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  • MIL-OSI Global: A 16th-century Chinese writer spoke of workplace burnout, leaving a blueprint for radical acts of rest

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jason Wang, Postdoctoral Fellow, Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre, Toronto Metropolitan University

    Gathering at the Orchid Pavilion by Qian Gu, 1560 (Chinese, 1508–ca. 1578), Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Handscroll, ink C. C. Wang Family, Gift of Douglas Dillon, 1980/ MET open collection, CC BY

    We are in the middle of a global workplace burnout epidemic — aptly named the “burnout society” by Korean-German philosopher Byung-Chul Han.

    Four centuries ago, late Ming Dynasty scholar-official Yuan Hongdao (1568–1610) shifted from state administrative work to xiaopin — brief, personal essays celebrating everyday pleasures like gardening, leisurely excursions and long vigils beside a rare blossom.

    The cover of ‘Burnout Society’ by Byung-Chul Han.
    (Stanford U Press)

    Today, his Ming Dynasty-era practice resonates with uncanny urgency within our burnout epidemic.

    Amid the Wanli Emperor’s neglect and escalating bureaucratic infighting in Beijing, Yuan turned away from what today we call a “toxic workplace.”

    Instead, he found refuge in Jiangnan’s landscapes and literary circles. There he exchanged hierarchical pressures, administrative tedium and cut-throat careerism for moments of unhurried attention.

    Yuan’s xiaopin, alongside those of his contemporaries, transformed fleeting sensory moments into radical acts of resilience, suggesting that beauty, not institutions, could outlast empires.

    The Ming Dynasty: A literary rebellion

    The late Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) was an era of contradictions.

    While Europe hurtled toward colonialism and scientific rationalism, China’s Jiangnan region — the fertile Yangtze Delta in today’s Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces — flourished via merchant wealth, global silver trade and a thriving print culture.

    Bookshops lined city streets like modern cafés. They peddled plays, poetry and xiaopin volumes like Meiyou Pavilion of Arts and Leisure (1630) and Sixteen Xiaopin Masters of the Imperial Ming (1633).

    The imperial examination system, a civil service written exam — once a path to prestige — had become a bottleneck. Thousands of scholars languished in bureaucratic limbo, channelling their frustrations and exhaustion into xiaopin’s intimate vignettes.

    Chinese imperial examination candidates gathering around the wall where the results are posted (painting by Qiu Ying, c. 1540)
    (National Palace Museum)

    In his preface to Meiyou Pavilion, editor Zheng Yuanxun (1603–1644) praised the genre’s “flavour beyond flavour, rhythm beyond rhythm” — a poetic nod to its rich sensory detail and subtle musicality — rejecting moralizing orthodox prose by embracing immersive aesthetics.

    Against neo-Confucianism’s rigid hierarchies, xiaopin elevated the private, the ephemeral and the esthetically oblique: a well-brewed pot of tea, the texture of moss on a garden rock and incense wafting through a study.

    Wei Shang, professor of Chinese culture at Columbia University, has noted such playful text flourished among late Ming literati disillusioned with the era’s constraints. The texts reframed idleness and sensory pleasure as subtle dissent within a status-obsessed society.

    When doing less becomes radical

    Long before French poet Charles Baudelaire’s flâneur used dandyism and idle promenades to resist the alienating pace of western modernity, Ming literati like Chen Jiru (1558–1639) and Gao Lian (1573–1620) framed idleness as defiance.

    Drawing on Daoist wu wei (non-action), Gao praised the “crystal clear retreat” that scrubbed the heart of “worldly grime” and cultivated “a tranquil heart and joyful spirit.” For him, human worth lay not in bureaucratic promotions but in savouring tea, listening to crickets or resting against a well-fluffed pillow.

    A hanging scroll, ink on paper of a plum blossom branch by Chen Jiu (1558–1639).
    (Yale University Art Gallery/S. Sidney Kahn, 1959/Christie’s, lot 677, 1983/Bones of Jade, Soul of Ice, 1985), CC BY

    Hung-tai Wang, a cultural historian at Academia Sinica in Taipei, identifies xiaopin as a “leisurely and elegant” esthetic rooted in nature’s rhythms.

    Chen Jiru, a Ming Dynasty-era painter and essayist, embodied this framework by disallowing transactional logic. In one essay, Chen lauds those who possess “poetry without words, serenity without sutras, joy without wine.” In other words, he admired those whose lives resonated through prioritizing lived gestures over abstract ideals.

    The art of living in a disconnected age

    In the late Ming’s burgeoning urban and commercial milieu, xiaopin turned everyday objects into remedies for social isolation.

    In the Jiangnan gardens, late Ming essayists saw landscapes infused with emotion. At the time, essayist Wu Congxian called it “lodging meaning among mountains and rivers:” moonlight turned into icy jade, oar splashes to cosmic echoes.

    Chen Jiru had study rituals — fingering a bronze cauldron, tapping an inkstone — curated what he termed “incense for solitude, tea for clarity, stone for refinement.”

    This cultivation of object-as-presence anticipates American academic Bill Brown’s “thing theory,” where everyday items invite embodied contemplation and challenge the subject-object binary that enables commodification.

    The Ming Dynasty-era scholar-connoisseur, Wen Zhenheng (1585–1645), turned domestic minutiae into philosophical resistance.

    His xiaopin framed everyday choices — snowmelt for tea, rooms facing narrow water, a skiff “like a study adrift” — as rejections of abstraction. Through details like cherries on porcelain or tangerines pickled before ripening, he asserted that value lies in presence, not utility.

    Wen suggests that exhaustion stems not from labour but from disconnection.

    The Garden of the Inept Administrator (Zhuozheng Yuan) by Wen Zhengming, 1551. Wen painted 31 views of the site, each accompanied by a poem and a descriptive note.
    (Gift of Douglas Dillon, 1979/MET open source collection), CC BY

    The burnout rebellions: ‘Tang ping,’ ‘quiet quitting’

    Just as xiaopin turned domestic rituals into resistance, today’s movements recast the mundane as a mode of defiance.

    In April 2021, China’s tang ping (“lying flat”) movement surfaced with a post by former factory worker Luo Huazhong: “Lying flat is justice.” The message was simple and subversive: work had become intolerable, and opting out was not laziness but resistance.

    In a backlash against China’s “996” work model extolled by tech moguls like Jack Ma, tang ping rejects the sacrifice of dignity and mental health for productivity and casts idleness as a quiet revolt against exploitative norms.

    In the West, the COVID-19 pandemic sparked similar reckonings. The “Great Resignation” saw millions leave unfulfilling jobs. And “quiet quitting” rejected unpaid overtime and emotional labour. These movements emerged as a soft refusal of hustle culture.

    As anthropologist David Graeber argues in Bullshit Jobs (2018), the “moral and spiritual damage” inflicted by meaningless work reflects a profound political failure.

    Just like the late Ming literati who poured their lives into a state that repaid them with hollow titles and bureaucratic decay, today’s workers withdraw from institutions that exploit their labour yet treat them as disposable.

    Unlike French philosopher Michel de Montaigne’s introspective self-examination in his Renaissance-era Essays, xiaopin refuses utility. In doing so, it inverts the contemporary self-help trend critiqued by Byung-Chul Han, which co-opts personal “healing” as a form of productivity through neoliberal logic.

    Xiaopin proposes resistance as an existential shift beyond (self-)optimization. Its most radical gesture is not to demand change, but to live as if the system’s demands are irrelevant.

    The revolution of pause

    Xiaopin asks: What is progress without presence? Its fragments — on lotus ponds, summer naps, a cat’s shadow — prove that resistance need not be loud.

    Like Japanese writer Haruki Murakami’s vision of contemporary literature as “space of individual recovery,” the genre shelters us from “hierarchy and efficiency.”

    Here, time is not spent but reclaimed.

    To pause in an age of weaponized ambition is in fact revolt. Tracing a petal’s vein, sipping tea until bitterness fades, lying flat as the machinery of productivity grinds on — these are not acts of shirking reality, but defiant gestures against the systems that feed on our exhaustion. They are affirmations of agency: microcosms where we rehearse what it means to belong to ourselves, and thus, to the world.

    Xiaopin’s revolution awakens in a flicker of attention: a reminder that presence, too, is a language — one that hums beneath the buzz of progress, waiting to be heard.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. A 16th-century Chinese writer spoke of workplace burnout, leaving a blueprint for radical acts of rest – https://theconversation.com/a-16th-century-chinese-writer-spoke-of-workplace-burnout-leaving-a-blueprint-for-radical-acts-of-rest-256651

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Waiting for Godot has been translated into Afrikaans: what took so long

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Rick de Villiers, Associate professor, University of the Free State

    At last, the most infamous latecomer in all of literature has arrived – not in the flesh, but in South Africa’s Afrikaans language. Irish playwright Samuel Beckett’s best-known drama, Waiting for Godot, now also lives as Ons Wag vir Godot.

    Published and staged in 2024, the translation was inspired by the official centenary of Afrikaans in 2025.

    As a Beckett scholar, I think it’s worth asking why Afrikaans is so late on the scene – and why it matters.

    Godot in many tongues

    First written in French, En attendant Godot was published in 1952 and debuted on stage the next year.

    Naledi Books

    The action involves two tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, who have a series of absurd conversations and encounters as they wait for a man called Godot who never arrives. Beckett would self-translate the drama into English in 1954, calling it “a tragicomedy in two acts”.

    Since then, translations of the play have exploded. By 1969 – the year of Beckett’s Nobel Prize for Literature – Waiting for Godot could already be read in dozens of languages, including Albanian, Marathi, and even Icelandic.

    Samuel Beckett and South Africa

    Beckett’s connections with South Africa are surprisingly varied. As a young man, he unsuccessfully applied for a lectureship at the University of Cape Town. His 1951 novel, Molloy, was translated from French into English with the help of a South African student, Patrick Bowles. And in 1968, Beckett made a donation to the then-banned resistance party, the African National Congress, in the form of a manuscript for auction.

    This gesture was unprecedented for the Irish writer, who was wary of political causes. Yet not only did Beckett feel strongly enough about apartheid’s injustices to make this donation, he also refused to let anyone perform his plays before South Africa’s racially segregated audiences.

    Read more: The case of the acclaimed South African novel that ‘borrows’ from Samuel Beckett

    Already in 1963 Beckett had signed the petition Playwrights Against Apartheid. He would continue to refuse performance rights in South Africa until 1980, when the Baxter Theatre was allowed to stage Waiting for Godot with a racially integrated cast.

