we say: “Umntu ngumntu ngabantu,” which means “A person is a person through other people.” This proverb speaks to the importance of community and collaboration As you step into this important leadership role may these words inspire you to build partnerships and unity within the UWC community and beyond Please know that you are not walking this journey alone Behind you stands a community deeply rooted in social justice we want you to know that we place our hopes in you We place our hopes in your ability to lead with integrity to listen with empathy and to act with purpose We place our hopes in your commitment to creating an environment where every member of this community — students and faculty alike — can thrive and contribute meaningfully to the legacy of UWC you do so with the trust and support of the entire higher education community Your leadership will no doubt leave an indelible mark – not only on this institution but on the broader academic landscape and may this be the beginning of an impactful and inspiring tenure 24 April 2025: Balfour Mall in Johannesburg has stepped up to support a new school initiative that combined sport talent scouting and community pride in a packed day of competition at Northview High School attracted learners from ten schools for a programme that combined athletics (mixed relay) This initiative reflects the mall’s ambition to back meaningful community development projects in its surrounding area With strong backing from multiple stores within Balfour Mall the centre contributed R13 000 in direct sponsorship bringing in several additional partners that contributed to help make the event possible The combined value of all sponsorships totalled R65 510 prizes and professional event content creation fun-filled day for the participating learners Driving local participation and opportunity A total of 297 learners and 80 officials from schools across Gauteng took part with each school entering one team in each of the four sporting codes The winning teams were awarded medals and trophies while standout performers attracted the attention of the talent scouts in attendance One learner was offered an immediate opportunity to begin training with Chippa United’s development team “The VYG Sports Day demonstrated the power of bringing together schools sponsors and the local community around a single purpose,” said Kurt Keshwar “We’re proud to have played a role in making this happen and it’s just the start of what we plan to continue doing in the months ahead.” Following the strong turnout and online response will be launching two more school-based projects this year: the “Help Project with Notes,” which focuses on academic support and a school talent show designed to showcase creative and performance abilities Both projects aim to keep the momentum going by creating more spaces where young people can thrive For further information about Balfour Mall, its trading hours, stores and projects, please visit https://balfourmall.co.za/ Underground Press relies entirely on your generosity enabling us to report on the entertainment industry Your contribution ensures millions worldwide can continue to visit our site for amazing content from around the web.*Currency in South African Rands (ZAR) This article may contain graphic and/or adult content unsuitable for minors and sensitive readers The Independent Police Investigative Directorate has welcomed the sentence imposed on an Eastern Cape VIP protection officer for killing a man who attacked him in 2017 said Sergeant Anthony Balfour was sentenced on Thursday to 15 years imprisonment for shooting a man in Qonce (formerly King Williams Town) who attacked him at an ATM was at the Capitec ATM in King William's Town when he was attacked and stabbed by Anathi Qabisisa “Sergeant Balfour then went to his car took out his firearm and started firing at Qabisisa who ran away but fell to the ground,” he said Shuping said Balfour then approached Qabisisa “and shot him on the neck while he was lying down and no longer posing any threat to him” The incident was reported to IPID for investigation and the docket was handed to the senior prosecutor who decided that Balfour should be prosecuted for murder “Eight years of his sentence were suspended for a period of five years He will effectively serve seven years in prison,” Shuping said an exclusive podcast on the life of Vicki Terblanche Dive into the expansive world of motoring with Naresh Maharaj Join Mark Marshall as he shares his extraordinary encounters with everything from bees to reptiles i the United Nations Palestinian Rights Committee organized a lecture on the Balfour Declaration and the impact it has had on the Palestinian people the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University and Director of the Middle East Institute of Columbia‚ School of International and Public Affairs reflects on the impact of the Balfour Declaration from the perspective of the Palestinian people marking the 100th anniversary of its issuance Khalidi underscores the declaration as a pivotal moment in history one that signaled a “declaration of war by the British Empire on the indigenous population” of Palestine which promised a national home for the Jewish people was inherently biased and dismissive of the rights and existence of the Palestinian people whom it reduced to mere “non-Jewish communities” without any political or national rights Khalidi also delves into the broader historical context highlighting how the Balfour Declaration laid the groundwork for the systematic displacement of Palestinians and the eventual establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine backed by the might of the British Empire and later legitimized by the League of Nations ignited a century-long conflict that continues to this day “Genuine reconciliation depends on acknowledging historical realities rather than ignoring them,” he emphasizes that true peace can only be achieved through justice and an equitable resolution of the conflict which the international community has so far failed to provide The Lecture text is available on the UNISPAL database the largest online repository of documents on the question of Palestine DAWN’s experts are the driving force behind the organization’s mission and vision Our experts complement our research work and bolster our advocacy efforts Read all the latest articles from the DAWN team of Experts and Contributors Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is also a non-resident fellow at DAWN and a non-resident fellow at the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies in Doha the British Cabinet had been convinced by London Zionists proponents of turning Judaism into a form of nationalism that sought to colonize a territory to issue the Balfour Declaration to Lord Rothschild "His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people," the declaration stated "and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country." It was a ridiculous pledge since no such home for the Jewish people (even if the British then thought about it more as a community center than a new nation-state) could have avoided injuring the rights of the indigenous Palestinians The British rulers of hundreds of millions of Asians and Africans thought nothing about moving people around to suit their imperial interests and even at one point considered transporting millions of Punjabis to Iraq to relieve what they saw as India's dangerous population pressure two years before the tragic Balfour Declaration 683,389 Arabic-speaking natives dwelled in the territory that the British would call Palestine about 81,000 of them Christians and the rest Muslims most of them recent immigrants from Russia and Europe permitted to come into these provinces by the Ottoman sultan The British in Palestine created a province of Gaza separating it from the Bedouin-dominated area of Beersheba and the Negev and permitted its notable families to administer it though some refused to cooperate with the foreigners and others were distracted by local clan-based political faction-fighting probably helped more by the "highly fertile" land of Gaza than by laissez-faire British economic policies growing landlessness and poverty kept much of the population on the edge The influx of Jewish immigrants into Palestine whom the indigenous viewed as illegal aliens sponsored by an illegitimate colonialism demonstrated annually against the Balfour Declaration The Jews who colonized Palestine (their words) established a Jewish National Fund to buy land which it forbade ever after to be sold to a non-Jew with multiple children splitting up the family farm in each generation which had the effect of turning many Palestinian proprietors into very small farmers or landless laborers Jewish immigrants took 6 percent of the best land off the market A riot against Jews in 1928 in Jerusalem had echoes in Gaza where the 54 Jews who lived there were threatened by a mob and his clan intervened to protect the Jews as historian Jean-Pierre Filiu details in his book Gaza: A History a park and a fancy neighborhood near the beach Filiu says that the French tourist magazine in 1932 praised Gaza City's lively markets its antiquities such as the ancient mosque since it lay on the rail link from Haifa to the Suez Canal more than four times larger than Khan Younis The pledge of the Balfour Declaration took on a significance beyond the relatively small Zionist movement in the 1920s and 1930s with the rise of virulent European fascist movements that made Jew-hatred a centerpiece of their projects Polish anti-Jewish measures and the antipathy to immigration in the United States caused Jews seeking to emigrate to go to British Mandate Palestine The Jewish population there had swelled to about 175,000 by 1931 By 1939 it had nearly tripled to over 457,000 These Jewish immigrants were refugees from an unprecedented paroxysm of murderous European racism not for the most part committed Zionists with a program for settler colonialism some of them became available for mobilization by the ideological Zionists This enormous influx of displaced Europeans created conflicts with indigenous Palestinians Notables and townspeople in Gaza joined in the strikes and demonstrations of 1936-1939 the "Great Revolt," which protested British colonial rule and the policy of allowing in thousands of European Jews The uprising was begun by Ezzeddin al-Qassam Militias proliferated among Palestinians and immigrant Jews The British military allied with the Haganah the Colonial Office under Malcolm MacDonald put forward a White Paper that laid out a plan to halt Jewish immigration and to create a Palestinian state by 1949 that would contain a Jewish minority The partition plan raised the hopes of the ambitious Zionists that they could defy expectations that they would become a model minority in an independent Palestine and instead establish a state for themselves on a territory far greater than the 6 percent they had managed to purchase and settle As the civil war unfolded, the commanders on the ground were emboldened and began deliberately chasing out the Palestinian population. Historian Joel Beinin, reviewing the findings of Israeli historian Benny Morris, observed that in July of 1948 the Arab Affairs director of the leftist Zionist Mapam party received a copy of a report from military intelligence It explained why 240,000 Palestinian Arabs had fled from the regions awarded to the Jews by the 1947 U.N General Assembly partition proposal and another 150,000 left the Jerusalem region and territories suggested for the Arab state As Beinin wrote: "Cohen was upset to read the report's conclusion that 70 percent of these Arabs had fled due to 'direct hostile Jewish operations against Arab settlements' by Zionist militias or the 'effect of our hostile operations on nearby (Arab) settlements.'" The left-wing Mapam politicians had not aimed for this ethnic cleansing but politicians by then were not in control of events on the ground The sheer number of troops on each side was roughly equal were no match for the well-organized Zionist forces some of whom had served in the anti-Nazi resistance or in the British Army and who obtained good weaponry from Czechoslovakia Jordan seemed mainly interested in grabbing the West Bank for itself and did not otherwise pose much of a challenge to the Zionists The