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MIL-Evening Report: Keith Rankin Analysis – America’s imperial ‘gift’: ‘Crusader Democracy’ versus ‘Christian Nationalism’

Analysis by Keith Rankin.

Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

The United States has always fancied itself as the founder of modern democracy (aka ‘Democracy’). And, although that country has been self-absorbed for most of its history, it has always sensed that Democracy was its greatest export.

‘America’ became involved in Africa and the ‘Middle East’ very early in its history. There was the American–Algerian War (1785–1795); and the Barbary Wars (1801-1805,1815), featuring the heroic re-seizure and scuttling by fire of the USS Philadelphia in Tripoli Harbor in 1804. Then there was the reverse colonisation (aka ‘liberation’, ‘democratization’) of a small corner of Africa from 1822, leading to Liberia’s independence in 1862.

In the 1846, there was the small matter of the United States’ invasion of Mexico, resulting in the 1848 annexation of half of Mexico’s territory. ‘America’ brought Democracy to California, through annexation. And, in 1898, the United States appropriated Spain’s remaining worldwide empire, including the Philippines. And some other territories, including Hawaii. Upon his inauguration as the 47th President, Donald Trump explicitly invoked the memory of President William McKinley, America’s most notorious annexor of foreign territory.

And in 1889: “Three American warships then entered the Apia harbor and prepared to engage the three German warships found there. Before any shots were fired, a typhoon wrecked both the American and German ships.” After ten years of military/political stalemate – known as the Second Samoan Civil War – the Samoan ‘assets’ were split between the United States, the German Second Reich, and the United Kingdom. (The UK traded its share with Germany. Britain gave up all claims to Samoa and in return accepted the termination of German rights in Tonga, certain areas in the Solomon Islands, and Zanzibar.)

America’s imperial ‘burden’ in the last 125 years

Rudyard Kipling’s poem The White Man’s Burden was written in 1899; “a poem about the Philippine–American War (1899–1902) that exhorts the United States to assume colonial control of the Filipino people and their country”.

America’s empire today is partly formal, though mostly informal, with various grades of informality. Indeed, the recent acknowledgement by the European Union that it has free-ridden on the United States for its defence indicates that the United States has had a significant degree of imperial control over Europe; hegemony manifesting as control over foreign policy.

The name ‘America’ itself is an imperial grab. America is the name for two continents, yet even the Canadians call the United States ‘America’, and its citizens ‘Americans’. American exceptionalism represents the weaponisation of democracy. Democracy is packaged as ‘Democracy’, a secular faith like ‘Communism’ or ‘Economic Liberalism’; a faith which must be proselytised, spread across the world as some kind of holy or secular crusade.

The remaining territories on the ‘autocratic’ ‘Dark Side’ – ie territories not subject to United States’ ‘protection’ – are mainly in continental Asia: especially West Asia (much of which is imperialistically called the ‘Middle East’, which extends to North Africa), North Asia, and East Asia. Though there is also very much a contest for South Asia; a contest, which if successful for the White Man’s force, will bring secular Hindi along with secular Judaism fully into the imperial fold of secular Christianity. (We note that the labels Hindu and Jew have long been name-tags which confuse and conflate religion with ethnicity. So it may soon be with Christianity; with top-tier Christians behaving very much as top-tier Jews behave today, as supremacist gift-givers and bomb-throwers.)

We should note that Catholic Christianity is now uneasy about this crusader culture, having been the main perpetrator of such culture nearly a millennium ago. And Orthodox Christianity is even more uneasy. In its North Asian (ie Russian) form, Orthodox Christianity – like Islam, and Chinese atheist capitalism – is a target of the present Christian Soldiers, not a collaborator. (The decline of the Christian East came with the Fourth Crusade in 1204. Ostensibly a western invasion force going to re-recover the ‘Holy Land’, instead that Crusade turned on Orthodox Christian Constantinople. The result was a weak Latin empire in the east; easy prey for the Ottoman forces which in 1453 created a Muslim empire in West Asia and Southeast Europe; an empire that lasted until 1918.)

The modern American-led crusading mentality represents a schism of Protestant Evangelism (which dates back in particular to the Calvinist side of the sixteenth century Reformation) and Secular Liberalism. Protestant Evangelism (increasingly known today as Christian Nationalism) is the imperial currency of today’s Republican Party, whereas Secular Liberalism is the imperial currency of today’s Democratic Party (although secular Neoliberalism is presently teaming up with the Evangelists). What both have in common is a will to impose themselves upon the rest of the world. And to produce and export lots of big guns, military hardware; making money, and making American jobs.

There are some strange bedfellows. As these two American socio-cultural Gods – Republican and Democrat; protagonist and antagonist, and vice versa – have battled out their Americanisms on a world stage, we have seen a significant posse of very rich devout Economic Liberals taking the side of the Christian Nationalists. So do a number of working-class and other disempowered former ballot-box ‘Leftists’, who wish to cast an anti-establishment vote but don’t know which way to turn. This dabbling with new right-radicalism (not unlike leftist dabbling in New Zealand in 1984 with the recently late Bob Jones’ New Zealand Party) follows the slow but comprehensive gutting of the Left-project that was so buoyant in the 1960s and 1970s.

The name Christian Nationalism is a misnomer; a better name is Christian Extranationalism. Rather than being an internationalist movement – internationalism is a liberal concept – this is a movement to perpetuate and extend the global domination of American culture, through imperial merchant capitalism. The United States was born out of British merchant capitalism (and New York out of Dutch merchant capitalism); its values and institutions reflect those of eighteenth-century western Europe. Just as the British exacted tribute from their American colonies; imperial America seeks to extract tribute through the ‘negotiation’ of asymmetric ‘deals’. Are we today witnessing an American Napoleon?

Money, Lies and God: by Katherine Stewart (2025)

Katherine Stewart this year has written about the new eclectic rightwing coalition in the United States that is coalescing under the name of Christian Nationalism. Though I’ve only read the introduction so far, the book has a real strength, in particular in identifying five components of this new new-right coalition: funders, thinkers, sergeants, infantry, power-players.

Of particular interest to me is the “out-sourced” relationship between the funders and the thinkers. While Stewart emphasises the ‘thinkers’ in the well-funded (and mostly conservative) ‘Think Tanks’, the real issue is that of ‘selective truth’, in the Darwinian sense of ‘selection’. Our ‘intellectual’ careerists compete to publish ‘truths’, and the truths which prevail will be the truths purchased by the ‘funders’, given that the funders have most of the funds.

This kind of relationship with truth is somewhat like a ‘court-of-law’, where commonly two ‘truths’ are subject to a contest in which one will be declared ‘the winner’. Not uncommonly, both rival ‘truths’ are at least partially false, and there may be other (possibly truer) truths that are not even ‘on the table’. Evidence represents a part of the court process, but by no means the whole of that process. The truth-relationship between the funders and thinkers is a corrupt form of the ‘law court’ model; the more corrupt the more wealth the conservative funders control. Academic careers – indeed scientists’ careers – are built on perpetuating narratives acceptable to their patrons.

While Money, Lies and God represents a prescient and useful analysis, ultimately it is part of the problem. It represents one side of the great American divide calling out the other side. The process of belligerent finger-pointing – between, in American language, ‘liberals’ and ‘conservatives’ – is the bigger problem. Why bother talking about the world when you can talk about half of America instead? Indeed, too many American intellectuals talk and write about the United States as if America is the World; a kind of mental imperialism. (Another critique of American ‘Christian Nationalism’ can be found in a recent Upfront episode on Al Jazeera: The growing influence of Christian Nationalism and Christian Zionism in the United States.)

The problem of American imperialism belongs to both sides of the Divide; indeed, it is the Secular Liberalism of what has been exposed as the tone-deaf establishment – the Blinkens, Bidens and Nods – who represented the moral hypocrisy of America’s imperial democratic gift. (The sheer stupidity of the Biden re-election campaign is documented in Original Sin, 2025, by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson.) That is, the belief that America created modern Democracy, and that those parts of the world – especially the ‘western’ world – have special rights accruing to them because they have been awarded the ‘tick of Democracy’. These countries – and only these countries – have the “right to defend themselves”, the right to make war (as ‘defence through attack’), and the “right to possess nuclear weapons”.

Contemporary American imperialism is mainly a ‘West on East’ phenomenon; Asia is the target. Ukraine and Anatolia (Türkiye) are border territories between Europe and Asia. Palestine, perhaps too, given its location on the Mediterranean Sea; though the Mediterranean littoral, from Istanbul to Morocco, is better understood as West Asia, not Europe. Iran is unambiguously a part of Asia. What we are seeing at present is nothing less than a Euro-American invasion of Asia. Imperialism. Nuclear imperialism; geopolitical imperialism; cultural imperialism. The gift that keeps on taking.

Note on the boundary between Europe and Asia

We should note that the core geopolitical boundary between Europe and Asia was set by Charlemagne in around the year 800; representing the border between the predominancies of Catholic Christianity and Orthodox Christianity (harking back to the Western and Eastern Roman Empires). There are other important historic geopolitical boundaries in Eurasia, of course, such as the eastern and southern borders of Orthodox Christianity; and the eastern and northern borders of Islam-dominated territories. Indeed there is perpetual tension on the Pakistan-India border.

The principal medieval-era departure from that Charlemagne-set geopolitical boundary was the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which peaked in territory in the fifteenth century. The first significant modern-era fudge of that geopolitical boundary was the West’s acquisition of Greece over the long 19th century (essentially 1820s to 1920s). The Great World War started in 1914 very much as an East-West border conflict in the Balkans of southeast Europe. After a week or two of fudging, the anglosphere took the Eastern side; siding with Russia over Austria and Germany.

Post World War Two, the next main geopolitical border fudges were the ‘settlements’ which placed a number of mainly Catholic East European countries into Russia’s orb; and which placed Türkiye (then Turkey) into NATO. The current twenty first century fudge is one of European expansion, placing a number of predominantly Orthodox territories – most notably Ukraine – firmly into the European political realm.

This longstanding geopolitical boundary contrasts with the widely-accepted geographic boundary; the latter – based more on physical geography and ethnicity than on faith-culture – passes along the Ural and Caucasus mountain chains, and through the lower Volga River, the Black Sea and the Bosporus/Dardanelle channels. Geopolitically, Russia, Belarus and Türkiye should be understood today to be Asian countries; indeed, the lower Dnieper River and line of the military trenches in Zaporizhia, Donetsk and Luhansk constitute the current geopolitical boundary between West and East; between Europe and Asia. And the lines within Eretz Israel – separating Israel from Palestine – also represent geopolitical borders; and American geopolitical encroachment on Asia.

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Keith Rankin (keith at rankin dot nz), trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: Africa – From natural resources to natural capital: Africa charts path to prosperity in Nairobi

Source: Global Landscapes Forum (GLF)

GLF Africa 2025 gathered nearly 2,500 people online and in Nairobi, Kenya, to explore and learn from experts how communities and ecosystems across the continent can thrive under a nature economy.

Nairobi, Kenya (19 June 2025) – Today, GLF Africa 2025: Innovate, Restore, Prosper – hosted by the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) and CIFOR-ICRAF – brought together nearly 2,500 participants from 118 countries online and in Nairobi, Kenya, to explore how local communities are spearheading a green transition across Africa.

The Forum, which has reached over 9 million people on social media, convened African and global innovators, scientists, investors and community leaders to raise their voices, share insights and spotlight how grassroots action is leading the way – from ecosystem restoration, land rights and diverse knowledge systems to green jobs, natural capital and AI.

Here’s what experts shared at GLF Africa 2025:

Innovation and AI for people and planet

“When raw data is given meaning, it becomes information. When information is put into context, it becomes knowledge. And when knowledge becomes actionable and applied, only then does it become wisdom. That is the work we all need to do – to move into wisdom territory. To turn data into gold. Africa already has immense natural capital. It’s our responsibility to bring intelligence, meaning and context towards a nature economy.” – Éliane Ubalijoro, CEO, CIFOR-ICRAF.

