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Russia's Wagner mercenary force is accused of having various commercial and military ties to Sudan, but the group denies any involvement in the current conflict in the country. Its founder, Yevgeny Prighozin - who has close links to President Vladimir Putin - has said that "not a single Wagner PMC [private military company] fighter has been present in Sudan" for over two years. We've found no evidence that Russian mercenaries are currently inside the country. But there is evidence of Wagner's previous activities in Sudan, and Mr Prighozin's operations in the country have been targeted by both US and EU sanctions. In 2017, Sudan's then President Omar al-Bashir signed a series of deals with the Russian government during a visit to Moscow. These included an agreement for Russia to set up a naval base at Port Sudan on the Red Sea, as well as "concession agreements on gold mining between Russian company M Invest and the Sudanese Ministry of Minerals". The US Treasury alleges that M Invest and a subsidiary group, Meroe Gold, are fronts for the activities of the Wagner Group in Sudan, Africa's third-biggest gold producer. "Yevgeniy Prigozhin and his network are exploiting Sudan's natural resources for personal gain and spreading malign influence around the globe," said then Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in 2020. Both M Invest and Meroe have been specifically targeted by US sanctions. According to an investigation by CNN, gold has been transported overland to the Central African Republic (CAR), where Wagner is known to operate - exports not recorded in Sudanese official trade data. Significant amounts of gold have also been smuggled out via a network of military airports, according to a report last year in the Daily Telegraph. Since 2017, Russian and international sources have published images that appear to locate Russian mercenaries inside Sudan. These are said to show them acting in various roles, including training Sudanese soldiers or allegedly helping the security forces crack down on protests. The BBC has not independently verified these images. In 2021, a Wagner-linked Telegram channel published images featuring an unnamed top Wagner commander awarding Sudanese soldiers memorabilia at a ceremony held two years earlier. And in July 2022, this channel distributed a video allegedly showing Wagner mercenaries conducting parachute-landing exercises for Sudanese forces. The same source linked to the Instagram profile of an anonymous Russian mercenary, calling himself a "freelancer" and sharing stories of his exploits in Sudan in posts from August and October 2021. In a 2020 Wagner propaganda action film, Sudan was featured as one of the countries where the mercenaries operate. The US Treasury says the Wagner Group has conducted "paramilitary operations, support for preserving authoritarian regimes, and exploitation of natural resources". "Initially, in 2018, they had about 100 men actively training Sudanese military forces, and the relationship has grown from there," says Dr Joana de Deus Pereira of the UK-based Royal United Services Institute. Sudanese media reports says that figure grew to about 500, and they were mainly stationed in the south-west near Um Dafuq, close to Sudan's border with the Central African Republic (CAR). The Sudan Tribune reported that when President Bashir faced popular protests in 2019, "Russian fighters" were deployed to observe anti-government protests alongside Sudanese intelligence and security services, although this was denied by the Sudanese authorities. The Wagner Group devised its own media campaigns to help President Bashir stay in power, says Dr Samuel Ramani, author of a book about Russia's activities in Africa. "Prigozhin was calling for… the protestors to be accused of being pro-Israel and anti-Islamic," he says. This caused friction with the president's own security forces, and so Wagner switched its support to the man who ousted him - General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. "While the Foreign Ministry in Moscow was against the coup, Prigozhin and the Wagner Group actually welcomed al-Burhan's takeover," says Dr Ramani. According to Dr Ramani, it was in 2021 and 2022 that the Wagner Group increased its connections with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is currently fighting Sudan's regular army, led by Gen Burhan. Mr Prigozhin was interested in sourcing more gold through mines recently acquired by the RSF's leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti. Last year, Hemedti visited Moscow, saying he hoped to bolster ties between Sudan and Russia. However, Kholood Khair of Confluence Advisory, a think-tank on Sudanese affairs, believes the Wagner Group is not choosing sides in the current conflict. "Wagner has had links to both General al-Burhan's enterprises and to Mr Hemedti's enterprises to different extents and in different ways," she says. Wagner fighters have widely reported to have been in the Central African Republic (CAR) for several years, guarding the country's diamond mines, as well as in Libya and Mali. A BBC investigation in 2021 found evidence of their involvement in Libya's civil war from a digital device left behind by a Wagner fighter and from speaking to Libyan soldiers and civilians. In Mali, the government has turned to Wagner to help battle Islamist militants, although it has never officially acknowledged the group's presence. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused Russian mercenaries of serious abuses, both in CAR and Mali, including torture and killings. Additional reporting by Beverly Ochieng, Thomas Spencer and Daniele Palumbo

Senior managers understand that adopting Agile teams is necessary for delivering value faster in a changing business environment, but it is not a guarantee for success. Many organizations struggle with monitoring progress and making corrections due to a lack of objective management information. The Agile Control Maturity Model (ACMM) helps senior management assess the control level over their Agile teams and the value they deliver. Most organizations are on low maturity levels (0 or 1) where predictability is low, but as they move to higher maturity levels (3, 4, or 5), they gain more control and benefits such as higher productivity. IDC Metri provides a checklist to help manage and measure Agile teams' performance.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/08/05/do-you-know-about-the-agile-control-maturity-model-acmm/

Do You Know About the Agile Control Maturity Model (ACMM)?

IDC Innovators features five vendors in the AI for parametric climate insurance market: Understory, FloodBase, Arbol, Descartes Underwriting, and Kettle. Their solutions offer valuable climate risk insights and allow for personalized parametric insurance policies. This emerging industry has specialized and wholistic offerings with varying capabilities. Parametric insurance is disruptive, automated, data-driven, and offers faster and more certain payouts compared to traditional insurance.

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IDC Innovators: AI for Parametric Climate Insurance, 2023

A council has issued a warning after several new cases of measles were confirmed.There have been three known cases in north-east England and one in the North West, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said.Colin Cox, director of public health for Cumberland Council, said measles, mumps and rubella remained "highly infectious" conditions.He issued a reminder that the vaccine provided "safe and effective protection". He said those who had not had two doses, including children and adults, should have arranged to have their course completed with their GP.“Getting vaccinated is important as these conditions can spread easily amongst unvaccinated people and lead to serious problems including meningitis, hearing loss and problems during pregnancy," he added.Cumberland Council said residents could check their vaccination records at their GP.The UKHSA said an uptake in routine childhood vaccinations had fallen during the Covid pandemic.Dr Sam Ghebrehewet from UKHSA North West said this was leaving people vulnerable to outbreaks "especially as people travel abroad for summer holidays to places where measles is more common".He said: "It’s important to remember that measles is not just a childhood illness and it’s never too late to have the vaccine."Measles can be more severe in young people and adults, often leading to hospital admissions."Symptoms can often start with cold-like symptoms, developing into a rash., external Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, external, Facebook, external and Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.

A board set up to oversee the closure of a 135-year-old theatre and its legacy is set to be the anchor tenant for a new theatre. Oldham Coliseum shut its doors in March after losing all its funding from Arts Council England (ACE). The theatre was unable to come up with a rescue plan despite a campaign to save it backed by actress Maxine Peake. Oldham Coliseum Board said it would work with the council on the new £24m theatre and its cultural programme. An emotional night of performances and tributes led by Peake and actor Christopher Eccleston brought down the final curtain on the Coliseum. Oldham Council had said the playhouse building was not fit for purpose and had a "litany of problems" including asbestos as it unveiled plans for a new theatre supported by the ACE which has pledged almost £1.85m for performing arts in the borough. Oldham Coliseum Board said on its website: "We've agreed to be the anchor tenant for Oldham Council's new purpose-built theatre, scheduled to open in 2026 on Greaves Street." "At the same time, we've taken up a seat at the table of the council's Performance Space Partnership Board with a view to supporting the development of the new space and its inner workings. "We've also been working closely with Oldham Council on supporting the development of their proposal to Arts Council England for the £1.84m funding to deliver a cultural programme across the borough between now and the opening of the new building, which the Coliseum will lead." It said it had "started considering how a new venue could operate in Oldham, how we could commission and produce new work and how we could collaborate with other arts organisations and community groups", adding it was "exciting as there's so many opportunities". It said once the funding for the cultural programme was confirmed and discussions with other key stakeholders had taken place, it would announce "what part we will play in that offer". Oldham Council said plans for the new theatre, set to be finished by 2026, would be submitted in the summer. Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk

EU regulators have approved Microsoft's $69bn (£55bn) attempt to purchase Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard. The European Commission (EC) said Microsoft had addressed their concerns on competition issues. It comes three weeks after the UK blocked the deal over worries it would hurt competition in the emerging cloud gaming business. The proposed takeover is poised to be the biggest deal in gaming history but has split global regulators. In order for the deal to go through Microsoft and Activision need approval from regulatory bodies in the UK, EU and the US. The US Federal Trace Commission filed a lawsuit in December to block the deal - a judge's decision is unlikely before the end of the year. Microsoft's big deal - what you need to know The EC have approved the acquisition, saying that Microsoft's offer of 10 year free licensing deals - which promise European consumers and cloud game streaming services access to Activision's PC and console games - mean there would be fair competition in the market. "The commitments fully address the competition concerns identified by the Commission and represent a significant improvement for cloud gaming as compared to the current situation," the EU competition watchdog said in a statement. It said an in-depth market investigation indicated that Microsoft "would not be able to harm rival consoles and rival multi-game subscription services". And it said cloud game streaming service providers "gave positive feedback and showed interest in the licences", with some having already entered into agreements with Microsoft based on their proposals. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) shock veto of the deal last month had experts warning the deal now faces significant hurdles in order to be successful. Microsoft and Activision filed an appeal and have reportedly hired high-powered lawyers who have previously represented British Royals to fight that decision. On Thursday the CMA dealt a further blow by restricting Microsoft and Activision Blizzard from acquiring stakes in each other without "prior written consent". Reacting to the European Commission's statement, CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said they stood by their decision. "Microsoft's proposals, accepted by the European Commission today, would allow Microsoft to set the terms and conditions for this market for the next 10 years," she added. "They would replace a free, open and competitive market with one subject to ongoing regulation of the games Microsoft sells, the platforms to which it sells them, and the conditions of sale. "This is one of the reasons the CMA's independent panel group rejected Microsoft's proposals and prevented this deal." The deal is important for Microsoft who are trying to play catch-up with its main competitors Sony. They have been the more successful of the two in recent years when it comes to sales in the console market. However, this attempted massive investment from Microsoft can been seen as a play for the future of games rather than its present. Microsoft is betting big on its Game Pass service, which can be described as a Netflix of games. They think the future lies in players having subscriptions to libraries rather than making one off purchases - which is the predominant way of accessing games at the moment. Their Game Pass offering is compelling but lacking the volume and calibre of new titles to fully transform the way most people play. This deal would give it control of some of the world's most popular games such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Overwatch. Being in charge of titles like that could be a big boost to the service. Cloud gaming is an extension of that principle allowing people to stream their game on any device they own - form a phone to a console or high-end PC. Just like watching Amazon Prime or Disney+ but with video games. Currently this is a small and emerging part of the games industry because of the technological requirements of making it work. It is however seemingly growing with the number of people playing this way in the UK having tripled between 2021 and 2022 according to the CMA. Microsoft have invested in this space and so combined with its Game Pass offering it is in a good position to lead the way, should cloud gaming go on to become a significant part of the industry. That is why the CMA decided to block the decision in the UK, arguing it would put Microsoft in too dominant a position in this up-and-coming sector. However many within the games industry have disagreed with their analysis - especially given how small the cloud gaming sector is in the grand scheme of things and given it is not be guaranteed to become the dominant way of accessing games in future. The American technology giants have not taken the setback in the UK quietly. Microsoft President Brad Smith said the CMA decision was "bad for Britain". "It does more than shake our confidence in the future of the opportunity to grow a technology business in Britain than we've ever confronted before," he said in an interview with the BBC last month. "There's a clear message here - the European Union is a more attractive place to start a business than the United Kingdom." The drama is far from over and there is a lot of money on the line. Activision Blizzard, for example, will still get $3bn from Microsoft if the deal fails. The EU taking an opposing position on the mega-deal could be read by some as a reflection of post-Brexit frictions with the UK. It is believed that Microsoft's recent 10-year licensing agreements with cloud streaming rivals Nvidia's GeForce Now, Ukraine's Boosteroid and Japan's Ubitus, played a role in the EC decision. Nintendo and Sony are also being promised access to keep Call of Duty on their gaming consoles - the Switch and PlayStation. This non-exclusivity for the Activision Blizzard game has helped smoothed the path. But the Xbox-maker hasn't agreed a compromise with Valve Corp which owns the world's largest video game distribution platform Steam, however it's boss Gabe Newell said he didn't need to sign a deal as he trusted their intentions. For more gaming content, go to Press X to Continue, the BBC Sounds gaming Podcast.

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A new leader is being recruited for two hospital trusts providing services on the north and the south banks of the River Humber. In 2022 the boards at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (HUTH) and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLAG) agreed to move towards a group leadership model. A new joint executive team, led by a joint chief executive will oversee the management of the two organisations. Recruitment for the position "is well under way" said HUTH, but the current bosses of both trusts will not be contenders after announcing they were leaving their positions earlier in the year. Chris Long, chief executive of HUTH announced hw will retire from the NHS later this year.Mr Long said: “ This has not been an easy decision but I feel that at the age of almost 63 I will not be able to provide the longevity in post that leading the transition of our two Trusts into a single group will require." NLAG chief executive Peter Reading has also announced he will be leaving his position. "Working at NLAG has been both a personal and professional pleasure," he said."I have seen our staff achieve many amazing things in the past six years and they should be incredibly proud of that; I know I am. "Their dedication to their roles, their ability to do them with humour and, when appropriate, with challenge, is as strong as any I have seen anywhere in the NHS throughout my career."Sean Lyons, chair at both HUTH and NLAG, said: "We are continuing with our plans to create a Group structure with Hull University Teaching Hospitals and we expect to confirm the appointment of a Group Chief Executive to lead both NLAG and HUTH in the near future."

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has lost his appeal against a prison sentence for corruption. However, the Paris appeals court ruled that he could serve his time at home wearing a tag instead of going to jail. In 2021 Sarkozy was sentenced to three years in prison - including two suspended - for trying to influence a judge in a separate case. The 68 year-old was the first former French president to get a custodial sentence. Following Wednesday's ruling, Sarkozy's lawyer said she would launch a new challenge with the Court of Cassation, one of France's highest jurisdiction. "Nicolas Sarkozy is innocent," lawyer Jacqueline Laffont said. "We will take this all the way." The former president was convicted of attempting to obtain information about a case in 2014 - after he had left office - by suggesting he could secure a prestigious job for the judge. He has been banned from holding public office for three years. It is one of several corruption cases involving Sarkozy, who denies any wrongdoing. Earlier this month, prosecutors requested that he should face trial over to allegations that the Libyan government illegally contributed to his 2007 presidential bid. But investigating magistrates have the last word over whether a case should go to trial. Nicolas Sarkozy served one five-year term as president, until 2014. He adopted tough anti-immigration policies and sought to reform France's economy during a presidency overshadowed by the global financial crisis. Critics nicknamed him "bling-bling", seeing his leadership style as too brash, celebrity-driven and hyperactive for a role steeped in tradition and grandeur. France's Nicolas Sarkozy: 'Bling' and legal woes

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on computing and the future of trust. Organizations are incorporating more technologies and digital identities into their everyday experiences, while consumers are becoming more aware and sensitive to data breaches. Data-driven insight is essential for privacy, security, compliance, risk, and ESG. Trust is a prerequisite for consumers to share personal data required for generating high-quality organizational insight.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/11/16/idc-futurescape-worldwide-future-of-trust-2023-predictions/

IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Future of Trust 2023 Predictions

A selection of powerful news photographs taken around the world this week. All photos subject to copyright

BBC journalists in England will stage a 48-hour strike after rejecting revised plans on cuts to local radio. Members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) will walk out on 7 and 8 June. They will also work to rule, which includes refusing to act-up to more senior roles. The BBC said it would continue to engage with the union in an effort to minimise the impact on its staff and audiences. The dispute centres on the BBC's plans for its 39 local radio stations to share more programmes. Some concessions were made in talks brokered by the conciliation service Acas but they did not go far enough, according to the union. BBC local services disrupted by 24-hour strikeGovernment 'concerned' by BBC local radio cutsBBC announces local radio programming cuts NUJ members working for BBC Local first walked out on strike on 15 March, in a move which disrupted some programming. A second strike planned to coincide with the local elections on 5 May was called off while members were balloted on the BBC's revised proposal. The union said the revised deal removed the risk of redundancy from 300 journalists and would see three extra pairs of weekend breakfast shows. But it has been rejected by members and those working in local radio, regional TV and online in England will strike in June. Paul Siegert, NUJ national broadcasting organiser, said: "Many of our members who have had to reapply for their jobs and face redundancy have had a very bruising and upsetting time. "This fight is about the heart of the BBC's public service remit. "Local news is vital not just so people can be informed to be able to participate in local democracy, it binds communities together and for the many who will not be able to access local news digitally they will lose the familiar presenters who have become their friends. "Local radio is not expensive in terms of the BBC's budget and we believe that the BBC could easily solve this dispute." A BBC spokesperson said: "We're obviously disappointed with the result of the NUJ ballot. "We will continue to engage with the union as we have done over the last few months in an effort to minimise the impact on our staff and our audiences. "We have a plan to modernise local services across England - including more news journalists and a stronger local online service - which will see no overall reduction in staffing levels or local funding. "Our goal is a local service across TV, radio and online that delivers even greater value to communities." Separately, members of the NUJ who work across BBC Northern Ireland are planning to strike on 19 May for 24 hours. They oppose plans to close 36 posts in an attempt to make £2.3m in savings and invest more money in online services.

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The author discusses the inconvenience of having to update subscription billing information after receiving a new debit card due to a data breach. They highlight the importance of real-time experiences for customers and the benefits to businesses in terms of revenue growth, innovation, and customer experience. The article recommends investing in digital-first technologies, such as change data capture, for real-time streaming data to improve customer experience and drive business insights at scale.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/08/10/why-real-time-is-imperative-for-enterprise-intelligence-and-a-better-customer-experience/

Why Real Time is Imperative for Enterprise Intelligence and a Better Customer Experience

Cloud cost optimization is becoming a top priority for organizations due to tighter budgets and efficiency pressures. Up to 30% of cloud spend is categorized as "waste" spend that can be optimized. FinOps is a powerful methodology focused on people and processes that helps with visibility, strengthens cloud governance capabilities, fosters a culture of collaboration, and makes all users take responsibility for cloud costs. It is not an excuse to cut cloud use but rather a strategy critical for cloud success. Organizations can start small but start soon, explore FinOps enabling tech, adhere to industry standards, and remember that FinOps is a shared responsibility.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/02/22/the-era-of-finops-focus-is-shifting-from-cloud-features-to-cloud-value/

The Era of FinOps: Focus is Shifting from Cloud Features to Cloud Value

IDC predicts that the business consulting services market will continue to thrive due to global economic and political uncertainty. Providers will focus on efficiency, innovation, and growth solutions through combined tech and people solutions for their client needs.

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Worldwide and U.S. Business Consulting Services Forecast, 2023–2027

A proposed holiday park in Cumbria would create hundreds of jobs without affecting one of the few UK habitats of a rare toad, its developer says. A planning application for around 450 lodges on the shore of the Duddon Estuary in Furness has been submitted. However, more than 4,000 people have signed a petition opposing the scheme at Roanhead Farm near Askam. Conservation groups have also expressed concerns about the impact on natterjack toads. Cumbria Wildlife Trust fears it will have "unacceptable impacts" at Duddon Estuary and Sandcastle Haws where it says one-quarter of the UK's population of the rare toads breed. If approved by Westmorland and Furness Council, the scheme would include a restaurant, gym, pool and children's petting farm. Andrew Coutts, chief executive of developer ILM Group, told BBC Radio Cumbria the £100m scheme would have a "considerable economic impact" and that environmental concerns were addressed by the plans. "The investment is in excess of £100m. In terms of employment, the projected number of full-time employees is just over 270. "The additional impact of resort guests in terms of numbers of people will be minimal. It isn't to say there won't be additional people, of course there will be. "[And] we're very experienced in environmental impact assessments processes. Our ecologist worked with us for six months to understand the local habitats of different species." Mr Coutts said the creation of new habitats on the site, including breeding ponds for the toads, was being explored with council planners set to spend three months examining the overall plans. The authority has requested further information from ILM before details of the scheme are made available online and a consultation process can begin, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.

IDC survey finds integration investments resilient despite economic challenges, with high ranking due to its critical role in unlocking automation and AI projects.

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Why Does Integration Remain Immune to Budget Reductions?

A collection of photographs shows how a city celebrated the coronations of kings and queens going back more than 100 years. Early images from the Coventry Digital collection show crowds gathering in the city centre to celebrate the coronation of George V in 1911. Others capture people coming together for the 1937 Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, as well as the ceremony to crown Queen Elizabeth II 16 years later. The online archive, run by Coventry University, celebrates the city's heritage and encourages people to upload their personal collections to its website. All photos, which are available to view on the Coventry Digital website, are subject to copyright. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk

Oracle has replaced its Java SE Subscriptions with a new Java SE Universal Subscription that requires customers to purchase licenses based on the total number of employees, regardless of whether they use the software or not. Customers with a high number of employees but few software installs could face bills in the millions per year. The new terms apply immediately for new customers and may apply at renewal for existing ones. Customers should assess their employee and partner counts and processor requirements to estimate future needs and consider third-party alternatives to Oracle JAVA.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/01/30/oracle-java-subscription-changes-what-is-the-impact-to-customers/

Oracle JAVA Subscription Changes – What Is the Impact to Customers?

