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Category: Africa

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Brics+ could shape a new world order, but it lacks shared values and a unified identity

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Anthoni van Nieuwkerk, Professor of International and Diplomacy Studies, Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs, University of South Africa

    The last two summits of Brics countries have raised questions about the coalition’s identity and purpose. This began to come into focus at the summit hosted by South Africa in 2023, and more acutely at the recent 2024 summit in Kazan, Russia.

    At both events the alliance undertook to expand its membership. In 2023, the first five Brics members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – invited Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to join. All bar Saudi Arabia have now done so. The 2024 summit pledged to admit 13 more, perhaps as associates or “partner countries”.

    On paper, the nine-member Brics+ strikes a powerful pose. It has a combined population of about 3.5 billion, or 45% of the world’s people. Combined, its economies are worth more than US$28.5 trillion – about 28% of the global economy. With Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE as members, Brics+ produces about 44% of the world’s crude oil.

    Based on my research and policy advice to African foreign policy decision-makers, I would argue that there are three possible interpretations of the purpose of Brics+.

    • A club of self-interested members – a kind of global south cooperative. What I’d label as a self-help organisation.

    • A reforming bloc with a more ambitious goal of improving the workings of the current global order.

    • A disrupter, preparing to replace the western-dominated liberal world order.

    Analysing the commitments that were made at the meeting in Russia, I would argue that Brics+ sees itself more as a self-interested reformer. It represents the thinking among global south leaders about the nature of global order, and the possibilities of shaping a new order. This, as the world moves away from the financially dominant, yet declining western order (in terms of moral influence) led by the US. The move is to a multipolar order in which the east plays a leading role.

    Read more: Russia’s Brics summit shows determination for a new world order – but internal rifts will buy the west some time

    However, the ability of Brics+ to exploit such possibilities is constrained by its make-up and internal inconsistencies. These include a contested identity, incongruous values and lack of resources to convert political commitments into actionable plans.

    Summit outcomes

    The trend towards closer trade and financial cooperation and coordination stands out as a major achievement of the Kazan summit. Other achievements pertain to global governance and counter-terrorism.

    When it comes to trade and finance, the final communiqué said the following had been agreed:

    • adoption of local currencies in trade and financial transactions. The Kazan Declaration notes the benefits of faster, low cost, more efficient, transparent, safe and inclusive cross-border payment instruments. The guiding principle would be minimal trade barriers and non-discriminatory access.

    • establishment of a cross-border payment system. The declaration encourages correspondent banking networks within Brics, and enabling settlements in local currencies in line with the Brics Cross-Border Payments Initiative. This is voluntary and nonbinding and is to be discussed further.

    • creation of an enhanced roles for the New Development Bank, such as promoting infrastructure and sustainable development.

    • a proposed Brics Grain Exchange, to improve food security through enhanced trade in agricultural commodities.

    All nine Brics+ countries committed themselves to the principles of the UN Charter – peace and security, human rights, the rule of law, and development – primarily as a response to the western unilateral sanctions.

    Read more: South Africa walks a tightrope of international alliances – it needs Russia, China and the west

    The summit emphasised that dialogue and diplomacy should prevail over conflict in, among other places, the Middle East, Sudan, Haiti and Afghanistan.

    Faultlines and tensions

    Despite the positive tone of the Kazan declaration, there are serious structural fault lines and tensions inherent in the architecture and behaviour of Brics+. These might limit its ambitions to be a meaningful change agent.

    The members don’t even agree on the definition of Brics+. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa calls it a platform. Others talk of a group (Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi) or a family (Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jianan).

    So what could it be?

    Brics+ is state-driven – with civil society on the margins. It reminds one of the African Union, which pays lip service to citizens’ engagement in decision-making.

    One possibility is that it will evolve into an intergovernmental organisation with a constitution that sets up its agencies, functions and purposes. Examples include the World Health Organization, the African Development Bank and the UN general assembly.

    But it would need to cohere around shared values. What would they be?

    Critics point out that Brics+ consists of democracies (South Africa, Brazil, India), a theocracy (Iran), monarchies (UAE, Saudi Arabia) and authoritarian dictatorships (China, Russia). For South Africa this creates a domestic headache. At the Kazan summit, its president declared Russia a friend and ally. At home, its coalition partner in the government of national unity, the Democratic Alliance, declared Ukraine as a friend and ally.

    Read more: When two elephants fight: how the global south uses non-alignment to avoid great power rivalries

    There are also marked differences over issues such as the reform of the United Nations. For example, at the recent UN Summit of the Future the consensus was for reform of the UN security council. But will China and Russia, as permanent security council members, agree to more seats, with veto rights, on the council?

    As for violent conflict, humanitarian crises, corruption and crime, there is little from the Kazan summit that suggests agreement around action.

    Unity of purpose

    What about shared interests? A number of Brics+ members and the partner countries maintain close trade ties with the west, which regards Russia and Iran as enemies and China as a global threat.

    Some, such as India and South Africa, use the foreign policy notions of strategic ambiguity or active non-alignment to mask the reality of trading with east, west, north and south.

    The harsh truth of international relations is there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests. The Brics+ alliance will most likely cohere as a global south co-operative, with an innovative self-help agenda, but be reluctant to overturn the current global order from which it desires to benefit more equitably.

    Trade-offs and compromises might be necessary to ensure “unity of purpose”. It’s not clear that this loose alliance is close to being able to achieve that.

    – Brics+ could shape a new world order, but it lacks shared values and a unified identity
    – https://theconversation.com/brics-could-shape-a-new-world-order-but-it-lacks-shared-values-and-a-unified-identity-242308

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Autocrats and cities: how capitals have become a battleground for protest and control

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By David Jackman, Departmental Lecturer in Development Studies, University of Oxford

    Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the world’s longest reigning female political leader, fled Bangladesh on 5 August 2024 for the safety of India. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of protesters descended on Bangladesh’s capital city, Dhaka. The crowds ransacked her official residence, occupied the nation’s parliament and burnt down her family home.

    Hasina, who had ruled the country for more than 20 years in total, had been widely accused of turning autocratic and clamping down severely on any opposition to her rule.

    For many, the Bangladesh revolution offers hope in the context of growing global authoritarianism. It illustrates the power of the youth to confront entrenched leaders, and the fragility of authoritarianism. It also highlights a striking feature of contemporary global politics: how central capital cities are to the political life of nations.

    In our new book, Controlling the Capital: Political Dominance in the Urbanizing World, a diverse range of scholars argue that capital cities are crucial political sites. They’re where governing elites seek to assert and maintain political control, and they are also stages for political contestation.

    The book is focused on sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the two fastest-urbanising regions of the world.

    Authors explore the strategies and tactics used by ruling elites to politically dominate their capital cities in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

    The authors also consider how urban populations have engaged with these efforts. People may resist authority, but they can also cooperate with it in ways that benefit themselves – which sometimes reinforces or supports authoritarian control.

    This is increasingly important in the context of two contemporary trends. First, authoritarianism is growing globally. Just 10 years ago under half of the world’s population lived under authoritarian rule; now the figure is at 71%. The second trend is the ongoing rapid urbanisation of the world’s population, with the majority of us globally now living in urban areas.

    Urban unrest

    Over the past year we’ve seen how capital cities are spaces for contestation.

    Some pro-democracy movements draw from their own histories of struggle and the paths that have been carved by those before them. The template of Bangladesh’s 2024 revolution is ingrained in politics from the ways in which liberation was fought and how later struggles against authoritarian rule were won. The capital city has also been crucial, and students at Dhaka University were key mobilisers in such movements.

    In other contexts, the link between political resistance and urban areas is a relatively new and surprising route to political change. One example is “the struggle” seen in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo and the unseating of the Rajapaksa family, who were perceived as increasingly authoritarian rulers of the country. The Colombo chapter in this volume highlights how such protests emerged in a context where urban unrest had rarely threatened those in power before.

    Even where anti-authoritarian protests have proved futile time and again, urban populations rarely remain quiet.

    In Kampala, Uganda, demonstrations prior to the 2021 elections resulted in a horrifying government crackdown. Inspired by events in neighbouring Kenya, protesters took to the streets once more in July 2024 to demonstrate against corruption.

    Read more: Kenya’s protests happened in every major urban centre – why these spaces are explosive

    The protests that erupted in Nairobi from late June 2024 against tax rises engulfed the capital city. They continued for some time, fuelled by the brutal police response. Similarly, Nigeria’s 2020 #EndSARS protests against police brutality created a powerful movement in cities such as Abuja and Lagos which shook government, and resonated across much of the continent.

    In an age of social media, learning and mimicry across national borders is increasingly common. One of the defining images of Kenya’s 2024 urban uprising was of a group of men with their arms raised and crossed at the wrists – a gesture of anti-authoritarian protest that gained particular resonance several years back during neighbouring Ethiopia’s own uprising.

    As urban protest seems set to continue and spread – often taking intentionally similar forms – techniques of urban authoritarian control are more varied and complex.

    Strategies to dominate and control city populations can be dramatic and repressive – such as the brute force of police violence – and they can also be subtle, deeply ingrained, and sometimes difficult to discern.

    Authoritarian tactics

    Our book argues that authoritarian leaders are increasingly aware of the power of the urban masses. As a result, they are using a range of subtle, and not-so-subtle, tactics to entrench their domination in capital cities.

    We broadly described two types of interventions that elites use.

    The first are policies and favours that actively build support among urban groups. These can range from inclusion in political parties to investments in social provisions or infrastructure to win support. The book’s chapter on Addis Ababa shows how the latter were particularly striking under the previous governing regime in Ethiopia.

    The second are repressive interventions that aim to crush opposition. These are also diverse, and include violent crackdowns, but also surveillance and intimidation.

    In practice, the two types of interventions often overlap. The line also blurs through various forms of manipulation. For instance, misinformation or the delivery of goods in exchange for performances of political loyalty, underpinned by implicit threats of coercion.

    We also highlight the significance of urban geography.

    Ruling elites often seek to divide city populations (for example inner-city dwellers versus the peripheries). This is evident in our book’s chapter on Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Rajapaksas tried to consolidate power by appealing to the new middle class suburbanites through “beautification” projects. But these displaced and excluded the inner-city poor.

    Chapters on Harare and Kampala also show how particular peripheral areas have become central to efforts to build an urban support base by Zanu-PF and the National Resistance Movement. This often plays out through the informal parcelling out of land to supporters.

    Contesting autocratic rule

    Concerns about authoritarian politics are at an all-time high.

    The above Google Ngram highlights the perilous rise in the use of the term “autocratization” in published work over the past decade.

    Meanwhile, the contestation of autocratic rule will continue to erupt in cities, especially in rapidly urbanising parts of the world. In this context, the need to understand how autocracy and urbanisation collide could hardly be more important.

    If pro-democracy forces are to have any hope of prevailing against efforts by authoritarian ruling elites to entrench their position, there is a crucial need to better understand their urban strategies and tactics.

    – Autocrats and cities: how capitals have become a battleground for protest and control
    – https://theconversation.com/autocrats-and-cities-how-capitals-have-become-a-battleground-for-protest-and-control-240377

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Brics+ could shape a new world order, but it lacks shared values and a unified identity

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Anthoni van Nieuwkerk, Professor of International and Diplomacy Studies, Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs, University of South Africa

    The last two summits of Brics countries have raised questions about the coalition’s identity and purpose. This began to come into focus at the summit hosted by South Africa in 2023, and more acutely at the recent 2024 summit in Kazan, Russia.

    At both events the alliance undertook to expand its membership. In 2023, the first five Brics members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – invited Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to join. All bar Saudi Arabia have now done so. The 2024 summit pledged to admit 13 more, perhaps as associates or “partner countries”.

    On paper, the nine-member Brics+ strikes a powerful pose. It has a combined population of about 3.5 billion, or 45% of the world’s people. Combined, its economies are worth more than US$28.5 trillion – about 28% of the global economy. With Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE as members, Brics+ produces about 44% of the world’s crude oil.

    Based on my research and policy advice to African foreign policy decision-makers, I would argue that there are three possible interpretations of the purpose of Brics+.

    • A club of self-interested members – a kind of global south cooperative. What I’d label as a self-help organisation.

    • A reforming bloc with a more ambitious goal of improving the workings of the current global order.

    • A disrupter, preparing to replace the western-dominated liberal world order.

    Analysing the commitments that were made at the meeting in Russia, I would argue that Brics+ sees itself more as a self-interested reformer. It represents the thinking among global south leaders about the nature of global order, and the possibilities of shaping a new order. This, as the world moves away from the financially dominant, yet declining western order (in terms of moral influence) led by the US. The move is to a multipolar order in which the east plays a leading role.



    Read more:
    Russia’s Brics summit shows determination for a new world order – but internal rifts will buy the west some time

    However, the ability of Brics+ to exploit such possibilities is constrained by its make-up and internal inconsistencies. These include a contested identity, incongruous values and lack of resources to convert political commitments into actionable plans.

    Summit outcomes

    The trend towards closer trade and financial cooperation and coordination stands out as a major achievement of the Kazan summit. Other achievements pertain to global governance and counter-terrorism.

    When it comes to trade and finance, the final communiqué said the following had been agreed:

    • adoption of local currencies in trade and financial transactions. The Kazan Declaration notes the benefits of faster, low cost, more efficient, transparent, safe and inclusive cross-border payment instruments. The guiding principle would be minimal trade barriers and non-discriminatory access.

    • establishment of a cross-border payment system. The declaration encourages correspondent banking networks within Brics, and enabling settlements in local currencies in line with the Brics Cross-Border Payments Initiative. This is voluntary and nonbinding and is to be discussed further.

    • creation of an enhanced roles for the New Development Bank, such as promoting infrastructure and sustainable development.

    • a proposed Brics Grain Exchange, to improve food security through enhanced trade in agricultural commodities.

    All nine Brics+ countries committed themselves to the principles of the UN Charter – peace and security, human rights, the rule of law, and development – primarily as a response to the western unilateral sanctions.



    Read more:
    South Africa walks a tightrope of international alliances – it needs Russia, China and the west

    The summit emphasised that dialogue and diplomacy should prevail over conflict in, among other places, the Middle East, Sudan, Haiti and Afghanistan.

    Faultlines and tensions

    Despite the positive tone of the Kazan declaration, there are serious structural fault lines and tensions inherent in the architecture and behaviour of Brics+. These might limit its ambitions to be a meaningful change agent.

    The members don’t even agree on the definition of Brics+. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa calls it a platform. Others talk of a group (Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi) or a family (Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jianan).

    So what could it be?

    Brics+ is state-driven – with civil society on the margins. It reminds one of the African Union, which pays lip service to citizens’ engagement in decision-making.

    One possibility is that it will evolve into an intergovernmental organisation with a constitution that sets up its agencies, functions and purposes. Examples include the World Health Organization, the African Development Bank and the UN general assembly.

    But it would need to cohere around shared values. What would they be?

    Critics point out that Brics+ consists of democracies (South Africa, Brazil, India), a theocracy (Iran), monarchies (UAE, Saudi Arabia) and authoritarian dictatorships (China, Russia). For South Africa this creates a domestic headache. At the Kazan summit, its president declared Russia a friend and ally. At home, its coalition partner in the government of national unity, the Democratic Alliance, declared Ukraine as a friend and ally.



    Read more:
    When two elephants fight: how the global south uses non-alignment to avoid great power rivalries

    There are also marked differences over issues such as the reform of the United Nations. For example, at the recent UN Summit of the Future the consensus was for reform of the UN security council. But will China and Russia, as permanent security council members, agree to more seats, with veto rights, on the council?

    As for violent conflict, humanitarian crises, corruption and crime, there is little from the Kazan summit that suggests agreement around action.

    Unity of purpose

    What about shared interests? A number of Brics+ members and the partner countries maintain close trade ties with the west, which regards Russia and Iran as enemies and China as a global threat.

    Some, such as India and South Africa, use the foreign policy notions of strategic ambiguity or active non-alignment to mask the reality of trading with east, west, north and south.

    The harsh truth of international relations is there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests. The Brics+ alliance will most likely cohere as a global south co-operative, with an innovative self-help agenda, but be reluctant to overturn the current global order from which it desires to benefit more equitably.

    Trade-offs and compromises might be necessary to ensure “unity of purpose”. It’s not clear that this loose alliance is close to being able to achieve that.

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

    – ref. Brics+ could shape a new world order, but it lacks shared values and a unified identity – https://theconversation.com/brics-could-shape-a-new-world-order-but-it-lacks-shared-values-and-a-unified-identity-242308

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Autocrats and cities: how capitals have become a battleground for protest and control

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By David Jackman, Departmental Lecturer in Development Studies, University of Oxford

    Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the world’s longest reigning female political leader, fled Bangladesh on 5 August 2024 for the safety of India. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of protesters descended on Bangladesh’s capital city, Dhaka. The crowds ransacked her official residence, occupied the nation’s parliament and burnt down her family home.

    Hasina, who had ruled the country for more than 20 years in total, had been widely accused of turning autocratic and clamping down severely on any opposition to her rule.

