Carleton University faces backlash for employing professor convicted in 1980 Paris synagogue bombing
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The Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), and Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) of Brazil have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to advance private-sector development in fertiliser production, hybrid seed technology, and agricultural finance. A Presidency statement said the MoU was signed on behalf of the government by the Permanent Secretary of FMAFS, Mr. Temitope Fashedemi, and the President of FGV, Professor Carlos Ivan Simonsen Leal, at FGV Headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. According to the statement issued by Abiodun Oladunjoye, a Director of Information and Public Relations, on Sunday, the agreement marks a new phase of strategic collaboration between Nigeria and FGV. FGV is the lead implementer of the Green Imperative Project (GIP), one of the largest international agricultural technology transfer initiatives. Conceived in 2018, GIP is a $1.2 billion cooperative effort between Brazil and Nigeria, designed to modernise Nigeria’s agricultural sector through Brazilian expertise in tropical agriculture. Since the MoU was conceived in 2018, both parties have engaged in many meaningful discussions to advance its design and implementation. The project, supported by Deutsche Bank, aims to deliver transformative agricultural technologies and knowledge transfer over its 10-year duration. Over the next five years, the project will identify and support one agribusiness in each of Nigeria’s 774 local government areas with technical and financial resources, driving sustainable development and economic growth. “This partnership paves the way for Brazil to engage with Nigeria’s dynamic and rapidly growing agricultural sector. Together with FGV, we are poised to unlock the potential of private sector investment in key areas critical to our food security,” Fashedemi said at the signing ceremony. Under the MoU, private-sector projects on fertiliser production, hybrid seed technology, and agricultural financing are projected to attract $4.3 billion in private-sector investment. Senior members of Nigeria’s presidency, officials of FMAFS, and FGV’s leadership attended the signing ceremony, the statement added.
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned on Sunday Jewish settlers who attacked senior Israeli military officers including Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, the head of the army’s Central Command in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli army said that a group of settlers trailed Bluth and other officers in the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday, blocked their exit and hurled abuse at them. It added that five rioters had been arrested. “All violence directed against Israeli military officers and soldiers must be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement. Some of the crowd yelled “traitor” at Bluth, who had visited Hebron to attend an annual religious event in the city. On Saturday, dozens of settlers, some of them masked, hurled stones at Israeli troops and border police near the West Bank settlement of Itamar, police said. There has been a general surge in violence across the West Bank since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel. Palestinians have been repeatedly targeted by settlers, who want Israel to annex the West Bank. The Israeli military is meant to protect the local Palestinians, but Bluth acknowledged in August that the army had failed to safeguard civilians when settlers went on the rampage in one town. Palestinians say they are often left to the mercy of the settlers, with soldiers doing little or nothing to rein them in. Some settler youth groups reject the jurisdiction of the Israeli military in areas that they see as under their control and have attacked Israeli forces. Settler leaders have said violence has no place in their movement and have called for offenders to be prosecuted. Most countries deem Jewish settlements built on land Israel captured in a 1967 war to be illegal. Israel disputes this and cites historical and biblical ties to the land. Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent state. Separately, analysts and officials have said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing legal perils at home and abroad that point to a turbulent future for the Israeli leader and could influence the wars in Gaza and Lebanon. The International Criminal Court stunned Israel on Thursday by issuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the 13-month-old Gaza conflict. The bombshell came less than two weeks before Netanyahu is due to testify in a corruption trial that has dogged him for years and could end his political career if he is found guilty. He has denied any wrongdoing. While the domestic bribery trial has polarized public opinion, the prime minister has received widespread support from across the political spectrum following the ICC move, giving him a boost in troubled times.Global fund manager Blackrock describes as a rising mega-force set to transform economies worldwide. In its , Blackrock says the AI revolution will have three phases: buildout, adoption, and transformation. We're currently in the buildout phase. Blackrock estimates that AI infrastructure investment could top US$700 billion by 2030, which is the equivalent of 2% of US GDP. Tony Kim, Head of Blackrock's Global Technology Team in Fundamental Equities, said: The first phase is the race to build the infrastructure AI needs. It's happening now, with tech giants driving record levels of capital expenditure (capex) into data centers, AI models and the power systems that support them. We see big cloud providers and chip producers benefiting, along with companies in the utilities, energy, industrials, materials and real estate sectors that provide key inputs for this buildout. Which ASX shares are good AI investments? In this buildout phase, Morgans Head of Research, Alexander Mees, says on companies involved in digital infrastructure, such as data centres and data networks. ( ) and ( ) are the largest data centre operators in the ASX. Both companies have enjoyed significant share price growth in the year to date (YTD). NextDc shares closed at $16.25 on Friday, up 19% in the YTD. Goodman Group shares closed at $36.57, up 46% YTD. Morgans prefers NextDc shares and has a buy rating with a 12-month share price target of $20.50. At Nextdc's recent AGM, CEO Craig Scroggie said AI was a "defining opportunity" for the company. He commented: AI is set to drive one of the most profound transformations in the history of technology, ushering in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. For NextDc, this moment is a defining opportunity. We're not only positioned to meet the rising demand for AI but to set the benchmark for innovation, resilience, and sustainable data centre infrastructure. Meantime, Morgan Stanley has an overweight rating on Goodman shares due to the company's strong recent performance and pipeline of data centres. The broker has a 12-month share price target of $42.40 on the ASX stock. In terms of other ASX AI shares, Morgans also likes data network provider ( ). It has a buy rating on Megaport with a 12-month share price target of $12.50. Mees explains that Mees said: Megaport is a global cloud connection network and the leading Network as a Service provider. It operates the largest data centre connection business in the world, connecting to 850 data centres through a fully automated, on-demand telco network. We think it is uniquely placed to help business move data globally and benefit from the growth of data related to both cloud computing and AI. Goldman Sachs is also buy-rated on Megaport with a 12-month share price target of $10.40. In a recent note, the broker said: We believe MP1 will benefit from strong structural tailwinds from the adoption of public cloud including multi-cloud usage and the transition towards NaaS technologies. While acknowledging mixed near-term execution around the partner channel and the new MVE product, we are Buy rated on the name as we remain confident MP1 has a clear product advantage vs. peers and a decade-long runway for robust growth. Despite the soft operational trends in recent periods, we expect still robust top-line growth, with the increased focus on profitable growth supporting an attractive earnings profile over FY25-26. The Megaport share price finished the session on Friday at $7.75, down 15% YTD.
Propcom+ invests £95m to boost agribusinesses, targets 4m Nigerians
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