Join us as we take a few moments every day to relax and enjoy the beauty of England through the stunning images you send us. Upload your images or email us at england@bbc.co.uk Upload your images or email us at england@bbc.co.uk. For inspiration, view some top tips from three of England's Big Picture photographers. When emailing pictures, please make sure you include the following information: The full name of the person who took the pictures (as this person owns the copyright)Confirmation that the copyright holder gives permission for the BBC to use their pictures across all its outputsThe location, date and time the pictures were takenYour telephone number so we can get back to you if we have any further questionsAny other details about the pictures that may be useful for us to know Please note that while we welcome all your pictures, we are more likely to use those which have been taken in the past week. Email your photographs to our colleagues in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Pictures can be found on Instagram, on the hashtags #BBCEngland and #EnglandsBigPicture and on our England's Big Picture board on Pinterest. If you submit a picture, you do so in accordance with the BBC's Terms and Conditions and the BBC's privacy policy. In contributing to England's Big Picture you agree to grant us a royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to publish and otherwise use the material in any way that we want, and in any media worldwide. It's important to note, however, that you still own the copyright to everything you contribute to England's Big Picture, and that if your image is accepted, we will publish your name alongside. The BBC cannot guarantee that all pictures will be used and we reserve the right to edit your comments. At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws while collecting any kind of media.

To discover more strategies CIOs will need in order to plan for contingencies and technologies, to create a dependable infrastructure that enables fault tolerance, read IDC’s new eBook, CIO Sentiment Survey: Finding the North Star in a Turbulent Environment. The adage “the only constant is change” is truer than ever in today’s disrupted world – a world where the velocity, intensity, and frequency of change continues to push us to new heights, compelling IT to change itself and revisit how CIOs must lead this transformation.The IDC CIO Sentiment Survey 2022 was conducted in July 2022 (with 289 worldwide respondents) and revealed the extent to which digital business is accelerating and the global IT landscape transforming. The survey found that many CIOs face vital challenges in achieving their goals in these turbulent times. The good news is that many organizations are responding to these changes with agility, creativity, and innovation. But how are they doing it? How did they move from being reactive to proactive? What are some of the best practices for survival and success?The percentage of business coming from digital products, services, channels, or digitally driven improvement to operations has reached 50% of total business in 2022 and is similar in each region of the world — demonstrating that digital business is a rising global phenomenon.Today, IT teams compete globally for talent and can expect a comparable impact on their organization’s business. On average, each full-time IT employee supports $13.29 million in revenue — a data point that is relatively consistent worldwide, with $14.70 million in North America; $13.96 million in Europe, Mideast, and Africa; and $12.39 million in Asia-Pacific. It’s not just the revenue generated per IT employee — it’s about how they add value to product or service offerings by enabling digital business, improving customer experience, or making internal operations more efficient. IT is clearly the core engine for the success of a digital business.But beware of your perceptions. Our survey found that most CIOs overestimate their performance and how much others appreciate them. For example, when looking at their business process performance, 77% of IT executives estimate their overall performance as somewhat better or much better than the competition. This is significantly above the normal 50% average and highlights a clear, statistically demonstratable overestimation of performance.But responsibilities are increasing. Fifty-five percent of CIOs apply influence they gained during the pandemic to expand their role by adding new responsibilities in areas such as intelligence, privacy, innovation, transformation, safety, sustainability, or resilience.A minority of CIOs have established a stronger relationship with their CEO (16%) or have gained recognition as a business leader (18%). As the digital revolution accelerates further intertwining of business and IT, rising to a business leader is the only path forward for most CIOs.CIOs have constantly sought to deliver the largest and most numerous contributions from IT activities but, more than ever, they must now choose their battles and focus their efforts on helping the business deliver differentiated business outcomes.The IT group’s most important business impacts across the organization are enabling it to respond more quickly to change (cited by 85% of respondents) and taking the business online, virtual, and contactless (84%). To do this, the IT organization must apply that differentiated approach in the current context of uncertainty and volatility:For Future CIOs, navigating the winds of change requires a new approach — no longer is more and faster a viable approach. Now, a focus on high-impact initiatives with discerning business outcomes is the key:IDC’s CIO Sentiment Survey 2022 has disproven the old age, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Digital business has demonstrably become a worldwide phenomenon with opportunities and inevitable challenges, for customers, employees, and organization leaders — but none more so than CIOs. To discover more strategies CIOs need to plan for contingencies and technologies to create a dependable infrastructure that enables fault tolerance, read IDC’s new eBook, CIO Sentiment Survey: Finding the North Star in a Turbulent Environment. Click the button below to download the eBook now.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/08/02/idc-cio-sentiment-survey-2022-the-future-cio-is-not-the-same-as-todays-cio/

IDC CIO Sentiment Survey 2022: The Future CIO Is Not the Same as Today’s CIO

IDC predicts major transformation of the CDN market with enhanced security services portfolio, investment in edge computing infrastructure and services, and expansion of appeal to developer community. The traditional CDN market is now secure edge application delivery.

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Worldwide Content Delivery Networks Forecast, 2023–2027

On 9 January 1923 Edith Thompson and her lover Frederick Bywaters were executed for the murder of her husband, even though there was no evidence she knew he would be stabbed. Why was she convicted, and how does the case still resonate a century later? The hangman and his assistants arrived promptly at the condemned cell of London's Holloway Prison on what was an icy Tuesday morning. Before them 29-year-old Edith Thompson lay slumped, barely conscious following days of injections of a powerful sedative. She let out a moan as the execution team moved in. "Come on, it'll soon be over," one of the men tells her as he raises her by the waist. Edith's arms and ankles are bound and she is carried towards a shed where a gallows and trapdoor await. Within seconds, she is dead. Half a mile away in Pentonville Prison, and at the same time, her 20-year-old lover suffered the same fate. Three months earlier Freddy Bywaters had repeatedly stabbed Edith's husband Percy as the married couple made their way home from a trip to the theatre. Freddy always insisted it was an attack his lover did not know was coming. Edith's crime was to be attractive, independent, working class and unfaithful - the victim, according to one expert on the case, of a societal intolerance of women who did not obey the moral codes of the day. As the prolific novelist and screenwriter Edgar Wallace put it: "If ever in the history of this country a woman was hanged by the sheer prejudice of the uninformed public, and without the slightest modicum of evidence to justify the hanging, that woman was Edith Thompson." Edith Graydon was someone who wanted a life that was different from the one working-class women were expected to accept. Born in the east London suburb of Manor Park on Christmas Day in 1893, she was the first of five children. As the eldest, Edith would help her mother look after her sister and three brothers. Once her schooling was complete, the ambitious and intelligent young woman headed into the City for work, joining wholesale milliners Carlton & Prior. She quickly rose within the ranks to become the firm's chief buyer. "She was a sort of so-called ordinary woman who wanted to be extraordinary," says author Laura Thompson, who has written two books about the case. In January 1916 Edith married shipping clerk Percy Thompson. They bought a house at 41 Kensington Gardens in Ilford, not far from where both had grown up. Edith earned more than her new husband - and also her father - and contributed more than half the £250 cost of the property, although the deeds had to be in Percy's name. As a newly married young woman she would have been expected to settle into domestic life and motherhood, but Edith had other ideas. An excellent dancer, she enjoyed nights out at London's finest hotels and dance halls - places not intended for people of her social standing - and evenings were often spent with friends at West End theatres, cinemas and restaurants. "I find her such a modern figure, she's a sort of Grazia girl," says Ms Thompson, who is not related to Edith. "She's a girl about town. She's ambitious, she's aspirational. She wanted to own her own home which she did even though it had to be in her husband's name." Unwilling to be bound by the conventions of the time, Edith was not an ordinary wife. What is more, she had a lover, a handsome and charming man more than eight years her junior. Frederick Bywaters knew the Graydon family as he was in the same class at school as one of Edith's brothers. At the age of 13, Freddy left London to join the Merchant Navy. During a visit home in June 1921 he was invited to the Isle of Wight for a weeklong holiday with Percy, Edith and her sister Avis Graydon. By the end of the trip a furtive romance had begun between the teenager and Edith, which only flourished when Freddy was invited to move in with the Thompsons for a few weeks. He would end up leaving 41 Kensington Gardens following a confrontation with Percy, who was sometimes abusive towards his wife. During the argument she was thrown across the room by Percy, leaving her badly bruised. With Freddy often away, the lovers wrote to one other frequently in letters Edith instructed must be destroyed after reading. "They're remarkable documents," says Ms Thompson, whose new book examines the letters in detail. "They're so expressive, they're sort of her other self poured on the page." In one letter, Edith jumps from describing the mundane ins and outs of daily life to expressing thoughts about sex, abortion and suicide. She would often flit between fact and fantasy; on occasion there was content that was seemingly rather sinister. Edith, an avid reader of fiction, would sometimes imagine herself as a character from a novel and in doing so would hint at wanting to be rid of Percy, perhaps by adding small pieces of glass to his food. In one letter she wrote: Yesterday I met a woman who had lost three husbands and not through the war, two were drowned and one committed suicide, and some people I know can't lose one. How unfair everything is. Bess and Reg are coming to dinner Sunday. Another said: I was buoyed up with the hope of the 'light bulb' and I used a lot - big pieces too - not powdered - and it had no effect - I quite expected to be able to send you that cable - but no - nothing has happened from it. University College London professor René Weis, who has studied the case for decades, believes the letters show no more than the "workings of an overwrought romantic imagination". For Edith, these fantasies would prove to be deadly. On 3 October 1922 Edith and Percy spent the evening watching the comedy The Dippers at the Criterion Theatre near Piccadilly Circus. After the show they boarded a Tube to Liverpool Street before catching a train to Ilford. As they walked along Belgrave Road towards their house, a man barged into the couple. He set upon Percy, who within seconds was lying motionless on the ground. The 32-year-old shipping clerk had sustained several knife wounds to his neck. Daylight would reveal his blood splattered along a 44ft (13m) stretch of the road. A murder investigation was soon under way. Percy's brother told police they should speak to Freddy. The 20-year-old's room in his mother's home was searched and the first of Edith's love letters was found. She too was now under suspicion. In a corridor at Ilford police station, detectives arranged it so that Edith and Freddy would set eyes on one other, in the hope she would incriminate herself. After this encounter, she wailed: "Why did he do it? I didn't want him to do it. Oh God, oh God, what can I do? I must tell the truth." His cabin on his ship, the Morea, was searched and more letters were discovered locked in a box, including those that mentioned Edith's apparent desire for Percy to be out of the picture. Freddy did not deny stabbing Percy, but claimed the older man had struck out at him and he had acted in self-defence. When he was told that Edith was also to be charged with murder, Freddy replied: "Why her? Mrs Thompson was not aware of my movements." Details from the letters were splashed across the newspapers in reports of the pre-trial hearings. The defendants found themselves at the centre of a storm. "They were glamourous. They had an almost film-star air to them," Ms Thompson says. "He looked like a Rupert Brooke figure, almost, and she must have had a huge erotic charge about her." On 6 December 1922, Edith and Freddy were led into a packed courtroom at the Old Bailey for their murder trial. Crowds had massed early outside the famous London court, with a place in the public gallery the premium seat in the capital. Towards the end of the nine-day trial, unemployed men were lining up outside the building each night and then selling their places in the queue the next morning for more than the average weekly wage in Britain. For writer Beverley Nichols, who was a young reporter at the time and was present throughout the trial, the case had the air of "the days of the Roman Empire when the Christians were thrown to the lions". Speaking on a BBC radio programme in 1973, he described how the Old Bailey "had the atmosphere of a first night". "You had all these people who might be in the dress circle or the stalls; a great many society women, sensation-seekers, and they were all treating it as if it were a thing for which they paid for their seats." Artists from Madame Tussauds were also in courtroom number one, sketching the two latest villains the attraction hoped to install in its Chamber of Horrors. As crucial evidence for the prosecution, extracts from the love letters were read out in court. Such was the vocal reaction from the public gallery, the jurors were instructed to read the passages to themselves. "The horror of having them read out in court, that's what kills me - those private, intimate words and the public gallery behaving like crazed lunatics listening to this private, private stuff - it's like trying to torture someone, I think," says Ms Thompson. The timing of the case, in the aftermath of World War One, seemed to add to a brewing sense of hatred towards Edith, as Prof Weis explains. "The narrative went that Britain was full of war widows and here was an uppity and selfish young woman, from a modest background at that, who had everything - looks, a lovely house, money, a good husband, dinners, dances, theatres. And look what she did. One good man wasn't enough for her. "The public came to admire Freddy and intensely dislike Edith, a siren who had seduced a young man and thus set in motion a chain reaction that resulted in one man's death and the certain execution of a 'lad'," Prof Weis says. The public's dislike of Edith was evidently shared by the judge, Mr Justice Shearman, who would repeatedly interject on the side of the prosecution. During his summing up, he told the jurors - whom he would only address as gentlemen even though two were women - how he felt about Edith's adultery: "I am certain that you, like any other right-minded person, will be filled with disgust at such a notion." The evidence against her was at best flimsy. Percy's body was tested for poison and traces of glass but nothing incriminating was found. Witness accounts supported Edith's assertion she had been taken by surprise on the night her husband was stabbed. The book that sank on the Titanic and burned in the Blitz'Mum was embarrassed about her WW2 bravery medal'The Sierra Leonean airman shot down over Nazi Germany Despite her barrister's desperate pleas, Edith took to the stand to give evidence. "That to me was a sign of innocence, that you would be so adamant that you would want to do that," says Ms Thompson. But Edith had made a dreadful mistake. The prosecution manipulated what she had written in the letters, finding false narratives and giving misleading time periods "to tie her up in knots". On 11 December the jury went out; a verdict was reached after two hours of deliberations. A terrified Edith was half-carried back into the courtroom to be told she and Freddy had been found guilty of murder. "The jury is wrong. That woman is not guilty," cried out Freddy amid a commotion in the courtroom. A black cap was placed over Mr Justice Shearman's wig as he sentenced them to death. Edith let out a guttural cry as she was taken down to the cells. A petition to spare Freddy from the hangman's noose received more than a million signatures. Edith, though, seemed not to inspire much sympathy. "Women disliked her because they feared her; she was one of those women that other women think men fancy, and she was troubling and she couldn't be pitied," says Ms Thompson. "She really never stood a chance." Opinion pieces appeared in the newspapers, the majority of them scathing. "There were no circumstances in the case to evoke the slightest sympathy," the Times wrote. "The whole case was simple and sordid." Self-proclaimed feminist Rebecca West wrote that Edith "was, poor child, a shocking little piece of rubbish". After the execution, women would write to Home Secretary William Bridgeman thanking him for defending the honour of their sex by not allowing the death sentence to be commuted. Edith wrote letters from prison, highlighting the anguish of a woman facing obliteration. In one note to her parents she remarked: Today seems the end of everything. I can't think - I just seem up against a blank, thick wall, through which neither my eyes nor my thoughts can penetrate. It's not within my powers of realisation that this sentence must stand for something which I have not done, something I did not know of, either previously or at the time. Every woman sentenced to death during the previous decade had been reprieved, yet pleas on Edith's behalf were rejected. "When you see the contortions which the Home Office underwent to ensure that she was executed, it's really quite terrifying," says Ms Thompson, who believes Edith's adultery was seen as "an attack on morality" - the sort of behaviour that risked "destroying the institution of marriage and destroying all that was good". In September 1923 an auction of the Thompsons' household goods was held at the marital home, attracting huge interest. One of the auction staff described how "the privet hedge was left bare of every leaf because the people who attended wanted to say to their friends they had something from the house". The waxworks of Edith and Freddy were the top attraction at Madame Tussauds, the fascination with the case seemingly inexhaustible. They were removed from the Chamber of Horrors in the 1980s. The figures are today in storage; their wax degrading, the paint peeled away. Prof Weis has for many years fought to have Edith pardoned. In 2018 her body was reburied alongside her parents at the City of London Cemetery in Manor Park. "I was hoping to fulfil her mother's dying wishes," he says. "Now at least she is home with them." For Ms Thompson, Edith's fate remains relevant, even though it is more than 50 years since capital punishment ended in Britain. "It's important to remind people nothing changes, prejudice always exists; it just shape-shifts. "There is an awful warning in this story: check your worst impulses towards people to whom you feel prejudice. We live in a cancelling culture - she was literally cancelled - and it's a very, very dangerous impulse but society finds it hard to resist." Story edited by Ben Jeffrey Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hellobbclondon@bbc.co.uk

Thirty new electric buses costing almost £500,000 each have joined a fleet taking passengers around Cambridge. Stagecoach East is introducing the new double-deckers across routes from Sunday. Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA), which helped fund the fleet, said they would "help tackle pollution" and encourage bus travel. The bus company already has two electric vehicles, introduced in 2020. The new fleet has been funded by the CPCA, Greater Cambridge Partnership, Stagecoach East and the Department for Transport, following a successful bid to the government's Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme. The combined authority said the buses "emit 72% less well-to-wheel CO2 emissions than an equivalent-size diesel bus". The introduction of the new vehicles means 31% of Stagecoach's Cambridge bus fleet will be electric. Cambridge congestion charge: Your viewsReferendum on city congestion charge rejected The Swedish message to UK congestion charge cities The Labour Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Dr Nik Johnson, said it was "marking a turning point for public transport in the region". "Removing 30 diesel buses from our historic city and replacing them with these new vehicles will not only have a positive impact on the health of our region by reducing air and noise pollution, but will also help in the broader fight against climate change as we embrace these new and exciting technologies," he said. He said the authority aimed to have "all buses and taxis operating within the area [with] zero emissions by 2030". Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk

IDC forecasts spending for custom application development services from 2023 to 2027, with advice for providers and analysis of key trends, drivers, and inhibitors. The market was mixed in 2022, with growth in the Americas and challenges in Europe and APAC due to economic fluctuations. Future opportunities will shift from operational efficiency to enabling innovation, driving profitability, and enhancing efficiency.

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Worldwide and U.S. Custom Application Development Services Forecast, 2023–2027

IDC study forecasts stable growth for the worldwide BPO services market from 2023 to 2027, with many providers seeing solid revenue growth despite challenging macroeconomic conditions. Reductions in budgets are expected in professional services over managed services or consulting.

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Worldwide and U.S. Business Process Outsourcing Services Forecast, 2023–2027

If you are a marathon runner in search of a personal best, your body shape could be just as important as your training, analysis suggests. A study of 170 Ironman contestants found tall, leggy runners performed better in warm climates, while shorter, stockier people had the upper hand in colder temperatures. But the effect is seen in men only, the researchers say. Natural selection probably means the fastest men became the best hunters. Study author Prof Ryan Calsbeek, a professor of biological sciences, at Dartmouth College, in the US, said his research was among the first to suggest human physiology may be adapted to climate to optimise physical performance. "Global patterns of temperature and climate may have shaped human body types to look and perform the way they do," he said. So even before athletes leave the starting line in Ironman triathlons, marathons and other endurance events, some men may be better suited than others to racing - based on their body type and the temperatures they are running in. Daily walk prevents one in 10 early deaths - studyPumping weights could help you live longerExercise addicts urged to build in rest days Humans, it turns out, may be just like animals, with cold-adapted species tending to be burlier with thicker, shorter limbs to limit heat loss. And in hotter climates, sleeker human (and animal) physiques are built to keep cool efficiently. The research, published in the journal PLOS ONE, analysed 171 triathletes who had competed in at least two Ironman events - one in a hot location, the other in a cold one - and used software to measure the athletes' physiques, based on photos from the competitions. Ironman participants have to: swim 3.8km (2.4 miles)cycle 180kmrun 42.2km Triathletes were chosen for the study because their event is a perfect way of studying how the size and shape of the human body affects performance. "There is one event, running in particular, that we know to be important in the evolution of humans and two events - swimming and cycling - that are not," Prof Calsbeek said, which made comparisons very useful. He found the greatest difference in performance based on physique came in the running section. Endurance athletes are urged to think about which climates their body shape and type might be naturally suited to, while not taking their eye off the ball on training and motivation either. "People attempting a personal best time can think about race locations and average temperatures, to pick a venue based on how their body type is adapted to perform," Prof Calsbeek said.

A training program for sales teams should include strategic priorities of business buyers, key industry knowledge, and consulting-based framework. The program should go beyond product features and benefits and broaden to what is expected of the sales and marketing teams. The most enabled teams have a deep understanding of their product, industry, and customers, including their pain points and desired business outcomes. They can confidently map solutions to customer's business priorities and KPIs with validated data. IDC provides a content framework for building an empowered sales team. Contact them for help.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/03/08/designing-a-sales-training-program-fit-for-todays-market-challenges/

Designing a Sales Training Program Fit for Today’s Market Challenges

Good content marketing needs to provide personalized and relevant content to drive leads and shorten the sales cycle. It must also offer a unique perspective, address specific concerns of target personas, and be delivered in high-production digital formats. IDC's content marketing services can help provide market intelligence and insights to enhance your strategy. IDC's research-based assets engage and educate target audiences through the buyer's journey. Content bundles are available to fill your calendar quickly and effectively.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/10/24/how-to-overcome-the-agitators-and-win-the-digital-content-marketing-challenge/

How to Overcome B2B Digital Marketing Challenges

The IDC study compares major video game consoles' market share from 2013-2022, with a focus on 2021-2022. The study tracks global market shares for several platforms and briefly examines the impact of digital-only microconsoles, streaming media players, and smart TVs supporting gaming services. Microsoft's Xbox outperformed its size in digital game-related spending in 2022. Nintendo Switch showed its age in hardware shipment/sales, while Sony's PlayStation remained on top but started slipping in some key metrics relative to 2021.

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Worldwide Home Video Game Console Market Shares, 2022: Xbox Shined Digitally While Nintendo Switch Slid

An outdoor exhibition revealing the hidden life of hill farming has gone on show in Upper Teesdale. Photographer Joanne Coates spent a year documenting life on Herdship farm in the North Pennines, capturing tenant farmers Paul and Jen Johnson. The resulting photographs are being exhibited in the field at the Langdon Beck Hotel until 4 June. "I hope it shows the hard work that hill farmers are doing to try and farm in a sustainable way," Joanne said. The photographer, who has worked as a farm labourer and still occasionally milks cows, said it was important to tell stories close to her and to show the challenges of working in agriculture. "Hill farmers are custodians of the land and put an immense amount of care into what they do," she said. "It is not only for today that they farm, but for the future. This isn't often understood, and it was a really important element for me, to showcase this story of one who cares for the land." While the collection spans the seasons, one photograph which resonates with the photographer is of Paul in winter, stood on the snow-covered fell tops, looking out over the landscape. "He is wearing the same jacket he is wearing in autumn, on a sunny day, on a windy day," explained Joanne, who is based in Swaledale, North Yorkshire. "I asked him what it means to be a tenant farmer and what it would mean if hill farming wasn't possible any more. "He just looked out over the landscape and it was the way he was looking, it spoke with that emotion and it was a real quiet moment - what would his life look like, what would his community be like, if farming wasn't there any more?" Just 20 photographs were chosen from a catalogue of 400, showing life, work and the natural year, and have been mounted on posts which will be repurposed for tree guards at the end of the Herdship exhibition. Paul Johnson said looking after nature was "part of our everyday business" and he and his wife took part in the project because they wanted to show the work that goes into a hill farm, and "the nature-friendly way" they farm, working with wildflowers and birds. The free exhibition is part of the Tees-Swale: naturally connected programme, delivered by the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority. Duncan Peake, chief executive of the Raby Estate, where the farm is located, said: "Upper Teesdale is a special place for people and nature, but this hasn't happened by accident. "Farmers such as Paul and Jen Johnson have adapted their farming methods to create the right conditions for wildlife to thrive, and this way of farming with nature is at the heart of the Tees-Swale programme." All images subject to copyright Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.

