Category: CTF

MIL-OSI Global: The DIY guide to checking how well you’re ageing

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Marco Arkesteijn, Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Biomechanics, Aberystwyth University

Ground Picture/Shutterstock

A few years ago, a social media trend challenged people to see if they could stand up from the floor without using their hands. Now, it’s all about how long you can balance on one leg while brushing your teeth. These quirky “tests” promise to tell us how well we’re ageing – but do they really?

When we talk about “ageing well”, we’re usually referring to both physical and psychological wellbeing. That includes feeling good (hedonic wellbeing) and finding meaning and purpose (eudaimonic wellbeing). Engaging in activities and monitoring ourselves plays a role in both.

But ageing isn’t just about how strong your grip is or how fast you can walk. It’s a complex mix of physical, cognitive, emotional and social changes – and no single test captures the whole picture.

Physically, one simple measure that gets a lot of attention is walking speed. According to one famous study, people who walk faster than 1.32 metres per second were less likely to die in the next three years – jokingly framed as “too fast for the Grim Reaper to catch”.

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On the flip side, a slower walking speed – below 0.8 metres per second – can be a sign of sarcopenia, a condition involving reduced muscle mass, muscle strength and physical function. These are all important indicators of age-related decline.

But while these markers are useful, they’re not easy to measure at home. Most research relies on specialist equipment and your local GP probably doesn’t have a grip-strength dynamometer sitting in a drawer. But they could time how long it takes you to stand up and sit down five times from a chair.

How to do a DIY MOT

So, what can you realistically do to track your own ageing?

To truly understand how you’re ageing, it helps to think beyond physical health. Mental sharpness, emotional resilience and social connection matter just as much. One helpful idea is to assess your cognitive fitness, which includes skills like attention, memory and flexibility.

Here are some cognitive tests you can try at home:

Trail making test: connect numbers and letters in sequence (1, A, 2, B, etc.) and time how long it takes. This measures your ability to switch between tasks.

Stroop task: challenges your ability to ignore competing information. Try saying the colour of a word, not the word itself – like saying “red” when you see the word “blue” printed in red ink. It’s harder than it sounds!

Dual-task challenge: walk at your normal speed while counting backwards from 100 in threes. If your walking speed changes significantly, it could indicate cognitive strain.

These kinds of tasks test how well your brain handles competing demands – a key ability that becomes even more important as we age. This skill is known as cognitive flexibility, and it helps you adapt to changing situations, switch between tasks and manage distractions.

Trying out these tests is great, but how do you know if you’re improving? After all, when you have spent time trying to improve your walking speed, or Stroop ability – or even rubbing your head, patting your belly while saying the Finnish alphabet out loud – it’s important to know if you are seeing benefits.

Some measures, like single-leg stance, can vary wildly from day to day – or even hour to hour. You might get better just from repeating it, which doesn’t necessarily mean you’re ageing better, just that you’ve practised.

Others, like grip strength, change very slowly even with regular strength training. And some improvements are task-specific: getting better at the trail making test doesn’t necessarily make you sharper at doing Wordle.

That’s why it helps to complete the test a few times at the start, then retest yourself once a month or so – again, doing it a couple of times – to track any improvements. Cognitive changes may be slower to notice than physical ones, so regular checks can help reveal progress over time.

More of a puzzle than a test

There’s no single test or score that can capture how well you’re ageing. Think of it more like a jigsaw puzzle. Physical health, mental agility, emotional balance, social connection – they all matter, and they all interact. And, of course, even if you perform well now, some changes in the future may be beyond your control. No test can fully predict what lies ahead.

At the end of the day, maybe the best sign of ageing well isn’t how fast you walk or how long you can stand on one leg – it’s how you feel about your life. Are you feeling engaged, content, connected?

Tools like the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience can help you take stock of your emotional wellbeing. This short, 12-question survey asks about your everyday feelings – from joy and calm to sadness and frustration – offering insight into both the pleasurable (hedonic) and meaningful (eudaimonic) sides of wellbeing.

Ageing well isn’t about beating a stopwatch or acing a memory test. It’s about knowing yourself – your body, your mind and your values – and making small, meaningful changes that help you feel more you.

So, go ahead, stand on one leg if you like. But don’t forget to check in with your brain, body, emotions and your sense of purpose too.

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. The DIY guide to checking how well you’re ageing – https://theconversation.com/the-diy-guide-to-checking-how-well-youre-ageing-256297

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: How to tackle new strains of potato blight and avoid another great famine

Source: The Conversation – UK – By David O’Connor, Associate Professor, School of Chemical Sciences, Dublin City University

A new aggressive potato blight strain was detected in Wales and eastern Scotland earlier this year. The strain, identified as EU 46, can withstand certain fungicides, making it harder to control. It serves as a stark reminder that nearly 175 years after Ireland’s great famine, this destructive pathogen continues to evolve and endanger crops around the world.

Each year, farmers lose an estimated US$6–7 billion (£4.5-5.2 billion) worth of crops due to this disease. In Europe alone, direct losses and control costs amount to over €1 billion (£800 million) annually. That includes the cost of expensive fungicide sprays that farmers rely on for protection.

In developing countries, the stakes are even higher. Many smallhold farmers lack resources for intensive disease management. In Uganda, potato blight can destroy up to 100% of a farmer’s crop, endangering livelihoods and local food security.

Just as in the Irish famine, dependence on a single crop is risky. When blight strikes these vulnerable communities, the consequences can be devastating.

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After decades of research, blight remains hard to defeat, partly due to the pathogen’s remarkable adaptability. Over the years, Phytophthora infestans (late blight) has repeatedly evolved new genetic strains that overcome both chemical fungicides and the resistant potato varieties bred to fend it off.

The newly identified EU 46 strain is just one example of how quickly blight can develop resistance. In this case, tolerating a key fungicide and showing reduced sensitivity to others.

Meanwhile, environmental changes and global trade create opportunities for wind-blown spores to migrate into new regions. All of this means farmers must remain vigilant; what worked against blight last year might not work today.

After the Irish famine of the 1840s, science eventually identified its microscopic culprit and ways to fight it, but innovation didn’t stop there. Today, researchers and farmers are enlisting cutting-edge technology to stay ahead of blight.

One promising tool is real-time spore detection. Devices like the SwisensPoleno, a monitor developed in Switzerland, can constantly scan the air on farms and spot signs of P. infestans spores as they appear.

In Ireland, I’m leading a project testing this technology out on farms. These sensors rely on advanced imaging and AI to tell blight spores apart from other particles, giving farmers an early warning so they can act before the disease spreads.

Potato blight is caused by a pathogen called Phytophthora Infestans.
Elena Masiutkina/Shutterstock, CC BY-NC-ND

Equally, new rapid DNA diagnostics can detect blight more quickly than traditional lab tests which take days to identify new strains. Portable testing kits are bringing diagnostics to the field. My colleagues and I have developed a simple in-field test (like COVID-19 lateral flow tests) that detects specific blight strains from a crushed leaf or air samples in under 30 minutes.

Such tests not only confirm the presence of blight but can tell if the strain is one known to resist certain fungicides. This information allows farmers to choose the right treatment immediately, targeting the pathogen’s weaknesses and avoiding wasted effort.

Farmers are also using data and computer modelling to anticipate outbreaks of the disease allowing them to act before it can takes hold. Sophisticated forecasting systems crunch weather data (temperature, humidity, rainfall) and spore counts to predict when and where blight is likely to strike next.

By pinpointing high-risk periods, these models help schedule fungicide applications more strategically – only when needed, rather than on a fixed calendar. This not only cuts costs and environmental damage by reducing unnecessary sprays, but also slows down resistance development in the pathogen.

Digital tech can help farmers detect crop diseases like potato blight quickly and accurately.
Andrii Medvediuk/Shutterstock

A global fight

Defeating potato blight demands international efforts. There’s no wonder drug or magic gene that can eliminate this ever-changing pathogen. Like other experts, I advocate for an integrated pest-management approach.

This combines cultural practices (like crop rotation and destroying infected plant debris) alongside biological controls (naturally occurring microbes, like beneficial bacteria, to help suppress the disease and limit its impact on crops). Judicious fungicide use to reduce the chances of blight taking hold is also effective.

Using technology to leverage real-time data enables farmers to act on early warnings and apply treatments in a targeted way, preserving yields while minimising environmental damage.

Investing in research and farmer education is essential too – from developing resistant potato breeds to training farmers in remote areas on how to use new diagnostic kits.

The fight against potato blight is global by necessity. An airborne spore originating in one country can hop to another on the wind, as Europe’s experience shows. Likewise, breakthroughs in one lab or farm – whether a new sensor, a resistant potato variety, or an effective organic spray – need to be shared and supported across borders.

International initiatives are putting the latest blight-fighting tools into the hands of farmers around the world. Supporting smallhold farmers in developing countries is especially vital, because they often face blight with limited resources and far more is at stake in terms of food security.

In the mid-19th century, Ireland’s potato-dependent society was caught tragically off guard. Today, we have knowledge, technology and hard-earned lessons on our side.

By embracing an integrated, technology driven strategy and ensuring it reaches farmers everywhere, that blight cycle could be broken. The continued emergence of strains like EU 46 is a warning, but also a call to action. One that we are now better equipped than ever to answer.

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David O’Connor receives funding from Research Ireland and Irish EPA.

– ref. How to tackle new strains of potato blight and avoid another great famine – https://theconversation.com/how-to-tackle-new-strains-of-potato-blight-and-avoid-another-great-famine-256926

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: The Coin by Palestinian writer Yasmin Zaher wins the 20th Dylan Thomas Prize – an expert from the judging panel explains why

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Daniel G. Williams, Professor of English Literature, Swansea University

Yasmin Zaher’s remarkable novel The Coin has won the 20th International Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize for writers under the age of 40.

This is not a story that begins at the beginning. Instead, its narrator starts with dirt and an obsession with cleanliness, but suggests later that the coin of the title – an Israeli shekel that she accidentally swallowed on a family road trip in which her parents were killed in a car crash – would have been an equally appropriate place to begin.

Long forgotten, the swallowed coin begins to make its presence felt, somewhere in her body, following her move to America. The narrator is a wealthy young Palestinian woman, teaching boys at a New York City middle school. Her wealth, however, is in the hands of a brother who controls her allowance. She responds by developing a scheme to resell luxury handbags with a homeless con-artist, known throughout as “Trenchcoat”.

This is one of several attempts at shaping the world around her: she revels in her sexuality and ability to redefine herself through fashionable clothes and accessories; she teaches her class about black power and takes them on a trip to listen to the “dagger poems” of a black nationalist poet in New Jersey.

I assume this poet is Amiri Baraka since they eat “Black Dada Nihilismus” burgers, a reference to his poem of the same name. But such acts of resistance, if not futile, are limited. Like the swallowed coin, the levers of control, whether material or psychic, lie out of reach as we witness the narrator’s gradual unravelling.

It is perhaps appropriate that a novel set in New York should win the prize named after Swansea’s most famous poet. New York both enticed and frightened Dylan Thomas. It was the city in which he died. The city, also, in which he recorded the ground-breaking reading of A Child’s Christmas in Wales.

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In that story, as in his earlier Return Journey, his childhood self is a ghostly presence wandering among the “blitzed flat graves” of shops “marbled with snow and headstoned with fences”. The snow hides devastation. The destruction of the city that Thomas knew as a child. The 44 air raids mounted on Swansea between 1940 and 1943 killed 390 people. And it’s the similar loss of people and places, and the suffering in Gaza today, which Zaher’s novel examines.

Palestine is a persistent and troubling presence in the The Coin. For Dylan the devastation of Swansea was a metonym for a wider world where civilians were increasingly the victims of war. His world is, regrettably, still ours in that sense. The Coin is a profound meditation on our contemporary world and our complicity in the destruction of another place and people.

In a moving scene, the narrator recalls a Jewish friend, “a very gentle girl who dreamed of becoming a ballerina”. She lived in a house that once belonged to “a Palestinian family that had been expelled in 1948”. The friend tells her about two underground rooms in the garden. One of the rooms, “the poop room”, allows access to the second which contains “a big wooden chest full of treasures and gold”. The narrator keeps “thinking of that secret chamber off the shit room, the wooden chest inside, full of silverware and gold of the family who thought they would return.”

The swallowed coin. The inaccessible allowance. The wooden chest full of treasures and gold. Unreachable currency functions as a powerful symbolic centre connecting the brief scenes and meditations that constitute this appropriately fragmented novel. Lost somewhere in the narrator’s entrails, removed from economic exchange, the coin belongs with the excrement and detritus of urban life, which is the object of the narrator’s disgusted obsessions.

New York in this novel is a repository of failed circulation – the filth of the city’s streets offering a gothic underside to the endless flows of capitalism, frustrating the narrator’s obsessive attempts at keeping herself clean. Narratives and circulation end in the stasis of dirt. Palestinian history ends in dispossession. Swallowed coin, inaccessible allowance and a buried treasure chest are symbolic repositories of Palestinian traumatic memory.

