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Globe and Mail
27-05-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Farouq Tuweiq Assumes CEO Role
WEST ORANGE, N.J., May 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A New Chapter for Bel Fuse Inc. Today marks an exciting milestone in Bel Fuse's journey. After more than two decades leading the company as President and Chief Executive Officer — and over 45 years of service — Dan Bernstein will be stepping into a new role as Chairman of the Board following today's Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Dan's tenure as CEO began in 2001, and during that time, he led Bel through a period of significant transformation. Under his guidance, Bel grew from under $100 million in revenue to more than $600 million, expanded the global footprint, and completed 19 strategic acquisitions. His impact goes beyond numbers; his vision, drive, and belief in people have built a company that has a passion for progress, openness to new ideas, and a drive to get things done. With this transition Farouq Tuweiq steps into the role of CEO. Over the past four years, within his role as CFO, Farouq has been a strategic partner to Dan in bringing a fresh perspective and data-driven leadership style to Bel. He played a key role in strengthening Bel's financial foundation, refining strategic focus, and positioning the business for long-term success. With much of the groundwork and 'self help' portion of our journey complete, Bel enters its next chapter of growth. Farouq's track record to-date coupled with his background in investment banking, finance and strategic leadership will bode well for Bel in executing on our growth strategy and other future goals. 'I could not be more excited for the future of Bel under the leadership of Farouq and his Executive Team. Farouq has been a proven leader within Bel, inspiring motivation for continuous improvement across the organization and I have full confidence in the abilities of the new Team as they lead Bel into the next chapter,' said Dan Bernstein. About Bel Bel ( designs, manufactures and markets a broad array of products that power, protect and connect electronic circuits. These products are primarily used in the defense, commercial aerospace, networking, telecommunications, computing, general industrial, high-speed data transmission, transportation and eMobility industries. Bel's portfolio of products also finds application in the automotive, medical, broadcasting and consumer electronics markets. Bel's product groups include Power Solutions and Protection (front-end, board-mount, industrial and transportation power products, module products and circuit protection), Connectivity Solutions (expanded beam fiber optic, copper-based, RF and RJ connectors and cable assemblies), and Magnetic Solutions (integrated connector modules, power transformers, power inductors and discrete components). The Company operates facilities around the world.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Like a Tom Cruise stunt: hawk uses traffic patterns to target prey
It is a tactic worthy of Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt: wait until a beeping pedestrian crossing indicates a traffic queue has formed then use the line of cars as cover to reach your target. But this isn't a scene from Mission: Impossible – it's the behaviour of a young hawk. The discovery is not the first time birds have been found to make use of an urban environment. Crows, for example, are known to drop foods such as walnuts on to roads for cars to crush them open. However, the researcher behind a new study says it is the most advanced case so far of raptors making use of traffic patterns. 'When I figured out what was going on, I was really impressed. I didn't expect that,' said Vladimir Dinets, a zoologist at the University of Tennessee and author of the study. 'On the other hand, every time I study some animal species it proves smarter than I expect.' Dinets made the discovery during the school run in West Orange, New Jersey, when he spotted a young Cooper's hawk emerge from a tree near a road junction. The bird flew close to the pavement behind a queue of traffic that had stopped at a red light before crossing the road and taking a dive near one of the houses. After seeing the behaviour for a second time, Dinets realised the hawk was pouncing on a flock of birds that had gathered in front of a house where a family often ate dinner outdoors. Writing in the journal Frontiers in Ethology, Dinets describes how he then carried out 12 hours of observations from his car over 18 days during the winter of 2021-22. These were made on weekday mornings and only when the flock was present and there was no rain or snow the day before – weather that would prevent the residents of the house from eating alfresco. Dinets recorded six attempted attacks by the same hawk, identifiable by its plumage, and on one occasion saw it fly away with a house sparrow in its grip. He found the hawk only emerged from the tree when a long queue of traffic had built up, offering sufficient cover for its approach – something that depended on the pedestrian crossing being activated. Dinets also noticed the bird took up its position in the tree when the crossing's sound signal began, suggesting the hawk used the sound as an indication that a longer traffic queue was to form and that it was time to prepare for attack. 'This behaviour required having a mental map of the area and understanding the connection between the sound signals and the change in traffic pattern – a remarkable intellectual feat for a young bird that likely had just moved into the city,' Dinets writes, noting Cooper's hawks tend to be winter visitors to urban areas. Related: California town investigates mystery of 'exploding' bird deaths The following winter he twice saw an adult hawk, possibly the same bird, hunting in the same way. But the following summer the sound signals stopped working and the residents that ate alfresco moved out of their house. 'No hawks were ever observed at the intersection after that,' he wrote. Dinets added that while it is known social birds such as crows and parrots can be very clever, intelligence in more solitary species is more difficult for humans to recognise and so probably underestimated. 'Cities are extremely dangerous places for wild animals,' he added. 'Anything that can survive here must have some special abilities and deserves our respect.'
