Operational Technology Security Market to Develop New Growth Story | Deloitte, Claroty, Belden
Operational Technology Security Market to Develop New Growth Story | Deloitte, Claroty, Belden – Technology Today – EIN Presswire
Business climate matures with opening-up despite West’s ‘decoupling’ push
Illustration: Tang Tengfei/GTThe fifth Qingdao Multinationals Summit was held recently in Qingdao, East China’s Shandong Province, drawing more than 500 attendees from more than 450 multinational enterprises. In a complex international environment, the summit was, to some extent, an epitome of the true interaction between China and the global economy.China is ramping up efforts to attract foreign investment, underscoring its commitment to further opening up its vast market to global enterprises. The Qingdao Multinationals Summit, coming at a time when a series of high-level meetings reaffirmed China will remain committed to the basic state policy of opening to the outside world, highlighted the latest stage of a concrete effort by the Chinese government to attract foreign investors and provide them with a more favorable, convenient and business-friendly environment.Recently, some Western politicians and media outlets have hyped a narrative that the investment environment in China is “deteriorating.” Their purpose is to create a sense of insecurity among foreign investors, in line with their efforts to artificially push economic “decoupling” from China, and to stymie China’s ability to develop high-tech industries. However, facts have proven that China’s business environment has continued to improve, as the country further expands high-level opening-up.Earlier this month, an executive meeting of the State Council reviewed and approved four documents including the 2024 edition of a set of special administrative measures – a negative list – for foreign investment access.According to the negative list, China will relax restrictions on foreign investment further by completely abolishing entry barriers in the manufacturing sector, while accelerating the opening up of sectors such as telecommunication, education and healthcare services, the Xinhua News Agency reported.Such efforts showcase China’s high-quality development and high-level opening-up and help foreign companies better grab China’s opportunities. Any rumors or smears against China’s business environment are easily debunked in the face of such a big move in attracting foreign investment. China holds a consistent attitude on welcoming foreign enterprises. Foreign companies that operate in accordance with the law absolutely have nothing to be concerned about.From another perspective, the Qingdao Multinationals Summit not only served as the latest effort by China to attract foreign investment, but also demonstrated foreign investors’ confidence in the Chinese economy, constituting a model of positive interaction.More than 500 delegates from multinational enterprises attended this year’s summit, including 99 multinational companies participating in the summit for the first time. Many delegates said that they believe the resilience of China’s economy and its high-quality development are creating new opportunities for multinational companies, according to media reports.China’s commitment to high-standard opening-up and an improved business environment has boosted the confidence of foreign investors. It is believed the country will remain one of the world’s most attractive destinations for foreign direct investment (FDI), despite a complex international environment, geopolitical tensions and some countries’ attempts to exclude China from the global supply chain.Multinational companies are not only interested in China’s consumer market, but also many other factors such as its complete industrial chain and technological innovation. In recent years, China’s high-tech industries became a bright spot in attracting foreign investment. The high-tech industries attracted 423.34 billion yuan ($59.6 billion) of FDI in 2023, accounting for 37.3 percent of the country’s total utilized FDI. China has provided fertile soil for the development of new technologies and business forms. China’s attraction to foreign investment is continuing to expand. Moreover, this attraction is not just the growth of China’s consumption, but a comprehensive economic advantage. As some participants said on the sidelines of the Qingdao Multinationals Summit, they see the long-term growth potential of China, which is why they continue to increase investment in the country.The author is a reporter with the Global Times. [email protected]
China-US business communities remain key defenders, contributors to bilateral ties despite challenges: CCPIT
The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade holds a press conference on August 30, 2024 in Beijing. Photo: Zhang Yiyi/GTThe China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) stated that China-US business communities remain key defenders and contributors to bilateral relations despite global challenges, and it is hoped to deepen cooperation with the US business community and strengthen its role as a stabilizing force in China-US relation.Wang Linjie, spokesperson for the CCPIT, made the remarks on Friday, days after Ren Hongbin, chairman of CCPIT, recently led a Chinese business delegation to the US at the invitation of the US Chamber of Commerce and the US-China Business Council. Wang recalled that in 1975, when CCPIT led its first Chinese trade delegation to the US after the Shanghai Communique was signed, the visit had played a key role in normalizing relations between China and the US. The two visits, which were separated by nearly 50 years, have fully demonstrated that no matter how the international situation changes, the Chinese and American business communities have always been important contributors to the relations between the two countries, Wang said.The CCPIT is willing to work with US counterparts and enterprises from the two countries to continue to deepen cooperation and firmly serve as a stabilizing force for bilateral relations, Wang added. Wang said that during the four-day visit, the Chinese delegation took part in close to 20 trade-focused events, from expansive forums to close discussions with executives from Fortune 500 companies. They engaged in candid dialogues with the US business and political leaders. Those delegates from the US business community said that they are optimistic about the Chinese market, and they said the two sides should meet more, communicate more, and cooperate more. They hope that relations between the two countries will stabilize, improve, and progress.It is hoped that the US will actively promote trade and investment facilitation, reduce unnecessary restrictive measures on Chinese-funded enterprises, formulate a reasonable foreign investment review list, lower the entry threshold for Chinese-funded enterprises, and provide a fair, transparent, and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese-invested enterprises in the US, Ren said during the visit. Wang highlighted that there is vast potential between the Chinese and American business communities, not only in bilateral fields, but also on multilateral issues, citing an example that the CCPIT and the US business leaders jointly proposed cooperation principles for Asia-Pacific supply chain cooperation at the third session of APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) 2024. The proposal, advocating for open collaboration and compliance with WTO rules to prevent trade distortions, was a highlight. It showcased strong opposition to supply chain decoupling and underscored robust multilateral cooperation between Chinese and American businesses, according to Wang.”Despite attempts by some US politicians to undermine the relationship, China and the US remain each other’s most vital trade partners. The undeniable economic complementarity between the two nations has forged a unique and unmatched partnership. This relationship is expected to grow stronger over time, even amid political disturbances,” Bian Yongzu, executive deputy editor-in-chief of Modernization of Management magazine, told the Global Times on Friday.”Even with political interference, trade exchanges, especially in major product categories, will not be significantly diminished,” Bian added.
