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But the last two governments, led by left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, were able to make little headway in changing the media landscape. That is because the media is dominated by powerful private groups, and there is little public support for implementing a system to regulate TV stations, said Carlos Tiburcio, a former adviser to Lula.
“Brazilian society does not discuss the media much,” and media companies react harshly to any proposed regulation or modification, as if “their rights were being trampled on,” he said.
But, he added, now that private telecoms operators want to get involved in offering pay TV services, the traditional media companies are demanding government intervention.
In the face of “the concentrated power of the private media, the state has to give unequal treatment to the different sectors, in order to bring about some kind of balance,” he said.
The funds have to come from the national budget – in other words, from taxpayer money, said Ivanir Bortot, chief editor of the public Brazilian news agency Agência Brasil, run by the EBC.
Although TV Brasil’s programming reaches 69 countries, its broadcasts do not reach the entire national territory, such as remote scarcely populated places that would never be of interest to the private media.
In the view of Argentine expert Martín Becerra, full national coverage and reaching remote underserved areas is one of the three conditions that public media must meet.
The others are social participation in oversight and programming, and sustainability to ensure continuity, unlike state bodies or policies that can disappear when the government changes.
Creating a public media outlet is a process that requires training of reporters and conditions of “independence and plurality” – two concepts that were repeated by different speakers at the seminar organised by the Paraguayan government Secretariat of Information and Communication for Development (SICOM), along with the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the IPS international news agency.
Models of public television from other continents that were mentioned at the seminar included Japan’s NHK, Britain’s BBC and Televisión Española (TVE), Spain’s most popular TV station.
Other international media networks like Telesur, which was founded in 2005 by Venezuela, Argentina, Cuba and Uruguay, were also discussed at the seminar, which continued the debate launched at a previous gathering in June in Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital.
Nine national agencies, including Venezolana de Noticias (AVN), Cuba’s Prensa Latina, Mexico’s Notimex and Argentina’s Telam, created the Latin American Union of News Agencies (ULAN) in June, seeking synergy to strengthen state and public journalism and news, said Daniel Giarone, manager of international development at Telam.
Also emphasised was the role played by public and community radio stations, like Radio Viva in Paraguay and Radio Pio 12 in Bolivia, and initiatives like the Latin American Association for Radio Education (ALER) and the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC).
As part of the recent study, researchers tried to understand how artificial intelligence can help in the fight against human trafficking.
A group of computational researchers, experts in artificial intelligence (AI) and other members of the technology community are joining forces with policy experts, law enforcement officials, activists and survivors to help put the pieces together.
"Imagine the techniques that Google and Facebook are using to make a profit--understanding people, the way they connect, what their interests are, what they might buy or the activities they engage in," said Dan Lopresti, lead researcher.
"We can apply those same techniques--data mining, text mining, what's called graph mining--AI that's being used for legitimate and really profitable purposes, to track these illicit behaviours," added Lopresti.
The findings were discussed in the Code 8.7: Using Computational Science and AI to End Modern meeting.
Although traffickers have embraced the Internet and social media platforms to recruit potential victims and advertise to customers, according to Lopresti, the same networks provide opportunities for rooting out criminal activity.
As part of the study, Lopresti helped organise a two-day conference at the United Nations in February called Code 8.7: Using Computational Science and AI to End Modern Slavery.
The conference brought together top researchers, policy makers, social scientists, representatives of the tech community and survivors for a deep dive into the topic.
The name Code 8.7 refers to Target 8.7 of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals which seek to end forced labour, modern slavery, and human trafficking by 2030, and the worst forms of child labour by 2025.
For Lopresti, the time is ripe to move beyond our reliance on good--but fortuitous--observations to uncover crimes of human trafficking. It is time, he says, to leverage technology to support trained law enforcement in tackling this complex issue.
"Finding a solution to the problem of human trafficking is not just a technical one. It also involves social policy and politics. As a researcher, if you don't understand this, you could come up with a solution that you think is elegant mathematically but is totally irrelevant in the real world. So that's why we wanted to be in the same room with the social scientists and the policymakers," Lopresti explained.
Since 2015, Jennifer Gentile Long, a graduate of Lehigh and chief executive officer of Aequitas -- a resource for prosecutors working on cases of human trafficking and gender-based violence-- and Lopresti have collaborated on computer-science-based efforts to help AEquitas manage and make use of a large amount of text data in legal documents to support the organization's work in helping prosecutors build stronger cases.