    For many, the Bangladesh revolution offers hope in the context of growing global authoritarianism. It illustrates the power of the youth to confront entrenched leaders, and the fragility of authoritarianism. It also highlights a striking feature of contemporary global politics: how central capital cities are to the political life of nations.

    In our new book, Controlling the Capital: Political Dominance in the Urbanizing World, a diverse range of scholars argue that capital cities are crucial political sites. They’re where governing elites seek to assert and maintain political control, and they are also stages for political contestation.

    The book is focused on sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the two fastest-urbanising regions of the world.

    Authors explore the strategies and tactics used by ruling elites to politically dominate their capital cities in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

    The authors also consider how urban populations have engaged with these efforts. People may resist authority, but they can also cooperate with it in ways that benefit themselves – which sometimes reinforces or supports authoritarian control.

    This is increasingly important in the context of two contemporary trends. First, authoritarianism is growing globally. Just 10 years ago under half of the world’s population lived under authoritarian rule; now the figure is at 71%. The second trend is the ongoing rapid urbanisation of the world’s population, with the majority of us globally now living in urban areas.

    Urban unrest

    Over the past year we’ve seen how capital cities are spaces for contestation.

    Some pro-democracy movements draw from their own histories of struggle and the paths that have been carved by those before them. The template of Bangladesh’s 2024 revolution is ingrained in politics from the ways in which liberation was fought and how later struggles against authoritarian rule were won. The capital city has also been crucial, and students at Dhaka University were key mobilisers in such movements.

    In other contexts, the link between political resistance and urban areas is a relatively new and surprising route to political change. One example is “the struggle” seen in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo and the unseating of the Rajapaksa family, who were perceived as increasingly authoritarian rulers of the country. The Colombo chapter in this volume highlights how such protests emerged in a context where urban unrest had rarely threatened those in power before.

    Even where anti-authoritarian protests have proved futile time and again, urban populations rarely remain quiet.

    In Kampala, Uganda, demonstrations prior to the 2021 elections resulted in a horrifying government crackdown. Inspired by events in neighbouring Kenya, protesters took to the streets once more in July 2024 to demonstrate against corruption.



    Read more:
    Kenya’s protests happened in every major urban centre – why these spaces are explosive

    The protests that erupted in Nairobi from late June 2024 against tax rises engulfed the capital city. They continued for some time, fuelled by the brutal police response. Similarly, Nigeria’s 2020 #EndSARS protests against police brutality created a powerful movement in cities such as Abuja and Lagos which shook government, and resonated across much of the continent.

    In an age of social media, learning and mimicry across national borders is increasingly common. One of the defining images of Kenya’s 2024 urban uprising was of a group of men with their arms raised and crossed at the wrists – a gesture of anti-authoritarian protest that gained particular resonance several years back during neighbouring Ethiopia’s own uprising.

    As urban protest seems set to continue and spread – often taking intentionally similar forms – techniques of urban authoritarian control are more varied and complex.

    Strategies to dominate and control city populations can be dramatic and repressive – such as the brute force of police violence – and they can also be subtle, deeply ingrained, and sometimes difficult to discern.

    Authoritarian tactics

    Our book argues that authoritarian leaders are increasingly aware of the power of the urban masses. As a result, they are using a range of subtle, and not-so-subtle, tactics to entrench their domination in capital cities.

    We broadly described two types of interventions that elites use.

    The first are policies and favours that actively build support among urban groups. These can range from inclusion in political parties to investments in social provisions or infrastructure to win support. The book’s chapter on Addis Ababa shows how the latter were particularly striking under the previous governing regime in Ethiopia.

    The second are repressive interventions that aim to crush opposition. These are also diverse, and include violent crackdowns, but also surveillance and intimidation.

    In practice, the two types of interventions often overlap. The line also blurs through various forms of manipulation. For instance, misinformation or the delivery of goods in exchange for performances of political loyalty, underpinned by implicit threats of coercion.

    We also highlight the significance of urban geography.

    Ruling elites often seek to divide city populations (for example inner-city dwellers versus the peripheries). This is evident in our book’s chapter on Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Rajapaksas tried to consolidate power by appealing to the new middle class suburbanites through “beautification” projects. But these displaced and excluded the inner-city poor.

    Chapters on Harare and Kampala also show how particular peripheral areas have become central to efforts to build an urban support base by Zanu-PF and the National Resistance Movement. This often plays out through the informal parcelling out of land to supporters.

    Contesting autocratic rule

    Concerns about authoritarian politics are at an all-time high.

    The above Google Ngram highlights the perilous rise in the use of the term “autocratization” in published work over the past decade.

    Meanwhile, the contestation of autocratic rule will continue to erupt in cities, especially in rapidly urbanising parts of the world. In this context, the need to understand how autocracy and urbanisation collide could hardly be more important.

    If pro-democracy forces are to have any hope of prevailing against efforts by authoritarian ruling elites to entrench their position, there is a crucial need to better understand their urban strategies and tactics.

    David Jackman received funding from the Leverhulme Trust.

    Tom Goodfellow is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which funded part of the research on which this book is based.

    – ref. Autocrats and cities: how capitals have become a battleground for protest and control – https://theconversation.com/autocrats-and-cities-how-capitals-have-become-a-battleground-for-protest-and-control-240377

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Apple’s new Mac mini is more mighty, more mini, and built for Apple Intelligence

    Source: Apple

    Headline: Apple’s new Mac mini is more mighty, more mini, and built for Apple Intelligence

    October 29, 2024

    PRESS RELEASE

    Apple’s all-new Mac mini is more mighty, more mini, and built for Apple Intelligence

    The compact, do-it-all desktop now features the power of M4 and M4 Pro, and marks an important environmental milestone as the first carbon neutral Mac

    CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today unveiled the all-new Mac mini powered by the M4 and new M4 Pro chips, and redesigned around Apple silicon to pack an incredible amount of performance into an even smaller form of just 5 by 5 inches. With M4, Mac mini delivers up to 1.8x faster CPU performance and 2.2x faster GPU performance over the M1 model.1 With M4 Pro, it takes the advanced technologies in M4 and scales them up to tackle even more demanding workloads. For more convenient connectivity, it features front and back ports, and for the first time includes Thunderbolt 5 for faster data transfer speeds on the M4 Pro model. The new Mac mini is also built for Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system that transforms how users work, communicate, and express themselves while protecting their privacy. And marking an important environmental milestone, Mac mini is Apple’s first carbon neutral Mac with an over 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across its materials, manufacturing, transportation, and customer use.2 Starting at just $599 with 16GB of memory, the new Mac mini is available to pre-order today, with availability beginning November 8.

    “The new Mac mini delivers gigantic performance in an unbelievably small design thanks to the power efficiency of Apple silicon and an innovative new thermal architecture,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. “Combined with the performance of M4 and the new M4 Pro chip, enhanced connectivity on both the front and back, and the arrival of Apple Intelligence, Mac mini is more capable and versatile than ever, and there is nothing else like it.”

    Small, but Fierce

    The new Mac mini footprint is less than half the size of the previous design at just 5 by 5 inches, so it takes up much less space on a desk. The super-compact system is enabled by the incredible power efficiency of Apple silicon and an innovative thermal architecture, which guides air to different levels of the system, while all venting is done through the foot.

    When compared to the best-selling PC desktop in its price range, Mac mini is up to 6x faster at one-twentieth the size.1 For a wide range of users, from students to aspiring creatives and small business owners, the Mac mini with M4 is a tiny powerhouse. Mac mini with M4 features a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, and now starts with 16GB of unified memory. Users will feel the performance of M4 in everything they do, from multitasking across everyday productivity apps to creative projects like video editing, music production, or writing and compiling code.

    When compared to the Mac mini with Intel Core i7, Mac mini with M4:

    • Applies up to 2.8x more audio effect plugins in a Logic Pro project.1
    • Delivers up to 13.3x faster gaming performance in World of Warcraft: The War Within.1
    • Enhances photos with up to 33x faster image upscaling performance in Photomator.3

    When compared to the Mac mini with M1, Mac mini with M4:

    • Performs spreadsheet calculations up to 1.7x faster in Microsoft Excel.1
    • Transcribes with on-device AI speech-to-text up to 2x faster in MacWhisper.1
    • Merges panoramic images up to 4.9x faster in Adobe Lightroom Classic.4

    Introducing M4 Pro for Pro-Level Performance 

    For users who want pro-level performance, Mac mini with M4 Pro features the world’s fastest CPU core5 with lightning-fast single-threaded performance. With up to 14 cores, including 10 performance cores and four efficiency cores, M4 Pro also provides phenomenal multithreaded performance. With up to 20 cores, the M4 Pro GPU is up to twice as powerful as the GPU in M4, and both chips bring hardware-accelerated ray tracing to the Mac mini for the first time. The Neural Engine in M4 Pro is also over 3x faster than in Mac mini with M1, so on-device Apple Intelligence models run at blazing speed. M4 Pro supports up to 64GB of unified memory and 273GB/s of memory bandwidth — twice as much bandwidth as any AI PC chip — for accelerating AI workloads. And M4 Pro supports Thunderbolt 5, which delivers up to 120 Gb/s data transfer speeds on Mac mini, and more than doubles the throughput of Thunderbolt 4.

    When compared to the Mac mini with Intel Core i7, Mac mini with M4 Pro:

    • Performs spreadsheet calculations up to 4x faster in Microsoft Excel.1
    • Executes scene-edit detection up to 9.4x faster in Adobe Premiere Pro.3
    • Transcribes with on-device AI speech-to-text up to 20x faster in MacWhisper.1
    • Processes basecalling for DNA sequencing in Oxford Nanopore MinKNOW up to 26x faster.1

    When compared to the Mac mini with M2 Pro, Mac mini with M4 Pro:

    • Applies up to 1.8x more audio effect plugins in a Logic Pro project.1
    • Renders motion graphics to RAM up to 2x faster in Motion.6
    • Completes 3D renders up to 2.9x faster in Blender.6

    Upgraded Connectivity and Display Support 

    The new Mac mini features a wide array of ports to drive any setup. It includes front-facing ports for more convenient access, including two USB-C ports that support USB 3, and an audio jack with support for high-impedance headphones. On the back, Mac mini with M4 includes three Thunderbolt 4 ports, while Mac mini with M4 Pro features three Thunderbolt 5 ports. Mac mini comes standard with Gigabit Ethernet, configurable up to 10Gb Ethernet for faster networking speeds, and an HDMI port for easy connection to a TV or HDMI display without an adapter. With M4, Mac mini can support up to two 6K displays and up to one 5K display, and with M4 Pro, it can support up to three 6K displays at 60Hz for a total of over 60 million pixels.

    A New Era with Apple Intelligence on the Mac

    Apple Intelligence ushers in a new era for the Mac, bringing personal intelligence to the personal computer. Combining powerful generative models with industry-first privacy protections, Apple Intelligence harnesses the power of Apple silicon and the Neural Engine to unlock new ways for users to work, communicate, and express themselves on Mac. It is available in U.S. English with macOS Sequoia 15.1. With systemwide Writing Tools, users can refine their words by rewriting, proofreading, and summarizing text nearly everywhere they write. With the newly redesigned Siri, users can move fluidly between spoken and typed requests to accelerate tasks throughout their day, and Siri can answer thousands of questions about Mac and other Apple products. New Apple Intelligence features will be available in December, with additional capabilities rolling out in the coming months. Image Playground gives users a new way to create fun original images, and Genmoji allows them to create custom emoji in seconds. Siri will become even more capable, with the ability to take actions across the system and draw on a user’s personal context to deliver intelligence that is tailored to them. In December, ChatGPT will be integrated into Siri and Writing Tools, allowing users to access its expertise without needing to jump between tools.

    Apple Intelligence does all this while protecting users’ privacy at every step. At its core is on-device processing, and for more complex tasks, Private Cloud Compute gives users access to Apple’s even larger, server-based models and offers groundbreaking protections for personal information. In addition, users can access ChatGPT for free without creating an account, and privacy protections are built in — their IP addresses are obscured and OpenAI won’t store requests. For those who choose to connect their account, OpenAI’s data-use policies apply.

    The First Carbon Neutral Mac 

    The new Mac mini is Apple’s first carbon neutral Mac, marking a significant milestone toward Apple 2030, the company’s goal to be carbon neutral across the entire carbon footprint by the end of this decade.

    Mac mini is made with over 50 percent recycled content overall, including 100 percent recycled aluminum in the enclosure, 100 percent recycled gold plating in all Apple-designed printed circuit boards, and 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets. The electricity used to manufacture Mac mini is sourced from 100 percent renewable electricity. And, to address 100 percent of the electricity customers use to power Mac mini, Apple has invested in clean energy projects around the world. Apple has also prioritized lower-carbon modes of shipping, like ocean freight, to further reduce emissions from transportation. Together, these actions have reduced the carbon footprint of Mac mini by over 80 percent.2 For the small amount of remaining emissions, Apple applies high-quality carbon credits from nature-based projects, like those generated by its innovative Restore Fund.

    In another first for Mac mini, the packaging is now entirely fiber-based, bringing Apple closer to its goal to remove plastic from its packaging by 2025.

    An Unrivaled Experience with macOS Sequoia

    macOS Sequoia completes the new Mac mini experience with a host of exciting features, including iPhone Mirroring, allowing users to wirelessly interact with their iPhone, its apps, and notifications directly from their Mac.7 Safari, the world’s fastest browser,8 now offers the Highlights feature, which quickly pulls up relevant information from a site; a smarter, redesigned Reader with a table of contents and high-level summary; and a new Video Viewer to watch videos without distractions. With Distraction Control, users can hide items on a webpage that they may find disruptive to their browsing. Gaming gets even more immersive with features like Personalized Spatial Audio and improvements to Game Mode, along with a breadth of exciting titles, including the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Easier window tiling means users can stay organized with a window layout that works best for them. The all-new Passwords app gives convenient access to passwords, passkeys, and other credentials — all stored in one place. And users can apply new, beautiful built-in backgrounds for video calls, which include a variety of color gradients and system wallpapers, or upload their own photos.

    Pricing and Availability

    • Customers can pre-order the new Mac mini with M4 and M4 Pro starting today, Tuesday, October 29, on apple.com/store and in the Apple Store app in 28 countries and regions, including the U.S. It will start arriving to customers, and in Apple Store locations and Apple Authorized Resellers, beginning Friday, November 8.
    • Mac mini with M4 starts at $599 (U.S.) and $499 (U.S.) for education. Additional technical specifications are available at apple.com/mac-mini.
    • Mac mini with M4 Pro starts at $1,399 (U.S.) and $1,299 (U.S.) for education. Additional technical specifications are available at apple.com/mac-mini.
    • New accessories with USB-C — including Magic Keyboard ($99 U.S.), Magic Keyboard with Touch ID ($149 U.S.), Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad ($179 U.S.), Magic Trackpad ($129 U.S.), Magic Mouse ($79 U.S.), and Thunderbolt 5 Pro Cable ($69) — are available at apple.com/store.
    • Apple Intelligence is available now as a free software update for Mac with M1 and later, and can be accessed in most regions around the world when the device and Siri language are set to U.S. English. The first set of features is in beta and available with macOS Sequoia 15.1, with more features rolling out in the months to come.
    • Apple Intelligence is quickly adding support for more languages. In December, Apple Intelligence will add support for localized English in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K., and in April, a software update will deliver expanded language support, with more coming throughout the year. Chinese, English (India), English (Singapore), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese, and other languages will be supported.
    • With Apple Trade In, customers can trade in their current computer and get credit toward a new Mac. Customers can visit apple.com/shop/trade-in to see what their device is worth.
    • AppleCare+ for Mac provides unparalleled service and support. This includes unlimited incidents of accidental damage, battery service coverage, and 24/7 support from the people who know Mac best.
    • Every customer who buys directly from Apple Retail gets access to Personal Setup. In these guided online sessions, a Specialist can walk them through setup, or focus on features that help them make the most of their new device. Customers can also learn more about getting started with their new device with a Today at Apple session at their nearest Apple Store.

    About Apple Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro. Apple’s six software platforms — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, visionOS, and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, iCloud, and Apple TV+. Apple’s more than 150,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth and to leaving the world better than we found it.

    1. Testing was conducted by Apple in September and October 2024. See apple.com/mac-mini for more information.
    2. Carbon reductions are calculated against a business-as-usual baseline scenario: No use of clean electricity for manufacturing or product use, beyond what is already available on the latest modeled grid; Apple’s carbon intensity of key materials as of 2015; and Apple’s average mix of transportation modes by product line across three years. Learn more at apple.com/2030.
    3. Results are compared to previous-generation 3.2GHz 6-core Intel Core i7-based Mac mini systems with Intel Iris UHD Graphics 630, 64GB of RAM, and 2TB SSD.
    4. Results are compared to previous-generation Mac mini systems with Apple M1, 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 2TB SSD.
    5. Testing conducted by Apple in October 2024 using shipping competitive systems and select industry-standard benchmarks.
    6. Results are compared to previous-generation Mac mini systems with Apple M2 Pro, 12-core CPU, 19-core GPU, 32GB of RAM, and 8TB SSD.
    7. Available on Mac computers with Apple silicon and Intel-based Mac computers with a T2 Security Chip. Requires that iPhone and Mac are signed in with the same Apple Account using two-factor authentication, iPhone and Mac are near each other and have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned on, and Mac is not using AirPlay or Sidecar. Some iPhone features (e.g., camera and microphone) are not compatible with iPhone Mirroring.
    8. Testing was conducted by Apple in August 2024. See apple.com/safari for more information.

