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Category: CTF

  • MIL-OSI USA: Bill to Study Transfer of Weitzman Museum Honoring American Jewish History to the Smithsonian Institution Passes House of Representatives

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23)

    “Jewish communities have made astounding contributions to America’s noble experiment in building a more perfect union. Sharing those achievements with everyone is what the late Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter and I had in mind when we created Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM) nearly two decades ago. Educating all Americans, from all over the country, about these amazing Jewish impacts on our nation’s history, not only raises awareness but helps dispel harmful prejudices about our community,” said Wasserman Schultz.

    Washington DC – Today, U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), Mike Turner (OH-10), Brendan Boyle (PA-2), and Max Miller (OH-7) announced that their bill, H.R. 7764, passed the House of Representatives late last night. H.R. 7764, the Commission to Study the Potential Transfer of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History to the Smithsonian Institution Act, takes a critical step in transferring the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, a highly regarded museum dedicated to the history, culture, and contributions of Jewish Americans, to the Smithsonian Institution. The Weitzman, if transferred, would serve as the Smithsonian’s only museum dedicated specifically to the stories of Jewish Americans. Sen. Bob Casey (PA) leads the companion bill in the Senate.

    “Jewish communities have made astounding contributions to America’s noble experiment in building a more perfect union. Sharing those achievements with everyone is what the late Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter and I had in mind when we created Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM) nearly two decades ago. Educating all Americans, from all over the country, about these amazing Jewish impacts on our nation’s history, not only raises awareness but helps dispel harmful prejudices about our community,” said Wasserman Schultz. “Taking this critical step to welcome the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History into the larger Smithsonian family would bring that vision closer to reality. This powerful institutional integration signals a strong commitment to address the dramatic rise in antisemitism by helping amplify the myriad ways Jewish Americans enriched a nation who’s very founding, fittingly, traces back to Philadelphia, the Weitzman Museum’s home city.”   

    “Tonight, we took one step closer to the Weitzman Museum becoming part of the world class Smithsonian Institution Museum family,” said Boyle. “The Weitzman is the only museum in the nation dedicated exclusively to exploring and interpreting the American Jewish experience. The Weitzman’s role in telling the tale of our nation’s history is significant. Bringing the Weitzman Museum fully into the Smithsonian family would give it expanded access to not only artifacts and documents, but robust educational resources, expertise and staff training to aid in the ongoing mission to preserve and promote the culture of American Jews. I encourage my Senate colleagues to pass this bill without delay.”

    “The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia serves as a powerful reminder of the contributions that Jewish Americans have made to the fabric of the United States,” said Turner. “By bringing this museum and its collections into the Smithsonian, Congress will ensure that the story of Jewish Americans is shared with the widest possible audience.”

    “Now more than ever it is imperative that Jewish-American Heritage be celebrated and exhibited at the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex, the Smithsonian Institution,” said Miller. “I am pleased to see this bill pass the House of Representatives, especially as we see a rise in antisemitism worldwide.”

    “It pains me to see that antisemitism in the United States has surged to what the FBI Director has described as ‘historic levels.’ We must do more to show the invaluable role Jewish Americans have played in our nation’s story. Now is the time for the Smithsonian to explore adding an American Jewish History Museum to its roster. The Weitzman Museum should be seriously considered as an option to fully recognize and share the whole story of American Jewish History as our preeminent institution dedicated to American Jewish history. I thank Representatives Wasserman Schultz and Boyle for leading us forward by introducing this bill and look forward to my colleagues in the Senate taking this bill up in their chamber,” said Committee on House Administration Ranking Member Joe Morelle.

    “We are elated that the bill has reached this important milestone,” said Phil Darivoff, Trustee and Chair Emeritus of The Weitzman. “The remarkable bipartisan support which enabled this bill to pass thanks to the leadership of Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Mike Turner, Brendan Boyle, and Max Miller—along with nearly 100 co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle—demonstrates to all Americans the significant role that Jewish Americans have played in our nation and how critical it is to teach these stories to counter antisemitism, bigotry, and hate.”

    The Commission to Study the Potential Transfer of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History to the Smithsonian Institution Act would create a commission to study the potential transfer of the Weitzman Museum to the Smithsonian Institution, which is the necessary first step to put the Weitzman Museum on a path toward acquisition by the Smithsonian. Specifically:

    ·      The commission will consist of eight members, with two members appointed by the majority and minority leaders of each chamber..

    ·      The commission will write a report to Congress with a recommendation on whether the Weitzman Museum should be transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. The report will also detail the current collections of the Museum; the impact of the Museum on educational and governmental efforts to study and counter antisemitism; the financial assets and liabilities of the Museum and costs of operating and maintaining the Museum; the governance and organizational structure of the Museum should it be transferred; and the impact such a transfer would have on the Smithsonian Institution.

    ·      The commission will not receive any federal funding and will accept private contributions to pay for its expenses.

    Read the entire bill here.

    ####

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The Rectorate of the State University of Management visited Rostov-on-Don on a working visit

    MIL OSI Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

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

    On September 24, 2024, a working meeting of the rector’s office of the State University of Management and the management of the Don State Technical University was held in Rostov-on-Don, at which the main areas of cooperation between the universities were approved.

    The meeting was attended by Rector Vladimir Stroyev and Vice-Rectors Maria Karelina, Vitaly Lapshenkov and Pavel Pavlovsky from the GUU side. DSTU was represented by Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation Inessa Efremenko, Vice-Rector for General Affairs Dmitry Dzhedirov and Vice-Rector for Youth Policy Andrey Guskov.

    The colleagues discussed issues of interaction within the framework of the previously signed cooperation agreement. Representatives of DSTU expressed interest in the developments of the State University of Management in the field of artificial intelligence and unmanned aerial vehicles. The State University of Management, in turn, proposed interaction within the framework of the project of the student Design Bureau, organized on the initiative of TMH.

    “Not a single university in our time can concentrate in itself the full range of knowledge and technologies in demand on the market. Only network educational programs and broad interaction with partners, including from the public sector and business, are capable of solving the problems facing modern universities,” Vladimir Stroyev noted.

    “We will cooperate with our Moscow colleagues in such areas as the creation of unmanned aerial vehicles for the agro-industrial complex and the digitalization of design documentation as part of fulfilling orders from business representatives,” said Inessa Efremenko.

    In addition, the parties clarified the areas of joint work within the framework of the project “Service Learning”, as well as issues of education, retraining and employment of SVO veterans.

    The delegation from the State University of Management was given a tour of the laboratories, experimental and museum spaces of DSTU.

    In the afternoon, the rector’s office of the State University of Management met with the director of the Rostov Regional Agency for Entrepreneurship Support – the operator of the “My Business” centers of the Rostov Region, Yana Kurinova, to discuss a joint network program for training in the framework of creative economies, as well as employment opportunities for veterans of the SVO.

    Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 09.24.2024

    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.

    Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    The Rectorate of the State University of Management visited Rostov-on-Don on a working visit

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and or sentence structure not be perfect.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Huizenga Recognized as Guardian of Small Business by NFIB

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Bill Huizenga (MI-02)

    Last week, Congressman Bill Huizenga (R-MI) was recognized as a “Guardian of Small Business” by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) for his legislative record of voting in support of small business. As the voice of small business, NFIB is the only business organization whose policy positions are established by NFIB members directly. NFIB’s Guardian of Small Business Award is reserved for lawmakers who vote consistently with small businesses on key issues identified by small business owners.

    “As a small business owner myself, I understand the challenges job creators face in the current economic environment,” said Congressman Bill Huizenga. “With input costs soaring and economic uncertainty on the rise, I will continue to fight for commonsense legislation that empowers local job creation, lowers energy prices, and makes life more affordable for small businesses across Southwest Michigan. Thank you to the NFIB for recognizing my work to make it easier to start a small business here in Michigan.”

    “The NFIB Guardian of Small Business Award is presented to Members of Congress with a demonstrated record of supporting America’s small and independent business owners,” said NFIB President Brad Close. “This Congress, small businesses faced tough economic headwinds, especially from inflation, burdensome regulations, and threats of tax hikes at all levels of the government. We are proud to recognize the lawmakers from the 118th Congress, including Representative Huizenga, who stood up for Main Street by taking pro-small business votes that would reduce taxes, eliminate burdensome government mandates, lower health insurance costs, and fuel the Main Street economy.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Neal Opening Statement at Hearing on TANF

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Richard Neal (D-MA)

    (As prepared for delivery)

     

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to our witnesses for being here today.

    When they are able to receive it, TANF can play an important role in making ends meet each month for families with children across the country. Bridging the gap on affording basic necessities while also helping parents and other caregivers find meaningful work and build a better life. Unfortunately, less than one in four poor families gets assistance from TANF nationally, and in many states the numbers are even smaller.

    This Congress is ending as it began—putting the will of the wealthy and well-connected over the most vulnerable Americans. The only TANF legislation we considered in Committee was H.R. 6918, which allowed states to divert funds intended for needy families to fund anti-abortion centers. We are just days out from not only a government shutdown but also the expiration of the TANF program, and the Committee is lending our platform to a subject involved the most dramatic misuse of TANF funds in recent memory.

    Now today, there will be a lot of faux outrage over a program that has been repeatedly exploited, with no accountability for how it got that way. Republican authors of the original TANF law deliberately prevented real federal oversight of TANF, at the request of Republican House members and governors.

    Did you know that in Mississippi 396,000 families and about 632,000 children accessed Democrats’ expanded Child Tax Credit in 2021 whereas at the same time, only about 2,000 families accessed TANF?

    It’s stunning, and it’s an utter failure to help the poorest among us.

    Democrats stand ready to work with Republicans to provide the oversight authority and return the misspent funds to the poor families that need financial support. In fact, Ranking Member Davis, a lifelong champion of our nation’s most vulnerable workers and families, and another champion, Congresswoman Chu, are leading legislation to replace a Republican provision in the original law that allowed the malfeasance in Mississippi to happen with penalties and requiring states to recover misspent funds and direct them to their intended audience—poor children. Another champion on the Committee, Congresswoman Moore, who through her lived experience knows better than anyone here about holding those in power accountable for helping struggling families.

    We have clear, proven pathways to help struggling families—restoring the expanded child tax credit, guaranteeing child care, and unlocking access to paid family and medical leave would be a good start.

    Today, the majority is promoting a false dichotomy between celebrity and responsibility. 

    Stealing from children is wrong, no matter how you spin it or who you are.

    With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Fewer than half of U.S. jails provide life-saving medications for opioid use disorder

    Source: US Department of Health and Human Services – 2

    News Release

    Tuesday, September 24, 2024

    NIH findings highlight critical gaps in treatment access in correctional facilities, where almost two-thirds of people have a substance use disorder.

    A new look into addiction treatment availability in the U.S. criminal justice system reveals that fewer than half (43.8%) of 1,028 jails surveyed across the nation offered any form of medication for opioid use disorder, and only 12.8% made these available to anyone with the disorder. With two-thirds of people who are incarcerated in U.S. jails experiencing a substance use disorder — in many cases, an opioid use disorder — the failure to make these medications widely available in criminal justice settings represents a significant missed opportunity to provide life-saving treatments in an environment where people in need of care can be easily reached.

    The study, published in JAMA Network Open and supported by NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), also found that most jails did offer some type of substance use disorder treatment or recovery support (70.1%). The most common reason jails cited for not offering medications for opioid use disorder was lack of adequate licensed staff (indicated by 49.8% of jails). In general, larger jails, those in counties with lower “social vulnerability” (lower levels of poverty and unemployment, and greater education, housing, and transportation access), and those with greater proximity to community-based providers of medications for opioid use disorder were more likely to offer these treatments.

    “Offering substance use disorder treatment in justice settings helps to break the debilitating — and often fatal — cycle of addiction and incarceration,” said NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow, M.D. “Though someone may be in jail for only a short time, connecting them to addiction treatment while they are there is critical to reduce risk of relapse and overdose, and to help them achieve long-term recovery.”

    The criminal justice system is a crucial point of intervention in the overdose crisis. Overdose is the leading cause of death among people returning to their communities after incarceration. A recent county-level study found that 21% of individuals who died of a fatal overdose had been in jail, a facility for short-term stays, where most people are awaiting trial, sentencing, or serving a short sentence.

    Research shows that medications for opioid use disorder — buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone — reduce opioid use, prevent overdose deaths, and support long-term recovery. Among people who were formerly incarcerated, access to these medications during incarceration or at release has been shown to reduce overdose deaths, increase use of community-based treatment, and decrease rates of reincarceration. However, access to medications for opioid use disorder in jails remains limited due to various barriers, including cost, staffing, and regulatory challenges.

    To update current knowledge of addiction treatment gaps in jails across the country, researchers at NORC at the University of Chicago invited a random sample of 2,791 jails to take a survey on availability of medications for opioid use disorder. These jails were selected to be representative of the over 3,500 jails in the U.S. The researchers collected data between June 2022 and April 2023 and received responses from 1,028 jails, 927 of which were included in analysis. More than half of the participating jails (55.6%) were located in non-metropolitan areas, and many jails offered contracted health care services (59.8%).

    The researchers found that more than half of the surveyed jails did not offer medications for opioid use disorder, and that those with direct or hybrid health care services were more likely to provide these medications than those relying on external facilities or with no onsite health care services. For those jails that did offer these medications, buprenorphine was the most commonly provided — available in 69.9% of jails that offered these medications — followed by naltrexone (54.5%) and methadone (46.6%).

    The researchers note that even within the jails that offer medications for opioid use disorder, most often these medications are only made available to people who are pregnant, or to those who were already receiving any of these medications at the time of their arrest. The research team is conducting additional analyses to better understand the barriers to universal medication availability within jails.

    “Data on health care gaps for people who are incarcerated provides a necessary knowledge base to help policymakers, public health officials, researchers, and communities assess where to allocate resources to improve care for opioid use disorder for this population,” said Elizabeth Flanagan Balawajder, senior research associate at NORC at the University of Chicago and the study’s corresponding author. “Our findings suggest that supporting areas such as staff training, infrastructure improvements, and partnerships with community treatment providers are key areas to improve substance use disorder treatment for people in jail.”

    While this study provides the most comprehensive overview to date of the availability of these medications in U.S. jails, its limitations include low rates of jail responses, reliance on self-reported data, and a lack of assessment of the quality or outcomes of addiction treatment programs. Future research will include evaluating the impact of providing these medications on health outcomes for the people in jail, as well as exploring sex, gender, race and ethnicity-related disparities in access to medications for opioid use disorder within the criminal justice system.

    This study was conducted by researchers in the NIDA-funded Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN), which is supported through the NIH Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative. The study included contributions from experts at the University of Illinois Chicago, Baystate Health, the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School-Baystate, the University of Chicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice, the Department of Medicine and Public Health Sciences at the University of Chicago, and NIDA.

    Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services has taken several steps that expand access to medications for opioid use disorder and addiction care to people who are incarcerated. For examples, see new guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, new funding opportunities through the Health Resources and Services Administration, and SAMHSA’s Adult Reentry Program Grants.