IDC MarketScape evaluated 15 solution providers in the Asia/Pacific MES market using a comprehensive framework. MES solutions improve production efficiency and require customization and integration support from solution providers to achieve organizational goals.

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IDC MarketScape: Asia/Pacific Manufacturing Execution Systems 2023 Vendor Assessment

IDC study forecasts global tablet shipments from 2023-2027. Consumers are making more informed decisions based on budget and needs.

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Worldwide Tablet Forecast, 2023–2027

Vodafone will axe 11,000 jobs over the next three years as the new chief executive sets out her plans to "simplify" the telecoms giant. The cuts equal around a tenth of its global workforce and will affect its UK headquarters and other countries. Margherita Della Valle, who is also Vodafone's finance director, said its "performance has not been good enough". Vodafone has 12,000 staff in Britain, based in seven offices including at its UK headquarters in Berkshire. The firm, which had 104,000 staff worldwide last year, has already outlined plans to cut jobs in some areas. The UK telecoms giant has struggled with higher energy bills which are driving up costs and impacting its profits. It has also seen weaker sales in Germany, its biggest market, as well as Italy and Spain where it has struggled to keep pace with rivals. "Part of that can be tied to falling customer satisfaction levels in those regions," said Matt Britzman, an analyst at investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown. Vodafone's broadband service in the UK was the second most complained about of any major provider in the three months to December, according to the industry watchdog Ofcom. It also faced embarrassment in April when a problem knocked out its broadband services for around 11,000 UK customers. "To consistently deliver, Vodafone must change," said Ms Della Valle, who was appointed as Vodafone's new chief in January, and is serving as its interim finance director until a replacement is found. "My priorities are customers, simplicity and growth. We will simplify our organisation, cutting out complexity to regain our competitiveness." It announced the job cuts after reporting a small rise in full year sales to €45.7bn (£39.7bn) and a fall in pre-tax profits. It also posted a sharp drop in cash flow and forecast earnings would be "broadly flat" for the current financial year. Vodafone's former boss Nick Read stepped down in December following concerns over the company's performance. During his four years in charge the firm's share price fell sharply. Mr Britzman agreed with Ms Della Valle's assessment of Vodafone's business, describing it as "lacklustre" in recent years. He said her honesty about the challenges Vodafone is facing is "refreshing" but investors were yet to be convinced she could turn things around. Shares in the telecoms giant fell by 5% on Tuesday. Victoria Scholar, from Interactive Investor, the share trading platform, said Ms Della Valle had a tough task ahead with shares "languishing at lows not seen since the late 1990s". "She needs to continue to focus on cutting costs, the turnaround plan in Germany and M&A [merger and acquisition] opportunities in the UK and abroad to bolster the firm's market share, find efficiencies, and improve its pricing power." Do you work for Vodafone? Is your job at risk? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSayUpload pictures or videoPlease read our terms & conditions and privacy policy If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.

Eight out of 10 South African school children struggle to read by the age of ten, an international study has found. South Africa ranked last out of 57 countries assessed in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, which tested the reading ability of 400,000 students globally in 2021. Illiteracy among South African children rose from from 78% in 2016 to 81%. The country's education minister blamed the results on school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic. Describing the results as "disappointingly low", Angie Motshekga also said the country's education system was faced with significant historical challenges, including poverty, inequality and inadequate infrastructure. In many primary schools "reading instruction often focuses solely on oral performance, neglecting reading comprehension and making sense of written words", she added. The study showed that 81% of South African children could not read for comprehension in any of the country's 11 official languages. Alongside Morocco and Egypt, South Africa was one of only three African countries which participated in the assessments to monitor trends in literacy and reading comprehension of nine- and 10-year-olds. Based on tests taken every five years at the end of the school year, the new study places countries in a global education league table. Singapore secured top spot in the rankings with an average score of 587, while South Africa ranked last on 288 points - below second-last Egypt's average of 378. The scores are benchmarked against an international average of 500. The study also showed that overall, girls were ahead of boys in their reading achievement in nearly all of the assessed countries, but the gender gap has narrowed in the most recent testing round. South Africa's struggles with its education system are longstanding, with significant inequality between black and white students a consequence of the segregation of children under apartheid. Education is one the single biggest budget expenses for the government, which can lead to disappointment over poor performance in studies like this. A lack of suitable reading materials and inadequate infrastructure in schools, often things like toilets, have contributed to the crisis.

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Small and medium-sized companies are facing multiple challenges in today's turbulent business landscape, including inflation, supply chain disruptions, recession, rising energy costs, and political unrest. SMBs need to apply technology smartly to weather the economic storms and focus on efficiency, cost savings, productivity, and automation. The specific concerns of SMBs vary by region, with APAC SMBs concerned about economics such as inflation and exchange rates while North American and European SMBs rank energy costs as top concerns. Supply chain concerns rank high in North America while SMBs in Europe and APAC note that the conflict in Ukraine is causing more business and IT supply chain disruptions. COVID-19 has impacted SMBs worldwide but the impact is 20 percentage points greater in APAC than other regions. Smaller SMBs say supply chain issues are leading to a lack of IT equipment/materials while larger SMBs report that supply chain disruptions are extending the time it takes to complete IT projects. Two-thirds of global SMBs report that they are currently impacted in some way by inflation. To boost resiliency, SMBs need to move to technologies that will power their businesses for growth before they become entrenched with legacy systems and processes that are difficult to replace.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/09/02/macroeconomic-challenges-for-smbs-and-how-they-are-responding/

Macroeconomic Challenges for SMBs and How They Are Responding

IDC has developed the Data-Driven Operations framework and maturity model to help organizations improve operational performance. However, achieving operational excellence and resilience remains challenging due to supply chain disruptions, rising energy costs, talent constraints, and pressure to improve sustainability metrics. Becoming a data-driven organization requires an honest assessment of the current state and a willingness to embrace changes. The next five years will be transformational as organizations find new and more effective ways to manage, analyze, and collaborate around their operational data. IDC's top 10 predictions explore the timeline and implications of major aspects of DDO.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/12/14/idc-futurescape-worldwide-future-of-operations-2023-predictions/

IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Future of Operations 2023 Predictions

The current economic climate presents challenges such as a tumbling stock market, interest rate hikes, and an emerging recession. However, economic downturns can also present opportunities for companies that use data to maintain and improve their strategies and services. To navigate an economic slowdown, it's important to use reliable, up-to-date data to make informed decisions about forecasting, understanding customers, and balancing cutting costs with investing in growth. Enriching first-party data with external sources can also provide valuable insights and help companies stay relevant. Companies that balance cutting costs with investing in growth are more likely to flourish during and after a recession. Programs like IDC's Emerging Vendor Solutions can help increase market awareness and find prospective clients.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/02/03/5-key-actions-to-recession-proof-your-business-with-data/

5 Key Actions to Recession-Proof Your Business with Data

An ice cream parlour that renamed a product after a letter from Marks and Spencer said it "couldn't keep up" with the positive messages it had received. Fabio's Gelato, based in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, was asked not to use the name Percy Pig in its ice cream. Owner Fabio Vincenti said it was a case of two companies that "came together and came up with a good solution instead of arguing". "There wasn't any negativity, it was just well thought out," he said. Marks & Spencer said the Percy Pig name, which started life as a bag of sweets in 1992 but has since evolved to other ranges, could only be used on "official M&S products". Mr Vincenti posted a picture of the ice cream on social media last week and three days later he received a "polite and fair" letter from M&S asking for the name change. It said he could continue to use the sweets, but not the name of the product. After the letter was posted on social media and featured in the news, he said: "I couldn't keep up with messages and notifications from friends and family and just messages from customers. "I reckon 99% were positive, [they were] really chuffed to see it on TV, on the news, and saying 'well done'." 'Frantically making more' The ice cream has now been renamed "Notorious P.I.G", following an appeal on social media for a new moniker. Based on the rapper the Notorious B.I.G., Mr Vincenti said it was "pretty funny, it made us laugh". "We saw another really good one - Hog'n Dazs - which was brilliant, but we said, 'we just can't use that'," he said. Why are Percy Pigs a headache for M&S? He said since it had been on sale the flavour had "gone down really well, we're frantically making more". Mr Vincenti said he had to buy more sweets to make the ice cream "so I'm still funding M&S". He believed other parlours could recreate the ice cream and "hopefully it'll be the flavour of the summer". Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk or get in touch via WhatsApp on 0800 169 1830

Former prime minister Liz Truss has made a personal plea for Rishi Sunak to brand China as a "threat" to UK security during a visit to Taiwan. The ex-prime minister challenged Mr Sunak to deliver on pledges he made last summer to clamp down on China. Ms Truss made the speech in Taipei City on Wednesday, making her the first former prime minister to visit Taiwan since Margaret Thatcher. The Chinese Embassy called Ms Truss's visit "a dangerous political stunt". It added that the visit "will do nothing but harm to the UK". In the speech, Ms Truss urged the West not to work with China, warning that totalitarian regimes "don't tell the truth". She drew comparisons between the tensions between China and Taiwan, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. During the Conservative party leadership contest, Ms Truss pledged to take a firm stance against the Chinese government, and wanted to declare China under Communist Party rule a "threat" to national security. But after her short-lived time in No 10, her plans were never realised. Her successor Rishi Sunak, also declared China as "the biggest-long term threat to Britain", and promised to close all 30 of Beijing's Confucius Institutes in the UK. Confucius Institutes, which teach Chinese language and culture, came under fire after critics and charities accused the centres of being used by the Chinese government to spread propaganda under the guise of teaching, interfere with free speech on campuses, and even spy on students. While Mr Sunak has not closed the institutes, the UK government is expected to promise that it will stop funding Mandarin teaching at the centres. In her speech, Ms Truss said Mr Sunak was "right" to make those pledges. "We need to see those policies enacted urgently," she added. The prime minister updated the UK's integrated review on foreign and defence policy in March to describe China as representing an "epoch-defining and systemic challenge". In her speech, Ms Truss said the review needed to be amended to "state clearly that China is a threat". She called on the UK government to support Taiwan joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade agreement - and for it to block China from joining. UK agrees to join Asia's trade club - but what is it? The former prime minister also called for the development of "an economic Nato", which "supports freedom and proper free enterprise". She suggested countries including the G7 nations, members of the EU, South Korea and Australia could join this kind of group. Ms Truss said: "We cannot rely now on the UN security council, which was recently chaired by Putin's Russia. "We cannot rely on the World Trade Organisation to make sure fair trade rules are in place. That's why we need other alternatives to get things done." Ms Truss made the speech at the invitation of the Prospect Foundation, a think tank. It forms part of the former UK leader's five-day visit to the country. Last week, senior Conservative MP Alicia Kearns accused former Prime Minister Liz Truss of "Instagram diplomacy" over her planned visit to Taiwan. Ms Kearns, who chairs the Commons Foreign Affairs committee, told the Guardian the trip was "performative, not substantive". But Ms Truss accused her Tory colleague of "misusing" her position "to engage in petty political attacks", and said her visit aimed to show "solidarity" with Taiwan. Taiwan and China split in 1949 following a civil war that ended with the Communist Party in control of the mainland. China views Taiwan as Chinese territory.

The IDC study discusses the importance of network consulting and integration services for enterprises in the 2023-2027 forecast period due to the increasing complexity of networks and their critical role in digital business success.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50604323&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide and U.S. Enterprise Network Consulting and Integration Services Forecast, 2023–2027

Testing of a new television transmitter could have a "minor" effect on reception, its owners have said.The previous Bilsdale mast was destroyed in a fire in August 2021 leaving about a million people in Teesside, North Yorkshire and County Durham without TV coverage.Arqiva said there was a "small possibility of minor interruptions to TV services" as its replacement was checked.The company had written to affected households but the majority of viewers would notice no difference, it said. The antenna on the new mast uses the same channels and frequencies as the 80m temporary tower.Most viewers in the region are receiving signal from the interim structure and so may not need to retune when the new 984ft (300m) tall mast goes live. Fewer than 5,000 households may not automatically receive signals from the new mast and have been told what to do if this happens.Other viewers experiencing problems are advised to visit the restoration project's website, external for information. Some households may lose HD services but these will return when additional antenna are installed on the mast, Arqiva said.Work to reinstate heather cleared to make way for the new mast base has also been completed, the company said. The moorland site sits within a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) which required the protection of the heathland habitats and wildlife. Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, external, Facebook, external and Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.

A volunteer who helped transport almost 350 tonnes of aid to the front line in Ukraine has been paralysed in a moped accident while on holiday in Spain. Darius Linkus and wife Saule - who was his passenger - both broke their necks, with Mr Linkus losing the use of both legs. Friends of the pair, from Trimley St Mary, Suffolk, are fundraising for an accessible wet room. "I just thought I had to help; he kind of inspired me," said Oliver Horsman. The husband and wife, both 41, have three children who are being looked after by a relative. The pair are in rehabilitation, with Mrs Linkus suffering a broken right shoulder and the loss of some mobility in her arm. Mr Horsman said that after the crash in September, Mr Linkus was on the phone from his bed, trying to arrange for generators to be delivered to people near front lines. "It was a bit of a frog in throat moment," said Mr Horsman. "He knew he was paralysed at that point but he was like, 'I've got to do something'. "It's pretty crazy that he now needs other people's help really - pretty tragic." Mr Horsman said Mr Linkus, who works in import and export, was quick to help after war broke out in Ukraine last year. Within three days of the war starting their Facebook post asking for aid had been shared thousands of times. "It went insane," said Mr Horsman. "It ended up generating about 350 tonnes worth of aid. "Through Darius's connections he managed to sort out all the import/export paperwork, get all the fixers on the borders for these vans that were going over. "He ended up doing four or five trips himself and we facilitated 50 or 60 further trips to get that stuff over the border." The aid they took to Ukraine included surgical and first aid kits, incubators and military boots, and they also helped pick up and drop off refugees. After a "manic" few months, the couple had a weekend break in Spain and hired a moped, Mr Horsman said. "His front wheel hit a rock in the road," he added. "Both wearing helmets, within the speed limit, nothing silly. "It was just how they fell." He said he wanted to fundraise for the wet room "so at least he can have a quality of life", as they had no income. "He's a very proud man, super giving, will literally give you the shirt off his back," he added. Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk

The issue of photo manipulation on social media has long been a concern for many, but with the technology now increasingly extending to videos, should authorities intervene? Krystle Berger insists that she is "not drastically changing my features" when she posts photos and videos across Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. "I'm really just digitally giving myself the perfect make-up and lighting," she says. A young mother from the US state of Indiana, Ms Berger pays to subscribe to an app called FaceTune that has been downloaded more than 200 million times around the world. The app allows users to both make subtle changes to their facial appearance, such as smoothing over wrinkles, or alternatively - completely transform how they look. For example, they can narrow their face, change the shape and size of their eyes, or give themselves a digital nose-job. Originally only able to work on photos, two years ago FaceTune launched a version for short selfie videos that has increasingly grown in its effectiveness since then. Meanwhile, another popular app that allows users to alter their social media photos - Perfect365 - is due to launch its video version later this year. FaceTune is owned by Israeli-firm Lightricks and two years ago the company was reported to have a valuation of $1.8bn (£1.4bn). Lightricks' founder Zeev Farbman says that "the name of the game" is making the app work as easily as possible. "You want to give people 80% of the power, with 20% of the complexity of professional software. That's the game we are trying to play." But it has long been argued that such tools are unhealthy, in that they promote an unrealistic view of beauty that can be dangerous, particularly for impressionable children and young adults. For example, 80% of teenage girls said they had changed their appearance in an online photo by the age of 13, according to a 2021 survey by skincare brand Dove. While no-one is calling for the tech to be banned, there have been increasing moves to force social media advertisers and influencers - people who are often being paid to promote products in a more informal way - to admit when they have altered their physical image. Norway introduced a law in 2021 that requires these two social media groups to indicate whether a photograph has been retouched. France is now going one stage further, and is in the process of demanding the same requirement, but for both photos and videos. Meanwhile, the UK is now looking at the same issue, as the government's Online Safety Bill continues to make its way through Parliament. However, it remains to be seen whether the law will target just adverts on social media, or influencers as well. A spokesperson for the new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said: "The government recognises the threat that digitally manipulated content can pose, and takes the issue very seriously." Conservative MP Luke Evans has long campaigned for advertisers and influencers to admit when they have altered an image on social media. He wants to see the new law "contain future proofed regulation", so it also requires the same admission for altered videos, and any other tech developments. "It's imperative that we have wider awareness and increased transparency surrounding these new technologies," he says. "For me this is all about honesty." New Tech Economy is a series exploring how technological innovation is set to shape the new emerging economic landscape. Mr Farbman's response is that while "this conversation was always there... over time the acceptance of these tools just grows". He adds that it is a free speech issue. "It's always kind of weird to me that a company will decide to limit the expressive freedom of its users, because of aesthetic or ethical sensibilities." Sean Mao, the chief executive of San Francisco-based Perfect365, urges people to use its app "in a safe and ethical way". He adds: "We encourage people to use the app to express their creativity and not to use the app with malicious intent to deceive others or misrepresent themselves." Psychologist Stuart Duff, a partner at UK practice Pearn Kandola, says that some social media influencers will always be tempted to use tricks to improve their online appearance - because being good-looking sells. "Physical attraction has a very strong but often unconscious influence on our decisions when it comes to buying products and services from others," he says. "When asked what matters most, we consciously talk down the importance of physical appearance and talk up qualities such as intelligence, values and personality, yet psychological research consistently reveals a strong positive relationship between a person's attractiveness and their ability to sell to us." One social media influencer who goes by the name of Brandon B has 5.6 million subscribers on YouTube. He takes the view that photo and video manipulation apps should be seen in a positive light. "I'm glad these apps exist, because I think there are a lot of people who are not body positive enough to present on social media, so they might feel left out," he says. "These tools help them get on social media." However, Dr Shira Brown, an emergency physician at South Niagara Hospital, in Ontario, Canada, says that "distorted perceptions of body image" appear to be being "exacerbated by common social media practices". She adds: "We see the urgent mental health consequences of social media in our departments on a daily basis, such as anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and depression."

A young carer says working with a professional orchestra has given her confidence and self belief. Caitlyn Newble, 19, from Wiltshire, is one of hundreds of carers who has been involved in the project run by Bath Philharmonia. The project helps young people build confidence and supportive relationships, by writing and performing their own music. Ms Newble joined the project as a child and will start university in September. "When I first started the project, I was very shy, I didn't have any confidence in myself and in my social skills." said Ms Newble, who sings in the orchestra. "I really struggled just being able to get out of bed in the mornings, so the project has given me an incredible amount of confidence and self-belief." Ms Newble added that the support she received has helped her to choose a career path, and said she is excited to start a degree in music this year. Bath Philharmonia reaches more than 12,000 people each year through a combination of concerts and projects in communities. Run by music director Jason Thornton, the orchestra has been working with young carers in the South West for 13 years. "The young carers just love it and we're the only orchestra in the country to do this kind of work, which I'm very proud about but also ashamed about in our sector," said Mr Thornton. In 2023, The Children's Society and Children's Commissioner said there are at least 800,000 young carers aged between five and 18 that care for an adult or family member in England. Mr Thornton said that music is a healing tool that can help people build confidence. "It helps people feel part of something bigger than themselves, it helps people overcome, just for a little while, the situations that they are in," he said. "It's amazing for families to see their amazing young people. Being a young carer can be very isolating, so to get them doing music in a live concert is an amazing thing for parents and families." Caitlyn and her peers will perform at a concert at the Bath Forum on 18 May. Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk

Shoppers may see egg shortages on supermarket shelves for another year, a farmer has warned. Llyr Jones, whose 32,000 hens supply Tesco, said factors including soaring energy prices last year meant some farmers left the industry. He said it would take time for it to return to "normality" now farmers have started re-stocking flocks. Farming union NFU Cymru warned that egg production "is not a simple switch on, switch off system". Mr Jones' hens currently produce just over 31,000 eggs per day from Derwedd Farm in Llanfihangel Glyn Myfyr, Conwy. Last year his feed bills rose from £30,000 a month to £50,000 due largely to the invasion of Ukraine, which is a major producer of the corn used for bird feed. Mr Jones said a rise in energy bills, the outbreak of bird flu, and the desire for less caged hens have also proved obstacles. He said the supermarkets were initially reluctant to pay farmers more for their eggs, which made some quit the industry, while others chose not to re-stock their flocks. Mr Jones said: "A lot of farmers decided not to re-stock and that then put pressure on the market and the price of eggs was forced up. "Now, this year, egg prices have increased for us as farmers and thankfully our costs have started to fall a bit, so we're having to recuperate the money that we lost last year." Egg shortage warning as chicken feed price doublesWhy is there an egg shortage?Asda and Lidl limit egg sales after supply issues Although farmers who decided not to re-stock were now putting in orders for new hens, getting hens back on farms takes nearly eight months and then another two months to get them producing eggs. "So, you're nearly a year until a farmer, from when he's empty, to when he can produce eggs. Now egg prices have gone up, some farmers are buying hens in now, but those eggs won't be on the market for another year," he said. "So, just bear with us for a bit." Customers may start seeing more white eggs because some farmers replaced their flocks with white hens, he said, which are more productive than brown egg-laying hens. But Mr Jones said customers should not notice a difference in quality or taste. "An egg is an egg. It doesn't matter what colour it comes in," he said. Mr Jones said that adding to a shortage was that egg consumption is growing in the UK by about 3% a year. "We're in a cost of living crisis so eggs are one of the cheapest proteins you can buy at the moment," he said. On Tuesday, about 70 leading members of the food industry, including farmers and supermarket bosses, met the prime minister and his colleagues to talk about how the UK can improve the way it produces and sells food. The UK government pledged to put greater emphasis on farmers' interests in future trade deals and said it would review horticulture and egg supply chains to "ensure farmers get a fair price for their produce". Recent Defra figures show egg production is down by 2.9% in England in Wales in just three months - to 121 million dozen. Production is down by nearly a quarter compared to the first three months of 2022 (24.6%). This is the lowest amount produced on record, according to the Defra figures, which cover January to March 2023. Meanwhile, egg imports are up 11% compared to the same period last year. Geraint Hughes, agri-food consultant for Lafan Consulting, said: "Maybe what this has shown is the lack of flexibility within the supermarkets to react quickly to sudden increases in cost. "We've had decades of small inflationary pressures in the food industry… which allowed supermarkets to do 12 month contracts. Well, now these sudden increases in costs means they should really respond within a matter of days and weeks. "That's a big structural challenge for the industry." Mr Hughes said part of the answer was to try and deliver policies and mechanisms to encourage shoppers to buy more local, so the industry was less reliant on "global factors". Brendan Markland, who is on holiday on Anglesey with his son Jonathan, said they had brought eggs with them all the way from Shropshire to have for their breakfast on Tuesday morning. "So if that doesn't tell you there's a shortage, nothing does," he said. Margaret Hall, from Amlwch, said: "In Amlwch they're very scarce. I've always lived on a farm and I always had my own chickens, so it's handy." Her daughter-in-law Sandra Hall, said: "There's been a great shortage for some reason and we don't know why. We don't use that many, but when you need eggs you need eggs." NFU Cymru policy adviser Dafydd Jarrett said egg producers were at the mercy of wholesalers and retailers to signal that they required their products. "Egg production, like any food production system is not a simple switch on, switch off system," he said. "Any disruption to primary producers in the food supply chain, as has happened recently, takes time to readjust."