“AI technology is going to help us only when we include the farmer not just as the end user but as a co-creator in our solutions. … Leveraging what people know is one way we can find better fitting solutions for them.” – Esther Maina, Geospatial Developer, Kenya Space Agency.

“Data and AI play a pivotal role in unlocking some of those insights that we’ve never had access to before, bringing a level of transparency that can restore trust in our ecosystem. Data creates transparency, transparency creates trust, and trust accelerates investments. It will only work, though, if we really start treating our natural capital as a core economic driver … with the potential to unlock trillions in capital.” – Kate Kallot, Founder & CEO, Amini AI

Restoring and reclaiming Africa’s landscapes

“Land rights are the foundation for Africa’s nature economy. How can we make sure that Africa’s relationship with the West or the private sector is based on a win-win situation? We all know that the West has the technology, but we have the resources, so that should put Africa in a very powerful bargaining position.” – Solange Bandiaky-Badji, President, Rights and Resources Group (RRG), Coordinator, Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI)

“Indigenous people, particularly those on drylands – they have been living their life for generations, overcoming challenges and uncertainties just with the simple knowledge of understanding the environment.” – Joshua Laizer, Co-founder, Tanzania Conservation and Community Empowerment Initiative (TACCEI) and GLFx Maasai Steppe

“We need to create enabling ecosystems that support people to do more restoration and tap into nature-based economies, because policies without people is just poetry.” – Melyn Abisa, INUKA Project coordinator, Youth4Nature

Prosperity through working with nature

“We [need to] give value to our biomass … that helps keep natural capital in the right state. The current model that we operate in the restoration community is only capturing and valuing 6–10% of the biomass. It’s largely based around commodities and non-timber forest products: coffee, cashew, macadamia, timber. We export everything raw.” – Peter Minang, Director for Africa, CIFOR-ICRAF.

“We need a shift from aid to investment-centered development. Africa is home to $6.5 trillion in natural resources, a population that is about to reach 2.5 billion by 2050 and 60% of the world’s renewable energy potential. This is not a charity case. This is a compelling investment case that the world cannot afford to ignore.” – Sellah Bogonko, Co-Founder and CEO, Jacob’s Ladder Africa.

“Africa’s nature economy has the potential to sustain ourselves, so there’s no need for us to heavily rely on foreign aid. We are our own resource” – Steve Misati, Director at Youth Pawa and 2024 Ocean Restoration Steward.

FIGURES

Over 60% of Africa’s economy relies on its natural capital – from forests and biodiversity to water and land.
Investing in restoration and sustainable landscape practices could deliver major ecological, social and financial returns, with up to 600% returns on investment.
Up to 70% of communities in Sub-Saharan Africa rely on forests and woodlands for their livelihoods.
65% of Africa’s productive landscapes are degraded, driven largely by the climate crisis, insecure land rights and underfunded restoration initiatives.
Africa’s demands for food, shelter and jobs will increase as its population is expected to grow from 1.5 billion to 2.5 billion by 2050.

Rewatch GLF Africa 2025 for free and learn first-hand what all experts shared: bit.ly/GLFAfrica2025.

ABOUT THE GLF

The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) is the world’s largest knowledge-led platform on integrated land use, connecting people with a shared vision to create productive, profitable, equitable and resilient landscapes. It is led by the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), in collaboration with its co-founders UNEP and the World Bank, and its charter members. Learn more at www.globallandscapesforum.org.

MIL OSI – Submitted News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: Gaza – Deliberate shortages of food, medicine and fuel by Israeli authorities are suffocating Gaza

Source: Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF)

Gaza, 20 June 2025— Palestinians are perpetually on the verge of losing access to essential medical care and clean water due to deliberate actions by Israeli authorities. This policy restricts the entry of medical supplies and fuel to the bare minimum and at their whim. While this strategy creates the illusion of aid flowing into the Strip, it effectively prevents the humanitarian response from reaching even the minimum required for a population entirely reliant on assistance. The Israeli authorities must end their collective punishment of the people in Gaza and immediately allow the consistent entry of sufficient medical supplies and fuel.

Over the past week we have seen large influxes of wounded patients, many of whom have suffered traumatic injuries. At Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF’s) field hospital in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza, the number of patients with gunshot wounds increased by 190 per cent compared to the week before. Clinics, such as Khan Younis clinic and Deir Al-Balah clinic, saw their highest weekly intake to date. Following three months of total blockade and despite Israel’s claims to have opened supply corridors, MSF’s supplies are running critically low due to continuing restrictions imposed on entering goods.

“We are missing everything, medical consumables like gauze, medications and food for our patients. This also includes therapeutic food for people with malnutrition, especially children,” says Katja Storck, nursing activity manager in Khan Younis.

Along with crucial medical supplies, the dangerously low level of fuel is a big concern for people in Gaza as it powers the desalination plants where much of the clean water comes from. Palestinians across the Strip have already seen their access to water drop significantly. Without fuel, millions of people will be trapped with no safe drinking water. Equally, fuel powers the entire healthcare system: medical equipment, air conditioning, elevators, oxygen concentrators, ventilators, and cold-chain storage for medicines and vaccines. Even ambulances will be grounded, preventing the transport of critically ill and wounded people.

“Newborns in neonatal intensive care units are often too small to breathe on their own — they need ventilators and oxygen to survive. But recently lack of fuel has caused electricity at Al-Helou Maternity hospital in northern Gaza to cut out several times, shutting off ventilators and oxygen and putting babies’ lives at immediate risk,” says Amy Low, medical team leader in Gaza City.

Yesterday, the UN managed to retrieve 280,000 litres of fuel from the stocks which are stuck in a no-go area in Rafah, after the Israeli authorities denied 12 previous requests. As fuel stocks got so low, the teams at Al-Helou, where MSF teams work in the maternity ward, had to temporarily shut down elevators in the hospital to ration stocks.

“The charade of only allowing medical and fuel supplies at the very last minute ahead of a looming disaster is nothing but a band aid on a gushing wound. The weaponisation of aid must end,” says Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza. “No militarised scheme developed by a warring party, like the one we are witnessing with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, can replace the work of independent humanitarian agencies.”

MSF teams are witnessing patterns consistent with genocide in Gaza. Mass killings, the destruction of vital civilian infrastructure, and severe restrictions on fuel supplies and the delivery of aid are deliberate actions. Israel is systematically dismantling the conditions necessary for Palestinian life.

MSF is an international, medical, humanitarian organisation that delivers medical care to people in need, regardless of their origin, religion, or political affiliation. MSF has been working in Haiti for over 30 years, offering general healthcare, trauma care, burn wound care, maternity care, and care for survivors of sexual violence. MSF Australia was established in 1995 and is one of 24 international MSF sections committed to delivering medical humanitarian assistance to people in crisis. In 2022, more than 120 project staff from Australia and New Zealand worked with MSF on assignment overseas. MSF delivers medical care based on need alone and operates independently of government, religion or economic influence and irrespective of race, religion or gender. For more information visit msf.org.au

MIL OSI – Submitted News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Hong Kong becoming more attractive as int’l financial center: spokesperson

Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

BEIJING, June 19 — Hong Kong is becoming more attractive as an international financial center, and it is drawing more foreign companies and individuals to make investments and start new businesses, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.

Spokesperson Guo Jiakun made the remarks at a regular news briefing when asked to comment on Hong Kong’s rise in the rankings in the 2025 IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook, released recently by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The yearbook said Hong Kong advances to the third position in the global competitiveness rankings. This is the first time Hong Kong has returned to top three in the rankings since 2019. The yearbook also puts Hong Kong at the first in the Tax Policy and Business Legislation rankings.

“The yearbook is a recognition of Hong Kong’s unique position and strength, and the prospect of ‘one country, two systems.’ Hong Kong has entered a stage where it is set to thrive,” Guo said, adding that Hong Kong remains one of the world’s freest economies and most competitive regions.

According to statistics, the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) gained No.1 spot in global fundraising in the first half of this year, with a total amount of 14 billion U.S. dollars. The number of overseas visitors received by Hong Kong in the first five months of this year rose by 18 percent year on year, and a number of large international companies have redomiciled to Hong Kong, Guo said.

“Those are votes of confidence for Hong Kong from the international community,” he said.

Noting the Hong Kong national security law will soon enter its fifth year of implementation, Guo said China believes that with the institutional safeguards of “one country, two systems,” and given Hong Kong’s unique advantage of having the backing of the motherland and being connected to the world as well as a secure environment for high-quality development, Hong Kong is headed to an even brighter future.

MIL OSI China News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Chengdu 2025 World Games medal design unveiled

Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

CHENGDU, China, June 19 — The design of the medals for the 12th World Games, which will be held in Chengdu in August, was unveiled here on Wednesday.

The medal is named “Zhuguang,” which literally translates to “bamboo light,” and also sounds like “chasing the light” in Chinese.

Inspired by local culture and rooted in a philosophy of sharing, the medal design features elements including the Golden Sun Bird motif and the iconic panda, symbols closely associated with Chengdu.

The medal also includes a detachable pin at its center, which athletes can gift to someone significant, carrying the spirit of gratitude and connection.

The front of the medal is centered on the emblem of the International World Games Association, surrounded by the event’s name in both Chinese and English. Engraved with the flowing contour lines of Chengdu’s cityscape and the ancient Golden Sun Bird pattern, the design evokes layers of light, symbolizing Chinese civilization and the enduring flame of sporting spirit.

On the reverse side, the Games’ official logo is set against a background inspired by bamboo, a symbol of resilience and integrity in Chinese culture. Its segmental bamboo design, combined with the image of “Shubao”, the panda mascot, aims to express the Games’ core values of peace and friendship through sport.

The centerpiece of the medal, which features a detachable metal pin, is particularly unique. Opening the medal reveals a reversible pin: one side depicts “Jinzai”, a golden snub-nosed monkey native to Sichuan; the other side features the Chengdu 2025 logo encircled by the Golden Sun Bird.

At the heart of the medal lies the hibiscus, the city flower of Chengdu, symbolizing lasting friendship and the blooming vitality of Chinese sports.

The medal ribbon incorporates imagery from the Golden Sun Bird, the Sanxingdui golden mask, and hibiscus motifs. It features Shu embroidery, an element of China’s national intangible cultural heritage.

The 2025 World Games will be held from August 7 to 17, featuring 34 sports and 60 disciplines.

MIL OSI China News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI China: China unveils initiative to safeguard personal information of minors

Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

BEIJING, June 19 — China has unveiled an initiative to safeguard the personal information of minors, aiming to ensure their healthy growth, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Thursday.

The initiative details 15 measures across five areas, including boosting industry self-discipline, and developing specialized products and services tailored to the physical and mental characteristics of minors.

It also calls for the clarification of rules on the handling of minors’ personal information, and for the establishment of smooth channels for requests related to personal information, corrections and deletions.

Since 2022, the ministry has been developing a dedicated program to strengthen the protection of minors’ personal information in the telecommunication and internet sectors.

MIL OSI China News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Tianjin Port pursues full-process automation in N China

Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

Tianjin Port pursues full-process automation in N China

Updated: June 20, 2025 07:28 Xinhua

A drone photo taken on June 19, 2025 shows smart transport robots at a container terminal of Tianjin Port in north China’s Tianjin, on June 19, 2025. Tianjin Port has been pursuing full-process automation in recent years in an effort to build a smart and green hub port. At present, the port has realized full coverage of intelligent operation for its container and bulk terminals. The automation rate of large container equipment has exceeded 88 percent, while the average operation efficiency has improved by 15 percent. [Photo/Xinhua]

A smart transport robot moves at a container terminal of Tianjin Port in north China’s Tianjin, on June 19, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

A drone photo taken on June 19, 2025 shows a smart transport robot delivering cargo at a container terminal of Tianjin Port in north China’s Tianjin, on June 19, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

A drone photo taken on June 19, 2025 shows smart transport robots at a container terminal of Tianjin Port in north China’s Tianjin, on June 19, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

A drone photo taken on June 19, 2025 shows an automated quay crane lifting containers at a container terminal of Tianjin Port in north China’s Tianjin, on June 19, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

Staff members monitor the operation of a container terminal at an intelligent control center of Tianjin Port in north China’s Tianjin, on June 19, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

MIL OSI China News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI China: China issues red alert for mountain torrents in six provinces

Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

BEIJING, June 19 — The Ministry of Water Resources and the China Meteorological Administration on Thursday issued this year’s first red alert for mountain torrents in Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi and Guizhou.