    Nevertheless, unauthorised Godots materialised before this. Athol Fugard, the South African playwright whose own dramas were influenced by Beckett, directed one of the earliest South African productions in 1962. Featuring an all-black cast, it testified to the play’s political charge, which Fugard emphasised:

    Vladimir and Estragon … were at Sharpeville or the first in at Auschwitz.

    It’s reasonable to think that Beckett would have supported this protest performance. But he would probably have denounced the first and unofficial Afrikaans version, Afspraak met Godot, translated by Suseth Brits and performed in 1970 at the Potchefstroom University College (now North-West University) behind closed doors.

    For different reasons, Beckett would also have frowned on the substantial “borrowings” in Afrikaans novelist Willem Anker’s 2014 novel, Buys.

    Domesticating a European classic

    Fully sanctioned by Beckett’s estate and beautifully translated (from the French and English) by now-retired professor of French at the University of the Free State Naòmi Morgan, Ons Wag vir Godot arrives at a different moment altogether.

    From left: Peter Taljaard (Pozzo), Charl Henning, Chris Vorster and Gerben Kamper (Lucky). Leopold Frechow/UFS

    The translation retains the gallows humour of the original while adding local flavour. For instance, where Vladimir originally names the Eiffel Tower as a picturesque site to commit suicide, his Afrikaans counterpart nominates Van Stadensbrug, a bridge over a ravine in the Eastern Cape. The slave-like Lucky once entertained his master with European dances: “the farandole, the fling, the brawl, the jig, the fandango”. These now become a South African mix: “volkspele, die riel, die pantsula, selfs die horrelpyp” (folk games, riel dance, pantsula dance, a hiding).

    In translation-speak, Ons Wag vir Godot is therefore fully “domesticated”: the play’s universality comes through even though – and perhaps even more so because – it’s anchored in a particular place and time.

    This struck me when I attended the play’s limited-run production, expertly directed by Dion van Niekerk, at the 2024 Vrystaat Kunstefees (Free State arts festival). Its set managed to thread together subtle South African roadside details: a toppled rubbish bin, pylons on the horizon, a (broken) picnic bench.

    Chris Vorster as Vladimir and Sibabalwe Jokani as Seun/Boy. Leopold Frechow/UFS

    In the text itself, we encounter familiar place names, sayings and cultural clues. Consider how Beckett’s abstract phrase “the essential doesn’t change” is grounded in African mythology: “Jakkals verander van hare, maar nie van streke nie” (The leopard doesn’t change its spots). Then there’s the charming touch of the dog in Vladimir’s song snatching “’n stukkie wors” (a piece of sausage particular to South Africa) rather than a measly “bone”.

    Godot and the Afrikaans canon

    Ons Wag vir Godot achieves its most profound tribute to Beckett and Afrikaans through its intertextual richness. Both the French and English originals are highly allusive texts: they invoke other works of literature to increase their range of meaning and subtlety. Morgan is attuned to this subtlety and to the parallels to be found in Afrikaans literature. There are references to works by canonical Afrikaans writers like Eugène Marais, Totius and C.J. Langenhoven, each adding its own resonance.

    Read more: Koos Prinsloo: the cult Afrikaans writer has been translated to English – here’s a review

    Yet the dilemma any translator faces is not so much in bringing in the new, but in striking a balance with the old. Consider the judicious swapping of a line from Percy Bysshe Shelley for a line from C. Louis Leipoldt.

    In the English version, Estragon looks up forlornly at the moon and half-quotes the English Romantic poet: “Pale for weariness … Of climbing heaven and staring on the likes of us.” In the Afrikaans, he gives us a fragment from the wistful poem, Die Moormansgat: “ek kyk na die lig van die volle silwermaan” (I behold the light of the full silver moon). At face value, this lacks the detached, woeful quality of Shelley’s line. But read in the context of Leipoldt’s poem, it is every bit as poignant.

    The virtue of waiting

    “Vladimir would agree,” Morgan concludes in the preface to her translation, “that a century is a decent amount of time to hone a language for the translation of one of the best-known dramas in world literature”.

    Read more: Animal Farm has been translated into Shona – why a group of Zimbabwean writers undertook the task

    And indeed, the riches of the Afrikaans language are on display in this sensitive, witty and allusive rendering of Beckett’s European classic. But it’s also true that a certain amount of political baggage had to be shaken off before such a feat could be realised – not just in the right words, but in the right spirit. Of course, if Beckett’s play teaches us anything, it’s the virtue of waiting.

    – Waiting for Godot has been translated into Afrikaans: what took so long
    – https://theconversation.com/waiting-for-godot-has-been-translated-into-afrikaans-what-took-so-long-257345

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Mbare Art Space: a colonial beer hall in Zimbabwe has become a vibrant arts centre

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Tinashe Mushakavanhu, Research Associate, University of Oxford

    In southern Africa townships were built as segregated urban zones for black people. They were created under colonial and white minority rule policies that controlled movement, confined opportunity, and kept people apart.

    I grew up in a different historic black township in Zimbabwe, but Mbare was the first of its kind. It holds a unique place in the nation’s imagination.

    Mbare was originally named Harare. But in 1982 that name was reassigned to the capital city that houses it. In its storied past, it was once the heartbeat of black urban life. At its centre is Rufaro Stadium, where Bob Marley and the Wailers famously performed at Zimbabwe’s independence celebrations.

    The old beer hall that today houses artists. Tatenda Kanengoni

    The township was a hub of cultural energy, sports, and political activism, and the community beer hall served as a vital gathering point. Today, many of these beer halls stand derelict.

    These once-thriving communal spaces reflect a broader neglect of civic infrastructure in post-independence Zimbabwe. Yet out of these ruins, new life is taking shape.

    One of the most influential figures in Zimbabwe’s artist-run spaces movement, Moffat Takadiwa, has transformed one of these former beer halls into the Mbare Art Space. The dynamic arts hub reclaims the building’s original spirit of gathering, creativity and public engagement.

    Artists have transformed the beer hall. Tatenda Kanengoni

    Operating under a long lease from the Harare City Council, this nonprofit initiative is part of a wider urban renewal and adaptive reuse project aimed at reimagining the city’s cultural infrastructure.

    My ongoing work in archival research includes mapping and visiting historical and cultural spaces like this. Here Takadiwa saw the potential for not just studios and an exhibition venue, but also for dialogue and community regeneration.

    Transforming spaces

    Beer halls were established by British colonial authorities in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) as part of a strategy of social control over the African urban population. They were designed to regulate leisure, restrict political organising and generate revenue through the sale of alcohol. By centralising drinking in state-run facilities, colonial administrators aimed to monitor and contain African social life while profiting from it.

    Situated in a repurposed colonial-era beer garden, Mbare Art Space turns a former site of segregation into a vibrant centre of artistic and communal revival. It redefines a legacy of constraint and control as one of creative freedom and empowerment. The place is now an artists’ haven with studios, office space, an exhibition hall and a digital hub.

    Moffat Takadiwa, the artist behind the project. Tatenda Kanengoni

    Takadiwa’s vision is informed by global precedents, notably inspired by US artist Theaster Gates, whose work includes the transformation of a derelict bank on Chicago’s South Side. It became the Stony Island Arts Bank – a hybrid space for art, archives and community engagement.

    Takadiwa opened Mbare Art Space in 2019 with a vision to support emerging artists through mentorship and access to resources. True to his artistic philosophy – resurrecting abandoned, often overlooked materials suffering the effects of urban decay – he revitalised a neglected site. Most of the artists working from this space follow his lead, upcycling and recycling found materials into compelling visual forms that speak to both history and possibility.

    Kimberly Tatenda Gakanje at work in the space. Tatenda Kanengoni

    When I arrive, Takadiwa is on his way out, but offers me a quick tour of his studio, where works in progress for his upcoming participation in the São Paulo Biennale are taking shape.

    Known for his lush, densely layered sculptures and tapestry-like works made from found objects – computer keyboards, bottle tops, toothbrushes, and toothpaste tubes – Takadiwa has garnered international acclaim. His works are collected by US rapper Jay-Z and major institutions like the Centre National d’Art Plastique in Paris, the European Parliament’s art collection in Brussels, and the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare.

    Collaboration

    What Takadiwa is building is not just an arts centre – it’s a new model space rooted in history and responsive to the present. The site itself becomes an ongoing installation, activated by the artists, curators and community members who inhabit it.

    Tafadzwa B Chataika works with recycled materials. Tatenda Kanengoni

    Tafadzwa Chimbumu, the operations manager, takes over the tour, guiding me through the rest of the precinct. The site retains the bones of its beer hall architecture, but it bursts with new life. Colourful murals adorn the walls. Tents draped over smaller buildings animate the exposed brickwork.

    Plans are underway to establish a library here, a resource where researchers and artists can engage with Zimbabwe’s under-documented art history. Much of this history is scattered across archives and unpublished dissertations, rather than in widely available books. The aim is to bring these materials together and make them more accessible to the public.

    Mbare Art Space is also becoming an exciting hub for collaboration and education. Community workshops, for example, are led by resident artists. Local schools take part in art education initiatives. Through community outreach and educational programming, the centre is extending its impact beyond its immediate geography.

    Nkosiyabo Frank Nyoni making art at the space. Tatenda Kanengoni

    As it looks to the future, Mbare Art Space is focused on expanding its artist-in-residence programme, inviting both local and international artists to immerse themselves in the context of Mbare and Zimbabwe.

    Ultimately, what the space offers is something intangible – a feeling, a memory, a vision of what is possible when history and imagination meet in a shared place.

    – Mbare Art Space: a colonial beer hall in Zimbabwe has become a vibrant arts centre
    – https://theconversation.com/mbare-art-space-a-colonial-beer-hall-in-zimbabwe-has-become-a-vibrant-arts-centre-256528

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Choosing to be an orphan: for some Kenyan families it’s a strategy for survival

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Andreana Prichard, Associate Professor of Honors and African History, University of Oklahoma

    In the world of international child development and orphan care, it’s not uncommon for children with families to declare themselves orphans. In fact, this practice can be traced back to precolonial times in Kenya.

    Andreana Prichard has done research on the practice in Kenya. We asked her to share her insights into it.

    Why do some people in Kenya assume the identity of ‘orphan’?

    We often think of “orphans” as children who have lost both parents and who lack kin networks. One might ask why someone would “opt in” to orphan status when they do not fall within the classical definition of the term.

    In my paper I look at the issue of orphanhood over the last 160 years. Case studies from Kenya I examine illustrate that the practice I define as “opting in” to orphanhood has precolonial roots. I define “opting in” as choosing to take on the label of being an orphan. This can be done by parents, relatives or even, in some instances, the child. This is because the label “orphan” has come to confer unique opportunities.

