“I support the Mental Wealth Festival because there is still a stigma around mental health. People don’t have anywhere to go – to get help, support and share knowledge – and this is exactly the point of the festival. It’s the Glastonbury of mental health.” – Jonny Benjamin MBE, award-winning mental health campaigner and contributor in 2017 and 2018.
The 2018 Mental Wealth Festival featured over 100 talks, debates and workshops by more than 100 contributors, from politicians to health sector innovators, mental health campaigners to business leaders, to famous art institutions and leading charities. We provided access across the community sharing knowledge and good practice and focused on mental health and wellbeing. We celebrated many aspects of life including personal development, home, work and the community that all contribute to people's mental wellbeing.
Day one (10 September) took place at City Lit and the main theme for the day was mental health and the workplace. The Festival continued in the evening at Houses of Parliament for a debate and discussion on suicide prevention coinciding with World National Suicide Day.
The second day (11 September) took place at The National Gallery and focused on mental health at home and within communities. There was an emphasis on connecting the Gallery’s spaces and collection with events that inspire a sense of purpose and positive social empathy. The festival concluded with a conversation between Grayson Perry CBE and City Lit Principal Mark Malcomson at The National Gallery. Grayson received his Fellowship from his former City Lit tutor Kate Wickham.
There was an impressive line-up contributors and speakers including artist Grayson Perry CBE, journalist Bryony Gordon, mental health campaigner Jonny Benjamin MBE, dr Kathryn Mannix, mental health professional Mandy Stevens, mental health campaigner Geoff McDonald and many others…
Baroness Sheila Hollins, Chair and Founder of Beyond Words said: "Our festival presents a shared vision of a world where everyone can understand, talk about and support each other’s mental health and wellbeing."
Mark Malcomson, Principal at City Lit said: "The idea of mental wealth catches everyone’s imagination. It needs no explanation, and is something we all want more of, regardless of our social circumstances, personal experience or professional interest."
In Conversation with Grayson Perry at The National Gallery
Baroness Sheila Hollins
City Lit Fellow Baroness Hollins is the founder, editor and lead author of the Books Beyond Words series and Chairs the Board of Beyond Words, a not for profit Community Interest Company. She is Emeritus Professor of the Psychiatry of Disability at St George’s, University of London, and sits in the House of Lords as a crossbench peer.
Chris Underhill MBE
Chris is a leading exponent on global mental health practice, a social entrepreneur, and a mentor. Chris is the founder of BasicNeeds, co-founder of citiesRISE and the Chair of Spring Impact, a Global Director of Leaders Quest and the Chair of Carers Worldwide.
Dr Petra Simic
Dr Petra Simic is the interim Medical Director for Bupa Health Clinics. Since May 2018 she has been the Interim Medical Director for Bupa Health Clinics. Before joining Bupa, Petra was a GP partner in an NHS practice in Hertfordshire for 9 years.
Fahad al Saud
Founder of TOMO, Fahad’s way of giving back to our community. He knows that simple, everyday habits build lasting change for the better. was born out of our personal experience managing mental health.
Geoff is Co-Founder of a network called ‘Minds@Work’ and a Trustee of ‘Family Links’, a Charity educating parents and teachers to develop emotionally-healthy children and young adults. He has been asked to join the Prince’s Trust Youth Opportunity Taskforce with the purpose of creating change that will unlock the potential in the UK’s youth.
Grayson Perry CBE
City Lit Fellow Grayson Perry CBE, is an award-winning artist who works in a variety of media, but is best known for his ceramic works. In 2003, Grayson became famous as the first ceramic artist to win the Turner Prize. Alongside his art, Grayson has written and presented documentaries including an hour-long documentary for Channel 4 entitled Why Men Wear Frocks.
Helen Hayes MP
Helen Hayes is Labour MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, first elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2017 with an increased majority. Helen takes a strong interest in mental health and autism, and has led a back bench business debate on young people's mental health, and co-sponsored a recent debate on the future of Transforming Care.
James Jopling
James is the Executive Director for Scotland at Samaritans. James’ role is to lead on work to prevent suicide through national relationships, partnerships and through work with national and local Government. He has worked in the sector for the past 20 years for charities such as Oxfam, Cancer Research UK, Shelter and Breast Cancer Now.
Joanna Place
Joanna was appointed the Bank of England’s Chief Operating Officer in July 2017 and previously was the Executive Director of Human Resources. Joanna is a Fellow of the CIPD; an Independent Director, Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment; a Trustee of Blind in Business; and a School Governor.
Johnny Mercer MP
Johnny serves on both the House of Commons Defence and Health Select Committees. He was reelected in 2017 after only two years in the job with an almost five-fold increase in his majority. Johnny speaks regularly in the House of Commons with a focus on defence, veterans, mental health and transport issues.
Jonny Benjamin MBE
Jonny Benjamin is an award-winning mental health campaigner, film producer, public speaker, writer and vlogger. Jonny spent 2017 writing the first of 2 books on mental health entitled The Stranger On A Bridge which was published by Pan Macmillan in May 2018.
Laura Hearn
Laura Hearn is the founder of the globally recognised online platform, 'Jiggsy' which uses it's unique creative tool 'The Jiggsaw' to connect people affected by an eating disorder and mental ill health.
Laura Willis
Laura Willis is the founder of Shine Offline, a consultancy that helps people and businesses understand the potentially negative impact our 24/7 culture could be having on their wellbeing, work life balance, productivity, creativity and relationships.
Mark Williamson
Dr Mark Williamson is co-founder and Director of Action for Happiness and has overall strategic and operational responsibility for the whole organisation.
Shammi Kapoor
Shammi completed a brain training program when a doctor referred him to the BrainRx concept after being diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD & Depression. After completing the program, Shammi, as well as family and friends, could see the difference brain training made to his life.
Tricia Driver
Tricia Driver is the Founder of A New Normal Ltd, a consultancy which supports its clients in creating and sustaining truly inclusive working environments. She is an expert in Unconscious Bias and Inclusion, a skilled and highly regarded coach and a compelling speaker.


Supporting museums Art we've helped buy Joseph Mahoon Double-Manual Harpsichord
Photo © Anne Purkiss. Courtesy Gainsborough's House
Joseph Mahoon Double-Manual Harpsichord
Joseph Mahoon
Art Funded
This extremely rare instrument is one of only two surviving British harpsichords made between the years 1730 and 1739.
Both examples were made by Joseph Mahoon, and this is the only double-manual instrument, making it unique.
Mahoon was born in Exeter and may have been apprenticed to the London harpsichord maker Benjamin Slade. In 1729, he was appointed ‘Harpsichord Maker to his Majestie’ George II.
Instruments made by Mahoon were high-value luxury items, as can be seen from the inclusion of a Mahoon harpsichord by the maker in William Hogarth’s satirical series The Rake’s Progress (1735).
Mahoon made this particular harpsichord in London in 1738. Although there are numerous harpsichords surviving from the later 18th century, this example is of outstanding significance in providing information about how early 18th-century music might have sounded.
The artist Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88) had a great passion for music and is known to have owned a harpsichord. Among the new features in the project to restore and re-present Gainsborough’s House, his Suffolk birthplace, is a room exploring the artist’s musical interests (due to open in 2021). On show will be Gainsborough’s portrait of the composer Charles Ignatius Sancho (1768), loans of his portraits of composers Johann Christian Bach (1776) and Karl Friedrich Abel (1765), displays of sheet music and Gainsborough’s letters to musical friends.
The centrepiece of the room will be Mahoon’s double-manual harpsichord, now saved for the nation after the granting of an export licence was deferred by the government and the funds were raised for its purchase.
The Colt Clavier Collection
WoodCase is oak with walnut veneer and decorative crossbanding, keys are ivory and ebony, brass strapwork hinges, stop knobs and lid hooks.


Officials identify 68-year-old bicyclist killed crossing roadway in The Woodlands
Jose R. Gonzalez, Staff writer
Jan. 28, 2020 Updated: Jan. 29, 2020 8:28 a.m.
A bicyclist was struck and killed by an SUV as she crossed a roadway near New Trails Drive and Forest Research Drive.
courtesy of Google Maps
A 68-year-old woman on Friday afternoon was fatally struck in The Woodlands while bicycling across a roadway.
Qiaolian Chen, of The Woodlands, died at the scene after being hit by a 2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer on New Trails Drive and Research Forest Drive. The motorist stopped and is not facing charges, according to Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Sgt. Erik Burse. Traffic was stalled for a couple of hours, Burse added.
This is at least the fifth person, a non-motorist or not in a vehicle, killed on a road in The Woodlands in the last nine months. Early last month, a 44-year-old man whose vehicle had stalled was fatally struck by a Land Rover on Woodlands Parkway and East Panther Creek Drive. No charges were filed in that incident.
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In June, a 30-year-old man near the Interstate 45 exit ramp to Texas 242 was killed by the driver of a Toyota pickup truck after his own truck had flipped over. The driver was convicted of intoxicated manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years prison.
A month before, a 51-year-old woman trying to cross Interstate 45 near Rayford Road on foot was killed by a moving vehicle.
jose.gonzalez@chron.com
twitter.com/jrgzztx
Jose R. Gonzalez
Reach Jose R. on
Jose R. Gonzalez reports on crime, courts and public safety in Montgomery County, just north of Houston. Jose joined the metro desk at the Houston Chronicle at the end of 2017. He worked breaking news and general assignments before landing on the Chronicle's business desk.
