Category: Asia

MIL-OSI Analysis: Norman Tebbit, Conservative minister known as Thatcher’s enforcer, dies at 94

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Martin Farr, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary British History, Newcastle University

No man more embodied Thatcherism in the eyes of the public in the 1980s than Norman Tebbit, who died on July 7, aged 94.

Though certainly no yuppie, Lord Tebbit entitled his memoirs Upwardly Mobile. Margaret’s Thatcher’s triumph was also his. She saw in the Essex MP just the uncompromising approach to transforming Britain to which she too was committed.

Both had been disgusted by the Conservative government of Edward Heath blinking when it sought to face down trade unions in the early 1970s. The experience was elemental to their plan for government.

Others were more important to the New Right/neoliberal project elected in 1979: Conservative minister Keith Joseph, and Thatcher’s two chancellors, Geoffrey Howe and Nigel Lawson.

But Tebbit provided something no one else in Thatcher’s cabinet could: an innate connection with white, working-class voters, who may once have been Labour – Tebbit lauded Clement Attlee and Ernest Bevin – but whose values were held to have been washed away in the postwar tide of union militancy, social permissiveness, European integration, and mass immigration.

Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

He became a Conservative almost because, rather than in spite, of his background. “Essex man” was a presiding personification of the period.

Unlike almost all of Thatcher’s ministers, Tebbit did not go to university, but left school at 16 to encounter the “closed shop”: that one had to be a member of a particular union to work in a particular workplace. He became determined at that moment to end this practice, and with it so much else of postwar social democracy.

Thirty years later he did, as Thatcher’s secretary of state for employment. Tebbit’s 1982 Employment Act avenged the unions’ defeat of Heath. Union rights were weakened, never to be restored, and those of employers emboldened. It was a significant contribution to Thatcherism’s ledger.

As secretary of state for trade and industry, Tebbit pursued privatisation – the return (as its proponents, simply, put it) of nationalised industries to the private sector – with passion. The postwar settlement in Britain was being upended.

Public image

In an age before the televising of parliament (much less 24-hour news and social media), Tebbit cut through in a way few politicians did.

At at a time of inner-city violence, the public knew Tebbit’s unemployed father, decades earlier, didn’t riot but “got on his bike and looked for work”. No one else could have been called – in the words of Labour’s Michael Foot – a “semi-house-trained polecat”. TV’s puppet satire Spitting Image portrayed him as the “Chingford Strangler”, dressed in biker leathers.

Tebbit felt no need for his contempt for socialism to be leavened by charm or humour. There was invariably a slight sense of menace. He had no interest in ingratiating or propitiating. And so he was as loved by Conservative party members as he was hated by the left. He welcomed their hatred.

Tebbit in particular despised the swinging 60s – fittingly, he entered parliament in the election in which Harold Wilson’s government was unexpectedly ejected – and its legacy of “insufferable, smug, sanctimonious, naive, guilt-ridden, wet, pink orthodoxy”. Thus his trenchancy on immigration, overseas aid (a “sink of iniquity, corruption and violence”), sexuality (he was one of the few still to use the word “sodomite”) and Europe (he was a Eurosceptic before Euroscepticism).

In 1990 Tebbit asked of British-born people of Asian heritage: “Which side do they cheer for? Are you still harking back to where you came from or where you are?”. Tebbit’s “cricket test” is second only to Enoch Powell’s “rivers of blood” speech in the annals of inflammatory – they and their supporters would say candid – rhetoric relating to immigration. Neither would mind the association.

Read more:
Tory humiliation down to campaign length and cult of May – Norman Tebbit Q&A

What silenced most – if not quite all – of his critics, was Tebbit at his most vulnerable. Following the IRA bombing of the Grand Hotel Brighton in 1984, live television footage of him, only partially clad in his pyjamas, covered in dust, being stretchered out of the rubble, became the defining image of the atrocity.

The following year Thatcher moved him from trade and industry to, less happily, chairman of the Conservative party. It was a job that required a lighter touch than Tebbit’s.

Nevertheless, as chairman, he delivered the Conservatives’ third election victory, of 1987 – ensuring the permanence of the transformation – only to immediately retire to the backbenches. Margaret, his wife, had been paralysed by the bomb, and he devoted himself to her care for more than 30 years until her death.

As warranted as his departure from government may have been, Thatcher “bitterly regretted” losing him, a feeling she felt for few. Her defenestration in November 1990 is much harder to imagine had Tebbit still been in the cabinet.

Norman Tebbit’s conservatism and nationalism harked back to an earlier age, yet presaged the populism of the 2020s. In his remarks following the news of Tebbit’s death, Nigel Farage said he thought him “a great man”.

Tebbit’s values endure in public discourse, in more ways than he might have expected even a few years ago. But in his last months he was either unable, or unwilling, to say whether those values were those of the Conservatives, the traditional party of the right, or of another project. That may be a final Tebbit “test”.

Martin Farr 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. Norman Tebbit, Conservative minister known as Thatcher’s enforcer, dies at 94 – https://theconversation.com/norman-tebbit-conservative-minister-known-as-thatchers-enforcer-dies-at-94-260716

MIL OSI Analysis –

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: Norman Tebbit, Conservative minister known as Thatcher’s enforcer, dies at 94

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Martin Farr, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary British History, Newcastle University

No man more embodied Thatcherism in the eyes of the public in the 1980s than Norman Tebbit, who died on July 7, aged 94.

Though certainly no yuppie, Lord Tebbit entitled his memoirs Upwardly Mobile. Margaret’s Thatcher’s triumph was also his. She saw in the Essex MP just the uncompromising approach to transforming Britain to which she too was committed.

Both had been disgusted by the Conservative government of Edward Heath blinking when it sought to face down trade unions in the early 1970s. The experience was elemental to their plan for government.

Others were more important to the New Right/neoliberal project elected in 1979: Conservative minister Keith Joseph, and Thatcher’s two chancellors, Geoffrey Howe and Nigel Lawson.

But Tebbit provided something no one else in Thatcher’s cabinet could: an innate connection with white, working-class voters, who may once have been Labour – Tebbit lauded Clement Attlee and Ernest Bevin – but whose values were held to have been washed away in the postwar tide of union militancy, social permissiveness, European integration, and mass immigration.

Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

He became a Conservative almost because, rather than in spite, of his background. “Essex man” was a presiding personification of the period.

Unlike almost all of Thatcher’s ministers, Tebbit did not go to university, but left school at 16 to encounter the “closed shop”: that one had to be a member of a particular union to work in a particular workplace. He became determined at that moment to end this practice, and with it so much else of postwar social democracy.

Thirty years later he did, as Thatcher’s secretary of state for employment. Tebbit’s 1982 Employment Act avenged the unions’ defeat of Heath. Union rights were weakened, never to be restored, and those of employers emboldened. It was a significant contribution to Thatcherism’s ledger.

As secretary of state for trade and industry, Tebbit pursued privatisation – the return (as its proponents, simply, put it) of nationalised industries to the private sector – with passion. The postwar settlement in Britain was being upended.

Public image

In an age before the televising of parliament (much less 24-hour news and social media), Tebbit cut through in a way few politicians did.

At at a time of inner-city violence, the public knew Tebbit’s unemployed father, decades earlier, didn’t riot but “got on his bike and looked for work”. No one else could have been called – in the words of Labour’s Michael Foot – a “semi-house-trained polecat”. TV’s puppet satire Spitting Image portrayed him as the “Chingford Strangler”, dressed in biker leathers.

Tebbit felt no need for his contempt for socialism to be leavened by charm or humour. There was invariably a slight sense of menace. He had no interest in ingratiating or propitiating. And so he was as loved by Conservative party members as he was hated by the left. He welcomed their hatred.

Tebbit in particular despised the swinging 60s – fittingly, he entered parliament in the election in which Harold Wilson’s government was unexpectedly ejected – and its legacy of “insufferable, smug, sanctimonious, naive, guilt-ridden, wet, pink orthodoxy”. Thus his trenchancy on immigration, overseas aid (a “sink of iniquity, corruption and violence”), sexuality (he was one of the few still to use the word “sodomite”) and Europe (he was a Eurosceptic before Euroscepticism).

In 1990 Tebbit asked of British-born people of Asian heritage: “Which side do they cheer for? Are you still harking back to where you came from or where you are?”. Tebbit’s “cricket test” is second only to Enoch Powell’s “rivers of blood” speech in the annals of inflammatory – they and their supporters would say candid – rhetoric relating to immigration. Neither would mind the association.

Read more:
Tory humiliation down to campaign length and cult of May – Norman Tebbit Q&A

What silenced most – if not quite all – of his critics, was Tebbit at his most vulnerable. Following the IRA bombing of the Grand Hotel Brighton in 1984, live television footage of him, only partially clad in his pyjamas, covered in dust, being stretchered out of the rubble, became the defining image of the atrocity.

The following year Thatcher moved him from trade and industry to, less happily, chairman of the Conservative party. It was a job that required a lighter touch than Tebbit’s.

Nevertheless, as chairman, he delivered the Conservatives’ third election victory, of 1987 – ensuring the permanence of the transformation – only to immediately retire to the backbenches. Margaret, his wife, had been paralysed by the bomb, and he devoted himself to her care for more than 30 years until her death.

As warranted as his departure from government may have been, Thatcher “bitterly regretted” losing him, a feeling she felt for few. Her defenestration in November 1990 is much harder to imagine had Tebbit still been in the cabinet.

Norman Tebbit’s conservatism and nationalism harked back to an earlier age, yet presaged the populism of the 2020s. In his remarks following the news of Tebbit’s death, Nigel Farage said he thought him “a great man”.

Tebbit’s values endure in public discourse, in more ways than he might have expected even a few years ago. But in his last months he was either unable, or unwilling, to say whether those values were those of the Conservatives, the traditional party of the right, or of another project. That may be a final Tebbit “test”.

Martin Farr 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. Norman Tebbit, Conservative minister known as Thatcher’s enforcer, dies at 94 – https://theconversation.com/norman-tebbit-conservative-minister-known-as-thatchers-enforcer-dies-at-94-260716

MIL OSI Analysis –

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: Four reasons why many of us feel the global economy is not on our side

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Cahal Moran, Visiting Fellow in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, London School of Economics and Political Science

During my adult life, I have never experienced what it’s like to live in a “good” economy. Starting with the global financial crash in 2008, which hit just as I began studying economics, the world seems to have lurched from crisis to crisis and the UK economy even more so.

Some of those crises, like the crash and COVID, are sudden shocks. Others have been more gradual, such as increasingly unaffordable housing or the rising dominance of the world’s ultra rich.

As I explore in my new book, Why We’re Getting Poorer, the result of these crises is an economic system which works for some much more than it does for others. Here are four reasons why you may be feeling let down.

1. Grasping for growth

Like many of his fellow leaders across the world, the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, is aiming to make economic growth the primary mission of his government. And understandably so.

A growing economy puts more money in people’s pockets and brings other benefits such as low unemployment. But economic growth is not easy (in the UK it has been poor for a long time).

That’s because there’s no GDP dial that a prime minister or president can simply turn up. Research shows that economic growth is an amorphous and difficult goal which depends on many factors – geopolitical, demographic, technological – outside any single country’s control.

One option is to focus on achievable goals around investment, like the public investments of £113 billion on homes, transport and energy planned in the UK. But big projects can take a long time to build and develop, so even if they do boost growth, it can take a while for households to feel the benefits.

2. Inherent inequality

Against the backdrop of low growth in the UK has been high inequality, under Conservative and Labour governments. And again, inequality is an international issue.

The wealth of the richest people in the world skyrocketed over COVID, buoyed in many cases by the increased importance of the tech sector during lockdowns. Even before the pandemic, wealth inequality was a problem across the globe.

This imbalance has given the very richest opportunities to buy up commercial competitors, indulge in space travel and control large parts of the media, exerting extreme economic, social and political power. Needless to say, their economic priorities are not the same as everyone else’s.

Meanwhile, communities and regions may be left behind, with declining physical and social infrastructure. People living in hollowed out areas where incomes and opportunities are limited are unlikely to feel that the economic system is working for them.

3. Globalisation

Globalisation has made a lot of people – in places like China, India and Brazil – better off. But it is not a system which ensures economic benefits for everyone.

With global competition, big businesses are often under pressure to reduce costs. Free trade deals have often failed to enforce labour standards or redistribute gains to poorly paid workers, and in many cases simply made the rich richer.

Such a distorted form of economic governance, where large sections of society end up feeling left behind was bound to provoke a response. Some would link it to recent political events like Brexit and the presidencies of Donald Trump, whose international tariffs are a clear attempt to reverse the rise of globalisation.

Sporadic supply chains.
Corona Borealis Studio/Shutterstock

Since the pandemic, more fault-lines have been exposed. The global economy has become too dependent on certain regions, epitomised by Taiwanese dominance in the manufacturing of semiconductors, or European reliance on Russia for gas and oil.

Recent years have also seen supply chain bottlenecks, leading to shortages of goods including cars, phones and even salad ingredients. Inflexible global systems have been ineffective, and internationally agreed fixes are hard to achieve.

4. Climate change

World news at the start of 2020 was dominated by the massive wildfires raging across Australia. At the start of 2025, Los Angeles burned.

As the global climate shifts and lurches, extreme weather events are becoming more common. Floods, hurricanes and extreme temperatures look to be the likely outcome.

When sea levels rise, countless coastal cities will experience flooding, and many Pacific islands may disappear altogether. The UN’s climate science advisory group, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests that humanity will struggle with food production, disease and massive migration.

This will all result in huge economic costs, impeding growth and disrupting livelihoods across the world. According to the IPCC, the impacts could range from extreme weather events disrupting infrastructure to changing weather reducing yields in agriculture, forestry and fishing.