    The practice became increasingly popular in the mid-1990s, when parents in eastern and southern Africa who had contracted HIV began to die in large numbers. Activists feared many children would be left without caregivers.

    In response, the number of orphanages proliferated as humanitarian actors, churches and states inundated east Africa with orphan-focused NGOs.

    In 2020, officials in Kenya estimated that there were at least 910 residential institutions for children in the country (of which 581 were registered), housing between 26,198 and 85,733 Kenyan children.

    The predicted “orphan crisis” never materialised, partly because families and communities stepped in to care for newly parentless children. But the idea of an “orphan crisis” remained, and so did the funding and infrastructure.

    This phenomenon occurred across the continent, not just in Kenya. However, its effects were felt particularly acutely in eastern and southern Africa where HIV/Aids prevalence rates were higher and where there was more western tourism.

    Today, many African families see orphan-focused NGOs as a path to access education and improve their lives. My research shows that children themselves sometimes affiliate with an institution that provides shelter, food and schooling. Children facing abuse from caregivers may also prefer the relative anonymity and safety of an institution.

    In some cases, receiving orphan services actually raises the status of the “orphan” child above that of other children. They have access to more material resources than they might have had in their villages or at home. They might have more leisure time and less work. They may have access to better bedding, shoes and clothing. They are also likely able to attend school more consistently and have a real opportunity to attend university.

    Does ‘opting in’ have a long history?

    Yes, it does.

    In the precolonial period, most parentless or vulnerable children were cared for through lasting community support systems. Orphanhood, as it exists today as a child lacking support, protection, or care from kin, was largely avoided.

    However, the late 19th to mid-20th centuries brought new actors to the east African region. The practice of “opting in” became a strategic, temporary option used by families to access services from western humanitarians.

    The earliest example of this shift I found in my research is from the 1890s. Fearing their children would be caught in the Indian Ocean slave trade, African parents sometimes chose to send their children to British missions until the region was safe. They knew the missionaries opposed the slave trade and knew they offered food and medical care.

    African parents thought they were making temporary arrangements to keep their children safe. Missionaries, however, understood parents to have abandoned their children. When parents returned to repay the debt – with agricultural produce or trade goods – and to reclaim their children, missionaries refused them.

    In another example from Kenya in the 1950s, the British colonial government opened “reform schools” for young men. The Wamumu Approved School was renowned for the relative quality of education it provided. But the state admitted only the “most vulnerable” for a free education. Feeling they had no way to access Wamumu, students claimed to be orphans.

    What have been the negative effects of Kenya’s orphan system?

    There are several problems with creating a situation in which people present themselves as vulnerable just to gain safety or improve their social and economic standing.

    First, research has shown that building orphanages in poor communities incentivises parents to abandon their children if they’re not also given the help to remain together.

    Second, research shows that children are often put at risk in these institutions. Institutionalisation exposes children to risks such as sexual abuse, gender-based violence and neglect.

    Third, orphanages have become so lucrative that African orphanage owners will go to great lengths to fit African children into the categories westerners wish to fund. The phenomenon of “paper orphans” is a prime example. “Paper orphans” are children who are recruited from their homes by proprietors (or middlemen/brokers) of orphanages and residential-care facilities. Fraudulent documentation is created for them – often including false death certificates of parents and new identity registration documents – rendering them orphans on paper, and vulnerable in practice.

    What should be done?

    Governments in Europe, Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean are trying to phase out orphanages, as are some African countries.

    Based on my research I believe that working with families to support vulnerable children in their homes of origin or with extended families is a better option. This can be done through assistance programmes for vulnerable families as well as child welfare programmes. These allow families to remain intact when experiencing hardship.

    Kenya is taking steps to do this by replacing orphanages and other forms of residential children’s homes with family-based, foster and community-based care and other forms of assistance. Family strengthening approaches include positive parenting instruction, life skills training, and income-generating activities, as well as supportive supervision.

    In addition to this, missionary and voluntourism trips to orphanages and residential care facilities should be banned or limited.

    – Choosing to be an orphan: for some Kenyan families it’s a strategy for survival
    – https://theconversation.com/choosing-to-be-an-orphan-for-some-kenyan-families-its-a-strategy-for-survival-247371

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Video: Secretary Rubio meets with North Macedonia Foreign Minister Timčo Mucunski

    Source: United States of America – Department of State (video statements)

    Secretary of State Marco A. Rubio meets with North Macedonia Foreign Minister Timčo Mucunski at the Department of State, on May 29, 2025.

    ———-
    Under the leadership of the President and Secretary of State, the U.S. Department of State leads America’s foreign policy through diplomacy, advocacy, and assistance by advancing the interests of the American people, their safety and economic prosperity. On behalf of the American people we promote and demonstrate democratic values and advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world.

    The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser. The Secretary carries out the President’s foreign policies through the State Department, which includes the Foreign Service, Civil Service and U.S. Agency for International Development.

    Get updates from the U.S. Department of State at www.state.gov and on social media!
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    #StateDepartment #DepartmentofState #Diplomacy

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

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Recruitment for an IT Service and Operations Manager

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    News story

    Recruitment for an IT Service and Operations Manager

    IT Service and Operations Manager, working on the running and maintenance of the VMD services available to users.

    We have a vacancy for an IT Service and Operations Manager.

    Job Title

    IT Service and Operations Manager

    Grade

    G7

    Salary & Pension

    £59,900 per annum with Pension Scheme

    Annual Leave entitlement

    Commencing at 25 days

    Role

    As the IT Service and Operations Manager, you will agree and monitor IT service levels across all relevant business functions, managing an operations team with a user-centric support approach, focused on service availability, security and performance.

    How to apply

    You must make your application via IT Service and Operations Manager – Civil Service Jobs – GOV.UK where you will find a full job description.

    Closing Date

    24 June 2025

    Updates to this page

    Published 29 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Recruitment for a Distribution and Supply Chain Inspector for South East England

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    News story

    Recruitment for a Distribution and Supply Chain Inspector for South East England

    Distribution and Supply Chain Inspector vacancy, working on inspections and investigations to ensure compliance with the Veterinary Medicines Regulations (VMR).

    We have a vacancy for a Distribution and Supply Chain Inspector.

    Job Title

    Distribution and Supply Chain Inspector for South East England

    Grade

    SEO

    Salary & Pension

    £41,220 per annum with Pension Scheme

    Annual Leave entitlement

    Commencing at 25 days

    Role

    This role contributes to the VMD’s aims and objectives through inspections and investigations to ensure that UK veterinary-only wholesale dealers, feed business operators and veterinary medicines retailers comply with the Veterinary Medicines Regulations (VMR). 

    How to apply

    You must make your application via Distribution and Supply Chain Inspector for South East England – Civil Service Jobs – GOV.UK where you will find a full job description.

    Closing Date

    16 June 2025

    Updates to this page

    Published 29 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Vladimir Stroyev joined the presidium of the International Movement for Financial Security

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –

    On May 27, 2025, within the framework of the 42nd Plenary Week of the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG), the 22nd meeting of the Council of the International Network Institute in the field of AML/CFT and the conference of the International Movement for Financial Security were held with the participation of the management, teachers and students of the State University of Management, headed by Vice-Rector Dmitry Bryukhanov.

    In 2025, GUU officially joined the International Movement for Financial Security, created on the initiative of a student from Brazil, Augusto Lemmertz, during a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the finalists of the III International Financial Security Olympiad in 2023. And on May 27, as part of the next conference of the International Movement for Financial Security, GUU Rector Vladimir Stroyev joined the Presidium of the movement. The Chairman of the Presidium of the movement is Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Chernyshenko, and the Deputy Chairman is Director of Rosfinmonitoring Yuri Chikhanchin.

    Let us recall that the State University of Management has been a member of the ISI in the field of AML/CFT since 2014, and has been actively participating in the Olympiad movement since the selection events of the 1st International Financial Security Olympiad in 2021. Since 2023, it has been actively working in the field of promoting the financial security Olympiad movement in historical territories, in particular, in 2023 it organized the selection of participants in the Olympiad finals among students and schoolchildren from the DPR, LPR, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, in the same year it organized a summer school for finalists from historical territories and annually participates in the training of teachers of historical territories to conduct a thematic lesson on financial security.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Saskatchewan Provides New Funding for Autism Summer Programming

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Released on May 29, 2025

    The Government of Saskatchewan is increasing funding to the Autism Resource Centre (ARC) of Regina by providing $235,000 to support the expansion of a summer program for children and youth.

    “Summer programs are a key and enriching part of the lives of many children and families,” Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said. “Great memories and life lessons are often a part of these experiences, and I am pleased we can offer this support to the Autism Resource Centre to enable more summer programming options.”

    The Autism Resource Centre provides the Therapeutic Summer Program for children and youth ages seven and up who are returning to school in fall. The summer camp program emphasizes individualized goals and life skill development. 

    “ARC’s summer program is a lifeline for many families – providing individualized, one-to-one support that helps autistic children maintain and develop critical skills, routines and social confidence,” Autism Resource Centre Executive Director Angela Ricci said. “Families consistently tell us how essential this program is, not just for their child’s development, but for their overall peace of mind.” 

    Ricci added that one parent shared: “As a mom of a very high-needs autistic child, I would not have survived the last 15 years without this summer program. It has given our family peace of mind and essential continuity.”

    More information about the Autism Resource Centre and its camps can be found at: https://www.autismresourcecentre.com/

    In 2025-26, the Saskatchewan Health Authority provided annual funding of $1.5 million to the Autism Resource Centre for a range of services and programs to individuals and their families impacted by Autism Spectrum Disorder.

    -30-

    For more information, contact:

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Dina Titus Introduces LIFT Act to Raise Hourly Federal Minimum Wage to $17

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Dina Titus (1st District of Nevada)

    Congresswoman Dina Titus today introduced the Labor Income Fairness and Transparency Act (LIFT Act) to raise the minimum wage and all Fair Labor Standards Act subminimum wages to $17 per hour over the next three years with annual increases after that, provide income protections for tipped workers, and expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to cover more workers.

    “This legislation is a fair way to increase the take-home pay of both tipped employees and employees who do not receive tips, giving all hospitality and other workers a needed boost in meeting an increasing cost of living. It also will protect tipped workers from unjustified employer deductions from their tips,” Congresswoman Titus said. “These measures are necessary to help employees afford their rent, support their children, and pay their medical bills.”

    The LIFT Act would protect the incomes of tipped workers by requiring employers to provide a notice of tips received by an employee each day they work. It would prohibit managers from withholding tips to cover the cost of processing a tip. It would increase civil penalties for tip violations to equal those for other violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

    The LIFT Act also prohibits Wage and Hour investigators at the Department of Labor from being subjected to reductions in force, establishes a grant program for states and localities to improve enforcement and compliance with wage laws, and creates a Department of Labor National Advisory Committee on the Hospitality Industry.

