Chinese authorities have requested that foreign embassies in the capital avoid displaying "politicized propaganda", prompting concerns over the right to free speech. While no specific instances were cited in connection with the request, diplomats have acknowledged the move is a response to displays of support for Ukraine. Russia's actions in Ukrainehave failed to garner international support and by stopping such displays, China is cause for concern. However, foreign governments have so far shown little inclination to abide by the request.
The United States maintained a perfect record at the ice hockey world championship by beating Austria 4-1 on Wednesday for a fourth straight victory in the group stage. Lane Hutson and Nick Perbix contributed a goal and an assist each while Rocco Grimaldi and Carter Mazur also scored for the Americans, who moved four points clear atop Group A. Denmark is second with a game in hand, while Austria stayed on one point in seventh.
Canada's Lawson Crouse tallies twice in win over Kazakhstan at men's hockey worlds
CBC
23-05-17 20:28
Canada dominated Kazakhstan 5-1 to extend their unbeaten run at hockey world championship, with Lawson Crouse scoring twice, helped by Joe Veleno and Sammy Blais' goal and two assists apiece, and MacKenzie Weegar scoring one and assisting one. Canada moves two points ahead of Switzerland in Group B, who maintain a perfect record and are yet to concede a goal. U.S. also maintained their unbeaten run with a 4-1 victory against Austria. Meanwhile, Finland and Latvia emerged victorious against France and Norway respectively.
Private airline VistaJet has a $4.4bn debt pile, according to Dan McCrum's deep dive, which looks at the firm's unusual relationship with Bombardier and its founder's aircraft trading activity. Thomas Flohr has spent 19 years building VistaJet into an exclusive club for the wealthy traveller, selling "Jet Cards" that enable passengers to travel in one of its 18 silver Global 7500 business jets. This compares with market leader NetJets which sells fractional ownership. Despite being loss-making, VistaJet's strategy has been supported by leasing firms, bond markets, and the Canadian government as lenders. In addition, the firm was handed a payday by its owner, Flohr. In 2015, he acted as a middleman between Bombardier and VistaJet, ordering 18 Global 7500 jets from his own company, and effectively earning a fee for broker services. Bondholders' documents reveal the group paid $1.1bn to Bombardier and about $224m to Flohr. Despite being warned in EY's opinion on the 2022 accounts, that "there may exist a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt on the group's ability to continue as a going concern", Flohr told the FT that his stakeholders were happy with VistaJet's financial performance.
Air raid alerts have sounded throughout Ukraine while the military has warned of potential missile strikes due to the ongoing conflict with Russia. Several explosions have been reported in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and neighbouring cities, including Darnytskyi and Dnipro. Warning to take cover have been issued across much of the country, including central and the southern regions. Heavy fighting and territorial gains by the Ukrainian army in Bakhmut have been reported, but the mercenary group Wagner, spearheading the assault, has not reported ammunition shortages, according to Serhiy Cherevatyi, a Ukrainian military spokesperson. The Russian brigade group has continued to fire all available weapons as it seeks to gain control of Bakhmut. Paul Kolbe, the Executive Director of the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence has stated that Moscow’s ultimate aim remains annexing the Donbas region of Ukraine, not war by attrition.
English schoolchildren have overtaken Finland in international literacy rankings, according to a report by The Times. Students aged nine and 10 surpassed Finland's reading scores, while the performance of children in most other European countries and the US plummeted as a result of coronavirus-related educational interruptions. The government's use of "synthetic phonics" teaching - breaking words down into smaller soundable units - is credited with contributing to the success. The method was introduced during the Coalition government in the 2010s, to the dismay of some educationalists, who viewed it as unimaginative.
NATO’s upcoming summit in Vilnius in July will outline large-scale defence plans for the first time since the Cold War. The plans reveal the alliance's strategy on how exactly it would respond to a Russian attack. Marking a dramatic shift from recent years, alliance officials now warn that they must have all defence strategies in place well before conflict may arise or escalate with Moscow. The planning will also assist nations in how to upgrade their military forces and logistics.