Yet many countries appear to be backtracking on their commitment to reducing emissions. It seems they would prefer to deal with the fallout of climate change rather than invest in potential solutions like carbon taxes, walkable cities or alternative fuels. But such acts of self-harm are not a sound basis for a prosperous economy, society or planet.

Cahal Moran 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. Four reasons why many of us feel the global economy is not on our side – https://theconversation.com/four-reasons-why-many-of-us-feel-the-global-economy-is-not-on-our-side-252220

MIL OSI Analysis –

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: Norman Tebbit, Conservative minister known as Thatcher’s enforcer, dies at 94

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Martin Farr, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary British History, Newcastle University

No man more embodied Thatcherism in the eyes of the public in the 1980s than Norman Tebbit, who died on July 7, aged 94.

Though certainly no yuppie, Lord Tebbit entitled his memoirs Upwardly Mobile. Margaret’s Thatcher’s triumph was also his. She saw in the Essex MP just the uncompromising approach to transforming Britain to which she too was committed.

Both had been disgusted by the Conservative government of Edward Heath blinking when it sought to face down trade unions in the early 1970s. The experience was elemental to their plan for government.

Others were more important to the New Right/neoliberal project elected in 1979: Conservative minister Keith Joseph, and Thatcher’s two chancellors, Geoffrey Howe and Nigel Lawson.

But Tebbit provided something no one else in Thatcher’s cabinet could: an innate connection with white, working-class voters, who may once have been Labour – Tebbit lauded Clement Attlee and Ernest Bevin – but whose values were held to have been washed away in the postwar tide of union militancy, social permissiveness, European integration, and mass immigration.

Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

He became a Conservative almost because, rather than in spite, of his background. “Essex man” was a presiding personification of the period.

Unlike almost all of Thatcher’s ministers, Tebbit did not go to university, but left school at 16 to encounter the “closed shop”: that one had to be a member of a particular union to work in a particular workplace. He became determined at that moment to end this practice, and with it so much else of postwar social democracy.

Thirty years later he did, as Thatcher’s secretary of state for employment. Tebbit’s 1982 Employment Act avenged the unions’ defeat of Heath. Union rights were weakened, never to be restored, and those of employers emboldened. It was a significant contribution to Thatcherism’s ledger.

As secretary of state for trade and industry, Tebbit pursued privatisation – the return (as its proponents, simply, put it) of nationalised industries to the private sector – with passion. The postwar settlement in Britain was being upended.

Public image

In an age before the televising of parliament (much less 24-hour news and social media), Tebbit cut through in a way few politicians did.

At at a time of inner-city violence, the public knew Tebbit’s unemployed father, decades earlier, didn’t riot but “got on his bike and looked for work”. No one else could have been called – in the words of Labour’s Michael Foot – a “semi-house-trained polecat”. TV’s puppet satire Spitting Image portrayed him as the “Chingford Strangler”, dressed in biker leathers.

Tebbit felt no need for his contempt for socialism to be leavened by charm or humour. There was invariably a slight sense of menace. He had no interest in ingratiating or propitiating. And so he was as loved by Conservative party members as he was hated by the left. He welcomed their hatred.

Tebbit in particular despised the swinging 60s – fittingly, he entered parliament in the election in which Harold Wilson’s government was unexpectedly ejected – and its legacy of “insufferable, smug, sanctimonious, naive, guilt-ridden, wet, pink orthodoxy”. Thus his trenchancy on immigration, overseas aid (a “sink of iniquity, corruption and violence”), sexuality (he was one of the few still to use the word “sodomite”) and Europe (he was a Eurosceptic before Euroscepticism).

In 1990 Tebbit asked of British-born people of Asian heritage: “Which side do they cheer for? Are you still harking back to where you came from or where you are?”. Tebbit’s “cricket test” is second only to Enoch Powell’s “rivers of blood” speech in the annals of inflammatory – they and their supporters would say candid – rhetoric relating to immigration. Neither would mind the association.

Read more:
Tory humiliation down to campaign length and cult of May – Norman Tebbit Q&A

What silenced most – if not quite all – of his critics, was Tebbit at his most vulnerable. Following the IRA bombing of the Grand Hotel Brighton in 1984, live television footage of him, only partially clad in his pyjamas, covered in dust, being stretchered out of the rubble, became the defining image of the atrocity.

The following year Thatcher moved him from trade and industry to, less happily, chairman of the Conservative party. It was a job that required a lighter touch than Tebbit’s.

Nevertheless, as chairman, he delivered the Conservatives’ third election victory, of 1987 – ensuring the permanence of the transformation – only to immediately retire to the backbenches. Margaret, his wife, had been paralysed by the bomb, and he devoted himself to her care for more than 30 years until her death.

As warranted as his departure from government may have been, Thatcher “bitterly regretted” losing him, a feeling she felt for few. Her defenestration in November 1990 is much harder to imagine had Tebbit still been in the cabinet.

Norman Tebbit’s conservatism and nationalism harked back to an earlier age, yet presaged the populism of the 2020s. In his remarks following the news of Tebbit’s death, Nigel Farage said he thought him “a great man”.

Tebbit’s values endure in public discourse, in more ways than he might have expected even a few years ago. But in his last months he was either unable, or unwilling, to say whether those values were those of the Conservatives, the traditional party of the right, or of another project. That may be a final Tebbit “test”.

Martin Farr 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. Norman Tebbit, Conservative minister known as Thatcher’s enforcer, dies at 94 – https://theconversation.com/norman-tebbit-conservative-minister-known-as-thatchers-enforcer-dies-at-94-260716

MIL OSI –

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: As Netanyahu meets Trump in Washington, what hope for peace in Gaza? Expert Q&A

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate Editor

The US government “remains upbeat” about the prospects for at least a ceasefire in Gaza, according to the latest reports from Washington, where the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been meeting the US president, Donald Trump.

Netanyahu handed the US president a letter nominating him for the Nobel peace prize, saying he deserved it for “forging peace, as we speak, in one country in the region after another”. But as yet there are no signs that either Hamas or Israel have moved any closer to accepting each other’s terms.

In fact, reports emerging from the White House meeting are that the two leaders discussed the displacement of much of the Palestinian population. And a plan revealed by the Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz, proposed the contruction of a “humanitarian city” at Rafah in the north of the Gaza Strip to house more than 600,000 Palestinians.

The Conversation’s senior international affairs editor, Jonathan Este, spoke with Middle East expert, Scott Lucas, of University College Dublin to address this and other questions.

The two leaders’ discussions in Washington seemed to centre around displacement of the Palestinian population in lieu of a two-state solution. What does this tell you about the chance of a ceasefire deal?

I am fascinated – and sometimes disillusioned – by how some media outlets, led by the nose, miss the main story. Last week Donald Trump pronounced on social media that Israel had agreed to a 60-day ceasefire and Hamas “should take this deal”.

But the Netanyahu government has not accepted the framework, circulated by Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, let alone consented to a halt of their attacks, which have continued even as the Israeli prime minister travelled to Washington to meet the US president.

As Trump hosted Netanyahu in the White House on Monday, the line was that the US president was “upbeat on Gaza ceasefire talks”. Meanwhile, few of them seemed to notice the important development. Hamas responded to the US framework with proposals for the staged release of 28 of the remaining 50 Israeli hostages over the 60 days while Israeli troops withdrew from positions inside the Strip and humanitarian aid was restored.

But the Israeli government has thus far not given a substantive response. Instead, while pursuing a plan for the long-term military occupation of Gaza, it may also be seeking the displacement of a large portion of the more than 2.2 million population.

Sign up to receive our weekly World Affairs Briefing newsletter from The Conversation UK. Every Thursday we’ll bring you expert analysis of the big stories in international relations.

Hard-right members of Netanyahu’s cabinet, such as finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, and internal security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, have long called for more than a million Gazans to be moved out of the territory. Reports over the weekend confirmed that this is not rhetoric. Israeli businessmen and venture capitalists have reportedly been working on plans for postwar Gaza, to include a “Trump riviera”, mirroring the displacement declaration by the US President, and an “Elon Musk smart manufacturing zone”.

On Tuesday, security cabinet member Ze’ev Elkin, a Netanyahu loyalist, proclaimed “a substantial chance” for a ceasefire. But Qatari negotiators have said there are currently no talks, only discussions with each side about the framework for talks.

Meanwhile, citing the killing of five Israeli soldiers in Gaza on Sunday night by an improvised explosive device, Ben-Gvir said: “We should not negotiate with those who kill our soldiers. They should be crushed to pieces, starved to death, and not resuscitated with humanitarian aid that gives them oxygen.”

He called for “a complete siege, crushing them militarily” and reiterated the plan for “encouraging [Palestinian] immigration and [Jewish] settlement — these are the keys to complete victory”.

Smotrich also called for a ban on any aid to Gaza: “In addition, I demand … that any territory that was conquered and cleansed of terror with the blood of our fighters not be abandoned.”

So I am not optimistic at the moment.

Looking at the region as a whole, two events have ‘reset’ the Middle East: the October 7 Hamas attacks and Israel’s recent 12-day war. Can you tell me more about the kaleidoscope effect these two events had?

In October 2023, there was no open-ended war in Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu’s focus was on curbing the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, blocking any possibility of a two-state solution. His tactic was to ease the economic pressure on Gaza and Hamas, maintaining that organisation as a balance against its West Bank rivals.

Hamas ripped up that approach with its mass murder on October 7 – the first of the two kaleidoscope moments which changed the whole picture in a matter of hours. The attack triggered the deadly Israeli response that continues 21 months later. That response did not “destroy” Hamas, as Netanyahu pledged, but it led the Israelis to take on other foes in the region.

Pursuing its “octopus doctrine”, Israel severely damaged one of the tentacles, Hezbollah, when it destroyed much of the Lebanese group’s leadership in the autumn of 2024. It assassinated senior Iranian commanders and officials in Damascus, and received a further boost when Turkish-backed factions toppled the Assad regime in December.

The 12-day war in June aimed to destroy the head of the octopus: Iran. Israel’s strikes and assassinations killed much of the country’s military leadership and many of its top nuclear scientists. The supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, hid in a bunker, only emerging on July 6. But Israel failed to topple his regime, as it had hoped.

The war was another kaleidoscope moment. Israel had its regional victory. But paradoxically, because there has been no resolution in Gaza, this has come at the cost of further international isolation. Gulf States, having moved away from “normalisation” with Israel, put out tougher statements about “genocide” of Gazans and the violation of Iranian sovereignty. Saudi Arabia’s state media highlighted a letter from Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi to Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan for “ways to support and enhance [relations] across all fields”.

This implies that for any normalisation to occur, Israel must end its military operation in Gaza?

That question cuts to the chase. The Gulf states, with the notable exception of Qatar, are no friends of Hamas. They might even have accepted the destruction of the group if Israel had been able to accomplish it quickly.

But there is no way that they can publicly acquiesce in the killing of almost 60,000 Gazans, the large majority of them civilians, and the humanitarian blockade that threatens every single person living in the Gaza Strip. Nor will they want to see Israel export Gazans across the region in an echo of the 1948 “Nakba” whose legacy is the millions of Palestinians living in refugee camps across the Middle East.

Netanyahu can pursue his “absolute destruction” of Hamas by pursuing the destruction and displacement of Gazans. Or he can try to capitalise on his war with Iran through links with Arab countries. He cannot do both.

Will Donald Trump get his Nobel peace prize?

I don’t know, for that is a question which does not have a logical answer.

Herny Kissinger was the US secretary of state who oversaw an escalation of the Vietnam war in which up to 3 million Vietnamese, 310,000 Cambodians, 62,000 Laotians and 58,220 US service members died. The singer-songwriter Tom Lehrer aptly noted: “Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.”

We are in a world where having caused so much disorder and chaos, having enabled violence, including Israel’s open-ended war, Donald Trump may succeed in a pose as “peacemaker”.

Some may see the least worst option as flattery, which seems to work as a strategy for dealing with the US president. They may accept the White House theatre in which Netanyahu, wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, personally hands Trump a peace prize nomination.

Meanwhile, in the past 24 hours, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, the number of casualties in Gaza rose to 57,575 people killed and 136,879 wounded. Twenty hostages spent another day in limbo. That’s what matters here.

– ref. As Netanyahu meets Trump in Washington, what hope for peace in Gaza? Expert Q&A – https://theconversation.com/as-netanyahu-meets-trump-in-washington-what-hope-for-peace-in-gaza-expert-qanda-260722

MIL OSI Analysis –

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: Brics is sliding towards irrelevance – the Rio summit made that clear

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Amalendu Misra, Professor of International Politics, Lancaster University

The Brics group of nations has just concluded its 17th annual summit in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. But, despite member states adopting a long list of commitments covering global governance, finance, health, AI and climate change, the summit was a lacklustre affair.

The two most prominent leaders from the group’s founding members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – were conspicuously absent. Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, only attended virtually due to an outstanding arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court over his role in the war in Ukraine.

China’s Xi Jinping avoided the summit altogether for unknown reasons, sending his prime minister, Li Qiang, instead. This was Xi’s first no-show at a Brics summit, with the snub prompting suggestions that Beijing’s enthusiasm for the group as part of an emerging new world order is in decline.

Perhaps the most notable takeaway from the summit was a statement that came not from the Brics nations but the US. As Brics leaders gathered in Rio, the US president, Donald Trump, warned on social media: “Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy.”

Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

Trump has long been critical of Brics. This is largely because the group has consistently floated the idea of adopting a common currency to challenge the dominance of the US dollar in international trade.

Such a move makes sense if we focus on trade figures. In 2024, the value of trade among the Brics nations was around US$5 trillion, accounting for approximately 22% of global exports. Member nations have always felt their economic potential could be fully realised if they were not reliant upon the US dollar as their common currency of trade.

During their 2024 summit, which was held in the Russian city of Kazan, the Brics nations entered into serious discussions around creating a gold-backed currency. At a time when the Trump administration is waging a global trade war, the emergence of an alternative to the US dollar would be a very serious pushback against US economic hegemony.

