Folk Maritime expands sustainability and connectivity in Middle East shipping
NEW YORK and AMSTERDAM , Dec. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices ("S&P DJI"), the world's leading index provider, today announced the results of the annual Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) rebalancing and reconstitution. The DJSI are float-adjusted market capitalization weighted indices that measure the performance of companies selected using environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. The DJSI, including the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World), were launched in 1999 as the pioneering series of global sustainability benchmarks available in the market. The index family is comprised of global, regional and country benchmarks. As a result of this year's review, the following top three largest companies based on free-float market capitalization have been added to and deleted from the DJSI World. All changes are effective on Monday, December 23, 2024 . Additions: Airbus SE, Schlumberger Ltd, BAE Systems Plc Deletions: Alphabet Inc 1 , UnitedHealth Group Inc, ASML Holding NV 2 The full results and list of DJSI constituents will be available as of Monday, December 23 2024 , at https://www.spglobal.com/esg/csa/djsi-annual-review S&P Dow Jones Indices will be renaming a number of its sustainability and ESG-related indices (see Index Announcement ). As part of this update, the family of Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) will be renamed Dow Jones Best-in-Class Indices. The changes will become effective on Monday, February 10, 2025 . The S&P Global CSA Scores will continue to be a key factor in selecting constituents for the DJSI when they are renamed Dow Jones Best-in-Class Indices in February 2025 . For more information about the DJSI methodology, please visit: www.spglobal.com/spdji . ABOUT S&P DOW JONES INDICES S&P Dow Jones Indices is the largest global resource for essential index-based concepts, data and research, and home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average®. More assets are invested in products based on our indices than products based on indices from any other provider in the world. Since Charles Dow invented the first index in 1884, S&P DJI has been innovating and developing indices across the spectrum of asset classes helping to define the way investors measure and trade the markets. S&P Dow Jones Indices is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), which provides essential intelligence for individuals, companies, and governments to make decisions with confidence. For more information, visit: www.spglobal.com/spdji . 1 Still member of DJSI World Enlarged and DJSI North America 2 Still member of DJSI World Enlarged S&P DJI MEDIA CONTACTS: spdji.comms@spglobal.com View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sp-dow-jones-indices-announces-dow-jones-sustainability-indices-2024-review-results-302331745.html SOURCE S&P Dow Jones IndicesNo. 5 UCLA snaps No. 1 South Carolina's 43-game win streakElton John and David Furnish's Relationship Timeline
WASHINGTON (AP) — El presidente Joe Biden dijo el domingo que el repentino colapso del gobierno de Bashar Assad en Siria es un “acto fundamental de justicia” después de décadas de represión, pero también “un momento de riesgo e incertidumbre” para Medio Oriente. Biden habló en la Casa Blanca horas después de que grupos rebeldes completaran la toma del país tras más de una docena de años de guerra civil y décadas de liderazgo por parte de Assad y su familia. Biden dijo que Estados Unidos no estaba seguro del paradero de Assad, pero estaba monitoreando informes de que buscaba refugio en Moscú. La administración saliente de Biden y el presidente electo Donald Trump estaban trabajando para comprender las nuevas amenazas y oportunidades en todo Medio Oriente. Biden atribuyó lo ocurrido a la acción de Estados Unidos y sus aliados por debilitar a los partidarios de Siria —Rusia, Irán y Hezbollah. Dijo que los partidarios de Siria “por primera vez” ya no podían defender el control de Assad sobre el poder. “Nuestro enfoque ha cambiado el equilibrio de poder en Medio Oriente”, dijo Biden, después de una reunión con su equipo de seguridad nacional en la Casa Blanca. RELATED COVERAGE Análisis: La caída de Assad en Siria, un golpe para el ‘Eje de Resistencia’ de Irán Al menos 14 muertos, incluidos niños, en ataques en Gaza Reacciones globales a la repentina destitución de Assad en Siria varían entre júbilo y alarma Trump dijo el domingo que Assad había huido de su país porque el presidente ruso Vladímir Putin “ya no estaba interesado en protegerlo”. Esos comentarios en la plataforma de redes sociales de Trump llegaron un día después de que usara otra publicación para deplorar la posibilidad de que Estados Unidos interviniera militarmente en Siria para ayudar a los rebeldes, declarando, “ESTA NO ES NUESTRA LUCHA”. La administración de Biden no tiene intención de intervenir, según el actual asesor de seguridad nacional. Estados Unidos tiene alrededor de 900 efectivos en Siria, incluidas fuerzas que trabajan con aliados kurdos en el noreste controlado por la oposición para prevenir cualquier resurgimiento del grupo Estado Islámico. Biden dijo que tiene la intención de que esas tropas permanecieran, agregando que las fuerzas estadounidenses realizaron el domingo “docenas” de