Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 6:00pm
Location: Study Center
Organized By: Maize Pages Student Organizations

Hi all,We are excited to invite you to Ratio Christi Meeting this Thursday 11/14 from 6-7 pm! The question for this week is: "How do Christianity and Buddhism  differ?" Our meeting will be held at the Study Center at 611 1/2 E. William St. Ann Arbor. This is a safe space for inquiring about religion and faith. Your perspectives are valued in fostering a thoughtful understanding of these subjects. All are welcome!! There will be pizza! If you are interested in learning more about us, you can join the Ratio Christi Maize page for updates and discussions: Ratio Christi Maize page. We're also active on Instagram: Ratio Christi Instagram page. We are excited to see you all soon and please feel free to reach out with any questions! Sincerely,Ratio Christi Team ????

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 5:30pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Penny W Stamps School of Art & Design

Fernando Laposse specializes in transforming humble natural materials into refined design pieces. He has worked extensively with overlooked plant fibers such as sisal, loofah, and corn leaves. Laposse’s works are the result of extensive research which culminates in objects of “endemic design” where materials and their historical and cultural ties to a particular location and its people take center stage. He often works with indigenous communities in his native Mexico to create local employment opportunities and raise awareness about the challenges they face in a globalized world.
Laposse’s projects are informative and educational and touch on topics such as sustainability, the loss of biodiversity, community dissolution, migration, and the negative impacts of global trade in local agriculture and food culture. He does so by documenting the issues and announcing possible resolutions through the transformative power of design.
Laposse’s projects have been exhibited in the Triennale di Milano, the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, The Design Museum in London, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the World Economic Forum, among others. His work is held in the permanent collections of the Design Museum Gent, Le centre national des arts plastiques, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Victoria, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. Laposse studied at Central Saint Martins in London as a product designer and currently lives and works in Mexico City.
Presented in partnership with Design Core Detroit. This project was made possible by a grant from the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan.
Series presenting partners: Detroit PBS and PBS Books. Media partner: Michigan Radio.

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 5:00pm
Location:
Organized By: University Career Center

Interested in pursuing a pathway to teaching with KIPP DC? Want to make an impact in Washington, D.C.? We are looking for residents who will have a Bachelor’s degree by June 2025, all majors and career changers are accepted! Sign up to attend a webinar to learn more about the hiring process for the Capital Teaching Residency (CTR) program on Thursday, November 14 from 5:00 - 5:45pm ET. RSVP and we will send you a calendar invite with instructions for how to access the information session.

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 4:00pm
Location: Institute For Social Research
Organized By: Institute for Social Research

Join us for a panel discussion featuring:
Vincent Hutchings, Hanes Walton Jr. Collegiate Professor of Political Science and Afroamerican and African Studies and Research Professor, ISR Center for Political Studies
Mara Ostfeld, Research Associate Professor, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Faculty Associate, ISR Center for Political Studies
Josh Pasek, Professor of Communication and Media and Faculty Associate, ISR Center for Political Studies
Nicholas Valentino, Donald R. Kinder Collegiate Professor of Political Science and Research Professor, ISR Center for Political Studies

Panelists will discuss the outcomes of the 2024 US elections, exploring key trends, voter behavior, and the implications for the future of American politics.

Light refreshments will be served.

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 4:00pm
Location: Hatcher Graduate Library
Organized By: University Library

Talk about books with other book lovers while enjoying free cider and donuts! Whether you have a well-loved book that you would like to share with others, want to discuss different authors, or just want to trade for something new, please join us!

Sponsored by student Jack Lado, as a class project, and U-M Library.

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 4:00pm
Location:
Organized By: University Career Center

Inclusion at RSM Webcast Series: Bridging the gap: Supporting military veterans, active service members and their families in the workplace For active military members, veterans and their families, transitioning into or balancing civilian careers can present challenges and opportunities. This session invites students, activeservice members, veterans and their families to explore how workplaces can be inclusive and supportive of those who serve. We’ll dive into the unique strengths that military experience brings—such as adaptability, leadership and discipline—and discuss practical strategies for navigatingthe transition, building career pathways, and fostering a workplace culture that recognizes and supports military service.  

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 4:00pm
Location: North Quad
Organized By: Figma Learning for User Experience (FLUX)

In this first workshop session, we learn the basics of colors and typography, and by the end you’ll have a useable fully functional styles set up in Figma that you can use in any project.

All FLUX workshops ensure you walk away with something you can use for your own projects.

———
FLUX stands for Figma Learning for User Experience. We are a group of students passionate about user experience design and Figma.

Our mission is to create events and activities that support the learning of Figma and UX for students of all levels of expertise and backgrounds across the University of Michigan.