IDC's study predicts a volatile market for U.S. smart home devices, due to factors such as high installed bases, underutilization, supply chain disruptions, logistics issues, high inflation, and record-high credit card debt. This is expected to negatively impact market growth through 2027.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50569223&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

U.S. Smart Home Device Forecast, 2023–2027

Customers are crucial to businesses as they bring in revenue and enable growth. However, only 12% of enterprises connect customer data between departments to improve the customer experience. There are over 30 channels where customers can make purchases and each channel holds important customer data. Inferred data can be used to understand customer sentiment without requiring surveys or reviews. Voice of the Customer (VOC) programs must listen, analyze, and act on direct, indirect, and inferred feedback to build trust and loyalty. Customer data platforms (CDPs), generative AI, and low code/no code options can help analyze data and uncover insights for positive customer experiences. Organizations must shift how they use customer data with innovative technology to compete and gain competitive advantage.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/05/12/are-you-listening-digital-world-customers-depend-upon-technology/

Are You Listening?  Digital World Customers Depend Upon Technology

IDC's study assesses SaaS and cloud-enabled procurement software solutions, highlighting the challenge for entities to choose among many attractive options. The document emphasizes that companies should seek value in their quest to effectively manage their spend and suppliers, considering factors like full suite versus best of breed, implementation, and ongoing support. The study also notes that procurement application providers are innovating and adding enhanced capabilities to help buyers manage their spend.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50464223&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled P2P Applications 2023 Vendor Assessment

Have you ever wondered why sustainability has become such a buzzword lately? From our conversations within the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) industry, IDC discovered that this is one part due to pressures from stakeholders (e.g. investors, regulators, end-user, eco system partners and clients) and the other due to the opportunities sustainability initiatives can offer. In fact, an IDC survey conducted in 2022 has seen these drivers of sustainability initiatives as a 50/50 split among enterprises worldwide.Companies that have chosen to proactively integrate sustainability into their business strategies and operations have not only reduced waste and optimized costs, but also improved cost effectiveness and efficiency in operations, created new revenue streams for sales, helped human resources attract and retain talent and drove and enabled product and services innovation.In the Asia Pacific region, enterprises that have undertaken sustainability initiatives have seen the most benefits in the people dimension of business operations. This includes attracting and retaining talent, driving innovation and increasing productivity. The people dimension is a fundamental yet often elusive key factor for success in the execution of strategies. The link between sustainability and people dimension means that organizations can leverage on sustainability initiatives to enhance outcomes from other existing strategies especially transformative ones that cut across various aspects of an organization’s operations, such as the case in digital transformation strategies.An Opportunity for Human Resources Sustainability’s ability to influence a person’s choice of employment is important for organizations in the region because of the widespread skills shortages in the ICT workforce. According to a 2021 study of the International Labor Organization (ILO) on The Future of Work in ICT, the shortage of talent in Asia Pacific is partly attributable to rapid changes in technology, the prominence of digital transformation strategies in companies since the pandemic, and technology’s impact on work and the skills to do certain jobs. An IDC report sees IT skills shortage affecting 60-80% of Asia Pacific organizations.Sustainability’s capacity to produce positive outcomes in recruitment and retention stems from altruism. Sustainability principles are founded on the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (previously called Human Development Goals) that are fundamentally connected to what matters most to a person. It is human nature to gravitate towards a community of people or entity (as in the case of companies) that shares the same values as the person.  In a 2021 Global Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) Business Services Buyer Value Survey, IDC noted that younger generations such as Millennials and Generation Z value all three pillars of ESG as important and are factors for their decision-making in associating themselves with a particular brand or an organization.An Opportunity to InnovateA value derived from sustainability is its capacity to ignite creativity and innovation in organizations.  Sustainability initiatives centered on circularity for instance require companies to revisit and reconfigure product designs to accommodate the requirements of reduce, recycle, or repurpose value of parts and packaging materials. An example of the impact of circularity in product design is the emergence of eco-smartphones such as those sold by tech startups like Nothing, Fairphones, Teracube, and Shift and specific brand models of Apple and Samsung. There are also eco-SIM cards deployed by telecoms company, Globe, in the Philippines which is made from 100% recycled materials, including the plastic waste from refrigerators.Another prime example of product design innovation ignited by sustainability is the reengineering in datacenters and reimagining of how they are built. Apart from the sector’s shift to cleaner sources of fuel for power and cooling, and the use of recycled and recyclable parts, the more innovative datacenter designs include the underwater “clouds in the ocean”  of Microsoft that can reportedly reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by around 40%.For service companies, sustainability presents an opportunity to innovate how they deliver services to clients.  Sometimes defined as the future of work this could mean automation of mundane and repeatable tasks to free up resources for faster, high-value customer service, digital delivery of services to reduce carbon footprint, or the application of hybrid work, green workspaces and SMART buildings.An Opportunity for Demand GrowthProbably the most obvious opportunity brought by sustainability is its impact on market demand.  Sustainability initiatives inevitably lead to demand for new tools and services that can specifically meet its requirements.  Just on data alone, sustainability has created a need for ESG-related professional business services such as carbon footprint measure, ESG data security, audit, and reporting. Sustainability has also expanded the use cases of existing technologies. Blockchain technology for example is now used to verify sustainable sourcing. In the energy sector for instance, Blockchain technology is used to confirm renewable energy utilization sources in enterprises for eligibility on carbon credits, financing and for ESG reporting. This use of Blockchain in energy attribution tracking is done in Singapore from utilities provider SP Group. Other expanded uses cases emerging from sustainability are digital twins, used for sustainability simulations, or AI, used for human rights tracking.Clearly, sustainability can be an opportunity for companies to enhance their human resource strategy, accelerate product and service innovation and expand the scope of their market.If you have any questions on how solutions providers like you can maximize the opportunities that sustainability brings, we are here to help. Find out more today and learn how IDC research and services on sustainability can help you.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/04/14/sustainability-is-now-an-integral-part-of-business-in-asia-pacific-are-you-maximizing-the-opportunities-it-offers/

Sustainability is now an integral part of business in Asia Pacific. Are you maximizing the opportunities it offers?

Digital transformation is an ongoing journey that seeks to leverage digital capabilities for new value creation. To achieve this, organizations need a new category of technology solutions for managing content. IDC proposes a Unified Content Model that supports a common set of content-related services and eliminates content silos and duplicative applications. By adopting this model, organizations can increase operational efficiency and productivity, as well as improve customer and employee experiences. To get started, evaluate current workflows, stakeholders, and applications, and develop a plan to architect a solution based on the Unified Content Model.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/11/28/the-universal-content-model-a-new-way-to-think-about-managing-business-content/

The Unified Content Model – A New Way to Think about Managing Business Content

Problems in the planning system are jeopardising the environment, the economy and employment in Northern Ireland, according to a renewable energy organisation. RenewableNI says the system needs "radical reform". It claims the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) is functioning at only about 75% capacity and is experiencing significant resourcing pressures. The organisation said a member received a letter from the PAC confirming this. A Department of Justice spokesperson said PAC was a tribunal non-departmental public body but the department was responsible for providing resources and services. They added that the department was running recruitment competitions to fill vacant posts. Director Stephen Agnew said renewable energy for 85,000 homes has been held up for more than three years. Northern Ireland has a target of 80% of electricity coming from renewable sources by 2030. RenewableNI said the letter stated the PAC did not have the resources to allocate a commissioner to a review of a renewable electricity development. The letter cited "significant resourcing pressures", with "a major conjoined public inquiry" currently using all of them. It also suggested that only a single inquiry could be held at a time. Mr Agnew said RenewableNI previously had concerns about the PAC's ability to work at pace when operating at 100% capacity. He added that this was a "substantial impediment" to all developers and the system was "unfit for purpose". NI's wind turbines generate controversyOffshore wind farms would boost jobs - reportHalf of NI's electricity was renewable in 2022 "To reach 80% by 2030, we need to double our renewable capacity and we're not developing those projects. So if business as usual continues, you will get nowhere near those targets. "If we reach our 80% renewable target by 2030, that could bring over £5bn of new investment to Northern Ireland and create 1,500 plus jobs. So that's the potential. "We just need to have a system that facilitates that." There are concerns that some renewable energy investments could be withdrawn from Northern Ireland without reform. "There is a huge risk that investment will be lost in Northern Ireland and we will not reach our 80% targets," said Tamasin Fraser, UK director of the German green-energy company ABO Wind. "In order to get to those targets it's going to take a £5bn investment in Northern Ireland. In other countries across the world they are making significant strides to actually push forward with planning to ensure that the projects are achieved. Here, we're not able to do that." She added: "So the question for me is, are we willing to stand by and watch £5bn of investment go to our neighbours and further afield? "Or are we prepared to now step up, take action and make tangible change so that we can secure that investment for the good of Northern Ireland and to bring about better energy security in Northern Ireland and address the energy crisis?" For another company, the ease of the planning process in the Republic of Ireland has already proved much more attractive. Strategic Power Projects has more than €1bn (£870m) worth of projects in the pipeline, with one project taking just five months from application to approval, in accordance with the time limits of the Republic's system. The solar and battery-storage specialist's managing Director Paul Carson said such certainty was not available in Northern Ireland. "There is no timeline in Northern Ireland; we just don't know," said Mr Carson. "So when a developer is taking an investment decision, the developer will always go to where the certainty is, where the confidence is. "At the minute, we don't have any certainty or confidence in the planning system in Northern Ireland because we just don't know when we would get the decision. And you can't run a business on that basis - you need to have certainty on timeline. "But we are also working on new projects for Northern Ireland. And if we can see a change in the way planning is dealt with in Northern Ireland, we will have those projects are ready to submit, because we all have a task to do here to try to get [to] 2030 targets," Mr Carson said. Speaking on Friday, Mr Agnew said the renewable electricity industry had accepted a fees increase, despite Northern Ireland already having the highest planning application fees of anywhere in these islands. "However, we insist the increased fees should be value for money and the system resourced to meet the needs of users," he added.

IDC study examines importance of Kubernetes security for protecting containerized applications, enterprise reputation, and customer trust.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50197923&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

IDC PlanScape: A Case for Kubernetes Security

A £42.9m project to refurbish the flood defences in an seaside port town has been completed.Nearly 4km (2.5 miles) of flood walls in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, have been updated.The upgrade should provide protection from tidal flooding to more than 2,100 homes.Tom Stanley, project manager for the Epoch 2 scheme, said: "We are already seeing the impacts of climate change in the UK and around the world, which is why urgent action is needed to adapt the impacts of climate emergency." Great Yarmouth has a history of flooding, including the 1953 east coast tidal surge, and more recently, in December 2013 and January 2017.The work, which started in September 2019, saw 40 flood defence walls refurbished at locations across the town, which should extend their lifespan by up to 30 years, the Environment Agency said.It said less material, lower carbon materials and hybrid power reduced the project's carbon footprint, and it also created a new inter-tidal saltmarsh to boost biodiversity in the area.The project was not delayed by the World War Two bomb which exploded in Great Yarmouth in February, the Environment Agency said.A business case is currently in development for the next stage of the project. Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, external, Instagram, external and Twitter, external. If you have a story for us, email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk, external

As conservatives rally around social issues, the Republican Party is clashing with corporate America. Will the fights break its longstanding alliance with big business? At the home of Sarah Fields, a conservative activist and mum-of-three from Texas, some of America's biggest brands are no longer welcome. She cut out Disney first, turned off by children's shows featuring gay couples. Her boycotts of Olay skin products and beers from Bud Light-maker Anheuser-Busch began more recently, after she learned they had worked with transgender social media star Dylan Mulvaney. "My thing is protecting kids and the very first time I ever saw corporations pushing any kind of LGBTQ or any kind of trans ideology towards kids is when I really started to pay more attention," the 36-year-old says. "There are so many different ones [now], I can barely keep track." Sarah became politically active during the pandemic, protesting against lockdowns. Now a delegate to her state's Republican Party, she is one of the players pushing the party to rally around social issues such as gender identity and take on "woke" firms in corporate America. Companies have been caught in the crossfire of America's culture wars before, as the country grows more polarised and firms face pressure from staff, customers and shareholders on the left and right to pick a side. But legislative moves targeting firms mark a new frontier for Republicans, who have traditionally been allied with big business over matters like lower taxes and light regulation. In Florida, state lawmakers voted to remove Disney's power over a district including Walt Disney World theme park, after it criticised a law that banned discussions of gender and sexuality in schools. In Georgia, lawmakers threatened to remove a tax break from Delta Airlines, after its chief executive called changes to voting laws "unacceptable". Meanwhile dozens of states are considering proposals aimed at stopping government from doing business with financial firms that consider environmental, social and governance factors when making investments - moves that had cost one of the major targets of the campaign, BlackRock, more than $4bn in customer funds as of January. The measures have been controversial, including among Republicans, some of whom say the proposals go too far to interfere with private business. Proponents are unapologetic. "My job is to protect taxpayers and my constituents from overreach, regardless of where it comes from," says Blaise Ignoglia, one of the Florida state senators who sponsored the Disney legislation - a fight that has now evolved into a legal battle over free speech. "They turned their backs on parents and children when they decided to support sexualising our most vulnerable youth." Mr Ignoglia says he is not worried about taking on Disney, which has supported him in the past and wields major economic and political heft in Florida. To the contrary, he says, "I live in the second reddest district in the state. My constituents are of the same mindset." Big business has lost its grip on the Republican Party, as the party shifts right and picks up support from voters without university degrees, while losing ground among the college educated, says Prof Mark Mizruchi, a sociologist at the University of Michigan. In 2022, the share of Republicans saying that large corporations have a positive impact was 26% - on a par with Democrats and less than half of what it was three years earlier, according to Pew. But Prof Mizruchi says politicians' attacks on companies for being woke are "mostly a smokescreen", noting that on issues like unionisation, taxes and regulation corporate America and Republican leaders remain tightly aligned. In the 2022 election cycle, the majority of official corporate political donations went to Republicans, as they have for nearly three decades, according to data from OpenSecrets. "Republicans have to play this very careful game of supporting the wealthy and big business behind the scenes, but making it appear to the public that they're on the side of the little person," he says. "That's why going after the wokeness is a good way to do it - because that's not a bread and butter issue [for corporations]." The financial impact of the conservative backlash appears to be relatively limited so far. At BlackRock, lost funds amounted to less than 2% of its portfolio. The Bud Light sales decline in the first three weeks of April reflected only 1% of Anheuser-Busch overall volumes. But the outcry has altered the mood, says Martin Whittaker, chief executive of Just Capital, a non-profit that ranks firms based on issues such as worker pay and environmental impact. Though many companies are still moving forward with initiatives internally, he says public discussions have become quieter. "You're not seeing CEOs stick their necks out." Disney, which spoke out on the Florida bill under pressure from its employees, has taken legal action against Florida. But other firms appear to be in retreat. In BlackRock's annual letter this year, risks from climate barely got a mention, though the firm acknowledged challenges due to opinions "diverging across regions". Credit card firms have said they would delay changes that activists had hoped would help track gun purchases, citing legal uncertainty. And some big financial firms including Vanguard have backed out of initiatives aimed at climate change, pointing to "confusion" about their views. Will Hild is the executive director of Consumers' Research, a group that since 2021 has spearheaded multi-million dollar ad campaigns targeting firms such as Nike, American Airlines, Major League Baseball and Levi's for putting "woke politics above consumer interests". "People forget that in the spring of 2021 you had companies coming out and getting involved in election integrity discussions at the state level in Georgia and Texas," he says. "You haven't seen that in the years since and for us, that's an indication that our campaigns have been successful." Last month, after weeks of attacks from conservative pundits and politicians for its partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, Anheuser-Busch put two executives on leave and released a spate of Bud Light ads studded with imagery of American flags and horses galloping across open country. The company, which did not respond to a request for comment from the BBC, said it did not mean to be "a part of a conversation that divides people". Decried by some on the left, the about-face was seen by Sarah as a victory. "What happened with Bud Light is an amazing start and it should be that way for all corporations," she says. "We need to be less fearful and we need to start using our voice more."

IDC forecasts growth for the U.S. managed network services market from 2023 to 2027 due to increased adoption, which offers enterprises a strategic advantage in a competitive, digitally driven landscape. Service providers' expertise can help enterprises adapt quickly to changing network demands while ensuring optimal performance, security, and cost-effectiveness.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50185923&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

U.S. Managed Network Services Forecast, 2023–2027

This blog discusses how to create a good portfolio insight to prioritize your IT spending wisely. By segmenting your portfolio over two angles, you get four quadrants to objectively prioritize your portfolio. Data on business and technical value can be analyzed using a survey campaign or tooling. The tooling can help take a closer look at certain aspects of applications. Within weeks, IDC Metri's data-driven insights can provide the portfolio insight needed to make guided decisions on IT spending.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/03/24/portfolio-insight-for-cios-to-highlight-your-business-value/

