Rafael Reif’s talk at the panel discussion «Leading Universities» at SPIEF 2012 could be deemed a major event in its own right. His appearance came two weeks before his official speech as President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — a position he holds to this day. His talk covered the following topics:

The date is 18 March 2018, and we’re in Haikou (China). It’s the final battle of the World Electronic Sports Games. Millions of viewers worldwide watch their favourite e-sports players via live streams. After a fierce three-round Dota 2 match, Team Russia defeated their Brazilian rivals, earning 800000 dollars in prize money. This is Russia’s most resounding victory in recent years, giving the team top spot in the overall rankings.

Global human development, which can be measured as a combination of the world’s education, health and living standards, could decline this year for the first time since the concept was introduced in 1990, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) warned today. UNDP experts have prepared a document on the current impact of COVID-19 on human development and proposed a Framework for the immediate socioeconomic response.