He noted that the events in Gaza revealed the ugly face of the US, suggesting that President Joe Biden can no longer think in a sound and correct manner as he is committing crimes against the people of Gaza and is doing everything in his power to continue the genocide in the enclave.

Al-Houthi stressed, “Force alone cannot achieve anything. The situation today is very different. This is the time of response,” noting that increasing American forces means increasing targets.

Earlier yesterday, the US Central Command announced that three soldiers had been killed and 25 others were injured in a drone attack targeting a base in northeastern Jordan, while the Pentagon called the attack a “dangerous escalation.”

The White House reported that Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, National Security Advisor Sullivan and the Deputy National Security Advisor briefed Biden on the details of the attack against US service members in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border.

The Jordanian government denied that the attack took place in the Kingdom, confirming that the Al-Tanf base in Syria was targeted near the Jordanian-Syrian-Iraqi border.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack on the US Al-Tanf base between Syria and Jordan, resulting in the death of three American soldiers and the injury of 25 others.

Source: Middle East Monitor

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An essential adage these days is to protect your private data to keep fraudsters at bay. A new paper has quantified the incidence of financial fraud complaints among app users who follow that advice. Titled “Consumer Surveillance and Financial Fraud,” the paper was co-authored by Wharton finance professor Huan Tang and finance professors Bo Bian at the University of British Columbia and Michaela Pagel at Washington University in St. Louis.

The authors focused on Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy, which by default opts out users on Apple’s iOS platform from sharing their data. They found that a 10% increase in the number of iOS users in a given zip code results in a 3.21% drop in financial fraud complaints from that location. The study also found that “the effects are concentrated in complaints related to lax data security and privacy.”

The drop in financial fraud complaints could grow tenfold if tight privacy laws are universally applied. “If the whole population of [cell phone] users on both the iOS and Android platforms were subject to a policy like the ATT, then the number of financial fraud complaints should drop to 32%, assuming the effect scales up linearly,” Tang said.

Apple’s ATT policy, which was launched in April 2021, required all app providers to obtain explicit user permission before tracking them across apps or websites owned by other companies. Consequently, without a user’s permission, Apple would not provide those apps and websites with so-called “mobile identifiers.”

Although the ATT policy only applies to mobile users, it has implications for commercial surveillance and fraud among the general population due to the prevalence of smartphones, the paper pointed out. After the ATT policy, companies with an app are 42% less likely to experience cyber incidents, compared to firms without an app, it added. The paper described the implementation of ATT as “an event that enhances data security and privacy standards.”

A Shock to the Data Industry

The ATT policy dealt “a major shock to the data industry,” especially providers of mobile apps that are available on the Apple App Store or the Google Play store, the paper stated. As of February 2022, 82% of users refused to grant permission to track them, or only 18% of app users allowed tracking among those who were asked for such permission, according to Flurry, a mobile advertising company.

“Facebook is the largest victim of Apple’s privacy campaign, because 98% of Facebook’s revenue comes from targeted ads.”— Huan Tang

According to Tang, Meta’s Facebook tops the list of ATT casualties. “Facebook is the largest victim of Apple’s privacy campaign, because 98% of Facebook’s revenue comes from targeted ads,” she said. In February 2022, Facebook’s share price plunged a record 26% after it announced its 2021 fourth-quarter results, where it blamed Apple’s privacy laws and macroeconomic challenges for its forecast of lower revenues in the subsequent quarter. Apple’s privacy policy would cost the company $10 billion in 2022, Facebook had warned. The implementation of ATT also caused sharp falls in the stock prices of other firms that own active iOS apps, the paper noted, citing a companion paper on data privacy in mobile apps that Tang co-authored.

Tang explained how exactly the ATT hurt Facebook. In order to target consumers for advertising, Facebook needs to link different pieces of data from various sources about the same individual using a mobile identifier that links all of the individual’s mobile devices and that links all user choices from different websites, she explained. But after ATT, Facebook couldn’t use mobile identifiers unless iOS users explicitly agreed to share their data with a third party, she added.

Facebook’s Loss, Apple’s Gain

Apple, in contrast, benefited because its users were happy that it was taking steps to protect their privacy, Tang said. “Apple’s privacy campaign is self-serving because it allows the tech giant to tap into the targeted ad industry,” she continued. “And its largest opponent besides Google is Facebook. By taking down Facebook, there’s a void to be filled.” Incidentally, France’s competition authority and Italy’s antitrust agency accused Apple of abusing its dominance in the market to set unfair conditions.

Apple stepped in later with crowd-level targeting, where it could use aggregated information of specific communities of users it created, Tang added. Other platforms that wanted to target Apple users had to adopt that approach, which allows “less refined targeting,” she explained. As Apple’s guide to search ads stated, “targeting specific audiences will prevent ads from appearing to users who have turned off the Personalized Ads setting.”

Apple had begun tightening the screws on data privacy more than a year before it launched the ATT policy, the paper noted. In December 2020, Apple introduced “nutrition” privacy labels, which required all developers to provide information about their data practices in a standardized and user-friendly format. Developers who failed to comply with that policy faced the risk of having their future app updates rejected by Apple’s app store.

In July 2022, Google too launched data safety forms on its Google Play platform, which also required firms to disclose the types of data they collected from users and how they would use that. Google’s data safety form also required disclosure of data security practices, including whether the user data is encrypted during transit.

