Latest news with #MFP
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill to create St. George Community School System passes House
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — The bill to create a school system for the City of St. George has passed the House on Wednesday. SB 25 and SB 234, both authored by Sen. Rick Edmonds, are aimed at creating the St. George Community School System and treating it as a parish school district. SB 25 would allow the created school system the ability to participate in the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) state funding formula, get free teaching materials from the state and levy local taxes for school funding. If the bill becomes a law, the school system would begin operating schools on July 1, 2027. SB 234 is the implementation plan, showing a breakdown of how the school system would operate. The school board will be made up of seven appointed interim members and one appointed interim superintendent. A more permanent board will be elected and can serve four-year concurrent terms. All public school property, including buses, within the City of St. George border would be transferred from the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board by June 30, 2027. Students will have the option to remain at their current schools after the split, depending on the student's grade level. East Baton Rouge must cooperate in transferring records, assets, and access to facilities. Until June 30, 2027, East Baton Rouge Parish will collect all sales, use, and property taxes before the City of St. George takes over on July 1, 2027. Louisiana bill on Baton Rouge blight moves forward More people speak out against Clinton tax preparer accused of fraud AI may cut drug discovery time, says scientific software leader Keeping pets safe in the summer heat: Local experts share tips May Street closures in effect, Baton Rouge residents concerned with traffic congestion Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Zawya
28-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
CNS Middle East and Fujifilm showcase advanced multifunction printers at exclusive Muscat event
Muscat, Oman: CNS Middle East, a leader in innovation and technology across the Middle East, in partnership with Fujifilm, a global leader in imaging and printing technologies, hosted an exclusive event on Monday, 26 May at the Intercontinental Hotel Muscat to unveil Fujifilm's latest Multifunction Printing (MFP) technology in the Omani market. The event brought together key decision-makers, IT leaders, and industry professionals from across Oman's enterprise, government, and SME sectors, who gathered to explore how Fujifilm's advanced MFPs are redefining the future of workplace printing. Attendees had the opportunity to witness live demonstrations of the state-of-the-art devices, followed by an interactive Q&A session with experts from CNS and Fujifilm. Fujifilm's MFPs, now available in Oman through CNS, are equipped with innovative LED print technology—delivering superior print quality, faster output, energy efficiency, and overall cost savings. The solutions also align with the region's growing sustainability priorities, making them ideal for organizations seeking to modernize their printing infrastructure without compromising on environmental responsibility. Cengiz Metin, General Manager, Device Technology Division at Fujifilm Middle East, added, 'We are proud to partner with CNS to bring our innovative technology to the Omani market. The engagement and feedback we received from local organizations during the event were truly encouraging. Together with CNS, we are empowering businesses with tools that enhance productivity. This is a clear display of our joint commitment to shaping the printing landscape in Oman.' Khodor Ezzeddine, Division Manager, Printing Solutions at CNS Middle East, commented, 'We were thrilled by the strong interest and positive response at the event. This turnout reaffirms the growing demand for next-generation printing solutions in Oman. Our collaboration with Fujifilm is centered on providing high-performance, sustainable technology that meets the evolving needs of Omani businesses and beyond.' The successful launch event marks a key milestone in the ongoing collaboration between CNS and Fujifilm, underscoring their shared commitment to delivering reliable, high-performance printing solutions that drive digital transformation across Oman - enabling organizations to streamline operations, enhance productivity, and achieve greater efficiency. About CNS Middle East Established in 1987, CNS Middle East, a Ghobash Group Enterprise, is a premier technology solutions provider dedicated to driving future advancements across the region. With a robust team of over 800 technology specialists, CNS excels in cloud, cybersecurity, digital infrastructure, fintech and business application solutions, along with emerging technologies, plus managed and engineering services. CNS serves as a trusted partner for businesses seeking transformative technology solutions and is committed to helping clients achieve mission-critical objectives through innovation and best-in-class services. For more information, visit or write to info@ You can also follow CNS Middle East on LinkedIn. Source: AETOSWire Contacts: Tony Hamad Group Marketing Director