Read more:
Why Donald Trump’s election could hasten the end of US dollar dominance

But the freshly concluded Brics summit did not present any concrete move towards achieving that objective. In fact, the 31-page Rio de Janeiro joint declaration even contained some reassurances about the global importance of the US dollar.

There are two key obstacles hindering Brics from translating its vision of a common currency into reality. First is that some founding member nations are uncomfortable with adopting such an economic model, in large part due to internal rivalries within Brics itself.

India, currently the fourth-largest economy in the world, has a history of periodic confrontation and strategic competition with China. It is reticent about adopting an alternative to the US dollar, concerned that this could make China more powerful and undercut India’s long-term interests.

Second is that the Brics member nations are dependent on their bilateral trade with the US. Simply put, embracing an alternative currency is counterproductive when it comes to the current economic interests of individual countries. Brazil, China and India, for example, all export more to the US than they import from it.

In December 2024, following his election as US president, Trump said: “We require a commitment from these countries that they will neither create a new Brics currency nor back any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar or they will face 100% tariffs and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US economy”. This blunt message all but killed any enthusiasm that was there for this grand economic model.

Caught in contradiction

The Brics group is a behemoth. Its full 11 members account for 40% of the world’s population and economy. But the bloc is desperately short of providing any cohesive alternative global leadership.

While Brazil used its position as host to highlight Brics as a truly multilateral forum capable of providing leadership in a new world order, such ambitions are thwarted by the many contradictions plaguing this bloc.

Among these are tensions between founding members China and India, which have been running high for decades.

There are other contradictions, too. In their joint Rio declaration, the group’s members decried the recent Israeli and US attacks on Iran. Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, also used his position as summit host to criticise the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

But this moral high ground appears hollow when you consider that the Russian Federation, a key member of Brics, is on a mission to destroy Ukraine. And rather than condemning Russia, Brics leaders used the Rio summit to criticise recent Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s railway infrastructure.

Brics declared intention to address the issue of climate change is also problematic. The Rio declaration conveyed the group’s support for multilateralism and unity to achieve the goals of the Paris agreement. But, despite China making significant advances in its green energy sector, Brics contains some of the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases as well as several of the largest oil and gas producers.

Brics can only stay relevant and provide credible leadership in a fast-changing international order when it addresses its many inner contradictions.

Amalendu Misra is a recipient of British Academy and Nuffield Foundation Fellowships.

– ref. Brics is sliding towards irrelevance – the Rio summit made that clear – https://theconversation.com/brics-is-sliding-towards-irrelevance-the-rio-summit-made-that-clear-260653

MIL OSI Analysis –

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: Four reasons why many of us feel the global economy is not on our side

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Cahal Moran, Visiting Fellow in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, London School of Economics and Political Science

During my adult life, I have never experienced what it’s like to live in a “good” economy. Starting with the global financial crash in 2008, which hit just as I began studying economics, the world seems to have lurched from crisis to crisis and the UK economy even more so.

Some of those crises, like the crash and COVID, are sudden shocks. Others have been more gradual, such as increasingly unaffordable housing or the rising dominance of the world’s ultra rich.

As I explore in my new book, Why We’re Getting Poorer, the result of these crises is an economic system which works for some much more than it does for others. Here are four reasons why you may be feeling let down.

1. Grasping for growth

Like many of his fellow leaders across the world, the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, is aiming to make economic growth the primary mission of his government. And understandably so.

A growing economy puts more money in people’s pockets and brings other benefits such as low unemployment. But economic growth is not easy (in the UK it has been poor for a long time).

That’s because there’s no GDP dial that a prime minister or president can simply turn up. Research shows that economic growth is an amorphous and difficult goal which depends on many factors – geopolitical, demographic, technological – outside any single country’s control.

One option is to focus on achievable goals around investment, like the public investments of £113 billion on homes, transport and energy planned in the UK. But big projects can take a long time to build and develop, so even if they do boost growth, it can take a while for households to feel the benefits.

2. Inherent inequality

Against the backdrop of low growth in the UK has been high inequality, under Conservative and Labour governments. And again, inequality is an international issue.

The wealth of the richest people in the world skyrocketed over COVID, buoyed in many cases by the increased importance of the tech sector during lockdowns. Even before the pandemic, wealth inequality was a problem across the globe.

This imbalance has given the very richest opportunities to buy up commercial competitors, indulge in space travel and control large parts of the media, exerting extreme economic, social and political power. Needless to say, their economic priorities are not the same as everyone else’s.

Meanwhile, communities and regions may be left behind, with declining physical and social infrastructure. People living in hollowed out areas where incomes and opportunities are limited are unlikely to feel that the economic system is working for them.

3. Globalisation

Globalisation has made a lot of people – in places like China, India and Brazil – better off. But it is not a system which ensures economic benefits for everyone.

With global competition, big businesses are often under pressure to reduce costs. Free trade deals have often failed to enforce labour standards or redistribute gains to poorly paid workers, and in many cases simply made the rich richer.

Such a distorted form of economic governance, where large sections of society end up feeling left behind was bound to provoke a response. Some would link it to recent political events like Brexit and the presidencies of Donald Trump, whose international tariffs are a clear attempt to reverse the rise of globalisation.

Sporadic supply chains.
Corona Borealis Studio/Shutterstock

Since the pandemic, more fault-lines have been exposed. The global economy has become too dependent on certain regions, epitomised by Taiwanese dominance in the manufacturing of semiconductors, or European reliance on Russia for gas and oil.

Recent years have also seen supply chain bottlenecks, leading to shortages of goods including cars, phones and even salad ingredients. Inflexible global systems have been ineffective, and internationally agreed fixes are hard to achieve.

4. Climate change

World news at the start of 2020 was dominated by the massive wildfires raging across Australia. At the start of 2025, Los Angeles burned.

As the global climate shifts and lurches, extreme weather events are becoming more common. Floods, hurricanes and extreme temperatures look to be the likely outcome.

When sea levels rise, countless coastal cities will experience flooding, and many Pacific islands may disappear altogether. The UN’s climate science advisory group, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests that humanity will struggle with food production, disease and massive migration.

This will all result in huge economic costs, impeding growth and disrupting livelihoods across the world. According to the IPCC, the impacts could range from extreme weather events disrupting infrastructure to changing weather reducing yields in agriculture, forestry and fishing.

Yet many countries appear to be backtracking on their commitment to reducing emissions. It seems they would prefer to deal with the fallout of climate change rather than invest in potential solutions like carbon taxes, walkable cities or alternative fuels. But such acts of self-harm are not a sound basis for a prosperous economy, society or planet.

Cahal Moran 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. Four reasons why many of us feel the global economy is not on our side – https://theconversation.com/four-reasons-why-many-of-us-feel-the-global-economy-is-not-on-our-side-252220

MIL OSI –

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: As Netanyahu meets Trump in Washington, what hope for peace in Gaza? Expert Q&A

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate Editor

The US government “remains upbeat” about the prospects for at least a ceasefire in Gaza, according to the latest reports from Washington, where the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been meeting the US president, Donald Trump.

Netanyahu handed the US president a letter nominating him for the Nobel peace prize, saying he deserved it for “forging peace, as we speak, in one country in the region after another”. But as yet there are no signs that either Hamas or Israel have moved any closer to accepting each other’s terms.

In fact, reports emerging from the White House meeting are that the two leaders discussed the displacement of much of the Palestinian population. And a plan revealed by the Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz, proposed the contruction of a “humanitarian city” at Rafah in the north of the Gaza Strip to house more than 600,000 Palestinians.

The Conversation’s senior international affairs editor, Jonathan Este, spoke with Middle East expert, Scott Lucas, of University College Dublin to address this and other questions.

The two leaders’ discussions in Washington seemed to centre around displacement of the Palestinian population in lieu of a two-state solution. What does this tell you about the chance of a ceasefire deal?

I am fascinated – and sometimes disillusioned – by how some media outlets, led by the nose, miss the main story. Last week Donald Trump pronounced on social media that Israel had agreed to a 60-day ceasefire and Hamas “should take this deal”.

But the Netanyahu government has not accepted the framework, circulated by Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, let alone consented to a halt of their attacks, which have continued even as the Israeli prime minister travelled to Washington to meet the US president.

As Trump hosted Netanyahu in the White House on Monday, the line was that the US president was “upbeat on Gaza ceasefire talks”. Meanwhile, few of them seemed to notice the important development. Hamas responded to the US framework with proposals for the staged release of 28 of the remaining 50 Israeli hostages over the 60 days while Israeli troops withdrew from positions inside the Strip and humanitarian aid was restored.

But the Israeli government has thus far not given a substantive response. Instead, while pursuing a plan for the long-term military occupation of Gaza, it may also be seeking the displacement of a large portion of the more than 2.2 million population.

Sign up to receive our weekly World Affairs Briefing newsletter from The Conversation UK. Every Thursday we’ll bring you expert analysis of the big stories in international relations.

Hard-right members of Netanyahu’s cabinet, such as finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, and internal security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, have long called for more than a million Gazans to be moved out of the territory. Reports over the weekend confirmed that this is not rhetoric. Israeli businessmen and venture capitalists have reportedly been working on plans for postwar Gaza, to include a “Trump riviera”, mirroring the displacement declaration by the US President, and an “Elon Musk smart manufacturing zone”.

On Tuesday, security cabinet member Ze’ev Elkin, a Netanyahu loyalist, proclaimed “a substantial chance” for a ceasefire. But Qatari negotiators have said there are currently no talks, only discussions with each side about the framework for talks.

Meanwhile, citing the killing of five Israeli soldiers in Gaza on Sunday night by an improvised explosive device, Ben-Gvir said: “We should not negotiate with those who kill our soldiers. They should be crushed to pieces, starved to death, and not resuscitated with humanitarian aid that gives them oxygen.”

He called for “a complete siege, crushing them militarily” and reiterated the plan for “encouraging [Palestinian] immigration and [Jewish] settlement — these are the keys to complete victory”.

Smotrich also called for a ban on any aid to Gaza: “In addition, I demand … that any territory that was conquered and cleansed of terror with the blood of our fighters not be abandoned.”

So I am not optimistic at the moment.

Looking at the region as a whole, two events have ‘reset’ the Middle East: the October 7 Hamas attacks and Israel’s recent 12-day war. Can you tell me more about the kaleidoscope effect these two events had?

In October 2023, there was no open-ended war in Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu’s focus was on curbing the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, blocking any possibility of a two-state solution. His tactic was to ease the economic pressure on Gaza and Hamas, maintaining that organisation as a balance against its West Bank rivals.

Hamas ripped up that approach with its mass murder on October 7 – the first of the two kaleidoscope moments which changed the whole picture in a matter of hours. The attack triggered the deadly Israeli response that continues 21 months later. That response did not “destroy” Hamas, as Netanyahu pledged, but it led the Israelis to take on other foes in the region.

Pursuing its “octopus doctrine”, Israel severely damaged one of the tentacles, Hezbollah, when it destroyed much of the Lebanese group’s leadership in the autumn of 2024. It assassinated senior Iranian commanders and officials in Damascus, and received a further boost when Turkish-backed factions toppled the Assad regime in December.

The 12-day war in June aimed to destroy the head of the octopus: Iran. Israel’s strikes and assassinations killed much of the country’s military leadership and many of its top nuclear scientists. The supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, hid in a bunker, only emerging on July 6. But Israel failed to topple his regime, as it had hoped.

The war was another kaleidoscope moment. Israel had its regional victory. But paradoxically, because there has been no resolution in Gaza, this has come at the cost of further international isolation. Gulf States, having moved away from “normalisation” with Israel, put out tougher statements about “genocide” of Gazans and the violation of Iranian sovereignty. Saudi Arabia’s state media highlighted a letter from Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi to Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan for “ways to support and enhance [relations] across all fields”.

This implies that for any normalisation to occur, Israel must end its military operation in Gaza?

That question cuts to the chase. The Gulf states, with the notable exception of Qatar, are no friends of Hamas. They might even have accepted the destruction of the group if Israel had been able to accomplish it quickly.

But there is no way that they can publicly acquiesce in the killing of almost 60,000 Gazans, the large majority of them civilians, and the humanitarian blockade that threatens every single person living in the Gaza Strip. Nor will they want to see Israel export Gazans across the region in an echo of the 1948 “Nakba” whose legacy is the millions of Palestinians living in refugee camps across the Middle East.

Netanyahu can pursue his “absolute destruction” of Hamas by pursuing the destruction and displacement of Gazans. Or he can try to capitalise on his war with Iran through links with Arab countries. He cannot do both.

Will Donald Trump get his Nobel peace prize?

I don’t know, for that is a question which does not have a logical answer.

Herny Kissinger was the US secretary of state who oversaw an escalation of the Vietnam war in which up to 3 million Vietnamese, 310,000 Cambodians, 62,000 Laotians and 58,220 US service members died. The singer-songwriter Tom Lehrer aptly noted: “Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.”

We are in a world where having caused so much disorder and chaos, having enabled violence, including Israel’s open-ended war, Donald Trump may succeed in a pose as “peacemaker”.

Some may see the least worst option as flattery, which seems to work as a strategy for dealing with the US president. They may accept the White House theatre in which Netanyahu, wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, personally hands Trump a peace prize nomination.

Meanwhile, in the past 24 hours, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, the number of casualties in Gaza rose to 57,575 people killed and 136,879 wounded. Twenty hostages spent another day in limbo. That’s what matters here.

– ref. As Netanyahu meets Trump in Washington, what hope for peace in Gaza? Expert Q&A – https://theconversation.com/as-netanyahu-meets-trump-in-washington-what-hope-for-peace-in-gaza-expert-qanda-260722

MIL OSI –

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: Brics is sliding towards irrelevance – the Rio summit made that clear

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Amalendu Misra, Professor of International Politics, Lancaster University

The Brics group of nations has just concluded its 17th annual summit in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. But, despite member states adopting a long list of commitments covering global governance, finance, health, AI and climate change, the summit was a lacklustre affair.

