Latest news with #Nobel
an hour ago
- Politics
Nobel Committee Chair Visits Hiroshima
Hiroshima, July 23 (Jiji Press)--Norwegian Nobel Committee chair Jorgen Frydnes has visited Hiroshima and called for attention to be paid to the voices of hibakusha, who survived the 1945 atomic bombing of the western Japan city. During his visit on Tuesday, Frydnes presented a replica of the Nobel Peace Prize medal to Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui. Last year, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, also known as Nihon Hidankyo, won the prize. Matsui said that the Nobel committee's decision to award the prize to Nihon Hidankyo sent a "very important message" to the world. Later in the day, the committee chair inspected the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and wrote in the guestbook, "At this special place of memory here in Hiroshima, we pay tribute to all who were lost, to all the survivors - and to all those who turned pain into hope, and memory into a force for peace." Speaking to reporters there, Frydnes warned, "The nuclear taboo is fragile." He underscored the need to continue to work for peace and listen to hibakusha, who say that nuclear weapons should never be used again. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Int'l Business Times
12 hours ago
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
Veteran Economist Lennart Ohlsson Announces Third Book in Conceptual Trilogy on Lead Investment Strategies
Renowned venture capital expert and economist Lennart Ohlsson has announced the upcoming release of his third book, part of a conceptual trilogy focused on the evolution of best practices in startup investment. Ohlsson's latest work aims to equip lead investors with frameworks and tools that bridge intuition and analytical rigor, helping them become effective catalysts in transforming advanced technology ventures into market-ready companies. "My goal is to provide readers, particularly those with ambitions of becoming high-caliber lead investors, with a framework that blends logic and intuition into a single, operational investment philosophy," Ohlsson states. In this new volume, Ohlsson refines and expands upon themes he introduced in his earlier books. Best Practice Venture Capital (2006) has provided foundational principles and tools for structuring investment strategy. Meanwhile, Träffsäkra Investeringar i Startups (Accuracy in Startup Investments), published in 2018, has become an accessible, step-by-step guide to selecting, analyzing, and financing early-stage ventures. His latest effort goes deeper, offering practices tailored to complex, high-tech startups or what he calls "SciTechs." Structured into methodical chapters, the book outlines a comprehensive, interlinked methodology for due diligence that maintains internal consistency across all compartments. From market analysis to technological viability, it ensures that the narrative of a startup aligns logically across its various components. Building on his belief that successful investing isn't a purely logical exercise, Ohlsson references the dual-system thinking model made popular by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman. He explains that effective lead investors must learn to integrate both systems of the brain: the intuitive, emotion-driven decision-making that many angel investors rely on, and the deliberate, analytical reasoning typically employed by economists. Ohlsson introduces his interpretation of "expert intuition." It's a concept derived from decades of experience, where structured knowledge enables an investor's instincts to be more reliable, even in uncertain, rapidly evolving contexts. The book also includes a case study on Polar Light Technologies (PLT), a Swedish deep-tech startup that Ohlsson supported as a senior business advisor. It traces a multi-year journey from initial pitch to significant technological milestones, including a breakthrough in micro-LED development. PLT serves as a model for the book's overarching thesis: that Sweden's investment culture lacks sufficiently structured lead investors capable of navigating high-risk, high-reward SciTech ventures. "Many U.S. accelerators emphasize speed and milestone-driven progression. Sweden's early-stage ecosystem often favors a risk-averse strategy of narrowing focus too early. It's a low-hanging fruit approach that can ripple long-term potential in complex startups with multiple market pathways," Ohlsson says. The PLT case unfolds across a period of intense collaboration. A five-person leadership group, comprising the founder, a business developer, a recruited CEO, and Ohlsson himself, operated as an informal accelerator team. Weekly strategy sessions were used to make fast and informed decisions while the formal board maintained oversight. What made PLT particularly challenging and instructive was its dual-core technology, each with large market implications. Navigating product development, market timing, and investor negotiations required a balance between flexibility and strategic focus. For example, it took nearly a year to diagnose and resolve a proof-of-concept failure tied to a reactor design flaw, illustrating how lead investors must also be willing to operate at a granular technical level when needed. Throughout the book, Ohlsson anchors his insights in both theory and practice, referencing his formal economic training and over 40 years of hands-on experience guiding startup investment. His background as a founder of multiple angel-based venture funds, including the Sustainable Energy Angels and the Stoaf Group, informs the design of the strategic frameworks he presents. Rather than merely offering anecdotes, Ohlsson emphasizes how parts of an investment process interrelate, and how that relationship affects outcomes. Ohlsson's third book, slated for release next year, promises to be a culmination of decades of theory, practice, and reflection. It's an essential resource for those ready to shape the future of deep-tech investment in Sweden and beyond. Meanwhile, in line with his educational philosophy, Ohlsson has also leveraged LinkedIn as an integrated platform for early thought development. Many of the core ideas, tools, and even drafts of chapters appeared first as posts or articles, providing ongoing engagement with readers and professional peers.