"It was amazing to see experts in all these fields come together and try to coordinate efforts so that people are working toward solutions, not working haphazardly. They are making a true impact on this crime--identifying victims at points where they are missed, providing opportunities to leave and find safety, identifying perpetrators, and looking at policy in a coordinated effort. And it's so great to see Lehigh, in a way, sitting at the head of the table," Long asserted.
During the conference's closing session, survivors of human trafficking shared their stories with attendees.
"It reminded everyone that even though we are talking about information, data, and policy, which all seem abstract, the data is real people. You can't treat a problem like this abstractly," said Lopresti.
"Technology alone can't solve the problem but when we combine it with training efforts to develop highly skilled, trauma-informed investigators and prosecutors, we can enhance victim identification and safety," Long added.
Lopresti, who is an expert in document analysis and pattern recognition, is working with RIIC Director Julia Kocis , prosecutors, law enforcement officials, and other Rossin College computer science and engineering faculty members--Jeffrey D Heflin, Sihong Xie, and Eric PS Baumer--to help overcome the challenges of turning vast amounts of data, primarily from police incident reports, into something useable, despite limited resources.
"If an expert sits down and reads enough of these, he or she will find a common thread--this person is related to this place, which is related to this activity, which is related to this other person. The trouble is, they've got millions of these reports and just don't have enough time to read through them. We're developing natural language techniques, text mining and data mining techniques that are oriented to processing lots of data to identify patterns of behavior that would reflect illegal activities related to human trafficking," Lopresti said.
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper will be presenting the Screen Actors Guild Awards, to the delight of A Star Is Born fans.
The dynamic duo will introduce their film for the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture trophy, as it competes against BlacKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody, Black Panther, and Crazy Rich Asians.
The duo will be repping their hugely popular film at the event, as they’re joined by big names from other hit flicks this year, including Adam Driver, John David Washington, Chadwick Boseman and Angela Bassett.
Meanwhile, Rami Malek will be among those presenting Bohemian Rhapsody, and Henry Golding and Ken Jeong will present their flick Crazy Rich Asians.
The nominees were announced by the iconic Awkwafina and Laverne Cox at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood on Wednesday as the pair revealed that A Star Is Born, BlacKkKlansman and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel are the ones to beat.
However, not everything has been smooth sailing with the awards, which will be hosted by Will And Grace actress Megan Mullally, as they recently blasted the Oscars in an unexpectedly scathing statement.
‘This self-serving intimidation of SAG-AFTRA members is meant to limit their opportunities to be seen and honour the work of their fellow artists throughout the season,’ the statement continued.
The tea is piping hot, guys.
Rejoice, for your holiday saviors are here at last. They are here to bestow upon you their holy light of how to making the best flippin homemades desserts you’ve ever made in your life.
Yotam Ottolenghi is the British-based Israeli restaurateur known for his works like Jerusalem: A Cookbook, a tome that every liberal Jewish resident of Brooklyn is required by law to own. Now, he’s back with Sweet, a deceptively simply-titled book given that completing any of the recipes feels you’re in Snape’s potion class and if you add the porcupine quills while the cauldron is still on fire you’ll break out into painful boils and ruin everything, and your cheesecake will taste terrible.
Ottolenghi’s partner in this endeavor is pastry chef Helen Goh, who is clearly some sort of evil baking genius, taking Ottolenghi’s overly ambitious recipes and adding enough sugar to turn a first-grade classroom into a Lord of the Flies-esque dystopia.
I like baking but am by no means an artist. I can kill it with a simple banana bread, but I’m not one to start piping frosting or melting sauces in a bowl suspended over a different bowl. But I had a copy of Sweet, and so help me, I was going to give it a try, embarking on a journey of late-night meringues, too-much layering, and cutting fresh figs into slices. Figs are very squishy. They don’t slice easily.
First, I decided to start with a cake. My choice was the book’s apple and olive oil cake with maple frosting. The recipe called for vanilla seeds straight from the bean, which I had never purchased in my life. It’s hella expensive, but I figured I couldn’t deviate on the very first recipe, so I dutifully complied. When I tasted the cake batter, I immediately, if grudgingly, noticed the difference from extract.
This recipe included slicing the cake into two layers, putting frosting on the bottom layer, and putting the other half back on top before finishing frosting. But I did it. And people loved it. First recipe, success.
Next, I made pecan snowballs, also known as a Mexican Wedding Cake, which are round cookies made up of mostly sugar, ground nuts, and butter (so. much. butter). They were more difficult than your average dessert, but after the first recipe they were, well, a piece of cake. They were also the closest recipe I tried to something normal— indulgent, easy to grab more than one, and not full of odd flavor combinations or overly unusual construction. Plus, I was able to use some of that pesky leftover vanilla bean.