Chinese scientists successfully develop ultra-high pure graphite
This photo taken on Dec. 8, 2022 shows the graphitization process of cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries at a workshop of a company in Hegang City, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province. In recent years, Hegang City has upgraded the exploitation of graphite resources and boosted the city’s industrial transformation by developing graphite industry, promoting the local economic development. Hegang is rich in graphite resources with an annual production capacity of 6 million tons of ore. (Xinhua/Xie Jianfei)Chinese scientists have successfully developed ultra-high pure graphite, reflecting that the China’s graphite products now reach the world’s leading standards, Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday.At a press conference held in Hegang, Northeast China Heilongjiang Province, Wang Jionghui’s team from China Minmetals Co unveiled innovational breakthrough in graphite purification technology, successfully producing ultra-high pure graphite with 99.99995 percent purity. This achievement positions China as a global leader in the making of ultra-high pure graphite, according to Xinhua.Wang’s research team has revolutionized graphite purification process by developing a process in tandem with top equipment manufacturers in the country. Their innovative approach, which merges physical-chemical, low and high-temperature, and ultra-high vacuum purification, elevates graphite purity from 95 percent to 99.99995 percent, while ensuring stable product quality. Additionally, their integrated process significantly reduces production cost.Ultra-high pure graphite, which contains more than 99.99 percent carbon, features excellent self-lubrication, conductivity, corrosion and high-temperature resistance, and chemical stability, Liu Enqiao, a senior analyst at Beijing-based Anbound Think Tank, told the Global Times on Tuesday.”The higher the purity of graphite is, the better the graphite’s lubricity, conductivity, corrosion resistance and chemical stability. Such materials are extensively used in advanced industrial sectors such as aerospace, superconductors, integrated circuits, and semiconductors,” Liu stated. “Currently, the breakthrough is still at an experimental stage with its commercial viability still under evaluation. If commercialized, the pure graphite would enable China to play a prominent role in the market. The demand for high-purity graphite in cutting-edge industrial sectors has been growing, and the technological advancement could significantly liberate us in this field, reducing our dependencies,” Liu added.Founded in 1950, China Minmetals Co has taken metals and minerals as its core business, operating as a state-owned capital investment company.It operates one of the world’s largest graphite mines in Hegang city, Heilongjiang Province, with a facility producing 200,000 tons annually and has phased in a set of deep-processing industrial chain. Now, Wang’s team is accelerating the development of high-end anode materials, nuclear-grade graphite, as well as semiconductor-grade graphite.Global Times
Major business conference for Chinese, African companies to unlock new opportunities in investment, trade and industries
Officials brief reporters on the Eighth Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs, China-Africa economic and trade cooperation at a press meeting for the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing on September 3, 2024. Photo: Yin Yeping/GTAround 1,000 business representatives from China and African countries will come together and share opportunities in investment, trade and industries at the upcoming Eighth Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs, which will be held in Beijing on Friday, the latest reflection of stronger China-Africa economic and trade ties.As an important component of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which runs from Wednesday to Friday, the Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs garners significant attention as a platform for the Chinese and African business communities to share experiences and foster cooperation, officials and experts said on Tuesday.The scale of this year’s Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs is expected to reach 1,000 participants, with “the number of registrations from both Chinese and African parties far exceeding our expectations,” Zhang Shaogang, vice chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), told a press briefing on Tuesday.The Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs, organized jointly by the CCPIT and China’s Ministry of Commerce, will be the highest-level economic and trade event within the FOCAC framework for the business communities of both sides, according to Zhang.So far, representatives from 408 businesses and business associations across 48 African countries, including South Africa and Ethiopia, have registered for the conference. “This [active participation] demonstrates the strong interest and desire of the African business community to enhance economic and trade cooperation with China,” Zhang said.Participating companies span various industries, including traditional sectors such as energy and mining, infrastructure, and finance and trade, as well as emerging industries like electronics, telecommunications and biomedicine. There is a notable presence of small and medium-sized enterprises, the Global Times learned from the CCPIT.In recent years, with the strategic guidance of leaders from both China and Africa, business communities in both China and Africa have promoted greater outcomes of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation, officials and experts said.”This conference provides a platform for the Chinese and African business communities to share their experiences and conduct cooperation… Entrepreneurs from both China and Africa can use this platform to strengthen communication synergy and unlock opportunities in investment, trade and industries,” said Zhang.Chinese companies bring advantages such as advanced technologies and management expertise, particularly in emerging sectors like green technology and digitalization, while Africa possesses valuable resources including low labor costs for development, Bai Ming, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times.
