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Category: Asia Pacific

  • MIL-OSI USA: Cantwell Intros Bipartisan Bill to Help Tribes Combat MMIWP Crisis and Fentanyl Trafficking

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell

    07.24.25

    Cantwell Intros Bipartisan Bill to Help Tribes Combat MMIWP Crisis and Fentanyl Trafficking

    Bipartisan legislation would boost federal benefits to help recruit and retain tribal law enforcement officers; This week – local, federal, and tribal law enforcement indict 12 individuals in major drug trafficking operation on Yakama Nation lands

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), a senior member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Representative Dan Newhouse (R, WA-04) and Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D, WA-03) introduced the Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act of 2025. The legislation would help tribal police departments hire and retain tribal law enforcement officers by providing access to federal retirement, pension, death, and injury benefits on par with law enforcement officers from non-tribal jurisdictions.

    “Tribes need more law enforcement officers to fight both the fentanyl and murdered and missing indigenous people epidemics and to respond to emergencies in their communities,” said Sen. Cantwell. “The Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act will help tribal communities get the law enforcement resources they need to keep their communities safe.”

    “Tribal police departments work tirelessly to protect and serve our communities in Oklahoma and around the nation,” said Sen. Mullin. “Tribal police should receive equal treatment and resources needed for the safety of their communities without going through excessive red tape. I’m proud to join with my colleagues on this and support our Tribal law enforcement.”

    “As the missing and murdered indigenous women crisis continues to plague tribal communities across the country, tribal law enforcement agencies are facing serious challenges with recruiting and retaining officers and resources,” said Rep. Newhouse. “This bipartisan legislation empowers tribal law enforcement to build and maintain strong, well-trained forces who will be far better equipped to address the MMIW crisis, counter illicit drug flow, and protect tribal communities in Central Washington. I thank members of the House and Senate on both sides of the aisle who understand the scale of these challenges and are helping to lead towards a solution.”

    According to the Department of Interior, public safety and justice at the Bureau of Indian Affairs is funded at just 13% of need and over 25,600 personnel are needed to adequately serve Indian Country. This includes at least 13,000 more tribal law enforcement officers to meet FBI Community Safety Standards.

    “The Colville Tribes strongly supports the ‘Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act.’ The bill would implement long overdue reforms and remove administrative barriers to tribal law officers enforcing federal laws on their reservation lands. It will also assist the Colville Tribes and other tribes in recruiting and retaining officers, which is critical for rural tribes that have large land bases and not enough officers to adequately patrol.” – Jarred-Michael Erickson, Chairman, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation

    “Bolstering support for Tribal law enforcement recruitment and retention is crucial to addressing the many serious and systemic public safety issues in Indian Country. The issue is particularly pressing for the Yakama Nation and other tribes with large-land bases and a severe lack of resources to adequately patrol such a vast area. At Yakama we are facing an overwhelming confluence of public safety crises. We have experienced a surge in violent and property crimes, the highest rate of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/People in the region, and a terrifying rise in outside gang and cartel-related drug activity coming onto our lands, including the pervasive and deadly fentanyl epidemic. The recent coordinated, multi-agency drug trafficking interdiction “Operation Overdrive” that dismantled a large drug distribution network operating on the Yakama Reservation shows what is possible when all levels of government work together to make our communities safer. The Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act will help give the Yakama Nation and other tribes the tools and funding necessary to protect our communities and people who live, work, and raise their families on our lands. The Yakama Nation appreciates Senator Cantwell and Congressman Newhouse’s partnership with us and their continued work to address long-standing impediments to Tribal sovereignty and our public safety efforts.” – Jeremy Takala, Law & Order Committee Chairman, Yakama Nation Tribal Council

    “The Chehalis Tribe strongly supports the bill. Our Tribe is fortunate in that we are able to pay our law enforcement officers competitive salaries but competitive retirement benefits are currently out of reach for Chehalis and most other tribes around the country. If enacted, this will allow Chehalis and other tribes to take care of the officers that patrol and keep our communities safe.” – Dustin Klatush, Chairman, Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation

    “Many tribal police departments are chronically understaffed and massively underfunded. The Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act would level the playing field for tribal police benefits, retirement, and pension, allowing tribes to improve retention and recruitment of officers on tribal lands. Ultimately, passage of the act would help improve overall safety in tribal communities. We are grateful to Senator Cantwell, Congressman Newhouse, Congresswoman, Gluesenkamp Perez, and their colleagues for championing this act and hope the overwhelming tribal support will ensure its approval.” – Chairman Glen Nenema, Kalispel Tribe of Indians

    “As a tribal law enforcement officer and an elected tribal leader, I know firsthand how hard it is to recruit and retain law enforcement officers. This bill will make it so much easier to achieve that objective by ensuring tribal law enforcement officers have access to proper retirement benefits. This bill will make our community safer.” – Vice-President Everett Ekdahl, Jr. Keweenaw Bay Indian Community

    “The Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act will provide tribal nations with the tools necessary to recruit and retain law enforcements officers. It shows Congress’s commitment to public safety on tribal lands and the fair treatment of tribal law enforcement officers. We are grateful for Senator Cantwell, Congressman Newhouse, and Congresswoman Gluesenkamp Perez for their leadership on this important issue.” – Chairman Leonard Forsman, Suquamish Tribe

    “The Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act represents a crucial advancement in ensuring that tribal law enforcement agencies, such as Hopi Law Enforcement Services, have the support they need to protect those that live and work on the Hopi Reservation. The Hopi Tribe is grateful to Senator Cantwell, Congressman Newhouse, Congresswoman Gluesenkamp Perez, and their colleagues for their leadership strengthening recruitment, retention, and public safety across tribal nations.” – Chairman Timothy Nuvangyaoma, Hopi Tribe

    “Access to resources is critical to improving the recruitment and retention tribal law enforcement officers. The Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act removes administrative barriers and provides the necessary reforms to protect our community. The Nisqually Tribe thanks Senator Cantwell and Representative Newhouse for their leadership in strengthening safety and security across tribal communities.” – Chairman Ken Choke, Nisqually Tribe

    “Jurisdictional gaps in Indian Country have allowed far too many criminals to fall through the cracks. We appreciate Senator Cantwell’s leadership in taking meaningful action to close these gaps. By allowing qualified Tribal officers operating under 638 contracts to enforce federal law and receive federal protections, this bill strengthens our ability to respond to serious criminal activity on our reservation.” Chairman Anthony Hillaire, Lummi Nation

    Combatting the Fentanyl Epidemic

    Sen. Cantwell is a strong advocate for increasing the presence of tribal law enforcement officers on reservations to help combat the fentanyl epidemic and Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and People (MMIWP) crisis among Native communities.

    Sen. Cantwell first introduced the Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act in July 2023. The bipartisan bill was first considered at a U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing on May 1, 2024. During a hearing on the fentanyl crisis in Indian Country later that month, Sen. Cantwell pressed federal officials about the need to help tribes hire and keep more tribal law enforcement officers and highlighted several tribes in Washington state that urgently need more resources to improve chronic understaffing issues.

    In October 2023, Sen. Cantwell sent a letter to the leaders of the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee requesting that the committee hold an oversight hearing on how to address the fentanyl crisis in Indian Country. Soon after, the committee announced two hearings on the topic. At the November 2023 hearing titled: “Fentanyl in Native Communities: Native Perspectives on Addressing the Growing Crisis,” Sen. Cantwell invited Lummi Nation Chairman Anthony Hillarie to testify.

    In December 2023, Vanessa Waldref, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, and Glen Melville, Deputy Bureau Director at the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services and member of the Makah Tribe, participated in the second hearing titled: “Fentanyl in Native Communities: Examining the Federal Response to the Growing Crisis.” At the hearing, both Waldref and Melville commented that fentanyl traffickers often target tribal lands due to lack of tribal law enforcement.

    A background document on Sen. Cantwell’s legislative track record and advocacy to combat the fentanyl crisis is available HERE.

    Fighting Against MMIWP Crisis

    In 2020, Sen. Cantwell’s Savanna’s Act was signed into law to help federal, state, and tribal law enforcement agencies better respond to cases of missing and murdered indigenous women and people by improving coordination among all levels of law enforcement, increasing data collection and information sharing, and providing tribal governments with vital resources.

    In May 2023, Sen. Cantwell announced she sent a letter to the Biden Administration urging them to prioritize funding to assist Tribes and organizations working to combat the MMIWP crisis.

    Following Sen. Cantwell’s urging, in June 2023 the U.S. Department of Justice announced the creation of the Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Regional Outreach Program, which dedicated five Assistant U.S. Attorneys and five coordinators to the task of resolving the cases of missing and murdered indigenous people. This included dedicated personnel based in Eastern Washington.

    In October 2024, Sen. Cantwell announced $6.9 million in federal funding for state and municipal law enforcement agencies, tribal justice departments and programs, and medical examiner offices to help fight the fentanyl crisis, gun violence, and violence against women and children.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • From Trade to Technology: India-Maldives cooperation set to expand

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded a landmark visit to the United Kingdom on Thursday, setting the stage for the next phase of his two-nation tour as he departed for the Maldives. This marks his third visit to the island nation and the first by a head of government during the tenure of Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu.

    The visit is expected to deepen the growing partnership between India and the Maldives, especially under the framework of the India-Maldives Joint Vision for a Comprehensive Economic and Maritime Security Partnership, adopted during President Muizzu’s visit to India in October 2024.

    Expanding Economic Ties
    India’s economic and trade relationship with the Maldives has transformed in recent years into a multi-dimensional partnership encompassing trade, infrastructure, finance, and technology. The foundation of this relationship was laid in 1981 when both countries signed a bilateral trade agreement under which India assured the export of essential commodities to the Maldives.

    In April 2025, India approved the highest-ever quotas for essential goods exports to the Maldives, reaffirming its commitment to the welfare of its maritime neighbour.

    Trade between the two nations has grown substantially-from crossing the USD 300 million mark in 2021 to exceeding USD 500 million in 2022. In 2023, bilateral trade stood at USD 548 million. This surge was driven by the launch of a dedicated cargo vessel service in September 2020 and several Lines of Credit (LoC) projects initiated since 2021. Visa-free access for Indian business travellers, granted in February 2022, further encouraged commercial engagement.

    India primarily exports pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, cement, agricultural products, and construction materials to the Maldives. In return, scrap metals make up a bulk of Indian imports from the Maldives. Notably, duty-free tuna exports from the Maldives to India were introduced in August 2022, aiming to boost the island nation’s seafood sector.

    Strategic Financial Cooperation
    The State Bank of India (SBI), operational in the Maldives since 1974, has played a key role in supporting economic infrastructure by financing resort development and marine exports. In November 2022, India extended a USD 100 million financial support package via SBI Malè by subscribing to Maldivian government domestic T-bonds backed by a sovereign guarantee from India. The support was renewed in 2024 with an interest-free extension under a unique government-to-government arrangement.

    In response to further budgetary needs, India offered an additional USD 400 million currency swap facility in October 2024. This follows a 2022 agreement signed between the Reserve Bank of India and the Maldives Monetary Authority under the SAARC framework, allowing up to USD 200 million in withdrawals.

    Digital and FinTech Partnerships
    In August 2024, India and the Maldives signed an agreement enabling the use of India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in the Maldives. This development, facilitated during the visit of India’s External Affairs Minister to Malè, represents a critical step toward digital and financial integration between the two nations.

    To further enhance economic cooperation, Maldivian Finance Minister Moosa Zameer visited New Delhi in December 2024 to participate in the Global Economic Policy Forum. He held bilateral meetings with India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and engaged with business leaders from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to explore investment opportunities.

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senate Appropriations Committee Approves Interior-Environment, Transportation-HUD Bills

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Washington State Patty Murray

    Committee approves Interior-Environment bill in a 26-2 vote — BILL SUMMARY HERE

    Committee approves Transportation-HUD bill in a 27-1 vote — BILL SUMMARY HERE

    ***WATCH and READ: Senator Murray’s opening remarks***

    Washington, D.C. – Today, the Senate Appropriations Committee met for a full committee markup to consider its draft fiscal year 2026 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies appropriations acts.

    “These may not be the bills I would have written on my own. There’s more I certainly want to see us do and investments and accountability measures I’ll keep pushing for. But these bills are serious, bipartisan compromises that reject so many of the truly harmful cuts Trump and House Republicans are pushing for and that maintain crucial programs that help make sure folks back home have a roof over their head, safe, reliable transportation, and clean air and water,” said Vice Chair Patty Murray in her opening remarks. “Now, Russ Vought may want to break this process and make it more partisan. He may want to set Congress on track for a shutdown. But we can reject that partisan vision that hurts working families everywhere. And we can reject the painful cuts and policies Trump and Vought are trying to inflict in our communities—just as these bills do.”

    In a 26-2 vote, the Committee approved the draft fiscal year 2026 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill.

    “Oregonians turned out in record numbers during my town halls to deliver a clear message—we need to do everything we can to fight against harmful federal funding cuts and to instead double down on supporting our public lands, Tribal communities, and clean air and water for all,” said Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee. “This bipartisan bill protects funding for operating the National Park System, National Refuge System, National Forest System, our National Conservation Lands, and the Land and Water Conservation Fund, making a bold statement to the Trump Administration that Congress intends to fight back against any attempt to rip away public lands from public use. I’ll continue to work with members from both parties to invest in our country’s and our children’s futures.”

    “When it comes to protecting our public lands, this bill provides critical funding for our National Parks and our Forest Service and rejects the absolutely paltry level Trump put forward, as well as the House Republican level. It also prevents our national parks from being sold off. It ensures federal firefighters will not face a pay cut, and it fully funds wild fire prevention and suppression. When it comes to our obligations to our Tribes, we were able to provide $12 billion across Tribal programs—rejecting Trump efforts to cut Tribal safety, Tribal schools, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and advanced appropriations for the Indian Health Service,” said Vice Chair Murray in comments on the bill. “This bill also protects clean water and air programs and continues vital, cutting-edge research that protects families’ health and wellbeing which is under threat from this administration. No doubt, there is more I’d like to do here but this is a solid bipartisan bill to sustain critical programs that protect our environment and families’ health in the face of Trump cuts.”

    The following amendments to the bill were considered during today’s mark up:

    • Manager’s package offered by Chair Murkowski.
      • Adopted unanimously.
    • Reed amendment to prevent the Trump administration from redirecting funding Congress provided for the National Endowment of the Humanities to fund its plans to create a sculpture garden of notable Americans at its discretion.
      • Debated; withdrawn.
    • Heinrich amendment to require the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Department of the Interior to maintain at least the same number of full-time equivalents as they had in September 2020 to ensure adequate staffing at our national parks and for wildfire prevention and response.
      • Republicans rejected the amendment in a 15-14 party-line vote.

    A summary of the bill is available HERE.

    Final bill text, report, Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) projects, and adopted amendments will be available HERE later today.

    In a 27-1 vote, the Committee approved the draft fiscal year 2026 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies appropriations bill.

