Category: Americas

MIL-OSI Africa: OPEC Fund Development Forum 2025 concludes with new commitments to accelerate global development impact
- Announcement of over US$1 billion new financing: OPEC Fund signs US$362 million new loan agreements during the Forum and announces approval of US$720 million in new financing in the second Quarter
- A Country Partnership Framework agreement with Rwanda earmarks US$300 million financing in the next three years
- At the high-level Mauritania roundtable hosted by the OPEC Fund, the Arab Coordination Group (ACG) announced a pledge of US$2 billion financing over the next 5 years to support Mauritania’s development priorities.
The fourth OPEC Fund Development Forum (https://OPECFund.org) concluded today with a strong slate of new commitments, loan agreements and strategic partnerships to advance inclusive transition and sustainable development. The Forum brought together more than 700 global leaders, including government representatives, development institutions and private sector stakeholders, under the theme “A Transition That Empowers Our Tomorrow”.

The OPEC Fund announced some US$720 million in new financing to support development efforts across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and saw the signing of US$362 million in new loan agreements. A new Trade Finance Initiative is set to secure vital supplies and help close trade-related liquidity gaps in partner countries.

OPEC Fund President Abdulhamid Alkhalifa said: “The OPEC Fund Development Forum reflects our conviction that partnerships must deliver results. Today we achieved tangible progress – with new signings, new partnerships and new approaches to help our partner countries turn ambition into action. Whether in energy, infrastructure, agriculture or finance, we are responding with solutions that make a difference.”

As part of its Small Island Developing States (SIDS) initiative, the OPEC Fund signed cooperation agreements with Grenada, and the Solomon Islands, expanding support for climate resilience and sustainable infrastructure.

Deepening Country Partnerships for Long-term Impact

New country-level agreements and cooperation frameworks include:
- A US$212 million loan agreement with Oman to finance the Khasab-Daba-Lima Road Project (Sultan Faisal bin Turki Road), improving local and regional connectivity, as well as a Country Partnership Framework (CPF) to strengthen cooperation over the next five years.
- A US$25 million loan agreement with Cameroon to strengthen the Rice Value Chain Development Project, supporting smallholder farmers and strengthening food security in vulnerable regions, in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) and the Kuwait Fund.
- A CPF with Rwanda to allocate up to US$300 million in financing for 2025 – 2028, supporting the country’s development priorities, including quality infrastructure, improved essential basic services and the promotion of entrepreneurship and the private sector.
- Other country partnership agreements included: Azerbaijan to support infrastructure, energy transition and sustainable development; Botswana to support infrastructure, renewable energy, innovation and digital transformation, as well as private sector export-led growth over the next three years; Grenada to build resilience through sustainable development initiatives; Kyrgyz Republic to increase cooperation in transport, water supply and sanitation, energy, agriculture and banking sectors; and Solomon Islands to expand engagement and increase cooperation including in the private sector.
Scaling up Private Sector Support

The OPEC Fund continues to prioritize private sector-led growth with targeted financing to financial institutions across Africa:
- In Côte d’Ivoire, a €30 million loan agreement with Coris Bank International Côte d’Ivoire and a €35 million loan agreement with NSIA Banque will facilitate access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
- A US$40 million loan agreement with the East African Development Bank (EADB) will boost economic investments across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, strengthening regional integration and inclusive growth.
New Trade Finance Initiative
- At the Forum the OPEC Fund also announced a new Trade Finance Initiative to boost trade resilience in partner countries by facilitating access to essential imports, closing liquidity gaps and strengthening resilience to external shocks in vulnerable economies.
Advancing global cooperation

The Forum also featured new agreements to deepen multilateral cooperation:
- A new cooperation agreement with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) will strengthen collaboration in infrastructure, energy and human development projects across the Latin America and Caribbean region.
- The OPEC Fund and the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS) formalized a cooperation agreement to coordinate efforts on climate-resilient agriculture and sustainable food systems.
- A cooperation agreement with the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) will support training programs to promote institutional transparency and anti-corruption capacity building in partner countries.
Ahead of the Forum, the OPEC Fund hosted the Annual Meeting of the Heads of Institutions of the Arab Coordination Group (ACG). Delegates participated in a high-level roundtable with the President of Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani to strengthen development collaboration and mobilize investment flows to Mauritania. The roundtable resulted in an ACG joint pledge of US$2 billion financing over the next five years. This will be directed to vital sectors, including energy, water, transportation and digital infrastructure to stimulate economic growth. A dedicated Arab Donors Roundtable on the Sahel addressed strategies to mobilize greater support for the region’s urgent challenges. It was organized by the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CLISS) and sponsored by the OPEC Fund’s partner institution, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA).

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of OPEC Fund.

Media Contact:
Basak Pamir
OPEC Fund for International Development
Head of Outreach & Multimedia
B.Pamir@opecfund.org
+431511564174
Telephone: +43-1-515 64-0
Fax: +43-1-513 92 38
www.OPECFund.org

About the OPEC Fund:
The OPEC Fund for International Development (the OPEC Fund) is the only globally mandated development institution that provides financing from member countries to non-member countries exclusively. The organization works in cooperation with developing country partners and the international development community to stimulate economic growth and social progress in low- and middle-income countries around the world. The OPEC Fund was established in 1976 with a distinct purpose: to drive development, strengthen communities and empower people. Our work is people-centered, focusing on financing projects that meet essential needs, such as food, energy, infrastructure, employment (particularly relating to MSMEs), clean water and sanitation, healthcare and education. To date, the OPEC Fund has committed more than US$29 billion to development projects in over 125 countries with an estimated total project cost of more than US$200 billion. The OPEC Fund is rated AA+/Outlook Stable by Fitch and S&P Global Ratings. Our vision is a world where sustainable development is a reality for all.

MIL OSI Africa –
June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: Is Mark Carney turning his back on climate action?

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Deborah de Lange, Associate Professor, Global Management Studies, Toronto Metropolitan University

The G7 summit in Alberta, hosted by Prime Minister Mark Carney, has ended with only passing mention of fighting climate change, including a statement on wildfires that is silent on the pressing need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

This is puzzling. Canadians didn’t opt for Conservative Pierre Poilievre, considered by some to be an oil and gas industry mouthpiece, in the last federal election. Instead, voters gave Carney’s Liberals a minority government.

Carney was the United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance and was behind the UN-backed Net-Zero Banking Alliance, so some Canadians might have assumed he’d prioritize climate action if he won the election. Instead, Carney has described developing fossil fuel infrastructure as “pragmatic.”

But it’s unclear how a country grappling with abysmal air quality due to wildfires fuelled by global warming will benefit from further global fossil fuel development and its related emissions.

Read more:
Wildfire smoke can harm your brain, not just your lungs

Warming rapidly

Canada is warming faster than most of the globe. Its leaders should be laser-focused on mitigating climate change by reducing fossil fuel use to the greatest extent possible, as soon as possible.

This decades-long understanding of how to approach climate action has been repeatedly explained by experts and is well known to governments globally. Canada’s prime minister was once one of those experts.

Carney now has a tremendous opportunity to lead by steering Canada in a clean direction.

Canada is at the forefront of clean technology, with numerous business opportunities emerging, particularly in areas like circular economy international trade. These opportunities not only support Canada’s commitment to meeting its Paris Agreement targets but also help expand and diversify its global trade.

Eco-industrial parks

Canada already has exemplar eco-industrial parks — co-operative businesses located on a common property that focus on reducing environmental impact through resource efficiency, waste reduction and sharing resources. Such industrial communities are in Halifax and in Delta, B.C. They represent significant investment opportunities.

Vacant urban land could be revitalized and existing industrial parks could boost their economic output and circular trade by building stronger partnerships to share resources, reduce waste and cut emissions.

Read more:
A sustainable, circular economy could counter Trump’s tariffs while strengthening international trade

Canada would benefit economically and environmentally by building on existing expertise and expanding successful sustainability strategies to achieve economic, environmental and social goals.

But by continuing to invest in fossil fuels, Canada misses out on opportunities to diversify trade and boost economic competitiveness.

The secret to China’s success

Real diversification makes Canada less vulnerable to economic shocks, like the ones caused by the tariffs imposed by United States President Donald Trump.

Fossil fuel reliance increases exposure to global economic risks, but shifting to cleaner products and services reduces climate risks and expands Canada’s global trade options. China’s economic rise is partly a result of this strategy.

That’s seemingly why Trump is so fixated on China. China today is a serious competitor to the U.S. after making smart trade and economic decisions and forging its own path, disregarding American pressure to remain a mere follower.

Investing in its huge Belt and Road Initiative, China also aligned itself with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It’s building diplomatic bridges with many Belt and Road countries in southeast Asia as Trump’s America alienates its partners, pulling out of the Paris Agreement and cutting foreign aid.

As another one of the America’s mistreated partners, Canada was poised to forge its own path under Carney. Instead, Carney is supporting American oil and gas by encouraging Canadian pipeline projects.

Clean innovation is the path forward

Canadian oil and gas is a concentrated industry controlled by a wealthy few, primarily Americans. More pipelines would therefore mean more sales of fossil fuels to other countries, with the beneficiaries mostly American.

Fossil fuel investments reduce Canada’s diversification because the resources used to further these projects could go elsewhere — toward clean diversification. With almost unlimited clean economy options across many sectors, clean diversification would broaden Canada’s economic and trade portfolios and reduce American control.

Read more:
Why Canada’s Strong Borders Act is as troublesome as Donald Trump’s travel bans

This is International Business 101, and would make the Canadian economy more competitive through innovation, while reducing the country’s climate risk.

California, often targeted by Trump for its policies, has been a leader in clean innovation, making its economy the envy of the world.

Read more:
California is planning floating wind farms offshore to boost its power supply – here’s how they work

My recent research shows that clear, decisive choices like those made in California will be key to Canada’s future success. Canada must make choices aligned with goals — a core principle of strategic management.

My research also suggests Canada must restructure its energy industry to focus on renewable energy innovation while reducing fossil fuel reliance. Increased renewable energy innovation, as seen in patent numbers, leads to higher GDP.

Contrary to common beliefs, pollution taxes boost the economy in combination with clean innovation. But when the government supports both the fossil fuel industry and clean industries, it hinders Canada’s transition to a cleaner future.

Trapped by the fossil fuel industry?

Do Canadian taxpayers truly want to keep funding an outdated, polluting industry that benefits a wealthy few, or invest in clean industries that boost Canada’s economy, create better jobs and protect the environment? To differentiate Canada from the United States, it would make sense to choose the latter.

Carney should consider refraining from pushing for the fast-tracking of polluting projects. If he doesn’t, Canada will become more uncompetitive and vulnerable, trapped by the fossil fuel industry.

Read more:
Mark Carney wants to make Canada an energy superpower — but what will be sacrificed for that goal?

Carney’s support for pipelines may have stemmed from Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s implicit support for Alberta sovereignty. She made veiled threats to Canada at a critical juncture, when Trump was making repeated assertions about annexing Canada.

Alberta didn’t vote for Carney. But Canadians who care about mitigating climate change did.

Banks that felt pressure to at least recognize sustainable finance during the Joe Biden administration joined Carney’s Net-Zero Banking Alliance.

But as soon as Trump came to power a second time and walked away from the Paris Agreement, many American banks abandoned the alliance. Canadian banks followed suit, and Carney remarkably missed another moment to show Canadian leadership by stopping their exit.

In fact, Carney seems to have abandoned his own organization to appease Trump as the president made multiple 51st state threats. The prime minister had the chance to differentiate Canada and demonstrate his own leadership. Instead, he seems to have easily turned his back on his principles under pressure from Trump.

Deborah de Lange receives funding from SSHRC and ESRC. She is affiliated with The Liberal Party of Canada and The Writers’ Union of Canada.

– ref. Is Mark Carney turning his back on climate action? – https://theconversation.com/is-mark-carney-turning-his-back-on-climate-action-258737

MIL OSI Analysis –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Welch Joins Democratic Colleagues in Urging Rubio to Preserve the State Department’s Human Rights Bureau

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) joined U.S. Senator Jeanee Shaheen, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and eight Democratic colleagues in urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio to preserve the staff and programs administered by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) amid the Department’s proposed reorganization.
“The proposed reorganization of DRL raises serious concerns about the Department’s prioritization of democracy and human rights and the role of DRL in advancing U.S. national security priorities—concerns that were the basis for Congress’s bipartisan codification in statute an Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and the directive ‘to promote the increased observance of internationally recognized human rights by all countries’ as a principal goal of U.S. foreign policy,” wrote the Senators. “The proposed reorganization would result in a structural and substantive demotion of human rights promotion that runs counter to the spirit of the law and your personal legacy working on these issues.”
“Over 80% of DRL’s programs support human rights defenders working in closed, anti-democratic societies, including Cuba, China, Nicaragua, North Korea, Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and others which the Trump Administration has identified as adversaries of the U.S.,” continued the Senators.
The Senators concluded: “As you stated in the subcommittee hearing previously mentioned, ‘millions of people around the world who live in societies dominated by fear and oppression look to the United States of America to champion their cause to fully exercise their God-given rights. There are no greater champions more capable of advancing this noble cause than the dedicated staff in DRL. We need these champions in the Department.”
In addition to Senators Welch and Shaheen, the letter is cosigned by Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.).
Read and download the full text of the letter.

MIL OSI USA News –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Governor Hochul is a Guest on “The Briefing With Jen Psaki”

Source: US State of New York

ast night, Governor Hochul was a guest on MSNBC’s “The Briefing with Jen Psaki.”

AUDIO: The Governor’s remarks are available in audio form here.

A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Governor Hochul: Do you want to know what I really think?

Rebecca Lewis, City & State: Please.

Governor Hochul: It’s bullshit. How dare they—

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Jen Psaki, MSNBC: Couldn’t have said it better myself. That was New York Governor Kathy Hochul, today, reacting to the arrest of New York City Comptroller and Mayoral candidate Brad Lander. And Governor Kathy Hochul joins me. Now, Governor, thank you so much for being here with me tonight.

You rushed down to the courthouse today after Brad Lander was arrested to demand his release. We heard a little bit from him earlier. Can you just walk us through what happened today, including your interaction with officers at the building?

