Latest news with #M20
BBC News
5 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Kent County Council seeks solution to 'painful' Operation Brock
Kent County Council says it is looking for alternatives to Operation Brock, including an off-road lorry facility to try to ease Brock sees lorries heading to Dover queuing on one side of the M20 in an attempt to ease congestion, but council representatives said it was a "painful measure for everybody in Kent".Peter Osborne, cabinet member for highways and transport, said that while they were seeking a solution to the ongoing issues the contraflow system between junctions eight and nine was "all that we've got".Mr Osborne said: "I'm pretty sure that everyone at the council and most of our residents want to get rid of it." Operation Brock is funded by the Department for Transport (DfT), with decisions on its use made by the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum (KMRF).On average the operation costs about £250,000 each time it is deployed, a Freedom of Information request Osborne said the council had looked at sites for an off-road holding facility, but the site needed to be between Ashford and Folkestone and on the left side of the had included the Sevington inland border facility, which the government is reportedly considering selling following its post-Brexit deal with the EU, but Mr Osborne said the site was on the wrong side of the Howe, highways and transport strategic resilience manager at the KMRF, told Radio Kent that "being realistic, it [Operation Brock] won't be fixed this summer and it won't be fixed next summer".The DfT was approached for comment.
Daily Maverick
5 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Africa needs a voice on information integrity and media freedom at G20 Summit
South Africa's G20 presidency shouldn't drop the baton passed by Brazil on this crucial issue that underpins good governance. As leaders of the world's major economies prepare for the November G20 Johannesburg Summit, champions of South Africa's journalism industry are working to ensure that information integrity and media freedom are not overlooked. The two issues are inextricably linked, argue Media Monitoring Africa and the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef). Together, the two organisations are spearheading Media20 (M20) in the lead-up to the G20 talks, to highlight the issues. The United Nations (UN) Global Principles for Information Integrity put freedom of expression, accuracy, reliability and an independent, free and pluralistic media centre-stage. M20 highlights the blind spots in the new artificial intelligence (AI) landscape – especially how citizens receive news and fact-based information online. It warns that 'current trends foresee an increase in low-quality and false information, with increasing AI 'hallucinations' and deceptive deepfakes being produced and circulated'. Traditional journalism is considered an antidote to such falsehoods as 'it debunks lies and exposes information operations', say M20 campaigners. It also 'contributes reliable news and informed comment into the public information ecosystem'. Yet traditional journalism is under threat, with newsrooms struggling to compete with digital platforms due to a complex mix of business, technical and content challenges. Press freedom in G20 countries, 2015-2025 M20 is timely considering that many G20 countries exhibit reduced media freedom, driven by political and economic factors. The recent World Press Freedom Index puts major democracies, including the US and India, in the spotlight (see graph). The defunding of media outlets and newsroom closures such as that of Voice of America, are a significant concern, given their role in highlighting international issues to a broad audience and providing a bulwark against 'fake news'. Furthermore, the index's authors say the US is 'experiencing its first significant and prolonged decline in press freedom in modern history', with more than double the number of journalists arrested in the US than a year ago. Likewise, the index reveals that 80% of the African news networks surveyed have seen their economic indicators 'drop'. This means their subsidies and advertising revenues have declined in the past year, leading some to 'self-censor' for fear of future funding cuts. That doesn't bode well for M20's efforts to campaign on media freedom and integrity at the G20 meetings. At last year's G20 in Brazil, information integrity was prioritised, culminating in a ministerial declaration that without information integrity, trust in public institutions and democracy 'may be affected with negative effects on social cohesion and economic prosperity' and human rights. Many saw it as a bold move. In contrast, under South Africa's G20 presidency, the issue has been somewhat relegated, struggling to get onto the agenda. M20 campaigners note just one 'high-level presentation' on AI-generated deepfakes at a workshop in June as part of the G20 Digital Economy Working Group. 'We do have good relations with the South African government,' says Media Monitoring Africa director William Bird, noting that Pretoria welcomed the M20 campaign. But ultimately 'we want to get information integrity formalised into one of the G20 tracks in future'. That might be a big ask given the range of economic- and development-focused topics the G20 is currently tasked with. However, M20 has found an ally in the French mission to South Africa. Ambassador David Martinon recently hosted a dialogue with other African media policy organisations to 'place media sustainability, independent journalism and information integrity on the global agenda'. While M20 will be confined to the fringes of the heads of state meeting, the French delegation could be a useful vehicle to amplify the issue, albeit informally. In an era of what is often dubbed 'fake news' – but which experts prefer to call 'coordinated inauthentic behaviour' – the language of the information landscape has adopted a more considered definition. It highlights not only inauthentic content but also how algorithms, hate speech and AI-generated deepfakes can pollute the information space, tinkering with content and how it's delivered to us. Bird's efforts to raise the profile of this issue at the Johannesburg G20 are something of a placeholder – with an eye on next year's summit in the US. 'This is a way of providing a base so that work in the US can be built on this,' he says, fearful that under a US G20 presidency the issue could be downplayed or ignored. He says the US administration's record on supporting independent media, including executive orders related to funding public service broadcasters, does not inspire confidence. Although this year's G20 has no working group dedicated to information integrity, the digital economy working group touches on digital innovation and equitable, inclusive and just artificial intelligence. Of course, the G20 is not the only forum to raise such issues. An inquiry by South Africa's Competition Commission identifies generative AI, digital advertising, social media and search engines as challenges to media viability in terms of running media companies and delivering public interest journalism. Research ICT Africa provided expert testimony to that inquiry, highlighting the lack of a level playing field, which disadvantages the Global South. It speaks of big platforms like Meta, X and TikTok having 'algorithm designs that favour foreign media over local sources, subscription models over free content, and YouTube over South African broadcasters'. This undermines local journalism and privileges values and priorities that favour the Global North over the Global South. 