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
Like a Tom Cruise stunt: hawk uses traffic patterns to target prey
It is a tactic worthy of Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt: wait until a beeping pedestrian crossing indicates a traffic queue has formed then use the line of cars as cover to reach your target. But this isn't a scene from Mission: Impossible – it's the behaviour of a young hawk. The discovery is not the first time birds have been found to make use of an urban environment. Crows, for example, are known to drop foods such as walnuts on to roads for cars to crush them open. However, the researcher behind a new study says it is the most advanced case so far of raptors making use of traffic patterns. 'When I figured out what was going on, I was really impressed. I didn't expect that,' said Vladimir Dinets, a zoologist at the University of Tennessee and author of the study. 'On the other hand, every time I study some animal species it proves smarter than I expect.' Dinets made the discovery during the school run in West Orange, New Jersey, when he spotted a young Cooper's hawk emerge from a tree near a road junction. The bird flew close to the pavement behind a queue of traffic that had stopped at a red light before crossing the road and taking a dive near one of the houses. After seeing the behaviour for a second time, Dinets realised the hawk was pouncing on a flock of birds that had gathered in front of a house where a family often ate dinner outdoors. Writing in the journal Frontiers in Ethology, Dinets describes how he then carried out 12 hours of observations from his car over 18 days during the winter of 2021-22. These were made on weekday mornings and only when the flock was present and there was no rain or snow the day before – weather that would prevent the residents of the house from eating alfresco. Dinets recorded six attempted attacks by the same hawk, identifiable by its plumage, and on one occasion saw it fly away with a house sparrow in its grip. He found the hawk only emerged from the tree when a long queue of traffic had built up, offering sufficient cover for its approach – something that depended on the pedestrian crossing being activated. Dinets also noticed the bird took up its position in the tree when the crossing's sound signal began, suggesting the hawk used the sound as an indication that a longer traffic queue was to form and that it was time to prepare for attack. 'This behaviour required having a mental map of the area and understanding the connection between the sound signals and the change in traffic pattern – a remarkable intellectual feat for a young bird that likely had just moved into the city,' Dinets writes, noting Cooper's hawks tend to be winter visitors to urban areas. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion The following winter he twice saw an adult hawk, possibly the same bird, hunting in the same way. But the following summer the sound signals stopped working and the residents that ate alfresco moved out of their house. 'No hawks were ever observed at the intersection after that,' he wrote. Dinets added that while it is known social birds such as crows and parrots can be very clever, intelligence in more solitary species is more difficult for humans to recognise and so probably underestimated. 'Cities are extremely dangerous places for wild animals,' he added. 'Anything that can survive here must have some special abilities and deserves our respect.'
Gizmodo
23-05-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
This Hawk Figured Out Traffic Signals to Ambush Its Prey
Birds continue to be amazing. Crows can use tools and hold grudges against specific people. Magpies can recognize themselves in mirrors. And now, hawks are using traffic signals to hunt down prey, according to a study published today in the journal Frontiers in Ethology. The story starts with Vladimir Dinets, a zoologist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the study's author, and an intersection in West Orange, New Jersey, near his home. As a zoologist, he had long been interested in animals' perspective on and understanding of urban environments—and in birds' relationship with cars, in particular. Scientists have previously observed ravens patrol American highways waiting for roadkill and songbirds using cars to hide from predators. Dinets was on the lookout for these interesting interactions when a young Cooper's hawk migrated into his neighborhood and started doing something brilliant. The intersection wasn't particularly busy, even during rush hour, Dinets wrote in a guest editorial for Frontiers in Ethology. But sometimes, a pedestrian would cross the street, causing cars to pile up all the way to a small, bushy tree down the block. The pedestrian 'walk' signal would also make a sound that indicated it was time to walk. One morning, Dinets saw the hawk emerge from the tree, fly very low above the line of cars, cross the street between the cars, and then dive to get something near one of the houses. Then the same thing happened again. And again. It turns out that the family that lived in that house near the bushy tree liked to have dinner in their front yard. In response, birds—like sparrows and doves—would flock there to claim the leftover crumbs. That made for easy pickings for the hawk, who would swoop down into the yard to catch said sparrows and doves. But, curiously, the hawk only did this when cars were lined up along the block all the way to the tree. Dinets eventually figured out that the line of cars provided cover for the hawk, and that the hawk had learned to recognize the sound of the pedestrian 'walk' signal. As soon as a pedestrian pressed the button, the hawk would fly from wherever it had been hanging out and into the small, bushy tree. It would then wait for cars to pile up before using the line of cars as cover to sneak up on its prey. The hawk had, apparently, learned to use the pedestrian signal as a cue to start heading over to the house crowded with defenseless birds, according to Dinets. 'That meant that the hawk understood the connection between the sound and the eventual car queue length,' Dinets explained. The hawk also apparently had a good mental map of the neighborhood. The hawk (or what Dinets thinks was the same hawk) returned the next year and used the same strategy to hunt. Eventually, though, the family moved away and the signal stopped working, so Dinets hasn't seen any super smart hawks hunting near his home since. Life is tough for birds in cities—they have to avoid windows, weave through cars, and deal with noise. But this study shows at least one way that they've adapted to urban living. 'I think my observations show that Cooper's hawks manage to survive and thrive there, at least in part, by being very smart,' Dinets wrote.