bureaucrats of the corrupt Egyptian government sold off equipment on the black market that should have gone to soldiers at the front some 750,000 Palestinians had been ousted from what became Israel around 250,000 of them were expelled to Gaza becoming 70 percent of the population in what now was referred to as the Gaza "Strip," five miles wide and 28 miles long They never received any compensation for the property they lost or for having been made permanent refugees Egypt served as the caretaker for the Palestinians of Gaza for the succeeding decades The Strip suffered from being cut off from its agricultural hinterland and from its traditional trading markets in what became Israel and the West Bank a separation that contained the origins of its long-term food insecurity the population of which had been rendered stateless Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees While Egypt recovered the Sinai Peninsula with the 1979 Camp David Accords best-armed and most capable Arab army out of the game Israel could do as it pleased with the Palestinians in the OPT and its hard-liners pleased to colonize them and annex their land as with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1993 or Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 1999-2000 showed a willingness to compromise and to seriously consider a Palestinian state (though a very weak one that Israel could be sure to dominate) The rise in political power of conservative Jews from the Middle East (mizrahim) many of whose families had been expelled by mobs after the dispossession of the Palestinians in 1948 So too did the arrival in the 1990s of 1 million Russian and other immigrant Jews from the old East Bloc many of whom were hungry for living space and resources and opposed relinquishing the West Bank and Gaza a hothouse atmosphere of resistance grew up Large numbers of people gave their loyalty to the umbrella group of secular and leftist parties which had many grassroots organizers and which sponsored institutions such as Gaza's al-Azhar University (a secular school not related to the Egyptian seminary) Palestinians in Gaza were and are religiously and politically diverse despite receiving only 44 percent of the vote a fundamentalist organization dedicated to political Islam and founded in Egypt in 1928 had established a small branch in Gaza in 1936 It was a decidedly minority taste for most Palestinians Palestinian politics has often had a secular Practicing Muslims among Palestinians were usually moderate traditionalists rather than fundamentalists and mystical Sufi orders remain active in Gaza The Brotherhood gradually built a following supplementing the work of UNRWA and other aid organizations A group drawn from the Brotherhood formed the core of the radical Hamas organization In response to Israeli strikes on Gaza and Tel Aviv's strangling of its economy known as the Ezzeddin al-Qassam Brigades (after the Palestinian resistance leader killed by the British in 1935) began conducting reprisal attacks on Israel in the 1990s The non-state militia was straightforwardly committed to violence as a form of resistance and it made no distinction between military and civilian targets Hamas played a part in torpedoing the 1993 Oslo Accords which it viewed as fatal to its maximalist (and wholly unrealistic) demands for an overthrow of Israel with a series of high-profile attacks on civilians In response to provocations and attacks by the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon including the de-development of the Gaza economy it engaged in another round of terrorist operations from 2000 though Israelis killed far more Palestinians with air strikes capable of concluding and honoring a truce with the Israelis for a year or more at a time (sometimes it was the Israelis who violated such understandings) The extended family unit of the Palestinians is the Hamulah or clan and Hamulahs make up a republic of cousins bound by loyalty The impoverishment of these clans made it easier for Hamas to penetrate and tame them It has been argued that Hamas subdued the Hamulahs in part through violence and in part through mobilizing them into an informal judicial system for settling conflicts Where even one member of a Hamulah joined Hamas and was subsequently killed by the Israelis uncles and cousins—would feel a responsibility to declare a blood feud and take revenge on Israel Successive Israeli governments also used Hamas for their own purposes to keep the Palestinians politically divided and to weaken the PLO and to represent themselves as defending the Israeli public from (largely ineffectual) Hamas rockets The Israeli economic boycott devastated the small Palestinian middle class in Gaza the only force that potentially had the resources to resist Hamas and some proportion of which favored the secular-minded PLO Editor's note: This essay is adapted from Juan Cole's new book, Gaza Yet Stands. We hope you enjoyed this paywall-free article We’re a non-profit organization supported by incredible people like you who are united by a shared vision: to right the wrongs that persist and to advocate for justice and reform where it is needed most Your support of a one-time or monthly contribution — no matter how small — helps us invest in our vital research We’re fighting for a ceasefire and accountability for Israeli and U.S officials responsible for war crimes in Gaza DAWN is a nonprofit organization that promotes democracy and human rights for all of the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) © DAWN All rights reserved. | Website Design by KRS Creative. Renfrewshire News Two killers are behind bars after a man was stabbed to death in a brutal knife attack were today found guilty following the death of Robert Fisher in July 2023 The 26 year-old passed away in hospital after a row at flats at Maxwellton Court in Paisley Prosecutors stated it was Woods who inflicted the fatal blow through the heart Balfour was said to be “acting in concert” with her then partner knowing there would be violence She had also brought the small lockback knife used in the killing to the flat The pair had denied murder a trial at the High Court in Glasgow they were today convicted and now each faces a life sentence when they return to the dock next month The killing occurred after all three had been with other individuals at a flat at the tower block A witness said Woods had been seen at one stage with a large kitchen knife Balfour had shown someone the lockback knife that had been attached to a set of keys The court heard the atmosphere later became “volatile” between those at the flat including Mr Fisher prosecutor Erin Campbell said it was clear “the situation escalated” She said this eventually led to Mr Fisher being stabbed “in what amounted to a murderous attack” The victim managed to stagger out of the flat with blood on his face and down his T-shirt A man dialled 999 as Mr Fisher groaned in the background: “I have been stabbed.” He was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow he never recovered and passed away there four days later The court said Mr Fisher had suffered five separate stab wounds as well as possible defensive injuries Miss Campbell put to jurors: “If you are trying to strike someone in the head or chest then there are only two possibilities “Either you are deliberately trying to kill the person “Or you are so angry and wild in the moment you have total disregard if the person lives or dies.” The advocate depute stated Mr Fisher had been subjected to a “frenzied attack” Woods was later stopped by police at a cycle track He was found with the murder weapon which had Mr Fisher’s blood on it Balfour had initially told officers that the last time she had seen Mr Fisher was when he left the flat with another man Prosecutor Miss Campbell suggested this was “downright false” Woods – who had to be warned about his behaviour in the dock during the trial – had already been on remand but that was revoked pending sentencing by judge Lady Hood Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Home | South Africa are set to appear in the Balfour Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday in connection with the murder of their 71-year-old father in Balfour The siblings were arrested over the weekend after their father was fatally shot Provincial spokesperson Donald Mdhluli stated that police investigations revealed the victim had a protection order against his children “The victim had some invisible gunshot wounds and also some empty cartridges were found at the scene And the team of investigators immediately began an investigation leading to the arrest of the four suspects in Heidelberg in the Gauteng province on the same day These four are expected to appear at Balfour Magistrate’s Court — SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) August 20, 2024 Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker World War I allies incorporated the Balfour Declaration into the Turkish Peace Treaty signed at the French town of Sèvres in August 1920 “100 years have passed since the notorious Balfour Declaration, by which Britain gave, without any right, authority or consent from anyone, the land of Palestine to another people. This paved the road for the Nakba of Palestinian people and their dispossession and displacement from their land.”[1] So Mahmoud Abbas claimed at last year’s annual meeting of the U.N General Assembly in what constitutes the standard Palestinian indictment of the November 1917 British government’s pledge to facilitate “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” providing that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.” which was quickly endorsed by the contemporary international community including the leaders of the nascent pan-Arab movement the declaration was used as a model by the Ottoman Empire for its own official communiqué The Balfour Declaration was used as a model by the Ottoman Empire for its own official communiqué it was not the Balfour Declaration that paved the road to the displacement of many Palestinians but its rejection by the extremist Palestinian Arab leadership headed by the Jerusalem mufti Hajj Amin Husseini—this against the wishes of ordinary Palestinian Arabs who preferred to coexist with their Jewish neighbors and take advantage of opportunities created by the evolving Jewish national enterprise Had this leadership not ignored the wishes of its subjects and the will of the international community for that matter Hashemite emir Faisal I (right) and Chaim Weizmann (wearing Arab headdress) in 1918 in Transjordan “No true Arab can be suspicious or afraid of Jewish nationalism.” Largely modeled on the Balfour Declaration and formulated in a similar process of lengthy discussions with prominent Jewish leaders Talaat’s proclamation came too late to have real significance—two-and-a-half months after its issuance the Ottomans surrendered to the Allies—and was apparently designed to improve the Muslim empire’s bargaining position in the looming postwar peace talks Yet its issuance was nothing short of extraordinary given the violent Ottoman reaction to anything that smacked of national self-determination from the Greek war of independence in the 1820s the Jewish community in Palestine (or the Yishuv) faced a real risk of extinction from the Ottomans for the very same reason only to be saved through intervention by Germany Talaat was hardly the only regional potentate to accept the Jewish right to national revival The leaders of the nascent pan-Arab movement were perfectly amenable to endorsing the Balfour Declaration so long as this seemed to be conducive to their ambitions And none more so than the Hashemite emirs Faisal and Abdullah who perpetrated the “Great Arab War” against the Ottoman Empire generously rewarded for their endeavors in the form of vast territories several times the size of the British Isles Yet since these spectacular gains (which comprise the current states of Iraq and parts of Saudi Arabia) only served to whet their appetite the emirs continued to pursue their imperial ambitions under the pan-Arab guise The Hashemite emirs continued to pursue their imperial ambitions under the pan-Arab guise Faisal began toying with the idea of establishing his own Syrian empire independent of his father’s prospective regional empire he went so far as to negotiate this option with key members of the Ottoman leadership behind the backs of his father and his British allies Faisal tried to gain great-power endorsement for his imperial dream and it was here that his interests seemed to converge with that of the Zionist movement On June 4, 1918, Faisal met Chaim Weizmann, the Russia-born, Manchester-based rising head of the Zionist movement. The two struck up an immediate rapport, and the emir readily acknowledged “the necessity for cooperation between Jews and Arabs” and “the possibility of Jewish claims to territory in Palestine.” Yet he refused to discuss Palestine’s future until such a time “when Arab affairs were more consolidated.”