lo que él llamó “ataques aéreos de precisión” en campamentos y operaciones del Estado Islámico en Siria. La oposición siria que derrocó a Assad está liderada por Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. La administración Biden ha designado al grupo como una organización terrorista y dice que tiene vínculos con al-Qaeda, aunque Hayat Tahrir al-Sham dice que desde entonces ha roto lazos con al-Qaeda. “Permaneceremos vigilantes”, dijo Biden. “No se equivoquen, algunos de los grupos rebeldes que derrocaron a Assad tienen su propio sombrío historial de terrorismo y abusos de derechos humanos”. Añadió que los grupos están “diciendo las cosas correctas ahora”. “Pero a medida que asumen mayor responsabilidad, evaluaremos no solo sus palabras, sino sus acciones”, dijo Biden. La caída de Assad se suma a una situación ya tensa en gran parte de la región en muchos frentes, incluida la guerra de Israel con Hamás en Gaza y su frágil alto el fuego con Hezbollah en Líbano. Trump, quien asume el cargo el 20 de enero de 2025, hizo una conexión entre lo ocurrido en Siria y la guerra de Rusia en Ucrania, señalando que Rusia e Irán “están en un estado debilitado en este momento”. El vicepresidente electo JD Vance, un veterano de la guerra de Irak, escribió en sus propias redes sociales el domingo para expresar escepticismo sobre los insurgentes. “Muchos de ‘los rebeldes’ son literalmente una ramificación de ISIS. Uno puede esperar que se hayan moderado. El tiempo lo dirá”, dijo, usando otro acrónimo para el grupo. Trump ha sugerido que la destitución de Assad puede avanzar las perspectivas para poner fin a los combates en Ucrania, que fue invadida por Rusia en febrero de 2022. Trump escribió que el gobierno de Putin “perdió todo interés en Siria debido a Ucrania” y el republicano pidió un alto el fuego inmediato, un día después de reunirse en París con los líderes franceses y ucranianos. Daniel B. Shapiro, un subsecretario asistente de defensa para el Medio Oriente, dijo que la presencia militar estadounidense continuará en el este de Siria pero fue “únicamente para asegurar la derrota duradera del EI y no tiene nada que ver con otros aspectos de este conflicto”. “Hacemos un llamado a todas las partes en Siria para que protejan a los civiles, particularmente a aquellos de las comunidades minoritarias de Siria, para que respeten las normas militares internacionales y trabajen para lograr una resolución que incluya el acuerdo político”, dijo Shapiro. “Varios actores en este conflicto tienen un terrible historial que incluye los horribles crímenes de Assad, el bombardeo aéreo indiscriminado de Rusia, la participación de milicias respaldadas por Irán y las atrocidades del EI”, agregó. Shapiro, sin embargo, fue cuidadoso en no decir directamente que Assad había sido depuesto por los insurgentes. “Si se confirma, nadie debería derramar lágrimas por el régimen de Assad”, dijo. A medida que avanzaban hacia la capital siria de Damasco, la oposición liberó a detenidos políticos de las prisiones gubernamentales. La familia del periodista estadounidense desaparecido Austin Tice renovó los llamados para encontrarlo. “A todos en Siria que escuchen esto, por favor recuerden a la gente que estamos esperando a Austin”, dijo la madre de Tice, Debra, en comentarios que los grupos de defensa de rehenes difundieron en redes sociales. “Sabemos que cuando salga, va a estar bastante aturdido y va a necesitar mucho cuidado y dirección. ¡Diríjanlo a su familia, por favor!” Tice desapareció en 2012 fuera de Damasco, en medio de la intensificación de lo que se convirtió en una guerra civil de más de una década. “Hemos permanecido comprometidos en devolverlo a su familia”, dijo Biden en la Casa Blanca. “Creemos que está vivo, pensamos que podemos recuperarlo, pero aún no tenemos pruebas directas de eso. Y Assad debe ser responsabilizado”. El presidente agregó: “Tenemos que identificar dónde está”. ___ Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
OPEC+ crude oil output rose 30,000 b/d month on month in October, with a huge rebound in Libyan production largely canceled out by reductions in Kazakhstan, Iraq and Iran, according to the latest Platts OPEC+ Survey from S&P Global Commodity Insights. With October output likely to set the tone for the upcoming ministerial meeting in Vienna on Dec. 1, the core OPEC group boosted output by 330,000 b/d, while its Russia-led allies cut by 300,000 b/d, according to the survey. Core OPEC output from countries bound by quotas remained above their collective target, with overproduction shrinking slightly to 348,000 b/d, while their OPEC+ partners collectively underproduced by 179,000 b/d. Overall OPEC+ production in October was 169,000 b/d over target. Compliance could therefore continue to fray relations within OPEC+, which is battling to put a floor under prices while maintaining its market share amid tepid Chinese demand, elevated production in non-OPEC+ countries in the Americas, fears of a supply glut in 2025 and considerable volatility driven by wars in the Middle East and Europe as well as the re-election of Donald Trump. Libya and Kazakhstan saw the biggest shifts in crude output in October, the survey found, with the North African country hiking production by 420,000 b/d following the conclusion on Oct. 3 of an oil shutdown prompted by a political feud over the leadership of the Libyan central