathy Featherstone
- “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” Production Design: Mark Ricker; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara and Diana Stoughton
- “Mank” Production Design: Donald Graham Burt; Set Decoration: Jan Pascale — WINNER
- “News of the World” Production Design: David Crank; Set Decoration: Elizabeth Keenan
- “Tenet” Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Kathy Lucas
• Best animated short film
- “Burrow” Madeline Sharafian and Michael Capbarat
- “Genius Loci” Adrien Mérigeau and Amaury Ovise
- “If Anything Happens I Love You” Will McCormack and Michael Govier — WINNER
- “Opera” Erick Oh
- “Yes-People” Gísli Darri Halldórsson and Arnar Gunnarsson
• Best live-action short film
- “Feeling Through” Doug Roland and Susan Ruzenski
- “The Letter Room” Elvira Lind and Sofia Sondervan
- “The Present” Farah Nabulsi
- “Two Distant Strangers” Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe — WINNER
- “White Eye” Tomer Shushan and Shira Hochman
• Achievement in sound
- “Greyhound” Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders, and David Wyman
- “Mank” Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance, and Drew Kunin
- “News of the World” Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller, and John Pritchett
- “Soul” Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott, and David Parker
- “Sound of Metal” Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés and Phillip Bladh — WINNER
• Achievement in visual effects
- “Love and Monsters” Matt Sloan, Genevieve Camilleri, Matt Everitt, and Brian Cox
- “The Midnight Sky” Matthew Kasmir, Christopher Lawrence, Max Solomon, and David Watkins
- “Mulan” Sean Faden, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury, and Steve Ingram
- “The One and Only Ivan” Nick Davis, Greg Fisher, Ben Jones, and Santiago Colomo Martinez
- “Tenet” Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley, and Scott Fisher — WINNER
• Adapted screenplay
- “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” Screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Dan Swimmer & Peter Baynham & Erica Rivinoja & Dan Mazer & Jena Friedman & Lee Kern; Story by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Dan Swimer & Nina Pedrad
- “The Father” Screenplay by Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller — WINNER
- “Nomadland” Written for the screen by Chloé Zhao.
- “One Night in Miami…” Screenplay by Kemp Powers
- “The White Tigers” Written for the screen by Ramin Bahrani.
• Original screenplay
- “Judas and the Black Messiah” Screenplay by Will Berson & Shaka King; Story by Will Berson & Shaka King and Kenny Lucas & Keith Lucas
- “Minari” Written by Lee Isaac Chung
- “Promising Young Woman” Written by Emerald Fennell — WINNER
- “Sound of Metal” Screenplay by Darius Marder & Abraham Marder; Story by Darius Marder & Derek Cianfrance
- “The Trial of the Chicago 7” Written by Aaron Sorkin
Source: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 4:36 AM | View the original post
April 25, 2021
U.S. National Security Advisor speaks with his Indian counterpart on the current COVID-19 situation in India.
Photo: Magnolia tree blooms are seen Friday, March 26, 2021, in the Rose Garden of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz).
• Statement by NSC Spokesperson Emily Horne on National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s Call with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval of India.
APRIL 25, 2021
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke by phone today with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, expressing deep sympathy for the people of India following the recent spike in COVID-19 cases. Mr. Sullivan affirmed America’s solidarity with India, the two countries with the greatest number of COVID-19 instances globally. Building on the seven-decade health partnership between the United States and India —including battles against smallpox, polio, and HIV — they resolved that India and the United States will continue to fight the global COVID-19 pandemic together. Just as India sent assistance to the United States as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, the United States is determined to help India in its time of need.
To this end, the United States is working around the clock to deploy available resources and supplies. The United States has identified sources of specific raw material urgently required for Indian manufacture of the Covishield vaccine that will immediately be made available for India. To help treat COVID-19 patients and protect front-line health workers in India, the United States has identified supplies of therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators, and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that will immediately be made available for India. The United States also is pursuing options to provide oxygen generation and related supplies on an urgent basis. The U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is funding a substantial expansion of manufacturing capability for BioE, the vaccine manufacturer in India, enabling BioE to ramp up to produce at least 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2022. Additionally, the United States is deploying an expert team of public health advisors from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and USAID to collaborate with the U.S. Embassy, India’s health ministries, and India’s Epidemic Intelligence Service staff. USAID will also quickly work with CDC to support and fast-track the mobilization of emergency resources available to India through the Global Fund.
The two National Security Advisors agreed that the U.S. and India would stay in close touch in the coming days.
Source: The White House Briefing Room
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 3:48 PM | View the original post
April 24, 2021
Johnson & Johnson Single-Shot COVID-19 Vaccinations to Resume in the U.S. for All Adults Aged 18 and Older Following CDC and FDA Decision.
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., April 23, 2021 — Johnson & Johnson has announced that vaccinations with the Company’s COVID-19 single-shot vaccine would resume for all adults aged 18 years and older in the U.S. under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). It follows a decision from the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The decision was based on a recommendation from the U.S. CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). ACIP had followed a rigorous evaluation of data relating to an infrequent adverse event involving blood clots combined with low platelet counts (thrombosis with thrombocytopenia) observed within approximately one to two weeks following vaccination.
“As the global pandemic continues to devastate communities around the world, we believe a single-shot, easily transportable COVID-19 vaccine with demonstrated protection against multiple variants can help protect the health and safety of people everywhere. We will collaborate with health authorities around the world to educate healthcare professionals and the public to ensure this infrequent event can be identified early and treated effectively,” said Paul Stoffels, Chief Scientific Officer of Johnson & Johnson.
Johnson & Johnson has updated the EUA Fact Sheets for Healthcare Providers Administering Vaccine (Vaccination Providers) and Recipients and Caregivers for the Company’s COVID-19 vaccine.
The Company said it continues to work with other healthcare authorities and regulators worldwide to ensure that the product labels for the Company’s COVID-19 vaccine include this information. On April 20, the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) also issued a recommendation, confirming the overall benefit-risk profile of the Company’s COVID-19 vaccine remains positive.
The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine, developed by the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, received EUA from the FDA on February 27, 2021, to prevent COVID-19 in individuals 18 years of age and older.