'What we are trying to do is future-proof our journalism,' argues Sanef's Izak Minnaar. 'We want global media development issues to focus on Africa and the Global South.' The Competition Commission's inquiry provides leverage for some issues raised by M20. Those behind the campaign want to highlight the journalism aspect of the new media landscape – and not limit it to issues of business equity and media viability. An M20 information integrity summit is scheduled for September in Johannesburg, and more analysis is under way on gender-based violence, online safety and child protection, and journalism as a public good. In this context, information integrity will no doubt become an essential backdrop to the G20 Summit – one of the most important annual events on the geopolitical agenda. DM
Irish Examiner
13-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Cork-Limerick motorway will have 'devastating consequences' for farmland, claims group
A group representing 1,500 people says the Cork-Limerick motorway will have devastating consequences for some of the finest farmland in the country, result in the demolition of 20 homes, and prove extremely costly for the taxpayer. The Cork-Limerick Alliance Group, which represents farmers, teachers, businessmen, and householders, believes 'there are many shortcomings in the current M20 planning that will ultimately result in more negatives than positives for the majority of people who use the road". That's according to the group's chairman Brian Hyde, who said while they support road safety improvements on the route they have a number of concerns about the overall project. 'The Government recently announced its intention to toll the road, which will make travelling on the M20 cost prohibitive for many. This will result in commuters using back roads and the current N20, which will become the 'old road'," Mr Hyde said. He said short and intra urban journeys account for the vast majority of journeys taken on the existing N20. 'We have been informed there is no plan in place to improve these existing roads when the M20 is built, which means the current issues we have now around safety will remain unresolved, and in our opinion, will just get worse. That is unacceptable,' Mr Hyde said. Cost to taxpayer a 'big negative' He added the enormous cost to the taxpayer 'is another big negative". 'The current M20 planning is going to hit people's pockets in three big ways: The exorbitant cost to build the new road, which is estimated at between €1bn and €3bn; the direct carbon pollution and resulting carbon tax it will inevitably cause given it's going through many greenfield sites and causing a lot of environmental issues; and lastly the tolls people will have to pay to use the road for every journey, every day,' Mr Hyde said. He said his group firmly believe there is a far most cost-efficient and less environmentally impactful way to achieve the M20 aims. 'This would be to stay online with the current N20 and upgrade the existing road, to work with what we have, rather than going offline to take hundreds of acres of prime agricultural land in the Golden Vale and devastate family farms in the process. "It will also take up to 20 homes in the midst of a raging housing crisis, as well as pollute and very negatively impact the Blackwater River,' he said. The river is designated an SAC (Special Area of Conservation) and the group say building a new bridge across if will cost millions and is not needed. 'What makes far more sense instead is to bypass Charleville and Buttevant, which are the major traffic bottlenecks on the current N20 and to build an overpass between the two roundabouts at Mallow, as the town is already bypassed. Taking that approach would deliver a safer, faster, less impactful and far less costly road connection between Cork and Limerick with no tolls. "It would also be delivered in roughly half the time it will take to build the M20. It just makes far more sense on multiple levels,' Mr Hyde said. It's unlikely work will start on the project until at least 2028 and the motorway is expected to be open no sooner than 2035.
BBC News
09-07-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Operation Brock deployed 'at last possible moment'
A traffic system for lorries queueing to cross the English Channel will be put in place as close to the busy period as possible to minimise disruption for residents, organisers have Operation Brock contraflow barrier will be rolled out on the M20 between junctions eight and nine overnight on 16 July, coming into force the following Kent and Medway Resilience Forum (KMRF) said the system minimises congestion and that its work to find a permanent solution is residents have said it blocks "key routes" and is too expensive, costing between £100,000 and £250,000 each time. The KMRF said data from the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel showed high passenger numbers were expected every weekend in July, but that it would review if the barrier needs to stay in place in the first week of Jones, the KMRF's strategic lead for border disruption, said: "The decision to put the barrier out is made to keep disruption for Kent residents to a minimum and always led by the number of passenger and freight crossings expected at the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel."Our work with central government to identify a better traffic management solution will continue, alongside our around-the-clock traffic monitoring so everyone can get to where they need to be safely this summer."A BBC Freedom of Information request to National Highways revealed Operation Brock cost more than £2.7m to roll out across 10 occasions between 2019, when it was first introduced, and Robin Burkhardt, who used to run an antique shop on Snargate Street, Dover, said in May that heavy port traffic "destroyed his business"."We had to close up last December because everyone ended up staying away from the area - it caused the town to suffer," he Christine Mitchell, who lives along the M20, said when Operation Brock was in place there was disruption on the roads and lorries were "thundering through" residential said: "I think it's an absolutely disgusting waste of money and quite honestly a sledgehammer to crack a nut."The KMRF said that until the government finds a permanent solution, Operation Brock is the only option available.
Cambrian News
24-06-2025
- Sport
- Cambrian News
Sarn Helen Runners shine at Red Kite series & triathlon
Ollie George, Kevin Jones and Michael Lear competed in the Duathlon Event comprising of a run, cycle, run. Ollie George finished 5th overall and 3rd M20 in a superb time of 1:05:57, Kevin Jones was 10th overall and 3rd M50 in 1:13:07 and Michael Lear was 14th overall in 1:19:07.