    “I would like to thank Chair Collins, Vice Chair Murray, and Chair Hyde-Smith for their leadership and support of this bipartisan bill. As ranking member of the Transportation and Housing Subcommittee, I am committed to working with Democrats and Republicans alike to find bipartisan solutions to meet the needs of my constituents. This bill provides safe and efficient travel by fully funding the FAA and by making investments in Amtrak and transit projects critical to New York. It also protects families, seniors, and people with disabilities who rely on HUD rental and homeless assistance programs, while also investing in affordable housing. The bill soundly rejects the harmful proposals from the Trump administration and will help lower costs for all Americans,” said Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ranking Member of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

    “While I still want to do more to address the housing crisis—and I am not going to stop pushing on that—I’m glad to say this bill rejects President Trump’s proposed cuts to rental assistance that would have put 10 million people at risk of eviction—mostly kids, seniors, and people with disabilities. This bill delivers funding to help ensure no one is kicked out of their home, and keep families stably housed,” Vice Chair Murray said in comments on the bill. “When it comes to transportation, this bill includes a much-needed increase for FAA to hire air traffic controllers, modernize equipment, and more. It also invests in highway safety, rail safety, and pipeline safety—not to mention investments in our ports and shipyards. It rejects Trump’s cuts to the essential air services that would have cut off so many small and rural communities. It rejects House Republicans’ proposal to slash Capital Investment Grants by 98%. And of course, it rejects Trump’s plan to eliminate BUILD grants. This is a program I helped launch that supports major construction projects across the country.”

    The following amendments to the bill were considered during today’s mark up:

    • Manager’s package offered by Chair Hyde-Smith.
      • Adopted unanimously.
    • Merkley amendment to prohibit funds provided in any fiscal year 2026 appropriations act from being eligible for rescissions or deferrals under the Impoundment Control Act’s fast-track procedures, ensuring they can only be considered through annual appropriations bills.
      • Republicans rejected the amendment in a 15-14 party line vote.

    A summary of the bill is available HERE.

    Final bill text, report, Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) projects, and adopted amendments will be available HERE later today.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Former Kokomo Police Department Officer Charged with Sexually Assaulting 14-Year-old Girl

    Source: United States Attorneys General

    A federal grand jury in Indianapolis, Indiana, returned a two-count indictment, unsealed today, charging former Kokomo Police Department officer Sinmi Asomuyide with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and with lying to state investigators to try to cover up the assault.

    The first count of the indictment charges Asomuyide, who was 31 years old, with willfully depriving Minor #1, who was 14 years old, of her constitutional rights by sexually assaulting her.  The first count also charges that the defendant’s conduct included kidnapping.

    The second count of the indictment charges Asomuyide with lying to the Indiana State Police to try to cover up the assault by, among other things, denying having sexual contact with Minor #1 and denying that there would be any reason for the presence of his semen in his squad car when, in fact, he ejaculated inside his squad car after causing Minor #1’s hand to touch his exposed penis.

    If convicted, Asomuyide faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

    Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Interim U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Wheeler for the Southern District of Indiana, and Special Agent in Charge Timothy O’Malley of the FBI Indianapolis Field Office made the announcement.

    The FBI Indianapolis Field Office is investigating the case, with the cooperation of the Kokomo Police Department; Bloomington Police Department; and Indiana State Police.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Blackett for the Southern District of Indiana and Senior Sex Crimes Counsel Tara Allison of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division are prosecuting the case.

    This investigation is ongoing.  Anyone with additional information is encouraged to call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.

    An indictment is merely an allegation. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Last person on Interpol’s Red Notice list of 100 fugitives in Asia returned to China

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

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

    BEIJING, July 24 (Xinhua) — Fugitive suspect Zhou Jinghua, the last person on the International Criminal Police Organization’s (Interpol) 100 most wanted fugitives list of “red notices” to be in Asia, has been repatriated to China thanks to cooperation between law enforcement and judicial authorities in China and Thailand. –0–

    Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    .

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI: Cenovus to hold second-quarter 2025 conference call and webcast on July 31

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CALGARY, Alberta, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX:CVE) (NYSE:CVE) will release its second-quarter 2025 results on Thursday, July 31, 2025. The news release will provide consolidated second-quarter operating and financial information. The company’s financial statements will be available on Cenovus’s website, cenovus.com.

    Second-quarter 2025 conference call: 9 a.m. MT (11 a.m. ET)

    For analysts wanting to join the call, please register in advance.

    To participate, you must complete the online registration form in advance of the conference call start time. Register ahead of time to receive a unique PIN to access the conference call via telephone. Once registered, participants can dial into the conference call from their telephone via the unique PIN or click on the “Call Me” option to receive an automated call directly on their telephone.

    To listen to the conference call online, a live audio webcast will also be available and archived for approximately 30 days.

    Cenovus Energy Inc.

    Cenovus Energy Inc. is an integrated energy company with oil and natural gas production operations in Canada and the Asia Pacific region, and upgrading, refining and marketing operations in Canada and the United States. The company is committed to maximizing value by developing its assets in a safe, responsible and cost-efficient manner, integrating environmental, social and governance considerations into its business plans. Cenovus common shares and warrants are listed on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges, and the company’s preferred shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. For more information, visit cenovus.com.

    Find Cenovus on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram.

    Cenovus contacts:

    Investors Media
    Investor Relations general line
    403-766-7711    		 Media Relations general line
    403-766-7751

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Miles Franklin 2025: Siang Lu’s Ghost Cities is a haunting comedy about tyranny. Is it the funniest winner ever?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joseph Steinberg, Forrest Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, English & Literary Studies, The University of Western Australia

    Siang Lu David Kelly/UQP

    The Miles Franklin judges described Siang Lu’s Ghost Cities, winner of the 2025 award, as “a grand farce and a haunting meditation on diaspora”. To my mind, it is perhaps the funniest novel ever to have won the Miles Franklin. In the last decade, its closest competitor would be Melissa Lucashenko’s boisterous, brilliant Too Much Lip.

    Turn the clock back a few more years, and it’d square off against the puerile humour of Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet, the zany folly of Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda, and Thea Astley’s biting satire The Acolyte. It’d remain a strong contender even in such company.

    Lu earned a reputation for satire with his first novel, The Whitewash, in which he lampooned the racial politics of the film industry. Ghost Cities extends this skit, while dialling it up to 11.

    “Sitting within a tradition in Australian writing that explores failed expatriation and cultural fraud, Lu’s novel is also something strikingly new,” the judges said, praising its “absurdist bravura”.

    A comedy of tyranny

    Lu’s sense of humour relies on hyperbole. Over some 300 pages, the characters in Ghost Cities tie themselves in knots over a ludicrous series of edicts, demands and directives issued by a pair of dictators who grow crueller and more capricious with every chapter.

    Ghost Cities is a comedy of tyranny in two plots, told via alternating chapters. One begins in a semi-recognisable Sydney, then relocates to the fictitious ghost city of Port Man Tou; the other is a fable set in China’s Imperial City and its labyrinths millennia ago.


    Ghost Cities begins in the latter timeline, with the mock-heroic tale of Emperor Lu Huang Du’s ascension to the imperial throne and the beginning of his dictatorial rule. What defines his character, from the very first page, is his yawning ego; he yearns for an exceptional origin myth, a tale of patricide and regicide. The failure to fabricate myths of this kind later leads him to banish a trio of scholars to the Sixth Level of Hell and burn every book in the Imperial Library. What he wants is a hymn to his own “cunning, ruthless strategy and force of will”. But the truth is ignoble.

    Emperors should not come to power through inaction. They should not do so by “gawping as their purple-faced fathers clawed and sputtered on what would later be determined to be an awkwardly lodged chicken bone”. They should not “wait, in lacklustre fealty, for that final breathless minute to expire”. They should certainly not then proceed to order the death of every chicken in the land, because of the deranged belief “their traitorous bones were conspiring against His Imperial bloodline”. And they would be well advised not then to issue an edict forbidding the “breeding, eating and harbouring of poultry”, which leads the sons of “a hundred fallen agrarians” to swear vengeance.

    Perverse as he is, there is real pleasure to be found in tracking the consequences of Lu Huang Du’s whims. From his banishment of his brother, Lu Dong Pu, for the crime of intercepting an assassin’s blade, to his attempt to elude his prophesied death by conscripting a thousand lookalikes from among his citizens, the emperor is a character governed at every turn by an unspeakable fear of his own mortality.

    Through him, and the chapters that recount the consequences of his wildly temperamental rule in the form of an absurd fable, Lu offers a sharp yet entertaining study in the abuse of state power by the narcissistic and incompetent.

    Ghost Cities’ second dictator is a director named Baby Bao, who embarks on an egotistical undertaking of his own. His ambition is to create a “historical biopic of the infamous Indomitable Emperor Lu Huang Hu”, a self-styled piece of “cinematic history, a twenty-seven hour extravaganza – no intermission – in simultaneous worldwide release!”. Such a biopic would work primarily to reinforce his delusion that he is biologically “destined for greatness”, by illustrating his belief that his lineage can be traced to the emperor. The conceit makes gleefully explicit the egotism buried in so many artistic projects.

    The emperor is later opposed by his brother, Lu Dong Pu, and his nephew, Lu Shan Liang; his counterpart, Xiang Lu (note the resemblance of both their names to their author’s), is a phoney translator hired by the director after he goes viral for his ignorance of Chinese.

    Indecencies on indignities

    Siang Lu shares an interest in anagrams (and chess) with Russian-American writer Vladimir Nabokov, who appears in his own fiction under names such as Vivian Darkbloom and Adam von Librikov.


    Ghost Cities also includes a long, loosely iambic poem titled “Six Levels of Hell”, which narrates Lu Dong Pu’s escape from labyrinthine imprisonment beneath the Imperial City. Lu’s allusions to other texts are too various to properly discuss here. They include John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Dante’s Divine Comedy, Jorge Luis Borges’ Labyrinths, Nabokov’s Pale Fire and Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities. These references extend Ghost Cities’ concern with the relationship between dictators, architects and artisans, rampaging gods and those humbler deities behind smaller creations.

    Women play an important role in Lu’s twin fables, albeit a comparatively subtle one. Wuer, first Lu Dong Pu’s wife and later (against her will) the Imperial Consort, records her husband’s torment in the poem Six Levels of Hell and mourns the death of Lu Shan Liang’s twin brother in a moving parenthetical aside. Yuan (who shares a name with Siang Lu’s wife), a translator and eventually Xiang Lu’s lover, is an intelligent interlocutor.

    But Ghost Cities is at its best when it piles indecencies on indignities – when it all goes totally wrong. When piglets are appointed to office. When the swine sits in the chair, and rules as it sees fit.

    Joseph Steinberg 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. Miles Franklin 2025: Siang Lu’s Ghost Cities is a haunting comedy about tyranny. Is it the funniest winner ever? – https://theconversation.com/miles-franklin-2025-siang-lus-ghost-cities-is-a-haunting-comedy-about-tyranny-is-it-the-funniest-winner-ever-261584

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Columbia’s $200M deal with Trump administration sets a precedent for other universities to bend to the government’s will

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Cantwell, Associate Professor of Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education, Michigan State University

    Students at Columbia University in New York City on April 14, 2025. Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images

    Columbia University agreed on July 23, 2025, to pay a US$200 million fine to the federal government and to settle allegations that it did not create a safe environment for Jewish students during Palestinian rights protests in 2024.

    The deal will restore the vast majority of the $400 million in federal grants and contracts that Columbia was previously awarded, before the administration withdrew the funding in March 2025.

    It marks the first financial and political agreement a university has reached with the Trump administration in its push for more control over higher education – and stands to have significant ripple effects for how other universities and colleges carry out their basic operations.

    Amy Lieberman, the education editor at The Conversation U.S., spoke with Brendan Cantwell, a scholar of higher education at Michigan State University, to understand what’s exactly in this agreement – and the lasting precedent it may set on government intervention in higher education.

    Palestinian rights demonstrators march through Columbia University on Oct. 7, 2024, marking one year of the war between Hamas and Israel.
    Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images

    What’s in the deal Columbia made with the Trump administration?

    The agreement requires Columbia to make a $200 million payment to the federal government. Columbia will also pay $21 million to settle investigations brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

    Columbia will need to keep detailed statistics about student applicants – including their race and ethnicity, grades and SAT scores – as well as information about faculty and staff hiring decisions. Columbia will then have to share this data with the federal government.

    In exchange, the federal government will release most of the $400 million in frozen grant money previously awarded to Columbia and allow faculty at the university to compete for future federal grants.

    How does this deal address antisemitism?

    The Trump administration has cited antisemitism against students and faculty on campuses to justify its broad incursion into the business of universities around the country.

    Antisemitism is a real and legitimate concern in U.S. society and higher education, including at Columbia.

    But the federal complaint the administration made against Columbia was not actually about antisemitism. The administration made a formal accusation of antisemitism at Columbia in May of this year but suspended grants to the university in March. The federal government had initially acknowledged that cutting federal research grants did nothing to address the climate for Jewish students on campus, for example.

    When the federal government investigates civil rights violations, it usually conducts site visits and does very thorough investigations. We never saw such a government report about antisemitism at Columbia or other universities.

    The settlement that Columbia has entered into with the administration also doesn’t do much about antisemitism.

    The agreement includes Columbia redefining antisemitism with a broader definition that is also used by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. The definition now includes “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews” – a description that is also used by the U.S. State Department and several European governments but some critics say conflates antisemitism with anti-Zionism.

    Instead, the agreement primarily has to do with faculty hiring and admissions decisions. The federal government alleges that Columbia is discriminating against white and Asian applicants, and that this will allow the government to ensure that everybody who is admitted is considered only on the basis of merit.

    The administration could argue that changing hiring practices to get faculty who are less hostile to Jewish students could change the campus climate, but the agreement doesn’t really identify ways in which the university contributed to or ignored antisemitic conduct.

    Is this a new issue?

    There has been a long-running issue that conservatives and members of the Trump administration – dating back to his first term – have with higher education. The Trump administration and other conservatives have said for years that higher education is too liberal.

    The protests were the flash point that put Columbia in the administration’s crosshairs, as well as claims that Columbia was creating a hostile environment for Jewish students.

    The administration’s complaints aren’t limited to Columbia. Harvard is in a protracted conflict with the administration, and the administration has launched investigations into dozens of other schools around the country. These universities are butting heads with the administration over the same grievance that higher education is too liberal. There are also specific claims about antisemitism on university campuses and the privileges given to nonwhite students in admissions or campus life.

    While the administration has a common set of complaints about a range of universities, there is a mix of schools that the administration is taking issue with. Some of them, such as Harvard, are very high profile. The Department of Justice forced out the president at the University of Virginia in January 2025 on the grounds that he had not done enough to root out diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the public university. The University of Virginia may have been a target for the administration because a Republican governor appointed most members of its governance board and agreed with Trump’s complaints.

    How could this change the makeup of Columbia’s student population?

    The Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that Harvard’s affirmative action program, which considered race in admissions, violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. This effectively ended race-based affirmative action for all U.S. colleges and universities.

    Now, with the Columbia deal, the government could say that it would expect to see a proportion of students who are white increase and students who are Black and Latino to decrease at Columbia. That’s a legal approach that America First Legal, a conservative legal advocacy group founded by Stephen Miller, a Trump administration official, has already tried.

