Well, hello everyone. We're going to give you a little time to come in. I'm Virginia Robert. I'm the foreign desk editor for Lysikoo, the French business daily. And we're going to talk about a very incredible electoral year coming ahead. I hear an echo. Is that normal? Yeah, maybe. Yeah, well, probably normal. Did you hear the echo too? No. The sound is very loud. So to discuss this incredible year we have ahead of us, I have with me Igor Yorgens, who's from Russia. He's a man of insurance. He's been involved in the insurance industry for many years and several associations. And he's also involved in the Russian International Affairs Council. Next to him is Isabel Lassin, who is a journalist just like me. She's the diplomatic correspondent for Le Figaro, the French newspaper, very well known. She's been a defense correspondent, diplomatic correspondent, foreign correspondent, war reporter. So she's done it about all. And she just wrote a book about Poutine and Macron. That is going very well. The book is, maybe not the relationship, but the book is doing very well. And next to me is Iro Yuakita, who is a senior writer for Nikkei. He publishes commentaries and columns on foreign affairs and security affairs. And he's worked all over the place in London, in Washington, in Beijing. He's been a foreign correspondent, so he knows foreign affairs very well. And behind us I see Mr. Gruffa, who joined us, finally through a video link. Welcome. And he's a banker. And I met him in New York when he was working for Citi at the time. And he's involved in many, many different projects. So before we start the panel, I'd like to share with you a study that came out yesterday, actually. And it's a study published by International Idea. And that's an Internet governmental group that is based in Sweden and that monitors the state of democracy. And the findings are really pretty appalling because it shows that in 2022, the world has entered the longest democratic recession ever observed, which means that for the sixth consecutive year, democratic values are losing ground everywhere. And I mean everywhere, I mean in Europe, I mean in the Americas and India and Russia. And declines have occurred in the very foundations of democracy, revealing weaknesses in the electoral processes, in the ability of legislators to act as checks on the executive overreach, and also the difficulty for people to access the institutions of justice. You have countries for instance like Tunisia, Afghanistan, Belarus, Nicaragua, Myanmar that have shown great recessions, regressions last year. And this institutional weakness is combated by continuing declines in core democratic rights, including freedom of expression, freedom of association and assembly, I'm sorry, and freedom of the press. And Europe of course is not immune because according to the report, the rule of law has weakened, I won't surprise many of you, but in Hungary and Austria where freedom of expression falters, access to justice is more difficult in the UK as well as in France, where the freedom to assembly is also fading. Poland last year had many factors deteriorating and the recent elections won by the opposition might pave the way for a betterment. So it is not an overstatement to say that globally, democracy now faces pressure everywhere, with authoritarian regimes tightening their grip and too many elected leaders adopting authoritarian tactics to claim to control. Meanwhile, you have misinformation campaigns, political polarization and rising inequality that erode people's trust in democracy. So as you probably agree with me, it is of paramount importance that democracies show their resilience, not all political regions are equal, and next year's elections will show indeed if the democratic process is able to rebound. So to start the discussion, we're going to start with Isabel who will give us a roundup of this election year so we have a good grasp of what is happening. 44 countries are going to have either a new president or a new parliament who also have elections in Europe. So it's something that is quite extraordinary. 2024 will be an incredible year regarding the elections organized absolutely everywhere in India, the biggest democracy in South Africa, in Iran, Brazil, Nigeria, Taiwan, Russia, maybe in Ukraine and of course in Europe with European elections, so and USA of course. My question would be, I mean my I will try to understand if it's, if all this election will be a continuity or a break up regarding the major geopolitical trends we've seen these last years in the world. My guess is that it will be continuity. I mean except the USA elections, most of the elections in the world will have, I mean the results will have a very low impact on the geopolitical trends we are viewing today. Russian election, it's, I mean, no suspense. Iran election, very few suspense. Belarusian, the same thing. I mean the majority of the autocratic regime will organize themselves to win the election. Coming to the democratic countries, even if the power, the BGP in India is challenged, there's a few chance that geopolitical, that the foreign policy of India which is based on the multi-alignment will be changed. Even which is not, for example, which is not at the moment the most probable, even if in Taiwan the DPP loses the election and if the opposition which is asking for an appeasement politics toward China, even if they win and I could just come back from Taiwan three days ago and it's not what is expected, you will not see from one day to another Taiwan just becoming again in the China area. The important elections have already been organized in 2023 in Europe, it's Poland and Slovakia which has changed their political drive and also Turkey with a re-conduction of Erdogan. Of course you will tell me there's a big exception and a big exception which is the American election and the perspective is if Trump is re-elected of big consequences first on the help to Ukraine and second on the future of NATO. But even that is not sure because can we really expect Donald Trump to sell off the future of the western world by cutting from one day to another the help to Ukraine? I'm not really sure. My point would be that even if Trump is re-elected is coming back next year in Washington it will, I mean this election will be only an accelerator to the trends, the geopolitical trends which still exist and these trends are not at all in favor of the western world. If you liked 2023 you will definitely love 2024 because on the menu we have the generalization of the use of force which month after month is replacing the rule of law. We'll have the continuing of the collapse of the international order from 1945 and visit the international institutions which were a guarantee for peace like UN and also the disarmament treaty. We'll also have new challenges to the western world the continuing of the decrease of democracies and the augmentation of the of the autocracies. We'll have the continuation of the split of the world in two parts not camp but part or much more family. One is the south global and the other is global north and whatever the election the result of the election will be in India in South Africa in in Russia even if the states will continue and will be boosted. So for me as a western journalist traveling all around more than the elections the determining influence on the geopolitical trends in 2024 will be who's going to win the war between Russia and Ukraine and secondly what will be the consequences of the war between Israel and Hamas and meanwhile waiting for a next international order with new rules that everybody will have to work on the previous one will continue to collapse and we'll have more crisis to come in this world which is becoming a jungle one maybe the crisis between Taiwan and China others could happen in the Balkans and of course in Africa. I will end by a sentence of Joe Biden yesterday with having a conversation with the president of Chile and here's what he said he said in my view there comes a time maybe every six to eight generations where the world changes in a very short time. Here we are and I think what happens in the two or three years are going to determine what the world looks like for the next five or six decades. Okay thank you so very defining moment but not especially coming from the elections as you said because the most important ones were this year Poland Slovakia of course nevertheless there's the big one next here that everybody's looking at and it's 2024 I'm turning to you actually I'm seeing you here too Jean-Claude so maybe we can have a highlight on what is happening in the United States and where the debate is going right now. The floor is yours. Good morning, good evening, hope you can hear me well. I wish I could be with you and fortunately when I was about to board my flight I had a slight health issue to deal with and unfortunately I couldn't board the flight and I missed so much being with you and networking with many of you our quantum friends. My apologies I will try to cover in a few minutes what you I guess expecting me to talk about which is the US presidential election and I would say both generally the election in November 2024 both from the domestic standpoint but also from the point of geopolitical environment. You know what's happening in November 2024 which is almost exactly a year from today. The president will be elected for four years the House of Representatives will be elected for two years and in the Senate 33 senators which is about one third will be elected for a period of six years. Let's deal with the Senate and the House of Representatives. 20 Democrats and three independent that normally caucus with Democrats are standing for reelection. Some of them are not standing for reelection but say those are the seats and then 10 Republicans. So the total of 33. The forecast at the moment is that 14 are solid Democrat one is leading Democrat five are leading likely Democrat and treat so-called toss-up where the result will depend on the day of the election. And the Republicans are almost all likely to be elected up. There could be a change of majority in the Senate but right now as you know there is a majority of Democratic senators 51 to 9 and there is the casting vote of the vice president. So the Senate could be changing majority it will largely depend on what I call the cocktail effect of the presidential election. The House of Representatives 435 members 291 Republican 212 Democrats that since the last midterm election in November exactly a year ago and two seats are vacant. My prediction is that for the zoo that we've seen for the election of the speaker it's very unlikely that the Republican will be able to keep the majority in the House and the House could again become Democratic by a slight majority. So we are now in the period where each party and as you know there there might be several candidates but at the other day the two parties in the United States Democrat and Republican and we have the time where each of them is choosing their own candidate for next year election. The president this is the tradition whether he's Republican or Democrat a president with what we call an incumbent is likely to stand without being challenged for re-election. Yet Joe Biden is facing some opposition for a variety of reasons within his own party. First of all his age if he's elected in November next year he will assume his function at the beginning of 2025 and he will be 82 years old and when he finishes mandate he will be 86. He will be the oldest president in the history of the United States. He's also facing other issues. He's facing issues of his vice president Kamila Harris who's never been convincing and who's not like and respected even by his own party the Democratic Party. She's never been able to impress and as you know I mean if something happens to the president Kamila Harris immediately steps in and becomes the next president. Americans starting with majority of Democrats are very uncomfortable with and then he has issues with his son and the business I would say business activities of his family. So the matter is it's quite simple the people know that it will be unless something happens to him between now and the election it will be the candidate for Democratic Party yet this is not the candidate that the Democratic Party would like to have. Biden was elected in 2020 largely because he was the alternative to Bernie Sanders that people find to left in and therefore and he didn't really campaign and he was lucky to face Trump who had a lot of issues. So he was elected this time it's going to be much tougher. So people are not convinced that Biden is the candidate to face Trump assuming Trump is the Republican Party. Now let's switch to the Republican Party. Same story on the Republican Party. Trump is leading in the polls but effectively only 40% of the people will be at the primaries and I remind you at the primary only vote the people who are as Republican or Democrat. So if you can vote at the Democratic primary if you're Republican you can Republican primary but those who are independent and most of the majority of Americans are neither Republican nor Democrat. They are registered as independent. Trump only gets 40% or less of Republican voters. 