Day: July 18, 2022

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Italy-USA: 6 Thousand Runners in Central Park New York Celebrates the Return of the ‘Italy Run’

Italy-USA: 6 Thousand runners in Central Park New York celebrate the return of ‘Italy-Run’

Almost 6,000 runners took part Saturday morning in the 4-mile (6.5 km) race, organised by the Consulate General of Italy.

NEW YORK, July 18, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — After the stop imposed by the pandemic, the Italy Run, now a classic for the New York runner community, is back in Central Park. Almost 6,000 runners (and many others were excluded after the tickets sold out) took part saturday morning in the 4-mile (6.5 km) race, organized by the Consulate General of Italy, with the contribution of the New York Road Runners (NYRR) and Ferrero North America. Many other people crowded the ‘Festival’ set up for the post-race, under the banner of Italianness and Made in Italy products.

“It wasn’t easy, we wanted to organize it last year too, but it wasn’t possible. In fact, the Italian community in New York and the runners community have waited for three years. Now we’re back and it’s fantastic,” says the consul general of Italy in New York, Fabrizio Di Michele, who worked hard for the return of the Italy Run in Central Park. “It could not have been better than this. This is not just a celebration of Italy in the heart of Manhattan – continues Di Michele – it is a celebration of sport and friendship and also a great day for relations between Italy and the United States, particularly for the special relationship between Italy and New York .”

The key partner of the Italy Run are the New York Road Runners (NYRR). “This has always been one of the favorite races of our running community. We knew that if the Italy Run was back, runners would flock here to celebrate the event,” says Kerin Hempel, CEO of New York Road Runners, pleased by the thousands. of runners who took part in the race, which ran along East Drive and West Drive in Central Park. Todd Siwak, CEO of Ferrero North America, the main sponsor of the event, also celebrates the saturday’s “fantastic event”, underlining the commitment of the Nutella company for outdoor activities, “with a program that sponsors 29 events across the country, all focused on the joy of outdoor activities.”

For the record, the race was won by New Yorker Robert Napolitano – “I’m half Italian on my father’s side,” he wanted to point out – for the men and by Grace Kahura of Boulder, Colorado, for the women. Starting from this edition, the ranking for non-binary people has also been established, won by Pierce Lydon, of Glendale, New York.

“Next year we want to do it again – consul Di Michele assures – It will not be easy, because many other countries want to do the same and this year we were the only ones who have managed to organize a race in Central Park. We are probably also the only ones able to do it. To gather all these people. ” The new appointment with the Italy Run is in 2023.

Please see video link of ‘Italy-Run’ attached
https://f.io/2ZQ-sc8l

For more information:
LaPresse SpA Communication and Press Office Director
Barbara Sanicola – barbara.sanicola@lapresse.it

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8c89d44d-f3f0-45ef-9cfe-10fbbbac8f97

The photo is also available at Newscom, www.newscom.com, and via AP PhotoExpress.

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Admiral Group appoints Keith Davies as Group Chief Risk and Compliance Officer

18 July 2022

Admiral Group appoints Keith Davies as Group Chief Risk and Compliance Officer

Admiral Group Plc (“Admiral”) announces the appointment of Keith Davies as Group Chief Risk and Compliance Officer with effect from September 2022. Keith will be responsible for developing, implementing and overseeing Admiral’s Risk and Compliance functions and frameworks in ways that support the safe delivery of Admiral’s strategic objectives. Keith will report into Milena Mondini de Focatiis, Admiral’s Group CEO.

Keith has extensive experience in risk management and compliance and joins from Federated Hermes Limited where he was Chief Risk & Compliance Officer. Before joining Federated Hermes in 2020, Keith was the Chief Risk and Resilience Officer for M&G Plc (“M&G”) where he was a member of the Executive Committee that prepared M&G for its de-merger from Prudential Plc (“Prudential”). Keith held a number of other senior roles within the Prudential Group, including the Group-wide Head of Internal Audit, Chief Risk & Compliance Officer for M&G Prudential and Prudential UK Insurance Business, and Chief Risk Officer for the Group’s Treasury and Portfolio Management businesses.

Prior to joining Prudential, Keith worked in risk management and audit at Standard Chartered, Standard Bank and Deutsche Bank. He also spent two years within the Policy team at the Financial Services Authority. Keith is currently a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committees for two Admiral entities Admiral Insurance Company Limited AICL and Admiral Insurance (Gibraltar) Limited.

Milena Mondini de Focatiis, CEO of Admiral Group, said: “I am thrilled that Keith will be joining us later this year as he has a wealth of risk management experience and a strong track record for building global risk oversight models. Keith not only understands our strategy, but shares our ambition and values. I believe that he will be an excellent addition to the management team and look forward to working together.”