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 3:00pm
Location: Ford Robotics Building
Organized By: Michigan Robotics

Chair: Prof. Dimitra Panagou

Abstract:
Advances in sensing modalities and computational power have led to the prospect of a widespread deployment of robots in our society. Central to this objective is developing control and navigation stacks that avoid conservatism, presumed to be measured by a performance metric, while being provably and practically safe. A crucial element that must be accounted for is that controllers, which are typically designed for and tuned in laboratory or highly monitored industrial settings for a specific scenario, may experience a drop in performance and lose their safety guarantees when used elsewhere. It is of paramount importance therefore to import robots with the capability to adapt their controllers online to customize responses to a priori untested environments.

In this dissertation, I present (1) tools to adapt any parametric controller using a model-based approach to achieve simultaneous satisfaction of multiple state constraints and enhanced performance; (2) a numerical scheme for predicting future state distributions in systems governed by stochastic dynamics with state-dependent disturbances, which can be utilized in model-predictive approaches; and (3) a method to assist decision-making on dropping (disregarding) constraints when it is not feasible to satisfy all constraints simultaneously.

A significant part of the dissertation also focuses on a specific safety-critical control method - control barrier functions (CBF). The CBF-based controllers have garnered interest in recent years due to their ease of implementation. However, finding a theoretically valid CBF remains a challenge and in practice, they are prone to performance degradation and safety violations, especially when multiple CBFs are imposed together. This dissertation introduces a new notion of CBFs, called Rate-Tunable CBFs, that allows for time-varying parameters in theory and online tuning in practice.

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 3:00pm
Location: Industrial and Operations Engineering Building
Organized By: Industrial & Operations Engineering

About the speaker: Courtney Paquette is an assistant professor at McGill University and a CIFAR Canada AI chair, MILA. She was awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship in Computer Science in 2024. Paquette’s research broadly focuses on designing and analyzing algorithms for large-scale optimization problems, motivated by applications in data science. She is also interested in scaling limits of stochastic learning algorithms. She received her PhD from the mathematics department at the University of Washington (2017), held postdoctoral positions at Lehigh University (2017-2018) and the University of Waterloo (NSF postdoctoral fellowship, 2018-2019), and works 20% as a research scientist at Google DeepMind, Montreal.


Abstract: Given the massive scale of modern ML models, we now only get a single shot to train them effectively. This restricts our ability to test multiple architectures and hyper-parameter configurations. Instead, we need to understand how these models scale, allowing us to experiment with smaller problems and then apply those insights to larger-scale models. In this talk, I will present a framework for analyzing scaling laws in stochastic learning algorithms using a power-law random features model, leveraging high-dimensional probability and random matrix theory. I will then use this scaling law to address the compute-optimal question: How should we choose model size and hyper-parameters to achieve the best possible performance in the most compute-efficient manner?

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 12:30pm
Location: LSA Building
Organized By: Department of Sociology

Fall 2024 Semester Line-Up:

9/19: Lanora Johnson, "Car Accidents & Disability in Rural Kentucky"

10/3: Spencer Allen, "Disparities and Implications of Survey Measurement Error: NSF GRFP Proposal"

10/10: Jane Furey, "The Consequences of Racialized Education Careers"

10/31: Janet Wang, "Overqualification across the life course"

11/14: Davis Daumler, "Changing Marriage Patterns and the Shifting Foundation of Wealth"

11/21: Junchao Tang, "A Mirrored Equalizer? An Assessment of Boarding Institution and STS-based Achievement Gap"

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 12:00pm
Location:
Organized By: University Career Center

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is proud to offer a series for learners in high school, college and beyond! “Before the Snap” gives an insight to professional careers in and around the NFL, while giving the live viewing audience the opportunity to interact with an industry expert.Our special guest is Jim Porter, who currently serves as the President and CEO for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.We will be streaming the program LIVE on the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s YouTube page and will take questions from students across the country throughout the program. To participate, all you will need to do is: - Visit https://www.youtube.com/user/ProFootballHOF at 12:00pm ET on Thursday, November 14, 2024 to view the program. -To ask a question, comment on the post with the following information:*  Name of School (if applicable)*  Location*  Question for Industry ExpertIf youhave any questions, do not hesitate to reach out! You can contact me at 330-588-3558 or by email at Jacob.Ray@ProFootballHOF.com

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 12:00pm
Location: Weiser Hall
Organized By: Center for Japanese Studies

Please note: This lecture will be held in person in room 1010 Weiser Hall and virtually via Zoom. This webinar is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Once you've registered, the joining information will be sent to your email. Register for the Zoom webinar at: https://myumi.ch/RmN4G

The Korean scholar-bureaucrats (yangban) have been drawing public attention among Japanese intellectuals since the beginning of the 20th century. This lecture reviews how Japanese magazines represented yangban, tracing how their image changed from the evil noblemen that kept Korean society stagnant to the graceful embodiers of vanishing authentic Korean culture. Both these images, and even the transition from one to the other, were driven by a Japanese version of orientalism.