He covered the U.S. Congress at two editorial internships in Washington, D.C., one of which was RealClearPolitics. In between, he freelanced for the Chronicle. He is a journalism graduate of Texas State University in San Marcos.
Born in Pasadena, Texas and mostly raised there, Jose as a kid moved a lot with his family. He has lived in all four contiguous time zones.


Watch The Abraham's Testimony Now!
Immaculee: The Real Life of a Refugee
Abraham Deng and The Lost Boys of Sudan
By Kara Lavengood
CBN.com – “The enemy was running after us, and my best friend was older than me. He was on the other side with me, and he told me, ‘Abraham, get into the water. Cross to the other side.’ But I told him I would not because I didn’t know how to swim.”
Abraham Deng was just 10 years old when he and thousands of other children were driven from refugee camps in Ethiopia.
“So we jump into the water, and we crawled to the other side. I thought I was going to die,” Abraham shares with The 700 Club. “About 2,000 lost boys and girls died in that river as a result of enemy attack. Some were eaten by crocodiles, and some got drown because they didn’t know how to swim.”
This wasn’t the first time Abraham’s life was threatened. The danger began the day he fled from Islamic militants attacking his home village in Sudan. He was just six years old.
He recalls, “As we’re attending cattle, we heard the sound of guns, and we tried to come back to the camp, but we met some kids who were running in different directions. They told us not to go to the camp because we would get killed.”
Abraham and some other boys ran into the jungle.
“I thought there would be a time for me to go back to the camp, and I’d eventually go and see my family in the village,” he says, “but that wasn’t possible, so we stayed in the jungle.”
Most of the children were young men and boys. They became known as “The Lost Boys of Sudan.”
Abraham didn’t know why he’d been separated from his family. He missed them and wondered if he’d ever see them again. Then a man came to their camp and gave him a message of hope.
“After some weeks, there was an Evangelist by the name of Barnabas,” he explains. “He led me to Christ. He talked to me several times and also to the other kids about having hope.”
Over the next decade, “The Lost Boys” searched for a place to call home.
He says, “I didn’t have any clothes. I had only a pair of shorts that I was wearing, and I didn’t have shoes with me. I didn’t know where I was going, so I thought eventually I would die.”
Abraham walked more than 1,000 miles across Africa with bare feet. He stayed in a refugee camp in Ethiopia for four years and in a camp in Kenya for nine. Though he survived the journeys, many of his friends did not.
“Some got killed, and some were eaten by the lion population in the area. Some died of exhaustion; they could not walk farther. Some died of starvation.”
Abraham eventually heard that his own father and five uncles had been killed. His mother’s fate was unknown. Abraham only knew that he missed her.
“There was nothing more significant than to be with your mother. You find [that you are] by yourself, missing all that comfort and parental love and care. It was so difficult.”
It would be 19 long years before he learned what happened to his mother.
Today, Abraham is no longer a little boy trekking through Africa. He’s a young man living in the United States. He was one of nearly 4,000 “Lost Boys” resettled in America.
Once here, Abraham was on a mission.
He says, “I had been praying to God when I was over there that God would make it possible for me to go to school.”
God listened to Abraham’s prayers. Through hard work and faith, he made his way to Southern Wesleyan University in South Carolina. There he began studying to become a doctor.
“I am going to touch people’s lives, spiritually and medically,” Abraham says. “I know for so many reasons that God brought me to the United States to impact the lives of other Christians here and to accomplish what He wants me to do. That is education.”
As Abraham followed God’s will for his life, his prayers continued to be answered. One day he got a phone call…
“I went on the phone and talked to that guy [who] told me, ‘Abraham, you don’t know me, but I have good news for you. Your mom is alive, and she is a refugee in Ethiopia.’ I could not believe.”
His new friend helped arrange a phone call between Abraham and his mother in Africa.
“Mom told me, ‘My son, your siblings want you to come and see them, and besides that, I’m getting old.’ It broke my heart, and I said, ‘Mom, I know you are getting old, and my siblings want to see me. I know God is going to open a way for me to see you all.”
And God did. Through donations from other Christians, Abraham was able to return to Africa in 2006. He finally felt his mother’s arms around him again!
“When I saw my mom for the first time in 19 years, my world was completely changed, and I could not help crying. My mom lifted me up into the air with my sister, and I ran into the small house. [She] has been kissing me and kept calling me all the nicknames she used when I was a little boy. I try to respond to her, but there is not a word that came out of my mouth. It’s very difficult to explain. It was amazing.”
Abraham and his family were overjoyed by God’s answer to their prayers. But Abraham was saddened by his family’s living conditions.
“There was a reason why God led me to go there. Not only to see my family, but to see what people are going through,” Abraham says. “My heart was broken when I was in camp.”
His own mother was suffering from both typhoid and chronic malaria. His brother-in-law needed immediate surgery. Fortunately, enough money had been raised for Abraham to pay for his brother’s surgery and to help many others. But Abraham wants to do much more.
“I give my life to God. ‘You do with me whatever You want. Just whatever You want of me, so that people have to come into Your kingdom.’ That is what I consider of myself. The reason I want to be a doctor is because there is a great need for doctors in my country. People die because of simple diseases. People die with no hope, and if I become a doctor, I will impact the lives of these people. I will tell them about God and take care of them medically. If one dies, I will give them that hope to die in Christ. So that’s what my mission is, and I know God is going to let me accomplish that.”
Abraham has returned to college to finish his degree. He plans to go to Africa again to see his family and to fulfill his calling. Though he’s had to overcome intense pain and tragedy in his 25 years, Abraham has also gained an indestructible faith.
“I know God is going to use me in a number of ways, not only in Sudan, but in many places," Abraham says. "Thank You so much for letting me suffer. Perhaps if I didn’t suffer, maybe I would not know God."


LEGO Came Out With Its First Sustainable Collection Which Is No Longer Made Of Oil-Based Plastic
We have become aware that plastic is a terrible thing for all of us and the planet. But what can be done about it? We can do something about it, of course, but is that enough? The answer is simple – no. Unless the major corporations take a move against plastic, we are almost helpless. And it is their corporate social responsibility to do something about it. Out of the many companies that are present in the market, LEGO has started a movement. We have all been through that LEGO phase. We made our own buildings and became engineers in our imaginary worlds. LEGO pieces were made of oil-based plastic. Now, we can’t really blame them. It was cheap and we did not know much about the harmfulness of plastic back then.
But now, things have changed. We know that plastic is hazardous for our health and for the planet. We need to do something about it. And LEGO is backing us up. Back in March last year, LEGO claimed that it will be producing goods by using plant-based products rather than human based plastic. The result is that a company, which used to produce goods with standard oil-based plastics, is now changing their ways and making products using a derivative of sugarcane plants. These products are made by using a new kind of polyethylene plastic made using ethanol which is produced from sugarcane. It has been certified and considered safe by the Bonsucro Chain of Custody Standard.
It is designed in such a way that your children will not face any harm. Plus, the designers have gone through the principles of botany and integrated a lot of their gathered knowledge in the making of this product. It has the same consistency that could be seen in the plastic products, but now, both our children and the environment won’t get sick. On the other hand, it will inspire the future generation by educating them about environmentally sustainable products and show other companies how it is possible to do so. According to Tim Brooks, LEGO wanted to make a major positive effect and it is slowly moving towards that route.
But we should not give LEGO credit for this action alone. Even though the change in production material from polyethylene to biodegradable ethanol has been a major one, for LEGO – this is not the first time. They have tried to counter pollution for quite some time now. The company had announced that it has successfully reached the point of getting all its energy from renewable sources. The best part is that they had done it three years before the scheduled time. The brand has also gone on to partner up with the World Wildlife Fund for Nature so as to fight against climate change and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The company has come together with the Bioplastic Feedstock Alliance to develop a sustainable source for its bioplastic goals.
According to LEGO, their bioplastic collection is made out of plant-based material developed out of sugarcane. The new items look like bushes, trees, and leaves. It is just the first step. The company plans to use sustainable materials for all its products by the year 2030. You can check out more on this LEGO collection on their website.
LEGO as a company is taking firm actions for the wellbeing of our planet. We will just look forward to other companies doing the same. On the other hand, we can try to help the planet in our own small way too. Because every step counts! And together, we can move mountains.
? Wolfdog Dumped At Kill Shelter Receives Second Chance At Shy Wolf Sanctuary Customs Officials Found 1,500 Live Turtles And Tortoises Smuggled In Luggage ?


New Bloc Leader evokes passion of Jack Layton in laying out party plan
Les Perreaux
This article was published more than 11 years ago. Some information may no longer be current.
Newly elected Bloc Quebecois leader Daniel Paille poses in his offices in Montreal, Dec. 12, 2011.Christinne Muschi
When the federal election last May left the Bloc Québécois in tatters, Daniel Paillé entertained doubts about whether the party could be rebuilt.
"Everything is on the table," he wrote, going on to describe the May 2 election loss as "a slap, a thrashing, a walloping." The defeat was too intense to blame on a simple desire for change, too profound to attribute to one man's smile, he said, referring to NDP Leader Jack Layton.