    Further, benefiting all families, the LIFT Act would permanently extend changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit made by Congress during the COVID pandemic. These include increasing the maximum credit amount for workers without children, increasing the income threshold for earning the credit, and expanding the age range for eligible workers for those without children to include those 19-24 and over 65. It would also raise the maximum EITC for workers without children from $530 to $1,500, and the income cap for these adults to qualify from about $16,000 to at least $21,000.

    “The Earned Income Tax Credit was changed to provide needed relief for workers who have not benefitted as much as they should have from the credit,” Congresswoman Titus said. “Making these changes permanent will make a big difference in the lives of millions of lower-paid American workers.”

    The LIFT Act has been endorsed by One Fair Wage.

    “Cutting taxes on tips might make for a good soundbite, but on its own, it’s a hollow fix that ignores the real crisis: wages so low that two-thirds of restaurant workers don’t even earn enough to pay federal income taxes,” said Saru Jayaraman, Cofounder and President of One Fair Wage. “In a time of skyrocketing costs, workers are drowning and need more than political gimmicks—they need a raise. Tips should be a bonus, not a substitute for a living wage. By ending all subminimum wages and requiring that all workers be paid a full livable wage with tips on top, the LIFT Act addresses what working people need most: a fair wage, a level playing field, and the dignity that comes with being able to provide for their families.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Carter introduces bill to investigate the Biden cover-up

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Earl L Buddy Carter (GA-01)

    Headline: Carter introduces bill to investigate the Biden cover-up

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-GA) today introduced a bill creating a Select Committee to investigate the White House cover-up of former President Biden’s cognitive and physical health decline.

    The bipartisan Select Committee will be responsible for issuing a report to Congress detailing President Biden’s cognitive and physical health decline and the potential concealment of information from the American public.  

    “This is potentially the biggest political scandal of our lifetime, and the American people deserve to know the truth about who was really running the White House under Biden’s tenure as president. From using the autopen to pardon his own family members to likely concealing a cancer diagnosis, our government must restore trust with the public by fully investigating the former administration’s lies and getting to the bottom of one of the most consequential coverups in history,” said Rep. Carter.

    Original Cosponsors include: Reps. Mark Alford (R-MO), John Rose (R-TN), Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), and Barry Moore (R-AL). 

    Read the full bill text here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Bonta and Secretary of State Weber Continue Challenge to Huntington Beach Voter ID Law

    Source: US State of California

    Wednesday, May 28, 2025

    Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov

    OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D. today announced filing a notice of appeal in their lawsuit challenging Measure A, Huntington Beach’s voter identification (voter ID) law. Without citing any evidence that fraudulent voting occurs with any regularity in the city or has ever compromised the outcome of a municipal election, Measure A amended Huntington Beach’s charter to purportedly allow the city to impose voter ID requirements at the polls for all municipal elections starting in 2026. In their lawsuit, Attorney General Bonta and Secretary of State Weber argue that state law prohibits and overrides Measure A, and in their appeal, ask the California Fourth District Court of Appeal to reverse a lower court decision issued on April 7, 2025, denying the state’s petition for a writ of mandate. 

    “California’s elections are fair, safe, and secure,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “We respectfully ask the California Fourth District Court of Appeal to reverse the lower court’s decision and overturn Huntington Beach’s unlawful voter ID policy. State law supersedes local law when it comes to constitutional matters like the right to vote – and we will continue to fight to safeguard this fundamental right in court.” 

    “Municipalities should not be allowed to defy state laws in the name of solving nonexistent problems. I stand with Attorney General Bonta in fighting to reverse the lower court’s decision as we seek to overturn an unlawful voter ID policy,” said Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D.

    In their lawsuit filed in April 2024, Attorney General Bonta and Secretary of State Weber argued that Measure A is preempted by state law and invalid. Under the California Constitution, charter cities have the right to govern “municipal affairs,” but local law cannot conflict with state law governing a “statewide concern.” Both the integrity of California’s elections and the protection of the constitutional right to vote are matters of statewide concern. The lawsuit argues that California already maintains a uniform and robust legal scheme for safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process and protecting the rights of eligible voters. Unlawfully departing from this legal framework, Huntington Beach’s voter ID law purportedly allows the city to require additional identification from voters before they can exercise their right to vote. By authorizing this requirement, Huntington Beach’s voter ID law conflicts with state law and threatens to unlawfully disenfranchise voters at the polls.

    A copy of the notice of appeal can be found here. 

    # # #

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Surgent Income Tax School Launches 2025 Comprehensive Tax Course for Aspiring Tax Professionals

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    RADNOR, Pa., May 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Surgent Income Tax School, a division of Surgent Accounting and Financial Education, today announced the release of its 2025 Comprehensive Tax Course, the nation’s leading beginner tax preparer training program.

    Designed for individuals looking to start a career in tax preparation and for firms seeking to train new staff, the updated Comprehensive Tax Course combines real-world application, expert instruction and flexible delivery in one online platform.

    The 2025 edition includes refreshed content aligned with the latest IRS tax law updates, along with bonus resources that support new preparers in launching their career or growing their tax business. The course provides in-depth instruction on preparing individual tax returns for most U.S. taxpayers and now features updated content aligned with 2024 tax law changes, including adjustments to filing thresholds, deductions, credits and federal forms.

    “Our Comprehensive Tax Course remains the industry standard for aspiring tax preparers,” said Elizabeth Kolar, executive vice president at Surgent. “We’ve updated the course for 2025 to ensure learners are gaining relevant, applicable skills that help them start earning income quickly, whether they want to work seasonally or build a long-term business.”

    Available entirely online, the course allows learners to progress at their own pace with instructor support, graded exams and hands-on exercises. Students earn a certificate of completion and a digital badge, validating their credentials to clients and employers. The course also provides a strong foundation for further advancement, including pursuit of the IRS Enrolled Agent credential.

    “This course isn’t just about teaching tax law; it’s about helping people build sustainable careers,” said Nick Spoltore, vice president of tax and advisory content at Surgent. “We break down complex topics into manageable, real-life scenarios so learners feel confident applying what they’ve learned.”

    Training Staff with the 2025 Comprehensive Tax Course
    For tax business owners, the 2025 Comprehensive Tax Course also serves as a scalable training solution for new hires. Employers can purchase the course for multiple staff members and receive access to instructor tools for lesson plans, tracking student progress, providing feedback and maintaining compliance. This cost-effective solution helps firms expand their workforce while maintaining quality and consistency.

    A Unified Platform for Tax Professional Development
    Surgent recently consolidated its Income Tax School offerings at Surgent.com, giving students a single destination to begin and advance their careers. Aspiring tax professionals can now train to become a preparer, pursue the Enrolled Agent credential and meet annual continuing education requirements — all from one platform.

    “Bringing everything together on Surgent.com makes it easier than ever for learners to take control of their future,” said Kolar.

    About Surgent Accounting and Financial Education
    Surgent Accounting and Financial Education, a division of KnowFully Learning Group, delivers high-impact learning solutions for accounting, finance and tax professionals. Its offerings include Surgent CPE for continuing education, Surgent Exam Review for certification prep, and Surgent Income Tax School, which provides online training for aspiring and experienced tax preparers. Through flexible, expert-designed courses and real-world application, Surgent equips professionals with the skills and credentials to succeed at every career stage. Learn more at Surgent.com.

    About KnowFully Learning Group
    The KnowFully Learning Group provides continuing professional education, exam preparation courses and education resources to the accounting, finance and healthcare sectors. KnowFully’s suite of learning solutions helps learners become credentialed, satisfy required credit hours to maintain credentials and stay informed on the latest trends and critical changes in their industries over the course of their careers. The company provides exam preparation and continuing education for accounting, finance and tax professionals headlined by the Surgent Accounting & Financial Education brand. KnowFully’s healthcare education brands include American Fitness Professionals & Associates, ChiroCredit, freeCE, Impact EMS Training, Online CE, PharmCon, Rx Consultant and Psychotherapy.net. For more information, please visit KnowFully.com.

    Contact:
    Surgent Accounting and Financial Education
    marketing@surgent.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a6f91770-8662-4a5d-b9db-878b6b7229b8

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: MLCommons Announces Expansion of Industry-Leading AILuminate Benchmark

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN FRANCISCO, May 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — MLCommons® today announced that it is expanding its first-of-its-kind AILuminate benchmark to measure AI reliability across new models, languages, and tools. As part of this expansion, MLCommons is partnering with NASSCOM, India’s premier technology trade association, to bring AILuminate’s globally recognized AI reliability benchmarks to South Asia. MLCommons is also unveiling new proof of concept testing for AILuminate’s Chinese-language capabilities and new AILuminate reliability grades for an expanded suite of large language models (LLMs).

    ”We’re looking forward to working with NASSCOM to develop India-specific, Hindi-language benchmarks and ensure companies in India and around the world can better measure the reliability and risk of their AI products,” said Peter Mattson, President of MLCommons. “This partnership, along with new AILuminate grades and proof of concept for Chinese language capabilities, represents a major step towards the development of globally inclusive industry standards for AI reliability.”

    “The rapid development of AI is reshaping India’s technology sector and, in order to harness risk and foster innovation, rigorous global standards can help align the growth of the industry with emerging best practices,” said Ankit Bose, Head of NASSCOM AI. “We plan to work alongside MLCommons to develop these standards and ensure that the growth and societal integration of AI technology continues responsibly.”

    The NASSCOM collaboration builds on MLCommons’ intentionally global approach to AI benchmarking. Modeled after MLCommons’ ongoing partnership with Singapore’s AI Verify Foundation, the NASSCOM partnership will help to meet South Asia’s urgent need for standardized AI benchmarks that are collaboratively designed and trusted by the region’s industry experts, policymakers, civil society members, and academic researchers. MLCommons’ partnership with the AI Verify Foundation – in close collaboration with the National University of Singapore – has already resulted in significant progress towards globally-inclusive AI benchmarking across East Asia, including just-released proof of concept scores for Chinese-language LLMs.

    AILuminate is also unveiling new reliability grades for an updated and expanded suite of LLMs, to help companies around the world better measure product risk. Like previous AILuminate testing, these grades are based on LLM responses to 24,000 test prompts across 12 hazard categories – including including violent and non-violent crimes, child sexual exploitation, hate, and suicide/self-harm. None of the LLMs evaluated were given any advance knowledge of the evaluation prompts (a common problem in non-rigorous benchmarking), nor access to the evaluator model used to assess responses. This independence provides a methodological rigor uncommon in standard academic research or private benchmarking.