    Press Contacts

    Michelle Del Rio

    Apple

    mr_delrio@apple.com

    Starlayne Meza

    Apple

    starlayne_meza@apple.com

    Apple Media Helpline

    media.help@apple.com

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Autocrats and cities: how capitals have become a battleground for protest and control

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Jackman, Departmental Lecturer in Development Studies, University of Oxford

    Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the world’s longest reigning female political leader, fled Bangladesh on 5 August 2024 for the safety of India. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of protesters descended on Bangladesh’s capital city, Dhaka. The crowds ransacked her official residence, occupied the nation’s parliament and burnt down her family home.

    Hasina, who had ruled the country for more than 20 years in total, had been widely accused of turning autocratic and clamping down severely on any opposition to her rule.

    For many, the Bangladesh revolution offers hope in the context of growing global authoritarianism. It illustrates the power of the youth to confront entrenched leaders, and the fragility of authoritarianism. It also highlights a striking feature of contemporary global politics: how central capital cities are to the political life of nations.

    In our new book, Controlling the Capital: Political Dominance in the Urbanizing World, a diverse range of scholars argue that capital cities are crucial political sites. They’re where governing elites seek to assert and maintain political control, and they are also stages for political contestation.

    The book is focused on sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the two fastest-urbanising regions of the world.

    Authors explore the strategies and tactics used by ruling elites to politically dominate their capital cities in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

    The authors also consider how urban populations have engaged with these efforts. People may resist authority, but they can also cooperate with it in ways that benefit themselves – which sometimes reinforces or supports authoritarian control.

    This is increasingly important in the context of two contemporary trends. First, authoritarianism is growing globally. Just 10 years ago under half of the world’s population lived under authoritarian rule; now the figure is at 71%. The second trend is the ongoing rapid urbanisation of the world’s population, with the majority of us globally now living in urban areas.

    Urban unrest

    Over the past year we’ve seen how capital cities are spaces for contestation.

    Some pro-democracy movements draw from their own histories of struggle and the paths that have been carved by those before them. The template of Bangladesh’s 2024 revolution is ingrained in politics from the ways in which liberation was fought and how later struggles against authoritarian rule were won. The capital city has also been crucial, and students at Dhaka University were key mobilisers in such movements.

    In other contexts, the link between political resistance and urban areas is a relatively new and surprising route to political change. One example is “the struggle” seen in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo and the unseating of the Rajapaksa family, who were perceived as increasingly authoritarian rulers of the country. The Colombo chapter in this volume highlights how such protests emerged in a context where urban unrest had rarely threatened those in power before.

    Even where anti-authoritarian protests have proved futile time and again, urban populations rarely remain quiet.

    In Kampala, Uganda, demonstrations prior to the 2021 elections resulted in a horrifying government crackdown. Inspired by events in neighbouring Kenya, protesters took to the streets once more in July 2024 to demonstrate against corruption.



    Read more:
    Kenya’s protests happened in every major urban centre – why these spaces are explosive

    The protests that erupted in Nairobi from late June 2024 against tax rises engulfed the capital city. They continued for some time, fuelled by the brutal police response. Similarly, Nigeria’s 2020 #EndSARS protests against police brutality created a powerful movement in cities such as Abuja and Lagos which shook government, and resonated across much of the continent.

    In an age of social media, learning and mimicry across national borders is increasingly common. One of the defining images of Kenya’s 2024 urban uprising was of a group of men with their arms raised and crossed at the wrists – a gesture of anti-authoritarian protest that gained particular resonance several years back during neighbouring Ethiopia’s own uprising.

    As urban protest seems set to continue and spread – often taking intentionally similar forms – techniques of urban authoritarian control are more varied and complex.

    Strategies to dominate and control city populations can be dramatic and repressive – such as the brute force of police violence – and they can also be subtle, deeply ingrained, and sometimes difficult to discern.

    Authoritarian tactics

    Our book argues that authoritarian leaders are increasingly aware of the power of the urban masses. As a result, they are using a range of subtle, and not-so-subtle, tactics to entrench their domination in capital cities.

    We broadly described two types of interventions that elites use.

    The first are policies and favours that actively build support among urban groups. These can range from inclusion in political parties to investments in social provisions or infrastructure to win support. The book’s chapter on Addis Ababa shows how the latter were particularly striking under the previous governing regime in Ethiopia.

    The second are repressive interventions that aim to crush opposition. These are also diverse, and include violent crackdowns, but also surveillance and intimidation.

    In practice, the two types of interventions often overlap. The line also blurs through various forms of manipulation. For instance, misinformation or the delivery of goods in exchange for performances of political loyalty, underpinned by implicit threats of coercion.

    We also highlight the significance of urban geography.

    Ruling elites often seek to divide city populations (for example inner-city dwellers versus the peripheries). This is evident in our book’s chapter on Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Rajapaksas tried to consolidate power by appealing to the new middle class suburbanites through “beautification” projects. But these displaced and excluded the inner-city poor.

    Chapters on Harare and Kampala also show how particular peripheral areas have become central to efforts to build an urban support base by Zanu-PF and the National Resistance Movement. This often plays out through the informal parcelling out of land to supporters.

    Contesting autocratic rule

    Concerns about authoritarian politics are at an all-time high.

    The above Google Ngram highlights the perilous rise in the use of the term “autocratization” in published work over the past decade.

    Meanwhile, the contestation of autocratic rule will continue to erupt in cities, especially in rapidly urbanising parts of the world. In this context, the need to understand how autocracy and urbanisation collide could hardly be more important.

    If pro-democracy forces are to have any hope of prevailing against efforts by authoritarian ruling elites to entrench their position, there is a crucial need to better understand their urban strategies and tactics.

    David Jackman received funding from the Leverhulme Trust.

    Tom Goodfellow is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which funded part of the research on which this book is based.

    – ref. Autocrats and cities: how capitals have become a battleground for protest and control – https://theconversation.com/autocrats-and-cities-how-capitals-have-become-a-battleground-for-protest-and-control-240377

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: How Copilots are helping drive innovation to achieve business results that matter

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: How Copilots are helping drive innovation to achieve business results that matter

    The pace of AI innovation today continues to be extraordinary, and at Microsoft we are focused on helping organizations embrace it. By providing our customers with the most advanced AI technology across every product we build — combined with our unparalleled partner ecosystem and co-innovation approach — we are helping them make real progress in ways that matter. I am proud to share over 100 customer stories from this quarter alone showing how we are helping customers accelerate AI Transformation — no matter where they are on their journey.

    Recently during the Microsoft AI Tour, I spoke with customers who shared ways they are adopting Copilots to empower human achievement, democratize intelligence and realize significant business value. I also discussed the concept of an AI-first business process and the differentiation you can drive when bringing together the power of Copilots and human ambition with the autonomous capabilities of an agent. I was inspired by the outcomes our customers have achieved through pragmatic innovation and the progress they are making to evolve the future of industry. I am pleased to share ten stories from the past quarter that illustrate how Copilots have yielded results for our customers, while highlighting AI Transformation experiences in their own words.

    Accenture and Avanade have a long history of helping customers implement cutting-edge solutions, with internal testing a key factor in their ability to deliver customizable Microsoft solutions with deep expertise. Putting Microsoft 365 Copilot into the hands of employees helped them realize ways to increase productivity, with 52% of employees seeing a positive impact on the quality of their work, 31% reporting less cognitive fatigue and 84% finding Copilot’s suggestions fair, respectful and non-biased. Accenture also piloted GitHub Copilot to help build better solutions faster with developers spending less time debugging, resulting in 95% of developers reporting they enjoyed coding more.

    “Using our extensive Microsoft technology expertise and practical learnings from our own experience implementing Microsoft 365 Copilot, our solutions empower clients to fully tap into Microsoft AI capabilities.”

    Veit Siegenheim, Global Future of Work Lead at Avanade

    Nigerian multinational financial services group Access Holdings Plc. serves more than 56 million customers across 18 countries. As the business grew and transitioned from a small bank to a major holding company, it adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to address challenges in data management, meeting productivity and software development. With the integration of Copilot into daily tools, the company significantly enhanced efficiency and engagement across the business. Writing code now takes two hours instead of eight, chatbots can be launched in 10 days instead of three months and presentations can be prepared in 45 minutes instead of six hours. Copilot has also driven a 25% increase in staff engagement during meetings.

    “To inspire everyone in the organization to take advantage of AI, we knew we had to integrate AI into the tools people use every day. Microsoft 365 Copilot made the most sense and was a natural fit for us.”

    Lanre Bamisebi, Executive Director IT and Digitalization at Access Holdings, Plc.

    To improve resident services and reinvent customer engagement, the City of Burlington, Ontario, embraced AI and low-code tools to develop new online services that transform and automate internal processes. In just eight weeks, the city utilized Copilot Studio to develop and launch a custom copilot designed to help residents quickly find answers to frequently asked questions. The city also developed a portal that streamlines building permit reviews and enables customers to track the status of their own applications. As a result, the average time it takes to process a permit approval decreased from 15 weeks to 5-7 weeks, allowing more time for city employees to evaluate complex submissions.

    “Our staff and citizens do not have to worry about mundane tasks as much anymore. Now they’re able to have rich, collaborative conversations about how to creatively solve problems, making for a much more fulfilling and rewarding work and customer experience.”

    Chad MacDonald, Executive Director and Chief Information Officer at the City of Burlington

    Finastra empowers financial institutions with leading software for lending, payments, treasury, capital markets and universal banking. To transform its marketing processes, the company used Microsoft 365 Copilot to automate tasks, enhance content creation, improve analytics and personalize customer interactions. Since integrating Copilot, the team reduced time-to-market for campaigns from three months to less than one. Copilot also significantly reduced the time marketers spend generating and gathering insights from each campaign, with employees citing a 20%-50% time savings across tasks like full-funnel analysis, supply management analysis and budget management.

    “Copilot makes you more effective because you get better insights, and it makes you more efficient because you can produce results faster. It also makes work more meaningful and fun because your team can focus on what matters — strategy, creativity and everything that sets you apart from the competition.”

    Joerg Klueckmann, Head of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Finastra

    GoTo Group provides technology infrastructure and solutions across Indonesia. It is bending the curve on innovation by significantly enhancing productivity and code quality across its engineering teams by adopting GitHub Copilot. With real-time code suggestions, chat assistance and the ability to break down complex coding concepts, the company has saved over seven hours per week and achieved a 30% code acceptance rate within the first month. With 1,000 engineers already using GitHub Copilot, the tool allows them to innovate faster, reduce errors and focus more time on complex tasks to deliver greater value to their users.

    “GitHub Copilot has significantly reduced syntax errors and provided helpful autocomplete features, eliminating repetitive tasks and making coding more efficient. This has allowed me to focus on the more complex elements in building great software.”

    Nayana Hodi, Engineering Manager at GoTo Group

    South Africa’s Milpark Education faced operational challenges when shifting to online learning due to legacy systems slowing down student interactions and support. Through close collaboration with Enterprisecloud, Milpark migrated its back-office infrastructure to Azure within three months, replacing its legacy student admissions system with an extensible, integrated digital platform powered by technologies such as Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Studio. In just four months, the educational institution improved efficiency and accuracy of student support, decreasing the average resolution time by 50% and escalations by more than 30%.

    “Using Copilot, agents are now able to use generative AI to rapidly get up to speed on case details and respond to students using standardized templates that help them provide more personalized and professional responses. The results speak for themselves.”

    Shaun Dale, Managing Director at Enterprisecloud

    For over two decades, Teladoc Health has been offering a broad spectrum of services to patients using virtual care services — from primary care to chronic condition management. After the rapid growth of telehealth adoption post-pandemic, operational efficiency was instrumental in managing internal processes and external client interactions. By deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot and using Copilot in Power Automate, the company has reshaped business processes to help employees realize greater time savings while enhancing the client experience. The Copilots and agents helped employees save five hours per week and thousands of enterprise hours annually by eliminating mundane daily processes and fostering better cross-department communications, while also helping new employees get set up to run their workflows 20% faster.

    “Copilot is changing the way we work. It’s not just about saving time; it’s about enhancing the quality of our work, allowing us to focus on what truly matters: delivering exceptional care to our members.” 

    Heather Underhill, SVP Client Experience & Operations at Teladoc Health

    International energy company Uniper adopted a single-cloud strategy with Azure as its foundation to drive rapid AI innovation. To help its employees focus on using core competencies, the company implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to reduce time spent on manual and repetitive tasks, and help workers focus on more pressing work, such as developing enhanced solutions to speed up the energy transition. Its in-house auditors have already increased productivity by 80% by using Copilot to create plans and checklists. Uniper is also using Copilot for Security to help identify risks twice as fast and take appropriate action sooner.

    “As an operator of critical infrastructure, we have to contend with a growing number of reports of phishing and attacks by hackers. AI can help us implement a sensible way of managing the sheer number of threats.”

    Damian Bunyan, CIO at Uniper

    British telecommunications company Vodafone has transformed its workplace productivity with Microsoft 365 Copilot, already seeing strong ROI from its adoption. In early trials, Copilot saved employees an average of three hours per week by using the tool to draft emails, summarize meetings and search for information. Copilot is also enriching the employee experience, with 90% of users reporting they are eager to continue using Copilot and 60% citing improved work quality. For Vodafone’s legal and compliance team, Copilot has significantly accelerated the processes of drafting new contracts, reducing the time required to complete this work by one hour. As a result of these efficiency gains, Vodafone is rolling out Copilot to 68,000 employees.

    “Our AI journey is focusing on three areas: operational efficiency inside the organization; rewiring the business to provide an enhanced customer experience; and unlocking growth opportunities through new products and services that we can create around generative AI. Copilot will help drive all three.”

    Scott Petty, Chief Technology Officer at Vodafone

    Wallenius Wilhelmsen, a global leader in roll-on/roll-off shipping and vehicle logistics, is empowering better decision-making while fostering a culture of innovation and inclusion with AI tools. After participating in an early access program, the company broadly adopted Microsoft Copilot 365 to help streamline processes, enhance data management and improve communication across its 28 countries. To help strengthen Copilot immersion and realize value faster, they introduced a seven-week Microsoft Viva campaign to teach, communicate and measure Copilot adoption. The campaign resulted in 80% of employees using Copilot, with some teams realizing time savings of at least 30 minutes per day. The company also uses Copilot Dashboard to manage usage and gather user feedback, helping demonstrate ROI and measure results outside of time savings alone.

    “Copilot changes the way we think and work while keeping us curious and open to embracing opportunities. I think that is the sort of benefit that is not so measurable, but important. So, my time management and structured approach to my everyday work life has been enhanced with Copilot and Viva.”

    Martin Hvatum, Senior Global Cash Manager at Wallenius Wilhelmsen

    I believe that no other company has a better foundation to facilitate your AI Transformation than Microsoft. As we look ahead to Microsoft Ignite, I am excited by the latest innovation we will announce as a company, and the customer and partner experiences we will share. We remain committed to driving innovation that creates value in ways that matter most to our customers, and believe we are at our best when we serve others. There has never been a better opportunity for us to accomplish our mission of empowering every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more than now, and I look forward to the ways we will partner together to help you achieve more with AI.