And yet, the day after his election as the new leader of the Bloc on Sunday, Mr. Paillé offered a familiar answer to the question he described as so complex seven short months ago: What happened?
"In this election there were many phenomenons, but above all there remains Jack Layton. First, Jack Layton," Mr. Paillé said in an interview.
"He ran a different campaign, it was really quite exceptional, he made people dream. He said, 'We will do politics differently.' He made people dream of change, and there was change."
We'll never know what Mr. Layton, who died in August, might have accomplished with his 59 Quebec MPs, Mr. Paillé said. But instead of a refreshing change, he said, Quebeckers are watching a Conservative majority government reshape Canada into something unfamiliar.
The crackdown on crime, the elimination of the gun registry and the fact that Quebec didn't get a piece of a gigantic federal contract to build new ships are just the start, he said.
Mr. Paillé, 61, an economist, father of two adult sons and grandfather of two, has split his working life among politics, the provincial civil service and the executive suite of major Quebec corporations, including Quebecor and Canam Group.
He won the party leadership handily on Sunday, but with a dismal turnout among a dwindling number of party members. The party has slid from 50,000 members in May to 36,000 today. Around 14,000 bothered to vote.
Without a seat in Parliament, Mr. Paillé (who lost his on May 2, along with all but four Bloc MPs) plans to storm the province riding by riding to hear from activists, rebuild his party and make concrete proposals.
Mr. Paillé studied economics at the École des hautes études commerciales under Jacques Parizeau, and started his career by working for him at the Ministry of Finance in the late 1970s. Elected provincially under the Parti Québécois banner in 1994, he served in Mr. Parizeau's cabinet.
Mr. Paillé has never been described as an independence hard-liner along the lines of Mr. Parizeau, who he says taught him the importance of rigour and hard work. But the new leader said he plans to refocus the party on sovereignty after years of following a doctrine of defending Quebec's interests above all else.
"The Bloc often defended the consensus coming out of Quebec, even if it was the consensus of a federalist government. The Bloc must never forget it is a sovereigntist party," Mr. Paillé said.
Mr. Paillé's career as a politician consisted of two rather brief stints. He resigned from the National Assembly in 1996 after two years, to become a vice-president at the province's investment arm, the Société générale de financement, and also served two years as a Bloc MP in Ottawa before his defeat in May.
His time in provincial politics was brief but somewhat tumultuous. In 1994, on the eve of the election, he warned investment bankers they could be frozen out of government business for suggesting that anxiety over the PQ's looming victory was driving up interest rates. A year later, he used ministerial letterhead to complain to the mayor of Montreal about a daycare centre opening up near his home. He apologized.
Once described as cocky, Mr. Paillé said he has gained wisdom with age. "But if I was described as cocky, it was because I was very direct, I didn't mince words. It was a bit hard, it was a bit shocking, but people like that now."
Mr. Paillé will have plenty of time to find out how much people like it. He has 46 months to rebuild his party, with the next federal election date fixed for October, 2015.
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Home Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Finance
Alaska Airlines is selling one-way tickets for just $49
Benjamin Zhang
An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737.
Alaska Airlines launched a one-day flash sale on Tuesday with tickets for as cheap as $49 one-way and $98 round-trip.
Great deals include $49 fares between Los Angeles and Las Vegas or round-trip flights between New York and San Francisco for $278.
Sale ends at 11:59 pm Pacific time on June 26, 2018.
Alaska Airlines is holding a one-day flash sale with one-way tickets for as low as $49 and round-trip fares for a little as $98. However, you better act fast because these sale prices will disappear Tuesday night at 11:59 pm Pacific time.
Some of the best deals include $49 one-way fares between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. That means a round-trip flight between Tinsel Town and Sin City is just $98.
Flights between Alaska's home base in Seattle and Spokane, Washington or Boise, Idaho are also both available at the $49 price point.
In addition, tickets for flights between Seattle and San Francisco are on sale for just $79 one-way or $158 round-trip. However, if choose to fly into Oakland just across the Bay, the cost of a flight from Seattle goes down to $69.
Flights between Seattle and Los Angeles are also available for $79 one-way or $158 round-trip.
In addition, there are several great deals on long-distance, trans-continental flights. For instance, round-trips between New York JFK International or Newark Liberty International and San Francisco are on sale for just $278. You also choose to fly between the Big Apple and San Jose, California for the same price.
Needless to say, there is some fine print for this sale.
All tickets must be purchased on June 26, for travel between September 12 and December 19, 2018. Sale prices are only available for flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. All tickets must also be purchased at least 21 days ahead of travel.
In addition, sale prices are not available for flights between the 15th and 29th of November.
Oddly enough, we found Alaska offering prices even cheaper than the advertised sale fare. For example, we found flights between LA and Vegas on September 5 and September 7 for just $44 one-way and $88 round-trip.
So it helps to look beyond the official sale period.
Alaska Airlines officially merged operations with Virgin America in April. The Seattle-based airline acquired Virgin America for $2.6 billion in 2016 and is working to firmly establish itself as the carrier of choice for the Western United States.
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BITranspo Alaska Air Virgin America


BL hosts training aimed at dangers of…
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LISBON — School administrators across the county are looking at ways to lessen the appeal of vaping, which appears to be affecting a younger demographic, Beaver Local Schools Superintendent Eric Lowe said.
Vaping is the use of electronic cigarettes, which allows users to inhale an aerosol into their lungs that is produced when the liquid contained in the e-cigarettes is heated.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), about two-thirds of 15-24 year olds using the most popular e-cigarette, JUUL, do not know that it always contains nicotine. Furthermore, the CDC also says that a single JUUL pod contains as much nicotine as a pack of 20 regular cigarettes.
Lowe said he and other county school superintendents gained valuable information about the dangers of vaping among minors from the county’s Drug Task Force during a recent training hosted by the district.
The Drug Task Force led the training that focused on drugs and school safety.
“It was good to hear from the drug task force about additional information in regards to how many products associated with vaping are targeted at young people,” Lowe said.
He went on to say that all county districts are working to improve education surrounding vaping and the dangers “associated with this behavior that seems to be occurring at younger ages annually.”
In addition, the CDC says that parents should be aware that while JUUL is currently the top selling brand in the U.S., other companies are selling e-cigarettes that look like USB flash drives and that these devices can be used to deliver marijuana and other drugs.
Lowe provided the Beaver Local Board of Education with a brief overview of the training during the Monday board meeting.
“We were pleased to host the training,” he said. “Schools continue to examine ways to be proactive in working to support social and emotional needs of both staff and students as we work to ensure that our school communities can reach their maximum potential.”
He added that the district is grateful for the relationship is has with the St. Clair Township Police Department and other county agencies that would provide support in the event of any emergency.
In other business during the board of education meeting, the board approved:
— A reading of NEOLA policies relating to Copy of Use of Medications and Care of Students with Diabetes.
— The student iPad user agreement.
— The bus route master schedule.
— An agreement with the Columbiana County Educational Service Center to participate in Project Inspire.
— A resolution of intent not to provide career technical education for seventh and eighth grades.
— Athletic season pass prices, set at $225 for family, $85 for adult, $45 for students, $45 for senior outside of district, and $125 for seasonal family.
— Updated adult meal prices, which are $2.55 for breakfast and $4.05 for lunch.
— The hiring of Anthony Meyer, elementary health/physical education teacher; Jodie Bock, middle and high school special education teacher; Kerry Bettross, third grade teacher; Barbara Morgan, 2-hour cafeteria worker; Pamela Wilson, bus driver; and Kasie Stevenson, bus driver.
— Supplemental contracts for John Miller, head golf coach, and Shawn Dunn, assistant boys soccer coach.
— Several volunteers and substitutes.
— An unpaid leave of absence for Kathy Beaver for the 2022-23 school year.
— An executive session to consider the employment of an employee. No action was taken.
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Bam Group Ireland, Main sponsor of Chambers Ireland CSR Awards 2015
Awards to Recognise Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility Launched
Chambers Ireland today (03/03/15) announced that the application process for the 2015 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Awards is open. The awards recognise the work being carried out by companies of all sizes to improve the lives of their employees, the local community and the environment. This is a unique competition that offers the business community a chance to promote their efforts in CSR and gain recognition for best practice.
Allan Shine, Chief Executive of North kIldare Chamber said ” The CSR Awards are an excellent opportunity for Kildare Businesses to highlight the various CSR initiatives that they undertake. I am delighted that once again BAM Group Ireland are sponsoring the awards. BAM are of course a well established Kildare company. I encourage Kildare businesses to enter into the various award categories available.”
John Cunningham, Chair of the CSR Awards judging panel said, “Having chaired the judging panel for a number of years, I continue to be surprised by the exceptional ways that businesses are embracing CSR. Businesses in Ireland are unique in their unwavering commitment to running their businesses in a responsible and sustainable manner. These awards are an opportunity to recognise this hard work and dedication and to highlight best practice so that others can follow in their footsteps.”
Theo Cullinane, BAM Group Ireland Chief Executive said “Sustainability is one of the core tenets of our business and we work closely with our employees, clients, stakeholders and supply chain on all aspects of CSR. We’re very proud to sponsor the CSR Awards, an initiative that promotes responsible business throughout Ireland. I’d like to wish all entrants and everybody in Chambers Ireland the very best of luck for this year’s awards.”
