Latest news with #McGuirk
Agriland
29-05-2025
- Business
- Agriland
Data company claims material risk of deforestation from EUDR
A data analytics company believes that deforestation is no longer just a reputational concern, it is now a material risk with 'regulatory teeth'. GlobalData claims that with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) taking effect in December 2025, companies across different sectors must prove their supply chains are deforestation-free or face severe penalties. It believes that the shift demands urgent action on traceability, supplier engagement, and sustainability strategy to preserve access to critical markets. The upcoming EUDR is a commodity-based regulation, that requires companies importing deforestation-intensive commodities to the EU to provide evidence that these products' supply chains are deforestation-free. GlobalData claims that companies that fail to comply could face a fine of up to 4% of their EU revenue or a temporary suspension from the EU market. Deforestation Strategic intelligence analyst at GlobalData, Aoife McGuirk believes that for many years certain companies have faced 'operational regulatory risk' if their operations directly contribute to the problem. She also said that the introduction of the EUDR from December 2025 means far more companies will need to mitigate the supply chain regulatory risk they face. GlobalData has claimed that the agricultural sector faces the highest level of regulatory risk 'across the board', with the second most exposed sector being the consumer. McGuirk said: 'Every company needs a strategy to mitigate deforestation risk in its many forms. GlobalData has five key recommendations companies should follow when implementing such a strategy. 'One of the biggest challenges for EUDR compliance is ensuring that supply chains are fully transparent.' 'Artificial intelligence (AI) can support anti-deforestation efforts by monitoring forests and using predictive analytics to predict where deforestation will occur, allowing stakeholders to prevent it,' she added. GlobalData also highlighted that companies should set a robust no-deforestation target to signal to consumers and regulators that they are serious about their forestry efforts. It has encouraged companies to engage with suppliers throughout the value chain to strengthen accountability and explicitly integrate the risk into their business strategies.
The Guardian
05-03-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
London exhibition explores design based on needs of nature and animals
Designers need to 'fundamentally rethink our relationship with the natural world', according to the curator of a new exhibition which argues the needs of nature and animals should be considered when creating homes, buildings and products. Justin McGuirk, the curator of the upcoming More Than Human exhibition at the Design Museum in London, said our current 'human-centric' approach to design needs to be radically overhauled as the world adapts to the climate crisis. 'We're stuck in a carbon accountancy model which is basically about doing everything exactly the same as we currently do, just a little bit less bad,' he said. 'That's not really going to cut it.' McGuirk believes there needs to be 'a fundamental shift in position' for all designers. 'Every design project needs to think about how it's affecting other species, or either limiting its impact on other species, or ideally promoting the health of other species,' he said. The More Than Human exhibition, which opens on 11 July, presents ideas for how the world of design could achieve the shift McGuirk and others are calling for. There's a pavilion that is specifically designed to encourage insects to nest in its exterior, a project in New York where a wave breaker has been built using a colony of oysters rather than concrete, and it features a 'monumental seaweed installation' by the artist Julia Lohmann. Innovative design ideas that help restore damaged and dying marine ecosystems such as coral reefs, which are dying at record rates around the world, are also included. Reef Design Lab's Living Seawalls – an artificial habitat for marine life – will feature alongside the lab's Modular Artificial Reef Structure II, which is placed on the ocean floor to help regenerate and repopulate natural reef structures. McGuirk said there's a sense that humans are detached from nature. 'We extract what we need and then we build what we want. But actually we're interdependent with all these living systems, so it's really a new way of thinking that we're trying to encourage,' he added. The More Than Human movement first emerged in the late 1990s when David Abram, the cultural ecologist, geo-philosopher and performance artist, coined the term. It has since moved from the theoretical to the real world. 'It's really only been around in theory for about 20 years,' said McGuirk. 'But I've noticed among a younger generation of designers that this is becoming much more a way of thinking for them.' The exhibition is the first curatorial collaboration between the Design Museum and its national design research programme, Future Observatory, which launched in 2021 and champions new design thinking on environmental issues. Tim Marlow, director and CEO of the Design Museum said: 'It's important for museums and cultural institutions to respond to the complex issues facing our planet and society at present. It's also important to shift perspectives from a human-centric view of the world to one closer to nature, which will make this a landmark exhibition in every sense.'