    “Companies are rapidly incorporating chatbots into their products, and these updated grades will help them better understand and compare risk across new and constantly-updated models,” said Rebecca Weiss, Executive Director of MLCommons.”We’re grateful to our partners on the Risk and Reliability Working Group – including some of the foremost AI researchers, developers, and technical experts – for ensuring a rigorous, empirically-sound analysis that can be trusted by industry and academia like.”

    Having successfully expanded the AILuminate benchmark to multiple languages, the AI Risk & Reliability Working Group is beginning the process of evaluating reliability across increasingly sophisticated AI tools, including mutli-modal LLMs and agentic AI. We hope to announce proof-of-concept benchmarks in these spaces later this year.

    About MLCommons
    MLCommons is the world leader in building benchmarks for AI. It is an open engineering consortium with a mission to make AI better for everyone through benchmarks and data. The foundation for MLCommons began with the MLPerf® benchmarks in 2018, which rapidly scaled as a set of industry metrics to measure machine learning performance and promote transparency of machine learning techniques. In collaboration with its 125+ members, global technology providers, academics, and researchers, MLCommons is focused on collaborative engineering work that builds tools for the entire AI industry through benchmarks and metrics, public datasets, and measurements for AI risk and reliability.

    Press Inquiries:

    press@mlcommons.org

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: FirstBank’s First Quarter Results Reflect Community Engagement and Stability

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    LAKEWOOD, Colo., May 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FirstBank, one of the nation’s largest privately held and top-performing banks with a focus on “banking for good,” announced its 2025 first-quarter summary of the company’s holdings and activities. The bank reported the following quarter-end results:

    • Net income in the first quarter of 2025 was $82.8 million
    • Total deposits were $23.8 billion 
    • Net loans were $15.8 billion  
    • Total assets were $27.1 billion 

    Near the end of the quarter, FirstBank closed the sale of its California Market and four branch locations, successfully transitioning all California accounts and branches to California Bank and Trust (CB&T), a division of Zions Bancorporation. The sale was an important move for the bank, allowing it to focus more on strategic growth opportunities in Colorado and Arizona.

    “The decisions FirstBank makes are strategically aimed at long-term growth,” said Kevin Classen, CEO of FirstBank. “We will continue to invest in small businesses and local initiatives that drive progress and create a lasting impact.”

    Moreover, the bank continues to support small businesses with its “It Takes Courage” video series, which highlights small businesses taking a leap of faith to make their big business dreams come true. 

    About FirstBank

    FirstBank began providing banking services in 1963. Today, it’s known as an industry leader in digital banking. It has grown to be one of the top-performing and largest privately held banks in the United States. FirstBank offers a variety of consumer deposit accounts, home equity loans, mortgages, rental property loans, and a full range of commercial banking services, including business financing, commercial real estate loans, treasury management, and more. Since 2000, FirstBank has been recognized as a top corporate philanthropist, contributing more than $90 million and thousands of volunteer hours to charitable organizations. The company is also unique in that a large portion of its stock is owned by management and employees, giving employees a financial stake in the bank’s success through its Employee Stock Ownership Program. For more information, visit www.efirstbank.com. Member FDIC.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: New National Park decision

    Source: Scottish Government

    No designation for Galloway and Ayrshire.

    Ministers have decided not to pursue a proposal to designate Galloway and Ayrshire as a National Park.

    Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon confirmed that opposition to the nomination and the Reporter’s recommendations against it meant that the region in southwest Scotland would not join the Cairngorms and Loch Lomond & the Trossachs as the country’s third national park.

    Speaking in the Scottish Parliament, Ms Gougeon said:

    “While there is substantial support for a National Park and what it could deliver for the southwest of Scotland, there is also significant opposition.  I realise that this decision will be very disappointing for those who have been campaigning for a new National Park in Galloway over many years. 

    “I also recognise the huge amount of work and time that has been invested by a great many people throughout this process.  I would like to thank everyone involved, including members of the Galloway National Park Association and the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere.

    “I would also like to thank NatureScot for its work carrying out such an important and extensive public consultation in a robust and professional way that was commended in the review of the process carried out by the Scottish Community Development Centre. The consultation raised some really important issues that local people care deeply about and we now have the opportunity to look at how we can address these.

    “The Scottish Government remains committed to our existing National Parks and the vital leadership role that they play in tackling the climate and biodiversity crises, promoting sustainable land management and supporting the economic and social development of local communities. Our National Parks are achieving for people and nature.”

    Background

    The proposal to designate a new National Park in Galloway and Ayrshire was jointly put forward by the Galloway National Park Association and the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere, in response to the Scottish Government’s invitation to communities and organisations across Scotland to nominate their area to be considered for designation as a new National Park.

    Five nominations were received through that process – from Galloway and Ayrshire, Lochaber, Loch Awe, Scottish Borders and Tay Forest. 

    NatureScot was appointed as the statutory Reporter, as specified in the National Parks legislation, to carry out this investigation, undertake a public consultation and report to the Scottish Government.

    Following an initial period of engagement with local communities, public bodies and stakeholders, NatureScot ran a 14-week public consultation process from 7 November 2024 until 14 February 2025.

    Over 5,000 surveys were completed and more than 1,000 people attended events that were held across Galloway and South and East Ayrshire – with the final results showing around 54% of responses opposed the National Park proposal and around 42% of responses supported it. 

    The Report found: “Our recommendation as Reporter is therefore not to proceed with the designation but instead to strengthen a range of existing arrangements, including a better resourced and more influential Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere Reserve, a renewed focus on people and nature alongside commercial forestry operations in the Galloway Forest Park and a new commitment to the implementation of management strategies for the three National Scenic Areas.”

    A report on the proposal for a National Park in Southwest Scotland – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NREL and Crysalis Biosciences Collaborate To Scale Up Domestic Biomanufacturing Technologies

    Source: US National Renewable Energy Laboratory

    Public-Private Partnership Advances Research That Turns US Biomass Into National Sources of Fuel, Rubber, and Battery Materials

    Crysalis scaled up NREL’s original reactor operations to produce bio-based acetonitrile. The photo on the left shows NREL’s lab-scale reactor; the photo on the right shows the pilot-scale reactor in the Crysalis facility. Photos by Dennis Schroeder, NREL (left) and Gregory Cooper, NREL (right)

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is known for its groundbreaking research in impactful bioenergy technologies and invention of performance-advantaged chemicals and materials. But some of its most exciting success stories happen when those innovations move beyond the lab and into the real world.

    A prime example of this technology transfer in action is the collaboration between NREL and Crysalis Biosciences, a leading American manufacturer of next-generation biofuels and biochemicals. Based on research initially funded by DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office, NREL granted Crysalis commercial licenses to three novel biological technologies to produce bio-based chemicals and fuels, including:

    • 2,3-Butanediol (2,3-BDO): This technology leverages a modified strain of Zymomonas mobilis to produce 2,3-BDO instead of ethanol, which can be used to produce polymers and butadiene, a key ingredient in bio-derived rubber for tires.
    • Carboxylic Acids to Aviation Fuel: This process converts America’s plentiful sources of waste and biomass into carboxylic acids, which can be upgraded to a jet fuel blendstock, serving as an abundant energy source for export and the domestic aviation industry.
    • Acetonitrile: This process allows for the production of ultrahigh purity acetonitrile, a high-demand solvent in pharmaceutical manufacturing, as well as other high-performance, high-volume materials like advanced batteries.

    The licensing of these three technologies showcases how the NREL/Crysalis partnership can leverage America’s plentiful biomass and waste feedstocks—more than 1 billion tons according to a recent DOE study—to drive homegrown production of critical materials and agricultural products the country needs and reduce its reliance on imports.

    From Lab Innovation to Market Impact

    With these advancements in hand, Crysalis’ R&D facility in Louisville, Colorado, recently produced the world’s first 100% bio-based acetonitrile with the highest purity available on the market. The pathway was scaled up 300 times from NREL’s lab-scale technology.

    Crysalis engineer Katherine Noon checks equipment that she helped customize and build in the Louisville facility. Photo by Gregory Cooper, NREL

    “I don’t think anyone realized that we could achieve this scale and that the NREL technologies could get out into the world so quickly,” NREL Senior Licensing Executive Eric Payne said. “This project is so amazing; we are lucky to work with such dedicated partners.”

    According to Crysalis Chief Technology Officer Eric Karp, the company purchased a shuttered manufacturing space and, in the span of only one-and-a-half years, Crysalis gutted, cleaned, and built out the new facility—often with refurbished equipment customized by their team to realize huge time and cost savings. The resulting Louisville pilot plant is unique in the industry and started producing acetonitrile in February 2025.

    “The reactor designs came straight from NREL but were scaled up 300 times,” Karp said. “We built the system with plug-and-play capabilities to use in different ways, by moving and changing equipment around for different processes.”

    Crysalis is poised to take this breakthrough development to the next stage with construction of a demonstration-scale manufacturing plant in the St. Louis area. That plant will then aid in the eventual construction of a full-scale bio-acetonitrile manufacturing facility, and the company anticipates commercial availability of the product within a year.

    Making More Fuels and Chemicals Here at Home

    All three of NREL’s technologies licensed to Crysalis will lead to more resilient supply chains of critical materials and chemicals needed by the U.S. economy.

    For example, rubber is a critical strategic material for the United States, and the bio-derived rubber produced by Crysalis via the NREL 2,3-BDO process can fill this need with stateside manufacturing. Many U.S. petroleum refineries also rely on imported crude oil for their operations. NREL’s carboxylic acids-to-fuels technology produces ketones, which can be processed in existing petroleum refineries, thus reducing dependence on imported crude oil.

    The left clear sample is the world’s first 100% bio-based acetonitrile that meets oligonucleotide-grade specifications. On the right is aviation fuel blendstock. Photo by Gregory Cooper, NREL

    Finally, acetonitrile is a critically important industrial chemical with applications such as solvents for the pharmaceutical industry and batteries. Today’s fast-charging lithium-ion batteries rely on acetonitrile, and, accordingly, the market for this solvent is expected to be strained with increased demand from automotive applications. Ultrapure acetonitrile is also highly sought after by the pharmaceutical industry due to the expansion of oligonucleotide drug synthesis, a process to create short DNA or RNA sequences that target specific genes or proteins to treat or manage diseases. The Crysalis and NREL process will meet these growing demands with domestic resources and technology.