Award categories include: Excellence in Environment, Community (divided into Charity, Volunteering and Community Programme), Workplace, Marketplace, International CSR, CSR Communication, Best SME and the overall Outstanding Achievement in CSR Award.
Now in their twelfth year, the awards were launched in Dublin Castle. The awards are run in association with the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government, partnered by Business in the Community Ireland and kindly sponsored by BAM Group Ireland. For further information or to apply please visit www.csrawards.ie. The closing date for nominations is Tuesday 21st April 2015.
John Cunningham, Chair of CSR Awards Judging Panel; Tina Roche, CEO, Business in the Community Ireland and Mike Jones, Business Development Director, BAM Group Ireland at the launch of Chambers Ireland’s CSR Awards in Dublin Castle.


Ineos Chemical Company
Jubilant Bhartia was founded by brothers Shyam and Hari Bhartia in 2001, after an earlier incarnation as Vam Organic, a small chemical company. It has grown to become an international conglomerate estimated to be worth more than $3 billion, touching upon just about every facet of life, ranging from pharmaceuticals and life sciences, to oil and gas, performance polymers, and food product and services. Jubilant also serves as corporate consultant to the oil and aerospace industry. The conglomerate employs more than 36,000 workers around the world, 1,400 in North America.
Primary Operations
Headquartered in New Delhi, India, Jubilant Bhartia Group has six primary divisions.
Jubilant Energy is one of the largest oil exploration and producers of oil and gas in India. It has successfully collaborated with a number of leading oil and gas corporations across the globe, extending its reach into a large international marketplace, competing with other world leaders, such as China-based Sinopec Corporation.
Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences
Operating as Jubilant Life Sciences, Jubilant Bhartia is engaged in the development and production of an extensive variety of pharmaceutical and health related product, such as: allergy relief therapies, radiopharmaceuticals, APIs, solid dosage formulations and life science ingredients. Jubilant Life Sciences is also involved in drug development. Like fellow competitor, Sumitomo Chemical, Jubilant strives to bring the highest quality and most recent innovations in pharmaceutical and life science product to an international consumer marketplace. Its reach extends to more than 100 countries, with R&D operations in China, North America and Europe.
Agricultural Products and Performance Polymers
Jubilant Bhartia is considered one of the world’s foremost producers of agricultural products, focusing especially on crop protection, growth and nutrition. Jubilant Industries, Ltd. is ranked second in the world in the manufacture of food polymers, such as PolyVinyl Acetate, the raw material used to make chewing and bubble gum. It ranks second in the world in the manufacture of Vinyl Pyridine Latex which is used in the production of automobile tires.
Jubilant MotorWorks sells and services Audi automobiles in Mangalore, Bangalore, Pune and Chennai. Audis are one of the world’s most recognized luxury cars.
Jubilant FoodWorks, Ltd., is the largest and fastest growing international food service company in India. Initiated in 1995, and opening for business a year later, Jubilant FoodWorks operates a network of 887 stores.
Jubilant Enpro is an international consultant assisting a diverse industry of companies, including aviation, oil and gas, and power and infrastructure services.
Jubilant Bhartia Group’s pharmaceutical wing—Jubilant Life Sciences—announced in early September, 2015 an initiative to market Technigas in the United States through its subsidiary Jubilant DraxImage. Technigas is an agent used in developing images, primarily in cases of pulmonary embolism. Following completion of phase III trials, which will be done in collaboration with Cyclopharm, an Australian pharmaceutical company, DraxImage will hold an exclusive license to market and distribute Technigas in America.
The Jubilant Bhartia Foundation was established in 2007. Its mission is focused principally on building sustainable communities and empowering local populations to develop skills and infrastructure that will last beyond the Foundation’s involvement. Core funding areas are: primary education in rural areas; healthcare facilities; and entrepreneurial and workforce development projects.
Percatarse pareja es en la actualidad demasiado facil: Paso la epoca en la cual las timidos, o menor agraciados se quedaban solos acerca de por vida.
We got countless classes with the evenings and you may sundays therefore my personal free relationships go out are nonexistent


Flowers and balloons have been placed near the scene of a mass shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Youngest victim in Virginia Walmart shooting was a 16-year-old employee
by: Jared Gans, Nexstar Media Wire
Updated: Nov 26, 2022 / 11:13 AM CST
(The Hill) – The youngest victim of the shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, on Tuesday was a 16-year-old employee, authorities announced.
Officials released the name of the boy, Fernando Chavez-Barron, on Friday, two days after they released the names of the five other victims, all of whom were adults. Family and friends held a vigil for Chavez-Barron in the Chesapeake Walmart’s parking lot on Thursday.
A family friend, Rosy Perez, told The New York Times that Chavez-Barron worked an overnight shift at Walmart to help his family while attending high school.
“He wanted to help a little bit,” she said. “He was a very good child.”
The five other victims were identified as 52-year-old Kellie Pyle, 38-year-old Brian Pendleton, 43-year-old Lorenzo Gamble, 70-year-old Randy Blevins and 22-year-old Tyneka Johnson. All the victims were from Chesapeake except Johnson, who was from the nearby city of Portsmouth.
Officials identified the shooter as a 31-year-old who was an employee at the store for more than 10 years. He was armed with a handgun and multiple magazines and died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds after fatally shooting the six people and injuring several others.
Authorities have said that the shooter purchased the gun legally hours before the shooting and released a note found on his phone that mentioned people he believed had betrayed him.
“That’s why they suffer the same fate as me,” he wrote.
Man arrested for fatal shooting on St. Charles Street
MSDH struggles to manage medical marijuana program
State’s first medical marijuana sale made in Brookhaven


Did the WHO mishandle the global coronavirus pandemic? | CBC News Loaded
Did the WHO mishandle the global coronavirus pandemic?
The World Health Organization has come under fire for its response to the global coronavirus pandemic, but experts say it's only as powerful as its weakest link.
Experts say agency made mistakes but responsibility also lies with member states
Adam Miller · CBC News · Posted: Apr 30, 2020 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: April 30, 2020
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pictured at the WHO headquarters in Geneva on March 11. Experts say the organization is challenged because of its dual role of juggling the domestic interests of its individual members with the interests of the rest of the world. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)
The World Health Organization has come under fire for its response to the global coronavirus pandemic, with threats of funding cuts and investigations into its conduct.
But experts say that while the WHO may have made some missteps in its handling of the crisis, the organization is only as powerful as its weakest link.
Coronavirus tracker: The cases, hospitalizations and vaccinations in your area
The United Nations agency was founded in 1948 with a mandate to act as an authority on international health.
Its 194 member states fund the agency and set Its policies, and it is accountable to them. Conversely, it has discretionary power to investigate members' handling of public health crises, but it relies on their co-operation and information sharing.
"An organization like the World Health Organization can only be as strong and as effective as its member states want it to be," said Steven Hoffman, director of the Global Strategy Lab and a global health law professor at York University in Toronto.
"So, one of the challenges that the World Health Organization has faced over the last decades is that it keeps on getting new responsibilities and no new resources."
In 2005, its responsibilities increased with the adoption of the International Health Regulations (IHR), a legal agreement signed by all members that requires countries to report emerging disease outbreaks that are at risk of spreading worldwide.
WATCH | WHO defends its record on COVID-19
'We alerted the world on January the 5th:' WHO defends its record on COVID-19
The World Health Organization has defended its handling of the coronavirus outbreak after President Donald Trump orders withdrawal of U.S. funding for the organization.
In doing so, experts say the WHO took on a more political role in juggling the domestic interests of its individual members with the interests of the rest of the world.
"They have never performed well in that function — not once," said Amir Attaran, a professor in the Faculties of Law and School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa, who told CBC's Sunday Edition the WHO should never again preside over a pandemic.
"They cave to diplomatic pressure. Or even if there is not diplomatic pressure, they self-censor."
Attaran said an agency entrusted with ensuring compliance with an agreement like the IHR cannot also operate with the "attitude of a diplomat."
Tedros shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping before a meeting in Beijing on Jan. 28. Amir Attaran says the WHO will consistently 'cave to diplomatic pressure.' (Naohiko Hatta/Reuters)
"It cannot simultaneously be constantly begging countries for co-operation in certain areas where it's expected at the next moment to turn on them severely and possibly fault them for hiding an epidemic."
Hoffman says the agency is "doomed by its institutional design."
China announces additional $30M in funding for WHO
"The criticisms that WHO has faced are not fair in the sense that WHO is not an independent entity, it's essentially acting on behalf of its member states, who control it," he said.
"So, the criticism is really a criticism of those national governments' inability to create the kind of strong public health agency that the world needs in this globalized era."
Early response to pandemic criticized
On Dec. 31, China alerted the WHO to a mysterious outbreak of pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in the central Chinese province of Hubei.
But it would be weeks before the WHO declared the situation a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on Jan. 30, a key designation that determines whether a country's response to an outbreak has been effective and if more resources are needed.
The timing of that emergency declaration is critical at the beginning of an epidemic and can have ripple effects on how quickly countries around the world respond.
China didn't warn public of likely pandemic for 6 crucial days
"I think that happened probably a week too late," said Hoffman, adding that the organization was "hung" over whether the outbreak constituted an emergency.