[9] shortly before giving evidence to the Paris peace conference Faisal signed an agreement with Weizmann supporting the creation of a Jewish national home in Palestine in accordance with the Balfour Declaration and pledging the adoption of all necessary measures “to encourage and stimulate immigration of Jews into Palestine on a large scale.” In a letter to a prominent American Zionist a couple of months later We Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement ... and we regard [the Zionist demands] as moderate and proper. We will do our best, in so far as we are concerned, to help them through: we will wish the Jews a most hearty welcome home.[13] Emir Abdullah made his first overture in autumn 1921 indicating his readiness to recognize the Balfour Declaration Egypt was conspicuously indifferent to the anti-Zionist struggle in Palestine led by Hajj Amin Husseini So much so that a prominent Palestinian Arab journalist recalled in his memoirs how he was asked by ordinary Egyptians who “Mr while others thought that Zionism was the name of a certain woman with whom Mr The Egyptian attitudes to the Balfour Declaration the country did not exist as a unified geographical or political entity but was divided between the Ottoman province of Beirut in the north and the district of Jerusalem in the south like the rest of the Arabic-speaking communities throughout the empire had not experienced the processes of secularization and modernization that preceded the development of European nationalism in the late 1700s It took one full year for the first manifestation of local opposition to the Balfour Declaration to emerge in the form of a petition by a group of Palestinian Arab dignitaries and nationalists al-Wahda newspaper advocated the incorporation of Palestine into “Greater Syria.” Faisal was crowned king of Syria in March 1920 The coronation was followed by riots in Palestine which culminated in early April 1920 in a pogrom in Jerusalem in which five Jews were murdered and more than two hundred wounded For years after the declaration’s issuance, many Palestinian Arabs remained ignorant of its actual substance, with the name Balfour instead denoting an idea—power, money to promote Jewish settlement, or, more so, an opportunity for self-enrichment. In the words of a sheikh in the vicinity of Gaza: “Tell Balfour, that we in the South are willing to sell him land at a much lower rate than he will have to pay in the North.”[24] The sheikh knew what he was talking about An inflow of Jewish immigrants and capital after World War I had revived Palestine’s hitherto moribund condition If prior to the war some 2,500-3,000 Arabs this rate was slashed to about 800 per annum between 1920 and 1936 Jewish and Arab workers wrapping oranges in Rehovot periods of peaceful coexistence were far longer than those of violent eruption and the latter were the work of a small fraction of Palestinian Arabs the periods of peaceful coexistence were far longer than those of violent eruption In a valedictory report summing his term in office (1920-25) painted an upbeat picture of the development of Arab-Jewish relations: thousands of Jews were able to make the traditional pilgrimage to Rachel’s Tomb Coexistence between Arabs and Jews persisted into the World War II years This coexistence persisted into the World War II years. While Hajj Amin Husseini, who had fled Palestine in 1937, was busy making himself “the most important Arab Quisling in German hands” (to use the words of a contemporary British report)[32]—broadcasting Nazi propaganda to Arabs and Muslims worldwide recruiting Arab prisoners of war and Balkan Muslims for the Nazi fighting and murder machine and urging the extermination of Jews wherever they could be found—ordinary Palestinian Arabs sought to return to normalcy and reestablish coexistence with their Jewish neighbors Mahmoud Abbas’s rejection of the Jewish right to national self-determination which was acknowledged a hundred years ago by the international community including the world’s foremost Muslim power affords a sad testament to the unchanging nature of the Palestinian leadership’s recalcitrance It was Hajj Amin Husseini’s predication of Palestinian national identity on hatred of the “other” rather than on a distinct shared legacy that “paved the road for the Nakba of Palestinian people and their dispossession and displacement from their land.” And it was Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas’s persistence in this zero-sum approach despite their feigned moderation in the Oslo peace charade which ensured the perpetuation of Palestinian dispersal and statelessness to date It is only by shedding their century-long revanchist dreams and opting for peace and reconciliation with their Israeli neighbors that Palestinian leaders can end their people’s suffering And what can be a better starting point for this sea change than endorsement of the Balfour Declaration rather than its atavistic denigration is emeritus professor of Middle East and Mediterranean studies at King’s College London and professor of political studies at Bar-Ilan University where he also directs the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies [2] “Draft Resolutions in Reference to Mandatories,” Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) [3] For the text of the Sykes-Picot Agreement [4] For the making of the postwar agreements Empires of the Sand: The Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East [5] Walter Laqueur The Israel-Arab Reader (Harmondsworth: Penguin [6] See President Truman to King of Saudi Arabia (Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud) [7] The British Mandate for Palestine [8] Wolfgang Schwanitz “The Ottoman ‘Balfour Declaration,’” Middle East Quarterly [9] Jeremy Wilson [10] “Dr Weizmann’s Interview with Emir Faisal at the Carlton Hotel Colonel Lawrence Acting as Interpreter,” FO 371/3420 [11] Ibid [12] Jon Kimche There Could Have Been Peace (New York: Dial Press [13] Laqueur [14] Weizmann to Balfour October 1918-July 1920 (New Brunswick and Jerusalem: Transaction Books and Israel Universities Press [15] Weizmann to the Zionist Executive (London) [16] Clayton to Foreign Office [17] Haprotokoim shel Havaad Hapoel Hazioni 1919-1929 1921-June 1923 (Jerusalem: Zionist Library 211-17; The Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann [18] Kinahan Cornwallis “Zionists and Syrians in Egypt,” Arab Bulletin FO 882/27; Chaim Weizmann to Nahum Sokolow [19] Negib Azury Le Réveil de la Nation Arabe dans l’Asie Turque (Paris: Libraire Plon Arab Nationalism: An Anthology (Berkeley: University of California Press [20] Thomas Mayer and the Arabs: The Search for Egyptian Nationhood 1900-1930 (New York: Oxford University Press [21] Memorandum by Brig 3 (179); “Report on the Existing Political Condition in Palestine and Contiguous Areas by the Political Officer in Charge of the Zionist Commission [22] For early protests over the Balfour Declaration see Bayan Nuwaihid al-Hut Watha’iq al-Haraka al-Wataniyya al-Filastiniyya 1918-1939: Min Awraq Akram Zu’aytir (Beirut: Palestinian Research Center Filastin Abra Sittin Aman (Beirut: Dar al-Nahar [23] The New York Times “Report of the State of Palestine during the Four Years of Civil Administration Submitted to the Mandate’s Commission of the League of Nations through H.E by the Executive Committee of the Palestine Arab Congress—Extract,” Oct including the Report of the Commission to the Council,” 22nd meeting 1926; “The Arabs Reject Partition,” quoted from Palestine and Transjordan [24] J.H Some Observations on the Policy of the Mandatory Government of Palestine with Regard to the Arab Attacks on the Jewish Population in August 1929 and the Jewish and the Arab Sections of the Population (Hague: Martinus Nijhoff [25] Aharon Cohen [26] See Prepared in December 1945 and January 1946 for the information of the Anglo-American Committee of Enquiry (reprinted 1991 in full with permission from Her Majesty’s Stationary Office by the Institute for Palestine Studies Presented to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in Parliament by Command of his Majesty Hameshek Haarvi Beeretz Israel Uveartzot Hamizrah Hatichon (Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuhad [27] Palestine Royal Commission [28] See “Progress and Problems,” Confidential Report to Colonial Office [29] Frederick H [30] Colonial Office Palestine: Report of the High Commissioner on the Administration of Palestine 1920-1925 (London: HMSO [31] According to official British statistics in 1936-39 1112 Arabs were murdered by their Arab brothers Some Palestinian Arab sources put the number of murdered Arabs at a staggering 3,000-4,500 Herev Mibait: Hamaavak Hapnimi Batnuah Haleumit Hafalestinit (Tel Aviv: Yariv-Hadar “Arab against Arab: Evidence of Rebel Documents,” The Times (London) [32] G.3/D [33] A Survey of Palestine 337-8; “Note on Potential Arab Political Violence in Palestine,” Apr FO 141/1090; The Palestine Post (Jerusalem) Nov [34] Director of Land Registration to Statistician 1941; Memorandum by the Head of Political Division VII Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918-1945 (London: HMSO © 2025 Middle East Forum • E-mail: info@meforum.org • Tel: 1 (215) 546-5406 which is to re-emerge with new paintwork after an £86 million refurbishment.  The features follow a recent behind-the-scenes visit and blue paint were seen being applied to the original Victorian detailing of North Bridge The visit also highlighted the meticulous restoration of the 1906 King’s Own Scottish Borderers memorial which was carefully cleaned with hot water and hand tools to preserve its historic character.  Project Manager at Balfour Beatty said: “There had been no substantial works carried out since the 1990s and all the structural steelwork was covered in a thick bituminous paint We’ve started applying the final gold paint to the structure which has given everybody a bit of a morale boost to get it over the line.”   mohsin.sufi@balfourbeatty.com All non-media related enquiries should be directed to +44 (0)20 7216 6800 or info@balfourbeatty.com Balfour Beatty plc is registered in England as a public limited company Registered No: 395826Registered Office: 5 Churchill Place,Canary Wharf Oberoi was senior project officer at the Department of Justice and Community Safety in Victoria Investment firm Balfour Capital Group has named Hersh Oberoi as the head of its Australia division Oberoi’s experience in project management and financial market analysis is expected to enhance the firm’s service delivery and client acquisition in the Australian and Asia-Pacific markets His appointment is also anticipated to strengthen Balfour Capital’s services particularly in addressing the needs of institutional and individual investors with varied asset class requirements Oberoi said: “I am honoured to join Balfour Capital Group and lead its growth initiatives in Australia I look forward to working closely with our clients and partners to deliver innovative investment solutions and help them achieve their financial goals.” Oberoi is currently leading transformative projects including technological improvements for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and consulting for Stocks in Global PTY LTD His efforts are focused on enhancing portfolio construction and risk mitigation to stimulate growth in both domestic and international markets Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis where he oversaw Covid-19 compliance and risk management he worked on the development of trading algorithms and management of trading operations across global exchanges His experience is also supported by his roles at National Australia Bank and Genesis Proprietary Trading where he developed expertise in quantitative trading and investment research Balfour Capital Group chief investment officer Steve Alain Lawrence said: “His track record of success and technical expertise align perfectly with our mission to expand Balfour Capital Group’s presence in Australia and the broader Asia-Pacific region “Hersh’s ability to deliver data-driven insights and customised investment strategies will undoubtedly enhance our client offerings.” Balfour Capital Group offers a range of investment opportunities and customised solutions to its global clientele comprising institutional and high-net-worth individuals The firm manages over $400m in assets.  Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights View all newsletters from across the GlobalData Media network In August, the Takeover Appeal Board ordered Balfour-Lynn to compensate investors for the ‘deceit and wrongdoing’ it uncovered at the property investment firm he ran said he did not ‘have the means’ to pay such ‘high levels’ of compensation He has now been forced to file for bankruptcy ‘I have never anticipated being in this position and I have met all my debts throughout my life,’ Balfour-Lynn told The Times The 71-year-old businessman made his fortune in property and retail the department store located on Regent Street in London He was the CEO of a property investment firm called MWB Group plus the Hotel du Vin and Malmaison hotel chains The company also provided serviced office accommodation throughout the UK The Takeover Appeal Board determined that he acted in concert with two other executives to gain control of the business They allegedly concealed the extent of their shareholding from the market Jagtar Singh and Richard Aspland-Robinson were ordered to pay £33m in compensation to MWB shareholders Singh and Aspland-Robinson were ruled bankrupt in 2022 claiming he could only pay £2m towards the compensation order the Takeover Panel dismissed that appeal in August He could not pay the full compensation that the Panel demanded Balfour-Lynn said ‘eligible shareholders now stand to receive nothing’ after the Panel rejected his £2m compensation proposal She is now the sole owner of Balfour Winery of which I never sold any,’ said Balfour-Lynn ‘My £2m offer would have provided relief to those impacted by the decisions I made to save my company 15 years ago when it was at risk of imminent collapse during the financial crisis.’ The appointment to managing partner was effective May 1 Green Street’s global news publications are not provided as an investment advisor nor in the capacity of a fiduciary  Our global organization maintains information barriers to ensure the independence of and distinction between our non-regulated and regulated businesses is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 482269) and a private limited company incorporated in England and Wales with company number 06471304 great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother Phyllis Balfour passed away on Saturday at home surrounded by her loving son and family members to Samuel Albert Sudbury and Bertha Hedwig (Kunkel) Sudbury She married the love of her life Donald Balfour on February 15 Together they raised four boys: Donald Balfour She is survived by her son Darrin and her four daughters-in-law Judy nine great-grandchildren and twelve great-great-grandchildren Phyllis was preceded in death by her husband Donald and her three sons Donald and sisters Marie (Sudbury) Jenson and Irene (Sudbury) Callahan Phyllis was a committed homemaker and relished making her home patio and garden a welcoming gathering spot for family and friends She enjoyed dressing up in all her beautiful colorful dresses and going out to dinner with family and friends She loved looking back on the camping memories she made with her husband She enjoyed many years of season tickets to Hale Center Theater (playhouses) on a regular basis Phyllis supported Donald in his business venture of Balfour Plumbing where she was a bookkeeper for over 50 years which has now turned to a 3 generation company She left a legacy of the importance of family want to thank the amazing hospice team at Active Home Health Hospice & Personal Care for all their amazing work in keeping Phyllis happy and healthy till the age of 99 We also want to give our deepest appreciation to a few visitors who came to see Phyllis on a weekly basis A great thanks to Chris for his final blessing Phyllis will be laid to rest next to her husband Don at Utah Veterans Memorial Park on June 27 A celebration of life is planned for early June Richard Balfour-Lynn, the property magnate and founder of Balfour Winery, has been declared bankrupt, according to The Times following his failure to pay millions in compensation to shareholders impacted by the collapse of MWB Group the former parent company of luxury retailer Liberty the holding company behind brands such as Hotel du Vin Balfour-Lynn served as chief executive until the business fell into administration in 2012 Alongside joint finance director Jagtar Singh and several other parties, Balfour-Lynn was found to have obscured the extent of their shareholdings through “a series of sham transactions involving offshore entities,” as reported by db in August 2024 The regulatory body had concluded that shares constituting roughly 15% of MWB Group’s capital were rather than Audley Capital Advisors as was claimed This deception allowed the pair to exceed the 29.9% ownership threshold without making a required offer for the business both men were sanctioned and “cold-shouldered” for five years meaning no Financial Conduct Authority-regulated business can engage with them on transactions covered by the Takeover Code The panel also highlighted “serious breaches” of its regulations noting that MWB shareholders had been misled Balfour-Lynn and his associates were ordered to pay approximately £33 million to shareholders affected by the group’s collapse Balfour-Lynn confirmed his bankruptcy this week in a statement to The Times: “I have I am semi-retired and my wealth was tied up in MWB shares A £2 million settlement proposal put forward by Balfour-Lynn was rejected by the Takeover Panel which clarified it was not a creditor in the case While Balfour-Lynn is no longer involved in Balfour Winery — he holds no shares or board positions — the business remains under the control of Leslie Balfour-Lynn which oversees the winery and other hospitality interests We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings we will not be able to save your preferences This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again said: “The Group made further strong progress in 2024 We once again delivered managed profitable growth from our earnings-based businesses and healthy cash generation while also increasing our high-quality order book “The Board continues to have confidence in Balfour Beatty’s ongoing ability to deliver sustainable cash generation for significant shareholder returns as evidenced by our announcement of increased dividends and share buybacks for 2025 Balfour Beatty is well positioned to continue its disciplined performance in the medium term attractive opportunities in our growth markets of UK energy highly engaged workforce positioning the Group for ongoing success.” Directors’ valuation of Investments portfolio Notes:1 Including share of joint ventures and associates which comprise cash and debt ringfenced within certain infrastructure investments project companies as defined in the Measuring our financial performance section A reconciliation of the Group’s performance measures to its statutory results is provided in the Measuring our financial performance section To read the announcement in full, click here. Investor and analyst enquiries:Jim RyanTel. +44 (0)7858 368527jim.ryan@balfourbeatty.com Media enquiries:Antonia WaltonTel. +44 (0)203 810 2345antonia.walton@balfourbeatty.com A presentation to investors and analysts will be made at Deutsche Numis, 45 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7BF at 09:00 (GMT) on 12 March 2025. There will be a live webcast of this on: www.balfourbeatty.com/webcast. The webcast will be recorded and subsequently available at Results, reports and presentations – Investors – Balfour Beatty plc four room apartment on Balfour Street in Jerusalem's Rehavia neighborhood has been sold for NIS 5.35 million The apartment on the corner of Ovadia of Bertinoro Street is just 30 meters from the prime minister's residence The price of the deal is significantly higher than the average prices in the area another similar-sized apartment in the building was sold for NIS 4.7 million which is much higher than the price increases recorded over the past two years Rehavia is one of Jerusalem's oldest and most prestigious neighborhoods Much of the historic neighborhood was owned by the Greek Orthodox Church until the start of the 20th century when it went bankrupt and the Jewish National Fund and the Israel Land Development Co The neighborhood's planners developed a garden suburb The Balfour Street apartment is in the east of the neighborhood on the border of the Komemiyut neighborhood (Talbieh) Apartment prices in Rehavia average around NIS 58,000 per square meter Older apartments are being sold for about NIS 50,000 per square meter are sold for at least NIS 65,000 per square meter The Balfour Street apartment sold now was built in 1950 "Medium plus apartments in the area sell for about NIS 50,000 per square meter or more It is the most central location in the city and therefore also one of the most expensive So a price range of NIS 60,000 per square meter is not unusual prices soar even higher and can reach NIS 100,000 per square meter "Regarding the price differences over the last two years it is possible that the previous owners undertook renovations to the apartment Does proximity to the prime minister's residence have an impact but if anything the proximity to the prime minister's residence should lower the value because you are essentially entering a closed zone." in real estate with religious significance proximity to those considered community leaders or a major Torah institution is significant apartments and houses in the Jewish Quarter they sold an apartment near the Sanhedria Cemetery in Jerusalem 'The apartment closest to the grave of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef,'" says Bir "An ultra-Orthodox Jew with money in his pocket will agree to pay more to live near his rabbi But this is what we call in professional parlance a 'special buyer.' This is not a market price." The bottom line: The Rehavia deal is further proof of the real estate mantra "location location." Although the building is not impressive and lacks uniqueness - at least from the outside - and the apartment's area is small compared with the norm these days the price of the apartment is especially high Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on May 4 © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. Balfour Beatty’s employee engagement programme, My Contribution, has featured in The Times exploring how employees can help organisations to run better and save money but only if employers value their contribution.  My Contribution has played a key role in helping Balfour Beatty go from strength to strength knowledge and expertise of employees to crowd-source ideas innovate and problem solve to drive the business forward.  2,000 ideas were submitted to the My Contribution platform with 24% of employees engaged and submitting ideas saving the business £3.2 million and 53,800 working hours One idea stemmed from the company’s Tilbury flood barrier site where an employee suggested that instead of installing cabling for high-powered lights during construction that the company use solar-powered lights instead This resulted in savings of £9,600 as well as three days of digging trenches for the cabling Head of Group Innovation Programmes at Balfour Beatty said: “My Contribution is a critical driver for business innovation empowering employees at all levels to share and deliver their ideas that can lead to substantial improvements and efficiencies “We have so many experts across Balfour Beatty who understand what the business needs and ultimately how we can improve things for the company our people but Balfour Beatty truly wants to hear what they have to say It’s great to work at a company where we have so many people invested in making our business as great as it can be.”  