Portfolio Insight for CIOs to Highlight your Business Value

Yordanos Brhane was 15 years old when she fled Eritrea, crossing Africa and Europe in the hope of finding a better life and re-uniting with her family. Years later, the long and difficult journey brought her to the UK, where she was fatally stabbed just months after settling. Yordanos's sister has spoken about how a young woman's dream of security ended in tragedy. Deeply religious and with a flair for languages, Yordanos Brhane had just started to build a life for herself in Birmingham. She, along with six of her siblings, left Eritrea, one of Africa's poorest countries and one where people regularly flee political persecution and forced conscription. "Yordanos was a very quiet girl, she was polite, courteous, she was on the quiet side rather than very active," Kisanet Brhane said of her younger sister. "She was happy, she was learning the language very quickly, she was very good with languages. She had made friends from Eritrea and I sensed she was settling in nicely." Her family, when they came to the shared house in Unett Street after her death, found she had joined the city's library and had got herself a provisional driving licence. She had also found herself a job, helping out at a nearby shop where her manager, Sogi Omrani, said she was a beautiful and honest person who was always happy and smiling and all about helping her family. "She was a nice worker. She had only been here a short amount of time but she talked so nicely. She was very good at English," he said. "All our customers, when they heard she had died, they were crying. I cried too, it was very bad." Kisanet was seven years older than her sister, but the two had a close bond. 'Obsessed' killer jailed for stabbing teen refugee "From the day that she left Eritrea until two days before she died, every day we were in contact, we were very close and every day I was speaking to her. "The last two days of her life I hadn't spoken to her." Kisanet lives in Norway, having left Eritrea in 2014, aged 19. Since moving there, she has studied, worked in care homes and recently gave birth. Her own journey, which took her through the African countries of Ethiopia, Sudan, Libya and then the European countries of Italy, Germany, Sweden and Norway, took her a year. Became independent from Ethiopia in 1993 but is plagued by repression at home and tense relations with its neighboursBordered by Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti, it occupies a strategically important area in the Horn of AfricaEritrea is a one-party state and a highly-militarised society, which the government has sought to justify by citing the threat of war with EthiopiaProlonged periods of conflict and severe drought have adversely affected Eritrea's agricultural economy and it remains one of the poorest countries in AfricaBy UN estimates, hundreds of thousands of Eritreans have fled the country in recent years, making the perilous journey across the Sahara and the Mediterranean to Europe Source: BBC Monitoring "The journey was very, very difficult, especially when crossing the Sahara Desert in Libya, it was the toughest, it was very, very tough, its not easy at all - you risk your life to go through this journey," she said. In March 2017, aged 15, Yordanos began the same arduous journey. Her journey was similar to her sister's but took longer. She was in Libya for seven month where, her sister says, it was a miracle she got out alive. "She didn't have a good time there it was very, very dangerous, very bad, she experienced really bad things," she said. Yordanos and her fellow travellers slept on floors in warehouses, among hundreds of people, with no privacy, a scarce amount of food and no access to medication or sanitary hygiene, she said. The threat of violence and rape was always prevalent. Kisanet believes it was only because by then Yordanos was so weak and ill she was not assaulted. By the time Yordanos got into Europe, she was very ill indeed, arriving into Italy on a stretcher. She had been rescued by the authorities after the boat she came across on, via smugglers, stopped working in the middle of the ocean. "Her illness was mainly due to malnourishment and very bad scabies infections in her skin which had given her a fever. She had bad problems with her chest, her heart was beating very hard," Kisanet said. "She was really weak by the time she arrived in Italy. We didn't find out straight away she was in Italy - two weeks later we found out she was in hospital where she was getting treatments to get her energy back and help her survive." But as she was being given treatment to get her better, other problems were about to begin. Yordanos managed to make it to Norway where she was allowed to spend time with Kisanet as well as living in a camp. However, while going through the process it was discovered she had been 'fingerprinted' in Italy. According to regulations, the first country an asylum seeker enters is ultimately responsible for the individual's asylum application. In effect, officials could tell her first EU country of entry was Italy and could be the one she would be returned to. And that is what happened - the authorities in Norway decided to return her to Italy. The sisters were shocked. "She had been really happy, she was in a safe environment where human right is protected," Kisanet said. "She was really serious about her education and she improved her language so well. I have lived here two years ahead of her, I couldn't speak better than her. "She was really optimistic about life and she didn't expect to be sent back to Italy." The news was hard for them both to take in. "Especially as her age, she was only 16, I was older than her, I could have taken care of her, I was her family, her sister. What they did was wrong. She was only 16. To be separated from her family at that age." Yordanos was taken back to Italy within the week, leaving the family with little chance to appeal. After a few days living rough and begging for food, she made the journey to Belgium and made contact with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), which, because of her age, picked up her case and began to argue she should be able to return to Norway. Norway accepted her return, while her case was being resolved, and again she stayed with her brother, who lived in a different part of Norway, and also in a camp. "After three months the charity gave her the letter to take to police to say she is back from Italy and she has this letter to say she should have her case looked at properly," Kisanet said. "But the police put her in prison for two months. They would not let her go. They said they did not accept it and that she should go back to Italy. She was forced to return to Italy. "It was the same situation, she was left to fend for herself at such a young age. It was very distressing for her." Her lawyer in Norway, Andre Mokkelgjerd, said the Dublin Regulation, which regulates which country is responsible for processing an asylum application, does have discretionary clauses which made it possible for Norway to consider allowing her to remain - particularly as she was a vulnerable young woman alone in Europe with family in Norway. "Unfortunately, our arguments along these lines were not given decisive weight, and the general rules were applied strictly as they often are in these cases," he said. Yordanos went back to Belgium, living rough, for seven months; although Kisanet says she did get help from some Belgian charities. And when she eventually made it to the UK, on the back of a lorry, the charity workers stayed in contact. "They were really nice, very close to Yordanos, and they were happy she came to a safe country. They came to visit her twice," Kisanet said. After a year in the UK, Yordanos was granted to leave to remain with refugee status. She was 18 when she arrived. The family found out she had died through social media. "I didn't know what happened, it was my sister who contacted me, she had seen something on Instagram. "She said 'what am I hearing - have you spoken to Yordanos?' and I said 'no I haven't spoken to her for two days, what happened?'" Kisanet and her husband were able to contact some of Yordanos's friends. They heard Yordanos was no longer alive, there had been an accident. They later had to come over to the UK to identify the body. "With the shock of the news, we quickly arranged for three siblings including myself to come to the UK to identify the body. "When we arrived, there were a lot of Eritrean community helping us out. They prepared accommodation where we could stay and they were very helpful to us," she said. She was unable to make the journey for Yordanos's killer's court case. Halefom Weldeyohannes, from Sheffield, has been jailed for at least 21 years for her murder. But the family said 21 years was not enough. Yordanos's older brother Gezae Birhane Kibedom said: "I am not happy, Yordanos was a nice girl. He hurt my sister, he took a life, it's not enough." He had been in contact with Yordanos three days before she died. She told him she had started to learn to drive and also her plans for the future. "She wanted to go back to school, she wanted to become a doctor or a nurse and then ultimately she wanted to go back to Eritrea where, depending on the government, she would try to help our family and other young people. "Yordanos was so young but old for her age." Additional reporting by Allen Cook Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.

Digital businesses rely on digital infrastructure, which includes on-premises data centers, public cloud services, compute, storage, network, infrastructure software, automation, AI/ML analytics, security software, and ecosystem partners. According to IDC research, 80% of decision makers worldwide recognize the importance of digital infrastructure. Optimizing multicloud and hybrid digital infrastructure environments can lead to higher levels of operational resiliency, security, revenue growth, and productivity at scale. The IDC FutureScape presents the top 10 predictions and key drivers for the next five years.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/12/09/idc-futurescape-worldwide-future-of-digital-infrastructure-2023-predictions/

IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Future of Digital Infrastructure 2023 Predictions

IDC analyzed the outsourced document services market, which includes production print, mailroom, print procurement, and document archival services. Revenue from centralized services in managed print and document services contracts is excluded. The market remains stable despite challenges, with organizations investing in digital transformation for productivity and a hybrid workforce.

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Worldwide and U.S. Outsourced Document Services Forecast, 2023-2027

Gunmen in south-eastern Nigeria have attacked a US convoy, killing four people, local police say. They say two of the victims of Tuesday's attack in the Anambra state were US consulate employees, while the other two were police officers. The attackers kidnapped three other people, and set their vehicle on fire. Washington says no US citizens were in the convoy, which was travelling in the state plagued by violence and separatist insurgency. Nigerian police say the attack happened on the Atani-Osamale road in Ogbaru region. Police spokesperson DSP Ikenga Tochukwu says security forces were currently carrying out a rescue and recovery operation. In a statement to the BBC, the US confirmed that "there was an incident on 16 May in Anambra state", adding that Washington was working with Nigerian security services to investigate the attack. "The security of our personnel is always paramount, and we take extensive precautions when organising trips to the field," the US state department said. The Nigerian authorities often blame violent attacks in the region on the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra movement (Ipob). The group has so far made no public comments on the issue.

The US printer and multifunction peripheral market opportunities are analyzed in detail in this IDC study, with data from 2017-2022 presented and projections for 2023-2027. Supply chain challenges will limit shipments until mid-2023, after which the market will be demand-driven and gradually decline. However, growth opportunities exist for vendors catering to the needs of post-COVID-19 workplaces and remote workers.

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U.S. Printer and MFP Forecast, 2023–2027

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IDC surveyed CEOs and identified five mandates to help them scale their digital businesses in a rapidly changing digital world. The mandates include redefining VUCA, investing strategically, building trust, reskilling and augmenting the workforce, and optimizing cloud investments for business outcomes. CEOs are focusing on growth and technology investments to deliver advanced customer experiences and revenue-generating activities. As CIOs take on more responsibilities, they are becoming more involved in business strategy and working with the entire C-Suite. Technology suppliers can play a key supporting role by helping organizations execute these mandates and achieve quantifiable business outcomes.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/04/28/leadership-in-a-changing-digital-world-five-mandates/

Leadership in a Changing Digital World: Five Mandates

Adrienne Alher and Okan Aslan have spent almost 11 years growing their east London business. But it's more than that for them. Their vision was to create a shop that was sustainable and green, selling products sourced from suppliers who paid their staff a decent wage, and offering organic produce that didn't need packaging. Customers bring their own jars and bags and can stock up on everything from pasta and porridge to peanut butter and detergent. Stone Mini Market, in Leytonstone, grew from a small off-licence with a few refill stations to four times its original size as the demand for a greener way of shopping grew. But the owners say that, almost overnight, everything changed. Rising inflation among other global factors had a big effect on this small business. "We became almost a luxury shop," Ms Alher said. "The organic food became too expensive for 70% of our customers." Not all of the products Stone Mini Market sells are more expensive than you'd find in a supermarket, but suppliers' prices shot up with inflation, as did energy bills, by about 30%. The couple say sales are down by 60% and if the trend continues into the summer, they will have to close. Adrienne says theirs is one of the last shops of its kind left in the area. She added: "We know of at least seven shops that have had to close." Organic food has a shorter shelf life than other food so if they don't sell it quickly, it is wasted. "If there's no demand for what we do, then we are not proving we are sustainable and we have to stop," Adrienne says. She explains that customers are still coming in, but are buying less. "Organic food became more expensive, and people are buying more of the cheaper, unethical food because of having no choice. "People are choosing to buy from bigger, cheaper companies than smaller shops like ours where we had to put the prices up." She says she understands this and doesn't blame her customers. "We all have to make choices," she adds. Last year, environmental organisation City to Sea commissioned a survey which suggested that 50% of people are doing less to reduce the use of single-use plastic than they were six months ago, as a result of increases in household bills. Steve Hynd, the policy manager at City to Sea, says people do still want to make changes for the sake of the planet. "Plastic pollution is still a major issue for consumers," he says. "They're trying to do the right thing; they're trying to make eco-choices." Why are prices rising so much?How easy is it to be green on a budget?Five hacks to help save money on your food shop But, he says, the cost of living is making it very difficult to do that as budgeting is the main priority. "They're having to downgrade essentially how they shop and where they shop, and this often means going to supermarkets and buying products that are covered in plastic." The cost of living is now a bigger concern than climate change for many people, according to the Office for National Statistics. Its research found that cost "is one of the largest barriers people face when making changes to help tackle climate change". The "eco-friendly" delivery service Milk and More says it believes people will still try to be green, if it's also convenient. The business uses a fleet of electric vehicles to deliver produce in refillable containers to its 300,000 UK customers. It says it has also seen customers make different choices because of inflation. CEO Patrick Muller said: "We saw a certain route from organic to basic products, so if people usually buy organic milk, now they're buying standard milk. These are the kind of moves we're seeing." He says the company was "cautious" about passing on rising costs to the customer and "wanted the smallest amount of price increase as possible". Back at the mini-market, Adrienne and Okan have had to be resourceful to keeping their business open - at least for now. It's currently being run as a community interest company, hosting sewing classes and other events. Adrienne says she hopes this will help them stay open, adding that they're grateful for the "good community support" they've been getting in Leytonstone. "We're betting everything on it," she says. Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hellobbclondon@bbc.co.uk

Fans from across the globe were treated to a Eurovision Song Contest feast in Liverpool. The winners of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, Kalush Orchestra performed on stage at the start of the final. UK entry Mae Muller took part in the flag parade as the proceedings began, and Marco Mengoni carried the Pride flag as well as the Italian one. Alesha Dixon, Julia Sanina, Hannah Waddingham and Graham Norton were all on stage for the start. Mimicat representing Portugal, Teya and Salena for Austria, Loreen from Sweden and Andrew Lambrou for Cyprus were among the first performers. Czechia entrant Vesna's braids drew attention, as did the performance of Finland's Kaarija. Ukraine, last years winners, were represented by TVORCHI. Let 3 from Croatia had a controversial performance. The UK's Mae Muller was the final act. Duncan Laurence and other past Eurovision acts joined the presenters on stage after the performances. Loreen hears that she has won after a tense voting count. In the Eurovision Village, crowds sang their hearts out as they watched all the musical drama on a big screen. HMS Mersey was illuminated in the colours of Ukraine. Irish duo Jedward were among the acts who entertained fans in the Village zone earlier in the day. All photographs subject to copyright.

An old coal mine in southern Scotland was the site of an electric off-road rally at the weekend. The Extreme E series held its Hydro X Prix at Glenmuckloch in Dumfries and Galloway. Teams backed by the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button competed over two days. Previous sites to have hosted the series have included Greenland, the Atacama Desert, Saudi Arabia and Senegal. All images are copyrighted.

The global HDD market saw a 23.4% decline in revenue in 2022 due to high inventories caused by COVID-19 safety stock inventory building. Western Digital gained share, Seagate slightly increased its share, and Toshiba lost share.

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Worldwide Hard Disk Drive Market Shares, 2022: Enterprise Segment More Critical than Ever to Share Growth

The price of fish and chip takeaways has increased by 19% but it has nothing to do with profiteering, the National Federation of Fish Friers (NFFF) says. In Somerset a portion of fish and chips can cost as much as £14 - the UK average is £9 according to the ONS. Factors including the cost of living crisis mean outlets are raising prices in order to survive, NFFF said. Stuart Devine, area director for the NFFF, said fish and chip shops were facing "a perfect storm". In the year to March 2023 the price of takeaways rose by 13% in the UK and fish and chip meals saw the highest increase of 19%, representing a rise of about £1.44 to £9 on average for one portion, the Office for National Statistics said. Mr Devine said food inflation, energy and fuel costs, as well as Russia's invasion of Ukraine, had driven up the cost of ingredients and the power to cook them. How much are prices rising for you? Try our calculatorCost of living tips: Your personalised money guide "Cost are soaring. You either put your prices up or you risk going out of business," Mr Devine said. "There's no profiteering happening in fish and chip shops. "I run six fish and chip shops, employing 150 people, and we are finding it very tough. "Small, independent fish and chip shops may survive because their overhead costs are less, but it really is at a critical point." Steve Gibbs, who runs Howards Fish and Chip Shop in Taunton, said he feared rising prices would deter customers. "It's the price of cooking oil. Then Brexit and the war in Ukraine because most of the fish comes from Russia. So now the fish is Norwegian. "It's just so expensive. We have to pass [on the costs] to customers." But his wife and co-owner Sue said fish and chips were still good value and added: "We try not to put our prices up if we can help it." In a statement, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "We recognise that many businesses are struggling with the impact of higher prices, which is why we remain committed to our plan to halve inflation this year. "That's why we have held down non-domestic energy bills, slashed business rates bills by 75% and recently set out a range of policies that will bring over 100,000 people into the labour market - ensuring businesses have access to the skills they need." Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk

Elon Musk has been subpoenaed by the US Virgin Islands in a lawsuit accusing a Wall Street bank of enabling Jeffrey Epstein to sex traffic women. It calls on the Tesla boss to hand over any documents showing communication between him, JP Morgan Chase bank and Epstein, who died in 2019. Mr Musk is not accused of any wrongdoing in the case. On Monday, he also reiterated denials of suggestions that Epstein had provided him with financial advice. Jeffrey Epstein died in jail in New York in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The Virgin Islands is suing JP Morgan Chase for allegedly helping enable Epstein's alleged crimes. Its case alleges trafficked women were sexually abused by Epstein and others on Little St. James, his private island in the territory. The Virgin Islands government has accused the bank of not acting on warning signs about the alleged crimes. The bank has denied the allegations. As part of the case, a court filing on Monday revealed the territory's authorities had tried to serve Mr Musk, the multi-billionaire owner of Twitter, with the subpoena but had been unsuccessful. "The Government [of the US Virgin Islands] contacted Mr. Musk's counsel via email to ask if he would be authorized to accept service on Mr. Musk's behalf in this matter, but did not receive a response confirming or denying his authority," the filing said. The Virgin Islands also asked a Manhattan federal court judge to allow it to serve Mr Musk with the subpoena with Tesla's registered agent. Mr Musk may have been referred to the Wall Street banking giant by Epstein, according to the court filing. However, the Virgin Islands did not provide further explanation for its interest in obtaining documents from Mr Musk. Epstein, a financier, had been a client of JP Morgan from 2000 to 2013. Mr Musk was also been a customer - with JP Morgan in charge of Tesla's commercial banking business for several years. Mr Musk tweeted on Monday that the suggestion that he taken advice from Epstein was "idiotic" and called the late financier a "dumb crook." Epstein, who was convicted in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from a minor, moved in social circles that included Prince Andrew and former presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, as well as many key figures of the business world. Prosecutors in 2019 accused him of running a "vast network" of underage girls for sex. JP Morgan Chase has denied knowing about Epstein's crimes.

An MP has described proposals to build hundreds of homes - which have already attracted more than 650 objections - as "undesirable and unnecessary".Stockton North Labour MP Alex Cunningham called for the plans for Wynyard to be rejected.“Never before have I had so many contacts from local residents sharing their concerns about a development," he said.The scheme's designers said they wanted to develop Wynyard Estate "in a considerate and measured way". The proposals for up to 700 homes also include a community centre, medical facilities, play spaces, cycleways and golf course improvements.A spokesperson for Cameron Hall Developments and Jomast Developments said the location was "identified for growth" in the area's local plan.However, Wynyard Parish Council said the “vague and disjointed” plans were contrary to the local plan and would remove natural habitats. Hartlepool Council also said the large-scale development was contrary to both the 2019 Stockton Local Plan and the 2019 Wynyard Masterplan, although the latter was not a rigid blueprint, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.Mr Cunningham said the decision "to lump all manner of things" into one application "does the applicant no favours".It appeared to be "an attempt to win approval for a huge housing development on the back of some important elements which are I suspect needed within the community", he said."I am surprised that there has been no comprehensive public consultation exercise by the developers," he added. Historic England recommended taking the golf course extension out of the application while the Woodland Trust said it should be deferred until the ancient woodland status of adjacent trees had been determined.Cameron Hall Developments and Jomast Developments said more detailed proposals would be forthcoming and a consultation was planned."It is our goal that our aspirations for new amenities for the village align with those of current residents," a spokesperson said. Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, external, Facebook, external and Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.

Funding for schools to bring pupils from different religions and backgrounds together is to be cut by 50% from September. Shared education sees pupils from different schools and backgrounds meeting for classes and activities. Hundreds of schools which take part face getting only half of the funding they received during 2022/23. A letter from the Education Authority (EA) said the 50% cut was due to the "financial climate". The letter to principals also said there was no funding available for shared education from the Department of Education (DE) after April 2024. According to the most recent DE figures, about 700 schools and pre-schools had received funding for shared education projects as of June 2021. The aim is to bring pupils from Catholic, Protestant and other backgrounds together on a regular basis for joint classes, activities or trips. It is different to integrated education. One of the longest-running partnerships is between Limavady High School and St Mary's High School. The two schools are also set to share Northern Ireland's first completed shared education campus - a new building used by pupils of both. The department provided funding of about £5m a year for schools working together in Shared Education partnerships. That paid for trips, resources, activities and things like the cost of buses to transport pupils between schools. But in the letter from the EA, which has been seen by BBC News NI, principals were told education budget pressures "have unfortunately impacted on the budget available to support mainstreamed shared education (MSE) for the next academic year". Funding for education was cut in the recent budget from the Northern Ireland secretary. The shared education money for schools will be about 50% less than the budget provided in 2022/23, the EA letter said. "We recognise that this will be detrimental to the level of activity that can be provided to children and young people," it added. Schools in shared education partnerships will be told the exact funding they will get in the coming days. The EA letter said that "due to the current significant financial pressures" funding to schools for shared education could not yet be confirmed beyond Easter 2024. "It is hoped that further resourcing will be made available thereafter but at this time we are unable to make any further commitments beyond that timeframe," it said. The department has already cut funding for numerous schemes, mainly aimed at helping disadvantaged pupils, to save money. Funding for others, like the early years programmes the Pathway Fund and Sure Start, has not yet been confirmed beyond June. Why are there so many cuts? The Executive Office has suggested cuts to numerous groups in response to what it calls "the most challenging budget in recent history". With a percentage of funds already allocated for designated purposes, the department says front-facing funding cuts are inevitable. Stormont officials believe they will need to find £800m in cuts and revenue-raising measures in the wake of last month's budget announcement, which was set by Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris. The task was put upon Mr Heaton-Harris in the absence of a functioning Northern Ireland Executive as the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) continues its boycott of devolved government until concerns about post-Brexit trading arrangements are resolved. Mr Heaton-Harris, who has denied setting a "punishment budget", warned that government departments face difficult decisions in order to live within the funding available. The news about shared education cuts comes as the Equality Commissioner for Northern Ireland has said its funding is at a "critical stage". Required funding for the year ahead has been reduced by about 11% (£9.5m). That is despite extra expenditure on areas like the Homes for Ukraine scheme and the Identity and Language Act. Equality Commission chief commissioner Geraldine McGahey told BBC News NI the commission had been subjected to successive year-on-year cuts for more than a decade. She said its budget had been reduced by nearly 40% in that period with staffing numbers currently half its establishment figure, despite taking on new responsibilities. "This further proposed 10% budget reduction just compounds this situation further," she said. "The level of funding is now at a critical stage and impacting significantly on the nature and scale of the work we can do to improve people's lives through addressing inequalities and tackling discrimination." This was particularly disappointing following the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement which established the commission as one of its safeguards, she added. The Executive Office has been allocated £182m for the year ahead - this is despite an increase in financial pressures related to both loss of income sources and new spend commitments. These new spends include: The Covid-19 inquiryThe Homes for Ukraine schemeAn increasing number of asylum seekers choosing to make their home in Northern IrelandPreparations for the establishment of three new bodies mandated by fresh Irish language and Ulster Scots legislation. The department said £106m of this year's budget has already been earmarked toward schemes such as truth recovery and victims' payments. These funds can only be used for their designated purposes and not at the discretion of the department. With a baseline budget requirement of £85.2m for additional spending, the department now faces a reduction equating to £9.5m. Some 37% of TEO's budget is spent by its arm's-length bodies (ALB) focused on areas such as equality, community relations and institutional abuse. An equality impact assessment on potential decisions - which now faces a 12-week consultation period - includes a model of how a 10% budget cut would impact some of these ALBs. Bodies impacted could include: Equality CommissionCommunity Relations CouncilCommission for Victims and SurvivorsAttorney General for Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland Judicial Appointments CommissionCommissioner for Survivors of Institutional Childhood Abuse An analysis of information held by TEO indicates ALB reductions are anticipated to have a negative impact on good relations between people of different religious beliefs, political opinions or racial groups. The department says budget cuts could also have significant and adverse impacts on children, women, people with disabilities, those with mental health problems, refugees and migrants. TEO said it had identified potential areas for mitigation by prioritising projects where the safety of a group is at risk. Further money-saving measures could include continuing a temporary suspension of recruitment and a reduction in Good Relations work - reducing delivery to district council schemes by about 50% compared with last year. The department stressed these were not recommendations that would be made by officials under normal circumstances, but were actions required as a consequence of "an extremely constrained" budget allocation.