While the WHO considered the emergency declaration, Chinese officials acted swiftly to silence early informal releases of information from health care workers sounding the alarm in Wuhan, opting instead to carefully manage the release of information in the weeks before the WHO would be allowed on the ground.
Former Canadian ambassador to China David Mulroney said that information was put through a "political prism" in China and delayed as local officials determined how to put the best possible face on the crisis before sending it up the line to Beijing.
"You never want to give bad news to your boss in China," he said.
Health care workers attend to COVID-19 patients at the intensive care unit of a designated hospital in Wuhan, China, on Feb. 6. The WHO was quick to praise China for its efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak but has been criticized for not declaring a public health emergency of international concern quickly enough. (China Daily/Reuters)
Mulroney said that problem highlights an inherent issue within the WHO: it can be "stonewalled" by a member country on the release of information — posing a "significant risk" at a critical time in an outbreak.
Lynette Ong, an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto and a China specialist, said the WHO needed to maintain a diplomatic relationship with China in order to encourage the conducting of investigations and the sharing of key data.
When Chinese health officials quickly genetically sequenced the virus from an infected patient, the WHO lauded the effort, calling it a "notable achievement" that "demonstrates China's increased capacity to manage new outbreaks."
CBC Investigates
Why some experts are questioning China's coronavirus claims
"But you do not also want to overdo it, to be too deferential and too friendly to the extent that you cannot take a step back and then question the things that they share with you," she said.
"WHO is being criticized, rightly so, and a lot of the criticism is justified to my mind because they have probably gone a little too far to the other side of being too deferential."
Ong said that while the WHO was "outwardly praising" China for its capacity to build hospitals and put in place strict lockdown of millions of its citizens that helped flatten their epidemic curve, the country did so by casting aside privacy and human rights with Draconian restrictions on citizens.
Health care workers walk a patient into a hospital in Wuhan on Jan. 27. Former interim Liberal leader and Canada's special envoy on humanitarian and refugee issues Bob Rae says there is no evidence to suggest the WHO actively suppressed the release of any information on the pandemic. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
"The other side of the criticism, which I also think is justified, is the cover-up at the beginning, which I don't think the WHO has actually addressed at all," she said, adding the world lost two to three weeks at a "very crucial time" in tackling the outbreak.
"Had there not been any cover-up, I think the world probably, we would be in a different position."
Should the WHO be held accountable?
Calls for the WHO to be held accountable for its response to the global coronavirus have been been growing. Australia says it will call for an international investigation into the origin of the pandemic at next month's annual meeting of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the WHO. And U.S. President Donald Trump has already cut funding to the organization, saying it "failed" in its duty.
Still, the U.S. is working with the agency. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has, since late January, had a member on the WHO's emergency committee, which also includes Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam as an adviser.
Tam said that while she would welcome a review of the pandemic advice provided by the WHO, she does not fault it for its initial response because health experts all over the world "underestimated where this could go."
WATCH | Dr. Theresa Tam says it would be 'worthwhile to examine' the WHO's response to COVID-19
'Worthwhile to examine' WHO response to COVID-19: Dr. Tam
In an exclusive interview, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam tells CBC’s chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton that health experts underestimated the global COVID-19 spread and that it would be "worthwhile to examine" the World Health Organization's response.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would continue to work with the WHO because the virus "demands a global, co-ordinated response."
He added there will be "plenty of time to reflect on challenges" in the future.
Former interim Liberal leader Bob Rae and Canada's special envoy on humanitarian and refugee issues said that while the WHO does act as a source of information, alert and guidance for countries in a pandemic, that doesn't take away the responsibility of governments to take the steps they feel necessary.
Wuhan health officials raise death toll linked to COVID-19 by 50%
"You could never say, 'Well, you know, [the WHO] didn't tell us how serious it was.' Of course they did," Rae said. "The question as to how each country should respond to the information is entirely up to each country. It's not up to the WHO."
The WHO doesn't issue directives "to say you should carry out a lockdown, you should limit transportation, you should cut off all flights."
Rae said that while it can be difficult for the WHO to navigate the challenges of the Chinese political system, there's no evidence to suggest the organization actively suppressed the release of any information on the pandemic.
He says the criticism of the WHO is "completely misguided" and that cutting funding to the organization at a critical time is a strategic "mistake."
"I think every crisis such as this one will prompt every governmental agency, both domestic and international, to reflect on what happened and to see how it can be improved," he said.
"That is an issue that is going to be quite legitimately placed at the doorstep of the WHO."
Senior Health Writer
Adam Miller is a senior health writer with CBC News. He's covered health, politics and breaking news extensively in Canada for over a decade, in addition to several years reporting on news and current affairs throughout Asia.
@adamsmiller
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Allergopharma Begins Production at Reinbek Biopharmaceutical Facility
The company made a €42 million investment in a new building at its Reinbek site to support the production of biopharmaceuticals.
On March 2, 2017, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany’s allergy business, Allergopharma, began biopharmaceutical production in Reinbek, near Hamburg, Germany. The company made a €42-million (approximately $44.4 million) investment in a new building at its Reinbek site to support the production of biopharmaceuticals.
‘‘By this €42-million investment our company is supporting the Reinbek site in order to expand the allergies business on a global scale. The new production building is part of this global expansion, and will support our growing business in the allergy market place,” said Simon Sturge, COO at the Healthcare business sector of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, at the inauguration in Reinbek in a statement.
The new biopharmaceutical factory covers 6000 m2 and includes a glass cleanroom, in which the company will manufacture its products for causal treatment, on the 2000-m2 ground floor of the building. Alongside the cleanrooms for biopharmaceutical production, the new building has a glass visitors’ foyer with a view of the cleanrooms and the potential for extension to accommodate further filling lines. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, laid the foundations for the building in December 2013.
Source: Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany
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For The Love Of Bully
Dean Justifies His ‘Crime’
Now in the Pitmen's colours......picture courtesy of www.hednesfordtown.com
Almost 20 years on, Dean Edwards is still ribbed by mates over the part he played in denying his beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers a second successive trip to Wembley in the Sherpa Van Trophy.
The former striker, now manager at Unibond Premier League club Hednesford after a spell in charge of Willenhall, scored home and away for Torquay in the 1988-89 area final to secure a shock 3-2 aggregate victory over the holders.
And he reveals: “People who know that I’ve always been a big Wolves fan still ask me what on earth I was doing scoring a couple of goals and stopping the club getting back to Wembley.
Edwards in action for Wolves in 1986.
“But I’ve got a simple answer: Torquay’s final against Bolton was played in the same weekend as the Scotland v England international and, if I hadn’t scored, Steve Bull wouldn’t have gone on for his debut at Hampden Park and scored a great goal. So I did my bit after all!”
Edwards, now 46, netted Torquay’s consolation in their 4-1 Wembley defeat against Bolton and was also on target when the Gulls returned to the twin towers two years later to win promotion from the Fourth Division via the play-offs.
The crowds he played to on those occasions, like the competition record attendance of 80,841 that watched the Wolves v Burnley final 20 years ago this summer, are a far cry from another match that’s probably etched in his memory.
He lined up alongside the likes of Jon Purdie and Robert Rosario when Wolves drew 1-1 with Torquay at Molineux in January, 1986, in the SVT’s forerunner, the Freight Rover Trophy. The turn-out then was a paltry 1,618.
Posted on: Friday, August 1st, 2008.


Homer: Iliad
5. The Gods
In this module, we focus on the presentation of the gods in the Iliad, focusing in particular on two questions: What are the gods doing in a poem about the wrath of Achilles, a human being? And why are they presented in the way they are?
In this course, we explore several aspects of Homer’s Iliad. The course begins with a consideration of one of the most fundamental questions asked of the Homeric epics – the so-called Homeric Question – which asks whether the Iliad was the work of a single poet or many. After that, we examine one of the key episodes of the poem, the Embassy to Achilles, before exploring the concept of heroism in the epic: why is it, we ask, that heroes such as Sarpedon, Hector and Achilles risk life and limb on the battlefield? In the fourth module, we think about characterization in the epic, and in the fifth we focus on the gods in the epic: what are they doing in a poem about the wrath of Achilles, and why are they presented in the way they are? In the final module, we look in more detail at the final two books of the epic, up to an including the final scene of the poem.
Richard Jenkyns was an undergraduate at Balliol College, Oxford. He was a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, from 1972 to 1981, Lecturer in Classics, University of Bristol, 1978-81, and from 1981 to 2010 he was a Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Lady Margaret Hall.
He became Professor of the Classical Tradition in 1999 and the University’s Public Orator in 2004. He was awarded a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship 2007-10.
Jenkyns, R. (2018, August 15). Homer: Iliad - The Gods [Video]. MASSOLIT. https://www.massolit.io/courses/homer-iliad/the-gods-f691975b-e9fe-4dea-8efd-129bbcf65c12
Jenkyns, R. "Homer: Iliad – The Gods." MASSOLIT, uploaded by MASSOLIT, 15 Aug 2018, https://www.massolit.io/courses/homer-iliad/the-gods-f691975b-e9fe-4dea-8efd-129bbcf65c12
1. The Homeric Question (10:13)
2. Book 9: The Embassy to Achilles (08:30)
3. The Homeric Hero (09:37)
4. Characterisation (09:53)
5. The Gods (08:39)
6. Books 23 and 24: The End of the Iliad (09:22)
Homer: Odyssey
Homer: The Worlds of the Iliad and Odyssey
Homer: Iliad: Characterisation
Homer: Women


Enterprise IT security news and advice
IT Security Breaches
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HIPAA and HITECH Compliance
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The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was introduced into EU law on the 25th of May 2018, and replacing the existing data protection framework. The regulations were designed to increase transparency, security, and accountability by data controllers and data processors. Furthermore, it was introduced to improve the rights of people in the EU to their data, while creating a EU-wide standard for data protection.