This decision was based in part on the totality of scientific evidence, including data from the Phase 3 ENSEMBLE study. The study had demonstrated that the vaccine was 66.1 percent effective in preventing moderate to severe/acute disease and 85 percent effective in preventing severe/critical illness across all regions studied, 28 days post-vaccination.
The terms of the EUA allow the use of the vaccine while more data are gathered. The Company plans to file for a Biologics License Application (BLA) with the FDA later in 2021.
On April 21, 2021, Johnson & Johnson announced primary data from the Phase 3 ENSEMBLE clinical trial in the New England Journal of Medicine. The preliminary analysis of the Company’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine follows the topline efficacy and safety data announced in January, showing the trial met all primary and critical secondary endpoints and prevented COVID-19 related hospitalization across all study participants 28 days after vaccination. The data also show the vaccine to be consistently effective against symptomatic infection, including in South Africa and Brazil, where there was a high prevalence of rapidly emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
WHAT SHOULD YOU MENTION TO YOUR VACCINATION PROVIDER BEFORE YOU GET THE JANSSEN COVID-19 VACCINE?
Tell the vaccination provider about all of your medical conditions, including if you:
- have any allergies
- have a fever
- have a bleeding disorder or are on a blood thinner
- are immunocompromised or are on a medicine that affects your immune system
- are pregnant or plan to become pregnant
- are breastfeeding
- have received another COVID-19 vaccine
Source: Johnson & Johnson
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 3:43 PM | View the original post
April 23, 2021
Honoring Excellence, Electing New Members: Announcement from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 22, 2021 — The American Academy of Arts & Sciences announced today the election of 252 new members.
The Academy was established in 1780 by the country’s founders to guide a young nation that would face challenges and need expertise and excellence to emerge stronger. While the founders did not anticipate a year with a historic pandemic, overdue racial reckoning, and political strife, the purpose of electing new members is more compelling than ever, the Academy stated.
The 2021 election provides an opportunity to recognize extraordinary people across America and worldwide who help solve the world’s most urgent challenges, create meaning through art, and contribute to the common good from every field, discipline, and profession.
“We are honoring the excellence of these individuals, celebrating what they have achieved so far, and imagining what they will continue to accomplish,” said David Oxtoby, President of the American Academy. “The past year has been replete with evidence of how things can get worse; this is an opportunity to illuminate the importance of art, ideas, knowledge, and leadership that can make a better world.”
The artists, scholars, scientists, and leaders in the public, non-profit, and private sectors elected this year include:
- Paleontologist Zeresenay Alemeseged, University of Chicago
- Economist Dirk Bergemann, Yale University
- Cognitive anthropologist Pascal Boyer, Washington University in St. Louis
- Biotechnology leader Tony Coles, Cerevel Therapeutics
- Civil rights lawyer and scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, Columbia Law School; UCLA School of Law
- Neurosurgeon and medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, CNN and Emory University
- Chief Justice Nathan Hecht, Supreme Court of Texas
- Labor leader Mary Kay Henry, SEIU
- Journalist Maria Hinojosa, Futuro Media Group and NPR
- Cinematographer and video artist Arthur Jafa
- Computer scientist Fei-Fei Li, Stanford University
- Civil rights activist and math literacy pioneer Robert Moses, The Algebra Project
- Playwright, screenwriter, and actor Suzan-Lori Parks, NYU Tisch School of the Arts
- Probability theorist Kavita Ramanan, Brown University
- Composer, songwriter, and performer Robbie Robertson
- Journalist Kara Swisher, VOX Media Inc.; The New York Times
- Atmospheric scientist Anne Thompson, NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center
- Media entrepreneur and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey, Harpo, Inc., and Oprah Winfrey Network
The International Honorary Members, from 17 countries this year, include physician and researcher Peter Carmeliet (KU Leuven, Belgium), writer Duong Thu Huong (Vietnam), and botanist Lúcia Garcez Lohmann (University of São Paulo, Brazil).
“While it is noteworthy that we continue to elect members more than 240 years after the Academy’s founding, this is about more than maintaining traditions,” said Nancy C. Andrews, Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Academy. “We recognize individuals who use their talents and their influence to confront today’s challenges, to lift our spirits through the arts, and to help shape our collective future.”
John Adams, John Hancock, and others founded the Academy. They believed the new republic should honor exceptionally accomplished individuals and engage them in advancing the public good. The Academy’s dual mission remains essentially the same today, with members from increasingly diverse fields working together to share ideas and recommendations in the arts, democracy, education, global affairs, and science.
The new class joins Academy members elected before them, including Benjamin Franklin (elected 1781) and Alexander Hamilton (1791) in the eighteenth century; Ralph Waldo Emerson (1864), Maria Mitchell (1848), and Charles Darwin (1874) in the nineteenth; Albert Einstein (1924), Robert Frost (1931), Margaret Mead (1948), Milton Friedman (1959), Martin Luther King, Jr. (1966), and Anthony Fauci (1991) in the twentieth; and more recently Antonin Scalia (2003), Andrea Ghez (2004), Bryan Stevenson (2014), Nicholas Kristof (2017), John Legend (2017), Viet Thanh Nguyen (2018), and Anna Deavere Smith (2019).
Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is one of the country’s oldest learned societies and independent policy research centers, convening leaders from the academic, business, and government sectors to respond to the challenges facing the nation and the world. Current Academy research focuses on higher education, the humanities, and the arts; science and technology policy; global security and energy; and American institutions and the public good. The Academy’s work is advanced by its more than 5,000 elected members, who are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs from around the world.
Source: American Academy of Arts & Sciences
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 12:07 AM | View the original post
April 22, 2021
UNESCO, Herbie Hancock, and a cast of Jazz greats to mark the 10th Anniversary of International Jazz Day on April 30.
Photos: Jazz Day Posters from different countries.
Paris, France, April 22, 2021 — UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock have announced the program for the 10th-anniversary edition of International Jazz Day, with an inspiring series of performances and educational and community outreach initiatives in more than 190 countries.
Hosted by multi-Academy Award-winning actor Michael Douglas, the 2021 All-Star Global Concert will be streamed live from UNESCO in Paris and the United Nations in New York with a lineup of some of the best international artists performing from cities around the world. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres will speak during the concert. Jazz pianist Herbie Hancock will be the concert’s artistic director, while John Beasley will serve as the concert’s musical director.