Zaher shows us how the novel form can still offer a unique way of understanding the world, of mapping our contemporary disorientation. It does this not by offering clarity, but by lingering in the spaces where movement, value and meaning break down. This is a novel about circulation – of money, of bodies and of meaning.

The swallowed coin is itself a kind of resistance, a refusal to go along with the restless movement of capital that defines our world. The coin refuses liquidity and thereby refuses complicity; its removal from the economic system mimics a kind of muted protest. Beneath the novel’s often frenetic and energetic surface hides a resistant counter-politics of inaction.

Daniel G. Williams was a judge of this years’ Dylan Thomas Prize.

– ref. The Coin by Palestinian writer Yasmin Zaher wins the 20th Dylan Thomas Prize – an expert from the judging panel explains why – https://theconversation.com/the-coin-by-palestinian-writer-yasmin-zaher-wins-the-20th-dylan-thomas-prize-an-expert-from-the-judging-panel-explains-why-257063

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: International Booker prize 2025: six experts review the shortlisted novels

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Helen Vassallo, Associate Professor of French and Translation, University of Exeter

From a longlist of 13, six novels have been shortlisted for the 2025 International Booker prize. Our academics review the finalists ahead of the announcement of the winner on May 20.

Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Asa Yoneda

Hiromi Kawakami’s Under the Eye of the Big Bird offers us glimpses of one imagined future for earth and humanity.

Its vision could be described as post-apocalyptic. After unspecified cataclysmic events, humans exist only in tiny, scattered communities and extinction seems imminent. But this is also a beautiful, if dreamlike, world and one in which humanity still has the potential for astonishing growth and change.

Each chapter introduces something new and startling to the reader. Many of the tropes are familiar – cloning, superpowers, mutation, AI. Yet they are configured in unfamiliar ways and prompt reflections on the nature of humanity and our relationship with the rest of creation – as well as on time, religion and the possibility of an afterlife.

Despite grappling with so many huge questions, Under the Eye of the Big Bird is an accessible and absorbing novel. And, although tragedy is never far away, there remains humour – and hope.

Sarah Annes Brown, Professor of English Literature

Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated by Deepa Bhasthi

Banu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp shines a light on the lives of Muslim women in rural India. In a bold and memorable translation from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi, this quietly powerful collection of short stories opens up the intimate space of domestic rituals and family tensions.

Mushtaq’s fervent advocacy of women’s rights is evident in the compassion with which she brings to life the women in the stories: from the lack of autonomy suffered by young girls forced into wedlock to the indignity of an older woman obliged to accept her husband taking a second wife or a widow whose son arranges a new marriage for her, the women’s lives are dictated by men.

Heart Lamp is perhaps best summed up in the final story, “Be a Woman Once, O Lord!” Throughout these stories, Mushtaq invites us – and whichever male deity might be listening – to walk in the shoes of women overlooked by an unquestioned patriarchal hierarchy.

Helen Vassallo, Associate Professor of French and Translation

A Leopard-Skin Hat by Anne Serre, translated by Mark Hutchinson

Published in France in 2008 as Un chapeau léopard, A Leopard-Skin Hat is a novel about a friendship spanning 20 years between a woman called Fanny and a man known throughout only as “the Narrator”. He is not, though, the narrator of the novel. Rather, an unknown storyteller tells us how the Narrator sees Fanny gradually lose the fight against madness (the novel’s word) and, in the end, death.

This is a novel about the mystery of other people, about how unknowable others are to us. It explores how we narrate to try to understand people who are not us, but whom we love. What is most extraordinary about Serre’s novel is the way it shows us two friends doing very ordinary things – going out for dinner, going on holiday, walking in the countryside and swimming in lakes – but shows us through this the strangeness and complexity of friendship, love and life.

Leigh Wilson, Professor of English Literature

Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, translated by Sophie Hughes

Perfection is a slim account of the way that time “disappears” for Anna and Tom, an expat couple living in Berlin as creative freelancers in the 2010s.

Written in homage to Georges Perec’s Things: The Story of the Sixties (1965), the novel opens with an overbearing description of the items in their apartment, moving in and out of the characters’ dissatisfaction with the aesthetic, social, creative, economic and political routes open to them in 120 pages spanning a little over 10 years.

As international elections, the European refugee crises and climate catastrophe dance in and out of their peripheral vision, Anna and Tom find neither satisfaction with their current moment nor successfully imagine a better one. As such, Latronico gently, but with an increasing sense of fatalism, considers the stagnation of a millennial creative class whose views on influence, status, power and happiness remain deeply linked to the “new emotions” of digital mediation.

By Rachel Sykes, Associate Professor in Contemporary Literature and Culture

On The Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle, translated by Barbara Haveland

In On The Calculation of Volume, a woman, Tara Selter, finds herself trapped in an endlessly repeating day, November 18. Volume I, the first of seven books, recounts the first 365 days of this time loop, with Tara attempting to make sense of her predicament, to explain it to her husband – who is still bound by the normal rules of time – and to try to fix whatever has initiated this situation.

As the novel continues, it becomes less focused on the novelty of the situation and more on the philosophical questions it raises: the alternate claustrophobia and liberation of replaying the same day; how our friends and partners sometimes feel like they inhabit a different reality; the way in which time pulls things and people apart; of the importance we place in the idea of “tomorrow”.

What’s remarkable about Balle’s novel is how compulsive it is – even though we know time is standing still, we still want to know what will happen next.

David Hering, Senior Lecturer in English Literature

Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix, translated by Helen Stevenson

Vincent Delecroix’s Small Boat is a slim, bruising novel that centres on a real horror: the drowning of 27 migrants in the English Channel in November 2021. In a small, inflatable craft, they reached out over crackling radio lines, asking for help that never came.

Small Boat focuses not on the migrants themselves, but on a French coastguard operator who spent that night on the radio, fielding their calls for rescue. Delecroix’s brilliance lies in showing how violence at the border is carried out not by villains, but by workers. It was not evil that allowed those people to die in the water, it was a string of decisions made by people in warm rooms who believed they were doing their jobs.

In a world ever more brutal towards those who flee war, hunger and despair, Delecroix’s novel is a necessary – and merciless – indictment. It reminds us that the shipwreck is not theirs alone. It is ours too.

Fiona Murphy, Assistant Professor in Refugee and Intercultural Studies

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. International Booker prize 2025: six experts review the shortlisted novels – https://theconversation.com/international-booker-prize-2025-six-experts-review-the-shortlisted-novels-255464

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: In ‘Paying For It,’ ex-lovers reimagine friendship, family and the meaning of sex work

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Ummni Khan, Associate Professor, Department of Law and Legal Studies, Carleton University

Emily Lê and Daniel Beirne star in the film that sees director and multidisciplinary artist Sook-Lin Yee adapt the graphic memoir of her ex-lover, Chester Brown, for the screen. (Wilding Pictures & Hawkeye Pictures)

The film Paying For It, Sook-Yin Lee’s live-action adaptation of cartoonist Chester Brown’s 2011 graphic memoir, reveals unexpected overlaps between paid sexual encounters and romantic relationships.

Lee, a boundary-shattering artist working across film, music, acting and broadcast, has never shied away from taboo. With Paying For It, she takes on sex work, romance and the messy labour of chosen family by adapting her ex-lover’s memoir for the screen.

‘Paying For It,’ graphic memoir by Chester Brown.
(Drawn & Quarterly)

In my 2019 article “Chester Brown and the Queerness of Johns,” I analyze Brown’s original book, which traces his pivot from monogamy with Lee to regularly seeing sex workers in the late 1990s.

Both a memoir and a manifesto, the book pairs accounts of paid sex with arguments for decriminalizing sex work, voiced through debates with friends and a detailed appendix. In my analysis, I frame Brown’s memoir as a queer intervention, one that disrupts heteronormative ideals of romantic relations, intimate exchanges and sexual propriety.

Lee’s cinematic version of Paying For It affirms Brown’s stance, but filters the story through her own perceptions and snapshots of her love life. In doing so, she traces how she and Brown reinvented their relationship, while portraying his encounters with sex workers with nuance and care.

Drawing on my research in sexuality — including scholarship on sex work, client surveillance and client regulation — I see the film as a defiant celebration of unconventional bonds between exes who remain best friends, and between clients and sex workers, where even purchased orgasms can carry moments of tenderness and mutual respect.

Radical relationship honesty

The film opens with Sonny (Lee’s fictional persona, played by Emily Lê) confessing to live-in boyfriend Chester (Daniel Beirne) that she’s falling in love with someone else.

Rather than erupting in rage or jealousy, Chester remains composed. Together, they choose to see what might come next. As Sonny begins seeing other people, Chester continues living in the house and becomes privy to her romantic sagas, from the steamy beginnings to the bitter blowouts. To the bewilderment of his friends, he remains content with the arrangement.

Eventually, Chester decides to pay for sex, a decision he shares with Sonny.
What emerges is a portrait of creative kinship where two people refuse the usual scripts and choose radical openness instead.

Unconventional bond

Decades after the events depicted in the film, Lee has described Brown as her “best friend” and “as family.”

Lee and Brown shape personal histories into overlapping narratives. That they’ve promoted the film together, and appeared in joint interviews and public discussions, suggests a sense of mutual trust at the heart of their collaboration.

Probing the meanings of sex and intimacy

Chester moves — and sometimes stumbles — through criminalized terrain, figuring out how to find sex workers, engage respectfully and follow the unspoken rules of the exchange. The film suggests sometimes it’s just sex for Chester, and at other times, the exchange carries an emotional connection for him.

With one sex worker, Chester shares his real name and gifts a book he wrote about Louis Riel.

Sociologist Elizabeth Bernstein has analyzed how sex workers are sometimes paid to offer their clients an erotic experience “premised upon the performance of authentic interpersonal connection.”

In the film, a potential for emotional reciprocity between Chester and a sex worker becomes evident. Without giving too much away, by the film’s end we see how a casual and transactional beginning transforms into something more enduring for both parties.

‘Paying For It,’ trailer.

Risks in both romance and sex work

The film also highlights the risks running through both sex work and romance.

Sex workers face threats of abuse, arrest, disrespect and boundary violations. The film gestures to these realities in a scene following a police raid on a sex work venue.

But the film also shows Sonny’s relationships aren’t immune to danger either. One boyfriend’s rage nearly results in harm to her pet.

Just as navigating risk is part of both romance and sex work, so too is grappling with the social forces that shape desire. In one pointed exchange, Sonny calls out Chester for only paying young, conventionally attractive women. He counters by asking why she doesn’t date Asian men, forcing them both to confront their own biases.

Sex worker rights

While Paying For It is deeply personal, it is also unmistakably political, especially in its implicit advocacy for sex worker rights.

To navigate the ethical complexities of depicting sex work, Lee consulted with performer, activist and author Andrea Werhurn, who wrote a memoir about being a former escort; Werhurn stars in the film as the sex worker Denise.

Lee also interviewed Valerie Scott — one of the applicants who challenged Canada’s prostitution laws in the Bedford case.

The film presents sex work as legitimate labour, highlighting the skills and emotional intelligence it demands. At the same time, it underscores how sex workers remain vulnerable to police harassment, violence and social stigma.

Canada’s perverse laws on sex work

The marginalized status of sex work, as dramatized in the film, is shaped by a legal system structured by moralism and hypocrisy.

Set in the 1990s, Paying For It takes place at a time when Canada didn’t criminalize the sale of sex directly but prohibited nearly everything around it, including soliciting, working indoors and operating brothels.

These contradictions pushed the industry underground, exposing sex workers to abuse, police harassment, sting operations and heightened health risks, while often branding them with criminal records.

Sex work kept in the shadows

In 2013, the Supreme Court’s Bedford decision struck down these provisions, ruling that they violated sex workers’ constitutional rights, most importantly, the right to security of the person.

But the legal victory was short-lived. In 2014, the Conservative government introduced the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, which criminalized the purchase of sexual services while ostensibly decriminalizing its sale.

In practice, the model keeps paid sex in the shadows, where workers face ongoing risks, limited negotiating power and barriers to reporting abuse or working in safer indoor settings. What’s being protected isn’t sex workers, but a puritanical social order.

Read more:
Sex workers are left out in the cold by Ottawa’s unjust conviction amendments

This puritanical approach also underpins the newly criminalized status of clients. In my chapter “From Average Joe to Deviant John,” I trace how western attitudes toward men who pay for sex evolved from a “boys will be boys” tolerance to a framework that pathologizes and vilifies them.

Paying For It resists this framing. The film presents Chester as awkward but principled: a considerate client navigating desire in a criminalized and judgmental culture.

The price of choosing love freely

Paying For It offers an alternative kind of love story. It spotlights a relationship where former lovers honour the heart (their continued commitment to one another), the body (respecting each other’s sexual autonomy) and the mind (their willingness to question social norms).