How to Beat the Crowds When Traveling in Europe
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Nine weeks in Europe in Summer
My husband and I just spent nine weeks travelling in Southern Europe from the beginning of June to the beginning of August. It was hot and it was crowded. Did we love it? 100%! Did we learn from it? 100%! Would we do it again? Yes, but read my tips and see what we might do differently next time.
Firstly, if you don’t handle the heat, then don’t go to Southern Europe in summer. Yes, you can travel early in the day and late in the day and choose air-conditioned accommodation and restaurants but you still can’t avoid the heat entirely.
The fact is that, if it’s scorching hot at home, you probably limit your time outdoors. Think about whether you want to be touring the Colosseum in Rome in 104 degree heat (40 degrees Celsius). And that’s the weather alone. I haven’t even mentioned the crowds yet!
Let me start with some of the places we visited on our recent trip that were particularly crowded: Verona, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terre, Kotor and Dubrovnik.
Verona, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terre, Kotor and Dubrovnik
Kotor, Montenegro. Image from Canva
Verona
We wandered around Verona before 10 a.m. with barely anyone else, but by lunchtime, the crowds were in full force. There were roped-off “lanes” to control the pedestrian traffic to see Juliet’s balcony. (Juliet’s “fake” balcony, but that is a whole other topic!)
Venice
As you would expect, peak crowds in Venice were in and around St Mark’s Square. I tried for a while to take a photo from the Bridge of Sighs without a pile of other tourists in the shot but I gave up. At the end of the day, I could not complain. I was one of the many tourists after all!
Florence
Crowds in June near the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy. Photo by Leonie Jarrett
I walked into Florence late one afternoon after a big travel day and the swarming crowds immediately put me off. Maybe I was just hot and grumpy? I then had three full days in Florence and I loved every bit of each of them, crowds and all.
We opted to say somewhere rather lovely since my Husband and I were in Florence as a duo for the first time in many years. The hotel had a pool on a terrace overlooking the rooftops of Florence, including the magnificent Duomo, and we retreated there every afternoon, so that did have something to do with it, but that’s a tip in itself.
Stay somewhere fancy (ha ha)! No. What I mean is don’t feel that you have to “go” all day in the heat. Retreat somewhere cool in the afternoon and revive.
Back to Florence, we did a walking tour one day and the walking tour crowds assembling at 10am was a shock and a reminder of how many tourists there are in Florence, all milling about the same, small area.
Our tour guide, Riccardo, told us sadly about the demise of the leather-making industry in Florence and the exodus of young people. Like so many other “tourist hot spots” in Europe, Florence is no longer a desirable or affordable place for young people to live.
Pisa
The writer and her husband in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy, with hordes of other tourists. Photo by Andrew Jarrett.
We visited Pisa on a Sunday and had photos of the Leaning Tower with hundreds of our new besties! We considered buying a ticket to climb it, but it was too late. They were sold out.
That’s a tip—pre-book your accommodation, transport (flights, trains, buses, and rental cars), and activities to avoid missing out altogether and to save on paying last-minute, premium prices.
Cinque Terre
The writer and her husband shuffling in the crowd at Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre, Italy. Photo by Andrew Jarrett.
One place that was marred for us by the crowds and the price-gouging was Cinque Terre. We drove to Riomaggiore. We would never again do this—we had to wait for a car to leave the full car park, and it was not yet 10 a.m.
Then, the free space required a magician to park in. Credit here to my husband, who doesn’t freak out at hard-to-access parking spots despite driving a manual transmission on what, for an Australian, is the wrong side of the road.
Parking achieved, we walked around Riomaggiore, heading for Via dell’Amore (Lovers’ Lane) to walk to Manarola. As we moved closer into the town, the crowds increased to the point where we could only shuffle. To make matters worse, when we arrived at the Via dell’Amore, it was still closed – we missed the re-opening after 12 years by a week!
Unless we only wanted to see Riomaggiore, we had two options—the train or the ferry. We had been to Cinque Terre twice before and had accessed the beautiful seaside villages by train and ferry.
On this occasion, we only wanted to visit two or three so we decided to train to Manarola. The summer price for one person to travel one station was EUR10! For a 10-minute train journey (less than 1 mile or 1.5 kilometres).