How the Study Tracked Financial Fraud

The authors began with detailed foot traffic data from Safegraph (a provider of datasets on global places) to calculate zip-code-level shares of iPhone users out of all smartphone users. Next, they analyzed data from the Consumer Fraud Prevention Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on the number of financial fraud complaints and the amount of money lost due to fraud. They then applied the 82% opt-out rate of ATT to arrive at their finding of a 3.21% reduction in financial fraud complaints.

“Apple’s privacy campaign is self-serving because it wants to tap into the targeted ad industry.”— Huan Tang

Significantly, the study found that trends in the likelihood and number of financial fraud complaints were more pronounced among minorities, women, and younger people, suggesting that these groups are more vulnerable to surveillance and fraud. Those findings contribute to the process of creating new regulations and rules to enhance consumer data protection and privacy, the paper stated.

To isolate CFPB complaints that relate to financial fraud originating from lax data security, the authors used keyword searches to look for indicators such as fraud, scam, or identity theft. They used that in combination with a machine learning method that generates a likelihood of complaints being related to financial fraud caused by data security issues.

Main Findings of the Study

• A 10% increase in the number of iOS users in a given zip code results in a 3.21% drop in financial fraud complaints from that location.
• About 26% of financial companies listed in the CFPB complaints database own an app, and 11% of them collect and share user data with third parties, such as data brokers, other websites, and advertising networks. The effect of ATT on consumer complaints is more pronounced for companies that are active in the app market, share user data with third parties, or do not encrypt user data in transit.
• Complaints of financial fraud are more likely in categories like credit reporting and debt collection than in others like student loans and mortgages. Specifically, the ATT policy reduced the number of financial fraud complaints about credit reporting and debt collection in a zip code by 2.48% and 0.61%, respectively, when it has 10% more iOS users.
• The ATT policy helped reduce money lost in all complaints by 4.7%. Of that, the money lost as reported in internet and data security complaints would be about 40% less with the ATT policy.

Regulatory Reforms

“Our results provide compelling evidence in favor of industry-led regulations aimed at constraining consumer surveillance practices,” the paper stated. Tang recently presented her findings to the FTC, which she said is eager to use her paper’s findings in its efforts to frame future regulation on data privacy and security.

“For their cost and benefit analysis, the FTC was interested in the cost to consumers when firms collect excessive amount of data, but it is very hard to find empirical evidence of that,” she said. “This is where our paper comes in. We provide a point estimate.”

According to Tang, Apple’s efforts at strengthening data privacy for cell phone users have advantages over the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that was launched in 2018. She said users have found it cumbersome to navigate the privacy notices of firms that pop up on their screens, especially because they are not standardized and require multiple clicks before they can understand how their data might be used. A CNBC report referred to that experience of users as “consent fatigue.”

The paper pointed to other efforts that are underway to limit data transfers across firms, including Google’s plan to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome by 2024. Similar to the GDPR, laws in Virginia and Connecticut require opt-in consent for sharing sensitive personal information, according to a report by OneTrust, a firm that advises companies on issues including privacy standards. Other privacy laws in California, Colorado, and Utah follow an opt-out mechanism for consent in most areas, it added.

Source : Knowledge at Wharton

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New Zealand’s National Party sealed agreement on a new three-party coalition government on Friday, after drawn-out negotiations over ministerial roles and policies including Indigenous rights, tax cuts and changes at the central bank.

The centre-right Nationals, led by incoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, return to power alongside the populist New Zealand First party and libertarian ACT New Zealand after six years of rule by governments led by the left-leaning Labour Party.

“We believe in this country, we are ambitious for it and we know that with the right leadership, the right policies, and the right direction, together we New Zealanders can make this an even better country,” Luxon said in a speech ahead of the formal signing of the agreement at parliament.

The coaliation agreement outlines plans to roll back the use of Maori language, review affirmative action policies and assess how the country’s founding treaty document is interpreted in legislation. However, a controversial proposal to have a referendum on the interpretation of the document, the Treaty of Waitangi, will not happen.

New Zealand’s outgoing Labour Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the changes in policy were going to turn back progress on Maori issues.

“This is certainly going backwards by three or four decades,” he said.

Luxon, 53, said the government will also amend the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 2021 to remove the dual mandate on inflation and employment, to focus monetary policy only on price stability.

ANZ economists said in a note that proposed changes to the monetary policy framework “may be seen as hawkish” at the margins, but other announcements do not appear to be game changers for macroeconomic policy settings.

There are also plans to repeal a ban on offshore oil and gas exploration and a ban on the sale of cigarettes to future generations introduced by the previous Labour government, according to coalition documents.

The new government will cut personal income taxes, following through on a campaign policy used to woo middle income voters struggling with rising costs of living.

However, plans to open up New Zealand’s housing market to foreign buyers and tax these purchases to pay for the tax cuts have been shelved.

“Delivering tax relief is just one part of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy. The Government will ease the cost of living, reduce wasteful spending, and lift economic growth to increase opportunities and prosperity for all New Zealanders,” Luxon said.

The parties said they plan to “re-write the Arms Act” without giving any further details, and would undertake a review of the gun registry that was introduced after a gunman killed 51 Muslim worshippers in 2019. It also agreed to train no fewer than 500 new Police.

MIXED BAG

Parties on the political right gained popularity over the last year frustration with the ruling Labour Party grew. Charismatic former premier Jacinda Ardern became a favourite in progressive politics globally, but domestically, anger had built against strict COVID restrictions and rising living costs. Ardern stepped down in January.

Luxon, the former CEO of the national airline, only entered parliament in 2020 and became leader of the National Party at the end of 2021.

The new coalition cabinet, which will be sworn in on Monday, is a combination of veteran politicians and new leaders.

