Latest news with #Mission
The Herald Scotland
11 hours ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Head of FCDO in Scotland to make history with move to Jamaica
They met to discuss making history as the UK's first Head of Mission deployed to a Caribbean post having been born in the Caribbean too. The 57-year-old is hoping to represent the shared history of Scotland and Jamaica but admits it was an opportunity she could not turn down despite her love for this country. Alicia said: 'I feel like my life's gone full circle. There aren't many roles could have persuaded me to leave Scotland but having first come to the UK on a scholarship, I simply couldn't resist going back to the region of my birth to represent the UK as High Commissioner to Jamaica. 'It's been such a joy to work and live in Scotland. I will of course draw on Scotland and Jamaica's shared history. 'Living in Scotland has given me a comprehensive understanding of the issues that underpin that shared history, which will certainly help me as I work to strengthen the relationship between the UK and Jamaica, as we support the Caribbean on the 21st century challenges it faces, most notably climate change. Read More 'Lots of my colleagues have been joking that I'll miss the Scottish rain, but while Kingston's a lot sunnier than East Kilbride, I've not had to worry about hurricanes much working there. 'The Caribbean is a part of the world where the climate crisis is acute with the frequency and intensity of hurricanes increasing. A huge focus of my job will be how the UK partners with the Caribbean to address how climate change is affecting the region.' She added: 'I am proud to be the first UK diplomat of Caribbean heritage to be announced as a Head of Mission to Caribbean post. 'It was lovely to have a send-off chat with the Foreign Secretary about this. I think it signals the huge strides that the FCDO and the UK has made on diversity. 'Joining the civil service as black, female immigrant back in 1999 was like landing on a different planet. 'Quite often I was the only woman in the room, and almost certainly, the only person of colour. Now 40 per cent of our Heads of Mission are female. 'While my appointment shows that things are heading in the right direction, there is still much to do. For example, black staff are still underrepresented at senior levels. We want people from all walks of life representing the UK internationally. 'No-one is resting on any laurels, but back when I joined the civil service, I could never have envisaged that I would be a High Commissioner having a chat with a black Foreign Secretary. 'My background has often proved an asset, helping me to develop rich and positive relationships with counterparts when working overseas. I have been claimed as Nigerian, Mozambican, Sudanese, Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Colombian… the list goes on.' Alicia has been in charge of almost 1,000 FCDO staff in Scotland at Abercrombie House in East Kilbride and she has also served as the UK's special envoy for gender equality. Her job has seen her face danger in war-torn Sudan, take on terrorist group Boko Haram in Nigeria and combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Mozambique. But her family are thrilled by her new appointment as the UK's top diplomat in Jamaica. She said: 'I think my dear mum when she was alive did worry and ask 'You're going where?'. 'I have not come under direct threat, but that threat has been there. I lived in Sudan for three years from 2006 and there was always war. A US diplomat was assassinated not too far from my house on New Year's Eve. 'I was in Nigeria when Boko Haram was just seeding and by the time I left, they had become quite a force. Boko Haram literally means 'Western education is forbidden'. 'I had colleagues working in the UN compound where 13 people were killed in a Boko Haram bomb attack in Abuja in 2011. I remember frantically sending in drivers to get our people out when they attacked Kano the same year. 'My parents are both sadly passed, but I have six siblings who are super excited and proud of what I have achieved. 'We are a typical Caribbean family so when we got to the age of 18 or 19, everybody left to go overseas to university, as I did. One of my brothers went back to Trinidad. 'A few years ago, when I went on an official visit to Trinidad, it was so interesting to invite him to a diplomatic reception at the High Commission for him to see me at work. 'It's funny because there is a fair amount of inter-island rivalry between Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica – similar to the sort of good-humoured banter you get between people from Scotland and England. 'So one of the first things my family said was 'Wait till Jamaicans find out that the new High Commissioner is really a Trini'. You get banter across all the Caribbean islands, but there's also a unity and a commonality. 'It's an exciting new challenge but I will really miss the incredible spirit of the people I've worked with in Scotland for over nine years at our joint HQ, Abercrombie House. 'FCDO continues to have a sizeable footprint in Scotland with our staff in East Kilbride at the heart of shaping and delivering UK foreign policy as a force for good in the world.'
