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A Vivendi sign is seen at the company's headquarters in Paris, France, April 8, 2015. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo

Italy's top commercial broadcaster Mediaset (MS.MI) is committed to European expansion to fend off competition and hopes to win the backing of all its investors, including France's Vivendi (VIV.PA), it said on Tuesday.

The group controlled by the family of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Monday unveiled fresh plans to move its legal base to the Netherlands, having been forced to shelve a similar project last year after opposition from Vivendi.

Milanese TV group Mediaset has long viewed cross-border alliances as the answer to the threat posed by rivals such as streaming services Netfix (NFLX.O) and Amazon Prime Video (AMZN.O).

"We believe cross-country consolidation is more achievable than in-country," Mediaset finance chief Marco Giordani told analysts, adding that the rationale behind the planned Netherlands move is to create a "pan-Europan content and entertainment group" covering a variety of national broadcasters but with a neutral base.

Vivendi's opposition to the previous relocation plan had been waged in courts across Europe, with its hand strengthened by judicial rulings including two court decisions late last year that restored full voting rights on its Mediaset stake.

The French group is Mediaset's second-biggest investor with a 29% holding and the two have been locked in a bitter legal dispute since a failed pay-TV deal in 2016.

However, Vivendi's backing is now essential for Mediaset to push through extraordinary resolutions such as the new legal base, which will be put to a shareholder vote on June 23.

In an apparent olive branch offered to Vivendi, Mediaset said it would ask shareholders on May 27 to scrap a loyalty share scheme that strengthens the Berlusconi family's grip on the company.

In a further friendly gesture, Giordani said the latest Dutch relocation plan would not include an enhanced voting system that had been criticised by Vivendi under the previous proposal.

"We don't want to return to a situation in which we are talking more of legal issues than of industrial strategy," Giordani said. "Let's move step by step, but let's move."

Two people close to the matter on Monday told Reuters the groups were making fresh attempts at resolving their dispute.

Mediaset, which controls Spanish broadcaster Mediaset Espana (TL5.MC), has built a potential 23.5% stake in German media group ProSiebenSat.1 as part of its European expansion plan. (PSMGn.DE).

Giordani also confirmed that Mediaset is among suitors for Bertelsmann's (BTGGg.F) controlling stake in France's M6 (MMTP.PA), though he acknowledged that there is little hope of success in light of remarks by Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe in favour of domestic consolidation.

Mediaset's bid to revive its growth plan while also seeking to appease Vivendi lifted its share price by 3% on Tuesday, compared with a slight fall for Milan's all-share index (.FTITLMS).

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Excerpt from:
Mediaset aims for European expansion with Vivendi's backing - Reuters

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Minister for Women and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family ViolenceThe Honourable Shannon Fentiman

Attorney-General and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence Shannon Fentiman is inviting women to come forward and talk about their experiences dealing with the criminal justice system.

The Attorney said public submissions are now open to the Womens Safety and Justice Taskforce chaired by former judge, the Honourable Margaret McMurdo AC.

The Taskforce is another of the ongoing measures addressing violence against women in all its forms.

This is a significant step forward in tackling violence against women in our community, Minister Fentiman said.

Our Government has made significant progress to prevent and respond to domestic, family and sexual violence in Queensland, but we know there is more work to be done.

The work of the Womens Safety and Justice taskforce is crucial in looking at what barriers women face when they report on violence committed against them, and to look at laws that will keep women safe and hold perpetrators to account.

The information shared will allow the taskforce to look into areas of reform, including attitudinal change, prevention, service response, training for first responders and legislative amendment, with a trauma approach.

Submissions can be made through the secure portal on the taskforce website at http://www.womenstaskforce.qld.gov.au to assist with its wide-ranging review exploring not only womens experience with the criminal justice system, but also the issue of coercive control and consideration of this behaviour as a specific offence of domestic violence.

We thank the women who will come forward to tell their stories and we respect that for some women for whom this is not possible, that their experience is acknowledges, Minister Fentiman said.

The Chair of the Womens Safety and Justice Taskforce, the Honourable Margaret McMurdo AC, said all Queensland women had the option to submit their personal experiences if they wished to do so.

This is just one of the ways the Taskforce will reach out to hear the voices of Queensland women and girls as we carefully examine the challenges they face, Ms McMurdo said.

Anyone can make a submission to inform the Taskforces work.

You may be a victim or survivor of domestic, family or sexual violence, a friend or family member, or a woman accused or convicted of criminal offences. We want to hear your views as we look into possible areas for reform.

Members of the public wishing to make a submission to the taskforce can submit written or typed documents, or upload voice recordings.

Announced in March this year by the Palaszczuk Government, the Taskforce will also undertake consultation with relevant advocacy groups, domestic, family and sexual violence service providers and networks, the judiciary, and prosecution and policing agencies before making recommendations to the Government.

Those making submissions of their personal experiences can rest assured that this can be done confidentially and with the knowledge that it will assist the taskforce with its work to create change to keep women safe, Ms McMurdo said.

The taskforce will also release discussion papers in late 2021 aimed at seeking the experiences of women in the state, including those of culturally and linguistically diverse people as well as those with disability.

Forums, with appropriate COVID measures in place, will also be held in the future for those wishing to participate.