60% don't want Trump. Now the problem is that they don't agree or my attitude to Trump. So Trump is like Biden not the candidate of the party as it stands now at least the majority of the Republican voters. First of all his personality. I mean some people and quite a few people don't like his personality, his style, his attitude and so on and so forth. Then he has a lot of legal issues to deal with. I mean personal issues you know sexual assault but also he took some classified document when he had functioned and brought them through Florida and really stopped and didn't care and lied about it. Then he reached the election then there was this famous January 6, 21 when there was an assault on the Capitol which shocked a lot of people in the world but shocked a lot of people as well. So and I can go on and on and Trump essentially is perceived as an egoistic person. He has done a number of things when he was president because he followed some of his advisers, some advisers who were better than some others but net net people don't feel that Trump who is also not so much younger I mean maybe a couple of years Biden is the American would like to have as the next president. So what could be the outcome you know? My view is that it's going to be Trump Biden certain so I said could have health issues and other issues between now and the election and be replaced by a government not this for sure and Trump is facing challenges and although he leads in the polls he leads in Iowa, he leads in New Hampshire, he leads also in South Carolina. Two alternatives are waiting in the wings. I'm going to throw it out. Personally, Ron DeSantis won his election during the election of 2020. I don't think that I mean it was a very significant but he's done a number of mid steps since we elected and his campaign is not going well. So he's relatively strong, could be Trump. Now I seem sort of gradually fading away. So the star in the Republican Party is Governor Kiheli, former governor of South Carolina who was also ambassador of the United Nations originally from India, a Sikh family from India and she they came to United States. She was a locally in South Carolina, had the sort of one-and-a-half term as governor of the state and was appointed by three ambassadors to the UN. She did an effective job what I would call the Reaganian part of the party, the traditional Republican who are strong on foreign policy, free market and limited government. So I would say a tradition she was loyal to Trump when she was doing her job for the at the same time she was able to take positions that are less rigid and less conservative than some other Republican particularly on the critical in the United States with women right including right to abortion. As you know, the majority of American people are in favor of abortion, not any abortion, not for extended period of time but the majority of Americans are in favor of abortion. It so happens that the majority of the Republicans is so called pipe and this is conflicting with the view of the majority. Thank you so much. That was the first round, you were very long already and we're going to come back with more questions so if you don't mind hanging up with us for a little while longer just to answer questions later on because we need we need time for everybody here. So now we have the basics, Biden on one side, Trump the other, Nikki Halley's coming up, some of you have some hopes for her but we're not sure but there are a lot of things to talk about and especially how geopolitics are getting into this this election which never happens and I know you're keen to talk about this a little later but it's going to be interesting for us to have other perspectives on this election and with Mr. Akita he's going to give us his view of how Asia is seeing this this election coming up and what it means for for Asian countries and also maybe allude also to Taiwanese elections. Okay, thank you very much for having me. Since I'm from one of the most dangerous geostrategic location surrounded by Russia, North Korea and China and Japan is just next to a Taiwan Strait and Korean Peninsula and Russia has been occupying Japanese territory for about 70 years. So please allow me to be a bit allow me to present a bit pessimistic view. In that context I'd like to make three points. One is about the prospect of U.S. presidential election. I don't go into detail because you know he Yeah and Dr. Gave us a lot of details. Then secondly it's implication U.S. presidential election implication for Asia or for U.S. allies and partners. And then thirdly about the Taiwan presidential election next January. So first prospect of U.S. presidential election. I traveled to southern part of U.S. last month like Georgia to meet many Mr. Trump's supporters and I did. And that reminded me that two things. One they are very very serious. They are seriously supporting Mr. Trump but more importantly many people say that U.S. economic situation is terrible. Though objective economic data says unemployment rate is quite low and the U.S. economy is kind of growing. So I asked the political scientist about it and they say it is bipartisan bias so people do not accept objective data anymore. So this means that I think that U.S. election next year is not a topic to analyze based on objective data because people don't buy it but rather it is de facto political civil war. So if it is political civil war maybe a prospect would be very very highly polarized and whether Mr. Biden or Mr. Trump will win it's gonna further deepen the division of the United States. So that is my first prospect on U.S. presidential election. And secondly second point implication of U.S. presidential election to U.S. allies. Whether Mr. Trump will become president or not I think that U.S. election will further accelerate so-called plan A dash trend. Plan A plan A world is the world in which U.S. maintain dominant power and strong leadership so that U.S. allies or partners could cheap riding on U.S. security umbrella or U.S. relying on U.S. leadership. That is the plan A world but the maybe first Trump administration brought world to plan A dash world. So we are now at the plan A dash world that is U.S. allies or partner still keep relying on U.S. military presence or leadership to some extent but realize that plan A is not the sustainable anymore so make more effort to defend itself or to make more security or military contribution to sustain U.S. military commitment. For example Japan made a decision to launch biggest military buildup after World War II namely double its defense budget within five years and also Japan reached out to reaching out to Australia, UK, South Korea, France to enhance security cooperation to support or complement U.S. military presence in the Pacific. So I think that U.S. presidential election will be highly polarized and if of course it is if Mr. Trump get elected the world will further accelerate the shift from plan A to plan A dash but even if Mr. Biden get elected people it will highlight how U.S. will be U.S. have to change challenge face the challenge internally so I think regardless who will be get elected the world will accelerate plan A dash trend but for the country who can but some of the country maybe plan A dash that is to sustain U.S. military commitment or leadership will even maybe for some country it will not be possible maybe Middle East U.S. is reducing footprint so for that country next year will be the beginning of the real plan B world so my point is that shift from plan A to plan A dash or plan B world so that is the second point and third and last point is about the Taiwan presidential election next January I think that whether ruling parties candidate or opposition parties candidate win there will be a common ground that is a stethoscope maintenance of stethoscope according to a public poll majority of Taiwan people really wants to maintain stethoscope so if ruling party candidate win maybe they try to he will try to keep a distance from mainland China but will not call for independent if opposition party leader will win the win the presidency maybe he will try to embrace more dialogue with China but will not embrace China's economic or political influence to the extent to change the stethoscope so that is a prediction thank you thank you well it's interesting because Isabel said these elections are not really going to count because it's not going to change much afterwards because what matters is what's going to happen on the battlefield in Ukraine and in Israel and you're saying that whatever the elections are going to bring about in the States definitely we're going to see an importance lessening for the United States as the big ally so now we're going to turn to Igor who's Russian so he's going to talk to us about his view of the American elections but also talk to us about the Russian election because Putin should announce very soon that he's a candidate which should not be a big surprise but how is it viewed from the inside especially when the war is going on people and soldiers are killed how does he present himself to to the Russians and your take on the American elections also thank you very much thank you to read the Montreal because from 2008 being a participant of the world policy conference that's that's worth an award there is no suspense in Russian election if it takes place on March 2024 as it's planned 80 percent of the population of those who will come to vote will vote for for mr. Putin okay this is the genesis of the system this is the history this is the geopolitical situation having said that there doesn't change that having said that unfortunately they didn't give me a clicker and i had some slides but you have to believe me yeah you have to believe me that sociology shows that number one among young people there is a big fatigue of the face because mr. Putin is in power for for the last 23 years and it's obvious then that some young people want to change second even if something happens something very unexpected and then mr. Putin for example says that i'm not running the same young people are divided into two equal categories one would say we want a stronger military to head us and another one