    AI Customer Stories from FY25 Q1

    Accelleron: Accelleron turbocharges IT support solutions and resolution times with Power Platform

    Agnostic Intelligence: Agnostic Intelligence transforms risk management with Azure OpenAI Service, achieving up to 80% time savings

    Alaska Airlines: How Alaska Airlines uses technology to ensure its passengers have a seamless journey from ticket purchase to baggage pickup

    Allgeier: Allgeier empowers organizations to own and expand data operations

    ANZ Group: ANZ launches first-of-its-kind AI Immersion Centre in partnership with Microsoft

    Asahi Europe & International: Asahi Europe & International charts new paths in employee productivity with Microsoft Copilot

    Auburn University: Auburn University empowers thousands of students, faculty and staff to explore new ways of using AI with Microsoft Copilot

    Avanade: Avanade equips 10,000 employees with Microsoft Fabric skills to help customers become AI-driven and future-ready

    Azerbaijan Airlines: Azerbaijan Airlines expands data access to increase efficiency by 70% with Microsoft Dynamics 365

    Aztec Group: Aztec Group uses Copilot for Microsoft 365 to enhance the client experience whilst powering efficiencies

    Bader Sultan: Bader Sultan uses Microsoft Copilot to boost productivity and serve clients faster

    BaptistCare: BaptistCare supports aging Australians and tackles workforce shortages through Microsoft 365 Copilot

    Barbeque Mania!: Barbecue Mania! centralizes your data with Microsoft Azure and saves $3.5 million over 5 years

    Bank of Montreal: Bank of Montreal reduces costs by 30% with Azure

    BlackRock: How BlackRock’s ‘flight crew’ helped Copilot for Microsoft 365 take off

    Capita: Capita uses GitHub Copilot to free developers and deliver faster for customers

    Cassidy: Cassidy and Azure OpenAI Service: Making AI simple for all

    Cdiscount: Cdiscount, Azure OpenAI Service and GitHub Copilot join forces for e-commerce

    Celebal: Celebal drives custom business transformations with Microsoft Fabric

    Chalhoub Group: Chalhoub Group’s People Analytics team speeds reporting with Microsoft Fabric

    ClearBank: ClearBank processes 20 million payments a month — up from 8,000 — with platform built on Azure

    Cloud Services: Faster with Fabric: Cloud Services breaks new ground with Microsoft

    Coles Supermarkets: Coles Supermarkets embraces AI, cloud applications in 500-plus stores with Azure Stack HCI​

    Commercial Bank of Dubai: Commercial Bank of Dubai: innovating a future proof banking platform with Microsoft Azure

    CPFL: CPFL expands its data repository by 1500% with Mega Lake project on Microsoft Azure

    Cummins: Cummins uses Microsoft Purview to automate information governance more efficiently in the age of AI

    Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA): DEWA pioneers the use of Azure AI Services in delivering utility services

    Digi Rogaland: Digi Rogaland prioritizes student safety with Bouvet and Microsoft Fabric

    Eastman: Eastman catalyzes cybersecurity defenses with Copilot for Security

    E.ON: A modern workspace in transition: E.ON relies on generative AI to manage data floods with Copilot for Microsoft 365

    EPAM Systems: Efficiency inside and out: EPAM streamlines communications for teams and clients with Copilot for Microsoft 365

    EY: EY redefines sustainability performance management with Microsoft

    Fast Shop: Fast Shop consolidated its data platform on Microsoft Azure and is now ready for the era of AI

    FIDO Tech: AI tool uses sound to pinpoint leaky pipes, saving precious drinking water

    Florida Crystals Corporation: Telecom expenses for Florida Crystals dropped 78% with Teams Phone and Teams Rooms

    Four Agency: Four Agency innovates with Microsoft 365 Copilot to deliver better work faster

    Fractal: Fractal builds innovative retail and consumer goods solutions with Microsoft’s AI offerings including Azure OpenAI Service

    GE Aerospace: GE Aerospace launches company-wide generative AI platform for employees

    Georgia Tech Institute for Data Engineering and Science: Georgia Tech is accelerating the future of electric vehicles using Azure OpenAI Service

    Hitachi Solutions: Hitachi Solutions transforms internal operations with Microsoft Fabric

    IBM Consulting: How IBM Consulting drives AI-powered innovation with Fabric expertise

    iLink Digital: Transforming user-driven analytics with Microsoft Fabric

    Insight Enterprises: Insight Enterprises achieves 93% Microsoft Copilot use rate, streamlining business operations to pave the way for customer success

    Intesa Sanpaolo: Intesa Sanpaolo accrues big cybersecurity dividends with Microsoft Sentinel, Copilot for Security

    ITOCHU Corporation: ITOCHU uses Microsoft Fabric and Azure AI Studio to evolve its data analytics dashboard into a service delivering instant recommendations

    IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU): IU revolutionizes learning for its students with the AI study buddy Syntea and Azure OpenAI Service

    John Cockerill: John Cockerill engages pro developers to build enterprise-wide apps with Power Platform

    Kaya Limited: Kaya Limited elevates customer experience and operational efficiency with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power BI

    LexisNexis: LexisNexis elevates legal work with AI using Copilot for Microsoft 365

    Lionbridge: Lionbridge disrupts localization industry using Azure OpenAI Service and reduces turnaround times by up to 30%

    Lotte Hotels & Resorts: Hotelier becomes a citizen developer, building a smart work culture based on Power Platform and hyper-automated work environment

    Lumen Technologies: Microsoft and Lumen Technologies partner to power the future of AI and enable digital transformation to benefit hundreds of millions of customers

    LS ELECTRIC: LS ELECTRIC uses data to optimize power consumption with Sight Machine and Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing

    MAIRE: MAIRE, transforming the energy sector and an entire company culture with Microsoft 365 Copilot

    Mandelbulb Technologies: Early-adopter Mandelbulb Technologies finds success with Fabric

    McKnight Foundation: McKnight Foundation accelerates its mission and supports community partners with Microsoft 365 Copilot

    MISO: MISO undergoes a digital transformation with Microsoft Industry Solutions Delivery

    Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI): Recognizing the essence of AI and building the future with clients: MHI’s DI to create proprietary architecture using Azure OpenAI Service

    Molslinjen: Molslinjen develops an AI-powered dynamic pricing strategy with Azure Databricks

    National Australia Bank: National Australia Bank invests in an efficient, cloud-managed future with Windows 11 Enterprise

    Nagel-Group: Works agreements and contracts: Nagel-Group uses Azure OpenAI Service to help employees find information

    NC Fusion: Elevating experiences with AI, from productivity to personalization

    National Football League Players Association: The National Football League Players Association and Xoriant use Azure AI Services to provide protection to players across 32 teams

    Northwestern Medicine: Northwestern Medicine deploys DAX Copilot embedded in Epic within its enterprise to improve patient and physician experiences

    Oncoclínicas: Oncoclínicas creates web portal and mobile app to store clinical and medical procedures with Azure Cognitive Services

    PA Consulting: PA Consulting saves hours a week with Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Copilot for Sales

    Parexel: Parexel speeds operational insights by 70% using Microsoft Azure, accelerating data product delivery and reducing manual work

    Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC): From weeks to days, hours to seconds: PIC automates work processes to save time with Microsoft 365 Copilot

    PKSHA Technology: PKSHA leans on Copilot for Microsoft 365 as part of their team

    Planted: Planted combines economic growth and environmental sustainability — with Microsoft Azure OpenAI

    Profisee: Profisee eliminates data siloes within Microsoft Fabric

    Programa De Atención Domiciliaria: The Home Care Program in Panama helped more than 17,000 people with the power of Microsoft Power Automate

    PwC: PwC scales GenAI for enterprise with Microsoft Azure AI

    QNET: QNET increases security response efficiency 60 percent with Microsoft Security Solutions

    RTI International: Research nonprofit RTI International improves the human condition with Microsoft 365 Copilot

    Rijksmuseum: Rijksmuseum transforms how art lovers engage with the museum, with Dynamics 365

    Sandvik Coromant: Sandvik Coromant hones sales experience with Microsoft Copilot for Sales

    Share.Market: Share.Market redefines the investment experience with Microsoft Azure

    Simpson Associates: Simpson Associates spurs justice for at-risk communities with Azure AI

    Softchoice: Softchoice harnesses Microsoft Copilot and reduces content creation time by up to 70%, accelerating customer AI journeys with its experience

    Sonata Software: Sonata Software goes from early adopter to market leader with Fabric

    Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS): SWISS targets 30% cost savings, increased passenger satisfaction with Azure

    SymphonyAI: SymphonyAI is solving real problems across industries with Azure AI

    Syndigo: Syndigo accelerates digital commerce for its customers by more than 40% with Azure

    TAL: TAL and Microsoft join forces on strategic technology deal

    Tecnológico de Monterrey: Tecnológico de Monterrey university pioneers ambitious AI-powered learning ecosystem

    Telstra: Telstra and Microsoft expand strategic partnership to power Australia’s AI future

    The University of Sydney: The University of Sydney utilizes the power of Azure OpenAI to allow professors to create their own AI assistants

    Torfaen County Borough: Torfaen County Borough Council streamlines organizational support for Social Care using Copilot for Microsoft 365

    Trace3: Trace3 expands the realm of clients’ possibilities with Windows 11 Pro and Microsoft Copilot

    Unilever: Unilever is reinventing the fundamentals of research and development with Azure Quantum Elements

    University of Wisconsin: Microsoft collaborates with Mass General Brigham and University of Wisconsin–Madison to further advance AI foundation models for medical imaging

    Via: Marketplace, online support, and remote work: Via embraces the digital world supported by Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 and Azure

    Virgin Atlantic: How Virgin Atlantic is flying higher with Copilot

    Virgin Money: Redi, set, go: Virgin Money delivers exceptional customer experiences with Microsoft Copilot Studio

    Visier: Visier achieves performance improvements of up to five times using Azure OpenAI Service

    World2Meet (W2M): World2Meet, the travel company providing a better customer experience and operations with a new virtual assistant powered by Microsoft Azure

    Xavier College: Xavier College begins a process of modernizing its student information systems on Dynamics 365 and AI, unlocking powerful insights

    ZEISS: More time for research: ZEISS supports businesses and researchers with ZEISS arivis Cloud based on Microsoft Azure

    ZF Friedrichshafen AG (ZF Group): ZF Group builds manufacturing efficiency with over 25,000 apps on Power Platform

    Tags: Azure, Azure AI Services, Azure Cognitive Services, Azure Databricks, Azure OpenAI Service, Azure Quantum Elements, Azure Stack HCI, Copilot, Copilot for Sales, Copilot for Security, Copilot Studio, Dax Copilot, GitHub Copilot, Microsoft 365, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft AI Tour, Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft Power Platform, Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Viva, Power Automate,

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Secretary-General’s video message for Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance Annual Meeting

    Source: United Nations – English

    strong>Download the video:
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/downloads2.unmultimedia.org/public/video/evergreen/MSG+SG+/SG+18+OCT+24/3284442_MSG+SG+UN+SGM+GLOBAL+INVESTOR+18+OCT+24.mp4

    Colleagues, dear friends,

    I thank the Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance for all your work to build a better world.

    The clock is ticking to the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals. And the biggest barrier to delivery is finance.

    The international financial architecture is stuck in the past, unable to mobilize the resources required.

    The commitment in the 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda, to unleash trillions of dollars in private finance, has not materialized.

    One of my priorities as Secretary-General has been to urge reform – including to enable far more private finance to be leveraged at reasonable cost.

    And this year we made a major step forward.

    Countries overcame their differences to agree on the Pact for the Future.

    This contains clear, ambitious commitments to multilateral action – to reform the international financial architecture, turbocharge SDG implementation, and mobilise additional finance from all sources. 

    Now, we need the fourth International Conference on Financing for Development next year to deliver the detail.

    This Alliance will play a vital role.

    The Conference needs your insights and advocacy – particularly on three investment challenges:

    First, structuring blended finance to attract private capital.

    Second, managing currency risk – a massive deterrent to international investors today.

    And third, encouraging investments that consider long-term sustainability, and have longer timeframes for returns.

    Together, let’s build on the momentum of this moment and unleash the finance we need to build a better future for all humanity.

    Thank you.

    ***
     

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Readout of President Joe  Biden’s Call with President Bola Tinubu of  Nigeria

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria.  President Biden offered his condolences on the recent flooding that has impacted northeastern Nigeria and underscored his appreciation for President Tinubu’s leadership in securing the release on humanitarian grounds of American citizen and former U.S. law enforcement official Tigran Gambaryan last week.  The two leaders also spoke about the value of the U.S.-Nigeria partnership in addressing global challenges and advancing security and prosperity across multiple sectors. In particular, President Biden expressed appreciation for cooperation on law enforcement, including through the recently announced Bilateral Liaison Group on Illicit Finance and Cryptocurrencies, for collaboration on new and innovative technologies, and on shared interests in reforming international organizations to reflect African voices.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Peoria Man Sentenced to More Than 11 Years in Prison for Multi-Year Fraud Scheme

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

    PEORIA, Ill. – A Peoria, Illinois, man, Chad Duane Campen, 35, was sentenced on October 24, 2024, to 135 months (11.3 years) following his convictions for bank fraud (one count), wire fraud (three counts), illegal monetary transaction (one count), bankruptcy fraud (one count), and false statements under oath (one count).

    At the sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge James E. Shadid, the government presented evidence that Campen successfully swindled dozens of individuals and financial institutions between 2013 and 2021. During the course of the sentencing, the court heard from several of Campen’s victims who described themselves as “survivors” of Campen’s crimes. Campen pretended to be engaged in various business ventures ranging from farming to the construction of a solar farm. Via this elaborate scheme, Campen obtained loans from multiple banks using each fraudulent loan to not only enrich himself but also to pay off his previous victim. By the time his scheme collapsed, the government showed that Campen had obtained more than $17 million from these banks, of which almost $5 million was still outstanding.

    Campen, however, did not limit himself to stealing from banks, he also defrauded individuals. Witnesses, victim letters, and other evidence demonstrated how Campen would pretend to befriend people over the course of years and be welcomed into their families and homes only to steal from them. Campen caused a family farm to have its equipment repossessed after he claimed their equipment as his to secure one of his fraudulent loans. In another instance, Campen offered to assist an elderly man, gained access to his home, and stole more than $50,000 from him. And Campen convinced a family to invest in a purported farming opportunity. The family took out a loan using their own farm as collateral. When Campen’s fraud scheme collapsed, the family not only lost the money they had given Campen, but their farm—which had been in their family for more than 100 years—had to be sold.

    Another victim of Campen’s fraud was the Village of Bartonville, Illinois. Campen with co-conspirator Richard Weiss, convinced the Village to extend loans and additional funds to tear down the old Bowen Building in Bartonville. Campen lied to the Village and made promises that he could recoup the Village’s loan and investments through the sale of materials from the building. Campen secured these funds by falsely claiming that he already had buyers lined up for the stone for the building. As a result of Campen’s fraud, the Village lost the equivalent of half of all its property tax revenue for an entire year.

    Campen’s co-conspirator in certain acts connected with that fraud, the owner of the Bowen building, Richard Weiss, 62, of Pekin, Illinois, was charged in a separate case in February 2024 with bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, related to his and Campen’s receipt of funds from the Village. He pleaded guilty to both counts in February and was sentenced the same day as Campen to 15 months of imprisonment. Weiss’s sentence took into account his unique personal characteristics and significantly smaller role in the offense. In imposing the sentence, Judge Shadid noted that Weiss himself was a victim of Campen’s fraud.

    As Campen’s scheme began to unravel, he tried to use the mechanisms of bankruptcy court to delay his creditors and prevent discovery of his fraud. Campen committed additional fraud in the bankruptcy court by filing counterfeit documents and making false statements in his pleadings and under oath. Campen’s fraud was quickly detected by the professionals with the Office of the United States Trustee for Region 10, who added to the growing investigation of Campen by providing a criminal referral to the United States Attorney’s Office.

    A seventeen-count indictment was filed January 19, 2022, and Campen was arrested and detained five days later. Although he has filed several motions and appeals requesting bond, he has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest. Campen entered into a written plea agreement in March 2024, pleading guilty to seven of the seventeen counts.

    The statutory penalties for the charges are:

    Charge

    Imprisonment Time

    Supervised Release
    Bank Fraud (Ct. 5) Not more than 30 years 5 years
    Wire Fraud (Cts. 6, 12, 13) Not more than 20 years 3 years
    Illegal Monetary Transaction (Ct. 14) Not more than 10 years 3 years
    Bankruptcy Fraud (Ct. 16) Not more than 5 years 3 years
    False Statements Under Oath (Ct. 17) Not more than 5 years 3 years

    During his term of supervised release, Campen is to refrain from engaging in any occupation, business or profession related to the banking industry, including, but not limited to, employment by a bank or any other financial institution.

    “The defendant’s repeated acts of fraud caused great damage not only to financial institutions, but also to members of our community, including but not limited to the Village of Bartonville and its taxpayers,” said U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Harris. “Our office is committed to protecting individuals and banks from predatory acts like those of the defendant and will vigorously pursue such cases. We are grateful to our federal law enforcement partners, the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the Office of the United States Trustee for Region 10.”

    “Today’s sentence will go a long way in protecting the integrity of the bankruptcy system,” said Nancy J. Gargula, United States Trustee for Indiana and the Central and Southern Districts of Illinois (Region 10).  “We are grateful to U.S. Attorney Harris and our law enforcement partners for their commitment to protect the interests of creditors and the public.”

    “Driven by an unquenchable thirst for ill-gotten gains, Chad Campen embarked on an eight-year fraud spree which led to devastating results for those who put their trust in him,” said FBI Springfield Special Agent in Charge Christopher Johnson. “This sentence sends a clear message about the consequences of greed and demonstrates the resolve of the FBI and our law enforcement partners to follow the money trail and ensure justice.”

    “Over several years, Chad Campen defrauded dozens of victims, creating severe economic distress for families and straining resources for institutions that fell victim to his fraud scheme,” said Marta C. Grijalva, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Chicago Field Office. “This sentencing reflects the consequences of actions that caused significant financial pain to not only institutions and communities, but also individual families. That is why IRS Criminal Investigation and its fellow law enforcement partners remain committed to safeguarding the financial security of our communities and holding accountable those who exploit the system for personal gain.”

