1) Finland is teaching school students how to identify
fake news (and we should follow suit)
As the trolling
ramped up in 2015, President Sauli Niinisto called on every Finn to take
responsibility for the fight against false information. A year later, Finland
brought in American experts to advise officials on how to recognize fake news,
understand why it goes viral and develop strategies to fight it. The education
system was also reformed to emphasize critical thinking.
“It’s not just a
government problem, the whole society has been targeted. We are doing our part,
but it’s everyone’s task to protect the Finnish democracy,” Toivanen said,
before adding: “The first line of defense is the kindergarten teacher.”
The students broke
off into groups, grabbing laptops and cell phones to investigate their chosen
topics – the idea is to inspire them to become digital detectives, like a
rebooted version of Sherlock Holmes for the post-Millennial generation.
Her class is the
embodiment of Finland’s critical thinking curriculum, which was revised in 2016
to prioritize the skills students need to spot the sort of disinformation that
has clouded recent election campaigns in the US and across Europe.
2) The slow building of the second iron curtain -
China and US fight it out with Huawei caught in the crosshairs
The worries about
Huawei have historically stemmed from the fact that the company’s founder, Ren
Zhengfei, was a technician for the People’s Liberation Army prior to founding
Huawei — not to mention the tens of billions of dollars the Chinese government has
invested in the company. Fears have been exacerbated in the wake of China’s
passage of its National Intelligence Law and other cybersecurity laws in 2017,
which, according to Lake, “compel corporations to assist in offensive
intelligence operations” instead of just requiring them to cooperate with law
enforcement on national security matters.
3) India starts spending meaningfully for solar energy
India's investments
in renewable sources are now outpacing those in fossil fuels. The falling costs
of bringing solar power online as well as favourable government policies have
seen solar’s star rise in recent years. At a time when other nations are curbing
coal use, India is bucking the trend and the vast majority of the country is
still powered by fossil fuels, mostly coal.
4) One of the oldest industries (meat industry) is
about to be disrupted by factory produced meat
In the foothills of
a mountain in a rural part of Japan northwest of Tokyo, a farm called Toriyama
painstakingly breeds and raises cattle to make Wagyu beef–delicately marbled
meat that sells for around $100 a pound. In a lab in San Francisco, food scientists
now plan to recreate Toriyama’s meat in a bioreactor.
The best way to deal
with the meat challenge is just to make better meat without all the issues
associated with killing animals today.” Those aren’t just issues of animal
ethics; the meat industry is also one of the world’s largest contributors to
climate change. The basic techniques aren’t new and have been used in medical
research for decades–for example, in tissue engineering of organs for drug
discovery. The company still has major challenges ahead. After researchers
figure out how to make cells grow quickly enough to address cost issues, it
will move its focus to flavor; the nutrients fed to the cells can be tweaked to
affect the taste of the meat.
5) How could auditors miss the issues in IL&FS?
There are a host of
allegations against the auditors, from missing out on the sprawling IL&FS
subsidiary empire and not highlighting the asset-liability mismatch on the
company’s books, to inappropriate valuation of assets, poor recognition of
non-performing assets (NPAs), and non-detection of circular rotation of funds
between group entities.
The glaring failures
prompted the government to set an example with this case. “Do the auditors work
for the management or for stakeholders. Can auditors blindly accept the version
of the management and rely on comfort from management?" asked a senior
SFIO officer.
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