    The NIH Helping to End Addiction Long-term® and NIH HEAL Initiative® are registered service marks of the Department of Health and Human Services.

    If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. To learn how to get support for mental health, drug or alcohol conditions, visit FindSupport.gov. If you are ready to locate a treatment facility or provider, you can go directly to FindTreatment.gov or call 800-662-HELP (4357).

    About the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): NIDA is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the world’s research on the health aspects of drug use and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to inform policy, improve practice, and advance addiction science. For more information about NIDA and its programs, visit www.nida.nih.gov.

    About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

    NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: 5th Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Cooperation Forum opens today to deepen international tax co-operation in pursuit of high-quality Belt and Road development (with photos)

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

         The three-day 5th Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Cooperation Forum (BRITACOF), hosted by the Inland Revenue Department, is being held from today (September 24) at the AsiaWorld-Expo, marking the first time for Hong Kong to host BRITACOF. This year’s BRITACOF, themed “Deepening Tax Administration Cooperation for High-Quality Belt and Road Development”, gathered more than 400 tax officials, tax experts, as well as representatives from international organisations, academic institutions and enterprises from different countries and regions to discuss emerging tax issues and exchange tax administration experiences.
     
         Participants will engage in in-depth discussions on five major topics, including raising tax certainty, promoting tax administration digitalisation, improving tax environment, reinforcing capacity building of tax administration and optimising tax administration measures in the financial sector. BRITACOF also features a business and industry tax dialogue session to build a communication platform for participating tax officials and stakeholders from business and industrial sectors.

         The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, said in his welcome address, “As the only common law jurisdiction within China, our legal system in the business realm resembles that of most major international financial centres. Our robust legal system is backed by such long-standing institutional strengths as the free flow of information, capital, goods and people, low and simple tax system, and highly open and internationalised market. Together, they ensure our strategic role as a ‘super connector’ and a ‘super value-adder’ between the Mainland and the rest of the world. 

         “Tax administration plays a crucial role in ensuring sustainable development. Efficient tax systems provide the essential resources for the delivery of public services and infrastructure. Hong Kong believes that transparent and fair tax policies could foster trust among investors, governments and taxpayers. As a champion of free and multilateral trade, Hong Kong supports the co-ordinated efforts of the international tax community, actively engaging in initiatives designed to bring economies together.”

         In his keynote speech at the opening ceremony, the Commissioner of the State Taxation Administration (STA), Mr Hu Jinglin, said, “The recovery of world economy is challenging. The pursuit of peace, development, co-operation and mutual benefit is an irreversible trend. Differences in tax systems and collection management among countries have an important impact on the liberalisation and facilitation of cross-border trade and investment. Deepening tax administration co-operation is of great significance in removing barriers to cross-border trade and investment, promoting inclusive growth of the global economy, and facilitating high-quality Belt and Road development. The STA is willing to work with all parties to deepen tax administration co-operation for high-quality Belt and Road development, so as to make new contributions to the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.”

         Speaking at the welcome dinner, the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, said that BRITACOF is a crucial and exemplary international platform designed to enhance co-operation among tax administrations along the Belt and Road.

         He said, “The hosting of the 5th BRITACOF in Hong Kong underscores our unique gateway role in fostering partnerships and creating value for economies, businesses and people along the Belt and Road.”

         “Hong Kong has always been committed to upholding international tax standards, including the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) framework set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. We are also fully supportive of the international standard of tax information exchange to avoid tax evasion. By endorsing and implementing these standards, Hong Kong ensures that Belt and Road projects involving Hong Kong companies adhere to the highest international benchmarks in terms of tax governance and transparency,” Mr Hui added.

         On the margins of the 5th BRITACOF, the Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, met with the Commissioner of the STA, Mr Hu Jinglin, and witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on tax co-operation within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) among the finance and taxation departments of Guangdong Province, Shenzhen, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and the Macao SAR. The MOU will promote the co-ordination of tax administration and services in the GBA, which facilitates Hong Kong’s active integration into the overall national development. The deepened tax co-operation in the GBA can enhance Hong Kong’s tax competitiveness and create a more favourable business environment.

         In addition, during BRITACOF, Mr Hui held bilateral meetings separately with representatives from Kazakhstan, Maldives, Tajikistan and Türkiye to discuss deepening tax co-operation at the international and Belt and Road levels.

         Mr Hui also signed a comprehensive avoidance of double taxation agreement (CDTA) with the Government of the Republic of Türkiye on behalf of the Hong Kong SAR Government at the 5th BRITACOF today to foster closer economic, trade and investment relations between Hong Kong and Türkiye with a view to jointly contributing to the high-quality Belt and Road development through strengthened bilateral ties. This is the 51st CDTA signed by Hong Kong, marking a significant step forward for Hong Kong in fostering international tax co-operation.

         Established in 2019 under the lead of the STA, the Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Cooperation Mechanism (BRITACOM) is a non-profit official mechanism for the discussion on tax administration co-operation among countries and regions along the Belt and Road. With the vision of promoting cross-border trade and investment and fostering regional economic co-operation, BRITACOM aims at removing tax obstacles and building a growth-friendly tax environment, so as to realise an inclusive and a sustainable development. BRITACOF, the annual signature event of BRITACOM, is hosted by member tax administrations in rotation. This year’s BRITACOF is hosted by Hong Kong and chaired by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue, Mr Tam Tai-pang.

         For details of the 5th BRITACOF, please visit the thematic website (www.ird.gov.hk/BRITACOF/eng/index.html).               

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: House Unanimously Passes Huizenga-led Effort to Rename Battle Creek Post Office in Honor of Sojourner Truth

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Bill Huizenga (MI-02)

    House Unanimously Passes Huizenga-led Effort to Rename Battle Creek Post Office in Honor of Sojourner Truth

    Washington, September 24, 2024

    Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to rename the Battle Creek Post Office after abolitionist and civil rights leader Sojourner Truth. The decision to rename the post office is supported by the descendants of Sojourner Truth as well as local organizations such as Kellogg Community College and Battle Creek Unlimited.

    In May, Huizenga introduced legislation to rename the post office located at 90 McCamly Street South in Battle Creek to the Sojourner Truth Post Office. Every Michigan member of the U.S. House of Representatives cosponsored H.R. 8405 when it was originally introduced. The legislation passed today was the Senate version of the Huizenga bill that was introduced by Senator Gary Peters (D-MI). The legislation renaming the Battle Creek Post Office now heads to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

    Congressman Huizenga released the following statement after the House passed S. 3851.

    “I appreciate the Michigan Delegation and the U.S. House coming together to recognize the life, legacy, and impact of Sojourner Truth,” said Congressman Bill Huizenga. “The Sojourner Truth Post Office will stand in Battle Creek as a symbol of not only Sojourner Truth and her historic efforts, but also the incredible role the Greater Battle Creek Community played in the abolition movement and our nation’s history.”  

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Lead Astromaterial Curation Engineer Salvador Martinez III

    Source: NASA

    “My parents came here from Mexico with the vision of giving us a better life than they had but, times were tough. When I was young, there were many days and nights where we had to get by with what we had. My dad worked his way up in the fabrication industry in Houston and when an opportunity came for him to start his own business, he took it. It was “now or never”. Shortly after, things changed. By the time I was in 5thgrade, our lives took a turn for the better, and going to college all of a sudden became a possibility. But even then, working at NASA felt like it could happen in a dream.
    “Growing up here in Houston, you visit Space Center and you look at JSC , and you think, ‘Man, it must be incredible to be a part of NASA and to be a part of one of those amazing missions where you accomplish impossible things and maybe even discover something new about our universe’. I would have never guessed, never predicted, that I would be here. Throughout my career, I just continued to do the best I could and kept learning, striving to get better. 
    “It took years but it felt like all of the sudden, I was here and everything, the entire time, was preparing me for my role on the OSIRIS-REx mission. Now, I share a place in history next to a Curation team full of the most talented, intelligent and hard-working individuals in the world and all that we have accomplished is, and will be, a part of NASA forever. I can’t even begin to describe what that means to not only me, but for my family, who did everything they could so that this could even be a possibility. For all of us, it is a dream come true.” 
    —Salvador Martinez III, Lead Astromaterial Curation Engineer, Jacobs Technology, NASA’s Johnson Space Center
    Image Credit: NASA/James BlairInterviewer: NASA/Thalia Patrinos
    Check out some of our other Faces of NASA.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NIST Awards $6 Million to Carnegie Mellon University to Establish an AI Cooperative Research Center

    Source: US Government research organizations

    Credit: everything possible/Shutterstock

    GAITHERSBURG, Md. — Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced that the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded $6 million to Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) to establish a joint center to support cooperative research and experimentation for the test and evaluation of modern AI capabilities and tools. The center will be housed on the Carnegie Mellon campus, in Pittsburgh.

    “Artificial intelligence is the defining technology of our generation, and at the Commerce Department we are committed to working with America’s world-class higher education institutions, like Carnegie Mellon University, to advance safe, secure and trustworthy development of AI,” Raimondo said. “I am excited to announce this NIST award of $6 million for Carnegie Mellon to boost research of AI systems and support a new generation of scientists and engineers that will help advance American innovation globally.”

    The CMU/NIST AI Measurement Science & Engineering Cooperative Research Center will seek to advance AI risk management practices and evaluation approaches through stakeholder partnerships and translate assessment capabilities and methodologies into practice. 

    “This new cooperative research center will expand NIST’s knowledge base and fundamental research capacity in AI,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director Laurie E. Locascio. “Through this partnership, we will strengthen our understanding of foundation models and support new research — and new researchers — in this rapidly evolving field.”

    The center will focus on foundational research and developing AI system-level tooling, metrics, evaluation procedures, development processes, and best practices to help AI builders consistently engineer safe AI systems. Its efforts will align with NIST AI priorities including better methods for measuring validity, reliability, safety, privacy and security; accountability, transparency, fairness and explainability; and generative AI evaluation at any stage of development or deployment.

    The grant to CMU was awarded through NIST’s Measurement Science and Engineering Research Grant Program, which supports collaborative research aligned with NIST’s research objectives. The program seeks to develop a diverse, world-class pool of scientists and engineers to engage in NIST’s measurement science and standards research and to promote understanding of measurement science and standards. 

    The new center’s work will support the NIST AI Innovation Lab (NAIIL), which is a component of NIST’s larger efforts on fundamental AI measurement research and guideline development.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Translation: Death of an inmate at Archambault Institution

    MIL OSI Translation. Canadian French to English –

    Source: Government of Canada – in French

    On September 15, 2024, Guy Bissonnette, an inmate at Archambault Institution, died in our custody of apparent natural causes.

    September 17, 2024 – Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec – Correctional Service Canada

    On September 15, 2024, Guy Bissonnette, an inmate at Archambault Institution, died in our custody of apparent natural causes.

    At the time of death, the person had been serving an indeterminate federal sentence for second-degree murder since October 26, 1990.

    As is always the case when an inmate dies, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) reviews the circumstances of the incident. CSC policy requires that the coroner be notified.

    -30-

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.

    MIL Translation OSI

  • MIL-OSI Translation: Governments invest to increase diversity in the agricultural workforce

    MIL OSI Translation. Canadian French to English –

    Source: Government of Canada – in French

    The governments of Canada and Ontario are investing up to $1.5 million in the new Agricultural Equity and Diversity Initiative (AEDI) to help minority groups start and build businesses in the agri-food sector.

    Canada and Ontario strengthen entrepreneurial opportunities for underrepresented groups in the agri-food sector

    September 24, 2024 – Toronto, Ontario – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

    The governments of Canada and Ontario are investing up to $1.5 million in the new Agricultural Equity and Diversity Initiative (AEDI) to help minority groups start and build businesses in the agri-food sector.

    Funded through the Canadian Sustainable Agriculture Partnership (CSA), IEDSA offers grants of up to $100,000 to support commercial enterprises led by primary agricultural producers and processing businesses who are Indigenous, visible minorities, 2SLGBTQI people, persons with disabilities, youth, women or members of minority Francophone communities.

    IEDSA accepts applications from organizations, research organizations, municipalities or Indigenous communities. Successful projects will support underrepresented groups in accessing spaces and equipment to grow or process agri-food products, as well as resources to help them with financing.

    The application period begins on October 8, 2024 and will continue until December 3, 2024.

    The Canadian Sustainable Agriculture Partnership is a five-year (2023-2028) $3.5 billion investment by the federal, provincial and territorial governments to strengthen the competitiveness, innovation and resilience of Canada’s agriculture, agri-food and agri-based products sector. This includes $1 billion in federal programs and activities, as well as a $2.5 billion commitment of 60% federal and 40% provincial and territorial funding for provincially and territorially created and delivered programs.

    Annie CullinanDirector of CommunicationsOffice of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Foodannie.cullinan@agr.gc.ca

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.

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  • MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Labrador Challenges American Academy of Pediatrics to Disclose Gender Dysphoria Guidance and Methodology

    Source: US State of Idaho

    Home Newsroom Attorney General Labrador Challenges American Academy of Pediatrics to Disclose Gender Dysphoria Guidance and Methodology

    [BOISE] – Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador and 20 other states have put the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on notice for possible violations of state consumer protection statutes over its evidence free standards on gender dysphoria care for minors.  As confirmed by the Cass Report as well as recent disclosures by WPATH, AAP’s guidance is based more on political pressure and agendas rather than medical efficacy and sound medical judgement. In a letter to the AAP leadership, the attorneys general request information detailing the AAP’s evidence for its ongoing recommendations for puberty blockers for gender dysphoria-diagnosed youth despite widespread retractions of the practice.
    Most concerning, AAP claims that the use of puberty blockers on children is safe and reversible.  This assertion is not grounded in evidence and therefore may run afoul of consumer protection laws in most states.
    “It is shameful the most basic tenet of medicine – do no harm – has been abandoned by professional associations when politically pressured,” said Attorney General Labrador.  “These organizations are sacrificing the health and well-being of children with medically unproven treatments that leave a wake of permanent damage.  Children with gender dysphoria need and deserve love, support, and medical care rooted in biological reality. Parents should be able to trust that a doctor’s medical guidance isn’t just the latest talking point from a dangerous and discredited activist agenda.”
    As stated by the letter, “When used to suppress hormones below normal ranges during or before puberty, puberty blockers: (1) may interfere with neurocognitive development; (2) compromise bone density and may negatively affect metabolic health and weight; and (3) block normal pubertal experience and experimentation.  And when puberty blocker use is followed directly by cross-sex hormone use, which is often the case, infertility and sterility is a known consequence, at least for those who began puberty blockers in early puberty.”
    And this harm is particularly egregious since the majority of children initially diagnosed with gender dysphoria desist and “grow out” of the condition by the time they are adolescents or adults.
    The letter requests detailed information from the AAP regarding its communications and practices related to youth gender dysphoria and substantiation of the Academy’s claims regarding the safety and reversibility of puberty blockers.
    Other states joining Idaho in this letter are:  Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virgina, West Virginia, and the Arizona Legislature.
    The full letter can be read here.