As AI changes jobs, Italy is trying to help workers retrain
Washington Post
23-05-18 11:48
Italy will spend $30m to help workers develop digital skills that will better prepare them for automation. While the programme is not solely focused on AI, it will fund companies and non-profits to help workers adopt new technologies, including data science and robotics. The country aims to “adapt the know-how of workers with training on digital and soft skills so that people can do their jobs in a complementary way” to technological advances, according to Martina Lascialfari, head of institutional activities at the Fondo per la Repubblica Digitale (FRD), a fund established to improve digital skills in the country. Italy has a specific need for such skills, with 54% of the population between the ages of 16 and 74 lacking basic digital expertise, compared with an average of 46% in the European Union. The remainder of the $30m fund will be used to help people who are unemployed to develop digital skills that would allow them to enter the job market.
Ireland's foreign minister, Micheál Martin, says there must be "an open and honest" debate on the country's longstanding military neutrality and if Ireland should join NATO. Ahead of the public forum on the matter next month, Martin highlighted the war in Ukraine and modern threats like cybersecurity and attacks on undersea cables which have raised questions about Ireland's security. Ireland's military neutrality is protected by its constitution, however, a forum involving 1,000 citizens, experts, academic, and service personnel will meet between June 22-27 to decide whether the country needs to redefine or challenge its concept of neutrality.
Sweden won their fourth victory at the ice hockey world championship by routing newcomer Hungary 7-1. Jacob de la Rose scored twice for Sweden who are second in Group A with 11 points, one behind the United States. Germany beat Denmark 6-4 for their first victory. In Group B, Switzerland beat Slovakia 4-2 for their fourth win and the top of the group, one point ahead of Canada in second place. Dominik Kubalik led the Czech Republic to a 6-2 victory over newcomer Slovenia with a hat trick and an assist, putting him at the top of the tournament scoring table with six goals.
Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen gets NASCAR ride for Chicago road race
The Toronto Star
23-05-18 23:01
Three-time Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen will take over driving the No. 91 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing in the Cup Series race on the streets of Chicago in July. Van Gisbergen replaces former Formula One world champion Kimi Räikkönen, who finished 27th at Circuit of the Americas in March. Another Formula One world champ, Jenson Button, is planning to run the Chicago race as part of a three-race deal with Rick Ware Racing. Van Gisbergen hopes to expand the team’s global reach by bringing awareness of NASCAR in Australia and New Zealand.
The UK plans to ban imports of Russian copper, aluminium, nickel and diamonds following international pressure to increase sanctions on Russia due to its conflict with Ukraine. The US had already announced that they would increase measures against Russia and other Group of Seven economies are also expected to announce sanctions at the G7 summit in Japan this weekend. Last year the UK imported over $34.6m worth of unwrought aluminium and $28m worth of refined nickel. However, no refined copper was imported from Russia last year or this year.
As Turkish opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu challenges President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the upcoming presidential elections, the outcome will have global repercussions. Erdogan, who has held power for 20 years, has alienated some allies with his authoritarian policies and his increasingly close relations with Russia. Kilicdaroglu has pledged to restore democracy and improve human rights, but some are unsure if he can match Erdogan's skills on the international stage. Turkey has cemented its position as a valuable diplomatic broker since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but its role in Nato and its stalled candidacy for European Union membership continue to complicate its relationship with the West. Both candidates have promised to return as many Syrian refugees as possible if they win the election, but this raises further concerns about the welfare or accommodation of displaced Syrians if Turkey puts a stop to the support offered to refugees.
The United States defeated Denmark 3-0 to maintain their unbeaten record at the ice hockey world championship, with Alex Tuch scoring one goal and adding two assists. The victory earned the US their fifth win out of five games and a place in the quarterfinals, as they lead Group A with 15 points. Elsewhere, the Czech Republic beat Norway 2-0 to go top of Group B and secure a spot in the knockout stage.
