Washington, DC - U.S. Secretary of State Kerry met today with four Central Asian foreign ministers on the margins of the OSCE Ministerial Meeting. Welcoming ministers from Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the Secretary regretted that the Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan was unable to make it to Hamburg while noting the continued strong commitment by all five countries to the C5+1 diplomatic platform.

West Lafayette, Indiana - A Purdue University professor recommends reading, including books without words, to help children understand the thoughts and feelings of others, which can be particularly important during the holidays.

Washington, DC - The White House launched the Equal Pay Pledge in June at the first-ever United State of Women Summit, encouraging companies from across the American economy to take action to advance equal pay. Today we are announcing new signatories to the White House Equal Pay Pledge and highlighting the critical role that businesses can play in reducing the national gender pay gap.

Washington, DC - As a part of the Obama Administration’s effort to cut energy waste in America’s buildings, today the Energy Department launched the Better Buildings Zero Energy Schools Accelerator. Six school districts, two states and several national organizations are working collaboratively to develop zero energy design that is cost-competitive to conventional construction in the education sector and in local communities across the nation.  A Zero Energy Building is an energy-efficient building, where on a source energy basis, the actual delivered energy is less than or equal to the onsite renewable exported energy.

Imperial, California - Vestas Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems A/S built a novel multi-rotor wind turbine using the DOE Wind Program Sandia National Laboratories’ control software and hardware in the loop system to create, configure, & test the controls system.

Washington, DC - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini signed a U.S.-EU Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) today.