ferociously saying no military at all we need some peaceful and and civil development of of russian federation so here you have a split even among the young category of the voters forget about the older ones who would 60 vote for somebody with the military background to to head them okay so this is the second both of them both categories and both age groups would vote for more social justice and the talk about the progressive income tax which is going on for for for decades and we still have a flat 13 percent income tax they talk about the oligarchs who are around the the kremlin and they run the country and and not us running the country and so on and so forth so whoever wins should take this into very serious consideration very telling was the reply what about the mutiny of certain mr. probably you heard of the mutiny this summer when somebody very close to to power the owner of the private army who fought in Syria in Ukraine all of a sudden raised up and from rostov-on-don went to Moscow and was stopped only 100 and kilometers from Moscow so the reply of both young and old was 50 supported them that's telling in terms of the general mood of those who are going to go and vote okay so this is the this is it you have to take into consideration the feeling of social injustice the the need for change at least in the younger part of our population and nevertheless strong hand and preferably something military somebody military on top of us again i will end up this part by saying that 80 of those who will come will vote for mr. Putin it's organized but it's also a genuine support for the figure who is who is leading the country at the moment very strong and influential people around him around Putin and visible on on the political screen and political stage of our country they say why do we need election anyway 80 percent is a given the supporters are given we're in the war why bother why why do we distract attention of the people i would say that Putin will not buy this because he needs a referendum on what's going on so he will probably need a real and clean results from the different territories we don't forget that Russia is one seventh of the landmass with hundred nation and nationalities it's very telling and interesting to know who reacts on what and how at this present stage of the serious geopolitical conflict so it's like a survey for him it is a survey and a referendum for him and for people around him who run the country in his name or together with him having said this i should say that given the circumstances about 30 percent of the survey 30 percent of those who participated in the sociological poll they didn't know that we are having the election and didn't care less and so from this point of view this indifference also is very important to take into consideration for anybody who is doing the the the political management of the situation in in view of this american election is is of more hype and interest for the average russian than than probably ours and from this point of view there is no question that the mainstream media is for Trump whether they are given a sort of advice or that's their honest opinion no matter but it's obvious from all of the analysis of the mainstream i'm not talking about telegram channels and social media but the mainstream would would definitely provide all kind of support to trump and all kind of oh he's old he's falling from the tar market etc etc to biden it's obvious same would happen in french election if it happens tomorrow same kind of arguments will be for in favor of le pen and against macron if the the decision of great britain on participation in e you would happen tomorrow they would be for farage and and against anybody who who is eurocentric so that's obvious that's the result of the geopolitical situation and again no matter what after march 24 if everything goes according to the normal plan very serious messages will be delivered to kremlin to take care of what's going on and from this point of view of course we are now a junior partner of chinese people's republic and certain elements will definitely be taken care of not only in mosco but then beige into so big reshuffle of the political staff is that what you're saying we'll see what happens in terms of reshuffle they talk about reshuffle all the time but we know that mr putin is very loyal to his environment to his entourage i don't think i don't think of great reshuffle but the accents should be should be changed seriously well thank you for for this assessment jean claude i know you're back i don't know if they can put you back on the screen behind us but i wanted to ask you yes you're back here um you had disappeared for a while um we when we talked over the phone you said that something that never happened in u.s elections before was the theme of foreign policy becoming of importance to americans and that usually never happens but this time because of the war in ukraine and because of what's happening with this kind and the hamas it has become a big um challenge for the politicians can you tell us a little more about this please yes uh traditionally i would say there is a consensus between the republican and the democrat and foreign policy and uh i heard what some of the panelists were saying about the quasi civil war in the united states this is true that we have a bipolarization of american politics but this bipolarization is no longer just on domestic issues it's also on foreign issues and uh let's talk about ukraine for a period of time when russia invaded ukraine a year and a half ago there was immediately an overwhelming support to help ukraine and not getting involved directly obviously in in a war but providing massive support financial support but also military support and this military support has been overwhelming this support at the beginning endorsed by i would say both sides the republican and the the democrat but over time we've seen gradually less support from some part of the republican party the republican party is not just one bloc you have i would say the trump minority you have the traditional isolationist who are not supporting foreign involvement and that's led by people like rand paul and then you have i would say the reganian part with nikki heli but also people like team scott and mike pence and so on who want the united states to be involved and play a role if not dominant at least significant in foreign policy that's until very recently biden has been able to get from congress both the house and the senate the financial that he needs and let's face it you know very cynically you might say united states has been benefiting from the war in ukraine for three reasons first of all remember some time ago your french president was saying nato is brand dead i mean nato has never been stronger that's one fact and two major country who had stayed neutral since world war two are now joining nato sweden and finland which is extremely significant so nato has never been stronger and the countries that are on the border of russia wants nato to be more involved protect them because they believe that if ukraine falls they're likely to be the next target so that's number one number two the money that has been spent by united states is coming back in the form of military orders you see for example when germany who was not spending that much on defense but japan as well and so on where who are they buying from from the united states so they're not buying from europe they're buying from united states they're very few example so and third on the energy side us which is more or less self-sufficient and trumped a role for that is now supplying europe with the natural guard that they used to get from from russia so the united state has been benefiting from this war from an economic standpoint and from a strategic standpoint at the same time there's a less and less support for additional head to ukraine simply because this war is lasting longer than many people were expecting and there is no obvious solution in the very near future we know that trump would probably drop to a significant extent the american head to ukraine but part of the democrat are also now more hesitant and one reason is simply the fact that we now have this war in the mid-list between israel and amas and again there's no consensus on this war you've seen people on the right and on the left being reluctant by then has been extremely supportive of the israeli counter offensive on amas and the ground invasion in gaza but at the same time part of the democratic party the left wing part of the democratic party is now voicing some disagreement and by then to be a reluctant needs to have the vote of these people as you know i mean there's no bernie sanders or elizabeth warren running against him he's unopposed from practical standpoint it doesn't mean that he may not lose vote that could be critical in some states if the war lasts for too long and if the civilian casualties in gaza become i would say unbearable so we have a situation where yes the next presidential election in the u.s could have significant impact the question of taiwan is very critical there is a minority of people in the united states would support an american involvement should china attack taiwan in the very near future but this is only a minority the americans feel in majority that they can only get involved in a foreign war or foreign conflict if there is a significant component in the american society that support this involvement that was the case for example during the uh island u k conflict there was always a support for the irish side on the america because of the large irish community so the uh jewish community in the united states you're probably aware of that you know how many jewish people in united states 7.6 there's more jewish people in united states that in the state of israel the state of israel has a population of of nine million people but only 43 percent are jewish people so we are in a situation where there is and in new york city where i live one i mean one point six percent one point six million people are part of this jewish population the muslim population in united states is three and a half million people and the muslim population is not just arab these are people coming from africa there are people from iran there are people coming from somalia and egypt and so on you also have 3.5 million arab people so but in 2050 the projection is that there will be eight million muslims in the united states which means that the muslim population will surpass the israeli population bottom line i think this election in november might see some shift of vote based on consideration of what's happening in taiwan what's happening in ukraine but frankly speaking if you watch american tv and listen to the news and read the newspapers these days nobody talks about ukraine anymore we used to have ukraine all over the screen now it's all about gaza israel and this is a real concern i know for this for the ukrainian government because the new speaker is pushing some funding but the is separating biden wants a package to support ukraine and israel and and the republicans say no we should split we should vote on the help to israel and we should vote on the head to ukraine and we know why they do that because they're probably not likely to support additional money for ukraine it's interesting to see that as in russia somehow the elections are going to be a survey of what people think and especially regarding foreign affairs in the united states which is something we really didn't have a big grasp on up to up until now if there are any questions in the room i think we have 20 minutes yeah there are a couple so if you can bring a mic somebody please so i see too um there's