We begrudgingly paid the EUR40 to take us to Manarola and back and waited on the train platform in the heat for about half an hour while trains whooshed past us. When one eventually stopped, it was crowded with sweaty people, and there was standing room only. Lucky, the journey was short.
When we arrived at Manarola, the walking path to Corniglia was closed, and it looked like it had not been touched since we last saw it in 2016. Again, we were surrounded by ever-swelling crowds. We found a restaurant for an average lunch and decided to call it quits. We won’t hurry back to claustrophobic Cinque Terre again in summer.
Read More: The Magical Town of Portovenere, the Perfect Retreat Near Cinque Terre
Crowds in Montenegro and Croatia
Pedestrian traffic control measures in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Photo by Leonie Jarrett
The crowds weren’t just in Italy. We found them in Kotor, Montenegro and Dubrovnik, Croatia, too. We had a half day in Kotor and shared the small Old Town with thousands of others. Three cruise ships were in port at once. We were in no position to complain, having docked on one of those ships – the Azamara Pursuit.
We did a walking tour and meandered for a bit afterward, but a combination of the crowds and the heat pushed us back to our ship early. My Husband went off for a swim, and I sat on our stateroom balcony, watching the hordes of colourful windsurfers jump the waves with the increasing winds. We both made a positive out of any negative there!
Dubrovnik, Croatia
The Jesuit Stairs, Dubrovnik, Croatia. You might remember them from the Walk of Shame in “Game of Thrones” Photo by Leonie Jarrett
Finally and, for me, most thought-provokingly, there was Dubrovnik. We were in Dubrovnik for a day from our cruise ship and part of a throng of people. Crowd control measures included ropes with direction arrows for pedestrian traffic flow.
We did a walking tour in the morning, had a quick bite, and then went sea kayaking. The sea kayaking is a story for another day—it was an amazing experience and certainly a way to beat the crowds! I’m not sure there is a better way to admire the medieval fortifications of Dubrovnik than from the water below.
Back to being thought-provoking, though…our tour guide, Luka, was a Dubrovnik native. He was a fan of Croatia being part of the EU but had some interesting and concerning thoughts on tourism. Croatia, he told us, lost 500,000 residents since 2011. Some returned due to Covid, but there is now one retiree for every worker.
Luka told us that one-fifth of the Croatian economy is tourism and that, slowly, all industries other than tourism are shutting down. Even wineries and olive oil production have become tourism businesses. He himself admitted that being a tour guide for a few hours a day for part of the year is a much easier life than being a farmer.
Luka believes that tourism has brought Dubrovnik back to life and saved Croatia’s economy. On the other hand, Dubrovnik has a population of 42,000 but 45,000 tourist beds! Hardly any locals live in the Old Town any longer – 900, but there are 2,800 tourist beds. Even with a cap of two cruise ships per day during the cruising season (the cap was instituted in 2018), there can be 9,000 visitors during the day in Dubrovnik.
Luka’s parting comment was intensely personal. He knows inflation is crazy, yet he regards life as prosperous because previous generations were marked by occupation and conflict.
The Quandary of Overtourism
Barcelona, Spain. Photo by Canva
This summer, we have seen locals protesting in Barcelona and Majorca about the ever-growing number of tourists who drive up real estate prices and prices.
We have seen cities like Venice restrict cruise ships and introduce a daily visitor tax (in addition to the city tax applied widely across Europe for every night’s accommodation).
Cities even impose premium pricing to drive down numbers. For example, there is a penalty to climb the UNESCO-protected Dubrovnik City Walls between 1 March and 31 October where the cost rises to EUR35 per adult (from EUR15 per adult between 1 November and 29 February).
This high price is meant to be a deterrent, but the deterrent is managed against what is also a necessary contribution to the conservation of the Walls. Krka National Park, near Šibenik in Croatia, charged us EUR40 to access the breathtaking Skradinski BukWaterfall, yet in other months of the year, it only costs EUR7.
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The quandary is that places like Dubrovnik are becoming increasingly dependent on tourism. If tourism numbers decline because the local authorities legislate about numbers or because tourists are dissatisfied with their experience, how will those places survive? This problem is being wrestled with and lived throughout Europe, particularly in summer.
There are interesting times ahead, when places like Dubrovnik and Florence will have to weigh up how many tourists they need and want against the exodus of the locals (especially the young people).
How to Beat Summer Crowds in Europe for an Authentic Experience
Crowds in the Netherlands. Photo by Canva
I’ve mentioned a few ideas already – sightsee early or late, rest and revive in the heat of the day and prebook your accommodation, transport and activities.
Another tip is to visit “destination dupes.” For example, go to Bologna rather than battle the queues in Florence; go to pretty but quiet Menton instead of pretty but bustling Nice. We had a wonderful few days between overcrowded (but still beautiful) Venice and Florence in Bologna.
Even in tourist meccas like Venice, go off the beaten tourist track. Often, a few streets back, let alone a few blocks back, will see a change from swarms of tourists to locals going about their daily business.