The SSD market share for 2022 declined by 3.9% due to macroeconomic headwinds and inventory adjustments, resulting in a revenue of $36.9 billion.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US49401323&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide Solid State Drive Market Shares, 2022: Rapidly Evolving Dynamics Shape the Year

IDC study analyzes the data privacy compliance software market, focusing on data discovery and mapping as the most talked about functionalities. The study also highlights the difficulty end-users face in adopting more advanced privacy-enhancing techniques without first mastering the basics of data management.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50209423&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide Data Privacy Compliance Software Market Shares, 2022: OneTrust Continues to Hold Its Large Lead Over the Market

The importance of developing deep relationships with consumers is often overlooked by brands who focus solely on product or technology. Trust and relevance are essential for building brand loyalty and increasing profitability. Brands that fail to expand their relevance risk shallow, transactional relationships with consumers. Market and personal relevance are key factors in meeting consumer needs, and companies must empathetically ask questions to deepen the relationship. Companies must avoid focusing too narrowly on one set of consumer needs, marking a presence without playing to win, having a "white space" mentality, or refusing to embrace obvious opportunities. Apple dominates the consumer tech marketplace due to its deep relationships with consumers, while other brands focus primarily on the enterprise market.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/05/17/why-do-so-many-brands-fail-to-develop-deeper-relationships-with-consumers/

Why Do So Many Brands Fail to Develop Deeper Relationships With Consumers?

The world has gone digital in both personal and work lives. Data is necessary for tech companies to make critical business decisions, improve efficiency, and become more competitive. Reliable data helps identify sales opportunities, prioritize product roadmaps, generate leads, retain customers, and optimize partnership strategies. Data-informed branding and messaging can help businesses stand out in the market. Analytics also provides insights for implementing intelligently conceived pricing strategies and identifying areas of weakness for adjustments. IDC's Data & Analytics Solutions provide clients with critical IT data for business success.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/10/17/data-operational-advantage-or-strategic-imperative/

Data: Operational Advantage or Strategic Imperative?

Video usage has increased by 32% since the pandemic began. Video is preferred over other content types and is commonly used for research. 86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, but most are not impactful. Before creating a video, consider the reason, respect, and rationale behind it. Define your target audience, set a timeline and budget, choose the best hosting platform, develop messaging, and decide on metrics to track success.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/09/26/an-introduction-to-video-marketing-for-emerging-tech-vendors/

An Introduction to Video Marketing for Emerging Tech Vendors

The number of people not working in the UK due to long-term sickness has risen to a new record, official figures show. More than two and a half million are not working due to health problems, the Office for National Statistics said. It blamed an increase in mental health issues in younger people and people suffering back and neck pain, possibly due to home working, for the rise. Typically, for every 13 people currently working, one person is long-term sick. Since the start of the Covid pandemic, there were "well over 400,000 more people outside of the labour market due to ill health," Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the ONS, told the BBC's Today Programme. As well as an increase in mental health conditions and back and neck pains, Mr Morgan said there had also been "an increase in the category that includes post-viral fatigue, so perhaps long Covid having an impact". Who are the millions of Britons not working?Are wages keeping up with inflation? One of the reasons why the UK economy has been doing less well than other developed nations has been the case of the missing workers, after millions stopped working during the pandemic. Getting these people back to work is a key part of the government's plan to get the economy growing again with changes to the rules around health-related benefits and universal credit in the March Budget aimed at helping to address the shortage of workers. The latest figures show mixed progress on this front. Significant numbers of students, carers and even some retired people have started looking for work again, pushing the inactivity rate - the key measure of people not in work - down to 21% - the lowest level in three years. However, the rise in the number of people too ill to work is likely to worry policymakers. "We should be concerned by the high number of people who are economically inactive because they are sick, and progress on tackling inactivity overall is too slow," said Neil Carberry, chief executive at the industry body the Recruitment and Employment Confederation. "It is a year since the ONS reported on high worklessness, labour shortages and high inflation and too little has changed. This is holding the economy back by constraining companies' ability to grow." By Michelle Roberts, digital health editor Sitting with proper posture is one of the best things you can do to prevent back and neck problems. So it is easy to see how spending long hours sitting at a desk, hunched over a laptop could be bad for you. The latest data from the ONS suggests musculoskeletal issues are on the rise, and likely linked to the shift to home working that happened to many of us during the pandemic. If you use a home workstation, the advice is to make sure the top of your computer screen is level with your eyes and about an arm's length away from you. You should be able to relax your shoulders when you are typing and keep your elbows at 90 degrees. Take regular breaks too to stand up, stretch and move around. If you have neck or back pain, chat with your doctor or see a physiotherapist. Employers are also required by law to protect the health and safety of their workers Ian, 48, from Manchester used to work in software support, but back and leg problems forced him to leave his job, and he's now waiting for surgery on his back. He told the BBC he's "frustrated" but hopes he can return to work at some point. However, he thinks he will be at a disadvantage when applying for jobs. "The tone changes in the interview," he says, when you tell a potential employer that you have health problems. James, 39, from Durham has been given time off work after having problems with his eyesight. He was recently diagnosed with diabetes and says working from home has led to an unhealthy lifestyle. "My eyesight was badly affected because blood sugar levels were so high. I couldn't really look at screens, so couldn't do work properly." He also says it can be difficult to set up a work desk correctly at home. "In an office, someone sets up the chair properly, they have screens that protect eyes. There are more precautions." The latest ONS figures also showed the squeeze on pay remains, with wage increases failing to keep up with rising prices. Growth in regular pay, which excludes bonuses, was 6.7% in the first three months of the year, and pay growth in the public sector was 5.6% - the highest rate since 2003. However, when price rises are taken into account, regular pay fell by 2%. The latest figures from the ONS also showed: the employment rate edged up to 75.9% between January and March, helped by more part-time employees and self-employed workersthe unemployment rate also rose slightly to 3.9%the number of people on employers' payrolls dropped in April, the first decline in more than two yearsjob vacancy numbers fell for the 10th consecutive period, although there are still more than one million unfilled poststhe number of working days lost to strikes rose to 556,000 in March 2023, mainly due to walkouts in the health and education sectors. In response to the latest figures, the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, said: "It's encouraging that the unemployment rate remains historically low but difficulty in finding staff and rising prices are a worry for many families and businesses." But shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the government was a "drag" on the economy with family finances "being squeezed to breaking point by a further fall in real wages" and with fewer people in employment than before the pandemic. Additional reporting by Victoria Park and Emily Roberts

The view, from the top of a condemned tower block in east London, was to die for. Lund Point, on the Carpenters Estate in Stratford, was our window to the spectacle of London 2012 - a superb vantage point overlooking the Olympic stadium. The tower was the hub of an ambitious BBC broadcasting operation. Some flats were still occupied by residents, others were converted into TV and radio studios, newsrooms, broadcast galleries, and even a canteen. But it was about much more than sport. For several heady weeks this is where all the news came from, too. The BBC's flagship six and ten o'clock news programmes were broadcast from here - 57 live bulletins in all. And then, on Sunday 9 September 2012, the late BBC news wrapped up with a montage of the best Olympic moments, and it was over. For broadcasters, viewers and athletes, it was the conclusion of a glorious sporting summer. But for those who had lived here it signalled the imminent demolition of their homes - and the prospect of indefinite dislocation. But a decade later, it's as if time stopped. The tower still stands. The Carpenters Estate is a short walk from what's now called the London Stadium and the other venues created at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. This is the landscape reclaimed at a cost of billions of pounds, transforming its grimy industrial past into its current state of throbbing with construction activity. Housing, university blocks and a cultural quarter are taking shape. Yet the Carpenters Estate has been passed by. Its shoddiness is highlighted by the new steel and glass towers that surround it - but from which it is completely disconnected. Is that surprising? It's not as if some didn't predict it. In 2012, as the Games began, Warren Lubin lived on the 20th floor of Lund Point. During the Olympics he was interviewed by the Evening Standard. He told the paper: "Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the Olympics and the thrill of bumping into the likes of George Alagiah, Huw Edwards, Riz Lateef in the lift on the way to my flat, but the reality is that in a few weeks the Games will be over and what we will be left with is a disgraceful situation of people being forced out of their homes." A decade on, like the tower, Mr Lubin's home - a one-bedroom flat at the top of Lund Point - is unchanged. He is the only council tenant left. He's not alone in the building, but almost. In a block of 121 flats, fewer than 10 are occupied. The other residents are people renting privately from leaseholders who bought their homes. "Nothing has happened. Absolutely nothing at all. It's shocking and embarrassing. "It's been strange. Weirdly, I am used to it now. I like the quiet. But there's been no upkeep and all these flats which could have been used are empty." The estate and community were left in limbo when, in the mid-2000s, Newham council started moving tenants from this block and its high-rise siblings, Dennison Point and James Riley Point. Together they were the landmarks framing the estate's identity and skyline. They were a little dilapidated, and in need of some tender loving care. But, say residents, there was nothing wrong at their heart. Solid concrete. Structurally sound. Soon nearly 400 flats had been emptied, the estate drained of almost half its population and the community hollowed out. It was a wrong, unlawful decanting process, claims Mr Lubin, because there were no firm plans to redevelop before it happened. He says if more tenants had known their rights, they, like him, would have stayed. Mr Lubin's theory is rejected by Sir Robin Wales, the former mayor of Newham, who set the process in motion, He said he was clear in his plan to knock down and completely redevelop the estate. "We were going to build thousands of new homes, both here and elsewhere in the borough. If you want housing, you have to develop. We had a plan. "Sometimes people don't want to listen." It led to today's situation, where the buildings remain but people are few and far between. The lights have been kept on, the electricity and water remain connected, basic maintenance has been done, and since 2017 - after the Grenfell fire - wardens and security guards have been on duty round the clock in each block. "It's costing the council huge amounts to keep them running even though there are only a few of us here," said Mr Lubin. Newham Council refused to tell the BBC just how much, but once you factor in the loss of rent and council tax, and the cost of housing the estate's former tenants elsewhere, the bill could be tens of millions of pounds. In the 23-storey Dennison Point, the 11th floor has several boarded-up flats, and one with a door and a protective metal grille. It is home to 79-year-old June Benn. She was one of the first tenants to move in when the estate was completed in the late 1960s and is one of only a dozen residents left in this block. She says many residents didn't want to leave but were forced out. But she is a leaseholder and she wouldn't budge. Ms Benn accepts it is a strange existence. "The place has gone downhill. I used to know everyone. Now I don't see anyone. But why would I want to leave? I have told them I am comfortable here and am staying. "My family don't like me being here because I am on my own and I am isolated but as far as I am concerned I will stay unless I am offered something suitable, which has to be near here. "They made me an offer a few years ago to get me out but it wasn't enough to buy a garden shed." There are two groups in this story about a community frozen in time: those who stayed and those who left. Among those who left were Pat Hamid and her husband Abdul who were decanted from Dennison Point in 2011, a few months before the Olympics. They had lived there for 29 years. Mrs Hamid said: "There was nothing wrong with our flat. Big rooms, nice kitchen. I was on the fifth floor. But they told us they had plans to redo it all." The couple were moved to a sheltered housing block on the other side of Stratford called Holden Point. The Hamids were unfamiliar with their new location. "I never knew anything about this end of Stratford. I had only known my area around the Carpenters," said Mrs Hamid. Although they did not want to leave Lund Point, they were reassured because it was guaranteed they could come back - a "right to return" when the estate was rebuilt. As it does, real life intervened. Mr Hamid became unwell. By the time he died in 2020 they had given up any thoughts of returning, had settled in their sheltered block with wardens who could be summoned for help at the press of a buzzer. Mrs Hamid is shocked her old block has not been knocked down and no regeneration work has even begun. "Of course it's good you've got council tenancies for people who need housing but at the end of the day they seem to think you are a commodity. They think 'if we want to do something we'll do it'. "But they haven't done anything. That's the problem. Why were we moved? Older tenants like me won't go back now. Of course not." She's heard the latest plans are for a redevelopment that could take at least 15 years to complete. "In 15 years I will be older than 100. Maybe I can go back and haunt it." Residents say this has been a terrible failure of legacy. It is a story of protest and politics, suspicion and distrust. But most of all, inactivity. Aidan White, founder of the online newspaper Newham Voices, said: "It's been a wasted decade. There's a huge sense of a loss of a community. They really do feel that loss." The Carpenters became a tasty piece of real estate the moment the Olympics came into view. When the Games were awarded to London in 2005, land values started rising. This site, perfectly situated just a short walk from the centre of Stratford, was of considerable interest to developers. There was to be a huge new shopping centre and the Stratford international rail station was being completed. Progress was heavy going, though, stalled by residents suspicious of the mayor's intentions who had fears of gentrification, being priced out and forced away. Or as Sir Robin puts it: "That's what you get with the hard left, when the 'rent-a-Trots' get involved. If you oppose development, you're opposing housing. "I am careful to make a distinction here. I absolutely sympathise, I did absolutely sympathise with the people who didn't want to move. "But against that I wanted to create thousands more homes and most importantly jobs too. There has to be a balance." In 2009, plans were drawn up by the estate's tenants group. It involved some demolition but retained the basic character of the estate. Those plans were rejected. In 2013, a proposal by University College London to create a new campus was withdrawn after noisy protests from tenants backed by some of its own students and lecturers. It is now building in the Olympic park itself. Two years later a group of single mothers occupied a low-rise block on the estate in a protest campaign highlighting the lack of affordable housing in east London. Newham, one of London's poorest boroughs with more than 25,000 people on the housing waiting list, was getting a bad reputation. The object of growing hostility, Sir Robin threw the dice again, producing plans involving a joint venture with a developer or housing association. He continues to defends his efforts. "If I had still been there, we would have been building long ago. We would have had spades in the ground." Then in 2018 events took an unexpected turn, the consequence of local Labour infighting, and the machinations of politics in Newham. After 16 years as mayor, Sir Robin was overthrown by a fellow Newham councillor, Rokhsana Fiaz, voted in by a huge influx to the local party of supporters of Jeremy Corbyn and the Momentum activist movement that backed him. She stood on a platform which included a new approach to housing, though Sir Robin said the Carpenters debacle did not have an impact. "Not a jot," he says. His successor said she opposed demolition of the Carpenters, and pledged more affordable homes and engagement to make it a "community-led" regeneration project. However, over the first four years of her mayoralty, progress was painfully slow as she tore up her predecessor's policies but struggled to come up with her own. Finally, last December a fresh masterplan for the estate was produced and put to a ballot. It suggests tripling the number of homes to more than 2,000, with half at social rent levels and a large proportion of the rest for private sale. As things stand now, two of the three tower blocks condemned by Sir Robin will survive. Of the 345 people who took part, 252 voted "yes" - a 73% share. This process brought further controversy. Some raised questions, including the protest groups which also opposed Sir Robin's plans, and the Greens' Sian Berry, chair of the London Assembly's housing committee. "It's hard to explain what happened," says Pauline Clarke, landlady of the Carpenters Arms pub which sits in the shadow of Lund Point. "Everyone I spoke to said they voted 'no'. You can't find people who wanted this." The explanation may actually be simple. The tenants who moved from the estate years previously and still retained the right to return were also given a vote. And they had nothing to lose by voting in favour - and the possibility of returning to a refurbished estate In Stratford, although with no obligation to do so. For Ms Fiaz it heralded a breakthrough just before she sought re-election this month. At last, the first tentative steps had been made towards an Olympic housing legacy. She also took a swipe at her Labour predecessor: "After years of false promises and the failures of the past, I am over the moon that residents on the Carpenters Estate, including those who have a right to return, have decisively voted to support this people-powered masterplan." For Aidan White, of Newham Voices, it was the result of a "fantastic amount of fatigue". "People just to want to move on. There's a feeling of resignation that this is now the only option. If the council is saying 'it's this way or no way', there's not much you can do about that." For some it feels like the last resort. "We are just desperate to see some life restored to the place," said Adeel Nauyeck. "It's been a joke. We've been completely ignored and the estate has been allowed to decline." Mr Nauyeck, a former chef, has lived here for 30 years. In 2012 he moved, with his mother, wife and three boys, from a flat in Dennison Point into a four-bedroom house at the heart of the estate. An estate that he's watched crumbling bit by bit. He believes one of the reasons there's been so little progress is tension between the council tenants, like him, and the leaseholders who have different priorities. "When Stratford got the Games, suddenly there were leaflets coming through people's doors, telling them the value of their homes had gone up and how much they would get if they wanted to rent them out. A lot of leaseholders took the opportunity and rented them out and moved away. That led to this becoming a rental market with a regular turnover of tenants. "The estate never settled. There was no longer a community." His children went to the local primary school and are now at one of the new academies created on the Olympic Park. Their friends are in the area and Mr Nauyeck is determined to stay here. But for others, there is uncertainty and anguish they feel is undeserved. The bulldozers are coming after all. Dennison Point and most of the low-rise blocks and houses are to be demolished. Joan Hunnibale, 84, moved into her three-bedroom house back in 1969 and purchased it under right-to-buy in the 1980s. It is now due for demolition. She wants clarity about when it will happen. "It's just been allowed to deteriorate here. You can run down a place for so long. In the end, people get fed up and agree to go," she said. Doreen Ward, 87, is far less stoic. She lives in a four-bedroom house with a garden she loves in a street she says is "the nicest on the whole estate". She is determined to live out her days in the home she has been in for more than half a century. "People try and interest you in somewhere smaller and more suitable. But I tell them I don't want to do that when I've got 16 members of my family coming for Christmas dinner. "I can walk to the shops from here. It's so convenient. I've got a sister in Billericay, and one who's ill in Herne Bay. I don't drive but it's so easy for me to get there by train." She has objected to every proposal for the estate so far, and voted against this latest one. "You get the feeling they want to make it so ugly and unliveable that eventually they get their own way and flatten it all," she said. Mr Lubin "reluctantly" voted in favour of the plans. He is not happy with the prospect of the amount of housing tripling. "Something has to happen. If the vote was 'no' what would that mean? Would it mean another 10 years of doing nothing?" Under Ms Fiaz, there is seemingly a more optimistic face to the impending upheaval. The estate's green spaces are being spruced up and the street railings painted. There is a community drop-in called The Dovetail, inside which is a model of the plans for the estate. There are yoga sessions, art classes and other activities. Updates on the plans and messages from the mayor are posted on a bright and cheerful website and in a regular newsletter. Will these plans survive the upcoming upheaval? The viability of building affordable housing tends to depend on how much cash can be raised from building homes for private sale on a development site. That income subsidises the affordability, enabling more flats at social rent. The question is how the council makes the sums add up - and how long this drags out the regeneration. The local authority has set up its own housing company to deliver the project, which will be exposed to the same risks as any developer: economic downturn, rising inflation and interest rates, spiralling energy costs. Advice in council papers is clear that the initial pledges on timescale, design and the mix of tenure could change. Nothing is set in stone. Mr Lubin has just learned, via a newsletter, that refurbishment of Lund Point will not be completed until 2026. Work is due to start this autumn, with the refurbishment of James Riley Point. Over the past few years, the cost of renewing this one block has been steadily rising. It is now estimated at £35m. Another big impediment for the council is four families, leaseholders who still live in the block. They will need to be bought out - and moved out - before the renovation can start. For well over a decade, they have been the only occupants in a block of 130 flats. Some children have spent all their lives calling this home. Now they are feeling the pressure to move - with the progress of the whole redevelopment laid at their door. Negotiations are taking place to try to avert compulsory purchases, which would be even more costly and time consuming. There is now only one shop on the estate, next door to The Dovetail, the centre of community engagement. The proprietors do not know when to expect demolition, or whether they will be offered new premises. With footfall so greatly reduced, business has been poor over the past, lost decade. But an unlikely saviour has emerged, clad in claret and blue: West Ham United fans. They stream through the estate on their way to matches at the London Stadium, which the club now leases, stopping for drinks and snacks. It is an economic upside to weigh against the complaints of some residents that fans urinate in their gardens. The Carpenters Arms, as the pub closest to the stadium, is now very much a Hammers' local, packed out on match days. West Ham's prolonged run in the Europa League, reaching the semi-final, meant extra paydays - but landlady Pauline Clarke is another who has no idea how long she's got here. Hours before each match she and her staff erect fencing around the pub, and there is a heavy presence of security guards to prevent trouble with rival fans. The state of paralysis which has gripped the Carpenters Estate has made it a curiosity for academics. Masters dissertations are freely available to read, addressing various different themes. Pupils from a nearby secondary school visit, filling out questionnaires on the streetscape and urban environment, as their teacher reminds them to be careful about the noise and to "remember people live here". Those people would of course rather be studied as an exemplar of what the Olympic Games can do to transform communities. But nearly a quarter of a century will have passed since those heady days of London 2012 - and all the promises of transforming the fortunes of people in east London - by the time regeneration work here is completed. Jamie Jensen, a former member of the neighbourhood forum, said: "If back in 2009 Newham had done what they now propose, rather than leaving the estate vacant for the past 10-plus years, hundreds of people could have spent the past decade living in decent homes." Sir Robin said he was "in despair" at the lack of housing. "We would have built. We had a great opportunity and the people who have paid the price are those who haven't got homes." He won't criticise Ms Fiaz by name, but said: "In the end, whoever is running the council has to take responsibility for this." Mr Lubin believes hundreds of lives have been affected for the worse. "This was a chance to come up with a model Olympic regeneration everyone could point to and be proud of. "Instead, what have we got?" At least the view, from the top of a previously condemned tower block in east London, is still to die for.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on world leaders to respond after a video emerged apparently showing a Ukrainian soldier being beheaded by a Russian serviceman. "Everyone must react. Every leader. Do not wait for this to be forgotten," he said in a video address. Ukraine's SBU security service said it was investigating the "war crime". The Kremlin said the video was "awful" but its authenticity had to be checked as well as who was behind it. The grainy and extremely graphic video appears to have been filmed on a mobile phone, and possibly during the summer months. It shows a man in military uniform wearing a yellow armband - frequently worn as identifying symbols by Ukrainian soldiers. The perpetrator and other men visible in the clip have white bands on their legs, which Russian soldiers are known to wear as a means of identification. They can also be heard to speak Russian, although that is not conclusive as many Ukrainians speak Russian too. During the short video, the victim with the yellow armband is beheaded by a man with a large knife who is wearing a white band around his leg. At one point, one of the men holds up body armour with a trident mark - the state symbol of Ukraine. The colours and shape of the trident badge are similar to the insignia of the Ukrainian ground forces. The body armour also features what looks like the Punisher skull symbol (a comic-book character), which in the current conflict has been spotted being worn by fighters on both sides. A green passport-like booklet is also visible on the ground. It's upside down in the video (highlighted below) but its appearance matches that of the standard-issue Ukrainian military ID in its colour, the presence of a Ukrainian trident symbol and the layout of the writing. There has been speculation online that the video was filmed near the city of Kreminna in eastern Ukraine. The BBC has been unable to verify these claims as the video's surrounding features offer too few visual clues to identify its location, such as buildings or specific landscape points. It also remains unclear when the footage was filmed. It looks as if it's from the current conflict, where white and yellow armbands have been used by opposing sides as identification. The leaves in the video are bright green which suggests that it may have been from late spring or summer last year. Some social media users have suggested it may have been filmed in July but we cannot verify this. The footage began circulating on Telegram late on Tuesday, after a popular pro-Kremlin blogger shared it with his nearly 300,000 followers. He later claimed he was not the original source of the video and that the footage had been on Telegram before he posted it. We have been unable to find any earlier versions. The video has since spread to Twitter. Exiled Russian journalist Vladimir Osechkin says Andrey Medvedev, a former Wagner Group commander who sought asylum in Norway, told him after watching the video that he could recognise the perpetrators as Wagner fighters. "He says he can unambiguously identify his former Wagner colleagues by their characteristic call-signs, by how they talk," Mr Osechkin told the YouTube channel of exiled ex-oligarch and Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that "in the world of fakes that we inhabit, we need to check the veracity of this footage". Another video purporting to show the bodies of two beheaded soldiers has also been circulating on social media in recent days. The video shows what appears to be a destroyed M113 armoured personnel carrier, mainly used by Ukrainian forces. A man filming the scene says in Russian that it had driven over a mine. At least two bodies without heads and hands can be seen lying on the ground nearby. A yellow armband is visible on the right arm of one of the bodies, suggesting the victims had been fighting on the Ukrainian side. At least three other soldiers can be seen standing over the two bodies. Social media comments have suggested the video was filmed near Bakhmut, where Russian forces - including the Wagner private military company - have been battling Ukrainian troops for control of the city. However, the BBC has been unable to verify the location of the video. Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin has put out a statement saying that he has "not found" any evidence that the events in the video had happened near Bakhmut or involved Wagner fighters. Many gruesome videos have been posted online since the war began. Bucha satellite image contradicts Russian claimsDoes video show Russian prisoners being shot? Last month President Zelensky promised to find the Russian soldiers who apparently shot dead an unarmed Ukrainian prisoner of war named Oleksandr Matsiyevskiy. EU foreign affairs spokeswoman Nabila Massrali reminded Russia it had to abide by humanitarian law and added that the EU was committed to holding to account all perpetrators of war crimes committed during the war.