The role of deputy prime minister, a key sticking point in coalition negotiations, will be split between NZ First leader Winston Peters and ACT leader David Seymour.

National Party deputy leader Nicola Willis will be finance minister and Peters will be foreign minister, the parties said.

Peters – a colourful, populist figure in his late seventies – will be taking over as foreign minister for a third time after serving in the role in Ardern’s 2017 Labour-led government and with Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark in 2005.

“Foreign affairs does matter to this country…. all relationships do matter to this country,” Peters said in a joint news conference in the capital Wellington after the announcement.

“We expect the Chinese government to treat us the same way, regardless of our size,” he said when asked how he plans to deal with China’s growing influence in the region. “Size doesn’t matter respect does.”

Source : Reuters

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While many managers are attempting to improve inequalities facing employees by implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, these policies often have unexpected, negative consequences for the employees — including those the policies are trying to help. How can managers avoid this?

My research shows that there is a need to take a systems-level view of inequality when implementing DEI policies. That is, when designing and implementing a policy, managers must consider how it will reverberate throughout the organization — and how it might ultimately backfire.

The Policy

At the midsize American professional services organization I studied, leaders had the well-intentioned aim of implementing a flexible work policy that allowed employees more control over where and when they worked. The company was already considered life- and family-friendly by employees, and leaders wanted to cement this, both because it would help current employees’ well-being and also because it could provide the company with a competitive edge in hiring. Leaders also recognized that these policies could help women in particular, because at this professional organization — as in many others — women performed more family care than men.

Once the policy was rolled out, it did in fact help many employees. And as anticipated, I found that the policy helped women in particular integrate and balance work and life demands. For instance, it helped them break up their schedule and spend more time with their kids, and lessen the time they spent commuting so they could spend time with family.

The Problem

However, what the organization’s leaders — and I — did not anticipate was how the flexible work policy harmed a specific group of women: women managers. This was despite the fact that these managers were almost all very vocal supporters of improving gender equality, and had advocated for and supported a wide variety of other women- and family-friendly initiatives, including backup childcare, onsite daycare, and a women speaker series.

How did this happen? My research found that many women managers had developed a managerial style focused on close, day-to-day interactions with subordinates. For instance, many would regularly stop by the offices of each of their subordinates daily, asking them how they were doing and if they could offer any help or guidance with their work. Others would work with their doors open so that subordinates could stop by their office whenever they needed help. Employees appreciated these managers’ efforts, not only because they provided more immediate task-based assistance but also because, over time, these managers came to know their employees very well and could offer custom-tailored advice on project staffing, career training, and so on.

Importantly, the women managers did not develop this managerial style in a vacuum. Rather, it seemed to reflect stereotypes they faced on the job: They experienced pressure to be helpful and communal, rather than direct and assertive like their male manager counterparts.

The problem from the women managers’ perspective was that the flexible work policy would make the style they had developed difficult to maintain. While video calls were an option, managers did not view them as an easy or natural way to spark interaction. Others pointed out that with their subordinates working different schedules with varied hours, this meant that they needed to be available at a broader range of hours as well if they were to remain available and helpful to their workers. Not only would this be difficult for anyone to do, it also threatened to make women managers’ own work-life conflict much worse because it made it hard for them to have time with their own families.

While my research was specifically on gender, what I found was consistent with other research that emphasizes the need to consider the whole organization to effectively implement a DEI effort, as well as research that highlights the importance of considering how individuals engage and interact with one another within the organizational system. This is in addition, of course, to considering other important causes of DEI policy failure, such as various individual-level biases.

Avoiding Unexpected Consequences from Your DEI Policy

Given that DEI policies can reverberate in organizations in unexpected ways — and potentially undermine hard-won progress on equity- and equality-related outcomes — it is important for managers to anticipate such issues. My research, and complementary research by other scholars (some of which I detail below) presents three key suggestions for how managers can limit the chance of their policies backfiring. These suggestions are all rooted in taking a systems-level view of inequality when designing and implementing DEI policies.

1. Consider subgroups.

When designing a DEI policy, think about variation within the group of people the policy is aimed at helping. In my research, there was an important difference between the experiences of most women employees (who benefited from the policy) and women managers (who were harmed).

As another example, imagine if managers attempted to help Black employees through creating a peer mentorship program. This program might provide vital help, advice, and connection at work for enrolled Black employees, who researchers finds are much less likely to have internal sponsors when compared to white workers, despite the fact that such aid is vital for career success. However, if there are relatively few senior Black employees in a company — a common occurrence given historical patterns of systemic racism — then these few employees may each have many mentees. The unexpected, unanticipated result may be that senior Black employees end up spending a lot of time coaching junior Black employees instead of focusing on pushing their own careers forward.

The lesson here is not that DEI policies should not be introduced, of course. It is that with better planning, such negative results can be anticipated and curbed. And once noticed — whether this is before or even after rollout — solutions can be found. For instance, in our example, could senior Black employees be relieved of other “helping” duties so common in organizations to free up more of their time? Or could these employees be given more “glamor work” to help them shine? In general, the point here is to not think about a given group — women, LGBTQ+ people, Black people, and so on — monolithically, but rather to recognize the varying organizational ranks, roles, and tasks of employees as well as their intersectional identities.

2. Think big.

A systems-level perspective draws attention to the fact that the interactions and connections between people in organizations are diverse and complex. As my research demonstrates, when policies reverberate, they can harm groups or subgroups in ways that are entirely unanticipated by organizational leaders and policy designers.