The two most prominent leaders from the group’s founding members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – were conspicuously absent. Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, only attended virtually due to an outstanding arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court over his role in the war in Ukraine.

China’s Xi Jinping avoided the summit altogether for unknown reasons, sending his prime minister, Li Qiang, instead. This was Xi’s first no-show at a Brics summit, with the snub prompting suggestions that Beijing’s enthusiasm for the group as part of an emerging new world order is in decline.

Perhaps the most notable takeaway from the summit was a statement that came not from the Brics nations but the US. As Brics leaders gathered in Rio, the US president, Donald Trump, warned on social media: “Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy.”

Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

Trump has long been critical of Brics. This is largely because the group has consistently floated the idea of adopting a common currency to challenge the dominance of the US dollar in international trade.

Such a move makes sense if we focus on trade figures. In 2024, the value of trade among the Brics nations was around US$5 trillion, accounting for approximately 22% of global exports. Member nations have always felt their economic potential could be fully realised if they were not reliant upon the US dollar as their common currency of trade.

During their 2024 summit, which was held in the Russian city of Kazan, the Brics nations entered into serious discussions around creating a gold-backed currency. At a time when the Trump administration is waging a global trade war, the emergence of an alternative to the US dollar would be a very serious pushback against US economic hegemony.

Read more:
Why Donald Trump’s election could hasten the end of US dollar dominance

But the freshly concluded Brics summit did not present any concrete move towards achieving that objective. In fact, the 31-page Rio de Janeiro joint declaration even contained some reassurances about the global importance of the US dollar.

There are two key obstacles hindering Brics from translating its vision of a common currency into reality. First is that some founding member nations are uncomfortable with adopting such an economic model, in large part due to internal rivalries within Brics itself.

India, currently the fourth-largest economy in the world, has a history of periodic confrontation and strategic competition with China. It is reticent about adopting an alternative to the US dollar, concerned that this could make China more powerful and undercut India’s long-term interests.

Second is that the Brics member nations are dependent on their bilateral trade with the US. Simply put, embracing an alternative currency is counterproductive when it comes to the current economic interests of individual countries. Brazil, China and India, for example, all export more to the US than they import from it.

In December 2024, following his election as US president, Trump said: “We require a commitment from these countries that they will neither create a new Brics currency nor back any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar or they will face 100% tariffs and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US economy”. This blunt message all but killed any enthusiasm that was there for this grand economic model.

Caught in contradiction

The Brics group is a behemoth. Its full 11 members account for 40% of the world’s population and economy. But the bloc is desperately short of providing any cohesive alternative global leadership.

While Brazil used its position as host to highlight Brics as a truly multilateral forum capable of providing leadership in a new world order, such ambitions are thwarted by the many contradictions plaguing this bloc.

Among these are tensions between founding members China and India, which have been running high for decades.

There are other contradictions, too. In their joint Rio declaration, the group’s members decried the recent Israeli and US attacks on Iran. Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, also used his position as summit host to criticise the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

But this moral high ground appears hollow when you consider that the Russian Federation, a key member of Brics, is on a mission to destroy Ukraine. And rather than condemning Russia, Brics leaders used the Rio summit to criticise recent Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s railway infrastructure.

Brics declared intention to address the issue of climate change is also problematic. The Rio declaration conveyed the group’s support for multilateralism and unity to achieve the goals of the Paris agreement. But, despite China making significant advances in its green energy sector, Brics contains some of the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases as well as several of the largest oil and gas producers.

Brics can only stay relevant and provide credible leadership in a fast-changing international order when it addresses its many inner contradictions.

Amalendu Misra is a recipient of British Academy and Nuffield Foundation Fellowships.

– ref. Brics is sliding towards irrelevance – the Rio summit made that clear – https://theconversation.com/brics-is-sliding-towards-irrelevance-the-rio-summit-made-that-clear-260653

MIL OSI –

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: The Bank of Russia has expanded the list of currencies for which the official exchange rate is set

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

Moscow, July 8 /Xinhua/ – 12 currencies have been included in the list of foreign currencies whose official exchange rates against the ruble are set by the Bank of Russia /Central Bank/. This was reported on Tuesday by the regulator’s press service.

The list includes the Bangladeshi taka, Bahraini dinar, Bolivian boliviano, Cuban peso, Algerian dinar, Ethiopian birr, Iranian rial, Myanmar kyat, Mongolian tugrik, Nigerian naira, Omani rial, and Saudi riyal. Their official exchange rates against the ruble will be set by the Central Bank from July 10.

Currently, the Bank of Russia sets official exchange rates for the yuan, US dollar and euro. –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.

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MIL OSI Russia News –

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Exclusive: BRICS strives for equality and stable coexistence in the interests of all humanity – Director of IKS RAS

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

Moscow, July 8 /Xinhua/ — BRICS does not seek to defeat the West, but seeks equality and stable coexistence in the interests of all mankind, Director of the Institute of China and Modern Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences /ICSA RAS/ Kirill Babayev said in an interview with Xinhua recently.

The 17th meeting of the BRICS leaders has just ended in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. K. Babayev noted that the international influence of BRICS, which already accounts for more than 45% of the world’s GDP, is currently increasing. At the same time, as the expert emphasized, BRICS does not seek to defeat the West, but seeks equality and stable coexistence in the interests of all mankind.

He also drew attention to Russian-Chinese cooperation within the BRICS framework. “Russia and China are the two main pillars of BRICS, the most active participants in the association. Using the example of our bilateral relations, we show the whole world how to build trusting, friendly, mutually beneficial relations in the new era,” the director of the ICA RAS said.

If BRICS, continued K. Babayev, covers the entire world with a network of economic ties, then the Shanghai Cooperation Organization /SCO/ focuses on security issues and on preventing threats on the Eurasian continent.

“The SCO is the main stabilizing force in Eurasia. The organization’s activities are aimed primarily at strengthening stability, creating trusting relationships and the general security of a united Greater Eurasia. This organization, through its activities, prevents the threats of terrorism, extremism, and ensures the security of large and small countries and peoples,” said K. Babayev, answering a question from a Xinhua correspondent about the upcoming SCO summit in September in the Chinese city of Tianjin.

The expert believes that Russia and China play a very important role in both of these international formats. Today, it depends on them “what Eurasia will be like tomorrow, whether we will be able to build a unified partnership here on new, fair principles,” K. Babayev emphasized.

He added that the economies of the two countries successfully complement each other. “Trade between our countries is growing at an accelerated pace. But today our governments are already looking further — toward closer production cooperation, technological partnership,” K. Babayev stated. –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 –

July 9, 2025
UP: Meerut gets Agritech Innovation Hub to boost rural farming technology

Source: Government of India

Source: Government of India (4)

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Minister of State for Skill Development and Education Jayant Chaudhary on Tuesday inaugurated an Agritech Innovation Hub and Startup Technology Showcase at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology (SVPUAT) in Meerut, aiming to promote precision farming and sustainable agriculture in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Pradhan said the initiative is part of a broader push to modernise India’s farming sector and increase farmers’ incomes, adding that the vision of a developed India remains incomplete without prosperous villages and self-reliant farmers.

The new hub will deploy artificial intelligence, machine learning and real-time data analytics to help farmers increase productivity while adopting chemical-free, natural farming practices.

“India’s services sector has reached global standards, but the soul of India still resides in its fields and barns,” Pradhan said, crediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for encouraging technology-driven farming solutions.

The centre is being developed in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar, which will contribute IoT-enabled sensors, automation technologies and cloud computing infrastructure worth up to Rs. 75 lakhs. An MoU was signed between IIT Ropar and SVPUAT to expand research and academic collaboration in agritech.

Speaking at the launch, Chaudhary said the project would create a collaborative ecosystem for farmers, startups and researchers to co-develop practical solutions for the agriculture sector.

The event also featured an exhibition of 20 agritech startups, a demonstration at SVPUAT’s Model Smart Farm and the felicitation of farmers adopting modern and sustainable practices.

The hub will work with Krishi Vigyan Kendras and Farmer Producer Organisations to train rural youth and farmers, with the aim of scaling region-specific solutions across North India.

July 9, 2025
UP: Meerut gets Agritech Innovation Hub to boost rural farming technology

Source: Government of India

Source: Government of India (4)

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Minister of State for Skill Development and Education Jayant Chaudhary on Tuesday inaugurated an Agritech Innovation Hub and Startup Technology Showcase at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology (SVPUAT) in Meerut, aiming to promote precision farming and sustainable agriculture in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Pradhan said the initiative is part of a broader push to modernise India’s farming sector and increase farmers’ incomes, adding that the vision of a developed India remains incomplete without prosperous villages and self-reliant farmers.

The new hub will deploy artificial intelligence, machine learning and real-time data analytics to help farmers increase productivity while adopting chemical-free, natural farming practices.

“India’s services sector has reached global standards, but the soul of India still resides in its fields and barns,” Pradhan said, crediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for encouraging technology-driven farming solutions.

The centre is being developed in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar, which will contribute IoT-enabled sensors, automation technologies and cloud computing infrastructure worth up to Rs. 75 lakhs. An MoU was signed between IIT Ropar and SVPUAT to expand research and academic collaboration in agritech.

Speaking at the launch, Chaudhary said the project would create a collaborative ecosystem for farmers, startups and researchers to co-develop practical solutions for the agriculture sector.

The event also featured an exhibition of 20 agritech startups, a demonstration at SVPUAT’s Model Smart Farm and the felicitation of farmers adopting modern and sustainable practices.

The hub will work with Krishi Vigyan Kendras and Farmer Producer Organisations to train rural youth and farmers, with the aim of scaling region-specific solutions across North India.

July 9, 2025
UP: Meerut gets Agritech Innovation Hub to boost rural farming technology

Source: Government of India

Source: Government of India (4)

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Minister of State for Skill Development and Education Jayant Chaudhary on Tuesday inaugurated an Agritech Innovation Hub and Startup Technology Showcase at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology (SVPUAT) in Meerut, aiming to promote precision farming and sustainable agriculture in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Pradhan said the initiative is part of a broader push to modernise India’s farming sector and increase farmers’ incomes, adding that the vision of a developed India remains incomplete without prosperous villages and self-reliant farmers.

The new hub will deploy artificial intelligence, machine learning and real-time data analytics to help farmers increase productivity while adopting chemical-free, natural farming practices.

“India’s services sector has reached global standards, but the soul of India still resides in its fields and barns,” Pradhan said, crediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for encouraging technology-driven farming solutions.

The centre is being developed in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar, which will contribute IoT-enabled sensors, automation technologies and cloud computing infrastructure worth up to Rs. 75 lakhs. An MoU was signed between IIT Ropar and SVPUAT to expand research and academic collaboration in agritech.

Speaking at the launch, Chaudhary said the project would create a collaborative ecosystem for farmers, startups and researchers to co-develop practical solutions for the agriculture sector.

The event also featured an exhibition of 20 agritech startups, a demonstration at SVPUAT’s Model Smart Farm and the felicitation of farmers adopting modern and sustainable practices.

The hub will work with Krishi Vigyan Kendras and Farmer Producer Organisations to train rural youth and farmers, with the aim of scaling region-specific solutions across North India.

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: How ASHABot empowers rural India’s frontline health workers

Source: Microsoft

Headline: How ASHABot empowers rural India’s frontline health workers

When Mani Devi, an Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) in rural Rajasthan, saw the underweight infant, she knew something was wrong—but not how serious it might be, or what advice to give.

So she reached for her phone and opened WhatsApp: In Hindi, she typed a question to a new tool called ASHABot: What’s the ideal weight for a baby this age?

The chatbot—trained in Hindi, English, and a hybrid known as Hinglish—responded within seconds: a baby that age should weigh around 4 to 5 kilograms. This one weighed less.

The bot’s answer was clear and specific. It encouraged feeding the baby eight to 10 times a day, and it explained how to counsel the mother without causing alarm.

That, she said, was one of the many encounters with ASHABot that changed the way she does her job.

The tool is part of a quiet but significant shift in public health, one that blends cutting-edge artificial intelligence with on-the-ground realities in some of India’s most underserved communities.

ASHABot, launched in early 2024, is what happens when a generative AI model akin to OpenAI’s ChatGPT or GPT-4 is not only trained on the broader internet, but is connected to a knowledge base containing India’s public health manuals, immunization guidelines, and family planning protocols. It takes voice notes when prompted and provides answers that help the ASHAs serve patients.

Built by the nonprofit Khushi Baby (opens in new tab) using technology developed and open sourced by Microsoft Research, the bot has been transforming how some of the country’s ASHA workers do their jobs. These women are the glue between India’s rural households and the health system, responsible for everything from vaccination records to childbirth counseling. But they receive just 23 days of basic training and often work in settings where doctors are distant, supervisors are overburdened, and even mobile signal is unreliable.

“ASHAs have always been on the front lines,” said Ruchit Nagar, co-founder and CEO of Khushi Baby and a Harvard-trained physician. “But they haven’t always had the tools.”

Nagar’s relationship with ASHAs goes back nearly a decade. In 2015, he launched Khushi Baby with the goal of digitizing health data in underserved communities, often designing tech systems that were locally grounded. The idea of ASHABot emerged in late 2023, during a summit with stakeholders in Rajasthan.

At the time, Khushi Baby was working with Microsoft Research on a separate AI project—one that used eye images to detect anemia. But the buzz around large language models, especially ChatGPT, was rising fast. Nagar and his collaborators began to ask whether this technology could help ASHAs, who often lacked real-time access to quality, understandable, medically sound guidance.

“ASHAs were already using WhatsApp and YouTube. We saw an inflection point, new digital users ready for something more,” said Nagar, now a resident at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn.