Do “non-touristy” things. For example, go to the local supermarket (fascinating), local markets (try and avoid weekends), use local public transport (although taxi and UBER drivers can also give you a fascinating slice of local life) and spend time in lesser-known towns or suburbs.
You will feel like you are experiencing a place rather than just having a sanitised, tourist experience.
Using the local train or buying your dinner from the local supermarket might seem mundane, but doing so gives you a real insight into the local culture and how residents actually live.
If you are cruising, choose a smaller ship (eg Azamara Cruises) where a core principle is no queuing. Destination ports may still be crowded, but you can always retreat to the ship.
Avoid beaches in summer. Beaches can be very crowded in summer (duh) and surge pricing can apply to beach clubs. The water is warmer, and the crowds are thinner in fall (we call it autumn in Australia).
Avoid the tourist mecca cities and spend time in the countryside. It is often cooler and less crowded than in the big cities.
Of course, you can avoid travelling in summer altogether (or during the peak period for the destination you intend to visit) and try a different season.
If all those tips fail, try and chill and enjoy!
Remember that you are privileged to be travelling.
Travelling is something that you spend money on but that actually makes you richer. Soak up the experience! The crowds will become part of the trip stories you reminisce about.
Read More:
Author Bio: Leonie Jarrett lives in Melbourne, Australia with her Husband of more than 3 decades, 2 of her 4 adult children and her 2 Golden Retrievers. Leonie is a lawyer who has owned several businesses. Now that she is semi-retired, avid traveller Leonie is loving writing about her travels and her experiences.
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MVP says WWE killed The Hurt Business, tells fans to ‘stay tuned’
MVP says the Hurt Business is dead, but encourages fans to “stay tuned” for what may come next.
The 50-year-old’s WWE contract expired in mid-August and he is expected to reunite with Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin under a new name outside the company. He gave an update on their future during a recent virtual signing with K & S WrestleFest.
“The Hurt Business is dead, and it was killed off by the powers that be at WWE. But I can say this: Myself, Bobby Lashley, and Shelton Benjamin—we’re talking amongst ourselves about what we want to do going forward,” MVP said.
“I’ll just say, ‘Stay tuned.’ Stay tuned. Me, Bobby, and Shelton have been talking about what we want to do, and again, I’ll say, ‘Stay tuned.’”
The possibility of The Hurt Business reforming in AEW under the name The Hurt Syndicate was addressed in the September 2, 2024 edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Our own Dave Meltzer wrote “A lot of people think Bobby Lashley, MVP and Shelton Benjamin, reviving their Hurt Business gimmick as The Hurt Syndicate, will end up (in AEW). They are all free to appear and obviously it comes down to Tony Khan.”
In addition, MVP clarified social media comments he made in June that some took as him implying Paul “Triple H” Levesque had racist motivations for not reuniting the Hurt Business. MVP wanted to make it clear that he never said Triple H was racist.
“It made the rounds that MVP said that Triple H was racist. I never said that word. I never said that,” MVP said.
“Now, my opinion about how he looks at talent of color, that’s a different conversation. But I never said the man was racist.”
“Hulk Hogan is racist,” he continued. “He said it himself.”
“But as far as Triple H, I don’t know that he is and I don’t know what his motivations are but I never said he was racist.”
MVP also addressed working with Omos and WWE’s approach to booking him as an attraction.
“Omos has such a huge heart, literally and figuratively. He really wants to learn, he wants to get better. He was an open book, coachable and we weren’t on TV a lot, but we were on all the live events, so I got to watch him week in and week out improve and get better.”
“I talked to Triple H about how he was being used and Triple H was adamant he didn’t want him to be another Big Show, he didn’t want him on TV every week. He wanted him to be an attraction. He just wanted to break him out periodically to be an attraction. So, I don’t know what his status is now. I don’t know what they plan on doing with him.”
“If you can’t make money with a seven foot three inch, 385-pound former basketball player that can move – You don’t see him move a lot because they don’t want him to but when he wants to move, you’d be surprised how well that big man can move. If you can’t make money with that, you’re just an idiot.”
MVP also stated during the interview that he believes former Hurt Business member, Cedric Alexander, recently signed a new contract with WWE.
MVP’s full virtual signing is available below.
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Inside Harare Alcatraz and Other Short Stories. A Book Review by Philip Matogo
gandan author, book critic and poet, Philip Matogo interrogates and lauds Andrew Chatora’s debut short story collection for bringing to the fore aspects of contemporary Zimbabwe that are typical of African conditions and the Diaspora, also indicating that the stories encompass the Sophoclean tragedy.
In the main story, of this debut collection by Andrew Chatora, a man with multiple identities goes to prison… (I know that you thought he would go to a mental home with such a disorder). However, his is no ordinary disorder or condition. Going to prison in order to spy on prisoners is actually his profession!
The man is a political spy, a spook as some would say. He is sent to prison for what in his line of work is called Wetwork, a euphemism for murder or assassination that alludes to spilling blood.