For instance, well-intentioned “ban the box” initiatives aimed at preventing discrimination against people with criminal records — and adopted by many companies and mandated in over a hundred states, cities, and counties in the United States — have also been found to in some cases increase racial discrimination against Black applicants, because when these policies are in place, it seems employers are more likely to incorrectly presume Black applicants have a criminal past.

Again, the solution here is not to disavow DEI policies. Rather, it is important to think big when considering how policies could potentially result in unexpected negative consequences for workers, because you never know where or when such consequences will arise. To do this, gather a diverse group of employees to brainstorm what potential challenges could come about from the introduction of a new DEI policy. Also read about and research the experiences of other companies that have implemented similar policies, to see what (if any) unintended consequences may have arisen through their policy adoption.

3. Track closely.

Monitor the policy as it is being rolled out for any negative effects on employees. There are different layers to monitoring. One is to get immediate, qualitative feedback on employees’ experiences through focus groups or anonymous suggestion boxes that let employees provide comments without fear of backlash. Longer term, it is important to analyze internal administrative data to check that there are no concerning or unexpected patterns. This includes looking to see if there is variation between groups or subgroups (e.g., women versus men, or black women versus white women) on important markers of individual career success such as performance evaluations, salary, bonuses, and promotions.

Some organizations have even started piloting their DEI initiatives before rolling them out organization-wide, and such efforts can improve policy quality by identifying issues before the policy has even been officially implemented. Ericsson, a global telecommunications company, tested a policy intervention aimed at improving women’s interest in internal job openings. This testing helped Ericsson identify the message that seemed most likely to decrease the gender gap. And before rolling out a flexible work policy more broadly, Boston Consulting Group tested it with smaller groups of consultants. Here, it is important to collect data on employees’ experiences at baseline (before rollout) to compare with their experiences after policy implementation

Source : HBR

The post How to Avoid the Unexpected Consequences of Your DEI Policy appeared first on Policy Print.

Gold prices retreated on Thursday as the U.S. dollar and bond yields powered higher after the Federal Reserve signalled another rate hike this year and lesser chances of monetary policy easing through 2024.

Spot gold XAU= eased 0.1% to $1,927.63 per ounce by 0327 GMT, while U.S. gold futures GCcv1 shed 1% to $1,947.80.

Prices on Wednesday hit their highest since Sept. 1 before the U.S. Fed revised its economic projections with higher-for-longer rate warnings.

“Commentary signalled rates will likely stay higher for longer, which saw the market price-in reduced rate cut expectations from the Fed funds rate through 2024, which we see driving downward pressure to gold prices in the near term,” NAB Commodities Research said in a note.

The U.S. dollar index .DXY climbed 0.4% to its highest since March 9, while two-year Treasury yields rose to 17-year high after the Fed held interest rates steady but stiffened a hawkish monetary policy stance. USD/US/

The Fed sketched a stricter policy path moving forward in an inflation fight they now see lasting into 2026, but believe they can succeed in lowering inflation without wrecking the economy or leading to large job losses.

Higher interest rates discourage the buying of non-interest-paying bullion, which is priced in dollars.

“Any further downside is likely to leave the $1,900 level on watch as immediate support to hold,” said Yeap Jun Rong, Market Analyst at IG.

On investors’ radar later in the day will be the Bank of England’s policy decision on whether it is halting a run of interest rate hikes that stretches back to December 2021.

In other metals, spot silver XAG= fell 0.5% to $23.12 per ounce, platinum XPT= slipped 0.9% to $920.45 and palladium XPD= dropped 1.1% to $1,260.37.

Source : Nasdaq

The post Precious-Gold Prices Dip as US Fed Hardens Hawkish Policy Stance appeared first on Policy Print.

France’s ambassador to Niger is still in the coup-hit Sahel country despite an ultimatum from the new army leaders to leave his post, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday. August 28. During a major foreign policy speech to ambassadors gathered in Paris, Macron confirmed that French envoy Sylvain Itté was listening in from Niger’s capital Niamey despite being given a 48-hour deadline to leave the country last Friday.

“France and its diplomats have faced particularly difficult situations in some countries in recent months, from Sudan, where France has been exemplary, to Niger at this very moment and I applaud your colleague and your colleagues who are listening from their posts,” he said.

Niger President Mohamed Bazoum was toppled on July 26 and has been detained along with his family at the presidential palace in a coup that has been condemned by France and most of Niger’s neighbors.

On Friday, Niger’s foreign ministry announced that French ambassador Itte had 48 hours to leave, saying he had refused to meet with the new rulers and citing French government actions that were “contrary to the interests of Niger”.

Macron insisted that France would not change its position in condemning the coup and offering support to Bazoum, stressing he had been democratically elected and was being “courageous” by refusing to resign. “Our policy is clear: We do not recognize the putschists,” Macron said. “Our policy is clear: we do not recognise the putschists,” Macron said, adding that they were “abandoning the fight against terrorism”.

The impoverished Sahel region, which lies south of the Sahara, has suffered what Macron called an “epidemic” of coups in recent years, with military regimes replacing elected governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea as well as Niger. The changes have led to the creation of new military governments hostile to France, a former colonial power in West Africa which has troops across the region engaged in fighting Islamist groups. France intervened militarily to beat back advancing extremists in Mali in 2013 at the request of the then Malian government.

Current military regimes in Mali and Burkina Faso have forged closer ties with Russia, which Macron referred to as a “neo-imperialist” power. “We can’t give ground to the narrative used by the putschists which boils down to saying, ‘our enemy has become France’,” said Macron.