Saudi Gazette
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
Trump ‘caught off guard' by Israel's actions in Gaza and Syria last week as skepticism of Netanyahu grows inside White House
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump was caught by surprise last week by Israeli actions in Gaza and Syria, and in both instances phoned Benjamin Netanyahu to 'rectify' the matter, according to the White House. That underscores what sources have said is an increasingly tense dynamic between the two leaders. A strike last Thursday on the only Catholic Church in Gaza drew an immediate negative reaction from Trump, who phoned Netanyahu to voice his displeasure and to ensure the Israeli leader released a statement calling the strike a mistake. Trump was similarly surprised by Israel airstrikes targeting government buildings in the Syrian capital Damascus last week at a moment his administration is working to rebuild the war-torn nation. 'The president enjoys a good working relationship with Bibi Netanyahu, and stays in frequent communication with him. He was caught off guard by the bombing in Syria and also the bombing of a Catholic Church in Gaza,' press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House on Monday. 'In both accounts, the president quickly called the prime minister to rectify those situations,' she went on. Leavitt pointed to efforts by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to calm tensions in Syria, where Trump has eased sanctions and thrown his support behind the new president, former rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. Trump, who hosted Netanyahu at the White House earlier this month, has long had a complicated relationship with the Israeli leader. Despite being strong allies, the two men are not personally close, people familiar with the dynamic said, and the pairing has at times been colored by mutual distrust. Still, Trump had appeared to be closer than ever to Netanyahu following his decision to join Israel's air campaign in Iran this summer. During a dinner in the White House Blue Room earlier this month, Netanyahu made a dramatic show of presenting a letter he'd written to the Nobel committee nominating Trump for the peace prize. Trump had hoped Netanyahu's four-day visit to Washington would yield progress on a ceasefire in Gaza that would include the release of hostages still held by Hamas and a significant increase in the amount of humanitarian aid allowed in the besieged enclave. The US president said repeatedly ahead of the visit he expected a ceasefire that week. But Netanyahu departed the United States without a deal being announced. Now — nearly a week after mediators submitted the latest ceasefire and hostage release proposal to Hamas — all parties are still waiting for Hamas' leaders in Gaza to respond, two sources familiar with the negotiations told CNN. Hamas said in a statement Monday they are 'exerting all our efforts and energies around the clock' to reach an agreement on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage releases. Trump has watched with growing concern as the Gaza war claims more lives — including three killed in last week's church bombing. 'The president's message on this conflict we've seen in the Middle East taking place for far too long, that has become quite brutal, especially in recent days, you've seen reports of more people dying. I think the president never likes to see that. He wants the killing to end,' Leavitt said. She also lauded the administration's efforts to allow aid to enter Gaza, even as foreign ministers of 25 Western nations issued a condemnation of Israel for 'drip feeding' aid into the strip. The health ministry in the territory said that more than 1,000 people have been killed seeking humanitarian relief there since late May. 'The president is the reason that aid is even being distributed in Gaza at all,' Leavitt argued. 'He wants to see this done in a peaceful manner, where more lives are not being lost.' 'It's a very difficult and complicated situation that the president inherited because of the weakness of the last administration. And I think he should be applauded,' Leavitt said. 'The president wants to see peace and he's been pretty clear on that.' — CNN
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration releases FBI records on MLK Jr. despite his family's opposition
The Trump administration on Monday released records of the FBI's surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr., despite opposition from the slain Nobel laureate's family and the civil rights group that he led until his 1968 assassination. The digital document dump includes more than 240,000 pages of records that had been under a court-imposed seal since 1977, when the FBI first gathered the records and turned them over to the National Archives and Records Administration. In a lengthy statement released Monday, King's two living children, Martin III, 67, and Bernice, 62, said their father's killing has been a 'captivating public curiosity for decades.' But the pair emphasized the personal nature of the matter and urged that the files 'be viewed within their full historical context.' The Kings got advance access to the records and had their own teams reviewing them. Those efforts continued even as the government granted public access. Among the documents are leads the FBI received after King's assassination and details of the CIA's fixation on King's pivot to international anti-war and anti-poverty movements in the years before he was killed. It was not immediately clear whether the documents shed new light on King's life, the Civil Rights Movement or his murder. 