one gentleman in the monsieur fouché and another gentleman in the in the back excuse me um yeah if you can raise your hand it's oh can you give it to monsieur fouché please sorry next time a former ambassador and a geographical the short question to Jean Claude do you see an alternative candidate on the side of the democratic party who would be the equivalent of niki alle for the republican party thank you short answer to your question governor of california or governor of michigan so do gavin newson the governor of california yeah yeah so there's a question over there the lady with the mic and i think the young man one you had a question too right okay thank you i'm daniel andler from paris sauban i'm dumbfounded that none of you ever mentioned the role of social media and the role of artificial intelligence and the amplification of well-known propaganda tricks i mean the the the journalists from japan said people are immune to rational arguments not so much i'm not so convinced they're not immune to propaganda when it's done in a certain industrial way anyway whatever your opinion are is on this important and well-known topic what what you think about that and what you think the what is going to be the role of these ai-powered propaganda systems for the coming elections well this is the perfect timing for a question because this is actually one of my questions but i'm very glad you brought the topic so what the power of generative ai do you think like for instance politician should have some kind of transparency during the elections saying now this is a roadmap we're not going to use ai or if we use ai that's how we're going to do it is this something that should come up now in the political discourse in campaigning so maybe uh mr akita um yes i think that uh uh it is very very serious problem and i think there should be some restriction um because the situation is that uh political landscape is polarized but also especially in the u.s i can feel that there is a huge polarization of media itself so when i turn on the cnn i listen you know i watch some news program but when then i turn to a fox news it's totally parallel world and then i switch to another one so i think that the even objective broad tv program uh provide different angle so without any restriction on the free flow of information in unrestricted cyberspace it is very it will create amplify very chaotic situation and it can be easily disrupted or manipulated by some actor say that igor i'd like to have your take on this because you know there's a lot of accusations against russian trolls during the elections especially in 2016 in the states what do you answer to this question because it's a real fear yeah since the official election is overly organized and fully controlled then in the mass social media you have a lot of different opinions some of them very exotic some of them goes a little bit you know beyond reasonable etc etc the only effort which i know of during the last election when opposition called for voting on anybody be it communist socialist or extreme rightist but who are against the ruling party united russia okay so this experiment ended up in one percent one point five percent of the result you see so from this point of view when the country is organized like we are organized and when the election is controlled the way we are controlled then this effort of social media a lot of noise no no efficient electoral result that's number one number two number two number two a lot of people left our country after especially young productive creative left after the beginning of the conflict with ukraine they are split all together we were discussing with some of them today they are split and they don't have unity at all they keep accusing each other in all kind of mistakes rather than mobilizing for one candidate who would represent a real opposition maybe isabel you could address this as a journalist when you cover foreign elections the fact that now we have to be eager of so many fake news going around that the elections and the freedom of speech is really manipulated it's making it very complicated for journalists to work what do you think of it well it's one more argument to go on the ground and not to cover elections through social results but I mean I think it's one of the weaknesses of democracy countries like Russia and China have been investing for years in warfare and cyber initiatives the elections in in Europe and in the states have been act for years and you have this I mean Europe is just realizing it you know for an hour or two or three years but the I mean the changes come very slow for years we have considered that in the cyber area for example the our purpose other democratic countries was not to have an attack department in the cyber area but only a defense department so I think we have 10 or I mean it's also we have not invested in this area for also for for moral reasons you know so it's very difficult today to be I mean to to be protected with efficiency I just come back from time one and this is very interesting because Taiwan is subjected during each elections by cyber attack from China influences through the medias of the Kuomintang and you know paid by China and this year they succeeded to lower down the level of fake news by forbidings I mean you know the system was that China was influencing the Taiwanese people through by investing in the religious institutions so Taiwan succeeded to to cut the transfer of money coming from China to Taiwan so this year you have a decrease of I think 40 or 50 percent of the Chinese influence directly in the in the Taiwanese influence so this is an example but we are we are far away you know of what should be needed to do I know that in France I mean that we're just starting and you said we have a very defensive position right now not offensive at all it's a taboo it's a taboo it's so I know there was another question I don't know if you have a microphone oh and there's one just okay go ahead I just see what I guess um John Andrews here from The Economist a question for Jean-Claude um is it plausible that Joe Biden can somehow persuade Canmar Harris with a good job offer not to be his running mate and if so does he need to find a black woman as her replacement um and clearly Gavin Newsom would not be such a woman and if you take the Republican side do you do you think Nikki Haley is actually basically running to be Trump's running mate okay I think it's too late for Biden to replace Canmar Harris is made the announcement Canmar Harris will be running with Biden if Biden is the nominee as it likely to happen for the democratic party so if Biden wanted to replace Canmar Harris it would have been done months ago essentially when he announces candidacy so she's the candidate for vice president and people and this is frankly speaking one of the arguments that the Republican will be and should be using when you look at Biden the way he behaves what he says the way he express himself people have to think that Canmar Harris is likely to be the next president I wish she will but Canmar Harris is likely to be the president that the democratic party will elect if they vote for Biden that's number one now you asked a question I had the privilege of meeting twice Nikki Haley when she started the campaign during fundraising events in New York and I had conversation one to one with her and she said it very very publicly she said I'm running for president I'm not running to be the vice president and I truly believe her I think let's Frank she is 53 54 if she doesn't make it this time she has a very good chance of being the nominee for the next election four years from now she will be 57 58 so she Trump is likely to be the nominee of the Republican Party Trump will obviously choose someone to be his vice president good luck to the person that who's going to be chosen by Trump because this is this election is a toss-up I have absolutely if you look at the polls you know forget about the primaries if you look at the polls it's really very very close and so many things can happen between now and the election particularly for Trump also who facing so many issues and by then you know inflation the southern border the problem with the family so the fact of the matter is that frankly speaking Trump thinks only about himself and he doesn't care he will have a vice president candidate it's very unlikely to be nickered or run the scientists for that matter it will be somebody else it could be a governor of the state of I'm not sure if it's south I forgot her name you know I mean the governor of North Dakota or South Dakota was a woman and not an African American it's a white woman but she's a governor and she's very popular in some conservative women I forgot her name skipped my mind but I'm sure you can find her I think she's the governor of South Dakota okay so we have to look for Nico Halley but four more years I think there is another question that's what I think yeah yeah that's what you said yeah I saw somebody else yeah some hands erased in the back please somebody's going to bring you a mic hello I'm Axel Gilden from the french magazine lexpress to follow up on this question is there is is there a scenario where Joe Biden steps down before summer and the convention it happens the old way in the convention decides for a new candidate or Joe Biden has to to he's impeach because he's he's sick or something and what happens then another scenario for Biden impeachment I don't believe it I mean impeachment is not for sickness if if it impeachment it's the democrat are able to link the fundraising of his family there's two checks have been produced where we see 10 percent of amount of money received by his brother and his son but it was mark loan repayment so I mean I don't Biden is not going to be impeached there's not going to be enough evidence to and I'm not sure if he's really corrupted I mean the family has been trying to use his name for benefiting by getting money from shady characters in foreign countries whether it's Romania Russia China and so on and so forth they've been all people do that in the political scene in the united states they've done it to an extent that's unprecedented but that's not going to be enough no the only thing that could prevent him from being the nominee would be his health if he had a major health issue he may have to step down but that's the only reason why I would see him otherwise he's gonna you know there's some I just learned yesterday for example that you know you have to register in every state for the primaries and so on it's not even registering for primary in New Hampshire he's taking for granted that he will be the nominee of the party so only a significant health issue would prevent him from being the nominee but that that's what usually happens when you have an incumbent president he you know he doesn't go through the primary process you want to follow up and I think somebody else has a question behind you if you can pass the mic afterwards just to clarify I just meant impeached by his health I didn't mean impeached for judicial reasons no no no no no no okay no no I take it I take it and my answer to you is that that's the only reason why he wouldn't stand if if he had a major health issue and in the back there's another question yes hello Nicola Pio from Tilt Capital thank you very insightful maybe a question drawing on Miss Lacer's point on continuity is it correct to read what is happening right now in 2024 being maybe a step in this direction that there is a I would say a continuity towards a big move globally towards far right extremism which is in fact fueled by fake news and social media etc how do we get out of that to be frank as a citizen European