Category: English

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Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings: the first lady who redefined women’s power in Ghana.

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Nancy Henaku, Lecturer, Department of English, University of Ghana

Tributes for Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings (1948-2025) have been pouring in since her death on 23 October 2025. For many Ghanaians, her broad-ranging empowerment work as leader of the 31st December Women’s Movement is deserving of full recognition. The non-governmental organisation started as a women’s political movement and is still active.

Born on 17 November 1948, she became the wife of Jerry John Rawlings, who governed Ghana from 1981 until he handed over power in 2001.

Mourners, including Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama, have referenced Agyeman-Rawlings’ social welfare interventions through her organisation as evidence of her achievements. These include the provision of credit facilities and advocacy for women’s and children’s rights. She also established daycare centres for children, adult literacy centres and edible oil extraction industries.

A dimension of Agyeman-Rawlings’ politics that has been mainly overlooked, however, is her rhetorical leadership. This refers to the various persuasive means through which she performed her roles as a public figure.

I am a scholar of English who studies how people use language and other communicative forms (such as sound and visuals) to influence public discourse. I have used rhetorical and linguistic methods to study various sources on Agyeman-Rawlings, including a personal interview I conducted with her in 2017.

Agyeman-Rawlings’ speeches and writing reveal her motivations for shifting prevailing ideas about women’s social roles, her complex responses to public anxieties about her power (real or imagined) and her attempt at disrupting the archives by narrating herself into history.

Advocating for change

Agyeman-Rawlings’ rhetorical leadership transformed the role of the first lady in Ghana. In her own words:

A first lady’s work does not end with the collection of flowers and doing some protocols … I’d rather work and be emulated than to sit down and not do anything and not change anybody’s life.

For this reason, Agyeman-Rawlings spoke and wrote extensively in national and international contexts. Her rhetoric of empowerment centred the plights of women, children and the poor. For instance, she asserted at Beijing that “for us in Africa, the girl child is a special concern.”

Agyeman-Rawlings articulated a cosmopolitan ideology shaped by multiple influences. These include UN rights discourses, the language of mothering (such as nurturing, protecting), liberal feminism with its emphasis on gender reform through legal means, and the populist rhetoric of the Rawlings regime, with its emphasis on people power.

An assessment of Agyeman-Rawlings’ legacy must recognise that speaking and writing for change involve extensive physical, mental and emotional energy. And for many years, under her husband’s military regime, she performed this role without the professional support of a communications team.

The sociologist Mansah Prah describes Agyeman-Rawlings’ tenure as the era of the “grand feminist illusion” because although her organisations were seemingly pro-woman, their activities did not result in substantial changes in the lives of women.

However, as my research suggests, discussions on the limitations of Agyeman-Rawlings’ advocacy must consider at least two factors. First, the patriarchal postcolonial state always constrains women’s mass efforts at transformation. Second, the discourses that influence Agyeman-Rawlings’ rhetoric are themselves contradictory. For instance, the term “empowerment” is a catchall phrase that means different things to different people. Its vagueness makes it a safe political term. It does not radically shift conversations on gender.

Contesting power

Agyeman-Rawlings had an intense political life. One could say that through her gendered advocacy and mass mobilisation, she politicised the first lady role. For that reason, she was highly scrutinised during her active political years. In response to efforts to restrain her power, she drew on ambiguous gendered rhetorics, moral values and familial legacy

She was variously accused of being corrupt, power drunk and ostentatious, often with sexist undertones.

People rumoured that she, as first lady, was the real power behind the presidency. When her husband was preparing to leave office, there were stories that she wanted to succeed him. One news report claims that she countered such allegations by saying: “I have never said anywhere that I want to be president” while implying that she could change her mind if her husband said so. It takes a keen rhetorical intellect to navigate the slippery political terrain Agyeman-Rawlings found herself in.

She remained politically active after her tenure as first lady ended. In 2011, she contested against John Evans Atta Mills, Ghana’s president at the time, for the candidacy of the National Democratic Congress, which she helped form. She would later defect from the party to form her own, the National Democratic Party.

In these complex political tussles, she consistently appealed to morality and truth. In one instance, she countered ten years of media “bashing” by claiming that she had been raised right. Her 2016 acceptance speech for the National Democratic Party candidacy centred on “what is right” for the “people”.

My interview with her and other primary sources point to the influence of the calm, ethical and non-ideological pragmatism of Agyeman-Rawlings’ father, J.O.T. Agyeman, in her appeal to morality. Her father was a technocrat who was connected to Ghanaians belonging to different sides of Ghana’s two main political traditions, the Nkrumahist and the Danquah-Busia traditions. According to Agyeman-Rawlings, her parents’ home was a space for “spirited” conversations shaped by her father’s emphasis on logical and ethical argumentation rather than parochial political interests. This suggests that examining African first ladies merely in relation to their husbands’ politics, however crucial, would be a limited view.

Disrupting the archive

Agyeman-Rawlings wrote a memoir, unusually for a Ghanaian woman politician. As the historian Jean Allman suggests, there is a connection between the erasure of women in Ghanaian politics and the absence of autobiographical writings by nationalist women. My studies argue that Agyeman-Rawlings’ narrative (though incomplete) should be read as a rhetorical disruption of the postcolonial archives. These archives tend to erase or subordinate women’s contributions within a dominant masculine framing of the nation-state.

Agyeman-Rawlings is not the only woman to have laboured for the nation-state. Other women like pro-independence activist Hannah Kudjoe who were involved in similar social welfare activities have been written out of Ghanaian history. Agyeman-Rawlings understood that despite her extensive work, words still mattered if she was to be remembered.

By asserting that “it takes a woman” to “birth” the strength and future of a nation, she boldly inserts a feminine voice into a postcolonial national allegory that centres men. By so doing, she demands a rereading of “great men” like Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, and Jerry Rawlings. And in the absence of a Jerry Rawlings autobiography, Agyeman-Rawlings’ writing becomes doubly subversive.