Hundreds of young footballers have been left in limbo after the FAW withdrew licences for five academies and downgraded others. Taff's Well, Risca, Cwmbran Celtic, Llandudno and Cefn Druids all lost out. They will no longer be able to provide academy football for players aged 12 to 16. Other clubs will have fewer teams after being downgraded. The FAW said a review had been ongoing since December 2021 and clubs had been consulted at each stage. The clubs have a right of appeal. After children chose between grassroots and academy football last year, parents fear they will struggle to find a new academy and may not have a grassroots team to return to. Clubs pay hundreds as weather hits grassroot clubsWales' children doing less sport outside school - surveyWRU: Wales' sport body 'cannot investigate sexism allegations' The clubs have accused the FAW (Football Association of Wales) of being heavy handed. Taff's Well FC chairman, Lee Bridgeman, said it felt like "a real kick in the teeth" and the club should be judged on its record of producing players. "Parents and children are devastated by this decision," he said. "Thirty of our players have gone to Cardiff City, Swansea City or Newport in the last three years." Mr Bridgeman said the news was a shock. "Every problem we were made aware of by the FAW we put right," he said. "This seems like a draconian measure not to even give us an action plan or support to improve the academy. "To just withdraw the licence just doesn't make sense." Cwmbran Celtic academy had 134 registered players. One of them, Evan, was disappointed. The 15-year-old said: "There's going to be really good players who can't get a team. "It's just going to be a waste of a good player." The FAW said it was widening access and opportunity for talent. Risca United are appealing the decision and the club's under-15s head coach, Mark Hayward, believes the FAW could have been more supportive. "We're all volunteers, none of us gets paid, not at Risca anyway. "It's going to be extremely difficult to take, for me as a coach and for the boys, with the amount of hard work that's gone in, just to shut the gates." The FAW said it reviewed the academy structure to ensure high-quality provision throughout the country. Last May clubs were told what was expected for them to be successful in their applications, it said. In June, clubs were invited to apply for one of three academy categories based on the criteria they could meet and in October, funding was provided to help them. The FAW said it undertook visits to clubs and gave feedback, but in March more than half of clubs were told they could lose their licences completely. It said clubs that did not get a licence failed because of problems with safeguarding, coaching, competitiveness and facilities. The association also claimed Wales' population was too small to support 25 academies while England had only 50.

Known by many as "Britain's most violent prisoner", Charles Bronson has spent almost 50 years in jail. The armed robber turned artist, now 70, is awaiting a decision by the Parole Board on whether he can be freed. One man who knows him better than most is former prison officer Roy Kirk, who was assigned to look after him for almost a decade. The first time the 21-year-old officer clapped eyes on Charles Bronson, the well-built prisoner was clad only in his underpants and smeared with faeces while snarling at a small army of guards. Roy Kirk had been sent to collect Bronson from a segregation unit at a prison in Liverpool and transport him across the country to his new home in HMP Hull. But, as ever with the former bare-knuckle boxer, things were not always as simple as they could be. Mr Kirk said the group of officers, clad in riot gear and using protective shields, had managed to lever open the door to Bronson's cell, extricate him and guide him to a shower. "There wasn't an inch of the walls that never had faeces everywhere," Mr Kirk said of the mid-1980s encounter. "I said to him, 'you don't need to be living like an animal for the rest of your life - you can make changes, you've still got time to do that'." The officer immediately got a taste of Bronson's unpredictability. "He winks at me, turns around and pulls the full shower fitting out of the wall - it's about 4ft long - and then he threw it on the floor and laughed, and said, 'get me in the van'." When the pounding of Mr Kirk's heart abated, he was at the start of what would become one of the prison system's most unusual friendships. Born Michael Peterson in Luton, Bedfordshire, in December 1952, Charles Bronson took the name of the Death Wish movie actor in the 1980s. By the time he got to HMP Hull, Bronson, who changed his surname to Salvador in 2014, was on the way to becoming notorious in the jail system. But Mr Kirk said he saw a different side, describing the man who reportedly did 2,000 push-ups a day as "always pleasant, polite". During the time Bronson, who was played by Tom Hardy in the eponymous 2009 film, was in Hull he learnt basic skills such as cooking and washing, while sharing his physical training knowledge. Mr Kirk recalled his charge as having a sense of humour which was "second to none". "We got on like a house on fire. I stuck up for him when I felt necessary." Mr Kirk spent time in the gym with Bronson, with the pair boxing and lifting weights together. "I'd sit on his shoulders with his head between my legs and he'd do 50 press-ups as a warm-up with me sat on his back. I always used to think, 'he's like a machine'. "I've never been as fit because he was like a mentor in the gym," the now 58-year-old former officer recalled. Bronson was first jailed aged 22 in 1974 for armed robbery and wounding. He has spent most of his life in jail since, as a result of attacks on staff and inmates, violent protests as well as a series of nine hostage-takings which involved a total of 11 victims. At one of his trials, he described himself as a "very nasty man" in the past. Mr Kirk recalled how, shortly after teaching him to cook, Bronson asked prison staff for their opinion on some chips he had prepared. His fellow officers, wary of the prisoner's volatile persona, declined to tell the truth and attempted to placate him with praise. "They all said it were great and he came to me last and said, 'what do you think?' "I spat it out and said, 'they're absolutely awful'. After thanking Mr Kirk for his honesty, Bronson confronted the same staff "screaming and shouting and frothing in their faces for lying to him". "It was those types of behaviours that kept people on their toes," Mr Kirk, who now runs a children's home in Hull, remembered. While Bronson could have a wicked sense of humour and get along with people, the other side of his personality manifested itself in one terrifying incident. In April 1994, Bronson took the jail's deputy governor, Adrian Wallace, hostage. Mr Kirk said as a result of good behaviour, Bronson had been told he could see family and friends in London. The visit never happened, leaving the atmosphere around Bronson "extremely heightened". Following a brief exchange of words, he dragged Mr Wallace out of the kitchen into a TV room with reinforced glass, "carrying him by the throat in one hand, with his feet off the floor". "I ran across, got probably within about 10ft of him," Mr Kirk said. "Charlie put his hand on the side of his head - [deputy governor's] still off the floor - and said, 'one more step and I'll just snap his neck here and now'." Mr Kirk tried negotiating with Bronson, who had lashed the terrified official to a chair with his own key chain. The deputy governor was repeatedly attacked by Bronson, who punched him in the face and then picked him up by his hair. As the room crackled with tension, Bronson, surrounded by guards and a special "intervention" squad, issued a ransom demand of a helicopter and two portions of fish and chips. "He was walking up and down with the radio on talk-through, marching like a soldier, singing at the top of his voice, 'now the end is near and we draw the final curtain' like he was going to kill him at the end of the song. "You're stood there the whole time, heart in your hand. You don't know what to do for the best." Five hours later, Mr Kirk had an opportunity to tackle Bronson who, while wearing a shield fashioned from curtains and cushions, fell over debris as he dragged his victim to another room. Within seconds of the intervention, the deputy governor was saved - but Mr Kirk was injured. "I was knelt on him, hitting him, trying to hold him until people arrived, but he got to his feet. Then we fell to the floor. "Sadly, in that time my leg had been snapped. He rolled over and fell through my knee. I was staggered at the power." Mr Wallace was off work for five weeks due to the injuries inflicted by Bronson. Mr Kirk believed it was Bronson's volatile behaviour coupled with the prison service's "false promises" that fuelled the violent siege. Looking back at his time in the system, he said despite the inmate's extreme violence he had also been failed by the prison service at times. "He's always going to be volatile. "He'll always have that side. But you could say that about other offenders. "They're still a risk in society." The question of whether Bronson should be freed on parole is one Mr Kirk is happy to answer, but recognises the differing views. He said offenders like Bronson should be supported - though accepted it would be "extremely difficult for him" to be reintegrated into society. "I was very close to Charlie, like I would be with anybody I've worked with daily, [I] kept professional distance and boundaries. But we'd become very good friends," he added. Mr Kirk said he was thinking of writing a book about his experiences and hoped to once again meet Bronson, who is currently at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes. "I hope he does get released. I'd like to go and see him if at all possible." Follow BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.

IDC study shows market shares of SD-WAN vendors worldwide for hardware and software revenue. SD-WAN market grows fast due to enterprises optimizing connectivity from edge locations to cloud and other destinations. Vendors improve offers with new features, functionality, and go-to-market strategies, resulting in a dynamic market for enterprises and service providers.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50604223&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide SD-WAN Infrastructure Market Shares, 2022: Growth Continues, Driven by Cloud and Security

A popular County Antrim coastal path has been closed to the public after "significant rockfall" raised concerns about safety. Blackhead Path in Whitehead was shut last week after heavy rain led to the rockfall. Mid and East Antrim Borough Council said it had to close the path to assess the damage. In a Facebook post, the council apologised and urged people to heed warning signs and keep safe. The path was previously closed between August 2018 and July 2020 after engineers found it was at risk of collapse. In 2022 it was given Local Nature Reserve status by the council. It features a wide variety of bird life on and off shore including fulmar, curlew, lapwing, purple sandpiper, oystercatcher, dunlin, snipe, redshank and eider. The council has been contacted for comment. During a previous rockfall on the County Antrim path, some people ignored warnings informing them that the route was not safe.

CEOs prioritize growth and technology spending despite economic pressures and digital business execution gaps. They expect CIOs to focus on achieving better business outcomes, improving business agility, and leading DX to create new revenue streams. CEOs prioritize spending on security and compliance, infrastructure and operations, and workplace solutions. They also recognize the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in driving innovation. The digital skills gap is a pressing challenge for the C-Suite and attracting and retaining the best talent is a priority for 39% of CEO respondents in 2023.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/03/27/the-2023-ceo-agenda-tech-to-drive-growth-in-a-downturn/

The 2023 CEO Agenda: Tech to Drive Growth in a Downturn

It once had the unenviable title of the most inactive area in England, but Sandwell is managing to make big leaps in improving the fitness and health of its residents. The BBC went to find out how. "They're always doing something, they're always on the go." The doors open and the boys rush in. The nets are taut, the court floor freshly polished and water bottles line the wooden benches. Emma Withey has brought her three sons Lewis, 16, Charlie, 12, and Jake, 10, to play badminton. They've arrived at the Hadley Stadium in Smethwick early, champing at the bit to play with their friends from the Sandwell Special Olympics group. After lockdown ended, the Withey family stepped up their weekly physical exercise routine so they combine an hour on the courts with football, a swimming class and walking their dog. It's the balance Emma, from Smethwick, has been striving for. Her boys have learning disabilities and she told me she has found it hard to find activities that excite them, hold their attention and keep them fit. "It just burns all the crazy energy off the boys," she said. "They love it and it's like a great big family here. It's just finding the time to fit it all in with tea and bedtime routines, it is quite hard." The Witheys are among a growing number of families in Sandwell seeking out physical exercise and it's making a real difference to wider public health. For the first time in years, the six towns that make up Sandwell no longer have the least active children in the Midlands. The area is finally shedding the tag of what some have called - rather unkindly - the Black Country's fat capital. A major study of physical activity by Sport England looked at how much exercise an adult gets each week. If it's more than 150 minutes, that's considered 'active' but if it's less than 30 it's considered an 'inactive' lifestyle. The bad news for the Black Country is that, taken as a whole, it remains the most inactive area in England - with 35 per cent of adults working out for less than half an hour a week. But Sandwell has moved from being the most inactive local authority area in England to 14th in the space of a year. There is nothing sluggish about this improvement. "Sandwell is one of those places where a sense of community is absolutely crucial," the area's director of public health told me. Lisa McNally says the local authority is working harder and offering more grants to grassroots sports organisations. "It's not about telling them what they should be doing," she adds. The council has delivered funding grants to dozens of grassroots sports organisations from football, to dancing and tennis. And with the Sandwell Aquatics centre being a focal point of the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Smethwick, the authority has pledged to continue to offer free swimming lessons for children in local pools. Ongoing access to sport must consider the cost of living for families, says Dr McNally. "We have high levels of financial deprivation," she said. "A lot of our residents struggle with money and that can be a big barrier towards accessing physical activity and sport." The Albion Foundation invited me to see some of their sports coaching in schools. The charity's goal is to deliver 10m hours of sport in the next decade and "make a difference to 100,000 lives". At Eaton Valley Primary in West Bromwich, year three pupils were limbering up on one of the warmest days of the year. Katie Grainger and her team were leading a tennis session for one group while pupils with special educational needs were trying out the long jump. Crucially, they've found that 91 per cent of children they coach during school hours are also joining their sessions after school and at weekends. "Since Covid, the obesity levels have been quite high coming out of it so I think that has helped with the mindset shift as well," says Katie. "I think it is really important to encourage not just physical activity but healthy lifestyles as a whole." Volunteers are an important part of the shift in attitudes. Norma Hyde has been a volunteer for Sandwell Special Olympics for 40 years. The organisation has just been awarded the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service. Ms Hyde says the young adults missed sport and exercise during the pandemic and it increased their isolation. "They've missed it for quite a long time and they began to become unfit and it also affected their mental health," she said. "A lot were getting so isolated and depressed, they needed something to belong to. We're trying to keep them active and keep the momentum going." The devil, as they say, is in the detail but really it's in the data. In Sandwell last year, NHS England reported a nine per cent drop in hospital admissions directly attributable to obesity. Taken with the Sport England survey, it's understandable why there is a renewed confidence that families like the Witheys are engaging with sport. For a decade, I have reported on the difficulty families in the Black Country have faced to stay fit, eat healthily and access sport. I have spoken to countless health experts, frustrated directors of public health who all had sensible plans but when fresh data emerged, it was clear progress was much harder to achieve. Dr McNally says the Commonwealth Games could "stimulate a lot more interest in being active…which could bring such a boost to what we are trying to achieve here". Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk

IDC MarketScape evaluates software providers in the MES market for high-tech and electronics manufacturing subindustries. The report emphasizes the importance of delivering innovative products quickly while maintaining quality and cost in the high-tech sector. Factory leaders are advised to evaluate their future manufacturing execution systems with expert information.

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IDC MarketScape: Worldwide High-Tech and Electronics Manufacturing Execution Systems 2023 Vendor Assessment

MPs have urged the government to treat retail investment in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin as a form of gambling. Their value could change dramatically and consumers risked losing their entire investment, characteristics closely resembling gambling, the Treasury Select Committee found. It also criticised abandoned plans for the Royal Mint to create a non-fungible token (NFT). The Treasury told BBC News it did not support using gambling regulation. The risks posed by crypto were "typical of those that exist in traditional financial services and its financial services regulation - rather than gambling regulation - that has the track record in mitigating them", a Treasury official told BBC News. Trade association CryptoUK strongly rejectedthe committee's findings, saying MPs' observations about cryptocurrency were "unhelpful, false, fundamentally flawed and unsubstantiated". The committee said "unbacked" crypto assets - typically cryptocurrencies with no fixed value - exposed "consumers to the potential for substantial gains or losses, while serving no useful social purpose". "These characteristics more closely resemble gambling than a financial service," the MPs added. Gambling helpline charity GamCare told the BBC that, in the past two years, it had heard from more than 300 people who said they were struggling with investing in cryptocurrency and other forms of online financial markets. Research cited by MPs found 40% of new Bitcoin users were men under 35, commonly identified as the most risk-seeking segment of the population. Castle Craig, a rehab clinic specialising in treating people with addictions, put us in touch with a young man who had lost heavily on crypto. The former gambling addict told BBC News that, although he had given up gambling, he had turned to crypto. "In my head, I just thought this isn't gambling it's just an investment, but clearly it wasn't," he said. He said he had lost about £150,000 investing in crypto, including money he had borrowed, and that checking his phone to see how the market had moved had become an obsession. "There was no break at all, I was just I was on my phone constantly watching it and just couldn't sleep," he recalled. He said he supported the approach of the committee. "Crypto stuff is gambling," he said. "You can lose everything you've got." Former sports minister and gambling campaigner Conservative MP Tracey Crouch welcomed the report. "At the moment, crypto feels like a Wild West town with no sheriff," she said. "However, I'm sure, if properly resourced, the Gambling Commission could bring some order into this complex, risky and often confusing area that has unwittingly sucked in consumers by marketing to them via sports such as football, giving a pretence to fans and others that they are safe and protected." Crypto sponsorship has been widespread among football clubs, but those in the Premier League recently agreed to end gambling sponsorship on the front of their shirts from the start of the 2026 season. This was a voluntary move and not required by regulation. The report gives little detail on what gambling regulation applied to crypto might mean. MP Harriett Baldwin, chairwoman of the committee, said the report recommended "that the sort of speculative luring of people into buying particular cryptocurrencies" was treated like gambling. She said the committee had heard a lot of evidence of how "football clubs are using this as a way of taking money off their loyal supporters". In February, the government asked people to comment on proposals for the financial regulation of crypto assets. But the committee said the government plans to regulate cryptocurrencies as financial services would create a false impression they were as secure as traditional investments - a "halo effect... that leads consumers to believe that this activity is safer than it is or protected when it is not". The committee's report noted surveys suggesting about one in 10 people in the UK hold crypto assets, most investing in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. The most mentioned reason for holding crypto assets was they were a "fun investment". Cryptocurrencies are just one type of asset. More generally, MPs said, while they supported innovation, the potential benefits from crypto asset technologies remained uncertain. "In the meantime, the risks posed by crypto assets to consumers and the environment are real and present." The government has been excited by the potential of crypto. While chancellor, Rishi Sunak announced his ambition to make the UK a global hub for the technology. The Treasury believes crypto offers opportunities, but said it was "robustly regulating the market, addressing the most pressing risks first in a way that promotes innovation". CryptoUK's Ian Taylor said the finance industry was embracing crypto: "Professional investment managers see Bitcoin and other crypto assets as a new alternative investment class - not as a form of gambling - and institutional adoption of unbacked crypto assets has increased significantly." Recognising the potential risks and rewards, the committee recommended a balanced approach, but suggested government avoid spending public resources on projects without a clear beneficial use. "The government's recent foray into seeking (and subsequently abandoning) the production of a Royal Mint non-fungible token is a case in point," the MPs wrote. "It is not the government's role to promote particular technological innovations for their own sake". NFTs are "one-of-a-kind" digital assets that can be bought and sold like any other piece of property - they are often associated with digital images. The committee will examine central bank digital currencies in a separate report.