Governor Hochul: Yes, and thank you for your coverage of this deeply troubling story that seems to be unfolding all across our country, Jen. I literally was in a part of Brooklyn, known as Little Haiti. I was walking the streets talking to people who were so frightened — living in the shadows of a once vibrant street was now almost a ghost town because people are terrified. And then while I’m out there trying to meet these people, let them know we’re, we see them, we’re gonna support them.

Then I get the word that one of our elected officials for the City of New York has been arrested. And I know Brad Lander. I went right down there. And I wanted to see him. I went up to the ninth floor. And they wouldn’t let me come in. But I had a chance to talk to ICE officers and the people in charge, and my Head of Homeland Security came down and Head of my Counterintelligence and all the professionals that I work with. We all stood there and I said, “I’m not leaving until you let him out. I want him released. Because what are the charges? What are you possibly saying? We all saw the video.”

And after about an hour of me waiting and talking to a lot of people, they said they’d release him without charges, but Brad Lander has all the attorneys and attention on this he needs. I mean, he can take care of himself. I’m confident of that, but what I cannot get out of my mind are all the people that are so terrified right now are the ones who go into those courtrooms following the law and the procedure — told, show up this date for your court appearance. And then they’re sitting ducks while they’re in the courtroom. They withdraw their legal status and they walk out and they’re captured.

This is beyond the pale, and we have to stand up and call it out for what it is and say we are a better country than this. And the voices that we heard during the marches over the last weekend, the people who stood up there, the elected officials who are doing their part — we have to stand up and say no more. And I’ll tell you this, as I said, under eight hours of questioning in Congress just a few days ago — I will work with the Trump administration to remove the people he said he was going after. I will help you get the criminals out of here, the ones who are violent criminals who are hurting other people, the human traffickers, the people who are dealing in drugs, people with guns — I want them gone.

I’ll help you but don’t take care of the home healthcare aides, the 160 who are gonna lose their jobs that I’ve met today and talked to. They’ll lose their jobs and they lose their status. And you know what? That means there’s 160 vulnerable New Yorkers who are gonna lose their caregivers and the people who work in the restaurants and hospitality, let them get jobs, pay their taxes, be part of our communities – like my grandpa was a migrant farm worker. Everybody comes and starts out and struggles. But you know what? Over time it works. It’s the American dream, and that dream is dissipating by the moment here in this country, and we cannot let it go.

Jen Psaki, MSNBC: No question about it. And I know, and I just mentioned that you had announced today the State is dedicating $50 million for legal assistance for immigrants. And I want to ask you about that in one moment.

I think one of the things that was so striking about today, many things was that, you know, Brad Lander was released without charges. You said earlier today that to your knowledge, the charges have been dropped and that he walks out of there free man.

But the US Attorney’s Office said that it is investigating his action still and would decide later whether to charge him with a crime. This is all on video, which we played the full video. Are you confident there won’t be charges? And I raise this because he’s just escorting immigrants to the courthouses who are trying to abide by their court hearings.

Governor Hochul: That’s all he is doing, and he did it without any fanfare over a number of times. Just a lot of people are volunteering. These people are terrified. I mean, these are our neighbors. These are people who’ve lived among us for many, many years sometimes. And people are just doing the right thing. They’re showing their humanity. He showed up and just escorting someone and speaking to him and just trying to let him know it’s going to be okay. The best we can. And then you have them ripped apart and terrorized the way they were and go after elected officials. I mean, no, no. It’s wrong. It’s wrong.

And again, we will help the Trump administration — we have been doing this for years — get rid of the true criminals. But coming here to seek asylum as they have for the last few years, or coming with temporary protected status like 300,000 Venezuelans did. And people from Haiti. They had legal status when they came. So when you take it away, once they’re here, it’s just like a cruel joke on them.

So, they’re not the criminals. Let’s find them a legal pathway. Let’s give them work authorization. I know the Trump administration is capable of doing this. They can do this, and there’ll be a lot of employers, including the people in my State, New York — I have 400,000 open jobs as we speak. They’re not taking someone’s job. They’ll be doing an important service to us.

Let’s have a conversation. Let’s ask Congress. Why you won’t do something as simple as passing common sense, bipartisan legislation to reform our immigration laws, find legal pathways. Yes, we have to secure our borders. No one doubts that, but the people who are here and already contributing, come on. We’re a nation of immigrants. That’s why we’re so great.

Jen Psaki, MSNBC: I mentioned a couple times that you announced the $50 million for legal assistance, which is very powerful and as Brad Lander mentioned, a lot of these people don’t have legal representation.

Governor Hochul: That’s right.

Jen Psaki, MSNBC: This tactic though, which I called dirty earlier because I think it’s dirty of these agents showing up at courthouses and kind of stalking people who don’t have criminal records are not trying to, are just trying to abide by what they’re supposed to be doing. Is there anything you can do as Governor to stop those tactics or other Governors can ban together and do?

Governor Hochul: No, they’re not allowed in New York state courts. You know, and, and let’s think about this, when this was passed a few years ago, law enforcement supported this because people who’ve been victims of the crimes are witnesses of crimes, if they think that if they go in to be involved in the criminal justice system to maybe to solve a crime, that they could be removed instantaneously. We want to make sure that we are working to protect our community. People are safer when people feel they can come forward, but apparently in federal courthouses, here in New York City and all across America, they’re basically staking out people who walk in the front door to keep an appointment they were given. They’re told to go before this judge on this date or check in.

I mean, a heartbreaking story just a couple weeks ago. A mom takes her two boys, 19 and 20-year-old down to make sure they’re legally checking in as they’re told to do. Guess what? She walks out without them. Because they took them away from her. And she doesn’t know where they are. We’re all human beings.

Jen Psaki, MSNBC: Yeah.

Governor Hochul: If we can’t find some compassion in our hearts at this moment and do what’s right, history will judge us very poorly. That’s why we’re urging the administration — go after the really bad ones like you said you would. That’s my plea. Go after the bad ones. We’ll help you. Every state will help you. But can we just leave these law abiding people alone? Can we just do that?

Jen Psaki, MSNBC: There are so many stories, like the ones you mentioned and the ones we saw play out today. Governor Kathy Hochul, I know you’ve had a day, so thank you so much for being here with us, helping explain all of the video footage we’ve just showed everybody watching. Really appreciate you being here.

Governor Hochul: Alright, thank you, Jen.

MIL OSI USA News –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Celebrating Cayuga Milk Expansion Project

Source: US State of New York

overnor Kathy Hochul and Cayuga Milk Ingredients today marked the grand opening of a two-phase, $270 million expansion project in the Town of Aurelius, Cayuga County, allowing the company to better assist their clients and create opportunities for New York State dairy farmers. The state-of-the-art facility will also allow the company to more than double its workforce, adding up to 150 new jobs to the existing workforce of 100 employees. The State is supporting this transformative project through a $4 million capital grant and up to $4 million made available through the performance-based Excelsior Jobs Tax Credit Program in exchange for job creation commitments. Cayuga Milk Ingredients is a farmer-owned dairy processor, producing premium milk and innovative dairy ingredients for customers across the globe. This announcement comes as the State celebrates Dairy Month this June.

“Cayuga Milk Ingredients’ continued expansion in Cayuga County marks another exciting chapter in New York’s agricultural success story,” Governor Hochul said. “New York’s dairy industry serves as a crucial economic engine for our state, and our support for this project reinforces our commitment to those efforts and to our hard-working dairy farmers, further cementing our position as one of the nation’s top dairy producers.”

Phase one of the expansion at the Eagle Drive facility included the purchase and installation of an ultra-high temperature (UHT)/aseptic low acid packaging system and a new reverse osmosis filtration system. The second phase included the addition of machinery and equipment, and the expansion of the facility’s wastewater treatment plant.

At the facility, Cayuga Milk Ingredients (CMI) monitors all aspects of product integrity, offering a high level of traceability and sustainability, combining innovative manufacturing technology with a focus on reducing their environmental impact. With a vertically integrated model and state-of-the-art processing capabilities, they transform high-quality milk into value-added products including high-protein milk, powders, and ultrafiltered dairy ingredients. CMI is committed to advancing sustainable agriculture, supporting the well-being of its farmers, employees and cows, and delivering exceptional ingredients for the future of food.

CMI processes over 1.5 billion pounds of premium quality milk from 22 family-owned dairy farms within the region. The farmer-owners are recognized globally for their higher level of commitment in animal welfare, environmental sustainability, and worker wellness all based around a culture of continuous improvement.

CMI is also actively focused on reducing their environmental impact. The advanced processing at the state-of-the-art production facility, which incorporates ultrafiltration and cutting-edge industry technologies, has positioned the company as a unique leader in the global foods market, setting them ahead of the curve for quality manufacturing standards.

Cayuga Milk Ingredients and Cayuga Marketing CEO Brian Linney said, “Cayuga Milk Ingredients is proud to be a key player in New York’s dairy industry, with the investment in our new aseptic and extended shelf-life fluid dairy production facility driving long term growth in our community with more than 150 new permanent jobs, as well as another 350+ jobs during facility construction. We are grateful for the support of Governor Hochul in this project expansion as we work to ensure the continued success and longevity of the agricultural industry in New York State.”

Governor Hochul remains laser focused on supporting New York’s dairy farmers. Earlier this month, the Governor announced nearly $21.6 million had been awarded to 103 farms across the state through the Dairy Modernization Grant Program to support New York’s dairy industry. The funding will help New York’s dairy farmers and dairy cooperatives invest in new equipment, expand storage capacity, and strengthen their operations, particularly as they face extreme weather events, providing a critical boost to New York’s dairy industry.

Since taking office, Governor Hochul has made significant strides in expanding the dairy manufacturing sector in New York. In the last few years, New York has celebrated investments across the state, including a $650 million fairlife production plant in Webster, a $518 million Great Lakes Cheese packaging and manufacturing facility in Franklinville, and a $30 million expansion to the Agri-Mark cheese manufacturing facility in Chateaugay, helping New York continue to be the leading producer of milk in the Northeast. Most recently, the Governor announced Chobani will build a 1.4 million square foot, $1.2 billion facility in Rome, Oneida County, capable of producing over one-billion pounds of high-quality dairy products per year. There are currently nearly 300 world-recognized dairy processing plants across New York.

New York State has roughly 3,000 dairy farms that produce over 16 billion pounds of milk annually, making New York the nation’s fifth-largest dairy state. The dairy industry is the state’s largest agricultural sector, contributing significantly to the state’s economy by generating nearly half of the state’s total agricultural receipts and providing some of the highest economic multipliers. New York’s unique and talented dairy producers and processors contribute significantly to the state’s agriculture industry, economy and the health of our communities.

New York State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball said, “New York is a dairy state, through and through. We have thousands of dedicated dairy farmers, producing some of the very best products in the world, and we rank as number one for yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese, and more. I thank the Governor for her commitment to uplifting New York’s dairy community, from the on-farm grants announced earlier this month to investing millions in processing capacity across the State over the years, with the help of our partners at Empire State Development. Together, we are building a strong foundation to support our farmers and boost our agricultural economy.”

Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight said, “We’re excited to mark this major milestone with Cayuga Milk Ingredients, a project that will continue to fill the region’s economic glass to the brim with top-quality jobs that support Upstate dairy farmers. This successful company is putting down roots thanks to our unmatched agribusiness infrastructure that ensures New York State remains a leader in dairy production.”

State Senator Rachel May said, “The dairy industry in Cayuga County is thriving, and Cayuga Milk Ingredients is at the forefront of this growth. With its impressive multi-million-dollar expansion, the company will continue to be a catalyst for economic growth in our community for years to come, creating many well-paying jobs for residents. I appreciate Governor Hochul’s support for this important project and our dairy farmers in Central New York.”

Cayuga County Legislature Chairman Jonathan Anna said, “We applaud Governor Kathy Hochul and Cayuga Milk Ingredients on the grand opening of this transformative $270 million expansion project in the Town of Aurelius. This significant investment represents a bold step forward for Cayuga County’s dairy industry — as the number one dairy producing county in the state this project continues to support not only innovation and global competitiveness but also our local communities and family farms. As a farmer-owned cooperative, Cayuga Milk Ingredients exemplifies the spirit of collaboration and agricultural excellence that defines our county. The creation of up to 150 new jobs and the expansion of cutting-edge processing capabilities are a testament to what can be achieved when public and private sectors work together. We are also grateful for the State’s strategic support through the $4 million capital grant and the Excelsior Jobs Program, which ensures job growth and long-term economic impact to our region. During Dairy Month, this announcement reminds us of the strength, resilience, and essential contributions of our dairy farmers and processors. Congratulations to all involved in making this project a reality. Cayuga County looks forward to seeing Cayuga Milk Ingredients continue to thrive and lead the way in delivering premium dairy products to consumers not only locally but around the world.”

For additional information about Cayuga Milk Ingredients, visit: https://www.cmingredients.com/.

Accelerating Economic Development in Central NY
Today’s announcement complements “CNY Rising,” the region’s comprehensive strategy to generate robust economic growth and community development. The regionally designed plan focuses on capitalizing on global market opportunities, strengthening entrepreneurship and creating an inclusive economy. More information is available here.

About Empire State Development
Empire State Development is New York’s chief economic development agency, and promotes business growth, job creation, and greater economic opportunity throughout the state. With offices in each of the state’s 10 regions, ESD oversees the Regional Economic Development Councils, supports broadband equity through the ConnectALL office, and is growing the workforce of tomorrow through the Office of Strategic Workforce Development. The agency engages with emerging and next generation industries like clean energy and semiconductor manufacturing looking to grow in New York State, operates a network of assistance centers to help small businesses grow and succeed, and promotes the state’s world class tourism destinations through I LOVE NY. For more information, please visit esd.ny.gov, and connect with ESD on LinkedIn, Facebook and X.

MIL OSI USA News –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI: Break the Limits with BexBack: 100x Leverage, $50 Welcome Bonus & Double Deposit Match — No KYC
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

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- Multiply Profits: Control 100x larger positions with the same capital — turn 1 BTC into a 100 BTC trading power.
- React Fast: Open and close trades quickly to capture short-term price movements.
- Profit in Any Market: Go long or short and profit whether prices rise or fall.
- Boost ROI: With leverage and BexBack’s deposit bonuses, even modest price changes can produce exponential returns.
Example:
With BTC at $100,000, a trader opens a 1 BTC long contract using 100x leverage (position size = 100 BTC).
If BTC rises just 5% to $105,00, the trader earns 5 BTC in profit — a 500% return.
With BexBack’s 100% deposit bonus, that ROI could double to 1000%.