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  • MIL-OSI Security: Buffalo Man Going to Prison for Nine Years for Transporting Minor Across State Lines to Engage in Sex Trafficking

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)

    BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Adrian Petty, 29, of Buffalo, NY, who was convicted of interstate travel for purposes of prostitution, was sentenced to serve 108 months in prison by Senior U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Maeve E. Huggins, who handled the case, stated that in September 2020, Petty transported a Minor Victim that he met on Facebook from the State of New York to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, so that the Minor Victim could engage in commercial sex acts in Pennsylvania. Petty admits that he posted online commercial sex advertisements relating to the Minor Victim.

    The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Pittsburgh Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Kevin P. Rojek, with the assistance of the Buffalo Office of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Miraglia, the Monroeville Police Department, under the direction of Chief Kenneth Cole, the Cheektowaga Police Department, under the direction of Chief Brian Coons, and the Erie Crime Analysis Center, under the direction of Director Dennis Richards. Special assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Pennsylvania and Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Silinski.

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  • MIL-OSI Security: Rochester Woman Arrested, Charged with Bilking Elderly Landlord Out of Tens of Thousands of Dollars

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)

    ROCHESTER, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Nahtahna Castner, 45, of Rochester, NY, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with wire fraud, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas M. Testani, who is handling the case, stated that according to the complaint, between July 2020, and February 2023, Castner gained the trust of an elderly Victim in her mid-90’s who allowed her into her home. The Victim owned a duplex and lived on one side, while Castner lived on the other side. Using her position of trust, Castner gained access to the Victim’s personal identifying information and banking information. She then withdrew large sums of cash from ATM’s, often close to the daily ATM limit, conducted wire transfer peer-to-peer payments to her own personal bank account, and made unauthorized purchases using the Victim’s debit card. The complaint states that Castner defrauded the Victim out of approximately $252,672.97 from two different banking institutions. In addition, Castner also used the Victim’s personal identifying information to complete at least three unauthorized credit card applications, which were approved with  credit limits of $2,000, $600, and $500. Castner then used the credit cards and defrauded the three financial institutions out of approximately $3,668.11. Castner used the money she stole from the Victim on a variety of purchases, such as travel, which included a trip to Hawaii, hotels, car repairs, insurance, and car payments.

    On January 6, 2022, the Victim was hospitalized, but her family was not notified and only became aware a few days later. When family arrived, Castner was already there, referring to herself as the Victim’s granddaughter, and making the healthcare decisions on behalf of the Victim. Still unsure of Castner’s full involvement with Victim A and under the impression that she had helped Victim A with various tasks, family members offered to provide some money to Castner for helping the Victim when hospitalized. Castner was adamant that she did not want any money and told them she helped “out of the kindness of her heart.” However, the Victim’s son decided to go to the bank anyway to get money, at which time he became aware that the bank accounts were empty. Castner immediately moved out of the duplex without notice and did not contact any of the Victim’s family again. In speaking with his mother about the missing money, the Victim stated it must have been “Tana.” The Victim passed away on February 23, 2023. Just two months prior, her accounts at the two banking institutions had only approximately $99.59.

    The complaint is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Miraglia.

    The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

    # # # #

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  • MIL-OSI Security: Southern Tier Man and Woman Charged with Production of Child Pornography

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)

    BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that David A. Johnston, 55, of Allegany, NY, and Kayla R. Kio, 26, of Olean, NY, were arrested and charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy to produce child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison, a maximum of 30 years, and a $250,000 fine.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango, who is handling the case, stated that according to the complaint, on March 2, 2024, the New York State were called to Wal-Mart in Olean, for a report of a domestic dispute. Kio reported that she was being stalked and harassed by her ex-boyfriend, Johnston. The two worked together at Wal-Mart. Kio stated that in February 2024, while she was in the process of breaking up with Johnston, he requested that she produce and send to him sexually explicit videos of a 5-year-old child. Troopers seized Kio’s cell phone and recovered multiple videos and images of child pornography.

    On March 13, 2024, the NYSP executed a search warrant at Johnston’s Allegany residence, during which they seized four cell phones and a tablet. Investigators recovered videos of child pornography and sexually explicit communications exchanged between Kio and Johnston. Johnston was charged with Possessing a Sexual Performance of a Child and Endangering the Welfare of a Child, while Kio was charged with Promoting a Sexual Performance by a Child and Endangering the Welfare of a Child. In 2007, Johnston was convicted of Indecent Assault and Corruption of Minors in McKean, PA, County Court.

    Johnston and Kio made an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder, Jr. Kio was released on conditions. Johnston is being held pending a detention hearing on September 17, 2024, at 2:30 p.m.

    The complaint is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Miraglia, the New York State Police, under the direction of Major Stanley Edwards, and the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Timothy Whitcomb.

    The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

    # # # #

     

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  • MIL-OSI Security: Baltimore Woman Pleads Guilty to COVID Fraud

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)

    BUFFALO, N.Y. — U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Nina M. Williams, 56, of Baltimore, Maryland, pleaded guilty before Senior U.S. District Judge William, M. Skretny to wire fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  

    According to court documents, Williams transmitted two fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications on behalf of Nimiche Inc. and Nimiche Interiors Inc., a Maryland-based business, along with fraudulent supporting documentation, to a federally insured bank in Buffalo, NY, and a mortgage lending business, which  participated as lenders in the PPP loan program. In May 2020, Williams electronically submitted a PPP loan application to the bank for $97,500, and in April 2021, she electronically submitted a PPP loan application to the mortgage lending business for $432,960.

    Williams falsely claimed that Nimiche Inc. and Nimiche Interiors Inc. had between four and 25 employees and average monthly payrolls of, respectively, $39,000 to $173,185. Williams falsely stated that the loan funds would be used to retain workers and maintain payroll or other proscribed uses under the PPP loan rules. This resulted in the bank issuing $97,500 into Nimiche Inc.’s business account controlled by Williams. However, the funds were not used for business-related expenses. Instead, Williams used some of the funds towards the purchase of real property in Maryland. In addition, the mortgage lending business issued loan proceeds totaling $432,960, into Nimiche Inc.’s business account controlled Williams. Once again, the funds were not used for business-related expenses.

    During the May 2020, through May 2021 time period, Williams worked with others to submit at least five additional fraudulent PPP and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) loan applications to the mortgage lending business and another bank. In total, based on the materially false and fraudulent representations contained in the application materials, Williams intended to fraudulently obtain a total of approximately $2.6 million in PPP and EIDL funds, and in fact fraudulently obtained approximately $1.5 million in PPP and EIDL funds.

    The plea is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Thomas Fattorusso, Special Agent-in-Charge, New York Field Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Miraglia, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Boston Division, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Ketty Larco-Ward, and the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Corwin Rattler. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles M. Kruly and Trial Attorney Jennifer Bilinkas of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

    Sentencing is scheduled for December 18, 2024, before Judge Skretny.

    # # # #

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  • MIL-OSI Security: Federal Judge Sentences Lexington Man to 15 Years for Engaging in Sexual Contact with a Minor in Indian Country

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

    ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Rogelia Vega Evans, 26, of Lexington, N.C. was sentenced today to 180 months in prison for engaging in sexual contact with a minor by force in Indian Country, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Upon his release from prison, Evans will be subject to a lifetime of supervised release and must register as a sex offender.

    Robert M. DeWitt, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in North Carolina, and Chief Carla Neadeau of the Cherokee Indian Police Department join U.S. Attorney King in making today’s announcement.

    According to filed court documents and court proceedings, on or about June 18, 2022, Evans sexually abused a child under the age of 12. The minor victim is an enrolled member of the Eastern Band Cherokee Indians (EBCI), and the crime occurred in Indian country, within the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

    On December 18, 2023, Evans pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual contact with a minor under the age of 12 by force.

    Evans remains in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

    In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney King thanked the FBI and the Cherokee Indian Police Department for their investigation of the case, and the High Point Police Department for its assistance with Evans’s arrest.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex M. Scott of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville prosecuted the case.

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  • MIL-OSI Security: Child Predator Sentenced for Aggravated Sexual Abuse of a Minor Child Under 12

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)

    TULSA, Okla. – U.S. District Judge Sara E. Hill sentenced Bryan Stanley Monholland, 59, of Tulsa, for Aggravated Sexual Abuse of a Minor Under 12 Years of Age in Indian Country. Judge Hill ordered Monholland to a term of life imprisonment, followed by lifetime term of supervised release. Upon his release, Monholland will also be required to register as a sex offender.

    According to Monhalland’s Petition to Enter Guilty Plea, and subsequent plea of guilty between July 2012 and March 2018, Monholland attempted to and knowingly engaged in a sexual act with a minor child victim who had not attained age 12.

    According to court records, Monholland previously pleaded guilty to Lewd Molestation in 2004 and was required to register as a sex offender. He is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and will remain in custody pending transfer to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

    The FBI, Catoosa Police Department, and Tulsa Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Valeria Luster, Stephanie Ihler, and Christian Harris prosecuted the case.

    This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section leads PSC, which marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and identifies and rescues victims. For more information about PSC, please visit DOJ’s PSC page. For more information about internet safety education, please visit the resources tab on that page. 

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  • MIL-OSI Security: Cooks Cove — Man wanted on province-wide arrest warrant

    Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    Antigonish County District RCMP is seeking information on the whereabouts of a man currently wanted on a province-wide arrest warrant.

    Clifton Curtis Jordan, 47, from Cooks Cove, is wanted and facing charges of:

    • Sexual Assault
    • Assault by Choking
    • Administering a Noxious Substance
    • Failure to Comply with Conditions

    Jordan is described as 5-foot-10, 260 lbs. He is bald and has brown eyes.

    Investigators have made several attempts to locate Jordan, and are requesting assistance from the public.

    Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Clifton Jordan is asked to refrain from approaching him and to call Antigonish County District RCMP at 902-863-6500. To remain anonymous, call Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers, toll-free, at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), submit a secure web tip at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca, or use the P3 Tips app.

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  • MIL-OSI Security: ‘We Knocked Her Out with Some Gummies:’ Coordinator in Unaccompanied Child Smuggling Ring Admits to Conspiring to Smuggle Toddler From Mexico

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

    LAREDO, Texas – A 23-year-old Laredo woman has pleaded guilty to smuggling a young child into the United States for financial gain, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

    From August to September 2023, Vanessa Valadez and other family members operated a child smuggling ring working to bring young non-citizen children from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, into the United States. All the children were under the age of five. 

    On the night of Sept. 19, 2023, members of the smuggling ring retrieved a young girl from a stash house which the organization members operated. The co-conspirators smuggled the girl across the border and delivered her to Valadez in downtown Laredo. Co-conspirators then took the child further into the United States and delivered her to unknown people.

    On Sept. 21, 2023, members of the smuggling ring attempted to transport another young girl. However, law enforcement intercepted them following a routine border inspection at the Juarez Lincoln Bridge in Laredo. To carry out their scheme, co-conspirators had sedated the girl with melatonin gummies and used an unlawfully obtained birth certificate to deceive authorities into believing the girl was a family member. 

    According to one of the conspirators, the smuggling ring had attempted to similarly transport at least four girls into the United States, three of whom remain unidentified, and their whereabouts are unknown. Members of the smuggling ring obtained birth certificates of U.S. citizen children to pose as a family unit at ports of entry to the United States. At times, members of the smuggling ring used melatonin gummies to sedate at least one child to ensure a successful smuggling attempt. 

    The investigation revealed one of the co-conspirators sent a text message and an image depicting an unconscious child and a caption, “La noquiamos con unas gomitas,” translated in English as “we knocked her out with some gummies.”

    “This smuggling case ranks among the most chilling we’ve ever seen – involving the systematic trade of transporting young children to unknown final destinations,” said Hamdani. “Let this prosecution serve as a stark warning to all those parents who might consider entrusting a precious child to the care of a criminal organization bent on making money by smuggling vulnerable children – your child could be sedated or drugged . . . or worse.”

    Co-conspirators Ana Laura Bryand, 47, Dallas; her niece Kayla Marie Bryand, 20, Laredo, Jose Eduardo Bryand, 43, Laredo; Nancy Guadalupe Bryand, 44, all of Laredo; and Lizeth Esmeralda Bryand Arredondo, 32, Mexico, previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the conspiracy. 

    U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo will impose sentence Jan. 8, 2025. At that time, Valadez faces up to 10 years in prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine.

    Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation with assistance from Border Patrol, Laredo Police Department, Department of Health and Human Services – Office of the Inspector General and FBI. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (SAUSA) Terence A. Check Jr. is prosecuting the case with the assistance of AUSA Michael Makens.

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  • MIL-OSI Security: Cryptocurrency Investment Fraud a Growing Problem in Maryland

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News (b)

    FBI highlights tips to identify investment fraud, prevent losses, and report these crimes

    Cryptocurrency investment fraud, commonly described as “pig butchering,” is one of the most prevalent and damaging fraud schemes today, impacting hundreds of Marylanders each year.

    Scammers, through various means of manipulation, convince victims to deposit more and more money into financial “investments” using cryptocurrency. In truth, these investments are fake; all victim money is under the control of – and ultimately stolen by – criminal actors, usually overseas. As a result, victims typically lose all money they invested.

    According to the FBI’s latest Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) data, there have been almost $54.5 million in losses to cryptocurrency investment scams in Maryland from January to August 2024 with 482 Marylanders reporting these crimes.

    In 2023, 668 Marylanders reported losing $69.1 million dollars to IC3.

    “Bottom line: never trust someone you haven’t met who claims to be an expert and can help you make money through a can’t-miss investment opportunity,” says FBI Baltimore Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno. “We are seeing victims in their 20s and 30s all the way up to our senior citizens who are absolutely devastated by these schemes.”

    Tips to recognize and avoid this scam:

    • If an unknown individual contacts you, do not release any financial or personal identifying information and do not send any money.
    • Do not invest per the advice of someone you meet solely online.
    • Verify the validity of any investment opportunity from strangers or long-lost contacts on social media websites.
    • Be on the lookout for domain names that impersonate legitimate financial institutions, especially cryptocurrency exchanges.
    • Misspelled URLs, often with a slight deviation from the actual financial institutions’ website, may be fake.
    • Do not download or use suspicious looking apps as a tool for investing unless you can verify the legitimacy of the app.
    • If an investment opportunity sounds too good to be true, it likely is. Be cautious of get rich quick schemes.
    • Confirm the validity of any investment opportunity or cryptocurrency investment website or app.
    • If you already invested funds and believe you are a victim of a scheme, do not pay any additional fees or taxes to withdraw your money.
    • Do not pay for services that claim to be able to recover lost funds.

    If you or someone you know may be a victim of a cryptocurrency investment scam, immediately submit a report to ic3.gov or contact the FBI Baltimore field office and provide as much transaction information as possible. Transaction details include cryptocurrency addresses, amount and type of cryptocurrency, date and time, and transaction ID (hash)

    For more information, visit https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/victim-services/national-crimes-and-victim-resources/cryptocurrency-investment-fraud.