In this way, the film redefines “paying for it” not as a burden but as a conscious and liberating investment in diverse forms of love and intimacy.

Ummni Khan 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. In ‘Paying For It,’ ex-lovers reimagine friendship, family and the meaning of sex work – https://theconversation.com/in-paying-for-it-ex-lovers-reimagine-friendship-family-and-the-meaning-of-sex-work-255294

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Meta’s Community Notes program is promising, but needs to prioritize transparency

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Sameer Borwankar, Assistant Professor of Information Systems, McGill University

Meta has changed its approach to fact-checking, moving away from platform-controlled moderation. (Shutterstock)

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has more than 3.35 billion combined monthly active users. Recently, Meta has changed its approach to fact-checking in response to criticisms of its role in circulating fake news and disinformation. The company frames its Community Notes program as a way to uphold free expression.

Although Meta has not officially announced a launch date for Community Notes in Canada, interested users can join the waitlist via Meta’s Community Notes page.

Read more:
Meta shift from fact-checking to crowdsourcing spotlights competing approaches in fight against misinformation and hate speech

The initiative was first launched in the United States, and will be expanding globally. Meanwhile, X (formerly Twitter) has already experimented with a similar program, with mixed results. The experience of X’s Community Notes (previously known as Birdwatch) underscores that both platforms and regulators must take an active role in refining these programs.

Meta has the opportunity to learn from four years of Community Notes evolution at X and improve upon its shortcomings. This involves adjusting features, addressing algorithmic biases and ensuring that they function as effective tools rather than mere symbolic gestures.

CBC reports on Meta ending its fact-checking program.

Community-driven moderation

X launched Birdwatch in January 2021 when it was known as Twitter. Marketed as a way to broaden the range of voices beyond platform-based and centralized fact-checking efforts, the program aimed to curb the spread of misinformation through community-driven moderation.

Over time, the team refined many of its features based on feedback from pilot participants and internal research. When Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, he implemented major changes, including a rebranding of the program’s name.

Community Notes operates on the principles of crowdsourcing, a method proven effective in various domains. Research has shown that groups of users can collectively identify low-quality news sources and misleading content.

On X, users participating in the Community Notes program contribute additional context to posts in the form of notes. They can also rate others’ contributions. Notes that receive supportive ratings from a diverse group of users become publicly visible. Once approved, they appear directly beneath the original post, providing added context for the broader audience.

However, even if a post is widely deemed misleading by Community Notes contributors, the platform does not take action against the post itself or the individuals who spread misinformation. Instead, the program relies solely on surfacing user-generated context rather than the company moderating content.

Positive impact?

Preliminary research suggests that the Community Notes program has had a positive impact on curbing the spread of misinformation on the platform. Recent work shows that when a note is attached to a post, authors often voluntarily retract their posts by deleting them.

On the content creation aspect, participation in the program appears to influence user behaviour: contributors tend to adopt a more measured tone, reducing extreme sentiment in their writing after engaging with the system.

One of the most notable strengths of X’s Community Notes is its transparency. Since the program’s inception, X has provided public access to both the data and the algorithms that determine which fact-checks are displayed.

This open-source approach has allowed researchers — both within and outside the company — to study the program and propose improvements. This stands in contrast to the recent trend of social media platforms rolling back data-sharing partnerships.

Prior to Musk’s acquisition, X also had a dedicated team researching the impact of the program. Early changes to the program were shaped by feedback from participants and internal research.

For example, in November 2021, X introduced anonymity for fact-checkers to prevent trolling and harassment. This decoupling of roles between content creators and fact-checkers has had a positive effect, reducing the risk of retaliation and fostering a more positive content creation by the participants of the program.

Groups of users can collectively identify low-quality news sources and misleading content.
(Shutterstock)

Challenges and limitations

Despite its potential, X’s Community Notes program faces several significant challenges, including its low popularity among users. Meta now has an opportunity to address these shortcomings from the outset.

One of the biggest concerns is manipulation by co-ordination. Given the presence of organized troll networks on social media, there is a high risk that co-ordinated groups could misuse the program to flag legitimate content as misinformation.

To counteract this, X implemented a consensus-based approach, where a note is only made visible if users with diverse viewpoints agree on its accuracy.

While this system appears sound in theory, in practice it has led to a severe lack of approved notes as less than nine per cent of submitted notes reach the general audience. Many contributions never gain visibility, often due to insufficient ratings from diverse users.

Another limitation of the consensus approach is that the algorithm must first recognize diverse viewpoints, which are not always straightforward. Social media platforms operate across hundreds of countries, where political, cultural and social divisions can be complex and nuanced. In such cases, enforcing consensus among a diverse audience may be highly unreliable and require reassessment.

Shifting responsibility

There is also the risk that Community Notes serve as a smokescreen, allowing platforms to shift responsibility away from active misinformation management. Since taking over X, Musk has laid off more than 80 per cent of the company’s Trust and Safety team.

This included members of the Community Notes team, leaving critical gaps in oversight and research. Meta’s recent move to distance itself from third-party fact-checkers suggests a similar retreat from proactive intervention.

Legal frameworks across different countries add further complications. Although Community Notes contributors remain anonymous to the public, it is unclear how platforms will respond if governments demand access to contributor identities.

The Wikipedia legal case in India serves as a cautionary example of how platforms may be pressured into compliance. In September 2024, the Delhi High Court issued a contempt-of-court notice to Wikipedia over the site’s delay in providing identifying information about edits.

No real consequences

Finally, these programs are further weakened by the platforms’ explicit assurance that they will not take enforcement action based on Community Notes outcomes. Without real consequences for those spreading misinformation, the program risks being a symbolic effort rather than an effective tool for content moderation.

Overall, there is hope that Meta’s Community Notes program can be effective, but its success will depend on continuous experimentation and improvement. The company must prioritize transparency to rebuild public trust and ensure the program does not become another performative gesture.

Regulators also have a crucial role in holding platforms accountable, ensuring that data from these programs remains accessible to independent researchers and that the algorithms determining which notes are displayed are fair and unbiased.

Without these safeguards, Community Notes risks becoming yet another tool that platforms use to shift responsibility rather than a meaningful solution to misinformation.

Sameer Borwankar receives funding from SSHRC.

– ref. Meta’s Community Notes program is promising, but needs to prioritize transparency – https://theconversation.com/metas-community-notes-program-is-promising-but-needs-to-prioritize-transparency-248324

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Is this bad for my health? Kenyan study tests three types of warning labels on food
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Shukri F. Mohamed, Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research Center

Diet-related health conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity, are on the rise in Kenya, putting immense strain on already over-stretched public health systems. These conditions are often driven by high intake of sugars, salts and unhealthy fats. So it’s more critical than ever for consumers to understand what’s in the foods they’re buying.

But making sense of nutrition information isn’t always straightforward, especially with the small, complex labels on the back of most packages.

Our recent study examined whether front-of-pack food labels could help Kenyan consumers make better choices. We tested three types of label designs to see which one was most effective at helping people identify nutrients of concern and make healthier purchase decisions.

Front-of-pack labels are simplified labels on the front of food packaging, designed to help consumers quickly assess healthiness through symbols, colours, or ratings. Examples include providing a “high in sugar” warning. In contrast, back-of-pack labels provide mandatory, detailed information such as full ingredient lists, nutrition facts and expiry dates typically in a standardised, text-heavy format on the back or side. Front-of-pack labels aren’t mandatory in all countries but back-of-pack labels are.

Many countries, including Chile, Mexico and Israel, have already introduced mandatory warning labels. Research shows that there has been a positive impact on public health.

Kenya is planning to take a major step in promoting public health by introducing a front-of-label system that will rank packed foods and non-alcoholic beverages based on their nutritional quality. Currently, packaged foods in Kenya are required to list ingredients, but this information can be hard to interpret. Front-of-pack labels will simplify this by highlighting key nutritional facts at a glance.

The new system will also guide policies like restricting marketing of unhealthy foods to children and other measures to improve Kenya’s food environment. With rising obesity and diet-related diseases driven by a shift from traditional foods to processed options, changes are urgently needed.

Read more: Marketing unhealthy food as good for kids is fuelling obesity in South Africa: how to curb it

We have been involved in food environment policies research for the last five years. Our study emphasises the potential of front-of-pack food labels to affect consumers’ choices. Presenting clear information about a product’s nutritional content on the front of packaging could shift consumer behaviour towards healthier choices. In turn, this could lead to better public health outcomes.

Testing three label types

The study randomly assigned participants to different label types to compare the results fairly.

The study involved 2,198 adults from four counties: the capital, Nairobi; Mombasa, the second largest city; Kisumu, which is home to the third largest city; and Garissa in north-eastern Kenya. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three label types: red and green octagon label (RG), red and green octagon with icons (RGI), and black octagon warning label (WL).

Each label had a unique approach to highlighting sugars, fats and salts, which are the nutrients linked to diet-related diseases.
- The Red-Green (RG) label used the colours red and green to show if a product had high or within-threshold levels of salt, sugar, fat, or saturated fat. Red meant the nutrients were above the set threshold, making that food unhealthy, while green meant it was below the set threshold levels.
- The Red-Green with Icons (RGI) label worked like the RG label and it also included icons (like a spoon for sugar, a salt shaker for salt) and abbreviations (F for fat, SF for saturated fat) to make it easier to understand.
- The black octagon Warning Label (WL) only appeared on products high in salt, sugar or fats, with a clear “high in” warning message to alert consumers.
Read more: Why South Africa should introduce mandatory labelling for fast foods

Each participant was asked to evaluate a sample of food products based on the label type they were shown. They were also asked about their purchase intentions and perceptions of the products’ healthiness.

First, the study participants were shown images of packaged foods without any labels, and they were asked to answer questions about them. Then, study participants were shown the same images, but this time with a front-of-pack label added to the images. They were then asked the same questions again to see if the labels influenced their responses.

Our results showed that warning labels were the most effective in helping consumers identify foods high in sugars, salts and fats. Participants who saw the warning labels were more likely to recognise unhealthy packaged food products and less likely to choose them, compared to those who used the Red and Green labels.

In the same study we asked consumers about awareness and use of labels and we found that approximately two thirds (64.3%) reported being aware of food labels, while 55.0% reported reading nutrition information before purchasing products.

Next steps

Our research provides a strong evidence base to support policymakers in adopting mandatory front-of-pack labelling.

Moving forward, establishing a clear regulatory framework that mandates simple, effective and standardised labelling systems is essential in reducing diet-related diseases. Ensuring these labels are easily understandable and prominently displayed on all packaged foods will empower consumers to make healthier choices, particularly those in low- and middle-income communities, who are at higher risk of poor dietary outcomes.

Several law-making processes are in place that Kenya could use to implement mandatory labelling. But efforts are needed to identify and pursue the most effective route to effective legal change.

– Is this bad for my health? Kenyan study tests three types of warning labels on food
– https://theconversation.com/is-this-bad-for-my-health-kenyan-study-tests-three-types-of-warning-labels-on-food-253657

MIL OSI Africa –
May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Armed groups are invading Benin’s forest reserves. Why and what to do about it
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Papa Sow, Senior Researcher, The Nordic Africa Institute

Benin’s Pendjari Biosphere Reserve, also called Pendjari National Park, and its surroundings have been targeted by non-state armed groups since 2019.

Pendjari National Park, which covers approximately 4,800km², is one of five protected areas in Benin and is one of the main biodiversity conservation areas in west Africa. It has been a World Heritage Site since 2017.

It is an integral part of the W-Arly-Pendjari complex, a transboundary biosphere reserve. The W Park is shared by Niger, Benin and Burkina Faso. Arly is located in Burkina Faso and Pendjari in Benin.

The geographical configuration of the park facilitates all kinds of movements. Non-state armed groups attempt to exploit the porous borders to hide, stock up on natural resources — including gold and poached wildlife — or turn them into rear bases. Non-state armed groups take advantage of the park’s inaccessibility and its dense, wild forests to turn them into refuges.

Bloody battles are underway to conquer special forest territories, which I call “protected jihadism areas” because of their use by armed movements claiming to be jihadists.

As part of a study on the causes of migration in and from the northern parts of Benin Republic, close to Burkina Faso, Niger, Togo and Nigeria, I analysed the impact that these non-state armed groups were having on local populations and protected areas.

I have been working on migration issues for about 25 years, and most of my observations in west Africa show that armed groups cause displacements in the sub-region. They contribute to a land and pastoral crisis, inconsistency in the distribution of forest resources, and a poorly integrated approach to the management of protected areas.

I interviewed experts, local journalists, research assistants who I worked with during several years and displaced people in Benin and the west African sub-region about the direct impacts of smuggling, the depletion of natural resources, threats, and the use of violence in forest reserves.

My observations are that the spiral of violence by non-state armed groups is dangerously disrupting the conservation and protection of the environment, increasing fear and insecurity among communities, and ruining the local economy, especially activities that revolve around the tourism sector.