Shimpei Cole Ota is a sociocultural anthropologist trained both in Seoul National University (ABD, 2003) and Osaka University (Ph.D., 2007). His basic question focuses on what brings drastic changes to societies and cultures, especially before and after modernization, liberalization, and globalization in South Korea and Korean America.

This lecture is made possible with the generous support of the U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant.

If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us at umcjs@umich.edu. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange.

Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2024 11:00am
Location:
Organized By: University Career Center

Join us to get to know our team and program! Talk with the Residency Program Directors and residents. Sign-up here! Please RSVP by November 5th. We will email you a link to join the virtual open house when the date gets closer. https://monument.health/careers/residencies/rapid-city-hospital-pharmacy-residency/recruiting-events/  Monument Health Rapid City Hospital (RCH) in Rapid City, South Dakota is recruiting three PGY1 pharmacy residents for the 2025-2026 residencyyear. The mission of the Monument Health Rapid City Hospital pharmacy residency program is to develop capable, confident, and independent pharmacists through impactful learning experiences led by preceptors that challenge, inspire, and support residents. For our PGY1 program, we offer experiences in both acute and ambulatory settings. Required rotations include orientation, ambulatory care, critical care, infectious disease, internal medicine, and pediatrics/neonatology and longitudinal drug information, HIV clinic, management, project, and staffing. Electives are available for ambulatory care cardiology, antimicrobial stewardship, cardiology (inpatient), emergency medicine, evening ICU, family medicine ambulatory care, home infusion/home care, internal medicine II, medication safety, nephrology, oncology, psychiatry, specialty pharmacy, and surgical ICU/OR. A teaching certificate as well as leadership certificate are offered. Our site offers PGY2 residency programs specializing in critical care and oncology. Our residency program offers:  Flexible & tailored program for each resident Solid foundation of corerotations & a wide variety of elective rotations Excellent preceptors Elective teaching certificate  Elective leadership certificate Four weeks of project time Opportunities for publication Competitive salary Multiple presentation opportunities Weekly residency meetings Resident-led penicillin skin testing service Private office space for residents Resident staffing every third weekend in both decentralized and centralized locations Financial support to attend the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting, Midwest Pharmacy Residents Conference in Omaha, and SDSHP Annual Meeting as well as SDSHP Resident Conference. PGY2 residency programs in critical care and oncology For more information, please see our website at http://monument.health/pharmacyresidency orcontact Katie Hayes at khayes@monument.health.

Proteomics International Appoints New Director, No Securities Held  TipRanks

The Chicago Transit Board today approved the Chicago Transit Authority’s $2.16 billion operating budget for 2025, a strategic plan designed to maintain current fares, enhance bus and rail services beyond pre-pandemic levels and support continued investments in infrastructure and technology. The budget aims to further elevate the transit experience by prioritizing investments that address what’s most important to our riders, including system security, accessibility, reliability and safety.

Updated dates for the west side of the CTA Track Structure approximately 85ft south of W. Grace Street Work Hours for lead abatement and painting.

This week's interview is with our Clovis Campus and Midweek Connections Director, Chelsey MacAlpine. The Crew interviews Chelsey about her role at The Well, and she and Jayne face off in a little game of Don't Forget the Lyrics. The Crew also discusses their thoughts from the Ephesians Series, Love First Love. Email thespoutpodcast@gmail.com with any feedback or leave a review on iTunes. Like The Well - Spoutcast on Facebook, find us on Twitter: @thespoutcast, or add us on Instagram: @thespoutcast. Check back in with the Spoutcast each week for a new episode or search Spoutcast in iTunes to subscribe to this podcast. This week's music is by The Fray. Speaker: The Spoutcast Team

Fan Dance Chiarograph on Paper by George Tsui is a(n) Limited Edition. The Edition is Limited to Edition of 28 pcs

Red Butterfly Chiarograph on Paper by George Tsui is a(n) Limited Edition. The Edition is Limited to Edition of 28 pcs

The Mask Chiarograph on Paper by George Tsui is a(n) Limited Edition. The Edition is Limited to Edition of 295 pcs

The Red Door Chiarograph on Paper by George Tsui is a(n) Limited Edition. The Edition is Limited to Edition of 295 pcs

Courageous Captains of the Ocean Club by Sally Caldwell Fisher is a(n) Limited Edition. The Edition is Limited to pcs

The Space Development Agency (SDA) on Tuesday said it has awarded Kratos Defense & Security Solutions [KTOS] a potential $116.7 contract to create and operate a missile defense fire control […]

Newly elected Senate Republican leader John Thune (R-S.D.) reiterated his openness on Wednesday to potentially allowing recess appointments to skirt around the traditional confirmation process and quickly install President-elect Trump’s […]

This patent-pending system, available globally, can be integrated into any new or existing setting where UV technology is essential, including HVAC systems, UV curing, printing facilities, and more.