    To view the latest cryptocurrency fraud stats and trends, read the 2023 IC3 Cryptocurrency Fraud Report.

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  • MIL-OSI USA: Breaking: House Passes Brown’s Bipartisan Bill to Cut Red Tape for CHIPS Projects Like Intel

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Ohio Sherrod Brown
    WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives today passed U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown’s bipartisan Building Chips in America Act, a bill to streamline federal reviews for microchip manufacturing facilities like the one being built by Intel in New Albany. The bill prevents delays in domestic manufacturing investments made possible by the CHIPS Act while maintaining bedrock environmental protections for clean air and water.
    The legislation passed the U.S. Senate in December and heads to the President’s desk to be signed into law.
    “This legislation will help prevent delays to the semiconductor manufacturing projects the CHIPS Act made possible and will encourage future investments in American manufacturing. This is critical to Intel’s project in Licking County and to ensure that we can outcompete China – I’m glad the House finally passed it and encourage the President to sign it into law immediately,” said Senator Brown.
    Brown has been a leader in bringing new manufacturing opportunities to Ohio and worked to pass into law the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 which boosted Intel’s $20 billion investment to build a semiconductor plant in New Albany and is expected to create 10,000 jobs.
    Following its passage, companies throughout the semiconductor supply chain have announced plans to invest billions in new domestic manufacturing projects. The Building Chips in America Act would ensure federal environmental reviews are completed in a timely manner for these microchip projects supported by the CHIPS Act by streamlining approval for projects currently under construction and others that could be delayed, and by providing the Secretary of Commerce greater tools to more effectively and efficiently carry out reviews.
    This will give the administration additional authority to more effectively implement the CHIPS Act and maximize its potential to boost domestic microchip manufacturing, strengthen domestic supply chains, lower costs, and improve national security.
    In addition to Brown, U.S. Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Todd Young (R-IN), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), and Ted Budd (R-NC) led the legislation in the Senate.

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  • MIL-OSI Economics: Summit of the Future: Robust anti-corruption measures critical to Pact’s success

    Source: Transparency International

    Pact for the Future missed broader threats but recognised the role of anti-corruption in financing sustainable development

    From September 22 to 23, the United Nations convened world leaders to determine how they will work together to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and secure a better future for all humanity. The Summit adopted the joint Pact for the Future, in which member states committed to a series of actions. Corruption was not mentioned in the zero draft, but member states corrected this and it was ultimately included – though only as part of commitments under the action focused on financing. This does not sufficiently represent the impact of corruption across the Pact’s purposes. Nonetheless, Transparency International welcomes the inclusion of corruption in the discussion and the Pact, but calls on governments to more deeply integrate anti-corruption efforts.

    Maíra Martini, Head of Policy & Advocacy (Interim) at Transparency International, said:

    “We see time and again around the world how corruption and illicit financial flows stymie progress. At a time when humanity faces numerous challenges from climate change to violent conflict, world leaders have no time to waste in combating corruption. Transparency International commends the Summit of the Future for emphasising states’ responsibility to tackle our greatest issues. More specifically, we laud its acknowledgement that corruption and illicit financial flows rob essential resources that are needed for this development – but this is not enough.

    “The Pact for the Future does not sufficiently address the myriad ways corruption interferes with sustainable development. In particular it pays no heed to the pivotal role of transparency and accountability, nor to how corruption disrupts government’s effectiveness, impairs the equitable provision of services and erodes trust in institutions. Without due attention to these elements, progress is unlikely.

    “Member states must take corruption more deeply into account as they begin implementing the Pact’s commitments. Transparency International calls on them to consider the wide variety of corruption risks and take steps to mitigate them. In doing so, they must engage civil society, which with its expertise will play a central role in identifying liabilities and solutions, as well as conducting oversight to hold governments accountable.”

    Note to editors

    Ahead of the Summit, Transparency International urged leaders to meaningfully consider the role of corruption and the impact of failing to address it. Read more here: https://www.transparency.org/en/blog/corruption-must-take-centre-stage-summit-of-the-future

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  • MIL-OSI Africa: Secretary-General’s remarks at the Opening of the General Debate of the Seventy-ninth Session of the General Assembly [trilingual, as delivered, scroll down for all-English and all-French]

    Source: United Nations – English

    r. President of the General Assembly,

    Excellencies,

    Ladies and gentlemen,

    Our world is in a whirlwind.

    We are in an era of epic transformation – facing challenges unlike any we have ever seen – challenges that demand global solutions.

    Yet geo-political divisions keep deepening. The planet keeps heating.

    Wars rage with no clue how they will end.

    And nuclear posturing and new weapons cast a dark shadow.

    We are edging towards the unimaginable – a powder keg that risks engulfing the world.

    Meanwhile, 2024 is the year that half of humanity goes to the polls – and all of humanity will be affected.

    I stand before you in this whirlwind convinced of two overriding truths.

    First, the state of our world is unsustainable.

    We can’t go on like this.

    And second, the challenges we face are solvable.

    But that requires us to make sure the mechanisms of international problem-solving actually solve problems.

    The Summit of the Future was a first step, but we have a long way to go.

    Getting there requires confronting three major drivers of unsustainability.

    A world of impunity – where violations and abuses threaten the very foundation of international law and the UN Charter.

    A world of inequality – where injustices and grievances threaten to undermine countries or even push them over the edge.

    And a world of uncertainty – where unmanaged global risks threaten our future in unknowable ways.

    These worlds of impunity, inequality and uncertainty are connected and colliding.

    Excellencies,

    The level of impunity in the world is politically indefensible and morally intolerable.

    Today, a growing number of governments and others feel entitled to a “get out of jail free” card.

    They can trample international law.

    They can violate the United Nations Charter.

    They can turn a blind eye to international human rights conventions or the decisions of international courts.

    They can thumb their nose at international humanitarian law.

    They can invade another country, lay waste to whole societies, or utterly disregard the welfare of their own people.

    And nothing will happen.

    We see this age of impunity everywhere — in the Middle East, in the heart of Europe, in the Horn of Africa, and beyond.

    The war in Ukraine is spreading with no signs of letting up.

    Civilians are paying the price – in rising death tolls and shattered lives and communities.

    It is time for a just peace based on the UN Charter, on international law and on UN resolutions.

    Meanwhile, Gaza is a non-stop nightmare that threatens to take the entire region with it.

    Look no further than Lebanon.

    We should all be alarmed by the escalation. 

    Lebanon is at the brink. 

    The people of Lebanon – the people of Israel – and the people of the world — cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.

    Let’s be clear.

    Nothing can justify the abhorrent acts of terror committed by Hamas on October 7th, or the taking of hostages – both of which I have repeatedly condemned.

    And nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

    The speed and scale of the killing and destruction in Gaza are unlike anything in my years as Secretary-General.

    More than 200 of our own staff have been killed, many with their families.

    And yet the women and men of the United Nations continue to deliver humanitarian aid.

    I know you join me in paying a special tribute to UNRWA and to all humanitarians in Gaza.

    The international community must mobilize for an immediate ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, and the beginning of an irreversible process towards a two-State solution.

    For those who go on undermining that goal with more settlements, more landgrabs, more incitement — I ask:

    What is the alternative?

    How could the world accept a one-state future in which a large a large number of Palestinians would be included without any freedom, rights or dignity?

    In Sudan, a brutal power struggle has unleashed horrific violence — including widespread rape and sexual assaults.

    A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding as famine spreads.  Yet outside powers continue to interfere with no unified approach to finding peace.

    In the Sahel, the dramatic and rapid expansion of the terrorist threat requires a joint approach rooted in solidarity – but regional and international cooperation have broken down.

    From Myanmar to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Haiti to Yemen and beyond – we continue to see appalling levels of violence and human suffering in the face of a chronic failure to find solutions.

    Meanwhile our peacekeeping missions are too often operating in areas where simply there is no peace to keep.

    Instability in many places around the world is a by-product of instability in power relations and geo-political divides.

    For all its perils, the Cold War had rules.

    There were hot lines, red lines and guard rails.

    It can feel as though we don’t have that today.

    Nor do we have a unipolar world.

    We are moving to a multipolar world, but we are not there yet.

    We are in a purgatory of polarity.

    And in this purgatory, more and more countries are filling the spaces of geopolitical divides, doing whatever they want with no accountability.

    That is why it is more important than ever to reaffirm the Charter, to respect international law, to support and implement decisions of international courts, and to reinforce human rights in the world.

    Anywhere and everywhere.

    Excellences, Mesdames et Messieurs,
     
    L’augmentation des inégalités est un deuxième facteur de l’insoutenabilité et une tache sur notre conscience collective.
     
    L’inégalité n’est pas une question technique ou bureaucratique.
     
    Au fond, l’inégalité est une question de pouvoir, aux racines historiques.
     
    Les conflits, les bouleversements climatiques et la crise du coût de la vie étendent ces racines historiques plus profondément encore.
     
    Dans le même temps, le monde peine encore à se relever de la flambée des inégalités engendrée par la pandémie.
     
    Si l’on regarde les 75 pays les plus pauvres du monde, un tiers d’entre eux se trouve aujourd’hui dans une situation pire qu’il y a cinq ans.
     
    Au cours de la même période, les cinq hommes les plus riches de la planète ont plus que doublé leurs fortunes.
     
    Et un pour cent des habitants de la planète détient 43 % de l’ensemble des avoirs financiers mondiaux.
     
    Au niveau national, certains gouvernements décuplent les inégalités en accordant des cadeaux fiscaux massifs aux entreprises et aux ultra-riches — au détriment des investissements dans la santé, l’éducation et la protection sociale.
     
    Et personne n’est plus lésé que les femmes et les filles du monde entier.
     
    Excellences,
     
    La discrimination et les abus généralisés fondés sur le genre constituent l’inégalité la plus répandue dans toutes les sociétés.
     
    Chaque jour, il semble que nous soyons confrontés à de nouveaux cas révoltants de féminicides, de violences fondées sur le genre et de viols collectifs – en temps de paix comme en tant qu’arme de guerre.
     
    Dans certains pays, les lois sont utilisées pour menacer la santé et les droits reproductifs.
     
    Et en Afghanistan, les lois sont utilisées pour entériner l’oppression systématique des femmes et des filles.
     
    Et je suis désolé de constater que, malgré des années de beaux discours, l’inégalité de genre se manifesteet je vous demande pardon de le dire, elle se manifeste aujourd’hui encore, pleinement dans cette enceinte.
     
    Moins de 10 pour cent des intervenants au Débat général de cette semaine sont des femmes.
     
    C’est inacceptable, surtout quand on sait que l’égalité entre les femmes et les hommes contribue à la paix, au développement durable, à l’action climatique et bien plus encore.
     
    C’est précisément pour cela nous avons pris des mesures spécifiques pour atteindre la parité hommes-femmes parmi les hauts responsables de l’Organisation des Nations Unies,objectif qui est déjà complété.
     
    C’est faisable.
     
    J’exhorte les institutions politiques et économiques du monde dominées par les hommes à le faire aussi.
     
    Excellences,
     
    Les inégalités mondiales se reflètent et se renforcent jusque dans nos propres organisations internationales.
     
    Le Conseil de sécurité des Nations Unies a été conçu par les vainqueurs de la Seconde Guerre mondiale.
     
    À l’époque, la majeure partie du continent africain était encore sous domination coloniale.
     
    À ce jour, l’Afrique n’a toujours aucun siège permanent au sein de la principale instance de paix du monde.
     
    Un changement s’impose.
     
    Il en va de même pour l’architecture financière mondiale, mise en place il y a 80 ans.
     
    Je félicite les dirigeants de la Banque mondiale et du Fonds monétaire international pour les mesures importantes qu’ils ont entreprises.
     
    Mais comme le souligne le Pacte pour l’avenir, la lutte contre les inégalités exige une accélération de la réforme de l’architecture financière internationale.
     
    Au cours des huit dernières décennies, l’économie mondiale s’est développée et transformée.
     
    Les institutions de Bretton Woods n’ont pas suivi le rythme.
     
    Elles ne sont plus en mesure de fournir un filet de sécurité mondial, ni d’offrir aux pays en développement le niveau de soutien dont ils ont tant besoin.
     
    Dans les pays les plus pauvres du monde, le coût des intérêts de la dette dépasse, en moyenne, le coût des investissements dans l’éducation, la santé et les infrastructures publiques réunis.
     
    Et à l’échelle du monde, plus de 80 % des cibles des Objectifs de développement durable ne sont pas en bonne voie.

    Excelencias,

    Volver al camino correcto requiere un aumento de financiamiento para la Agenda 2030 y el Acuerdo de París.

    Esto implica que los países del G20 lideren un Estímulo para los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible de 500.000 millones de dólares al año.

    Implica reformas para aumentar sustancialmente la capacidad de préstamo de los Bancos Multilaterales de Desarrollo – y permitirles ampliar masivamente la financiación asequible a largo plazo para el clima y el desarrollo.

    Implica ampliar la financiación de contingencia mediante el reciclaje de los Derechos Especiales de Giro.

    E implica promover una reestructuración de la deuda a largo plazo.

    Excelencias,

    No me hago ilusiones sobre las barreras a la reforma del sistema multilateral.

    Los que tienen poder político y económico, o y los que creen tenerlo, son siempre reacios al cambio.

    Pero el status quo ya está agotando su poder.

    Sin reformas, la fragmentación es inevitable, y las instituciones globales perderán legitimidad, credibilidad y eficacia.

    Excellencies,

    The third driver of our unsustainable world is uncertainty.

    The ground is shifting under our feet.

    Anxiety levels are off the charts.

    And young people, in particular, are counting on us and seeking solutions.

    Uncertainty is compounded by two existential threats – the climate crisis and the rapid advance of technology — in particular, Artificial Intelligence.

    Excellencies,

    We are in a climate meltdown.

    Extreme temperatures, raging fires, droughts, and epic floods are not natural disasters.

    They are human disasters — increasingly fueled by fossil fuels.

    No country is spared. But the poorest and most vulnerable are hardest hit.

    Climate hazards are blowing a hole through the budgets of many African countries, costing up to five per cent of GDP – every year.

    And this is just the start.

    We are on course to careen past the global limit of a 1.5 degree temperature rise.

    But as the problem gets worse, solutions are getting better.

    Renewable prices are plummeting, roll-out is accelerating, and lives are being transformed by affordable, accessible clean energy.

    Renewables don’t just generate power. They generate jobs, wealth, energy security and a path out of poverty for millions.

    But developing countries cannot be plundered in that journey.

    Our Panel on Critical Minerals has recommended fair and sustainable ways to meet global demand for these resources, which are essential to the renewables revolution.

    Excellencies,

    A future without fossil fuels is certain.  A fair and fast transition is not.

    That is in your hands.

    By next year, every country must produce an ambitious new national climate action plan – or Nationally Determined Contributions.

    These must bring national energy strategies, sustainable development priorities, and climate ambitions together.