From 8 p.m. Thursday to 8 p.m. Friday, parts of these six provincial-level regions will be at high risk of mountain torrents, with some areas extremely likely to be hit.

The above-mentioned regions are urged to strengthen real-time monitoring work, issue timely warnings, and carry out evacuations if necessary.

China has a four-tier weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

MIL OSI China News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Charges over Central Highlands ‘wood-hooking’

Source: New South Wales Community and Justice

Charges over Central Highlands ‘wood-hooking’

Friday, 20 June 2025 – 9:36 am.

Nine people from the Queenstown area are facing charges including stealing and trespassing as part of joint operation between Tasmania Police and Sustainable Timber Tasmania targeting the illegal harvesting of timber in the Central Highlands.
Authorities have used surveillance and targeted patrols as part of the crackdown on the illegal collection of timber, including the collection of timber for firewood, a practice commonly referred to as wood-hooking.
Police have seized more than 200 tonnes of firewood in the operation.
“To date, proceedings have commenced against nine individuals from Queenstown, with a combined total of 141 counts of trespass and stealing,” Tasmania Police Senior Constable Jessica Weston said.
“Police will be paying close attention to anyone suspected of being involved in illegal wood collection and will intervene where appropriate. Anyone caught engaging in illegal wood collection may be proceeded against for breaches of legislation including stealing, unlawful possession, trespass and relevant traffic offences.”
Police issued a reminder that to collect firewood, you must either do it on your own land, have permission from the landowner, or have a permit from Sustainable Timber Tasmania or the relevant owner of that property.
Permits must be always carried when collecting and carting firewood. In all other cases, it is classified as stealing and anyone detected may face charges of stealing, trespass or unlawful possession as well as forfeiture of the firewood and equipment.
If you are purchasing from a firewood supplier, check to make sure that the wood has not been illegally sourced.
Reputable firewood dealers should be able to provide you with assurances of where the wood has come from.
Purchasing wood from suppliers who are members of the Australian Firewood Association is an easy way to be confident that your wood has been sourced legally.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 131 444 or can be provided anonymously through Crime Stoppers Tasmania on 1800 333 000 or at crimestopperstas.com.au

MIL OSI News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Trump extends TikTok shutdown deadline for third time

Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to keep TikTok running in the United States for another 90 days, allowing his administration more time to negotiate a deal under the “sell-or-ban” law.

Thus, TikTok can continue functioning for its 170 million users in the United States.

This is the third time for Trump to extend the TikTok ban deadline. By Thursday’s executive order, the deadline will be further extended to September 17, 2025. Before then, Trump has extended the deadline twice each by 75 days on January 20 and April 4, 2025, respectively.

Trump has amassed more than 15 million followers on TikTok, an app popular among American youth owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd., since he joined presidential race in 2024. He said in January that he has a “warm spot for TikTok.”

As the extensions continue, it becomes less likely that TikTok will be banned in the United States any time soon, as the executive orders to keep TikTok alive have received some scrutiny but never faced a legal challenge in court, local media said.

In his first term, Trump signed an executive order effectively seeking to ban the app in the country unless ByteDance sold its U.S operations to an American company. The order did not go into effect amid legal challenges.

In April 2024, then-President Joe Biden signed a law giving ByteDance 270 days to sell TikTok, citing national security concerns. Under the law, failure to comply would require app store operators like Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their platforms starting Jan. 19, 2025.

According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, about one-third of Americans support a TikTok ban, down from 50 percent in March 2023; roughly one-third oppose a ban; and a similar percentage are not sure.

TikTok, originally known as Douyin in China, was launched in September 2016. It launched its international version, TikTok, later that year, but it wasn’t until August 2018 that TikTok merged with the lip-syncing app Musical.ly and became widely available in the United States.

MIL OSI China News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Gauff loses to Wang in first match after French Open win

Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

China’s Wang Xinyu advanced to her first grass court quarterfinal at the WTA 500 Berlin Open on Thursday, defeating French Open champion and second seed Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-3.

China’s Wang Xinyu competes during the round of 16 match against Coco Gauff at Berlin Open, on June 19, 2025. (WTA/Handout via Xinhua)

The win also served as a measure of revenge for Wang, who lost to Gauff 6-0, 6-4 in their only previous meeting at the same event in 2022.

“It was a tough match, I am happy that I hang in there on all these tough moments,” said Wang, who will face Paula Badosa in the next match. “She [Badosa] is playing great tennis now. For me, I am just really happy to get a chance to play another match here in front of you guys, especially lots of Chinese fans.”

MIL OSI China News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Real Madrid’s Mbappe in hospital with gastroenteritis

Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

Real Madrid announced on Thursday that striker Kylian Mbappe has been admitted to the hospital in Miami suffering from gastroenteritis.

Mbappe missed his side’s 1-1 draw against Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal in their first group match in the FIFA Club World Cup at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.

“Our player Kylian Mbappe is suffering from an acute case of gastroenteritis and has been admitted to hospital in order to undergo a series of tests and follow the appropriate course of treatment,” read a club medical report on Thursday morning.

Gastroenteritis is a stomach infection that causes vomiting and diarrhea, and the news means Mbappe is unlikely to play in Madrid’s second group match on Sunday against Mexico’s Pachuca, which lost 2-1 to Red Bull Salzburg on Wednesday evening.

MIL OSI China News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: expert reaction to observational study of blood biomarkers in ME/CFS patients

Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

June 20, 2025

An observational study published in EMBO Molecular Medicine looks at blood biomarkers in ME/CFS patients.

Prof Kevin McConway, Emeritus Professor of Applied Statistics, Open University, said:

“I think this is an important piece of research, but it’s also important to be careful not to claim too much from its findings. There’s a lot more to do.

“The press release and the research paper both make it clear that these findings could help in finding a set of blood biomarkers that can reasonably reliably distinguish people with ME/CFS from those who do not have that condition, but that, without a lot of further work, the findings do not in themselves provide such a set of biomarkers. For instance, the last sentence of the abstract of the paper says, “Nevertheless, their number [of traits that differed between people with ME/CFS and people without that condition], diversity and lack of sex bias keep alive the future ambition of a blood-based biomarker panel for accurate ME/CFS diagnosis.” I hope personally that that ambition can be achieved, but the researchers are careful not to say that their findings indicate that it will definitely be achieved.

“A strength of the study is that it uses data from the very large UK Biobank study, based on over 1,400 people who reported they had been diagnosed with ME/CFS and over 130,000 ‘controls’ who had not had that diagnosis, as well as data from a smaller (but still quite large) US study called All-of-Us.

“But, in the research paper, the researchers are very careful to say that they are reporting associations, that is, correlations, between blood measurements and whether or not people have ME/CFS, and that, to quote the paper, “no causal statements are made” about those associations. That’s essentially because data from the UK Biobank is observational. Any differences between the group with ME/CFS and the controls without ME/CFS could be caused by the different disease status, but it could also, in whole or in part, be caused by other differences (so-called potential confounders) between people with and without ME/CFS that are not a direct consequence of that condition.

“The researchers did use methods of what’s called causal inference to try to throw further light in what causes what, and in particular they found that the differences in blood measurements were unlikely to stem from the fact that people with ME/CFS typically exercise less than people without that condition. That’s a useful and important finding, I think. But other potential confounders couldn’t be dealt with in a similar way, so other aspects of cause and effect just can’t be sorted out. Indeed (as the researchers mention) the possible existence of other confounders means that the assumptions behind the analyses involving exercise may not entirely be valid. To get further with all this will need a lot more, and different, research, including work on what may actually be causing the observed differences within people’s bodies.

“There are also some issues stemming from the use of data from the UK Biobank. Again this is reported in the research paper. For instance, participants who volunteered for the Biobank are healthier than the average UK population, and the research paper mentions that people with severe ME/CFS may simply not have been able to go through the assessment and data collection process required, and so are unlikely to have contributed towards the findings on a large scale.

“Also, because the recording of ME/CFS diagnoses took place some time ago, people’s status on ME/CFS is not in accord with the definitions of the condition that are generally used now. Roughly half of the people who were treated as having ME/CFS did not state that they had post-exertional malaise (PEM for short, a major worsening of symptoms after even minor mental or physical exertion). Post-exertional malaise is now generally considered an essential part of ME/CFS, and people who do not have it would under most up-to-date conditions not be considered to have ME/CFS. But in the past, post-exertional malaise was not considered an essential part of the definition of the disease, so people in the UK Biobank who were diagnosed with ME/CFS in the past might not have had post-exertional malaise.

“Arguably, this does not really weaken the findings of this study. The strongest evidence on potential biomarkers was in people who did have post-exertional malaise. But the study did still find some differences in potential biomarkers between people who had had an ME/CFS diagnosis but did not report post-exertional malaise, and the control people who had never had an ME/CFS diagnosis. If these people who would once have been diagnosed with ME/CFS, and who may still have really disabling and long-lasting symptoms, are defined as not having ME/CFS and are not included in developing biomarkers, does that have consequences for the treatment they can receive? Obviously this new study isn’t intended to answer that kind of question, but it’s something that shouldn’t be forgotten as biomarker research for ME/CFS moves on.”

‘Replicated blood-based biomarkers for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis not explicable by inactivity’ by Sjoerd Viktor Beentjes et al. was published in EMBO Molecular Medicine at 00:01 UK time on Friday 20^th June.

Declared interests

Prof Kevin McConway: No conflicts of interest

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Greater Bendigo’s transfer stations will now be called Recycling Centres

Source: New South Wales Ministerial News

The City of Greater Bendigo’s transfer stations in Strathfieldsaye, Goornong and Heathcote have a new name and will now be called Recycling Centres.

City of Greater Bendigo Resource Recovery and Education Acting Manager Michelle Wyatt said the City recently undertook a public process with Geographic Names Victoria to change the name of local transfer stations to recycling centres to make their purpose clearer to members of the community.

“Geographic Names Victoria has now gazetted the change and the facilities will now be known as the Strathfieldsaye Recycling Centre, Goornong Recycling Centre and Heathcote Recycling Centre,” Ms Wyatt said.

“We believe the term transfer station no longer reflected the purpose of the facilities and the services they offer and provide to the community.

“The name change to Recycling Centre will help encourage the community to identify reusables and recyclables at home and maximise resource recovery at the three local centres. It will also help promote the Strathfieldsaye and Heathcote centres as places to find and buy items for re-use or re-purposing.

“The City will now undertake a process to update signage at the sites and where it appears on our website and other promotional information to reflect the name change. This could take some time to achieve and there may be a short time where the facilities are still referred to as transfer stations in some promotional material.

“However, the good news is nothing else about how the Recycling Centres operate is changing and it will continue to be business as usual.

“The City remains committed to helping community members rescue, reuse, repurpose, repair and recycle goods and materials wherever possible to reduce waste going to the landfill.

“Many items including E-waste, polystyrene, clean unwanted textiles and shoes, and soft plastics can be dropped for free recycling at the City’s Goornong, Strathfieldsaye and Heathcote Recycling Centres and the Eaglehawk Recycle Shop at the entrance to the Eaglehawk Landfill.”