To read the article in full, click here.  A young woman first sprays the painting of Lord Balfour with red paint around his face She then slashes the canvas with a razor-sharp knife the canvas reduced to flaps in some places The vandalism was claimed by Palestine Action an extremist activist group which specialises in violent attacks on places and objects connected to Zionism or Israel The group even has an eleven second high quality video of the attack available to download on Dropbox which is partly covered by a white medical mask But she has several identifying characteristics: her height and build can be estimated her long brown hair is arranged in two neat pig-tails and she is wearing a design Mulberry designer rucksack ‘It feels like it’s now open season on works of art commemorating important figures in Jewish and Zionist history’ a modern-minded conservative who was responsible for the 1902 Education Act was also responsible for the 1917 Balfour Declaration that the government ‘viewed with favour the establishment of Palestine as a national home for the Jewish people’ while emphasising that nothing should be done to prejudice the rights of other communities there  Nine months later nobody has been arrested or charged it feels like it’s now open season on works of art commemorating important figures in Jewish and Zionist history Palestine Action activists smashed a glass display case and stole two sculptures of Chaim Weizmann from Manchester University who served as the first president of Israel the vandalism was filmed and footage shown on social media A few days later Palestine Action posted a photograph showing what they said was a bust of Weizmann with its head sawn off Palestine Action seeks to reshape the present through destroying the cultural artefacts of the past in acts of savage The destruction of Lord Balfour’s painting is an assault but an illustrious tradition of beautifully-rendered portraiture one woven into British and Hungarian cultural history served as prime minister from 1902 to 1905 paid for by subscribers and donated to the College A highly accomplished work in de László’s characteristic realistic style it shows him wearing a red Doctor’s gown over a suit Balfour was one of de László’s four sponsors when he applied to become a British Subject Born Fülöp Laub into a poor Jewish family in Budapest in 1869 he lost several of his siblings during their childhood His outstanding artistic talent won him a place at the National Academy of Arts in Budapest winning commissions from Emperor Franz Joseph and Queen Victoria After marrying the British heiress Lucy Guinness he lived in Budapest and Vienna before moving to London in 1907 That the portrait was targeted is testimony to its enduring power as a work of art ‘We were utterly shocked by the violent slashing of Balfour’s portrait so brazenly recorded by the perpetrators,’ said Sandra de László ‘The girl with her distinctive pigtail was wearing a Mulberry backpack costing some £1,000 suggesting the worst kind of entitlement…This continuing protest by the few against innocent works of art that define the nation’s history can never be justified’ bland statement: ‘I am shocked by yesterday’s attack in our college on our painting I condemn this act of vandalism.’ The college was working with the police while the community would ‘continue to support each other’ The university’s lacklustre response has caused growing anger among teaching staff and alumni an American Jewish philanthropist who studied at Trinity and whose mother survived the Holocaust in Budapest has withdrawn a £315,000 donation to fund a Rabbinic book project at the college Instead of properly investigating the vandalism the University was fixated on ‘elevating wokeness at the expense of the Jewish community,’ Berkowitz told the Jewish Chronicle newspaper ‘There’s a video of the occurrence and the claim is still that there is not enough evidence’ It would not seem difficult to track the attacker through the college grounds and the city itself The university’s own website details how it has an extensive network of CCTV cameras covering the estate These include Overt Fixed cameras that record images at controllable cameras that can follow subjects or vehicles and ANPR cameras that record vehicles with a time and date stamp There are more CCTV cameras across and around the historic city centre The university press office directs enquiries about the attack to Trinity College and to the police Trinity College has said nothing since Davies’s statement in March The college also directs questions to Cambridgeshire police The force said that inquiries continue and there have been no arrests.    A growing number of Cambridge academics are demanding a much firmer response ‘The failure of both Trinity College and the University of Cambridge to pursue acts of criminal damage in the face of existing evidence about the perpetrators is a testimony to their timidity and preference for appeasement in the face of what is a form of terrorist activity,’ says Professor David Abulafia a fellow of neighbouring Gonville and Caius College In June Palestine activists splashed Cambridge University’s Senate House with red paint He took some photographs and sent them to the university security office an investigation is ongoing but no arrests have been made sporadic pro-Palestine occupations and encampments on university grounds have continued The contrast with those arrested after the riots this summer including those sent to prison for months merely for inflammatory posts on social media ‘The new trinity of sacrosanct beliefs: Palestine/Gaza man-made climate change and transgender rights are ferociously protected’ The weak reaction to the destruction of the Balfour painting and other acts of vandalism is part of a wider pattern of indulgence says Professor Matthew Kramer of Churchill College ‘Ever since the terror attack on October 7 2023 the university has indulged pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah extremists and acquiesced in their demands.’ When Palestine activists occupied part of the university grounds earlier this year the administration could have obtained an injunction against them and demanded that they leave Instead it opened discussions with student activists about divesting from certain holdings The new trinity of sacrosanct beliefs: Palestine/Gaza man-made climate change and transgender rights are ferociously protected Such freedoms would be unlikely to be granted to protestors demanding Cambridge University’s selective approach means that its claims to be upholding freedom of speech are hollow It communicates to the public that if you undertake criminal action such as vandalism and the destruction of property provided that you’re acting on the basis of certain positions to which we will accord preferential treatment.’ receives more preferential treatment at Cambridge University than Palestine Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective “The suffering of people at the end of life has been enough to legalize euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide but interestingly not enough to mandate excellence in palliative care for all Canadians has been instrumental in in the establishment of palliative care services He is the founding Director of the Royal Victoria Hospital Palliative Care Service and the McGill Programs in Integrated Whole Person Care Flanders Emeritus Professor of Palliative Care at McGill University he was made a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of “having founded the first Palliative Care Service at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital." In 2003 he was promoted to Officer in recognition of being "the father of palliative care in North America." In 1988 he was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec Q: What does being the founding father of palliative care mean to you A: I have been writing a book for a number of years and just this morning I wrote about Cicely Saunders’ death What it means to me is having had the privilege of being a devoted disciple of Saint Cicely I called her that once in a meeting and she came up to me afterward and said if you ever call me Saint Cicely again in public I think the international community owes her a great deal for having transformed healthcare around the world Q: When did you first meet Cicely Saunders Christopher’s Hospice in London through the Elizabeth Kubler-Ross book We had done our study at the Royal Victoria Hospital and I knew we had a problem I wanted to make some suggestions on how care could be improved have a quick look around the hospice and go home and I’ll have you.” That’s when I fell in love with Cicely I visited in the second week of September 1973 Tom West and the galaxy of superstars she had assembled Q: It sounds like Cicely was a very strong character and also a good friend and she knew what she wanted and she got it Her other remarkable advantage was that she started out as a nurse and then became a social worker and then she went to medical school and became a physician This gave her a broad experience with the whole person needs of both patient and family Christopher’s I was taken around the wards by Mary Banes I was ushered into a seat across from Cicely’s desk and she said I sat there across the desk from this towering figure and wondered what I should call her I rolled up my sleeves and spent a wonderful week at St Christopher’s what they were doing and why they were doing it I had met all the key players and taken part in the care you may call me Cicely.” During the following decades and through continual letters and phone calls and emails Q: How did you transplant what you learned at St Christopher’s in London to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal A: While I realized there was a better way to provide end-of-life care I also realized that for the 80% of Canadians who die in institutions we could not afford a sufficient number of first-rate hospices to serve our population So I made a proposal for a program at the Vic and the Board agreed to a 2-year pilot project That’s the short version of a much longer story The service consisted of a home care program that cared for about 100 patients in the community daily a consultation service to the active treatment programs a bereavement follow-up team to follow families judged at higher risk for bereavement problems Q: Was the Vic ahead of its time in accepting this pilot project Q: How did you come up the term “palliative care” A: I was having a shower one day and I thought “What are our goals and how can they be conveyed I ran it by past Cicely and Robert Twycross in the UK and neither of them were impressed the Royal College of London and Edinburgh chose the term “Palliative Medicine” as its new specialty Q: What was Cicely Saunder’s most important contribution to end-of-life care A: Her most significant contribution was the concept of “total pain” based on her observation that suffering may be related to the pathophysiology of the disease existential and spiritual aspects of suffering one needed to consider each of those domains you could almost always get total pain control Also important was her observation that the patient and family need to be considered together as the unit of care  These are Cicely’s enduring contributions; so much flows from them This thinking was and still is revolutionary in the healthcare system a half century after Cicely wrote about it because it is still the case that Western healthcare is aimed at four things: investigating The kind of care defined by her fundamental goals is not even thought of in our healthcare system Too frequently it isn’t considered in Quebec because of shrinking budgets that demand that family doctors have only a few minutes to see a new patient you had to create a new environment at the Vic and fight for what you needed but we had strong support from key individuals I learned that you don’t need to convince the world you need to convince a small number of key individual decision-makers Q: What about the other physicians at the RVH at this time A: If that’s true – it must have been my Cicely gene I completely deny all stories they may have told you