GDPR is a now key piece of EU law. Any company that has offices within the EU is subject to the GDPR. The law states that “any processing of personal data in the context of the activities of an establishment of a controller or a processor in the Union should be carried out in accordance with this Regulation, regardless of whether the processing itself takes place within the Union.” Even if only a branch of subsidiary of the main organisation is located within the EU, the entire organisation is required to be GDPR-compliant.
It is important to note that it is not just companies that have physical locations within the EU who are required to comply with GDPR. Any business or organisation that collects or processes the data of people located within the EU, no matter where the organisation itself is located, are covered by GDPR. For example, if an Australian citizen was travelling in the EU and their data was collected while they were in France, this data exchange would be required to comply with GDPR. The same is not true for a French citizen travelling in Australia. It is the location of an individual when the data exchange occurs, not their nationality or citizenship, which is important.
Countries Affected by GDPR
Although GDPR will affect organisations around the world-particularly large, multinational organisations-its introduction will have the strongest affect organisations based within the EU, as these organisations are likely to process high amounts of data collected within the EU.
Here is a list of EU member countries:
Republic of Cyprus
Following the 2016 “Brexit” referendum, the United Kingdom is set to leave the EU. Despite their imminent departure, GDPR was introduced to their laws at the same time as the other member states. GDPR is now UK law, and they will remain as part of the law even when the UK is no longer in the EU.
GDPR Outside of the EU
As mentioned above, it is not the physical location of an organisation which is important when considering whether it is covered by GDPR, but the location of the people whose data it handles. Although the impact of GDPR is likely to be less than that for the EU member states themselves, as data from people within the EU is likely to be only a small part of the overall quantity of data that they handle, they still must be fully aware of GDPR.
Many organisations are likely to dismiss GDPR as irrelevant, as they do not reside within the EU. Ignorance about GDPR is not an acceptable excuse for a violation. The fines for non-compliance are hefty; either a fine of €20 million (around $23 million), or 4% of the company’s annual turnover-whichever is higher. No matter which country an organisation has their headquarters, they are liable to be fined by the EU for a violation.
Some countries already have existing agreements with the EU regarding the handling of data of EU citizens. For example, data exchanges between the US and the EU was covered by the EU-US Privacy Shield. This framework covered exchanges of personal data for commercial purposes. GDPR covers a greater number of transactions than the EU-US Privacy Shield, and companies who are already compliant with the existing framework are still expected to update their business practices to comply with the new regulations.
Some countries may struggle more than others to ensure that their organisations are fully GDPR compliant. Where there is a cultural expectation of privacy, GDPR protocol is likely to be easily adopted. If consumers do not expect privacy, and therefore organisations are unaccustomed in giving it, then difficulties may be encountered. An example of a country which falls into the latter category is the US. The US has no laws protecting “general data”. Some types of information are protected, such as health information covered by HIPAA. GDPR-type regulations don’t exist, and organisations may find it difficult to adjust their business practices to its stringent requirements.
Due to the changes that GDPR brings, companies outside the EU-including US companies-are faced with a choice; either proceed operations with two different systems to process of personal data collected either inside or outside the EU, or create a single system that is compliant will all applicable laws.
The issue of sticking with two separate systems adds complexity to the operation, and may prove a hindrance for smaller organisations who may not have the resources to deal with these two datasets. Ensuring that all employees are familiar with two separate procedures requires costly and time consuming training programmes. Although the development and introduction of a single system may be costly upfront, in the long term, it may create a more streamlined and efficient process. For example, if a US organisation processes health data collected within the EU and the US, its data processing procedure must be HIPAA and GDPR compliant. In this way, US citizens may reap the benefits of GDPR despite not being directly covered by it.
Transferring Data Outside of the EU
Chapter 5 of GDPR stipulates the stringent requirements which must be met when transferring personal data to a third country or to an organisation outside of the EU. Data transfers can only occur when an adequate level of legal data protection measures can be shown to be in place in the third country. This is to ensure that the personal data of an individual is secure, no matter which country in which it is stored. According to the EU Commission, the US does not have a high enough level of protection for it to allow personal data to be transferred there. It remains to be seen if the US will change its data security policies following GDPR.
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How Robert Mercer impacts local political battles in NY
@JonCampbellGAN
ALBANY - Robert Mercer spent millions to help propel Donald Trump into the White House and back far-right outlets, causes and advocates, including Breitbart News and Stephen Bannon.
Away from the national spotlight, however, the wealthy Long Island hedge-fund manager's financial influence is found at the most-granular, hyperlocal levels in his home state of New York through a nonprofit with a dramatic name that's quickly expanding its presence.
Reclaim New York, the four-year-old watchdog group, is the brainchild of its founder, chairman, treasurer and director: Rebekah Mercer, who runs a foundation that helps distribute her father's considerable wealth to a wide variety of mostly conservative causes.
The New York City-based nonprofit has been expanding its presence at the local-government level across the state, building up its considerable social media following in hopes of mobilizing citizens to push their local-government officials to reign in fees, taxes and other factors that drive up the cost of living.
The group touts itself as "nonpartisan" and "independent."
But the conservative, small-government beliefs shared by the Mercers are present throughout the positions the group takes at both the local and state level, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration accusing Reclaim of being a front to espouse Mercer's views.
Robert Mercer leaving hedge fund, selling Breitbart stake
Breitbart News funder Robert Mercer has Westchester roots
In a statement, Reclaim executive director Brandon Muir said the group's board members -- which include Rebekah Mercer and her sister, Jennifer -- "believe deeply in our mission of supporting grassroot engagement."
"They helped launch Reclaim and continue to be supportive, because of programmatic work like fighting illegal fees and pushing local governments to be more transparent," Muir said. "The outside political activities of board members do not involve Reclaim.”
Some of the group's targets aren't convinced.
"It's an astroturf organization masquerading as a good-government group in order to cynically push a billionaire's extreme right-wing agenda into Albany's bloodstream," Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said.
Reclaim's beginnings
Reclaim's only known funders are Robert Mercer, who spent his early career at IBM in Westchester, and the Mercer Family Foundation, which contributed more than $1.3 million to the group from 2013 through 2015, according to state and federal tax documents reviewed by the USA Today Network's Albany Bureau.
Reclaim New York was founded in 2013 with $40,000 in seed money, according to state charity filings. Since then, it has expanded to a staff of 10 with three regional directors, including George Phillips, a former Republican congressional candidate from the Binghamton area.
The nonprofit received contributions of $1.25 million in 2015 -- all of which came from the Mercer Family Foundation, according to the group and foundation's tax filings.
Reclaim counted Bannon, Trump's controversial former chief strategist and current head of Breitbart News, as one of its founding directors, though he stepped down after joining Trump's campaign in 2016.
Earlier this year, Reclaim expanded to create a lobbying branch funded with a $75,000 personal contribution from Robert Mercer, state ethics board filings show.
Reclaim frequently comments on state issues, knocking Cuomo, for example, for his support of $420 million a year in annual tax credits for film and television projects and ripping Albany for ethical lapses.
Local work
But the bulk of its work comes at the local level, where the nonprofit holds training sessions on pocketbook issues in the Southern Tier, Hudson Valley and Long Island.
The group has blanketed local governments and school districts with Freedom of Information Law requests seeking to build a database of local spending.
When it doesn't get the information it's seeking, Reclaim sues. So far, it has sued 11 school districts and governments, including the Peekskill and Beacon school districts and the village of Spring Valley in the Hudson Valley.
Reclaim's social media following is formidable, including 118,000 likes on Facebook, where Reclaim touts its training sessions across the state.
The group's lobbying arm, the Reclaim New York Initiative, has taken to weighing in on inherently local issues: The Mount Vernon city budget. A push to curtail natural gas usage in a small Tompkins County town. A plan to build a new Cortland County jail. And a $200 fee on real-estate deals in Suffolk County, home to Mercer.
Often, the group asks its supporters to mobilize and contact their local officials.
"Call or email your city councilmember," the Reclaim New York Initiative wrote on its blog about the Mount Vernon budget. "Tell them you want a responsible budget, not one based on padding pockets and political handouts."
In Peekskill, Reclaim sued last November when the district didn't initially turn over check numbers when the group filed a FOIL request for various spending documents. The district pushed back publicly, claiming disclosure of check numbers would be an invasion of privacy; Reclaim pushed back harder.
"Unfortunately, for Peekskill Schools and their taxpayers, attempting to save face took precedent over admitting their failure to provide the basic transparency citizens deserve," the group wrote in a statement at the time.
The district ultimately provided the documents before the case made its way to a judge, who declined to force the district to pay Reclaim's attorney fees, according to John Gross, an attorney for the Peekskill schools.
He suggested the spat could have been solved with a phone call, not a lawsuit.