So they began building.

Microsoft researcher Pragnya Ramjee joined the project around that time, leaving a design job at a hedge fund to focus on technology with social impact. With a background in human-centered design, she helped lead the qualitative research, interviewing ASHAs in Rajasthan alongside a trained translator.

“It made a huge difference that the translator and I were women,” she said. “The ASHAs felt more comfortable being open with us, especially about sensitive issues like contraception or gender-based violence.”

An ASHA worker encourages children to attend the Anganwadi center, helping them stay healthy through essential care and support.

Ramjee and the team helped fine-tune the system in collaboration with doctors and public health experts. The model, based on GPT-4, was trained to be highly accurate. When it receives a question, it consults a carefully curated database—around 40 documents from the Indian government, UNICEF, and other health bodies. If the bot doesn’t find a clear answer, it doesn’t guess. Instead, it forwards the question to a small group of nurses, whose responses are then synthesized by the model and returned to the ASHA within hours.

The goal, Ramjee said, is to ensure the bot always stays grounded in reality and in the real training ASHAs receive.

So far, more than 24,000 messages have been sent through the system and 869 ASHAs have been onboarded. Some workers have used it only once or twice. Others send up to 20 messages in a single day. Topics range from the expected—childhood immunization schedules, breastfeeding best practices—to the unexpected.

“They’re asking about contraception, about child marriage, about what to do if there’s a fight in the family,” Ramjee said. “These aren’t just medical questions. They’re social questions.”

An ASHA worker educates community members on how to protect themselves against seasonal illnesses.

One woman came to Mani Devi saying she’d missed her period for two months but wasn’t pregnant. The bot provided Devi with information that gave her the confidence to assure the patient she had nothing to worry about.

The responses come in both text and voice note, the latter often played aloud by ASHAs for the patient to hear. In some cases, voice responses about long-acting contraception help persuade hesitant women to begin treatment.

There is no question the technology works. But the team is quick to emphasize that it doesn’t replace human knowledge. Instead, it amplifies it. ASHABot illustrates how LLM-powered chatbots can help bridge the information gap for people, particularly those with limited access to formal training and technology, said Mohit Jain, principal researcher at Microsoft Research India.

“There is a lot of debate about whether LLMs are a boon or a bane,” Jain said. “I believe it’s up to us to design and deploy them responsibly, in ways that unlock their potential for real societal benefit. ASHABot is one example of how that’s possible.”

– Mohit Jain, Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research India

During a door-to-door visit, an ASHA worker uses ASHABot to guide a pregnant woman through essential information on material health and nutrition.

Of course, the chatbot isn’t perfect. Some users still prefer to call people they know, and the big question of scaling remains. The team is exploring personalization options, multimodal support like image inputs, and parallel LLM agents to ensure quality assurance at scale.

Still, the vision is expansive. As of now, ASHABot is only used in Udaipur, one of the 50 districts in Rajasthan. The long-term goal is to bring ASHABot to all one million ASHAs across the country, who take care of about 800 to 900 million people in rural India. The potential ripple effect across maternal health, vaccination, and disease surveillance is immense.

Nagar, who has traveled to India twice yearly for the last 10 years to research the needs of ASHAs, said there are still “many things yet to explore, and many big questions to answer.”

For ASHAs like Mani Devi, the shift is already real. She says she feels more informed, more confident. She can talk about previously taboo subjects, because the bot helps her break the silence.

“Overall, I can give better information to people who need help,” she said. “I can ask it anything.”

MIL OSI Economics –

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Xi stresses transforming resource-based economy, advancing Chinese modernization during Shanxi inspection tour 2025-07-08 21:12:32 President Xi Jinping has called on north China’s Shanxi Province to further promote the transformation and development of the resource-based economy and strive to write its own chapter in advancing Chinese modernization.

Source: People’s Republic of China – Ministry of National Defense

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, lays a floral basket to pay tribute to the martyrs at the monument square honoring the martyrs of the Hundred-Regiment Campaign during the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, when inspecting Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

TAIYUAN, July 8 (Xinhua) — President Xi Jinping has called on north China’s Shanxi Province to further promote the transformation and development of the resource-based economy and strive to write its own chapter in advancing Chinese modernization.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during his inspection tour in Shanxi from Monday to Tuesday.

On Monday afternoon, Xi visited a monument square in Yangquan City and paid tribute to heroes of the Eighth Route Army who died in the Hundred-Regiment Campaign. The campaign took place in northern China between August 1940 and January 1941 during the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

Xi described the campaign as a powerful testament to the CPC’s role as the pillar of the nation’s resistance war against Japanese aggression. He called for passing on the great spirit of resisting aggression from one generation to the next.

Speaking to young students visiting an exhibition on the campaign, Xi called on the younger generation to carry forward the revolutionary legacy and rise to the task of national rejuvenation.

When inspecting the Yangquan Valve Co., Ltd., Xi was briefed on the province’s progress in industrial transformation and upgrade in recent years. He also learned about the production and sales of some valve products at the company’s workshop.

He emphasized that traditional manufacturing is an important part of the real economy, and called for efforts to respond to market demand and enhance sci-tech innovation to breathe new life into traditional industries.

Noting that China’s industrial development today relies on advanced technologies and equipment for improvement, Xi encouraged the company’s staff members to contribute more to the country’s growing manufacturing strength.

On Tuesday morning, after listening to a work report from the CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee and the provincial government, Xi made requirements for the province’s future work.

Xi noted that building a national pilot area of comprehensive reform for the transformation of resource-based economy is a strategic task entrusted to Shanxi by the CPC Central Committee.

While ensuring the coal supply for the country’s power generation, efforts should be made to promote the low-end to high-end transformation of the coal industry and the upgrading of coal products from primary fuels to high-value products, Xi said.

He also required efforts to push forward the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and develop emerging and future industries in light of local conditions to foster new quality productive forces.

It is imperative to make good use of various development conditions, optimize the business environment and stimulate the vitality of business entities, he said.

Xi also highlighted the bottom line of security and stability in this process, urging efforts to ensure people’s livelihoods, maintain social stability, safeguard ecological security and boost workplace safety.

Persistent work should be done to enforce the Party’s full and rigorous self-governance, Xi added, calling for cultivating a clean political environment and improving the long-term, regular mechanisms for Party conduct.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, lays a floral basket to pay tribute to the martyrs at the monument square honoring the martyrs of the Hundred-Regiment Campaign during the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, when inspecting Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits the memorial hall commemorating the Hundred-Regiment Campaign during the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, when inspecting Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits the memorial hall commemorating the Hundred-Regiment Campaign during the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, when inspecting Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks with students and staff members at the memorial hall commemorating the Hundred-Regiment Campaign during the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, when inspecting Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks with students and staff members at the memorial hall commemorating the Hundred-Regiment Campaign during the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, when inspecting Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, inspects the production workshop and products display at the Yangquan Valve Co., Ltd. in Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. Xi inspected the company here on Monday. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has a cordial conversation with workers at the Yangquan Valve Co., Ltd. in Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. Xi inspected the company here on Monday. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has a cordial conversation with workers at the Yangquan Valve Co., Ltd. in Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. Xi inspected the company here on Monday. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has a cordial conversation with workers at the Yangquan Valve Co., Ltd. in Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. Xi inspected the company here on Monday. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, is pictured with workers at the Yangquan Valve Co., Ltd. in Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. Xi inspected the company here on Monday. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

MIL OSI China News –

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Xi stresses transforming resource-based economy, advancing Chinese modernization during Shanxi inspection tour 2025-07-08 21:12:32 President Xi Jinping has called on north China’s Shanxi Province to further promote the transformation and development of the resource-based economy and strive to write its own chapter in advancing Chinese modernization.

Source: People’s Republic of China – Ministry of National Defense

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, lays a floral basket to pay tribute to the martyrs at the monument square honoring the martyrs of the Hundred-Regiment Campaign during the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, when inspecting Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

TAIYUAN, July 8 (Xinhua) — President Xi Jinping has called on north China’s Shanxi Province to further promote the transformation and development of the resource-based economy and strive to write its own chapter in advancing Chinese modernization.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during his inspection tour in Shanxi from Monday to Tuesday.

On Monday afternoon, Xi visited a monument square in Yangquan City and paid tribute to heroes of the Eighth Route Army who died in the Hundred-Regiment Campaign. The campaign took place in northern China between August 1940 and January 1941 during the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

Xi described the campaign as a powerful testament to the CPC’s role as the pillar of the nation’s resistance war against Japanese aggression. He called for passing on the great spirit of resisting aggression from one generation to the next.

Speaking to young students visiting an exhibition on the campaign, Xi called on the younger generation to carry forward the revolutionary legacy and rise to the task of national rejuvenation.

When inspecting the Yangquan Valve Co., Ltd., Xi was briefed on the province’s progress in industrial transformation and upgrade in recent years. He also learned about the production and sales of some valve products at the company’s workshop.

He emphasized that traditional manufacturing is an important part of the real economy, and called for efforts to respond to market demand and enhance sci-tech innovation to breathe new life into traditional industries.

Noting that China’s industrial development today relies on advanced technologies and equipment for improvement, Xi encouraged the company’s staff members to contribute more to the country’s growing manufacturing strength.

On Tuesday morning, after listening to a work report from the CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee and the provincial government, Xi made requirements for the province’s future work.

Xi noted that building a national pilot area of comprehensive reform for the transformation of resource-based economy is a strategic task entrusted to Shanxi by the CPC Central Committee.

While ensuring the coal supply for the country’s power generation, efforts should be made to promote the low-end to high-end transformation of the coal industry and the upgrading of coal products from primary fuels to high-value products, Xi said.

He also required efforts to push forward the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and develop emerging and future industries in light of local conditions to foster new quality productive forces.

It is imperative to make good use of various development conditions, optimize the business environment and stimulate the vitality of business entities, he said.

Xi also highlighted the bottom line of security and stability in this process, urging efforts to ensure people’s livelihoods, maintain social stability, safeguard ecological security and boost workplace safety.

Persistent work should be done to enforce the Party’s full and rigorous self-governance, Xi added, calling for cultivating a clean political environment and improving the long-term, regular mechanisms for Party conduct.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, lays a floral basket to pay tribute to the martyrs at the monument square honoring the martyrs of the Hundred-Regiment Campaign during the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, when inspecting Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits the memorial hall commemorating the Hundred-Regiment Campaign during the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, when inspecting Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits the memorial hall commemorating the Hundred-Regiment Campaign during the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, when inspecting Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks with students and staff members at the memorial hall commemorating the Hundred-Regiment Campaign during the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, when inspecting Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks with students and staff members at the memorial hall commemorating the Hundred-Regiment Campaign during the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, when inspecting Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, inspects the production workshop and products display at the Yangquan Valve Co., Ltd. in Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. Xi inspected the company here on Monday. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has a cordial conversation with workers at the Yangquan Valve Co., Ltd. in Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. Xi inspected the company here on Monday. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has a cordial conversation with workers at the Yangquan Valve Co., Ltd. in Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. Xi inspected the company here on Monday. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has a cordial conversation with workers at the Yangquan Valve Co., Ltd. in Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. Xi inspected the company here on Monday. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, is pictured with workers at the Yangquan Valve Co., Ltd. in Yangquan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, July 7, 2025. Xi inspected the company here on Monday. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

MIL OSI China News –

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Games preparation in full swing

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

A press conference was held in Guangzhou today to introduce the details of preparation progress for the 15th National Games (NG), the 12th National Games for Persons with Disabilities (NGD) and the 9th National Special Olympic Games (NSOG).

It also outlined the upcoming operational work plan among Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macau, which are co-hosting the games.

The press conference was hosted by the Guangdong Provincial Executive Committees for the 15th NG, the 12th NGD and the 9th NSOG; the National Games Coordination Office (Hong Kong) (NGCO) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government; and the Preparatory Office for the 15th NG, 12th NGD and 9th NSOG in Macau (Preparatory Office in Macau).

Addressing the press conference, NGCO Head Yeung Tak-keung said that Hong Kong firmly adheres to the principles of “green, inclusive, open and clean” while implementing the requirement of organising a “simple, safe and wonderful” event.

“We maintain strict budget control, optimise resource allocation, and prudently scale events to ensure practical preparations.”

He highlighted that the cross-boundary athletics marathon and road cycling events, which will be co-organised by Hong Kong, are signature events of the 15th NG, requiring meticulous tripartite planning and co-ordination in route design and expedited clearance for athletes, spectators and vehicles.

This cross-boundary collaboration enhances the Greater Bay Area’s overall competitiveness and fosters people-to-people exchanges in the bay area, Mr Yeung added.

Also speaking at the press conference, Hong Kong cyclist Wong Kam-po said that with the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge as the race course, the cross-boundary road cycling race is an iconic event with beautiful scenery and a challenging course as well.

Director of the Office of the Organising Committee of the 15th NG, 12th NGD & 9th NSOG and Deputy Secretary-General of the People’s Government of Guangdong Province Huang Mingzhong also spoke at the press conference.

Mr Huang emphasised that the co-hosting of the 15th NG by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, under the steer of the central ministries including the General Administration of Sport of China, and the Hong Kong & Macao Work Office of the CPC Central Committee, has built an innovative co-ordination mechanism.

Through close liaison and co-ordination, alignment has been reached in six key areas, namely cross-boundary events, port clearance, manpower and vehicle accreditation, food safety, green initiatives, and competition schedule.

The three places have pioneered a “three-place three-integration” co-hosting approach – integrated communication, direction, and operation, Mr Huang indicated.

Head of the Preparatory Office in Macau Pun Weng-kun told those gathered at the press conference that preparations for the 15th NG have entered the countdown phase. They will collaborate with different sectors of society to strengthen the organisational work for the events, enhancing the atmosphere of community-wide participation in the 15th NG.

This includes ongoing visits to communities and schools, connecting with promotional activities for culture, tourism, and sports, and launching franchised products in Macau, Mr Pun added.