Phoenix Restoration Equipment announces the release of its new, free iPhone application that will instantly calculate the psychometric data essential to restoration professionals. 

The world’s first and leading fiberglass mesh drywall tape brand, FibaTape®, has once again added a new drywall tape to its growing product line.

Munters’s new psychrometric calculation tool, PsychroApp, easily calculates the thermodynamic properties of air from an iPhone or iPod Touch.

EagleView Technologies, the leader in 3D aerial roof measurements, offers a mobile app optimized for your iPad or Tablet.

11/17/2024 - 11:30 AM - Venue: Nature and Wildlife Discovery Center

11/16/2024 - 11:30 AM - Venue: Nature and Wildlife Discovery Center

Japan's former vice minister of finance for international affairs, Masato Kanda was reported with comments on Wednesday ICYMI.

• currency market volatility had increased reflecting recent changes in monetary policies and political situations in major countries
• "There is no change to our stance that we will need to respond appropriately to excess movements on the currency market as excessive foreign exchange volatility is undesirable"

His comments have not slowed the yen decline:

***

Kanda is now a special adviser to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and the finance ministry., said in an interview that currency market volatility had increased reflecting recent changes in monetary policies and political situations in major countries.

• New York Fed's Williams speaking Thursday - Kugler, Barkin also (Powell too!)
• Australian jobs report recap - "remains in relatively solid health"
• Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member Mann is speaking again on Thursday
• People's Bank of China has more work to do to support the yuan
• European Central Bank President Lagarde and VP de Guindos speaking Thursday, Schnabel too
• Federal Reserve Chair Powell is speaking on Thursday
• GBP traders heads up - Bank of England Governor Bailey is speaking late Thursday
• China’s annual production of new energy vehicles surpassed 10 million units on Thursday
• PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 7.1966 (vs. estimate at 7.2326)
• ICYMI: Ex-Mr Yen Kanda said Japan will act appropriately against excess FX movements
• AUD/USD little changed after the October employment report showed a steady jobless rate
• Australian October unemployment rate 4.1% (vs. 4.1% expected)
• UBS maintain a US$2900 target for gold
• RBA Bullock says rates are restrictive enough, staying there until confident on inflation
• USD/JPY above 155 - Citi wary of intervention risk
• Investment bank bullish on Fed rate cuts; inflation concerns linger
• Oil - private survey of inventory shows headline crude oil draw vs build expected
• New Zealand data - FPI -0.9% in October (prior +0.5%)
• Forexlive Americas FX news wrap 13 Nov: US CPI comes out as expected. USD continues rise
• Trade ideas thread - Thursday, 14 November, insightful charts, technical analysis, ideas

The continuing US dollar uptrend … continued.

USD/JPY traded, above 156.00, to a high not seen since July. EUR/USD, meanwhile, dropped under 1.0550 to a low not seen in a year. AUD, NZD, GBP, CHF, CAD, yuan all moved lower. As did hapless gold. BTC/USD dropped back from above US$93.5K, but this thing is a beast, it gets a free pass ;-) .

On the data front the release of note was Australia’s job report for October. Job growth slowed down and the unemployment report steadied at 4.1%. It was a solid report without being spectacular. Slowing wage growth (data released yesterday) and a steady job market leaves the Reserve Bank of Australia to focus on bringing inflation down. RBA Governor Bullock spoke during the session. Bullock was not dovish, signalling that rates are restrictive enough but will not be coming down imminently.

The People’s Bank of China once again set the USD/CNY reference rate weaker (stronger for CNY) than estimates indicated.

Noting this, report comes from Japan media (Sankei) via Reuters:

• Japanese government to compile a supplementary budget of about 13.5 trillion yen ($87 billion)
• to fund a stimulus package to help low-income households and offset rising prices
• government would provide 30,000 yen to low-income households that are exempt from residential taxes and 20,000 yen per child for households with families

That makes it a congressional red sweep and the question now is just how much of a majority will they command in the House? The latest NYT projections here show Republicans do have the needed 218 seats claimed for a majority. However, there are still 9 seats yet to be called.

There are some seats such as Iowa 1 and California 45, which are toss ups, that could go to a recount and take a longer time to settle due to the current margins. For some context, here is a list of the more competitive districts as a reference.

But even if you give those two to the Democrats, Republicans will at least snag Alaska 1 to end with 219 seats. That is the bare minimum that they should win with when all is said and done.