"Had they called us -- they never did," Gross said. "They just started to litigate."
Mercer funding
Mercer's backing of the group has drawn the ire of some of those it criticizes, who say Reclaim is nothing more than a front for its wealthy backers.
One target has been Cuomo's administration, which has drawn frequent criticism from Reclaim on a variety of issues, including tax breaks. Cuomo is seeking re-election next year and is considered a potential presidential candidate in 2020.
Azzopardi, the Cuomo spokesman, dismissed Reclaim New York's efforts.
"This outright deception should concern everyone," he said.
The Mercers, meanwhile, are often described as reclusive, rarely commenting on its political or governmental strategies and beliefs.
They have ownership stakes in Breitbart, the far-right news website run by Bannon that is loathed by liberals and centrists, though Robert Mercer recently said he will sell his stake to his daughter.
A spokesman for Robert Mercer did not respond to a request for comment on his backing of Reclaim New York or his family's goals for the nonprofit.
Mercer did, however, offer a rare glimpse into his political beliefs last week when he sent an email to employees of Renaissance Technologies -- the Suffolk County-based hedge fund where he derived his wealth -- to tell them he would soon step down as co-CEO.
"I believe that a collection of individuals making their own decisions within the confines of a clear and concise set of laws that they have determined for themselves will advance society much more effectively than will a collection of experts who are confident in their knowledge of what is best for everyone else," Mercer wrote.
"This is why I support conservatives, who favor a smaller, less powerful government."
Reclaim is far from the only New York advocacy or watchdog group backed at least in part by funders on one side or other of the political spectrum.
The left-leaning, Ithaca-based Park Foundation, for example, has provided funding for various advocacy organizations in New York, including a wide array of anti-fracking groups and government-reform organizations like Common Cause/NY and the New York Public Interest Research Group.
Labor unions, meanwhile, have long funded left-leaning think tanks like the Fiscal Policy Institute.
'Right-wing billionaire'
Cuomo himself has taken aim at the Mercer family in recent weeks, with the Cuomo-controlled state Democratic Committee airing a television ad targeting Mercer's $1 million contribution to a PAC supporting Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, a Republican.
In an email to Democratic supporters, Cuomo called the Mercers "right-wing billionaires who bankrolled Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the extremist Breitbart News."
"Now they've set their sights on New York because we're fighting to elect Democrats now and in the 2018 elections," Cuomo wrote. "It's up to us to stop them."
Astorino ultimately lost Tuesday to state Sen. George Latimer, D-Rye, who was repeatedly critical of the Mercers' support for his opponent.
Reclaim's leaders, meanwhile, have fought off suggestions their group is tied to far-right causes, repeatedly painting the organization as "nonpartisan" and distancing it from its funders' political activities.
"There is no connection of any kind between Reclaim and the disgusting, racist 'alt right', and any suggestion otherwise is a lie," Doug Kellogg, Reclaim's communications director, said in a statement last week.
Muir, Reclaim's executive director, called the group a "non-partisan, non-profit organization that empowers citizens to take ownership of their government."
"More engagement from New Yorkers makes our state more affordable, grows our economy, more respectful of the taxpayer and ultimately less corrupt," he said.
"If public officials believe they can ignore workable solutions to make the state more affordable, putting special interests ahead of the real needs of people, things will only get worse.”
Jon Campbell is a correspondent with USA TODAY Network's Albany Bureau.


Bangladesh government relocates hundreds of Rohingya refugees to remote Island
So far over 3,400 refugees have been sent to the island of Bhasan Char, located in the Meghna river’s estuary, 40 miles away from the mainland. Critics say the island is prone to flooding
December 29, 2020 by Peoples Dispatch
Despite strong concerns raised by rights groups, the Bangladesh government dispatched yet another batch of Rohingya refugees to a remote island prone to floods. Six vessels carrying around 1,800 refugees left Chattogram (Chittagong) early on Tuesday, December 29, to the island of Bhasan Char.
This was the second group of refugees sent to Bhasan Char, located in the Meghna river’s estuary, 40 miles away from the mainland. On December 4, the first batch of 1, 600 refugees were relocated to the island which, critics say, emerged from the sea just 20 years ago and is prone to flooding.
United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi had raised concerns about the safety of the refugees and the allegations of their forced relocation after the first group was sent to the island, saying that “any transfer must follow a voluntary, informed decision.”
I am concerned by reports of #Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh being moved to Bhasan Char.
UNHCR and UN partners seek access to them in order to hear their voices, understand their wishes and see conditions on the island.
Any transfer must follow a voluntary, informed decision.
— Filippo Grandi (@FilippoGrandi) December 6, 2020
The Bangladeshi government claims that the shift to the island is voluntary and preparations were made to tackle flooding and other potential disasters before moving the refugees. The government also claims to have built a 12 km embankment to protect the island from flooding during high tide. It says it has built houses for over 100,000 people with all basic amenities.
Bangladesh’s foreign minister A.K. Abdul Momen dismissed the concerns raised by rights groups and argued that “the island is completely safe,” Reuters reported.
Bangladesh has over 1.1 million Rohingya refugees living in different camps in the country after they were forced to flee from their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine province due to state-sponsored persecution and attacks against them. In the name of fighting separatist groups, the Myanmar army attacked Rohingya villages and burnt their houses, forcing millions to flee across the border to Bangladesh and other countries. The UN has accused the Myanmar army of carrying out genocide against Rohingyas.
Categories BangladeshTags Abdul MomenBhasan CharFilippo GrandiMyanmar armypersecution of minoritiesRohingya refugeesRohingyas in BangladeshUNHCR
Facing state persecution in two countries, Rohingya have been pushed to flee at an alarming rate
20 Rohingya die on a boat stranded in the Andaman Sea
Over 20 migrants dead in two separate boat accidents off Greek coast
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Fires in Eastern Siberia
July 25, 2010JPEG
Fires raged in eastern Siberia in late July 2010, sending a plume of thick smoke hundreds of kilometers wide over the Bering Sea. News sources attributed fires in the Russian Federation to drought, heat, and human activity.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image on July 25, 2010. Red outlines indicate areas with unusually high surface temperatures associated with actively burning fires.
This image shows the region north of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The largest collection of fires is clustered around a river that feeds into the Penzhinskaya Guba, part of the Sea of Okhotsk. Smaller clusters of fires also burn in the northwest, northeast, and south. Most of the fires send their smoke toward the northeast, but east of the burning fires, winds carry the smoke toward the southeast. Off the coast, the smoke plume is thick enough to completely hide parts of the Bering Sea.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption by Michon Scott.
Acquired July 25, 2010, this natural-color image shows clusters of fires burning north of the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Terra — MODIS
Fires burned across eastern Siberia north of the Kamchatka Peninsula throughout July 2010.
Stolmakevich, S. (2010). Russian fire season continues furious path. Wildfire. Accessed July 26, 2010.
The Voice of Russia. (2010, July 18). Siberia struck by forest fires. Accessed July 26, 2010.
Acquired July 30, 2010, this natural-color image shows fires burning north of the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Smoke pours from intense fires in northeastern Siberia in this true-color image from August 1, 2010.
Fires in Eastern Russia
Smoke from wildfires fills this scene of Russia’s Far East on July 28, 2011.
Image of the Day Land Fires
Smoke over Western Russia
Though fires across Russia appeared to be less intense than previously, these photo-like images show thick smoke rising from two regions in western Russia on August 15, 2010.
Atmosphere Land Dust and Haze


Home » About ISWI » International Student Week in Ilmenau 2019
Date: 17 – 26 May 2019
Venue: Ilmenau, Germany
The “International Student Week in Ilmenau” (ISWI) is a conference for students organized by students. It takes place every alternative year at the campus of Technische Universität Ilmenau.
Over 370 participants from more than 70 different countries took part in the last ISWI in 2017. Compared to other similar events ISWI is known for its focus on group work, lectures and debates on a certain main topic, to which the conference is dedicated. As main topic the organizing committee always tries to find areas of tension that include recent problems and developments in the world.
The main aim of the ISWI is to bring young people from all over the world together and serve as a platform for exchange and getting to know each other as well as for discussion and working out ideas to solve recent problems. The official language of the conference is English.
Each ISWI adresses a different topic. For 2019 we have chosen the topic ‘Tradition and Transition’ with the motto:
Changes and Choices: Good by(e) Tradition?
What would our world be today if traditions had never been questioned? How would it be if people like Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, Simone de Beauvoir and Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King hadn’t existed? They and many more have inspired us in finding the topic for the International Student Week in Ilmenau 2019: Tradition and Transition.
“Changes and Choices: Good by(e) Tradition?” is the motto of the forthcoming conference. Driven by the tension and the seeming contradiction between tradition and transition, we would like to look at the global perspective. The motto invites us to recognize the interdependence of traditions, changes, and choices, and at the same time encourages a deeper examination and awareness. Are our changes and choices good by tradition or might it be time to say good bye tradition in some cases?
Dancing during World Food Festival at ISWI 2017 (Photo by Max Richter)
In many ways, our life is influenced by structures, behaviors, and attitudes that we did not develop ourselves, but have adopted from our ancestors, relatives or peers. Whether traditions are passed on orally or in writing, within a group or from generation to generation, it seems impossible to refuse from being affected by them. Rather than that, traditions form our cultures and have a decisive influence on our identity and community. Besides, they can result in complex religious, political, economic and scientific systems. The interconnection and dependence among themselves are driven by globalization. In this way, traditions nowadays function and impact beyond community and national boundaries. Nevertheless, this interdependence also challenges existing traditions.
