Explore the vast range of titles available.

To better cope with tensions between great powers, extremist violence in fragile states, pandemics, the prospect of runaway climate change, transnational economic shocks, and increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks, the world needs a better way to marshal its talents and resources. This article lays out both the rationale and the obstacles facing the upcoming two-year intergovernmental and multi-stakeholder negotiations that will culminate in a summit of world leaders in New York in September 2024 on the future of global governance. Within this framework, meaningful civil society participation in the preparation of the summit is critical to its implementation.

In 2013 and 2014, I actively participated as the then Permanent Representative of Austria to the UN in the elaboration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), concentrating within SDG 16 on Rule of Law and the fight against corruption. The article features these specific negotiations. It further touches upon the role of the UN Global Compact and the SDGs in the sustainability agenda of international companies, with a special focus on the evolvement of EU legislation on non-financial reporting. These two specific aspects, Rule of Law and non-financial reporting, serve as examples for the changes in the global mindset on a worldwide sustainability agenda from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the SDGs of the Agenda 2030.

This article outlines the emergence and development of the rights of indigenous peoples and discusses the legally binding nature of these rights. It provides insights into the building of concepts and principles in the international context. The article also provides examples that illustrate the legal and practical impacts and the complex network of international institutions and programs related to indigenous rights. However, this standard-setting is still incompleted as there are lacunas related to implementation. In sum, these developments are based on the interaction with the indigenous peoples, who have been mobilizing on behalf of their own cause.

The COVID-19 pandemic constitutes an additional threat to the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil. They are simultaneously fighting against violence, invasions, and the destruction of natural resources within their territories. They receive almost no support from the Brazilian government. Instead, the Brazilian state encourages invasions of indigenous territories and tries to modify tradeable permits to empower agribusiness and exploit resources within the indigenous territories. During the pandemic, the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil stepped up their fight for their rights, the recognition and protection of their territories, and their lives.

Across the world, a large number of indigenous languages are in danger of disappearing. In order to promote and protect these languages, the United Nations proclaimed the year 2019 as the International Year of Indigenous Languages (IYIL). A large number of research projects and conferences significantly raised public awareness of this issue. The question is whether there have been concrete improvements for indigenous speakers. The IYIL can be seen as a successful start. The UN establishing a full decade of indigenous languages represents an even greater opportunity to legally strengthen indigenous peoples in their right to languages.

Retail water use accounts for up to 19% of public water globally supplied. However, the water intensity of retail stores and its drivers remains largely unexplored. This study is the first of its kind to provide water intensity indicators for retail buildings, namely Water Intensity per store Area (WIA), Water Intensity per Store (WIS), Water Intensity per Worker (WIW) and Water Intensity per Revenue (WIR), providing metrics for better water management in the retail sector. The water intensity of the world's highest revenue retailers was assessed through data published online in their sustainability reports. A statistical analysis on location, store size, number of workers and revenue was also performed to evaluate the influence of these variables in water intensity indicators. Results confirm that the number of workers, location, store size, and sales revenue statistically influence some of the four water intensity indicators analysed. These results contribute to assist retailers in setting best practice water consumption reference levels and to better understanding water variability, thus offering tools for improved sustainability and water efficiency across the retail sector.

The intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii enhances its dissemination to distant organs by hijacking infected leukocytes via a Trojan Horse mechanism. Upon infecting dendritic cells (DCs), Toxoplasma induces a hypermigratory phenotype characterized by podosome dissolution and formation of F-actin stress fibers. We previously showed that these cytoskeletal changes depend on the effector protein Toxoplasma WAVE complex-interacting protein (TgWIP) secreted from parasites to infected leukocytes. Here, we identify the host adaptor proteins non-catalytic region of tyrosine kinase adaptor protein 1 and 2 (Nck1/2) and growth factor receptor-bound protein 2 (Grb2) as direct TgWIP interactors. TgWIP mainly uses two distinct proline-rich regions (PRRs) to interact with Nck1 and Grb2. Mutating these PRRs abrogates TgWIP binding to Nck1 and Grb2 and diminishes podosome dissolution and DC hypermotility. Furthermore, we show that TgWIP directly interacts with the actin nucleation-promoting factor WAVE regulatory complex (WRC) via a WRC-interacting receptor sequence (WIRS). Disrupting this interaction also influences actin cytoskeletal remodeling and DC hypermotility. Collectively, our data reveal that TgWIP directly interacts with multiple actin regulators, including Nck1, Grb2, and the WRC, to remodel the actin cytoskeleton of the host cells, elucidating a key mechanism that Toxoplasma exploits to enhance host cell migration and dissemination.IMPORTANCEThe parasite Toxoplasma gondii spreads throughout the body by hijacking immune cells and boosting their motility. This ability depends on secreted parasite proteins that manipulate the host cell’s actin cytoskeleton. One such effector, Toxoplasma gondii WAVE-interacting protein (TgWIP), induces dramatic changes in host cell shape and movement, but how it does this has remained unclear. Here, we show that TgWIP directly interacts with multiple host actin-regulatory proteins using distinct sequence motifs. Disrupting these interactions prevents cytoskeletal remodeling and impairs parasite-induced immune cell migration. Our study reveals that Toxoplasma uses defined motifs to co-opt host signaling hubs that control cell motility. Understanding how pathogens exploit the cytoskeleton not only sheds light on host-pathogen interactions but may also reveal broader principles of cell migration relevant to immunity, cancer, and development.

Der Beitrag beschreibt die Erzähl- und Sinngebungsverfahren in Saša Stanišićs Vor dem Fest. Das im Roman als kollektive Erzählinstanz inszenierte Fürstenfelde präsentiert sich als Musterbeispiel für jene ,,Dörfer des Fiktiven\", die sich selbstreflexiv als sprachliche Konstrukte ausweisen (Nell, Weiland 2014). Der Akt des Selbsterzählens kündet vom Überleben des Dorfes und stellt es zugleich sicher. Die so erzählerisch erzeugte Identität erweist sich dabei als durchaus offen und fluide; vor allem jedoch macht sie ,das Dorf' vom Objekt zum Subjekt der Diskurse.