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's drug price order is part request, part threat: Analyst
President Trump signed an executive order on Monday calling for pharmaceutical companies to cut their drug prices for US consumers. Bernstein Senior Analyst, US Biopharmaceuticals Courtney Breen comments on whether the Trump administration ultimately has the power to force drug companies to do this. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination here. Courtney, is it your understanding that President Trump, does he have the authority, Courtney, to do what he is proposing, what he wants to do here without congressional approval and legislation? Great question. So, I think what was interesting in this executive order, where there is kind of a there is a request part of the order, and then there is a kind of threat part of the order. And in the request part is the suggestion that the government administration will pull together proposed MFN prices, propose these to companies, and then the companies get to choose to take actions to start lowering their US prices to come into line with those MFN prices. That perhaps is is kind of within the bounds of uh of some of the actions that could be taken if the industry decides to play ball. The second part, though, the threat if the industry doesn't play ball, is when legislation is required, kind of akin to what we saw with Biden and kind of the IRA, and the uh the MFP, the maximum fair price negotiations that are in place now for uh Medicare drugs. Um this is likely to require to be required to be instigated in legislation. Um and certainly through the press conference today, we saw reference to the fact that the intention is to load this legislation into the big beautiful bill that the Republicans are preparing on a number of topics and including tax cuts, um and ensure that that is a a a place for it to potentially pass. I think, however, there is a lot of of steps, a lot of detail, and the devil will really be in the in that detail as to whether this legislation can uh kind of proceed, doesn't have court issues going for going forward, and uh and we do actually see any implementation of this. I think is is still a question mark. So, Courtney, do you think that the drug companies will call the president's bluff and not lower the prices as he's requesting? I think this is something that we're going to see playing out over the over the next few weeks to months. Uh they've given themselves uh the administration a 30-day deadline to to begin these conversations with pharma companies. Um bearing in mind, kind of the the the pharma lobbying body, Pharma, and uh many of the CEOs have been engaged with the administration kind of day in and day out over the past couple of months on this along with tariffs. So, kind of this will be a continuation of conversations that have probably already been happening in private. Um certainly what we did see in the executive order were a number of things that the drug companies have been wanting to achieve. They've been wanting to uh point the target to the countries outside the US and say, "Their drug prices are too low, uh and we need your help there." And they've also been pointing to the PBMs as being responsible for a large part of the reason as to why US drug prices are too high. So, there certainly were some olive branches given to the industry, um and definitely a reflection even of the industry lobbying lex lobbying language in this bill, sorry, in this executive order. Um and so when it comes to kind of is there going to be goodwill and trust from the industry, there might be a path here, but we'll just have to wait and see. Sign in to access your portfolio
France 24
30-04-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Elon Musk's tweets (2/2): Raising the profile of Europe's far right