“Everything flows; nothing remains.” This 2,500 years old wisdom seems to be more appropriate than ever. Changes, especially technological changes, are taking place at unprecedented speed. The digital revolution and its disruptive technologies are just one example of a whole series of changes that affect almost all aspects of life, having an impact on society and environment as well as political and economic courses. But, tradition too claims to be consistent. This seems to be an insoluble contradiction and often leads to an insurmountable conflict between tradition and modernity. Fundamentalism, for example, is one outcome. But are tradition and transition mutually exclusive? Do we have to discard or deny one in order to achieve the other, or can they coexist without conflict? Can they possibly complement and promote each other?
In 30 workgroups, we offer the opportunity to dive into specific areas of interest beyond national borders. Instead of a quick and general answer, we would like to gain different perspectives and take a critical view of both sides – tradition and transition. In our eyes, this critical view is important in order to achieve a world community of solidarity in which every individual is socially and economically secure and can live free from discrimination and violence. It reinforces a mutual understanding as it invites us to question our own point of view and habits and understand the view of our counterpart at the same time. Taking a critical view can mean to question the roots, meaning, implications and impact, not only locally but globally. How might certain traditions be connected to human rights, climate change, and global justice? Which transitions are we facing, and which would we like to see in the future? How can we actively create them?
During ISWI 2019 we want to discuss these matters together with you. Our students’ conference will enable people to gather in an understanding and tolerant atmosphere for exchanging ideas in an open-minded dialogue. During workshops, discussions, lectures, group work, and personal conversations, you will have the chance to share arguments, experiences and ideas related to topics that matter to you. We want to discuss our role as responsible persons within society in order to develop solutions for existing problems and take responsibility together. We would like to focus on the idea that everyone can influence our future – and be the change.
The people behind ISWI: The association ISWI e.V.
International Brunch at ISWI 2015 (Photo by Max Richter)
The “Initiative Solidarische Welt Ilmenau e.V.” (ISWI e.V.), established in 1992, is an incorporated society and NGO led by students who organize the projects as volunteers. Its status is that of a non-profit and benevolent organization. We set ourselves the goal to fight against social inequality, racism and intolerance as well as to promote mutual understanding. To reach this aim, we organize projects that raise awareness to recent problems and offer an open platform to get to know each other, exchange views and work out solutions for these problems. Our main project, the “International Student Week in Ilmenau” (ISWI), takes place every two years since 1993 at the Technische Universität Ilmenau.
If you are interested in more information on ISWI e.V. and its projects, please visit our homepage http://iswi.org/
Our Patron: Waris Dirie
Human Rights Activist, Author, former UN Special Ambassador, former Supermodel
Waris Dirie
Born in 1965 to a nomadic family in Somalia, Waris faced oppressive socio-cultural circumstances. Through her resolve and determination, she journeyed against the odds to establish herself as a supermodel in London. Beginning by sharing her inspiring story through a book named “Desert Flower“ in 1997, later an internationally recognized bestseller, she changed her career path to become a human rights activist.
At the age of five, Waris forcefully underwent female genital mutilation (FGM). The harmful practice of FGM affects about 8,000 girls each day in different parts of the world. Having faced numerous struggles herself, Waris resolved to challenge long-held socio-culture norms to empower young girls and women through her mission to eliminate FGM. She served as the UN Special Ambassador for the Elimination of FGM from 1997 to 2003.
Originally founded in 2002 by Waris herself, the “Desert Flower Foundation” pursues the clear and important goal of eradication of FGM worldwide. Through programmes aiming at spreading awareness, enabling and providing education, direct sponsoring, and treatment of victims, the Desert Flower Foundation has continued to stay true to its mission. Recognizing the multiple aspects involved in addressing the issue, the foundation works on the ground with affected communities while also collaborating with partners around the world.
Waris continues to make a difference to countless girls and to the world at large. Her grit and determination to pursue her chosen cause is a fine example of living a purposeful life.
Greeting by Waris Dirie
“With immense pleasure, enthusiasm and hope, I support the International Student Week in Ilmenau 2019 ‘Tradition & Transition’ bearing the motto “Changes and Choices: Good by(e) Tradition?”. Through this letter, I gladly accept the role of Patron of the conference and appreciate the efforts of its organisers at ISWI e.V.
The conference is a brilliant opportunity for the global youth to engage in discussions, discover variations of culture and to build bridges towards a worthwhile future. It is certainly an effective platform encouraging collective efforts to find solutions to the many challenges we face as a global community. Even as we make rapid technological advancements, the world we live in is shaped by the traditions that have evolved over generations. While many of our familiar traditions are worth treasuring, it is imperative to challenge harmful and demeaning practices. The thought-provoking topic of the conference invites its participants to introspect, reflect and understand how meaningful transitions can be possible while harnessing the positive influence of traditions.
I am hopeful that the participants of ISWI 2019 will discuss and design the traditions of tomorrow, traditions that embody compassion, mutual respect, sustainability, and curious exploration. I extend my best wishes to the organisers for hosting this ambitious gathering. To the collaborators and contributors, I request your support to make this conference a success.”
Our Patron: Rob Hopkins
Environmental Activist, Co-founder of the Transition Network, Author, Social Entrepreneur
Rob Hopkins
Born in 1968 in Chiswick, London, Rob travelled through many countries in his early years and has several years of experience in education, teaching permaculture and natural building. He holds an MSc in Social Research and in 2010 completed a PhD at the University of Plymouth entitled ‘Localisation and resilience at the local level: the case of Transition Town Totnes’.
Rob is a dedicated advocate of the transitioning from conventional, non-renewable energy to more sustainable forms. As a prominent leader in the environmental movement, he has appeared on broadcasting channels like BBC Radio 4 and spoken on platforms like TEDGlobal. He has written several books including ‘The Transition Handbook’ and ‘The Power of Just Doing Stuff’.
His most notable creation, Transition Network, describes itself as “A movement of communities coming together to reimagine and rebuild our world.” Transition nurtures grassroots, community-driven efforts to solve pressing issues that affect us all. By enabling social and cultural inclusion, the Transition Network is a bold step in reimagining our lives. The network spans through 50 nations and engages hundreds of thousands of people.
Currently, Rob is working on a book called ‘From What Is to What If’, which explores the role imagination can play in making a difference in our personal and societal lives (due to be published by Chelsea Green Publishing in September 2019. He is also the Director of an innovative craft brewery, and a keen gardener.
Greeting by Rob Hopkins
“It is a great honour for me to have been asked to be the Patron of the 2019 ISWI conference. This year’s theme of ‘Tradition and Transition’ is a timely and fascinating one. It both challenges notions of ‘tradition’ and what from the past we should sort through and pick out to carry forward with us, and what we should leave behind. We are living through the sixth Great Extinction, and a time of climate emergency. The scale of the changes the science demands of us in terms of what needs to be done in order to ensure humanity survives is huge. Therefore, the exploration of what ‘Transition’ means, both in the terms the Transition movement uses it, and more widely, is deeply important. The Transition movement has been an experiment, now active in over 50 countries, of communities exploring how this shift might look if led by communities. It offers many learnings and insights. […]
I urge the widest possible diversity of students and young people to participate. At a time when School Strikes for the Climate are rising up around the world, when a new spirit of rebellion around climate change is accompanied by imaginative and bold solutions-building work at all levels, this truly is a time of Transition. […] I wish everyone involved an amazing event, and I look forward to seeing how it unfolds.”
Greeting by the Rector of Technische Universität Ilmenau Prof. Peter Scharff
Univ.-Prof. Dr. rer. nat. habil. Dr. h. c. mult.
Prof. h. c. mult. Peter Scharff
Rector of Technische Universität Ilmenau
“There is hardly any other conference at this university to which I more enjoy welcoming guests from all over the world than the International Student Week Ilmenau, or ”ISWI“. Not only because this is the biggest conference of its kind throughout Germany; it is about quality rather than quantity. For ten days, the International Student Week turns the Technische Universität Ilmenau into a peaceful microcosm crossing national borders. People from 70 different nations across all continents will gather in Ilmenau to discuss the question ”Changes and Choices – Good by(e) Tradition?“ in a peaceful atmosphere and to celebrate together. This is the reason why I am so happy to welcome you!
The guiding theme of ISWI – tradition this year, or justice, responsibility, freedom and human rights in the past – reflects the values we aim to promote with our Campus Family initiative at the TU Ilmenau: trust, openness, mutual respect, diversity and intercultural tolerance. I am very glad that ISWI fulfils this vision of a world family in having you, dear guests, here at the TU Ilmenau. During your days here, you become members of our Campus Family.
On each occasion, ISWI focuses on topics I very much support. They not only give the International Student Week at the Technische Universität Ilmenau an unmistakable character, but also lend the university as a whole a friendly atmosphere and a welcoming face. And with a smile I would like to welcome you to our university and wish you a wonderful time in Ilmenau.”
Homepage of Technische Universität Ilmenau (German)
Homepage of Technische Universität Ilmenau (English)