Because women have been historically marginalised from the public sphere, a female politician would be scrutinised whether or not she was vocal. Agyeman-Rawlings chose to be visible and outspoken.

The Conversation

Nancy Henaku does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings: the first lady who redefined women’s power in Ghana. – https://theconversation.com/nana-konadu-agyeman-rawlings-the-first-lady-who-redefined-womens-power-in-ghana-269013

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New technologies like AI come with big claims – borrowing the scientific concept of validity can help cut through the hype

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Kai R. Larsen, Professor of Information Systems, University of Colorado Boulder

Closely examining the claims companies make about a product can help you separate hype from reality. Flavio Coelho/Moment via Getty Images

Technological innovations can seem relentless. In computing, some have proclaimed that “a year in machine learning is a century in any other field.” But how do you know whether those advancements are hype or reality?

Failures quickly multiply when there’s a deluge of new technology, especially when these developments haven’t been properly tested or fully understood. Even technological innovations from trusted labs and organizations sometimes result in spectacular failures. Think of IBM Watson, an AI program the company hailed as a revolutionary tool for cancer treatment in 2011. However, rather than evaluating the tool based on patient outcomes, IBM used less relevant measures – possibly even irrelevant ones, such as expert ratings rather than patient outcomes. As a result, IBM Watson not only failed to offer doctors reliable and innovative treatment recommendations, it also suggested harmful ones.

When ChatGPT was released in November 2022, interest in AI expanded rapidly across industry and in science alongside ballooning claims of its efficacy. But as the vast majority of companies are seeing their attempts at incorporating generative AI fail, questions about whether the technology does what developers promised are coming to the fore.

Black screen with IBM Watson logo on a Jeopardy stand with $1,200 stood between two contestants with $0 each
IBM Watson wowed on Jeopardy, but not in the clinic.
AP Photo/Seth Wenig

In a world of rapid technological change, a pressing question arises: How can people determine whether a new technological marvel genuinely works and is safe to use?

Borrowing from the language of science, this question is really about validity – that is, the soundness, trustworthiness and dependability of a claim. Validity is the ultimate verdict of whether a scientific claim accurately reflects reality. Think of it as quality control for science: It helps researchers know whether a medication really cures a disease, a health-tracking app truly improves fitness, or a model of a black hole genuinely describes how it behaves in space.

How to evaluate validity for new technologies and innovations has been unclear, in part because science has mostly focused on validating claims about the natural world.

In our work as researchers who study how to evaluate science across disciplines, we developed a framework to assess the validity of any design, be it a new technology or policy. We believe setting clear and consistent standards for validity and learning how to assess it can empower people to make informed decisions about technology – and determine whether a new technology will truly deliver on its promise.

Validity is the bedrock of knowledge

Historically, validity was primarily concerned with ensuring the precision of scientific measurements, such as whether a thermometer correctly measures temperature or a psychological test accurately assesses anxiety. Over time, it became clear that there is more than just one kind of validity.

Different scientific fields have their own ways of evaluating validity. Engineers test new designs against safety and performance standards. Medical researchers use controlled experiments to verify treatments are more effective than existing options.

Researchers across fields use different types of validity, depending on the kind of claim they’re making.

Internal validity asks whether the relationship between two variables is truly causal. A medical researcher, for instance, might run a randomized controlled trial to be sure that a new drug led patients to recover rather than some other factor such as the placebo effect.

External validity is about generalization – whether those results would still hold outside the lab or in a broader or different population. An example of low external validity is how many early studies that work in mice don’t always translate to people.

Construct validity, on the other hand, is about meaning. Psychologists and social scientists rely on it when they ask whether a test or survey really captures the idea it’s supposed to measure. Does a grit scale actually reflect perseverance or just stubbornness?

Finally, ecological validity asks whether something works in the real world rather than just under ideal lab conditions. A behavioral model or AI system might perform brilliantly in simulation but fail once human behavior, noisy data or institutional complexity enter the picture.

Across all these types of validity, the goal is the same: ensuring that scientific tools – from lab experiments to algorithms – connect faithfully to the reality they aim to explain.

Evaluating technology claims

We developed a method to help researchers across disciplines clearly test the reliability and effectiveness of their inventions and theories. The design science validity framework identifies three critical kinds of claims researchers usually make about the utility of a technology, innovation, theory, model or method.

First, a criterion claim asserts that a discovery delivers beneficial outcomes, typically by outperforming current standards. These claims justify the technology’s utility by showing clear advantages over existing alternatives.

For example, developers of generative AI models such as ChatGPT may see higher engagement with the technology the more it flatters and agrees with the user. As a result, they may program the technology to be more affirming – a feature called sycophancy – in order to increase user retention. The AI models meet the criterion claim of users considering them more flattering than talking to people. However, this does little to improve the technology’s efficacy in tasks such as helping resolve mental health issues or relationship problems.

AI sycophancy can lead users to break relationships rather than repair them.

Second, a causal claim addresses how specific components or features of a technology directly contribute to its success or failure. In other words, it is a claim that shows researchers know what makes a technology effective and exactly why it works.

Looking at AI models and excessive flattery, researchers found that interacting with more sycophantic models reduced users’ willingness to repair interpersonal conflict and increased their conviction of being in the right. The causal claim here is that the AI feature of sycophancy reduces a user’s desire to repair conflict.

Third, a context claim specifies where and under what conditions a technology is expected to function effectively. These claims explore whether the benefits of a technology or system generalize beyond the lab and can reach other populations and settings.

In the same study, researchers examined how excessive flattery affected user actions in other datasets, including the “Am I the Asshole” community on Reddit. They found that AI models were more affirming of user decisions than people were, even when the user was describing manipulative or harmful behavior. This supports the context claim that sycophantic behavior from an AI model applies across different conversational contexts and populations.

Measuring validity as a consumer

Understanding the validity of scientific innovations and consumer technologies is critical for scientists and the general public. For scientists, it’s a road map to ensure their inventions are rigorously evaluated. And for the public, it means knowing that the tools and systems they depend on – such as health apps, medications and financial platforms – are truly safe, effective and beneficial.