Our investigation, conducted as part of a project by the French-speaking public media association MFP (Médias Francophones Publics), spanned a five-month period, from November 4, 2024, the day before US President Donald Trump's re-election, to April 4, 2025. We examined more than 15,000 of his posts on X. To analyse these posts, we developed a data-analysis tool powered by artificial intelligence (see our sidebar at the end of the article). The AI helped us identify the hundreds of tweets that make up Musk's anti-Ukraine rhetoric, enabling us to precisely track and measure his anti-European rhetoric online. We also paid close attention to the billionaire's interactions, counting his retweets, replies, and quote tweets. This dataset was then manually verified and analysed by our journalists, post by post. Influencers amplified by Elon Musk A key finding of our investigation is that Elon Musk significantly boosted the visibility of far-right influencers in Europe, such as German YouTuber Naomi Seibt, often described as the "anti-Greta Thunberg." According to our investigation, based on an analysis by Belgium's RTBF, Naomi Seibt's profile garnered 1,117 likes in the analysed period before interacting with Elon Musk. After being quoted and retweeted by Musk, her likes surged by 624%, reaching a total of 8,091. A similar increase was observed for her retweets, which saw a 781% rise. The same phenomenon occurred with "Radio Genoa", an Italian anti-immigration influencer, whose like-count doubled after interacting with Elon Musk's account. Musk also amplifies accounts associated with the American alt-right, such as former Trump administration member Mike Benz; profiles known to be close to Russia, like the Lebanese-Australian influencer Mario Nawfal; and cryptocurrency influencers, including the account Inevitable West. The Polish ultra-conservative media outlet Visegrad24 also appears among the most frequently cited profiles. Weidel, Orban, Meloni: clear support for far-right leaders Musk also promotes leaders of far-right political parties in Europe. In total, he mentioned Germany's AfD and its leader Alice Weidel 57 times. He also hosted a live conversation with her on X on January 9, 2025 (archive). Nigel Farage and his Reform UK party were mentioned 21 times. Musk has repeatedly shown his support for the British far-right activist and English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson, who was jailed for 18 months after making false allegations about a Syrian refugee. Musk called for his release, posting about him 26 times. In addition to figures in Germany and the UK, Musk also mentioned multiple far-right figures from across Europe, including Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. He also publicly advocated for the release of Marine Le Pen on April 4, 2025 (archive), after the French politician was convicted of embezzlement – though she was not imprisoned. In total, the former French presidential candidate appears in 13 of the billionaire's posts. 'It can be argued that Elon Musk is interfering in European elections, even though it's difficult to determine whether the AfD's relative success in recent elections was directly attributable to his influence,' said Jérôme Viala-Gaudefroy, who has a doctorate in American civilisation and wrote the book 'Trump's words' ("Les mots de Trump"). 199 posts directly in favour of the far right By analysing the posts' content to identify the parties mentioned (using party names and key figures as keywords), we found that Musk published 199 posts favourable to the European far right. He particularly backed far-right movements in Germany and the United Kingdom, as shown in the graphic below. The billionaire frequently comments on the electoral affairs of these two countries. For instance, he explicitly called for votes for the AfD, Germany's far-right party. This drew sharp criticism following the Christmas market attack in Magdeburg, Germany, on December 20, 2024, after which he published a dozen posts. Former European commissioner Thierry Breton (archive) accused Musk of 'foreign interference', claiming he was using the attack to bolster support for the AfD. Musk further intensified his pro-AfD posts in the run-up to the German legislative elections, which took place on February 23, 2025. On February 13, 2025 (archive), he said the AfD was 'the only hope for Germany'. Regarding the United Kingdom, Musk published 26 posts supporting the far right within the week of December 26, 2024. He expressed delight that membership of the British populist right-wing party Reform UK (archive) surpassed that of the Conservative Party. 1,308 posts criticising Europe How significant is Elon Musk's anti-Europe campaign? In just five months, the billionaire published 1,308 posts criticising Europe, an average of 7.2 posts per day on this topic alone. Through an AI-driven analysis of the posts' content, we identified the geographical focus of these posts. The analysis revealed that the United Kingdom, with 593 posts, is the most frequent target of Musk's criticism, followed by the European Union and its institutions, Germany, and Ukraine. 'Europe is everything Elon Musk can't stand' 'Europe, and in particular the European Union, is everything Elon Musk can't stand,' Viala-Gaudefroy said. 