about me Q:  Were there other factors at the Vic PCS that contributed to the Palliative Care model A: The pilot project started in 1975 and that allowed us to set up the palliative care service we created Palliative Care McGill which is a consortium of programs in a number of hospitals Palliative Care McGill is critical to research and teaching We got an additional big boost when Kappy Flanders funded McGill’s Eric M The third thing we did was to initiate research and teaching programs known as the McGill Programs in Whole Person Care The fourth aspect of the McGill contribution has been the biennial International Congresses on Palliative Care Q: You have explained the demands and rewards in setting up palliative care services and how our healthcare system is currently failing to support the implementation of palliative care in many instances Now the bill permitting medial aid in dying has been passed  What would you say to people who support medical aid in dying A: The first thing I would say is that the very name of that intervention Medical aid in dying is what I have been doing for 50 years This bill is not talking about medical aid in dying really it is not talking about ending the suffering We are talking about legalizing killing people  I am totally in favour of medical aid in dying I have spent my professional life working toward that end I do not support euthanasia and assisted suicide Q: Can you talk about what you mean by medical aid in dying A: The chartered accountant that I admitted on the palliative care unit is an example that comes to mind articulate people and a devoted couple with two adult sons “I’ll speak for my husband because he has suffered terribly he is so tired and we really want this to end.” I said give me a few days to get to know what this suffering is about and then let’s sit down again.” Later that afternoon I went to his bedside for a visit and after chatting for a while said “You know I don’t see you as a person who wants to die I see you as a person who wants to live but without the discomfort you have had” and then this man in his late 50s started to cry “You are right but I don’t want to be a burden to my wife,” to which I responded “It can be a big job to care for people at home but that’s why we have a Palliative Care Unit Your wife and your sons can come in when they feel up to it You are why we are here.” His comfort levels and quality of life were superb within a day or two There was no more talk about his desire for death  There was talk about what interested him and the sources of his quality of life We had removed his fear of being “a burden”  Every time I see the words “medical aid in dying” Medical aid in dying was what this gentleman received but it was certainly not euthanasia or assisted suicide Q: Where does palliative sedation fit in the discussion of end-of-life care A: Palliative sedation means sedation to obtain complete comfort using individually optimized doses of medication It is an available option and does not require new legislation since the goal is It has been used when there is existential anguish in the presence of life-limiting disease Q: How do you respond to people who equate medical aid in dying with freedom of choice or autonomy What do you find problematic with this way of thinking the needs of the whole community and in particular the most vulnerable sometimes trump those of the individual if you have Ebola or another infectious disease “Well whose life is it anyway?”  We have the quarantine option and that is a societal right The rights of the vulnerable trump the rights of the individual Another concern to keep in mind is the fact that it is cheaper to kill people than to take care of them so in a society that is budget-stretched and short of beds A further important issue is what it does to the physician-patient relationship with the small therapeutic armamentarium he had available at the time troubled to make the point that physicians must never willfully shorten a patient’s life Q: Do you have any last thoughts you would like to share about palliative care A: An area of enquiry that holds particular potential in our field is the relevance of the inner life or spiritual domain to suffering and quality of life The contribution of the existential domain to our perception of reality is undergoing renewed scrutiny as the interface between “science and religion” shifts in light of the emerging questions posed by quantum physics with its continual reshaping of our understanding of consciousness and its role in how we perceive reality While palliative care is relevant throughout life “whole person” research in the-end-of-life setting is likely to offer rich rewards as concepts that are independent of creed and systems of belief biocentrism and non-duality are increasingly understood Balfour Beatty has featured in Chartered Institute of Building celebrating the success of its employee engagement programme which encourages innovation and continuous improvement across the business Head of Group Innovation Programmes at Balfour Beatty shares how the initiative empowers employees to share ideas that help shape the way the company works Over 15,000 ideas have been submitted through MyC to date with 25% implemented – delivering real change and savings of over £3.2 million in 2024 alone Melanie said: “We have thousands of experts across the company They’re the ones who know what we should be doing to make Balfour Beatty as strong as it can be MyC gives them a voice and connects them directly to our strategy.” The piece also features Senior Project Manager Matt Twiss whose energy-saving plug socket idea has significantly reduced carbon emissions and energy use on Balfour Beatty VINCI's HS2 site Matt said: “This isn’t just a quick fix – it’s a genuine improvement that’s changing our operations and our culture.” Read the full article here Balfour Beatty has mobilised its operations to begin construction on Grand Hyatt Miami Beach in Florida the hotel will serve as the central anchor of the Miami Beach Convention Center District transforming the city’s convention center campus into a desirable meeting and convention destination worldwide valued at nearly $385 million (£287 million) The 996,130-square-foot development will include 800 guestrooms convention and meeting space and ground floor retail areas Balfour Beatty President of Southeast Buildings Operations said: "We are excited to partner with Terra Group and Turnberry two highly regarded developers in South Florida to deliver this transformative project for the Miami Beach community "This project further strengthens our diverse business portfolio in South Florida where hospitality continues to be an anchor market sector throughout Florida We look forward to leveraging the experience of our South Florida team who bring extensive expertise in the successful delivery of high-rise projects Located at the intersection of 17th Street and Convention Center Drive Grand Hyatt Miami Beach is scheduled for completion in late 2027 the project will employ more than 500 workers and his business partners have been ‘cold shouldered’ by the Takeover Panel and required to potentially pay £33m to investors of a former hotel group for which Balfour-Lynn was a chief executive until 2012 before the company fell into administration shortly afterwards who founded Balfour Winery but is no longer a shareholder or holds a board position worked alongside joint-finance director Jagtar Singh and eight other parties at MWB to conceal the extent of their ownership through “a series of sham transactions involving offshore entities’ which is the UK’s regulatory body to ensure shareholders are treated fairly during takeover bids were led to believe shares comprising approximately 15% of its share capital were managed or controlled by Audley Capital Advisors But in reality they were controlled by Balfour-Lynn and Singh the duo have been ‘cold shouldered’ and sanctioned by the panel for increasing shares beyond 29.9% and not making an offer for the business The panel also said that there were serious breaches of its code in relation to misleading MWB Group shareholders The cold shouldering means that no business regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority can act for them on any transaction which is subject to the Takeover Code Balfour-Lynn and Singh have been ‘cold shouldered’ for five years The men have now also been ordered alongside business partners to pay approximately £33m plus interest in compensation to those who were shareholders of the group from 12 January 2010 Balfour-Lynn appealed the compensation payment but his case was dismissed The Takeover Panel said: “We therefore remind all regulated firms that they should not deal with the individuals mentioned above on any transactions to which the code applies during the periods stated above “We also expect regulated firms to inform all approved persons at their firms that they should not deal with these individuals on such transactions.” A spokesman for Balfour-Lynn said the case related to a time when MWB was close to collapse and directors were battling to save it following the global financial crisis The spokesperson told db: “This case concerns events that took place nearly 15 years ago and rules relating to shareholdings in publicly listed companies Richard was focused on trying to save Marylebone Warwick Balfour (MWB) a publicly listed company threatened with failure at the height of the global recession He left the City soon after to retire in Kent with his family “Richard’s efforts saved MWB from imminent collapse in an incredibly challenging financial landscape and helped to protect the livelihoods of its 12,000 employees independent business known for its award-winning English sparkling wine that is run by a young team of talented professionals.” said the ruling concluded “the most complex investigation in the panel’s 56-year history” which exposed “their deceit and wrong-doing is testament to the skill and determination of the panel’s enforcement team.” today announces that it has been awarded a $889 million (£670 million) contract by the Texas Department of Transportation to reconstruct part of Interstate 30 (I-30) through Dallas in Texas.  Balfour Beatty will reconstruct a 3.7-kilometre (2.3-mile) section of the route on the east side of Dallas County the scheme will increase the number of general-purpose lanes from six to 12 to improve congestion and connectivity across the city.  the company will construct nine crossings which will link I-30 with the Southern Gateway the I-35E Lowest Stemmons and The Horseshoe all of which Balfour Beatty has successfully completed on behalf of the Texas Department of Transportation over the last five years.  This latest contract award follows Balfour Beatty’s appointment by the Texas Department of Transportation to rebuild part of the Interstate 35 through Austin in Texas valued at $746 million (£575 million) was awarded in November 2024.  “This contract award marks a significant milestone in Balfour Beatty’s 30-year partnership with the Texas Department of Transportation and our proven track record of successful project delivery “With decades of experience executing complex roadway projects in Dallas and an in-depth understanding of the region’s infrastructure we are uniquely positioned to deliver these essential improvements This work will not only enhance connectivity and reduce congestion but also foster long-term economic growth and opportunity across the region.” Balfour Beatty’s appointment to reconstruct part of I-30 is testament to its selective bidding approach ensuring that the company leverages its strengths to work with long-term customers in the geographies in which it has proven expertise strong teams and trusted supply chain partners.  