Enquiries
Media
Addy Frederick Addy.Frederick@admiralgroup.co.uk +44 (0)7436035615
Investors/ Analysts
Marisja Kocznur InvestorRelationsTeam@admiralgroup.co.uk
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China holds five-day military exercise in disputed South China Sea

UPDATED at 9:55 A.M. EDT on 2022-07-18

China announced a large-scale military exercise in the South China Sea as the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan sails near the Spratly Islands and a U.S. destroyer conducted consecutive sail-throughs.

The Hainan Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) issued a navigation warning on Friday, saying that military drills would take place from Saturday to Wednesday in a large area overlapping the Paracel archipelago, contested by China, Taiwan and Vietnam but controlled entirely by China.

A navigation warning is a public advisory notice to mariners about changes to navigational aids and current marine activities or hazards such as military exercises.

According to the coordinates provided in the Hainan MSA warning, the planned drills cover an area of approximately 100,000 square kilometers (38,600 square miles) east of Hainan island, some 350 kilometers (220 miles) from Vietnam’s port city of Danang.

China often holds military exercises at short notice as a response to U.S. naval activities in disputed areas of the South China and East China Seas.

Last Wednesday, the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group entered the South China Sea on its first deployment there this year. The strike group is led by the U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76).

It has been operating around the Spratly Islands at the same time as the U.S. guided missile destroyer USS Benfold conducted two consecutive freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) in the South China Sea, a rare event.

China labelled the U.S. FONOPs “trespasses.”

Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam hold territorial claims over the sea but the Chinese claim is by far the most expansive.

Greyhound.jpg
A C-2A Greyhound launches from the flight deck of the USS Ronald Reagan on July 16, 2022. CREDIT: U.S. Navy

‘Provoking China’

Chinese state media called the latest U.S. naval activities “an escalated provocation” and Chinese analysts warned of “an unwanted conflict.”

Military expert Song Zhongping was quoted by the Global Times as saying that by operating in the South China Sea, the U.S. “wants to provoke China in its core interests, create crises and hype tensions with the strategic goal of containing China.”

On Sunday the South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI), a Beijing-based Chinese think-tank, detailed the USS Ronald Reagan’s movements since it departed Guam on July 1, saying the carrier will probably make a port call in Danang in central Vietnam. 

RFA reported on the plan earlier this month, citing Vietnamese sources close to the matter, however the U.S. Pacific Command declined to confirm it. 

There were talks about a similar planned visit by another aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, in May but it didn’t materialize.

The U.S. 7th Fleet said in a statement that “carrier operations in the South China Sea are part of the U.S. Navy’s routine operations in the Indo-Pacific.”

“Our presence in the South China Sea demonstrates America’s commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Capt. Fred Goldhammer, commanding officer of USS Ronald Reagan, was quoted as saying.

The USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), named after the 40th U.S. President, is a Nimitz-class, nuclear-powered supercarrier, homeported in Yokosuka, Japan.

CORRECTION: Corrects to indicate the the area covered by the Chinese drills is 100,000 square kilometers.

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Vietnamese Facebook activist’s family speak out about his ‘secret trial’

Facebook activist Nguyen Duc Hung’s family say he was denied visitors and they only found out about his five-and-a-half-year sentence from state media the day after it was handed down.

Hung’s posts aimed to raise awareness of an environmental disaster in his hometown of Ky Anh. The Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh steel factory discharged chemical waste into the sea and environmentalists say the effects are still being felt by the residents.

His social media posts did not focus solely on the disaster in his home town. He told his 9,000-plus followers about cases of social injustice and human rights abuses. He also focused on religious freedom, posting comments about the case of Thien An Monastery in which the provincial government of Thua Thien Hue “borrowed” land from the religious facility.

Hung was convicted of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the criminal code.

The indictment said Hung’s actions directly affected the implementation of the Party’s guidelines and policies, the State’s laws, and the strength of the people’s government, divided national unity, reduced the people’s trust in the Party and State, and potentially caused national insecurity and disorder.

While the court claimed it was a public criminal trial Hung’s family said they heard nothing from the police or the court.

“When they carried out the trial, my family did not know,” Hung’s father Nguyen Van Sen told RFA.

“I phoned the detention center and was told that the trial had been carried out the day before. When I asked why they didn’t notify my family, the police said the family was not involved.”

Sen got the same response when the called the provincial police’s investigative department.