'As the children of Dr. King and Mrs. Coretta Scott King, his tragic death has been an intensely personal grief — a devastating loss for his wife, children, and the granddaughter he never met -- an absence our family has endured for over 57 years,' they wrote. 'We ask those who engage with the release of these files to do so with empathy, restraint, and respect for our family's continuing grief.' They also repeated the family's long-held contention that James Earl Ray, the man convicted of assassinating King, was not solely responsible, if at all. Bernice King was 5 years old when her father was killed at the age of 39. Martin III was 10. A statement from the office of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard called the disclosure 'unprecedented' and said many of the records had been digitized for the first time. She praised President Donald Trump for pushing the issue. Release is 'transparency' to some, a 'distraction' for others Trump promised as a candidate to release files related to President John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination. When Trump took office in January, he signed an executive order to declassify the JFK records, along with those associated with Robert F. Kennedy's and MLK's 1968 assassinations. The government unsealed the JFK records in March and disclosed some RFK files in April. The announcement from Gabbard's office included a statement from Alveda King, Martin Luther King Jr.'s niece, who is an outspoken conservative and has broken from King's children on various topics — including the FBI files. Alveda King said she was 'grateful to President Trump' for his 'transparency." Separately, Attorney General Pam Bondi's social media account featured a picture of the attorney general with Alveda King. Besides fulfilling Trump's order, the latest release means another alternative headline for the president as he tries to mollify supporters angry over his administration's handling of records concerning the sex trafficking investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself behind bars while awaiting trial in 2019, during Trump's first presidency. Trump last Friday ordered the Justice Department to release grand jury testimony but stopped short of unsealing the entire case file. Bernice King and Martin Luther King III did not mention Trump in their statement Monday. But Bernice King later posted on her personal Instagram account a black-and-white photo of her father, looking annoyed, with the caption 'Now, do the Epstein files.' And some civil rights activists did not spare the president. 'Trump releasing the MLK assassination files is not about transparency or justice,' said the Rev. Al Sharpton. 'It's a desperate attempt to distract people from the firestorm engulfing Trump over the Epstein files and the public unraveling of his credibility among the MAGA base.' The King Center, founded by King's widow and now led by Bernice King, reacted separately from what Bernice said jointly with her brother. The King Center statement framed the release as a distraction — but from more than short-term political controversy. 'It is unfortunate and ill-timed, given the myriad of pressing issues and injustices affecting the United States and the global society,' the King Center, linking those challenges to MLK's efforts. 'This righteous work should be our collective response to renewed attention on the assassination of a great purveyor of true peace.' Records mean a new trove of research material The King records were initially intended to be sealed until 2027, until Justice Department attorneys asked a federal judge to lift the sealing order early. Scholars, history buffs and journalists have been preparing to study the documents for new information about his assassination on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King co-founded in 1957 as the Civil Rights Movement blossomed, opposed the release. The group, along with King's family, argued that the FBI illegally surveilled King and other civil rights figures, hoping to discredit them and their movement. It has long been established that then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was intensely interested if not obsessed with King and others he considered radicals. FBI records released previously show how Hoover's bureau wiretapped King's telephone lines, bugged his hotel rooms and used informants to gather information, including evidence of King's extramarital affairs. 'He was relentlessly targeted by an invasive, predatory, and deeply disturbing disinformation and surveillance campaign orchestrated by J. Edgar Hoover through the Federal Bureau of Investigation,' the King children said in their statement. 'The intent ... was not only to monitor, but to discredit, dismantle and destroy Dr. King's reputation and the broader American Civil Rights Movement," they continued. 