citizen I'm extremely concerned by the fact that every time we move and we see a scandal in this in the sense of manipulation it goes in the direction of far right extremism and it's very hard to fight on a on a rational basis the arguments of this of this trend thank you well the fact that there's more and more votes for populist candidates and in general each time you have a new scandal it brings out more nationalism and populism but it's it's it's often true but it's not always the case like what we saw in Poland after some years of government the opposition was was able to find another path so I mean we have to be confident in in people who are voting and you know who are able to to choose differently but it's true and if you look at Europe for instance I mean a lot of nationalistic countries have been building up and we have a lot of governments and coalitions now with the far right and that never happened before so is this something that you're concerned about this movement towards more nationalism that we see in elections if I don't betray your thoughts no we so I worry more about the fragmentation of the global order rather than rising nationalism in each in each individual state is very serious problem but I worry more about the you know the fragmentation of the international system through the next year's series of election is more serious and maybe people speak about the multi-polar multi-polar but the polar means you have a polar right US Europe and maybe China or hopefully Japan India polar but the maybe world will be more like a multi-universe without the without a strong polar but the universe universe coexist together without any order that is more dangerous and that was a big concern of the two round tables we had this morning that are really interesting saying it was it was time those elections are so time to pull together and find out what are our common objectives and what is the world order you need to reveal on the economic side but also on the political side Isabel you want to add something to the question of this information I do really agree with you it's really frightening because what we see today is each time when you have two parts it's just I mean the disinformation has absolutely is overwhelming I mean the facts today are less important other as a the the perception the emotion and the ideology we I mean we just have the last example is is absolutely obvious between Israel and Hamas I mean depending the place where you are in the world you just don't see the same images and so it's very very hard to to counter disinformation but also it's very very hard to I mean to to to counter the the rapidity of the information the emotion which is driven by the in the in the social area and and on the internet you it's not audible anymore and of course this leads to more extremism in each part of the world and on every subject well thank you we've touched a lot of ground a lot of different topics and it was very interesting thank you very much all for being here this afternoon it's thanks to our panelists


Good morning to those of you who are new. I am Agent Erkut, stepping in once again for Dr. Sherman for your briefing this morning of SCP-7133. For those of you who are concerned, there is no questionable material within this document. With that said and done, let us begin. Item number SCP-7133. Object Class, Safe. Material Containment Procedures. SCP-7133 is to be contained within a designated exclusion zone with a radius of 20km surrounding the land. The exclusion zone must be clearly marked with warning signs and guarded by a security detail to prevent unauthorized access. Access to SCP-7133 is strictly prohibited without prior approval from Level 4 personnel. SCP-7133 designates a 17km region consisting of mountains and woodland located in Northern Virginia, encompassing coordinates. Upon entering SCP-7133, notable anomalous properties become evident. After crossing the boundary, the sky immediately appears as pitch black darkness, regardless of the external time of day or weather conditions, creating an impression of perpetual nocturnality within SCP-7133. The darkness within SCP-7133 is absolute, making it impossible to discern any objects or terrain beyond a few meters. However, upon careful observation, faint bioluminescent mosses and fungi can be seen emitting a dim glow, providing minimal illumination to navigate through the area. Despite the perpetual darkness, audible signs of active wildlife are detected throughout the area. Strange calls, hoots, and rustling sounds echo through the woods, reminiscent of nocturnal creatures. However, upon close investigation, no animals or traces of animal presence have been discovered within SCP-7133. Attempt to set up cameras, traps, or audio recording devices to capture physical evidence of these sounds have been unsuccessful, as the recordings only capture the empty wilderness. Even signs inscribed with an unidentifiable language impervious to translation are intermittently placed within the region. The signs vary in size and design, some resembling traditional road signs, while others take the form of engraved plaques mounted on trees. Efforts to decipher the language or identify any patterns in their placement have yielded no conclusive results. Researchers have noted that the signs appear to change position periodically, making it difficult to map the region accurately. Situated precisely at the centre of SCP-7133 is a wooden cabin designated as the Ellington family bed and breakfast, hereafter referred to as the B&B. The cabin consists of a single spacious room, housing a solitary bed positioned at the centre. The cabin walls are adorned with a series of six portraits, each depicting individuals identified with the surname Ellington. The portraits are expertly painted, capturing the likeness and personalities of the Ellington family members in remarkable detail. Adjacent to the bed, a cabinet contains a wooden box labelled Ellington family prized memories. The box contains numerous monochromatic photographs portraying various members of the purported Ellington family, achieving notable milestones, including awards, anniversaries, and university graduations. The subjects in the photographs exude an air of contentment and accomplishment, adding to the overall sense of familiarity and warmth within the B&B. Individuals who choose to sleep on the bed within the cabin experience a phenomenon referred to as the sunrise effect. Upon awakening, these individuals perceive a sunrise occurring within SCP-7133, while others present alongside them continue to perceive the region as shrouded in darkness. The sunrise effect induces a profound sense of awe and wonder, compelling affected individuals to observe the sunrise until it dissipates. The sunrise witnessed during the sunrise effect is described as a mesmerising display of vibrant colours and celestial beauty. The sunrise is slowly above the horizon, casting a golden glow that gradually illuminates the surroundings, revealing breathtaking landscapes filled with lush vegetation, crystal-clear lakes, and majestic mountains. The skies are adorned with radiant clouds, swirling with vivid hues of orange, pink, and purple. The sunrise effect elicits intense emotions of serenity, joy, and tranquility in those who experience it, often prompting them to reflect on their lives and find solace in the view before them. While under the influence of the sunrise effect, individuals capturing visual media, such as photographs or videos, will have their recordings depict the sunrise. The photographs exhibit stunningly detailed and vivid images, perfectly replicating the scenery witnessed during the sunrise effect. Conversely, individuals not under the influence of the sunrise effect will consistently capture visual media portraying a nighttime scene, with only faint glimmers of the bioluminescent flora in the frame. Following the conclusion of the sunrise effect, SCP-7133 transitions into the afternoon effect. Individuals who previously experienced the sunrise effect become compelled to explore SCP-7133, driven by an irresistible urge. This compulsion manifests as an intense curiosity and desire to uncover the secrets hidden within the anomalous region. Explorations typically involve traversing the mountains, investigating the woodland, and searching for any signs of life or clues about the nature of SCP-7133. The afternoon effect exposes affected individuals to the diverse and extraordinary features of SCP-7133. They encounter peculiar landmarks, such as ancient stone formations, resembling monuments, and enigmatic structures, reminiscent of ruins. Some individuals report coming across tranquil meadows populated by ethereal flora, emitting soft luminescence. Others describe stumbling upon hidden waterfalls cascading from sheer cliffs, their waters reflecting the colours of the unseen sun. The afternoon effect provides a unique opportunity to experience another worldly realm of natural beauty and grandeur, encouraging individuals to delve deeper into SCP-7133's mysteries. As the day progresses, the afternoon effect gradually gives way to the sunset effect. During this stage, affected individuals experience pronounced fatigue and exhaustion, prompting them to abandon their explorations and return to the Ellington family B&B. The sunset effect intensifies the sense of weariness, making each step a struggle as the darkness of the night closes in. The distant sounds of wildlife become more subdued, replaced by an eerie silence that pervades the area. Upon reaching the B&B and lying on the bed, affected individuals quickly fall into a deep sleep. Upon awakening, the entire cycle recommences, beginning with the sunrise effect once again. The repetition of the cycle is relentless, with individuals compelled to go through the sunrise effect, explored during the afternoon effect, and succumb to the sunset effect repeatedly. After precisely fifty cycles, the affected individual undergoes a metamorphosis, surpassing the limitations of their previous existence. As they awaken from their final slumber within the Ellington family B&B, a symphony of serenity resonates through their being. Entering the shadowy embrace of SCP-7133's darkness, they become attuned to its secrets. No longer bound by the need for exploration, they perceive the profound beauty that resides within the night. A deep kinship with the untamed wilderness envelops their spirit. They glide through the nocturnal tapestry, witnessing the ethereal ballet of hidden creatures. The mystifying signs and ancient monuments transform into gateways of understanding, inviting contemplation and introspection instead of an insatiable thirst for answers. In the tranquil silence of the nocturne, they find solace. Embracing the simplicity of their existence, they unravel the mysteries of self. Just the quietude, they discover an inner symphony, harmonising the melody of their renewed being. Becoming custodians of SCP-7133, they co-exist in symbiosis with its anomalous essence. They become scholars of its mysteries, their insights interweaving with the meticulous research of the Foundation. Their observations and reflections blossom into verses, intertwined with delicate threads of metaphor and meaning. Their journey unfolds as an odyssey of personal renaissance, transcending the boundaries of mere comprehension. Embracing the veiled obscurity, they unveil the luminous truths within. And in this delicate dance of shadows, they ignite a celestial radiance within themselves, guiding others towards the transformative path of enlightenment. Well, that concludes today's briefing. If you have any questions, please redirect them to Dr. Sherman, not me. You are all excused now, thank you.