The data is here from earlier:

• Australian October unemployment rate 4.1% (vs. 4.1% expected)
• AUD/USD little changed after the October employment report showed a steady jobless rate
  • (ps. AUD/USD has slid a little since this post, broadly stronger USD the culprit)

Westpac with the recap, in brief:

Australian labour market remains in relatively solid health

• employment growth slowing broadly in line with population growth
• average hours holding steady
• few signs that labour demand is capitulating to an extent that warrants concern
• labour market conditions remain somewhat tight ... this is not translating to stronger wage inflation pressures
• On balance, today’s update will see the RBA continue to remain focused on the dynamics around underlying inflation.

***

Speaking of the RBA, we heard from Bullock earlier, not dovish:

• RBA Bullock says rates are restrictive enough, staying there until confident on inflation

***

AUD/USD update:

Non policy-related comments.

For more details please see attached the Request for pre-qualification.

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Twenty-five lecturers from law faculties at fifteen universities from around Ukraine, during a roundtable discussion supported by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator on 13 July 2016 in Kyiv, developed recommendations on teaching human rights within Master of Law university programmes.

The discussions focused on teaching the European Convention on Human Rights and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), with international experts from the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law, the Union University and the ECtHR highlighting ways of ensuring a human rights-based approach to legal education.

Participants exchanged syllabi, research materials and teaching methodologies and agreed to set up a platform to further develop the human rights law curricula. This community of practice will function on a permanent basis with further support from the OSCE Project Co-ordinator and with the participation of leading Ukrainian law schools.

The roundtable discussion was held as part of the Second Annual Inter-University Human Rights School on 11-15 July 2016, which was organized by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine in co-operation with the Lviv and Kyiv Universities.

The School was held as part of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator’s project on safeguarding Human Rights through the courts. The project is being implemented with the financial support of the Government of Canada, and follows on from the First Annual Inter-University School dedicated to the Right to Life held in 2015.

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PODGORICA, 12 July  2016 - OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier concluded today a two-day visit to Montenegro, marking the 10th anniversary of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro. “After independence, this country entrusted the OSCE with an important responsibility: to help advance security, democracy, the rule of law and human rights for Montenegrin citizens,” Zannier said.  

During his visit, the Secretary General met with President Filip Vujanovic, Parliament Speaker Darko Pajovic, Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, Deputy Prime Minister Dusko Markovic and Minister of Interior Goran Danilovic, as well as representatives of civil society.

Zannier commended the Montenegrin authorities for their commitment to undertaking reforms and encouraged further progress, offering OSCE’s continued support in line with national priorities. “The OSCE remains one of the country’s key partners in helping to further develop independent, open and transparent institutions that enjoy wide public trust,” he stated.

Discussing preparations for the parliamentary elections on 16 October, the Secretary General commended the sense of responsibility already demonstrated by political parties in overcoming the recent political crisis through a broad political agreement adopted last April, which was important, above all, for the Montenegrin people.

“Political leaders managed to successfully bridge their differences by reaching a compromise, one that aims to serve the public interest,” said Zannier. “Now we need to see this agreement implemented in full, and in good faith.”

During his meetings, the Secretary General stated that the parliamentary elections will be an important test for the country, adding that the Mission to Montenegro is providing technical assistance to the State Election Commission until the end of 2016. “All actors involved in the preparation of elections should work together as closely as possible in line with their responsibilities as set out in the law. This is vital for having a credible election,” Zannier concluded.

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ISSYK-KUL, Kyrgyzstan, 8 July 2016 – A five-day training course supported by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek on a risk-oriented approach in supervising activities related to anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism concluded today in Bosteri village, in the Issyk-Kul region.

The aim of the workshop, which was organized by the State Financial Intelligence Service under the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic (SFIS) in partnership with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was to update the relevant State agencies and financial institutions on the practical aspects of a risks-oriented approach in their work. Some 46 officials from law enforcement agencies, supervisory agencies and financial institutions took part.

“A risks-oriented approach is the process which allows the countries to identify, assess and understand risks to effectively combat money laundering and financing of terrorism,” said Nana Baramidze, Senior Economic and Environmental Officer at the OSCE Centre. “The OSCE Centre in Bishkek fully supports the efforts of the Kyrgyz Government in its attempt to establish effective systems to counter money laundering and the financing of terrorism.”

Chyngyz Kenenbayev, Head of the Organizational and Legal department of the SFIS, said: “We are holding this educational seminar to train representatives of national authorities and the private sector so that we can successfully pass the second round of the evaluation by the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG). In order to fulfil international obligations under the EAG, the Kyrgyz Republic is to conduct a mutual assessment of its anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism system. From 28 November to 9 December 2016, a visiting mission of EAG evaluators will conduct this assessment within the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) initiative."

The training course, which was conducted by two IMF experts and three SFIS officials, was part of the OSCE assistance to the Kyrgyz Government in preparing for the second round of the FATF evaluation.