'These actions were not only invasions of privacy, but intentional assaults on the truth — undermining the dignity and freedoms of private citizens who fought for justice, designed to neutralize those who dared to challenge the status quo.' The Kings said they 'support transparency and historical accountability' but 'object to any attacks on our father's legacy or attempts to weaponize it to spread falsehoods.' Opposition to King intensified even after the Civil Rights Movement compelled Congress and President Lyndon B. Johnson to enact the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. After those victories, King turned his attention to economic justice and international peace. He criticized rapacious capitalism and the Vietnam War. King asserted that political rights alone were not enough to ensure a just society. Many establishment figures like Hoover viewed King as a communist threat. King's children still don't accept the original explanation of assassination King was assassinated as he was aiding striking sanitation workers in Memphis, part of his explicit turn toward economic justice. Ray pleaded guilty to King's murder. Ray later renounced that plea and maintained his innocence until his death in 1998. King family members and others have long questioned whether Ray acted alone, or if he was even involved. Coretta Scott King asked for the probe to be reopened, and in 1998, then-Attorney General Janet Reno ordered a new look. Reno's Justice Department said it 'found nothing to disturb the 1969 judicial determination that James Earl Ray murdered Dr. King.' In their latest statement, Bernice King and Martin Luther King III repeated their assertions that Ray was set up. They pointed to a 1999 civil case, brought by the King family, in which a Memphis jury concluded that Martin Luther King Jr. had been the target of a conspiracy. 'As we review these newly released files," the Kings said, 'we will assess whether they offer additional insights beyond the findings our family has already accepted.' —— Associated Press journalist Safiyah Riddle contributed from Montgomery, Alabama.
The Advertiser
20 hours ago
- Politics
- The Advertiser
Death toll rises to 31 in Bangladesh air force crash
At least 31 people have been killed after a Bangladesh air force training jet crashed into a college and school campus in Dhaka, officials say, with 88 people, including children, being treated in hospital. The aircraft crashed soon after it took off from an airbase in the capital on a routine training mission. The military said the plane experienced a mechanical failure. Included in the toll were at least 25 students, a teacher who died from burn injuries she sustained while helping others get out of the burning building and the pilot of the training aircraft. Bangladesh declared Tuesday a day of national mourning, with the flags flying at half-mast across the country. The jet, a F-7 BGI, is the final and most advanced variant in China's Chengdu J-7/F-7 aircraft family, according to Jane's Information Group. Bangladesh signed a contract for 16 aircraft in 2011 and deliveries were completed by 2013. Several hundred pupils demonstrated near the crash site on Tuesday, demanding a thorough investigation and an accurate death count. The demonstration began as two senior advisers from the interim administration arrived at the scene. The protesters chanted slogans such as "We want justice" and "Why did our brothers die? We demand answers!" effectively trapping the advisers and several senior officials inside the school building. In a video message, Bangladesh's interim leader and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus promised an investigation into the accident. "We will definitely investigate this incident, but these innocent children will never come back," he said. "They are all our children, and they are gone forever. We are ensuring treatment for the injured, and everyone is making every effort for them," he added. He expressed sympathy for the parents, relatives and friends of the deceased, saying: "To say we are shocked would be an understatement. The scars of this accident have not yet healed." The crash comes weeks after an Air India plane crashed into a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad in neighbouring India, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. with DPA and AP At least 31 people have been killed after a Bangladesh air force training jet crashed into a college and school campus in Dhaka, officials say, with 88 people, including children, being treated in hospital. The aircraft crashed soon after it took off from an airbase in the capital on a routine training mission. The military said the plane experienced a mechanical failure. Included in the toll were at least 25 students, a teacher who died from burn injuries she sustained while helping others get out of the burning building and the pilot of the training aircraft. Bangladesh declared Tuesday a day of national mourning, with the flags flying at half-mast across the country. The jet, a F-7 BGI, is the final and most advanced variant in China's Chengdu J-7/F-7 aircraft family, according to Jane's Information Group. Bangladesh signed a contract for 16 aircraft in 2011 and deliveries were completed by 2013. Several hundred pupils demonstrated near the crash site on Tuesday, demanding a thorough investigation and an accurate death count. The demonstration began as two senior advisers from the interim