    They must align with the 1.5 degree limit, cover the whole economy, and contribute to every one of the COP28 energy transition targets.

    An International Energy Agency report released today breaks this down.

    By 2035, on average, advanced economies must slash energy emissions 80 per cent, and emerging markets 65 per cent.

    The G20 is responsible for 80 per cent of total emissions.

    They must lead the charge – keeping with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities in the light of different national circumstances.

    But this must be a joint effort — pooling resources, scientific capacities and proven and affordable technologies for all to be able to reach those targets.

    I’m honoured to be working closely with President Lula of Brazil – who is both G20 Chair and COP30 host – to secure maximum ambition, acceleration and cooperation. We just met for that purpose.

    Finance is essential.

    COP29 is around the corner.

    It must deliver a significant new finance goal.

    We also need a Loss and Damage Fund that meets the scale of the challenge – and developed countries meeting their adaptation finance promises.

    And we must finally flip the script on a crazy situation:

    We continue to reward polluters to wreck our planet.

    The fossil fuel industry continues to pocket massive profits and subsidies, while everyday people bear the costs of climate catastrophe – from rising insurance premiums to lost livelihoods.

    I call on G20 countries to shift money from fossil fuel subsidies and investments to a just energy transition;

    To put an effective price on carbon;

    And to implement new and innovative sources of financing – including solidarity levies on fossil fuel extraction – through legally-binding, transparent mechanisms.

    All by next year and this taking into account that those who shoulder the blame must foot the bill.

    Polluters must pay.

    Excellencies,

    The rapid rise of new technologies poses another unpredictable existential risk.

    Artificial Intelligence will change virtually everything we know — from work, education and communication, to culture and politics.

    We know AI is rapidly advancing, but where is it taking us:

    To more freedom – or more conflict?

    To a more sustainable world – or greater inequality?

    To being better informed – or easier to manipulate?

    A handful of companies and even individuals have already amassed enormous power over the development of AI – with little accountability or oversight for the moment.

    Without a global approach to its management, artificial intelligence could lead to artificial divisions across the board – a Great Fracture with two internets, two markets, two economies – with every country forced to pick a side, and enormous consequences for all.

    The United Nations is the universal platform for dialogue and consensus.

    It is uniquely placed to promote cooperation on AI – based on the values of the Charter and international law.

    The global debate happens here, or it does not happen.

    I welcome important first steps.

    Two resolutions in the General Assembly, the Global Digital Compact, and the recommendations of the High-Level Body on AI can lay the foundations for inclusive governance of AI.

    Let’s move forward together to make AI a force for good.

    Excellencies,

    Nothing lasts forever.

    But a feature of human life is that it appears otherwise.

    The current order always feels fixed.

    Until it is not.
     
    Across human history, we see empires rising and falling; old certainties crumbling; tectonic shifts in global affairs.
     
    Today our course is unsustainable.

    It is in all our interests to manage the epic transformations underway; to choose the future we want and to guide our world towards it.

    Many have said that the differences and divisions today are just too great.

    That it is impossible for us to come together for the common good.

    You proved that is not true.

    The Summit of the Future showed that with a spirit of dialogue and compromise, we can join forces to steer our world to a more sustainable path.

    It is not the end.

    It is a start of a journey, a compass in the whirlwind.

    Let’s keep going.

    Let’s move our world towards less impunity and more accountability …. less inequality and more justice … less uncertainty and more opportunity.

    The people of the world are looking to us – and succeeding generations will look back on us.

    Let them find us on the side of the United Nations Charter … on the side of our shared values and principles … and on the right side of history.

    I thank you.

    ***
    [all-English]

    Mr. President of the General Assembly,
     
    Excellencies,
     
    Ladies and gentlemen,
     
    Our world is in a whirlwind.
     
    We are in an era of epic transformation – facing challenges unlike any we have ever seen – challenges that demand global solutions.
     
    Yet geo-political divisions keep deepening. The planet keeps heating.

    Wars rage with no clue how they will end.
     
    And nuclear posturing and new weapons cast a dark shadow.
     
    We are edging towards the unimaginable – a powder keg that risks engulfing the world.
     
    Meanwhile, 2024 is the year that half of humanity goes to the polls – and all of humanity will be affected.
     
    I stand before you in this whirlwind convinced of two overriding truths.
     
    First, the state of our world is unsustainable.
     
    We can’t go on like this.
     
    And second, the challenges we face are solvable.
     
    But that requires us to make sure the mechanisms of international problem-solving actually solve problems.
     
    The Summit of the Future was a first step, but we have a long way to go.
     
    Getting there requires confronting three major drivers of unsustainability.
     
    A world of impunity – where violations and abuses threaten the very foundation of international law and the UN Charter.
     
    A world of inequality – where injustices and grievances threaten to undermine countries or even push them over the edge.
     
    And a world of uncertainty – where unmanaged global risks threaten our future in unknowable ways.
     
    These worlds of impunity, inequality and uncertainty are connected and colliding.
     
    Excellencies,
     
    The level of impunity in the world is politically indefensible and morally intolerable.
     
    Today, a growing number of governments and others feel entitled to a “get out of jail free” card.
     
    They can trample international law.
     
    They can violate the United Nations Charter.
     
    They can turn a blind eye to international human rights conventions or the decisions of international courts.
     
    They can thumb their nose at international humanitarian law.
     
    They can invade another country, lay waste to whole societies, or utterly disregard the welfare of their own people.
     
    And nothing will happen.
     
    We see this age of impunity everywhere — in the Middle East, in the heart of Europe, in the Horn of Africa, and beyond.
     
    The war in Ukraine is spreading with no signs of letting up.
     
    Civilians are paying the price – in rising death tolls and shattered lives and communities.
     
    It is time for a just peace based on the UN Charter, on international law and on UN resolutions.
     
    Meanwhile, Gaza is a non-stop nightmare that threatens to take the entire region with it.
     
    Look no further than Lebanon.
     
    We should all be alarmed by the escalation. 
     
    Lebanon is at the brink. 
     
    The people of Lebanon – the people of Israel – and the people of the world — cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.
     
    Let’s be clear.
     
    Nothing can justify the abhorrent acts of terror committed by Hamas on October 7th, or the taking of hostages – both of which I have repeatedly condemned.
     
    And nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
     
    The speed and scale of the killing and destruction in Gaza are unlike anything in my years as Secretary-General.
     
    More than 200 of our own staff have been killed, many with their families.
     
    And yet the women and men of the United Nations continue to deliver humanitarian aid.
     
    I know you join me in paying a special tribute to UNRWA and to all humanitarians in Gaza.
     
    The international community must mobilize for an immediate ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, and the beginning of an irreversible process towards a two-State solution.
     
    For those who go on undermining that goal with more settlements, more landgrabs, more incitement — I ask:
     
    What is the alternative?
     
    How could the world accept a one-state future in which a large a large number of Palestinians would be included without any freedom, rights or dignity?
     
    In Sudan, a brutal power struggle has unleashed horrific violence — including widespread rape and sexual assaults.
     
    A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding as famine spreads.  Yet outside powers continue to interfere with no unified approach to finding peace.
     
    In the Sahel, the dramatic and rapid expansion of the terrorist threat requires a joint approach rooted in solidarity – but regional and international cooperation have broken down.
     
    From Myanmar to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Haiti to Yemen and beyond – we continue to see appalling levels of violence and human suffering in the face of a chronic failure to find solutions.
     
    Meanwhile our peacekeeping missions are too often operating in areas where simply there is no peace to keep.
     
    Instability in many places around the world is a by-product of instability in power relations and geo-political divides.
     
    For all its perils, the Cold War had rules.
     
    There were hot lines, red lines and guard rails.
     
    It can feel as though we don’t have that today.
     
    Nor do we have a unipolar world.
     
    We are moving to a multipolar world, but we are not there yet.
     
    We are in a purgatory of polarity.
     
    And in this purgatory, more and more countries are filling the spaces of geopolitical divides, doing whatever they want with no accountability.
     
    That is why it is more important than ever to reaffirm the Charter, to respect international law, to support and implement decisions of international courts, and to reinforce human rights in the world.
     
    Anywhere and everywhere.

    Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

    Rising inequalities are a second driver of unsustainability and a stain on our collective conscience. 

    Inequality is not a technical or bureaucratic issue. 

    At its heart, inequality is a question of power with historic roots.

    Conflict, climate upheaval and the cost-of-living crisis, are pushing those roots deeper. 

    At the same time, the world has not recovered from the surge in inequalities caused by the pandemic.

    Of the world’s poorest 75 countries, one-third are worse off today than they were five years ago.

    During that same period, the five richest men in the world have more than doubled their wealth.
     
    And the top one per cent of people on earth own 43 per cent of all global financial assets.

    At the national level, some governments are supercharging inequalities by doling out massive tax giveaways to corporations and the ultra-rich, while shortchanging investments in health, education and social protection.

    No one is being short-changed more than the world’s women and girls. 

    Excellencies, 
     
    Rampant gender-based discrimination and abuse are the most prevalent inequality across all societies. 
     
    Every day, it seems we are confronted by yet more sickening cases of femicide, gender-based violence and mass rape, both in peacetime and as a weapon of war. 
     
    In some countries, laws are being used to threaten reproductive health and rights. 

    And in Afghanistan, laws are being used to lock-in the systematic oppression of women and girls. 
     
    And I am sorry to observe that despite years of talk, gender inequality is on full display, and I am sorry for mentioning it here, gender inequality is on full display in this very Hall. 

    Less than 10 per cent of speakers during this week’s General Debate are women. 
     
    This is unacceptable – especially when we know gender equality delivers for peace, sustainable development, climate action and much more. 

    That is precisely why we took targeted measures to achieve gender parity among the United Nations senior leadership, an objective that has already been achieved.

    It’s doable. 

    I call on male-dominated political and economic establishments around the world to do it as well.
     
    Excellencies,

    Global inequalities are reflected and reinforced even in our own global institutions.

    The United Nations Security Council was designed by the victors of the Second World War. 

    Most of Africa was still under colonial domination. 

    To this day, Africa has no permanent seat on the world’s preeminent council of peace. 

    This must change.

    So must the global financial architecture, set up 80 years ago. 

    I commend the leaders of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for taking important steps.

    But as the Pact for the Future emphasizes, tackling inequalities requires accelerating reform of the international financial architecture.

    Over the past eight decades, the global economy has grown and transformed.

    The Bretton Woods institutions have not kept pace.

    They can no longer provide a global safety net – or offer developing countries the level of support they need.

    Debt interest payments in the world’s poorest countries now cost more, on average, than investments in education, health and infrastructure combined.

    And around the world, more than 80 per cent of Sustainable Development Goal targets are off track. 

    Excellencies,

    Getting back on track requires a surge of financing for the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement.

    That means G20 countries leading on an SDG Stimulus of $500 billion a year. 

    It means reforms to substantially increase the lending capacity of Multilateral Development Banks and enable them to massively scale-up affordable long-term climate and development finance.

    It means expanding contingency financing through recycling Special Drawing Rights.

    And it means promoting long-term debt-restructuring.

    Excellencies,

    I have no illusions about the obstacles to reform of the multilateral system.

    Those with political and economic power – and those who believe they have power – are always reluctant to change.

    But the status quo is already draining their power.

    Without reform, fragmentation is inevitable, and global institutions will become less legitimate, less credible, and less effective.
     
    Excellencies,
     
    The third driver of our unsustainable world is uncertainty.
     
    The ground is shifting under our feet.
     
    Anxiety levels are off the charts.
     
    And young people, in particular, are counting on us and seeking solutions.
     
    Uncertainty is compounded by two existential threats – the climate crisis and the rapid advance of technology — in particular, Artificial Intelligence.
     
    Excellencies,
     
    We are in a climate meltdown.
     
    Extreme temperatures, raging fires, droughts, and epic floods are not natural disasters.
     
    They are human disasters — increasingly fueled by fossil fuels.
     
    No country is spared. But the poorest and most vulnerable are hardest hit.
     
    Climate hazards are blowing a hole through the budgets of many African countries, costing up to five per cent of GDP – every year.
     
    And this is just the start.
     
    We are on course to careen past the global limit of a 1.5 degree temperature rise.
     
    But as the problem gets worse, solutions are getting better.
     
    Renewable prices are plummeting, roll-out is accelerating, and lives are being transformed by affordable, accessible clean energy.
     
    Renewables don’t just generate power. They generate jobs, wealth, energy security and a path out of poverty for millions.
     
    But developing countries cannot be plundered in that journey.
     
    Our Panel on Critical Minerals has recommended fair and sustainable ways to meet global demand for these resources, which are essential to the renewables revolution.
     
    Excellencies,
     
    A future without fossil fuels is certain.  A fair and fast transition is not.
     
    That is in your hands.
     
    By next year, every country must produce an ambitious new national climate action plan – or Nationally Determined Contributions.
     
    These must bring national energy strategies, sustainable development priorities, and climate ambitions together.
     
    They must align with the 1.5 degree limit, cover the whole economy, and contribute to every one of the COP28 energy transition targets.
     
    An International Energy Agency report released today breaks this down.
     
    By 2035, on average, advanced economies must slash energy emissions 80 per cent, and emerging markets 65 per cent.
     
    The G20 is responsible for 80 per cent of total emissions.
     
    They must lead the charge – keeping with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities in the light of different national circumstances.
     
    But this must be a joint effort — pooling resources, scientific capacities and proven and affordable technologies for all to be able to reach those targets.
     
    I’m honoured to be working closely with President Lula of Brazil – who is both G20 Chair and COP30 host – to secure maximum ambition, acceleration and cooperation. We just met for that purpose.
     
    Finance is essential.
     
    COP29 is around the corner.
     
    It must deliver a significant new finance goal.
     
    We also need a Loss and Damage Fund that meets the scale of the challenge – and developed countries meeting their adaptation finance promises.
     
    And we must finally flip the script on a crazy situation:
     
    We continue to reward polluters to wreck our planet.
     
    The fossil fuel industry continues to pocket massive profits and subsidies, while everyday people bear the costs of climate catastrophe – from rising insurance premiums to lost livelihoods.
     
    I call on G20 countries to shift money from fossil fuel subsidies and investments to a just energy transition;
     
    To put an effective price on carbon;
     
    And to implement new and innovative sources of financing – including solidarity levies on fossil fuel extraction – through legally-binding, transparent mechanisms.
     
    All by next year and this taking into account that those who shoulder the blame must foot the bill.
     
    Polluters must pay.
     
    Excellencies,
     
    The rapid rise of new technologies poses another unpredictable existential risk.
     
    Artificial Intelligence will change virtually everything we know — from work, education and communication, to culture and politics.
     
    We know AI is rapidly advancing, but where is it taking us:
     
    To more freedom – or more conflict?
     
    To a more sustainable world – or greater inequality?
     
    To being better informed – or easier to manipulate?
     
    A handful of companies and even individuals have already amassed enormous power over the development of AI – with little accountability or oversight for the moment.
     