Here’s how you can use validity to understand the scientific and technological innovations happening around you.

Because it is difficult to compare every feature of two technologies against each other, focus on which features you value most from a technology or model. For example, do you prefer a chatbot to be accurate or better for privacy? Examine claims for it in that area, and check that it is as good as claimed.

Consider not only the types of claims made for a technology but also which claims are not made. For example, does a chatbot company address bias in its model? It’s your key to knowing whether you see untested and potentially unsafe hype or a genuine advancement.

By understanding validity, organizations and consumers can cut through the hype and get to the truth behind the latest technologies.

The Conversation

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. New technologies like AI come with big claims – borrowing the scientific concept of validity can help cut through the hype – https://theconversation.com/new-technologies-like-ai-come-with-big-claims-borrowing-the-scientific-concept-of-validity-can-help-cut-through-the-hype-259030

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Turn shopping stress into purposeful gift giving by cultivating ‘consumer wisdom’ during the holidays

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Michael Luchs, JS Mack Professor of Business, William & Mary

The most meaningful gifts reflect the giver’s values and identity – and the recipient’s, too. Halfpoint images/Moment via Getty Images

Every fall I anticipate the winter holidays with almost childlike joy. I look forward to familiar traditions with friends and family, eggnog in my coffee, and the sense that everyone is feeling a little lighter and more connected.

At the same time, I feel anxious and annoyed by the manufactured sense of urgency around gift giving: the endless searching and second-guessing shaped by advertisers, retailers and cultural expectations.

Don’t get me wrong, I mostly love giving – and, yes, receiving – gifts during the holidays. But as a researcher who studies consumer psychology, I see how those same forces, amplified by constant buying opportunities and frictionless online payments, make us especially vulnerable and often unwise this time of year.

Buying behavior, including gift giving, doesn’t just reflect needs and wants but also our values. Frequently, the values we talk about are more akin to aspirational ideals. Our actual values are revealed in the seemingly inconsequential choices we make day after day – including shopping.

The cumulative effects of our spending behaviors carry enormous implications for society, the environment and everyone’s well-being – from the purchaser and recipient to people working throughout the supply chain. This makes consumer behavior an especially important place to apply the emerging social science research on wisdom. While wisdom is defined in different ways, it can be understood as seeing decisions through a broader, values-informed perspective and acting in ways that promote well-being.

Over the past decade, consumer psychology researcher David Mick and I have studied what that means when it comes to consumption. “Consumer wisdom?” you may wonder. Isn’t that an oxymoron?

But there are vast differences in how we consume – and as our research shows, this can lead to very different effects on individual well-being.

Defining consumer wisdom

Building on some of David’s earlier work, I began my own research on consumer wisdom in the summer of 2015, interviewing dozens of people across the U.S. whom others in their communities had identified as models of wisdom. Previous research guided me to settings where I could easily find people who represented different aspects of wisdom: practicality on farms in upstate New York; environmental stewardship in Portland, Oregon; and community values in Tidewater, Virginia.

I didn’t use the term “wisdom,” though. It can be intimidating, and people often define it narrowly. Instead, I spoke with people whose peers described them as exemplary decision-makers – people leading lives that considered both the present and the future, and who balanced their needs with others’ needs.

'A woman wearing a green headscarf and holding a credit card in one hand smiles as she looks down at a tablet.
Consumer wisdom helps support well-being – and not just the purchaser’s.
Fajrul Islam/Moment via Getty Images

From those conversations, David and I developed a theory of consumer wisdom. With the help of a third co-author, Kelly Haws, we validated this framework through national surveys with thousands of participants, creating the consumer wisdom scale.

The scale shows how consumer wisdom is not some lofty ideal but a set of practical habits. Some are about managing money. Some are about goals and personal philosophy, and others are about broader impact.

We have found that six dimensions capture the vast majority of what we would call consumer wisdom:

  1. Responsibility: managing resources to support a rewarding yet realistic lifestyle.
  2. Purpose: prioritizing spending that supports personal growth, health and relationships.
  3. Perspective: drawing on past experiences and anticipating future consequences.
  4. Reasoning: seeking and applying reliable, relevant information; filtering out the noise of advertising and pop culture.
  5. Flexibility: being open to alternatives such as borrowing, renting or buying used.
  6. Sustainability: spending in ways that support the buyer’s social or environmental goals and values.

These are not abstract traits. They are everyday ways of aligning your spending with your goals, resources and values.

Importantly, people with higher scores on the scale report greater life satisfaction, as well as better health, financial security and sense of meaning in life. These results hold even after accounting for known determinants of well-being, such as job satisfaction and supportive relationships. In other words, consumer wisdom makes a distinctive and underappreciated contribution to well-being.

A man and woman who appear to be in the 60s or 70s pause and look at a product as they push a grocery cart through a market.
One tenet of consumer wisdom is sustainability: Does your purchase support the world you want to live in?
Luis Alvarez/Digital Vision via Getty Images

Putting it in practice

These six dimensions offer a different lens on holiday norms – one that can reframe how to think about gifts.

Interestingly, the English word “gift” traces back to the Old Norse rune gyfu, which means generosity. It’s a reminder that true giving is not about checking boxes on referral, revenue-generating gift guides or yielding to slick promotions or fads. Generosity is about focusing on another person’s well-being and our relationship with them.

From the perspective of consumer wisdom, that means asking what will genuinely contribute to the recipient’s life. One of the most important dimensions of consumer wisdom is “purpose”: the idea that thoughtful spending can nurture personal growth, health, enjoyment and sense of connection. Out with trendy gadgets, fast fashion and clutter-creating décor or knickknacks – things that feel exciting in the moment but are quickly forgotten. In with quality headphones, a shared cooking class, a board game, and a workshop or tools to support a hobby – gifts that can spark growth, joy and deeper connection.

In my ongoing research, people have described wise gifts as those that define value from the recipient’s perspective – gifts that stay meaningful and useful over time. The wisest gifts, respondents say, also affirm the recipient’s identity, showing that the giver truly understands and values them.