The violence

On 8 January 2025, close to 30 soldiers were killed in the north of Benin, in Karimama near the “Triple Point” – an extensive area in the W-Arly-Pendjari complex where Benin, Niger and Burkina Faso meet.

More than 120 soldiers were killed in the area between 2021 and 2024. There has also been carnage of the animals and plants.

Since 2018, the Katiba Ansar-ul Islam, Serma, Sekou Muslimou and Abou Hanifa have been operating in Burkina Faso. They are considered jihadists – mostly under the aegis of Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), the Al Qaeda branch in the Sahel.

Reasons for the proliferation of non-state armed groups in the park are multiple. It’s difficult for the state authorities to reach them there. There is the battle among non-state armed groups over the control of pastures and water bodies in the area. The park is also a place where non-state armed groups work with traffickers of adulterated gasoline from Nigeria, called Kpayo in Benin. They buy thousands of litres of gasoline from them every week at exorbitant prices.

The Beninese state is is not very visible in some places despite the anti-terrorist Operation Mirador launched in 2021 with more than 3,000 soldiers. Since the first attack in 2019, more than US$120 million has been spent on security by Benin. But the number of attacks and kidnappings has multiplied.

The main reason is the fragility of the security of the three state border areas.

The non-State armed groups have their own crossing points that they control. Sub-regional collaboration between states is almost non-existent. The 2017 Accra Initiative, composed of five countries – Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Togo – seems to have stagnated since some member states pulled out of the regional grouping Ecowas. A genuine regional force capable of countering the activities of these non-state armed groups is necessary.

Benin is developing a military partnership with France. But the already tense diplomatic relationship between Benin and its neighbours – Niger and Burkina Faso – and the ambivalent policy of Togo, which “threatens” to join the Alliance of Sahel States – are not factors conducive to effective regional military cooperation.

How people are being affected

The park depends, in part, on funding generated by tourism and external partners. Conservation has been managed, since 2020, by the APN – Rangers African Parks Network. In 2024, it employed 337 eco-guards, including six expatriates. These eco-guards, on the front lines against non-state armed groups, are also being killed. Their work in gathering threat-related information is important to the Beninese Armed Forces.

The activities of residents living near the park, transport networks and systems, and trekking services are the hardest hit. The work of NGOs that supported local populations has been reduced. Many NGOs have withdrawn from their activities. Small businesses are under threat.

But the hardest-hit sector is tourism, which has affected the livelihoods of people. There has been a significant decline in the number of tourists. This directly affects local communities for whom tourism activities remain an important source of income.

Tanguiéta, a town 70km from the border with Burkina Faso and not far from Pendjari Park, has been the worst affected due to a decline in income from accommodation and catering activities. Jobs have been lost.

Migrants from the sub-region who had specialised in tourism entrepreneurship, including tour guides and artisans, have turned to other activities or left the town.

What needs to be done

The following measures could help protect the park and local people:
- strengthen communication and surveillance capabilities
- increase surveillance aircraft, helicopters and drones with the support of international donors and the Ecowas
- train Beninese Armed Forces in conservation practices
- increase support for community development projects
- diversify activities to reduce dependence on tourism.
– Armed groups are invading Benin’s forest reserves. Why and what to do about it
– https://theconversation.com/armed-groups-are-invading-benins-forest-reserves-why-and-what-to-do-about-it-256136

MIL OSI Africa –
May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: King, Blumenthal, Murray Press Trump Administration to Protect Veteran Caregivers

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Maine Angus King
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Angus King (I-ME), a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC), Ranking Member Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) are calling on the Trump Administration to protect veteran caregivers in Maine and across the country. In a letter to Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) Secretary Doug Collins, the Senators press the administration to extend a pause in discharges for legacy caregivers enrolled in the VA caregivers’ program – to give these caregivers– and the veterans they serve – more certainty about the path forward.
While the Biden Administration issued a Proposed Rule in December 2024 to extend this pause, Congress has received no information about the Trump Administration’s plans for the program to date.
The Senators began, “We write to request an extension of the pause in discharges for legacy caregivers enrolled in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) on or before September 30, 2020. No information has been provided about how the current Administration plans to proceed with this rulemaking process, and we have serious concerns a failure to extend this pause will cause thousands of caregivers and veterans to lose life-changing benefits on September 30, 2025.”
“In addition, VA has not provided any information as to how the recent firings, resignations, cancellations of contracts and other Trump Administration actions have affected staffing for the Caregiver Support Program (CSP), including PCAFC,” the Senators continued in the letter. “You have said your target is to cut staffing to Fiscal Year 2019 levels, however CSP program participation has more than doubled since that time, due to the MISSION Act expansion of PCAFC to veterans of all eras…If CSP staff are cut to your target levels, the program would simply not be able to maintain the current level of support provided.”
Representing one of the states with the highest rates of military families and veterans per capita, Senator King is a staunch advocate for America’s servicemembers and veterans. A member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC), he works to ensure American veterans receive their earned benefits and that the VA is properly implementing various programs such as the PACT Act, the State Veterans Homes Domiciliary Care Flexibility Act, and the John Scott Hannon Act. Recently, Senator King introduced bipartisan legislation to help reduce suicides among veterans by providing free secure firearm storage to veterans. In addition, he helped pass the Veterans COLA Act, which increased benefits for 30,000 Maine veterans and their families. Senator King has also introduced bipartisan legislation to improve care coordination for veterans who rely on both VA health care and Medicare. Earlier this year, he cosponsored the bipartisan Major Richard Star Act that would provide more combat-injured veterans with their full earned benefits. Most recently, Senator King introduced the bipartisan Review Every Veteran’s Claims Act to make the veteran’s benefits claims process fairer by making sure bureaucracy, mistakes or unplanned schedule conflicts do not prevent veterans from receiving their benefits.
The full text of the letter is available here and below.
+++
Dear Secretary Collins,
We write to request an extension of the pause in discharges for legacy caregivers enrolled in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) on or before September 30, 2020.
President Biden’s Executive Order 14095, Increasing Access to High-Quality Care and Supporting Caregivers, requested VA make appropriate modifications to the eligibility criteria for PCAFC. VA subsequently issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in December 2024, which included an extension of the pause in program discharges for Legacy caregivers. However, no information has been provided about how the current Administration plans to proceed with this rulemaking process, and we have serious concerns a failure to extend this pause will cause thousands of caregivers and veterans to lose life-changing benefits on September 30, 2025.
In addition, VA has not provided any information as to how the recent firings, resignations, cancellations of contracts and other Trump Administration actions have affected staffing for the Caregiver Support Program (CSP), including PCAFC. You have said your target is to cut staffing to Fiscal Year 2019 levels, however CSP program participation has more than doubled since that time, due to the MISSION Act expansion of PCAFC to veterans of all eras. In Fiscal Year 2024 alone, CSP served more than 86,000 caregivers, and expanded access to critical mental health care, respite care, bereavement and other services. If CSP staff are cut to your target levels, the program would simply not be able to maintain the current level of support provided. In fact, because VA recently cut hours for the Caregiver Support Line, access to that support has decreased because of the elimination of weekend availability and the curtailment of business hours and after-hours availability.
Since Congress enacted PCAFC in 2010, there have been considerable changes to the program, many of them resulting in caregivers and veterans being unjustifiably denied or discharged from the program. Given this history, VA must work to increase transparency and maintain sufficient staffing and funding levels for CSP, and ensure legacy caregivers are not kicked out of the program in September.
Sincerely,

MIL OSI USA News –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Grassley, Banks Renew Call for Investigation into Milley’s Chain of Command Interference, Efforts to Undermine Civilian Control of the Military

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Iowa Chuck Grassley
WASHINGTON – Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) are renewing calls for the Department of Defense (DOD) to finally address alleged misconduct by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) General Mark Milley.
In a letter to the DOD’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG), the senators cite reports Milley tampered with the statutory chain of command, undermined civilian control of the military, violated military code through making derogatory and political public statements and provided inaccurate sworn testimony.
“The nation’s highest-ranking military officer has a solemn responsibility to set an example of excellence and to model good conduct for all American service members. The record suggests that General Milley failed to meet those standards,” the senators wrote.
Grassley and Banks are following up on their 2022 request for an independent review of Milley’s actions. Former DOD Inspector General Robert Storch closed the review without providing answers.
“[Milley’s] conduct and willful undermining of his Commander-in-Chief posed a grave threat to civilian control of the military. The issues raised by Milley’s alleged misconduct are too important to be swept under the rug. They must be examined, and if substantiated, General Milley should be held accountable,” the senators continued.
In January, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth directed OIG to conduct a review of Milley’s misconduct and determine whether enough evidence exists for Milley to be stripped of a star in retirement.
The full text of the letter is available HERE.
Background:Milley – who, per the Constitution and law, does not have command authority as JCS chairman – reportedly ordered senior officers to check with him before executing orders from President Trump during his first term.
Milley also has made partisan statements to the press, admissions in the book Peril and derogatory comments about Trump, including those in his now-public draft resignation letter. Milley also reportedly promised a Chinese military official he would alert them ahead of time if the United States was about to attack China.
In April 2022, Grassley and Banks wrote to Milley regarding their concerns. After months without answers, they sought an inspector general review of Milley’s actions.
After nearly nine months, the OIG claimed to have conducted a thorough review, but offered no material or details to support its finding to halt its investigation.
-30-

MIL OSI USA News –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UK sanctions hit West Bank violence network
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Press release

UK sanctions hit West Bank violence network

UK sanctions individuals, illegal settler outposts and organisations supporting violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank, as Foreign Secretary pauses Free Trade Agreement negotiations with Israel
New sanctions target 3 individuals, 2 illegal settler outposts and 2 organisations supporting violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

Today’s measures include financial restrictions and travel bans, including on high-profile extremist settler leader Daniella Weiss

In a statement to the House, the Foreign Secretary is set to announce a formal pause of Free Trade Agreement negotiations with Israel, effective immediately.

He will make clear the UK’s complete opposition to the IDF’s new, extensive ground operation through Gaza, repeat UK demands that Hamas release all the hostages immediately and unconditionally, and reiterate that Hamas cannot continue to run Gaza.

In response to the persistent cycle of serious violence undertaken by extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, the Foreign Secretary has announced new sanctions today.

Today’s measures target 3 individuals, including prominent settler leader Daniella Weiss, as well as 2 illegal outposts and 2 organisations that have supported, incited and promoted violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

These individuals and entities are now subject to measures including financial restrictions, travel bans, and director disqualifications, and will follow 18 other individuals, entities, and companies already sanctioned relating to serious violence against communities in the West Bank.

The measures follow a dramatic surge in settler violence in the West Bank, with the UN recording over 1,800 attacks by settlers against Palestinian communities since 1 January 2024.

In a statement to Parliament, the Foreign Secretary is also set to announce the formal pause of Free Trade Agreement negotiations with Israel, effective immediately. While the UK government remains committed to the existing trade agreement in force, it is not possible to advance discussions on a new, upgraded FTA with a Netanyahu government that is pursuing egregious policies in the West Bank and Gaza.

His statement will address latest developments on the ground in Gaza, making clear the UK’s complete opposition to the IDF’s new, extensive ground operation through Gaza, the threat of starvation for the Gazan population, and the UK’s condemnation of the Israeli government’s plans to drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the Strip. The Foreign Secretary will also repeat UK demands that Hamas release all the hostages immediately and unconditionally and reiterate that Hamas cannot continue to run Gaza.

The new steps follow a joint statement issued by the Prime Minister along with the leaders of France and Canada, setting out their strong opposition to the expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza and to illegal settlements in the West Bank. They also made clear that if Israel does not cease this action, further action will be taken in response.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said:

I have seen for myself the consequences of settler violence. The fear of its victims. The impunity of its perpetrators.

The sanctioning of Daniella Weiss and others today demonstrates our determination to hold extremist settlers to account as Palestinian communities suffer violence and intimidation at the hands of extremist settlers.

The Israeli government has a responsibility to intervene and halt these aggressive actions. Their consistent failure to act is putting Palestinian communities and the two-state solution in peril.

The announcement comes as Minister for the Middle East Hamish Falconer summons Israel’s Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office over the expansion of military operations in Gaza.

Minister for the Middle East Hamish Falconer said:

Today I will set out to Ambassador Hotovely the government’s opposition to the wholly disproportionate escalation of military activity in Gaza and emphasise that the 11-week block on aid to Gaza has been cruel and indefensible. I will urge Israel to halt settlement expansion and settler violence in the West Bank.

Israel must abide by its obligations under International Humanitarian Law and ensure full, rapid, safe and unhindered provision of humanitarian assistance to the population in Gaza. The limited amount of aid entering is simply not enough.

We must get an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages and a path to a two-state solution is the only way to ensure the long-term peace and security of both Palestinians and Israelis.