A sex abuse survivor has been paid a substantial sum after claiming school staff failed to protect her when she was raped by her mother's partner. Kim Fawcett became pregnant by Robert Stuart McClelland at 14 while she was a pupil at independent Ellesmere College. She contacted the school more than a decade after the truck driver was jailed in 2004, to see if more could have been done to stop her abuser. The Shropshire college confirmed a payment had been made by insurers. This story contains details of child sexual abuse Miss Fawcett, a human rights lawyer, said multiple teachers and support staff had known about the allegations of abuse and also claimed her mother's partner had been able to drive on to school premises where he raped her in his van. She fought to access school records which showed at least one member of staff was aware McClelland was sending lewd text messages to the teenager in 2002 when she was 13 . A handwritten note recorded that he had texted to say she was "so beautiful" adding "your mom won't be home tonight, we will be all alone". "When you sit on my bed you don't know how it makes me feel," the text message added. The existence of the text messages was never disclosed to social services, Miss Fawcett discovered. In correspondence seen by the BBC, the school and its lawyers vigorously challenged her claims against Ellesmere College, saying many were unsubstantiated and the school had done nothing wrong. Miss Fawcett, who has waived her right to anonymity to speak to the BBC, said initially she had had no intention of taking legal action against the school, which charges fees of up to £35,000 a year. But she said repeated rebuttals from longstanding headmaster Brendan Wignall, who told her the school had nothing to apologise for, had forced her to singlehandedly fight on. In letters seen by the BBC, Mr Wignall told her the signs of abuse were "too subtle", adding: "I do not believe the college would act differently if similar events were to happen today." Miss Fawcett said she could not believe a child in her situation now would be treated the same way. "I only ended up issuing [starting legal action] because I wanted them to take me seriously," Miss Fawcett said. "I wanted them to listen. "It was really important to me that lessons were learnt." Miss Fawcett got a scholarship to the school in 1999, with her fees topped up by her maternal grandparents. She was described by her teachers as quiet, conscientious and hard-working. But her home life was complicated and when her mother began a relationship with McClelland it was not long before he began grooming the teenager. She was 13 when he raped her for the first time at his home in Oswestry. Evidence given during his trial heard Miss Fawcett's abuser scratched the date of the assault into a bottle of Smirnoff Ice he had plied her with beforehand. The abuse continued for months and, aged 14, Miss Fawcett discovered she was three months pregnant. McClelland forced her to have an abortion, when she also learned she had contracted a sexually transmitted infection. The schoolgirl told a family friend and eventually found the courage to go to police, who discovered the bottle and text messages McClelland had sent the teenager when they raided his home. Miss Fawcett, by then 15, gave evidence in his trial at Chester Crown Court and he was jailed for six years, of which he served two. If you have been affected by the issues raised in this story, information and support can be found via BBC Action Line. In the years that followed, she suffered severe mental health problems as the scale of her ordeal took its toll. A counsellor helping her heal from post traumatic stress disorder, when Miss Fawcett was in her 20s, asked where all the adults in her life had been at the time. She said she had decided to contact her former school "to better understand what had happened". Miss Fawcett thought she would get answers easily, but what followed was an almost three-year fight. The college said it could not find her nursing records, she was told, and so could not verify her recollection of being treated at the infirmary when she self-harmed. It also said staff members, a number of whom have remained in post since Miss Fawcett was a student in the early 2000s, did not recall her reaching out to ask for help. It did have a record of her missing weeks of lessons, but said this had not raised concerns as her grades had remained good. The college also recorded concerns raised by a friend's mother about the messages and rumours circulating around the school that Miss Fawcett was being raped. Social services was contacted, but regarding a separate matter. The college made no mention of concerns around her mother's partner and documents show social services closed the case the same day. Social workers only became involved again the following year as part of the police investigation. Miss Fawcett's case against Ellesmere College hinged on the argument that if staff and teachers had fulfilled their safeguarding responsibilities, their intervention could have spared her months of abuse and a lifetime of mental health issues. In 2003, the school's own child protection policy dictated staff should be alert to signs of abuse, with particular attention paid to attendance and changes in behaviour, and that accurate records needed to be kept in a secure place. Between 2017 and 2018, Ms Fawcett wrote to the college looking for answers, often waiting months for a response. She said correspondence had felt "as if they were dealing with some unfortunate individual making an embarrassing scene". Eventually, she contacted the Information Commissioner to get her records. As well as the notes about the texts, they included a letter from McClelland to the school in which he claimed Miss Fawcett was "sorry for wasting your time" after telling a "few little white lies" - another reference to staff being aware of what was happening. Miss Fawcett issued the start of legal proceedings, outlining her claims concerning the college in full. In response, the college described her allegations as "vague" and said other agencies such as her GP and social services had failed. The college's legal team also wrote to Miss Fawcett saying: "We do not accept that our client's alleged failure to report to social services your uneasiness with McClelland or the text messages which he allegedly sent you, resulted in abuse taking place. "The abuse would have occurred anyway," they said. "This is clearly a very sad matter," lawyers concluded. "We accept that you want to find retribution, and that you wish to hold to account the adults who, you say, failed to protect you as a child... but consider that your allegations against [the college] are misplaced." Elite swimming club to close after damning reportSchool 'ghost children' storing up trouble says MPI won't let my abusive dad win any more, says Scott Eventually in 2020, the college's insurers settled out of court - without an admission of liability - and paid Miss Fawcett an undisclosed sum. In response to questions from the BBC, the college said its investigation had "found no grounds to support the suggestion that the college could have done anything differently at the time". "The college was desperately saddened to hear about the terrible abuse that Kim Fawcett had suffered, and carefully and thoroughly investigated her complaint as soon as it was received," it added. Miss Fawcett described her dealings with the college as akin to gaslighting and said she felt de-humanised. "I felt that the school's approach was that if a child was displaying signs of distress, it was because the child was weak or somehow defective," she said. In recent years she has built a network with fellow survivors and said a document produced by her friend, design researcher Sophia Luu, which details how people can find the strength to speak out about abuse, could be a lifeline for many. "I try and tell myself, with the MeToo movement and so much work going on around women's rights, that things are changing," Miss Fawcett said. "But institutions still exist that protect these people and that's devastating. "There are still children who are lost and alone out there and have no-one to turn to." Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk

Healthcare organizations recognize the importance of value-based care, but face challenges in infrastructure, technology, interoperability, and data transparency. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations on price transparency and interoperability standards further complicate the landscape. Data is essential for success in a value-based care model, but only 18% of providers are using data to drive decisions. To overcome these challenges, organizations must acknowledge limitations and invest in a technology solution and infrastructure design that facilitates meaningful insights. Those who strategically plan and execute value-based care initiatives will be at the forefront of the evolving healthcare ecosystem.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/08/26/weathering-the-data-disparity-storm/

Weathering the Data Disparity Storm

Market intelligence helps organizations understand customers, competitors, and markets. Leveraging data can lead to accelerated innovation, identifying key adjacencies, and better understanding market size and growth opportunities. Best-in-class organizations utilize total addressable market forecasts and market share data to create a single version of market truth for critical business decisions. Regularly updating this data set is crucial for success. Market intelligence tools assist with business and investment management, product and market feasibility, and competitive strategy. The right tool should map the technology world and provide extensive, insightful data customized for decision-making.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/09/30/how-market-intelligence-data-accelerates-decision-making-and-drives-growth/

How Market Intelligence Data Accelerates Decision Making and Drives Growth

Alberta has declared a state of emergency after wildfires spread across the western Canadian province, driving nearly 25,000 people from their homes. Faced with more than 100 wildfires, Alberta's Premier Danielle Smith called the situation "unprecedented". Residents of Edson, a town of more than 8,000, were told to leave immediately. Ms Smith said a hot, dry spring had created "so much kindling" and some 122,000 hectares (301,000 acres) had burned so far. Many of the fires are burning out of control, fanned by strong winds. The worst-hit areas include Drayton Valley, about 140km (87 miles) west of the provincial capital Edmonton, and Fox Lake, some 550km north of the city, where 20 homes were consumed by fire. Firefighting helicopters and air tankers have been brought in and the federal government has offered assistance from Ottawa. Edmonton Expo Centre is accommodating more than 1,000 evacuees and in the town of High Level a curling rink is being turned into a temporary shelter. Alberta is a major oil-producing region, but so far oil facilities do not appear to be in immediate danger.

There is no text provided to summarize. Please provide the text for me to summarize.

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IDC PlanScape suggests using virtual hubs for efficient and resilient dealmaking. Digital collaboration tools can improve outcomes and streamline activities, while modern deal management platforms can reduce administrative burden and elevate professional standards.

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IDC PlanScape: Digital Deal Management Platforms to Improve Efficiency

IDC predicts strong growth for the worldwide HPC server market from 2023-2027, driven by enterprises investing in HPC due to the importance of performance-intensive computing for business success, particularly in the AI field.

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Worldwide High-Performance Computing Server Forecast, 2023–2027: Enterprise Will Overtake HPC Labs

A 'farm-to-fork' summit is aimed at addressing food insecurity in Britain, in response to farmer pressure, sharply increased prices and supply shortages. In a wider context, United Nations reports show more than quarter of a billion people were facing severe food insecurity last year - an increasing number whose inability to get sufficient food put them in immediate danger. If one response is to divert valuable grain from resource-intensive livestock farming, there is some reassurance for livestock farmers - the United Nations food agency reckons many women and children need more meat, dairy and eggs in their diet, but warns that farmers have to clean up. Out of the frying pan and onto the political hotplate: rising prices, war in Ukraine and disruption of trade with Britain's nearest neighbours have together put the heat under food insecurity. Rishi Sunak is convening a summit on food supplies at Downing Street on Tuesday, to look at inflation issues, the resilience of supplies after winter months of some empty fresh vegetable shelves, and export opportunities. When the meeting was announced, fulfilling a leadership campaign promise to farmers, Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers Union, said: "The past 18 months have been a stark reminder of how vulnerable the nation's food security is. "It has been a wake-up call for the importance of a secure domestic supply of food, and it is vital that the summit delivers actions, not just words." On the even of the summit, Downing Street announced measures to tackle disruption in the horticulture and egg sector, using legal powers already deployed with pork and dairy. There are additional funds for promoting exports, including seafood, and tackling obstacles to export in foreign markets. The prime minister's words make a big promise to producers on future trade policy. "Farmers' interests will be put at the heart of trade policy," Mr Sunak says, "through a new framework for trade negotiations, committing to protect the UK's high food and welfare standards and prioritise new export opportunities." Even one former Conservative agriculture secretary, George Eustice, says their interests were not protected adequately in the post-Brexit trade talks with Australia and New Zealand. Farmers are warning that cheaper imports through those Pacific trade deals, plus a lack of clarity about the future subsidy regime (and this responsibility in Scotland falls to the Scottish government) make us more reliant on imported food, and undermine the job agriculture is doing to look after the countryside. Meanwhile, the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, on Monday exhorted us to become agricultural workers, rather than rely on migrant labour to pick British berries and post-Brexit non-Brussels sprouts. Of course, food is traded globally and few places, if any, can be entirely self-sufficient. So while we may be rightly concerned about the 19% inflation rate for our grocery food basket, maybe it's time to get some perspective. First, to point out that we're not alone. Some European countries, including Germany, have even higher food price inflation, but the average for the OECD, the rich country club is lower, at around 15%. The US and Canada are close to 10% food price inflation. As with energy, most people in such countries are able to switch their spending from non-essentials to cover the extra cost. Even while spending more on food, the average British household is buying less food by volume, with significantly less spending on non-food retail. Some of that shift is to cheaper cuts of meat or down-market 'value' brands. Some of it could lead to less waste of food. A minority don't have that flexibility in relatively well-off countries. But what about poorer countries, where huge numbers lack the flexibility to absorb higher food prices? The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations is a useful source of data and insights. It has recently published several reports of note. One was with a warning about the number of people and countries facing a severe increase in food cost and insecurity. It said the number of people in that position, and requiring urgent food, nutrition and livelihood assistance, last year increased for the fourth consecutive year. Over a quarter of a billion people were facing acute hunger and people in seven countries were on the brink of starvation. This does not include the many people with chronic malnourishment. Instead, it is a measure of a person's inability to consume adequate food, so that it puts their lives or livelihoods in immediate danger. The Global Report on Food Crises, produced by the Food Security Information Network, found that around 258 million people in 58 countries faced acute food insecurity, up from 193 million people in 53 countries in 2021. There is a statistical health warning. Some of this growth may reflect an increase in the population analysed. UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned: "More than a quarter of a billion people are now facing acute levels of hunger, and some are on the brink of starvation. That's unconscionable. "It is a stinging indictment of humanity's failure to make progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 2 to end hunger and achieve food security and improved nutrition for all." These goals were agreed through the United Nations in 2015, with a goal for achieving them by 2030. Among the worst affected countries, and with 40% of those in the most at-risk category, were Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, 21 states within Nigeria and Yemen. War, including civil conflict, plays a part in driving up food costs and disrupting agriculture, and was the main driver for an estimated 117 million people facing food insecurity. The FAO has since published a separate report warning that a particularly worrying type of locust has arrived in Afghanistan, deepening its troubles. Other acute problems exist in Somalia, Haiti, Burkina Faso and South Sudan. In 30 of the world's worst hit crisis areas, over 35 million children under the age of five suffered from wasting or acute malnutrition, with 9.2 million of them suffering from severe wasting, the most life-threatening form of undernutrition and a major contributor to increased child mortality. Extreme weather was the main cause of food insecurity for 57 million people, including those facing drought in the Horn of Africa and southern Africa, with devastating floods in Pakistan and cyclones in other countries. A major cause of food insecurity far from the battlefront was war in Ukraine, estimated as the main cause for 84 million people in 27 countries. It sharply pushed up prices of traded grains and cooking oil, and while that hit relatively well-off nations, the poorest countries were at the end of the queue for scarce resources. The FAO has an index of traded food commodities, which soared just after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and then fell every month until last month, when it ticked upwards again. Compared with April last year, the FAO food price index was 19.7% down, but it was still 5.2% higher than in April the previous year. This is where the news looks less grim. With Ukrainian grain able to enter world markets through safe passage in the Black Sea, the disruption is seen as being less of a problem. And although the cost of fertiliser rose steeply last year, much of it coming from Russia, the impact of its reduced use on crop yields does not seem to be disrupting world markets as much as some had feared. This year's wheat harvest is forecast to reach 785 million tonnes, the second highest on record, beaten only by last year's crop. Maize is expected to see a bumper harvest in Brazil, not so much in Argentina, while South Africa's output is looking strong. The sugar price index was up nearly 18% in April, reaching its highest level for 12 years due to reduced expectations of harvests in Asia and the European Union. In the UK, the Office for National Statistics says the price of retailed sugar is up by 42%. That is caused by dry weather conditions, and is also pushed higher by a rise in the international price of crude oil. Crude oil!? Yes, when that price goes up, there's a stronger financial case for diverting sugar production into the manufacture of ethanol as a substitute for oil. Before long, the world's aviation industry is also going to be competing for agricultural grain output to fuel aircraft, and reduce its carbon footprint. The global meat price index also rose last month, driven by pig and poultry prices, as Asian demand increased and animal health worries curbed some production. Beef prices rose as the number of cattle being sold for slaughter fell, especially in the USA. While other major commodities continued to decline in price, the FAO says one to watch is rice - a staple for many of the world's poorest people. Harvests were hit by higher input costs and adverse weather, as Asian import demand increased. Under pressure, some governments choose to limit or ban food exports, contributing to a forecast fall in internationally traded rice of more than 4% this year. The FAO's chief economist, Maximo Torero said: "The increase in rice prices is extremely worrisome and it is essential that the Black Sea initiative (allowing Ukrainian exports) is renewed to avoid any other spikes in wheat and maize". One answer to food shortages and insecurity is to redeploy a lot of grain and fishmeal from producing meat, with the argument that it is a highly resource-intensive and inefficient way to get the protein people need and so many millions of people lack. It's a subject that gets livestock farmers riled up, notably in places - including much of Scotland - where there's not a lot you can do with land other than put sheep on it. That's where another recent FAO report comes in. Published late last month, it addresses the question of whether meat, dairy and eggs are required in the human food chain. The report claims to be the most comprehensive analysis so far of the benefits and risks of consuming animal source food, drawing from more than 500 scientific papers and 250 policy documents. The reliability of the source of such papers is open to dispute, where vested interests in the food industry have a lot of influence. But the conclusion is that "meat, eggs and milk offer crucial sources of nutrients which cannot be obtained from plant-based foods". Or to be more precise, they cannot be obtained in sufficient quality and quantity. This is particularly important during pregnancy, lactation, childhood, adolescence and older age, the study claims. Iron, zinc and vitamin A are notably absent from too many children and pregnant women, it says, affecting more than half of pre-school children and 1.2 billion women of child-bearing age. Three-quarters of these children live in south and east Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific. The report demonstrates how widely varied is the use of meat and dairy in diets. A person in the Democratic Republic of the Congo consumes on average only 160 grams of milk a year, while someone in Montenegro consumes 338 kilograms. A person in South Sudan consumes 2 grams of eggs on average each year, compared to an average 25kg for a person in Hong Kong. The average person in Burundi consumes just 3 kg of meat a year, compared to 136 kg for someone living in Hong Kong. Not such good news for meat producers is the conclusion that processed red meat, even in small quantities, is linked to increased risk of chronic disease and early death. But unprocessed red meat, in moderation, has not been shown to carry those risks. Better news still for the world's livestock farmers is the FAO conclusion that evidence of links to common life-threatening conditions such as heart disease, strokes and hypertension are inconclusive for milk and not significant for eggs and poultry. But the critics of meat production get more support on other fronts, with reminders that the industry has big challenges if it is to reduce the environmental impact of deforestation to clear land for grazing, of greenhouse gas emissions from animals, of unsustainable water and land use, and of pollution from intensive farming. The list goes on: concerns about overgrazing and poor animal welfare, the problems for human and animal health from overuse of antibiotics, and the risk of transferred disease from animals or from the food they produce, which may have led to the Covid-19 pandemic and could do likewise again. There are also social issues, of the fairness of a food production system that uses so much to make protein for richer countries, while others find grain prices getting out of reach. Food insecurity is rarely a problem of insufficient food. It is more often a problem of affordable food, and how it is distributed… which brings us round the world and back - with some more perspective, I hope - to that "farm-to-fork summit" of government leaders and food producers in Downing Street.

A couple who have spent two years fighting a no-fault eviction notice on their home of more than 20 years said they were "poised for panic" as they awaited bailiffs to finally move them out. Barbara Smathers and her partner Les were first issued the Section 21 eviction order in 2021, which means a landlord does not need to give a reason for ending the tenancy. Since then they have spent more than £1,000 in court fees defending their case, but in April were handed their final eviction notice. They are not alone. The number of Section 21 eviction notices handed to tenants in the Midlands is the highest it's been in the past five years, according to the latest government data. In 2022, more than 1,720 no-fault claims were issued by private landlords to tenants which saw a 172% increase on the previous year - up from 635. Barbara, 69, who lives in Audley, Staffordshire, spoke to BBC News after receiving their first eviction notice and said their lives had "overwhelmingly been consumed" by the fear of where they would live. She said: "You go to bed worrying about it. You go to sleep and wake up thinking about it: 'I've got to find somewhere else to go - what am I going to do?'" Barbara has 12 therapy horses which need to relocate with her, making the search for a home even harder. "I didn't know anything about this [Section 21 evictions] until a couple of years ago," she said. "It feels like people look at you and judge you. Anyone in private rental is at risk of this and there's nothing you can do." Rent prices: How much have they gone up in your area?'I couldn't sleep, eat or function after eviction stress'What are your rights when you're renting? The BBC has approached the landlord for comment. The sharp increase of Section 21 evictions and notices has been felt by thousands, following the eviction ban which was lifted in May 2021 after the outbreak of coronavirus and a subsequent backlog in the courts. Alex, 27, was living in central Birmingham with a friend when she was unexpectedly issued a Section 21 notice in February, weeks after complaining about mould throughout the house. As well as not needing to give a reason for eviction, the tenant can be forced out of their home in as little as two months' time. Fortunately, Alex was able to leave before going to court, however it's come at a cost - her new flat is "significantly more expensive, smaller and in a less convenient location". "But it was a matter of not being able to deal with the stress and uncertainty of an eviction process to play out," said Alex, who does not want to be identified because of the stigma attached to evictions. "Even though logically it isn't my fault, there is this sense that if you're evicted it's because you're bad and did something wrong. It made me feel insecure about the future." Susan has been served a Section 21 eviction notice at the house she has rented for more than 30 years in Stoke-on-Trent. Her landlord died and their family want to sell. "It's making me ill - physically sick," she said, as she faced up to the prospect of "starting all over again" at 58. Currently paying £400 in rent, she said she was unable to afford a similar sized property without paying £200 more a month. In Stoke-on-Trent, the Citizens Advice Bureau said it had seen a "a huge increase" in its workload, with 70% of the housing support team now helping tenants with Section 21 cases. "It is completely phenomenal. We've never known anything like that before," says Jude Hawes, head of the service specialist and equalities teams. The team are seeing a variety of reasons for the evictions, from private landlords selling up and leaving the market - to dramatically increasing rents. In the courts, judges may hear up to 20 cases a week. They include "heart-breaking" situations, said Jude, leaving many children "unsettled and distressed" as they are moved across the city and made to join new schools. "The worst case I've seen is when a lady who was terribly ill and didn't have long to live," said Mr Hawes. "She'd lived in the property for more than 20 years and there was nothing we could do. The woman was out of her home and in homeless accommodation and I suspect she will die in homeless accommodation." Ramona Hirschi is an estate agent in the city and also a landlady herself with five rental properties. "Most landlords don't wake up in the morning and think, 'hey, let me kick my tenant out and I'll have no rent and bills paid'," she said. It is a "last resort" for many reputable landlords and agents, said Ramona, who manages about 270 rental properties across Stoke-on-Trent. "When a house goes up for rent we have 30-40 enquiries, that is the level of under supply and over demand in Stoke and that's not going to improve if there is no support for landlords," said Ramona. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities insisted it would bring forward a Renters Reform Bill by the end of this Parliament. However Romana said: "We need more enforcement - not regulation. "If you don't catch the bad guys [landlords] there is no point enforcing more and more, because the good guys [landlords] are already doing everything," she added. Mark Pickman is known as an "accidental landlord" after inheriting his late father's home and deciding to rent it out. Over the past 15 years, he's bought three more properties in the Cannock area to build up a pension pot, but the highs and lows of property management have made him think again. "From a personal perspective, I wouldn't do it again if I had the opportunity of an inherited property, knowing what I know now. I would sell it," said Mark. The number of landlords who are planning to cut the number of properties they own has almost doubled in a year in the West Midlands. Almost four in ten (38%) said they wanted to reduce the number they let, according to research carried out on 750 members of the National Residential Landlords Association. Mark is paying more than 6% interest rate on one mortgage and with rising maintenance costs in recent years, it's been "difficult" to pass on rent increases in line with inflation to tenants. "When you see someone on the news talking about 'bad landlords' - we all get lumped in, because we're private landlords tarnished with the same brush and it's simply not right." A spokeswoman for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: "We remain absolutely committed to delivering a fairer deal for renters. "We will bring forward a Renters Reform Bill in this Parliament, abolishing 'no-fault evictions' so that all tenants have greater security in their homes and are empowered to challenge poor conditions and unreasonable rent rises." Stay in touch with your landlord or agentYou may be eligible for emergency housing or a discretionary housing paymentYou can only be evicted if your landlord has followed the proper stepsFind your local Citizens Advice Bureau which can give you tailored advice Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk

IDC MarketScape report on MES software providers for engineering-intensive manufacturing subindustries (aerospace, defense, naval, train, and industrial equipment). Complex manufacturing requires advanced skills and compliance with regulations. Factory leaders need expert information to make the best decision for future MES systems.

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IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Engineering-Intensive Manufacturing Execution Systems 2023 Vendor Assessment