bank. Production nevertheless remained below pre-shutdown levels of 1.15 million b/d due to maintenance at the key Sharara field in the first weeks of October. Libya, beset by political chaos since the fall of Moammar Qadhafi in 2011, is not subject to an OPEC quota unlike Kazakhstan, which slashed output by 300,000 b/d after carrying maintenance lasting around three weeks at its enormous Kashagan oil field during October. At 1.22 million b/d, Kazakhstan’s output was still slightly above its 1.203 million b/d target as laid out in its August “compensation plan,” submitted to make up for excess production in 2024. Iraq also cut output by 60,000 b/d to 4.14 million b/d, primarily on cuts to export volumes and refinery runs, as well as reduced production in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, over which Baghdad has scant control. Nonetheless, Iraq — which has also submitted compensation plans — remained above its quota by 235,000 b/d. The UAE also exceeded its quota in October by 98,000 b/d, the survey found, as did Gabon, Saudi Arabia and Russia, while Iranian output fell 40,000 b/d on lower exports. A sticking point for the bloc going back decades, compliance has emerged as OPEC+’s key challenge in recent times, with sources telling Commodity Insights that inventories would be lower and the market tighter had producers stuck to their quotas. On Nov. 3, eight voluntary cutters again delayed plans to start tapering 2.2 million b/d of reductions — part of 5.8 million b/d of group-wide cuts — to January 2025, amid fears prices would weaken even further had they followed through with the plans. Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, last assessed the Dated Brent benchmark at $74.07/b on Nov. 8, down from a 2024 high of $93.35/b in April and below the fiscal breakeven oil prices of most members, according to Commodity Insights estimates. A well-placed source told Commodity Insights that the eight voluntary cutters — Algeria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Oman, Kazakhstan, Kuwait and the UAE — had delayed the return of barrels because they did not have “line of sight on Chinese demand” moving forward. OPEC production including quota-exempt Iran, Libya and Venezuela reached 26.58 million b/d in October, up from 26.25 million b/d in September, the survey found. Meanwhile, the Russia-led allies pumped 13.68 million b/d, down 300,000 b/d month on month. Total OPEC+ output was 40.26 million b/d, up slightly from September but down 2.45 million b/d year on year. In its latest monthly oil report, OPEC estimated the call on OPEC+ crude — the quantity it must produce to balance supply and demand — at 42.8 million b/d in 2024 and 43.2 million b/d in 2025, significantly above current production. The swing producer is more bullish than other forecasters, but if that is borne out, OPEC+ would be in a strong position to control the market moving forward. The Platts survey measures wellhead production and is compiled using information from oil industry officials, traders and analysts, as well as by reviewing proprietary shipping, satellite and inventory data. Source:
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GROWING COMMUNITY BLTX is the collective labor of several groups that comprise its core organizers, some of them represented in this photo. They include independent presses and art collectives like Gantala Press, Magpies Press, Makò Micro-Press; Studio Soup Zine Library, and Paper Trail Projects. The number of participants has since grown since the first staging in 2009. —BLTX/Instagram (@Xeroxography) MANILA, Philippines — “Art isn’t easy—have to keep things in scale, have to hold to your vision,” goes the lyric by Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim. True enough, for many artists, forging a path toward genuine artistic freedom and expression is a struggle that involves more than just creating and showcasing their work. The reality of cultural production in the Philippines is fraught with problems and the same age-old questions: What kinds of value does art provide in society and culture? Who gets to decide such value, and why? Who gets to create and access art? Who gets to have their works published or exhibited, and what rewards are there in making them—if there is even one? Better Living Through Xeroxography (BLTX) is a yearly small press fair founded at a time when younger writers, writers who did not write in English, and writers without “padrinos” had scant or zero access to publishing avenues compared to, say, older established writers, and writers in the mainstream. “It started as a manifesto on literary patricide,” said cofounder Adam David in an email interview. He does not mean patricide as those that occur in stories, like Oedipus killing his own father, though the concept also comes to mind. What David means is “metaphorically [killing] padrinos” by way of empowering younger writers to “wantonly [publish] themselves and their peers without anyone else’s blessings or permissions.” BLTX’s goals remain the same since its first staging in 2009: artistic autonomy in the production and distribution of one’s own work, where creators are free to “define the cultural and economic value of their work in their own terms,” which extends to “the ethics of their and their community’s art practice.” For proponents of BLTX, this means embracing the principles