'Musk has a very masculinist and anti-woke perspective, while Europe tends to be progressive. Ideologically, Elon Musk is a libertarian, fiercely opposed to regulation, while the EU regulates extensively. He believes businessmen are the masters of the world and should not be hindered.' We identified five key anti-European themes mentioned by Musk in his posts. Musk has been particularly critical of European migration policy. This is the topic he criticised the most in his tweets on Europe, with 391 posts. On February 14, 2025, the billionaire shared a short excerpt of the speech given by US Vice President JD Vance (archive) at the Munich Security Conference, where Vance explicitly targeted Europe. Vance said there was 'nothing more urgent than mass migration', adding that the number of immigrants from non-EU countries who entered the bloc 'doubled' from 2021 to 2022. This post garnered more than 55 million views on Elon Musk's account. In his tweets, Musk also decries what he claims is a link between immigration and crime. He mentions 103 times the 'grooming gang' scandal, a decade-old scandal of sexual assaults perpetrated by men of Asian origin in the UK. On January 3 (archive), Musk directly criticised British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, accusing him of being 'complicit in the rape of Britain' due to his past position as a prosecutor in the Crown Prosecution Service. Europe's foreign policy is also on Musk's radar. The billionaire supports influencers opposed to European aid to Ukraine and openly advocates for the United States to withdraw from NATO. 'Doesn't make sense for America to pay for the defense of Europe,' he wrote on March 9, 2025, in a post which garnered over 72 million views. Musk also routinely criticises the workings of European democracy and the European electoral system. The billionaire has repeatedly railed (archive) against the annulment of the first round of Romanian presidential elections, and the subsequent exclusion of the far-right candidate, Călin Georgescu, following accusations of Russian interference in the electoral process. In addition, Musk's tweets frequently target European regulations, including rules on moderating social-media content. On January 14, 2025, he posted a single-word message "groan" (archive) in response to criticism of US tech giants by Breton, the former EU commissioner. Breton had criticised the way Musk and other US tech giants denounce the EU's moderation requirements – designed to ensure healthy democratic debate on social media platforms – as "censorship". 'This is very much in line with what we've seen from Musk and his long-standing interest in free speech and his long-standing critique of any sort of regulation that will abridge free speech,' said Jessica Yarin Robinson, a researcher at Oslo University who specialises in digital media. 'But again, this is not just about his own personal views on free speech, this is also a financial issue. Musk owns X, which operates in Europe and has to deal with regulations like GDPR, the Digital Services Act, or country-level laws regulating free speech. This is really a regulatory headache for him.' The billionaire's tweets suggest he hopes to export certain American values to Europe. For instance, in response to an X user complaining about living in Europe 'when everyone is celebrating the end of woke bullshit [in the US]' (archive), he replied: 'We will do our best to help from America!' We were also able to identify the countries Musk mentioned most frequently within each of these themes. The UK emerges as the primary target in most of these main themes, with the exception of Musk's criticism of Europe's foreign policy, which focuses primarily on Ukraine. Through both his interactions and the topics he posts about, Elon Musk acts as a promoter of the American and European far right on his social media platform. According to Viala-Gaudefroy, this is not surprising. "The billionaire aims to establish a far-right network. The goal is to build a kind of international alliance between authoritarian nationalists, potentially including Russia and even China,' he says. To study Musk's messaging on X, teams from the France 24 Observers and Belgian broadcaster RTBF analysed and categorised more than 15,000 tweets and retweets shared by his account (@elonmusk) between November 4, 2024 and April 4, 2025. In order to analyse all of these tweets, we used a method created by researchers in cognitive science at the French higher education institute l 'É cole Normale supérieure (for more on the method click here), which allowed us to catagorise text using the ChatGPT language model. We asked ChatGPT's API to categorise each tweet, which enabled us to identify all of the tweets that Musk shared that were either hostile to Ukraine or favorable to Russia, as well as those that criticised Europe and those that showed support for the European far right. We verified the results by manually analysing each post. We examined Musk's original posts, as well as the posts he shared (such as his retweets or quote tweets). We also included the transcripts of videos that he posted directly or shared from other accounts.
CBC
24-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
How do the major political parties plan to support migrant workers who bring the harvest to Canadian tables?