    Back in February 2025, America First Legal alleged in a federal lawsuit that the University of California, Los Angeles, was using illegal admissions criteria, because of the number of Black and Latino students that were admitted by the school. That lawsuit is ongoing.

    Claire Shipman, Columbia University’s acting president, speaks during the school’s May 2025 commencement ceremony.
    Jeenah Moon/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

    What does this agreement mean for US higher education as a whole?

    It is an enormous, unprecedented shift in how the federal government works with higher education. Since the McCarthy era in the 1940s and ’50s, when professors were blacklisted and fired because of their alleged communism, Americans have not seen the federal government interrogate education.

    The federal government does have a role in securing people’s civil rights, including in the context of higher education, but this is very, very different from how the federal government has done civil rights investigations and entered into agreements with universities in the past.

    This agreement is very broad and gives the federal government oversight of things that have long been under universities’ control, such as whom they hire to teach and which students they admit.

    The federal government is now saying it has the right to look over universities’ shoulders and guide them in this work that has long been considered independent. And the government is willing to be extremely coercive to get universities to comply.

    What signal does this agreement send to other universities?

    This agreement sets a precedent for the government to direct colleges and universities to comply with its political agenda. This violates the long tradition of academic independence that had helped to make the U.S. higher education system the envy of the world.

    Columbia can afford paying $200 million to the federal government. Most universities can’t afford to pay $200 million.

    And most campuses cannot survive without federal resources, whether that comes in the form of student financial aid or research grants. This agreement sets a standard for other universities that, if they don’t immediately do what the federal government wants them to do, the government could impose penalties that are so high it could end their ability to operate.

    Brendan Cantwell is a Professor in the Department of Educational Administration at Michigan State University.

    – ref. Columbia’s $200M deal with Trump administration sets a precedent for other universities to bend to the government’s will – https://theconversation.com/columbias-200m-deal-with-trump-administration-sets-a-precedent-for-other-universities-to-bend-to-the-governments-will-261902

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Tuberville Chairs First HELP Subcommittee Hearing

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Alabama Tommy Tuberville
    WASHINGTON – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) led his first hearing as Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee on Education and the American Family with lead advocates for reform in the nation’s educational system. During the hearing, entitled “Empowering Families for Better Educational Results,” witnesses underscored places where the current education system falls short, such as declining literacy rates and the lack of charter schools. Sen. Tuberville emphasized the importance of allowing parents to make choices when it comes to their children’s education and the legislation that will benefit teachers, parents, and children.
    In effort to understand how to improve literacy across the nation, Sen. Tuberville and his Republican colleagues asked the witnesses what policies they believe should be implemented. The witnesses also discussed the preparation and professional development that would empower teachers in the classroom. Finally, Sen. Tuberville asked witnesses about the positive effects that charter schools can have on communities.
    Witnesses included:
    Mr. Tyler Barnett, CEO of New Schools for Alabama
    Ms. Anne Wicks, Don Evans Family Managing Director Opportunity and Democracy George W. Bush Institute
    Ms. Ginny Gentles, Director of Education Freedom and Parental Rights Defense of Freedom Institute
    Mr. Richard Barrera, Board Vice President of San Diego Unified School District
    Read excerpts of the transcript below or watch clips of the hearing on YouTube or Rumble. 
    OPENING STATEMENT:
    TUBERVILLE: “Good afternoon. The Senate Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Education and the American Family will come to order. Thanks for being here. As you can tell, we’re running a little late. It’s a little hectic on the hill today, but we will survive. This afternoon, we’re having a hearing on empowering families for better educational results. Ranking member Blunt Rochester and I will each have an opening statement. The witnesses will have five minutes for their opening statements, and senators will each have five minutes for questions.
    We will obviously have senators coming in and out because [there are] many, many votes today. So, thank you to all the witnesses for being here today. It’s always nice to see a fellow Alabamian here today up here in the swamp. Thanks to Mr. Barnett for coming to visit today. We’ve called this hearing to discuss something very near and dear to my heart. One of the reasons I’m here. I was an educator for decades before I decided to come up here, and over those years, I saw the state of our education system decline. The federal government just kept spending more money and more money in K-12 education, and the more they spent, the worse outcomes became. It was just amazing me to watch it in real time, and it made no sense. It’s the main reason I chose to run for this office.
    I didn’t want to see our kids fail year after year, then I got here and realized that we can fix it, but a lot of things are broken. Four years I’ve been serving here on the HELP Committee, and this year, I finally got this gavel to make sure we could have something like this to where we could bring these things to light. I wanted to focus on our kids’ educational outcomes and figure out where we were failing, and also, where we’re doing good things. That leads us to today.
    That’s why we’re having this hearing.
    We need to take a good, hard look at our K-12 education system and figure out [what we can do] to fix it, to make it better, because the status quo in a lot of areas is not cutting it. That means we need to think outside the box. Since COVID, parents have gotten a lot more engaged and that’s where all the necessary change can start, right at home, family. And, since parents have started paying more attention, they’ve started calling for more and more options.
    Parents across our country are calling for their states to offer more options for their kids outside of failing school systems. States represented by folks on both sides of this dice are working on school choice options in their state legislature. We’ll hear about that issue from our witnesses today. Parents want these options, and we ought to listen to them. In my home state of Alabama last year, we passed the Choose Act, which created an income tax credit for families who choose to enroll their children in private schools or homeschooling.
    Virginia, Florida, Alaska, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Indiana, and Washington are just a few states to name that have implemented or have pending state legislation to create these income tax credits promoting school choice. It’s simple. When we give our parents and students choice, we yield better educational results. We owe our kids this investment. But it doesn’t end there.
    Right now, our kids in a lot of areas can’t read. We have kids entering middle school and high school who aren’t at a third grade reading level. I used to recruit kids. I’d bring them in with 3.5 GPAs. The next thing I know after testing them, they wouldn’t be [at a] sixth grade reading level. Something has got to change with that. States and governors across our country have taken up the literacy challenge and enacted legislation at the state level, where it should be. Ranking member Blunt Rochester’s home state of Delaware passed House Bill 304 that implemented reading assessments three times a school year for kids K-3, and my state passed the Alabama Literacy Act, which does the same thing. And we’re trying. No matter the state, this is a widespread effort, and we will discuss today the methods that are working.
    We’ll talk about the science of reading and how best to implement. In our classrooms, we’ll hear about how we can invest in our teachers, invest to prepare them to tackle this crisis head-on. They need to be set up for success just as much as our students do. I want today to be an opportunity for this committee to have a conversation about what our states are doing, and what [we can] do to support them from here, from the federal level. Our children are the best resource this country has, the best thing we’ve got going.
    And above all, we owe them one thing, an opportunity to succeed. And I look forward to working with all of you towards this common goal. Now, I yield to my ranking member, Senator Blunt Rochester, for her opening statement.”
    […]
    ON HOW THE SUCCESS OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IMPACTS DISTRICT SCHOOLS:
    TUBERVILLE: “Mr. Barnett, we’ve had tremendous growth in the number of students across American enrolling in charter schools. Over four million students to be exact. How does that success of charter schools impact our district public school system?”
    BARNETT: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, there are really two large national studies that speak to this. One comes out of the Progressive Policy Institute, and another comes out of the Forum Institute. Both actually show that the presence of charter schools has, in some way, improved outcomes within district schools. There’s a certain threshold that the Progressive Policy Institute’s study showed somewhere around 30%. So, the presence of charter schools that give up to 30% of students in a given market, the opportunity to enroll has [a] positive net impact on not only charter school performance, but also district performance.”
    […]
    ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PREPARING OUR EDUCATORS TO TEACH THE SCIENCE OF READING METHOD:
    TUBERVILLE: “Ms. Wicks, you talked about teacher preparedness and professional development in your testimony. How important is preparing our educators to teach the science of reading method?”
    WICKS: “Senator, thank you for that important question. It’s critical that we give educators the right preparedness to understand this issue and be able to deploy it in their classrooms. I referenced in my opening remarks that only 25% of educator prep programs are currently teaching the science of reading to their aspiring teachers. And even worse, about 40% of them are teaching the wrong stuff. So, they’re teaching these brand-new teachers the wrong way to teach reading.
    If they’re interested in more—the National Council on Teacher Quality put out that report. They’re the best at studying Teacher Prep programs. And I think this comes down to a matter of state leadership and accreditation.
    They make some recommendations about the importance of setting state standards for what these programs need to be teaching. [We need to] have some way to measure that if it’s through accreditation or others.
    And then to tie the state licensure exams to those standards, to ensure that those candidates have actually learned this and can do it in their classroom. And you see the same thing for sitting teachers who maybe never got this in their training and need that professional development.”
    TUBERVILLE: “Thank you, Ms. Gentles, you know, on both sides of the argument whether President Trump and the Department of Education [is] undermining public school. And because of the work done to expand school choice, do you think there’s a truth to that argument?”
    GENTLES: “Consistently studies show that when states have implemented school choice programs, the nearby public schools have benefited. So increasing competition inspires innovation, and a rising tide lifts all boats. So, we were pleased to see the Executive Order from the President supporting expanding school choice [and] educational freedom, and we’re also pleased to see the Executive Order ordering the Secretary of Education to look into dismantling the Department of Education within […] federal law and with the understanding that the Secretary will be working with Congress on that. Because we do think that […] freeing up states from federal regulations from monitoring, from compliance—all the time that all those bureaucrats at the state and district level are spending on federal paperwork is going to benefit public education. It’s going to benefit public school students. It’s going to benefit public school educators.”
    TUBERVILLE: “Do you think we should give more power back to the states when it [comes to] education?”
    GENTLES: “Absolutely. We need to give power to the states. I think we’ve heard such great news today on what strong state leaders—sensible state leaders—implementing common sense policies are doing. It’s very encouraging to see what’s happening.
    We didn’t mention Louisiana, but Louisiana is a bright spot amidst the 2024 NAEP scores, the only state where fourth grade reading scores exceeded pre-COVID [grades].”
    CASSIDY: “More so than Alabama?”
    GENTLES: “Alabama’s pretty awesome too. It’s been referred to as the southern surge. There’s really good news coming out of the states and encouraging that, fostering that is absolutely the right direction. […] Education policies [are] set at the state level and let’s foster that and let’s get the federal government out of the way.”
    Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Tuberville Speaks to DOD Chief of Naval Operations Nominee

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Alabama Tommy Tuberville
    WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) participated in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing today to consider the nomination of Admiral Daryl Caudle to be Chief of Naval Operations. During the hearing, Sen. Tuberville and Admiral Caudle discussed the need to work with our allies as we work to improve our U.S. Naval capabilities, as well as the advantages of using unmanned vessels at sea.
    Excerpts from the interview can be found below and the full interview can be viewed on YouTube or Rumble.
    ON SHIPBUILDING WITH OUR ALLIES:
    TUBERVILLE: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Admiral, congratulations. You’ve earned this. Looking forward to working with you. You know, we talk about shipbuilding, and we do a lot of that in my state of Alabama.
    Now, we’re in the submarine business. But I was also in the education business. We’re 500,000 electricians short in this country. In mine and your lifetime, we can’t catch up. We’re gonna have to use our allies to help build some things.
    What’s your thoughts about that? And, for instance, [South] Korea, they build 5 to our 1 keels. [What] are your thoughts on helping and working with our allies to help build ships in the future?”
    CAUDLE: “Well, Senator, thanks for meeting with me. I enjoyed our time in your office. I wanna work with the Secretary of the Navy and the Department of Defense on looking at this hard. Again, I’ve said this is an all hands on deck [effort]. I don’t know how we do what we need to do without bringing international partners into the capacity problem that we have, while we build up our capacity because we need ships today.
    And, so, there are no magic beans to that. There’s nothing that’s just gonna make that happen. So, the solution space has got to open up. And I think part of that has to look at international partnerships to give us a little bit of a relief valve while we work on our own organic industrial capacity.”
    TUBERVILLE: “As you said, we need them yesterday. And again, this education problem is not going away. Our workforce problem is not going away. We gotta use the best that we know how. And we gotta build ships and we gotta build them fast. But they gotta be good ships, and I think working with our allies is gonna be one way for us to address this problem.”
    ON SAIL DRONES:
    TUBERVILLE: “What’s your thoughts on unmanned vessels like sail drones that we make in our state of Alabama. Are you familiar with those?”
    CAUDLE: “Senator, I am familiar with them. Those are type of technologies that are crucial. Sail drones are part of the fabric of how we improve our Maritime Domain Awareness. You’ve, I’m sure, heard of the instantiations we’ve had with our Task Force 59 in the Arabian Gulf using those type of technologies. We’ve had them in the Gulf of America with our southern border watch. We’re using them there with [U.S.] Fourth Fleet and other places. So, yes, that’s a part of exactly what we need to network persistent capabilities where I don’t want manned vessels spending time just collecting things that unmanned can do much more affordably and effectively.”
    TUBERVILLE: “Yeah. Those have been used well down in the Caribbean on the war on drugs. And we’re proud of how they worked, and we need to continue to expand that there. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. A lot of eyes out there that we don’t have to man [with] people and train people, but it’s good that you go along with it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.”
    Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senator Markey Introduces Legislation to Increase Wages Nationwide for Paraprofessionals and Education Support Staff