Background

Individuals and entities sanctioned today:

Daniella Weiss – has been involved in threatening, perpetrating, promoting and supporting, acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals. Weiss is now subject to an asset freeze, travel ban, and director disqualification.

Harel Libi – Owner of Libi Construction and Infrastructure. Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals. Libi is now subject to an asset freeze, travel ban, and director disqualification.

Zohar Sabah – has been involved in threatening, perpetrating, promoting and supporting, acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals. Sabah is now subject to an asset freeze, travel ban, and director disqualification.

Coco’s Farm – is associated with a person who is or has been involved in activity which amounts to facilitating, inciting, promoting or providing support for activity which amounts to a serious abuse of the right of individuals not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.  Coco’s Farm is now subject to an asset freeze.

Libi Construction and Infrastructure –has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts resulting in the forced displacement of Palestinians in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, activities which cause the psychological suffering of Palestinians, and activities which often leads to violence perpetrated against Palestinians. Libi Construction and Infrastructure is now subject to an asset freeze and director disqualification.

Nachala – has been involved in facilitating, inciting, promoting and providing logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts and forced displacement of Palestinians in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, activities which cause the psychological suffering of Palestinians, and which often lead to violence perpetrated against Palestinians. Nachala is now subject to an asset freeze.

Neria’s Farm – is associated with a person who is or has been involved in activity which amounts to facilitating, inciting, promoting or providing support for activity which amounts to a serious abuse of the right of individuals not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neria’s Farm is now subject to an asset freeze.

Definitions

Asset freeze: where an asset freeze applies, in summary, it is generally prohibited within the UK, and for UK persons outside the UK, to: (1) deal with funds or economic resources, owned, held or controlled by a designated person; (2) make funds or economic resources available, directly or indirectly, to, or for the benefit of, a designated person; and (3) engage in actions that, directly or indirectly, circumvent the financial sanctions prohibitions.

Director Disqualification Sanctions: Where director disqualification sanctions apply, it will be an offence for a person designated for the purpose of those sanctions to act as a director of a company or to take part in the management, formation or promotion of a UK company.

Travel ban: an individual subject to a travel ban will be an excluded person under section 8B of the Immigration Act 1971, meaning that they must be refused leave to enter or to remain in the United Kingdom.

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Email the FCDO Newsdesk (monitored 24 hours a day) in the first instance, and we will respond as soon as possible.

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Published 20 May 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: The results of the qualifying TIM championship among students of St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering have been summed up

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Winning Team

The qualifying TIM championship among students of our university has ended. Deputy Director of the Educational Center for Digital Competencies of SPbGASU Denis Nizhegorodtsev recalled that for two weeks in absentia and one week in person, the participants designed a multifunctional residential complex with built-in premises. The teams consisted of seven people: an architect, a designer, a heating and ventilation engineer, a water supply and sanitation engineer, an electrical supply engineer, an estimator, and a TIM coordinator. A total of six teams took part in the competition.

Director of the Educational Center for Digital Competencies of SPbGASU Inna Sukhanova emphasized that only domestic software was used within the TIM Championship. There were different opinions on this matter: for some it was easy to work with it, for others there were difficulties, but everyone coped.

The TIM Championship was supported by industrial partners. Dmitry Zhigalov, Technical Director of VALTEC, clarified that software is just a working tool, so success in design depends on the skills of specialists. To complete a large amount of work in such a short time is a confirmation of good competencies, Dmitry Zhigalov summed up.

Head of the department for work with design institutes at ROSTERM, Anatoly Yurkov, added that this event helps to evaluate the capabilities of specialists and improve the level of promising projects.

General Director of Infraeco Nikolay Matsukov emphasized that while such events are being held and such specialists are being identified, the Russian engineering school is alive, but in order to always achieve success, it is necessary to continue working and developing.

Nikolay Samopal, Deputy General Director for Development at WIZARDSOFT, noted that difficulties are a good tool for both professional and personal development: by overcoming them, you learn something new.

All participants agreed with their partners: the TIM Championship became an effective platform for improving their skills, the ability to cope with difficulties and work in a team.

“We won thanks to our well-coordinated teamwork, although we met each other only a few weeks ago in a virtual environment, and on the first day of the TIM Championship we saw each other for the first time. In addition, each of us has the necessary competencies in our area and conscientiously completed the assigned tasks. Difficulties arose only because of the specifics of the software, since it is relatively new to us. But the main goal of our team was not even to win the TIM Championship, but to participate in it: it is important for us to gain experience working in a team, in the interaction of related departments. It is great that we really got such experience,” said the members of the winning team.

The winners and prize winners were awarded diplomas and prizes, and the partners and experts received letters of thanks.

Winners and prize winners of the championship

The first place was taken by the team consisting of: architect Yana Safonova, designer Konstantin Duryagin, heating and ventilation engineer Sofia Kozlik, water supply and sanitation engineer Sofia Golovanova, electrical supply engineer Nikita Lesin, TIM coordinator Grigory Vorozhtsov, estimator Sofia Mityagina.

The second place was taken by the team consisting of: architect Sofia Nikolaeva, designer Vasily Goryunov, heating and ventilation engineer Daniil Abdulin, water supply and sanitation engineer Egor Kvasha, electrical supply engineer Ilya Zakharov, TIM coordinator Ekaterina Dobrovolskaya, estimator Alexandra Kovalchuk.

The third place was taken by the team consisting of: architect Maria Kayurova, designer Tamara Alafyorova, heating and ventilation engineer Nikita Ufimtsev, water supply and sanitation engineer Ilsur Kamaletdinov, electrical supply engineer Alexandra Kreitzer, TIM coordinator Nikita Lyamshev, estimator Andrey Orlov.

Andrey Orlov was recognized as the best estimator. Polina Yurevich took second place, and Sofia Mityagina took third.

Nikita Ufimtsev became the best heating and ventilation engineer. In second place was Yulia Bocharova, in third place was Nikita Prokopenko.

The best water supply and sanitation engineer is Egor Kvasha. In second place is Sofia Golovanova, in third place is Olivia Tsvetkova.

The best TIM coordinator is Grigory Vorozhtsov. Nikita Lyamshev took second place, and Polina Lyakh took third place.

The best power supply engineer is Andrey Kostikov. Second place went to Anton Klyuev, third to Ilya Zakharov.

The best designer is Konstantin Duryagin. In second place is Vasily Goryunov, in third place is Adelina Khalikova.

The best architect is Yana Safonova. Second place went to Sofia Nikolaeva, third to Adelia Yakubova.

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 –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: SPbGASU Master’s Student: “Internship in India Gave Good Experience”

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Mikhail Zheltov

Mikhail Zheltov, a second-year master’s student at the SPbGASU Faculty of Architecture, visited India as part of an internship program, where he studied local architectural traditions. He studied at Parula University in Vadodara, one of the country’s leading educational institutions.

“I had previously visited China on a student exchange program, so I wanted to see another country with great potential. India, with its rich architectural history and cultural diversity, attracted me with its unique combination of ancient and modern trends. Parula University holds many interesting festivals, which makes the learning process exciting and rich. The program allowed me not only to deepen my knowledge in the field of architecture, but also to get acquainted with the unique cultural traditions that influence construction and urban development in India,” said Mikhail.

Mikhail has traveled most of western India – from Delhi to Goa. He admits that this trip gave him the opportunity to meet many interesting people and improve his English. He saw both ancient and modern architecture of India, acquired new friends and partners.

“Earlier, I fell in love with the kindness of Chinese hospitality: I was treated very warmly in China. The head of the exchange program, Li Xiaodong, did a great job to ensure that everything went smoothly. I am very grateful to him for such an unforgettable trip. In India, unfortunately, I had to solve many issues on my own. However, I believe that the experience of international communication and intercultural relations that I received will be very useful for me in the future. The skills I acquired will help me better interact with people of different cultures and create more successful architectural projects,” Mikhail shared.

As the head of the international activities department of our university, Shuainat Akhmadulaeva, clarified, Henan University of Urban Development (China) and Parula University (India), where Mikhail Zheltov completed an internship as part of the academic mobility program, are partner universities of SPbGASU.

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 –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI Canada: Free Shingles Vaccine Available This Month
Source: Government of Canada regional news

Starting today, May 20, Nova Scotians aged 65 and older can book their free shingles vaccine appointment. The first appointments will be May 28.

“Across Canada, nearly one in three people develop shingles, despite the availability of the vaccine,” said Premier Tim Houston. “That’s why we are delivering on our promise of removing barriers to access and making the shingles vaccine free.”

The vaccine costs about $400 but will be free for seniors starting May 28. People can book an appointment by calling their primary health care provider or at https://novascotia.ca/routinevaccine

Shingles is a viral infection that causes an extremely painful, burning skin rash and nerve pain that can last 90 days or more. For many people, it is debilitating. Anyone who has had chickenpox or has been exposed to the virus is at risk of developing shingles later in life.

Quotes:

“We are committed to investing in things that matter and that make a real impact on the day-to-day lives of Nova Scotians. We know how severe the symptoms of shingles are, and the good news is that it can be easily prevented.”
— Michelle Thompson, Minister of Health and Wellness

“The free shingles vaccine is life changing for older Nova Scotians. For many people, the high cost made the vaccine out of reach. By breaking down barriers to care, we are protecting more older Nova Scotians from the needless suffering that comes with this awful virus.”
— Barbara Adams, Minister of Seniors and Long-Term Care

“CARP is extremely pleased to hear this announcement. The free shingles vaccine is great news for older Nova Scotians, who are at risk for developing this awful life-impacting disease. By removing the cost, this will open the door for more seniors to have access to the vaccine.”
— Bill VanGorder, Advocacy and Education Officer, Canadian Association of Retired Persons

“Seniors of Nova Scotia welcome the announcement of free shingles vaccine available to all people over 65. We recognize the impact of this debilitating and disabling virus, the effects of which can last weeks, months and can cause lifelong nerve pain. This vaccine will enable seniors to protect themselves from such serious life-altering effects and decrease their vulnerability to chronic problems, enabling seniors to enjoy a higher quality of life.”
— Alyson Hillier, co-Chair, Seniors Advisory Council of Nova Scotia

Quick Facts:
- the government is investing more than $26 million in fiscal 2025-2026 in the rollout of the free shingles vaccine
- people aged 65 and older are at highest risk for severe disease, and that age group has the highest hospitalization rates
- the vaccine, called Shingrix, prevents shingles complications, which can ease pressure on emergency departments, primary care and the overall health system
- two doses are needed for full protection
Additional Resources:

Information on shingles vaccine eligibility is available at: https://www.nshealth.ca/public-health/immunizations

MIL OSI Canada News –
May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Fort McMurray — Alberta RCMP Major Crimes Unit investigates homicide in Fort McMurray – Update

Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Alberta RCMP have laid charges in connection with the Feb. 7, 2025, fatal shooting on 600 Signal Road in Fort McMurray. The deceased has been identified at 24-year-old Edmonton resident Junior Ashu.

On May 15, 2025, the Alberta RCMP Major Crimes Unit with the assistance of the St. Albert RCMP Detachment arrested a 26-year-old individual, a resident of Edmonton. The individual has been charged with first-degree murder.

The individual has been taken before a justice of the peace and remanded into custody with a next court date set for May 28, 2025, at the Alberta Court of Justice in Fort McMurray.

MIL Security OSI –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Hoyle Statement on Charges Being Filed Against Rep. McIver

Source: US Representative Val Hoyle (OR-04)

May 20, 2025

For Immediate Release: May 20, 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Val Hoyle (OR-04) released the following statement after the acting-U.S. Attorney in New Jersey Alina Habba announced charges against U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver (NJ-10):

“Targeting a Member of Congress for doing their job is an attack on the foundations of our democracy. Let’s be clear: this isn’t about justice or accountability, it’s about sending a message. They’re trying to intimidate anyone who can hold them accountable into silence. Rep. McIver was in her district doing her constitutional duty. I stand with her and believe that every American should be alarmed.”

###

MIL OSI USA News –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Padilla Places Holds on EPA Nominees Until Republicans Cease Efforts to Abuse the CRA to Revoke California’s Clean Air Act Waivers

US Senate News:

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

Padilla Places Holds on EPA Nominees Until Republicans Cease Efforts to Abuse the CRA to Revoke California’s Clean Air Act Waivers

Senator Padilla: “If this attempt is successful, the consequences will be far-reaching, not only for our clean energy economy, the air our children breathe, and for our climate, but for the future of the CRA and for the Senate as an institution.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, placed a hold on the four pending Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) nominees until Republicans stop their reckless attempts to overrule the Senate Parliamentarian’s decision regarding California’s clean air waivers that allow the state to implement more protective air quality standards.

The Trump-led EPA recently submitted three California waivers as “rules” to Congress — despite knowing full well that these waivers were not rules — in a cynical attempt to overturn the waivers with a 50-vote threshold under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). The Senate Parliamentarian determined that any resolutions aimed at overturning California waivers would not be entitled to the CRA’s expedited procedures and would therefore require 60 votes to secure Senate passage. Reporting indicates that Senate Republicans may soon move forward to bypass the filibuster to rescind these waivers, which would require overruling the Parliamentarian.