administration arrived at the scene. The protesters chanted slogans such as "We want justice" and "Why did our brothers die? We demand answers!" effectively trapping the advisers and several senior officials inside the school building. In a video message, Bangladesh's interim leader and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus promised an investigation into the accident. "We will definitely investigate this incident, but these innocent children will never come back," he said. "They are all our children, and they are gone forever. We are ensuring treatment for the injured, and everyone is making every effort for them," he added. He expressed sympathy for the parents, relatives and friends of the deceased, saying: "To say we are shocked would be an understatement. The scars of this accident have not yet healed." The crash comes weeks after an Air India plane crashed into a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad in neighbouring India, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. with DPA and AP At least 31 people have been killed after a Bangladesh air force training jet crashed into a college and school campus in Dhaka, officials say, with 88 people, including children, being treated in hospital. The aircraft crashed soon after it took off from an airbase in the capital on a routine training mission. The military said the plane experienced a mechanical failure. Included in the toll were at least 25 students, a teacher who died from burn injuries she sustained while helping others get out of the burning building and the pilot of the training aircraft. Bangladesh declared Tuesday a day of national mourning, with the flags flying at half-mast across the country. The jet, a F-7 BGI, is the final and most advanced variant in China's Chengdu J-7/F-7 aircraft family, according to Jane's Information Group. Bangladesh signed a contract for 16 aircraft in 2011 and deliveries were completed by 2013. Several hundred pupils demonstrated near the crash site on Tuesday, demanding a thorough investigation and an accurate death count. The demonstration began as two senior advisers from the interim administration arrived at the scene. The protesters chanted slogans such as "We want justice" and "Why did our brothers die? We demand answers!" effectively trapping the advisers and several senior officials inside the school building. In a video message, Bangladesh's interim leader and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus promised an investigation into the accident. "We will definitely investigate this incident, but these innocent children will never come back," he said. "They are all our children, and they are gone forever. We are ensuring treatment for the injured, and everyone is making every effort for them," he added. He expressed sympathy for the parents, relatives and friends of the deceased, saying: "To say we are shocked would be an understatement. The scars of this accident have not yet healed." The crash comes weeks after an Air India plane crashed into a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad in neighbouring India, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. with DPA and AP At least 31 people have been killed after a Bangladesh air force training jet crashed into a college and school campus in Dhaka, officials say, with 88 people, including children, being treated in hospital. The aircraft crashed soon after it took off from an airbase in the capital on a routine training mission. The military said the plane experienced a mechanical failure. Included in the toll were at least 25 students, a teacher who died from burn injuries she sustained while helping others get out of the burning building and the pilot of the training aircraft. Bangladesh declared Tuesday a day of national mourning, with the flags flying at half-mast across the country. The jet, a F-7 BGI, is the final and most advanced variant in China's Chengdu J-7/F-7 aircraft family, according to Jane's Information Group. Bangladesh signed a contract for 16 aircraft in 2011 and deliveries were completed by 2013. Several hundred pupils demonstrated near the crash site on Tuesday, demanding a thorough investigation and an accurate death count. The demonstration began as two senior advisers from the interim administration arrived at the scene. The protesters chanted slogans such as "We want justice" and "Why did our brothers die? We demand answers!" effectively trapping the advisers and several senior officials inside the school building. In a video message, Bangladesh's interim leader and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus promised an investigation into the accident. "We will definitely investigate this incident, but these innocent children will never come back," he said. "They are all our children, and they are gone forever. We are ensuring treatment for the injured, and everyone is making every effort for them," he added. He expressed sympathy for the parents, relatives and friends of the deceased, saying: "To say we are shocked would be an understatement. The scars of this accident have not yet healed." The crash comes weeks after an Air India plane crashed into a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad in neighbouring India, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. with DPA and AP