Over the past few months, I've learned a thing or two from young people about how to quarantine successfully. You've taught me how to make a mean sourdough starter. It looks awful. You showed me the Renegade Challenge. Great name by the way, which I've been enjoying on my Finsta. So since you've given me so much lately and so much hope over the years, I want to return the favor and help you make a plan in the upcoming election. You know the stakes for your lives, for your futures, your planet. And because young people have always been the ones to make change in this country, making change this fall is once again going to depend on you. Since we're still dealing with a pandemic, we've got to approach voting just like we do everything else these days. Shopping, ordering dinner, pulling off a surprise birthday party over Zoom. We've got a plan. First, you've got to register. Just go to votesaveamerica.com and answer the quick prompts. Once you're registered, the next step in your plan is figuring out how and when you're going to vote and there are a few options. You can vote in person. In many states, you can vote in person before November 3rd. That's a great option. You can also vote in person on Election Day. The other route is to vote by mail. Some places call this absentee voting. You might hear it called voting from home. It's all the same, like Donald Glover and Childish Gambino. Just be sure to check the rules in your state. Now, I know that mail-in voting is an area where a lot of young people might have questions because we're not talking email. We're not talking Gmail. We are talking throwback, vintage, OG mail. But don't worry, I got this one. Here's the deal. A few states mail you a ballot automatically if you're registered. But in most, you've got to request your ballot. So you should do that right now, because it might take a little while to arrive. Once you receive it, open it immediately and read all the instructions. Make your choices, then sign it, seal it, and drop it off in a mailbox or a ballot dropbox. That's it. Get registered, then vote as early as you possibly can. Now, there are a lot of people out there trying to confuse and mislead you about this election. They're trying to make you cynical. They're trying to get you to believe that your vote doesn't matter. Do not let them do that. Our democracy is a precious thing, and it's up to all of us to protect it. And upholding our responsibilities as citizens is perhaps the most powerful way for all of us, millennials, boomers, Gen Z, Gen X, to join forces. So register, vote as early as you can, and do whatever it takes to make sure your voice is heard in this election. Now that we're done with that, you want to see my renegade?


CSOs under the ages of civil society and Walker's Dialogue Forum have kicked against NLC and TUC's planned strike scheduled for 3rd of October. They have also warned that they would organize anti-NLC strike on the same day of the planned strike. This should be our first hot topic this morning on the breakfast. The price of diesel is still rising and has been projected to go as high as 1,500 naira a litre. And just like petrol, diesel prices are a critical source of pain for the economy because they affect the cost of product, practically every product. This is our second hot topic on the breakfast this morning. We'll also be taking a look at the front pages of some national dailies to look at the headlines that made it there. Our analysts will be joining us. Hello and welcome to the Breakfast and Floss TV Africa. I am Maureen Menon-Wazigwe. It is our Friday Flex edition and we'll go straight to our top trending. The first, the Minister of the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory at AFCT, Nyesomweke, has sat some heads of paracetals, agencies and government companies of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, with immediate effect. This was made known in a statement signed by the Director of Press from the Office of the Minister, Mr. Antony Ogunale, and made available to journalists in Abuja, Nigeria's capital. Those affected include Group MD-CEO, Abuja Investment Company Limited, CUMD, Abuja Markets Management Limited, MD-CEO, Abuja Urban Mass Transport Company, CUMD, Abuja Property Development Company, CUMD, Abuja Technology Village Free Trade Zone Company, and CUMD, Abuja Film Village International. Others are CUMD, Parnas AICL Equipment Listen Company Limited, MD, Abuja Broadcasting Corporation, MD, Abuja Enterprise Agency, and GMFCT Water Board. Those affected are DG, FCT Emergency Management Agency, Executive Secretary, FCT Primary Healthcare Board, Director General, Hospital Management Board, Director, Abuja Environmental Protection Board, Director, FCT Scholarship Board, Director, FCT Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board, Director, Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, and others. The affected persons were urged to hand over the affairs of their offices to the most senior officers in rank. The statement said that appointments into the offices will be made in due course. That's what you call a very wide sweep. Alright, let's move to the next one. Some traditional religion worshippers and revolutionary activists on Thursday morning protested in Ibadan. You are your state capital to demand the immediate release of one of their members, Abdullah Abdulaziz, also known as Tani Olon. In videos posted online, protesters were seen with different placards urging the Uyghur state government under the leadership of Governor Shea Makhinde to intervene on the matter. Tani Olon is currently in detention at Lawrence Prison Choir State. After a Chief Magistrate Court in Choir State refused the bail application filed by Abdullah Abdulaziz, a traditional religion practitioner and activist, also known as Tani Olon. On Monday morning, an upper area court in Lawrence granted bail to Tani in a separate suit. The court gave the ruling after listening to the arguments of all parties on the marriage or otherwise of the application filed by the applicant. Ruling that bail be granted to Tani on condition that he gets two short teas who would provide five million Naira each and proof of landed properties in Lawrence, the Choir State capital. While reacting to the ruling of the court, Adi Damola Solesi, one of Tani's lawyers, said the judgment will not grant Tani total freedom to leave detention because of the subsistence ruling of the Magistrate Court. The development had generated a lot of reactions from concerning institutions and bodies who described the conditional detention of Tani as deliberate. We have a video to show you. Good. All right, that's a brief video there. Well, the third top trending, there was apprehension at the works ministry on Thursday as protestant civil servants granted activities after the minister, Dave Umahi, locked out over 300 staff and directors who resumed work late. The public servants expressing their displeasure also demanded an apology from the minister. Earlier, the minister upon resumption at 9 30 a.m. was said to have prevented workers who came to work late from gaining access to the ministry for over four hours. However, after the gate was opened, the workers comprising both housing and works ministry refused to enter the ministry and resorted to an impromptu protest and barricaded the entrance gate. But what do you think about this? There have been different reactions. Some are healing the minister, saying, yes, way to go. It's about time to bring sanity and discipline. And some are saying, well, he should have gone about it in a different way. What do you think? Let us know. Don't forget you can continue this conversation on our social media platforms on YouTube, Facebook, X, formerly known as Twitter. All right, it's time we take a break. We'll come back with of the press to stay with us.


Hello everyone, today I am in a conversation with Madam Temunga Rebunukumar. She is a clinical psychologist and founder of the club room clinic in Gohima. She is among the pioneering psychologists in Nampen. So thank you so much Madam for giving us your time and accepting our invitation for this interview. Despite your busy schedule, I'm very happy that you can make it up to this. So without any further ado, let's go with our interview. So let me ask the first question. As a woman opting for a career path which was less explored and taken up in our society, can you enlighten us on few challenges and obstacles which caused the journey? The biggest challenge for me was having no sense of supervision, being in the form of a senior or a peer. It was definitely a lonely profession, I always say that. Most times I feel like I was grouping in the dark and with the myriad of cases that came to me. Fresh out of training with zero experience, I most times had to figure things out on my own. I had no one I could ask questions to and that was quite unsettling for me. It was very challenging. I always felt that I need to have a solution or I always need to help them in whatever way that I can. And so that weighed heavy on me. The other was a lack of structure at the hospital with regard to my field of work. So to start from scratch with zero experience was a steep learning curve. So there were people in the hospital looking up to me saying that, okay, she's the new psychologist now, clinical psychologist. I'm too soon to know how to go about. But for me it was so new and I felt so incompetent. I felt like, oh my gosh, can I ever do well? And all that came in. So there was a huge challenge as well. For someone who was also vertically very challenged. So I'm a little small in stature. So that aspect was also another obstacle. I may add, I will have the patient or the caregiver walk in assuming that I'm a student. Thankfully, not everyone did. This also interfered with the treatment process. And it definitely took longer for me to be able to build rapport with the client or with a patient, which for clinical work is a foundation. So just read a few challenges that I can mention. Thank you so much. Of course, there are many challenges being a psychologist and being a very new subject matter for many of the people here. So I'm glad to hear that. So next question I would like to ask is, as one of the first men in clinical psychology, especially in our state, and having a private clinic, can you share a few things about people's perception about the profession? Okay. Psychology as a subject in our land started from the study for the highest secondary level only in the year 2015, 16 if I'm not mistaken. So although yes, bits of it has been studied under the discipline of education as a separate subject. It is a relatively new field for us. So for many, it was a lack of being informed and just the not knowing. Also, mental health issues is always understood in the extreme, right? So which has predisposed many to see anything with regard to mental as highly negative.  