Revoking California’s waivers would not only cause disastrous public health, environmental, and economic impacts, but would also mean Republicans took the “nuclear option,” undermining longstanding Senate procedures that could be applied to legislation far beyond the CRA and giving agencies significantly more control over the Senate floor.

“This objection is a direct result of the agency’s cynical attempt to weaponize the Congressional Review Act (CRA) by attempting to submit as ‘rules’ three waivers issued to the State of California under the Clean Air Act (CAA),” wrote Senator Padilla. “If this attempt is successful, the consequences will be far-reaching, not only for our clean energy economy, the air our children breathe, and for our climate, but for the future of the CRA and for the Senate as an institution.”

Padilla detailed the longstanding precedent making clear that EPA’s waivers are not rules subject to the Congressional Review Act. None of the more than 100 individual waivers or waiver-related decisions to California — under both Democratic and Republican Administrations — have ever been submitted as a rule since Congress granted the EPA this waiver authority in 1967 in bipartisan fashion. He also underscored the enormous stakes of overruling the Senate Parliamentarian, including for providing essential checks against executive branch agencies trying to exploit the CRA to enact their own agenda on matters that are not rules.

“Here, for the first time in the history of the CRA, an agency submitted matters that they knew were not rules. Some of my Republican colleagues are now arguing that the Parliamentarian should have no role to limit this partisan gamesmanship, and the Senate should throw out the rulebook and overturn the Parliamentarian,” continued Senator Padilla. “If the Trump EPA and Senate Republicans are successful at this ploy, the Senate will have no choice but to accept this as status quo in the future. This would grant agencies unchecked control over the Senate floor — an unprecedented encroachment by the executive branch into the Senate’s internal operations.”

Padilla laid out a list of potential actions that the Trump Administration could take to abuse the CRA, including revoking the broadcast licenses or other approvals for media outlets when they disagree with their news coverage; rescinding Food and Drug Administration approvals of vaccines, birth control, or mifepristone; or targeting the organizations of President Trump’s political opponents for retribution.

“None of these actions are rules, which is why they’ve never been submitted to Congress as rules. But if my Republican colleagues open this door and overturn the Parliamentarian’s wise safeguards on this type of abuse, there would be no practical limit, and the Senate could be forced to vote repeatedly on such matters that are clearly not ‘rules’ notwithstanding the plain language of the CRA,” added Senator Padilla.

By taking the nuclear option to overrule the Senate Parliamentarian, Padilla noted that a future Democratic Administration could target approvals for fossil fuel project leases, loan agreements, or permitting as well as for liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminals. They could also use the CRA to try to reverse the Trump Administration’s actions on matters including immigration, foreign policy, and staffing cuts.

“Since this cynical attempt to weaponize the CRA was triggered by the administration’s political leadership at the EPA, at the urging of their Big Oil allies, I must object to proceeding to any nominations for the EPA pending on the Senate’s executive calendar,” concluded Senator Padilla. “I will continue to object until the agency withdraws its false submissions to Congress or the Majority Leader commits not to overturn the Parliamentarian’s determination on this matter.”

A Senate hold blocks unanimous consent to speed up consideration of a nomination and forces the body to spend time debating and voting on the nominee. The EPA nominees currently pending on the Senate floor include Deputy Administrator nominee David Fotouhi, Chief Financial Officer nominee Catherine Hanson, and Assistant Administrator nominees Jessica Kramer and Aaron Szabo.

Senator Padilla has been outspoken in pushing back against Republican attacks on California’s Clean Air Act waivers. Earlier this month, Senators Padilla, Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, took to the Senate floor to sound the alarm on Senate Republicans’ consideration of moving forward with their plan to revoke California’s Clean Air Act waivers. Padilla, Whitehouse, and U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) also led Democratic Ranking Members in strongly warning Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) of the dangerous and irreparable consequences if Senate Republicans overrule the Senate Parliamentarian’s decision on California’s waivers.

Last month, Senators Padilla, Whitehouse, and Schiff welcomed the Senate Parliamentarian’s decision that the waivers are not subject to the CRA. Padilla also joined Whitehouse and Schiff in blasting Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s weaponization of the EPA after the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) similar finding. Padilla and Schiff previously slammed the Trump Administration’s intent to roll back dozens of the EPA’s regulations that protect California’s air and water.

Full text of Padilla’s hold statement is available here.

MIL OSI USA News –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Green council homes could save residents in energy bills

Source: City of Portsmouth

Three four-bedroom houses are being built to a new, ecofriendly standard for the first time by Portsmouth City Council.

These family homes are designed to offer cheaper energy costs for residents, are being built in Bunting Gardens, Wecock Farm using Passivhaus design principles.

The development will mark the first new build Passivhaus Development delivered by Portsmouth Homes, the landlord function of Portsmouth City Council.

Passivhaus is a building standard that aims to reduce energy use and carbon emissions. The buildings have been designed and delivered by the Council’s in-house architects, landscape architects, surveyors, energy officers and construction inspectors in the capital projects team.

In the Cabinet Member for Housing and Tackling Homelessness’s meeting in September last year, officers discussed the development and confirmed that delivery of new homes to these standards only costs slightly more, but means that tenants could save an estimated £841 a year in energy bills with a Passivhaus design.

Tenants will benefit from improved comfort levels, reduced energy bills, and a significant decrease in the risk of energy poverty. Houses will be kept at a consistent and comfortable temperature using a mechanical ventilation that recovers heat from extracted air and uses this to warm incoming air. The air will be warm, but still fresh.

In addition, each home will have triple glazed windows helping to make them more airtight, reducing heat loss, and keep the warmth inside the homes. Ten new communal parking spaces will also be provided, and new trees and shrubs will be planted around the area to enhance biodiversity.

Cllr Darren Sanders, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing and Tackling Homelessness said:

“Green homes like these make the planet more liveable for our children and save energy bills for council tenants here and now. Portsmouth Council remains committed to tackling climate change and the cost of living and I am delighted that Portsmouth Homes is playing its part in delivering both of those.”

Councillor Amy Redsull, Cabinet lead for Housing at Havant Borough Council, said:

“I applaud the work being completed to reduce our carbon footprint. In this case, not only does it help the residents in reducing their bill, it also has a positive impact on our environment and allows local people to remain within their communities. This project is inspiring, and I hope that its ingenuity sparks further developments similar in nature.”

The council has experienced and qualified Passivhaus architects, if you’d like to explore whether Passivhaus is right for you, contact Patrick.leggett@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI Canada: Assault of an inmate at Mountain Institution

Source: Government of Canada News

May 16, 2025 – Agassiz, British Columbia – Correctional Service Canada

On May 13, 2025, an inmate was the victim of an assault at Mountain Institution, a medium-security federal institution.

The injured inmate was evaluated by staff members and transported to an outside hospital to receive treatment.

The Agassiz detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have been notified and the institution is presently investigating the incident.

The assailant has been identified and the appropriate actions have been taken.

No staff members or other inmates were injured during this incident.

The safety and security of institutions, their staff, and the public remains the highest priority in the operations of the federal correctional system.

In order to improve practices aimed at preventing this type of incident, the Correctional Service of Canada will review the circumstances of the incident and take the appropriate measures.

MIL OSI Canada News –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Evansburg — Search Warrant executed after joint project between RCMP, Alberta SPCA and Parkland County Enforcement Services
Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

On April 14, 2025, Evansburg RCMP executed a search warrant on a rural property in Parkland County, Alta., in regards to stolen property and animals in distress. The RCMP, with assistance from the Alberta SPCA and Parkland County Enforcement Services, attended the property and located several horses that were deemed to be in distress. The horses were seized by Alberta SPCA Peace Officers and transported to a caretaking facility for further examination and treatment.

As a result of the investigation, a 54-year-old individual, a resident of Parkland County who is already subject to a court ordered lifetime ban from owning, caring for or being in possession of, any equine animals, was arrested and charged with:
- Breaching a court order;
- Possession of stolen property under $5000;
- Breaching prohibition order; and
- Causing unnecessary pain and suffering or injury to an animal (x2).
The individual was brought before a justice of the peace and released on conditions, including one to make alternate housing arrangements for any remaining horses on the property. The individual’s next court date is set for April 28, 2025, at the Alberta Court of Justice in Evansburg.

“I would like to thank those who are willing to come forward and provide information that helps protect vulnerable animals,” said Sgt Sutherland, Detachment Commander of the Evansburg RCMP. “It is thanks to the public that we were able to work with the Alberta SPCA and Parkland County Enforcement Services to seize these animals and protect them from further harm”.

“Prohibition orders against owning or caring for animals can be an effective tool in preventing animal distress,” added Alberta SPCA Executive Director Leanne Niblock. “We want to thank the RCMP for their diligent work to enforce this order and ultimately help protect animals and will continue to work to make protections for all animals even stronger.”

MIL Security OSI –
May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI: Subsea 7 S.A. announces changes to Board responsibilities
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

Luxembourg – 20 May 2025 – Subsea 7 S.A. (Oslo Børs: SUBC, ADR: SUBCY) (the Company) today announced updates to Board responsibilities as a result of previously announced changes to Board composition.

Lucia de Andrade will serve as a member of the Audit and Sustainability Committee and also as a member of the Tender Committee.

David Mullen will step down from the Audit and Sustainability Committee and serve as a member of the Compensation Committee.

All other responsibilities are unchanged.

Biographies for each of the Directors and full details of the membership of each committee can be found in the Corporate Governance section of the Company’s website: www.subsea7.com.

*******************************************************************************
Subsea7 is a global leader in the delivery of offshore projects and services for the evolving energy industry, creating sustainable value by being the industry’s partner and employer of choice in delivering the efficient offshore solutions the world needs.
Subsea7 is listed on the Oslo Børs (SUBC), ISIN LU0075646355, LEI 222100AIF0CBCY80AH62.

*******************************************************************************

Contact for investment community enquiries:
Katherine Tonks
Investor Relations Director
Tel +44 20 8210 5568
ir@subsea7.com

Attachment
- SUBC Board Responsibilities
The MIL Network –
May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI: ZeroFox Partners With GASA and GSE to Fight Fraud With Enhanced Threat Detection Capabilities

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

WASHINGTON, May 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ZeroFox, the leader in external cybersecurity, has entered into a collaborative partnership with the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA) and the Global Signal Exchange (GSE) to bolster joint measures to prevent online scams and fraud.

GASA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing scams by bringing together law enforcement, cybersecurity companies and governments to fight fraud. GSE is a global clearinghouse for real-time sharing of scam and fraud signals. This alliance gives GASA and GSE access to ZeroFox’s threat intelligence on scams and fraudulent and malicious sites, and other threat data, empowering the larger security community with more visibility into online impersonation and related threats in order to defend against them more effectively.

Every day, ZeroFox leverages its global intelligence collection and analysis to process tens of thousands of malicious URLs, IPs, and phishing domains. Access to this critical data is granted to select partners – now including GASA and GSE – through integrations to ZeroFox’s Global Disruption Network (GDN), which publishes information on newly-found threats like malicious content for the threat intelligence community.

This new partnership will arm GASA and GSE with a comprehensive view of the cyber threat landscape, and will display any malicious URL, IP or domain received from ZeroFox’s GDN on their platform, alerting other GSE partners of potential digital risks.

“ZeroFox’s Global Disruption Network is a powerful tool providing fresh, high-fidelity phishing, fraud and malware insights for rapid knowledge sharing. We enable GDN partners to protect their users quickly and reduce the likelihood of success for malicious actors,” said Russ Bentley, Executive VP of Product Management, ZeroFox. “We’re proud to partner with GASA and GSE, two organizations dedicated to protecting consumers worldwide from online scams and fraud. Collaborating with them aligns with our mission of making the internet safer for everyone.”

Jorij Abraham, Managing Director of GASA, shared: “ZeroFox has been in the business of fighting cybercrime since 2013. In this time, they developed deep expertise in domain monitoring, managed threat intelligence services, and domain takedown services. Their know-how and cybercrime knowledge will be of tremendous value to the Global Signal Exchange.”

“We’re really pleased to be partnering with ZeroFox. Their data that GSE is consuming, including URLs that might contain malware, phishing domains, IP addresses identified as hosting fraudulent sites, or even social media sites potentially impersonating a brand or person, is already making a significant contribution to the volumes of open signals we are providing via the GSE,” states Mark Robertshaw, COO of Oxford Information Labs, creator of the GSE.

To learn more about ZeroFox’s Global Disruption Network or join our list of partners, visit https://www.zerofox.com/products/global-disruption-network/.