Preconstruction will commence in 2026 and is estimated to last five years until completion +44 (0)785 836 8527 jim.ryan@balfourbeatty.com   Media enquiries:    Antonia Walton+44 (0)203 810 2345antonia.walton@balfourbeatty.com The busy A46 Kenilworth Bypass was reopened to traffic last night 30-hours ahead of schedule after a major closure to allow Balfour Beatty VINCI engineers to slide a massive 14,500-tonne concrete box structure into position beneath the road for HS2 The huge box – which weighs around the same as two new Royal Navy destroyers – is the heaviest of its kind in Europe It will allow high-speed trains between London and Birmingham to pass under the dual carriageway on their approach to the new Interchange station near the NEC It is one of more than 200 major bridges and viaducts on the new railway which is designed to improve journeys between London while freeing up space on the existing mainline for more freight and local services that could be built alongside the road and slid into place in one operation to avoid two years’ worth of speed restrictions and lane closures that would have been necessary to build a more traditional bridge design The complex three-part operation was led by HS2’s main works contractor working closely with National Highways and timed to coincide with lighter traffic during the school Easter holidays “We’re extremely proud to have successfully delivered the UK’s heaviest bridge slide across the A46 in Warwickshire It’s a huge achievement for the dedicated project team who’ve worked tirelessly over the last two years to reach this point using innovative construction methods to move this bridge into place and return the road back to normal in just 18 days reducing the impact on road users significantly.” “It’s amazing to see the A46 box in position and I’d like to thank everyone who’s worked so hard to get the road open early This record-breaking slide could not have been achieved without the years of meticulous planning and preparation that the team put in working closely with our supply chain and National Highways “While the vast majority of the bridge is now complete we’ve still got a few weeks’ of lane closures to finish the central reservation and wingwalls – and I’d like to thank drivers in advance for their patience during these works.” The first stage involved the demolition of a 200m long section of the old road and the excavation of around 35,000 cubic metres of material to make space for the box to be pushed into place This material – mostly earth and sandstone – was stockpiled on site for reuse later The second stage involved pushing the 42m wide structure into position Specialist engineers used an innovative jacking mechanism called Autoripage designed by specialist civil and structural engineering company Freyssinet to push the box across on a guiding raft at an average speed of 6.5 metres per hour for a total distance of 64 metres Fifteen enormous jacks were used to guide the box into position allowing engineers to gradually adjust the direction of travel with millimetre precision A series of holes in the base of the box allowed engineers to inject bentonite – a clay-based material – into the space between the box and the ground This acted a lubrication to help ease the sliding operation the embankment which carries the road was carefully reconstructed the new carriageway put into place and the road was reopened to traffic at around midnight last night – 30 hours ahead of schedule To allow time for the completion of the central reservation and wingwalls on either side one lane on either side of the road will be closed until Thursday 31st July 2025 “Our concern with any scheme is to minimise the impact for people using or living near our roads and certainly such a huge complex engineering feat as this would inevitably bring some disruption “So to have avoided two years of lane closures and speed restrictions on one of our key routes is tremendous news After many years working closely with HS2 and their supply chain we are delighted to see all of that planning and preparation come to fruition “We are grateful to people for their patience during the road closure to enable this innovative work to take place.” progress is also being made on the Delta Junction which will take trains into Birmingham city centre with the first deck recently completed on the River Tame West Viaduct Two giant tunnelling machines under London have also recently completed their drives excavating the five-mile-long Northolt tunnels around 31,000 people are employed on the HS2 project both directly and through the UK-wide supply chain Assistant Business EditorFriday February 07 2025 The TimesRichard Balfour-Lynn’s transition from failed property tycoon to humbled yet successful Kent winemaker has a pleasing redemptive ring about it Understandable then that numerous publications, including this newspaper, have interviewed him in recent years to hear about his journey from boss and founder of the listed property group MWB Group to one of the faces of the rise of English fizz as “owner” and operator of Balfour Winery with the current ownership of the group: he is not a director or shareholder of Balfour Hospitality the holding company for the winery and related hospitality interests including pubs and inns Harry is developing a broad practice across all areas of commercial including investor-State arbitration and sanctions work He is currently acting for an institutional investor in an investor-State arbitration (ICSID) against a European country concerning the freezing and seizure of the investor’s assets Harry worked as the judicial assistant to Lord Hamblen in the UK Supreme Court and to Mr Justice Calver in the Commercial and Administrative Courts he worked on a number of leading cases concerning (among other things) statutory construction the interpretation of international treaties the scope of banks’ duties to their customers and breaches of individuals’ rights under the Human Rights Act 1998 Harry trained as a solicitor at Hogan Lovells where he worked on a wide range of commercial and public law litigation and international investigations he was shortlisted for Junior Lawyer of the Year in the Law Society Excellence Awards 2021 an initiative set up to research and advocate for legal frameworks that protect the environment Harry completed a BA in History (First Class Honours Dean’s List) at University College London the Graduate Diploma in Law (Distinction) and the Legal Practice Course (Distinction) at BPP Law School and a Master’s in International Law (Dean’s Graduate Award) at New York University School of Law Harry accepts instructions across all areas of commercial law Harry accepts instructions across the full range of public and administrative law Harry accepts instructions in cases concerning the application of international law in the domestic courts as well as cases before international courts and tribunals He is developing a practice in investor-State arbitration and is currently acting for an institutional investor in an investor-State arbitration (ICSID) against a European country concerning the freezing and seizure of the investor’s assets 2022-2023: Judicial Assistant to Lord Hamblen of Kersey 2021: Judicial Assistant to Mr Justice Calver High Court of England and Wales (Commercial Court and Administrative Court) 2020-2021: Associate (Litigation and Investigations) 2021-2022: Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Legal Studies New York University School of Law (Dean’s Graduate Award) University College London (First Class Honours Barristers regulated by the Bar Standards Board Balfour Beatty has featured in Civil Service World discussing the critical role of collaboration in delivering successful public sector construction and infrastructure projects explores the importance of early contractor involvement in infrastructure projects explaining how bringing contractors in at the earliest stages allows for better planning Through frameworks like SCAPE - where contractors engage with the public sector early - and Balfour Beatty's Strategic Design Partnership projects benefit from expert insights - leading to smoother delivery and fewer costly changes later on we know that 60% of design changes typically occur after construction starts That’s why engaging early with our design and delivery partners is critical It allows us to incorporate modern construction techniques Read the full article about collaboration here The TimesThe chief executive credited with saving Balfour Beatty from being taken over by its rival Carillion is stepping down after a decade in charge The infrastructure engineer’s share price has more than doubled during Leo Quinn’s tenure The company returned £755 million to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks in the three years from 2021 to 2024 the FTSE 250 infrastructure group’s share price fell by more than 5 per cent has been chosen by the board to succeed 68-year-old Quinn and will join the company in September Quinn arrived at Balfour Beatty in 2015 when the construction group was in The contracts for the construction of High Speed 2 (HS2) should not be renegotiated as part of the project’s ongoing reset according to Balfour Beatty’s chief executive Late last year, the Department for Transport (DfT) confirmed HS2 was undergoing a full programme reset under the new HS2 Ltd new chief executive Mark Wild As part of a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) inquiry the DfT further stated it didn’t know the estimated total cost of Phase 1 of the project and the reason for this was down to issues with the main works civils contracts DfT officials said that the contracts were being renegotiated as part of the reset Balfour Beatty is part of the Balfour Beatty Vinci joint venture (BBV) one of the HS2 project’s four main civils contractors It is working on the 90km West Midlands section of the high-speed line Balfour Beatty’s soon-to-depart chief executive Leo Quinn said: “No the contracts for the time they were written were appropriate.” “There’s no contractor in the UK that could actually have a balance sheet to deliver something of that size so it has to go back to the exchequer,” Quinn continued “Isn’t it good news in a way that the balance sheet as a country is able to carry that because if you had actually put that liability down to all of your contractors and the cost had overrun the way it’s overrun you wouldn’t have a construction industry in the UK.” The contracts were awarded by the government in summer 2017. In the years since, contractors have requested changes to the contracts thousands of times A report from the National Audit Office last year found that “HS2 Ltd has not driven the cost performance it expected through its contracts and contractual incentives to control costs and improve productivity have not worked as intended” how he believes renegotiating the contracts is the wrong priority for DfT and it should focus on finishing the project instead “If someone wants to renegotiate the contract “The priority is how do you get the project completed as soon as possible and motivate the contractors you’ve got to finish early very closely with Mark Wild and the team to have a successful delivery And we’ll work flexibly with the client to make sure it gets finished and on time.” The comments made in the PAC meeting last year were echoed in a recent enquiry released by the committee. A large part of the PAC’s perceived failings on the project come from the DfT and HS2 Ltd’s failure to work together effectively This is most illustrated by the fact neither organisation can agree how much HS2 will cost HS2 Ltd responded to the report stating how new chief executive Mark Wild will reset the programme over the next 12 months Even with his sentiments on the future of the HS2 contract situation He said: “When you come and see [HS2] your jaw will drop in terms of how awe-inspiring it is “It’s an investment by the government in building skills and capabilities that will actually serve us for the next 100 years “Ten years ago there wasn’t an awful lot of work on the horizon and we were struggling the rising tide is of a proportion that I’ve not seen before very encouraging place to be at this moment in time.” Quinn will step down from the Balfour Beatty board later this year after more than 10 years as group chief executive Like what you've read? To receive New Civil Engineer's daily and weekly newsletters click here. Network Rail is gearing up to complete 359 projects worth £67.4M over… Transport Scotland has started to engage the market on a £205M contract… The A46 Kenilworth Bypass was reopened to traffic 30 hours earlier than… High Speed 2 (HS2) Ltd and the Department for Transport (DfT) remain… I see Philip Alexander continues to write his opinionated nonsense and get it published in the NCE thank goodness is being built at least as far as Birmibham & Handsacre and will in the end built