USA Today
12 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
How the Boston Celtics use artificial intelligence to make their team better
At times, it can seem like artificial intelligence has snuck into almost every aspect of modern life, and when it comes to the NBA basketball decision-making made by the Boston Celtics, well, it is being used there as well. How do the Celtics use AI (the sort that lives in computers, not the one that played for the Philadelphia 76ers) to make their team better? What uses does it have for Boston's coaching staff and front office? And how does it work in their day-to-day activities? To give us all an answer to this, the folks behind Mission, a CDW Company, put together a clip with Jay Wessland, the CTO of the Celtics, in how Boston uses AI for smarter shot analysis and a host of other techniques. The folks behind Mission's official YouTube channel put together a video breaking it all down in easy to understand language, so if this sort of thing piques your interest, take a look at the clip embedded below to get all the details of how AI helps the Celtics in their pursuit of Banner 19.
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
CRPF commandos to soon secure Indian embassy in Libya
New Delhi, Commandos drawn from the Central Reserve Police Force will soon be sent to provide an armed security cover to the re-opened Indian embassy in Libya and its diplomatic staff. CRPF commandos to soon secure Indian embassy in Libya Speaking at an event held here to mark the 87th Raising Day of the force, CRPF Director General Gyanendra Pratap Singh said on Sunday that the personnel are "preparing" to leave for the task at Tripoli, on similar lines of guarding the Indian embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. The Indian embassy in Libya was re-opened in July last year after about five years of closure due to the deteriorating security situation in the north African country. The overall law-and-order and security situation has been fragile in Libya since a 2011 uprising that toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi, and the country being divided into eastern and western sections due to factional conflicts for more than a decade. Officials privy to the development told PTI that the CRPF was guarding the Indian embassy in Libya about four-five years ago but due to the conflict situation, it was closed and affiliated with the Indian embassy in the neighbouring country of Tunisia. The CRPF commandos were called back and they are being sent to Libya again as the embassy has re-opened. It is located at 45, Al-Shatt Street in Tripoli, they said. The sources said about 40 commandos led by a deputy commandant -rank officer will take charge at Tripoli after due clearances are issued by the Ministry of External Affairs . The CRPF has a similar commando team that has been securing the Indian embassy in Iraq since 2019. The Embassy of India in Tunisia said on its website under the head "India Libya Bilateral relations" that "in view of the fragile political and security situation prevailing in Libya in 2014, about 3,800 Indian nationals were repatriated, which included 6 Indians kidnapped by ISIS". "The Mission, which was temporarily relocated in D'Jerba , was later moved to Malta. The Mission in Tripoli resumed its operations in 2012, but was closed down in April, 2019 due to worsening security situation," it added. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Construction trades launch peer-support program to help workers facing mental health challenges
When Shawn Underhill worked as an ironworker, it was his job to check the fit-for-duty box for the crew, a standard part of the daily safety paperwork. "It was a lie," said Underhill, explaining that he and other members of his crew weren't always sober. For decades, Underhill struggled with mental health and addiction, the result of cascading personal tragedies, worksite injuries and painkiller prescriptions. "If I only had someone early on [to] just sit and talk with me … it would have changed things for me," said Underhill, who's now settled in Mission, B.C. That's exactly what he wants to do now for other men and women struggling in the same way he did. Underhill is one of 12 current and former tradespeople across the province, training to be a peer-support worker for a mental-health initiative, led by the Construction Foundation of B.C. (CFBC), called The Forge. It's aimed at the skilled trades, an industry which sees higher-than-average rates of health concerns. On July 31, the CFBC breaks ground on the future headquarters for The Forge in Langford, B.C., just west of Victoria. More than 80 per cent of construction workers report experiencing mental health struggles. Substance abuse rates in the trades are nearly double the national average, according to the CFBC. "If people show up for work who are not OK, it can have catastrophic effects on the job site," said Katherine Davies, VP of operations at Aryze Developments. "You can see mistakes that then