About ZeroFox
ZeroFox, an enterprise software-as-a-service leader in external cybersecurity, has redefined security outside the corporate perimeter on the internet, where businesses operate, and threat actors thrive. The ZeroFox platform combines advanced AI analytics, digital risk and privacy protection, full-spectrum threat intelligence, and a robust portfolio of breach, incident and takedown response capabilities to expose and disrupt phishing and fraud campaigns, botnet exposures, credential theft, impersonations, data breaches, and physical threats that target your brands, domains, people, and assets. Join thousands of customers, including some of the largest public sector organizations as well as finance, media, technology and retail companies to stay ahead of adversaries and address the entire lifecycle of external cyber risks. ZeroFox and the ZeroFox logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of ZeroFox, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Visit www.zerofox.com for more information.

About GASA
GASA brings together governments, law enforcement, consumer protection organizations, financial authorities and providers, brand protection agencies, social media, Internet service providers and cybersecurity companies to share knowledge and define joint actions to protect consumers from getting scammed.

About GSE
The GSE platform provides tools for trusted parties to share threat intelligence. Currently processing more than 130 million threat signals, plus hundreds of millions of data points for enrichment, the GSE enables multi-directional signal sharing.

Media Inquiries
Sara Jacono
LaunchTech Communications for ZeroFox
press@zerofox.com

The MIL Network –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI: Optimum selects the Digital Vending Machine® from Bango to bring new subscription bundles to customers

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, May 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bango (AIM: BGO), the leader in subscription bundling, today announces a new licensing agreement with Optimum, a leading U.S. telecommunications provider, operated by Altice USA. Through this collaboration, Optimum customers can access compelling subscription bundles, powered by the Digital Vending Machine® (DVM™) from Bango. Optimum is a significant brand in the U.S. telecommunications market, providing fiber internet, mobile, TV, and phone services to approximately 4.5 million customers in 21 states across the country.

Eligible Optimum TV and Internet customers can now enjoy a promotional offer of six complimentary months of access to two popular SVOD services, directly through Optimum, offering a new way to manage their subscriptions through their Optimum bill. The offer is the first of many that the company plans to bring to customers, with more streaming partners and consumer subscription services to be made available through Optimum’s partnership with Bango.

This launch marks the beginning of Optimum’s use of the Bango DVM™, which is already transforming how companies across telecommunications, retailing, and banking deliver digital services. With a single integration, partners gain access to a growing portfolio of premium subscription providers, enabling them to quickly and easily create and customize compelling bundles that resonate with their customers.

“We’re delighted to partner with Optimum to bring these exciting offers to life,” said Anil Malhotra, CMO at Bango. “The DVM™ empowers Bango partners to innovate through subscription bundling and to scale quickly, delivering high-impact offers that increase customer satisfaction and business growth.”

About Bango

Bango enables content providers to reach more paying customers through global partnerships. Bango revolutionized the monetization of digital content and services, by opening-up online payments to mobile phone users worldwide. Today, the Digital Vending Machine® is driving the rapid growth of the subscriptions economy, powering choice and control for subscribers.

The world’s largest content providers, including Amazon, Google and Microsoft trust Bango technology to reach subscribers everywhere.

Bango, where people subscribe. For more information, visit www.bango.com

About Optimum

Optimum is a brand of Altice USA, one of the largest broadband communications and video services providers in the United States, delivering broadband, video, mobile, proprietary content and advertising services to approximately 4.5 million residential and business customers across 21 states. The company operates Optimum Media, an advanced advertising and data business, which provides audience-based, multiscreen advertising solutions to local, regional and national businesses and advertising clients. Altice USA also offers hyper-local news through its News 12 Networks.

Media contact:

Anil Malhotra, CMO, Bango
anil@bango.com
Tel: +44 7710 480 377

The MIL Network –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI: Tenable Reveals 2025 Global Partner Award Winners
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

COLUMBIA, Md., May 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Tenable^®, the exposure management company, today announced the recipients of its Global Partner Awards during Tenable AssureWorld — the company’s fifth annual virtual partner conference. Those honored this year include IBM — Global System Integrator of the Year; Siemens Energy — Tenable OT Security Partner of the Year; Telefonica — MSSP Partner of the Year; and AWS — Global Technology Partner of the Year.

Tenable also crowned its regional Partners of the Year which recognizes those partners who consistently surpass expectations in collaboration and contribution throughout the year. This year’s winners are:
- Asia Pacific and Japan – DXC
- Europe, the Middle East and Africa – Softcat (UKI)
- Latin America – Global Sec Tecnologia
- North America – CDW
- Public Sector – SHI
“As a partner-first company, Tenable is hyper-focused on investing in and supporting channel partners, promoting collective success,” said Jeff Brooks, senior vice president of global channels, Tenable. “Our Global Partner Awards recognize partners whose dedication and collaboration with Tenable deliver truly exceptional outcomes in helping customers eradicate priority cyber weaknesses and protect against attacks.”

Tenable AssureWorld is an exclusive event that allows Tenable and its partners to come together to learn and share information. The conference provides insights from top executives on Tenable’s vision, revenue strategy, customer-focused business strategy, product roadmap, and other key areas of cybersecurity.

In addition to providing resellers, distributors, MSSPs, and systems integrators with innovative exposure management solutions, the Tenable Assure Partner Program arms partners with sales and marketing assistance, training and certification opportunities, services-delivery certification and technical support to grow their business and deliver exceptional exposure management and risk mitigation. More information on the Tenable Assure Partner Program is available at: https://www.tenable.com/partners/channel-partner-program.

About Tenable
Tenable^® is the exposure management company, exposing and closing the cybersecurity gaps that erode business value, reputation and trust. The company’s AI-powered exposure management platform radically unifies security visibility, insight and action across the attack surface, equipping modern organizations to protect against attacks from IT infrastructure to cloud environments to critical infrastructure and everywhere in between. By protecting enterprises from security exposure, Tenable reduces business risk for approximately 44,000 customers around the globe. Learn more at tenable.com.

Media Contact:
Tenable
tenablepr@tenable.com

The MIL Network –
May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI: Rightworks Launches New OneSpace Products and Packaging to Help Accounting Firms and Businesses Simplify, Secure, and Succeed
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — RightNOW2025 — Rightworks, the only intelligent cloud service provider of solutions purpose-built for accounting firms and professionals, today introduced Cloud Premier, Cloud Protect, and Cloud Hosting at its second annual RightNOW conference in Nashville, TN. The three new offers simplify the user experience and leverage OneSpace platform’s enterprise-level security, infrastructure, and award-winning support to take on the unique challenges of accounting firms and businesses at all stages of growth.

Rightworks’ new products and packages also address the growing demand for flexible, secure, and efficient technology solutions as accounting firms and businesses increasingly adopt hybrid work models and expand their service offerings.

“The profession is calling for firms to adopt new technology or risk falling behind, but that journey is different for everyone, and managing work demands amid hectic tax seasons and yearlong advisory services adds complexity,” said Joel Hughes, CEO of Rightworks. “Our new offerings address the unique needs of each firm and business, providing easy-to-use solutions that drive operational excellence. By meeting our customers where they are, we’re making it easier for accounting professionals to achieve their goals and build future-ready firms.”

Rightworks Cloud Premier

Rightworks Cloud Premier is a comprehensive package that modernizes accounting and tax firm operations by centralizing cloud and desktop app access, data, and security in one space. Cloud Premier helps firms:
- Centralize Access: Securely utilize over 3,000 tax and accounting apps, including Thomson Reuters^® CS Professional Suite, CCH^® ProSystem fx^®, CCH Axcess™ Suite, QuickBooks^® Desktop, and QuickBooks^® Online.
- Simplify Technology: Streamline firm operations with single sign-on for cloud-based apps, full Microsoft 365 security and account management, and dedicated IT support for in-office network services.
- Increase Productivity: Leverage secure remote onboard/offboarding, two-year data backups, and a built-in AI tool for enhanced research, communication, and analytics.
- Strengthen Security: Stay safe with enterprise-grade ongoing threat monitoring/remediation, antivirus, endpoint detection response, cloud-managed firewall, device backup, whole-disk encryption, and security awareness training.
- Rely on 24/7 Support: Benefit from award-winning support and guidance from the profession’s leading experts.
In addition to Cloud Premier, Rightworks is also announcing:
- Rightworks Cloud Protect: Providing cloud-based accounting and tax firms with robust, end-to-end security, enhanced data protection, and centralized control—while simplifying access to cloud apps through single sign-on and enabling a secure, flexible remote work environment that drives operational efficiency and business growth.
- Rightworks Cloud Hosting: Enabling firms, businesses, bookkeepers, and individual practitioners to stay flexible by bringing their desktop apps to the cloud, enhancing accessibility, efficiency, and functionality with a highly secure platform and dedicated support.
Visit Rightworks Cloud Premier and Cloud Protect for demos of each solution and Cloud Hosting to learn more.

Connect with Rightworks
Visit our newsroom; read our blog; and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

About Rightworks
Rightworks enables accounting firms and businesses to significantly simplify operations and expand their value to clients via our award-winning intelligent cloud and learning resources. This is possible with Rightworks OneSpace, the only secure cloud platform purpose-built for the accounting and tax profession, and our premier community for firm optimization, growth, and professional development. Founded in 2002, we’ve grown to serve over 10,000 accounting firms in the US—from single practitioners to Top 10 firms. For more information, please visit rightworks.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a1a28c48-5974-44c4-95ed-0e5f3c199b79.

The MIL Network –
May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI: Progress ShareFile Enhances Secure Enterprise Collaboration with Deep Microsoft 365 Interoperability

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

ShareFile AI-powered, document workflow and file sharing platform with enhanced security offers industry-leading deep Microsoft 365 integration and features for enterprise teams

BURLINGTON, Mass., May 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Progress (Nasdaq: PRGS), the trusted provider of AI-powered digital experience and infrastructure software, today announced that Progress® ShareFile® is now deeply integrated with Microsoft 365. This product advancement strengthens the platform’s integration with Microsoft 365 by delivering seamless, secure coauthoring and optimized file collaboration across Office for the web, desktop and mobile—helping enterprises streamline complex workflows while unlocking improved productivity.

Through this product collaboration, ShareFile will now enable real-time coauthoring in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, allowing teams to collaborate effortlessly on large and complex files while minimizing version conflicts. Customers also benefit from expanded file size limits, supporting documents up to 100MB in Word and Excel and 2GB in PowerPoint via Office Online—promoting smooth collaboration on high-resolution presentations, detailed financial models and other critical business content.

Purpose-Built for Secure, Seamless Collaboration
The ShareFile AI-powered, document-centric collaboration platform is designed to help businesses of all sizes simplify document sharing with enhanced security, better protect sensitive data and promote client and team collaboration. For businesses that need greater efficiency in their document collaboration processes, the platform’s enhanced Microsoft 365 integration removes common barriers to promote secure, real-time coauthoring of important documents— streamlining work and boosting productivity.

Driving Innovation Through Strategic Partnership
Progress works closely with Microsoft on the future of cloud-based file management and enterprise collaboration. This integration and partnership establish the foundation for future ShareFile enhancements, enabling organizations using Microsoft 365 to dramatically improve their productivity.

“We’re pleased with the deeper product integration with ShareFile,” said Harshal Pati, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft. “By integrating directly into Microsoft 365, ShareFile empowers enterprises to enhance security, collaboration and productivity—whether working on a single document or managing large projects across distributed teams, ensuring greater productivity and efficiency at every stage.”

“ShareFile delivers AI-driven, enterprise-grade collaboration, deeply embedded within the Microsoft 365 experience,” said Loren Jarrett, EVP & GM, Digital Experience, Progress. “This deliverable is an important milestone in our ongoing commitment to helping organizations to accelerate their productivity, streamline workflows and take their efficiency and effectiveness to the next level.”

To learn more about ShareFile and its integrations, click here.

About Progress
Progress (Nasdaq: PRGS) empowers organizations to achieve transformational success in the face of disruptive change. Our software enables our customers to develop, deploy and manage responsible AI-powered applications and digital experiences with agility and ease. Customers get a trusted provider in Progress, with the products, expertise and vision they need to succeed. Over 4 million developers and technologists at hundreds of thousands of enterprises depend on Progress. Learn more at www.progress.com.

Progress and ShareFile are trademarks or registered trademarks of Progress Software Corporation and/or one of its subsidiaries or affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Any other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Press Contacts:
Kim Baker
Progress
+1-800-477-6473
pr@progress.com

The MIL Network –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI: Thomas Financial Group Closes Over $34 Million in Bridge Loans for USDA Takeout in Under 40 Days
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

ATLANTA, May 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In a powerful demonstration of speed and strategic execution, Thomas Financial Group (TFG), a wholly owned subsidiary of Community Bankshares Inc., in partnership with Siguler Guff, Phoenix Lender Services (PHX), and Community Bank & Trust, successfully originated, underwrote, and closed three hospitality bridge loans totaling over $34 million in less than 40 days. All loans are structured for USDA Business & Industry (B&I) program takeout, reinforcing the firm’s capacity to deliver complex, time-sensitive financing solutions.
- $11.335MM Bridge Loan (USDA B&I Takeout Pending)
- $12.19MM Bridge Loan (USDA B&I Takeout Pending)
- $10.545MM Bridge Loan (USDA B&I Takeout Pending)
While USDA lending is traditionally known for its thorough but lengthy approval process, TFG is redefining what’s possible. Through creative structuring and seamless collaboration across its lending ecosystem, TFG and its partners provide rapid bridge loan execution to fill the timing gap – giving borrowers immediate access to capital while finalizing their long-term USDA financing. The recently closed projects will create and retain nearly 50 jobs across key rural markets.