According to a lawyer who has defended many similar trials Hung’s case is not uncommon. Ha Huy Son said the court does not have to notify the family or invite them to the trial. He said Criminal Procedure Code 2015 only stipulates telling the family the person is in custody, or has been arrested in the case of an urgent arrest. It is only necessary to tell the defense lawyer, the victim and any other parties involved at least 10 days before the trial.

Hung is the sixth Facebooker this year to be convicted of “conducting propaganda against the state.” The others received sentences of between five and eight years.

Hung, 31, was arrested on Jan. 6 this year and has been held incommunicado since then. His father said, despite repeated trips to the detention center, the family was not allowed to see him.

The family did not hire a defense lawyer and Sen said he did not know if one was present at the trial. Sen did not want to comment on the sentence, other than saying he hoped it would be reduced because Hung’s wife had left him to raise their two primary school children.

State media did not mention whether Hung had a lawyer, only saying he had pleaded guilty and asked for leniency.

RFA called the People’s Court of Ha Tinh province but no-one replied

Communist Party paranoia

 “Given the worsening situation for activists and human rights defenders in Vietnam, it was sadly just a matter of time before Nguyen Duc Hung got arrested,” said Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson.

“It’s become obvious that the Vietnam Communist Party is so paranoid about dissenting views that it considers mere writing of words online to be a threat to state security. By giving out a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence for just writing criticism of the government on Facebook, the government has committed an outrageous and unacceptable violation of Nguyen Duc Thung’s rights.  In reality, he did nothing that would have been considered wrong, or even out of the ordinary, if he was in a democratic society, but of course he is stuck living under a single party dictatorship.”

Roberts said Vietnam’s crackdown on freedom of expression means no peaceful activist can spread his views via social media without facing what he called “bogus state security charges” and many years in prison.

“Quite clearly, Vietnam has become one of the worst rights abusing and dictatorial governments in Southeast Asia and now it wants to control the Internet as strictly as China. Any government donor or international business investor should think twice about investing in a country like Vietnam where freedom of expression and access to information is so strictly controlled,” Robertson said.

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GA-ASI to Supply 8 MQ-9A Extended Range UAS for USMC

New Marine Corps UAS Will Be Rapidly Deployed to Meet Customer Needs

Featured Image for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.

Featured Image for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.

SAN DIEGO, July 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) was awarded a contract for eight MQ-9A Extended Range (ER) Unmanned Aircraft Systems as part of the ARES Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (ID/IQ) contract on May 27, 2022. GA-ASI anticipates awards later this year for Ground Control Systems (GCS), spares, and Ground Support Equipment as part of the first increment of the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Unmanned Expeditionary (MUX) Program of Record.

GA-ASI will begin first delivery of aircraft and support equipment this winter to facilitate the fleet standup in late summer 2023 for U.S. Marine Corps’ (USMC) Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron (VMU) 3 located at Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. As part of the Marine Corps’ Force Design 2030 efforts, VMU-3 will operate these MQ-9A ERs with their unique sensors and network capabilities to support training for the Marine Littoral Regiment.

“We look forward to rapid deployment of these MQ-9A ERs for our USMC customer,” said GA-ASI Vice President of DoD Strategic Development, Patrick Shortsleeve. “This capability will be a key ISR contributor for the Marine Air Ground Task Force – and ultimately for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command – as we pace ourselves to outmaneuver our adversaries.”

The MQ-9A Extended Range (ER) is designed with field-retrofittable capabilities such as wing-borne fuel pods and reinforced landing gear that extends the aircraft’s endurance to more than 30 hours, while further increasing its operational flexibility. It provides long-endurance, persistent surveillance capabilities, with Full-Motion Video and Synthetic Aperture Radar/Moving Target Indicator/Maritime Mode Radar. An extremely reliable aircraft, MQ-9A ER is equipped with a fault-tolerant flight control system and triple redundant avionics system architecture. It is engineered to meet and exceed manned aircraft reliability standards.

About GA-ASI

General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), an affiliate of General Atomics, is a leading designer and manufacturer of proven, reliable Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), radars, and electro-optic and related mission systems, including the Predator® UAS series and the Lynx® Multi-mode Radar. With more than seven million flight hours, GA-ASI provides long-endurance, mission-capable aircraft with integrated sensor and data link systems required to deliver persistent flight that enables situational awareness and rapid strike. The company also produces a variety of ground control stations and sensor control/image analysis software, offers pilot training and support services, and develops meta-material antennas. For more information, visit www.ga-asi.com.

Avenger, Lynx, Predator, SeaGuardian and SkyGuardian are registered trademarks of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.

# # #

GA-ASI Media Relations
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.
+1 (858) 524-8101
ASI-MediaRelations@ga-asi.com

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