Finally, after two Sweet recipes under my belt, I was ready. The recipe from the cover of the book is a cinnamon pavlova with praline cream topped with figs and honeyed nuts. I had never had a pavlova, let alone made one, but Yotam and Helen had called upon me, and it was my sacred duty to answer.
Was I instructed to make the base of the pavlova, a cake-sized meringue, by pouring batter onto a circle you have pencilled onto a piece of parchment paper and attempt to sculpt it into a nest? You betcha. Did I have to make the praline cream from scratch? Yeah, what do you think this is, Easy-Bake Oven?
It literally took me days to make this thing. Night one was making the meringue, which took hours to bake and hours to set. Then came melting the chocolate, brushing it on the meringue, candying the almonds and grinding them to make the praline, combining that with mascarpone and heavy cream, slicing figs, and garnishing the whole thing with honey and more almonds when it was done. It didn’t look like the cover of the book when it was done, but it didn’t look like a Pinterest Fail either. I was a bit naughty by assembling it a few hours before serving, despite the book’s protestations, but finally, I was able to serve it.
Was it worth it? My guests thought the pavlova was great, and I briefly developed the power to enter people’s dreams as reward for pleasing my baking masters. So yeah, all in all a success.
Effort justification is the idea that if you put a lot of energy into accomplishing something, you’ll convince yourself that the reward was great, like people who insist they loved Infinite Jest. And so I really, really needed these desserts to be brilliant, thinking of when I dropped the vial of vanilla beans and got glass all over my floor, or was up at 1 in the morning waiting for the meringue to finish baking so I could turn off the oven and go to sleep. And the desserts were brilliant, but I wish Sweet included a chapter on emotional support for the whole process.
To make a dessert from this book is to become emotionally invested in a food you prepare in a way that might seem unhealthy. If someone says no thank you when you offer them a portion, remind yourself that it doesn’t make them simple fools with no eye for art who are letting a gift from Ottolenghi and Goh (for which you are the divine conduit) slip through their unworthy fingers. It’s probably not personal.
Plus, expect these desserts to stretch much further than they appear. They’re so rich and complex that they have an amazing ability to make even the lustiest dessert-fiend have a portion or two and decline to keep going. It’s not like making brownies that you shovel into your mouth one after the other to maximize the chocolatiness. There’s subtlety and intensity that we’re not used to as a culture where we can buy Entenmann’s around the corner (not to diss my doughnut fave).
I didn’t make any of the explicitly Jewish or Israeli recipes in the book, though there are plenty, from rugelach, to tahini and halva brownies, to sufganiyot (just in time for Chanukah!). But I’m also far from done with this cookbook that I probably shouldn’t have let into my home, with its corrupting, sugary influence. I’m currently using pantry foods to save the tin cans for a sweet bread recipe in the book which you bake straight into a can.
In short, you can get the book for a loved one as a Chanukah present, but be aware that it’s a somewhat sadistic act. You can get it for yourself, but know that once you have it, you can’t do it halfway. And it may be a lonely road to get others to recognize what you’ve experienced. Surely when Moses saw the back of God he felt alienated from his fellow men. But that is the price to pay to know that you’ve transcended normal dessert, perhaps forever.
The concept of turning our smartphones into our wallets has been around for awhile now. Ever since we discovered the mass amount of potential we hold in our pockets, the NFC wheels have been churning. A recent report from Juniper Research says the global NFC mobile payment transactions will reach approximately $50 billion by 2014, and the next few years are supposed to be major turning points. The technology and consumer interest are there, as are some baby steps in the right direction – but this doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy.
For starters, there are some roadblocks to consider. Researchers Andreas Schaller and Thomas J.P. Wiechert have studied NFC and its place in retail businesses in Europe, and found that while consumer response to the technology has been generally positive there are many different sectors that need to get on board before phones universally have this capability. Manufacturers can continue to produce phones with NFC chips all they want, but there won’t be any mass adoption until retailers have compatible registers and mobile carriers and credit card companies come to agreements regarding transaction payments.
So when will we see mobile payments become commonplace? “If you’d asked me two or three years ago I would have been sure that we’d already be there by now,” Wiechert laughs. “It’s all going very slow because it’s the old chicken and the egg problem. You need to have terminals in the stores in order for credit card companies and mobile phone companies to issue the cards in the phones…on the other side you need to have the cards in the phones.” The factors in the mobile payments market are so fragmented that it’s been difficult to concretely pin down what steps need to be taken to find a solution – and more importantly, in what order.