So, he is secreted into Harare Alcatraz Maximum Security Prison by the security police of Zimbabwe to eliminate political dissidents, Jacob and Hopewell. But then, the two men he is supposed to eliminate reveal their impeccable humanity to him and things get hazier than any shade of colourful criminality.
Jacob and Hopewell are well known fighters for democracy in Zimbabwe who have been in and out of prison and this story uses real living characters in a work of total imagination, something that Ignatius Mabasa, the other key Zimbabwean author, is known to do. When fiction and fact come together, the spark becomes huge, covering both its source and the starter.
“You see, Chipendani, we are prisoners of conscience here at Harare Alcatraz; our desire is not for us to benefit personally, but for posterity, our children, their children and future generations to come,” Jacob tells the would-be killer.
Andrew Chatora
Instead of killing the two men, their would-be killer is gradually and convincingly converted to their cause. This, as you might imagine, does not end well for him.
Several other stories animate the pages of this well-written book whose diction and turn of phrase will amaze and amuse anyone who reads it. These stories by Andrew Chatora are in keeping with Jarrell Randall’s view of the type of stories in-which-everything-happening (in which each event is so charged that the narrative threatens to disintegrate into energy!)
In the succeeding story, “Black Britain”, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement is articulated in a storyline that will keep readers glued to each page.
As some readers might be aware, BLM activists seek to draw attention to the racism which leads to the criminal mistreatment of black people. This movement has met with support and, predictably, virulent opposition.
“Race relations opinions are always sharply polarised in contemporary Britain and framed within binary opposites of ‘us versus them’, and ‘whites versus non-whites’. Thus, it was common to be targeted with a barrage of vitriolic and disparaging insults and posts for advocating for racial equality and a fair and just society,” says the protagonist Anesu, after the police, again predictably, pull over the family car. As an essay short story, this piece necessitates a delicate balance between storytelling finesse and analytical prowess, making this book a must read in the BLM movement.
In the story A Snap Decision, a mother of easy virtue ends up with a cavalcade of men. Some of whom deflower and sexually abuse her daughter.
A gruesome murder occurs, and the hapless child is given a 12-year custodial sentence. In between the sexual trauma of her existence, she mercifully and rather fittingly finds love.
In Uganda, we have Kafundas. You know, the tumbledown drinking establishments famed for their affordability and accessibility.
In South Africa and Zimbabwe, there are shebeens. These are informal and unlicensed drinking places in the townships and mining compounds. But because these places stray away from the ambit of the law, some of the most despicable things happen in there and these spaces have been areas of interest for many writers who seek to search for hidden social truths.
Estelle, the shebeen Queen and other Dangamvura Vignettes captures the heartlessness and soullessness in these establishments, particularly in Mutare, Zimbabwe where the story is set.
The men who frequent them are left riddled with disease and debt as the opportunistic women who have the run of these drinking joints ensnare them in proverbial honey traps. They hobble back into open society laden with stories which they may not be able to narrate.
Supported and promoted by cunning members of the ruling party of Zimbabwe, these joints make the poor poorer as they fritter away their pennies to purchase the charms of Mai Kere, MaSibanda and other floozies.
These women are nothing but enchantresses. They are in the mould of the Latin succubus or female-looking demons or supernatural entities in folklore who appear in dreams to seduce men, usually through sexual activity. It is said that a succubus needs semen to survive. Repeated sexual activity with a succubus will result in a bond being formed between the succubus and the person. A succubus will drain or harm the man with whom she is having intercourse. Andrew Chatora’s stories will surely titillate Ugandan and other African readers. These stories overflow beyond Zimbabwe.
However, what you have in these stories is more than a dream. It is a veritable nightmare.
Later, in another story Smoke and Mirrors, a man living abroad has to support two families in a clandestine bigamous relationship. He is unable to do so. This leads to a number of untoward consequences.
On the whole, the 11 short stories in this book represent what looks like a typical Sophoclean Tragedy.
The characters are often portrayed as noble figures brought down by a single tragic flaw or ‘hamartia.’ This line of storytelling raises several moral questions, with few easy answers. Andrew Chatora joins a list of key short story writers from his country, the best of whom are Charles Mungoshi, Doris Lessing and Dambudzo Marechera. Their country has once been described as “a short story country” because nearly every Zimbabwean who has become prominent today started with short stories or has a short story collection somewhere along the way.
* This review first appeared in The Daily Monitor, a Ugandan independent daily newspaper. The reviewer, Philip Matogo is a newspaper columnist, book critic and poet. He has published two books, Fabric of Grey and Whispers in the Sky, and has contributed to numerous international poetry anthologies. He lives in Kampala, Uganda.
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Five Strategies To Increase Brand Awareness For Your Business
—Building brand awareness for a business is crucial for it to grow and compete in its industry. The more people recognize your brand, the more likely they will choose your product or service. Increased visibility helps establish your brand and results in an increase in sales.
However, to successfully build brand awareness, you need a thought-out strategy. This requires researching your target audience and analyzing what’s working for your competitors. Once you have a clear understanding, you can create a unique marketing campaign tailored to your business. This will help generate the best results and maximize your brand awareness. In this article, we’ll cover five proven strategies that can help increase a business’s brand awareness.