Public places must be registered with Geographic Names Victoria and the City of Greater Bendigo is a Naming Authority for places that it owns or manages. Registering place names is essential to identify locations for managing emergencies and delivering goods and services in Victoria.

MIL OSI News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Road safety works set to commence in Strathfieldsaye
Source: New South Wales Ministerial News

The City of Greater Bendigo with funding provided by the Victorian Government’s Transport Accident Commission Safe Local Roads and Street Program, is preparing to commence an important road safety project to install three Raised Safety Platforms on the roundabout at Blucher and Apsley Streets and Somerville Road Strathfieldsaye.

City of Greater Bendigo Presentation and Assets Director Brian Westley said the works which will commence Monday June 23 are expected to take approximately six weeks to complete depending on weather conditions and the availability of contractors and supplies.

“Strathfieldsaye is a fast-growing suburb and this project is important as it will link the existing shared path to provide better safety for pedestrians and cyclists in the area,” Mr Westley said.

“The works will include installation of new stormwater drainage pipes, kerb & channel, traffic island alterations, three raised safety platforms with line-marking and footpath upgrades.

“Traffic management will be in place to close roads and divert traffic while road works are being undertaken. Foot traffic will be redirected during concrete footpath construction to ensure pedestrian safety.

“All steps will be taken to limit disruptions as much as possible, and access to the school and kindergarten will be maintained throughout the works.

“Considerable planning has gone into this project to make sure any inconvenience is kept to a minimum and traffic operates safely during the works.

“The City asks motorists and pedestrians to observe signage and detours around the works area and apologises for any inconvenience the work may cause.”

During construction, the following road closures will be in place throughout the project at various times:
- A single lane closure will be implemented during construction of the works on eastern Apsley Street with access available to St Francis of the Fields primary school. This work will mostly take place during the school holiday period
- Full road closures will be implemented on western Apsley Street and Somerville Road in the vicinity of the roundabout as required
- All affected roads within the roundabout are expected to be reopened at the end of each workday and re-closed the following morning if necessary
Construction work and noise will be restricted between 7am and 5pm on weekdays and 9am and 5pm on Saturdays only.

MIL OSI News –
June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: £750,000 to break down barriers and get more young people into aviation jobs
Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

Press release

£750,000 to break down barriers and get more young people into aviation jobs

Organisations have until 12 September 2025 to apply for the latest Reach for the Sky Challenge fund.
new funding will break down barriers and help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds into aviation careers

this brings the Reach for the Sky Challenge Fund to over £3 million: helping to secure the pilots, engineers and aviation professionals of the future

this funding will further turbocharge the £20 billion air transport and aerospace sector, supporting its 240,000 UK jobs and delivering growth through our Plan for Change

The next generation of pilots and engineers will benefit from new £750,000 funding to inspire them, support them into jobs and break down barriers to the sector.

Organisations can, from today (20 June 2025), apply for the latest Reach for the Sky Challenge Fund to help deliver aviation outreach programmes targeting disadvantaged young people, including those from ethnic minorities, who may not have considered a career in the sector before.

Now on its fourth round, Reach for the Sky Challenge Fund has already delivered £2.5 million to 40 organisations and has reached over 100,000 young people across the country.

Funding can be used to deliver a range of programmes from career events, mentorship schemes, interactive demonstrations and educational initiatives with schools and universities.

This builds on the government’s promise to secure the long-term success of aviation by growing the workforce of the future. It will also break down the barriers which prevent people from joining the industry, including limited access to education, financial constraints and lack of exposure to career options.

To launch the funding, Aviation Minister Mike Kane visited a careers workshop being held by current funding recipients, The King’s Trust, in a Liverpool youth centre. Young adults, ranging from 16 to 30, met aviation specialists, learning about the job opportunities locally in the industry and how to apply. They also took part in employability workshops focused on developing the practical skills needed for work.

Aviation Minister, Mike Kane, said:

This is exactly what this government is all about – breaking down barriers to opportunity so that everyone, no matter their background, has a decent shot at getting a good career and building a good life.

This funding will enable organisations like The King’s Trust to reach out to disadvantaged kids and support them into careers in aviation.

It also delivers on our promise to help the sector grow, by delivering the pilots, engineers and technicians of the future, boosting jobs and growth across the country as part of the Plan for Change.

Such DfT-funded schemes have already supported over 100,000 young adults across the country to consider joining the industry.

Aspiring aerospace engineer James, 24, from Bath, has struggled to find work since finishing school. Challenges with his mental health impacted his studies and confidence, and he left without the qualifications he wanted.

After completing a King’s Trust ‘Get Ready with Aviation’ programme last November, he successfully applied to study science, engineering and maths at Bristol University and starts in September.

James said:

Before the programme, I felt lost and uncertain about my future. I’d always been interested in space, but didn’t know where to start or what my options were. It felt out of reach. The programme helped me realise that working in the industry is possible and inspired me to apply for university and pursue my dream.

Applications for the fund are now open until 12 September 2025 and applications will be reviewed by a joint panel of  DfT and UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) , which administers the fund on DfT’s behalf.

Sophie Jones, STEM Sponsor at the CAA, said:

As the aviation regulator, we are dedicated to inspiring the next generation who will take the sector forward.

The Reach for the Sky Challenge Fund helps reach people making the first step.

By reaching and empowering diverse communities and creating a lasting impact, we are inspiring young people across the UK to explore exciting careers in aviation.

Julia Beaumont, Chief Technology and Programmes Officer at The King’s Trust, said:

During the past 2 years, this funding has been vital in raising awareness of the job opportunities available for young people in the aviation industry, alongside equipping them with the confidence and skills to pursue these roles.

With a rapidly changing jobs market, supporting this generation to overcome the barriers they face in accessing these opportunities is crucial, not only benefiting them, but also their local communities and economy.

Jeni Trice, CEO and Chief Coding Adventurer at Get with the Program, said:

We’re already so pleased by the fantastic impact of our 2024 Reach for the Sky grant, which is helping us inspire 18,000 children aged 5 to 8 to become the aerospace tech innovators of the future.

We know that higher aspirations, skills development, and social mobility opportunities are all vital for the UK’s future economic success and through this grant funding, we’ve been able to deliver initiatives, such as our ‘Moon Landing Coding Adventure’, which exposes children to exciting STEM careers in aerospace.

Mariya Tarabanovska, Founder of Flight Crowd and DfT Aviation Ambassador, said:

Thanks to this funding, Flight Crowd has connected the next generation of talent with the fast-evolving Future Flight sector — delivering outreach, mentoring, 1:1 career support and industry insights that have empowered over 400 students to shape the skies of tomorrow.

As a 2-time recipient and DfT Aviation Ambassador, I know how vital it is to invest in our future workforce. This is an unmissable opportunity for organisations to create real, lasting impact.

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Updates to this page

Published 20 June 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Final tax determination on early stage investor tax offset scheme

Source: New places to play in Gungahlin

We’ve published a final tax determination on the early stage investor tax offset scheme we alerted you to in December 2024.

This determination confirms our draft view – that the anti-avoidance provisions in the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 can apply to this scheme, potentially cancelling any tax benefit received by participants.

What it means

Our view applies to taxpayers involved in this scheme before, during and after the date of the final determination. It’s likely participants will have to pay back any offset claimed. Penalties and interest may also apply.

You should advise clients against getting involved. If a client has already invested, encourage them to contact us for help. If they proactively approach us, they may be eligible for a reduction in any penalties.

Advisers found to be promoting this scheme could face serious consequences through the Promoter Penalty Laws. Registered tax agents may be referred to the Tax Practitioners Board to assess if there’s been a breach of the Tax Agent Services Act 2009.

More information on tax schemes

For more information visit Recognising, rejecting and reporting unlawful tax and super schemes.

MIL OSI News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Guidance for legacy products and allocations from reserves
Source: New places to play in Gungahlin
On 7 December 2024, changes were made to the law to allow people to exit certain legacy retirement products. Changes were also made to how reserves will be treated for contribution cap purposes.

Guidance is now available on our website for people considering commuting a legacy retirement product and for superannuation providers when applying the laws.

Relaxed commutation rules for legacy retirement products provides guidance on:
- which legacy retirement products can be commuted
- what happens when a legacy retirement product is commuted
- possible tax consequences.
Changes to reserve allocations provides guidance on:
- the correct contribution treatment for allocations from reserves before and after the change to the law
- how excluded allocations have changed
- the definition of a pension reserve.
Looking for the latest news for Super funds? You can stay up to date by visiting our Super funds newsroom and subscribingExternal Link to our monthly Super funds newsletter and CRT alerts.
MIL OSI News –
June 20, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Many elite athletes live below the poverty line. Tax-deductible donations won’t solve the problem

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle O’Shea, Senior Lecturer, School of Business, Western Sydney University

Australia’s Jaclyn Narracott competes in the women’s skeleton at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images

As the end of the 2024-25 financial year nears, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), in partnership with the Australian Sports Foundation (ASF), has launched a new joint fundraising initiative allowing Australians to make tax-deductible donations directly to Australia’s Olympians and Paralympians.

The ASF is an “Item 1” Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) and is the only organisation in Australia that allows a donor to claim a tax deduction for philanthropic donations to sport.

This is because sport is not currently eligible for either DGR or charitable status under Australian law.

But is this new joint fundraising initiative a gold medal idea for our athletes, or one that falls short of a podium finish?

Aussies tax payers and Olympic dreams

The new initiative, named the “Aspiring Australian Olympian Funding program”, means individual donations of A$2 or more made through the ASF are tax-deductible.

Australians can direct funds to a specific athlete, coach or official selected to participate in representative, elite or high performance sport in the Olympic/Paralympic program (summer and winter).

Depending on the donor’s marginal tax rate, the effective cost of a donation may be reduced up to 62% for the highest earners (over $250,000).

For instance, a $1,000 donation could yield a tax refund of up to $470, bringing the net cost down to just $530.

Companies paying the full company tax rate that donate $1,000 would reduce their tax by $300 (30%).

Ahead of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, more than 30 Australian athletes (from disciplines such as alpine skiing, bobsleigh and figure skating) have signed up to use the platform.

However, many Australian athletes are struggling financially, so more financial support is needed.

The brutal reality for many athletes

The ASF’s 2023 “Running on Empty” report found many of Australia’s elite athletes were under significant financial pressure: 46% of those over the age of 18 were earning less than $23,000 per year. This places them below the poverty line at $489 a week.

The report also found 67% of elite athletes said their financial struggles affected their parents and support networks. Also, 42% of elite athletes aged 18-34 reported they were suffering poor mental health as a result of their financial predicament.

The report also found the costs of training, equipment, travel and accommodation continued to rise, resulting in many questioning the sustainability of elite sport funding models both here and abroad.

Pros and cons

The new funding program’s use of tax incentives as a funding carrot is good in principle, but there are potential unintended consequences.

This includes athletes being pitted against one another: there is a danger the athletes best skilled in marketing and public relations will receive more funding.

The current economic climate doesn’t bode well for the program. Many Australians are facing cost-of-living pressures, which means a lot of people may not be able to donate even if they want to.

Also, what happens if an athlete who benefits from the program is injured or found to be a drug cheat, and can’t compete? Can a donor request a refund?

Finally, taxpayers who have the most capacity to donate are likely high income earners, some of whom may donate to sport entities already. Now, their donations will be subsidised by the tax system.

Some alternative ideas

In the United Kingdom, National Lottery revenue plays a significant role in funding Olympic and Paralympic sports. Administered by UK Sport (the UK’s equivalent of the ASC) funds from the lottery are directed to high performance sports programs and athletes.

This approach could be replicated in Australia.

Another idea is to redirect a portion of government taxes collected from sports betting, which could be lucrative given Australia’s love of sports gambling.

Read more:
Gambling in Australia: how bad is the problem, who gets harmed most and where may we be heading?

The federal government could offer a further incentive by matching peoples’ donations dollar for dollar.

