NewzIntel.com

Category: DJF

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Lufthansa Group and ITA Airways: Codeshares now also possible on long-haul flights

    Source: Lufthansa Group

    The Lufthansa Group is taking another important step toward the rapid integration of ITA Airways: Customers will be able to combine flights from Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, and Brussels Airlines with long-haul flights from ITA Airways in a single booking.

    Corresponding codeshare offers will be available for flights from July 1, 2025. For example, it will then be possible to travel with Lufthansa from Frankfurt and Munich via Rome with ITA Airways to Bangkok, Jeddah, Riyadh, and additionally with Brussels Airlines from Brussels to Cairo. With Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines from Vienna, codeshare flights via Rome to Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo can be booked. This will offer customers significantly better connections, and their baggage will be transported directly to their final destination. Further codeshare flights to Africa and Asia will follow in the coming weeks.

    Dieter Vranckx, Chief Commercial Officer, Lufthansa Group: 

    “We are delighted to reach the next milestone in the integration of ITA Airways into the Lufthansa Group. By expanding our codeshare flights – now also for long-haul connections – we are offering our airlines’ guests a seamless and consistent travel experience more than ever before. They benefit from an expanded and perfectly coordinated route network across all our airlines and hubs – and only need one booking and one check-in. In addition, customers can earn and redeem miles and points in their respective frequent flyer programs as usual. This makes traveling even easier, more comfortable, and more attractive for our customers.”

    Since March, guests of ITA Airways and the other Lufthansa Group network airlines have been able to book more than 100 new codeshare flights for selected domestic Italian and European flights. Codesharing gives customers a wider choice of flights and greater flexibility. Despite flying with different airlines, passengers only need one ticket with flight numbers from one airline and can conveniently check their baggage through to their final destination. Members of the Miles & More or Volare loyalty programs can also earn and redeem miles and points on codeshare flights. Once this codeshare program has been fully implemented, ITA Airways passengers will have a choice of over 250 Lufthansa Group codeshare destinations in the future.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Your Smartphone Camera Now Gets What You’re Looking At — and Responds

    Source: Samsung

    Today’s mobile imaging goes beyond just a high-quality lens or advanced sensor — it demands seamless integration of hardware, software and AI. That’s why Samsung Electronics approaches camera innovation as a holistic system, where each advancement is supported by tightly integrated technologies. This unified vision allows Galaxy devices to continuously redefine mobile photography, empowering users to capture, create and communicate more meaningfully.
    As AI evolves from text-based prompts to multimodal understanding, Galaxy devices are becoming smarter — able to get what you’re looking at and respond to situations. The camera is at the heart of this transformation. More than just a tool for capturing images, coupled with enhanced AI-powered features, the Galaxy camera is now part of the intuitive interface that turns what users see into understanding and action.

    When paired with the flexible, expansive screen of a foldable, this experience becomes even more powerful, dynamic and immersive. Because innovation means nothing without trust, privacy is built into every layer helping to ensure that data is protected at all times.
    Stay tuned. The camera will only get smarter — helping users capture life’s moments more vividly and make everyday experiences more seamless, personal and impactful.
    The Ultra experience is ready to unfold.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Unfit officers to be banned from major law enforcement agencies

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    News story

    Unfit officers to be banned from major law enforcement agencies

    Disgraced officers from law enforcement agencies are to be blocked from joining police forces in the government’s drive to raise standards within law enforcement.

    Getty Images.

    Disgraced officers from national law enforcement agencies will be blocked from joining local police forces, as the government continues its drive to raise standards and conduct within law enforcement.

    The Home Office introduced legislation yesterday to provide for a dedicated National Crime Agency (NCA) barred and advisory list within the landmark Crime and Policing Bill, as part of the Plan for Change.

    This new measure will ensure that individuals dismissed from the NCA for gross misconduct are prevented from re-entering policing or any other law enforcement role.

    In addition to the NCA, the legislation will also establish new barred and advisory lists for other special police forces, including the British Transport Police (BTP), Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), and Ministry of Defence Police (MDP). Each force’s list will be maintained by its respective authority, and law enforcement employers across England and Wales will be required to check these lists before hiring.

    Where an individual is on the barred list, law enforcement agencies will not be able to employ them. Where an individual is named on the advisory list, the employer will be obligated to take this into consideration as part of the recruitment process. 

    Expanding the number of agencies with these lists will tighten recruitment standards across law enforcement and prevent those who have been dismissed from re-entering the system in a different role. 

    Policing Minister, Dame Diana Johnson said:

    The public deserve to know that those tasked with protecting them meet the highest standards.

    Under our Safer Streets mission, and our Plan for Change, we are restoring confidence in policing by removing those who undermine it.

    This new measure ensures that officers who abuse their position in the NCA cannot resurface in other areas of policing — we will continue taking every possible step to protect the integrity of our law enforcement agencies.

    Assistant Chief Constable, Kerry Smith, Civil Nuclear Constabulary’s lead for Professionalism, said:

    We welcome the government’s move to close this legislative loophole. It will prevent those officers who fail to uphold our rigorous standards from being employed again within policing and law enforcement.

    We maintain robust vetting and professional standards, but in the rare instance of one of our officers being dismissed for gross misconduct, these measures will ensure that there is a process to ensure the public are protected and we can maintain trust and confidence in policing.

    The move follows a 2023 inspection by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), which found that some former NCA officers dismissed for gross misconduct had been able to join police forces due to gaps in current vetting procedures. The new legislation will close this loophole, further aligning the NCA with the existing police barred and advisory list system.

    The NCA barred and advisory list will be UK-wide and will be maintained by the NCA with support from the College of Policing. Police forces and other UK-wide law enforcement bodies will be required to consult the list before making recruitment decisions, ensuring that those dismissed for serious misconduct cannot re-enter the system through the back door.

    The new legislation forms part of a series of government reforms to boost public confidence in policing as part of its Safer Streets Mission and Plan for Change. It follows reforms to the Police Appeals Tribunal which will also be included in the Crime and Policing Bill, in addition to enhanced vetting and dismissal procedures that have been announced recently.

    Updates to this page

    Published 11 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: expert reaction to modelling study on the impact of a weakened AMOC on the European climate

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

     A modelling study published in Geophysical Research Letters looks at the impact of a weakened AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation) on European climate. 

    Prof Richard Allan, Professor of Climate Science, University of Reading, said:

    “Although scientists are moderately confident that the North Atlantic ocean overturning circulation will not fizzle out this century, given the dire consequences for global weather patterns it is important to test the ground for these unlikely but high impact possibilities, in the same way that we insure our homes against improbable calamity.  

    “Since warm upper ocean currents keep Europe milder than it would otherwise be, the simulations of an abrupt shut down in this circulation show temperatures drop like a stone in winter, while less influence in summer means hot extremes still worsen with greenhouse gas heating. Such marked winter cooling in the North Atlantic and Europe in contrast to a background of greenhouse gas warming across the rest of the world would also play havoc with wind patterns and weather systems over the continent and more widely across the globe.  

    “The new study is by no means the last word since it only considers one modelling centre’s simulations that may not be realistic and are not expected to play out in the real world over next few decades. But even the mere possibility of this dire storyline unfolding over coming centuries underscores the need to forensically monitor what is happening in our oceans and to continue building momentum across all sectors of society to cut greenhouse gas emissions which are driving our climate into dangerous, uncharted territory.”

     

    Prof Jon Robson, Research Fellow at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Reading, said:

    “A collapse in the strength of the AMOC would have serious implications, including for people living in Europe. This research adds to a growing worry that a collapse in the strength of the AMOC could mean sharp drops in European winter temperatures and increases in winter storminess across Northern Europe, even in a globally warming climate.

    “There remains, however, a long list of questions, including whether such a collapse is likely in the real world, how quickly it could unfold, and what the precise impacts would be. It is critical that we continue to deepen our understanding of such events and their implications using all available approaches and across a range of simulations.

    “Ultimately, continued greenhouse gas emissions only heightens the risks that we could unwittingly trigger such a calamity, further underlining the importance of reaching net zero.

    Dr Karsten Haustein, Climate Scientist, Leipzig University, said:

    “I believe their statement is a bit too assertive. I’d rather say ‘A strongly reduced AMOC state and intermediate global warming…could have a profound cooling effect on Northwestern Europe with more intense cold extremes.’

    “There’s a strong north-south gradient in how much the cold extremes intensify. The UK (as well as Ireland, Iceland) and Scandinavia are most affected, with little change for countries south of the North and Baltic Sea.

    “Most importantly though, it is absolutely vital to stress that warm extremes continue to increase. In other words, summer temperatures continue to go up, with heatwaves remaining or becoming the main threat linked to climate change. Accordingly, the seasonality of temperature extremes strongly increases over NW Europe, as the authors rightly point out.

    “In short, the climate in NW Europe is potentially becoming more continental, with colder winter and hotter summer extremes. Not great either, but a rather different message compared to their statement.

    “The study builds on existing evidence, but takes it a step further. Now greenhouse gas induced anthropogenic warming is included in the analysis, allowing to assess their balancing effect compared to scenarios without additional warming. The methods and model data are solid. Since only one climate model is used, they run two different experiments to account for the range of uncertainty (high and low freshwater flux forcing). Based on the results, it is fair to say that a collapse of the AMOC is still not a certain outcome under moderate warming conditions (RCP4.5).

    “In fact, their results indicate that moderate warming might not be enough for an AMOC collapse, which – even if it does occur – does not necessarily rescue NW Europe from intensified summer heat.

    Dr Alejandra Sanchez-Franks, Senior Research Scientist in Physical Oceanography, Marine Physics and Ocean Climate (MPOC), National Oceanography Centre, said:

    “While these modelling studies are of great value to our community, it is important to be aware that our observational ocean records have not yet captured a tipping point, so the results of this study and their immediate impact on the real world must be interpreted with caution.”

    Dr Dafydd Gwyn Evans, Senior Research Scientist in Physical Oceanography, National Oceanography Centre, said:

    “This is an interesting study that provides some useful information from a theoretical point of view, but we shouldn’t use the conclusions of this study to inform us as to how the AMOC and European climate will respond to potential short term AMOC changes. The study uses an idealised experiment with unrealistic freshwater changes to force an AMOC collapse. Very importantly, the author’s conclusions refer to the European climate 200 years after an AMOC change and do not describe what will happen to European temperatures and sea-ice in the years/decades following an AMOC collapse. Therefore, the study does not serve to tell us how an AMOC tipping point / collapse will affect us immediately.”

    Dr Bablu Sinha, Leader of Climate and Uncertainty, Marine Systems Modelling (MSM), National Oceanography Centre, said:

    “The results are physically plausible and in line with what we know from previous modelling studies and physical reasoning. We have always expected there to be opposing effects from greenhouse warming versus AMOC shutdown but as far as I know this is the first study that tries to quantify that (suggesting that moderate greenhouse warming would not be enough to outweigh the AMOC related cooling), even though there are many caveats. The study also highlights the important influence of sea ice changes on the climate impacts.”

    Dr Jenny Mecking, Research Scientist, National Oceanography Centre, said:

    “Given that observational data is limited theoretical climate modelling approaches need to be taken to properly investigate this topic.  Van Westen and Baatsen motivate the need for more detailed investigation into the combined impacts of global warming and AMOC decline on European extreme temperatures.”

    ‘European Temperature Extremes under Different AMOC Scenarios in the Community Earth System Model’ by Rene M. van Westen and Michiel L.J. Baatsen was published in Geophysical Research Letters at 2pm UK time on Wednesday 11 June 2025. 

    Declared interests

    Richard Allan: “no conflicts of interest”

    Jon Robson: “I do not have any interests to declare”

    Karsten Haustein: “No conflict of interest”

    For all other experts, no reply to our request for DOIs was received.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Channel Five won the competition to organize and broadcast the Scarlet Sails 2025 graduation celebration.

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Channel Five will once again act as the organizer of the Scarlet Sails holiday, and will also conduct a live broadcast of the legendary graduation on June 28, 2025. The customer is the Committee for Printing and Interaction with the Mass Media. The results of the competitive selection are published on the official website of the Government of St. Petersburg.

    Channel Five was at the origins of the revival of the Scarlet Sails. The Leningrad graduation ball was first held in 1968, but eleven years later the beautiful annual tradition was interrupted. 20 years ago, on the initiative of Joint-Stock Bank “ROSSIYA”, the Government of St. Petersburg and Channel Five, the ship with scarlet sails reappeared in the waters of the Neva. Channel Five has been the organizer of the water-pyrotechnic show for several years in a row. Also, since 2005, it has been providing a live television broadcast of the legendary graduation.

    Mikhail Kolpakhchiev, chief director of the water-pyrotechnic show “Scarlet Sails-2025”:

    – Every time we come up with new solutions, not only ideological and semantic, but also visual. We try ideas that perhaps no one has ever implemented. We work in a complex genre, where there is an eclecticism of stage art, cinema, choreographic types of creativity. There are definitely many implemented ideas in this direction, so we always have a super task – to implement something new, fresh, mix or cross something with something and get an original effect. I hope we will manage to surprise the audience.

    Now the legendary graduation is a calling card not only for St. Petersburg, but for all of Russia, a multiple winner of prestigious world competitions and awards in the event industry. In April of this year, the holiday received a prestigious award at the XIII annual national award “Event of the Year” in the nomination “Best Direction and Production of the Event” in the category “Innovative Solution of the Year”.

    Roman Butovsky, director of the television broadcast of the Scarlet Sails 2025 festival:

    – “Scarlet Sails” is a landmark event for all television people, in which a huge number of people are involved. A large territory that needs to be covered by cameras. And for us, the broadcast is a kind of creative report.

    In 2024, Scarlet Sails was seen by a record number of viewers – almost 37 million. The television audience of the festival in Russia and the CIS countries was 25.5 million people. The number of views of the online broadcast on the Internet was 11.3 million.

    The share of the entire celebration on Channel Five in the key audience for the channel “All 25-59” reached 7.7%. This is a record figure for the entire history of the graduation.

    The broadcast of the water-pyrotechnic show on Channel Five took first place in the federal broadcast in the same audience “All 25-59” with a share of 11.4%.

    Since 2020, the water-pyrotechnic show has been broadcast by other federal channels. A year ago, the combined share of the colorful extravaganza on the air of four broadcasters was 26.6% among viewers over 18 years old.

    The material was prepared by the press service of Channel Five

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The exhibition “Traditional Values of Russia” opened at the State University of Management: a look through the prism of KVN

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    On the eve of Russia Day, a holiday of unity, patriotism and pride for our country, we invite you to a unique exhibition where traditional Russian values come to life in bright, sincere and kindly ironic works of participants of the program “KVN – School of Leaders”. This project was created with the support of the State University of Management, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, TTO “AMiK” and the Knowledge Center “Mashuk”.

    What awaits you at the exhibition?

    — Pictures painted with humor and warmth – the view of young KVN leaders on the culture and identity of Russia; — Creative understanding of eternal truths through the prism of humor and sincerity; — A unique opportunity to see how art and KVN unite in the name of patriotism.

    Ivan Sokolov, a specialist at the Center for the Development of the KVN Movement in Higher Education Institutions, recently opened at the State University of Management, spoke about the exhibition. “Seeing how the program participants were able to express their understanding of traditional values through humor and creativity was truly inspiring. This exhibition is a clear indication that KVN can be not only entertainment, but also an effective tool for developing a civic position among young people. It is especially symbolic to organize this exhibition on the eve of Russia Day.”

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Deputy Secretary-General’s remarks to the Opening of the Eighteenth Session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [as delivered]

    Source: United Nations secretary general

    Welcome to the 18th session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

    On behalf of the Secretary-General, I extend my deepest gratitude to all of you for all you do to advance the rights of persons with disabilities around the world.

    A special welcome to civil society, and in particular, to the organizations led by persons with disabilities.

    Your presence fills this Hall with purpose.

    Advancing equality and expanding opportunities for people with disabilities is not only close to my heart – it is central to the vision of the Secretary-General and the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy.

    It is a test of our common values. Inclusion of persons with disabilities is also a testament to common sense.

    When persons with disabilities can fully participate in society, communities and economies are stronger.

    We know this.  And so do all those who realize the Convention.  

    In an often-divided world, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities stands as a powerful declaration: 

    Disability inclusion is fundamental to human rights — and essential to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

    Yet today, we face a sobering truth.

    Progress is not just slow – in some cases, it is reversing.

    The UN Disability and Development Report found that nearly all SDG indicators for persons with disabilities are off track.

    The message is stark:

    Persons with disabilities face higher poverty, greater unemployment, deeper food and health insecurity, and more limited access to education, jobs and digital technologies.

    And as this session reminds us, indigenous persons with disabilities face even greater exclusion.

    This must change.

    The Pact for the Future, adopted last year, reinforces the call for a more peaceful, inclusive, accessible and equitable world – one in which persons with disabilities play a full and equal role in advancing sustainable development, climate action and digital transformation.

    We meet today on the threshold of two vital gatherings: the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, and the Second World Summit for Social Development.

    Your deliberations will help shape those events. 

    This session focuses on three critical themes.

    How we finance change.

    How we harness technology.

    And how we honour those most often left behind: Indigenous persons with disabilities.

    Let me offer a few reflections.

    First, on funding change.

    Progress requires investment.

    Yet today, global support for disability inclusion has been cut in half – falling from $500 million to $250 million in just two years.

    Behind these figures are real lives. 

    Children with disabilities shut out of classrooms.

    Adults with disabilities who cannot get to work, if they have work at all.

    Families of persons with disabilities denied essential services.

    Women and girls with disabilities are denied sexual and reproductive health and rights.

    We need targeted investments and tailored solutions – such as microfinance, social impact bonds and public-private alliances – that address gaps in realizing the rights of persons with disabilities.

    And we must unlock capital to fund inclusion today, and build sustainable, inclusive systems for tomorrow.

    This requires advancing the Pact for the Future’s calls to recapitalize Multilateral Development Banks, provide debt relief, and reform the international financial architecture – so that developing countries can invest in systems that are inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities.  

    Second, we must continue to harness the transformative power of technologies.

    Artificial intelligence is the latest frontier – and it holds immense potential to advance inclusion. 

    AI can be the difference between isolation and participation.

    And help individuals navigate the world through tools such as speech recognition, sign language interpretation, real-time captioning, screen readers, accessible navigation assistance and personalized support for daily tasks.

    But this promise comes with a warning. 

    Biases are being hardwired into algorithms.

    And regulations on accessibility of emerging technologies are sorely lacking.

    Developed countries, in particular, have a responsibility to step up support.

    Today about 70% of AI-powered assistive technologies are concentrated in developed economies.

    Without global cooperation and fair technology transfer agreements, people in the poorest countries risk being excluded – again. 

    We must ensure that AI becomes a tool for humanity, not a mirror of entrenched inequalities.

    Through the Global Digital Compact, countries have made their expectations clear: 

    AI technologies must empower all people, including persons with disabilities, and ensure that no one is left behind in the digital age.     
        
    Third, we must do more to uphold the rights of Indigenous persons with disabilities.

    Persistent barriers in intersecting forms of discrimination are limiting their rights, and the disparities are stark.

    In Latin America, for example, indigenous persons with disabilities attend fewer years of school, earn half as much income, and hold fewer leadership roles.

    Indigenous women and girls with disabilities face greater rates of violence, isolation and lack of support services.

    Legal services are not accessible or are not culturally adequate for equal access to justice.

    This is not just neglect – it is erasure.

    Realizing the rights of Indigenous Persons with Disabilities requires culturally appropriate approaches – and meaningful inclusion in decision-making.

    The rallying cry has never been more fitting:  Nothing about us without us. 

    Dear friends,

    We’ve come a long way in 19 years.

    Laws have changed.

    Attitudes have shifted.

    And political realities have shifted, too.

    Armed conflict in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and elsewhere is leaving countless civilians with sustained permanent injuries and deep psychological trauma.

    Children with disabilities are especially vulnerable – Gaza alone has the highest number of child amputees in modern history.

    Families are bearing the brunt of conflicts, and communities will require inclusive and accessible rebuilding.

    Wars are draining budgets. And the foundations of multilateralism are being chiseled away by division and mistrust.

    Yet this session is proof that the world can still come together – with purpose and resolve. 

    It is a reminder that we must make sure promises made are promises kept.

    Let’s make the most of this conference – and the historic opportunities ahead – to drive action for persons with disabilities.  

    To build a world that is inclusive, accessible, and sustainable.

    And to say in one voice:

    Rights are not optional.

    They are universal. 

    They are non-negotiable.

    And they belong to all.

    Thank you.
     

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Family homesteads with tangled titles are contributing to rural America’s housing crisis

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jennifer Pindyck, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Auburn University

    Rural Studio helps families build new housing on land with tangled titles, meaning there’s no clear owner. Auburn University Rural Studio. Photo by Timothy Hursley, CC BY-SA

    Imagine your parents leave you and your siblings a share of land that’s been in your family for generations. Several of your relatives already live on the land, and you’d like to do the same; but you can’t get a loan to build or renovate a home without permission from all the relatives who also share ownership. And at any moment, another heir could sell their share, triggering a court-ordered sale that could force you off the land – and lose everything you’ve invested in.

    This is the reality of what’s known as heirs’ property: land passed down informally, without clear wills or deeds, which results in a “tangled” or “clouded” title.

    It’s more common than you might think in the U.S., especially in rural areas, and it presents significant challenges to long-term housing stability.

    Research shows that within 44 states and the District of Columbia, there are an estimated 508,371
    heirs’ properties, with an assessed value of US$32 billion. (There wasn’t reliable enough data in six states.)

    It’s more of an issue in some states, such as Alabama. But it’s also a problem in cities such as New York City and Philadelphia.

    Because it’s so difficult to finance home construction on this land, sell it or leverage it, heirs’ property can leave families vulnerable to exploitation and perpetuate cycles of poverty. Despite these challenges, many families have nonetheless lived together and supported one another on shared land for generations.

    As faculty and collaborators with Auburn University’s Rural Studio, we study heirs’ property and its role in shaping housing access. Based in Hale County, Alabama, Rural Studio has completed over 200 projects – many of them homes built on heirs’ property – providing critical housing for families facing complex land ownership challenges.

    Land with no clear owner

    The lack of a clear will or deed often happens due to inadequate access to – and distrust of – the legal system.

    Once the land is passed down to the next generation, the heirs are known as “tenants in common,” meaning they own an undivided interest in the entire property. As the property continues to pass down from generation to generation, the number of tenants in common increases exponentially.

    When a couple passes down land to their children – and then those kids pass it down to their kids – the number of heirs dramatically increases.
    Auburn University Rural Studio, CC BY-SA

    Without clear title, no single person or group can make decisions about the property. Every heir must legally sign off on any action, which makes it nearly impossible to secure traditional forms of financing, obtain insurance, access disaster relief, or use the land as collateral.

    Those living on the land often pay their share of property taxes, but distant or unaware heirs might not, which puts the entire property at risk of being lost through a tax lien sale. This leaves families with property in “tangled” status exposed to predatory land acquisition practices that often lead to land loss.

    Any tenant in common can sell their share to an outside party. These outside parties – either individuals or companies – can then request a court to order what’s called a partition by sale, which can push every other owner off the land.

    Imagine three siblings inherit a piece of land from their parents and are now tenants in common. One sibling sells their share to a real estate investor. That investor then goes to court and requests a partition by sale. The court then orders the entire property sold and the proceeds split among the owners, effectively forcing the other two siblings off the land, even if they wanted to keep it.

    Such tactics are especially common in the Black Belt region of the U.S., which covers Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina; as such, they disproportionately affect Black Americans.

    Why family-owned land matters

    Our research in Hale County, Alabama, finds that Black families in particular have supported one another for generations while living on heirs’ property.

    These multigenerational kinship networks rely on one another for child care, elder care, food, transportation and shared utility costs. But the value of this sort of living situation goes beyond social and economic benefits. The land can be woven into family lore or be steeped in the history of the surrounding area.

    So, despite the legal and financial challenges, many extended families will do whatever they can to continue living together on their land. Even a small stake in heirs’ property offers connection to the past and a place to return home in the future.

    Family members often live in different homes spread across heirs’ property, which often exists in a legal gray area.
    Auburn University Rural Studio, CC BY-SA

    These informal kinship networks can provide support and resilience in ways that traditional forms of land and homeownership do not. Putting all of the people who own the land on the title – what’s known as “clearing title” – is not only costly and time-consuming, but it also often requires dividing up the property into smaller parcels, which can prevent some family members from living on the land altogether.

    Meanwhile, traditional legal and financial products – think mortgages and land-use agreements with farmers – tend to be structured with sole ownership in mind. Most banks and institutions simply won’t lend to heirs’ property with tangled titles.

    There have been recent efforts to protect these informal arrangements. The Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, which has been enacted in 25 states, ensures due process and sets up safeguards against immediate partition by sale actions.

    For example, if a suit is brought by a co-owner, a fair market value appraisal – or an agreed-upon value by all parties – must be conducted. The other shareholders of the land also have the option to buy out the shareholder bringing the suit. Under the statute, additional partition methods may be considered. And if a sale is required, it’s done on the open market.

    Many organizations are working to address issues related to heirs’ property and tangled titles. Most of the work centers on clearing title, establishing shared land agreements and teaching landowners how to avoid having their property fall into a tangled title situation. For example, the Florida Housing Coalition, Housing Assistance Council and the Alabama Heirs Property Alliance are actively engaged in community education, legal support, data mapping and policy advocacy.

    Build first, ask permission later

    Many rural families on heirs’ property have limited pathways to homeownership. Financial constraints, limited access to quality housing options and lot restrictions have often forced residents to settle for older, substandard, manufactured homes. Small utility sheds have even begun to replace broken-down trailer homes in many rural areas.

    Utility sheds are increasingly being used as homes across the U.S. South.
    Auburn University Rural Studio, CC BY-SA

    There’s clearly a need for safe, durable housing that enables these families to build generational wealth. And that’s where Rural Studio comes in.

    Building new housing or renovating existing structures means dealing with a web of zoning laws, building codes and land development ordinances, which are all tied to financing and lending systems. While many efforts to address heirs’ property aim to change legal policies, we approach this issue through housing.

    We use what we call a “build first” strategy. Using funds from research grants and donations, we simply start building on heirs’ properties with the permission of families. In the process, we show that if tangled titles were no longer an obstacle, much more housing could be built.

    One of our recent Rural Studio projects is the 18×18 House, a compact, multistory home built for a young man living on heirs’ property in Alabama.

    The 18X18 House is a multistory home that was on heirs’ property in Alabama.
    Auburn University Rural Studio. Photo by Timothy Hursley, CC BY-SA

    The home is nestled between several other family members’ homes. We had to work around existing electrical lines, a septic field, roads and steep topography. Despite these site constraints, the house is an ideal starter home: big enough for the young man and a future partner to live comfortably on the family plot. If he ever decides to leave, other family members can move in.

    Rather than focusing on one-off products, our goal with the 18×18 House is to develop replicable housing prototypes that respond to the realities of intergenerational living on family land. We also hope that tangible housing will help policymakers understand the value of reform.

    The question isn’t whether design can respond to these challenges, but how it can lead by pushing antiquated regulatory and legal frameworks to evolve.

    Jennifer Pindyck receives funding from Fannie Mae, Wells Fargo and the Center for Architecture, in partnership with AIA New York. She is affiliated with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and is a registered architect in the state of Georgia.

    Christian Ayala Lopez work is funded through a diverse range of organizations such as Fannie Mae, USDA, and Center for Architecture NY. He is affiliated to Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, and member of Florida Housing Coalition.

    Rusty Smith receives funding from Fannie Mae, USDA, Wells Fargo and Regions Bank. He is affiliated with the Housing Assistance Council, the American Institute of Architects, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory Innovation Incubator, the EPA Collegiate/Underserved Community Partnership and the Bipartisan Policy Center.

    – ref. Family homesteads with tangled titles are contributing to rural America’s housing crisis – https://theconversation.com/family-homesteads-with-tangled-titles-are-contributing-to-rural-americas-housing-crisis-254679

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: You’re probably richer than you think because of the safety net – but you’d have more of that hidden wealth if you lived in Norway

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Robert Manduca, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Michigan

    You may be wealthier than you realize. Deagreez/iStock via Getty Images Plus

    How wealthy are you?

    Like most people, you probably would do some math before answering this question. You would add up the money in your bank accounts, the value of your investments and any equity in a home you own, then subtract your debts, such as mortgages and car loans.

    But many economists believe this approach, known as calculating your net worth, leaves out a big chunk of your wealth: the benefits you’ll get in the future from Social Security, if you live in the United States, or similar government benefits programs that help retirees pay their bills in other countries.

    As a sociologist who studies income and wealth inequality, I wanted to figure out just how much government safety net programs are worth to their recipients, and whether they truly can substitute for private savings.

    A $40 trillion trove

    A team of researchers recently estimated that future Social Security payments amounted to more than US$40 trillion as of 2019 – about $123,000 for everyone in the U.S. That huge number, which is not adjusted for inflation, was nearly one-third of the $110 trillion of Americans’ collective net worth in that year.

    In a recent peer-reviewed study, published in April 2025 in Socio-Economic Review, I found that even this expanded definition of wealth leaves some important things out: unemployment insurance, the child tax credit and other widely available benefits. People who have access to these programs don’t have to dip into their savings as much when unexpected costs come up.

    Social Security is by far the largest of these programs. As of 2019, the typical worker nearing retirement had banked about $412,000 in future Social Security benefits, I found – nearly as much as the $472,000 in private retirement savings such workers had. This estimate doesn’t include Social Security benefits to orphans, widows or people with disabilities.

    The value of Social Security retirement benefits varies according to workers’ income and work history, ranging from $271,000 for the poorest 10% of recipients to $669,000 for the richest 10%.

    Benefits from smaller safety net programs can also add up. Because some programs differ by state, I analyzed California and Texas, the two largest states. In California, I calculated that the average 45-year-old worker can count on almost $12,000 in unemployment insurance over 26 weeks, while in Texas the same worker would be eligible for more than $15,000 over the same period.

    Meanwhile, under current law, many families having a child in 2025 can expect to receive about $29,000 through the federal child tax credit over the course of that kid’s lifetime.

    Texas doesn’t mandate paid family leave, but California requires that each parent receive eight weeks of their salary. That’s worth another $13,000 to a family earning $90,000 a year – the median in my study – and more if the parents have higher incomes.

    Where there’s even more hidden wealth

    These somewhat hidden sources of wealth are worth far more in many other countries, especially Scandinavian ones. Norway provides a useful contrast.

    The typical Norwegian worker retires with more than $510,000 in public pension wealth, I calculated. The exact amount they collect will vary depending on what they’ve earned and how long they live, as is the case with Social Security. But, unlike in the U.S., if they get sick, Norwegians are eligible for a up to a year of paid sick leave – worth about $57,000 to the median worker.

    Norwegians can get unemployment insurance benefits for almost two years, amounting to $70,000 for the average worker, depending on their wages. And the combination of Norway’s child benefit and parental leave is worth between $60,000 and $80,000 from the time each child is born until they turn 18, depending on the parents’ exact income.

    In the past few years, researchers have estimated the wealth value of public pensions – though not other government benefits – in several countries, including Australia, Austria, Germany, Poland and Switzerland, among others.

    In many nations, this value rivals or exceeds that of all stocks, real estate and other private assets held by their residents combined.

    Because so many people are eligible for Social Security or its equivalent public pension programs in other countries, there is also much less inequality in total retirement wealth than in standard measures of net worth.

    Wealth vs. income

    Wealth is much more unequally distributed than income just about everywhere. In the United States, for example, the richest 5% of the population has 32% of all income, but 70% of all wealth.

    Wealth inequality has grown over time, and the Black-white wealth gap in the United States is particularly large. While typical Black families have incomes that are about 56% of what white families earn, they own only 18% as much wealth as the typical white family.

    For these reasons, many politicians, scholars and activists have proposed ambitious policies to reduce inequality in private wealth, such as a wealth tax. Another idea gaining in popularity is to start issuing “baby bonds,” which give each newborn a prefunded savings account.

    Wealth embedded in government benefits offers a complementary method of addressing wealth inequality. Even today, when Social Security and similar pension programs in other places are counted alongside private savings, inequality in retirement wealth is much lower than in privately held wealth alone.

    Less flexible source of wealth

    To be sure, the wealth you’re eventually due through Social Security and other government programs isn’t the same as the private assets you might own.

    You can’t sell or borrow against your future Social Security benefits to meet an unexpected expense or make a down payment on a home. And if you die before reaching retirement age, you won’t receive any payments from the Social Security system yourself, although your spouse or heirs may be eligible for survivor benefits.

    Also, government programs are not set in stone. Eligibility requirements can change, and benefit levels can be cut.

    For instance, if the Social Security trust fund is depleted, retirees could see their benefits decline. But private wealth is also never guaranteed to last: Stock values can fluctuate wildly, and inflation erodes the value of any cash you’ve saved over time.

    For these reasons, having a combination of private savings and government benefits offers the most promising way for everyone to prepare for their future. This can also help society address wealth inequality.

    Robert Manduca has received funding from the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.

    – ref. You’re probably richer than you think because of the safety net – but you’d have more of that hidden wealth if you lived in Norway – https://theconversation.com/youre-probably-richer-than-you-think-because-of-the-safety-net-but-youd-have-more-of-that-hidden-wealth-if-you-lived-in-norway-255833

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How your air conditioner can help the power grid, rather than overloading it

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Johanna Mathieu, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, University of Michigan

    Could this common home machinery help usher in more renewable energy? Holden Henry/iStock / Getty Images Plus

    As summer arrives, people are turning on air conditioners in most of the U.S. But if you’re like me, you always feel a little guilty about that. Past generations managed without air conditioning – do I really need it? And how bad is it to use all this electricity for cooling in a warming world?

    If I leave my air conditioner off, I get too hot. But if everyone turns on their air conditioner at the same time, electricity demand spikes, which can force power grid operators to activate some of the most expensive, and dirtiest, power plants. Sometimes those spikes can ask too much of the grid and lead to brownouts or blackouts.

    Research I recently published with a team of scholars makes me feel a little better, though. We have found that it is possible to coordinate the operation of large numbers of home air-conditioning units, balancing supply and demand on the power grid – and without making people endure high temperatures inside their homes.

    Studies along these lines, using remote control of air conditioners to support the grid, have for many years explored theoretical possibilities like this. However, few approaches have been demonstrated in practice and never for such a high-value application and at this scale. The system we developed not only demonstrated the ability to balance the grid on timescales of seconds, but also proved it was possible to do so without affecting residents’ comfort.

    The benefits include increasing the reliability of the power grid, which makes it easier for the grid to accept more renewable energy. Our goal is to turn air conditioners from a challenge for the power grid into an asset, supporting a shift away from fossil fuels toward cleaner energy.

    Adjustable equipment

    My research focuses on batteries, solar panels and electric equipment – such as electric vehicles, water heaters, air conditioners and heat pumps – that can adjust itself to consume different amounts of energy at different times.

    Originally, the U.S. electric grid was built to transport electricity from large power plants to customers’ homes and businesses. And originally, power plants were large, centralized operations that burned coal or natural gas, or harvested energy from nuclear reactions. These plants were typically always available and could adjust how much power they generated in response to customer demand, so the grid would be balanced between power coming in from producers and being used by consumers.

    But the grid has changed. There are more renewable energy sources, from which power isn’t always available – like solar panels at night or wind turbines on calm days. And there are the devices and equipment I study. These newer options, called “distributed energy resources,” generate or store energy near where consumers need it – or adjust how much energy they’re using in real time.

    One aspect of the grid hasn’t changed, though: There’s not much storage built into the system. So every time you turn on a light, for a moment there’s not enough electricity to supply everything that wants it right then: The grid needs a power producer to generate a little more power. And when you turn off a light, there’s a little too much: A power producer needs to ramp down.

    The way power plants know what real-time power adjustments are needed is by closely monitoring the grid frequency. The goal is to provide electricity at a constant frequency – 60 hertz – at all times. If more power is needed than is being produced, the frequency drops and a power plant boosts output. If there’s too much power being produced, the frequency rises and a power plant slows production a little. These actions, a process called “frequency regulation,” happen in a matter of seconds to keep the grid balanced.

    This output flexibility, primarily from power plants, is key to keeping the lights on for everyone.

    Power plants, like this one in Utah, adjust their output to match demand from electricity customers.
    Jason Finn/iStock / Getty Images Plus

    Finding new options

    I’m interested in how distributed energy resources can improve flexibility in the grid. They can release more energy, or consume less, to respond to the changing supply or demand, and help balance the grid, ensuring the frequency remains near 60 hertz.

    Some people fear that doing so might be invasive, giving someone outside your home the ability to control your battery or air conditioner. Therefore, we wanted to see if we could help balance the grid with frequency regulation using home air-conditioning units rather than power plants – without affecting how residents use their appliances or how comfortable they are in their homes.

    From 2019 to 2023, my group at the University of Michigan tried this approach, in collaboration with researchers at Pecan Street Inc., Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley, with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.

    We recruited 100 homeowners in Austin, Texas, to do a real-world test of our system. All the homes had whole-house forced-air cooling systems, which we connected to custom control boards and sensors the owners allowed us to install in their homes. This equipment let us send instructions to the air-conditioning units based on the frequency of the grid.

    Before I explain how the system worked, I first need to explain how thermostats work. When people set thermostats, they pick a temperature, and the thermostat switches the air-conditioning compressor on and off to maintain the air temperature within a small range around that set point. If the temperature is set at 68 degrees, the thermostat turns the AC on when the temperature is, say, 70, and turns it off when it’s cooled down to, say, 66.

    Every few seconds, our system slightly changed the timing of air-conditioning compressor switching for some of the 100 air conditioners, causing the units’ aggregate power consumption to change. In this way, our small group of home air conditioners reacted to grid changes the way a power plant would – using more or less energy to balance the grid and keep the frequency near 60 hertz.

    Moreover, our system was designed to kept home temperatures within the same small temperature range around the set point.

    Smart thermostats could have frequency regulation capabilities available to interested consumers, to help balance the electricity grid.
    Danielle Mead/iStock/Getty Images Plus

    Testing the approach

    We ran our system in four tests, each lasting one hour. We found two encouraging results.

    First, the air conditioners were able to provide frequency regulation at least as accurately as a traditional power plant. Therefore, we showed that air conditioners could play a significant role in increasing grid flexibility. But perhaps more importantly – at least in terms of encouraging people to participate in these types of systems – we found that we were able to do so without affecting people’s comfort in their homes.

    We found that home temperatures did not deviate more than 1.6 Fahrenheit from their set point. Homeowners were allowed to override the controls if they got uncomfortable, but most didn’t. For most tests, we received zero override requests. In the worst case, we received override requests from two of the 100 homes in our test.

    In practice, this sort of technology could be added to commercially available internet-connected thermostats. In exchange for credits on their energy bills, users could choose to join a service run by the thermostat company, their utility provider or some other third party.

    Then people could turn on the air conditioning in the summer heat without that pang of guilt, knowing they were helping to make the grid more reliable and more capable of accommodating renewable energy sources – without sacrificing their own comfort in the process.

    Johanna Mathieu works for the University of Michigan. She has received funding from the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, ARPA-E, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. She is affiliated with the IEEE.

    – ref. How your air conditioner can help the power grid, rather than overloading it – https://theconversation.com/how-your-air-conditioner-can-help-the-power-grid-rather-than-overloading-it-256858

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: A field guide to ‘accelerationism’: White supremacist groups using violence to spur race war and create social chaos

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Art Jipson, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Dayton

    Demonstrators clash with counterdemonstrators at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12, 2017. AP Photo/Steve Helber

    A man named Regan Prater was charged with arson for the burning of Highlander Center in New Market, Tennessee, on May 7, 2025. The nonprofit has a long history of involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. The FBI stated in a court document that Prater participated in neo-Nazi Telegram group chats online.

    Earlier this year, Brandon Clint Russell, founder of Atomwaffen Divison, also known as the National Socialist Resistance Front, a onetime neo-Nazi terrorist organization, according to the Department of Justice, was convicted of conspiracy to damage an energy facility in Baltimore.

    In the fall of 2024, a 24-year-old man, Skyler Philippi, targeted the Nashville power grid with an explosive drone. Federal authorities allege that Philippi was motivated by white supremacist ideologies and affiliated with the extremist group the National Alliance.

    In my research on right-wing extremism over 30 years, a disturbing pattern has emerged: White supremacists and white nationalists are increasingly willing to use violence targeting critical infrastructure in an effort to destabilize society.

    Since the Ku Klux Klan’s resurgence in 1915, white supremacists have pushed for white control of society. In particular, white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups have long advocated violence to establish a white ethnostate, a proposed political entity or nation-state where residency and citizenship are exclusively limited to whites.

    In the past several years, extremists have started using the term “accelerationism” to describe their desire to create social chaos and societal collapse that leads to a race war and the destruction of liberal democratic systems, paving the way for a white ethnostate.

    What is accelerationism?

    The motivating idea behind accelerationism is that social chaos creates an opportunity for extremists to create a racially or ideologically “pure” future.

    Scholars who study extremism have used the term “accelerationism” since the 1980s, but it wasn’t widely associated with right-wing extremist violence until the late 2010s. People calling themselves “eco-fascists,” for example, often endorse mass violence as a means to reduce population and spark societal collapse.

    Accelerationism is often connected to the white replacement theory, a white nationalist conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that there is a deliberate plot to diminish the influence and power of white people by replacing them with nonwhite populations.

    While not all extremists who advocate violent confrontation use the label, the calls for violent disruption strive for the same results. Brenton Harrison Tarrant, the Australian white supremacist who perpetrated the Christchurch mosque shootings on March 15, 2019, in New Zealand, labeled an entire section of his online manifesto Destabilization and Accelerationism: Tactics for Victory.

    Members of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement salute and shout ‘sieg heil’ during a rally in front of the State House in Trenton, N.J., on April 16, 2011.
    AP Photo/Mel Evans

    This primer provides an overview of some of the key groups that have embraced accelerationist thinking, posing significant threats to public safety, democratic institutions and social cohesion.

    The Order

    One of the first American groups to embody this ideology was The Order – also known as Brüder Schweigen, or the Silent Brotherhood – which continues to influence newer generations of extremist organizations, both directly and indirectly.

    Robert Jay Mathews, who founded The Order in 1983, was inspired by the apocalyptic vision laid out in the novel “The Turner Diaries.” The 1978 book by William Luther Pierce – under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald – calls for a violent, apocalyptic race war to overthrow the U.S. government and exterminate Jews, nonwhite people and political enemies. Pierce founded the National Alliance – a neo-Nazi, white supremacist organization advocating for a white ethnostate and violent revolution – in 1974.

    The call for violent insurrection and radical societal overhaul has since served as a blueprint for white supremacists and right-wing extremists.

    The Order believed the U.S. federal government was under the control of Jews and other minority groups, and it aimed to overthrow it to create a white ethnostate. The Order funded its activities through robberies, including US$3.6 million taken from an armored car near Ukiah, California, on July 19, 1984.

    Its criminal and violent actions escalated to murder, most notably the 1984 assassination of Jewish radio host Alan Berg in Denver by Order member Bruce Pierce.

    Atomwaffen Division (AWD)

    The Atomwaffen Division, one of the most violent neo-Nazi accelerationist groups in the U.S., was officially founded in October 2015 by Brandon Clint Russell, a former Florida National Guardsman.

    Russell had been active on a neo-Nazi web forum IronMarch.org since 2014 and announced the group’s formation on the site. He used the handle “Odin” to connect with other far-right extremists.

    AWD quickly gained notoriety for its violent, neo-Nazi ideology, advocating for a race war and the collapse of the U.S. government through terrorism. The group drew inspiration from the writings of white supremacist James Mason, particularly his collection of essays titled “Siege.”

    AWD’s activities included recruiting members on university campuses and among military personnel, engaging in paramilitary training, and promoting accelerationist violence. The group has been linked to multiple murders and plots in the United States and has inspired offshoots in Europe and other regions.

    By 2020, AWD unraveled due to law enforcement pressure, prosecutions and internal splits. Though not fully gone, it effectively stopped operating under its name. Members helped form the National Socialist Order, which continues to promote Mason’s “Siege” and violent accelerationism.

    Active Club Network

    Active clubs are loosely organized, often regional groups of white supremacists and neofascists who combine fitness, combat training and ideology to promote violence and white nationalist goals. Members protest Pride and multicultual events and recruit members through fighting and combat sports. Active clubs and similar extremist networks use a multipronged recruitment strategy, combining online reach via Telegram and other social media with in-person, fighting-based community-building to attract new members.

    Neo-Nazi counterdemonstrators shout angrily at the marchers from behind police barricades during the Lesbian and Gay Pride March on Fifth Avenue in New York, on June 25, 1995.
    AP Photo/Kathy Willens

    Emerging in 2017 from the street-fighting “Rise Above Movement” in Southern California and gaining prominence in the 2020s through the rise of The Active Club Network, or ACN, this movement demonstrated a shift from online-only, far-right groups to groups willing to fight.

    Beginning in December 2020, The Active Club Network formed as a loosely affiliated, decentralized web of white supremacist, fascist and accelerationist groups that operate under a shared banner promoting physical training, brotherhood and militant white nationalism.

    The Base

    Founded around 2018, The Base represents one of the most explicit modern expressions of white nationalist accelerationism: as it is known by members, its “Siege Culture.”

    Founded by Rinaldo Nazzaro, an American living in Russia who used the name Roman Wolf, the group recruited ex-military and survivalists preparing for collapse through self-sufficiency, aiming to spark a race war. The Base was directly influenced by James Mason’s book “Siege.”

    The Base operates as a decentralized network of cells trained in paramilitary tactics, sabotage and guerrilla warfare. Their online propaganda explicitly calls for violent action to destabilize society.

    Its members have been involved in plots to murder anti-fascist activists, poison water supplies, derail trains and attack critical infrastructure. In 2020, multiple members were arrested before they could carry out an armed assault at a pro-gun rally in Richmond, Virginia, where they planned to attack police officers and civilians.

    Although several members have been arrested and convicted on a variety of crimes, including conspiracy to commit murder, civil disorder, firearm charges, vandalism and other violent crimes, The Base illustrates a fundamental feature of accelerationism: “leaderless resistance,” or a lack of a centralized leadership, which helps it survive and thrive. Its ideology and tactics are spread through online forums dedicated to white supremacist propaganda.

    Patriot Front

    Founded in 2017 by Thomas Rousseau, Patriot Front is a white supremacist group that emerged from a split with Vanguard America following the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Vanguard America was a white supremacist group that opposed multiculturalism and whose members believed America should be an exclusively white nation.

    The goals of the organizers of the Unite the Right rally included unifying the American white nationalist movement and opposing the proposed removal of the statue of Robert E. Lee, the general who led the Confederate troops of slave states during the Civil War, from Charlottesville’s former Lee Park. The rally sparked a national debate over Confederate iconography, racial violence and white supremacy.

    The Patriot Front defines itself as an organization of “American nationalists.” According to the Anti-Defamation League, since 2019 the Patriot Front has been responsible for a majority of white supremacist propaganda distributed in the United States, using flyers, posters, stickers, banners and the internet to spread its ideology.

    The group frequently participates in localized “flash demonstrations” where it marches near city halls. Such demonstrations have also increasingly made it one of the United States’ most visible white supremacist groups. In 2024, Patriot Front held demonstrations on patriotic holidays such as Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day.

    Although the group claims loyalty to America, the Patriot Front’s ultimate goal is to form a new state that advocates for the “descendants of its creators” – namely, white men.

    Understanding the motivations and tactics of accelerationist groups and individuals, I believe, is critical to recognizing and countering the dangers they represent.

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

    – ref. A field guide to ‘accelerationism’: White supremacist groups using violence to spur race war and create social chaos – https://theconversation.com/a-field-guide-to-accelerationism-white-supremacist-groups-using-violence-to-spur-race-war-and-create-social-chaos-255699

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: We surveyed 1,500 Florida kids about cellphones and their mental health – what we learned suggests school phone bans may have important but limited effects

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Justin D. Martin, Associate Professor of Digital Communication and Journalism, University of South Florida

    The debate over banning smartphones in schools rages as more students are bringing phones to schools. Thomas Barwick/DigitalVision via Getty Images

    In Florida, a bill that bans cellphone use in elementary and middle schools, from bell to bell, recently sailed through the state Legislature.

    Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law on May 30, 2025. The same bill calls for high schools in six Florida districts to adopt the ban during the upcoming school year and produce a report on its effectiveness by Dec. 1, 2026.

    Parents are divided on the issue. According to a report from Education Week, many parents want their kids to have phones for safety reasons – and don’t support bans as a result.

    But in the debate over whether phones should be banned in K-12 schools – and if so, how – students themselves are rarely given a voice.

    We are experts in media use and public health who surveyed 1,510 kids ages 11 to 13 in Florida in November and December 2024 to learn how they’re using digital media and the role tech plays in their lives at home and at school. Their responses were insightful – and occasionally surprising.

    Adults generally cite four reasons to ban phone use during
    school: to improve kids’ mental health, to strengthen academic outcomes, to reduce cyberbullying and to help limit kids’ overall screen time.

    But as our survey shows, it may be a bit much to expect a cellphone ban to accomplish all of that.

    What do kids want?

    Some of the questions in our survey shine light on kids’ feelings toward banning cellphones – even though we didn’t ask that question directly.

    We asked them if they feel relief when they’re in a situation where they can’t use their smartphone, and 31% said yes.

    Additionally, 34% of kids agreed with the statement that social media causes more harm than good.

    And kids were 1.5 to 2 times more likely to agree with those statements if they attended schools where phones are banned or confiscated for most of the school day, with use only permitted at certain times. That group covered
    70% of the students we surveyed because many individual schools or school districts in Florida have already limited students’ cellphone use.

    How students use cellphones matters

    Some “power users” of cellphone apps could likely use a break from them.

    Twenty percent of children we surveyed said push notifications on their phones — that is, notifications from apps that pop up on the phone’s screen — are never turned off. These notifications are likely coming from the most popular apps kids reported using, like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.

    This 20% of children was roughly three times more likely to report experiencing anxiety than kids who rarely or never have their notifications on.

    They were also nearly five times more likely to report earning mostly D’s and F’s in school than kids whose notifications are always or sometimes off.

    Our survey results also suggest phone bans would likely have positive effects on grades and mental health among some of the heaviest screen users. For example, 22% of kids reported using their favorite app for six or more hours per day. These students were three times more likely to report earning mostly D’s and F’s in school than kids who spend an hour or less on their favorite app each day.

    They also were six times more likely than hour-or-less users to report severe depression symptoms. These insights remained even after ruling out numerous other possible explanations for the difference — like age, household income, gender, parent’s education, race and ethnicity.

    Banning students’ access to phones at school means these kids would not receive notifications for at least that seven-hour period and have fewer hours in the day to use apps.

    Phones and mental health

    However, other data we collected suggests that bans aren’t a universal benefit for all children.

    Seventeen percent of kids who attend schools that ban or confiscate phones report severe depression symptoms, compared with just 4% among kids who keep their phones with them during the school day.

    This finding held even after we ruled out other potential explanations for what we were seeing, such as the type of school students attend and other demographic factors.

    We are not suggesting that our survey shows phone bans cause mental health problems.

    It is possible, for instance, that the schools where kids already were struggling with their mental health simply happened to be the ones that have banned phones. Also, our survey didn’t ask kids how long phones have been banned at their schools. If the bans just launched, there may be positive effects on mental health or grades yet to come.

    In order to get a better sense of the bans’ effects on mental health, we would need to examine mental health indicators before and after phone bans.

    To get a long-term view on this question, we are planning to do a nationwide survey of digital media use and mental health, starting with 11- to 13-year-olds and tracking them into adulthood.

    Even with the limitations of our data from this survey, however, we can conclude that banning phones in schools is unlikely to be an immediate solution to mental health problems of kids ages 11-13.

    Grades up, cyberbullying down

    Students at schools where phones are barred or confiscated didn’t report earning higher grades than children at schools where kids keep their phones.

    This finding held for students at both private and public schools, and even after ruling out other possible explanations like differences in gender and household income, since these factors are also known to affect grades.

    There are limits to our findings here: Grades are not a perfect measure of learning, and they’re not standardized across schools. It’s possible that kids at phone-free schools are in fact learning more than those at schools where kids carry their phones around during school hours – even if they earn the same grades.

    We asked kids how often in the past three months they’d experienced mistreatment online – like being called hurtful names or having lies or rumors spread about them. Kids at schools where phone use is limited during school hours actually reported enduring more cyberbullying than children at schools with less restrictive policies. This result persisted even after we considered smartphone ownership and numerous demographics as possible explanations.

    We are not necessarily saying that cellphone bans cause an increase in cyberbullying. What could be at play here is that at schools where cyberbullying has been particularly bad, phones have been banned or are confiscated, and online bullying still occurs.

    But based on our survey results, it does not appear that school phone bans prevent cyberbullying.

    Overall, our findings suggest that banning phones in schools may not be an easy fix for students’ mental health problems, poor academic performance or cyberbullying.

    That said, kids might benefit from phone-free schools in ways that we have not explored, like increased attention spans or reduced eyestrain.

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

    – ref. We surveyed 1,500 Florida kids about cellphones and their mental health – what we learned suggests school phone bans may have important but limited effects – https://theconversation.com/we-surveyed-1-500-florida-kids-about-cellphones-and-their-mental-health-what-we-learned-suggests-school-phone-bans-may-have-important-but-limited-effects-256970

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Antagonism to transgender rights is tied to the authoritarian desire for social conformity – not just partisan affiliation

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Tatishe Nteta, Provost Professor of Political Science and Director of the UMass Amherst Poll, UMass Amherst

    President Donald Trump signs an executive order barring transgender female athletes from competing in women’s or girls sporting events on Feb. 5, 2025, in Washington. AP Photo/Alex Brandon

    Since becoming president, Donald Trump has aggressively sought to fulfill his campaign promise to reverse the Biden administration’s protection of transgender Americans.

    His administration decreed that the federal government will recognize only two genders and banned transgender Americans from serving in the military. Trump has also restricted federal funds for hospitals that perform gender-affirming care.

    Trump is not alone in attacking the rights of transgender Americans. In 2025, 53 bills have been introduced in the U.S. Congress and over 900 bills have been introduced in 49 states that aim to limit the rights of transgender Americans in education, health care and athletics, according to the Trans Legislation Tracker.

    While legal and ethical questions remain about these efforts, restricting the rights of transgender Americans seems to enjoy support among a majority of Americans.

    For example, support for restricting the ability of medical professionals from providing gender-affirming care to minors has risen from 46% in 2022 to 56% in 2025, according to the Pew Research Center.

    We wanted to know what factors contribute to majority support among Americans for these measures. We found that authoritarian attitudes – the desire for social conformity and an aversion to difference – play an important role in Americans’ willingness to restrict transgender rights.

    A member, left, of the Idaho Liberty Dogs, a far-right extremist group, argues with attendee Kimberly Rumph near the entrance of the first Pride festival ever held in Nampa, Idaho, on June 9, 2024.
    Kyle Green for The Washington Post via Getty Images

    Preferring conformity, suppressing social difference

    A number of civil rights organizations, pro-democracy think tanks and scholars have recently argued that executive and legislative efforts to limit the rights of transgender Americans reflect a larger authoritarian turn in the nation’s politics.

    Here, we refer to authoritarianism not as a type of political system or the characteristics of a leader, but rather as a person’s preference for social conformity and desire to suppress social difference.

    According to this perspective, the attack on transgender rights is intended to appeal to Americans with authoritarian inclinations. As seen in authoritarian regimes such as Russia and Turkey, political leaders first mobilize their citizens on the basis of their desire to suppress transgender individuals in order to advance a broader movement to undermine democracy and restrict the rights of other groups that fail to conform to majority values.

    While this perspective is quickly gaining media coverage, there hasn’t yet been hard evidence that authoritarians are particularly supportive of anti-trans legislation. Our goal was to assess the link between authoritarian attitudes and support for measures that restrict transgender rights.

    We are political scientists who study the role of authoritarianism in American politics and who field polls that explore Americans’ views on a number of pressing issues.

    In April 2025, we fielded a nationally representative survey of 1,000 American adults, asking about their perceptions of the first months of the second Trump presidency, their views toward various groups in society, and their policy preferences. We also asked them for their views about restrictions on the provision of gender-affirming care to transgender Americans.

    Here’s how we analyzed and interpreted their responses.

    Conformity, obedience, uniformity

    Authoritarianism is defined by public opinion scholars as an individual’s predisposition toward conformity, obedience and uniformity and an aversion to diversity, difference and individual autonomy.

    To measure authoritarianism, scholars use a scale that asks respondents to express their preferences for a range of child-rearing practices. The scale asks whether a respondent tends to prefer children who are obedient, well behaved and well mannered or children who are independent, creative and considerate. Those who tend to favor obedient children are scored as having more authoritarian views.

    Child-rearing preferences seem to be unrelated to attitudes about conformity in society. But there is good reason to believe that an adult who prefers conformity, obedience and uniformity in children also desires the same in society at large.

    Political psychologists have used this scale to help explain Americans’ support for the war on terrorism, their racial attitudes, views on gender equality and immigration attitudes.

    This work consistently shows that individuals who are less authoritarian are more likely to support policies that recognize diverse views. Those who rank high on authoritarianism prefer policies that highlight social unity and conformity.

    Thus, we expected that Americans with more authoritarian attitudes would more strongly support state laws that seek to restrict transgender Americans’ access to gender-affirming care.

    We find evidence that this is indeed the case.

    A person holds a sign supporting transgender veterans at the Unite For Veterans rally in Washington, D.C., on June 3, 2025.
    Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images via AFP via Getty Images

    ‘Not a sideshow’

    In line with other polling on this issue, our survey found that a little over one-third of Americans – 36% – express support for legislation that would make providing gender-affirming medical care to transgender youth a crime. Among the remaining respondents, 38% expressed opposition, and 26% expressed ambivalence toward this proposal.

    We looked at support for banning gender-affirming care by level of authoritarianism. We found clear differences between the most and least authoritarian Americans.

    Among those who score highest on the authoritarian scale, 46% express support for this ban, with 18% in opposition. The remaining 36% responded “neither support nor oppose” this ban. Examining the views of Americans who exhibit the least authoritarian views, we find that while 21% support these bans, 61% oppose them and 18% expressed an ambivalent view.

    Authoritarianism remains an important contributor to Americans’ support for a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, even after we take into account other considerations that influence this attitude.

    Republican partisanship, conservative ideology and religiosity all increase support for a ban on gender-affirming care. After accounting for these factors, as well as for characteristics such as education, income, age and knowing a transgender person, more authoritarian people are still more likely to support the ban.

    Many state legislatures and the U.S. Congress are considering legislation to restrict the rights of transgender Americans.

    The findings from our survey suggest that while partisanship, ideology and religiosity all play key roles in explaining the popularity of these policies, a missing piece of the puzzle is authoritarianism.

    Given their aversion to diversity and difference and their preference for the status quo, Americans with authoritarian inclinations likely believe that transgender people pose a threat to the social order. Thus, they are more likely than Americans low in authoritarianism to support policies that seek to restrict transgender rights in order to restore social conformity.

    It’s not clear whether the passage of anti-transgender policies alone will lead the nation to turn away from a largely diverse and open democracy toward a more closed and intolerant society. But the fight over transgender rights is not a sideshow in American politics. Instead, it is one of the first of many battles over diversity and difference that will determine the nation’s political future.

    Jesse Rhodes has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the Demos Foundation, and the Spencer Foundation. He is a member of the American Civil Liberties Union.

    Adam Eichen, Lane Cuthbert, and Tatishe Nteta do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Antagonism to transgender rights is tied to the authoritarian desire for social conformity – not just partisan affiliation – https://theconversation.com/antagonism-to-transgender-rights-is-tied-to-the-authoritarian-desire-for-social-conformity-not-just-partisan-affiliation-257431

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Politics based on grievance has a long and violent history in America

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Peter C. Mancall, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

    A statue of Christopher Columbus, toppled by protesters, is loaded onto a truck on the grounds of the state capitol on June 10, 2020, in St Paul, Minn. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

    Recently, President Donald Trump declared that he is “bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes.” He hopes to make up for the removal of commemorative statues important to “the Italians that love him so much.”

    But Columbus Day had not been scrapped or reduced to ashes. Although President Joe Biden issued a proclamation for Indigenous Peoples Day in October 2024, on the same day he also declared a holiday in honor of Christopher Columbus.

    Nonetheless, Trump posted in April 2025, “Christopher is going to make a major comeback.” By using Columbus’ name, which means “Christ-bearer,” a president who covets the praise of faith leaders yoked the explorer to his campaign promise: “For those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.”

    By reasserting the importance of Columbus, the president took a stand against the toppling and vandalism of statues of Columbus. In this case, his act of retribution for his supporters focused on the holiday, which he could declare more easily than returning icons of a fallen man to empty pedestals.

    Trump’s statement invoked the politics of grievance – a sense of resentment or injustice fueled by perceived discrimination – that have characterized his actions for years.

    The list of targets for his retribution, which have included Harvard University, elite law firms and former allies he believes have betrayed him, now exceeds 100, according to an NPR review.

    As a historian of early America, I am familiar with how grievance marked the colonial era. Throughout this period, grievance fueled rage and violence.

    European grievance in America

    Europeans who arrived in the Americas following Columbus’ 1492 journey claimed the territories in the Western Hemisphere through an obsolete legal theory known as the “doctrine of discovery.”

    Spanish, English, French, Dutch and Portuguese rulers, according to this notion, owned portions of the Americas, regardless of the claims of Indigenous peoples. This presumption of ownership justified, in their minds, the use of violence against those who resisted them.

    In 1598, for example, Spanish soldiers patrolling the pueblo of Acoma in New Mexico demanded food from local residents, whom the colonizers saw as their subordinates. The town’s inhabitants, believing the request excessive, fought instead, killing 11 Spaniards.

    In response, the governor of New Mexico, a territory almost entirely populated by Indigenous peoples, ordered the systematic amputations of the hands or feet of residents whom the soldiers thought had participated in the attack. They also enslaved hundreds in the town. Roughly 1,500 residents of Acoma died in the conflict, according to the National Park Service, a response seemingly driven more by grievance than strategy.

    English colonizers proved just as quick to deploy extraordinary violence if they believed Native Americans deprived them of what they thought was theirs.

    In March 1622, soldiers from the Powhatan Confederation – composed of Algonquian tribes from present-day Virginia – launched a surprise attack to protest encroachments on their lands, killing 347 colonists.

    The English labeled the event a “barbarous massacre,” using language that dehumanized the Powhatans and cast them as villainous raiders. An English pamphleteer named Edward Waterhouse castigated these Indigenous people as “wyld naked Natives,” “Pagan Infidels” and “perfidious and inhumane.”

    Opechancanough was paramount chief of the Powhatan Confederacy in present-day Virginia from 1618 until his death in 1646.
    mikroman6/Getty Images

    War began almost immediately. Colonial soldiers embraced a scorched-earth strategy, burning houses and crops when they could not locate their enemies. On May 22, 1623, one group sailed into Pamunkey territory to rescue captives.

    Under a ruse of peaceful negotiation, they distributed poison to some 200 Native residents. By doing so, the colonial soldiers, driven by grievance more than law, ignored their own rules of war, which forbade the use of poison in war.

    Grievance drove colonists against each other

    Even among colonists, grievance promoted violence.

    In 1692, residents of Salem, Massachusetts, believed their misfortunes were the work of the devil. Their anxieties and anger led them to accuse others of witchcraft.

    As historians who have studied the Salem witch trials have argued, many of the accusers in agricultural Salem Village – modern-day Danvers – harbored resentments against neighbors who had closer ties to nearby Salem Town, which was more commercial.

    The aggrieved found a spokesman in the Rev. Samuel Parris, whose own earlier failure in business had led him to look for a new path forward as a minister. Parris’ anger about his earlier disappointments fueled his indignation about what he saw as inadequate economic support from local authorities.

    In a sermon, he underscored his financial irritation by emphasizing Judas’ betrayal of Jesus for “a poor & mean price,” as if it was the amount that mattered. The resentful residents and their bitter minister fueled the largest witch hunt in American history, which left at least 20 of the accused dead.

    The painting ‘Trial of George Jacobs of Salem for Witchcraft’ in 1692 by T.H. Matteson.
    Tompkins Harrison Matteson/Library of Congress via AP

    The most obvious forerunner of today’s grievance-fueled politics was a rebellion in the spring and summer of 1676 by backcountry colonists in Virginia who battled their Jamestown-based colonial government. They were led by Nathaniel Bacon, a tobacco farmer who believed that provincial officials were not doing enough to protect outlying farms from attacks by Susquehannocks and other Indigenous residents.

    Bacon and his followers, consumed by their “declaration of grievances,” petitioned the local government for help. When they did not get the result they wanted, they marched against Jamestown. They set the capital alight and chased Gov. William Berkeley away.

    Bacon succumbed to dysentery in October, and the movement collapsed without its charismatic leader. Berkeley survived but lost his position.

    The rebellion has become etched into history as a violent attack against governing authorities that foreshadowed the 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol.

    When President Trump invokes alleged insults to one community to satisfy the yearnings of his followers, he and his allies run the risk of once again stoking the passions of the aggrieved.

    Acts of grievance come in different forms, depending on historical and political circumstance. But the urge to reclaim what someone thinks should be theirs can lead to deadly violence, as earlier Americans repeatedly discovered.

    Peter C. Mancall has received support from the University of Southern California, the Huntington Library, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Oxford University to support his research on early America.

    – ref. Politics based on grievance has a long and violent history in America – https://theconversation.com/politics-based-on-grievance-has-a-long-and-violent-history-in-america-257202

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How was the wheel invented? Computer simulations reveal the unlikely birth of a world-changing technology nearly 6,000 years ago

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Kai James, Professor of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

    The assumption was that the wheel evolved from wooden rollers. Tetra Images via Getty Images

    Imagine you’re a copper miner in southeastern Europe in the year 3900 B.C.E. Day after day you haul copper ore through the mine’s sweltering tunnels.

    You’ve resigned yourself to the grueling monotony of mining life. Then one afternoon, you witness a fellow worker doing something remarkable.

    With an odd-looking contraption, he casually transports the equivalent of three times his body weight on a single trip. As he returns to the mine to fetch another load, it suddenly dawns on you that your chosen profession is about to get far less taxing and much more lucrative.

    What you don’t realize: You’re witnessing something that will change the course of history – not just for your tiny mining community, but for all of humanity.

    An illustration of what the original mine carts used in the Carpathian mountains may have looked like in 3900 B.C.E.
    Kai James via DALL·E

    Despite the wheel’s immeasurable impact, no one is certain as to who invented it, or when and where it was first conceived. The hypothetical scenario described above is based on a 2015 theory that miners in the Carpathian Mountains – now Hungary – first invented the wheel nearly 6,000 years ago as a means to transport copper ore.

    The theory is supported by the discovery of more than 150 miniaturized wagons by archaeologists working in the region. These pint-sized, four-wheeled models were made from clay, and their outer surfaces were engraved with a wickerwork pattern reminiscent of the basketry used by mining communities at the time. Carbon dating later revealed that these wagons are the earliest known depictions of wheeled transport to date.

    This theory also raises a question of particular interest to me, an aerospace engineer who studies the science of engineering design. How did an obscure, scientifically naive mining society discover the wheel, when highly advanced civilizations, such as the ancient Egyptians, did not?

    A controversial idea

    It has long been assumed that wheels evolved from simple wooden rollers. But until recently no one could explain how or why this transformation took place. What’s more, beginning in the 1960s, some researchers started to express strong doubts about the roller-to-wheel theory.

    After all, for rollers to be useful, they require flat, firm terrain and a path free of inclines and sharp curves. Furthermore, once the cart passes them, used rollers need to be continually brought around to the front of the line to keep the cargo moving. For all these reasons, the ancient world used rollers sparingly. According to the skeptics, rollers were too rare and too impractical to have been the starting point for the evolution of the wheel.

    But a mine – with its enclosed, human-made passageways – would have provided favorable conditions for rollers. This factor, among others, compelled my team to revisit the roller hypothesis.

    A turning point

    The transition from rollers to wheels requires two key innovations. The first is a modification of the cart that carries the cargo. The cart’s base must be outfitted with semicircular sockets, which hold the rollers in place. This way, as the operator pulls the cart, the rollers are pulled along with it.

    This innovation may have been motivated by the confined nature of the mine environment, where having to periodically carry used rollers back around to the front of the cart would have been especially onerous.

    The discovery of socketed rollers represented a turning point in the evolution of the wheel and paved the way for the second and most important innovation. This next step involved a change to the rollers themselves. To understand how and why this change occurred, we turned to physics and computer-aided engineering.

    Simulating the wheel’s evolution

    To begin our investigation, we created a computer program designed to simulate the evolution from a roller to a wheel. Our hypothesis was that this transformation was driven by a phenomenon called “mechanical advantage.” This same principle allows pliers to amplify a user’s grip strength by providing added leverage. Similarly, if we could modify the shape of the roller to generate mechanical advantage, this would amplify the user’s pushing force, making it easier to advance the cart.

    Our algorithm worked by modeling hundreds of potential roller shapes and evaluating how each one performed, both in terms of mechanical advantage and structural strength. The latter was used to determine whether a given roller would break under the weight of the cargo. As predicted, the algorithm ultimately converged upon the familiar wheel-and-axle shape, which it determined to be optimal.

    A computer simulation of the evolution from a roller to a wheel-and-axle structure. Each image represents a design evaluated by the algorithm. The search ultimately converges upon the familiar wheel-and-axle design.
    Kai James

    During the execution of the algorithm, each new design performed slightly better than its predecessor. We believe a similar evolutionary process played out with the miners 6,000 years ago.

    It is unclear what initially prompted the miners to explore alternative roller shapes. One possibility is that friction at the roller-socket interface caused the surrounding wood to wear away, leading to a slight narrowing of the roller at the point of contact. Another theory is that the miners began thinning out the rollers so that their carts could pass over small obstructions on the ground.

    Either way, thanks to mechanical advantage, this narrowing of the axle region made the carts easier to push. As time passed, better-performing designs were repeatedly favored over the others, and new rollers were crafted to mimic these top performers.

    Consequently, the rollers became more and more narrow, until all that remained was a slender bar capped on both ends by large discs. This rudimentary structure marks the birth of what we now refer to as “the wheel.”

    According to our theory, there was no precise moment at which the wheel was invented. Rather, just like the evolution of species, the wheel emerged gradually from an accumulation of small improvements.

    This is just one of the many chapters in the wheel’s long and ongoing evolution. More than 5,000 years after the contributions of the Carpathian miners, a Parisian bicycle mechanic invented radial ball bearings, which once again revolutionized wheeled transportation.

    Ironically, ball bearings are conceptually identical to rollers, the wheel’s evolutionary precursor. Ball bearings form a ring around the axle, creating a rolling interface between the axle and the wheel hub, thereby circumventing friction. With this innovation, the evolution of the wheel came full circle.

    This example also shows how the wheel’s evolution, much like its iconic shape, traces a circuitous path – one with no clear beginning, no end, and countless quiet revolutions along the way.

    Kai James receives funding from The National Science Foundation.

    – ref. How was the wheel invented? Computer simulations reveal the unlikely birth of a world-changing technology nearly 6,000 years ago – https://theconversation.com/how-was-the-wheel-invented-computer-simulations-reveal-the-unlikely-birth-of-a-world-changing-technology-nearly-6-000-years-ago-244038

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Ghana and Zambia have snubbed Africa’s leading development bank: why they should change course

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Misheck Mutize, Post Doctoral Researcher, Graduate School of Business (GSB), University of Cape Town

    The governments of Ghana and Zambia recently took a decision that could have serious consequences for other African countries. The decision relates to arrangements on how the two countries will repay the debt they owe to Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).

    They have both taken decisions to relegate Afreximbank to a commercial lender from a preferred creditor. This means that the terms on which Afreximbank has lent money to these two countries will change. And it will lose certain protections. For example preferred creditors are repaid first, before any other lenders.

    This protects preferred creditors’ balance sheets and enables them to continue lending during crisis periods when others cannot. In contrast, commercial banks get paid later or might not get paid at all. This higher risk factor means that they charge higher rates.

    Based on decades of researching Africa’s capital markets and the institutions that govern them it’s my view that the long-term consequences of this precedent are detrimental. If other African borrowers follow suit, treating loans from African multilateral development banks as ordinary commercial debt during restructuring, it will erode the viability of these institutions. Investors who fund Afreximbank through bonds and capital markets may reassess its risk profile, pushing up its cost of funding and making future lending less affordable.

    The ultimate losers will be African countries themselves, especially those with limited access to international capital. Afreximbank, along with other African financial institutions, is a lifeline for trade finance, infrastructure development, and crisis response. Undermining its legal protections weakens the continent’s capacity for self-reliant development.

    Afreximbank was created under the auspices of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in 1993. It was set up with a public interest mandate to develop African trade and promote integration. Its legal status and structural features place it closer to international multilateral development banks than to private creditors, justifying its treatment as a preferred creditor.

    The decision by Accra and Lusaka signals lack of confidence in African financial institutions. It suggests that they do not trust them to the same extent as global institutions like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. These are treated as preferred creditors, on the assumption that they will lend to countries in crisis or distress when commercial lenders retreat.

    The actions of Ghana and Zambia set a dangerous precedent by sidelining African financial institutions in favour of external creditors. That risks weakening Africa’s financial institutions and undermining the very concept of African solutions to African problems. Investors will become more sceptical and pessimistic, demanding more interest.

    The continent needs to develop an ability to independently design, finance and implement its economic development policies without support from external financial institutions. Afreximbank helps to achieve this through financing African-designed infrastructure and counter-cyclical lending.

    Ghana and Zambia still have an opportunity to correct course. In my view they should do so for the sake of the bank, its member states and the future of African economic sovereignty.

    The background

    Ghana and Zambia have both defaulted on their external bonds in the last four years. Zambia in October 2020 and Ghana in December 2022. This forced them to negotiate new sustainable terms with creditors.

    During their respective debt negotiations, both countries have announced that they would include African multilateral development banks such as Afreximbank and the Trade and Development Bank in the debt restructuring.

    This followed private and bilateral creditors contesting unequal distribution of restructuring burdens, where they face losses while some multilateral institutions are shielded. The International Monetary Fund and World Bank, which are preferred creditors, do not fund infrastructure, they only offer balance of payments support.

    The decision by Ghana and Zambia to relegate Afreximbank was made during an ongoing comprehensive debt restructuring. Ghana and Zambia have been negotiating with creditors for over a year in an attempt to resolve their sovereign debt crises.

    The two countries were complying with International Monetary Fund supported restructuring terms. Bilateral creditors were also demanding fair burden sharing with African multilateral banks.

    Afreximbank: not just another lender

    Ghana and Zambia don’t have a legal leg to stand on.

    Afreximbank’s preferred creditor status is not an informal privilege but derives from Article VX(1) of its founding agreement. The agreement has been signed and ratified by member states into national laws, including Ghana and Zambia.

    This status is further reinforced by the bank’s diplomatic immunities and privileges and its ability to operate across African jurisdictions under protected legal frameworks. The role of Afreximbank, therefore, goes beyond that of a traditional commercial bank.

    Preferred creditor status protects development finance institutions in a number of ways. The biggest protection is that lenders are prioritised for repayment. This protects their balance sheets, enabling them to continue lending when others cannot.

    A preferred creditor status is accorded for a reason. It is to ensure that development finance institutions can lend in times of distress with confidence, on the guarantee that they will be repaid ahead of other creditors. Country actions that violate this principle disrupt the implicit covenant that enables counter-cyclical financing. This is breaking the financial lifeline that countries might need when nobody else is willing to help them. This is precisely the kind of support that Ghana and Zambia relied on during their respective debt crises in December 2022 and October 2020, respectively.

    A bank that has consistently stepped up

    It is worth recalling that during the COVID-19 pandemic (2019–2021) and again when global markets closed access to Eurobond issuances for African countries, investors didn’t want to lend African countries for fear of defaulting. Afreximbank was one of the few institutions that continued to lend to African sovereigns. This included US$750 million to Ghana and US$45 million to Zambia.

    When Ghana, Zambia and other commodity export-dependent countries faced acute foreign currency shortages and tightening global liquidity caused by the 2015/16 commodity crisis of low prices, Afreximbank did not hesitate to deploy resources.

    Zambia has also benefited significantly from Afreximbank’s trade and development finance in energy, agriculture and healthcare. These are areas that many commercial banks view as too risky or low-margin.

    For Zambia and Ghana to classify Afreximbank in the same category as hedge funds, bondholders or purely commercial lenders, is ahistorical and unwarranted.

    Restructuring loans from Afreximbank risks inadvertently raising the cost of capital for African countries. If Afreximbank can no longer be shielded under preferred creditor status norms, it may be forced to adopt more conservative lending practices, charge higher risk premiums or retreat from high-risk markets altogether.

    The knock-on effect is reduced access to affordable, timely financing for countries that need it most.

    Afreximbank has rejected the idea that its loans ought to be restructured.

    Ghana and Zambia should correct course

    Ghana and Zambia still have an opportunity to correct course. They can reaffirm Afreximbank’s preferred creditor status, exclude it from restructuring tables meant for commercial creditors, and honour their legal commitments.

    In doing so, they would not only preserve their reputations as reliable debtors but also strengthen the broader fabric of African financial solidarity.

    African countries must be cognisant that no one else will build their institutions for them. If they do not defend and respect them, they cannot expect the rest of the world to do so. The credibility, sustainability and legitimacy of Africa’s financial independence depends, in large part, on how they treat the institutions they have built.

    The decision to treat Afreximbank and the Trade and Development Bank like commercial lenders is short-sighted and self-defeating. It must be reversed.

    – Ghana and Zambia have snubbed Africa’s leading development bank: why they should change course
    – https://theconversation.com/ghana-and-zambia-have-snubbed-africas-leading-development-bank-why-they-should-change-course-258467

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • Om Birla to inspire future IAS officers at Mussoorie Training Program

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will visit Mussoorie, Uttarakhand on Thursday to address the valedictory ceremony of the 127th Induction Training Program at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration. He is scheduled to arrive at Jolly Grant Airport at 9:45 AM and reach Mussoorie by 11:30 AM, returning to Delhi the same day.

    The training program, tailored for officers promoted from State Civil Services to the Indian Administrative Service, hosts 97 participants from 19 states, including 73 male and 24 female officers. Aligned with the national vision of “Viksit Bharat @2047” and “Mission Karmayogi,” the program aims to prepare ethical and capable civil servants for national-level leadership roles.

    Built on seven thematic pillars—Good Governance, Personality Development, Collaborative Learning, Technology, Leadership Insights, Entrepreneurship, and Regional Understanding—the initiative equips officers for policy-making, inter-regional coordination, and institutional leadership.

  • Indian Railways introduces Aadhaar authentication for Tatkal bookings from July 1

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Indian Railways has announced significant changes to its Tatkal ticket booking system, effective from July 1, to ensure fair access and curb misuse. The reforms focus on enhancing user authentication and restricting agent bookings to prioritize genuine passengers.

    Starting July 1, only Aadhaar-authenticated users will be able to book Tatkal tickets through the IRCTC website and mobile app. From July 15, Aadhaar-based OTP authentication will become mandatory for all online Tatkal bookings. Additionally, Tatkal tickets booked at Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters and through authorized agents will require OTP verification sent to the user’s registered mobile number, also effective from July 15.

    To prevent bulk bookings, authorized agents will be barred from booking Tatkal tickets during the first 30 minutes of the booking window. For AC classes, this restriction applies from 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM, and for non-AC classes, from 11:00 AM to 11:30 AM.

    The Ministry of Railways has directed the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) and IRCTC to implement necessary system upgrades and inform all Zonal Railways. Passengers are urged to link their Aadhaar with their IRCTC profiles to avoid booking issues.

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Inspection reform: Education Secretary responds to Ofsted HMCI

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Correspondence

    Inspection reform: Education Secretary responds to Ofsted HMCI

    Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson’s letter about inspection reforms responding to His Majesty’s Chief Inspector Sir Martyn Oliver.

    Applies to England

    Documents

    Letter to Ofsted about education inspections consultation response and board appointment

    PDF, 123 KB, 2 pages

    Details

    Bridget Phillipson responds to Sir Martyn Oliver about Ofsted’s consultation response on proposed changes to education inspections being published in September 2025.

    This letter confirms:

    Read Ofsted’s letter.

    Updates to this page

    Published 11 June 2025

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    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Education inspection reform: letter from HMCI to Secretary of State for Education

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Correspondence

    Education inspection reform: letter from HMCI to Secretary of State for Education

    Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, updates the Education Secretary on feedback received from the consultation about proposed changes to education inspections.

    Applies to England

    Documents

    Education inspection reform: letter from HMCI to the Secretary of State for Education

    PDF, 104 KB, 4 pages

    Details

    His Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI), Sir Martyn Oliver, has written to the Secretary of State for Education about the feedback received on proposed education inspection changes and what will happen next.

    Read the Education Secretary’s response to the Chief Inspector.

    Updates to this page

    Published 11 June 2025

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    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Ofsted confirms September publication for consultation response, ahead of new-look education inspections from November

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Press release

    Ofsted confirms September publication for consultation response, ahead of new-look education inspections from November

    Ofsted recently consulted on changes to education inspections and the introduction of a new report card.

    • Consultation on reforming education inspections shows strong parental support for new report cards, but sector feedback reveals further work is needed to refine the final approach.
    • Revised inspection framework and methodology to be published in September, alongside Ofsted’s response to the consultation.
    • Inspections under the new approach will begin in November 2025, as planned.

    The consultation also set out proposals for new inspection toolkits and a range of methodological changes to ensure the consistency of inspection and improve the experience for education professionals.

    A formal response to the consultation was originally intended for the summer term, but Sir Martyn Oliver, Ofsted’s Chief Inspector, has confirmed in a letter to the Secretary of State for Education today that the scale of feedback received means the final response will now be published in September. This will allow more time to analyse responses and carry out further testing of proposals to refine and improve the final approach.   

    The online consultation questionnaire received over 6,500 responses from parents, education professionals and representative bodies. Ofsted also conducted over 200 test visits to schools, early-years settings, further education and skills providers and initial teacher education (ITE) institutions. At the same time, YouGov carried out extensive independent polling and focus groups with parents and professionals.

    Parental feedback on the new-look report card was overwhelmingly positive. Almost 7 out of 10 parents surveyed said they preferred report cards to Ofsted’s current inspection reports. And nearly 9 out of 10 parents said the proposed report cards are easy to understand.

    In response to sector feedback on the inspection toolkits, Ofsted has already confirmed its intention to improve their clarity, particularly in how grades and the boundaries between them are defined. Concerns have also been raised about the number of evaluation areas to be considered on inspection, and insights from test visits have suggested these could be streamlined to make inspections more workable for all involved.

    Ofsted is also doing more work to further ensure the consistency of inspection by developing additional management and oversight measures, which will be set out in September’s response.  

    To minimise the pressure of inspection, an independent assessment of the impact of the new approach on professionals’ wellbeing will be published as part of the response to the consultation. 

    In his letter to the Education Secretary, Sir Martyn Oliver said:

    I said from the start that this is a meaningful consultation and that our proposals were not set in stone. We fully intend to make improvements to the proposed inspection framework, based on what we have heard, but we need a little more time to complete our analysis of the responses we have received. I am also convinced that our final approach will be improved by further testing of these refinements before the summer.

    I firmly believe this will result in a better and more effective inspection regime that will help the committed professionals in the education sector to raise standards for children and learners.

    Ofsted will continue to engage extensively with the education sector throughout the summer, with test visits to be extended to the end of this term. After publishing the consultation response, toolkits and related materials in September, Ofsted will hold comprehensive briefings for education professionals in the first half of the autumn term, while routine inspections are on hold.

    Ofsted will run a programme of training events and roadshows for providers. Every provider will be invited to nominate an individual to attend a training session, to give providers a thorough understanding of the revised framework. Sector-facing webinars will also continue, and inspector training materials will continue to be made publicly available.

    Routine inspections in schools, early years and further education will resume under the revised framework in November. ITE inspections will resume in January 2026, in keeping with their usual timetable.

    Press office

    8.30am to 6pm Monday to Friday 0300 013 0415

    Updates to this page

    Published 11 June 2025

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  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Ten British AI breakthroughs set to cut bills and heat homes more efficiently

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Press release

    Ten British AI breakthroughs set to cut bills and heat homes more efficiently

    Millions of families could see warmer homes and lower energy bills, as ministers back ten new AI innovations which will help make the UK a clean energy superpower through the government’s Plan for Change.

    Manchester Prize finalists announced.

    • Ten AI pioneers are being supported to develop AI solutions which slash energy bills and accelerate the UK’s clean energy superpower ambitions.   
    • Technologies include AI-powered heat mapping drones and smart panels that warm homes from the outside.  
    • Winners will compete for £1 million Manchester Prize, helping to unlock AI innovation and growth to deliver the government’s Plan for Change.

    Millions of families could see warmer homes and lower energy bills, as ministers back ten new AI innovations which will help make the UK a clean energy superpower through the government’s Plan for Change.

    The ten finalists for the second round of the Manchester Prize include revolutionary technologies that could transform how Britain tackles climate change, while cutting costs for working families.  

    Among them is a system using AI to design bespoke panels, turning bricks into radiators to warm homes from the outside in, keeping a comfortable inside temperature all year round and simplifying the installation of heat pumps in older homes while reducing costs.   

    Another team uses AI-enabled drones to map heat loss across entire neighbourhoods, helping councils identify exactly which homes need urgent insulation upgrades – which could save households hundreds on their annual energy bill.   

    The Manchester Prize, funded by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology and delivered by Challenge Works (part of the Nesta group), is rewarding UK-led AI breakthroughs that support the public good, including growing the economy, improving public services and helping to create a just transition to Net Zero for everyone.   
     
    Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle said:   

    AI is opening up transformative new ways to tackle climate change and support the UK’s ambition to become a clean energy superpower.   

    That includes using the technology to keep our homes warm, while also supporting projects which will use AI to slash carbon emissions in our cement and steel industries – sectors which account for 16% of global emissions.   

    This is how we deliver our Plan for Change – harnessing innovation to solve major challenges, cut energy bills, and improve lives across Britain.

    Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: 

    Clean power is the economic opportunity of the 21st century and these projects will help households and businesses take advantage of lower bills, in a smarter and faster way than ever before. 

    From specially designed radiator walls to a smart power grid that flicks on and off as we need, AI has the potential to help every home in Britain to feel the benefits of warmer homes and homegrown clean energy.

    Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge, chair of the Manchester Prize judging panel said:   

    We are at a critical juncture in the journey to net zero, the next decade is make or break if the world is to keep global temperatures from exceeding 1.5C by 2050. Global emissions need to halve by 2030 compared to 1990 levels if we are to stay on track, while electricity production will need to double by 2050 to meet the demands of an electrified economy – clean energy innovation is essential.

    The rapid advancement of AI means we have tools like never before to achieve the goal of decarbonising the economy while supporting individuals, communities and businesses to thrive.

    Other finalists include AI technologies to help the logistics industry cut its emissions, and AI being used to ensure the energy grid remains balanced at all times – as more and more of our energy supplies comes from wind and solar.   
     
    The ten teams behind the advanced AI solutions have each received £100,000 in seed funding, plus £60,000 worth of compute credits to help train and scale their models. They will also benefit from non-financial support including investor readiness guidance and access to a network of experts, positioning them for success in the pursuit of the £1 million grand prize in spring 2026. The winning solution will demonstrate not only technical innovation, but also an evidenced road map to near-term (2030) adoption, scale and impact.   

    These shortlisted finalists will now follow in the footsteps of Polaron – the inaugural winners of the Manchester Prize which speeds up the development of advanced materials used in all walks of life – from wind turbines to electric batteries.  

    The winning innovation will be announced early next year, taking home the grand prize of £1 million to bring their cutting-edge ideas to life.  

    It builds on the AI Opportunities Action Plan, the UK government’s blueprint to accelerate the use of AI across the economy. By harnessing cutting-edge solutions like these, AI is driving breakthroughs in industry, transforming public services, and improving the lives of citizens across the country.

    Notes to Editors

    About the first Manchester Prize

    The Manchester Prize is a multi-million-pound challenge prize from the UK’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to reward UK-led breakthroughs in artificial intelligence for public good. It is rewarding innovations that will help to transform the lives of the people across the UK and continue to secure the UK’s place as a global leader in cutting edge innovation.   
     
    In its second year, the Manchester Prize will reward UK-led breakthroughs in artificial intelligence that will accelerate action towards the UK’s ambitious clean energy and net zero goals – manchesterprize.org.

    About Challenge Works

    Challenge Works is a global leader in designing and delivering high-impact challenge prizes that incentivise cutting-edge innovation for social good. It is part of UK innovation foundation agency Nesta. For more than a decade, it has run more than 97 prizes, distributed more than £210 million in funding and engaged with 16,000 innovators.   

    Manchester Prize (year 2) finalists

    Agent Net Zero

    Agent Net Zero by University of Sheffield and AMRC. Agent Net Zero is an innovative AI system that helps industrial companies become more sustainable by analysing their environmental impact in real-time. The system continuously monitors energy usage and emissions by connecting to various data sources across operations. Using advanced AI techniques, Agent Net Zero identifies environmental hotspots and automatically suggests practical improvements. This gives businesses clear, actionable insights to reduce their carbon footprint while maintaining productivity and competitiveness, essentially providing a “sustainability assistant” that works 24/7 to help companies achieve their net-zero goals.

    BiofuelAi

    BiofuelAi by University of Surrey. BiofuelAi brings cutting-edge AI and machine learning to the biofuel industry, optimising complex, variable processes in real time. Traditional biogas production often relies on operator intuition due to unpredictable biological systems because biofuels are made from multiple material inputs. BiofuelAi solves this with advanced predictive models that create a digital twin of each site, enabling whole-system optimisation – from daily feedstock recipes to long-term acquisition strategies. Developed by AI and sustainability experts, the platform boosts efficiency, profitability, and environmental impact, offering a scalable solution for cleaner, data-driven energy production worldwide.

    Carbon Re

    Carbon Re by Carbon Re. Cement forms the foundation of our modern world but it has a sustainability problem – it is responsible for around 8% of global CO₂ emissions. Carbon Re is tackling this challenge by building AI process control software to cut emissions in cement production. Acting like self-driving for industrial plants, Carbon Re optimises industrial processes in real-time, helping manufacturers cut both costs and carbon while transitioning to low-carbon operations. A joint spin out of University College London and the University of Cambridge, Carbon Re was founded to deliver immediate climate impact for heavy industry.

    Cavolo

    Cavolo by Kale AI. Cavolo uses advanced AI to make city deliveries more efficient and eco-friendly. The system helps businesses switch from traditional delivery vans to Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs), which are more efficient in busy cities. By using AI, Cavolo optimises delivery routes in real-time, reducing traffic, energy use, and emissions. The technology helps make urban logistics faster and greener, allowing businesses to deliver goods quickly while saving time and reducing their environmental impact.

    Deep.Optimiser-PhyX

    Deep.Optimiser-PhyX by Deep.Meta. Deep.Meta is tackling carbon emissions in the steel industry with an AI-powered Digital Twin – a smart digital replica of the production process that combines physics and machine learning to optimise furnace operations. By using real-time sensor data and material science, Deep.Meta more accurately predicts steel slab temperatures and improves scheduling, boosting energy efficiency and significantly cutting emissions. Unlike black-box AI, which can discourage adoption, Deep.Meta’s explainable, physics-based models offer clear reasoning, building trust with users. Founded by experts in metallurgy and machine learning, Deep.Meta is already partnering with global steelmakers and aims to scale through broader industry collaboration.

    DRIVE

    DRIVE (Deep Re-enforcement learning for Intelligent Vehicle and Energy optimisation) by Flexible Power Systems. Flexible Power Systems (FPS) helps big fleets like vans, trucks, and buses switch to electric by managing vehicles, chargers, and schedules with smart software. FPS uses advanced AI called Deep Reinforcement Learning to solve complex, fast-changing problems – like where and when to charge – more quickly and efficiently. After training in a virtual world, the AI can make smart decisions in real time. First used in EV fleets, this technology could also help with bigger energy challenges in the future.

    EnergyWall

    EnergyWall by Underheat, in partnership with University of Salford. EnergyWall upgrades a building’s walls, gently warming or cooling homes from the outside, turning bricks into radiators that maintain a comfortable internal temperature all year round. Using AI to analyse a building and off-site manufacturing, it designs and installs pipe systems into insulation panels for the walls of a building, making retrofitting buildings with heat pumps faster, cheaper, and less disruptive. This approach is ideal for social housing, helping reduce carbon emissions, cut energy bills, and tackle condensation that causes mould. It’s a smarter, scalable way to decarbonise heating and fight fuel poverty across the UK.

    Green Loops

    Green Loops by University of Wolverhampton, in partnership with ABCircular GmbH Berlin. Green Loops tackles the challenge of recycling end-of-life photovoltaic (PV) cells by creating high-efficiency solar panels from recycled materials.  It uses machine learning to analyse the optical properties of materials and structures of solar cells. Using highly conductive artificially engineered MXene-based metamaterials, Green Loops optimises the design of solar cells to enhance energy performance while reducing manufacturing costs. With the growing e-waste problem from old solar panels, the technology helps reduce waste, supports a circular economy, and makes solar energy more sustainable and accessible.

    Grid Stability

    Grid Stability by University of Manchester. For electricity grids to function, there must be balance between the electricity going into the grid and the electricity leaving it. Grid Stability Monitor uses AI and machine learning to quickly analyse power grid stability as more low-carbon technologies like wind, solar, EVs and heat pumps connect. It replaces slow, complex simulations with rapid, AI-driven assessments, enabling real-time monitoring, faster decision-making, and more confident planning. This helps grid operators maintain reliability while scaling up clean energy solutions and cutting emissions.

    Rapid Thermal Performance Assessment algorithms (RaThPAs)

    Rapid Thermal Performance Assessment algorithms (RaThPAs) by Kestrix. Kestrix uses AI and thermal drones to map heat loss across entire neighbourhoods, acting as fast, 3D energy surveys from the sky. This helps stakeholders like utilities, councils and housing providers plan energy upgrades with fewer costly, time-consuming site visits. Like a “Google Maps of heat loss,” the system shows where buildings are leaking heat and recommends fixes. With a team of experts in computer vision and physics, Kestrix aims to speed up home retrofits, in turn cutting emissions, saving households money, and making homes warmer and healthier at scale.

    DSIT media enquiries

    Email press@dsit.gov.uk

    Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 6pm 020 7215 3000

    Updates to this page

    Published 11 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Hudson Announces 2025 Congressional Art Competition Winners

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Richard Hudson (NC-08)

    SOUTHERN PINES, NC – U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (NC-09) announced the 2025 Congressional Art Competition winners from North Carolina’s 9th District.

    “The Congressional Art Competition is an incredible opportunity to highlight the artistic talents of our District’s high school students, and I was very impressed by all of the submissions we received this year,” said Rep. Hudson. “I congratulate this year’s winners and thank everyone who participated in the competition. I look forward to showcasing their artwork in the Capitol and my office.”

    Below are the winning selections for North Carolina’s 9th District:

    First Place – Olivia Radder of West End, Pinecrest High School, Among Friends

    Second Place – Jacey Wilson of Trinity, Trinity High School, Drawn Out

    Third Place – Caroline West of Graham, Alamance-Burlington Early College, Death Metal

    The first-place winner’s artwork will hang in the U.S. Capitol, second place will hang in Rep. Hudson’s Washington, D.C. office, and third place will hang in his Southern Pines office.  

    Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Since the Artistic Discovery competition began in 1982, hundreds of thousands of high school students have participated. North Carolina’s 9th District Congressional Art Competition is judged by a committee of local artists who reviewed submissions earlier this year.

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: MATSUI, BALDERSON, SMITH, CASSIDY REINTRODUCE BILL TO ELIMINATE BARRIER TO TELEMENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA), Congressman Troy Balderson (R-OH), and Senators Tina Smith (D-MN) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) reintroduced the Telemental Health Care Access Act, legislation that would remove barriers to high-quality, virtual mental and behavioral health care for Medicare beneficiaries.

    Specifically, the bill removes the statutory requirement that Medicare beneficiaries be seen in-person within six months of being treated for mental and behavioral health services through telehealth. Eliminating this arbitrary requirement will ensure that patients can fully leverage telehealth to get the care they need from home.

    Provisions and extensions based upon the Telemental Health Care Access Act have been passed through multiple appropriations packages and continuing resolutions, most recently in March of this year – temporarily delaying the in-person requirement through September 30, 2025. This legislation would remove the in-person requirement permanently.

    “Mental health care is unequivocally as essential as physical health care – and telehealth has been a critical tool to bridge that gap and make it easier for Americans to access and seek care sooner,” said Congresswoman Matsui. “No matter where you live, whether it be rural or urban, you should not have arbitrary barriers like in-person visit requirements preventing you from accessing the care you need. That’s why we’re reintroducing this bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would ensure our Medicare beneficiaries can permanently get convenient, quality care, where and when they need it.” 

    “Telehealth has transformed health care access for people in rural and underserved communities, offering timely, high-quality care that was once out of reach,” said Congressman Balderson. “In particular, virtual mental and behavioral health services have reduced wait times and lowered barriers for those seeking professional support. The Telemental Health Care Access Act eliminates unnecessary restrictions on Medicare beneficiaries, helping fully unlock the potential of digital health care.”

    “Telehealth has proved to be an important lifeline and tool to close some of the most significant gaps in patients’ access to health care services,” said Senator Smith. “Especially for Minnesotans in small towns and rural communities suffering from mental health challenges, long commutes to the nearest provider can mean virtual care is the only feasible option. This bill is an important step in making it easier for mental health patients on Medicare to ask for help and get the care they need, without having to jump through administrative hoops.”

    Stakeholders across the health care industry have long raised concerns about inequitable access to mental health services. This legislation has garnered significant support amongst health care leaders.

    “The provision of mental health and substance use treatment through telehealth is a lifeline for those in rural and other underserved areas. It is essential, especially given current levels of demand, that we eliminate all unnecessary barriers and ensure continuity of care for these patients,” said APA CEO and Medical Director Marketa M. Wills, M.D., M.B.A. “APA strongly supports Representatives Matsui and Balderson and Senators Cassidy and Smith’s introduction of Telemental Health Care Access Act, as this legislation would greatly expand access to care.”

    “We strongly support the Telemental Health Care Access Act, important legislation that would eliminate requirements that are not clinically appropriate and only serve to limit access to necessary care for millions of Americans with behavioral health conditions,” said Kyle Zebley, Executive Director, ATA Action and Senior Vice President of Public Policy at the American Telemedicine Association (ATA). “We remain grateful to our telehealth champions in Congress, including Representatives Doris Matsui and Troy Balderson and Senators Tina Smith and Bill Cassidy who are reintroducing this important bipartisan legislation. By passing this bill, Congress will clear the path for Medicare beneficiaries to have greater access to telemental health services when and where they need it.”

    “Telehealth remains a crucial lifeline for patients seeking behavioral health support, particularly in communities with limited access to local providers,” saidArthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, CEO of the American Psychological Association Services. “Patients deserve uninterrupted, comprehensive care, yet restrictive policies on tele-behavioral health services threaten the progress made in expanding access to treatment options. The reintroduction of the Telemental Health Care Access Act by Representatives Matsui and Balderson is a pivotal step in protecting access to essential care. Their commitment to ensuring patients can receive lifesaving behavioral health treatment—regardless of geographic barriers—is a victory for all who rely on these vital services.”

    “Mental health care reduces the risk of suicide. The Telemental Health Care Access Act will enable greater access to care by allowing Medicare coverage for telemental health without a requirement for patients to see their providers in person,” saidLaurel Stine, J.D., M.A., Executive Vice President and Chief Policy and Advocacy Officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “Telemental health care is essential in connecting people in rural and other underserved areas with providers and removing unnecessary barriers to care, as well as for supporting access for individuals with limited ability to travel to office settings. We commend Representative Matsui, Representative Balderson, Senator Smith, and Senator Cassidy for leading this legislation to prevent suicide and protect access to mental health and substance use treatment.”

    Endorsing Organizations:

    • Alliance for Connected Care
    • Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP)
    • American Counseling Association (ACA)
    • American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP)
    • American Medical Association (AMA)
    • American Psychiatric Association (APA)
    • American Psychological Association
    • American Telemedicine Association (ATA)
    • ATA Action
    • Association for Behavioral Health & Wellness (ABHW)
    • Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)
    • California Medical Association
    • Center for Telehealth and e-Health Law (CTeL)
    • Centerstone
    • Eating Disorders Coalition for Research, Policy & Action
    • Health Innovation Alliance (HIA)
    • Hims & Hers
    • HIMSS
    • Included Health
    • Mental Health America
    • National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
    • National Association for Behavioral Healthcare (NABH)
    • National Association of Social Workers (NASW)
    • Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies
    • REDC Consortium
    • Talkspace
    • Teladoc Health
    • United States of Care

    Congresswoman Matsui has long led efforts to harness the power of technology to improve our health care system, including expanding access to telehealth services. She has continually led efforts to extend critical telehealth coverage for Medicare beneficiaries. She authored the Telemental Health Expansion Act, which permanently added mental health to the definition of Medicare-covered telehealth services, waived the geographic and originating site requirements for mental health provided through telehealth, and allowed Medicare beneficiaries to access these services at home. 

    Full text of the bill is available HERE.

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: House Values Action Team Chairman Robert Aderholt’s Statement on CMS Ending Biden’s EMTALA Attack on Unborn Children

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Robert Aderholt (AL-04)

    Washington, D.C. — Congressman Robert Aderholt (AL-04) today issued the following statement in support of the Trump administration’s decision to rescind Biden-era guidance that required emergency room doctors to perform abortions under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), undermining state pro-life laws:

    “I strongly commend President Trump and his administration for restoring clarity and integrity to federal law by rescinding the Biden administration’s EMTALA guidance. Congress never intended EMTALA to be a backdoor mandate for abortion. It was designed to ensure that patients receive emergency medical care, regardless of their ability to pay, not to override pro-life state laws.

    The previous guidance was not only legally flawed but dangerously misleading. It created unnecessary confusion about the ability of women to receive emergency care in pro-life states—care that is, and has always been, protected. Every state allows physicians to treat conditions like miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, or other emergencies where a mother’s life is at risk. To suggest otherwise is irresponsible and politically motivated.

    I am grateful that the Administration reaffirmed what many of us have long said: pro-life laws protect both patients, the mother and her unborn child. This is a win for life, a win for truth, and a win for the many doctors who provide life-saving care with compassion and integrity.”

    Congressman Aderholt is a long-time pro-life advocate and Chair of the House Values Action Team. He has consistently supported legislation to protect both unborn children and the rights of medical professionals who refuse to participate in abortion procedures on moral or religious grounds.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congressman Aderholt Backs Speaker Johnson: New Data Shows Able-bodied Medicaid Recipients Spend Over 120 Hours a Month Watching TV and Playing Video Games Instead of Working

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Robert Aderholt (AL-04)

    WASHINGTON — Congressman Robert Aderholt (AL-04) today issued the following statement in strong support of Speaker Mike Johnson’s comments regarding waste and abuse in the Medicaid system, following a new report exposing how non-working Medicaid recipients are spending their time.

    “Speaker Johnson hit the nail on the head when he said Medicaid shouldn’t be going to ‘29-year-old males sitting on their couches playing video games.’ The American Enterprise Institute’s new analysis confirms it: many able-bodied Medicaid recipients who aren’t working are spending their time — not looking for jobs — but glued to screens.”

    According to the AEI study, non-working Medicaid recipients without children spend an average of 4.2 hours every day watching TV and playing video games. That adds up to 125 hours per month — time that could be used for working, volunteering, or gaining job skills. 

    According to estimates from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and supported by data from the American Enterprise Institute and the Congressional Budget Office, roughly 7 to 10 million able-bodied, non-working adults without dependents are currently enrolled in Medicaid — approximately 1 in 10 recipients nationwide.

    “Let’s be clear: Medicaid was never meant to support a lifestyle of leisure for those who are fully capable of working,” said Aderholt. “Spending the equivalent of over three full workweeks a month on video games and TV is not what hardworking taxpayers signed up to support.”

    “These benefits were designed to support the truly vulnerable — the disabled, low-income seniors, and struggling families. When able-bodied adults who choose not to work receive the same benefits, it cheats the system and it cheats those truly in need.”

    Congressman Aderholt is a strong advocate for common sense work requirements, which are overwhelmingly supported by the American people — with 78% in favor.

    “The next time Democrats claim Republicans are ‘cutting Medicaid,’ just remember what they’re really defending: a system that gives taxpayer-funded healthcare to individuals who spend more than 120 hours a month on the couch. That’s not compassion — that’s recklessness.”

    “I stand with Speaker Johnson and my Republican colleagues to fix this broken system. We will continue fighting to protect Medicaid for those who genuinely need it — and to stop the abuse by those who don’t.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congressman Robert Aderholt Co-Sponsors Border Operations Service Medal Act

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Robert Aderholt (AL-04)

    Washington, D.C. — Congressman Robert Aderholt (AL-04) today issued the following statement in support of the H.R. 3780, the Border Operations Service Medal Act: 

    “Our men and women serving on the front lines of the southern border operate under challenging and often dangerous conditions to protect Americans from violent threats,” said Aderholt. “The Border Operations Service Medal Act is a long-overdue honor to the U.S. service members and federal personnel who not only enforce our laws but also help secure our communities. I fully support Congressman Tim Moore’s effort to ensure they receive the recognition they have earned.” 

    The bill introduced by Congressman Tim Moore issues a Border Operations Service Medal to military and National Guard personnel who served in designated border operations beginning January 1, 2025.  

    “The Border Operations Service Medal Act protects the Americans from border threats such as human trafficking, terrorism, and mass illegal entries,” Aderholt added. “This legislation gives those who have served, the honor and recognition they deserve.” 

    Original cosponsors for this legislation alongside Rep. Robert Aderholt include Rep. Derrick Van Orden, Rep. John McGuire, Rep. Abe Hamadeh, Rep. Jack Bergman, Rep. Tom Barrett, Rep. Ralph Norman, Rep. Juan Ciscomani, Rep. Hal Rogers, Rep. Don Davis, and Rep. Chuck Edwards. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congressman Neguse Awarded 2025 Keystone Leadership Award for Commitment to Constructive Policymaking

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Joe Neguse (D-Co 2)

    Neguse and former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack serve as this year’s honorees; prior recipients include John McCain and Bob Woodward.

    Washington, D.C. — This week, Congressman Joe Neguse was recognized as a 2025 Keystone Leadership Award recipient by the Colorado-based Keystone Policy Center for his commitment to constructive policymaking and his successful legislative efforts to construct bipartisan solutions to the challenges facing the West—from land and water conservation to wildfire mitigation. In addition to the 41-year-old lawmaker, also receiving the award this year were former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and the CEO of the Nature Conservancy, Jennifer Morris.  

    Prior award recipients include the late U.S. Senator John McCain, current U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Michael Bennet, PBS News Anchor Judy Woodruff, and legendary Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Bob Woodward, among others. 

    The nonpartisan organization noted Neguse’s dedication to bridging the divide between urban and rural communities in Colorado, and his leadership on rural challenges in particular, including forest health, public lands, and watershed protection. Neguse has worked to implement the unique approach through his “Lead Locally” initiative, which includes innovative Service Town-Halls and hosting more than 12 in-person town hall in just the past 5 months across Colorado’s Western Slope, Central Mountains, and Northern communities. 

    In receiving the Keystone Leadership Award, Neguse further cemented his legacy of delivering results for the state of Colorado. Earlier this year, he was named the most effective member of the state’s federal delegation by the Center for Effective Lawmaking. 

    “When your congressional district is 12,000 square miles and larger than 8 states, you understand that service means showing up in — and listening to — every single community. That’s exactly what we’ve done as I’ve served the people of Northern and Western Colorado — from Walden to Fort Collins, and I’m proud of our work to cut through the chaos and partner with folks of all political stripes to address the challenges we face in the Rocky Mountain West.” Congressman Neguse continued, “It has never been more important to find ways to foster greater collaboration and dialogue with those with whom we may disagree. I’m grateful to the Keystone Policy Center for their recognition of our efforts on that front, and remain hopeful that we can address the consequential challenges of our time.” 

    “For five decades, Keystone Policy Center has brought people together to find collaborative, actionable solutions to the toughest public policy challenges. Each recipient of the Keystone Leadership Award embodies that mission and demonstrates that meaningful progress is possible when others say it can’t be done,” said Christine Scanlan, president and CEO of the Keystone Policy Center. “We are proud to honor these leaders, among them Congressman Joe Neguse, who represents the district Keystone calls home. It was also a privilege to host these leaders for a one-on-one fireside conversation, offering a powerful opportunity to learn from their experiences and insights.”

    The Keystone Policy Center established the Keystone Leadership Awards in 1994 to recognize extraordinary leadership by individuals and organizations whose work embraces their mission: inspiring leaders to rise above entrenched positions and find common ground. Keystone honors individuals and organizations within its areas of work as well as recognizes leaders in government and the media who create impact in the public interest.  

    About Neguse’s Collaborative Leadership Approach:

    Congressman Joe Neguse is the founder and Co-Chair of both the Bipartisan Wildfire Caucus and the Bipartisan Colorado River Caucus, groups established to build consensus and elevate awareness around key issues like the rise of Western wildfires and worsening drought in the Colorado River Basin. He has leveraged these coalitions to introduce and pass legislation focused on preserving public lands, strengthening the outdoor economy, and confronting the wildfire crisis. Notably, he successfully enacted four bipartisan bills through last year’s Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences (EXPLORE) Act: the Forest Service Flexible Housing Partnerships Act, the Biking On Long-Distance Trails (BOLT) Act, the Improving Access to Outdoor Recreation Coordination Act, and the Stop the Spread of Invasive Mussels Act. The EXPLORE Act also included the Simplifying Access for Outdoor Recreation Permitting (SOAR) Act, which Neguse co-led in the House. His efforts have earned him recognition as the Member of Congress with the most bipartisan support for his legislative proposals.

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Colorado Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan Resolution Condemning Horrific, Antisemitic Attack in Boulder

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Joe Neguse (D-Co 2)

    Lafayette, CO — Congressman Joe Neguse and Senator Michael Bennet, both of whom represent the people of Boulder, Colorado in the United States Congress, introduced a bipartisan resolution condemning the horrific and antisemitic act of terror that took place on the Pearl Street Mall on the afternoon of Sunday, June 1st. It was co-signed by Senator John Hickenlooper and Representatives Diana DeGette, Brittany Pettersen, Jason Crow, Jeff Hurd, and Jeff Crank. 

    The resolution denounces the scourge of antisemitism that has metastasized across the country, citing a disturbing rise in violent and hateful attacks against Jewish Americans—including the horrific assault on 15 Coloradans who had gathered for a peaceful march calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. It also calls upon the American people to stand united in supporting the victims and their families, as the community continues to promote peace and safety.

    “Our community is reeling. The horrific rise of violence toward our Jewish brothers and sisters must be stopped,” said Congressman Neguse. “That’s why we are calling on lawmakers from across Congress to join us in expressing their support for the 15 victims of Sunday’s act of terror and to stay united in the fight to stop the rise of antisemitism, which has shamefully become far too prevalent across our country.”

    “On June 1, a lone attacker committed unspeakable violence against Jewish Coloradans who gathered weekly to raise awareness for the hostages that Hamas has held for over 600 days. He did not attack them to make a political statement, but because he simply wanted to kill Jews,” said Senator Bennet. “This type of hatred is not new; antisemitism is the world’s oldest hatred. We must recommit to stand united with the Jewish community, for freedom – of speech and religion – and against fear. Hate has no home in Colorado.”

    “Run For Their Lives is deeply appreciative of this declaration against antisemitism and for the ongoing support and strength of both Congressman Joe Neguse, Senator Michael Bennet, and other representatives around our state since the attack on June 1st. We will continue marching until every last Israeli hostage has been released from Gaza, and we will continue making our voices heard until every Jew worldwide is safe from the threats of antisemitism and violence. We invite all people across the country and across the globe to join us. Together, we cannot be stopped,” said representatives from the Boulder and Denver Chapters of Run For Their Lives.

    The full text of the resolution is available HERE. 

    It is supported by Run For Their Lives, the Anti-Defamation League, the Democratic Majority for Israel, and the American Jewish Committee (AJC) . 

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Next-Generation Lawmakers Unveil Legislative Agenda to End Corruption in Washington D.C.

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Joe Neguse (D-Co 2)

    Washington, D.C. — Today, Congressman Joe Neguse (CO-02) will convene a group of next-generation reformers in the House of Representatives to introduce the End Corruption Now legislative agenda. An effort to confront political corruption and clean up government that includes seven bills designed to put power back in the hands of the American people by preventing the President, Executive Branch officials, and Members of Congress from personally benefiting from their offices.

    After watching President Trump’s administration engage in brazen corruption, the group of representatives helmed by the Colorado Congressman—including Reps. Angie Craig (MN-02), Seth Magaziner (RI-02), Chris Deluzio (PA-17), Pat Ryan (NY-18), Hillary Scholten (MI-03), and Emilia Sykes (OH-13)—felt compelled to act. 

    “Donald Trump’s first 100 days back in office were marked by chaos, corruption, and self-dealing. He spent the time stacking his administration with billionaire donors and promoting shameless cryptocurrency scams, all while his Republican supporters in Congress trade stocks to benefit their own portfolios. The time for this corruption to end is now. We must clean up government for future generations and ensure our government is serving the American people, not special interests,” said Rep. Neguse. 

    “Elected officials are elected to serve their constituents, not their own self-interests,” said Rep. Craig. “It’s past time we pass legislation to clean up Washington and ensure our tax dollars are being spent as they should – on improving the lives of everyday Americans. That’s why I’m proud to be partnering with my colleagues on this anti-corruption campaign to make common-sense reforms that will restore integrity, transparency and efficiency to our government.”  

    “Members of Congress are elected to serve the American people, not to enrich themselves,” said Rep. Magaziner. “We must ban Member of Congress from trading stocks, because there should be no opportunity for elected officials to profit off of their positions. I am proud to join Representative Neguse and other colleagues in our effort to bring real ethics reform to Washington.”

    “Corporate power has long rigged the system against the American people,” said Rep. Deluzio. “We must root out this corruption to restore the American Dream. Stopping corporate criminals from taking power from inside our government itself is a great place to start. I’m introducing the No Corporate Crooks Act as a part of the ‘End Corruption Now’ legislative agenda because someone convicted of crimes like bribery, embezzlement, fraud, insider trading, and more shouldn’t be let anywhere near the levers of power in the executive branch.” 

    “For too long, politicians in both parties have put their own gain ahead of what’s best for the American people. The brazen corruption of the last few months has only highlighted the need for urgent action. It is time for comprehensive reform to ensure politicians serve the people, not themselves,” said Rep. Ryan. “No more getting rich off trading stocks. An end to Members of Congress becoming lobbyists. Getting rid of kickbacks for billionaire friends. I’m proud to be working alongside a group of next-generation lawmakers who refuse to accept the status quo – we’re here to clean things up.”

    “At a time when public trust in our institutions is at a breaking point, the Integrity in Government Act is about restoring accountability at the highest levels of power. This bill protects the nonpartisan watchdogs who work on behalf of the American people and ensures that the White House–regardless of who is in office–is subject to real oversight to protect taxpayer dollars and ensure efficiency. Our democracy depends on transparency, and the American people deserve nothing less,” said Rep. Scholten. 

    “When public officials use their power for personal gain and are shielded from accountability, we undermine democracy itself,” said Rep. Sykes. “This bill – and the broader End Corruption Now agenda – is about restoring public trust and ensuring that no one is above the law. The American people deserve a government that works for them, not for the biggest wallets or the best connections.” 

    The End Corruption Now legislative agenda targets conflicts of interest and would put a stop to the selling of access and influence, including banning Members of Congress from trading stocks or becoming lobbyists, and strengthening anti-corruption laws. It includes the following bills:  

    • The Close the Revolving Door Act, introduced by Rep. Joe Neguse, places a lifetime ban on Members of Congress from serving as lobbyists. The bill is championed in the U.S. Senate by Senator Michael Bennet. Read the bill text HERE.
    • The Restoring Integrity in Democracy Resolution, introduced by Rep. Angie Craig, would prohibit Members of Congress from serving on corporate boards. Read the bill text HERE.
    • The Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust (TRUST) in Congress Act, introduced by Rep. Seth Magaziner, effectively bans Members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from trading individual stocks by requiring them to either divest from individual stock holdings or move their investments into a qualified blind trust during their entire tenure in Congress. Read the bill text HERE.
    • The No Corporate Crooks Act, introduced by Rep. Chris DeLuzio, prohibits any chief executive officers, in either the public or private sector, convicted of covered financial crimes from serving in the executive branch. Read the bill text HERE.  
    • The Stop Millionaires Using Service for Kickbacks (MUSK) Act, introduced by Rep. Pat Ryan, requires government employees defined as Executive Schedule (I-IV) employees, Special Government Employees, and people in the Executive Office of the President to recuse themselves from any matters affecting the financial interests of their previous employers for the four-year period. Read the bill text HERE.
    • The Integrity in Government (IG) Act, introduced by Rep. Hillary Scholten, strengthens checks and balances by installing new oversight measures for the White House and its top offices and protecting independent watchdogs from political retaliation. Read the bill text HERE.
    • The Closing Bribery Loopholes Act, introduced by Rep. Emilia Sykes, closes loopholes in the federal bribery statute by clarifying the definition of an “official act” by a public official. The bill expands the definition to prohibit public officials from improperly using their position for private gain. Read the bill text HERE. 

    The End Corruption Now agenda is endorsed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Public Citizen, and Project On Government Oversight (POGO). 

    “Americans should be able to trust that their elected officials and senior policymakers are serving the public’s interest, rather than private financial interests,” said Debra Perlin, Vice President for Policy at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “CREW applauds Reps. Neguse, Magaziner, Deluzio, Scholten, Ryan, Sykes, and Craig for their initiative, leadership and collaboration to put together a multi-faceted anti-corruption package. For far too long, some have accepted the status quo, but in the face of recent and unprecedented examples of how the system can be manipulated for private gain, now is the time for Congress to take action and pass effective anti-corruption legislation.” 

    “Bribery, kickbacks, pay-to-play. These are the components of a criminal enterprise – not a functional federal government. The tsunami of corruption flowing from the White House has flooded all of Washington and left a revolting stench that’s impossible to ignore. This fire hose of anti-corruption measures will blast corruption head on by protecting independent government watchdogs from being weaponized, banning former members of Congress from being lobbyists, and stopping convicted corporate crooks and special government employees from personally profiting at the people’s expense. Now is not a time to worry – it’s time to clean house,” said Lisa Gilbert, Co-President, Public Citizen. 

    “At a time when the federal government does not have the trust and confidence of the American people, it is more important than ever for leaders to lead and respond accordingly,” said Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Acting Vice-President of Policy and Government Affairs at the Project On Government Oversight (POGO). “Not since the post-Watergate era has there been such a need for a comprehensive anti-corruption, good governance reform agenda. This is why Rep. Neguse and his colleagues should be applauded for this bold reform initiative, aimed at cracking down on corruption and bringing about the government that the American people deserve. Whether it’s reining in the corruption of the revolving door or banning the unethical practice of congressional stock trading or strengthening oversight tools like inspectors general, these reforms are long overdue and now is the time to get them done.” 

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    MIL OSI USA News –