New York Times
03-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Mavericks season-ticket prices, even after Luka Dončić departure, are going up
The Dallas Mavericks are raising prices on season tickets at a time when fan frustration with the team is high. On Monday, the Mavericks sent season-ticket renewals to existing customers. The rate to remain a season-ticket holder increased by an average of 8.6 percent, the Mavericks confirmed. Season tickets on the floor and on the terrace levels saw the steepest hikes, with the cost to remain there increasing by as much as 20 percent. Advertisement Stephen McGuirk, a season-ticket holder since 2015 who has two seats in Section 204, said the cost of his tickets increased by 8.3 percent. McGuirk said he was told to 'be on the lookout' for a renewal notice in late January. He, however, said he never heard from the team in January or February; he received a notice Monday that his tickets would auto-renew on March 17. The Mavericks traded Luka Dončić, the former face of the franchise, to the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 2. McGuirk was one of the many Mavericks fans who felt blindsided by that decision. 'I've never felt more betrayed by a sports franchise in my entire life,' McGuirk told The Athletic in February. The Lakers, who were playing well before Dončić's arrival, have gone 6-2 with him in the lineup and are winners of six consecutive games. Los Angeles (38-21) has moved to second place in the Western Conference standings. Meanwhile, the Mavericks (32-29) have slipped to 10th place in the West. Dallas, which has been rocked by injuries at the power forward and center positions, has lost three of four games headed into Monday's matchup against the Sacramento Kings. The Mavericks lost their first game against Dončić on Feb. 25 in Los Angeles. Dončić, who last season finished third in MVP voting and led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals, faces his former team in Dallas for the first time on April 9. The Mavericks last faced the Kings on Feb. 10. In Dallas' 129-128 overtime loss that night, multiple Mavericks fans who publicly expressed displeasure about the Dončić trade were ejected from American Airlines Center. The rate hike in season tickets was made to 'better reflect seat value, especially in high-demand areas closest to the court,' the Mavericks said in a statement. The adjustments were made after months of evaluating ticket prices on the secondary market. Advertisement The Mavericks also pointed out that, before this season, they shifted their local television model by parting ways with Bally Sports and making all their non-national TV exclusives free on over-the-air TV. That decision cost the Mavericks more than $50 million in revenue. The Mavericks projected that, even with the rate hikes, season-ticket holders will save 15 to 23 percent compared to prices on the secondary ticket marketplace next season. (Photo by Richard Rodriguez / Getty Images)
Al Jazeera
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Why an Irish news site has been drawn into JD Vance's attacks on Europe
A conservative media outlet in Ireland has become the latest lightning rod for populist concerns about free speech that have exposed stark divisions between Europe and the United States in the era of President Donald Trump. Gript, a news site known for its conservative stances on culture war issues such as mass immigration and political correctness, announced this week that Irish police last year obtained a court order to access private messages and IP addresses associated with its X account. Gript, which purports to cover the news without the 'liberal filter', called the move an 'intolerable' and 'egregious' attack on privacy and media freedom. Elon Musk's X, which said it successfully challenged the court order, shared Gript's statement, which was widely amplified by conservative, populist and far-right accounts on the platform in and outside Ireland. Gript's announcement came days after US Vice President JD Vance thrust the issues of free speech, censorship and immigration in Europe into the spotlight with a blistering speech that roiled transatlantic relations and energised the political right on the continent and beyond. What exactly happened? On Tuesday, Gript released a statement saying that police had sought access to its communications on X as part of investigations into violent protests that took place in April at the site of planned accommodation for asylum seekers. Gript, which also published what it said was a copy of the court order, had published footage of the protests in Newtownmountkennedy, a town about 40km (25 miles) south of Dublin, including scenes of violent clashes between police and demonstrators. Gript's footage of the protests, during which six people were arrested, included video appearing to show police using pepper spray against one of its journalists among other confrontations between officers and members of the public. Gript said that it was given no opportunity to challenge An Garda Siochana, the name of Ireland's police force, over its application to access its communications or the resulting court order. The outlet said it only learned that police had sought access to its communications after being informed by X. According to the court order published by Gript, a judge determined there were 'reasonable grounds' to believe footage published by the outlet on X contained evidence of criminal offences. In a follow-up video, Gript editor John McGuirk said police had used a law originally introduced to combat drug dealers and 'terrorists' to target his outlet on the 'very flimsy pretext' that it might have evidence 'connecting somebody somewhere' to crimes. 