Despite any sluggishness, it seems like interest might be on the up – at least in the UK. Vodafone, O2, Orange, and T-Mobile announced today they would be partnering to bring NFC payments to their customers. According to the Guardian, “Consumers will be able to pay for sandwiches, drinks, and train tickets by placing their phones close to a reader similar to the Oyster card system on the London Underground.” The report also acknowledges that while NFC has been widely adopted in Japan and South Korea, Europe has struggled to seriously implement the system.
This progress isn’t limited to Europe only. Google Wallet was announced last month, giving us compatible Android phones (currently only the the Nexus S) with the capability. At the moment, MasterCard is the only credit card company working with Google on the service, as are approximately 120,000 merchant locations.
It’s too early to decide how successful Google’s venture will be, but some are ready to call it a flop. Launching with only MasterCard’s partnership is too limiting, security concerns haven’t been properly addressed, all the big name mobile networks aren’t on board. “Google is not currently in the position to bring the technology into the market at this time. They are getting more into the mobile market with the Android OS but to do that stuff you need to have people that have phones with the NFC module in their hands. And the key players to do that are the mobile network operators. They’re the ones basically choosing what phones you buy – you usually buy them from your operator – and for them to do that they need to see that they’re benefitting from it. So what they want is to make money from each payment or from each credit card that is delivered to your phone,” Wiechert admits.
“But Google is a company that has more money than God. When they do stuff it doesn’t have to pay off right away. They have the financial stamina to try stuff that they think is cool that’s going to be big in 10 years and they can just do it,” he adds.
It is totally unacceptable for PWC to be appointed as the body to investigate the cost overruns at the National Children’s’ Hospital. The government is paying out nearly half a million euro to PWC to find out why there was a cost overrun at the National Children’s Hospital. PWC has been the recipient of major contracts from both the HSE and the construction company involved, BAM.
Health Minister Simon Harris recently awarded PWC a €1.8m contract to examine the restructuring of the HSE.
This is despite the fact that a previous PWC report on medical cards was criticised by the Comptroller and Auditor General as faulty. That particular report had claimed that by culling ‘ineligible beneficiaries’ from the medical card system, savings of between €65m and €210m could be made.
PWC has been picking up easy money from BAM, the main construction company involved in building the National Children’s’ Hospital. For the past nine years, it has earned €4m a year as its auditors.
By pure coincidence, PWC was also the firm that recommended that water charges be introduced. While proposing new taxes on the wider population, PWC was simultaneously the main ‘tax planner’ to global companies who were using Ireland as a tax dodging haven. PWC should be removed as investigators into cost overruns at the National Children’s Hospital.
DIP offers over 20 million sq ft of office space, 18 showrooms and a large space for staff accommodation, plus a wide array of warehousing, storage, and commercial facilities.
Dubai Investments Park has mandated five joint lead managers and bookrunners to arrange a series of fixed income investor meetings ahead of a planned five-year fixed rate sukuk.
The integrated commercial, industrial and residential community, wholly owned subsidiary of Dubai Investments, has mandated Citi, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank and HSBC.
DIP said in a statement that the meetings will take place in Singapore, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and London, commencing on Friday, ahead of the planned five-year fixed rate US dollar denominated senior unsecured Reg S only sukuk.
Al Mal Capital is acting as financial advisor on the transaction, it added.
DIP offers over 20 million sq ft of office space, 18 showrooms and a large space for staff accommodation, plus a wide array of warehousing, storage, and commercial facilities for small-, medium-, and large-sized enterprises.
It also has over 12,000 residential units and 120,000 residents as well as a university, six schools and five operational hotels.
It was announced earlier this week that total built-up warehouse, office and commercial unit space sub-leased at Dubai Investments Park passed the 5 million sq ft mark in 2018.
President Mnangagwa rigged the 30 July 2018 elections cocksure his "Zimbabwe is open for business!" clarion call would deliver economic recover. Sadly, that has no happened, the flood of investors has not materialised and it is his fault.
The economic recovery was founded on the premise that the November 2017 coup did not just remove Zimbabwe's long serving tyrant Robert Mugabe from office, it also transformed the country into a new democratic Zimbabwe. Mnangagwa promised to hold free, fair and credible elections, proof of the "new dispensation" transformation.
And so by rigging the elections, he proved Zimbabwe was still a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. Of course, investors shied away for Zimbabwe because they know it is impossible to do business in pariah state, they know that from all the Mugabe years.
The economic turmoil and hardship brought about by serious shortages of foreign currency, fuel, food, medicine, etc. have all underlined one fundamental fact: Zanu PF rigged the elections but wrecked all hope of any meaningful economic recovery.