As many Canadians are looking for more locally made products at places like the supermarket and liquor store, those growing and harvesting the fruits and vegetables that are sold there or go into those products are often not Canadian themselves. Despite spending most of their time in Canada, migrant workers in the agricultural sector have limited or nonexistent pathways to becoming permanent residents or getting an open work permit. That also means they cannot vote. "These are essential workers who come to do essential work here in Canada. They do work that Canadians do not want to do," said Rev. Antonio Illas, who runs the Migrant Farmworkers Project (MFP) in the Niagara Region. "If it weren't for our agricultural workforce, our greenhouses, vegetables, flower industry, vineyards, these industries could not be successful," he said in an interview translated from Spanish. Illas said many workers spend decades doing "backbreaking labour" in Canada for months at a time. "A worker who has come here for 25, 30 years and who, at the end of the day, when they want to enjoy their pension, wants to make this their country … how unfair it is, that they cannot do it?" he said. "In my opinion, to improve the structure of this program, and based on social justice, this seasonal farmworker program must be modified." Illas said it falls on Canadian citizens to "watch over this vulnerable community and fight," because they have no say when it comes to the ballot. "It's up to us," he said. Read all of CBC Hamilton's coverage of the federal election here. Illas wants to know what pathways political parties are offering migrant workers toward permanent residency. He said in his experience, most workers don't want to stay in Canada, "but there is a percentage that would like to adjust their immigration status and [the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program] does not provide it." 'We must safeguard the dignity of this group' Through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), Canadian employers can hire and fly in temporary foreign workers. The program is open to workers from Mexico and several Caribbean countries (Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago). SAWP started in 1966 with Jamaican workers and was expanded to the Caribbean until 1974, when Mexico was included. "Maybe in 1966, when the program was made, it wasn't an issue, but now, 58 years later, there are some [workers] who would like to migrate to Canada and make this their country," he said. The Migrant Farmworkers Project in Niagara aims to "bring together" workers with volunteers and community members in the region, said Illas. They offer free meals, clothes, healthcare and a space for workers to access the internet and connect with others. The project also locally runs a program called Plaza Comunitaria (Community Square in English), which helps Mexican adults finish their elementary and secondary education. Illas said they're always looking for volunteers. Illas said as it stands, the federal government sees migrant workers purely as a source of "cheap labour." "We must safeguard the dignity of this group, and that is why we want [migrant workers] not to be invisible in Canadian society," he said. Other advocacy groups have been calling for migrant workers to have an access to permanent residency for many years. "Without permanent resident status, migrants are left vulnerable to abuse, exploitation, and in some cases, even death," Karen Cocq, with the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, said at a news conference in B.C. last year. What the parties are saying CBC Hamilton reached out to the major political parties to ask about their plans for the program, how they will support agricultural and migrant workers and if they plan to make permanent residency more accessible for these workers. The Conservative Party did not respond to CBC's request. Here's some of what the others said. Green Party Fabrice Lachance Nové, press secretary for the Greens, said in a statement to CBC Hamilton the party would "comprehensively review and overhaul the Temporary Foreign Worker Program," a program broader than SAWP which lets employers fill temporary jobs where there are no Canadian workers available. The party would do that in order to "protect workers from abuse and exploitation while ensuring critical labour needs are met in agriculture." "This includes strengthening enforcement of labour protections, fair wages, adequate housing, and safe working conditions for foreign agricultural and other seasonal workers, and address barriers these seasonal workers face to access social safety net programs such as employment insurance and disability protections," said the spokesperson. The party would aim to reduce reliance on the program, expand "employer-driven immigration pathways," and ensure migrant agricultural workers have "fair routes" to permanent residency. They'll also aim to "prevent labour trafficking and exploitation by mandating open work permits, increasing unannounced workplace inspections, and enforcing strict penalties for abusive employers." Liberal Party The party did not respond directly about the program or support for workers in Canada under SAWP. Mohammad Hussain, a spokesperson for the Liberals, said in a statement Liberal Leader Mark Carney is "taking action to build a strong economy and to put more money back in the pockets of Canadians." "By Canada Day we will remove interprovincial trade barriers that will make it easier for Canadian businesses to trade their goods across the country and bring down costs," the spokesperson said. The statement also said the party wants to set "responsible" immigration levels "with a focus on building a strong economy and ensuring that key sectors have the workforce they need." According to the party's website, they're also aiming to "make it easy" for Canadians to buy local products by working with "agricultural producers," among others. New Democratic Party The NDP provided a statement via the Hamilton East—Stoney Creek MP candidate Nayla Mithani, who said "our immigration system should be accountable to Canadians and rooted in the values of fairness, dignity, and human rights." Mithani said the party will eliminate closed work permits, "an exploitative system that denies workers their rights." "We will implement a broad and inclusive regularization program that gives those without status a clear pathway to permanent residency," she said. "Canada's strength comes from the people who have made it their home – from the First Nations who have stewarded the land for millennia to generation after generation of newcomers who have built their lives here."