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts Ed Markey
    Bill Text (PDF)
    Washington (July 24, 2025) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, today introduced the Pay Paraprofessionals and Education Support Staff Act, legislation that would set a minimum wage for school staff of $45,000 per year, or $30 per hour.
    “Paraprofessionals and education support staff make our schools safe, healthy places where all students can learn, grow, and thrive. They are a critical part of our education infrastructure, and we must invest in them the way they invest in our students, their families, and their communities,” said Senator Markey, who earlier today participated in a town hall at the U.S. Capitol with more than 100 educators and educational leaders to discuss the educator pay crisis. “As Trump and Republicans work to cut public education and attack educators across the country, I am proud to introduce this legislation, which will uplift paraprofessionals and education support staff and give them the support and resources they need to succeed.”
    Several educational leaders voiced their support for the Pay Paraprofessionals and Education Support Staff Act. 
    “Every day, we fight for our paraprofessionals and school-related personnel who are not paid enough; they work under tough conditions, and many are subject to violence during the workday. Too many must work multiple jobs just to make ends meet. Given the crucial role that PSRPs play in classrooms and the invaluable support they give to the students they serve, securing commensurate compensation and respect is critical. We are grateful to Sen. Markey for his commitment to paraprofessionals, bus drivers, custodians, school office staff, school food service workers and all the school staff who make our schools run. Do you think teachers and principals could do their jobs without PSRPs? The answer is ‘no.’ Sen. Markey’s bill, the Pay Paraprofessionals and Education Support Staff Act, would guarantee that the more than 370,000 members who make up the AFT’s PSRP division would have access to a family-sustaining wage. We look forward to moving this bill forward in Congress,” said Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers.
    “Paraprofessionals play an invaluable role in our classrooms and are at the heart of our public school — helping students learn, grow, and meet their basic needs,” said Jessica Tang, President of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts. “Outside of the classroom, they’re important members of the community, many have kids and grandkids in the schools and live in the communities they serve. For far too long, paraprofessionals have been forced to work multiple jobs, or rely on public assistance, just to make ends meet. One job should be enough. It’s time our paraprofessionals receive the fair wages, benefits, and respect that reflects the important work they do every day.”
    “Education Support Professionals strengthen our schools and communities by making sure our students are safe, healthy and ready to learn every day. But too many of these educators are forced to work two or three jobs to support their families, when one job should be enough. By passing the Pay Paraprofessionals and Education Support Staff Act, Congress will show they recognize and appreciate the invaluable contributions of our ESPs – both inside and outside the classroom. We want to thank Senator Ed Markey for introducing this legislation, and we urge Congress to act swiftly in passing it to demonstrate to our Education Support Professionals that, as a nation, we respect and value all they do for our students,” said Becky Pringle, President of the National Education Association. “As the Trump administration continues to take a wrecking ball to public education and the futures of the 50 million students in rural, suburban, and urban communities across America, this legislation is more important than ever to ensure our students get the support they need.”
    “An Education Support Professional told us how one of her students had an after-school job at a fast-food restaurant that paid more per hour than this district was paying veteran ESPs. This is shameful. ESPs play an increasingly vital role in our public schools, yet in too many districts across Massachusetts they do not earn a living wage. We have heard countless stories from ESPs who love working with their students but cannot afford to keep their school jobs. Senator Markey’s bill is a sensible and responsible approach to correcting a serious injustice in our public schools. By establishing a floor upon which to build a real living wage, this legislation will improve learning conditions – especially for our most vulnerable students – by stabilizing the education workforce,” said Max Page, President, and Deb McCarthy, Vice President of the Massachusetts Teachers Association.
    The bill is cosponsored by Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
    The bill is endorsed by the National Education Association, SEIU, American Federation of Teachers, AFSCME, Council for Exceptional Children, EdTrust, and National Women’s Law Center.
    On July 17, 2025, Senator Markey reintroduced the Preparing and Retaining All (PARA) Educators Act, legislation that would establish higher wages, career pipelines, and professional development opportunities for school paraeducators. In April 2025, Senator Markey and Representative Jahana Hayes (CT-05) introduced the Paraprofessionals and Education Support Staff Bill of Rights.
    On March 20, Senator Markey slammed Trump’s Executive Order to dismantle the Department of Education. On March 11, Senator Markey delivered remarks on the Senate Floor to spotlight Trump’s plan to gut the Department. On February 27, Senator Markey introduced the No Cuts to Public Schools Act, which would prevent any cuts to federal education formula funding during the Trump administration. On February 10, Senator Markey held a press conference in Boston with Massachusetts educators and teachers’ unions on Trump’s vow to dismantle the Department, and the impact on Massachusetts students, educators, and communities.
    On February 6, 2025, Senator Markey, members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, along with the Massachusetts Teachers Association, American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts, Massachusetts Association of School Committees, and Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, released a joint statement after President Trump vowed to dismantle the Department of Education.
    In September 2023, Senator Markey introduced the Green New Deal for Public Schools Act, legislation that would invest $1.6 trillion over the next decade in public and Bureau of Indian Education schools to upgrade every public school building in the country; reduce hazardous pollution; give schools the resources to hire hundreds of thousands of educators, paraprofessionals, and counselors; invest in schools serving low-income students; and fully fund education for students with disabilities.
    Senator Markey first introduced the Paraprofessional and Education Support Staff Bill of Rights in November 2023.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI—Hagerty Joins The Bottom Line on Fox Business to Discuss Trump’s Policy Agenda, Nominee Confirmations, Market Structure Legislation

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Tennessee Bill Hagerty
    WASHINGTON—Yesterday, United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Appropriations and Banking Committees and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, joined The Bottom Line on Fox Businessto discuss the Senate’s work on President Donald Trump’s legislative priorities, efforts to confirm key nominees, and the next phase of cryptocurrency market structure legislation following the passage of the GENIUS Act.
    *Click the photo above or here to watch*Partial Transcript
    Hagerty on the August recess and public support for the Big Beautiful Bill: “I’m certainly here ready to work through the weekends, ready to work into the recess that we have scheduled. We do have a communication challenge ahead because the Democrats and their liberal media partisan allies have been out telling a story that’s not true about this bill. The elements of this bill are very popular with the United States of America– extending the tax cuts, no tax on tips, and no tax on overtime. If you think about beefing up the military and securing our border, these are all things that the American public not only wants, but they voted for. There’s a lot of good to talk about, and we need to get back to talk about it. But I appreciate the opportunity to do that here. And right now, the American public is already seeing the benefit. The stock market is at an all-time high. We’re seeing great concessions being made by countries all over the world to do more business with America, more investments taking place in America, and blue-collar wages are back on the rise again. On a real and inflation-adjusted basis, blue-collar wages are up again, like they were back when President Trump was in office before. That certainly was not the case when Joe Biden was in office. We have a lot of good news to sell.”
    Hagerty on staying in Washington to work on nominee confirmations: “I think we’re going to stay here and work. That’s what the President wants us to do. This would not be necessary— and I want to be clear about this— were it not for the maximum resistance campaign that the Democrats have put in place. This is unprecedented in terms of the number of procedural hoops they have forced us to step through, because their overarching objective is to keep President Trump from seeding his cabinet, from putting his team on the ground. Despite all of their efforts, President Trump keeps winning time and time again. Our border is secure, our economy is moving in the right direction, trade deals are coming in— we’re still winning. It would be even better if we could get our team on the ground. The Democrats are trying to stop us, and we’re just going to have to keep plowing right through. So I’m here to work, through the weekends, whatever it takes to get the team on the field.”
    Hagerty on his market structure bill: “I take a great deal of pride in my legislation, the GENIUS Act. The stablecoin bill will actually open the market for digital currencies here in the United States. It puts us and our payment system into the 21st century. It brings dollar dominance into the digital arena, so that the dollar will dominate. That’s what we have to do to make certain that we stay ahead as a nation. That opens the door then for market structure, which broadens the web and allows us to reach into this innovative market. Innovation needs to take place here in the United States, and additional market structure legislation is necessary. We put a discussion draft out this week that gives a broad outline of how we want to approach it, how we’re going to define the various types of cryptocurrencies, and whether securities and or commodities should be regulated by banks, the SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission], or the CFTC [Commodity Futures Trading Commission].”
    Hagerty on efficiency and market benefits of blockchain: “We’re requesting more input from the industry, and I expect to get a tremendous amount of input here. We’re looking to move this along as quickly as possible. I’m looking at the end of September as a target deadline to get this done. This creates the opportunity to drive down costs and improve efficiency. When thinking about the speed of transactions on the blockchain, the efficiency here is enormous. It takes out counterparty risk, reduces float in the system, removes friction, and delivers great economies of scale as it unfolds.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NEWS: Sanders Introduces Legislation to Address America’s Teacher Pay Crisis, Holds Town Hall with Public School Educators

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Vermont – Bernie Sanders
    WASHINGTON, July 24 — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), today introduced the Pay Teachers Act after hearing from more than 200 teachers and educational leaders from across the country during a town hall at the U.S. Capitol. At a time when school districts nationwide report serious staffing shortages — largely due to unprecedented levels of stress, burnout and low pay — this legislation begins to address the teacher pay crisis in America and ensure that all public school teachers earn a livable and competitive wage that is at least $60,000 a year and increases over the course of their career.
    In addition to Sanders, Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) also cosponsored this legislation. Joining Sanders at the town hall today were Markey; Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT); Princess Moss, vice president of the National Education Association (NEA); and educators from across the country.
    “If we are serious about the need for a bright and hopeful future for America, we must understand that there is no more important job in our country than educating our young people. And yet, public school teachers in America have one of the toughest, one of the most demanding and one of the most under-appreciated jobs in America,” Sanders said. “The situation has become so absurd that just four hedge fund managers on Wall Street make more money in a single year than every kindergarten teacher in America combined – over 120,000 teachers. Far too many of our nation’s public schools are under-funded, under-resourced and in major need of repair. Far too many of our public school teachers are under-paid, under-appreciated and overwhelmed. And, as a result of the so-called ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ that Trump signed into law a few weeks ago, a bad situation is about to get even worse. If we are going to have the best public school system in the world, we have got to radically change our attitude toward education and make sure that every teacher in America receives the compensation that they deserve for the enormously important and difficult work that they do. No public school teacher in America should make less than $60,000 a year.”
    Today in America, nearly one in eight teaching jobs is vacant or filled by a teacher who is not fully certified. Approximately one-third of all public school teachers make less than $60,000 a year — including more than 90% of starting teachers. Hundreds of thousands of teachers have to work two or three jobs during the school year to make ends meet. Meanwhile, the average weekly wage for public school teachers has decreased by 5% over the past 30 years, adjusted for inflation. Today, 44% of public school teachers quit the profession within five years.
    The pandemic only made things worse for educators, with the historic staffing shortages disproportionately affecting schools primarily serving students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. Recent studies show that, of all workers, K-12 public school teachers were the most likely to report higher levels of anxiety, stress and burnout during the pandemic. Further, as badly as public school teachers are paid, our school custodians, food service workers and paraprofessionals earn even less. In America today, nearly 35% of paraprofessionals and school staff earn less than $25,000 a year.
    Unacceptably, the Republican reconciliation bill recently signed into law is disastrous for public education and for public school teachers. While it provides a $900 billion tax cut to large, profitable corporations and a $1 trillion tax cut to the top 1%, it cuts over $300 billion in education funding for millions of students and educators throughout America and provides over $50 billion a year for private school vouchers.
    “If we are going to attract the best and brightest young people into teaching, if we are going to encourage teachers to teach in underserved communities, if we are going to improve teacher retention and morale, and if we are going to improve student academic outcomes, then we need to pay teachers in America decent wages and decent benefits,” Sanders continued. “We need to make it clear that high-quality public education is a major priority. That is why I am introducing the Pay Teachers Act. Because if we can provide over a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the top 1% and large corporations, please don’t tell me that we cannot afford to make sure that every teacher in America is paid at least $60,000 a year. I look forward to working with teachers and schools all across the country — some of whom I had the pleasure of hearing from today — to make that happen.”
    The bill would also provide all teachers with at least $1,000 annually for classroom supply expenses and help schools create well-paid career ladders that allow teachers to advance without leaving the classroom. Additionally, it includes Markey’s Pay Paraprofessionals and Education Support Staff Act, which would raise pay for paraprofessionals and education support personnel to at least $45,000 a year or $30 an hour. In addition to requiring that states establish a minimum teacher’s salary of $60,000 a year and pay all teachers a livable and competitive salary that increases as experience and responsibilities grow, the Pay Teachers Act would significantly increase federal investments in teachers and public schools, including tripling Title I-A funding and funding for rural education programs, diversifying and expanding the teacher pipeline, and strengthening leadership and advancement opportunities for educators.
    “Sen. Sanders’s bill, the Pay Teachers Act, will help close the pay gap by significantly increasing federal investments in public schools and raising annual teacher salaries to at least $60,000—as well as providing increases throughout teachers’ careers—to help ensure they are paid a livable and competitive salary,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “It would also invest in the teacher pipeline and leadership opportunities. This is a crucial federal investment to help sustain the teaching profession, which will directly help us provide greater opportunities to our students. At a time when others are abandoning public schools and our students, Sen. Sanders is proposing a necessary strategic remedy that will help attract teachers to the profession and retain them.”
    “Across the country, most of us across race, place and background want the same thing – strong public schools where every student can thrive and strong communities that support them. In order to attract and retain the passionate, qualified educators that inspire our students, give them the one-on-one support, and do everything in their power to help each student succeed, we need to pay teachers like the professionals they are. America’s educators applaud Sen. Bernie Sanders for introducing the Pay Teachers Act, which takes steps to ensure that our nation’s committed public school educators and educator support personnel receive professional recognition, including appropriate pay while also augmenting the current federal programs that support the educator pipeline. We urge Senators to support educators and cosponsor this common-sense legislation that invests in our students, educators, and public schools,” said NEA Vice President Princess Moss.
    The reintroduction of the Pay Teachers Act comes as the Trump administration continues to illegally withhold nearly $5.5 billion in critical funding for public education that was appropriated by Congress, including funds that states use to provide professional development for teachers and to pay teacher salaries. Sanders and his colleagues have repeatedly pushed for the administration to immediately release these funds.
    More than 30 organizations endorsed the Teacher Pay Act, including American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, National PTA and The Education Trust.
    Read the bill text here.
    Read a summary of the bill here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Security News: Arizona Woman Sentenced for $17M Information Technology Worker Fraud Scheme that Generated Revenue for North Korea

    Source: United States Department of Justice

    An Arizona woman was sentenced today to 102 months in prison for her role in a fraudulent scheme that assisted North Korean Information Technology (IT) workers posing as U.S. citizens and residents with obtaining remote IT positions at more than 300 U.S. companies. The scheme generated more than $17 million in illicit revenue for Chapman and for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea).

    Christina Marie Chapman, 50, of Litchfield Park, Arizona, pleaded guilty on Feb. 11 in the District of Columbia to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. In addition to the 102-month prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Randolph D. Moss ordered Chapman to serve three years of supervised release, to forfeit $284,555.92 that was to be paid to the North Koreans, and to pay a judgment of $176,850.

    “Christina Chapman perpetrated a years’ long scheme that resulted in millions of dollars raised for the DPRK regime, exploited more than 300 American companies and government agencies, and stole dozens of identities of American citizens,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Chapman made the wrong calculation: short term personal gains that inflict harm on our citizens and support a foreign adversary will have severe long term consequences.  I encourage companies to remain vigilant of these cyber threats, and warn individuals who may be tempted by similar schemes to take heed of today’s sentence.”

    “North Korea is not just a threat to the homeland from afar. It is an enemy within. It is perpetrating fraud on American citizens, American companies, and American banks. It is a threat to Main Street in every sense of the word,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro for the District of Columbia. “The call is coming from inside the house. If this happened to these big banks, to these Fortune 500, brand name, quintessential American companies, it can or is happening at your company. Corporations failing to verify virtual employees pose a security risk for all. You are the first line of defense against the North Korean threat.”

    “The North Korean regime has generated millions of dollars for its nuclear weapons program by victimizing American citizens, businesses, and financial institutions,” said Assistant Director Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. “However, even an adversary as sophisticated as the North Korean government can’t succeed without the assistance of willing U.S. citizens like Christina Chapman, who was sentenced today for her role in an elaborate scheme to defraud more than 300 American companies by helping North Korean IT workers gain virtual employment and launder the money they earned. Today’s sentencing demonstrates that the FBI will work tirelessly with our partners to defend the homeland and hold those accountable who aid our adversaries.”

    “The sentencing today demonstrates the great lengths to which the North Korean government will go in its efforts and resources to fund its illicit activities. The FBI continues to pursue these threat actors to disrupt their network and hold those accountable wherever they may be,” said Special Agent in Charge Heith Janke of the FBI Phoenix Field Office.