Wiser consumption is learnable, measurable and consequential. By choosing gifts that reflect purpose and the original spirit of “gyfu” – true generosity – we can make the holidays less stressful. More importantly, we can make them more meaningful: strengthening relationships in ways that bring joy long after.

The Conversation

Michael Luchs received funding from the Templeton Foundation through a grant from the University of Chicago School of Divinity.

– ref. Turn shopping stress into purposeful gift giving by cultivating ‘consumer wisdom’ during the holidays – https://theconversation.com/turn-shopping-stress-into-purposeful-gift-giving-by-cultivating-consumer-wisdom-during-the-holidays-265564

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A-League women: Wellington Phoenix players happy but fans stay away

Source: Radio New Zealand

Phoenix Mackenzie Barry (R with Melbourne City Leticia Mckenna during the A-League Women - Wellington Phoenix v Melbourne City FC at Porirua Park, Wellington on the 30 March 2025

Phoenix Mackenzie Barry during a game against Melbourne City FC at Porirua Park on 30 March 2025. Photo: Photosport

The Wellington Phoenix women lost more than half of their attending fans last season compared to the season prior.

On average the Phoenix had 739 people at their home games at Porirua Park in the 2024/25 A-League Women season. This was 61 percent fewer fans than the 2023/24 season and the biggest decline in the 12-team competition.

A report by Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) showed Adelaide United had the most supporters at home games with an average crowd of 2731.

Adelaide was one of two clubs to have have grown their attending fan base season-on-season with a 58 percent increase. Brisbane Roar had a minor increase of 1 percent to an average of 2344 supporters.

Western United, a club currently in hibernation, had an average of 676 fans, the lowest of all clubs.

Across the A-League Women the average attendance was 1559 in 2024/25, down by 26 percent.

The Wellington Phoenix women opened their current season on Saturday, as part of the double-header with the men’s New Zealand derby, and the club reported 4655 fans in attendance at Sky Stadium. It was the second highest women’s attendance in the club’s history.

The Phoenix have nine more home games this season to prove this was not an anomaly.

The A-League Women peaked at an average attendance of 2139 in the 2017/18 season and had been in a decline until the 2023/24 season.

The PFA report noted the biggest factor in the downturn last season was likely that the Women’s World Cup-driven boost in the the 2023/24 season crowds had not been sustained.

“These findings change the narrative around the league’s trajectory. Instead of asking whether the league is growing fast enough, the question now is whether the league is in fact growing,” the PFA report said.

In August Auckland FC announced it would now not enter the A-League Women until at least the 2027/28 season as the APL, who run the league, wanted to review the competition before committing to expanding.

“It is important we take into consideration the challenges unique to our women’s game, and we expand the league at the right pace and with the right investment to ensure long-term sustainable growth,” APL executive chairperson Stephen Conroy said.

Fans during the A-League Women - Wellington Phoenix v Melbourne City FC at Porirua Park on the 30 March 2025.

Fans during the A-League Women – Wellington Phoenix v Melbourne City FC at Porirua Park on the 30 March 2025. Photo: Photosport

A survey of Australian fans by Gemba and included in the PFA report claimed “…the women’s supporter experience is really quite second rate”.

Fans were asked to rank factors that would attract supporters to games. At the bottom of the list was high quality on-field performance. At the top was access to players in-person and through digital content.

While fans were not flocking to Phoenix games the players ranked their own satisfaction in the club environment very highly.

The PFA report showed the Phoenix players had seen a large improvement in scores for club operations and culture last season.

The Phoenix women believed their integration with the men’s side of the club was better than it had ever been. The Phoenix were the top of the league in this category and still quite a way ahead of the next best Melbourne City.

“Given that Wellington finished ninth, this result is evidence that the players’ survey feedback is not simply a reflection of the vibes created by on-field results, but a genuine attempt to assess distinct elements of their experiences. The club deserves credit for the environment it has created,” the PFA report said.

Not everything was rosy for players across the league. According to the report 67 percent of players experienced sport-related psychological distress last season.

The share of players experiencing global (general) psychological distress, anxiety, and depression was also significantly higher in 2025 than in 2020.

In 2024/25, 41 percent of the women experienced disordered eating, 34 percent experienced alcohol misuse and 28 percent had disturbed sleep.

Players across the A-League Women would also rather be playing in a different competition. Results showed the players were eyeing the WSL in the United Kingdom, the NWSL in the United States or another overseas league, making the A-League the competition they least wanted to be playing in.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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A portrait of a ‘tragic’ heiress is expected to sell for more than $265 million

Source: Radio New Zealand

Two years ago, Gustav Klimt’s final portrait – a vibrant portrait of an unidentified woman with a fan – topped the artist’s auction record when it sold for a staggering US$108 million (NZ$191m).

The Austrian painter’s record is expected to be shattered again by a monumental, six-foot-tall portrait of a young heiress that was looted by the Nazis and nearly destroyed during World War II.

Rarely seen for decades, it hung in the home of the Estée Lauder heir Leonard A. Lauder until the last years of his life (he passed away in June).

Leonard Lauder at the Elton John AIDS Foundation's 17th Annual An Enduring Vision Benefit on 5 November, 2018 in New York City.

Leonard Lauder at the Elton John AIDS Foundation’s 17th Annual An Enduring Vision Benefit on 5 November, 2018 in New York City.

AFP / Angela Weiss

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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Israel thanks Fiji and PNG for opening Jerusalam embassies

Source: Radio New Zealand

An Israeli minister touring the Pacific to discuss defence and cooperation says Fiji and Papua New Guinea are “great friends”.

Israeli deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel recently visited the two countries. RNZ Pacific spoke with her during a brief stop in Auckland.

She said the main goal of her trip was to thank PNG and Fiji for their support, including the opening of embassies in Jerusalem.

James Marape, left, and Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on 6 September 2023.

Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on 17 September 2025. Photo: Facebook.com / The Prime Minister of Israel

Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially inaugurated Fiji’s resident embassy in Jerusalem. 17 September 2025

PNG Prime Minister James Marape and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on 6 September 2023. Photo: Fiji Government

“It was an important message for our people and it was a great opportunity for me to thank them in person and to see how we can strengthen our friendship.”

The countries were “strategic allies” who worked together in the areas of agriculture, water technology and cybersecurity, Haskel said.

She pointed to the agricultural industry in PNG.

“They used to import almost all of their products, vegetables, fruits,” she said.

“There are a few Israeli companies that went into the industry, developing a lot of the agricultural aspect of it to the point where all of the products they’re eating are local and they’re even exporting some of these products.”

Israeli farms there had also helped with the growth of the local dairy industry, she said.

“This is part of the collaboration that we want to do,” she said. “I came with a delegation of businessmen coming from those industries to see how can continue and develop it, it’s a win-win situation.”

An agreement with Fiji has been expanded to see more agricultural students sent to Israel for an 11-month paid internship.

Also while in Fiji, Haskel signed a memorandum of understanding on cybersecurity.

She said that came after three hacking events of the Fijian government’s system.

“[The MOU] starts a dialogue between our cybersecurity agency and between the proper agencies in Fiji as well,” she said.

“This is something that they’re starting to build, we’ve got a lot of experience with it and I think the dialogue can give them and lot of advice and also to connect them to quite a few Israeli companies.”

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel speaks with RNZ Pacific reporter Kaya Selby about her recent trip to Fiji & The Solomon Islands as well as the Israel-Palestine war and the world's response.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel Photo: RNZ/Nick Monro

A representative from Israeli defence and security firm Elbit was among the delegation.

“They have a lot of cybersecurity systems so it’s a start of a building of a relationship,” Haskel said.

Israel’s relationships with PNG and Fiji had been going for many decades, and were not about the amount of aid given, she said.

“Israel is not a major economical power that has a lot of money to spend, especially during times of war,” she said.

“It’s not about the amount of money that we can invest but the quality and the things and how it affects the people.”

Asked about aid projects that had been cancelled, Haskel said Israel had honoured any commitments it made. It was not responsible for changes to United States policy that had seen trilateral agreements cut, she said.

“There were many projects that were committed in many different countries, together Israel and the Americans, some are continuing and some are cancelled,” she said.

“This is part of [US President Donald] Trump’s policy. We can’t predict that.”

Haskel also met with people from indigenous, Christian and farming communities while in Fiji and PNG and she said Israel is also hoping to become and observer of the Pacific Islands Forum next year.

The PNG government said it continued to regard Israel as a valuable partner in advancing shared development goals.

Meanwhile, Fiji’s government said the “historic” visit between the nations would foster continued cooperation, innovation and friendship.

Prime Minister Rabuka said the cybersecurity agreement was “a strategic step forward to strengthen Fiji’s security framework and promote deeper cooperation across sectors”.

Israel’s influence in the Pacific has been under the microscope recently, including around the United Nations vote on Palestinian statehood.

It follows years of wrangling between super powers China and the United States over aid and influence in the region.

Oliver Nobetau, a Papuan development expert at the Australian Lowy Institute, told RNZ Pacific that Israel wanted to lock in UN support for the future.

“I think have demonstrated their support, but also may have an ability to sort of sway between votes,” he said.

“We’ve seen it, between the switching from recognition from China to Taiwan. And this can be another instance now where they can be persuaded to vote in a different way.”

On aid, Nobetau said there would now be a hope that Israel increased its aid to the region.

“I would say there’s an expectation on Israel to carry on or fill in that funding gap,” she said.

“The question now falls on the Pacific governments themselves, if this is something that’s worth pursuing … they would prefer, if the USA are now is out of the picture, if Israel can continue to fill that.”

Nobetau expected Israel to look at bringing its military and intelligence services closer to the Pacific.

“From what I recall, when I was working with the government, there were institutional exchanges with the Mossad: internal capabilities to collect intelligence is something that’s that’s needed within Pacific countries,” he said.

“So I think that could be another area as well.”

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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How number systems shape our thinking and what it means for learning, language and culture

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jean-Charles Pelland, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen

Most of us have little trouble working out how many millilitres are in 2.4 litres of water (it’s 2,400). But the same can’t be said when we’re asked how many minutes are in 2.4 hours (it’s 144).

That’s because the Indo-Arabic numerals we often use to represent numbers are base-10, while the system we often use to measure time is base-60.

Expressing time in decimal notation leads to an interaction between these two bases, which can have implications at both the cognitive and cultural level.

Such base interactions and their consequences are among the important topics covered in a new issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society journal, which I co-edited with colleagues Andrea Bender (University of Bergen), Mary Walworth (French National Centre for Scientific Research) and Simon J. Greenhill (University of Auckland).

The themed issue brings together work from anthropology, linguistics, philosophy and psychology to examine how humans conceptualize numbers and the numeral systems we build around them.

What are bases, and why do they matter?

Despite using numeral bases on a daily basis, few of us have reflected on the nature of these cognitive tools. As I explain in my contribution to the issue, bases are special numbers in the numeral systems we use.

Because our memories aren’t unlimited, we can’t represent each number with its own unique label. Instead, we use a small set of numerals to build larger ones, like “three hundred forty-two.”

That’s why most numeral systems are structured around a compositional anchor — a special number with a name that serves as a building block to form names for other numbers. Bases are anchors that exploit powers of a special number to form complex numerical expressions.

The English language, for example, uses a decimal system, meaning it uses the powers of 10 to compose numerals. So we compose “three hundred and forty-two” using three times the second power of 10 (100), four times the first power of 10 (10) and two times the zeroth power of 10 (one).

This base structure allows us to represent numbers of all sizes without overloading our cognitive resources.

Languages affect how we count

Despite the abstract nature of numbers, the degree to which numeral systems transparently reflect their bases has very concrete implications — and not just when we tell time. Languages with less transparent rules will take longer to learn, longer to process and can lead to more calculation and dictation errors.