    Revitalizing Local Economies by Creating Manufacturing Jobs

    For Crysalis, these technologies also represent an opportunity to transform shuttered chemical plants into profitable, next-generation biomanufacturing hubs. In fact, Crysalis specializes in acquiring and retrofitting shuttered industrial assets—such as the St. Louis plant—to produce bio-based chemicals and fuels and to rehire former employees eager to reclaim their jobs.

    “In this case, we bought an ethanol plant that had been shuttered since 2019, and we turned it back on within a year,” Karp said. “This is another thing we’ve learned from our projects—they are important to the community. There were a lot of jobs, and people are willing to come back to them when you reopen the plants. It’s amazing.”

    Payne agreed: “What Crysalis is doing in St. Louis—in addition to making ethanol and eventually acetonitrile—is creating jobs and rehiring people,” he said. “That translates to jobs in Colorado, too—and I’m proud that NREL technology helped enable this.”

    A Model for Future Collaborations

    The licensing of these technologies represents a success story for industry–government partnerships. Payne emphasized the speed and scale at which these innovations are moving into the market.

    “What is special is that it took less than a month from the time we sent Crysalis these three licenses to the time that we signed the paperwork,” Payne said. “It rarely goes that fast, but Crysalis was really motivated, and it’s been a great partnership.”

    “In the future, we hope to purchase more facilities and do this over and over as our global business model,” Karp said. “Even just one retrofitted plant built from existing infrastructure is having a considerable impact, but if we can start increasing the number of projects down the road, it’ll make a substantial difference to the economy.”

    As NREL continues to partner with companies like Crysalis, the laboratory’s research is not just advancing science—it is actively shaping the future of an abundant, resilient, and affordable energy industry.

    Learn more about NREL’s scale-up and piloting of bioenergy and bioeconomy technologies.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Polis: Court Rejection of Trump Tariff Tax is A Win for Americans

    Source: US State of Colorado

    DENVER – Today, a court struck down President Trump’s tariffs that raised the cost for Americans on everyday goods. Colorado helped lead a lawsuit against this tariff tax. Governor Polis has been outspoken about the negative impacts these tariffs have on the American people and applauded the court for their decision today. 

    “This is great news for our economy and every American family. I am grateful that this court decision striking down many tariffs checks the sweeping presidential power that the President has attempted to impose on the American people and businesses. The President’s tariff tax on groceries and everyday items is bad for hardworking people, our economy and business certainty. Unfortunately, President Trump has already caused a lot of damage with his tariff tax and the uncertainty they’ve caused for business and our economy, effectively freezing investment, but I am thrilled with the court’s decision and encourage the President to strengthen trade with our allies and decreases taxes and barriers for imports and exports,” said Governor Polis. 

    In addition to raising prices, reports show that tariffs lead to increases in fraud and crime. 

    In 2024, Colorado exported a record $10.5 billion of goods to the world and imported $16.8 B in goods. Colorado’s top export partners are Mexico ($1.7B), Canada ($1.6B), China ($0.8B) South Korea ($0.6B), and Malaysia ($0.6 B), accounting for half of all Colorado exports in 2024. Top export commodities include meat (17%); nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery (15%); electric machinery (13%); optic, photo, medical or surgical instruments (11%); and aircraft, spacecraft, and related parts (5%). In 2022, exports from Colorado supported an estimated 40 thousand jobs. 

    Colorado in 2024 exported $500 million in aerospace, spacecraft, and related parts, accounting for roughly 4.8% of all Colorado exports. The European Union, Brazil, France, Canada and Mexico were the top five export destinations, accounting for 63% of Colorado’s aerospace exports. In 2024, Colorado imported $1 billion of aerospace, spacecraft and related parts, accounting for roughly 6.2% of all Colorado imports. Switzerland, the EU, Germany, Canada, and France were the top five import sources, accounting for over 90% of Colorado’s aerospace imports. 

    An estimated 820,200 jobs in Colorado are supported by international trade, representing 20.8% of all jobs in the state. Colorado’s top import partners are Canada ($5.4 B), China ($1.8 B), Mexico ($1.1 B), Switzerland ($0.9 B) and Germany ($0.9 B), accounting for 60% of imports in 2024. Top import commodities include oil, mineral fuel (20%); electric machinery (14%); nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery (11%); optic, photo, medical or surgical instruments (8%); and aircraft, spacecraft and related parts (6%). 

    In addition to the commodities traded, Colorado also trades services and runs a services trade surplus. In 2022, Colorado exported $16 B in services, supporting 97,260 jobs. Top services export markets were Canada ($1.3 B), the United Kingdom ($0.9 B), Mexico ($0.9 B), and China ($0.6 B). As a bloc, the EU was the top services export market with $3.8 B in services exports supporting over 18,900 jobs. 

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Better Serving Foster Youth and Improving Health Care Access: Governor Polis Signs Bills Into Law to Support Foster Children in Colorado, Expand Access to Affordable Health Care, Lower Prescription Drug Costs

    Source: US State of Colorado

    DENVER METRO AREA – Today, Governor Polis signed new laws across the Denver Metro area.

    Governor Polis signed HB25-1097 – Placement Transitions Plan for Children, sponsored by Representatives Lindsay Gilchrist and Meg Froelich, and Senators Dafna Michaelson Jenet and Lindsey Daugherty and HB25-1271 – Federal Benefits for Youth in Foster Care, sponsored by Lindsay Gilchrist and Kyle Brown, and Senators Lindsey Daugherty and Dafna Michaelson Jenet. 

     

    “Now, Colorado will better support kids in foster care to help each child thrive. We are focused on ensuring that all kids in Colorado, no matter where they live, have access to the resources needed for a healthy and safe life, and these bills do exactly that for kids who need it most,” said Governor Polis. 

    Governor Polis also signed HB25-1328 – Implement Recommendations Direct Care Worker Stabilization Board, sponsored by Majority Leader Monica Duran and Representative Emily Sirota and Senators Jessie Danielson and Jeff Bridges. This bill will support the health care workforce and increase access to quality affordable health care to help Coloradans live strong healthy lives.

     

    “In Colorado, we are expanding access to the important health care Coloradans need, while taking action to lower barriers and costs. This new law will better support direct care workers and those they care for,” said Governor Polis. 

     

    Governor Polis also signed SB25-084 – Medicaid Access to Parenteral Nutrition, sponsored by Senators Kyle Mullica and Cleave Simpson and Representatives Mary Bradfield and Gretchen Rydin and HB25-1213 – Updates to Medicaid, sponsored by Representatives Lisa Feret and Ron Weinberg and Senators Lindsey Daugherty and Matt Ball, to further support Coloradans who rely on Medicaid for health care. 

     

    “In Washington, Republicans in Congress are leaving Coloradans behind with cruel cuts to people’s health care. With these new Colorado laws, we are expanding access to the care at-risk Coloradans need, while making changes to increase efficiency and better serve Coloradans,” said Governor Polis.

     

    At La Clinica in Lafayette, Governor Polis signed SB25-289 – Creation of a Drug Donation Program, sponsored by Senator Lisa Cutter and Representatives Kyle Brown and Emily Sirota

    And SB25-290 – Stabilization Payments for Safety Net Providers, sponsored by Senators Kyle Mullica and Barbara Kirkmeyer and Representatives Shannon Bird and Kyle Brown.

     

    “We are better supporting Colorado’s safety-net providers and these bipartisan laws will help do that. I look forward to seeing the benefits for low cost, high quality health care across Colorado,” said Governor Jared Polis. 
     

    Governor Polis also signed the following bills focused on reducing property insurance, reducing emissions and supporting Coloradans’ access to e-bikes:

    “Here in Colorado we are focused on helping Coloradans save money on property insurance and continuing to find ways to reduce emissions to improve air quality and save people money. These new laws move us in the right direction, and I look forward to building on these efforts for Coloradans,” said Governor Jared Polis. 

    Governor Polis also signed the following bills administratively:

     

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Ivey Adds 55 New Pre-K-3rd Grade Classrooms to Expand Early Learning Efforts

    Source: US State of Alabama

    MONTGOMERY – Governor Kay Ivey and the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education (ADECE) on Thursday announced that 55 new classrooms will be funded through the Pre-K through 3rd Grade Integrated Approach to Early Learning (P-3) for the 2025-2026 school year.

    This expansion will increase the number of classrooms implementing the P-3 approach to 454 across 29 counties. The ADECE, in partnership with the Alabama State Department of Education, is working to align instructional practices, assessments and leadership from First Class Pre-K through third grade.

    “Each year, Alabama’s P-3 approach continues to build momentum and grow to provide a smooth transition from pre-k to third grade. Through my Strong Start, Strong Finish initiative, we are setting the stage for lifelong success and empowering every child to reach their fullest potential,” said Governor Ivey. “Strong students lead to a strong Alabama, and these learning efforts will ensure we continue to strengthen our schools and provide the best education for all students.”

    The recipient schools are as follows:

    Highland Park Elementary in Colbert County

    Webster Elementary in Colbert County

    Parkside Elementary School in Cullman County

    Hollywood Elementary in Jackson County

    Kilby Laboratory School in Lauderdale County

    Brindlee Mountain Elementary in Marshall County

    Asbury Elementary in Marshall County

    Sloman Elementary in Marshall County

    South Shades Crest Elementary School in Shelby County

    Carbon Hill Elementary in Walker County

    Oakman Middle School in Walker County

    Parrish Elementary School in Walker County

    Valley Jr. High School in Walker County

    “We are excited to welcome these new classrooms to the P-3 network of schools dedicated to aligning practices and learning environments to what research tells us works for young children,” said ADECE Secretary Jan Hume.

    The Alabama Pre-K–3rd Grade Integrated Approach to Early Learning (P-3) builds upon student success and narrows the achievement gap by expanding access to Alabama’s high-quality pre-k model. P-3 is funded by the ADECE through the governor’s Strong Start, Strong Finish education initiative. For more information, visit children.alabama.gov/educators/pre-k-3/.

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICE Newark arrests Guatemalan unaccompanied alien child sponsor wanted overseas for attempted aggravated homicide

    Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

    NEWARK, N.J. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested a Guatemalan fugitive wanted for two counts of attempted aggravated homicide in his home country.

    ICE Homeland Security Investigations Newark administratively arrested Adelso Garcia Martinez, 29, a Guatemalan native, May 13 for violations of the Immigration and Naturalization Act.

    “It is deplorable to imagine that a wanted fugitive would find illegal shelter in the United States with a child in tow and later go on to sponsor another alien,” said ICE HSI Newark Special Agent in Charge Ricky Patel. “Our investigation into this alien is part of our agency’s staunch effort to ensure unaccompanied alien children released from the care of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement are not subjected to crimes of trafficking and exploitation.”