    “Today’s sentencing brings justice to the victims whose identities were stolen for this international fraud scheme,” said Special Agent in Charge Carissa Messick of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Phoenix Field Office. “The scheme was elaborate. If this sentencing proves anything, it’s that no amount of obfuscation will prevent IRS-CI and our law enforcement partners from tracking down those that wish to steal the identities of U.S. nationals, launder money, or engage in criminality that jeopardizes national security.”

    The case involved one of the largest North Korean IT worker fraud schemes charged by the Department of Justice, with 68 identities stolen from victims in the United States and 309 U.S. businesses and two international businesses defrauded.

    According to court documents, North Korea has deployed thousands of highly skilled IT workers around the world, including to the United States, to obtain remote employment using false, stolen, or borrowed identities of U.S. persons. To circumvent controls employed by U.S. companies to prevent the hiring of illicit overseas IT workers, the North Korean IT workers obtain assistance from U.S.-based collaborators.

    Chapman helped North Korean IT workers obtain jobs at 309 U.S. companies, including Fortune 500 corporations. The impacted companies included a top-five major television network, a Silicon Valley technology company, an aerospace manufacturer, an American car maker, a luxury retail store, and a U.S media and entertainment company. Some of the companies were targeted by the IT workers, who maintained a repository of postings for companies that they wanted to employ them. The IT workers also attempted to obtain employment at two different U.S. government agencies, although these efforts were generally unsuccessful.

    Chapman operated a “laptop farm” where she received and hosted computers from the U.S. companies at her home, deceiving the companies into believing that the work was being performed in the United States. Chapman also shipped 49 laptops and other devices supplied by U.S. companies to locations overseas, including multiple shipments to a city in China on the border with North Korea. More than 90 laptops were seized from Chapman’s home following the execution of a search warrant in October 2023.

    Christina Chapman organized and stored U.S. company laptops in her home, and included notes identifying the U.S. company and identity associated with each laptop.

    Much of the millions of dollars in income generated by the scheme was falsely reported to the IRS and Social Security Administration in the names of actual U.S. individuals whose identities had been stolen or borrowed. Additionally, Chapman received and forged payroll checks in the names of the stolen identities used by the IT workers and received IT workers’ wages through direct deposit from U.S. companies into her U.S. financial accounts. Chapman further transferred the proceeds from the scheme to individuals overseas.

    This case was investigated by the FBI Phoenix Field Office, and the IRS-CI Phoenix Field Office. Assistance was provided by the FBI Chicago Field Office.

    Trial Attorney Ashley R. Pungello of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen P. Seifert for the District of Columbia prosecuted the case, with assistance from Paralegal Specialist Jorge Casillas. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Rothstein for the District of Columbia, the Victim Witness Unit, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, and the National Security Division’s National Security Cyber Section also provided assistance.

    ***

    In a coordinated effort, FBI Phoenix also issued guidance for HR professionals on detecting North Korean IT workers, and the Department of State issued guidance on the North Korean IT worker threat.

    Prior guidance was issued by the FBI, State Department, and the Department of the Treasury on this threat in a May 2022 advisory, and by the United States and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) in October 2023. The FBI issued updated guidance in May 2024 regarding the use of U.S. persons acting as facilitators by providing a U.S.-based location for U.S. companies to send devices and a U.S.-based internet connection for access to U.S. company networks and in January 2025 concerning the extortion and theft of sensitive company data by North Korean IT workers, along with recommended mitigations.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Padilla, Gallego, Salinas, Barragán Introduce Mental Health for Latinos Act

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the nation observes Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), along with Representatives Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.-02) and Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.-44), introduced the Mental Health for Latinos Act, legislation to improve mental health outcomes among Latino and Hispanic communities. 

    Barriers to mental health care within Latino communities cause far too many individuals to suffer in silence. Only 47.4 percent of Hispanic adults ages 18 or older with any mental illness received services in 2023. Between 2010 and 2020, the suicide rate among male Hispanic adults (ages 20 to 64) increased by 35.7 percent, and the rate among women specifically increased by 40.6 percent. Even those who can access services rarely receive the effective, culturally competent care they need.

    “No one should suffer in silence,” said Senator Padilla. “We need to break down the barriers that keep Latinos from getting the mental health care they need, when stigma and language access can make it even harder to ask for help. The Mental Health for Latinos Act would improve mental health outcomes by reducing stigma in the Latino community and encouraging people to reach out for help. As we tackle the rise in mental health challenges, it’s critical that we acknowledge the distinct needs of our diverse communities and develop solutions that meet people where they are.”

    “Too many Latinos, especially men, shy away from seeking help because they’re afraid of being judged, and that only makes the problem worse. This issue is personal to me. This bill would help break the stigma around mental health and make it easier to get care from people who actually understand our community. I want everyone to know that they’re not alone and that getting help is not a weakness,” said Senator Gallego.

    “As Co-Chair of the bipartisan Mental Health Caucus and a proud Latina, I know how crucial it is to end the stigma around mental health care and improve outcomes and access to care among Latino communities,” said Representative Salinas. “I’ve been on the other end of a phone call with someone who is having a mental health crisis. I see how important it is for people not only to have access to mental health care, but also to be able to get the culturally competent care that meets them where they are.”

    “This legislation is a first step to breaking down the unique barriers that prevent our Latino communities from receiving the help they need. Mental health is a challenge that many Americans bear silently — but they shouldn’t have to,” said Representative Barragán. “Ensuring that our communities in need receive specialized resources and outreach will help break down cultural stigmas and language barriers that prevent Americans from accessing mental health care that is essential to their overall health and well-being.”

    Informed and culturally competent resources, education materials, and outreach programs are vital to addressing the mental health crisis. The Mental Health for Latinos Act recognizes the unique mental health challenges of the Latino community, aiming to reduce cultural stigma and rectify health care disparities that prevent people from receiving lifesaving mental health services. As our nation confronts a worsening mental health crisis, this critical legislation reinforces the message that there is zero shame in asking for help and that seeking support is a sign of strength.

    Specifically, the bill would:

    • Require the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to develop and implement an outreach and education strategy to promote behavioral and mental health among the Latino and Hispanic populations that:
      • Meets diverse cultural and language needs and is developmentally and age-appropriate,
      • Increases awareness of symptoms of mental illnesses,
      • Provides information on evidence-based, culturally and linguistically appropriate adapted interventions and treatments,
      • Ensures full participation of community members, and
      • Uses a comprehensive public health approach to promoting behavioral health by focusing on the intersection between behavioral and physical health.
    • Require SAMHSA to report annually to Congress on the extent to which the strategy improved behavioral and mental health outcomes among these populations.

    The legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii).

    The Mental Health for Latinos Act is endorsed by organizations including American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, National Alliance on Mental Illness, UnidosUS, American Mental Health Counselors Association, Inseparable, American Association for Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work, Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN), Global Alliance for Behavioral Health & Social Justice, American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists (AAPP), American Group Psychotherapy Association, Epilepsy Foundation of America, National Council for Mental Wellbeing, the International Society for Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses (ISPN), the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF), and Fountain House.

    Senator Padilla is a leading advocate for expanding mental health care access, especially for underserved communities. In 2023, Padilla launched the bipartisan Senate Mental Health Caucus to serve as a forum for Senators to collaborate on and promote bipartisan legislation and solutions, hold events to raise awareness of critical mental health issues, and destigmatize mental health. Earlier this year, Padilla condemned the Trump Administration’s proposed dissolution of SAMHSA as part of the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) restructuring plan and the White House Office of Management and Budget’s HHS budget proposal. Padilla also led 12 Democratic Senators in warning HHS Secretary Kennedy that additional staffing cuts at SAMHSA would have disastrous ramifications for millions of Americans struggling with mental and behavioral health challenges. Previously, Padilla applauded the Federal Communications Commission for making critical improvements to the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by adopting the main provisions of his Local 9-8-8 Response Act of 2023. Additionally, Padilla introduced bipartisan legislation earlier this year to combat the growing youth mental health crisis in America through early intervention and prevention services. Padilla previously introduced bills to address the unique mental health needs of military children and farm workers.

    A one-pager on the bill is available here.

    Full text of the bill is available here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Backing Australia’s tourism, hospitality and travel sectors

    Source: Australian Attorney General’s Agencies

    Australia’s Tourism, Hospitality and Travel industries have a powerful new tool to attract, retain and train workers with the launch of eeger.

    The Albanese Labor Government, working in partnership with Accommodation Australia, is proud to launch this government-funded, industry-led national careers and training platform.

    Australia’s Tourism, Hospitality and Travel industries help put Australia on the map, with the workforce that make up the industry becoming the public face of our world class experiences, accommodation and food offerings.

    With workforce demand in the industry expected to grow by nearly 150,000 by 2033, eeger will go a long way to ensuring the future sustainability of Australia’s tourism, hospitality and travel sectors.

    The visitor economy is vital to Australia. It supports over 706,000 jobs – that’s one in every 23 jobs across the nation. It underpins more than 360,000 businesses, from hotels to tour operators, cafes to cultural centres – these are businesses that keep our communities vibrant and connected.

    eeger brings together job vacancies, training programs and career development resources into one, easy-to-use, digital platform, connecting jobseekers, employers and educators across these rapidly growing sectors.

    This groundbreaking initiative will tackle long-standing workforce challenges for the sector, helping to build a stronger, more resilient visitor economy.

    eeger was made possible by a $10 million grant from the Albanese Labor Government to strengthen the country’s visitor economy and secure the skilled workforce it needs for the future.

    eeger isn’t just a job board. It brings together job opportunities, training programs and career development in one place, making it easier for Australians to enter and grow within these vital industries.

    Quotes attributable to the Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell:

    “The launch of eeger marks a pivotal moment for the industry, offering a national perspective for tourism, travel and hospitality job seekers to find the right opportunities and for employers to access the skilled workforce they need.

    “The Albanese Labor Government is proud to support this innovative platform, which will help rebuild and future-proof Australia’s visitor economy.

    “My first job was in tourism, and I know firsthand how magnificent this industry is to be a part of. I encourage businesses and jobseekers to sign up and make the most of this innovative platform and join this vibrant and important sector.”

    General Manager of eeger, Emilie Howe:

    “eeger is more than a job platform – it’s built by industry, for industry. It’s a unique solution that centralises career, job and training information for our workforce needs – the first of its kind on a national scale.

    “We encourage all businesses in Tourism, Hospitality and Travel, no matter the size, to sign up and take advantage of the free eeger platform.”

    Quotes attributable to Accommodation Australia CEO, James Goodwin:

    “We’re proud to have worked with so many sectors to develop such an innovative platform that responds exactly to what the industry needs.”

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI: ACM Research Announces Major Upgrades to Its Ultra C wb Wet Bench Cleaning Tool for Advanced Chip Manufacturing

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    FREMONT, Calif., July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ACM Research, Inc. (“ACM”) (NASDAQ: ACMR), a leading supplier of wafer and panel processing solutions for semiconductor and advanced packaging applications, today announced major upgrades to its Ultra C wb cleaning tool. These new enhancements are designed to meet the demanding technical requirements of advanced-node manufacturing processes.

    The upgraded Ultra C wb features a patent-pending nitrogen (N2) bubbling technology to solve poor wet etching uniformity and by-product regrowth. These issues frequently appear in conventional wet bench processes of phosphoric acid in high aspect ratio trenches and via structures in advanced-node processes. ACM’s patent-pending N2 bubbling technique enhances the transport efficiency of phosphoric acid and promotes the uniformity of temperature, concentration and flow velocity in wet etching bath. The improved mass transfer efficiency of the wet etching process avoids by-product accumulation in wafer micro-structures to prevent regrowth. This technology holds significant application potential in the wet etching process for manufacturing 3D DRAM, 3D logic and 500+ layer 3D NAND devices​​.

    “With performance a top priority, ACM has enhanced its Ultra C wb tool to deliver improved results by integrating the N2 bubbling technique,” said ACM’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. David Wang. “Batch processing remains a vital component of the wet processing market, offering advantages such as cost-effectiveness, increased efficiency, and lower chemical consumption compared to single-wafer wet cleaning.”

    New Features and Benefits of the Upgraded Ultra C wb Tool:

    • Enhanced Etching Uniformity: Compared to conventional batch processes for wet cleaning, the Ultra C wb platform is equipped with the N2 bubbling technique, improving within-wafer and wafer-to-wafer wet etching uniformity by more than 50%.
    • Enhanced Particle Removal Performance: The Ultra C wb platform’s advanced cleaning capabilities have been proven in organic residue removal of special phosphoric acid additives in advanced-node processes.
    • Expanded Process Capabilities: The upgraded bench module is qualified for three layers of advanced-node processes, including: stack silicon nitride removal, channel hole polysilicon etch back and gate line tungsten recess. It is compatible with a variety of chemical solutions, such as phosphoric acid, H4 etchant (a mixed acid solution typically used for metal film etching), tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH), standard clean 1 (SC1) and silicon-germanium (SiGe) etching solution, etc. Additional layers and applications are currently in development at the customer site.
    • Proprietary Design: The nitrogen bubbling technology designs in the patent application generate large-size bubbles with good uniformity, while the bubble density can be precisely controlled. The N₂ bubbling core technology can be applied to ACM’s Ultra C Tahoe (single-wafer and bench combined cleaning tool) platform, effectively addressing customers’ future process requirements.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Certain statements contained in this press release are not historical facts and may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “plans,” “expects,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “designed,” and similar words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on ACM management’s current expectations and beliefs, and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by the forward-looking statements. A description of certain of these risks, uncertainties and other matters can be found in filings ACM makes with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, all of which are available at www.sec.gov. Because forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, actual results and events may differ materially from results and events currently expected by ACM. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. ACM undertakes no obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof or to reflect any change in its expectations with regard to these forward-looking statements or the occurrence of unanticipated events.

    About ACM Research, Inc.

    ACM develops, manufactures and sells semiconductor process equipment spanning cleaning, electroplating, stress-free polishing, vertical furnace processes, track, PECVD, and wafer- and panel-level packaging tools, enabling advanced and semi-critical semiconductor device manufacturing. ACM is committed to delivering customized, high-performance, cost-effective process solutions that semiconductor manufacturers can use in numerous manufacturing steps to improve productivity and product yield. For more information, visit www.acmr.com.

    © ACM Research, Inc. ULTRA C and the ACM Research logo are trademarks of ACM Research, Inc. For convenience, these trademarks appear in this press release without ™ symbols, but that practice does not mean ACM will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, its rights to such trademarks. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

       
    Media Contact: Company Contacts:
    Alyssa Lundeen USA
    Kiterocket Robert Metter
    +1 218.398.0776 +1 503.367.9753
    alundeen@kiterocket.com  
      China
      Xi Wang
      ACM Research (Shanghai), Inc.
      +86 21 50808868
       
      Korea
      ACM Research (Korea), Inc.
      +82 70-41006699
       
      Taiwan
      David Chang
      +886 921999884
       
      Singapore
      Adrian Ong
      +65 8813-1107
       

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: AMSC to Report First Quarter Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Results on July 30, 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    AYER, Mass., July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AMSC® (NASDAQ: AMSC), a leading system provider of megawatt-scale power resiliency solutions that orchestrate the rhythm and harmony of power on the grid™ and protect and expand the capability of our Navy’s fleet, announced today that it plans to release its first quarter fiscal year 2025 financial results after the market close on Wednesday, July 30, 2025. In conjunction with this announcement, AMSC management will participate in a conference call with investors and covering analysts beginning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, July 31, 2025. On this call, management will discuss the Company’s recent accomplishments, financial results, and business outlook.