The truth is slowly dawning on Mnangagwa that his dream of bringing economic prosperity after the 37 years of economic ruin under Mugabe is but a pipe dream! The reality is the economic is sinking even deeper into the morass that Mugabe created.
The worsening economic situation is making Zimbabwe economically and socially more and more unstable. People are not going to tolerate these forex, medicine, etc. shortages forever; they will be street protests or worse!
What Mnangagwa should do is accept that the token changes of removing Mugabe were not enough to end Zimbabwe's pariah state status. And, above all accept, that as long as the country remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs there will be no meaningful economic recovery. Accepting those political and economic realities is essential because only then is the solution obvious - that Zanu PF must step down to allow the holding of free and fair elections.
Instead of acknowledging the futility of his "new dispensation" as the answer to Zimbabwe's serious economic situation, Mnangagwa is burying his head in the sand and hanging on to power at all cost. He, just like Mugabe before him, is resorting propaganda and violence to silence his critics and the victims of his failed leadership.
"At a moment when the economy is facing temporary economic challenges, the opposition has decided to politicise the situation, blaming Government for failing to redress these challenges," Anesu Pedzisai wrote in Bulawayo24.
"It is on the same background that MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has tried to ride on these mischievous shenanigans, promising pies in the air to citizens. It also does not come as much of a surprise that Chamisa is desperately trying to remain relevant, he has been at the forefront of preaching provocative and inflammatory statements, urging people to prepare to join him and take to the streets, at some point, and unseat a duly elected Government."
Of course, Zanu PF is to blame for the country's economic meltdown. It is the one that established and retained this de facto one-party state, the epitome of the pariah state curse, and landed the nation in this hell-on-earth. By rigging the recent elections, Mnangagwa has reaffirmed the party's dictatorial strangle hold on the nation. It is therefore nonsensical that Zanu PF should be holding on to the dictatorial powers of a pariah state but refuse to accept the consequences of Zimbabwe being a pariah state!
Zimbabwe's economic situation with its nauseatingly high unemployment rate of 90% and 75% of the population already living on US$1.00 or less a day is socially, politically and morally unsustainable. What is clear is that Zanu PF will use brute force to silence all demands for change.
The regime is using misguided MDC statements to justify repression. The people will overcome their fear of the brutality of Zanu PF to demand change because they can no longer stand the brutality brought upon them by the economic meltdown and chronic shortages of everything.
Pedzisai, people are dying already of hunger and disease brought upon them by the economic meltdown. People know that as long as Zanu PF remains in power their suffering and deaths will continue. Zanu PF is pushing the nation over the edge into the abyss.
The people have a simple choice facing up the Zanu PF regime and demand meaningful change or continue to die like damn sheep being driven over the cliff by a foolish dog. Common sense will prevail!
As for the "unseat a duly elected Government"; who elected Mnangagwa and this junta? The regime denied 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, failed to produce a verified voters' roll, there was no free public media and the election observers, not even ZEC, could verify and trace the declared election result.
ZEC's task was to cross check the tally from the 11 000 or so V11 figures from each of polling stations. Some of the V11 forms were never released although this is a legal requirement. After four days of messing around ZEC finally declared Mnangagwa the winner but failed to show were their figures came from. Indeed, ZEC managed to come up with three different results and neither of which could be verified or traced!
There is no question that Zanu PF rigged the July 2018 elections and thus confirmed the country's status as pariah state. There is no denying that whilst the pariah state curse hangs over the nation's head there is no hope of economic recovery. After 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule that have left 75% of our people living in abject poverty; there is a crying need for change. The Zanu PF dictatorship must be dismantled.
President Mnangagwa and his junta regime rigged the elections and are, per se, illegitimate. The regime must step down to allow the nation to implement the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections.
If Zanu PF is allowed to stay in power until 2023, the party will rig those elections too! The only sure way to make sure Zanu PF does not rig another election is for the regime to step down now so the nation can finally implement the democratic reforms that both Zanu PF and MDC failed to implement during the 2008 GNU.
After 38 years of blundering from pillar to post, we have a chance of resetting our dysfunctional political system. The question is do we have the vision to see the opportunity and the resolve to seize it?
Verizon Wireless is out to quash FOMO with a new rewards scheme. But there’s a catch.
The telecom giant’s Verizon Up program promises everything from Uber rides and pumpkin spice lattes to front-row concert tickets and device upgrades.
All you have to do is let Verizon track your every mobile move.
The refreshingly straightforward ploy requires a standard monthly plan, access to the My Verizon app, and enrollment in the Verizon Selects advertising program.

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