Macron said the new regime in Niger was bad for local people because the “putschists are putting them in danger because they are abandoning the fight against terrorism, because they are abandoning good economic policies, and they are in the process of losing international financing which enabled them to emerge from poverty.” France needed an approach in Africa of “neither paternalism, not weakness,” he added.

The European Union expressed its “full support” for the French ambassador to Niger. “The decision of the putschists to expel the French ambassador is a new provocation which cannot in any way help to find a diplomatic solution to the current crisis,” said Nabila Massrali, EU spokeswoman for foreign affairs, adding that the EU “does not recognise” the authorities that seized power in Niger on July 26.

Germany also expressed concerns Monday about the anti-French mood in Niger. “We are concerned that the military is stirring things up against the French and we are keeping a watchful eye on things,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Christian Wagner told a government press conference.

Source: Le Monde

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Cancer patients said they felt relieved they could continue taking life-saving drugs after a policy change.

Doctors were not allowed to automatically prescribe two bowel cancer drugs on the NHS in England if patients had taken a break from them.

Steven Marsland, 38, from Brantham, Suffolk, said the decision meant he now had “one less thing to worry about”.

The policy affected the drugs cetuximab and panitumumab.

Before the rule change, if a patient took a treatment break for longer than six weeks they would have to reapply for NHS funding, with no guarantee it would be approved.

Mr Marsland, who has incurable cancer, needed to pause his treatment for a hernia operation last year. He had to take a shorter break due to the policy and was left worrying he might have to fund cetuximab himself in the future.

The father-of-two, who works as a principal technologist for BT, has been through 93 rounds of chemotherapy and 28 lots of radiotherapy since he was diagnosed in 2018.

“This decision means I no longer need to live with the anxiety of losing a line of treatment,” he said.

“It will open up many options for people to have skin recovery breaks, holidays and minor surgeries. I won’t have to cover up illnesses in the fear of having the rug pulled out.”

Jane Ashford, from Bristol, described the development as “amazing”, saying she had lived in “constant fear” of her treatment being taken away.

The 50-year-old, who is now in remission from bowel cancer, said her oncologist was keen for her to have a break “as the toxicity of the drugs was leading to serious health issues” but she had “no choice but to continue with no breaks under the arbitrary rule”.

“I had to leave my job as an NHS lead nurse specialist because of the physical, emotional and psychological side effects,” she said.

What is bowel cancer?

• Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK and the second biggest cancer killer
• Also called colorectal cancer, it affects the large bowel, which is made up of the colon and rectum
• Nearly 43,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year in the UK
• Bowel cancer is treatable and curable especially if diagnosed early
• Symptoms to look our for include bleeding from your bottom, blood in your poo, a change in bowel habit, unexplained weight loss, extreme tiredness and pain or lump in your tummy

Source: Bowel Cancer UK

The rule change has come too late for some patients. Roy Davison, a father-of-three from Preston, was told he could not go back on panitumumab on the NHS after taking a break for liver surgery.

The engineer, diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2014, was making good progress and the drug had shrunk his tumours enough to make them operable, his wife Carolyn said.

“Then the doctors told us the rules had changed and suddenly the drug was snatched away. It seemed so wrong and so cruel.

“It was like a prescription was written but he was only allowed to have half of it. We sought second opinions from oncologists who all said they would like to put him back on panitumumab if they could,” she said.

They wrote to their MP and the drug company explaining his situation, but Mr Davison was forced on to other drugs and his cancer spread. He died aged 59 in 2017.

Genevieve Edwards, chief executive at Bowel Cancer UK, which has spent five years campaigning on the issue, said: “Patients with advanced bowel cancer have very few treatment options and these drugs are often their only lifeline.

“This decision by NHS England will bring new hope for advanced bowel cancer patients to have a better quality of life, spend more time with loved ones and, for some, even the chance of full remission.”

NHS England has been contacted for a comment.

Source: British Broadcasting Corporation

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Amend the Constitution! Touch the third rail! Think big and make things better!

This is the big ideas period of American politics – a time that occurs roughly every four years in the lead-up to a presidential election – when candidates push expansive proposals, usually short on specifics.

While the big ideas generally have little chance of becoming law, they speak to what the people who want to be president think will move primary voters.

With President Joe Biden currently a lock for the Democratic nomination, most of the intellectual action this year is among Republicans.

Below are some of the big ideas of the moment, which are usually unique to one or two candidates as opposed to positions that are standard for the party. I view these as distinct from the daily political issues – things like abortion rights, foreign policy, border security and gender rights, where there is a sliding scale of positions.

A ‘mental competency’ test for candidates over 75

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who is 51, wants to impose a “mental competency” test for older candidates over 75.

With both of the current leading candidates – Biden and former President Donald Trump – well beyond when most people would consider retirement, age is already a major issue this year.

It’s a smart way to tap into fears that Biden, in particular, has lost a step. But it’s hard to imagine it actually put into use. Who would administer this test? Who would assess the results? Why not all candidates?

The point of the democratic system is that voters should get to choose. This proposal would necessarily limit their choices.

On the other hand, age limits are not an entirely crazy idea. Corporations impose them on executives, for instance. Pilots have a mandatory retirement age of 65, although that could be raised in the near future to deal with a pilot shortage.

Raise the voting age

Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech founder, wants to raise the legal voting age to 25. It’s hard to imagine how this would work since the current voting age of 18 is guaranteed in the 26th Amendment.

Democrats like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have in recent years pushed to go in the opposite direction, arguing to lower the voting age to 16.