VIENNA / WARSAW, 29 July2016 – To combat human trafficking,  a comprehensive, co-ordinated and victim-centred approach that includes creating opportunities for regular and safe migration, as well as protecting the human rights of migrants, is urgently needed by all state actors, civil society and multilateral organizations, said senior OSCE officials today ahead of World Anti-Trafficking Day on 30 July.

Multiple and complex security challenges such as armed conflict, the spread of violent extremism and radicalization leading to terrorism and climate change, have recently pushed millions of people into mass, mixed migration flows throughout the OSCE region, putting an increasing number of  them at risk of being trafficked.

OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier emphasized that “effective and early identification of potential victims and the fight against the impunity of perpetrators need to be at the core of any resilient security governance strategy. This is particularly important within the context of mixed migration flows, which expose already vulnerable individuals to trafficking syndicates.”   

“Human trafficking is a grave violation of the human rights of its victims – human beings who are exploited, most often for profit,” said Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). “A victim-centred approach, placing the protection of all human rights at the heart of efforts to prevent and end trafficking, is essential if we are to ensure that anti-trafficking measures do not further threaten the safety, dignity and rights of those we are responsible to help and protect.”

OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Madina Jarbussynova stressed that crisis situations are placing strenuous challenges on already vulnerable groups within and around the OSCE region. “As we join the efforts of the United Nations on this World Day against Trafficking in Persons to raise awareness and promote the protection of rights and dignity of all, any protective measures should first and foremost be conducted in the best interest of potential victims, especially amongst irregular migrants, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons and unaccompanied minors.” Focusing on the complex nexus between trafficking and conflict situations, Ambassador Jarbussynova will on Monday start a week-long official visit to Ukraine to raise awareness of human trafficking threats.  

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GENEVA / VIENNA, 28 July 2016 – Two top holders of media freedom mandates of the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) today condemned the ongoing crackdown on journalists and the media launched by Turkish Government in the wake of the attempted coup.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, and the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, expressed alarm at recent measures adopted by the Turkish authorities. Dozens of journalists have been reportedly arrested and a large number of media outlets closed in the past twenty-four hours.

“The simultaneous arrests of independent journalists and shutdowns of print and broadcast media strike a major blow against public debate and government accountability,” the experts warned. “We strongly urge the Turkish authorities to reconsider these decisions and confirm their obligations to media freedom.”

Reports indicate that the Government ordered the closure of three news agencies, 16 TV channels, 23 radio channels, 45 papers and 15 magazines. Since the attempted coup, authorities have issued arrest warrants against 89 journalists and have already arrested several of them, blocked access to more than 20 news websites, revoked the licenses of 29 publishing houses, and cancelled a number of press accreditations.

Numerous academic institutions, schools, civil society organizations were also ordered to close down by decrees issued after the adoption of the “Statutory Decree Regarding Measures to be Taken Within Scope of State of Emergency and Regulation of Certain Institutes and Institutions” on 23 July.

“It is quite clear that this wave of restrictions against media groups does not meet the basic international standards concerning restrictive measures even in times of emergency,” Mijatović said. “The disregard for any assurance of due process is flagrant and only contributes to the extreme levels of insecurity affecting all those working to inform people of the ongoing crisis in the country.”

“The attempted coup cannot justify such a broad attack against almost all voices, not just critical ones but analytic and journalistic,” Kaye said. “The widespread and abrupt nature of the measures, lacking even the basic elements of due process, is shocking and unprecedented in recent times in Turkey.”

“The Government’s purging of personnel and institutions of what it perceives as being dissenting and critical voices, solely on the basis of allegations of membership in the Gülen movement, clearly violates standards of international human rights law,” he noted.

Both experts expressed their continued willingness to discuss their concerns with Turkish authorities. UN Special Rapporteur Kaye will be visiting Turkey on an official visit in November, at the invitation of the Government. OSCE Representative Mijatović reiterated her Office’s assistance in improving media freedom, including a visit to the country. 

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media observes media developments in all 57 OSCE participating States. She provides early warning on violations of freedom of expression and media freedom and promotes full compliance with OSCE media freedom commitments. Learn more at www.osce.org/fom, Twitter: @OSCE_RFoM and on www.facebook.com/osce.rfom.  

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OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) Astrid Thors visited Moldova from 23 to 25 May 2016 to discuss issues including the draft integration strategy developed with HCNM’s assistance to the Bureau for Interethnic Relations, relations between Chisinau and the autonomous territorial unit of Gagauzia, and the education of national minorities. The High Commissioner also visited Tiraspol.