U.S. blanks Denmark for 5th straight win at men's hockey worlds
CBC
23-05-20 14:31
The United States beat Denmark 3-0 in the men's ice hockey world championship, remaining unbeaten thanks to five wins from five games. Cutter Gauthier broke the goalless deadlock midway through the final period on a power play, before Alex Tuch and Rocco Grimaldi finished things off. The Americans lead Group A with 15 points and have now secured a spot in the quarterfinals of the competition.
Turks overseas have begun voting in a run-off election between Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Polling suggests that Kilicdaroglu has gained the support of those living in the UK, Southern and Eastern European states, including the Balkans, Finland and Sweden. Turkey has 3.4 million voters overseas, accounting for about 5% of the total electorate, and the votes of more than five million Turkish people resident in Europe may also influence the election. The second round of voting will take place domestically on 28 May.
Mindfulness is growing in popularity in executive education training, with schools using self-awareness and live-in-the-moment techniques to help business leaders adopt more reflective, analytical and collaborative managerial styles. This follows a trend towards encouraging reflection in executive education programmes that is not new. More than 25 years ago, Canadian academic Henry Mintzberg helped launch the International Masters Program for Managers, which focuses on five mindsets, one of which is the "reflective mindset", and emphasises the sharing of other people's management and decision-making styles. As we reported earlier this year, employers in the US are also being more proactive with mindfulness programmes, with more than half of all US employers offering some form of mindfulness training to workers. However, while studies have shown that mindfulness can improve self-esteem and reduce anxiety, some psychologists have warned that people who practice mindfulness may have the opposite effect, becoming anxious or leading to them having panic attacks.
The United States has continued their perfect record at the ice hockey world championship with a 9-0 victory against France, led by Cutter Gauthier's hat trick. The win puts the US at the top of Group A with six wins from six games. Meanwhile, in Group B, Switzerland beat the Czech Republic 4-2 to take the lead with six victories from six games, and Slovakia defeated Slovenia 1-0 to remain in contention for advancing to the knockout stage.
The United States and Europe should shift their defence priorities to address threats in Asia rather than Europe, according to an op-ed in Foreign Affairs. The rise of China and the intensification of the Chinese-U.S. rivalry have increased the risks of combat and the prospect of deterrence failure in Europe or Asia, wrote Emma Ashford, Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson and Stephen Wertheim. The US would gain little by being the primary security provider for European countries who could afford to fund their own defence against Russia. However, many policymakers in Washington believe that any significant US military drawdown from Europe would sever US ties with the continent and the world by validating China and Russia’s self-interested pictures of the US.
The US is not capable of conducting full-scale operations against China and Russia simultaneously, and acts as a primary security provider to European countries that can afford to fund their own defence against Russia. Transferring most of the responsibility for defending Europe to European states themselves would allow the United States to shift to a supporting role, wrote Emma Ashford, Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson and Stephen Wertheim. The European Union had a GDP more than nine times larger than that of Russia in 2021, even its much-maligned military spending is already almost four times greater than Russia’s, and it has roughly three times the population of Russia.
Russia cannot become a European hegemon, and the United States would remain a constructive NATO ally with a largely offshore troop presence, according to the article. If Russia were to attack a member of NATO, the United States would retain a spectrum of retaliatory options. In order to develop realistic policy options commensurate with the threat posed to US interests, Washington needs to gauge the Russian threat accurately, according to the authors.
Police officers in Canada should receive a thorough university education in a relevant field such as law and psychology to better equip them for the demands of the job in the 21st century, according to an op-ed in the National Post in Canada. Finland was held up as an example whose police officers complete a three-year, research-intensive university degree in policing before going on patrol. Canada suffers from lower confidence in its police, with only 41% of people having "a great deal" of confidence in police with members of minority groups and victims of crime expressing much lower confidence, citing traditional police training, with its paramilitary ethos, as ill-suited for this complex and diverse society.