It's common for people to tell me things like, oh, we need to be careful when Atem is around because I'm sure, you know, she can read our minds or love and say, be careful you will become one of them eventually. Or whenever people I know used to see me writing to or back from work on the staff van that had mental hospital written on it, it will always draw out some laughter. So of course, one need not be offended of such things because as I said, many times it springs out from not being well informed about this field. But it's also what pondering on why is it that we find such things funny. Yeah. Yeah, of course, I would also like to add that not only being a professional, but even for me being as a student, we still get those kinds of like, you're studying psychology, so we need to be careful around you and stuff. Yeah. Yeah, true. So find the next question. The societal judgments, stereotypes and cultural values play a role in women's mental health. The answer to that is a definite yes. Speaking in the context of Nang Lan, I think we asked this question to the women. The answer would be a resounding yes. However, the fact that mental health itself is fully understood. The reality is that many do not even recognize the pressures and expectations that they live under. So going about the daily affairs at the great cost of the mental health in a patriarchal society like ours. Women have been conditioned to bear the weight of the many expectations from the role as daughters, sisters, wives or mothers, uncomplainingly in silence. So many choose to go robotically go through the motions of life. They choose to go through robotically the motions of life. They're stoically, you know, care for the family. And for those working, reporting to work, pretending everything is okay. So yes. Okay, going this question is a bit how to say let's go back in time. So during the inner creation of the clinic classroom in the year 2013, you have stated, I've always wanted to open the clinic, but I was scared to take a leap of faith. So what exactly was the fear you have mentioned here? Wow, that's like eight years back. So it's crazy how fast time flies. There were many things that that made me want to start the classroom. Say I felt I had a responsibility to correct the resistance or stigma towards anything to the mental health, and just a general empathy towards seeking help and intervention. Yeah, so as with anyone pursuing their passion, something that also weighed heavily on my heart was a question of uncertainty, like I mentioned, of whether I would be able to sustain the space. Would people come to seek help? Would people even take me seriously? So after all my years of studying my parents' investment in my education, my fear was if I was making the right decision. However, despite all the doubts, I knew for a fact that there was a desperate need for creating more accessibility to mental health care. And here was a small door of opportunity for me to respond to that need. By then I had been working at the State Mental Health Institute as a visiting consultant. It was the third year for me. So it was simply known as the mental hospital back then. So you can imagine how uninviting the name itself was. So I saw that people seek treatment as a last resort. So I wanted a cloud room to be accessible. I wanted it to be a non-threatening or warm space, things that can be found lacking in hospitals and institutions. So that was what it was. I'm very glad to hear about it and your journey with cloud room. Thank you. So going to the next question. What do you think is the scope of psychology here in England? What can be the main challenges faced by the people obtained from the psychologist? I would first like to say that there is a wide scope of psychology with regard to all walks of life. Ranging from mental well-being, personal and professional development, medical science, nursing, family and relationships and beyond. So psychology is a wide field. I'm one part of the field that is clinical psychology and I can speak from that. So I would like to be optimistic and say that the scope is promising. So in recent years it's so encouraging to see various stakeholders recognizing the need. For instance, churches taking in this aspect as a very integral part of doing life. For example, the school, the educational system. So if you look at it that way, there's a lot of job opportunity to prospect later on, be it teaching the subject or bring a counselor into school. Or even with a juvenile centers prison, just a lot of avenues. So psychology is a multidisciplinary thing in nature. So in order to bring about holistic change, for example in clinical psychology, we need to work alongside psychiatrists, neurologists or special educators, speech therapists or occupational therapists to name a few. So it is multidisciplinary in nature and that we need to be aware of. And the challenges for a student can be, you know, because getting to college can be difficult in our land because there are not many colleges that provide psychology. You know, like we mentioned, because it's a new subject in itself here. And also it can come with fighting certain barriers. So it can be fighting the external barrier, external barrier with the lack of job creation, you know, the lack of awareness for which, you know, many people don't offer the subject. And the internal barrier can be coming from oneself. It can be parents saying that, you know, I mean, that's, you know, why do this? And so it can also hamper into the decision making. So I feel that, you know, those can be the challenges that students might face in terms of sustainability as well. Yeah. Because, as you say, there's not much colleges that offer psychology as a major subject. So there are only a few here in our land. And then there's also, they started psychology as a subject.  So I'm also one of the first page of psychology partner here. Wow. There's an opportunity for you to have the opportunity and study psychology as my major subject. And so next question is, is education and obtaining various training important in the field of psychology or experience? Yes, absolutely. Like all fields, psychology is also ever changing. So as with any other profession, the need to stay updated with new research and new knowledge is so important. I really feel that sometimes and most times familiarity blind us. And so when we get very familiar with something, we just get blinded by a lot of respect of it. But when we allow ourselves to have ongoing training and learning, it just opened up ourselves to so much more possibilities out there. So yes, I would say that absolutely. Yeah. Thank you. So next question is, what are the possible avenues for women and the youth with reference to females as a professional psychology? Okay. The field of psychology is increasingly becoming a women dominated field. So like I said, remember, like in my masters, there were three men out of the 90 females there.  So women may be more drawn towards that. The other aspect is, you know, men traditionally being the main breadwinners of the family may not see psychology as a very viable, sustainable profession. Especially when you're looking at a profession in Naglain as well, since it's just starting off when we speak about financial sustainability as well. Since there's no creation opposed, it can get quite, you know, challenging. So these are the aspects that might, you know, make it a little bit more for the other gender to be part of this profession. But while I really feel that in the field of psychology, while women are doing well in this field or any other field for that matter, it's a cause of celebration. My personal view is that the lack of diversity always has a downside. Because men and women have the capabilities to bring diverse insights to the table, even in the practice of psychology, but men and women are needed. So as much as women are more inclined towards it, I would encourage more men to also join this because there are men also who need counseling. And most times, in my experience, I've also seen that, you know, men are more uncomfortable to come and speak to women. And so, yeah, it'd be good to have, like, you know, both the genders working in actively in this field. Thank you so much. I hope the question answers your question, yeah. Okay, so next question is, what are some of the few drawbacks of practicing in politics? In response to the earlier question on the scope of psychology, I had mentioned the various possible job opportunities that this field can provide. However, in the current scenario, to put it positively, our state is still in the process of getting there. So at the moment, one challenge of practicing is that job opportunities to practice are still in the process of being created. Besides that, I would say that a whole stigma around anything to do with mental health can be in detriment. After all, we can only practice if there are people who are open and vulnerable enough to seek help. Thank you. So next question is, can you mention a few changes you see compared to the initial beginning of a clinic and people approach today? I'm so glad to say that there has been a big difference in the scenario a few years ago and the scenario today. So for instance, even just a few years back, the clients I would meet were mostly ones who had been referred to me by schools or sent by psychiatrists. But today I have people who have willfully chosen to seek help, say people who are struggling to cope with work stress or young people who are facing the challenges of transitioning from city life back to being home to their parents, homes, etc. So people's attitudes are changing. And that's such a positive thing that I would want to highlight. Of course, there's still a long way to go, but these are all good changes. I'm so glad to hear about how people from different people that come to your clinic for counseling to be a better self. So next question would be the last question. So the question is, would you like to suggest a few recommendations or advice to the upcoming psychologist? I feel I have a long way to go to come to the point of giving advice. Yeah, but from my own experience, I would say that if you are a student of psychology interested in practicing clinical work like I am, at least get an MFIL degree done because without which you cannot practice as a licensed psychologist, right? So for me, I would like to encourage that because we're just a handful of us here in Avalon at the moment who have done the MFIL and practicing as a clinical psychologist. So we would need more people on board. And, you know, if you're interested in clinical work and advice you to get your MFIL degree done besides that, practicing as a clinical psychologist, being a relatively new field in our state has been like, I mean, saying that over and over again. The journey may have a lot of challenges, personal, familial, societal, but if we are truly passionate about the call, we have to stay committed. So persistence is key and the willingness to be vulnerable ourselves and take that risk. So there are some days when I feel, when I still do face moments or days of self-doubt, questioning whether if I'm making any difference at all. If I'm being of any help, sometimes I feel so helpless listening to the kinds of stories that my clients tell me, making me feel so ill-equipped. But then what keeps me going is that I tell myself that I don't have necessarily had to give them all the answers to their questions or the solution to their problems. Maybe at that moment, the help I give maybe something seemingly inconsequential as just quietly offering a listening ear. So I remind myself to be intentional. I remind myself to be responsible to the call and to be faithful and to continue honing my skills and to continue learning as I continue my practice. Thank you so much for the advice. I hope people, viewers listening to our podcast conversation will be very much pleased by your advice. So with that, we can wrap up this interview. So thank you so much again for giving us a precious time. If you have anything to add, you can share. I know. Thank you so much for having me. I feel very excited when I sit down with future psychologists in the making, doing psychology. I always get excited because like I said, I was relatively a loner when it came to this profession. But now that there are a lot of people joining and there are a lot of people taking interest and being passionate about this, I'm very excited. So college has this subject that they're providing. And so I really hope that in the coming years with all your participation, you know, that we do see mental health issues being addressed in a totally different light. And so, you know, encourage anyone who's interested to take this up. Then we just hope to see this grow. We hope that we will normalize mental health issues. Talk about it more amongst ourselves because that's where the stigma starts and that's where the stigma can end. So it starts with us. So yeah, I would like to say that. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you so much. It was an insightful session. I hope we can meet in some day, meet in person and have more of our such discussions. I would love that. Yeah. Maybe in the near future, again, we may call you, we may give you a call for such interviews again. Thank you so much. Yeah, thanks. Thank you. Thank you.