1. Social Media
Social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools that help increase brand awareness. Most social media platforms are free to use and relatively affordable to advertise on. You can ensure your brand is seen by reaching your audience through various platforms. Consider using a multi-channel approach to simultaneously establish your brand’s voice and personality across multiple platforms.
Create engaging and valuable content for your followers to build an online presence and stand out from your competitors. Giveaways are another great way to generate buzz for your brand online. It helps incentivize users to follow and share your profile.
Paid strategies can include using targeted ads and partnerships with social media influencers to expand your reach. Ensure your partnerships are relevant to your industry, strategy, and target audience. Utilizing social media can build a strong online presence for your business.
2. Branded Promotional Products
Promotional products have proven their effectiveness in increasing brand awareness. Items like custom USB flash drives, branded apparel, and drinkware will keep your brand in front of people on a daily basis. USB flash drives, in particular, are handy for people who need to store or transfer important documents. They’re portable and can last up to ten years on average, allowing your brand to stay in front of your target audience for a long time.
Promotional products help create brand awareness as people carry their branded items wherever they go and help establish a positive relationship with future or current clients. They make great gifts and are useful as giveaway items at tradeshows or business events. They are also a budget-friendly marketing strategy.
3. Brand Partnerships
Partnering with other businesses can help reach and be introduced to new audiences. Look for companies that don’t directly compete with yours but share a similar audience. For example, if you are a protein drink company, you would likely benefit from partnering with a gym or an athleisure brand.
Explore different types of partnerships like collaborations on events or products. Offer incentives that provide value to your new potential clients. Both businesses should give value to each other. In most cases, this is a win-win situation for both parties. Partnerships are a great way to increase brand awareness and reputation.
4. Community Engagement
Getting involved in your local community is another great way to build brand awareness and create a positive brand image. By being part of and supporting local events, your business can become more than just a product or service. Here are some ways you can engage within your community:
Sponsor Local Events
Sponsoring local events allows you to reach your audience directly. It generates brand exposure and builds a positive reputation. Sponsoring events allows your logo to be on promotional items and generate many impressions.
Charity Drives
Charity drives show that your brand cares about more than just revenue. It builds trust with people in the community, which makes them more likely to support your brand. Whether it’s a food drive or supporting a non-profit, being a brand that cares leaves memorable impressions.
Workshops or Classes
Providing free or low-cost workshops is another way to grow your brand and reputation. Providing insights into your industry can show your knowledge and gain the trust of others. This educational approach associates your brand with professional expertise and generosity.
5. Search Engine Optimization
Lastly, you can optimize your website for search engines to increase your brand awareness. Doing this can significantly increase website traffic and put your business in front of thousands of people’s eyes. This strategy can be time-consuming and pricey, but the results are worth it. It encompasses providing valuable information related to your business that may help answer people’s questions. You could post your workshops, write articles, and offer infographics that may be useful to people online. SEO can increase your brand reputation online, and the more reputable your website is, the more brand awareness you will generate.
Conclusion
Every business needs to increase its brand awareness to continue growing. This requires research and implementing online or in-person strategies. Whether it’s by using promotional flash drives or brand partnerships, every strategy we covered in this article can help boost your brand’s visibility. These strategies offer diverse approaches to increasing brand awareness, allowing you to choose the ones that best suit your business and audience.
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This content is brought to you by Julian Melo
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How to Prevent Cognitive Decline After Middle Age: A Science-Based Approach
Why Cognitive Decline Happens
While aging itself doesn’t guarantee cognitive decline, it undeniably plays a significant role. The brain, much like any other organ, requires consistent stimulation to function optimally. Without adequate stimulation, proper circulation, and sufficient nutrition, it can begin to atrophy. Factors such as irregular blood sugar levels and high inflammation also contribute significantly to cognitive deterioration.
When people say, “I’m just getting older, my brain doesn’t work in the same way it used to,” there is some truth to this statement. The brain’s performance typically peaks around the end of formal education, whenever that may occur for each person. During these school years, the brain is constantly stimulated, similar to progressive overload in exercising. You aren’t the athlete training for a specific sport, you’re the well-rounded athlete who can do it all.
After formal education, most people tend to specialize in their careers, focusing intensely on a narrower range of tasks. This shift from a broad, stimulating education to a specialized routine reduces the variety of mental exercises the brain encounters. While specialization is beneficial for professional expertise—like a surgeon becoming highly skilled at a specific procedure—it limits overall cognitive engagement. Here, you’ve become the athlete who is focused on one sport. You can be an incredible marathoner or powerlifter but you can’t be both. You must sacrifice abilities in some areas of the brain to specialize in your job which reduces mental challenge and leads to a decline in cognitive function.
Retirement then tends to exacerbate this issue. The various stimuli provided by work—social interaction, time management, and the cognitive demands of the job—diminish sharply. This steep decline in mental stimulation contributes significantly to cognitive decline in older adults. This is the retired athlete who lacks purpose and challenge. I see this trend often in the clinic with patients coming to me within a few years of retirement to address their ailing mind and/or body.