    Garcia unlawfully entered the United States in Rio Grande, Texas on May 19, 2021. He was released into the United States by U.S. Border Patrol the same day.

    According to the investigation, in April 2025, HSI Newark encountered Garcia pursuant to records checks. During this encounter, HSI Newark with the assistance of HSI Guatemala City identified that Garcia-Martinez has an outstanding and active arrest warrant issued Feb. 18, 2021, in his home country for attempted aggravated homicide.

    Garcia was issued a notice to appear after ICE arrested him May 13. He is currently detained at the Delaney Hall Detention Facility in New Jersey, pending removal proceedings.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Deer Lake — Deer Lake RCMP investigates break, enter and theft at Humber River Golf Club

    Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    Deer Lake RCMP is investigating a break, enter and theft that occurred on May 27, 2025, at Humber River Golf Club in Deer Lake.

    Sometime over night, between the evening of May 26 and the morning of May 27, suspect(s) entered the business and stole a quantity of cash.

    Deer Lake RCMP asks the public to report any suspicious activity that may have been observed in the area of Airport Road between the evening of May 26 and the morning of May 27.

    The investigation is continuing.

    If you have information about this crime or the identity of the individual(s) responsible, please call Deer Lake RCMP at 709-635-2173. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers: #SayItHere 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), visit www.nlcrimestoppers.com or use the P3Tips app.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Update 293 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

    Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

    The off-site power situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) remains extremely fragile, with Europe’s largest such site currently relying on just one single power line for essential nuclear safety and security functions compared with ten before the military conflict, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said today.

    The ZNPP’s last 330 kilovolt (kV) back-up line remains disconnected three weeks after the plant lost access to it on 7 May and it is unclear when it will be restored. As a result, the six-reactor plant depends entirely on its sole functioning 750 kV line to receive the external electricity it needs to operate the plants’ nuclear safety systems, and to cool its nuclear fuel.

    Since the conflict began in early 2022, the ZNPP has eight times lost access to all off-site power, but it was usually restored within a day.

    “Even though the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant has not been operating for some three years now, its reactor cores and spent nuclear fuel still require continuous cooling, for which electricity is needed to run the water pumps. For this reason, the highly vulnerable power situation remains deeply concerning and we are following it very closely,” said Director General Grossi, who will visit Kyiv and Russia next week as part of his regular contacts with both sides to ensure nuclear safety and security during the conflict.

    The IAEA team based at the ZNPP has continued to monitor and assess other aspects of nuclear safety and security during the past week, conducting a walkdown to measure and confirm stable levels of cooling water in the site’s 12 sprinkler ponds and visiting its two fresh fuel storage facilities, where no nuclear safety or security issues were observed.

    The IAEA team reported hearing military activities on most days over the past week, at different distances away from the ZNPP.

    At Ukraine’s three operating nuclear power plants (NPPs) – Khmelnytskyy, Rivne and South Ukraine – three of their total of nine reactors are in planned outage for refueling and maintenance.

    The IAEA teams at these sites also continued to hear indications of military activities nearby. At the South Ukraine NPP, the IAEA staff members saw a drone being shot at by anti-aircraft fire in the evening of 23 May. The plant reported that 10 drones were observed 2.5 km south of the site on the same evening. At the Chornobyl site, two drones were reported flying five km from the site, also on 23 May.  The IAEA team at the Khmelnytskyy NPP was required to shelter onsite on Monday this week.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: IAEA Hosts World’s First Major Gathering of Nuclear Community Leaders

    Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

    Rafael Mariano Grossi, IAEA Director General, with mayors attending the International Conference on Stakeholder Engagement for Nuclear Power Programmes 2025 held at the Agency headquarters in Vienna, Austria. (Photo D.Calma/IAEA)

    The IAEA hosted the world’s first major gathering of communities with nuclear facilities, with scores of mayors and other local representatives from around the globe, including indigenous peoples, sharing their experiences and insights. 

    “As some have said, and I think rightly so, all politics are local, and everything is local,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi addressed the participants of the first International Conference on Stakeholder Engagement for Nuclear Power Programmes.  

    “Nuclear energy is a job creating activity. It is an activity that brings highly skilled workers. It is an activity that creates and nurtures professions with its incredible diversity.  

    “Nuclear, from the perspective of a community, a human community, is a lifetime engagement. It is a longstanding commitment and engagement that lasts for generations and shapes the lives of all those who are living there,” he added.  

    Hosting a nuclear facility, whether a nuclear power plant, uranium mine or related site, is a major endeavour involving significant local community participation. Project success requires transparent communication, a two-way dialogue centring local perspectives to address concerns, maximize benefits and enable long-term sustainability. Participants agree that for enduring results and host community satisfaction, meaningful conversations that consider the full spectrum of opinions should begin at an early stage and be held on a regular basis. 

    Throughout the event, host community leaders from across the globe highlighted the benefits of hosting a nuclear facility while also addressing challenges. They pointed to incentives such as job creation, funding for infrastructure and support for regional development as reasons why hosting nuclear facilities has been a boon for their communities.  A joint statement, thus far endorsed by 69 nuclear community leaders from 26 countries, was released during the event and remains open for additional endorsements. It emphasizes the essential role played by host communities in enabling the sustainable development and operation of nuclear technologies. The statement also underscores a commitment to “working with our citizens, policymakers, national governments and industry leaders to responsibly shape together a sustainable and inclusive future, acknowledging the vital role that nuclear energy plays in powering our lives, communities and countries.” 

    The weeklong stakeholder engagement conference, a first-of-kind event in IAEA history which concludes on 30 May, features panel sessions, flash talks and side events on numerous topics relevant to stakeholder engagement and communication for nuclear power programmes. The plenary session livestream can be viewed here. Livestreams of all conference sessions are available on the IAEA Conferences and Meetings mobile application. 

    “This week’s historic gathering of nuclear host communities is just the beginning of what I am sure it will be a very successful future for this new dimension of the nuclear family, which is the family of the communities – mayors, cities, towns – all over the world that are hosting nuclear facilities,” said Mr Grossi.  

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why have so few atrocities ever been recognised as genocide?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By James Sweeney, Professor, Lancaster Law School, Lancaster University

    xiquinhosilva via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    An intense argument is raging over whether what has been happening in Gaza since October 2023 is an act of genocide. It is the subject of a case being heard in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in which South Africa has accused Israel of committing acts of genocide. The case began in December 2023 but the ICJ has yet to reach a judgment.

    The reason the issue is so controversial is that the word “genocide” holds so much power. To be accused of it is to be accused of what is considered in international law to be the “crime of crimes”. International law holds that not only should states not commit genocide, they must also prevent and punish it in their own criminal law. Some commentators would even argue that the use of armed force to stop genocide is acceptable.

    Yet the legal definition of genocide is much narrower than is generally understood. That’s why so few events have ever been labelled as genocide as a matter of law. Looking at some of them might help to shed some light on the Gaza controversy.



    Read more:
    Gaza: why it’s difficult to reach a legal judgment of genocide against Israel

    Genocide is about attempting to destroy a group of people. The concept was first defined in 1944 by the Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, in response to his horror at the mass killing of ethnic Armenians by the Ottoman Empire amid the first world war as well as – of course – at the atrocities of the Nazis before and during the second world war.

    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.

    It was such a novel concept that it was not prosecuted in the post-war trials of the surviving leading Nazis in Nuremberg. Instead, for their role in the Holocaust, the defendants were charged with “crimes against humanity”. And to this day, in the Rome statute of the International Criminal Court, there is a close relationship between the crime of genocide and crimes against humanity. The Rome statute uses the definition of genocide agreed in the 1948 genocide convention, which was negotiated after the considerable efforts of Lemkin to bring attention to his new concept.

    Despite the crime of genocide being established in 1948, the first international conviction for genocide was not until 1998. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda found Jean-Paul Akayesu, a local politician, guilty of genocide as part of the extreme violence by ethnic Hutu against (mostly) minority ethnic Tutsis in 1994. Over the course of around 100 days around 800,000 people were killed.

    The mass killing was instigated at the highest levels of the Rwandan government after Tutsis were accused of killing the president of Rwanda, Juvénal Habyarimana, by shooting down a plane that was carrying him and the president of Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira. Both men were Hutus.

    The response to this was clearly a genocide, but surely there must have been other post-war genocides before this, you might think?

    Limitations of genocide

    Under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, millions of people died or were killed in famines, executions and prison camps across the Soviet Union. Yet, these deaths do not fall within the 1948 definition of genocide because they were generally not aimed at groups defined by nationality, ethnicity, race, or religion. Only those four groups are protected in the genocide convention.

    The same goes for murders committed by the Khmer Rouge – the radical communist regime of Pol Pot that ruled what is now Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. The regime was responsible for the deaths of between 1.5 and 3 million people. But the hybrid criminal tribunal set up in 1997 to judge these events has only been able to find that the killing of minority Vietnamese and Cham victims counted as genocide. The majority of those that the Khmer Rouge targeted for killing were fellow Cambodians selected for being “intellectuals” or were otherwise thought to oppose the regime.

    The choice of protected groups in the genocide convention was the result of political horse-trading between different factions, as the cold war was gaining in intensity. There was a tension between protecting enough groups, and agreeing a treaty that enough states would actually sign.



    Read more:
    How Canada committed genocide against Indigenous Peoples, explained by the lawyer central to the determination

    The atrocity of Srebrenica

    The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the ICJ have held that Bosnian Serbs committed genocide against Bosnian Muslims in the town of Srebrenica in what is now Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995. The Bosnian Serb army killed around 8,000 men and boys, and secretly buried them. They detained, treated badly and then expelled the remaining women.

    The atrocity at Srebrenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys were murdered, has been ruled as an act of genocide.
    Skrewt25 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-NC-SA

    The ICTY has held, beyond reasonable doubt, that across Bosnia and Herzegovina there was a “strategic plan” to “link Serb-populated areas […] together, to gain control over these areas and to create a separate Bosnian Serb state, from which most non-Serbs would be permanently removed”. It also found that this plan “could only be implemented by the use of force and fear”. Yet, apart from at Srebrenica, genocide has not been proved in the former Yugoslavia.

    The issue here was not identifying a protected group, but a lack of evidence that the mass killings of non-Serbs were carried out as an end in themselves and not “just” to make them flee (something which is often called “ethnic cleansing”). This is because for a killing to be genocidal, it has not only to be carried out intentionally, but also to show the “special” intent to physically or biologically destroy a protected group.

    The problem is that – in the absence of an admission or a bundle of incriminating documents – then such special intent can only be inferred from the facts if it is the only reasonable inference that could be made.