Ramaswamy says there would be exceptions to raising the voting age, such as for people who join the military or otherwise meet a “national service requirement.” Others could pass the same test given to naturalized immigrants.

“I want more civic engagement. My hypothesis is that when you attach greater value to the act, we will see more 18-to-25-year-olds actually vote than do now,” Ramaswamy told The Washington Post.

Raise the retirement age to save Social Security and Medicare

Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence are among those pushing to change the age at which Americans can access retirement benefits.

While both Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are swearing up and down that they will protect these key parts of the social safety net, Haley and Pence are calling for a more honest discussion about the nation’s finances.

In their telling, raising the retirement age would only affect the youngest Americans – people in their 20s and younger, generations sure to live and work longer than their forebears.

But specifics are hard to come by, as CNN’s Jake Tapper found when he asked Haley at a CNN town hall in early June what retirement age she is proposing. She said more calculations are needed to come up with a specific retirement age for people currently in their 20s.

Meantime, she said, “we’re going to go tell them ‘Times have changed.’ I think (Trump and DeSantis are) not being honest with the American people.”

DeSantis did recently acknowledge in New Hampshire that Social Security is “going to look a little bit different” for younger generations.

Pence, at his own CNN town hall in early June, said raising the eligibility age for Social Security is one option to have the tough conversation about national spending, but not the only one.

“It also could include letting younger Americans invest a portion of their payroll taxes in a mutual fund, like the TSP (Thrift Savings Plan) program that 10 million federal employees are in today,” he said.

End birthright citizenship

Both former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis want to revoke birthright citizenship, or the right of every person born in the US to be an American citizen.

They complain that even babies born to undocumented people become citizens. Birthright citizenship is guaranteed in the 14th Amendment, the key post-Civil War amendment that was meant to protect former slaves.

Trump has been teasing an end to birthright citizenship for years, but there is not currently a meaningful effort to change the Constitution.

Trump has pledged to sign an executive order. DeSantis has said he would lean on Congress and the court system. Actually changing the Constitution would be nearly impossible in today’s political environment.

Build ‘freedom cities’ and develop flying cars

Former President Donald Trump’s most outside-the-box ideas have a futuristic “Jetsons” feel.

He wants to build new “freedom cities” on federal land to reopen the American frontier and give people a chance at home ownership. He argues the plan could revitalize American manufacturing.

And he envisions freeing Americans from hellish commutes by looking to the skies, taking the initiative to innovate vertical-takeoff vehicles. CNN’s report on Trump’s proposals notes that technology is already underway by industry, but a long way from being available to consumers.

A government-planned city might seem like a strange proposal for a candidate whose party has long embraced free market ideals. But the idea of a planned city is not completely foreign – just look at Washington, DC.

Repeal sentencing reform

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to undo Trump’s greatest bipartisan achievement: The First Step Act, a criminal justice and sentencing reform law.

The product of intense bipartisan negotiations during Trump’s term in office, the law was hailed for rethinking harsh prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders.

But the political landscape has changed since 2018, when Trump signed the law as president and DeSantis voted for it as a congressman. Now, DeSantis calls the law the “jailbreak bill.”

Both men want to impose the death penalty for drug offenders, an especially awkward pivot for Trump, who has bragged about his compassion in setting drug dealers like Alice Johnson free when he commuted her sentence. The case helped build support for the First Step Act. Her crime could have made her eligible for the death penalty under his new plan.

Trump still brags about the First Step Act, and repealing it would take help from Democrats in the Senate.

DeSantis, meanwhile, is moving to the right of Trump on crime and even vetoed a bipartisan criminal justice law in Florida that passed easily through the Republican-dominated legislature.

Pence also said in his CNN town hall he would “take a step back” from the First Step Act – though it is unclear what that means in practical terms.

Source: Cable News Network

The post These Are the Big Ideas Republicans Are Pushing for 2024 appeared first on Policy Print.

A controversial policy change that bars teachers from using a student’s preferred pronouns without parental permission will soon go into effect in New Brunswick despite pushback. It has caused political turmoil in the Canadian province.

In May, under Premier Blaine Higgs, New Brunswick announced that a policy to create a safe space for students who identify as LGBT in schools will be amended, with the changes coming into effect on 1 July.

The amendments to the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity policy – also known as Policy 713 – removed explicit mention of allowing students to participate in extracurricular activities, including sports teams, that reflect their gender identity.

More controversially, the changes – as explained by the province’s education minister Bill Hogan – also forbid teachers from using the chosen preferred names and pronouns of a student under the age of 16 without the consent of their parents.

In cases where it is not possible to get parental permission, the policy states that a student should be sent to a social worker or a psychologist to develop a plan on how to approach their parents.

Mr Higgs and his right-leaning Progressive Conservative government updated the policy without a legislative vote, due to what they said were “hundreds of complaints from parents and teachers”.

The government has been criticised for not providing evidence of these complaints, and the changes have since created a firestorm in the small province of less than a million people.

Two New Brunswick ministers quit in protest, while two others were pushed out by Mr Higgs for not supporting his plan. The premier now faces a growing threat of being ousted from office, as dissidents from his own party have called for a leadership review citing “a pattern of autocratic” governing.

Even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau weighed in, igniting a debate on the issue at the federal level.

At a Pride event earlier in June, Mr Trudeau said that “trans kids in New Brunswick are being told they don’t have the right to be their true self, that they need to ask permission”.

“Trans kids need to feel safe, not targeted by politicians,” he said.

In response, federal Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre told Mr Trudeau to “butt out” of New Brunswick politics.

“The prime minister has no business in decisions that should rest with provinces and parents,” Mr Poilievre said.