As we direct funds to athletes, we need also think about the potential tax impact for them. Will the funds they receive be considered income and be taxed? The government could consider making the payment to the athlete tax free.

If we are going to succeed on the world stage, especially as the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games approach, we need to financially support our athletes so they can focus on representing their country.

Michelle O’Shea receives funding from the Olympic Studies Centre.

Connie Vitale receives funding from the federal government as part of the National Tax Clinic Program. She is affiliated with the Institute of Public Accountants and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

Robert B Whait receives funding from the federal government as part of the National Tax Clinic Program, Financial Literacy Australia (now Ecstra Foundation), ANZ Bank, and the Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC). He is affiliated with the Tax Institute of Australia and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

– ref. Many elite athletes live below the poverty line. Tax-deductible donations won’t solve the problem – https://theconversation.com/many-elite-athletes-live-below-the-poverty-line-tax-deductible-donations-wont-solve-the-problem-258914

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: News 06/19/2025 VIDEO: Blackburn Blasts Democrats’ Efforts to Obstruct ICE with Former Acting ICE Director on ‘Unmuted with Marsha’

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Today, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) released a new episode of ‘Unmuted with Marsha’ blasting the Democrats’ efforts to obstruct the lawful operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that keep Americans safe by removing criminal illegal aliens from our communities.

Senator Blackburn spoke with Former Acting ICE Director Jonathan Fahey about the alarming increase in threats against ICE agents, how her REMOVE Act would expedite deportations of criminal illegal aliens, and how her Protecting Law Enforcement from Doxxing Act would protect law enforcement officers from being targeted by criminal gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua.

Click here to watch this episode of ‘Unmuted with Marsha.’

“People do not want Tren de Aragua, MS-13, violent gangs in their neighborhoods and communities. They not only want them out; they want them out fast. They just don’t want them there. But I have found it so interesting that these mayors – whether it is Nashville, L.A., Boston, Chicago – that they are fighting against ICE, and in Nashville, we even do the doxxing of our Homeland Security investigators and our ICE agents. The law is you cannot be here illegally. There is a proper way to come – a legal way – and you cannot commit crimes when you are here in our country. That is a violation of the law,” said Senator Blackburn.

RELATED

MIL OSI USA News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Met Police increase patrols at summer concerts to protect women and girls
Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

The Metropolitan Police Service has stepped up patrols at major music events across the capital over the summer – helping to keep women and girls safe as the number of stadium concerts in London more than doubles this year.  

As part of the ongoing crackdown on violent offenders, officers will be a visible and reassuring presence at more than 51 large-scale concerts throughout London.

With more than three million people due to attend Wembley stadium alone, officers are working with event organisers who have primary responsibility for safety and security at concerts. In total over 5,000 officer shifts will be dedicated to supporting the concerts, including public order officers, protective security and dedicated Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) patrols.

The operation began on Thursday, 5 June at the Beyoncé concert in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium –  the first of 19 concerts at the venue this summer – and has already had results. Officers supported venue security in removing individuals for stalking and threatening behaviour, and arrested a man for upskirting who remains on police bail while enquiries continue. 

Their role working with event organisers and event security will include engaging with attendees, identifying and intervening in any predatory or violent behaviour, and responding swiftly to any incidents of VAWG. Officers will also be patrolling between venues and major transport hubs and on hand to speak to concert goers.

This initiative forms part of a broader strategy to tackle VAWG in London, including the Met’s V100 project which uses data to track and target the most harmful offenders. Since its launch the programme has more than doubled the risk of arrest for the most harmful VAWG suspects compared to before the initiative existed with around three quarters of those on the V100 stack are accused of rape and multiple sexual assaults, as well as murder.

The level of risk is assessed using crime reports alongside a tool which measures the seriousness of harm to victims, known as the Cambridge Crime Harm Index. 

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ben Russell, who leads the Met’s V100 initiative and is also the lead officer for concerts this summer, said:  

“Every woman and girl has the right to feel safe, whether walking home, using public transport, or enjoying a night out at a concert. Yet too many still don’t.  The Met is determined to change that.

“This summer we are working closer than ever with stadium management and major event organisers to help keep the public safe. Dedicated VAWG patrols are taking place at a number of concerts throughout the summer, with officers trained to spot predatory men in crowds and taken action to prevent violence before it happens.”

Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Kaya Comer-Schwartz, said:   

“Women and girls deserve to be safe and feel safe wherever they are in the capital and I welcome this action by the Met at summer concerts to prevent violent behaviour, support those in need and take swift action against perpetrators.   

“The Met’s V100 work, made possible by City Hall funding, is transforming the way they tackle violence against women and girls, ensuring perpetrators who pose the greatest risk are arrested and convicted – protecting victims from the worst offenders and making our streets safer. Putting specially trained officers at these busy summer concerts is another step in the right direction. The Mayor and I will continue to support the Met to do everything possible to keep women and girls safe as part of our ongoing public health approach to tackling VAWG in all its forms to build a safer London for all.”    

A Wembley Stadium spokesperson said: 

“The Wembley experience is all about enjoying a moment that our guests will remember forever.  

“We are expecting around 3 million people to attend our concerts this summer – the majority of whom will be young women and girls. 

“All of them should be able to attend without any fear or worry and be able to remember that moment for all the right reasons.”
The Met is also investing in new tools and approaches, including:  
Rapid Video Response pilots to improve victim engagement;  
The Stalking Threat Assessment Centre to better assess and manage risks;  
Enhanced training for over 20,000 frontline officers to strengthen the initial police response to domestic abuse, stalking, and sexual violence.  
An additional 565 officers and staff have been drafted into public protection roles across the force aimed at enhancing our domestic abuse, rape and sexual offence investigation team to enable a better service for victims.   
The use of Live Facial Recognition to locate those wanted for offences and those subject to court orders, including sexual harm prevention orders.   
This summer’s visible patrols are just one part of a wider, long-term commitment to rebuild trust, prevent harm, and protect the women and girls of London.  

Members of the public are encouraged to speak to officers at the concerts and raise any concerns. Always call 999 in an emergency. 
MIL Security OSI –
June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Appeal for information after innocent man shot dead

Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

Detectives are appealing for information three months after an innocent man was fatally shot in Tottenham, in what detectives believe is a case of mistaken identity.

Mahad Abdi Mohamed, a much-loved son, brother and dad, died of a gunshot wound to the head following a shooting in Waverley Road, Tottenham at 20:45hrs on Thursday, 20 March.

He had spent the evening shortly before the shooting with his friend at their home. They were breaking their fast outside when a stolen Mitsubishi Outlander approached and the suspects inside opened fire, striking Mahad multiple times.

Multiple emergency services responded and tried to save him, but he later sadly died at hospital.

His friend, another man, aged 26, was treated in hospital for a non-life-changing gunshot wound to the leg.

The investigation so far has led officers to believe whoever killed Mahad set out to hurt someone else in a pre-meditated and targeted attack.

Four men were arrested on suspicion of murder in March and April. They were questioned and released on bail pending further investigations.

Detective Chief Inspector Rebecca Woodsford, leading the Met’s investigation, said:

“This tragic event, and Mahad’s death, has had a profound impact on the community and all those who loved him. Someone out there knows what happened. And that person, or people, must come forward.

“Regardless of how small you think your information is, please share it with us. It could be the missing link we need to secure justice for Mahad and his family.

“We are interested in hearing from those who saw anything suspicious in Waverley Road, Tottenham on the night of Thursday, 20 March, or witnessed a silver Mitsubishi Outlander, nearby just before 20:45hrs. This car was stolen and used to drive the suspects to and from the scene. It was found burnt-out in Runcorn Close, N17, the following morning.

“We understand how daunting the information sharing process can be, but there are lots of ways to talk either myself or my investigation team and we can ensure you will be supported every step of the way”

Appealing to the general public for information, Mahad’s youngest sister added:

“To stay silent is to be complicit. To stay silent is to let a grieving mother suffer in confusion. To stay silent is to let a little boy grow up not knowing what happened to his father.

“If you know something and you haven’t come forward, please think about that. Think about a family that cannot begin to heal because the truth is still hiding in the shadows. My brother deserves better. He deserves justice.”

Anyone who can help is asked to call police on 101, quoting 7426/20MAR. If you wish to remain anonymous you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, or visit the Major Incident Police Portal.

MIL Security OSI –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Nuclear scientists  have long been targets in covert ops – Israel has brought that policy out of the shadows

Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Jenna Jordan, Associate Professor of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology

Portraits of Iranian military generals and nuclear scientists killed in Israel’s June 13, 2025, attack are displayed on a sign as a plume of heavy smoke and fire rise from an oil refinery in southern Tehran Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images

At least 14 nuclear scientists are believed to be among those killed in Israel’s Operation Rising Lion, launched on June 13, 2025, ostensibly to destroy or degrade Iran’s nuclear program and military capabilities.

Deliberately targeting scientists in this way aims to disrupt Iran’s knowledge base and continuity in nuclear expertise. Among those assassinated were Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, a theoretical physicist and head of Iran’s Islamic Azad University, and Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, a nuclear engineer who led Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.

Collectively, these experts in physics and engineering were potential successors to Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, widely regarded as the architect of the Iranian nuclear program, who was assassinated in a November 2020 attack many blame on Israel.

As two political scientists writing a book about state targeting of scientists as a counterproliferation tool, we understand well that nuclear scientists have been targeted since the nuclear age began. We have gathered data on nearly 100 instances of what we call “scientist targeting” from 1944 through 2025.

The most recent assassination campaign against Iranian scientists is different from many of the earlier episodes in a few key ways. Israel’s recent attack targeted multiple nuclear experts and took place simultaneously with military force to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities, air defenses and energy infrastructure. Also, unlike previous covert operations, Israel immediately claimed responsibility for the assassinations.

But our research indicates that targeting scientists may not be effective for counterproliferation. While removing individual expertise may delay nuclear acquisition, targeting alone is unlikely to destroy a program outright and could even increase a country’s desire for nuclear weapons. Further, targeting scientists may trigger blowback given concerns regarding legality and morality.

A policy with a long history

Targeting nuclear scientists began during World War II when Allied and Soviet forces raced to capture Nazi scientists, degrade Adolf Hitler’s ability to build a nuclear bomb and use their expertise to advance the U.S. and Soviet nuclear programs.

In our data set, we classified “targeting” as cases in which scientists were captured, threatened, injured or killed as nations tried to prevent adversaries from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. Over time, at least four countries have targeted scientists working on nine national nuclear programs.

The United States and Israel have allegedly carried out the most attacks on nuclear scientists. But the United Kingdom and Soviet Union have also been behind such attacks.

Meanwhile, scientists working for the Egyptian, Iranian and Iraqi nuclear programs have been the most frequent targets since 1950. Since 2007 and prior to the current Israeli operation, 10 scientists involved in the Iranian nuclear program were killed in attacks. Other countries’ nationals have also been targeted: In 1980, Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service, allegedly bombed Italian engineer Mario Fiorelli’s home and his firm, SNIA Techint, as a warning to Europeans involved in the Iraqi nuclear project.

Given this history, the fact that Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear program is not itself surprising. Indeed, it has been a strategic goal of successive Israeli prime ministers to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and experts had been warning of the increased likelihood of an Israeli military operation since mid-2024, due to regional dynamics and Iranian nuclear development.

The wrecked cars in which four of Iran’s nuclear scientists were assassinated in recent years are displayed on the grounds of a museum in Tehran in 2014.
Scott Peterson/Getty Images

By then, the balance of power in the Middle East had changed dramatically. Israel systematically degraded the leadership and infrastructure of Iranian proxies Hamas and Hezbollah. It later destroyed Iranian air defenses around Tehran and near key nuclear installations. The subsequent fall of Syria’s Assad regime cost Tehran another long-standing ally. Together, these developments have significantly weakened Iran, leaving it vulnerable to external attack and stripped of its once-feared proxy network, which had been expected to retaliate on its behalf in the event of hostilities.