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Billionaire NFL owner wants to build 500 homes on 'dangerous' New Jersey mountaintop... and locals aren't happy
A billionaire owner of an NFL football team has stirred up local trouble with his plans to build 500 new homes on a pristine New Jersey mountaintop. Minnesota Vikings chairman and co-owner Zygi Wilf has been given the green light to develop an untouched 120-acre stretch of the Watchung Mountains in New Jersey into a 496-unit residential development. However, local opposition leaders claim the proposal is 'dangerous'. They say the project has only been approved because local authorities are desperate to meet their affordable housing obligations. Affordable housing is a hot button issue in New Jersey, as it is in many other states across the US. In the Watchung Mountains neighborhood, the current median home listing price is $599,725, according to Around 100 units of Wilf's planned development will be designated as affordable housing. The proposal includes a sprawling apartment complex as well as a range of luxury amenities such as a pool and a club house. New Jersey's West Orange town council is under obligation to rehab or build 1,000 affordable housing units between 2025 and 2035. If local authorities do not meet these affordable housing requirements, developers can turn to legal remedies that allow them to bypass blocks such as zoning ordinances. In April 2020 the township of West Orange reached a settlement with Wilf's property company Garden Homes to allow the development to go ahead while meeting its own affordable housing targets. Wilf, who made his fortune in commercial real estate and homebuilding, bought the Minnesota Vikings in 2005 for $600 million. The team is now estimated to be worth over $5 billion, according to Forbes, and he is commonly estimated to have a net worth of around $1.3 billion. 'Municipalities' hands are very much tied because they have little, if any, influence over how many units of affordable housing to approve,' Joe Krakoviak, president of the West Orange Township Council, told 'They can't utilize many local zoning ordinances that the rest of the township, and developers, are required to comply with,' Krakoviak explained. 'I have a tremendous amount of concern about the environmental ramifications of this proposal, as well as the appropriateness of placing lower-income residents in the proposal so far away from all of the things they need to reach, especially if they do not have access to public transportation or regular transportation,' he added. 'It's hilly terrain to navigate, both coming and going, and it's one road in and one road out. The fact that this is at the top of the mountain means the drainage is going in every direction. 'It's very complex, he said. Wilf, who made his fortune in commercial real estate and homebuilding, bought the Minnesota Vikings in 2005 for $600 million Local opposition groups, such as Our Green West Orange and We Care NJ, have pointed out that the new units would be a long distance from the local bus stop as well as other essentials such as shopping centers and gas stations. They are also concerned about the potential impact of flooding and loose debris in the case of storms. The developers 'thought we'd be afraid of being accused of NIMBYism,' Rachel Klein, a local resident associated with WeCare NJ, told 'We said no: If it was unsafe for 136 homes that would have been worth $1 million at the time, why is suddenly throwing poor people into it making it safe? That makes no sense to us.' Previous attempts to develop the mountain top, dating back to at least the 1990s, were not approved due to concerns over the environmental impact and safety for potential residents. 'Nothing's ever been built on this land. It's in the furthest part of town, miles away from schools and public transport. 'There is a need for affordable housing, but this is just not the appropriate place for it.'