    Without a global approach to its management, artificial intelligence could lead to artificial divisions across the board – a Great Fracture with two internets, two markets, two economies – with every country forced to pick a side, and enormous consequences for all.
     
    The United Nations is the universal platform for dialogue and consensus.
     
    It is uniquely placed to promote cooperation on AI – based on the values of the Charter and international law.
     
    The global debate happens here, or it does not happen.
     
    I welcome important first steps.
     
    Two resolutions in the General Assembly, the Global Digital Compact, and the recommendations of the High-Level Body on AI can lay the foundations for inclusive governance of AI.
     
    Let’s move forward together to make AI a force for good.
     
    Excellencies,
     
    Nothing lasts forever.
     
    But a feature of human life is that it appears otherwise.
     
    The current order always feels fixed.
     
    Until it is not.
     
    Across human history, we see empires rising and falling; old certainties crumbling; tectonic shifts in global affairs.
     
    Today our course is unsustainable.
     
    It is in all our interests to manage the epic transformations underway; to choose the future we want and to guide our world towards it.
     
    Many have said that the differences and divisions today are just too great.
     
    That it is impossible for us to come together for the common good.
     
    You proved that is not true.
     
    The Summit of the Future showed that with a spirit of dialogue and compromise, we can join forces to steer our world to a more sustainable path.
     
    It is not the end.
     
    It is a start of a journey, a compass in the whirlwind.
     
    Let’s keep going.
     
    Let’s move our world towards less impunity and more accountability …. less inequality and more justice … less uncertainty and more opportunity.
     
    The people of the world are looking to us – and succeeding generations will look back on us.
     
    Let them find us on the side of the United Nations Charter … on the side of our shared values and principles … and on the right side of history.
     
    I thank you.

    ***
    [all-French]

    Monsieur le Président,

    Excellences,

    Mesdames et Messieurs,

    Notre monde est pris dans un tourbillon.

    Nous vivons une ère de transformation aux proportions épiques et faisons face à des défis sans précédent qui exigent des solutions mondiales.

    Et pourtant, les divisions géopolitiques ne vont qu’en s’aggravant. La planète continue de se réchauffer.

    Les guerres font rage sans que l’on sache comment elles vont se terminer.

    Les gesticulations nucléaires et les nouvelles armes font planer sur nous une ombre inquiétante.

    Nous allons tout droit vers l’inimaginable : une poudrière qui risque d’engloutir le monde.

    En 2024, la moitié de l’humanité doit se rendre aux urnes – et c’est sur l’humanité tout entière que pèsera l’issue de ces scrutins.

    Je me tiens devant vous, face à ce tourbillon, convaincu de deux vérités primordiales.

    Tout d’abord, l’état dans lequel se trouve notre monde n’est pas viable.

    On ne peut pas continuer ainsi.

    Et deuxièmement, il est possible de relever les défis auxquels nous sommes confrontés.

    Mais pour cela, nous devons nous assurer que les mécanismes de règlement des problèmes internationaux permettent bel et bien de régler les problèmes.

    Le Sommet de l’avenir était un premier pas, mais le chemin à parcourir est encore long.

    Pour y parvenir, il faut s’attaquer à trois grands facteurs de l’insoutenabilité.

    Un monde d’impunité – dans lequel les violations et les atteintes menacent le fondement même du droit international et de la Charte des Nations Unies.

    Un monde d’inégalités – où les injustices et les griefs auxquelles elles donnent jour menacent d’affaiblir les pays, ou pire, de les précipiter dans le gouffre.

    Et un monde d’incertitude – où les risques mondiaux ne sont pas gérés, ce qui hypothèque notre avenir, bien au-delà de ce que l’on peut imaginer.

    Ces mondes d’impunité, d’inégalité et d’incertitude sont liés entre eux et se télescopent.

    Excellences,

    Le degré d’impunité dans le monde est indéfendable sur le plan politique et moralement intolérable.

    Aujourd’hui, un nombre croissant de gouvernements et d’autres acteurs se sentent autorisés à bénéficier, comme au Monopoly, d’une carte « Vous êtes libéré de prison ».

    Ils peuvent fouler aux pieds le droit international.

    Ils peuvent violer la Charte des Nations Unies.

    Ils peuvent ignorer les conventions internationales relatives aux droits humains ou les décisions des tribunaux internationaux.

    Ils peuvent bafouer le droit international humanitaire.

    Ils peuvent envahir un autre pays, dévaster des sociétés entières ou mépriser complètement le bien-être de leur propre peuple.

    Sans que rien ne se passe.

    Partout ‒ au Moyen-Orient, au cœur de l’Europe, dans la Corne de l’Afrique et au-delà ‒ c’est l’ère de l’impunité.

    La guerre en Ukraine s’étend et rien n’indique qu’elle va s’arrêter.

    Ce sont les populations civiles qui en paient le prix. À preuve, les morts de plus en plus nombreuses, les vies et les communautés brisées.

    Il est temps d’instaurer une paix juste, fondée sur la Charte des Nations Unies, le droit international et les résolutions des organes des Nations Unies.

    Pendant ce temps, Gaza vit un cauchemar permanent qui menace d’entraîner toute la région dans le chaos.

    À commencer par le Liban.

    Nous devrions tous être alarmés par cette escalade. 

    Le Liban est au bord du gouffre. 

    Le peuple libanais, le peuple israélien et les peuples du monde ne peuvent se permettre que le Liban devienne un autre Gaza.

    Soyons clairs.

    Rien ne peut justifier les actes de terreur abominables commis par le Hamas le 7 octobre, ni les prises d’otages, que j’ai condamnés à maintes reprises.

    Mais rien ne peut justifier d’infliger un châtiment collectif au peuple palestinien.

    La rapidité et l’ampleur du massacre et des destructions à Gaza ne ressemblent à rien d’autre de ce que j’ai connu depuis que je suis Secrétaire général.

    Plus de 200 membres du personnel des Nations Unies ont déjà été tués et, souvent, des membres de leurs familles ont aussi péri à leurs côtés.

    Et pourtant, les femmes et les hommes des Nations Unies continuent d’accomplir leur mission.

    Je sais que vous vous joignez à moi pour rendre un hommage appuyé à l’UNRWA et à tous les humanitaires à Gaza.

    La communauté internationale doit se mobiliser pour obtenir un cessez-le-feu immédiat, la libération immédiate et inconditionnelle des tous les otages et le lancement d’un processus irréversible pour qu’une solution des deux États voie le jour.

    J’aimerais poser une question à ceux qui continuent de saper cet objectif en multipliant les implantations, les expulsions, les provocations:
    Quelle est l’alternative ?

    Comment le monde pourrait-il accepter un État qui inclurait un grand nombre de Palestiniens et de Palestiniennes privés de liberté, de droits et de dignité ?

    Au Soudan, une lutte brutale pour le pouvoir a donné lieu à d’horribles violences, notamment des viols et des agressions sexuelles à grande échelle.

    Une catastrophe humanitaire est en train de se produire dans un pays en proie à une famine rampante. Pourtant, les puissances extérieures continuent de s’ingérer sans aucune approche unifiée pour trouver la paix.

    Au Sahel, l’expansion dramatique et rapide de la menace terroriste exige l’adoption d’une approche commune fondée sur la solidarité, mais la coopération régionale et internationale est en panne.

    Du Myanmar à la République démocratique du Congo, en passant par Haïti et le Yémen, les populations restent exposées à des violences et des souffrances effroyables, sur fond d’incapacité chronique à trouver des solutions.

    Pendant ce temps, nos missions de maintien de la paix opèrent trop souvent dans des lieux où il n’y a tout simplement pas de paix à maintenir.

    L’instabilité que l’on observe en de nombreux endroits du monde est la conséquence de l’instabilité des relations de pouvoir et des clivages géopolitiques.

    La Guerre Froide était pleine de dangers, mais elle avait aussi ses règles.

    Il y avait le téléphone rouge, des limites à ne pas franchir et des garde-fous.

    On a parfois l’impression que l’on n’a rien de tout cela aujourd’hui.

    Nous ne vivons pas non plus dans un monde unipolaire.

    Nous sommes en train de passer à un monde multipolaire, mais nous n’y sommes pas encore.

    Nous sommes en fait dans le purgatoire de la polarité.

    Et dans ce purgatoire, de plus en plus de pays occupent les espaces laissés vides par les divisions géopolitiques et font ce qu’ils veulent sans avoir à rendre de comptes.

    C’est pourquoi il est plus important que jamais de réaffirmer la Charte, d’appuyer et de respecter le droit international et de renforcer les droits humains à travers le monde.

    Partout et en tout lieu.

    Excellences, Mesdames et Messieurs,

    L’augmentation des inégalités est un deuxième facteur de l’insoutenabilité et une tache sur notre conscience collective. 

    L’inégalité n’est pas une question technique ou bureaucratique. 

    Au fond, l’inégalité est une question de pouvoir, aux racines historiques.

    Les conflits, les bouleversements climatiques et la crise du coût de la vie étendent ces racines historiques plus profondément encore. 

    Dans le même temps, le monde peine encore à se relever de la flambée des inégalités engendrée par la pandémie.

    Si l’on regarde les 75 pays les plus pauvres du monde, un tiers d’entre eux se trouve aujourd’hui dans une situation pire qu’il y a cinq ans.

    Au cours de la même période, les cinq hommes les plus riches de la planète ont plus que doublé leurs fortunes.

    Et un pour cent des habitants de la planète détient 43 % de l’ensemble des avoirs financiers mondiaux.

    Au niveau national, certains gouvernements décuplent les inégalités en accordant des cadeaux fiscaux massifs aux entreprises et aux ultra-riches — au détriment des investissements dans la santé, l’éducation et la protection sociale.

    Et personne n’est plus lésé que les femmes et les filles du monde entier.

    Excellences,

    La discrimination et les abus généralisés fondés sur le genre constituent l’inégalité la plus répandue dans toutes les sociétés.

    Chaque jour, il semble que nous soyons confrontés à de nouveaux cas révoltants de féminicides, de violences fondées sur le genre et de viols collectifs – en temps de paix comme en tant qu’arme de guerre.

    Dans certains pays, les lois sont utilisées pour menacer la santé et les droits reproductifs. 

    Et en Afghanistan, les lois sont utilisées pour entériner l’oppression systématique des femmes et des filles.

    Et je suis désolé de constater que, malgré des années de beaux discours, l’inégalité de genre se manifeste, et je vous demande pardon de le dire, elle se manifeste aujourd’hui encore, pleinement dans cette enceinte.

    Moins de 10 pour cent des intervenants au Débat général de cette semaine sont des femmes.
     
    C’est inacceptable, surtout quand on sait que l’égalité entre les femmes et les hommes contribue à la paix, au développement durable, à l’action climatique et bien plus encore.

    C’est précisément pour cela nous avons pris des mesures spécifiques pour atteindre la parité hommes-femmes parmi les hauts responsables de l’Organisation des Nations Unies, objectif qui est déjà complété.

    C’est faisable.

    J’exhorte les institutions politiques et économiques du monde dominées par les hommes à le faire aussi.
     
    Excellences,

    Les inégalités mondiales se reflètent et se renforcent jusque dans nos propres organisations internationales.

    Le Conseil de sécurité des Nations Unies a été conçu par les vainqueurs de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. 

    À l’époque, la majeure partie du continent africain était encore sous domination coloniale. 

    À ce jour, l’Afrique n’a toujours aucun siège permanent au sein de la principale instance de paix du monde. 

    Un changement s’impose.

    Il en va de même pour l’architecture financière mondiale, mise en place il y a 80 ans. 

    Je félicite les dirigeants de la Banque mondiale et du Fonds monétaire international pour les mesures importantes qu’ils ont entreprises.

    Mais comme le souligne le Pacte pour l’avenir, la lutte contre les inégalités exige une accélération de la réforme de l’architecture financière internationale.

    Au cours des huit dernières décennies, l’économie mondiale s’est développée et transformée.

    Les institutions de Bretton Woods n’ont pas suivi le rythme.

    Elles ne sont plus en mesure de fournir un filet de sécurité mondial, ni d’offrir aux pays en développement le niveau de soutien dont ils ont tant besoin. 

    Dans les pays les plus pauvres du monde, le coût des intérêts de la dette dépasse, en moyenne, le coût des investissements dans l’éducation, la santé et les infrastructures publiques réunis.

    Et à l’échelle du monde, plus de 80 % des cibles des Objectifs de développement durable ne sont pas en bonne voie.

    Excellences,

    Pour que l’on puisse redresser le cap, les financements mobilisés pour le Programme 2030 et l’Accord de Paris doivent connaître un véritable bond.

    Cela implique que les pays du G20 montrent l’exemple sur le Plan de relance des Objectifs de développement durable, de 500 milliards de dollars par an.

    Cela implique également d’engager des réformes pour renforcer considérablement la capacité de prêt des Banques multilatérales de développement, afin qu’elles puissent proposer bien davantage de financements abordables et à long terme pour l’action climatique et le développement.

    Cela implique de débloquer plus largement des financements pour imprévus, à travers le recyclage des droits de tirage spéciaux.

    Et cela implique de promouvoir une restructuration de la dette à long terme.

    Excellences,

    Je ne me fais guère d’illusions sur les obstacles que nous rencontrerons dans le cadre de la réforme du système multilatéral.

    Ceux qui détiennent le pouvoir politique et économique – et ceux qui croient le détenir – ont toujours une aversion au changement.

    Pourtant, le statu quo ébranle déjà leur pouvoir.

    Sans réforme, la fragmentation est inévitable, condamnant les institutions mondiales à perdre en légitimité, en crédibilité et en efficacité.

    Excellences,

    Le troisième facteur de l’insoutenabilité de notre monde est l’incertitude.

    Le sol se dérobe sous nos pieds.

    L’anxiété est à son comble.

    Les jeunes, en particulier, comptent sur nous et recherchent des solutions.

    L’incertitude est aggravée par deux menaces existentielles : la crise climatique et les bouleversements technologiques rapides, notamment l’intelligence artificielle.

    Excellences,

    Nous assistons à un véritable effondrement du climat.

    Les températures extrêmes, les incendies violents, les sécheresses et les inondations catastrophiques ne sont pas des catastrophes naturelles.

    Ce sont des catastrophes humaines, dont les combustibles fossiles précipitent l’enchaînement.

    Aucun pays n’est épargné. Mais ce sont les pays les plus pauvres et les plus vulnérables qui paient le prix fort.

    Les calamités climatiques obèrent les budgets de nombreux pays d’Afrique et leur coûtent jusqu’à 5 % de leur PIB – chaque année.

    Et ce n’est que le début.

    La température mondiale est sur le point de dépasser la limite de 1,5 degré.

    Mais si le problème s’aggrave, les solutions que l’on y apporte deviennent plus efficaces.

    Prenons l’exemple des énergies renouvelables : leur prix diminue fortement, leur déploiement s’accélère et des populations voient leur quotidien transformé par une énergie propre, accessible et d’un coût abordable.