“These transactions prove that USDA lending doesn’t have to be slow or complicated,” said Zach Chandler, SVP, Government Guaranteed Lending of Thomas Financial Group. “When you work with TFG, PHX, and Community Bank & Trust, you’re getting a team that understands how to move at the speed of business – without compromising the long-term benefits of USDA-backed financing.”

TFG’s USDA bridge-to-permanent platform is available in all 50 states and every U.S. territory, providing borrowers in rural communities with access to flexible financing structures tailored to their timing and growth needs. In a market climate defined by rate uncertainty and capital constraints, borrowers value the security of a 30-year fully amortizing loan with no balloons or call provisions – exactly what USDA lending can provide.

“Peace of mind in today’s economy is priceless,” added Chandler. “Our ability to deliver both speed and long-term stability makes us a trusted partner for developers, business owners, and project sponsors across the country.”

If you’re seeking fast, creative financing for your rural project – with the peace of mind that comes from a long-term USDA solution – now is the time to act.

Contact TFG today to explore our USDA bridge-to-permanent platform and discover what’s possible when you partner with a team built for execution.

TFG Contact
Email: Zach@thomasfinancialgroup.com
Phone: (770) 655-1569

About Thomas Financial Group

Thomas Financial Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Community Bankshares Inc., is a nationally recognized leader in USDA and SBA lending. In partnership with Phoenix Lender Services and Community Bank & Trust, TFG specializes in complex capital solutions that support rural economic development, small business growth, and infrastructure expansion.

About Community Bankshares Inc.

Community Bankshares Inc. is a privately held financial holding company headquartered in LaGrange, Georgia, with subsidiaries including Community Bank & Trust, Thomas Financial Group, and Phoenix Lender Services. Through its network of specialized financial institutions, Community Bankshares Inc. delivers innovative, relationship-driven banking and lending services across the United States, with a strong emphasis on rural development, government-guaranteed lending, and community reinvestment.

About Community Bank & Trust

Community Bank & Trust is a full-service commercial bank and a subsidiary of Community Bankshares Inc. Based in LaGrange, Georgia, CB&T is an SBA Preferred Lender with a growing national footprint in USDA and small business lending. Known for its personalized service and deep lending expertise, CB&T partners with businesses and communities to deliver flexible, dependable financing solutions that support long-term growth across rural and underserved markets.

About Phoenix Lender Services

Phoenix Lender Services is the operational engine behind the USDA and SBA lending platform and wholly owned subsidiary of Community Bankshares Inc. Specializing in origination, underwriting, processing, closing, and servicing, Phoenix provides seamless back-end support and strategic oversight for government-guaranteed loans. With a team of seasoned professionals and a nationwide reach, Phoenix empowers lenders and borrowers with the tools and expertise needed to deliver consistent, compliant, and efficient results.

Media Contact
Abigail Davison
Uproar by Moburst for Community Bankshares, Inc.
abigail.davison@moburst.com

The MIL Network –
May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI: Titan.ium Platform Introduces Infrastructure Domain Name System to Modernize Converged Mobile and Fixed Network Operations

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

LOWELL, Mass., May 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Titan.ium Platform today announced the availability of Infrastructure DNS (iDNS) – a cloud-native, microservices-based Domain Name System (DNS) that delivers high reliability and performance while reducing downtime and lowering operational costs.

Titanium’s iDNS addresses the complexity, scale, and automation requirements of modern telecom operators that include Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and IP Interconnect Service Providers (IPXs) while offering significant improvements in DNS resolution speed, resilience during high traffic loads, and overall network reliability. iDNS complies with RFC standards and GSMA recommendations and delivers critical features like load control, overload protection, DNS peer monitoring, automated certification management, proximity-based services, and split-horizon DNS for private network access. Also, iDNS is suitable for advanced features in the 5G network such as dynamic discovery of Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP).

“iDNS modernizes legacy infrastructure delivering better resource utilization and reduced operating cost with the ability for components to be updated independently for faster rollout of new features and security patches with non-disruptive service upgrades,” said Bruno Lacoste, CEO, Titan.ium Platform. “Plus, it delivers significant improvements in DNS resolution speed, ability to handle high traffic loads, low-latency over wide geographic areas, and high throughput with easy integration into DevOps pipelines.”

Early adopters including Tier 1 operators have piloted iDNS with demonstrable improvements in latency, reliability, and deployment speed.

To learn more, register for the webinar on July 9.

About Titan.ium Platform
Titan.ium Platform is a leader in signaling, routing, subscriber data management, and security software and services. Our solutions, which are deployed in more than 80 countries by over 180 companies, including eight of the world’s top 10 communications service providers and all of the top five, are a testament to our industry leadership. Titan.ium supports any network, domain, signaling protocol, and infrastructure with advanced routing capabilities and a unified end-user experience. For more information, please visit https://titaniumplatform.com.

Media Contact

Glenn Rossman
glenn@eckertcomms.com
914-623-8354

The MIL Network –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI: Alation Acquires Numbers Station to Unlock a New Era of Agentic Workflows

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Alation Inc., the leader in enterprise data intelligence, today announced that it has acquired Numbers Station AI, a pioneer in building AI agents for data workflows. The combined capabilities of Alation and Numbers Station will accelerate the ability of data and engineering teams to quickly build and deploy a new class of AI-native analytics applications featuring agentic workflows that operate with enterprise-grade governance and context.

Organizations are demanding more effective ways to leverage their data for insights and real-time decisions, particularly in the era of AI. Despite its promise, scaled adoption in production use cases continues to be a challenge. For organizations to achieve what is truly possible with AI, they need systems that are trustworthy and deeply integrated with diverse enterprise data ecosystems.

Structured data—such as customer records, supply chain records, and financial transactions—represents an organization’s most critical assets. AI agents struggle to understand and take action on that data due to incomplete semantics and data definitions, unclear governance policies, and missing context of the lineage and data quality of the underlying data sets. Without this foundation, agents risk producing inaccurate outputs and violating privacy and compliance requirements.

Together, Alation and Numbers Station are uniquely positioned to close this gap. By combining Numbers Station’s agents with Alation’s rich metadata foundation, customers will be able to build intelligent applications that reason over structured data, understand business context, and automate real-time decision-making—all while maintaining rigorous governance and compliance standards. This will unlock a new era of agentic workflows that can deliver tangible business outcomes at enterprise scale.

“Numbers Station has proven the impact AI agents can have in the enterprise when companies are able to trust this new way of working and brings an exceptional team that shares our obsession with empowering data users,” said Satyen Sangani, co-founder and CEO of Alation. “Together, we’re laying the foundation for the next decade of enterprise data intelligence—one where humans and agents collaborate seamlessly to turn data into action.”

“From the start, our vision has been to enable anyone to be a data app builder,” said Chris Aberger, co-founder and CEO of Numbers Station. “By joining forces with Alation, we’re pairing our AI-native foundation with the most trusted enterprise data intelligence platform. This unlocks a future where agents don’t just find data—they do more with it.”

Numbers Station, AI & Solving The Structured Data Problem for Businesses

Founded out of Stanford’s PhD lab for machine learning and AI, the Numbers Station team authored the first academic paper to demonstrate how large language models could be deployed to meet the complex, domain-specific needs of enterprise data leaders. Numbers Station’s agents bring automation and natural language interaction to tasks like data analysis, visualization, and end-to-end action—helping data teams build AI-native applications faster with more confidence.

As part of the acquisition, the Numbers Station team will join Alation to drive continued innovation at the intersection of AI and data. All existing Numbers Station customers will be fully supported and will benefit from expanded resources and roadmap continuity under Alation’s platform.

To learn more about the acquisition, read the blog, “Alation Acquires Numbers Station: Enabling AI to Understand Structured Data at Scale.”

About Alation
Alation is the data intelligence company. More than 600 global enterprises — including 40% of the Fortune 100 — rely on Alation to realize value from their data and AI initiatives. Customers such as Cisco, DocuSign, Nasdaq, Pfizer, and Samsung trust Alation’s platform for self-service analytics, cloud transformation, data governance, and AI-ready data, fostering data-driven innovation at scale. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, Alation has been recognized five times by Inc. Magazine as one of the Best Workplaces. To learn more, visit www.alation.com.

Media Contact
Ashley Womack
Sr. Director, Corporate Marketing
650-504-2647
ashley.womack@alation.com

The MIL Network –

May 21, 2025
MIL-OSI: Exterro Cracks the Code for Partners Aiming to Drive Sustainable Revenue Growth in the Data Risk Management Market with Launch of ExPN – the Exterro Partner Network
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

PORTLAND, Ore., May 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Exterro, a global leader in unified data risk management solutions, today announced the launch of its groundbreaking Exterro Partner Network (ExPN). This transformative, global, strategic program redefines how organizations tackle complex data challenges by reimagining the partner ecosystem, creating unrivaled revenue opportunities and establishing a new paradigm for customer success.

“In today’s fragmented data risk landscape, true innovation demands powerful alliances,” stated Exterro Chief Revenue Officer, Jim Cox. “We’re not just launching a partner program—we’re creating a movement that equips solution providers, law firms, service providers, developers, and resellers with unprecedented capabilities to capture market share. ExPN delivers the comprehensive framework, specialized expertise, and strategic advantage partners need to capitalize on the rapidly expanding data risk management marketplace.”

This launch signals a pivotal evolution and investment in Exterro’s commercial strategy, featuring dedicated resources for partners worldwide and a meticulously structured program with escalating benefits. Elite partners who master Exterro’s unified suite of solutions—spanning data privacy, security, governance, digital forensics and incident response (DFIR), and e-discovery—will unlock exclusive advantages including:
- Strategic partnership with executives (not just account managers)
- A multi-tier structure with clear pathways to Elite status
- Advanced revenue enablement and brand amplification
- Specialized certifications and expertise development
- Priority opportunity protection
- Performance-driven financial incentives
BREAKING THE GROWTH CEILING
ExPN fundamentally transforms business potential for partners by providing the industry’s only truly unified approach to data risk management. This breakthrough ecosystem eliminates the limitations of traditional partner programs, enabling organizations to deliver sophisticated, high-margin solutions while simplifying technology relationships. By leveraging Exterro’s award-winning platform, partners establish themselves as indispensable strategic advisors capable of addressing interconnected data challenges across the enterprise landscape.

“The market has been constrained by point solutions from a variety of vendors that create complexity rather than clarity,” explained Bruce Holbert, senior director of Channel Sales at Exterro. “ExPN shatters this paradigm. Our partners can now deliver immediate strategic value while simultaneously positioning themselves at the forefront of future data risk challenges—all through a single, comprehensive platform that grows alongside their business objectives.”

Today’s organizations operate in an environment defined by accelerating litigation risks, rising regulatory scrutiny, and increasing cyber threats. Fragmented, point-based tools are no longer sufficient to manage the growing complexity of data across legal, compliance, and security domains. In the face of these challenges, ExPN creates win-win-win scenarios for resellers, service providers, systems integrators, and technology companies and end customers alike. Partners’ deep expertise, combined with cutting edge Exterro technology, delivers complete data risk management solutions that unify e-discovery, digital forensics and incident response, and data privacy, security, and governance workflows within a single, easy-to-use platform.

Global Expansion and ExPN Access
The Exterro Partner Network is now open to qualified partners across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. As part of the launch, Exterro will engage with new and existing partners through briefings, joint planning sessions, and targeted go-to-market initiatives, creating join go-to-market plans to support the needs of enterprises around the world.

To learn more about ExPN or to apply, visit https://www.exterro.com/about/partners or contact partners@Exterro.com

About Exterro
Exterro empowers organizations to manage data risks with a complete platform for e-discovery, data privacy, cybersecurity and governance, and digital forensics. Unlike any other software provider, Exterro makes it easy for organizations to understand their data and take swift action. Exterro’s AI-driven solutions provide accurate, actionable insights, enabling businesses to ensure compliance, reduce risks, and streamline operations while lowering costs. With Exterro, organizations gain the clarity and confidence needed to address their most critical data challenges. For more information, visit www.exterro.com.

Media Contact
Hazel Ramirez – North America
hazel@plat4orm.com
570-975-9261

Anamika D Kumar – Global
PR & Communications
anamika.dhirendrakumar@exterro.com

The MIL Network –
May 21, 2025