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By Nate Raymond (Reuters) -A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday ruled that Nasdaq could not impose rules designed to increase diversity in corporate America by requiring companies listed on the exchange to have women and minority directors on their boards or explain why they do not. The 9-8 ruling by the conservative-majority New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the rules approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ran afoul of federal securities law. The decision is a significant legal victory for opponents of policies meant to boost racial and gender diversity in corporations. The diversity rules were challenged by conservative think tank the National Center for Public Policy Research and Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment, a group founded by Edward Blum, who led the successful U.S. Supreme Court challenge against race-conscious college admissions policies. "SEC has intruded into territory far outside its ordinary domain," U.S. Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham, who was appointed by Republican President-elect Donald Trump in his first term, wrote for the majority. The SEC said it was reviewing the ruling, which it would have to appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn. Nasdaq said that while it believed its rule would benefit companies and investors, it respected Tuesday's ruling and would not appeal. At issue was a Nasdaq requirement designed to bolster the diversity of corporate boards that have long been mostly white and male, studies show. Nasdaq required companies to have at least one woman, racial minority, or LGBTQ person on their boards or explain why they do not. Companies must also disclose annually how board members identify in those categories. A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit comprised entirely of appointees of Democratic presidents in October 2023 upheld the SEC's decision to approve Nasdaq's rules, saying the regulator acted within its authority. But the conservative-majority court opted to have all of its judges reconsider the matter. All nine judges in the majority were appointed by Republican presidents. Oldham said the SEC wrongly concluded that because Nasdaq's proposal would require information about exchange-listed companies to be disclosed, it fit within the purposes of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which governs stock trading. He said any disclosure rule must have "some connection to the ails Congress designed the Act to eradicate," such as "speculation, manipulation, and fraud, and removing barriers to exchange competition." Mark Chenoweth, whose legal group the New Civil Liberties Alliance represented the National Center for Public Policy Research, said the ruling "should chasten SEC to stick to its knitting and stop trying to abuse its market-regulating power." Eight judges dissented including U.S. Circuit Judge Stephen Higginson, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama, who said the SEC's limited role in reviewing Nasdaq's proposed rules precluded it from making a different decision. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; editing by Diane Craft, Sonali Paul, and Saad Sayeed)90 jilli.com 。

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The latest international test results have some good news for New Zealand primary school science teachers. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study ( TIMSS ) data show average performance of Year 5 students is trending upwards. For Year 9 science, overall results hold steady. Administered once every four years, TIMSS is one of the few checks New Zealand currently undertakes to measure progress towards equity and excellence in education. These new results are based on data from 2023. New Zealand is very much in the middle of the pack among other countries, though. There’s a worrying gap emerging between the achievement of Year 9 boys and girls. And the gap in results for students from different socioeconomic statuses remains a problem. In 2023, 71 education systems participated in the study. While it’s great news that the average science performance of Year 5 pupils has increased compared to 2019, 21 countries (out of 58) performed better than our Year 5s in science. And 16 (out of 43) performed better than our Year 9s in science. In both cases, students achieved better average scores in Australia, England, Ireland, the United States, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Macao and the Republic of Korea. New Zealand still has work to do to compete favourably internationally. At the same time, current intersecting social and environmental crises globally demand the country carefully examines the role of school science education in contributing to the future. The socioeconomic gap As well as enhancing New Zealand’s performance relative to other education systems, work is still needed to address issues of socioeconomic inequity across our education system. Year 5 students from more economically affluent backgrounds achieved better on TIMSS, on average, than students from more economically disadvantaged backgrounds. New Zealand has one of the largest differences in achievement between those who are more economically disadvantaged than those who are economically affluent – only six countries have bigger differences. Importantly, there are low performers and advanced performers within each socioeconomic group. In other words, students can excel no matter what their economic background – and they can also not achieve. However, the risk profile for not achieving changes with economic advantage, as shown for Year 5 students’ science achievement. This is particularly problematic, given 21% of our students are from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. System insights As well as assessing students’ abilities in relation to knowing, applying and reasoning in science, TIMSS collects a host of other data. While the New Zealand education system needs to be more equitable and to perform better internationally, the vast majority of primary school teachers are expected to be generalists. This means they teach across all curriculum areas while working with diverse student needs. According the TIMSS data, fewer Year 5 students in New Zealand are taught by a teacher with a bachelor’s degree (or higher) in primary education with a specialisation in science – 11% of New Zealand students compared to the international average of 31%. In addition, just 28% of Year 5 teachers in New Zealand report regularly using scientific concepts to explain phenomena (28%), well below the international average of 49%. Curriculum refresh The findings emerging from TIMSS – both heartening and concerning – are particularly salient in light of the recently paused development of the new science curriculum. The next international benchmarking New Zealand will be involved in is the 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment ( PISA ). This study assesses the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds from 81 countries. The PISA 2025 Science Framework is already available, identifying five broad topics that will be used in the assessment. These are health and disease, natural resources, environmental quality, hazards, and frontiers of science and technology. How these themes – and eventual results – will guide future curriculum changes in science remains to be seen. But regardless of the paused curriculum refresh, it’s clear there is more work to be done on science education in New Zealand.Papua New Guinea granted historic NRL expansion licence after years of campaigning

Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says the central bank is preparing for a future that looks more uncertain and more prone to shocks. In a speech to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, he said Monday structural changes are underway in the world including demographic shifts, technological changes, decarbonization and a move away from globalization. “We need to use the pandemic experience to prepare for future crises,” Macklem said in a prepared text of his speech. To that end, Macklem says the Bank of Canada is working to learn what it can from how the economy reacted to the pandemic and in its aftermath. The Bank of Canada is conducting a review of the policy actions it took to restore financial stability and support the economy during the pandemic that it plans to publish along with an assessment of an independent panel of experts. Macklem said the spike in inflation in 2022 was a reminder that even though inflation was relatively low and stable for 30 years leading up to the pandemic, central banks cannot take public trust for granted. “All of a sudden, people couldn’t afford the things they need to live. And while inflation is low once again, many prices are still a lot higher than they were before the pandemic. So people feel ripped off. And that erodes public trust in our economic system,” he said. The Bank of Canada has cut its key policy interest rate five times this year including last week when it reduced the benchmark by a half a percentage point to 3.25 percent. Macklem says the bank will be evaluating the need for further reductions in the policy rate one decision at a time and anticipates a more gradual approach to monetary policy if the economy evolves as expected. Statistics Canada reported last month that the annual inflation rate was two percent in Ontario, hitting the Bank of Canada’s target. The speech by Macklem came ahead of the release of the November inflation report on Tuesday.

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