Take French numerals, for example. While languages like French, English and Mandarin all share the same base of 10, most dialects of French have what could politely be called a quirky way of representing numbers in the 70-99 range.



Read more:
How counting by 10 helps children learn about the meaning of numbers

Seventy is soixante-dix in French, meaning “six times 10 plus 10,” while 80 uses 20 as an anchor and becomes quatre-vingts, meaning “four twenties” (or “four twenty,” depending on the context). And 90 is quatre vingt dix, meaning “four twenty ten.”

French is far from being alone in being quirky with its numerals. In German, numbers from 10 to 99 are expressed with the ones before the tens, but numbers over 100 switch back to saying the largest unit first.

Even in English, the fact that “twelve” is said instead of “ten two” hides the decimal rules at play. Such irregularities spread far beyond languages.

How bases shape learning and thought

Base-related oddities are spread out across the globe and have very real implications for how easily children learn what numbers are and how they interact with objects such as blocks, and for how efficiently adults manipulate notations.

For example, one study found that lack of base transparency slows down the acquisition of some numerical abilities in children, while another found similar negative effects on how quickly they learn how to count.

Another study found that children from base-transparent languages were quicker to use large blocks worth 10 units to represent larger numbers (for example, expressing 32 using three large blocs and two small ones) than children with base-related irregularities.

While Mandarin’s perfectly transparent decimal structure can simplify learning, a new research method suggests that children may find it easier to learn what numbers are if they are exposed to systems with compositional anchors that are smaller than 10.

In general, how we represent bases has very concrete cognitive implications, including how easily we can learn number systems and which types of systems will tend to be used in which contexts.

A group of people in white protective suits and head protectors stand in front of a robotic spacecraft
Technicians lower the Mars Climate Orbiter onto its work stand in the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility-2 in 1998.
(NASA)

At a cultural level, base representation influences our ability to collaborate with scientists across disciplines and across cultures. This was starkly illustrated by the infamous Mars Climate Orbiter incident, when a mix-up between metric and imperial units caused a $327 million spacecraft to crash into Mars in 1999.

Why understanding bases matters

Numeracy — the ability to understand and use numbers — is a crucial part of our modern lives. It has implications for our quality of life and for our ability to make informed decisions in domains like health and finances.

For example, being more familiar with numbers will influence how easily we can choose between retirement plans, how we consider trade-offs between side-effects and benefits when choosing between medications or how well we understand how probabilities apply to our investments.

And yet many struggle to learn what numbers are, with millions suffering from math anxiety. Developing better methods for helping people learn how to manipulate numbers can therefore help millions of people improve their lives.

Research on the cognitive and cultural implications of bases collected in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society journal can help make progress towards our understanding of how we think about numbers, marking an important step towards making numbers more accessible to everyone.

The Conversation

Jean-Charles Pelland’s work has been made possible by financial support from the ‘QUANTA: Evolution of Cognitive Tools for Quantification’ project, which has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 951388).

– ref. How number systems shape our thinking and what it means for learning, language and culture – https://theconversation.com/how-number-systems-shape-our-thinking-and-what-it-means-for-learning-language-and-culture-268168

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The Running Man is the most fun you’ll have at the cinema this year

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Matt Jacobsen, Senior Lecturer in Film History in the School of Society and Environment, Queen Mary University of London

Nearly four decades after Arnold Schwarzenegger’s muscle-bound version sprinted across screens, The Running Man returns to cinemas. In Edgar Wright’s hands, this adaptation is a sharper, smarter reflection of a culture that still can’t look away from spectacle.

Following The Long Walk, this is the second film adaptation in 2025 of a Stephen King novel originally published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Both films are set in a near-future America under a totalitarian regime whose oppressed population glue themselves to violent televised contests.

Schwarzenegger’s dreadful version of The Running Man in 1987 used the title of King’s novel and the concept of deadly game shows in a future America – but the similarities ended there. Director Edgar Wright’s hugely entertaining new adaptation is more faithful to the plot of King’s book, if not the tone.



Read more:
How Stephen King’s Bachman stories are fuelling 2025’s dark cinematic moments

In The Running Man, America is effectively run by television syndicate The Network. They keep the population entertained and obedient through life-and-death TV game shows. Participants in the most popular show play a game of hide-and-seek against a team of armed hunters. The public are promised cash rewards if they report a sighting of the contestant that leads to their capture and killing.

Ben Richards (Glenn Powell) is a blue-collar worker who wants to compete to win money for his sick daughter’s medication. The film follows Richards as he encounters eccentric citizens (with cameos by Michael Cera, William H Macy and an unhinged Sandra Dickinson) who are either keen to help or hinder him as he flees north from New York City along the east coast of America.

Trailer for The Running Man.

The Running Man’s opening scenes vividly show a stratified America, a vast poverty gap dividing the complacent ultra rich from a working class without basic comfort and sustenance. Richards, like many of King’s Bachman book protagonists (and King himself when writing the first draft of this novel in 1972) is driven by a deep-seated rage at the injustices in the American system.

The Network’s oily executive Dan Killian (a typically brilliant Josh Brolin) knows Richards will make great cathartic TV for an impotent, rage-filled population – he’s “the angriest man he’s ever seen”. The overarching theme is that the populace likes it this way and can’t imagine an alternative. The Network’s programming offers a satisfying pound of flesh to their frenzied viewers, whose primal urges are kept at bay by the spectacle of violence. As Killian hammily asserts, for Americans: “Bloodlust is our birthright!”

Tuning into current debates, The Network heavily edits its programmes with use of seamless AI. The film suggests the population is uninterested in whether their entertainment and news are authentic or faked. As clearly doctored footage of Richards is screened, the crowd bays aggressively for his blood. In the film’s final act, there is the suggestion that this fervour could be redirected with hostility towards the hand that feeds.