    Those who wish to listen to the live or archived conference call webcast should visit the “Investors” section of the Company’s website at https://ir.amsc.com. The live call can be accessed 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time by dialing 1-844-481-2802 or 1-412-317-0675 and asking to join the AMSC call.

    A replay of the call may be accessed 2 hours following the call by dialing 1-877-344-7529 and using conference passcode 4291224.

    About AMSC (Nasdaq: AMSC)
    AMSC generates the ideas, technologies and solutions that meet the world’s demand for smarter, cleaner … better energy™. Through its Gridtec™ Solutions, AMSC provides the engineering planning services and advanced grid systems that optimize network reliability, efficiency and performance. Through its Marinetec™ Solutions, AMSC provides ship protection systems and is developing propulsion and power management solutions designed to help fleets increase system efficiencies, enhance power quality and boost operational safety. Through its Windtec™ Solutions, AMSC provides wind turbine electronic controls and systems, designs and engineering services that reduce the cost of wind energy. The Company’s solutions are enhancing the performance and reliability of power networks, increasing the operational safety of navy fleets, and powering gigawatts of renewable energy globally. Founded in 1987, AMSC is headquartered near Boston, Massachusetts with operations in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. For more information, please visit www.amsc.com.

    ©2025 AMSC. AMSC, American Superconductor, NEPSI, Neeltran, NWL, D-VAR, D-VAR VVO, Amperium, Gridtec, Marinetec, Windtec, Orchestrate the Rhythm and Harmony of Power on the Grid and Smarter, Cleaner … Better Energy are trademarks or registered trademarks of American Superconductor Corporation. All other brand names, product names, trademarks, or service marks belong to their respective holders.

       
    AMSC Contacts  
    AMSC Director of Communications: Investor Relations Contact:
    Nicol Golez LHA Investor Relations
    Phone: 978-399-8344 Carolyn Capaccio, CFA
    Nicol.Golez@amsc.com  Phone: 212-838-3777
      amscIR@allianceadvisors.com 
       

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Strategic autonomy and EU support for the New Caledonian nickel sector – E-002999/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-002999/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    André Rougé (PfE)

    Nickel is vital for the strategic and industrial autonomy of Europe, which is dependent on production from China and Indonesia (in partnership with China) for 80 % of its nickel. That figure rises to 90 % for refined nickel.

    With Greek and Cypriot production shutting down and Finnish mineral reserves only meeting a small proportion of our countries’ needs, the New Caledonian nickel deposit is the main, if not the only, one in the world that is under EU sovereignty. In fact, the overseas territory is home to 25 % of the world’s lateritic nickel reserves.

    At a time when the EU is aiming to secure its supply chain with the Critical Raw Materials Act, New Caledonia is the only territory in a position to ensure that the EU stands a chance of producing 30 to 40 % of net-zero technologies.

    • 1.In light of this, what action does the Commission intend to take to restore the competitiveness of French nickel from New Caledonia?
    • 2.What trade measures does the Commission intend to adopt to counter the influx of Indonesian nickel – produced without complying with environmental, social and governance standards – and to prevent the objectives established in the Critical Raw Materials Act from becoming more and more difficult to achieve?

    Submitted: 18.7.2025

    Last updated: 24 July 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Liberia salutes African Development Bank President Adesina in landmark Government session

    Source: APO – Report:

    • I want you to know that your legacy in Liberia is strong and enduring, President Boakai tells Adesina
    • “With your vast natural resources, Liberia has no business being poor.” — Adesina

    Liberian President Joseph Nyuma Boakai convened the full spectrum of his government leadership to hear from African Development Bank President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina (www.AfDB.org), whom he lauded for a transformative decade at the helm of Africa’s premier development finance institution.

    The expanded cabinet meeting, held Tuesday 22 July at the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ministerial Complex in Monrovia, brought together all three branches of the Liberian government: executive ministers, legislative leaders, the Chief Justice, and heads of state-owned enterprises. The event served as both a celebration of partnership and a platform for Adesina to share leadership insights as he nears the end of his term in August 2025.

    “You have shown the world that bold ideas, when combined with clear vision and determination, can produce extraordinary results,” President Boakai declared. “Through your leadership, the African Development Bank has invested in real solutions that touch lives every day.”

    Underscoring the gravity of the occasion, the Liberian president added: “The fact that all three branches of our government are represented speaks volumes about the value we place on your visit and the respect we have for your leadership and contributions.”

    In his rousing keynote address titled “Liberia: Arise, and Shine!”, Dr. Adesina reflected on the Bank’s enduring partnership with Liberia, which has resulted in $1.02 billion in investments across 72 projects since 1967.

    Key achievements include nearly 2,500 km of electricity transmission lines connecting Liberia with Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, and Guinea; the Liberia Energy Efficiency and Access Project, which delivered nearly 40,000 new grid connections; and 177 km of new roads including the transformational Fish Town-Harper and Karloken to Fish Town corridors.

    A central highlight of the event was the launch of the Liberia Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank (YEIB), a flagship $17 million initiative under the African Development Bank’s Youth in Africa strategy. Liberia becomes the first African country to establish the dedicated youth-focused financial institution, aimed at equipping young Liberians aged 18-35 with the tools and capital to drive national development through entrepreneurship.

    President Boakai described the Bank’s portfolio as “more than numbers on paper.”

    “They are roads that connect our communities, energy that lights homes and businesses, and agriculture projects that strengthen food security and create income for our farmers,” he said.

    Drawing from his experience as Nigeria’s former Minister of Agriculture, and his decade-long leadership of the Bank, Adesina offered the Liberian cabinet a 7-point framework for transformational governance: setting clear and ambitious goals, ensuring measurable results, promoting teamwork and accountability and reforming institutions, especially the civil service and judiciary.

    “Don’t just blow the whistle, use your yellow card or red card. There is no need for rules in a soccer game if the referee never uses the yellow card or the red card,” Adesina said. “You cannot spend time baby-sitting poor performers. The public is eager for results and time is not on your side. So, be firm. Reward performers. Dispense with non-performers.”

    He recommended the adoption of a “One Government approach”, as well as the establishment of a presidential awards program to “recognize and incentivize inter-agency collaboration”; drawing from similar models at the African Development Bank.

    The Bank Group President urged the country to unlock greater value from its abundant resources. “With your vast natural resources, Liberia has no business being poor,” he stated. “The export of raw materials is the door to poverty. The export of value-added products is the highway to wealth.”

    During a Q&A session, Adesina emphasized the importance of technical and vocational training, citing that 60 percent of Liberia’s population is under the age of 35. He was responding to Education Minister Jarso Maley Jallah who inquired about strengthening entrepreneurship through the education system.

    Responding to a question from the Minister of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism, Jerolinmek Piah on achieving fiscal targets, Adesina urged the government to plug revenue leakages, noting that Africa loses $88 billion annually to illicit financial flows. “Make your country investable: invest in transparency, rule of law, create the right environment, provide incentives,” he added.

    Sannah Ziama, a local investor, praised Adesina’s visionary leadership and called for sustained investments in solar power to unlock Liberia’s industrial potential.

    As a low-income country and transition State, Liberia continues to benefit from the African Development Fund, the Bank’s concessional lending arm, as well as the Transition Support Facility, and the Nigeria Trust Fund.

    Liberia is also part of the inaugural group of countries that have developed energy compacts under the Mission 300 program, a joint initiative of the African Development Bank and the World Bank to deliver electricity to 300 million Africans by 2030.

    In recognition of his exceptional contributions, President Boakai presented Adesina with a Presidential Pin of Honour. Adesina had previously received Liberia’s highest national honour – the Order of the Star of Africa, Grade of Grand Band – in 2018.

    “Dr. Adesina, as you prepare to move on from this chapter, I want you to know that your legacy in Liberia is strong and enduring, President Boakai said. “The programs you have championed will continue to make an impact for years to come. Thank you for your faith in Liberia’s potential, and thank you for investing in our people, especially our youth.”

    Adesina was accompanied by the Bank’s Director General for West Africa, Lamin Barrow; Bank Executive Director for Liberia, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Ghana and Sudan, Rufus Darkortey; and Acting Country Manager, Foday Yusuf Bob.

    Liberia’s historical connection with the African Development Bank dates back to the institution’s founding, when Liberian official Romeo Alexander Horton served as the pioneer Chairman of the Committee of Nine that established the Bank in 1964.

    Read Dr. Adesina’s address here (https://apo-opa.co/4maNUla).

    – on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

    Media Contacts:
    Natalie Nkembuh and Tolu Ogunlesi
    Communication and External Relations
    media@afdb.org

    About the African Development Bank Group:
    The African Development Bank Group is Africa’s premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 41 African countries with an external office in Japan, the Bank contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information: www.AfDB.org

    Media files

    .

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • PM Modi condoles loss of lives in Himachal accident; announces assistance

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday expressed deep sorrow over the loss of lives in a road accident in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district.

    In a post on X, the Prime Minister’s Office shared PM Modi’s message, “Saddened by the loss of lives due to an accident in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. Condolences to those who have lost their loved ones in the mishap. May the injured recover soon. An ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. The injured would be given Rs 50,000.”

    According to officials, the bus, carrying 30 passengers, skidded off the road and rolled down a hillside near Tarangala in the Sarkaghat subdivision.

    Emergency services rushed to the scene, with police and administrative personnel from the Sarkaghat police station and the office of the Deputy Superintendent of Police leading rescue operations. Ambulances were quickly deployed, but access to the crash site posed challenges due to the steep terrain.

    Locals were the first to respond and initiated rescue efforts before authorities arrived.

    Superintendent of Police Sakshi Verma confirmed that four people – two men and two women – died on the spot. Several injured passengers were taken to the Civil Hospital in Sarkaghat. Three critically injured individuals were later referred to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Bilaspur.

    The cause of the accident is yet to be determined, and an investigation is underway.

    Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu expressed grief over the incident and said the administration has been directed to ensure proper treatment of the injured.

    “In this hour of sorrow, I offer my condolences to the bereaved families and pray for the speedy recovery of the injured,” he wrote on X.

    -IANS

  • MIL-OSI Security: Former Missionary Charged with Sexually Abusing Minors Abroad

    Source: United States Attorneys General

    A former missionary was arrested today in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for sexually abusing minors abroad. William James Purdy, 28, of West Valley, Utah, was indicted by a federal grand jury on July 16 on charges related to the exploitation of minors outside the United States.

    “The defendant in this case chose to travel abroad under the guise of good intentions and then sexually exploited and abused children who had been trusted to his care,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “When foreign authorities sought to hold him accountable, he fled back to the United States. The United States will not export child exploitation. The Justice Department is committed to securing justice for children exploited overseas when these heinous acts are committed by Americans.”

    “William James Purdy’s actions represent a profound betrayal of trust and have caused immeasurable harm to the young lives he was supposed to protect and nurture,” said Special Agent in Charge Edward V. Owens of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Philadelphia. “HSI’s global reach and partnerships are crucial in our relentless fight against child predators, ensuring that those who exploit and abuse children, no matter where they are, are brought to justice. We remain steadfast in our commitment to protecting the most vulnerable members of our society and will continue to work tirelessly to prevent such heinous crimes.”

    “This is a perfect illustration of the DSS global reach and our ability to partner with U.S. and foreign law enforcement agencies on international cases,” said Acting Assistant Director of Domestic Operations Adrian Diaz of the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). “DSS and our counterparts are conducting investigations like these on a daily basis around the world.”

    According to court documents, Purdy, a U.S. Citizen, traveled to Tonga in 2017 for his mission with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While there, he allegedly sexually abused multiple minor boys. Purdy returned to Tonga in late 2019 to teach at a school in Nuku’alofa, Tonga. For years, Purdy allegedly groomed and sexually abused numerous male students, some of whom lived with him. Purdy allegedly provided gifts, including electronic devices and access to the internet, food, toys, and money, in exchange for the performance of sexual acts. Purdy is also alleged to have surreptitiously recorded minor males in his bathroom at his various Tonga apartments.

    Purdy was arrested by Tonga police in October 2022, when an eight‑year‑old boy disclosed that Purdy sexually assaulted him during their tutoring sessions. When Purdy was released from jail, he allegedly continued to sexually abuse children. In March 2023, just prior to his scheduled trial, Purdy fled Tonga using an assumed identity and returned to Utah. The investigation thus far has identified 14 minor victims throughout Tonga.

    Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) are investigating the case, with the substantial assistance of the Tonga Police and the Tongan Department of Public Prosecutions.

    Trial Attorney Rachel L. Rothberg of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Joey L. Blanch for the District of Utah are prosecuting the case.

    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 epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Hockey Canada sex assault verdict: Sports culture should have also been on trial

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Laura Misener, Professor & Director, School of Kinesiology, Western University

    The verdict is in on the sexual assault trial of five former members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team — all five have been acquitted.

    Each player was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room. Today, Justice Maria Carroccia stated that the Crown did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

    The trial has captured the world’s attention and sparked polarized public debates about consent, hockey culture and the role of sport in socializing young men.

    Elite athletes often operate within environments where their talent grants them special status and access to resources — monetary and otherwise — that bolster a sense of entitlement. In some instances, sport organizations exacerbate this sentiment by protecting their star performers instead of addressing misconduct, which was reflected in this case.

    For example, an abusive national vaulting coach for New Zealand Athletics was finally banned for 10 years, but only after years of unchecked abuse of his female athletes, including “inappropriate sexual references.” This highlights how misconduct can go on unrestrained for so long.



    Read more:
    With another case of abuse in elite sport, why are we still waiting to protect NZ’s sportswomen from harm?

    The culture of exceptionalism

    As researchers with expertise in sport culture and sexual and gender-based violence, we’re reflecting on what the Hockey Canada trial reveals about the institutional and cultural practices within sport.

    The formal and informal rules of men’s sport validate misogyny and reinforce systemic patterns of sexual entitlement and inadequate accountability. We offer some perspectives on how these troubling patterns of violence in sport can be reformed.

    The Hockey Canada sexual assault trial has become a focal point for questioning how elite sporting environments shield athletes from accountability. This may be especially true in hockey.

    In their book about toxic hockey culture, authors Evan Moore and Jashmina Shaw argue that hockey operates within “a bubble composed mostly of boys and men who are white, cis-het, straight and upper-class. And those who play often become coaches and teach the same values to the next generation.”