    The case investigation was conducted by the IRS Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Springfield Field Office. The bankruptcy fraud charge was referred for criminal prosecution by the Office of the United States Trustee for Region 10, Nancy J. Gargula. The U.S. Trustee Program is the component of the Justice Department that protects the integrity of the bankruptcy system by overseeing case administration and litigating to enforce the bankruptcy laws. Region 10 is headquartered in Indianapolis, with additional offices in South Bend, Indiana, and Peoria, Illinois. Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas F. McMeyer represented the government in the prosecution.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump accused of ‘malignant narcissism’ – but how accurately can you diagnose someone you’ve never met?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Ava Green, Lecturer in Forensic Psychology, City St George’s, University of London

    Jonah Elkowitz/Shutterstock

    Self-absorbed. Arrogant. Boastful. It does not take a mental health professional to recognise these features as narcissistic. Most of us, regardless of our educational background, are confident to label someone we’ve never met as narcissistic.

    Other behavioural features associated with narcissism can be similarly obvious, including a grandiose sense of self, an excessive need for attention and admiration, a lack of empathy and lashing out when criticised.

    Public figures have often been subject to speculations as to whether their behaviour meets a mental health diagnosis. Ahead of the US presidential elections, Donald Trump’s mental fitness has, once again, been called into question. This time, 200 mental health professionals have signed an open letter warning the public of Trump’s “malignant narcissism”.

    The letter, organised by an anti-Trump political group, argues that Trump poses “an existential threat to democracy” in the US. Citing the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the mental health professionals argue that Trump meets the diagnostic criteria for narcissistic, antisocial and paranoid personality disorder. These are “all made worse by his intense sadism, which is a symptom of malignant narcissism,” they claim.

    Malignant narcissism is considered a combination of the above personality disorders, in addition to the sadistic urge to inflict pain towards others while gaining pleasure from doing so. For instance, the letter states: “According to first-hand accounts, Trump watched the violence he unleashed on January 6 for three hours on TV with ‘glee’, watching his favorite parts ‘over and over’ on ‘rewind’.”

    Even though Trump has not been formally assessed by a psychologist as having any of the diagnoses put forward in the letter, it argues that it is “easy to see that Trump meets the behavioral criteria for antisocial personality disorder”.

    The signatories argue that thousands of hours of media coverage of Trump’s behaviour have demonstrated a lifetime pattern of “failure to conform to social norms and laws, repeated lying, reckless disregard for the safety of others, irritability, impulsivity, irresponsibility and lack of remorse”. Other psychologists have come to similar conclusions.

    The Goldwater rule

    A rule set forth by the American Psychiatric Association, known as the Goldwater rule, considers it unethical to diagnose people a psychiatrist has not personally assessed.

    The rule is named after Barry Goldwater, a former US senator and 1964 Republican presidential candidate who was labelled “psychotic” and “schizophrenic” by psychiatrists who responded to a survey from Fact magazine. Goldwater successfully sued the magazine for libel and won a $75,000 punitive settlement (£57,779).

    The 200 signatures on the open letter about Trump believe they can justify overriding this ethical duty on the grounds that the public should be warned about Trump’s behaviour.

    However, it can be argued that clinicians do not need to render a diagnosis to warn us that a public figure poses a risk to our safety. Media coverage about Trump’s danger is abound and people can draw their own conclusions without the need to put a label on it.

    This is because speculative diagnoses can do more harm than good. The casual use of mental health terminology can quickly become pejorative, as the press has demonstrated in relation to Trump but also other celebrities.

    Speculative diagnoses about Trump’s mental illness on social media have ranged from obsessive–compulsive disorder to delusional disorder, with little consideration that these conditions are merely conjecture. And more importantly, they shame and belittle people who are, in fact, diagnosed with these conditions.

    Accuracy

    But how accurately can a mental health professional diagnose someone who isn’t their patient? Would you trust a diagnosis from a doctor you had never met? Probably not.

    That said, there are some benefits to external perspectives when it comes to psychiatric evaluations. Studies show that other people (spouses, close friends, neighbours) often provide a more reliable assessment of someone’s personality than self-assessments, especially in relation to narcissistic features.

    Research using self-report measures show that narcissistic people tend to distort their responses to enhance themselves. For studies of personality, self-reported answers along with a psychologist’s evaluation and assessments by friends and family would give the best insight.

    You can learn a lot from someone’s social media posts.
    Nicoleta Ionescu/Shutterstock

    Social media offers yet another layer. A study in 2015 showed that a computer model could more accurately assess someone’s personality based on their Facebook posts than their closest friends – or even a spouse. And for Trump, there are thousands of social media posts to draw on.

    But regardless of how accurate these observations may be, making public speculations about someone’s mental health and labelling them with a personality disorder diagnosis at a distance is unethical and, at worst, may have legal implications.

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

    – ref. Trump accused of ‘malignant narcissism’ – but how accurately can you diagnose someone you’ve never met? – https://theconversation.com/trump-accused-of-malignant-narcissism-but-how-accurately-can-you-diagnose-someone-youve-never-met-242277

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Plans to cool the Earth by blocking sunlight are gaining momentum but critical voices risk being excluded

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Albert Van Wijngaarden, Phd Candidate, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge

    Muratart / shutterstock

    Solar geoengineering research is advancing fast, after a recent flurry of funding announcements. Yet these technologies are still speculative and have many critics, and we worry their concerns won’t be heard. If geoengineering is essentially allowed to self-regulate, with no effective global governance, future research could easily take us down a dangerous path.

    Solar geoengineering refers to proposals to reduce global warming by reflecting a portion of sunlight back into space before it reaches the Earth’s surface. In its best-known form, this means using high-flying aircraft to inject tiny reflective particles into the upper atmosphere.

    This so-called “stratospheric aerosol injection” hasn’t actually happened yet, beyond a few very small experiments with balloons. Yet for a long time, such ideas remained fringe and too controversial to even consider – and for some academics they still are.

    The academic discussion was highly polarised from the start. Opponents, mainly governance scholars and social scientists, stood firmly entrenched against assumed proponents, mainly natural scientists and engineers. Both sides had their champions, arguments, assumptions, key publications and meetings, generally working on the topic without proper engagement with the other side.

    This polarisation is still visible in publishing today. Take, for example, articles on The Conversation. Critics focus on potential negatives such as altered rainfall patterns, the infringement of human rights, or even a catastrophic “termination shock”. Advocates highlight potential benefits such as reducing extreme heat and preserving ice caps, while others suggest we may soon be forced to try it.

    The authors of these articles are all academic experts. Yet they come from different disciplines and use different arguments.

    A public and private funding boom

    Though the two camps have not resolved their arguments, geoengineering research funding is suddenly booming. There are major philanthropic pledges of US$50 million (£38 million) and US$30 million from the Simons and Quadrature Climate foundations, which are vying for the title of biggest donor with the £10.5 million and £56.8 million of the UK government’s UKRI and Advanced Research and Innovation Agency programs.

    The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines blocked so much sunlight the world temporarily cooled by a few tenths of a degree. Solar geoengineering works on a similar principle.
    Dave Harlow / USGS

    Other key organisations speaking about the need for more research include the European Commission, the US government and the World Climate Research Programme. This comes on top of the shock of controversial private enterprises pushing for solar geoengineering, most notoriously the US-based start-up Make Sunsets.

    Support is certainly not unanimous. Many prominent scholars have signed up to a call for a moratorium, for instance. And at a recent UN Environment Assembly session in Kenya many climate-vulnerable nations mobilised against calls for further research into what they see as a highly risky technology that would enable big emitters to carry on emitting.

    However, many powerful interests are seemingly in favour of more research, while the 1.5°C global warming target is moving ever further out of sight. In the near future, we can therefore expect further research, perhaps including including small-scale outdoor experiments.

    As PhD students working on geoengineering, situated somewhere between both camps, we have found this polarisation deeply unproductive and difficult to deal with. Our own research sometimes feels like wandering through a minefield of opinions and perspectives. Yet we can also see the valuable concerns and hopes of both sides.

    That’s why we believe that upcoming research projects must factor in the concerns of opponents, and not represent only supporters of geoengineering or those who have not been explicitly against it. Excluding critical voices would directly impact the scientific process, for one thing.

    But this exclusion is especially worrying as there are currently no governance structures for solar geoengineering. If efforts to develop such governance only involve supportive researchers, they could lack the critical capacity to prevent risks or undesired effects. Disasters in the financial sector and the chemical industry warn us of the perils of self-regulation without critical voices.

    Learn from the critics

    There are other critiques that ought to be factored into any major research project. They include concerns that simply researching the technology will create a slippery slope towards it being deployed, or worries that geoengineering ignores the social and political dynamics behind climate change and addresses only its outcomes. There are also major governance concerns over issues such as the role of the military (could geoengineering be deployed for security reasons in contested regions like the Arctic?), or the concentration of research at influential institutions in the US and Europe.

    Over time, geoengineering researchers have become more aware of such arguments and some are explicitly trying to include them in their work. The American Geophysical Union has recently published an ethical framework for geoengineering, which should provide valuable guidance for any research project. But without active dialogue with critical scholars, their arguments will likely only echo faintly in the pro-research space.

    In practice, more engagement between the two camps would come with many difficulties. For advocates, it can be tempting to avoid such debates and exclude those who disagree with the very foundations on which their research is built. On the flip side, some scholars who have already explicitly argued against the continuation of solar geoengineering research would nevertheless have to participate in it.

    The practical implications will therefore need to be carefully worked out. However, a more productive dialogue might still shape a future that can be acceptable to all sides.

    Albert Van Wijngaarden receives PhD funding from Gates Cambridge. He is involved in UArctic’s Frozen Arctic Conservation project, and was an advisory board member of Ocean Vision’s Sea Ice Roadmap.

    Adrian Hindes is also an analyst for Civilization Research Institute which does work pertaining to global catastrophic risks, including those related to emerging technologies such as solar geoengineering.

    Chloe Colomer receives PhD funding from the UK Research Institute (UKRI) Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) with the grants EP/R513143/1 and EP/T517793/1.

    – ref. Plans to cool the Earth by blocking sunlight are gaining momentum but critical voices risk being excluded – https://theconversation.com/plans-to-cool-the-earth-by-blocking-sunlight-are-gaining-momentum-but-critical-voices-risk-being-excluded-236882

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Medieval Women: In Their Own Words at the British Library is unmissable

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Diane Watt, Professor of English, University of Surrey

    The British Library’s breathtaking new exhibition, Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, brings to life the experiences, stories and voices of women from the distant past.

    The show covers the period from 1100 to 1500, and a range of mainly western countries and cultures. Many of the women featured are from the elite ranks of society: queens, princesses, noblewomen and nuns.

    On first entering the gallery, visitors encounter a striking late 13th-century carved stone figure of Eleanor of Castile, who was queen of England from 1274 until her death in 1290. It’s one of a series of 12 memorials commissioned by her bereft husband, Edward I, to mark the sites where her body was temporarily set down on its funeral procession from Lincolnshire to Westminster.

    Also on display near the entrance are examples of the work of Hildegard of Bingen and Christine de Pizan. Hildegard was a German abbess, mystic, composer and scholar, and de Pizan was the first professional woman writer in France.

    Both were exceptional, highly educated and privileged women, but the exhibition doesn’t limit itself only to the most famous medieval women.

    These lovely illuminated manuscripts contrast with the next item, a much more mundane – if touching – missive from a woman named Alice Crane. Crane is only known to historians because she corresponded with her friend Margaret Paston during the 15th century. Paston was a Norfolk gentry woman and prolific letter writer. This is one of the few letters we have from the time that testifies to friendship between women. Alice writes: “Thanking you for the great cheer that I had of you when I was last with you with all my heart.”

    This first part of the exhibition is titled “Private Lives” and explores topics such as cosmetics and perfume and women’s medicines and healthcare. Visitors are introduced to women medical practitioners and wet-nurses and find out about education and domestic piety.

    There are displays about pregnancy and pregnancy loss, love and marriage, adultery and divorce and property ownership and inheritance. Margery Brews’s Valentine letter (believed to be the oldest example of a Valentine’s day note) and Gwerful Mechain’s poem in praise of the “cunt” are both displayed – and recited.

    One of the most striking items on display is a birthing girdle – a parchment covered in prayers and illustrations that was believed to have talismanic properties. Birthing girdles were intended to protect both mother and baby during labour.

    The public lives of medieval women

    Powerful women visually dominate the second part, “Public Lives”. It includes an arresting portrait of Henry VIII’s grandmother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, founder of two Cambridge University colleges, and the skull of a lion thought to have been owned by the Margaret of Anjou, leader of the Lancastrians in the Wars of the Roses.



    Read more:
    How Henry VIII’s grandmother used a palace in Northamptonshire to build the mighty Tudor dynasty

    Military conflict is an important theme – there is a book chronicling the history of Shajar al-Durr, Sultana of Egypt, who defeated a crusader army. Nevertheless, several documents provide insight into lives less known.

    There’s the chancery bill of Maria Moriana, whose name suggests she was a woman of colour. A record of a debt owed to the Jewish businesswoman Licoricia of Winchester who was subsequently murdered in what was very likely a hate crime is displayed. As is a Venetian contract for the sale of an enslaved Russian called Marta. And the record of the interrogation of Eleanor Rykener – a sex worker we would likely recognise today as a trans woman.

    Books produced or sold by women scribes, notaries, printers and booksellers lead the visitor into the main display of manuscripts of works by women writers, from Marie de France, a secular poet in the court of Henry II, to Juliana Berners, the probable author of a treatise on hunting, fishing and heraldry.

    “Spiritual Lives” introduces nuns, mystics and heretics. There are records relating to Joan of Arc, the peasant French military leader of the hundred years war, who was captured and executed by the English. A letter bearing Joan’s signature is exhibited for the first time outside her mother country (in the land of her persecutors, to boot).

    Here visitors also encounter the manuscripts of The Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich and The Book of Margery Kempe. These are two of the earliest works by women to have been written in English and have been brought to life by the artist Tasha Marks in an arresting scent installation. Julian’s satanic torments are conjured up by the stink of sulphur. Kempe’s scent of angels is evoked by notes of honey, strawberry and caramel.

    The curators have done an extraordinary job in making this material accessible to a wide audience. Information panels provide context and correctives. They reveal that the gender pay gap was around 25% at the end of the 15th century, and that only around 1% of women became nuns.

    There are interactive displays that can tell you if you would have grounds for medieval divorce, or if you’d have been vulnerable to witchcraft charges (warning: don’t keep a box of stolen penises).

    The exhibition draws attention to the sheer diversity of the lives and experiences of medieval women in England and beyond, from the quotidian to the sublime. Providing abundant evidence of their learning and scholarship, skills and ingenuity and creativity and artistry, it is, quite simply, unmissable.

    Medieval Women: In Their Own Words is at the British Museum from October 25 2024 to March 5 2025.


    Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

    Diane Watt has received funding from the AHRC, British Academy and Leverhulme Trust.

    – ref. Medieval Women: In Their Own Words at the British Library is unmissable – https://theconversation.com/medieval-women-in-their-own-words-at-the-british-library-is-unmissable-242258

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Dahomey: timely repatriation documentary gives a literal voice to Benin’s stolen objects

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Njabulo Chipangura, Anthropologist and Curator of Living Cultures at Manchester Museum, University of Manchester

    Dahomey, a new documentary film from the award-winning French director Mati Diop, follows the unconditional restitution process of 26 cultural heritage objects in 2021. The items were looted by French troops during an invasion and subsequent colonial occupation of the kingdom of Dahomey, now the present-day Republic of Benin, in November 1892.

    Prior to its return, the collection was kept in the basement at Quai Branly Museum in Paris. Stored under lock and key, they existed as static and lifeless anthropological objects, that only served as war “trophies” and representations of the cultures of the vanquished and colonised. They had once been exhibited under the classification of “devil, idol, fetish, kaffir, charm, evil spirit and amulet” objects.

    Dahomey is timely. It comes as debates rage on the urgent necessity of repatriating the African cultural heritage objects that were appropriated by French, British, Germans, Portuguese, Spanish and Belgian forces during 18th and 19th century colonial conquest and expansion projects.

    In her film, Diop has managed to restore the agency of the objects at the heart of the Dahomey restitution case by transforming them into living cultures. She gives a literal voice, for example, to object number 26 – a human-sized wooden statue that is an allegorical portrait of King Ghezo, depicting him as half bird, half man. The real King Ghezo ruled Dahomey from 1818 until 1958. In the documentary, the statue recounts his “loss of life” when he was dislocated from his place of birth by French troops in 1892.



    Read more:
    Why stolen objects being returned to Africa don’t belong just in museums – podcast

    The trailer for Dahomey.

    Just as King Ghezo was depicted as his symbol – half man, half-bird – two other royal statues that feature prominently in the documentary are also kings of Dahomey sculpted as their symbols: King Béhanzin who ruled from 1890 to 1894 is a shark-man and King Glele who ruled from 1858 until 1889 is a lion-man. Each of these kings reigned over Dahomey and resided at Abomey, which was the kingdom’s capital.

    I see the choice to give voice to these objects as a call for museums to rehumanise collections that were acquired as a result of colonial violence. This would mean taking a proactive approach to acknowledge how both objects and ancestors from the colonised country were dehumanised by different colonial collecting practices, from looting to grave robbing.