And the tiger financial news network headline news update. Good morning folks. This is Steve Rhodes coming to you live from the shores of very sunny Delray Beach floor to this year 9 a.m. update. Currently we have all the U.S. equity futures trading in the downside. The Dow futures are off 102. Nasdaq futures off 44. S&P futures off 15. Russell futures are down 13. They're well off of their session lows out here. He had overnight in Asia. All the markets traded lower. He had Europe is trading lower this morning. Take a look at precious metals. They're trading lower as well. The gold's off 38 bucks. Silver's down 66. Platinum's off 22. Lights recruit us off $4.73. That's nearly a 5% move to the downside. Natural gas is the only thing trading to the upside. That's out of the 30 year treasury in the 10 year note out there. The natural gas is trading up 7 cents. 673 as its print. The 30 year treasury up one point and 12 ticks 141.16 is its print out here. Let's go take a look at, so we've got a little bit of a bounce going on and you should expect to anticipate that that's what the market is trying to do. One of the reasons it's trying to do that well really a couple different reasons. One would be because price is oversold. When I say oversold I'm referring to the advanced client oscillator of the New York Stock Exchange. It closed at minus 156.53 on Friday. That once it gets below minus 150 it is in oversold territory. It can get oversold. So you expect to anticipate some type of bottom and form between today and the next few days out here. That would be a likely outcome. The other thing is that on Friday we had a one day rate of change of spot bottlenecks above its 10% move. Whenever you have a one day rate of change above plus 10% you typically see a bounce or bottom on the very next trading session. Well turns out and that really is applying to the ES mini. So if we move over we take a look at the ES mini charts out here. What we'll see is you've got five different intraday time periods out here. 30 minute in the upper right, 60 minute lower left, 120, 240 in the five hour chart. Well you'll see out here our bottom patterns that are present right now. So that bounce or bottom that should take place is in place right now but no levels of resistance. Key levels of resistance have failed. The 30 minute chart price has gotten right up to its key level. That key level being 4252. The actual close on that bar as we came to the nine o'clock session out here was at 4253. So that's a key area of resistance. The price can close above that. You'd expect to move to 43.11. So the markets are trying to form a bottom out here. Wouldn't be surprised to see it bounce further. Folks stay tuned. Tommy O'Brien is up next. Have a marvelous magical Monday. Thanks so much for joining us. I'll see you tomorrow on Tuesday. One o'clock sharp just before the traders that show. Take care folks.


T. F. N. N. headline news update. Welcome folks, we have the Dow Industrial's finished down 47. Now is that up 50 S&P's up two and a half?  Bottom line is that that S&P is saying I don't want bears. I don't like bears. Yeah, Marina's no doubt. You're going to love it. Gold, gold contract down to $1.10 to trade to $18.17. You get the silver market up $0.19, $24.20, announced light-sweet crude off $0.18, $68.32, a barrel notes and bonds, the 10-year flat at $133.15, the 30-year up 10 at $163.09, and $king dollar, King dollar down 180 ticks, trading out at $925.18, Euro 117, yen 110, British pound 137 to one US dollar. We get open, we take a look at the S&P and the bottom line is that you get a flat market out here inside the S&P. Bottom line is that you are trading at up 32 cents, 451.88. We go look inside the NDX 100, NDX 100. The three Q's did get up to 382.71. You're closed out at 388.58 and anything under 387.6. Look at this, yeah, 27.2 million versus 26.4. Bottom line, if it stays like that, that's a failure on price and volume. Now that's another subtle deal, folks. Yesterday what we had is this. Yesterday you had the sell-down. Well, you didn't have the sell-down. You had a huge volume spike at the close. There's another one here. Okay, so watch this. We're at 823 million inside the NYSE. Someone is unloading stocks inside the NYSE in a big way.  We might get 900 million on there and that is very unusual, folks, okay? The NASDAQ composite, let's see what we got. You're 4.1, that's not a big deal there. So inside the Dow, man, they are unloading something inside the Dow. There's no two ways about that. We go take a look at the gold contract. Gold contract is trading at 1816. That's in an ABC structure on the way up. 1894, 60 is the price projection. We go take a look at the dollar. The dollar is down 180 ticks, trading 92518. Now the dollar broke its uptrend from May and it broke it with conviction. What is conviction? Wide price spread. I expect you're gonna go to the lower end of that consolidation, which is the 89,500. Have a great night, folks. Have a safe night. Please tell your friends about TFNN. Ask them to go to YouTube, search TFNN, subscribe, it is free. Have a great one, folks. Have a safe one. Come back here tomorrow morning. Visit Tommy, 9 o'clock in the morning. Great show. Yeah, look at him, folks. Sharpening your skill.


Round about the 11th of July 1987, the world's population reached 5 billion people, and so the day of 5 billion was celebrated on the 11th of July that year. Since then, World Population Day is celebrated every year on the same date, as a United Nations initiative to raise awareness about the ever-increasing world population. With 11 July 2022 approaching, it will be fitting to look at a few interesting population facts. The current world population is 7.9 billion as of May 2022, according to the most recent United Nations estimates. The world population increases by about 83 million people every year. If populations continue to increase as they are now, there will be about 10 billion people worldwide by 2050. In 1950, about 30% of the world's population lived in urban areas, but today, more people live in urban areas than in rural areas. It is expected that by 2050, approximately 70% of the world's population will live in urban areas. Tokyo, Delhi, and Shanghai are the world's largest cities with between 28 and 38 million inhabitants per city. The world is aging rapidly. It is estimated that by 2050, people aged 60 will make up almost 22% of the global population. The three most populous nations in the world are China, India, and the USA. The country with the fastest growing population is Nigeria. It is estimated that Nigeria's population will have doubled by 2050. The independent city-state of Monaco is the second smallest sovereign state in the world. Monaco also has the most dense population in the world, with about 19,681 people per square kilometer. The global birth rate has fallen since the 1960s, and is expected to keep falling over the next few decades. However, the African population is growing, while the European population is shrinking. For example, Africa experience is about 4.7 births per woman, while Europe experience is 1.6. Finally, life expectancy is increasing. In 2000, the global life expectancy was 67 years old. Life expectancy is expected to continue growing, reaching 77 years old by 2050.


The fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine approved by the Ministry of Public Health in Qatar Mofa approves the fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine Remember, the Ministry of Public Health has approved the use of the fourth vaccine dose of the Pfizer, Biotech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for individuals at high risk of severe infections The fourth dose is only applicable to individuals 60 years of age and older and those with coronal diseases that increase their risk of severe COVID-19 infections regardless of their age The fourth dose will be offered to those individuals after four months from their booster dose that is what we call the third dose of the COVID-19 infection The Ministry further approves is in line with the latest scientific and clinical evidence showing the protective immunity obtained from the third booster dose All recovery from the infection begins to decline in these vulnerable individuals after four months The Ministry stated that these individuals with more at risk of serious prolonged illness based on the local and international clinical evidence They will benefit from the fourth dose which will increase their immunity and protection against COVID-19 Many countries around the world are offering the fourth dose to the vulnerable population Remember, the Ministry stated that individuals who are most vulnerable to severe infection and eligible for the fourth dose include those who are 60 years or above The Ministry stated that those who are receiving active cancer treatment for tremor and cancer for the blood have received an organ transplant and are taking medicine to suppress the immunity system, have received a stem cell transplant within the last two years or taking medicine to suppress the immune system, have moderate or severe primary immune deficiencies such as the Di-Grogyne syndrome, Wextokot and Rochene syndrome have advanced or untreated HIV infection, are receiving active treatment with high dose contemporary spreads and other drugs that may suppress the immunity response such as the Traumotasis, Blockadized and the Bioblocked Agents that are immuno in saprofis or immuno in Damotratlia Having chronic medical conditions such as the unprecedented chronic corona diseases Individuals who are eligible for the fourth dose vaccine will be contacted directly by the primary health corporations or by the member of their specialist care team at Hamad Medical Corporation to schedule a vaccination appointment Remember, eligible individuals can also call the PCHSSC hotline on 40 277077 to schedule an appointment and working appointments available for the patient groups Thank you so much for coming back to this channel, thank you so much for taking the latest updates as we get to take the professional measures of the COVID-19 Thank you so much for coming back to this channel, by the way, if it is your first time to come across this channel, consider subscribing Don't forget to hit that notification bell because it will be the only way that will be updated when I upload a new video