lead to safety events, that then lead to massive financial implications for the company." Long shifts, demanding work So why do people in the trades, and particularly tradesmen, struggle more with mental health and addictions? John Oliffe, the Canada Research Chair in men's health promotion at UBC, said long shifts and physically demanding work may contribute to recreational drug use and self-medicating with substances. In an industry where reaching out for help may be seen as a weakness, he said, peer support can be an effective way to normalize conversations about mental health. Trevor Botkin, who is heading up The Forge with CFBC, remembers the culture of toughing it out alone. The former journey carpenter and superintendent said he thought mental-health counselling was "for the birds." Then, his career came into crisis in 2019, when his addiction got out of hand and he narrowly escaped a suicide attempt. Standard mental-health supports are just not resonating with the culture of the construction industry, said Botkin. "We've got all these services… standing outside the construction fence waving in saying, 'Hey, we have help here!'" said Botkin. Peer support, on the other hand, gets past that fence to "put guys with lived experience down there in the dirt … pulling on the rebar and who are actually qualified to have those conversations in a meaningful way." Botkin hopes to launch The Forge by December, by which time peer-support workers will have completed their 40-hour training module, focused on how to listen actively without judging or giving advice. "It's about asking good questions," he said. "We want to keep guys in the driver's seat as much as possible. Those are the decisions that stick."
CBC
4 days ago
- Health
- CBC
Construction trades launch peer-support program to help workers facing mental health challenges
When Shawn Underhill worked as an ironworker, it was his job to check the fit-for-duty box for the crew, a standard part of the daily safety paperwork. "It was a lie," said Underhill, explaining that he and other members of his crew weren't always sober. For decades, Underhill struggled with mental health and addiction, the result of cascading personal tragedies, worksite injuries and painkiller prescriptions. "If I only had someone early on [to] just sit and talk with me … it would have changed things for me," said Underhill, who's now settled in Mission, B.C. That's exactly what he wants to do now for other men and women struggling in the same way he did. Underhill is one of 12 current and former tradespeople across the province, training to be a peer-support worker for a mental-health initiative, led by the Construction Foundation of B.C. (CFBC), called The Forge. It's aimed at the skilled trades, an industry which sees higher-than-average rates of health concerns. On July 31, the CFBC breaks ground on the future headquarters for The Forge in Langford, B.C., just west of Victoria. More than 80 per cent of construction workers report experiencing mental health struggles. Substance abuse rates in the trades are nearly double the national average, according to the CFBC. "If people show up for work who are not OK, it can have catastrophic effects on the job site," said Katherine Davies, VP of operations at Aryze Developments. "You can see mistakes that then lead to safety events, that then lead to massive financial implications for the company." Long shifts, demanding work So why do people in the trades, and particularly tradesmen, struggle more with mental health and addictions? John Oliffe, the Canada Research Chair in men's health promotion at UBC, said long shifts and physically demanding work may contribute to recreational drug use and self-medicating with substances. In an industry where reaching out for help may be seen as a weakness, he said, peer support can be an effective way to normalize conversations about mental health. Trevor Botkin, who is heading up The Forge with CFBC, remembers the culture of toughing it out alone. The former journey carpenter and superintendent said he thought mental-health counselling was "for the birds." Then, his career came into crisis in 2019, when his addiction got out of hand and he narrowly escaped a suicide attempt. Standard mental-health supports are just not resonating with the culture of the construction industry, said Botkin. "We've got all these services… standing outside the construction fence waving in saying, 'Hey, we have help here!'" said Botkin. Peer support, on the other hand, gets past that fence to "put guys with lived experience down there in the dirt … pulling on the rebar and who are actually qualified to have those conversations in a meaningful way." Botkin hopes to launch The Forge by December, by which time peer-support workers will have completed their 40-hour training module, focused on how to listen actively without judging or giving advice. "It's about asking good questions," he said. "We want to keep guys in the driver's seat as much as possible. Those are the decisions that stick."