Various franchised products were also showcased at the press conference, with designers explaining their creative concepts.

Hong Kong will soon set up sales points in various districts to sell a variety of franchised products related to the games, including products with unique Hong Kong features.

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

July 9, 2025

MIL-OSI: Ageas and BlackRock, Inc.: Transparency notification

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

In accordance with the rules on financial transparency*, BlackRock, Inc. has notified Ageas on 3 July 2025 that, on 1 July 2025, its interest has exceeded the legal threshold of 5% of the shares issued by Ageas. Its current shareholding stands at 7,78%.

Reason for the notification
Acquisition or disposal of the control of an undertaking that holds a participating interest in an issuer

Notification by
A parent undertaking or a controlling person

Persons subject to the notification requirement
See annex 1a

Date on which the threshold is crossed
1 July 2025

Threshold that is crossed (in %)
5%

Denominator
198.938.286

Notified details
See annex 1 b

Chain of controlled undertakings through which the holding is effectively held, if applicable
The full chain of command can be found on https://www.ageas.com/investors/shareholders

Additional information
As a result of the acquisition of HPS Investment Partners, there has been a change to BlackRock’s group structure. Upon the close of the transaction, BlackRock, Inc. contributed all of its equity interests in BlackRock Finance, Inc. and Global Infrastructure Management, LLC to BlackRock Saturn Subco, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company.

This press release and the notifications received by Ageas are available on the website.

* article 14, paragraph 1 of the law of 2 May 2007 on disclosure of major holdings us provisions.

Ageas is a Belgian rooted listed international insurance Group with a heritage spanning 200 years. It offers Retail and Business customers Life and Non-Life insurance products designed to suit their specific needs, today and tomorrow, and is also engaged in reinsurance activities. As one of Europe’s larger insurance companies, Ageas concentrates its activities in Europe and Asia, which together make up the major part of the global insurance market. It operates successful insurance businesses in Belgium, the UK, Portugal, Türkiye, China, Malaysia, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Singapore, and the Philippines through a combination of wholly owned subsidiaries and long term partnerships with strong financial institutions and key distributors. Ageas ranks among the market leaders in the countries in which it operates. It represents a staff force of about 50,000 people and reported annual inflows of EUR 18.5 billion in 2024.

ANNEX 1a

Name	Address (for legal entities)
BlackRock, Inc.	50 Hudson Yards, New York, NY, 10001, U.S.A.
BlackRock (Singapore) Limited	20 Anson Road #18-01, Singapore, 79912, Singapore
BlackRock Advisors (UK) Limited	12 Throgmorton Avenue, London, EC2N 2DL, U.K.
BlackRock Advisors, LLC	50 Hudson Yards, New York, NY, 10001, U.S.A.
BlackRock Asset Management Canada Limited	161 Bay Street, Suite 2500, Toronto, Ontario, M5J 2S1, Canada
BlackRock Asset Management Deutschland AG	Lenbachplatz 1 1st Floor, Munich, 80333-MN3, Germany
BlackRock Asset Management North Asia Limited	15/F, 16/F, 17/F Citibank Tower & 17/F ICBC Tower, 3 Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong
BlackRock Financial Management, Inc.	50 Hudson Yards, New York, NY, 10001, U.S.A.
BlackRock Fund Advisors	400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA, 94105, U.S.A.
BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, National Association	400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA, 94105, U.S.A.
BlackRock International Limited	Exchange Place One, 1 Semple Street, Edinburgh, EH3 8BL, U.K.
BlackRock Investment Management (Australia) Limited	Level 37 Chifley Tower, 2 Chifley Square, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited	12 Throgmorton Avenue, London, EC2N 2DL, U.K.
BlackRock Investment Management, LLC	1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ, 8540, U.S.A.
BlackRock Japan Co., Ltd.	1-8-3 Marunouchi Chiyoda-ku, Trust Tower Main, Tokyo, 100-8217, Japan
Aperio Group, LLC	3 Harbor Dr Suite 204, Sausalito, CA 94965, U.S.A.
SpiderRock Advisors, LLC	Corporation Service Company, 251 Little Falls Drive, Wilmington, DE 19808, U.S.A.

ANNEX 1b

A) Voting rights	Previous notification	After the transaction
	# of voting rights	# of voting rights		% of voting rights
Holders of voting rights		Linked to securities	Not linked to the securities	Linked to securities	Not linked to the securities	S
BlackRock, Inc.	0	0		0,00%		1
BlackRock (Singapore) Limited	26.755	26.310		0,01%		1
BlackRock Advisors (UK) Limited	2.917.790	3.172.318		1,59%		1
BlackRock Advisors, LLC	203.203	332.981		0,17%		1
BlackRock Asset Management Canada Limited	147.243	262.978		0,13%		1
BlackRock Asset Management Deutschland AG	1.811.227	1.362.308		0,68%		1
BlackRock Asset Management North Asia Limited	25.474	25.829		0,01%		1
BlackRock Financial Management, Inc.	50.348	190.132		0,10%		1
BlackRock Fund Advisors	3.769.688	3.810.650		1,92%		1
BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, National Association	2.088.675	2.690.187		1,35%		1
BlackRock International Limited	1.637	12.647		0,01%		1
BlackRock Investment Management (Australia) Limited	69.199	56.242		0,03%		1
BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited	895.264	1.142.495		0,57%		1
BlackRock Investment Management, LLC	418.682	373.405		0,19%		1
BlackRock Japan Co., Ltd.	285.173	300.448		0,15%		1
Aperio Group, LLC	18.343	21.757		0,01%		1
Subtotal	12.728.700	13.780.688		6,93%		S
	TOTAL	13.780.688	0	6,93%	0,00%

B) Equivalent financial instruments	After the transaction
Holders of equivalent financial instruments	Type of financial instrument	Expiration date	Exercise period or date	# of voting rights that may be acquired if the instrument is exercised	% of voting rights	Settlement
BlackRock Advisors, LLC	Contract Difference			641.303	0,32%	cash
BlackRock Financial Management, Inc.	Contract Difference			513.136	0,26%	cash
BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, National Association	Contract Difference			326.027	0,16%	cash
BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited	Contract Difference			13.097	0,01%	cash
BlackRock Investment Management, LLC	Contract Difference			845	0,00%	cash
Aperio Group, LLC	Depositary Receipt			195.684	0,10%
SpiderRock Advisors, LLC	Depositary Receipt			158	0,00%
	TOTAL			1.690.250	0,85%

	TOTAL (A & B)			# of voting rights	% of voting rights
			CALCULATE	15.470.938	7,78%

Attachment

PDF version of the press release

The MIL Network –

July 9, 2025

MIL-OSI: Crédit Agricole Assurances announces the launch of an accelerated bookbuilding offering of its whole stake in FDJ United
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

Crédit Agricole Assurances announces the launch of an accelerated bookbuilding offering of its whole stake in FDJ United

8 July 2025 – Crédit Agricole Assurances (“CAA”), which, via its wholly-owned subsidiaries Predica and Crédit Agricole Assurances Retraite, currently owns 6,110,156 shares of FDJ United (the “Company”), representing approximately 3.3% of the Company’s share capital and 4.5% of its voting rights, announces the launch of an offering of its whole stake in FDJ United (the “Shares”). These Shares will be offered as part of an accelerated bookbuilding offering to institutional investors (the “Placement”).

CAA has been a shareholder of FDJ United, an international gaming operator, since its IPO in November 2019 and has supported the Company throughout its development, including the successful recent acquisition of Kindred. CAA completed an initial sale of c. 4.1 million shares in November 2024 as part of its strategy of actively managing its investment portfolio. Upon completion of the Placement, CAA will no longer be a shareholder of the Company.

The Placement will start immediately following this announcement. The final terms of the Placement will be determined and announced after the end of the bookbuilding process.

Settlement of the Placement should take place on 11 July 2025.

FDJ United’s shares are listed on the regulated market of Euronext in Paris (ISIN code: FR0013451333).

This press release does not constitute an offer or solicitation to purchase and the offering of the shares in FDJ United does not constitute a public offering (except to institutional investors) in any country, including in France.

Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank and Morgan Stanley Europe SE are acting as Global Coordinators and Bookrunners on the Placement.

About Crédit Agricole Assurances
Crédit Agricole Assurances, France’s leading insurer, is Crédit Agricole group’s subsidiary, which brings together all the insurance businesses of Crédit Agricole S.A. Crédit Agricole Assurances offers a range of products and services in savings, retirement, health, personal protection and property insurance. They are distributed by Crédit Agricole’s banks in France and in 9 countries worldwide, and are aimed at individual, professional, agricultural and business customers. At the end of 2024, Crédit Agricole Assurances had more than 6,700 employees. Its 2024 premium income (non-GAAP) amounted to 43.6 billion euros.
www.ca-assurances.com

Press contacts
Géraldine Bailacq +33 (0)6 81 75 87 59
Nicolas Leviaux +33 (0)6 19 60 48 53
Julien Badé +33 (0)7 85 18 68 05
service.presse@ca-assurances.fr

Disclaimer

This press release is for information purposes only and does not, and shall not, constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe any securities nor a solicitation to offer to purchase or to subscribe securities in any jurisdiction and does not constitute a public offer other than the offering to qualified investors in any jurisdiction, including France.

The sale of FDJ United shares does not constitute a public offering other than to qualified investors in any jurisdiction, including in France.

No communication and no information in respect of the sale by Crédit Agricole Assurances of FDJ United shares may be distributed to the public in any jurisdiction where a registration or approval is required. No steps have been or will be taken in any jurisdiction where such steps would be required. The offer of sale of FDJ United shares on behalf of Crédit Agricole Assurances may be subject to specific legal or regulatory restrictions in certain jurisdictions. Crédit Agricole Assurances, its shareholders and affiliates take no responsibility for any violation of any such restrictions by any person.

European Economic Area
In member states of the European Economic Area, this press release is an advertisement and is not a prospectus with the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017, as amended (the “Prospectus Regulation”).

With respect to the member states of the European Economic Area other than France (the “Member States”), no action has been or will be taken in order to permit a public offer of the securities which would require the publication of a prospectus in one of such Member States. In Member States, this communication and any offer if made subsequently is directed exclusively at persons who are “qualified investors” within the meaning of Article 2(e) of the Prospectus Regulation.

France
In France, the offer of FDJ United shares described in this press release will be carried out through a placement through an accelerated bookbuilding process to qualified investors only within the meaning of Article 2(e) of the Prospectus Regulation and in accordance with applicable French laws and regulations. There will be no public offering in any country (including France) in connection with the shares of FDJ United, except to qualified investors only.

United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, this communication is for distribution to, and is only directed at, persons in the United Kingdom that (i) are “investment professionals” falling within article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (as amended, the “Order”), (ii) are persons falling within article 49(2)(a) to (d) (“high net worth companies, unincorporated associations, etc.”) of the Order, or (iii) are located outside the United kingdom, or (iv) are persons to whom an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity (within the meaning of Article 21 of the Order) in connection with the issue or sale of any securities may otherwise lawfully be communicated or cause to be communicated (all such persons together being referred to as “Relevant Persons”). This press release is only directed at Relevant Persons and are available only to Relevant Persons. Any person who is not a Relevant Person must act or rely on this document or any of its contents.

Any investment or investment activity to which this document relates is available only to Relevant Persons and will be engaged in only with Relevant Persons. Any person who is not a Relevant Person shall not act or rely on this document or any of its contents.

With respect to the United Kingdom, securities may not be offered or sold absent the publication of a prospectus in the United Kingdom or an exemption from such publication under the Regulation (EU) 2017/1129, as amended, as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal Act) 2018 (the “UK Prospectus Regulation”). As a consequence, this document is directed only at persons who are “qualified investors” as defined in point (e) of Article 2 of the UK Prospectus Regulation.
This press release is not a prospectus which has been approved by the Financial Conduct Authority or any other United Kingdom regulatory authority for the purpose of Section 85 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

United States
This press release does not constitute or form part of any offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for securities in the United States. Securities referred to in this announcement have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”) and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent such registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. FDJ United shares have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act and neither Crédit Agricole Assurances, nor any of its shareholders or their respective affiliates intend to register any portion of the proposed offering in the United States or to conduct a public offering in the United States.

Australia
This press release is not a prospectus or product disclosure statement under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the “Corporations Act”) and does not constitute a recommendation to acquire, an invitation to apply for, an offer to apply for or buy, an offer to arrange the issue or sale of, or an offer for issue or sale of, any securities in Australia except as set out below. Interests may only be offered, issued, sold or distributed in Australia by way of or pursuant to an offer or invitation that does not need disclosure to investors either under Part 7.9 or Part 6D.2 of the Corporations Act, whether by reason of the investor being a ‘sophisticated investor’ or ‘wholesale client’ (as defined in section 708(8) and 761G of the Corporations Act respectively) or otherwise. Nothing in this press release constitutes an offer of interests or financial product advice to a ‘retail client’ (as defined in section 761G of the Corporations Act and applicable regulations). Accordingly, this press release has not been lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commissions (“ASIC”). Neither the Placement nor the contents of this press release have been approved by ASIC or any regulatory body or agency in Australia.

Canada, Japan and South Africa
The FDJ United shares may not and will not be offered, sold or purchase in Canada, Japan or South Africa. The information contained in this press release does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in Canada, Japan or South Africa.

The release, publication or distribution of this press release generally may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions and persons into whose possession this document or other information referred to herein should inform themselves about and observe any such restriction. No action has been taken to allow offer of FDJ United shares or distribution of this press release in any jurisdiction where any such action would be required. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

Any investment decision to purchase FDJ United shares must be made solely on the basis of publicly available information regarding FDJ United. Such information is not the responsibility of Crédit Agricole Assurances and has not been independently verified by Crédit Agricole Assurances.