    This closely knit community thrives on conformity and creates conditions that are ripe for the pervasive misogyny against women and systemic silence around issues of consent. The book _Skating on Thin Ice: Professional Hockey, Rape Culture and Violence against Women_, written by criminal justice scholars and sports reporters, demonstrates how endemic sexism, heavy alcohol use, abusive peers and the sexual objectification of women are buttressed by broader social factors. These factor uphold and reproduce toxic hockey culture, including patriarchal beliefs.

    Male-dominated sporting cultures also emphasize a particular type of masculinity that focuses on dominance, physical intimidation and winning at all costs. This can blur the boundaries between acceptable competitive behaviour and problematic aggression.

    Vulnerability in sports

    Within the realm of professional sport, athletes also become commodified and objectified through media coverage, sponsorship deals and public scrutiny. This commodification can contribute to a culture where athletes may internalize the idea that their bodies are public property, further eroding their sense of autonomy and understanding of consent, especially in relation to others beyond the sport context.

    Questioning or circumventing institutionally sanctioned behaviours is not easy, and it’s well-documented that many elite athletes struggle with mental health issues including depression, anxiety and substance misuse resulting from the pressure to align with the dominant culture.

    But what often gets forgotten is how the hyper-masculine culture of sports creates significant barriers to seeking help. Young male athletes are socialized to comply with peer cultures that equate vulnerability with weakness. Yet they face intense pressures around family expectations, sponsorship deals and team success that demands they maintain appearances of strength and control.

    This cycle of suppressed vulnerability and untreated distress enables toxic sporting masculinity to flourish, forcing organizations like Hockey Canada to confront their role in perpetuating these harmful dynamics.

    The need for structural, cultural reform

    Sports organizations have significant financial and reputational investment in athletes. This can create an inherent conflict when misconducts arise, problematically prompting sports organizations to use their power and resources to prioritize damage control over justice.

    We saw this in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial, where each hockey player had his own legal counsel, a stark illustration of institutional power and the extent to which sports organizations will go to shield their members from accountability. The deeply entrenched networks within sport prioritize self-preservation over addressing misconduct

    Effectively responding to these issues requires addressing the systemic factors that perpetuate sexual and gender-based violence in sport. The sport ecosystem in Canada needs radical change, including who trains and mentors young men in hockey and how organizations investigate complaints.

    It requires going beyond individual accountability, participating in consent workshops or issuing policy documents. These actions alone are insufficient to shift the cultural needle.

    In 2022, Hockey Canada released a comprehensive action plan to address systemic issues in hockey that features discussions of accountability, governance, education and training and independent sport safety structures.

    Community organizations like the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres also issued a series of recommendations in 2022 that remain germane:

    • Work with athletes and sports organizations to address sexual violence in sports culture;
    • Support the development and growth of male allies programs within community-based sexual assault support centres; and
    • Support those who have been harmed.

    In addition to these excellent suggestions, Hockey Canada and other allied hockey organizations must be willing to restructure the current hierarchical structure of power that governs not just hockey, but also the players and all the other agencies involved, including coaches, sponsors, trainers, legal teams, media and PR representatives.

    These organizational changes are possible, as evidenced by the efforts of Bayne Pettinger, an agent who has led efforts to create space for queer hockey players in Hockey Canada and the National Hockey League.

    Scott Smith, who stepped down from his role as Hockey Canada’s President and CEO, left, and Hockey Canada Chief Financial Officer Brian Cairo appear at a standing committee in July 2022 looking into how Hockey Canada handled allegations of sexual assault and a subsequent lawsuit.
    THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

    Sport’s moral reckoning

    However, the cultural norms of power in sport extend beyond the playing field to shape attitudes toward consent and sexual conduct.

    Until sport organizations address the foundational cultural elements that enable misconduct — toxic masculinity, institutional protection and erosion of consent culture — meaningful change will remain elusive.

    Within hockey environments, in particular, the objectification of women and the institutional silence surrounding sexual violence have become normalized aspects of the sport’s culture, creating conditions where misconduct can flourish unchecked.

    The events examined in this most recent trial are not isolated incidents but symptoms of deeper systemic failures within elite sport.

    Only through comprehensive cultural transformation can we ensure that sport environments are spaces of genuine safety, respect and accountability for all participants.

    Laura Misener receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

    Treena Orchard receives funding from Western University for a Teaching Innovation Grant, however, those funds were not used in the creation of this article.

    – ref. Hockey Canada sex assault verdict: Sports culture should have also been on trial – https://theconversation.com/hockey-canada-sex-assault-verdict-sports-culture-should-have-also-been-on-trial-260662

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Lee Applauds USDA Shift from Washington to Utah

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Utah Mike Lee

    WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) issued the following statement in response to this morning’s announcement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that the agency will be shifting its focus and staffing away from Washington D.C. and toward agricultural hub locations across the country, including one in Salt Lake City, Utah:

    “The people making decisions about how our forests are managed and our food is grown shouldn’t be distant bureaucrats,” said Senator Mike Lee. “I congratulate the Department of Agriculture for decentralizing from Washington and relocating staff to Salt Lake City and other regional hubs. Not only is this a big win for Utah’s farmers and ranchers, but also for our land managers as the department moves closer to the people who live, work, and rely upon these lands. I will continue to fight for the Utahns who raise livestock, grow the best food on Earth, and sustain our National Forests.”

    USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins made the following statement:

    “American agriculture feeds, clothes, and fuels this nation and the world, and it is long past time the Department better serve the great and patriotic farmers, ranchers, and producers we are mandated to support. President Trump was elected to make real change in Washington, and we are doing just that by moving our key services outside the beltway and into great American cities across the country,” said Secretary Rollins. “We will do so through a transparent and common-sense process that preserves USDA’s critical health and public safety services the American public relies on. We will do right by the great American people who we serve and with respect to the thousands of hardworking USDA employees who so nobly serve their country.”

    About the USDA Reorganization plan

    The reorganization consists of four pillars:

    1. Ensure the size of USDA’s workforce aligns with available financial resources and agricultural priorities
    2. Bring USDA closer to its customers
    3. Eliminate management layers and bureaucracy
    4. Consolidate redundant support functions

    To bring USDA closer to the people it serves while also providing a more affordable cost of living for USDA employees, USDA has developed a phased plan to relocate much of its Agency headquarters and NCR staff out of the Washington, D.C. area to five hub locations. The Department currently has approximately 4,600 employees within the National Capital Region (NCR). This Region has one of the highest costs of living in the country, with a federal salary locality rate of 33.94%. In selecting its hub locations, USDA considered where existing concentrations of USDA employees are located and factored in the cost of living. Washington, D.C. will still hold functions for every mission area of USDA at the conclusion of this reorganization, but USDA expects no more than 2,000 employees will remain in the NCR.

    USDA will vacate and return to the General Services Administration the South Building, Braddock Place, and the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, and revisit utilization and functions in the USDA Whitten Building, Yates Building, and the National Agricultural Library. The George Washington Carver Center will also be utilized until space optimization activities are completed. These buildings have a backlog of costly deferred maintenance and currently are occupied below the minimum set by law. For example, the South Building has approximately $1.3 billion in deferred maintenance and has an average daily occupancy of less than 1,900 individuals for a building that can house over 6,000 employees.

    USDA’s five hub locations and current Federal locality rates are:

    1. Raleigh, North Carolina (22.24%)
    2. Kansas City, Missouri (18.97%)
    3. Indianapolis, Indiana (18.15%)
    4. Fort Collins, Colorado (30.52%)
    5. Salt Lake City, Utah (17.06%)

    Read the full reorganization memo from Secretary Rollins here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Estes Delivers Keynote Speech at International Tax Cooperation and Competition: A Reset

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Ron Estes (R-Kansas)

    U.S. Congressman Ron Estes (R-Kansas) delivered the keynote address at International Tax Cooperation and Competition: A Reset hosted by American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Congressman Estes discussed the latest developments in international tax policy. See below for highlights and watch

    .

    On driving economic growth through tax policy reform:

    “It’s great to be able to talk about things that are going on in the world, and particularly things that are going on as we relate to tax policy and good economic policy, which drives good economic growth. A lot of you probably heard several of these conversations from me a lot over the last several months, as we’ve gone through this whole process to talk through what we should do, from a tax code policy within the United States and what we want to do moving forward. 

    “It’s great as we are at this point now where we’re wanting to focus on, how do we make sure that we have good policy that makes good economic growth for companies to do business in America and benefit American workers and an American economy. And ultimately raises money for tax revenue to have to fund the government and activities that we do here as well. And that’s kind of been my focus since I’ve been on Ways and Means now six years . . . I came on shortly after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in 2017 was passed into law. That was my first term in Congress and so the guiding principles, even back then, we’re looking at, how do we make [the] U.S. more competitive in the activities that we do? 

    On the history of crafting the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act:

    “And I go back and talk a little bit about 2017 and then translate to some degree, how our efforts with TCJA in 2017 tied in with the efforts in the One Big, Beautiful Bill this year, and then how that’s also connected to the OECD discussions on Pillar One and Pillar Two. I like to go back and do a little bit of review of history when we talk about TCJA. Because we think back to 2017, the state of the economy at that point in time was, everybody was talking about this new normal, that we should just expect low 1-1.5% economic growth, and that should be the standard that we should expect in the United States.

    “The United States had the fourth-highest corporate tax rate in the world, and highest of any developed country. And so it was always putting our industry at a competitive disadvantage as we sort through activities. We had stagnant wage growth for two or three decades in terms of the average taxpayers was in the mid to high 30s was what the income level was for the individuals across the country. We also had inversions. It was the topic of the day. Whether you were a Republican president or a Democrat president, it was a problem that you were trying to address, where, because of our high tax rate, it was profitable for foreign-based businesses to come buy a valuable U.S. entity and convert it into headquarters being overseas and actually partially pay for that through the lower tax savings just by getting out of the U.S. tax burden. 

    “And then the other component that doesn’t get talked about a lot is the amount of money that was tracked overseas. I mean, literally, it was in the four to four and a half trillion dollars, where subsidiaries of U.S.-based businesses had operations in foreign countries, and because of the existing tax rate, they paid taxes in that country, the territory where they were operating in, but the U.S. tax code said, well, we want to double dip and tax you to bring that money back. So, that money was being left overseas was actually being invested and helping grow the economies over there, which wasn’t what you want from a U.S.-based business or entity. 

    “And so those were some of the big issues that we wanted to address with TCJA. It kind of drove a lot of our thought process as we went into that, and what we were starting with, just driving the corporate tax rate down down to 21% and even at that, we weren’t going to be the lowest tax rate. We didn’t want that. By the time you combine the 21% corporate rate with state and local taxes, we’re just above the midpoint of OECD countries around the world. But we think that’s appropriate. I think we’ll still be competitive, just because the innovation with U.S. businesses and the activities that we’ll focus on going forward.

    On incentivizing investment:

    “In addition to the corporate rate, we also want to make sure that we looked at, how do we, how do we incentivize investment, investment in research and development, investment in capital expenditures, investment in in our workers’ workforce, and being able to deduct the interest deductibility used for that investment. And so we structured different provisions around that. Some of those end up being temporary. And so we’ve had an actually good field experiment the last eight years where we’ve seen the results of 2017 going forward to now, and selling the economic growth that came out of that. 

    On provisions of the OBBB:  

    “Now we’re at the point of where we were working on with the One Big, Beautiful Bill to extend those provisions that had been temporary, and in the best case scenario, make as many of them as we could, permanent. We also got caught up in a lot of the campaign promises from last election, particularly from the presidential race and some of the new provisions that came in, No Tax on Tips, No Tax on Overtime. 88% of people won’t pay tax on their Social Security because of the credits, enhanced senior credits they’ll get. Those are new items that we hadn’t talked about previously. 

    On securing permanent tax provisions to drive investment:

    “What we really wanted to do with the One Big, Beautiful Bill is how we make sure that our economy gets back to growth mode and that we continue to have good economic growth and wealth creation for not just businesses, but individuals as well as funding the Treasury. 

    “I can go down several instances in the Treasury where we actually have more receipts now than we had on things like royalty tax payments, because we had the incentive for research and development being done in the United States. Companies either brought the research and development back or started it new in the United States, and therefore our royalty income is hundreds of billions of dollars higher than it was. 

    “But even what we’ve seen is, through 2024, actual revenue was increased over what had been projected prior to TCJA. So even the discussion that there was going to be a loss to the Treasury, with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, that did not happen through 2024. Now as we look forward with OECD or the One Big, Beautiful Bill, and rolling out those provisions, so many of them, that we’re able to get permanent to move forward, [are] going to be so beneficial for us in an operation side. 

    On addressing global taxation:

    “I talked about a lot of the domestic value for economic growth, and how do we make things happen? Obviously, as part of that, we also need to talk through from an international piece and the issues there. When we were finishing up, again I go back to the little history ,we were finishing up TCJA. 

    “Part of the last things done were figuring out, how do we fit in and address the growing concern about the race to the bottom on global taxation? Obviously there’s a concern on everybody’s part that you don’t necessarily want to lose your business to a company or country that is taxing less just because they’re taxing less. But what we did was, we implemented within TCJA provisions, like GILTI and BEAT, in order to help address that, to help offset that temptation that somebody would go look and base their operations somewhere to get advantage, just purely for tax purposes. 

    On how Digital Services Taxes led to Pillar One discussions:

    “At about that same time, there were discussions going on in the world around, both from the same concern as well as a concern of raising revenue in individual countries. So six years ago, seven years ago or so when I got on Ways and Means, one of the first things that I got engaged in was talking about Digital Services Taxes, the DSTs. That was becoming the hot topic at that point in time, because multiple countries were promoting this idea of having a Digital Services Tax and looking at it in a way, basically for revenue. What I became an advocate for, along with a lot of others, was, let’s utilize OECD and come up with a consistent approach, instead of having a patchwork quilt of different codes and tax systems across the world. So that was the basis to start the discussion on what ultimately became Pillar One.

    On how what led to Pillar Two discussions:

    “About the same time that we finished the TCJA provision, then it also turned in that other countries started talking about, ‘How can we address the lower tax rates?’ And making sure that we are actually being fairly competitive in that, which led up into the discussions on Pillar Two. 

    “This is kind of starting at the end of the Trump administration, the first Trump administration. As the discussion with Philippines started up, it was more focused on a thought process along the lines of what we put into the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. In terms of how you look at provisions, like GILTI or BEAT or FDII, and craft something that works for your respective country, whether you’re European-based, or Asia or Africa, that actually accomplishes the same goal or a similar goal, to help incentivize companies to operate within your country and not look to run to some country that maybe dangles a particular foreign rate below rate in front of them. 

    On the Biden administration’s pivot on Pillar One:

    “The problem that happened after we had a change of administration, and the Biden administration was moving into discussion, was the discussion on Pillar One kind of just got put to the wayside. So the Digital Services Taxes weren’t being addressed at all from a global OECD standpoint. It was kind of allowed to wither and decline and just pause there. At the same time, there was a completely different focus on the Pillar Two piece to look at, instead of, how do we make tax competitiveness? Look at, how do we do subsidized business and operations? 

    “So it really turned into a really bad pivot from that standpoint, in terms of what the impact was going to be around the world. As the material was prepared, a lot of what was done, as drafts were coming out, there really wasn’t public awareness of that shift happened, until the final draft came out early two years ago. 