With its proxy “axis of resistance” defanged and conventional military capacity degraded, Iranian leadership may have thought that expanding its enrichment capability was its best bet going forward.

And in the months leading up to Israel’s recent attack, Iran expanded its nuclear production capacity, moving beyond 60% uranium enrichment, a technical step just short of weapons-grade material. During Donald Trump’s first term, the president withdrew the U.S. from a multilateral nonproliferation agreement aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program. After being reelected, Trump appeared to change tack by pursuing new diplomacy with Iran, but those talks have so far failed to deliver an agreement – and may be put on hold for the foreseeable future amid the war.

Most recently, the International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors declared Iran in non-compliance with its nuclear-nonproliferation obligations. In response, Iran announced it was further expanding its enrichment capacity by adding advanced centrifuge technology and a third enrichment site.

Even if the international community anticipated the broader attack on Iran, characteristics of the targeting itself are surprising. Historically, states have covertly targeted individual scientists. But the recent multiple-scientist attack occurred openly, with Israel taking responsibility, publicly indicating the attacks’ purpose. Further, while it is not new for a country to use multiple counter-proliferation tools against an adversary over time, that Israel is using both preventive military force against infrastructure and targeting scientists at once is atypical.

Additionally, such attacks against scientists are historically lower tech and low cost, with death or injury stemming from gunmen, car bombs or accidents. In fact, Abbasi – who was killed in the most recent attacks – survived a 2010 car bombing in Tehran. There are outliers, however, including the Fakhrizadeh assassination, which featured a remotely operated machine gun smuggled into Iranian territory.

Israel’s logic in going after scientists

Why target nuclear scientists?

In foreign policy, there are numerous tools available if one state aims to prevent another state from acquiring nuclear weapons. Alongside targeting scientists, there are sanctions, diplomacy, cyberattacks and military force.

Targeting scientists may remove critical scientific expertise and impose costs that increase the difficulty of building nuclear weapons. Proponents argue that targeting these experts may undermine a state’s efforts, deter it from continuing nuclear developments and signal to others the perils of supporting nuclear proliferation.

Countries that target scientists therefore believe that doing so is an effective way to degrade an adversary’s nuclear program. Indeed, the Israel Defense Forces described the most recent attacks as “a significant blow to the regime’s ability to acquire weapons of mass destruction.”

Posters featuring images of Iranian nuclear scientists are displayed in Tehran, Iran, on June 14, 2025.
Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images

Despite Israel’s focus on scientists as sources of critical knowledge, there may be thousands more working inside Iran, calling into question the efficacy of targeting them. Further, there are legal, ethical and moral concerns over targeting scientists.

Moreover, it is a risky option that may fail to disrupt an enemy nuclear program while sparking public outrage and calls for retaliation. This is especially the case if scientists, often regarded as civilians, are elevated as martyrs.

Targeting campaigns may, as a result, reinforce domestic support for a government, which could then redouble efforts toward nuclear development.

Regardless of whether targeting scientists is an effective counter-proliferation tool, it has been around since the start of the nuclear age – and will likely persist as part of the foreign policy toolkit for states aiming to prevent proliferation. In the case of the current Israeli conflict with Iran and its targeting of nuclear scientists, we expect the tactic to continue for the duration of the war and beyond.

Rachel Whitlark is a nonresident senior fellow in the Forward Defense practice of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

Jenna Jordan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Nuclear scientists  have long been targets in covert ops – Israel has brought that policy out of the shadows – https://theconversation.com/nuclear-scientists-have-long-been-targets-in-covert-ops-israel-has-brought-that-policy-out-of-the-shadows-259263

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: WHO – Global Leaders Unite to Accelerate Cervical Cancer Elimination Efforts

Source: World Health Organization (WHO)

New commitments at Bali Forum drive momentum to save hundreds of thousands of girls and women from cancer

BALI, Indonesia, 19 June 2025 – Governments, donors, multilateral institutions, the private sector, and partners today announced significant policy, programmatic, and financial commitments to eliminate one of the most preventable cancers.

At the 2nd Global Cervical Cancer Elimination Forum, hosted in Bali, Indonesia, on 17-19 June, leaders announced a wave of new investments and policy pledges to expand access to HPV vaccination, screening, and treatment – bringing the world closer to making cervical cancer the first cancer to ever be eliminated.

The Forum is attended by more than 300 participants, among them are high-level delegates, such as Ministers of Health from Fiji, Indonesia, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Timor-Leste, and Vanuatu, as well as Vice Ministers from Costa Rica, Paraguay, and South Africa, demonstrating strong political commitment from countries across regions.

The Global Strategy for the elimination of cervical cancer sets clear targets for 2030: 90% of girls fully vaccinated with the HPV vaccine by age 15; 70% of women screened with a high-performance test by age 35 and again at 45; and 90% of women identified with cervical disease receiving appropriate treatment. Progress across all three pillars is essential to achieve and sustain elimination.

“In 2018, WHO issued a global call for action to eliminate cervical cancer on the world to act, and the commitments made here in Indonesia show that call is being answered,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “But we must go further and faster. Every girl who remains unvaccinated and every woman who lacks access to screening or treatment is a reminder that equity must be at the heart of our elimination strategy. Together, we can consign cervical cancer to the history books.”

Despite being preventable, cervical cancer still claims the life of a woman every two minutes – 94% of them in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Less than five per cent of women in many LMICs receive cervical cancer screening due to health system limitations, cost barriers and logistical challenges.

Vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) – the leading cause of cervical cancer – can prevent the vast majority of cases, averting 17.4 deaths for every 1000 girls vaccinated. Combined with screening and treatment—including for precancerous lesions and invasive cancer— it provides a path to elimination. However, as of 2024 only 46 per cent of low-income countries have introduced HPV vaccination nationally, compared to 98 per cent of high-income nations.

The Bali forum builds on momentum from Cartagena, Colombia, where nearly US$ 600 million was committed last year to scale up efforts. 194 countries have adopted WHO’s global strategy to eliminate cervical cancer and 75 countries globally

have adopted the single-dose HPV vaccine, which expands access to the vaccine to even more girls and saves costs. Vaccination coverage is also improving: in Africa, first dose coverage rose from 28% in 2022 to 40% in 2023 – making it the region with the second-highest rate globally and empowering millions of girls to protect their health and realize their potential. There is increased vaccine supply thanks to market shaping efforts by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and updated recommendations are helping to make cervical cancer screening and treatment more affordable.

The Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia continues to accelerate the national HPV vaccination program to reduce mortality rates from cervical cancer. Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin emphasized the urgency of this initiative, as cervical cancer remains one of the leading causes of death among women in Indonesia.

To address this issue, the Ministry of Health is not only expanding free HPV vaccination coverage for school-age girls but also strengthening early detection programs for cervical cancer through DNA HPV test and co-testing with IVA (Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid) at health-care facilities. Additionally, the ministry is collaborating with various stakeholders, including local governments and community organizations, to enhance public education and awareness about the importance of early prevention.

“We cannot rely solely on treatment. Prevention is far more important. Therefore, in addition to HPV vaccination, we strongly encourage regular screening so that cancer can be detected at an early stage before it progresses,” said Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

Early detection significantly increases the chances of recovery and reduces treatment cost. For this reason, combining screening and vaccination is essential for effectively preventing and tackling cervical cancer.

Alongside gains in vaccination, countries are also reporting progress in expanding access to cervical cancer screening and treatment, aligned with WHO recommendations. Innovations such as self-sampling are improving reach and feasibility, especially in low-resource settings. Many countries are scaling up national screening programmes and investing in treatment services to ensure that women who test positive receive timely and appropriate care.

This growing global push, driven by renewed commitments from governments and partners at the Forum shows that it is possible to reverse the tide and prevent annual deaths from rising to over 410 000 by 2030, as currently estimated.

To sustain and accelerate this momentum, donors committed to a future free from cervical cancer are strongly urged to fully fund Gavi, which aims to vaccinate an additional 120 million girls between 2026-2030, saving 1.5 million lives.

“At its heart, this movement is about justice. It’s about ensuring that every girl and every woman, regardless of where she lives or what she earns, has access to basic, lifesaving care,” said Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. “As we build these services, we are not just preventing cancer, we are strengthening the bond between women and the health system. We are breaking down barriers. We are dismantling stigma. We are advancing the broader agenda for women’s health. Let us act now—so that every woman, everywhere, can live a healthy, dignified life.”

Continued support is also essential for the coordinated efforts of governments, and global partners across the full elimination strategy to help bring us closer to a world where no girl or woman dies from a disease that there is the power to eliminate. Further, the forum calls countries to set ambitious national targets, align with global commitments, and strengthen collective action toward a cervical cancer-free world by 2030 through the Bali Declaration to Reaffirm Commitment to Cervical Cancer Elimination.

Notes:

Country commitments made at the forum include:

Government of Indonesia

Indonesia stands unwavering in its mission to eliminate cervical cancer by 2030, ensuring that every woman, regardless of socioeconomic status, can live free from its threat. With an ambitious national 90-75-90 target, Indonesia is scaling up its efforts and setting a precedent for bold, decisive action.

Recognizing that elimination requires sustained commitment, Indonesia is mobilizing all sectors through evidence-based programming, strong local leadership, and dynamic multi-stakeholder collaboration. We are prioritizing substantial investments in the health system and fortifying the key pillars of progress—governance, financial sustainability, and social outreach—to drive real change.

With the National Cervical Cancer Elimination Plan 2023–2030 launch, Indonesia has solidified a comprehensive partnership ecosystem spanning ministries, local governments, civil society, communities, and international development partners. Significant strides have been made across the three elimination pillars: vaccination, screening, and treatment. To accelerate our impact, Indonesia is advancing the following commitments:

1. HPV Vaccination – Reaching Every Girl, Every Woman

By the end of 2025, Indonesia will transition to a single-dose HPV vaccination schedule, deploying both school-based and community-based platforms to ensure 90% coverage of HPV vaccination among girls and women in all target groups by 2030.

2. Cervical Cancer Screening – Scaling Up and Innovating

Indonesia is dramatically expanding its screening efforts to reach 75% of women aged 30–69 by 2030, using high-performance HPV DNA testing—a globally recognized best practice. Nationwide pilots are already underway, with full-scale adoption targeted by the end of 2025.

3. Treatment and Care – Strengthening Access and Innovation

Indonesia is fortifying its health system by closing diagnostic and treatment services gaps. Key advancements include accelerated procurement of essential diagnostic tools and treatment equipment and expanded access to chemotherapy, immunohistochemistry testing, and cryotherapy across all regions. Additionally, we are upskilling our healthcare workforce to ensure expertise in the latest treatment techniques.

As we move forward, Indonesia is embedding cervical cancer elimination within its broader National Cancer Control Plan 2025–2034, driving continuous monitoring, research, and evidence-based policy refinement to guarantee universal access to preventive and curative services.

Indonesia is fully committed to accelerating progress, ensuring that every woman across the country has access to the services needed for cervical cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment. At this pivotal global forum, Indonesia with the participants of the forum urge countries to set ambitious national targets, align with global commitments, and strengthen collective action toward a cervical cancer-free world by 2030 through the adoption of Bali Declaration to Reaffirm Commitment to Cervical Cancer Elimination.

Other Government commitments

Government of Pakistan

The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination reaffirms Pakistan’s unwavering commitment to cervical cancer elimination, aligning with the WHO’s 2030 targets. With over 5,000 new cases and 3,000 deaths annually, cervical cancer is a public health challenge in Pakistan. We are prioritizing a comprehensive strategy focusing on HPV vaccination for adolescent girls starting in 2025, alongside strengthening screening programs and ensuring timely treatment access.

Our goal is to achieve a future where no woman in Pakistan loses her life to this preventable disease.