The global coordinators and bookrunners are acting on behalf of Crédit Agricole Assurances (to the exclusion of all others) in connection with the placement and will not be liable to any person other than Crédit Agricole Assurances either for warranties given to clients of the global coordinators and bookrunners or for advice in connection with the placement.

Neither the global coordinators and bookrunners nor any of its directors, officers, employees, advisors or agents accept any responsibility for, or make any representations or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this press release (or if any information has been omitted from this press release) or any other information relating to FDJ United, Crédit Agricole Assurances, their respective subsidiaries or associated companies, whether in written, oral, visual or electronic form, and however transmitted or made available, or any loss from the use of this press release or its contents or otherwise.

Distribution, publication or release of this press release are forbidden in any jurisdiction where such distribution or release would be unlawful.

Attachment
- 20250708 – CAA – Launch Press Release – vF
The MIL Network –
July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Canada: B.C. proposes ban on exotic cat ownership

The Province is proposing regulation changes that would ban the breeding, sale and future ownership of all non-native and non-domestic cat species.

While lions, tigers, jaguars, leopards and cheetahs are already regulated in B.C., other exotic cat species are not, allowing them to be kept as pets. Animal-welfare organizations and wildlife experts with long-standing concerns have called for regulatory measures to address the public-safety and environmental risks posed by exotic cats.

If approved, all exotic and non-domesticated cat species would be added to the list of approximately 1,200 species already designated as “controlled alien species” under the Controlled Alien Species Regulation in the Wildlife Act. This includes, but is not limited to, servals, caracals, ocelots, European and African wildcats, Asian golden cats, fishing cats, jungle cats and marbled cats.

This change would provide consistent and enforceable guidelines to strengthen protections for communities, native wildlife, ecosystems, pets and exotic cats themselves.

It would also allow current owners to keep their exotic cats for the remainder of the animal’s life, provided they apply for a free permit and meet basic care and safety requirements. However, breeding, selling or acquiring new animals from these species would no longer be permitted.

The Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship will continue to engage with the public as the proposed amendments move forward. To ask a question or comment on these proposed changes, email: controlledalienspecies@gov.bc.ca.

Learn More:

For more information about controlled alien species in B.C., visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/plants-animals-ecosystems/cas

MIL OSI Canada News –

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UK approach to freedom of religion or belief: UK Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief speech, July 2025

Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

Speech

UK approach to freedom of religion or belief: UK Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief speech, July 2025

The UK Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, David Smith MP, gave a speech outlining the UK’s approach to freedom of religion or belief at a recent event held at the FCDO

Welcome

Thank you, Lord Collins.

My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, Your Excellencies, fellow Parliamentarians, Foreign Office colleagues, and representatives of civil society, welcome to the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, and the heart of the UK’s relationship with the rest of the world.

As Lord Collins has said, collaboration and partnerships are critical to making Freedom of Religion or Belief for all a reality. So, what does that look like? Today I am pleased to be here to set out the UK’s approach to achieving this goal.

I would like to suggest that our place on the international stage must continue to revolve around our values as a country, values which we aim to humbly share with the rest of the world.

It’s easy to talk about principles like ‘freedom’, ‘human rights’, ‘respect’, ‘tolerance’ or ‘justice’ – and far harder to live up to their meaning in our actions.

And yet the history of this country is one in which we have worked hard to create a plural society based on these values. We don’t always get it right, but I am proud that in the UK today you are free to practice your religion or belief, without fear of persecution.

I am also proud of the UK’s history of championing these values within the international rules-based order, not least as an original supporter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, and of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1966.

The foundation for the right to Freedom of Religion or Belief for all is clearly set out in Article 18 of both documents.

And our shared commitment to upholding the rights enshrined in these documents is a phenomenal strength. When we look around the world today and see growing evidence of persecution based on religion or belief, we know we must act.

The challenge

Most of you in this room are well aware of the challenge we face. But some facts bear repeating.

You will know that, according to the Pew Research Centre, the number of countries with “high” or “very high” levels of government restrictions on FoRB, is at its highest level since 2007. At the community level, social hostilities involving religion (including violence and harassment by private individuals, organisations, or groups) are also on the rise, further reducing respect for human rights in general and FoRB in particular.

You will know that, according to the charity Open Doors, 380 million Christians alone are persecuted worldwide because of their faith.

Persecution on the basis of religion or belief, enacted by States themselves and social groups, is taking place on every continent in the world.

It includes social ostracism, police harassment, arbitrary detention, denial of citizenship, assault, destruction of sites of religious worship, torture, and killings.

In Pakistan, Ahmadiyya Muslims are not recognised as Muslims by the State, and their mosques have repeatedly been desecrated by extremist groups.

In Iran, the Baha’i are acutely vulnerable to scapegoating, incitement and threats of violence from authorities.

In North Korea, those seeking to exercise their right to freedom of religion or belief face surveillance and arbitrary detention, with Christians and others treated as political criminals if their faith is discovered.

Lord Collins has mentioned Mubarak Bala. Humanists International’s Freedom of Thought Report underlines the risks humanists and atheists face globally.

As their latest edition states, “blasphemy” laws exist in 89 countries across the globe. 7 countries have the death penalty for blasphemy, and a further 63 countries have prison sentences for related “offences”.

So what is to be done?

These are not niche issues. FoRB is central to the problems of the world today and to our efforts to build a better world at peace with itself.

Horrific acts such as the murder of worshippers in a church in Damacus last month are not only attacks on people for what they believe in, but also attempts to destabilise societies and spread division.

FoRB demonstrates the core principle that human rights are interdependent and mutually reinforcing.

If you have no freedom to worship, you have no freedom of assembly.

If you have no freedom of belief, you have no freedom of conscience.

If you have no freedom to share your faith, you have no freedom of speech.

If you have no freedom to practice your faith or belief you are not equal in dignity and rights.

And so, today, the UK makes a new commitment to the centrality of FoRB in our foreign policy.

Countries that respect FoRB and in which all constituent communities can flourish are more stable, more secure and more prosperous.

And respect for FoRB internationally is good for the UK domestically. Shared values of FoRB with other countries promotes secure, stable and prosperous partners that can contribute to UK security, growth, development, and management of migration.

I was honoured to take on the role of UK Special Envoy for FoRB in December last year. Since then, I have met with a wide range of experts, activists and international partners; as well as UK officials and the FCDO ministerial team to listen and build my understanding of the opportunities we have to make a difference.

This engagement, and close collaboration with Lord Collins has resulted in the framework I will set out today. As Lord Collins has underlined, our approach to FoRB is situated clearly within the FCDO’s wider human rights approach.

Our overarching goal is a reduction in the number of countries in which the right to FoRB is significantly curtailed, and to promote internationally the right to FoRB as fundamental to human flourishing.

There are 5 core strands to our work

As I have said, the international standards for FoRB and the system that supports them are central to defending the rights of individuals. That is why the first strand of our approach is to uphold and maintain support for this framework within multilateral fora.

This means working through, and with, institutions such as the UN and OSCE to promote FoRB for all. I have been to the Human Rights Council twice, including last week where I spoke alongside the UN Special Rapporteur for FoRB about FoRB in Tibet. And I am delighted to have Eleanor Sanders, the UK Human Rights Ambassador, here with us today.

We will continue to work with international partners to take country-specific action where appropriate, for example through the UN’s Universal Periodic Review Process in which the UK regularly raises FoRB, and on promoting and protecting FoRB in multilateral resolutions.

Secondly, we will work to achieve better outcomes on FoRB through targeted bilateral relationships. FoRB matters everywhere and we will deploy our extensive diplomatic presence around the world to encourage partners towards behaviour, legislation and policies that enable individuals to exercise their right to FoRB, and encourage more inclusive and tolerant societies.

As I’m sure Eleanor agrees, even Special Envoys can’t be everywhere, all the time. So, working with the teams here, I will be focussing on countries where the need is greatest; where opportunities exist to make positive change; and where the UK, specifically, has the relationships and partnerships to help achieve this.

Our approach here is about partnership and shared learning. This is demonstrated with a broad range of countries including Vietnam, where there are concerns, but also an opportunity to work together on Vietnam’s constructive response to their Universal Periodic Review recommendations. We stand ready to support them, and other partners such as Algeria, another focus country, in realising our objectives on FoRB.

The UK is privileged to have diverse diaspora communities including from India, Nigeria and Pakistan where we have much to share on FoRB and I look forward to strengthening my relationships on FoRB in these countries too.

Our approach to FoRB is inextricably interwoven with our wider human rights efforts. For example in China, we raise our concerns at the highest levels. I will support these efforts, encouraging China to meet its international obligations on FoRB.

And as I have said, respect for FoRB is vital to peaceful, strong societies. Religious intolerance and persecution can fuel instability and conflict. So it is right that our approach works to support those countries navigating the impact of conflict – past and present – to protect FoRB for all. This is why we will also focus on Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Our focus in seeking to journey with these 10 countries is an important stepping stone towards our overarching goal of a reduction in the number of countries in which the right to FoRB is significantly curtailed.

However, it is important to say that a more targeted approach does not limit us. Situations such as that in Eritrea and in Yemen are also on my mind, and I will be championing FoRB for all wherever and whenever I can. As Lord Collins has said, we will continue to do so, including through public and private advocacy for prisoners of conscience.

We know that we cannot deliver change alone. This is why the third strand of our approach is to strengthen international coalitions for collective action. The UK is proud to be a member of the Article 18 Alliance and the International Contact Group on FoRB and it’s great to see many of our fellow members represented here today. The UK is committed to working with you to continue increasing the impact of these important groupings.

Where FoRB is under attack, other rights are threatened too and vice versa. The fourth strand of our approach is, therefore, ensuring that FoRB considerations are mainstreamed throughout the FCDO’s work and the need for a holistic human rights approach understood. This means bolstering our efforts to increase awareness and understanding of FoRB within the organisation – today’s event, open to all staff, being a case in point.

As well as ensuring that tools, training and research are available to staff, I will report annually on our work, including at the highest levels of government. By the end of tomorrow, I will have met with every FCDO Minister to discuss how we can collaborate to promote FoRB in their respective areas of responsibility.

Finally, and I must confess a slight bias given my life before politics, perhaps most importantly, the fifth strand of our approach is stronger and wider engagement with civil society and human rights champions.

From sharing information to fostering understanding and respect between different religion or belief communities on the ground, your engagement is central to the protection and promotion of FoRB.

And I know that this can come at personal cost. I want to take this opportunity to underline that the UK stands with you in your work to defend FoRB for all.

In closing I would like to refer to the Hebrew scriptures – what Christians call the Old Testament – which contain a book of wisdom called Proverbs.

In Proverbs 31, we find an injunction which is a challenge to us all – wherever we call home, and whatever we believe – when it comes to championing Freedom of Religion or Belief for all, one which I will leave us with today:

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly: defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Thank you.

Updates to this page

Published 8 July 2025

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

July 9, 2025
At least eight killed and dozens missing after floods on Nepal-China border

Source: Government of India

Source: Government of India (4)

At least eight people were killed and over two dozen were missing after the Bhote Koshi River flooded, washing away the “Friendship Bridge” that links China and Nepal, officials said on Tuesday.

There had been no heavy rainfall in the immediate area of the river in the preceding 24 hours, but weather forecasting experts said the flood might have been the result of an overflowing glacial lake in Tibet, where torrential rain had fallen.

Police had recovered eight bodies, none of whom had been identified so far, Nepal Police spokesperson Binod Ghimire told Reuters.

He said 57 people were rescued. Search and rescue operations were continuing, Nepali Army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet said.

At least 20 people were missing in Nepal, while China’s official Xinhua news agency said 11 people were unaccounted for on the Chinese side of the mountainous border region.

Trade between Nepal and China was disrupted because of the bridge’s destruction, officials said.

In Nepal, the missing included six Chinese workers and three police personnel, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said on X.

The missing Chinese nationals were working at the Inland Container Depot being constructed with Chinese assistance about 80 km (50 miles) north of capital Kathmandu, said Arjun Paudel, a senior administrative official of Rasuwa district.

“The river also swept away some containers with goods imported from China… There is a big loss (of property) and we are collecting details,” he told Reuters.

China has been increasing its investment in Nepal in recent years in domains including roads, power plants, and hospitals.

The Asian giant has been battered by heavy rain and flash floods over the last few days that have left a trail of destruction, and is bracing for a tropical storm this week.

Nepal’s weather forecasting department said it was working with Sentinel Asia – an international initiative that uses space-based technology to support disaster management in the Asia-Pacific region – to determine the cause of the flooding.

In Pakistan, at least 79 people, including 38 children, have died in floods and rain-related incidents, including landslides and house collapses, since June 26, its National Disaster Management Authority said on Tuesday.

The authority issued fresh alerts for flash flooding and glacial lake outbursts in the northern and northwestern provinces of Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, citing “a significant rise in temperatures and… an upcoming weather system.”

(Reuters)

July 9, 2025
NCSC submits 2023-24 report to President Murmu, recommends steps for SC welfare

Source: Government of India

Source: Government of India (4)

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) on Tuesday submitted its Annual Report for 2023–24 to President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi.

The delegation was led by NCSC Chairman Kishor Makwana, along with Members Love Kush Kumar and Vaddepalli Ramchander, and Secretary Gudey Srinivas, IAS.

As mandated under Article 338 of the Constitution, the Commission presents an annual report to the President on the status of Constitutional safeguards for Scheduled Castes. The report includes recommendations for measures that the union and state governments should take to protect, uplift and promote the welfare and socio-economic development of the SC communities.

The report provides a detailed review of the implementation of Constitutional provisions, focusing on issues such as atrocities and crimes against Scheduled Castes. It also covers findings from reviews, field visits and consultations with central and state governments on various welfare schemes and development programmes.

The Commission has made several recommendations to strengthen institutional accountability, ensure justice and advance the overall empowerment of Scheduled Castes.