In Chisinau, the High Commissioner discussed the draft integration strategy with Prime Minister Pavel Filip and other interlocutors and encouraged the Government to fulfil without delay its commitment to adopt the strategy. “Adoption of the integration strategy will underscore the Government’s commitment to promoting an inclusive, diverse society,” said Thors. “Even more important will be the strategy’s implementation. I am ready to assist the Bureau for Interethnic Relations in this process.”

The High Commissioner praised the parliamentary decision in November 2015 to establish a permanent joint working group between the Moldovan Parliament and the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia. She discussed the functioning of the working group with its co-chairs, Member of Parliament Elena Bacalu and People’s Assembly Member Gheorghii Leichu, Speaker of Parliament Adrian Candu, and the Bashkan of Gagauzia Irina Vlah. Thors encouraged the working group to be fully utilized as the primary platform for discussing issues related to the functioning of the autonomy so that questions that may contribute to tensions can be successfully addressed.

With Minister of Education Corina Fusu, the High Commissioner discussed implementation of the Education Code and the effect of education reforms on schools teaching in minority languages, including optimization of the school network and new procedures for the selection of school directors. “Having heard from national minority representatives that education is a primary concern, I encouraged the Minister to ensure that national minorities are consulted when implementing reforms,” she said. The High Commissioner noted with interest the adoption of a new programme to improve teaching of the State language in minority-language schools, remarking that it provides an opportunity to expand multilingual education as a tool for integration.

The High Commissioner met members of the Council of Ethno-Cultural Organizations in Chisinau and with the Transdniestrian de-facto authorities and civil society representatives in Tiraspol. She visited the Theoretical Lyceum Alexandru cel Bun in Bender and learned about the practical difficulties the school faces in maintaining its operations as a Moldovan-administered school teaching in the Latin script. Thors welcomed the active efforts of the OSCE Mission to Moldova and the German Chairmanship of the OSCE to find sustainable solutions for the Latin-script schools among other issues as part of the Transdniestrian Settlement Process, and noted the anticipated resumption of talks in the 5+2 format, which she discussed with Deputy Prime Minister on Reintegration Gheorghe Balan and Transdniestrian Chief Negotiator Vitaly Ignatiev.

The High Commissioner also met with Deputy Prime Minister on Social Issues Gheorghe Brega, Director General of the Bureau for Interethnic Relations Oleg Babenco, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Lilian Darii, and representatives of civil society and the international community.

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OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) Astrid Thors visited Moldova from 23 to 25 May 2016 to discuss issues including the draft integration strategy developed with HCNM’s assistance to the Bureau for Interethnic Relations, relations between Chisinau and the autonomous territorial unit of Gagauzia, and the education of national minorities. The High Commissioner also visited Tiraspol.

In Chisinau, the High Commissioner discussed the draft integration strategy with Prime Minister Pavel Filip and other interlocutors and encouraged the Government to fulfil without delay its commitment to adopt the strategy. “Adoption of the integration strategy will underscore the Government’s commitment to promoting an inclusive, diverse society,” said Thors. “Even more important will be the strategy’s implementation. I am ready to assist the Bureau for Interethnic Relations in this process.”

The High Commissioner praised the parliamentary decision in November 2015 to establish a permanent joint working group between the Moldovan Parliament and the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia. She discussed the functioning of the working group with its co-chairs, Member of Parliament Elena Bacalu and People’s Assembly Member Gheorghii Leichu, Speaker of Parliament Adrian Candu, and the Bashkan of Gagauzia Irina Vlah. Thors encouraged the working group to be fully utilized as the primary platform for discussing issues related to the functioning of the autonomy so that questions that may contribute to tensions can be successfully addressed.

With Minister of Education Corina Fusu, the High Commissioner discussed implementation of the Education Code and the effect of education reforms on schools teaching in minority languages, including optimization of the school network and new procedures for the selection of school directors. “Having heard from national minority representatives that education is a primary concern, I encouraged the Minister to ensure that national minorities are consulted when implementing reforms,” she said. The High Commissioner noted with interest the adoption of a new programme to improve teaching of the State language in minority-language schools, remarking that it provides an opportunity to expand multilingual education as a tool for integration.

The High Commissioner met members of the Council of Ethno-Cultural Organizations in Chisinau and with the Transdniestrian de-facto authorities and civil society representatives in Tiraspol. She visited the Theoretical Lyceum Alexandru cel Bun in Bender and learned about the practical difficulties the school faces in maintaining its operations as a Moldovan-administered school teaching in the Latin script. Thors welcomed the active efforts of the OSCE Mission to Moldova and the German Chairmanship of the OSCE to find sustainable solutions for the Latin-script schools among other issues as part of the Transdniestrian Settlement Process, and noted the anticipated resumption of talks in the 5+2 format, which she discussed with Deputy Prime Minister on Reintegration Gheorghe Balan and Transdniestrian Chief Negotiator Vitaly Ignatiev.

The High Commissioner also met with Deputy Prime Minister on Social Issues Gheorghe Brega, Director General of the Bureau for Interethnic Relations Oleg Babenco, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Lilian Darii, and representatives of civil society and the international community.

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• OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities holds fifth regional summer school on multilingual and multicultural education in Central Asia
• Language rights, participation, security and access to justice fundamental to welfare of communities in Kosovo, says High Commissioner Thors
• High Commissioner Thors, in her OSCE Permanent Council address, discusses country engagement and highlights the increase in hate speech targeting national minorities

Just saw this in-store near the checkouts when picking up something else. Seems like good price, may be available in other stores as well. Bought one, not sure where I will be using it yet but can figure that out later!

Stock checker report

Blockbuster Education deal now available on the standard store plus cash back eligible
Quality OLED display, Radeon 780M for light gaming and large battery
Lenovo specs do not confirm whether chassis is full aluminium or if this particular variant has the PC-ABS bottom

To get the deal specs/price, tick the following options in the builder:

4 Cell Li-Polymer 76Wh +$10

83DDCTO1WWAU2

AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS (8C / 16T, 3.8 / 5.1GHz, 8MB L2 / 16MB L3), 45W TDP
32GB LPDDR5x-6400MHz (Soldered), dual-channel, not upgradable
Integrated AMD Radeon 780M Graphics
512GB SSD M.2 2242 PCIe 4.0x4 NVMe TLC
16" 2K (2048x1280), OLED, 400nits, Glossy, 100% DCI-P3, 120Hz, TÜV Low Blue Light (Hardware), DisplayHDR True Black 500

Supports up to 4 independent displays (native display and 3 external monitors via HDMI and USB-C)
HDMI supports up to 1920x1080@60Hz
USB-C supports up to 3840x2160@60Hz

2x USB-C (USB 5Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 1), with USB PD 3.0 and DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB-A (USB 5Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 1), Always On, 1x USB-A (USB 5Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 1), 1x HDMI 1.4b, 1x Headphone / microphone combo jack (3.5mm), 1x microSD card reader
Wi-Fi 6E 11ax 2x2 + BT5.1
1080P FHD IR Hybrid with Dual Microphone
4 Cell Li-Polymer 76Wh battery
65W USB-C Slim (3-pin) AC adapter
Grey, English keyboard
Buttonless Mylar surface multi-touch touchpad
Aluminium (Top), Aluminium or PC-ABS (Bottom) case
356 x 251 x 16.9-17.9 mm
1.79-1.82 kg
Windows 11 Home 64
1 Year Onsite warranty

Hi Ozbargainers,

I was watching in amazement as the TravelKon sim card deal clocked over 300+ votes, great deal and also indicative of the number of Ozbargainers thinking about taking off overseas in the next 3 months, so on this note being the ambulance chaser entrepreneur that I am, I thought - what a great time for a deal on Diarrhoea relief. I reached out to a new supplier and asked for a deal so I could offer an ATL on diarrhoea relief. Nova Pharma came good and after scouring the web I think I can say, this is by FAR the best price for this item delivered anywhere in Oz - At this price, why risk taking off without a box in your hand luggage.

The box says: "Lorrex acts to restore normal bowel function", and we all want that!

Item: 20x Lorrex Liquicaps, Loperamide Hydrochloride 2mg
Link: https://pharmacysavings.com.au/products/travel-essentials-tr…
Price: $3.99
Code: Not required
Exp: End July 2025
Delivery: FREE

I'm going to give a special shout out to a very Shorted dated product, but I know many of you don't mind buying short dated at the right price:

Item: 70x Fexit 180mg, Fexofenadine Hydrochloride
Price: $4.99
Delivery: FREE
Exp: End November 2024
Link: https://pharmacysavings.com.au/products/trust-fexit-180-fexo…

Ozbargains Favourites have again been restocked:

• 100x Hayfexo @ $19.99: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/776153
• 200x Cetirizne 200x Cetirizine @ $19.99: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/834351
• 200x Lorazol, Loratadine 10mg @ $19.99 https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/837337 (RESTOCKED)
• 70x Cetirizine 10mg + 70x Loratadine 10mg + 48x Ibuprofen @ $17.99 https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/873236
• 70x Trust Fexit 180mg + 70x Cetrine or 70x Lorazol @ $19.99: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/858658
• 192x Trust Ibuprofen 200mg, Coated Tablets @ $10.99 now $9.99 https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/844425

These bulk deals are still powering along as well:
140x Cetirizine + 140x Loratadine + 140x Fexofenadine https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/866620

SET-listed developer AP Thailand has launched a new condo brand for the lower-priced segment, featuring fully-furnished units aimed at capturing both real demand and investors seeking rental opportunities, despite a slowdown in this market.