'In journalism, it is very important to defend your sources, to defend your readers and to defend the rights of those who work for you, up and until the point of going to prison, which I am prepared to do if necessary,' McGuirk said in his video statement. McGuirk said that the police ultimately dropped their bid without gaining access to his outlet's private messages and other data after X successfully challenged the move in court. Gript did not respond to a request for comment from Al Jazeera. What are the Irish police saying? In a statement to Al Jazeera, An Garda Siochana said it does not comment on the comments of third parties or ongoing investigations but acknowledged the court order. 'In order to vindicate the rights of potential victims of crime including Gardai [police officers] who have been verbally and physically assaulted, An Garda Siochana has a positive obligation to obtain all available evidence relating to particular incidents,' a spokesperson said. An Garda Siochana said the decision of whether or not to issue a court order is a matter for the independent judiciary and that it takes the 'protection of the right of journalists to report freely and in safety very seriously'. An Garda Siochana did not respond to a question about whether it had sought the communications of other media organisations or journalists. What is the connection with Vance's claims about free speech in Europe? Conservative and far-right figures in and outside Ireland have highlighted the case as an example of what Vance claimed was Europe's retreat from its 'fundamental values,' including free speech. Gript itself has sought to draw a link, with McGuirk saying his run-in with the authorities fit 'very well' into the themes of the US vice president's speech. 'I think it was timely that he made it just as the consequences of the very issues he was talking about were coming home for us,' McGuirk said in his video statement. Harry Browne, a journalism lecturer at Technological University Dublin, said that the case involving Gript raises legitimate concerns, but questioned the attempts to link it to Vance's criticisms of Europe's speech restrictions. 'It is concerning but not surprising that they used this particular 'back-door' tool of going through the platform, and it's likely Twitter [the former name for X] was not alone,' Browne told Al Jazeera, referring to the police's application to access private messages on X and suggesting other social media platforms may have been similarly targeted. 'It bears no relation whatsoever to the European digital censorship regime,' Browne said, arguing that, despite Vance's complaints, restrictions on speech in Europe are more likely to target figures on the political left, such as pro-Palestinian and antiwar activists, than those on the right. In his withering speech to the Munich Security Conference last Friday, Vance said that Europe was retreating from its 'most fundamental values' and faced a greater threat 'from within' than from China or Russia. 'I look to Brussels, where EU commissars warn citizens that they intend to shut down social media during times of civil unrest the moment they spot what they've judged to be, quote, 'hateful content',' Vance said. 'Or to this very country, where police have carried out raids against citizens suspected of posting anti-feminist comments online as part of, quote, 'combating misogyny on the internet'.' Vance's speech received a cool response in Europe, whose governments have traditionally taken a more proactive role in cracking down on hate speech than the US. Unlike the US, where the First Amendment of the constitution limits legal restrictions on expression, the European Union has long criminalised hate speech related to characteristics such as race, colour, religion and national origin. Individual member states also have their own anti-hate speech laws. Under the EU's landmark Digital Services Act passed in 2022, the bloc also operates a code of conduct for platforms to counter hate speech online, which includes a commitment to 'undertake best efforts to review at least two-thirds' of content brought to their notice within 24 hours. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took particular umbrage at Vance's suggestion that Germany's mainstream political parties should drop their opposition to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) entering government. 'There can therefore be no reconciling a commitment to 'never again' with support for the AfD,' Scholz said, using a common slogan associated with the lessons of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. 'That is why we will not accept outside observers acting on behalf of this party, interfering with our democracy and our elections and influencing the democratic formation of opinions. That is bad manners – especially among friends and allies.' While Vance singled out a number of countries for castigation, including Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom – highlighting, among other cases, the prosecution of a British man who breached a 'safe access zone' to conduct a silent vigil outside an abortion clinic – he did not mention Ireland by name. Vance, however, has raised concern about free speech in Ireland specifically before. As a US Senator in 2023, Vance wrote to Ireland's ambassador to the US to express concern that a hate speech bill under consideration by the Irish parliament would 'chill important public debate'. The Irish government last year announced it would not go forward with the plans amid criticism from some opposition parties and a number of other prominent figures on the American right, including tech billionaire Musk and President Trump. Fergal Quinn, a lecturer in journalism at the University of Limerick, said that while he does not believe Vance has much credibility on free speech since the Trump administration appears to only be interested in protecting speech that serves its agenda, his criticisms contain a 'grain of truth'. 