Government of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea has committed to eliminate cervical cancer from the country. Integrated cervical cancer screening and treatment has been scaled up and the country plans to introduce HPV vaccine nationally in 2026.

Government of Samoa

Samoa has made major strides:

Over 80% HPV vaccination coverage among girls aged 10–18, supported by ADB and UNICEF.
Our first Cervical Cancer Elimination Strategy was developed in 2023 with UNFPA support.
The National Cancer Policy and Action Plan (2024–2029) was approved by our government last December and was funded with Australian assistance.

Our approach integrates screening into primary care, uses mobile outreach, and embeds community engagement through the Fa’asamoa and “Healthy Islands” principles.

We recognise the challenges—limited resources and workforce—but we remain committed to combining prevention, screening, and partnerships to achieve our goals.

This program is about equity, hope, and action. Every woman in Samoa deserves access to life-saving care. As a Pacific nation and proud Commonwealth member, we are determined to lead by example.

Together, we will eliminate cervical cancer and save lives.
Thank you for the assistance from our Development Partners and the Global Community.

Co-host commitments

Gates Foundation

The Gates Foundation is committed to protecting the next generation of women from cervical cancer by increasing equitable, sustainable access to HPV vaccines in low- and middle-income countries and we are proud to support Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and countries in the ongoing work to accelerate the introduction and scale-up of HPV vaccines.

We continue in our commitment that supports research on new prophylactic HPV vaccines, further studies investigating the durability of protection of single-dose vaccination, and tools to help countries better understand how vaccines might be used beyond current target populations. And we remain dedicated to our partnerships with governments, non-governmental organizations, multilateral organizations, and the private sector. Working together, we can eliminate cervical cancer.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Gavi reaffirms its commitment to the Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative by supporting lower- and middle-income countries to introduce, finance and scale up coverage of HPV vaccines to drive equitable and sustainable access.

In partnership with countries and Alliance partners, Gavi is on track to reach its ambitious goal of protecting 86 million girls with the lifesaving HPV vaccine by the end of 2025. To date, we have supported 45 countries to introduce the HPV vaccine to their routine systems. This effort is expected to prevent more than 1.4 million future deaths from cervical cancer and represents a major step forward in advancing health equity.

In Gavi’s next strategic period 2026–2030, Gavi aims to intensify its efforts by reaching over 120 million additional girls with the HPV vaccine- an initiative that could save 1.5 million more lives. Achieving this goal will depend on a fully funded Gavi for the next strategic period. Gavi’s investment in HPV vaccination programmes provides a strong foundation for elimination initiatives across the pillars of WHO’s Global Strategy for Cervical Cancer Elimination.

Investing in the health of women and girls is essential to unlocking their full potential and building a healthier, more equitable future for all.

UNICEF

At the 2024 Forum, UNICEF announced an investment of USD 10 million towards the HPV vaccine programme (the HPV Plus initiative). Through the HPV Plus initiative and other investments and partnerships, UNICEF supported the vaccination of over 20 million girls across the 21 HPV Plus implementing countries. Importantly, UNICEF forged strong multi-sectoral engagements and partnerships, working directly with over 250,000 stakeholders in the 21 countries to ensure access for key integrated adolescent health services including nutrition, sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDs, menstrual hygiene management, and related services to over 490,000 girls – in addition to receiving the HPV vaccine.

In UNICEF’s next strategic plan for 2026-2029 we commit to supporting vaccination of 100 million girls with the HPV vaccine. UNICEF will continue to leverage its programmatic and multi-sectoral footprint to advance effective initiatives including integrated HPV vaccination and adolescent health services and strengthening effective delivery platforms including school-based vaccination. We will also continue to generate and share evidence to help build stronger immunization and health programmes that advance the wellbeing of adolescent girls.

UNICEF will also leverage its Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) program alongside its cervical cancer diagnostic toolkit to shape markets and to create linkages for the screening and treatment pillars of the cervical cancer elimination strategy. Through key programmatic touchpoints, we will raise awareness among country stakeholders and partners about effective screening and treatment options, while providing technical support where feasible.

Unitaid

Unitaid has been a leading investor in the secondary prevention of cervical cancer for over six years and ever since the WHO launched the call to action in 2018. This long-standing engagement reflects Unitaid’s dedication to closing the prevention gap for millions of women worldwide who are not eligible for or able to access the HPV vaccination.

Building on this foundation, Unitaid will invest an additional US$50 million over the next two years to accelerate access to screening and pre-cancer treatment, resulting in a cumulative commitment now reaching US$130 million. This includes an immediate US$18 million investment to directly support 18 countries across Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Caribbean in establishing and scaling national programs. These efforts will prioritize the rapid uptake of HPV testing and pre-cancer treatment devices, decentralized screening models to reach underserved populations, and the integration of services into health systems in ways that are both sustainable and cost-effective.

In addition to country-level support, Unitaid will strengthen regional mechanisms that benefit a broader set of countries. This includes expanding supply options to improve access to affordable commodities and fostering South-South learning structures that promote local innovation and experience sharing. Through these efforts, Unitaid aims to help countries accelerate progress toward their national cervical cancer elimination goals and contribute meaningfully to the global 90-70-90 targets.

Civil Society Organisations

African Cervical Health Alliance (ACHA)

As a network of grassroots civil society organisations, activists and allies committed to advancing the health and wellbeing of African women, thus safeguarding the fabric of our communities, and nations, the African Cervical Health Alliance (ACHA) remains committed to using our knowledge of the community, our collective voices, experiences, and skills as cervical cancer survivors, caregivers and allies, in our advocacy with and for our women and girls, in the achievement of the WHO 90/70/90 targets by 2030.

ACHA will continue scaling up the use of our evidence based, customisable IEC materials to reach at least 150,000 adolescent girls, women, parents, and community leaders across underserved communities with culturally appropriate and age-specific messages about HPV, the importance of HPV vaccination for all eligible girls, routine cervical cancer screening and access to treatment.

We will also continue to advocate for increased HPV vaccine uptake by integrating cervical health messages into at least 100 advocacy and community engagement activities annually with key populations, including but not limited to school health programs, youth forums, and faith-based initiatives.

We are also committed to supporting government-led efforts in our respective member countries, through technical input, stakeholder engagement, and community mobilization to adopt WHO’s recommendation for single-dose HPV vaccine schedule for our girls, and to expand access to high performance screening tests for all women, especially in rural and hard-to-reach areas.

We stand firm in our commitment to building the advocacy capacity of grassroots champions and cancer survivors, by training at least 200 advocates by June 2026 to lead awareness campaigns, reduce stigma, and foster demand for cervical cancer prevention services.

Our commitments remain resolute, in accelerating the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem across Africa, with a focus on underserved populations, and advocating for the integration of preventive services at all levels of implementation. We therefore pledge to use our unified voice, networks, and tools to catalyse political will, drive accountability, and ensure no woman or girl is left behind in the journey to a cervical cancer free Africa.

Association for Mothers and Newborns (AMAN)

The Association for Mothers and Newborns (AMAN) reaffirms its commitment to cervical cancer elimination, in alignment with the WHO’s 90-70-90 targets and as a national health priority of Pakistan.

As a community-rooted professional organization, AMAN recognizes that demand generation, social mobilisation, and evidence-based advocacy are essential pillars to increase the uptake of HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening services, particularly in underserved and marginalized communities. AMAN also provides professional training in Screening methods (Cytology, VIA), and treatment with Colposcopy, LLETZ and Surgical management.

Through its GAVI-funded advocacy project in Sindh province (2025–26), AMAN is addressing vaccine hesitancy, countering misconceptions, and mobilizing families, community leaders, teachers, and caregivers to support HPV vaccination for adolescent girls. The initiative aims to reach over 400,000 adolescent girls, parents, and teachers via community awareness sessions, health camps, and digital outreach. It has also successfully engaged local influencers, health workers, and peer educators as advocates for cervical cancer prevention and health equity.

AMAN pledges to collaborate with public health authorities, civil society, and global partners to amplify local voices, remove barriers, and accelerate Pakistan’s progress toward the global goal of eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem. Together, with a multipronged approach, we can end cervical cancer.

Cancer Awareness, Prevention and Early Detection Trust (CAPED)

As a founding member of the Cervical Cancer Elimination Consortium – India (CCEC-I), CAPED commits to being the community engagement partner and extending outreach through its 48 partner organizations and their extended networks to support the rollout of HPV vaccination and a national cervical cancer screening program.

By June 2026, we will coordinate efforts to:
• Develop a national preparedness map and readiness report using real-time grassroots data, reflecting local realities on awareness, access, and health system readiness.
• Collect and document human interest stories from communities to highlight both challenges and successes in cancer prevention efforts.
• Create and disseminate contextually relevant communication materials that resonate with diverse audiences and address stigma, misinformation, and fear.

These efforts will help ground national strategies in lived experiences and ensure that civil society plays a central role in advancing equitable, people-centred cervical cancer elimination in India.

Girls and Women Health Initiative (GWHI)

GWHI commits to double its impacts in advocacy for HPV vaccination, cervical cancer screening and treatment, along with disseminating the findings from the first ever situation analysis commissioned by the Ministry of National Health Services Regulation and Coordination, Pakistan and WHO.

GWHI has also created the Pakistan Alliance for Cervical Cancer Elimination (PACCE), a platform to bring together all partners, governmental and non-governmental, working in Pakistan for cervical cancer elimination, to amplify efforts and impact.

Union for International Cancer Control

The Union for International Cancer Control is committed to working alongside its 1,150 members across 172 countries and territories to address inequities and drive global action towards the elimination of cervical cancer. With a strong reputation in global advocacy, a rich history of delivering initiatives to support national action, and flagship convening platforms that facilitate peer-to-peer exchange and foster collaboration, UICC continues to champion efforts that improve access to care, sustain progress, and lessen the impact of cervical cancer on individuals, their families and communities.

As part of its new three-year business plan, UICC will further strengthen its engagement—including through its role in the ‘Elimination Partnership in the Indo-Pacific for Cervical Cancer’, ongoing support for cervical cancer programmes in Francophone Africa, and initiatives that amplify the voices of those with lived experience, including as part of its current three-year World Cancer Day campaign – United by Unique. A core focus of this work will be to mobilise and equip civil society to advocate for the elimination of cervical cancer—ensuring communities are heard, policies are strengthened, and accountability is upheld.

UICC is rooted in its belief that everyone experiencing cancer should have access to quality treatment and care, and no one should die from a preventable cancer. To achieve this, UICC will leverage its established learning and knowledge-sharing opportunities, its broad multi-sectoral network, and continued advocacy to further progress and ensure that health systems are equipped to improve cancer control, and eliminate cervical cancer.

Private sector

Becton Dickinson

Becton Dickinson HPV Access Pricing Initiative: Becton Dickinson (BD) proudly commits to a Global Access Price for our advanced HPV Screening Solution, featuring integrated Extended Genotyping and a self-collection option to expand equitable access to life-saving diagnostics globally. This all-inclusive “Price per Patient Result” will be available to governments and non-governmental organizations advancing public sector programs in 73 Low and Low-Middle Income Countries. Through multi-stakeholder collaboration, we aim to expand access, improve patient management, and help public sector programs implement high-quality, sustainable, and scalable screening programs for effective cervical cancer prevention.

The Ministry of Health Indonesia and Becton Dickinson (BD) are partnering to expand cervical cancer screening in West Java, aiming to reach 300,000 women in three years. Building on a successful pilot in Papua, the initiative supports Indonesia’s National Action Plan, improving patient management and long-term cost-effectiveness through HPV DNA testing, self-collection, and extended genotyping.