    Les énergies renouvelables ne servent pas qu’à produire de l’électricité. Elles créent aussi des emplois et de la richesse, sont gages de sécurité énergétique et permettent à des millions de personnes de sortir de la pauvreté.

    Mais cela ne doit pas passer par le pillage des pays en développement.

    Notre Groupe chargé de la question des minéraux essentiels a recommandé que des mesures équitables et durables soient prises pour répondre à la demande mondiale dans ces ressources, indispensables à la révolution des énergies renouvelables.

    Excellences,

    Il est certain qu’un monde sans combustibles fossiles verra le jour. En revanche, rien ne dit que la transition sera rapide ou équitable.

    Cela dépend de vous.

    D’ici à l’an prochain, tous les pays devront élaborer de nouveaux plans d’action nationaux pour le climat ambitieux – ou déterminer leurs contributions au niveau national.

    Ils devront faire converger leurs stratégies énergétiques nationales, leurs priorités en matière de développement durable et les ambitions climatiques.

    Ils devront ne pas dépasser la limite de 1,5 degré, couvrir l’ensemble de l’économie et concourir à la réalisation de tous les objectifs de transition énergétique convenus lors de la COP28.

    Dans le rapport qu’elle a publié aujourd’hui, l’Agence internationale de l’énergie chiffre le niveau d’ambition à atteindre.

    D’ici à 2035, en moyenne, les émissions de gaz à effet de serre doivent diminuer de 80 % dans les économies avancées, de 65 % dans les marchés émergents.

    Les pays du G20 sont responsables au total de 80 % des émissions.

    Ils doivent mener la charge, en respectant le principe des responsabilités communes mais différenciées et en tenant compte des capacités de chacun, en fonction des différents contextes nationaux.

    Mais cette action doit s’inscrire dans une démarche collective et suppose la mise en commun des ressources, des capacités scientifiques et de technologies abordables à l’efficacité avérée pour que tous puissent atteindre cet objectif.

    J’ai l’honneur de collaborer étroitement avec le Président Lula, dont le pays préside le G20 et accueillera la COP 30, afin de garantir le plus haut degré d’ambition possible, d’accélérer le rythme des progrès et de favoriser la coopération.

    Nous venons de nous rencontrer pour discuter de cela.

    Les financements sont d’une importance cruciale.

    La COP29 arrive à grands pas.

    Elle doit être l’occasion de fixer un nouvel objectif ambitieux en matière de financement.

    Il faut également que le fonds pour les pertes et les préjudices soit à la hauteur de l’enjeu et que les pays développés tiennent leurs promesses en matière de financement de l’adaptation.

    Et l’heure est venue de faire bouger les lignes face à une situation insensée.

    Nous continuons de récompenser les pollueurs qui détruisent notre planète.

    Le secteur des combustibles fossiles continue d’engranger des profits et des subventions considérables, mais ce sont les populations qui supportent les coûts de la catastrophe climatique, depuis la hausse des primes d’assurance jusqu’à la perte de leurs moyens de subsistance.

    Je demande aux pays du G20 de mettre fin aux subventions et aux investissements liés aux combustibles fossiles et de financer à la place une transition énergétique juste,

    De mettre un prix au carbone.

    Et d’adopter des sources de financement nouvelles et novatrices – notamment en instaurant une redevance internationale de solidarité sur l’extraction des combustibles fossiles, au moyen de mécanismes juridiquement contraignants et transparents.

    Et ce, d’ici à l’année prochaine.

    Et ce en tenant compte du fait que pour les responsables, l’heure des comptes a sonné.

    Les pollueurs doivent payer.

    Excellences,

    L’essor rapide des nouvelles technologies est une autre menace existentielle dont les conséquences sont imprévisibles.

    L’intelligence artificielle transformera notre monde du tout au tout : le travail, mais aussi l’éducation, la communication, la culture ou encore la politique.

    Nous savons que l’intelligence artificielle progresse rapidement, mais où nous mène-t-elle ?

    Vers plus de liberté ou plus de conflits ?

    Vers un monde plus durable ou de plus grandes inégalités ?

    Serons-nous mieux informés ou plus faciles à manipuler ?

    Une poignée d’entreprises et même de particuliers ont déjà acquis un pouvoir immense grâce au développement de l’intelligence artificielle, sans, pour le moment, avoir véritablement à rendre des comptes et sans grand contrôle.

    Faute de mesures mondiales pour en gérer le déploiement, l’intelligence artificielle risque d’engendrer des divisions artificielles dans tous les domaines, de donner lieu à une grande fracture entre deux internets, deux marchés et deux économies et, ainsi, de faire naître une situation où chaque pays serait contraint de choisir un camp, ce qui serait lourd de conséquences pour l’humanité tout entière.

    L’ONU est une instance universelle de dialogue et de consensus.

    Elle est particulièrement bien placée pour promouvoir la coopération en ce qui concerne l’intelligence artificielle, sur la base des valeurs de la Charte et du droit international.

    C’est dans cette enceinte, et nulle part ailleurs, que les membres de la communauté internationale débattent.

    Je salue les premières mesures importantes qui ont été prises.

    Deux résolutions de l’Assemblée générale, le Pacte numérique mondial et les recommandations de l’Organe consultatif de haut niveau sur l’intelligence artificielle, peuvent asseoir les bases d’une gouvernance inclusive de l’intelligence artificielle.

    Ensemble, faisons de l’intelligence artificielle une force au service du bien.

    Excellences,

    Rien n’est éternel.

    Mais l’humanité a ceci de particulier qu’elle croit le contraire.

    L’ordre en place a toujours l’air d’être indémontable.

    Jusqu’au jour où tout bascule.

    L’histoire de l’humanité a été marquée par l’essor et la chute d’empires, l’effondrement de vieilles certitudes et de véritables séismes sur le théâtre du monde.

    Aujourd’hui, nous allons droit dans le mur.

    Il est dans notre intérêt à toutes et à tous de gérer les transformations colossales qui sont en cours, de déterminer l’avenir que nous voulons et de faciliter son avènement dans le monde.

    Beaucoup pensent que les divisions et les divergences d’aujourd’hui sont insurmontables,

    Que nous ne parviendrons pas à nous rassembler pour le bien commun.

    Vous avez prouvé que ce n’était pas le cas.

    Le Sommet de l’avenir a montré que nous pouvons unir nos forces dans un esprit de dialogue et de compromis pour engager le monde sur une voie plus durable.

    Ce n’est pas une fin.

    Ce n’est que le début, une boussole dans la tempête.

    Il faut continuer sur cette lancée.

    Ne ménageons pas nos efforts : pour lutter contre l’impunité et renforcer le respect du principe de responsabilité… pour moins d’inégalités et plus de justice… pour échapper à l’incertitude et élargir le champ des possibles.

    Les populations du monde entier comptent sur nous, et les générations futures nous jugeront à l’aune de ce que nous aurons accompli.

    Nous devons ne pas les décevoir. Nous devons être à la hauteur de la Charte des Nations Unies… de nos valeurs et principes communs… et du bon côté de l’histoire.

    Et je vous remercie.
     

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI USA: PREPARED REMARKS: Sanders Leads HELP Committee Hearing with Novo Nordisk CEO on Outrageous Ozempic and Wegovy Prices

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Vermont – Bernie Sanders
    I want to thank Mr. Lars Jørgensen, the CEO of Novo Nordisk for being with us today for this very important hearing.
    The issue that we are discussing today is not complicated.  It has everything to do with the chart behind me which shows that Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic is sold in Canada for $155, in Denmark for $122, in France for $71 and in Germany for $59.
    In the United States Novo Nordisk charges us $969 – over 15 times more than they sell it for in Germany.
    Wegovy, Novo Nordisk’s weight loss drug is even more expensive.  As this chart shows, Wegovy is sold for $265 in Canada, $186 in Denmark, $137 in Germany and $92 in the United Kingdom.
    In the U.S., the list price for Wegovy is $1,349 a month – nearly 15 times as much as it costs in the United Kingdom.
    What we are dealing with today, is not just an issue of economics, it is not just an issue of corporate greed.  It is a profound moral issue.
    Novo Nordisk has developed game-changing drugs which, if made affordable, can save the lives of tens of thousands of Americans every year and significantly improve the quality of life of millions more. If made affordable.  If not made affordable Americans throughout this country will needlessly die and suffer. 
    As representatives of the American people, we cannot allow that to happen.
    And let’s be clear.  The outrageously high cost of Ozempic, Wegovy, and other prescription drugs is directly related to the broken, dysfunctional and cruel healthcare system in our country.
    While the current system makes huge profits for large drug companies like Novo Nordisk, huge profits for insurance companies, and huge profits for PBM’s, it is failing the needs of ordinary Americans. 
    In the United States today we spend almost twice as much, per capita, on health care as the people of any other country – nearly $13,500 for every man, woman and child – over 17% of our GDP.  
    Yet, despite this huge and unsustainable expenditure, we are the only major nation not to guarantee health care to all as a human right.
    Further, despite all of that spending, our healthcare outcomes are not particularly good.
    Today, over 85 million Americans are uninsured or under-insured, over 60,000 die every year because they don’t get to a doctor when they should, and our life expectancy, which is actually declining in many parts of this country, is far below most other wealthy countries. 
    So. What does all this have to do with Mr. Jørgensen, Novo Nordisk and our hearing today? A lot.
    The simple truth is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs and that is a major factor in the healthcare crisis we are experiencing. How does that happen? What’s the connection?
    First, one out of four Americans are unable to afford the prescription drugs that their doctors prescribe.  
    Insanely, that means that millions of Americans go without the treatment their doctors prescribe.  The result: some will actually die and others will become much sicker than they should.  And millions will unnecessarily end up in emergency rooms or in hospitals at great expense to our health care system.  How crazy is that?
    Second, one of the reasons that hospital costs in this country are rapidly increasing has to do with the very high cost of prescription drugs. My local hospital in Burlington, a moderate sized hospital, told me that 20% of their budget is now devoted to the cost of prescription drugs – some of which now cost hundreds of thousands a year for the treatment of their patients.
    Third, a significant reason for the high cost of insurance policies in this country, and why insurance rates are going up, is due to the high cost of prescription drugs.  
    Yes.  Millions of Americans with decent health insurance pay minimal amounts for their prescription drugs.  That’s the good news.  
    The bad news is that they are paying a fortune in premiums, deductibles and co-payments for the insurance that covers those drugs.
    I should also add that if you’re a taxpayer in this country you’re paying higher taxes than you should because of the inflated costs that Medicare, Medicaid and other public health programs pay for prescription drugs.   
    That is the overview and why the issue that we’re discussing today is so very important. Now, let’s go to the particulars with regard to Novo Nordisk, Ozempic and Wegovy.
    Ozempic and Wegovy are different brand names for the same drug: semaglutide.  These drugs are transformative new treatments for diabetes and obesity that help people control their blood sugar and lose weight.
    Both are manufactured by Novo Nordisk and both are on track to be some of the best-selling and most profitable drugs in the history of the pharmaceutical industry.
    In fact, since 2018, Novo Nordisk has made nearly $50 billion in sales off of these two drugs. Importantly, 72% of that revenue coming from sales in the United States.
    In other words, the United States is Novo Nordisk’s cash cow for Ozempic and Wegovy.
    And given that these drugs will need to be taken over the course of a lifetime – Novo Nordisk can expect to receive tens of billions in sales and huge profits from these drugs year after year.  
    Now why does Novo Nordisk charge the American people such outrageously high prices for Ozempic and Wegovy?  Are they acting illegally by charging us such high prices?  Are they violating the law? 
    No.  They are not. What they are doing is perfectly lawful.  They are simply taking advantage of the fact that, until very recently, the United States has been the only major country not to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs.  In other words, Novo Nordisk and other drug companies can charge us as much as the market will bear – and that is exactly what they are doing.
    Now, in a few minutes when Mr. Jorgenson makes his presentation, I suspect that he will tell us that the healthcare system here is complex and that there is a difference between the list price and the net price as a result of the rebates that PBMs receive.
    And he’s right.
    But even factoring in all of the rebates that PBM’s receive, the net price for Ozempic is still nearly $600 – over 9 times as much as it costs in Germany.
    And the estimated net price of Wegovy is over $800 – nearly four and a half times as much as it costs in Denmark.
    What must also be understood is that not everybody can take advantage of the net price of these drugs.
    If you are uninsured you pay the full list price. 
    If you have a large deductible, you pay the full list price. 
    If you have co-insurance, the percentage of the price you pay at the pharmacy counter is based on the list price.
    And let’s be clear.  75% of Americans, over 190 million people, with insurance are unable to access Wegovy through their policies.
    Mr. Jorgensen may also tell us that Novo Nordisk is afraid that if it substantially reduced the list price for Ozempic and Wegovy, PBM’s may limit coverage for these drugs.
    Well, let me ease his concerns.  I am delighted to announce today that I have received commitments in writing from all of the major PBM’s that if Novo Nordisk substantially reduced the list price for Ozempic and Wegovy they would not limit coverage.  In fact, all of them told me they would be able to expand coverage for these drugs if the list price was reduced.  I ask unanimous consent to insert the letters I received from the PBM’s making this commitment into the record.
    Now, let me share with the Committee some other important information that we have uncovered as part of our investigation.
    Last week, I received a letter from over 250 doctors urging us to do everything we can to substantially reduce the price of these drugs.
    This should come as no surprise.
    What these doctors are telling us is that if the price of Ozempic and Wegovy is not substantially reduced, many of their patients who have diabetes and obesity will be unable to afford them.  Some of them will unnecessarily die and others will suffer a significant decline in their quality of life.  I ask unanimous consent to enter this letter into the record.
    Earlier this year, Dr. Alison Galvani, an epidemiologist at Yale university, conducted a study on Wegovy.  And what she found, and I hope Mr. Jorgensen pays attention to this, is that over 40,000 lives a year could be saved if Wegovy were made widely available at an affordable price to Americans who need this drug.  I ask unanimous consent to insert this study into the record. 
    A few months ago, Dr. Melissa Barber, a health care economist at Yale University, conducted a study on the cost of manufacturing Ozempic.  And what she found is that Ozempic can be profitably manufactured for less than $5 a month.
    We all know the cost of production is not the only expense for a drug company.  Pharmaceutical companies spend great sums on research and development to find new treatments with many of those products never coming to market.  We get that.  But it is important to know that this drug can be manufactured profitably for a few dollars a month.
    You may hear from Mr. Jørgensen that Novo Nordisk spent $21 billion on research and development since 2018.  I take his word on that.
    What he may not tell you is that Novo Nordisk spent $44 billion on stock buybacks and dividends over that same time period.
    In other words, since Ozempic came onto the market in 2018, Novo Nordisk spent over twice as much on stock buybacks and dividends than it spent on research and development.
    And let’s be clear.  Outrage over the high cost of Ozempic and other prescription drugs is not a partisan political issue. It’s not just Democrats.  It’s not just Republicans.  It’s not just Independents like me.  It’s the vast majority of the American people. 
    For example, Dale Folwell, the Republican treasurer of the state of North Carolina has told us that if he did not discontinue covering Wegovy for some 20,000 state workers in North Carolina he would have been forced to double health insurance premiums for teachers, firefighters and police officers in his state – regardless if they needed this drug or not.  He would have had to double health insurance premiums in the State of North Carolina.
    Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Michigan also announced that it would have to discontinue covering Wegovy because it was too expensive. 
    Even Elon Musk, not someone who shares my political views, recently posted on Twitter and I quote: “Solving obesity greatly reduces risk of other diseases, especially diabetes, and improves quality of life. We do need to find a way to make appetite inhibitors available to anyone who wants them.”
    And he’s right.
    Further, not only must we be concerned about lack of access to these drugs we have also got to take a serious look at the financial implications of what happens if the prices of these drugs are not substantially reduced.
    Bottom line: If just half of the adults in our country with obesity took weight loss drugs like Wegovy at current prices the cost would be astronomical and would have a devastating financial impact on our country and on federal and state budgets.
    The best estimate that I have seen suggests that if half of the adults in our country took these weight loss drugs, it would cost $411 billion per year.  That is $5 billion more than what Americans spent on all prescription drugs at the pharmacy counter in 2022.
    In other words, the outrageously high price of these drugs could bankrupt Medicare and radically increase insurance premiums to absolutely unaffordable rates.
    This does not have to happen.
    Over the last several months, I and my staff have been talking to a number of major generic pharmaceutical companies.
    These are large companies that supply hundreds of millions of prescriptions to many millions of Americans.
    And what these CEOs have told me is something of enormous consequence. 
    They have studied the matter and they tell me that they can sell a generic version of Ozempic, the exact same drug that Novo Nordisk is manufacturing, to Americans for less than $100 per month.
    Yes.  That’s right.
    Novo Nordisk charges us $969 a month for Ozempic.  These generic companies can sell this same product for less than $100 a month – less than ten percent of what Americans are currently paying.
    Let’s be clear.  Nobody here is asking Novo Nordisk to provide charity to the American people. Novo Nordisk has already made billions of dollars in profit off of these products and, in the coming years, will make many billions more.
    All we are saying, Mr. Jørgensen, is treat the American people the same way that you treat people in countries all over the world. Stop ripping us off. 
    A few months ago President Biden and I wrote an op-ed which appeared in USA today. And here is what the president and I said: 
    “If Novo Nordisk and other pharmaceutical companies refuse to substantially lower prescription drug prices in our country and end their greed, we will do everything within our power to end it for them. Novo Nordisk must substantially reduce the price of Ozempic and Wegovy.  As Americans we must not rest until every person in our country can afford the prescription drugs they need to lead healthy, happy and productive lives.”
    That’s what President Biden and I wrote a few months ago.  And that’s what I believe.  Prescription drugs in this country must be affordable and we must not be forced to pay far higher prices than people in other countries pay for the same exact product.
    This is especially true when we face a national emergency in terms of the twin epidemics of diabetes and obesity which, if not addressed with lower cost drugs, could cost us tens of thousands of lives and an unimaginable amount of money.
    And if taking the kind of action that must be taken means standing up to the 1,800 well-paid pharmaceutical lobbyists here on Capitol Hill, including more than a few from Novo Nordisk, so be it.  If it means refusing to be influenced by the massive amounts of campaign contributions that come from the pharmaceutical industry.  So be it. 
    Congress and the Administration have a moral responsibility to act boldly and act now.  
    Senator Cassidy, you are now recognized for an opening statement.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Brown, Turner Announce Semiconductor Research Investment at the University Of Dayton