What is Policy 713? And why was it changed?

Initially passed in 2020 after a decade of consultations, Policy 713 in its original form asked for parental consent in order to formally change students’ names or pronouns, but made it mandatory to use a student’s preferred name if it is not possible to get permission from a parent.

It also allowed students to participate on sporting teams and use washrooms consistent with their gender identity.

Nicki Lyons-MacFarlane, who volunteers with LGBT youth in the city of Fredericton, said the policy has benefited many such students in the province.

“Students have been validated and affirmed by this policy,” they told the BBC. “If anything, it has saved lives.”

They added that in light of the changes, students now fear being mis-gendered or outed to their families.

Mr Higgs’ government said the changes to the policy are about “ensuring parents also feel respected”. In a recent interview with the CBC, the premier, who has been in office since 2018, said he has seen “a tremendous amount of outpouring support” for his stance.

But the changes have been the subject of fierce opposition from parts of the public in New Brunswick.

Several local protests have been held, and school psychologists and social workers have filed grievances with the government.

The province’s child and youth advocate, Kelly Lamrock, has called the new policy “shoddy and inadvertently discriminatory”.

Donald Wright, a professor of political science at the University of New Brunswick, said the changes to Policy 713 came as a surprise for some, and have been the topic of conversation for many in the province. But Mr Wright added the premier is known for supporting “wedge issues” that are typically divisive.

“He believes that enough New Brunswickers will support him on this,” he said.

The move, however, has proven to be a remarkable political gamble for the premier, Mr Wright said.

“He has lost a quarter of his cabinet,” he said. “That is not insignificant.”

Hadeel Ibrahim, a reporter who has covered the issue for CBC in New Brunswick, said the changes to Policy 713 were the final straw for those who have previously opposed Mr Higgs’ other policies and his style of governance.

“Some people are saying there is a de-emphasis on the ‘progressive’ part of ‘Progressive Conservative’, because they believe he is going too far to the right,” Ms Ibrahim said.

The rest of Canada weighs in

The debate over the policy in New Brunswick quickly spread beyond the province’s borders.

LGBT advocates in other parts of Canada have raised concern Mr Higgs’ move is a sign of “American-style politics” on gender identity seeping into Canadian society. Laws restricting and regulating the lives of transgender youth are part of a rising trend in the US, with numerous states passing laws that relate to transgender people.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, a national civil rights group, has threatened the premier with a lawsuit, arguing the changes to Policy 713 are “unlawful and unconstitutional”.

But there has also been some support. Action4Canada, a conservative Christian group based in British Columbia, touted it as a “heroic decision” and a test case.

“Premier Higgs and (Education) Minister Bill Hogan have courageously and unapologetically taken the first steps, in Canada, towards protecting children from going down a path of destruction,” the group said in a statement.

The debate comes at the heels of other controversies on LGBT issues and schools that have taken place across the country. Earlier in June, a Catholic school board in the Toronto area voted against flying the Pride flag outside its main offices, prompting a student walk-out in protest.

A poll commissioned by Canadian think-tank Second Street of 1,523 people in early May – before New Brunswick’s policy changes were announced – suggested that 57% of Canadians believe parents have a right to be informed by a school if a child wants to change their gender identity.

“I don’t think it is too surprising that parents want to know what their kids are up to in school,” said think-tank president Colin Craig of the results.

Ms Ibrahim said that no official polling has been done on the policy change in New Brunswick. As a result, it has been difficult to discern just how much local support the premier has on this issue.

As the amended policy comes into effect on Saturday, some teachers in New Brunswick have already stated that they will not follow it.

A handful of school boards have said they will develop their own policies that will allow teachers to use a students’ chosen name and pronouns informally, regardless of parental consent or age.

Given the political and public reaction, Mr Wright at the University of New Brunswick said there appears to be more support for Policy 713 in its original form than the amendments.

And with his future as leader now on the line, Mr Wright said the premier may have “misplayed his cards”.

Source: British Broadcasting Corporation

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At the second annual Royce International Symposium held earlier this month, former U.S. Rep. Ed Royce and a panel of foreign policy experts and scholars offered their perspectives on what is happening in Europe and Asia and why these events are important for America. The symposium was organized by Cal State Fullerton.

During his keynote address for the symposium, which was held at the Richard Nixon Library, Royce pointed out that Nixon was instrumental in reestablishing communications and partnerships between America and China in the early 1970s.

“While China is challenging, we have to remain engaged,” Royce said. “I think Russia is destined to be destabilized.”

Royce ’77 (B.A. business administration-accounting, finance), a CSUF alumnus who served in Congress for 26 years and chaired the House Foreign Affairs Committee from 2013-19, currently serves as policy director of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. He believes that because Nixon (and John F. Kennedy before him) were young men during World War II, they were able to observe what happens when totalitarian countries are “on the march and begin carving out territories.

“How a nation treats its own people tells us how likely it is to treat its neighbors.”— Former U.S. Rep. Ed Royce ’77

“When the United States sees free people fighting back against regimes that would replace democracies, our security is at risk,” he said. “In China, we see increased militarization and aggressive behaviors toward Taiwan, the Philippines and others. I believe we should transfer missile systems to Taiwan so they can launch a credible defense if necessary.

“We should also be sending arms to Ukraine,” he added. “If Europe is sending arms, so should we. We need to supply defensive weapons to the free people of Ukraine. A strong defense system is a credible deterrence.”

Following the keynote address, Cal State Fullerton professors moderated panels that focused on two specific territories of concern: Russia/Ukraine and China. 