Further information about the Womens Safety and Justice taskforce, its consultation and engagement activities, and how to make a submission can be found at: http://www.womenstaskforce.qld.gov.au.

*If anything in this statement has brought up concerns, contact DVConnect Womensline on 1800 811 811 (24 hours, 7 days per week), Sexual Assault Helpline on 1800 010 120 (7.30am to 11.30pm, 7 days), or Lifeline on 13 11 44 (24 hours, 7 days).

ENDS

Media contact: Inga Williams 0439 949 719

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Queensland women's voices on DFV to be heard - Media Statements

The US has partnered with more than 1,000 Indian healthcare facilities to strengthen preparedness, including training of over 14,000 people on infection prevention and control, it said.

The US has also helped keep more than 213,000 frontline workers safe by imparting risk mitigation training for doctors, nurses, midwives, community volunteers, sanitation workers, and others actively responding to COVID-19 in India, the White House added.

It has also launched joint public messaging with UNICEF on COVID prevention that has reached more than 84 million people and provided 200 state-of-the-art ventilators to 29 healthcare facilities in 15 states to care for critically-ill COVID-19 patients, it said.

In its fact-sheet, the White House said that for 70 years, US public health experts from across the government, including USAID, HHS, CDC, FDA, and NIH, have worked in partnership with Indian officials to improve the health of India's most vulnerable communities.

Over the last 20 years, US foreign assistance to India has exceeded USD2.8 billion, including more than USD1.4 billion for healthcare. The two countries and other partners have worked together to reduce new HIV infections by 37 per cent between 2010 and 2019, it said.

Since 1998, the United States and India have worked together to combat tuberculosis (TB) through improved patient-centred diagnosis, treatment and prevention, helping treat 15 million people with the disease.

In the last five years, the United States has helped 40 million pregnant women receive vital health information and services, the White House said.

The United States, in partnership with the government of India and the World Health Organization, has supported initiatives at the district, state and national levels to build frontline disease detection capacity.

The two countries are also working together to advance global health security and fight outbreaks before they become pandemics, the White House added.

See more here:
US delivering supplies worth over USD 100 million to India; first flight to land on Thursday: White House - National Herald

He rounded off with The results of this are all around. As a famous band once sang, If you plant ice, youre gonna harvest wind. This (Covid-19 second wave) is a whirlwind. Maybe he had read an excerpt from Indias Power Elite: Class, Caste and a Cultural Revolution by Sanjay Baru, media advisor to Manmohan Singh when Singh was Prime Minister. Narendra Modi used Indias media elite for his own advantage, says Baru, hardly being original!

Mind you Sanjay Baru is no less media elite. Baru knows it, too, the clout that comes with being "media elite." His book is that of an insider taking us through the maze of press, power and politics. He breaks the essentials down to basics. Do medias close links with politicians give it clout or deprive it of credibility? he asks, and then answers with: It would appear that almost every media group takes a trade-off between the two sacrificing some credibility for either money or power.

Baru in his role as media advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must have been keenly aware of this trade-off. He did not cotton to certain journalists, especially to the one who, he says, is idiosyncratic and unabashedly partisan and pro-Modi, who is otherwise a thorough professional and personally amiable fellow. The amiable fellow is easily identifiable.

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On the defensive, PM Modi shifts gears and with 2024 far away, hopes to get out of the hole he has dug - National Herald

India's COVID numbers have far outstripped countries like the US and Brazil, which have been the poor performers till now. More worryingly, the number of positives to tests are now more than one out of five, more than four times what it was a few months back, indicating that the actual numbers of infected could be even higher.

What went wrong with the central government's handling the epidemic? The government was unprepared for the second wave which started its steep climb about a month back. The central government and its experts believed that the COVID-19 pandemic would be over by February 2021, and the country would go back to normal after that. The Modi government truly believed its propaganda of the so-called Department of Science and Technology supermodel and was busy chest-thumping on its great success in fighting the pandemic. It was preparing to convert its "success" into electoral victory in the next set of state elections when the second wave struck.

As the numbers started rising, instead of trying to work out a cooperative plan on a countrywide basis to combat the epidemic, the BJP went on an offensive. The central ministers blamed the state governments for not doing enough and the people for having abandoned the safety norms of masks and social distancing. This, notwithstanding that the central government had itself signalled a return to normal with public rallies, election campaigns and huge religious gatherings such as the Kumbha Mela. If people did relax the Covid-19 norms, they were only following what the leaders on the dais during ralliesNarendra Modi and Amit Shah includedwere doing.

The first COVID-19 wave had peaked around mid-September, touching nearly 100,000 new infections. It had gone down to half of that in one month, and from mid-October onwards, the numbers dropped even further till February end. This nearly four months of respite should have been used to strengthen the public health system in the country: increasing hospital beds, ICU facilities, building a supply chain for oxygen, and preparing protocols on how to handle the next wave.

Strengthening the public health system, introducing clear guidelines, getting the state and local governments to function together is the first line of defence in handling the pandemic. The tragedy is that the central government, which has centralised all powers under the Disaster Management Act, refused to prepare either itself or the states for this second wave in the belief that the pandemic was over.

See the article here:
New Delhi centralised power but blamed the states and abdicated its responsibility - National Herald