What Is the Double Deposit Bonus?

When you deposit to BexBack, you can receive 100% of your deposit as trading bonus.
- Example: Deposit 1 BTC → Get 1 BTC in bonus funds.
- The bonus can’t be withdrawn directly, but it can:
  - Be used as margin to open larger positions.
  - Help absorb market volatility by reducing liquidation risk.
  - Generate profits that can be fully withdrawn once earned.
Why Trade Crypto Futures on BexBack?
- No KYC Required — Trade anonymously and instantly
- 100% Deposit Bonus — Double your margin, double your opportunity
- 100x Leverage — Maximize capital efficiency
- Demo Account — Practice risk-free with 10 BTC virtual balance
- Powerful Platform — Available via Web and Mobile, with no spread or slippage
- Global Support — 24/7 customer service available worldwide
- Affiliate Program — Earn up to 50% commission sharing
About BexBack

BexBack is a global cryptocurrency derivatives exchange offering futures trading with up to 100x leverage on over 50 major crypto assets, including BTC, ETH, XRP, ADA, and SOL. Headquartered in Singapore, BexBack also has offices in Hong Kong, Japan, the U.S., the U.K., and Argentina. The platform is fully licensed under the U.S. FinCEN MSB (Money Services Business) registration and currently serves more than 500,000 users worldwide, including traders in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

Start Today— Unlock Your Path to Wealth on BexBack

If you missed the last crypto bull run, now is your chance. With Bitcoin holding strong above $105,000, traders are flocking to high-leverage platforms to capture fast gains. BexBack is giving you everything you need — $50 bonus, 100% deposit match, 100x leverage, and no KYC.

Sign Up Now on BexBack — Start your journey to rapidly accumulate wealth and enjoy a better life.

Website: www.bexback.com

Contact: business@bexback.com

Contact:
Amanda
business@bexback.com

Disclaimer: This content is provided by BexBack. The statements, views, and opinions expressed in this content are solely those of the content provider and do not necessarily reflect the views of this media platform or its publisher. We do not endorse, verify, or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information presented. We do not guarantee any claims, statements, or promises made in this article. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, or trading advice.Investing in crypto and mining-related opportunities involves significant risks, including the potential loss of capital. It is possible to lose all your capital. These products may not be suitable for everyone, and you should ensure that you understand the risks involved. Seek independent advice if necessary. Speculate only with funds that you can afford to lose. Readers are strongly encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. However, due to the inherently speculative nature of the blockchain sector—including cryptocurrency, NFTs, and mining—complete accuracy cannot always be guaranteed.Neither the media platform nor the publisher shall be held responsible for any fraudulent activities, misrepresentations, or financial losses arising from the content of this press release. In the event of any legal claims or charges against this article, we accept no liability or responsibility. Globenewswire does not endorse any content on this page.

Legal Disclaimer: This media platform provides the content of this article on an “as-is” basis, without any warranties or representations of any kind, express or implied. We assume no responsibility for any inaccuracies, errors, or omissions. We do not assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information presented herein. Any concerns, complaints, or copyright issues related to this article should be directed to the content provider mentioned above.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/027c1dc1-43b8-4392-871c-fa59143ebf61

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8ae4e1db-c4b7-48c3-a800-19906de28a78

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/174a3407-dd43-4543-b116-d7a7920a453c

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e8a17924-1656-4156-80b3-98bb17dfec69

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fffec9bd-3fef-462d-8166-a0c2277e6581

The MIL Network –
June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI: Break the Limits with BexBack: 100x Leverage, $50 Welcome Bonus & Double Deposit Match — No KYC
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

SINGAPORE, June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — With Bitcoin holding steady at the $100,000 mark for a long time, the cryptocurrency market has once again attracted global attention. Many analysts now agree that a full-blown bull run has returned. But unlike in the past, this bull run favors flexible, high-leverage strategies over traditional HODLing. To help traders seize the moment, BexBack offers an unparalleled trading experience with up to 100x leverage, 100% deposit bonus, and a $50 welcome bonus – all without KYC certification.

Why Use 100x Leverage to Trade Crypto?

While Bitcoin’s bullish momentum is clear, price swings remain sharp and fast. High-leverage futures trading is an essential tool for traders aiming to:
- Multiply Profits: Control 100x larger positions with the same capital — turn 1 BTC into a 100 BTC trading power.
- React Fast: Open and close trades quickly to capture short-term price movements.
- Profit in Any Market: Go long or short and profit whether prices rise or fall.
- Boost ROI: With leverage and BexBack’s deposit bonuses, even modest price changes can produce exponential returns.
Example:
With BTC at $100,000, a trader opens a 1 BTC long contract using 100x leverage (position size = 100 BTC).
If BTC rises just 5% to $105,00, the trader earns 5 BTC in profit — a 500% return.
With BexBack’s 100% deposit bonus, that ROI could double to 1000%.

What Is the Double Deposit Bonus?

When you deposit to BexBack, you can receive 100% of your deposit as trading bonus.
- Example: Deposit 1 BTC → Get 1 BTC in bonus funds.
- The bonus can’t be withdrawn directly, but it can:
  - Be used as margin to open larger positions.
  - Help absorb market volatility by reducing liquidation risk.
  - Generate profits that can be fully withdrawn once earned.
Why Trade Crypto Futures on BexBack?
- No KYC Required — Trade anonymously and instantly
- 100% Deposit Bonus — Double your margin, double your opportunity
- 100x Leverage — Maximize capital efficiency
- Demo Account — Practice risk-free with 10 BTC virtual balance
- Powerful Platform — Available via Web and Mobile, with no spread or slippage
- Global Support — 24/7 customer service available worldwide
- Affiliate Program — Earn up to 50% commission sharing
About BexBack

BexBack is a global cryptocurrency derivatives exchange offering futures trading with up to 100x leverage on over 50 major crypto assets, including BTC, ETH, XRP, ADA, and SOL. Headquartered in Singapore, BexBack also has offices in Hong Kong, Japan, the U.S., the U.K., and Argentina. The platform is fully licensed under the U.S. FinCEN MSB (Money Services Business) registration and currently serves more than 500,000 users worldwide, including traders in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

Start Today— Unlock Your Path to Wealth on BexBack

If you missed the last crypto bull run, now is your chance. With Bitcoin holding strong above $105,000, traders are flocking to high-leverage platforms to capture fast gains. BexBack is giving you everything you need — $50 bonus, 100% deposit match, 100x leverage, and no KYC.

Sign Up Now on BexBack — Start your journey to rapidly accumulate wealth and enjoy a better life.

Website: www.bexback.com

Contact: business@bexback.com

Contact:
Amanda
business@bexback.com

Disclaimer: This content is provided by BexBack. The statements, views, and opinions expressed in this content are solely those of the content provider and do not necessarily reflect the views of this media platform or its publisher. We do not endorse, verify, or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information presented. We do not guarantee any claims, statements, or promises made in this article. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, or trading advice.Investing in crypto and mining-related opportunities involves significant risks, including the potential loss of capital. It is possible to lose all your capital. These products may not be suitable for everyone, and you should ensure that you understand the risks involved. Seek independent advice if necessary. Speculate only with funds that you can afford to lose. Readers are strongly encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. However, due to the inherently speculative nature of the blockchain sector—including cryptocurrency, NFTs, and mining—complete accuracy cannot always be guaranteed.Neither the media platform nor the publisher shall be held responsible for any fraudulent activities, misrepresentations, or financial losses arising from the content of this press release. In the event of any legal claims or charges against this article, we accept no liability or responsibility. Globenewswire does not endorse any content on this page.

Legal Disclaimer: This media platform provides the content of this article on an “as-is” basis, without any warranties or representations of any kind, express or implied. We assume no responsibility for any inaccuracies, errors, or omissions. We do not assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information presented herein. Any concerns, complaints, or copyright issues related to this article should be directed to the content provider mentioned above.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/027c1dc1-43b8-4392-871c-fa59143ebf61

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8ae4e1db-c4b7-48c3-a800-19906de28a78

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/174a3407-dd43-4543-b116-d7a7920a453c

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e8a17924-1656-4156-80b3-98bb17dfec69

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fffec9bd-3fef-462d-8166-a0c2277e6581

The MIL Network –
June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI: Ninepoint Partners LP Announces Proposed Changes to Name, Investment Objective, Investment Strategies and Other Changes for Ninepoint Resource Fund

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

TORONTO, June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ninepoint Partners LP (Ninepoint Partners) announced today that, subject to unitholder approval, it proposes to change the investment objective (the IO Change) of Ninepoint Resource Fund (the Fund) to primarily focus the Fund’s investments in global equity and equity-related securities of companies that are involved diretly or indirectly in the metals and mining sector. If the IO Change is approved by unitholders, Ninepoint Partners will adjust the Fund’s investment strategies to implement the new investment objective, and will change the name of the Fund to: Ninepoint Mining Evolution Fund.

Corresponding with the IO Change, Ninepoint Partners proposes to change the reference index used by the Fund for the purposes of calculating its risk rating and the incentive fee payable by the Fund. Such reference index will be changed at the time of the IO Change and, subject to unitholder approval, the incentive fee calculation for the Fund will be reset at such time.

Ninepoint Partners will seek the approval of unitholders of the Fund in respect of the proposed IO Change and incentive fee reset (the Proposed Material Changes) at a special meeting to be held on or about August 11, 2025. Next month, details of the Proposed Material Changes will be sent to investors in the Fund who are entitled to vote. If the requisite approval is obtained, it is expected that the Proposed Material Changes will be implemented effective after the meeting on or about August 11, 2025.

About Ninepoint Partners

Based in Toronto, Ninepoint Partners LP is one of Canada’s leading alternative investment management firms overseeing approximately $7 billion in assets under management and institutional contracts. Committed to helping investors explore innovative investment solutions that have the potential to enhance returns and manage portfolio risk, Ninepoint offers a diverse set of alternative strategies spanning Equities, Fixed Income, Alternative Income, Real Assets, F/X and Digital Assets.

For more information on Ninepoint Partners LP, please visit www.ninepoint.com or please contact us at (416) 943-6707 or (866) 299-9906 or invest@ninepoint.com.

Sales Inquiries:
Ninepoint Partners LP
Neil Ross
416-945-6227
nross@ninepoint.com

The MIL Network –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI: Ninepoint Partners LP Announces Proposed Changes to Name, Investment Objective, Investment Strategies and Other Changes for Ninepoint Resource Fund

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

TORONTO, June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ninepoint Partners LP (Ninepoint Partners) announced today that, subject to unitholder approval, it proposes to change the investment objective (the IO Change) of Ninepoint Resource Fund (the Fund) to primarily focus the Fund’s investments in global equity and equity-related securities of companies that are involved diretly or indirectly in the metals and mining sector. If the IO Change is approved by unitholders, Ninepoint Partners will adjust the Fund’s investment strategies to implement the new investment objective, and will change the name of the Fund to: Ninepoint Mining Evolution Fund.

Corresponding with the IO Change, Ninepoint Partners proposes to change the reference index used by the Fund for the purposes of calculating its risk rating and the incentive fee payable by the Fund. Such reference index will be changed at the time of the IO Change and, subject to unitholder approval, the incentive fee calculation for the Fund will be reset at such time.

Ninepoint Partners will seek the approval of unitholders of the Fund in respect of the proposed IO Change and incentive fee reset (the Proposed Material Changes) at a special meeting to be held on or about August 11, 2025. Next month, details of the Proposed Material Changes will be sent to investors in the Fund who are entitled to vote. If the requisite approval is obtained, it is expected that the Proposed Material Changes will be implemented effective after the meeting on or about August 11, 2025.

About Ninepoint Partners

Based in Toronto, Ninepoint Partners LP is one of Canada’s leading alternative investment management firms overseeing approximately $7 billion in assets under management and institutional contracts. Committed to helping investors explore innovative investment solutions that have the potential to enhance returns and manage portfolio risk, Ninepoint offers a diverse set of alternative strategies spanning Equities, Fixed Income, Alternative Income, Real Assets, F/X and Digital Assets.

For more information on Ninepoint Partners LP, please visit www.ninepoint.com or please contact us at (416) 943-6707 or (866) 299-9906 or invest@ninepoint.com.

Sales Inquiries:
Ninepoint Partners LP
Neil Ross
416-945-6227
nross@ninepoint.com

The MIL Network –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI: Summons for a written resolution – amendments to the senior secured callable bond terms
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

Oslo, 18 June 2025

Interoil Exploration and Production ASA (the “Company“) has today requested Nordic Trustee AS to summon for a bondholders’ written resolution (the “Summons“) for the Company’s senior secured callable bonds with ISIN NO 001 0729908 (the “Bonds“).

The purpose of the written resolution is to approve a proposal to amend the bond terms regarding the settlement of the interest payment on the Bonds falling due on 31 July 2025 (the “July Interest Payment“) in kind by the issuance and delivery of additional Bonds (“July PIK Bonds“) with terms and conditions substantially equal to those of the outstanding Bonds and the same interest rate as the outstanding Bonds at a rate of eight point fifty per cent (8.50%).

In addition, the Company kindly request a waiver of the requirement in (i) Clause 13.2.1 paragraph (c) of the bond terms to publish its financial statements for year 2024 on its website within 120 days from the end of its financial year and (ii) Clause 13.2.1 paragraph (d) of the bond terms to publish its interim accounts for Q1 2025 on its website within 60 days after the end of Q1.

For further background and details of the proposed resolutions, please see the attached Summons.

The proposed resolutions will be passed if a simple majority of the voting bonds vote in favor of the proposed resolution prior to the expiry of the voting period. The voting period shall expire ten (10) business days after the date of the Summons, i.e., at 5 pm Oslo time on 3 July 2025.

Please direct any further questions to: ir@interoil.no (mailto:ir@interoil.no)

***

Interoil Exploration and Production ASA is a Norwegian based exploration and production company – listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange with focus on Latin America. The Company is operator and license holder of several production and exploration assets in Colombia and Argentina with headquarter in Oslo.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

Attachment
- NO0010729908_SB_20250618
The MIL Network –
June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI: Summons for a written resolution – amendments to the senior secured callable bond terms
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

Oslo, 18 June 2025

Interoil Exploration and Production ASA (the “Company“) has today requested Nordic Trustee AS to summon for a bondholders’ written resolution (the “Summons“) for the Company’s senior secured callable bonds with ISIN NO 001 0729908 (the “Bonds“).