Read more:
‘AI actor’ Tilly Norwood is dividing Hollywood – but real acting requires humanity

The film’s early depiction of the technology saturated sprawl of New York City is a superbly realised absurdist vision of an oppressive media-run state. It strongly evokes the style and tone of influential weekly British Science Fiction comic 2000 AD (1977-present), with its towering, neon-lit concrete structures. The overpowered and excessively violent police force particularly resembles the futuristic satire of the comic’s most famous character, Judge Dredd.

Wright and frequent collaborator Simon Pegg have expressed their admiration for the comic and its amplified visions of contemporary politics and society. Like 2000 AD, The Running Man is social commentary that delivers its message through aggressive, fast-paced action and explosive violence.

Edgar Wright and genre cinema

This is a great year for King adaptations, and while The Long Walk’s publicity campaign promoted his name heavily, The Running Man features Wright’s name and rising star Powell with no mention of the writer. This choice is likely to avoid misconceptions that this could be a horror film. Rather this is a breathless, hyper-kinetic action film that, like the smaller scale Baby Driver (2017) showcases Wright’s ability to beautifully direct explosive car chases and gun battles.

At the heart of Wright’s films is a love of genre cinema. In his last film, Last Night in Soho (2021), he paid tribute to gothic London films and to the cinematic myth of the swinging 60s. Here he shifts gears and celebrates the uncomplicated pleasures of the high-speed thrills of 1980s and 1990s action films in the vein of Die Hard (1988). It is an interpretation of King’s work that replaces the dour, bitter tragedy of the source material with a satirical, cartoonish absurdism.

This comedic approach works superbly in the film’s first half but can’t quite sustain the more serious critiques of American politics and media culture that the script tries to deliver in the final act.

The Running Man loses tension and nuance in its second half, especially with the late introduction of poorly conceived character Amelia Williams (Emilia Jones). She’s a young woman and member of society’s comfortable class who is embroiled in Richards’ escape plans. Her encounter with Richards leads her unconvincingly to reflect on her privilege and the injustices of her society.

The film wants viewers to imagine that there is potential for the entitled and complacent to reflect and for resistance against totalitarian control to blossom with the right catalyst. This is a deliberate choice to run counter to King’s original nihilistic vision. But it does not ring true in the face of what we’ve been shown about the film’s grim world. The final act messaging feels rote and unearned. Richards delivers a clunky, didactic dialogue that sits at odds with the film’s more interesting questions around the nature of violent spectacle and human nature – and our own enjoyment of the film’s violence.

Taken as a feather-light, fugitive-on-the-run film, this is an extraordinarily entertaining piece of mainstream action cinema. If you overlook messy plotting in the final act, it’s the most fun you are likely to have in the cinema this year. As a more focused and coherent critique of the threat of totalitarianism and media dominance, however, The Long Walk has the distinct edge over this film. Those looking for a more revealing social commentary may be left disappointed.

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The Conversation

Matt Jacobsen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. The Running Man is the most fun you’ll have at the cinema this year – https://theconversation.com/the-running-man-is-the-most-fun-youll-have-at-the-cinema-this-year-269314

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How China’s latest aircraft carrier will challenge western maritime dominance

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Basil Germond, Professor of International Security, School of Global Affairs, Lancaster University

China’s new Fujian aircraft carrier, unveiled recently by president Xi Jinping with great fanfare, has been hailed by Chinese state media as a major milestone in the country’s naval modernisation programme and a key development in the counry’s aspirations to become a maritime power.

In the context of Beijing’s sustained seapower strategy, the long-term implications for the security and leadership of the global maritime order are certainly significant and enduring.

The launch means China now has three aircraft carriers in service and is capable of maintaining a continuous carrier presence at sea. And there have been reports of satellite images which suggest construction has already begun on China’s fourth carrier.

This will increase Beijing’s ability to preventatively deploy warships to faraway locations it considers important. It gives China the potential to control the airspace wherever their battle group is operating, as well as the ability to project air power in more distant theatres of conflict.

The new carrier also means China can launch heavier and specialist aircraft, for example with airborne early-warning systems and fighter jets equipped with greater fuel and payload capacity.

This expands Beijing’s operational options. It elevates China into a select group of four nations (US, UK, France, China) capable of independently operating a carrier battle group with the capacity to generate substantial strategic advantages from the sea.

Among this group, however, the US remains far ahead. It enjoys a significant lead in terms of carrier fleet size, technological sophistication, operational experience, global reach and sustained carrier strike capabilities.

Aircraft carriers are obviously key naval assets in confrontations between comparable nations in open ocean environments – known as “blue-water engagements”. But they are also important in controlling the maritime battlespace – particularly through air superiority – and in projecting power ashore.

The Fujian does not dramatically shift the global balance of power in China’s favour. But its enhanced land-attack capabilities nonetheless expand Beijing’s operational toolkit, allowing a more flexible and assertive naval strategy.

A strong symbolic power

Since the second world war, aircraft carriers have replaced battleships as the capital ships, the principal and most powerful warships in any country’s navy that are designed to form the core of a fleet and deliver decisive combat power.

Such capital ships carry strong symbolic weight. They signal a state’s ability to mobilise the resources required to procure, sustain and operate such complex platforms, as well as its intent to function as an ocean-going naval power.

In this light, China’s aircraft carrier programme has considerable symbolic resonance. It reflects both Beijing’s intrinsic naval capabilities and its extrinsic power – that is, its increasingly elevated status within the international pecking order.

China’s comprehensive seapower strategy

China’s carrier programme needs to be understood as part of Beijing’s wider seapower strategy. Unlike other authoritarian states such as Russia or Iran, the power base of China’s regime is much more dependent on international trade and so on freedom of navigation. Consequently, China does not seek to disrupt the global maritime order. It wants to lead it and initiate a new cycle of global dominance.

To that end, Beijing is not only expanding its naval power but, perhaps more significantly, its civilian seapower. This includes a robust shipbuilding industry, a large and growing merchant marine registered as Chinese. And it has made substantial direct investments in critical western infrastructure, such as ports.



