Perception

• One-size-fits-all hybrid work policies are more likely than other options to have a negative impact on employee engagement, retention and the amount of work done each day, according to new hybrid work research from The Hackett Group , Inc. (NASDAQ: HCKT).
• According to the “Thriving in the Emerging Hybrid Workplace” research from The Hackett Group®, the impact of workplace policies on engagement, retention and productivity varies.
• Giving employees choice and manager-employee negotiated virtual work arrangements had the strongest positive impact on engagement and improved retention.
• The Hackett Group’s research recommended that HR and business leaders work together to design effective hybrid workplace models.

• DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., April 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Classroom instruction and funding for technology education and digital literacy should be an essential priority to prepare middle schools and high school students for success, new research by CompTIA Spark , the social impact arm of CompTIA , reveals.
• The CompTIA Spark " Parent Perceptions of Technology and Careers" report, based on a survey of over 1,100 parents across the country, found that 80% believe tech education and digital literacy should be an essential funding priority.
• "Technology curriculum can help parents and educators open students' minds to new learning opportunities and future careers," said Charles Eaton, CEO, CompTIA Spark.
• The percentage is slightly higher (61%) for parents of high school students, and lower (45%) for parents of middle school students.

• When the 2019 uprising against long-time dictator Omar al-Bashir created a military-civilian transitional government, the Sudanese hoped that their country would transition to democratic rule.
• But their hopes were dashed in October 2021 when Abdel Fattah al-Burhan led a coup against his civilian counterparts in the transitional government.
• In the latest round of conflict that began on 15 April 2023, civil war looms as the security actors who benefited from Bashir’s downfall battle for supremacy.
• I have studied Sudanese politics for 15 years, and this latest round of conflict is the worst in the country’s recent history.

The ideology of Islamism

• When Bashir staged the coup in 1989, he was acting as a representative of a cell in a military carefully cultivated by the National Islamic Front.
• The National Islamic Front was led by Hasan al-Turabi, who had run Sudan’s Islamic Movement since the 1960s.
• He had grown frustrated at his failure to introduce his version of Muslim law (Sharia), through parliamentary means.
• This policy, the legacy of which still remains, enabled them to give adherents of Islamism and security bosses willing to ally with them control over almost every part of public life in Sudan.

Making amends

• However, after the split with Turabi in 1999, the Bashir regime attempted to repair its international image by distancing itself from such militant groups.
• In the later Bashir period, the Sudanese government supported the Saudi-Emirati coalition against the militant Islamist Houthis in Yemen.
• These are socially conservative authoritarian politics, including the return of morality policing; a hostility to the Sudanese left; and corruption.

A difficult dismantling

• The military that overthrew him has been reading the same script.
• Four months after the military had removed Bashir, it signed a constitutional declaration with the main civilian coalition, the Forces of Freedom and Change.
• But even before this coup, dismantling Bashir’s regime was an enormous challenge.
• The remnants of this continue to undermine democratic transition in Sudan, with ultimately disastrous consequences.

• The company delivered its strongest first quarter on record for software bookings as well as the highest services revenue in company history.
• First quarter software bookings grew 22% when compared to the same time period last year.
• Software bookings were also higher in Q1 than in the previous quarter, which is typically the largest quarter for enterprise software sales.
• Services revenue was up 9.5% in comparison to 2022, and nearly 8% higher than the fourth quarter of 2022.