through to Crewe because it is necessary and onto Manchester but by another name Balfour Beatty has secured a contract to install 68km of high voltage direct current land cables from Fraisthorpe Sands to Drax in Yorkshire as well as an additional 1km of HVDC land cable at Peterhead in Scotland The contract forms part of the 2GW electrical ‘superhighway’ cable link project known as The Eastern Green Link 2 Main works are expected to commence in early 2025 the project is expected to employ 140 people to reduce the visual impact of the scheme protecting the landscapes across East Riding of Yorkshire and Peterhead The cables will connect to new converter stations located at either end of the cable which will convert offshore wind farm energy managing director of Balfour Beatty’s Power Transmission and Distribution business said: “With a proven track record of working on complex cabling projects this contract further demonstrates our leading role in delivering the vital infrastructure needed to reinforce the energy sector “Our experience and deep domain knowledge positions us perfectly to complete these latest works for the project which will power around two million homes and businesses supporting the UK’s transition to clean energy.” Balfour Beatty’s selection further bolsters its portfolio of nationally critical power transmission and distribution projects including the firm’s recent appointment to deliver the £363m Bramford to Twinstead Reinforcement scheme Stacey Balfour and Cameron Woods were both found responsible for the murder of Robert Fisher in Paisley. Stacey Balfour faces a life sentence for her part in the fatal stabbing of Robert Fisher at flats in Paisley in July 2023. The 24-year-old and then boyfriend Cameron Woods, 27, were both found responsible for the murder following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow. Prosecutors stated it was Woods who knifed the 26-year-old with Balfour “acting in concert” with him knowing there would be violence. The pair will find out the minimum they will spend behind bars when they return to the dock next month. But, in an unusual set of events, jurors on Friday afternoon had first returned a guilty verdict to the lesser crime of culpable homicide in connection with Balfour. Lady Hood went on to ask the jury to leave the courtroom while legal discussions then took place. The judge along with the prosecution and Balfour’s legal team – led by KC Thomas Ross – all agreed the verdict was “incompetent in law” and “inconsistent” with Lady Hood’s earlier legal directions to jurors. Advocate depute Erin Campbell stated there had been “no room in the evidence” against Balfour for a culpable homicide conviction. Mr Ross later added it appeared the jury had clearly “not been convinced beyond reasonable doubt” Balfour was guilty of murder. As such, the defence advocate said the verdict against Balfour then should be one of acquittal. After further legal talks, Lady Hood spoke to jurors and confirmed the culpable homicide decision “cannot be accepted”. After more legal directions, she then asked they restart their deliberations. The jury eventually came back again late on Friday and this time convicted both Balfour and Woods of murder. They were remanded in custody pending sentencing. The killing occurred after all three had been with others at a flat at the tower block. A witness said Woods had been seen at one stage with a large kitchen knife. Balfour meantime had shown someone the small lockback blade later used in the killing. It had been attached to a set of keys. The court heard the atmosphere later became “volatile” between those at the flat including Mr Fisher. In her speech to jurors, prosecutor Miss Campbell said it was clear “the situation escalated”. She said this eventually led to Mr Fisher being stabbed “in what amounted to a murderous attack”. The victim managed to stagger out of the flat with blood on his face and down his T-shirt. He was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow but he never recovered and passed away there four days later. The court Mr Fisher had suffered five separate stab wounds as well as possible defensive injuries. Miss Campbell put to jurors: “If you are trying to strike someone in the head or chest then there are only two possibilities. “Either you are deliberately trying to kill the person. “Or you are so angry and wild in the moment, you have total disregard if the person lives or dies.” The advocate depute stated Mr Fisher had been subjected to a “frenzied attack”. Woods was later stopped by police at a cycle track. He was found with the murder weapon which had Mr Fisher’s blood on it. Balfour had initially told officers that the last time she had seen Mr Fisher was when he left the flat with another man. STV News is now on WhatsAppGet all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Follow STV News on WhatsAppScan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country '+scriptOptions._localizedStrings.webview_notification_text+' "+scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_title+" "+scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_text+" we have reached an agreement for the sale of Omnicom to Hitachi Rail A further announcement will be made on completion of the deal Omnicom handles the UK's largest rail data set and serves valuable insights to many of the major international original equipment manufacturers For more information visit the Omnicom website Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering has featured in Concrete Connect discussing its record-breaking pile installation at the Bridgwater GiGaFactory the UK’s largest electric car battery plant Installing over 1,000 concrete piles in a single week the company leveraged advanced logistics and technology to optimise the efficiency and safety of the piling operations on site Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering's Operations Manager highlights the benefit of meticulous planning collaboration and the importance of understanding the ground conditions in detail to determine the most effective installation methods Tom said: “Understanding the ground conditions in detail helps us determine the most effective installation methods optimising performance…our output on this multi-rig project is industry-leading." Read the article in full here www.balfourbeatty.com | follow us @balfourbeatty Balfour Beatty today announces that it has been reappointed as a key delivery partner on Network Rail’s eight-year Supply Chain Services’ framework, having first been appointed in 2018 There is an option to extend the framework for a further two years valued at approximately £23 million per year operate and maintain a fleet of high-performance tamping machines to support track renewal and maintenance projects across England The tamping machines maintain the railway network by hydraulically lifting the track and packing ballast underneath the sleepers to fill voids and realign the tracks ensuring a smooth and stable railway for freight and passenger trains helping to reduce the number of speed restrictions and line closures caused by defects Balfour Beatty’s appointment to the framework builds on the company’s 25-year track record of delivering safe and efficient rail plant services its commitment to investing in the latest rail plant technology and its ability to deliver cost-effective and reliable solutions The company operates one of the most modern tamper fleets in the UK, with a strong investment pipeline that includes four new state-of-the-art electric machines which are set to enter service between 2025 and 2026; a pioneering move that aligns with its sustainability strategy, Building New Futures as well as Network Rail’s sustainability and decarbonisation commitments Managing Director of Balfour Beatty’s Rail business said: “We are proud to continue our longstanding relationship with Network Rail having first been appointed to the Supply Chain Services’ framework in 2018 “By leveraging our extensive expertise and our unique we will ensure the railway network remains resilient and efficient Our commitment to innovation and sustainability will help drive improvements delivering value for both passengers and freight operators.” Balfour Beatty will employ approximately 110 people Balfour Beatty+44 (0)203 810 2345Mohsin.sufi@balfourbeatty.com www.balfourbeatty.com | follow us @balfourbeatty All non-media related enquiries should be directed to +44 (0)20 7216 6800 or info@balfourbeatty.com ·  Balfour Beatty is a leading international infrastructure group with 27,000 employees driving the delivery of powerful new solutions creating skylines and inspiring a new generation of talent to be the change-makers of tomorrow.  maintain and operate the increasingly complex and critical infrastructure that supports national economies and deliver projects at the heart of local communities.  ·  Over the last 116 years we have created iconic buildings and infrastructure all over the world the first UK nuclear power station in a generation; constructing the world-class arts and cultural facility operating and maintaining the Automated People Mover superstructure at one of the busiest airport in the world ·  Balfour Beatty is one of the UK’s leading rail infrastructure suppliers planning and design through to implementation and asset management we provide multi-disciplinary rail infrastructure services across the lifecycle of rail assets including electrification signalling and railway systems and technologies we look to enhance infrastructure asset performance and ensure smooth operations Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group, today announces it has reached agreement for the sale of Omnicom its specialist rail measurement hardware and intelligent software business a leading partner to the world's best transportation companies The acquisition by Hitachi Rail will support Omnicom’s growth strategy to expand beyond the UK into the US and European markets Balfour Beatty’s UK Rail business will continue to focus on its core capability of managing enhancing and maintaining thousands of miles of railways and supporting rail infrastructure across the UK crucial for community connectivity and economic growth Omnicom’s capabilities and offering to the market has strengthened through acquisition and organic growth with its over 100-strong subject matter experts AI enabled technology alongside robust hardware and software to capture rail data This assures operational stability and enhances train-borne monitoring of rail infrastructure for customers such as Network Rail and London Underground Managing Director of Balfour Beatty’s UK Rail business said: "In order to capitalise on its unique technological solutions to the Rail market Omnicom requires an owner with a truly global reach and a complementary culture Hitachi’s acquisition will further enable Omnicom to leverage its capabilities and apply its expertise in the rail and digital technology sectors in both the US and European markets” said: “This acquisition strengthens Omnicom’s ability to collaborate innovate and deliver AI-enabled systems and services whilst further enhancing the safety building on our proven data driven solutions which help predict and prevent railway asset failures  I look forward to Omnicom’s continuing success as part of the Hitachi brand” said: “This is a strategic acquisition for Hitachi Rail Plugging Omnicom’s pioneering track monitoring tools into our digital asset management platform will further strengthen our global offer to optimize customers’ rail services and the surrounding infrastructure New technological solutions such as our HMAX platform demonstrate the power of AI to enhance the performance of our railway infrastructure and systems.” Balfour Beatty is one of the UK’s leading rail infrastructure providers with over 1,600 employees within its Rail business the company provides multi-disciplinary rail infrastructure services across the rail asset lifecycle including electrification signalling and railway systems and technologies in partnership with long-term customers such as Network Rail and Transport for London A further announcement will be made by Balfour Beatty on completion of the sale Media enquiries to:Antonia WaltonBalfour Beatty+44 (0)203 810 2345Antonia.walton@balfourbeatty.comwww.balfourbeatty.com | follow us @balfourbeatty