    Why Gaza is controversial

    Should the definition of genocide be expanded to cover a greater range of protected groups, either by amending the genocide convention or by creative judicial interpretation? Should it be easier to infer the existence of genocidal intent from a pattern of facts? Both are important questions.

    Yet, until they are answered in the affirmative, it will remain difficult in law to apply the label of genocide even to the most egregious of mass killings. The labels of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” are more easily applied, but the “crime of crimes” remains elusive.

    James Sweeney 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. Why have so few atrocities ever been recognised as genocide? – https://theconversation.com/why-have-so-few-atrocities-ever-been-recognised-as-genocide-257753

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Ghana’s Asanko Gold Mine Joins Mining in Motion as Bronze Sponsor

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

    ACCRA, Ghana, May 29, 2025/APO Group/ —

    Asanko Gold Mine, operated by Canadian firm Galiano Gold, has joined the upcoming Mining in Motion Summit 2025 as a Bronze sponsor. The Summit is Ghana’s premier event for the mining sector, taking place on June 2 – 4, 2025 in Accra.

    As one of Ghana’s key mining operations, Asanko Gold Mine plays a vital role in advancing local content development, environmental sustainability and increased gold production. Asanko Gold Mine’s participation at the event underscores the company’s long-term commitment to driving economic growth and job creation through a robust and responsible mining agenda.

    Asanko Gold Mine will participate in high-level panel discussions, exclusive networking, and project showcases highlighting its investment strategy and impact on Ghana’s mining sector, economy, and local communities.

    The mine discovered a high-grade gold zone at the Abore Main pit, following a drilling campaign completed in May 2025 aimed at extending the life of its underground operations. In addition, the company continues to drill at its other open-pit sites; Nkran, Esaase, and Miradani North to further enhance production capacity.

    On the local content front, Asanko Gold Mine contributes to employment creation, female empowerment and community development. With a workforce of over 2,200 – 99% of whom are Ghanaian – the company champions local capacity building. Through its Asanko Women in Mining initiative, the firm empowers women by providing training and promoting their inclusion across all levels of the mining sector, fostering a more diverse and equitable industry.

    Asanko Gold Mine has also prioritized environmental stewardship. In 2023, the firm signed a clean power purchase agreement with the Volta River Authority to source 15MW of electricity for its operations from solar. The deal supports emissions reductions and aligns with sustainability goals within Ghana’s Asante Kingdom.

    Organized by the Ashanti Green Initiative – led by Oheneba Kwaku Duah, Prince of Ghana’s Ashanti Kingdom – in collaboration with Ghana’s Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, World Bank, and the World Gold Council, with the support of Ghana’s Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the summit offers unparalleled opportunities to connect with industry leaders.

    Stay informed about the latest advancements, network with industry leaders, and engage in critical discussions on key issues impacting small-scale miners and medium- to large-scale mining in Ghana. Secure your spot at the Mining in Motion 2025 Summit by visiting www.MiningInMotionSummit.com. For sponsorship opportunities or delegate participation, contact Sales@ashantigreeninitiative.org.

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Accessibility Standards Canada releases new standard to help build adaptable homes that work for everyone

    Source: Government of Canada News (2)

    May 29, 2025      Gatineau, Québec      Accessibility Standards Canada

    Accessibility Standards Canada is pleased to announce today the publication of the CAN/ASC-2.8:2025 – Accessible-Ready Housing standard. This new equity-based standard intends to help ensure homes are designed for adaptability, and ready to be accessible.

    The standard provides practical accessible-ready design requirements – making it easier to meet people’s needs and reduce barriers over time. It covers everything from entrances, kitchens, bathrooms, and stairs, to parking, and emergency features. It helps to prevent barriers before they exist by building flexible features into the design of homes. For instance:

    • reinforced walls for future lifts or grab bars
    • clear doorways and paths of travel for mobility devices
    • reachable or easily modified operating controls, like thermostats

    Accessible-ready housing allows people to adapt their homes to changing needs – whether it’s aging in place or accommodating a disability. Designing with accessibility from the start leads to smarter, more cost-effective housing and solutions.

    CAN/ASC 2.8, Accessible-Ready Housing has been approved as a National Standard of Canada by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC). This recognition means that the standard meets SCC’s rigorous standards development requirements. This includes a full public review and alignment with international best practices.

    The standard was developed by an Accessibility Standards Canada technical committee. The committee is made up primarily of people with disabilities and members of equity-deserving groups. This reflects the organization’s equity-based approach and its commitment to developing accessibility standards that create meaningful, lasting change for Canadians.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Accessibility Standards Canada publishes revised standard on accessible employment

    Source: Government of Canada News (2)

    May 29, 2025      Gatineau, Québec      Accessibility Standards Canada

    Accessibility Standards Canada is pleased to announce today the publication of the revised CAN/ASC-1.1:2024 (REV-2025)-Employment standard. 

    First released in December of 2024, this revised edition includes important updates. These revisions will help create a work environment that is equitable, accessible, and inclusive for all workers, including persons with disabilities. 

    The revised standard introduces new requirements for removing and preventing employment-related accessibility barriers. This includes how organizations can improve accessibility in the workplace. It also clarifies existing requirements to help organizations better support workers with disabilities.

    The revisions to the standard include:

    • a section on culture, engagement, and education, which gives requirements to foster inclusive, respectful and positive workplace cultures and environments

    • three informative annexes that give background to the standard, context on lived experience with disability, and practical guidance for integration into existing policies

    The standard helps organizations identify, remove, and prevent barriers at every stage of employment. It gives them the tools to create equitable and inclusive workplaces that include the skills and talents of employees with disabilities. 

    This revised edition was shaped through collaboration with people with disabilities and lived experience, technical experts, accessibility experts and other partners. It reflects Accessibility Standards Canada’s equity-based approach and commitment to developing world-class, accessibility standards.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Researchers Race Against the Clock to Discover Preventive Measures for Liver Abscesses in Cattle

    Source: US Agriculture Research Service

    Researchers Race Against the Clock to Discover Preventive Measures for Liver Abscesses in Cattle

    By: Maribel Alonso
    Email: Maribel.Alonso@usda.gov

    Researchers at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) are looking to help the U.S. food industry save millions annually by reducing liver abscess formations in cattle.

    The prevalence of liver abscess formations in cattle continues to raise concerns among dairy and beef producers. This problem also remains a challenge for researchers, as the primary factors driving formations are not yet fully understood.

    Reducing liver abscess formation is even more critical in calves born from dairy cows mated with beef sires (“dairy-beef crossbred cattle”). These crossbred calves are becoming a greater percentage of the total beef population in the beef industry and are also shown to be more susceptible to this problem [close to 50% vs 20% for traditionally raised beef cattle].

    Cattle with liver abscesses don’t show clinical signs and are generally identified too late –at harvest. The economic losses associated with this condition in cattle is in the millions.

    Rand Broadway, a research microbiologist with the USDA ARS’ Livestock Issues Research Unit (LIRU) and researchers at Texas Tech University, Kansas State University, and West Texas A&M University, has studied the relationship between liver abscess formation in dairy-beef crossbred cattle for the past 5years in relation to diet type, ruminal acidosis (caused by high grain diet), and the bacteria community in the digestive system.

    The researchers have made significant progress in isolating the primary drivers contributing to this problem through a series of breakthroughs, with their latest study disproving the long-held belief that acidosis and high energy diet intake are the sole cause for the development of liver abscesses.

    “We confirmed that acidosis and aggressive grain feeding is not the only driver of liver abscess development, and our research indicates that pathogen presence alone is sufficient to cause an abscess,” said Broadway. “Therefore, if we can reduce the pathogen load and block its pathway to the liver, we can control the problem.”

    Scientists are focusing next on identifying which bacterial pathogens are causing liver abscess formation, and where these bacteria can be found. Species of Fusobacterium and Salmonella bacteria were detected in the abscesses studied in the laboratory at LIRU. Since these bacteria can be found in the cattle environments, they can reach the animal’s liver if they gain access to the circulatory system through lacerations in any part of the animal’s digestive system.

    Animals are particularly more vulnerable under some types of stress. This could be due to weather [heat/cold] stress, gastrointestinal disruptions, illnesses, or the presence of other pathogens that cause inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract.  Management during weaning and relocation, most calves are shipped to new locations after weaning, may also trigger these conditions.

    This study reveals that the nutritional management alone plays a less critical role in liver abscesses formations than previously believed. This insight helps producers make more informed decisions about diet management practices focusing on efficiency. Additionally, it allows researchers to redirect their efforts toward understanding the pathogens involved and the pathway(s) they use to enter the animal’s body [and get to the liver]. This shift in focus has become increasingly important for researchers and time is of the essence for producers, as every minute incurs costs.

    The Agricultural Research Service is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific in-house research agency. Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. Each dollar invested in U.S. agricultural research results in $20 of economic impact.

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    USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Key milestones for southside health projects

    Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

    Once complete, the new health centre will offer a range of vital services.

    In brief:

    • Two important southside projects have reached key milestones.
    • These are the South Tuggeranong Health Centre and Southside Hydrotherapy Pool.
    • This article details the progress on these projects.

    Canberrans living in the south are set to benefit from more local healthcare options.

    Two important southside projects have reached key milestones.

    • The new health centre in Conder has received conditional development approval.
    • Construction on Tuggeranong’s new hydrotherapy pool has passed the halfway mark.

    South Tuggeranong Health Centre

    Remaining approvals are being sought to allow work to begin on the South Tuggeranong Health Centre.

    Once complete, the new facility will offer a range of vital services.

    These will include:

    • paediatrics
    • diabetes clinics
    • falls and falls injury prevention
    • chronic disease programs
    • a virtual care room for people unable to attend appointments in person.

    The new centre will ensure southside residents can access the services they need closer to home.

    The centre’s design has been shaped by extensive engagement with both clinicians and the local community.

    The final plan includes 11 consultation rooms and a flexible layout.

    The ACT Government has partnered with construction company Shape as the Head Contractor to build the facility.

    Southside Hydrotherapy Pool

    The hydrotherapy pool at Lakeside Leisure Centre is on track to be completed later this year.

    Over the past few months, workers have poured, tested and cured the pool’s concrete shell.

    Construction has passed the halfway point. Work is now focused on:

    • tiling the pool
    • constructing the surrounding building.

    There will also be a new creche and community room for leisure centre members to use.

    These are being fitted and furnished now and will open soon.

    More health services for Canberra

    These projects are in addition to others across the ACT, designed to deliver high-quality health care closer to where people live.

    These include new health centres in:

    • North Gungahlin
    • the Inner South
    • West Belconnen.

    Find out more here.

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