“UNESCO created International Jazz Day to share the values of a significant musical genre. Today we need Jazz more than ever. We need its values based on human dignity and the fight against racism and all forms of oppression. It is so much more than music. Jazz is the kind of bridge-builder we need in the world today,” said Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General, in her message.
“Our International Jazz Day community has displayed incredible resilience, creativity, ingenuity, and compassion throughout the immense challenges of the past year. While the global pandemic continues to make life difficult for so many around the world, the example of organizers from Nepal to Mexico to Cameroon inspires us to greet this historic 10th-anniversary milestone with joy, courage, and hope for the future of Jazz,” Herbie Hancock stated.
The All-Star Global Concert will mark the culmination of International Jazz Day 2021, starting at 9 pm UTC in New York, with performances by:
- Melissa Aldana (Chile)
- Massimo Biolcati (Italy)
- A Bu (China)
- Cyrus Chestnut (USA)
- Amina Figarova (Azerbaijan)
- Roberta Gambarini (Italy)
- Kenny Garrett (USA)
- James Genus (USA)
- Stefon Harris (USA)
- Ingrid Jensen (Canada)
- Joe Lovano (USA)
- Rudresh Mahanthappa (USA)
- Antonio Sánchez (Mexico) and
- Veronica Swift (USA).
In Los Angeles, Herbie Hancock will be joined by:
- Alex Acuña (Peru)
- Justo Almario (Colombia)
- Dee Dee Bridgewater (USA)
- Jonathan Butler (South Africa)
- Mahmoud Chouki (Morocco)
- Gerald Clayton (USA)
- Andra Day (USA)
- Romero Lubambo (Brazil)
- Marcus Miller (USA)
- Dianne Reeves (USA)
- Ben Williams (USA)
- Francisco Torres (Mexico) and
- Justin Tyson (USA).
Leading musicians performing from their home countries will be Igor Butman in Moscow (Russia), Ivan Lins in Rio De Janeiro (Brazil), John McLaughlin in Monaco, James Morrison in Mt. Gambier (Australia), Junko Onishi in Tokyo (Japan), and Jacob Collier in London (United Kingdom) and more.
In parallel, an array of virtual and socially distanced activities will occur across the globe on April 30 and in the days leading up to International Jazz Day. Independent artists, UNESCO Creative Cities of Music, and organizers worldwide have curated thousands of concerts, webinars, radio broadcasts, charity fundraisers, marathon jam sessions, educational workshops, art exhibitions, and more adhering to recommended public health guidelines.
YouTube, Facebook, jazzday.com, U.N. Web T.V., UNESCO, and U.S. State Department outlets would webcast the April 30 program live.
UNESCO established international Jazz Day in 2011 at the initiative of UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock. The United Nations General Assembly recognizes it. The day brings together countries and communities worldwide every April 30 to celebrate the international art form of Jazz. Jazz Day highlights Jazz’s essential role in encouraging dialogue, combating discrimination, and promoting human dignity. The Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz is UNESCO’s partner in the organization and promotion of International Jazz Day.
Source: UNESCO
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 7:50 PM | View the original post
April 16, 2021
NASA Announces Winners of 2021 Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC).
Photo: A family of Osprey outside the NASA Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Thursday, May 13, 2010. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls).
Photo: Mars 2020 Strategic Mission Manager Pauline Hwang gives remarks during a NASA Perseverance rover initial surface checkout briefing, Friday, February 19, 2021, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Pasadena, California. The Perseverance Mars rover landed on Mars Thursday, February 18, 2021. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls).
Photo: The Northrop Grumman Cygnus space freighter after its release from the Canadarm2 robotic arm completing a 93-day cargo mission at the International Space Station. Image Credit: (NASA Johnson).
HUNTSVILLE, Ala., April 16, 2021 — High school and college students from around the U.S. and world have spent the last eight months designing, building, and testing their creations for NASA’s 27th annual Human Exploration Rover Challenge - one of seven NASA Artemis Student Challenges. The winners were announced during a virtual awards ceremony on April 16.
The Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) tasks the U.S. and international student teams to design, engineer, and test a human-powered rover on a course that simulates the terrain found on rocky bodies in the solar system. The groups also must perform mission tasks while negotiating the course, including sample retrievals and spectrographic analysis.
Despite the cancellation of on-site competition activities at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the high school and college teams competed in multiple designs, documentation, and presentation categories, and were recognized for their successful efforts.
“The challenges you faced with this competition go beyond anything we’ve seen before, from designing the wheels and mission tools to executing mission requirements like sample retrievals and deploying instruments,” said Marshall Center Director Jody Singer. “To all of the students who took on these tasks and participated in Rover Challenge, we salute you and congratulate you on your accomplishments.”
“The students had to think outside the box to figure out how to develop these robust vehicles during a global pandemic,” said Miranda Fike, activity lead for the challenge at Marshall. “These members of the Artemis Generation rose to the occasion and delivered their reviews, presentations, designs, and videos without fail.”
NASA presented Awards in nine categories:
• Overall Winner
• High School Division:
1st place: Parish Episcopal School Team 1, Dallas, Texas.
2nd place: Stillwater Area High School, Stillwater, Minnesota.
3rd place: Navonmesh Prasar Foundation, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
• College/University Division:
1st place: Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota, Columbia.
2nd place: Tecnológico de Monterrey, Xochitepec, Mexico.
3rd place: the University of Alabama in Huntsville Team 1.
• Project Review Award
High School Division: Parish Episcopal School Team 1.
College/University Division: Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina.
• Task Challenge Award
High School Division: Liceo Cientifico Dr. Miguel Canela Lázaro, Salcedo, Dominican Republic.
College/University Division: Trine University, Angola, Indiana.
• Safety Award
High School Division: Academy of Arts, Careers, & Technology, Reno, Nevada.
College/University Division: Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India.
• Ingenuity Award
High School Division: Stillwater Area High School.
College/University Division: Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina.
• Phoenix Award
High School Division: Academy of Arts, Careers, & Technology.
College/University Division: KIET Group of Institutions, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India.
• Videography Award
High School Division: Navonmesh Prasar Foundation, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
College Division: Universidad Catolica Boliviana - La Paz, La Paz, Bolivia.
• STEM Engagement Award
High School Division: Vision Builder Adventures, Charlotte, North Carolina.
College/University Division: Tecnológico de Monterrey.
• Social Media Award
High School Division: Parish Episcopal School Team 2, Dallas, Texas.
College/University Division: Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
For more than 25 years, the annual NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge and its sponsors have encouraged student teams from the United States and around the world to push the limits of innovation and imagine what it will take to explore the Moon, Mars, and other planets.
The Office of STEM Engagement manages Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. The competition reflects the goals of the Artemis program, which seeks to put the first woman and first person of color on the Moon. NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement uses challenges and competitions to further the agency’s goal of encouraging students to pursue degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
SOURCE: NASA
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 10:39 PM | View the original post
April 14, 2021
Sputnik V vaccine authorized in India.
• India has become the 60th country to approve Sputnik V.
• Sputnik V is one of only three vaccines registered in India.
• The Russian vaccine has been approved for use in countries with a total population of 3 billion.
Photo: SPUTNIK V VACCINE.
MOSCOW, April 13, 2021 — The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund) announces that India’s Drug Controller General (DCGI) has approved the use of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus in the country. India has become the 60th country to support Sputnik V.
Sputnik V is one of only three coronavirus vaccines registered by India’s regulatory authorities.
India is the most populated country to register the Russian vaccine. The total population of 60 countries where Sputnik V is approved for use is 3 billion people, or about 40% of the global population.
India has registered the vaccine under the emergency use authorization procedure based on clinical trial results in Russia and positive data of additional Phase III local clinical trials in India conducted in partnership with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories.
India is the leading production hub for Sputnik V. RDIF has reached agreements with the top pharmaceutical companies in the country (Gland Pharma, Hetero Biopharma, Panacea Biotec, Stelis Biopharma, Virchow Biotech) aimed at the production of more than 850 million doses per year.
Sputnik V ranks second among coronavirus vaccines globally regarding the number of approvals issued by government regulators.
Sputnik V has also been approved in Russia, Belarus, Argentina, Bolivia, Serbia, Algeria, Palestine, Venezuela, Paraguay, Turkmenistan, Hungary, UAE, Iran, Republic of Guinea, Tunisia, Armenia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Republika Srpska (an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina), Lebanon, Myanmar, Pakistan, Mongolia, Bahrain, Montenegro, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Gabon, San-Marino, Ghana, Syria, Kyrgyzstan, Guyana, Egypt, Honduras, Guatemala, Moldova, Slovakia, Angola, Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Sri Lanka, Laos, Iraq, North Macedonia, Kenya, Morocco, Jordan, Namibia, Azerbaijan, Philippines, Cameroon, Seychelles, Mauritius, Vietnam, Antigua and Barbuda, Mali, and Panama.
Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said:
“We appreciate the decision of India’s regulatory bodies to grant authorization for Sputnik V. Approval of the vaccine is a significant milestone as Russia and India have been developing extensive cooperation on clinical trials of Sputnik V in India and its local production.
“The Russian vaccine has efficacy of 91.6% and provides complete protection against severe cases of COVID-19 as demonstrated by the data published in one of the leading medical journals, The Lancet.
“India is a vaccine-manufacturing hub and our strategic partner for the production of Sputnik V. We have created partnerships with several Indian leading pharmaceutical companies for Sputnik V production, which will provide for both vaccinations of the population in India and global distribution. Over 850 million doses of Sputnik V are going to be produced in India annually sufficient to vaccinate more than 425 million people around the world.”
• According to RDIF, Sputnik V has many key advantages:
Efficacy of Sputnik V is 91.6%, as confirmed by the data published in the Lancet, one of the world’s oldest and most respected medical journals; it is one of only three vaccines in the world with an efficacy of over 90%; Sputnik V provides complete protection against severe cases of COVID-19.
The Sputnik V vaccine is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors, which cause the common cold and have been around for thousands of years.
Sputnik V uses two different vectors for the two shots in vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the exact delivery mechanism for both shots.
More than 250 clinical studies have proved the safety, efficacy, and lack of adverse long-term effects of adenoviral vaccines over two decades. There are no strong allergies caused by Sputnik V.
The storage temperature of Sputnik V at +2+8 C means that we can store it in a conventional refrigerator without any need to invest in additional cold-chain infrastructure.
Sputnik V’s price is less than $10 per shot, making it affordable worldwide.
Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is Russia’s sovereign wealth fund established in 2011 to make equity co-investments, primarily in Russia, alongside reputable international financial and strategic investors.
Source: Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF)
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 11:13 AM | View the original post
April 13, 2021
Canada is the No. 1 Country in the World, According to the 2021 Best Countries Report
Photo: The National Flag of Canada. Image Credit: Statschew.
WASHINGTON, April 13, 2021 — For the first time, Canada takes the top spot overall in the 2021 Best Countries Report, a ranking and analysis project by U.S. News & World Report; BAV Group, a unit of global marketing communications company VMLY&R; and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Cultural, economic, political, and technological influences remain essential. The report has added two new categories: social purpose and agility. Together, this broad range of types determines how the 78 countries studied are ranked on the world stage.
“Nations are impacted on many critical fronts by how they are perceived globally - from foreign relations to international business to tourism. These perceptions are ever-evolving in a rapidly changing world,” said Kim Castro, editor, and chief content officer at U.S. News. “The 2021 Best Countries analysis combines data and storytelling to explore how countries compare on a host of global issues.”
• Key themes from the 2021 Best Countries Report:
For the first time, Canada is the No. 1 overall country. Japan and Germany finish Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, while Switzerland, the previous No. 1 overall country, falls to No. 4. Australia remains the No. 5 overall, followed by the United States, which rises one position to No. 6 overall.
Canada ranks No. 1 in quality of life and social purpose. It is also perceived as having a good job market, caring about human rights, and is committed to social justice. Additionally, the country finished No. 1 in being viewed as not corrupt and respecting property rights.
Social justice is a global ambition. Eighty percent of global citizens feel aligned with social justice, a broad term that refers to movements calling for addressing racial and gender inequities. Simultaneously, 76% agree that a country is stronger when it is more racially and ethnically diverse. Canada and the Nordic countries are viewed as the most committed to social justice, while the U.S. sits at No. 18. And on the specific topic of racial equality, the U.S. only manages to achieve No. 69, behind both China and Iraq.
Women are viewed as influential leaders. Eighty-three percent of global citizens believe there is a leadership crisis in the world today. The majority of respondents view women leaders positively, as 68% agree that countries led by women tend to be better managed.
A nation’s perceived agility is the most crucial driver of strength in 2021. Across the countries measured, agility accounts for per capita GDP variations the most - underscoring that any country needs to be seen as adaptable, progressive, and responsive. The new Agility sub-ranking carries the most significant weight among the ten sub rankings. The U.S. leads the world in perceived agility but is not among the top 10 in adaptability, coming in at No. 13 on this attribute.
“This year, the model behind the Best Countries report has been updated and evolved in response to 2020, a year like no other,” said John Keaveney, WPP advisor and head of Analytics & Insight, BAV Group. “By combining more traditional measures of a nation’s power and influence with our new dimensions of Social Purpose and Agility, we are now able to more accurately measure the strength and perceptual equity of any country in 2021.”
The 2021 Best Countries rankings methodology gathered from a proprietary survey of more than 17,000 business leaders; college-educated individuals who are middle-class or higher; and general citizens who are nationally representative of their country. “Countries should care about their image - it is not just a beauty contest. The impressions others have of a country affects its economy through tourism, foreign trade, and foreign direct investment,” said David Reibstein, professor of marketing at the Wharton School.
The Best Countries project includes in-depth news articles, an interactive data explorer, photos, and commentary from global experts in government, business, and academia. It is part of the U.S. News’ Government Rankings initiative, which measures government performance at the international, state, and local levels and includes the Best States and Healthiest Communities projects.
• Best Countries Overall Rankings 2021
- Canada
- Japan
- Germany
- Switzerland
- Australia
- United States
- New Zealand
- United Kingdom
- Sweden
- Netherlands
- France
- Denmark
- Norway
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Italy
- China
- Finland
- Spain
- Belgium
- Austria
- United Arab Emirates
- Ireland
- Russia
- India
- Brazil
- Greece
- Thailand
- Portugal
- Israel
- Mexico
- Qatar
- Egypt
- Turkey
- Saudi Arabia
- Malaysia
- Indonesia
- Morocco
- Costa Rica
- Vietnam
- South Africa
- Argentina
- Poland
- Philippines
- Czechia
- Croatia
- Sri Lanka
- Hungary
- Chile
- Peru
- Panama
- Dominican Republic
- Kenya
- Colombia
- Cambodia
- Jordan
- Estonia
- Myanmar
- Uruguay
- Slovenia
- Bulgaria
- Slovakia
- Romania
- Latvia
- Tunisia
- Azerbaijan
- Lithuania
- Ecuador
- Guatemala
- Oman
- Ukraine
- Kazakhstan
- Uzbekistan
- Lebanon
- Belarus
- Serbia
- El Salvador
- Iraq
• 10 Most Powerful Countries 2021
- United States
- China
- Russia
- Germany
- United Kingdom
- Japan
- France
- South Korea
- Saudi Arabia
- United Arab Emirates
•10 Most Agile Countries 2021
- United States
- Australia
- Canada
- Germany
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Japan
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Sweden
U.S. News & World Report is a global leader in quality rankings that empower people to make better, more informed decisions about important issues affecting their lives. Founded in 1933, U.S. News has its headquarters in Washington, D.C.
BAV Group is a global consultancy with expertise in consumer insights and brand marketing strategy.
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, founded in 1881, was the first collegiate business school. It is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. With a broad global community and one of the most published business school faculties, Wharton creates its economic and social value worldwide.
Source: U.S. News & World Report
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 8:07 AM | View the original post
April 12, 2021
Parliament of the World's Religions announces Call for Programs 2021
The world’s premier interfaith convening organization invites program proposals for its 8th global gathering focused on the theme “Opening our Hearts to the World: Compassion in Action.”
Photo: Chicago. Image Credit: Cédric Chapuis.
CHICAGO, April 10, 2021 — The Parliament of the World’s Religions, the world’s premier interfaith convening, has invited proposals for programs, presentations, and religious observances at the 2021 Parliament of the World’s Religions, to be held virtually, October 17-18.
Parliament convenings have featured luminaries such as H.H. Dalai Lama, President Nelson Mandela, President Jimmy Carter, Shirin Ebadi, and United Nations Messenger of Peace Dr. Jane Goodall. The 2021 Parliament Call for Programs provides featured presenters the opportunity to join a historical group of select scholars, activists, and religious and spiritual leaders from around the world.
The Call for Programs for the Parliament of the World’s Religions opened on Friday, April 2, inviting people of faith and conscience worldwide to propose a program, presentation, or religious observance for the upcoming 2021 Parliament of the World’s Religions. The program would acknowledge the setbacks and hardships the people around the world are currently facing. It would reflect the critical hope and compassion offered by the world’s faith and spiritual traditions in healing, restoration, and the promise of a just, peaceful and sustainable future.
The theme of the 2021 Parliament is “Opening our Hearts to the World: Compassion in Action.” This theme aims to encompass the global opportunity provided by the virtual nature of the 2021 Parliament and the significant emotional and spiritual needs of people around the world. It acknowledges the critical need for a just and compassionate plan to move the world forward.
The Parliament has invited diverse peoples of faith, conscience, and spirituality to share their hopes and hearts with the global interfaith movement. Interested organizations and individuals can propose panels, lectures, oral presentations, academic papers, seminars, religious & spiritual observances, workshops & training, art, films, virtual tours, music, and performances.
The 2021 Parliament of the World’s Religions provides a cost-effective way to maximize an organization’s exposure to thousands of participants from 80 different countries and over 50 faith and spiritual traditions by serving as a sponsor and exhibitor. Individuals can network with leaders from communities worldwide and connect with thousands of multi-generational, media-savvy, and culturally aware participants, the organization stated.
The Parliament of the World’s Religions’ origins is rooted in the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Its historic first convening created a global platform for the engagement of religions of the east and west. The 1893 World Parliament of Religions marked the first formal gathering of representatives of Eastern and Western spiritual traditions. A variety of spiritual leaders from around the world came to share their perspectives and engage in dialogue. Here, a captivating Hindu monk from India, Swami Vivekananda, addressed 5,000 assembled delegates, greeting them with the words, “Sisters and brothers of America!”
Photo: Vivekananda in Chicago, September 1893. Signed Photograph.
Headquartered in Chicago, Il, USA, the World Religions Parliament is an international NGO affiliated to the United Nations Department of Public Information. It cultivates harmony among the world’s spiritual traditions and fosters their engagement with guiding institutions to achieve a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world.
Source: The Parliament of the World’s Religions, Chicago.
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 3:47 AM | View the original post
April 7, 2021
E-commerce, a Covid Lifeline for Retailers with Additional $900 Billion Spent Online Globally, says Mastercard Recovery Insights.
Infographic: Consumers are increasing their e-commerce footprints, buying from up to 30% more online retailers.
Photo: Retail. Garments Shop. Image Credit: Roman K.
As Covid-19 kept consumers worldwide at home, they purchased nearly everything from groceries to gardening supplies online. According to Mastercard’s latest Recovery Insights report, this amounted to an additional $900 billion spending in retail online around the world in 2020.
For retailers, restaurants, and other businesses large and small, selling online provided a much-needed lifeline as in-person consumer purchasing got disrupted.
Roughly 20-30% of the Covid-related shift to digital globally is expected to be permanent, according to “Mastercard’s Recovery Insights: Commerce E-volution.” The report draws on anonymized and aggregated sales activity in the Mastercard network and proprietary analysis by the Mastercard Economics Institute. The research dives into what this means by country, sector, goods & services, within countries, and across borders.
“While consumers got stuck at home, their dollars traveled far and wide thanks to e-commerce,” says Bricklin Dwyer, Mastercard chief economist and head of the Mastercard Economics Institute. “This has significant implications, with the countries and companies that have prioritized digital continuing to reap the benefits. Our analysis shows that even the smallest businesses see gains when they shift to digital.”
While the digital transformation has been neither universal nor consistent due to geographical, economic, and household differences, the report uncovers several critical overarching trends:
Early digital adopters go into overdrive: Economies that were more digital before the crisis, such as the UK and US, saw more significant gains in the domestic shift to digital. That shift looks more permanent than the countries with a smaller share of e-commerce before the crisis, such as Argentina and Mexico. Asia Pacific, North America, and Europe were the most vital regions in driving e-commerce adoption.
Grocery and discount store digital gains look sticky: Essential retail sectors, which had the smallest digital share before the crisis, saw some of the most significant improvements as consumers adapted. With new consumer habits forming and given the low pre-Covid user base, we anticipate 70-80% of the grocery e-commerce surge to stick around for good.
International e-commerce rose 25-30% during the pandemic: International e-commerce got a boost in sales volume and the number of different countries where shoppers placed orders. With infinitely more choices at their fingertips, consumer spending on international e-commerce grew around 25-30% year over year from March 2020 through February 2021.
Consumers increase their e-commerce footprints, buying from up to 30% more online retailers: Reflecting expanded consumer choice, Mastercard’s analysis shows that consumers worldwide are making purchases at a more significant number of websites and online marketplaces than before. On average, residents in countries like Italy and Saudi Arabia are buying from 33% more online stores, followed closely by Russia and the UK.
Shift to electronic payments accelerated in the US: Even in stores, Covid-19 accelerated the transition to digital—with more consumers moving from plunking down cash to touch-free payments. According to Mastercard’s analysis of payment forms at brick-and-mortar retail stores and restaurants, non-cash payments jumped by an additional 2.5 percentage points beyond the ongoing trend. It led to an acceleration of the shift from cash to electronic payments by a full year.
Mastercard launched Recovery Insights last year to help businesses and governments better manage the health, safety, and economic risks presented by Covid-19. The initiative utilizes Mastercard’s analytics and experimentation platforms, its longstanding consulting practice, and unique data-driven insights to deliver relevant and timely tools, innovation, and research.
The report draws on anonymized and aggregated sales activity in the Mastercard network and proprietary analysis by the Mastercard Economics Institute.
Source: Mastercard
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Edited & Posted by the Editor | 6:25 AM | View the original post
April 6, 2021
IMF announces World Economic Outlook April 2021 Forecast
Photo: Chief Economist Gita Gopinath poses before giving the World Economic Outlook during the 2021 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund. April 6, 2021. Washington, DC, United States. IMF Photo/Joshua Roberts.
Washington, DC, April 6, 2021 — The IMF announced an upgrade to global growth in its World Economic Outlook on Tuesday (April 6) in Washington, DC.
IMF has projected that the global economy would grow at 6 percent in 2021, moderating to 4.4 percent in 2022. A significant turnaround from an estimated contraction of -3.3 percent in 2020 when a pandemic hit the world.
“So relative to our January forecast, we are upgrading growth to 6% for 2021 and 4.4% for 2022. It reflects the additional financial support provided in the United States and the vaccination efforts that will strengthen recovery in the second half of this year. It also reflects the continued resilience of economic activity to the pandemic in many parts of the world,” said IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath.
Gopinath stressed that a high degree of uncertainty surrounds the IMF’s projections as the pandemic is yet to be defeated and virus cases are accelerating in many countries.
That’s leading to diverging recoveries both across and within countries, as economies with slower vaccine rollout, more limited policy support, and more reliant on tourism do less well.
“The biggest risk right now is still the pandemic. If there are new virus variants that evade the vaccine, it could lead to a sharp downgrade. But if, on the other hand, there’s the faster rollout of vaccinations, then that could uplift the outlook,” said Gopinath.
She also added that multispeed recoveries could pose financial risks if interest rates in the United States rise further in unexpected ways. It could cause inflated asset valuations to unwind in a disorderly manner, economic conditions to tighten sharply, and recovery prospects to deteriorate, especially for some highly leveraged emerging markets and developing economies.
“The second big risk is to financial conditions. We see multispeed recoveries, and we have seen interest rates go up. If interest rates go up even further in a more disorderly fashion than that could have negative implications for several countries, especially for some highly vulnerable emerging and developing economies,” said Gopinath.
Policymakers will need to continue supporting their economies while dealing with more limited policy space and higher debt levels than before the pandemic, Gopinath added. It requires better-targeted measures to leave room for prolonged support if needed.
“Given that we are not out of the woods, it is crucial for policy support to be continued in this crisis. Of course, countries are dealing with high debt levels, so they’ll have to make sure this support is better targeted and well-tailored to countries’ specific economic conditions, the stage of the recovery they are in, and the structural characteristics of the economy,” she added.
She also urged central banks to keep access to money open in the current environment.
“Monetary policy should also remain accommodative while proactively addressing financial risks of using macroprudential tools,” Gopinath remarked.
Source: IMF
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Edited & Posted by the Editor | 11:25 AM | View the original post
April 5, 2021
MIT Sloan Senior Lecturer Chintan Vaishnav appointed Director of India's Atal Innovation Mission
Photo: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Building. Image credit: Ulrick.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 5, 2021— MIT Sloan School of Management recently announced that Senior Lecturer Chintan Vaishnav was appointed to serve as mission director of India’s Atal Innovation Mission. The Mission, housed at NITI Aayog, is the Government of India’s flagship initiative to create and promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Vaishnav says, “At the highest level, the work of building a culture of innovation is one of engaging creativity in the service of humankind. India is a place of limitless creative potential. I am excited for the opportunity to help harness this potential.”
Over the past six years, Vaishnav has worked and lived in rural to very rural India for a total of 18 months, researching challenges related to agriculture, water, and livelihood. His research has produced solutions such as on-farm soil nutrient management and water quality testing and purification that bring world-class science and technology to underserved communities at an affordable price. His water work has turned into an early-stage startup that enables communities to keep their water safe.
“This experience has taught me how to innovate for the developing world with rigor and relevance. I hope to bring this culture to my new position as mission director,” he says.
A member of the MIT Tata Center for Technology and Design founding team, Vaishnav also designed and taught a graduate-level course on Technology, Design, and Entrepreneurship for Emerging Community. The system has trained 200 graduate students from 18 different MIT departments and has guided a total of 200,000 hours of fieldwork in India, Nepal, and Africa. The work has produced 45 patents, 12 commercial licenses, and 11 startups, some of which he advises.
Vaishnav says, “This experience has taught me how to engage young minds in solving some of our most pressing challenges in a hands-on, action-oriented way. I hope to create similar engagement as mission director.”
Before MIT, Vaishnav worked at Bell Labs, designing innovative products for high-speed networks. This work led to his Ph.D. research on how regulators can balance compliance and innovation as new technologies disrupt the traditionally regulated ones in the Internet space. Since then, Vaishnav has advised the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) at the White House, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). He has also worked with several large communications companies that are members of MIT’s Communications Futures Program.
Vaishnav holds a Master’s degree in Technology and Policy and a Ph.D. in Engineering Systems from MIT. He joined the MIT Sloan faculty as a senior lecturer after finishing his Ph.D. In addition to his degrees from MIT, he holds a BA in Indian Classical Music from Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, India.
“My new assignment speaks directly to MIT Sloan’s Mission of developing leaders who make a positive difference in the world. MIT Sloan has been a global leader in innovation and entrepreneurship, and this opportunity helps take this work to a nation of 1.3 billion people via the Atal Innovation Mission,” says Vaishnav, who will be on a two-year leave from MIT to serve as Mission Director.
Source: MIT Sloan School of Management
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Edited & Posted by the Editor | 12:35 PM | View the original post
March 29, 2021
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay begins.
Photo: The Olympic Torch Relay, Fukushima, JAPAN - March 26, 2021. Image provided by & copyright © 2021 - International Olympic Committee.
Tokyo, March 28, 2021 — The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay started in Fukushima, Japan, on March 25, 2021. It will travel through all of the country’s 47 prefectures over the next 121 days before arriving in Tokyo for the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony on July 23.
The route, which is unchanged from a year ago when the Games got postponed, will see the Olympic flame travel through 859 municipalities, passing within a short distance of most Japanese populations.
The flame’s journey began in the J-Village national football training facility in Naraha, Fukushima, one of several areas badly hit by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. This particular location is befitting Tokyo 2020’s Olympic Torch Relay concept - “Hope Lights Our Way,” reflecting the Olympic flame’s symbolism of hope and peace, which is particularly relevant considering the challenges both within Japan and across the world in recent times.
The honor of becoming the first torchbearer goes to Nadeshiko, Japan, the football team that won the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Their victory played an essential role in uplifting the nation still reeling from the aftermath of the disaster that year.
Over 10,000 torchbearers, hand-selected from over half-a-million applicants, will be responsible for carrying the Olympic flame on its journey across Japan. “Each torchbearer will celebrate the best in each of us - chosen for their ability to overcome adversity. They will be part of a unique Olympic Torch Relay aimed at uniting people around messages of supporting, accepting, and encouraging one another, illustrating how much stronger we are together,” said IOC.
Cherry blossom, a pink gold flower synonymous with Japanese spring, has inspired the torch design. It also embodies Tokyo 2020’s commitment to sustainability. Approximately 30 percent of the torch is made from recycled aluminum used for temporary housing after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Hydrogen, which emits no carbon dioxide when burned, will fuel the torch for selected legs of the Relay. Besides, torchbearers will get outfitted with uniforms made from recycled plastic bottles collected by Olympic Worldwide Partner Coca-Cola.
The Olympic flame first touched down in Japan on March 20, 2020, at Matsushima Airbase in Miyagi, after being lit in Greece at Ancient Olympia. Following the Games’ postponement to 2021, the Olympic flame found a home at Tokyo’s new Olympic Museum. From there, it visited 14 Prefectures and 86 municipalities, welcomed with great enthusiasm by the Japanese public and media wherever it went. The flame received over 62,000 visitors.
Source: International Olympic Committee
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At the Winter Olympics 2018 in PyeongChang, Evgenia Medvedeva performed her Short Program in Figure Skating to Dario Marianelli’s “Dance With Me,” known from the movie “Anna Karenina.”
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 6:43 AM | View the original post
March 26, 2021
WHO, ICAO, ILO, IMO, and IOM issue Joint Statement on prioritization of COVID-19 Vaccination for Seafarers and Aircrew
Photo: Airbus Aircalin A320neo on ferry flight. Image provided by & copyright © AIRBUS.
Photo: Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas in Bar Harbor, Maine. Image Credit: Corey Seeman.
• Joint Statement from International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Labour Organization (ILO), International Maritime Organization (IMO), International Organization for Migration (IOM), and World Health Organization (WHO) •
Geneva, March 25, 2021.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has triggered devastating consequences for human life and the global economy. Maritime and air transport are essential activities that underpin worldwide trade and mobility and are critical to a sustainable socio-economic recovery.
Maritime transport moves More than 80% of global trade by volume. The global economy depends on the world’s 2 million seafarers who operate the global fleet of merchant ships. Travel restrictions imposed during the pandemic have severely impacted the Seafarers. Some 400,000 seafarers are stranded on board commercial vessels, long past their contracts’ expiry. A similar number of seafarers urgently need to join ships to replace them.
Passenger air transport carried about 5.7 billion passengers in 2019, while airfreight represents 35% of the value of goods shipped in all modes combined. According to ICAO personnel statistics, the total number of licensed aviation professionals, including pilots, air traffic controllers, and certified maintenance technicians, was 887,000 in 2019. The application of stringent public health rules to aircrew, including quarantine, has resulted in hindered connectivity, operational complexity, and high cost.
Maritime and air transport rely on seafarers and aircrew. They are vital workers required to travel across borders at all times, resulting in the need for them to present proof of a COVID-19 vaccination as a condition for entry in some countries. It is despite WHO’s recommendation that, at present, governments should not introduce requirements of proof of immunization for international travel as a condition of entry, as there are still critical unknowns regarding the efficacy of vaccination in reducing transmission and limited availability of vaccines. For shipping and air transport to continue to operate safely, governments must facilitate seafarers’ safe cross-border movement. We reiterate our call upon countries that have not done so to designate seafarers and aircrew as crucial workers.
With this statement, our organizations also call on governments to prioritize seafarers and aircrew in their national COVID-19 vaccination programs, together with other essential workers, per the advice from the WHO SAGE Roadmap for prioritizing the use of COVID-19 vaccines in the context of limited supply published in November 2020. Seafarers and aircrew need to be protected through vaccination as soon as possible to facilitate their safe movement across borders. We also call on governments to identify and prepare for the challenges of COVID-19 vaccination of seafarers and aircrew, particularly for seafarers spending long periods away from their home country.
Our organizations fully support the timely development of an internationally harmonized framework for vaccination certificates to facilitate international travel for seafarers and aircrew.
WHO has established a Smart Vaccination Certificate working group. It works to ensure that digitalized versions of vaccine certificates are interoperable. The UN Crisis Management Team for COVID-19, under the leadership of WHO, has recognized that all countries should consider seafarers and aircrew who are required to travel across borders during the pandemic for essential allocation of vaccines.
We invite governments and other stakeholders to bring this joint statement’s contents to the competent authorities’ attention and all parties concerned.
Source: WHO
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Edited & Posted by the Editor | 4:29 AM | View the original post
March 21, 2021
Lakmé Fashion Week (LFW) and Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) present a Joint Fashion Week 16-21 March 2021
Photo: A presentation by Abirr nʼ Nanki on March 20, 2021, at FDCI x Lakmé Fashion Week. Image provided by & copyright © Lakmé Fashion Week.
Photo: Presenting Dia Mirza as the showstopper for ‘The Fusion Edit’ by Taneira Sarees at FDCI x Lakmé Fashion Week. Image provided by & copyright © Lakmé Fashion Week.
Photo: Hina Khan at FDCI x Lakmé Fashion Week. Image provided by & copyright © Lakmé Fashion Week.
Mumbai, March 21, 2021: Combining forces of the powerhouses of fashion & Beauty in India, Lakmé, Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), and RISE Worldwide, presented the Lakmé Fashion Week, 16-21 March 2021.
Lakmé Fashion Week, in partnership with the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), had a schedule comprising the best of curation and designers from Delhi, Mumbai, and across India. FDCI & Lakmé Fashion Week jointly presented the Opening Show on March 16, culminating with the Lakmé Absolute Grand Finale on March 21.
Anamika Khanna opened the fashion week with a virtual showcase jointly presented by FDCI and LFW.
Ace designers Suneet Varma, S&N by Shantanu and Nikhil, Payal Pratap, Samant Chauhan, Geisha Designs by Paras & Shalini, Nitin Bal Chauhan, Siddartha Tytler, Pawan Sachdeva, Nidhi Yasha, Limerick by Abirr n’ Nanki, Nirmooha graced the platform along with a ‘fusion edit’ by Taniera from the House of Tata.
TRESemmé presented a sustainable collection by Ritu Kumar.
FDCI presented Bloni as the Emerging Talent showcase of the season.
INIFD presents Gen Next winners Label Rahul Dasgupta by Rahul Dasgupta and Raffughar by Wajahat Rather.
Showcases included a unique collaboration with ‘PETA’ and a showcase of Peace Silk by ‘Cocccon.’
Six innovative fashion entrepreneurs competed for India’s most significant sustainable fashion award - Circular Design Challenge 3.0 presented by R Elan “Fashion for Earth” in association with United Nations Environment Programme.
Natural Diamond Council launched a global trend report highlighting significant trends around jewelry and accessories.
The event also promoted modeling talent through FDCI’s #GetNoticed Model Hunt.
A non-profit organization, the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), is the apex body of fashion design in India, represented by over 400 members. It promotes, nurtures, and represents the best fashion and design talent in the country, and its prime objective is to propagate the business of fashion.
Lakmé is India’s No.1 cosmetics & beauty services brand. It was also the country’s first cosmetic brand to introduce makeup to Indian women and take pride in being an expert on Indian Beauty for over 50 years.
Ashwath Swaminathan, Head of Innovations at Lakmé, said, “Our association with the Indian fashion industry runs deep as Lakmé has been a critical driver of its growth for the past 20 years. We look forward to this partnership opening up new avenues of growth for all stakeholders. We continue to remain faithful to the pillars of the Lakmé Fashion week as we present the best in Indian fashion & Beauty this season to a global audience.”
Sources: Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), Lakmé Fashion Week.
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Presentation from fashion designer Samant Chauhan
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 11:31 AM | View the original post