'The free speech versus hate speech debate has always been a tricky balance to get right,' Quinn told Al Jazeera. 'The law in this area is far from perfect and needs constant refinement, but the free-for-all on the likes of X that has resulted from Musk's relaxation of moderation is a catastrophic step backwards in terms of disinformation and polarisation in the public sphere.' What has the reaction been in Ireland? While An Garda Siochana's actions have been criticised in conservative circles, including in the US, the case has received relatively little mainstream attention in Ireland. Most of the Irish media – including national broadcaster RTE and leading newspapers The Irish Times and The Irish Independent – have not reported on the case even as it has attracted significant attention on conservative and far-right social media and media platforms. The National Union of Journalists, which advocates for media freedom in Ireland, has not released a statement and declined to comment when contacted by Al Jazeera. The muted reaction in Ireland may be due to Gript's polarising nature in a country where consensus-based politics is the norm and right-wing populist and far-right groups have made few inroads relative to other Western countries. Gript covers the news through an unabashedly conservative lens and has been strongly critical of the scale of the Irish government's intake of asylum seekers and its liberal positions on cultural issues such as abortion and transgender rights. On its website, it pitches itself as an alternative for readers concerned about the 'headlong rush to the most extreme forms of liberalism, facilitated by the stifling of any real debate.' Before entering journalism, McGuirk was involved in a number of centre-right political parties and helped lead campaigns opposing abortion and greater integration with the EU. The outlet has been criticised over the accuracy of some of its coverage. In 2023, it removed an article that erroneously linked an Algerian asylum seeker to a stabbing attack on three children and a teacher outside a Dublin school. The man, who was not named in the article but was identified on social media through details about his asylum history, is currently suing Gript for defamation. A 2023 study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank that describes its mission as countering 'extremism, hate and disinformation', described Gript as a 'prominent entity within the Irish mis- and disinformation ecosystem' that had a record of failing to correct 'false and misleading content' about immigration. Gript has denied espousing far-right views and last year successfully argued in a complaint to the Press Council of Ireland that an article that accused the outlet of being 'racist' and 'stirring up hatred against immigrants' had failed to meet the industry code's standards of accuracy. 'Gript is an unpopular and problematic news organisation that has repeatedly skirted the line in terms of hate speech as it has sought – with limited success so far – to ride the wave of growth in right-wing politics across the world,' Quinn, from the University of Limerick, said. 'I would not say it is wrong about every issue it pushes, but I would say it is not credible.' Still, Quinn said it is concerning 'in principle' for police to target a media operation regardless of its credibility. 'There is a history in Ireland of Gardai using their powers excessively in these areas and in broad terms whereby freedom of speech is sometimes a principle that is grudgingly allowed rather than rigorously upheld,' he said. Tom Felle, an associate professor of journalism at the University of Galway, voiced similar concerns. 'Media freedom is a fundamental pillar of any democracy, and the threshold for breaching that freedom should be extremely high,' Felle told Al Jazeera. 'Such actions should only occur in the rarest of circumstances and when absolutely necessary in the public interest.'
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Man dies in 3-car crash in Foxborough
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (WWLP) – Massachusetts State Police were called to a three-car crash on Interstate 95 in Foxborough Friday evening that resulted in serious injuries and one death. Mass. State Police Director of Public Affairs and Media Relations Tim McGuirk said that shortly before 5:00 p.m. on Friday, troopers from the Foxborough Barracks received a report about a three-vehicle crash on Interstate 95 south before Exit 23B. One person dead after crash in the area of Dwight and Main Streets in Holyoke McGuirk said that preliminary information suggested that one operator suffered a medical incident that caused his vehicle to go into the median and veer back into the roadway, striking two other cars. When first responders arrived at the location, medical aid was delivered to the operator. After being brought to the hospital, he passed away. The operator has been identified as 57-year-old William Martindale of Attleboro. The Massachusetts State Police offers its condolences to his loved ones. One of the other operators involved in the crash sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was brought to the hospital. The road was closed due to the accident and was reopened to normal traffic at around 7:40 p.m. after an investigation by the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section, Crime Scene Services Section, and Troop H Detectives. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