Roche

Roche commits to expand affordable pricing for its cobas® HPV DNA test to 17 additional countries, bringing the total to 106 countries, with the potential to positively impact more than 600 million women worldwide. The decision reflects Roche’s unwavering dedication to continuous innovation and advancing equitable access to cervical cancer screening, a critical step in supporting countries as they work towards their elimination goals. Roche’s commitment ext

MIL OSI – Submitted News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Dmitry Grigorenko: Russia has entered an active phase of implementing artificial intelligence

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

The speed of implementation of artificial intelligence, interaction between business and government, timeliness of regulation, as well as international cooperation were discussed at the plenary session on AI at SPIEF-2025 with the participation of Deputy Prime Minister – Chief of the Government Staff Dmitry Grigorenko.

As Dmitry Grigorenko stated, Russia has entered an active phase of implementing artificial intelligence. AI-based solutions increase the efficiency of government agencies and improve the quality of services provided, opening up additional opportunities, including in public administration and the social sphere, from medicine to the budget process. Thus, the compulsory medical insurance program already includes diagnostic services using AI, and an intelligent agent is being integrated into the Electronic Budget system in test mode to speed up the budget process.

When asked what the government is doing to speed up the implementation of AI, the Deputy Prime Minister – Chief of the Government Staff spoke about the work on developing the necessary infrastructure within the framework of the national project “Data Economy”, training specialized personnel, as well as replicating the best practices of the regions on a national scale. At the same time, he emphasized that for success, the government and business need to combine efforts in these areas, without dividing areas of responsibility.

“We approach the issue of implementing AI technology systematically. For example, all digital development programs for regions and federal agencies have a mandatory clause – to implement an AI-based solution. All programs are very specific, with units of measurement of efficiency. At the same time, everyone determines for themselves the required number of such services – for their tasks. AI is a tool. With its help, we solve a very specific problem each time. Plus, we select existing best practices and replicate them taking into account the experience already acquired,” commented Dmitry Grigorenko.

As Chairman of the Board of PJSC Sberbank German Gref noted, the role of the state is critically important: from investments to education and total enlightenment of “where we are going”. At the same time, German Gref noted that unique conditions have already been created in Russia that allow the development of technology. Including due to the existing local experimental legal regimes.

“Right now, in my opinion, there is a consensus. There is moral regulation – the code of ethics of artificial intelligence, to which all the largest developers in Russia have joined. Among the signatories are over 900 companies, including foreign ones. There is technical regulation. And there is incentive regulation, for example, an experimental regime for the implementation of artificial intelligence has been created in Moscow. We cannot rush with regulation, so as not to negatively influence developers,” said German Gref.

According to the Deputy Speaker of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly Vladislav Davankov, sooner or later any industry faces issues of protecting the rights of citizens and equal access to the results of technological development.

“In difficult situations, people turn to the state for protection. That is why regulation is necessary. But it must be smart and created as a public agreement, in dialogue with business. We must develop these rules together,” commented Vladislav Davankov.

The Minister of Communications and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus Kirill Zalessky and the Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan Zhaslan Madiyev also took part in the discussion.

Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

MIL OSI Russia News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Alexander Novak: Russian fuel and energy complex has become more competitive and technologically advanced

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak spoke at the panel session “The World Fuel and Energy Market in Search of a Balance between the Interests of Producers and Consumers” at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The session was also attended by OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Ghaith, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey Alparslan Bayraktar, Minister of International Economic Relations under the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Chairman of the Serbian People’s Party Nenad Popovic, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations of Hungary Peter Szijjarto, and Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjaev.

Alexander Novak outlined the vector of Russia’s current strategy in the current conditions of the global energy market and spoke about the key steps being taken to ensure the sustainable development of the country’s oil and gas sector.

“The oil and gas industry is key to the Russian economy. It is a driver for investment, the economy, new inventions, and the implementation of modern research and development work. Over the past 20 years, our oil and gas industry has made a huge leap. Firstly, oil production has increased from 300 to over 500 million tons per year (80%). We have new production regions – we have begun to extract raw materials in Eastern Siberia, on the shelf. We have developed and learned to apply TRIZ technologies. This is important, since the lion’s share of future reserves are reserves that are located at greater depths, with more difficult-to-extract layers,” said Alexander Novak.

The Deputy Prime Minister added that the issue of technological development is key today.

“Despite numerous sanctions from unfriendly countries and the desire to stop the development of the Russian economy, including through the fuel and energy complex, we see that our industry has not only maintained its production indicators, but has also survived and become an order of magnitude more efficient. It has become more competitive and technologically advanced. The sanctions have forced us to ensure import substitution, and our own developments have appeared instead of technologies that were previously purchased abroad. Our industry has been loaded, and an impetus has been given to the development of the Russian economy as a whole,” said Alexander Novak.

He recalled that the key tasks for the development of the fuel and energy complex set by President Vladimir Putin include ensuring domestic energy security, increasing the share of high-value-added products through the development of oil and gas refining and petrochemicals, international cooperation, and the development of infrastructure for the supply of energy resources to domestic and foreign markets.

OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Ghaith noted that global demand for oil is growing.

“We see that the world’s population is growing, and by 2050, there will be 2 billion new people on the planet, and the global economy will double compared to current parameters. By 2030, half a billion people will live in new cities that will be the size of 100 St. Petersburgs. And this means heating, air conditioning, and overall growth in energy consumption. In addition, new consumers are mining and data centers. By 2050, we predict a 24 percent increase in energy consumption compared to the current level, which requires additional investment in the sector. They need to be stimulated,” said OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Gais. OPEC does not see peak demand for oil even by 2050.

Turkey is already seeing both gas consumption and the share of renewable energy sources grow. And the country’s main goal is to ensure the security and availability of energy supplies. “We are diversifying our portfolio by investing in renewable energy sources. By 2035, we want to quadruple the capacity of solar and wind energy components. We have ambitious plans for nuclear energy – to increase its production to at least 20 GW by 2050. To do this, we need four reactors, and we are working with Rosatom. There is also a focus on small-scale generation and a desire to build another 5 GW station,” said Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar about plans for energy development in the country.

According to him, Turkey has also begun developing offshore fields, which already supply energy to 4 million households in the country. By 2028, this number is planned to increase fourfold. Turkey is searching for oil and gas in developing countries, and is also investing in its own infrastructure and preparing to create large-scale capacities for gas export to Europe.

“Hungary will continue energy cooperation with the Russian Federation, because it is very important for us to keep prices low for all our citizens, for our families. Without Russian energy resources, this is impossible for us,” said Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, commenting on the European Commission’s plan to have EU countries abandon Russian energy resources by 2027. In his opinion, Brussels and Kyiv have set the goal of cutting off Europe from the supplier of cheap and affordable oil and gas, which Russia has been for Hungary for many years. At the same time, the European Commission does not offer any alternative in the form of other equally reliable and inexpensive sources of energy resources.

The participants in the discussion agreed that in the context of growing energy consumption in the world, it is necessary to diversify its sources and international cooperation for the development and reliable supply of both traditional and alternative types of energy resources. This is especially important in a period of geopolitical instability and the aggravation of local conflicts in a number of regions of the world.

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MIL OSI Russia News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Dmitry Chernyshenko: In recent years, the strategic partnership between Russia and Cuba has only strengthened

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

20 hours ago

At SPIEF-2025, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko welcomed the participants of the first high-level business dialogue “Russia – Cuba”.

“Our countries are linked by strong, time-tested, friendly ties. President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and President of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel have repeatedly emphasized the importance of strategic partnership. In recent years, it has only strengthened.

Diplomatic, cultural and trade-economic relations are actively developing. Mutual trade turnover has grown by more than 13%. Last year alone, we achieved significant results in tourism, the agro-industrial complex and education.

Cuba was visited by 160 thousand Russian tourists, which is a record figure. The number of Cubans who visited Russia also increased by 50%. Deliveries of domestic cars to Cuba have resumed. A project to process Russian wheat at a Cuban flour mill is being successfully implemented. Cooperation in the fields of healthcare, education and science is expanding. Joint projects to exchange experience in medicine have been launched, and a Center for Targeted Training of Specialists for Energy and Electronics is operating.

Our strategic partnership in various areas will continue to develop. Therefore, the St. Petersburg Forum is an excellent platform for strengthening cooperation and finding new points of contact.

I am confident that through joint efforts we will achieve great success for the benefit of the economies of Russia and Cuba. Friends, I wish you fruitful work and productive dialogue on the sidelines of the forum!” the Deputy Prime Minister noted.

During the event, topics of development of the Caribbean state’s tourism industry were raised, including its digitalization, restoration of the sugar industry, achieving Cuba’s food sovereignty and much more.

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June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Alexander Novak: We are witnessing a global transformation in economic development

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak took part in the opening session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The Minister of Energy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, the President of the New Development Bank of BRICS Dilma Rousseff, the President and Secretary General of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Lazar Comanescu, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Chi Dung also shared their vision of the development of the global economy and the prospects for international cooperation.

Alexander Novak noted that the main vector of development of the global economy in the next decade will be concentrated in countries where the birth rate is growing today and which are gaining new positions in global markets.

“The modern world has entered an era of fundamental changes. We are witnessing a global transformation in terms of economic development. Large countries of Southeast Asia such as China and India have become global participants in the world market in recent decades, the main drivers of demand and supply of goods to global world markets. Countries of South Asia and Africa are increasingly asserting themselves. They have a high birth rate and a still low level of urbanization. And this is the potential that will change the landscape of the global economy in the next decade. Growth will no longer be concentrated in the countries of Europe and North America, which are gradually losing their positions in the global economy, but in the BRICS countries and states that want to join the association,” said Alexander Novak. He added that since the 2000s, the share of the BRICS countries in the world economy was 22%, and today it has increased to 36%, which means growth of more than 50%. At the same time, the share of the G7 countries has decreased from 45% to 30% over the same period.

Minister of Energy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud spoke about the main mechanism for achieving balance in the global oil market. “The OPEC deal has proven itself to be an effective tool. OPEC has managed to achieve tremendous success in ensuring market stability and has become, in fact, the central regulator of oil markets,” Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud noted.

He also emphasized that the governments of Saudi Arabia and Russia are working to create favorable conditions for those wishing to invest in the economies of Saudi Arabia and the Russian Federation on the basis of various formats, including joint ventures. The Saudi Arabian authorities understand the situation and are willing to find ways to overcome existing restrictions.

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June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Alexander Novak: Cooperation between Russia and Turkey in the energy sector is truly strategic in nature

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexander Novak held a meeting with Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The parties discussed cooperation in the oil, gas, coal, electric power and nuclear industries. The discussion focused on the creation of a gas hub, the terms of Russian energy supplies to the Turkish market, and the construction of the Akkuyu NPP.

“Cooperation between Russia and Turkey in the energy sector is truly strategic. This is largely due to the principled sovereign line that Turkey pursues under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Against the backdrop of the turbulent situation in the region and the world as a whole, cooperation in the energy sector is of particular importance. The driving force of the Turkish economy is industry, which cannot develop without stable supplies of energy resources and electricity production. Russia has been and remains a reliable supplier of gas, oil and other natural resources to the Turkish market,” said Alexander Novak.

The Deputy Prime Minister invited Alparslan Bayraktar and the Turkish delegation to take part in the annual forum “Russian Energy Week”, which will be held from October 15 to 17 in Moscow.

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June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Financial news: Cash or non-cash: Russians’ preferences in 2024

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Central Bank of Russia –

Approximately 10% of citizens have made a clear choice in favor of non-cash payments. Almost the same number, 9%, pay exclusively in cash.

People value cashless services for their speed, simplicity and convenience. Most often they pay with a bank card (77%), in second place are mobile transfers and online banks (44%), in third place is the Fast Payment System (34%).

Cash payments are chosen primarily because they can be made anywhere and at any time. A quarter of the citizens surveyed use cash in everyday payments – most often in small shops, markets, gas stations or when paying for public transport. Half of the respondents keep a supply of banknotes and coins in case they cannot pay cashlessly, a third keep their savings in cash.

Read more in the materials sociological research on the website of the Bank of Russia.

Preview photo: PalSand / Shutterstock / Fotodom

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June 20, 2025