and practice of small, independent (or “indie”), and do-it-yourself (DIY) production where the process of producing a work—from conceptualization and production to distribution and promotion—is “free from interference or support from institutions... as far away from the profit motive as one can get.” To produce works independently means creating outside the need for mere profit or against the market logic of “bigger is better.” For David, it means creating conditions where a writer or an artist is free to explore any subject, experiment in different formats, write in different languages, and address the concerns of communities creatives often neglect, “like farmers, nurses, migrant workers, survivors of extrajudicial killings, sadly among many, many, many others.” What first started as an expo at a videoke bar in Project 4, Cubao, has now gone regional with past stagings at La Union (which they have termed “BLuTX”), Davao, Naga, Cagayan de Oro, and Baguio. It has served various communities in these localities and wherever their “methods and perspectives are helpful,” including numerous advocacies as well as communities of women and LGBTQIA+. By principle, BLTX is organized “cheaply”: The workshops and forums are free, and table rentals for the expo where artists get to sell or trade their works (usually zines, stickers, printed shirts, and other DIY stuff) range from P300 to P500, just enough to cover costs like the rent of the venue (which for recent installations of BLTX have been in Sikat Studio, Tomas Morato, Quezon City) and other reimbursements like printed event posters and materials for making coffee. THE HUB WITH RIGHT VIBE Individual artists, collectives, and independent publishers have found the environment they need at BLTX, a yearly fair in Quezon City where they can promote and sell their works, and also explore opportunities for collaboration with fellow creatives and entrepreneurs. The expo offers a free taste of the works of upcoming talents. —BLTX/Instagram (@Xeroxography) “The one community BLTX has served through the years is the ever-emerging community of independent small-scale creators, all of us lifers and amateurs and hobbyists and late bloomers and child prodigies and idiot savants and weirdos all around trying to make artistic fire happen by rubbing two beinte-cincos together,” said David. “[BLTX] reminded people that writing and publishing are not exclusive to people who come from or have access to certain institutions,” he added, “that anyone can do it.” Collaboration is also central to making BLTX happen. Staying true to its commitments of going small-scale and independent, the annual expo, which over the years has included workshops, forums, and even a library, is collaboratively organized with other small and independent presses with diverse but interconnected persuasions. David mentioned that nearly half a dozen groups currently organize the expo, with over a dozen having participated since its inception. These include Gantala Press, an independent, nonprofit, volunteer-run Filipina feminist press; Magpies Press, an artist collective that explores collaborative independent zine publishing; Makò Micro-Press, a radical group of DIY artists; Studio Soup Zine Library, a small distro and archive in Manila; and Paper Trail Projects, the small press and shoestring operation founded by David and Conchitina Cruz. “We are all volunteers so we don’t get paid,” he said. “We always make efforts to be transparent about all this information, but this year we made even stronger efforts to be even more transparent to the first-timers about all this information, hoping they become emboldened and empowered enough to start doing happenings themselves.” ‘DIYFEND’ Zines have been an avenue to address the concerns of specific communities, particularly the marginalized sectors, and a tool for pushing social advocacies. ——BLTX/Instagram (@Xeroxography) David observed that since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of people have taken on DIY arts and crafts and creativity as therapy to cope. This has yielded “a burgeoning community of artists and artisans [who] were all lying in wait looking for spaces to continue producing and selling their work,” especially once the lockdowns and quarantines ceased. Finding an opportunity to tap into this “mother lode of revenue,” art markets started to pop up all over the country. According to David, “After confirming the richness of this mother lode, the art markets predictably proceeded to follow market logic: They became abusive and raised [their] table rental prices and spread even farther and wider.” This was why, in February this year, BLTX was staged for first-timers. “We wanted to remind even just a small portion of these new, mostly young artists and artisans that, much like how they started their art practice during the pandemic, they can also organize themselves and their own happenings cheaply, without the need to abuse anybody,” David said. For individuals like Shekynah Samadan, BLTX “was like Christmas.” She recalls saving up lunch money so she could support her favorite writers and artists, who she also gets to know and talk to, and buy from new ones she meets at the expo. Now, she co-organizes BLTX as comanager of Studio Soup Zine Library and saves money from her salary so that she can not only buy works but also create her own to sell or trade. “Now that I’m part of the organizers of BLTX, I’m still as excited as I was back when I first found out there’s this type of event that happens in the country,” she said. “It was unlike the art markets that I knew back then. It was a bazaar that upheld pure DIY publishing where the main focus was creative writing and putting your work out there in a physical form.” ‘CHEAP’ EVENT Recent editions of BLTX were held at Sikat Studio, beside Popular Bookstore on Tomas Morato Avenue, Quezon City. —BLTX/Instagram (@Xeroxography) This year—which also marks the expo’s 15th year—was about slowly receding the roles of older organizers so that younger ones get to step in. David explains that this is because BLTX needs to be “replenished” with “genuinely new ideas and concerns coming from new people.” He shared that organizers have “stabilized with more younger individuals with fresh perspectives on the old problems and also looking toward history to help solve emergent problems.” Yet the politics and practice of small-scale, DIY, and independent publishing need not start and end with BLTX. “I hope that many young artists and writers develop the urge to organize and create more events like [BLTX] in our country,” said Samadan. “Never be afraid to create and take up space, and do it with a sense of community care in mind,” she added. When asked what she has to say to artists, writers, and even just those inclined, Samadan said to “embrace the mistakes you make when self-publishing, be as welcoming as you wish to be, but defy just as much. And, lastly, make your own BLTX.” As BLTX looks to the future, it plans to do fewer expos and more forums and workshops. Nevertheless, BLTX remains headstrong in its commitment to exist in spaces “far if not free from market’s reach,” where it gets to reevaluate the value of art and its practice “in an industry increasingly redefining and narrowing the meaning of the words ‘independent’ and ‘artist.’” Check out more of their important work and goings-on by visiting their Instagram (@xeroxography) and Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/xeroxography/). Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . Sources: Inquirer Archives, Makò Micro-Press Facebook page, Magpies Facebook page, BLTX Instagram page, gantalapress.org, papertrailprojects.com, studiosouplibrary.wordpress.comKanye West Blows Off Donda Academy Lawsuit, Companies ‘Default’
NEW YORK and AMSTERDAM , Dec. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices ("S&P DJI"), the world's leading index provider, today announced the results of the annual Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) rebalancing and reconstitution. The DJSI are float-adjusted market capitalization weighted indices that measure the performance of companies selected using environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. The DJSI, including the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World), were launched in 1999 as the pioneering series of global sustainability benchmarks available in the market. The index family is comprised of global, regional and country benchmarks. As a result of this year's review, the following top three largest companies based on free-float market capitalization have been added to and deleted from the DJSI World. All changes are effective on Monday, December 23, 2024 . Additions: Airbus SE, Schlumberger Ltd, BAE Systems Plc Deletions: Alphabet Inc 1 , UnitedHealth Group Inc, ASML Holding NV 2 The full results and list of DJSI constituents will be available as of Monday, December 23 2024 , at https://www.spglobal.com/esg/csa/djsi-annual-review S&P Dow Jones Indices will be renaming a number of its sustainability and ESG-related indices (see Index Announcement ). As part of this update, the family of Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) will be renamed Dow Jones Best-in-Class Indices. The changes will become effective on Monday, February 10, 2025 . The S&P Global CSA Scores will continue to be a key factor in selecting constituents for the DJSI when they are renamed Dow Jones Best-in-Class Indices in February 2025 . For more information about the DJSI methodology, please visit: www.spglobal.com/spdji . ABOUT S&P DOW JONES INDICES S&P Dow Jones Indices is the largest global resource for essential index-based concepts, data and research, and home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average®. More assets are invested in products based on our indices than products based on indices from any other provider in the world. Since Charles Dow invented the first index in 1884, S&P DJI has been innovating and developing indices across the spectrum of asset classes helping to define the way investors measure and trade the markets. S&P Dow Jones Indices is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), which provides essential intelligence for individuals, companies, and governments to make decisions with confidence. For more information, visit: www.spglobal.com/spdji . 1 Still member of DJSI World Enlarged and DJSI North America 2 Still member of DJSI World Enlarged S&P DJI MEDIA CONTACTS: spdji.comms@spglobal.com View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sp-dow-jones-indices-announces-dow-jones-sustainability-indices-2024-review-results-302331745.html SOURCE S&P Dow Jones Indices
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