    “At that point in time, it really became apparent what had been structured was something that was going to be very discriminatory towards the United States. And the businesses working in the United States, impact them in terms of amount of tax they pay, impact them in terms of amount of processing and how they go through the administrative costs to calculate that. And the net effect on the U.S. Treasury was going to be very detrimental to that, because of the way the U.S. Treasury focused on, or even looked at the tax codes for a long period of time is, how do we come up with, in a lot of cases, non refundable credits? 

    “Basically, the incentive is that you should make a decision that results in income and tax burden for you, and then that decision, whether it’s investment in R&D or investment in capital expenditure, is what you deduct off of. Whereas a lot of other countries around the world go into more of a subsidized approach. How do they incentivize through the subsidies? Obviously that put U.S. companies at a disadvantage because our approach wasn’t being included and theirs was allowed, in terms of calculating what would be a minimum tax. 

    On working with Chairman Jason Smith on addressing tax policy inadequacies:

    “That’s where we really got heavily engaged in this is not the appropriate worldwide process to follow. It throws a lot of decades-old tax treaties on its head. What we needed to do was go back and and let’s finalize the Pillar One piece so the DSTs are addressed and and do over the process on UTPRs, that were the central piece of the Pillar Two activity. 

    “As we were working through One Big, Beautiful Bill, myself and [U.S. Congressman] Jason Smith, we had a couple of different pieces of legislation, primarily to look at, how do we protect the U.S. tax base if countries were going to go proceed down the route and implement the Pillar Two process? The Chairman’s bill was [the] Defending American Jobs and Investments Act, which would have had increased withholding tax under national companies. I had a bill titled The Unfair Tax Prevention Act or UTPA. . . But basically it . . . was going to disallow certain credits and have a similar impact on foreign-based companies operating in the United States, if they came from a country that was using those discriminatory Pillar Two pieces on U.S. business. 

    “And I’ll say this … I think Chairman Smith will say it as well, we really didn’t want a world where we would have to be drafting bills like this to offset bad bills coming from somewhere else. That wasn’t the best way to do trade. It wasn’t the best way to do tax policy that we should continue down, having this hybrid territorial tax process that has been working and will continue to work into the future. 

    “When the Trump administration came back in, a lot of comments and support from President Trump, some [from] Secretary Bessent and a host of a crew in the Treasury staff, agreed with this issue, and we’re focusing on this was a problem for America, and what we should do here. 

    On Section 899 and reaching the G7 Agreement:

    “As the One Big, Beautiful Bill was being written, we crafted just one small section that combined Jason’s and my bill together, and all of a sudden, I think it was like two months ago today, that hit the hot button and it became the hot item going into the final discussions on, the infamous Section 899 that became a hot topic out there to talk about. What it did, I think, was highlighted that, there’s a lot of concern on the part of Congress that we need to make sure that we have good tax code that works for countries across the world, but also through the negotiations that have happened, primarily with Treasury, but also with engagement with us in Congress, and how we could move forward. 

    “The agreement that was brought forth between Treasury and the G7 to actually pull the Section 899 out of the One Big, Beautiful Bill as it was sitting in the Senate, with the expectation that the G7 and OECD countries would would also pull back on their Pillar Two language that they either had already started or they would have started implementing. . . I liked that approach. 

    “I do think what we have to do and continue forward is … the trust but verify. We took the first step to pull out the 899. Now we got to continue the process follow through the G7 and OECD countries through that. At same time, [we] need to go and continue to work on the DST issue, because that wasn’t resolved, and that wasn’t as much a part of the agreement as the Pillar Two piece was. So we’ve gotta continue that work as we move forward there. 

    On finishing the One Big, Beautiful Bill and work to come on the tax code:

    “I’ve kind of gone through a lot of different topics, going back multiple years on different things. And through this process, we’re going to continue to keep focusing on, how do we implement and talk about all the things that are in the bill, we just passed the One Big, Beautiful Bill. But also going through and, like I said, trust but verify that all of the follow on countries are following through with their provisions to change the tax code and then also continue to the work to get the DSTs addressed so that there is a global solution for that as well. 

    “I’m looking for us getting back into an arena where we actually have more competitive worldwide economies. I think that U.S.-based businesses will be successful. I think a lot of foreign-based businesses will also be successful just because of the way our global economy works. I’m looking forward to taxes not slowing down good, successful economic growth.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: EDB co-organises 11th Annual International Mathematical Modeling Challenge International Summit cum Award Ceremony with educational organisations and various local universities (with photos)

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

    The Education Bureau (EDB) today (July 24), together with the NeoUnion ESC Organization, the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Hong Kong, co-organised the 11th Annual International Mathematical Modeling Challenge (IMMC) International Summit cum Award Ceremony, in which global experts were invited to share their insights on various topics to promote local and international exchanges in mathematics education. The Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, officiated at the ceremony and presented awards to the winning students.

    Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Choi said that in the era of artificial intelligence, it is important for students to develop the ability to model complex real-world phenomena and the capacity to extract insights from vast datasets. The EDB has hence strengthened the promotion of mathematical modelling in schools, putting emphasis on real-world application of mathematics and encouraging the effective use of digital technologies in learning and teaching. 

    To align with the national strategy of invigorating the country through science and education, and the international trend of nurturing future technological talents, the EDB has been stepping up the promotion of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) education with a range of initiatives including arranging for teachers to attend training programmes that enhance their professional competence and for students to participate in competitions to broaden their horizons. The EDB will further promote the use of AI, coding and other digital tools in modelling, with a view to integrating mathematical modelling into the learning and teaching of mathematics in primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong.

    The IMMC is an international mathematical modelling competition for secondary students worldwide, aiming at encouraging participants to apply mathematical modelling to explore and solve major problems in the real world, thereby popularising mathematical modelling education and enhancing the mathematical literacy and technological innovation capabilities of secondary students. The IMMC serves as an important platform for students to practise mathematical modelling and exchange their achievements. 

    Hong Kong students performed well in the IMMC 2025 in Greater China Region. Sixteen students from Diocesan Girls’ School, Pui Kiu College, St. Paul’s Co-educational College and Wah Yan College, Kowloon obtained an Outstanding Award for IMMC 2025 of Greater China.

    At the International Summit, international experts in mathematical modelling education shared their views on topics including challenges in mathematical modelling education, development of mathematical modelling in Hong Kong, applications of mathematical modelling, and the role of teachers in mathematical modelling education. The summit also featured experience sharing by award-winning students, with a view to promoting international exchanges in mathematical modelling education and further strengthening students’ ability in applying mathematics.

    Other guests included the President of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction and Emeritus Professor of the University of Hong Kong, Professor Frederick Leung; Chair Professor of the Department of Mathematics and Department of Industrial Engineering and Decision Analytics of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Professor Wang Yang; and the Head of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Decision Analytics of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Professor Zhang Jiheng. Teachers and students from Hong Kong and over 30 countries and regions also participated in the International Summit cum Award Ceremony.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: HKETO, Brussels supports Hong Kong Ballet’s innovation and cross-cultural collaboration at Biennale Danza 2025 (with photos)

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

    The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Brussels (HKETO, Brussels) supported the world premiere of “Wayne McGregor: On The Other Earth” at Biennale Danza 2025, as well as the opening reception “Pulse of the Pearl: Transcending Avant-Garde with Technology and Knowledge Transfer” on July 21 (Venice time) in Venice.

    The world’s first post-cinematic choreographic installation co-created by Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Ballet and Studio Wayne McGregor, “Wayne McGregor: On The Other Earth” blended live performance with cutting-edge digital art. 

    Speaking at the reception, the Deputy Representative of HKETO, Brussels, Miss Fiona Li said that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has set a clear vision to position Hong Kong as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchanges and is committed to nurturing a diverse talent pool, enriching arts and creative content, and fostering a dynamic and inclusive cultural ecosystem. 

    She said, “Art does not thrive through government efforts alone. It requires the passion, dedication, and creativity of committed partners, individuals and institutions who believe in its transformative power. The installation is a powerful testament to Hong Kong’s creative spirit and its relentless drive to push boundaries, where artistic excellence, technological innovation, and global collaboration converge.”

    Guests were also invited to visit Hong Kong to explore its rich and multifaceted cultural landscape.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: WFSFAA and Police jointly combat fraudulent acts by those seeking to obtain Working Family Allowance illegally

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

         A spokesman for the Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency (WFSFAA) said today (July 24) that the WFSFAA and the Police had recently conducted a joint operation to combat fraudulent acts by those seeking to obtain the Working Family Allowance (WFA) illegally. The Police have arrested a total of six people for allegedly defrauding or intending to defraud the WFSFAA, involving an amount of about $30,000.

         The Working Family Allowance Office of the WFSFAA, when processing WFA applications in April this year, detected suspicious documentary proof relating to employment and income submitted by some applicants. The WFSFAA swiftly reported the incident to the Police and referred the cases suspected of using false documents to the Police for investigation. After a thorough investigation, the Police carried out an operation recently and have arrested a total of six people so far for allegedly defrauding or intending to defraud the WFSFAA. The WFSFAA will continue to render full assistance to the Police in the investigation and recover the overpaid allowances from the relevant persons as appropriate in a timely manner.

         The spokesman said that the WFSFAA scrutinises every WFA application in a stringent manner and has established a mechanism to identify and guard against fraud cases. When detecting unlawful acts such as false information, fraudulence or other criminal elements in WFA applications, the WFSFAA will take appropriate follow-up actions, including referring any such suspected cases to the law enforcement agencies. The cases were discovered by the WFSFAA after identifying suspicious applications in the process of vetting applications. The WFSFAA will continue to examine WFA applications in a stringent manner to ensure the proper use of public funds. Members of the public are urged not to defraud the WFSFAA.  

         The WFA Scheme aims to support low-income working households, which are not receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, by promoting full-time employment and self-reliance, as well as rewarding hard work. Applicants are required to submit documentary proof of working hours, income and assets to the WFSFAA for assessing their eligibility for the WFA. Every applicant for the WFA is required to sign a declaration in the application form to declare that the information provided, and the documentary proof submitted, are true, complete and accurate. The WFSFAA has also clearly stated in the application form that obtaining the WFA by deception is a criminal offence. In addition to being disqualified for the WFA, the applicant may also be prosecuted and liable on conviction to imprisonment for a maximum of 14 years under the Theft Ordinance (Cap 210). 

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: SLW officiates at Child Protection – Launching Ceremony of Guide for Mandated Reporters (with photos)

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

    The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, officiated at Child Protection – Launching Ceremony of the Guide for Mandated Reporters today (July 24) to announce the official launch of the Guide for mandated reporters’ reference.

    The Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Ordinance, which mandates 25 categories of specified professionals from the social welfare sector, education sector and healthcare sector to report serious child abuse cases, will commence on January 20, 2026, to create a wide and effective protection web for children. As such, the Government formed three professional consultative panels in each of the aforementioned sectors in early 2024 for formulating the Guide, which aims to assist mandated reporters in mastering child protection principles and identifying cases to be reported under the mandatory reporting regime.

    Addressing the ceremony, Mr Sun said that the three professional consultative panels comprise cross-disciplinary professionals. Their professional exchanges on different cases not only have assisted in establishing a list of key factors that mandated reporters should take into consideration before deciding whether a report is necessary under different scenarios, but also laid an important foundation for the decision trees in the Guide, which further helps mandated reporters make reporting decisions and serves as a practical reference for mandated reporters.

    He said that an electronic system of the decision trees has also been specially developed by the Social Welfare Department to assist mandated reporters in making an analysis of the case scenarios in a swift and convenient manner only by answering simple questions. The electronic system will also direct those cases that need mandatory reporting to the reporting page to ensure mandated reporters can make a report as soon as practicable.

    At the ceremony, Mr Sun, accompanied by the Permanent Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Ms Alice Lau, and the Director of Social Welfare, Mr Edward To, officiated the launch of the Guide with the Chairman of the Legislative Council Panel on Welfare Services, Reverend Canon Peter Douglas Koon; Deputy Secretary for Health Ms Elaine Mak; the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime), Ms Chung Wing-man; and the Acting Principal Assistant Secretary (Special Education) of the Education Bureau, Ms Candy Chan.

    The features of the Guide were introduced at the ceremony. A demonstration of the workflow of the electronic version of the decision trees to be rolled out was also featured. Three representatives from the professional consultative panels of the social welfare sector, education sector and healthcare sector shared their feelings about their participation in formulating the Guide. They commended the Guide as a successful example of cross-disciplinary efforts in promoting child protection. While formulating the Guide, the professional consultative panels discussed 650 case scenarios and questions collected from their sectors in 33 focus group meetings. The valuable advice gathered from the 540 frontline professionals participating in these focus group meetings became a helpful and important reference for the professional consultative panels to finalise the details of the Guide.

    Mr To said that cross-disciplinary collaboration has long been indispensable to child protection. The Guide, which is a combination of local experience, practical wisdom and professional knowledge, not only symbolises a new milestone in child protection efforts, but also further promotes synergy across different disciplines.

    The Government will roll out Module 2 of the online learning course for specified professionals in phases starting from next week, covering basic knowledge on the legal and reporting matters related to the Ordinance, including the key content of the Ordinance, a brief introduction to the Guide, analysis of common scenarios, reporting procedures, and post-reporting follow-up.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: SEE visits Shenzhen to learn more about charging infrastructure (with photos)

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

    The Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Mr Tse Chin-wan, and officials of the Environment and Ecology Bureau visited Shenzhen today (July 24) to learn more about its charging infrastructure.
     
         Mr Tse first visited Huawei Digital Power Technologies Co, Ltd to learn more about the company’s latest developments on supercharging, energy storage, automatic charging for electric vehicles (EV), and the latest carbon reduction solutions offered to the market.
     
         Mr Tse then visited the Development and Reform Commission of Shenzhen Municipality to exchange views with officials of the Commission and representatives of new energy enterprises to better understand the latest developments of charging infrastructure in Shenzhen. Mr Tse expressed that Shenzhen’s latest developments and successful experiences in EV charging facilities provide valuable references for Hong Kong and inspire new ideas for the future development of Hong Kong’s charging facilities. He also expressed the hope that Hong Kong and Shenzhen will continue to strengthen exchanges and co-operation to jointly promote ecological civilisation construction and regional green and low-carbon development in the Greater Bay Area.
     
         In the afternoon, Mr Tse visited the Lianhuashan Supercharging Station. This site integrates photovoltaic storage supercharging and vehicle-to-grid technology in one public supercharging demonstration station, with a maximum charging power of up to 600 kilowatts and supports high-power reverse discharge back to the grid.
     
         Mr Tse also visited the government car park at the Futian District Committee Compound. The project is a demonstration point that combines solar power generation, power storage and supercharging services. Integrating intelligent low-carbon technology, high-energy efficiency and architectural aesthetics, it is equipped with a liquid-cooled supercharging system and an intelligent energy storage system, generating an annual average solar power output of 500 000 kilowatt hours.
    　　
    Mr Tse returned to Hong Kong this evening.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –