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Category: DJF

  • MIL-OSI USA: SBA Relief Still Available to Arkansas Private Nonprofits Affected by April Storms

    Source: United States Small Business Administration

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is reminding private nonprofit (PNP) organizations in Arkansas of the July 21 deadline to apply for low interest federal disaster loans to offset physical damage caused by severe storms, tornadoes and flooding occurring April 2–22.

    The disaster declaration covers the Arkansas counties of Clark, Clay, Craighead, Cross, Dallas, Desha, Fulton, Greene, Hempstead, Hot Spring, Izard, Jackson, Lafayette, Lawrence, Lee, Little River, Lonoke, Marion, Miller, Monroe, Montgomery, Nevada, Newton, Pike, Poinsett, Prairie, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, Scott, Searcy, Sevier, Sharp, St. Francis, Stone and Woodruff.

    Under this declaration, PNPs providing non-critical services of a governmental nature are eligible to apply for business physical damage loans. Eligible PNPs may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace disaster-damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory, and other business assets.

    Applicants may be eligible for a loan amount increase of up to 20% of their physical damages, as verified by the SBA, for mitigation purposes. Eligible mitigation improvements might include insulating pipes, walls and attics, weather stripping doors and windows, and installing storm windows to help protect property and occupants from future damage caused by any disaster. 

    “One distinct advantage of SBA’s disaster loan program is the opportunity to fund upgrades reducing the risk of future storm damage,” said Chris Stallings, associate administrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at the SBA. “I encourage businesses and homeowners to work with contractors and mitigation professionals to improve their storm readiness while taking advantage of SBA’s mitigation loans.”

    PNPs are also eligible to apply for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) to help meet working capital needs. The loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other bills not paid due to the disaster. EIDL assistance is available regardless of whether the PNP suffered any physical property damage. 

    Interest rates can be as low 3.62% with terms up to 30 years. Interest does not accrue, and payments are not due until 12 months from the date of the first loan disbursement. The SBA sets loan amounts and terms based on each applicant’s financial condition.

    To apply online, visit sba.gov/disaster. Applicants may also call SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

    The deadline to return physical damage applications is July 22, 2025. The deadline to return economic injury applications is Feb. 23, 2026.

    ###

    About the U.S. Small Business Administration

    The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow, expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: SBA Relief Still Available to Nebraska Small Businesses and Private Nonprofits Affected by Spring Storms

    Source: United States Small Business Administration

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is reminding eligible small businesses and private nonprofit (PNP) organizations in Nebraska of the July 21, 2025 deadline to apply for low interest federal disaster loans to offset economic losses caused by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and flooding occurring May 20–June 3, 2024.

    The declaration covers Howard County in Nebraska.

    Under this declaration, the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program is available to eligible small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, nurseries, and PNPs impacted by financial losses directly related to the disaster. The SBA is unable to provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers, or ranchers, except for aquaculture enterprises.

    EIDLs are for working capital needs caused by the disaster and are available even if the small business or PNP did not suffer any physical damage. They may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other bills not paid due to the disaster.

    “SBA loans help eligible small businesses and private nonprofits cover operating expenses after a disaster, which is crucial for their recovery,” said Chris Stallings, associate administrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at the SBA. “These loans not only help business owners get back on their feet but also play a key role in sustaining local economies in the aftermath of a disaster.”

    The loan amount can be up to $2 million with interest rates as low as 4% for small businesses and 3.25% for PNPs with terms up to 30 years. Interest does not begin to accrue, and payments are not due until 12 months from the date of the first loan disbursement. The SBA sets loan amounts and terms based on each applicant’s financial condition.

    To apply online, visit sba.gov/disaster. Applicants may also call SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

    Submit completed loan applications to the SBA no later than July 21.

    ###

    About the U.S. Small Business Administration

    The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow, expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: High-Ranking Member of Violent Mexican Drug Cartel Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison for His Role in an International Drug Trafficking Conspiracy

    Source: US Justice – Antitrust Division

    Headline: High-Ranking Member of Violent Mexican Drug Cartel Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison for His Role in an International Drug Trafficking Conspiracy

    A Mexican national and violent member of Los Zetas cartel was sentenced today to 35 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $792 million for conspiring to manufacture and distribute large quantities of cocaine and marijuana knowing that the drugs would be unlawfully imported into the United States.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Bonta on U.S. Supreme Court Decision Regarding Challenge to California’s Clean Air Act Waiver

    Source: US State of California

    Friday, June 20, 2025

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

    OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued the following statement regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reverse a lower court’s order dismissing a challenge to California’s 2013 Clean Air Act waiver governing the adoption of emission standards for new vehicles: 

    “While we are disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decision to allow this case to go forward in the lower court, we will continue to vigorously defend California’s authority under the Clean Air Act,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Congress intended for California to be able to regulate emissions from new vehicles sold in our state, and we remain firmly committed to advancing and implementing strong standards that safeguard public health and reduce climate pollution. The fight for clean air is far from over.” 

    Background

    Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set emission standards for air pollutants from new motor vehicles or new motor vehicle engines that cause or contribute to air pollution and endanger public health or welfare. Under the Clean Air Act, California may adopt emission requirements independent from EPA’s regulations that are more stringent than federal standards, and EPA is required to waive preemption for those requirements absent certain, limited circumstances not present in this case.  

    Petitioners, who are in the oil and biofuel industries, did not challenge the waiver for California’s Advanced Clean Cars I emissions standards when the waiver was first issued in 2013. Instead, they filed their challenge nearly a decade later, after the federal waiver was reinstated in 2022 following an unlawful rescission in 2019. Petitioners argued that the reinstated waiver exceeded EPA’s authority under federal law. Attorney General Bonta, along with Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Air Resources Board, led a group of states and local governments in intervening in the case to defend against the challenge. In April 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that the petitioners lacked legal standing because by the time the petitioners’ case began, automakers were producing large numbers of zero-emission vehicles due to consumer demand and the automakers past investments, and the petitioners failed to show that judicial relief would likely redress their asserted harm by increasing fuel sales.

    # # #

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: High-Ranking Member of Violent Mexican Drug Cartel Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison for His Role in an International Drug Trafficking Conspiracy

    Source: United States Attorneys General 12

    A Mexican national and violent member of Los Zetas cartel was sentenced today to 35 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $792 million for conspiring to manufacture and distribute large quantities of cocaine and marijuana knowing that the drugs would be unlawfully imported into the United States.The United States Department of State designated Los Zetas, now known as Cartel del Noreste, as a foreign terrorist organization on Feb. 20, 2025.

    According to court documents, Jaime Gonzalez-Duran, also known as Hummer, 49, was personally responsible for importing into the United States more than 450 kilograms of cocaine and 90,000 kilograms of marijuana, engaging in acts of violence against rival drug trafficking groups for control over drug plazas and trafficking routes, storing and transporting weapons, explosives, and ammunition, and bribing law enforcement officers to ensure drug loads would not be disturbed.

    Gonzalez-Duran was an original member of Los Zetas, a drug trafficking organization comprised of former Mexican military officers that began as an armed militaristic wing for the Gulf Cartel. Gonzalez-Duran later served as a regional commander in the Mexican cities of Matamoros, Reynosa, and Miguel Aleman, after Los Zetas formed an alliance with the Gulf Cartel known as “The Company.” Gonzalez-Duran personally maintained a warehouse in Reynosa from which, in November 2008, authorities seized 540 rifles, 165 grenades, 500,000 rounds of ammunition, and 14 sticks of TNT that were used to secure drug territory and shipments. Gonzalez-Duran also was intercepted in a phone call in May 2007 coordinating the transportation of almost $1.5 million in cash from McAllen, Texas, into Mexico.

    “Jaime Gonzalez-Duran employed violence and intimidation tactics to maintain Los Zetas’ reign over key drug trafficking routes, especially on the U.S.-Mexico border, used to send vast quantities of narcotics into the United States,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s sentence is a forceful reminder to Mexican terrorist organizations that the Department of Justice is committed to bringing to justice those who threaten the wellbeing and safety of the American people for their own personal gain.”

    “For decades, DEA agents have tirelessly pursued justice to bring down one of Los Zetas’ most violent leaders, Jaime Gonzalez-Duran,” Said Acting Special Agent in Charge William Kimbell of the DEA Houston Division. “Today, those relentless efforts by our agents have paid off, and Duran will now be held accountable for years of bringing deadly drugs into American communities and killing those who stood in his way. No matter the distance of a violent drug trafficking organization or the rank of its leader, DEA will track down anyone who threatens our national safety and security.”

    On Feb. 28, Gonzalez-Duran pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine and marijuana for unlawful importation into the United States from Mexico.

    The DEA Houston Division investigated the case.

    Deputy Chief Melanie Alsworth and Trial Attorneys Kirk Handrich and Jayce Born of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section prosecuted the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with law enforcement partners in Mexico to secure the arrest and October 2022 extradition of Gonzalez-Duran.

    This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and other transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhoods.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: High-Ranking Member of Violent Mexican Drug Cartel Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison for His Role in an International Drug Trafficking Conspiracy

    Source: United States Attorneys General 12

    A Mexican national and violent member of Los Zetas cartel was sentenced today to 35 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $792 million for conspiring to manufacture and distribute large quantities of cocaine and marijuana knowing that the drugs would be unlawfully imported into the United States.The United States Department of State designated Los Zetas, now known as Cartel del Noreste, as a foreign terrorist organization on Feb. 20, 2025.

    According to court documents, Jaime Gonzalez-Duran, also known as Hummer, 49, was personally responsible for importing into the United States more than 450 kilograms of cocaine and 90,000 kilograms of marijuana, engaging in acts of violence against rival drug trafficking groups for control over drug plazas and trafficking routes, storing and transporting weapons, explosives, and ammunition, and bribing law enforcement officers to ensure drug loads would not be disturbed.

    Gonzalez-Duran was an original member of Los Zetas, a drug trafficking organization comprised of former Mexican military officers that began as an armed militaristic wing for the Gulf Cartel. Gonzalez-Duran later served as a regional commander in the Mexican cities of Matamoros, Reynosa, and Miguel Aleman, after Los Zetas formed an alliance with the Gulf Cartel known as “The Company.” Gonzalez-Duran personally maintained a warehouse in Reynosa from which, in November 2008, authorities seized 540 rifles, 165 grenades, 500,000 rounds of ammunition, and 14 sticks of TNT that were used to secure drug territory and shipments. Gonzalez-Duran also was intercepted in a phone call in May 2007 coordinating the transportation of almost $1.5 million in cash from McAllen, Texas, into Mexico.

    “Jaime Gonzalez-Duran employed violence and intimidation tactics to maintain Los Zetas’ reign over key drug trafficking routes, especially on the U.S.-Mexico border, used to send vast quantities of narcotics into the United States,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s sentence is a forceful reminder to Mexican terrorist organizations that the Department of Justice is committed to bringing to justice those who threaten the wellbeing and safety of the American people for their own personal gain.”

    “For decades, DEA agents have tirelessly pursued justice to bring down one of Los Zetas’ most violent leaders, Jaime Gonzalez-Duran,” Said Acting Special Agent in Charge William Kimbell of the DEA Houston Division. “Today, those relentless efforts by our agents have paid off, and Duran will now be held accountable for years of bringing deadly drugs into American communities and killing those who stood in his way. No matter the distance of a violent drug trafficking organization or the rank of its leader, DEA will track down anyone who threatens our national safety and security.”

    On Feb. 28, Gonzalez-Duran pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine and marijuana for unlawful importation into the United States from Mexico.

    The DEA Houston Division investigated the case.

    Deputy Chief Melanie Alsworth and Trial Attorneys Kirk Handrich and Jayce Born of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section prosecuted the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with law enforcement partners in Mexico to secure the arrest and October 2022 extradition of Gonzalez-Duran.

    This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and other transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhoods.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Petralon Energy Set to Shape Conversations on Nigeria’s Oil Future at African Energy Week (AEW) 2025

    African Energy Week (AEW) 2025: Invest in African Energies is honored to welcome Ahonsi Unuigbe, Founder and CEO of Petralon Energy, as a distinguished speaker at this year’s edition in Cape Town. A driving force behind one of Nigeria’s leading indigenous upstream oil and gas companies, Unuigbe will offer valuable perspectives on the role of independent operators in Africa’s energy future, as well as the opportunities arising from sector reforms, new fiscal incentives and major IOC divestments.

    Since its founding, Petralon Energy has positioned itself at the forefront of Nigeria’s upstream sector, with a mission to create value through indigenous ownership and technical excellence. In 2025, the company continues to make significant strides at the Dawes Island Field, where drilling and completion of a new well added 2,500 barrels of oil per day to Nigeria’s daily production, directly supporting national energy security and economic growth. Petralon is also pursuing strategic offshore investments through its non-operated interests in OML 127 and OML 130, part of a broader plan to strengthen its asset portfolio amid the shifting dynamics of Nigeria’s upstream sector.

    Beyond its operational achievements, Petralon Energy is focused on long-term capacity building. The company launched its Future Leaders Program in 2024, aimed at equipping young Nigerian engineers with the technical, leadership and problem-solving skills necessary to drive the sector forward. Petralon’s strategic partnership and joint investment agreement with engineering firm Julius Berger Nigeria, announced earlier this year, further reflects its commitment to delivering infrastructure solutions that support sustainable field development and enhance project delivery.

    At AEW 2025, Unuigbe will join key discussions on how African independents can leverage new fiscal frameworks, attract investment and form partnerships that maximize the potential of both mature and frontier assets. His participation will contribute to high-level dialogue around indigenous firms’ expanding role in shaping the continent’s energy landscape.

    “Companies like Petralon Energy represent the future of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector — a future where African companies take the lead in driving production, creating jobs and delivering energy security. We are proud to welcome them at AEW 2025, where we will celebrate and support the success of local firms like Petralon that are building Africa’s energy industry from the ground up,” states NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber.

    Petralon Energy’s participation in AEW 2025 embodies the conference’s core theme of African solutions for African energy challenges, and reflects the growing leadership of indigenous companies in delivering the continent’s energy future.

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.

    About African Energy Week (AEW):
    AEW: Invest in African Energies is the platform of choice for project operators, financiers, technology providers and government, and has emerged as the official place to sign deals in African energy. Visit www.AECWeek.com for more information about this exciting event.

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: African and Caribbean leaders to headline Afreximbank’s 32nd Annual Meetings in Abuja, Nigeria


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    The 32nd Annual Meetings (AAM2025) of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com) will bring together an influential coalition of global, African and CARICOM leaders in Abuja, Nigeria from 25–27 June 2025. This high-level forum will focus on advancing trade, investment, and innovation across the continent, with Heads of State, Prime Ministers, top business executives, academics and acclaimed academics confirmed to speak.

    H.E. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; former Nigerian President H.E. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and H.E. Ambassador Albert Muchanga, African Union Commissioner for Economic Development, Tourism, Trade, Industry & Mining, are among the confirmed dignitaries.

    They will be joined by ministers, central bank governors, investors, and industry leaders from Africa, the Caribbean, and beyond.

    Held under the theme “Building the Future on Decades of Resilience”, AAM2025 will focus on accelerating trade opportunities, driving investment and fostering innovation.

    Professor Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, remarked:

    “AAM2025 comes at a pivotal time for Africa. As the continent confronts global uncertainties, it is doing so with renewed resolve. Following the successful 31st edition of AAM held in The Bahamas last year, we are back on the African continent for this year’s meetings which are about catalysing practical action—building stronger institutions to strengthen trade integration and unlocking the full potential of African innovation. We thank H.E Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for his support.”

    The speaker lineup includes renowned economists and industry leaders including Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Centre for Sustainable Development, Columbia University and Dr. Kishore Mahbubani, Distinguished Fellow, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.

    Africa’s foremost business innovation leaders such as Mr. Aliko Dangote, President & CEO of Dangote Group and Mr. Tony Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings, will also participate. The speaker lineup further includes Professor Ghulam Mufti of King’s College London, former Prime Minister of Jamaica P.J. Patterson, and other influential figures.

    Afreximbank’s 32nd Annual Meetings (AAM2025) in Abuja are expected to deliver strong economic benefits, both in the short and long term. The main anticipated impacts include the trade and investment mobilisation, policy and institutional advancement and strengthening South-South cooperation and trade flows.

    AAM2025 is expected to facilitate significant trade and investment deals, including Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) and public-private partnerships. The meetings are expected to catalyse billions of dollars in funding over the next 5–10 years for key strategic sectors.

    By bringing together heads of state, ministers, leaders of trade institutions, policymakers and the private sector, the meetings will advance regional dialogue on several priorities: implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), enhancing cross-border payment systems to speed up regional transactions, strengthening Africa–Caribbean (CARICOM) economic ties through expanded trade, tourism, and joint ventures, and ensuring private sector participation in policy reforms. These discussions aim to reduce business costs, improve trade infrastructure, and deepen regional economic integration.

    With world-renowned economists, scholars, and entrepreneurs participating, AAM2025 will shape thought leadership on Africa’s development path.

    Platforms like this influence policy, shift narratives, and inspire reforms that foster innovation, inclusion, and competitiveness. This year’s meetings will also mark the launch of several new initiatives.

    AAM2025 is expected to welcome thousands of participants and media from more than 80 countries.

    A full programme of events and speakers is available on www.AAM2025.com

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Afreximbank.

    Media Contact:
    Vincent Musumba
    Manager, Communications and Events (Media Relations)
    Email: press@afreximbank.com  

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    About Afreximbank:
    African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra- and extra-African trade. For over 30 years, the Bank has been deploying innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialisation and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa. A stalwart supporter of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has launched a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and settlement platform to underpin the implementation of the AfCFTA. Working with the AfCFTA Secretariat and the AU, the Bank has set up a US$10 billion Adjustment Fund to support countries effectively participating in the AfCFTA. At the end of December 2024, Afreximbank’s total assets and contingencies stood at over US$40.1 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$7.2 billion. Afreximbank has investment grade ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A), Moody’s (Baa1), China Chengxin International Credit Rating Co., Ltd (CCXI) (AAA), Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) (A-) and Fitch (BBB-). Afreximbank has evolved into a group entity comprising the Bank, its equity impact fund subsidiary called the Fund for Export Development Africa (FEDA), and its insurance management subsidiary, AfrexInsure (together, “the Group”). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt. 

    For more information, visit: www.Afreximbank.com

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Elio: Disney’s enjoyable new animation may be an original story – but it’s also a forgettable one

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Laura O’Flanagan, PhD Candidate, School of English, Dublin City University

    In a summer cinema release schedule filled with sequels, remakes and franchise instalments, Disney’s latest animation Elio is a rare original story.

    Recently, much has been written and hands been wrung about the lack of original films in Hollywood. Indeed, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced in 2024 that the studio’s output would primarily be sequels, saying: “There’s a lot of value in the sequels obviously because they’re known and it takes less in terms of marketing”. At least he’s honest.

    Elio is an unknown entity for the studio and indeed for 2025’s cinema goers. Fittingly, the film tackles the most unknown entities of all: outer space and life beyond Earth. What does this new story have to offer today’s cinema audiences who are accustomed to characters they already know and onscreen worlds that they have already visited?

    Elio tells the story of Elio Solis (Yonas Kibreab), a lonely newly orphaned boy who is fascinated with space and aliens. He lives in California with his Aunt Olga (Zoe Saldana), a major in the US Air Force.

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    When aliens make contact one night, Elio secretly answers their call and is brought to the “Communiverse” in outer space, a brightly coloured world that is populated with aliens. Mistakenly identified as Earth’s leader, Elio is tasked with solving an intergalactic crisis in this new alien world – a world in which he increasingly feels he belongs. Elio needs to decide whether to leave Earth forever, or if there is no place like home.

    Characteristic of Disney (Pixar), the film’s visuals are audaciously stunning. Space is depicted as a twinkling magical canvas upon which Elio can dream, and sweeping, majestic images of Earth beg to be seen on a large cinema screen. The Communiverse is depicted beautifully in iridescent colours. But, against this spectacular setting, the characters ring a little hollow.

    Elio is given little emotional depth, and in the Communiverse there are simply too many aliens for an audience to connect with. Elio’s new friend Glorgon is the exception here, and his open-hearted comedic wonder will certainly appeal to younger viewers. Aunt Olga is disappointingly underdeveloped and her status as a military major is presented as at odds with her new role as Elio’s caregiver.

    The film forgoes much of Olga’s story in favour of a zany subplot between Glorgon and his alien father who need to reconnect. This feels like a missed opportunity and a superficial effort to depict a female character of high military rank that falls short of giving her any real agency or power in the film.

    Strikingly, the filmmakers use audio clips of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos to amplify the film’s message about life and connection. These are accompanied with spectacular visuals of space and constellations. But these audio clips have a solemnity that seems out of place alongside an alien blob called Glorgon who has daddy issues.

    This oddness of tone is woven throughout the film, laced with peril that feels unthreatening, comedic moments which stop before the belly laugh, and sentimental scenes that cut before the tears flow. Characters and plotlines are plentiful but consequently, the film spreads itself too thin, leaving the entire story feeling underdeveloped and somewhat shallow.

    There is a lot of everything in this film, and certainly something for everyone. And maybe that’s the point. In the past two decades, we’ve moved from a shared cultural canon to a stratified ecosystem of personalised content streams.

    In this entertainment landscape, a film like Elio could appeal to everyone a little bit, rather than become anyone’s firm favourite. Everyone in the family will enjoy a part of this film, albeit different parts. I particularly enjoyed the scenes where Elio’s clone is living on Earth.

    This may well be Disney’s strategy: to release an original story with broad appeal in order to mitigate the risks associated with untested stories and characters. This may prove financially viable initially, but will it create films with enduring legacies that generate franchises and spawn sequels?

    I fear Elio will not. The film provides little more than a passable afternoon at the cinema. It is pleasant, forgettable and safe – unlikely to live in the memory to “infinity and beyond”, like previous Disney releases.

    Laura O’Flanagan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Elio: Disney’s enjoyable new animation may be an original story – but it’s also a forgettable one – https://theconversation.com/elio-disneys-enjoyable-new-animation-may-be-an-original-story-but-its-also-a-forgettable-one-259213

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Trump’s first term lies at the heart of escalation between Iran and Israel

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Christian Emery, Associate Professor in International Politics, UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, UCL

    The US president, Donald Trump, is weighing up whether to join Israel in attacking Iran. The fact he is even contemplating such a move is, in my opinion, a direct consequence of his 2018 decision to tear up the agreement negotiated during Barack Obama’s presidency that limited Iran’s nuclear capabilities in return for sanctions relief.

    Trump not only squandered the opportunity to constrain Iran’s nuclear ambitions severely. He also shut the door on showing Iran that diplomacy and economic development could offer a more promising path than proxy warfare.

    The Obama administration’s core strategic rationale behind the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, or joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPOA), was that amid several devastating regional wars and an American public weary of costly military interventions, a war with Iran would be disastrous. This was especially true given the growing US desire to pivot toward containing China.

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    Obama challenged opponents of the deal to propose a credible alternative. And Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, addressed US Congress to make the case against the JCPOA. He argued that it would not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

    But Obama ultimately succeeded in persuading the American public that the only real alternative to a negotiated agreement with Iran was yet another war in the Middle East.

    Trump believed that exiting the JCPOA and crushing the Iranian economy would either force the regime to accept major restrictions on its nuclear programme and moderate its regional behaviour, or cause the entire theocratic system to collapse.

    What followed instead was a sharp escalation of tensions in the Persian Gulf. Iran exercised greater reliance on its regional proxy network, with attacks on US personnel increasing. It simultaneously increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

    When Trump took office in 2017, the JCPOA had already eliminated 98% of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile. It also capped enrichment at 3.7%, well below the level required for a nuclear bomb.

    The situation has changed since Trump’s withdrawal. Israel’s central justification for launching its attack against Iran on June 15 was the International Atomic Energy Agency’s determination that Iran had now amassed over 408kg of uranium enriched up to 60%. Netanyahu claimed that Iran could be “within a few months” of producing a nuclear weapon.

    However, even with these serious violations, US intelligence has consistently stated that Iran is not actively pursuing such a weapon. It recently assessed that, even if Iran decided to do so, it was up to three years away from being able to produce a nuclear weapon that it could deliver to a target of its choosing.

    Netanyahu may have wanted to attack Iran anyway. He has repeatedly claimed over the past 15 years that immediate military action was needed to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb.

    But it would have been harder to justify an attack on Iran if it possessed no highly enriched uranium and was verifiably complying with the JCPOA. Iran had stuck to the JCPOA for four years, including one year after the US withdrew, and there is no evidence to suggest it wouldn’t have kept to a deal that Iran clearly saw as being in its interests.

    Maximum pressure campaign

    Iran’s developing nuclear programme may be the immediate pretext for the current escalation. But Iran’s proxy warfare strategy, using regional militant groups to fight Israel and serve as pressure points it can activate when threatened, forms the other essential backdrop.

    This strategy pre-dates the Trump administration. But Trump’s so-called “maximum pressure” campaign clearly escalated tensions in the Middle East, making direct confrontation between Israel and Iran more likely.

    When Trump enacted sanctions aiming to eliminate Iran’s oil and gas exports, Tehran retaliated by using its strategic position in the Strait of Hormuz to harass Gulf shipping. In September 2019, an Iranian drone attack on a Saudi oil processing facility temporarily took out 50% of Saudi oil production.

    Iran would normally have zero interest in disrupting Gulf shipping. This is because its own gas and oil must travel through the Strait of Hormuz. But its strategy was to deter Trump’s economic warfare by showing that it would not be the only one to suffer.

    Tehran unsurprisingly viewed Trump’s policy as an attempt to deliver regime change and responded by doubling down on its “forward defence” strategy. Iran increased its military, financial and political backing of proxy groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. And it also continued development of its ballistic missile programme.

    Before 2018, the US estimated that Iran was sending about US$200 million (£148 million) annually to the Lebanese armed group, Hezbollah. By 2020, it was sending US$700 million.

    Trump’s repudiation of the JCPOA also critically damaged more moderate voices in Iran. In 2017, the success of the JCPOA helped propel reformist president Hassan Rouhani to a second term in office. However, in 2021, the regime prevented key moderate figures from standing.

    Ebrahim Raisi, a hardliner who had lost against Rouhani in 2017 and was already under US sanctions, was elected as Iran’s president. Raisi and his faction demanded tougher terms for any future nuclear deal – more sanctions relief upfront and binding guarantees against another US withdrawal.

    This frustrated attempts to revive the agreement under Joe Biden’s presidency, as only Congress could offer such guarantees. This was an improbable prospect amid escalating tensions with a more hostile, nuclear-advanced Iran that was increasingly aligning with Russia.

    None of this absolves Iran of its own intransigence, support for terrorism or brutalisation of its own citizens. Nor does it free the Islamic Republic of criticism over its decision to abandon the nuclear limits agreed under the JCPOA – even if it was the US that first broke the deal.

    Ultimately, though, the conditions that led to this war would almost certainly not have arisen without Trump’s mishandling of Iran policy in his first administration. It was a precursor to the abysmal leadership he’s demonstrating in this war.

    Christian Emery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Trump’s first term lies at the heart of escalation between Iran and Israel – https://theconversation.com/trumps-first-term-lies-at-the-heart-of-escalation-between-iran-and-israel-259199

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: How mice ‘listen’ with their whiskers

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tommi Anttonen, Postdoctoral research associate, University of Oxford

    Bilanol/Shutterstock

    Oh no! You dropped your keys on the ground, and it is too dark to see them. You might have to feel the ground with your hands, but a mouse could use its whiskers to find the keys.

    Mouse whiskers, also known as the vibrissa system, are long facial hairs which are sensitive to touch and allow mice to feel around their environment. As a whisker touches something, the sensory neurons at the hair follicle activate. These neurons send electrical signals to the animal’s central nervous system, which interprets them into information about the features of the environment.

    But a recent study by neuroscience PhD candidate Ben Efron and his colleagues suggested that mice may use their whiskers to explore their surroundings in ways other than the sense of touch.

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

    The sensory system of mice is especially useful for nocturnal animals like mice that navigate in lightless burrows and in the dark corners of our houses. Mice can use specialised muscles to move their whiskers in patterns. They can also do this by turning their head. This behaviour is called whisking. Rodents use various whisking patterns depending on whether it is running, turning or examining an object. The faster the mouse runs, the faster the whisker movements are.

    The researchers behind the new study noticed that mouse whiskers make subtle sounds when they touch surfaces. They measured the electrical activity of neurons in the auditory cortex (a brain area that processes sound) of whisking mice and discovered that these sounds induce brain activity.

    This happened even when the nerve connection that conveys touch sensation from the whiskers to the brain was cut, suggesting that mice can detect these sounds as a separate sensory input with their auditory system. The researchers also trained mice to recognise specific surfaces solely based on the sounds that their whiskers produced.

    Scientists generally have believed that whiskers only help mice explore their surrounding via touch. But these results indicate whiskers provide sound information to mice too. Whether other animals with whiskers can do this too remains to be studied.

    Integrating information from several senses in this way may help animals make a more accurate interpretation of the world around them. Like mice with their whiskers, you can acquire multisensory information about the location of your lost keys with your hands. You might not identify them based on how they feel when you tap them but the familiar sound of the keys jingling would tell you that you have found them.

    Every animal perceives the world differently through the unique combination of the senses that they have. There is a secret world of sounds and vibrations around us that we cannot experience.

    The way mice in the recent study identified objects based on sounds resembles, in part, echolocation that some bats and aquatic mammals like dolphins use for navigation. Echolocating bats produce ultrasounds – meaning that they are too high in frequency for humans to hear them – which reflect from surrounding surfaces. Bats can navigate their way in total darkness and detect prey such as moths by listening to these echoes.

    Moths in turn have evolved acoustic defenses against echolocating bats which include the ability to detect ultrasounds, acoustic camouflage (wing scales that reduce ultrasonic echoes), decoy structures (elongated wingtips that misguide the bats to attack away from the body of the moth) and emitting ultrasounds that compromise bat echolocation.

    Lunar moth tails make an acoustic signal that seems to make bats zero in on the tail rather than more vital body parts.
    Jay Ondreicka/Shutterstock

    Elephants make vocalisations known as rumbles that are infrasonic, meaning that they are too low in frequency for humans to hear them. Elephants, however, seem to use rumbles for long distance communication. Rumbles travel through air as sound signals and through the ground as seismic signals which can travel up to 6km.

    It’s not completely clear how elephants detect seismic signals. Detection may happen through vibration-sensitive organs in their feet and/or through bone conduction hearing. During bone conduction hearing, vibrations do not enter the inner ear as airborne sounds but as vibrations of bones and tissues. You can experience this by placing a vibrating tuning fork on the bony part of your head behind your ear or on your tooth. Suddenly, you can hear the tuning fork vibrating loudly.

    Why should we be interested in this secret world that cannot be detected by human senses? First, human-generated environmental change, which includes noise pollution, poses significant threats to many species and ecosystems.

    For example, maritime noise interferes with sound communication of whales and dolphins while human-made noise on land disturbs nesting birds. To protect animals from these harmful effects, we need to understand how their sensory systems are affected.

    Secondly, bio-inspired innovations are waiting to be discovered. So keep in mind next time when parking a car with ultrasound-based parking sensors that echolocating bats have had access to this navigation technique for more than tens of millions of years.

    Tommi Anttonen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. How mice ‘listen’ with their whiskers – https://theconversation.com/how-mice-listen-with-their-whiskers-257650

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: What is an ‘alpha’ male?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jwana Aziz, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham

    AS Inc/Shutterstock

    The recent success of the Netflix show Adolescence has drawn attention to misogynistic rhetoric and how it spreads online. Safeline, an organisation supporting survivors of sexual abuse, has warned that terms like “high-value” and “low-value men” (also described as “alpha” and “beta” men) are being used to radicalise boys, drawing them into embracing such rhetoric.

    Last year, Elon Musk shared a post that argued only “high T alpha males” – men with high testosterone levels – can think freely and are most qualified to lead and govern. Relevant here is the reach of influencers like Andrew Tate, a self-described misogynist who, with his brother, is now facing 21 charges in the UK including rape and human trafficking, all of which they deny.

    What do these terms mean, and how harmful are they?

    The terms alpha and beta male are pseudoscientific terms used to push a concept of masculinity as necessarily hierarchical and aggressive. The theory frames the ideal of a man as someone who is financially successful, assertive, strong, logical and a “natural” leader.


    Boys and girls are together facing an uncertain world. But research shows they are diverging when it comes to attitudes about masculinity, feminism and gender equality.

    Social media, politics, and identity all play a role. But what’s really going on with boys and girls? Join The Conversation UK and Cumberland Lodge’s Youth and Democracy project at Newcastle University for a discussion of these issues with young people and academic experts. Tickets available here.

    Acquiring high-value status is not viewed merely as key to success in life, but also for attracting what are seen as high-value – namely virtuous and physically attractive – women, as well.

    Common and serious use of terms like alpha or high-value male were once largely confined to niche internet subcultures like the manosphere and incel (involuntary celibate) forums. But they have broken into the mainstream through influencers like Tate, whose followers describe him as “Top G”.

    Changing norms?

    There are also signs that the ideas around what it means to be “high value” are changing from the traditional, hegemonic view of masculinity. An interesting case study is Ashton Hall, whose morning routine video recently garnered millions of views on TikTok, and was widely discussed online.

    The male self-improvement influencer’s meticulously structured day comprises a series of self-optimisation tasks, starting with push-ups at 4am, journalling by 4.40am, and dunking his face in ice water before hitting the gym at 6.20am. After another ice-water face plunge and some hours of work, the video ends with a woman presenting him with his evening meal.

    It is interesting to see Hall take practices traditionally seen as feminine, like journalling and skincare, and embrace them as part of an otherwise very traditionally masculine morning routine.

    Another hypermasculine influencer, Hamza, also blends his tough man demeanour with practices like meditation, nutrition and wellness. He frames these habits as “warrior training”. Such practices, then, are not viewed as feminine or emasculating.

    Face masks and self-care have been rebranded by some as part of a masculine routine.
    G-Stock Studio/Shutterstock

    Masculinity today is influenced by neoliberal ideals, where a man’s value is measured by his productivity and success. Practices like self-care are branded as discipline and performance-enhancing tools, used to construct the most optimised, competitive version of the male self.

    Ashton Hall may not describe himself as an “alpha male”, but in many respects he embodies the idealised neoliberal archetype of masculinity: physical strength, wealth and material possessions.

    While Tate’s displays of wealth and women are clear performances of masculine dominance, Hall’s more restrained approach fits within the same hierarchy. In both, “value” is defined by discipline, social ascendancy and power, especially over women. In Hall’s video, it is a woman’s hands that can be seen preparing and serving his food, reinforcing traditional gender roles.

    Why is it harmful?

    It’s important to note that not all hypermasculine influencers are necessarily bad role models for young men and boys.

    But, as we have explored in a recent report, self-improvement content can be a key gateway into the misogynistic digital space of the manosphere.

    In our analysis of online discussions, we found that many of those drawn to hypermasculine influencers reported struggling with various offline vulnerabilities. These included experiencing big life changes, anxiety, depression, bullying and social isolation, and also being neurodiverse. Young followers described motivational content as having “saved” them. Others came across this content through otherwise innocuous searches about getting better abs or finding a girlfriend.

    One 15-year-old in our research, for example, recalled being severely bullied at school. He said that after adopting a strict routine inspired by Tate (waking at 6 am, pursuing fitness, cutting out social media), “Now people respect me.”

    Initially, what young men find may boost their confidence. But in encountering the promotion of unrealistic standards for self-improvement and a “hustle culture” mentality, they may be indoctrinated into an online world of rigidity and misogyny.

    Assigning worth to men based on social and economic status has personal and societal consequences. It presents failure to meet these standards as a path to loneliness and suffering, and frames following self-improvement influencers as the only solution.

    The appeal of self-improvement lies in its promise of transformation – from a state of dissatisfaction and unfulfillment to one of abundance, empowerment and power. Even followers of Tate’s who say they don’t agree with his views of women are drawn to his financial and business success.

    While presented as aspirational, being “high-value” is typically reserved to those with privileges of time and wealth, making it inherently exclusive and inaccessible to most. More importantly, it encourages a worldview where people are judged not for who they are, but for rather how much they produce and what they can offer.

    Such rhetoric reduces human relationships to metrics-based transactions based on a hierarchical order where only those who have accumulated the most power, wealth, and success rise to the top. Andrew Tate’s “Top G” persona rests on this understanding of human relations, resulting in a hyper-competitive transactional model of masculinity.

    More concerning is the ease through which this discourse lends itself to misogynistic narratives. In one video, Tate describes how a “body count [the number of sexual partners] is the easiest way to judge the value of a woman”.

    This metric, which men are exempted from, becomes the standard that men can use to asses and demean women. It reveals the true intentions behind concepts such as “high value” – a way to rank men and justify the control and devaluation of women, further reinforcing systems of power and male dominance.

    Jwana Aziz receives funding by University of Birmingham QR Policy Support Funding and a donation from the Barker Family Trust.

    Anna Lavis has previously received funding for research into online harms from Wellcome, Samaritans and the ESRC, and the work on which this article draws was funded by University of Birmingham QR Policy Support Funding and a donation from the Barker Family Trust.

    Anna sits on Meta’s Eating Disorders and Body Image Global Experts Advisory Board, but receives no payment for this work.

    – ref. What is an ‘alpha’ male? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-an-alpha-male-254503

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: The light triad: psychology’s answer to our darkest fears about people

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Christian van Nieuwerburgh, Professor of Coaching and Positive Psychology, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences

    Are you losing faith in humanity because of everything that is going on right now? If so, that is no surprise. Our habit of “doomscrolling” convinces us that people are inherently self-centred and uncaring.

    According to the American Psychological Association, many of us are suffering from “headline stress disorder”. We all know from experience that exposure to negative news shapes a darker view of humanity.

    Psychologists have been interested in the darker side of human personality for decades. The so-called dark triad of Machiavellianism, narcissism and sociopathy have attracted intense scrutiny. People high in these darker traits tend to be manipulative, self-centred and lacking in empathy.

    Between our doomscrolling habit and our natural negativity bias, we start to doubt the goodness of human beings.

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

    In response to this, American psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman and his colleagues have highlighted positive aspects of humanity with their research into the “light triad”.

    The light triad emphasises the positive aspects of human nature – Kantianism (treating people as inherently valuable rather than as means to an end), humanism and faith in humanity. Those who score high on the light triad see the inherent value in others, believe in human goodness and treat people with dignity and respect.

    In his blog for Scientific American, Kaufman argues that these positive aspects of personality are “just as worthy of research attention and cultivation in a society that sometimes forgets that not only is there goodness in the world, but there is also goodness in each of us”.

    (Anyone curious about where they fall on the light triad scale can find out for free online by completing a questionnaire.)

    By taking a balanced view of personality, we remind ourselves of the breadth of possibility within each of us. Human beings are capable of performing wonderful, heartwarming acts of kindness, just as they are capable of acts of selfishness and cruelty.

    We all have traits from both the dark and light triads. When we’re at our best, we’re sociable, positive, supportive and forgiving. Human nature isn’t black and white. Embracing this complexity can help us to be more compassionate to ourselves and others.

    With all the challenges we face today, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and lose sight of our shared humanity. But it is especially now that we should avoid that. Let’s remember the potential for kindness, altruism and compassion that exists within all of us. Here are five simple ways to boost our hopefulness.

    Engage in small acts of kindness

    Try simple everyday gestures such as letting someone go ahead of you in line, allowing a car to merge in traffic or simply offering a warm smile. These small acts of kindness can brighten someone’s day, boost your mood and encourage others who witness them.

    Show compassion

    Compassion is crucial. Start by being gentle with yourself. Practise self-compassion by going easy on yourself during tough moments. Extend that same compassion to others. Remember that everyone is always in the middle of something. A bit of patience, a few kind words or a genuine acknowledgement can make a big difference.

    Spread positivity

    Instead of sharing negative news in your WhatsApp groups, make a conscious effort to highlight positive and uplifting stories from within your network or community. Share articles or videos that inspire hope and celebrate human kindness. By spreading positivity, you can play your part in counterbalancing our negativity bias and create a more hopeful narrative about the world we live in.

    Listen intentionally

    In a world full of distractions, offering someone your full, undivided attention can be a powerful act. Take the time to really listen to others, making them feel seen, valued and heard.

    By being present in your conversations and engaging in “radical listening”, you not only strengthen your connection with the other person but also create a more humanising environment.

    Robert Biswas-Diener and I have written a book called Radical Listening: The Art of True Connection. To learn more about the concept, listen to one of the many podcasts out there.

    Radical listening explained.

    Connect through community

    As human beings, we thrive through social connections. Get involved by participating in community events. Join a litter-picking group, offer to volunteer at the local school, get involved in charity fundraisers or even set up a casual coffee morning. These activities will help you feel more connected while reinforcing the idea that we all belong to something bigger and can make a difference together.

    Every positive action and enriching conversation counts. By doing these small things, you will be playing your part in reigniting hope in our shared humanity. It starts with each of us choosing to be compassionate, listening radically and seeing the good in others.

    Christian van Nieuwerburgh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. The light triad: psychology’s answer to our darkest fears about people – https://theconversation.com/the-light-triad-psychologys-answer-to-our-darkest-fears-about-people-258050

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Mrvan Honors Nominees Accepted into the U.S. Military Service Academies

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Frank J. Mrvan (IN)

    Washington, DC – Rep. Frank J. Mrvan is pleased to announce the nominees that have accepted their appointment to the U.S. Military Service Academies from Indiana’s First Congressional District.  

    Military Service Academy Nominations are recommended to Congressman Mrvan by his Military Service Academy Board, which includes veterans, community leaders, and active duty and retired servicemembers from across Indiana’s First Congressional District.

    Members of Congress may nominate candidates for appointment to four of the five U.S. service academies: U.S. Military Academy (USMA), West Point, NY; the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA), Annapolis, MD; the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA), Colorado Springs, CO; and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), Kings Point, NY.  The fifth service academy, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (USCGA), New London, CT, does not require a congressional nomination for appointment.

    Congressman Mrvan stated, “It is my honor to nominate these brave and selfless individuals from Indiana’s First Congressional District to join the United States Military Service Academies for the Class of 2029.  I thank all the members of the Military Service Academy Board for their thoughtful participation in this process, and encourage all students who are interested in being part of the Class of 2030 to contact my office for additional information.”  

    The following students received a nomination from Congressman Mrvan and have accepted their appointment: 

    Grant Best, Mount Carmel High School – U.S. Air Force Academy Preparatory School

    Cooper Burton, Wheeler High School – U.S. Air Force Academy

    Talina Cisneros, Hammond Central High School – U.S. Naval Academy Preparatory School

    Shane Conroy, Portage High School – U.S. Naval Academy

    Luke Granzow, Hobart High School/Air Force Prep – U.S. Air Force Academy

    Maverick Markos, Westville High School – U.S. Military Academy at West Point

    Brayden Mercier, Chesterton High School – U.S. Merchant Marine Academy

    Damian Resendez, Mount Carmel High School/West Point Prep – U.S. Military Academy at West Point

    Madalyn Richardson, Washington Township High School – U.S. Merchant Marine Academy

    Students in Indiana’s First Congressional District who are interested in seeking a nomination to the U.S. Military Service Academies can find more information on Congressman Mrvan’s website at https://mrvan.house.gov/services/military-academy-nominations or by calling (219) 795-1844. 

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Green Party MPs Back Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

    Source: Green Party of England and Wales

    / by Dominic Johnson

    Today Green MPs backed the continued passage of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in the House of Commons. All four Green MPs voted yes at the Bill’s third reading.

    Although broad support for assisted dying is Green Party policy, on this issue of conscience there was no party line and every MP voted according to their own personal deliberations.

    Every Green MP worked hard to hear from and understand people with different views on this sensitive issue. This included: meeting both supporters and opponents including constituents directly affected by terminal illness at their MP surgeries, sitting down with local faith leaders, support services and Disabled people’s groups, taking part in briefings and information sessions with medical professionals both for and against the Bill, carefully considering the scores of amendments that were added to the law, and replying to the many hundreds of emails and letters from constituents writing in with questions, personal views and experiences.

    Every MP took this decision they made with the utmost seriousness. Green MPs are fully committed to making sure this new policy proceeds with the utmost care and safety in mind and will also continue to use their voices in Parliament to press for vital improvements to the availability of palliative care.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Information sessions for people affected by Scott Street fire

    Source: Scotland – City of Perth

    Running from 1pm to 7pm, the drop-in session on Tuesday 24 June will allow residents or employees of local businesses directly or indirectly impacted by the blaze and subsequent road and building closures to meet Council staff and those from partner agencies who will be able to answer questions and provide advice.

    Fifty-five families have been displaced because of the blaze, which occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning.

    Residents should arrive at the main entrance to the Council offices at 2 High Street, Perth.

    Information will be available on a range of issues including:

    • Housing
    • Welfare Rights
    • Local taxes
    • Access to properties
    • Donations
    • Mental Health and Wellbeing support
    • Social work
    • Community Support and engagement and more

    Councillor Eric Drysdale, Deputy Leader of Perth and Kinross Council and ward member for Perth City Centre, said: “The devastating consequences of last weekend’s tragic fire will be felt for months to come.

    “Our thoughts remain with those affected, not least the friends and relatives of the man who sadly lost his life in the blaze.

    “People who lived at 41 Scott Street lost everything and now face the challenge of rebuilding their lives. Residents and nearby businesses also face being unable to access their homes and premises for weeks or months. Whatever we can do to help them, we will.

    “The response from the people of Perth and Kinross to this emergency has been humbling. The generosity people and businesses have shown has been exemplary.

    “But we know that those affected will still have many questions as they begin to move forward. We want to do everything we can to help them and Tuesday’s event will, I believe, help provide some of those answers.

    “We know it is a long road ahead but will continue doing all we can to support those in their hour of need.”

    Follow-up residents’ event (insurance focus) – Friday 27 June 2025, 11am-2pm

    Following on from the resident drop-in session arranged for Tuesday 24 June, a follow-up information event for residents impacted by the fire in Perth city centre has been organised for Friday 27 June 2025 at the Council Buildings, 2 High Street, Perth. Hosted by Perth and Kinross and supported by Pete Wishart MP and John Swinney MSP, the event will also be attended by representatives of Perth-based insurance firm Aviva and the Association of British Insurers. This is an opportunity to share challenges people are facing with their household insurers and understand more about the industry’s approach in such cases. As insurance is a UK Government regulated industry, Mr Wishart’s office may be able to take up cases on individuals’ behalf directly with their respective insurance companies/ UK Government ministers.
     
    Council teams and support services will also be on hand to provide information and advice on a range of other issues being experienced by residents impacted by the fire.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI: At Chelsea Town Hall, Pressley Reaffirms Solidarity with Immigrant Neighbors, Condemns Minnesota Lawmaker Assassinations

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)

    Pressley Also Condemned Trump’s March Toward Authoritarianism, and More

    “I come here today to reaffirm my commitment to protect and to support our immigrant neighbors, and to do that work with my colleagues at every level of government.. You are not just constituents. You are family, and I will never stop fighting for you like that.”

    Video (YouTube) | Photos (Dropbox)

    CHELSEA – At a town hall in Chelsea, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) reaffirmed her solidarity with immigrant families under threat from the Trump Administration and condemned the harrowing assassination and assassination attempts targeting elected officials and their families that took place over the weekend in Minnesota. Congresswoman Pressley also denounced Donald Trump’s march toward authoritarianism, including his North Korea-style military parade in Washington, DC, and more.

    Joined by community leaders at La Colaborativa in Chelsea, including La Colaborativa leadership, Chelsea City Manager Fidel Maltez, the Chelsea Black Community, and elected officials from across the Massachusetts 7th, Rep. Pressley addressed constituents impacted by the Trump Administration’s cruel and unlawful mass deportation agenda.

    A transcript of the Congresswoman’s opening remarks is available below and the video is available here. Photos from the town hall are available here.

    Transcript: Rep. Pressley’s Opening Remarks at Chelsea Town Hall
    La Colaborativa, Chelsea, MA
    June 16, 2025

    Good evening, Chelsea. It is so good to be home. 

    It is so good to be in Chelsea, the city that I often refer to as tiny but mighty, a city that models community in every way, that leads with love and with solidarity. 

    …

    Before I go any further, I just want to address the violence that we witnessed this past weekend in Minnesota. The targeted shootings of Minnesota Senator John Hoffman, Representative Melissa Hortman and their spouses, the tragic deaths of Rep. Hortman and her husband. Truly devastating that we find ourselves at a time simply because people disagree, that we are seeing an escalating political violence. 

    These are public servants, people who dedicated their lives to building stronger, safer communities. And there must be outcry, there must be outrage, and strong condemnation for what happened to them.

    That being said, these horrifying acts are not occurring in isolation and because of the moment we find ourselves in, and their strategy is to flood the zone and overwhelm us. It can be difficult to keep up with the injustices, but let me just do a quick recap. 

    In the last week, Donald Trump unlawfully deployed the National Guard to attack peaceful protesters in California, then a sitting United States Black Congresswoman was indicted simply for doing her job and conducting federal oversight of an ICE detention facility in her district. Then, a Latino United States Senator was manhandled, thrown to the floor and handcuffed for daring to ask a question of this administration. And then, a North Korea-style military parade marched through our nation’s capital in an appalling display of authoritarianism. 

    These events are not disconnected. They are just the latest in a pattern of violent escalation and assaults on our democracy designed to intimidate and to silence. I remember when I went to conduct oversight and traveled to rural Louisiana to check on the well being of Mahmoud Khalil, and when I met with Mahmoud, and it’s important that we tell the truth– there are not mass deportations happening, there are mass kidnappings happening.

    That is what happened to Mahmoud Khalil, and when I met with him, he said, “I grew up in Syria under Assad. I know what it is to live under an authoritarian regime, and this is it.”

    Donald Trump wants a country where its people are ignorant and uninformed. Donald Trump wants a country where its people are indifferent to the suffering of their neighbors. Donald Trump wants a country where its people are inactive. 

    The fact that you chose to be here tonight is in opposition to all three of those things. You are choosing to be informed, you are choosing to be empathetic, you are choosing to be active. 

    I’m so grateful for the courageous people of Chelsea that are here tonight. Because remember, courage is not the absence of fear. Truth be told, we’re all carrying some fear in this moment, but the courage is that you are pushing beyond and through that to show up here today and every day, and we need to just acknowledge that. So clap for yourselves, the courageous people of Chelsea.

    You know, in Donald Trump’s America, again, we’re in the midst of this extremist march towards fascism, it’s an America where anyone who he disagrees with is criminalized. 

    I have to remind those who think that they might be exempt from the harm of a fascist state. It is coming for everyone. True enough, this is discriminate harm. So some of us are bearing these harms more than others in this moment. 

    But your wealth will not protect you from fascism. Whiteness will not protect you from fascism. This is a harm coming for everyone. 

    And when people asked me, why would I journey all the way to Louisiana to check on my constituent, Rumeysa Ozturk, and to fight for her freedom, I said it is Rumeysa today for co-authoring an op-ed, and it will be you tomorrow for reading a banned book. It will be you tomorrow for teaching Black history. It will be you tomorrow for suffering a miscarriage. It could be you tomorrow for practicing diversity, equity, and inclusion and accessibility. That includes that, yes. 

    So he wants anyone that he disagrees with to be criminalized. He wants the work of oversight to be punished. He wants peaceful protest to be met with military force and political violence to be encouraged. 

    So we have to condemn these acts, and we have to call out — this is the season of call a thing a thing. We have to call out Donald Trump’s dangerous march towards authoritarianism for what it is. It is a threat to our freedoms. 

    Republicans like to talk a good game about freedom, but this is the anti-freedom agenda when people want to control your body and what you can do with it. They want to control your free speech. They want to control what books you can read. They want to control where you go. That is an anti-freedom agenda. 

    Those are the actions of a dictator, and the only way to beat a dictator is with defiance, and we must because this authoritarianism is a threat to our freedoms, our rights, and our democracy itself, and to the people in Massachusetts and everywhere across this country and our world. 

    But I do want to take a moment to speak directly to the crisis being felt right here in Chelsea, where our immigrant neighbors are being terrorized by this administration, and the community is carrying deep fear and trauma. 

    People have had their homes raided, property destroyed, families torn apart, rights trampled on by racist rogue ICE agents. Well, we think they’re ICE agents. We don’t really know, because they’re masked, but they’re operating with little to no accountability. 

    Community members have spoken to me of being targeted without warrants, detained without due process, and living every day in fear that they or their loved ones could be taken without warning from the only home they’ve ever known. 

    What is the point of all of this? The cruelty is the point. 

    The cruelty experienced by our Chelsea neighbor Kenia and her three children driving to a Mother’s Day church service with her husband Daniel, when ICE agents in unmarked vehicles ambushed them, broke the passenger side window, forcefully pulled Daniel from the car, and slammed his face on the sidewalk while their children watched on in horror. 

    High school students, children like Belizario Benito Vasques and recent graduate Geovani de la Cruz Catalan are being abducted and detained without due process, despite having no criminal records. 

    Children, real people, children and adults alike, traumatized whose lives have been disrupted and forever harmed.

    Donald Trump and ICE claim that they are committing these assaults on our communities in the name of safety — laughable that the most lawless occupant of the Oval Office would say anything about law and order. 

    This is not what safety looks like, but this is what terror feels like, and terror makes no one safe. It does the opposite. It shows chaos. It breeds fear and it fosters unrest. 

    This administration has openly vowed to bring hell to our immigrant communities and for too many of our neighbors, they already have. 

    In my opinion, these actions are godless, lawless and a complete violation of our constitutional rights to due process, void of common sense and compassion. And what this moment demands is solidarity, resistance and rejection of these attacks on our immigrant communities, because an attack on our immigrant neighbors is an attack on all of us.

    That’s why I’ve been unapologetic and calling for the end of ICE’s unchecked power, for the closure of these for-profit detention centers and these policies rooted in cruelty. Because no matter your immigration status, your zip code, or your country of origin, you deserve to live in dignity and freedom without fear. 

    So I come here today to reaffirm my commitment to protect and to support our immigrant neighbors, and to do that work with my colleagues at every level of government. That means pushing for real accountability. That means providing legal protections and a pathway to citizenship. 

    That means investing in communities instead of criminalizing them. I really do believe that we’re one human family, and our destinies are tied, and when one of us is targeted, all of us must rise in defense. So to our neighbors, know that I see you today and every day. 

    Donald Trump has made it clear that his election was never about improving your quality of life or lowering the cost of groceries or your rent. He’s coming after Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, this Big, Ugly Bill would rip away healthcare, food assistance and other essential needs from 16 million people. Donald Trump is not cutting costs. He’s cutting lifelines. 

    They’re coming after our neighbors in the LGBTQ community. Black folks, they’re coming after us. This administration is anti-Blackness on steroids. They’re coming after our bodily autonomy. 

    And even though we live in Massachusetts, do not for one second believe that we are completely safe as a result. They are coming after our federal workers who administer these essential services and programs to our communities. They are coming after NIH funding and our schools. 

    They want to overwhelm us and my Republican colleagues across the aisle in the House, they are not operating as a party at all. They are operating as a cult of cowards, complicit in wholesale harm, more concerned with keeping a job than doing it. 

    The but family, you know, I’ve given the occupant enough oxygen. Know that I get up every day compelled and fueled not to fight Donald Trump, but to fight for, with and alongside you,

    Because the fact of the matter is that this is not about how do we survive the next four years. Truthfully, some days it feels like we’re just trying to survive the next four minutes. But this moment, I believe, will determine and shape the next 100 years. It’s not about surviving four it’s about shaping the next 100. 

    And so that work, because when we get to the other side, and we will, we’ll have to do the work of reconstruction. It’s a lot easier to tear down than it is to rebuild, and it is going to take all of us in the resistance and in the rebuilding. 

    Now, you don’t have to be a congresswoman, you don’t have to head a nonprofit, you don’t have to be a council president or a school board member. You just need to bring your gift, whatever it is, because some of us are going to speak on the mic, and someone else is going to make sure it works. Somebody’s going to read the speech, but someone else is going to write it.

    Someone is going to march and hold a sign, and someone else made that sign. Someone else is going to march and have the stamina to do so because they’re well fed, because somebody made sure they were. Someone else is going to send a prayer up. 

    You just need to bring your gift, but you need to bring it and summon the courage in this moment. 

    So before I close, I want everyone here to know that myself and my office are here to serve you. Please use us as a resource. We are ready to support with federal casework on everything from immigration to housing to Social Security checks and more. 

    So if your neighbor or your loved one is detained, do not hesitate to reach out to my office please. We have one-pagers. Take one or more with you and pass them along. Stay in touch with me and my staff. We are also here to help you with any federal agency. 

    This is a time when we must show up for each other, where we double down on mutual aid, where we keep each other safe. I am my brother’s keeper. I am my sister’s keeper. 

    It is truly the honor of my life to serve the Massachusetts 7th, a district that reflects the best of who we are. And know this, you are not just constituents. You are family, and I will never stop fighting for you like that.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: USDA to Survey Cattle Operations

    Source: US National Agricultural Statistics Service

    WASHINGTON, June 20, 2025 – Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) mailed the July cattle survey to about 18,000 cattle operations nationwide to provide an up-to-date measure of U.S. cattle inventories. This is the first July cattle survey mailed to producers since the reinstatement of key reports was announced earlier this year.

    “This information helps producers make timely, informed business decisions and plan for herd expansion or reduction,” said NASS Livestock Branch Chief Travis Averill. “It also helps packers and government leaders evaluate expected slaughter volume for future months and determine potential supplies for export. Obtaining the current count of cattle will serve as an important decision-making tool for the entire agriculture industry.”

    During the first two weeks of July, U.S. cattle producers will have the opportunity to report their beef and dairy cattle inventories, calf crop, death loss and cattle on feed information. To make it as easy as possible for producers to participate in the survey, NASS offers the option of responding via the website agcounts.usda.gov, telephone, mail or a personal interview with a local NASS representative.

    The July Cattle report will be released on July 25, 2025, at 3 p.m. ET. This and all NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov/publications.

    For more information about this survey, visit nass.usda.gov/go/cattle. If you need assistance, please contact us at 888-424-7828..

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Ten New Jersey Law Enforcement Officers Graduate FBI National Academy

    Source: US FBI

    FBI Newark Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy congratulates 10 New Jersey law enforcement officers who graduated from the FBI National Academy, Session 294, at a ceremony held in Quantico, Virginia, on June 5.

    The graduates are:

    • Lt. Ronald Breuer — Monroe Township Police Department
    • Lt. Robert Ellis — Franklin Township Police Department
    • Capt. Michael Hurden, Jr. — Wall Township Police Department
    • Lt. Hugo Ribeiro — New Jersey State Police
    • Capt. Matthew Solovay — Princeton Police Department
    • Sgt. Ronald Stephensen — Hightstown Police Department
    • Capt. Patrick Walsh — Ocean City Police Department
    • Capt. Michael Sojka — Roselle Police Department
    • Capt. Leroy Marshall — Lakewood Police Department
    • Special Agent Stephen Jamison, FBI Newark private sector coordinator

    As FBI National Academy graduates, these officers enter a select group made up of less than 1% of the country’s law enforcement officers. They were hand-picked by their departments and, along with about 200 other officers, completed the 10-week course at the FBI training facility in Quantico, Virginia. Internationally known for its academic excellence, the National Academy offers advanced communication, leadership, and fitness training. Session 294 began on March 30.

    The FBI National Academy is dedicated to the improvement of law enforcement standards and has long been a benchmark for professional continuing education. Participants are drawn from every state in the union, from U.S. territories, and from over 150 partner nations. Police officers who attend the National Academy return to their communities better prepared to meet criminal challenges.

    The overall goal of the National Academy is to support, promote and enhance the personal and professional development of law enforcement leaders by preparing them for complex, dynamic and contemporary challenges through innovative techniques, facilitating excellence in education and research and forging partnerships throughout the world. The National Academy was created in 1935, with 23 students in the first class. It has grown over the years to the current enrollment of about 1,000 students a year. The FBI National Academy is one of the premier law enforcement academies in the world.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: The Secretary-General of ASEAN Graces Event Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Indian Mission to ASEAN

    Source: ASEAN

    JAKARTA, 20 June 2025 – The Indian Mission to ASEAN convened a commemorative event marking a decade of its establishment today at the ASEAN Headquarters/ASEAN Secretariat. Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, graced the event as Chief Guest and delivered congratulatory remarks, underscoring the important role of the Indian Mission to ASEAN in facilitating the advancement of the ASEAN-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
     
    The Indian Mission to ASEAN was established in April 2015 as a testament to the growing significance of the ASEAN-India relations and cooperation. The Mission was inaugurated by the then Minister of External Affairs of India, Smt. Sushma Swaraj, and has since played a pivotal role in enhancing diplomatic, economic, and cultural links between ASEAN and India. Over the past decade, the Mission has facilitated a range of initiatives aimed at bolstering cooperation in various sectors, including political-security cooperation, socio-cultural cooperation, trade, investment, and people-to-people connections.
     
    The event was organised as the initiative of the Indian Mission to ASEAN in Jakarta, and participated by Secretary (East) of the Ministry of External Affairs of India, P. Kumaran, and Ambassador of India to ASEAN, Jayant N. Khobragade, as well as members of the Committee of Permanent of Representatives to ASEAN or their representatives, the ASEAN Secretariat, representatives from Timor-Leste, staff of the Indian Mission to ASEAN and other invited guests.
     
     
    ***

    The post The Secretary-General of ASEAN Graces Event Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Indian Mission to ASEAN appeared first on ASEAN Main Portal.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why some elite athletes face a higher risk of developing motor neurone disease – and what we’re doing about it

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Johnathan Cooper-Knock, Senior Lecturer in Neurology, School of Medicine and Population Health, University of Sheffield

    Mural of Rob Burrow, former Leeds Rhinos rugby league star by Jonathan Long, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    Motor neuron disease (MND) is a devastating condition that causes progressive muscle weakness by damaging the motor neurons, the nerve cells that connect the brain to muscles. These neurons allow us to move, breathe, eat and ultimately, stay alive.

    Unlike many chronic conditions linked to lifestyle, where being “unhealthy” increases risk, MND doesn’t follow the usual rules. In fact, some of the highest profile cases of MND in recent years have involved elite athletes: rugby legends Doddie Weir and Rob Burrow are two well known examples. Previous research from Italy also found an increased incidence of MND in former professional footballers.

    But wait – these are elite sportsmen. The healthiest of the healthy. We’re always told that exercise protects against heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and many forms of cancer. So why would it be associated with something as devastating as MND?

    That’s the question we’re investigating at the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN), part of the University of Sheffield, where we’re exploring how strenuous physical activity might play a role in triggering MND.

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

    One of the first questions we asked was whether this link could simply be down to survivorship bias. In other words, do people who exercise more develop MND only because they’re protected from more common causes of death?

    To explore this, we turned to genetics. Specifically, we looked at the connection between MND, exercise, and genetic mutations – changes in DNA that are fixed from birth and unaffected by lifestyle or survival.

    We found that a small proportion of people who are genetically predisposed to engage in high levels of physical activity also carry a genetic risk for MND, but only when it comes to very intense anaerobic exercise. Other forms of exercise, like weightlifting, had no effect. Crucially, this link appeared to be independent of head injury, which has also been suggested as a potential cause of exercise-associated MND.

    How much is too much?

    It’s important to emphasise that most athletes never develop MND. There is no simple one-to-one relationship between intense exercise and the disease.

    What we observed in our genetic study was a dose effect; risk was only apparent in people performing extreme levels of activity, such as more than 12 hours of intense exercise per week. Even then, most did not go on to develop MND. But in this group, the risk of MND was higher than in the general population.

    This echoes findings from a Swedish study involving cross-country skiers who took part in the Vasaloppet, a gruelling 90km race. The fastest skiers, those at the very top of the performance spectrum, were four times more likely to develop MND than the general population. However, skiers who finished in the middle of the pack had a 50% lower risk than average.

    Why? We believe that extreme levels of physical activity may switch off protective mechanisms within motor neurons. These mechanisms act like safety switches, preventing neurons from becoming overexcited and wearing out. Turn them off, and you may improve performance – but at a potential long-term cost. We’re now exploring whether we can reactivate these safety mechanisms to prevent or delay the onset of MND.

    To develop treatments, we first need a reliable model of the disease – and that’s where fruit flies come in. We’ve engineered flies that carry a known genetic risk factor for MND.

    In healthy flies, exercise improves strength and extends lifespan – just like in humans. But in MND-prone flies, exercise does the opposite: it makes them weaker and accelerates motor neuron loss. We’ve seen similar patterns in human studies.

    Now we’re testing interventions that could protect against this damage. Early results suggest the key may lie in tweaking the electrical signals between motor neurons and muscles; potentially allowing us to retain the benefits of exercise while eliminating the risks.

    Should athletes be worried?

    There’s no need for alarm, just awareness. Exercise is overwhelmingly beneficial and should be encouraged for almost everyone. Most professional athletes remain in exceptional health throughout their lives.

    But for a small proportion of people, extreme anaerobic training may carry a hidden risk. By identifying those individuals early and better understanding the underlying biology, we aim to develop targeted strategies for prevention and treatment – without discouraging the countless benefits of an active life.

    The science is still evolving. But the goal is clear: to make sport safer and motor neuron disease rarer.

    Johnathan Cooper-Knock receives funding from TargetALS, the ALS Association, the MND Association and the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine.

    Pamela J. Shaw has received funding from The Motor Neurone Disease Association, The Medical Research Council, LifeArc, NIHR, My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, European Union and Pharmaceutical partners

    – ref. Why some elite athletes face a higher risk of developing motor neurone disease – and what we’re doing about it – https://theconversation.com/why-some-elite-athletes-face-a-higher-risk-of-developing-motor-neurone-disease-and-what-were-doing-about-it-258452

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What ancient ice sheets can tell us about future sea level rise

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Ed Gasson, Royal Society University Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter

    When visiting Godrevy beach on the north Cornish coast, most people look out to sea at the lighthouse, surfers and seals rather than the cliffs behind. But these cliffs hold a history of past climate and sea level that is incredibly valuable to scientists like me who are trying to determine how quickly sea level is going to rise in the future.

    Scramble up the slate rocks a few metres and you’ll reach a flat platform cut by waves breaking over 100,000 years ago. On top, there’s a cliff of sand and pebbles, an incredibly clear indicator of where the shoreline used to be, several metres higher than it is today.

    Beaches like this exist all around the Cornish coastline, near Falmouth at Bream Cove and at the furthest western point near Lands End at Porth Nanven.

    Searching for the source of these higher sea levels takes us to the poles. In a climate similar to today, the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets retreated, raising global sea level. Although exactly where this ice was lost from remains a mystery that continues to frustrate scientists.

    Godrevy lighthouse, Cornwall, UK.
    Vivi_784/Shutterstock

    Local science, global stories.

    This article is part of a series, Secrets of the Sea, exploring how marine scientists are developing climate solutions.

    In collaboration with the BBC, Anna Turns travels around the West Country coastline to meet ocean experts making exciting discoveries beneath the waves.

    When ice gets trapped on land as giant ice sheets, it causes the sea level to change, but it doesn’t change by the same amount all around the planet. Like the moon, the gravity of the ice sheets pulls the ocean towards them, causing sea levels to rise near to the ice sheets.

    The opposite happens when they melt. As the ice on Greenland retreats today, it’s causing the sea level nearby to fall, rather than rise. Only as far as Scotland, some 1,500 miles from Greenland, does this sea level fall switch to a sea level rise.

    The cliffs at Godrevy reveal historic sea level rise.
    Ed Gasson, CC BY-NC-ND

    This gravity effect leaves behind a distinctive fingerprint in past sea level markers, such as raised beaches and fossil coral reefs. By piecing together data from around the world we can work out the source of past high sea levels.

    The raised beaches such as those in north Cornwall are likely caused by the retreat of ice from Antarctica, rather than the ice from Greenland. But direct evidence for ice loss from Antarctica has proven very hard to come by.

    I’m involved with an international drilling project that aims to solve this mystery. Following two challenging seasons of drilling, our team of scientists and engineers will return to Antarctica in late 2025 and attempt to recover sediments from deep underneath the ice, to analyse for signals of past ice retreat.

    If we’re lucky, we’ll recover records from warm climates millions of years ago. This will help us understand how the west Antarctic ice sheet may change in the future as our climate continues to warm.

    Drilling down

    Next winter, this international team is travelling to Scott Base, a New Zealand research station at the edge of the Ross ice shelf in west Antarctica. From there, the journey continues over 500 miles to the other end of the ice shelf, an extremely remote corner of an already remote continent.

    Everything we need is taken across the ice in a convoy of tracked snow vehicles. A hot water drill is used to make a small hole through the 500m ice shelf, providing access to the sediment below. Up to 200m of valuable sediment core will be retrieved with a custom-designed drilling system.

    The geological data contained in these sediments will help us to improve models and refine our predictions of how sea level will rise in the future. As the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, it is as if we are rapidly moving backwards through geological time.

    Today, there is as much CO₂ in the atmosphere as during a geological epoch known as the mid-Pliocene, more than 3 million years ago. The average estimate for the mid-Pliocene is a concentration of around 400 parts per million (ppm), a value we reached only 12 years ago.

    We’ll exceed the highest concentrations of the Pliocene this year. The next warmest interval is probably the mid-Miocene, 12 million years earlier.

    Back in Cornwall, some communities are already planning for the effects of sea level rise. In Bude, local people have come together to form a “climate jury”, a panel chosen to give local people a voice as to how to best manage and reduce the impacts of a rising sea.

    This approach could be adopted by other communities at risk from sea level rise, alongside other adaptations. Hopefully, the world can avoid a return to the very high sea levels that formed the raised beaches at Godrevy.

    Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Ed Gasson receives funding from The Royal Society and the Natural Environment Research Council.

    – ref. What ancient ice sheets can tell us about future sea level rise – https://theconversation.com/what-ancient-ice-sheets-can-tell-us-about-future-sea-level-rise-251185

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: In Case You Missed It: PHOTOS: Capito Participates in Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for new Rehabilitation Science and Athletics Center at the University of Charleston

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for West Virginia Shelley Moore Capito

    CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a leader on the Senate Appropriations Committee, participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Rehabilitation Science and Athletics Center at the University of Charleston in Charleston, W.Va.

    The newly renovated center, which is located inside a portion of Gorman Hall, will house UC’s new occupational and physical therapy programs with modern labs, as well as study rooms, meeting spaces, a classroom, offices, visitor locker rooms and weight rooms for student athletes. In September 2023, Senator Capito advocated for and secured a Congressionally Directed Spending award for this project.

    “The Morrison Rehabilitation Science and Athletics Center is a remarkable example of what can be accomplished when federal support, private philanthropy, and strong institutional leadership come together around a shared goal: to invest in the future of our students and in the health and wellness of our communities,” Senator Capito said. “This newly renovated facility will play a vital role in preparing the next generation of healthcare professionals and student athletes. I’m grateful to President Roth, the Board, and all the generous donors who helped bring this vision to life.”

    “This is an exciting moment for the University of Charleston, and we could not have done it without Senator Capito’s support,” UC President Marty Roth said. “The federal funding she secured played a major role in bringing the Morrison Center to life. This facility will have a lasting impact not just for our students but for the future of healthcare in West Virginia, as it is designed to meet the growing demand for occupational and physical therapists across the region and nation. We are incredibly thankful for her commitment to higher education and to the health and well-being of our communities.” 

    Photos from yesterday’s event are below:

    U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) participates in the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Morrison Rehabilitation Science and Athletics Center in Charleston, W.Va. on Thursday, June 19, 2025.

    U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) participates in the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Morrison Rehabilitation Science and Athletics Center in Charleston, W.Va. on Thursday, June 19, 2025.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Boozman Continues Leadership on Senate 4-H Caucus

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Arkansas – John Boozman

    WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR), Chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, will continue championing 4-H as a leader of the bipartisan Senate 4-H Caucus. The senator returns to serve as co-chair of the caucus in the 119th Congress and is joined by Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) to lead efforts to promote the program in the Senate.

    4-H is a youth developmental program of the Cooperative Extension System of land-grant universities and is the largest youth development organization in the country. It provides experiences for nearly six million young people through hands-on projects in health, science, agriculture and civic engagement. In Arkansas, more than 120,000 young people participate in 4-H programs annually.

    “4-H is instrumental in preparing students for the future. I’ve witnessed the benefits and positive impact it has on young people, including my three daughters who were active members and state record book winners. I’m proud to support this organization whose influence in developing the next generation of leaders is undeniable, and I look forward to working with members of this caucus to promote and celebrate 4-H,” said Boozman. 

    This week, Boozman met with Arkansas 4-Hers who are attending the organization’s Citizenship Washington Focus conference.

    Boozman and Arkansas 4-H participants met in his Washington, D.C. office.

    In the House, the bicameral caucus will be led by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (PA-15) and Ranking Member Angie Craig (MN-02) as well as Congressmen Sanford D. Bishop (GA-02) and Andy Harris (MD-01).

    For more on Boozman’s leadership of the Senate Agriculture Committee, click here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Secretary-General of ASEAN meets with SOM Leader of India

    Source: ASEAN – Association of SouthEast Asian Nations

    Secretary-General of ASEAN, H.E. Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, today met with Secretary (East) of the Ministry of External Affairs of India, H.E. P. Kumaran, at the ASEAN Headquarters/ASEAN Secretariat. During the meeting, they exchanged ways to further strengthen the ASEAN-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

    The post Secretary-General of ASEAN meets with SOM Leader of India appeared first on ASEAN Main Portal.

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: A Dark Week for Our Nation: Parliament Embraces Death at the Beginning and End of Life

    Source: Traditional Unionist Voice – Northern Ireland

    Statement by TUV leader and North Antrim MP Jim Allister:

    “This week has been a profoundly sad one for our nation.

    “At the start of the week, Parliament, by a crushing majority, voted to decriminalise abortion at all stages, meaning there is now no criminal offence for abortion right up to the moment of birth. This is a truly retrograde and alarming step.

    “Then, on Friday, Parliament passed the Assisted Suicide Bill. For the first time since the abolition of capital punishment, the state is set to be involved in facilitating the death of its own citizens.

    “Together, these decisions present an appalling vista: that both at the start of life and the end of life, moral declension has brought us to the point where death and killing are not only permitted but embraced.

    “As would be expected, I vigorously opposed both measures. But the majority view in this heavily dominated socialist Parliament was to abandon the standards and principles that our nation has, in good measure, stood by in the past — and instead to endorse death at will for the unborn and death at will for the vulnerable and elderly.

    “These are sad times indeed.

    “But they are also a clear indication of the kind of battles I was sent to Parliament to fight. I will continue to do so — in the name of those who sent me, and in the name of what is right, decent, and in order.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Clarke praises emergency services in aftermath of Carrickfergus incident

    Source: Traditional Unionist Voice – Northern Ireland

    Statement by TUV Carrick councillor David Clarke:

    “The incident at Carrickfergus Marina has shocked and concerned our entire community. A group of nine children and one adult found themselves in serious danger when a boat capsized near the marina.

    “Thanks to the remarkable response of our emergency services, a potentially tragic situation was quickly brought under control. I want to place on record my deepest gratitude to the RNLI crews, paramedics, air ambulance staff, and police officers who responded with speed, professionalism, and care. In the most critical moments, they did what they are trained to do. The coordinated effort between land, sea, and air responders exemplifies the very best of our public service. We owe them a great debt.

    “I know the thoughts and prayers of the entire community are with the child who was taken to hospital and their family.

    “This incident is a sobering reminder of the importance of water safety, especially as we enter the summer season.“

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: IMF Executive Board Concludes 2025 Article IV Consultation with Fiji

    Source: IMF – News in Russian

    June 20, 2025

    Washington, DC: On June 17, 2025, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation[1] with Fiji, and considered and endorsed the staff appraisal without a meeting.

    The economic recovery continued in 2024. Staff estimates aggregate GDP growth in 2024 to have reached 3.7 percent. While employment has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, investment has recently been held back by labor shortages and supply-chain challenges. Inflation decelerated though 2024 as the impact of the 2023 value-added tax increase faded and the nominal exchange rate appreciated. The public debt-to-GDP ratio has continued to decline from the peak reached in 2022, but remains elevated, at 80 percent. Likewise, the current account balance has improved, but the deficit in 2024 is estimated to be around 6.7 percent.

    Monetary and financial conditions remain accommodative, while the fiscal stance has tightened. The Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) has maintained the policy rate at 0.25 percent since early 2020. The fiscal stance tightened in FY2024, with the overall deficit declining from 7.2 percent of GDP in FY2023 (August-July) to 3.5 percent of GDP in FY2024, compared to a budgeted deficit of 4.8 percent of GDP.

    Executive Board Assessment

    In concluding the 2025 Article IV consultation with Fiji, Executive Directors endorsed staff’s appraisal, as follows:

    The economy has been recovering from the pandemic but is facing new setbacks. Growth is expected to fall in 2025, to about 2.6 percent, mostly because of slowing external demand, and to take a couple of years to recover to its medium-term potential rate. The baseline projection implies that public debt would remain elevated. In addition, FX reserve coverage would fall, implying that the external position remains moderately weak. Growth would be higher with successful structural reforms, or should the external environment be more favorable than assumed. But the balance of risks appears to be mostly to the downside, both in the near term, if trade tensions were to worsen or their effects be more severe than assumed in the baseline, or over the medium term, mostly given vulnerabilities to natural disasters.

     

    Fiscal and monetary policies should focus on addressing macroeconomic imbalances.

    • Fiscal policy should focus on lowering public debt while continuing with growth-friendly fiscal consolidation, oriented toward capital spending. Significant progress has been achieved in recent years, but additional adjustment measures are needed to put public debt on a clear downward path. Targeted and temporary social protection measures should be used to protect the vulnerable. Fiscal tightening would also contribute to reducing external imbalances.
    • Over the medium term, given potential pressures on the exchange rate peg, monetary conditions should be gradually tightened, raising the policy rate and reducing excess liquidity.
    • Financial policy should be attentive to emerging credit risks and to safeguard against money laundering risks.
    • The authorities should avoid using exchange rate restrictions and CFMs in place of macroeconomic adjustment and focus on a gradual, sequenced capital account liberalization to support high long-run growth objectives.

    Raising potential growth calls for sustained structural reforms.

    • Progress has been achieved in enhancing the business environment and addressing near-term constraints to growth. Immediate concerns include addressing ageing infrastructure in electricity, water, and waste utilities, and improving the transport network and digital connectivity. Ongoing concerns include training and human capital. Successful measures would also encourage more foreign investment, ease external imbalances, and reduce “brain drain.”
    • As for other Pacific states, Fiji faces ongoing challenges from natural disasters and climate change. Increasing resilience adds to the motivation to shift away from current toward capital spending.

    Such issues require sustained political consensus and good governance. The government’s recognition of the importance of institutional reform, commitment to the rule of law, and reducing corruption and bribery is welcome. Recent legislative progress will need to be matched by proper enforcement and addressing capacity constraints in the civil service.

    Fiji: Selected Economic Indicators, 2022–30

    2022

    2023

    2024

    2025

    2026

    2027

    2028

    2029

    2030

    Est.

    Proj.

    Output and prices (percent change)

    Real GDP

    19.8

    7.5

    3.7

    2.6

    2.8

    3.2

    3.2

    3.2

    3.2

    GDP deflator

    2.4

    4.1

    6.3

    3.2

    3.1

    3.2

    3.3

    3.4

    3.5

    Consumer prices (average)

    4.3

    2.3

    4.5

    3.2

    3.1

    3.2

    3.3

    3.4

    3.5

    Consumer prices (end of period)

    3.1

    5.1

    1.3

    3.1

    3.2

    3.3

    3.4

    3.5

    3.5

    Central government budget on fiscal-year basis (percent of GDP)

    Revenue and Grants

    21.4

    23.2

    27.4

    27.1

    27.1

    26.8

    26.8

    26.6

    26.5

    Expenditure

    33.5

    30.3

    31.0

    31.5

    31.2

    31.0

    31.0

    30.9

    30.9

    Overall balance

    -12.1

    -7.2

    -3.5

    -4.4

    -4.2

    -4.2

    -4.2

    -4.3

    -4.4

    Primary balance

    -8.5

    -3.3

    0.5

    -0.3

    -0.3

    -0.6

    -0.6

    -0.7

    -0.8

    Central government debt 

    90.4

    83.3

    79.5

    77.7

    77.7

    77.6

    77.3

    77.0

    76.8

    Central government external debt

    33.3

    30.6

    28.7

    26.5

    26.5

    26.4

    26.1

    25.8

    25.6

    External sector (percent of GDP)

    Current account balance

    -17.3

    -7.7

    -6.7

    -7.0

    -7.7

    -7.5

    -7.2

    -6.9

    -6.9

    Trade balance

    -32.9

    -32.7

    -30.0

    -29.1

    -27.7

    -27.3

    -27.3

    -26.9

    -26.4

    Services balance

    11.8

    20.4

    20.0

    19.9

    18.4

    17.8

    17.3

    17.1

    16.5

    Primary Income balance

    -5.3

    -5.7

    -6.4

    -6.8

    -6.6

    -6.4

    -6.0

    -5.9

    -5.9

    Secondary Income balance

    9.2

    10.3

    9.6

    9.0

    8.2

    8.5

    8.8

    8.9

    9.0

    Capital account balance

    0.1

    0.1

    0.1

    0.1

    0.1

    0.1

    0.1

    0.1

    0.1

    Financial account balance (-= inflows)

    -14.0

    -4.9

    -6.6

    -4.1

    -5.3

    -5.7

    -6.9

    -6.5

    -6.5

    FDI

    -1.8

    -1.1

    -1.6

    -4.5

    -5.4

    -6.1

    -7.3

    -7.1

    -7.2

    Portfolio investment

    0.5

    1.0

    1.7

    1.7

    1.7

    1.7

    1.7

    1.7

    1.7

    Other investment

    -12.7

    -4.8

    -6.7

    -1.3

    -1.5

    -1.3

    -1.3

    -1.1

    -1.0

    Errors and omissions

    5.1

    4.2

    0.0

    0.0

    0.0

    0.0

    0.0

    0.0

    0.0

    Change in reserve assets (-=increase)

    -2.1

    0.3

    0.1

    2.9

    2.3

    1.7

    0.3

    0.3

    0.4

    Gross official reserves (in months of prospective imports)

    5.5

    5.3

    5.2

    4.4

    3.7

    3.1

    2.9

    2.6

    …

    Money and credit (percent change)

    Net domestic assets of depository corporations

    4.9

    12.1

    8.0

    6.4

    6.1

    …

    …

    …

    …

    Claims on private sector

    6.7

    7.5

    11.4

    10.0

    8.0

    …

    …

    …

    …

    Broad money (M3)

    5.1

    9.1

    6.6

    4.1

    4.1

    …

    …

    …

    …

    Monetary base

    15.8

    -4.0

    7.5

    3.6

    1.4

    …

    …

    …

    …

    Central Bank Policy rate (end of period)

    0.25

    0.25

    0.25

    …

    …

    …

    …

    …

    …

    Commercial banks deposits rate (end of period)

    0.4

    0.4

    0.3

    …

    …

    …

    …

    …

    …

    Commercial banks lending rate (end of period)

    5.2

    4.8

    4.6

    …

    …

    …

    …

    …

    …

    Memorandum items

    Exchange rate, average (FJD/USD)

    2.2

    2.3

    2.3

    …

    …

    …

    …

    …

    …

    Real effective exchange rate, average

    108.2

    106.4

    108.3

    …

    …

    …

    …

    …

    …

    GDP at current market prices (in millions of Fiji dollars)

    10,940

    12,245

    13,494

    14,286

    15,148

    16,130

    17,193

    18,342

    19,594

    GDP at current market prices (in millions of U.S. dollars)

    4,970

    5,442

    5,949

    6,257

    6,564

    6,913

    7,284

    7,674

    8,089

    GDP per capita (in U.S. dollars)

    5,450

    5,933

    6,447

    6,740

    7,030

    7,359

    7,707

    8,072

    8,508

    Sources: Reserve Bank of Fiji; Ministry of Finance; and IMF Staff Estimates and Projections.

    [1] Under Article IV of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, the IMF holds bilateral discussions with members, usually every year. A staff team visits the country, collects economic and financial information, and discusses with officials the country’s economic developments and policies. On return to headquarters, the staff prepares a report, which forms the basis for discussion by the Executive Board.

    IMF Communications Department
    MEDIA RELATIONS

    PRESS OFFICER: Pemba Sherpa

    Phone: +1 202 623-7100Email: MEDIA@IMF.org

    https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2025/06/20/pr-25208-fiji-imf-concludes-2025-article-iv-consultation

    MIL OSI

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Experience Summer in Wascana Centre

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Released on June 20, 2025

    Summer in the city comes to life in Wascana Centre with exciting things to do all season long! Enjoy perennial favourites or perhaps take in a new experience.

    “Wascana Centre is a crown jewel at the heart of Saskatchewan’s capital city,” Minister Responsible for the Provincial Capital Commission (PCC) Eric Schmalz said. “With so many activities to choose from, there is sure to be something for everyone to enjoy this summer.”

    Sundays in July and August are perfect for a Picnic on the Island, from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Pack a picnic, take the boat to Willow Island and enjoy this oasis in the city centre. This event is free and open to everyone.

    Children can participate in the reimagined Junior Explorers programming. Now called “Wascana Wonders,” this series of two events in July and two events in August will explore various aspects of Wascana Centre, including forestry and the boat on Wascana Lake. New this summer: registration opens the week of each event, so no long-term commitment is needed to get in on the fun. 

    Back for a second year is the Regina Farmers’ Market Tomato Festival on Saturday, August 2 from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. Join local vendors in front of the Legislative Building to get a taste of the season’s most popular fruit. Also, back by popular demand are Thursdays in Wascana throughout July and August. This series features vendors and a craft area for all to enjoy. Attractions change every Thursday so there’s always something new to try. 

    Event times and dates are subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, follow Wascana Centre on Facebook (@WascanaCentreRegina) or Instagram (@wascanacentre).

    -30-

    For more information, contact:

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: St. Louis District 837 Kicks Off Vital Negotiations with Boeing Defense

    Source: US GOIAM Union

    Approximately 3,200 members of IAM District 837 recently began non-economic contract negotiations with Boeing Defense. These highly skilled union members are spread across Boeing facilities in St. Louis and St. Charles, Mo., and Mascoutah, Ill., where they help produce some of the most advanced military aircraft and missile systems in the world.

    The negotiations will address several essential priorities, including wages, benefits, and working conditions.

    “Our members at District 837 are the heart of Boeing’s defense production,” said IAM  International President Brian Bryant. “They deserve a contract that reflects their unmatched skill, dedication, and contribution to our nation’s security.”

    “Our members are the reason Boeing Defense delivers world-class military aircraft,” said IAM Resident General Vice President Jody Bennett. “This contract must reflect their value not just on the shop floor, but in every phase of life, including retirement.”

    These negotiations are about protecting what our members have earned and strengthening the foundation for future generations,” said IAM Midwest Territory General Vice President Sam Cicinelli. “The IAM will stand with District 837 every step of the way.”

    “Our members give 100% every day to deliver for Boeing and the country,” said IAM District 837 President and Directing Business Representative Tom Boelling. “They deserve a contract that gives them security, respect, and a future they can count on.” 

    “Our work powers the mission,” said IAM Aerospace Coordinator Bobby Barnwell. “Now it’s time for Boeing to step up and match that commitment with a fair contract that protects our families and their future.”

    “We’re not just negotiating numbers,” said IAM Aerospace Coordinator Stephen Jordan. “We’re fighting for the dignity and future of every worker who keeps these critical defense programs running.”

    District 837 members play a critical role in building key defense platforms, including the F-15 and F/A-18 fighter jets, the T-7A Red Hawk trainer, and the MQ-25 Stingray unmanned refueler. Their craftsmanship and dedication are vital to Boeing’s ability to meet national security needs and lead in aerospace innovation.

    The current agreement is set to expire on July 27, 2025, with a contract vote scheduled for the same day. As negotiations continue, IAM District 837 remains united in its mission to secure a fair contract that honors the value and contributions of every member.

    The post St. Louis District 837 Kicks Off Vital Negotiations with Boeing Defense appeared first on IAM Union.

    MIL OSI USA News –