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Ohio Sherrod Brown
    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and U.S. Representative Mike Turner (R-OH-10) announced a nearly $2 million investment in the University of Dayton to promote advanced manufacturing and provide state-of-the-art training and equipment for students training in the emerging semiconductor industry. Brown and Turner advocated for funding this project in the government funding package.
    “Ohio students and workers are going to lead in the industries of the future,” said Sen. Brown. “With this investment at the University of Dayton, we are expanding opportunities for Ohioans to get the training they need to get a good paying job, where they can build a life here in Ohio and help further our state’s leadership in this crucial growing industry.”
    “I am proud to have helped secure funding to enhance the incredible work being done by the University of Dayton to train and educate the next generation of workers. Semiconductors are an important part of the global electronics industry, our national security, and our local economy. In Congress, I will continue to work on a bipartisan basis to find ways to make the Miami Valley a place where accelerated advanced manufacturing can succeed,” said Congressman Mike Turner. 
    The funding was awarded through the National Institute of Standards and Technology and will help bolster the University of Dayton’s Southwest Ohio Integrated Microsystems Workforce & Research Center. This funding will help prepare students to lead the growing semiconductor supply chain throughout Ohio.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Casten, Matsui Introduce Legislation to Incentivize Efficient Vehicle Purchases

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Sean Casten (IL-06)

    September 24, 2024

    Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Congressman Sean Casten (IL-06) and Congresswoman Doris Matsui (CA-07) introduced the Vehicle Energy Performance Act (VEPA) to incentivize the purchase of new vehicles with better-than-average energy performance.

    “This legislation is a win-win for consumers hoping to save money at the gas pump and help the environment at the same time,” said Rep. Sean Casten. “As vehicle emissions continue to contribute to global warming, it’s more important than ever to incentivize vehicles that can go the extra mile.”

    “We can and we should demand more from our cars,” said Rep. Doris Matsui. “The most efficient vehicles on the market are getting more than 50 miles to the gallon, and electric vehicles can get the electricity equivalent of more than 130mpg. However, many Americans are getting less than 25 miles to the gallon and paying to fill up their tank twice as often. This bill would change the equation, incentivizing automakers to offer more and better fuel-efficient options, and that means more money in your pocket.”

    “Shifting to cleaner vehicles is critical to meet our climate goals,” said Steven Nadel, executive director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. “The trend toward larger, less efficient vehicles has hurt families’ pocketbooks with higher fueling costs. This bill would wisely incentivize purchasers of gas, hybrid, and electric vehicles to choose the more efficient options, helping to shift each part of the vehicle market in a positive direction.”

    The Vehicle Energy Performance Act of 2024 (VEPA) will establish a tax credit for new vehicles with higher-than-average energy performance and impose a fee on sales of new vehicles with lower-than-average energy performance. The tax credit will go to the consumer, while the fee will be imposed on the vehicle manufacturer.

    Electric vehicles, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and standard internal combustion engine cars will all be assessed by the same measure of performance.

    This legislation generates cost savings on both ends for consumers. The tax credit creates financial incentives for consumers to purchase energy-efficient vehicles, and drivers spend less at the pump because of better fuel efficiency. 

    Text of the legislation can be found here.

    How it Works

    Under VEPA, by November 1 of each year, each vehicle manufacturer will report the “vehicle energy performance,” in miles per gallon-gasoline equivalent (MPGe), for each model sold in the United States during the Model Year (MY), and the number of vehicles of each model that it has sold that year. The use of MPGe as a metric is “technology neutral,” meaning that EVs, plug-in hybrids, hybrids, and standard internal combustion engine cars will all be assessed by the same measure of vehicle energy performance.

    By December 1, 2025, and every year thereafter, the IRS will publish the median vehicle energy performance of vehicles sold and the vehicle energy performance of the best-performing vehicle during the previous model year. Vehicles with the best vehicle energy performance will get 100% of the $5000 credit, vehicles with the median vehicle energy performance will get $0, and every 1% above the median will increase the credit by approximately $50.

    If the program were in place today, a buyer would receive a $5000 tax credit for a Hyundai Ioniq 6, almost $2000 for the Ford Lightning EV pickup truck, and over $1000 for the Toyota Prius hybrid.

    Using the same data on median vehicle energy performance, vehicles with low vehicle energy performance will be subject to a fee of approximately $50 for every 1% below the median, with the largest fee estimated to be less than $1000. This fee will partly offset the cost to the Treasury of the tax credit.

    Unlike the tax credit, which will go to the consumer, the fee will be paid by the manufacturer.

    # # #

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: TUV – the only party to call out Sinn Fein hypocrisy on lecturing people on democracy when Gerry Kelly sits on their benches or note the irony of calling for votes for 16 when you want to deny ANYONE in NI the right to vote on 300 areas of law

    Source: Traditional Unionist Voice – Northern Ireland

    In today’s Assembly debate on votes for 16 year olds Timothy Gaston MLA said:

    “I oppose the motion for three simple reasons. First, in setting the voting age at 18, the UK is very much in line with international practice. If you look at the situation across the democratic world, you see that the average voting age is 18·03 years. While there are 16-year-olds in the workplace, the vast majority are still in education or vocational training until the age of 18. It is important to remember that, when it comes to issues such as signing a legally binding contract, one cannot do so until one is 18. Let us remember that you need to be 18 to buy alcohol, 18 to buy cigarettes and 18 to buy a knife, but those who tabled the motion want a 16-year-old to be able to vote.

    “Secondly, it would be remiss of me not to note the irony of the motion’s origin. Sinn Féin is in no position to lecture anyone on democracy. On its Benches, albeit from time to time, sits the Old Bailey bomber, Gerry Kelly. Let us not forget today that that bombing resulted in Frederick Milton dying from a heart attack and 150-plus being injured. Let us ask ourselves why that attack was carried out: because, on the same day, a border poll was held in Northern Ireland, and Mr Kelly knew that he would not like the outcome of that poll. On that same day, a young soldier, 21-year-old John Green, was shot by the IRA while guarding St Joseph’s Primary School on the lower Falls. Why was he guarding the school? Because it was being used as a polling station. Yet, Sinn Féin, in the motion, wants to lecture us on democracy.

    “Those are not the only points about the motion that I find ironic, which brings me to my final reason. Those who will trip through the Lobbies in support of the motion in a few moments’ time are also the most passionate advocates of the protocol, an arrangement that means that, when it comes to 300 areas of law — note that I said “300 areas of law” and not “300 laws” — no one in Northern Ireland, regardless of their age, has any vote on them. That is a democratic obscenity, yet those who champion votes for 16-year-olds loudest are silent when it comes to being ruled by people whom no one in Northern Ireland voted for.

    “We are just over a month away from the largest disenfranchisement operation of modern times and the facilitating of the first majoritarian vote in Stormont in over 50 years. It will also be the most controversial majoritarian vote in Northern Ireland’s 103-year history, a vote to disenfranchise 1·9 million people in 300 areas of law. A vote resigning us to the idea that the laws made in those areas will be made for us by the Republic of Ireland and 26 other states and not the UK or Northern Ireland’s MLAs who sit in the House; a vote that unbundles the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s single market for goods in favour of an all-Ireland single market for goods; and a vote that violates the cross-community consent and democratic provisions of the Belfast Agreement as international law, treating the people of Northern Ireland with complete contempt. Do not argue that the protocol is just and then lecture us on votes for 16-year-olds. It just does not wash. The real democratic deficit in this part of the UK is the failure to honour the biggest democratic mandate in British history: the mandate to leave the EU.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: MSF responds to Israeli bombing in Lebanon

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    Following the widescale Israeli bombings of multiple areas in Lebanon on Monday 23 September, we are gradually stepping up our response to the escalating humanitarian needs. MSF teams are providing general healthcare and essential relief items to displaced people. According to the Ministry of Health, 558 people have been killed and 1,835 injured, with thousands more forced to flee their homes to seek refuge elsewhere in the country.

    Our teams are distributing non-food items, including mattresses and hygiene kits, to collective shelters across the country, and our mobile medical units provide general and mental health care to shelters for those in need. In addition, we are running mental health helplines, offering psychological support to displaced and affected people during this time of distress.

    We continue to coordinate closely with our partners and hospital networks, offering support where possible as the situation develops.

    Since yesterday, some of our staff in southern Lebanon, Beirut, and other parts of the country left their homes, with people fleeing and spending hours in congested traffic as they seek refuge in safer locations. In southern Lebanon and Baalbek-Hermel, areas that continue to experience heavy aerial strikes, MSF staff reported bombardments in close proximity to their homes. Many of our staff there were still sheltering in their homes, while Israeli warplanes continued to fly overhead and throughout the night.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Girls in STEM Inspired to Fly High at NASA Kennedy

    Source: NASA

    For the third straight year, scores of young women flew to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to learn how to make their aviation dreams take flight as part of the Delta Air Lines Women Inspiring our Next Generation (WING) program. Their Boeing 737 aircraft, piloted by an all-female crew, carried 130 girls, ages 11 to 18, who hail from Atlanta area schools and aviation organizations with a strong focus on STEM.
    They departed Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport just after sunrise on Sept. 20 and just a few hours later, stepped onto the runway of Kennedy’s Launch and Landing Facility, where dozens of space shuttle missions landed and current-day NASA astronauts arrive at ahead of their launches to the International Space Station.

    “For more than 60 years, Kennedy Space Center has been the launching point for many of the missions that have inspired the nation and challenged generations of students to reach for the stars,” said NASA Kennedy Director Janet Petro. “As an aviator myself, today is especially exciting because it showcases the diverse range of career opportunities available to young women interested in pursuing fields in science, technology, engineering, and math.”
    The girls received a bus tour of NASA Kennedy facilities and photo opportunities at Launch Complex 39B, where the first woman to set foot on the Moon will launch in the coming years on Artemis III. Then at the spaceport’s Space Systems Processing Facility, the girls heard firsthand from NASA Kennedy’s women leaders, who offered encouragement and words of wisdom.
    “I want you to look around you. The young women in this room are going to be the trailblazers of the Artemis Generation,” said Dicksy Chrostowski, director of the Office of Communications at NASA Kennedy. “You may very well live and work on the Moon, or be one of our first visitors to Mars. There is always a path to greatness for you to take, even if it’s hard to find.”
    The girls of the Delta WING flight finished their day exploring the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex before reboarding the plane for their return trip to Atlanta. The experience of visiting NASA’s iconic spaceport and the lessons imparted by the women of NASA resonated with the girls.

    “As a woman of color, it’s great to see other women who look like me in these spaces and it’s very uplifting to hear their stories and how far they’ve come,” said Karsyn Britton-Mauge, a seventh grader from the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta. “Life is filled with ups and downs, and I am so inspired by the persistence in all the women who spoke to us today. They never stopped pursuing their dreams.”
    The focus on STEM education as a path to a career in aviation has been a key feature of the annual Delta WING flight since the program launched in 2015. That’s when Delta General Manager of Pilot Development Beth Poole and Delta Pilot Cheri Rohlfing noted a conspicuous lack of women in certain roles of the airline industry, including mechanics, ground personnel, and especially pilots. They initiated Delta WING flights, spearheaded by Delta’s Flight Operations and organized and operated solely by women, as a way of inspiring and educating the next generation of young women on careers in aviation. This year’s trip to NASA Kennedy was the eighth Delta WING flight and third to Kennedy.
    “The accomplishments of the future are going to be realized by the dreamers, innovators, and bright minds who are sitting in classrooms today,” Petro said. “And we want these students to know there is a place for them at NASA.”

    MIL OSI USA News –