Read more:
Maritime power shapes the world order – and is undergoing a sea change

Many of these investments have been made via private Chinese firms which maintain close ties with the state. This gives Beijing additional leverage to exercise civilian seapower to further its political interests. For example, it can use Chinese shipping companies to circumvent western sanctions on Russia, or interfere in European ports owned by Chinese firms.

In the South China Sea, Beijing aggressively uses its fishing fleet, backed by its coastguard and navy to achieve a degree of control over contested areas it considers to have economic or strategic importance.

So the commissioning of the Fujian is more than a technical milestone for the Chinese navy – it is a signal of intent. It reinforces China’s growing capacity and willingness to shape the maritime domain. As part of a broader seapower strategy, it reflects Beijing’s ambition not just to contribute to, but to lead, the global maritime order.

The Conversation

Basil Germond does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. How China’s latest aircraft carrier will challenge western maritime dominance – https://theconversation.com/how-chinas-latest-aircraft-carrier-will-challenge-western-maritime-dominance-269406

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Climate disasters will send many countries into a debt spiral – but there’s a way out

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Courtney Lindsay, Senior Research Officer, Global Risks and Resilience, ODI Global

Kristian Muthugalage/Shutterstock

After years of disciplined reform and painful sacrifice, Jamaica had done what few global debt specialists thought possible. Through tough and sometimes controversial spending cuts and fiscal discipline, it slashed its debt from a staggering 150% of GDP in 2013 to just 62% by 2024.

By 2025, Jamaica was hitting its stride. One internationally recognised credit rating agency upgraded the country’s credit ratings from category BB- to BB (slightly less vulnerable in the near term to adverse economic conditions).

This gives the country more leeway to borrow on the international market. Unemployment and crime rates were falling. Jamaica’s economy was on track for one of its best years in decades.

However, in late October Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm, tore across the island, leaving catastrophic destruction in its wake. The island nation was prepared, but not protected.

Preliminary estimates put the damage at a staggering US$7 billion (£5.3 billion) – equivalent to 28-32% of last year’s GDP. Jamaica has a multi-layered financial safety net: a contingency fund, catastrophe insurance through the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility – which will pay out US$91.9 million, its largest ever payout – and a US$150 million catastrophe bond.

But these buffers barely make a dent in the US$7 billion recovery bill. There is a shortfall of more than US$6 billion. Given the scale of the destruction, Jamaica will likely have to borrow to fund its recovery – deepening its debt, just as it had emerged from a debt crisis.

This loop of disaster, debt, recovery and the another disaster does not just affect Jamaica. Increasingly frequent climate disasters wipe out years of progress in small island developing states, forcing them into increasingly costly borrowing to fund their recovery.

One study shows that climate destruction is becoming more expensive for small island developing states such as Fiji, Guyana and the Dominican Republic, because these nations typically rely on expensive private external debt to cover their disaster recovery costs.

Our team at the thinktank ODI Global estimates that between 2000 to 2022, extreme weather events in small island developing states may have caused an estimated total of US$141 billion in economic loss and damage, of which US$53 billion (38%) could be attributed to climate change.



Read more:
The Moana effect: how small island developing states are bringing their struggle against climate change to the world

For severe tropical cyclones and hurricanes, the estimated total economic loss and damage during the same period could be as high as US$122 billion. Climate change may have been responsible for US$52 billion of that. This translates to a total loss of US$5.3 billion from hurricanes, with US$2 billion attributable to climate change each year.

For countries with fragile economies and limited fiscal space, these shocks are existential. Each dollar spent on rebuilding is a dollar not spent on healthcare, education or infrastructure. To meet their development goals, small island developing states would need to raise social spending by 6.6% of GDP by 2030.

Yet disaster recovery and debt repayments continue to consume their limited budgets. The ODI global study found that among 23 small island developing states, external debt service payments are now growing faster than spending on education, health and capital investment combined.

What is loss and damage? An expert explains.

A wake-up call

Jamaica’s story is a preview of what’s to come if the world doesn’t change course.

As global leaders gather for the UN climate summit, Cop30, Jamaica’s devastation should be a wake-up call. The promise of the fund for responding to loss and damage, launched in 2023 to help developing countries pay for the damage from climate-related events caused by global warming, remains largely unfulfilled, woefully undercapitalised, and a low priority for developed countries.

Indeed, loss and damage issues are being currently sidelined at Cop30, with the overall 2035 climate finance goal, national pledges known as nationally determined contributions, and adaptation indicators being top of the agenda. Small islands such as Jamaica, represented by the Alliance of Small Island States (a coalition of leaders of these most vulnerable nations), flagged concerns before the conference had even begun that loss and damage finance has fallen off the radar completely.

red cross white building with sign 'disaster preparedness'
Fiji Red Cross has provided thousands of people with emergency relief since Cyclone Winston made landfall in Fiji on Feb 2016.
ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock

Developed countries can help ensure the viability of small island developing states in a harsh climate context by offering predictable and accessible grant finance for loss and damage to support recovery and reconstruction. By providing debt relief for climate-vulnerable countries after disasters, they can also ensure that rebuilding does not result in deeper debt.

Without these commitments, the loss and damage fund risks drifting into obscurity as a symbolic gesture rather than the lifeline small island developing states desperately need.

Hurricane Melissa’s impact on Jamaica, Hurricane Maria’s devastation in Dominica in 2017 and several other climate disasters demonstrate that even with fiscal discipline, prudent planning, strong institutions and improved governance, these small island nations remain just one storm away from fiscal collapse and unsustainable debt – the repayment of which diverts critical resources from health, education, and sustainable development.

Without decisive action, Cop30 will fail the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations. Small island developing states need real systemic change, not unfulfilled pledges.

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The Conversation

Courtney Lindsay is affiliated with ODI Global

Emily Wilkinson is affiliated with ODI Global, and receives funding from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Vikrant Panwar is affiliated with ODI Global.

– ref. Climate disasters will send many countries into a debt spiral – but there’s a way out – https://theconversation.com/climate-disasters-will-send-many-countries-into-a-debt-spiral-but-theres-a-way-out-269318