This is backed by researchers who studied specific professions, tracking these specific brain changes due to cognitive demands. For example, London taxi drivers, who navigate the city’s complex streets, have larger hippocampi due to extensive spatial memory requirements, but this volume decreases after retirement. Similarly, mathematicians show greater gray matter density in areas associated with numerical thinking. This supports Hebb’s Law, which states that synaptic connections strengthen with use and weaken with disuse, the ol’ “use it or lose it” phenomenon.
Biologically, the brain relies on neuroplasticity—the ability to form and reorganize synaptic connections in response to learning and experience. Without continuous stimulation, the brain’s plasticity diminishes, leading to a decline in cognitive abilities. Anatomically, this lack of stimulation can result in reduced gray matter density, particularly in regions responsible for memory and executive function.
It’s important to note that cognitive decline isn’t solely due to aging. It’s often more about how we use our brains. Stopping cognitive engagement due to perceived memory decline is akin to avoiding the gym because of weakened muscles. The worst approach is to assume you can’t improve because you’re not as sharp as you once were.
How to Prevent Cognitive Decline
The good news is that cognitive decline isn’t a one-way street! By incorporating these science-backed strategies into your daily life, you can significantly boost your cognitive health and prevent decline in midlife:
1. You Must Learn (and you can’t rely on “Brain Games”)
Engaging in new activities like learning a language, picking up a musical instrument, or dancing have profound cognitive benefits, especially in preventing cognitive decline. Just as in dieting or exercising, the initial phase of learning presents the most significant cognitive gains. These activities, particularly challenging at first, stimulate the brain in ways that being an expert in a familiar field does not, providing robust protection against age-related cognitive decline.
While “Brain Games” ranging from crosswords and Sudoku to apps are increasingly popular, they’re not going to give your brain the comprehensive benefit it needs. These activities neglect the complex motor and perceptual skills crucial for overall brain health. Suppose you look at the homunculus picture, illustrating the brain’s somatosensory and motor cortices. In that case, you realize that so much of our brain is dedicated to different areas, particularly those related to survival and reproduction given our evolutionary roots, such as complex movements, socialization, and forethought. Brain health, therefore, doesn’t just mean numbers and words on paper or a screen. These can help, but only as much as doing bicep curls in the gym can help you become fit.
Importantly you also need to embrace being an amateur and work really hard at whatever it is you choose to do. You will fail and learn; this failure and learning process is a critical component to brain development.
While any new learning is good, these three areas have been shown to have the most significant impact.
Dancing: Dancing may be the most powerful activity for cognitive health. Research shows it can reduce the risk of dementia by 76% and a meta-analysis showed it to improve memory, cognitive flexibility, visuospatial function, balance, and attention, thanks to the triumvirate of physical movement, mental challenges, and social interaction.
Language: Research indicates that bilingual individuals are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, with studies showing up to a 4.5-year delay in symptom onset compared to monolinguals.
Instrument: Similarly, learning to play an instrument enhances memory and spatial-temporal skills, with evidence suggesting improved neural plasticity.
2. Be Physically Active
I’ve never met someone experiencing significant cognitive decline who was also physically fit, nor have I met anyone with sharp cognitive abilities who didn’t have some form of structured physical activity built into their daily routine. In other words, you must be physically active to be cognitively sharp. The brain and body are tightly interwoven and staying physically active is neuroprotective. The study Preventive Strategies for Cognitive Decline and Dementia: Benefits of Aerobic Physical Activity, Especially Open-Skill Exercise says it all: “Physical inactivity is highly associated with an increased risk of developing dementia.”
This research finds that aerobic physical activity, particularly open-skill exercises (OSE) like tennis and badminton, provides more significant cognitive benefits than closed-skill exercises (CSE) like running and swimming. The mechanisms include improved cardiovascular health, increased neurotrophic factors, enhanced amyloid-β turnover, better cerebral blood flow, and reduced inflammation. Exercise has been shown to increase hippocampal volume, a brain region crucial for memory and learning. While any movement is better than none, make sure you are at least hitting the Minimum Effective Dose of Exercise. Bonus points if you can include the open skill exercises and make it a social event.
3. Embrace More Socialization
This doesn’t have to be the standard coffee date, although it can include that. Maintaining strong connections with friends and family can consist of everything from joining clubs or groups, volunteering, regular family dinners with extended family, or getting on a sports team. Social interaction not only provides emotional support but also stimulates the brain, promoting neurogenesis (the birth of new brain cells) and strengthening existing neural pathways. One study demonstrated that older adults aged 65 and above who had robust social connections at the 90th percentile saw their cognitive decline decrease by 39% over 5 years.
Another study found lonely individuals showed a 54% higher risk of developing dementia over 10 years. Specifically, this risk tripled in adults with initially low baseline risks due to age and genetic factors, which represent much of the aging population. As a bonus, the longest study on human happiness revealed that strong social relationships are the single most important factor in living a happy life.