    King Ghezo’s journey

    Dahmoey follows the statue of King Ghezo as he journeys back home from France’s Jacques Chirac Museum of Branly Quay to the Republic of Benin. He wonders what his new life will be like in the country he was ripped from 129 years ago.

    Upon the collection’s arrival in Benin, there was pomp and jubilation in the modern capital city of Cotonou, but the critical question remained – who now owns this heritage? Is it the state, the community or direct descendants of King Ghezo?

    The staging of the return was well-choreographed, and its politicisation clearly visible. The 26 objects lay in state, heavily guarded and protected as national heroes. However, in Diop’s film, King Ghezo reflects that he felt like a foreigner, far removed and detached from the country he imagined when he was still an ethnographic museum object in Paris.

    This crisis of belonging and identity can be interpreted as a consequence of how African museums were established during the colonial period. Their history mirrored the colonial practices of ordering, categorisation and classification of objects of the western museums where King Ghezo was imprisoned for more than a century. African museums are by products of colonisation and are, in many ways, still exclusionary and elitist.

    Therefore, placing King Ghezo in a museum in Benin can end up reinforcing ideals similar to colonial classifications. Instead, King Ghezo needs to have his life restored by giving agency to community ways of doing and knowing, and to the heritage management systems established in Benin long before colonisation.

    Repatriation debates

    The film also shows students at the University of Abomey-Calavi in the south of Benin debating the repatriation. Many express dissatisfaction in view of the fact that only 26 objects were returned out of the 7,000 which were looted by the French at Abomey in 1892.

    Many students dismiss the return as a non-event, without any historical significance. They see it, instead, as a charade for political mileage by the president of the Republic of Benin, Patrice Talon. Listening to the students made me reflect on the political nature of restitution, and how most European museums still hold power and authority in setting the conditions for or against returning.

    These 26 objects were returned to Benin unconditionally, meaning France no longer has any claims to ownership. In conditional repatriation, however, European museums decide which objects should be given back to their countries of origin, and in most cases within the premises of short to long-term loans

    For example, in June 2024, the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology conditionally returned 39 objects to Uganda on three-year negotiated loan deal. Ownership of these objects is still in the hands of Cambridge University. On the contrary Manchester Museum, where I work, unconditionally returned 174 objects to the Anindilyakwa people of Groote Eylandt in northern Australia in September 2023.

    As a practical decolonial strategy, unconditional repatriation means that museums must not prescribe conditions of caring for cultural heritage objects to communities of origin upon their return. This is part of the process of giving communities agency to use their own heritage objects in ways that they deem necessary.

    The 26 objects at the heart of Dahomey were not made to be imprisoned in museum storage. They still have potency and can be viewed by communities as living beings which they can use, touch, smell and taste. Although these “objects” may appear stagnant within ethnographic classifications in museums, they have individual biographies and carry with them important meanings connected to their ritual and cultural functions located in societies of origin.

    One student succinctly captures this sentiment in the film by recounting how she cried for 15 minutes on seeing the returned sculpture of King Ghezo, who she considered her ancestor. In the end, the restitution of cultural heritage objects by European museums back to Africa must not regarded as loss but rather as a means towards building practical relationships of care with their communities of origin.


    Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

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

    – ref. Dahomey: timely repatriation documentary gives a literal voice to Benin’s stolen objects – https://theconversation.com/dahomey-timely-repatriation-documentary-gives-a-literal-voice-to-benins-stolen-objects-242324

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Secretary-General’s Remarks at the High-Level Segment of COP16 on Biodiversity [trilingual, as delivered; scroll down for all-English]

    Source: United Nations – English

    residente Petro,

    Gracias por acoger esta importante sesión, aquí en Cali – un microcosmos de la rica biodiversidad de nuestro planeta.

    Excelencias, queridos amigos,

    La naturaleza es vida.

    Y, sin embargo, estamos librando una guerra contra ella.

    Una guerra donde no puede haber vencedores.

    Cada año, vemos las temperaturas subir más y más.

    Cada día, perdemos más especies.

    Cada minuto, vertemos un camión de basura de desechos plásticos en nuestros océanos, ríos y lagos.

    No se equivoquen.

    Así es como se ve una crisis existencial.

    Ningún país, rico o pobre, es inmune a la devastación provocada por el cambio climático, la pérdida de biodiversidad, la degradación de la tierra y la contaminación.

    Estas crisis ambientales están entrelazadas. No conocen fronteras.

    Y están devastando ecosistemas y medios de vida, amenazando la salud humana y socavando el desarrollo sostenible.

    Los motores de esta destrucción están arraigados en modelos económicos obsoletos, que alimentan patrones insostenibles de producción y consumo.

    Y se ven multiplicados por las desigualdades – en riqueza y poder.

    Cada día que pasa, nos acercamos más a puntos de inflexión que podrían alimentar más hambre, desplazamientos y incluso conflictos armados.

    Ya hemos alterado el 75% de la superficie terrestre y el 66% de los océanos.

    Queridas amigas y queridos amigos,

    La biodiversidad es aliada de la humanidad.

    Debemos pasar de saquearla a preservarla.

    Como he dicho una y otra vez, hacer las paces con la naturaleza es la tarea definitoria del siglo XXI.

    Ese es el espíritu de la Declaración de hoy de la Coalición Mundial por la Paz con la Naturaleza:

    Un llamado a la acción para mejorar los esfuerzos nacionales e internacionales hacia una relación equilibrada y armoniosa con la naturaleza – protegiendo la naturaleza y conservando, restaurando, utilizando y compartiendo de manera sostenible nuestra biodiversidad global.

    Un llamado a reconocer el conocimiento vital, las innovaciones y las prácticas de los Pueblos indígenas y afrodescendientes, los agricultores y las comunidades locales.

    Un llamado por la vida.

    Excellencies, Dear friends,

    Last month, UN Member States adopted the Pact for the Future.

    The Pact recognizes the need to accelerate efforts to restore, protect, conserve and sustainably use the environment.

    It emphasizes the importance of halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030, and other terrestrial and marine ecosystems that act as sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases.

    This means conserving biodiversity, while ensuring social and environmental safeguards – in line with the Paris Climate Agreement and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

    When the Framework was adopted two years ago in Montreal, the world made bold commitments to living in harmony with nature by mid-century.

    Its goals and targets require robust monitoring, reporting, and review arrangements to track progress, as well as a resource mobilisation package to increase finance for biodiversity from all sources – mobilizing at least USD 200 billion per year by 2030.

    But we must now turn these promises into action in four vital ways.

    First – at the national level, all countries must finally present clear, ambitious and detailed plans to align with the Framework’s targets.

    These national plans should be developed in coordination with Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans – with positive outcomes in the Sustainable Development Goals.

    We must shift to nature-positive business models and production: renewable energies and sustainable supply chains… zero-waste policies and circular economies… regenerative agriculture and sustainable farming practices…

    These must become the default for governments and businesses alike.

    Second – we must agree on a strengthened monitoring and transparency framework.

    This is not only vital for accountability but also about enabling course corrections and driving ambition.

    Third – finance promises must be kept and support to developing countries accelerated.

    We cannot afford to leave Cali without new pledges to adequately capitalize the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund, and without commitments to mobilize other sources of public and private finance to deliver the Framework – in full.

    And we must bring the private sector on board.

    Those profiting from nature cannot treat it like a free, infinite resource.

    They must step up and contribute to its protection and restoration.

    By operationalizing the mechanism on the sharing of benefits from the use of Digital Sequence Information on Genetic Resources, we will give them one clear avenue to do so, bringing more equity and inclusivity.

    Finally – in the spirit of this “COP de la gente”, we must engage all parts of society, in particular Indigenous Peoples, people of African descent, and local communities.

    Too often, they have been on the sidelines of global environmental policy.

    Too often, environmental defenders have been threatened and killed.

    Indigenous Peoples, people of African descent, and local communities are guardians of our nature.

    Their traditional knowledge is a living library of biodiversity conservation.

    They must be protected.

    And they must be part of every biodiversity conversation.

    The establishment of a permanent subsidiary body within the Convention on Biological Diversity would mark a significant step forward, ensuring Indigenous voices are heard at every stage of the process.

    Peace with nature means peace with those who protect it. 

    We must defend the people who defend nature.

    Excellencies,

    Across all these areas, we know progress is possible.

    Many countries around the world are stepping up to lead the way.

    Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and Malaysia are leading by example by ramping up efforts to curb deforestation.  

    The Congo Basin is intensifying efforts to increase protected area coverage.  

    The European Union’s Nature Restoration Law is a step toward halting and reversing biodiversity loss.

    Mobilizing all countries – each with different levels of wealth and capacities – is challenging.

    But swift global cooperation can provide the defense we so desperately need – against wildfires, floods, extreme weather, and pandemics.

    Last year’s Agreement on Marine Biodiversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction demonstrated our determination for every hectare of the planet. 

    We need the same determination later in the year as countries come together to conclude negotiations on a landmark treaty to tackle plastic pollution.  

    Let us be inspired and lifted by these examples.

    Excellences, Chers amis,

    Notre mission à Cali est claire : accélérer le progrès pour la biodiversité ; mobiliser les ressources nécessaires ; et renforcer le rôle des peuples autochtones, des personnes d’ascendance africaine et des communautés locales.

    Nous pouvons – et nous devons – sauvegarder les écosystèmes qui nous font vivre et maintenir les objectifs climatiques à notre portée.

    Tout autre chemin est impensable.

    Il en va de la survie de la planète – et de la [nôtre].

    Choisissons avec sagesse.

    Choisissons la vie.

    Faisons la paix avec la nature.

    Je vous remercie.

    ****

    [All-English]

    President Petro,

    Thank you for hosting this important session, here in Cali – a microcosm of our planet’s rich biodiversity.

    Excellencies, dear friends,

    Nature is life.

    And yet we are waging a war against it.

    A war where there can be no winner.

    Every year, we see temperatures climbing higher.

    Every day, we lose more species.

    Every minute, we dump a garbage truck of plastic waste into our oceans, rivers and lakes.

    Make no mistake.

    This is what an existential crisis looks like.

    No country, rich or poor, is immune to the devastation inflicted by climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation and pollution.

    These environmental crises are intertwined. They know no borders.

    And they are devastating ecosystems and livelihoods, threatening human health and undermining sustainable development.

    The drivers of this destruction are embedded in outdated economic models, fueling unsustainable production and consumption patterns.

    They are multiplied by inequalities – in wealth and power.

    And with each passing day, we are edging closer to tipping points that could fuel further hunger, displacement, and even armed conflicts.

    We have already altered 75% of the Earth’s land surface and 66% of its ocean environments.

    Dear friends,

    Biodiversity is humanity’s ally.

    We must move from plundering it to preserving it.

    As I have said time and again, making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century.

    That is the spirit of today’s Declaration of the World Coalition for Peace with Nature:

    A call for action to enhance national and international efforts towards a balanced and harmonious relationship with nature – protecting nature and conserving, restoring and sustainably using and sharing our global biodiversity.

    A call to recognize the vital knowledge, innovations and practices of Indigenous people, people of African descent, farmers and local communities.

    A call for life.

    Excellencies,

    Last month, UN Member States adopted the Pact for the Future.

    The Pact recognizes the need to accelerate efforts to restore, protect, conserve and sustainably use the environment.

    It emphasizes the importance of halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030, and other terrestrial and marine ecosystems that act as sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases.

    This means conserving biodiversity, while ensuring social and environmental safeguards – in line with the Paris Climate Agreement and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

    When the Framework was adopted two years ago in Montreal, the world made bold commitments to living in harmony with nature by mid-century.

    Its goals and targets require robust monitoring, reporting, and review arrangements to track progress, as well as a resource mobilisation package to increase finance for biodiversity from all sources – mobilizing at least USD 200 billion per year by 2030.

    But we must now turn these promises into action in four vital ways.

    First – at the national level, all countries must finally present clear, ambitious and detailed plans to align with the Framework’s targets.

    These national plans should be developed in coordination with Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans – with positive outcomes in the Sustainable Development Goals.

    We must shift to nature-positive business models and production: renewable energies and sustainable supply chains… zero-waste policies and circular economies… regenerative agriculture and sustainable farming practices…

    These must become the default for governments and businesses alike.

    Second – we must agree on a strengthened monitoring and transparency framework.

    This is not only vital for accountability but also about enabling course corrections and driving ambition.

    Third – finance promises must be kept and support to developing countries accelerated.

    We cannot afford to leave Cali without new pledges to adequately capitalize the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund, and without commitments to mobilize other sources of public and private finance to deliver the Framework – in full.

    And we must bring the private sector on board.

    Those profiting from nature cannot treat it like a free, infinite resource.

    They must step up and contribute to its protection and restoration.

    By operationalizing the mechanism on the sharing of benefits from the use of Digital Sequence Information on Genetic Resources, we will give them one clear avenue to do so, bringing more equity and inclusivity.

    Finally – in the spirit of this “COP de la gente”, we must engage all parts of society, in particular Indigenous Peoples, people of African descent, and local communities.

    Too often, they have been on the sidelines of global environmental policy.

    Too often, environmental defenders have been threatened and killed.

    Indigenous Peoples, people of African descent, and local communities are guardians of our nature.

    Their traditional knowledge is a living library of biodiversity conservation.

    They must be protected.

    And they must be part of every biodiversity conversation.

    The establishment of a permanent subsidiary body within the Convention on Biological Diversity would mark a significant step forward, ensuring Indigenous voices are heard at every stage of the process.

    Peace with nature means peace for those who protect it. 

    We must defend the people who defend nature.

    Excellencies,

    Across all these areas, we know progress is possible.

    Many countries around the world are stepping up to lead the way.

    Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and Malaysia are leading by example by ramping up efforts to curb deforestation.  

    The Congo Basin is intensifying efforts to increase protected area coverage.  

    The European Union’s Nature Restoration Law is a step toward halting and reversing biodiversity loss.

    Mobilizing all countries – each with different levels of wealth and capacities – is challenging.

    But swift global cooperation can provide the defense we so desperately need – against wildfires, floods, extreme weather, and pandemics.

    Last year’s Agreement on Marine Biodiversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction demonstrated our determination for every hectare of the planet. 

    We need the same determination later in the year as countries come together to conclude negotiations on a landmark treaty to tackle plastic pollution.  

    Let us be inspired and lifted by these examples.

    Excellencies, Dear friends,

    We are in Cali to accelerate progress, commit resources, and elevate the role of Indigenous Peoples, people of African descent, and local communities.

    We can – and we must – save the ecosystems that sustain us and keep our climate goals within reach.

    The alternative is unthinkable. 

    The survival of our planet — and our own — is on the line.

    Let us choose wisely.

    Let us choose life.

    Let us make peace with nature.

    Thank you.

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

    Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

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

    Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

    October 29, 2024

    Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

    October 29, 2024

    Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

    October 29, 2024

    Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

    October 29, 2024

    Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

    October 29, 2024

    Previous news Next news

    Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

    The National Championship of Professional Skills among the Disabled and People with Limited Health Abilities “Abilympics” has ended in Moscow. 450 winners were awarded certificates for additional professional education and the purchase of technical rehabilitation equipment. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko congratulated the winners of the championship.

    “It was a truly great success. Over the past 10 years, we have come a long way and have become convinced that the order of President Vladimir Putin to realize the capabilities and talents of each person in our country does not encounter any barriers. Every year, the championship is becoming more and more popular – it has already covered 120 thousand participants from all regions of Russia. And this is, of course, the merit of our regions,” the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.

    Dmitry Chernyshenko also noted that Abilympics faces important challenges.

    “The kids need support, it is important for them to see role models in front of them who give them hope and confirm that every person in our country is in demand and can be useful to the Motherland, themselves and their families,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.

    The Deputy Prime Minister recalled that more than 2.5 thousand enterprises joined the Abilympics championship, creating jobs and conditions for young specialists. He emphasized that 93% of participants are already employed, which is a very good indicator.

    Dmitry Chernyshenko presented letters of gratitude from the Russian Government Office to employers who employ the largest number of participants in the Abilympics championships and provide internships in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Thus, the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant, the United Engine Corporation, the Bank of Russia, Mobile TeleSystems and Ozon Holding were noted.

    The Deputy Prime Minister also presented awards to the regions that demonstrated the best results in employing participants in the Abilympics championships and involving people with disabilities and people with limited health capabilities in the movement’s events. Among them are Moscow, the Republic of Tatarstan, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Ulyanovsk and Rostov Regions. The Republic of North Ossetia-Alania received an award for high indicators of the Abilympics movement development based on the results of 2023 and 2024.

    On behalf of the regions, the awards were accepted by the Governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai Mikhail Kotyukov, the Minister of the Moscow Government, the Head of the Department of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of the City of Moscow Evgeny Struzhak, the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Tatarstan Ilsur Khadiullin and others.

    Head of the Russian Presidential Administration for Public Projects Sergei Novikov emphasized that over ten seasons, the participants of the Abilympics championship have become a big family, they are constantly in touch and support each other. He added that thanks to the movement, people with disabilities motivate each other to develop in their chosen specialty, compete successfully and show excellent results.

    Sergey Novikov presented awards to representatives of the countries that won the overall team standings of the competitions with friendly countries. The first place was taken by the national team of the Russian Federation. The award for second place was received by the national team of the Republic of Belarus. Third place went to the Republic of Abkhazia.

    First Deputy Minister of Education of Russia Alexander Bugaev expressed gratitude to everyone who created the Abilympics movement in all regions of Russia over the course of ten years.

    “I would like to thank the huge army of participants in the movement over all these years – 120 thousand people. You can come to any region of our country and find your comrade, like-minded person. I am sure that each of those who participate in the tenth season of the Abilympics championship is already a winner. We must name the winners, but the best is everyone who is present in this hall today. Thank you for this, and always remain as wonderful,” said Alexander Bugayev.

    In the overall team standings of the Abilympics championship, the Moscow team took first place. The Republic of Tatarstan team took second place. The St. Petersburg team came in third.

    The 2024 National Abilympics Championship was held from October 26 to 29, 2024, at the Gostiny Dvor Exhibition Center, as well as at six additional venues of professional educational organizations in Moscow and the Diana Gurtskaya Social Integration Center. The contestants were 869 people from 73 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, including 290 schoolchildren, 276 students, and 303 specialists. The judging was carried out by 276 experts from 52 constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

    The championship’s competition program included 50 competencies in the fields of education, IT technologies, decorative and applied arts, creative industries, industry, public catering, services, economics and management, construction, and medical professions.

    Representatives of foreign countries competed in 12 main and 1 presentation competencies. Participants from Azerbaijan, Abkhazia, Belarus, Zimbabwe and Qatar demonstrated their skills in person. Contestants from Armenia, Nicaragua and China took part in the competition remotely.

    For participants with severe and multiple developmental disabilities, including intellectual disabilities, a Festival of Opportunities was held. It included competitions in 11 competencies. The Festival of Introduction to the Profession brought together 50 preschool and primary school children with disabilities aged 6 years and older. They competed in 10 competencies.

    The project operator is the National Center “Abilympics” of the Institute for the Development of Professional Education of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation.

    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 –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Burundi: African Development Bank Group hosts training for project partners on social and environmental safeguards

    Source: African Development Bank Group
    As part of its commitment to building the capacity of its partners and improving the quality of project implementation, the African Development Bank Group organized a workshop on strengthening social and environmental safeguards for projects funded by the Bank in Burundi.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-Evening Report: What is necro-branding? And what’s it got to do with Elvis, Princess Diana and Taylor Swift?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Baumann, Professor in Business, Macquarie University

    bissig/Shutterstock

    Do you own any memorabilia depicting Elvis, Princess Diana, David Bowie, Prince or Michael Jackson? Perhaps a beloved t-shirt, a favourite mug, a special keyring or a novelty plate? You might not know it, but you are participating in something known as “necro-branding”.

    Necro-branding is where the image of a celebrity is sold to the public, perhaps by their estate or by their fans, long after the celebrity has died.

    These necro-branded items act almost like talismans, helping us preserve the past and remind us of an era long gone.

    Necro-branding is also shaping up to be a multibillion-dollar industry. Even the stars of today – such as Taylor Swift – will inevitably one day become the necro-brands of tomorrow.

    And with the astonishingly rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), we can expect celebrities’ images to be “reincarnated” even more in the future, and their legacies extended far beyond death.

    Necro-branding is everywhere

    As colleagues and I argued in our recent paper in the journal Celebrity Studies, the quintessential necro-branded celebrity is Elvis Presley.

    From Elvis impersonators to countless items of Elvis memorabilia, the Elvis brand has only increased after the star’s death. Elvis-themed postage stamps issued by the US Postal Service reportedly became the top-selling commemorative postage stamps of all time. He’s also appeared on stamps issued by countries all around the world, such as the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi.

    As we explain in our recent paper:

    At the time of his death, Elvis was worth an estimated US$5 million dollars ($40  million in today’s terms), but by 2022, it was estimated that Elvis Presley Enterprises has a net worth of between $400 million and $500 million. The use of his image on merchandise and memorabilia contributes to the continuation of his legacy.

    And it’s not just necro-branding marketed to older fans; younger generations are also a target with Elvis marketing.

    Think, for example, of the stratospherically successful early-2000s dance track version of A Little Less Conversation, by Dutch musician Junkie XL. Or, for instance, of the way Elvis tracks are woven throughout the Disney animated movie Lilo and Stitch.

    Of course, Elvis is not the only necro-branded celebrity. David Bowie, Prince, Michael Jackson, John Lennon and Johnny Cash are other obvious examples, with countless pieces of merchandise bearing their images. Their brand value has increased once the star has passed away.

    Deceased royals – such as Princess Diana and, more recently, Queen Elizabeth – are another obvious example, especially because living royals already enjoy such massive brand values.

    Necro-branding works because of the deep connection fans feel with celebrities. One study of fans of NBA basketballer Kobe Bryant found that as fans’ grief and shock waned, other stronger emotional responses, such as love, actually increased.

    Another 2024 study analysing fans of Johnny Cash and John Lennon suggested that fans acted “religiously” in honouring the memories of these beloved musicians.

    Marilyn Monroe is another heavily necro-branded celebrity. As we argue in our recent paper

    Her brand has shown strong durability in terms of earnings and is now licensed to the same management group that owns the bulk of the Elvis brand, Authentic Brands Group (ABG). Monroe often made the top ten list of earners in the Dead Celebrities List from 2001 to 2008.

    Necro-branding and AI

    AI already plays a pivotal role in branding of celebrities, alive and dead, and will no doubt be used more in future to extend the marketability of today’s celebrities.

    Think, for instance, of the way some of the recordings from the past are imperfect. Elvis footage from the 1970s often has good sound quality, but the actual video footage reflects the technology of the time.

    While this can be partially rectified with remastering, future AI-powered technology will allow entire reproductions of shows, with all imperfections removed.

    Perhaps, many decades from now, an AI-generated version of Taylor Swift will be performing for fans of that era. Whole personas can be altered to meet the demands of different generations of fans, maintaining their legacy indefinitely.

    Brand new songs can be performed by a necro-celebrity who never actually sang them, or songs from other entertainers (dead or alive) can be performed by the avatar of a dead singer.

    AI has already been used to create a version of the song Barbie Girl sung in the “voice” of Johnny Cash, alongside a medley of other pop hits.

    A whole new frontier

    Even if you’re new to the term, you’re already part of the necro-branding market. And there is more to come once AI advances and consumers can no longer distinguish between fake and real.

    The lines will become blurry, as the branding of necro-celebrities become a whole new frontier for marketing and AI develops ever faster and better.

    Joanne Soviner, a year 12 student at North Sydney Girls High School, contributed to this article.

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

    – ref. What is necro-branding? And what’s it got to do with Elvis, Princess Diana and Taylor Swift? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-necro-branding-and-whats-it-got-to-do-with-elvis-princess-diana-and-taylor-swift-240989

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Vanuatu AG condemns Trump’s Paris climate treaty exit as ‘troubling precedent’

    By Harry Pearl of BenarNews

    Vanuatu’s top lawyer has called out the United States for “bad behavior” after newly inaugurated President Donald Trump withdrew the world’s biggest historic emitter of greenhouse gasses from the Paris Agreement for a second time.

    The Pacific nation’s Attorney-General Arnold Loughman, who led Vanuatu’s landmark International Court of Justice climate case at The Hague last month, said the withdrawal represented an “undeniable setback” for international action on global warming.

    “The Paris Agreement remains key to the world’s efforts to combat climate change and respond to its effects, and the participation of major economies like the US is crucial,” he told BenarNews in a statement.

    The withdrawal could also set a “troubling precedent” regarding the accountability of rich nations that are disproportionately responsible for global warming, said Loughman.

    “At the same time, the US’ bad behavior could inspire resolve on behalf of developed countries to act more responsibly to try and safeguard the international rule of law,” he said.

    “Ultimately, the whole world stands to lose if the international legal framework is allowed to erode.”

    Vanuatu’s Attorney-General Arnold Loughman at the International Court of Justice last month . . . “The whole world stands to lose if the international legal framework is allowed to erode.” Image: ICJ-CIJ

    Trump’s announcement on Monday came less than two weeks after scientists confirmed that 2024 was the hottest year on record and the first in which average temperatures exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

    Agreed to ‘pursue efforts’
    Under the Paris Agreement adopted in 2015, leaders agreed to “pursue efforts” to limit warming under the 1.5°C threshold or, failing that, keep rises “well below” 2°C  by the end of the century.

    Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said on Wednesday in a brief comment that Trump’s action would “force us to rethink our position” but the US president must do “what is in the best interest of the United States of America”.

    Other Pacific leaders and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) regional intergovernmental body have not responded to BenarNews requests for comment.

    The forum — comprising 18 Pacific states and territories — in its 2018 Boe Declaration said: “Climate change remains the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of the peoples of the Pacific and [we reaffirm] our commitment to progress the implementation of the Paris Agreement.”

    Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka speaks at the opening of the new Nabouwalu Water Treatment Plant this week . . . Trump’s action would “force us to rethink our position”. Image: Fiji govt

    Trump’s executive order sparked dismay and criticism in the Pacific, where the impacts of a warming planet are already being felt in the form of more intense storms and rising seas.

    Jacynta Fa’amau, regional Pacific campaigner with environmental group 350 Pacific, said the withdrawal would be a diplomatic setback for the US.

    “The climate crisis has for a long time now been our greatest security threat, especially to the Pacific,” she told BenarNews.

    A clear signal
    “This withdrawal from the agreement is a clear signal about how much the US values the survival of Pacific nations and all communities on the front lines.”

    New Zealand’s former Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio, said that if the US withdrew from its traditional leadership roles in multilateral organisations China would fill the gap.

    “Some people may not like how China plays its role,” wrote the former Labour MP on Facebook. “But when the great USA withdraws from these global organisations . . . it just means China can now go about providing global leadership.”

    Analysts and former White House advisers told BenarNews last year that climate change could be a potential “flashpoint” between Pacific nations and a second Trump administration at a time of heightened geopolitical competition with China.

    Trump’s announcement was not unexpected. During his first term he withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement, only for former President Joe Biden to promptly rejoin in 2021.

    The latest withdrawal puts the US, the world’s largest historic emitter of greenhouse gases, alongside only Iran, Libya and Yemen outside the climate pact.

    In his executive order, Trump said the US would immediately begin withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and from any other commitments made under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

    US also ending climate finance
    The US would also end its international climate finance programme to developing countries — a blow to small Pacific island states that already struggle to obtain funding for resilience and mitigation.

    Press releases by the Biden administration were removed from the White House website immediately after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Image: White House website/Screen capture on Monday

    A fact sheet published by the Biden administration on November 17, which has now been removed from the White House website, said that US international climate finance reached more than US$11 billion in 2024.

    Loughman said the cessation of climate finance payments was particularly concerning for the Pacific region.

    “These funds are essential for building resilience and supporting adaptation strategies,” he said. “Losing this support could severely hinder ongoing and future projects aimed at protecting our vulnerable ecosystems and communities.”

    George Carter, deputy head of the Department of Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University and member of the COP29 Scientific Council, said at the centre of the Biden administration’s re-engagement with the South Pacific was a regional programme on climate adaptation.

    “While the majority of climate finance that flows through the Pacific comes from Australia, Japan, European Union, New Zealand — then the United States — the climate networks and knowledge production from the US to the Pacific are substantial,” he said.

    Sala George Carter (third from right) hosted a panel discussion at COP29 highlighting key challenges Indigenous communities face from climate change last November. Image: Sera Sefeti/BenarNews

    Climate actions plans
    Pacific island states, like all other signatories to the Paris Agreement, will this year be submitting Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs, outlining their climate action plans for the next five years.

    “All climate actions, policies and activities are conditional on international climate finance,” Carter said.

    Pacific island nations are being disproportionately affected by climate change despite contributing just 0.02 percent of global emissions, according to a UN report released last year.

    Low-lying islands are particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels and extreme weather events like cyclones, floods and marine heatwaves, which are projected to occur more frequently this century as a result of higher average global temperatures.

    On January 10, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) confirmed that last year for the first time the global mean temperature tipped over 1.5°C above the 1850-1900 average.

    WMO experts emphasised that a single year of more than 1.5°C does not mean that the world has failed to meet long-term temperature goals, which are measured over decades, but added that “leaders must act — now” to avert negative impacts.

    Harry Pearl is a BenarNews journalist. This article was first published by BenarNews and is republished at Asia Pacific Report with permission.

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Minister Shorten interview on ABC News Breakfast with Bridget Brennan

    Source: Ministers for Social Services

    E&OE TRANSCRIPT

    SUBJECTS: Israel restricting UNWRA; NDIS Commission reforms; disability foundational supports

    BRIDGET BRENNAN, HOST: We’re going to bring in Bill Shorten now, the Minister for the NDIS. We’ll get to the new penalties for those caught rorting the NDIS in a moment. But first Bill Shorten, welcome to News Breakfast. Can we get your reaction to Israel’s decision to cut ties with UNWRA?

    BILL SHORTEN, MINISTER FOR THE NDIS AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES: Well, there’s a lot of Palestinian people who are not members of Hamas who are suffering, and we’ve got to make sure they’re getting food and aid. Obviously, this is a breaking decision. I’ll find out what our foreign affairs people are saying, but there’s innocent civilians caught up in this and they’ve got to get food and aid. I think that’s just a – like, there’s no there’s no way around that. And that’s got to happen.

    BRENNAN: Well, Australia was part of a coalition of Western governments, including Canada, France, Germany calling on Israel to halt this legislation. The UK’s foreign Secretary says in his view, this is a rebuke to every friend of Israel. Why is Israel not listening to its allies, Bill Shorten?

    SHORTEN: Well, you’d have to ask Israel that. I’m aware that there were some employees of UNWRA who were connected to Hamas, but what you’ve got is you’ve got hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, and they’re the ones who are suffering, and they’re the ones who we’ve got to prioritise. And if that’s the case, I guess the international community has got to put to Israel that you’ve got to look after the civilians. You’ve got to try and help them. It’s not their fault.

    BRENNAN: No. All right. Well, let’s move to the crucial reforms of the NDIS. This is another stage of that. We know there are grifters, shonks, criminals accessing the NDIS, trying to infiltrate the NDIS. What will be the penalties now for people doing the wrong thing?

    SHORTEN: Well, I must say at the outset, the NDIS is changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of people with profound and severe disabilities for the better, and most service providers are doing an outstanding job. But the sad fact is that where there’s government money, some, there is opportunistic, unethical and at times illegal behaviour going on where people with disabilities are being treated as human ATMs.

    We’ve been cracking down and making a record investment to tighten up the payment system to go after the shonks, we’ve proposed yesterday, new laws, which we’ll talk to the liberals and the states about, and the disability sector, where we want to increase the penalties. We want to make the NDIS a no-go zone for crooks, and we will do whatever it takes to make sure that the social licence of the NDIS is unimpeachable.

    As I say, most people are delivering great services and participants are getting benefits, but the fact is that there is a proportion of illegal behaviour and we want to make sure that we’re emphasising the safety and quality for participants, not seeing ill-gotten profits made by a minority of sharks who are bottom dwellers and ripping off people with disability and taxpayers.

    BRENNAN: So, Bill Shorten, who’s the cop on the beat here? How does the investigation take place? Where should people refer allegations to?

    SHORTEN: Great question. We have what’s called the National Quality and Safeguards Commission, the NDIS, the agency administers the funds, and the Safeguards Commission is meant to handle complaints. Since I’ve been the Minister, we’ve tripled the number of people working at the Complaints Commission, and we’ve introduced proper modern IT so we can track, you know, criminal behaviour and inappropriate conduct. We’ve also set up a Fraud Fusion Task Force. This is 21 Commonwealth agencies for the first time talking to each other, plus state police. None of this was going on before I became the Minister. People were able to just put in invoices and just get cash transactions without an explanation. So, there were – to be honest, it was too tempting. There was a complete neglect, negligence and naivety under my predecessors about when you have a government scheme with billions of dollars, there just really was no checks and balances.

    We’ve now, over the last two and a half years been putting that in. We’ve now got 56 people before the courts, hundreds of investigations, and we’re now dealing with complaints on a much larger scale. I noticed Peter Dutton had a bit of a chip at me in his sort of trademark negativity. He said, oh, it should have happened earlier. Well, Pete, your party were in power for eight years and you did two bits of bugger all. We’re now getting on with the job of making sure the scheme has integrity.

    BRENNAN: Hey, Bill Shorten, does it worry you that there are still families of children with disabilities saying they can’t get on the NDIS?

    SHORTEN: It worries me when Australians with disability are not included in society. The NDIS wasn’t for every Australian with a disability though. I know, I was there at the before the start of it. The scheme is for people with severe and profound disabilities. What’s being – so I think there’s two points to what you say. One is I think there has been a problem that the scheme sometimes is a two-class scheme. If you live in the cities, if you know, you know lots of allied health professionals, you can get on the scheme. But if you’re in the bush, if your first language isn’t English, if you don’t have access to a whole lot of health professionals, then it’s harder to get on the scheme. So, what we’re trying to do is create a consistent entry point. We want to have needs assessments, which are consistent, done by the government so that whoever you are, whatever your circumstance, you get the same, you know, equal access to the front door of the scheme, the other thing we’re doing is that it’s been great.

    We’ve been working with the states, Peter Malinauskas in particular, has led the states on this very well, but all of them participate. We want to set up some services for people with disability who don’t require the full orchestra of the NDIS, but still need some support. We’re calling these foundational supports. In the next year we hope to get some of them established. My colleague Amanda Rishworth is working with the states, to set up services for people who don’t need the full NDIS, but still need some support. And we’re going to start with the kids.

    BRENNAN: Great to talk to you Bill Shorten. Have a good day.

    SHORTEN: Outstanding. Thank you.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Wenda praises PNG’s Marape over ‘brave ambush’ over West Papua

    Asia Pacific Report

    An exiled West Papuan leader has praised Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape for his “brave ambush” in questioning new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto over West Papua.

    Prabowo offered an “amnesty” for West Papuan pro-independence activists during Marape’s revent meeting with Prabowo on the fringes of the inauguration, the PNG leader revealed.

    The offer was reported by Asia Pacific Report last week.

    Wenda, a London-based officer of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), said in a statement that he wanted to thank Marape on behalf of the people of West Papua for directly raising the issue of West Papua in his meeting with President Prabowo.

    “This was a brave move on behalf of his brothers and sisters in West Papua,” Wenda said.

    “The offer of amnesty for West Papuans by Prabowo is a direct result of him being ambushed by PM Marape on West Papua.

    “But what does amnesty mean? All West Papuans support Merdeka, independence; all West Papuans want to raise the [banned flag] Morning Star; all West Papuans want to be free from colonial rule.”

    Wenda said pro-independence actions of any kind were illegal in West Papua.

    ‘Beaten, arrested or jailed’
    “If we raise our flag or call for self-determination, we are beaten, arrested or jailed. If the offer of amnesty is real, it must involve releasing all West Papuan political prisoners.

    “It must involve allowing us to peacefully struggle for our freedom without the threat of imprisonment.” 

    Wenda said that in the history of the occupation, it was very rare for Melanesian leaders to openly confront the Indonesian President about West Papua.

    “Marape can become like Moses for West Papua, going to Pharoah and demanding ‘let my people go!’.

    “West Papua and Papua New Guinea are the same people, divided only by an arbitrary colonial line. One day the border between us will fall like the Berlin Wall and we will finally be able celebrate the full liberation of New Guinea together, from Sorong to Samarai.

    “By raising West Papua at Prabowo’s inauguration, Marape is inhabiting the spirit of Melanesian brotherhood and solidarity,” Wenda said.

    Vanuatu Prime Minister and the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) chair Charlot Salwai and Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele were also there as a Melanesian delegation.

    “To Prabowo, I say this: A true amnesty means giving West Papua our land back by withdrawing your military, and allowing the self-determination referendum we have been denied since the 1960s.”

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: AIIB Commits EUR75 Million to Support ENGIE’s Global Renewable Energy Expansion, Decarbonization

    Source: Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank

    The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has committed EUR75 million to a EUR500 million sustainability-linked green loan facility to support ENGIE’s global renewable energy portfolio expansion and decarbonization efforts.

    The ENGIE Sustainability Linked Green Loan Project has been co-financed with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Société de Promotion et de Participation pour la Coopération Economique (Proparco). This is AIIB’s second engagement with ENGIE, one of the world’s largest multinational electric utilities and independent power producers, following the financing of the 400MW Gujarat Solar Project earlier this year.

    AIIB joins IFC and Proparco to provide a green sustainability-linked loan facility to support the expansion of the group’s clean energy assets in Poland and South Africa, both AIIB members. Proceeds will finance the acquisition, development and construction of over 550MW of installed capacity. In line with sustainability-linked principles, remuneration of the loan will be linked to ENGIE’s global performance in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy expansion and occupational health and safety.

    “This project reinforces AIIB’s global mandate, strong partnership and innovative focus on climate finance,” said Najeeb Haider, AIIB Director General, Project and Corporate Finance Clients, Global. “With its agility and international presence in strategic markets, AIIB is uniquely placed to support multinational energy groups like ENGIE to advance the energy transition in Asia and beyond with their investments. We congratulate ENGIE and our cofinancing partners on their respective achievements.”

    Through the loan, AIIB is supporting its members by leveraging ENGIE’s global leadership in green energy and climate transition. ENGIE aims to invest EUR22-25 billion in renewable energy and low-carbon energy solutions between 2023 and 2025. The projects are aligned with AIIB’s Energy Sector Strategy, which directs the Bank to support traditional energy conglomerates and state-owned enterprises as they shift their corporate strategies and business modalities to redirect investments toward the energy transition.

    “To accelerate the energy transition, considerable resources and efforts are needed from many stakeholders,” said Jean-Marc Turchini, Group Head of Corporate Finance at ENGIE. “Our partnership with AIIB is certainly a meaningful contribution and we feel grateful for what they achieved with this financing. We are also proud to highlight the innovative structure of this most recent corporate loan, which includes climate-related targets for scope 3 emissions and a health and safety performance indicator that covers ENGIE employees and subcontractors on all sites, reflecting ENGIE’s sustainability and social ambitions.”

    About AIIB

    The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank whose mission is Financing Infrastructure for Tomorrow in Asia and beyond – infrastructure with sustainability at its core. We began operations in Beijing in 2016 and have since grown to 110 approved members worldwide. We are capitalized at USD100 billion and AAA-rated by the major international credit rating agencies. Collaborating with partners, AIIB meets clients’ needs by unlocking new capital and investing in infrastructure that is green, technology-enabled and promotes regional connectivity.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Voluntary Return of 131 Togolese Migrants from Libya: A Joint Effort by IOM and the Togolese Government

    Source: International Organization for Migration (IOM)

    Lomé, Togo – The International Organization for Migration, in collaboration with the Togolese Government, facilitated the voluntary return of 131 migrants (77 men, 54 women, including 28 children) from Libya via a charter flight on Tuesday, 22 October 2024.

    Upon their arrival in Lomé, the migrants were welcomed by H.E. Madame Kossiwa Zinsou-Klassou, Minister of Social Action, National Solidarity, and Women’s Promotion, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration, and Togolese Abroad, along with representatives from the Ministry of Security and Civil Protection, the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene, and Madame Fatou Diallo Ndiaye, Chief of Mission of IOM for Benin, Togo, and Ghana. IOM provided immediate assistance to the migrants, including food, water, and hygiene kits.

    In a message on behalf of President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, H.E. Madame Kossiwa Zinsou-Klassou welcomed the migrants and reassured them of the Togolese Government’s commitment to establish necessary services to facilitate their social reintegration, in line with the policy of inclusion under the leadership of President Faure Essozimna. “No one will come to build Togo in our place. We must all contribute to building the Togolese nation,” she conveyed to the migrants.

    IOM continued the registration and profiling process initiated in Libya, allowing reintegration measures to be tailored to the specific needs of the migrants. In collaboration with officials from the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene, IOM also provided psychological and health-care support to migrants in need.

    Mme. Fatou Diallo Ndiaye, IOM Togo Chief of Mission, expressed gratitude to IOM Libya, which, through emergency funding, enabled the smooth facilitation of the profiling and reintegration process for migrants returning voluntarily to Togo. She emphasized that protection and assistance activities for migrants, such as voluntary return assistance provided by IOM, ensure vulnerable, stranded migrants a safe and dignified journey home if they choose, allowing them to reunite with their families. She also thanked the Togolese Government for its ongoing collaboration in organizing the voluntary return of Togolese migrants.

    IOM and its partners will continue to support returnees by developing comprehensive reintegration plans that address economic, social, and psychosocial needs. These plans will include initiatives such as identifying income-generating activities, housing, education, vocational training for small business development, and strengthening professional skills acquired before and during the migration journey.

    Quote from Mr. Lare Nadijoua (Returning Migrant):

    “Returning home is a tremendous relief. When the plane landed, you could hear everyone’s shouts of joy. Words truly fail to describe my happiness. Now, I have the opportunity to rebuild my life and reunite with my family. I thank the Togolese Government and IOM.”

    ***

    For more information, please contact:

    Mr. Etienne Banga, Head of IOM Togo Office, ebanga@iom.int

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Video: The Department of Police gave an update on the charges of 4 people who were arrested.

    Source: Republic of South Africa (video statements-2)

    The Department of Police gave an update on the charges of 4 people who were arrested in connection with food poisoning investigations

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_spPjoPkSLM

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI Video: Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi gave an update on the progress of food poisoning investigations.

    Source: Republic of South Africa (video statements-2)

    Dr Aaron Motsoaledi gave an update on the progress of food poisoning investigations.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bND05LZ8HqU

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI Video: Minister Stella Ndabeni on the role her department is playing on food poisoning investigations.

    Source: Republic of South Africa (video statements-2)

    Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams on the role her department is playing on food poisoning investigations.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3FYVbrtSKk

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Ghana’s Minister for National Security highlights the important role the country plays in the region The University of Aberdeen welcomed the Minister for National Security in Ghana, the Honourable Albert Kan-Dapaah, in a visit where he shared the important role Ghana plays in upholding democracy and resolving the security challenges in the region.

    Source: University of Aberdeen

    The University of Aberdeen welcomed the Minister for National Security in Ghana, the Honourable Albert Kan-Dapaah, in a visit where he shared the important role Ghana plays in upholding democracy and resolving the security challenges in the region.
    The delegation, which also included Emmanuel Dadzie, Technical Director at the Ministry of National Security and Mrs Ann-Marie Ekpale, Head of Human Resource at Ministry of National Security, was given a tour of the University’s 500-year-old campus and met with the Lord Provost of Aberdeen, Councillor David Cameron on Monday (October 28).
    Relations between the UK and Ghana are rooted in long-standing economic, political and cultural connections, since Ghana became independent from the UK in 1957. More recent commercial oil exploration and energy transition has led to the exchange of experiences and ideas with the industry in Aberdeen. Mr Kan-Dapaah was presented with a football shirt by Aberdeen Football Club in recognition of the connections between the regions.
    The Honourable Minister spoke during his visit on the political and security situation in the West African region and underscored the urgency for West Africa’s longstanding friends to empower the region to meet ongoing multidimensional challenges.
    He shared his perspectives on the decline in democracy in the region and highlighted the impact of the ongoing great power rivalry as a factor shrinking the space for meaningful regional and international security cooperation. 
    The speech also stressed the role of Ghana in upholding democracy and resolving the security challenges in the region and the upcoming General Elections and the country’s preparedness to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections.
    The University of Aberdeen has a large number of Ghanian students and more than 500 alumni including Hon. Prince Hamidu Armah, MP for Kwesimintsim Constituency, Western Region, who studied for a PhD in Mathematics Education at the University of Aberdeen.
    Many retain strong links with their Alma mater and in 2022 an Alumni Chapter for the University of Aberdeen was established in Accra.
    The Chapter aims to foster connections among graduates living and working in Ghana and serves as a bridge between alumni in Ghana and the broader University of Aberdeen community, helping to maintain and strengthen professional and personal ties beyond graduation.
    The University also has an active Ghana Students Society helping to create a sense of community among students, helping them connect, support each other, and build strong friendships while studying abroad. It promotes cultural exchange and understanding by organising events, workshops, and activities that showcase the traditions, customs, and history of Ghana.
    Dr Manu Lekunze, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, introduced the Minister’s talk by highlighting why European security planners cannot ignore security developments in West Africa.
    He said: “These reasons include West Africa’s proximity to Europe, significant demographic change, strategic resources, and great power meddling that has implications for Europe
    “We were pleased to welcome the Honourable Minister to the University of Aberdeen and to hear first hand his insights into the role Ghana plays in the security challenges of the region.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Life on the levee South Sudan

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    South Sudan is currently facing one of its worst floods in recent decades. In Old Fangak, where teams from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are working, only mud dykes protect the town’s thousands of inhabitants from submersion.

    South Sudan is currently facing one of its worst floods of recent decades. In Old Fangak, where teams from Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) are working, only mud dykes protect the town’s thousands of inhabitants from submersion.
    MSF

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: African countries push for $25 billion replenishment of the African Development Fund as Sudan tops up its pledge

    Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

    ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, October 29, 2024/APO Group/ —

    Sudan has increased its pledged contribution to the replenishment of the African Development Fund to $3 million, its Minister for Finance and Economic Planning Dr Gebreil Ibrahim Mohamed Fediel announced.

    Fediel made the announcement during a meeting with his Sierra Leonean counterpart, Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura, Gambian Finance Minister Seedy Keita, Liberian Minister for Agriculture, Dr Alexander Nuatah and African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina. The ministers and Adesina met on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s annual meetings in Washington DC.

    The governments of the Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Sudan are supporting efforts by the African Development Bank Group to push for a $25 billion replenishment of the African Development Fund, its concessional window.

    The four countries, together with Ghana, last year pledged to contribute a minimum of $1 million each to the African Development Fund’s 17th replenishment scheduled for 2025.

    Adesina praised Sudan’s “incredible show of solidarity for increasing its contribution to the Fund and for continuing to honour its financial commitments to the Bank despite facing difficult challenges.”

    The current $8.9 billion three-year financing cycle or the 16th replenishment, which ends in 2025, was the largest ever in the history of the African Development Fund.

    The Bank Group president spoke about the African Development Fund’s impressive record as the largest financier of regional transport infrastructure corridors and regional energy connectivity and power pools across its 37 member countries.

    Adesina said the Fund beneficiaries need “concessional resources more than just grants and that is why our goal is to triple ADF to $25 billion. That is the reason I fought for ADF, from the first day of my leadership of the Bank, to be allowed to go to the capital markets to raise additional resources.”

    “ADF going to capital markets will help generate up to $27 billion additional resources starting from ADF 17th Replenishment,” said Adesina.

    Sudan’s decision to top up its contribution to the African Development Fund comes a fortnight after Benin announced a $2 million pledge to the next replenishment.

    The African Development Bank Group’s Executive Director for The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Sudan, Rufus Darkortey termed the increase by Sudan a powerful demonstration of their steadfast commitment to a bigger ADF-17 Replenishment.

    “I commend President Adesina and the leadership of our governors and heads of state for championing the call for a bold $25 billion ADF-17 Replenishment. This unified effort reflects Africa’s determination to lead its transformation,” Dakortey said.

    Last May, Kenya’s President William Ruto pledged $20 million to the Fund.

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI: Tropo Farms secures $10m from AgDevCo to expand tilapia fish production in Ghana

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    ACCRA, Ghana and LONDON, Oct. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Specialist agriculture investor AgDevCo has signed a long-term investment with Tropo Farms, the leading tilapia fish producer in West Africa and among the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Tropo Farms employs 917 people and supplies fish to the local market through about 3,000 market traders, the majority of whom are women.

    Ghana has one of the highest fish consumption rates in Africa, consuming over 800,000 tonnes per year. This investment will boost the country’s aquaculture industry to satisfy the growing local demand for high quality, affordable fish as a sustainable alternative to wild catch and imports.

    Tropo Farms is a pioneer in African aquaculture. Established by founder Mark Amechi in 1997, Tropo has developed sophisticated aquaculture practices tailored for local conditions.

    AgDevCo’s investment of $10m will finance the construction of a modern processing facility and other production equipment. This will increase the company’s capacity to 30,000 tonnes within five years, contributing to improved nutrition and food security in Ghana.

    Tropo sees opportunities for further aquaculture projects in West Africa, which it plans to pursue with AgDevCo and other strategic co-investors.

    “Investing in Tropo Farms supports production of an important protein source in Ghana, contributes to import substitution and promotes economic growth. Our investment will enhance operational efficiency and sustainable aquaculture practices,” said Kweku Koranteng, AgDevCo’s Investment Director for West Africa.

    “This loan is a major milestone for Tropo Farms. It will expand our logistics and distribution network while bringing more benefits to the communities where we operate. We are pleased to partner with AgDevCo, who brings flexible long-term capital to support our growth, as well as agribusiness expertise,” said Francisco Murillo, Tropo Farms CEO.

    Mark Amechi, founder of Tropo Farms, added: “This agreement will not only enable us to scale our production volume and market share within Ghana but also represents a critical step toward realising our long-held ambitions of expanding further into the underdeveloped West African aquaculture sector.”

    AgDevCo is a specialist investor in African agriculture, growing sustainable and impactful agribusiness, with $280m under management. Their vision is a thriving commercial agriculture sector, which benefits both people and planet by investing in and supporting agribusinesses to grow, create jobs, produce, and process food and link farmers to markets. They support their partners to work towards climate sustainability, and where possible, regenerative solutions. AgDevCo has made more than 65 investments to date.

    Contact details for media:

    Kweku Koranteng, info@agdevco.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9d3424eb-7995-475e-9db9-9c4d9e33964c

    The MIL Network –