Europe Panel

Moderator: David Traven, associate professor of political science at Cal State Fullerton and author of “Law and Sentiment in Internal Politics: Ethics, Emotions and the Evolution of the Laws of War”

Tom Sheehy, principal at Quinella Global LLC and former staff director of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the U.S. House of Representative

• “There are many challenges in Europe and elsewhere. You’ve got Russia invading Ukraine, Russia and China meeting together, and let’s not forget Iran and North Korea. This is an era when the U.S. and its allies are confronting daunting challenges. The balance of power is important, and alliances are being created for stability. Right now, the U.S. is the greatest world power with China at number two. If Vladimir Putin (president of Russia) succeeds in Ukraine, it extinguishes any possibility of that country remaining a democracy.”
• “Ukraine is important in defending world order. The indiscriminate bombings; the savage, brutal attacks; the suffering of the Ukrainian people; and the violations of territorial areas should be a concern to all.”
• “There is debate and there needs to be debate on how to help Ukraine. The risks of escalation are real, and we need to be attentive to details. Putin is desperate to keep power, which is why he’s meeting with Xi Jinping (president of the People’s Republic of China).”
• “There has been incredible resolve by the people of Ukraine and Europe’s response has been admirable. Also consider that many Russians have left Russia. Even if Russia wins, it’s in a weakened state. This war wasn’t started by the Russian people, but by their leaders. The vast majority of Russians are lukewarm or keeping their heads down when it comes to supporting the war.”
• “How long can Russia continue with these losses? The number of Russians killed has been quoted as anything from 20,000 to 200,000…and it could be higher. There is the possibility of exhausting their military power. That’s why Putin needs China and others to assist. This is the most precarious time in European history since 1939.”

Paul D’Anieri, professor of political science and public policy, at UC Riverside and author of “Ukraine and Russia: From Civilized Divorce to Uncivil War; Ukraine’s Outpost: Dnipropetrovsk and the Russian-Ukrainian War”

• “In 2014, Putin annexed Crimea; now he wants all of Ukraine. If Russia takes Ukraine, what is next? If Putin’s goal is to return Russia to its imperial boundaries, that would include Warsaw and Finland. Does European unity last?”
• “Much has been made of sending $46 billion to Ukraine, but recognize that this is just 5.5% of the military defense budget. The greatest cost to America would be the cost of lives lost if our troops were in Ukraine and the Ukrainians aren’t asking for that. We should give Ukraine the ‘hardware’ it needs to defend itself.”
• “This isolationist idea of ‘Why should we care?’ doesn’t reflect realist thinking. Do we believe if Ukraine collapses, it won’t affect us? That’s naïve. If Russia wins, we’ll have to put troops in Europe because Russia will continue to invade other territories. Ukraine is important to defend world order.”
• “It’s hard to see any military gains for nuclear weapons. Also remember that nuclear weapons come in different levels. There are tactical weapons that can take out a battalion and strategic weapons that can vaporize large areas.”
• “The number of Ukrainians who support Russia is about 2%. Ukrainians don’t believe they are Russians. How do you define a win? For Russia, it would be to regain all the territory it has lost. Maybe China can disrupt the process. If they could, that’s a good look for China among the world’s nations. I’m not sure how long Russia can sustain the losses of life, their world standing, etc.”

Asia Panel

Moderator: Alexei Shevchenko, professor of political science at Cal State Fullerton and author of “Quest for Status: Chinese and Russian Foreign Policy”

Sean K. O’Neill, U.S. State Department visiting professor at George Washington University, career member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Services, and former foreign affairs fellow on staff of the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs

• “Does diplomacy exist? It does, but how effective is it? As the world changes, our strategies can’t remain static. For instance, we need to change our practices of diplomacy in response to China’s global ambitions. I hope the U.S. never keeps strategy on the shelf like an old encyclopedia that gets opened anywhere from one to 10 years. Close enough isn’t good enough.”
• “China’s rise, relative to the United States, is not a zero-sum competition. The U.S. will stand up for our values. China often uses coercion — Wolf Warrior diplomacy that is confrontational and combative. You shouldn’t be coerced into making a choice. You should have free choice.”
• “We’re seeing the rise and advance of China’s military. The PRC (People’s Republic of China) has expanded their naval presence in the south China sea. They now have at least 350 nuclear warheads and have indicated that by 2027, they will have 700. They could take Taiwan. After the first gulf war, the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) noticed that the U.S. was ahead, and they needed to catch up.”
• “We need to make Xi understand what a disaster it would be for the people of China if he makes moves on Taiwan.”  
• “It’s important to recognize the difference between intent (what you want to get done) and consequences (how to avoid unintended consequences). Intentions matter, but the consequences are what is important.”

Xiaoyu Pu, associate professor of political science at University of Nevada, Reno and author of “Rebranding China: Contested Status Signaling in the Changing Global Order”

• “The U.S. has always played a leading role with China. As China’s economic influence has increased, we have been the number one trading partner.”
• “Our peaceful use of strategy hasn’t ended tensions, but neither side is applying their military strength.”
• “U.S. power isn’t declining, but China is rising and there is a gap. However, the U.S. is a resilient power and the West is still more powerful.”
• “The U.S. will compete with China, but we need a peaceful framework to coexist. There is a difference between conflict and competition.”

In addition to Cal State Fullerton, sponsors include Richard Nixon Foundation (title sponsor), Brownstein Hyatt Farmer Shreck and SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union (gold sponsors), and KyleHouse Group and Paul Carter, ’92 (silver sponsors).

Source : CSUF News

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