The purpose of the written resolution is to approve a proposal to amend the bond terms regarding the settlement of the interest payment on the Bonds falling due on 31 July 2025 (the “July Interest Payment“) in kind by the issuance and delivery of additional Bonds (“July PIK Bonds“) with terms and conditions substantially equal to those of the outstanding Bonds and the same interest rate as the outstanding Bonds at a rate of eight point fifty per cent (8.50%).

In addition, the Company kindly request a waiver of the requirement in (i) Clause 13.2.1 paragraph (c) of the bond terms to publish its financial statements for year 2024 on its website within 120 days from the end of its financial year and (ii) Clause 13.2.1 paragraph (d) of the bond terms to publish its interim accounts for Q1 2025 on its website within 60 days after the end of Q1.

For further background and details of the proposed resolutions, please see the attached Summons.

The proposed resolutions will be passed if a simple majority of the voting bonds vote in favor of the proposed resolution prior to the expiry of the voting period. The voting period shall expire ten (10) business days after the date of the Summons, i.e., at 5 pm Oslo time on 3 July 2025.

Please direct any further questions to: ir@interoil.no (mailto:ir@interoil.no)

***

Interoil Exploration and Production ASA is a Norwegian based exploration and production company – listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange with focus on Latin America. The Company is operator and license holder of several production and exploration assets in Colombia and Argentina with headquarter in Oslo.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

Attachment
- NO0010729908_SB_20250618
The MIL Network –
June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Reverend Clive Foster appointed as first Windrush Commissioner
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3

News story

Reverend Clive Foster appointed as first Windrush Commissioner

Home Secretary appoints first Windrush Commissioner to deliver justice for victims, and ensure their voices remain at the heart of reform.
The Home Secretary has appointed senior pastor Reverend Clive Foster MBE as the first Windrush Commissioner – delivering on the government’s manifesto commitment to achieve justice for victims of the Home Office Windrush scandal.

The announcement comes ahead of Windrush Day this Sunday (22 June), marking the 77th anniversary of the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush to Britain and the community’s extraordinary contribution to this country.

This appointment forms part of the Plan for Change to ensure lessons from past injustices are fully embedded across government policy.

The commissioner, a newly created role on a 3-year term, will provide independent oversight of the government’s work to address the Home Office Windrush scandal and ensure the voices of victims remain at the heart of efforts to deliver justice.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said:

The story of the Windrush generations is woven into the fabric of our nation and this government is absolutely determined to right the wrongs they suffered at the hands of the Home Office.

This is why I am delighted to welcome Reverend Clive Foster as our new Windrush Commissioner. His deep understanding through his own connections and dedicated community work makes him the perfect champion for those affected by this historic injustice.

I look forward to working closely with Reverend Foster as we continue our vital work to rebuild trust and deliver the justice that the Windrush generations so rightfully deserve.

Reverend Foster is a senior pastor at the Pilgrim Church in Nottingham and brings valuable experience in community leadership and social justice work.

With personal connections to the Windrush generations through his parents who migrated to the UK from Jamaica in 1959, Reverend Foster brings both lived experience and professional expertise to the role. He is the founder of the Nottingham Windrush Support Forum and serves as vice chair of the Windrush National Organisation where he volunteers.

Windrush Commissioner Reverend Clive Foster MBE said:

I’m honoured to take on the role of Windrush Commissioner. I’m committed to ensuring justice is delivered for the Windrush generations – people who have given so much to this country and deserve better than the treatment they have received.

The injustices they faced must never be repeated, and that requires more than words; it requires cultural change, accountability, and action. My aim is to deliver change that the Windrush generations can see and feel in their everyday lives, particularly in how the Windrush status and compensation schemes operate.

I will carry out this role independently, without fear or favour, while creating a constructive relationship with government where challenge is welcomed and scrutiny leads to specific, transparent improvements.

Reverend Foster believes the Windrush generations should not be defined by a scandal, but by their extraordinary contribution to the UK and should now be celebrated.

Since coming to power, the government has strengthened support for the Windrush generations through a £1.5 million fund to help affected individuals access compensation and re-establishing the Windrush Unit to drive forward the action needed to prevent a similar scandal from ever happening again.

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Updates to this page

Published 18 June 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
June 19, 2025
Vedic chants resonate in Zagreb as PM Modi receives rousing welcome in Croatia

Source: Government of India

Source: Government of India (4)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a rousing welcome by the vibrant Indian community in Zagreb as he began his landmark visit to Croatia – the first-ever by an Indian Prime Minister to the country – on Wednesday.

Zagreb is the last stop on PM Modi’s three-nation tour, which also included visits to Cyprus en route to Canada for Tuesday’s G7 Summit in Kananaskis.

As a special gesture, the PM was warmly received by his Croatian counterpart Andrej Plenkovic at the Franjo Tudman Airport with a ceremonial welcome.

“This is a special visit, the first ever by an Indian Prime Minister to a valued European partner. I am grateful to Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic for the special gesture of welcoming me at the airport,” PM Modi posted on X.

Plenkovic said that PM Modi’s significant visit comes at a pivotal moment.

“We welcomed the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Zagreb! This is the first visit by the Prime Minister of India – the most populous country in the world, and it comes at an important geopolitical moment. We are starting a new chapter in Croatia-India relations and creating the conditions for strengthening bilateral cooperation in a number of areas,” the Croatian Prime Minister commented.

Members of the Indian diaspora, waiting to catch a glimpse of PM Modi, were seen gathered in huge numbers as the PM’s motorcade drove through the city.

Hundreds of people, including locals, also gave a grand welcome to PM Modi as he arrived at his hotel.

Amid chants of “Modi-Modi”, “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Vande Mataram”, PM Modi witnessed vibrant and energy-filled cultural performances from people present at the venue.

PM Modi joined a group of locals chanting Vedic shlokas and also interacted with a few in the gathering while getting inside the building.

Citing the centuries-old close cultural links, PM Modi had said before arriving in the country that he is looking forward to his visit and meetings with President Zoran Milanovic and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

Prime Minister Modi had asserted that the three-nation tour is also an opportunity to thank partner countries for their steadfast support to India in India’s fight against cross-border terrorism, and to galvanise global understanding on tackling terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

Analysts reckon that the first-ever visit by an Indian PM to Croatia will help in fostering stronger political and economic collaboration with Croatia. It will also provide a crucial opportunity to expand bilateral cooperation in various sectors including trade, innovation, defence, ports, shipping, science and tech, cultural exchange, and workforce mobility.

India and Croatia have close cooperation in trade, investment, defence, agriculture sectors amongst others, and also cooperate in international fora, vibrant cultural exchanges and close people-to-people ties.

The bilateral trade between both nations stands at about USD 300 million with the Indian investments in Croatia being roughly around USD 48 million.

Prime Minister Modi briefly interacted with Croatian PM Plenkovic at COP-26 in 2021 and the virtual India-EU Leaders Meeting the same year.

Former President Ramnath Kovind undertook State Visit to Croatia in March 2019, during which he was conferred with Croatia’s highest civilian honor (‘the Grand Order of the King of Tomislav’).

India has been well known in Croatia for centuries, and the earliest Croatian visitors to India were missionaries. Links have been found between the Principality of Dubrovnik and Goa, and the Church of Sao Braz was reportedly built by Croatians around 1563 in Goa.

The Indian community in Croatia has changed over the last three years rapidly due to the demographic situation in Croatia where a lot of foreign workers are being employed for carrying out work in different sectors of the economy.

There were approximately 17000 Indians residing in Croatia in December 2024. Many of the Indian workers are working on short to medium term contracts and therefore at least 90 per cent of the people currently residing are those who form a part of the mobile population staying in Croatia for a specific contractual period.

(IANS)

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI Canada: Contributing to a stronger economy for Newfoundland and Labrador: Canada announces a sustainable increase in Northern cod TAC

Source: Government of Canada News (2)

June 18, 2025

St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador – Cod is an important species to Newfoundland and Labrador. Commercial and recreational fishing has shaped the province’s history, economy, and culture.

Today, the Minister of Fisheries, the Honourable Joanne Thompson, announced management plans for Northern cod (2J3KL) and Capelin (2J3KLPs) for the 2025-26 seasons, reinforcing support for Newfoundland and Labrador’s coastal communities. Recent scientific data and assessments confirm Northern cod has remained stable since 2017 and is at a higher level than previously understood from the 2024 assessment, allowing for a responsible total allowable catch (TAC) increase from 18,000 tonnes (t) to 38,000 t.

Capelin is a key food source for Northern cod and other species, and plays a significant role in sustaining the marine ecosystem. While Capelin populations are stable, it is anticipated that stocks will decrease to recent average levels. As such, the TAC for Capelin will remain at 14,533 t.

To inform future management decisions for the recreational cod fishery – known to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians as the food fishery – the government will launch public consultations. The goal is to gather input on this fishery, and discuss the distinct differences in the health of the province’s three cod populations. While the stocks on the south and west coasts remain in the Critical Zone, the Northern cod stock status has improved. Recognizing the importance of cod to coastal communities, the management measures for the recreational groundfish fishery will remain unchanged for 2025.

The government is launching a new voluntary pilot program for tour boat operations certified by Transport Canada, giving them the flexibility to retain fish seven days a week while eliminating the catch-and-release aspect. With the new tagging system, passengers can now keep two groundfish per day.

As these measures come into effect this season, we remain committed to ongoing assessment, consultation, and adjustments to ensure responsible fisheries management decisions.

MIL OSI Canada News –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI Canada: Minister Solomon to address the quantum community in Montréal

Source: Government of Canada News

June 18, 2025 – Montréal, Quebec

The Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, will be addressing the Canadian quantum community and providing remarks regarding the successes and the future of quantum.

Date: Thursday, June 19, 2025

Time: 9:30 am (ET)

Location: Montréal, Quebec

Members of the media are asked to contact ISED Media Relations at media@ised-isde.gc.ca to receive event location details and confirm their attendance.

MIL OSI Canada News –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI Canada: Northern cod commercial fishery
Source: Government of Canada News

Based on recent science assessments, stakeholders and industry leaders have called for higher quotas in the Northern cod commercial fishery to continue rebuilding markets and expand processing capacity. The Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for the 2025 season is increasing from 18,000 to 38,000 tonnes, boosting economic opportunities for coastal communities.

Commercial allocations for 2025-26 are as follows:
- 80% is allocated to inshore harvesters including a new allocation for the inshore mobile gear fleet
- 10% is allocated to Indigenous groups and special allocation
- 9.72% is allocated to Canadian offshore fleets
- 0.28% is allocated to mid shore fixed gear and mobile gear fleets
Under NAFO Conservation and Enforcement measures introduced by Canada, 2,000 tonnes, an amount equal to approximately 5% of the overall TAC, is set aside for other NAFO Contracting Parties fishing outside Canada’s exclusive economic zone, fulfilling Canada’s international commitments.

Science

The latest scientific data shows Northern cod has been generally stable since 2017 and is at a healthier state relative to its Limit Reference Point (LRP) than previously thought. The approach announced today has a high probability (73%) of maintaining the stock above the critical zone.

Recreational Groundfish fishery

The Recreational Groundfish fishery remains an important social and cultural tradition.

For 2025-26, the current limits stay in place:
- Five groundfish per person per day, with a maximum boat limit of 15 groundfish if three or more people are onboard.
- The season will run for 39 days—every Saturday, Sunday and Monday, from June 28 to September 1, with a fall fishing period from September 20 to 28.
Supporting tour boat operators and coastal economies

To provide more flexibility and new economic opportunities for tour boat operators certified by Transport Canada, a new voluntary pilot program will launch in 2025. It will:
- Introduce a tagging system providing tour boat operators greater flexibility and allowing retention seven days a week; and,
- Permit passengers to retain two groundfish per day.
Persons with Disabilities

People with permanent disabilities can continue to apply for a designation that allows someone else to catch their daily groundfish limit during the Recreational Groundfish fishery on their behalf.

MIL OSI Canada News –
June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Simpson Cosponsors Bill to Protect Women’s Sports at Service Academies

Source: US State of Idaho

Rep. Simpson Cosponsors Bill to Protect Women’s Sports at Service Academies

Washington, June 18, 2025

WASHINGTON—Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson cosponsored H.R. 3917 – the Protection of Women in Sports at Military Academies Act. This legislation would prohibit the participation of males in athletic programs or activities at the military service academies that are designated for women or girls. This legislation is sponsored by Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD).
“An overwhelming majority of Americans agree that men do not belong in women’s sports,” said Rep. Simpson. “Upholding the promise of Title IX means protecting women’s sports at every level of competition. Our nation’s military academies provide students with an excellent opportunity to pursue higher education, compete in athletics, and serve our country. These institutions should not focus on the woke, out-of-touch policies of the previous administration. I am proud to cosponsor this legislation and stand up for the next generation of female military leaders.”
U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) has introduced companion legislation in the Senate.
The full text of the legislation is available here.

MIL OSI USA News –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI: Renergen’s Phase 2 EPC Contractor Awarded Preferred Bidder Status

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

JOHANNESBURG, June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Renergen is pleased to announce that preferred bidder status has been awarded to He4u consortium for the design, procurement, delivery, construction and commissioning for phase 2 of the Tetra4 LNG and helium liquefaction project, comprising of, Chart Industries Inc. (NYSE: GTLS), Wilson Bayly Holmes – Ovcon Ltd (JSE: WBO), and Aurex Constructors. The appointment of an acceptable EPC contractor in Phase 2 was one of the two remaining conditions for the DFC Phase 2 loan.

The award is a key milestone in the project’s progress. The award confirms that Chart Industries’ Helium liquefier and LNG liquefaction technologies have been selected as Tetra4’s preferred technical solution for the implementation of Phase 2 of the Virginia Gas Project. In addition, the award includes multiple local construction and fabrication partners, such as Aurex and WBHO, that are well-versed in executing large projects in South Africa.

Chart Industries, Inc. is a leading independent global manufacturer of highly engineered equipment servicing multiple market applications in energy and industrial gas. Chart’s unique product portfolio is used throughout the liquid gas supply chain in the production, storage, distribution and end-use of atmospheric, hydrocarbon, and industrial gases. Chart is headquartered in Georgia, the USA, with operations in over 50 countries globally

WBHO is a multidisciplinary, international construction company. WBHO’s motto, “Rely on Our Ability”, demonstrates the pride they take in providing their clients, big and small, with safety first and quality always. Construction activities, which cover the full spectrum, are divided into four main operating divisions: Building Construction, Civil Engineering, Projects and Roads and Earthwork. WBHO Projects Division undertakes the EPC/Design & Construct and renewable energy projects for the Group. The origins of the present group date back to 1970 and today the group is one of the largest construction companies in Southern Africa and is listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange with a Level 1 B-BBEE contributor status.

Aurex Constructors is an industry-leading multidisciplinary contractor, renowned for its commitment to quality and safety, delivering uncompromised excellence within the energy sector. As a B-BBEE Level 2 contributor with over 40 years of experience, Aurex specialises in Structural, Mechanical, Electrical, Instrumentation and Piping services, providing construction and maintenance solutions to the industrial, power generation and renewable energy industries, including EPC project services specifically for PV energy generation plants. The company has a proven track record of successfully completing large-scale and complex projects, making it a trusted partner in the industry.

“Chart Industries is pleased to have been selected by Renergen as technology partner for Tetra4’s Helium and LNG liquefaction requirements. We look forward to providing our world-class technologies and engineering solutions at scale to Tetra4 as the company moves toward implementation of the next phase of the Virginia Gas Project.”, said Jillian Evanko, CEO of Chart Industries Inc.

“We are excited to have such an experienced and technically strong team executing our Phase 2 project on a turnkey basis, and we have every confidence that the skillset they bring to the table and when combined with Worley who will be responsible to manage and oversee the contractors in official capacity as Owners Engineer, reduces the execution risk tremendously on Phase 2. This represents another major milestone, and one of very few remaining towards commencement of construction of Phase 2, said Stefano Marani, CEO of Renergen.

ASP Isotopes Inc. (NASDAQ: ASPI) announced a firm intention offer to the shareholders of Renergen Limited on 20 May 2025. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions

Contacts
Mandy Stuart
Email – Mandy@renergen.co.za
Telephone – +27 84 6067200

The MIL Network –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: ‘Jaws’ and the two musical notes that changed Hollywood forever

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jared Bahir Browsh, Assistant Teaching Professor of Critical Sports Studies, University of Colorado Boulder

Many film historians see ‘Jaws’ as the first true summer blockbuster. Steve Kagan/Getty Images

“Da, duh.”

Two simple notes – E and F – have become synonymous with tension, fear and sharks, representing the primal dread of being stalked by a predator.

And they largely have “Jaws” to thank.

Fifty years ago, Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster film – along with its spooky score composed by John Williams – convinced generations of swimmers to think twice before going in the water.

As a scholar of media history and popular culture, I decided to take a deeper dive into the staying power of these two notes and learned about how they’re influenced by 19th-century classical music, Mickey Mouse and Alfred Hitchcock.

When John Williams proposed the two-note theme for ‘Jaws,’ Steven Spielberg initially thought it was a joke.

YouTube video not showing up for me

The first summer blockbuster

In 1964, fisherman Frank Mundus killed a 4,500-pound great white shark off Long Island.

After hearing the story, freelance journalist Peter Benchley began pitching a novel based on three men’s attempt to capture a man-eating shark, basing the character of Quint off of Mundus. Doubleday commissioned Benchley to write the novel, and in 1973, Universal Studios producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown purchased the film rights to the novel before it was published. The 26-year-old Spielberg was signed on to be the director.

Tapping into both mythical and real fears regarding great white sharks – including an infamous set of shark attacks along the Jersey Shore in 1916 – Benchley’s 1974 novel became a bestseller. The book was a key part of Universal’s marketing campaign, which began several months before the film’s release.

Starting in the fall of 1974, Zanuck, Brown and Benchley appeared on a number of radio and television programs to simultaneously promote the release of the paperback edition of the novel and the upcoming film. The marketing also included a national television advertising campaign that featured emerging composer Williams’ two-note theme. The plan was for a summer release, which, at the time, was reserved for films with less than stellar reviews.

TV ads promoting the film featured John Williams’ two-note theme.

Films at the time typically were released market by market, preceded by local reviews. However, Universal’s decision to release the film in hundreds of theaters across the country on June 20, 1975, led to huge up-front profits, sparking a 14-week run as the No. 1 film in the U.S.

Many consider “Jaws” the first true summer blockbuster. It catapulted Spielberg to fame and kicked off the director’s long collaboration with Williams, who would go on to earn the second-highest number of Academy Award nominations in history – 54 – behind only Walt Disney’s 59.

The film’s beating heart

Though it’s now considered one of the greatest scores in film history, when Williams proposed the two-note theme, Spielberg initially thought it was a joke.

But Williams had been inspired by 19th and 20th century composers, including Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky and especially Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.” In the “Jaws” theme, you can hear echoes of the end of Dvorak’s symphony, as well as the sounds of another character-driven musical piece, Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf.”

“Peter and the Wolf” and the score from “Jaws” are both prime examples of leitmotifs, or a musical piece that represents a place or character.

The varying pace of the ostinato – a musical motif that repeats itself – elicits intensifying degrees of emotion and fear. This became more integral as Spielberg and the technical team struggled with the malfunctioning pneumatic sharks that they’d nicknamed “Bruce,” after Spielberg’s lawyer.

As a result, the shark does not appear until the 81-minute mark of the 124-minute film. But its presence is felt through Williams’ theme, which some music scholars have theorized evoke the shark’s heartbeat.

Mechanical issues with ‘Bruce,’ the mechanical shark, during filming forced Steven Spielberg to rely more on mood and atmosphere.
Screen Archives/Moviepix via Getty Images

Sounds to manipulate emotions

Williams also has Disney to thank for revolutionizing character-driven music in film.

The two don’t just share a brimming trophy case. They also understood how music can heighten emotion and magnify action for audiences.

Although his career started in the silent film era, Disney became a titan of film, and later media, by leveraging sound to establish one of the greatest stars in media history, Mickey Mouse.

When Disney saw “The Jazz Singer” in 1927, he knew that sound would be the future of film.

On Nov. 18, 1928, “Steamboat Willie” premiered at Universal’s Colony Theater in New York City as Disney’s first animated film to incorporate synchronized sound.

Unlike previous attempts to bring sound to film by having record players concurrently play or deploying live musicians to perform in the theater, Disney used technology that recorded sound directly on the film reel.

It wasn’t the first animated film with synchronized sound, but it was a technical improvement to previous attempts at it, and “Steamboat Willie” became an international hit, launching Mickey’s – and Disney’s – career.

The use of music or sound to match the rhythm of the characters on screen became known as “Mickey Mousing.”

“King Kong” in 1933 would deftly deploy Mickey Mousing in a live action film, with music mimicking the giant gorilla’s movements. For example, in one scene, Kong carries away Ann Darrow, who’s played by actress Fay Wray. Composer Max Steiner uses lighter tones to convey Kong’s curiosity as he holds Ann, followed by ominous, faster, tones as Ann escapes and Kong chases after her. In doing so, Steiner encourages viewers to both fear and connect with the beast throughout the film, helping them suspend disbelief and enter a world of fantasy.

Mickey Mousing declined in popularity after World War II. Many filmmakers saw it as juvenile and too simplistic for the evolving and advancing film industry.

When less is more

In spite of this criticism, the technique was still used to score some iconic scenes, like the playing of violins in the shower as Marion Crane is stabbed in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho.”

Spielberg idolized Hitchcock. A young Spielberg was even kicked off the Universal lot after sneaking on to watch the production of Hitchcock’s 1966 film “Torn Curtain.”

Although Hitchcock and Spielberg never met, “Jaws” clearly exhibits the influence of Hitchcock, the “Master of Suspense.” And maybe that’s why Spielberg initially overcame his doubts about using something so simple to represent tension in the thriller.

Steven Spielberg was just 26 years old when he signed on to direct ‘Jaws.’
Universal/Getty Images

The use of the two-note motif helps overcome the production issues Spielberg faced directing the first feature length movie to be filmed on the ocean. The malfunctioning animatronic shark forced Spielberg to leverage Williams’ minimalist theme to represent the shark’s ominous presence in spite of the limited appearances by the eponymous predatory star.

As Williams continued his legendary career, he would deploy a similar sonic motif for certain “Star Wars” characters. Each time Darth Vader appeared, the “Imperial March” was played to set the tone for the leader of the dark side.

As movie budgets creep closer to a half-billion dollars, the “Jaws” theme – and the way those two notes manipulate tension – is a reminder that in film, sometimes less can be more.

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

– ref. ‘Jaws’ and the two musical notes that changed Hollywood forever – https://theconversation.com/jaws-and-the-two-musical-notes-that-changed-hollywood-forever-255379

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Ticks carry decades of history in each troublesome bite

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Sean Lawrence, Assistant Professor of History, West Virginia University

The black-legged tick, or deer tick, _Ixodes scapularis_, can transmit Lyme disease and other health hazards. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

When you think about ticks, you might picture nightmarish little parasites, stalking you on weekend hikes or afternoons in the park.

Your fear is well-founded. Tick-borne diseases are the most prevalent vector-borne diseases – those transmitted by living organisms – in the United States. Each tick feeds on multiple animals throughout its life, absorbing viruses and bacteria along the way and passing them on with its next bite. Some of those viruses and bacteria are harmful to humans, causing diseases that can be debilitating and sometimes lethal without treatment, such as Lyme, babesiosis and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

But contained in every bite of this infuriating, insatiable pest is also a trove of social, environmental and epidemiological history.

In many cases, human actions long ago are the reason ticks carry these diseases so widely today. And that’s what makes ticks fascinating for environmental historians like me.

Ticks can be tiny and hard to spot. This is an adult and nymph Ixodes scapularis on an adult’s index finger.
CDC

Changing forests fueled tick risks

During the 18th and 19th centuries, settlers cleared more than half the forested land across the northeastern U.S., cutting down forests for timber and to make way for farms, towns and mining operations. With large-scale land clearing came a sharp decline in wildlife of all kinds. Predators such as bears and wolves were driven out, as were deer.

As farming moved westward, Northeasterners began to recognize the ecological and economic value of trees, and they returned millions of acres to forest.

The woods regrew. Plant-eaters such as deer returned, but the apex predators that once kept their populations in check did not.

As a result, deer populations carrying borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, grew rapidly. And with the deer came deer ticks (Ixodes scapularis). When a tick feeds on an infected deer, it can take up the bacteria. The tick isn’t harmed, but it can pass the bacteria to its next victim. In humans, Lyme disease can cause fever and fatigue, and if left untreated it can affect the nervous system.

The eastern U.S. became a global hot spot for tick-borne Lyme disease starting around the 1970s. Lyme disease affected over 89,000 Americans in 2023, and possibly many more.

Californians move into tick territory

For centuries, changing patterns of human settlements and the politics of land use have shaped the role of ticks and tick-borne illnesses within their environments.

In short, humans have made it easier for ticks to thrive and spread disease in our midst.

In California, the Northern Inner Coast and Santa Cruz mountain ranges that converge on San Francisco from the north and south were never clear-cut, and predators such as mountain lions and coyotes still exist there. But competition for housing has pushed human settlement deeper into wildland areas to the north, south and east of the city, reshaping tick ecology there.

A range map for the western black-legged tick.
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases

While western black-legged ticks (Ixodes pacificus) tend to swarm in large forest preserves, the Lyme-causing bacterium is actually more prevalent in small, isolated patches of greenery. In these isolated patches, rodents and other tick hosts can thrive, safe from large predators, which need more habitat to move freely. But isolation and lower diversity also means infections are spread more easily within the tick’s host populations.

People tend to build isolated houses in the hills, rather than large, connected developments. As the Silicon Valley area south of San Francisco sprawls outward, this checkerboard pattern of settlement has fragmented the natural landscape, creating a hard-to-manage public health threat.

Fewer hosts, more tightly packed, often means more infected hosts, proportionally, and thus more dangerous ticks.

A tick’s mouth is barbed so it can hold on as it draws blood over hours.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Six counties across these ranges, all surrounding and including San Francisco, account for 44% of recorded tick-borne illnesses in California.

A lesson from Texas cattle ranches

Domesticated livestock have also shaped the disease threat posed by ticks.

In 1892, at a meeting of cattle ranchers at the Stock Raiser’s Convention in Austin, Texas, Dr. B.A. Rogers introduced a novel theory that ticks were behind recent devastating plagues of Texas cattle fever. The disease had arrived with cattle imported from the West Indies and Mexico in the 1600s, and it was taking huge tolls on cattle herds. But how the disease spread to new victims had been a mystery.

A 1905 illustration of Rhipicephalus annulatus, a hard tick that causes cattle fever.
Nathan Banks, A treatise on the Acarina, or mites. Proceedings of the United States National Museum

Editors of Daniel’s Texas Medical Journal found the idea of ticks spreading disease laughable and lampooned the hypothesis, publishing a satire of what they described as an “early copy” of a forthcoming report on the subject.

The tick’s “fluid secretion, it is believed, is the poison which causes the fever … [and the tick] having been known to chew tobacco, as all other Texans do, the secretion is most probably tobacco juice,” they wrote.

Fortunately for the ranchers, not to mention the cows, the U.S. Department of Agriculture sided with Rogers. Its cattle fever tick program, started in 1906, curbed cattle fever outbreaks by limiting where and when cattle should cross tick-dense areas.

Engorged ticks feed on a calf’s ear.
Alan R Walker, CC BY-NC-SA

By 1938, the government had established a quarantine zone that extended 580 miles by 10 miles along the U.S.-Mexico border in South Texas Brush Country, a region favored by the cattle tick.

This innovative use of natural space as a public health tool helped to functionally eradicate cattle fever from 14 Southern states by 1943.

Ticks are products of their environment

When it comes to tick-borne diseases the world over, location matters.

Take the hunter tick (Hyalomma spp.) of the Mediterranean and Asia. As a juvenile, or nymph, these ticks feed on small forest animals such as mice, hares and voles, but as an adult they prefer domesticated livestock.

For centuries, this tick was an occasional nuisance to nomadic shepherds of the Middle East. But in the 1850s, the Ottoman Empire passed laws to force nomadic tribes to become settled farmers instead. Unclaimed lands, especially on the forested edges of the steppe, were offered to settlers, creating ideal conditions for hunter ticks.

As a result, farmers in what today is Turkey saw spikes in tick-borne diseases, including a virus that causes Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, a potentially fatal condition.

Where to check for ticks and how to remove them.

It’s probably too much to ask for sympathy for any ticks you meet this summer. They are bloodsucking parasites, after all.

Still, it’s worth remembering that the tick’s malevolence isn’t its own fault. Ticks are products of their environment, and humans have played many roles in turning them into the harmful parasites that seek us out today.

Sean Lawrence has nothing to disclose.

– ref. Ticks carry decades of history in each troublesome bite – https://theconversation.com/ticks-carry-decades-of-history-in-each-troublesome-bite-257110

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: AI helps tell snow leopards apart, improving population counts for these majestic mountain predators

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Eve Bohnett, Assistant Scholar, Center for Landscape Conservation Planning, University of Florida

Snow leopards are hard to find and count, which makes protecting them difficult. zahoor salmi/Moment via Getty Images

Snow leopards are known as the “ghosts of the mountains” for a reason. Imagine waiting for months in the harsh, rugged mountains of Asia, hoping to catch even a glimpse of one. These elusive big cats move silently across rocky slopes, their pale coats blending so seamlessly with snow and stone that even the most seasoned biologists seldom spot them in the wild.

Travel writer Peter Matthiessen spent two months in 1973 searching the Tibetan plateau for them and wrote a 300-page book about the effort. He never saw one. Forty years later, Peter’s son Alex retraced his father’s steps – and didn’t see one either.

Researchers have struggled to come up with a figure for the global population. In 2017, the International Union for Conservation of Nature reclassified the snow leopard from endangered to vulnerable, citing estimates of between 2,500 and 10,000 adults in the wild. However, the group also warned that numbers continue to decline in many areas due to habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict. Those who study these animals want to help protect the species and their habitat – if only we can determine exactly where they live and how many there are.

Traditional tracking methods – searching for footprints, droppings and other signs – have their limits. Instead of waiting for a lucky face-to-face encounter, conservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society, led by experts including Stéphane Ostrowski and Sorosh Poya Faryabi, began deploying automated camera traps in Afghanistan. These devices snap photos whenever movement is detected, capturing thousands of images over months, all in hopes of obtaining a rare glimpse of a snow leopard.

But capturing images is only half the battle. The next, even harder task is telling one snow leopard apart from another.

Are these the same animal or different ones? It’s really hard to tell.
Eve Bohnett, CC BY-ND

At first glance, it might sound simple: Each snow leopard has a unique pattern of black rosettes on its coat, like a fingerprint or a face in a crowd. Yet in practice, identifying individuals by these patterns is slow, subjective and prone to error. Photos may be taken at odd angles, under poor lighting, or with parts of the animal obscured – making matches tricky.

A common mistake happens when photos from different cameras are marked as depicting different animals when they actually show the same individual, inflating population estimates. Worse, camera trap images can get mixed up or misfiled, splitting encounters of one cat across multiple batches and identities.

I am a data analyst working with Wildlife Conservation Society and other partners at Wild Me. My work and others’ has found that even trained experts can misidentify animals, failing to recognize repeat visitors at locations monitored by motion-sensing cameras and counting the same animal more than once. One study found that the snow leopard population was overestimated by more than 30% because of these human errors.

To avoid these pitfalls, researchers follow camera sorting guidelines: At least three clear pattern differences or similarities must be confirmed between two images to declare them the same or different cats. Images too blurry, too dark or taken from difficult angles may have to be discarded. Identification efforts range from easy cases with clear, full-body shots to ambiguous ones needing collaboration and debate. Despite these efforts, variability remains, and more experienced observers tend to be more accurate.

Now people trying to count snow leopards are getting help from artificial intelligence systems, in two ways.

Spotting the spots

Modern AI tools are revolutionizing how we process these large photo libraries. First, AI can rapidly sort through thousands of images, flagging those that contain snow leopards and ignoring irrelevant ones such as those that depict blue sheep, gray-and-white mountain terrain, or shadows.

Unique spots and spot patterns are key to telling snow leopards apart.
Eve Bohnett, CC BY-NC-ND

AI can identify individual snow leopards by analyzing their unique rosette patterns, even when poses or lighting vary. Each snow leopard encounter is compared with a catalog of previously identified photos and assigned a known ID if there is a match, or entered as a new individual if not.

In a recent study, several colleagues and I evaluated two AI algorithms, both separately and in tandem.

The first algorithm, called HotSpotter, identifies individual snow leopards by comparing key visual features such as coat patterns, highlighting distinctive “hot spots” with a yellow marker.

The second is a newer method called pose invariant embeddings, which operates similar to facial recognition technology: It recognizes layers of abstract features in the data, identifying the same animal regardless of how it is positioned in the photo or what kind of lighting there may be.

We trained these systems using a curated dataset of photos of snow leopards from zoos in the U.S., Europe and Tajikistan, and with images from the wild, including in Afghanistan.

Alone, each model worked about 74% of the time, correctly identifying the cat from a large photo library. But when combined, the two systems together were correct 85% of the time.

These algorithms were integrated into Wildbook, an open-source, web-based software platform developed by the nonprofit organization Wild Me and now adopted by ConservationX. We deployed the combined system on a free website, Whiskerbook.org, where researchers can upload images, seek matches using the algorithms, and confirm those matches with side-by-side comparisons. This site is among a growing family of AI-powered wildlife platforms that are helping conservation biologists work more efficiently and more effectively at protecting species and their habitats.

A view from an online wildlife-tracking system suggests a possible match for a snow leopard caught by a remote camera.
Wildbook/Eve Bohnett, CC BY-ND

Humans still needed

These AI systems aren’t error-proof. AI quickly narrows down candidates and flags likely matches, but expert validation ensures accuracy, especially with tricky or ambiguous photos.

Another study we conducted pitted AI-assisted groups of experts and novices against each other. Each was given a set of three to 10 images of 34 known captive snow leopards and asked to use the Whiskerbook platform to identify them. They were also asked to estimate how many individual animals were in the set of photos.

The experts accurately matched about 90% of the images and delivered population estimates within about 3% of the true number. In contrast, the novices identified only 73% of the cats and underestimated the total number, sometimes by 25% or more, incorrectly merging two individuals into one.

Both sets of results were better than when experts or novices did not use any software.

The takeaway is clear: Human expertise remains important, and combining it with AI support leads to the most accurate results. My colleagues and I hope that by using tools like Whiskerbook and the AI systems embedded in them, researchers will be able to more quickly and more confidently study these elusive animals.

With AI tools like Whiskerbook illuminating the mysteries of these mountain ghosts, we have another way to safeguard snow leopards – but success depends on continued commitment to protecting their fragile mountain homes.

Eve Bohnett receives funding from San Diego State Research Foundation and Wildlife Conservation Society. She is affiliated with University of Florida.

– ref. AI helps tell snow leopards apart, improving population counts for these majestic mountain predators – https://theconversation.com/ai-helps-tell-snow-leopards-apart-improving-population-counts-for-these-majestic-mountain-predators-258154

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Germany’s young Jewish and Muslim writers are speaking for themselves – exploring immigrant identity beyond stereotypes

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Agnes Mueller, Carol Kahn Strauss Fellow in Jewish Studies at the American Academy in Berlin, Professor of German and American Literature, University of South Carolina

A Muslim guest sits next to a Jewish one during an ordination ceremony at the Rykestrasse Synagogue in Berlin in September 2024. Omer Messinger/Getty Images

The consequences of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and Israel’s war in Gaza have reverberated far beyond the zones of conflict.

In the United States, for example, a growing number of people, including some Jewish groups, assert that political leaders are exploiting concerns about antisemitism for their own political goals, from cracking down on academic freedom to deporting pro-Palestinian activists.

Debate about the war in Gaza feels fraught in Germany, too, where concerns about rising antisemitism have been used to criticize some Muslim communities. The Holocaust looms over discussions about Israel, with many claiming the country’s sense of historical guilt has made it, until recently, reluctant to criticize Israeli politics.

In the wake of the country’s reunification in the early 1990s, about 200,000 Jews from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union came to Germany. In more recent years, waves of predominantly Muslim refugees from the Middle East have entered a space that already had a large population of Turkish immigrants and their descendants. However, many Germans oppose these more open immigration policies, with widespread backlash against Muslim migrants.

In recent decades, some of Germany’s migrants and their children – some Jewish, and some Muslim – have used fiction to explore their identity and these contested issues in new ways, challenging simple narratives. As a scholar of German literature and Jewish studies, I have studied how literature creates new spaces for readers to explore the similarities between their experiences, building solidarity beyond stereotypes.

‘The Prodigal Son’

Many of today’s young Jewish writers were born in the former Soviet Union and arrived in Germany with their parents as part of the “quota refugee” program. Initiated in the early 1990s, this program invited Jewish migrants into a newly unified Germany – intended to show that the country was taking responsibility for the atrocities of the past. The newcomers were flippantly called “Wiedergutmachungsjuden,” “make-good-again Jews,” referring to Germans’ desire to atone.

One of them was Olga Grjasnowa. Born in 1984, Grjasnowa came from Azerbaijan to Germany at age 11. She has written about Holocaust memory, as in her 2012 novel “All Russians Love Birch Trees,” and said in a 2018 interview that all her books are “Jewish books.”

Olga Grjasnowa during the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Aug. 22, 2019, in Scotland.
Roberto Ricciuti/Getty Images

Her 2021 book “Der verlorene Sohn,” “The Prodigal Son,” echoes Holocaust memory, but in a historical novel set in 19th-century Russia.

The protagonist Jamaluddin – the name derives from the Arabic word for “beauty of the faith” – is born in the Caucasian region of Dagestan, as the son of a powerful Muslim imam. To negotiate a peace deal, the boy is given as a hostage to Russia, where he grows up in the Orthodox Christian court of the czar. Though initially treated as an outsider, Jamaluddin assimilates and becomes a high-ranking officer, a life that ends when he must return to Dagestan. But there, too, he now feels homeless, regarded with suspicion as a stranger.

“The Prodigal Son” deals with abduction, deportation, exile and constant wandering. Jamaluddin’s fate is shaped by authoritarianism, repression, war and discrimination – themes that are familiar in Holocaust literature, though here they befall a Muslim boy in another time and place.

Repeatedly, the novel makes mention of Jewish communities and their own suffering under the czar. As Jewish boys are being forced to march from remote villages to Saint Petersburg, Jamaluddin is “furious and ashamed” of his fellow officers. But he also begins to feel self-pity, flooded with memories of his own departure from home.

This scene depicts a historical reality under Czar Nicholas I, who ruled from 1825-1855: Russian Jewish boys were conscripted, sometimes kidnapped, to serve in the army. For contemporary audiences, the description can also evoke the death marches of Jewish prisoners during the Shoah, the Hebrew term for the Holocaust. Several additional moments in the book connect Jamaluddin’s experiences with images of Jewish flight and expulsion.

New conversations

Jamaluddin’s fate as an outsider between cultures can also bring to mind migrants’ experiences and emotions today. In 2022, one-quarter of Germans were either migrants themselves or had a parent who was not born in Germany. The largest minority group are Muslim-born Germans of Turkish descent, who are still routinely discriminated against.

Antisemitism, meanwhile, is pervasive but less obvious. The Germans’ relationship with Jews was long dominated by silence and guilt – and Jews themselves were mostly invisible until the end of the Cold War, when Jewish migration from the former Soviet states picked up. My 2015 book “The Inability to Love” describes how mainstream German authors, fueled by guilt and shame over the Nazi past, fell into a philosemitic antisemitism: Outward displays of repentance for the Holocaust and public policies that ostensibly embraced Jews clashed with privately held prejudice.

Many examples of new German literature show contemporary Jewish and Muslim characters with complex identities – protagonists who are not seen as simply Jewish, Muslim or belonging to only one culture, pushing back on reductive stereotypes.

For example, Kat Kaufmann’s 2015 novel “Superposition” tells the story of the young, popular and charismatic Izy, a Russian Jew who lives in Berlin as a jazz pianist. Her love interest is Timur, an Eastern European man with a typically Muslim name. When Izy thinks of her and Timur’s future son, she imagines him growing up with the luxury to conceal where he is from – to define his identity as he wishes, unlike previous generations.

Writer Fatma Aydemir speaks at a reading in Cologne, Germany, on March 21, 2022.
Oliver Berg/picture alliance via Getty Images

Stories by novelists such as Dmitrij Kapitelman, Lena Gorelik, Marina Frenk and Dana Vowinckel also depict moments of connection between Jews and other Germans, or between Jews and Muslims.

Turkish and/or Muslim writers such as Fatma Aydemir and Nazlı Koca – who now lives in America, writing in English – tell similar stories of young characters navigating German culture as marginalized individuals. They often depict young women who struggle to reconcile their culture of origin with German social expectations and xenophobia today.

“I wanted to question the idea that we all have one single identity and that’s it,” Aydemir told the literary site K24 about her novel “Ellbogen,” whose protagonist finds herself fleeing to Turkey, her family’s original home, after a personal crisis. “I think things are way more complex, more fluid than most of us want to believe.”

This younger generation of German Jewish and Muslim writers is recasting entrenched debates, showing characters whose identities are multidimensional and more open than the burdened past or fraught present politics would suggest. Today’s young writers are creating new, brave spaces for conversation and empathy.

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

– ref. Germany’s young Jewish and Muslim writers are speaking for themselves – exploring immigrant identity beyond stereotypes – https://theconversation.com/germanys-young-jewish-and-muslim-writers-are-speaking-for-themselves-exploring-immigrant-identity-beyond-stereotypes-252968

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Gay Men’s Health Crisis showed how everyday people stepped up when institutions failed during the height of the AIDS epidemic – providing a model for today

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Sean G. Massey, Associate Professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Binghamton University, State University of New York

GMHC was the world’s first AIDS service organization.
Sean Massey, CC BY-ND

The story of the AIDS movement is one of regular people: students, bartenders, stay-at-home mothers, teachers, retired lawyers, immigrants, Catholic nuns, newly out gay men who had just arrived in New York, and many others. Some had lost friends or lovers. Some felt a moral calling. Some were just trying to balance their sexual karma. Many were angry. Most had no medical background or professional credentials – just a sense of urgency, tenacity and an unwillingness to look away.

When Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the world’s first AIDS service organization, was founded in 1982, it was regular people trying to meet the needs of all people living with AIDS. Its workforce of volunteers provided HIV prevention education as well as physical, emotional and legal support.

At the start of the epidemic, AIDS was considered a “gay plague,” and to be openly queer was to risk abandonment, eviction, assault or worse. Families disowned their children. Hospitals turned patients away. Funeral homes refused bodies. And many people with AIDS found themselves alone and in need.

Public officials didn’t just fail to act – they refused to acknowledge that anything was happening at all. Elected leaders such as President Ronald Reagan and Sen. Jesse Helms stoked the moral panic guiding public policy by declaring people with AIDS “perverted human being(s).”

In 2025, with the Trump administration cutting federal funding for HIV research and support services and restricting protections and services for LGBTQ+ people, studying how everyday people approached the early AIDS crisis provides a model for surviving through innovation, commitment and community.

Stories informing the present

“I think 26,000 people died before (Reagan) even bothered to utter the word ‘AIDS,’” said Tim Sweeney, former executive director of Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

This quote is featured in the GMHC Stories Oral History Project, a collection of over 100 interviews with former volunteers, staff and donors from the first 15 years of the organization. Along with our colleague Julia Haager, we and our team at Binghamton University’s Human Sexualities Lab compiled these interviews. Acquired by the Manuscripts and Archives Division of The New York Public Library, the collection is scheduled to open in fall 2025, showcasing how everyday people responded to the AIDS crisis.

These stories document how a community presented with a set of circumstances threatening their very existence built a self-sustaining organization to advocate for and provide care to each other outside institutional support. They did this while enduring grief, standing up to external threats and navigating internal tensions.

The GMHC stood up for the community when other institutions would not.
Sean Massey, CC BY-ND

Improvisation for survival

The work was an ongoing challenge. Organizations dedicated to aiding people affected by AIDS such as Gay Men’s Health Crisis were left to fund their own survival – and defend their right to do the work. When North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms moved in 1988 to eliminate federal support for AIDS service programs that mentioned homosexuality, it severely limited AIDS prevention efforts nation wide. However, GMHC had the foresight to fund its more explicit education materials with private donations.

At the beginning of the epidemic, queer New Yorkers and their allies had to improvise new systems of care in the absence of state and federal support. “People often (ask) me, what was the model you worked off of?” said Sweeney. “And I said, there was no model, there was just a muddle. We just made it up the whole time.”

What they created almost overnight was staggering. “There were over 1,000 volunteers in the agency,” recalled staff member Tom Weber, who started at GMHC as an office volunteer in 1988. “We would have orientations every single week, and they would flood in.”

One of the most well-known expressions of that volunteer labor was the buddy program, where lay caregivers provided emotional and practical support to people living with AIDS. “A lot of people were not alone in their death because of the work that we did,” said Barbara Danish, who led the buddy program from 1996 to 2002.

Community members took it upon themselves to educate each other about AIDS.
AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler

Education and prevention were also grounded in queer culture and community. Unlike early depictions of AIDS in the media that reduced patients to “vectors” of transmission, it was defiantly sex-positive. “We came up with shit that no one in the world had ever done,” Sweeney said. “Because finally it was gay men saying … we’re going to talk to each other about how to stay safe, healthy and sexy.”

When that sense of mission extended to emotional survival, humor and unapologetically queer culture were critical to bearing the weight of the work. “Sometimes you just break down and cry for an hour. But that’s how you survive it – by staying authentic to your emotions,” said Tommy Thomson, former director of client programs. She recalled how staff member “Carolotta,” or Carl, would sometimes put condoms and chocolate in a basket and go from office to office, frequently in drag. He would offer either or both to make people feel better. “He’d make you remember that you weren’t alone, and that we all know how hard it is. That’s part of what held you together.”

Internal tensions

Although Gay Men’s Health Crisis remained mission-driven, its internal politics were never simple. As it grew in size and national stature, it confronted the limits of its founding identity.

Founded by, and initially serving, primarily white gay men, GMHC sometimes struggled to adapt to the emerging realities of the epidemic. While AIDS also affected people of color, women and intravenous drug users from the outset, much of the agency’s early prevention and outreach work was designed with gay men in mind.

By the late 1980s, the increase in AIDS cases among white gay men had begun to plateau, while rates among Black and Latino people, women and IV drug users continued to rise sharply into the next decade. Women and people of color who were deeply embedded in GMHC’s operations nonetheless had to navigate assumptions about whose needs were prioritized – assumptions that often manifested in how resources were allocated and services were designed. As GMHC expanded its outreach to Black and Latino populations, it struggled to be culturally responsive and build trust in communities that had long been underserved and stigmatized.

Racial disparities in HIV persist.

As GMHC grew, it became more and more successful in fundraising and visibility, while smaller organizations sometimes struggled to access resources. This led to growing tensions, particularly in communities of color, where local groups feared that GMHC’s expansion would limit funding and undercut their efforts at community-specific approaches to care and prevention. In addition, efforts to address racism, sexism and cultural insensitivity encountered both support and indifference.

Yet, staff and volunteers continued to push – reshaping messaging, fighting for inclusive programming, and holding conversations about race, gender, power and public health. For staff and volunteers, the agency was a complicated institution that could both empower and marginalize. Its strength, and its struggle, was learning how to expand without losing sight of the legacy and history it was built on.

A guide for today

Forty years later, LGBTQ+ people face a new set of crises in a landscape riddled with dangers.

Trans health care is being banned in multiple states. Book bans and surveillance laws are targeting queer youth. Anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric is fueling violence and censorship. Funding for HIV prevention and research is disappearing even as new infections persist. Black and brown communities still face disproportionate barriers to health care and housing. Decades of scientific progress and medical discoveries are coming to a halt with funding cuts under the Trump administration.

Protesters at the Iowa state Capitol in February 2025, demonstrating against a bill that would remove protections based on gender identity from the state civil rights code.
AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

And yet many of the same questions and challenges remain: Who gets left behind when public health systems collapse under political pressure or moral panic? Who will do the work when institutions fail? What does it mean to care for one another in the midst of the wreckage? How do people come together across differences?

The history of GMHC is more than memory – it is a lesson in the possibility of care, creativity and community, especially in the face of fear and uncertainty today. It shows how people can come together – not just to demand policy change, but to directly meet one another’s needs with whatever resources they have. It is a reminder that mutual aid is powerful; that grief can coexist with joy; and that queer resilience has always included laughter, desire and shared vulnerability. In a time of renewed political backlash and public health failures, GMHC’s story is more than history – it’s a guide. Today, the staff and volunteers at GMHC continue their work to confront the epidemic and uplift the lives of all people affected by AIDS.

“We’d say to them, ‘You’re just ordinary citizens doing extraordinary things,’” Sweeney said. “And we really meant that.”

Sean G. Massey was a volunteer and staff member at Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), the organization that is being discussed in this article, from 1988-1998.

Casey W. Adrian and Eden Lowinger do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Gay Men’s Health Crisis showed how everyday people stepped up when institutions failed during the height of the AIDS epidemic – providing a model for today – https://theconversation.com/gay-mens-health-crisis-showed-how-everyday-people-stepped-up-when-institutions-failed-during-the-height-of-the-aids-epidemic-providing-a-model-for-today-258139

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Miller-Meeks Highlights Local Wins During One Big Beautiful Main Street Tour in Muscatine County
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ (IA-02)

Muscatine, IA – Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a former small business owner, visited Muscatine County to meet with small business owners and community leaders to hear directly from Iowans about how the One Big Beautiful Bill is delivering for them.

“Iowa’s Main Streets are the heartbeat of our communities,” said Miller-Meeks. “From the family-owned diner to the corner pharmacy, these businesses aren’t asking for favors. They work hard, serve their neighbors, and do everything right. They deserve a government that fights for them. That’s why I proudly voted for President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. It cuts taxes, eliminates red tape, and gives working families and small businesses the freedom to grow and thrive. I’ll never stop fighting to protect Iowa’s values and way of life.”

Stops on the tour included:
1. Wester Drug
2. Relion Insurance
3. Carpet One
4. Bobby’s Asian Restaurant
5. Sal Vitale’s Italian Restaurant
Throughout the tour, Miller-Meeks heard directly from business owners about the impact of tax relief, pro-growth reforms, and expanded support for rural communities. The One Big Beautiful Bill delivers the largest tax cut for working families and small businesses in American history, relief that Iowa needs and deserves.

Miller-Meeks remains committed to defending Iowa values, restoring prosperity, and ensuring the voices of rural America are heard loud and clear in Washington.

###

MIL OSI USA News –
June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Congressman Ben Cline Receives Champion of Limited Government Award

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Ben Cline (VA-06)

Washington, D.C. — Congressman Ben Cline (R-VA) has been recognized as a Champion of Limited Government by the Institute for Legislative Analysis for his strong, consistent voting record in defense of the constitutional principles of limited government. The award is based on an extensive review of thousands of votes, making it the most expansive study performed in the U.S. Congress.

“One of my top priorities in Congress has been to rein in the size and overreach of the federal government and protect the constitutional freedoms of the people I represent in Virginia’s Sixth District,” said Congressman Cline. “I’m honored to receive this recognition and will keep fighting every day to defend limited government and the principles our nation was founded on.”

“The Institute for Legislative Analysis is proud to recognize Congressman Ben Cline with our Champion of Limited Government Award, honoring his outstanding voting record—one of the most consistently aligned with the limited government principles enshrined in the U.S. Constitution,” said ILA CEO Ryan McGowan. “Congressman Cline also earned an A+ on ILA’s new district-based grading system, a reflection of his deep-rooted commitment to the people of Virginia and the values they sent him to Washington to uphold. We especially thank Congressman Cline for introducing critical amendments that protect our national security and put the safety of the American people first.”

To view the rankings, click here.

Congressman Ben Cline represents the Sixth Congressional District of Virginia. He previously was an attorney in private practice and served both as an assistant prosecutor and a Member of the Virginia House of Delegates. Cline and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Botetourt County with their two children.

###

MIL OSI USA News –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: SEC Announces Departure of David Saltiel

Source: Securities and Exchange Commission

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that David Saltiel, who has served as Acting Director of the Division of Trading and Markets, will depart the agency effective July 4, 2025. He has served as Acting Director since December 2024, and he also did so for several months in 2021.

“I want to thank David for his wise counsel since I became Chairman, and he has been a critical member of the Division’s leadership team for nearly a decade,” said Chairman Paul S. Atkins. “Throughout his career at the SEC, David’s steady leadership has clearly demonstrated his commitment to the core mission of the agency, the highest ethical standards, a dedication to rigorous data-driven policymaking, and a strategic mindset. David’s contributions have made our markets stronger. The SEC will lose an outstanding resource; nevertheless, I wish him the very best in his next pursuits.”

“David’s reputation as a technical expert who cares deeply about investor protection and fair and orderly markets has been well-earned,” said Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw. “David has consistently been a source of well-researched, principled, and balanced insights for Commissioners.”

Mr. Saltiel has made critical contributions to a wide range of policy issues including equity, fixed-income, Treasury, and derivatives market structure topics, key transparency and disclosure initiatives such as the recent amendments to Rule 605, efforts to ensure that investors are protected from market manipulation, fostering competition among trading and listing markets, and the use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence by market participants. In addition, Mr. Saltiel has significantly enhanced the Commission’s ability to monitor the health and operations of markets, improved key data and analysis platforms, and worked tirelessly to more closely integrate empirical analysis into the Commission’s policymaking process. During his tenure, Mr. Saltiel was consistently recognized for his work, including with the Commission’s Excellence in Leadership Award in 2020.

“David’s departure is a loss for the Commission, but he leaves the Division a legacy of culture and capabilities that will benefit our team for years to come. We are grateful and with him all the best,” said Jamie Selway, the newly appointed Director of the Division of Trading and Markets.

“I want to thank Chairman Atkins, all the Commissioners, and my colleagues in the Division as well as across the SEC,” said Mr. Saltiel. “The staff in the Division are smart and dedicated people of integrity. It’s been an honor to work with them and learn from them. I will miss the interesting and critical work of the Commission.”

In addition to his time serving as the Acting Director of the Division of Trading and Markets in 2025 and 2021, Mr. Saltiel served as a Deputy Director of the Division since November 2021 and Associate Director of the Division’s Office of Analytics and Research since 2016. Mr. Saltiel came to the SEC from the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board where he was that organization’s first Chief Economist. Prior to that, Mr. Saltiel has held roles in the public and private sector facilitating growth and innovation in capital markets and energy infrastructure.

He received his undergraduate degree from Williams College and earned his master’s degree in economics from St. Antony’s College at the University of Oxford.

MIL OSI USA News –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: SEC Announces Departure of David Saltiel

Source: Securities and Exchange Commission

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that David Saltiel, who has served as Acting Director of the Division of Trading and Markets, will depart the agency effective July 4, 2025. He has served as Acting Director since December 2024, and he also did so for several months in 2021.

“I want to thank David for his wise counsel since I became Chairman, and he has been a critical member of the Division’s leadership team for nearly a decade,” said Chairman Paul S. Atkins. “Throughout his career at the SEC, David’s steady leadership has clearly demonstrated his commitment to the core mission of the agency, the highest ethical standards, a dedication to rigorous data-driven policymaking, and a strategic mindset. David’s contributions have made our markets stronger. The SEC will lose an outstanding resource; nevertheless, I wish him the very best in his next pursuits.”

“David’s reputation as a technical expert who cares deeply about investor protection and fair and orderly markets has been well-earned,” said Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw. “David has consistently been a source of well-researched, principled, and balanced insights for Commissioners.”