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Hong Kong-Based Company Agrees to Pay $876,000 to Resolve Alleged False Claims Act Violations

Source: US State of North Dakota

Schaefer Systems International Ltd. (SSI) has agreed to pay $876,000 to resolve alleged False Claims Act violations relating to the payment of a prohibited finder’s fee in connection with the award of an Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) contract to supply a pallet racking system for a warehouse at a U.S. military base in South Korea. SSI markets and sells warehouse logistics systems and provides related services throughout Asia. SSI disclosed the prohibited payment to the government following an internal compliance review and internal investigation.

The settlement resolves allegations that prior to the award of the AAFES contract in 2018, SSI falsely certified its compliance with a procurement integrity provision limiting the payment of commissions to certain bona fide employees and agencies. Unbeknownst to AAFES, SSI intended to pay a finder’s fee to a South Korean national who had informed SSI of the potential contracting opportunity and helped secure the contract.

“Those who do business with the government must do so fairly and honestly,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We will hold accountable contractors that fail to follow procurement rules, but we will also give credit to those who disclose their wrongdoing, take appropriate remedial actions, and meaningfully cooperate with the government’s investigation.”

“Department of Defense contractors have a duty to uphold their contractual obligations and deliver honest value to the American taxpayer,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Stanley A. Newell of the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Transnational Operations Field Office. “This civil settlement demonstrates that illicit payment schemes and kickbacks will not be tolerated. The dedicated professionals of DCIS will work tirelessly to hold those who violate the public trust accountable.”

In connection with the settlement, the United States acknowledged that SSI took a number of significant steps entitling them to credit for cooperating with the government. Following an internal compliance review and independent investigation, SSI promptly disclosed to the government the prohibited payment. SSI also provided the government with a detailed and thorough written disclosure and cooperated with the government throughout its investigation.

The resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section and DCIS.

Fraud Section Senior Trial Counsel Andrew A. Steinberg handled the matter.

The claims resolved by the United States in the settlement are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability.

MIL OSI USA News –

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Canada: The Government of Canada is supporting 13 Indigenous-led clean energy projects through the Low Carbon Economy Fund’s Indigenous Leadership Fund
Source: Government of Canada News

July 8, 2025 – Gatineau, Quebec

As protectors of the land and water, Indigenous peoples have long been leaders in climate action. In addition to advocating for the care of our planet, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis are making significant contributions to lowering greenhouse gas emissions as leaders or key partners in the development of almost 20% of Canada’s clean electricity infrastructure.

To further support this leadership, today, the Honourable Julie Dabrusin, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, announced over $40 million in funding through the Low Carbon Economy Indigenous Leadership Fund to support 13 Indigenous-owned and -led clean energy projects across Canada.

These projects include the installation of solar panels, wind turbines, and heat pumps, as well as building energy retrofits that will help Indigenous communities save on energy costs and increase renewable energy use. They also help create jobs and leverage economic opportunities to further benefit those communities.
- The K’ómoks First Nation in British Columbia will receive nearly $690,000 for its community solar project to install residential solar panels.
- The Kinistin Saulteaux Nation in Saskatchewan will receive over $845,000 for its Kizis–Pimibizaowgamik project to build a charging system to power community EVs for local work and medical transportation.
- The Makivvik Corporation in Quebec will receive approximately $3.5 million to purchase and distribute solar kits throughout Nunavik.
- The Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre in Ontario will receive up to $1 million to install a heat pump system in the Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre’s new building.
- The Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation in Newfoundland and Labrador will receive over $1.6 million to install heat pumps in community-owned homes on Sheshatshiu Indian Reserve No. 3.
- The Gitlaxt’aamiks Village Government in British Columbia will receive over $2.8 million to purchase and install electric heat pumps in community homes.
- The Mushuau Innu First Nation in Newfoundland and Labrador will receive over $5.8 million to purchase and install heat pumps in community-owned homes in the remote community of Natuashish.
- The Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation Band in Newfoundland and Labrador will receive nearly $4.3 million to purchase and install heat pumps in homes owned by community members.
- The Hiawatha First Nation 162 in Ontario will receive nearly $3.4 million to make the newly built Rice Lake Elder’s complex and community building net zero.
- The Métis Nation of Alberta will receive over $9.2 million to retrofit approximately 500 citizen-owned homes across Alberta.
- The Seabird Island Band in British Columbia will receive over $5.6 million to improve the energy efficiency of two schools and an administration building.
- The Métis National Council Secretariat Inc. in Ontario will receive up to $150,000 to conduct an audit of the Métis National Council’s operating carbon footprint.
- The Indigenous Clean Energy Social Enterprise in Ontario will receive over $1.2 million for a collaborative impact project responding to federal best practices for Indigenous participation in program advisory and governance.
These investments reaffirm the Government of Canada’s commitment to support reconciliation and integrate Indigenous Knowledge, voices, and perspectives in the work toward a sustainable future for all.

MIL OSI Canada News –
July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Hong Kong-Based Company Agrees to Pay $876,000 to Resolve Alleged False Claims Act Violations

Source: United States Attorneys General 11

Schaefer Systems International Ltd. (SSI) has agreed to pay $876,000 to resolve alleged False Claims Act violations relating to the payment of a prohibited finder’s fee in connection with the award of an Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) contract to supply a pallet racking system for a warehouse at a U.S. military base in South Korea. SSI markets and sells warehouse logistics systems and provides related services throughout Asia. SSI disclosed the prohibited payment to the government following an internal compliance review and internal investigation.

The settlement resolves allegations that prior to the award of the AAFES contract in 2018, SSI falsely certified its compliance with a procurement integrity provision limiting the payment of commissions to certain bona fide employees and agencies. Unbeknownst to AAFES, SSI intended to pay a finder’s fee to a South Korean national who had informed SSI of the potential contracting opportunity and helped secure the contract.

“Those who do business with the government must do so fairly and honestly,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We will hold accountable contractors that fail to follow procurement rules, but we will also give credit to those who disclose their wrongdoing, take appropriate remedial actions, and meaningfully cooperate with the government’s investigation.”

“Department of Defense contractors have a duty to uphold their contractual obligations and deliver honest value to the American taxpayer,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Stanley A. Newell of the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Transnational Operations Field Office. “This civil settlement demonstrates that illicit payment schemes and kickbacks will not be tolerated. The dedicated professionals of DCIS will work tirelessly to hold those who violate the public trust accountable.”

In connection with the settlement, the United States acknowledged that SSI took a number of significant steps entitling them to credit for cooperating with the government. Following an internal compliance review and independent investigation, SSI promptly disclosed to the government the prohibited payment. SSI also provided the government with a detailed and thorough written disclosure and cooperated with the government throughout its investigation.

The resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section and DCIS.

Fraud Section Senior Trial Counsel Andrew A. Steinberg handled the matter.

The claims resolved by the United States in the settlement are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability.

MIL Security OSI –

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Hong Kong-Based Company Agrees to Pay $876,000 to Resolve Alleged False Claims Act Violations

Source: United States Attorneys General 11

Schaefer Systems International Ltd. (SSI) has agreed to pay $876,000 to resolve alleged False Claims Act violations relating to the payment of a prohibited finder’s fee in connection with the award of an Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) contract to supply a pallet racking system for a warehouse at a U.S. military base in South Korea. SSI markets and sells warehouse logistics systems and provides related services throughout Asia. SSI disclosed the prohibited payment to the government following an internal compliance review and internal investigation.

The settlement resolves allegations that prior to the award of the AAFES contract in 2018, SSI falsely certified its compliance with a procurement integrity provision limiting the payment of commissions to certain bona fide employees and agencies. Unbeknownst to AAFES, SSI intended to pay a finder’s fee to a South Korean national who had informed SSI of the potential contracting opportunity and helped secure the contract.

“Those who do business with the government must do so fairly and honestly,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We will hold accountable contractors that fail to follow procurement rules, but we will also give credit to those who disclose their wrongdoing, take appropriate remedial actions, and meaningfully cooperate with the government’s investigation.”

“Department of Defense contractors have a duty to uphold their contractual obligations and deliver honest value to the American taxpayer,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Stanley A. Newell of the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Transnational Operations Field Office. “This civil settlement demonstrates that illicit payment schemes and kickbacks will not be tolerated. The dedicated professionals of DCIS will work tirelessly to hold those who violate the public trust accountable.”

In connection with the settlement, the United States acknowledged that SSI took a number of significant steps entitling them to credit for cooperating with the government. Following an internal compliance review and independent investigation, SSI promptly disclosed to the government the prohibited payment. SSI also provided the government with a detailed and thorough written disclosure and cooperated with the government throughout its investigation.

The resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section and DCIS.

Fraud Section Senior Trial Counsel Andrew A. Steinberg handled the matter.

The claims resolved by the United States in the settlement are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability.

MIL Security OSI –

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/KOREA – Appointment of auxiliary bishop of Seoul.

Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

Tuesday, 8 July 2025

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – The Holy Father has appointed the Reverend Matthew Kwang-Hee Choi, until now director of the Department of Culture and Communication and spokesperson for the metropolitan archdiocese of Seoul, Korea, as auxiliary bishop of the same ecclesiastical circumscription, assigning him the titular see of Elephantaria in Mauretania.Msgr. Matthew Kwang-Hee Choi was born on 21 September 1977 in Seoul. He studied philosophy and theology at the Catholic University of Korea, obtaining a licentiate in theology.He was ordained a priest on 2 July 2004 for the metropolitan archdiocese of Seoul.After ordination, he first served as parish vicar of Mook-dong and Shingsa-dong in Seoul (2004-2007). He was awarded a licentiate in biblical theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome (2008-2012), and exercised his pastoral ministry at the Catholic Youth Biblical Group (2013-2020). He served as formator in the Saint Peter formation programme for young priests of the metropolitan archdiocese of Seoul (since 2020) and deputy director of the Saint Imbert Centre for Spiritual Exercises in Seoul (2021-2023).Since 2023 he has been director of the Department of Culture and Communication of the metropolitan archdiocese of Seoul, member of the Presbyteral Council, secretary of the Public Relations Commission, member of the Commission for the Foreign Missions, member of the Archdiocesan Council, member of the Society for Study Grants of Onggi, member of the Commission for the Approval of Private Associations of the Lay Apostolate, member of the Commission for the Causes of Saints, deputy chair of the Diocesan Mass Media Commission, director of the Academy of Catholic Art, director of the Gallery 1898, head of the Association of Catholic Journalists, and head of Signis Korea.Since 2024, he has served as spokesperson for the metropolitan archdiocese of Seoul and head of external relations for the organization of World Youth Day Seoul 2027, and since 2025, member of the management board of the John Paul II Youth Foundation. (EG) (Agenzia Fides, 8/7/2025)
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MIL OSI Europe News –

July 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/INDONESIA – A priest: “Positive impact” of the government’s child nutrition program

Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

Jakarta (Agenzia Fides) – “I hear mostly positive things about the nutrition and free meals program for children, launched by the Indonesian government last January, in various parts of Indonesia. It is having an impact on children’s nutrition, and even Catholic schools and our seminaries have benefited,” says Father Alfonsus Widhiwiryawan Sx, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) in Indonesia and local Xaverian missionary, in an interview with Fides, during a public debate in the country on the program launched by President Propbowo Subianto. “Of course,” the priest continues, “one must always differentiate and consider the local situation in the various regions, given the vastness and diversity of the regions that make up Indonesia. But in general, one can say that we can observe a positive impact, especially in the poorest regions such as Papua and Borneo, where the problem of food security for children in indigenous communities is particularly serious,” emphasizes Father Widhiwiryawan, who, in his role as National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, has the opportunity to travel to dioceses of the archipelago and assess the situation firsthand. “The implementation of the program,” he notes, “is carried out by the provincial governments and the organization of the kitchens. This is another aspect to consider, and one that is multifaceted. In addition, in the implementation of the program, certain schools are selected and given priority according to established criteria. I can say that I have also observed positive comments and reactions in Catholic parishes and schools because it is a tool in the educational process,” he notes. “Some teachers and people working in the education sector,” he says, “report that the program is more than just a gesture of charity, as it contributes to educational results: Improving children’s nutrition leads to increased performance and learning results, which clearly correlate with better overall human development,” he emphasizes. Locally, the government program is supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which leads a coalition of international partners. These partners, who also share the goal of improving nutrition across the country, provide technical assistance for the program and help monitor results, contact beneficiary families, set standards, and control the quality of the food provided. According to the National Agency for Nutrition, the government’s free school meals program reached nearly 7 million beneficiaries by July 2025. The program, announced by President Prabowo Subianto during his election campaign and with which he won support, was launched on January 6th and is intended to reach 82 million children nationwide with a gradual expansion. 1,873 food service units, officially called “Food Service Units,” are already in operation to implement the program. The program plans to open another 473 units nationwide in the coming weeks and establish partnerships with approximately 10,000 small and medium-sized enterprises or local cooperatives that will supply the food service units with raw materials and local products. According to the government’s goals, the program is expected to reach 24 million beneficiaries by the end of August. However, the program has also caused confusion and sparked a political debate. According to some observers, investing public funds in such a welfare program means diverting necessary resources from measures to stimulate the economy and employment. To finance the program, the government has cut funding to the Ministries of Public Works, Health, and Education. Meanwhile, unemployment is rising across the country, and the International Monetary Fund has predicted that it will rise in Indonesia from 4.9% in 2024 to 5% in 2025. But Prabowo’s feeding program has also been the subject of further controversy: hundreds of children who benefited from it suffered food poisoning, and authorities have raised concerns about accountability and corruption. The media points out that President Prabowo is focusing on low-income social groups and raises doubts about the sustainability of the program, which, when fully implemented, will cost USD 44 billion a year, or about 8% of the national budget. (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 8/7/2025)
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MIL OSI Europe News –

July 9, 2025

Category: Asia

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