Source: United States Air Force
Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David Allvin and Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force David Flosi participate in an international Air Force Forum hosted by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force in Tokyo Oct. 14-16.
Category: Asia Pacific
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MIL-OSI NGOs: Gaza: Israel must rescind unlawful evacuation orders in the north
Source: Amnesty International –
Israel issued so-called ‘evacuation’ orders to cities and camps across North Gaza governorate on 7, 10 and 12 October
400,000 civilians currently enduring a siege with little food, fuel or clean water
‘What remains beyond any comprehension is how the international community has let this horror continue to happen again and again’ – Heba Morayef
The Israeli authorities must rescind cruel and unlawful “evacuation” orders – Israel’s euphemism for forced displacement – issued during the past week to residents of the North Gaza governorate, and allow the immediate, unhindered entry of essential supplies – including food and fuel – to the area, said Amnesty International today, as fears grow for the fate of thousands of civilians trapped under siege.
In recent days, the civilian death toll across Gaza has continued to mount and horrifying scenes have emerged following deadly Israeli airstrikes, particularly in the North Gaza governorate. Civilians have endured relentless Israeli bombardment and shelling, without access to basic supplies, including food and clean water.
The latest Israeli “evacuation” orders issued to cities and camps across the North Gaza governorate on 7, 10 and 12 October – and the tightened siege on the area – are a terrifying escalation of the long list of horrors inflicted in the past year on people in the area north of Wadi Gaza.
A year ago, on 12 October 2023, an estimated 1.1 million Palestinians north of Wadi Gaza were subjected to an unlawful mass “evacuation” order which forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee south seeking safety. For many months, the hundreds of thousands of people who remained were largely cut off from the rest of Gaza by a fortified Israeli military zone. In December 2023, the world’s leading experts on famine reported that hunger was particularly widespread and severe there, yet the Israeli authorities repeatedly obstructed and denied humanitarian access to the area. In recent days the situation has grown even more desperate following Israeli tightened siege. All three partially-functioning hospitals in the north – Kamal Adwan, Al-Awda, and the Indonesian hospital – face “evacuation” orders.
Global leaders must demand an immediate ceasefire to alleviate unprecedented suffering in Gaza during the past year. Israel has been emboldened, with the help of arms transfers from countries like the US and the UK, to continue its destructive course in Gaza with total impunity.
Some 400,000 civilians continue to live north of Wadi Gaza, which consists of the North Gaza and Gaza governorates, which is around one-third of the area’s population before October 2023. In addition to devastating bombardment and destruction, those who have stayed have had to endure an Israeli-engineered food emergency which reached horrifying levels in February and March, with people resorting to eating animal food. While access to the area north of Wadi Gaza improved slightly in mid-2024 after an international outcry, Israel has, once again, cut civilians off from life-saving aid.
Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Director, said:
“These orders must be rescinded and there must be an immediate ceasefire by all parties to halt the avalanche of suffering that has been engulfing civilians in Gaza for over a year.
“After a year of death and destruction, it is agonising to hear from doctors in North Gaza that they have to perform multiple amputations every day, or from families trapped under siege that dozens of unrecognisable bodies are scattered on the streets or that people are unable to bury their loved ones amidst ceaseless bombardment.
“The scenes coming out of Jabalia refugee camp have been especially harrowing, for over a week, residents of the camp have been scared to leave their homes, even to look for a bag of flour for fear of being shot by the omnipresent quadcopter drones.
“What remains beyond any comprehension is how the international community has let this horror continue to happen again and again.
“As well as an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israel’s cruel and inhuman blockade on Gaza and its siege in the north, Israel must grant independent monitors immediate access to Gaza to investigate all attacks.”
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MIL-OSI Global: Ghana’s informal settlements are not all the same – social networks make a difference in community development
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Seth Asare Okyere, PhD, Visiting lecturer, University of Pittsburg and Adjunct Associate Professor, Osaka University, University of Pittsburgh
Informal settlements in Africa are diverse. Across regions and even in the same city, socioeconomic and physical conditions vary. One thing is common though: upgrading them is a challenge.
Among the challenges are issues of including people, having enough funding and sustaining improvements. That’s why attention is shifting to community driven development. This concept refers to local interventions that are started or led by community groups with support from the local government, private or civil society organisations.
Community driven development has gained support from international agencies such as the World Bank. The World Bank Group is estimated to have invested about US$30 billion in projects like this across 94 countries.
These initiatives are considered more affordable, efficient and durable. Communities often contribute local resources and labour, and residents can learn skills from service providers which enable them to manage projects in the long term. When residents work together it can also strengthen bonds and build social capital. Social capital generally refers to the ties, bonds, relationships and trust found in a community. It is an important resource in informal settlements.
We are a group of urban and development planners who examined the role of social capital in community driven development in urban Ghana.
We conducted our study in the Abese Quarter (La township) and Old Tulaku communities, in the Greater Accra metropolitan area. These are both informal settlements but have different social characters.
Our findings highlight the need for local governments to tailor development to the social context of informal settlements. Development planning institutions should use the networks already present in communities, as well as providing external help and resources.
The research
Our analysis was based on questionnaire responses from 300 residents of informal settlements in Greater Accra. Abese Quarter is what we call an indigenous settlement. It it composed of residents from the local Ga ethnic group with similar cultural practices. Old Tulaku is a migrant settlement. It includes a mix of residents originally from other regions in Ghana who moved to Accra in search of economic opportunities.
We observed community water and sanitation projects planned and carried out by local residents.
In doing so, we considered the role of two types of social capital: bonding and bridging.
Bonding social capital deals with the personal relationships between individuals based on shared identity. It’s about family, close companionship, culture and ethnicity. Bridging social capital refers to the connection between people and external groups.
In the indigenous settlement, bonding social capital had a positive influence on community driven development. Bridging social capital showed a negative relationship with it. For example, the public toilet in the community was in a deplorable state. This seemed to be explained by an inability to build wider connections outside the community to get the support needed. We reason that socially homogeneous communities tend to generate inward-looking networks that limit access to resources from beyond the group. Overemphasis on social ties can impede long-term community development.
In the migrant informal settlement, our research revealed the opposite. Without shared identities (like ethnicity, language and social norms), migrant residents drew on shared challenges and goals. They organised and built connections to get support from businesses and donors for community projects.
Our research reinforces the argument that the relationship between social capital and community-driven development of informal settlements is not straightforward. The social character of the settlement, be it indigenous or migrant, produces different outcomes.
Bonding and bridging social capital
Informal settlements are often neglected by local government and planning authorities. In such poor conditions, social connections influence the local capacity to carry out improvement projects.
Typically, high levels of bonding social capital are seen to promote collective action in communities that share similar social and cultural norms and practices. However, the long term benefits of such projects may require building partnerships with external support organisations and service providers.
Bridging social capital goes beyond shared identities. It fosters connection between people and external organisations.
Generally, community-driven development success is greatest when both forms of social capital are high and used together. For instance, in the Ubungo Darajani informal settlement in Kinondoni Municipality in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, landholders relied on both to secure land for community development.
What next?
Local government and community-based organisations should harness the different forms of social capital for development.
Policymakers can learn from the creative and innovative ways that informal communities solve problems. This could help improve informal settlements equitably and sustainably.
Beatrice Eyram Afi Ziorklui, a registered valuer and auditor at the Performance and Special Audit Department of the Ghana Audit Service, was part of the research team and contributed to this article.
Louis Kusi Frimpong receives funding from Social Science Research Council (SSRC) through the African Peacebuilding Network (APN) Individual Research Fellowship Program.
Matthew Abunyewah receives funding from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR) and Northern Western Australia and Northern Territory Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (Northern Hubb)
Stephen Leonard Mensah receives funding from the Works, Inc. Memphis, Tennessee, USA for his PhD studies.
Seth Asare Okyere, PhD does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
– ref. Ghana’s informal settlements are not all the same – social networks make a difference in community development – https://theconversation.com/ghanas-informal-settlements-are-not-all-the-same-social-networks-make-a-difference-in-community-development-239133
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MIL-OSI Europe: Cardinal Marengo: mission is a mystery
Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI
Photo: Arlindo Guterres
by Cardinal Giorgio Marengo IMCRome (Agenzia Fides) – We are pleased to publish the Prolusion made today by Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, Consolata missionary and Apostolic Prefect of Ulaanbaatar, on the occasion of the opening day of the academic year at the Pontifical Urbaniana University. The speech, entitled “Missionary Church and the missionary nature of the Church: a perspective from Asia”, focused on the mystery of grace and gratitude that feed every authentic missionary dynamism. Cardinal Marengo’s conference was preceded by an introductory speech by Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization (Section for First Evangelization and the New Particular Churches) and Grand Chancellor of the Urbaniana University. After the speech by Sister Lourdes Fabiola Martinez Sandate, who spoke on behalf of the university’s students, Professor Vincenzo Buonomo, Pontifical Delegate and Grand Rector of the Pontifical Urbaniana University, gave an outlook on the study and research perspectives for the new academic year.Dear Grand Chancellor,Most Reverend Eminences and Excellencies,Dear Pontifical Delegate and Grand Rector,Academic Authorities,Esteemed Professors and Dear Students,It is with great joy that I take the floor today for the first time after having attended this university myself as a student for a long time. I feel very honored to be here at the opening of this new academic year, which will once again bring teachers, researchers, students and administrative staff to this hill every day to give their best in the service of the Church.The mission as a sighOn May 26 last year, Father Stephan Kim Seong-hyeon, a Korean priest from Daejeon with whom I had been doing missionary work in Mongolia, suddenly died. It was a great loss for everyone. Like me, he had also studied at this university and I remember him talking about his studies at Urbaniana University. As a priest preparing to return to his homeland to begin his ministry in the diocese, he wondered what benefit he would get from studying at this university. He received the answer from a missionary who had lived for years in Muslim-majority countries and in areas with Arab culture. When asked about the theories of the moment, this missionary had not given a theoretical answer but let out a long sigh: “Ah, the mission!” A mixture of joy and melancholy, perhaps even frustration; the missionary’s eyes shone, pointing to something moving and sacred that had now completely marked his life. This sigh deeply touched Father Stephan Kim and opened his eyes to the mystery of mission as a horizon that embraces life, including that of the diocesan priest. It was this sigh that led him to interpret his entire ministry in a missionary sense. And then he received the gift of being able to go to Mongolia.A biblical icon: the meeting at Emmaus“Ah, the mission!” This sigh makes us reflect even today. Let us look, for example, at the episode in which the sad disciples leave Jerusalem “on the first day of the week”. We are in chapter 24 of the Gospel of Luke. “Are you the only visitor?” (cf. Lk 24:18), as if to say: “Do you not know?” It is an outburst of disappointment and anger. “But we had hoped…” (cf. Lk 24:21). Sometimes we too are seized by a sigh of disappointment; things are not as we would have liked them to be and we walk with our eyes downcast, unable to recognize the mysterious wanderer who is with us. We need him to shake us up with his strong words: “You are foolish and slow of heart” (Lk 24:25). It quickly becomes clear that this is not a sterile rebuke, but an invitation to make a leap in quality, in depth. “Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures” (Lk 24:27). Indeed, the object of research, teaching and study is not the opinion of this or that thinker, but “everything that is written about him”, on the Lord and Saviour who, by revealing the face of the Father, changed the destiny of humanity and sparked the dynamism of mission. Little by little, the disciples’ hearts open to the point of an unprecedented sigh: ” “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?” (Lk 24:32).It is the Eucharist and the Word that convert our hearts. The academic work carried out in this prestigious university should always be accompanied by worship and the meditated study in a spirit of prayer, and not parallel to the spiritual life, almost as if they were threads held together with difficulty. This is where the proclamation comes from, not from anything else: “Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread” (Lk 24:35). Until Jesus himself, “while they were still speaking about this” (Lk 24:36), came among them and announced to them the fullness that awaits the whole of history: “Peace be with you” (Lk 24:36). The mission aims precisely to make this encounter possible in a concrete way; indeed, where the disciples gather to bear witness to Christ, he enters into their midst in a new, unprecedented way, drawing everyone into his love. It is He, the Risen One, who reveals to us the profound meaning of Sacred Scripture and expressly sends us out into the world: “You are witnesses of these things” (Lk 24:48). And we can only be so in the power of his Spirit: “And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you” (Lk 24:49).A vocation that is still valid: the Mission “ad gentes”If this dynamism aimed at proclaiming the overwhelming newness of the Gospel applies to every baptized person as a missionary disciple – as the Holy Father often reminds us – we must remember that there is also a specific dimension of missionary activity that we call first evangelization or mission “ad gentes”. This refers to the gift of grace to proclaim the Gospel in contexts where it is not yet known and where there are simply no others who can bear witness to it. It is true that every action of the Church is permeated by mission because it represents its goal and its horizon; but it is one thing to put it into practice in situations where the possibility of an explicit encounter with Christ is offered in a variety of forms, made possible by communities of faith already formed and endowed with a variety of charisms and ministries; it is something else – or at least something special – to dedicate oneself to the witness of the Gospel where there are no other ecclesial subjects, because the community is not yet constituted and structured. It is undoubtedly true that the mobility of people today creates situations in which other people are very close and one no longer has to cross the seas to meet them. In many parts of the world there is already a local part of the Church and it is the task of the particular Church in that territory to face the challenges posed by increasingly multicultural and interreligious societies. In the regions more marked by phenomena such as secularization and the decline of priestly vocations, we will probably have to act differently than in the past, but the fact remains that the Church is already present in these areas. We often overlook the fact that instead there are entire regions of our planet where the Church is not yet established or is in the initial phase of its local rooting.In Mongolia, for example, the visible Church has only existed for 32 years and is made up of a small flock of about 1,500 local believers accompanied by a group of missionaries, only one of whom is a local priest. The complete translation of the Bible into the local language is still in progress; some liturgical texts still need to be approved by the Vatican. In Catholic communities, a path of initiation into the faith is offered that lasts about two years and requires a lot of commitment from the catechists and catechumens, since they are choosing a faith that is in some way at odds with the society in which they live, which traditionally has other points of reference. Everything is new and has a revolutionary impact that requires depth, firmness in doctrine and quality of witness.Living and working in such situations is what is commonly called mission “ad gentes”, which continues to have its own specific value because it is a specific vocation. Most of these situations, where the proclamation of the Gospel and the life connected to it are still in their infancy, are in Asia, a continent where about 61% of the world’s population live, but less than 13.1% of them identify with Christianity. A series of historical failures? Procedural errors? It is difficult to say. Especially since the criterion cannot be success or failure as the world understands it. The reference point remains the words of Jesus on the Kingdom of God and its appearance in the world, characterized by an obvious disproportion: little in much, leaven in the mass, fertile marginality. In any case, it is important to remember that this specific type of missionary service exists, even within a fully missionary Church.A specific formationThe mission “ad gentes” therefore requires a specific formation. 397 years ago, shortly after the foundation of the Congregation “De Propaganda Fide”, the “Collegio Urbano” was founded, the first nucleus of this prestigious academic institution. Can one “learn” the mission? Yes, just as the disciples of Emmaus had to listen to the Risen One who “explained to them what is written about him in the Scriptures”. It is above all a matter of continually exploring the mystery of Christ and the Church, his Bride, from every possible angle. The mission needs philosophy, but also the social sciences, linguistics, canon law and, above all, theology. Zeal alone may not be enough. Blessed Giuseppe Allamano, founder of the Consolata Missionaries, who will be canonized in St. Peter’s Square in a few days, used to say: “Holiness alone is not enough for a missionary, science is also needed, depending on our goal. Piety can form a good hermit, but only science combined with piety can form a good missionary.” And he continued: “The need for science also derives from tradition. Popes, Councils, and Fathers of the Church have always and everywhere declared the need for science for priests. On this point, the Church has always insisted, with explicit instructions to the superiors of seminaries, not to admit to ordination those who do not have the necessary knowledge. This explains why in some religious orders only the most learned are sent on missions.” And he concluded: “Believe me: you will do much or little good, or even evil, depending on whether you have studied or not. A missionary without knowledge is a lamp that has gone out”.We study not only because “it is our duty”, because we have been sent by our superiors, or even to nurture career ambitions: in the Church there is no career; it would be mean indeed if such a unique academic institution were considered a breeding ground for mere “employees” of diocesan structures that do not stand out for zeal and scholarship specifically oriented towards mission. We study out of love for Christ, the Church and the people to whom we are sent as missionaries. It is precisely this particular kind of mission that requires adequate preparation. It is a matter of respect for the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, which resonates in the Church sent by Him, not as a megaphone of an ideological message, but as the mystical Body and People of God, at home in all cultures and fertilizing them with the Gospel. It is a matter of taking the encounter between the Gospel and cultures seriously.Rufina Chamyngerel, also a former student of this university and now head of the Pastoral Office of the Apostolic Prefecture of Ulaanbaatar, said it in a disarming way. On the occasion of the prayer vigil in St. Peter’s for the Extraordinary Missionary Month 2019 proclaimed by Pope Francis, she recalled that when the Church decided in 1992 to resume its mission in Mongolia – interrupted by 70 years of strict pro-Soviet rule – it did not send packages of books, but physical people who would fit in and give a living, physical witness to the Gospel. Yes, the encounter with Christ can take place in the most diverse ways, mostly unknown to us; but it usually requires human mediation, concrete people who embody the words of Jesus and invite us to the banquet of the Kingdom of God. Saint Paul VI reminded us of this in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, and it is worth quoting his words again today: “People can be saved by the mercy of God in other ways, even if we do not preach the Gospel to them; but how can we save ourselves if we fail to preach it out of negligence, fear, shame – what Saint Paul calls ‘ashamed of the Gospel’ – or because of false ideas?” This school of discipleship and mission opens up ever new paths of learning, because by tiptoeing into homes in every latitude, we discover fascinating worlds to love and to get to know in depth.Thanks to passionate study, serious scientific research and investigation, even four centuries after the founding of our University, we are able to express the infinite depths of Christ’s message and to decipher cultural languages that allow us to reach the hearts of peoples and peoples.How many sighs have been uttered here! Distance from home and a language that one does not yet master can make one sigh; but even a trace of research that seems to get lost among the pages read in the library or historical truths that are difficult to accept can become sighs. But everything becomes a desire, because in the awareness of lack, one opens oneself more to God and to one’s neighbour.From sighing to whisperingFinally, the sigh becomes a whisper. Finally, allow me to repeat the expression of Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil, which I do not want to withhold from you, to briefly describe the mission: whispering the Gospel into the heart of cultures. The mission is a mystery that makes us sigh with true love above all for Him, the Risen One, who unites us to Himself in order to make Himself present to others. Christ and his Gospel are the heart and the only content of the missionary impulse that animates the Church, today as it has always been. “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel,” Saint Paul reminds us (1 Cor 9:16). The world needs this good news and has a right to receive it. In a time of general distrust of grand narratives, of post-colonial historical revisionism, of fear of any thought that is not weak (because it is seen as potentially offensive and threatening), the Church continues to proclaim the Gospel, faithful to the mandate she received from her Lord, which is written in large letters on the outside of the main building of this university: Euntes docete. More than just a message, it is a word of salvation and fullness, embodied in life and addressed to the heart, that is, to the deepest fibers of man and of the culture in which he lives and understands himself. It is the evangelization of the heart that requires a commitment to deciphering, studying and deepening the wonderful interweaving of culture, religious tradition, language, literature, art, music, but also territories, symbols and trends. When one finds oneself in this relationship of deep knowledge, appreciation and friendship, one will spontaneously pass on, whispering delicately and discreetly what is most dear to one’s heart.Whispering also speaks of a prayerful attitude, a contemplative dimension, as in the very ancient religious traditions that arose in Asia, where the register of the meditated, repeated word, recited in chorus predominates. And of silence. Pope Francis recalled this last year in Mongolia, addressing the small local Church: “Yes, He is the good news intended for all peoples, the proclamation that the Church must always bring, making it concrete in life and ‘whispering’ it in the hearts of individuals and cultures.” The language of God is often a slow whisper that takes its time; this is how he speaks. This experience of the love of God in Christ is pure light that transfigures the face and in turn makes it shine. Brothers and sisters, the Christian life is born from the contemplation of this face, it is a matter of love, of the daily encounter with the Lord in the word and in the bread of life, in the face of the other and in the needy in whom Jesus is present”. May this new academic year at the Urbaniana University bring us all closer to this face and make us ever more radiant and shining, reflecting it around us. (Agenzia Fides, 15/10/2024)
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MIL-OSI Africa: World Future Economy Digital Leaders Summit debuts at GITEX GLOBAL, shaping the future global tech and policy landscape
Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, October 15, 2024/APO Group/ —
Government officials, global industry leaders and experts gathered in Dubai for the opening day of the World Future Economy Digital Leaders Summit on Monday as conversations began about charting a course for AI Compute-Driven economic transformation.
GITEX GLOBAL, the world’s largest tech event, got underway at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), as topics on ‘Tech Investment Day’ centred around the next-gen semi-conductors market, which is expected to be valued USD $1 trillion by 2030, and the future of data governance. The mega event is under the theme of ‘Global Collaboration to Forge a Future AI Economy’.
The World Future Economy Digital Leaders Summit comes at a time where UAE is accelerating its efforts in adopting AI in different sectors. Last year, the country’s AI market was valued (https://apo-opa.co/3zPf3HZ) at USD $3.47 billion. H.E. Abdullah Bin Touq Al Marri, Cabinet Member & Minister of Economy at UAE’s Ministry of Economy, explained the importance of AI and how it is central to the country’s economic future.
Addressing the audience, he highlighted AI is a major driver for the future and is already impacting our everyday lives whether it is transportation or ordering food but to propel growth even further across different sectors, people and companies need to learn how to enable AI effectively.
This year’s GITEX GLOBAL has attracted its largest international participation with 40% growth, welcoming new nations to the 44th edition of the showpiece event. Europe has a major presence this week, the biggest in the event’s history with the region’s tech industry projected to grow by 12% by the end of this year.
Stephane Ouaki, Head of Department at European Innovation Council outlined how the continent is accelerating its tech ecosystem. He said the Council is supporting game-changing innovations, giving entrepreneurs access to opportunities to enhance their knowledge, and learn from other professionals to boost the growth of their businesses which benefits not only economies nationally but also regionally.
Ignacy Niemczycki, Undersecretary of State Ministry of Economic Development and Technology of Poland, delivered a presentation on how the country is embracing technology. He said: “Our culture is a key pillar in our journey of being a tech leader and we have a stable economy which has been very resilient for the last 30 years.
“More importantly, there is a real interest in the STEM field – if you ask most people in Poland, their choice would be to become an software engineer and this has created a situation where we have one of the best IT programmers in the world with some great tech entrepreneurs already from Poland.”
Attendees also heard from Dr. Jaroslaw Kutylowski, the founder and CEO of DeepL a German-leading global language AI company, on how his business utilises large language models (LLMs). He said: “The models that we have been building have all stayed true to our products which has brought us success so far. As the company has been growing, we have been able to invest more into compute technologies and have built a data centre facility in Sweden. However, we need to keep innovating and see what the next step is. If we do not think ahead, we would be in the same position as we are today.”
Meanwhile, Heman Bekele, who was named TIME’s 2024 Kid of the Year for inventing a potential treatment for skin cancer, shared his inspiring story. He explained how the failures that he experienced in life in producing his innovative soap product has made him a stronger individual and passion has a been a key attribute to his career success so far.
Taking place at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) until 18 October, GITEX GLOBAL presents its biggest, most international edition in its 44th year, welcoming over 6,500 exhibitors, 1,800 startups, 1,200 investors alongside governments from more than 180 countries.
GITEX GLOBAL is seamlessly connecting with world’s largest network of tech events with its stellar list including GITEX EUROPE Berlin, GITEX ASIA Singapore, GITEX AFRICA Morocco, and GITEX NIGERIA. These events are fostering collaboration and driving innovation to shape the tech landscape of tomorrow.
For more information on GITEX GLOBAL 2024 and to secure your passes, please visit http://www.GITEX.com.
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MIL-OSI: ASML reports €7.5 billion total net sales and €2.1 billion net income in Q3 2024
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
ASML reports €7.5 billion total net sales and €2.1 billion net income in Q3 2024
ASML expects total net sales for 2024 of around €28 billionVELDHOVEN, the Netherlands, October 15, 2024 – Today, ASML Holding NV (ASML) has published its 2024 third-quarter results.
- Q3 total net sales of €7.5 billion, gross margin of 50.8%, net income of €2.1 billion
- Quarterly net bookings in Q3 of €2.6 billion2 of which €1.4 billion is EUV
- ASML expects Q4 2024 total net sales between €8.8 billion and €9.2 billion, and a gross margin between 49% and 50%
- ASML expects 2024 total net sales of around €28 billion
- ASML expects 2025 total net sales to be between €30 billion and €35 billion, with a gross margin between 51% and 53%
(Figures in millions of euros unless otherwise indicated) Q2 2024 Q3 2024 Total net sales 6,243 7,467 …of which Installed Base Management sales1 1,482 1,541 New lithography systems sold (units) 89 106 Used lithography systems sold (units) 11 10 Net bookings2 5,567 2,633 Gross profit 3,212 3,793 Gross margin (%) 51.5 50.8 Net income 1,578 2,077 EPS (basic; in euros) 4.01 5.28 End-quarter cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments 5,019 4,985 (1) Installed Base Management sales equals our net service and field option sales
(2) Net bookings include all system sales orders and inflation-related adjustments, for which written authorizations have been accepted.Numbers have been rounded for readers’ convenience. A complete summary of US GAAP Consolidated Statements of Operations is published on http://www.asml.com
CEO statement and outlook
“Our third-quarter total net sales came in at €7.5 billion, above our guidance, driven by more DUV and Installed Base Management1 sales. The gross margin came in at 50.8%, within guidance.“While there continue to be strong developments and upside potential in AI, other market segments are taking longer to recover. It now appears the recovery is more gradual than previously expected. This is expected to continue in 2025, which is leading to customer cautiousness. Regarding Logic, the competitive foundry dynamics have resulted in a slower ramp of new nodes at certain customers, leading to several fab push outs and resulting changes in litho demand timing, in particular EUV. In Memory, we see limited capacity additions, with the focus still on technology transitions supporting the HBM and DDR5 AI-related demand.
“We expect fourth-quarter total net sales between €8.8 billion and €9.2 billion with a gross margin between 49% and 50% which includes the recognition of the first two High NA systems upon customer acceptance, reflecting progress on imaging, overlay and contrast. ASML expects R&D costs of around €1.1 billion and SG&A costs of around €300 million. We expect full-year 2024 total net sales of around €28 billion. Based on the recent market dynamics as mentioned above, we expect our 2025 total net sales to grow to a range between €30 billion and €35 billion, which is the lower half of the range that we provided at our 2022 Investor Day. We expect a gross margin between 51% and 53%, which is below the range we then provided, mainly related to the delayed timing of EUV demand,” said ASML President and Chief Executive Officer Christophe Fouquet.
Update dividend and share buyback program
An interim dividend of €1.52 per ordinary share will be made payable on November 7, 2024.In the third quarter, we did not purchase any shares under the current 2022-2025 share buyback program.
Details of the share buyback program as well as transactions pursuant thereto, and details of the dividend are published on ASML’s website (www.asml.com/investors).
Media Relations contacts Investor Relations contacts Monique Mols +31 6 5284 4418 Skip Miller +1 480 235 0934 Sarah de Crescenzo +1 925 899 8985 Marcel Kemp +31 40 268 6494 Karen Lo +886 939788635 Peter Cheang +886 3 659 6771 Quarterly video interview and investor call
With this press release, ASML has published a video interview in which CFO Roger Dassen discusses the 2024 third-quarter results and outlook for 2024 and 2025. This video and the transcript can be viewed on http://www.asml.com.An investor call for both investors and the media will be hosted by CEO Christophe Fouquet and CFO Roger Dassen on October 16, 2024 at 15:00 Central European Time / 09:00 US Eastern Time. Details can be found on our website.
About ASML
ASML is a leading supplier to the semiconductor industry. The company provides chipmakers with hardware, software and services to mass produce the patterns of integrated circuits (microchips). Together with its partners, ASML drives the advancement of more affordable, more powerful, more energy-efficient microchips. ASML enables groundbreaking technology to solve some of humanity’s toughest challenges, such as in healthcare, energy use and conservation, mobility and agriculture. ASML is a multinational company headquartered in Veldhoven, the Netherlands, with offices across EMEA, the US and Asia. Every day, ASML’s more than 43,700 employees (FTE) challenge the status quo and push technology to new limits. ASML is traded on Euronext Amsterdam and NASDAQ under the symbol ASML. Discover ASML – our products, technology and career opportunities – at http://www.asml.com.US GAAP Financial Reporting
ASML’s primary accounting standard for quarterly earnings releases and annual reports is US GAAP, the accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Quarterly Summary US GAAP consolidated statements of operations, consolidated statements of cash flows and consolidated balance sheets are available on http://www.asml.com.The consolidated balance sheets of ASML Holding N.V. as of September 29, 2024, the related consolidated statements of operations and consolidated statements of cash flows for the quarter and nine months ended September 29, 2024 as presented in this press release are unaudited.
Regulated information
This press release contains inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation.Forward Looking Statements
This document and related discussions contain statements that are forward-looking within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements with respect to plans, strategies, expected trends, including trends in the semiconductor industry and end markets and business environment trends, expected demand, bookings, backlog, expected recovery in the semiconductor industry and expected timing thereof including expected industry recovery continuing in 2025, plans to continue to build capacity, outlook and expected financial results, outlook of market segments, including expected results for Q4 2024, including net sales, IBM sales, gross margin, R&D costs, SG&A costs, outlook for full year 2024, including expected full year 2024 total net sales, gross margin and estimated annualized effective tax rate, expectations and modelling with respect to 2025 revenue and gross margin, statements made at our 2022 Investor Day, including revenue and gross margin opportunity for 2025 and 2030, statements with respect to execution of ESG sustainability strategy, our expectation to continue to return significant amounts of cash to shareholders through growing dividends and share buybacks, statements with respect to our share buyback program, including the amount of shares that may be repurchased thereunder and statements with respect to dividends, statements with respect to expected performance and capabilities of our systems and customer plans and other non-historical statements. You can generally identify these statements by the use of words like “may”, “will”, “could”, “should”, “project”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “expect”, “plan”, “estimate”, “forecast”, “potential”, “intend”, “continue”, “target”, “future”, “progress”, “goal”, “model”, “opportunity” and variations of these words or comparable words. These statements are not historical facts, but rather are based on current expectations, estimates, assumptions, plans and projections about our business and our future financial results and readers should not place undue reliance on them. Forward-looking statements do not guarantee future performance and involve a number of substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, customer demand, semiconductor equipment industry capacity, worldwide demand for semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing capacity, lithography tool utilization and semiconductor inventory levels, general trends and consumer confidence in the semiconductor industry, the impact of general economic conditions, including the impact of the current macroeconomic environment on the semiconductor industry, uncertainty around a market recovery including the timing thereof, the impact of inflation, interest rates, wars and geopolitical developments, the impact of pandemics, the performance of our systems, the success of technology advances and the pace of new product development and customer acceptance of and demand for new products, our production capacity and ability to adjust capacity to meet demand, supply chain capacity, timely availability of parts and components, raw materials, critical manufacturing equipment and qualified employees, our ability to produce systems to meet demand, the number and timing of systems ordered, shipped and recognized in revenue, risks relating to fluctuations in net bookings and our ability to convert bookings into sales, the risk of order cancellation or push outs and restrictions on shipments of ordered systems under export controls, risks relating to the trade environment, import/export and national security regulations and orders and their impact on us, including the impact of changes in export regulations and the impact of such regulations on our ability to obtain necessary licenses and to sell our systems and provide services to certain customers, exchange rate fluctuations, changes in tax rates, available liquidity and free cash flow and liquidity requirements, our ability to refinance our indebtedness, available cash and distributable reserves for, and other factors impacting, dividend payments and share repurchases, the number of shares that we repurchase under our share repurchase programs, our ability to enforce patents and protect intellectual property rights and the outcome of intellectual property disputes and litigation, our ability to meet ESG goals and execute our ESG strategy, other factors that may impact ASML’s business or financial results, and other risks indicated in the risk factors included in ASML’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2023 and other filings with and submissions to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this document. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements after the date of this report or to conform such statements to actual results or revised expectations, except as required by law.Attachments
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MIL-OSI USA: SAF leadership engage allies, partners to counter pacing threat
Source: United States Air Force
Headline: SAF leadership engage allies, partners to counter pacing threat
Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David Allvin and Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force David Flosi participate in an international Air Force Forum hosted by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force in Tokyo Oct. 14-16.
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MIL-OSI Canada: Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada announces a judicial appointment in the province of Ontario
Source: Government of Canada News (2)
October 15, 2024 – Ottawa, Ontario – Department of Justice Canada
The Honourable Arif Virani, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, today announced the following appointment under the judicial application process established in 2016. This process emphasizes transparency, merit, and the diversity of the Canadian population, and will continue to ensure the appointment of jurists who meet the highest standards of excellence and integrity.
Linda A. Shin, General Counsel at the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario, Criminal Law Division, in Toronto, is appointed a Judge of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario in Toronto. Justice Shin replaces Justice B.A. Allen (Toronto), who elected to become a supernumerary judge effective November 4, 2022.
Quote
“I wish Justice Shin every success as she takes on her new role. I am confident she will serve Ontarians well as a member of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario”.
—The Hon. Arif Virani, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Biography
Justice Linda A. Shin was born in Toronto and is proud to be the daughter of Korean immigrants. She received a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Queen’s University and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Toronto. She was admitted to the Bar of Ontario in 2000.
Justice Shin was General Counsel at the Crown Law Office – Criminal, where she conducted appeals to the Court of Appeal and trial prosecutions on complex matters, including homicides and allegations against police officers. Previously, she worked as Chief Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General for Ontario, and as an Assistant Crown Attorney in the Toronto Crown Attorney’s Office. Prior to joining Ontario’s Criminal Law Division, she was a civil litigation associate at McCarthy Tétrault, where she articled.
Justice Shin is committed to mentorship and education. She has been an articling principal and a mentor to law students. She has volunteered as an instructor for the trial advocacy course at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law for several years. She has been a board member of the KCWA (Korean Canadian Women’s Association) since 2018; this non-profit organization provides education, counselling and other services to support Korean-Canadians in a variety of areas including violence against women and the elderly and newcomer settlement.
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MIL-OSI Economics: Swaminathan J: Central banks and financial stability
Source: Bank for International Settlements
Distinguished panellists – Prof. Randall S. Kroszner, Professor, University of Chicago and Former Governor, Federal Reserve Board; Ms. Emmanuelle Assouan, Director General, Financial Stability and Operations, Banque de France; Ms. Sarah Breeden, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability, Bank of England; Dr. Sajjid Chinoy, Managing Director and Chief Economist India, JP Morgan; esteemed delegates and colleagues from the Reserve Bank. A very good afternoon to all of you.
It is an honour to open this discussion on this very important and pertinent topic in today’s financial world – “Central Banks and Financial Stability: Assessing Risks and Building Resilience.”
The financial sector is the backbone of the economy, enabling efficient allocation of resources, managing risks through various instruments, and ensuring smooth payments and settlements. It performs crucial functions that support investments and drives economic growth. Therefore, the financial sector becomes the cornerstone of a well-functioning economy.
The financial sector is vulnerable to risks-especially systemic ones that, which if left unchecked, can have far-reaching consequences. As you are aware these systemic risks manifest across two dimensions: time and interconnectedness. On the one hand, financial risks can build up over time, especially in periods of economic euphoria. On the other, the growing interconnections between financial institutions, markets, and the broader economy make the system more open to shocks.
In today’s world, challenges are more complex and unpredictable than ever. Traditional risks, like credit and liquidity risks, now have new and faster drivers. For example, bank runs that once unfolded over days, giving regulators time to respond, can now occur within hours due to the speed of internet and mobile banking. The increasing reliance on technology also introduces vulnerabilities, such as dependence on third-party service providers and heightened cybersecurity threats, all while customers expect uninterrupted services. Additionally, we face emerging risks, such as climate risk.
In this increasingly volatile environment, building resilience is crucial to maintaining financial stability. However, resilience is a balancing act-too much emphasis on safeguarding can stifle innovation and growth, while too little can expose the system to significant vulnerabilities. Finding that right balance so that we can have a robust financial system that can weather crises without constraining economic progress is one of the key challenges that we face today.
Indeed, central banks are much like wicketkeepers in cricket or goalkeepers in football-often unnoticed in success but always in the spotlight during failure. When everything works seamlessly, their efforts remain behind the scenes, often taken for granted. However, when a crisis occurs, they are asked as to how they could allow the ball to slip through their fingers! In addition, Central Bankers are also tasked with preventing further damage and restoring stability quickly.
Let me offer an analogy: imagine a person teetering on the edge of a cliff, seemingly about to fall, only to be pulled back just in time by a watchful observer. When central banks intervene in such a manner to prevent a potential crisis, those they protect may claim they didn’t need saving at all. This highlights a common paradox-while regulators work tirelessly to maintain stability and avert disasters, their successes often go unnoticed, and their actions are sometimes viewed as unnecessary, intrusive or excessive by those unaware of the risks. Yet it is precisely this proactive oversight that ensures the safety and soundness of the financial system, allowing it to function smoothly even in times of uncertainty.
Over the years, the role of central banks has significantly evolved. Initially seen as the lender of last resort, today, central banks are equipped with a broad range of tools-regulatory, supervisory, and monetary-to ensure the stability of the financial system. In some countries, central banks do not have supervisory roles, with the supervision being carried out by a separate agency, but a coordinated approach is essential. Governments, central banks, financial regulators, and the industry must all work together to ensure appropriate and timely action is taken to safeguard financial stability.
In India, the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), chaired by the Union Finance Minister, along with its sub-committee led by the Governor of the Reserve Bank, has been effectively facilitating discussions and enhanced understanding of risks across the financial sector. Biannually, Reserve Bank publishes Financial Stability Reports that deliver a thorough risk assessment of India’s financial landscape. These reports utilise macro stress tests, sensitivity analyses, network and contagion assessments, and systemic risk surveys to provide valuable insights into potential vulnerabilities that affect the financial sector. Apart from inter-regulatory coordination, RBI also actively engages with the industry through regular engagements/ interactions including conferences with the Boards of supervised entities, periodic meetings with the MDs & CEOs, Heads of Assurance functions as well as interactions with auditors.
Having discussed the importance of domestic coordination, I would also like to emphasise the significance of global supervisory cooperation. Historically, crises have acted as catalysts for bringing supervisors together to address shared challenges. For instance, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision was formed in the aftermath of the Herstatt Bank failure, highlighting the necessity for a coordinated response to systemic risks. However, we should not wait for crises to play out before strengthening international collaboration. Greater engagement for proactive horizon scanning of potential risks and vulnerabilities, along with discussions on strategies to mitigate and address these challenges, can enhance our collective resilience and crisis preparedness.
Indeed, as a part of our agenda for the next decade, RBI@100, the Reserve Bank intends to engage more with the central banks of the global south. The Reserve Bank also aims to establish a global model of risk-focused supervision by fostering a strong risk discovery and compliance culture, building a “through-the-cycle” risk assessment framework. Reserve Bank is working to create a comprehensive data analytics ecosystem to support its supervisory functions.
With these thoughts in mind, I look forward to a rich and insightful panel discussion on how central banks can continue to enhance financial stability and build a resilient global financial system. Thank you!
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MIL-OSI USA: Duckworth Honors Indigenous Peoples’ Day with Visit to Mitchell Museum of the American Indian
US Senate News:
Source: United States Senator for Illinois Tammy Duckworth
October 14, 2024[EVANSTON, IL] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today visited the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian to honor Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Duckworth met with the museum’s Executive Director Kim Vigue, Board President Susan Kelsey and community leaders and members to discuss how she can help advocate for the Indigenous community at the federal level, as well as toured the museum that honors and highlights the history and culture of Indigenous peoples and communities. Photos from today’s visit are available on the Senator’s website.
“On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we honor and celebrate the Indigenous communities who have long contributed to our country as we continue to reckon with our nation’s horrific legacy of colonization,” Duckworth said. “I was pleased to visit and meet with the leaders of the Mitchell Museum to learn more about their mission to preserve the rich history of Indigenous peoples and pass on the culture and traditions to the next generation.”
The Mitchell Museum of the American Indian is one of a few museums across the country that focuses exclusively on the histories, cultures, traditions and arts of Indigenous people from the United States and Canada. Since its founding in 1977, the museum has become a cherished resource and education center committed to promoting a greater understanding of Indigenous peoples and serving as a space to celebrate their diverse cultures, rich histories and present-day experiences and contributions.
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MIL-OSI Security: Defense News: An AUKUS First, Seven Royal Australian Navy Enlisted Sailors Graduate Nuclear Power School
Source: United States Navy
GOOSE CREEK, South Carolina – Demonstrating another significant milestone for the Australia, United Kingdom, United States (AUKUS) trilateral security partnership, 12 Royal Australian Navy uniformed personnel, including the first seven enlisted sailors, graduated from the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Power School at Joint Base Charleston-Naval Weapons Station, Oct. 11.
The enlisted Royal Australian Navy sailors, who trained alongside U.S. sailors, began the naval nuclear power training pipeline in October 2023. Since then, they have been learning their specific rates, as well as the fundamentals of design, operation and maintenance of naval nuclear propulsion plans. These sailors are the vanguard of Australia establishing a sovereign conventionally armed, nuclear-powered, submarine (SSN) fleet in the early 2030s.
“Naval Nuclear Power training is exceptionally rigorous and to have seven Australian sailors and five officers complete the program and move on to the Nuclear Power Training Unit takes us one step closer to operating our own SSNs,” said Chief of the Royal Australian Navy Vice Adm. Mark Hammond.
“Two days after assuming command of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, I presided over the graduation of the first three Royal Australian Navy officers from Naval Nuclear Power Training Unit Charleston,” shared Adm. Bill Houston, Director, Naval Reactors. “I have been nothing but impressed by the quality of Australian sailors and officers in our training pipeline and serving aboard our nuclear-powered submarine.”
Following graduation, the Royal Australian Navy sailors will report to the Naval Nuclear Power Training Unit Charleston for training focused on shipboard nuclear power plant operation and maintenance of the U.S. Navy’s nuclear fleet.
Making Australia Sovereign-Ready
Training and education opportunities are critical to ensure Australia is ready to operate its sovereign Virginia-class SSNs early next decade.
“The Australian sailors are receiving the same training as their American counterparts,” shared Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy James Honea. “They are held to the same high standards required to operate nuclear-powered attack submarines so that when they report to their boat, they’re ready to put their training to the test, integrate with the crew, and become Australia’s future front-line warriors aboard their own sovereign SSNs.”
Currently, there are six Royal Australian Navy officers serving aboard or assigned to U.S. Navy Virginia-class submarines, 12 officers and 28 enlisted sailors within the naval nuclear power training pipeline with an additional 19 enlisted sailors completing Basic Enlisted Submarine School in Groton, Connecticut. Additionally, 39 personnel from ASC Pty Ltd. (formerly known as the Australian Submarine Corporation) are training at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to prepare them for future roles in maintaining nuclear-powered submarines for the Royal Australian Navy.
Full Speed Ahead, ‘Well on our Way’
The first three Australian-flagged SSNs will be Virginia-class submarines that are typically crewed by 15 officers and 117 enlisted submariners. Australian submariners will be joining U.S. SSN crews to gain practical experience and build their crews ahead of taking possession of their first sovereign SSN in the early 2030s.
“The training at Goose Creek and Groton are preparing our Australian allies to operate Virginia-class submarines,” said Rear Adm. Lincoln Reifsteck, Director, AUKUS Integration and Acquisition. “Over the coming months, we will see that number grow significantly across both the uniformed and civilian training pipelines so we can make sure, come 2032, Australia can fully crew its first, sovereign, conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarine.”
The AUKUS partnership is a strategic endeavor aimed at strengthening the security and defense capabilities of each partner nation. The U.S. remains committed to peace and prosperity in order to secure a free and open Indo-Pacific. This alliance helps sustain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, benefits each country’s national security and prosperity, and uplifts all three industrial bases.
“Thirty-seven months after AUKUS’ inception, we are well on our way to developing Australia’s SSN capability,” said Vice Adm. Jonathan Mead, Director General of the Australian Submarine Agency. “Last month, Australian sailors conducted the first maintenance period on a U.S. SSN in Australia. Today we graduate the first enlisted personnel from an exceptionally rigorous school, already we have Australian officers serving aboard both U.S. and UK SSNs.”
AUKUS Pillar 1 will deliver a conventionally armed SSN capability to the Royal Australian Navy by the early 2030s. The Department of the Navy’s AUKUS Integration and Acquisition Program Office is the U.S. lead responsible for executing the trilateral partnership for Australia to acquire conventionally armed, nuclear-powered attack submarines at the earliest possible date while maintaining the highest nuclear stewardship standards and setting the highest standards for nuclear non-proliferation.
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MIL-OSI USA: Snippet of Euclid Mission’s Cosmic Atlas Released by ESA
Source: NASA
With contributions from NASA, the mission will map a third of the sky in order to study a cosmic mystery called dark energy.
ESA (the European Space Agency) has released a new, 208-gigapixel mosaic of images taken by Euclid, a mission with NASA contributions that launched in 2023 to study why the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. Astronomers use the term “dark energy” in reference to the unknown cause of this accelerated expansion.
The new images were released at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan on Oct. 15.
The mosaic contains 260 observations in visible and infrared light made between March 25 and April 8 of this year. In just two weeks, Euclid covered 132 square degrees of the southern sky — more than 500 times the area of the sky covered by a full Moon.
The mosaic accounts for 1% of the wide survey Euclid will conduct over six years. During this survey, the telescope observes the shapes, distances, and motions of billions of galaxies out to a distance of more than 10 billion light-years. By doing this, it will create the largest 3D cosmic map ever made.[embedded content]
Dive into a snippet of the great cosmic atlas being produced by the ESA Euclid mission. This video zooms in on a 208-gigapixel mosaic containing about 14 million galaxies and covering a portion of the southern sky more than 500 times the area of the full Moon as seen from Earth. Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, CEA Paris-Saclay, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre, E. Bertin, G. Anselmi; ESA/Gaia/DPAC; ESA/Planck CollaborationThis first piece of the map already contains around 100 million stars and galaxies. Some 14 million of these galaxies could be used by Euclid to study the hidden influence of dark energy on the universe.
“We have already seen beautiful, high-resolution images of individual objects and groups of objects from Euclid. This new image finally gives us a taste of the enormity of the area of sky Euclid will cover, which will enable us to take detailed measurements of billions of galaxies,” said Jason Rhodes, an observational cosmologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California who is the U.S. science lead for Euclid and principal investigator for NASA’s Euclid dark energy science team.
Galaxies Galore
Even though this patch of space shows only 1% of Euclid’s total survey area, the spacecraft’s sensitive cameras captured an incredible number of objects in great detail. Enlarging the image by a factor of 600 reveals the intricate structure of a spiral galaxy in galaxy cluster Abell 3381, 470 million light-years away.“What really strikes me about these new images is the tremendous range in physical scale,” said JPL’s Mike Seiffert, project scientist for the NASA contribution to Euclid. “The images capture detail from clusters of stars near an individual galaxy to some of the largest structures in the universe. We are beginning to see the first hints of what the full Euclid data will look like when it reaches the completion of the prime survey.”
Visble as well are clouds of gas and dust located between the stars in our own galaxy. Sometimes called “galactic cirrus” because they look like cirrus clouds at Earth, these clouds can be observed by Euclid’s visible-light camera because they reflect visible light from the Milky Way.
The mosaic released today is taste of what’s to come from Euclid. The mission plans to release 53 square degrees of the Euclid survey, including a preview of the Euclid Deep Field areas, in March 2025 and to release its first year of cosmology data in 2026.
NASA’s forthcoming Nancy Grace Roman mission will also study dark energy — in ways that are complementary to Euclid. Mission planners will use Euclid’s findings to inform Roman’s dark energy work. Scheduled to launch by May 2027, Roman will study a smaller section of sky than Euclid but will provide higher-resolution images of millions of galaxies and peer deeper into the universe’s past, providing complementary information. In addition, Roman will survey nearby galaxies, find and investigate planets throughout our galaxy, study objects on the outskirts of our solar system, and more.
More About Euclid
Euclid is a European mission, built and operated by ESA, with contributions from NASA. The Euclid Consortium — consisting of more than 2,000 scientists from 300 institutes in 15 European countries, the United States, Canada, and Japan — is responsible for providing the scientific instruments and scientific data analysis. ESA selected Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor for the construction of the satellite and its service module, with Airbus Defence and Space chosen to develop the payload module, including the telescope. Euclid is a medium-class mission in ESA’s Cosmic Vision Programme.
Three NASA-supported science teams contribute to the Euclid mission. In addition to designing and fabricating the sensor-chip electronics for Euclid’s Near Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP) instrument, JPL led the procurement and delivery of the NISP detectors as well. Those detectors, along with the sensor chip electronics, were tested at NASA’s Detector Characterization Lab at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Euclid NASA Science Center at IPAC (ENSCI), at Caltech in Pasadena, California, will archive the science data and support U.S.-based science investigations. JPL is a division of Caltech.
For more information about Euclid go to:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/euclid/main/index.html
For more information about Roman, go to:
https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov
News Media Contacts
Calla CofieldJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.626-808-2469calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov
ESA Media Relationsmedia@esa.int
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MIL-OSI: ProCap Ushers in the Grand Opening of a New Business Lounge in China Hong Kong SAR
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
Hong Kong, Oct. 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — On 9th October 2024, ProCap leaders from China, Japan, The Philippines, and South Korea graced the grand opening of ProCap’s new Hong Kong business lounge. The business lounge is located right in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui district and marks a significant milestone in ProCap’s business expansion plans as the company is preparing to launch a strategic entry in the Mainland Chinese markets. The grand opening is a testament of ProCap’s commitment to serving our valued partners and business associates in the Pearl River Delta Region. Additionally, the new business lounge is a symbol of the company’s confidence in Hong Kong and the Greater China Region as the company continues to regard it as a key strategic focus market for expansion.
Last Wednesday’s grand opening was the culmination of the hard work and dedication by ProCap’s management team and Hong Kong’s leaders as the company intends to capitalise on our presence in Hong Kong as a launching pad to realise the huge business potential in the Pearl River Delta Region. Specifically, the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone as a trading and logistics hub presents itself with unique opportunities for ProCap as the company seeks to make inroads into a bustling regional hub for trade and commerce. Additionally, the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone is also where the different economies of China, Hong Kong, and Macau converge, which gives rise to a dynamic and robust business environment; this is crucial and in-line with ProCap’s business ethos as the company seeks to grow continuously amidst an ever-changing fast paced regional backdrop.
At ProCap, we believe in constantly expanding our presence and network to better serve our growing customer base. With the new business lounge sited in Hong Kong, it will provide ProCap with access to a dynamic and vibrant region of Southern China while providing greater connectivity to our valued customers in the region. Additionally, the presence of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge will provide ProCap with further expansion and growth opportunities beyond Hong Kong. The company is aware of recent developments in China’s fiscal and monetary stimulus push and looks optimistically towards a better outlook for the domestic economic situation.
ProCap would like to express our immense gratitude to all leaders and associates for attending the grand opening ceremony in Hong Kong. The company would also like to express our heartfelt thanks to our valued clients for their continuous support and trust placed in ProCap as your preferred partners for capital protection. ProCap will continue to grow as a company as we strive to be the world’s leading capital protection services provider by providing our clients with world class protection coverage.
About Procap International
ProCap International a technology-empowered, innovative financial services provider, is the pioneer of Capital Protection. The company is built on the basis of risk management in prediction games; and selected trading instruments on exchanges.
By following the ProCap Formula, clients can get to enjoy stable returns daily by making the correct predictions; without the need to worry about making the wrong predictions and incurring any financial losses.
As the industry transits through consolidation and technological disruptions, ProCap’s avant-garde operating model is poised to provide the most competitive and cost-effective insurance products tailored to our clients’ ever evolving needs. The amalgamation of ProCap, Clients and Gaming Operators seamlessly is an industry first with the company having tremendous growth potential to carve out a niche for itself with this revolutionary business model.
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MIL-OSI Global: Trump’s musical interlude is a twist on the long tradition of candidates enlisting musicians’ support, from Al Jolson to Springsteen to Swift
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Matt Harris, Associate Professor of Political Science, Park University
Donald Trump dances to the song “Y.M.C.A.” with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, during a town hall event in Pennsylvania on Oct. 14, 2024. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images Donald Trump made liberal use of music in what’s being called a “surreal” or “bizarre” town hall meeting on Oct. 14, 2024, in Oaks, Pennsylvania. After two attendees at the event had medical problems, Trump declared he would stop answering audience questions, and music would be played instead.
Then, as the Washington Post reported, “For 39 minutes, Trump swayed, bopped — sometimes stopping to speak — as he turned the event into almost a living-room listening session of his favorite songs from his self-curated rally playlist.”
The music included “YMCA” by the Village People and Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U.”
The use of music in campaigns is a long tradition, although this may be the first time a playlist has substituted for talking points. While Trump is bopping at campaign events, both Democrats and Republicans anticipate what looks to be another coin flip election that could come down to a few hundred thousand votes in a handful of states. Every voter matters – no matter how you reach them. With that in mind, Democrats are communicating not just on matters of policy, but matters of pop culture.
Specifically, Democrats are embracing football and Taylor Swift. The Harris-Walz campaign trotted out endorsements from 15 Pro Football Hall of Famers and sells Swiftie-style friendship bracelets on its campaign website, among other overtures. Swift herself has endorsed Kamala Harris.
The Harris-Walz campaign is definitely stressing Walz’s football coach background.
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty ImagesTim Walz cited his experience as a football coach and mentioned Swift in the vice presidential debate.
Democratic challenger and former NFLer Colin Allred, who is running to unseat GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, has put out ads in which he appears moments from taking to the gridiron.
But how much does pop culture campaigning, if you will, matter? Does trying to link a campaign to a sport, or a culture, or a style of music actually influence elections? Looking to five different election campaigns in the past can give a sense of the effects, or lack thereof, of such campaigning.
An ad for Texas Democrat Rep. Colin Allred, a former NFL player, stresses his football past in his bid to unseat GOP Sen. Ted Cruz. Reagan and Springsteen
Any discussion of the embrace of pop culture by candidates should probably start with Ronald Reagan’s Bruce Springsteen era.
Reagan, attempting to reach beyond his base, viewed 1984 as a vibes-based election and cited Springsteen as an exemplar of the hope his campaign wished to inspire. Springsteen rejected a request from Reagan’s camp to use his often-misunderstood “Born in the U.S.A.” on the campaign trail. The song’s lyrics describe a down-on-his-luck Vietnam War veteran, but if you don’t listen carefully to the lyrics, the song can sound like a celebration of veterans and being American.
While Reagan went on to win 49 states in that year’s election, perhaps the biggest long-term impact of his courtship of Springsteen fans was to turn Springsteen from a relatively apolitical performer to a staunch supporter of the Democratic Party.
In this way, Springsteen’s transformation mirrors that of Taylor Swift, with Marsha Blackburn, the Tennessee Republican senator, serving as her Reagan – the person who pushed the performer into the political arena after years on the sidelines.
Springsteen and Kerry
Springsteen’s foray into politics eventually led him to back Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in 2004 with a series of concerts called the “Vote for Change” tour.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry greets the crowd with musician Bruce Springsteen while campaigning in Columbus, Ohio, on Oct. 28, 2004.
AP Photo/Laura RauchKerry, meanwhile, undertook his own efforts at cultural turf claiming. His attempts to demonstrate his bona fides as a sports-loving everyman went awry at times, when he flubbed the name of “Lambeau Field,” home of Wisconsin’s Green Bay Packers, and referred to a nonexistent Boston Red Sox player, “Manny Ortez.” The ill-fated sports references arguably didn’t hurt his campaign – he won Wisconsin and Massachusetts – but he was ridiculed for a photo-op hunting trip late in the campaign and went on to lose rural Midwestern voters decisively – as well as the election.
Kerry’s dabbling with hunting imagery was perhaps an attempt to dull President George W. Bush’s advantage in perceived strength of leadership, which was in part burnished by his adoption of a cowboy persona.
Harding, Jolson and the Cubs
While Reagan’s attempt to woo 1980s rock fans is one of the best-known attempts to campaign on a mantra of popular culture, it was far from the first.
Sen. Warren Harding’s 1920 front porch campaign for president was given a jolt of enthusiasm by a visit from singer and actor Al Jolson. Harding was also visited in his hometown, Marion, Ohio, by other actors and celebrities and the Chicago Cubs.
Harding’s strategy probably better serves as a template for things to come than a decisive move in the 1920 election: His victory with over 60% of the popular vote suggests no celebrity could have saved Democrat James Cox.
Bill Clinton and MTV
As the Harris-Walz campaign tries to draw votes from Swift’s young fans, parallels can be drawn to Democratic Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton’s attempts to embrace youth culture in the 1992 presidential election. Among other appearances, Clinton took questions from young voters on MTV and played saxophone on “The Arsenio Hall Show.”
While the direct effect of Clinton’s forays into youth culture is difficult to measure, he did surge among young voters relative to Democrat Michael Dukakis’ 1988 presidential campaign.
In his 1992 campaign, Bill Clinton went on MTV to answer young people’s questions, which included ‘If you had it to do over again, would you inhale?’ Ford and football
Any discussion of politicians embracing football culture would be incomplete without a discussion of the American president best at playing football, Gerald Ford, the vice president who became the nation’s 38th president in 1974, when Richard Nixon resigned during the Watergate scandal.
Ford played center on two national championship teams at the University of Michigan. While not using his football player background to the same level as former football coach Walz did at the Democratic National Convention, Ford did make use of his football credentials on the stump during the 1976 presidential campaign and was joined on the campaign trail by Alabama football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant.
But the votes of football fans were apparently not enough to keep Ford in the White House for long. He lost the 1976 election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.
Potentially fruitful pickups
Will the Harris-Walz strategy of recruiting voters through pop culture be successful? Swift’s fans are largely young, suburban women, and NFL fans are strewn across the political spectrum. There are potentially fruitful pickups in both camps. The candidates certainly think it matters: Walz said he “took football back” from Republicans, a claim disputed by Trump.
Stressing pop culture credentials can also provide attention to a campaign, regardless of persuasion. Clinton’s pop culture appearances generated coverage beyond the appearances themselves and were cost-effective for a campaign short on funds.
This type of pop culture campaigning generates coverage, then, even if voters aren’t moved by thinking a candidate shares their love of football or pop music.
This story has been updated to include the Trump town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 14.
Matt Harris 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. Trump’s musical interlude is a twist on the long tradition of candidates enlisting musicians’ support, from Al Jolson to Springsteen to Swift – https://theconversation.com/trumps-musical-interlude-is-a-twist-on-the-long-tradition-of-candidates-enlisting-musicians-support-from-al-jolson-to-springsteen-to-swift-239381
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MIL-OSI Security: Defense News: USS Preble (DDG 88) Arrives in Yokosuka to join Commander, Destroyer Squadron 15
Source: United States Navy
YOKOSUKA – The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Preble (DDG 88) arrived at its forward-deployed location of Yokosuka, Japan, to join Commander, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15, October 12, 2024.
The ship was commissioned Nov. 9, 2002, in Boston and had been homeported at Naval Base San Diego for nearly 22 years.
“We are thrilled to have Preble join the team in the Western Pacific,” said Capt. Justin Harts, Commander, Destroyer Squadron 15. “Her arrival is a welcome addition to the DESRON 15 family, and her advanced capabilities add unique value. I am excited to get Preble underway with our Allies and partners to see what she can do.”
The ship is named in honor of Commodore Edward Preble, who served in the American Revolutionary War and was one of the early leaders of the Navy. USS Preble is the 38th destroyer of her class.
The United States values Japan’s contributions to the peace, security and stability of the Indo-Pacific and its long-term commitment and hospitality in hosting U.S. forces forward deployed there. These forces, along with their counterparts in the Japan Self-Defense Forces, make up the core capabilities needed by the alliance to meet common strategic objectives and support a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Preble is forward-deployed and assigned to Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15, the Navy’s largest DESRON and the U.S. 7th Fleet’s principal surface force.
U.S. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy’s largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
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MIL-OSI Global: Who really holds the purse strings? Why it matters which partner decides where the money goes
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Ran Gu, Lecturer in Economics, University of Essex
In an era of increasing financial complexity, who really calls the shots when it comes to investing your household’s savings? This question has significant implications for financial health and overall wellbeing.
As economists, we specifically wanted to understand how “bargaining power” is distributed between men and women in a mixed-sex household when it comes to finances. This bargaining power refers to the ability of one partner to influence decisions that affect the household – the partner with more bargaining power has a greater say.
To investigate this, my research partners and I analysed household investment decisions in Australia, Germany and the US. Our recent research reveals a persistent gender gap in household investment decisions, with men often wielding greater influence, even when their female partners may be more risk-averse.
This isn’t just a matter of who manages the online brokerage account – it has real consequences for families. In many households, partners have different levels of risk tolerance.
In Australia, this was the case for 43% of households, increasing to 57% in Germany and 65% in the US. This suggests that disagreements over investment decisions are common.
For example, a man might prefer high-risk, high-reward stocks, while his female partner prioritises safer, long-term investments. If the man dominates the decision-making, the family portfolio might be exposed to a level of risk the woman finds uncomfortable, potentially jeopardising their financial security.
But how do we measure this “bargaining power” within households? We developed an approach that goes beyond simply asking couples who makes the decisions. Instead, we looked at actual investment choices and combined this with data on individual risk tolerances. This allowed us to estimate how much each partner’s preferences influenced the final investment decisions.
Across all three countries, men tend to have more control over investment decisions than their female partners. In an average Australian household, the man’s bargaining power is 60%, compared to 40% for the woman.
In the US and Germany, men hold even greater sway, with their bargaining power rising to 61% and 69% respectively. While men’s greater bargaining power could be justified if they were better traders, evidence suggests they tend to trade more frequently and underperform compared to women.
This power imbalance stems from two main sources.
The first of these is individual characteristics. In our study, male partners are often older, more likely to be employed, and have higher incomes – factors that tend to increase their influence in financial decision-making. These characteristics can give male partners a sense of authority and control over financial matters, leading to an unequal balance of power in investment decisions.
Our study found that personality traits also play a part, with individuals who are less agreeable and less extroverted – typically more likely to be men – tending to have more bargaining power.
And the second is traditional gender norms. Typically, men tend to have extra bargaining power – this can be due to deeply rooted societal expectations about them being the primary breadwinners and financial decision-makers. This effect is amplified when women also adhere to these norms.
Of the two, we found that gender norms are a far more powerful force than individual characteristics in explaining the gender gap in bargaining power.
Why this matters
This gender gap in investment decision-making is closely linked to other household money matters, such as day-to-day spending and large purchases. Household investment and consumption decisions are highly correlated and usually made by the same person, with male partners often appearing to have the upper hand.
This imbalance can have significant implications for women’s financial wellbeing. Being exposed to higher investment risk than they are comfortable with can leave female partners feeling vulnerable and undermine their sense of financial security.
The gender patterns spill over into other financial decisions too.
fizkes/ShutterstockOur research provides evidence that supports the idea that gender inequality is not just a public issue but one that exists in private spaces as well. By showing that men often hold more bargaining power in discussions around investments, it underscores the need for policies that address gender disparities at home, not just in the workplace.
So, what can be done? Promoting gender equality in financial decision-making starts with open communication and recognising that both partners’ perspectives are valuable. Couples should discuss their financial goals, risk tolerance and investment strategies together, ensuring that both partners feel heard and understood.
Beyond individual households, challenging traditional gender norms is a crucial step towards creating a more equitable financial future for everyone. This isn’t just about fairness; it’s about ensuring that families make sound financial decisions that reflect the needs and preferences of all members. By empowering women to take an active role in investment decisions, we can help to create a more secure and equitable financial future for families everywhere.
Ran Gu receives funding from the British Academy, award reference RG1920101488, and the Keynes Fund at Cambridge. He is affiliated with the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
– ref. Who really holds the purse strings? Why it matters which partner decides where the money goes – https://theconversation.com/who-really-holds-the-purse-strings-why-it-matters-which-partner-decides-where-the-money-goes-241089
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MIL-OSI Security: IMPD Sergeant Facing Federal Charges for Possession and Distribution of Child Sexual Abuse Material
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News
INDIANAPOLIS—A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Sergeant, Javed Richards, 42, with five counts of distribution of child sexual abuse material and one count of possession of child sexual abuse material. Richards had his initial appearance in federal court on October 10th.
According to the indictment, on July 14, 2024, Richards allegedly distributed at least five videos of minors under the age of 12 engaged in sexually explicit conduct to other individuals via the Kik messenger application. Richards is further charged with possessing numerous images and videos of child sex abuse material on his iCloud account.
IMPD announced it has suspended Sergeant Richards pending a recommendation of termination to the IMPD Civilian Police Merit Board.
The FBI and Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force is investigating this case, with cooperation from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. If convicted, Richards faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany J. Preston, who is prosecuting this case.
This investigation was conducted by the FBI which is part of the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, a multiagency task force led by the Indiana State Police that investigates and prosecutes persons who use the internet to sexually exploit or entice children. Each year, Indiana ICAC investigators evaluate thousands of tips, investigate hundreds of cases, and rescue dozens of children from ongoing sexual abuse. Visit https://www.internetcrimesagainstkids.com to learn more about their efforts.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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MIL-OSI Canada: Government of Canada announces funding to improve the sustainability and competitiveness of Canadian cereals
Source: Government of Canada News (2)
Cereal crops are a staple of Canada’s agricultural sector.
October 15, 2024 – Winnipeg, Manitoba – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Cereal crops are a staple of Canada’s agricultural sector. Last year, we exported 29.8 million tonnes of wheat, barley and oats, valued at $13.8 billion, and demand continues to grow.
To support the competitiveness and sustainability of Canadian cereals, today, Terry Duguid, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and Special Advisor for Water and Member of Parliament for Winnipeg South, on behalf of the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced up to $7.3 million in funding to Cereals Canada through the AgriMarketing Program and the AgriScience Program – Projects Component, two initiatives under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.
Cereals Canada is receiving up to $6,660,817 through the AgriMarketing Program to increase market access, improve customer support, and expand exports through initiatives like technical exchanges, market research, and knowledge sharing among stakeholders.
Through the AgriScience Program – Projects Component, Cereals Canada is also receiving up to $674,249. This funding will support research on how environmental conditions impact cereal crop quality during the growing season. It will also expand milling expertise, establish oat quality standards, and compare Canadian wheat with international competitors to strengthen Canada’s place in the global market.
By sharing key insights on the performance, functionality, and marketability of Canadian cereals with customers, producers, and partners, these projects will drive market growth. At the same time, by investing in research to help farmers adapt to environmental challenges, they will further build on Canada’s reputation as a reliable supplier of high-quality, sustainable cereal grains.
“We are grateful for the support from the Government of Canada for applied research and market access initiatives that will benefit Canadian wheat, durum, barley, and oat growers, and the value chain as a whole. This funding enables us to amplify our resources, maintain and grow markets, and foster industry relationships and advocacy, helping to ensure the long-term competitiveness and sustainability of Canada’s cereals industry.”
– Dean Dias, CEO, Cereals Canada
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In the last five years, Canada exported wheat to almost 100 countries with some of the largest buyers being in the United States, Indonesia, China and Japan.
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According to Statistics Canada, 2023 wheat exports were nearly $12 billion, and 2023 oat exports were $725 million.
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Cereals Canada is a longstanding recipient of departmental funding, having most recently received over $3 million in funding through the AgriMaketing Program under the previous Canadian Agricultural Partnership framework.
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Cereals Canada is a national, not-for-profit organization representing the cereal grains sector, focused on enhancing the competitiveness of Canadian cereals both domestically and internationally.
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The Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP) is a $3.5-billion, 5-year agreement (2023 to 2028), between the federal, provincial and territorial governments to strengthen the competitiveness, innovation, and resiliency of the agriculture, agri‐food and agri‐based products sector.
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The AgriMarketing Program, under the Sustainable CAP, supports national agricultural sectors to increase and diversify exports to international markets and seize domestic market opportunities.
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The AgriScience Program, under the Sustainable CAP, aims to accelerate innovation by providing funding and support for pre-commercial science activities and research that benefits the agriculture and agri-food sector, and Canadians.
Annie Cullinan
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
annie.cullinan@agr.gc.ca -
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MIL-OSI Security: 2023 IAEA Annual Report Presented to the UN General Assembly
Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA
The 2023 IAEA Annual Report contains highlights of a significant year for the Agency. (Image: A.Vargas).
The 2023 IAEA Annual Report is now available to read online, in all the official UN languages. The 2023 report was submitted to the United Nations General Assembly today by the IAEA’s Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi.
The 2023 IAEA Annual Report contains highlights of a significant year for the Agency. A new Atoms4Food initiative was launched by Mr Grossi, together with the Director General Qu Dongyu of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The initiative builds on the IAEA’s experience of helping countries to use nuclear techniques to help them tackle global hunger by enhancing food security and nutrition.
At the same time, the IAEA continued to implement its existing key initiatives. These include Rays of Hope: Cancer Care for All, aimed at closing the gap in cancer care in lower- and middle- income countries, its Zoonotic Disease Integrated Action initiative (ZODIAC) tasked with preventing future pandemics and NUTEC Plastics, which fights global plastic pollution.
“Every day on every continent, the IAEA assists nations in overcoming challenges like diseases, poverty, hunger, pollution and climate change,” said Mr Grossi in his written statement to the UN General Assembly. “In partnership with our 178 Member States, we are enabling communities to improve healthcare, agriculture and energy systems through the power of nuclear science and technology.”
An important part of the IAEA’s work in 2023 was to ensure transparency around the discharge of ALPS treated water from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. In July, Mr Grossi presented to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan an Agency report that concluded the discharge approach and activities to be consistent with international safety standards.
Another key priority was to support Ukraine’s nuclear safety and security. A total of 86 IAEA missions comprising 187 staff travelled to Ukraine in 2023. The IAEA also maintained a continuous presence at all five nuclear sites in Ukraine. In May, Mr Grossi presented to the UN Security Council the five principles for protecting nuclear safety and security at Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant.
A significant milestone for the IAEA was at last year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, where leaders backed investment in nuclear as a low-carbon energy source for the first time. Further notable developments concerning nuclear energy included two interconnected mechanisms: the IAEA Platform on SMRs and their Applications and the IAEA’s Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization Initiative, launched together in 2023 to support its Member States with the safe and timely deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs). SMRs offer a viable option to enhance energy security while helping to achieve global climate goals for many countries worldwide.
The IAEA’s unique laboratories at Seibersdorf achieved a milestone last year, fundraising was completed for the renewal of the Nuclear Application Laboratories (ReNuAL) initiative. In addition, the IAEA’s new Nuclear Security Training and Demonstration Centre opened, ready to assist Member States in tackling nuclear terrorism and crime.
Mr Grossi also launched the World Fusion Energy Group in 2023, which will bringing together key stakeholders as this future technology continues its journey from experimentation to demonstration and deployment.
In addition, the IAEA celebrated achievements in promoting gender equality in the nuclear sector. By the end of 2023, the IAEA Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme had 560 fellows, and the Lise Meitner Programme was also in place, offering early- and mid-career women in the nuclear sector new opportunities for career advancement. In 2023, gender balance was achieved in senior management at the IAEA.
More information about the significant activities of the Agency during the past year is available here. The 2023 IAEA Annual Report can also be read in the UN official languages of Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish, as well as English. Mr Grossi’s full statement can be read here.
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MIL-OSI USA: Luján, Colleagues Commemorate Indigenous Peoples’ Day
US Senate News:
Source: United States Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico)
Washington D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, commemorated Indigenous Peoples’ Day with the bicameral Indigenous Peoples’ Day Act alongside Representatives Norma Torres (CA-35), Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Sharice Davids (KS-03), Suzan DelBene (WA-01), and Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM). The legislation would designate Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a legal public holiday and replace the term ‘‘Columbus Day’’ with the term ‘‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day.’’
“Recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day is an essential step toward honoring the accomplishments and strength of Tribal Nations across New Mexico and the country,” said Senator Luján, a member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. “I’m proud to lead this effort to officially designate Indigenous Peoples’ Day and am hopeful that Congress will follow in New Mexico’s footsteps and recognize the holiday federally. Throughout history, Native people have played a vital role in our society and shaping our nation’s history – from serving in the military, educating our children, to boosting our economy – and it is well past time to celebrate their contributions. I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this bill and honor all the triumphs of our Tribal communities.”
“It has been a year since the Indigenous Peoples’ Day Act was reintroduced, and our nation needs to recognize and work towards addressing the deep-seated historical injustices and suffering experienced by the natives across the country,” said Congresswoman Norma Torres. “The Indigenous Peoples’ Day Act seeks to honor the enduring presence of the tribes that inhabited the Americas long before the arrival of Western explorers. By establishing Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a federal holiday, we can take a meaningful step towards acknowledging the complexities of our nation’s history and celebrating the rich traditions and culture of all Indigenous communities who are an integral part of the United States history. It is time for my colleagues in the House and Senate to unite in passing this critical legislation, ensuring that we pay tribute to the cultures and significant contributions of Indigenous peoples to our nation.”
“On Indigenous Peoples’ Day we recognize the immense contributions Indigenous communities have made throughout our country’s history and before its founding,” said Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici. “We also must acknowledge the many injustices that continue to affect Indigenous communities today. I’m pleased to join my colleagues in this important effort to establish Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a federal holiday.”
“Indigenous People’s Day is not only a time to acknowledge the centuries of discrimination that Native peoples have experienced, but an opportunity to celebrate how much Indigenous peoples’ rich cultures have contributed to our nation’s history,” said Representative Sharice L. Davids. “As one of the first Native American women elected to Congress and a proud member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, I am proud to join my colleagues in calling for the national celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day.”
“Indigenous Peoples’ Day is an opportunity for us to unite in celebration of the rich tapestry of tribal nations, their diverse cultures, and the important contributions they have made to our communities,” said Congresswoman Suzan DelBene. “Cementing this observance also acknowledges the current and historical injustices Indigenous communities face and renews our commitment to preserving their rights as we work toward a more inclusive and equitable society.”
“As President of the Navajo Nation, I am proud to support Congresswoman Torre’s and Senator Heinrich’s efforts to pass the Indigenous Peoples’ Day Act. Indigenous Peoples’ Day is an opportunity for all of us to come together to honor the rich histories, cultures and contributions of Indigenous communities across the country. It is a day to reflect on the resilience of our people, and to promote understanding and respect for our heritage. By recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we celebrate our past and pave the way for a future built on mutual respect and collaboration. This is a day for education, reflection and unity as we work toward healing and progress.” – Dr. Buu Nygren, President of the Navajo Nation
Full Indigenous Peoples’ Day Act Bill
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MIL-OSI: Decode Global Receives Best Forex Fintech Broker Award at BrokersView Abu Dhabi Expo
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Oct. 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In a significant achievement, Decode Global has been recognized as the Best Forex Fintech Broker at the BrokersView Abu Dhabi Expo, a leading event for the financial information and technology industry. This award highlights Decode Global’s continued expansion and innovation in fintech, as well as its commitment to delivering high-quality services in forex trading and beyond. Established in 2004, Decode Global has over 20 years of experience in the financial sector. Recently, Decode Global has focused on expanding its presence in emerging markets, particularly in Asia and the Middle East. This move is seen as part of its strategy to tap into new client bases and further its global reach.
Decode Global’s Introducing Broker (IB) program has been a key factor in its industry success. Designed to meet the unique needs of each partner, the IB program offers customizable plans with industry-leading rebate structures. The company has continuously refined this program, making it more accessible and integrating advanced technology to improve user experience. This adaptability and commitment to partner success have contributed to the company’s growing reputation in the financial services arena.
“This recognition reflects Decode Global’s commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction,” said Sultan Khalil, Decode Global’s Business Development Manager for the MENA region. “We look forward to expanding our reach and sharing our customized IB solutions with a wider audience.”
Decode Global is also known for its strong adherence to global compliance standards, holding multiple financial licenses worldwide, including those issued by ASIC, VFSC, SVGFSA, and FinCEN. The company emphasizes security and transparency as central pillars of its operations, reflecting its dedication to a safe and compliant trading environment for clients.
With a focus on emerging markets and a robust IB program, Decode Global aims to maintain its role at the forefront of the fintech industry. The company’s recent award underscores its commitment to growth and innovation in the rapidly changing financial landscape.
About Decode Global
Decode Global Limited is a diversified financial services company for both retail and wholesale clients, with a leading online Forex and CFD business. Decode Global Limited brings together top elites with decades of experience from major banks, investment banks, fund management, accounting and tax industries. This has allowed the company to develop rapidly and attract CFD traders at all levels worldwide.
Contact
PR Office – Decode Global
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MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Everything Liz Saville Roberts said in her speech to annual conference
Source: Party of Wales
Our Westminster parliamentary leader, Liz Saville Roberts, gave the closing speech to the annual conference.
Diolch yn fawr, Gynhadledd.
Mae’n bleser siarad efo chi ar derfyn deuddydd gwych o sgwrsio, o drafod syniadau, a chwrdd â ffrindiau hen a newydd.
Dwi’n falch o’r cysylltiadau sydd ganddon ni fel plaid. Ro’n i’n falch o glywed Stephen Gethins ddoe o’r SNP – wrth gwrs mae hir draddodiad ganddon ni o gael rhywun o’n chwaer blaid yr SNP i’n cynhadledd.
Ro’n i’n falch iawn o glywed John Finucane o Sinn Fein. Mae’n gysylltiad gweddol newydd rydyn ni’n ei gryfhau wrth ei gael yma yn siarad heddiw.
A dwi’n meddwl ‘mod i’n siarad dros bawb pan dwi’n dweud bod yr anerchiad gan Lysgennad Palesteina, Husam Zomlot, yn un o’r pethau mwyaf grymus dwi erioed wedi ei glywed mewn cynhadledd Plaid Cymru.
A dwi’n falch hefyd o’ch annerch heddiw fel arweinydd y Grŵp cryfaf sydd gan Plaid Cymru erioed wedi bod yn San Steffan.
Dani wedi cael cyfnod prysur a dweud y lleia.
Er bod nifer ohonom wedi bod yn hir aros yr etholiad, roedd amseriad yr Etholiad Cyffredinol yn syndod i bron bob un ohonom – gan gynnwys Rishi Sunak yn hynny o beth!
Ond, fe wnaethom ateb yr alwad fel plaid.
Dwi’n hynod falch bod Plaid Cymru wedi sicrhau’r gyfran uchaf o’r bleidlais mewn Etholiad San Steffan yn hanes ein plaid!
Mae’n rhaid i mi ddiolch i’r gwirfoddolwyr ar draws Cymru gyfan a’n helpodd i gnocio ar ddrysau a gyrru’r ymgyrch i lwyddiant.
Rhaid i mi roi diolch arbennig i griw Dwyfor Meirionnydd, ac yn arbennig, arbennig, i fy asiant Arwyn Herald gyda’r gwaith arwrol, amyneddgar, lliwgar, ieithgar weithiau! A’r holl luniau yn ystod yr ymgyrch yn yr etholaeth newydd sbon – sydd gyda llaw yn fwy na Luxembourg!
Ar y nodyn cychwynol yma hefyd – yn drist iawn, mi gollon ni un o’n cefnogwyr mwyaf brwd yn ddiweddar. Roedd Dewi Pws yn arwr cenedlaethol, ond i mi hefyd yn gymydog, yn ffrind ac yn ymgyrchydd brwd. Yr hyn roedd Dewi yn ei wneud yn unigryw oedd gyrru yr achos cenedlaethol, nid ag och a gwae ond â gwên ar ei wyneb.
Daeth Dewi a Rhiannon lond trol o hapusrwydd i Nefyn.
Roedd o’n genedlaethwr i’r carn, ac yn enghraifft i ni gyd.
Diolch am bopeth, Dewi Pws.
Roedden ni’n gwybod ein bod ni’n wynebu cyd-destun anodd wrth fynd i mewn i’r etholiad cyffredinol.
Ond gyda’ch gwaith caled chi a’ch ymroddiad chi, mae gennym dîm cryf a phenderfynol newydd yn San Steffan.
A dwi eisiau troi atyn nhw fesul un rwan.
Mae’r ymryddawn Ben Lake wedi’i ddychwelyd gyda chyfran uwch o’r bleidlais – supermajority bron – yng Ngheredigion Preseli newydd.
Arweiniodd Ann Davies ymgyrch gampus yng Nghaerfyrddin a phwy all anghofio’r ddelwedd eiconig o Ann yn cael ei chanu oddi ar y platfform i gyfeiliant Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau ar ei thrên cyntaf i Lundain?
Mae etholiad Llinos Medi yn Ynys Môn yn profi bod pobl yn ysu am wleidyddion sy’n cael eu gyrru gan angerdd dros eu cymunedau ac ysfa i wella bywydau pobl.
Y gair i ddisgrifio Llinos? Ysbrydoledig. Mae Ynys Môn yn mor lwcus o dy gael di.
Nid yn unig enillon ni ein seddi targed ond cawsom ganlyniadau gwych ar hyd a lled Cymru – Caerdydd, Llanelli, Bangor Aberconwy. Diolch yn fawr i ymgeiswyr ar draws Gymru am ymgyrch ragorol.
Rhan allweddol o’n llwyddiant yn yr etholiad oedd perfformiad ein harweinydd Rhun ap Iorwerth. Roedd o’n bwerdy yn y cyfryngau. Oherwydd Rhun, roedd llais Cymru i’w glywed yn yr etholiad. Mae o wedi codi proffil Plaid Cymru. Felly diolch yn fawr iti, Rhun.
We have every reason therefore to be hopeful for the future.
Another reason to be hopeful is that we played our part in kicking out the Tories out of Wales.
They may still be the second largest party in Westminster, but they are a spent force in Wales.
Let us be clear:
Plaid is the official opposition for Wales in Westminster. Not the Conservatives.
We will do what the opposition are supposed to do – hold the Government of the day to account.
As I speak with you today, it is UK Labour’s 100th day in office – and what have we seen so far?
They have maintained the cruel two child benefit cap.
Cut winter fuel payments for over half a million pensioners in Wales, just as energy prices have increased by 10%.
Overseen the end of steelmaking in Wales despite claiming they had a plan to save it.
Continued to give Israel a carte blanche for its actions in the Middle East in defiance of international law.
From ‘Change’ to 100 days of continuity.
We were promised the sunlit uplands of a UK Labour Government supposedly working in partnership with the Labour Government in Cardiff.
The reality is much different, with Wales continuing to have a child-parent, supplicant-master, relationship with Westminster, with Labour in Wales following orders.
Sue Gray has recently been appointed an ‘envoy for the nations and regions’ – a backwards term for an outdated way of governing.
But she didn’t even bother to turn up to her first meeting in Edinburgh.
Non-job. Non-starter. Labour have no understanding of Wales.
Let me give you two examples.
This month marks 5 years since the Thomas Commission report recommended the full-scale devolution of justice and policing to Wales.
This isn’t a nice to have – this is fundamental if we want to make a fairer and healthier society.
Due to the crisis in our prisons, prisoners are being released early, and yet some are re-offending to avoid being homeless.
With a devolved system we could divert people away from prison ending Wales’ status as having the highest imprisonment rate in Western Europe.
It would also be a way of ensuring that those who are released are fully supported by housing and health services – reducing the reoffending rate in the process.
Yet UK Labour is not interested in allowing Wales to do this, despite a fully devolved justice system being the policy of the Welsh Labour Government.
Labour in Wales also nominally want the Crown Estate devolved, yet Eluned Morgan isn’t even asking her boss Keir Starmer for these powers.
It is left to Plaid Cymru to lead where Labour fail.
We are campaigning to ensure that it is the people of Wales who benefit from the use of Welsh natural resources – not the Monarchy.
The millions of pounds that could be generated from a devolved Crown Estate could be transformative for our communities.
Profit from the Scottish Crown Estate is directly transferred to Scottish councils to support community benefit projects.
Last year £11.2 million was transferred to councils, with those in deprived areas such as the Highlands prioritised for funding.
Conference. Let’s say it clearly: if Scotland can, so – can – Wales.
UK Labour have brushed aside the idea of devolving the Crown Estate instead promising that GB Energy will solve Wales’ energy needs.
But where is the evidence of HOW it will reduce bills?
We can do so much better than this.
Plaid Cymru’s plan for cheaper energy bills starts right here, in our communities. We would expand community energy projects – where the power generated locally is used locally, and it’s sold to our people at affordable prices.
Just yesterday, Llinos Medi MP on this stage called for regional pricing – a bold idea that energy prices should reflect where it’s produced.
Wales is an energy powerhouse, yet we’re paying the most!
We in the north pay the highest standing charges in all of Britain.
It’s outrageous. Plaid Cymru will scrap these unjust standing charges once and for all.
Imagine the difference that would make in an energy-rich nation like ours.
For our low-income families, we would also introduce a social tariff to protect them from skyrocketing prices. And we would fund it by making sure those with vast, unearned wealth finally pay their fair share.
This is more than just lowering bills – this is about fairness, about justice, and about Wales taking charge of our future.
No more empty promises – it’s time our communities see the REAL benefits of the energy we produce.
Labour is tired and letting us down.
They are continuing the failed status quo which people in Wales know isn’t working.
Wales needs a fresh start, and Plaid Cymru are the Government in waiting ready to provide the bold change and vision our nation needs.
In rural areas where young people are often forced to leave their communities to look for opportunities further afield.
Plaid Cymru have already acted to address the problem of second homes but must do more to increase access to housing and jobs.
Wales could draw on international examples where other countries are already acting such as in Western Australia where they run successful promotional campaign to draw workers to fill roles in public services, and regions of Spain which use their tax systems to incentivise people to stay in their communities.
These are examples of creative ideas that Wales could emulate with the right powers and the right ambition.
If we look at industrial areas, we see the managed decline of historic industries such as steel in Port Talbot.
Whilst this is a complete economic misstep, there is an opportunity through the development of floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea for places like Port Talbot to thrive once again if we maximise the benefit by ensuring local supply chains are used.
If we look at our valleys, there is a strong community spirit that is untapped. We want to change that with an economic vision centred on community wealth building.
Plaid Cymru is offering the bold ambitious vision for the whole of Wales – we are ready to be the change that Wales needs.
As we look to the future, there are many challenges, but I am increasingly hopeful for the future of Wales.
Plaid Cymru is offering the bold ambitious vision for the whole of Wales – we are ready to be the change that Wales needs.
We will take this positive message forward into 2026.
Conference lets go forward together, let’s bring about the change we want to see and bring the people of Wales on the journey with us.
Ymlaen!
Diolch yn fawr.
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MIL-Evening Report: Austerity and recession: 3 simple graphs that explain New Zealand’s economic crisis
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoff Bertram, Visiting Scholar, School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
Getty Images Economists working on macroeconomic policy – things like taxes and spending, interest rates and border controls on flows of trade and money – often refer to a set of key relationships governments can influence. In the textbooks, each of those relationships is drawn as a curve in a graph.
First is the IS (“investment–saving”) curve. This says that if everything else stays the same, the Reserve Bank can increase economic output and employment by lowering the interest rate. Or it can cause a recession by raising the interest rate. (For simplicity’s sake, the curves here are depicted as straight lines.)
Second comes the Phillips Curve, which is usually drawn sloping upwards to suggest that if everything else stays the same, inflation will rise during economic booms and fall in recessions. In other words, the Reserve Bank or the government can apparently bring inflation down by causing a recession.
Third comes the trade balance – the current account of the balance of payments (investment income and traded goods and services between New Zealand and the rest of the world).
If everything else stays the same here, as the exchange rate of the dollar falls, the current account strengthens by moving towards or expanding a surplus. If the exchange rate rises, the current account weakens: exports fall and imports increase.
However, it’s a mistake to suppose each of these relationships will stay where it is while the government and Reserve Bank each tinker with their own policy settings. So, what could go wrong?
The effect of austerity
Start with the IS curve – the way output and employment are affected by interest rates, assuming the government makes no big budgetary changes. But what if the government embarks on an austerity program, slashing its spending and cancelling projects, which shrinks the economy?
At any given interest rate, output and employment will be lower, shifting the whole curve “leftwards” towards lower economic activity (see above).
Even if the Reserve Bank lowers the interest rate, that won’t expand the economy because the government’s fiscal policy is killing off its expansionary effect. The recession created by the austerity program rolls on.
Along the way, it increases costs to government from unemployment, paying other benefits, and lower tax revenue. If the government responds with further austerity, we enter a downward self-reinforcing spiral.
Wages and inflation
Second, take the Phillips Curve and ask what happens if inflation isn’t, in fact, sensitive to how the economy is doing.
In this case, driving the economy into recession has no effect on the inflation rate. When the Reserve Bank changes the interest rate, inflation just stays where it is because the Phillips Curve is flat, not upward-sloping. Reducing inflation requires completely different policy interventions.
Back when the Phillips Curve was invented, it was reasonable to think inflation fell during recessions because workers could get higher wage increases in booms than in slumps.
Bringing on a recession would reduce the bargaining power of workers, result in slower wage growth, and thereby tame inflation (given that wages are an important part of the costs of production).
But workers today have lost the bargaining power they used to have when unions were strong and welfare-state thinking prevailed.
In a paper fellow economist Bill Rosenberg and I published this year, we show the bargaining power of labour was killed off in 1991 by the Employment Contracts Act and has not recovered since. Wages no longer drive inflation in contemporary New Zealand.
Interest rates and inflation
Could the Phillips Curve work because producers of goods and services push up prices and profits faster in booms and cut their margins in recessions?
It’s possible: there’s plenty of evidence of big companies using their market power to price-gouge consumers. But it’s not clear this exercise of market power is greater in booms and lesser in slumps.
In fact, the opposite could be true. Small businesses are most likely to be driven out of the market in recessions, leaving big companies with increased market share and less competitive pressure on their margins.
Forces both locally and in international markets have clearly been pushing the Phillips Curve down, producing lower inflation. Local forces include the current government’s abrupt cancellation of major construction activities, dismissal of public servants, the constant negative messaging on the state of the economy, and rising outward migration as a consequence of all these.
International markets, including falling prices for imports such as oil, have also clearly been pushing the Phillips Curve down. While the Reserve Bank will claim credit, it’s not at all clear the bank’s interest rate policy has made that much difference.
Finally, what about the international balance of payments? One thing the Reserve Bank can do by changing the interest rate is change the exchange rate between the New Zealand dollar and other currencies.
If New Zealand’s interest rates increase relative to elsewhere in the world, short-term money flows in to take advantage of the higher rates. This raises the exchange rate, and in turn weakens the external balance by cutting the return on exports and increasing the volume of cheaper imports.
Producers of goods and services that face international competition are squeezed. Meanwhile, what used to be called the “sheltered” or “non-tradeable” industries – including the big banks, insurance companies, electricity suppliers, supermarkets, consultancies – are unscathed.
Deeper recession
The Reserve Bank may not have much effect on inflation, but it can certainly affect the structure of the economy. Using the interest rate as the weapon against inflation squeezes manufacturers, tourism and farmers, but leaves non-tradables largely untouched.
Right now in New Zealand, the IS curve is remorselessly shifting left as the economy plunges into a deeper recession exacerbated by government austerity – an ideologically driven quest for instant fiscal surpluses, low public debt and a shrinking public sector relative to GDP.
Falling interest rates will struggle to make expansionary headway against that austerity.
Meanwhile, corporate profiteering and rising government charges continue to put upward pressure on the Phillips Curve, and the balance of payments is weakening. This means the country as a whole is piling up increasing debts to the rest of the world (largely through the Australian-owned banks).
The question is, does the current government understand where its policies are taking us?
Geoff Bertram does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
– ref. Austerity and recession: 3 simple graphs that explain New Zealand’s economic crisis – https://theconversation.com/austerity-and-recession-3-simple-graphs-that-explain-new-zealands-economic-crisis-241259
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MIL-OSI USA: Secretary of Defense to Travel to Brussels and NATO for Defense Ministerial Meetings Followed by G7 Defense Ministers Meeting in Italy and Other Engagements in Italy and Vatican City
Source: United States Department of Defense
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III will travel to Brussels, Belgium, from October 16-18, 2024, to participate in a series of multilateral meetings, including the NATO Defense Ministerial and the Ministerial of the force contributing members of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS (D-ISIS). These engagements and others will focus on strengthening NATO’s collective defense posture, adapting the D-ISIS Coalition to an evolving threat from ISIS in the Middle East and globally, and enhancing military support for Ukraine.
Secretary Austin will then attend the first-ever G7 Defense Ministers Meeting Oct. 19 in Naples, Italy, where he will also meet with Italian Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto and the new Minister of Defense of Japan, Nakatani Gen. The discussions at the G7 will center on ensuring continued security assistance for Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s aggression, addressing the urgent need to deescalate tensions in the Middle East, exchanging views on the importance of a free and open Indo-Pacific, discussing support for partners in Africa, and fostering additional cooperation on defense industry issues among the world’s leading democratic economies.
Secretary Austin will also conclude his trip with official engagements in Vatican City.
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MIL-OSI USA: WA Agriculture Industry Receives $1.5 Million to Assist New Farmers
US Senate News:
Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell
10.15.24WA Agriculture Industry Receives $1.5 Million to Assist New Farmers
Programs will provide new farmers with training and assistance to successfully start new farms
EDMONDS, WA – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) announced $1.5 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to programs that will assist new agricultural workers in Washington state. The programs aim to provide farmers with the training and assistance to successfully start new farms, and target groups traditionally underserved by USDA grants.
The grants come from the USDA’s 2501 program, which helps underserved farmers, ranchers, and foresters who have historically had limited access to USDA programs and services, and the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development program.
- $750,000 to Wakulima USA to provide support to disadvantaged new and beginning farmers. This grant focuses on increasing farmland access, improving production skills and facilities, establishing and expanding market connections, and providing a support system for immigrant and refugee farmers. This program is refugee- and immigrant-led, and will assist farmers in South King County.
- $749,997 to the International Rescue Committee to help refugees, asylees, and immigrants achieve stability and flourish after resettlement throughout the U.S. This program will assist new farmers in South King County and Salt Lake County, UT, in growing their farm businesses by teaching skills and providing marketing opportunities and access to resources.
- $49,014 to the Washington Farmland Trust to provide personalized support to beginning farmers and ranchers seeking to acquire farmland. This program helps farmers develop relationships with landowners and teaches them the skills to evaluate prospective farmland before purchasing it. This project will provide 50 new farmers across Washington state with the support to establish their farm businesses.
Sen. Cantwell has been a consistent champion of Washington state’s agriculture industry, which is vital to the state’s economy. Agriculture and food manufacturing generate more than $21 billion per year and employ more than 171,000 people. Small and family farms are key contributors, making up 89% and 96%, respectively, of Washington’s farms. In March 2024, Sen. Cantwell announced that Washington’s sweet cherry growers would be eligible for up to $500,000 in emergency loans following a disaster declaration for 2023’s cherry harvest season. A month earlier, she had sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack urging him to expedite the disaster declaration.
In September 2023, India ended its retaliatory tariffs on American apples and pulse crops following several years of Sen. Cantwell’s advocacy. In May 2023, Sen. Cantwell sent a letter urging the Biden Administration to help U.S. potato growers finally get approval to sell fresh potatoes in Japan. In June 2023, Sen. Cantwell hosted U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), chair of the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, in Washington state for a forum with 30 local agricultural leaders in Wenatchee to discuss the Farm Bill.
In August 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sen. Cantwell sent a letter to then-Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue requesting aid funds be distributed to wheat growers. In December 2018, Sen. Cantwell celebrated the passage of the Farm Bill, which included $500 million of assistance for farmers, including those who grow wheat.
In 2019, Sen. Cantwell helped secure a provision in the $16 billion USDA relief package, ensuring sweet cherry growers could access emergency funding to offset the impacts of tariffs and other market disruptions.
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MIL-OSI New Zealand: Homicide – Te Awamutu
Source: New Zealand Police (National News)
Police have a homicide investigation underway after a man died overnight in Te Awamutu.
Police and Hato Hone St John were called to a disorder incident on Te Rahu Road near Picquet Road at about 11:45pm where the victim was located unconscious. Despite receiving immediate medical treatment, he sadly died at the scene shortly after Police arrival.
Police have arrested a 27-year-old man and a 34-year-old woman at the scene and they were taken into custody without incident.
They are now assisting Police with our investigation and charges are being considered.
A scene examination is underway and traffic management is in place to divert traffic from the area.
Police are very early in our investigation and our focus is on establishing the circumstances leading into the incident and to support the victim’s family.
Police cannot rule out the possibility of further arrests as the investigation progresses.
We appreciate this will be concerning to the community and they can expect to see an increased police presence in the area.
Anyone with information which they think may be of assistance to the Police investigation, please update us online now or call 105.
Please use the reference number 241016/0455.
ENDS
Issued by the Police Media Centre
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MIL-OSI USA: DOD Releases Report on Defense Spending by State in Fiscal Year 2023
Source: United States Department of Defense
Today, the Department of Defense’s Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation released its Fiscal Year 2023 Defense Spending by State report to help states and communities better understand how Defense procurement, personnel, and grant spending impact their economies.
The report’s graphs, maps, and tables present a range of findings, such as total spending figures, categories of contracted goods and services, major defense vendors, numbers and types of defense personnel, and grants awarded by the Department of Defense (DOD). This snapshot provides public and private leaders with a starting place to assess how defense investments across installations, communities, and the private sector can be optimized by supporting regional innovation, industrial capability and capacity, supply chain resilience, and cultivating a skilled workforce.
“Our National Defense Industrial Strategy makes clear that a robust and resilient industrial base provides the enduring foundation for military advantage,” said Dr. William LaPlante, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. “Businesses small and large across America are the heart of our industrial might, and this report is a tremendous resource that our state and local partners can use to better understand defense spending in their areas and strengthen supply chains.”
Defense spending – to include contract obligations, payroll spending, and grants in the 50 states and the District of Columbia – rose by $50.5 billion in Fiscal Year 2023 from the prior fiscal year. This is the result of an 8.9 percent increase in DoD contract obligations, a 5.0 percent increase in payroll spending, and a 7.5 percent increase in grant spending.
DoD contract obligations, payroll spending, and grant awards in the 50 states and the District of Columbia totaled $609.2 billion, which is 2.2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). If the total spending were divided across every U.S. resident, it would amount to $1,819 per U.S. citizen. Of those funds, $431.4 billion (71 percent) were obligated through contracts for products and services, $167.4 billion (27 percent) paid the salaries of DoD personnel, and $10.4 billion (2 percent) were awarded as grants.
Texas, Virginia, and California remain as the top recipients for overall defense spending in Fiscal Year 2023, with Texas moving to the number one spot, seeing an $8.9 billion increase over Fiscal Year 2022. However, Virginia, Hawaii, and Connecticut ranked highest when considering defense spending impacts on their respective state GDPs.
The top ten states for total Defense spending in Fiscal Year 2023 were:
Rank State Defense Spending (billions) 1 Texas $71.6 2 Virginia $68.5 3 California $60.8 4 Florida $32.2 5 Maryland $27.8 6 Connecticut $25.3 7 Pennsylvania $21.8 8 Arizona $17.0 9 Massachusetts $16.8 10 Washington $15.5 The top ten recipients of Defense contracts in Fiscal Year 2023 were:
Rank Company Defense Spending (billions) 1 Lockheed Martin $61.4 2 RTX Corporation $24.1 3 General Dynamics $22.9 4 Boeing $20.1 5 Northrup Grumman $16.3 6 Huntington Ingalls $10.5 7 Humana $7.8 8 L3Harris Technologies $7.5 9 BAE Systems $7 10 Cencora $4.4 Nine of the ten companies were on this list in Fiscal Year 2022. RTX Corporation was previously Raytheon Technologies. Cencora was formerly known as AmerisourceBergen but was not previously on the top ten list.
According to Patrick O’Brien, the Director of the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation, “This report is an enabler for the Department’s state and local partners to better understand and develop civilian innovation and modernization initiatives for the continued responsiveness of the defense industrial base and supply chains to our national security needs while also ensuring local infrastructure and services can sustain our local installations and the communities that host them and our military families.”
This analysis primarily entailed an examination of DoD funded prime- and sub-award contract data, grant awards, and defense personnel and payroll figures drawn from an array of sources, including DoD’s Defense Manpower Data Center and USAspending.gov, which is managed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. This spending includes support for the National Guard as well as Research, Development and Evaluation activities.
The FY23 report, as well as previous years’ reports, can be found on the OLDCC website at https://oldcc.gov/dsbs-fy2023
A supplemental analysis report of DoD contract, personnel, and grant spending in American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands of the United States will be available later this year.
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MIL-Evening Report: China’s government is about to spend big on stimulus – can it turn around the country’s sluggish economy?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wenting He, PhD candidate of International Relations, Australian National University
China’s relentless economic growth used to be the marvel of the world. Oh, what a memory.
The past couple of years have seen China contend with an economic slowdown amid colliding crises, many of which make it internationally unique. Consumer prices have been approaching deflationary territory, there’s an oversupply of housing, and youth unemployment has soared.
Mounting pressure has forced the Chinese government to step in. Over the past month, Beijing has put forward a set of significant economic stimulus measures aimed at reviving China’s faltering economy.
According to a research note by Deutsche Bank, this stimulus could potentially become “the largest in history” in nominal terms. But there’s still a lot we don’t know. So what kinds of measures that are in this package so far, and has China been here before?
What’s in the package?
On September 24, Pan Gongsheng, governor of China’s central bank, unveiled the country’s boldest intervention to boost its economy since the pandemic.
The initiatives included reducing mortgage rates for existing homes and reducing the amount of cash commercial banks are required to hold in reserves. The latter is expected to inject about 1 trillion yuan (A$210 billion) into the financial market by letting the banks lend out more.
China has been grappling with an oversupply of housing and a property sector crisis.
Charles Bowman/ShutterstockOn top of this, 800 billion yuan (A$168 billion) was announced to strengthen China’s capital market.
This comprised a new 500 billion yuan (A$105 billion) monetary policy facility to help institutions more easily access funds to buy stocks, and a 300 billion yuan (A$63 billion) re-lending facility to help speed up sales of unsold housing.
Further signs of economic revitalisation became evident at a Politburo meeting of China’s top government officials, two days after this announcement.
Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed the urgency of economic revival. Xi even encouraged officials to “go bold in helping the economy” without having to fear the consequences.
That same day, seven government departments released a joint policy package to stabilise China’s 500 billion yuan (A$105 billion) dairy industry, which has been severely impacted by declining milk and beef prices since 2023.
A market rollercoaster
Initially, the market’s response was overwhelmingly positive. Perhaps too positive. In the last week of September, stock markets in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong saw their biggest weekly rise in 16 years.
On October 8, following China’s National Day holiday, turnover on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges hit an unprecedented 3.43 trillion yuan (A$718 billion). However, expectations for further stimulus measures were met with disappointment.
China’s National Development and Reform Commission brought forward 100 billion yuan (A$21 billion) in spending from the 2025 budget. That wasn’t enough to sustain market optimism. On October 9, Chinese stocks saw their most severe drop in 27 years.
This downturn only worsened a few days later, when China’s Ministry of Finance hinted there was “ample room” to raise debts but did not specify any new stimulus measures.
Still thin on the details
The market remains deeply uncertain about the future direction of China’s economic policies and what they might mean for the world. Hopes that more details might be released over the weekend were largely dashed.
Back in July, Chinese authorities asserted in their Third Plenary Session communique that China “must remain firmly committed” to achieving this year’s economic growth target of 5%. Compared to the country’s reform-era economic performance, that’s a modest goal.
But facing a persistently sluggish economic outlook, Xi later seemed to subtly shift the tone, changing the language from “remain firmly committed” to “strive to fulfill” in September.
Over the past decades, China has frequently employed massive-scale stimulus measures to revive its economy during downturns. These policies have been able to significantly rejuvenate the economy, though occasionally with some worrying side effects.
In response to the 2008 global financial crisis, China’s State Council released a 4 trillion yuan (A$837 billion) stimulus package. This successfully helped China stand firm through the crisis and was credited as a key stabiliser of the global economy.
But it also accumulated trillions of yuan in debt through local government financing and accelerated the rise of “shadow banking” – unregulated financial activities.
China also spent big on stimulating its economy in 2015, following stock market turbulence, and then again in the wake of the pandemic.
What should we expect?
What should we expect this time? How balanced or sustainable will any ensuing growth be?
We are still waiting on many of the details about the size and scope of the package, but any big increase in Chinese economic demand will likely have “spillover” effects.
As we’ve discussed, many of the measures announced to date will have their most immediate effect on borrowing, lending and liquidity in China’s stock markets.
That suggests we should watch for what’s called the “wealth effect” in economics. This is the theory that rising asset prices – such as for housing or shares – make people feel wealthier and therefore spend more.
If China’s big stimulus spend causes sustained increases in asset values, it could give rise to economic optimism. Chinese consumers – and investors – may become less anxious about the future.
From Australia’s point of view, that could see increases in demand in areas where our economies are interlinked – iron ore, tourism, education and manufactured food exports.
More broadly, Chinese demand could contribute to growth in other global economies, with a self-reinforcing effect on the world as a whole.
Beware financialisation
On the other hand, China’s shift to depending more on volatile asset price rises in its capital markets to sustain growth could have destabilising effects. Where asset price increases benefit those at the “top end of town,” they can breed inequities and imbalances of their own.
China’s “Black Monday” stock market crash in 2015 raised alarm in Beijing. Partly reflecting a wariness of excess financialisation, Xi cautioned at the time that “housing is for living in, not for speculation”.
So far, China is still navigating its path towards a more sustainable development model, striving to strike a balance between sustaining economic growth and stabilising its domestic markets and political landscape. As for the outcome, it remains a profound uncertainty for us all – perhaps China itself included.
Wesley Widmaier receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
Wenting He does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
– ref. China’s government is about to spend big on stimulus – can it turn around the country’s sluggish economy? – https://theconversation.com/chinas-government-is-about-to-spend-big-on-stimulus-can-it-turn-around-the-countrys-sluggish-economy-241260
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MIL-OSI USA: Spooky on the Space Station
Source: NASA
Cultures around the world celebrate Halloween on Oct 31. In many places, in addition to people wearing costumes and eating candy, this day is associated with spooky decorating using fake blood, skeletons, flies, and spiders, some of them glow-in-the-dark.
Crew members on the International Space Station have been known to indulge in a bit of dressing up and candy consumption to mark the day, and the research they conduct year-round occasionally involves these iconic Halloween themes. No tricks, just treats.A current investigation, Megakaryocytes Flying-One or MeF1, investigates how components of real blood known as megakaryocytes and platelets develop and function during spaceflight. Megakaryocytes are large cells found in bone marrow and platelets are pieces of these cells. Both play important roles in blood clotting and immune response. Results could improve understanding of changes in inflammation, immune responses, and clot formation in spaceflight and on the ground.
Fake spiders and flies are popular Halloween decorations (and fodder for fun pranks). Several investigations on the space station have used real ones.
Fruit Fly Lab-02 used fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, to examine the cellular and genetic mechanisms that affect heart health during spaceflight. The flies experienced several effects on cardiac function, including changes in muscle fibers, that could be a fundamental response of heart muscles to microgravity.
MVP Fly-01 looked at how spaceflight affects immune function and resulting changes to the nervous system of the same type of flies, along with the value of artificial gravity as a countermeasure. Researchers found that artificial gravity provided some protection to physical changes to the central nervous system from spaceflight. Spiders, Fruit Flies and Directional Plant Growth (CSI-05) compared the weaving characteristics of golden orb-web spiders on the space station and the ground. Under natural conditions, the spiders build asymmetric webs with the hub near the upper edge, where they wait for prey. In microgravity, most but not all webs were quite symmetric, although webs built when the lights were on were more asymmetric and the spiders waited facing away from the lights. This could mean that in the absence of gravity, the spiders orient to the direction of light.Everyone needs healthy bones and skeletons, and not just on Halloween. But spaceflight and aging on Earth can cause loss of bone mass. Space station research has looked at the mechanisms behind this loss as well as countermeasures such as exercise and nutrition.
Bisphosphonates as a Countermeasure to Bone Loss examined whether a medication that blocks the breakdown of bone, in conjunction with the routine in-flight exercise program, protected crew members from bone mineral density loss during spaceflight. The research found that it did reduce loss, which in turn reduced the occurrence of kidney stones in crew members.
Assessment of the Effect of Space Flight on Bone (TBone) studied how spaceflight affects bone quality using a high-resolution bone scan technique. Researchers found incomplete recovery of bone strength and density in the tibia (a bone in the lower leg), comparable to a decade or more of terrestrial age-related bone loss. The work also highlighted the relationship between length of a mission and bone loss and suggested that pre-flight markers could identify crew members at greatest risk.
In a merging of blood and bones, CSA’s Marrow looked at whether microgravity has a negative effect on bone marrow and the blood cells it produces. Decreased production of red blood cells can lead to a condition called space anemia. Findings related to the expression of genes involved in red blood cell formation and those related to bone marrow adipose or fat tissue, which stores energy and plays a role in immune function, could contribute to development of countermeasures. Marrow results also suggested that the destruction of red blood cells (known as hemolysis) is a primary effect of spaceflight and contributes to anemia. Bad news for vampires.Fluorescence – a cool effect at a ghoulish party – also is a common tool in scientific research, enabling researchers to see physical and genetic changes. The space station has special microscopes for observing glow-in-the-dark samples.
For Medaka Osteoclast 2, an investigation from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), researchers genetically modified translucent Medaka fish with fluorescent proteins to help them observe cellular and genetic changes the fish experience during spaceflight. One analysis revealed a decrease in the mineral density of bones in the throat and provided insights into the mechanisms behind these changes.Biorock, an investigation from ESA (European Space Agency), examined how microgravity affects the interaction between rocks and microbes and found little effect on microbial growth. This result suggests that microbial-supported bioproduction and life support systems can perform in reduced gravity such as that on Mars, which would be a perfect place for an epic Halloween celebration.
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MIL-Evening Report: An immediate ban has been issued for the herbicide dacthal. What are the health risks?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide
Last week the Australian government cancelled the registration of all products containing chlorthal dimethyl, a weedkiller commonly known as dacthal.
No phase out period applies. The cancellation is immediate, due to the risks it poses to human health – primarily unborn babies.
This means using dacthal as a chemical agricultural product “is now illegal”, according the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority.
So what has changed? What are the health risks of being exposed to dacthal – and how long have we known about them?
What is dacthal?
Dacthal and chlorthal dimethyl are alternative names for dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate, or DCPA. This is a herbicide registered to control weeds in both agricultural and non-agricultural settings.
Dacthal works by inhibiting auxin, a growth hormone in plants which promotes the development of buds, roots and lengthening cells.
It is used to selectively kill annual grasses and many other common weeds, without killing turf grasses, flowers, fruits and vegetables. Dacthal is applied before weeds emerge, often when still in their seed stage.
In Australia it is used in twelve herbicide products. All have been cancelled as of October 10 2024.
Farmers and retailers are allowed to hold products until they’re recalled, but must not use them. The government says it will provide information about product recall shortly.
What are the health risks?
As dacthal targets a hormone found only in plants, for adult humans and mammals the chemical has limited acute and subchronic toxicity. This means brief exposure to high levels of dacthal, or longer-term exposure to modestly high levels, have no effect.
However there is a health risk for unborn babies whose mothers have been directly exposed. This could be through mixing the chemical, loading and applying it, or from residue on treated crops – for up to five days after first applied.
The chemical has been linked to low birth weight, and life-long impacts, which can include impaired brain development and motor skills.
The government has advised pregnant agricultural workers who are concerned to speak to their clinician.
What changed?
Safety data for chemicals such as pesticides are periodically reevaluated. This is to see if any new risks have become apparent with advances in technology and our understanding of biology.
In 2013, the United States Environmental Protection Agency called for fresh safety data to look at effects of dacthal on thyroid hormones.
Fast forward to 2022. In that time, the company producing dacthal had failed to produce the required study. So the US Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice it would suspend technical-grade products containing dacthal.
In response, the company submitted a thyroid study performed in rats. This study showed dacthal could affect thyroid function at doses lower than previously known.
The US government determined this did not change recommendations for adults. However dacthal may affect thyroid function of a fetus at lower doses than those those that harm adults.
What did the study in rats find?
Dacthal was found to inhibit two thyroid hormones in rat pups whose mother had been exposed while pregnant.
There was a 35-53% decrease in the hormone triiodothyronine, known as T3. And for thyroxine (T4), rat pups experienced a 29-66% decrease after their mother’s exposure.
Decreases in these two hormones are associated with risks to unborn children including low birth weight and impaired brain development, IQ and motor skills.
Of particular concern was the effects occurred at much lower levels than previously thought. The decreases in T3 and T4 occurred in rat pups exposed to levels of dacthal ten times lower than the safe threshold for their mothers. This means pregnant rats exposed to dacthal at those levels had no adverse effects, but their unborn babies did.
Exactly how the chemical caused decreases in T3 and T4 in rat pups is not clear.
However the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority considers this study relevant to humans. The changes in regulation are based on the potential harms if unborn babies are exposed via their mothers.
The health risk is to the development of an unborn baby exposed to dachtal via their mother.
Fox_Ana/ShutterstockWhat exposure is safe?
The rat study was used to calculate maximum levels of exposure for pregnant workers. This maximum – 0.001 mg dachtal/kg body weight/day – was considered appropriate to reduce risk to the unborn child (and was not expected to harm adults).
However, the maximum acceptable level was exceeded in all estimates of exposure to dachtal. This was the case even when the person was wearing protective clothing, gloves, and using a respirator.
Even under stringent safety conditions, potential harms to an unborn child could not be ruled out. For this reason the US stopped sale of dacthal via an Emergency Order on 6 August 2024. Australia has since followed suit with its own ban.
How long have we known about this?
The US government only received the thyroid information in 2022. It then had to determine whether the levels of exposure under real world conditions would equate to risk in humans.
This is not straightforward, as the pesticide is used under a variety of conditions, including:
- mixing and preparing the pesticide using personal protective equipment
- downstream spay drift
- treatment of lawns and exposure to the lawn after treatment.
Each of these scenarios requires careful analysis of potential risks.
In addition, exposure can be through inhalation and/or skin contact. All this must be taken into account and these calculations take time.
Should I be worried?
If you were not pregnant and using personal protective clothing while using or applying dacthal herbicides, this is little cause for worry. Your exposure is below the maximum limit.
But if you were pregnant when using dacthal pesticides, please consider consulting your child’s paediatrician.
Ian Musgrave has received funding from the National health and Medical Research Council to study contaminants in herbal medicines. He has received ARC funding for studying Alzheimer’s disease in the recent past. He is a member of the Science Communicators South Australian Branch.
– ref. An immediate ban has been issued for the herbicide dacthal. What are the health risks? – https://theconversation.com/an-immediate-ban-has-been-issued-for-the-herbicide-dacthal-what-are-the-health-risks-241257