Mr. Saltiel has made critical contributions to a wide range of policy issues including equity, fixed-income, Treasury, and derivatives market structure topics, key transparency and disclosure initiatives such as the recent amendments to Rule 605, efforts to ensure that investors are protected from market manipulation, fostering competition among trading and listing markets, and the use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence by market participants. In addition, Mr. Saltiel has significantly enhanced the Commission’s ability to monitor the health and operations of markets, improved key data and analysis platforms, and worked tirelessly to more closely integrate empirical analysis into the Commission’s policymaking process. During his tenure, Mr. Saltiel was consistently recognized for his work, including with the Commission’s Excellence in Leadership Award in 2020.

“David’s departure is a loss for the Commission, but he leaves the Division a legacy of culture and capabilities that will benefit our team for years to come. We are grateful and with him all the best,” said Jamie Selway, the newly appointed Director of the Division of Trading and Markets.

“I want to thank Chairman Atkins, all the Commissioners, and my colleagues in the Division as well as across the SEC,” said Mr. Saltiel. “The staff in the Division are smart and dedicated people of integrity. It’s been an honor to work with them and learn from them. I will miss the interesting and critical work of the Commission.”

In addition to his time serving as the Acting Director of the Division of Trading and Markets in 2025 and 2021, Mr. Saltiel served as a Deputy Director of the Division since November 2021 and Associate Director of the Division’s Office of Analytics and Research since 2016. Mr. Saltiel came to the SEC from the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board where he was that organization’s first Chief Economist. Prior to that, Mr. Saltiel has held roles in the public and private sector facilitating growth and innovation in capital markets and energy infrastructure.

He received his undergraduate degree from Williams College and earned his master’s degree in economics from St. Antony’s College at the University of Oxford.

MIL OSI USA News –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: G20 countries could produce enough renewable energy for the whole world – what needs to happen
Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Sven Teske, Prof. Dr. | Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

The world’s most developed economies have also burnt the most oil and coal (fossil fuels) over the years, causing the most climate change damage. Preventing further climate change means a global fossil fuel phase-out must happen by 2050. Climate change mitigation scientists Sven Teske and Saori Miyake analysed the potential for renewable energy in each of the G20 countries. They concluded that the G20 is in a position to generate enough renewable energy to supply the world. For African countries to benefit, they must adopt long term renewable energy plans and policies and secure finance from G20 countries to set up renewable energy systems.

Why is the G20 so important in efforts to limit global warming?

The G20 group accounts for 67% of the world’s population, 85% of global gross domestic product, and 75% of global trade. The member states are the G7 (the US, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Canada), plus Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Russia, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

We wanted to find out how G20 member states could limit global warming. Our study examined the solar and wind potential for each of G20 member countries (the available land and solar and wind conditions). We then compared this with projected electricity demands for 2050. This is, to our knowledge, the first research of its kind.

Read more:
G20 is too elite. There’s a way to fix that though – economists

We found that the potential for renewable energy in G20 countries is very high – enough to supply the projected 2050 electricity demand for the whole world. They have 33.6 million km² of land on which solar energy projects could be set up, or 31.1 million km² of land on which wind energy projects could be set up.

This potential varies by geography. Not all G20 countries have the same conditions for generating solar and wind energy, but collectively, the G20 countries have enough renewable energy potential to supply the world’s energy needs.

But for the G20 countries to limit global warming, they also need to stop emitting greenhouse gases. Recent figures show that the G20 countries were responsible for generating 87% of all energy-related carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming.

On the other hand, African Union countries (apart from South Africa, which is a high greenhouse gas emitter), were responsible for only 1.2% of the global total historical emissions until 2020.

The G20 countries with the highest renewable energy potential (especially Australia and Canada) are major exporters of the fossil fuels that cause global warming. Along with every other country in the world, the G20 nations will need to end their human-caused carbon emissions by 2050 to prevent further climate change.

Where does Africa fit into the picture?

African countries cannot set up new electricity plants based on burning fossil fuels, like coal. If they do that, the world will never end human-caused greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The continent must generate electricity for the 600 million Africans who do not currently have it but will need to move straight past fossil fuels and into renewable energy.

For this, Africa will need finance. The African Union hosts the G20 summit later this year. This meeting begins just after the world’s annual climate change conference (now in its 30th year and known as COP30). These two summits will give Africa the chance to lobby for renewable energy funding from wealthier nations.

Africa already has the conditions needed to move straight into renewable energy. The continent could be generating an amount of solar and wind power that far exceeds its projected demand for electricity between now and 2050.

We are launching an additional analysis of the solar and wind potential of the entire African continent in Bonn, Germany on 19 June 2025 at a United Nations conference. This shows that only 3% of Africa’s solar and wind potential needs to be converted to real projects to supply Africa’s future electricity demand.

Read more:
Africa’s power pools: what the G20 can do to help countries share electricity

This means that Africa has great untapped potential to supply the required energy for its transition to a middle-income continent – one of the African Union’s goals in Agenda 2063, its 50 year plan.

But to secure enough finance for the continent to build renewable energy systems, African countries need long-term energy policies. These are currently lacking.

So what needs to be done?

The countries who signed up to the 2015 international climate change treaty (the Paris Agreement) have committed to replacing polluting forms of energy such as coal, fuelwood and oil with renewable energy.

South Africa, through its G20 presidency, must encourage G20 nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and support renewable energy investment in Africa.

Read more:
Fossil fuels are still subsidised: G20 could push for the funds to be shifted to cleaner energy

Because financing the global energy transition is already high on the priority list of most countries, South Africa should push for change on three fronts: finance, sound regulations and manufacturing capacity for renewable technologies. These are the among the main obstacles for renewables, particularly in Africa.

Finance: Financing the energy transition is among the highest priorities for COP30. Therefore, the COP30 meeting will be an opportunity for the African Union to negotiate finance for its renewable energy infrastructure needs.

For this, fair and just carbon budgets are vital. A carbon budget sets out how much carbon dioxide can still be emitted in order for the global temperature not to rise more than 2°C higher than it was before the 1760 industrial revolution.

A global carbon budget (the amount of emissions the whole world is allowed) has been calculated, but it needs to be divided up fairly so that countries that have polluted most are compelled to limit this.

To divide the global carbon budget fairly, energy pathways need to be developed urgently that consider:
- future developments of population and economic growth
- current energy supply systems
- transition times for decarbonisation
- local renewable energy resources.
The G20 platform should be used to lobby for fair and just carbon budgets.

Read more:
Wealthy nations owe climate debt to Africa – funds that could help cities grow

Sound regulations that support the setting up of new factories: Governments must put policies in place to support African solar and wind companies. These are needed to win the trust of investors to invest in a future multi-billion dollar industry. Long-term, transparent regulations are needed too.

These regulations should:
- say exactly how building permits for solar and wind power plants will be granted
- prioritise linking renewable energy plants to national electricity grids
- release standard technical specifications for stand-alone grids to make sure they’re all of the same quality.
Taking steps now to speed up big renewable energy industries could mean that African countries end up with more energy than they need. This can be exported and increase financial income for countries.

Sven Teske receives funding from the European Climate Foundation and Power Shift Africa (PSA).

Saori Miyake receives funding from European Climate Foundation and Power Shift Africa.

– ref. G20 countries could produce enough renewable energy for the whole world – what needs to happen – https://theconversation.com/g20-countries-could-produce-enough-renewable-energy-for-the-whole-world-what-needs-to-happen-258463
MIL OSI – Global Reports –
June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: RIDOH Launches Campaign to Spotlight Men’s Mental Health

Source: US State of Rhode Island

In recognition of Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) has launched You Good, Man?, a statewide campaign to raise awareness and prevent suicide among working-age men�a population experiencing suicide at nearly twice the rate of the general public in Rhode Island.

“Society often focuses on the physical health of men � be it fitness, or annual checkups, or heart health. But mental health and well-being is just as important,” said Director of Health Dr. Jerry Larkin. “This campaign is about creating a culture where men and boys feel comfortable reaching out and checking in on their friends and coworkers. No one should struggle in silence.”

The You Good, Man? campaign features a powerful, locally produced video and a three-month media buy across social media, digital and streaming platforms, local movie theaters, and gas stations. As part of the campaign, YouGoodMan.org was created as a resource hub offering mental health tips, warning signs, conversation guides, and local support services.

The goal is to normalize conversations about mental health, empower friends, coworkers, and loved ones to check in, and encourage men to accept help when it’s offered.

According to the 2023 Rhode Island Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey, 11% of men said they usually or always feel lonely. Suicide death rates in Rhode Island are highest among working-age males (25-64 years old). The death rate for this group is more than twice as high as Rhode Island’s overall suicide death rate. Working-aged men reported not having inadequate social support in comparison to females in the same age group. According to 2024 Rhode Island fatal overdose data, the majority of individuals who died from a drug overdose � 70 percent- were male.

In addition to their impacts on mental health, loneliness and social isolation significantly impact physical health. They are associated with increased risk for heart disease, stroke, dementia, and type 2 diabetes.

Reach Consulting, in partnership with RIDOH, developed the campaign following months of research and interviews with Rhode Island men. Their input helped shape the campaign’s tone, messaging, and creative direction. One clear message emerged: many men struggle in silence, and even a simple check-in can make a difference.

Produced by Pawtucket-based media company HAUS, the spot was created by a team of local professionals and features lead actors from Rhode Island. Their performances bring authenticity and urgency to the message: It’s not only okay to talk about mental health�it’s vital.

This campaign represents one of many efforts throughout State government to support mental and emotional health.

– In October, Rhode Island’s first Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) launched. A CCBHC is an outpatient clinic that offers expanded behavioral health services. CCBHCs serve anyone who walks through the door, regardless of age, diagnosis, or insurance status.?At a CCBHC, a team of trained health professionals can: provide mental health support to you or a loved one, help you or a loved one with a substance use condition, and/or provide 24/7 crisis support. Six CCBHCs are currently operating throughout Rhode Island. ?Each clinic has a trained Veteran Service Officer.

– The Staff Sergeant Gordon Fox Case management program provides wrap-around services to veterans, service members, and their families. More information can be found at health.ri.gov/helpforvets.

– RIDOH’s Comprehensive Suicide Prevention Grant team has been partnering with the Department of Motor Vehicles to provide materials and resources at select DMV locations during Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month.

– The Governor’s Overdose Task Force is a statewide coalition of professionals, community members, state agency staff, and state health leadership with the goal of preventing overdoses and saving lives. The work of the Task Force helped contribute to a 25% decrease in overdose deaths since 2022.

Resources for people who may need help:

– 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline � If you or someone you know are having thoughts of suicide; experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis; or are in emotional distress, you can call or text 988 or chat with 988 at 988lifeline.org. Trained crisis counselors are available 24/7.??

– Yougoodman.org � Learn how to check in on the men in your life, read about what Rhode Island men say about mental health and supporting each other, and watch the You Good, Man? spot

– PreventSuicideRI.org � Visit the website for additional state and national resources, training opportunities, and suicide data.

MIL OSI USA News –

June 19, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: RIDOH Launches Campaign to Spotlight Men’s Mental Health

Source: US State of Rhode Island

In recognition of Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) has launched You Good, Man?, a statewide campaign to raise awareness and prevent suicide among working-age men�a population experiencing suicide at nearly twice the rate of the general public in Rhode Island.

“Society often focuses on the physical health of men � be it fitness, or annual checkups, or heart health. But mental health and well-being is just as important,” said Director of Health Dr. Jerry Larkin. “This campaign is about creating a culture where men and boys feel comfortable reaching out and checking in on their friends and coworkers. No one should struggle in silence.”

The You Good, Man? campaign features a powerful, locally produced video and a three-month media buy across social media, digital and streaming platforms, local movie theaters, and gas stations. As part of the campaign, YouGoodMan.org was created as a resource hub offering mental health tips, warning signs, conversation guides, and local support services.

The goal is to normalize conversations about mental health, empower friends, coworkers, and loved ones to check in, and encourage men to accept help when it’s offered.

According to the 2023 Rhode Island Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey, 11% of men said they usually or always feel lonely. Suicide death rates in Rhode Island are highest among working-age males (25-64 years old). The death rate for this group is more than twice as high as Rhode Island’s overall suicide death rate. Working-aged men reported not having inadequate social support in comparison to females in the same age group. According to 2024 Rhode Island fatal overdose data, the majority of individuals who died from a drug overdose � 70 percent- were male.

In addition to their impacts on mental health, loneliness and social isolation significantly impact physical health. They are associated with increased risk for heart disease, stroke, dementia, and type 2 diabetes.

Reach Consulting, in partnership with RIDOH, developed the campaign following months of research and interviews with Rhode Island men. Their input helped shape the campaign’s tone, messaging, and creative direction. One clear message emerged: many men struggle in silence, and even a simple check-in can make a difference.

Produced by Pawtucket-based media company HAUS, the spot was created by a team of local professionals and features lead actors from Rhode Island. Their performances bring authenticity and urgency to the message: It’s not only okay to talk about mental health�it’s vital.

This campaign represents one of many efforts throughout State government to support mental and emotional health.

– In October, Rhode Island’s first Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) launched. A CCBHC is an outpatient clinic that offers expanded behavioral health services. CCBHCs serve anyone who walks through the door, regardless of age, diagnosis, or insurance status.?At a CCBHC, a team of trained health professionals can: provide mental health support to you or a loved one, help you or a loved one with a substance use condition, and/or provide 24/7 crisis support. Six CCBHCs are currently operating throughout Rhode Island. ?Each clinic has a trained Veteran Service Officer.

– The Staff Sergeant Gordon Fox Case management program provides wrap-around services to veterans, service members, and their families. More information can be found at health.ri.gov/helpforvets.

– RIDOH’s Comprehensive Suicide Prevention Grant team has been partnering with the Department of Motor Vehicles to provide materials and resources at select DMV locations during Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month.

– The Governor’s Overdose Task Force is a statewide coalition of professionals, community members, state agency staff, and state health leadership with the goal of preventing overdoses and saving lives. The work of the Task Force helped contribute to a 25% decrease in overdose deaths since 2022.

Resources for people who may need help:

– 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline � If you or someone you know are having thoughts of suicide; experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis; or are in emotional distress, you can call or text 988 or chat with 988 at 988lifeline.org. Trained crisis counselors are available 24/7.??

– Yougoodman.org � Learn how to check in on the men in your life, read about what Rhode Island men say about mental health and supporting each other, and watch the You Good, Man? spot

– PreventSuicideRI.org � Visit the website for additional state and national resources, training opportunities, and suicide data.

MIL OSI USA News –

June 19, 2025